It's June 23, 2009, and we're smack dab in the middle of summer in South Dakota. Since summer's start, we've sent a son off on a two-year mission to Uruguay, welcomed home our 21-year-old from college for the summer, rearranged bedrooms to accommodate the changes, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of my parents. We're looking forward to a trip to Illinois this coming weekend to celebrate Curtis' mother's 75th birthday.
First things first...Trevor left home May 20, flying directly from Sioux Falls to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he will stay for eight weeks learning Spanish and how to be a missionary. He is doing great. We get weekly emails and have received three letters so far. Letters take about a week from him; I think ours to him take longer. But we can email him, and everyone is trying to send an email every week.
Elder Trevor Smith - Uruguay Montevideo West Mission
We are proud of Trevor and his complete dedication to his mission. He's always been that kind of a kid, so it doesn't surprise us -- it does make us really proud of him, though. One unique aspect of the Buenos Aires missionary training center is that missionaries go out every Saturday and proselyte. It's his favorite part of the week. He's excited to realize that his Spanish is progressing so well. He doesn't understand everything, but he's able to understand better and better every week. He has also had neat experiences talking to people on the streets about God and the good news of the gospel.
Sarah is spending her summer in Mitchell and working pretty much every day at the pool lifeguarding and now teaching swimming lessons. She is a manager, so her pay rate is good and she gets quite a few hours. Our cool, wet spring and early summer have kept the pool closed some days, but we know that's not going to last. She will be ready to return to BYU in the fall, as most of her high school friends aren't home this summer and, with Trevor gone too, that doesn't leave her much of a social life. An elementary education major, she is taking an Independent Study children's lit class and so she's making frequent raids on the children's section at our library and fills her spare time with reading and reports.
Maggie is 14 and has her learner's permit! She drives as often as we remember to let her, so she can get lots of practice. She's doing well and is getting more confident all the time. She took driver's ed classes before school let out and will do the driving portion in July. Once she completes driver's ed, she can apply for a driver's license and drive on her own. She is probably the most excited that we finally bought another car. She (and Haley) were not fond of our 1992 very worn Dodge Caravan, and are glad that when they drive they won't have to drive that old car but instead have a cute silver Dodge Stratus.
Haley, Maggie and Maren are all playing lots of softball this summer. Maggie and Haley play in a league that plays Tuesday nights. Maren plays in the park and rec program weekday mornings. Haley also tried her hand at tennis with three weeks of lessons. Starting this week she's going to play in a girls' league every Wednesday afternoon. She is enjoying it a lot and thinks she may go out for tennis in school this fall. She also enjoys volleyball, which is played at the same time, so that's a decision she has yet to make. Maggie's other summer activities will be geared towards getting her ready for high school. She will start marching band this year, and she has music to learn, rehearsals to attend, and then band camp in August. This week she is in Illinois at a show choir camp, as she's hoping to audition and make Friend de Coup -- our high school show choir. She and Haley are taking weekly voice lessons from a friend as well. Finally, besides softball, Maren is part of a youth theatre production "The Wizard of Oz." This is something new for her, and she's really enjoying the experience. Their performances will be in July.
