Week 49 (04/30/12) - Coconuts and legit teaching!

Here are some fun pictures of when they cut a coconut off a tree, drank from it, and ate it!

Look at this cute boy! He always loved his food :)

Elder Eves on his birthday - face smashed into the cake!

Hey everyone!!

So, it sounds like you have all had some pretty good weeks up there in good old Utah! I´m sorry that it's cold again! Not going to lie though Mom, I am stoked for the rainy season again! It's hot! haha It should start raining this month though! In the next few weeks, it will start, and then not stop until October! haha 

Also, good news! We were told today that we can use Skype for Mother's day! It's the same dealio as before. We have a "half hour" to talk and it has to be in the early afternoon! So, I was thinking that here, my church ends at 1 and then we will go to eat! At the house we eat at on Sundays, the family has a computer we can use! So I can go there, eat, and then call you guys! It would be at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon? How does that work out with all of your church schedules and things?? We have next week to coordinate a little bit more but just to get you thinking! 

So, a few things that we did this week! This week has been a really busy week, but really cool! First of all, we had about twice the number of lessons that we normally have! YAY! We have been struggling to find people at home and things but it is finally working out! Yay! Prayer! So, we had a bunch of really cool and spiritual lessons this week! The bishop has been helping us a lot to find new people to teach and it has been really fun! Also this week, we did something really cool that I've never done before! Elder Paulsen and I were asked by the Mission President and the Stake President to do a special training meeting for all the mission leaders in the stake! We had a meeting where Elder Paulsen and I were doing all the teaching! It was kind of cool, not going to lie! I have definitely become more comfortable talking in front of crowds! haha We had a training thing on the responsibilities of the mission leader, how they can work with the ward and with the missionaries better, and also how they can make plans and goals more effective in their wards. It was something kind of small, but it was a first for me! I have taken part in meetings before, but I've never been like the full-on teacher (well, combined with Elder Paulsen, of course) It's sweet! That meeting was on Saturday, and on Sunday, we also lead a meeting! We taught the 5th Sunday lesson at church! We taught the members how they can all be missionaries, and then presented a plan that we have to help the ward grow! We are going to have family nights in different houses throughout our areas! It will be organized by neighborhoods! The point of the family nights will be to invite the less-active members the inactive members and then for the members to invite their non-member friends! I've heard of missionaries doing it in other areas and it just helps the attendance sky rocket! It is going to be cool! All the members were stoked about it and we are going to get it all organized and start it next week! I'll let you know how it goes!

So.... other than that this week.... I ate a coconut straight from the tree! That was pretty sweet! We cut it down, chopped it open with a machete, and then drank it straight out of the coconut! Then we cut it open, and ate the white stuff inside! It's really good and sweet! I enjoyed it :)

Also, today we celebrated another birthday in the zone! His name is Elder Eves and it's apparently a tradition here that when it's your birthday and after you blow out your candles, someone smashes their face in the cake! haha they tried to do it to me on my birthday but didn't get me all that well haha but they got him really well! I´ll send you a picture!

Other than that, all is good here! Just living mission life! I love you all!! Hope all is well and keep working hard! Remember to read your scriptures every day!!!

Love,

Braden

Week 48 (04/24/12) - Lots of Birthdays and a cool bishop!

And here are some pictures from the 5 or 6 times they celebrated birthdays last week! With members, missionaries, and the ward!

Hola familia! Como estan! 

Hey, how is everyone?! Is it weird that I almost started writing the letter in Spanish? I can't think in English anymore, it's hard! haha but no worries I don't think my English speaking is too bad!!!

So, how have you all been? I'm sorry I couldn't write yesterday. There was a meeting that they failed to anounce to us until Friday night! So we didn't have any time to tell you guys! That's mission life though, I guess! Obedience! I love it, though! Even experiences as small as changing p-day help me grow and learn! 

This last week we've been working hard! It's very different in this area (the working side of things) and I'm still getting a hold on it kind of! We still don't have any baptisms in the next week or two! However, something really good here in San Marcos is that the bishop  helps us a lot! He is such an amazing man! Very loving, happy all the time! He served in the war here, got married after, and had a child that passed away from multiple schlorosis (something that makes him and his wife so so loving to the missionaries! They treat us like their kids) and they have even served a 2 year mission in the Guatamala temple! Kind of like grandma and grandpa served in Hawaii! They are just so awesome! I especially like working with the wife! She NEVER loses her smile! She is always smiling and is just amazing! Anyway, last night we had a family night with them and they invited over some neighbors who aren't members! They are like gold! They are so awesome! It is a family of brothers and sisters (I still don't know all their names but I will get them to you guys! haha) but we were able to meet 3 last night, there's more there too! It's just good to be able to work with the bishop and have him and his wife show us so much love! I love it!!

