Dear Shanell,

It is now transfers and I have been transferred! My mailing address will remain the same. I am being transferred to a place called Alice Springs. It is in the middle of Australia! Very dry and very hot! Yes, I will finally get a tan! I'll draw you a map and show you where I've been so far. We are going into spring here and it is really nice weather! I will probably be in Alice Springs for the next 4 to 6 months.

Right now I am with Elder Larson. He just got his wisdom teeth pulled an hour ago and his mouth is full of cotton. I will be staying here until Saturday, August 31, until my plane is scheduled to take me up there. It should be neat! 

I think I told you about our baptism on the 25th of August. We baptized Inatio Ben that Sunday! It was neat! The bishop of the ward was mad at us because he had to come out of his youth council meeting to welcome Inatio into the ward. Crazy! Having a new person in God's kingdom is a lot more important than a meeting. I am enjoying my mission, but the church does not operate as smoothly here in Australia as it does in America! Don't take the church for granted! It runs so much better at home though. It is still the true church, but the people need to get their act together and do things the right way. I love teaching people and bringing them to the true church. I love our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our Heavenly Father! I love Joseph Smith and all he did for us! I love President Kimball and I know he is a man called by God! The church is true and I know it. 

I loved your last letters! They gave me such a lift. By the way, the blind elder is doing great! I won't be serving with him any more, but he is doing well.

Love, 

Elder Wallentine 

Dear Shanell,

My companion, Elder Cash, is getting a little better after I sat on him and told him I wouldn't get off until everything was solved! Only 4 days left until our baptism! I am excited! The days go much faster if you work hard out here! I think I already told you that I got to shake President Harris' hand yesterday. He as the neatest spirit about him. I dream of being like that! I would love to be a general authority later in life!

It is kind of funny, I can picture my dad as a General Authority. I love my father so much! I wish I would've showed it to him more often! Don't let a day go by where you don't tell your parents how much you love them.

The missionary work is going forth with tremendous power, but it could use a little more speed! I am well! In fact, "If I was any happier, I couldn't stand it." This is a quote by President Harris! The new discussions are quite fun to give. I love them. By the time 2 months is past, we won't hardly need any notes. They are excellent discussions thought. It gets about 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit here in the summer and very humid. I have taken a lot of pictures on my mission. I want to turn them into a slide show when I get home. That would be fun!

I was reading in the scriptures where Jesus says that John will never die, but will remain on the earth until the Second Coming. That is so neat! What a great blessing to be given, huh.

You would not believe how guys treat girls over here! None of them open doors for them and all the guys here act like they are doing the girl a favor by going out with them. How stupid!

We are going to do laundry and then play racquetball. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Shanell,

I got yours, Wendy's, and David's letters today. They sure gave me a boost! Thank you for telling David to write. I appreciated his letter. I was beginning to wonder if he had forgotten me or what! I received the cookies you sent. They were all whole and delicious!

Are you ready for this now? Gather your family around again! We have another baptism on this next Sunday! His name is Inatio Ben and he is Gilbertese. That is like Samoan except from the Gilbert Islands. He is so cool! With that baptism on August 25, we might be able to get his wife baptized also! I hope and pray we can. She is super neat, too. They aren't actually officially married until August 24, so we can't baptize them until the 25th. This next baptism will be counted as my 5th baptism in 5 months. That is quite good for this mission. Actually though, it is not my baptism! It is the Lord's. I just helped Him.

I do know Sister Cottrell. I met her at a meeting today. I guess her parents and yours are good friends! She is a good missionary. My companion told President Wells that I am too pushy of a junior companion. I told him that he needs to do what he is supposed to if he doesn't want me to do everything. He is so lazy! The blind elder is actually only 90% blind. He is a great guy! He likes me a lot and we get along great! He does not like our other companion too well.

Elder Harris, the General Authority, came and spoke to us today at 8:30 am. It was so neat! I got to shake his hand and you can feel the Spirit so strong around that man. He is so neat! When I left that meeting, I felt like going out and converting the world! He is a man of God! I should be getting transferred on the 28th of August. It would be nice to have a change!

