Dear Family, November 7, 2010

The story with the burning of the clothes is an old missionary tradition (which I do not believe in). It goes like this, when a missionary has reached his 6 month mark he burns a tie. When he has reached his year mark (half way) he burns a white shirt. When he reaches his 18 month mark he burns a pair of dress slacks. Then right before the 2 years are over the missionary takes an entire suit (suit, shirt, tie, and pants) and burns it. I did not burn any of my stuff. I want to keep them. It is a tradition set by pryo missionaries who want to play with fire. Right now the investigators I am teaching is Shirley Fenderson, Vince Masarick, Don Kanavel, Kevin Brewer, and Gia Denuve (aka Cristi Williams). Unfortuanatly all of the said investigators are not progressing. We might have to drop "Gia" since she has not dropped her "ideas". We are still working with them. I should let you know that there is a cool old couple in the ward who are recent converts and they are both active. They are Bro. and Sis. Cinidr. They are awesome. They love the missionaries. Well, so far I have not heard of any mail for me in Ashtabula for a month now but I have received two letters one from the Warnicks and the other from the Skidmores. I bet the already know about the new address. Elder Leake and I are working things out. I received my driving privaleges back November 4th. Unfortunatley Elder Leake has been grounded from driving which means he will no longer drive until the mission president and the fleet cordinator (in charge of the mission vehicles) says that he can drive again. Which we will never know when that will be. So, I am walking on thin ice right now. All it takes is one more month of me being a yellow driver and then I am grounded from driving. So, I am basically driving like an old man. Our corrolla is in repairs and so at this moment I am driving an 08' Chevy malibu which is a really nice car. It is so much better than the corrolla. The next transfer will be the day before thanksgiving. Yeah I know bad timing but that is how the mission rolls. We have zone conference this friday so I am looking forward to that. There is no snow yet and I hope it stays that way as long as possible so that I do not have to work out in the snow. That is all the updates that I have. You guys have a great week, take care.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, November 14, 2010

Yes, I have received the General Conference ensign. Thank you. And Congratulations on Amanda's New Born Baby. Aunt Ann and Uncle Charles must be excited to be Grandparents and also I ton of second cousins for Laura, Austin, and Me. It is so weird that I am 3 hours away from you. My companions driving privileges have been taken away permanently because he got a "Yellow Driver" again for another month. It is too long and complicated to explain, but the system is too strict. Any way I am the only one driving right now and since we are heading into winter and since my companion is from Arizona he is not allowed to drive in the snow anyways. So to put it all together, I am the only driver for the next month or so. Basically I am walking a fine line between loosing my driving privileges and keeping my driving privileges. All it takes is one more month for me of being a yellow driver and then I will be expelled to. Like I said I think it is too strict but it is too long and difficult to explain. We received new phones this past Friday. They are slider phones and have a key pad and they gave us texting to communicate with our investigators more often. So that is really nice. We were able to keep the Chevy Malibu which is nice. So new phone, a better car. My week went pretty well. Speaking of investigators, we dropped three of them this past week. One of them is in prison for not paying a fine and not seeing is parole officer. The other one refused to give up her "ideas" and take them to Japan (Gia!!). And then the last one simply just did not understand our purpose being there and see us and buddy buddy,pal pal friends. So, they are all not keeping commitments (especially the one in prison, hard for him to come to church). So it is going to be a slow week. I can feel it coming. I hope you guys have a great week. Take care.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, November 22, 2010

Big News! Transfers are this week. I am staying in Elyria another transfer. Elder Leake will be going to another area. So I will get a new companion. I will let you all know who he is next week. I did receive the care package and enjoying many of the treats. In fact I am being fed really well. I have desserts back at the apartment that are everywhere. Cookies, a Boston creme pie, pecan pie, and the cupcake cake. You all know I love pumpkin pie most. That is my favorite food for thanksgiving, and don't worry I have some one feeding me on thanksgiving. Luckily thanksgiving day has turned out to be an all day P-day absolutely no working on thanksgiving day. Thank heavens for that. So far everything is looking good. The new phones are sweet and I am looking forward to meeting my new companion. Anyway I have a very busy week so take care and hope that everyone has a good week take care.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, November 29, 2010

I am glad things are going well for everyone. My new companion is Elder Williams from Kingsman, Arizona (yeah another one from Arizona). We are getting along pretty well. We received 3 new investigators and two days ago we took one of our investigators cigarettes and tea and threw them away in the garbage, because that is where it belongs. I am glad thanksgiving went well. Just as a side note it has not snowed yet and I plan on keeping it that way as long as possible. With my luck I just jynxed it and it will snow tomorrow and I will cry. Elder Williams loves to play basketball. (I thought I would let you all know about that.) Oh by the way, I still weigh 135 pounds. I can still fit in my suits. I am planning on staying that way. Well, that is all the news I have at this time. Take care and have a great week.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, December 6, 2010

