Re: Happy New Year!

Wed, Dec 29, 2010

Hola a Tí, mi ma'í!

Como te vas? :D how was thine Christmas time? with some good presents? :3

Mine wasn't so bad after we got off the phone... I think that after we got off the phone it was like.... what... 8:30 our time? I can't really remember... you know, the whole sleep deprivation thing kinda kills your remembery... but if I remember right, we went back to the apartment because if we didn't have anything to do, president wanted us back in the apartment after six due to all the parties and thingy things that go on. in fact, it's the same for new years eve. just make sure either we're teaching a family or in the apartment after six. but nah, nobody worried about our call taking so long. But they did give me a hard time about it. ;)

Wow... Robin was in the ER for throwing up a ton? wait... that means she was throwing up for four days! holy cow, that doesn't sound very good... :-/ was that ALL stuff from her cough then? What the hecksters did she have that made her feel so horrible?

In response to your stuff about the kidney pain... Well... it feels like it did before back when I had Steve... the pain still feels to be almost in the same exact area... as well as the fact that it feels pretty tender to the touch... but I generally do go poo right in the morning no problem. really the only difference that I can think of between that one week and now is that it was, como... three days after I started taking the melatonin, so I think it just might have been that... but I don't know. and I think they MIGHT have given me some antibiotics... I don't really remember much back then... but I believe that they did.

I have NOT gotten my special hand delivery yet, as a matter of fact. I most definitely WILL add that to my president’s email for sure. I WANT that! >:-(

OH MY GOSH!!!! are you serious?!!???! there is really Eddie Van Halen CHUCKS??!?!?!?!!!! ho man, I've got to get me some o' dose! :-O that is AMAZING!!!! and they have some more DVD's and everything? Wow. Things are looking pretty nice now. :D Ha ha ha, EVH flip flops? and that is a sweet shirt.

wow, Reuben looks so chill with his long hair!!! I totally like it way better than his blond hair...:-/ I'm not a fan either...:-/ it looks way too blond. Honestly, I like the way his hair was back before he cut it. And his tight goatee. Wow, Jeff has some hair again. and then Stephen and Austin look the same. Not that it's a bad thing or anything. But they do. :)

OK, so for the Christmas conference, since I didn't even really get the chance to tell anyone about that on the phone cause I was so tired, but here we go. So we went to the mission office early, well... actually it wasn't early... it was late. Technically, but that just makes it more difficult. So I'm gonna say it was early. so we went early to the mission office, due to our LOOOOONG drive. :) We left Monday night and then we stayed the night in the mission office (on some pretty comfy bunk beds. :) ) and then we got up early and went to the Yunque for a really cool hike to all the places to see in it. El baño grande, the cascade, and the tower, the (almost) highest point in all of Puerto Rico. we were inside the clouds:3 and then we headed back and did a flash mob singing carol in the outlet mall near there, then headed back to the mission office, where I emailed you and then we had the talent show me and Elder Lehr sang what child is this and oh holy night in Spanish (with me playing the guitar), and then Elder Ortiz son of the branch president sang El Villancico Yaucono with Elder Lehr (with me playing the guitar). After that, it was bed time. :) and THEN, on Wednesday, we went to the mission home and did a white elephant gift exchange and then after that went to the museum of art in Santurce to sing some carols (Elder Lehr and I didn't get to play because we were short on time) and then we went back to the Santurce chapel for a testimony meeting/ video showing of the video that some Elder's had been taking the entire trip. :) Good stuff all around.

And then last night we got to go to President Alvarado's PARENTS house for a dinner (because we are the Ponce zone. you know. Ponce es Ponce, y los demas es parking) so only the Ponce zone got to go :3 and then after dinner we went and caroled to some of the neighbors. :) That was good fun.

So yeah. I think I'm gonna try and check for Steph's package in the post office. that is a good idea... but I DID get her Christmas package, along with Hanee's and the Keys family and Sister Gates, and Grandma Jans. :) YAY Christmas! :D I would send some more pictures, especially for Christmas and the conference, but I think I might have run out of space with my PICTURES OF THE BAPTISM!!! OH YEAH! :D so, for those:

Woot. (Just in case, that’s a reference to my amazing shirt) so let’s see....

... well, Elder Lehrs time is coming quickly, quickly, quickly... :-/ he's actually going in ten days now. :( but the good news is that he and his family are taking me out to dinner before they leave! :D WOO! and I'm going to be getting my new companion... I think next Wednesday. We’ll see. I didn't get much info about it, it's all just stuff that Elder Lehr has been told from president.

But I think I might be needing to go...:-/ I have to still write president and I've been taking a while to write this... but for good reason. That I can explain next week. You’ll see.

So yes, I LOVE YOU more than I love that EVH tie. And that's a lot. You better feel honored. :P

~Elder Bryan (Brandon)

1,2,3, and 4 all consist of a combination of me, Elder Lehr, Marcia, Francisco, Justin, Frances and Hermano Perez, the wonderful first councilor of the Branch and 5) Sparkling Cider and cheese. The sophisticated man's way to eat Christmas Breakfast. ;)

SUPRISE! :D

Tue, Dec 21, 2010


We got to do a quickie email this week! woo! OK, so first thingies first, since I don't have too much time. we need o coordinate how we're going to do calls! woot. so. president talked with us and told us that we can even do SKYPE! :-O crazy. we can do skype, you can call OUR phone :-O OOOR, we can call you from a member's house. :3 bt Elder Lehr had been thinking that we call at around six o clockers our time... so like one o clock for yous guys? now, if you WANT you can just give us a little quickie call christmas afternoon... or AT noon your time. either way, our number is (787)-553-XXXX. there it is. our number. :3 now, I don't wanna take TOO much time, seeing as we're going to be talking on Saturday, but it sufficeth me to say that MARCIA AND FRANCISCO AND JUSTIN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!! :D WOOO!!!!! oh yeah! so awesome. I'd send you some pictures... but I don't have my memory card thingie... :-/ soooo, I think I'll be getting that out to you next week, instead of this week.

 
sooo, we've been out running out in the YUNQUE ALL DAY! I got pictures of that. and we also did flash mob caroling in the outlet mall! it was sooooo cool! ok... there's others that are waiting, but if you want to set up a skype account... I'm not stopping you. :3 however, you have my phone number, and if you call me up christmas day just to let me know... well, I can't stop you. but we had been thinking about going to a members house and calling from there, and recieving a call at six our time. that is our plan. we hope. but yes. people waiting. surprize email. good. all done.

I love you!!!!!! SO MUCH!!!!!



~Brandon

Re: The weather outside is frightful!

Wed, Dec 15, 2010

Hola! ok, entonces, the su is used for the usted form. mas formal. generally you would use that for more... well, whenever you would address someone respectfully. but the Tu form is more for people that you are close with. good friends, family, stuff like that. so YOU would want to say Tu madre. :) but yeah... mi is still my. :)

woo! another week in Yauco. :) things are goin pretty good. in fact, I've good some good news and some bad news... OK. bad news first. Marcia and Francisco had a baptismal date... but it dropped. it had been for this coming Saturday... but it just couldn't happen... yeah. downer... but the GOOD news is, it was only moved because Francisco had work and Marcia had a test in school. so we reset it for this FRIDAY!!!! :D ALRIGHT! YEAH! WOOHOO! Francisco, Marcia and their son Justin are all going to be baptized this FRIDAY!!!!!! :D FREAKIN SWEET! we set the date for this Friday with them on Saturday night. and they are so totally ready. and I'm so totally excited. and this is so totally awesome! a WHOLE FAMILY!!!! :D
as for Damarys, she's pretty much just completely dropped off the face of the planet since her mom has had to go to the hospital... and I'm kinda afraid that the answer about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon she received has faded because she doesn't have the same fire anymore....darn, things that always come up! but we've been trying and trying to get a hold of her... we're going to keep trying.

other important news: you called it right. we're not going to be having P-Day next week because of Christmas and phone calls. plus the Christmas party, which spans TWO DAYS is going to be on Tuesday and Wednesday. but news about phone calls is that we're going to be making them in members houses... so now we just have to find a member that will let us use their phones... we can't go to the branch presidents 'cause they have a missionary out... so we're gonna do some searching... :-/ however... a good time to cal is the question. especially since I'm not going to be getting email from you next week (as far as I know)... :)

AH! and cool news for the Christmas party! :D President asked me and Elder Lehr to sing the Villancico Yaucano and a few other Christmas songs for the talent show. and the really cool part IS: I GET TO USE A GUITAR!!!! :DDDDDDDD WOOT! so I have one borrowed from the Branch president, and as well.... we might be singing it not only for the talent show, but for a special presentation that president alvarado is trying to get set up in the Pearl theater in ponce. in front of a TON of people!!!!! FREAKIN SWEET!!!! :D but thats not set in stone yet. but I have a feeling that is why the Christmas party spans two days. :3

as for my kidney... nope. still hurts... and the down side is, when I stayed the night at the zone leaders apartment last week while I was up in ponce, Elder Oviatt let me use his VERY nice mattress ( A Seely) and I still woke up from kidney pain, so it's not the mattress that I'm sleeping on. it really IS just pain in my kidney. my thoughts echo your own in that really it does just seem like it's me kidney (arrrr!) that be hurtin me and keeping me awake... I'll try some more lemon juice and stuff. I got the melatonin and that at the very least is helping me a little bit with the sleep that I DO get, but I still can't sleep a complete night through. however, you're right. this pain is going on WAY too long after my stone for it to be normal. so I think I might talk with Sister Alvarado to see what I can do. if there's anything that she knows about or stuff... AH! we also have a mission nurse now, so I think she might refer me to her... Sister Icely is her name. she was a nurse before, so she knows some stuff. maybe that will help. :)

heh heh heh... well... we actually only spent two hours in Marshall's, and then a half an hour in the skate/surf shop right next door. :3

what the hecksters is a pineapple express?! :-O I've never heard of that before... well, except for the movie, I guess. but from what I gather, I have a feeling it involves rain. lots of it. and wind. lots of it. but other than that... that all I've got.

