Excerpts from Mike's Letter Home:

04/12/2004

Dear Family,

It has been a pretty interesting week. It started with me cutting my hair. I was about half way done cutting it when my clippers slowed down drastically, and were moving back and forth very slowly. It wasn't really cutting anymore. So, I tried the usual unplugging and re-plugging it in but to no avail. I take the next logical approach which is asking Elder Green if he has a set of clippers. He says yep, but of course he doesn't have the size adapter I was using. I figured it would still look better than what I had at that point and decided to give it a try. The whole time, I am thinking "dang...my mission's almost over and I don't want to have to buy another set of clippers." Then we plugged in Elder Green's, and it is not moving at all. I conclude it must be an electrical problem. So, I find the circuit breaker, and the one with the outlet I was using was tripped. Interestingly enough, I think that was the only thing on it. So, what tripped it I don't know. Though, it sure caught me off guard and I finished the hair cut successfully.

On Monday, the parts for my bicycle from Liahona arrived. Though, I couldn't fit them in. I assumed it was something I might have been doing wrong. Elder Slatter was going to be down the next day (exchanges with First Ward), so I decided to wait and have him look at it. He looked at it, and told me that basically the person who was drilling the hole in my shocks for the mounts had probably been using a dull drill and did not drill deep enough. I found a member with a drill bit of about the right size. I now have a working bike (for the most part). There are a few things that could use a little tweaking, but it is up & running fairly well again. Though, after I got my bike working again Elder Green got a flat tire. We of course, fixed that fairly easily. Luckily, we had all the right stuff with us.

Our recent convert has been doing well and has begun the taping & mudding process on his new house. It is about 3/4 of the way done with the first coat. I have been doing electrical. I attached all of the outlets to the wires (pretty tedious, especially since they had been cut poorly and not done so well before). I got to start wiring the circuit breaker. Elder Green and the homeowner said that my circuit breaker wiring looked very professional. I too, liked the way I was making it look inside the box. I wired 9 of the circuits and we probably have around 23 of them. (Don't worry mom, the main hookup is not connected to the box yet....so I am pretty safe.)

Friday was convert's Birthday. His kids came down Saturday night and we celebrated a little bit. We enjoyed some cake, key lime pie, chili, etc. We gave him an extra-large print hard bound triple & bible. He had seen some that I had previously ordered and liked it. So, we gave him the large set for the family/new house. He seemed to like it.

This week has been pretty annoying. They predicted rain just about every day, making it hard to plan when we were going to do things. Elder Green does not have fenders for his bike, so we didn't want to bike much in the rain and puddles. You know, there is quite a bit of splash. So we did quite a bit of walking because it rained pretty hard, even though my bike was now fixed.

Since Sunday was Easter we have been practicing with the choir a little bit. There was a Saturday morning practice and we attended. It went really well, I liked the numbers that we were performing. Sunday we sang in church and it went pretty well also. There are some good musicians in Bartlesville that is for sure.

After Saturday's choir practice we helped the ward financial clerk fix the church computer. We did this sort of selfishly since we wanted a new membership list. We pretty much got it up & running in the end. The financial clerk was pretty excited someone that knew what they were talking about was around. I of course was thrilled to be of benefit.

Easter Dinner went pretty well. We had some ham, mashed potatoes, salad, fruit salad, pumpkin pie, cheese cake, etc. At a member's home with their daughter and son in-law. We had a pretty good evening with them. The kids searched for some Easter eggs. The big value eggs had $20 and $10 in them. Ever heard of inflation? I don't think my eggs were that bountiful the few times we searched. Either way the kids were happy. I also want to acknowledge receiving the Easter Package. Thank you very much; Elder Green has enjoyed what I have shared with him so far.

Mom mentioned that I could "stay on a mission" to save money. Yes, BYU housing is more expensive. Though, it reminds me of the quote "Freedom isn't free". I am just giving you another chance to sacrifice and receive more blessings (well, somewhat). Though, I greatly appreciate the housing and the registration that will happen on Wednesday. Good luck with all of that.

It is kind of sad to hear that Jeff Sorenson will be back in the OTM when I am coming home. It seems like he comes out here all the time. Though, I do wish him a good trip. Has he mentioned a reason for this trip? Hopefully I get to see him, before I head off to Utah. I wonder if I will have any of my past companions present.

In Dad's letter he mentioned all of the other jobs his co-workers have taken over the years. I didn't realize that there were so many opportunities and side tracks that people take. That is just something to watch for I guess. You would think that computer employees would be thinking about other computer job opportunities but I guess that is not the case.

I am sorry to hear that Squirt is pretty much deaf. She is one good pupper. It will just be weird to call her and get no response. Though, we shall see how well she remembers me. I am glad otherwise she seems to be in good health.

Hopefully Uncle Dick's funeral all works out okay. Things are pretty challenging in life, so keep praying. I am for you. Let me know how the arrangements all worked out. I am curious, and send Aunt Ruth & Lorraine & Marge & Cousin Larry my best. I will keep you all in my prayers.

I think that is about it for my end. I hope that Easter was wonderful for all of you! Did the Easter bunny come? Anyways take care, I greatly miss and love you all.

Love,
Elder Mike Robinson