January 5, 2011

Hey Everyone!

So this last week was great! I saw the first lady that I baptized in my mission last week! She's the Secretary in the Relief Society I think and is still active. And she's still bringing her kids to Church. And she's still working on her husband. haha. Good ol Adrian. He's a funny guy. Then I saw the mother of the second family I baptized! They're 80% active in the church still. They said they've been doing well in coming to church. I'm glad that they are still Enduring to the End. hehe. I have some great teaching stories that are gonna be loved by you! (I'm sorry. That was a horrible English sentence. My english is crumbling!)

So first, this story happened last week:

We had found this lady to teach. She has 8 kids so they are 10. So we were in there and discussing with her about the Gospel a little bit and at first she wasn't too into what we were saying. But then she started to open up as to why she didn't care about what we had to say. Turns out that this lady in the ward (one of the richest people i have met in the philippines) had gotten a lot of help while they were building their house from this lady we had met. her name is analisa by the way. we are talking lots of help. food, water, electricity--the works. but as soon as the house was done, she turned her back on analisa and would not talk to her or look at her, anything. well one time they got into an argument about something small and it escalated into the member telling analisa that she was poor, worthless and patay gutom (which essentially means that she is so hungry that she will eat anything--including garbage). so that is her view of the Church. a bunch of snobs.

so what we did was we got the old bishop and his wife to come with us over there last last sunday so that analisa could meet some nice members and get a new view of the church. we were there for an hour and things went great. we played with the kids and the kids loved us. then bishop and his wife talked with analisa. it was great. we set an appointment for tuesday to come back. she accepted. we were optimistic. we counted our chickens....baptismal date in february was the call.

so we go back on tuesday with anthony, the son of the old bishop. we had had a great day. he had been a real help and had taught some great lessons with us. he was on roll. he's seventeen and getting ready to get serious about a mission. so we get to analisa's house and sit down. she sits down and asks (this is all translated of course) "what are we gonna do?". We smile and Elder Atanacio begins to tell her that we are here to share with her the truth that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth and that a living prophet leads it by revelation. He goes on and talks to her about the church. He was doing a really good job but we could tell that it wasn't hitting her the right way. So Elder Atanacio finishes his thought and stops. I had no thoughts come to my mind of what to say. Nothing. So I did what I learned to do--I waited for the Spirit to give me something to say. If I don't feel the Spirit telling me something then I don't speak. I felt nothing for about 1 minute. Then thoughts started coming to me. I bore solid testimony of the Restored Gospel. I told her about the Book of Mormon and how its true. I told her that I cannot put into words my testimony of the truthfulness of that book. I told her of Joseph Smith and his divine calling to restore the Gospel to the earth. I told her of the priesthood and the importance of it. I told her of the Apostasy and how it was prophesied of for ages and how the Restoration is the answer to the Apostasy. I bore testimony and then stopped.

There was silence for another minute. Elder Atanacio didn't say anything because he wasn't feeling anything. And the Spirit was done speaking to me. We sat there in silence for another minute. I looked at Anthony and he had his fists clenched together and his eyes closed tight. Then Elder Atanacio started talking. He told her of how he was a convert to the church. He told her of the blessing that it was in his life and the fact that the truth had been discovered by his brother. He talked about sealings and the temple. He bore a great testimony. He finished and silence for another minute. A full minute and then I felt prompted to ask her if she felt she was ready to hear the Restored Gospel. She didn't say anything. Then I said, "I dont think you're quite ready. Maybe another time." Then she said, "I think so too".

So I ask her to say a prayer. She says, "Your prayers are different than mine." I just said, "But we're both praying to the same person, right?" So she reluctantly stands up and shakes around a bit and then turns around. I thought she was gonna do some jumping jacks or something. Thats what it looked like. Then with lightning fast speed she shouts, "FATHER! SON! HOLY SPIRIT!" Then she spins around and faces this picture of Jesus on the wall. Then she hold out her arm and points at the picture. I didn't even close my eyes. It was the first time i had seen this. Her prayer was something like this: "Lord, I'm so grateful that I have withstood the evil teachings of these men. Thank you Lord for strengthening my heart against their attacks on our faith. Lord, I will not leave you to join the church of the Devil! Make them realize that their path is going towards Hell and suffering! Amen." Then she turns around.

