Dear Elder Davidson No. 9

1 November 2026

Hello Isaac,

Here’s to hoping we get to talk tomorrow. I just had a lot going on last Monday . . .

So I told you last week about the excitement of replacing the ice maker. This week you get to hear about the excitement of . . . REPLACING HINGES. Yes, the door to the laundry room and the door to the craft room have new hinges, so the doors actually open and close easier now. I can’t forget to say the both doors also have new STRIKE PLATES and the craft room even has a new DOORKNOB. I don’t know how I keep up with the excitement around here. The doorknob for the craft room has a lock on it, but I made sure it was on the inside so Mom could lock us out and nobody could lock her in. Of lesser excitement is the fact that I only had to buy three hinges, as I already had one hinge left over from another project. I also had the strike plate and the doorknob kit, so this excitement only cost us $9 in new dollars. I know this is valuable information that will sustain you as you continue your missionary adventures.

The hinge thing is pretty significant, though. They replaced the hinges on one of the doors to one of the men’s rooms at work. Replacing the hinges did something, but now the door won’t close at all and they’ve had to prop it open with a sign on it saying not to close it. So my project could have gone south really fast and led to me having to post a similar sign on the craft room door, which would not have made Mom think I did anything to improve the situation.

I don’t know what else to say – this may be a short letter.

Thinking about vacation time. Trying to come up with a really good reason to visit Arizona round about Christmas time. Unless of course y’all are gonna get rain. We’re in our second straight weekend of rain now. We should be grateful for the water, and from what I hear it’s actually snowing in the mountains where the snow should be, so really I shouldn’t complain at all. Besides, nobody will listen to me complain anyway.

The dogs don’t like the rain at all. I had to take them out on the front porch again to tinkle this morning. Any time we get a little dry weather and sun, they want to go out and sit in the sun and just soak it all in. They probably wonder what they’ve done to be celled up with a bunch of people who don’t want to hang around outside all day long.

I’m trying to sell a set of ATV trailer ramps on Facebook Marketplace. We got two sets with the trailer. We’re keeping the good set and trying to get rid of the other set. I have them for sale for $25. The same day I put them up, a guy offered $15 and the excuse that “he had to do some work on them” for the low offer. That’s fine, my dude, I told him. $20 and they’re yours. He didn’t like that much. So I still have them. He’ll probably contact me again in a few weeks to see if they’ve sold, and I’m kind of in the mood that I’d rather chuck them in the recycling bin than sell them to him. Sure, I understand you’ve got to modify them a bit to work for what you need them to do. But right now they’re mine, and I don’t really care that you have to put some work into them. I’m of the mind that if I see something for sale, I’ll try to strike a good bargain but I’m not going to tell the seller my story, true or, not as part of the negotiation. The only thing that matters to the seller is price, and if we can’t agree on that, the rest is fluff.

 I enjoy hearing your mission stories. I hope you’re recording them in some way, whether through videos or a journal, as you’ll want to remember them as well when you’re an old man looking back on a life well-lived.

I got to reading my patriarchal blessing over the past few weekends (I used it as part of an object lesson in Gospel Doctrine last Sunday) and it said some specific things about my mission. I’m not sure I prepared myself well enough for what I should have done, so that’s on me. But I also have to rememer that “my mission” in France is only part of the service I could perform as a missionary. Maybe your mother and I will serve a mission or two after we’re retired, and I could be preparing myself for that service.

OK, I think this is it. They’re watching “Ernest Scared Stupid” in the next room and I don’t want to miss any more of it.

Love, Dad

Dear Elder Davidson No. 7

Dear Isaac,

Sunday morning. I’ve been up off and on since about 4 am when Dottie had a doggie dream and was muffled barking in her sleep enough to wake us all up including Daisy, who then decided it was time to get up to go potty. So I took them out and they did their thing and were then pretty restless for the rest of the morning because Daisy figured since she was up it was time to start the day and there’s no other way to start the day except BREAKFAST which I made her wait to get until 7 am. Now it’s almost 9 am, they’re both sleeping again and I’m bleary-eyed at the computer wondering why we ever wanted to get dogs in the first place.

