Hey family what's up,
Everything is fun here, this last week has been great, I found out that I am over all the youth for the whole stake, which means where ever there is youth I go. So I go anywhere and everywhere I want to go in the stake which is awesome.
Elder Mellor is fun, we have a lot of fun together. Did I tell you about me knowing him before? Well on my second transfer and his first transfer we told each other that we would be companions and what do ya know we are companions, cool huh?
So today I have pday which means we are headed to pikes place after emailing.
About the sword they are just small samurai swords so probably not that heavy.
Oh and the reason I want that 50 dollars is to help me buy a GPS I need about that much to buy one, because my area is roughly 30 square miles and there is no way I am ever going to be able to memorize that big of an area so if ya could send some money that would be awesome.
Anyways love ya all and have a great Christmas.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
P.S. I will call you guys when I find out where I am calling from.
12/14/10 News from Seattle 3rd!!!
Hey family,
Transfers where today and I got a new companion and a new area which I'm a little bummed because I loved Burien ward, but hey good news I made senior companion so I must be doing something right. I am also in a car which I am the driver, woot woot, my new comp's name is Elder Mellor from Orem Utah (yeah I know another one of those dang Utahans) what is it with this mission sending so many people from Utah to here (wink wink lol), so I am officially in dad's old stomping grounds downtown Seattle, so where does pappy want me to go?
These last few days have been very sad having to leave my favorite area in the whole world, the Burien ward. I got a lot of hugs, no kisses thank goodness from my Chuuk and all the people I visited, apparently I was everyone's favorite missionary because everyone gave a lot of parting gifts or maybe it is just the Christmas season, either or. But yeah my favorite family the Dacus's gave me a bunch of presents, I got a few toys and a few ties, I think one of my favorite gifts was when I was doing some service for a less active guy and when he heard that I was going he went into his bedroom and brought out not 1 not 2 but three swords and gave them to me. I told him I couldn't take them, but he said it would break his heart so I said yes and then he made a comment, think of it as my Christmas present to you from me, so yeah I might be mailing home some swords, just because I don't want to lug them all over the place and don't freak it wasn't my fault, is the season to be jolly right?
About the Christmas presents, don't need any clothing I'm good in that department, how bout I make it easy for ya, just give me 50 bucks or something like that and a few goodies and I will be happy with that.
I could use a couple more temple slips that would be nice, tho I did forget to take one to the temple this last time I went, so yeah that's all I need.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
Transfers where today and I got a new companion and a new area which I'm a little bummed because I loved Burien ward, but hey good news I made senior companion so I must be doing something right. I am also in a car which I am the driver, woot woot, my new comp's name is Elder Mellor from Orem Utah (yeah I know another one of those dang Utahans) what is it with this mission sending so many people from Utah to here (wink wink lol), so I am officially in dad's old stomping grounds downtown Seattle, so where does pappy want me to go?
These last few days have been very sad having to leave my favorite area in the whole world, the Burien ward. I got a lot of hugs, no kisses thank goodness from my Chuuk and all the people I visited, apparently I was everyone's favorite missionary because everyone gave a lot of parting gifts or maybe it is just the Christmas season, either or. But yeah my favorite family the Dacus's gave me a bunch of presents, I got a few toys and a few ties, I think one of my favorite gifts was when I was doing some service for a less active guy and when he heard that I was going he went into his bedroom and brought out not 1 not 2 but three swords and gave them to me. I told him I couldn't take them, but he said it would break his heart so I said yes and then he made a comment, think of it as my Christmas present to you from me, so yeah I might be mailing home some swords, just because I don't want to lug them all over the place and don't freak it wasn't my fault, is the season to be jolly right?
About the Christmas presents, don't need any clothing I'm good in that department, how bout I make it easy for ya, just give me 50 bucks or something like that and a few goodies and I will be happy with that.
I could use a couple more temple slips that would be nice, tho I did forget to take one to the temple this last time I went, so yeah that's all I need.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
12/7/2010 Greetings from Burien!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey y'all how have you been doing,
Life is great here as usual don't have that much to report tho these past three days has been awesome. First on Saturday we had dinner with our Chuuks and they sent us home with a lot of food and then on Sunday we went to our bishop's house the Pulokas, the Tongans in our ward, and they sent us home with a lot of food. Then yesterday we went to a single's potluck and they sent us home with a lot of food. We have dinner tonight at the Dacu's an awesome family in our ward and no doubt they will sent a lot of food home with us as well, so yeah mom you you don't have to worry about your son not getting fed. Elder Armstrong and I are getting stuffed hopefully it won't put too much weight on. lol
Oh and we also was able to go to the temple today so that was as always a very spiritual experience and that is about all to report.
So ta ta.
Love ya,
Elder O'Brien
Life is great here as usual don't have that much to report tho these past three days has been awesome. First on Saturday we had dinner with our Chuuks and they sent us home with a lot of food and then on Sunday we went to our bishop's house the Pulokas, the Tongans in our ward, and they sent us home with a lot of food. Then yesterday we went to a single's potluck and they sent us home with a lot of food. We have dinner tonight at the Dacu's an awesome family in our ward and no doubt they will sent a lot of food home with us as well, so yeah mom you you don't have to worry about your son not getting fed. Elder Armstrong and I are getting stuffed hopefully it won't put too much weight on. lol
Oh and we also was able to go to the temple today so that was as always a very spiritual experience and that is about all to report.
So ta ta.
Love ya,
Elder O'Brien
11/29/2010 News from Burien!!!!
Hello family how are you?
Thing's have been going great here, we where able to get rings for our Chuuk investigators Ipha Arongaw and Wea Herry and they will be getting married in December. It has been a long six months working with those two and is rewarding for them to make that much progress. Also hopefully if all goes as planned, they both, along with their daughter Tvanna are going to be baptized in December so it should be a great month, I am looking forward to it.
My Thanksgiving was great. We where able to go to our Phillipino members house for dinner and it was delicious. They sent us home with a bunch of food and then we went to another family on Friday, they also sent us home with a bunch of food, which I am glad for, because I am out of money on my card and this food should last us until next Monday, when we can shop for more food yeah!!
Anyways that's all to report this week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Thing's have been going great here, we where able to get rings for our Chuuk investigators Ipha Arongaw and Wea Herry and they will be getting married in December. It has been a long six months working with those two and is rewarding for them to make that much progress. Also hopefully if all goes as planned, they both, along with their daughter Tvanna are going to be baptized in December so it should be a great month, I am looking forward to it.
My Thanksgiving was great. We where able to go to our Phillipino members house for dinner and it was delicious. They sent us home with a bunch of food and then we went to another family on Friday, they also sent us home with a bunch of food, which I am glad for, because I am out of money on my card and this food should last us until next Monday, when we can shop for more food yeah!!
Anyways that's all to report this week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
11/22/2010 News from Burien!!!!
Hey mom and all,
Life is the norm here, nothing exciting going on here except it being freezing cold, right not it is in the 20's and the weatherman says it will be getting down in the teens tonight, chilly chilly. Oh and we also have snow here, yeah it only about half a foot, but hey it's still snow. I got wet outside today and built myself a snowman which is something I have not been able to do in a long time. Yes the snow here is nothing like the snow in Sanpete the snow here is pathetic!!!!!! I was lucky enough to get little tiny snowballs to stick together long enough for me to take a picture before they fell apart, yea it was that much of an epic failure.
