Some Photos

Hey Mom,

Sorry about not telling you our p-day is different again this week. I didn't hear until about Sunday either.

We had a harder week, and my companion is getting pretty trunky. But hey, we've been tracting a ton this week, and we went out to meet some new people in the branch last night with a member of the stake presidency. It's incredible, his granddaughter is staying with them, he's in the stake presidency, the stake office is 100 miles away, and up until this week he was working full time! I kind of laugh when other people tell us they are "too busy" to talk to their friends.

It's so cool to hear of all the times you and the family are talking to the people you meet about the gospel. It's proof that no matter how busy life is, or how much you have going on, or how uncomfortable a situation is, we're all still able to share the gospel. Thanks so much for your example!

I love you guys! Have a great week! Thanks a ton for all that you do, you really are a great example!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey Mom,

Things are really going great here! We've had a busy week, and the work is just crazy. I'm sorry you didn't get my email last week. The computer ate it when I tried to send it. It happened to President Murray's email too, darn it. Thank you so much for all that you have done. Thanks as well for the money! I am very excited to talk to you around Christmas! Since it's not over a weekend, and my phone card is dead, you will need to call our house phone. If you could, it would be best to call when it is early morning here, because we'll be spending most of the day in Salisbury, MD with some other missionaries. I don't know how far apart we are, but any time after 6:30 am here would be just fine. I'll be wide awake.

Being a District Leader is fun, but it's a lot harder. I have to do a role-play for a zone conference this next week, and I'm a little stressed, but it should be very good. Tell the kids I love them! Tell them to keep up the good work, and everything will work out just great! I love you guys. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey Family,

Things are going great with the work here in Cambridge! It's a great little town, and we've pretty much knocked every door in this city in the last seven days!  We did a lot of tracting this week, and even though we got into a lot of houses, we didn't' meet anyone that was willing to keep commitments. They mostly were people who thought they were pretty skilled with the Bible and wanted to see if they could prove the Mormons wrong. There weren't too many houses we spent much time in this week. Last night we were tracting, and we met a Puerto-rican lady named Mari. She spoke a little English, but not much. We offered to stop back when her husband was home. We came back 30 minutes later, and we met her husband. He said his life was pretty rough right now, probably because he was not actively going to church. We taught them and they asked if they would be allowed to come to church with us. We assured them that they were welcome, and they were excited!

Things are really going well here. Hopefully, we are able to dodge this flu bug that's going around.
I love you guys! Have a great week! I won't be able to email you next week, but I still have an IN postage stamp. We'll see if I can't get a letter mailed to you. It may take a week to get there, but hopefully it will work out.  Thanks again for everything! I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,



I'm sorry it's Wednesday again and I'm writing you all. We have a surprise meeting tomorrow, and p-day got changed again. Things are going great here, and we have had some really great experiences.

One that was really funny was last week we found ELEVEN new people to teach, and in one day ten of them cancelled, and one disappeared. We tracted a lot after that. We were out tracting, and it was towards the end of a long day. We had just been yelled at by a very angry man from another church, and he was not happy with the whole "modern revelation" thing. He wouldn't even pray with us because "Jesus said not to associate with devils." We left and tracted for most of the remaining night. Then we met a VERY interesting person. A man came to the door dressed like a woman with long hair, about 6'6" tall; 'her' frame filled the door, and it was clear their voice had been unnaturally altered. We asked to share the gospel with 'her', but she refused, and said she "was a very happy man...woman." We said goodbye, and we left.

After that, we had an appointment with a couple we've been teaching for a while. They held their appointment, and they are very excited to be baptized on the 7th of December! After they are, their son, who lives in the same home, will follow shortly thereafter. Missionary work is full of trials, but they are only for the purpose of "tasting the bitter, so we could taste the sweet." I don't know if anything on earth can compare to the experiences you have doing missionary work.  I know this church is true. If it wasn't, the great joy as well as the intense trials we experience wouldn't even come our way. Missionary work would be...blah. I'm glad we get to see the contrast.  I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey everyone!

We had a really great week, and we were able to set two more baptismal dates with people for December 7. I hope those will be two really big weeks! We are looking forward to it. Something we have found that really helps to strengthen less-actives is to take them teaching with the missionaries or just home-teaching at all. We are doing that with a man here, and before each appointment, he studies PMG so he can teach! It sure is a lot of work. In the last two years, the PPM has baptized 2,500 converts, and you can bet there are a LOT of Less-Active members. Our efforts now are mainly going back and reactivating those who have strayed. It's not easy to keep things strong.

