Who the Heck is Methuselah

Moms and Pops,

Like my subject? I actually know who Methuselah is, I studied about him this morning and it was really interesting... A lot of people have no clue who he is, and "who the heck is Methuselah" is what Elder Schulte said when I told him about my study.

So pops, you got yourself a new calling! Say "goodbye" to gospel doctrine! Haha, I'm sure you're more than bitter about it. But are you ready for me to get all "dad-like" on you?! I have learned to be a thinker you know... I just have to be in the right state of mind. Just think, YOU will be the main influence on the youth now. I have talked to countless missionaries who say that their YM Pres was one of their biggest influences. You will have the privilege of changing a young man's life for the REST of his life. Think about that... And, just like you would tell me in this situation, it is what you make of it. If you have the mindset to make a difference, then you will make a difference. But if you grumble and moan, then it's just going to be a drudgery. I know that you'll choose the former! You're awesome!

You guys are going to Brussels! You lucky dogs!!! I wanna go back and visit!!! Dang... that really puts a hamper on the whole Mother's Day thing though... Looks like you won't be getting a call from me because that's too late for me to call, I have meetings! I'll just talk to you face to face when I get home!! ............. Just kidding! I'll probably just ask President if I can call you on Monday. In fact, that's what I'll do. So, I will call you on the Monday after Mother's Day, that makes things easier. I just have to remember to call now... But, we'll see.

By the way, mom, if I was in your ward, I'd follow your hand when you lead! That reminds me! Church... holy cow... We had Fast and Testimony meeting yesterday because this coming week is Stake Conference here. This lady that was VISITING was the 2nd person to get up to bear her testimony, when she started it was about 11:27 am.... she ended, literally, at 12:01. Everyone was so frustrated haha. The Bishop never did anything. About 10 minutes in to her rambling about her life about how she used to live in Vacaville 40 years ago and she was sick, I got up to "go to the bathroom." I put that in the "s because it was an excuse to not listen to her. I came back 5 minutes later, and she was STILL up there!!! Really woman?! I was lookin around at the ward, and I caught a few peoples eyes; one member just shook her head and put it down, another acted like he was putting a gun to his head, another just laughed, it was funny! Finally at about 11:50ish some of the sisters got up and went and sat on the stand in hopes that she'd wrap things up... but, she didn't. You want to know why? Because she had flippin NOTES! Seriously? It was as if she wrote her entire life autobiography and took it up to read to everyone. Her actual testimony of saying that "I know..." took not even 30 seconds at the end of her sermon. It was miserable... Throughout church, people were makin jokes about it. In Gospel Principles, someone raised to say something and the teacher said "Yes, but don't take 29 minutes!" For once, I'm actually glad that no investigators came to church... that would have been a hard one to explain! So, an interesting day at church.

At this point in my mission/life, I feel happier than ever! Not a lot has happened with the work this week.

Anyway, that's about it for me. I love you both very much and I hope that you are enjoying your pool!!! The pools here are starting to open up... it's torture on a hot day to see people jumping into nice cool pools! Urghh! Oh! How could I forget? I got to play with a German Shepherd this week! It was a family that I saw on exchanges in another ward, and they had a 16 month old German Shepherd! He resembled Max SO much!!! He was just a goof ball that liked to tug and box. Man, that was rough for me, I miss my puppy! I need a wallet-sized picture of him because I always tell people about him, and I need to show pictures! That also reminds me, we went to the temple this week! The Sacramento temple is BEAUTIFUL! I loved it! It's pretty small, the session we did was PACKED. They had to bring in extra chairs. We didn't stop at the Distribution Center... so, that leaves the task to you!

Anyway, so that really is about it for me. I love you both oh so much! Thank you for all your encouragement. And, I suppose I'll be talking to you in a few weeks? Crazy! This will probably be the last time that I talk to you before I actually SEE you! Weird, huh? Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Brennan

Hot!

Moms and Pops!

Sounds like you have all had a wonderful week! Well, for me, it's been an interesting week. I've realized that I'm still not fully adjusted to a normal area. It gets me quite frustrated. We have a hard time finding new investigators becuase everyone is so dang religious! It's a really religious town, and there are churces on about every corner. It's also been freaking hot!!! It's been 90+ at least 2 days this week... it was miserable. I'm so happy that I'm not a bike missionary right now haha, but I will be biking this week because I'll be going on an exchange in a bike area.

