Monday, November 29, 2010

Email from 11/29/10

Hello, my frostbitten family,

Our thanksgiving was good. We had the usual stuff - turkey, dressing, potatoes, yams, green beans, pecan pies, etc. it was all super good.

Yeah we set a date with Esther & Yazmeyne in may, but we keep on trying to get them to get married faster. I think they will.

Esther & Yazmeyne came to church. Robbie & Lakota stayed home sick. That family has been doing really well - they're even having family scriptures and prayer.

We have one new person - Chance. He was a former investigator who was dropped about 6 months ago because he wasn't willing to keep the word of wisdom. He had a change of heart, though, and came to church and asked us to come back and teach him again. He's been living the WOW and is committed to baptism on the 18th of Dec. He's mostly disabled physically - he's in a wheelchair & has little control over his arms or legs, but he's all there in his head. Baptizing him might be interesting.

What do we have to do with transfers? Basically just take people to transfer meeting and bring them back.

OK - college stuff: That hasn't been on my mind for quite a while now, but here's my thoughts. Tell me what you think, also, since I have access to basically zero information right now, and I'm out of practice when it comes to playing the college game.

The long-term goal is still air traffic control. With that in mind I probably want to apply to UAA. With regards to UAA, I seem to remember it was a two-year program that I was most interested in. See what you can do to find out if there's any way to shorten that in light of my already having an AA degree. Check also on estimated costs with regards to tuition (keep WUE in mind), board, other fees, etc., and if there's any prospect of scholarship money in light of my gpa and test scores, your income, etc. I think UAA basically said 'no', but double check anyways. Also check the availability of student loans or grants. I'd like a return & report on what I can expect my financial status to be at my mission's end as well. Another thing - see if you can find a solid answer on the physical requirements, eyesight specifically, involved in ATC positions. It would majorly suck to spend a lot of time and money freezing my cute little tail off at a very cold and snowy university only to fail an eye exam. If there's a doctor that can administer that examination in or near cleveland or sandusky, I don't think it would be a problem to see him. As backup plans for UAA I would probably want to apply to BYU and maybe to UVU's flight program (again, pending eyesight issues). Check also on their estimated costs & scholarship availability. Will I need to do FAFSA again? When thinking about deadlines, remember that only emailing once a week means that communication will be pretty slow-moving. How much do college applications cost?

Another Christmas idea: music. Reminder: anything in the green hymnbook or mormon tabernacle choir is OK.

Keep an eye on the dogs.

LYMNB,

Elder Matthew Smith