Emails 9-28-09

The Mommy-I was told by the one of the Office Missionaries over our medical. She is really quite paranoid and I don't really feel like she knows my body like I do so it is hard to listen to her when I do not think it will help or if it is prudent. I went to this UrgentCare facility, kinda like InstaCare that Dad took me to when I got sick in March of 07. I think it is like $40-$50 to get my bike sent home, than again I could be wrong on that. I am not really up to date on that stuff. I remember what you taught me mom about manners and about at least offering to help clean up the dishes. I still remember when the Elders came over and just sat there, you were not very impressed about that. So I try my best to make sure that I would make you and Grandma Walker proud. I remember a lot of things that the both of you taught me. I got the package thank you. The Oreos of course did not last long with four Elders, well I should say three because one does not like chocolate though I did "help" him eat one. Anywho. I am doing better and getting better, I think basically all healed up. Well that is good that your sharing time went well. I know how stressful things like that are. I actually got up and bore my testimony for the last time on my mission. That was a really weird feeling. I am not sure a lot of the members understood that but it is ok and it is better that they do not really quite know that I am leaving more of a surprise in a way. In our apartment there is my companion Elder Weight (Orem,19months), than Elder Monson (Orem,22months), and Elder Sanchez (Murray,2months). So yeah that is the missionaries that I live with. Well things are going pretty good. I am going to make my companion probably a little more stressed out for the next little while because I am going to make him lead out on pretty well everything. I want to make sure that he makes some connections and knows the area before I leave so this is what I came up with. Well things are going good and so that is all I can ask for. What about you mom? What is new? How is work? How is your car? How does it feel to have your baby daughter pregnant? Well I love you and hope you are well. LOVE YA!Love always your son,Elder Brickey

HI!Well it sounds like you are all doing well so that is good. I cannot believe how big all your kids are getting. Aleana is 1 and I still probably mess up when I try and say her name. That is ok because she can be baby Curley till I get it, or Ale. I hope that the allergy test things go well. I know how hard it was when I was home to keep Dallin at least out of M&M's and such because of the nut thing. Maybe, hopefully, cross your fingers. It sounds like things are going really well for you other than that though. Well at least in the family. I hope that things work out for your job Ryan. I keep that in my mind and prayers to the best of my ability. I am not going to lie I am really touched by your kids. That is really cute that they wanted me to help them with all of that. I am going to have my hands full it sounds like. That is ok because that will keep me out of trouble and plus I like my neices and nephews they are all good kids and keepers. Well the weather is not to bad but it jumps around and all over. This week I have heard is suppose to cool down but than again Cali will just change its mind in a heart beat and be boiling hot. Oh well it is all good and not much longer, which is NUTS. I now know who my last dinner in the mission is with and a few things like that which blows my mind. Still in the denial stage a bit. Well things are good going forward and upward so that is nice. Well I love you and hope things keep going well for you. Give everyone a big squeeze for me. LOVE YA!Love,Elder Brickey

Emails 9/21/09

The Mommy-The baptism went really well and I am so happy for these people that I have been able to help here. I am so thankful that I have been able to see people accept the gospel and get baptized, it has made my mission a lot easier and more bearable. I am still sick. I actually was FORCED to go and see a doctor the other day which I did not want to do. I knew it was nothing big and what did he tell me, it is just an uper respritory infection aka a cold. Though he did say that he had a case evolve into strep so that was a little scary. He told me to take the next few days really easy and to get a lot of rest and a lot of water and he also said that he would give me a note telling the mission that I needed to not be on a bike for a while. Well I had the baptism, church, and a whole load on my plate for the weekend so rest did not happen. I will get some though I promise. My companion is from Orem actually. Over by the Cemetery. He has been out for 18 months so he goes home in February. I do not know if I have the money to send my bike home. It is really weird to be thinking about boxing it up and sending it home. That is cool that Kirt is in the Bishopric. He will do great I am sure. The Zone Leader that comes home with me I am not sure why he is not on the flight stuff. But he is on the same plane, though he is flying to St. George after going into SLC so who knows. For the baptism Richard, the guy that got baptized, had a family friend baptize him (cousin-in-law or something) and then his father-in-law did the confirmation. I know that pretty well all of his wifes side of the family is LDS and they are a lot like our family. They like to celebrate things with food, and they love to invite us over for the food. I know Spencer Poulson really well. He was with me in Redding for my first three transfers. Then I saw him every now and then and then he became one of the APs and I saw him a lot as a ZL in Chico. He is a really cool kid. I can say kid because he is younger than I am. Well other than that things are going well. I am still getting use to the new companion which always takes time. I will probably get use to him just in time to leave. Oh well I guess. It is really cool though because one of the missionaries we live with is Elder Monson, no relation to Pres. Monson, but I have served around him a few times and he is really fun. He goes home in December and is from Orem as well. Though he went to Mt View and Elder Weight went to Timp. Well other than being sick things are good. I am constantly reminded though of how soon I am coming home which is usually no good but it makes me push hard so that is good. Well mom I hope you are well. I love you and hope you are doing well. Take care and I will talk to you later.Love always your son,Elder Brickey


