A Very Protective Brother….

I sent Sawyer a letter awhile back telling him that Bailey has a 'boyfriend'. I told him all about it, and asked him if he would send her some advice about making good choices, being smart about it, yada yada yada… I figured she'd listen to his advice more than mine. I finally got his response letter back, and laughed right out loud. I love that he still cracks me up from 4 states away. I'd say any boy who likes Bailey has more than just her Dad to worry about. There's a crazy, protective, missionary brother in Texas who is looking out for her as well. 

"Bailey has a WHAT?!?! Nononononono NO! What happened to her always telling the guys, "I'm not 16 yet!?!?" She has to realize that it's not going to workout with this guy! For multiple reasons! 1. She's a fetching 14 year old! 2. He's a fetching 14 year old! 3. She is supposed to like dorky, harmless runner boys, NOT basketball players. And 4. I will NOT let her last name be Pugmire. I bet he looks like a pug….But those are just to name a few. And yes, hugging and holding hands is BAD! Don't be open minded about it mother! You need to steal her phone in the middle of the night and text him, "Welcome to Dumpsville. Population YOU!"

Oh my heck I love him! He also e-mailed her and told her that when she goes to sleep at night, I'm gonna start going in her room and rubbing leprosy lotion on her face. I remember her getting love notes from boys in elementary school, and him writing back to them for her. It was hilarious! I would never let her give his notes back to the poor boys. 

Happy St. Patty's Day

We sent Sawyer a fun little package for St. Patrick's Day. I hope he remembered to wear a green tie :)!

We think we're pretty funny!

3 Nephi 5:13

3 Nephi 5:13

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

This is our mission's motto, but it's for members as well. We are all disciples of Christ and we are lucky enough to have the message of his true gospel in the palm of our hands. There are other people in the world who aren't that lucky, so it is our responsibility to bring that light to them in whatever way possible. Whether it be through a mission, a friendship, being a good example, or anything of the sort. Anything we do to spread the Gospel is bringing souls that much closer to having everlasting life.

-Elder Sawyer Varvel

Sending Some LOVE to Texas

Happy Valentine's Day Elder Varvel! We LOVE you!

Sending some love to Texas!

Hahaha! Mark made the best puzzle for him!

Personalized M&Ms! We crack ourselves up!

His friend Katie is the first of his HS friends to get engaged since he's been gone. When I wrote to tell him about it, his reaction was hilarious. Then he wrote this:

Sister Carrion told me that I was going to get married within two months after I get home. I don't know if I should be offended because she thinks I have no will power, or honored because I'm such a stud with the ladies. I don't think it will happen though, because I'm going to lock myself in my room for two months after I get back and watch all the movies that I missed.

Yep, he's a real charmer!

He also said he's been gaining some weight. I told him he needed to get his butt in shape. In the next letter he sent, he wrote:

Mom, my butt is in shape- round is a shape!

And that is why he is so easy to love! He did assure me that he would be doing the 6 months to sexy program before he comes home though!

A Box of Sunshine

We could tell for a couple weeks that Sawyer was having a hard time in the mission field. He was really discouraged from having one disappointment after another. Then we received a really sad e-mail from him. 

Hey!
Thanks for sending stuff! I will look forward to getting that! This last week kinda sucked…we had to drop every single one of our investigators because none of them were progressing. So now we have to start from scratch, and I have still yet to see a single baptism on my mission. I have just been getting really discouraged and I know I shouldn't let it get me down, but I just can't help it. I am putting all of this hard work and 100% effort into something so good, and yet I am not seeing any good come out of it. I have been having people talk to me about it, but everyone who has talked to me about it has already had baptisms on their missions so they don't really help. At this last district meeting we went around the room and told our most spiritual mission experience. All of my district was sharing these really great spiritual baptisms and finding experiences, and I had absolutely nothing to share, so that just made me feel bad. I don't know…it has just been a really bad week in the mission field but it will get better soon. Not really any other news from Muleshoe except that I have no investigators.
Elder Varvel

It was hard to see him struggle and not be able to talk to him. We wrote him a letter and sent him a 'BOX OF SUNSHINE' to lift his spirits.

