April 26, 2011

Okaaaaaaay. So lets start off this email by first off thanking you for the camera. Second off, lets hope it gets here. Haha. But I'm hopeful. I want to believe that there is one nice person in the postal service who is willing to do a good turn daily for a brotha in the Philippines. So worst case scenario is that it gets returned to you, or that it gets lost in the mail? Or someone steals it? When do you want me to let you know what happened so that you can know what to do?

As for the work, man ALIVE!!! Imagine an island full of people that don't care at all about what you have to say--even though you know its the most important thing that they can hear.....okay. That's Camotes. haha. This last two weeks have literally been the hardest two weeks of my mission. I am giving my seroius 200% to the work and doing my best to not be trunky. I'm not trunky yet. Dont worry about that. But I have been really relying on Heavenly Father alot through prayer. Prayer has been a struggle for me through my entire life. I didn't pray for a loooooooooong time back home. Not every nite for sure. But here on my mission I've really tried to make my prayers MEAN something. They mean something here. I've felt comfort through my prayers. I get home every day and before I go to bed I just lay it all out there. The first week it was more me complaining and whining but I quickly turned it into me asking him what I need to do and I have gotten the answers. I know I have. Sometimes the answers have changed though as the circumstances have changed. But prayer has really been a part of my life these last two weeks.

So next week we go into the FINAL 6 MONTHS!!! As such, I have decided to abandon my reading of the Old Testament (I'm in Chronicles and thats the worst book I've had to get through. I'm drowning in boredom...) to focus my last 6 months on really studying the Savior. I mean REALLY focusing on Him. I'm reading Jesus the Christ again and I'm going to read the Gospels again for a third time. Man, I love the scriptures. READ EM PEOPLE!!!!

Love you guys, thanks for all your prayers and support.

Brandon

April 19, 2011

Subject: MY CAMERA IS TOAST!!!!

Somehow, I dont know how, my camera casing blew up, the screws are gone, the screen is cracked and the lens is jammed. It is gone. To get it fixed will cost more than getting a new camera. So I dont know what to do. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!!!

So here are some ideas.

We can just get it fixed at a camera shop here in the Philippines.....not safe. At all.

IF WE WANT TO REPLACE THE CAMERA:

We can have a new camera be my really early birthday present or something and have you guys can send it to me in a package or something like that.

Or you can put enough money in my account to get a new one here. The problem with that is that to get a quality camera, it costs alot because it also includes the cost of the shipping to the Philippines that got the camera here in the first place.

Thing is, it would be cheaper to get a new one back home and you guys send it to me.

I dont know what you want to do but I really need a new camera. This place here in Camotes is amazing. I need to take pics.

Love you guys alot. Please come up with something and tell me what I need to do in your next emails.

Brandon

April 19, 2011

Hey you guys.

Here's your answers mom:

Did you take a plane or boat over there?

So in order to get to the Camotes Islands, we took this little barge thing. We paid the extra 20 pesos for the nice Air Conidtioned room with cushioned seats and a big plasma tv. I'm not saying that the TV was the main reason that we took that option. It was mostly the air con. They showed Indiana Jones and the Alien that Built the Maya Civilizations Crystal Head. I liked it more the second time. But I guess anything is delicious in a famine...

Are you enjoying your new companion?  

My new companion is Elder Hikila. He's quiet but me and him joke around alot. I think he's hilarious. Him and I have had some pretty good conversations about how some people are just out to make the Elders look bad. He's very good at controlling his temper. He said that he's had to work on that his whole mission...that makes two of us.

Did I understand you right that there are only four of you on the whole island? 

That is correct.

How do you get food? 

We eat garbage. Not literally but almost. I haven't been happy with the food yet but its one of those things where I need to understand that I won't be satisfied with what they have to offer. Its just not enough to sustain my large, muscular build and attractive composure!

How are the circumstances different than what you were living in before. 

There are no jeeps. Just scooters so the air is a lot cleaner. Not to mention that the island is really small so we see the ocean all the time. That's pretty cool. Plus I have a car. Yeah. It feels great. And to top that off, it smells like my car back home. That made me miss home quite a bit. Also the fact that there is only 4 of us is different. Our house is the District AND the Zone. haha.

How is the new ward? 

Its only a branch and its very small. Like 30 members. Maybe. Its mostly kids. But in the next 10 years this place is gonna blow up and be a strong ward. Glad I can be a part of it.

Do people seem to be receptive to your message?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No. Not at all.

