Tri-State Wrestlers

This is a video of the wrestlers at tri-state. All the people in the stands are wrestlers. There were 500+ in attendance.

Tri State

Tri-State was this weekend. 50 schools participate and only bring the best. Jaren wrestled 2 state champions, and ended up going 1-2. Not bad for a sophmore JV guy wrestling seniors. He would have liked to have done better but he gained a lot of experience. The first day it went from 7 am to 10pm.

Weekend fun

Impressive stack of snow on the post. Notice the collapsed gazebo in the background. Oops.

The weekend is consisting of wrestling and digging out from under snow. We went from no snow to 26 inches on the ground. Now we are dealing with -5 temperatures. I guess winter is here. Zoe asked if we were going to have a white Christmas. I said, "Are you kidding me? We are going to have a white 4th of July."

Mission Update

pops-the funny thing about the weather is that Halifax is warmer than you guys, but the really funny thing is that we in yarmouth are about 7-10 degrees warmer than Halifax!!I do wish that we had had someone who was as gung ho as you and rob in the YM when i was in there, it sounds like you guys are going to have fun in there and make it fun at that. we did miss that, so they should have fun. hopefully they are receptive to the idea. although i do think you might have gone a little over board with the tent heaters. come on pansies...lol.that is totally awesome that GU lost. i had a little party right here at the computer when i read about that. i will tell you though, it isn't as sweet when i cant tease Ray about it though. hopefully Jaren does get to move up, i'm sure he will figure it out that he needs to ask more questions and really be dominant and make sure he makes his wants known. oh well, i know i struggled with that one too. i do miss sports a little bit though. i'm sure it will kill me when baseball season rolls around and also march madness. oh well, i will make it through. taht does sound like the girls who will sit around and wine about being bored. they are so funny. just tell them you are going to send them to work!! that will get them.now to answer your questions... we do a little bit of walkin like just around town and that kind of stuff. although the mission is losing some cars, so we will see. i don't think we will though. cause we are not allowed to knock within the city limits of Yarmouth, so we have to go out to outlying areas to do knocking. that we do alot, but i don't mind how much we do. we try an hour everyday if we can, and then we really hit it hard on weekends. i don't mind it cause i have realized taht is the way that we find the pure in heart. we do have a couple of people who feed us every week. that is nice, but it is also nice to be able to go home for dinner and relax. i would say that we get a nice amount of DA's. since the branch is so small, we do have some families who love us, and we love them they are really fun. those are the ones that feed us every monday, well the parents feed us mondays. there kids who one is about 32 his family feeds us every saturday night, he is the Branch president. he is awesome. i love the members here though, they do pretty good with us. that is something that we have been focusing on is getting the members excited and involved. cause they have had some bad missionaries in the past i hear. so we are building that relationship back up. we do have our days when we have nothing to do. but we try and keep busy with seein people. just stoppin by or talkin to members and such, but yeah, we do have some boring times.the snow is a pain to work in, but we dont' get much in yarmouth. i just hope i'm not in newfoundland next winter. they get enough snow, that i have seen pictures of elders on snow banks up to the power lines!! so we are in the best place in the mission for snow. that is nice. i do have all my coats and stuff though.i will tell you though, i almost broke down yesterday. we have a decent teaching pool. the thing is they all say they have done what we have asked like reading and praying about it. but they don't seem to get an answer or feel the spirit. i don't know if i'm doing something wrong or if it is them. i have really been trying to be as obedient and good as i can, but it just isn't workin out. i mean i try to change things up and say different approaches and such, but i don't know what to do. i do pray for answers and i get answers to everything except on what to do to get these people to listen and feel the spirit. i don't know if it just isn't the Lord's will right now. i'm tryin to not get frustrated, cause i nkow taht is the opposite of faith. i'm trying to remain strong and do His will. i have really been reading the scriptures and my Patriarchal blessing. i have been praying my guts out. i just thought it might be wise to ask you for some advice on this situation. thank you.i'm so excited to be able to talk to you guys on christmas. it is so crazy how fast the time is flyin by. i talked a little about that to mom. man am i excited to talk to you guys. i hope all is going well, and i pray for you guys every night and day. i love you so much dad, and like i have said before am so grateful for all that you have done for me in raising me the way you did. i love you with all my heart.i'll talk to you soon.love always,Elder Nick Novakovich

Snow day

We have had a ton of snow today. School is cancelled, the kids are thrilled, the dogs are confused and I'm sleeping in. Here are a few videos of the amount we have had. The second video was taken yesterday afternoon and the first is from 7am this morning. We have received about 18 inches and are supposed to get more today.

