Lots to teach! Written 7/21/2014

Mom, Happy Belated Birthday! I'm sorry about all the dental work but I hope you still had a great day.

On Tuesday my companion and I put another of our investigators on 'Baptismal Date!' At the time that meant we had 4 investigators with a baptismal date. It was super awesome and she is really excited to be baptized but just has a couple things she needs to take care of. The family that wants to get baptized is progressing and doing well but they are a little worried about going to church. This week we picked up two new investigators and 4 more potential investigators.

Wednesday we had Zone Conference. We had a lot of workshops and trainings. I learned a lot from it. It was a good day and and enjoyable Zone Conference. That evening all the Elders in our district had a dinner and Family Home Evening at a members home outside of my area. The family had several non-members there that we were able to teach. My companion and I now have a new investigator from Brazil that speaks Portuguese and some broken Spanish.

On Friday we picked up a new investigator in our area through Facebook. We met her in person before but we had a hard time contacting her. I found her on Facebook and began teaching her through Facebook. We also met with our family with a baptismal date and gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and committed them to come to church this Sunday. Saturday Elder Andrade and I also picked up two new investigators around a apartment complex where we were able to briefly teach the message of the Restoration and schedule a return appointment.

On Sunday I went with Elder G (one of my roommates) to a baptism in Silver Spring because his companion and he had some investigators at church and his companion wanted to stay with them. It was a nice baptism and then we met up shortly after church and went back to our normal companionships. 

My companion and I went to the Visitors' Center with a member to a great "Why I Believe" fireside.  It featured Brother & Sister Jonas. Brother [Chris] Jonas is on the physician team for the White House but didn't really talk about that. Rather he talked about his conversion and testimony. It was a very powerful and spiritual night.

Dad, Wednesday I met this great lady from Africa at a Family Home Evening at a member's home. She speaks Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, and 7 African Dialects. She is super nice and interested in the gospel, she lives in Potomac but we saw her again at a lunch at the same family's home on Saturday. She gave me a CD that has mostly Portuguese songs and a few in English because she heard you lived in Brazil. It was super nice of her, she said it had no bad things on it but the CD has romantic overtones so I can't listen to it. Remind me to send it home to you. You might enjoy it. We also have an new investigator now from southern Brazil. She is in the Sister's area next to us but we received special permission because of my companion's limited knowledge of Portuguese and the Sister's crazy Visitors' Center schedule where they can't spend much time in their area.

My companion's bike has been working well now. I had a little front derailer problem but it is resolved enough. Hopefully no problems will appear. Today my companion and I went down to Silver Spring to have a nerf war with a lot of the missionaries at the church building. It was super fun and nice to hang out.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

P.S. I've been trying to think what I want for my birthday since you wrote me last week and I can't really think of anything spectacular. I'm not picky and whatever I receive is greatly appreciated. Some ideas I fumbled through are ties, music (CDs work best) Spanish, English, classical, hymns, choral, Disney, soundtrack, anything-mission permitting; or letters.

What a Week! Written 6/9/2014

I'm so glad you and the family are enjoying Nauvoo. It certainly looks like you all are having a ton of fun.

I don't even know where to begin with this letter. Last Monday night my companion (Elder C) and I taught the last of the Family Home Evenings lessons for the single adults in our ward (it was for 5 weeks on the missionary lessons). They had a little dinner/party afterwards that we stayed for and it was really fun hanging out with them (don't worry they're much older single adults-older than singles ward age).

On Tuesday my companion (Elder C) and I went with our roommates, Elder L and Elder J to help give service to one of their members cleaning up a lot of dust and dirt from inside their house that they are remodeling. We also talked to D. A. more about her mission call that she received. I forgot to tell you last week but D, a member in our area received her mission call to the California Oakland/San Francisco Mission! The missionaries here are all really good friends with her and we are all excited for her call. She leaves in September and she says I should go down there after my mission and say hi. 

We also had dinner with a fairly recently reactivated family and taught them about Family History and they are excited to begin the work for their family. I am excited that this ward is really getting into Family History. In fact, the Relief Society is now having classes for Family History at the Family History Center on Wednesday in Germantown. Later that night another member took us to Bruster's Ice Cream, a really popular ice cream store here where all of the ice cream is made right there. I had Graham Central Station and Mint Chocolate Chip, they were excellent.

