Mel: Quite a week with our friend Shane from Washington.

Here's a snippit from my journal:

In other news, I did the Summerfest with James Sorenson and Matt Logan. We had a fun time. It rained like crazy Saturday so we didn't make much money but we each sold some and got enough "wow's" to keep us holding our head up. Mitch and Chass came as people were packing up but they bought the big temple. Mitch was up till 12:30 hanging it and sent me a picture of the installation. Cool

Church was never to be forgotten. Wayne gave a good talk. The others were pretty good too. Then… we went to my class. Shane (our friend we met at the tabernacle choir concert was on a roll. The lesson was about the gifts of the Spirit but we didn't get to that for a while. I explained that Heavenly Father loves us and He gives us gifts to help us get back and help each other get back. That's when Shane went off talking about how God is a kid playing with his life like a Yo-yo. I put the positive spin on it that as Yo-yo's we are rough and when we bump against things we are smoothed like JS's rock analogy. He expressed frustration that I always put a positive spin on things. A sister Shana Young then pointed out how she'd struggled in the past and made bad choices but realized that despite her parents and upbringing, her life's path was her choice and she finally used her agency to get back on the path. She was in tears and that's when Shane burst a gasket. He stood up swore about how this always happens when he gets involved with these &%$@#*&)%^$*# scriptures and stormed out of the room. I was barely able to go on. I was pretty sad and said a prayer that he'd be OK and not do something stupid.

After 10 minutes he came back! Prayers were answered. Wow. He stood at the front of the class room and apologized and said that he didn't have anywhere else to go and asked if he could come back. Everyone offered an overwhelming yes and he sat down. Then we continued with the lesson. I compared this life to an adventure where we were all given some of the needed supplies. And we are to discover them and share them with each other. Some have matches, some have water, etc. Shane pitched in again and said that he felt that all his life he'd been offering people his matches but no one would take them. Bro Gwilliams offered that perhaps he needed to be more creative in how he offered his matches. I suggested that Jesus too had his gifts rejected and sometimes he was creative and sometimes he just took His matches to someone else. It ended well and there were hugs all around. Linda Hudson gave me one to start and then gave Raeghn and Shane one. Jessie Shock's mother in law was awesome and talked with Shane afterward about his great worth and so did Linda.

That night I asked him if he'd like a blessing. He agreed and afterwards he admitted that he had felt unexplainable feelings both after coming back into the class room and during his blessing. The next day we were able to get his car running! Whoo hoo. It was family home evening so we had a weiner roast and played some basketball in the church parking lot. A pretty good time and the food was great. Raeghn knows how to throw a party!

The next morning we sent Shane off for home. I wrote him a letter encouraging him to turn to his Heavenly Father and take the missionary lessons. I'm working on getting that arranged. What a crazy time. It was not a coincidence that he was towed all the way from the I-15 freeway into Logan. I know our prayers to teach someone the gospel were answered. What a wonderful experience it was. I've never blessed a non-member and the Spirit was strong. I forgot to mention that the morning before, Saturday, the Spirit told me to get up to the temple. Raeghn gave me Mom's initiatories and I did them. It was a great experience and I now realize that the reason was to get me ready for that lesson and blessing. I leaned on the promised blessings pretty heavily!

Thanks Mom and Dad for the great example of helping those in need! No matter how poor you are!

Raeghn: Busy week. Lots of running around, and not much to show for it. Shad, Adam, Andrew and I had a picnic in our forest on Wednesday. That was the highlight of my week. We went and checked out Shad's fort that he is building, and I'm so amazed! he's made a bridge to cross the water, put up a bunch of wood on a tree for support, put a hammock, and cleared a lot of weeds and fallen wood. It is the perfect spot for a fun fort... Wayne and Kveena are still working hard at the cub scout camp, and doing so well at it. Adam and Andrew are having a fun summer with learning time, and reading time, and play time. They are learning the value of chores and helping around the house (especially with Wayne & Kveena gone, we're having to do the things they usually do)... I'm feeling well, and really loving feeling the baby kick inside of me. This is my favorite part of pregnancy. Our heart and prayers are going out to Stan and Sh'Nell and are really impressed by their faith and love for the Lord.