Other than that, we have had a pretty calm week! Something cool that happened was that on Saturday, we had a recent convert take us up a little ways (like a 10 minute walk/hike) to a radio tower on top of the mountain! It was really cool! I will send some pictures so you can see! It was a little foggy, and really green everywhere! There was also a house up there, surprisingly and we did a contact with them and gave them a Book of Mormon haha

We also met a really cool guy from Puerto Rico! He comes here about every 3 months because his wife lives here (they are actually married! woo!) But he had vacations here for last week, and we were able to teach him and his wife about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith! It's cool because he was extremely excited!! I know I probably won't be the one to baptize him, but I feel that him and his wife will one day be baptized! haha he's just so extremely excited to learn! He had a lot of doubts but as we were explaining he was like, 'OH! OK! That is so amazing! I know that's true!" or, "I never thought about the ancestors of the Indians! This has to be true! It was just cool!" But he left now, he works for an oil company in California and travels a lot up there! (I forgot to mention he's a US citizen and speaks English and Spanish) but yeah it was way cool to teach him!

Also, in the multi zone conference yesterday, we learned a lot about repentance and how to apply it to us, and our investigators! We talked a lot about the talk from last October's conference by Christofferson! (You should all read it again! It was awesome!!!) And it was really good yesterday! We learned a lot but mostly just about how to do contacting better and things like that :) 

That's about it! It was a really good week and we had a lot of fun! I love you all! Stay strong! Keep working hard and reading your scriptures every day! Never give up!!

Love,
Braden

Week 47 (04/14/2012) - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELDER WOODFIELD!

I decided to send some pictures first today! I hope you all like them!!

Birthday boys!

The cakes that their zone bought for Braden and His Companion - his birthday is this Thursday as well! 

These are some special birthday boy pictures that Braden sent Lizzie... :)

A cool gecko they found in their new house! Look how little it is!!!

The city of San Marcos...at night. Abstract style. 

Hey family,

I want to first off, thank you all for all your emails and love!! It is the best birthday present ever!!! I just received a call from the mission office and they told me I have a package, too! So I'm sure my birthday package from all of you!!! Yay! But we probably won't be going to the office for a few days but I should have it by this next Monday!!

So, thanks everyone for your love and support! This is the best birthday ever!!! 

This week we have been just doing the normal stuff! We have been working a lot with members and are very successful! Something sad though is that Jael wasn't able to come to church yesterday, so she won't be able to be baptized until next month! It should be good though, we are working with her and she is progressing well!! But we are just doing all we need to do here to be successful! We still have a long way to go though! A lot of hard work!!

So, we taught Alejandra this last week again! It was actually a cool experience! We said a prayer and like two seconds after, she said, "wasn't only one of you supposed to be here today?" (We had told her that we were planning to change companions that morning but we changed the plans to change that afternoon) and we just told her that we had decided to do it that afternoon. She told us that she had prayed that night before and had decided that if both me and and Paulsen were there at the lesson, she would confess to us who she really was! And after that, she started telling us all about herself - that her real name is Tatillana and how she goes to another ward and how she can't go there anymore because of problems she had (past sins and the way people "looked at her") and so we explained to her that we already new about her story... and we taught her about the atonement! Then we told her that she was always welcome in our ward! Long story short, she is planning on coming to our ward now and she came this last week! She ignores us now which is kind of weird but I'm ok with that..haha as long as she is happy! So long story short, she just has some problems haha like mental issues that she needs to work out...but she's a nice girl all in all! haha 

Apart from that, we did do companion exchanges (where for 24 hours we change companions to get to know each other's investigators and just help out in the other areas) and guess what?! The area I went to has a hot water shower!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO second hot water shower in 10 months!! Aren't you all happy for me?! haha 

Well, that's about it for this week! I hope you all liked my pictures! I love you all so much! 

Thanks again for all of your emails and love to me!! Stay happy! Keep working hard! LOVE YOU ALLLL!!!!!

Love,

Braden

And...part 2 that he forgot (haha).

So, I also wanted to tell you all what we did today for our birthdays!!

As I mentioned in my email with pictures, today we had a bit of a zone activity! We got together, ate some cake, and played a few games! One of the games we played was called signs? Has anyone ever played it? It's where everyone is in a circle and you each have a sign you send your sign to other people in the circle not letting a person in the center of the circle see you! It's really fun! If you haven't ever played it, just ask Kolby, he should know! haha and then we played some card games and just had fun! haha I loved it! It was great!!!

I love you all!! Stay close!

Week 46 (04/09/12) - Happy Easter!

Some fun pictures of all the Zone Leaders in the El Salvador San Salvador Mission

Hola familia!

Como están??

