The "Curveball"

I got the stocking package. My will power will be exercised to the max to leave it uninvestigated till Christmas. We're starting to get pretty stoked on Christmas. We're doing this massive Christmas Program in the Plaza. Sister Turk is going nuts. were getting flood lights and spots and full sized stables and choirs and santa claus and all kinds of madness. Ask me who has to find and purchase all this random stuff while living in a slightly less than modern country?... this guy. Guess who's stressed... But it's gonna be awesome. We're doing Seize the Day from Newsies. It's gonna be tight. Glasgow’s gonna be David and I do the drum line thing. Anyway it's madness. You'll see videos one day.

K here's the thing about this week. Remember last change when I got hit by "the curveball?" The curveball has officially come full circle and made contact with the back side of my head. Allow me to explain. I've been the financial sec. for almost one change now. We all knew Glasgow had to go out next change because he's going home in like two changes. So we've all been guessing at his replacement all change because we know they're gonna be my companion for a long time and we all have to live together, so anyway, we're pretty interested in it. So Monday-ish, I get the year end budget reports and go in to go over it with President... blah blah money blah. Then President asks me if I'm feeling all settled in and such. “Yeah, feelin good, yeah”. Then he says, “Well I've felt you've been underutilized where you're at right now so... we're gonna have you train a new financial sec. and at the same time train you to be the Personal Sec.”  Straight blindsided. So now I'm training Elder Richards to do the financial stuff and get set for Christmas but at the same time I gotta be trained to do Glasgow's job, which President informed me was "the most difficult job in the mission." So my terror level's at about 8 right about now. Crazy right? So I'm gonna be doing travel, health and President's schedule. You guys could maybe like... pray for me a lot or something. Cause if I mess up, really bad stuff happens. Like deportation. Or, like... death.

So that's where we're at this week, fam. It's madness up in Peru land.


Later famisky,

Elder Brian

Life as a Financial Secretary

"As far as financial secretary stuff in concerned. Yeah. I like it just fine. Sometimes it's weird to not go out working all the time. But we get to do cool stuff (just came from a super pituco dinner with Pres. for my day of birthing). And no, I don't feel like a big deal. I am a big deal. My homies down here are all high rollers. Examples- sonja, check out lady at wong's grocery store. we're bff's; Melisa, gives me my ticket at movistar (phone company), laughs at me when I sing the one taylor swift song they play on an endless loop all day; and last but not least Sebastian, who tells me which line to stand in at the bank, we have a secret handshake. So yeah. I'm big news down here."

Christmas Pictures

Hey Doug's Friends & Fam

Elder Brian is turning 20 next Sunday!
If you have a second sometime this week to write him a little note and send some love that would be awesome!
His email is douglas.brian@myldsmail.net
Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hermana Turk's version of Peruvian Abbey Road with all the Office Elders

November 1st

Hey famiry.
So the earthquake thing. It was in Lima. not bad at all. There was one a couple weeks ago that we felt a little more but they didn't do anything here... just kinda cool.
So got a phone call last Friday. And then I was suddenly talking to president. And now I'm in the office. Someone please ask Ian what a financial secretary is supposed to do...!?
So that's why I haven't written you yet, cause I'm trying to figure out how to manage vendors and receipts and memorize account and safe numbers. So I got two weeks to train in all this stuff and then I actually have to start doing it. So that's weird. And odds are pretty good I won't get sent out of the office till my mission is more than half over. Unreal right? But I'm not that bummed about it cause I like working in here. Plus, we get a cool apartment and have our own kitchen and stuff. Plus, I get to make my own breakfast and dinner. Plus, Hermana Turk is extremely generous with candy. So that about makes up for not getting to proselyte very much. So anyway, a kid who's never written a check is now running finances for the Trujillo, Peru mission; if it wasn't inspired it would be absolutely irresponsible. 

How Great is My Calling

Doug sent this to me last week, he says they quote it in Spanish at every meeting. I thought it was really powerful so I thought I'd share it with the rest of the blogosphere...