Yeah. So we left and decided not to go back. But here is the interesting part. As we were leaving her house, Anthony turns around and says, "OH MY GOSH!" He starts freaking out. Literally. So we find a spot and calm him down. He goes, "Why did you guys not talk about Primary!" I go, "Primary? She's not a kid!" Then he tells us that at first when we started talking to Analisa, he was thinking of school and friends and stuff. Then he started to focus on Analisa. He said that as he did that, he started seeing pictures from Primary, hearing songs that he used to sing in Primary and remember lessons that he had learned in Primary. He saw his Primary teacher. He said it was like rapid speed through his mind's eye. I told him that I hadn't talked about Primary because I didn't feel prompted to talk about Primary. Then it hit me. The Spirit was prompting him HARD to talk about Primary! The Spirit had guided the lesson so well that it had even given him time to come in and talk about primary! Those were the minute breaks where neither I or my companion had any promptings! The Spirit had very meticulously weaved that lesson. Anthony can't be blamed. He didn't know what to do. That was the first time he said he had ever been that prompted in his life. I told him that that's what happens when you focus on what the investigator needs to hear--not what sounds good.

I know that the Holy Ghost guided us. And I know that Primary is what she needed to hear. But not from me. Not from my companion. But from Anthony. The Holy Ghost knows what he is doing. So listen carefully...

The second experience is cool too. We have an investigator getting baptized next Saturday--Editha Villa and her daughter Ladyvell. They are so converted it is crazy. They walked to church in the rain because they couldn't stand not going. She missed a Sunday because she was sick and she felt so horrible inside. She knows this is the Lord's true Gospel restored. We were teaching them about the Fall and Atonement (my favorite lesson) and we finished it up by holding up a picture of the Savior and then bearing testimony of Him. We finished and then EDITHA starts to bear her testimony to us about Christ and then she goes into bearing her testimony that this is the True Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then she tells us of her testimony of the Book of Mormon! Then she bears testimony of Joseph Smith. She said it was hard for her to express her feelings because its the first time in her life where she has felt such conviction in something. Then Ladyvell gives the most legit prayer I have heard in my mission. She thanks Heavenly Father for everything--school, her house, the Savior, the church, us, the Book of Mormon, her mom's job, etc. Then she (in her prayer) says, "Father, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet! I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I know that the Church is true!" and then she closed.

Wow. It was such an awesome lesson. We met them 3 weeks ago. When we met them they had no idea what the Church was. Now look at them. This is why I'm here--in case you're wondering still. hehe. Its because of the Spirit, the Book of Mormon and their prayers. That's why they know it. You just gotta read it and then ask. It's simple. And its the only way.

Hope you all have a good week! Thanks for everything! By the way, thanks to all of you that sent me stuff for Christmas! I love you all. I don't have time to make up Christmas Thank you's but just know that I appreciate it all!

Love you!

I'll be home for Christmas!

Brandon

December 29, 2010

            

 Hey family.

so thanks for the awesome phone call on christmas (eve for you guys). so here is my christmas gift to you all. i am sending a MILLION pics that i was not able to send because of the fact that i had no card reader. so i hope you enjoy. i dont know how you want to put that all online. maybe facebook or idk....photobucket? grandma is the lady with the plan.

our christmas was really nice. i spent it reading. i read Luke 2 twice, the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite about Christ's birth, the day of Christ's birth in America, and then I read a lot of Jesus the Christ about His birth. I love my Savior.

so the pictures that i have here are...a lot. and i forgot what they all are. but there are pics from lilo-an and some pics from polambato (my last area). no. that long hair is a wig. haha. the filipino companion is Elder Atanacio and he is my current companion. The Samoan one is Elder Seupule. The other pics are sweet. HOW ABOUT THE RUN-DMC ZONE T SHIRTS!!!! The LAZ means Lilo An Zone. Hope you enjoy the rest. Thanks for getting the shoes in motion. Love you all.

I'll be home for Christmas!!!

Brandon

  

                                                                                                               

  

                                                

                                                                    

                                                                                                                                           

                                                      

   

    

                                                     

                                  

December 22, 2010

Hey champs!

Alright. So I got my Christmas Package today and you'll never believe this but I got my Fall package on Friday. hahahaha. Yeah. I know. It was postmarked September 17. It got lost in the mail somewhere and its all gone now except for the Candy Corn. I kissed the bag of Candy Corn. It was all so good. Elder Atanacio loved the Twix and M&Ms. I was eating some M&Ms (which turned into a brick of peanut butter chocolately goodness by the way tungod sa heat, pressure from other boxes I assume and my sticking them in the freezer) and he just kinda looks at the bag and says quietly, "I like those". I turned the bag and said, "Dig in Big Fella!!!" Then he says, "Wow. I thought you'd never ask!" I said, "I thought you never would either." hahahahahaha. He's a goon. Love my companion. I was thinking about it the other day. I really have been blessed companion wise. I haven't had a single comp yet that I didnt like!

