Miss you lots Curt!

I really miss you lots Curt. I am doing well in school. I can't wait to see you again. I hope that you get Clain's email and answer it. He is really looking forward to your answer. I hope that the work is progressing and that you are working hard and trying your best. Remember that how hard you work is between you and the Lord and you will know if you are working to the fullest of your ability and he will know. I enjoyed this last weekend. We went pheasant hunting with Kavin. I have been playing indoor soccer with some kids that live in our neighborhood. I hope that you're doing well.

Love,

Braxton

Hey Buddy! I sent Clain an email so don´t worry. He will have my answer, ok? I hope that you are working your hardest in school and keeping on top of your grades, ok? Keep an eye on my dog, ok? I want her in good shape for this fall, so you better take her out and let her get some exercise so that she isn´t a ball of fat for the next duck hunt, ok? I love you lots!

Be Goode!

Elder Goode

Letter to Braxton, Neat!

My Eagle Scouts! My Three Sons!

It sure makes a mother proud!

Curtis became an Eagle Scout on August 26, 2004 at the age of 15.

He had earned 67 merit badges.

Clain became an Eagle Scout on August 12, 2008 at the age of 17.

He had earned 46 merit badges.

Braxton became an Eagle Scout on September 2, 2009 at the age of 13.

He had earned 45 merit badges.

Hey Braxton!

How is it going? I am doing really good. So mom told me that now she has three sons that are Eagles. I am proud of you. That is really cool. I hope that you are doing well. Mom tells me that you are doing well in school and singing really well. She also tells me that you think that I don´t love you because I don´t write you very often, but I do love you. I want you to know that I love you lots and I want you to go on a mission and I want you to love your mission. I love you lots buddy. Keep doing what you are doing and before you know it, I will be home to give you one of those bear hugs that you said that you missed. I love you lots buddy!

Love,

Elder Goode

Fungus and Fish

Week 2 Portoviejo






From the left:
Elder Aldo Bejar, from Lima, Peru, Elder Goode's Trainer
Elder R. Machuca from Lima, Peru, Elder Goode was his trainer
Elder Curtis Goode
President J. Wilson Gamboa from Colombia

A Three Generation Photo
Grandpa - Elder Bejar, Dad - Elder Goode, Son - Elder Machuca


So, how are things going out there in Utah? I am doing good out here in Portoviejo, but I feel like I am back in Utah, but in southern Utah. Out here in Portoviejo it is really, really hot and dry and there aren´t a whole lot of green trees like there were in Quevedo. Things are going good. We are working hard and having fun. Elder Carlos is a lot of fun, but he doesn´t talk a whole lot, but I am working on that problem. Everybody here says that I speak really, really good Spanish. I am actually surprised that I have received so many compliments on my Spanish here.

Just so that you know, Elder Nordgran was here in my sector before me, but just for a week and then there was an emergency change and he had to leave. Elder Neyra was here in this sector, too. I know so many missionaries that have been here. Elder Verastagui started his mission here with Elder Arana. Elder Cruz was here. There are a ton of missionaries that have been here that I know.

In my district, there are four companionships, me and my companion, Elder Enciso and his companion, Elder Piedra (He is one of the new gringos.), Elder Baez and Elder Merrill, (He is a new gringo, too.) and Elder Turley and Elder Rojas (He was district leader with me out there in Quevedo North and now he is Zone Leader here). There is one more new gringo in our zone. He is the companion of Elder Minga, Elder Mitchell, so there are three new gringos here in our zone. That is cool, so later I will be able to do some interchanges with them to help them out. That is really going to be a cool oportunidad for me.

I finally got to eat some fish. We had cerviche two times and it is so, so good! It is no wonder that all of the missionaries want to come to Manta or Portoviejo or to the peninsula to eat fish and other sea food.

Well I am going to send this one off and hopefully you can send me another one before I sign off. I love you lots!

Have you sent my photos yet?

No, but I am planning on doing it really soon. Maybe before Christmas I will get them sent.

Are you able to read and study the Ensign and Liahona?

Yep, we have free time in the night after we plan that I like to read the Liahona or the Ensign.

If so, which is most helpful to you?

Which ever one you want. I understand them both.

Did it help to send copies for your companion also?

Yep, because they could read, too.
Is there anything else you would like for Christmas?

