June 19, 2017

Walnut Creek!

Here's a quick selfie of my comp Elder Stone on the right, and Elder Habel on the left

Momma!

The transfer is going pretty good so far, it's actually super hot here, getting over 100 pretty much every day and our apartment doesn't get cold at night, so thats cool, it's actually super hot at night and I was sweating as I wrote in my journal! Walnut Creek is pretty cool! It's a pretty big area so it'll take me a bit to learn how to get around, but you guys already know that. My new comp is Elder Stone and he's a super cool guy from Heber city Utah, he's pretty funny and super awkward haha! But it's going pretty good he's a super nice guy. We are just in one spanish branch and they are super cool and tight nit and most of them are from mexico which is pretty cool. I am senior comp and District Leader. We have a District meeting tomorrow so we'll see how that goes haha. 

Dad is the best ever, I was just thinking about that on sunday during elders quorum, they were talking about how to be good fathers and were questioning why it is that so many fathers don't do the basic things, but mine did and I'm so grateful for that! So we went to one of the stake high counsel men's house's for dinner on Sunday night which was super nice, because they had a big house and white people food, we actually had roast beef too! And it was their idea to send some videos home to the fathers of the missionaries that were there. I'm not sure when Mason's school ends but I hope it does soon for your guy's sake, that temperature sounds so terrible! 

I'm still in Mosiah in my Spanish reading of the BOM and I think I'm on chapter 15 in Jesus the Christ in Spanish, I try and read a little bit in English the night before and then read it in Spanish for language study. It's still pretty hard to understand everything because the vocab is so advanced in that book. Quick question, did you get a chance to send a backpack and all the other stuff? I'll send pics in a second! Love you!

And here are some pics from the last transfers P-day

P-day shenanigans!!

Final pic in my last apartment

June 12, 2017

Transfer...

Here is our zone pic from the Temple BBQ, the guy sitting on my and Elder Robert's knee is the other AP and had a surgery the other day and he can't really walk very well haha, good times though!

This is Caleb, he's my homie from the YSA, he was pretty torn up when he found out i was leaving

Here is me with Jessie and Lyndon!

single shot with Lyndon

Here is Caleb and I again!

this guy with me is Joel, he's in the YSA and he's super cool, he served his mish in AZ and we like each others ties

MOMMA!!

Im doing pretty good! So crazy stuff has been going on in this mission, I guess a ton of people were released as district leader and a ton of new people were called as district leaders, me, Elder Tackett, Elder Mayfield and a bunch of others! So I will be going to Walnut Creek zone as district leader, senior companion and designated driver, and I'm super nervous haha! So around this time of year there will be a lot of people going home, mostly the leaders in the mission, and a lot of people coming in because it's the summer, so they're getting some of the more experienced people ready to be moved up and getting some less experienced people (me) ready for when the new missionaries come in by putting us in leadership positions now instead of with the influx of missionaries.

But, anyways I will be in Walnut Creek with Elder Stone, seems like a pretty funny guy, he has been there for 3 transfers already so I think I will only be with him for one transfer and then I will probably train when new missionaries come in. The temple was a pretty good time, Elder Tackett had a name of someone who wasn't sealed to their parents so we went and did that, because we can now, and the couple there asked us to stay and do some more child sealing stuff which was cool, and we also got to see a temple marriage sealing for the dead thing which was pretty cool too! And then after that we went over to the Mission home where 2 other zones and ours were eating and playing basketball and volleyball and it was a good time, I probably played VB for about 3 hours that day haha! then after that we headed back with the English Elders and got some starbucks and that was about it for that day.

Dang, so crazy that Brody is already back! Did he have an accent when he gave his talk? Oh just some things idk if you have already sent some stuff but just a reminder about a backpack please, and some more of that hair gel that you sent me with, I am almost through my second bottle and then I'll be on my last one so 2 more should probably get me through the rest of my mission:) Oh and my new area has the only chick fil a in the mission so if you happen to have an extra gift card laying around I wouldn't complain if that got sent to me! Love you so much!!!

Here is a pic of a bunch of us at our service at the senior center. this is Carol, she is super awesome and I'm going to miss her, she always directs on what to do for the service

One of our member's dog had puppies!

Here are some people I was saying goodbye too the other day, upper photo is Abhiyan, he's from Nepal and is a pretty cool guy, he lets me play his guitar when I go over haha!

And the fam below is the Garcia fam, the old people are from Costa Rica and the boy in the stripe shirt is Adrian who we have been teaching for a while and he's getting baptized soon!!

The pictures below are why I absolutely love my boy! He can't make a serious face to save his life!!

Here is us at the temple for "Why I Believe" program

June 5, 2017

June!

Hey MOMMA!!!

I'm doing alright, the week was pretty good, just getting a little tired of being with my companion, not much is new but we do have a couple new investigators so thats good! 

So for my studies I have been doing a chapter in the BOM every day and then a section or two in the D&C and then I spend the rest of my time in the Old Testement! The stories in the first books of the OT are so cool! And it's crazy how much goes on in just the book of Genesis! It's crazy to think how frequently God reached out to help his people back then and that he is still doing it now in our day too! 

So in my free time I am reading Jesus the Christ! and thank you so much for the Spanish one! I read a section in English first and then I'll read it in the Spanish one after so if there are any words I don't recognize I can figure them out without the dictionary, but I tell you what, there are lots of words in the English one that I don't know, that book is a pretty advanced read, but it's so great I highly recommend it for anyone!!

As for the recipes, I made some garlic bread but other than that not much, it's getting near the end of the transfer so I don't want to but a bunch of food and then end up getting transfered and have to leave it here in this area, so when I move on I will for sure try and buy the ingredients so I can make some yummy foods! The fidget spinner is super entertaining and I think a lot of other missionaries are starting to get them too haha.