I am called of God.
My authority is above all the kings of the earth.
By prophesy I have been called as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He is my master and He has chosen me as his humble servant.
To put me in his place. 
To say and do what he would say and do if he personally we're 

here ministering to the very people to which he has sent me.
My voice is his voice. 
My acts are his acts.
My words are his words.
My doctrine is his doctrine.
My comission is to say what he wants said. 

To do what he wants done. 

To be a living, modern day witness of his great and marvelous work in these last days. 
How great is my calling.

-Bruce R. McConkie

October 3rd

So Elder Erickson just died. Sad times. but he lives in Oregon and is gonna go to BYU so in approximately 18 months i'll be seeing him. He was a way good guy. Super focused on loving other people and trying to tell them what Christ would have them do to be happier and feel more of his love. 

So pretty much a normal day: we get up at 6:30 or 6 if we want to go running. shower get ready and walk three blocks to the pensions house. Then we eat go back and study until 10. then we work til 1 and go to the pensions house to eat and leave at 2:30 to work again. This pensh is one of the better ones. she'll make about anything and thern throw on a side of rice. we got that package of food and stuff you sent this week so we made the mashed potatoes and pancakes and all that, but normally she makes chicken or eggs or beef with some rice. you get used to it really.


 P-days are pretty dope. we play fubito at 6 and then shower and come here to write letters and whatever other random purchase and stuff we've gotta do. then at 6 it's like a normal day and we go eat and leave at 7 to go work again. and that is roughly what I do everyday. and it sounds really boring now that I go over it again... this is due to lack of detail and extreme lazyness in writing on my part. sooo sry. ha but really it's pretty awesome.


The people don't let you in their houses as easily as in Huamachuco but the people that do are way more prepared to make and keep commitments. Which is everything. Conference was way good. The four of us that speak english in our stake got our own room and watched most of it in english. It was mind blowingly good. Ask someone how intense Holland was in priesthood session. "He went on a burning rampage of glory." -Erickson  


Anywho.. I am totally drawing a blank on what happened this week... oh Cinthya got baptized. and yes that really is how you spell Cinthya here. We thought it was going to be so stressful to make sure she was prepared in so short a time but it honestly was super easy. Sometimes the spirit isn't a rushing of mighty wind. Sometimes it just makes it so you can understand clearly and then make a choice. And when people make right choice they receive blessings and further witnesses. Agency is kind of a big deal turns out. 

Elder Brian

Yesterday

(This is a post from Doug's Mission President's Wife. You can read her blog at 

                        http://terryandjanetturk.blogspot.com)

This is Segundo and his family.

He is the security guard at the Institute downtown.

His wife has been a less active member for a long time.

He had been given many Book of Mormons by the institute students.

He had listened in on many of the classes.

But to no avail.

The Missionaries were passing by his house one day

and his wife was outside and asked if they had any pamphlets for 

Segundo to read

while he was in the hospital recovering from surgery.

They of course had several, they gave her and they were on their way.

They followed up with the family

and he had read the pamphlets and wanted to hear more.

Segundo knew that it was time to make a change in his life

and get his family on the right path together. He and his daughter were baptized yesterday by Elder Erikson and Elder Brian. 

The church is not an obligation

It is a path... to a glorious destination.

September 6th --Transferred to Trujillo

....We contacted this guy that worked in a tire shop and started teaching him and his niece. Anyway after like two lessons we we´re startng to read bits of the Book of Mormon together and he saw the picture of Joseph Smith in front and stopped the lesson and asked, "that's Joseph Smith right?" We were really surprised cause we had barely mentioned his name and didn't really expect him to know that.. We answered that it was, and then he started telling us about a dream he had that he'd forgotten about till just then where he was walking through a crowd and picked out the face of a man (guess who) as he walked toward him through all the people and they just locked eyes as he passed, so the man turned out to be Joseph Smith.


....and then me and Elder Erickson about passed out.