Wednesday was Zone Training and I learned a lot. Sister Cooke gave a short workshop on staying healthy because of (as dubbed by the other zones) The Great Seneca Strepedemic. There has been quite a few cases of strep throat lately, my roommate Elder J had it, my zone leader, Elder M got it twice (he finished his antibiotics the first time and still got it again). There have been a few other missionaries that have caught it. Everyone is trying to avoid catching it as much as possible but it can take symptoms up to 5 days before appearing. The rush of people with strep throat is over. The last person I know that caught Strep Throat was on Sunday the 1st. However, everyone is still tying to be cautious. The Zone Leaders let us know in their workshop about finding people that the mission plans to significantly cut back on miles in the car areas to encourage biking and public transportation so that the missionaries can meet and teach more people. After the workshop the Zone Leaders also mentioned to a small group of us that if this change happens eventually we could receive more money each month for public transportation on money that normally would be spent on gas for the cars. I wasn't overly enthusiastic about this coming change (nothing is changing for June, they just want you to start practicing so you can get used to it before the change actually happens). Germantown's a big area and doesn't have many bus lines, but I was willing to give it a try. My thoughts were I'm going to try this out and hopefully it will work out and be successful.

However, none of that matters anymore because I got transferred! Now you're probably thinking, what!? Long story short, Wednesday night after English Class around 8:30pm my companion (Elder C) and I got a call from the APs. They told us that there was going to be an emergency transfer and that I would be leaving my first area and going to Montgomery Village South first thing in the morning with my new companion Elder A. My companion (Elder C) would receive Elder C from Montgomery Village South into Germantown. I don't know the details of what was happening but I know that one of the elders was struggling in particular. Wednesday night I rapidly packed everything up and finished the last few things (bedding, shampoo,etc) in the morning. Thursday morning, Elder C and I drove down to the Montgomery Village Elders' apartment and did the transfer. I'm a bike Elder now with Elder A and I am serving in the Montgomery Village South area which covers parts of Gaithersburg and Washington Grove. I am still in the same ward and district as before which is nice but confusing for everyone else. My companion, (Elder A) is from Tampico, Mexico and speaks English better than some native speakers. He has been out for just over a year. We've been getting along well and are doing well in the area. Our roommates are our zone leaders and fellow district members, Elder H and M. I don't remember if I've told you or not but Elder H is from Auburn, California so we did some of the same things such as Camp Winton, Sacramento Temple, etc. Elder M was born in Russia and moved to Utah when he was around 8 (I think). He speaks Russian, English, and Spanish.

Being on bike is good expect going up some of the steep hills. My bike is doing fine but I am having problems with my front derailer, it is having trouble switching gears. Elder H and I have been messing with the adjustments but we usually can only get 2 of the 3 gears to work. However it's not really a problem because I just keep in in 2nd gear and rarely would I even consider any gear higher than 2-8 and any gear lower than 2-1. The I usually ride in 2-5 or 2-6. Down some hills I've gone up to 2-8 but I normally just coast down. The lowest gear I've gone into has been 2-3. I've been locking my bike and my area is by far the least dangerous and fewest theft bike area in the mission. I'm starting to get used just being sweaty and smelly all the time.

In the new area I'm trying to learn who are the members, less-actives, investigators, and potentials. I'm also trying to get a mental map of the area down as well. It's a little hard coming in the middle of the transfer but I'm catching on quick enough.

Dear Brother #4,That's so cool that you caught fireflies in Nauvoo. The fireflies here are just barely starting to come out, so you don't see too many. That's cool that you got Minecraft for the computer. I hope you are enjoying playing on it but don't become too addicted to it. I hope that you are enjoying your time in Nauvoo with the family and Grandma & Grandpa.

Dear Brother #3 (aka Mr. Rich Man),I'm having a lot of fun on my mission. Yesterday I taught the 10 and 11 year olds in Primary. They're lots of fun and we taught them the 10 Commandments and some cool hand signals to memorize them. I also went to the "Night of Music and Inspiration" yesterday and heard some really good music. Today was my zone activity and we all went mini golfing which was really fun. I'm sure Minecraft has been really fun and I hope you are having even more fun in Nauvoo right now. There are some really cool things out there and I hope you are learning a ton.

