First Week in Fortuna

Dearest parental units,

 

First off, yes dad, it's ForTUNA... for tuna.... hehe and secondly, BELIZE?! Man! That's gonna be sweet! You guys are gonna have so much fun. You're taking Della? Really? Are her and Colin getting........ dare I say.... married? It seems like they go everywhere together, even trips now... Well, I guess you need someone to take my place huh?

 

Well, howdy! Sounds like I didn't miss too much in football this year, other than BYU going 9-2.... oh well. At least the Colts will have the first round draft pick! I heard a rumor somewhere that Tressel was being looked at for the head coaching job? Also, I heard recently that Peyton has recovered from his surgeries and he is out throwin the football again... news on that? Will he return?

 

As for my blog that I do, my supposedly "newest" post about football, that was at least a month ago, haha it wasn't very recent. It gets to be a hassel sometimes, and from what I can tell, no one even reads it so I don't really bother. But I'm glad that you like it!

 

It's getting super cold up here in the morning! Today it was 33 degrees! Our car has frost and ice all over it... I really cold use those gloves about now! Those steering wheels get pretty chilly. But, it is BEAUTIFUL up here... this week it's been sunny every day, and I've had a chance to see a little of the area because last week it was foggy all the time. There are beautiful hills all around with trees everywhere. Yesterday for church we drove down to the tiny little branch in Miranda, and boy, that is a gorgeous drive! I can't wait to bring ya'll up here! You get to cruise along the 101 through redwoods and through the mountains... I love it! The Branch is tiny... I've never been to a branch, and if I have, I don't remember it. There was about 20 or so people there, but the testimony meeting wasn't bad. I bore my testimony since it was my first time there, it's an easy way to introduce myself to everyone. Also, the stake president was there too so he took up a good chunk of time. There is a guy there, named Jeff, who had a stroke not too long ago. He's confined to a wheel chair, and he isn't a member. He wants to be baptized! He comes every week, our WML takes care of him and bring him to church and teaches him. The catch, he forgets things real easy beacuse of the stroke. BUT, he still remembers that he wants to be baptized, so that is awesome! His date is for Christmas Eve! What better a way to celebrate Christmas than to bring someone closer to Christ? Then again, you can't spell Christmas, without "Christ." Did you guys happen to see the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night? It was awesome! We had dinner at a members and watched it while we ate. It was good! So, since I've been up here in the middle of nowhere, I had ridden the bus so many times already! All we do is ride the bus it seems like. It's good way for transportation though!

 

So the Christmas season is here... We do have decorations up in our tiny apartment. Did I tell you that it's long and narrow? The only thing dividing our bedroom from our kitchen is a blanket that hangs down, and then the kitchen and the tiny tiny livig room where we study is separated by a blanket as well... But, we found some stuff to put up. We have christmas lights up all around, and we have a tiny tiny fake tree that we decorated and put on our table. It's about a foot tall haha. There are some people here that are NUTS with their decorations though! I love this season! It hardly seems like it's finally here though. Crazy how time flies! I've almost been out a whole YEAR, can you believe it?!

 

Anyway, have a great week! I love you both very much.

 

Love,

Elder Edwards

THANKSGIVING

Dearest Parentals,

 

I'm thankful for my wonderful parents and for their example to me. I'm thankful for my mission and for all that it means to me. I'm thankful for my trials (that one was hard to say.....) because of how it makes me grow. I'm grateful for cooler weather and not sweating all the time. I'm thankful to not be in a bike area. I'm thankful to still have over a year left on my mission. I'm thankful for my amazing pup back home. I'm thankful for life!

 

My thanksgiving was okay. We went to a members home who had like 15-20 other people there so it was kinda overload for me because I didn't know who anyone was. I'm still trying to learn everything... Like I said earlier, my area is HUGE. It takes about an hour and 40 minutes to drive to the northern most tip of my area to the southern most tip. We cover a bunch of tiny little coastal towns. I haven't hardly been out of Fortuna yet due to our lack of miles. We get 1350 miles a month here, and there is 1 building here in Fortuna where the ward meets (at 9:30 in the morning yuck! That means we have our meeting with our WML at 7:00 and PEC and Ward Council all before it starts) and there is a tiny tiny building in Miranda where the branch meets (I haven't been there yet) and they start at 11. We don't go to both each Sunday. From what I've been told we go to the Miranda branch about once every 3 or so weeks. My new companions name is Elder Rex Cosman and he's a Cunnuck! He's from New Brunswick, Canada. Being with him is okay... I'm trying to adjust to a new missionary. He kinda treats me like I'm an idiot sometimes... I'm pumped to address that with him here soon :) See, about 10 months ago, I just would have brought it up right when something like that would happen and I'd blow it out of porportion, but now, I take my time and I think things through. I'm growing up! Elder Carter is in my district again too... and his companion is another kinda new guy, only been out 5 months.  My impressions of Fortuna are... I'm not sure yet haha it's an interesting small town. It's named "The Friendly City." So far, I haven't met any huge jerks yet... But it's alright I guess... I gotta learn to love it, just as I did Clearlake. Comes with time. We live in a little add-on apartment on the side of a members house. It's a really narrow apartment. It's probably only 20ft wide, if that, and about 100 feet deep. But! We have our own washer and dryer, which is awesome! So, my new address is: 683 Spring St.  Fortuna, CA 95540. It's weird how I don't really care about mail anymore... maybe it's because I haven't received mail for like a month other than Shelley's letters, which I love! Tell her I really appreciate them... I feel bad that I don't get back to her, but it seems as if there is never enough time on P-day to do things, especially if you have to go by the bus schedule. Everytime we go up to Eureka for p-day or district meeting we have to take the bus because we can't afford the miles on our car. So... I think that's all you asked for mom?

 

As for football, Urban Meyers is at OSU!!?? That's awesome! Wasn't he the Florida Gators coach? Or was he the LSU guy? I know he's been bumped around quite a bit. But, that should be great, get OSU some W's! How is BYU doing overall nowadays? As for NFL, I just appreciate the updates that you do give. Thank you! What's going on with the Colts? I heard a rumor somewhere that Tressel might get the head coaching job? Is there validity to this?

 

I like your little spiritual messages Pa, thank you for those! So when are you gonna be called as bishop again? Mom, are you still a ward missionary? Are you being used at all, other than to teach Gospel Principles? I've been teaching Gospel Principles every other week for about 4 1/2 months now... I just taught it yesterday because our WML who normally teaches it had an ear infection and went home, and Cosman just looked right at me because he's new and all that stuff... In Clearlake, no one was assigned to teach it, our WML was the First Counsilor in the bishopric so he was always busy... but it was good, I taught about Eternal Families. Ya'll better stay on the path so we can hang out in the Celestial Kingdom!!

 

Well, this has been a long letter from me... I hope you enjoyed it! I gotta write President now and complain to him and stuff... haha I won't complain, he does not enjoy complainers. But, anywho, have a great week! Keep on keepin on. Any plans for Christmas?? Vacation?

 

Love you guys so much!

Elder Bredwards

FORTUNA

Dear papa,

 

You get your own personal email today! Mom is late on her email... But to not keep you in suspense... I have been transferred. I will be going up to Fortuna. It's like 30-40 minutes south of Eureka. I will be a DL there with a pretty new missionary, only been out 3 months. I will cover the Fortuna Ward and the Miranda branch. The area that I cover is HUGE. I'm pretty isolated out there. But I am so excited!! It has been hard to say bye to people here though, man I love these people so much! But, it's time for me to move on. I have received a spiritual confirmation that Heavenly Father is happy with the work that I have done here. I've had the incredible opportunity to be a part of 8 people's conversions. It truly has been amazing. My mission now feels like it is FLYING by... only just over a month until I'm on the other side of the ladder and I'm climbing down... Hard to believe.

 

Anyway, so what happened with football???? I guess mom will give me the hook up.

 

The only thing that sucks about being transferred, is that I'll be spending Thanksgiving with people that I don't know. It's gonna be weird... But thats how it goes sometimes. I am way excited for Thanksgiving though! I'm going to eat so so much! Woo!

 

As for your un-edifying thoughts about the future and money and whatnot. 1 scripture comes to mind... look up 3 Nephi 13 and read the last like 3 or 4 verses. Think about that. I'm sure you already know though, but it'll bring peace of mind.

 

We got to go to the temple this last week! It was sweet!!! I love the temple... Now that I'll be in Fortuna, I will be going to the Medford Temple up in Oregon. Crazy huh!?

 

So yesteday was a great way to end a transfer. We had another baptism! A 16 year old kid, named Kyle, was baptized and his friend who is a member baptized him. Kyle is already talking about serving a mission. It's so sweet!! I can't get over it! Man, being a missionary is the best thing ever! You guys should go serve as senior missionaries!

 

Anyway, love you pops, you're the best. Thank you for the birthday wishes. It doesn't feel like my birthday at all... but that's okay. I'll talk to you next week and tell you all about Fortuna.

 

Love,
Elder Edwards

TRANSFERRED

Moms,

 

Hey! You are WRONG! I'm emailing so early because I don't know if I'll be able to email in my new area! I'm going to Fortuna. It's up north. About 4 hours north of Santa Rosa. I will be a DL and I'll be a "mom" I will be my companions next companion after his trainer, his trainer is his dad, and I will be his mom. Cool huh? President called me and said he has a lot of trust in me and the missionary. I'm so excited though! I can't wait! I am really sad to be leaving Clearlake though... I had the great opportunity to be a part of 8 baptisms here! The missinoary that I'm replacing in Fortuna was a former AP so he is a solid guy too... I did all my goodbye's yesterday to all my peeps, and I got all my pictures with them... I'll have to send them to you tomorrow or tonight (if i'm on doing online work). But up in my new area I will be covering both the Fortuna Ward and the Miranda Branch. My area is massive! It's just south of Eureka. It's on the coast and in the redwoods.It's a tiny little fishing town apparently.

 

Anyway, glad to hear that BYU killed! Are they ranked at all? Go Browns!

 

I will be getting the package that you sent today when I go to Santa Rosa to be moved up to Fortuna. We all meet in Santa Rosa for our transfer and then we all go to our area from there. It doesnt feel like my birthday at all... It just feels like it's gonna be another week. I hope you didn't spend a lot of money on me... you need it to feed that army that you're housing. So yeah... 20 years old, all you're kids now are "adults." Officially at least... not mentally or emotionally, or even physically haha. Although, it only takes 24 hours for me to get some good scruff on my chin now and I have to shave every day :)

 

I hope you have a great week with all the family over! I'm jealous. I'll be spending my thanksgiving with people that I've just barely met. Hopefully it won't be too awkward. I'll just have to put on my "bubbly" personality. Can a guy be bubbly?

 

I love ya moms, you're the best! Give Max my love... We had dinner last night at our Bishop's house and he has 2 german shepherds. One is an all black shepherd tha is 8 years old, and the other is a 1 1/2 year old pup. I spent my time with them instead of mingling. The little one, Bella, was perched up on my lap. She thinks she is a lap dog, as does Max. Man I miss that boy! Take good care of him!!!

 

Love you!

 

Love,

Elder Brennan

November 14, 2011

Pops and Moms,

 

Can you believe that I've been out on my mission now for 10 months? Only 2 more until I hit my year mark, and then I'm on the other side of the ladder... It's crazy!

 

As for Evan's blog... I loved it of course! I miss that kid... I've been following it for a while. He's become quite the poet writer/Christian. I stay in touch with him somwhat... as well as Tyler. I never thought that I'd ever get in touch with Tyler again, but yet he's still writing me :) It makes me feel good. I'm excited to see both of them when I come home.

 

We had a great weekend! We had 2 baptisms! Becky and her son Sean both were baptized! The Bishop baptized Becky and I baptized Sean. I love it so much! This is what missionary work is all about... Clearlake is an awesome place, so many people are ready to be baptized here, I'm up to 7 baptisms just in Clearlake. It's been a privilege. The Lord has blessed me. We have some awesome people, our "pipeline" is full. We have a 16 year old kid that we're baptizing next week, he wants to serve a mission too! This is the last week of this transfer, so we'll see on Friday what's happening with me. And, we get to go to the temple on Friday! I'm excited!!! Have you guys still been going to the temple???? WEEKLY?

 

What is Indy going to do? I heard a rumor that Peyton might go to the Redskins? Tell the Colts they either need to keep him (that would be nice) or send him to the Browns... Those are the only options I will allow. Hey, I went golfing again today and I hit my first PAR on a PAR 3! Man, that felt good haha.

 

I'm jealous ya'll got to go to Las Vegas... I've never been there. President Bunker is from Las Vegas actually... He loves that place. He loves Kobe too....... This is a direct quote from President Bunker during Zone Leader Council, "You will one day come to know that Kobe was one of the 3 Nephites!" Hahaha I don't remember what we were talking about in there, but I remember him saying that ... it was awesome.

 

Anywho... Nothing too intense has happened lately... I keep thinking of things that I could need, but then I forget. So, I must not need them that badly. I could still use some socks.................. I just need a bunch of black nike dry-fit mid calf socks, then I'll be good. I can use those for every day socks too. If you're gonna send anything for my birthday, then remember that it is very possible that I could be transferred on Monday, so send your package on Monday or Tuesday. Again, I don't really care that much about receiving anything. I'd rather you guys save the money and then get me a nice big present when I get home! :) Either way, it's all good. 20 years... that's crazy! Blew my mind earlier today... weird.

 

I love you guys! Thanks for being the best parents ever!!! Have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Brennan

Testimony

 HEY!

 

We had a FANTASTIC week! It all ended with Bryce's baptism. He wasn't 9 so it didn't count as a convert baptism, oh well. But our week was incredible! We found 7 more people who are ready for the gospel! We taught 25 lessons as well, it was awesome!

 

Golf today was freaking awesome! Like I told you, the course we go to is a 9 (PAR 33) hole course that if we want we can do it again for 18 (PAR 66). I got a 54 on the first 9 and then a 48 on the second 9, to make 105 for the whole 18!!! Improvement! It just feels great to go out on a nice chilly but sunny morning and play golf. I love it and I can't wait to challange you (dad)...(well I guess I could challange mom, maybe she's playing behind all of our backs) and take you down! I hope I retain my skill when I'm home though. It was a good day though. Yes mom I'm driving carefully... for the most part :) I like trucks... I'm coming to like the Chevy Colorado LT's quite a bit. They're nice. But I do miss the good 'ol stick shift... Anyway!

 

Fairfield feels like a lifetime ago... It doesn't only seem like 4 1/2 months since I was there with Elder Carter.  I don't remember telling you I enjoyed my apartment... it's ugly and gross. They're planning on moving us out here soon though. I love Elder Smithfield... (Elder Gifford). Elder Anderson and I get along very well still, hopefully it continues that way! We have 2 weeks left in the transfer (it went by that fast?!?!?!), and seeing as it's my 3rd transfer here I'm 50-50 on whether I can stay or go. We'll see I suppose! I'm trying not to worry about it, but I have a feeling that I'll leave, mostly because there are so many great things that are about to happen. Next week though, we should have 3 baptisms!!! Isn't that awesome!

 

So, I just want to end my letter with my testimony. It blows my mind everytime I think about how it's grown. I am just truly grateful to be out here today. As I look back on my life and my choices (many of which have been poor) I can see the Lord's hand in preparing me for this day. I go back to Ohio, and being blessed to have had Logan Bird and Ryan Call around to be my example. Although I didn't always follow their example, they set the standard and I secretly wanted to be like them. Then it started when we moved. If we would have stayed in Ohio, I possibly would have strayed down a very long and dark path that I'm not sure I would have recovered from. Moving to Belgium is what set me straight. I still had many struggles and trials, and I still fell to many of the same temptations, but something was different. It may have been the support I had from others of my age in the church, or whatever, but something was different. I had a desire to learn and know for myself of what everyone claimed to be true. I admit I never really felt anything in church or when I read the Book of Mormon or when I prayed, but I have come to the knowledge that I didn't allow myself to. I wasn't open. I didn't have sincerity, intent, and faith. I was going through the motions. Christ cannot change someone who is unwilling. I began to be softened, a big part of it was by your example, both of you. Dad, you were the perfect father anyone could ask for and you were an example of how a priesthood holder should live; mom, you showed me how to live my life right and how I should handle certain situations. Most importantly though, you both loved me for me, despite of my mistakes. You both were there to pick me up when I fell. Then, I began to feel the Spirit. Like Alma teaches us in Alma 32, I exercised a particle of faith and I had a DESIRE to believe. I began to read the Book of Mormon, and I began to pray. My conversion was not something that happened all at once. Looking back, it was a very gradual change. Even when I got to college, I had a testimony, sure, but it wasn't what I wanted it to be yet. I used the newly gained faith that I had developed and inquired of the Lord about a mission, and I received my answer. Here I am today, stronger than I have ever been in my entire life. I can say that I have been truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know, without the slightest shadow of a doubt, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon IS another withness of Jesus Christ. God lives, He loves me, He loves all of us despite our weaknesses. I have felt that love over and over again, from reading the scriptures and from your constant support and love that you give me. I am so grateful to be where I am today. Never will I go back to who I was. I will make mistakes, I know, but that is why Christ is there to pick us up when we fall. His hand is always extended towards me, and I have learned that it is up to ME to reach out and grab it. I love this gospel, I love my Savior, and I love you both. Thank you for your example to me. Have a great week! :)

 

Love,

Your son

October 31, 2001

Parent Dears,

Ya'll are lucky that I have time to write you after reading those monster emails. I was aware that the Cardinals won the World Series...in fact, I saw the last 3 innings. We were at a LA's house that we're working on to quit smoking (he hasn't smoked in about 15 days now!) so that he can get the Melchizedek Priesthood and he makes us watch...it was good. I heard about Game 6. The LA told us ALL about it. It was awesome to hear. Glad to hear about OSU too! Finally they can win...BYU has been doing pretty well too lately from what I hear. TCU is usually real good, so at least they didn't get killed.

Miracles continue to happen with Elder Anderson and myself. We have 5 people with a baptismal date right now and we had 5 investigators at Church. Bryce (De's son) is getting baptized this coming Sunday. Then on the 13th we'll have 3 more baptisms. Then if things work out we should have 2 more on the 20th. Things are so awesome right now!

So tonight is Halloween...we're doing nothing. Pres. doesn't want us out proselyting or knocking doors or anything, so we're gonna go to the Church and play ball. President HATES Halloween...he says  he says it's a Satanic holiday hahaha he's a funny guy. We had a meeting with him on Friday called Zone Leader Council, all the Zone Leaders in the mission meet together and have a big council with president. It was awesome! Pres was fired up! He is a VERY passionate man, and also very very inspired. I love that guy! He only has 8 months left... I love being able to have a somewhat personal relationship with him. Anyway, it was awesome!

 

Today we went and golfed 9 holes this morning. I'm improving! My drives still are terrible, in the sense that I seem to have an extremely bad case of slicing... I don't know what to do, I always seem to slice the ball. But, my fairway hits with the irons have improved greatly! I almost got PAR on a PAR 4! I had a decent drive, hit 2 5 irons on the fairway and made it onto the green in 3 hits... but then my putting got the best of me... I ended up getting a Bogie. But I felt good! Just like you said pops, I had some very good hits, and some not so good hits... I only lost 1 or 2 balls this time! It's pretty easy to lose balls because there is a creek with tons of trees that surrounds the course and most of the greens have this ditch/stream/forest behind them, and along the right side of the holes (for those that slice like me) to lose balls. Oh well, I improved! I hit a 52 on it, and it's a PAR 33. I'm getting better!

 

I hope ya'll have a good week! I love you guys so much! Thank you for all the support that you give me. I still need some more socks!

 

Love,

Elder Brennan

October 24, 2011

Dear Parentals,

Well, it was great to hear from you. I'm so glad that I'm missing out on the Colts sucking! That makes me feel better, or else I would just be angry all the time. But today, Anderson and I went and played some golf this morning early early. We teed off at about 8:00. We were the first ones on the course. Man am I having trouble slicing the ball! It's terrible. But again I'm not good enough to get angry, right? I didn't really focus on my score today. I just focused on my form and my swing trying to hit the ball straight...

Anywho...we had a great week. We set another baptismal date with a lady that we picked up last week. She is solid. We had a Trunk-or-Treat last night and we managed to have 6 investigators there! Man, it was awesome! But, at church we only had 1 and then another showed up for the last hour. Things are looking up for us here. I wouldn't be surprised if we had another 4-6 baptisms in the next 3 months here. I'm not being prideful or anything, I'm just confident in the Lord and His promises that if we are diligent, obedient and faithful, He will provide us with miracles. So, things are going great.

This week was crazy for us. We went on 2 exchanges right in a row. On Tuesday we had exchanges with the APs and I went with Elder Ames (he is going home in November) and I went to his area called Shiloh Park in Santa Rosa. Their area is actually the southern half of Windsor and the northern tip of Santa Rosa. It was a good exchange. Elder Ames is crazy, haha, but it was good. Then when I came back "home" (it's so wierd that I think Clearlake is my home...) and we immediately went on another exchange with the Elders in Lakeport. It was a busy week, and it went by really fast.

I got your package mom. Thank you! I never eat all of the cookies, so I usually end up hiding them in people's desk drawers and they find a nice surprise.

I'm really happy to hear about the Cardinals! Wooo! I wish I was there to see them play. I really miss sports and stuff....Hmmmm, I don't know what else to write about and the Sisters are waiting on me (weird...it's usually the other way around).

I love you guys! Keep being awesome to me!

Love,
Elder Brennan

October 17, 2011

Parents!

It is so awesome that the Cards have made the Worl Series!!! I'm gonna start telling people I'm a Cardinals fan now and that I'm from Missouri! Thus far, I've been telling people I'm from Ohio. So I think it's time to change it up. It's not like I'm lying. I came out on my mission from Missouri, so it's valid.

We had a fantastic week! We have just been tracting like crazy. Not like you Pops, tracting 4-6 hours a day, but we've been doing it about 2-3 hours a day. We have truly been blessed by it though. We've found 10 new investigators this week. One of them, an 11 year old girl, got herself to church on her own, found us and said that she wants to be baptized! How incredible is that? Also, De's son wants to be baptized now. He's only 8. He turns 9 on my birthday. We talked about a date for him to be baptized and we set it for the Sunday after his birthday, but he wants me to baptize him when he knows that I'm here and the Sunday after our birthday is after the next transfer day. So, we set it for November 11 just to be safe. It won't be a convert baptism, but it is a baptism and that is what matters. We asked him why he wants to be baptized and he said, "Because I want to follow Jesus and have the Holy Spirit." Yeah, and 8 year old said that.

Anyway, we played some golf today. I sucked it up again...I hit a lot of trees though. I would have done a lot better if I didn't hit so many freaking trees! I always slice my ball too...I'm trying to figure out how to stop it. I overcompensate a TON, but I still manage to hit it way off of the fairway. Oh well...I'm not good enough at golf to get mad.

My new companion is a good guy. I like him a lot. He's been on his mission for about 15 months now, and he has been a ZL for 9 or 10 months. He makes me laugh because he's always so annoyed at the childishness of the missionaries we have. I'm not sure if that is directed at me or not - haha. I don't really care all that much. I'm just doing me. He has a ton of funny "old people" theories. He isn't a convert. He grew up in the church, but from ages 19-24 he went inactive and started doing the party thing. Then he came to his senses when he was 24 and went 3 years before he decided that he needed to serve a mission. He's actually 27, but he'll be 28 when he goes home. 26 is the cut off for male missionaries, so he just barely made it. He is extremely smart and he can also communicate with people pretty well. Because he's old and smart, he gets respect pretty easily. He's also very much into jazz. He played in a jazz band at UNT, some extremely good jazz school in Texas and he plays the trumpet. He also plays jazz on the piano all the time...I can almost play all of Sweet Hour of Prayer and Joseph Smith's First Prayer on the piano!!! It's taken a very long time.

Sounds like college football is doing alright now. I head that BYU beat Oregaon, but I thought that it was the Oregon Ducks. So I got super excited because I hate them. But a win is a win! Which reminds me...do you guys still have all of my high school football film? I wanna make a scouting video. I've been thinking a lot and I wanna get back into football. I know you're probably thinking, "what about lacrosse?" Well, I'm not counting that out yet either. I wanna have my options open...

As for Thanksgiving and Christmas...if I'm still in Clearlake it'll be interesting. We'll see what happens, but if I'm in a normal area I should be taken care of. I've gotten kinda used to the neglect from members here, so it's all good. I'm actually on the Slim Fast plan...don't judge me. It's a cheap way to have a meal! I have a shake and and apple (because I'm a rebel) for breakfast and then I have a shake and an apple (because I'm a rebel) for lunch and eat a good dinner. I've been doing it for about a week, so we'll see how it goes.

I love you guys! Thank you for the support that you give me. It helps me a ton. I love your emails. Have a great week. Give Max love for me!!

Love,
Elder Brennan

October 10, 2011

Dear Lovely Parents,

Well, today was a transfer day. I was right for once! I'm staying here in Clearlake. Elder Gardner has moved on. It was sad to see him leave after being with him for 3 months. I'll hang out with him when I'm back in Utah for school. He went to Sebastopol to be an AP. My companion is Elder Brady Anderson. He is an OLD missionary! Not in the sense that he's been out for a long time, but in the sense that he's been alive a long time. He's 27. He has been out on his mission for about 14-15 months. So far, for the few hours I've been with him, he seems to be alright. I heard he can cook pretty good! :)

I'm surprised the Cards have made it this far! I'm excited. I wanna go to a game.....Go BYU! Who did they play? Neither of you told me. Who did OSU play? Who did the Colts play? What about the other NFL scores? Any big upsets in the NCAA?

Anyway, Elder Anderson is from Denton, Texas (wierd, huh?) but he doesn't have the accent, unfortunately. This was a huge transfer. Every companionship in the zone changed except 1 so we now have 4 new missionaries. Elder Blake is training, which is cool.

Now to answer questions about drugs and such. I'm not sure how this area turned out like that. It's just a VERY poor town. Countless people don't have jobs and just sit around all day and do drugs and they are paid by SSI. My guess is that they're all just bored and don't work so they drink and smoke weed and do meth. There are many houses here that are scorched and burned because meth labs have exploded. It'd be easy to think that I'm joking, but I'm not. Gotta love Clearlake.

The zone as a whole is on a downhill right now. My first transfer here, we baptized just about every week as a zone, and about 3/5 companionships were teaching 20 lessons or more per week. Last transfer we baptized almost weekly, but it was only our Ward. Gardner and I baptized 3 and the other companionship baptized 2. Also, last transfer only 1/5 companionships were teaching 20+ lessons per week (and that 1 was Elder Gardner and me). This last week was the first one that Gardner and I didn't teach 20 lessons - we taught 19. As a zone we have 3 investigators with baptismal dates. When I first got here we had 8. So now we are going to focus on finding. It starts with the basics. If we find investigators we will teach more lessons, and then we will have more people with baptismal dates, and then we will have more baptisms. We've been doing a ton of tracting and we've picked up a few solid people. We should be getting a few more with a date this week.

Well, it's time to embark on another 6 weeks. We'll see what happens. This place is interesting for sure. In 2 days I will be at my 9 month mark. Crazy, huh? I love you guys! Enjoy your week.

Love,
Elder Brennan

September 26, 2011

My you Lovely Parents,

HI! It's great to hear from you guys every week. It lifts my spirits.. Not that they were down to begin with - right now anyway. It has been another awesome week! Saffron was baptized, the 15 year old (turns 16 in October). We had a baptism yesterday in which I performed the ordinance. I messed up the prayer so I had to do it again. Her hair wasn't under anyway, so I would have had to do it again anyway. The water was warm this time so it was good. I can't wait for you guys to come out and meet these people! They're all amazing!!!!!!!!!

We went on exchanges this week with the Assistants. I was with Elder Webber here in Clearlake. He is the only American black missionary that we have in the mission. He's from Ohio too! He was in our stake back in Westerville. Pretty cool, huh? I was talking with him about a stake activity, the basketball tournament (where we ended the night hitting black ice and getting into that wreck) and I remembered seeing him there! Anyway, I took him to all the black people that I could think of here in Clearlake...I'm not sure if he noticed or not, but the reactions from people were great! Remember Chuck? He was gonna get baptized back in August, but he backed off and we haven't really taught him at all, so we paid him a visit. Man, when he saw Elder Webber he got so excited! It was hilarious. Webber is a good guy. I like him a lot. He will be going back to BYU so we'll probably see each other again. We have been tracting every day from 3-4:30 and we have had some interesting stories. Don't worry, I have them all written down in my journal.

I got the package and I was very pleased! I enjoyed all the goodies, and I am still enjoying them. The cookies are the best things I've tasted in my life! But they seem to be the best things that the other 3 missionaries have ever tasted as well...so that makes for a lot of people wanting cookies. I am sharing though, to an extent.. The shoes are good and should last me another 8 months! My other ones are just thrashed! The soles on the front are literally falling off and I'm actually missing a big chunk out of my right one. I've had to shoe glue hte soles back on, the insides are all torn up, there is a big hole that you can fit a pen through in the side. So yes, I did need new shoes.

I love golf. The place that we go is a 66 Par (for 18 holes). I hit a 122 today :) That is improvement from last week though when I hit a 130...I had some awesome hits today. It just feels really good when you smack one really long and straight. I've learned that you can't just hit the ball as hard as you can...doesn't work too well. I'm still having some trouble on the fairway, but my putts are solid! I'm gonna take you down when I get back pops. Yes, I do get frustrated when I suck. BUT, I'm nothing like I used to be. Remember when I first tried to learn to water ski? Yeah, not like that.

I love you guys so much! Thank you for the support that you give me. It helps me a lot and it motivates me. I miss you both!

Love, Elder Edwards

September 19, 2011

It's still up in the 90s here, so I hope you are enjoying your nice fall weather, because apparently we don't get a fall until the END of October! FREAK! I'm so sick of the heat. Sorry my e-mail is coming late. It's because we went golfing today. There is a place where members golf for free. It was my first time actually golfing. We did 18 holes, and I got a 130. Haha, pretty bad, but I did pretty well. I just really really suck at chipping. My drives got to be pretty good actually. My neck is sufficiently burned as well.

So yesterday we had a baptism! We baptized Grandma's granddaughter, B'do (11). I was the one who baptized her. She was the first person that I have ever baptized personally! It was an incredible experience and I felt the Spirit really strong. I didn't have to redo it which was nice, but then again she is TINY. The water heater of our church is broken, so the water was freezing! But I loved it all the same.

I hope you guys have a great week. This week should be good. We have another baptism coming up next Sunday, hopefully, and I'm going on exchanges with the AP's this week. One of them is from Ohio. We were actually in the same stake (FYI).

I love you guys mucho!

Love, Elder Edwards

September 12, 2011

We had zone conferences this last week in Santa Rosa. It was good. The whole mission is now doing "finding" activities from 3-4:30 every day, which pretty much means tracting. I'm not a fan, but it's gotta be done so we can find new investigators and have more baptisms. We have a baptism coming up this Sunday of Grandma's niece, B'do. She's an 11 year old girl and she is incredibly smart! I'll be baptizing her for sure, my name is already on the baptismal record.

The work is going good. We have a few baptisms lined up for the next few weeks, the rest of September is going to be really good for us. Nothing too crazy has happenes lately, well, nothing out of the normal for Clearlake.

Sorry this isn't very exciting.

Love, Elder Brennan

Highs and Lows

Dear Moms and Pops,

Wow, that was a lot of football updates! I enjoyed it. I'm happy to hear that OSU can still do things without their "stars". I was really happy to hear about BYU also! Let's hope it's not like last season where they won their first game and then lost the rest by just a few points.

I've calculated in my mind how long I'll be here in Clearlake and I have 2 1/2 more months. But, I think that this will be a 6 month area for me. Because ...after this transfer Elder Gardner will be moved and I'll have to break in a new comp and another ZL to the area and that will take a transfer. Then I suppose I'll be here for another after that which means I'll be here for Christmas and maybe my 1 year mark. But, I know that I'll be here for at least 1 more transfer.

Dad, when I get home I want to go golfing. I want to learn. I was on exchanges with Elder Blake (if you don't remember he was my MTC companion) in his area in Kelseyville. They live in a house and they have it all to themselves. K-ville is a nice area and a member owns a golf course there that they can go to for free and they have a golf club set at the house. So, when I was there, we went into their nice backyard and hit some small wiffle-like balls around. I had so much fun!

We've had some pretty sad things happen to a few missionaries in our mission lately. One missinary's parents got into an accident and his dad passed away. His mom is still in the hospital in intensive care. I actually just got a call this morning from President letting me know that another missionary, he is in my zone and is Elder Blake's companion. Anyway, this missionary's younger brother passed away last night. He was on life support and had severe brain damage (I think he was in an accident as well). It's kinda scarey. So, with that said, STAY HEALTHY AND BE SAFE!

I'm glad to hear that it is cooling off there. Guess how hot it was here? Yup, yesterday it was 96 outside. It hasn't rained once since I've been here. I don't even think I've seen a cloud in the sky since I've been here either. I'm so ready for it to be fall/winter.

So, this weekend we had another baptism! I didn't end up baptizing the guy. I was upset about that and I ended up chastizing myself because it was selfish of me. But, he got married on Saturday. I was his "best man" at his wedding. All I did was stand behind him and give him the ring when he wanted it. It was a small wedding that we did in our small Relief Society room. There was only a few family members there and the 4 missionaries. We had a cookout afterwards with grilled chicken and tri tip steak. It was tasty. I ate my share. Then yesterday, we had his baptism! He is a huge guy too. Elder Gardner baptized him. We filled the font up a TON! But we got the job done. We confirmed him right after because he'll be out of town next weekend. He is really vocal in church -- he volunteers to say prayers and he has good input in lessons.

Yesterday I had my first confirmation and then my second. I confirmed Grandma in sacrament meeting. It was an extremely spiritual experience. I don't remember what I said, but I do remember words just popping up in my mind and it was as if I was reading a moving script. Heavenly Father truely does use us as His mouthpiece in these situations. After that blessing, Grandma goes, "You did it again!" She kept saying how warm she felt and she said that the pain that she had at the time was all gone. She was in awe once again. Then I had the same experience with Michael confirming him. It was a great Sunday!

However, it was one of the oddest sacrament meetings I have EVER been to! To start off, during the opening prayer the person praying said "Jesus Christ" in the middle of her prayer but she was just saying his name--not ending. Someone in the congregation yelled out "Amen!" Gardner and I just started cracking up. It was hilarious. Then later, it was fast and testimony meeting. Some old lady got up and she wears a baseball helmet wherever she goes and she went up to the pulpit to tell us a story. Imagine that...an old hunchbacked lady with a black baseball helmet with stickers on it going up to the pulpit....how can you not giggle?! We also had a 10 year old investigator there that was OFF THE WALLS. He is either ADD or ADHD and he didn't take his meds....so, that was an interesting time as well. Then our bishop, who was conducting, messed up a ton. He forgot that we were confirming Grandma and the 1st counselor had to remind him at the pulpit (that happens literaly every week). Then he gave us the wrong hymn for the closing song. We sang 1 verse of the wrong song and then the lady that conducts the music stops everything and they talk for a second while everyone is confused. Then we start to sing the original song from the beginning. It was super wierd! Then I taught Gospel Principles. It was a great lesson about Jesus Christ and why He is the Savior. So that was the day. This next week should be good. We have a Zone Conference in Santa Rosa on Wednesday. I'm pumped!

Have a great week! I hope you enjoy Florida....I'm a little bitter. I'll get over it. Love you both so much.

Love, Elder Brennan Edwards

Baptism

Dear Family,

YES! We did have a baptism yesterday! Grandma got baptized. Her daughter was the only member of the family and she was baptized about a month and a half ago. Grandma is awesome! I will most likely be confirming her next week. Elder Gardner baptized her. It was awesome! In her service a recently re-activated member, who is awesome and still very young in the gospel, gave a really well written talk. Then Grandma's daughter gave her first talk and it was great! She used about 6 or 7 scriptures and explained them very well. Elder Gardner and I did a special musical number, "I Feel My Savior's Love". I love that song! Good 'ol Primary. It was pretty bad though. Elder Gardner started an octave too high, which kinda ruined it...I even played the starting not for him! (Yes, I have learned how to read music for the piano. I still suck playing with multiple fingers though. However, I can play the WHOLE first line to Joseph Smith's First Prayer with all the fingers and whatnot. Pretty cool, huh?) But, the baptism was great. We have another baptism this coming Sunday as well for Michael. He is going to get married on Saturday and then baptized on Sunday. I will be the one baptizing him. He is HUGE - about 6'2" and 260-270 pounds! It'll be interesting. He will be the first baptism that I actually perform. It'll be a day of firsts because I will be confirming Grandma that day too. I love being a missionary!! Grandma and Des (her daughter) have 3 kids living with them. One is De's son and he is 8. Then she has 2 nieces living there - Safron (15) and B'do (11). Safron and B'do really want to be baptized too, so now. This will be a good transfer.

Speaking of transfers today - nothing hardly happened at all in my zone. We have 5 companionships in the zone, including Gardner and I, and only 1 of those companionships were changed. They were "whitewashed" out, and sister missionaries are being transferred in. I know who one of the sisters are because she was in my district in Napa when she was a greenie. I am still a zone leader with Elder Gardner. So, we were both expecting a lot to change, but nothing did - haha!

Well, I am happy to hear that my puppy is still acting like a puppy! I love that boy. I have to find some pets here that can equate to him, but that's impossible. Grandma has a 2 year old rotweiler who is just the biggest sweety ever! Her name is Luna and she's a good dog. Although, she doesn't give kisses which is a set back, but when we're over there, she follows me around. I actually got her to come out to the truck with me one night after teaching grandma (Luna is grandma's dog) and I got Luna to hop up in the passenger side of the car and I drove up by the house while everyone was saying goodbye. Grandma had a fit! It was pretty funny. Luna was happy to take off with me. They have 3 dogs (Luna, 1 very calm and sweet chihuaha, and 1 wierd dog that is also chill) and 1 kitty that the found. We named her Garfield Scott Gardner. Garfield is Elder Gardner's nickname (because he's a redhead) and Scott for my middle name and then Gardner's middle name because they love him. That cat is the most chill cat I've ever met! I love him.

Which reminds me of a very sad kitty story -- Mom beware! This made me cry. We were up checking on one of our investigators in the hills and we went down to his house (it's kinda hidden and it smells TERRIBLE down there). It smells everywhere in Clearlake, but it smelled way bad there. And we heard this very very faint "meow" and we looked and it was this tiny kitten - not more than 4 months old - with an orange and white face and really green eyes walking toward us. The only thing was tht this poor kitty's 2 back legs were broken and black. She wasn't walking on her paws, she was walking on her whole leg. This was the second time we saw this cat. We saw her a week earlier and we freaked out and left because we didn't know whst to do, but this time was different. I couldn't stand seeing that kitty like thts. So this guy's house is a huge mess and there were some empty boxes around. I got one with some newspaper on the bottom of it and there was a gross towel there too and I scooped up the kitty and put her in the box. She tried to get out at first but I just stroked her head, and as soon as we got in the car and started driving she calmed down and didn't try to get out - it's almost as if she knew what was happening. I was crying on the way back. I just stroked the kitty's head and she was purring a bit. There was some blood streaks on the newspaper because her back side was very messed up. We got to the animal hospital and the vet looked at her immediately and she took her out of the box. She just said, "this is unfixable." She said she would take care of it. It was very very sad and left me tearing up like that cat was my own...I'm a sucker for kittens - any small cute animals really. But yeah, that was the low part of the week.

Well, that is kind of a downer to leave ya'll on. Sorry! But that is the life of a missionary sometimes. We find wierd things. But, I love you all! Thanks for all the encouragement you give me. It helps a lot!

Love, Elder Edwards

Baptisms!!

Dear Family,

So, I hit my 7 month mark this week. Everyone says that the 6-12 month stretch is the longest. I can agree with that. It's wierd though. The days and weeks go by SO fast, but the months go by slow. Oh well.

It's been pretty hot up here still - in the mid to upper 90s. I don't notice it too much anymore. I've gotten used to it I guess. I can't wait for the fall and winter though! I'm ready for it to cool off.

So here is the update  on the "gators". This coming Sunday we will be having a baptism! Grandma is getting baptized and MAYBE Chuck will too. I'm excited to actually SEE my first baptism! Then next week, Michael - the guy with the Husky -  is getting married on September 3 and then getting baptized the next day. WOO! So these should be a really good few weeks. This is the last week of the transfer also, so I'll be getting a new companion (most likely) because Elder Gardner is ready to leave and he is telling President that it's time for him to move. He's been here 4 1/2 months and this is only his 3rd area and he's been out for 14 months. This is my 3rd area and I've been out 7...My guess is that I'll be here for 6 months...but, I've been wrong before - haha.

Love You, Elder Edwards

Dear Family ( August 8),

Sounds like you've had a great summer so far! My summer days are filled with the stench of the lake and the city of Clearlake. It's been pretty hot up here, in the upper 90s. It hit 100 a few times and it just got miserable. I hate walking around and tracting in that kind of heat. But that's the work, right?

I'm excited for football season to start even though I can't watch. I'm pretty bummed I have to miss it...but you guys will keep me in touch with everything I'm sure.

So, we have a recent convert that got baptized a week before I got here. In her house she has her mom, who is 58, and I love her to death. We call her Grandma, and she has her son (8) and 2 nieces (11 and 15). Grandma has changed a TON since I've been here and she's changed even more since Elder Gardner has been here. When I got here, she would sit in on our lessons with the kids and she would have input, but she always said that she is NEVER going to be baptized. She grew up in Missouri and used to be a sunday school teacher in a baptist church. She even says "warsh" and it cracks me up. Mom would feel at home. She is a very strong and stubborn woman. She's been abused by men all her life so she's really independent and is quite opinionated - don't let that be your view of her though. She is one of the most loving people I've met and I love going to see her. Anyways, she has some medical issues that prevent her from doing what she loves, especially fishing. So Elder Gardner and I went over one day and we talked to her. She was severely depressed and on the verge of suicide. She talked with us and with a counselor and got her out of that thinking. We left that day helping her feel better. We really wanted to give her a blessing but we really had to go to another appointment -- so we went back the next day and gave her a blessing. That blessing was one of the most spiritual moments of my life. I annointed and Elder Gardner sealed the annointing and gave the blessing. The Spirit was SO  strong. Before we gave the blessing Grandma kept saying, "I'm not a Mormon! I don't believe in this!" We just told her that it wouldn't hurt and she agreed to have the blessing. Afterwards, the look on her face was one of awe and amazement. She said that she has NEVER had an experience like that in her life. At the time of the blessing she had a massive headache and pain in her shoulders and back. After the blessing she said that it was gone. She also said that she felt this great warmth flow over her from her head down to her shoulders and to her feet. Since that day she has been listenin intently. She has even changed herself, which is a huge thing for her. She has so much hate in her heart for some people, one of those people were at her house the other day (he is the Dad of her daughter's sone and they have been divorced for a long time) and she apologized for hating him. Everyone was in amazement. Now the best part of all...she said that it's time for her to give her life over to God and she told us that she wants to be baptized. She is going to get baptized on August 28th.

This is what the work is all about. If this isn't a miracle than I don't know what is. It truely is amazing. we went over yesterday and she said that earlier in the day a Jehovah's Witness knocked on her door and Grandma answered and told them that she was a Mormon. Can you see the change?! These words can't even describe how happy and how blessed I feel.

I hope this brightens up your day and lets you know that I am working out here in the vineyard. I am enveloped in the work. As for online work, it's kinda distracting, and I'm doing okay with it. I'm still in the process of finding people to teach. I've taught 1 person online so far and they weren't too solid.

Love, Elder Edwards

Clearlake

Dear Family, (From August 1)

So it's been super hot here. It's been in the upper 90s to low 100s. I'm so happy to have a car now though. This week was alright. We taught 27 lessons in total, which for me is incredible. Since I've been used to weeks with just like 6-15 lessons. Big change. Our "gator" didn't get baptized on Sunday because he's still working with Word of Wisdom issues. We set another date for the end of August. He's awesome though. He's come a long way.

So I got some info for my online work. This is a little harsh, but it makes sense. I think I'll add you guys, but you can't comment on anything I do or post and you can't even talk to me when I'm online. It's harsh and whatnot, but it's necessary so that I can focus.

All 4 missionaries in our Ward spoke yesterday. We killed it. It was awesome. I gave a 10 minute talk on Charity and Love. I prepared it that morning. It was solid too. A few people said it was like a slap in the face to them (in a good way) and our RC said that I should be a professional speaker. I don't know what that was about, but I guess it was good. Elder Gardner spoke on humility, Elder Gifford on the Holy Ghost and Elder Buchan spoke on the Doctrine of Christ. It was a solid meeting. Then afterwards I taught Gospel Principles with 30 seconds notice. I taught about the Gifts of the Spirit. It was a pretty sweet lesson too.

Love you guys!

Elder Edwards

Online Missionary Call

August 1, 2011

Dear Parents,

Effective August 1, 2011, we are increasing the number of missionaries in the California Santa Rosa Mission. who have received an additional assignment to work on the Internet as a missionary. Their purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. They will use social networks, blogs, chat and other powerful communication tools the Lord has provided through the Internet to accomplish this assignment.

We are sending this letter to let you know that your missionary has been given one of these special online proselyting assignments. Please do not use your missionaries Facebook page or blog for communications from home at all. Please do not comment on your missionary's postings. This assignment is primarily to be used for local contacting and teaching, and not for any other purpose.

If you want to read more about what the Church is doing and who is involved go to this blog address: http://mormonmission.blogspot.com/2010/10/officially-blogging-missionaries09.html.

We are excited for your missionary to start this additional assignment. We have been testing this tool with a limited number of missionaries in our mission for nearly a year. We feel certain that many additional missionaries are ready for the trust and responsibility this assignment brings to pioneer how all future full time missionaries can use technology effectively, safely, and in righteousness to bring more people to Jesus Christ and to the waters of baptism.

We pray for the Lord's guidance always. I am confident our missionaries will be obedient and diligent as they communicate with investigators and members in their areas, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ with people throughout the mission boundaries and perhaps beyond.

Sincerely,

Jonathon W. Bunker
President, California Santa Rosa Mission

***Elder Edwards has opened a new Facebook account and blog for this new assignment so his current ones that we have been using to communicate will be unaffected.

Clearlake

Dear Moms and Pops,

So about Clearlake. First off, it's the meth capitol of the USA and marijuana is EVERYWHERE. We are teaching this guy who's getting baptized on Sunday and his neighbor is growing weed on the side of his house. A ton of people grow weed up here. There are a few pot dispensors too for the "medicinial" purposes. It's nuts, BUT the people here are very humble. The surrounding geography is beautiful, no doubt, but the actual town is downtrodden. This is an extremely poor town. Most of the roads are dirt and gravel. So we get a nice truck to drive in. We've had to kick it into 4wd a few times. But my zone, Lake County Zone, is the highest baptizing zone in the mission. The area that Elder Gardenr and I cover is also the best area numbers-wise. This last week we taught 31 lessons! We picked up 10 new investigators too. I didn't even pick up 10 new "gators" all of last transfer! We went on 2 exchanges this week with our DL's and for one of them I stayed in my area. I, having only been here for a few days, didn't know where to go, who to see and whatnot. That day ended up being one of the best of my mission. I taught 8 lessons and found 3 new investigators, and invited one of them to be baptized on a specific date. It was incredible. I've gone an entire WEEK only teaching 8 lessons and I did it in one day. This place is a gold mine.

As for weather, it's pretty hot and muddy here. Don't let the name "Clearlake" fool you either. The lake isn't very clear. It's actually quite stinky. It smells like manure all the time. Gross.

The ward here is ridiculous too! I've never seen so much speaker to congregation activity in a sacrament before. The congregation will answer the speakers quetions and when the speaker says, "good morning" the ward replies! It's too funny. There is a guy that looks like the Monopoly guy too. He has a huge mustache that curls up and he has that scruff under his lip. It's all white too. Pretty funny.

Our ward might be the worst ward in the mission when it comes to dinners. Last week we only ate at a member's house once, and that was last night. So, I have to buy more food and I have to cook it, uggghhh. Oh well, it'll be good for me, right?

I had the opportunity to stand in on a confirmation of a recent convert that got baptized last Sunday. That was a very special experience for me. I only knew the lady for a week, but the Spirit was SO strong. I loved it.

Guess what? I've been made an online missionary. I will be using facebook and a blog to proselyte. I start on Thursday or Friday after an online training meeting. The mission world is changing. I don't really know too much about it other than I am supposed to go online for about an hour or so a day and teach people online. It's pretty effective, if it wasn't they wouldn't be doing it.

That's about it for me this week. I'm happy to be here. It's awesome. Oh, if you want to know what areas are in my zone, we have Lakeport, Middletown, Kelseyville and Clearlake. Just and FYI.

Love,
Elder Edwards

Transfer

Dear All,

So we got the transfer info and it's nuts. I was caught 100% off guard. I got moved to Clearlake, CA. It's up north a bit, a little East of Ukiah. I don't know if you know anything about this area, but it is super back woods-like, crazy people, lots of drugs because people don't have anything else to do, and it's super spread out. You want the kicker? I'm a Zone Leader (ZL) now. Yeah, NOT expecting that...I do have a very humble heart about it because I don't know what I'm doing and I was only a DL for 6 weeks. My comp is awesome! We are already clicking. It's going to be a fantastic transfer! Also, my zone is the highest baptizing zone in the mission right now. They had 4 last week. Elder Gardner and I have 7 investigators with a date and in total about 13 or 14 investigators. Last week Elder Gardner and his companion taught 30 lessons!!!!! HOLY COW! My area has the best numbers out of the whole mission. It's awesome to come here after the slow areas I've been in. Now we just have to keep it up. There are 10 missionaries in my zone and 2 districts. I now have to go on exchanges with all of the companionships, plus go on an exchange with the AP's. I get to go to more meetings in Santa Rosa with President Bunker, I collect the numbers from the whole zone and report them to the APs. I tell you this not because I'm prideful about it, but because I know you would want to know. I'm not quite sure what else we do, I'm still learning. The area is beautiful though, geographically speaking. We are right on the waterfront and everything. I'm excited to be here and to have a great companion.

As for Francis, she is getting baptized on Saturday! I have to miss it again, just like Susanne in Napa, but that's okay. Her testimony is incredible! She's come from knowig nothing, to having a very sincere desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ. She is awesome!

Please have everyone who would like to write me send the letters to the mission office and they'll forward them to me. That address is: California Santa Rosa Mission, 3510 Unocal Pl., Ste. 302, Santa Rosa, CA 95403. Thanks!

Love, Elder Edwards

6 Months

Dear All,

6 Months...it's so hard to believe! It really does go by in the blink of an eye. I am trying to make the most out of it, trust me.

Things in Fairfield are going well. Francis set her own bawptism date! She will be baptized on July 28th I think. There is some big young single adult activity that weekend so things are a bit crazy. But she has a testimony and a strong desire to follw the example of the Savior. We taught her about tithing and that was her HUGE weakness. She doesn't have a lot of money, she has some debts, and she has a son that is on disability. She literally can't spare 10%. She said that she will give what she can.

We have transfers again this weekend. Again?! Goes by so quick. I think I'm going to stay in Fairfield for 6 months, so I think I'm good to stay. Elder Carter has already been in Fairfield for 4 1/2 months, so he is gonna be transferred.

So, not much else on this end, other than 1/4 of my mission is done in the blink of an eye. It's nuts. We had dinner at someone's house because their son just returned from his mission and it was crazy! So many people there. It made me think and wonder about what my return will be like. I doubt it'll be anything like that because I don't know anyone in St. Louis. Oh well, I don't need to worry about it.

I'm really happy to hear that you (Dad and Mom) are making it to the temple weekly! As a missionary we extend commitments to people every day, and you are not exempt from that list. I don't have to tell you that you are blessed for doing so. If I could, I would go to the temple every week as well.

Anyway, have a great week.

Love, Elder Edwards

MIRACLES

Dear All,

It's been really freaking hot and sunny the past 2 weeks and all I do is sweat. It's horrible. But there are worse places to be that are even more hot. I am getting quite bronze though for being out in the sun ALL day. We are getting well fed (for Mom). I weighed myself the other day and I'm up to 232! Holy freak! I don't look any fatter....I'm just gonna say it's the huge massive things attached to my legs called muscles. They really are massive. Speaking of, I TOUCHED THE RIM OF A BASKETBALL HOOP! hahahahaha that was the best day ever. I told ya, I'm going to be able to slam when I get home.

Alright! Are you ready to read this mighty miracle that has been wrought among the people here in Fairfield 3rd Ward area?

Saturday night, Elder Carter and I were walking around talking to people to try and find new people to teach. We only talked to 1 person, who was a drunk homeless that only wanted money. AND then we ran in to Romy taking out his trash. Romy is from the Philippeans, and he doesn't have a job and he lives with one of his friends for the time being. He used to live with his son in an apartment, but his son kicked him out. We talked to him about how he is a choice son of God and that Heavenly Father wants to see him succeed and find happiness. Romy was all over it. He said he's seen missionaries in the Philippeans. He also said he wants to learn more about God and he even said he wants to be a missionary! After talking to him, I invited him to be baptized. He said "yes" without hesitation. I then proceeded to talk to him about how big of a step that is and how Heavenly Father has blessings that he is waiting to give Romy. The down side -- Romy has sold all of his things so that he can pay for his way to move back to the Philippeans where his family is. He said he was flying back July 5th. Imagine the disappointment that I had. This was the 2nd time that we have found someone that is ready to enter into a covenant with God and be baptized. We set up a time to see Romy on Sunday to continue to teach him. Later that night before I went to bed, I knelt down as usual to say my prayers. I begged and pleaded with Heavenly Father to bless Romy with a miracle. I asked for a way to be provided so that he can stay long enough to enter into the waters of baptism. During my prayer, I felt an overwhelming sense of comfort and peace flow over me. I knew then that God would provide a way. Even if we couldn't teach and baptize Romy, I knew that somehow and some way he would be provided for.

On Sunday we had an appointment with Romy right after Church. We rushed over and were 15 minutes late (we get out of Church at 4:00). Guess what we saw? Romy was working! He was hired for a mini job to make a little extra money. That is just one blessing. He found a way to make a little money so that he can support himself. We talked to him for about 3 minutes and he said to come back later that evening. We did so, and arrived at his place of residence at 7:00. He was out working on his son's car. He told us that his son had come by and apologized for being a jerk and for being angry all the time. He also said that he loves him. There is blessing/miracle number 2. Then we proceeded to teach Romy a very short lesson about our life on Earth. The day before, we had given Romy a Book of Mormon and a chapter to read - Alma 34. During our lesson with him we read Alma 34:32 that says, "this life is the time to prepare to meet God." We talked about that for a bit and then talked to Romy about his travel plans. He told us that he is going to talk to his agent and move his departure date back! The original date was for July 15, and he is going to try to move it back to that. He said he wants to be baptized. We then set a baptismal date for him for July 9th. We are able to see him every day so we have 2 weeks to prepare him and teach him everything. He truely has been prepared by the Lord.

Miracles do happen and they happen often. I know, without a doubt, that Heavenly Father has a hand in this. There is absolutely no way that he could not have. I'm so grateful to be a part of this miracle and to be the servant in which the Lord directed to find Romy. I love this work so much. It is hard, but it is worth every second of it.

I hope this brightens up your week. It certainly has brightened mine. Just always remember - miracles do happen.

Love, Elder Brennan

Online Missionaries

Dear  Dad and Moms,

First off, when I got called to be a DL I was not excited. I am not looking for leadership at all. If I get called to do it, I will. If I've gained any attributes on my mission thus far,  it's humility.

I have been working extremely hard in trying to find those who will receice us. We have 3 with baptismal dates so we're working with those. One of them is a tiny old lady from Taiwan and she has a date for July 2nd. I hope she can make that! I also gave my first baptismal interview the other day. Man, what an experience. That was awesome! I hope I can do many many more of those.

I hope g-ma is okay! Give her my love. I'll be writing her next week.

So this week on Thursday I went to a leadership training meeting in Santa Rosa where I learned a TON. One of which is that the mission world is changing and adapting to the times. Our mission is a pilot mission for many different programs such as online missionary work. Right now our mission has 20 something online missionaries and that number is going to increase a ton next transfer. So, it is very likely that I will be an online missionary as well, which means that I will be on FB and have a blog. I will teach the gospel online and receive and give referrals. I love President Bunker. He is a man with a vision for this mission. He is a 0% tolerance for crap guy. I love it. He still likes to have fun and he isn't extremely strict. But 0% tolerance for crap meaning that if missionaries aren't on the same page as him for doing this work. He is a very passionate man, and he is also very inspired. I love and admire him.

Speaking of online missionary work, I wrote on a guest blog for one of our Zone Leaders while on exchanges because he is an online missionary. This is a draft of what I wrote and it's titled "2000 Stripling Warriors".

I am honored to be on here today and Elder Jones was kind enough to allow me to share some thoughts about something that I have recently studied.

First, I want you to imagine yourself in your teenage years. Then think of your country being invaded and being extremely outnumbered. Now imagine yourself fighting that war, on the front lines, being the example for even the most seasoned warrior. Would YOU do that?

I want to talk about an event that took place in the Book of Mormon. It is the story of the Stripling Warriors. The word "stripling" means young, around the early to mid teenage years. These young men were of such age. In about 77 b.c., a group of Lamanites came to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, thanks to the sons of Mosiah during their ministry in the land of the Lamanites. Along with their conversion, they entered into a covenant with the Lord to never take up arms and go to battle against their brethren and shed their blood. However, the children of these people who became known as the Anti-Nephi-Lehites didn't enter into that covenant because they were too young. So 13 years later when the Lamanites began to invade the Nephite lands, these very young sons took up arms and went to battle with Helaman, the sone of the prophet Alma, as their leader.

