Mommy!!!

Thanks for the awesome birthday wishes and packages Mom! :) I just got the calendar as I was sitting here in the office emailing and all of my companions got to see all of the pictures of the family. That is a really cool calendar and I was super excited to see how much everyone has changed! That is crazy how old Tyler is getting now... He is going to be out here on a mission before we know it. He will have a blast! :) I think that it is really cool that he is getting so involved in leadership while he is back home. That will really help him prepare for the assignments that will come to him on his mission.

Oh, and working in the office is a ton different than being a Zone Leader for sure... But it is super awesome to have the opportunity to just talk to President Toone almost whenever you want to. President has become one of my favorite people in the whole world since I have come out on my mission and I learn more about him every time that we talk to him. The other day we were talking in his office and he brought up how his whole family is super big on "March Madness" the basketball tournament, and one of the fun traditions that they have every year with it. They all make their own brackets for who is going to win, and then whoever in their family loses the bracket first has to pay for the winner to get his name engraved on a plaque that they then hang in their home! :) It sounded like a super fun tradition for sure! But another thing that is a little bit different is now we are in charge of getting missionaries to the airport and bringing missionaries back to the mission now. We are going to be making 2 trips to the airport this week which will be interesting... but other than that the work in the office is starting to calm down now that we are like mid transfer so that is nice. We are able to get out and work in our area a lot more now. 

I had a really cool experience while I was talking to Elder Fuhriman the other day though. We were driving to one of the church buildings to pick up some baptismal suits for one of the trainings that we were doing, and we were just talking in the car about some people that we could help. While we were talking we got onto the subject of how throughout our mission we were able to overcome some of the hard times that have come up. I could not think of anything other than the fact that I had made a decision that when I came on a mission I would NOT go back until my time was through! It is amazing how much one decision can help you overcome so many trials. I'm still here and have 4 months left!!! :D It is so cool to look back and see that I have made it this far, but I am also trying to look forward and see where I want to be. That is super important!

Thank you so much for going and trying to get that all figured out with my BYU Idaho stuff! You're the best mom ever for helping me out with that when you have already had to deal with me for 20 years. Your the BEST! :) Also.... HAPPY 28TH ANNIVERSARY!!! I am super glad that you all had a fun day together and got to spend some time away from all of the kids! Even though Dad has a bad knee now I am sure that you both still had a blast. Hopefully, we can get that all figured out on how we can help dad though... That is super not good to have to deal with a bad knee. It will all work out though!!! I look forward to everything that is going to be happening here in the future and can't wait to see everyone again soon! Love you all tons!!! :)

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

P.S. I realized that I have not sent you a picture in a few weeks so here is one! This is right after the Training that we gave at the Missionary Leadership Council. I got to use some of Grandpa Decker's object lessons in the training and it was super cool. I used the one with the egg and the food coloring, and the HABIT one where you write HABIT up on the board. It was awesome!!! OH and cool story on the ties... We all got matching ties for the training but obviously a regular size tie will not fit President Toone. So we bought two of the same tie and had one of the members customize the tie to his size so that it fit perfectly! IT WAS AWESOME! :D

Mommy!!!

President Toone said that they did continue with the tradition for March Madness this year, too, even though they are serving! So I guess we will see who wins the contest! It should be exciting. I can't wait until I can carry on the traditions that we had back home, and also make some new ones with my future family! It's so awesome!

That is really cool about Elder Bednar and President Hinckley though. I have heard President Hinckley's story so many times and it is amazing how much of an effect that can have on people. I never want to be one of those guys that starts something and does not finish it. Once I started football I finished all 4 years, now that I am on my mission I will finish both 2 years, and when I get married I am going to finish in the eternities! ;) It is all about attitude. 

We talked to a guy this past week that has allowed other people's decisions to change his life forever. He was a convert to the church, and he was super involved in the scouting program for a while. But a bishop made a bad call concerning him and someone that he invited to church, and then instead of talking to the bishop about it and addressing the problem he decided to leave the church forever... He then began to tell us that because of the bishop, all of his kids and their kids are not in the church anymore. But, obviously it was ALL THE BISHOPS FAULT... at least according to him. People do not understand the principle of agency for sure. It was super sad. But I want to be one that acts, and is not acted upon! :D 

Thanks again for all of the birthday stuff that you sent me! I showed the littler Nerf guns to President Toone, and we were joking around and he said, "Hey, we can use that on transfer night and call it the revelator!" So for the transfer board and stuff when we are finding out where to put people we will just take the gun and shoot it at the board to find out where they need to go! It was super funny to have that conversation with president Toone! We have some funny things happen when we get the time to talk to President Toone!!!

Love you tons,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

Hey, mom so this past week was super crazy with all of the transfer things going on and stuff! Monday through Wednesday was pretty fun because Elder May and I were still killing it in out area and getting along just like we had been for the past 3 transfers. But we got a call on Tuesday night from the Assistants and President Toone giving us all of the transfer news and stuff. They said that there were 4 missionaries leaving Maricopa... 2 Elders and 2 Sisters. Then they read off all four of the missionaries names and it looked like Elder May and I were staying together for another transfer which we were super excited about! But, then we heard President Toone in the background say that Elder Wallentine will need to pack too... So I asked if I was staying a Zone Leader or not and they said that I would find out later. I WAS SO CONFUSED!!! So, we went to all of our investigators explaining to them what was happening and that they would be having another missionary come by who is still going to be super awesome just maybe not quite as good looking as me and that everything would work out. That was super fun because all of them were super understanding as they usually are!