This is a photo from a few weekends ago, when I took them out on the front porch because it was raining and Dottie was still quite upset that she had to go out in the rain to tinkle.

I’m trying not to be a crybaby about the whole thing, but I’m having a hard time ending that sentence. I may have to take a nap before church.

I do love how Dottie is sitting there looking like a frog.

Trying to remember what I did for fun this week, and I’m coming up blank. Friday morning was the dentist. Saturday morning was Scouting for Food. That was kinda fun to get to hang out with Lexi, but I’m not going to say it was the most exciting thing. I washed dishes. I tried fixing the ice maker in the fridge. I’m not trying to be a downer, just dealing with a little seasonal depression that kicks in this time of year. I get out and get some sun and that helps a lot, so don’t worry about me.

Good news is it’s Mom who is teaching Gospel Doctrine today. Last lesson on Isaiah. The Old Testament is challenging enough, and then we spend a month on Isaiah and it gets even harder.

Oh – here’s something fun. I put some stuff away in the garage so we can kind of walk though there a little better even if there are two cars in there. YES, I do get to do exciting things.

Here in a few weeks Mom and I are going to do IOLS training with the council – Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills, if I remember right. That’ll be a nice break from the regular stuff. Mom signed us up partly because she needs the training, and partly because it was in danger of being cancelled because they didn’t have enough participants signed up.

I just ordered a new ice maker for the fridge. We’ll see how it goes with installation. Maybe we’ll end up buying a new fridge after I’m done, you never know. They tell me this is an “easy” repair, and should take only 30 to 60 minutes. Somehow, I’m skeptical.

This is usually how my repairs go. I guess I should consider myself lucky this isn’t a gas-powered ice maker.

I should be more optimistic about it all, but it gets harder as the days get shorter. I may need to see if I can relocate to Arizona for the winter and work remotely. They let me work from home for five years before I guess people who couldn’t do that complained, so now I do the same work in the cubicle that I did at the office, right down to still using the phone and the email to communicate with customers.

I’ll stop ranting. It’s not a good look.

Maybe if the ice maker replacement goes well I’ll ship you the old one for Christmas. Would at least give you something to talk about.

Oh. Forgot to mention when we were doing Scouting for Food, we got free donuts. That was nice.

We had to do our year-end review self evaluations at work last week. I hate evaluation time. I always rank myself as exceeding expectations because to do otherwise seems foolish and, you know, I do actually do some good work from time to time. My immediate supervisor always wants to see what we’re saying before we submit, but I kinda think that’s an invasion of my privacy and really, in the end, won’t do much of anything because we all get the same tiny raises all the time anyway.

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that when we did the alignment on the Red Herring some of the warning lights went away. Ha ha, that was only temporary. The lights come and go now, which I guess is an improvement over being on all the time. I know Kevin still has some work to do on the car and may not have cleared the codes yet, so we’ll see what happens. We’re putting the work off a little bit because we had some unexpected medical bills come up that we’re working on paying, so the tires and other work will have to wait. Life is fun when you’re broke.

OK. I’m going to go get showered up and ready for church. Maybe I’ll walk to church today to get some sun.

Hope you’re doing well. We look forward to your calls.

Love,

Dad

Dear Elder Davidson No. 6

Dear Isaac,

As always, good to hear from you.

I wish I had exciting things to report. I do not. Life continues to be boring, which I guess is a good thing.

When I left for work this morning, it was still raining. It had rained all night. The street up the road from our house was flooded curb to curb – we know now the house right on the curve is where our new stake president lives. John Adams was also flooded a bit, and the geyser at John Adams and Curlew was bubbling away. I hit a lot of standing water all over town as I drove to work. We may have to start figuring out what a cubit is and building an ark.

I’m sure Lexi told you that she and Keaton had a waterfall flowing into their basement from one of their windows. I went over and looked at it (that was about all I could do; all anyone can do until the rain stops, except for manning the pumps). Keaton and I think there’s a French drain in the window well that’s collecting water from somewhere else and is overflowing. Once the rain stops, he’s going to dig around in there to see what’s going on. I’d say not to worry too much about it as we’re getting some exceptional rainfall, except for they had some minor flooding in there in May after a few rainy days. Keaon caulked some, but the water was really flowing in, this time through the gaps around the window.

