Mommy!!!

Hey so you will for sure have to go and ask that missionary what his friends name is because we have 4 Elder Carters in the mission! :) But that is super cool that he knows someone that I probably know super well from serving around him. We have had some more super fun things go on this past week with us and President Toone for sure!!! But I will tell you about all of the crazy adventures this past week.

So we had a super regular and kind of slow first part of the week... It was really good thought because we actually got to go out and teach some awesome people in our area and we actually ended up finding a few new people to teach and also contacted a few people that the members of the ward have been having a super hard time contacting too! :) That was a super awesome way to start off the week. Then to wrap up this past week on Saturday I got to go and pick up Elder May for a baptism that was down in Maricopa of a guy that Elder May, Belnap, and myself all taught while we were down there. He is such a cool guy and his son got baptized while I was still serving there, but his time finally came and he knows that what he has been learning is totally true!!! He bore such a powerful testimony at the end of his baptism and it just confirmed to me that the Lord will for sure prepare people in his time. It was a really good experience to be able to go back for that baptism.

So, then if that isn't crazy enough that I got to go back down to Maricopa, you will not even guess where else we went this week... ;) Soooo... There are like a ton of temples around our mission boundaries and I have so far been to the Mesa Temple, Gilbert Temple, and the Phoenix Temple. What other temples would we be able to go to you might ask? :D So after months of President Toone trying to get us permission to go, and after he pulled a few strings we were able to go to one more temple on Monday that was probably my favorite one of all time! On Sunday after church we drove a van down to Yuma Arizona to have the last of all the training in the mission this transfer. We have really been focusing on the Mormon Battalion and the trails that they went on, and it just so happens that we found a really cool museum that goes over a lot of the stuff that happened to the battalion in San Diego California!!! :) So on Sunday night we stayed in Yuma in a Holiday Inn Hotel, and then Monday morning we got up at about 5:00am and ate breakfast/met up with all of the Yuma missionaries, and we all headed out to go to the San Diego Temple! It was probably one of the coolest  things that I have been able to do since I have been on my mission. It is the most beautiful place that I have ever seen, inside and out. We stayed there for a little while and took some good pictures that I will send to you next week, and then we headed out and went to the museum of the Mormon Battalion where Elder Belnap thinks that he might have met his future wife... ;) JK It was super fun though! We got back today and we are for sure exhausted and ready to get back to working in our area though. It was such a good experience to go to the temple and have a mission President that holds the Temple so sacred that he wants us all to understand what happens there. It is an awesome feeling!

Sorry that the email isn't longer and that you are getting it a day late... We did get permission thought to email you today since we missed out on yesterday though so don't worry! ;) I love you tons!!!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!

Holy cow!!! I was reading the story of Coco and that scared the heck out of me! I am so glad that everything worked out and that she ended up being ok. I could not even imagine being Caleb in that situation and seeing Coco like that... That would be so hard to see someone go through that. I hope that both Coco, and Caleb are doing alright now. Good thing they have an awesome Mom/Grandma to look out for them! :) It is awesome to have a mom who whenever we get sick or need anything you always know what will make us feel better. Thanks so much!

That is also super crazy that Parker Hansen is going to Russia. That is going to be a super cool experience for him! Probably a little bit scary looking at it from this point, but it is really cool how missionaries can go all over the world and be safe. Not many other people can have the comfort that we can have as we leave to go on our missions. Even though I just stayed in the United States I have still never felt so safe, but so threatened in my life. It is so crazy how both of those feelings can exist at the same time... But it is cool to know for sure! :P 

This past week we had a ton of stuff to get done... After the hike on Monday, (which by the way was AMAZING) we went and tried to get all of the rest of the stuff that we needed to get done on out p day finished, and we ended up not getting back from the hike until about 2:00. So we didn't get to go shopping or anything, but President and Sister Toone took us out to dinner that night which was really fun. We got to talk about how the hike went and how some of the missionaries are adjusting to being out here on their missions. It was a cool time to just talk with them for sure! But then that night after dinner we had to go and drive around the valley and drop off all of the supplies that we gathered from the members to use on the hike. So that was basically our Monday haha. 