Varsity Wrestling

Jaren has been working on ways to make the varsity team and last night he did it. He has been involved in a few but always as the sacrificial lamb. (If the opposing team has a great guy that will beat our good guy, they will move our good guy up a weight class and put Jaren in against the great guy to take the hit.) So last night the guy didn't make weight and Jaren was put in.

He started off slow, being taken down twice and had spent most of his time on the bottom. The kid was a lot stockier and strong. He tried to do a few things to Jaren but Jaren was patient. All of a sudden the kid got to high, Jaren put him into a head and arm bar, turned him and pinned him with a minute to go in the second round. Needless to say he was thrilled because he was supposed to lose this match. The are a pretty tough school. And I was so caught up in it, I forgot to take pictures.

Boomer

Boomer knows how to work the ball better. Every time Carli sees someone, she rolls over and wants a tummy rub.

Carli

We bought new chew toys for the dogs because Carli had taken a liking to chewing on boomer.

Mission Weekly Mom version

hey mom, well lets see another week, woosh. flown by. it is crazy. this week was way fun though. a lot of time with other missionaries. we had exchanges and zone conference. Christmas around here, is pretty different. the houses are either done up big, or not at all. but there aren't too many nice houses, it is kinda a low income area for the most part. but they do waht they can. but that does sound liek darbi is havin fun with the christmas spirit, atta girl, keep the tradition alive with lights in the room!! we didn't get a tree, we are too poor, so we stuck with the little one you have seen. i'm glad that jaren is doing so well. i pray for the kids all the time, and hope they are doing well. that makes me so happy that jaren has gotten his grades up, that is very important. also cool that darbi is doing well, sounds like she is growing up quite nicely. Zoe is the next einstein. man she is a shear genuis. that is sweet though, i'm proud of her. she will do very well in school. I did get my letter from nana, which was nice. i wrote her back the other day so she should get that soon. you might want to tell her the address to her again. they had to do some corrections on the one i got. so just tell her nicely. i got your package last friday. i was pretty excited, i didn't know that it would be that big!! i'm pretty excited to see what is inside the gifts. you know me, atleast you should be proud that i haven't gotten into them yet. you know how hard it is for me to wait, especially when i don't have people telling me no, atleast with christmas. it sounds like every one is having fun christmas destinations but you guys. but that is fun, i love christmas at home too. good time to relax and enjoy company of the fam. anyways, i'm doing great and loving being out here. i have grown so much and feel so different. maybe it is just the spirit i have with me. it really does change you. this is a time in my life that will never be matched as far as spiritual growth. i love it out here. bein on a mission is so cool. i'm excited for derrick hans, and jordan to experience it all. the gospel is perfect and true. i love it so much, and no one will every shake my testimony that God lives, Jesus is our friend brother and Savior, the spirit is great, and the church is true. the Prophets are called of God and lead and guide his church with his help. pray for the missionaries, not just me, but all of them. pray for those seeking. and give the gift of Christ's atonement this year. It's the greatest of them all. share the gospel, experience the true meaning of CHRISTmas. i love you mom, and hope all is well. i love you so much, and will always. i'm so glad we will be a family forever!!Love always,Elder Novakovich

Mission Weekly

pops-i'm pretty sure i can look at the blog thing. i will check for sure though. but that is awesome how well jaren is doing with his wrestling. also pretty neat how good the entire team is, hopefully jaren can find a way on varsity some how. i remember good ol' lewiston that place does stink bad! the problem with that is you will have to wear a respirator both inside the grocery store and outside.lol. i guess congrats on the release, i don't really know what to tell someone after being released. lol. cause you don't want to be happy for them, but at the same time you do, so i guess that is bitter sweet. hopefully you do get a good new calling though. that would be nice. maybe they will switch you in for mom and give her something new. yeah right, she could only wish.As for christmas decorating. it sounds like you guys are having fun and decorating nicely. i do miss decorating the house up. oh well i did get to decorate our apartment, but it just doesn't feel the same. that stinks that the tree is dying, im guessing boomer and carli do have a direct affect on that one. dang dogs. that is so cool that you guys did the tree of sharing thing. i have really been thinking about kids and families like that recently. i was wishing i could do something for them, like that. but then i realized those things are nice but temporal. i have the awesome privilage of bringing them the gift of Christ and his atonement. something that will last for eternity. i would love to find someone who needs that, this time of year. just to see how happy they would be, i know what joy the gospel has brought our family. i just want that to be in others families, so they can enjoy it for eternity. i pray for that opportunity every day. we shall see if it comes. we don't know what we are doing for christmas yet. i know we get christmas off and so unless we get invited we are just stayin in. plus president told us not to go over too long, he wants us to keep it like a regular visit, no longer than an hour. it will be nice to relax for the day though. about disney world. we have a guy in our branch, the branch mission leader. he is a doctor and they are going to disney world, but they stay in the resort and do all the high roller stuff. their house is absolutely huge!!! we go there all the time. it is pretty fun, he is a way cool guy. he is only like mid 30's so needless to say he is doin alright. but i can't wait till we can go back to disney world. that was a great time, i think about it sometimes and just smile. i heard about the college football scene, and was a little disappointed. i'm not sure but i think that other teams should be playin. oh well. as for college basketball, i have been wondering how i'm going to handle march in the field. it should be interesting, i do miss college sports. I don't know whether i want GU to do good this year or not. i'm still undecided, so i will get back to you on that one. well dad, i guess i should just let you know that i'm tryin my best out here. and the amazing thing, is sometimes i feel the Lord makin up the rest. it truly is a blessing to be a missionary in the Lord's work. I can't even explain how cool it is to be growing up. it seems like an out of body experience sometimes, cause i just step back, and think wow i'm really maturing and growing out here. i have learned so much already, and can't wait to come back with the wisdom and maturity i see in those who have come and gone here. i do love the people here and love being here. i love the gospel with all my heart, and love sharing it all day. what a blessing that we were born into this. i love you all and hope you are all doing great. thanks for all you have done for me dad, i do love you with all my heart!!!love always,Elder Nick Novakovich