It did inspire me to go home and check our window wells. Everything looks good, but I do need to get up on the tall part of the house to clean gutters out. I either need a really big extension ladder or to borrow some scaffolding from Albert. That or Liam will have to hold the ladder for me as I climb up onto the house from the garage. But I gotta do something because the gutters overflow even in a moderate rain. Wish you were here to go up there for me. I promise to take pictures if I end up falling off the roof or through the roof into the house. I told Liam maybe he should stand on the ground with a mattress he could throw on the ground if he sees me falling and can estimate where I’ll splat on the ground. That or set up the trampoline again . . .

What I need to do is clean them out and then put some kind of lath over them to let the water in but keep the leaves out. Worst thing is that they’re really not our leaves, but leaves from the poplar trees next door.

This is:

1. The kind of high-quality Old Man Whining you’re missing out on.

2. Going to happen to you when you get hit by the Old Age Truck.

So, as Ernest says, “Yuk it up.”

This was part of our view on Saturday, in the rain, from the Conant Creek trestle on the Ashton-Tetonia trail. Up high where we were, fall had already passed, but in the gullies and valleys like this, there was still some color. When I look at places like this I think it might be fun to live there – but don’t catch me there in the winter. Way too much snow and wind.

But wouldn’t it be fun to own that property and build a little cabin on the flat with an outhouse and just a log stove for heat in the winter. Until you went mad having to dig your way to the privy after every snowfall.

I’m a fair-weather homesteader, to be sure.

We’re headed to Pocatello tomorrow for Randy’s sentencing. I’m grateful he’ll finally know what lies in the future for him, but I’m sure he’s nervous. I’m nervous too. I’m going into this not knowing what to think. Anything could happen.

We (Albert, Serena, Maaike and I) aren’t heading out until 11 am, so I’m debating going in to work for a few hours beforehand. I probably should, because I forgot to activate my out of office email and remind my boss I’m going to be gone. But frankly I’d like to go in so early I could disappear before the bulk of the others arrived. Maybe the dogs will have me up at 3 am again. 

That’s my ideal job right there.

Well, I can’t keep my eyes open any more. This old man is going to go collapse on the basement floor and start drooling.

Love, Dad

Dear Elder Davidson No. 5

4 October 2026

Hello Isaac,

Do you know what’s fun? Taking a car in for an alignment and after it’s done having two of the dashboard warning lights that’ve been on for a very long time turn off.

I don’t know if it’s coincidence or what, but after the Red Herring alignment was done, the light for the VTM-4 and the evap system turned off. Maybe without the alignment and the suspension parts that got replaced it was just enough out of kilter to trigger the sensors to light up. But now I’m just down to the airbag light and, occasionally, the TPMS.

Also, we’ve had the Blood Brother to Kevin and back as well. There was an ABS warning light on the dash, and a message that the all-wheel drive system was, as a result, not operational. It seemed important to get that looked at before winter sets in, so when we had to pick up the Red Herring we left it there. As Kevin was looking around, he saw a sensor that had been taped up. He poked at the tape and the wire it was on crumbled under the pressure. So he replaced the wire and got things fixed up.

And hey, here’s some excitement: I finally found the part I needed to fix the Camp Chef. Behold:

I know. This is exciting stuff. And I’ll tell you the story. Liam and I went to Lowe’s to see if we could find what we needed. We found something we thought would work, but when I got it home I realized it wasn’t going to work. So the next day I went back to Lowes and got a different item. But when I got it home, it also no worky. Third time back to Lowe’s and I couldn’t find what I needed, so left defeated. I decided to try Home Depot one more time before I gave up. What worked there was finding a very helpful young man who knew right where to find the part I needed. AND IT WORKED. So the Camp Chef is now completely reassembled, just in time to stow it for the winter. What I’m actually going to do is store it in the garage so maybe we can use it later in the year. I still have the other one to repair, but as I’m not really sure what’s wrong with it, that may take a while. I’d like it to just disappear, but that’s not going to happen. By the way, some of my Facebook friends said I was making a bong.

