15 August 2007
Graham Michael Ragsdale
What an adorable Great grandson we have!!!! After going to the MTC we visited Estee and Lee and their new little doll. I loved holding him and looking into his sweet little face. He is a keeper for sure. So very good looking! I want to say beautiful, but then that isn't too masculine, is it? However, he is amazing!!! Estee wasn't feeling up to par today, but hopefully after a trip to her Dr., she will be feeling better. I hated to see her not feeling well. Keep her in your prayers. I will say that Estee and Lee have a wonderful little son and we are so excited and grateful for them and for him. We will have a family gathering when folks are in town for the UCA Concert. Then you can see for yourselves. You can hardly wait! Such an angel sent from heaven. xoxo Mom
Elder James goes into MTC
A great big pay day!! We accompanied Stan, Gina, Dane and Elder James to the MTC today. Thrill beyond words. . . He is going to be one great missionary, I can tell. He will be in the MTC for 2 months - - leaves on Oct 15. I told Gina I would put his MTC address on the blog so everyone can send him mail. I am sure she will fill us in on how we might send him E-mail, packages, etc. It was truly a wonderful experience today. His address is : Elder James Graham, MTC Mail Box # 289 Mex-Montw 1015, 2005 N. 900 E., Provo, Utah 84604-1793. (I could have made an error on the Montw part, but that is what I heard Gina say. If it needs correction, we will tell you pronto)
12 August 2007
Happy Anniversary to Amy and Craig, and more
Hi dearest family, It is Sunday night, Aug. 12 and I have just sat down to see what is on my computer. I won't tell you how many e-mail messages I have. What makes me disturbed is that I haven't seen the blog for a while. First of all I want to tell Amy and Craig HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! Nineteen, isn't it? That is way hard to swallow. Though Craig is in China without Amy, I hope he gets the good wishes too. Just wanted to tell you all how thrilled we have been to have you all here and together the past couple of weeks. It is been a big blow out of fun and our house is much too quiet today. However, today was a great one because of James. We had a treat in hearing him deliver a great missionary address. You know, it was just one of those fond wishes coming true. Another one! James was wonderful and taught me a lot. His talk was about service and it was truly excellent. He looked so much like a missionary and sounded as if he were already a missionary. What a blessing! We love him and want him to know that he has the support of our family. We pledge to him our prayers, thoughts, letters and love. How blessed we are to have two wonderful Elders serving the Lord full time. Landon will be joining Austing and James just after the first of the year. Our cup truly runneth over. . . Stan and Gina hosted a huge crowd at their home after the meeting and put on a spread of food that was gobbled up quickly. Thanks Stan and Gina. As most of you know, we are praying that the Lord will bless the elements tonight - - that we won't have wind. Our Farmington mountain fire is not out yet and it truly causes us stress. Wish we could have a big rain storm and put it out completely. It is great to hear from each of you. Thanks Scott, for putting Austin's letter on the blog. We will write our own to him. Love to each of you and thanks again for making our life so enjoyable!!!! We love having you near us and love to hear you talk and laugh and visit and show love for each other. Hooray for our new little Great Grandson!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loads of love and prayers for each of you! Mom
We made it....
Hello to all! We made it back to Germany. I guess you could say that all is well, but dang, we are SO TIRED!! We had a pretty good flight, once the 2 hour wait in the plane was over! There was something wrong with the hydrolics on the plane, so they had us go back into the gate, but then just sit and wait for 2 hours. That part of our journey can be summed up by saying....DEATH!! myles kept asking why everyone wasn't getting off..."we drove back to the airport! aren't we in germany yet?" by the time we did take off, myles had very heavy eyes and they only stayed open for a few minutes of being in the air. he slept for about 6 hours...i loved it. lucy was tossing and turning and trying to sleep, she ended up sleeping with her legs standing on the floor, just bend over the seat...and she was not to be moved! it looked so uncomfortable! anyway, we made it.
we were getting some stuff unloaded and then went down and sat on the couch-and we all fell asleep...we all hit "the wall". now we are experiencing that same feeling, of not being able to keep our eyes open...it's almost 9 pm here, so we hoping to stay up for another hour....but it is like torture!
we love you all so much. thank you for making our time together wonderful. and if you don't have your passports yet, i'd get them going soon, it takes a while to get them now days and when you see that screaming airline deal to europe, you will have to act fast!!!
i'm off...love you!!!!!
jen
we were getting some stuff unloaded and then went down and sat on the couch-and we all fell asleep...we all hit "the wall". now we are experiencing that same feeling, of not being able to keep our eyes open...it's almost 9 pm here, so we hoping to stay up for another hour....but it is like torture!
we love you all so much. thank you for making our time together wonderful. and if you don't have your passports yet, i'd get them going soon, it takes a while to get them now days and when you see that screaming airline deal to europe, you will have to act fast!!!
i'm off...love you!!!!!
jen
08 August 2007
Elder Austin Graham - August 8 Letter
August 8, 2007
Hi everyone,
Estee and Lee, your baby looks awesome. I love the name. I wish I could us it, but that would not work very well. Graham Graham. NOPE. Maybe I will use Rags. Rags Graham. That sounds good. Well, I am so happy for you and wish I could be there to hold the little bugger.