I am so happy to be out here on a mission serving the Lord! It is so neat! I can't wait to get to heaven and to embrace those people that I helped bring into the gospel again. "How great shall be your joy!" The church is true and Spencer W. Kimball is a true prophet of God today and Jesus Christ did atone for our sins so we can be forgiven! I know that God lives! Thank you for the person you are!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Shanell,

We are getting a new elder in our companionship. His name is Elder Greene and he is blind. We will be in a threesome until August 29 and then I will be getting transferred. It should be neat being with a blind elder. Missionary work has slowed down now and we are not teaching as many people. Remember when I told you a while back that myself and Elder Dalrymple got "Top Companionship" for baptisms in June or May? Well, my last companion, Elder Fusselman, and myself got "Top Companionship" for teaching the most discussions out of the whole mission. Pretty neat, huh!

Do you remember Elder James? He was my companion in the MTC. He has been telling members here that we did not get along in the MTC and he is making it look like it is all my fault. I'm going to call and talk to him about it soon. I can't believe him. I guess I need to forgive him and just make sure I don't do the same thing. It is nothing I can't handle with the help of the Lord, right.

We taught a discussion yesterday to a lady who has the Jehovah Witnesses come around on Wednesday. They are teaching her how to use the Bible. She was telling us the other day that the JW were telling her that we are evil. She told them that we were nice YM and that if they were going to talk about us that way, they could leave! She is so nice! She lets the JW's over to teach her about the Bible, but she has told us that she doesn't believe a lot of things they teach. We believe that it is helping her to have them over because now she can recognize when the Spirit tells her something is wrong just as He tells her that we're right and true! The Spirit is a missionary's best teaching aid and friend! Without the Spirit, we could rattle on all day and never get any where!

We have a lady--the one we baptized about a week ago--and her husband has this super cool shirt. I was telling her one day how much I liked it and when I went over there a couple days later, they had bought me one. It is a $40 shirt! It is excellent.

I love your letters and the support you are giving me. I am working hard!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Shanell,

We are doing great! We had our baptism and I cannot believe how strong the spirit was there! Elder Byington, a real good friend from Ririe, Idaho, baptized her and I confirmed her. I didn't even know what I was going to say until I started the prayer. Then every word just rolled forth so easily. I can't even remember now what was said! The Spirit does take over in things like that! He did it yesterday at the baptism! We have about 9 families in our teaching pool at this time. That is the best in the zone!!!

My new companion, Elder Cash, is weird, but I'm trying to show brotherly love. I know this is a test! Right now I am doing laundry. I sewed my first hole in my socks the other day. That is a major operation for me! I also sewed my pants where they started ripping. I can also iron my shirts super good now! I'm going to make a good wife someday, huh!

My mission is going great! It is so neat to make people happy and to see the Spirit radiate from their faces after receiving the Holy Ghost! They are so happy! We have a new sister missionary. Now, both of them are about 5' 0"! You can imagine the fun I have singing the song "Short People". My companion is super short, too.

I care for you so much! I'm grateful for your support!

Love,
Elder Wallentine

Dear Shanell,

How are you doing? I have a new companion. His name is Elder Cash. I can tell that this is going to be a long month! He has 15 months left. Thank you for the leaf from the Sacred Grove. I loved it!

Are you ready for the big news!!! First of all, gather your family around so you can all rejoice with me! We have a baptism on Tuesday, August 6! Her name is Diane Lee and she is excellent! That will be my 4th baptism in 4 months! The average is 2.5 per missionary per mission here. I've almost doubled that! I am going to be the top baptizer by the time I leave! If all goes well, we should get at least one more baptism this month. Isn't that exciting!! It is so neat to see people you grow to know and love join the true church and kingdom of God! I love it out here!

I grew to love my second companion, Elder Fusselman, very much! We will have a strong relationship forever. We have a forever-lasting friendship now. We hated each other our first week together, but we got to know each other and now we are best friends! There is a saying that says it all: "There are two kinds of people in the world; the ones you love, and the ones you don't know."

I guess I just don't know Elder Cash yet! I am trying hard to love him though. We have a goal of 3 baptisms for this month and I hope and pray that we get them! It won't be easy. I might get to be a trainer next month or in August. I hope so! I think I would be a good one. I know I can do it.

The new discussions are really neat! It is neat to not have to memorize. It isn't any easier on us though. We have to concentrate on getting the spirit of the Holy Ghost there. I am so grateful that I came on a mission during this time! I am sincerely happy to be on my mission. It isn't easy, but I know that I am doing what is right! There is no way I would quit now. I am receiving blessings all over!

Shanell, the church is true! Jesus is our Savior! God and Jesus Christ live with real bodies today. All the prophets from Joseph to Spencer W. Kimball were called of God! I know these things are true!

Thank you for encouraging me to come out here. I am thankful for your support!

Love,
Elder Wallentine