The One With Christmas in Indiana

Elder Brendan never committed to a time when he was Skyping us on Christmas.

This left me spending a good part of Christmas morning refreshing my inbox to see if he would pop on and let us know that he was ready to call in.
The time finally arrived for Elder Jayden to call in, so Sam set up the laptop, and suddenly Brendan was on!

Our two boys had arranged together to call at the same time.

Sure enough, Jayden was on about five minutes later.
This whole Christmas season was a blur for me. I feel like I never got time to sit down and enjoy it, let alone plan for this missionary call.
Brendan stuck to his mission rules and cut the call off after 30 minutes.
We were split between talking to him or Jayden, and switched back and forth, and it was all very sudden and chaotic.
I loved having them both on, but I also felt like I wanted one-on-one, personal time with each of them, and the whole experience left me feeling quite hollow.

In full disclosure, later that night, when the kids ditched me for their electronics, and Sam went to work his graveyard shift- I drew a nice hot bath and had a good cry.
I wasn't prepared for my reaction to seeing Elder Brendan again. It ripped a barely healed wound right open again- and dang, I just really miss him.

When he had been on for about five minutes, he started to pick and tug at his neckline. And finally in a burst of frustration his ripped his tie off. Then he unbuttoned his top two buttons, and sunk into the chair looking visibly more relaxed.
On the other side of the screen, when all this went down, Jayden was quietly uncomfortable and maybe a little mortified at this behavior.
"He's not even wearing his badge" Elder Jayden pointed out, and Elder Brendan said "Oh crap! That's still on my coat in the car."
I have to laugh a little over the personality differences here, and the changes that these missionaries make. One out in the field only six months, and one with barely two left.
Two years makes a big difference in so many ways.

When the tie came off.

Christmas Day with the Hess family

Elder Brendan has been spending time doing service for the actual Parks and Rec. Dept. in Indiana Brendan was a huge fan of Parks and Rec. the T.V. series, so this whole hook-up is what dreams are made of. At the close of our conversation he said "hey just by the way, me and Elder Taka might buy a pig and roast it haha the park people said we could use the park."
Internets, I have so many questions.
Stayed tuned.

The One Where Elder Brendan Makes the News

I think when you begin to be converted to the gospel there comes a point where you don't care anymore about letting your religious freak flag fly.
It is this point where you dare to be bold and let go of pride, and it is this point where missionary work happens.
I am seeing this change in Elder Brendan.
You might have noticed with my social media posts- this boy is SINGING.
If you remotely knew him before the mission, you would know that this it NOT something he does. It is not something our family does. None of us can carry a tune in the most well-crafted of buckets. I get that some people are born with certain talents, and this is not one of ours.
Elder Wadley has the same voice he has always had, but something in him now makes him want to use it, despite the lack of um, shall we say, natural talent.
Good for him!
I asked him what in the crap has happened, because HE IS SINGING and he said "mom, I have always sung, you just never listened."
I know he was joking, but it hit me a little.
I am not sure I have always listened.
I don't know that I have always seen the potential in my kids that the Lord does.
Another reason I think LDS missions are the best.
It opens them up to growth that the Lord wants for them- things that even parents can't see.
Here are his words from last week, and this week.

12/12

​hey mom this week has been really awesome we had a mission tour with elder Dyches of the seventy he is a really awesome guy and his wife is awesome as well it was a really neat experience basically all it was, was a zone conference but instead of the AP's and President giving the training's it was him, it was really cool i learned a lot from it the only issue was Elder Taka and I had to wake up at 4:30 am to get there that was pretty suck also I'm going to send you and father a package so be prepped for that. Elder Taka was sick on Thursday so we didn't get to go out which sucked because it snowed that day:( (sad that i didn't get to be in it not because of the snow itself) also the members of the greencastle branch are super awesome they are really kind to us as well as this week Elder Taka got a call from one of the Brazil elders investigators his name is Eric and he'll be baptizing him this Saturday so back to Terre Haute for the day anyways love you