As for the Christmas package, I had a good laugh that you really wrote on the customs slip "MENS UNDERWEAR" in huge letters. Aint nobody bustin into that box!

Dad, you were asking about the kids dressing up and getting presents.....not really. haha. I think Brother Mercado is from Luzon and I've heard that things are way different up there. The Visayas is a little more ghetto. (By the way, there is a wall here that has the word 'ghetto' painted on it. I hope to get a picture with it before I transfer)  The kids here actually don't dress up. What they do is they get a board or a stick and they nail flattened out bottle caps on it so they can shake the stick and the caps will sound like very annoying bells. Then they go door to door or store to store and shake the bottle caps while singing Christmas songs in the hopes that someone will give them some money or food. Some kids came to our door and I gave them each a Double Stuf Oreo. Heck, I'd take that over money any day! Then you have grown men who get a whole band together and they go around with these instruments that they made themselves and have little Filipino mariachi band sessions for some change. Its pretty cool. Some members asked me if people sing songs and ask for money in America. I said "No. They just ask for some figgie pudding". I don't think they understood why I thought that was so freaking hilarious.

We had a great success this week. We found out that the carpenter working at our Bishop's house is a member. Loooong time member but inactive and gets drunk almost nightly. So we set up a time to meet with him and we took him, his wife and his daughter to the temple for the weekly temple tour. It was a great experience. They weren't so stoked at first. Brother Mendez was. It kind of rekindled his testimony of his conversion. But his wife was not down. Neither was Jade---their daughter. But by the time we were done, they were asking us to teach them. We set and appointment and went to their house the next day. Then we taught the whole family. They are getting baptized on the 29th of January. Really excited because they are a great sealing opportunity. We have about 13 committed investigators. The work is going great.

Alright. Love you all and excited to talk on Friday.

Brandon

December 7, 2010

Hey everyone.
So this last week was not as crazy as the last one. So on Thursday we took our investigator Elvyn to the temple tour. We got to tour the grounds outside, hear about what the temple is for, a little about what goes on inside, got to visit the family history center, and then took a quick tour of the chapel. It was great. His girlfriend Grace is a member and she was so excited for him to go. They both were really excited about the part about eternal marriage. haha. On the way home he was asking about a mission and what it takes to go on a mission. Both of them plan on going. He's 15 and she's 18 so that's not a bad plan. They asked me if I thought they're age gap was too big. I said I didn't have an answer. I know from experience that it is. hahahaha.
So Friday we taught the mother of a sister in the ward. Sister Olayao. She kept telling us that she wanted us to teach her mom and we wanted to. We had kind of taught her before but it was just a sample. So we go back--mind you, she knows that we are coming. We show up and then she opens up the gate, sits us down and asks us what we are there for. What we are there for? We are here to share with you the gospel of Jesus Christ! So we kind of get in this little discussion. It was just going nowhere. So finally I realize that we haven't started with prayer. So I offer a prayer and then I come right out of the prayer and say, "We are here to invite you to be baptized by proper authority into the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Will you be baptized on January 8th?" I think Brother Olayao's jaw hit the cement. She just looked at me like, "are you crazy?" She declined and I asked why not. Then she told me about how she is Catholic and doesn't want to change religions because she is Catholic. So we taught her about the Great Apostasy and how the prophets and apostles testified for years about a time when the church would be lost from the earth. Then I said, "Look. This has happened. But the church has been restored. And we are inviting you to be a part of it." She declined again. She discussed some scriptures with us and I used the Bible and Book of Mormon (and a little Doctrine and Covenants for some flavor) to show her that the priesthood power was lost. It eventually got to the point where she understood what we were teaching. She even got to the point where she said OUT OF HER OWN MOUTH that the Catholic Church cannot be true because the priesthood power was lost. Then I asked her again, "Then will you be baptized by the proper authority into Christ's true and living church?" She said no. NO! I couldn't believe it. But that's okay. She is just "kicking against the pricks" of revelation. She told us to come back again but I doubt we'll be going back there. I did my part. Something interesting was that when I first pulled out my scriptures, I opened them up "by chance" to 1 Corinthians where Paul says that he wasn't called on a mission to baptize but to preach the gospel. Yeah. Sometimes it just doesn't happen.\

Saturday night was the Youth Cultural Celebration. That was pretty cool. The youth have an annual road show. It is quite something. They said that every year the youth look forward to it. Thats something they should implement everywhere. Especially in Sac North Stake.

