July 20, 2010

Hey mom.

First lets talk MONEY! So I'm glad you guys liked the story about the Gonzalez family. They really love us and we really love them. We've become really close with all of them. Even one of the little girls has a crush on Elder Akina! haha. But the other money is this: because we're out in the middle of nowhere, in a province where it costs lots of money to get things out here, prices for food are very high. Especially because of the season. Nothing is growing so everything is more expensive. We were talking about it last night. We only buy food and not even that much in between. Drinks every once in a while but no matter how hard we focus and budget, we run out of money earlier than most of the other zones. Because we are the only ones who are in the middle of nowhere with no city around. So thats why we lose money so fast. We try all we can and still are out of money before support comes. What can we do? Thats why I have been pulling money out every other week or so. Because we're in emergency mode and have nothing! I don't know what you want to do about it. Whats your thoughts? Because...the tank is down to about 1500 pesos now and thats gotta last until the end of the month.

I'm kinda bummed that I wont be there for the Treadway Trek. I'm also bummed that I didn't get to see Daniel before he left...alright. Thats a lame thing to miss. I know he just played rockband. haha. The two of us have been planning to open up a laser tag place in Provo. He's really serious and was crunching numbers on it last week. I told him we have a while until then.

I hope that you have fun at Girls Camp. I love teaching big groups of people. I get a rush out of my district meetings. Even more fun is when you get to pick your topics. Last Monday I taught about what makes prayer with faith PRAYER with FAITH! Its really helped Elder Akina and I to focus our prayers. We started separating our nightly personal prayers from actually going to bed. Because we found that sometimes we just say them so we can go to bed. So they're fast and meaningless. So we pray before we brush our teeth. Then after that we have companionship prayer. Which nobody in the mission does outside of planning, companionship study and leaving the house. So that has helped too.

Love you all. Hope you have a good week all not showering!

Brandon


Hey Dad,

Your Ipsen email address has the strangest format ever. Its suuuuuuuuper long across so I have to scroll back and forth to read it. Kinda tough.

So its week 4 now of this transfer. Its killing me how fast things are going. Last night me and Elder Akina were planning and we were just like....."WEEK FOUR???" Yeah. But its alright. Transfer day is coming up quick. I don't know yet whats going to happen. I might still be here and I might be gone. I can't say anything quite yet. But I kinda dont want to transfer. I have a baptism coming up. We've been teaching the daughter of a member. She's nine, so she's a convert baptism. It was going to be on July 31 but then we found out that July 31 is district conference. So now its on August 7--the day after transfers. Hahaha. Its kinda poetic. So we'll see what happens.

So President told me in his email that some major change is happening to every mission in the world. We find out what it is on Saturday morning. I'm pretty stoked to find out what it is. I have some thoughts. I'm thinking an addition to Preach My Gospel or something. He said its major and thats pretty major.

I gotta tell you. Having an American companion is pretty fun. Of course, its all you had in your mission but here its kinda nice once in a while. We both can talk about stories from home and understand where we're coming from. Its pretty cool. His mission has really changed his family's life. His parents were in some kind of divorce where they were separate but still married and they were inactive. Now they're going back to church, moved back together, and now his dad is the teacher for the Elder's quorum. Pretty cool how a mission blesses lives back home.

About BYU. We have a countdown on our calendar at home until kickoff. We're excited here for it. Even though its not for at least another month.

Alright dad. I'm gonna write mom now. Love you. When we get closer to football season I have an assignment for you. Yeah...you have homework.

Brandon