Wrestling

Well there was a lot of wrestling going on yesterday. There were head locks, cross faces, arm bars, take downs; and that was just trying to get Nikki to stay in her seat and not yell at the opposing team. As one of Jaren's coaches once said of Nikki, "that ain't no PTA mom."

Jaren had his first match of the year. It was a dual meet up in Kellogg Idaho. It was his first meet since under going surgery to repair his collar bone. Nikki was very nervous for her boy not to get injured. He had to wrestle up since the 119 guy didn't make weight. Jaren came out in the first round and pinned his guy in under 2 minutes. In the second match he couldn't pin the guy until the second round. (I was extremely disappointed) He was happy he did so well and especially pinning both opponents in a high weight class. He has another meet tonight and we will try and get pictures. I had videos of last night but don't know how to digitize them yet.

Tree Decorating

We broke down and decorated the tree today. Zoe was chomping at the bit to do it and then just as I got the lights on, she went to a friends house. So Darbi and mom took on the task as we listened to Hilary's Christmas CD. It was a nice afternoon and really put me in the Christmas spirit.

Christmas Dog

Well we celebrated the time honored Novakovich tradition of decorating the Christmas Dog. We have saved a fortune in tree costs but have had a few problems with missing ornaments that later, unexpectedly, turned up in the backyard wrapped in something other than Christmas wrapping.

Boomer and Carli Wars

The 4 legged ones around the house have been enjoying running around and fighting. We moved the furniture around to accomadate the Christmas tree and they have love the extra room. Or as they like to refer to it, "the ring of death." (I am just guessing that that is what they call it. I am still working on my dog whispering talents, I don't have those skills yet. So far I just have numchuck skills, drawing skills (mostly ligers) and teather ball.

I am also working on my Christmas tree decorating skills.

Day trip

I had to drive to Lewiston, Idaho today and go look at some grocery stores we are bidding to paint so in order to make it a more enjoyable trip, I took these pictures on the way home. I hope you enjoy.

Mission Update

Winter attire in the north land.

And to think I ate chicken heads for dinner.

it is pretty crazy how time is flyin. although zoe informs me that i left light years ago, every week. she is really strugglin with me being gone. she really tugs on my heart when i read her emails. just make sure she is ok and is having fun. i'm excited to get my christmas stuff. i don't know what i will do as far as opening it yet. i think we are going to get a real christmas tree today. but not one like you guys have, i think it is just giong to be a 3 footer. plus the old people in our apartment(everyone) don't like us too much cause we are young and full of energy sometimes.lol. so we try not to do anything to extreme, like try and get a christmas tree to the top floor of the apartment. but hey whatya gonna do with old people? i'm really excited to hear about jaren and his wrestling. i know you dont like it but i think it is so cool how good he is.i wish him the best of luck. i'm glad you guys got a real tree though, and i'm sure the dogs love havin pine water. they probably think oh good christmas time, good ol' pine water!!! i'm glad that you got the pictures i was a little worried that they wouldn't make it home. and i'm glad you liked them. i try to have as much fun as i can out here. i did love decorating the apartment though. i love christmas and everything about it. as you know. did you get to watch that video of the sunrise? i have now watched a sunrise and sunset over the ocean, which is absolutely beautiful. i will be back here when i get home. i heard about jordans call, and i was 100% jealous. i still struggle with the fact a little bit that i don't get to learn a language, but i like it here. we all go where the lord wants us to go. i'm so excited for him. that stinks that he is going so late though. that will be tough for him.I have heard from a few sources that thanksgiving was a little different this year. don't worry though only one more left. as far as the eating thing, isnt' that what thanksgiving is for? i didn't eat too much, just cause the cooking is a little different over here. oh before i forget i did get nana's letter the other day, so i will reply soon. i'm doing great and having the time of my life and learning and growing so much. oh make sure to tell the kids, that i'm going to still be nick when i get home. they are all worried that i will be to mature to have fun. i mean come on, i'm a fun addict. so yeah, i will never be to mature to have fun with them. i will still run around like an idiot with just suspenders on my swimmin trunks and mess around with them. so they need not fear. well i love you all and hope you are having a good time back home. i hope you have a good week. i love you so much mom.Love always,Elder Novakovich