Our investigators are either fizzling or sizzling. That's just kind of how things go I guess but like I said, we have that one investigator that had that great experience about knowing that the church is true and then getting drunk that night and not coming to church. Our other investigators are doing well. Apparently Elder Atanacio and Elder Palasan made some great work yesterday on our companion exchange with some former investigators in our area and had a pretty spiritual lesson with a less active family. Elder Frecker and I on the other hand had a great day. We had 7 new investigators in his area and committed all seven to baptism. Even more incredible was that four of them didn't believe in God when we started and then committed at the end of the lesson. It was a great day. As for converts, the retention with our recent convert Duane Del Castillo is going great. He has the priesthood, bore his testimony on his own on Sunday and I think will be getting a calling here in a bit. I'm so excited for him. Not to mention, he's getting his family history done. That was cool too.
Today was played some games as a zone for our zone activity and had lots of fun. We got some zone t shirts. Its the Run DMC logo but it says RUN LAZ (Run Lilo An Zone). It looks so siiiiiiiick. Love it. Everyone does. I'll send some pics. The shirt was my idea by the way.
Alright everyone. Love you all sooooo much. Last Christmas coming up. Promise. hahahaha.
Brandon

November 23, 2010

Afternoon folks.

So this week has been pretty good. We spent most of it in training actually. We had training from Thursday morning until Friday night. Then Saturday night was crazy. Because we got soooooo freakin stuffed. The Catantan Family in our ward just pounded food on our plate. I ate until I was full and then ate some more. There was fish (isda), lentil soup (monggos), lumpia (...lumpia) and a bunch of rice. I chowed. It was so good and then as if that wasn't enough they busted out some ice cream and FORCED US to eat ice cream. FORCED us. I swear.

But it was nothing compared to Sunday night.

We went over to our bishop's house for Family Home Evening which was crazy. They did it all in English. It's weird. I've gotten to the point where in a Filipino setting I prefer to speak Visayan rather than English. Its just more comfortable. I feel very out of place. Even if everyone around me is speaking English. They had me share a story about unity and I told the story of the Gadianton Robbers trying to kill the Nephites but Lachoneus had them united in the city so nobody was killed. It was good. So then we finished and (by the way, our bishop has a monster Samsung Flat Screen) then we sat down for dinner. Everything on the table was covered with tin foil. Sister Ramirez uncovered the first thing. Fish. Okay. Plausible. Second. Rice. Didn't take a genius to guess. And then three--spaghetti. Now let me first tell you that Filipinos love spaghetti. But not good spaghetti. The spaghetti here is sweet and has hot dogs in it and its just gross. So I picked some up and put it on my plate. It was not sweet. It was legit Italian spaghetti. Then she uncovered the next dish. Salad. I almost dropped out of my chair. I haven't had salad since the MTC! Then grapes. I haven't had grapes since home! And then oranges. Home as well! I ate. and ate....and ate....and ate... I ate more than I have eaten since....I don't know. They were amazed. They just kept telling me to eat more and adding more. So then I finish. I'm looking like a balloon. I'm sure. Then Sister Ramirez says its time for desert and pulls out another pan. She pulls off the tin foil and its some kind of yellow thing. Like brownies but not. She cuts me a block and you'll never guess what it was........it was sweet potato pie. My favorite. But Verna is the only one I know who knows how to make it! When I told her that we have that in America and that I love it they were just giving me more and more. I was full until Monday around 2 pm. It was a great night.

So then on Monday was had another Family Home Evening at the Salde home. It was great because it was this middle age member, Sister Salde, her grandkids who were recently baptized, their friends who were recently baptized and THEIR friends who were either not baptized or not 8 yet. It was packed. Almost 15 kids. And then one of the dads came over too. You would have cried Mom. Usually everyone sings Love at Home as the opening song for Family Home Evening. But the kids were BEGGING us to let them sing I Know That My Redeemer Lives. 15 Primary kids. So we sang it. Those kids sang so loud. Even the nonmembers who had never been to church were singing. LOUD. I have it on camera. Sister Salde got kind of emotional. Here was a bunch of kids. Some of them were only 8 or 9 and the only members in their family. But here they were--singing at the top of their lungs that they KNOW that their Redeemer lives. It was great. Then Elder Atanacio taught about prayer and then I led the game 'Gubat! Gubat!' ( War! War!) which they loved. So we finished the game and I asked what song they wanted to sing. I was expecting Familie Can Be Together Forever. But they wanted to sing Come Follow Me. So we sang that one too. It was great. Christ would have loved it.