Since p-day is on Thanksgiving, I don't know if we'll be able to email that day, just a heads up.

Thanks again! I love you guys! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey everyone,

We had a party at the branch building last night, and two of our investigators came. We set a date with one of them to be baptized on November 9, but then she got cold feet and her mom (a recent convert) told her to push it off. Bummer. It's so important that whenever someone is wavering or not sure, that we strengthen them and stay the course. We reassured her, and she accepted a date to be baptized on November 30!  That will be pretty exciting! You guys are really great, and you are some incredible missionaries!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey Family!

It sounds like you are doing some great missionary work over there in the branch! What is the name of the woman you are working with? It sounds like she really is a great lady! Has she been to church with you yet? It's so cool when they come to church for the first time. That is one thing I like more in a small branch. It's WAY more personal when a new face steps in. The people here seem to care a lot about each other.

I've been reading the New Testament for the last 4 weeks, and I'm in Revelation, reading about the churches of Christ right before the apostasy. It's incredible because it talks about the same things we see today in visiting these other churches and talking with the pastors.

We got into a house on Saturday night, at about 8:00. We talked to a pastor, named Alma, and her husband, a deacon at another church. They started off really friendly, just as usual, and as we went on to teach them about the prophets, and Jesus' church, it started to hit home. We explained the apostasy, and it really pricked the husband. He got a little red, and started yelling about all the miracles he had seen in other churches. Then he looked at me, and asked, "are you two kids telling me, that my wife, myself, our family, and all these other preachers out there teaching the word, ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE? IN THE WRONG CHURCH???  He just looked my companion, and my companion just looked at me. Then the husband and his wife both looked at me. I said a silent prayer. then I told them how Jesus Christ replied to Joseph Smith's question, saying "[the churches] were all wrong. they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." We sat and looked at them for what seemed like an hour, and then, they softened up. We invited them to pray about it, and they agreed. They understood. It was really a good lesson, and the power of God was in those words from Joseph Smith.

There are some cases where, because Christ said something, we don't have to. I'm so glad we have the words of the prophets to rely on. It makes so much more sense when we do that. This really is the true church, and because we know that, it's up to all of us to really get the word out to the world! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey Mom and Family,

We are having kind of a hard time here in the branch. There really are not many people in the branch, and even fewer can or do fulfill leadership or fellow shipping roles. We are really looking for people who can build the kingdom here with minimal support and assistance from the church. It's not easy, but we are finding some really great people that will be investigating the church for quite some time before they decide to get baptized. That's all right though, I guess Brigham Young was the same kind of guy.

I forgot to tell you a funny story.  A little bit ago, at the Broomall, PA chapel, I saw a familiar face. Sam Newell, (Sarah Kapp's brother), was a good friend of mine in high school. He was in Philly selling security systems for the summer! He was at the stake offices getting his recommend to get married this last month! That was fun to see a familiar face.

I really love you! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,

Conference was really something, wasn't it? The church had bought a plot of land in central Philadelphia about a year ago right  next to all of the sky scrapers. There are pictures and designs of the "chapel" they were building there, hanging up all around the stake. But try as we might, no body could see the reason for putting a chapel there. There wouldn't even be a unit to use it really. Off and on we had suspicions the church was planning on using the land for something else, so we'll see if that's what they do here pretty soon. That will be so exciting to have a temple in Philly! In the city, there is so much depression and drugs and bad things going on, it weighs down on you after a little while. We could really only feel peaceful and not-stressed-out in the church building. Having a temple in Philly will do wonders for the atmosphere in that place. Rome will be interesting too, won't it?

Conference was great, and tomorrow Elder Bruce Hafen of the Seventy is coming to visit the mission and talk with us. That will be exciting! We have to drive about 3-4 hours tonight to go up to Wilmington, Delaware and then up to Philadelphia. It will be a long drive through a bunch of soybean fields and corn, but that's cool.

We had a great week. We found a street on Monday night where we were able to talk with 3 people. They all set up return appointments with their families! It was great and God is being so good to us down here on the Eastern Shore. If you want to see the area we live in, we are in an apartment complex at Crusader Road and Roslyn Street in Cambridge, MD. It's a great place, and now that it's cooler, we don't have to worry about all the CRAZY HUGE bugs they have over here. Good grief! I've never seen so many huge bees and spiders in my life! It's nice to have them gone!

