Mission Call!

Hello my dear! How has your week been? Any new updates? I admit I’ve been worrying, and googling to find news, and hoping that things will improve for you. You seemed so upbeat when we talked last week, and I want you to know how proud I am of you. You are making the best of a difficult situation and serving with faith. I hope you are enjoying getting to know your new companion and seeing some progress with the people you are teaching. I talked to Kristen Monteirth this week. Cody’s mission has been difficult in completely different ways. She said he saw someone get killed once. Another time he got shot at but I think the gun misfired? He’s serving out in the middle of nowhere and baptizing people in a muddy river where people bathe. Anyway. It made me feel better that you are at least serving in a safe and clean location. Just stay away from the police! Kristen says Cody and Brandon plan to room together at BYU. That would be fun to meet up with them after your mission!


Things are good here. Because I was traveling last Sunday I didn’t get a letter sent out, so I did double duty and wrote you a novel today! Looking forward to talking soon!

This is what we've been up to:
  1. Jett and Ethan had their piano recital, and both did an excellent job!
  2. Blake opened his mission call to Cambodia! I was quite surprised by the call. I’m not going to lie—I’ve got some concerns about Cambodia. But Blake is so excited! He’s been watching YouTube videos about the food and living conditions. He watched one video about a guy who lives on a floating house on the water. He has an alligator cage attached to his house and catches snakes to feed the alligators. Yikes! I guess there is a group of guys who have been called to Cambodia that are getting together to start studying the language—-which seems extremely complex. But I’m glad Blake is able to connect with smoother former and future Cambodian missionaries as he gets ready to go. His friend Bronson has been to Cambodia several times and opened his mission call to Cambodia this week as well. But Bronson will be serving in the East mission and leaves a month or two later.  
  3. Jett has started playing comp baseball and is super excited to have the season begin.
  4. I took trip to Montana with my BYU roommates last weekend. Corinne’s sister-in-law owns a second home right on Whitefish Lake and she let us stay there. It was a super nice home, and a relaxing weekend. But it was a bit too cold to spend much time outside.  The lake was still frozen over.
  5. Dad and Michael have got their plane tickets to Taiwan booked!
  6. Blake asked Becca to prom! He stood outside her house holding Josh on his shoulders while Josh rapped. It has something to do with a meme, but makes no sense to me! Blake has lost so much weight that his suit doesn’t fit anymore. But he doesn’t need a suit for his mission, so we are going to have to be a bit creative to find him something suitable to wear to the dance.
  7. Last Weekend was Daylight Savings. Do they change the clocks in Malaysia or Singapore? It’s the absolute worst. I’ve been a zombie all week. 
  8. I flew home from Montana Sunday night, and then had plans to spend the day with Blake at BYU on Monday. Steve Bennett is friends with the dean of the Engineering School, so he arranged for us to go meet him and have a tour of the engineering building. The dean was really kind and spent about an hour with us telling us about the programs BYU offers and showing us the different labs and things the students are working on—like a Mars rover and drones. After that we met up with Michael for lunch and then went to see counselors in science and pre-med. I think it was good to get Blake thinking about what some of his options will be, and what a career in those fields might be like. The dean of engineering said that usually students have to graduate and then get 5 years of work experience before applying to the MBA program. But not the engineers. BYU will allow engineering students to go straight through to the MBA program, and that seemed to really interest Blake. 
  9. Michael has been thinking more about his major too. He went to some kind of a forum where he learned more about the Strategic Management major within the business school, and thought it sounded like a good fit. It’s a tough program to get into though, so we shall see if it all works out! He’s going to take Econ this spring at the Salt Lake extension center and then apply to the business program.
  10. After being on campus Blake and I decided to go visit great grandpa Bramhall and tell him about Blake’s mission call. Grandpa is so proud of you boys! We stayed to visit for a long time and he told us all about when he married my grandpa. Maybe I will type up his story and send it to you.
  11. Your Dad has been an absolute HERO organizing our yard project. He’s been coordinating with the concrete guy, the shed guy, the electrician, the heating and air guy, and the fence guy. They got started on the work this week and have completed the new sidewalk on the East side. Still prepping the West side.
  12. Jett has been having dress rehearsals for Finding Nemo Jr. Jett plays Bruce the shark, and is so fun to watch! His costume is awesome—a glittering sequined tuxedo coat and a top hat! I’m looking forward to watching his perform this week.
  13. Ethan’s basketball team won the championship game for their league last night.
  14. Blake’s basketball team also won their championship game! His coach took the team out to eat at Texas Roadhouse and that was a treat!
  15. Uncle Zach tore his achilles tendon playing basketball this week and had to have surgery to repair it. It’s going to be a rough recovery. He’ll be in a boot for a long time and won’t be able to drive for at least 12 weeks. Full recovery will take at least a year. Poor Zach.
  16. Cousin Ryan turned 16 and got his driver’s license! And today is Natalie’s birthday!
  17. Colton Hyde got his mission call to Bolivia!
  18. Ethan had a bit of an allergic reaction to some skincare products and his face sort of freaked out for a few days. He’s feeling much better, but I’m still battling the dang rash on my shins, and Tate has about 15 warts on his hands that I’m trying to get rid of. Sigh. 
  19. My dad took Uncle Andrew to Great Grandpa’s house in Provo yesterday with my aunts and uncles to start clearing out belongings and furniture to get the house ready to sell.  It makes me sad! He was texting photos yesterday of household items to see if I or my siblings wanted anything, and ultimately I think he just loaded up a whole bunch of stuff to bring home and let us sort through and divide up. So far there have been no clothes. But I did tell my dad and aunt Kathleen that you and your brothers would love to have some of grandpa’s old clothes and not to send anything to the DI!
  20. Tate and Jett are currently designing a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick’s day tomorrow. Will they catch something? TBD.
Love you,
Mom













































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