Awesome, I will be looking for the packages. We received snow last Wednesday and has not stopped snowing since. Which really stinks. Now I will not get any sunlight for the next 4-6 months or until spring. Lame!!! I hear from David that Spencer has been called to serve in th California Riverside mission. Which is really cool. I also have another Christmas/birthday Idea. I found it really cool to have a mini Preach my Gospel book. As far as I know I have not come across any new Christmas traditions besides feeding the missionaries and Christmas day and or on Christmas eve from what previous members have done. So, sorry no new traditions. How can we increase the priesthood power within the home? Good question. What a great way to start is Charity. Serve one another in the home. Always testify of Christ and how he used his Priesthood power. So serve and testify. Anyway, there will be a Christmas zone conference tomorrow held at Kirtland and we will be going into the Kirtland Temple. It is going to be great. It will be my first so we will see how it goes. That is pretty much my updates. I am staying warm and all that fun stuff. Take care everyone and have a great if not a better week.

Elder Behrmann

Dear family, December 13, 2010

To answer your questions: Yes I have received the Kopps care package. I also received your package for the speakers, the big package with all the sunflower seeds (thanks) and I believe a small package also. I can't remember what was in it. I was wondering if I needed to wait to open the presents on Christmas. I opened some presents but not all. So thanks for the cd and the cologne and the book "stand a little taller" and the Jesus story book. I have not looked into my stocking or the last present because I didn't know if I had to wait until Christmas. I do not know where my companion received his mini PMG. I will ask him and let you guys know next week. Christmas conference was amazing. Ever had sacrament in the Kirtland temple? I did! It is amazing! I also thank you for the letter. I believe P-day is on Christmas but they are giving us time to email on Monday so I do not know when I will email you or even what time to call you on Christmas. I will let you know asap. Sad to say I was not able to go to the Christmas devotional. I had to bring an investigator. Two of our investigators came to church yesterday and It was amazing. Our investigators are doing all right. Two are progressing, and there is another two that just doesn't get it, but we are working with them. The ward members are doing okay. Hopefully they will pick up the slack and stop being lazy and stop asking the missionaries to do all the work. GRRRR!!!! So hopefully the investigators that came to church will make them see that hey this set of missionaries is not bad after all!!!!! Anyway, just limping along day by day. We are being pounded by lake effect snow since yesterday and will not stop until Wednesday. That is all the updates that I have take care and have a great week.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, October 4, 2010

Everything is going well in Ohio. It is starting to get cooler now that we are getting close to winter. It rained all day yesterday! That meant no sunshine. General Conference was the best ever, I love it all. There was some talks that I did not get much out of but President Deiter F. Uchtdorf and President Thomas S. Monson made all the difference. Just to let you know I have two peanut butter bars left. They will most likely not survive today. I am writing in my missionary journal as much as possible sometimes we get in too late and I do not have time to write in it but I write in my journal whenever I can. Things with our investigators have not been going so well. None of them showed up for any of the General Conference sessions. SAD!!!! Our Ward mission leader and My companion and I have doubts as to the mental status of our investigator Gia. What I am trying to say is that we all have a feeling that our most progressing investigator might be crazy. Sad to say, no we do not have any new investigators in fact we lost one this past Saturday. Her name is Mandy, the person who showed up and we found out that there was no nursery, and she is juggling between her schooling, her kids, and her study of the Gospel. She is a single parent! We went over and found out that she put School and her kids first before taking the lessons of us missionaries. So we know she was not ready and we dropped her. Hopefully she will be ready in the future. I saw the pictures of Dad and Austin on the High Adventure and I thought, "Man, Austin is a Beast!!" I love you all and hope things continue to go well for everyone. Take care!

Love

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, October 12, 2010

This week has been really slow. We do not have any new investigators. We are trying to search for some more. All we have is Vince, Don, Gia, and Kevin. All of them are stalled at this time except for Gia. Now we are trying to get out ward mission leader over to Gia's and figure out the situation since the ward members think that Gia is crazy. So far she is still set on being baptized on October 24. Just to let you all know I will stay in Elyria another transfer with Elder Leake. The leaves are changing. I took a couple of pictures this morning. It is amazing. Some trees are blood red, some are golden yellow and bright orange. I will take a few more pictures when more trees turn colors. I am glad things are going well for everyone. This past week I ran into somebody while tracting. It is very interesting to know that there are too many people in Ohio that have completly gone off the deep end (crazy). He said that his soul is saved through the elemental gods of Thor!!! That is terrible. He believes his soul is saved through a comic book. Good luck with that one dude! Things continue to move on. Still trying to work with the ward. Take care you will all be in my prayers!

