What You Should Know About Mitch

It would be easy to inflate Mitch's strengths in a post like this but I honestly don't have to. Looking back on his life has made me realize -- of course he was ready for a new assignment. He freaking aced this life. As frustrating as that is, I have confidence that he's rocking his new responsibilities. That makes me so proud.

Mitch is obsessed with learning new things. There was nothing he thought he couldn't do. He'd get these ideas and then not sleep until he accomplished them. Even if they were...kind of dumb? For example, he wanted to figure out how to set up a phone server. It would act as a landline for our house. I kept saying, "Landlines are over! We have cell phones!" but he didn't care. He wanted to see if he could do it...and he did. He used a raspberry pi to create an arcade machine. He taught himself to play guitar. He learned to speak Portuguese so well that people in Brazil assumed he was Brazilian. He taught himself to code. He taught himself how to build computers, set up servers and create websites. He could fix anything with an engine. We went up to Rexburg with our friends last summer and he helped their grandpa get the jetski running. He had never even ridden one before. His hands were rough, covered in scars and usually dirty.

Mitch serves others. Need your computer fixed? He's there. Your car is making weird sounds? He'd love to look at it. Struggling through your computer science class? He'll forgo his own academic responsibilities to help you. He is generous, almost to a fault. One of our first dates after his mission he took me to a warehouse where we helped package clothes for people in Africa. He told me on many occasions how much he wanted to serve with our children and teach them the absolute importance of it.

Mitch adores children. He'd fight you to hold the newborn. If there were children present, he was on the floor playing with them. He loved babysitting my niece with me. He even did it by himself when I had to work. As a teenager, he mentioned to me more than once how beautiful he thought pregnant women were. Is that the weirdest thing ever? Or the sweetest? He couldn't wait for me to be pregnant and talked about it all the time -- how he'd have a chocolate stash for me, how he would be so good at dealing with my crazy mood swings.

Mitch is super competitive. He would NEVER go easy on me. When we discovered I was better than him at Mario Kart Double Dash, he worked tirelessly until he could beat me. And he did! We even did time trials of Baby Park a million times, each time beating the others time. In the end, his time is the fastest. I'm glad about that. We used to play pong (like old school video game) at this store next to our favorite restaurant and I could never beat him! He had such a huge smile on his face every time, too.

Mitch loves deeply. I never knew I could ever be loved like he loves me. He loves my crazy. He never cared what I looked like. He'd kiss me when I had morning breath. He'd hug me so tight after I had a tough day. He would drop anything to help me. Recently, we went to dinner and while we were walking to the restaurant someone honked at me because I was walking too far into the street and they couldn't get by. I felt dumb and immediately hopped over to the sidewalk. I looked over at Mitch and he was furious, "I wish I could have given that guy a piece of my mind. No one honks at my wife". It really wasn't a big deal, but it made me smile that he was so defensive of me. He loves me fiercely.

Mitch was (and I'm sure still is) an amazing missionary. He had this super blunt way of sharing the gospel that you couldn't help but accept. He never doubted. He loves Jesus Christ. He loves the scriptures. He never got stressed out about not doing enough to further the gospel because he always was. He just got it.

Mitch is so silly. He could ALWAYS make me laugh. He'd come home from work and say, "Yo, my bae. You is fine." and I died every time. He could make anyone laugh.

and a million other things. I miss him.

It is such a privilege to be your wife, Mitch. I love you forever. I am so proud of you.