But things are going alright here in Camotes. Elder Hikila and I are really looking at things in a good light and just taking each day as it comes. We follow up with everyone and drop those who don't care. I hate dropping investigators but we have to sometimes. We had one tell us that she prayed to the Lord to stay in the Catholic church. I just gave her this blank stare and wanted to ask her, "then why in the world would you even have us come back?!?!" And then we finished up a teaching appointment with this family and I asked how they liked our message and she said, "Its great! Its just like the Catholic church but you guys do Bible Study." So Elder Hikila and I looked at each other, smiled and left them 2 Nephi 28. I told her, "This is the answer to whats different between the two churches." I really hope they read it. They deserve to know. Then we taught this middle age guy yesterday that said if we could tell him when "our Bible" was put together, he would join the church. So I said, "okay. Well first of all, we use the same BIBLE. So of course, you know when that was put together right?" He didn't answer but I took his silence and rolled with it. "As for the Book of Mormon, it is another testament of Jesus Christ translated by the Prophet Jospeh Smith trhough the gift and power of God. It was written by ancient prophets who lived on the American Continent starting at 600 BC and covering roughly 1000 years until 421 AD when it was buried by the prophet Moroni. Then, Joseph Smith retrieved the record, translated it and then it was published in March of 1830." Needless to say, he didn't commit to baptism since he didn't think we could answer that. But since this is the true church, we could. haha.

Its Holy Week here in the Philippines so things are going to get crazy here in the next few days. We've seen some people dressed up as Jesus covered in fake blood walking down the street getting whipped by guys dressed up as Romans and Elder Gertge saw three guys get crucified earlier this week. Its not even Holy Thursday yet. Thats when things start to pick up but Good Friday and Black Saturday are the biggest. Easter Sunday isn't as big as the other days though. They really focus on the death alot. Which is sad since, you know, Jesus was resurrected and all. I'm excited for this Easter. Love the season.

All right, I gotta go. Love you all.

Brandon

April 11, 2011

Hey everyone.

So this week our P-Day is on Tuesday because of the Mission Presidents seminar thing. I dont know. So don't feel bad if you weren't able to get an email out to me before Wednesday. I totally understand.

First bit of news, I'm transferring. After 6 months, 8 great baptisms, a lot of growing and 3 great companions, I am on my way to the Camotes Islands! Camotes is a small island system just off the coast of Cebu. The Gospel is relatively new there. It has been open for less than 2 years. They have only four missionaries out there: 2 Zone Leaders, and District Leader and 1 Junior Companion. I'm really excited. My new companion is Elder Hikila. He's one of my buddies in the mission already so I'm happy. He's a huge, strong Tongan elder that could seriously rip anyone that he wants in half! But me and him get along great. We have since the MTC. He's my 5th Polynesian companion. I think President likes to put me with Polys. haha. I understand them really well. So I'm excited. And I get a car. Sooooo boss. But the island isn't very modernized. Its one of those paradise islands. No bank. No grocery store. No laundromat. So its going to be washing by hand again. That's okay tho. I've been doing that to save on money for the past month anyway.

But part of me doesn't want to leave! I have grown closer to the members here than I have in any of my other areas. I have a real connection with seriously just about EVERY active member in the ward. I really love them all alot. I bore my testimony on fast Sunday and told them that I wanted them to always remember that I stood in front of them and told them that I knew that all of this is true--especially the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I told them that if there was any advice I could leave with them it was: live worthy to be sealed as a family and then stay close as a family through 1) Daily Family Scripture Study, 2) Daily Family Prayer, 3) Weekly Family Home Evening and 4) Regular Temple Attendance. The members were really sad to see me go. They told me that they were going to talk to the bishop to send in a request to have me stay in Lilo-An until I go home so that they can keep having baptisms. I'm glad that this is the impression that I left with the members here. I wasn't a joker, I wasn't a strict guy, I was a missionary that loved doing the work and took it seriously and cared about everyone that I came into contact with. That's my legacy here. A good one if you ask me...

So General Conference. Holy cow. I totally left all my notes at home but I think someone wants us guys to get married! We couldn't believe it! There were like 5 talks on marriage! And I was dead set on just kinda taking things easy when I get home. The funny thing was that seriously the day before conference I was thinking to myself about how long I was going to wait to get married when I get home. I decided to wait a couple years. Get my footing on life again, see Transformers 3 and then maybe get back in the dating scene. Well, someone upstairs didn't like that plan! hahahaha. So that was great.

Oaks gave an amazing talk. He's gone 4 for 4 for me in the last four conferences with amazing talks. Desires and such. Great talk. And then Ribbons had a good talk...I assume. We were trying sooooo hard to focus but it was so in depth English that the people in the chapel just gave up and started chatting so that made it hard for us to focus on an already somewhat confusing talk. I liked the concept tho. He said something I liked, that we shouldn't compliment people on their achievements but rather what they DID in order achieve that achievement. Great advice for leaders. Uchtdorf owned super hard with his talk on getting all the benefits out of Priesthood service. It was well needed here. And for me, the dark horse apostle is Elder Christofferson. I think he gets the least amount of attention for his AMAZING talks! He just talks like an apostle of Jesus Christ. His talk blew my mind--about chastisment and correction. I recently had a moment in my mission where I used the scriptures to try and point a lady in the ward in the right direction and she got super offended because of it. So it gave me some comfort in what I had said to her. Things are all patched up tho. Its good. Good conference. No. Amazing conference.

