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)

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!

Mommy!!

Yeah it was really cool to be able to hang out with Elder Erickson's brother for a few hours. It was cool to hear some of the questions that he had for missionaries who had been out for a while.I also think it is really cool that President Toone has made some exceptions for some missionaries to do some cool things like that! But yeah us for chicken and waffles you should totally go and try them because it is like the best thing ever made.

Oh so as far as my knees go? I got to go and see a doctor and he said that I just have something called runners knees where the grooves just aren't matching up right. He said it's common for teenage girls to have that but apparently missionaries get it too... 😜 but he just gave me a few exercises I can do for my legs so that I can strengthen my muscles around it and he said that my knees should be fine. He said if they don't start getting better after I start doing the exercises that some physical therapy might need to take place. But I think I'll be fine! Oh and make sure that you tell Carin hi for me and make sure she knows that she's in my prayers for the procedures that she's going into. 

This week we had a lot of crazy things happen… But it was cool because we were able to have a lot of discussions with a lot of different people. This weekend especially we went over to a lady's house with one of the priests and asked her about coming to church because she hadn't been in about three months. We talked with her and she said that she might come to church, and then during our first three hours of church we got a Facebook message saying I'm up and it had a picture of her and she was all dressed and ready for church! It was awesome.  We also got to go to a family who is Hawaiian and we realized that we had been knocking on the wrong door for the past three weeks to try to get a hold of them. We went over in the first two days of being in this area and then we kept setting up appointments and for some reason they kept missing them… But I guess it wasn't them missing it. . . it was us being dumb and knocking on the wrong door. 

It was an awesome week and we ended the week on Sunday by giving talks on missionary work! We gave talks as well as a lady who has been baptized recently and our ward mission leader. We actually just got a new ward mission leader whose name is Brother Helgerson and he has a son who I worked with a lot the first time in this area.  He is on his mission in Nampa! So I told him that when I get home I will have to go on splits with his son. The wards are super funny because everywhere we go members are always telling us that we are seasoned missionaries and that we know that what we're doing now… It's kind of funny because we don't really feel like we know how to do anything! But hey I guess we must know little bit after two years right! 😀 I love being back in this area!

Well I love you tons and I can't wait to see you guys in a couple of weeks! It is crazy to think that here are only 2 more emails after this one! 

Love,

Elder Wallentine

Hey Everyone!

Hey so this past week ended up being a lot better than the week before by far!!! We were able to get out into our area everyday and we didn't have any big meetings that took us out of the area at all! We had District Meeting and Weekly Planning but that is all! It was so nice to just be a "Normal Missionary" again. I love just being able to go out and find people to talk too a lot more than just sitting in the office all day for sure! It is really funny because missionaries always ask me if I miss being in the office, and if I miss being an Assistant. My response is usually that I do not miss it for sure!!! I loved the time that I spent in the office and I am really happy that I got to make so many close friendships with the senior couples, and the Toones while I was in there, but I know that I was for sure ready to get out and teach again. I love it!!! I am so glad that I am finishing up my mission here in this area and that I got put here with Elder Cox! We are super tight and it is a blast in the area EVERY DAY! 

Zone meeting ended up going really well! Elder Erikson is getting ready to go home just a little bit after me and his little brother is leaving before his actual departure date, so President Toone gave permission for his brother to come out here to AZ and come to the zone meeting and go out proselyting with him and his companion for the day! Right after zone meeting Elder Cox, Elder Erikson, Elder Hemsley (Eriksons Comp), Logan (Eriksons Brother), and Myself all went out to a restaurant for lunch! We went to Jorges Chicken and Waffles and it was super good! It is funny because to eat it you put some fried chicken ON TOP of the waffle and then poor syrup and gravy on top of all of it! It sounds like super weird, and kind of disgusting but it is like the BEST THING EVER!!! You will all have to try it sometime.

I love you guys a ton and I look forward to hearing from you again next week! Keep me updated on everything!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

I am having such a fun time here in the Ahwatukee and Mountain Park wards! It is really cool to go around an area that I have already been in on my mission before and already know a lot of the members and even some of the people who have been taught in the past. I am super tight with the members and they are all super cool still! This is for sure going to be a great place to finish the mission for sure! :) In Elders Quorum yesterday we were introducing ourselves and a lot of the guys were saying when they were going to be moving out of the ward in their introductions. They came around to me and I said, "I am Elder Wallentine, and I will be moving out in 4 weeks." Everybody started to laugh and I don't think that they actually thought that I was being serious! ;D It was pretty funny though! It is so crazy that I have so little time before I am going to be coming home... But don't worry I am definitely excited to come back and see all of you! I have probably been asked if I am getting Trunky more times this week than I have been my entire mission haha. But don't worry I am not trunky yet! haha It is a blast in this ward! Oh and that sounds good to like ease me into accounting and stuff. Just do whatever you think would be the smartest thing to do and I trust you! Thanks mom!

