Re: We have travel plans!

Wed, Jun 22, 2011

WOO! Flights and times! :D actually, I hadn't gotten a specific itinerary yet... I think that might be coming soon... I had just gotten an envelope that mentioned that you should be getting my info soon about that... but now that I think just a little bit, I have a small feeling that I might not be getting any info... but I don't know for sure. However, that's why I just texted you just now. So I can find out. :) buuuut, I was thinking that very same thing. Saturday is an excellent time to have everyone there. People will be off and so they'll have more time to spend with me! :D yay, and then I get to go swimming! :D with my awesome arm and face tan. Outrageously, fantastic. I'll totally blind everyone with my crazy white legs! Yeah! So, awesome.

And SPEAKING of Sister Stout, I ran into Elder Stout Yesterday at interviews/training! He’s great, and in my zone! It was great running into him. He’s pretty funny, and we got to talk a bit about Puyallup and all the changes that have been going on back there. But he's doing great, and it will be excellent to be able to get some comida criolla ** (See notes below as translation is "creole food") when I get back. That way you guys can get some authentic Puerto Rican food instead of my measly substitute. :)

So like I mentioned, yesterday we had interviews with president as well as a training meeting. we learned a bit about "our legacy" or in other words, if we were to be going home soon, what kind of missionary, companion... and a few other things... ah, member of the ward council... stuff like that. Anyways, how would we want to be remembered? What’s our legacy? And we had district meeting after that. Nothing too exciting, but we didn't get done until 6:30 because we had some stuff to talk about with president. So... we weren't able to get too much done yesterday, either. :-/

Ja, ja, ja, yeah, president giving me a ridiculous amount of area just to keep me occupied is something that he would do. But it's been kinda difficult... we had a slight incident last week. Elder De Leon had taken the area book that the fourteen had prepared of all their super good investigators with him to be able to find their investigators...aaaand... unfortunately, he accidentally left it on the train... and we haven't been able to find it... downer. So we've just been out relying on the things that we had already written down in our planner, when, all of a sudden, the bishop in Santurce calls us up. Guess what? He has a copy of the area book! :D OH YEAH! Awesome. A total miracle, the church is true. But, I haven't been given any special assignments. Just to work like normal (or xtra hard, now) with all of our ridiculous area to cover. :) But, lucky Elder Snow, he's gonna be chillin by himself with president on Dominica his last week here. No details yet except for that. But still. Cool beans.

Man, Cristina totally looks like Hannah! That’s so weird... but, it sounds like they are going to be an EXCELLENT match for each other. :)

Yay eagle project! :D it's gonna be great. I'm excited to build wolf houses. When’s he gonna start, the whole thing?

So, yeah. You never texted me, you bum! :P how am I supposed to know what my flights are so I can talk about it everyone else? :P

Gosh. But, I love you more than I love nice surprises about me coming home! And chocolate cake.

~Elder Bryan (Brandon)

* comida criolla = creole food,
* cocina criolla = creole cuisine

** The principal cooking style in Puerto Rican cuisine is called “cocina criolla”, which literally means Creole cooking. Creole cooking is generally associated with Louisiana’s Cajun cuisine, but that’s not what we have here. In the Spanish speaking islands, “criollo” refers to Spanish Americans of European descent. Hence, “cocina criolla” is the cuisine created by the European (mostly Spanish) colonists using their traditional recipes coalesced with native Caribbean foods and cooking styles.

The Oak Tree

The Oak Tree
by Johnny Ray Ryder Jr

A mighty wind blew night and day
It stole the oak tree's leaves away
Then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark
Until the oak was tired and stark

But still the oak tree held its ground
While other trees fell all around
The weary wind gave up and spoke.
How can you still be standing Oak?

The oak tree said, I know that you
Can break each branch of mine in two
Carry every leaf away
Shake my limbs, and make me sway

But I have roots stretched in the earth
Growing stronger since my birth
You'll never touch them, for you see
They are the deepest part of me

Until today, I wasn't sure
Of just how much I could endure
But now I've found, with thanks to you
I'm stronger than I ever knew

FINAL - Travel Itinerary For BRYAN/BRANDON

FINAL - Travel Itinerary For BRYAN/BRANDON

21Jul - Electronic ticket issued on Delta Airlines

This is a non-refundable ticket. Baggage fees may apply.

BRYAN/BRANDON

DATE 21JUNE11

MISSIONARY TRAVEL

A AB PUERTO RICO SAN JUAN MISSION

DELTA AIR LINES

DATE: 21JUL

FROM                TO                    DEPART    ARRIVE

SAN JUAN          ATLANTA GA    720A         1102A

3:42 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 757

FROM                TO                    DEPART    ARRIVE

ATLANTA GA      SEATTLE WA     140P         355P

5:15 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 757

Re: On to??????

Wed, Jun 15, 2011

Woo hoo! Alright, so I think I'm gonna start with news about my project! :D

Alrighty! So, to start out: I'm in Caparra! Pretty much, it's just right next to the mission office. I still don't know the address, but I'm so close to the mission office that you might as well just send stuff to there, I suppose. BUT, we started the project on Monday. :) We are essentially taking over the big group’s area here in Hato Rey, Trujillo Alto, and Rio Piedras. And I guess president has decided to trust me the most or something, because he's given us four areas to work in, instead of two. Or maybe he just wanted to stress out my comp. xD but yes. So we are going to be covering most of Hato Rey for the next three weeks, and then when Elder Varner and Elder Barr come in, they will take their rightful places and take half our area away. :) but yes, we're getting the freaking sweet apartment that they had been staying in, with A/C, and 7 bunk beds, and two fridges, and WAY too much silverware. The down side is that threes STILL only one bathroom. :'( but at the very least threes only four of us, and not 14 like there HAD been in there. jeeze, I don't even want to imagine trying to run through all of them in an hour y pico. horrible. so for the last two days we've been running around like a head with its chicken cut off trying to get things organized. we have a baptism planned for this Friday night, and she hasn't received all of the commandments, but president wants the baptism for this Friday because it would be the perfect way to end for the group... but yesterday we had a ridiculous day trying to get Elder Ramirez's stuff here from Santurce. ha,, ha, ha... goodness. did you know that Obama came and gave a speech here yesterday? did you also know that it causes lots of traffic and if you try to go to where you need to go, all the police don't let you, and so you have to take a detour... and drive for forty five minutes trying to figure out where you are, and that when you finally call someone and get directions, the only way back is through bumper to bumper traffic without moving even a single inch for yet another forty-five minutes? yeah. don't go anywhere near an Obama speech if you have an appointment at noon. ha , ha, ha, lol. yeah, that was good stuff. we didn't get everything done till about 1:30. :) AH! And then, to make the day an even bigger adventure, we needed to get a bike pass to take out bikes on the train/subway, right? so after we get THAT figured out, we just left our bikes at the office, grabbed some 2x2 fotos, and take the subway with our shiny new 1 month unlimited pass over to the next stop to take out our bike pass. Well, turns out Elder Ramirez on accident left his ID at home... yup. And you NEED one to get a bike train pass. Oh-yes. :3 so he couldn't get one. But, we got to the mission office, and we're like... alright. I don't want to deal with this, we're late, and we need to go. So we snuck him on. Oh yes. Well, that went well. And then, it's time to go home. Let’s go back to the train! WEE! Let’s sneak Elder Ramirez back on the train! :D *record scratch* security? WHAT?! What do you mean he can't get on? Doh! Great. Now what? Well, we decided to just go to the next station. :3 guess what? The Lord blessed us with NO security guards at this one. Yup, that’s right. Not a single one at the counter. Woo! So we just busted a move right on up there and made it home RIGHT at nine thirty. Oh yeah. Freaking sweet day there for ya.

Woo! Long paragraph that one. :) But it sounds like the missionary work is going GREAT there! I bet the missionaries LOVE you guys. How goes that referral that you gave to the missionaries of the lady that was in the military? Anything back about that?

YAY! I’m so glad that my letters made it home safe. :3 I didn't know that it would be cheaper for a bigger box like that... I guess it would be a good idea then to just get all my things that I want to send home together now and just do it all in a bigger box? I'll look into that.

Also, what are Narnia holes?

