Washington County Fair

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

The following was posted on the "Hurrah for Israel" Blog on July 31st, 2010, kept by Sister Howell, wife of Elder Forsyth's Mission President. Elder Forsyth shares many awesome stories in his letters home, but this was one we didn't hear about, so I thought I'd post it here. I believe it was written in a report by one of the AP's:

"Last night Elder Vang and Elder Forsyth were planning to find out where to tract a couple of hours the next day. In response to Zone Conference training, they prayed and picked out 5 streets or so a piece, comparing their choices and discerning through the spirit where they should go. Elder Birkel, an assistant to the president was with them, helping them find in the area: We had the distinct impression to tract at a street called Margaret the next day. The area proved to be too broad, so we prayed to focus on a smaller area and knocked on the first door that we knew was Hmong, explaining who we were, and that we were there to teach the gospel. The woman who answered responded, 'I'm a Christian. My ex-husband's friend was a Mormon and taught him about a boy ordained to be a prophet. You want to come inside? There were three of us, so we went inside, prayed and taught her the plan of salvation. 'Do you know where we came from before this life?' We asked her. 'Yes, I know we were with God through the scriptures --- 'before I formed thee in the belly; I knew thee,'' she responded quoting several scriptures. Hmong people are not familiar with this concept; we were surprised and excited. She also mentioned that Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights she usually goes to a bible study class, but she felt she needed to stay home that night. We responded that we, too, had been praying about where to contact and felt directed to her home."

"'Yes,' she said, 'I think God made this appointment for us!' She had a question about where those go who do not know about Christ; she had been taught by her pastor that you could only accept the gospel here on the earth. We explained how our Heavenly Father had a prepared a way for all to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, even after this life, and referred her to 1 Peter 3:18-20. She responded, 'I have read this scripture over and over and you have answered my question!' She set an appointment for next week to teach her, after identifying the spirit during our meeting by herself!! She's amazing and the Lord blesses us as we follow the counsel of our leaders!!"

Brandon is going on a mission

Elder Brandon Forsyth has been called to labor in the

Singapore Mission speaking Mandarin Chinese.

He reports to the MTC in Provo on October 13, 2010.

We are all very excited... especially Brandon.

Dallen made Brandon a Singapore flag to decorate for...
Our Singapore CELEBRATION!

Uncle Charles & Aunt Darlene were visiting from Arizona and

heard about the festivities, so they came over with

Grandma & Grandpa Forsyth for some authentic Singapore food.

Aunt Donna & Aunt Kim came with her girls.

Dallen & Noah were really excited about the cool Asian food.

Grandpa & Grandma thought the food was yummy!

Cause it was...

Isn't that a BEAU-TIFUL dish!?!?

Its called Roasted Duck (chicken) and fruit salad.

I served it over rice. I am definitely making this

for his farewell dinner.

I also served Singapore noodles with beef. I've never

cooked with Oyster sauce before. It tastes much better than

it sounds. I also made teriyaki chicken wings.

It was a lot of work, especially since I had just returned from my LEMI training

at 10:45 p.m. on Saturday night and had to RUN to Wal-Mart to get the ingredients

before it was Sunday. Then I spent all day after church cooking. It was worth it, though.
Brandon really enjoyed it, and it was fun to celebrate his mission call!

Theater fun for the Forsyths

The play's the thing...

The past six months has found us very busy with four different plays/musicals. In December, Emily & Dallen starred as Jo and Laurie in "A Little Women Christmas" along with the girls from Emily's book club. Tina wrote the script and directed the show. We performed for our family and friends and also at the "Beehive Homes", a senior retirement community, as a service project. It was a lot of fun and Beehive residents really enjoyed it.

Here is Dallen in his role of Sammy in "Revolt of Mother". He performed in March at the St. George Opera House. The show ran for two weeks. Dallen had been extremely ill in the weeks up to the performance, but got better just in time.


This is Aubrey and Noah performing in "Under the Broadway Lights", an original musical revue written and directed by Tina. Aubrey was one of the stars of the show. She sang a solo "God Help the Outcasts" and sang a fun & sassy duet with Shannon called "Trouble to Spare", an original song by Tina.

