Week 44 (03/26/12) - A special lesson on the plan and more investigators!

Hey family!!!

 

All is well here in El Salvador! Nice and hot as always! haha Today, we had an activity thing in our zone and that is why I'm writing so late! Sorry about that! That's so crazy about Lizzie though! I can't believe that happened! I know she will be safe though! All should be good! Keep me up to date and let me know what happens!

 

Other than that, we've had a really good week! We have taught some really good lessons and had a lot of success! We are teaching a lot of good people and I would like to tell you about them!! We are teaching a family - The guy is named Nelson - his wife, Teresa and their kids are already members (I have only met them once) and Nelson isn't! The reason being that they need to have a divorce to be married! But that is already in process and he should be able to be baptized in about a month!!! Also, we are teaching the Perez family, there's a lot of people in this family!!! But the parents names are Marcos and Ana. They are a family we found and are really nice! They are very humble and willing to change and are just awesome!!! They do have some problems with the word of wisdom but they have a really strong desire to change!

 

We also have the Rodriguez family - this is a young couple, they are about 25 and 26 years old and are awesome!!! They study a lot a lot and they both speak really good English!! Something that is really cool, and very sad, is that the wife's brother was murdered this last week (gang related). The family was absolutely devastated. We asked her if we could stop by Sunday (after the funeral), and share a message with her.  We had prepared a lesson for them about how families can be together even after death, how there is life after death... all through the lesson, the wife was crying and even at some points, the dad, but after everything was through, I asked them if they had any questions, and their answer was really special, they didn't have any questions, they just wanted to thank us for all that we had prepared, for giving them hope and help when they were so sad and depressed. It was such an amazing experience!!! I love the gospel! It literally saves lives! I love being here!!

 

Other than them, we are teaching a couple more people, but the only one that is progressing is a girl thats 16 years old. Her name is Jael and she is really awesome!! She came to church and was really bonding with all the people there! She's awesome!!!

 

Otherwise, we are just waiting excitedly for General Conference this next weekend!! I can't wait!!! Make sure you all watch every session (Dad and Derek and Dylan and Luke to the priesthood session :)), and make sure you think of questions that you need answered. This is what our mission president and all my old seminary teachers used to tell me! If we have questions, whatever they may be, they can be answered through prayer and general conference!! I'm stoked!!!

 

Love, 

Braden

Week 43 (03/19/12) - Busy busy in San Marcos!

This is up on a trail that leads to part of their area in San Marco. This is the valley of San Marcos - beautiful!

This is Elder Woodfield's companion, Elder Paulsen on the same trail.

This is the valley - they live almost at the bottom of the valley i a little Colonia called La Urba.

This is a picture of Elder Paulsen when they were hanging out on the roof last week and couldn't leave the house (during the elections) - not the best picture of Elder Paulsen but it sounds like they had a lot of fun and it was really cool up there!  Braden says, "Nothing dangerous! Don't worry, mom!!! haha"

Lizzie got a special picture this week - the light coming through the ceiling as he was reading his Book of Mormon the other day was a perfect heart. Love it!

Hey family!

How are you all doing!!!?? 

So I just sent some pictures for you guys! I wanted to send them first so that you would have some pictures of my new area! It's pretty, isn't it?

So all seems calm up there in Utah, right?? Wedding plans, new teeth, Britny's birthday! Anslee's birthday is next week, too! WOO Kalee running lots and I'm sure helping lots with the wedding! Derek and school about done for the year! Wow time flies haha lots of cool stuff!! Sounds like Lizzie is doing well over there in Africa - just hanging out and working hard as always right!

Other than that, all seems good, yeah?? Sweet!

So, this week has been a really good week! I am getting to know my way around the new area - just working to get to know where everyone lives, getting to know the new zone - their needs and strengths! It's all really fun here! Just working hard and keeping focused! It's definitely been super busy though!! Crazy! Like last p-day, we had to go to the office and run all over the place and I hardly had time to even write my email! haha but today is a bit more relaxed! We have to run to the office after though but we didn't have as much to do in the morning today! We don't have to go to the office every p-day, just sometimes when there is stuff to do, forms, money things, just busy work stuff. My new area is fun and interesting and I'm learning a lot! But its definitely busier! 

We have a lot of really good investigators here as well!! When I got here, we didn't have very many positive people, but working with the members and after doing a lot of contacting and things, we've found a lot of really good people! We found 4 new families to teach this last week!! We are teaching the Familias Bolanos, Rodriguez and Sylba (Familia Bolanos is 2 families) but they are are really good people and we are excited to work with them!!! 

As for everything else, it's going good! Oh! We are moving houses soon! On the 31st, we should be moving to another housejust  because the house we are in right now is terrible! haha It has a lot of plugs and lights that are just broken and don't work! Then, there is the bathroom! haha There's no door - just a sheet - the toilet doesn't flush (we have to flush it with a bucket), the shower head is broken and we have to use a faucet thing that is at waist height (that means I could say my prayers in the shower because I almost have to kneel down to wash myself!! haha) but yeah, anyway our new house is a really pretty house :) I'm excited! I hope everything goes through well with the rent and contracts so we can move out soon!! haha But, all in all, things are great here! It's a fun and exotic (just like Layton! Only Lizzie will understand that haha) experience!! But I love it so much!! An unforgettable experience! 

Anyway! That's about it for this week! No baptisms for a little while...but we're working hard to get some in the next couple/few weeks! I love you all! Thank you for all your service and love!! Stay close and keep working hard!!!

