Letter - September 16, 2013

Hi Family! 

Thanks for telling me about DearElder.  Even though I receive them, (which I love, by the way) I don't really know how it works.  That's kind of how I feel about most things here at the MTC.  I know what the rules say, but I don't really know why or how things run.  I just try something, and if it doesn't fail, I do it again.  I've just kind of gotten used to this sense of not quite meeting lots of important, but vague, expectations, placed upon me by no one in particular, just the campus/"them."

Oh hey, last night, I conducted "A Child's Prayer" with Sister Dunn, in front of all the missionaries in Provo.  Yikes.  My district says I'm famous now, because I was on all the giant TV screens.  I met lots of people who said lots of nice things, like "That was really great conducting," or "You conduct feichang hao," or "Do you ever smile when you conduct?"  There's something to work on.

Wow, it sounds like the USU game was a ton of fun to watch.  Did it ever get boring, at upwards of 50 points, or was it just great the whole time?  Please keep me posted on the football scene.  I will be in Provo for the BYU-Utah game this week, but unable to watch it.  I can hear the fans, and the murmur of the announcements, but can't hear the score.  I think this is probably going to kill Qiu Zhanglao (Elder Fletcher, if I hadn't already said that) because he can count on one hand the number of BYU home games he's missed since he was 10.  He has always had season tickets, so this is hard.  He's a trooper, though.

I hope bottling is going well - I hope you have enough food, too.  I'm sure you do, but not being at home, I have no feel for how things are actually going, or for what you're excited for or concerned about.  I don't even know why the peach tree had problems, but it sounds like you still bottled a lot of miracle peaches.

I hope the Kitchens and Sister Bodrero are okay.  I was really sad to hear about them this week.  I will pray for them.  I will also keep Grandmas and Grandpas in my prayers.  I thank them for their letters and wish them the best health and recovery.

Good luck to everybody: to Lauren with death by marching band week, to Noelle with death by school -- all the time, to Erin with still-new middle school, and to Evan with...whatever his death is by lately.  I feel a little like I don't really know how everyone's life is going right now.  I can only picture the family sitting around the house (except for Mom, with a thousand errands/PTA meetings) wondering why nothing is happening. (Okay, that sounds silly, but that's my imagination, because I'm not there witnessing what's happening, so I just assume nothing is happening.)  If Noelle or Lauren or Erin or Evan have any time, it would be lots of fun to get a DearElder from them, telling me what they see happening.

Thanks to everyone for your love and your letters.  I love all of you so much!

Love,

Brennan

Provo Temple

Met Elder Michael Rush

I met Sister Petersen and Elder Fronk at the same time.  When we take pictures here, we can only stand next to each other, and we look kind of stiff.  Oh well.  It's better in real life, when we're not being photographed.

Elders (including elder Michael Ensign) from one now-departed district.  I love these guys.

Also today's morning sky.  You probably can't grasp just how beautiful it was, from this picture.