Dear Brother #2,Congratulation on your finals. Come on, you think you did you're best when you got 100%? That's awesome. I can't wait to see your success in all your other math classes in the coming years.That's awesome that you got to do baptisms at the temple. I have over 100 ordinances reserved on Family Search from distant cousins that are ready to go to the temple. I have some work for you and the family to do this summer. Tell mom I have a lot of women that need their ordinances done. Elder A and I are planning on going to a special mission approved baptism for the dead session at the temple on the 11th and I'm planning on doing 5 of the names I have reserved.

Love,

Elder Braden Dahl

A Really Good Week 6-2-2014

Mom,

Thanks for all the letters from the boys and thank you for your letter as well. This week has been really good. My companion and I met with C, our recent convert this week and had a really good lesson with him on Family History. He really wants to get into it and wants to get his membership number so that he can get on as a member on FamilySearch. We also met with R, our investigator this week and he is doing really well and is accepting the gospel really easily.

Last Thursday a big thunderstorm came through in the evening and it down poured and there was a ton of lightning. All the Elders in our district were going to go to a taco truck for dinner with Hno D but the rain stopped us, so then we were going to go to Roy Rodger's but the power all went out in that area. So we ended up going to Old Country Buffet in Gaithersburg.







On the way we saw a huge tree that had fallen over onto some power lines, the tree took up two full lanes and was causing some traffic. When we got home the power was out but it came back on about 10 minutes later.

Multiple lightning exposures over the Jefferson Memorial combined into a single image
from May 27, 2014 (Photo Credit: Kevin Ambrose)

On Friday I had exchanges and went to Montgomery Village South on bike. It was a beautiful day and it wasn't bad bike riding weather. They had a lot of appointments and we visited with some of the areas investigators and less-actives. That night, one of the Gaithersburg 1st ward members, who is moving to Mexico for work, invited us to Five Guys and Krispy Kreme so we had a nice big dinner. I was with Elder C, who is in his 2nd transfer. It was fun to work with him and different being the person to take the lead in lessons for a day. It was good and I enjoyed it.

Saturday the Elders in our District moved one of our members in Germantown to Dickerson (still in my area). It's far out there and according to a resident of that area there are more horses and more cows than people there; I believe him. I'd never been out there but it was nice to see on the drive out. 

On Sunday we went to the Mission President's home for Spanish FHE and it was really fun and a lot of people came out for it. The lesson was very spiritual and everyone there enjoyed it. Today my companion and I, along with our roommates, and the DC French elders went to Smithsonian Zoo for a while and hung out. It was fun to go see again. 

Love,

Elder Braden Dahl

Stake Conference, Baptism, Exchanges, Strange Food, Frozen 3/18/2014

Dear Dad,

On Sunday we did go back to the Visitors' Center and my companion and I performed the special musical number. It went well, but it is a lot harder singing it in English; it is much easier singing it in Spanish.  It's the exact same arrangement and words just translated over to English, and they did record it. Brother and Sister Von Stetten spoke that night.

They were missionaries in South Africa, who near the end of their mission were called as the Mission President in South Africa.  Brother Von Stetten retired as the National Account Director for Steinway Musical Instrument Company. They gave great talks. We had a few members and a recent convert there at the event, so we were really happy for them.

She says: En el Centro de Visitantes con mis hijos adoptivos Elder Kenzy Anderson y Elder Braden Dahl — feeling awesome at LDS Temples- Washington D.C. -- Translation: She says: At the Visitors' Center with my adopted children: Elder Kenzy Anderson and Elder Braden Dahl

The members and recent convert that went with us.

Wednesday was exchanges and I was in a bike area for a day and it helped me learn a lot of things and helped improve my teaching. My companion with Elder H gave one of our investigators a baptismal date and he is on date for the 20th of April. I am so excited for him. On Sunday he came to an early meeting, Stake Conference, and a baptism!

Saturday and Sunday were Stake Conference and it was really inspirational. For the first time, the Elders were invited to the Priesthood Session. The Priesthood Session and the Adult Session were all about Missionary work and members working with missionaries. It was all about Hastening the Work. The First Presidency apparently invited all stakes to invite the youth 12 and over to attend the adult session of Stake Conference of 2014. The Sunday meeting was a broadcast. The people I remember were an Area Seventy, someone from the General Primary Presidency, and Elder Perry.  It was really great conference. They spoke about a lot of great topics like self-discipline, family history, missionary work, etc.