Mission Pictures

Elder Novakovich at his desk.

The Yarmouth sleeping quarters.

The Yarmouth Christmas tree. Missionary Christmas tree at it's best.

Elder Novakovich's district.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Plumbs again this year. The food was great. We had to keep wondering if Nick was having turkey or lobster for his meal. Carli was able to go over and play with Cooper. She learns her "mastiff" moves with him and then comes home and practices on Boomer.

Mom's letter

hey mom, The weather here is messed up. it snowed last friday about 3 inches, but now it is all gone. It is 9 degrees this morning and an absolute monsoon!!! like you wouldn't believe how hard it rains here. i would say the rain storms here could hang with a tropical storm. it is amazing. but yeah the snow is gone, and they say it won't be back till january, which is nice. i love snow when i have a use for it, but those couple of days when i had to work in it was a night mare. so i don't mind being here cause it just rains alot, and the snow doesn't come. I'm pretty stoked to get the christmas box, and to talk to you all on christmas day. I'm curious to know what you put in the box. ohwell it will be like christmas day, away from home. i'm excited. the holidays have been a little rough so far, just cause i love this time of year, but i have realized it is because of being with family and that. so i have had to say a few prayers to keep my mind of home, but i'm doing ok. It is pretty crazy how close darbi and i got in like a year and a half. we were enemies before, but i do miss her a lot and always find myself chuckling at things we did together. but i have done that with all the kids, just remember certain things and then i have to try not to laugh cause my comp will think i'm an idiot. lol. i do love them all though.I haven't gotten a letter from nana. but i haven't checked the post today. so maybe today. but i will tell you next week if i get something from her. i hope she is doing ok. that should be fun for her to go to England, she needs to keep busy like taht i guess.I did here about that story in church from aunt cindy. that is funny. that sounds like something bro. woodbrey would do. oh well maybe it was inspired, you never know what some people need to hear on certain days. i can feel myself growing and maturing, which is nice. it is kinda weird to think about the times when i was in sacrament meeting and a missionary would come home, i remember thinking i want to be like them. and now i can feel myself becomeing like them, i think. i just hope that i can be a good missionary and tool in the Lord's hands. well i love you all and i hope you are doing ok. it does sound like you are though. oh the people that are feeding me tomorrow for thanksgiving let me pick all the food. since i'm american and my comp isn't. so i am looking forward to that tomorrow. it should be good. they are "eternal investigators" the husband is dying to be baptized. but the wife said over her dead body, but she still loves us. so Harvey told us if she does die before him he wants to be baptized, and she gave her permission. it is funny but sad at the same time. but we go over every week and have studies with harvery, you should see his scriptures thay are so marked up it is incredible. anyways. i'm doing great keep me in your prayers and i love you all. love,your son,Elder Novakovich

Elder N.