hmmm.... maybe I just read things wrong or did some bad math. probably some bad math. oh wells. ice cream is good. money is nice. cheese. muffins. plastic food. yum.

anyways. the letter from Elder Lehr's mom: talked a little bit about how much of a good friend I've been to Elder Lehr and that she wanted to thank me for it. About the tie (protection instructions from Elder Lehr and his want to take his dads ties) and a bit about how she would always would scare him at home and how I scare him here ( I guess he shared that with her. either that or she has some amazing telepathic abilities) and a few other things that I can't remember because of sleep deprivation. but it was a very nice letter. very very nice.

I'm going to try and get my package out today as well... if not the week after. I've got to get you my picatures! and I need to send my birthday cards out to everyone, because they are horribly late and I'm a failure! >:( gosh darn it. :( however, my present from tawny hasn't arrived as of yet... is it possible that she might have sent it to the mission office? I'm just hoping that something bad hasn't happened to it, because Stephy sent me out a b-day present four weeks ago and it still has yet to get here... which is weird because everything else seems to be getting here... I dunno. I hope that at the very least was just a one time fluke. I don't need more mail disappearing. :-/

whoa cool! Lego Creationary sounds AWESOME!!!! :D that would be so cool! sounds like something I'm gonna have to pick up when I get back. :3

well, Robins been pretty nice so far I think... I'm just kinda losing out because I haven't emailed her back yet... :-/ but I actually got back to Donny last week... and yeah.

YAY Theresa went to the Christmas party! :D Donny actually told me that She had been talking with him about receiving the missionaries after she moves out. sounds like she wants to learn about the church. and now that I have Bryan coming with me to school it's just a matter of time before I suck him in too! *evil laugh* AH HA HA HA! the power is mine to control!!!!! *crazy face*

Picatures:

1) me on the tower

2) Alberto

3) Elder Lehr and Alberto

4) tasty sunset! :D

time to bust a move!!!!

I love you more than a wookie loves cookies! :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Back and Forth

Wed, Dec 08, 2010

HELLO hello hello jello fellow pillow willow gigalo... wait... take that one out. pout, tout, rout, grout, snout. that's all I got.

anyways, hows it going!?

I'm still not sure what the plan is with Elder Lehr and his going home ... :-/ I'm actually up in ponce starting last night and until the end of today's P-Day because Elder Lehr is up in Bayamon spending some time with his going home group, but because He's not going home until four weeks later, he's coming back. so all day today he's gonna be up in El Morro chillin and stuff, and I'm gonna be spending time with the zone leaders all day. WOOT! ponce. fun stuffs. but last weeks P-Day was pretty eventful! we got to FINALLY go on our hike with Alberto! the only problem is that I left my memory card reader back in Yauco because it was a last minute thing they pulled together to get Elder Lehr up to Bayamon. but we got to check out the Marshalls too, he he he. Elder Lehr got a pretty sweet hat that I would be able to send a picture of if I had my memory card reader. but we hung out there for like... two and a half hours before busting a move up to Guanica. :3 but hopefully we'll be hearing about what the plan is for when he leaves. Maybe a treeoh until he goes, or a surprise buddy coming in after or something... I dunno.

he he he, we tossed the leftovers before they got too bad... we ate most o them, but some of them we just couldn't get to, so we just got rid of them to keep them from killing us. but Christmas is coming, so I'm getting ready to fill up the fridge again. :)

oh yes, I shall keep Bryan's birthday presents forEVER. let me tell you, this was a big step here. not only did he actually SEND something, but he also sent it ON TIME. amazing. other presents include two birthday cards from grandma Nita, and a box o goodies from Grandma Jan (including one of the best foods on the planet, Crumpets. :3 ) however, interestingly enough, I also noticed $3.98 missing from my home account. *leers* hmmm. strange.

quick item of business: I should have asked you to do this sooner, but I kept forgetting... it's about time somebody took a look at things with my geetar. I wasn't thinking and I loosened the strings a bit too much with those cards under the bridge, so I'm kinda worried about the truss rod and the neck straightness... so if you could possibly be so kinda so as to pull marra out of her case and take a look at her, that would be fantastic. :) when you take the cards out from under the bridge, be sure to stick the whammy bar in the bridge to lift it up enough to get the cards out then to let the bridge down slowly. too much shock on the bridge could be a problem... :-/ could you do that? :) thank you so much, you're amazing!

so this last weekend, Yauco had an artisan festival! :D live music, arts and crafts representing yauco and a ton of other Latin countries, and TONS of families to talk to! :D unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures... but the good news is, Elder Lehr's family sent me a birthday present! :D we just got the package yesterday! I got a sweet tie, a letter from Elder Lehr's mom, a card from the family, and some SOX! :D OH YEAH! can't even have too many socks. ;)

I just realized... I only have five more transfers left. :-O that's ridiculous.
also, president wants me to sing el Villancico Yaucono for the Christmas party! it's the Yauco theme/hymn/song thingie for the city thingie. Yauco is actually the city of coffee, El Pueblo de cafe. just so you know. so I'm gonna play the guitar and sing and Elder Lehr will accompany me. :)

a Christmas tie connection with Donny would be pretty awesome... I think I actually might have to go with that. :)

ah! you guys are on the decorating committee!? when did that happen? is is just for the dance itself, or are you guys on the committee in general?

jlbryanx2@juno.com wrote:

Dude, it just cut off!!!!! tear and another tear!!!!!! waaaaaa didn't even say goodbye ;'{ what happened?????/

Re: where is the rest??????

I KNOW! :'( I finishing it up right now. there's all kinda of random buttons, and I'm just so tired I can't really focus, so I keep pushing random things... :-/

jlbryanx2@juno.com wrote:

by the way, the tie has a push button that plays a Christmas song! sweet,cant remember what though!!!! and don't tell Lehr but Freddy's got Yoshi's back in so i got him one!!!!!! woo hoo! now where is the rest of my emaillllllll!!!!!!!!!

Re: ps

are you serious? it plays a christmas song?!!?!?!? AWEOSME!!!! that'll go with my tie that grandma got me last year :3 it's perfect. :D YES! YOSHIS!!!!!!! I'm so excited now. plus I'm trying to finish up the other part of the email... patience! :P

Subject: NOOOOOO!

that wasn't supposed to get sent off yet! ridiculous random buttons on keyboard. gosh.

so ANYWAYS,

I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T SENT OFF MY MEMORY CARD YET!!!! :'( I've been meaning to but I haven't yet... and today was going to be the day, but then all of a sudden I'm here in ponce, still crazy tired because I'm still not sleeping well. which unfortunately happens because for some reason my kidney hurts every night while I'm sleeping so it wakes me up. and the fifteen year old missionary mattresses don't help either. not one bit. especially when there's a permanent rut in the mattress from past users. >:( I've tried some sleeping/advil pills a few times... but I don't want to use them, because for some reason they just make me irritable and angry. it's just so weird, like things that would EVER make me annoyed or angry and just amplified to the EXTREME whenever I take them... so I figure for my sanity, I don't need that. not that my sanity is really intact right now anyways. I can say that I find that I'm forgetting large amounts of information... most of the time, I don't ever remember any of my studies... my teaching is increasingly faltering, it's very hard for me to be awake enough to feel the spirit and I just want to sleep! that's all I want. I just can't even really focus anymore, I'm always zoning out and things that people tell me just goes one ear and out the other, even when I'm focusing all my energy on what they are saying! DAH! so annoying. so I'm not really sure what to do about that. it's a catch 22. I can take sleeping pills and sleep almost all the night and then be really angry at everything all day (and it takes a few days to fade away), or I can not be angry and just zone out all day... do you have any suggestions?

but, since you're wanting the other half to the email, I figure I should send this off then. :P

yeah! You gots ta send me that picture of the cats under the Christmas tree :3 that sounds so cute!