I've been a bit discouraged this week as well a few times... We've dropped about 3 or 4 of our investigators because they won't answer the door when we know that they're home, that gets really frustrating. Not only that, but just people can be really rude. So, that's been a struggle throughout this week. I've been trying to stay positive and upbeat about it though!

Where did that random hockey update come from? Since when did you watch hockey? Last time I watched a game was for the olympics when we lost against Canadia... Lame. Speaking of, I'm going to miss the Summer Olympics this year... boo!! Oh well... Only 2 MORE years until the winter games. I hope the Cards keep it up... it'd be cool if they could get to the playoffs again. We'll see. We lost Pujols right? Where did he go?

Well, I really don't know what all else to talk about. President Bunker is on his way out... yikes! That's a scary thought. I truly love that man, it's going to be hard to watch him go home. I'm pretty nervous about the new president after being with President Bunker for a year and a half... I have an interview with him on Wednesday, he's going around and interviewing all the missionaries before he leaves. Everyone wants him to do a departing interview with them, so I imagine this will be kind of like that.

I hope ya'll have a great week! Thank you for your letters and your encouragement. My new address is:                  830 El Camino Ave. Apt D1

                      Vacaville, CA 95688

 I love you both so much! Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Elder Brennan

Hello

Mis Padres,

Well hello there! It sounds like you guys have had a sufficiently boring week haha.Too bad for the Cardinals, oh well. So, mom, you wanna talk about spending a day being soaked and wet? Try serving a mission... I can't count on my fingers or toes how many days I've spent just drenched... Lately, it's been pretty nice here! It's rained pretty good this week, I got wet pretty good. Today is a beautiful day! When it's nice here, it's nice. I'm not looking forward to spending a summer here though, it gets into the 110s in the summer... I thought Fairfield was bad, well, it's about 10 degrees hotter here than in Fairfield.

This week has been good! We've spent a TON of time doing service for others. This old couple in our ward had an emergency with one of their dogs, so we went over and cleaned up their yard and whatnot because they've been swamped and have neglected it. That was fun! We also helped someone move this week. Our whole zone is so close together that it's really easy to get all 14 of us to help someone move, and that's what we did. Unfortunately, this family wasn't organized... They had boxes all over the house, and furniture that hadn't been taken care of, so that was all up to us. Luckily, we have 2 Samoan's in the zone, and they are buff... They're big boys. Amidst all of the service that we did this week, Elder Ramiah and I still managed to teach 21 lessons! That's pretty dang good. We've had members out with us almost every day of the week, all of our lessons except 5 were with members (that's a huge deal in missionary work by-the-by). It was a good week. We didn't have anyone at church though... We picked up 2 new investigators on Saturday that said they'd be there, but we called them Sunday morning to remind them and they said they're going to sleep in............. Really? Not only is chucrh at 11:00, but they don't have jobs!!! They can sleep in any gosh dang day of the week if they want to! Ughh... that's frustrating. But, that's the life of a missionary.

I don't really have too much else to report on... It blows my mind everytime I think about how long I've been out (15 months). Whenever I talk to Elder Schulte, he's only 2 transfers ahead of me, and he is about to hit his 18 month mark in 4 days! Holy cow!! That's hard to believe. Time flies by so fast. Well, not much else to say or report on. I hope ya'll have a great week!!! I love you both very much!

Love,

Elder Brennan

Woo!

Moms and Pops,

 

It's great to hear from ya'll! Well, while mom was in Florida on the beach, and while dad was complaining that he wasn't on the beach (haha just kidding!) I was out slaving in the hot sun all week with no beach!! But, that's okay, I'd rather be here than on the beach. It has been a great week! I love the heck out of Elder Ramiah!!! He is such a goofy kid! Sri Lankan's are fun. He has a Indian accent and sometimes people don't understand him. It's interesting to be on this side of people not understanding one another. He wants to have an "American accent" because he was taught English by British people. So, he says things like a Brit with an Indian accent. So, I'm trying to help him talk like a redneck American! We moved out of our old apartment this week, and we're in our new one. I like it, it's just a generic little apartment. I don't know the address of it. But mom, you don't need to send me cleats, I bought some today for $20 at a thrift store, thanks though! The weather here has been awesome! It's been in the upper 70s and lower 80s and sunny all week. I had to break out my short sleeve shirts again. We were also given a car, so that makes me happy too!