Then yesterday we just did lots of tracting. So not so eventful outside of the lessons that we have taught so far this week and the great Family Home Evenings. I love Family Home Evening. Its a great missionary opportunity.

So Greg! You know, I knew about Shay a long time ago. At least I think so. You'll have to let me know Greg. (You better be reading this)  Thats awesome! I was expecting to be home before he got married. Dang. Can't win them all I guess. Sweet. That means next year I'm the most eligible bachelor in the family. Score.

Dad. Holy cow. I was just salivating reading about RPM. We are going when I get home. I was reading that story about the crash and was just imagining the two of them glancing back and forth at each other just daring the other to back down...dumb. Props to Ben for giving it to the old guys. Nice work Ben.

So if anyone is wondering what they could send in a Christmas package, I always am down for old polyester neckties. If you think its ugly, its probably amazing. When in doubt, its awesome.

Love you all,

Brandon 

November 9, 2010

HEY THERE EVERYONE!!!

So to be up front, this week hasn't seen much legit missionary work. We taught a lesson yesterday. It was our 2nd in the last two weeks. Just lots of missionary logistics and getting things in order and in place. The apartment out in Catmon is all put together and I'm super happy that we dont have to go there any more. hahaha.

As for myself, I'm doing well. Almost done with John and just finished Alma again. I'm on my 7th time reading the Book of Mormon so far in my mission. I have highlighted all the good guys names in green, bad guys in brown, places in light blue and references to Christ in red. Its really enriched my reading. Love it.
So I have a funny story. So we're out in Catmon and I see Elder Atanacio playing with his ear. So I ask what up and he tells me that he thinks that a bug flew in it. He said he saw it fly in and he can hear it and feel it moving. So we start going home and I text Sister Hansen about what he needs to do to get it out. He told me to stick a pencil in there to get it out but no way was I gonna shove a bug deeper in this guys brain. So Sister Hansen texts back that we need to go to the ER and get the bug pulled out of his ear. The whole way he's just talking about how its chirping and moving. He said it felt like it was just going deeper and deeper. So we get to the ER after a 20 minute drive and they put us in a room. A doctor comes in and asks whats up. So we tell him that a bug flew in his ear. So the doctor comes back and starts looking in his ear....nothing. At first he gives the conclusion that it may have burrowed in. But then he looks really hard and says there is nothing. So we go eat at a barbecue (which was FULL of guys dressed as girls by the way...) and then he keeps saying he can feel it in there. So we go back and they tell us to look again is going to be 500 pesos. So we bounced. So no bug. None. hahahahaha. It was a really funny trip though.

To be honest, I really think my companion is awesome. He's really lightened up a lot. I just kinda got him talking one night and he opened up about some stuff to me so I opened up with him about some stuff. Then I just joked a lot with him about funny things that happen. We always joke about each other getting sent home for sitting next to a girl on a bus or a jeepney or something. Its not very funny unless your there. We're both really obedient.

OH! So we go shopping for stuff for the new house in Catmon. We go with the Bailey's. You know, Elder Bailey is the airplane mechanic. No messin around. I wanted to die. It was sooooooo not fun at all. It could have been. Me and Elder Atanacio were cracking jokes and joking with the attendants at the store because they were scared of Elder Bailey and couldn't understand his English. But man, let me tell you. Elder Bailey was not having fun. He was raising his voice, complaining about this and that. I kept trying to lighten the mood in the car telling stories and jokes but only me and Elder Atanacio were laughing. The Grinch is out early this year....

Love you all. Talk more next week.
Brandon

November 2, 2010

Somebody stop this camel!!!!!!

Hey everyone.

So first off. I'm super confused. Did the Giants WIN the World Series? Or did they just get IN? Dad said that they were 2-1 as of the 1st. If they won it, I'm stoked. I'm so glad to be a Giants fan and glad that I got off the burning Diamondbacks bandwagon to join my hometown team when I did. It was when we played the Angels in...what was that....2002? I stuck with them for a while now. Nice to have a world series under my belt.

