Letters to Grant 2-13-11

Happy Valentines Day!

Mom and I have spent the last few days in Colorado visiting uncle David and aunt Ashley. I needed two crowns and we found some cheap tickets to Colorado Springs so I had uncle David do the work. It took about four hours to complete the work. He'll mail the crowns to me and I'll have Dr. Kitchen glue them on.

We had a lot of fun with David and Ashley. We toured the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs and went to see a crazy guys castle called Bishop's Castle. He's been working on it for years. It's out in the middle of nowhere and it's this ramshackle castle that looks like it could be in a Lord of the Rings movie. Ashley had mom model some aprons that she is trying to sell and took some pictures at the castle. Friday Night we went to their ward valentines dinner/dance but left before the dancing so that we could watch Hannah at halftime of a basketball game. Hannah is on the flag team and in the band. We played games and just had a great time.

Your brothers stayed home and appear to have survived. The house was clean when we got home today at 5:30pm. I think that they enjoyed themselves. Hopefully they'll write and tell you about it.

How are things going in Brandenburg? Don't get discouraged. It takes time to develop your pool of investigators. Do what you are supposed to do and things will work out. I'm sure you are visiting the less active members and part member families and strengthening them. Make sure that the members can trust you and your companion. Don't do anything that will give them cause to not trust you. Developing trust takes time. I'm sure that you will have success. My dad spent two and a half years on his mission and never had a baptism while he was there. But many people joined the church later because of his example and work. When he and grandma went back to serve a mission there where many people that remembered him and his example.

We love you and pray for you daily.

Dad



Hey Grant,



It was a busy week getting ready to leave for Colorado. Monday I signed up to take dinner to the Skabelunds(son Randy, his wife and the eight kids) but forgot I was playing for Peter and the Wolf for the next two days and had a couple of students coming for lessons . I made rice in the morning, canceled the 5pm student, played the concerts, went to Costco, got meatballs and rolls, came home and made salad, brownies. My 3:30 student cancelled so I was able to get most the wash caught up and get dinner to the Skabelunds. It seems to work out when you are in service to the Lord.

I have a small solo to play in the next symphony chamber concert, got to practice. Wednesday I had board meeting to plan and execute. Got that done and came home to pack my bag. We got up at 4am to get to the airport at 5am. We got $50 tickets which was an awesome price and and is the reason i got to go too. Garrett and Nick have done a great job keeping the house going and the little ones alive and transported to school.

David and Ashley's new baby Levi is a doll, I'm so glad I got to see him. After Cedric who was such a difficult baby, little Levi is a dream baby. Jamison is growing up and was so pleasant. Hannah is turning boy crazy. It was so fun to go to the game. I haven't been to a basketball game since High School. It was fun to see their youthful exuberance and simple joy they had just being together. Spencer was obsessed with Dad's Ipad and Dad was nice to share it and show him how to play Plants vs Zombies. Kyle is seven turning eight and he seems so much more mature than Roger who is turning seven this year. Roger is more like little three year old Cedric in social maturity. We got a lot of work to do to get this lil guy caught up to his age group. We have been working hard on his reading and it is helping.

We attended Ashley's town ward for sacrament and then we went to the airport. We're back home and it will be back to work, work. We're glad to be back home and grateful for our safe journey and safe kids. We're grateful for great kids who can take care of themselves while we are gone and for family to visit who we can share our joys, love, concerns and gospel insights and faith with. We are blessed by your service in the church to share the good news of Christ's gospel. We love you!!! Mom







Dear Grant, I am Mater Chief. Nicholas says he is ruler of the World cept I made brothers do the quiet game and Nicholas lost but said he won but Michael really won.
Love Roger.

letter from Carlos

Grant,

This will be short as I have contracted what everyone has had. I spoke in our ward today and didn't feel good but I chalked it up to nerves as I hadn't written out my talk before hand but left in the Lord's hands as to what I would say. Fortunately, He listened to my prayers and I think I was able to get across the points I felt inspired to share. Afterwards, sitting in Sunday school, I realized that I really didn't feel good. I had mom drive me home. I layed down for a bit and then proceeded to be sick.

