The Long and Winding Road, that leads to your stairs?

Its been a while since Ive updated Duncan and his whereabouts. He has been communicating well with all of his friends, and to me on Mondays, and we've even had a hand written letter or two. He is not big on selfies, or with using his camera much. He wanted to send me a picture of the road they had been riding on -- averaging 15 to 30 miles a day. This is the same "kid" that didnt ride a bike successfully until he was 14!  I used to just PRAY he could ride the Chipman trail with the scouts when he was 7. I held onto his bike the entire way -- he just had no balance.
If you look closely, you can see the tire tracks. This was taken in McKinney, and Duncan accounts that they also encountered a vigorous German Shepherd there, that chased them several miles. I imagine that for the dog, it was a grand adventure, but for the Elders, it was an unexpected test of their biking abilities!

Most recently, Duncan -- Elder Saxey, was transferred to Dallas Texas First Ward. He is near Love Field in a pretty cool apartment complex that looks like Sherwood Forest. I even google mapped him and got a big surprise when the picture showed the Elders Apartment! He has a new companion whose name is Elder Duce. Duce has been out 18 months, and is Duncan's second trainer. His first trainer also went home right after training him, so Im sure he is still fighting homesickness now and then, though he sounds positive and cheery as usual. Interestingly his companion is a Spanish speaking (Mission) elder, which means they get all referrals to those who speak Spanish, exclusively. This creates a bit of a concern for me, since Duncan speaks only the Spanish I taught him, and apparently most of that didn't stick! I told him "you should be ok, you heard it a lot at our house", to which he replied " MOM!! All I know how to do is ask where the bathroom is, and to tell people to shut up!'. OH MY. In this I have failed, but I found it pretty funny anyway.

I asked him how he liked his new companion and he said "I LOVE him", which in Duncan terms, means he is having a good experience, and I imagine a lot of laughter. 

The other day he said they had a wild experience. They were out tracting and had just parked thier bikes under the stairs. He was first up the stairs while Elder Duce was securing the bikes, when all of a sudden this happened:  He stepped right through a stone stair! You can see the bikes below.

 Then, you see this:

The falling concrete just barely missed Elder Duce's head -- he said by inches! He was really grateful that his companion was OK, when he shouldn't have been under the circumstances. Duncan didn't say how his pants fared, but I imagine there's some damage there. 

The newest development that I've found out is that since they are really close to the Family History Library, and since they have been iced in for more than a week, Duncan has done "some" (as in a LOT) of our family geneology.  He is pretty excited about it, which was a real surprise; I'm glad he has caught the "bug" so he can learn more about his ancestors.

 This is the scene that he sent from the Mission office on thier recent occurence of "SNICE" -- the combination of snow and ice that has caused gridlock and major accidents all over Texas:

Pictures from all over the mission have come in showing just how deep the snow is. A lot of the missionaries were not equipped for the weather, and many are wearing blankets!  I guess a couple of feet of snow in Dallas is more than rare! These brave sisters are pretty happy with the situation (thank you Dallas Missionary Moms for sharing!):

If you would like to write Duncan, you can do so at the following address:

3963 Sherwood Forest Drive #1253, Dallas TX 75220. 

I imagine a full mailbox would be awesome if you are shut in for a couple of weeks! 

Christmas was Joyous, I got to see my son. Skype is a blessing when it works!

I have a lot of friends and family that have asked when our son can call home and talk to us, and even further discussion on what the mission rules are on correspondence. I have taken a little time and have done some research since I am a new missionary mom, and some of my family and Duncan's friends are also new to this process. Here is the concatonated version :

COMMUNICATING WITH FAMILY
Write to your family each week on preparation day.
Limit correspondence with others.

Calls to your immediate family on Christmas and Mothers day are to be no longer than 30-40 minutes.

E-Mail.
You may communicate with your family and
mission president by e-mail, according to approved
guidelines. Missionary use of email is a priveldge and can be lost entirely if misused -- heres an update frm the standard rules that I just got. 

.http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865578404/LDS-missionaries-now-allowed-to-email-friends-priesthood-leaders-and-new-converts.html?pg=all

Its pretty straight up. Duncan can write letters on Preparation day (snail mail) to anyone he likes to. On Mondays, he can email his dad and me and friends within reason. He can write to his sisters, brother, grandparents, etc and they are encouraged that these emails be uplifting. If you would like regular mail and dont email much, I highly recommend sending Duncan a self addressed stamped envelope. The boy is not big on words . Email cannot be misused. If it is, he will lose his priveledges entirely. Yes, even if you feel like family.  (and we love you for feeling that way). 