I hope you’re enjoying Conference. We never got to see much of Conference when I was in France. It did get broadcast to certain chapels in our mission area, but they were typically pretty far away from where I was serving so we didn’t get to see much of it. Sometimes we got to see recordings of it months later, and that was nice. But mostly we had to wait for the magazines to come so we could read the talks. I’m sure missionaries and members all over get to see them a lot more live than we ever did. Technology has marched on.

I really liked Timothy Farnes’ message – he’s the Young Men’s President. He talked about ministering, of course, but what he said at one point really hit me: We just have to see the person God puts in our path. Seeing enables compassion. I’ll try to remember that as God puts people in my path.

You may need to brace yourself for this: Mom did a dog toy purge and Dottie’s tequila bottle is now in the trash. She (Dottie, not necessarily your mother) loved it to death, but it’s really dirty and slightly stinky. So I’ll be on the lookout at TJMaxx for a replacement.

Also, for some reason the clothing bar in your closet broke into three pieces. You’ll remember it was made of wood and they kind of stitched it together out of different piece of wood. The seams popped in two places. So I’ve replaced it with a metal bar. Hopefully that’ll hold up better.

As you can see, you’re missing a lot of high-level excitement around here.

For fun on Friday (speaking of excitement) I made a long chore list and thought I’d see how much I could get done from it. It mostly involved moving stuff from one place to a different place, but stacking things more strategically so I could cram more stuff in the same space. I swear people are smuggling things onto the property because I came across some stuff I’m not sure I remember ever purchasing. That did include clearing off your workbench so I could put Mom’s dragon mask back on it. I need to get it wrapped up in plastic again because it’s been moved around a bit this year and parts are starting to fall off. I tried clearing enough stuff I could get it put on a shelf in the garage, but that didn’t work. I’ll probably have to stow it in the utility trailer with Mom’s Jeep this winter . . . I am making efforts to preserve it, though. She put a lot of work into it, and it has been used a few times since she made it.

We had Lexi and Keaton over for games tonight. One of these days we’re going to do a game day on Monday and we’ll call you up so you can whoop us all at Five Crowns. I don’t know if that’s kosher with your mission president, so maybe don’t give him a heads up first.

I should probably end this letter now. It’s after 9 pm, past my bedtime, and I still have to prep my BYUI class for the new week.

So, be a good missionary. I know you will be.

Love, Dad

Dear Elder Davidson No. 4

27 September 2027

Hello Isaac,

You’ll be happy to know the Red Herring is parked in the driveway, getting ready for the final phase of repairs. I’m supposed to take it in for a wheel alignment this coming Friday and then see about the tires. Once that’s done, it’ll go back to Kevin for the timing belt kit then, cross fingers, we should be good to go for awhile. We’ve spent close to a thousand dollars so far on repairs, but I still think it’s a bargain compared to shopping around for a different vehicle, particularly as we’re still paying Mom’s truck off. Good thing teaching at BYUI is back in swing so we can afford these repairs. But it does mean once the last round is complete, I can go back to getting buckets of sand and maybe finish leveling the back yard this fall. And I am looking forward to driving it to work in the morning. It’s funny to say, but I’ve missed it these past few weeks.

Yesterday we took a trip to Montpelier to see the last day of the temple open house. It took 2 ½ hours to drive there, and it felt like a long trip. But it was worth it. When we got there we waited in the old Tabernacle next door. The tabernacle was built in 1917 and has some Art Deco flairs, particularly on the lighting, that they echoed in the temple. All looking very streamlined.

As we were touring the temple, one of the volunteers there came up to me and commented on my “John Widtstoe beard.” I’m familiar with the name; he was an early apostle, scientist, and man-about-town as you’d assume if someone was commenting on a beardy lookalike. I Googled photos of him later and really couldn’t find a photo of him with a beard like mine, but perhaps this guy knows more than the Internet when it comes to old LDS apostles. Anway, he was pretty funny about it. As we were heading out he came up to me one last time and asked if the beard gave me any “extra authority” at home. I laughed and said, “Oh, you’re kidding,” and Mom echoed that: “Oh, not a stitch.” So even with my early 1900s apostle beard, I still don’t get any respect.