This is a very rich area... lots of doctors, dentists, and lawyers. The houses here are massive... So, I'm back to that rich person pride again. I'm still trying to adjust to it a bit, I'm getting there. I'm not used to tracting not being effective, up north it worked like a charm! The ward here is massive too, well, it may have been because it was Easter Sunday... The chapel was packed! It was weird... it was a fast and testimony Sunday because they didn't do it the Sunday before conference. They did that in Fortuna for my last Sunday there so, 2 out of the past 3 weeks have been Fast Sundays for me! I bore my testimony and my voice is really deep and raspy because I've had a frog in my throat the past 3-4 days. But, it was good!

I'm jealous that you got to go campin dad!!! I wanna go camping when I get home. There is a misisonary in my district, Elder Schulte (he was my ZL in Eureka right before i became the ZL) and he is a carbon copy of John Plisga except that he's a member! He's also from Missouri!!! He's from Jefferson City, he's going home in October. We've already discussed our plans for post-mission which includes us going camping (you can come Dad! Mom, you can too if you want, but I know you hate camping), going to the temple, and just hanging out! I offered a room at our hotel for him to stay/live in. I did the same with Elder Blake... Tell me if you want me to stop renting out rooms in our house :) But, I love that kid! Anyways, I was surprised to see that Max was a good boy and didn't run away!!! He is smart when he wants to be! I bet it was because he was in a place he didn't know, so he stayed close. Too bad for the fishing... haha Did you catch anything with him helping you?

Anyway, that was my week! I hope you all have a great week this week.

Love you both so much! Have you seen the Bible Videos on lds.org? If not, you should check them out! They're great. Much love!

Love,

Elder Brennan

Conference

Moms and Pops,

 

General Conference was AWESOME! I loved it... Just when you think it can't get any better, it does! It was interesting, only 1 speaker focused his talk on the Book of Mormon this time. The overall main theme that I gather was that we need to teach our families not only to know the gospel, but to understand it and have it sink into their hearts.  Paul (I think it's Paul) says in the New Testament something along the lines of not getting involved in petty arguements. Elder Holland threw down on being envious of others and judging. He spoke about the parable of the laborors in the Lord's Vineyard and how those that worked from early in the morning got the same wage as those who only worked for an hour. President Uctdorff talked about a smiliar thing, he had a GREAT quote that he actually quoted from a bumper sticker that said "don't judge me because I sin differently than you." There were a lot of talks about that as well. I don't know if I had a favorite... I loved Elder Holland, Elder Bednar, both of President Uctdorff's and both of President Eyring's, Elder Packer's, Elder Perry's, Donald L. Hallstrom (presidency of the Seventy), and of course, President Monson's talks. It was just a great conference!!!

So, OSU lost, huh? They have a GREAT record of choking don't they? We had dinner at a member's house on Saturday and they just got over halftime and OSU was up by 10... I guess they lost that. Lame.

Vacaville is AWESOME! It's beautiful here, it's very much like Fairfield. It's been in the 70s a few times, but it's also rained a few times. Time for me to break out my short sleeves again. Although, it's supposed to be super hot here in the summer. It's pretty dry too, unlike up north where it's damp and gross... It's a bit of a culture shock to be in a functioning ward, the first one on my mission. This will be a good area. My companion, Elder Ramiah, is AWESOME! I love the kid... he's not really a kid, he's 24, but he's from freaking SRI LANKA! I told dad that there are only 5 missionaries that are out from Sri Lanka, and he is the only one in the United States... Crazy, huh? Sri Lanka has a population of about 20 million, and the church membership is about 800... that is approximately 1 in every 25,000 people is a member. Wow. He's just a goofy guy. I never thought that I'd have a not white comapnion. He speaks good english, but he has an Indian accent. I just love the guy! It's going to be a good transfer. As for the members, I've met a few of them through dinners and whatnot. The population of Vacaville is about 100,000 and there are 6 wards (one of them is a singles ward) and they have a spanish group too. So, Vacaville is it's own stake. Priesthood session was PACKED. The first time I've ever seen them have to open the overflow for the general conference PH session. It was great to see!