I'm going to try and get some pictures of Elder de Leon... I can't send any pictures today, because the library where we're at has somehow disabled the use of USB, so I should be able to get that to you next week if I don't send them in a package. :) I'll try and get all that figured out soon so I can cut down on some of the stuff that I've got... I need some space! I've got so much study stuff... but at least I have less than SOME of the Elders that are going home... they had to super downsize. (Yes, Elder De Leon LOVES to eat. and my NEW comp is even bigger. ;) )

ah... but We're out of time for today... send me some pics of Christina! I wanna see who's going to be invading our house!

I love you more than I love sitting in traffic! :D

~Elder Brandon Bryan

Re: Woohoo, a package!

Wed, Jun 08, 2011

Oh yeah. I told you I was gonna send it. :3 I just didn't want you to lose faith in me, either. But at least Donny and Hannah liked what they got. :3 Donny got his sticker, right? I was gonna stay with the sweet bracelets, but I guess president hadn’t been very happy with some other elders that had been using 'em, and he had instructed the assistants to start confiscating them if they saw them... so, I saved them by letting them know that I wasn't using them and that I was going to send them home. :) What? I like socks! "You can never have too many socks." ;) yeah, I stole those artifacts (the shells) from the Guancha. Those are for you guys. They’re still in there, right?

So, Elder de Leon has been out about a year and a half and he's still great. I just love his sense of humor. :) And he's been very valuable, especially recently with some uprisings in the district about the foundation *gulp* naw, it's not that bad. There were just some members in the district that don't understand about the doctrine behind the foundation... so after a talk with the zone leaders, threes gonna be a tradeoff so that they can minister unto them the doctrine. So we'll see how that goes... heh... yeah. Just some fun stuff about misunderstandings. That’s all. But he's also been helping me out teaching some of the new stuff that they are starting to implement in the MTC and in the missions. All the doctrine that we want to start implementing in our teaching to make us more powerful teach

And I'm trying to remember where president served his mission but neither I, nor elder De Leon can remember at the moment... darn it... :-/ but I know at the very least it was in the states. :)

So, changes and upcoming activities: I haven't heard anything NEW as of yet... but if I understand correctly; I should be busting a move out of Adjuntas next P-Day... AH! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, just kidding. I've been told by Elder Varner that the idea is that we are going... well, Elder Snow, Elder Hicken, Elder Shmutz and I will be going, to Trujillo Alto, to be working with four Dominicans up there. We’re going to be splitting up? I guess. And Elder Barr and Elder Varner will be staying as Zone Leader and Assistant, respectively, until the transfer ends and then the last two weeks they will be joining us... but I don't know what will be happening after they join us... I THINK there will be a change of plans, but I don't know what. Soooooo.... I'm not sure HOW certain the islands plan is at the moment... I guess it was a cool thought, but unless we get to bust a move out there the last two weeks, I think it might not happen. *sigh* oh wells... I guess I'll just have to hit them up when I come back to Puerto Rico. ;)

Aw man... Brother keys only works in employee safety? Aw man... dang it. Ha. Ha, well... he might know SOMETHING about it, right? At the very least, if he plugs something into the magic wall, it comes ALIVE? ;)

Ha, ha, ha, when I read about Donny’s deck I laughed. But, at least it's a board, right? speaking of skating... heh, heh, a few weeks ago, Elder Black and I had been at an investigators house and after passing by numerous times, we were finally able to make a connection with the kids. So, in order to let Elder Black practice some more Spanish, I decided to fellowship the kids a little bit. After talking for a few minutes, turns out, the two sons really, really like to skate. Well, he ran up and grabbed some boards and brought them back down. And then made me choose one. So, I've learned how to skate. Kind of. :D I actually like it quite a bit though. Really fun.

Kind of a downer that Ella's mom doesn't want her to come up this year... but at the very least she finally replied. :P goodness. You know what we should just do? Let’s just kidnap her. Let’s just go on a trip to Brazil, and oh so conveniently stop by her house when her mom isn't there and just take her. That should be fine, right? We just have to tell her to pack her bags for some mysterious reason beforehand ya! It’s so easy a caveman could do it.

So... a Costco cake for my return, eh? You know... I had been writing to Tahnee about that... and she had actually asked me if I had wanted her to make me a cake for my return as well... but I don't know if she had wanted to make a big one for my glorious return party, or if she was just going to make me a personal cake... I'll have to ask about that... especially because I haven't been able to write anybody letters for the last little while... :-/ however, you know I like chocolate cake. :3 and that with chocolate frosting. But that’s just me.

***

Hey, sorry I haven't been able to get this sent sooner... as I was typing the power went out... :-/ total downer. But, at the very least I had all of it saved, so I just had to finish a sentence when I got back. Bonus. :)

But yes... I guess I can just leave it at that... ironically I didn't even really need that much more to write... I just needed to SEND the darn thing... but whatever, I guess. I got to send it, and I got an email from Elder Patrick! (CCM comp) woot! So I got to reply to that just now too! :D

But, I love you more than Elder De Leon loves food. ;) (Don’t tell him I said that)
~Elder Bryan (Brandon)

ah, and included foto:

1) left to right: Me, Elder Jensen, and Elder Hargadon. Elder Black took the picture because he didn't have any skinny jeans to join us... :-/ first time I saw it it looked like an add for skinny jeans! :) oh yeah. so there it is.

Re: difficulties?

Wed, Jun 01, 2011

Ok. so, to start with your questions. :)

Oh ha ha ha. no. :P it was just some settings that I had been playing around with so I had some difficulties finding my email and everything. nothing serious, but it's all solved now. I just finished working it all out.

However, NO, I didn't have any difficulties finding the post office. so your package should be there between two to three days. :) Oh yeah. That’s right. It’s done! :D

For puffy: no, not that I have noticed. I haven’t felt bloated or puffy at all... heh, in fact, I feel a little LESS than puffy, if that means anything. XD

So, info about Adjuntas. We're actually covering Adjuntas, Utuado, AND Jayuya. Adjuntas has a Branch of about 45 attendees on average, and Utuado is a much smaller Branch of only 26-30... and we only go to there every Saturday except for the second, when instead we go Sunday. Jayuya members USED to have a branch, but it got so small that everyone there was just moved to go to Adjuntas. However, there are quite a few Return missionaries here. As a matter of fact, I might have to say that it's the place with the MOST that I'VE been to at least. the Branch president and his wife are both RMs, the stake president who lives in this area is an RM, the ward mission leaders son (EQ Pres) is also one... and then I believe there is one other one... I can't remember at the moment... but yeah. I'll try to get that back. but there is a TON of willing members to help us, from what I've seen. When sister Commeletti left she told us that the Branch was pretty ready for Elders because of all the opportunities that it presents. Which is quite true. There’s many, many less active men here that we can now work with without a hindrance. Perfect, cause that’s what builds the church. Priesthood and families. :3

Oh yeah. Elder De Leon the guatemateco is GREAT! He’s quite the jovial fellow, I would say. for some reason he makes me think a little bit of dad. :) however... his English isn't the greatest... lol, but we read out of the white handbook morning in English, and just that is enough to help him... however, I want to start maybe getting a plan together to help him get started working on it more. (President Alvarado learned all of his English on his mission btw. :)  )

So, quick intermission: I just emailed Cameron to let him know that he could borrow my small practice amp (the squire one), so if he stops by asking for it, you know why. :) However, the connections on the inside have to be rearranged. :) I modded it so that it would be a speaker cab instead of an amp, so I don't know if dad or somebody would be able to help with that? I dunno. Brother Keys probably knows too. After all, he DOES work with electricity. ;) so yeah. That’s that.

Ok, so back to your questions. I DO still continue as district leader, however, from the things that I've been told from Elder Varner and Elder Black, it's only going to be for these two more weeks... I'm not exactly sure why president told Elder Black and not me... disorganization maybe? However, I'm also secretly training Elder De Leon to be the next district leader as well, so I'm giving him fun assignments to do in district meeting. :3 in regards to the length of the special project... I have no idea... I DO want to give Elder Varner a call to get things a more definite response as to what’s going on, so I might get more information about that next week.