Well right now I can´t think of anything more that I really want that can´t wait for a year.

Do you need anything?

Yep, send me some anti-fungus cream. I have athlete’s foot and I also have some fungus growing on my finger.

Does your new companion need anything?

I don´t think so.

What is your new companion’s full name? I have Moises J. Carlos from his email address.

I think that is him.

What does your new companion like to do for hobbies?

He liked to play sports. He studied, too, and he finished three semesters studying Chemistry.

Are you healthy and happy?

Yep, I am doing good actually. I had some killer headaches, but that was because of the climate change so I wasn´t used to drinking huge amounts of water, but I fixed that. So, it is all good now.

I am attaching a photo of the Portoviejo Zone on August 25, 2009. It is one of the ones that Elder Gittins sent to you. Is your new companion in this photo? Which elder is he? If you can, tell me the names of the elders who are the second one, the seventh one and the ninth one from the left. I think I know all of the other elders in the photo.


1-Elder M. Turley, Zone Leader
2-

3-Elder Salvador Rojas, Mexico City, Mexico
4-Elder Manuel Aguirre (Confirmed! He is The new Assistant to the President.)
5-Elder Milton Camacho
6-Elder Patricio Faundez, District Leader
7-
8-Elder Edwin Merchan, Colombia
9-Elder Moises Carlos, Peru (My companion)
10-Elder Christopher Hynes, Ontario, Canada
11-Elder J. Vincent Erickson
12-Elder C. Campo, Zone Leader, (went home this change)
13-Elder Marco Enciso
14-Elder Shain Smith, Reno, Nevada, District Leader


Hey, this is Elder Frye with his kid, Elder Flores (or Flowers in English).

From the left:

Elder Ronald Flores

President J. Wilson Gamboa from Colombia

Elder Mark Frye from Napa, California

I just thought of something else that I want for Christmas. Can you get me a new CTR ring, but the one that has like a bunch of languages on it, but a spinner in a size 11. If you could, I would really appreciate it.

Hey a few more questions for you. What happened with Clain and the dance? Did he get asked? Has he answered back yet? How is Braxton doing? I know he turned fourteen, so one of the terrible teens down, right? Well I hope it is all going good. Here is a picture and I will send more, ok?

Well you didn´t manage to send me a reply before I had to get off, but I love you lots and I hope everything is going well! Be Goode!!!

Love,

Elder Goode

Awesome photo. You look really good!

Clain did get asked to the dance by Denise Greenwell. That was last Monday evening. He went and answered her the same night. We bought a stuffed dog about a foot and a half high and a Happy Birthday balloon because the day she asked him was her 18th birthday. He then took it and a card up to the door to her. They invited him in and he stayed for an hour to visit while I sat in the car in the dark. I was really proud of him. The dance is this coming Saturday night.

Braxton had a nice birthday. He was ordained to the office of Teacher that day. Clain got to stand in the circle and help. I bore my testimony in church that day and told him how grateful I am that he came to join our family. I told a little about the night that he was born. I don't know how much of that story you know. I will try to type it up and send it to you next week. I want to type it up for Braxton. But the night he was born, I was left alone at the hospital in terrible pain. I prayed for help and the Savior came and put his arms around me and comforted me through that difficult time. I know without any doubt that Jesus Christ lives and He knows and loves me. I know he loves you, too.

Since that day, Braxton has been trying a lot harder to be nice and thoughtful and not so much of a pain in the butt. He is a good kid, but he is a teenager and I guess they are all entitled to act like teenagers once in a while. Ha! Ha! You sure did!

All is well. I was hoping for a bit longer letter today, but thanks for the information. I am probably too late with these emails. I was stuck in a meeting in the office and couldn't get back to email quickly enough.

I love you so much. Have a great day son!

Love always and forever,

Mom

Baptisms, Birthdays and Life Skills

Week 23 Valencia

Hey, here is the photo of Dexy’s baptism. I´ll send more in a minute and I will send a report of what I have done these past two weeks.

Hi, Curtis. Neat photo! Have you grown taller? She is really cute. She looks nice. Can't wait to hear more from you.

Here is a picture of Shirley.

Shirley is very pretty, but not very tall. She looks like she is a sweet girl.

Here is a photo of the baptism of Isabel she is in the white and the other two are her daughters and her grandson.

Awesome!!! Congratulations!!! How are her two daughters coming as far as baptism? Who is the other lady in the photo?