That was an awesome April Fool's joke that was played on Shelley, it gets my props! Anyways, that's my report for the week. I love you mom, thank you for everything! Also, how is my money looking on my chase card? Also, can you send me my cleats? Now that I'm in a zone that is super close together, I can have real P-days and they play football and rugby here! I'm so excited to have real P-days again!!!!! It's been 8 months since I've been in a place like this! So, send me my cleats as soon as possible please (if you can find them, if not, I'll buy some cheap ones at Ross). Oh, and we're moving apartments this week, so i'll give you our new apartment address once we move.

Again, I love you mom! You're the sweetest lady ever, although you scare others, you're sweet to me and that's all that matters!! ;) I'm just kidding about scaring others, although you have intimidated my past girlfriends, but, they needed it haha You're just lookin out for your little Scooby :)

Love,

Your son, Elder Brennan

The info is in...

Moms and Pops,

So, I imagine that you've been waiting anxiously for this day... Well, as I'm sure you have guessed (and as I have said in the past) I am being transferred. I am moving out of the rural wilderness areas, and I am going to Vacaville 1st Ward. Vacaville is simliar to Fairfield, just a tad smaller I think. It's in the foothills and it's a decently sized city. But, it's considered "Zion" in our mission because it has 5 wards there... Crazy, huh? My new WML was a stake president in Vacaville for the past 10 years and before that he was a counselor in the stake presidency... It's the only "functioning" stake in the mission, meaning that everything actually works how it's supposed to. We have 17 ward missionaries in that ward that are all active and all have a specific assignement... I'm excited! My new companion will be Elder Rumesh Ramiah, and guess what? He's NOT white!!! He is actually from Sri Lanka! How crazy is that? He's only been out maybe 8 months or so, but I'm stoked to be with him. From what I've heard he is just awesome, and that you can't help but love him. I will be a district leader again as well. From what I've found out, my district is pretty sweet! So, needless to say, I am very excited. We are transferring tomorrow, so I'm still in Fortuna right now. It's bitter sweet, I love this area and the beautiful scenery. But, at the same time, I'm ready to get to a normal area after being in the boondocks for the past 8 months or so. It's crazy to think that after Vacaville, I'll only have 1 more area probably... Nuts! When I talked to Pres, he was telling me a bit about Vacaville, and about my new WML... he said that President Bell (my wml) called him and asked him to send down one of the most obedient and hard working missionaries that he has to offer... I thought that that was a bit much, and I can think of other missionaries that are "better" than me in those aspects... but, I know that this is what I have been called to do. The Lord calls us in our weaknesses but He qualifies us for His work, right?

Anyway, Saturday and Sunday was AWESOME! We finished this week off (for me I finished my time off in Fortuna) with 2 baptisms!!! Doug and Jolene... Doug's story is incredible, I think I told you, if not then tell me. But, Doug's dad who is 89 years old baptized both Doug and Jolene... Not only is he 89, but he can't walk or stand on his own, you know what that meant? Yup, Elder Christensen and I dressed up to get in the font to help out Don (Doug's dad) baptize his son and Jolene. I held Don up, while Christensen helped dunk them... It took 2 times to baptize both. We did Jolene first, and Don just couldn't get her full name right (he has TERRIBLE hearing) so he said the prayer like 4 or 5 times before he even dunked her once. When he dunked her, her knee came out... so we did it again and it was gravy. Then Doug... Doug is a really big fella, probably 6'1" and around 250 or 260 lbs. His first time under, his ring and pinky finger stuck out... So we did him again; I held Don up and Christensen just slammed Doug into the water so far that he hit the bottom so that he was completely immersed haha. There was a big splash and waves everywhere. It was like an orca show, all the kids up front watching got splashed a little bit. It was hilarious. Christensen didn't mean to do it that hard, so he turned all red and got embarrassed, but it was hilarious. It's a special story though about Don and his family. Don used to be inactive, but because he decided to be active again, he baptized his wife (this was years ago) and now he baptized his son, and his son's gf (future wife), and now Doug is sharing the gospel with everyone and so is Jolene. We just picked up Jolene's son and he'll get baptized within the coming months as well, if he can stop smoking weed... It's just incredible how God blesses us with miracles... and even more how the Atonement can change who we are, it can literally change our behavior and our character... it's tough (as i'm sure we all know) but it is possible.

