Hey mom and dad!
So the baptism didn't happen yet. It got postponed to this Saturday because of the District Conference and then we had to postpone it again to next Saturday because we didn't get her interviewed in time. So its going to be next week and thus....
.....I will not be there to see it. I'm getting transferred to Bogo Zone. On Cebu. So now things are kinda like, woah. Did I do everything that I could have in the area? I'm glad that I can say that I did. It was a really hard area and I gave it my all. Its interesting. I was looking at some of the BR pages that people had written me so far in this area and almost all of them had something about my optimism and me facing adversity head on. I was pretty proud. Thats a good quality to have I think. I'm glad that that is one thing that people see in me.
So sounds like everything is good back at home. Gualala was fun, Ben has esopholagitoditisitonadmous, school is back up again, life is good.
So things this week were pretty awesome. I started writing in my journal every night so I can remember everything. Lets see...
So Elder Akina slapped a kid this week. Its an awesome story. It wasn't a hard slap. It was kind of "check yourself before you wreck yourself" slap. This kid called him Joe because he wanted to look cool in front of his friends. So Akina told him to come back and say it right in front of him. So he came back and tried to be tough by saying it again...and Akina slapped him. We saw the kid yesterday. He goes "um......good afternoon!" It was awesome. One less Joe-caller in Calape!
We were running low on Support last week so we skipped a lunch. We showed up at the church that afternoon and people asked if we had eaten lunch. We said no and they asked if it was because of money. We kinda tried to dodge the question but then they asked if we overspend. We said no. And then word exploded in the branch that we had no money and no lunch. hahaha. So the branch came together and prayed for us. We ate a meal of noodles and spaghetti sauce for dinner that was bomb! The crazy thing is that support came TWO DAYS early!!! We were shocked! The prayers on our behalf really do work! It was awesome.
We had our District Conference this last Sunday which was really good. President Hansen came since he's over all of the districts in the mission and he gave some really awesome talks. We were the choir. We sang Our Saviors Love and Children of Our Heavenly Father. The congregation was in tears because we sounded so awful. But I think it was because the Spirit covered up our voices and it sounded alright. haha. The best thing that happened was that Sister Hansen was giving her talk about the scriptures. She starts talking about the iron rod and how its the word of god. She said, "Nephi asked the angel what the iron rod was and the angel responded--HALLELUJAH!!! HALLELUJAH!!!" Somehow the microphone got turned off and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir came on from the back room at the EXACT PERFECT MOMENT!!! It was so awesome.Especially since we all thought that was part of her talk. I turned to Elder Akina and said, "Wow. Quite some preparation on this talk. haha.
Wow. So two more days in Calape. Its going to be hard on me. I have grown very close with most of the members. I have a lot of people here who love us and are really getting excited to help us. We got a LOT of referrals this week. I think the Lord sent me here to learn patience and use my work ethic to prepare this place for someone to harvest. Good luck to them.
So I know you wanted a list of things that I would want for my birthday. To be honest, the list has shortened. I really want money and THAT BOX OF TIES THAT GREG GAVE ME FOREVER AGO!!!! You know the ones that we all thought were ugly? Yeah. Its really awesome. And thats what I want more than anything. If we still dont have them at the house, I want a whole bunch of ugly old man ties. I know you think thats crazy but I do. As many as you can.
I could also go for some IcyHot. haha. And a Costco bag of Sour Patch Kids. And anything else that sounds pretty good. I don't know. The ties are my biggest want/need. I need some good bargaining value. Tie trading is crazy here. I really hope you still have that box. I have prayed every night the last week you still have that box and didn't give it to DI. Could you let me know if you still have it?
Thanks. So much.
Elder Treadway
First baptism in the Ocean
Cebu, Philippines
July 27, 2010
MAN ALIVE!!! I can't leave you people alone for 8 months without someone getting surgery on their throat from swallowing some chunk of beef or someone having headache pains and having it just ooze out your ears!!! People, people, people. hahaha.