All things yellow! We put fun, uplifting saying on most of the stuff we sent. We filled a cup with positive quotes and missionary stories.

We sent him these great pictures too :)!

 Sometimes missionaries struggle and get discouraged. I just prayed that he would realize that his mission is about so much more than just baptizing people. I wanted Heavenly Father to help him realize the good he is doing, and the lives he is influencing in Texas. I'm happy to say, by the next week he was back to his happy, upbeat self. He was doing and feeling much better.

Life in Muleshoe

Sawyer's second area is Muleshoe, Texas. It's on the western side of the state, bordering New Mexico. It's a small, dairy town of only 5000 people. He's been there since the end of October, and he really likes it. He's been having a lot more opportunity to use spanish there. Elder Walker has been his companion there the whole time, but he just found out this week that Elder Walker is being transferred to a different area, but Sawyer is staying. They've had a lot of success in Muleshoe, but it's always frustrating success. They set an area record with 8 baptismal commitments, but the investigators have to go to church for two consecutive weeks before they can get baptized. That's where the hang up is. The people don't want to take the time to drive into town, spend three hours at church, and then drive home. He's trying to stay positive, but sometimes he feels like he isn't being a successful missionary. I just want him to realize that being a successful missionary is about so much more than baptisms!

Elder Walker shot gunning a can of soda….well trying anyways.

Sawyer shot gunning a can of soda. He's a pro :)!

Sawyer thinks Lake Muleshoe is so funny, so he sent us a video of it.

Lake Muleshoe!

The Clovis District after the first transfers.

Elder Cunliffe with Katniss at Subway.

They thought the spanish is this was funny.

Here's an excerpt from his last letter:

Since I haven't had any success in my mission I have just been assuming that the Lord is testing my patience, and it has finally paid off! We were out knocking at the beginning of the transfer and we met a girl who tells us to come back later so we can teach her. So we try a couple of times, but she is never there. We decide to try one last time, and instead her boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend) was there, and he said he would love to learn from us. We had been teaching him for awhile, and then one day his brother was there so we taught them both. Afterwards, his brother asked if we could go over to his house and teach him and his girlfriend because what we were saying just made sense to him. So we go over there a couple times but he is never there, but we did meet his girlfriend. So one day we just get the impression to go by and see if he is home and his car was there! It turns out he was sick so we didn't teach him, but this girl answers the door that I have never seen before. I got hit with a ton of bricks so to speak. This girl was like Laura Larsen! She had such a light about her that she literally glowed! It turns out that it was the girlfriend's sister.We taught her on the doorstep and she loved it and we invited her out to church the very next day and she came!!! My first investigator to come to church! She committed to be baptized this month and I am so excited! So my first baptism is going to be the ex-girlfriend's ex-boyfriend's brother's girlfriend's sister :)! Yay!

So we are now just praying that this one actually works out! I was so glad he didn't get transferred because I want him to have the chance to see this through. He'll be in Muleshoe for at least 6 more weeks, so we're praying good things continue to happen!

Happy New Year!

We always hang out as a family on New Years Eve. We missed Sawyer this year! But we sent him all of our usual stuff, so him and Elder Walker could have their own little party :)!

We love our little proxy Elder Varvel :)! 

New Years package!

Happy New Year from our favorite missionary :)!

 I wrote to Sawyer and told him about the stuff we had been doing over the holidays. I told him that for mutual we went caroling to some people in our ward. I told him we tried to go by and sing to a lot of the older couples. For those of you who know Sawyer, you will remember that he is scared of old people. This is a small part of the letter I received back:

I'm sad that I missed caroling, because I actually love old people now! They are the sweetest people ever! You learn a lot as a missionary huh?

He seriously cracks me up! I'm just glad he's learning stuff! 

Happy New Year Elder Varvel!