Last night we had a Family Home Evening with Josh and Lore (the lady we just baptized). I really wanted to spend my last moments in the area with them. I think that they are going to benefit the most from the work I have done here. Josh doesn't have the strongest testimony and it needs nurturing and I received LOTS of revelation and guidance from the Holy Ghost on how to help Lore so I really have an attachment to the two of them. They have two little boys that are going to grow up to be Priesthood holders someday and Lore knows that her purpose is to raise them up to understand the importance of the Priesthood.

She had asked me to teach a lesson on Strengthening Families. So as I was washing my clothes I was pondering what to talk about. I thought of two scriptures. One is Enos 1:3--about how Enos remembered the words which his father had spoken to him. And then Alma 56:26-27(?) about how the Stipling Warriors remembered the words that their mothers taught them. I told them that children notice and remember everything that their parents say and do. So the secret to a strong family really starts with the parents strengthening themselves. I pulled out my Walk with Christ card and read the things off to them and told them that these are the ways to strengthen ourselves.

It was funny because when it came to Daily Scripture Study, Lore got kind of irritated because she does it herself for a half hour at least every day but Josh doesn't do it at all. So she kind of grilled him pretty good on not reading his scriptures. It was so funny and rewarding for me. Here is this lady that had a -600% testimony of modern prophets and the Book of Mormon and here she is putting her husband on roast for neglecting them. I think Josh got a wake up call with that. So I committed them to do all those things on the Walk with Christ card. You know if you could send me some of those Dad, I could really use them in Family Home Evenings and stuff. They are great. As for Josh and Lore, I have so much hope for them. And they gave me a referral by the way. They referred Josh's cousin who is a freshman at BYU to me. They showed me some pictures. Potential investigator for sure. haha. You know.

Thanks, love you all.

I'll be home for Christmas.

Brandon

March 22, 2011

Hey everyone.

So things are going in a really good direction still.

We have our baptism for Sister Lore next Saturday. I'm really excited. She is nervous but excited at the same time. She gets it all really easy. SHe's way smart. She's going to be my 8th baptism in this area. haha. Thats almost a baptism every 2.5 weeks. haha. I think thats the right math???  I think President Hansen likes the work that we've been doing here. We have 14 investigators committed to baptism and as for my converts in the area, we have 100% retention, full-tithe paying, home/visiting teaching, Priesthood holding/exercising, nightly Book of Mormon reading CONVERTS. Not just people who got baptized. I know you know the difference. I'm so happy with the way its been going. I hope it keeps up. My companion made a comment to me that things in our area are different because its very smooth. He said that every lesson, every tracting opportunity, everything just seems to run smooth. I'm glad he feels that way.

So as a zone, we are targeting some of the things that need to be better. One is the effectiveness of our tracting and contacting. Its good but it could be way better. So we have had our District Leaders focus their workshops on quality over quantity. Well, this last week it kind of backfired. We had a whole bunch of quality but not much quantity. haha. So they kind of stoked the fire of diligence and we are looking at a better week this week.

One of the things that we also do as missionaries here is teach members how to hold family home evenings. But on of the things that has really bugged me in the mission is how these Family Home Evenings are done. It seems to be a 5 minute lesson and then 2 hours of playing games and goofing off with the family. For me, that isn't what Family Home Evening is. So I really expressed to the District Leaders that they need to teach their missionaries to do REAL family home evenings. And they need to be spiritual. Not a time to hang out and be used as an excuse not to work. We are really banging on all cylinders in this zone and we have turned it inside out. So now we just need to fine tune some things to get this engine purring so nicely that we can just PUMP baptisms out like crazy! We are almost there. I can almost taste it!  I really love what I have been able to do with Lilo An Zone with my companions' help. Some of my buddies are joking that its good enough to get me Assistant. haha. I dont want that. I would much rather go fix another broken zone. That is way more rewarding to me than sitting in an air conditioned office and getting fat......ter. haha

Thanks for everything everyone. Love you!

PS. I got Opa and Oma's package. I'm sending them a letter too. But just let them know

March 15, 2011

Hey mom and dad.

Sorry that you get a nice little short and sweet email with two stories.

