When we talked on Skype at Christmas time I noticed how long your hair is getting. It is pretty! That was a lot of fun. I liked seeing you and your house AND your family. I like singing songs together and I loved seeing your 'rainbow' tree.
Your mom said the Christmas packages got to your house. They sure took a long time! Letters can take a long time too. I decided to write you a letter here. You can see it today!
I hope you can read this letter. Some kids can read when they are your age. It is easy for them. Some kids can't read easily. Reading can be very hard.
There are many kinds of books to read. Be sure to tell me about your favorite books. Maybe you can send me a picture on my e-mail. Some books tell true stories. Some tell pretend stories.
My favorite pretend story is 'A Toad for Tuesday'. When you go to the library ask them if they have that book. Maybe you can read it. I like it because the toad knows he can choose to be happy no matter what. I also like reading the Book of Mormon every day - usually just a little bit, but sometimes more.
Have you read the Book of Mormon yet? You are big enough to read it all by yourself. Just read the words you already know and try the other words.
See if you can make the sounds, for the letters, make a word you know when there is a word you don't know yet. Some letters make lots of sounds. Try all the different sounds. My dad told me to do that when I first learned to read. I was trying to read the Bible Stories. My dad said that most of the words I didn't know yet were names of people or places and that I could tell they were names because they would start with a capital letter.
He said to just skip those names that were really long and hard BUT to remember what they looked like so when I saw them again I could say to myself, "Oh yeah that is the king" or "that is the place where they lived".
I would wait until he was not at work and then ask him how to say the names. The longest name was Nebuchadnezzar. He was not a very nice king. The other name I liked was Methuselah. He was a prophet that lived almost 1000 years! He was Noah's grandpa.
If you read a few words in the Book of Mormon every day and try to read it soon you will be able to read all the words you see. You could read the whole book a few words at a time! I like the Book of Mormon because it helps me to feel like Heavenly Father is close by. Many other people tell about feeling that way too.
Parley P. Pratt (an apostle and friend of Joseph Smith) stated, “The Spirit of the Lord came upon me, while I read [The Book of Mormon], and enlightened my mind, convinced my judgment, and riveted the truth upon my understanding, so that I knew that the book was true, just as well as a man knows the daylight from the dark night.” (Journal of Discourses, 5:194.)
Brigham Young (a prophet) said as he read the book, “I knew it was true, as well as I knew that I could see with my eyes, or feel by the touch of my fingers, or be sensible of the demonstration of any sense.” (JD, 3:91.)
One of the prophets that wrote the Book of Mormon is named Nephi. He said, "“… for it persuadeth them to do good … and it speaketh of Jesus, and persuadeth them to believe in him, …
“… If ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.” (2 Ne. 33:4–5, 10.)
Avalin I love you very much.
I hope you will tell me about the books you like.
Love Grandma FarFarAway