Then on Tuesday through Thursday we had the rest of the Zone Conferences and we ended up traveling to Casa Grande, and Yuma! It was super fun going on a little road trip with President and Sister Toone because we had like 3 hours there and back that we could just talk to them and get to know them better. Oh and you will have to remind me when I get home to show you a little video that  we took of a joke that President Toone told us! :) It is super funny!!! But yeah that is basically my week! Sorry it is not super descriptive... It is a lot different being in the office and stuff. It for sure tries to teach you how to balance your time a little bit better! I love you tons! Thanks for being awesome! :)

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

We got to stay in a hotel when we went down to Yuma so we all got some hot chocolate and sat down at some tables by the pool for a little while! :) It was awesome!!! (Don't worry... we didn't go swimming)

Mommy!!

It was so much fun to get to talk to all of you yesterday! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY AGAIN!!! Even though Dad wasn't able to be there for all of it I know that he does still love you a ton just like all of your kids do. I love you tons mom, and sometimes it for sure takes leaving home to realize how much you actually do for us so THANK YOU! :D I know that you probably didn't hear that from me enough while I was home but I do mean that. It was so fun how much Collette and Izzy can talk now! My companions and I thought that it was super funny how they were telling us stories and stuff like that! They can for sure talk your ear off haha. I could imagine that they have tons to say when Uncle Brandon isn't in the room too! They are the best!!!

I know that we told you most of the stuff that we did this past week in the Skype call... so there isn't a whole ton that comes to mind of what to write about haha. But we did go on the hike today on the Mormon Battalion Trail and we had a super good experience! We had to go around and pick up a ton of canopies so that when we had a little presentation on the trail we would not all get baked so we did that all last night, and then picked up 2 missionaries that were going to be coming with us in the morning. Then we all woke up this morning at 3:30am and were out the door in the car by 3:50am so that we could make it down to Maricopa in time to set everything up on the trail. We ended up  getting to the trail by about 5:00am and got everything set up by about 6:15am. It was a little bit crazy because we had to drive the car in on the trail and on the trail there were like 2 big sand pits that we were a little worried about getting stuck in. Since I am a professional driver though I plowed right through the sand and made it to the destination! :) It was awesome!!!

When we all got in on the trail and we got to the place where the presentation on the Mormon Battalion was being given we all sat down and got ready to listen. There was a guy that came out and he is an expert on the mormon battalion. He was dressed up like the members of the battalion would be dressed, and had the weapons and nifty little gadgets that they had too. It ended up being really cool! That is something that I think would be super cool to learn more about! One thing that he pointed out is that the Lord will always provide!!! He shared a story of some of the people on the trail who had their carts being pulled by oxen. They entered into like a bog area and the two oxen ended up getting stuck in the mud... One of them got out safely with some help, but the other one when they attempted to get it out of the mud they accidentally broke its neck and it died. They did not know what they were going to do, so they said a prayer and asked their Father in Heaven for help and then went to bed. When they woke up in the morning they found 2 young oxen wandering around their camp with a yoke already on them. :) It is so amazing how the Lord will always cover what we need and he is always willing to help us out! That goes for feelings that we have too. If we begin to think negative thoughts, and begin to question some of the things in life that we know the adversary will work hard to morph it into something way more severe than it really is. But it is hard to overcome that without Gods help. You could even say it is impossible to overcome by yourself! Continue to know that He does love you and He knows you personally! If you ever question anything turn to him in prayer and he WILL help! I love you tons Mom and keep being the BEST MOM EVER!!!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

I never realized how much time just to think and time by yourself is needed until I came out on a mission... Especially as one of the assistants we really never have any time to relax, which in a way is good because it makes time seem like it is flying. But when I get home I am for sure going to be looking forward to an awesome date with my bed! :) But until then I will keep on hitting the pavement for sure! It is super fun being in this area still though so I am doing well!

This week was a little bit more relaxed than the last week. We had some training's that we had to give on Thursday, and Friday which was pretty fun but other than that it was a pretty chill week. On Thursday we had another MLC which we had to give a little training at and it ended up going super well. We ended up breaking up into three groups of missionaries depending on what they wanted to work on the most this next transfer. For example my group focused on Teaching People and Not Lessons from PMG. It was awesome just to be able to talk personally with a big group of the missionaries. It was super cool and now we are just going to be focusing more on PMG for the rest of the transfer to get all of the missionaries PUMPED again which will be a BLAST!!!