AH! so, Damarys hasn't been able to come to church still, this last Sunday something happened with her mom, so she had to go be with her.... and tonight we have another appointment with Marcia and Francisco, so hopefully we'll be able to get a baptismal date with them, finally! :D I hope so. 'cause they need to get baptized before Elder Lehr goes home.

so, I love you more than I love surprise changes to my P-Day and not being able to send off my memory card or get a haircut! :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan) tu hijo. <--- I realized a while ago that you had it right. it really was tu. but I thought it was su because as missionaries we have to use the usted form more than the tu form... sorry bout that... you were right! I just kept forgetting to send it to you.

also, check this out. I didn't read it, but I just found it really quick. Am I going to die?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation

jlbryanx2@juno.com wrote: I have not read it yet but you are not gonna die!!!! Look for some melatonin today and i will send some in your package too. it is a natural sleep hormone and i am hopin' it will help! it helped dad a lot when he worked grave yard get better sleep. it doesn't make you feel drugged but it could take a few days to feel like it is working. it is just the natural stuff your body releases to put you to sleep. they should have it at a Walgreens or drug store, Google translator said it is melatonina in spanish- check it out shouldn't be too expensive and I will check on the money from your account plus i need to transfer- 25 from Vivien and 40 from Gma Jan to your acct plus ice cream money ;)

Subject: Re: NOOOOOO!

aw, vivien gave me some money for my birthday?! she's so amazing.

aw, times up. I love you!

Re: the big thaw

Wed, Dec 01, 2010

oh my goodness. turkey day was ridiculous. we had three people invite us over to eat, plus President Ortiz and his wife invited us over to pick up some food from them... we STILL have food in the fridge. our next door neighbor as well invited us over to her families house to eat, so we went there, to a less active family's house, and the relief society president's house. we all were both absolutely stuffed! Elder Lehr had to bring home some food, and ALL the people we visited gave us extras. it was a ridiculous day. aaaaand... I have a feeling Christmas is going to be worse... heh heh heh... we've ALREADY been invited to three other peoples houses. and speaking of which... do you realize that we'll be talking on the phone in only three weeks? :-O when should I call? who should I call? where shall I call? what should I call with? what color will it be? how big? is it a cell phone, or a home phone? did I steal it? from who? where were they when I did it? did I just call from our cell phone and just make all that other stuff up? am I really Elder Bryan? if not, what did I do with him and how did I steal his identity?

however, if I were to guess, last time I saw the REAL Elder Bryan, he didn't look like he gained any weight at all. :-/ too bad for him. even though he ate himself STUFFED, it did nothing for him. and yes, if it's a holiday that might even be REMOTELY connected to them or somebody, they jump on it like today's special of the week, ha ha ha. and yup, they closed the day before it too. xD

OK, so Elder Lehr would be going home... January 8th. that's his flight day, but his family is coming the fourth, and he gets to go hang out with them... oh, the 8th in the morning he gets to go hang out with his family before he goes back, but that's it.

holy crap, we now have a zombie car! SWEEEEEETTTTT! it's even missing parts, just like a REAL zombie! (thanks Bryan. :P )

alright, so a roster of the things Bryan got me:
1 very shiny super durable universal utensil. otherwise known as spork by the normal people.
1 very classically styled tie.
1 shockingly fun hot potato ball.
and 1 pair of singing monkey balls.

and they are quite amazing. however, I have a feeling that he took some of your ideas for Christmas presents. ;)

yeah, I think that if you send the San Diego picture in the Christmas box that should be good. :) as long as it doesn't take too long.

OK, so for news this week.

Damary's couldn't come to church... darn it... her daughters have been in the hospital for the past little while suffering with a nasty fever and throwing up... soooo... we haven't even had the chance to teach her since the last time we talked... I just hope everything's OK. however... that also means that her baptismal date fell, because she has to come to church for at the very least three weeks before she can be baptized... so... yeah. we have to talk to her about that. darn you Satan and your dirty tricks! :(

we also found a mother on Sunday named Carol Saez. my gosh... she is super duper hunky dunky big mac super size really really really prepared. at least from what I feel so far... she basically knows half of the things that we say before we say it... while we had been teaching her, one of the things that came to my mind was something in preach my gospel and the scriptures... I don't remember EXACTLY where, but here: "they are kept from the truth only because they know not where to find it". so we have entered to show her where the truth is! WOO! :D last night she said " I will read the Book of Mormon tonight and I will pray tonight. I promise you." wow. but I feel good about it. I almost felt like I did when I was teaching Fernando back in Caguas, so maybe we were led to find her. To be quite honest, I skipped talking to a few other people till after talking with her because I felt slightly pulled there... ooo, I hope something REALLY good comes of this. while we talked to her last night, we invited her to get baptized when she knows that the Book Of Mormon is true and she said yes. :3 and on Thursday we have another appointment with her, so if she has received an answer, we're going to extend a specific date to her. cool beans.

wow, sounds like you had a fun experience with your talk there, huh? ;) but that is a really good point about prayer. thank you very much for sharing that with me. I'm definitely going to try and implement it in my teaching.

speaking of the gospel and things, have you guys read any of those assignments that I gave to you? :P you know, 2 Nephi 31 or 2 Nephi 2?

Im feeling a little better. I'm not feeling sick in my stomach all the time any more, but I still sleep horribly. but the best thing to do is just go on. I've noticed that even if I don't really know what I'm saying because I'm so tired, the Lord has definitely been putting words in my mouth. without a doubt, ha ha.

as for the stuff from last Christmas... well, I've mostly held on to it all in my bags and stuff... except for the candy. that's long gone. ;) but I had to leave my last Christmas tree back in Caguas because I didn't have enough space... so we might hit up the Kmart and get one there. maybe even today.

and speaking of today! yay! finally we might have a P-Day activity! :D we've been talking with a less active about going on a hike up to this old castle/tower thingie out on the coast in Guánica, so we really hope that we can do that today. if so, pickies! :D

and we might even be stopping by Marshall's today, as well. a newer, bigger one opened up in the plaza to replace the older one, and they've got TONS of new stuff. :3 but it's just to go look. no worries. :P ah! and we picked up some ice cream. moose tracks, 4.99 from Walgreen's. just so you know. :) but Elder Lehr had to buy it because I forgot my card... so I owe him the money... eh heh...

but anyways, I think I might have to get going. we have to go shopping, and we might go to pizza hut with Elder Ralston and Elder Patton :D

ah! and transfers. President told us yesterday in district meeting that we shouldn't expect to see very many transfers/changes this transfer in the ponce zone. he's been pretty pleased with the things so far here, so I think I might be in Yauco for a while.

so yes. I think it's time to bust a move! :D

I love you more than my kidney loves to act up! :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: Let it snow!

Wed, Nov 24, 2010

BLARG! darn you thanksgiving weekend! :'( so, our email place was closed. we had to come over to ponce to do our email... but it closes at ONE! :'( suckage! blarg.

OK, so Rapidito: we had a lesson with an investigator: Damary's, this last Sunday, and well... she was reading the Book of Mormon and REALLY wanted to know if it was true. she prayed, and she received a VERY explicit answer to her prayer. :) mmm, ghood stuff. and she wants to get baptized as soon as possible. and so were planning for the 18th of December. :3 woo! huzzah por la verdad!

HECK YEAH I GOT BRYAN'S PRESENTS! :D
do you realize that I noticed that you crossed out the expiration date on those pears? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!?!?!?!?!? what IS this?! gosh. I opened one up and took a look inside. very questionable looking. very much so. fortunately the other one was fine. but STILL! >:(

I love my b-day card. very funny! :)

would you mind sending me a picture of the San Diego temple? a cousin of a less active family is asking us tons of questions about the church and he's visited that temple before, and I told him I would try to get him a picture of it. :)

Tawny found me the most amazing Christmas present? that's so epic you don't think you can top it? :3 ooooo... wow. it has to be good. I'm definitely going to have to make a video then.

they DO actually celebrate Thanksgiving. ha ha ha. it's a holiday! OF COURSE they're going to celebrate it! and we've been invited to a TON of peoples houses to eat... so hopefully we'll get the chance to share something with somebody that day. xD

CRAZY SNOW! darn it... how come I COULDN'T be there! blarg. oh wells. when I get back that just means there's going to be more next year. :3

sooo sorry this email isn't any longer... but they are about to close up, so I've got to bust a move...

I love you more than I miss the SNOW! :'(

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

moar pickiez! :D

1) my birthday card! :D

2) my magnet from Hannah!

3) SWEET GUITAR PEN!

I used it during personal study today, too. :3

4) push button, receive bacon.

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

pickies!

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

1) our neighbor got me a suprize birthday cake....

and then she found out that we were fasting...

but we got to keep half of it! :D

2) from left to right- some random guy; Anna, our neighbor's friend that helped her out with getting the cake while she distracted us; Armando and Melani, Annas son and Mireya's daughter; and Mireya, our Neighbor. :3

3) my side of the road birthday toad, Dave. ;)

4) he was tasty. :3

Re: Fw: Happy 2 days after your birfday!

