ELI'S SWEET LITTLE SPIRIT!

Eli had a substitute teacher on Sunday in his church class and she just told me today about how much she enjoyed having Eli in there. She said how tender and sweet he was. They were talking about praying by yourself in the morning and at night and then she told a story about a boy riding his bike in England for 2 miles in the dark all by himself. Eli listened very intently and wanted to know every little detail of the story. Then afterwards he got up from his seat and went and sat in the corner and cried because he didn't want people to make fun of him if he says his prayers. The teacher sat down with him and explained that people won't make fun of you and if they do its ok because even big strong men say prayers. Then at the end of class he raised his hand to say the closing prayer and she said it was the most beautiful prayer. She went home and told her husband what a tender moment she had with Eli and how much she enjoyed him.

About a month ago we were driving in the car and Eli started asking me about other countries in the world. Somehow I was able to tie that into daddy serving a mission in Brazil. He then proceeded to ask me some questions about a mission and I told him it would probably be better if he just called daddy and asked him. He declined. A few minutes later he changed his mind. We called up Jared and luckily he was getting ready to head to lunch so he was able to spend the next 15-20 minutes on the phone with Eli talking about his mission and answering all of Eli's very inquisitive questions. When they hung up the phone, Eli handed it back to me and was very excited that when dad gets back from Oregon he was going to show Eli all of the stuff in his missionary trunk.

Two weeks ago when we were in Oregon we went to the visitor center after Sacrament meeting. It did not exist the last 3 times we were in Oregon so we were excited to check something new out. The twins just wanted to play the coloring the Temple game and Emma kinda wandered around for a few minutes and enjoyed watching the "I Am A Mormon" videos. Eli on the other hand just wanted to spend the day watching videos about prophets. He would have stayed even longer, but I was done and ready to go. We loved how interested he was in all of it.

I am writing these little stories only for the purpose of one day letting Eli know what a sweet spirit he has and how he touches so many people and how just before he turned 7 he really seemed to be interested in different things in the church and was really taking them seriously. He is so sweet and we hope he keeps that with him forever.