November 24, 2009

Hi Everyone!
This last week went great. Thursday we have Elder Holland and last night we had Dallin H Oaks come in and surprise us with a devotional. He walked in right in the middle of us all singing High on A Mountain Top and when he walked in everyone stood up. The chorister couldnt help it. He started crying. The spirit was so strong. He gave a really good talk on how to be the most effective missionaries possible. I sure took a lot of notes. 4 1/2 pages!
ELDER ASO UPDATE
Elder Aso isn't coming back. They found a problem with his heart valve too that the doctors and missionary department have decided is too serious to put him back in the field NOW. So he is going to have to go home and wait it out. He's going to get a new call when he is ready. I'm thankful to him for the awesome companion that he is. I'm packing his stuff up for him today and i'm going to slip in a letter to him telling him how much I love him. He's meant a lot to me. He's EXACTLY like Paane. He's one of the most humble guys ever. He has sucha desire to learn and grow in the Gospel. He looks up to me and I pray that I was the best example I could be. But I prayed about it and I know that Heavenly Father has an awesome plan for him. He's going to be an excellent missionary wherever he goes.
So the new missionaries that came in this week are pretty awesome! We chill in their room all the time. One of them just happens to be one of my buddies from EFY 3 years ago! Nuts huh? Its cool how the friendships that you make there carry over to future dates. I gotta tell you. The girls that he is writing give me hope. There ARE girls in the world that are gorgeous! I was so deprived in Sacramento (except for a few). BYU is gonna be awesome!
So I had a strange thing happen that really put in perspective my teacher's view of things. Me and another Elder were talking about the Holy War and how you can see the scoreboard from the classroom building next to mine. I was like, "I think i'm going to drop by for a few minutes and look at the score". My teacher overhears and says, "how is that going to help you with your purpose?" I told her "its just a minute or two." and so she comes back with, "oh. so are you going to look at pornography for a minute or two too?".........................
That was not the response that I was expecting. Or anyone else. It was really an awkward moment as we all stood there in silence. Yeah, Sister Lillywhite is....different. For sure.
Anyways...
Nahigugma kaayo ko kaninyo. (I love you all so much!) I hope Thanksgiving goes well.
Love your anak nga lalaki (son).
Brandon

November 18 , 2009

Kamustaka!
(Kamustaka is for hello to one person. Kamustamo is hi to multiple people.)]
... So (this may sound a little gay) I've decided that to be more humble and to avoid any form of animosity, I would refrain from basketball in gym. So I play 4 square. Good news is that there is ZERO anger or anything. Its just so much fun. Bad news is, Its tough to be humble about it. I really am good. hahaha. They guys love to watch me play because I dive and slide and roll for the ball. My knees hurt alot. But I love it.
I have become a lot more humble here at the MTC. I realized that was my greatest weakness. I think an example of my new found humility was last night. When we had first met the second counselor in our Branch Presidency, he was a tough as nails jerk that pointed out every little thing that we did wrong. He seemed really rude and mean. And so (being me) I wrote him off. I told myself, "he cant teach me anything. Who does he think he is?" So on my first Sunday he spoke in Sacrament meeting about humility. And I realized that he was EXACTLY THE SAME AS ME. If he didnt like someone, he wrote them off. He was too proud to be the kind of man he should be. So last night he taught our leadership meeting. After I asked to speak with him and I apologized to him. I told him what I had thought and that I had shut him out and now I was more humble and I sincerely asked for his forgiveness. He lovingly gave it and said he appreciated it. not for him, but for me. he said if I could learn to be that kind of man now, I would be a million times better off than he was. I think that experience not only brought us closer together, but brought us closer to the Savior.
Guess who spoke to us on Sunday? SHERI FREAKING DEW! WHAT THE HECK! BEST SPEAKER EVER! I was in shock. I almost didnt take notes because I knew that she was a women's speaker. But the Spirit told me that I needed to right as she started and what do you know...2 1/2 pages of NOTES! I usually get about 1/2 a page for each speaker. She was awesome. Then last week they had us right down any question we would want an apostle to answer for Thanksgiving. Guess who's coming to do that?
....Jeffrey R. Holland.....yeah.

So something bad happened yesterday. In the middle of my sleep, the Spririt told me to wake up. I woke up and Elder Aso was on the floor breathing really hard, crying and holding his chest. It was 4:30. I asked him what was wrong but he couldnt answer. I hopped down just as Elder Boehmer did (he said the Spirit woke him up too). I told him to grab some oil and we quickly gave him a blessing of healing and comfort. He quickly was able to talk through the pain and he told us that he felt like really strong acid reflux. We were about to go back to sleep and he ran out and threw up in the garbage. he said that he felt better and went back to bed. An hour later, I woke up to the door flinging open as he ran out to throw up again. I followed him to the bathroom and he was crying. He threw up all this black tar looking stuff. So we called security who called a doctor. The doctor told us to get to the ER right away. We got there and they did some blood tests and an ultrasound and found that his intestines were blown up and fluid was going through them that shouldn't be there. So they gave him some meds and sent us home. A couple hours later he threw up again in the sick bay and they rushed us back to the ER. He had had his appendix taken out a couple years ago and they determined that it was affecting his intestine. So they did some x-rays and decided that surgery was necessary. So last night they cut out a part of his intestine that was blocked up and causing it to inflate. So now my companion is in the hospital. Please pray for him. I'm putting his name on the prayer roll today at the temple. Thanks.

...I have about two minutes left. Tell Ben I said Happy Birthday. Sorry I couldn't be there. But the Lord is my boss and I dont get any vacations. We're so busy! haha.

I love you all and there's letters coming.
Love, Brandon

November 11, 2009

Kamustamo!

...I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! THIS IS SO AWESOME! The other day I was reading the Ensign...on purpose! And I highlighted! I was talking to Elder Boehmer (one of me and Elder Aso's roomies) and he goes, "Yeah! I read the Ensign too! I never read the Ensign! I only read the New Era. And even then I only read the Extra Smile (the funnies section)!" That was hilarious. Because I did the same exact thing! I have the same feeling that the people of King Benjamin had in Mosiah 5:2.

I'd like to share with you something that happened yesterday. SATAN IS SO REAL! He knows us so well that it's terrifying. Two days ago we were in class and Elder Aso just lost it. He was spacing out in class and not saying anything. We was really making me nervous. So class ended and we were leaving. I put my arm around him and asked him what was up. He told me that in the middle of class he just had this overwhelming feeling of sadness that he was away from his family. He was really hurting. We walked for about 5 minutes back to our room when we were stopped by two Elders who were on a contact stop (where Elders just stop random companions to practice street contact). They started to tell us that God loves us for about 3 minutes when all of a sudden one of the Elders completely changed the subject. He looked at Elder Aso and told him that Heavenly was aware of him and his needs. He asked us if we have been having companion prayers (we have). He then told Elder Aso that his family is alright. They love and support him for his decision and that his companion is his family on the mission. He told him that the Lord would bless him with comfort if he looked to his companion as family. Then they closed and left. We were stunned. The Spirit spoke clearly to that Elder and told him what Elder Aso needed to hear. He hasn't had a problem since. just remember that Satan knows us very well. But the Spirit knows us better.

So my time is coming to a close in about 2-3 minutes. So I hope I can get this out in that time. yesterday in class i was having a real problem learning the language. i could literally hear satan telling me that i was no good. that i couldnt learn the language and i should give up. i gave in and the spirit completely left me. it was terrible. it was the first time i couldnt feel the spirit. but with the prayers of my district and teacher, i felt the spirit again that night. paryer works.

Love you all
Elder Treadway