A faithful and successful 2 year service in the name of Jesus Christ. Certificate signed by his mission president. A letter full of accolades about his faithful service. And a well-worn missionary handbook with his two name tags.
The "welcoming party"...Dad, Mom, Sis, Elder Whitaker, our dear friend (and photographer of the event), Terri Grice and her son Jackson. Yay!!!
We finally meet again!
The Meridian Temple as we drove by to go to the Boise Temple. The Meridian Temple is under construction.
Shoveling snow off Hermana Ochoa's roof.
Our frozen sink.
TONS of snow haha we shoveled some paths to the neighbors car for them. We probably have anywhere between 10-14 inches of snow on the ground
yay snow!
All the spanish missionaries and los hermanos Marin our WML and Wife
this is how cold it was on the way to the library this morning (12/26/2016)
75 degrees too cold!
Elder Whitaker said, "yay snow" Mom says, "yikes...I'm not sure I like the perspective from which this picture was taken"
Elder Whitaker and other missionaries hiking at Jump Creek
A view at Jump Creek
"What you think is a normal fan..."
"...is actually my egg beater so that I can make egg nog."
holding the fan/egg beater over the bowl of eggs to whip them until foamy
Elder Alba (pictured, and not related to who you are thinking of ;) haha) brought this to zone meeting haha so I had to take a picture
Caldwell is SUPER supporting the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative! haha
Did you know that Nesse breathes fire?
All of the Spanish speaking missionaries in the zone. They all attend the Spanish Ward together.
Elder Whitaker and Elder Koch on Thanksgiving Day. (fresh haircuts too)
We got a quart of ice cream and i just cut out a quarter of it. :) It was good. :)
After all that we had drunk, what some other elders had already taken, and counting all this it was about 20 gallons
The jacket I got.
In the beginning there were few...
...but they grew. We couldn't open the back. haha
When you dont want your chickens to get away while your at work, just stick all 15 of them into a hamster cage :) haha
Zone leaders, Elder Whitaker and Elder Koch showing how to ruin member trust for the zone vision. (Don't know exactly what that means, but I think this is an object lesson of sorts)
We culture swapped for the day, Elder Rodriguez has a cinnamon roll with a mug of milk, and I am eating an elote with Tapatío (Corn on the cob usually with sour cream, cheese, lime, and a chili powder or sauce)
This is my companion, Elder Koch. We ate a really big burger and lots of tots and fries. haha
Elder Pettijohn, and all the goatheads stuck in the tire after driving down a driveway.
goatheads are the devil's carpet. they have 2 large spikes and 2 small spikes and a spiny ridge on it. it is shaped like.. well... a goat's head.
This cat was livin it up on a sunny afternoon! haha
We left a message for a family that needed to come to church but the mom wasn't home right then.
This is the old district. Elders: Rogers, Ward, Bushell, Goodsell, Pettijohn, and Rodriguez, and in front Elders: Whitaker, and Anien
Its not as well done as Elder Bouchillon's picture, but thats us :)
FISHING!! YAY!!
My root beer float game is strong. ;)
We found some OVERALLS! Now we can do more service for people!
Heres my chocolate covered cherry halves project. turned out pretty tasty :)
Elder Smithson and the fish he caught the morning he left for home!
we flew kites on P day! thats Elder Stucki
Lupe got frustrated and so he started crying on Elder Smithson's arm. It was so funny!! haha
We tied some cans to the back of the sisters car for April fools, we thought we were clever :)
"Oh Yeah!" (before he even left home he was so excited at the prospect of driving a truck in rural Idaho--his wish came true)
Elder Santos and BIG kitty!
Elder Bushell and Elder Whitaker got to ride bikes!
Vacuum bags are where it's at!
Dont worry they weren't missionaries haha. But look, there were pioneers!
The Assistants to the Presidents (AP's) have cool posters in their apt.
What time is it? A freckle past a hair!