Wed, Nov 17, 2010

ok. whooo.... so there is a TOOOOON of stuff that I need to tell you about first before I get into anything else. but first:

Thank you everyone for wishing me a happy birthday!!!!!! :D

and now for something completely different:

so. first off, we had zone conference yesterday. absolutely AMAZING. *whew* wow... It was a very powerful meeting. and actually, it's a part of some of the changes that the first presidency is making. so we had a new format that involves the meeting being, at the very least six hours. but it's ok, because it's so spiritually packed that your brain feels like it's going to explõd! :-O this whole zone conference was about the restoration... but not just about the lesson itself, but a little bit about the HISTORY of it, to give us some better perspective. and after that was my favorite part. :3 we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie. :D oh my gosh that movie is so amazing. we actually got to see it in the MTC as well, but this time....... I dunno. it was just so much more powerful. it really strengthened my testimony of Joseph Smith. I know without a doubt that he was a prophet called of God, and that through him, God and Jesus Christ restored the true church on the earth and that this church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. punto. there's no doubt about it. and it's amazing.

and this last Sunday I also got the opportunity to give a talk about Agency. Perfect. especially because we got the chance to hear from Elder Bednar in our missionary meeting about that when he came. and speaking of which... I DID tell you in depth about that, right?... I coulda sworn I did... Elder Bednar, in our missionary only meeting, talking about Agency, and how all of us are Agents unto ourselves, not objects? right? like in second Nephi 2? and how we, as missionaries, need to help our investigators be agents unto themselves, and us not turning them into objects? :3 well... either way, I wanna invite you guys to read second Nephi 2 and search for agency. well, you know what? just be an agent unto yourself. read 2 nephi and follow the guidance of the spirit. find what HE wants you to find. :3 but read it, at the very least. it's amazing. would you do that? I wanna know what you guys learn.

and YAY! I got my birthday package! :D those ninja band aids are perfect. just what I was needing. because REAL ninjas don't really need band aids, right? so this way... when I use one, I will be able to throw people off of my REAL identity. I'm actually wearing my birthday Tie right now. :3 it's amazing. :D guitar pen? LOOOOVE IT! now I'm REALLY a rock star. only real rock stars have guitar pens. and that guitar book... ooooooo. OoOoOoOoOo... OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! gimme gimme gimme! :-( I wanna know whats inside! gah, only seven and a half more months. and then guitar-ness. it's coming.

BRYAN sent me birthday presentS?!?!?!?!??!??!?! PLURAL!? what?!?!?! I don't believe it! This is almost as intense as the time I forgot how to sit down. but not as intense as camping. I don't even know what to say. especially since he already sent it. but if he got it from a website... then it has to be VEEEERY good. oooo, I'm excited. also, I like how Dad wished me a happy veterans day on my EPIC birthday card of win and awesome! that was great!

so, another thing that they have started changing in the mission field, which is to coincide with the new and improved missionary curriculum, as they put it, is something called the Doctrine of Christ. when we first started studying it, they had us start with 2 Nephi 31. so, I also wanted to invite you guys to study that too. maybe you can add these two things to your family home evening scripture reading, or family scripture study. I dunno, but just study the heckstersickle out of it. there is something AMAZING waiting within. I promise you. it is incredible, and it's changed my view of the entire gospel. and if there's anybody else that wants to join in, Do it. then email me about your stuffs. I wanna guide anybody that has any questions in this quest for awesome and amazing. :3

so. NOW onto stuff in the email. :) so, Elder Lehr opened up his Mario ball, and the one that he got was the Mario on his Motorcycle. that thing was pretty sweet! and he was pretty excited too. now he has a Mario cart AND a Mario motorcycle. :3

now unfortunately... they made us fast in preparation for zone conference... so I didn't get to eat ANYTHING on my birthday!!!!!!! WAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I died inside when Elder Crawley called us up to let us know that! >:( Grr, angry. so we might just pick up some ice cream tonight, or during our shopping today. :3

YEAH! it gets SOOOO FREEZING at night, you don't even know! I feel the cold just eating away at me in those low 70's! i't hurts so bad! :'(

and whats the fish head song?

aw, hannahs first date with Mckay! :3 how did she like it? was it cute? ;)

so, for missionary correlation meetings: we usually start out with our investigators, but then it moves into stuff about some of the families that are needing help that either WE have found, or ones that the auxiliary leaders think would need some help, or be the most probable in bring back to church. unfortunately, when we had our zone conference, we had Presidente Rivera (stake president) come in, and some of the things that we talked about with him, was how the Ponce stake used to have FOUR wards in Ponce, and now there's only 3. there is over 1500 members in the stake, and only a little bit less than 600 are active... things are getting bad in the ponce stake, and both him and Presidente Alvarado want us to be working the stake program of CRR: or conversion, Retention and Reactivation- right now, we only need to be working on conversion and reactivation (retention naturally kinda comes anyway... that is, if your ward is supportive enough... which doesn't happen ALL the time. but still) so yeah.... things are a little dire here, I guess you could say. and it's getting worse every year, so we're having a very big need to work HARD in everything that we do.

and we DO have a Branch mission leader. he's actually the return missionary son of the Branch president, and he's the go getter type of attitude. very good for the Branch.

so yeah... I think I might just have to bust a move now and email President. but it's OK. I've got some good stuff in this email, right? so yeah. but I wanna hear about your studies in 2 Nephi 2 and 2 Nephi 31! :D

I love you more than how cold it gets here at night!!!!! BRRRRRRR!!!!!!

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Wed, Nov 10, 2010

Wed, Nov 10, 2010

Ha ha ha ha! yeah, alright alright. I won't go out partying for my birthday. *sigh* you convinced me. at least I get ice cream. but NEXT year... ;) naw, but how cool that Steven and Bryan and Devin came. thats cool beans that they still stop by... makes me happy inside. :D and speaking of birthdays: pin the body part on Mr. potato man?! GENIUS! when I saw that I laughed. out loud. that was great. I still have no idea how to play Bunco. :-/

my gosh, Bryan. ridiculous. no punctuation for ANYTHING. but good. I'm glad that he was thinking a lot of the same stuff that I was thinking. that means that we're still on the same brain-wave-length-mind thingie. yeah. go special connection thing! so, now we just have to get the money together. perfect. and I still haven't gotten that letter that Steven sent. but now I know whats inside. at the very least did Bryan drop off the Rock band pedal?

so, before I continue on, NEWS! :D we've been doing really really good this past little while. we've found three families just in the weekend. :) one of them was the sister of our Dueño apartment owner person that we met Saturday night at a party they were having for the Dueño's birthday. she told us that they had the missionaries over about 9 or 10 minutes ago, back when there was sisters in the area and she wanted us to stop by. :3 and another family was a daughter of an under-the-radar less active that got baptized about three years ago in another area. the daughter's name is Damaris and she's got three little daughters: 5, 7 and 11. and she told us that she had been reading her moms Book of Mormon along with her Bible reading and she said that she really likes the Book of Mormon more (good choice. ;) ) and she wants us to teach her about it. but she also told us that she's had the sisters over before (at least 10 months ago). but still! she WANTS us to teach her! :D woo!

and for other news: How's Hyrum doing? has he gotten out yet? is he feeling better? I wanna give him a hug!

the weathers just been really, really rainy this past week. fortunately not any wind or anything... just a ridiculous amount of rain. but it's nice. :) it makes the nights nice and cold.

and for Marcia and Francisco: well... they've been talking... and it's looking like Marcia is going to be moving out... :-/ they told us that it had only been a temporary housing situation anyway... and so for now, Marcia is going to live in Guánica. which, for the least, is in our area. it's just a bummer that we couldn't get things resolved yet... but maybe this is the chance that we've all been praying for, because now technically they CAN get baptized... but I was thinking in consulting with President about what would be the BEST way to go about this. but maybe this is what they need. maybe they'll get baptized and then the spirit will help clear things up. :) We'll see. we just have to keep moving forward.

I also wanted to ask if you happened to have a spare copy of my baptism foto that you would be able to send along with my special foto of my... dare i say it, my BIG present? :) so what is it? and speaking of fotos... jeh jeh jeh... I actually got my haircut... like two weeks ago... :D we have a sister in the branch that has a little home salón and transfer meetings have been changed. :-/ the first presidency has been doing some rearranging of things in the mission field, and now only people that are getting transferred go. otherwise we just hang out back at home or whatever.

and we might not be doing much for P-Day today... Elder Lehr has had this nasty head ache for the past 6 days, and so sister alvarado suggested that we stop by the doctor today... but we had been PLANNING on going to Guánica to hike up to a cool little castle up by the coast with a less active guy (19). so we'll see how long the doctors visit takes. also... I forgot to mention it last week... but Elder Lehr's Birthday is the twenty-fourth of this month... heh heh heh... ooops? so yeah... OK. now seeing as I have three cards that I have to send... Donny, Hannah and Bryan, I might just get myself a small box and send those along with my memory card. :P that way you'll finally get it!

YAY morning family prayer! :D boo for 5:15 in the morning. and YAY for ms. knight! alright! :D can you get any pictures? ;)

OK... I've got to bust a move. we're gonna be heading out to take Elder Lehr to the doctor then. soooooo, I love you more than Elder Lehr's head hurts!

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: Happy election day! Pictures

Wed, Nov 03, 2010

alright! so, picture one, normal picture.



picture two: CRAZY PICTURE! :D I love Elder Lehr's face in this one! xD

Re: Happy election day!

