The Spader Origin

My cousin Audrey and I are currently helping my grandpa Spader with a big project. He will hand write his memories of growing up then Audrey and I type them, edit them and are compiling them with pictures to go along with some of the stories. One story that I had the chance to type up tonight really hit home with me. It is not one of my grandpa's memories but actually a brief history of where the Spader family came from.
In a reader's digest version my great great grandpa Frank Spitter and my great great grandma Gerri Spitter were taught by missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints over in Holland. They were baptized in a river with a thin layer of ice. After being baptized they felt that it was the right thing to do move their large family, 8 children total, to Zion in Salt Lake City. Frank left his family for a year to get a job and find a place to live in America. After a year he sent for the rest of his family to come. Gerri traveled with her 8 children across the Atlantic by boat and then by many trains to finally arrive at the main station in Salt Lake City.
As I was typing up this story I felt the Spirit so strongly. I imagine what I felt was what my great great grandma felt when she stepped off the platform, looked up and saw the Temple and the Angel Moroni atop shining in the afternoon sun and fell to her knees giving thanks to her Heavenly Father.
I am so grateful for her wonderful example, as well as the examples of my grandparents and my parents. I normally don't cry when I feel the Spirit but tonight as I was typing up the words my grandfather wrote I couldn't stop.


Eventually the name Spitter was changed to Spader as the word "spit" translates to the English word "spade" or "shovel." And THAT is where the Spader family came from.

Shout Out to Russell

Dear Russell,
Happy Birthday! You are soooo old now, quarter of a century right? Thank you for being such a wonderful friend to Seth and I. You have been there through it all and we are grateful for that. I know that we both consider you to be one of our best friends. Seth is especially thankful for you example in his life and I am grateful for the good influence you have been for him. We wish we could spend some more time with you before you leave but I guess that is just how it goes when you live hundreds of miles away. Have a great birthday! We love you.
Love Always,
Carmen and Seth

Unlikely Service

Seth and I have set a goal to give service as much as we can, at least once a week. We were inspired by this last general conference and decided that we need to step it up a notch by doing more than "nice" things everyday but at least once a week take time out of our busy schedules (school, work, family, more school work) to give up some time to help others. Today we had a most unlikely opportunity to do just that. Since Marty is a fire chief of Tukwila, he is in the know of when service is needed. He signed Seth and I up to be volunteers to help the Tukwila Police Department conduct SWAT training exercises. We figured it would be a pretty fun and unique way to give of our time.
Well... I didn't really know what I was getting into but when everyone else starting showing up with bullet proof vests on and thick clothes and all the guys were asking Seth if he had brought a cup I knew we might be in trouble. Basically our job was to be actors for a situation that could potentially occur. We did a couple scenes, Seth played the role of a scared and freaked out employee of a bank a few times, I played the role of a dead person lying on the ground and the team had to step over me. We both played the role of hostages about to be blown up by a terrorist. The scariest one was when I played the role of being a single hostage and the "bad guy" was using me as a shield. It really is kind of scary, they have chalk bullets that apparently hurt really really really bad and the SWAT teams that are practicing are so intense and amped up, it does seem real in the heat of the moment. Luckily for me when I was taken hostage I didn't get shot but I had a few close calls.
We were also able to learn how to conduct a SWAT mission and how to react in certain situations, hopefully this information will never have to come in handy though. Who knew service could be as exciting as this.