Smartmouth, or the downfall of having older brothers and sisters...

The other day, I was cleaning the kitchen. I had just finished cleaning one of the counters, and I turned around and started on another. When I turned back around Joslynn and Aidan were standing on the counter I had just finished cleaning. I reprimanded them for standing on the counter I had just cleaned. Aidan gets off, and Joslynn starts pretending she is going to fall. I tell her to sit down right now before she really falls. She sits down and says, "Okay, now what Einstein?" (pronounced eye stein) I wasn't sure what to say, she is just grinning at me, all proud of herself. I tried to figure out which older brother or sister had taught her the new lovely phrase. No one will admit to it. I am not sure if she heard it on T.V. or what...Oh, what fun this is going to be!!!!

Newest from Elder Henderson...

Here is the rest of the story James told last time...
We went to her and Elder De Leon did an awesome contact. He helped her to see that we had an important message to share and she let us in. We shared with her the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She liked the message a lot and told us that she wanted us to visit again, so we planned another visit. Elder De Leon told me after the message that when I was looking at the map and we had no idea where to go, he heard a voice that said, "Elder". He looked at me , but realized that I hadn't said anything to him. He then heard the voice again, but this time it said, "Elder look back". He then looked back and there was the lady tending her garden. I realized when he told me that it was exactly after my prayer that he heard the voice. I have no doubt in my mind that it was an answer to my prayer,and I am so glad that he was ready to listen to the still small voice.

Elder Henderson, Elder Roberts and I am not sure who the people in the background are...

A bunch of missionaries, can you spot James????

Elder Schrafer and Elder Henderson, this is his newest companion, he is from Argentina.

Members of the ward and Alexis' family (James didn't tell me anything about the pictures, so I am trying to guess according to his letters.

Elder Roberts, Alexis(I think), and Elder Henderson

I think this is the young man they had been waiting to baptize, his name is Alexis, I think...

Eggs anyone????

RaNae's roommate: "Hey, RaNae, check if the eggs are good"

RaNae: "Wait, how do you do that?"

RaNae's roommate: "You see if they float in water or not."

RaNae: "Oh, okay."

CRACK

Her roommate walks over to check on it...

RaNae: "Well, I guess they are old...they aren't floating."

RaNae's roommate: "You weren't supposed to crack them..."

RaNae's roommate posted this on Facebook. I thought it was hilarious. I didn't know the trick to see if the eggs are too old or not, but leave it to my sweet, naive daughter to crack the eggs first.

RaNae, I love you so much.

And P.S. RaNae, we have all done something of this sort, it is fun to laugh at it though...

Happy Halloween!!!!!

The various stages of cleaning out the pumpkin...

Our sinister looking Jack-0-Lantern

Joslynn "Pink" CareBear (Thanks for the costume Aunt Cindy)

Aidan the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Seth the "Soldier"( a little gone "Rambo" I am afraid)

Clarissa the "Rock Island Rocks Cheerleader"

Bethany "the too talkative" Mime

Happy Halloween from the Hendersons!!!!

Can we say "Fear of Heights"????

RaNae went "Rock Wall" climbing recently. I never thought she would do so, she does have a fear of heights. But even she rationalized that they are wearing safety ropes and there really wasn't much of a risk. She said she had lots of fun. I have to thank Sara for these pictures, I stole them off of her facebook pics. So, thanks Sara!!! Maybe you can come home RaNae and take Seth out climbing, he had a great time doing this at Cub Scout Camp, he thinks this looks "so totally awesome", so much to climb.

Newest from Elder Henderson...

This is about 3/4 th of the letter we received today, October 26th...

We just had a great week, because we had a BAPTISM!!!! His name is Alexis and he is 14. We are so proud of him. When he bore his testimony after the baptism, he said that he didn't get baptised to not go to church ever again, he got baptised to be an active member of the Church. We loved hearing that. On Sunday I had the wonderful opportunity to confirm him a member of the Church, and confer upon him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was my first time and I loved doing it.
Right now we have a lot of pressure, because we just received our new trimestral focus of the mission, and it is to have four baptisms before the end of the year. We just got one, and we need three more. Every companionship needs four baptisms so we can reach our goal off 725 baptisms for the year. The President wants us to reach this goal so much, and he is doing all that he can to help us, even things that we have never done before. We have never had a devotional as a zone before, but the President told every zone in the mission to choose a special place and have a devotional to help prepare us to reach this miracle by the end of the year. We decided to have it on the Morro, which is the place where we took pictures last Monday. We had the devotional on the stairs in front of the huge statue of Jesus. It was a beautiful morning, with the ocean in front of us and Arica behind us. Everyone bore their testimony, and I am telling you guys right now, never in my life have I heard such strong and powerful testimonies. Each one showed the faith and devotion of every missionary. There are many recent converts in our zone that have only 2 or 3 years in the church, and I don't know how they stayed so strong and devoted to the church without support. I know I couldn't have done it without you guys. As I was listening to the testimonies I began to write down goals that I wanted for my mission and the rest of my life. These goals are going to stand as a guide for the rest of my life. I will never forget that morning. And I just want to let you guys know that I am with such wonderful missionaries. They are such wonderful examples for me. I wish to be someday like them. I know without a shadow of a doubt that we are all going to reach the four baptisms, and with the help of our Heavenly Father we are going to find those who are ready to accept the gospel.