Wed, Nov 03, 2010

Hola mami!

not much went on this last week... we've been working extra hard to try and find people to teach, and we've been having some slight success, but I know that as we continue, the lord will bless us for our diligence.

but for an update with things that are going on with Marcia and Francisco! so, seeing as the last time that we were able to stop by them, we weren't sure if we were going to leave or not we were able to get some pictures, so I'm gonna upload those in a minutorz.

alright! so, picture one, normal picture.
picture two: CRAZY PICTURE! :D I love Elder Lehr's face in this one! xD

so yeah. Marcia was able to make it to church last week, but Francisco couldn't because he had to work SUPER late. He's an electrician, and ever since some of the storms have been passing by, a lot of people up in the higher parts of the island have been without power for a while... so he's working to replace some lost power poles, and stuff like that. but, the class in gospel principles last week was about eternal families... and marcia was very attentive. very good. hopefully things are working around in their heads so that they will feel more comfortable talking with president. :D and they've both also read the family: a proclamation... so yeah. we keep praying for them! :D

oh my gosh, are you serious? dad was gonna forge my name for my vote?! that's so ridiculous! xD ha ha ha!

eh heh heh heh... yeah.... it seems that there be no more... manly issues. for now.

ah, so robin DID have a cancerous moll then. speaking of cancer... wait.... molls? no... that's not it... speaking of then (yes, that's it.), YAY! robin went to church! so awesome! but that crazy fat black lady... uhm, not so much. but hopefully chase will start going to church. should I send a letter for her home, or do you have her new address?

whew... the tie and the spork... do I want to save those for when I get home... or do I want their awesomeness here? ooo... I think it might be best to keep those at home. I wouldn't want anything to happen to an 1nd3struqt@b1e ut3nsi1. or an 8-bit artic1e of c10thing.(indestructible utensil. :) ) however, just knowing they were there waiting for me nice and cozy would give me such joy. just like knowing that Yoshi on a cute little cart-like vehicle is there. :D

so yes. whoops. sorry 'bout that. if I don't keep my concentration, my mind powers change the text color without me knowing. *ahem* anyways, you should tell Hannah that her pictures are aMayzeeng! I had no idea that she had SO many pictures. and so many awesome ones, too! sweet!

ah blarg, I'm gonna have to bust a move to email president...

I love you more than very hard, hybrid utensils and 8-bit objects!

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: Happie Halloweenie

Wed, October 27, 2010

WOO! transfer news! I get to stay another transfer with Elder Lehr! :D plus, I think I might know whats gonna happen the next two transfers as well because he goes home four weeks AFTER this next transfer ends, so I might be staying here to hold down the fort. plus president Alvarado has been wanting us to stay in areas longer, so I might be continuing in Yauco for a while. :) but that's OK with me. the people here are super nice (especially compared to Santurce. *shivers* ) that and it's got a really nice small town feel... but thats kinda due to being a small town. heh... yeah. sooooo, I continue here. :3 woot woot!

so as for my stomach, things are getting better. every day is a little bit better. :) I just need to continue eating slow so that I can build my stomach back up. :-/ but it's better than not being able to eat at all, right? xD

ew, grody. I saw robins picture. did she have a cancerous moll like Donny?! :-O

AH! you know what? I had the most awesome dream last night. :3 I dreamed that... well. OK. so I'm still in missionary attire, right? but this time I had my guitar. and I was walking around with my companion, who wasn't Elder Lehr... but that's really not important to the story, so I'm walking around with my guitar, and we're on our way to go teach somebody. so we get to this house, and we get to the back sliding glass door. guess who was there sitting on a couch? EDDIE VAN HALEN! oh yes. that's right. I dreamed that I went to go teach the gospel to Eddie Van Halen. SWEET! :D

so you think you could send me the foto on my facebook of me with Herman Li in your reply email? :3 Elder Lehr wanted to see it.

WHOA! that is one sweet mo-hawk that you gave Donny! :-O crazy! :D but I really like how his hair looks now. it looks really really good! and did you notice that specific foto makes him look a LOT like Dad. a LOT. it's krayzee!

DAH! I completely forgot that I didn't write anything for what I wanted for my birthday! DOH! I remembered <---that was on purpose. thinking "I'll come back to this after I finish my email" ... blarg. well, I guess I have a chance NOW, right? so lemme think... I always welcome more music. can't lose with that. but you know... I AM coming home in like... whoa... in eight months... and I AM going to need guitar stuff. :P ha ha ha, but really. ok. lets see. I'm not even really SURE... :-/ gosh. I love crackers. :3 really anything that you think would be good. or epic. I like epic things. :D like an 8-bit tie, or a titanium spork. you know. thinkgeek.com has some pretty epic things. :) and you can't lose with 8-bit.

unfortunately, this week was kinda barren of crazy things or updates... we've been kinda busy with a little emergency that happened on Sunday with the branch and some of the members... but things SEEM like they might be on an uphill climb. we'll have to see with some of the other members and what they say. :)

sorry this emails kinda short... we ran into one of the young women in the branch who goes to the same university and we ended up talking about some of the families that she's working with (as part of the primary presidency :) ) so we might have some less actives we'll get to help reactivate soon. :D YAY! extra support in the branch!

so for that, it's looking like I might have to go a bit earlier than normal this time. I've still got to email president and we've been here a while... :-/

BUUUUUT, I love you more than Dragonforce and Machinae Supremacy! and that's a lot. I hope you feel honored. ;)

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: Epic or what?????

Wed, Oct 20, 2010

YAY! I DID get the package. and you absolutely right: it IS freakin' epic! HECK YES! a Mario WALLET?! SWEET! I love it! it's amazing. I also love my new chase card. thank you for that. gotta get that activated. I came home two nights ago, and it was just chilling right outside our door. :3 and of course I came right inside and opened it. wheat thins, goldfish, some sweet fortunes (speaking of which, there were some random numbers on those... do you happen know what those mean? ) and some nice letters. :) aw, tell them thank you very much. xD also: that Archie Mcfee catalog was very much welcomed.

but yeah, like I already told you, I'm feeling better. but just not as good as I COULD be. I just need to take eating slow and let everything go down easy, but I'm getting things back together. ha ah ha, and don't worry, president's made it pretty clear to everyone that the only way someone is going to go home is in a casket. xD ha ha ha. we are ALL our brother's keeper. but don't worry about me. I'm fine, and if anything goes wrong (but it probably won't :D ) president would let you know.

so, for ponce: well, we spent a little while trying to figure out if there was public transpo to take us up there... but seeing as Yauco is such a small place, there isn't any. sooooo, after some more searching we discovered that there is two gentleman that go back and forth from ponce to Yauco in some cars everyday from 8 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon. fortunately it's only four dollars per person (it's a 22 mile trip one way) and if we are to take a taxi, it probably would end up ridiculously expensive. so we took the public car. so on Monday we went for the first day, and since we weren't able to stay any later than one because of the guy, we just spent the whole morning contacting in the pueblo square. the people there are quite nice. :3 it was an enjoyable experience. and then yesterday we went again, but this time we had our own car because we had to head up there anyways for district meeting. so we worked the morning in the pueblo and then went to a small area near the beach and worked there all the rest of the day. it was a long day, but it was good. we found this one older guy, ex marine from the 'Nam war, who had talked to the missionaries a TON a while back. probably at least 5 years back. he's a Pentecostal. he told us that when they talked it wasn't a fight or anything, just a mutual share of beliefs. he was an interesting guy. he would probably require a bit of work to get him to have an open mind. -- so it's looking like we might just be going up to ponce to work whenever we have a slower day without a lot of appointments. our next day will be Saturday. :)

so. ideas for you to send me for my birthday. obviously the most important paragraph that I'm going to write. (He forgot to finish the paragraph!)

YAY! Ella wants to come for a visit?! SWEET! so does that mean she's coming in the summer to visit us when I get back? :D 'cause that would be sweet.

whoa! you cut the house number?! :-O so what, are you just gonna be carrying your cell and the 846 # with you all the time? whose gonna have that one? or are you just gonna leave that at home? as for recording the voice message... I would probably say turn the volume up in the home phone all the way so that you can step back from it with the cell... that probably would keep the cell mike from maxing out and clipping to cause all that static... and if that doesn't work... I might have to think on it. xD

oo, Toshiba. well, can't lose with a free laptop, right? :D do they all have built in internet and everything? would mine play games? ;) is that what Donny doing at the table in his hair picture? {:o)

you're gonna have to send me a picture of the house after it's all painted! I wanna see that! :D

so an update on Marcia and Francisco! :D well, we stopped by last Wednesday night and Marcia was out with Frances and her singing class she just started, so we only got to talk with Francisco. but it was PeRfEcT! he felt comfortable enough with us to tell us why he got divorced with Marcia. so we're gonna talk with president and get another cita with them both soon.

aw poop... I'm gonna have to bust a move... it's kinda late now. well, after my email to president I'm gonna bust a move out to clean the car! YAY! :D I'm so excited! I can't wait.

so, to finish: oh yea? well I love you more. :P have a super duper, hunky dunky, big mac, super size, really really good day! :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: Ohhh, nooo

Wed, Oct 13, 2010

WOOT! early especially awesome birthday present! :D I'm excited! but yes... you're right... heh heh heh... I DO need to get my pictures sent home... especially since I haven't sent them home since... heh... ooo... the end of my second transfer... yeah... I need to get those sent out. my bad. I'll get on that.