After the temple visit, we drove another 15 miles south to see the Paris Tabernacle. This one was built in 1888 and was used as a guinea pig for the foundation reinforcement they performed on the Salt Lake temple just recently, or so the tour guide says. I’ve always wondered why the early saints in Idaho didn’t rally to build a temple like they had in some of the far-flung Utah settlements. I suppose divine inspiration had some to do with the building of temples, even back then. And the Logan temple, finished before the tabernacle here, was not that far off. Sixty miles, per Google Maps, and only one valley over. So I’m sure the saints in the valley around Paris didn’t visit the temple much during the winter.

We had thoughts – at least I did – about going further south and visiting some of the sites from my family’s history in Laketown, Utah, but as it was we didn’t get home until after 8 pm and the dogs and made an unholy mess in the kitchen, even though we had Maaike come and let them out once while we were gone. We stopped for dinner on the way home, but waited until we got to Idaho Falls before we did so. As we passed Pocatello, Mom commented from way in the back “So we’re not stopping in Pocatello?” Liam and I responded that we were more familiar with Idaho Falls than Pocatello, so she called us cowards, which was right. Though I know there’s a great Chinese restaurant in Poky but have a hard time talking Mom into eating such food.

I’m sure you’re thrilled by all of this food- and poop-related news. I might be a little cranky with the dogs as they had me out of bed just after five this morning and we really whiny about getting breakfast straight away. That’s just entirely too early. They usually don’t get breakfast until after six, when I’m getting ready for work, the little twerps. What galls the most is now they’re napping peacefully in different areas of the basement and look at me like “Hey, why did you get us up so early” when I happen to make some kind of noise or movement that wakes them up.

Hey, imagine my surprise when I opened up Facebook yesterday and saw this on the Gilbert Arizona mission page. We’re watching you, Wazowski, always watching . . .

I mean, I guess y’all know what you look like so you don’t need to see this picture, but it was fun to see it in the wild. And you know, I know Elders are young these days, but they guy sitting in the middle on the couch looks like he’s about 14 years old. Tell him this 54-year-old who is regularly mistaken for a 78-year-old is jealous of his youthful looks.

Love, Dad

Dear Elder Davidson No. 3

20 September 2026

Dear Isaac,

Coming at you with more exciting action from Dad Land. . .

. . .

I got to see three trees cut down and shatter when they hit the asphalt in front of Lexi and Keaton’s house. That was probably the highlight of the week. If you remember, they have that birch tree in the front yard, like the one we have. Except theirs was a lot older, thicker, and completely dead. They had a few members of their ward come over Saturday with chainsaws, some rope, and a four-wheeler so they could take the tree down, which had three trunks.

One guy was working on the trunks, one at a time, and the rest of us – Keaton, me, and two other guys – were in charge of watching the trunk he was working on for any wobbling. When he finally had enough cut through we hollered. The guy with the chainsaw ran and we all watched as the tree fell to the street and shattered. At least the upper, skinny branches shattered. The trunks themselves were heavy and wet and took a lot of cutting and lugging to get them moved around. I wish I had taken pictures, but I was a bit preoccupied making sure nobody got squashed.

So when they had one tree down, the guy started pretty much immediately on the next one. One other guy with a chainsaw started cutting up the fallen trunk while the rest of us gathered up the debris and occasionally cautioned neighbors about parking their cars too close to the death zone. There was one trunk that, when it shattered, I thought for sure was going to smack parts into a car parked nearby, but nothing happened.

After the trees were down and we were mopping up, I talked with the guy who was cutting the trees down and said, “Wow, looks like you’ve done this a time or two,” because the trees dropped perfectly and didn’t even hit their mailbox, which I thought was going to be toast at one time. He laughed and said, “Nope, first time.” So a very confident person, to be sure.

We had the trees down and the debris collected and stacked in Keaton’s driveway in an hour.