Whew.

Duncans address for now is still in McKinney Tx. I do not forsee a transfer right away so If you want to send a postcard or letter, just IM me, and I will give you his address.

On another note, I heard from him today, and he is doing well. Biking is pretty hazardous where they are right now. He said they are often fored to bike inside of construction zone cones and areas to avoid drivers too near them at 60MPH. He thanked me for sending him with reflective gear, and by now he will have his amazon love gift of an even better vest, some spoke lights and a snazzy tail light. 

I am really grateful for all the cards and letters and love gifts that everyone sent duncan at Christmas. Thank you from me and from him  :)) Oh, and he told us Christmas day that he met a Navaho man on a bus, and that after finding out Duncan has a little skosh of Cherokee in him, he gave him a Navajo name.He was touched by the mans interest in him. :) . 

Thanks, friends.

Christmas is here early in McKinney, Thanks to some kind members!

  It looks like the ward Christmas Party Had a Jolly Santa...

Who had a good sense of humor!

A Happy Companionship. Looks Like our Elder is lucky to live in a great place

where the member take good care of them. I love thier smiles. 

A good time was had by all!

Follow up training in Dallas

Yesterday was followup training for the new Elders in the Dallas Texas Mission. I am subscribed to the facebook page for the mission. President and Sister Taylor, do an amazing job of photo documenation of their meetings. Elder Saxey was there, and in plenty of the many photos, so Im going to post them here!  This blog is mostly for family and friends so I figured you might all like to them.

Theres a few photbombs as well but I fugured Id skip those -- they guys were having a really good time! Thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave comments.

Monday Momday and a classic car meets wild pig

Happy MONDAY! Who says Mondays are bad? Well up until a couple of months ago, I would have agreed they were not my favorite day.Putting a son on a mission, and knowing its the one day you get email from him changes your whole outlook. So today was awesome. I had a chance to get way more information about how the Elder Saxey is doing. Ive been living off of a sentance here or there....so heres the wrap:

This is the ride that the Elders are proveledged enough to go to Church on every Sunday. Duncan is a car guy thanks to me, so it was the first thing he sent me. He said that last week they barely missed a 200 pound pig on the road! a 200 pound pig? I would hate to see that happen, but it would be way worse to see him run into one his bike! Im hoping he packs that camera with him everywhere JUST in case they run across one thats not too mad!

This weeks request: please send me some new Tshirts (which is funny if you had been shopping with hin before he left) so I hooked up with Threadless and sent him some new shirts with a Native American theme. He'll love them.

"Im great, Elder Robbins is great, I ove it here. The members keep us fed so that is keeping food costs down YAAAAAY. I get to stop at QT now and then (a major treat since they have the best Mountain Dew on the planet) Josh Haws will get a kick out of that." " Hows Leah,  and how is Dad?" " EVERYTHING IS AWESOME" and "Im getting mail, yay!" Other than that he wanted me to rescue his hoodie from his sister (of course he knew she had it LOL).  I also have his tiny Christmas wish list so if you are interested I think a card would be grand. I cant post his address here, so just give me a holler at lisa.saxey@gmail.com

Today I  got a giant brand new bike 10% off of the sticker price i also got some things to keep the bike in good repair . the dogs name is buster he is a lab and great dane mix. he looks like a lab with the size of the great dane he is awsome. 

Here we are at Dinner with The Fords in our ward, just before Thanksgiving. 

First Week in McKinney

Hi Mom,

Everything is going well, I get my bike tomorrow i was borrowing someone elses  for the week. I am going with a bike enthusiast that will know what bike will last me my mission YAY.

Elder Robbons is my trainer comp.

I am living with a member family they are the Vrskas - they have a dog named buster, I love having him around but i still miss Delilah. There is a family named the Ferggisons i laughed when i heard that. I have a Duncanvile and a Sachse (sounds like saxey) in my misson - lots of jokes about that but I am loving it here. It is 29 degrees out - good thing i have that jacket it helps a lot. i love you all.

Love,

Duncan