Before the Sunday Session there was a meeting for investigators and recent converts and Elder Anderson and I had our investigator with a baptismal date come to that meeting. He also stayed for stake conference and he stayed for the baptism of the Zone Leader's investigator (first baptism in our ward since I've been here). Our investigator is doing great and he is on target for the end of next month.

I have heard Sister Eyring play once a month or so, and she is an amazing at the violin and hopefully I'll hear it a few more times.  She's played for the Utah Symphony and with Jenny Oaks Baker.

The Cooke's are great but they know absolutely no Spanish. Maybe an hola or buenos dias but that's about the extent of it. Sister Cooke knows French and can understand a lot of it and speak it. I think President Cooke knows a little French, too, but no Spanish.  President Cooke spoke at the one baptism our ward has had since I've been here and the Elders that taught the investigator translated the whole thing as he spoke. President Cooke is a great guy and very friendly. He is strict in some aspects but very liberal in others. For example, with music anything that can invite the spirit like Disney songs, gospel, hymns (any genre-pop, rock, classical, instrumental, country), primary songs (any genre), classical, etc. are appropriate.  But we missionaries are only allowed to listen to hymns and Primary songs in the car—no exceptions; it can be any genre version of that hymn but it has to be in the hymnbook or the Primary songbook. He is really strict with obedience and diligence, just like any Mission President. According to other missionaries, the previous Mission President was a lot more strict. When I arrived all of President Cooke's children lived with him (two boys, and two girls), but now the oldest son has left to go back to college in Utah.

President & Sister Cooke and family (My Mission President and family)

Dear Mom,

It's been an awesome week here. Last Monday my companion and I went to a Noche de Hogar (aka Family Home Evening) at the Ward Mission Leader's home where we had a less-active member come. She was awesome and it was a great night. The next day we went over to a Lunch/Dinner at her home with two other Elders. It was good and we had a really nice conversation with her (look in the little boys email to see what we ate). That night we went over to a recent convert's home and also an investigator (with no relation) lives there. We came to confirm dinner for the next day and then gave them a Family History lesson. That investigator is doing so well and we planned to give him a Baptismal Date the following day (last Wednesday).

Late Tuesday night and Wednesday were exchanges and I went to the biking area in our District. I was with Elder A for the day. I rode the other Elder's bike, which was too big for me, but I didn't crash, and figured out a system to get on and off, start and stop (his brakes didn't work, they barely slowed the bike). It rained on and off all day so there was a good amount of mud on us. We biked to almost every member and less-active member, but no one was home that day.  Elder A is new to his area so there were a few times where we were searching for a home or got lost, but this project helped him know his area better. In the evening we biked down near the church by one of the "lakes" (a pond) and we were picked by the Zone Leaders and went to one of their dinner appointments.  The food was amazing, and they had an awesome cake that was yellow cake as a thin bottom layer and then a gelatin layer and then another thin gelatin layer with bits of fruit inside of it. We then were dropped off at the church building and then we biked up in the storm to an appointment we were late to. It took us forever to get there because it was all uphill and the wind really was blowing. We had to turn our wheels to the right and we were moving to the left. It wasn't scary but it just made things hard for a biker. We finished the day after the appointment.  Their investigator has a lot of light, but he still is held back by some doubts and I hope that he can overcome those doubts. It was still a very productive day because we were able to speak to a ton of people on the streets and meet new people and see some of their desires to know more about the church. We even found a referral for the French Elders. At the end of the night I went back to Germantown with my companion. It was a good learning experience and it helped me a ton.

It was snowing Sunday night and Monday so P-Day was cancelled for Monday. We were allowed to go out, but we were encouraged to go visit people. My companion and I went out and cleaned a lot of people's cars and went to visit some people. We then went with Hermano D y Hermano J to Hermana O's home where we visited and had a dinner. It was good and we had some great conversations about the gospel. It was a well spent day.