I hope the reunions were a blast, whoever went.
So yes, President Ashton is staying until September. The other President is named Middleton. It is a real blessing to have President Ashton. He is one of the best examples for me and how I want to be, besides you dad.
That story of William Walker is what gave me the idea of going and doing that (going to the high bluff overlooking the city and praying for divine intervention). We really did rededicate the area. It really does work, because the Lord is really blessing us with people to teach. When and if you all come up here, we will definitely go to this look out place. It is beautiful.
We have not been able to meet with the other pastor again. But we are being very careful. I know that the only thing that will change his heart is the spirit. But he is going to have to be humble. In the end, all we can do is testify of the truth. As for other churches, it is really interesting to see, and it really does make you thankful for what you have. I love the restored and the fullness of the gospel. It is true.
I am allowed to drive. That story is just that I had a bad feeling about driving home that day. But I am the one who is driving everywhere. My comp got a ticket, and doesn’t want to drive, so I do, and I can. I am being more and more careful. It is funny how the mission changes you.
The Pow Wow was really fun. It was not as big as everyone said it was going to be. It is supposed to be the biggest, but there were a lot of them all over up here, so it was smaller. But it was still really fun. I got some video of it. I will send to you all when I can. It is really awesome.
Grandma, thank you so much for the recorder. I am having a lot of fun with it. I am going to record some of our lessons and it will be a great tool to help us learn what we need to do better. Thank you so much. I love you.
Well, on with what happened this week.
We went down to the island again. On Friday, we were really having a bad day. We were talking to people all morning and stopping by people but we were just not having much success. It was worse than a usual bad day. It was really bad and we were both getting very frustrated with the people and the members. We went in for brake and prayed that the Lord would help us and that we would not be frustrated. We showed the Lord that we had faith and went back out. God will come through for you EVERY TIME! He loves us. Let me tell you. He really does. He sometimes is just trying to teach us. I relearned a great lesson that day; you can’t do God’s work without God. He blessed us with some wonderful contacts on the street. We still didn’t teach, but God lightened our load. If you will ask him, he will make the trials of your faith easier. He won’t take them away, but he will help you learn from them and grow. With every trial, there is a lesson to be learned.
I have another great lesson that has to do with following the spirit. We were driving around on Monday and on our way to someone’s house, when I had a bad feeling, and I have learned that you really need to pay attention when that happens. I very quickly pulled over to the side of the road and told my companion, "I need to pray". I asked him what he wanted me to do. We continued on our drive. We passed one of the part member family’s houses. The Fishers. She is a LA and RC. Robert has got himself deep into Anti. He was going to be baptized but read too much stuff on the internet and now thinks that Joseph Smith was a fraud and that he was trying to manipulate people. I felt that we were supposed to visit them. I quickly flipped a U turn and drove to their house. We walked around the back of the house and all of the sudden you could feel that something was wrong. The spirit left and we both felt really dark. They were all on the back porch. Robert was sitting with his hands to his face and Stef was trying to comfort him. He really looked bad. Stef went inside and we began to talk with Rob. We asked him if he had read the scriptures that we had left him. He began to get into all the new anti that he had found. The devil was at work. We quickly finished our conversation and left. Now why were we supposed to go there? We were supposed to learn how anti is spiritual poison. It really is. Don’t play with it. It is bad stuff. We prayed for Robert. He looked so miserable. It is really sad.
But we have had some great success. We have two new families. They are not golden, but if they will allow the spirit to teach them, they will be awesome. The first is Sandy and her 3 kids. Right now she is just out to prove it wrong, but if she prays, we all know what will happen.
The other is Jerry and her 2 kids. The first thing that she said to me on the street was that “Jesus doesn’t love me”. We asked for her number and asked her if we could come and share a message about a prophet and the restoration. When we showed up at her house, she said she thought we were going to call. She was going to tell us that she was not interested. But when we started to teach her about faith and prayer, she really stared to get interested. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to pray. It was a really strong lesson. She has had some hard times with religion and has really been turned off by other churches, but she likes us and is willing to try.
It was a great week. I am really sorry it is so short, but I have to go. Mom, I can’t come back until next Wednesday. Sorry.
I love you all and pray that everything is well.
Love,
Elder Graham
Hi everyone,
Estee and Lee, your baby looks awesome. I love the name. I wish I could us it, but that would not work very well. Graham Graham. NOPE. Maybe I will use Rags. Rags Graham. That sounds good. Well, I am so happy for you and wish I could be there to hold the little bugger.
I hope the reunions were a blast, whoever went.
So yes, President Ashton is staying until September. The other President is named Middleton. It is a real blessing to have President Ashton. He is one of the best examples for me and how I want to be, besides you dad.
That story of William Walker is what gave me the idea of going and doing that (going to the high bluff overlooking the city and praying for divine intervention). We really did rededicate the area. It really does work, because the Lord is really blessing us with people to teach. When and if you all come up here, we will definitely go to this look out place. It is beautiful.