Love,

Braden

P.S. Make sure you make new non-member friends and give the reference to the missionaries! It makes our lives so much easier!!!

Week 42 (03/12/12) - Familia CHICAS Baptism and prayers!

The Familia Chicas' baptism on Saturday, March 10 - can you see how excited they are! I just love this photo!!!

Hey everyone! 


How are you doing this fine week?!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITNY!! I hope that all is well over there and that you enjoy your birthday a lot!!! I love you!! Tell Luke and Anslee hi, as well!!! Send me some pictures if you get some, k? Miss you all!! 

I'm stoked that Kortnee has set a date! And in Saint George! Just like you've always wanted! Cool cool!! Keep me up-to-date on all of that! Sounds like it's going to be sweet!!!

So I realized that last week I didn't give many details as to what was happening
here! I told you that I was moved to San Marcos here in San Salvador, and that I was made Zone Leader here, right?? Well, I am here with an Elder named Elder Paulsen. He is from Sandy, Utah! He is a gringo and he's awesome!! His first name is John, so maybe you can look him up on Facebook, eh? Anyway, he's way cool! Way nice and has taught me a lot!! He is A LOT like me. We have the same jokes and everything. We mess around a lot, but still work real hard, no worries!! He will be my trainer as a Zone Leader and it will be really cool! He knows the scriptures really well and helps me a lot! He also has 20 months in his mission so his Spanish is really good as well!! I don't have my camera with me right now, so I won't be able to send a picture until next week! I think I will be able to send a picture of the Chicas' baptism though - I have it saved on my email!!

As for this last week! We have been working hard to find new people to teach! When I got here, there wasnt much...but with a lot of prayer, we've found several good people! We still have a long way to go though before we find more positive people to teach! But, the highlight of my week was the Familia Chicas' baptism!!! I asked special permision from the President to go to it! He gave me permission and it was sweet! In the 9 months that president has been here, he's never given permission to a missionary to return to an old area to watch a baptism! He gave me permission, probably because I asked him like 3 times and he saw how much I really cared about them haha! Anyway, we traveled about an hour and a half to get back to Lourdes and I was able to be there for the baptism!! I was also able to baptize the mom!! WOOOOO!!! It was so cool! As I walked into the church, Carlos, their son ran up to me to shake my hand and then the dad, Raul, came up to me and gave me a hug! I love that family!! I then got to play with the little girl, Joselyn, and talk to the mom! They were so happy that I could be there! But not as happy as I was that I could be there to see them! It was so cool though! After the baptism, the mom came to me and was a little sad and said hopefully we see you again! But then the dad said, "don't worry! He'll be there at the sealing in a year!" AH!! So exciting! I can't wait to see it happen! Pray for them so that they can keep progressing!!

Other than that, it was a nice, normal week here in San Marcos!! OH! Yesterday was election's day and president told us it might be too dangerous to go outside for possible riots and such, but really there wasn't much problem. Anyway, we were stuck in the house all afternoon! We just studied and had some fun. The best part was when we went up on our roof (we have a door thats leads out to the roof)! We just laid on our matresses haha - we played monopoly cards and just hung out! Definitely something out of the ordinary!!

Anyway! I love you all! Pray for me in my new area so we can find new people to teach! I love you all! Stay close! Stay happy! Work hard! Read your scriptures! Go to church! haha (I remind myself of Mom! haha I love you Mom!!)

Love,
Braden

Week 41 (03/05/12) - Moved to San Marcos!

Hello family!! 


How are you all doing?? I love you all!!

So, it's been a really fun week this week! We have been working hard to prepare the Chicas family! They are so ready for their baptismal date next weekend!! They are so amazing!! But something really sad!! haha last night, we had an awesome lesson with them! We taught them a lot and helped them have answers to their questions! But after the lesson, Elder Garcia and I came home to a missed call from the Mission President! The mission president called to ask me if I could do emergency changes! Emergency changes are changes when there are problems in the mission. Usually, 2 or more companionships that are in different zones change to try and help solve the problem. Well all was going really well with me and Elder Garcia but there were problems in the new zone I'm in now! I was moved to a place called San Marcos - it's part of the city of San Salvador! It's really sad though because I don't know if I will be able to go to the Chicas family's baptism!! I am sure I will get a picture though :) But yeah! I have only been in San Marcos since this morning but it is beautiful up here! Very green and mountainous! It's kind of in a valley off to the side of San Salvador. Also, I am now a Zone leader here for the San Salvador zone! This means I will be helping with about 16 misionaries here (18, including us) but it's going to be great! An awesome opportunity to serve!! It will definately be very different outside of Lourdes though!!! That place was like my home!! I love everyone there so much!! I can't wait to go back someday! I didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone as they called last night and I had to leave this morning!! But all is well! I'll be good here and make lots of new friends! I can't wait to get to know the new investigators and everyone!!

Apart from that whole dealio, all is tranquilo here in El Salvador! I will keep you in touch with what I hear about the people from Lourdes and the new people from here!!! 

I hear that Kortnee has a set date for the 20th?? That's freaking sweet!! Awesome Kortnee!! I'm praying that everything will go smoothly for you and that you and Dylan will be really happy together!!  And Saint George, eh?? Sweet!! It's going to be nice and hot down there, right?? haha but cool! Make sure you take a nice dip in the pool for me family!! 

Other than that, all sounds to be about the same!! Keep working hard! Stay strong! Pray always and read your scriptures always, right?? Love you all!!!!!

Love,
Braden