Then the training that we gave on Friday was for all of the missionaries that have only been out for about 6 or 12 weeks, so the new missionaries in the field. Every 6 weeks we will get them together to make sure that their training is going well and get them to have a little bit of fun. We prepared some fun get to know you games that we ended up playing with them, and then we made a really fun game where they pretended to teach each other in different ways. I will have to explain it later because it is super hard to explain how it worked over writing. haha

Other than that I am super stoked to be able to see you guys this upcoming Sunday!!! It seems like I just got to talk to you guys. It is going to be so much fun to get to see all of the little kids on Sunday and I am really looking forward to this last Skype home before I am on the down hill stretch. Crazy to think that this will be the last time I will see you guys when I am not actually with you in person!

Love you lots!!!

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

Wow that is a lot of stuff that is going on back home! Caleb is killing it with the whole baseball thing with all of his games it sounds like!  I was looking back on some of the memories that I have had in the past with sports and some of the experiences that I have had playing sports with my siblings and stuff this past week. I realized that in high school runners and football players just usually don't get along and actually look at each others sports in disgust... I think that it is so funny how just in our family we have runners, football players, and now baseball players and we all seem to get along for the most part. We all have our moments of getting annoyed and stuff but it is really cool how close you get to people when you live together! :) But thank you for always keeping me updated on everything going on for sure! Also I thought that it was really cool how you shared the experience that you had when you were younger with your primary teacher. In my patriarchal blessing it tells me that I will be an example to kids, and it tells me that again in my blessing from the stake president. It specifically tells me to fold my arms and close my eyes during prayers. Even those super small things are picked up on!

This past week was transfer week and I am still in the office with Elder Babcock!!! We got a new companion too named Elder Belnap and he is super awesome. We are going to have a blast this transfer, and have already had a super fun time this past week with each other! I will just kind of walk you through my week this past week and maybe you will be able to relate with all of the craziness that happened... :D

Monday: We woke up as usual and decided to go out and exercise like we usually do on a P Day. But then we got to the office and found out that we were actually really not going to get much of the P Day today... President Toone was still in the hospital and was going to be released sometime that day, but he didn't end up getting out until like 6:30 pm. We started looking at transfer board by ourselves and President Toone told us that we needed to seek the direction that the mission needs to go by ourselves this time until he gets back. We worked on the transfer board just about all day and then at 6:30 when President got back we worked on it some more! It was a day full of transfer fun for sure. We got to sleep at 11:30....

Tuesday: Today we had to get all ready to make the calls to the entire mission TONIGHT! We finalized all of our plans for the transfer and then we actually got to go out and teach on of the people that we are currently teaching here. She is super cool and so open to learning about the gospel. If there is one thing that being in the office has shown me it is that if we are doing all that we can do to get out and work in our area we will be blessed so much with the people that we will find and talk too! She is Japanese and soooooo cool!!! We always have her read/pray in Japanese and it sounds soo awesome! 

Then tonight we talked President Toone into letting us spend the night at the mission home with them! But rather than just being boring and sleeping in the mission home we got permission to camp right outside in the backyard which was way fun. President Toone was even cool enough to order us pizza that night... it was 12:30 by the time the Pizza got there!!! :D I think that we were up until about 1:30 that night... ;P

Wednesday: We spent all day today with the new missionaries that came in Yesterday. We got to have some study time with them and then had a little fireside with them that night. The fireside was super powerful and everybody who was invited had a great time! Probably one of the coolest things is that we invited on of the trainers to come to the fireside and the trainee didn't even know that he was his trainer until the next day. It was good for the trainer to get to know his trainee a little before they were companions! We were up until 1:30 again.... ;P

Thursday-Sunday: Honestly all of these days are just a huge blur because we were so busy making all of the housing arrangements and talking with all of the missionaries that got transferred... we transferred about 70 missionaries to a new area and had to combine about 8 areas in the mission. It was kind of a mad house in the office for this past week... But it all worked out and I am starting to get back onto my sleep schedule again which is good! ;D

I can't wait for this upcoming week and all of the fun that we are going to have out in our area working! We are going to go for another great week of teching and I know that we will be able to do a ton of things with our ward this week! I'M STOKED!!! Love you all tons and keep being the best family that a missionary could ever have!!! 