Curley's-Well it sounds like you are doing pretty good. I hope that things work out with your job hunt, as always. I still can say and swear that I am not excited for that. I have been told that I should be a car salesman because I "sell" the Book of Mormon and things really well to people. Than again the lady that told me a lot of this was a little NUTS! Well your kids are for sure Brickey's. I knew how to entertain myself until I got bored and then I would see what Scott was up to and then get him annoyed with me then run and get him into trouble when he tried to retaliate. Yeah I was a big pain. That is cool though that you were able to go out and celebrate your anniversary. It sounds like you had a good night. I do have to say though that I am NOT excited about being on the market again. It is SO much more simple without dealing with that. Well I had a URI or a cold basically. Though there have been some cases that have evolved into strep so that was a little nerving. I have not been able to heed the advice though that has been given to me. I was told to rest a lot and drink a lot of fluids. I had a baptism that I had to get taken care of and people that needed me. It is so annoying to be sick when you have things you want to get out and do. It has been good though because in the last month, two baptisms and a naming a child blessing so that is cool. Though the stress probably caused the sickness. I am not sure I am ready to come home. It will be really cool though to see all of you. I do look forward to that for sure. Though then comes all the other things like finding a car, phone, getting into school and girls! Yeah not so sure about that stuff. I am switching between weeks and days that I count. Though when I count it freeks me out a but and makes me excited a bit. It is so two sided. Anyway. Things are going pretty good. Though we do need to get out and find find find. We lost all our investigators, they became members! What a great way to loose an investigator! Thanks though for all you do. You are the best. Love you all and send you my prayers and wishes. Take care till next time.Love,Elder Brickey

Emails 9-14-09

The Mommy-On pday we have until 6pm. Then we are suppose to have dinner and then lessons and such. Transfers are a little bit harder though because of having to pack and such. Speaking of transfers, I am staying though Elder Lancaster is leaving and going to Chico (Chico 1st to be exact). My new companion is Elder Weight, I have served around him before but not really that close so it will be interesting for sure. From the list of Elders on the plane home I know Elder Carter (he is the one from Chad's stake), Elder Clark is from PG, Elder Hansen went to Lone Peak and other than that I know them by meeting them a couple times. Elder Dalton will be going home on the same plane and he is the Zone Leader over Antelope right now. I basically know them all just some more than others. I think that the weight limit is like 50 lbs for checkon and 40 for carryon. I also can take my backpack through so that is nice. I am shipping my bike home through the mission office. They do it for really cheap I think and I really like my bike so that sounds good to me. The baptism went really well. We had a really good turn out for the baptism of family that are not members so that was really good too. The home teacher did the baptism and the Bishop did the confirmation. It was really quite beautiful. The blessing went really well. It was really fun to get to go and see Lincoln again. There was a lot of people though that were surprised to see me and pretty well all of them were all "Don't you go home soon?" which was fun. It was a really good weekend. Wow a shirt that is white until you go out into the sun, that is cool. I have seen some of the two year calendars for missionaries and they are really funny. Some of them can be a little over the top, but some are so very very true. That is really quite gross that the mouse decided to die in Ryan's shoe. Well at least he found it. You could really joke about Ryan having some really potent smelly shoes and that he might want to get that checked out. Well other than Elder Lancaster, Elder Bailey is also leaving. He is going to Roseville, so I will see him at Zone Conference in October. Well other than that things are good. We have the other baptism this Saturday of Richard Garcia. He is ready and super excited so that is good. I cannot believe the good fortune that we have been given in the 6 weeks that we have been in this ward. Well how are things going for you? What is new and exciting? I love you and hope you are doing well. Take care and I will talk to you later.Love your son,Elder Brickey


