Saying good Bye to Campo Limpo and "Fancy Nancy!"

                                                                                             dinner with nancy!

                                                                        a prank from the other sisters. so not funny

                                                                    look who I found at the temple.. Sister Tanner!

Susan Winder Tanner (born January 10, 1953 (age 61)) served from 2002 to 2008 as the twelfth general president of the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Tanner is currently serving with her husband, who is president of the church's Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission; this assignment began in 2011 and is expected to end in 2014.

Letter from Steve to Lauren 4/21/14

Dear Lauren,

I hope your creamed eggs and Easter celebration were as good for you today as they were for us.  I have been on call this weekend so I have been busy but I was able to see my patients in the hospital early this morning then to make it home to finish making the breakfast (mom and Rachel were my sous chefs) and watch the kids hunt down their Easter baskets that mom did a good job creating and I did a pretty good job hiding--so much so that Katie got annoyed because she couldn't find hers!  Like all special days with our family, our thoughts turned to you. We all commented how much we missed you and how, from past experience, you would have even had a harder time than Katie to find your Easter basket. I have to say that the eggs were delicious (see attached photo) even though you weren't here. Let me know if your recipe was successful.

I am now here at the hospital waiting to start an appendectomy on an 11 year old girl.  It turns out I know her dad from some HealthEquity business. He just told me, "I don't want to put any pressure on you but now that I know you will be doing her case, I feel great!"  It does put a bit of pressure on me but I have always found that surgery is very humbling. You never know exactly what you are going to find when you look inside someone. Even the most routine cases can be stressful and weird. I have found the only force I can rely on sometimes in surgery is our Father in Heaven. I always say a prayer when I a standing at the scrub sink washing my hands before I go I to the operating room. I think of my favorite quote from Victor Hugo: "Certain thoughts are prayers. There are times when whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees."  So remember, you can always have a prayer in your heart, even if you are walking down the street.

Being on call can be really tough, especially on Holiday weekends. It is common for me to have experiences with patients that bring me closer to God. There is a great old parable about a man who was walking down the beach when a huge wave rolled in and left thousands of starfish stranded helpless on the sand, baking in the sun. The man began tossing the starfish, one at a time, back in the water. Another man came up to him and said, "What are to doing?  There are thousands of dying starfish on this beach. Do you really think you are making a difference. The starfish savior calmly stated as he tossed another starfish in the water, "For this one, I just made a difference."  I think about that story a lot when I am here on call. I will probably operate on a few thousand patients during my career as a surgeon. Whereas at HealthEquity, we  feel like we are making a difference for millions of people. Yet it still feels good to take care of one starfish at a time.

I did have a remarkable patient that I took care if yesterday. She came in with a ruptured appendix and I operated in her last night. She was really sick but she was so nice when she came out of surgery.  She thanked me for helping her. The remarkable thing is that even though she was so nice, she is a woman who was addicted to meth and cocaine a few years ago. Sometimes we get in the habit of thinking that all drug addicts and people who have bad choices in their lives are bad people. Then we meet people that seem to be redeemed by the love of our Savior. It helps to remind us of the great healing influence we have access to.

Your great missionary example has been rubbing off on me. This week I gave away 2 copies of the Book of Mormon over the last couple weeks, one to a cab driver in San Francisco named Kuma and last week I sent one to another taxi driver named Faruk. It is amazing how both of these men seemed to be thirsty for the truth. Faruk was a non-practicing Muslim from Turkey who kept asking me questions about our beliefs around fasting, the law of chastity, and the Word of Wisdom. He seemed so impressed that then he asked me how he could find a Mormon Church and if I thought there would be any eligible women his age at church. Kuma told me that he was agnostic but that he wanted to be religious--he just couldn't find a faith that made him want to believe. He was from Ethiopia and he said he had seen the missionaries there. He also said he wanted to read the Book if Mormon so I ordered him one as well off of your blog. I hope I will hear from these men someday.

Well Laur, I just finished my appendectomy. It seemed to go well. It is almost 1 AM and I am very tired.  Please know how much we love and miss you. We are so proud good work you're doing to help people have hope and faith in Jesus Christ. I can't wait to read your letter tomorrow. Just be careful and know that you are always in our prayers. Love dad

Letter from Lauren to Steve

thank you for this and all of your other letters! I know how much of your precious time you spend on them but I love you and am so so grateful for you! And great job with the book of Mormons. My creamed eggs were okay but yours were probably better. I found sushi this week and absolutely loved it! It is only a block away from our house so I went back the next day! the problem is, now I am getting transfered so I have to find a new place.

Oh and this week two of our lunches fell through. The first day I whipped up a butternut squash soup, grilled cheese, a salad with a palmitos and a balsamic vinegar dressing and brigadeiros. I thought of you because you are always great at finding something to eat when we have NOTHING in the house. The second day I was lazy so we went to a restaraunt and I just payed for everyone. 

Love you!

Laur

Excellent. Don't stress the transfer thing. Just think of it as another adventure to see new places, find new cheap hole in the wall restaurants, and best of all, meet new interesting people. You are great with adventures. 

I love you,

Dad

Guessing where Lauren will go next!