What COURAGE and FAITH it must have taken for these extremely young men to leave their families to fight for the liberty of their people! "They were men of TRUTH and SOBERNESS for they have been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before Him." The respect and admiration I have for these young men is immense. They were willing to die for the cause of liberty, the cause of family and the cause of God.

It was now time to put their faith and courage to the test. They went to battle against a very large army of Lamanites, much larger than their small band of 2000. When Helaman asks his "sons" if they should go to battle, the answer that was given are some of the most inspiring words that I have ever heard, especially from the mouths of such young men. They answered saying, "Father, behold our God is with us and he will not suffer that we should fall; them let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone." (Alma 56:46)

These young men have never fought before, and "yet they did not fear death" (Alma 56:47). Have you ever seen so great courage? They were selfless; they thought more "upon the liberty of their fathers" than their lives (Alma 56:47). What even amazes me further is this is how they were taught by their mothers. Their mothers taught them that, "if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." These sons did not doubt, they also "[did] not doubt [their] mothers knew it" (Alma 56:47-48).

These young men go on to fight many battles, in the which that not one of them was lost. Because of their upbringing, the teachings of their mothers, and their extremely firm faith in Christ, God preserved their lives so that they were all able to return to live with their families again.

I know that God keeps his promises to us. If we live according to the commandments that we are given, we too will become as these young stripling warriors. We will be delivered from adversity, we will overcome temptation, and we will triumph over the adversary. The fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth through the prophet, Joseph Smith. I am grateful for the knowlede that I have received from my loving parents, it is invaluable. I, like the stripling warriors, DO NOT DOUBT that my parents know of these things. I know with a deep conviction that God lives, His Son, Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world and that through Jesus Christ, we can obtain "never ending happiness" (Mosiah 2:41), forgiveness of our sins, and eternal life.

These things I leave with you in the name of Him whom I love and trust so dearly, even Jesus Christ, amen.

What do you think? I love that story! Anyway, gotta go.

Love, Elder Edwards

Status Quo

Dear Mom and Dad,

Today was transfers and it was a crazy day. What do you think happened? Well, I'll tell you. Fairfield got turned upside down! Every single companionship has changed...except Elder Carter and me. But, I gott love him. We won't have success if I don't. On top of that, I'm a District Leader now. It's a little different than in the MTC - I don't just get mail for people. I have to be an example to all the missionaries in my district and I have to go on exchanges with all the elders every week. I have to teach district meetings, which are usually 2-2 1/2 hours long, and I have to make sure everyone is being good and obedient. It's a big responsibility. I hope I can fulfill my calling. I need to step it up a bit.

I'm very excited for Brian. He will do great! I'm also pumped for Tanner (Green). Logan comes home in a few weeks for the summer, so I'm pumped for that.

Speaking of summer, we have had some very unsummer-like weather here! It hasn't been hot, it's actually been raining and cool. I'm not complaining! Delay the heat as much as possible! In the summer in Fairfield it usually is in the upper 90s-100s. So the longer it rains and is cool, the better for me! I have a crazy tan line on my arms.

I DO need something. I need a watch. The other one just exploded. I would enjoy a nice black one that is manly. But whatever is okay with me.

The discouragement is tough. I fight it every hour of every day. Fairfield is hard. But things are looking up. We had 2 investigators at church yesterday. One of them is Samoan and huge and used to be a really big drug dealer but he has been clean for 7 years. He grew up with an LDS friend, so he knows about the church. He wants to be baptized! He has a date for July 2nd. Now for the kicker...he doesn't live in Fairfield. He lives in Reno and he was only back for the week to visit his wife and kid. He goes to school in Reno. The other "gator" we had is a small old lady from Taiwan. She said that she thinks the church is true. We are taking baby steps with her because she grew up being taught the doctrine of buddhism. But we're coming along with her as well. Other than those 2, well not much is happening.

I miss MAX. Do you ever say my name around him? Does he get excited when you do? Give him a big hug for me.

I think the Heat will win the NBA championship. Who will draft Jimmer?

Thank you for all of your encouragement. It does help. I appreciate your prayers too. I need all the help I can get out here.

Love, Elder Edwards

ROUGH WEEK

Mom,

Happy Memorial Day to you too! The only exciting thing that is happening today is that I'm going to buy a new suit! There are huge memorial day sales at Kohls and I'm gonna go an get a suit. Othr than that, nothing else exciting is happening today other than the usual P-day stuff. Basketball and whatnot.

So transfers are coming up... I really hope that I'm not with my companion again. It is seriously driving me nuts. If I have to stay with him for another transfer I might jump out a window. I would throw him out, but he is too big. But I'm trying to love him...

Too bad about Tressel. I thought he had a bit more integrity as well. Oh well, the Bucks will still do big things. As for lacrosse, GO MARYLAND!

It's been a very frustrating week. Our number of lessons are going down and down. Our investigators aren't keeping their appointments and it is driving me nuts!! It's really discouraging. But I'm doing my best to be of good cheer. Man is it hard though. I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that I might not see even 1 baptism my whole mission. That doesn't mean I'm a bad missionary though. It just means my calling is to find people and to prepare them and then hand them off. The Spanish missionaries in our Zone had like 4 baptisms the other day. JEALOUS!

Love,

Elder Brennan

Logan!!!

Hey,

Yeah, hills are intense. But I have noticed that it gets easier and easier for me to go up them. Especially whin I try to sprint up them as fast as I can (trying to stay in good shape)! It's always fun to stop and talk to people on the middle of a hill climb - super out of breath and trying to talk normal. It's hard stuff, but my legs are huge! So it's all good.

Time is flyin by for me, in 9 weeks I will have been out 6 months. That is a whole quarter of my mission! Geez! Still only have that 1 baptism (Susanne). We had our quarterly interview with Pres. thi week. He told me that he will let me go through the temple with Susanne next May!!! I'm really excited for that.

Logan, man that was awesome. We had dinner at his house friday night! Is was just SO wierd because we are really good friends but I'm a missionary. I got a few pictures from it. I'll send the memory card home at some point...I want to develop the pictures first for my album. There are a ton of wierd, wild animals in Fairfield too. Up by where Logan lives there are a bunch of wild peacocks! Isn't that nuts? They have the wierdest calls too. Then down in the town there are a bunch of wild turkeys. I got a picture of a pack of em. I bet Max would love to chase them around. He would probably like to herd them.

I hope you have a great week. Enjoy it. AND GO TO THE TEMPLE! We get to go to the temple on Wednesday so I'm pumped! I LOVE the temple.

The past few weeks I've been in Gospel Doctrine because we haven't had any investigators at church., except 1 who went with the youth (he is 16) so I'm up to date with what's happening. I love the parable about the prodigal son. The thing that I loved most about it wa that the father ran out to see his son BEFORE his son even said anything to him. It shows unconditional love. Not only should we be like that within our families but that is how the Savior is with us. He is just waiting for us to walk up to him and he will embrace us with open arms if we go back to him with humility. I love that story.

So the work here in Fairfield. I'm gonna be honest, this week I have been very discouraged. It's hard, as you know, to be out as long as I have and not been able to SEE any success. Yeah, Susanne was baptized, but I wasn't there for it - I just prepared her. Here in Fairfield, this is a really tough place. The missionaries that were here before Elder Carter and I didn't keep good records and whatnot so it's been a really hard transfer and it's catching up to me. As for our investigators, we've picked up 10 so far this transfer which is a lot! But we can't ever get a hold of them.

I hope you have a great week! I look forward to hearing from you, as always.

Love, Elder Edwards

First Week in Fairfield

Dear Fam,

It was so good to hear from you (first P-Day after our big tornadoes in St. Louis)!!! Man, I wish I could have seen Max (cowering under the desk during storms)! Over here, it has been nothing but clear skies, sun and about 80 degrees! Sounds nice, huh? Not when you're on a bike all day riding up huge hills...but it is very very windy here too so that cools you off a bit.

So when I heard that I got transferred I was pretty discouraged because I was going to miss my FIRST baptism with Susanne. I'm still counting her as mine...She is so awesome! But Fairfield is great. The people here are so nice, unlike Napa. Right now we are teaching 2 kids, one is about 20 and the other is like 18. Other than those two, the previous 2 missionaries didn't leave us much to work with. This first week we have only taught 9 lessons, 3 of which came from just teaching people on the street. We might potentially have a family to teach! We will see tonight.

Yes, I have met Logan's family already. We stopped by there my 2nd day here. It's so wierd that I'm in his home ward. I feel like he should be here. One of Logan's best friends I already know too because he came to visit Logan at school for a weekend and he stayed in our dorm. Logan comes home for a weekend on the 12th, so I'm very excited about that!

Let me tell you something, I have NEVER worked so hard in my life than I have this past week. Coming in to a new area that has next to nothing going in it, with a companion also not knowing anyone...it is extremely hard. I have never been so emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausted in my life. No one said missionary work was easy. But just so you know, I'm working very hard and I'm putting my trust in the Lord. He'll help us out here, I know that.

Love,

Elder Edwards

TRANSFERRED OR NOT???