But then when we got to the meeting on Thursday, Elder Babcock (one of the Assistants) came down from the stand and asked me if I could help him out with something. He then took me into the hallway and walked me around to a room where President and Sister Toone were waiting for me. When I got inside the room President Toone asked me if I would be willing to serve as one of his Assistants... Obviously I said yes and then went back into the meeting. It is so crazy to be in the office now though because missionary work in the office is so much different than any other kind of missionary work. I love my companions though and spending lots of time with President Toone!!! :)

Tell Tyler congratulations for me on winning the election! That will be awesome and I wish that we would have had someone as cool as him in that position when I was a senior!!! He will be so good for that and everybody will love him for sure! Other than the crazy call that I got there have just been a few more crazy things that have happened since I have been in the office. On Thursday night we got to have dinner with the missionaries that were going home with the Toones which was way fun. We got to watch a whole slideshow of pictures from their missions and then we got to just have like a little testimony meeting with them. But then they all stayed the night at our apartment so we talked a lot and then woke up bright and early to take them to the airport at 3:30. At 3:30 we woke up and then at 5:00 the Toones fed us breakfast and then by 6:00 we had to be on our way to the airport. That was the first time that I have been to the airport in 20 months. But yeah just lots of crazy stuff going on with transfer week and stuff but it is fun to be here still!!!

Oh, hey last thing for any mail and stuff you can send it to the mission office now because I will be here a lot. The address is 1875 E Del Rio Dr Tempe, Az 85282. thanks Mom and I love you!

Love You Tons,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

Mom this could be a super frustrating week for sure because we are not going to know transfer stuff until Tuesday or Wednesday night and then transfers are on Thursday. It is going to be super weird waiting for the call... But it's all good since Elder May and I are totally going to be roommates in college! :) But, yeah the picture was totally set up! One of the missionaries that we live with took the picture and then sent it home so that like his aunt or someone could edit it and put a cool little saying on it. You might say that we are some of the best looking Elders in the entire world haha! 

But yeah it was a relief that we were able to get rid of those bed bugs... The guy had to come in our home and spray all of these chemicals all over the place twice... It was super lame... But now we are super happy that they are gone for good! :D But hey that is super cool that you all got to go to that RS meeting! It really does give you a lot of confidence that the Spirit will take over and relay the message to the people that you are talking too. It takes some pressure off, but then we obviously have to be worthy for the companionship of the Holy Ghost!

Thanks for sharing that cool story about Sister Dew and the girl. I think it is always super cool to know that no matter what we say, if we are inviting the Spirit into the homes of the people that we are teaching, the Spirit will make things known to them so simply. We are teaching a guy right now that is struggling to feel the Spirit when he comes to church. That is a different concern for me because usually when people come to church they DO feel the Spirit. But there is always something more that we can do to help others feel the same Spirit that we can feel every week! I am super excited for him. But this past week was the best week for our companionship for sure!!! We taught even more people this week than we have taught the other weeks we have been together... and that's a long time. We have now been together for 3 transfers and we are both super worried that we are going to get transferred... We will see. :/

I hope that everything goes well with Tyler's election! He sounds like he is working super hard at that so I hope that everything turns out well for him. He is awesome!!! I am going to need to hang out with that kid more when I get home so let him know that we are going to go and find some crazy things to do around Idaho! :) It will be a blast!!! Oh, and tell Caleb to let me know how his PACE project went! I remember when I had to do that in 5th grade. But then I got to skip the 8th grade one because we were in Belgium! That was awesome!!!

Love you tons Mom!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

Transfer calls are coming up next week so Elder May and I are on the edge of our seats... It would be insane if both of us stayed together for one more transfer because that would make 6 months! One can hope right? :)

Thank you for sharing that with me! I think it is always super scary when people find out that their kids have gone away from what they know to be true. Especially when you as the parents know that it is the right path that they are on. But it is awesome that we can always have the hope that if they are truly seeking truth and wanting to know what they are supposed to be doing, the Holy Ghost will always lead them back to the path that they should be on. It is amazing how the Lord works with some people. Sometimes we have to hit the very bottom before we can really see the light at the top. :D

This past week was AMAZING! As a zone we have been trying sooo hard to find more people to teach and this past week we had some miracles happen! :) There were 3 people who got baptized this past week and two of them are boys that Elder May and I taught! They are some of the coolest kids ever and they are always wanting to come and play some basketball and stuff with us on our P Days. They are super cool and I am super excited to see how they do in the future! But also as a zone we taught so many people this week! At the very beginning of the transfer the zone was teaching in between 40-50 lessons a week which is still pretty good. But this past week we taught 91!!! That was the highest in the mission for any of the zones! It always feels so good when we are able to go out and actually find people to share the gospel with! :) Its awesome! 

Well, hey, you will also be happy to know that we got our bed bugs all taken care of today so we are going to be doing a ton of laundry for the rest of the day... WOOOOO! I love you tons and can't wait for this upcoming week! :)

Love you tons,

Elder Wallentine