Something really cool happened to me this week. I was with another missionary for one day, so that my companion could see the progress of the other missionary and his sector. So there we were two junior companions in my sector that to this day I hardly know. We were using the little map that I have all day,and there was a point in the day when all of our plans fell through, and I didn't have any idea what we should do. The idea came to my mind that I should pray. So I began to pray for help to know what we should do. As soon as I finished the other Elder, Elder De Leon from El Salvador said, "let's go talk to the lady behind us. So we started to talk to the lady who was tending her garden in front of her house. Elder De Leon did one of the best contacts that I have ever seen by gaining her confidence, she then let us enter.
I am going to have to finish the story later, I have to go.
I love you guys. Chao


Note from Judy: Hopefully he will finish his story next week, but sometimes he forgets ...




James and Elder Roberts.

Super hero missionaries saving our son...

James is the 2nd from the left on the back row.

Halloween is coming...

Halloween is coming...
Every year we buy those little pumpkin gourds and the kids decorate them. This year there were only 7 pumpkins. Sigh...
Anyway, instead of painting them like we usually do, the kids used foamies to create their little masterpieces. I think they turned out really cute, even Joslynn did her own, there is actually a little pumpkin under all the pink foamies.
Seth's is a cyclops (in the back with blue hair)
Bethany's is a wizard (in back)
Aidan's is a blue super hero on the left
Clare's is the witch in the middle
Corey's is the cyclops with brown hair up front
Ethen's is Frankenstein on the right
Joslynn's is the back right, she says her's is "Pink"

Cross Country Season 2009

Ethen and Corey finished out their Cross Country Season this past Friday at Conference at Credit Island in Iowa. They had a great season, and both beat their personal records at Conference. Although they will continue to run and train for track in the spring, they are probably glad to give up the 3+ mile runs daily. I think they are excited to actually come home after school instead of in the evening. And probably equally excited to sleep in on Saturdays.

No, it is not what it looks like, all of my kids had to make this comment...

Corey on his final stretch to the finish line...

Ethen about half-way through the course...

Ethen and his wind-blown hair...

Corey...

Cross Country Brothers...

College Life....RaNae

RaNae seems to have adjusted to college life...here are some pictures I stole off of facebook...We miss you Nae!!!!

RaNae's dorm room....
Just kidding... Her living room...

Kitchen...

Bathroom...

Her bed...

Her desk...

RaNae, Sara and friends going to see Fame...

I am not sure why this turned out so small, but they had snow last week...

RaNae at work, it is her job to hold up all of the poles in Rexburg...

Sara and RaNae (RaNae is sporting her cop glasses)

RaNae, one of Sara's roommates, and some guy...

Elder Henderson gets his Camera USB cord...

Well, James finally received his Birthday package yesterday. Only a little late. In his package we sent his camera USB cord, so he could send us some pictures. These are the first three pics we received...

This one is of his Zone when he first got to Alto Hospicio...
This is Elder Henderson and Elder Despain(his trainer)...

James overlooking the Portada of Antofagasta...his first day in Chile.

Elder Henderson in Arica, Chile

James has been transferred to Arica,
Chile. He says that the work there is so strong that they have 30 missionaries there right now. He loves it there, and once again has been blessed with a great companion. I think this is his 4th companion, and he is from Colorado, I think. His address will stay the same since it is the mission office address. He had his 20th birthday this past Sunday. He said it was great, but he was a little worried when the Assistants to the President called while he was in the shower. So while he waited for them to call back, he worried about what it was all about. Needless to say, he worried for nothing, they just sang Happy Birthday to him. We are sure missing him, he has been gone for 9 1/2 months now. Let me know if anyone wants me to forward his e-mails to you. Here is a Happy Birthday to my little boy. We love you James!!!!!