Thanks so much for all your help. You guys are really great, and you've done so much to teach me and help me through this far! I love you tons!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey Everyone,

This week we spent a lot of time tracting, just knocking doors in the inner city parts of our area, talking with everybody. Ashley's birthday was probably the craziest day of my mission yet. We were on exchanges with one of our zone leaders, so it was me and him. We were tracting, and a guy runs out of his house at us, and immediately accuses us of being an anti-Christ! We told him to cool it down, and we'll talk. He started telling us we were a false church because we worship on Saturdays, we have multiple wives, we don't believe in Jesus, and we don't read the Bible. yeeaahh...right. So we asked how much he had done his homework, and he insisted he had studied us for years. He insisted also that he come tracting with us, so he can tell everybody what he  told us. We changed the subject, and he went away after that. But wow, he wasn't too happy with the Mormons.  

Then we knocked on someones door, and they had a Book of Mormon sitting on their shelf! We taught her, and she's excited for us to stop back! What a day! Things are going great here, and the work is moving forward! Thanks so much for all that you do!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hi Everyone,

I got an email from Ryan last week, and it sounds like he is doing really well, just working a lot, swimming a lot, and going to different orientation classes. It seems like yesterday that I was doing that stuff!

We had a great week! We had a baptism in the Cambridge branch on Sunday! His name was James, and he really is a great guy. He's doing so well, and he is almost through 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon! It was so much fun. Keep us in your prayers still,  though. We are still trying to help some other people see a need to follow in his footsteps!

Things have been going crazy here!  I love you tons! Thanks for all your help! You guys really are great!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,

It feels like I'm serving a totally new mission down here than what was going on in Philadelphia! Last week there were a lot of hurricanes and storms running around the ocean, and everybody was worried because there was a HUGE storm coming our way. We were out tracting that day, and everybody was telling us to get off the streets for when the storm comes. We kept tracting, and it started to rain. It came down pretty hard, but there wasn't really any wind. It was a lot like one of those good rainstorms we'd get in Boise. That was it! We thought it was supposed to be something huge, but the 'hurricane' turned out to be kind of a flop.

We are teaching some great people right now, and the work is really going great here! We've been tracting a lot, even more than when I was closer to Philly! It's a great area, and everything is just a little different.

We ate crab legs the other day because one of our investigators gave us a bag of them. It was pretty fun trying to learn how to eat those things. I guess they are pretty inexpensive over here in Maryland.
I checked my account and grandma and grandpa did deposit the money. Thanks so much for your help! That will be a huge blessing! Keep us in your prayers! I love you tons!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey there family,

Transfers just came in on Tuesday, and I'm definitely not in Philadelphia anymore. Right now we are in a place called Cambridge, Maryland, 2 hours south of Philadelphia. We have an apartment 200m from the banks of the Chop Tank River and Chesapeake Bay! It's really cool to see that every morning. It looks like the Oregon coast with all the sailboats out there.

The talks in sacrament meeting went very well! The ward is really excited to do missionary work, and the ward made a great ward mission plan. It's a shame I wasn't there to see the fruits of all that work just yet. Cambridge is doing very well. The area we are working in is broken up by the river, so it's over an hour drive to many of the members' homes, and many of them live in a swamp, so we have to walk out to teach them in our jeans. It's a really crazy area, especially since I've been in the concrete jungle for pretty much the last year of my mission. We have a branch, with a kind of strange building we meet in. It's a 'phase II' church building, like the one we had in Meridian, but cut in half. Half the building is gone, and the gym and chapel are the same one room! It's pretty strange. I've heard the branch here is great, and it will be fun to work with them. Hopefully, we will have a baptism here in the next 3 or 4  weeks, so keep us in your prayers! I love you all, and thank you so much for all that you have done, and especially for sending that money! That's really a huge help!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,

Transfer calls are in a couple days, so we don't know if i'll be here in Broomall for another 3 months or 3 days. We have to give a talk this Sunday about member missionary work, so hopefully it will go well. I will use some of the stories you've told me about the work you guys are doing. You are a great example to the world of member missionaries.

