Week 95: Last Transfer of the Mission!!

Dear Mom and Dad,

So this week has been a lot of service, which I am always happy for. Service is a great way to get to know the people in any given area. We helped one lady paint her house so she could move out, and also helped one of the High Councilman clean up this sports complex he owns. Wendy is still out of town until the 4th so I will have a further update on her next week after she gets back. So our transfer calls came and I will be dying (Going home) in Fishers with Elder Walker! I'm pretty excited about that because me and him have really been hitting a groove and doing solid. That's awesome Peyton got baptised! I emailed him about that. That's crazy Nick is home.... I remember when all of us were just getting our calls and we all left within 3 months of each other.... Now I am the last to come home... I got my flight Itinerary today. I get home 10:19 August 4th. I'm not sure quite what to think going into this last transfer. I'm very excited to be home don't get me wrong, but I will be sad to go at the same time. I do have a list for when I get home haha. The first week I am home I am going to spend one day and lock myself in some room and just be alone..... Having someone attached at the hip for 2 years gets old. Also video games with the boys. And date Girls haha. That's basically all my plans for when I get home oh and a job too haha. I'm sorry I haven't been the best at emailing all you guys. Monday is super stressful trying to make sure everyone gets written and I always end up talking to all my mission friends too. So I am sorry about that, I will try and do better this last transfer. I promise I will hold no details back when I get home! Now Dad don't worry about me checking out. I've had too many experiences cleaning up after some Elder who's trunky as all get out and he makes a mess of the area. So I will be doing my darndest to not check out. Don't worry I won't forget my purpose here. I'm sad to see Bishop Brockbank go he was by far my all time favorite bishop. I guess I'll just have to learn to love the new guy! Well I think that's it I love you all! Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 94: Great Week!

Dear Mom and Dad,

This week went super well! So Wendy came back in town this week only for a couple days, but it was long enough for us to talk to her and her other 2 daughters. She is still reading and doing her best to get involved with it! She actually showed her kids Meet the Mormons! She is taking so much initiative in this it makes our lives soooo nice! We are still doing well though Elder Walker has been starting to grate on me a little. He has a lot of Greenie pride and is painfully awkward. I love the kid but he just hasn't had much in the way of human interaction in his life. So I find myself talking more and more, which I'm not super happy about because when I was with Elder Williams I could let him talk and learn how to do things because it wasn't going to trainwreck. With walker.... I feel like everytime he opens his face stupid just comes flying out of it and he just can't help it. I mean sneddon was awkward, but with him it was kind of endearing, here I spend most of my time around members resisting the urge to face palm... But he really is a great kid he just needs some more experience under his belt. Sounds like you guys are having a great summer! Hey I was wondering if you could see if they had a topic in mind for my homecoming talk. Just wanted to be ready for it because I don't think I'll have a lot of time to do it that week. Thanks! Haha speaking of immodesty you aught to see out here! its so hot and humid all the time you should see what the girls out here go jogging in. I don't think I've seen one pair of shorts that goes past mid thigh. It's so rediculous haha. Well I think that is honestly all for this week thanks for all you guys do! Love you!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 93: Braken is doing Well...

Dear Mom and Dad,

It's not that we don't lock our doors, we just forgot on the one day it mattered! Haha I think President was just as surprised as we were. We just explained what happened and he was like well just make sure you lock your doors from now on.... then he laughed and was like it's never a dull moment. Wendy is due to be back in town this week so we are crossing our fingers that she is still on board. Many many prayers have been had in her behalf so I really appreciate the extra ones you are sending. Me and Elder Walker are doing really well, he is just green enough to keep my trunky butt moving ;) You did WHAT?????!! You know how much I was looking forward to coming home and going to the lake!?!?!?!? ..... I feel betrayed.... Whatever I guess I'll just have to talk him into buying another one ;) That's sweet about Garret wanting to get a job there. Tell him if he gets on there to put in a good word for me haha. Sounds like you guys are having a pretty fun summer. This week went pretty well we had lots of service opportunities. That keeps us busy and productive which is super nice. Other than that, that's kind of it. Love you all and thanks for sending me the LifeEz! I'll talk to you more next week!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 92: "A Stranger Among Us!"

