email 12.31.07

Curley's-Hello there. It was awesome to talk to all of you on Christmas. It was weird I kept looking at the door waiting for you to come in and say SUPRISE, but it never happened. It was tough to say good-bye again, but hey I am in an awesome place. I am really happy that I got to stay here in Mount Shasta. It has actually been really nice weather, compared to Utah bitter cold anyway. Well it sounds like a fun class for you there Ryan, just don't shoot any of the relatives, the family gets mad sometimes and the bodies are not as easy to get rid of. :) Zack that kid needs to figure things out. With the way he is going he will be just like Cody when I get home, what a thought. Oh well he will figure it out maybe eventually. I am sorry to hear that Dallin burnt his hand, I hope that he is doing well and there was no serious damage to anything. Saedy sounds like she is getting all grown up, goodness she will be running when I get home. Good job on the schooling there Ryan, I can only imagine how much fun it is going to be to go back to school for myself after 3 years of not having to do it. Well good on you for doing it. Well take care of yourselves and hope to hear from you soon. Take care. Love you all.-Elder Brickey

The Mommy-I am really happy that I am staying in Mount Shasta, it is an amazing area. That lady prayed for both Elder Nash and I's soul and that we would find the right path that the Lord wanted us on. Little does she realize that we are on the right path, oh well. More that likely, if things go as they have been, Elder Nash will get transfered on our next tansfer ,which is February 4th, and I will stay. Then I will probably be here for another two transfers, so 4 total, so I can get whoever replaces Elder Nash familiar with the area and with our Investigators. Thank you for paying my tithing I really appreciate it. Scott Olsen's parents are actually in a different mission, our missions do touch though. I have a half pday today and tomorrow it is an all day pday so that is nice. Yeah President doesn't want us in the hollabaloo of the holiday stuff. Tyrell's farewell, thats awesome. Yeah there is a ton of missionaries from our stake it is crazy. Well thats about all I think. Love you.-Elder Brickey

Email 12.22.07

The Mommy-It was really nice to talk to all of you yesterday. Thank you for letting Brie come over and talk too. I think that she likes hot cocoa, but I am not sure it was always me drinking it. We actually got a phone call this morning from the Zone Leaders and they asked me if I would like to know where I was getting transfered to, I told him yeah and he told me that Elder Nash and I were staying, so another 6 weeks at least here in Mount Shasta! If we were to get a call saying we are getting transfered, we pack that day, than the next day we leave to wherever we are going. That is sweet of Grandma to do that, you could put it in my Washington Mutual account that would be fine, after paying tithing on it. Our Christmas dinner was awesome. The family is so nice and they had some amazing food. It was weird to see alcohol served, but hey they and their friends are not memebers. Anyways...Jim and Wanda are down in Santa Rosa till today, the 26th. We actually took their dog back to their house and made sure that everything was okay on Christmas Eve. Other than that nothing much has changed much. As for Brie and I, yes we did "Break Up" because I wanted her to not feel like she was stuck with me if someone asked her out and she wanted to go on a date. I still refer to her as my girlfriend though. As for an umbrella and gloves, i have an umbrella but gloves would be nice. I do have a picture of my bike now I will send another CD soon with MORE pictures for you all. Well thanks again for all your love and support take care. Love you tons.-Elder Brickey

Letters

Family & Friends
I thought that I would just write a little Christmas letter to all of you out there in the "real world". Things are going great out here in California. I am in a town called Mount Shasta; it is the Northern most part of the mission, and the only part of the mission that gets snow! It feels a lot like home because the elevation here is about 3600 feet, so pretty close to the 4500 of home. I am also at the base of a beautiful mountain! It is great being here in the service of our Father in Heaven and it is great to see the many wonderful things that he blesses all us Missionaries with, and the blessings that he gives to everyone of his children. It has been fun knocking on all sorts of doors and listening to all the wonderful things that people say when they answer the door. I cannot believe that I have only been gone for about 2 months, it feels like I have been gone for a while, but at the same time it seems like just yesterday that I was home, it is very weird. Anyway... I hope that things are going well for you all, and I know that if you do the things that the Lord asks of you that you will be blessed so very much. Also with it being Christmas time remember the true meaning behind Christmas. It is the day that out (our) Savior Jesus Christ came into the world to live and to die for us all, what a great and amazing thing. Well that is about it for me. Take care of yourselves and have a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
-Elder Brickey

