Current Location and Address
Puerto Rico, San Juan - East Mission
Puerto Rico, San Juan - Mission
Adjuntas, PR 00601
Mark 1:4 and 9
4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Christ was not baptized for the remission of sins because he had none. But, as Nephi recounts, he was baptized for the following reasons:
(1) As a token of humility before the Father;
(2) As a covenant that he would keep the commandments;
(3) As a prelude to receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost;
(4) To gain entrance to and be saved in the kingdom of God, for no one, not even the Son of God, can so obtain without baptism; and
(5) As a pattern and an example for all men, and so that he could say: “Follow thou me” and also, “He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.” (See 2 Ne. 31:5–12.)
Bruce R. McConkie, “A Man Called John,” New Era, May 1984, 4
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Re: Ya, right!
yeah.... I know I need to relax... I'm sorry. everything has just really built up to the point were I have gotten sick of it. I don't really know what the problem is.
But you asked about transfers. I honestly wish I could tell you. Everyone seems to enjoy keeping secrets now, so we keep getting people telling us there’s not a transfer meeting, and then there is and all kinda of ridiculous stuff. BUT, at least one of the three of us is leaving, because we've been told that we need to ALL pack our bags and be at the meeting by 8. Suckage, cause we don't have a car. Which means we have to take the train, 20 minutes walking WITHOUT all of our baggage. so we might just have to get up nice and early tomorrow sweet. so, MAYBE I'm going somewhere, maybe I'm not. But at least you guys know that I'm going to transfer meeting tomorrow. if that counts for anything.
So. Both your message and the one from dad really helped me get things back... into perspective. So thank you. Very much and Thank you very much, Dad. I'm sorry that I haven't written any more. I was mostly pondering on your guys' emails. They’re very helpful. I just wish that I could print them out. Yeah, that would be nice. but I'm going to do my best to keep myself up on top of things this week. Both of your emails had things that I just really needed some assurances and help with, and they really gave me a boost.
but times up, so I’ve gotta bust a move.
Thank you so VERY, VERY much, Mom AND Dad. I love you so very much.
~Brandon
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Re: Ya, right!
GAH! OK OK, I'm sorry! :'( I didn't mean for you to worry so much... but still. So... basically... *sigh* well, I mean, I don't even really have a problem with things being slow here. I understand that sometimes things just don't go overly fantastic and are kinda slow sometimes. (I also have been sleeping a little bit better, bit for some reason I still can't manage to sleep a whole night through...) but... how can I really explain the problem? I don't know. It's wierd, 'cause it's like, the problems this, or the problems that. but really, it's more of... this?
*sigh* well, basically I had been considering going home. I... I don't know. I've... past tense? I had? I don't know. just being stuck with people. people that, sure, they're cool... you know, I don't even think thats what the real problem is. is it? I don't know.
no, I didn't forget the WAY TOO OFT quoted "forget yourself and go to work". no, I didn't forget the whole, this is work for the lord, this is salvation for other people. I already knew that it wasn't an option for me to go home. besides the fact that president wouldn't let me anyways.
I'm sorry... this has all just really been stuck up in my head. I didn't even really tell president that, just a little skiff about that I had been considering going home. like I said, I already know that going home isn't an option. I think of all the people that have told me they look up to me. Donny, Hannah, Cameron. what would they think? how would they feel? what about you? and dad? and Grandma? what would the adverse effects be? and then it comes down to: am I being selfish by wanting this? *sigh*
but don't worry any more. I'm quite a bit ways away from wanting to go home as bad as I did last week. I know that I have the support of president if I need it.
so yeah. thats... thats it. kind of. but really, I need to write a little bit. something about this week. just something else.
well, two days ago I got the flu. still got a little bit of it, and it wsn't as bad as it was yesterday morning. (threw up a little bit) but I picked up some theraflu and stayed home for most of the day to get some rest. I'm feeling better now. my stomachs calmed down quite a bit and I'm not as stuffy, but the congestions still there. so hopefully I'll be better within the next few days.
I also wanted to ask: did Dad get my Fathers day card? I'm trying to figure out if people have gotten my last few letters that I've sent out, cause I sent one to Andrea like my second week here and I havent gotten a reply yet. so I was just wondering if things were getting where I sent them. :)
we've also found a person! :D he's a twenty year old Dominican. we contacted him just out on the street on his way to work and we stopped by to teach him yesterday. we shared a lot about the book of mormon. He seemed SUPER excited to read it and started right after we left. He lives alone, and NOT with his girlfriend which solves a few problems there. but we're going to be stopping back by tomorrow to see how his readin gwent and to teach a little bit more. :3
we also have two Elders staying with us in our tiny apartment. they came from the west side from an area that sounds like its going to be closing. so they'll be staying with us for the next week till transfers.