Boise, Idaho temple
wait for it....(look right for next pic)
South Stake
the cliff
President Cannon and his wife with me at the Boise, Idaho temple. We get a temple trip at our "half-way" mark.
yepp...haha they said it not me ;) haha also applicable to seminary?? just kidding mom :)
This is also part of South Stake. We are on the edge of a cliff.
the spot where the selfie was taken
Rosa's baptism in Nyssa Oregon ( my old area). Also pictured are my mission President and his wife, the spanish missionaries for Nyssa, including my old companion Elder Espinoza and my current companion Elder Santos.
one of our dinner appointment's no soliciting sign...haha
Christmas lights at a less-active member's house
missionary snowman!
the things people do to lash out at mormons...LOL (it's a bottle of whiskey sitting on the door handle of the church)
locked out of the apt...barefoot. yeah...cold!
Christmas Skype! He saw me take the picture and had to get goofy on me. So Brendan! Love and miss that boy, but he's so happy!
Nelson's baptism day!!! These are mostly all the Elders who taught Nelson.
The Romans family. They had us over after Nelson's baptism.
me and my companion, Elder Espinoza, at a member of the stake presidencies house for Thanksgiving dinner
Izzy on her baptism day.
:D :D
Izzy's current missionaries. Sis Bertolino (L) and Sis Stadler (R)
Elder Aguirre, Elder Whitaker and Elder Adams had dinner with this nice family on 10/25/15. Then, the mom was so kind to text this photo to us (Brendan's family.)
Elder Adams sitting in one of the great cars
the main garage (of a member's where we had dinner)
this is fog yesterday morn (10-17-15), not much difference from the smoke (see pic beside) except the smell
beautiful cars
this is the smoky view from the fires this summer (our backyard)
yo y mis dos hijos (me and my two "sons"--mission speak for "trainees") Elder Gonzalez, Elder Whitaker, Elder Adams
My really bad picture of the eclipse last night, 9-27-15 (a tree was in the way)
that is what an onion harvester looks like. there is a big dump truck basically that will drive next to it underneath that boom arm.
two cute puppies I got to hold
All the new missionaries, mine is the third from the left back row (he isn't white)
Congratulations Sis, you live in the middle-of-nowhere, Oregon!!
we were doing weekly planning when suddenly a wild rattata appeared! it only took us like ten minutes of running around to get him!
(and dont worry dad i washed my hands a bunch right after, no Black Plague for me! )
so true haha
piñata for the win
the sky in Nampa (while there on exchanges) from fires in the area.
normally how it looks from our house
I didn't know which speed was really legal
how it looked from our house with the fires
some legit pinball!
Beautiful view from a member's driveway.
This little buddy was at an investigators house so we put him in a cage to be taken somewhere else
this is my companion elder Kang
The infamous black box. He has been pretty quiet for me which is really good :)
Cutest baby horse ever!!! it is probably like a few days old or something in this picture cause it wasnt there a few days before and then it was there!!
DISHWASHER!!
this was a momma and her three babies right outside of a family that we visit. pretty cute
Heres a better picture of him haha
Our next door NAYbor ;)
WOW it is so different being a missionary in a branch. everything depends on us basically haha and the english ward didnt leave us any bread so I had to go home to get mine. It was delicious :)
I thought someone killed it, i was so mad!! haha then it was just sleeping :)
he's been wanting to kill me for a while ;)
We have an AWESOME less active that we visited that got us some free stuff this weekend, so yeah!
This buddy is not one of the babies living in our apartment, but its the same type of bird and about the same age I imagine. he fell out of the nest though cause he couldn't fly.... :(
my designer artwork from cousin Sophie :)
Yay for Nampa!!! :D
Preparing "Debra" for burial
There are so many ducks here, but this is the first hate crime against Aflack that I have seen
We made these tasty Hawiian treats que se llama Musubi (or something like unto it) with seaweed paper, fried SPAM, and rice
we got to see a rainbow after getting rained on
This is what it looks like when your not in the city! :D
My companion, Elder Halverson!
we got attacked by this vicious monster during weekly planning!