A week or to before that, I got a call – missed one, actually – from a lady that Liam and I are ministers for. I’ll confess when the call came in I was glad I missed it. She’s a nice enough lady, but a little needy. I think you went with me to her house once, Dottie Murdock. We gave her a blessing. And a few more after that. So when she called I really didn’t want to call her back. But because I’m trying to be a better person, I did call her back. Turns out she was stuck with her van with a flat tire, a couple of miles from home. Liam and I loaded up to go see what we could do, but all the way there I was wishing you’d been there as well, as you’ve got more automotive experience than Liam and I put together. We found her and got the tire lug nuts loosened, but she was getting a little antsy so I had Liam take her and her son home, because they had things they needed to do, while I stayed to finish swapping out the tire. Of course the tire hadn’t been off the van in ages so it was really rusted to the hub. I pounded on it with my fists and gave it quite a few good kicks, but it wasn’t budging. I called Liam to bring a mallet and some other tools, but I remembered how much you struggled with the tire on your Expedition.

So there in the parking lot of a church on 12th Street, I said a prayer. I was a little cranky, but I did say to God that I didn’t really know what I was doing and asked for help in getting the tire off. As I finished the prayer, I could see a guy walking up the street. I didn’t think much of it, and kept kicking the tire. Next thing I knew the guy was there and ready to help. He checked first to make sure I had all the lug nuts off – I guess I looked a little slow, and I don’t blame him for checking. Turns out he used to work at a tire shop. Gave the tire one kick and it popped right off, and we had the donut spare on in less than a minute.

He said he was running an errand, and that ordinarily he’d have taken his car to do so, but for some reason he decided to walk instead. I figured right there God had prepared him to help, either me or just Dottie had I not taken the call. I’m glad I was there.

So I drove her van to her house, and had Liam meet me there. On the way, I could tell there were more problems with the van than just tires – the tire we took off was almost bald, with some of the bands showing through the  rubber. As I was driving I actually stopped to make sure the emergency brake wasn’t on. It wasn’t, but I limped the van to Dottie’s house. When I got there, she said she knew she needed a brake job, and that was clear. So over the next few days I talked with Brother Shaw from the Elders’ Quorum, and he got us connected with a ward member who does repairs. He’s got her brakes fixed now, and we’re trying to find her some used tires.

Just goes to show that God uses whatever tools He has at his disposal, even if one of those “tools” is a cranky old guy who had to have help to get the job finished. I’m just glad I didn’t ignore the call; I would have felt bad, and I know I would have disappointed Father in Heaven if I hadn’t.

Anyway, that’s my amazing story. Hope you’re having a good mission.

Love, Dad

Dear Elder Davidson No. 2

 13 September 2026

Hello Isaac,

Just to get you up to date: The Red Herring keeps sinking into a deeper hole.

We got it back from Kevin last week with instructions to get a wheel alignment done so he could continue working on it. Seemed sensible enough. Having the wheels aligned would help him know what parts were questionable.

I took it to Bybee’s Wheel Alignment on Friday, and they reported that the rear upper control arms were so worn out it wouldn’t hold an alignment. So I drove it straight back out to Kevin’s. He hadn’t mentioned the rear upper control arms in his list of items that needed fixing. When Mom talked to him later, he sheepishly admitted he was concerned enough with the front that he hadn’t even looked at the rear components. So he’ll get all of that stuff fixed and back to us, hopefully by the end of the week. We’ll see how much that is going to cost us, but it still seems worthwhile to fix it all, rather than try to replace the car with something that would have other problems that need fixing.

I did find a nifty Nash Metropolitan on Facebook Marketplace for only $12,000, though:

The photo pretty much shows the car as actual size. I imagine it would be a lot of fun to try to fold myself into this thing every morning, but wouldn’t it be a lot of fun to drive around until you had to repair it and can’t get the parts anymore. That’s the kind of car you have to buy two or three of so you have one that’s working and two others you can cannibalize for parts.

Mom taught her first Sunday School lesson today on the short schedule, and ended right on the dot, prayer included. She was pretty happy about that. I get to try to do the same thing next, week, but with the first 12 chapters of Isaiah. We both think we should just spend the next few weeks sharing highlights from Handels’ Messiah which, of course, uses Isaiah as inspiration. I’ll have to remember that as I prepare my first short lesson. Handel saw a lot of inspiration in Isaiah, so I should try to do the same.

