2nd to last email (but could be last) 10-19-09

Mommy-The missionary that invented the game I think is Elder Suzzle so that is why it is called Suzzleball. I am not sure if my companion got sick from me or from this person that we met with. I am hoping more for the later. I do not really remember exactly who I was talking to about killing beef but they were interested until I told them about all the things that Grandpa liked to get me to hold. That grossed them out a bit. We have been getting a lot of rain. It has been really good for here too. Though it made it a nightmare to go out and work. I hate getting soaking wet and trying to get into people houses so that is not fun. I have not heard about the mud slides though I would not doubt it with how much rain we got in under a week. It was crazy! I do not remember a Heather Christensen, or Ms. Christensen so I could not tell you how long she has been there. Then again I did not associate really at all with the band portion of the school. My companion is doing better now though so that is good. Though he is getting trunky with me so that is not good since he will have three transfers left after I leave. It does make it hard to get things done and get out and work when you keep getting sick. I feel like the apartment mom because one of the other missionaries we live with, Elder Monson, got sick and I would hear him tossing and turning so I would get him some meds and he would fall asleep then I would be awake for a while then finally fall asleep after 12 or so. It has been a long couple of weeks that way. I feel like I am taking care of a bunch of sick kids. It is fine though I like being needed and helping so that is cool. I am not sure if I will need money or not for the box. It is kinda large though. I think it is 17x17x12 and is really heavy. The mission office said they could send it home and it would be cheaper, I just do not know how much it will be. I would think that I will have some time to email next week. Than again the Library does not open till 12 and I have no idea when I am suppose to be at the mission office. I will try though. That is funny that Truman thinks his bids are better than yours. Than again there are a lot of funny things about him so. Not to be mean or anything but yeah! Things are going good though. We almost had to move this coming week. We are trying to move in with members to reduce the price of living and a member stepped up and the mission pres wanted us in there before transfers. Though when they went to inspect they found out that their daughter-in-law might me moving in for a while and that is a no no so we are not moving now. Things are good though. It is crazy to think that I come home in 8 days but at the same time I am excited. Well I hope you are well and I really appreciate all that you do for me. I LOVE YOU! Take care and I will talk to you later.Love always your son,Elder Brickey

Curley Family-I think I will try to email next week but will give no promises. I have no idea what is going to happen so I am a little lost and confused for that. Things sound like they are going good though. I find that SO cute that Dallin was praying and gets mom to come and say the prayer. He is a good kid it sounds like you did a good job with him. I cannot promise anything about bringing snow but it would be fun to go trick-or-treating with them. I like getting candy. Though I would feel probably really out of place. Oh wells I do look forward to seeing you all so. Wow Dallin had to get a cavity filled that much of sucked. I do not envy that at all. Then again it seems like my teeth are deteriorating and that sucks because I have been taking really good care of them. I am sorry to hear that the job thing is still causing stress and issues. I still say that I am not excited for that part. I so wish that I could get a job that just has me sit at home and do nothing. Than again doing something in the outdoors would be killer too. Well things are going good here. We are trying our best to stay busy and for me to stay focused. It is kind of hard with everyone reminding me that I am a short timer. Even our Bishop reminds me. He is an awesome man though and like to tease me so that is cool. Well other than that not much has been going on. I actually have been packing up a little here and there since I know that I will be leaving in a week. I have a ginormous box that I am trying to send home but I will probably be home before it will be. Well I hope you are doing well and I am trying my best to stay focused and finsh off with a bang. I LOVE you all and hope things go well for you. Take care and I will talk to you NEXT week!Love,Elder Brickey

Emails 10-12-09

The Mommy-Why Hello! How are you doing? Well to answer your question about how I got hurt. We were playing this missionary made up game called suzleball. It is like ultimate frisbee and soccer combined so it is pretty sweet. We usually have a couple people from the singles ward come in and play but there is mainly missionaries. I am doing better though. My leg is still a little sore but I am healing well. I was nervous about giving my departing testimony for a couple reasons. I still get the gitters in front of people and also it is the last time that I would be in Zone Conference. It is a standing tradition that the missionaries leaving at the end of the transfer give a final testimony in their last zone conference. Oh yeah I remember Cherolyn Jones now. Yeah she LOVED my blue eyes. They were a really cool family. Wow so you had all 7 of your grandkids in the house for the weekend. I bet that was exciting. Than again they are all getting big so hopefully they were able to take care of themselves pretty well. Wow that is sad about the teacher from AF. There seems to be a tramatic thing happen to them almost every couple years. That is really depressing. I will probably be taking my bike to the mission office on the Sunday before I leave and they will ship it. I am still not sure how much though I will give them a call and find out so we have an idea of what is going on. Yeah it is the Chase/WaMu account. I was just talking about Grandpa and how he slaughtered his own beef. A lot of people are surprised and a little shocked sometimes. It is really funny. I LOVE it when Grandpa does his own because you are getting some good meat to eat. Well our week has been really slow. My companion has been sick so we have been taking it slow and letting him get the rest that he needs to heal up and get better. Things are good though, other than things slowed down a bit lately. The weather is cooling down and we are supposedly getting rain today and tomorrow. We will see I do not really trust what a weather man says anymore. Well other than that not much is new. I hope that things are going well for you and that you are well. I LOVE YOU mom and send you my graditude for all you have done. Take care and I will talk to you later.Love always your son,Elder Brickey