Love Elder Behrmann

Dear family, October 18, 2010

This week was terrible! We went over to Gia's with our ward mission leader a few days ago to get a green light on the baptism. Unfortunately, that didn't go so well. We all found out that Gia is not all the way there as in she is too far on the left field or in other words. She has gone crazy. She didn't know who Thomas S. Monson was, even though we told her 5-10 times about that, and she hasn't been reading at all in the book of Mormon. Gia is telling all these false stories to our ward mission leader how she got a job at a company that no one has heard of and showing her resume with no educational background and many other things but what made the cherry on top was that Gia is not her legal name. The name she used is Cristi J. Williams. So Gia or Cristi or whoever she is, is telling us (the missionaries) on story and goes and tells some totally different story to our Ward mission leader. So to make a long story short we dropped her baptism and now she is not progressing to well. In fact the only progression she has made is that she is still smoke free. So enough about that. It has been a difficult week for Elder Leake and I again. there are many things that we have a hard time seeing eye to eye. Anyway, life goes on out here in the field. I hope things have been going well for everyone at home. We have made great contact with the 5-5-5 families and we even made the mistake of scheduling 2 dinner appointments in one day. It is starting to happen more frequently now that the holidays are around the corner. So my metabolism is continuously under attack so I am being fed super well, Everyday! Oh, one more thing if the time comes around I want the General conference Ensign for November. That way I can enjoy the talks. That is all I have to say at this time, I hope everything is going well for everyone and hope to hear from you soon. Take care!

Love,

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, October 25, 2010

My Health is doing just fine. I have not been sick for a while. No I have not had the flu shot this year. I bet Sis. Sorensen will nag on the whole mission to get one. We know that Gia is crazy because she believes that she can build a time machine, a hover craft, and a box that can power your entire house and take you off the grid. You know Ideas that are not in tune with the gospel and stop her progression to being baptized. We brought this up too her and she said she will stop these ideas. Also about Gia is that Gia is not her real name. In order to be a member of the church we have to use her real name which is Christi J. Williams. We are in the process of letting her know about that. So in other words we are starting over with Gia (aka Christi). None of our investigators came to church yesterday, oh well there is always next week. I am getting close to sending the SD card over to you guys I am just going to take a few more pictures and send them to you soon. I do not know when but I will send the SD card soon. My suits and shoes are doing fine. Still in great shape. This whole missionary schedule and being 3 hours ahead of you guys drains me of energy and missionaries are not allowed to take naps. Which means we only have enough time to take naps on P-day. So far, none of our investigators are progressing. We received a new investigator last Friday. Her name is Shirley. She is not progressing because she is not keeping her commitments and not coming to church. It is still a working process. Apparently there is a store out in Sandusky called Elder Behrmanns. I have to look into it and once I have found it, it will be worth a picture to send to you guys. Hope everything improves for everyone. Have a great week, take care!

Love

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, November 1, 2010

This week has had its ups and downs with no improvement with investigators. There was one bad storm a week ago but it was just wind. Sandusky received a tornado watch, but nothing happened. It is now getting cold into the 40's and 50's. I am able to manage, that is nothing. The leaves have fallen and the trees are bare so it all looks depressing. Luckily tho I have taken pictures and will send you the SD Card today maybe tomorrow or whenever time allows me to permit. YES!!! I need you to send me the General Conference issue for November. I need the written word of the prophets!!! Thank you for sending it to me. The ward's party stunk. They do not have a big youth out here on the East side. So no Halloween party no trunk or treat deal just a Pot luck skit thing , but I heard that the ward thanksgiving dinner is amazing so I will see about that. Just a little heads up apparently some packages are still being sent to Ashtabula. So just get the word out to the ward that I am in Elyira. Things continue to move on, I still have not gained any weight so I am still winning the battle, woo hoo. I am still 135- 137 pounds around that range. It fluctuates around there everyday. It has not snowed yet. I am not ready to deal with working in the snow all day. It better snow late in the year like after thanksgiving. It seems that things are going great for everyone. Otherwise, that is my updates. I hope you all have a great week. Take care, and hope to hear from you next week.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, September 27, 2010

The leaves here in Ohio have'nt changed yet. I am still waiting for the magnificent fall colors. Elder Leake and I are the only set of missionaries in the ward. The name of our ward is Elyria Ward. We just took a tour of the Johnson Farm and Zoned out the first Monday of September. Gia, our investigator, is doing great. Her comprehension is through the roof. She totally gets what we are teaching her. Her baptismal date was scheduled for Oct. 10 but we found out that Stake conference is that Sunday so we moved it to October 24. So Gia agreed to set her baptism back two more weeks. Otherwise Gia is doing well. Still smoke free, enjoys church, always puts God and family first. She is solid!!! I can't wait for General Conference. I want it here NOW!!!! Hope things continue to go well and hope to hear from you all next week.