President is shifting the focus of the mission from baptisms more to retension and reactivation. thats one of the biggest problems that is going on right now, is that the church is shrinking here. :-/ people are going inactive faster than there is baptisms... like, in Rio Grande, 30 maybe active members. 350 on the whole member list.
poo... out of time. well, I've got to bust a move. I will be doing email on Tuesday next week, for the next week is transfers.
so yeah...
I love you more than the computers here love to take their time to boot up!
~Brandon
Monday, July 19, 2010
suprize! :D
hey, guess what? P-day was on Monday today. :3 turns out they have a mission-wide leadership training for all the missionaries that are leaders, so they had to re-structure the whole week. :-/ so I get to email you today. *sigh* which sucks cause nobody emails me until it's Tuesday. but it's OK. it's whatever. I'll just try to ramble on the most that I can so I can fill up some space. but we're also having interviews with the president today as well, which started at one and we're STILL waiting to get in.
so yeah. this week has kinda sucked. :-/ we only taught one lesson this whole week. and the only other lesson that we taught was to a member who invited us over for dinner. so yeah... kinda sucked.
I'm still having this horrible sleeping problem, but I'm getting better. it got really bad a few days ago, and I even took some of those Advil PMs, but that just made me feel tired ALL day, plus even then I STILL woke up. so I just was feeling like CRAP... goodness... this last week and a half has just sucked. it really has. I'm not really sure if I wanna talk about it just yet, but I more than likely will next week. we're still waiting for our interviews with president, so I'm just gonna sit here and type away till it's our turn to go. :D but don't worry. it's not a problem with Elder Ralston or a worthiness issue or anything like that, but I want to talk to president about it before I say anything. sorry to be leaving you hanging and stuff, but I just wanna grab some guidance from him first. :) so DON'T WORRY, and "don't panic"
my minds still super fuzzy though from all that lack of sleep, but it's getting better.
lemme see... our search still continues for new investigators. AH! we had a trade-off with one of our zone leaders on Thursday. heh heh, it was actually with him that we found that one person to teach. maybe he had a fresher mind than we did? :)
hey, hows dad doing? hows the job and everything? I sent him an email like a few months ago and I haven't gotten anything back so I had been wondering if he got it and all that stuff. but mostly it was just about like, his mission. how it went and if he had any stories or anything, 'cause I never really heard too much about it.
well, looks like it's my interview time!
LOVE YOU!
~Brandon
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Re: pooped
well, it's alright if you're having a hard time typing... I'm just utterly destroyed right now... gah, I have had just the most HORRIBLE time trying to sleep this week...
actually, it's been more these past two weeks... *sigh* I don't even know why, but I just have this inability to be able to sleep the entire night now... last night I woke up at 2 in the morning. blasted wide awake. so I'm like, great, what am I going to do NOW? so I try to go back to sleep. cause, you know, it's good to get lots of sleep. so, after I fall back asleep, I wake back up. five different times. and for the past two weeks, I've woken up at least twice if not more every night. it's seriously just destroying me, it really is. i forget what I'm saying halfway through my sentences in Spanish, I can't really think, I have to FIGHT to focus on what people are saying... I dunno, man. I had been thinking... i still have those advil... er whatevers PM pills... so I had been considering just drugging myself up before I went to bed... but I'll have to see how things turn out. I'm thinking about calling Sister Alvarado to see what she thinks... well, I should actually probably do that first, eh? yeah. I'm gonna do that.yeah, it woulda been kinda inconvenient had me foot been broken... but I was blessed. and super lucky. good thing I put tons of points into my luck my last level up. helped me out a TON.
aw man... that's too bad that you haven't been able to find Luigis or Yoshis... gosh though. you've got to keep trying! cause YOSHI'S MY FAVORITE! :D but having all three would be amazing. :3 would you keep trying please?
wait... buy me pants? what do you mean? ha ha ha, I don't need any pants...