dad-that is excellent that work is going so well. sorry but i have to tell you this story before i forget, i have forgotten in everyone elses letters. so we have this family who we knocked into, they told us they were not interested in the least, but as we got to talkin about what we do and who we are the lady said " if i had two boys away from home i would want them to be feed" so now we get a dinner apointment every tuesday. so last night we went over and she had forgotten we were coming. it is lobster season over here so people are so busy now. so the husband said well give them some lobster. so we got two fresh caught that day lobsters for dinner last night. so i was pretty excited, to see how this worked to prep them and then try them. so we got home and i was peelin this thing, and i was startin to get grossed out, and didn't know if i was as excited as i was before. but we preped them and then it was time to eat them. seeing i was already a little weary becuase of the things i had just seen, i don't know if i like them too much. it was ok, but i just don't know if i am a sea food guy. i would definately take a burger over a lobster. but alteast i tried it. anyways, i heard about most the sports this week. we had a district meeting and we all talked about it cause we have a senior couple who keeps us updated when we see them, it is fun. but i did hear that max hall was a joke, good thing he plays for BYU. it sounds like theBCS championship race is going to come down to the wire. i must admit i do miss bowl season a little bit. i'm curious to see how i'm giong to hold up come march madness. the camping trip sounded like quite the adventure, i remember those days. those were some funny stories you told about the deacons, i can just picture it in my head. lol. i bet bro. bratten and bro. bise did have some good stories to tell. i would have just mixed some sleeping pills in hot chocolate and gave it to them. but i'm sure you had fun listening to them. thanksgiving sounds like the same old, not that that is bad. i did not like not watchin sports that day though. I have heard it will be weird without me there though. i have thought about that, and i agree. but i do hope you all have fun. i'm doing great and loving life, the days are filled with good experiences. some more than others, but such is the life of a missionary. i love bing here and am anxious to find the elect of God. thank you for all of your support and love. i truly do appreciate it. i'm excited to talk to you on christmas.

Dog's life

It's a "ruff" life around the Novakovich house. Just the other day we had to get out of bed. Can you imagine.

Growing into my bowl

My mom thought I should have a big girl bowl but I have a lot of growing to do first.

Camp out

Mike and Jaren went camping this last weekend with the scouts. It rained and snowed that night but all in all it was fun. The daytime activity was shooting shotguns and rifles. The boys had a fun time and nobody was critically injured.

Letter to dad from Elder N.

well the work is going great here. we both think that something big is about to happen, but we don't get ahead of ourselves, we still work hard. it does get hard sometimes, but i'm ready for the hard times, cause i know that good times with out end are on the other side. it is funny how much i have learned about the gospel just being out here. i get answers to prayers all the time. my testimony is so strong now, and no one will ever tell me it isn't true. we have miracles around us everyday, i have really been able to step back and appreciate what the lord has done for me. i have felt his love so much. it is good that i have been seperated from you guys, cause now instead of relying on your love. i have really learned to feel the love of our savior. anyways i don't want to preach to you too much, cause i'm sure you know exactly what i'm talking about. i just am so grateful for the example you set to me of going on a mission, and that you instilled that in my head. missions are someting that you will never get back or replace, as far as grwoth and maturing. i can't even explain what i feel out here. but i love it. and i love you too dad, thanks for all you do.love always,Your son,elder Novakovich

Missionary News

Mom-you are so funny with electronics. it always makes me laugh how proud you get of yourself for stuff like that. lol. anyways, i guess i will start off with what is fresh in my mind about here. transfers were yesterday, and i am staying for another six weeks. the crazy thing was i didn't even realize a transfer had already come and gone. It is so absolutely nuts that i have been out for six weeks already!! but i'm excited to still be in yarmouth, it is a nice place. so we will be here till the new year, and then another possible transfer. It sounds like you are having too much fun with that new puppy. i wish i could be there to see her grow and pick on boomer, that is too funny about those two. That is AWESOME that jaren is going to be captain of the cross country team next year!! I'm so proud of him. he is the man, i admire how good he is with sports. as for his wrestling he should be ok and if he does lose, tell him to just go out and have fun. trust me it isn't worth it to dwell on not being the best, cause then you force it and you get worse, i have done that. sports is all about doing your best and not pushing too hard. Does darbi have any winter sports? i don't think she does, but if she does tell her good luck.that is pretty sweet that zoe got an award at school. she is such a good girl. how is she doing with me gone? she has written me some pretty sad letters. let her know that i get busy and i don't hate her. just explain to her that it takes a while to communicate. i hope she is doing ok. with that school spirit thing, she is going to be just like lori bourgeous and be off the hook all the time with that. lol. she is so funnny.The primary programs are always good and funny. i wish we had one. big tie knots are were its at though, i'm proud of him. lol. you should see some of the knots in the mission. it's pretty funny, but we have big knot competitions at district or zone conferences. it is a no no to wear them proselyting. after all we are reps of the lord. so i understand, and i have put a couple of my ties away, i think the orange and white one, and i don't wear the pink ones too often. I bet you did bawl when they sang called to serve in primary. you should feel the spirit when actual missionaries sing it. i love singing with elders and sisters. singing at the mtc was awesome cause it was so loud and powerful. wow it was amazing.I was curious to hear how that dvd was, they said they were sending something home, but i didn't know the details. sounds like it was pretty good. how often was i in it? any good pics of me? lol.The weather just turned here. we were enjoying life in the 15 -16 range but now the clouds and fog have left so today it is 2. quite that change i would say, but i am so pumped for some snow to fall. i love the snow. anyways, life is going great here, the time is flying which scares me at times. the work is moving forward and we are waiting for it to really pick up. we are workin with the members a lot to get them invloved. cause yarmouth has a bad rap in the missionary world. so we are trying to pick it up a little bit. anyways, i can't think of any cool stories to tell. just that it is amazing what you find in the scriptures, and in answers to prayers. not one day has gone by that i don't get an answer. i just want you to know that i'm doing great and love being here. i would rather be no place else, i would feel disgusted if i was home right now. cause this is where the lord wants and needs me. i love it here and don't want to leave my mission already. i do miss you all though, hang in there mom. keep busy and i will be home before you know it. I love you tons and am so thankful for you and your support. I love you mom.Love always,your sonElder Novakovich