...When we call our district for their numbers every wednesday thursday and sunday, we added a new category that I'm gonna apply to you guys. We ask every companionship how many times they told their companion they loved them. Which is weird at first right? But expressing love to the Lord or other people is honestly one of the best ways to get the spirit. So do it if you want to be happier people. And if it feels weird or like too much work think about this quote from President Eyring "If you knew how hard we worked in the quorum to have the spirit, you would be embarassed with your own efforts." (I'm told it was said with all humility so don't take it wrong.)

Everybody pray for Trent. For some reason I've been super preoccupied with him lately.

That is all.

-Elder Brian

August 15th -- The Good Samaritan

Cool thing in the scriptures this week:  K, so I found a cool Plan of salvation reference that´s way too complicated to teach to investigators. So guess who has to listen to it. Yep--you guys. Ok so it begins "a certain man (Adam/all of us) went down from Jerusalem (heaven) to Jericho (earth). Along the way he fell among thieves (Satan and his angels) who left him naked and half dead (spiritually dead) and awaiting physical death. And then comes a priest (law given to prophets before Moses) who passed by and couldn´t/wouldn´t save him. Then came a Levite (law of Moses)...also couldn´t save him. Then came our boy, the Samaritan (had no comliness that when we looked upon him we should desire him. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him) and he bound up the wounds and poured in water and oil. Placed the man (Adam/us) on his own beast (his own merit and righteousness) and walked the path that we couldn´t. Then he comes to the inn, which is a place to take care of the man (us) and watch over his healing process, (inn=the church) and he gives to the owner of the inn two pence (two priesthoods) to care for the man until he comes again.

Bit of a stretch? Maybe, but there it is: plan of salvation in the New Testament.

Playing Doctor.

So. This week a bunch of doctors flew in from Michigan to do medical work for the week here. So guess who walks around shadowing doctors and medical students all day, translating all their procedures and questions to the patients.....this guy.

So. Rad. A couple doctors in particular found out I'm planning on med school when I get back so they tried to teach me stuff and let me do things. Yesterday, I found gall stones with an ultra sound machine.... living the dream. Plus I'm pretty much best friends with the dean of medicine right about now. 

Me and my boy, the Dean of Medicine

Love this kiddo..

Mission's are hard. They're supposed to be. But sometimes you set goals and feel the spirit and know that God's saying he'll preppare a way and you can accomplish whatever goal it is.... and then you don't. You really feel like you failed the Lord. It's uber hard. But something I learned here is that there's a difference between depression and divine discontent and I think it applies post-mission. Depression makes it hard to work/pray/study/anything. Divine discontent takes you to your knees and then to the field a little harder.

 Small scriptural example I found this week (only in spanish). In 2 Nephi 2 (somewhere near the end) Nephi gives a little self evaluation; pretty much what he says is "I'm a kid. I'm a big kid.... but still a kid." Exceedingly young even. Pretty focused in his weaknesses. And then he goes on his "mission." Which, all things considered, goes terrible. He knows the Lord's going to provide a way, so their big plan is to just go ask for the plates. That doesn't work out. Complete failure/attempted murder. Okay, next plan: we'll buy them. Not a bad plan. Probably a pretty good one. But again, complete failure/attempted murder again/they lose every possesion they had (Side note: this means there's no going back to Jerusalem. Which is probably particularly bothersome to Laman and Lemuel who, I think, probably really didn't think the whole "wilderness" thing was a life time commitment). Okay so the Lord said he was going to prepare a way. So why isn't there a way prepared? They went from blind (probably naive) faith, to commiting everything they owned to the faith that there would be a way prepared. And there's still no way prepared. So finally Nephi has to trust in the spirit (still has to work) and trust that maybe he doesn't really know best. And you know the rest. But then in chapter four he gives another self evaluation (post-mission) where he says something like "I Nephi being large in stature and having received much strength from the Lord." So compare that with chapter 2-self description. In what must have been a few weeks, maybe a month, he goes from a big kid to having received much strength of the Lord. And I think that change was really the point where Nephi became a person that could father a nation and cross oceans and be super awesome all the time.