Our new address is a actually a post office box... probably to cut out mail problems... it's
P.O. box 33
Adjuntas, PR 00_ _ _ algo...
I can't really remember the postal code... eh... poop. Nope, it's not coming. (We know what it is: 00601) Buuuut, I think it' might just be better to wait on that, seeing as I'm going to be moving in two weeks again anyways... so really, things could just get sent to the mission office for now, until I get the more permanent address alla en Bayamon where we’re going to be doing the project (but I talked with Elder Varner the first time, and there have been some Elders from the big group that have gone out to the islands for proselytizing... heh, so I might get to go out there! :D FREAKin' sweet. but we're staying in the bottom floor of a members house. we have a room, a study room, a storage room, a living room, a kitchen AND TWO BATHROOMS! Woo! It’s really is quite a nice place. Partly, because there used to be sisters here, and the other part because it's a members house instead of an apartment. :)

One more intermission: just got an email back from Cameron. Turns out he already knew about the prob and just went to buy one on eBay to make it easier. ;) All done.

YAY, Robin’s new kitty is so cute! :3

Other than that, no word on my travel plans... I'm gonna have to ask Elder Varner about that too... *on list*

But yes, I'm gonna have to bust a move so that I can finally write president. :)

I love you more than I love those absolutely wonderful coquís  outside of our house. and that EVH surf board. (awesome!)

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

(A coqui is a tiny tree frog that lives only in Puerto Rico & EVH = Eddie Van Halen)

Re: Hmmmm, mail box is still empty

Wed, May 25, 2011

Hey oh! So... I'm sorry I'm getting email out so late today... transfers are RIDICULOUS NOW! Gosh! Now that I'm district leader I can see firsthand how really little people know in the line of communication. Goodness me. I receive a phone call on Monday night saying "alright. You, Elder De Leon and Elder Moody all are going to pack your bags." wait... that’s it? "Yup. That’s all we can tell you." wait... do you KNOW where I'm going? "... no." so I didn't find out until this MORNING what the dealio was with everything, and even then I was stuck at the chapel waiting for things to get worked out... and I got there at nine thirty. >:( lame-o!

So, for things. I am no longer in Ponce 2A! :'( Sad day. I've been moved! And I'm going to be white washing again! :-O goodness. I'm going to Adjuntas, where the weather is always rainy, and the temperature doesn’t get much hotter than 65 degrees. Bonus! But a downer, too... my TANS gonna go away! :'( But we'll see. I think I overheard something from Elder Black... from some secret call from President, that I'm gonna be leaving three weeks into the transfer because of my special project with my group... but we'll have to see. Things always change anyways. :-/ but Yes. Elder DE LEON is my comp. that’s right, the gordito Guatemalan. Sweet. It’s gonna be nice to just get to speak Spanish all the time. Cool beans. :3

sorry I don't think I'm going to be able to get too much written this week, I was having difficulties with my email, and I think I 'm going to have to change a few things. Just me being stupid with the settings and all. Not too much to worry about... however, that also means that I've really killed my time. Especially with us not having very much in the first place, darn it. But that’s ok. I'm a genius. That’s all.

So, the psychologist. Ha, ha, ha, very funny. I'm not crazy. :P no, no, he was just calling me to give me some sleep therapy to see if that would help. Well, it definitely helped me sleep more relaxed... but it hasn't taken the pain away. What do you mean by "have I felt puffy?" like in the kidney or the back? In that sense I don't THINK I have, but then again, I haven't REALLY checked.

So I've been told that Elder Stout has arrived! if I'm correct, I've heard that he's with Elder Vicil, maybe over in Cabo Rojo... but I don't know for certain, so don't quote me on that.

I have the box all packed up and in the car, but because of this fun little excursion with transfers I don't think I'm going to be able to send it TODAY, but maybe tomorrow. Adjuntas is pretty small, so I might be able to squeeze over to the post office while we're out contacting.
Dang it.... I'm sorry this wasn't very long.

However, I love you more than things are disorganized around here. :)

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: any more news?????

Wed, May 18, 2011

Alright... so, first things first. I just got done with an email to d-man. AH! No, no, no... bigger things first, first, first. Alrighty. I've got my package all ready. I haven't been able to get those stickers yet, but I think I might be able to get it before the end of the day. I have to go clean up some more on the Yauco apartment today... so we're going on a trip. I'm gonna just be sending it off from Yauco so I don't have to deal with grumpy postal workers in Ponce :) you know what I mean. but, I've got some presents for Hannah and Donny that I've owed them since their birthday... and I'm gonna slide the card in the children’s hymns CD case. Protection and space saver. :)

After talking with the doctors there last week... Elder Mcdermid, the Caribbean area psychologist, and Elder Kilgore, the area caribe doctor, both of them are still stumped... but they are going to council together to figure out what’s gonna be goin down. I've been getting some phone calls/phone counsels from Elder Mcdermid to at the very least help me with some sleep exercises that might help me sleep better, but that’s not till Friday, so we'll see. However, I've also pulled or strained a muscle or SOMETHING in my back doing some exercise... *sigh* so now all that tension is back in my shoulders and neck. I talked to Elder Kilgore about that and he said just with some Ibuprofen and cold that should go away soon... but it hasn't yet... so I'm gonna have to call him again to figure out what to do. Blarg! I've got cancer all over now!

YES! That’s good news. Bryan hadn't told me ANYTHING about Pax when he emailed me back, lol, that bum. So. PAX! OH YEAH!

Well... I do have to say that I've gotten more comfortable in this last little while with being a district leader. So far so good: with the minions. They follow my every command. *evil smile* unLIMITED POWA! *Emperor Palpetine* no, but really. It is a bit harder when all the attention is on you and you're the one running things by yourself... but... I guess that’s something that I need to learn how to do... woot.

So yeah... things are getting tight again. Most of the investigators that we've had this last little while have dropped off the radar. We had received a referral from a member that lives right in front of the chapel, and we've been sharing with her these past few weeks. we found out that she had been reading the book of Mormon for a while and had given three copies to her family members (!) but, after teaching her the first three lessons... she hasn't been able to do any more lessons after that... and that was LAST week... we've been really trying to get her to pray about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, but she just hasn't done it... she thinks and FEELS that’s it's true, but no one can know of spiritual truths without prayer. So unless she prays, she CAN'T receive a testimony... so I think that’s might be why she's been kind of distant... we've extended the baptismal invitation, but since then that’s when it got rocky. :-/ so yeah. difícil. So yeah.... that’s essentially the extent of our investigators right now, but I've been really trying to keep my eye out for other missionary experiences other than just teaching investigators you know? I wanna round out what I find. Nice people, miracles, cool stuffs... you know. If, that makes sense?

So, question for my account: is there always a fee for normal people? Was I just getting a free account because I was younger than 21? And after 24 is there a way to keep that free account?

Have you heard anything new from Ella about her coming up?

Well, have to bust a move... going to clean the Yauco apartment!

I love you!

Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Why I won't be seeing the Book of Mormon musical

Michael Otterson

Head of Public Affairs,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
5/14/11


Reviews of "The Book of Mormon" musical have been all over the entertainment media in the past few weeks. According to the reviews, the play sketches the journey of two Mormon missionaries from their sheltered life in Salt Lake City to Uganda, where their training and life experience proves wholly inadequate to the realities of a continent plagued by poverty, AIDS, genital mutilation and other horrors. While extolling the musical for its originality, most reviewers also make reference to the play's over-the-top blasphemous and offensive language.

Dealing with parody and satire is always a tricky thing for churches. We can easily appear thin-skinned or defensive, and churches sometimes are. A few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have seen this musical and blogged about it seem to have gone out of their way to show how they can take it. That's their choice. There's always room for different perspectives, and we can all decide what to do with our free time.

But I'm not buying what I'm reading in the reviews. Specifically, I'm not willing to spend $200 for a ticket to be sold the idea that religion moves along oblivious to real-world problems in a kind of blissful naivete.

Somewhere I read that the show's creators spent seven years writing and producing "The Book of Mormon" musical. As I reflected on all that time spent parodying this particular target, I also wondered what was really going on with Mormons in Africa during those same seven years. So I checked.

•The World Health Organization estimates that 884 million people worldwide don’t have access to clean water. This is a huge problem in Africa, not only because of water-borne diseases but because kids who spend hours each day walking to and from the nearest well to fill old gasoline cans with water cannot attend school. According to church records, in the past seven years, more than four million Africans in 17 countries have gained access to clean drinking water through Mormon humanitarian efforts to sink or rehabilitate boreholes.