Here is a picture of my birthday this is what we ate for lunch we had lazania with a salad of broccoli and corn and rice (It isn´t food here in Ecuador if there isn´t rice.) And we had the cakes, too. If you look good, the candles are in the cake, too. The cake was really good. It is a three milk cake with peaches on top. It was delicious.

It looks very festive with all of the bright colors. You and rice are going to be lifelong friends!!! There are seven plates. Who attended the party?

OK, to answer your questions. In the photo of the baptism of Isabel, the other lady is the sister Paula Pinarera. She is the one that lives in front of Isabel and loves to cook for us. I think because of her I have stopped losing weight. In my party, there was me, of course, my companion, the mamita, her husband, and their two kids, Cesar and Aura and a friend of Cesar and Hector Ramirez. He is a friend of Cesar. He is my convert, if you don't remember. There are only seven plates, because Elder Castaneda wasn't feeling very good that day, so he didn't eat, but the mamita gave us two plates more and we put them in the fridge to eat later, so it was really cool.

Thanks for the pictures. It is awesome to see you looking all happy and well and great to hear from you. I do not like it when you miss a week, so don't do it again, please!

This picture is for Braxton. I heard that you recently earned your painting merit badge. Congratulations and congratulations on earning your Eagle, too. But you know what Braxton, you never know when the things that you are learning right now are going to come in handy. Look at the picture. I too, earned my painting merit badge with dad. We painted a lot of things in a lot of different ways and look, I got to use what I had learned to help a friend here in Ecuador. Really you never know when you are going to be able to use the things that you have learned to help others, so keep on learning and keep your chin up. Ya, I love you Buddy and I am looking forward to next year when we can go hunting together just the two of us, ok? I love you lots! Bye, Buddy.

Hey! It is Braxton. Thanks for the picture. It was very cool to get something from you and I really enjoy getting things from you.

Hey, Braxton! What is up with that? I sent you a whole paragraph and you sent me one line. I went to all of the effort to write and send you a cool picture and I get a line....................................................................... Now, I know how you feel! I will definitely have to try harder, Buddy. I´m sorry that I haven´t been writing very much. I will try harder, ok? I love you, Buddy!

This picture is for Clain. Clain here I am using my machete in one of the ways they use it here in Ecuador. When they say that they are exorting someone to do something they say that they are macheteing. It is one of many uses. In this photo, we were having a little bit of fun in the house, but I have learned many things about machetes here in Ecuador. I learned that all that you need to build a house here in Ecuador is a machete, a hammer and nails and you can build a house of wood and cane. I am pretty sure that you are going to learn how to build a house using many different tools and different techniques. Learn them well, because they will serve in the future a lot. You have always liked to work with tools and with materials, so I know that you will do great in your Construction class. Keep working hard Buddy and tell everyone Hi for me, ok? Thanks, Buddy. I love you lots! Elder Goode

What scripture are you reading? What are you exorting him to do?

Hi Curtis
How are you doing? I am doing good? Thanks for the email. I love you. Clain

Curtis,
Hi! How are you doing? We just got done putting a loft in a shed for Shara and Rob. The guys at work all say Hi. We have been back to school for a couple of weeks. What are you doing in the picture of you with the machete? I love the classes I have this year.
Love, Clain

Hey! Sorry that I didn´t write last week. The internet was down in all of Valencia, so we couldn´t write at all, but today there is internet, so here I am writing you. So, since I last wrote you we baptised Isabel and now we are working on preparing about six people for the next week. We have a family of four women that we are preparing and we have two friends of Dexy that we are teaching that want to get baptized, too. And we have a family that investigated the Iglesia about two years ago and then moved to Quito, so they didn´t get baptized. Now they are back here in Valencia and they want to get baptized, so we just have to see who will be ready for next week and baptise them. That is all. I hope that we can baptise them before changes, so let’s see what happens. If not, I will leave more for the next missionary to reap when he gets here. But let’s see what happens. We are working hard and having lots of success now. I don´t know what changed when Elder Castañeda left and Elder Hernandez came, but now we are having lots of success.