Anyway that's all for this week, talk to ya next week and have a great Thanksgiving weekend.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Life is the norm here, nothing exciting going on here except it being freezing cold, right not it is in the 20's and the weatherman says it will be getting down in the teens tonight, chilly chilly. Oh and we also have snow here, yeah it only about half a foot, but hey it's still snow. I got wet outside today and built myself a snowman which is something I have not been able to do in a long time. Yes the snow here is nothing like the snow in Sanpete the snow here is pathetic!!!!!! I was lucky enough to get little tiny snowballs to stick together long enough for me to take a picture before they fell apart, yea it was that much of an epic failure.
Anyway that's all for this week, talk to ya next week and have a great Thanksgiving weekend.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
11/15/2010 News from Burien!!!!
Hey family how are you all,
Things are great, I got the pictures from Jared and they are great. Life here has had it's ups and downs, we had most of our investigators drop us, but we are slowly getting more and with the Lord's help we will be baptizing more people soon.
Burien has been a wonderful ward so far and I hope that I can contribute more baptisms for it, man I can't believe that it has been almost six months here in the Burien ward, it's crazy how time flies.
Our recent convert Tarson Iphraim is doing great, he is only 9 and he is learning about the gospel really quick, he reads the book of Mormon all by himself and with our help is learning a lot of stuff in it.
Well that's it for this week. Thanks for the update from home. No it's not in the 50-60s here. it's just in the 40-50s lol
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
Things are great, I got the pictures from Jared and they are great. Life here has had it's ups and downs, we had most of our investigators drop us, but we are slowly getting more and with the Lord's help we will be baptizing more people soon.
Burien has been a wonderful ward so far and I hope that I can contribute more baptisms for it, man I can't believe that it has been almost six months here in the Burien ward, it's crazy how time flies.
Our recent convert Tarson Iphraim is doing great, he is only 9 and he is learning about the gospel really quick, he reads the book of Mormon all by himself and with our help is learning a lot of stuff in it.
Well that's it for this week. Thanks for the update from home. No it's not in the 50-60s here. it's just in the 40-50s lol
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
11/8/2010 News from Burien!!!!
Hey mom and family,
To answer your question. No I have not personally baptized anybody yet and to be truthful it would be cool but, I don't care. As yet no one has asked me, so I wait until someone asks which if it is never than at least I get to teach them and progress them towards the waters of baptism. Beside it's better if a member in the ward baptizes them anyways, because it is more special to them, it is someone they will see for a long time which is better than someone who will be here for only a short period of time. And yes this mission is a lot harder than Brazil, Brazil doesn't have a lot of rich snotty people as the Seattle area does. We are going to be lucky if we reach 720 baptisms this year alone and we are at 486 as of yesterdays 5 baptisms, so yeah, I still have one person on date for baptism so I am still praying for that to happen on the 19 of Nov.
So that's it for the week. Talk to ya later.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
To answer your question. No I have not personally baptized anybody yet and to be truthful it would be cool but, I don't care. As yet no one has asked me, so I wait until someone asks which if it is never than at least I get to teach them and progress them towards the waters of baptism. Beside it's better if a member in the ward baptizes them anyways, because it is more special to them, it is someone they will see for a long time which is better than someone who will be here for only a short period of time. And yes this mission is a lot harder than Brazil, Brazil doesn't have a lot of rich snotty people as the Seattle area does. We are going to be lucky if we reach 720 baptisms this year alone and we are at 486 as of yesterdays 5 baptisms, so yeah, I still have one person on date for baptism so I am still praying for that to happen on the 19 of Nov.
So that's it for the week. Talk to ya later.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
10/25/2010 News from Burien!!!
Hello,
This last week was awesome. We had an awesome baptism this last Saturday the 23rd, one of our chuuk people got baptized, 1 down 9 to go (Pres. Larkin told me to get 10 chuuk (pronounced chook) by the end of the year). His name is Tarson Arongaw Iphraim he is 9 years old and an awesome kid. I will send you some pictures. Oh did I tell you guys about the chuuk branch we are starting up? Well not quite a branch yet give it a couple years and it will be, but anyways my bishop started the chuuk class so that all our chuuks, about an average of 6 to 7 so far, can have a place so that they can learn gospel principles in their own language. It has been a blast for me and Elder Armstrong, we switch off one week I go to the chuuk class and he goes to the English class and then we switch the next week. I'm also starting to pick up a little chuukese as well, so that is pretty fun and it's so funny all the chuuk call me Elder Chuuk or my howlie chuuk, howlie transelated as white boy in chuukese LOL. So yeah this week was great.
I have gotten my memory card back did you like the pics?
Anyways love ya all have a great Halloween I guess and talk to ya next week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Here is the baptism of Tarson Arongaw Iphraim baptized by Elder Nathanael Read. enjoy
This last week was awesome. We had an awesome baptism this last Saturday the 23rd, one of our chuuk people got baptized, 1 down 9 to go (Pres. Larkin told me to get 10 chuuk (pronounced chook) by the end of the year). His name is Tarson Arongaw Iphraim he is 9 years old and an awesome kid. I will send you some pictures. Oh did I tell you guys about the chuuk branch we are starting up? Well not quite a branch yet give it a couple years and it will be, but anyways my bishop started the chuuk class so that all our chuuks, about an average of 6 to 7 so far, can have a place so that they can learn gospel principles in their own language. It has been a blast for me and Elder Armstrong, we switch off one week I go to the chuuk class and he goes to the English class and then we switch the next week. I'm also starting to pick up a little chuukese as well, so that is pretty fun and it's so funny all the chuuk call me Elder Chuuk or my howlie chuuk, howlie transelated as white boy in chuukese LOL. So yeah this week was great.
I have gotten my memory card back did you like the pics?
Anyways love ya all have a great Halloween I guess and talk to ya next week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Here is the baptism of Tarson Arongaw Iphraim baptized by Elder Nathanael Read. enjoy
10/18/2010 News from Burien!!!
How y'all doing?
Life is great here we have still two people on date and am working with them, Tarson one of our on dates. We just taught him all the lessons so all he needs is an interview and then on to baptism this Saturday the 23rd. I am way excited this is the only person so far on my mission that I have taught from the first lesson to baptism I am so excited for him.
Anyways love y'all and y'all are in my prayers.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Life is great here we have still two people on date and am working with them, Tarson one of our on dates. We just taught him all the lessons so all he needs is an interview and then on to baptism this Saturday the 23rd. I am way excited this is the only person so far on my mission that I have taught from the first lesson to baptism I am so excited for him.
Anyways love y'all and y'all are in my prayers.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
10/11/2010 News from Burien!!!!!!!!!
Hey family how are you,
This last week was great we where able to find a new investigator named Debbie Ballard she is an awesome lady who Elder Read and I found and who Elder Armstrong and I just taught. We are going to have a church tour with her and put her on date in October. Also all our other investigators are doing great and progressing very well. It is always a joy to watch, as the gospel changes lives for the better.
Today the temperature is pretty nice it's not as cold as Utah, but it's a little nippy probably in the lower 60's to higher 50's not too bad.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
This last week was great we where able to find a new investigator named Debbie Ballard she is an awesome lady who Elder Read and I found and who Elder Armstrong and I just taught. We are going to have a church tour with her and put her on date in October. Also all our other investigators are doing great and progressing very well. It is always a joy to watch, as the gospel changes lives for the better.
Today the temperature is pretty nice it's not as cold as Utah, but it's a little nippy probably in the lower 60's to higher 50's not too bad.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
10/4/2010 News from Burien!!!!!!!!!
Hi Family,
This week was great with conference weekend and yes I did go to all five session why would I not. They where all awesome I think my favorite one was in the priesthood session and it was on pride by Pres. Uchtdorf become I have a real big problem with pride.