So lets see.....
So about Ben. Thats pretty crazy. But at least we get to figure out what in the world is going on in that throat of his. That problem of his is nuts!!! I have a similar problem. If I eat starches (like bread or RICE) then my throat gets all blocked up and then I have to drink water with it to get the food to go back down. Its kind of a hassle but its also a good excuse to keep a glass of water present if the sud-an (the food that you put on the rice) is gross. It works like a charm. But he said he felt like a pro and said something about Kobe Bryant which makes me think that he may have still been under the influence of anesthesia.
And then there's mom. Holy cow thats an awesome story mom. Out your EARS even! I bet if you had spiritual eyes that would look pretty awesome. Just all his priesthood going in and all your headache coming out. Thats way cool. And then on top of that he has the power of healing! I guess we know who to call now when there's a sakit (sickness).
I had a similar experience this last week. Our potential Branch Mission Leader (which means that the branch president is looking into calling him as the BML) hasn't been coming to church the last couple of weeks. So we decided that we would go down and pay him a little visit and see what was the problem. He had also told us that he would work with us and never showed. So we went over there and talked. Turns out that he's had this infection on his foot for a while. He had it when I got here to Calape but it was more of a nuisance is what he said. But now it was stinging and he couldn't sleep at night. So after talking with him and figuring out what was the matter we found that the infection was getting worse (it didn't take a doctor---but it took two Eagle Scouts...hehe). So we told him that we had a plan. We told him that we would be back. So we ran (actually we walked aaaaaaall the way back to our house) and got some Neosporin from my bag. Then we bought some gauze and medical tape from the pharmacy. Then we went back to his house. We gave him instructions to wash the infection morning and night, put some alcohol on it to kill any extra bacteria from the water on the infection. Then rub some Neosporin on it and then cover it up with a bandage and then wrap it up with a handkerchief. We had already given him a blessing for it a week ago so we left him with that and bounced. I had faith that all he needed now was medicine. The Lord wanted us to do our part before he would do his.
So we go back two days later. And guess what! This infection that was about the size of a walnut was now the size of his pinkie fingernail (yes yes...look at your pinkie fingernail and compare...) BOOOM!!!! Healed! We haven't been back in the past couple of days because he's been gone but apparently he's up and about and doing great! We're really thankful. Turns out in HIS patriarchal blessing he has the gift of Faith to be Healed! Nice huh? The Lord is so cool.
Sp our work is really taking off now. Here's a story about an interesting bump in our road: So there's this religion called Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) and they were founded by this apostate Mormon named Manalo who graduated from BYU and wanted to be an apostle. Joseph F. Smith told him no so he started Iglesia ni Cristo. One of their teachings is that Jesus was just a man and that Manalo is greater than JESUS!!! What the what? So we tracted this girl on a bus and she said the missionaries had taught her before and we were able to come and visit her family. She was totally down with it. So I wrote down her name and asked this family on Sunday if they knew her because they live in the same neighborhood. So they say they know her and guess what? Her family is hardcore Iglesia. And her brother in law is the pastor. And the brother that we talked to in the branch said that they will have three pastors show up on our second visit and try to blow us away with the Bible. We're ready though. We're just gonna act like we're super stoked that they want to share with us too and then move past what they say. I got good at that in Mock Trial. Time to put that to good use. So last night we realized that she's trying to trap us into a Bible Bash with someone who knows doctrine better than her. Last night was the Anniversary for the Iglesia ni Cristos and she invited us to attend. US!!! She was like, "oh, we're just going to discuss the Bible." Yeah, we didn't go. We almost did though. That would have been interesting. So I'll keep you updated with what happens.
Kinda stinks that I'm missing out on Gualala this year. But guess what...I only have one Christmas left! Pretty sweet! Time is just FLYING BY!!! Its crazy! But I still love it like nothing else.