the one pair I brought are doing me pretty good so far. :)my goodness... I just read about cleverbot. I don't think you told me about it before, so I had to go look it up *hush hush* HA! that thing is AMAZING! I LOVE IT! I had to try it out a little bit. wow. I can see how you would be able to spend hours on that thing. I just love how sarcastic and joking it is. how did you guys FIND that thing? I LOVE IT! it's perfect for finding your own random generator inside.
oh my goodness. you have to show me all the videos when I get back. I'm losing all my "culture" ha ha. that one with the french guy dressed up like Mario sounds HILARIOUS! you have to just get a nice collection of videos to blow my mind with when i get back. I'm excited. :3 and maybe some other fun crazy websites. :D
*sigh* I'm just so whipped I can't even really think... lets see...
well, Elder Taylor, our district leader had been training Elder Perry, but then President Alvarado gave them (the moving Elders) the responsibility of cleaning up every. single. apartment. in the whole mission. so they got a new companion, elder Perez, and then about last Saturday Elder Perry got replaced! :'( they just took him away, cause he wasn't really getting the chance to learn or anything. all he was doing was cleaning... so now we have Elder... erm... Elder Holler... Elder Holles... I can't remember... this sucks. I can't even remember simple things anymore. plus, my teaching is just going downhill... I can't track where I'm going with things, I'm tired all the time, I'm getting even LESS organized... I'm just falling apart!
lemme see... OK. so like, the moving elders. they now have the commission to help clean up every apartment to spic-n-span cleanliness (which sucks for us, we have one of the worst apartments. no joke. (not that it's us or anything, it's just a crappy apartment) ) and then they have to teach the Elders about the doctrine of cleanliness. the moving Elders hit up one apartment everyday (excepting P-day and Sunday) so yeah. whelp, just forgot where I was going with that.
look at this, isn't it fun? :D
other than that... not much has really happened. we're still searching for people. every day. we haven't had any appointments set up ALL day for the past three... or four days, so yeah. that makes for a FUN day, especially because we have to walk and there's barely any members to visit... we've just been having some really long days the past little while. but we're trying. we've also taken up trying to discover how many people ACTUALLY still live here in Santurce...
but yeah. I'll probably have some more exciting news next week. maybe a bit more FULL of an email, but I do have to go email Donny really quick, so I'll go do that...
I love you more than the amount of sleep I'm losing! :D
~Brandon
wee wee.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Re: We finally have sun!
YAY! I got my package! :DDDDDDD thank you so very much. made me happy inside. that polo that Donny didn't wear? that things AMAZING! how could he not wear that?! well, I LOVE it, so I'M going to wear it. the only problem is, I would almost prefer to just save that for when I get HOME! that tie was pretty amazing as well... heh, I don't think I'm going to be able to do anything to it! :3 pears... AHHHH!!! the MARIO CART! did you know that those Mario carts COME OFF THE CANDY BASE?! :DDDD that thing is amazing!!!! did you happen to see any more? I was seriously not mind starting a collection of all the different people... :3 you know. just to have when I get back? like a little extra coming home thingie? ;)
OO! story time. ok, so the moving Elders came to pick us up for the combined mission meeting, right? well, they were lost for a moment (and a little late), so we told them that they would be able to meet us on the main road. well, we start to head out there, but then they found our house from behind. they come around and stop right next to us. we start to clean off the seats and everything, and of course my side had more stuff to clean of. so Elder Ralston finished before I did. So he closes his door, and Elder Taylor thought that I was already inside, so he jumps on the gas pedal and jets forward RUNNING OVER MY FOOT! AHHHHHH!!!!. but really, it wasn't so bad. our miracle for the week was that my foot wasn't broken! :D YAY! he only ran over my toes and my foot right in front of the arch in my foot. wow. that was a redundant statement of redundancy. anyways: *whew* any farther back would have seriously broken my foot. that would have put a damper on the whole meeting thing. boy was I blessed there. (man, that would have been a GREAT start to the new mission presidents term, eh? yeah. and great on my medical record, too. along with the four hundred dollar plastic surgery on my toe and my two thousand dollar (approximate) visit to the hospital with Steve. man I suck) so yeah. I thank everyone for their prayers for my safety. they REALLY helped me this week. :D
I like your spiffy text there, by the way! make me think of an old computer screen! :D now if it was only Green and black. ha ha ha!
that's a bonus that the weather was nice for the mariners game, even if they DID lose just like every year the students go, ha ha ha! but it's nice that you had some sun, for sure.