Now imagine if the Lord had prepared the way like Nephi thought he would and all they had to do was ask. How different would Nephi be after that? So I think that's why missions are so hard. Sometimes (most of the time) we leave on our missions knowing the Lord's going to prepare a way and people will be prepared to receive us and we think (like Nephi) that all we really have to do is go ask who wants to be baptized. Well that doesn't work out. Then we think, "okay I've gotta give away all my earthly possesions and "buy" some success" Aka everything depends on us and that we work like mad and chase every one we see down and force some lessons down their throat. This also dones't work. And I think that's where missions get depressing. We're working hard. Doing everything we can. Why isn't there a way prepared? Why isn't their a line of people outside our door every morning waiting to get baptized? And I think the answer is the same for us as it was for Nephi; we wouldn't be any different after a mission if all we had to do was go ask. That plus, like Elder Holland said, "Salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation was never, ever easy for Him. Why should we expect it to be easy for us? We are His church and if we're going to wear His name we better be prepared to spend a moment in Gethsemane and take at least a small step toward Calvary." (He gives super intense addresses in his visits to the MTC. Look them up.)

Anyways, that's something I learned this week. I also learned that fleas are litterally the worst creation ever. Our eternal battle against them has been going downhill. my legs are DESTROYED.
Love you family, Elder Brian

So I'm in Huamachuco. Surprise.

 It just barely became a district like right before I got here and there's only like thirty to forty members showing up at church (low percentage). There's only four missionaries here so we have massive areas to cover (not to mention both the senior companions are conselors for the district pres. cause he's pretty much the only real solid preisthood holder here). Anyways Huamachuco is pretty great. The air is 6 million times cleaner than Lima or Trujillo and it's outrageously pretty. But one of the first things President Turk said to me when he told me where I was going was that even in Lima I'd never see poverty like this.. He was pretty much right. In the city center its alright and there's a really pretty center plaza and everything but as you walk up the mountain it gets real poor real fast. It's kinda of a mix between modern day south america and legit Inca Peru.There are people walking around in jeans on there cell phone but on aout every corner there a little incan woman selling corn and jello with the enormous hats and ponchos and everything.

I met my dad and grandpa (as an rm) at our first meeting when we were leaving to our areas. Elder Lopez is a real good guy. He's been wicked sick lately (had to give my first peruvian blessing last night) but we work pretty well and he's a good teacher. He's from Chile and is supergreat at painting (graffiti history. Dope).

Love, Elder Brian

Oh Ps. Election ended sunday (couldnt leave the apartment all day) and I'm pretty sure Ollenta won... Not sure of his politics though cause I'm a missionary and all that and I'm not into that stuff. But yeah maybe look into that.

This is a picture of where Elder Brian lives

Arrived in Trujillo

Dear family,

I am here in Trujillo.  We got here at about 9:00pm yesterday, all is well. Last night the missionaries, and President and Sister Turk picked us up from the Airport. Then we had dinner and rested in the hotel, today we have a bunch of trainings and I will meet my trainer later this afternoon.   I am tired, but fantastic!!!

I will email you more next Monday.

Love,

Elder

Ps. So, that was a pretty generically generated message. But really. I´m here. And fine. I'll write latter in the week though. Ciao.

(ps. from Christy) Got a phone call from a random lady in Layton today who said her daughter is serving in Doug's same mission. She saw Doug on the Mission Presidents' blog and then looked up our number just to call and tell us about it so we could see too. How adorable! right!? So, in case you wanna see too, the address is http://terryandjanetturk.blogspot.com/

Hola.... So our email time is pretty early today. looks like I beat any/all emails today so hope you didn't have any pressing questions. I might be able to get back on later but. I dunno.