I don't know if you guys know this but me and the boys have been staying in close contact. Adam, Daniel, and Tyelar all write me each week. And even though we're all thousands of miles apart, we've all decided that we're gonna room together at BYU when we get back. Yeah. Distance stops nothing with us! That's the plan. Adam said there might be some kinks he needs to work out with some other cats but as far as we can tell its gonna be good. We just don't want the three of us awesome dudes to get stuck with some square bear kid from like Idaho or something in our apartment. So Adam was naturally our first choice! He's stoked, Daniel was right on board, Tyelar loves it and Adam's words were "Heck to the freaking yes" so he likes it too I gather.
As with Nathaniela and her baptism...its next Saturday because of District Conference.
Oh! I told Ben about this. I don't know what you're planning for my birthday (if anything) but just to let you know for all cases. Being that I am off island now, every package that I get (depending on size I think) comes to me at two times during the transfer--Zone Conference and Zone Interviews. Other than that, its a waiting game. So if you want a package to get to me before my birthday (if thats your plan) I would send it a month in advance or so. I'll probably get it a week or two early but thats better than three weeks late. I can wait to open it. Just write its for my birthday. I figure hey, I could wait until Christmas with your package. haha.
Alright fans! I love you both. Stay sweet. And tell Brian to write me! Ben does every week along with Jenny and the Boys. But Brian is kinda not so consistent. You gotta give to receive!
Love you
Brandon
So lets see.....
So about Ben. Thats pretty crazy. But at least we get to figure out what in the world is going on in that throat of his. That problem of his is nuts!!! I have a similar problem. If I eat starches (like bread or RICE) then my throat gets all blocked up and then I have to drink water with it to get the food to go back down. Its kind of a hassle but its also a good excuse to keep a glass of water present if the sud-an (the food that you put on the rice) is gross. It works like a charm. But he said he felt like a pro and said something about Kobe Bryant which makes me think that he may have still been under the influence of anesthesia.
And then there's mom. Holy cow thats an awesome story mom. Out your EARS even! I bet if you had spiritual eyes that would look pretty awesome. Just all his priesthood going in and all your headache coming out. Thats way cool. And then on top of that he has the power of healing! I guess we know who to call now when there's a sakit (sickness).
I had a similar experience this last week. Our potential Branch Mission Leader (which means that the branch president is looking into calling him as the BML) hasn't been coming to church the last couple of weeks. So we decided that we would go down and pay him a little visit and see what was the problem. He had also told us that he would work with us and never showed. So we went over there and talked. Turns out that he's had this infection on his foot for a while. He had it when I got here to Calape but it was more of a nuisance is what he said. But now it was stinging and he couldn't sleep at night. So after talking with him and figuring out what was the matter we found that the infection was getting worse (it didn't take a doctor---but it took two Eagle Scouts...hehe). So we told him that we had a plan. We told him that we would be back. So we ran (actually we walked aaaaaaall the way back to our house) and got some Neosporin from my bag. Then we bought some gauze and medical tape from the pharmacy. Then we went back to his house. We gave him instructions to wash the infection morning and night, put some alcohol on it to kill any extra bacteria from the water on the infection. Then rub some Neosporin on it and then cover it up with a bandage and then wrap it up with a handkerchief. We had already given him a blessing for it a week ago so we left him with that and bounced. I had faith that all he needed now was medicine. The Lord wanted us to do our part before he would do his.
So we go back two days later. And guess what! This infection that was about the size of a walnut was now the size of his pinkie fingernail (yes yes...look at your pinkie fingernail and compare...) BOOOM!!!! Healed! We haven't been back in the past couple of days because he's been gone but apparently he's up and about and doing great! We're really thankful. Turns out in HIS patriarchal blessing he has the gift of Faith to be Healed! Nice huh? The Lord is so cool.