Saturday Fun

"She just bit me!"

Boomer is in trouble, you can see it in his eyes.

Today mostly consists of playing with the puppy out in the yard. She has adjusted quite well and even slept through the night last night. The kids are having an awesome time playing with her and we enjoy having her around.

Jaren is on his way to his friends house to ride horses. We'll let you know if he breaks anything. The kids are all busy doing their individual things. Darbi went to the high school play with one of her friends last night. Jaren went to the football game and Zoe was stuck at home with mom and dad. We did take her to rent movies and so we three stayed home, at candy, drank soda and watched movies.

Email update

dad, That is so cool that you guys got a new puppy. i bet mom is lovin life with all the training she now gets to do. that is pretty intense how big her dad was, i think you should have gotten a boy with carly, that would have been pretty neat, but i'm sure mom put her foot down on three dogs in the house. I bet the drive was pretty nasty, although the good thing is this time you got to bring someone home instead of leave them behind at the MTC. The weather here is pretty odd, I would compare it to somewhere like london, it gets very foggy, muggy, and rainy allllllll the time. they say it doesn't snow until around christmas time, which doesn't bother me in the least, since on my mission i can't use the snow. Well i think that this week i made a break through as far as missing home. i have been able to overcome homesickness. i have really tried hard to work hard, so it goes away. i can now focus on the task at hand, which is a huge relief to my mind. i think the turn around was the other day, i was big time strugglin and i said a prayer, i got the distinct impression, that even though i can't talk to you when i want or see you. Our Heavenly Father is always there for us and he can supply comfort whenever we need it. like no one else can. I really felt his love that day. It is amazing how much he cares for his missionaries and makes sure they are happy.the sports scene looks like i haven't missed much this year, which is good for me. it looks liek i am rootin for Texas tech even though i would rather texas of beat them, but i know how you feel aboutthat. lol. you always root for the underdog. so we shall see how that goes. but no one saw those two teams bein number one and two when the season started. but that is cool for them.Rick really is a good guy. it is neat to hear how much people look up to you when you are just being your regular self and not trying to be someone i'm not. tell them i am thankful for them and there admiration. Your picture did come through and that was fun to see the new pup. I am trying to send you some pics in email, but i hope it works. I will send my card home, since i got the one in the mail the other day. so hopefully you get them soon.Dad, i am so grateful for all that you have taught me in life, and i will always be. i love you so much. Love always,your sonElder Novakovich

New Family Member

We have a new member of the family. Nikki claims she looks a lot like me. She eats like me for sure. Jaren and I drove to Preston Idaho to pick her up yesterday. She is only 8 weeks old and is going to grow like crazy. Her dad weighs 240 and her mom weighs 170.

Missionary Letter

It is pretty funny being in another country during election time. Everyone asks what I think being an american. I just laugh and tell them who i would want and leave it at that. But it sounds like Obama won from what mom told me, oh well. As far as the weather goes we have been really fortunate here. it has been nice and pretty warm, it looks like it is trying to become winter with all the fog and cold nights but the day s are wonderful. that stinks about zoe and her election. just tell her i love her and she will have more fun not being president, cause when you are president all people do is complain to you. lol. i'm sure she will be ok in a few days. that is so cool that jaren did so well in his race, that is amazing. and darbi also she is amazing for just a freshman. i wish i was as good at anything as a freshman. both of them tear it up on the field. it sounds like byu is still lovin to flirt with danger, i think that is why they lose. who knows. as for sports it sounds like it was a good time to leave with all my teams doing so well this year. man, it is just funny when your teams start doing horrible. good ol' wsu. and so much for the seahawks eh? pathetic it is. I have actually lost weight in the field. it is nice cause in the mtc i was havin to pull my pants tight to get them buttoned, but now they are kinda loose, so that is nice.lol. i heard about derrick and that would be interesting to be in the mtc for the holidays. as for the work here, i am actually beginning to become a focused and hard working missinoary. not that i wasn't just more so now. It is pretty cool to be able to feel the Lord working in my life. I can't believe the blessings that come to one, becuase of missionary service. I have always heard of them, but it is so surreal to have them in your own life. I'm so glad that i am out here. and tell mom to quite asking to get released cause if she does that i'm going to pray that she is still the teacher when i get home. we will alwasys be blessed if we magnify our calling and lose ourself in the service of others. I love you so much and will always be grateful for how you raised me dad. i love you.
Love your son
Elder Novakovich

