Christmas call

Every Elder gets to call home twice a year. Christmas and Mother's Day.

We all rolled out of bed at about 8 and opened our presents. Then at 9:30 Lauren & Devin came over. We exchanged gifts and at 10 the phone rang. I felt like a little kid! I ran to the phone. Steve grabbed our bedroom extension before me so I grabbed another phone from the office. The other kids got on the kitchen extension and put it on speaker. Tears immediately came to my eyes when I heard his voice. (I looked at Steve and saw the same thing happened to him.) He sounded so much the same and yet so different. He told us about Texas and the people he is teaching. He told us about his companion and some experiences...

On Christmas Eve the ward had a program planned. There were 3 musical numbers scheduled and none of them showed up. So, Ty and his comp. sang a duet! Yes, SANG a duet. I couldn't believe it. Ty has a great voice and often sings while playing his ukulele. But, I have never heard him sing in public! Wow!

He and his comp. have a van that they drive when they need to go long distances. (He said they are on their bikes about 80% of the time.) They were coming out of a store and walking across the parking lot toward the van. A woman (drunk) drove right into their parked van! She got out and started yelling at them. Hmmm. They called the police and took care of everything.

He has a baptism scheduled for the 1st and the 8th. Both are struggling giving up smoking and he has high hopes they will make it!

After a rocky start, he and his comp. are getting along much better. His comp. has had 10 companions in the 10 months he has been in Texas. (Usually you get a new comp. every 6 weeks.) Ty said he yelled at him when he did anything wrong and was pretty hard to get along with. (The mission pres. gave Ty a heads up and told him to do the best he could to get along.) I told Ty he had been in training for this his entire life. Coaches yelled at him daily and he learned to let it roll off his back. I encouraged him to be the first guy to make it with this companion to transfer day without requesting an early change. It sounds like he is slowly winning him over. He said they are getting along better all the time.

I am so proud of him. I miss him. I don't want him anywhere else. I can't wait for the next letter.