So yeah. still in Peru. We've been watching all the Jefferey R. Holland talks he gave at the MTC over the past couple years. Seriously the most intense things ever. Turns out I missed seeing him there by like two months or so. any way you should go find them. cause they're way good. Mm Elder Weber and I are currently getting ready for our proselyting trip on Saturday. Which is gonna be way good. But I think he depends on me a little more than Elder Serrano so, probably gonna have to step my game up a little more for that. Hopefully I'll understand spanish by then or something. That'd be alright. ummm This week was really fast and I can't think of anything new cause it feels like I wrote you guys like... yesterday.

Oh. but can someone out there in the virtual world get me a report on how Davis soccer did? Elder Loveless knows like every game Bingham has played while he was gone somehow and I want to rub it in a bit if Davis did better. ha.

 Um yeah. pretty much out of time. So in summation. still here. Still just read and study and speak spanish everyday. Gonna go wash my clothes and read a book (are you guys aware of how intense the new testament is? you probably are. But i wasn't before. And I recently discovered that it's nuts.) anyways. Love you, Elder Brian.

Lima, Peru

May 18th Update

Okayyy so your vacation sounded suuuper fun. but don't complain. I just got off a bus ride from the temple where there were at least 35 little peruvians and 8 significantly larger Elders packed into a bus the size of my bathroom back home. Super fun. But hilarious.


Even in Peru lately it's been really cloudy and (relatively) cold. The latinos were losing their minds cause they thought they were all gonna freeze to death or catch pneumonia from the 70 degree weather. Funny.
But sounds like a good trip. more hiking and stuff like that in powell would be fun every once in a while. Karen's backyard is gonna be a restaurant?? that sounds intense. And i would want to eat there. A lot. so that'll probably work out.


Also we are advised to tell our parents to not send packages here. it's really expensive and i have to spend all day going to get it from customs and weird stuff... i dunno why. but in two weeks when i leave it's easy again sooo just hold off on that. I can't believe i look skinnier. I eat. SO. MUCH. Granted it's usually like 90% rice but i eat like.. 4 pounds a day. Not making a dent? sad. Probably because i (and all the gringos) am sick. all the time. not sick enough to really matter. but sick.


But hey i play soccer everyday and Elder Loveless taught me how to do a backflip. And by taught me i mean yelled at me till i got the nerve to do it. but yeah. now i'm one of those cool guys that do backflips when they score a goal.


what else.... umm my new companion is elder weber. he's nice... but. He's kind of my kryptonite. And by that I mean he keeps putting things on my bed. It's DESTROYING me. Like his wet towel after he showers. or his sweaty gym clothes when we change... I beg him like everyday to just use his own or his closet or something. he will not. Then one day he started clipping his toenails whilest sitting on my bed and i drew a line. So I think now he understands my concern and will no longer defile my sanctuary. really though. it was messed. que mas.... 


so i bought like 15-20 dollars worth of candy today. hope thats chill. Ha really though it was super necesary. you can only have one plate of food here. and while it's massive it's not really filling the gap that Chic-fil-a/cereal has left in my heart(stomach). So theres that.


 Did you see those pictures i sent of our tour in Lima? cause that's where we were when we went through that museum. you were there. it was weird and de-ja-vuy.  I'm gonna wind down now. Crazy that logan is married. Keep doing good things and having fun with all your misadventures. cause they keep me amused. hey I finished Jesus the Christ last week (random). Super good. you should read it (chirsty/everyone who reads this). Love you all keep the prayers up.

Excerpt from Doug's Letter last week...

Hola Fam.

Still here in Peru. Today we're going on a tour through Lima. Should be pretty great. Elder Serrano took off to Bolivia and it's just been my district of Norte Americanos here for the past two days. Its weird this whole big complex and there'sonly like eleven of us..but more are coming soon.

We went tracting last Saturday and it was intense. They drove us out for about an hour to a place called Valle Sagrado and...just let us go. So Elder Serrano and I just start walking up this crazy, dusty, super poor area on the mountain stopping people and knocking doors. We each had one Book of Mormon to give away, pamphlets, and the missionaries assigned there said we could give them everyone's information we found and they'd follow up with it. So it was nuts. We were out for like..7 or 8 hours and taught 8 lessons and contacted like 20 people.