•More than 34,000 physically handicapped African kids now have wheelchairs through the same Mormon-sponsored humanitarian program. To see a legless child whose knuckles have become calloused through walking on his hands lifted into a wheelchair may be the best way to fully understand the liberation this brings.

•Millions of children, meanwhile, have now been vaccinated against killer diseases like measles as the church has sponsored or assisted with projects in 22 African countries.

•More than 126,000 Africans have had their sight restored or improved through Mormon partnership with African eye care professionals in providing training, equipment and supplies.

•Another 52,000 Africans have been trained to help newborns who otherwise would never take a first breath. Training in neonatal resuscitation has also been a big project for Mormons in Africa.

•Then, of course, there is the tragedy of AIDS. A couple of weeks ago I attended a dinner where the Utah AIDS Foundation honored James O. Mason, former United States Assistant Secretary of Health. When he was working for the Center for Disease Control in 1984, a project to research the epidemiology and treatment of AIDS was established at the Hospital Mama Yempo in Kinshasha, Zaire. After visiting the hospital and examining the children and adults with AIDS, Mason described the death rate and the associated infections from AIDS as "horrific." Mason, a Mormon, knows quite a bit about AIDS and a great deal about Africa.

•None of this includes responses to multiple disasters, like the flooding in Niger, where the Church provided clothing, quits and hygiene items to 20,000 people in six inundated regions of the country.

Of course, parody isn’t reality, and it's the very distortion that makes it appealing and often funny. The danger is not when people laugh but when they take it seriously – if they leave a theater believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion.

A couple of weeks ago a review about the musical appeared at the New York Times from a Jewish writer who simply listed himself as Levi. "As someone of Jewish faith," he began, “I take personal offense at this show….I cannot believe that New York, MY New York, where I was born and raised, would ever do such a thing. Shame on you, New York Times, shame on Broadway, and shame on all of us who stand idly by and do nothing while the faith of others is mocked. Religious and cultural Jews need not support such bigotry."


Levi's point was echoed by some reviewers, but by surprisingly few. So why hasn't there been a huge outcry from Mormons?

In my opinion, three reasons. The first is that in the great scheme of things, what Broadway does with "The Book of Mormon" musical is irrelevant to most of us. In the great sweep of history, parodies and TV dramas are blips on the radar screen that come and go. Popular culture will be whatever it will be.

The second reason is related. Jesus's apostle Paul put it rather well when he said that Christians seek out the positive and virtuous things in life. His New Testament phraseology was adapted in the early years of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this formal Article of Faith:


'We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

Finally, if we Mormons really do follow Jesus Christ in our lives and look to him as an example, then it’s hard for us to ignore the injunction to turn the other cheek. There were times, to be sure, when Jesus roundly criticized others, but it was almost always for hardened hypocrisy. He dismissed the criticism he received personally and told his followers: "Do good to them who despitefully use you and persecute you."

It takes strength of character to do this, but it's the Christian mandate. Sure, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pushes back when the record needs correcting or when legal rights need defending, but the world of popular entertainment is more likely to be met with a collective shrug than by placard-waving Mormon protesters.

Meanwhile, what of those thousands of remarkable and selfless Mormon missionaries who opted to pay their own expenses during the past seven years to serve in Africa while their peers were focused on careers or getting on with life? They have returned home, bringing with them a connection with the African people that will last a lifetime. Many will keep up their Swahili language or their Igbo dialect. They will keep in their bedrooms the flags of the nations where they served. They will look up every time they hear Africa mentioned on the evening news. Their associations with the people whose lives they touched will become lifetime friendships. And in a hundred ways they will become unofficial ambassadors for the nations they served.


Otterson, Michael. "Why I Won’t Be Seeing the Book of Mormon Musical - On Faith - The Washington Post." The Washington Post: National, World; D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, 14 May 2011. Web. 30 May 2011.

(Go to Web for Article)

New Puerto Rico Family History Center Opens

Salt Lake City | 2011-05-13 |

The newest family history center has opened in Puerto Rico, and local television station WAPA-TV provided viewers with a tour of the new facility in a recent news story. The center is located in the law school of the Interamericana University and opens to the public on Saturday, 14 May. Click here for more ...

Re: :-)

Wed, May 11, 2011

Well, check this out. I was called Monday night by Elder Putnam, now my zone leader :), and he told me that the mission doctors would be here in the area today. Well, I'm in the mission office now, and after waiting from 8 till now, I can finally REALLY start my P-day. Not that I can really do anything cause I'm stuck in the office until I finish and then I have to travel all the way back... :-/ *sigh* yeah. It’s great. I hope I get to do laundry today. That would be wonderful. However, after talking to Elder Kilgore about my kidney... nothin. he's doesn't have a single Idea about why my kidney could be bothering me still... so he's gonna have a meeting at the end of the day where he's going to present all the info about all the missionaries and He'll talk with Sister Alvarado and some of the other Doctors to see what’s going on... whoot. I'm o excited. Maybe it's a mental thing. I dunno. you know what? it's probably cancer.

But YES! It was GREAT to get to talk to you guys on Sunday. I always feel more energized. :)

So... I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to get my package sent out today... I have it all just about packed up... but I don't know if I'm gonna make it back to Ponce in time before the post office closes. I'm going to rush it. There’s a chance that they WON'T close early today (because they're LAZY >:(  ) but We'll see. I'm sorry...

So, for transfers here, rapidity since I don't have very much time, transfers aren't the most exciting... :-/ only the people getting transferred go, and all we really do is meet up with our new comp, and if we're lucky the zone leaders with have a quick plan presentation on things that are going on in the zone. That’s pretty much it. :-/

Yeah, finding out why they've been charging my account for a monthly service account would be nice. :P that way they can stop stealing all of my shinies!

Hey, I FINALLY got an email back from Bryan, but he didn't tell me if he bought me my PAX tix! >:( grr, angry. Did you ask him when he came over?

Hey, get this. I just heard from a sister that the writers of South Park made a Broadway show about the Book of Mormon. Excellent. *sarcasm*. .. Her mom told her that it was Raunchy and horrible and even worse, it’s been nominated for Tony awards.

Poop. Ok, I'm gonna have to cut this short cause we don't have very much time... but, I’ll write more next week? :)

I love you more than I love not knowing what’s going on with my kidney. :)

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Decision 2011

Mother's day phone call was an exciting time as we spoke and joked with Elder Bryan. He sounds good and we all enjoyed hearing how the work is going and what his decision was and what it was all about. In a nut shell he will stay a few extra weeks to do a special project with some of the others who will also be staying and coming home on July 22nd, 2011

Re: Oh my my!

Wed, May 04, 2011

Yes, yes. what a week indeed. because now, even worse, today is the day that I have to decide if I extend or not... gah! this has been one of the more grueling weeks that I've had, quite honestly. not only have I had to think about whether or not I wanted to extend, but all of our investigators are dropping off the map! :'( EVERY ONES disappearing! :'(

Thoughts about extending:

Well. lets see. I don't really lose anything by staying... except that Steven and Josh will beat me up... and maybe Robin might disown me (but I'm pretty sure that she could just call up the airport, since it's so far in advance and just move the date...) and maybe just some extra time to hang out with the exchange students a bit longer.


Donny would go to Camp Helaman, and he and Cameron AND Jesse would be there for my homecoming... both Bryan and Tawny say that I should go with what I feel is right (not that I know which one IS right)...


But if I DO go home... What if I could have found someone that would have received the restored gospel.... what about the example that I could set for those I know? Such as: wow, that might be really important, he decided to stay. (not that I've really even been able to explain clear enough what I'm doing to those that ask...) what if this decision causes others to think about what I've been doing and it opens their hearts to the gospel?

OK. good. I'm glad I got the correct email for Cody. I had really meant to ask if the one I had was the right one... I was just tired enough last week that I really didn't think about it... :)

Sorry I didn't really write much this week... heh, I had just been talking to you so much already. ^^ naw, but at least we got to discuss a little bit about me extending.

I love you more than I'm torn about this decision! :D

¿ßrªndºn? (Elder Bryan)

Partial "Thoughts" email to Elder Bryan

Wed, May 03, 2011
Well, what a week. First you copy and paste the info request that the miss office wanted, your official letter came in the mail about you being a district leader and now we get an email (only sent to dad's email by the way!) saying you are considering extending till the 22nd. WOW!! I made 2 phone calls- to Bryan and Robin and posted on facebook. Do you want to know what some of the comments were? Maybe not.

