Happy Anniversary

Daddy! 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!! i will be eternally grateful you guys got married!!! you are the best parents anyone could ever ask for! i have really learned that a lot the past 10 months by either seeing how parents treat their kids or from hearing stories from my companions about their parents i am so happy that i got such great parents who truly love me and support everything i do! and dont worry dad i have a good relationship with you! i dont think you know that some of my best memerios from high school was spending time with you in you office whether after school or during school because i was having a bad day and needed someone to cry too! or being able to hear your testimony everyday, who else can say that they had their dad for their teacher and loved it?!?!? so thank you for all of that! im so glad that my parents have become my best friends!!! 

this week has been good, im a little stressed for this coming week and this coming transfer but i guess the lord and my mission president trust me more then i trust myself so i guess since they know that i can do this then i guess i can at least try! but of course with a lot of prayers and miracles haha

i love you so much and am so excited to be able to see your face and hear your voice in two weeks!!!!!!!!!! 

love your favorite daughter, 

Hemenway 자매

On Mon, Apr 30, 2018 at 3:07 AM, Greg Hemenway <HemenwayGM@ldschurch.org> wrote:

Your parents have been married for almost 26 YEARS!!!!  You are so lucky to have us!!!!  I have to admit that I still think your mom is pretty attractive (just in case you were wondering).  It is so strange to think that it has been that long.  I really don’t ever remember a time when we weren’t married, but at the same time I remember how old everyone was when they said they had been married this long and I KNOW that I can’t be that old!!  When President Kimball said that the most important decision you will ever make in your life is who you marry, I completely agree.  Every good thing that I have, every good memory, is because I married her.  I cannot imagine ever being without her and I am so grateful that families are forever.  Just know that if we ever die together then we are happy (that is unless we like... killed each other or something - sometimes I make her a little angry)!!  I even look at how all of you kids are and you turned out the way you did because of her.  I don’t know if you realize how much she loves all of you.  Don’t get me wrong, I love you all too, but I have always been a little jealous of her relationship with all of you.  She has always put you first before herself.  It is even a little funny watching her with the grandkids.  She always says that she is not going to babysit the grandkids because it is so hard for her physically, but she just can’t help herself because she loves her kids and her grandkids so much.  She is an amazing woman and you always remember that!!!  Always remember that your dad loves her more than anything in the world!!!

How has your week been?  The teachers here are still on strike so I have not had students since Wednesday.  They are still out tomorrow and they are reevaluating everything day by day.  I was in meetings all day on Friday so I would have had to have had a sub anyway, but I have a feeling the kids are going to be tough to get back.  They are already having a hard time coming to the end of the year and staying motivated, but to have a few days off thrown into the middle of everything could make it much much worse.  We will see how long the strike lasts and how much longer we will have to go in to the summer to make up the days, but I have a feeling the extra days will be a waste and only a few kids will show up (just enough for us to have to be there and “babysit”)!!

I have been preparing some things for mission prep on how we prepare for the temple.  The lesson today is about what it means to be worthy.  I think we make the mistake of thinking that as long as I can reach the requirements of the temple recommend then I dobn’t need to improve, but those requirements are just to see where our heart is.  We need to always be trying to be better and coming closer to the Savior.  The minute we think we have arrived and don’t need to work on it anymore is the time that we begin to backslide and we don’t realize it until it is too late.  Then all of a sudden we aren’t reaching the recommend requirements anymore and we aren’t sure how we got there.  If we always place Christ as our goal then we will always keep working at it. We don’t get depressed at our lack of ability because we know how he sees us and that he is helping us to become what we need to be.  Elder Clark has been working with the seminary and institute teachers on what it means to learn deeply and he keeps bringing up a phrase - helping our students to take “effective righteous action.”  It is not just enough to just set goals to be better, but to choose things that will help us effectively change and become more like Christ.  I don’t know that I have fully got it down yet (and he even said he is not 100 percent sure how it all works) but I have noticed that when I have focused on that word “effective” it changes how I look at what I am doing and what I am asking my students to do.

Well, I have talked to long.  Just know that I am so proud of you and I love you sooooo much!!

Love,

Dad