It was very nice talking to you on Christmas day. Technology is a wonderful thing when it is used properly. Please let the Pflaums know how much we appreciated them letting you use their home and computer. Thank your companion as well for putting up with us.

As mom told you, I didn't check the mail on Christmas eve and when I checked today after stake meetings it was there. It was like Christmas morning all over again. Everyone is excited by the things you sent. Mom hasn't opened the chocolate (at least I don't think she has) but the way I'm feeling today I wouldn't be able to have any.

The trampoline is a big hit with the younger brothers. Nicholas claims that he doesn't feel well enough to get on it. We will have to dig some dirt from one side to level it out. Sounds like a good job for brothers tomorrow while I'm at work (if I'm feeling better). I got some dutch oven cooking stuff for Christmas and made mountain man breakfast. I made it with Bratwursts instead of sausage and it had a different taste. I like the sausage better. It was a fairly sedate Christmas. We didn't go overboard on presents. Garrett got a suit, Nicholas got an electric razor, Michael got a video game and construction set. Roger got a bunch of action figures and a magnetic construction set. Mom got a purse, clothes and a trampoline. All in all it was a very nice day - especially getting to talk with you. I hope they let you use Skype on Mothers day.

For my talk today I referenced President Monsons talk on the three Rs of choice and Robert D Hales talk on agency. President Whimpey suggested that we (the High Council) not write our talks out but rather to speak from our hearts thus the nerves mentioned earlier.

I checked out Brandenburg and found a city by the name of Brandenburg An Der Havel. I'm assuming this is the city where you will be working. They have a branch there and the branch president is named Jablonsky and it's part of the Berlin Germany stake. I used the church web site to get that information.

We love you and pray for your success and health.
Love,
Dad

Lingard 2010

Create your own free photo collage

Grant left in March to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ for two years in Germany.
Garrett graduated from High School 11th in his class and completed a semester of college with all A's.
Nicholas has enjoyed being in High School and being the top dog around the house now that Garrett is gone so much.
Michael likes swim diving and playing percussion in band.
Roger loves first grade.
LaDawn survived her first year as President of Chandler Symphony Orchestra.
Carlos is working for Maricopa County and singing in a choir again.
We love the family/floating cabin we bought 1/3 share of on Lake CouerdAlene. We spent a great week there in October and can't wait for summer vacation time.

Grant,

I was so happy for the baptism last week! What a wonderful blessing.
Grandma arrived Wednesday with Aunt Marianne. I had the symphony board over to the house for a holiday dinner that same night. It was weird to have all those nonmembers in the house, I hope they could feel the spirit here. Cousin Cassie had her baby on wednesday: a giant boy of 9 pounds. His name is Eli. Cousin Adrienne had her baby Thursday: a girl of 7lbs, named Kimber Lark. Friday we went to hear Garrett sing at SanTan mall with th Red Mountain carolers (they needed a sub). Today we had the family party and dinner. Santa Max came, we did a pinata instead of presents and we did the Nativity play. We only had Andrea's family and the Hales because of the new babies, but it was still plenty of happy chaos. Brooke found out she is allergic to cats as when she was petting Zen her face started swelling up red and puffy. Ninja ran outside to get away from it all till it was almost over and Storm went in the kennel.

I will have Nutcracker Ballet rehearsals/performances all week except Monday. Monday we are going caroling with the ward choir and maybe Grandma if we can figure out how to bring her along and not wear her out.

Love you much. Mom

As mom has told you it's been a busy week. She failed to mention the single adult dinner on Saturday night. This is for the single members of the stake over the age of 31. I've had the same ladies sit at my table for the past 3-4 years. It's a lot of fun. We took grandma Lingard and she had fun meeting new people. I bought two pinatas, a star and a Santa. Mom wouldn't let us use the Santa one because she didn't feel right about beating Santa with a stick until he spilled out his candy. We got the van back on Wednesday just in time to pick up grandma and aunt Marianne. It looks good as new. Except for the scratches on the side... I've got to find time to work on Michael and Rogers Christmas presents. If the weather is good we will be going to Salt Lake next week to listen to the tabernacle choir Christmas devotional. The party tonight was a blast. Santa Max did a great job. The little ones eyes light up and they give him hugs.