It's still pretty hard for me to understand 100% of what people are saying..mainly cause there's always noise going on or they mumble or something. But I was able to teach okay and I let Elder Serrano handle most of the real specific questions...

It sounds like Doug is adjusting to missionary life pretty well. We appreciate all your prayers for all of Heavenly Father's missionaries! If you get a few minutes to write a letter it would really mean a lot to him. Hope everyone's enjoying their summer!

A Couple of Photogs.

First Companion: Elder Dickerson.

Originally from: Tennessee

Favorite Pasttime: Checking his watch.

CCM: Lima, Peru

Doug's room at the CCM.

New Companero: Elder Serrano

Originally from: Cusco, Peru

Likes: Soccer, Dragonball Z, and American Music

New Addresses - Send Elder Brian some LOVE

Peru Trujillo Mission Home Address:

Elder Doug Brian
Los Granados No. 613
Urbanizacion California, Trujillo 
PERU 

Mailing Address:

Elder Doug Brian  Peru Trujillo Mission
POUCH: PO Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

email: douglas.brian@myldsmail.net

MTC week #2

Doug's District in Provo

MTC life is still grandiose as usual. Oh hey. cool thing happened. So my district got asked to usher for the fireside last night... kinda weird cause we've only been here for a week. So I'm pumped cause ushers get like the best seats ever. right up front in the bleachers, all kinds of leg room, and on this particular night... a direct line of eye contact to Elder Scott. INTENSE. He didn't use a teleprompter or write any of his talk out, he just had a few sheets of paper with some pictures of the slides he used and just talked for like 45 minutes. So baller status. Then at precisely 7:38, April 19, 2011, He drops the bomb... not even just a regular bomb... like an ultimate nuke star trek ion cannon laser beam bomb. He just stops for a second and says (looking dead at me, i swear) "how many of you are learning a foreign language?" I raise my hand with everybody and then he says,"I'm going to exercise some of my authority as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, holding all the keys of his church, and envoke upon each of you the blessing of the gift of tongues." Elder Dreiling (who's also teaching me how to Jimmer in gym everyday) and I about fainted from sheer intense, glorious awesome.So riddle me this, I've eaten like i've never eaten before in this place (consequence of having a samoan constantly forcing me to eat "like i was a samoan") and somehow i've still lost eight pounds. so the bad news is I'm gonna hit the ground in peru (if i ever get my visa) and straight up blow away into the sea. And then they're gonna have to scrammble the coast guard or whatever peruvian equivallent they have there, but as Christy can attest the quality of peruvian aviation is somewhat lacking, so then the helicopter will probably crash. so then they have to scrammble their navy for that... and this starts a whole international incident when i'm plucked out of the water by a foreign military ship. And that just sounds inconvenient for everyone. So I hope that doesn't happen. Might though.

Anyways... That's what happened here in the happiest place on earth last night. woo. so can someone get me trent's address already? also ask casey if he's getting any letters from me. cause I'm still waitng on him to get me addresses for like... everyone i know in kaysville. cause his is the only one i have.Try to get like Alex, Trent, Thomas, Josh W., and Mal's. Pretty sure some of
them think I forgot them cause I'm not writing them. but I just have no addresses.

Love you guys.

do good things.