Family-
-15 days till Christmas & you will be able to hear my annoying voice again. Just kidding. Anyway on Christmas day you can call at like noon, or just before 4pm. We have a dinner with a family at around 5. I was thinking that you could just call at noon, that would work out. I am sorry it has taken forever to get this written, today is the 14th & I am down in Anderson, it is about 80 miles from Mount Shasta. We left Mount Shasta at 8am to get down here on time, we also had to pick up two other Elders. It was nice to get a package from you & Grandma & Grandpa, it was awesome. We got to hang out for a while with the other missionaries from our Zone & the Anderson Zone. We played games, watched a movie & ate some pizza. It was nice to have that time. Anyway...things have been going well out here Elder Nash & I have had a lot of luck in finding new investigators, & helping the investigators that we do have. It is just awesome to see the Lord work through us in ways that are hard to explain. I do know that we are doing that which the Lord desires of us. I hope that things are going well for all of you. Things have been great out here other than I had to refill my pill perscription, which was lets say fun. The only store here is Rite Aid & they took a while & I have the recipt enclosed for you. Well that is about it for this letter. I will write again soon.
-Elder Brickey

He also sent over 300 pictures. To the right is a slideshow of the pictures. You can click on the picture and it will send you to another spot too see them bigger. You just have to click on the play button once you get there. Any questions let us know!

email 12-18-07

Familia de Curley-Yeah another week gone by and it is snowing, and is suppose to continue till Thurday, maybe even till next week so that is awesome. It sounds like you have your hands full with the two chillins. It is in one week that we will get to chit chat, and I actually want you to call me at 11am (your time). As for who is there. Mom, Dad, Ritchie's, Curley's, Scott and Kayce if Scott wants her there, Nicole and Ben, Grandma & Grandpa Walker, Grandpa Brickey, Grandma Sorensen, and if you guys will be nice I would like to talk to Brie and Ryan McGraw if he is not in Alabama. It is a bit cold and the two pair of thermal bottoms are nice, but more would not hurt any, and some thermal socks. Things are going great and we actually might have three baptismal dates by the time we talk so, yippee! The members are actually very involved in any and every way that they can be, it is awesome. I have a package coming to the house and I would like it if you would distribute the "goods" if you would. Thanks for all you do and take care of those kids. Love you tons.-Elder Brickey


The Mommy-I did get your packages and I am using the thermal garmets for all they are worth. I thought I was going to California where it is supposedly sunny all the time. Anyways. For the Christmas call you can call at 11 am(your time) that will work out fine. As for who is there. You, Dad, Ritchie's, Curley's, Scott and Kayce if Scott wants, Nicole and Ben, Grandma & Grandpa Walker, Grandpa Brickey, Grandma Sorensen, and if you would Brie and maybe Ryan McGraw if he is home by then. It is nice to email Kyle and Brad, they are both doing really well and are both really busy in the work. As for Josh and Jean Marie I did get their announcment, and did you know that Brie made it??? Talented girl. Things will Elder Nash are great we get along pretty well. There are a few times that I have wanted to slap him, but I have pulled through those moments of weakness. My bike just sits in the storage closet, it doesn't roll well in snow and salt is not good for it either so it stays dry and safe. It is coldish, nothing like the Utah cold, and it started snowing Saturday and is suppose to keep going till at least Thursday so that is exciting. As for the people looking to get baptised, there is the Linsley's (Lins-lees) which are an older couple in their 60s and there is also Alison Bobet (bow-bear) who is in her 60s as well. They are all rock firm in the church and just awesome. Well I will talk to you at 11 am (your time) on Christmas than. Love you.-Elder Brickey

What happen??

We did not receive an email or a letter so far. We sit on nails waiting for something from our diligent missionary. When we get something we will post immediately.

Just so you all know, you can post comments just by clicking on the comment after the posts and follow the instuctions.