Wayne:Hey I have been doing great lately. I am doing good at work with the scout camp and I am doing good in my scripture reading. I am soo sorry for missing a few blog entries. Hope you are having a good mission over there. The swimming pool was fun I went on the high dive a few times and I also went on the slide that goes very steep. I went to youth conference and I had loads of fun there. A girl got bit by a rattle snake. She got bit about 15 feet away from my tent! She had to go to the hospital and missed the amazing spiritual experience. She was really looking forward to it also. At youth conference we did a service project of picking dyers woad and cutting firewood. There was a fire side that was amazingly spiritual! After the Fire Side there was a square dance. That was really fun also. It was pretty tiring though. Well it is getting late and as it says in Doctrine and covenants 88:124 I need to go to sleep. Have a great week!
Kvinde hi you guys, this summer I've been working at a scout camp with Wayne. it's really cool and gives me a reason to wake up early. I've made great friends while on lunch breaks. thanks for the awesome card! any ways this week we get Thursday, Friday, Saturday ,and the next Monday off. then i have girls camp.it will be fun. miss you allot.tell you how it went next week. bye!
Shad: Hi, thank you for the birthday card,the photos and the money this week as you now we went swimming. The whole family is going to the zoo in Salt Lake and the Planetarium this coming Friday. hope you guys are having successful mission. Love you, bye!
Adam: I miss you. This week we went to the aquatic center (the local outdoor pool) and I got to go on the water slide all by myself. It was so fun! I love you.
Andrew: We went swimming this week. I went on a swirly slide 2 times and a lifeguard catched me at the end! It was fun. I saw someone about 7 go down the steep slide, not the swirly slide, go down with a shirt on. Wayne even went on that steep one! Today I went to church at my old ward. I sang a song about Pioneers, and it says they sang as they walked and walked and walked (as Andrew is dictating this to me he's singing it...) I miss you! I love you!

Fathers Day!

Wayne:
Kvinde:hi! happy fathers day you guys. hope you're having a great summer. is it warm up there? well i love you lots. better go to bed it's getting late i'll try to wright more next week see you latter!
Shad: These last two weeks were Fun. Two weeks ago me and Kvinde had our last choir concert of the year, but we are quitting, me because it is to high for me and Kvinde... I don't know... but the week after that dad had a booth at the Summer Fest and sold photos. Saturday night I had a dream that Grandam and Grandpa Torrie were on there mission in Logan all along and they never told us! I know they would tell us though so I knew that it was a dream. Fathers day was great. We made my dad peanut butter and chocolate chip cake, one of his favorite flavors. well done writing, Love you!
Adam: I miss you. I'm going to go swimming next week. Dad made a new friend and he's telling him about the church. Be safe! Love you.

Andrew: I miss you. I'm watching a movie about where you are for your mission (Legacy). I love you!
Mel: What a couple of weeks! Sorry for the delay in writing. Crazy times. We went to our first air show and Hill Air Force Base.

The company is just holding on. The bank gave us a delinquency notice to freeze our line of credit because they believe our finance reports show that our ability to pay is in question. Raeghn, I, and my accountant went into the bank and gave them the best story we could. They said that we're on probation and they'll monitor on a daily-weekly basis. We don't know how we can make payroll in two weeks. And me and my shareholders are going without pay currently. We're praying hard and are thankful for the prayers of our family. We have some leads but we're still waiting to hear. Hopefully we will get a positive response this week. Then we can start working on solving engineering problems and not bank problems. I pray that is His will. But whatever it is I know it will be for our good. It already has been.

