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.