Love ya,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

This past week was just super crazy so most of the days I don't even really remember what happened... But it was super cool for sure! On Monday we went out and had our P Day as a district. We went and had burgers at Five Guys and then went over to the institute building and played some soccer. It is so much fun playing sports with the group of missionaries that I am with right now! But with this next transfer we are going to be getting a lot of different missionaries in our zone so we will see how that goes... :) It is super weird being on the other end of the transfers where I get to help know where everyone in the mission should be transferred too. But it is really fun for sure to get to spend all of that time with president figuring everything out. 

We had a super fun trip this week also though. We left on Tuesday night to head down to Yuma Arizona to go on some exchanges with some missionaries down there. To get to Yuma it is about a 3 hour drive so it was the longest road trip on my mission so far! It was a blast though!!! I got to drive the whole way because my companions don't really like driving, but I LOVE it! When we got down to Yuma I went on exchanges with one of the Elders that I was a zone leader for when I served in Mesa and we had a blast. I got to see a Zonkey (Zebra/Donkey) It was a super interesting thing to see here... Instantly I thought of the Liger from Napoleon Dinamite. It was awesome and we quoted that movie like all day long because of it!

Then on Wednesday night we had to come and head right back into town so that we could be in our area for Thursday. On the way back up to Tempe we stopped at some Sand Dunes and got some super cool pictures! :) That was a blast. We ended up getting home from Yuma at about 11:00pm... It was so weird being on the road past 9:00 haha. But we got back safely and got all rested up for the rest of the week.

On Friday we went on some more exchanges with some missionaries. Elder Janis went into South Phoenix, Elder Babcock stayed with a companionship in Tempe, and I got to go back to Maryvale!!! It was so much fun going back there because the missionaries that have taken over that ward just got there so I knew the area better and was able to show them around to some of the people that I taught while I served there. It was awesome and I was able to get some pictures next to some things that I had seen about 18 months ago! That is weird to think about.

Ok so even though we had all of those exchanges to go on this past week, that was not even the craziest part of the week... President and Sister Toone were in Dallas Texas for a Mission President Seminar this past week so we were kind of playing as the mission president for the whole week. Any questions that would have gone to President Toone came to us instead so that was fun... It for sure kept us busy and on our toes. But then to add on to the load when President got back into town he got really sick and has been seeing some doctors for the past few days, so we have been having to work on the transfer board by ourselves. It is a different experience for sure doing it without President Toone there. But we got to go and see him last night and he is doing awesome!!! He should be out by today so we can meet with him again!!!

Thanks for the awesome letter again and I am so glad that you guys always keep me in the loop with all of the stuff going on back home! I love you tons!

Love,

Elder Brandon Wallentine

Mommy!!!

So, I am getting a little bit nervous about this upcoming transfer because I might be taking over as the oldest assistant... I have noticed a pattern in my mission so far though. After I had been in the mission for only 6 weeks, and was only half way through my training, President Toone called me to be a trainer. Then when I was called to be a Zone Leader, I was trained for only 6 weeks before I got a brand new Zone Leader to train. Now I have been an Assistant for 6 weeks, and may be training some brand new Assistants this next transfer... It is going to be super crazy, but it is really good to know how much trust President Toone and the Lord have in me.

If I have not been a quick learner before my mission I will be after this for sure! :) It is awesome to have the chances to serve other missionaries like this, but one thing that I especially want Tyler, Emily, and Caleb to know is that all of the real work happens when you are out with your companion TEACHING!!! Having leadership is awesome and all, and if you get a calling you need to magnify it to the best of your ability, but NEVER think that just because you don't have a leadership assignment that you are not SUCCESSFUL! That is mostly for when they are on their missions haha.

I have loved every second of my mission so far and am going to continue loving it for the next 3 months! 

Love you tons,

Elder Brandon Wallentine