The Promised Land

We had the sister missionaries over for dinner tonight. They told us that a few weeks ago our Mission President, President Seal, got a phone call from Neil L. Anderson, who used to be over our area before he got called to the 12. He said, "President Seal, the 1st Presidency would like to send you 14 more missionaries." That's huge! He said, "Would you like to know why? The 1st Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 have been thinking and praying a lot about your mission lately, and they feel like you will need 14 additional missionaries to be prepared for the number of baptisms that will happen in your mission in the next year."

WOW.

I got a chill. That means that there are a lot of people already prepared and waiting for us to find them. This is so exciting to me to be here for this! Before the sisters came for dinner they knocked a few doors in our neighborhood, and a man around the corner invited them to come back and teach him more! So when they go they will bring us with them to help teach. Apparently they're beginning a new program where instead of having the member just bear their testimony, the member actually teaches a principle. So we have been challenged to study the first lesson from Preach My Gospel so we can be prepared to help teach! There are at least a handful of families we know who we feel like we need to friendship and introduce to the church. I'll keep you posted on what happens from here. It's exciting and humbling to be living in the last days, isn't it?

Caden's Vacation

A couple of weeks ago Judd took Caden to a hotel in town for a night. (He had promised to take him camping but the weekend came and he hadn't had time to find all the camping stuff, so...) That night, while they were at the hotel, Caden called my cell phone and asked, "What time is it there?" (He always used to ask Judd that when Judd traveled for CE courses or work!) Apparently he thought since he was at a hotel that he was really far away! Then the next morning I was at the store and he called me again to say, "MOM! GUESS WHAT! WE'RE HOME!!!!!" I guess overnight is a really long time when you're 5! What a cutiepie.

More Caden

Last night after saying his prayer: "I don't really like kneeling. It painfuls up my knees."

(A few minutes later Joryn came in coughing and wanted to kiss Judd good night. He turned his head away and said something like, "Don't kiss me. It sickens up the money-maker.")

A follow-up on the mind-reading: After school he told me that he read three friends' minds at school. "Three of them wanted to tackle me outside, and one of them wanted me to chase him."

I asked, "Did they tackle you when you went outside?"

"No," he said thoughtfully. "I know they wanted to to, but they must have forgot."

When he said his prayer that night he thanked Heavenly Father that he learned how to read minds!

Snippets with Caden

Here are some pieces of conversations with Caden in the car yesterday:

As soon as he got in the car after school, he announced dramatically, "I have Bad News!"

"Uh-oh. What?"

"My MOUTH... (dramatic pause) is Half.-Way. Cut. Off!!!"

(Wow. How did I miss that?)

(I looked later and he has a new molar coming in, with a little flap of skin still over the top of it. That's what he was talking about.)

I asked, "So, your program is tomorrow, right?"

"Oh, yeah, and there's a war tomorrow."

(Not sure I'd heard right:) "What?"

Casually, "Oh, I have a battle tomorrow."

"With who?" (I know, bad grammar.)

"I dunno. We haven't decided yet. It's at seven p.m. At recess. A bunch of us are, like, battlebots."



He has been telling me for a while he wants to be a cop when he grows up. He asks very serious questions about his future profession, such as, "So, where do you get those cars with the blue and red lights?" (Worriedly, ) "How will I know when to pull people over?" "HOW will I get people to pull over?" "Where do you get those uniforms?"

A couple of weeks ago he decided he wanted to be an FBI guy instead. But then yesterday he broke the news: "I decided I don't want to be an FBI guy after all. I just, like, want to be a cop."

"Okay. Why?" I asked.

"Because I saw those two girls on that movie (I think he had seen part of Rush Hour 2 when the girls were watching it - on ClearPlay, of course!) and they didn't get to wear those cool uniforms OR drive the cars with the red and blue lights!"

Clairvoyant Caden

Conversation on the way to school today with my clairvoyant 5 year old: Caden said, "Mom, did you know I can look at someone and know what they're thinking?"

I turned off the radio. "No, I didn't know that. Tell me about it."

"Well, the first time I was throw-up sick when I was five years old, it just started. I could just, like, look really hard at someone and just, like, know what they were thinking."

"Interesting. Tell me about a time when you knew what someone was thinking."

"Well, like, Chance was standing there and I just knew she was going to fart. She was trying not to smile so I wouldn't know, but then she did it, and I said, 'I knew that was coming!'"

"Wow. Tell me about another time."

"Well, like, you know how Spencer won't let me use her bathroom?"

"Yes." (It's because he gets into all her stuff and she finds him covered with body glitter and lip gloss.)

"Well, the VERY FIRST time I asked her if I could use it, I KNEW she was going to say no!"

"Wow. Tell me another one."

"Well.... Like.... This is the last one."

"Okay."

Well, like, remember that time when Dad was burping a lot?"

(I don't.) "Okay."

"Well, like, I knew that was going to happen. And, I knew that he wasn't going to smile about it!"

"Interesting. Can you tell what your friends at school are thinking?"

"Yeah, pretty much everybody I can tell. But not all the time. Just sometimes." (We are pulling up to the school.) "You'd better ask me about this after school! You'd better not forget!"

Oh, I won't!