Dear Mom and Dad,

First off... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! LOVE YOU!!!! :) This week has been a strange one.... Oh first off before I do anything else I need more LifeEz! If you could just send another 4 pack I would really appreciate that I'm on my last bottle and that'll only last another week thanks! That should last me pretty much till I go home. Ok so I have quite the story to tell about this week! So one morning alarm goes off, me and Elder Walker wake up. He heads to the bathroom and I start saying my prayers. When I'm done I stand up and Elder Walker is standing there with a look like he is trying to figure a puzzle out. He then tells me how there is a man passed out on our couch. I look at him like he's crazy and am like no there's no way there's a guy on our couch! I then go out into the living room, and there is a guy, still completely dressed, lying on our couch..... I then look at Elder Walker and we proceed to try and wake the guy up. No luck. So we start calling people. President, our Zone Leaders, our Ward Mission Leader, no one answers. So finally our WML texts us back and we let him know what's going on. He comes over and helps us wake the guy up. Luckily our WML speaks spanish because he didn't speak English, He gets up, looks around the house really confused looking, and then walks out. Our WML comes back with the cops like a half hour later, they get our info make sure we don't want to press charges and then take off. So then like another 15 minutes later President calls and makes my quote book,"Elder Park, What the heck is going on?" He then proceeded to council us to make sure our doors are locked from now on. Haha the cops said he probably just came home drunk, and since all the apartments in the complex look the same, he accidentally walked into ours. So that's the interesting story for the week! So tell Peyton we didn't get broken into we just had an unexpected visitor. But other than that it's been a pretty uneventful week. Lot's of cancellations this week. But we were able to do a lot of service, so that made up for the lack of teaching. Me and Elder Walker are doing really well we get along pretty well. I'm kinda hoping I'll get to finish with him.  Tell Christy I've been using a Chromeapp called Hope Chest and I've been doing all descendancy work with it. I've still got 30 names sitting in there waiting for their ordinances to be requested. It's a simple program but massively effective. My thoughts on High Adventure.... I would say that I look back on those times kinda like I view my time with Elder Bruckman. I grew a lot and we had some fun, but it was definitely one of the hardest things I've done. I probably wouldn't choose to do it again, but I am glad I got to do it. Other than that I can't think of much else to say. I love you all! Have an Awesome week!

Love, Elder Braken Park

Week 91: Flashbacks of Elder Sneddon! :)

Dear Mom and Dad, 

#1? I'm your only missionary! Haha but anyway this week has been actually really good! We finally heard back from Wendy, she is currently working in Michigan, and will not be back to church until June 22 (a week before transfers...), but she is staying strong and is still on fire! We actually were able to meet her daughters this week when we stopped by. Starting at the oldest their names are London, Sawyer, and Alex I already told you about. They were actually quite excited to see us which means that Wendy has been talking about it a lot! Keep them in your prayers! (also that I don't get transferred so I get to be here to teach her!). Me and Elder Walker have been doing really great! He actually reminds me a lot of Elder Sneddon, and you know all about that bromance hahaha :) We are doing pretty well, his greenness still shows just a little but I guess that's what the Follow-up trainer is for haha. He's a good kid and a solid missionary. I really think we will enjoy this transfer! Haha I kinda miss normal sabbath activities. For us sunday is just another day, nothing different except that we go to church. I look forward to that aspect of being home haha. It sounds like you have come up with a pretty good sunday regime! I look forward to participating in it with you. Ugh I'm getting so trunky... It's not that I don't love it, it's just that this area is so hard to feel productive in it's really starting to wear on me. This is really a terrible place to finish my mission.... I love the ward and everything, but man people are soo prideful here. but anyway that was my 2 sentances of my teardrops hahaha. Thanks for all you guys do to support me! Love you!

Love, Elder Braken Park