I am happy to hear that you that you attended the Family History Class and are enjoying it. I am sure you will be very successful on Family Search. I am really glad you went to the class and I hope that you will continue to have fun in it.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

P.S.  A haiku I wrote:

Vaya y haga

La gran obra misional

Venga a Cristo

Escuche al profeta

Tu Padre Celestial te ama

English Translation (courtesy Google Translate)

Go and do
The great missionary work
Come to Christ
Listen to the prophet
Your Heavenly Father loves you

Dear Brother #3 and Brother #4,

I hope that you have been doing well. I've had a good week here. I wanted to follow up and see if you have been watching any of the Bible Videos on lds.org. If you have that is great and you can tell me about the ones you like. If not the best time to start is now. You can download on any iPhone or iPad the Bible Videos app and watch them. If home is like anything when I left, you have some device in your hand for several hours. If you watch one Bible video they are usually two to five minutes long. I am sure you can spare five minutes each day to watch one video.  They are really interesting to watch.

I believe you guys will appreciate this the most; last Tuesday I ate ceviches—they can be prepared a lot of different ways, but the one I ate was raw fish, raw shrimp, and raw octopus. You could definitely see some tentacle bits in there. It is safe to eat because it has lemon juice poured over it. Also it was eaten with lettuce and with a spicy sauce (a thin sauce similar to an Italian and herbs sauce) on it. After that we ate a shrimp soup with eggs, cheese, potatoes, and cream. I think it's called chupada de camarón. We drank homemade Chica Morada which is a purple corn drink. You boil the purple corn with apples and pineapples and then strain it, repeat with the same corn but different pineapples and apples and add sugar. It is super delicious and I really like the drink.

Love, Elder Braden Dahl

P.S. Our car was a bit of a fixer upper, it was a minor thing. It had a leak in the tire and we had to go get it fixed up by a fixer upper fixer.

Also, I think Elsa is living in DC because it snowed again. She just keeps letting it go. So we couldn't use our car on Monday because of the snow. You just have to watch your step while walking.

Anyway, do you want to build a snowman? Because we have enough snow now to build one over here.

I really can't wait for a little bit warmer weather and to see what frozen things do in Summer.

It's okay though because the cold never bothered me anyway. Go enjoy the sun. 

A couple days ago my companion and I went over to a member's home and we finished each other's...sandwiches (we split one). They were super good. And for the first time in forever, we got an investigator with a baptismal date. Well, have a great day and don't let the frostbite bite.

P.S.S. I hope you got those million Frozen quotes and references from some of the songs.

It's Snowing Today

Mom,

Between the two SD cards there should be 531 pictures. Regarding the funny pictures, my companion and I had nothing better to do some P-days in the CCM. So we did the Beatles walk and the Buddy the Elf jump in the crosswalk, etc. I try to take a lot of pictures because I know you're obsessed with pictures and probably disappointed it was only 531 you received.

I don't take that many here unless we go to DC, usually I'm too busy. Plus, Germantown and the surrounding area is no Manhattan Island.

Every once in a while you can send me a SD card and I will send you back my SD card with some more pictures. As long as I have the means to send it, I will.  Just remember I don't use my camera terribly often here. Since I went to DC last Monday I have 110 more pictures on the new SD card you gave me. But that is far from the normal as you can probably see from the pictures I sent you that are in DC. I also forgot that I have another 32GB SD card that I brought with me that doesn't have anything on it yet.

You are welcome to do whatever you want in regards to distributing the pictures I've taken. I am fine with them going out and I am equally ok if you don't want to send them out. You are more than welcome to do what you feel appropriate with the pictures. I think that it's great that you want to send them to my companion's Mom.

I forgot to thank you for the solar elephant in your last package. It is funny to see but it's a great gift and a great conversation piece in my apartment. Also I have been pulling the scriptures out of a jar everyday to try and improve myself.

The snow is not that hard to live in. We can drive in the snow but it's when the snow isn't sticking or when it is going to be very little (probably around an inch). When you're driving in snow (which I don't because newbies aren't allowed to drive until their third transfer), slow down, brake sooner and don't stop (you can get stuck). When there is ice, slow down, brake sooner. Snow here is some of the warmest days and it feels great. Layer if necessary, don't wear too much cotton. Don't let yourself get cold or numb. After the snow, walk in the footsteps of others to avoid getting really wet or snow in your shoes if at all possible. The snow melts fast here so be aware that the roads are really wet and it can sometimes refreeze. Maryland salts the ground more than I salt french fries or my younger brother salts chips. You will have a salty car. Try not to bump into things or brush by them because you will be very salty as well with salt stains. They're very easy to get off, often with just brushing with you hand a bit or use a little water.