This is Cody (right) & his friend, Moredecai. The number they chose to do for the show was "Who's On First?", the skit made famous by Abbott & Costello. They did a great job with the comedic timing.

One of the nice things about directing is being able to put your own kids in a show... so Ivie & Noah both got to be in the show with Aubrey & Cody, and Dallen helped out backstage.

Here is Ivie performing as "Sarah"

She didn't have any lines, but is pretty

sure she was the star, anyway.

Aubrey was the home-town girl made into a BIG Broadway star!

The next show was "A Comedy of Errors"

written by Mr. William Shakespeare...

Emily performed in two roles in "Comedy of Errors" as

Amelia and The Abbess!
She was awesome and very expressive.

Emily & her best friend Emma~

Emily as the Abbess

Unfortunately, the actor that introduced her wasn't as

savvy with the funny English and kept calling her

"The Abyss" instead of "The Abbess"

Who says pronunciation matters?

Emily as Amelia - the mother of twins
She did a great job with all of that funny

English vernacular

Lots of goings on since I last posted...

We had to say some sad farewells to our Ragland cousins.

Ivie is going to MISS Mary Jane!!!!

Emily, Lily, Jaren & Cassi - cousins are the BEST!

Dallen at Halloween 2009 as a Naruto character

Ivie was a Princess... of course

This year she was "Ariel on land"

Basically, she wanted to be Ariel (her favorite princess),

but no flippers for her. She wanted to wear a pink dress.

I think it worked!

We always trick or treat with the cousins at Grandma's house.
Its always a fun house over there!
Besides - if you don't get enough candy from trick-or-treating,
there's plenty more in Grandma's cupboard
(or Grandpa's closet - SHHHHH)

Nathan would have NOTHING to do with dressing up for Halloween,

so he went as a "little Monster". It was a S-T-R-E-T-C-H,

but somehow he pulled it off. LOL

Reason #107 why HOMESCHOOL rocks...

field trip in a HELICOPTER!!!!!

No yellow busses for us....

The moms got to go, too. Tina (r) and her friend, Cathy.

We flew over our house (in the middle).
I sent a picture of this to Adam, who is on his mission.

It made him VERY homesick to see our house with

his CAR sitting out front. LOL

He said, "Don't send me pictures of my car..."

Blue & Gold Banquet!!!!

Scouting in America turns 100!!!!

Brandon didn't want a celebration for his Eagle Scout award,

but we did a small one at the house with just the family anyway.

Mom & Dad wanted to celebrate a decade of scouting

accomplishments, even though Brandon was just content to

have completed all the requirements.

"On my honor!" We are a scouting family...

(Don't ASK me what Cody has growing on his head!

Its definitely NOT Scout issue...)

Aubrey & Cody attended a formal dance with their Commonwealth friends.

Cody wore a tux for the first time, and Aubrey wore her first formal.

Don't they look great!? Wish the camera had behaved that day...

Dallen turned TEN and became a Webelos Scout.

He has a tendency to get very emotional on his birthdays.

He is a sweet boy who is very grateful for gifts large and small,

and often gets quite overcome and teary when he opens his gifts.

Hence the baby blanket over his head.

Showing some spiritual MUSCLE!

Noah was baptized and confirmed

a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

on August 22, 2009 by his father.

Birthdays

Here's our little Nathan, checking out the birthday goods!
Yes! I AM the birthday boy!

Off to Laser Tag and Harry Potter movie! Birthday w/the bros!

Noah LOVE his Jar-Jar Binks doll. Brandon loved the Jar-Jar Binks kisses!

Checking out the loot they brought back from Laser Mania!

Brandon is an AWESOME big brother!

Whoot! It was an awesome day!

Noah turned 8 years old on August 12th. We had a family birthday for him, then Brandon took all the boys out to see Harry Potter 6 and then to play Laser Tag. A friend gave the boys a TON of tickets, so Dallen & Noah came home with the mother lode of prizes. It was great day, and Noah got to go to Cub Scout camp two days later. What more could an 8 year old ask for????

Brandon also had a birthday a few weeks earlier.

Happy 18th Birthday, Brandon.

You're an adult now. Move out and get a job! hehe

Actually, Brandon is busy working at Laser Tag part-time and

looking for full-time employment in order to save for his mission. b