so, info about the CHANGES! WOO! so. first of all, we had a FULL mission meeting last Friday. that's right. east AND west side together. the meeting was VERY revolved around UNITY and WORKING TOGETHER, which is understandable if you have those "eastside purists" ha ha ha! but President was really focused on the unity thing, so all of us have a strong feeling that this next transfer meeting things are just gonna be CRAZY change ups all over the place. ah, one of the MOST fun things: district meeting now starts at 7:00 in the MORNING. yes. and we are to be in our seats at 6:30 studying till it starts. tasty. so yeah. we have that... and the best part. P-Day is remaining Wednesday. SWEET! that's perfect. it's so much better on Wednesdays anyways! makes your week go by much much MUCH faster. plus, Puerto Rican's have all kinds of random holidays that they celebrate on Monday, so lots of stores are closed including barber shops and things like that, so he kept it on Wednesday for us. lets see... those are the two major things that have happened so far. Anything else, we just haven't been told about yet. :-/ people just love to hoard their info! it's horrible.
ha ha ha, my P-day clothes? oh... well... you know. just some really sweet shirts... like a batman shirt, and a thunder cats shirt... they both looked just absolutely AMAZING, so I had to get them. but other than that, I'm still running fairly well on all the stuff that I brought. we don't actually get to spend TOO much time chillin in our P day clothes anyways, so everything's pretty well still fresh. except for my service jeans. those are getting a work out. :D
for the fourth? hmmm.... lamentably, nothing. *sigh* the fourth of July means NOTHING here! :'( it's probably the only thing that they don't celebrate here, ha ha ha!
AW MAN!!!! A ZOMBIE WALK!!???!! ha! that would have been AMAZING to go see! :D
sounds like shingles is just bundles of joy!
oh poo... sisters are out of time... gah! that means I gotta bust a move.
I love you with a love as deep as the ocean *cheesay!*
~Brandon
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Re: OOOPS!
oh goodness. well well. yeah. I most definitely does sound VERY MUCH like you've been having a very interesting last two weeks. I had been wondering how bad things had been going on with you when you said that they were pretty... interesting... especially cause Steph has been having *ALMOST* as much of an interesting week as you... but wow. you win, for sure.
so, first things first. looking at that throat picture... its looking like the Laryngeal Ventricle would be the thing that I might have pushed on. which would correspond to what Sister Dewsnup said about it possibly being something connect to my larynx. So, If that's the thing that I would have pushed on, that would have explained the slight swelling and problems with my voice. cause it looks like they are quite fairly close to the "vocal fold and false vocal fold" wee! look at me pretending to know what I'm talking about! :D so yes. now I know to not mess with that, eh? ...yes.
so, for your question about Sister Krout. I'm not sure if I already said that she was from Washington, but I'm trying to think about where EXACTLY she's from... it might have been over in eastern Washington... but it might have also been down by Tri Cties... naw... that was Elder Brownie... yeah. I think that Sister Krout is from over in Eastern Washington. I'll have to ask her a bit later. but sister Vazquez is From Guatemala. :)
YAY, hump day package! :D the best part about having the moving Elders in our district is the fact that they pretty much have to go to the mission office once a week to take care of things, so we get hooked up with mail and everything every week at district meeting :D so I should be able to get my stuff at the latest by next Tuesday (heh, as far as I can imagine. things are just so ridiculously unpredictable in the mission that I've just really quit trying to make plans for things other than myself.) wait. you want to know if what you sent was LAME? whats that supposed to mean? like, you WANT it to be lame, or just ridiculous, or what? xD ha ha ha! but I should be able to let you know by next week. :D if it anything "lame" anyways, I'll probably enjoy it.
NUH UH! I got a shirt from Tomas too?! :D SWEET! gosh, now I feel special. it's really cool that we got victor's younger Brother as our new student. Victor's awesome-awesome. you gotta gets that to me. :D
So yeah. sorry about forgetting about the memory card... heh heh... I didn't mean to...? I promise I'll get that out the next thing I send. but I'm glad you enjoyed the nails. heh, Elder Ralston thinks I'm a dork for picking ém up. He just doesn't understand. geniuses (geniui?) are always criticized in their time. :P
wait. Seattle has a Rock and Roll marathon?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!!!!!!11111oneoneone!!1 When did THIS happen?! is it every year? do you know who played this year? if it was fairly recent... wouldn't that mean that I would pretty much be able to go right when I get back? :D
and Bryan came over for dinner? huh. any news? anything interesting?