We have not been able to meet with the other pastor again. But we are being very careful. I know that the only thing that will change his heart is the spirit. But he is going to have to be humble. In the end, all we can do is testify of the truth. As for other churches, it is really interesting to see, and it really does make you thankful for what you have. I love the restored and the fullness of the gospel. It is true.
I am allowed to drive. That story is just that I had a bad feeling about driving home that day. But I am the one who is driving everywhere. My comp got a ticket, and doesn’t want to drive, so I do, and I can. I am being more and more careful. It is funny how the mission changes you.
The Pow Wow was really fun. It was not as big as everyone said it was going to be. It is supposed to be the biggest, but there were a lot of them all over up here, so it was smaller. But it was still really fun. I got some video of it. I will send to you all when I can. It is really awesome.
Grandma, thank you so much for the recorder. I am having a lot of fun with it. I am going to record some of our lessons and it will be a great tool to help us learn what we need to do better. Thank you so much. I love you.
Well, on with what happened this week.
We went down to the island again. On Friday, we were really having a bad day. We were talking to people all morning and stopping by people but we were just not having much success. It was worse than a usual bad day. It was really bad and we were both getting very frustrated with the people and the members. We went in for brake and prayed that the Lord would help us and that we would not be frustrated. We showed the Lord that we had faith and went back out. God will come through for you EVERY TIME! He loves us. Let me tell you. He really does. He sometimes is just trying to teach us. I relearned a great lesson that day; you can’t do God’s work without God. He blessed us with some wonderful contacts on the street. We still didn’t teach, but God lightened our load. If you will ask him, he will make the trials of your faith easier. He won’t take them away, but he will help you learn from them and grow. With every trial, there is a lesson to be learned.
I have another great lesson that has to do with following the spirit. We were driving around on Monday and on our way to someone’s house, when I had a bad feeling, and I have learned that you really need to pay attention when that happens. I very quickly pulled over to the side of the road and told my companion, "I need to pray". I asked him what he wanted me to do. We continued on our drive. We passed one of the part member family’s houses. The Fishers. She is a LA and RC. Robert has got himself deep into Anti. He was going to be baptized but read too much stuff on the internet and now thinks that Joseph Smith was a fraud and that he was trying to manipulate people. I felt that we were supposed to visit them. I quickly flipped a U turn and drove to their house. We walked around the back of the house and all of the sudden you could feel that something was wrong. The spirit left and we both felt really dark. They were all on the back porch. Robert was sitting with his hands to his face and Stef was trying to comfort him. He really looked bad. Stef went inside and we began to talk with Rob. We asked him if he had read the scriptures that we had left him. He began to get into all the new anti that he had found. The devil was at work. We quickly finished our conversation and left. Now why were we supposed to go there? We were supposed to learn how anti is spiritual poison. It really is. Don’t play with it. It is bad stuff. We prayed for Robert. He looked so miserable. It is really sad.
But we have had some great success. We have two new families. They are not golden, but if they will allow the spirit to teach them, they will be awesome. The first is Sandy and her 3 kids. Right now she is just out to prove it wrong, but if she prays, we all know what will happen.
The other is Jerry and her 2 kids. The first thing that she said to me on the street was that “Jesus doesn’t love me”. We asked for her number and asked her if we could come and share a message about a prophet and the restoration. When we showed up at her house, she said she thought we were going to call. She was going to tell us that she was not interested. But when we started to teach her about faith and prayer, she really stared to get interested. We gave her a Book of Mormon and asked her to pray. It was a really strong lesson. She has had some hard times with religion and has really been turned off by other churches, but she likes us and is willing to try.
It was a great week. I am really sorry it is so short, but I have to go. Mom, I can’t come back until next Wednesday. Sorry.
I love you all and pray that everything is well.
Love,
Elder Graham
07 August 2007
Checking In...
Hey folks. Just thought I would say hi. I was checking the Blog and found that no one has posted since I did last.....what does that mean....
Abby and Landon just finished and incredible day with some friends in hiking Timp to the top. Started at 6AM and finished at about 7PM. Amazing. they collapsed when they got home. Kelsy Nelson went with them and had to turn back after 1 mile. She couldn't make it. Landon and Blake ended up carrying another one of their freinds down the mountain to her father. She had forgotten her inhaler and gotten really sick from the altitude.
It was probably a good thing you went to Lagoon Madey. Coming from sea level and climbing to 12,000 feet would not have been good. They would have been hauling you down too.
We love you all. I am up to my neck in the transition from my office to the new digs. But all is well.
Love to all.
Abby and Landon just finished and incredible day with some friends in hiking Timp to the top. Started at 6AM and finished at about 7PM. Amazing. they collapsed when they got home. Kelsy Nelson went with them and had to turn back after 1 mile. She couldn't make it. Landon and Blake ended up carrying another one of their freinds down the mountain to her father. She had forgotten her inhaler and gotten really sick from the altitude.
It was probably a good thing you went to Lagoon Madey. Coming from sea level and climbing to 12,000 feet would not have been good. They would have been hauling you down too.
We love you all. I am up to my neck in the transition from my office to the new digs. But all is well.
Love to all.
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