I will for sure be keeping Carin in my prayers. It is hard to think about things like this happening within your own family. I have seen things like this happening to families all around me on my mission, but it seems so much different when it is happening within your family for sure. I know that everything will work out though! Even though this is for sure going to be one of the hardest things in our lives, she will be OK! :D We talked a lot about the Priesthood yesterday in church and it is so awesome to have a testimony of the priesthood and the power that it can bring into our lives. I know that as we call on the powers of heaven she will be OK!

This past week has been super hard for sure... I love my mission and everything a ton! It seems like though that lately in whatever meeting we go to there is always a huge part of it that if focusing more on the negative things that are going on in the mission than the positive. I think that is what has really been getting me down the past few days. Our mission is definitely one of the best missions in the church and one of the most obedient ones for sure! But although there is so much positive to focus on it seems like the few negative things are still being focused on more... That has made this past week super hard for me at least. But I am positive that this week is going to be better!!! We think that the other missionaries in the zone are getting the same feelings that we are so at zone meeting on Tuesday we are going to use it just to focus on the good that is going on and really just get the missionaries happy again! I am excited to bring the Happiness back into the work! I love you tons Mom and thank you for all that you do behind the scenes to make our lives that much easier! 

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

MOMMY!!

Ok so you were super close with your guess of Elder May and I being companions again but not quite on the spot! :) But funny thing is that almost happened too! Elder May moved into the office and took over my spot as an AP and I moved out! :) But I am now in the same ward that I already served in in the Ahwatukee area!!! Oh and another super cool thing about this is that my new companion is Elder Cox who I lived with when I was with Elder Bono!!! I am super stoked because even just over the past couple of days this has been one of the coolest transfers of my mission! We have gone by a lot of the people in the area book and they have all been super nice to us. I feel like Elder Cox and I are going to be able to connect with a lot of people these last couple of weeks. It will be awesome!

Last night we were driving back home from a long day of work and we pulled up to this guy with our window in the car down and he said, "Hey do you have any Crack?" So I laughed and said "NO" He apparently thought that he was super funny because then he started to laugh and then turned to me and said, "Sorry, bad joke... but don't worry we are Christians and we believe in Jesus and all of that stuff..." It was a super awkward encounter so then I was super happy when the stop light turned green and we were able to book it out of there! It is funny what people will say to you on the streets! haha But other than that all of the ward members remember me and It is super fun to be able to see all of my friends from the ward again! I am super excited to be able to work around of of these guys again and strengthen the relationship that I have had in this ward even more! IT WILL BE AWESOME!!! :)

Love you tons!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!

Thank you so much for transferring that money over to my account! I totally forgot about that until you mentioned it in the email, but I am going to see if I can go without touching that money for a while! I guess that we will see how that goes huh... :D It is super nice because when you are an assistant you get just a little bit more money put on your account just in case you have to go and run some errands and you have to eat on the road. It was super funny when I heard that because me and the financial secretary have a super fun time here in the office and we are always cracking jokes at each other! It is a blast being able to work with some of the senior couples in the mission so often. 

That is super cool about the experience that you were able to have with those parents of the other players on Caleb's baseball team. It is insane how much and what people will talk about behind peoples backs but then when someone stands up they will all just quiet down. I have really come to know that if you are not strong enough to say something out loud to someones face then you probably better think twice about saying it. But it is nice to know that in those situations the Lord will bless you with the ability to say what needs to be said just like you were able to stand up for what you believe!  GOOD JOB MOM!!! :D

I am really considering the whole PT thing now that you said that about what they are doing for Tyler. It has been amazing as a missionary serving in the Leadership that I have had out here to notice how much you can help people help themselves. Sometimes when people have to keep on coming to you with their problems for you to fix them it is not the best way to handle the problem. If you give them instructions on how they can fix their problems then it will help them more in the long term. I guess it is like teaching a man to fish. If you catch a fish for someone then they are fed for a meal, but if you teach the man to fish then he can be fed for the rest of his life. That was a good lesson for me to learn on my mission for sure!!! Thanks for the pointer.

We have been working on transfers all this past week and I think that we have made some really good changes for the mission! I am probably not going to be in the office for my last transfer which will be super fun and it is super fun to already know exactly where I am going... but I will leave that as a surprise for you!!! ;) I am super excited for the last transfer of my mission though because it is going to be in the best area, with the best companion ever! I AM ABSOLUTELY STOKED FOR IT!  I love you tons!!!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine