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
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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
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
Saturday, October 1, 2011
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
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
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
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
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