First I will say that we support you whatever your final decision is and know you must feel that this is the right thing to do. There must be someone that needs you to be there for a little longer! you only get one mission! When do you have to give them your final decision? Tell me what your thoughts are.

Bryan was more positive than I expected. He said he supports you whatever you decide. I told him to email you.

Jesse Moore is excited cuz she would be here for your homecoming

Marissa Neumann-King said she wished that she could have (stayed longer)

I won't tell you what Josh and Steven said lol

Jamie Keys was excited cuz she would be back from her sisters and Cameron would be done with Camp Helaman

Tawny says you should do what you feel is right

OK, here is what Steven said- tell him I will woop his behind if he does! and he was promised just 2 years.

Josh-(Darth Vader after he finds out he choked Padme to death.) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO and That's a long time in dog days. and
If this means Ehren comes later, then that's a double no.

Mckay was excited because that would possibly mean Donny would go to camp Helaman.

Even your booger (Shadow) is willing to wait but that it will cost you some cat nip!

Well the hardest is Robin- she is not happy cuz they have their tickets for the 14th-20th! I will calm her down and figure something out. They can change them but tickets are more now. I will let you know....

Interesting - Somethin' to think about

Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Dear Brother and Sister Bryan,


Elder Bryan would like to extend his mission a few weeks and come home July 22nd. He would like your input before committing to this change of assignment. Please communicate your feelings regarding this in your email to him tomorrow.

Thank you,

Sister Button

Secretary, Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

Re: Bueno, Bueno, Bueno!

Wed, Apr 27, 2011

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! RIDICULOUS! I opened up my email today, right? And look at the first thing that’s in my inbox!:

"Elder Brandon Harley Bryan  Release date: 07 Jul 2011

To make the arrangements for your return flight home at the end of your mission CALL SISTER BUTTON TODAY AT THE MISSION OFFICE 787-786-2224  WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:

Nearest Airport to Home _________________________

Parents email:__________________________________

Name of Parents ________________________________

Address ______________________________________

City___________ State ____________ Zip___________

Home Phone number(      )_____ Cell Phone (     )______

Stake_________________________________________

Name of Stake  President_________________________

Please circle if your parents are considering coming to pick you up in Puerto Rico. Yes     No
If yes, President Alvarado has requested that your parents call him directly."


Freaking ridiculous, man. Ridiculous. Heh, heh. Yeah, so much for being able to keep focused. :-/ but I HAVE noticed that being somewhat occupied with planning district meetings and making evening phone calls DOES suck up all the free time that I used to have thinking about stuff. Wonderful. Now I have even LESS time to think about writing in my journal and intending to catch up on letters.  Naw, but really... that last district meeting was pretty horrible... I wasn't very organized, and I was SUPER tired, so nothing really came to my mind... bleh. We spent a lot of time in uncomfortable silence. :) But this week’s was MUCH better. :D since our entire district all in Ponce 2 ward, we can discuss more deeply about how we can apply specifically to Obispo Feito and the members that we work with every week. In fact, I had Elder Black share a little bit about the importance of the members (from Chapter 9 in preach my gospel) and some of the things that we've been discussing in companionship study. :) it helped us think a little bit about some of the things that we could start sharing with the members, including teaching them the restoration (basic. you know. everyone does that. :D ) as well as teaching them about the doctrine of Christ. which is actually one of the things that we have been learning about, that’s included in the list of things that I had been wanting you guys to study... so you know how Nephi  talks about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 2 Nephi 31(click to read)? There’s even something deeper than those five principles in the Gospel. As a matter of fact in a way, 2 Nephi 2 goes along with it. Elder Bednar had been sharing with us how we need to teach in a way that allows our investigators to be AGENTS, not OBJECTS. As Lehi explained in verse 14, God created all things, things to Act, and things to be Acted Upon. Well, we as children of our heavenly Father, have been given the gift of Agency from the beginning, which all of us used to follow Jesus Christ and come here to the earth. Verse 27: "wherefore, men are free according to the flesh... and they are free to choose liberty and eternal life... or to choose captivity and death." so we're free to choose. It was a gift verse 16: "wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other." in order for us to be able to choose, we HAVE to be tempted. It’s necessary for us to be able to choose. If we don't have a choice between good and evil, there’s no choice.  So there’s a little bit about Agency and being an Agent. :) Now, in 2 Nephi 31, Nephi explains a little bit about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and WHY he, even though he was perfect, was baptized. So, now that you've been studying the crap out of 2 Nephi 2 (click to read) I suppose that you can move on to 2 Nephi 31. So, while you're studying that... I would invite you to think about WHY the savior was baptized. Why, of all people, did HE have to get baptized? Baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38), but Jesus was perfect; he didn't need that... he was showing us something. I would invite you to study and think about that. :)

So yeah... now that I've rambled on for the past twenty minutes about agency and stuff, let’s talk about the EASTER CONFERENCE! :D woo! so on Friday we got there and we practiced the whole day (3-7+ dinner) to sing, and then in the evening we had a fireside about Christ's sacrifice and resurrection with investigators from all over the island which we sang at. Then the next day, we did a cleaning service project at the stadium right next to Plaza Las Americas, and then we went inside to go eat. And sing. :3 it was so cool! :D the entire floor got super quiet when we started and everyone clapped and had a good time and came up to say how good we sang and everything. Cool. :D coincidentally, the BYU soccer team was there. :D after that we went to the Trujillo Alto stake center to do some workshops and some sports, and then ended the night with a Luau! :D WOO! The Luau is about the family, and so we had a Hawaiian evening complete with full pig, with hula dancers and the Polynesian elders... and some others... heh, and president, doing the Hakka. :D after that we had a testimony meeting, and then in the End, Elder Nauahi did some fire dancing! :D (He did it professionally before the mission) I'm gonna steal the vid from Elder Hargadon. It was super awesome. I'll get some pictures sent out soon.

AH! I had actually meant to say "AYAH, Jackie!" maybe that will help. If not, try to read it with an Old Chinese man voice. :) or "one more thing!"

WOW! That story about the girl in the National Guard is so COOL! Things are gonna work out. That’s TOTALLY sounds like a classic story you would find in the Ensign. :D

Aw! We were riding around last night, and there’s this one spot in a neighborhood that these three dogs ALWAYS bark really loud and chase after us. They don't do anything, but they always chase us and Elder Black HATES it. XD and this time, he was riding crazy fast to get away from them, and when he got to the corner to turn, he totally biffed it hard core. Ripped out one of his knees and tore up his arm a little bit, and today he's super sore all over, but other than that, he's doing good. :3

Poopers... I'm gonna have to bust a move now... BUT. I tried to get a hold of Cody, and I'm not sure what I did wrong with his email, so would you happen to have his email somewhere?

I love you more than Elder Black Loves those dogs. :3

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: YET another week with an empty mail box

Wed, Apr 20, 2011

Well... that is surely an old picture. However, I can't tell who that weirdo is. You know that second one from the left? Crazy kid. Where the hecksters did you find that picture?

DAH! I'm sorry I haven't sent the pictures yet!!! KNO EESTA BHUNNEE!? :'( I'm such a failure! ...and then this week is gonna be even more difficult, cause we have the Easter conference this weekend, and because of that president has cut our P-Day short... we only have until TWO today to get stuff taken care of... but it's ok. we got up early to start our day earlier. :3 so yes. news. that puts us at... this Friday and Saturday. :D hers the email that I received from President about the conference:

"Queridos misioneros:

La Misión va a celebrar la Pascua este año con una Conferencia de la Misión viernes el 22 y sábado el 23.  Todos los misioneros necesitan llegar a la oficina de la misión a las 3:00 pm viernes el 22 vestidos en sus trajes.  Necesitan saber y traer lo siguente:

1) Los Líderes de Zona necesitan asegurar que los misioneros vienen en forma de "car pool" o sea juntos para no gastar más gasolina que sean necesaria.2) Si tienen sus pasaportes o visas o I-94, hay que traerlos consigo y entregarlos a la Hermana Button.  Ella va a guardarlos.3) Todos los misioneros de las Zonas de Ponce y Mayagüez van a quedar la noche de viernes en el area metropolitana y por eso necesitan traer consigo sus propias almohadas y sábanas y toallas.4) El sábado vamos a hacer un proyecto de servicio y por eso deben traer ropa para trabajar que puede ensuciarse.5) El sábado también deben traer ropa misional para otras actividades después del servicio.6) El sábado deben desayunar antes de venir a las actividades y deben traer $10 para comprar su almuerzo.7) Van a regresar a sus propios apartamentos el sábado por la noche para poder estar en sus propias áreas el domingo.