Hope you are all enjoying the blog and it is helping you keep up to date with Kade.

e-mail from 12-10-07

Sorry I turned off the computer and didn't get it back on until today.

the Mommy,
Yeah it was crazy snowy here for a day and a half, now it is just bitter cold. I am very happy that I have this jacket it is saving my bacon. Thermals, full garmet bottoms something would be nice to help keep my legs warm, and maybe some thicker black socks to keep my feet warmer. My shoes are great I have super up keep on them so that helps a lot. I am glad to hear Grandma and Grandpa had a safe trip. The spanish elders are all down in the Southern part of the mission. Up here we are just a small town with mainly people that speak english. I love the email from the kids it is awesome! I really miss them. They will all be so big and different when I get home it is weird to think about. We have only had some serious rain storms here, the cloud cover that we get holds in to much heat to get snow. I have been able to email Kyle and Brad, it is a lot quicker than writing letters which is nice. Well thank you for all you do, take care. Love you.
-Elder Brickey
p.s. anyone can be a mother, it takes someone special to be a mommy. Merry Christmas

12-10-2007

Hello Curley's-Things are going great here we have three investigators praying for a baptismal date! Yes I can mountain bike here, if my companion had his bike up here. Another Elder down in Redding needed it for a while now we just have to bring it back up here to do some riding. Well Happy Birthday Ryan, sorry you have an exam, but a gun is always good. The kids sound like they are growing up way to fast, but that is good I guess. It sounds like you are going to have your hands full between the two. I feel pretty bad for Dad, and Ryan McGraw. The Fugals are hard to get along with, and I heard some interesting stories about them in Colorado. If I get a Fugal companion I will have to work through it, God gave him to me for a reason, I might not be happy but I will deal with it. I am sending a package home with some stuff and in it will be a CD with some pictures on it. I want a nativity now! No just kidding it would just be one more thing to have to pack around with me. It sounds like you are keeping yourselves busy between kids, school, work, and whatever else you do. Thank you for including me in the presents I really appreciate that. The Ritchie kids, that sounded like a lot of fun. I do wish sometimes that I could be home for Christmas, but I will do a lot more good where I am at so I will stay. We drive 120 miles round trip, lots of fun. We also have a few meetings this month, we put on like 300 miles a day about for them. I love my area, it is gorgeous and the people here are amazing. On pday I write, do laundry, sleep, go site seeing. It is amazing. Well I am glad to hear that all is well. Take care. Love you all.-Elder Brickey

12-3-07

Mom-Mount Shasta has 3700 people living in it, the elevation is 3600 feet, oh and by the way we have snow. We have a car because our area is actually from a city called Dunsmuir (Duns-meer) up to a city called Lake Shastina (Chastina with a S). We drive on average about 40 miles a day. Then every Tuesday we drive 120 miles just to get to our District Meeting and back, but it is okay because it is gorgeous here. I am writing in my journal, I missed a few days so I have to go back a write in them, which is easy with us planning every day in our planners I remember what we did. So far I have not had any problems with being a "greeny" except for being shy and nervous, but I am working through that. The shirt I will send to you, you can do whatever with it. It was $16 about. If we were to go to the temple we would go to the Medford Temple and we would get a ride from someone in the ward. They are very eager to help us in every and any way, and we only get to go twice a year whenever we want I think. Elder Carter and Elder Mitchell are somewhere down South I am not sure where though. My coat is warm, but my slacks, not so warm, same with my socks. I might buy some tomorrow when we are in Redding to help out a little with the cold. I am actually eating all my fruits and veggies including broccolli, asperagus, and other weird things, but I told myself that I would try everything at least once. Of course I am helping clean up, some get mad when I do but I still do to appease the mommy. We live in our own apartment and we have a washer and dryer which is awesome, so no laundramat. I did not know about the train thing, but yes it is gorgeous here. We have about 8 inches of snow and it is still snowing on the mountain, so we are getting hail and sleet and rain now. I did hear that Grandma and Grandpa went to PA, I hope their trip went well for them. Well thats all for now. Love you tons, take care.-Elder Brickey

Curley's-It was good to hear from you all. I really enjoyed the messages from Dallin and Saedy. I have a hard time looking at their picture and thinking about how old they will be when I get back and how big. It is okay though cause it is simply amazing here. We got about 8 inches of snow yesterday night and day, now it is sleeting and such, which sucks to tract in. I am glad to hear that things are going well. When does Dad get back from Colorado? I need his email address. Anyway.....It is hard to think that I will not be home fro Christmas, but hey I am where the Lord needs me so it is all good. It is pretty cold up here, my jacket keeps me warm, but my slacks and socks are not so warm. Well I hope all is going well and I appreciate the letters and emails. Take care. Love you all.-Elder Brickey