Monday, August 15, 2011
Hello Family!
How are you all? :) How is Ogden and India? and wherever everyone is! Crazy to think that people actually do stuff other than study the scriptures and preach the gospel! Sounds like it is a lot of fun! Seaside, go boating crazy! Haha Miss it all but definitely having my own kind of fun here! Kolby can probably confirm that! It is definitely a lot of fun to be a missionary but it is VERY different fun! We get SO much pleasure in playing a game of monopoly (card version) on p day! Love it! Haha Anything else you guys are doing that is fun????
So, we had a baptism this last Saturday! It was awesome! Her name is Gaby or Gabriela—however you want to say it! She is 14 and she is so little! People here are just tiny! I didn’t actually do the baptism, my companion did, but I got to be the witness! I have to say, even though I loved to be the one to baptize last week, this was so much more special to me! I don’t need to be the one that actually does the action—just take part in helping the person get to the point, help them come to Christ! I witnessed someone make one of the biggest and most important covenants in their life! It was so cool! I felt the spirit tell me that this is the true work of the lord! I am bringing people to Christ. I am helping others to have better, happier, more joyful lives! This is so cooooool!!!!! I loved it!
So I have been out in El Salvador for 1 month today! It’s crazy how time flies!!! 3 months of missionary service already! 1/8 of my mission is already over! Time is seriously flying by! I can't believe it! I can’t wait to help more and more people over the next year and 9 months! This is going to be awesome!
K so I just wanted to answer a few of the questions that I have gotten in my emails recently!
What do I eat every day?
I have been eating lots of very bland food! But it is still very good, very fresh, and healthy! They love to eat a lot of beans, and rice. They put shredded carrot into their rice a lot! And I have also had spaghetti quite a bit too! I don’t know why they like this so much! But they do! They love to put sour cream on top of their spaghetti, too! Also elote (corn) they eat corn off the hizzow!!! Crazy, crazy people! haha They eat corn, corn tortillas, tomales (corn dumplings), atal (it is like grits made with fresh corn), fresh corn ground and put into a pattie.... so much corn! Gotta love it!
My knives....I laughed really hard at the story you told me mom! But just tell Derek that he had better watch himself! My knives have minds of their own and if you don’t respect them or their owner you will all of a sudden find one of them in your bed when you get into it!!!!! hehehehehhehehehehehehe
Something cool about the language is that sometimes I can have complete conversations and don’t have to think about what I am saying! It is definitely coming! I am learning so many words SO fast! It is coming really well!
About my companion! I have been able to understand him a lot more! He is definitely not one of my best friends like Elder Shelton was! But It is getting better and better! I have just learned to laugh at his jokes even if they aren’t funny! Haha this keeps him happy and it always helps to laugh, right? Haha He’s a very good person and a good missionary, too! We have had a lot of success already! :)
Also I wanted to tell you all that the temple is being dedicated next Sunday! I have never seen a group of people so excited about an event before in my life! They are seriously so excited for their own temple to be dedicated!! Also, President Eyring, Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Elder Walker are all coming to give a special devotional to the missionaries this Friday! I am so excited to hear from him! This is going to be an awesome experience! I will definitely let you all know in my next email how things go!
Ok.............so story.................I learned a new word the other day..................It is “violar” can you guess what this means? It means to violate..............haha I also found out that there are gay people in El Salvador too! It’s not just an American thing................haha can you guess what happened???? I will tell you! I laugh about it now but when it happened, it was definitely a scarring experience!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH haha
So I got on a bus and the buses here are very tiny, short buses from the U.S. the bus had about 40 people on it and there was NO room to move or anything! You could basically stand without holding on and the people would hold you up! So, I was just standing there waiting for people to move, people smashed against me and all that, and then the bus went to a stop. After it had stopped, most of the people moved away from me a couple inches or so and everyone stopped touching me…except one person...in one certain spot of my body. I will give you a hint—it was in the front! I looked down and his hand was right there! He saw me look down and moved his hand into his pocket. Me being the naive little Mormon boy I am, think, “Oh well, that was definitely weird but he just didn’t realize where his hand was!” Anyway, the bus started moving again, still very packed, and he starts doing it again!!!!! I am still thinking, “Maybe he is just trying to stabilize himself and he doesn’t realize where his hand is!” So, I turned my body as much as I could away from him! He then reached even farther just so he could have his hand there! He then started to grab, not touch! And the worst part was, there was so many people that I couldn’t move my arms to hit his away! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Anyway, lucky for me, there was another stop about 10 seconds later and lots of people left! I then stepped about two feet away and then he stepped back (he was facing away from me this whole time) and reached back to grab me again!!!! I grabbed his hand and threw it away! AHHHHHHHHHH :( :( Anyway, after that, he realized that I just wasn’t able to stop him and that is why I didn’t do anything about it and he stepped away like it was nothing................. ah...I literally ran off the bus at the next stop! I felt so violated! Ah! Hate it! Let’s just say that I had nightmares that night! But I’m doing better now! Definitely learned to pay a lot of attention to that particular area of my body when I am on a bus! And now, I don’t let anyone get within about 2 feet of that area anymore!
Anyway, thought that was funny! Hope you all laughed at my discomfort! It really is funny, but I think that I will probably laugh about it more in a couple months or so when I don’t still feel violated!!!! Haha
Anyway, Familia! I love you all! Hope all is well! I am doing well here! I’m just taking it a week at a time! I love you all!!!!
I love you all!!!
Enjoy the pictures! I think you should be able to get them!
Love,
Elder Braden
El Salvador
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