Si todos venimos con un espíritu de amor y reverencia y lo mantenemos durante la Conferencia de Pascua, va a ser una de las experiencias mejores de toda nuestra misión.

Presidente y Hermana Alvarado"

Unfortunately it's in Spanish... so you can't really understand it... heh. And then, to make matters worse, Google translate sucks. Oh well. basically all that it really says is that we're going to have a service project on Saturday that we need to bring clothes for... um... come in our suits... bring our passports if we didn't leave them in the office already... heh, heh... oops. Yeah, I gotta do that. Have ten dollars for lunch on Saturday, and eat breakfast before coming out to the service... stuff like that. but we ARE going to be doing a special singing montage that wasn't mentioned there where we are going to be singing a verse each of how great thou art, I believe in Christ, He is risen, and then that other Easter song that I can't remember the name to in English... poop. Oh well. That other Easter hymn. You know the one. :)

Other news: President Alvarado came and stopped by each of the bishops in the Ponce stake center (Ponce cuatro y Ponce dos) and had a little talk with them about Jacob 5:48... (I think...) basically, that is the reason that we are doing the centers of strength and all this crazy stuff with tons of missionaries in one place. The roots do not have enough strength to hold the branches. (speaking of which, the other two new Elders are in a  different apartment, thank goodness) so now with us having three companionships in one ward, and Elder Radmall leaving to do his special project, there was a vacancy left for district leader. After church, President and Elder Button, the secretary for President, came to give us some specific instruction on how to work more effectively with Obispo Feito... and something else happened. Something ridiculous. I'm now the district leader! :-O It's ridiculous! I just gave my first district meeting yesterday... gah, I was so tired too, and because we have them at 7 in the morning in the chapel... it was horrible! I never realized how HARD it is to be an effective district leader. Well... I guess that’s what I get for asking the Lord to help me build my faith. I have a lot of stuff to work on... but. At the very least, I'm very grateful for this opportunity that I have received from my heavenly father to serve others. Apparently there’s something that I know that I can teach to other missionaries. Apparently. I dunno, we'll see. This last Monday and Tuesday, we also had the excellent opportunity to get to work with two Elder's from the special project: Elder Zenger, ex assistant, and Elder Crawley. Elder Zenger came with Elder Black and I, and Elder Crawley went with Elder Hargadon and Elder Jensen. I learned a mountain of things... wow. How grateful I am for the chance that I had to be able to work with someone who knows how to be a good missionary. I'm even more grateful that Elder Black had the chance to see an excellent missionary’s example to help him grow. It was crazy.

So yes... that’s the crazy news for this week... quite crazy.

For Donny: tell him heck YES I want to have lunch with Mr. Bain when I get back! That would be so awesome! I had actually been thinking about asking him if I could do trumpet lessons again... but this time actually practicing and everything. You know. So that I can REALLY learn how to play... that would be fantasmilastical. :)

Maybe Ella was tellin everyone else that she wasn't gonna come back up so that she can just spend some private time with us? :3 you think so? I dunno. I definitely think it would be worth finding out though. Would you happen to have her email?

Well, at this point, it almost sounds like Pierce has more points in it. Especially from adding yours into it. eh heh heh heh.    So it sounds like Hannah might be going to school with me! :-O cause, I mean... WARMOTH?! That’s almost a complete Trump card there, man. Getting to work at Warmoth... oo, it makes me feel all warm inside and want to giggle. Guitars, guitars, guitars... mmmm, custom guitars. ooohooo hooo.

Poop... no I have yet to complete a letter to send out to Miss Stephanie... I know that I need to get something out to her quick... I've been getting the prompting that I NEED to... but I every time that I sit down to write, I just can't get my thoughts organized enough to get things moving from my mind onto the paper! Gah... I should be able to soon... hopefully...

BUT, you need to send me some pictures of those crazy pancakes! :D and to answer your question about french toast, actually... I did make french toast about a week ago. :3

Well, it appears that everyone’s all finished; I suppose I have to go.

I love you more than I love giving wonderful district meetings.

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

New Assignment

District Leader

Re: another week with an empty mail box :'(

Wed, Apr 13, 2011

WOOO! I FINALLY get to do email! :D after a ridiculous amount of time spent trying to get things figured out for transfers, things are finally figured out. So, before I continue, CHANGES!

*announcer voice* in this corner we have Elder Black and Elder Bryan, to continue as an excellent tag team. Now unfortunately, there’s been a few changes on the Ponce 2B side of things. As we all know, Elder Radmall has been getting pretty old up in hizzle, so it's about his time to retire, but not completely. His manager, Prez Alvarado, has been pullin a few strings, and after a few changes, he's gonna be touring around quite a bit. he and the fourteen others that have been in the same round as him since day one are gonna be touring the areas for the next little while. Now, even more cool, they're gonna be going to the islands for a time as well. His old partner, Elder Hargadon has taken the reins in Ponce 2B, and they’ve brought in... Wait a second... is that... a second transfer NEWBIE?! no! YES! It is! It appears that part of the changes that president has been making includes a 12 week training program to get greenies ready to train after two transfers! WHOA! Pullin stuff out o' nowhere! Seems like he's been working on some of his technique. After some boundary changes in the areas of Ponce, it seems that the manager has been looking for an extra boost to build up some more strength. And so in the third corner, He's cut out Coto Laurel from Ponce 2A and added another pair of missionaries! That’s right! THREE pairs of missionaries in Ponce 2 ward! Is he crazy!? That’s unheard of! *ding! Bell rings* in other news, all of the people that Elder Black and Elder Bryan had been working with, were ALL IN COTO! So they, once again, shall be starting from scratch trying to find people. Well, here we are folks, at the beginning of another round. We'll see how it goes. Be right back after these messages.

Oh my goodness. That pick punch is AMAZING! Look at that! Picks out of ANYTHING you could possibly imagine! Planner covers, old gift cards, homework, bills, binders, your neighbor’s cat, plastic food, and more! The possibilities are ENDLESS!


As for the blocks, I HAVE used them, actually. Very handy. I left some with Elder Harvey and Elder dye a while back because when they saw them they wanted them. :) I unfortunately have yet to ask HERE, but I shall. :) However... guitar shop tour! WOO! :D

Oh man... I completely forgot about the Baltimore part! It’s just been so long! But at least you got to watch the vid. :3 you know... it kinda seems like a socially acceptable way to just throw used food at someone. ;) Bryan's my friend. :)

Oh man... I think you just gained us some points ... with Bryan... that was freakin SWEET! High five! *high five* oh yes... I'm very excited now. But what does Bryan have in his plans? What has he been concocting?

So, I'm gonna include a picture of the pros and cons thing for school that I kinda drew up with some free time... I just realized that if I DID stay in Washington, Ken Warmoth would possibly consider hiring me. I mean, he did tell me that if I was going to do secondary schooling and stay in the area for an extended amount of time then I could reapply and he would highly consider me... oh man. That would be so sweet. But not everything is on the sheet, yet. Just the basics for now... but yes. I think I have most of the pros and cons on there, but feel free to add or subtract. Honestly though, don’t worry about it being on my mind. I find I’ve been getting help keeping that out of my mind until I really do have free time to think, o say, after planning at night. That’s it. ;)

Picture two, me as an Amish missionary, courteously of Elder Gordon. XD what started out as a missionary drawing exploded into something unexpected!

Picture three... me and Elder Gordon at conference! Wait... is that... Elder Bailey?!

Man, Ehren really only has ONE week left!? Oh jeeze... crap... that’s gonna be ME in eleven WEEKS! DAH! RIDICULOUS!

So where is Hannah doing running start at? O sea, where will she be taking her courses... I think that might be a better way to say it and ask it. :)

Do you happen to have any updates about what is going on with Ella and when she's planning to come up to finally visit us?