AH! so the double date for Marcia and Francisco! well, they ended up having it on Saturday night in President's house which is up in Guaynabo (Bayamón). I don't know what they got to eat, but I'm pretty sure it was good. ha! anyways, Marcia and Francisco brought Justin and Frances, so they could meet president's kids. when President called us, he said that it went great. they enjoyed their time. They have only briefly talked about the church and that was it. But, president wants to have another cita (date) with them! :D woot! so this way they will get the chance to have a much calmer atmosphere and have the spirit there in order to discuss the church and what we may be able to do to heal the damage. soooo, no baptismal date yet, but we continually have them in our prayers.

goodness, Gma Laster is already up and trying to do things! GAH! she needs to be careful! she needs to be there when I get back! I promised her two birthday hugs when I get back! :'(
and then one week till Robin leaves... wow. whats she gonna do with all her stuff? is she just gonna ship it down there? pay a truck?

and then Gma is leaving too... you said that you had been considering renting out the room? ...wow. you know what I just realized? the house is gonna be really empty now... and... heh, much more quiet, too. xD ...just remember to pay your tithing, and wash behind your ears. ;)

speaking of which, how are those laptops that dads been bringing home from work? are they pretty good? I wouldn't know, since you never wrote me back about that. :P ;)

HA HA HA HA HA! "In the news... true story... the owner of the Segway company died riding one! He went off a cliff and fell to his death, so sad!" --- IRONY! ha ha ha! that's HIL... that's horrible. I feel so bad. that poor gentleman. but really though. THAT is some irony.

so yes. NEWS! because things have been a little difficult in Yauco to find new investigators, Presidents giving us a task: we're to be going to Ponce four days out of the week to work there. we actually just got the call from the zone leaders this morning, so I'm not too sure how it's going to work just yet, but they DID tell us that we are going to be searching for public transportation to take us up there at six thirty in the morning. wonderful. *sigh* well, thats just how things go. new Mission story! :D sweet.

so yes. I'm trying to get better. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. xD so I'm gonna keep my eye on all the things that I eat, and definitely going to keep myself hydrated. I don't need to get another kidney stone. that's for sure.

but, I've got to go bust a move and send my email to president now!

I love you more than I get sick on the mission! :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: Hi, hi, hi!

Wed, Oct 06, 2010

Hola hola hola! good thing we had o come to ponce today, otherwise I woulda missed your email! :D but I'll explain a little bit more about that in a bit.

so for now, here's a little update on things in the life and times of Elder Bryan :3

so first off, I'm sick. yes. that's right: sick. *sigh* I don't know from what, but I've been either throwing up everything I've eaten, ooooor... well, lets just say "or it just runs right through me". :) so yeah... I guess it really started last Monday, but it was just a little hiccup more than anything, and then it just got worse and worse since then until anything involving food just made me feel sick, at one point it was bad enough that I couldn't even eat soda crackers... :-/ but it's getting better. for the least, right? so I've only had some sprite and soda crackers for the last twenty four hours.

so, one of the changes that we've been experiencing is that all of our district meetings are now combined with another district up here in ponce, so every Tuesday we have to make a trip up here. so yesterday, we had our district meeting plus interviews with president. unfortunately, I had to be in the bathroom for most of it. but interviews were good, and since he couldn't make it to the last appointment with Marcia and Francisco, he told us that he would be coming with us tonight (or last night, in today's tense) to the lesson that we had. which he did.

so for the lesson that we had. man, they are seriously so amazing. they really are. :3 So after conference we stopped by their house to find out if they had had the chance to be able to see conference (they had dish network and since they were sick, they were thinking that they probably wouldn't have been able to make it. so we told them to just check it out on BYU TV. fortunately, both of them understand English pretty well.) so we stopped by on Sunday night, right? and they only had a chance to see a little bit, but they recorded all of Sundays session, which means they got to see President Monson's talk (which was amazing. I loved that one too. as well as Uchtdorf's. they both were really really good.) and since they had them recorded, we left them the assignment to see them and take some notes, and after wards, compare what they learned. And when we stopped by last night, they got to see Sunday mornings session! :D and they took notes! :D and president Alvarado Had his notes! :D and he got them out of the car! :D and brought them inside! :D and they all talked about it together! :D WOOT! ok. so President made it. on time, obviously, and he brought one of our zone leaders with him, Elder Oviatt. and they talked and got to know each other and talked about conference, and president reassured that they had received an answer form the spirit that the Book of Mormon was true. so after going through all that, they got to talking a bit more about their family. well, I don't really remember if I mentioned this or not, but they aren't married. :-/ soooo, president talked a little bit about his family and the importance. from some observations about responses of the two, it really seems to me like Marcia really wants to get married again. Francisco seems a... well, a bit apprehensive about the idea. but after a little while, president suggested that they could go on a double date with him and his wife. sweet! so they are going to go this Friday, and they were thinking about going to presidents house so that Justin and Frances, Marcia's kids could meet presidents kids and so the whole family could well, you know, meet each other. sweet. so yeah. that was out appointment with them yesterday. it was amazing. I wish I could have participated, but my mind was kinda fuzzy. but, they are still amazing. so on their double date, president and his wife are gonna talk a bit about the family. :) it's going to be great. :D

oh my goodness, yes. Elder Hollands talk was just so... wow. it was wow.

oo, note for dad: AH! I found out that the legend of the seeker TV series is based off of a series of books! :D I'm not too sure what its called, but I'm sure you'd be able to find out! Elder Lehr had been telling me about this series that he had read that he loved, but he couldn't remember the name, and after describing it, I was just thinking... "wow, that sounds like this!" and turns out, it is. sweet. so you should look those up! :D

hey. who DOESN'T need two laptops? :D but are they GOOD ones? :3

whoa whoa whoa. Hannah got a BIKE and an IPOD!? ha ha ha! what the crap?! look at this! look at this! people are just falling for her left and right! my goodness.

poop... I took too long with my presidents email... and now I have to go.

I love you more than it loves to rain in the month of October! :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: YAY for better!

Wed, Sep 29, 2010

YAY, emailing from PONCE today! :D we got a call from the Zone leaders last night about a car. turns out they want to hook us up with a much newer car than the one that we have. woot! so we drove all the way out here during Spanish study (don't worry, we had permission :P ) to pick up the car and do email, and then after that... since we're in ponce... heh heh heh, we might just be stopping by the Marshall's mega store that's just down the street as well. ;) so yes. WOO! NEW CAR! :D

but, it's been WAY too long since I've been awake enough to really string my days together. :-/ before it just really seemed like every day was completely disconnected and things just weren't really... I dunno. they just weren't connected. that's pretty much it. however, things are getting steadily better. I haven't had a week like that fantastic one two weeks ago, but things get steadily better every day. and that's what counts, right? yes. I occasionally wake up in the morning from an uncomfortable pain, but it's not unbearable hurt like it was before. so I just wake up earlier and then have get a bunch of cat naps before the alarm goes off, but I DO sleep through the whole night, which is whats making the biggest difference. :3

but yes, while we had been talking to the doctor, it appears that just more than anything it could quite possibly be just the healing pains. I mean, I DID have a big fatty stone, and it WAS really pokey... *sigh* BUT, last week we had to get Elder Lehr a little haircutsie, so we didn't have as much time as we had been hoping for. sooooo, we went and hung out in the pueblo a little bit, with Elder Gonzales and Elder Patton until we had to go get his haircut. the pueblo is basically the city Center. it's got all the governmental buildings and administrative stuff like that, and then every pueblo ALWAYS has these little shops with all kinds of crazy stuff. there's TONs of souvenir shops and stores with cheap clothing. stuff like that. so we hing out there for a little while, and we went into this one store that was a sports/gun shop 'cause Elder Gonzales wanted to see the police badges they have for sale there. I was quite tempted to buy one that said "special police" on it. xD

ha ha ha, glad you liked the pic! :D ha ha, Franklin! you're right!

WOW, Bryan got a job on fort Lewis? huh... I wonder what He'll be doing there. how did you hear? did he stop by? if so, how are things with him and Breanna? I sent her a letter like four weeks ago and I still haven' gotten anything back. >:(

aw! :3 tell dad that I say hi back. :)

sweet! I'm counting Freddy as my baptism then. now I just have to get some pictures of his baptism. :) and the date.

so the lesson with Francisco and Marcia this last week. like I explained last week, we had been planning on having president come to the lesson with us... but we had that lesson with Presidente Ortiz and his wife where we found out that they weren't married yet, and I let president know about that in my last email. so after all that, we went to our cita with them without president. we, for some reason, weren't able to get a hold of him that day, but I think that he just might not have come because they weren't married yet. *sigh* so we now have the goal of getting them married first, and THEN getting them baptized. but it sounds like they really want to come to conference, and we might even get them to com to Saturday as well! :D we don't have an appointment set up with them yet, but were going to try and teach them tomorrow or Friday night.

and for singing at the bible church. that was interesting. one thing I did note, was the prayers. everyone started out in these, "songs of Praise'' (with tambourines and loud noisy hitting percussion instruments, no less) and right after they finished there was a lot of everyone saying individual "prayers" out loud that consisted mostly of "oh Dios, nos bendigas oh señor Dios". and those seemed to go on for five or six minutes mostly repeating that same phrase. I dunno... I could totally tell the difference between the sweet quietness that accompanies the spirit and the "loud" uncomfortable feeling of his absence.

buuuuut... unfortunately, I've taken my time in emailing, and now time has come to an end... :-/ we've got to have some time at Marshall's, you know. ;)

plus, FREE LAPTOP?!?!?!? :-O heck yes I hope there's one for me! maybe two? ;) ha ha ha. but really: are they nice? :)

time to bust a move! I love you more than we have things come up on P-Day.