I bought my new suit. I had to go to Buena Fe today to try it on, so he could see how it fit and he is going to finish it and Elder Frye will bring it to Quevedo on Wednesday. My suit ended up costing a little more than I thought it would. It cost 160 dollars, but I had him make me a vest, too and put on all of the bells and whistles, too. But for the suit and the vest it took five and a half yards of material to make. He said that usually it only takes three. So this is the biggest suit that he has ever made. I will try to be better about my spending and let’s see what happens. Well, I love you lots and I hope everything is going good.

Love,

Elder Goode

Hey, do you remember the Elder Feldman that sent you a letter for the family that he wanted me to look up? I found them and gave them his email address and they said that they have written him, but he hasn´t written back. Can you send him an email and see what is up? The thing that is kinda cool is that I found them without really trying. There is a member of my ward that is engaged to the daughter of Julia Romero, so I found them by chance. If you could write, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Bye,

Elder Goode

Okay. I will try to contact him again.

2009_05_11 Week 6 Valencia Mom

Curtis,

It was so good to hear your voice today. You sound great. You have an interesting accent now. I recorded the conversation with a digital voice recorder that I purchased. It is not great sound quality though. The recorder picked up a lot of noise from my cell phone. I think I had them too close together. I should have tested that out before the call. There are lots of hums and cracks and pops throughout the whole conversation. Oh well. It was really cool to play it back and hear your voice again after the call. I will try to take time to type out the conversation later. There was another way to do it, but it wouldn't have worked on speaker phone, so I thought this way would be better. I think the other way would have been a much clearer recording. Did you have an echo during the whole conversation? I could hear everything we said echoing after we said it.

After your call we drove to Smithfield and had a barbecue with Shara, Rob and Taylor. Grandma and Grandpa had gone to Georgiann's home in Ogden. They got back about 6:30 or 7:00. They got to see Taylor for a few minutes. She is such a funny kid. She reminds me a lot of Shara at this age. She is busy and just wants to be big and do everything by herself. Shara gave me the cutest photo of her. She has the messiest hair and she is trying to brush it herself with the back of the brush. And best of all is that she has the cutest fish face. I will try to get Shara to send me the photo by email so I can send it to you. If not, I will scan it and print one out. I will try to send it to you in the next package. I stopped by the Distribution Center last week. They had the Ensign in English, but the Spanish Liahona was not out yet. I will check this week and see if it has come out yet. I got my Ensign in the mail on Friday. Hopefully the others will be soon.

Taylor has had an ear infaction, runny nose and cough. The runny nose and cough could be just allergies. Mine are really bad right now. All the grass and cottonwood pollens are bad. I have had a runny nose all week and a dry hacking cough with post-nasal drip. I wake up with a sore throat every morning, but it goes away pretty quickly. I am just a bit hoarse and raspy sounding. I hope it settles down soon. A good rainstorm would help.

This will be a really busy week. Braxton has three soccer games, all away. Two are in Salt Lake and one in Provo. They are on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. He will probably play a fourth game on Saturday afternoon. He is thinking of quitting his LaRoca competition team and just playing AYSO soccer next year.

Yesterday, Dallas Carter called him to see if he could go and sub for his team. They have been short players for a couple of weeks. He was excited to go because it got him out of working in the garden. He left and went with the Carters to the game. I drove there a few minutes later to watch. I wanted to see how he did with the AYSO team. He had a blast. The other team was short players this week. He and B.J. Bouwhuis were there as subs. B.J. played for the other team the first half and then Braxton played for them the second half. Braxton had a beautiful assist early in the game to help them score the first goal. He played well and had a huge smile on his face the whole game. He sent three or four more assists in to the front line, but they didn't score them all.

During the second half, when he was playing for the other team, he took the ball from midfield all the way to the goal and scored. He went through about eight players to get there. It was fun to watch. He has not gotten to play offense like this for so long. Felipe, his LaRoca coach will only play him on defense. He is very good at that, but he is tired of it. Anyway, after he scored that goal, the kids he knew on Dallas's team, started giving him a bad time for hurting their team. So, he started playing sloppy and losing the ball on purpose. He even passed the ball back to a player on Dallas's team and let him go forward and score a goal. That put Dallas's team ahead, so they were all happy again. The coach wants him to come to the game next Saturday again. I think I will take him and then get him signed up for AYSO with this team if possible.

