Happy Mother's Day!!!

tag pic

He looks so happy!

Love my family

my Mother's Day present

So great to hear from Elder Panter today!!! He looked so great! It did my heart good to have us all together, even if it wasn't for very long. He told us about some of the people he has been teaching and how they had found them. We got to ask questions like where they do their laundry. They do laundry at a member's house but that family is moving, so they aren't sure where they will be doing laundry now. Hopefully someone will let them do it at their home because it costs about $15 at the laundromat! It was great to talk to him. We love him so much!

He is staying in Rangely

Just got word from a kind member that Elder Panter and Elder Little are both staying in Rangely and didn’t get transferred.

May 7th email

Elder Panter seems to be doing well. He is a man of little words for sure. Lol. I'm working on it trying to get him to give me some more details in things.

These are the questions I asked him...

1. What's the funniest thing that has happened this week?

2. Who are some people you have met?

3. What is the craziest thing that has happened to you so far?

4. How's your phone? Do you have that all set up yet? What things can you do on your phone?

5. What is something you are studying right now?

6. How have you been feeling? 

7. What do you do on Pday?

8. Do you need or want anything? What can we do to help you?

9. Do you think you will be getting transferred? Either of your comps? (I didn't send anything this week because I was afraid it wouldn't get there before transfers. Let me know as soon as you can if you got transferred or not. Maybe buy something at the store with your debit card so we can see on your bank account where you are at. LOL)

10. Tell me about what you did at Zone Conference.

11. Did you get any fun packages?

12. Any pictures you would like to share???? Please?? :)

13. Who is the most excited mom to talk to her missionary??? Hint: starts with M, ends with E! What are the details?

And these are the answers I got...

1. what is this? (mana joke)

2. i have meet a lot of people.... most of them aren't interested in anything lol. i would say my home slice in the ward is the Praiters, they are some fun people.

3. well lets see..... i have had people just let us in, i cut myself drilling a hole for a desk, and elder smith went home Sunday.

4. my phone looks cool, i cant set it up till the 29th so....... idk what i can do.

5. i have been studying the Mosiah chapters.

6. i have been feeling better

7. clean, laundry, piano, email, then we get back to work in the evening.

8. sheet music for classical/ simplified songs!

9.  idk i find out Tuesday. 

10. i learned.

11. fun packages? i havnt gotten anything recently other that the snack box and my phone stuff. ?

12. most likely at the bottom.

13. melodie? lol

Literally that was my whole email from him. Hahaha. So, enjoy knowing everything I do about what's going on. He did send some pictures though! Here are the pictures he sent me. 

a picture of their church

This is an oil refinery. It is the main industry in Rangely.

I asked what this was a picture of and he said "just my shoe".

Elder Panter and Elder Little

He did also let me know that he used the Subway gift card that I sent him, but the Subway there shut down yesterday. There is just a coffee shop, a Chinese restaurant and a local grill joint. He says they walk/drive around knocking on doors and most of the time the people don't want to see them. Some are friendly but some get grumpy. I'm hoping they aren't too grumpy. He also said they get fed most of the days. I'm sure thankful for wonderful members that help take care of my boy!

Not much news

Today's email was pretty short, with not much news. Elder Panter said he is doing good and keeping busy. He's excited to get a phone starting next month. We just ordered it and had it shipped to him today. I hope that means he will include more pictures. :)  We are looking forward to our Mother's Day call. I can't wait to hear his voice. Right now they are trying to find someone that will let them call us from their house. I'm sure one of the wonderful members in Colorado will help them out! The one thing Braxton did say was that he is continuing to practice the piano. I'm so happy about that. He has never taken any lessons, but he has self taught and is actually pretty good. I'm hoping he got some of my grandma's talent in that area. Not much other news, but it was good to hear that he is doing well.

Craig Zone Conference

Elder Panter had his first Zone Conference today and his mission President's wife posted these pictures. I'm happy that we have a good mission president and his wife taking care of our kiddos.

April 23 Colorado is beautiful

Elder Panter is doing well still. He says he has been a little down this week but is optimistic about next week. If you have any extra time, and could send him an email, letter or even a prayer, this momma would sure appreciate it. :)

Last Thursday his ward had a dessert auction for a fundraiser. He said it was good and they raised over $800. He loves how the little kids love seeing the missionaries and he said it is fun to see their reaction when they find out that the missionaries are coming over for dinner. It makes him smile. 

I asked about his favorite meal so far and he says it is the steaks that they get. They are always cooked so good. Apparently the people in Rangely spoil the missionaries. I'm thankful for that.

I asked if he had seen any miracles on his mission. He said it is always a miracle if he gets at least 8 hours of sleep. Hahaha. Hasn't lost his sense of humor. He then told me he has seen that people's hearts are softened over time and that we can be the start of it. 

Elder Panter finally took his camera with him to the computers and downloaded some pictures for me to share. I was so excited to see pictures of him, and not one of them has him in it! Silly kid! But Colorado is sure beautiful...

Sample of Elder Panter's schedule. He stays busy.

Elder Little

Elder Smith

Elder Smith

Random House??? not sure what this is

The Escalante Expedition monument. It says "The Escalante Expedition discovered White River (which they called the San Clemente) and crossed it near here on September 9, 1776. Seeking a route from Sante Fe to California, these Spanish explorers were the first white men to examine much of Western Colorado."

Beautiful Colorado

Beautiful Colorado

Beautiful Colorado

Beautiful Colorado

You can see for miles!

Beautiful Colorado

April 16, 2018- Service at the tank

Elder Panter wants to thank everyone for the emails and all of the prayers in his behalf. He is doing well. He says for fun they just joke around and hang out because there isn't a whole lot to do in Rangely. They get to drive a 2017 RAV 4 that has what they call "TIWI" in it. TIWI is a system that tracks their speed and the safety of the car. If they go fast or do something wrong or drive out of their area, TIWI will start yelling at them. I think I love TIWI. 

Elder Panter, Elder Little and Elder Smith stay in Rangely a lot of the time. They do go to Dinosaur about once or twice a week. My Aunt Allie and Uncle Wade told me they have gone to Dinosaur for ball tournaments and there is a good place for ice cream called something pickle. I passed that information on to Braxton and he says he has seen that place, but it is closed until the weather is warmer. 

The missionaries have district meeting every Tuesday in Craig, so that is why they wait and get groceries there each Tuesday at Wal-Mart. Good ol' Wallyworld. 

In my questions that I ask him each week, I asked something interesting about each of his companions. Elder Little is a "really big dude". He is 6'5" and weighs 290 lbs. Elder Smith loves computer science, so he and Braxton talk a lot about that. 

One of the questions I asked was Braxton's favorite thing favorite thing that happened this week. His reply was that he was able to sleep. He loves sleep and can only have 8 hours. I'm thinking he is missing sleeping in. LOL. When I asked him what he was looking forward to, he said more sleep. :) He also said he is looking forward to having dinner at the ward fundraiser. I will be asking him more information on that. That's all he said about it. 

Something interesting about his apartment... the lights flicker randomly. I wonder if that reminds him of Stranger Things???

Something that made him happy this week... he was able to bond with the ward members and their kids on Sunday at the potluck after church. Some of the kids are getting more open with with the missionaries and it makes them happy.

Elder Panter has been able to meet more people and has been able to help others this week. He and his companions went to do service at what the locals in Rangely call "The Tank". The Tank is an empty water silo that they use for acoustics for music. Brax said its really cool. To read more about it, visit https://tanksounds.org/.