Sp our work is really taking off now. Here's a story about an interesting bump in our road: So there's this religion called Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) and they were founded by this apostate Mormon named Manalo who graduated from BYU and wanted to be an apostle. Joseph F. Smith told him no so he started Iglesia ni Cristo. One of their teachings is that Jesus was just a man and that Manalo is greater than JESUS!!! What the what? So we tracted this girl on a bus and she said the missionaries had taught her before and we were able to come and visit her family. She was totally down with it. So I wrote down her name and asked this family on Sunday if they knew her because they live in the same neighborhood. So they say they know her and guess what? Her family is hardcore Iglesia. And her brother in law is the pastor. And the brother that we talked to in the branch said that they will have three pastors show up on our second visit and try to blow us away with the Bible. We're ready though. We're just gonna act like we're super stoked that they want to share with us too and then move past what they say. I got good at that in Mock Trial. Time to put that to good use. So last night we realized that she's trying to trap us into a Bible Bash with someone who knows doctrine better than her. Last night was the Anniversary for the Iglesia ni Cristos and she invited us to attend. US!!! She was like, "oh, we're just going to discuss the Bible." Yeah, we didn't go. We almost did though. That would have been interesting. So I'll keep you updated with what happens.
Kinda stinks that I'm missing out on Gualala this year. But guess what...I only have one Christmas left! Pretty sweet! Time is just FLYING BY!!! Its crazy! But I still love it like nothing else.
I don't know if you guys know this but me and the boys have been staying in close contact. Adam, Daniel, and Tyelar all write me each week. And even though we're all thousands of miles apart, we've all decided that we're gonna room together at BYU when we get back. Yeah. Distance stops nothing with us! That's the plan. Adam said there might be some kinks he needs to work out with some other cats but as far as we can tell its gonna be good. We just don't want the three of us awesome dudes to get stuck with some square bear kid from like Idaho or something in our apartment. So Adam was naturally our first choice! He's stoked, Daniel was right on board, Tyelar loves it and Adam's words were "Heck to the freaking yes" so he likes it too I gather.
As with Nathaniela and her baptism...its next Saturday because of District Conference.
Oh! I told Ben about this. I don't know what you're planning for my birthday (if anything) but just to let you know for all cases. Being that I am off island now, every package that I get (depending on size I think) comes to me at two times during the transfer--Zone Conference and Zone Interviews. Other than that, its a waiting game. So if you want a package to get to me before my birthday (if thats your plan) I would send it a month in advance or so. I'll probably get it a week or two early but thats better than three weeks late. I can wait to open it. Just write its for my birthday. I figure hey, I could wait until Christmas with your package. haha.
Alright fans! I love you both. Stay sweet. And tell Brian to write me! Ben does every week along with Jenny and the Boys. But Brian is kinda not so consistent. You gotta give to receive!
Love you
Brandon
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
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
July 14, 2010
Hey grandma.
Thanks for the compliment on my theme. I hope that it continues. Things with it have been going pretty good lately. It seems like people are starting to catch the vision of what it means. The sisters think its kinda dumb and they make fun of it all the time but the Elders are really focused on it (weird no? Shouldn't it be the other way around?)
We started teaching the daughter of a member. Her dad died and so her baptism kinda got lost in all the mess. So now its us that are stepping in and getting her baptized. We're excited and so is her family. We've really worked a lot with this family recently. Their oldest daughter is INCREDIBLY shy but we're trying to pull her out of her shell and its starting to happen. Awesome.
Yeah...the haircut is kinda getting to me. I dont know if I love it enough to keep it or if its just there for the sake of simplicity. But I think I oughtta keep it. Its inexpensive.
That sounds pretty cool about your trip with mom and everyone to Minnesota. That should be pretty cool. I still remember when we went to Mom's old house that Opa built. That was way cool.
Alright Grandma. Love you both.