It's been a crazy week here too. We've been tracting 9-11 hours a day, just trying to find people for the members to come teaching to, but it's been a struggle. Keep us in your prayers. I helps so much! I love you guys!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

PS-as far as money goes, I've been doing alright. My account is at about $10.00, so I'm not pushing my luck with using it right now. I might need to buy one more pair of nice shoes before the end of the year. My last few walking(+running) areas have really torn these ones up. Everything else is holding up very well, and I am doing okay with the money we receive each month for food, etc. Thanks so much for your help! I love you tons!

Dear Mom,

Things in the mission are going great. I'm really learning a lot lately. It always hurts when you realize you're not as strong as you thought you were, (physically or otherwise), but it always comes attached to a great learning experience.  I am so thankful you guys are being exposed to missionary opportunities over there. It's so important. I realized these two years are, amongst other things, training so I can be a member missionary for the rest of my life. It's pretty cool how that works!
I love you guys, and I am grateful for all that you are doing to help! Thanks a ton!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,

From what Mom said, it's such a great story about Abraham and Isaac. I read it just a little while ago too. I thought about something when I read your letter. As I read about Abraham, I realized that Abraham was a prophet, and he probably realized that to sacrifice his son would be for a 'similitude of Christ'; A sacrifice followed by a MUCH greater miracle that would bless generations. Even though he probably knew things would work out somehow, I can't imagine what kind of faith that must have taken. What you said is so true, that because of his obedience, everything worked out. I really love that story.

I started the Book of Mormon again 1 and 1/2 months ago, and I'm just finishing up Alma. It's so interesting to read it quick enough to get the story line put together. Before when I read it, I didn't read it fast enough to see how any of the history actually fit together, and it almost seemed like just a collection of gospel stories, instead of a functional history of an actual people. It makes so much more sense this way, and I have had some pretty great insights from reading this time around. That book is really something, isn't it?

We went tracting with a couple of priest-age young men this week, and when we were out tracting in a CRAZY thunderstorm, we met a lady named Jen. She said she was looking for a church that 'wasn't baptist or any denomination', but that 'believed and followed the prophets'. WOW!! We taught her and revisited her yesterday! She's doing great! She has a couple kids in town, and she is excited to get answers to her prayers! It's so great to see people actually seeking the gospel! God really is preparing the hearts of those around us.

We have been working a lot with ward members here, trying to help them find people we can teach WITH them, but it hasn't yielded much fruit yet. Many people think they are too busy (or too weird, as Mormons)  to talk to those around them, and it's hard to break through that shell sometimes. We are trying to help them understand that they don't have to dedicate a 'chunk' of their busy lives to full-time missionary work, but just tilt all their daily work, a little bit, into sharing the gospel with others. Talk about it at work, or at a restaurant, on the train. just to strike up a conversation while you are doing things you normally do anyway. It takes no extra time, but we can impact countless others as God justifies our efforts, and puts us in contact with those ready for the gospel. It sounds like you guys are trying it out. Keep up the good work. You're a great example to the member missionary work! I love you!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey Mom and Dad,

Just wanted to say hi! That's really cool dad got a blackberry! Those things are everywhere out here! I had never seen them before in Philly, but everyone in this ward has one.

The work is going well here in the ward. The bishop is a great guy, and he is really working hard to get the ward to start finding people to teach. It's so critical in areas like this one. Areas where the people we tract into aren't exactly "wanting" in their lives. They are pretty well off, and many don't even see a need for religion. We can't have much of an effect on the people without the members breaking down some of those barriers. It's so important to begin doing member missionary work. It's really something we've been focusing on a lot, and it works. There's a guy referred to us from a member, and he's visiting Provo with a friend next week. We're excited for him to go and learn a little more about the church over there. Things are going great here, and keep us in your prayers!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

 

Hello family,

This was quite the week. We had a lot of people fall out for church on Sunday, and that was kind of a downer. Earlier this week, we went over to visit Jim and his wife, with his home teacher. Jim answered the door, and he was scared to even talk to us with his wife home. We don't know what happened, but he's really not happy with us teaching him anymore; not much we can do about that, either. Just keep Jim in your prayers. That night we prayed for a miracle. We had nobody to teach, all of them had fallen out. We really needed somebody to start teaching.