Yeah sister Luksan is the the best, the sister that called you. She makes great dinners and yes that stir-fry was amazing not as good as yours of course but amazing. It reminded me of the great Sunday dinners that we make. The funny thing is tho when I was talking about it to sis Luksan some other member heard in and invited us over to dinner so I had my favorite stir fry two days in a row, which both of them if I say so myself was delicious yum yum.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
This week was great with conference weekend and yes I did go to all five session why would I not. They where all awesome I think my favorite one was in the priesthood session and it was on pride by Pres. Uchtdorf become I have a real big problem with pride.
Yeah sister Luksan is the the best, the sister that called you. She makes great dinners and yes that stir-fry was amazing not as good as yours of course but amazing. It reminded me of the great Sunday dinners that we make. The funny thing is tho when I was talking about it to sis Luksan some other member heard in and invited us over to dinner so I had my favorite stir fry two days in a row, which both of them if I say so myself was delicious yum yum.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
9/27/2010 News from Burien!!!!!!!!!
Hey family how's it going?
Things are great here. It has been fun serving with Elder Armstrong this last week, me and him mesh perfectly and we joke around with each other all the time. Also our on-dates are going great, still trying to get them married and taught all the lessons.
Also the mission is revamping a lot, we now do not tract what so ever (which if you don't know what that is, it is walking up and down streets and knocking on every door, which is very boring) we now do street contacting which yields a lot more investigators and is a lot more fun than tracting.
Also we now have dinner every night opposed to how it was before to where we only had Sundays and Mondays. Now I'm gonna start getting fat, especially with all the Tongans I have in this ward wanting us over for dinner all the time which is awesome. So yeah so far we have dinner tonight at the Dorset's, dinner with the Dalrymples tommorrow and dinner with the Luksans on Wednesday and we are working on getting dinner for the other days.
So that is all to report on this week.
Love ya,
Elder O'Brien
Things are great here. It has been fun serving with Elder Armstrong this last week, me and him mesh perfectly and we joke around with each other all the time. Also our on-dates are going great, still trying to get them married and taught all the lessons.
Also the mission is revamping a lot, we now do not tract what so ever (which if you don't know what that is, it is walking up and down streets and knocking on every door, which is very boring) we now do street contacting which yields a lot more investigators and is a lot more fun than tracting.
Also we now have dinner every night opposed to how it was before to where we only had Sundays and Mondays. Now I'm gonna start getting fat, especially with all the Tongans I have in this ward wanting us over for dinner all the time which is awesome. So yeah so far we have dinner tonight at the Dorset's, dinner with the Dalrymples tommorrow and dinner with the Luksans on Wednesday and we are working on getting dinner for the other days.
So that is all to report on this week.
Love ya,
Elder O'Brien
9/21/2010 Greetings from Burien!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Family,
This week was great. I had a bunch of lessons with my on-date investigator and then where able to teach her a lot of stuff, she is an amazing lady.
Also we just had a 3 hour meeting with Elder Kikuchi of the first quorum of the seventy so that was awesome, it didn't feel like it was 3 hours, but it was very mentally and spiritually uplifting, and I was able to learn a lot from him.
Also transfers where today and I got a new companion, his name is Elder Armstrong he is an awesome guy very fun. I've served around him before and now I'm his companion, so yeah that is all for this week.
So yeah I will be getting those pictures to you soon I just need a package to put it in and it'll be great.
Anyways love ya much, talk to ya later,
Elder O'Brien
This week was great. I had a bunch of lessons with my on-date investigator and then where able to teach her a lot of stuff, she is an amazing lady.
Also we just had a 3 hour meeting with Elder Kikuchi of the first quorum of the seventy so that was awesome, it didn't feel like it was 3 hours, but it was very mentally and spiritually uplifting, and I was able to learn a lot from him.
Also transfers where today and I got a new companion, his name is Elder Armstrong he is an awesome guy very fun. I've served around him before and now I'm his companion, so yeah that is all for this week.
So yeah I will be getting those pictures to you soon I just need a package to put it in and it'll be great.
Anyways love ya much, talk to ya later,
Elder O'Brien
9/13/2010 Greetings from Burien!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey family,
This last week has been fun, we where able to teach a lot of our investigators and was also able to put two on date which was awesome.
Also today was my cultural day and Elder Read and I went to down-town Seattle. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, but that's also probably because we only had time to go to the free places because we where poor. But hey we where able to get some pictures of the sites there, so I will be sending some pics home this week.
Oh and I went to the temple last week and I was able to go through for one of the two cards you guys gave me so I will be sending that home as well.
Well that's it.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
This last week has been fun, we where able to teach a lot of our investigators and was also able to put two on date which was awesome.
Also today was my cultural day and Elder Read and I went to down-town Seattle. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, but that's also probably because we only had time to go to the free places because we where poor. But hey we where able to get some pictures of the sites there, so I will be sending some pics home this week.
Oh and I went to the temple last week and I was able to go through for one of the two cards you guys gave me so I will be sending that home as well.
Well that's it.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
9/7/2010 Hello from Burien!!!
Hey family,
Sorry I didn't write last week, there was this really stinky guy sitting next to me and he was giving me migraines so I got off and tried to get to another computer but there was none available sorry.
Yes my MP3 is here, thanks for it, thing is huge, Elder Read calls it a brick lol.
So you went to Portland ehh? 100 that is incredible that grandma is still alive. I hope she's still there when I get home.
Anyways these past couple weeks has been so so I guess nothing really exciting to report. My two drunk investigators who we where teaching is in detox tho for the next three months which is sad.
That's about it, talk to ya all later.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Sorry I didn't write last week, there was this really stinky guy sitting next to me and he was giving me migraines so I got off and tried to get to another computer but there was none available sorry.
Yes my MP3 is here, thanks for it, thing is huge, Elder Read calls it a brick lol.
So you went to Portland ehh? 100 that is incredible that grandma is still alive. I hope she's still there when I get home.
Anyways these past couple weeks has been so so I guess nothing really exciting to report. My two drunk investigators who we where teaching is in detox tho for the next three months which is sad.
That's about it, talk to ya all later.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
8/23/2010 News from Burien!!!!!
Hey how y'all doing,
This week has been great we where able to put Kimberly, that lady with the drinking problem, and her boyfriend on-date for baptism on the 18 of Sept. which is awesome, they are progressing very well and they are going to ARP (Addiction Recovery Program) ARP is something that the church put on to help people with the addictions they may have in their life. Also our other investigators are progressing very well one of them Eva is awesome, she is chuuke and is an amazing girl and has a lot of faith, she came to church yesterday and stayed all three hours and learned a lot from the classes there. We are teaching her tonight and it is going to be fun.
Elder Read my companion just got his itinerary and is flying home on September 20 at 4:20pm, I've talked to him about it and he is both siked and extremely scared at the same time. He doesn't want to go home, but at the same time he does, he is a crazy fellow, but hey what can ya expect from a person that is going home in four weeks.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
This week has been great we where able to put Kimberly, that lady with the drinking problem, and her boyfriend on-date for baptism on the 18 of Sept. which is awesome, they are progressing very well and they are going to ARP (Addiction Recovery Program) ARP is something that the church put on to help people with the addictions they may have in their life. Also our other investigators are progressing very well one of them Eva is awesome, she is chuuke and is an amazing girl and has a lot of faith, she came to church yesterday and stayed all three hours and learned a lot from the classes there. We are teaching her tonight and it is going to be fun.