Brandon
Thanks for the compliment on my theme. I hope that it continues. Things with it have been going pretty good lately. It seems like people are starting to catch the vision of what it means. The sisters think its kinda dumb and they make fun of it all the time but the Elders are really focused on it (weird no? Shouldn't it be the other way around?)
We started teaching the daughter of a member. Her dad died and so her baptism kinda got lost in all the mess. So now its us that are stepping in and getting her baptized. We're excited and so is her family. We've really worked a lot with this family recently. Their oldest daughter is INCREDIBLY shy but we're trying to pull her out of her shell and its starting to happen. Awesome.
Yeah...the haircut is kinda getting to me. I dont know if I love it enough to keep it or if its just there for the sake of simplicity. But I think I oughtta keep it. Its inexpensive.
That sounds pretty cool about your trip with mom and everyone to Minnesota. That should be pretty cool. I still remember when we went to Mom's old house that Opa built. That was way cool.
Alright Grandma. Love you both.
Brandon
July 14, 2010
Hey you two!
So first off mom. You didnt miss me. The Lord has his ways. We had our zone activity this morning (site seeing...again. I'll talk about that later...) and then when we got back there was a burnout and no electricity. So I couldnt email. So the power just came on about 30 minutes ago so here we are now.
Alright. So I dont know how much is in my account. I pulled out 1000 pesos a week or so ago. We had to get some things done with it and also I did some good with it. Here's what we did with 19 bucks. Remember that I told you about that family of 6 who's father died? They have NOTHING. As in nothing. The only money that they get is from whatever they can manage to sell from their little store in front of their house that has nothing also. So one day we went over there after pulling out that 1000 and we were going to share a message with them but they said they would rather not. As we talked a little bit we found out that they had no money. They couldn't even buy dinner that night. So they were all going to drink some water from the spicket out back and then go to bed hungry. So I gave them money for dinner. I couldn't imagine those 5 kids going to bed without dinner.
But the best is that last night was their youngest daughters birthday. She turned 6 yesterday. She's never had a birthday party before and we hadn't held an FHE over at their house. So we went out and bought a couple kilos of rice, some rotisserie chickens and bottles of soda. And we celebrated that little girls birthday in style. We all left last night STUFFED!!! But Elder Akina and I just felt so good. Because we knew that those kids weren't going to forget that night for a while. We won't either.
Work for us has been going alright. We kinda got put in a tough spot last week and weren't able to reach all of our goals. We had an all-day Zone CSP on Monday, Zone Conference on Tuesday, and P-Day. So it was kinda tough for us to come out of that stats hole. But we tried hard. Thats what mattered.
Thanks dad for the Covey bit. I love that guy's leadership stuff. It was a good help. Especially since I'm still trying to establish myself as a leader. You know what I mean? I've gotta put some cash in my accounts.
Alright so today we did our zone activity. It was a Bohol tour...again. You know how much I love sight seeing. The zone leaders set the whole thing up before they asked us what we wanted to do so in reality we had no choice...lame. It wasn't too bad though. Me and Elder Akina stayed patient. Well, as patient as anyone could be under the circumstances. haha.
We did a kind of treasure hunt thing at Sagbayan Peak that was kinda cool. We didn't WIN win but the guys who won got their clues out of order and we came in 2nd in the unofficial results. The official results were this...we won.
So its only 52 more days until BYU football kicks off...... have we filled our holes at all???
I attached some pics of the apartment and the FHE from last night. They're a great family. We're teaching their daughter Nathaniela. She's 9 and not baptized yet. So thats a convert baptism still. Yes...
And the pics of the house are there too.
Alright. Love you!
Brandon
So first off mom. You didnt miss me. The Lord has his ways. We had our zone activity this morning (site seeing...again. I'll talk about that later...) and then when we got back there was a burnout and no electricity. So I couldnt email. So the power just came on about 30 minutes ago so here we are now.
