Arizona update July 29

Jessica-hello again!  It was so great to here from some of you!  This week has been really busy for my parents with transfers and everything.  A girl in my ward named Lizzy came back from vacation this week.  We went to the mall and a diamondback’s game and we have hung out at my house and hers.  It is nice to have someone my age… but man do I miss my friends from home!!  I love you all so much! Thanks for keeping in touch and being supportive. Love, jessica

 

Taylor- Hey everybody…apparently we have been doing these letters for a while and I have missed them so I guess this is my first but not a first for the rest of the family. I got a membership for a boxing gym, but I am not taking boxing lessons…I just go to the gym. I think my mom told some people that I box but I don’t I just go to a gym that happens to teach boxing. I made some friends; I went to the diamond backs game with Adam the other day because we had extra tickets. Me and Chad had a campout in our backyard the other day and stayed up all night. Usually during the day Kyle, Adam, Chad, and sometimes Stuart come over and we play football, basketball at the church, and air soft wars. Jessica got her registration packet thing for school but I didn’t so maybe I can just come home and go to Oakmont! Well unfortunately we went to the school and arranged a meeting with a counselor so I will not be able to just skip school for three years after all. =[ We have been going on hikes on Mondays with the missionaries that haven’t been very far but it involves a lot of climbing and lots of speed. So when some of my friends COME OUT AND VISIT then I will take you guys on one of the hikes that we have been on and we can run down the mountain which really hurts your ankles but it is the best part of the hike. We discovered that Brandon is really good at hiking up hill because he beat me and Jessica up a really hard mountain by like five minutes…but ended up getting tired and getting a piggy back ride on the way down…lol so anyway when you guys come we have a few things ready for you to do. Yesterday with the assistants we went cycling and I was going to race Elder Grange but took a wrong turn so he ended up beating me by about twenty-five feet. At least I was able to catch up though. We went to Costco the other day and got four full carts full of food for transfers and had to get this huge ripped guy that reminded me of Brett to help us load the food into the car. For mutual we went golfing and I discovered my lack of talent in golfing (meaning I couldn’t golf to save my life). Since it is one of the few things to do around here I play basketball all the time now so when the Davis boys come out to play me I will be ready. Hahahaha At the gym I was going to take a cardio kick boxing class but decided not to because it was made up of a bunch of ripped twenty year old ladies. Elder de Cesare is awesome so he took us to the zoo the other day and he didn’t make us stay for like twenty minutes at each animal like my mom. Hahaha but we love her though. I went to district meeting because Elder Endemano invited me and they had really good watermelon. Elder Endemano is this really nice missionary that is from the army and he helped me figure stuff out at missionary training and went on one of the hikes with us. Well Jessica is making fun of me for taking up “like a whole page” so I think its time to wrap it up.. We miss everyone and we await your visit!!! Hint hint  Love ya,

      TAYLOR =]

 

Amanda-This has been a busy week we are doing transfers.  I have become the new receptionist at the office my dad works at and some other people there, they are the best there is Sister Roll and Sister Milligan they are so sweat and so nice to me they are the best and there is Sister and Brother Willis they invited us to swim it was great we had so much fun the there is Brother and Sister deCesare  they are so nice and really funny to and Brother deCesare took us to the zoo it was great  and we had so much fun we also lately have been going to the library it s about 30 the size of yours they have a teen section and it is the size of are library and they have a kids section and it has a bridge and a big castle in side and you go inside a room and it has little mouse chairs and slices of cheese for a table and it has an arch for the mouse hole and a couch that is actually a cats paw my mom will probably tell you a lot more about it.  We have done so much more I would tell you but the other kids have stuff to say to. Well to the primary kids and all the kids there in the ward  does not have a lot of kids in fact me and Brandon are in the same class but that is okay but when we sing the primary song s that I sang back there I and I am back thinking of all of you with your shining faces primary songs are so important to me to remember you by so sing as loud as you can and remember me as I remember you I miss you a lot and hope to see you soon      J AMANDA J    

 

Brandon-hey guys.  How  are you doing?  I miss you.  Hope you can visit.  If you can, I’d be really happy. I’m having a nice time.  The friends I’ve made are Nathan and George.  Erik came to visit me a few days ago.  He taught me how to pick up Jeff. It was really fun.  Sincerely, Brandon

 

Jeffrey-hi everybody all of my California friends.  I miss you so much.  I hope all of you guys are having a fun time.  Last week I skipped breakfast and lunch and ate dinner and went to church.  I went to the office and got some skittles.  I miss my friends Jared, & Luke. I miss all of you.  Last week elder deCesare took me to the zoo!  I saw a wolf, one of the monkeys that has pink stuff on their bottoms.  What are they called again?  I played with a new friend and his name was Caleb.  When we were playing we played house.  He has pretend cars and house.  He is a really fun friend to play with.  I wish you could come to Arizona and play with him with me.  I miss you.  Love Jeffrey

 