The next time we went tracting we found an African woman named Zailag. We taught her about Joseph Smith, and it made perfect sense to her! She's excited to come to church. We got a call this morning, too, about a man that is being taught up in N. Philly by the Elders Quorum President up there. He lives in our area and has been taught by the Doylestown missionaries. We have a chance to go help him move on Saturday, which is a real miracle. It is really cool to see these little answers to prayers that happen. The mission is going really well, and I am excited to go see this guy on Saturday!

Next week we have a special zone conference on Thursday, so our p-day is on Wednesday that week only. I love you guys, and good luck to Ryan!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey there,

The Spanish branch in our area has grown a lot in the past few months. It's almost doubled in how many people show up. It was interesting when the missionaries there started to focus on reactivating priesthood holders, how the priesthood holders went on to help build the kingdom in their own lives, and the branch really took off!

The mission has changed a lot recently. With President Fillmore, we had a chance to go out and tract for 5-9 hours, every day. That was it. Find. Teach. Hopefully baptize. But missionary work here has changed a little bit. I'm having a chance to learn to do something I am not very used to.
In school, I feel like I understood most of the stuff pretty well. Well enough to do everything on paper and back some of it up with actual common sense. At work, I could sit and dig trenches for hours without giving it much thought, just getting it done. The mission is forcing me to learn something new; imagine that.  That is, working SMARTER. It's not something I'm too good at, but it's making me think that's something God wants me to learn. It's funny how that kind of thing works.

We had a pretty great week this week. The ward has really opened up to us. The bishop said he was willing to make up a "fake meeting" on a Sunday night, just to help one of our investigators get to know the ward, because she works on Sunday. The whole leadership is trying to help us to help Jim, too. The auxiliary leaders went to a concert this week in Rosetree Park, and Jim and his family went along with the party. It's so great to see them working together, and missionary work goes so much smoother that way. Please continue to keep Jim, Nancy, and Mimi in your prayers. The work here is doing wonderful, and keep up the good work over there! I love you!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Mom,

Thanks so much for your help with the ticket. It was a road we had biked 1,000 times before, and my first time driving it I didn't recognize the 'no left turn' sign. It was a stupid mistake, but we were safe. Thanks a bunch for that, though.

Jim's wife got home from Chile on Monday, so we are all (the ward, ward mission, and missionaries) hoping everything works out well with her! Keep Jim in your prayers still!

The quote you gave me really is true. when we live to have "hope for a better world" beyond this one, everything in this life seems brighter too. There's just so much that comes from a good life here on earth. It goes by fast, as does the mission. I woke up the other day and realized it was my 17 month mark! It FLIES by!

My companion got poison ivy last week, and the swelling is just beginning to go down in his face. It was pretty hard for him, and it freaked a lot of people out at their doors, but he is getting better now.

Things here are going really great, and the ward here in Broomall is doing fantastic! There's a family here with a son serving in Boise; Elder Carl Meaders. I thought that was pretty funny, he just got transferred to Melba, ID.  Quite a different mission area, huh?

I love you guys, thank you so much for all your help. You guys are absolutely wonderful, and I love you so much!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey there mom and dad,

Things are really going great here in the mission! We just changed a couple things in the mission. P-day is now on Thursdays, so sorry about not getting an email to you on Monday. That was my fault. From now on, I will  only have a shot to use the computer on Thursday mornings. We also moved apartments, from Chester to Media, PA. It's a really nice place, and it's a lot quieter than the last apartment. Last night was the first in a long time that I didn't hear all kinds of noise outside. We are in a lot better location now, and I like it a lot.

We are teaching a really great guy named Jim, and he is really progressing. His wife is a member, but she isn't too happy about the church. She is coming home from vacation soon, so keep Jim in your prayers. He's doing great, and he is really getting a testimony of the gospel. Last night we helped him jump his car, and the week before that we helped another member change a tire, put in a ceiling fan, and put down some floor molding. It was pretty cool, I could remember how to do those things from dad teaching me in our other house! It was a lot of fun, and a really good service project.

I got a traffic ticket this past week, and I need your guys' help.  The mission office took care of it for now. I'm so sorry about this, it was $108.00. The mission office paid the ticket, but they need us to pay it back by August 7th. Thanks so much for your help, I'm sorry.

I love you guys, we'll talk to you later!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Hey family,

This has been a pretty good week. I got a newsletter from the mission HQ last week, with a list of all the people who got baptized last transfer, and a name kind of jumped out at me. His name was Terrence. He was the husband of Anna, a lady we baptized about 8 months ago in North Philly! We had tried teaching him with his wife, but it didn't work out too well. I guess the missionaries went in after us, and he softened up a bunch! He's a great guy, and from what I hear, he and his wife will be going to the DC temple a couple months after I get off the mission! That will be pretty exciting! I wonder if it will work out to go see them. That would be incredible, wouldn't it?