 

Other than that, it's been a great week. Good weather, for the most part. It's been raining a TON lately. But, in Vacaville, it's supposed to be hot with no wind... awesome. How is it that I always get sent to the super hot places when the summer rolls around? There is only a few places hotter than Vacaville. But, I'll be in a car, so that'll be nice.

I've been keeping up a bit with the tourny... people keep me updated. OSU should be able to go all the way, but they have a small tendancy of choking... hopefully this doesn't happen. Is Sullinger planning on going to the NBA after this year? I hope not, with all the trouble that they've been having. Keep him for another year so I can watch him play some more. I miss lacrosse... a lot, I wanna watch it!

Tanner looked SUPER thin! Wow... it blew my mind.

Well, that's about it for me. I hope you guys are enjoying your weather and your time in St. Louis! The day that I come home is coming faster and faster, it's blowing my mind... I only have 6 transfers left, that really blows my mind. I have friends in the mission, that are just 2 transfers ahead of me, and they only have 4 transfers left! Holy cow! Elder Gardner goes home May 17th... HOLY COW!!!!!! Really, this is all blowing my mind very much... Anyway, I'll not suffer you to listen to my mind explode. I love you both so so much! Thank you for your great examples! Congrats on the temple ordinance worker mom! You'll love it! I'm really excited to attend the temple with you both when I come home!

Much love,

Elder Brennan

Another Week, Another E-Mail

Moms and Pops,

Well, it's good to see that ya'll had a great week!! I'm jealous you got to hear from Elder Bednar... but again, we got Elder Perry, so it evens out. Our week has been busy, it seems like the past few weeks have just been a blur because we've been traveling so much. We've been so busy! We haven't hardly worked in our area lately because we've been either at Zone Conference (last Tuesday), on exchanges, and visiting with every companionship (7) and doing a 3 hour training with them. That's what we've done this last week... crazy. On Monday night, we drove down to Ukiah to stay the night because we have Zone Conference the next day. Holy cow was President fired up. He's going home in a few months and he is tryin to whip people into shape. He was yelling and goin nuts! Not really too nuts... he was just furious about all the immaturity and laziness. I was sitting in the 2nd row, right in front of him, and he was so mad that he was shaking. He called us all to repentance... It was much needed I think for the mission. He just said if you aren't here to work then go home. Simple as that. So, that was good to hear haha, luckily I'm here to work!

So this is the last week of the transfer, goes by so fast! I'm pretty positive that I'm going to be moved. I don't know where to or what I'll be doing, but I think I'm going to move. I've been here since the end of November, that was like 4 months ago! I've been out in the middle of nowhere for the past 8 months, I'm ready to be in a city or something. It's going to be a big change for me though if that happens. I'm used to being far away and off by myself with my companion, so it'll be interesting to see the change that comes. But, with these areas in the middle of no where, we get the beautiful scenery! Also we get the crazies... But this coming weekend we will be having 2 baptisms! A great way to end a transfer I believe. I'm excited. Although, this week will be interesting because we're going to be able to spend multiple days in our own area! That doesn't happen too often... We aren't really sure what we're going to do because we aren't used to it. So, it should be good, we'll be doing some good finding.

I heard about BYU and their loss... That's a darn shame... BUT! I never expected them to get this far without Jimmer, so that's great that they made it as far as they did. Go Ohio teams!! That made me happy to hear. What's the newest news on Peyton?

No, I haven't bought any new pants or anything. We haven't left our area on P-day (we will today). We usually just do our necessities here in Fortuna, and then we've been going to a members house and playing a bit of pool. I miss pool, I'm not very good at it anymore... Uhmm... i don't think I have anything else to report on, or ask any questions...

 

I love you both! Keep on keepin on!

Love,

Elder Brennan Edwards