Sister Bassett- Hello everyone. The kids started this email a few days ago, and I’ve held it up. We’ve been so busy lately. But I have half an hour to write down a few things. It’s been great to hear from so many of you. Congratulations on weddings and babies. Such exciting news. We are happy for all of you. It sounds like everyone is having a great-busy summer. (Laura I hope your work with Carol was fantastic.) We especially thank you for all the great letters and packages for the kids-especially Jeffrey. It’s been a highlight of the day for the kids to run over to the office and get the mail. I’m happy to announce, Jeffrey found a friend! And just in time. The other day he asked me how many more days until his birthday. It was something like 31. He said, “31 days. Mom, you’d better hurry and find me a friend so there will be someone to hit my piñata at my birthday party.” Not only has Jeffrey found a friend, but the senior couples that work in the office have fallen in love with him. Elder deCesare (wow, what a character. He’s about my height and describes himself as an Italian, New York, Jew. Such stories. He handles all the cars in the mission and is affectionately known as the car czar. He loves opera and has a thing for telling crazy stories and mafia jokes.) We told him Jeffrey loves instrumental soundtracks and the music from Phantom of the Opera. Now, every few days he brings Jeffrey a new opera CD for Jeffrey to listen. It’s great. Jeffrey walks around the room, arms open wide belting out opera. He took all our kids and 4 of his grandkids to the zoo the other day. The zoo opens at 7:00 am, so they left at 6:30. The kids were thrilled with the idea, because he bought doughnuts for breakfast! There mother wasn’t there, obviously.

The weather was great for a week or so. In the mornings it was down to 80 and didn’t go much over 100. It’s felt like a cross between Sacramento and Hawaii-warm breezy nights. It started to pick back up the last couple of days, but still, it was a nice break. The kids and I have been going on jogs in the morning. There’s a golf course just down the street along the canal. It’s riddled with jogging/bike trails (they’re all over here). We’ve seen jack rabbits, humming birds, all kinds of birds, actually. There are a bunch of ducks and diving ducks swimming in the canals all the time and a flock of geese that seems to be here for the long haul. The canal water is filthy. There are water treatment plants all over-but still the water taste bad. When we first moved in, we thought there was a modern art museum or community center down the street, but it turns out this fantastic building is a water treatment plant. They decorate everything to the hilt here. Even the freeways. In fact, the freeways are beautifully landscaped with catus, flowering bushes and great patterns and Aztec type pictures down in colored rock along the freeways. The freeways themselves are down in colored concrete with all kind of fancy brickwork and designs in them.

Enough of all that. We’re doing great. We just finished transfers. We said good bye to 19 missionaries on Monday. It was a fantastic experience. After Mark gave them all a final interview (It took three days to finish all of those!), they came to our home for dinner with the family. (Mark made tri-tip, mmm!) We took some pictures, said goodbyes-Jeffrey and Brandon had them all sign the baseballs they caught at the Diamond backs game. (A stake president here gave us his tickets, just behind the dug out for the visiting Atlanta Braves. We went while Mark stayed and did interviews. Hopefully he’ll make it next time.) Then we had a testimony meeting where the missionaries expressed their thoughts and feelings about Jesus Christ, their experience as missionaries and their expectations for the future. It was a great night. The next day they all came over for breakfast. Mark made waffles carrying on a Brasher family tradition. When we arrived, my Mom and Dad bought him an industrial waffle maker that is a copy of the one we’ve used since I was a tiny girl. (–Sorry dad, we didn’t use any honey butter and cheddar cheese. I’ll have to learn how to make that!) It’s fun to start all these new traditions!. We took them to the airport and then waited to pick up our new missionaries. We had 17 of them! It was so exciting to see them arrive. They were nervous, tired, and hungry, but eager to get started. We took them back to the mission home for some training a big lunch with all of the office staff and their new trainers-about 54 people total. It was great. We had some trainings, let them practice teaching, and after 3 or 4 hours sent them off with their new companions to begin teaching lessons. We had a few missionaries come who will teach in Spanish, some in English and one companionship that teaches in ASL. It’s been great to learn about the deaf culture and appreciate it more. I’ve learned a lot of things I didn’t know and probably would never have even thought to guess.

 

We woke up today and have a new visitor for a few days. It’s great to be able to see family and friends from home-although Mark and I aren’t able to participate much. The Carlisle’s came to visit and so did my mom and dad. The kids ere thrilled about that-they played game after game after game. I’m sure that wore them out. Of course, they also took the kids to the grocery store and let them pick out all kinds of yummy treats. I think I must have been a stick in the mud, because the kids were so excited. When I got back, there was chocolate milk, Gatorade, powerade, all manner of popsicles, chocolates, cookies and-yes Jessica received 5 boxes of Cranklin Oat bran just for her. We’re busy again today gearing up for Zone leader counsel next week and then zone conferences the week after. Oh yeah, the kids have a new piano teacher and they start tomorrow! I have to run.

Love you all! Angie