MTC week #1

I definitely wrote a letter home... just not on my first day. Being in the MTC for a week didn't cure me of procrastination. surprise. So thus far purgatory's no big. Like it's tons of scheduling and you've constantly got something to do, but that makes the time go by way fast. So I guess if you were lazy and didn't plan/do anything each day in here would feel like an eternity. But fortunately for me I have Elder Dickerson to keep me from ever doing anything not specifically sanctioned in the missionary handbook.As for the rest of my district--Hunt's a big Samoan from Australia, born in New Zealand and called from Samoa. He's way funny. I knew I'd have a big polynesian friend. I traded him my trashy hat for a lavalava and we'll probably keep writing all through our missions. He's going to oakland. So I'll miss him. but for now he's the best.He taught me this hilarious game called pukana that i've gotta teach you. super fun. Anyways Dickerson thinks he's a terrible, slacker missionary and that, if i make friends with him, I'll surely waste all my mission and cause all the people of Peru to perish in ignorance....ha.Also there's Elder Jones. He's sick. He's a falconer from Missouri. Falconer meaning he caught a hawk (the biggest red tailed hawk in missouri's history) and trained it and hunts with it and stuff like that. He showed me a video of it diving from like several thousand feet and drilling this pheasant out of the sky. So. Sick. Everybody else in the districts pretty chill and almost all the guys in our zone are dope.  For the record, Emails fine for like you and family but Dearelders way more convenient for everyone else so I don't waste computer time reading them.  Some pictures would be nice. lots of them. so find some good ones. get my friends to send me some too.
Wellp, love you guys.
later.

First Companion

We got our first letter from Doug! He's loving the MTC so far and here's a little excerpt from his letter that paints a pretty good picture of what his very first companion is like...

"SO ONE OTHER FUNNY THING HAPPENED.  ELDER DICKERSON AND I WERE STUDYING SOME SCRIPTURES AND HE SAID, “I CAN’T REMEMBER EXACTLY WHERE, BUT I REMEMBER A QUOTE WHERE ONE MAN WISHED HE HADN’T BEEN ASKED TO DO SOMETHING, AND THE OTHER MAN SAID, “SO DO ALL WHO LIVE TO SEE SUCH TIMES.  BUT THAT IS NOT FOR THEM TO DECIDE.  ALL THEY HAVE TO DECIDE IS WHAT TO DO WITH THE TIME THAT IS GIVEN TO THEM.”

Hilarious.

Some Pictures from the Big Send-off

Thanks to everyone who came and shared this day with us. I didn't get pictures of everyone but we love you all!

Costley Fam



Hererras



Friends

Brians



More Friends

"The Eulogy"

To whom ever reads this and maybe couldn't make it to Doug's farwell...it just so happens that my sweet Uncle recorded it.

You can listen to it here: Doug's Farewell

(it might take a second to open/load but just leave it open and wait and it will eventually start)

Heyo.


So right now this is Doug. Soon to become Elder Brian. But starting Wednesday Christy's gonna take over as my official "Blog writer". She'll probably post my letters and stuff and hopefully beg you guys to write me but this is officially my first and last blog.


I don't have too much to say right now and hopefully you all came to my eulogy on Sunday and heard it all already anyways. But here's some of the highlights for those of you who didn't.


I'm leaving Wednesday for purgatory (aka the MTC). After three weeks in Provo I'll go to the Lima MTC for more language training and studying and such and then I'm off to Trujillo to sink or swim.


It'd be real nice if you guys wrote me lots of letters. I dunno if that sounds super desperate but that kind of thing will really help me out. So do it. I'll like you for it.


So I want to write a few things down I didn't really get into during my talk Sunday cause I was out of time and crying... kind of a lot. First of all I want to tell everyone that I know why I'm doing this. It's kind of the clichè thing to do around here, but it really is a special privilege to remove yourself as the center of your life and replace it with Christ for two years. I know this gospel can bring peace, joy and healing to the human heart like no other thing on this planet. I was raised in this church and kind of always believed it was true through everyone else's testimony. I was pretty embarrassed when the day came that I realized I had never put the Book of Mormon to the test on my own. This church can only be explained in two ways: The first, that at fourteen years of age, just one year older than my baby sister, Joseph Smith devised the most elaborate, well conceived hoax of all time and became one of, if not the greatest authors and theoretical historians in human history. OR he saw what he said he saw. And this church not only contains the restored and full gospel of Jesus Christ but He stands at it's head as our living redeemer. All we are asked to do is read a book and ask, but it still took me a crazy amount of time to do. So I wanna stop typing now but I'll leave a quote from Elder Holland that has kind of become my own, "I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days." 


- Elder Brian