Elder Uncle Lars for FHE

For those who don't know, my brother Lars has been called to serve in the Germany Munich/Austria Mission. Of course it was special considering that my mom is from there, but the really neat part is that it's the same mission my dad served in!! My dad met my mom at church a couple years later while on exchange with the German Navy.

Lars has been at the MTC for several weeks now and is having the time of his life (not surprising). I got a letter from him today and got excited. Of course it was mostly because I was glad he had responded to mine, but also because it was my inspiration for FHE!

We sang "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" for both opening and closing songs. Gregory actually volunteered to say the opening prayer, which is a HUGE deal because for some reason he always declines when it's prayer time. I quickly read and expounded on Alma 43:1-2, which basically explains in a nutshell the nature of missionaries and missionary work.

Then we trucked on over to the dining table and the kids dictated letters to Lars. They were adorable! If people want, I'll post them. I taped Leora's paper to the table and let her have at it with a marker (brave, I know).

Gregory and Charla also got to color theirs. Charla's cracked me up. She very enthusiastically explained that she was drawing all the members of the Jensen family. She would point to a scribble and declare who it was. "Uncle Lars, Anja, Dora, Oma, mama, papa, etc..." Fred is the pink scribble.

Then Gregory helped mix sugar cookie dough. When he gets home from school tomorrow we'll bake some cookies and then mail them, along with the letters, to Elder Uncle Lars.

Again, I was pleasantly surprised how smoothly it all went. I was also impressed at all the things Gregory named that missionaries do: pray, tell people about the Book of Mormon, work, go to church, sing... He didn't mention "eat".

Anyways, we're all super psyched for Lars. He'll get to spend Christmas actually in the mission field! I think it's safe to say we're all a little jealous. At least our Christmas will (well, might) be white!

In addition to our lesson, the Halloween Cookie Phantom struck and we found a gift bag of treats on our front step. You might say the kids were excited. Maybe the incentive of getting a piece of candy and blowing bubbles after FHE helped keep those kids in line.

I think Leora enjoyed the bubbles most. I wish I had been able to grab some footage of her when they first started blowing bubbles to her. She squealed with delight, laughing like a cute little hyena.