The One With a Weird Twist

I have a couple of weeks worth of catching up to do here on the blog.

Elder Jayden returned home from his mission in Colombia and his mission homecoming was on the 12th, Elder Brendan's birthday.
I was emotionally raw.
Excited and nervous about welcoming one son home, but heavy-hearted, and missing so much the birthday boy who is still absent from our home.

Elder Wadley, Elder Calderwood

I prayed so hard that the baptism that was lined up would go through. (It did.)
I thought that maybe that would ease the crappiness of his first birthday away from home.
What better way for a missionary to celebrate a birthday!
That and a lot of the sweet members of his ward came through and made him a cake, and lined up a couple of nice dinner appointments. I am always a little weepy at the kindness of strangers to me- who love my son.

So, here is a quick re-cap of the highlights of the past couple of weeks in Indiana.

• "my bday was just as meh as they always are haha"
• "btw im getting transferred im going to whiteriver- im super pumped"
• He took a p-day field trip to a comic book museum that was "super sick" sent us pictures of gobbledy-gook like Tony Stark's artificial heart thingie and Captain America's shield. I think inside every man is a 12 year old boy.
• From a member of his ward "your son bore his testimony today in priesthood, and it was so touching." Things a mom likes to hear.
• His new apartment had bedbugs. He said it was nasty. They had to deep clean, spray alcohol where you could see them, and then bomb the apartment (with pesticide). He said he had some bites and to "be grateful we don't have them in Utah."

And the big surprise?

• With this last transfer, Elder Wadley is now one of the Spanish speaking Elders. 

Yup.
Almost eight months out, and learning to speak Spanish.
I am not sure exactly how this came about. His current branch is completely Spanish speaking. When I asked about his investigators, he said he wasn't sure how it was going, because he couldn't really understand them.
His companion is teaching him the language, and he is trying his hardest to pick it up.
I am praying for a gift-of-tongues-no-more-bugs miracle for him.

The One With a Grinnypig

I hope you are sitting down. This week I got a very suspicious missionary-ish email from Elder Brendan. He sounds like a real missionary. The smart aleck tour may be winding up, as he buckles down and engages in the work? Maybe? I was still in bed when the email came in, and a little sleepy, but I dunno? He sounds really good!
See what you think:

hey mom this week has been good yes the baptism is still on for
saturday this we we had some thing pretty cool happen two weeks ago we
met this guy tracting his name is michael hes a really awesome guy and
has a lot of questions and weve been teaching him and we invited him
to church but he wasnt sure if he could make it due to his work
schedule well the other day some of the members here went into his
work and some how it came up that they were Mormons and michael said
he had been studying with us so they invited him to church as well as
offered him a ride and they said they could get him to work on time
and so he was able to come! it was rally exciting and just an awesome
experience! so that happened other then that not much i already got
both packages you sent wasnt sure if i could open them

I had to double check that this email was really from him.
Then I got the pictures.
Yeah, it's him.

Double Barrel Selfies

 

The One With Dope Stuff

It was a good week in Elkhart. And I am anticipating an even better week this week! Exciting stuff coming!
Here is Elder Wadley's e-mail this week:

well this week has been pretty awesome for me we saw some dope stuff but other then that... jk I'll tell you.

This week our investigator Dale said he was ready to get baptized and so hes getting baptized on the 11th and confirmed on the 12th so thats awesome we also went on splits with the Spanish Elders and found some pretty awesome people! we have appointments set up for the rest of the week its awesome also we were only expecting Dale at church we had three other people show up! super awesome also a member in the ward gave us some legos!! also its snowed a ton this week!! which has been amazing

This kid does not mind cold weather. He was the idiot boy scout that never wore a coat on winter camp-outs. When he got his call to Indiana, I immediately thought about how cold it gets there- that really bitter/damp cold from the humidity. Wouldn't you know- this has been a warm year for Indiana. While we were suffering freezing temperatures in Utah, Indiana was at a balmy 65 degrees!
It looks like winter has finally come to Indiana this week.

Lego masterpieces.

He is still six years old inside.

Elder Brendan celebrates his 19th birthday on February 12th. This is the same day he will confirm their investigator, Dale as a member of the church. I thought that was kind-of an awesome birthday gift, for a Sunday birthday on a mission. I am so happy for him, and will be thinking of this happy thought while I am also missing him being away from home on the day of his birth.
Missionary birthdays are hard on a mom.
It is a day of intense missing them.

They went bowling as a p-day activity. Elder Wadley looks pretty happy! I think he just might be in his element here, a little work/family biz throwback. He usually throws an unexplained random photo in his weekly e-mails. Sometimes I ask about them, and other times I don't notice or forget to ask the story to go with it. Not sure what is going on here.

I don't know if he came in on this bus, or if he is boarding.
Probably both.
Or maybe he is the driver.