Braxton also has a track meet on Wednesday. He ran really good. He ran a 1600 meter race in 6:00.1 minutes and improved his time by 12.59 seconds. He was 14 out of 36 runners. Not bad for a 7th grader. He ran an 800 meter race in 2:56.6 minutes and improved his time there by 1 second. He also ran a 4 X 400 meter relay. He was the last guy, or the anchor leg. His team came in near the bottom with a total time of 5:12.6 minutes. They were the C team and they beat the time of the B team. His coach said he ran a really good leg of the race. The first guy on his team got off to a slow start, so his team was half a lap behind for the whole race. Braxton made up some distance and they were only 1/3 of a lap behind. They ran two heats of the race. His team was in the second heat which was slower, but they beat the time of the B team that had ran in the first heat. I won't make it to Water Aerobics at all this week, but next week I should get back to a more normal schedule, I hope. Braxton will still have a couple of make up games to play, I think.

Note: Everyone is invited to the Court of Honor. I will try to get invitations sent this week by email and by snail mail.

It seems like life is always really busy around here. I have got to find time to get invitations made for Clain's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. We are doing it on Friday, May 29th at 5:30 in the evening at Bingham Park. We have asked Kevin Fielding to speak and the lady from the stake will present the award to him. I am going to call Ron Dawson and see if he will come and give him the Eagle Feather. Kevin said he would come over this week and show us some of the possible things we can do. I hope he remembers to come.

There were some changes at Church today. They released the Elder's Quorum Presidency. Myron Bouwhuis was released as President. Duane Thomas was released as 1st Counselor. Chris Burrell was released as 2nd Counselor. Layne Wayment was called as Elder's Quorum President. Chris Burrell was called as 1st Counselor in the Elder's Quorum. Robert Greenwell was called as 2nd Counselor in the Elder's Quorum. Kelly Bingham was left in to serve as Secretary in the Elder's Quorum. Brent Rose was released as Young Men's President. Richard Oliver was released as 1st Counselor in the YM Presidency. Larry Garrett was released as 2nd Counselor in the YM Presidency. Layne Wayment was released as Secretary in the YM Presidency. Myron Bouwhuis was called as Young Men's President. Clair Hamblin was called as 1st Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. Duane Thomas was called as 2nd Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. I don't think they called a secretary yet. Clain gave a really nice talk on Gospel Principles taught to me by my mother. He did great. The Priesthood, Aaronic and Melchizedek sang a song for Mothers. It was really nice and fun to see Clain, Braxton and Dad all up there singing.
Well it is really late again. 12:30 in the morning. I am really tired. I will end. Maybe I will have time to write more tomorrow. I love you lots and I am really proud of you. Take Care.
Love always and forever,
Mom
Hey! How are things going today? Well things are going good. I have to get a DVD made and send you a bunch of pictures and videos that I have taken. That is really cool that you were able to record the conversation. So Braxton is going to quit soccer? That is ok because when I get back I will get him into hunting like I was before my mission or more. Who knows? I hope everything is going good.
Hi Curtis,
I don't want Braxton to totally quit soccer. He would spend too much time just playing video games. I want him to still have some exercise of some kind. They play AYSO soccer in the fall and in the spring. They just don't have as many practices or games each week and it won't cost nearly as much.
Have you taken lots more photos and videos since you sent the last ones?



I have taken about four or five gigs of photos here in Valencia.
Here is a picture of a bottle of Inca Cola and a picture of me and Elder Neyra with the kids of one of the members here in Valencia eating zapote.

Thanks. My computer just froze up. I had too much stuff open I guess. I am restarting it. How fast are the computers you are using to email? What kind of computers are they? How many? Cost to use? Keyboards different or the same?
Are you resizing the photos from larger files? They are really fuzzy and pixelated. Can you resize them with a little higher quality and send them again?

Resize them to 800 X 600 with a 300 pixel resolution. Some of those you sent me are only 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch in size. Too small and too pixelated. I want to see your handsome face, not blotches. Please.

That one that Elder Bartolomei sent his mom is 1600 X 1200 pixels and 300 dpi. It is a great photo. It is 354 kb in size. The ones you sent last time were not as clear. They were 588 X 441 pixels and 300 dpi. They are 86 kb in size. Bigger is much better if you can do it.