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Wed, Sep 22, 2010

oh yeah. thats right.t

HEY! >:(

Wed, Sep 22, 2010

well that's not very nice! not sending me an email for no reason? gosh, I feel so offended. in fact, I feel so offended, I'm just gonna go home and eat cheese-its while I sit on the couch crying. yeah.
WelI... guess I won't. I thought I was going to, but that probably would take too much time, and I'm feeling lazy right now. so I'll just keep typing. :P

well, this week has gone by much better. I would probably have to say that it's one of the best that I've had in a very long time. :3 I've been sleeping, I wake up, and I'm NOT TIRED! :D YAY! that's the best ever. however, this last night I didn't sleep very well because my back hurt a little bit. probably just a bit more healing pain. Doctor Perez said that if some more pain comes up I could just take some pain meds to let it down, but things should be going upwards from now on! YAY! I've been needing this.

but yes. this last Monday we got to have a pretty interesting experience. :D currently Elder Lehr and I are teaching an older couple, and in one of the lessons that we had, we ended the lesson with a song and after we finished singing Ramón asked us if we would possibly be able to sing at a bible study that he, his wife, and a few other members from his church do every Monday. after some consideration, we figured it would be a good opportunity to share the spirit with others and to get ourselves seen. so, we called the zone leaders and everything checked out green, as long as we were reverent and proper representatives of the Lord, and of the church. so on Monday, we go. it was a very interesting experience for sure. I know I've already said that.... hmmm... lemme try and explain... gosh, I'm tired again today, I don't know if I can... lets see. I can't seem to be able to think right now... I might have to wait till next week to get everything organized in my mind, 'cause I'm quite tired today... blarg! I hate being tired! I can't think! and I start talking about the same thing over and over again! >:(

OOOO! and when we had stake conference, I introduced Francisco, the father of the family that we are teaching, to president Alvarado, and now president is coming to a lesson with them this Saturday! :D WOOT! so this next week I'll be able to tell you how that went. however... this last lesson we had, we had the president of the branch and his wife with us, and we discovered that they AREN'T MARRIED!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!! they HAD been married, but they got divorced for some reason and were apart for a while, but then they got back together... but they still didn't get married again... so we might be talking about setting a MARRIAGE date for them, rather than a baptismal date. but we'll have president with us. that's all we need. :3

whatever. well, I'm sorry things are so short this week... that tiredness sucks up brain power massive bad... that and I was talking to you on your phone. :D (sending emails to phone via text)

but yes, I must bust a move I think. Gots to get that email to president typed up!

I love you more than the zone leaders love to forget about getting me a new box spring (mine's currently broken right in the center. I think I might have to get a picture of it. ;) )

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: You're both staying right???!!!!

Thu, Sep 16, 2010

hola a tí, mi madre más fantastico en el MUNDO!

well, SURPRISE!! we BOTH are staying! :D they moved P-day to Wednesday for some odd reason this transfer day, so yeah. and the best part is that we had to go to Bayamón yesterday! :D so we didn't get ANY P Day! isn't that fantastic?! :D yes. quite so. so we left at 8 thirty to get there and got there at about 10 thirty, and then, the best part was, we waited till 4 till it was our turn! gosh, that was my favorite part. thats what I live for. so yeah, and then after all that, it was just to tell me that there really ISN'T anything wrong with me! sweet. buuut, Dr. Marcos' assistant doctor told me that the pain could possibly be from healing in the ureter. either way, I hope it goes away SOON. grr, angry. but yeah, now that I've answered that question, you're gonna give me a NEW question of the week, right? :D

so Hermana Miller is in the Canepas metro district... that should be up in the city, near san Juan or Bayamon... huh. however, a shot for the Dengue... I actually don't have any clue if I got one... or if there even IS one for that... I understand that the best way to avoid getting that is to just use OFF... but I'll have to find out.

ok. so a list of baptisms would be:

Herminia - Rio grande
Fernando de hostos - Caguas
Fernando Luis de hostos (hijo) - Caguas
Lester Ojeda - caguas
Octavio - caguas
Luis Eduardo Mendoza - caguas

I just found out that a person that me and Elder Harvey found right before I left got Baptized! :D his name is Freddy Huertas! and Luis Eduardo Mendoza and Freddy both just got the Melchizedek priesthood two weeks ago! :D

ah, and as to last weeks P-day, we didn't get to go to the dry forest! >:( by the time we had everything taken care of, it was CLOSED! blarg! so we went to this little beach place that was also part of the dry forest, but in a different area. so maybe we'll get to go next week, seeing as I got to stay here. :3

oh yeah! of COURSE you didn't steal my money. especially now that I KNEW about it. :P

so for jobs... wow. so they both pay fairly well... in either area was there a chance for... whats the word... or thingie... it's like, moving up in the career. and unforunately (or furtunately, take your pick) E like designing things and how things work or do you AND I like listening to peoples problems and trying to help them... so, the question is, which one has better options and flexibility, as well as payment and uh... that moving up in the world thingie. :3 psychiatrist... so what all do THEY get to do? the whole talking and listening to people thing? and some possible ORs could be... you know. a professional rock guitarist. or something in wood working/ carpentry. I've always kinda enjoyed messing around with wood (and that would also aid in my guitar building hobby :3 ) so is there anything in those two?ha ha ha xD

oo, a dark slate grey for the new color on the house? :D that sounds tight! you gots ta get picatures of of the whole thing. I wanna see what it'll look like. :3

so, unfortunately, I've been taking way too long to get things taken care of today, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to bust a move so we can actually get stuff done today...

BUUUUT, I love you more than sergio, one of our investigators loves to cancel his appointments! :D

~Brandon

Re: Rain, rain go away!

Wed, Sep 08, 2010

querido mamí,

well, you know, you're right, the rain here isn't going anywhere for the next little while. we keep getting these fake hurricanes, too! like... I'm not sure if I mentioned it last week or not, but we had to go in early due to the one right before "Gaston" causing some high winds and heavy rains. it's just crazy that hurricane season has just barely started and we've already had 3 headed in our direction. but we've been really lucky that things have been safe so far. however, it's been ridiculously hot. ESPECIALLY right before it rains. jeez... it's been up around a hundred this whole week just because that huricancita had been close. it's so weird how hot it gets right before it rains... but oh wells. I'm just glad I have a car now. that's a bonus. :3

so, this week from the view of Fabian. I've decided to change his name. turns out he's a boy, so... it would be kinda weird to have him named Jenny anyways. :P looks like you're safe mom. ;) but anyways, I've called the doctor and the NEXT POSSIBLE OPEN TIME, was this next Wednesday. (speaking of which, remember that this next Wednesday is the end of this transfer, so P-Day is getting moved to TUESDAY!) but yes, we're going all the way to Bayamón for this visit. hopefully he'll be able to tell me why they can't see my stone, and if I should get surgery or wait for it to pass, and give me some sweet drugs. that would be nice. :) ah, and quite ironically, while we went out to do some contacting, we met this guy that makes bonsai trees and he had this lemon tree with TONS of ripe lemons on it, so he gave us a whole bag full. :) I made some fresh lemon juice that night. however, I don't really know if its helped or not. Buuut, the lemons here taste AMAZING!

yeah, I DID get the box from the Jones, AND one from the KEYS! :D the one from the jones had some awesome letters from all the kids, and Bryan and Breanna, as well as some M y Ms, and some skittles. :3 and then the box from the Keys had a card from all of them and Cameron's Graduation foto, some freakin' sweet Spongebob EASY MAC! oh yeah! and other snackage that I can't really remember right now cause I'm so brene dehd. but yes, I thoroughly enjoyed both of their packages. :3

so, a little more about Elder Lehr: he IS the oldest... uh... well, as far as I can remember at this point. I DO know that he's got two younger sisters and two younger brothers. and that his mom has an AMAZING singing voice. oh my gosh, there was a recording that he had on one of the CD's that they put together for him of her singing for sacrament meeting and it was A-may-ZING! I wept with joy. but he's not really sure if he knows an Alex Olson... not right now anyway. but he might later on. I'll ask again. but you could ask Elder Olson if he knows a Joshua Lehr, too. :3

ok, so what are some possible things that I would be able to do with a Psychology major? do you know of anything spiffy? maybe that involves giving people drugs and telling them to do ridiculous things? xD but really. what IS there to do with a psychology major? or an electronics/electronic engineering? I just gotta know so I can start at least coming up with a plan... I feel so EMPTY without a plan! :'(

you know... I think sister miller just might be in the Hato Rey area. I do believe I have met her before, but only really in passing at the last stake conference. brown hair, taller? what are some of the things that she puts in her blog? I'm interested.

ah HA! I KNEW that I had more money than I thought I had. ha ha ha, I checked last week and I was like... wait. that's weird. I coulda sworn I had more... so now I know what happened to it. :) :P how much did you end up stealing? and that's so lame that they put a hold on your card... did you not have enough money or something? or did they just wanna mess with you for a while?

of COURSE they observe labor day here. it's a holiday, right? anything that's a holiday is good enough for them to celebrate! :D ha ha ha, but really. they celebrate all KINDS of holidays. it's almost ridiculous. almost.

so... erm... could you tell robin that I'm sorry I haven't written her yet, but I'm going to be writing her soon enough? :) really soon? like hopefully today? :D

Gah, hey, come on now. I sent two letters to Cameron because I had been writing one to him already and then he sent me an email saying that I haven't replied to him yet but he included all kinds of updates on what was going on... so instead of scrapping my last one, I just sent him that one and then a new one too! :'( but I'm trying to send Donny a letter today...

so did you end up sleeping on the couch then? :3 or did you just unplug the buzz saw? you know... taking all those power tools out of your room might be better for your sleeping. plus, I don't know if it's good to have power tools running without an operator. :-/

DAH! I just lost the game! :'( poop...

well, I've got to bust a move... I haven't written president yet... GAH! it's so much harder to remember to email him rather than write a letter. *sigh* oh wells.