Elder Read my companion just got his itinerary and is flying home on September 20 at 4:20pm, I've talked to him about it and he is both siked and extremely scared at the same time. He doesn't want to go home, but at the same time he does, he is a crazy fellow, but hey what can ya expect from a person that is going home in four weeks.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
8/16/2010 Hello from Burien!!!
Hey Everyone,
How have you been doing?
Things have been great here. Two of our new investigators are a great lady named Kimberly and her boyfriend Don. They are fun people, we tracted to them and she was the one that answered the door. As we started talking to her we found out that she was a heavy alcoholic and was looking to have Jesus in her life. So we set up an appointment with her the next day and taught her the plan of salvation. Her boyfriend Don came in, after we where done teaching the plan of salvation to her, he sat down and started asking us questions. So we set up a church tour with them on Saturday and this is the funny part. We came to her house with our fellowship and there she was having a huge party with some Mexicans and she was hammered I mean literally hammered or if you don't know what that is she was extremely drunk. But she still insisted that she come on a church tour, but when she tried to get up, she was very wobbly and tipsy so we convinced her to stay put. We told her we would pick her up for church the next day. When we came and picked her up, she was a bit tipsy, but at least she was coherent enough to maybe understand the speakers so we brought her to church. She liked it a lot, but needless to say it was a very interesting sacrament meeting. So that is my report for this week.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
How have you been doing?
Things have been great here. Two of our new investigators are a great lady named Kimberly and her boyfriend Don. They are fun people, we tracted to them and she was the one that answered the door. As we started talking to her we found out that she was a heavy alcoholic and was looking to have Jesus in her life. So we set up an appointment with her the next day and taught her the plan of salvation. Her boyfriend Don came in, after we where done teaching the plan of salvation to her, he sat down and started asking us questions. So we set up a church tour with them on Saturday and this is the funny part. We came to her house with our fellowship and there she was having a huge party with some Mexicans and she was hammered I mean literally hammered or if you don't know what that is she was extremely drunk. But she still insisted that she come on a church tour, but when she tried to get up, she was very wobbly and tipsy so we convinced her to stay put. We told her we would pick her up for church the next day. When we came and picked her up, she was a bit tipsy, but at least she was coherent enough to maybe understand the speakers so we brought her to church. She liked it a lot, but needless to say it was a very interesting sacrament meeting. So that is my report for this week.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
8/10/2010 News from Burien!!!!!
Hello Everyone,
How you'll doing? Life is great here. Just got transfer calls last Saturday and I and my companion are staying. Man Elder Read is so trunky right now. He only has six more weeks left and he is making it known to the world, which has made me EXTREMELY trunky my self. But hay the good part is when he dies I get the stuff he leaves behind yeah.
Anyways life has been great here, this past week, we have found 6 new investigators and are going to teach one of them tonight. Also we got one of our investigators to church after seven weeks of trying to get her to church, so that was awesome.
That is all for this week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
How you'll doing? Life is great here. Just got transfer calls last Saturday and I and my companion are staying. Man Elder Read is so trunky right now. He only has six more weeks left and he is making it known to the world, which has made me EXTREMELY trunky my self. But hay the good part is when he dies I get the stuff he leaves behind yeah.
Anyways life has been great here, this past week, we have found 6 new investigators and are going to teach one of them tonight. Also we got one of our investigators to church after seven weeks of trying to get her to church, so that was awesome.
That is all for this week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
8/3/2010 News from Burien!!!!!
Hello y'all,
Wusup, this week was great, well some of it was at least. We didn't find very many solid investigators which is kind of a bummer, but hey life is still fun.
Yes in those pictures that you sent I feel that tired 24/7 I never seem to get enough sleep even when I get to bed at 10:30 and get up at 6:30, still tired all the time, I think I've gotten used to it now, but it took me a long time to do it tho.
Also our first zone conference with our new mission president was yesterday, I don't know if I have told you about him, but his name is President Todd Larkin, he is an awesome guy, he is very spiritual and sees great things for this mission. He is also hilarious, every time he talks to us missionaries he always jokes around with us. Man he is sooooo new lol, I love him a lot. Zone conference was about obedience and sacrifice and how important it is to follow the rules.
Anyways that's all for this week, talk to ya later.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Wusup, this week was great, well some of it was at least. We didn't find very many solid investigators which is kind of a bummer, but hey life is still fun.
Yes in those pictures that you sent I feel that tired 24/7 I never seem to get enough sleep even when I get to bed at 10:30 and get up at 6:30, still tired all the time, I think I've gotten used to it now, but it took me a long time to do it tho.
Also our first zone conference with our new mission president was yesterday, I don't know if I have told you about him, but his name is President Todd Larkin, he is an awesome guy, he is very spiritual and sees great things for this mission. He is also hilarious, every time he talks to us missionaries he always jokes around with us. Man he is sooooo new lol, I love him a lot. Zone conference was about obedience and sacrifice and how important it is to follow the rules.
Anyways that's all for this week, talk to ya later.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
July 28, 2010 Greetings From President and Sister Larkin
Dear Parents of Elder O’Brien,
My wife and I arrived a few weeks ago to preside over the Washington Seattle Mission. Our names are Todd and Laura Larkin and we came to the mission from our home in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have a ten year old daughter named Allie and a thirteen year old son Levi with us in the mission field, and a son named Jordan who turns nineteen next week and is currently in the Missionary Training Center preparing to go to Nagoya, Japan on his mission. We dropped Jordan off at the MTC on June 30th and then reported to the Washington Seattle Mission about noon on July 1st. We anticipated a very joyous moment as our son marched into the MTC to serve a long awaited mission, but we sure found out that along with the joy it was also about the hardest thing that we have ever done. We quickly found out how difficult it is not to be able to contact him regularly and check up on how he is doing.
After our experience with our own son, we could not let another day go by without sending you a note to let you know how your son is doing here in the Washington Seattle Mission. We have met with every missionary in the mission at least twice and Sister Larkin and I have each had personal interviews with every missionary. Sister Larkin has discussed personal health issues in detail and has insured that each missionary is taking proper care of their physical, mental, and emotional health. She has also learned everything about your family and has done her best to make sure that each missionary writes home regularly.
I also had a twenty to thirty minute interview with your son, Elder O’Brien and want you to know how impressed I am with his testimony and commitment to our Savior. You should be very proud of the incredible missionary that you have raised and sent here to preach the Gospel. You son has truly been an instrument in the hands of God in bringing many people to a knowledge of the truth.
We are sending a picture taken the day we had our interviews. Thank you so much for all the training you have provided in your home and for raising such a valiant child of our Father in Heaven. We know that we can never be a substitute for your affection, but we promise that we will keep our arms of love wrapped tightly around your precious child until the day that you are reunited together again.
With Warmest Regards,
President and Sister Larkin
See photo at bottom of blog
My wife and I arrived a few weeks ago to preside over the Washington Seattle Mission. Our names are Todd and Laura Larkin and we came to the mission from our home in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have a ten year old daughter named Allie and a thirteen year old son Levi with us in the mission field, and a son named Jordan who turns nineteen next week and is currently in the Missionary Training Center preparing to go to Nagoya, Japan on his mission. We dropped Jordan off at the MTC on June 30th and then reported to the Washington Seattle Mission about noon on July 1st. We anticipated a very joyous moment as our son marched into the MTC to serve a long awaited mission, but we sure found out that along with the joy it was also about the hardest thing that we have ever done. We quickly found out how difficult it is not to be able to contact him regularly and check up on how he is doing.