Second off. WHAT UP KIDS!!!!! ONE YEAR!!!! WOOOOOO!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE I MADE IT!!!!!! Not gonna lie. There were some times when I thought this mission was going to take forever!!! So it has seemed slow at times. But now I look back and its just fast! On Halloween the other night I was thinking about last Halloween and remembered EXACTLY what I did. Tyelar, Jenny and I took Jayse and Nathan out trick or treating and then came home and watched Halloween on TV. I remember Mom told me that I needed to be smart about when I was going to bed and got a little irritated when I said she was worrying too much. That Halloween movie sucked. That was the night Mom and Dad watched Dracula on TV too. Dang....that was a year ago?

So shoot. Lets see. To answer the rest of moms questions. One. I have not yet received the package yet. But that doesn't mean you should cancel sending packages. Sister Bailey (the sister in the office) said that they can sometimes take 6-8 weeks to get here. If that's true then it should be right on time. Sweet. Two. My new companion is great. Elder Atanacio from Sao Pablo. He's Tagalog. Its kinda tough to speak to him because he mixes lots of Tagalog in his Visayan. He's really nice and just corrects if things are done contrary to the white handbook--which was once. I chewed some gum on a jeepney and he called me out on it. But I laughed and told him that I was allergic to gum so its all good. hahahahahahahahaha. He laughed too. We had our ZLC (Zone Leader Council) yesterday. It was a monthly meeting with all the zone leaders, president, the APs and the finance clerk. The finance clerk is a giant ex-military mechanic who tattooed his own arm. Yeah. He's like a fat Rambo. And he doesn't talk. He just yells. That was a terrifying experience. When he sat down you could hear exhales around the room from the ZLs. I was holding my breath too. hahaha. it was way fun though because most of my mission buddies were there. A lot of us became zone leaders at the same time. So we got to hang out a bit and have some fun just talking. The food was pretty good. You know, Chicken Parmesan, french bread, pasta salad, garden salad, and then a little apple crisp. You know. Things that I NEVER THOUGHT WOULD TOUCH MY LIPS FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS!!!! IT WAS HEAVEN!!!! I wasn't gonna say anything but Sister Hansen's chicken parmesan didn't touch yours mom. And her apple crisp was good but Elder Doxey (who is from Galt and knows Adams family really well) and I were talking about some Kids Inc. APPLE CRISP. Yeah. I capitalized that because that stuff is a fruity grenade of flavor.

So right now I'm reading the Gospel of John before Christmas. That was what Elder Andersen asked of us. So thats what I'm doing. I suggest we all do it. Buhaton ba ninyo mobasa sa ebanghelyo ni Juan sa dili pa karong Pasko? or in English...Will you all read the Gospel of John before this Christmas? haha. Only 53 days till Christmas. They start counting down till Chirstmas and kinda start celebrating Christmas here on September 1. When I found that out I thought, "This is a country of little Grandma Tedescos!" hahahahahaha.

ZL is tough stuff! We have only taught one lesson in 5 days because we are opening up a new zone and we are helping open an area that is BRAND new. As in they have never even heard the gospel up there. Pretty cool to be entrusted with that. Hope I measure up. ZL is a lot of work. But its better than DL. I didnt have to give a workshop on Monday. hahaha. I was getting really tired of giving those. I love teaching but I was running out of stuff to talk about. So its a nice change. I'm over finances though for the zone. Not my favorite. But I've honed my thriftiness over the last year. So...not too worried.

What else? Elder Seupule dropped that family of 8 the other day. He texted me and told me that they just weren't progressing well enough. I'm not very happy with his decision. I think part of it is that he doesn't understand what they say and doesn't know that they believe what we say. Part of it also is his fire and brimstone side wanted to drop an investigator. He always talked about dropping one. I think he really wanted to. Which makes me sad if he dropped them for the thrill. You know?

My shoes are broken. I took pictures but have no way to send them right now. Lost my card reader. They are messed up bad. hahahaha. I've been putting it off for a while now. Like, 6 months. My other pair is fine. I started really taking care of them and shining them a lot. I can see my face in them. Its sweet. I just use them instead of a mirror when I shave. haha. Just kidding. They aren't that shiny.

Alright. So I'm gonna close now. Had two people get baptized Saturday in Polambato. Really happy. Have a lot more coming up. Elder Seupule is lucky.

Love you guys.
Elder Treadway
366 days to go.........................to be continued.................