Curley's-Hey there! It is good to hear from you and good to hear that you are all doing well. Well at least for Ryan. I do have to say that if your boots are new and the mouse was dead in there you have some really smelly feet and might want to get that looked at. Just kidding. That is a really gross way to find it but hey you are right at least you have visual confirmation that it is dead. It sounds like your kids are doing well, except for the whole spitting up thing with Aleana. Hopefully things settle down and that goes away here soon. That is funny that Dallin was talking to whoever in the bathroom. That kid sounds like a character. The baptism and the blessing were awesome. We had an awesome turn out at the baptism and it went smooth and beautiful so that is nice. The blessing was really nerve racking though. I was really quite scared that I would mess up or something but it was really cool. The little boy that I blessed stood up and waited for me cause I was in the back and he was in the middle. Then he held my hand all the way up to the front which was really cool, and was a really weird insight for me. I am still terrified of the thought of having a kid but I look forward to it because of the look that I got from him at that moment and after. Well anyways. I am glad to hear that your knee is doing better Shan. I have to admit, which I did not tell to mom or dad, that I am sick as a dog. Well something like that. I only got like 4 hours of sleep Saturday night and then last night I passed out at 930 but was wide awake at 130 until about 5ish when I finally fell asleep again. Hopefully these drugs that I am going to get will help me out. If not, oh wells I guess. Wel I am staying. My companion is going to Chico. I am getting a missionary that I have served around a little bit named Elder Weight. He is actually coming from Paradise which is near Chico. Well things are going great here. I hope you are well. Take care and give some love to your kids and each other for me. Might as well give some to our lovely parents too. Make it everyone! Whatever. I love you and hope you have a wonderful week that the job stuff works out.Much Love,Elder Brickey

Email 9-8-09

Elder Brickey was not able to email on the usual Monday with it being Labor Day. So here are the emails he sent Tuesday instead.......

The Mommy-Our baptisms are on the 12th and the 19th, so the next two Saturdays. It is really exciting. The blessing is actually for a 4 year old and that will be on the 13th. I will be getting a ride there to Lincoln for the sacrament meeting there and doing the blessing then. After that I will probably hang out there for a while but we have to get back because we have lessons that night with our investigator that is getting baptized on the 19th. It is really cool to be able to participate in these different ordinances for these people. It will and has forever changed who I am. To get to the Zone Conferences we get rides from the missionaries in our zone that have a car. We have two cars in the zone, well with Elders, so we have to have 5 people in each car. Usually there is a rotation of some sort that the mission has figured out. I will more than likely stay here this next transfer. It will be really weird if they move me this next one with me only having one left. Than again it does happen. Of the four missionaries that are in our apartment. There are two of them that have been here for 4 transfers. My companion is one and one of the other missionaries Elder Bailey. The other missionary, Elder Sanchez, has only been here for 1 transfer so he will probably stay and I have been here for 2 so I will probably stay as well. Holidays do not affect us really. The only ones that do are New Years, 4th of July, and Christmas really. Other than that it is a normal work day or whatever. Since the holiday was on Monday that just means that we have to wait till Tuesday or whatever to email. So no big thing. The fires I think are doing better than again I have no idea. The moon is cool here still too. Though the smell of smoke is not as prevelant anymore so that is cool. So did you get my flight info? I got it last Tuesday. Talk about a weird day and a scary thing too. It is so crazy to see that I am coming home quicker than I think. It is weird also to think that my last transfer starts next week. I do not know of anything that I really need. I have actually been thinning down on things lately. I actually have been giving things away that I really do not need. I need to get the rest of the box of stuff I am wanting to get sent home finished and sent off too. Other than that things are going really well. There are a lot of things going on here which is always wonderful. Though I have had what feels like a lot of stress from having two baptisms coming up and then also the blessing. Added a little bit of weight to my thought processes. It is good though because staying busy makes the time fly by and also makes things really wonderful. Well mom I hope that you are well and that things are going great. I love you and send you my love. Until next time.Love,Elder Brickey

Hello!Well it sounds like your lives are moving right along. It is good to hear that everyone is well and safe. How is your knee/leg Shan? Things here are good. There are getting a little crazy with transfers coming up, two baptisms, and a blessing. It has been good though because it is also making time fly by. Than again that could be bad because I am also sad about leaving these people and this work. It has been fun to get to know these people and to also see the hand of the Lord in the work. I cannot believe that the time is coming to an end. It still feels like I just entered the MTC the other day. Than again when I look at it some of my converts have been to the Temple which means they have been baptized for over a year. It is nuts. That is really funny/gross about the mouse. I am not a fan for sure. Than again we have lots of roaches and other fun bugs here which suck big time. Oh well I guess you get to have certain pests no matter where you are. It has been a good mission though and a lot of things have happened that have helped me learn and grow so that is nice. Well I hope that the job thing works out for you and gets cleared up. I am sorry that it has caused so much chaos and problems. Well I love you all and send you my love. Until next time take care and I will talk to you later.Love,Elder Brickey