After our experience with our own son, we could not let another day go by without sending you a note to let you know how your son is doing here in the Washington Seattle Mission. We have met with every missionary in the mission at least twice and Sister Larkin and I have each had personal interviews with every missionary. Sister Larkin has discussed personal health issues in detail and has insured that each missionary is taking proper care of their physical, mental, and emotional health. She has also learned everything about your family and has done her best to make sure that each missionary writes home regularly.
I also had a twenty to thirty minute interview with your son, Elder O’Brien and want you to know how impressed I am with his testimony and commitment to our Savior. You should be very proud of the incredible missionary that you have raised and sent here to preach the Gospel. You son has truly been an instrument in the hands of God in bringing many people to a knowledge of the truth.
We are sending a picture taken the day we had our interviews. Thank you so much for all the training you have provided in your home and for raising such a valiant child of our Father in Heaven. We know that we can never be a substitute for your affection, but we promise that we will keep our arms of love wrapped tightly around your precious child until the day that you are reunited together again.
With Warmest Regards,
President and Sister Larkin
See photo at bottom of blog
7/26/2010 News from Burien!!!!!!!!!
Hello,
How are y'all? I am doing great. This week has been hot as well, it was been between 80 and 95 this whole last week which has been very miserable walking around in. I come home every time drenched in sweat, everyday, remind me never to move to this place EVER!!!!!.
Also this last week has been about the same as the past few weeks we have been having. We are finding a few investigators here and there but most of them are Spanish referrals.(this place has lots of Mexicans) The investigators that we do find, half of them aren't solid ones, so yeah nothing new to report.
Yes I will get those pictures to you as soon as I get things in order, there is some videos of some Samoan Hakas that some other missionaries want, so as soon as they get those copied then I will send them to you.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
How are y'all? I am doing great. This week has been hot as well, it was been between 80 and 95 this whole last week which has been very miserable walking around in. I come home every time drenched in sweat, everyday, remind me never to move to this place EVER!!!!!.
Also this last week has been about the same as the past few weeks we have been having. We are finding a few investigators here and there but most of them are Spanish referrals.(this place has lots of Mexicans) The investigators that we do find, half of them aren't solid ones, so yeah nothing new to report.
Yes I will get those pictures to you as soon as I get things in order, there is some videos of some Samoan Hakas that some other missionaries want, so as soon as they get those copied then I will send them to you.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
10/19/2010 Greetings from Burien!!!!!!!
Hey whats up,
How is everything going, things here are great. I was just able to go exchanges with my zone leader and had a lot of fun with him. While I was talking to him I found out that he is a fellow halo addict so we ended up talking a lot about halo it was awesome. Also even tho he is a zone leader he is just like me, very apprehensive to talk to people and how to start up a conversation, so it was hilarious when we went tracting. Every time we would start talking to someone we would nudge each other in the side when we ran out of words and or Q's which was quite frequent LOL.
Also we where able to find 4 new investigators last week and we are doing a church tour with two of them tomorrow at 7.
Yes I will get you those pictures asap, that is when I get more money on my msf card. Anyways that's all for now.
Love y'all,
Elder O'Brien
How is everything going, things here are great. I was just able to go exchanges with my zone leader and had a lot of fun with him. While I was talking to him I found out that he is a fellow halo addict so we ended up talking a lot about halo it was awesome. Also even tho he is a zone leader he is just like me, very apprehensive to talk to people and how to start up a conversation, so it was hilarious when we went tracting. Every time we would start talking to someone we would nudge each other in the side when we ran out of words and or Q's which was quite frequent LOL.
Also we where able to find 4 new investigators last week and we are doing a church tour with two of them tomorrow at 7.
Yes I will get you those pictures asap, that is when I get more money on my msf card. Anyways that's all for now.
Love y'all,
Elder O'Brien
7/12/2010 Greetings from Burien!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi everybody what's up,
Things are great here, I am really starting to get to know the people well and I am starting to dislike just a little not being able to be in a car, but hey if this is just a little trial I am going through then I will bear it with patience. May be then at last the Lord will reward me with another 2010 Toyota Corolla mission vehicular machine.
One thing I do not like about this place is it is too cramped, no place for a country boy to roam no room.
Also elder Read is teaching me a lot about how to be a better missionary something that my trainer did not do very well, so that is always great.
That is all this week, nothing really exciting going on.
Until next time love ya much.
Elder O'Brien
Things are great here, I am really starting to get to know the people well and I am starting to dislike just a little not being able to be in a car, but hey if this is just a little trial I am going through then I will bear it with patience. May be then at last the Lord will reward me with another 2010 Toyota Corolla mission vehicular machine.
One thing I do not like about this place is it is too cramped, no place for a country boy to roam no room.
Also elder Read is teaching me a lot about how to be a better missionary something that my trainer did not do very well, so that is always great.
That is all this week, nothing really exciting going on.
Until next time love ya much.
Elder O'Brien
7/5/2010 News from Burien!!!!!!!!!
Hey y'all how ya doin,
I'm doing great it has been a great week for me. I got a birthday card from the office and also I got your card thank you for the card. Last Saturday Elder Read took me out to lunch for my birthday, it was a good meal, we went to this place called Australian Pie Company, and they serve delicious pot pies.
My 4th of July was great. Very annoying that I was not able to light any myself, which was completely and utterly frustrating. Fourth of July is a pyros favorite holiday and I was not able to celebrate it fully, but I did see a lot of cool ones that were set off by people around us.
Also fast and testimony mtg. was great, a lot of great people in the ward, and yes it is pretty common to have so few active people coming to church, yeah pretty lame, huh. Well that's all for this week.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
I'm doing great it has been a great week for me. I got a birthday card from the office and also I got your card thank you for the card. Last Saturday Elder Read took me out to lunch for my birthday, it was a good meal, we went to this place called Australian Pie Company, and they serve delicious pot pies.
My 4th of July was great. Very annoying that I was not able to light any myself, which was completely and utterly frustrating. Fourth of July is a pyros favorite holiday and I was not able to celebrate it fully, but I did see a lot of cool ones that were set off by people around us.
Also fast and testimony mtg. was great, a lot of great people in the ward, and yes it is pretty common to have so few active people coming to church, yeah pretty lame, huh. Well that's all for this week.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
6/28/2010 News from Burien!!!!!!
Hey y'all how y'all doin,
I'm doin great, I was able to meet the ward for the first time yesterday in sacrament mtg. great ward, but very small about 70 to 80 active people with a membership of 500, pretty crazy huh? It's great tho we are serving with a couple of senior missionaries which is awesome because of so much inactivity here.
Elder Read and I are getting along great he is teaching me a lot and is a cool guy. He has been out for 21 months and is extremely trunky so I try to keep home off the subject as few times as possible so that I don't make myself more trunky than I already am.
Last week was great, while street contacting we found two new investigators by the name of Aries and Junior both are Samoan and great guys, we also found a 17 year old girl named Jasmine who is trying to get the parent's permission to bring her out to a church tour.
Oh and by the way this area is a bus route so that means no car :( sad, so I walk every where I go now. I get the full experience of what real missionary work is really about now. I know how Daniel felt on his mission just a little bit, but now I know. Love y'all have a great week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
I'm doin great, I was able to meet the ward for the first time yesterday in sacrament mtg. great ward, but very small about 70 to 80 active people with a membership of 500, pretty crazy huh? It's great tho we are serving with a couple of senior missionaries which is awesome because of so much inactivity here.
Elder Read and I are getting along great he is teaching me a lot and is a cool guy. He has been out for 21 months and is extremely trunky so I try to keep home off the subject as few times as possible so that I don't make myself more trunky than I already am.