We met a young man named Shane from Washington state and I've been spending a lot of time with him. His car broke down on the highway I-15 and for some reason they towed him into Logan vs. towns much closer. We know it has been an answer to our prayers to meet people who need the gospel. He's come to church a couple of times and has read part of the BofM we gave him. We're still trying to fix his car. Mitch is helping now so our chances have gone way up. He has been staying in our old house but the renters are moving in next week, so we're not sure what we're going to do. We're going to go up to the university tomorrow and see what we can find for attractive major for him. It sure has made me thankful for my incredible parents and the gospel. What a priceless gift they both are. Only actions can do the gratitude justice and so I try to do better. A long way to go but I have an eternity to progress. I need it! It also has made me thankful for Raeghn and our children. More blessings I don't deserve. More in debt in this sense than I'll ever be financially. I just hope the Lord is more patient than our banker.

I did the big Summerfest Art Show. I invited two other fledgling photographers to share a booth and we all sold enought pictures to make a little money. We got rained out the last day but we had fun and met some great people. Mitch and Chass bought one of my big temple ones so that was cool. Mitch put it on their wall that night and emailed me a picture at 1:00 am.


Raeghn: Hope all is well there. Life is great here. I'm getting big, and loving feeling the baby kick and move around inside of me. The miracle of life is always so much stronger when I carry a baby. Today for fathers day we've had a fun day. Mel is a great father and husband and I owe so much of that to you two. I thank the Lord everyday for him and his goodness. I sure am blessed. Today he taught an incrediable lesson in Gospel Principles and did so well with all sorts of distractions and comments that might not have been the best, but he lead them back on track and handled it so well. He follows and teaches with the Spirit so well. He's been a great example of pure love through his service to Shane. I can't believe how giving and compasionate of a man he is, he never ceases to amaze me. Like I said, I'm so blessed!
I hear you met our Bishop, who is also my cousin. He's a great bishop. He's a faithful person, and leads our ward well...
We're praying for you, and know you are doing great things!

Mel: Hello! Sure appreciate your prayers (everyone who's reading this who's prayed for us). I think we're close to a miracle... Should know in a couple weeks... We hope. The bank says I better!

We've started a program in our ward where we choose 1 family and serve them throughout the year. We've chosen two families. One is a part member family that isn't active. The husband (not a member is a great guy). We home teach them but we're not supposed to teach about the church so this week we shoveled manure. Wayne and Shad were thrilled. They were actually pretty good workers. We took a little while getting warmed up but then it was flying everywhere. We inhaled a lot of manure dust and coughed a bit the rest of the day. Allergies were flowing like honey. We got a slurpee treat after!

We had our ward barbeque party this week and the turnout was about 260 people. Good food and good times. I met a great non-member who is an aerospace navigation consultant. I hope we can use him on this upcoming miracle. He would be a great person to help us make things safe.

I had my monthly photoclub meeting on Wednesday. I didn't win the best photo, but I didn't deserve it as there was an incredible picture that beat me. I posted the water fall from the "water theme".

Keep up the great work out there! We love you tons!

