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)