Pumpkins

We all have been enjoying a very full fall season this year. We have been watching the kids run in their cross country meets. We celebrate every Wednesday by jumping out of bed and rushing to the computers to read the email updates from Elder Novakovich. It is so fun to hear how well he is doing and the maturity level he is rising to.

Work continues to go well and we are feeling the blessings of having a missionary out in the field.

First Email from Nick

Well I am just going to write one ginormas letter to you all. lol. So here it goes. Well to answer your questions, the other day it was 9 celsius here with a wind, so it was cold, the crapy thing was that it was thanksgiving and i hadn't gotten a coat yet so i was cold to say the least, oh well, i pressed on. as far as sickness i got pretty sick in the MTC but i am fine now. my comp has only served in three different areas, but he is awesome, we are trying to convert his family. lol. he was born here, so he has cousins and gmas to convert. but the work is going well, people here are terrible smokers so i get some headaches when we go into houses sometimes. and they all have commitment issues, we are at about three standstills untill they just commit to being baptized. That is great that work is going well. as far as i know this is the best place for the winter, it snows in about december so wel will be good for a little bit. with that package that you are going to send me, it needs to be off soon so that i can get it incase i transfer in 6 weeks, so yeah. oh as far as thanksgiving, it is not near as good as american style!! and we did eath enough, we went to one sunday night, ate a ton, and then on monday we had a dinner and supper appointment! so we ate so much, that it was gross! oh well. the branch here is so small we had about 30 people show this sunday, so that is about average i hear. i had to speak also, that was entertaining! the food hear is pretty normal, we did eat some sea food chowder last night at an investigators house, that i was not a fan of at all. but i ate it. well keep filling me in on all the sports action if you can, no one even cares over here. lol. you can go ahead and get rid of the van, lol, i could care less,lol. my apartment isn't too bad, it needs to be cleaned desperately, lol, so that will be on the agenda today, since it is pday. well i hope that you can answer all the questions with the info i gave you. oh one last thing, tell people about the email, cause to send a leter is a dollar to teh US, so i am only going to hand write you and ry. But the work is going good, my homesickness is wearing off, i have made it a point to think of the people instead of home. i love you all and it is great to hear from you, thanks for all your prayers and support.

More running

There has been more running at the Novakovich house. Of course none of it was by me. There are only a few things I believe are worth running for; from the law, from responsibility, from chores and the two for one sale at Crispy Cremes.

Darbi and Jaren had a meet this afternoon and both did remarkably well. Jaren placed 4th on his team and this the first race back from surgery two weeks ago. His legs were tired but his heart was in it.

Darbi placed 3rd on her team and ran the best race of the season for her. She has really worked on her form and it has paid off. (I have also worked on my form and it HASN'T paid off.) She kept up with the girl she was trying to beat the whole race. At the 800 meter mark she was 20 yards behind this girl. I yelled at her to catch her and it inspired the girl in front to fun faster. After 100 meters she started to close the gap on a downhill. I lost sight of her but when she rounded the corner towards the finish she was already 10 yards ahead and poring it on. She finished like a true sprinter and the coach said he wanted her to run the 400 meters in track after seeing that performance.

We have heard from Nick and he is enjoying being out in the field. He said they were leaving a dinner appointment the other night and asked the lady if they could do anything for her. She said she had seen a discarded matress down the street a couple of blocks and wondered if they wouldn't mind getting it for her. They found this thing in a trash heap and even though it was well used, they hauled it back to this house on their backs. Now he says nobody will let them in the door because word is out the mormon missionaries are stealing people's furniture.

He is in a small branch with only 30 members. He got to speak the first Sunday he was there. He likes the people and his companion and is really starting to enjoy it all. His email is ElderNovakovich@myldsmail.net if you want to write to him.

Off to Canada, eh

We got our anticipated call this morning from Nick as he began his journey to the mission field. He called from the Salt Lake airport on their way to Detroit and then to Halifax. He left the MTC at 6 am and will arrive at the mission office at 11pm this evening. They are traveling with 11 Elders and 2 Sisters, all going to the same mission.



