Newsletter 1 - From Steve

Dear family,

Since I work 3rd shift from 9:30pm to 5:30am this is the time that I do all of my email social interacting. I have been trying to think of some things to say and how to put them so as not to cause any unjust worrying on your part. I have read Sandra's and Allen and mom emails at this point and it makes me glad to hear and read the words you have chosen to write in regards to the scriptures that you have chosen for they have been encouraging words like "seeking in order to find" and
"pitching your tents" towards righteousness.

My scriptures are taken from Moroni 10:20 -21 20 "Wherefore, there must
be faith and if there must be faith there must also be hope; and if
there must be hope there must also be charity. And except ye have
charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God; neither can ye
be saved in the kingdom of God if ye have not faith; neither can ye if
ye have no hope." These verses aren't really favorite verses but more of
a least favorite. I am my own worst critic and I can't help it. These
verses sadden me because they tell me where I am not going. Do we have
faith. I like to think I do but how strong is it. Do we have hope, I
don't think I do because I have no charity. I'm sorry mom but I hate
people. Charity is my weakness. It is identified as having the pure love
of Christ. We are to love all of our fellow man as he does regardless of
who they are. We are to have a love for them based solely on the fact
that they too are children of our Heavenly Father. Here is an example
taken from the Book of Mormon of what I believe it is to have true
charity. These are the 4 sons of Mosiah seeking permission from their
father to serve a mission to the Lamanites. Mosiah 28: 3-4 "Now they
were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for
they could not BEAR that ANY HUMAN SOUL should perish; yea, even the
very THOUGHTS that any soul should endure endless torment did CAUSE THEM
TO QUAKE and tremble. And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon
them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in
his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless THEY SUFFERED MUCH
ANGUISH OF SOUL because of their iniquities, suffering much and FEARING
THAT THEY should be cast off forever." This is what it means to have
charity and this is what the pure love of Christ is all about. They
cared for the enemy of the Nephite people that they feared for their
souls. Do we care enough for our fellow man that the thought of any
being lost would cause us to have much anguish of soul. This is not me
because I can't stand people even the people of my ward. If it wasn't
for church I would not even associate myself with 90 percent of the ward
members. So this saddens me and I do not know how to overcome it. This
has weighed on my mind for several years now which is why I am grateful
to you my family and the scriptures you have chosen to share.

Family matters, Diane has been called back into the
young women as second councilor. She doesn't seem too happy about it but
she will do it because I know her and she will do it well. She is knee
deep into taxes right now and is busy all the time. I am still second
councilor in the bishopric (how long oh Lord must I be) and striving to
maintain a good attitude about it. Striving to not think of church as
just being another job one in which I don't get paid to do, but to seek
spirituality so I can be positive in all things. Brenda is in school
studying to be a Respiratory Therapist and working at wal mart at the
same time so she is very busy and she is one that I am real concerned
over. She does keep us entertained with her stories during clinical at
the hospitals such as the story of seeing her first naked man and how it
was not a pleasant experience. We get constant updates on how much snot
she sucks out of peoples lungs and she drew blood from a guy the other
day for the first time. With all of these gross things she tells us
(mostly over dinner) she is wondering if she chose the right field, but
she is moving forward with it. She is entertaining.

Christopher turns 19 this year and we are looking forward to see what he may or may not do this year. As of now he too goes to school for some kind of business
degree that he will be working towards and I hope he endures and
finishes it over the next several years. He has no girl friend (thank
God) at this time so he does have some kind of plan in his mind on what
he wants to do. He too is also working while going to school so he is
busy man. I believe he will serve a mission sometime in August maybe so
we have that to look forward to. He is a good kid...one that has matured
a lot in a year's time and I am very pleased with what he is doing at
this time. I still hate it where I live and wish that I had that courage
to give it all up and move to where I want to be and start all over, but
I fear too much. I would love to live in Idaho, that would be great.

So any way family know that I love you all and can't wait to see you some
of you this year. Mom Dad we will be there in May sometime during the
month for vacation. Diane wants to hit up the library and I of course
want to hit up the golf courses. Dad would very much like to go to park
city to play or to some other course that has been forever since we have
been there. I am planning on spending some time in Yellow Stone so Allen
if you can come and teach me to fly fish I think that would be great to.
We like to camp in the park because it is cheaper and we like to sleep
in tents. We have access to running water and bathrooms but no showers
or hot water unless you make it yourself and sponge bath in your tent
which we have done before and it is not to bad to do that. I have
Thanksgiving week off this year (first ever) and would like to have it
with family if anyone is interested in doing that. I will come to
wherever you guys want to hold it. We have not had thanksgiving together
since we were kids and I would very much like to try and get together
with all of you. Dennis come join myself and family in yellow stone if
you can. We are planning on being there in the latter part of May. It's
a good time of year to do so because it's not too crowded and there is
still snow around and can get quite cold at night. But we have a lot of
fun. Best wishes to all.