Temple Birthday! 125 Years Old

Wayne:Well I kinda forget what has happened over this long period of time... I hope I do not repeat what I have already said. I went to Lagoon (A theme park just a bit farther south from Logan) for my Schools "Physics Day". My friend Dylan won an award for calculating the G-force of a ride with his home-made accelerometer. He got first place! I won a free day pass there because I filled out a long worksheet that covered physics topics about the rides there. I barely rode any rides as I was doing this worksheet all day. I think it was worth it because I won a free pass to go there again! Anyway this week has been going well... I went rock climbing with my friends up Logan Canyon! My friend dropped me about 4 feet and caught me with the rope. after that I smacked against the cliff face and got a slight scrape. I was really scared. This week was the Logan Temples Birthday so we learned some interesting facts about the temple. In church all the young men are preparing a song to sing in sacrament meeting next week. I am experiencing a small cold so I hope it is gone by the time we have to sing. Shad was singing really well today in the practice! He is doing great at fulfilling his priesthood duties. I might start guitar soon. I am also trying to convince my mom to get us playing the piano again.(since we moved we stopped lessons and stopped playing very much) I still play once in a while in seminary, but that is only when the person who is really good at piano is late or gone. I only have 3 and a half days of school left! I can't wait! I will miss some of my friends though. Anyway I am writing too much so see you later! Kveena: hay! how are you guys? today it was rainy. when we were going up the road it didn't look like my dad could really see where he was going. we went to a movie yesterday it was the second one of the series it was pretty good but i don't know which one i liked best.shad will talk about it to. i went to the scout camp i'm working at in the summer it looks like it's going to be great fun. i've always wondered what it would be like to be a scout cause they seemed to always be doing something funner than me and the activity days girls were doing but it was probely because wayne is so good at making things sound funner then they were so i'd be jelouse he still does that sometimes well by talk back i'd love to here from you guys!

Shad:Hi! Haven't righten in a while... So here it goes... Thursday of last week me, Adam, Andrew and dad went to Yellowstone, Wayne couldn't come because he had a three-hundred point lab... It was a theme park!!! He was so lucky, but we saw Ryan and Tonya's family,so we had way more fun. On Saturday we went with them on a hike in the mountains. But there was snow and we were walking by a rock on snow and Adam fell in a eight feet deep hole he was really scared other than that we had a fun Saturday... And we saw three wolf take an elk out, it was cool. On Sunday we went to church and after Sunday school I felt sick, so I told dad he gave me the keys to the car and I went into the car. Then I felt sick I was going to throw-up. So I ran to the grass out side and I threw up! We figured out that I got sick by bad sandwich meat at lunch Saturday... Then yesterday we went to Night Of The Museum it was a great movie so that's all bye!!

Mel: The boys and I had a fun trip to Yellowstone. We committed to meet the canadian photo club on this third weekend before we realized it was the 15th (wedding anniversary) so Raeghn was good to take a rain check for a big get away. We got to meet Ryan and Tonya and their kids and had a nice but short visit. We got to swim Friday night and then we went rock climbing with them in the morning. We almost lost Adam. He fell through the snow into a cavern about 8 feet deep. We grabbed him in time and luckily no snow fell on top of him. We were a little more careful after that! He was a good sport about it all. Everyone else enjoyed the adventure. Unlike our usual visits, we only saw a few bears and they were a long ways away but we saw lots of wolves really close. As you see from the picture it was the most incredible display of nature that I've seen and will probably ever see. Wow. I'm going to try and write it up with more pictures. After the wolves experience we headed home. We thought we'd go by the church to see when it started the next morning. There was no sign, but there was another guy who just drove into the parking lot too. So we asked him (young guy about 20) and he said he was looking to find out the same thing. We saw lights in the video rental store in town (knowing the branch president owned it) so we headed back to ask there. We got the branch president's niece to open the door and she told us 10. So we hauled back to find this guy. He took the wrong way back (to town instead of up the hill) but then turned around to head back to his camp location (or else we'd never have caught him) . We sped right past the "radar speed control" sign and overtook him, forcing him off the road and told him the start time.