I love you more than Bryan hates losing the game! :D

Re: Dodged the storm!

Wed, Sep 01, 2010

ha ha ha, Elder Lehr actually just got an email from his mom mentioning that you sent her the email with the pickies. she said she really enjoyed them :D but I would seriously love to be Elder Lehr's comp for more time! that would be AWESOME! :D he's great. we are indulging a little bit in our love for video games. but we're just talking about them. that's all! I promise. but it's been great. except for the fact that things are difficult to get done due to me being so tired all the time and pretty far past the ability to coherently think or follow the spirit... :-/ makes things inconvenient,... especially for lessons. you know...

but He's from Orem. he actually went to BYU before hand, and he's going to go back there when he gets back... so if I get into LDS BC, we're definitely going to be hanging out after the mission. he's great. he really is. it's just so fun to be around him.

but yeah! no storm for us. we did have to go in early due to wind and heavy rain, but other than that and a little bit of wind in the morning, that was it. :-/ nothing SUPER exciting. Except that we have a second one coming that might come close to causing us a bit more wind tomorrow. and then the one after that on its way. :D YAY! what fun! I'm excited. so we might get some really fun weather for the next few weeks. We'll have to see.

oh, OK. well, last week I ended up asking for money 'cause I was two and a half hours away from where my money was... that and I had been expecting to be able to pay through the mission account... heh, so it was kind of a surprise. but it should be all good now. I'll pull the money out of my account to pay him back and then I'll get reimbursed.

NO I HAVEN'T BEEN SHOPPING TOO MUCH! ...that's ridiculous.

ok, so. we picked up me results from the 'ospital (arrr). guess what? nothin'. all it says is that I've got "early/mild" evidence of some thing called "Nephrocalcinosis" in my kidney. whatever THAT is... but other than that, that's all the technician felt I had a problem with. wonderful. plus, there's no blood in my urine, which means if there IS a stone in my ureter, its not cutting it while it moves. sooooooo... I've got a ghost stone! nobody knows what my problem is. I talked with the mission doctor yesterday, and he supposed to get back to me yesterday to let me know if I actually needed to get to Caguas sometime to do a follow up visit, but he didn't... he was gonna look up Nephrocalcinosis to find out about it... but alas, I continue waiting. so yes. however, I continue sleeping HORRIBLY and now... there's some slight pain returning in my manhood. in the same spot. "it was driving me crazy!" -Albuquerque. so... I continue falling apart. ISN'T IT WONDERFUL?! *eye twitchy*

a quarter cup of lemon juice. just straight up like that.... huh. I'm gonna have to check that out. we haven't been shopping yet today (plus we juts got our money for the month :) ) so I'll pick some of that up. that'll be nice to see if that will help.
dah... pictures... yeah... erm... well... you see... I haven't sent them yet? eh heheheheh...

*ahem* oh... eh... actually, I haven't emailed Ehren either... DAH! I'm sorry! :'( I've been failing so much recently! I'm going to try to do that today. really. I am.

aw sweet! Tacoma malls getting an H&M?! yes! fancy clothes!

wow, you and Robin are going back down to Cali again? well, tell grandma hi from me! and chase wants robin to move down there... huh... that would be interesting. maybe a problem... Plus, robins always had that draw to Cali... but she hasn't applied to any schools down there, nor does she have a job to be able to support herself... that would be interesting.

but yes, I've got to bust a move so I can go email president.

I love you more than my body likes creating invisible problems! :D

~Brandon

Re: another week...

Thu, Aug 26, 2010

woot! so. updates on how everything's going. well, as you already know, we stopped by Caguas yesterday. :3 ha ha ha, it was funny cause we actually DID stop by Annie right before we went to the hospital. kinda Ironic that she heard my voice. :D but yeah. we were at the hospital the WHOLE day. super duper fun. we got there at 10 in the morning and left at 5. but basically it was a follow visit for my tests. but he said that basically, because I was still having pain, be it in my special place or in my back, my (possible) kidney stone has been causing me pain for over a month now. So, he gave me orders to get a CT scan to figure out where it is which we got taken care of today in ponce. we get to go pick that up on Monday, and then, unfortunately, we might have to get ourselves back to Caguas, a two and a half hour drive, so we can have Doctor Perez take a look at it. wonderful. but I'm going to talk to Hermana Alvarado to see if there's someplace... well, just a little bit closer, cause Wednesday is our P-day, and I haven't really had a real P-day here in Yauco yet (to answer your question). So much stuff to get ready for. hospital trips, Zone conference prep. stuff like that. it's all so wonderful. :D

a little bit more about our visit yesterday: IIIIIIIII didn't get any sleep past four in the morning cause my back woke me up. and we also got out of bed at six. joyous. that just made the day that much more wonderful. :D so we get to the hospital at ten because the sign up list was supposed to come out at 10:30. buuuuut, we get there and it is just PACKED chock full o' people. LOADED. so we wait till about noon thirty and then we get called in. after filling out a new patient sheet because for some reason I wasn't in the offices system, even though I spent three days at the hospital... I dunno. but anyways, I fill that out and they call me in,
I get the follow up visit and boom. all done with that. so after that, we go out and they ask us to pay. we're like "OK, the mission has an account and we're going to pay for that." and the secretary like "oooo.... you have to pay in cash."

"WHATJKLSD:LF?" we don't have cash!" (it was $85 by the way) and neither of us have very much money this month, eh heh heh... yeah.

"well, lemme call the supervisor. we'll talk with her"

time passes. and some more time passes. "is the supervisor coming?" "wellll, she's actually at lunch, but she'll be back really soon." some MORe time passes. "you sure?" yeah, she's coming back right now." then we come to 3:00 and the supervisor finally walks in. turns out they aren't authorized to charge the account, nor do they have a system to charge it even if they were... (they're in a new part of the hospital.) so we're like "oh crap, what do we do?" we call sister Alvarado- can't send us money on our cards that fast. so after TONS of running around, the number for the Caguas Elders pops into my head (personal revelation for sure). call them up and the zone leaders end up saying, OK we can hook you up with the money. but you're going to have to come and pick it up from the Caguas apartment. hey, that's cool. as long as we can get the money.

well after running up to go pay for our parking, we search around for the parking ticket. it's gone. GREAT! so we can't leave. we call up the zone leaders "um... we can't exactly leave... can you bring us the money? :)" and we had to have the money by four thirty. luckily they get there at four fifteen and I was able to get myself my prescriptions for the cat scan, which they wouldn't give to me till I've paid, obviously.

yes. long day. so we did that, which is basically what we've done this whole last week... it's been really hard cause I haven't got very much sleep and haven't been able to think, so even in lessons I'm just destroyed, and we've been doing some more finding. however, we do have this family that I haven't told you guys about yet, unfortunately...

Francisco and Marcia Morciglio. (more-see-glee-oh. with stress on the "see") but yeah. they have two kids, Justin and Francis. Justin has 12 years, and Francis has 6. Francisco is amazing. he's really reading and praying and he KNOWS that the church is true already. Marcia is still struggling, I think that she might have a few doubts, but part of the problem is that they're leaving to go on vacation from this last Tuesday till the week after the next. so they are going to be out till then, but we just need the chance to extend a baptismal invitation!

Bryan cut his hair! why so short?! :'(

also, that renaissance fair banner with the DC logo is SAWEET! did you get any other pictures from the chain mail artists?

ok... so the current address of where I'm at would be:

Elder Brandon Bryan
Urb. Costa Sur
A21 Calle Brisas del Mar Apt. B
Yauco, PR 00698

and as far as I know, things get here fairly well, although Elder Lehr said that he had a slight problem with one of his packages ending up at the neighbor's house for some reason. but the people here are SOOOOO NICE that if it came for an elder, they know where to put it. but really. the people in Yauco are SOOOOOOOPER nice. you might even say they are souper stars. ;) but I love it. plus, president Alvarado is wanting us to break out of the basic contacting and just start talking to people. be their friends. and then after that, they are going to see that we as missionaries aren't robots, but people that care about them and then they will open up to us. :D

poop... I should probably send this so I can email president. apparently in the west side they started emailing instead of writing letters, so I gotta get that out.

Love you so much! I'm feeling much better though... even though I still get crappy sleep... but yeah...

I love you more than I had to wait at the hospital!

~Brandon