He sounded good and was excited to first get some breakfast and then to finally be out in the mission field. (Teenagers) He loved the MTC and all the opportunities that were there to help him prepare to be a more effective missionary.



Darbi had another XC race we attended in Yakima this last weekend. We drove up and stayed in a hotel on Friday and then watched the races all day Saturday. There were 400 kids in each heat and there were 8 heats. She came in 35th in her race. The girls team placed 3rd overall.






Jaren wasn't able to race because the doctor wouldn't clear him to run in a race of that size. There was a lot of pushing and shoving and spiking going on. The doctor told him to wait 2 or 3 more weeks before he tried to run but he jumped on the treadmill last night and ran 3 miles. He said it felt pretty good even though his arm looked like it was frozen in place while he ran.



Zoe continues to excell in school and ask lots of questions. She comes up with such brainiac things I have accused Nikki of cheating because I couldn't father someone so smart. So I had her take a paternity test and sure enough.....the father is pictured below.

Running Weekend

We spent the weekend in Missoula Montana at the Moutain West Classic XC race. Both Jaren and Darbi traveled with the team on the charter bus but only Darbi ran in the race because Jaren is still recovering from surgery this week. Darbi did well but was disappointed in the results. Her heel has been hurting and it was difficult for her to give it her all.

Jaren is recovering nicely. We took off the bandages yesterday and Nikki had to go in the other room because she was feeling quizy watching. He has about a 3 inch incision on his shoulder. He goes into the doctor on Friday to see how he is doing.

We have received a few letters from Nick and he is doing well. He loves the MTC and the spirit that he feels there. He is very busy but likes the experience overall. He will leave for Nova Scotia on October 7.

I am staying busy painting with everyone realizing that winter is coming and knowing that they have limited time to get it done before the cold weather hits. It is good for me but makes for busy days.

Temple Pictures

Here are a few pictures we took the day before Nick went into the MTC.

Lots of news

Well we have lots of news this weekend; some good, some bad. Which do you want first? Okay, sounds good. Nikki took Jaren to the doctor on Friday and they said he will have to have surgery to repair his broken coller bone. He is scheduled to go in Wednesday for the proceedure. It should take about an hour to install a plate and reallign the bones.

He traveled with cross country team today to their meet and called us and asked if he could run. Yeah right. It just kills him that he can't be running.

Darbi had her meet today at a different location. She was pretty nervous because she is on the varsity team. The race has a freshman race, a jv race and the varsity heat. She asked her coach if she could run the freshman race, he told her "no". Her heat had about 200 kids in it. She did really well and ran a fast enough time to letter. She was thrilled to do so well even though it was quite intimidating.

The race goes from 200 kids across the starting line down to a shoot about 6 people wide. There is a lot of pushing and shoving. The good news is that during the race a was able to polish off a pulled pork sandwich in record time. I was an inspiration to all the dads there. Unfortunetly my time was just off record pace so I didn't letter.

MTC

Well, Nick was officially delivered to the MTC. We have heard all the horror stories of sadness about the experience with oceans of tears, hours of goodbyes and mothers being drug by the ankles out the doors but ours was a peaceful, happy time. Sure....there were some tears shed, but we gave him a few quick hugs, teared up, and let him walk out the "Missionary Exit Only" doors. He turned around just before leaving and gave his mom the "I love you" sign with the pinky slightly bent. Nikki was thrilled.

He was so excited to start. We spent the day before at the SLC temple and grounds. He loved going to the temple but especially liked the LDS museum. We saw the watch that was shot when Willard Richards had it in Carthage jail. We saw the original death masks of Joseph and Hyrum and many more great things I didn't know were available to everyone to see.

But what a spirit there was in the MTC as 600 young people prepared to leave by hugging their parents and then leaving and being embraced by the love of the Savior. It was surreal as the last speaker said they would have a closing prayer and then would say our goodbyes. As the prayer was ending you could hear a few quite sobs as everyone realized this was it. I was okay until I heard the man in front of my start to cry as the prayer came to a close.

I looked over at Nick and his eyes were red. He hugged me, then Hilary and finally his mom. He was all smiles when he left, excited to begin this new adventure in his life. I'm sure he'd love to hear from each of you. He has read this blog and knows you all from your blogs.

His address is:

Elder Nick Novakovich
MTC Mailbox #98
CAN-HAL 1007
2005 N. 900E.
Provo, UTAH 84604-1793

Schools in Good Hands

Well with the new school year starting, I thought I would post a picture to let you all know our children's education is in good hands.

Zoe and the cousins swimming.