Alright. So I dont know how much is in my account. I pulled out 1000 pesos a week or so ago. We had to get some things done with it and also I did some good with it. Here's what we did with 19 bucks. Remember that I told you about that family of 6 who's father died? They have NOTHING. As in nothing. The only money that they get is from whatever they can manage to sell from their little store in front of their house that has nothing also. So one day we went over there after pulling out that 1000 and we were going to share a message with them but they said they would rather not. As we talked a little bit we found out that they had no money. They couldn't even buy dinner that night. So they were all going to drink some water from the spicket out back and then go to bed hungry. So I gave them money for dinner. I couldn't imagine those 5 kids going to bed without dinner.
But the best is that last night was their youngest daughters birthday. She turned 6 yesterday. She's never had a birthday party before and we hadn't held an FHE over at their house. So we went out and bought a couple kilos of rice, some rotisserie chickens and bottles of soda. And we celebrated that little girls birthday in style. We all left last night STUFFED!!! But Elder Akina and I just felt so good. Because we knew that those kids weren't going to forget that night for a while. We won't either.
Work for us has been going alright. We kinda got put in a tough spot last week and weren't able to reach all of our goals. We had an all-day Zone CSP on Monday, Zone Conference on Tuesday, and P-Day. So it was kinda tough for us to come out of that stats hole. But we tried hard. Thats what mattered.
Thanks dad for the Covey bit. I love that guy's leadership stuff. It was a good help. Especially since I'm still trying to establish myself as a leader. You know what I mean? I've gotta put some cash in my accounts.
Alright so today we did our zone activity. It was a Bohol tour...again. You know how much I love sight seeing. The zone leaders set the whole thing up before they asked us what we wanted to do so in reality we had no choice...lame. It wasn't too bad though. Me and Elder Akina stayed patient. Well, as patient as anyone could be under the circumstances. haha.
We did a kind of treasure hunt thing at Sagbayan Peak that was kinda cool. We didn't WIN win but the guys who won got their clues out of order and we came in 2nd in the unofficial results. The official results were this...we won.
So its only 52 more days until BYU football kicks off...... have we filled our holes at all???
Yes mom. There's an old lady in the branch who washes our clothes for us. Its awesome.
Alright. Love you!
Brandon
July 6, 2010
Hey Mom.
Nice timing. We're about to leave in a bit to go practice for District Conference. The zone is the choir--poor district conference. The ones who sing the loudest just so happen to be the worst singers but at least they try. haha.
Haven't been robbed yet and I dont think its gonna happen anytime soon judging by both me and my comp. I tower over everyone and he towers over me. He's working on patience though. He's been in the city before (I'm his first senior--not trainer) and hasn't gotten any of the crazy heckling that we get here so he's working on his patience. Its kinda funny. He gets irritated a lot. But he's improving.
We dont have investigators. But we have tracted in sheets of rain, pitch black burnouts and scalding heat to get some. No success yet. I think the Lord is waiting to see how serious we are and to see if its not just a one week thing. We're serious. But we keep asking him to help us through the trials he's giving us. We just keep smiling. Thats our plan.
Dad told me about the office. He sounds pretty excited about things. Thats cool. I found that when I change things up a bit I get more motivated. And when I use a blue ballpoint pen. haha.
I'm pretty excited cuz the new temple rules came out for when the missionaries can go to the temple. But on the other side of the coin you can only go to the temple once a month IF you are assigned on Cebu...so that means not me. haha.
Glad to hear that Ben and Brian had a good time at EFY. I wonder how Brian is doing at scout camp. I remember when I went straight from EFY to scout camp i was pretty depressed cuz I went from the land of a million girls to a bunch of dirty smelly dudes and no girls at all. That was tough for both me and tyelar that year.
