Dear_____,
I hope you are happy, healthy, and having fun. I wonder how your studies are going and if you love learning. I love learning. Right now I'm studying a funny math and physics book from The Life of Fred series, because I love math; I've never studied physics, although I made Uncle Spencer study it. Also, I'm studying for a very difficult test, but I'm not afraid of hard things. I love a challenge! I play my ukulele and draw in my sketch journal on the beach.
Since I didn't think my violin would be safe on the trip, I left it home. It seems I was right. When I stood in front of the baggage claim, a man reached around me and pulled his heavy suitcase right onto my ukulele. He was in a hurry and didn't consider the consequences of his actions. I chuckled, shook my head, and forgave him, as he called a casual sorry over his shoulder. Sadly, my uke had to be fixed before I could play it again. My 300 year old violin couldn't have taken the abuse.
We're spending every moment possible on the beach, since we'll only be here a short time. I'm getting quite a dark tan, which Chaucer would call brown as a berry. I've never seen a brown berry; have you? When we swim or snorkle, two sea turtles swim near us. Actually, we think they live around here, since they are out there all the time. We fall asleep to the lullaby of the waves. Eating some curious fruits, we feel like explorers. Then we go back to our old familiar mangos, melons, bananas and apples. It's fun to be adventurous and try new things.
I'm so grateful I can read the scriptures, because they teach me how to act. Through the parables and stories of Jesus' life, I can learn how to be a happier person. One of the ways to be happy is forgiving others. After Jesus and his Apostles had eaten their last supper together, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray to Heavenly Father. After Jesus finished praying, some soldiers came and tied him up. They took him to the palace of the chief priest, where he was put on trial. During the trial, the soldiers did many unkind things to Jesus, but He didn't get angry. After the trial, the soldiers led Jesus to a place called Calvary and nailed him to a cross. Even then, Jesus wasn't angry with the soldiers for what they had done to him. Instead he asked Heavenly Father to forgive them. You can read about this for yourself in the Bible: Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46 and John 18:1.
Whenever someone does something to hurt me either on purpose or on accident, I try to forgive right away like Jesus. Any time I hold onto my hurts to punish the other person, it only punishes myself. Because I choose to be happy, people who might get a thrill from making others react with anger waste their time with me. Most people cause problems on accident, so getting mad just makes them feel bad for an unintended, careless mistake. It's silly to get mad about accidents or even meanness.
I want to be happy. When I follow Jesus and don't let another person's actions bring me down, I know I'm doing the right thing. I know it makes my Heavenly Father happy as well. I hope you choose to be happy, forgive others, obey your parents, follow God's commandments, and choose to love learning. Life is so much better when we choose happiness in spite of our circumstances.
Love Ya Lots!
Grammy