Hello,

Transfers are today. Before I tell you what is happening with me, I'll let you guess. Is it:

A. I'm staying in Napa and things are the same as last transfer
B. I'm being transferred
C. Elder Bacon is being transferred and I'm staying
D. I'm training in Napa

I'll let you think about that while I write about my short week. It wasn't very exciting. We taught like 15 lessons. We have been really working hard with Susanne! I'm so excited for her! She is having her baptismal interview this coming Wednesday, and she wants me to confirm her after she is baptized! Actually, Elder Bacon kind of volunteered me because I haven't done it before. But I really don't care who does it, all I care about is if the ordinance is being performed. Susanne is going to be a gold mine for referrals too. She has been talking about the gospel to everyone who talks to her. She is an incredible missionary. We were studying Preach My Gospel at DM (District Meeting) this week and one of the things we talked about was how you know if someone is "truly converted." The truly converted can't get enough of the restored gospel, they can't stop reading and they want to tell everyone about it. Susanne is doing all of these things. We have taught her pretty much everything. She came to church yeterday and she LOVED it. We had a fantastic Easter Sunday. Wonderful talks, uplifting music and great lessons. I was very edified. But I am very happy for Susanne. She is going to be a very powerful addition to this ward. I can see her being a future Relief Society President or something of the sort.

Other than Susanne, not much else has happened. Our Bishop found us a new investigator -- Jordan. He is 23 and is looking for something in his life. We met him and taught him about the Book of Mormon at our Bishop's Honda Dealership. We taught him in our Bishop's office. It was pretty sweet actually. So we picked Jordan up, but unfortunately, he is a YSA (Young Single Adult) and therefore belongs to the single ward sisters. But I'm happy for them becuase they haven't had any investigators almost this entire transfer. They have been struggling. So they were VERY excited to get Jordan.

Alright, ready for the answer? If you answered D, you are WRONG! The correct answer is B. I'm being transferred, and I'm really upset about it actually. I will miss Susanne's baptism. When I told her the news she started crying...it made me so sad! But I'm going to Fairfield 3rd Ward. Figures, right when me and Elder Bacon are having tons of fun and working great together and we have a baptism in 2 weeks, and I'm loving it here, President Bunker sees fit to take me away. UGHH!! I told him I didn't want to leave. Guess that was a bad idea. Along with that, I'm whitewashing...wooo hooo. If you don't know what whitewashing is, it is when the 2 missionaries in an area both get transferred at the same time and the 2 new incoming missionaries have no idea what's going on there. I am one of those incoming missionaries. Me and my new comp -- Elder Carter -- are going to have to do a LOT of work this week figuring everything out and getting caught up with the investigators there, if there are any. Presient Bunker called us the other day and he congratulated me on my new assignment. I was pretty bitter with him. He said that he is excited for me to get there and to pick it back up. Word on the street is that Fairfield is like a roller coaster. Apparently it is at a low, just like Napa was...wonderful. However, I know that I'm being sent there for a reason, just like I was sent to Napa for a reason. I must have fulfilled my purpose here because I'm leaving. But the Lord has need of me elsewhere and I'm going to try my best even though I've been very spoiled with the best Bishop in the entire mission (it's true, 2 other missionaries have confirmed that). So, there is the news for the week. Fun stuff.

My new address is:   2215 Peach Tree Dr., Apt. 29, Fairfield, CA 94533.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love, Elder Edwards

THIS IS MY LIFE

Hello!

THis week has been really good. We taught 20 lessons. Although our numbers show that we had a fantastic week, don't be fooled. It was quite difficult. We have been talking to EVERYONE. I have become very bold with talking to people. We were walking down town and I talked to like 10+ different people in about a hour. I also placed 2 Book of Mormon's this week which is a personal best for me. But it has been a hard week. We lost a few more investigators that weren't progressing, so we had to stop seeing them. That was sad, but they just weren't ready I suppose.

But on the other hand, Susanne. Oh boy, she is a miracle. She has a very strong testimony already. She KNOWS that the Book of Mormon is true, she KNOWS that Joseph Smith was a prophet and she KNOWS that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet today. When we taught Susanne the first time this last week, she said that she set a date to be baptized before her birthday in August. Me and Elder Bacon said that she con be baptized on May 7th because she is ready. We were skeptical, of course, but we just told her to think about it and pray about it and she gladly accepted. The very NEXT day we get a call from our Bishop who talked to Susanne and he said that she prayed and she got an answer. She is set for May 7th!!! When we saw Susanne that night for the Garden (a musical oratory thing that was AWESOME), she told us that she got her answer and that she quit drinking coffee and that she is preparing to be baptized on May 7th. She quit drinking coffee that day. She gave it all up. She gave all her coffee beans away and she gave her coffee pot to her boss who has a daughter going to college. She doesn't smoke or anything which is a plus. How is that for a story?! Oh man, I've never been this happy in my life. Now I kow why Alma said, "this is my life." This is just my joy and happiness for 1 person. It's incredible how happy this has made me. I"m so thankful I chose to come out and serve. If not, then Susanne may not of ever been found, she may not of ever made the decision to be baptized, and therefore she would not have been able to get onto the path that leads to eternal life. For those of you following along, GO SERVE A MISSION!!!  There is seriously no greater joy than seeing someone you love and someone that you have been teaching make the decision to be baptized. Man, I really do love this. I can't say it enough. It is tough at times, but for ALL the rejection and for all the hate people have towards us, it is worth it for this one person.

That's my story for the week. I love every single second of this. Hopefully I'll be able to stay in Napa for the next transfer and see Susanne get baptized. If not, oh well, the Lord has need for me somewhere else. That's all I have to report on this week really.

For you mom, missionaries usually stay in an area 3-6 months. I'm coming up on 3 months at the end of this transfer so I could possibly be transferred out. I really hope not, but we'll see on Saturday when we get the information. We get out info only 2 days in advance. They don't want us to have time to think about it and whatnot.

Anyway, I love you all! Thank you for your support.

Love, Elder Edwards

What the Poison Oak?!!!

Hey Everybody,

So, as the subject suggests...yeah, I have poison oak. That is my highlight of this week. IT SUCKS. Last P-day we hiked to that waterfall and I was Very careful to not get anywhere near the stuff but somehow it's like I rolled around naked in a big bushel of the crap! UGHH IT'S SO ANNOYING! I itch...everywhere. It's gotten better. I called the mission nurse and she hooked me up with some prednisone. I've already gone through 2 bottles of cortisone and I'm in the middle of a bottle of calydryl. Man, it has been a rough week. I haven't had any energy because of the itching and whatnot. I haven't had any motivation either, but I made a point to get out and to work even harder through it. We were blessed because of it and this week we taught 14 or 15 lessons which is more than the past 2 weeks! I also placed another Book of Mormom to some dude in a diffeent area (we were on exchanges). So yeah, you guys know how poison oak/ivy affects me. It isn't a fun experience. This is already the 2nd time on my mission I've gotten the stuff! The first time was pretty mild and it didn't spread. But this time, it has spread like wildfire! I had/have it on both knees, both forearms, both triceps, used to have it on my neck and ear, have it on my hip, my belly, and the other place you don't want to mention. That Monday we were late for an appointment so we didn't have time to shower/change so it just spread. So yeah, rough week. But anyway, investigators...

First off, bad news. Jen and Justin, 2 of our awesome investigators, dropped us. Man, I was so ticked...Jen had some sort of relationship with a member in our ward and they stopped "talking" and no one decided to tell us missionaries. Se we just went over to see how things were because we haven't heard from them in forever and they weren't responding to our calls/texts. We get there and Jens says she's done. She feels too pushed by us and by the churh. She said she wasn't going to come back to church or anything and she didn't want to meet with us anymore. I was very sad. I was so positive that they were going to get baptized. They still can. I think a whole lot of it has to do with the drama with the guy. Jen probably doesn't want to come to church if he is going to be there because that would be awkward for her I'm sure. She doesn't even live in our ward boundaries so we're gonna have the 3rd ward sisters go and see them in a few weeks and hopefully get things sparked up again. But yeah, that was the downfall of our week. Minus 2 investigators.

Now good news, actually FANTASTIC news! Susanne is progressing like crazy! She bought all 3 Book of Mormon help book things. She is reading like crazy, she has a testimony, and she is awesome. We met with her on Tuesday night and invited her to read 3 Nephi 27 (for those of you who don't know, it talks about the doctrine of Christ, mostly baptism) and then when Elder Bacon and Elder Phipps met her on Saturday (I was with Elder Blake in their area for exchanges) Susanne said that she prayed about it and she KNOWS that she needs to get baptized!!!! Every bad thing that has happened thus far in my mission is worth it because of this! To see someone pray and receive an answer - direct revelation - is what it is all about. I was so happy and giddy when I hear about it. She could pretty much be baptized tomorrow. Her only concern is that she drinks coffee, which she already acknowledged that she needs to quit, and that the church will be too much work for her or something like that. She feels she isn't personally worthy. She totally is though. We hooked her up with the Relief Society President and they hit it off and Susanne is coming to a dinner here at the church for the RS and then we are going to a play/musical here at the church with her. It's
The Garden. Ever heard of it? It's going to be SWEET! But yeah, so having Susanne makes everything worth it. Man, I love being a missionary!

We have also been meeting this inactive guy every Sunday afternoon. He isn't physically able to go to church because of surgery. He is a really great guy. When we met with him yesterday, we always ask people if there is anything we can do for them, and he just broke down and started to cry. He has done this a few times in lessons, but this time we didn't even say anything to him. He is a really gentle and sincere guy too. He expressed how grateful he is that we come by and see him every week. Even to just check up on him. That made me feel really good to know that I am helping him in that way. I had no idea that we had that effect on him or that it meant that much to him. We talked a lot about charity at church and we, idk it made me really happy to know that I'm being charitable to him without even knowing it or without knowing how it was affecting him. So that is just a nice side note.

Transfers are in 2 weeks. I'm gonna be ticked if I get sent out to another area...I love this place too much. I love our bishop too, man I can't get enough of him. As for me and Elder Bacon, things have improved greatly. There is still something about him that bugs the crap out of me, but I can't really put my finger on it. But we work decently well together, and that is what matters. The rest I don't really care about. If we can have the Spirit with us and if we can teach with the Spirit then that's all I care about. The Spirit is the one that converts people, not the missionaries.

I hope you have a great week and I'm looking forward to your letters!

Love, Elder Edwards