So we had Evelyn's baptism on Saturday. Holy cow. Satan was working HARD to stop that thing from happening. He tried really hard to get her to not get baptized in the first place as you may realize from all the times she said she didn't want to be baptized and such. But when we got to the church, we had to drain all the water in the font and then we found out that the water pressure in the font SUCKS! After 2 hours we probably had a foot and a half of water and we were freaking out. We had used buckets to fill it and everything but nothing was working. So I just said a prayer in my heart that I would get an idea. Then I thought, "Hey! Lets just baptize her sitting down!" So we started the baptism and when we got to the actual ordinance, she sat in the water and Elder Sureta (the story of why he baptized is too long to recount) kneeled in the water and baptized her. It was just high enough to where she could be immersed.

The crazy thing is that after that, she spent the next HOUR telling her conversion story instead of her testimony. haha. We where at the church until 9:30. haha. She's great though. She's planning on a mission next year.

The second story is about the Pana family. So about three weeks ago, we got a referral for this guy Don Don Pana and his wife. They live in Dap Dap Catarman and they have a little store. He is a guard at the temple. And that's all we knew. We also had a crudely drawn map on a receipt. haha. For the last three weeks I would say we have spent at least 12 hours searching for this family. The map made it look like their house was in this one spot that had a house and store but every time we went there, the lady that ran the store said that she was not Ellen Pana but Terese something. I thought she was lying to us because she didn't know her husband had asked to be visited.

Well, yesterday, I was near giving up. I was about to just throw my hands up and just say that I had done all I can and go home. But I decided to go back to the Terese lady and give it one last shot to see if she was lying about who she was. So we go there and buy some drinks and started to talking to her a little bit about the temple and asked her about her family and she still said that she was not Ellen. She siad maybe we want to check up the road. The map sure didnt make it look like that was the way but we tried it. There was a little path that went off and we followed it. There we saw a little store and a lady sitting outside. We introduced ourselves and she said that she was Ellen that and that her and her husband had been waiting for us for three weeks. We just laughed and I said, "That's funny. We've been looking for you for three weeks." I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and guides us and others.

Love you all. Thanks for the package! Its not here yet....?? I'll text and find out.

I'll be home for CHRISTMAS!!!!

Brandon

March 8, 2011

Hey dad.

So I gotta tell you. I laughed out loud when you told me that you met this Tongan lady that learned Visayan and Cebuano. hahaha. I don't think I've explained this well enough. Cebuano is Visayan but Visayan is not Cebuano. Visayan consists of all the dialects in the Visayan region of the Philippines. Its confusing. In fact, I'm not even sure if I understand how that works. But just suffice it to say that they are one in the same. But yeah. I love the Philippines. There are some things that really bug me about it but they come with the package and I try not to dwell on those a lot. Even though they are all up in my face alll the time.

The work is going pretty good. You know that girl Evelyn that had read all the Standard Works but refused to get baptized? Well we really urged her before we left that we wanted her to pray about it remember? Well Thursday we get a text from her that she got an answer that she needs to get baptized. YES!!!! So we finished up the lesson and went over there that night and taught her a great lesson. Then Friday I realized that she could get baptized on the 19th of March instead of the 26th! So she ended up texting us ask when her baptism could be and I said the 26th. Then she complained and said that that was too far away so then I told her that the 19th was also available and she accepted. Then we taught her on Friday and I felt impressed to commit her to the 12th instead. She accepted and then I told her that she would have an interview the next day to prepare. Then she freaked out. She started crying and telling us that she wasn't ready and that she wasn't sure if the church was true and all this weird stuff. So then once she settled down a bit I told her that she knew this was the truth and she just needed to act. So we go ahead and close and she says the prayer and just starts balling in her prayer. At this point I'm really starting to doubt if that was the Spirit telling me to commit her to the 12th or my own hunger for another baptism. You know what I mean? Of course you do. You were in my place before.

So we leave and call to cancel the interview. I felt so weighed down! I was like, "WHAT THE HECK!!! I did exactly what the Spirit told me and it failed." I was so confused Dad. I felt let down. So we planned and I went upstairs, showered, got ready for bed and then just kneeled down and let Heavenly Father hear it. I'm sure I sounded like a baby. "What am I doing wrong? Why did I fail? What do I need to do? Then I just poured out to him that I wanted to gain a witness tonight that it is true. Just give her that if its thy will." Then I prayed for her and for her to be sensitive to the answer when it comes. The next morning we are teaching a lesson and I get a text from Evelyn. It said, "Elders, sorry for last night. I prayed. I'm going to get baptized last week. Lets do the interview at four. This is the will of Heavenly Father." Yeah. Prayers are answered!!! So she got interviewed, blew away the interviewer and she is getting baptized this Saturday. She's lucky number 7 in Lilo-An.

Thanks for everything dad. Especially your example. It's always helped a lot.

I'll be home for Christmas.

Brandon