There has been a sighting of Elder Schenk in the Provo Area

This afternoon I got a text from Brittney, my niece, it said "I just saw your son.  He looks good and happy!  He's at my clinic with his companions.  I actually didn't see him at first but I recognized his companions from the pictures on his blog and then I looked harder and found him!"

I wrote back "So glad!  Snap his picture quick!  Tell him to write us!"  (We didn't get our usual email from him on Wednesday this week).

She said " OK, he just went back to the doc with his companions and I will get it on his way out."

I wrote "Did he see you?  Tell him hi from us.  We're on our way to the temple for him."

A few minutes later Brittney said " I went and said hi and asked if he needed anything and he said Cream Cheese Cupcakes, so Diane will make those for him :)"

I said "Cool!  Give him a hug from mom and dad!"

And then I get the inevitable "Am I allowed to?"

"Well, he is your cousin"

"OK, I will give him a huge hug from everyone!"

"Yes!  Thanks Brittney!  And thanks for telling us you saw him.  This was a tender mercy for us today!"

So then Keith and I did a session at the temple, thinking a lot about Devin and how well he's doing and how happy we are that he's on his mission, and when we got back to the car, we had this picture waiting for us.

With this message,

"Your missionary!! He says he loves you!"

Then when we got home, there was a letter in the mailbox from Devin.  It was the questionairre I sent him last week with all the answers filled in. 

Here are a few of the questions and answers:

Tell us more about your companions.  Elder Allen is from Cache Valley Utah.  He worked on a dairy farm and loves hunting/hiking more than anything. Elder Sepule was on the Samoan National Rugby team and won the championship 2 weeks before his mission.

Favorite P-Day activity? Going to the temple.

What would you like to receive in a package? Something to fill you up after 5 hours of not eating before bed.  Chips, jerky, cookies are good but get smashed in the mail.

Do you listen to the music you took?  No, we can't listen to music in the MTC.

What is the coolest thing that happened this week? I cleaned the temple.  We cleaned the women's initiatory with industrial strength toothbrushes, Q-tips, and toothpicks then wiped down walls with rags and cleaned hundreds of chairs, each one gold plated.  It was really amazing.

You are free to write anything else we should know.  I am only supposed to write on P-Day.  But I think I can still fill out surveys.  Next Thursday we have to teach the first lesson in Cebuano to investigators.  That will be...interesting.