so, for my socks and shoes, I'm actually... my shoes are actually doing quite nicely. the rubber on the bottom of these things is just super hard! so I might just get nice and lucky and not have to replace any of my shoes! :D that would be a bonus. especially since they are just so ridiculously expensive. :-/ and for socks... they are failry fine as well. I've... *sniff* I've lost one of my Sunday socks (you know, the day of the week socks?) and some of those are getting worn out... but other than that, everything is looking fairly fine. P-day clothes... well, lets just say I've ran into some new things, so everything there is covered. :D I might just have to toss you a picture of the piece of woven gold that I have. :3 plus, if you're EVER strapped for ideas about what to send me, just remember: Goldfish are my friend. ;) and for Annie's husband, heh heh. that's kinda funny that she put widow... her ex is NOT dead, but I wonder if she just "wishes" he were, or if she just considers him to be... ha ha ha! either one I would expect from her... but I couldn't say for sure. :D but he is American. and ex missionary of about... twelve years ago? Creo. I mean... I think. but he is CURRENTLY living in Mexico with his... new wife? I'm exactly very clear on that one anymore... so yeah... that would be about that. any other questions to stimulate my mind?
Heh heh, changes from the new mission president? hmmm... that's a really good question... as far as I can tell, nothing YET, but that might just be because the missions don't combine until the first of July...wait a second. isn't that my ONE YEAR MARK?! WHAT!? as you said. hump day for sure. (GAH, thats so weird. I've already been gone for a year? WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME?! :-O ha ha ha!) where does the time go? seriously. but we all keep hoping they're going to have a BIG new mission wide meeting to get all this stuff organized. however, we don't know anything yet, so we'll see. next week is possibly when things might start trickling down to us lowly foot soldiers.
OH! fun story. so, you know how we've been having those super heavy rains these past few weeks? well, since our apartment is on the second story, we've got ourselves this little balcony out the back of the apartment. well, this balcony has a drain for the rain, but it's just this little PVC pipe stuffed into the concrete wall. so, now that we've have this set up, last Thursday, we had come back for lunch. perfect timing, cause it just started POURING buckets. I was just so scared that I was gonna get hit with a bucket we ran back to the apartment to avoid getting hit. (plus I heard that it was going to rain metal ones that day, and I'm not a fan of those. they're kinda heavy :-/ ) so as we start making lunch, this rain is just EXPLODING everywhere, and it was so windy. then all of a sudden, water just starts pouring in from outside!!! turns out that little dinky drain in the wall was just no match for the rain. sooooo, as things went on, the water got deeper in the apartment to about... well, half a foot? it was definitely around my ankles. goodness... so we open the front door and we start sweeping the water out of the apartment down in the (concrete) stairwell that heads outside and we got ourselves a nice little river going out the door, heh heh heh! yeah... it was fun. the WEIRDEST thing was that it didn't get ANYTHING DAMAGED! neither of the couches, nothing paper. nothing! we definitely were blessed by the lord there. I don't even know how it worked out, but he helped us for sure.
hmmm... got a picture of that blown blood vessel in your eye?! :D
other news for the week? hmmm.... our searching continues ever still for a person that will actually even BE at their appointment... *sigh* so the apartment river is probably the BIGGEST thing thats happened in the last week. :-/
well... I actually got to use all my time today! :D YAY! plus a little bit extra... So... I've gots ta be bustin a move now!
to finish,
I LOVE YOU more than Elder Ralston likes to be sarcastic. :D
XO!!11one!11cheese!!!
~Brandon :)
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
oh, wo is me.
*sigh* here I am. sitting here in the computer lab of the library and there is just NO EMAIL from my family. *sigh* OH, WO is me! WO IS ME! whatever am I supposed to do? how am I ever going to be able to tell you about the crazy fight between Elder Ralston and the Gremlin, or that we got shot at by a paintball gun on Friday, or my trade off with Elder Burton last Monday, or our Zone conference on Saturday. *sigh* I guess I just can't, cause I just don't have anybody to ask me about it. but it's ok. *speeds up* it's whatever. I understand that no one wants to talk to me, nor do they remember that this week is transfers except STEPHANIE! WHY CAN SHE REMEMBER AND NO ONE ELSE!? *deep breath* WHHHYYYYYYYY?!
