Monday, July 13, 2015

Hey Mommy!

So sorry that this email is a lot shorter than usual! I had my departure interview today and it was pretty cool! It wasn't really what I was expecting but it was still pretty awesome. It is weird to think that I am going to be home in like 3 days. I am super excited to see you all! Tell all of the family that I can't wait to see them all! :) LOVE YOU TONS MOM and all of those plans sound awesome! I have something cool to share with you on Friday BTW so remind me if I forget! Love ha tons!

Love,
Elder Wallentine (Soon to be Brandon)

Monday, July 6, 2015

Mommy!!!

That sounds like you guys have been having a little bit of Arizona coming up to Idaho huh? That was insane when I heard about how hot that it was getting up there. Members have just been telling me that it will be fine because going back to Idaho will be just like Arizona now so I will be used to it. ;P But I am glad to hear that it is cooling back down now! :D That would be a super crazy High Adventure for Tyler if it was in the triple digits the whole time! He would for sure come back a little bit darker than when he left! :P But I remember when I went on high adventures and I always had a blast! I remember the last one that I was able to go on was I think at the Salmon river and Dad was able to come with us! We went rafting and kayaking so that was super hard to figure out how to do it, but it was a blast once you figured it out! I loved all of the high adventures that I have been on!

Thank you for sharing all of those fun/cool experiences that you have had over the past week! It is so crazy how some things happen in our lives that help us later on. 

I remember a specific experience that I had on my mission that has really helped me to keep a good attitude through trials. There was a lady that we were teaching who was a member of the church but was also very angry at it for some reason. No matter what we said or what we did for her she would still be mad, and she had her mind made that she would be mad at the church. It really showed me how much of a choice we actually have to either be mad, or be happy. We have complete and total control of our emotions and actions! Even though some things might happen whether it is actually something big, or just a little misunderstanding, we could take it Well, or we can take it Bad. I know that the way that the Lord would like us to take it would be for us to take it Well. I think that is where the story of forgiving 70 times 7 comes into play! :D It sure makes life a lot easier when we can do that and helps us be happy!!! 

This past week we had a meeting with President Toone again and he was addressing the letter that was sent to all of the leaders of the church from the First Presidency on the Supreme Court Decision of Gay Marriage. He read the statement and then he continued on and talked about some of the things that we need to change as a mission... I know that I am not a perfect missionary but Elder Cox and I left that meeting and I seriously just felt empty for the remainder of the day. I was trying to think of why I was feeling like that, and what was wrong with me but nothing was coming to mind. There are always little things that we can work on to get better, but even though I realized that it didn't really help me feel any better. Still to this day I have no idea how to deal with that better... I don't think that I have ever felt so depressed in my entire life as I did in that meeting. But once that day was over and a new day began I was back to normal and I was good to go!!! :D I was glad that it didn't stick with me! It probably didn't help that I have been sick for the past week... But now I am better! I got some medication and I am set now! :) But this past week was really good other than that meeting and we were able to meet a lot of cool people once again!!! 

One quick question... I have the option to either send my bike home, or to donate it to the mission. Do you guys have any particular choice as to what you would like me to do with the bike??? It isn't broken but it has 2 years of ware and tare on it so I was thinking about donating it rather than going through the trouble of shipping it home. What do you think? Oh and I will be sending a bunch of books home in a package soon so if you get a package from me don't get too excited.... Its just a bunch of books! :P Don't worry though I am bringing a shirt home for everyone from a service project we did!!!

Love you bunches!
Elder Brandon Wallentine

P.S. for the 4th of July we got to go over to our ward mission leaders house and watch some fireworks! So it was a good time for sure!