Last week was great, while street contacting we found two new investigators by the name of Aries and Junior both are Samoan and great guys, we also found a 17 year old girl named Jasmine who is trying to get the parent's permission to bring her out to a church tour.
Oh and by the way this area is a bus route so that means no car :( sad, so I walk every where I go now. I get the full experience of what real missionary work is really about now. I know how Daniel felt on his mission just a little bit, but now I know. Love y'all have a great week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
6/22/2010 Hello From Seattle!!!!!!!
Hello Family and Friends,
Transfers was today and I got transferred to Seattle Burien area if dad know where that is. Me and my new companion Elder Read got whitewashed in (whitewashed means we both got transferred into the area at the same time) so this is going to be a fun transfer I can already tell, especially since neither of us know the area at all.
Oh and to tell you about last week Elder Gardiner and I taught a kid named Tony and we where able to put him on date for the 24 of July so that is going great. He has a few problems so basically we where working with him on that.
But mostly both of us were taking a lot of pictures with the members and yes I will get you those pictures soon, I hope.
Anyways that's all for this week.
Love y'all,
Elder O'Brien
Transfers was today and I got transferred to Seattle Burien area if dad know where that is. Me and my new companion Elder Read got whitewashed in (whitewashed means we both got transferred into the area at the same time) so this is going to be a fun transfer I can already tell, especially since neither of us know the area at all.
Oh and to tell you about last week Elder Gardiner and I taught a kid named Tony and we where able to put him on date for the 24 of July so that is going great. He has a few problems so basically we where working with him on that.
But mostly both of us were taking a lot of pictures with the members and yes I will get you those pictures soon, I hope.
Anyways that's all for this week.
Love y'all,
Elder O'Brien
6/14/2010 News from FEDERAL WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Family and Friends,
Mission is doing good still no baptisms in Fedy, but working on that. The only person we did have on date tho, fell off date so that is sad, but we are working with Tony to get him to baptism.
Last week we finally got 20 lesson (something that I have only been able to duplicate only one other time) even when I was with the zone leaders we only got 20 lessons one week out of the six weeks I was with them, so yeah it was great to reach it again.
Tracking is somewhat fun especially when I get to talk to interesting people from interesting backgrounds and religions, the funny thing is most of the people when we say who we are, instead of letting us say what we are there for, says not interested first off the bat, so that's kinda bad sometimes.
Anyways that's all for this week HOPE to hear from ya next week? Hint hint
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Mission is doing good still no baptisms in Fedy, but working on that. The only person we did have on date tho, fell off date so that is sad, but we are working with Tony to get him to baptism.
Last week we finally got 20 lesson (something that I have only been able to duplicate only one other time) even when I was with the zone leaders we only got 20 lessons one week out of the six weeks I was with them, so yeah it was great to reach it again.
Tracking is somewhat fun especially when I get to talk to interesting people from interesting backgrounds and religions, the funny thing is most of the people when we say who we are, instead of letting us say what we are there for, says not interested first off the bat, so that's kinda bad sometimes.
Anyways that's all for this week HOPE to hear from ya next week? Hint hint
Love,
Elder O'Brien
6/2/2010 Greetings from Fedy Way!!!!!!!!!
Hi Family and Friends,
The mission is great out here in Federal Way I have another great companion except for last week when we got into a huge argument over something really stupid but we are ok now.
Also we have a lot of great investigators that are progressing toward baptism, one of which is a guy named Tony he is 21 and is awesome we taught him at 12 today and we talked to him about the ten commandments and when we got to the adultery one he told us about his parties that he goes to and his fun he has with girls and we told him the importance of obeying the law of chastity, so he said that he is going to stop and try to get new friends to hang out with, because all the friends he has right now all drink and he has a really bad drinking problem.
So that is my weekly report, that's all for now.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
The mission is great out here in Federal Way I have another great companion except for last week when we got into a huge argument over something really stupid but we are ok now.
Also we have a lot of great investigators that are progressing toward baptism, one of which is a guy named Tony he is 21 and is awesome we taught him at 12 today and we talked to him about the ten commandments and when we got to the adultery one he told us about his parties that he goes to and his fun he has with girls and we told him the importance of obeying the law of chastity, so he said that he is going to stop and try to get new friends to hang out with, because all the friends he has right now all drink and he has a really bad drinking problem.
So that is my weekly report, that's all for now.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
5/24/2010 News from Federal Way
Life is great here in Federal Way, the work is great we have one on date right now and by the end of the week we will have two more on date, also we found an awesome PI yesterday while tracting, it is this brother of a less active lady that we know, we read him 3 nephi 11 and he gave us his # and address so we will be stopping by sometime this week. Also he does glass engraving so I'm gonna get a cool engraving on a cup or something else, but first I need to find myself a cup that I want to keep as a keepsake for the rest of my life.
Also being companions with elder Gardner has been great, a bit crazy at times but cool. Oh just in case I did not tell you his info he is from ST George UT and has been out in the mission now for 22 months, almost done.
Well that's all for now, love ya.
Until next time love,
Elder O'Brien
Also being companions with elder Gardner has been great, a bit crazy at times but cool. Oh just in case I did not tell you his info he is from ST George UT and has been out in the mission now for 22 months, almost done.
Well that's all for now, love ya.
Until next time love,
Elder O'Brien
5/18/2010 Greetings from Federal Way
Hi y'all wusup,
I got transferred to a new area I am now in Federal Way and so far do not like it as much as Maple Valley for one thing Maple Valley is country and Federal Way is city, so yeah that's the breaks.
My new companion's name is Elder Gardner, the surprising thing is I know him quite well, he used to be in my district in Maple Valley for the first six that I was there, he is an interesting fellow, doesn't talk much and I have to basically force him to talk or he will just sit there and say nothing. We currently have one person on date and am working on 2 and 3, so we shall see how this transfer goes.
Until next time love you all,
Elder O'Brien
I got transferred to a new area I am now in Federal Way and so far do not like it as much as Maple Valley for one thing Maple Valley is country and Federal Way is city, so yeah that's the breaks.
My new companion's name is Elder Gardner, the surprising thing is I know him quite well, he used to be in my district in Maple Valley for the first six that I was there, he is an interesting fellow, doesn't talk much and I have to basically force him to talk or he will just sit there and say nothing. We currently have one person on date and am working on 2 and 3, so we shall see how this transfer goes.
Until next time love you all,
Elder O'Brien
4/29/2010 Hello from Maple Valley
Hey whats up peeps(peeps means people)
Things are great here. Haven't had any recent baptisms yet but hey working on it.
Every Monday there is an old guy who comes to the library with a chess board, so for the hour that Elder Tanner is E-mailing I play chess. There was one game I played with him that lasted 45 minutes which is way longer then i have ever played a game of chess for. Oh Yea I was proud of my self.
We have not gotten a single flake of snow and most of the time it is in the sixties unless it is raining then it goes down to the fifties. I looked at the forecast and it is going to be in the middle to high sixties all next week, oh yeah bring on the sunshine, and oh mom, you have fun with your 30-40 degree weather BWA-HaHA.
Well love you all, have fun in the snow.
Elder O'Brien
Things are great here. Haven't had any recent baptisms yet but hey working on it.
Every Monday there is an old guy who comes to the library with a chess board, so for the hour that Elder Tanner is E-mailing I play chess. There was one game I played with him that lasted 45 minutes which is way longer then i have ever played a game of chess for. Oh Yea I was proud of my self.
We have not gotten a single flake of snow and most of the time it is in the sixties unless it is raining then it goes down to the fifties. I looked at the forecast and it is going to be in the middle to high sixties all next week, oh yeah bring on the sunshine, and oh mom, you have fun with your 30-40 degree weather BWA-HaHA.