We hope you and Elder Pixton are getting along and working hard. I remember my trainer, Elder Smith. He worked me like a dog. I remember we got a challenge from our mission president that we should just keep contacting and contacting and contacting until we could give away one Book of Mormon (France was a challenging place to be a missionary). As I recall, we worked hard for more than a month, skipping lunches and working as early and as late as we could, before we gave away one book. I remember being pretty dog tired and a little discouraged during that time, but I also look back on it as probably the most productive time I spent on my mission. We tried that trick with later companionships, and though we never really saw much “success,” we did plant a lot of seeds. I hope someday to find out one of the seeds I planted helped a missionary further down the line see the kind of success we were hoping for.

If, for some reason, you’re missing home, I’ll fill you in on the excitement so Arizona seems a lot better by comparison. This weekend, I accomplished five things:

1. Fixed the step in the garage. The particle board was starting to cave in, to the point even your sister noticed it when she stepped on it. I replaced it with some redwood I had left over from the back porch project.

2. Drained the fresh water from the camper. Now it won’t freeze come winter.

3. Stripped, sanded, and repainted the trim around the back door.

4. Took some junk to the dump.

5. Got a haircut.

I know. I am a wild and crazy man.

We look forward to hearing from you, and hearing your missionary stories.

We love you.

Love, Dad

Photographic Proof

Late last night we got this photo of Isaac with we assume his companion, send by members welcoming him to the ward:

Then today, this photo from the mission office, with his mission president and wife, the De Wets.

We don't know yet exactly where he's serving, but we hope to find out soon.

FIRST CONTACT FROM GILBERT

So today my Facebook addiction paid off as I happened to be looking at my phone when I got a friend request from a young man living in Gilbert, Arizona. His profile said he was associated with Isaac's mission, so I accepted the request.

Almost immediately, Isaac called. All business, needing someone to get to his phone so he could re-establish contact with us now that he's in the mission, not the MTC.

Hit a few bumps, but did get contact re-established. This is excellent news.

Now I jut need someone to tell me where Elder Pixton is serving . . . 

FIRST CONTACT

From Isaac:

Good Morning,

I have officially arrived at the Provo MTC! Yesterday was drop off day and day one of my in person MTC experience. It was a good full day to say the least.

Day one was really closer to day 1/2, as my district's arrival time wasn't until 1:00pm. Upon arrival I was given all of the MTC swag, shown my room, and then promptly left to my own devices. I am pretty much settled in, but the beds here do make me miss the scout camp mattresses...and the same goes for the showers. All in all, however, this first small taste of the MTC has been a positive and spiritual experience.

Unfortunately, there isn't much to report, seeing as we are only in day two and today is P-Day, but I would like to leave you all with this:

While our natural instincts are to focus on our own doubts, fears, and insecurities, I've found that as I redirect my attention to the needs of others, those same doubts and fears are diminished. We need to lose ourselves in our service to others, and let the Lord take care of the rest.

I love you all and miss you all dearly,

Elder Davidson

District 12-D (minus Elders Adam's, Monahan, and Ware)

It's Official

 

And he's gone. Plopped into a parking garage at the MTC, a hug for Mom, a few photos snapped by a missionary practicing Japanese, and we were off.

Almost home now. Happy for him but feeling like the car is a little empty.

It's (Almost) Official

We're lazing about in a hotel in Ogden, getting ready to drop Isaac off at the MTC. He has to be there to meet his district (and Elder Palmer, his companion, with whom he has merrily klonked heads for the week of home MTC). It's odd to think the time has come, and I think this morning the import of the moment is hitting Isaac a little hard. He's been subdued and quiet.

Or maybe just tired from the day before. We did a session at the Logan Temple, then had a $170 dinner at Maddox in Perry before we stopped in Ogden for the night.

Side note: The Logan Temple was much more modern inside than I was anticipating for a Pioneer-era temple. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I certainly know the Idaho Falls Temple has survived remodeling efforts with much more of its 1940s Art Deco intact.

More to come . . .