You're Alright!

We got another letter from Brett today. This time it was an aerogram which took a mere 3 days to reach our home from England. Brett it still doing very well and enjoying the work. He's teaching about 14 people right now. He has commented that with Tea being a big part of English culture, it's a challenge to convince people to break that habit. He has confessed that he's doing a LOT more bike riding than he was ever used to before - like 10-20 miles per day. He said his legs feel like rubber sometimes and that it is very tiring, but that his legs are getting stronger. (All I can say is we did warn him.)

He said the standard greeting he gets when he meets people is "You're alright." This is stated as a greeting, not a question. Hence the title of this post.

First E-mail from Birmingham

Well today is P-day and well I'm both excited and still exhausted, as you might expect. I think I may still be 4 hours behind instead of the 7 I was behind by. Today we are mailing from the library because that is the closest place where we can use computers. It's about a half mile away. The library its self is very, very old, as you might have guessed. The city I'm in is Birmingham and it is one of the largest cities I have ever lived in. It is not the size of New York City at all, but it is still a sight to see. The homes are all really old and you have both the posh and the really poor. There are all sorts of people here. We have the largest population of Pakistanis in the world outside of Pakistan. Then there are the Polish people, there are loads of Polish here and most of them still don't speak English very well so it is hard when you go tracting to tract into them and share a message with them. Then we have Hungarians, Romanians and all sorts of Muslim people and there are even a few African Jamaicans and then you have the other original English people. As you might be able to tell there is a lot of diversity! It's a big melting pot because there is a little bit of everything. Oh, and the people here in England love Americans! They think it is so cool to meet Americans and they think you know all the famous people like 50 cent and other people like that, so basically they idolize you. Then the icing on th cake is I said I'm from New York and their eyes just widen and they think oh, New York City. They have no concept of an upper state even being there, all they can think of is the city. It's kinda cool. I try and explain it to them but they just cannot get it. Well the food here is good. I already have a dinner appointment (D.A.) where we had chicken tika marsala, or however you say that. It was my First D.A. since being here. I still have yet to have fish and chips, but the members here are very quick to offer you squash, sweets and biscuits. Ok, ok - I know your wondering what's with the Squash. It's a sort of juice they have here that is better than any other juice I have ever had in my life. It's very concentrated so you pour in 1/10 of this concentrated juice and then 9/10 water, or aqua as they say here. A lot of things over here contain aqua not water....go figure. Anyway the language is different. The Brummies have a very thick accent and sometimes it is hard to understand them. Often I just have to look at my companion and ask him what they just said. My companion has been out for 18 months and has spent half of his mission in Wales. He is very good. We still have to look at the map seeing as how he was only in the area 2 weeks previous to me being here. But we manage to find our way around this big city. He is from Indiana and is a really hard worker! By the way, I don't think that I will be spending any money on a bike right now because one of the members said he will give me a bike for free, which is very nice of him!
Well I have to go soon because we have to get back. I have a Safari Park adventure to go to with some of the members right now!!! I'm excited! It's in Dudley. By the way, on Sunday we confirmed a recent baptism. We also have a baptism set for the 4th of July. We just committed her to a baptismal date yesterday after we finished teaching her!!! We hope to have 2 more next week!
Things are going very well here. I love England even though I'm very tired all the time. I think I'll make it!!!
Glad to hear your all doing well there. I love you and miss you.
Love,
Elder Brett Brooksby

Next Stop - Birmingham

Looks like Brett got to Paris in time for lunch. That is, if he can figure out how to ask for it!

Here's where Elder Brooksby is Serving Right Now!

That's right... The Delta Flight 170 mission :-) His "companion" is Sister Moffat. Probably the only female companion he'll ever have. (Ok, she's the mission president's wife.) After a stopover in Paris, he'll be on to Birmingham.

Brett Leaves Tomorrow Night

I just spoke to the person in charge of Brett's travel. He said that Brett will be leaving at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow on a non-stop flight from SLC to Paris, France. From there he will fly to Birmingham, England. He also said that Brett will be traveling with the mission president's wife. She had been in Utah attending either a marriage or funeral, he couldn't remember which one. So Brett will be picked up in Birmingham by the mission president when he comes to pick-up his wife. Hopefully we'll get to talk to him from the airport before he leaves.

Brett Got His Visa!!!

Brett just e-mailed us and said that he got his visa. He said that he will be leaving before the end of this week for England. I'm so happy that he actually gets to go there. He said that he can call from the airport, but since we don't know when he's leaving, actually getting that phone call is iffy.

E-mail from Utah Salt Lake City South Mission President

We got an e-mail from Brett's temporary mission president letting us know that he is there and all is well. They included this picture.

Brett's Out in the Mission Field

We just got an e-mail from Brett today (Tuesdays must be p-day now) and he said that he's in a trio with Elder Bonoan (who has been out 10 months) and Elder Rameriez (who has been out 21 months). He said that he'd sleeping on an air mattress with borrowed sheets (he was going to buy them once he reached England). He said that they currently have no investigators, but that they're hoping to fix that. His companionship has a red mazda 3, which is good because he'd also supposed to buy his bike in England. He is very excited to be doing missionary work. He also said that he had a black widow spider just outside the door to his apartment that they had to kill. Sounds like he's in for a great time.

Today Brett leaves the MTC

Brett headed to the Salt Lake City South mission today. We haven't heard from him, but when we do we'll keep you posted as to where he is and what he's up to.

Salt Lake City South Mission For Now???

We got a 10 minute telephone call from Brett this afternoon. He was allowed to call to let us know that he will be leaving on Monday for a temporary assignment in the Salt Lake City South Mission. He will stay there until his visa comes or.... He seems to be in good spirits and I think he is just happy at this point to be going somewhere that isn't the MTC. I'm sure the referral center gets boring day after day, just as anything would. He also said that he thought he'd be able to call us when and if he finally heads to England.

The Latest - 06/05/2008

We haven't posted much lately, but here's what we know. We've received a couple of letters and e-mails from Brett. He is still in the Provo MTC, but that could change this week. The district he was with all left the MTC this week so that was a bit hard for him; hard to say good-bye and hard to not be going somewhere as well. He has survived it well however. He did get his biometric imaging done so his visa is "in the works". He will likely be getting a temporary assignment that will allow him to go to work in some field, somewhere. "I'll go where you want me to go, Dear Lord" comes to mind. We're hoping the visa comes before the end of the month. Brett has not let any grass grow under his feet while in the MTC. He has been an asset to his district and companion and has taught a lesson or two via phone in the referral center! Way to go Brett!