What's going on in Osnabruck? Do you miss the warm weather? It was so hot today that we had turn on the air conditioning in the house. Is anybody progressing towards baptism? Do you ever see nutcrackers for sale? Are you getting used to the weather?

We love you and pray for you daily. Keep up the good work.

Love, Dad

Nicholas has started driving..........

On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 1:27 PM, Grant Hughett Lingard wrote:
Ahh The telling you what to do part. I remember those days. Its so confusing isnt it. ITs sometimes easier to just learn by yourself and have maybe one person who knows how to drive then many. (Learn from dad mom drives crazy haha jk)


On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 1:36 AM, Nicholas Lingard wrote:
Well here I am with more driving. I was driving to Quoir with the whole family and Jonny and I was doing fine. Then when we were going home we hit a stoplight, I slowed to start the turn and then everybody starts telling me what to do, TURN, SLOW DOWN, FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, now I have a hard time getting the right speed at turns, this time it ended up where we hit the turn around 30 mph and I was trying to find the brake as I was turning, we were hurtling toward the curb which was ironically yellow. I managed to make the turn without hitting the curb, but I have never heard so much screaming in a long time. Another funny thing we had just been singing Come Come Ye Saints with the And if we die before our journeys through happy day all is well. heheheh I was just as scared as everybody else.


Nicholas Lingard

Did I mention I ended up with a kitten for Mother's Day? Not the fat calico ZEN cat. A little gray tabby, we haven't got a name for yet.


Nicholas describes the integration of two cats. Or rather the non integration of two cats. Zen is defending her upstairs territory and Kitty mostly stays downstairs except when she gets bored and wants a little action:

"Now when kitty and Zen meet upstairs here is what I would compare it to. First Jungle analogy: kitty is a tiger cub getting attacked by a charging fat elephant. Next car analogy: little sports car vs huge 16 wheeled oil tanker truck... Yah the first time they met kitty had the poop scared out of her (kinda goes with the analogie)
Yes the poop did come out on the stairs, two little pieces. At that moment Zen was the most active I have ever seen her going very very fast for her size. The kitty barely made it out of the way, in fact she fell between the stair posts and hung on by her claws to the carpet. This has happened a couple of times, the poop thing only once, but Zen hisses and spits like crazy to protect her territory. One time I tried to rescue the kitty but it fell from a bit above the second landing onto the blessing chair, it was kind of scary.

Our cat is crazy, it will attack anything that moves, including you (or me in this case). Sometimes she uses her teeth and claws and Roger isn't too happy with her at present.

The cat likes to chew on the dishwasher rack, so now I have to remember to keep the dishwasher closed. The other day Nicholas opened the clean dishwasher and said "Something stinks! I hope the cat didn't get washed!" She didn't, but as much as she loves jumping into the dishwasher we wondered. I think it was a flower vase that smelled.

In short, the kids never knew what a real cat could be like til now.

5-24-10/ Not for weak stomachs.......

This week was very busy Elder Schaefer and I taught 44 lessons in total we are crazy busy teaching people. We have 2 investigators on taufe datum (baptismal date) and 15 investigators in total. Hildeshiem is on fire right now and we just started a 40 day fast with the gemeinde (ward) here for missionary work. Pleas pray for the German people and the people of Hildesheim as well as the missionary work. We need all the help from heaven that we can get. Elder Schaefer and I can work hard and we are ready to. My German is coming along slowly. Reading from the scriptures in the the german language helps a ton as well as reading preach my gospel. I will get it eventualy I am slow right now but I have faith that I will do better with time. Germany is very cool.

This week was good busy with teaching the investigators that we have and crazy. Children love us Elders to death. They love to attack us at random times when we are at their houses with tackles or what not. ITs fun.

Ok crazy story time the craziest thing happened this week. We were out on the street doing some street contact when a man stops us and says hey are your from a church and we were like ya and then proceeds to talk about everything that he can think of like james dean and other fun stuff. BUt! he clearly loved james dean because he had a book about him and he showed us. He first had to dig through his bags of newspaper and magazine clipings to find it. We then got his information and after about 20 mins of talking about random things we finaly said our goodbyes and we had an appointment with him the next day.