Hello There!That is to bad that Dallin is allergic to nuts. That would suck, then again I am not really a nut person but nuts are in everything or at least the oil and that would be hard. Yeah I would not be happy if I had to get 4 shots so I can understand Aleana and not being happy. That is so weird though to hear that she is walking. I still feel like she was just born, than again Saedy and Dallin and Desiree were born yesterday it feels like. The weather here has been nice and cool. It is suppose to rain today and tomorrow but then again when was the last time a weatherman was right? The work has been a little slower lately. Than again my companion was sick this past week so I made sure he got the rest that he needed so he could get better quicker. This past week school was also out for some random reason. California schools are so weird and strange. I am striving my best to continue to do my best. But yes Ryan you are right I am drawing to an end and am fessing up to it. It is weird and I know I cannot deny or lie about it so I am just accepting it now. I bet I do drive my companion and the Elders I live with a little nuts due to the fact that it seems to come up a lot about how soon I do come home. It is so weird how often people talk about it and once they find out when I am going home, they bring it up a lot. I am not sure what I will do for work when I get home. I would love to work at like Whitknuckle Motorsports in Springville/Spanish but than again that would be to help me get into motorcylces again and A LOT of people have been telling me that I should NOT get another one. We will see. Well thanks for all you do and I hope you are well. I love you and wish you well. Until next time.Love,Elder Brickey

Emails 10-5-09

The Mommy-Elder Sanchez does not like chocolate or caramel for that matter, he is a weird kid. Than again he is a good kid so that makes up for it. Yeah I hope that I am able to help my companion out with a couple of things before I leave him. It is really interesting to see just how DIFFERENT all of us are in the mission. I have found one person that is a REALLY close similar but no one can be exactly like me. Than again I do not think that the world could handle two of me. That is good that work is still there and still work. I still worry about that one for when I get home. I really hope the economy picks up. It sounds like you are taking good care of your car. I was actually telling the story the other day of how you got the car and how the Astro died. My companion's family has Astros and Safaris, just a little newer I think than yours was. You have to admit, the car is A LOT nicer than the van even though the van had some height and space, the car is quiet and gets good milage. Anyways. That is cool that Cassie had a party with some people from the 17th ward. Wow Jenn Kummer, isn't that the one that came and lived with us? Anyone else come that I would remember? I will not lie I am not sure if I remember who Cherolyn Jones is....is that bad? Than again I have had to remember over 500 names in the last two years so maybe that gives me some room for forgivness. I watched Saturday at the Stake Center here in Antelope, which made for a long day, 9 am to 7 pm. Then Sunday we went over to our recent convert Richard Garcia's home and had breakfast and watched the sessions there. Talk about a beautiful conference. It was really crazy because in the Priesthood session they talked about RMs and Father's of RMs so it was crazy to think that both dad and I were listening to that and I am coming home soon. It was cool. I am feeling great, back to normalish. I actually injuried myself today playing sports. Yeah I know good job take it easier. I got kneed in the calf by someone and my calf has been locking up ever since, which is no fun at all. My tooth is doing really well actually. Well at least I think that it is, nothing is painful or causing trouble so yeah. Wow there are a lot of people pregnant right now. And a lot of people have gotten married. There is a lot of change going on it seems like in our family. Change is good though so no complaints. I have never seen "The Best Two Years" I have heard a lot about it but never seen it so I will have to see it when I get back. I have heard from a lot of people though that it is their favorite "mormon movie" or church made movie so that is good. I just have seen A LOT of CHEESY ones so not really into them. Well things are going good. We had Zone Conference which was nuts. Friday Zone Conference and then Saturday and Sunday General Conference, so a lot of sitting. It was crazy though because I gave my departing testimony and it was really nerve wracking. I almost seem and feel scared to come home. Then again this is a very easy life very regimented and simple so that is nice. Home is a lot more mysterious and open. It is good though and I know that things will be great so no worries I will be coming home. Well things are going pretty good. We have a lot of things that we are trying to get moving here. I would really love to leave this place with it on its feet so whoever comes in does not have to do a lot of grunt work and has jjust tons of people to work with, but it seems like it is not working. The Lord has his plans so we will see what happens. Well I love you and hope you are well. Take care.Love always,Elder Brickey

Curley Family-That is cool that you had a good bday for Aleana. And now I can pronounce it by just looking at it. I just had three different things come into my head as I looked at it. I have been saying it right though so no worries. It sounds like your kids are a lot like us, wanting EVERYTHING that they see and is "cool". Though be glad that their cool is not my cool because my cool has a couple more zeros on it. I am glad that you liked conference I have really come to LOVE it and I have my favorites, like Bednar, Holland, Scott, Monson, Eyring, Uchtdorf, and others. Then again I simply love them all. Just AMAZING. That is cool that you did a private class for some business president. I am totally down for going through the class too. I have been talking about guns, motorcyles, and outdoors it seems a lot lately. I am doing well though a little sore today after playing sports but good. I do not know if I will be a "collectors item" when I get home though I appreciate the thought. I watched all of Saturday Sessions in the Stake Center but then Sunday we went over to our RCs house, Richard Garcia, and had breakfast and watched the sessions there. We did not get anyone to come and watch. We have been having a hard time finding lately. It has been nice though because it has been cooling down so that is really nice. Other than that things are good. We are staying busy as we can and hopefully the Lord fills in the holes we miss. Well other than that not much else besides trying to not get "trunky" but it is hard with EVERYONE reminding you. The other day at dinner with our bishop he brought it up 5 times, so you can only imagine all the other people in the ward too. Anyways I love you and hope you are well. Take care and I will talk to you later.Love,Elder Brickey

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