Well love you all, have fun in the snow.
Elder O'Brien
4/1/2010 Quickie
Hello Family and Friends,
How are you all doing? I am doing great, these past few weeks have been fun with Elder Tanner. We have had more investigators then I have ever had before.
Nothing else to report.
Till next week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
How are you all doing? I am doing great, these past few weeks have been fun with Elder Tanner. We have had more investigators then I have ever had before.
Nothing else to report.
Till next week.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
3/18/10 News from Maple Valley
Hey Family,
How are you all doing?
Dad, thanks for the CD’S, tho I don’t really get to listen to them very much. Elder Tanner doesn’t like classical, tho I am slowly changing that.
Life is great out here and I do tract about 5-6 hours a day. The Lord is really starting to bless us especially with an investigator named Gil Sandoval. When I got here he didn’t want any lessons from the missionaries, so for about 12 or 13 weeks we have been praying for him and talking to him off and on, now this is a guy who married an active LDS women 13 yrs. Ago and only started coming to church about 2 yrs ago and started really investigating the church last year. Then it all changed we had a stake conference with an area authority named Elder Brinkerhoff and he talked to Gil along with President Rodarte our stake president for a good 2 hours and blessed his home. So the Tuesday after Stake Confer. We go to Gil’s house with a ward missionary and we talked to him about the church and about repentance, it was a very spiritual meeting, afterwards I felt prompted to ask him if he wanted to start the lessons with us and he said yes!!! So we came over yesterday with the intention to teach him, but we ended up just talking to him for about 2 hours and I just love the answer he gave.I will quote it exactly how he said it to get the full meaning of it. He said “I don’t think the church has been restored, I know it has been restored and that the church that my wife belongs to is that church” He has such a strong testimony of this church and it is people like that , that makes a mission worth it. He is so close to baptism.
Concerning the weather it has been great for the past 2 weeks it has been nothing but sunny and in the 60.s with no snow what so ever, just thought I would tell you that piece of info. Just to make you jealous =) Bwahaha.
Love you all, hope to hear from you soon.
Elder O'Brien
How are you all doing?
Dad, thanks for the CD’S, tho I don’t really get to listen to them very much. Elder Tanner doesn’t like classical, tho I am slowly changing that.
Life is great out here and I do tract about 5-6 hours a day. The Lord is really starting to bless us especially with an investigator named Gil Sandoval. When I got here he didn’t want any lessons from the missionaries, so for about 12 or 13 weeks we have been praying for him and talking to him off and on, now this is a guy who married an active LDS women 13 yrs. Ago and only started coming to church about 2 yrs ago and started really investigating the church last year. Then it all changed we had a stake conference with an area authority named Elder Brinkerhoff and he talked to Gil along with President Rodarte our stake president for a good 2 hours and blessed his home. So the Tuesday after Stake Confer. We go to Gil’s house with a ward missionary and we talked to him about the church and about repentance, it was a very spiritual meeting, afterwards I felt prompted to ask him if he wanted to start the lessons with us and he said yes!!! So we came over yesterday with the intention to teach him, but we ended up just talking to him for about 2 hours and I just love the answer he gave.I will quote it exactly how he said it to get the full meaning of it. He said “I don’t think the church has been restored, I know it has been restored and that the church that my wife belongs to is that church” He has such a strong testimony of this church and it is people like that , that makes a mission worth it. He is so close to baptism.
Concerning the weather it has been great for the past 2 weeks it has been nothing but sunny and in the 60.s with no snow what so ever, just thought I would tell you that piece of info. Just to make you jealous =) Bwahaha.
Love you all, hope to hear from you soon.
Elder O'Brien
3/3/2010 Hi from Maple Valley
Hi Family and Friends,
The area is doing great here. I got a new companion last Tuesday his name is Elder Tanner. He is a great guy and he keeps me good.
The area here in Maple Valley is starting to flourish. We have found five new investigators in the past week and we are working on some eternal investigators, so it's great.
That's all until next time.
Elder O'Brien
The area is doing great here. I got a new companion last Tuesday his name is Elder Tanner. He is a great guy and he keeps me good.
The area here in Maple Valley is starting to flourish. We have found five new investigators in the past week and we are working on some eternal investigators, so it's great.
That's all until next time.
Elder O'Brien
2/15/2010 Hi from Maple Valley
Dear Family and Friends,
Life has been great, the ward is finally getting on board with helping us so we shall see how that goes.
Plus this Friday will be the most glorious day that no one will call me a green boy any more. I am turning 6 months woot!!! I will now be know as a Private with all the fancy do-das that go with it. Also transfers are coming up and I don't know whether or not I am getting transferred.
That's all for this letter. Love ya all.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
Life has been great, the ward is finally getting on board with helping us so we shall see how that goes.
Plus this Friday will be the most glorious day that no one will call me a green boy any more. I am turning 6 months woot!!! I will now be know as a Private with all the fancy do-das that go with it. Also transfers are coming up and I don't know whether or not I am getting transferred.
That's all for this letter. Love ya all.
Love,
Elder O'Brien
2/8/2010 Hi from Maple Valley
Hi Family,
Thanks for the pictures and no I don't really have that much pictures, haven't been taking any, much too busy,
Life is great here the ward is great what more can I say? Tho at times my companion can be down right weird, but I love him.
That's all for now.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
Thanks for the pictures and no I don't really have that much pictures, haven't been taking any, much too busy,
Life is great here the ward is great what more can I say? Tho at times my companion can be down right weird, but I love him.
That's all for now.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
2/1/2010 Greetings from not so snowy MAPLE VALLEY!!!!!!!!!
Hi Family and Friends,
Life is great here we just barely found a new investigator last Thursday and we have taught him the first lesson the restoration. Just a little background here, I went tracting with another elder that I was on exchanges with and a ward missionary. We tracted to this lady named Nui Sakounthong and she told us to come back later that night because she was busy so we came back later that night and they invited us in. We started talking to her and her family, they are all Buddist and she and her husband didn't seem very interested, but her son Cody Sakounthong was. We started talking to him about Jesus Christ and he said that he had heard a little about him from his friends, but that he didn't know that much, so we asked him if we could come back the next day and teach him, but he didn't seem to want to. So I told him that I would bring him over a Book of Mormon to let him read and he said alright so we came back the next day and gave him the Book of Mormon. He started asking a lot of Q's so we told him that we could teach him and this time he said yes, it was so awesome, so we taught him the first lesson and set up a church tour with him tomorrow at four. So we will see how that goes. Oh and just a story of him his name is Cody Sakounthong he is Lao, he was born here in the States, he is 16, he is a great kid. Well that is my report for the week.
Oh the package did arrive, thank you so much for the photos of the family.
That would be awesome if I could get a card for family endowments.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
Life is great here we just barely found a new investigator last Thursday and we have taught him the first lesson the restoration. Just a little background here, I went tracting with another elder that I was on exchanges with and a ward missionary. We tracted to this lady named Nui Sakounthong and she told us to come back later that night because she was busy so we came back later that night and they invited us in. We started talking to her and her family, they are all Buddist and she and her husband didn't seem very interested, but her son Cody Sakounthong was. We started talking to him about Jesus Christ and he said that he had heard a little about him from his friends, but that he didn't know that much, so we asked him if we could come back the next day and teach him, but he didn't seem to want to. So I told him that I would bring him over a Book of Mormon to let him read and he said alright so we came back the next day and gave him the Book of Mormon. He started asking a lot of Q's so we told him that we could teach him and this time he said yes, it was so awesome, so we taught him the first lesson and set up a church tour with him tomorrow at four. So we will see how that goes. Oh and just a story of him his name is Cody Sakounthong he is Lao, he was born here in the States, he is 16, he is a great kid. Well that is my report for the week.