The time for his appointment rolls around and we hop on our bikes and make our way to his apartment (almost everyone in Germany lives in these apartment things. when my camera card is fixed I will send pictures.) We proceed as normal klingle(ring) his room wait for the apartment door to open and then climb the stairs to his room.

We get lost for a few minutes and then finaly we find the right place. Just as he opened the door to come look for us... with no pants on. (just underwear... speedo type which is normal for germany... I know this because its happened more than once. and that what my companion says is normal for Germany. for some reason they chill in their house with no pants on anyway) that was unusual enough for me because when someone answers the door usually they have pants on but it gets better. We proceed into the apartment and it is a weird way. There were newspaper and magazine clipings everywhere and there was a strange oder... Aparantly he has a problem with his bowels so as to not be able to control it and he hadnt taken a shower in ages. His legs were crusted with feacle matter that had been there awhile and at this point. My companion and I were afraid to sit down on anything. So we stood as long as possible while he talked to us about James Dean and actualy put a cd on of one of the movies he was in. and then he made us cold tea... anyways we taught him the first lesson invited him to pray about the book of Mormon and told him that we would be back to bring him a Book of Mormon because we didnt have an extra one at the time.

Needless to say he is a child of God and can use salvation as much as the next person so we are going back with a book of Mormon. I dont write this to make fun of him or his situation just simply to talk about the odd and interesting situation it put me in. It is hard to put in words exactly how it feels to be in this situation but i have tried my best. SO that being said other than that it was a normal week. Teaching teaching teaching.

I hope all is well at home.

Oh and we can recieve packages and such. I might send some stuff home if I have time and I feel that I dont need it. I am looking into buying a German light coat and a small backpack that I can take around with me. Aparently the Mr. Mack stuff is good but the German stuff is better. WE have a phrase around here called Mack attacked. Alot of missionaries go there and sometimes their stuff falls apart. My stuff is good so no worries. I love you all be good try and do somthing spiritual together as a family every day even if its for a few minutes. Build tha family trust and unity. Play games and have fun together. Be strong. and helpful. Brother write from your email accounts dont worry i can reply. I can actualy respond to anyones emails. I dont mind just having the family tho.

Please help me with the EYE-FI I need the sofware for the card because apparantly it is gone or something. I will try my best to fix it here. Just Your know more about it than I do.

Elder LIngard.




To Garrett and NIcholas.

Hey thanks for your letters last time the were cool Im glad you both are doing well I hope you find some fun things to do over the summer that are more productive than video games. but still have fun with the games haha. Find things to do outside and read and just relax and have fun as well as work. balance is good. Anyways. Am I right in thinking that there is a new Night train book out? For somereason it has been on my mind the entire week and I dont know why excpet riding the trains here reminds me of that book series. Have you discovered Halo: Reach yet? It looks amazing I know I tried asking you guys over the phone and didnt really get an answer.

Let me know what your up to and you can write on your seperate email accounts I can send emails to each of you individualy. I hate spelling haha.

A mission is crayz fun and challenging. I challange you to do something spiritual fo an hour each day. Get the whole family in on it even if its just a 15 min family thought of the day or something. Get into the Book of Mormon read it Pray together play a family game. LOve one another and develope a love for the gosple. Unite as a family more. trust eachother. Have fun together. Not only in videogames but in spiritual stuff as well. Help Mom and Dad organize something like that. Because I know it important to have fun as well as play. Anyways your amazing Elder Lingard

Michael and Roger.

How are you doing? looks like school is fun and summer is starting. Do your best in swim lessons I think its so cool that you get to take them I didnt like them as much as I should have but I am so glad that I went to them THey help a ton and plus swimming makes you really strong and have big muscles so keep at it :D. Michael stick with the piano I loved your hall of the Mountain king song it was wonderful and if you keep practacing you could be really great someday. Roger be nice to your brothers love them and have fun. Dont play to much Gameboy and tell dont forget to pray for me I will pray for you buddy. 2 years will fly by before we know it.

Feel free to bug mom to let you talk to me I always love to hear from you. make wise choices and all that.

Elder LIngard.