I'M Puerto Rico! WOOT!

HA! the reason it seems so long is because it IS!!! HOLY COW, it's been two weeks since I've had my last P day and it's just made me feel so disconnected. wow, it was horrid. but anyways, I'm HERE! I'M Puerto Rico! WOOT! ok. so my first area is... wait for it, wait for it... RIO GRANDE! :D YAY! :D ok. so my companions name is Elder Maldonado. he is a native Puerto Rican, he only speaks about as much English as I do Spanish. ha! naw, he speaks more than that, but sometimes it's really difficult, ESPECIALLY since I can't even speak barely any Spanish. but I can handle it. I just think it's so funny though. I torture him all the time. there's just some words that he really has to concentrate on saying, like bathroom. Ha HA HA! he always says barroom instead, so I just torture him on that. but he sucks it up, cause I can't speak ANY Spanish, so he can make fun of me so easily. :'( but it's whatever. I think it's hi-lerious. (yes, it was spelled that way on purpose. that's how I say it. :P )

but yeah, I DID send a snail mail letter, but I have no idea if you've gotten it or not, but I DID get your package and grandma Jans package, and a letter from Grandma, AND TWO letters from STEPHANIE! YES! I feel so much better now. I'm guessing what happened was that she sent the on back from the MTC to there, but I had already gone to Dom Rep, so what happened was they sent them directly to the mission office. Which is horrid, because I didn't get them for six more weeks, which absolutely felt like a lifetime! GOSH! But I have them. one was from back when I was in my first week in the Dom Rep, and another was from August 9th asking about me not replying yet, so she still wants me to reply, which is a seriously good bonus booster. Makes me feel warm inside. Which is especially important, ‘cause it's just so hard to stay positive all the time. But I DO know that it's important to be positive and I, for serial, try my absolute hardest every day to be happy. And it's getting easier every day. I'm not sure why, but I got out here and like... I dun no, it was the weirdest thing, and I was just instantly... depressed? maybe that's not the right word... I dun no, I just felt... hard pressed to feel happy. it was the hardest thing. but don't think I’m all depressed or anything. :P gosh, IM NOT, ok? :P ha ha ha, no, I was just feeling a little down, but I find new joy every day when me and Elder Maldonado make fun of each other. also, I enjoy preaching the gospel when I don't know what anyone else is saying. very nice indeed. but one thing I've noticed about here is that everyone is seriously way more willing to listen, even if they aren’t interested. that’s seriously VERY encouraging, cause I don't know if my tender little sensitive heart would be able to handle having the door slammed in my face every day. HA HA HA! woot. but really though, it's very nice to not have that happen.

as for the transfer meetings... no, unfortunately... President Dewsnup is a VERY by the book person, and at the beginning of the transfer, when everyone was like hugging each other and everything cause they were so excited to see each other, he started the meeting early and told us he was very disappointed that we could not control ourselves. LAME! but don't get me wrong, from what I've seen, he seems like a pretty cool, nice guy. he just takes his missionary work serious to the extreme. even if it isn't a super serious meeting, like transfer meetings. which I kinda get, but it's nice to sit back just a LITTLE bit sometimes, right?! tell me if I'm in the wrong here. NO sé.

but no, seriously, those snacks have kept me ALIVE! my companion eats NOTHING! one bowl of cereal in the morning, one sandwich or something small for lunch, and no dinner. he waits all the way till nine to eat when we get back to the apartment. ha ha ha! and then he eats like seven cookies and calls it good. ridiculous. gah! he says eating dinner a waste of time. ?! what? since when is eating a waste of time. this guy's crazy. but I'm ironing that out of him. xD ha ha ha!

but heres about what’s goin' on here. the first night I got here? a LESSON! WHAT?! yeah, serious. ha ha! and it was in Spanish. guess what. I'm fresh out of the CCM, I can't understand a LICK of normal person Spanish. so, fortunately, Elder Maldonado still had Elder Teuch (pronounced - tiech. it's a German thing.) so they taught the lesson, and I bore my testimony of how the word of wisdom has blessed me in my life. yup. good thing I kicked that nasty drinkin’ habit before I got out here.

and for the past few other days, I've been building my Spanish. I've noticed that every day, I get a LITTLE tiny bit closer to understanding what people are saying. its nice. now I can pick out like a word every three sentences. I feel so grand.

also, President Dewsnup has set a rule that email is only for Family and fellow missionaries. solo familia y misioneros... *sigh* which is kinda difficult cause I have a few friends emailing me that I would really love to talk to on a weekly basis. BUT, he did say we can receive them. just not REPLY to them. so they can send me stuff. :D but,if you would be so kind, I wish to include a list of those friends' emails so that you could send them a nice little... actually no. I'm going to write something up by next week that I can send you guys as well as the email list so that you could possibly distribute those. but now... I'm out of time. we get an hour out here, but I can never seem to be able to type fast enough... I'm sorry I couldn't get more out... :-/

also, give my thanks to grandma Jan and grandma Nita for their letters and package.

and thank you guys for loving me. that’s just so nice to know that I have he support of all of you at home. I love you guys SO much. it really means a lot. I can't express it fully, but thank you.

it's difficult out here. I can see why Ehren was having such a difficult time. but we have to make the best of what we have, even if we can't enjoy it all fully. but I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be out here.

and now, I am out of time, and I don't even get the chance to reply to much else of your email... I always just have way more that I want to say than I can put. I hate that, don't you?

so I close my email with love. especially now that Elder Maldonado is getting on my back.


I love you all!

~Elder Brandon Bryan