*normal* but yes. speaking of transfers: hey, guess what? *drum roll* I'm...................................... STAYING HERE! YAY! but really. I'm staying here. so we're having P-Day on Tuesday just like every other six weeks my entire mission. just throwing that out there. so yes. me and elder Ralston are going to continue here in Santurce. Buuuuuuut, Elder Burton my district leader, and Elder Mason, his companion are BOTH getting transferred. WOOO, whitewash in Hato Rey! so, we're getting some SISTERS! :D we're going to have Sister Krout (from Washington. WOO! go Washington!) and Sister Vazquez (from Guatamala) I've actually had sister Vazquez in my district before (back in Caguas) and I've met Sister Krout and had her in our district temporarily (complications with her old companion... family issues... :-/) so we're getting some awesome sisters to be with us.
as for the paintball gun, it's not as Dramastic as it sounds. (that's right. Dramastic) we had just been out tracting on Friday, and (I'm not really sure if they were REALLY shooting at us, plus it sounded like the gun was running out of air) but we just kept hearing this *thunk thunk thunk* and I saw some paintballs fly by us so we crouch down behind a car and wait. well, they stop and wait for about five minutes behind the car, but nothing else happened after that. luckily, none of us got hit. But, the weird thing was that about two hours later, I look at Elder Ralston's back and he had this HUGE glob of paint on his back. I was like, "what...?" he said that he didn't feel like he got hit or anything, and I didn't see any shards from the paintball, so it just kinda... I dunno, teleported onto his shirt I guess. xD
so yeah... everyone else is done now... cause they just don't write ANYTHING TO THEIR FAMILIES! GAH! I don't even know what they say! "hi, bye, I'm still alive" and that's it? what the heck?
I don't know... but I'm sorry I kinda dilly dallied away my time... but yeah. I'm gonna cut this a little short cause we also have to go pick up some Elders that are going home tomorrow ''cause their going to work in Santurce for the day. so yeah... I guess that would have to be all for now... okthxbai!
but really though. I Love you more tha-- oh NO! THE MONSTER!!!! AAAAAaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuggghhhhhh.......
~Brandon
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Re: An anatomy lesson
OK, thank you very much for the photos of Victor! I remember him very well now. He was super nice. Victors sweet! so I gots ta get back to him! and we're getting his brother this year? :D and as for the neck picture... well, it didn't come through the email any bigger than the little thumb nail on the attachment thingie thing thing, so, he he he, I can't really see anything except this really colorful lump. :3 ha ha ha! so yeah... you think you could hook me up with a little bit bigger picture this next time? :D but it IS feeling better... part of it Ive discovered is how I sleep. :-/ I got a paper from a super nice sister back in Caguas about relieving neck tension and some stretches that you can do, as well as, like, proper sleeping, with a bunched up pillow under your neck for support and something behind it to lay your head on. so I've been doing that, and at first it was a HUGE relief, and now it's just getting steadily better every day. but then again, it all depends on how I sleep. ha, which... erm... has been kinda going downhill this past week... erm... cause I've been feeling some back pain in the same spot I did with Steve... but it's weird, cause I don't feel any other pain throughout the day. just at night when I sleep. so, since I've been to Santurce, I've upped my daily intake of water to at LEAST a gallon every day. usually I get in about a gallon and a quarter... but I talked to Sister Dewsnup about it, and she said it could possibly be residual healing pain... BUT, it could also be ANOTHER one... *sigh* so I don't know yet. she just said "oh no Elder Bryan... you better drink LOTS of water" ha ha ha, yes. lots... so yeah. dang it. so many problems! WHY?! :'( so basically all I can do at this point is just drink water. update next week? :)
gosh, I guess the people here are just so hard that they choose to look past my dashing good looks and my shining personality. *sigh* ha ha ha! but really though, sometimes it really does have to turn into the whole we just keep talkin'. unfortunately, people just seem to turn their brains off! :'( ha ha ha, you know whats funny? we usually say like TWO things and then ask them a question just so we can keep it brief, right? well the great thing is that they just sit there smiling and shaking their head yes and saying "exacto" (exactly) for like five seconds and then they're like, "wait, what was that?" gosh. people these days. you know what? back in my day, everybody listened to what you had to say. look what this world is coming to *shakes head and grins* oh well. that's life. :D ha ha ha!
