April 13, 2010

hey dad.

so the shift button on this keyboard is toast. so there will be few capitalizations in this email. and probably question marks as well.  in other news, bohol is pretty nice. i feel as if this could be the struggle in my mission. from what i've heard this is the hardest island. or maybe camotes. but i think president is really testing me. he told me in our last interview together that he and the lord expect more from me than most missionaries and i need to start preparing now. so this might be a proving ground. its fine. im just doing what i always do. wake up, study, go out, work, eat, work, eat, work, plan, sleep. no showers. no water. just survivor style. hahahaha. just kidding. although the other day i was piecing together my survivor resume as i was walking. what do you think: i'm a 21 year old mormon (they love mormons). i just got back from a 2 year mission in the philippines (they like jungle background--just look at coach). im a student preparing to be a lawyer. im young, attractive and athletic (but mostly young). i turn any friendship into an alliance. and im gonna win. boom. see you next season huh? really excited. get ready to compete cuz you know they sometimes have the family visitors compete to be with the castaway. so...keep running marathons. hahaha. but patience and seeing the good in everyone and everything is kind of my goal for my mission. if i can do that then success will follow. i'm sure of that. the lord gave me an interesting mix with this companion. he switched up the patience i would need. he's really fun, hilarious and a nice guy but doesnt like to keep the rules. so now i have to lead by example. i just keep with the schedule and hope that everything will click with him soon. in our mission most people shut off with 6 months left and coast. and thats what he's doing.

nice! seattle washington for joseph. i told daniel that he was going to mexico . but i told him no guess is safe because nobody expected tyelar to get called to jupiter on his mission...or manchester mandarin speaking (same thing). i tell everyone about his call. im so proud of that guy. and now jonathon is close! thats exciting. and simi will come along. just get bishop to work with him. he'll come around.

conference. holy cow. it was great. it was pretty much like watching priesthood session. for all 5 sessions. we watched them in the chapel. priesthood and the saturday sessions on saturday and the two sunday sessions on sunday. it was kind of disappointing. the sunday morning session was almost full but every other session had a maximum of 8 people. people just kind of saw it as they'd done their duty by coming to church for the time they had to and went home. you're exactly right about what eyering and packer said. too many people just coast. it happened AT conference. but wow. this is the second conference in my life that i actually paid attention too. i regret that. the october session was amazing because i was so into it. i paid careful attention. this one was even better because i just paid attention. i was the only one in all sessions that took any notes. i especially loved uchtdorfs talk at preisthood session and (of course) elder holland. i think he left little doubt in anyones mind as to what was up. elder andersen also was really good. schwitzer of the seventy who talked about judging was awesome! loved it. and christofferson was really good too about the scriptures. nice talks all around. great conference. and president monson's talk about death was really nice.

btw, that picture you sent has PRO written all over it. if i were you i would make that my profile picture on facebook. you'd get some serious comments about that legendary vest. and your rewards trip sounds really awesome. italy up and down. i'm not sure if you know the story about the rome temple. but its kinda funny. apprarently the land we have for the temple was very coveted by the vatican . they've been trying to buy it forever. but italy wouldnt sell it to them. its RIGHT across from the vatican . still wouldnt sell it. so the church comes along and asks for it and italy sells it to the church. FOR DIRT CHEAP. so now we're right across from the vatican . with a temple of the lord. whew....

i dont know if i told you but i've been studying the new testament and jesus the christ again. i put it on hold as i finished the book of mormon. i'm almost out of the 4 gospels. finishing up john this week. im really excited to get into acts. i never really paid much attention to anything after the gospels. all i know is that paul wrote some seriously long letters. hahaha. no. i know more that that. but its really cool. i love it. lots of cool doctrine. the pharisees are almost laughable at how lame they are. christ is doing miracles in front of them and they just rationalize it all because they're afraid of him. too bad.

sounds like work is taking another step for you. hahaha. just pray. ask the lord in the temple what to do. he will direct thy paths. haha.

i dont know yet about mothers day. if you dont get a call saturday night expect one on sunday. i'll ask president.

so yesterday i was in a bookstore to buy some scripture study stuff (you'll notice i made some emergency withdrawls. one was that all my scripture study stuff was stolen by missionaries going home and i was not reimnbursed for all the missionaries that had me pay for luggage on our boat ride over to bohol. integrity is lacking in our mission at times.) and i noticed two things. one was that russia invaded afghanistan ??? i need some clarification and/or news on that and the other thing i saw was that steve jobs did it! he got the ipad out! exciting. any news you want to share? nice about phil but i also heard that tiger said some pretty intense things in an interview. what did he say? and i saw on the news real fast that obama and russia have kissed and now we have equal nukes..................................wow. here. i have a shotgun. im sorry you only have a knife. how about this. ill get rid of my shotgun and use a knife. alright. now lets fight. can you give me some info on the plan that obama has? is this linked in any way to russias invasion of afghanistan ?

anyways, love you dad. mom hasnt written me yet so i think i'll write her in cebuano about my week. hahaha.
take care

brandon