That scripture thing that you talked about happens to me all the time--just about every day. I just started the Book of Mormon over again this morning. I broke down all three attempts that Nephi and his brothers had in getting the brass plates and the final attempt is the only one that mentions the Spirit. Its also the only one was successful of course. That was so cool to me. That we can't do anything without the spirit. Neither could Nephi. I wonder if he was kicking himself afterwards thinking of how easy the task would have been if the spirit had been such a helper as it was in the 3rd attempt.
Anyway. I'm not gonna lie. I'm really excited for the BYU football season. Even though I'm on the other side of the world I gave ben an assignment so I can live the games as well as if i were home. Its almost here. September. Actually its not THAT close but its closer than it was last month.
About the whole Eclipse thing...I know that Ben has a love for Twilight. He also is afraid to let it show. So good on him for taking you to see the movie. Cuz you know I wouldn't do it. haha. Not because of you...because of Twilight. But you know that. Didnt they just come out with the last one in November?
Elder Akina and I Stayed the Course this week. We got 21 lessons, 160 I2Ls, quality 7Y7 and then stayed obedient. We pay in every prayer for the Lord to help us to stay the Course and so far he has actually put obstacles IN our way. We spent one morning tracting in SHEETS of rain going from house to house with no umbrella. We just kept smiling for two reasons--one, when we had set out that morning there was not a cloud in the sky and two, we were doing what we needed to--even if conditions were tough. Then the next night we spent tracting in pitch blackness because there was a power outage. That was fun as well. We finish every day absolutely EXHAUSTED!!! We come home and its hard to speak because we can barely think. Persakes left and right. The other night I told him that we were doing a good job of "wasking brilky". Yeah. I meant walking briskly. haha. But we're just happy to stay the course.
Nice timing. We're about to leave in a bit to go practice for District Conference. The zone is the choir--poor district conference. The ones who sing the loudest just so happen to be the worst singers but at least they try. haha.
Haven't been robbed yet and I dont think its gonna happen anytime soon judging by both me and my comp. I tower over everyone and he towers over me. He's working on patience though. He's been in the city before (I'm his first senior--not trainer) and hasn't gotten any of the crazy heckling that we get here so he's working on his patience. Its kinda funny. He gets irritated a lot. But he's improving.
Dad told me about the office. He sounds pretty excited about things. Thats cool. I found that when I change things up a bit I get more motivated. And when I use a blue ballpoint pen. haha.
I'm pretty excited cuz the new temple rules came out for when the missionaries can go to the temple. But on the other side of the coin you can only go to the temple once a month IF you are assigned on Cebu...so that means not me. haha.
Glad to hear that Ben and Brian had a good time at EFY. I wonder how Brian is doing at scout camp. I remember when I went straight from EFY to scout camp i was pretty depressed cuz I went from the land of a million girls to a bunch of dirty smelly dudes and no girls at all. That was tough for both me and tyelar that year.
That scripture thing that you talked about happens to me all the time--just about every day. I just started the Book of Mormon over again this morning. I broke down all three attempts that Nephi and his brothers had in getting the brass plates and the final attempt is the only one that mentions the Spirit. Its also the only one was successful of course. That was so cool to me. That we can't do anything without the spirit. Neither could Nephi. I wonder if he was kicking himself afterwards thinking of how easy the task would have been if the spirit had been such a helper as it was in the 3rd attempt.
Anyway. I'm not gonna lie. I'm really excited for the BYU football season. Even though I'm on the other side of the world I gave ben an assignment so I can live the games as well as if i were home. Its almost here. September. Actually its not THAT close but its closer than it was last month.
About the whole Eclipse thing...I know that Ben has a love for Twilight. He also is afraid to let it show. So good on him for taking you to see the movie. Cuz you know I wouldn't do it. haha. Not because of you...because of Twilight. But you know that. Didnt they just come out with the last one in November?