oh, no, we don't have any AC in this apartment. even better? it's a metal roof! :D woo! so it gets super hot during the day and then the heat retains itself in our little room. concrete houses just are not the best for insulation, but it's not like we have any other choice, right? but the bed really helps the nights! :D Van Halen - "hot summer nights are the time of the year!" heh heh heh... that's a little out of context... but hey, it works, right? but yeah, you should totally get a new bed. you'll feel AMAZING! it's definitely worth it. and who doesn't want to feel amazing, eh?
oh yay, more showers eh? This'll be fun. that just means that contactin' is going to get 3 kabrillion times more fun! :D we also heard and zone conference yesterday that sister Dewsnup has done some asking around and it's looking like this year is gonna have a pretty active hurricane season. uuuuuii, this is gonna be fun! :D so probably TONS more rain throughout this whole summer. that's crazy that you guys have been getting hail and thunder out there! anything near home or just in the area?
aw darn! Donny didn't just narrowly avoid some rare form of cancer? blah! well, at least he got it burned off. that's what counts. but what the heck is Sebaceous Nevus? O.o ha ha ha! I have NO IDEA what that even means.
BLARG, no... I haven't had the chance to reply to Ehren yet... do you have his address so I can just write him? that's going to be way easier than anything else... that way i can work on it during the week. much more simple.
hey hey hey! that box should be there VERY soon, OK? :P gosh, I only got it sent out on Monday, so you calm down missie. :P
that's very good that you've gotten better at the editing thing. very relieving to know xD but yes. I've still got to have everything sent to the mission office, so If she gets something sent out soon it'll get there before transfers! :D woo! that would be nice. I don't I seem to have lost the ability to really express what I wanna say in English now... blarg! oh wells.
but yeah, it's looking like time is about up... I've gots to get myself some lunch! I'M STARVING! *crazy eyes*
so yes. I LOVE YOU more than I now love to drink water! :D
~Brandon
xOx0Xcirclexo
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Re: Tamana, tamana, tamana!
well, news for the week. *sigh* still not much is happening around here. the people seem to be really really hard, and it's so weird, but it's like less and less people want to talk to us every day, so we're REALLLY scrambling for appointments. :-/ buuuuut, it's not like we can really do anything. we're trying and that's what counts the MOST out of anything. if people don't want to talk to us... well, it's really not our place to take away their agency. It's just really saddening that they don't want to even listen and understand the message. so yea. like I said, it's not like we can do anything except continue to try. SO WE GO ONWARD! :D
but yeah. nicely enough, the weather has decided to calm itself down a little bit. we've had a huge turnaround in weather. it's been really hot for the past few days, and even this morning was pretty toasty. quite toasty indeed. bonus is that the university here has some AC. mmmm, a/c. so it's better than nothin. plus the elders from hato rey come to pick us up and save us from having to walk around on P-day, which would be LAME by the way. but is the forecast for US looking like more rain? (oh, by the way, guess what time of year it is? :D HURRICANE SEASON! WOOO!!!! so now we get to stock up on water and food! :D doesn't that make you just excited? :D )
whoa! Donny's cancerous spot on his forehead was cut off? wow. right then even. did they send it out to the lab to find out what it was? plus it's a bummer that he had to stay home from the Tamana concert and Stake Conference... was he just feeling a little sick, or was it residuals from the "surgery"? Ha ha ha! I love how the doctor threw that in there. nice. so is Donny have a little circle scar from that then? or is it just gonna fade away?
OK.so for my neck, it's calmed down a lot, so I'm not sure if it was just a weak little inflammation that I caused or what, but everything is coming back stronger than it was, so I don''t know... but it HAD been on the front of my neck, right above my Adam's apple that I had bumped... I'm not sure what it was, bit it's like... a little bar right above it... but all I did really was just push a little bit on that "bar" thingie and it popped out of place then popped back in, so I dunno. but all this fasting and praying I've been doing for help seems to be paying off. :D but it would still be good if you could maybe get some info about it, just so I know what it is at least. you know. handy info. :)
and of COURSE I remember Sara Wilson! :D ironically... or strangely? she popped into my head the other day. heh, don't even know why, but I had been wondering whatever happened to her. Perfect timing, eh? :D
however, my shoe inserts should be on the way within two days. I've been really trying to finish up the letter from Annie so that I could send it with that. I've only got one more page to translate, so it should be done soon. either tonight or tomorrow, and I've already got the box ready. :) so yeah. there ya go! just remember: patience. :P :D
AH! quick question. I need to know this! what is the new show from Bill Nye about? it's called "the eye of nye" right? whats it about?! :-O
anyways, I gots tuh bust a move, yo!