Hi Curtis,

Who knows how many people out there in the world are reading your blog. I published it to be an example to the world of missionary work and service. I hoped it would inspire others to want to serve a mission. I hope it will fulfill that purpose. I hope you will want to say and do things that would help others want to serve missions. When you write your letters remember that you are writing to a world wide audience, not just your family. Include more of your special teaching moments, how you feel when the spirit is touching an investigator, how it feels to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Bear your testimony about what you are doing and its importance. It doesn't have to be a long, full testimony, just mention how a principle of the gospel has helped you as you have worked. Most of all, I want you to convince your brothers that they should go and serve the Lord. Tell them how important the work is and why you are glad you are out there doing it. Make them excited to go and serve.

Clain is still preparing, but I don't see a lot of enthusiasm. It seems more of a duty to him. He is going because that is what we expect him to do. I want to see him excited to go because he knows how great your mission was. Share the kinds of things that will help him prepare and get really excited to be a missionary.

I signed Clain up to go to EFY (Especially For Youth), the week of June 15th to 20th. He will go to USU and stay five nights in the dorms. I think he will have a great time. It was $425 for the week, but if it helps him to become more excited about the gospel it will be worth it. He never shows much emotion of any kind. He is getting to be more and more like you all the time. The only difference is that I knew you had a lot more self confidence and courage than I think he has. I am pretty sure he will go on a mission and he will endure it and stay, but I want him to go and love it, not just endure it. I want him to be on fire and know that he can make a difference. Share that kind of enthusiasm with him, please. Let him know how much you are enjoying your mission. Tell him of the great experience it is to help convert someone to the true gospel. Tell us more experiences of what it was like when you were teaching an investigator. Tell him what it was like to baptize someone. Tell him how you felt when you were giving a blessing to someone. Were they healed? Did the blessing help? What little miracles have you seen? How has the Lord blessed you personally? How have you been lifted up by the angels who are round about to help you?

It was interesting to listen to you talk yesterday. It is clear you are thinking in Spanish now and having to convert back to English. That is good. I am sure it makes communication easier than switching back and forth all the time. Are you understanding everything you hear now?

2008_12_30 Birthday Card for Braxton

Braxton got a card from Curtis today in the mail. He was so excited to hear from his big brother.

Nov. 3, 2008

Dear Braxton,

Hey buddy, how was your birthday? Things are crazy here in Ecuador and I'm sorry I forgot your Birthday, but I'm sending you a present late. I'm sure you will like it.

How is soccer going for you? The mission is going good for me. I had a young man accept to be baptized last Saturday, the day of your birthday. I wish I could send you a bottle of Inca Kola. It is way good. You would like it a lot. I'll bring some home at the end of my mission for you along with some Pony Malta. Both are yummy. Take good care of my puppy. Take her hunting lots, ok? Start preparing for your mission. It comes sooner than you think. I love you lots Buddy.

Elder Goode

This was on the back of the card.

I'm really sorry this is so late Buddy. I sent this once with one of each type of coin and they sent it back so I am going to re-send it without the coins. I'm sorry Buddy. I love you lots.

Elder Goode

He sent the card through the return pouch mail and sending any money in the pouch is illegal, so I am sure that is why it was returned. Maybe he can send the coins with his next CD of photos in a padded envelope through the regular mail.

2008_12_22 Week 9 Balzar Clain & Braxton

Clain,

Hey, how are you buddy? How many ducks have you killed this year? I haven't killed any ducks this year, but I did try to kill a person. This is actually really funny!

We were walking home from an appointment. It was a little before 9 in the evening and a drunk guy on a motorcycle saw me and decided to say "Hi." So he said, in English, "Hey, my friend." When he said this, he stood up on the pegs of the motorcycle and when he did this his motorcycle veered left. Another drunk guy on a motorcycle was trying to pass him as he stood up, so the second guy hit the first guy and they both hit the ground. They both stood up and started to pick up their motorcycles. At this point we started waking really fast and took the next taxi that came by, to the house. It was pretty funny.

Be careful buddy. No accidents, ok. They aren't fun. Trust someone that has been in one. Drive safely and DON'T hot rod, ok. I love you lots. Be good.

Hey Braxton,

How are you Buddy? What are you hoping to get for christmas? I'm not hoping to get much for Christmas this year. But tell mom for me that if Santa wants to bring me something to the house that a Money Maker goose call will be fine.

Tell dad to take you hunting a few more times before the season ends. I love you lots. Be good. Send me more pictures of the duck hunt! Ok? Thanks, Buddy.