Elder Akina and I Stayed the Course this week. We got 21 lessons, 160 I2Ls, quality 7Y7 and then stayed obedient. We pay in every prayer for the Lord to help us to stay the Course and so far he has actually put obstacles IN our way. We spent one morning tracting in SHEETS of rain going from house to house with no umbrella. We just kept smiling for two reasons--one, when we had set out that morning there was not a cloud in the sky and two, we were doing what we needed to--even if conditions were tough. Then the next night we spent tracting in pitch blackness because there was a power outage. That was fun as well. We finish every day absolutely EXHAUSTED!!! We come home and its hard to speak because we can barely think. Persakes left and right. The other night I told him that we were doing a good job of "wasking brilky". Yeah. I meant walking briskly. haha. But we're just happy to stay the course.
June 29, 2010
Hey mom.
So my new companion is Elder Akina. He's a Lillywhite reject just like me. Apparently she "quit" working at the MTC but from what I've heard from him and what I've experienced I wouldn't be surprised if it was asked of her to take her exit. But the best is that he is STOKED to work. He's had two companions who don't like to work and so I'm the first that is rippin and roarin to go. So we've really been out there and working hard. Turns out he was at Vaiola Tonga's wedding and hung out with Paane and Simi. And then he knows ALL of Jordan's friends in Provo. haha. The world is freaking small for Poly's.
So check this out. my companion is pretty new still so he doesn't understand or speak the language very well yet. So I told him that we have a family of 9 that we are going to commit to baptism that night. But this family of 9 is really the most active family in the branch. So I had already told them what to do and left behind a pamphlet and everything. So we went there at night and he was really trying to get to know everyone but kinda having trouble. Luckily we were able to fine-tune things in Cebuano while he was sitting right there because he couldn't understand us. So then they asked him to share before they were to be committed to baptism the next night. So he pulls out his book of Mormon and gives that lesson all he's got. He bears fervent testimony to them that through their faith, anything is possible. Slowly I start to feel it would be too much to go until the next night. So after he's done I turn to him and say, "there's something I need to tell you. They're all members." It was the funniest thing ever. So now he's gonna fine tune it and do it to the guy who replaces me. Awesome.
Woah. Jordan comes home next week.
So everything is kinda interesting with me being district leader and all. I instituted a new theme: Staying the Course which constists of fulfilling all of the mission standards and having SOLID obedience because Strict obedience doesn't sound appeasing.
Alright mom.
Loveyou
brandon
So my new companion is Elder Akina. He's a Lillywhite reject just like me. Apparently she "quit" working at the MTC but from what I've heard from him and what I've experienced I wouldn't be surprised if it was asked of her to take her exit. But the best is that he is STOKED to work. He's had two companions who don't like to work and so I'm the first that is rippin and roarin to go. So we've really been out there and working hard. Turns out he was at Vaiola Tonga's wedding and hung out with Paane and Simi. And then he knows ALL of Jordan's friends in Provo. haha. The world is freaking small for Poly's.
So check this out. my companion is pretty new still so he doesn't understand or speak the language very well yet. So I told him that we have a family of 9 that we are going to commit to baptism that night. But this family of 9 is really the most active family in the branch. So I had already told them what to do and left behind a pamphlet and everything. So we went there at night and he was really trying to get to know everyone but kinda having trouble. Luckily we were able to fine-tune things in Cebuano while he was sitting right there because he couldn't understand us. So then they asked him to share before they were to be committed to baptism the next night. So he pulls out his book of Mormon and gives that lesson all he's got. He bears fervent testimony to them that through their faith, anything is possible. Slowly I start to feel it would be too much to go until the next night. So after he's done I turn to him and say, "there's something I need to tell you. They're all members." It was the funniest thing ever. So now he's gonna fine tune it and do it to the guy who replaces me. Awesome.
Woah. Jordan comes home next week.
So everything is kinda interesting with me being district leader and all. I instituted a new theme: Staying the Course which constists of fulfilling all of the mission standards and having SOLID obedience because Strict obedience doesn't sound appeasing.
Alright mom.
Loveyou
brandon
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