Love

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, September 20, 2010

I am glad your stake conference went really well. Ours doesn't start until after General conference which I cannot wait till it comes. Our next transfer is October 13. So it is not till a while. Still working on the trust thing with the ward just keep working that is all I can do. Believe it or not Elder Leakes suspension was over today so now he can drive and my suspension starts today so we can still drive. We have half of Lorain county. It would be impossible to bike through our area. So we drive to our appointments. We bike whenever we can. My suspension from driving will be for 45 days so I will not be driving until November 3 or 4. Not for a while. I am still working on getting along with my companion. I wish there was a cure to get along with someone who has Greek in his ancestry and who is stubborn. Oh wait there is It just takes a while for it too work. . At least I have a great Ward mission leader that is awesome at his calling. He is trying to fatten me up. Still am the same. I am glad things are going well for everyone. I hope things continue to go well and hope to hear from you next week. Take care!

Love your son, brother, missionary, etc.

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, September 13, 2010

My week went okay. Last week a ran into a sidewalk bump while parking and cracked the bumper of the Lord's car! Gee that was fun, the driving coordinator person that is in charge of all the cars does not like me at all. I have my driving privileges suspended because of the tiwi of too many "aggressive drivings" meaning too many sharp turns stopping suddenly to avoid hitting a dear. Fun times! Saturday night we were tracking late at night and ran into a drunk baptist! Many fond memories there. Well, I am deeply saddened that my car gave up the ghost! I will miss my car and the fond memories we had together! Sniff! Sniff! I am trying to get along with Elder Leake but he has one nasty temper attitude problem. Still working on it. I went to the John Johnson farm last monday. It was a great place. We had zoned out (like a p-day only with half of the mission). It was a pretty big event with games and workshops and so on and so forth. They called a new ward mission leader and he is awesome. We are on fire. We are making some progress. Lots of room for improvement but we are moving forward. I hope to hear from you all next week. Have a great day!

Love

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, August 31, 2010

Yipeee! I am your favorite "MISSIONARY" son. My week went well. Just to let you know that Me and Elder Leake are Staying in Elyria, together, for another transfer. So do not worry no changes there. We hit a road block with our investigators since they seem to have a hard time getting to church, but we taught a lady named Gia yesterday and committed her to baptism. She accepted so now we have a new investigator. Nice! The only changes in the ward is the we got a new ward mission leader. He is awesome and we will make great progress. Elder Leake doesn't like my driving because he is a Phoenix driver. What that means is that if I'm going the speed limit then I'm driving slow. He doesn't like me going 65 in a 65 mile zone on the freeway. He even thought that it was 55 on a road once when it was really 45 so that was a fun time. He likes me running yellow lights and stuff like that. He just wants me to be an aggressive driver. You can see why his driving privileges got suspended and not mine. Yes Elder Leake and I are getting along, sometimes, it is just that he is very hot tempered. He has a quarter Greek in his ancestry he has terrible road rage. Worse than mine. Some of his logic is a little odd but other that that I try to get a long with him as best as I can. Have a great week.

Love

Elder Behrmann

Dear Family, August 23, 2010

Yesterday was a great Sunday. President Sorensen came and so did the Stake Presidency. It didn't help that I had a talk in Sacrament meeting and a lesson to do in Elders quorum but it was great. Last night me and my companion took one of our investigators to the mission fireside. The investigators name is Vince. It was the only way to get him to a church setting since he works on Sundays during the church hour services. The whole mission world wide is focusing of 8 points of doctrine all from preach my gospel but our Mission president is all ready on the ball on that so no I have not studied any interesting or new subjects. Just from people who throw deep and confusing doctrine. President Sorensen also said to read the Book of Mormon or any standard works very slowly. For it is the speed of the thoughts that count not the speed of the reading. Since my companion is restricted from driving he is counting down until the day he can drive. He does not like my driving at all. Things continue on in the mission. Transfers is coming up. September 1st is when the transfer is, just a little heads up. Nothing else is new so, I hope things go well for everyone and hope things get better soon. I will hear from you all next week, via email. (Just a side note: I am still skinny. The ward is trying to fatten me up. I am still winning.)

Love

Elder Behrmann