Thank you all for emails and pictures that you sent me this week! I loved the pictures of Kortnee and Dylan's engagements! They are so awesome!! I especially like the one with the skis that they sent me! It's funny because I know that Kortnee had to have been absolutely freezing!! haha also the house must have been really full this last weekend! Hannah, Lizzie, and Kolby all over for Easter, eh?? That's cool!! Sounds like some fun for Easter!! We had a good Easter here as well! They don't really do anything in our church here. They did have a really good sacrament meeting with talks on Christ though!! That was wonderful! But the main thing that they do here is with the Catholic Church!  They have whats called "la semana santa," or the Holy Week. They have celebrations all week long and have parades carrying crosses and fake casket-like things. It's weird to me but it's a tradition down here! It is all supposed to represent Christ, so that's good! I loved focusing on Christ's resurrection though, it was much better!! 

Also, these are supposed to be the hottest weeks of the entire year! This last week it had to have gotten up to 100 plus easily. While hiking up to the top of a mountain in church clothes to visit someone, 100 degrees is really, really hot! haha But it's all good! The rain will be starting next month!

Other than that, this week we've been working with a lot of new people! It's really cool because they are progressing well! We had several people at church on Sunday, too! It is sad though; some of the people we were teaching before made choices like working on Sundays and things... so we aren't teaching the Bolanos family and the Rodriguez family and the Perez family as much anymore, but they can change at any minute! It's hard to see people not make the right choices when you know what will be best for them! I just wish they would all follow Christ! haha but it's good, no problems! Jael is still doing really well and she came to church this Sunday! Woo!!! We are planning a baptism for her at the end of the month! 

Oh! So I want to tell you all about a crazy girl we were/are teaching! Her name is Alejandra. I think I may have mentioned her before! Well, we found out that she is actually a little crazy! She goes from ward to ward talking to each of the missionaries and trying to get them to teach her, but she is already a member!! She was baptized two years ago! It's crazy though because she seems to be a bit schizophrenic (I think that's what it is called - someone who twitches uncontrollably) but anyway, she is loca! We are trying to get a picture and stuff to share it with the Mission President so that she can't do it to any other missionaries! We've been like doing detective business this last week! haha making phone calls, doing name checks to the records of the church! But it took a member from her ward to fully confirm that she is a member! haha She is crazy! (But not dangerous at all, just a bit twitchy! haha) We are trying to help her to not lie so much though, so hopefully she won't do it anymore! haha 

Anyway, that's about it! It's been a good Easter here! I miss you all!! Stay safe! Be happy, as Bob Marley says! 

I love you all!!!

Love,

Braden

Week 45 (04/02/12) - Best General Conference and new home!

Me and my zone on a lookout point in our area! You should see the ocean! This was last week's p-day.

The rest of the pictures are of their new home...simple, but so much nicer than their last one!

 

Working shower!

Hey Family!

How is everyone doing today?? I hope that all is well up there in Utah!! So, Lizzie is home then, eh?? So good to hear!!! Woo!! And Kortnee bought a house! Yay!! And it closes on my birthday, does it?? You'll have to have a celebratory cake in the new house!! That's so crazy that Kortnee is getting married!! I am so stoked for it! Especially after conference yesterday! That is awesome that she will is about to make this covenant with Dylan and God! It's such a deep and important covenant! Kortnee and Dylan, watch the priesthood session of Elder Eyring's talk, if you haven't already, it talks about the sealing power of the priesthood and it is really cool!!! :)

This week has been a good week! We moved houses finally!! Yay!!! haha I will try and send a few pictures of the new house! So that's exciting! All this week we have been getting the old house repaired, so we waited a lot in the house for the people fixing it! But on the bright side, the new house doesn't have like any problems! The shower works!!!!!! WOOOO! haha and the walls are painted!! WOOO!! haha I hope that you are all excited for me!
 

We haven't taught many lessons this week at all, so there isn't much to tell you all in that sense but we did have a couple new people come to General Conference!! We will be visiting them this week to get to know them! Members brought them to the conference without our help so, yay for the members!!!

I loved General Conference! I don't know about all of you! My favorite talks were the President Eyring talk in priesthood session, the Bednar talk in priesthood session, all the Uchtdorf talks (I liked these a lot!! I learned a ton!!). Also, the talk by Larry Wilson of the seventy in the last session about unrighteous dominion.  We can all learn from this one! And I ABSOLUTELY LOVED President Monson's talk on Sunday morning! I already re-watched it! I loved the first part and the story! It's so true about the world and everyone! All in all, this was THE best conference yet! I loved it!!! I learned so much! You should all re-watch the conference when you have time!  

Other than that, my week was a bit slow because of all the repairs we had to do in the house, but it was good!! I love you all!! Keep working hard and never stop growing close to Christ!! I love you all so much!! Stay strong and remember - GPS (go to church, pray, and read your scriptures!)

Love,
Braden