I like how most of sister Duda's books are about Breakfast foods. That’s funny.

But anyway, I have to say, I love you more that president loves being ridiculously RANDOM! Gah. :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: picies, my pickies, oh where r my pickies? :-(

Wed, Apr 06, 2011

Wow my goodness. Conference this year was amazing, sir! :) it's just really seems like every year they get better and better, sir. I'm not sure if Dad was able to mention anything to you about the priesthood session... but... heh. I thought it was funny. There were at least TWO talks about the necessity of marriage. One from Richard G. Scott and the other from President Thomas S Monson himself... and then for some reason I could a sworn there was another one, but I'm not sure. But yeah, I loved Elder Bednar's talk too! mmm mmm. Good old revelation through the Holy Ghost. That’s good stuff, that is. Ah man! Just reading the word.. wordS "meat bread" brings the taste to my mouth... ooo, so tasty. And cinnamon rolls... *sigh* soon, my friend. Soon you shall be able to taste the wonder of moms cooking... *ahem* anyways. Sorry about that. Um, where was I? Ah yes. Lemon crack bread. This sounds amazing. I must taste of its goodness!

Speaking of conference... you remember how I was telling you about how we needed to get family foundation to go to the Saturday sessions of conference and everything like that? Heh. Well, turns out, we only needed to get NORMAL foundation for that. Elder Radmall was just bein a funny guy. Pretty funny he is. Pretty funny.

Question: applecore, who’s your friend?

So, I just got done writing an email to Cody.... I've been meaning for a VERY long time to be able to get an email out to him... but I re-received his email from Grandma, so made sure to set some time apart before anything to be able to get it sent out to 'im.

OF COURSE I remembered Stephanie's birthday! What am I, some kinda heathen? Goodness me.

So, last week you mentioned how Brother Marjerison was working with USA guitars to make his nephew a guitar and everything, yeah? Well, I don't know how, but replying to that completely slipped my mind! OF COURSE I would want to go on a tour when I get back! That would be so awesome! :D you tell him yes.

Hey... I remember that you told me that Ella was waiting for me to get back before she came to visit. Have you heard anything more about that? When’s she supposed to come up? She better be coming up soon after I get back, that bum. She still hasn't even emailed me ONCE since I came out. Or even before that... but that’s not important. She needs to come up when I get back. Have you talked to her recently?

So, about the disk: check this out. Everything goes good, until it makes it to the "process your order" section. So I'm sittin there, waitin for like ten minutes while the computer is running through the ridiculous amounts of pictures that I've just loaded up, and it makes it to halfway. And then it just STOPS! :'( it says that it can't process it! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY?! Soooo... no DVD with pictures on it. I'm not sure if I should try it again or not... because I still need to hang on to my pictures... but I want to send them home... *sigh* I'll try again today.

Wait... you said that Hannah thought it would be cool to go to school with me... is she doing running start or something? Hmmm...but it sounds like I'm going to have to think a little bit about school... and pray. But it kinda sounds like waiting till winter quarter would be more feasible and plausible... I can work, save up some cash... and it sounds like it would be good to wait for BOTh of the options, so I can do that... more thinking.

Poop... I'm gonna have to bust a move... I took too long. Again. I'm sorry... I'm so lame!

I love you more than I love not sending the pictures...? :3

~Brandon (Elder Bryan)

Re: jinxed myself!

Wed, Mar 30, 2011

Ha, ha, ha, that’s a good one!. :) {Howdy doody? oops that is #2 so how are things in the #1 department? Drinking lots and lots and lots? and lots? KEEP drinking! Is it helping?} But yes... I have been drinking lots of water, and it seems to be helping so far. But we'll see. I AM dying after all.

Man, this week was just loaded with stuffs for yous guys!

First off, I finally got a standalone email back from Bryan, and some of it involves plans that he wants to do. First question that he had: about PAX prime, a gamer convention August 26th, 27th and 28th. I want to go. :3 but I don't know if that would interfere with schooling or anything... also... I have no idea about that. 'cause enrollment all done already, right? Or was it that LDS BC accepts all the time? I can't remember. I dunno. My minds really unorganized right at the moment...

So... yes. I haven't been able to reply to Annie... that’s my fault. I'm a FAILURE! :-( I SWEAR that I haven't forgotten about her. It’s just as you said. I've just been really busy... it's even been really hard to get replies to letters that I got a few months ago... dah! Including Miss Andrea AND Miss Stephanie... however, I DID get the wedding invitation from Elder Harvey. And Yes. He is married. That bum. He totally was telling me that he was gonna wait till I got back. Poopy.

Well, at least Robin and Chase will get there relatively soon after my arrival. That’s better than them not showing up at all. :P ;)

REALLY? The students are getting there LATE? So does that interfere with their allotted time to stay? Or do they still have to bust a move at the same time as the years before? But that’s cool that we're gonna have a girl for Hannah this year. :)

WOW! Alan is going into the NAVY?! You were right. lol, I DIDN'T guess! That kinda comes as a surprise to me.

WOO! Full FAFSA! Sweet! I feel so privileged now. :3 is it possible for you guys to check up on the Pell grant or any other scholarships that I might be able to pick up? 'cause that would be wonderful... I'm definitely going to need the most money that I can possibly get so I don't die... :-/

So, if I remember right... Hannah is aiming for an Ivy League school, right? Man... I can't remember anything... pooper scoopers.

DAH! Joes CD came out LAST YEAR?! What?! Well, that just means that there’s another one coming soon. :3 and the FOOT! WOO! Another album! Oh si. That means their next tour will be like next year or something... interesting.

WOO! Mothers day phone call! Only thirty nine days left! :D

For the traveling ministers: well, what they do is, they go about the zone doing tradeoffs back to back. So essentially, they live with eh missionaries that they are doing the trade-off with, but they also have another companionship that is like their "home companionship" in the sense that if they weren't traveling ministers, they would be in a trio with them. Does that make sense? So, depending on their personal preference, they could just skip out on being with their home companionship all the time, or be there for P-day to recharge and one other day along with that.

ok, so for happenings this week. Along with the institution of the family foundation, comes the requirement to get it to be able to go to the Saturday sessions of conference (not including priesthood)! Woo! Good thing Elder Black is a hard worker and helping me out to get it. He’s a monster, man. It’s so hard though. :D I'm super excited, because it's like a mega challenge to get it, and now that we have presidents interviews on Thursday (which almost always take all day), we have to buckle down and try super duper huny dunky big mac super size really, really, really hard :). I'm excited. :D we've been having some amazing experiences since Monday with seeing the lords hand guiding us. :3 we had been needing another family lesson before we went to go share with the relief society president and her husband, and we were thinking, oh no... If we don’t' get this, we aren’t going to get our goal for the day! And then, as we rounded the corner on our bikes, *ding* family. Grandfather and grandchildren. :) He invited us in right away, and was super agreeable. He read the Book of Mormon before, and has it up in his attic. Told us he was gonna go read it and that we could return on Monday to share more. SWEET!

Well... I think you might have to excuse me... I've been a bum and I've tried to keep my mind focused on one thing at a time, but I've just been bouncing around the whole time... however, I had been thinking about the picture situation, right? And I was thinking of just going to Walgreens and making a DVD copy of all my pics so that I can send it home like that, so I can get everything to you... as well as keeping up with something special that I've been working on for Elder Black. :) so I'm going to just stop by there today. We have lots of time, since I'm somewhat set on shopping this week, and emails just about over. So... you should be expecting that... within a week? :3

I love you very much. Much more than I am dying!!!111oneoneone11!!

~Elder Bryan (Brandon)

Wed, Mar 23, 2011

... you were asking about transfer information for Robin (and I suppose for you too, right? that might be important... ha. ok, well I was just asking Elder Varner and he was saying that he's pretty sure we head out on a Thursday... but I coulda sworn that I headed out Wednesday. but I think that’s something that they will let me know about while they are fixing up flights and things... I think next transfer is when they'll call me about my death papers... *sigh* el tiempo viene ya pronto.

WOW, the exchange students are getting here a whole week before July, pretty much. Wow. Are they still planning on leaving at the same time, or are they moving the go home date sooner because they're coming sooner? And... I'm not sure if you've already told me this or not, but do you already know who you're going to get as a student? Boy or girl?