I actually got to go to the temple this last saturday because we are now allowed to go with our recent converts if they are going for the first time so I got to be a witness and confirm people in both English and Spanish which was super neat! And we will be going again for our temple day this Thursday which will be cool, we also are having a BBQ at the mission home with a couple other zones which is awesome, I guess this happens a couple times a year but this will be my first one! This Saturday we will get transfer calls and know if we are staying or going, and of course, I will let you know on Monday if I'm leaving or not. Hope things are going well, you guys are all in my prayers and I hope im in yours! Love you!!! 

We had a zone water balloon fight which was pretty cool!

May 29, 2017

Memorial Day

So we went to the temple for Porque Yo Creo and like the whole spanish ward from san fran was there and I got to see Orlando again which was so awesome!!

MOMMA!!!!

This was a pretty good week for me I guess haha, I was super happy to get the package and resupply my lack of goldfish! My actually birthday was good but it wasn't too special haha, just a normal day:)  I have seen those fidget spinners around pretty recently so it was super cool to get one!! Zone conference was pretty great! We had a cool psychological speaker guy that talked about how to deal with stress and then we talked about expectation with our investigators and interesting stuff like that. Transfer calls will be next saturday, so not this upcoming one but the one after that, and then I will know if I am leaving this place or if I get to stay, so you will find out in two weeks! 

From what Grammy told me you are recovering pretty quickly so thats good! And I loved getting all of the pictures this week that was awesome! It's always great getting pictures so keep them coming if you can! So crazy thing that happened this past week is Gale got baptized!! The same one we worked with here for a while and she had a lot of depression problems, she made it to Utah and they did a really good job over there helping her out, finding her a place to stay and even a job that she likes so that was super great! Love you so much!!! 

Also we had exchanges the night before my birthday so they blew up some balloons before we got there to do the exchange and gave me a crown attached to a party hat haha!

here's a pic of pancake breakfast with elder roberts!!

Here's me in some shrubury in front of a house we were tracting

May 22, 2017

Birthday Week!

here's a pic of our recent converts scary dog Cookie 

MOMMA!!!

This week has been pretty good! It doesn't feel like im turning 19 though haha, such a weird age! I haven't gotten any packages yet but we have a zone conference on Wednesday and they usually bring everything there so I expect it will be there :) I did get a little letter from sister Tilghman which was super sweet! 

I cannot believe everyone is going to be graduating so soon!! It's crazy! I guess it feels like a year ago that I graduated haha, it feels pretty long to be honest! But I'm excited to start seeing some of my friends head out on missions so that we will be able to email more frequently! Because even though everyone else has all the time in the world to email, they don't because they don't set some time aside! But now they will have to set time aside hahaha, thats what happened with me and emailing Jared and Jack.

Our investigators are doing alright, not too great though, we found one new investigator this week, but lately it's just been tough to find and get people to progress!! Celeste, one of our recent converts, is going to Guatemala for a month and marrying someone though so thats pretty cool!

We did get to go to the police station this week and try to file a report for one of our investigators that doesn't speak English so that was pretty neat, but other than that not much has happened.

For some reason Elder Tackett and I have gotten into cooking food, because we're sick of just eating grilled cheese and ramen so I was wondering if you could send some recipes on how to make garlic bread, bruchetta, cheese potatoes and other wonderful food you think I could make! I did make some breaded chicken which was pretty good but I don't know the right way to do things haha. 

Can't wait to get packages from you guys! I will try to send photos this week! Love you!!!   

Happy Mothers Day, sorry it's late, all the ward mothers were taking a pic with their children so I got the missionaries to get in there with me haha!

 some little salamander we found

Me cooking

May 15, 2017

Mother's Day

FaceTime with Brig on Mother's Day!!

MOMMA!!

It was so awesome to see you guys yesterday! The time will feel like it's gone by so fast by the next time we will see each other so don't even worry about it! I hope you guys all enjoy these last few weeks before the boys get out of school and that your are recovered by the time you guys are coming back over to my state to enjoy the beach! Keep praying and taking pictures for me! Tell the ward I love them and miss all my leaders and teachers! You already heard about my week, it was pretty normal, just a lot of anticipation for the face time thing, but I love you so much!!

May 8, 2017

Bro Gygi visits Brig!

MOMMA!! 

Wow it was so funny seeing Bro Gygi! As soon as sacrament meeting finished I got up and turned around and he was right there smiling (I was in the last row) I was like, Hey what are you doing here!!! It was so good to see him haha! And yes I get along alright with the people in our ward:) But this past week was pretty normal, we did get some glow in the dark light sabers which are a good time, we whacked each other around in the dark for a little while today so that was cool! 

So, the people in the room don't know anything about the mp3 deal but I trust you haha. I think the zip code is 94806. but ya idk if they'll lock the mail up so maybe it'd be best to send it to the mission home haha. But the sister I told you about last time that wasn't doing so good is doing so much better! A member drove her all the way to Salt Lake and some missionaries here got in contact with some missionaries over there and I think things will work out for her which is super awesome!! But on a different sad note, we were eating at this members house and right before we started eating she got a call from someone in Mexico telling her that her brother died. So that changed the mood of the dinner and the topic of the lesson, but I am super glad for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation!!

As for calling... about that, I hope everything goes well but if anything I would have a member text dad or something to make sure. That reminds me, Bro Gygi sayed he would be staying here for a little while longer and wanted to take us out to lunch which I am totally ok with, the problem is my companion is probably not ok with it, he doesn't know it would happen but ya... As for the details of when we are calling.. I'm not sure yet, but I know it will be before or after our dinner on Sunday and our dinner is at 4 so thats pretty good right? haha, I will probably just call you before so we can set it up. Love you!!!