This is Brother Scott Anton of the Pauba Ward in Temecula, California; and I have had the honor of and pleasure of meeting your sons and having them in our home many times over the past few months. It has been great to see each of them grow in their faith , both in the Church and in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know they came out into the field with a strong testimony but I have seen it grow and seen their hard work pay off, not only in baptisms, but in the pure respect and love that our ward has for your sons, they are truly wonderful and a blessing to our Ward Family.
I am a fairly sarcastic person and it is very seldom that both Missionaries are able to handle my sense of humor, but your sons are the exception to the rule. They are able to dish it back out when needed (and my kids love it), and they have helped our family actually enjoy the Missionary experience. We do not normally look forward to having the Missionaries over for dinner, but we have these past couple of months. My children enjoy the scriptural lessons your sons give and participate with them. My children are 18,16, 15, and 11, between seminary, church and our scripture study this is the last thing they want to hear. But they are always here when your sons come over, often invite friends and enjoy the conversation.
Today was a very special day in our house. My son Andrew went out on his first Missionary Discussion, he is 16, has a strong testimony of the church but has never shown an interest in participating, one of your boys said something to him that made him act on his testimony, and when they got home they told me he participated and did a great job with the soon to be convert. Of course I was very proud of my son for taking the trip, but was just as proud of your sons for taking him. They truly have been like an extension to our family, and I wanted to tell you how much we love them and thank you for sending them to us. I am a convert to the church, so I am always learning new things about the gospel, and they have taught me many things. In fact I have never written to our missionary families before, so that should tell you how much I enjoy the time I have with your sons.
My wife signed up to feed them today, Fathers Day, and they held a youth scripture study course at our home this evening, so we saw a lot of them today, it was an added blessing. I want to tell you we have a little standing joke. Whenever they go to other members homes for dinner the family is usually dressed nicely, if it is a Sunday usually still in church attire. But that is not the case at our house. We are casual, pajama pants and t-shirts, so I have been teasing the Elders that if they were going to have Fathers Day Dinner with us they are going to have to dress the part. So attached is a picture of the clothes we made them wear for dinner. They really enjoyed being able to relax a bit and eat some good Greek Food (I am Greek and I always try to get them to eat a variety of strange Greek Food) today we had Sofrito (Veal), Spanaki (Spinach with Feta) Rice and a Greek salad (but they put ranch dressing on it). All in all they ate good, not to heavy on the spinach, but it is an acquired taste.
We will be saying good bye to Elder Blakely next week and he will be missed, and we are praying that Elder Rindlisbacher will remain a little longer. We really love your boys and are grateful to you for allowing them to spend a short period of their lives with us, we have been blessed with their kindness, service and compassion, I hope you enjoy the picture and don’t get to mad at me for making them break dress code for a short period of time.
With all our Love,
The Anton Family,
Scott, Shauna, Aubree, Andrew, Alee, Alec, and Dallas (our dog)
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