My companion is very easy to get along with and he gets along with almost everyone. There are some moments of "What do you want to do?" "I don't know what do you want to do?” He does get things done and is on top of things most of the time. He tries to please everyone, there was someone that used to be in our district that didn't eats sweets, so he'd bring mixed nuts and dried fruit. He is also willing to share just about everything he has. Everyone in the ward loves him and he is a great person.

I have a list I made in Mexico with a very brief explanation of some of the photos I took. I'm going to send it to you and just write me back if that works well with you, it is matching up right, any way you'd like it done differently so that I can make changes appropriately before doing all of them. It will be snail mailed and I'm not sure when I'll exactly get it out, plus there is a snow storm today and maybe tomorrow so it could take things a while.

I hope everyone is doing well and that you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Braden Dahl

Mom,

This week has been great. My companion and I have been doing a lot. We practiced with another Elder who is our pianist for our musical number this coming Sunday and I'm excited to sing it for "Night of Music and Inspiration." The Elder is an awesome pianist and my companion is an excellent singer. We will be singing the first and last few verses of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief." But with some changes to the tunes (you'll see). 

Our ward also had a Primary Activity on Saturday at the Visitors' Center. All of the missionaries in our ward brought the kids down to the temple and we went to the main entrance and one of the side doors. Most of the kids touched the temple too. Yesterday (Sunday), my companion and I taught the Family Home Evening lesson, in Spanish of course. It was on Family History and we used something in our lesson you might recognize; hopefully it will make it into the Mission blog.

I'm happy for the uncle, aunt & family to be moving somewhere bigger and with a backyard. I would like their new address as well when they get it. Which also reminds me that I have none of the extended Winkler Family's addresses with the exception of one uncle & aunt.

Missionaries are allowed to wear non-proselyting clothing if the activity we are doing cannot be done in our proselyting clothing (P-day activity, working out, or service). You still have to wear your nametag. My companion and I had to drop off our roommate who wanted to go to DC to play some missionary football happening that day. He didn't want to be the only one on the way to DC without a shirt and tie, so we changed and stayed for the game a few minutes so we could be in non-proselyting clothes as well for that day. I was in a hoody because it wasn't cold that day; it was nice and a little windy.

I guess we were at the Thomas Jefferson Building. It's the building you think of when you say Library of Congress (grand reading room). It was 3 floors; a ground floor, a 1st, and 2nd floor. Yes I saw the Gutenberg Bible along with another super old bible. I also saw the Exploring the Early Americas exhibit, and Thomas Jefferson's Library. I believe that there was only one exhibit we didn't see; on the ground floor. It was some rock star’s exhibit or something, I'm not really sure. We saw the one that was extended to be on display longer with some cartoon drawings (I don't remember the subject matter).

Anyways, Elder Anderson and I are basically trapped today. There is a snowstorm and we aren't allowed to drive, but we can leave the apartment. It has been coming down since 7:00am here; there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground. The storm might stay tomorrow as well, but who knows.

Love,
Elder Braden Dahl

Dear Father,

I'm glad to hear you are doing well and that you had an opportunity to share the gospel last week as well. I heard that you went and saw some movies at the theater last week; I hope you and the family enjoyed them.

It has been a really good week and fairly busy. My companion and I have practiced a bit for our song for "Night of Music and Inspiration" next week. We also taught Family Home Evening in Spanish at the President Cooke's home. We taught about family history. Some Sisters were in charge of the game and we played gospel related charades. We had some cake at the end and it was just a great night with a great turn out.

We have a snowstorm today so we can't drive anywhere and it is supposed to be rather cold today and tomorrow. I'm starting to get used to the snow and I'm fairly used to the cold now. The snow is a great opportunity for service for the people here. We've found some potentials [potential investigators] from shoveling snow.

I hope you have fun finishing up watching the Olympics. I heard that despite the many problems that it was a good Olympics. I'm very glad to hear that California is getting some water now, and some rain. I love you a ton.

Love,

Elder Braden Dahl

PS check out mom's emails. She sent me one earlier in the week so I've been able to write a lot, little by little. Enjoy your day. Good luck with the little boys. Tell them it's snowing here. Oh and also tell them tomorrow is National Pancake Day, so free short stack at IHOP.