Brothers Baptized, Companionship Change, A Fun Dinner, And Silly Ties

So this week Elder Eldredge sent us a voice recording instead of a letter.  Problem is, the recording was one one-hundreth of a second long!!  The email said he’d had a crazy week, so he was sending the recording instead of writing it all down.  Well, I guess more crazy things happened while he was sending the voice recording!! 

Luckily, we have a few other sources that gave us a little information about his week.  Sister Newman, the sister Elders Stephens and Eldredge live with, often posts on facebook about them.  This is from her:

Well, I'm now the mother of triplets!!!! President Brinkerhoff, the Mission President called the Elders today and told them that on Wednesday, another Elder would be living in my home! I said, "And Elders where is this new Elder going to sleep?" They said Elder and Sister Hammond, the missionary couple who have the task of finding housing for the missionaries will take care of that. These Elders are a real hoot!  They are already prepared for the new Elder.  They have changed their beds around and have taken the doors off the closet to, I guess, make more room.  I’m going to start a book about “My Life With the Elders.”  It will be make into a movie like “The Best Two Years” but I’m not sure whose best two years it will be about, the Elders or mine!  Stan, I need help!!!It’s all a good thing, right?

We found out that the third Elder is coming to Idaho because of visa problems.  He’ll be serving in the South Pacific once his visa is taken care of.

Another post from Sister Newman:

 

Today the Elders had a baptism. It was such a beautiful service. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. I was so proud of my Elders! Elder Eldredge gave a very nice talk about Baptism and Elder Stephens gave and equally good talk about the Holy Ghost. I told them when we all were home how proud I was of them. They are the best looking Elders in the Idaho Pocatello Mission!! They stood so straight and tall and looked oh, so sharp!  I couldn’t be more proud of them if I were their mother.  They each have a wonderful spirit about them.  Wendy and Karen, know that your sons are wonderful missionaries.  They are well and happy even though I know Elder Eldredge has a heart ache that he lives with every day.  I’m sure Madie is so proud of him!!

Another Sister in one of the wards that Elder Eldredge serves in contacted me last week asking what Elder Eldredge’s favorite foods were.  She also contacted Elder Stephens’ mom to find out his favorites!  She made a special dinner for the two Elders with both their favorites complete with a dessert for each of them!!  Here’s a bit from her letter and a picture she sent me:

It was so much fun to see their faces and hear how excited they were to be served some family favorites from their own homes. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't even that weird that we had so many different food choices. Everyone was a good sport, and we didn't have many leftovers so I feel that is a good sign. There were smiles all around at the end of the meal.

Thanks for participating in our little surprise. It was a lot of fun.  We will continue to take good care of your elders. They both look great and are doing well.

 

And last of all, a picture of Elder Eldredge wearing a tie that Ashley Little sent him.  Elder Eldredge's dad and brothers have started wearing bow ties all the time, as did Elder Eldredge before leaving for Idaho.  Ashley sent him this tie so that he could still wear bow-ties while serving his mission.  LOVE IT!

 

Just for fun I added a couple of pictures from last October of the bow-tie-wearing-guys.

 

 

Dorky Dad & Brothers!  Life is good with these guys around.

 

This is Saturday night after general conference in October of 2012.  This was a day in the history of the Eldredge Family.  The leaders of our church announced that worthy young men could start serving their mission at age 18 and graduated from high school.  Worthy young women could serve missions starting at age 19.  I don't think I've seen a happier young man than when he realized he could leave earlier for his mission than expected.  We were literally running through the house yelling and screaming with excitement.  As soon as the session was over Sawyer was on the phone setting up the required appointment with his bishop.  This is him with our brand new bishop.  Bishop Dangerfield didn't know Sawyer until that day, litteraly hadn't even met him yet because Sawyer had been gone since he graduated working in the Dallas area.  He was very hesitant about Sawyer wanting to leave for a mission at 18, and wanted to be sure he was a young man that was really ready.  After meeting with Sawyer for about 30 minutes that night, he said to me, "We need to get this one on a mission.  He's definitely ready."