Getting to church early we didn't see him and a friend until about 10 after. The meeting was nice and typical for a tiny branch. Afterwards I went and introduced myself to these two young men. Turns out they were on a short trip from the east for a summer vacation. Mike had just graduated from a Christian college to join the ministry in counseling and had a job in his old home town of 800 people and Nathan had two years left in the same school and was majoring in urban youth counseling. He had his bible and pulled it out for class. Well we didn't hear much of class because we started discussing our beliefs and it was exhilarating. I bore testimony and tried to clarify most of his typical anti-mormon education. He was getting really frustrated to the point of shaking, but there was no contention. He got so agitated that his friend started to pat/rub his back to comfort him. I was definitely curious what was going on in his mind. I was bearing witness of the atonement and how it lifted the burdens of suffering and he finally couldn’t take it any longer and said "Don’t take this wrong, but yes, I believe all those things regarding the Spirit and the Savior, but you can't have those things in your life because you don't know the Savior, you don't have the truth, God can’t answer your prayers because you aren’t praying to him. Just like He doesn’t answer the Buddhists prayers." I continued to witness that the Holy Ghost bears witness of truth and that they could know if Joseph Smith was lifted and guided by the Lord or if it was Satan as they had been taught. That they could kneel and know for themselves tonight, that the Lord has one church and that He does talk through prophets just as he has throughout time. It was great to learn things from His perspective too. How his college has taught him to mis-understand certain scriptures in the bible which are foundational to our beliefs. Boy was it exhilarating. The Lord was putting words in my mouth and answering some of their questions in ways I had never before thought of. One example was when he quoted Joseph Smith's "As God once was..." I responded that Jesus told us to become like Him and that through Him we can. He was silent. I would usually go on and on about some explaination but the Lord likes simplicity. Blew me away.

It was a surprising answer to my prayers in request for help in being led to the open hearted. I was thinking of the Petersboro people but heh, I’ll take anyone interested. Well, we talked through Sunday School and Priesthood meeting and kept going after that until Adam came into the chapel and said that Shad had just thrown up outside and wanted some assistance. So I left the young men my email address and off I ran. I could have talked late into the night with them, but apparently the Lord figured it was sufficient. So, I pray they will email me and that the Spirit will work upon their hearts.

The picture of the family with cupcakes is us celebrating the Logan Temple's 125 Year Birthday. You'll have to enlarge the rock pictures to see the kids. The pictures in the car are from the night we slept in the old Lland Cruiser (250,000 miles on it) in Yellowstone park. The bird is an Osprey. The lake/mountains are Jackson Lake in front of the Tetons.

Raeghn: Hi, this week has been good. I missed the boys when they went to Yellowstone. Especially Mel on our wedding anniversary. We've been married 17 years! Wow, time flies. He's a patient man to put up with me that long. He's going to be greatly rewarded in Heaven, I'm sure of it. Before they left town, we had our ultra sound. Kveena went with us, and after said, I think it's a boy, it's facial features look like a boy. We still didn't find out, and for some reason, this is the hardest one to not find out on. I'd really like to know if Kveena's getting a sister. But, we'll see in September. While Mel was gone, I taught his Gospel Principles class. It was on the restoration. I've always had a testimony of it, but as I prepared, my testimony of it increased so much more, it was a good experience for me. The next day I went to SLC and went to the Legacy theater and watched the church's film on the Legacy theater, which was great! Pregnancy is going pretty good. I've been feeling yucky each morning after I eat (about an hour) so I asked to have the glucose labs done, and sure enough, my levels were 60 over where they should be for a maximum. So, I've met with a dietition and am now on a stirct diet of 180 max of carbs per day, but in the morning, I can't seem to have any, even one peice of toast knocks me out (not really, but close - very weak, and yucky feeling)! It's the empty stomach I guess. The kids are all looking forward to summer.

Blog entry will be late this week but should be a good one. Stay tuned...!

Mother's Day Week!

Mel: Hi Mom! Happy Mother's Day! How blessed I am to have a lady like you as a mother. I'm sure I was way muscular in the pre-existence because I probably had to battle millions for a slot as one of your children (I hope I didn't trigger that war in heaven thingy over it?). How glad I am for your sacrifices and selflessness. Your example often reminds me of how much further I have to go.