Oh the package did arrive, thank you so much for the photos of the family.
That would be awesome if I could get a card for family endowments.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
1/25/2010 Greetings from not so snowy Mapple Valley
Hey Family and friends wusup,
The mission is great out this way.
It was an awesome time at the temple. Hey I was wondering maybe next time I go to the temple in five months or so maybe you can mail me a temple card so that I can do the endowment for a family member. I think that would be a lot more fun than doing a complete strangers endowment (not that it is bad or anything) it would be awesome. Thanks for the CD's that are coming my companion and district leader will be thrilled. Well that's all for this week.
Love ya all very much,
Elder O'Brien
The mission is great out this way.
It was an awesome time at the temple. Hey I was wondering maybe next time I go to the temple in five months or so maybe you can mail me a temple card so that I can do the endowment for a family member. I think that would be a lot more fun than doing a complete strangers endowment (not that it is bad or anything) it would be awesome. Thanks for the CD's that are coming my companion and district leader will be thrilled. Well that's all for this week.
Love ya all very much,
Elder O'Brien
1/20/2010 More News from MAPLE VALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi,
Hey guys sorry it took me awhile to get back to your email. Monday was not pday because yesterday was temple day, it was great to get to go to the temple which I have not been able to go to since September, but hey all is good. When I got home from that we had to change the oil in the car after that our pday was over so that is why I am emailing so late, but hey at least there isn't very much time till next pday.
No new news from the Ceder River Ward here in Maple Valley. We have a bunch of investigators but none that are willing to go into the waters of baptism. We also have a couple of dry Mormons here (the kind that come to church every Sunday, pays their tithing, lives the law of the fast and so on, but lacks the faith to be baptized) it is sad but at least they know that this church is the true church.
It is a bummer that it is cold there, here is very warm for the last four days it has been in the sixties which is very abnormal around this time of year, especially because around this time of year last year there was three feet of snow on the ground which is very funny, every time it snows two inches it is a holiday, everything closes, the schools, the stores, everything. It's actually very pathetic tho if you ask me.
Transfers was great we got a lot of new missionaries including a nephew of mine (a nephew in case you don't know is if you and another missionary is trained by the same person that makes you brothers and if your brother trains then it is your nephew) his name is Elder Nelson, he is a great guy, fun to be around, he is the companion of my district leader, and yes I am still with Elder Knotts.
Hey my companion and my district leader loves that CD of the EFY and other stuff that you sent me and they where wondering if you could send them a CD, so could you please two more of those EFY and others? Also if Papa could send me some more classical that would be great I have listened to all of the CD that he gave me and I would love to have more thank you much.
Can't believe it was my five months mark yesterday EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGADS I am becoming old in the mission field, but it is a great experience, I love being on a mission, it is so much fun. Anyway that's all for the week.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
Hey guys sorry it took me awhile to get back to your email. Monday was not pday because yesterday was temple day, it was great to get to go to the temple which I have not been able to go to since September, but hey all is good. When I got home from that we had to change the oil in the car after that our pday was over so that is why I am emailing so late, but hey at least there isn't very much time till next pday.
No new news from the Ceder River Ward here in Maple Valley. We have a bunch of investigators but none that are willing to go into the waters of baptism. We also have a couple of dry Mormons here (the kind that come to church every Sunday, pays their tithing, lives the law of the fast and so on, but lacks the faith to be baptized) it is sad but at least they know that this church is the true church.
It is a bummer that it is cold there, here is very warm for the last four days it has been in the sixties which is very abnormal around this time of year, especially because around this time of year last year there was three feet of snow on the ground which is very funny, every time it snows two inches it is a holiday, everything closes, the schools, the stores, everything. It's actually very pathetic tho if you ask me.
Transfers was great we got a lot of new missionaries including a nephew of mine (a nephew in case you don't know is if you and another missionary is trained by the same person that makes you brothers and if your brother trains then it is your nephew) his name is Elder Nelson, he is a great guy, fun to be around, he is the companion of my district leader, and yes I am still with Elder Knotts.
Hey my companion and my district leader loves that CD of the EFY and other stuff that you sent me and they where wondering if you could send them a CD, so could you please two more of those EFY and others? Also if Papa could send me some more classical that would be great I have listened to all of the CD that he gave me and I would love to have more thank you much.
Can't believe it was my five months mark yesterday EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGADS I am becoming old in the mission field, but it is a great experience, I love being on a mission, it is so much fun. Anyway that's all for the week.
Love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
1/12/2010 News from MAPLE VALLEY!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello Family and Friends,
Life is great here, transfers is today so that is why I'm emailing on Tuesday and just for your info yes I will be emailing next Monday, oh and bytheway I am staying in Maple Valley for another transfer so I am happy I didn't have to pack up once again. The ward here is a little slow to get things going here, but hey at least they are doing something.
Anyways life is great here.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
Life is great here, transfers is today so that is why I'm emailing on Tuesday and just for your info yes I will be emailing next Monday, oh and bytheway I am staying in Maple Valley for another transfer so I am happy I didn't have to pack up once again. The ward here is a little slow to get things going here, but hey at least they are doing something.
Anyways life is great here.
Love ya much,
Elder O'Brien
01/4/2010 News from MAPLE VALLEY!!!!!!
Hey Family and Friends,
I am doing awesome.
So your on the 9 schedule for church, I just barely went to 1 schedule which is great because now we have time to study in the morning, but church basically starts at 10 for us since we have a whole bunch of meetings to go to before church, of course that's the life of a missionary.
A little update about my area, it is great. The ward here is great, the ward missionaries are really helping us out a lot. My companion is awesome, a little annoying at times just because he has a picture memory and he has movies upon movies memorized, his favorite movies to quote is Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, it's actually funny at times when he does his gollum voice.
The weather here has been pretty warm it has rained a lot, but not snow thankfully, so life here in Maple Valley is great.
Well love ya all, till next time.
Elder O'Brien
I am doing awesome.
So your on the 9 schedule for church, I just barely went to 1 schedule which is great because now we have time to study in the morning, but church basically starts at 10 for us since we have a whole bunch of meetings to go to before church, of course that's the life of a missionary.
A little update about my area, it is great. The ward here is great, the ward missionaries are really helping us out a lot. My companion is awesome, a little annoying at times just because he has a picture memory and he has movies upon movies memorized, his favorite movies to quote is Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean, it's actually funny at times when he does his gollum voice.
The weather here has been pretty warm it has rained a lot, but not snow thankfully, so life here in Maple Valley is great.
Well love ya all, till next time.
Elder O'Brien
12/28/09 Wish you a Happy New Year
Dear Family,
Hey hey how you all doing it was great getting to hear from y'all.
Anyways things are not going to great here, we had a person on date named ignacio rojas and since he has been sick for the past week he was not able to come to church so we are going to have to push his date back which is sad. We also need to teach him like a bunch.
Well that is all for this week cause I can't think of anything to write so have a happy new year.
I love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
Hey hey how you all doing it was great getting to hear from y'all.
Anyways things are not going to great here, we had a person on date named ignacio rojas and since he has been sick for the past week he was not able to come to church so we are going to have to push his date back which is sad. We also need to teach him like a bunch.
Well that is all for this week cause I can't think of anything to write so have a happy new year.
I love ya all,
Elder O'Brien
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