Anyways, the ward is going great. The leadership is really warming up to us. We are just working right now on helping out the members a little more with doing missionary work. You guys are really great!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,

This was a pretty funny week. We have been in this new area for about 8 weeks, and the ward is pretty good to us. They were really excited to have a pair of missionaries in the ward, and they called 2 more ward leaders to help us with the efforts. This next week will be filled with going to each of the member's homes and sharing with them the Preach My Gospel manual to help them do their own missionary work, too. Just curious, what is it that motivates you guys to do missionary work? What makes you want, on top of everything else you do, to get involved in the missionary experience? I'd like to hear what it is, maybe it can help us out in teaching the members about missionary work.

Keep our other investigators in your prayers, and there should be a sweet miracle coming around the bend for the Cambodian family we've been teaching. We were teaching them on Friday, and we made her a promise from God that if she'd pray every night this week that God would allow her to come to church, and then asked her boss for Sundays again, that a way would open up. When she comes to church, her and the family can be baptized just a month after that, so this is a REALLY big deal!

I love you guys, keep up the good work!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Mom and Dad,

I did get the other box of chocolates. We got them the night after I wrote you last, and they were Incredible! I received the passport and all my birth certificate stuff a couple months ago, and it's locked in a safe in the mission office for when I leave the mission. It should be great.

Things are going great here in Chester and Broomall, PA. We are teaching some really great people, but they are having a VERY hard time getting to church. It's funny how so many people can know so much about the church, but if they don't actually BELIEVE or FOLLOW it, it doesn't do them any good. TJ should be coming to church this week, so keep him and our other people in your prayers. We really need a miracle for one of the ladies we are teaching to get work off, so she can bring her family to church.

We met a woman last week that we got a kick out of. We were just on our way in for the evening, walking back to the car. We had felt impressed to just park the car and walk that night, so we were headed back to the car, when a woman called us over from her porch, and asked if we could come over and teach her. Surprised, we replied we'd be happy to, and she said she had been praying if it was time for her to talk to us, and that after that she saw us walk past her house three times! We are going over to teach her and her sons this week, It's a really great family!

Things are going really great out here, and I hope things are going great over there. keep up the good work, I love you guys! Everything will work out well!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Family,

We had a very funny time this week. We found a new investigator that is already VERY well-read about the church. He started off our conversation by saying we had a remarkable history, with Joseph Smith having concerns about all these different churches, and praying, and having God speak to him. He said he feels a lot like Joseph Smith did! He told us about Hyrum Smith and Willard Richards in Carthage, and their whole story! It was pretty cool to teach him about the Bible, and we are excited to see him at church this coming week! I hope everything works out, just keep TJ in your prayers!
I love you guys! Thank you so much for all you do!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

PS-i got the box with the honey-waffles and chocolates last week. Thank you so much for that! I really loved the ones filled with Banana Cream! My companion really liked them too! The conference DVD's came yesterday, too! thanks so much for all of that! I love you all!

Dear Family,

It has been a very great week in our area. The ward is really opening up to us, and we had a very successful week here. We are doing well with the ward, and I am so grateful to be serving here, now. We've been working with a great family for the past couple weeks, and they came to a ward potluck the other night. The ward ate them up, and it was good to see them make so many friends in the ward! We also got a call from a lady in Chicago saying one of her Korean friends is going to college in our area, and she wanted to check out our church! She is doing very well, and we are having a blast teaching her about who God actually is, and how he wants us to act. I hope everything works out well for her, and certainly keep her in your prayers.

I love you guys, sorry I haven't written for so long, everything has been totally crazy with the last 2 weeks. We had computer problems, and then Memorial Day. It's just been very difficult to get an email out. I wrote the letter to the branch about some cool stories I've had out here, and I hope it helps stoke up the young men to serve missions.

There's a young man in our ward going to Mesa, AZ on Wednesday, and he's pretty excited. He's been studying out of PMG, and it helped him prepare so much. I should be sending it today. I just need an international stamp somewhere.

The work is going well here! I hope you have a fantastic week!
I love you guys!

Elder Jason Wallentine