We had a fine week. Still haven't had our miracle but I think we're close. Darkest before the dawn? I snuck out and took some geese pictures again this week on the way back from basketball. Adam and Andrew sung for Mothers day (click on the picture and see if you can pick them out!). They did a great job. The kids and I cooked dinner for Raeghn today. We did OK... Steak, Potatoes, Corn, Salad, Slushis, and banana splits for dessert. She was gracious and ate pretty good! We are blessed to have her in our home! Here's a picture of her holding her deep fryer! Doesn't she look thrilled!
Kveena:happy mother's day your the best grandma a girl could want thanks for always being there for me! I'm reading the "tennis shoes among the Nephites" books they awesome! love you guys so much good luck!!!

Wayne: Happy mother's day!! I hope you have been having a great day. Like my dad said we did the best we could for our mom. She really is amazing! This week I am praying and reading my scriptures trying to get an answer to which school I should go to. If I should stay at the small charter school that I go to now or if I should go to the public school. Tomorrow I am going to the public school to take a tour through the halls to see if the spirit is gone more or less than InTech (The school I go to now) I have been praying about it a lot. I thought I got an answer, but it didn't feel right yet so... I delayed the decision. I fasted about the answer last week, but still not a sure answer. I hope and pray I make the best decision for my future. Well Happy Mother's day again!!! Have a great week.
Shad: This week was great! I did a serves project. Dad took pictures of me with out me knowing. Our dog Pepper, broke her knee. She broke it by jumping out of a truck. Tomorrow she is going to have a surgery we are all sad :( . Well that is all I have to wright... bye.

Mayday Week!

Wayne: Hey, this week my dad was on a business trip most of the week. Today at church there was a baby blessing and the bishop asked me to hold the mic. for it. It was a very good blessing. I also was supposed to take the mic. out into the congregation if someone was unable to walk up to the pulpit. I sat on the stand the whole time and was able to see how the spirit effected the people. Many started crying on a particularly spiritual testimony. Shad is doing well with his duties as a deacon. Today he collected fast offerings around the ward, I think he is very proud to have the priesthood. On Friday I went to my friends birthday party. It was a movie party. I had loads of fun. On Saturday my mom made these really good Rice Crispy treats. She made them with extra marshmallows so they were extra sticky. This week went really well I think In seminary we are learning about Paul the Apostle and the apostasy. There are some very interesting things in the scriptures about Paul. Well I am doing my best to keep the name "Wayne" a good trustworthy name. Today I poured gravy on my bread and my dad said that was something Wayne Sr. would do, and it made me think of you. Hope you are doing well out there, still praying for you a lot.
Shad: This week, it was mayday but it was so rainy we didn't go. Today is fast Sunday it is a great experience, there were great testimonies. It was a great week.

Adam: I miss you and I hope you are doing good! We had rice crispy treats today for desert. I liked them a lot.
Andrew: I miss you. It is fasting Sunday. I fasted from sugar. I didn't go to class today because I had a cough.
Mel: Hi Mom and Dad! I bet you are doing an incredible job out there. My albino porcupine picture illustrates how work is going. Holding on! My faith is strengthened by knowing you are praying for us. If we can just get through June, things should start getting better. We have some good prospects in July time frame but a huge gap to fill before then. We have a french company coming out this week (their US rep) to discuss partnering. Could turn into something good.
I went on travel this week to a large motor company in Evansville, IN that works in the mining industry and then to the Kubota factory in Georgia. No miracles yet but it still possible. I added a picture I took along the road in Georgia.
I've included some pictures of us doing scripture study with the Preach My Gospel manual. Trying to get us all ready for missions. Also, Andrew and I went out to get pictures of baby Geese and ended up staying for sunset. He is wearing my coat b/c it got a little cold. We're still plugging our way through this Ward Missionary Calling. We don't know many people (less actives and non-members) but it is coming. I need more of that Wayne Torrie courage to just run house to house and get to know them. Prayers for us in this calling are welcome too... With all your kids, you must need an hour for prayer to cover all the topics! It means a lot to us. Thanks for being who you are. Love you tons!