12/19

hey mom this week has been pretty dope we have had a good time on Monday we went fishing but the pond was frozen over so we couldn't really fish ha ha then Tuesday hit and let Me tell you it was awesome it started snowing like mad it was sick so me and Elder Taka built a snowman and guess what it got in the newspaper which i now realize you have already seen so what the point of telling you because it seems you have already figured out it kinda makes me hesitant to tell you anything cause you already know soooo ill move on Thursday we did some splits I'm sure you already knew that though ;) Friday we had district meeting it was fun we after wards went on exchanges i was with an elder Peterson he is a super cool kid and we went and helped at the park then had our branch party then on Saturday we went to Terra Haute for a baptism it was super fun! it was a kid named Eric hes super nice and not much else happened there  also i told you not to show any one else that singing video so thanks for that as well as sing all the time i dont know why its such a big surprise

Here are the photos that made the newspaper! He and Elder Taka built an 8 foot snowman with the first snow fall of the season. It was in the yard of their apartment complex.

Elder Wadley's flappy arms

Screenshot of the newspaper article

This week he sent me this photo of Elder Taka with a towel that was frozen solid.

Every day I look at Google weather.
Usually Brendan is colder than me by a few degrees (Lehi 17, Indianapolis 12), and Elder Jayden, in Colombia is always at a balmy 80. :/
I asked him what things he is doing for service there, since he is far away from Klisse's farm now.

we volunteer at the park and I talked to the people about "parks and rec" so they told me that the producer came to Indiana's park meeting for a year then made the show and one guy said one of the episodes is something he did

Elder Brendan was a huge Parks and Rec (the TV series) fan.
Further confirmation that the Lord sent Brendan to his people.

We ended our conversation abruptly, and I realized that he never committed to a time when he will be Skyping us next week for Christmas.
So, I guess that will be a surprise.
Typical of him. :)

The One With an Astonishing Duet

It took me a while to figure out how to post videos, so excuse my late blog entry. I am old and technology is hard for me now.
This is a 3 minute clip. Stick around for the last minute. It is worth your time.
Elder Brendan sends me these occasional videos without any explanation. Let's be honest, I am really not sure how in the crap Elder Taka got Brendan to sing in the first place.
Changes are happening, people.
May I present Elder Taka and Elder Wadley and what I assume are tired player piano batteries.

The One With PIGSLAUGHTER

I love my son.
I really do, but this week he was frustrating.

well this week has been pretty stupid Monday we didn't have any miles so we stayed in green castle and didn't really do much on Tuesday we went on splits which were pretty fun i went with a guy in the branch bro crafton hes super sick on Wednesday we had district meeting as well as Elder Cruz went home he finished his mission dont worry his family came an picked him up for christmas Thursday we had another split so that was fun i went with bro Dickerson hes really cool as well Friday i cant remember what we did haha and on Saturday we helped skin pigs and then we chopped alot of fire wood also i could use some more AAA AA batteries and they dont make spitz in Indiana so christmas?

In case you didn't know, "super sick" means cool, not physically ill.

"Spitz" are flavored sunflower seeds. My boys are obsessed with them and I frequently mail them to Indiana and Colombia with the PROMISE that they don't walk around spitting shells out on the ground as they go. They have to keep it classy. Do I believe they keep this promise? I dunno.

You may have also noticed another phrase that needs further clarification "we helped skin pigs."
I asked about that one, and here is how that went.

Tell me more about skinning the pigs? What is that for? Was it gross? What did they do with them?

you skin the pigs so you can eat the pigs

Well I know that you idiot! Why so many? Were they just batch processing a bunch of them? Was it hard?

no it wasnt hard cause you need meat throughout the year

You're the worst.

thank you

He didn't elaborate further and I miss Klisse.
This kid does keep me in photos though, I'll give him that.

Skinning pigs with Elder Taka. So gross.

The new haircut looks "sick"

 I am quite skeptical that he cut all that firewood.