My definition of Cajun Seafood ;) (on a budget)
or it looks like this when the fields have crops growing :) (the mountains kinda look green in this pic...I promise they aren't haha)
we found a clown car and so of course because im such a clown i took a picture ;)
And lake lowell is in our area and we went to see it before one of our dinner appointments
This just about describes the state the house was in. haha this was underneath the drawer in the fridge after we pulled it out but its all clean now!!
District 9A :,( and us three elders with David and Carolina Marin (the
ones not dressed like missionaries ;)
My trio and two Hermanas from our district, and Hermano Sanchez in the suit (one of our teachers and a great friend)
The whole new zone, well minus 9A now.
everyone with their bowls of cereal :)
study time is almost as hard as devotionals to stay awake haha
The Angel Moroni holding the plates (statue atop the temple)
The Mexico City Temple
Featured left to right (not including the big face) Elder Ockey (who is related to us) Elder Peters mi novio and Elder Iongi a really great missionary and friend
Elder Rice (Elder Arroz) taking a power nap
Then we just stuck the hearts on the classroom doors they had the elders name and "Te Amamos -Elders de 9b" (our district)
Us making our valentines day cards for the elders and male teachers in the zone (we left the hermanas high and dry :) )
Elder Banks, me, Elder Thompson, and Elder Lambson at 3am to accompany Elder Thompson to the doors of the MTC to catch his flight.
REALLY freaking loud parrots EVERYWHERE!
Hermana webb (pictured) was getting help with her spanish by having to translate sentences, and her companion is madly in love with our night teacher and so the Elder helping her wrote these sentences to translate, it was ridiculous ;)
Beautiful sunrises and sunsets all the time, this is a sunset :)
This is what most people do during our devotionals here, but I take notes :) Aren't I so good? ;) ps there are like 4 people sleeping in this pic.
Some of the other Elders in the casa have this awesome mini ping pong set that is perfect for the table in the casa.
This is the outside of our Casa, with Elder Banks. We have a nice putrid yellow color :)
This is our living room, the seating is pretty comfy, and its a good place to write in my journal.
Heres our room, I have the top bunk directly in front of the door, and no one is below me.
Here is a sunrise.
Elder Lambson conked out while reading.
Us elders held three letters for the Hermanas ransom, demanding 20 pesos per letter, and they got SOO mad haha. It was hilarious and we just had fun and then gave them their letters :)
This is looking to the left of our front door as you walk in; living room
to left around the wall and the kitchen is through the wall straight ahead.
Here is the kitchen.
Here's the laundry room, with Elder Lambson.
This is our backyard with promised Wall and Ghetto that is the city of Mecico City.
The seating is comfy enough to sleep on ;) haha
Our new Zone (because some were done training and left for their own mission area).
My zone on the grounds of the CCM.
My zone goofing around in the classroom.
Goofing off again.
My district plus the zone leaders in front of the CCM (or training center). Elder Naea (zone leader), Elder Hendrix, Me, Elder Banks, Elder Whillhite (zone leader), and Elder Lambson in the back. Hermanas Hawn, Webb, Hanson and Short in front.
The sister missionaries in our district. They are awesome.
The Elders in our district with me as District Leader.
The four missionaries from my district that will be going to Nampa Idaho together. Hermana Webb, Hermana Hawn, Elder Hendrix, and me.
My district with zone leaders in the classroom.
Loosening up...
Elder Naea (zone leader) and Elder Hendrix (at the piano).
Other Elder's in my zone.
The view from my room.
A fantastic statue you can see from my classroom!
The hallway that my class is on.
My bed.
Our laundry room. It's nice.
See ya in 2 years! I'm off.
Well, I'm finally here at the airport ready to leave!
3 bags of "trash" from my room and 3 suitcases of "stuff" for my mission. I'm outa here!
Goodbye Dad.
Goodbye Morgan. You be good for Mom and Dad.
Goodbye Mom.
Brendan and Morgan. 1/21/15
Brendan and President Owen after being set apart as a full time proselyting missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 1/20/15