Ah! I also wanted to ask you about your study of 2 Nephi 2. Did you find anything spiffy or receive any new revelation about it?

So, missionary work news!
 Elder Black and I actually had the wonderful opportunity to get to work with Elder Varner (he was an Elder that came out in my group who was my zone leader for a few transfers and now he's what they call a "traveling minister". he goes around with all the companionships in the zone and does two day trade-offs with them. It's something new that president has instituted, and every zone has one now) last Saturday and Sunday. He’s such a gospel knowledge master. It was great to finally get the chance to work with him. He’s so great.

On Tuesday... wait. YESTERDAY, we had a special combined magical district boot camp thingie of training and fun instead of regular old boring district meeting. The zone leaders were there and some other "traveling ministers" from Mayaguez. We talked about the doctrine of Christ, how to better begin teaching and how to better place commitments. After we finished with all of that and more (practices) we went out to go eat and get to work. Every companionship received a special little booster. A zone leader or traveling minister came out with them to help the companionships to better apply the preach my gospel points that we learned in the morning. First off, guess what? There was something I" forgot to tell you about from transfers. Elder Putnam was made ZONE LEADER! :-O he was the one that replaced Elder Varner on his way out. So we had the pleasure of getting to work with Elder Putnam yesterday after our special combined magical district boot camp thingie of training and fun. :D it was pretty sweet. But of course, even though we set up appointments with the people that we were going to teach yesterday just the DAY BEFORE, because we were doing a spiffy training thingie, almost everything fell through. LAME! I don't know why, but that ALWAYS happens! It’s ridiculous. >:( blarg! But yes. It was still GREAT! :D

So recently we've been more on bike because president has downed the amount of miles that we get (again) from 900 to 800, so now that I still am going to Yauco every Friday (75 miles round trip plus traveling In Yauco) we've got to make some sacrifices to make this work. So, we’ve been doing some biking. Which is nice, cause you know how much I love to bike. No joke! I really do! But anyways, I've also been doing some pretty heavy working out every morning and every night before I go to bed. I picked up a jump rope from the store and I do that right before I start to work out so that I can get that blood pumping! And as a matter o fact, I borrowed Elder Gordons book of tai chi exercises, so me and Elder Black are going to add that into our mornings as well. XD

YES! a new album from Neil Zaza! and a new one from Joe coming in October... and then a NEW ALBUM with the new Dragonforce comes out in SEPTEMBER!? Oh my goodness, such amazingness all around! This deserves a bouncingly very happy face!:   plus something new HAS to be coming out from Machinae supremacy soon. It’s bound to be! Oh si. Joe {Satriani} has cool merchandise and you didn't even tell me what?! :'( Also: I had NO idea that he had an interactive chat! even MORE amazing. :D

YES! no talk in stake conference. BONUS! :D  {... the Stout kid i was telling you about last week well he didn't go to the MTC till this week so that means that he will get there exactly one transfer before you go home. It would be really cool if you got to be his first trainer! The stake had it's general priesthood meeting last Sunday night and they asked him to speak and bare his testimony. You will get off pretty lucky, there is no big meeting within months of you coming home plus the stake conference in the fall will be one of the broadcasts from salt lake, oh but there is the evening adult session! i guess you aren't totally off the hook after all!}

But yes. I'm afraid I’m going to have to bust a move now, but I love you more than I love finding more and more things to have to think about involving my time when I get back and my future! :-O but really though. There are just so many things that keep coming up! Our road trip, school, the Invader Zim marathon that I'm gonna have with Steph (lol), jobs?, serving the orphans in South America. So many things!

"one MORE thing!" ... "ayah, Jackie!" {ya, we didn't get either}

~Elder Bryan (Brandon)

PS: Steph informs me that you haven't updated the blog since DECEMBER?! :-O WHHHAAAAAAAAT!? that’s like, over nine thousand! (Minutes)

Re: 3.14-PI.E day yay!

Wed, Mar 16, 2011

Oo, chocolate pie... *drools a little* that sounds so tasty right now... (And pie for breakfast?! goodness, you just went all out, didn't ya?)

Oh my goodness, Hannah’s starting drivers ED?! NOOO! Everyone get inside! Hide your little children! Put the food away! :-O hmm, having a driver’s ED in school sounds kinda dangerous. Sweet.

You know, I've actually been really trying to start peeing golden Rocks, but it hasn't been working... I think I need to eat more potatoes or something. You know... those Yukon Gold ones. But I dunno. I have just mentioned it to president a few times and every time I do I think that he thinks I'm just complaining, or somethin, 'cause he doesn't seem to take it very seriously. *sigh* and the last time I mentioned it to him, he just told me to stop worrying about it because it was never going to go away. I dunno. It might be just because he gets fed up with hearing about all kinds of crap from the missionaries so he just gives the generic "forget yourself and get to work" answer instead of asking about it. Or maybe that’s just me murmuring.

And speaking of murmuring. I'm sorry about last week. I think I just woke up in a bad mood and then sleeping bad just made it worse. My bad.

But No! I ran up to the stuntman because he needs the restored gospel. The sweet motorcycle was just a bonus. :P

Ha, ha, ha, no, no. when I talk about the “flooding of Ponce" I mean this plan that president has made where all the surrounding areas of Ponce, like Adjuntas, Santa Isabel etc... come in REALLY, really early to start working at six thirty until nine in the morning to start finding families. Basically the idea is to strengthen areas of strength, o sea, the cities where there's lots of people. So we divide up our companionships with the people that come in, and then we go out to go contact families. Especially now that president has bumped up the bar. Now instead of having to get the "normal foundation” it’s become the "family foundation". Or in other words, 140 contacts to families, and 20 lessons to families. Crazy, man. Crazy. It’s not impossible, just very, very difficult to get if you're not used to it. So, we just have to move things up to another notch is all.

Ah, testigos. Those fun people that believe that Jehovah is God. You know. JW's. The witnesses. The non believers. :)

Ha, runnin the missionaries hard, huh? That new guy sounded a little grumpy. xD

Hey! You haven't updated my blog!? :P what happened? :'( I thought we were friends? and speaking of friends, I just got an email out to Steven... that’s my bad I hadn't gotten back to him yet, but I made sure to set some time apart to get to him today. :)

Ah! So guess what? Two Saturdays ago we went to Yauco, right? Turns out, it was the coffee festival (Yauco is the pueblo de cafe). So we went to go does some contacts. While we were out, we were walking down the street that lead up to the festival itself and guess who we run into? The MAYOR! :-O oh si, we contacted the mayor. He wasn't interested... but at least he gave us a welcome to Yauco and asked us where we were from. Maybe the camera guy got our picture. That would be spiffy. So yeah. And then after that, we went to go buy some chicken skewers (or "Pinchos" as they're called). As we were walking back to the car, I had to adjust the Book of Mormon that I had under my arm and the pincho in my other arm, and as I did so, we were stepping off the curb onto the street. Well, just my luck too, because I bumped my name tag off my shirt. All I could do was stare at it as it fell to the ground, hit my shoe and stopped right next to the sewer grate. Whew, that was close. And then it bounced INSIDE the sewer grate! :-O NOOOO! So I'm just standing there on the side of the road, feeling utterly naked without my name tag on, and my mouth hanging wide open. I looked down inside and just see my name winking up at me, almost mockingly. After thinking about what to do, we look over to the other side of the street. A farm shop! PERFECT! They HAVE to have something to be able to get this out! After fiddling around with different ideas, we settle on a broom stick with some tape on the end. Huzzah! The name tag of Elder Bryan has been saved. This will be the last time he'll ever escape. unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the helpful NPC, but he knew that I had a quest that I needed to have fulfilled, and he had the perfect item for the job. :3

So yeah... that’s about it for the week.

Oh wait! One more thing. Elder Gordon, one of the Elders in the zone, had one of his family members send him Jackie Chan's address, right? Jackie Chan is like his hero. :) and so he wrote Jackie Chan a letter about how much he's his hero and how he's on a mission for the church and everything, and Jackie Chan sends him a picture that he SIGNED! It was so awesome! And so I have been thinking and I came up with this question: do you think you could send me the address of Neil Zaza or Joe Satriani? :3 if you do I'll be your best friend. :)

I love you so much. More than Elder Gordon loves doing Yoga on our roof. :D

~Brandon (Elder Bryan