I love you more than Elder Ralston loves skateboarding! :D <3 <3 <3
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
We now have your weather!
woo. so the weather here these past few days has been pretty horrible... :-/ *sigh* kinda puts a damper on the whole not having a car thing, you know. so yeah. CRAZY awesome lightning storms. CRAZY lots of rain, and long days with... well, not much going on, really. this past week we've been doing LOTS of finding, which unfortunately has not been bringing much results. most of the contacts we get are pretty much fake. :'( and some of the appointments that we DO get set up end up falling out cause they aren't there or the house just doesn't exist. Grr, angry. BUT, crazy story! :D so we've been having tons of lightning this whole week, and we had an electrical storm three nights ago. and then two days ago, the lightning kept up pretty strong, and so we decided to head back a little early for lunch. So, we're sitting there cooking lunch, and there's lightning all around us and just the HUGEST thunder (it's crazy loud, even when it's far away :3 ) and then all of a sudden, *ASDKFHWKAHEFIOEHWAIOFEHIWA* this huge snap of electricity *skidoosh!* HUGE CLAP OF THUNDER immediately afterwards. it almost sounded like it came BEFORE it! :-O so I look over to Elder Ralston and he had these huge eyes. he goes, "holy crap, dude. i freaking SAW that! it hit the house next to us!" :-O crazy, man. crazy. it was seriously so loud, too. awesome stuffs. that's crazy that you guys have been getting such bad weather, too. bummer. :'( but that's pretty sweet that we have all those froggies livin' behind us! :D Puerto Rico is kinda like that. they have the coquí (pronounced "co-key" with the co sounding like "doe") and every night, man. those things RIP. they are SO loud. and everywhere. it sounds like this huge jungle outside all the time.
AH! that's good that Annie finally got a new phone. ha ha ha, now tell her not to lose THIS one. :P :D
so, other news for this week before i get distracted. I don't know if i ever told you, but elder Harvey kinda helped me out with all that tension in my neck. but I think that tension that I had may have been in two parts: 1) from sleeping badly, and 2) from messing around and poking around with my neck, which occurred cause I had all that bad tension in the first place. cause the other day, my neck felt kinda uncomfortable, so I was massaging it a little bit, and then I pushed on something... It went out of place, and then went back again, but then it was SUPer super uncomfortable to talk or do anything. then like, it was super difficult to really change the pitch of my voice or anything. so I waited a few days to see if it would get better, which it didn't really, so I gave sister Dewsnup a phone call. I told her about it, and she said that she didn't know EXACTLY what I may have pushed on, but it might have hit my voice box or vocal chords and if it was really bad, i might have given myself laryngitis. great. so now I'm back stuck with this horrible inflammation that I've caused myself *sigh* so basically, the whole point of this story is this is part of the problem for all that tension that i had, and now, me being the super smart guy that I am, have decided to cause myself this nice little problem. again. so now that it's kinda uncomfortable to talk, the whole being able to contact 24/7 in this walking area isn't exactly a benefit anymore. so I was wondering. would you be able to take a look on the Internet for any instances of this or of laryngitis and what I could POSSIBLY take to help the swelling or whatever it is thats going on right now, to go down? or possibly would help in any way? because this really is horrible. :'( and it's really super frustrating, cause it never really goes away, either. it's always just this constant pressure on my Adam's apple... *sigh* gosh dang it. I couldn't just be happy with what i had. GAH. pooper scoopers. please tell me that you can find something to help with this. and if you could, get back to me with it by next week so that I can solve this problem. that would be superly duperly fantastic.
*sigh* so yeah. that's probably the BIGGEST thing that's happened in the last week. :) sounds fun, right? super much so. I can't even describe the happiness pouring out of me right now.
for my sleep? well, I actually am sleeping quite fantastic you know. I've got this SICK Seally mattress that the moving Elders hooked me up with. the "Seally back saver" is what it's called. really fantastic,. you know? I feel like I'm sleeping in heaven, and I wake up all super rested and everything. GAH, even a five minute nap feels like I've been sleeping for a couple hours! I LOVE it! :D I need one. I just do. I just think that last week I was a little tired cause I didn't get the chance to eat some breakfast. :) but yeah, I've been having like eggs in the morning usually, and I've been taking my vitamins ALMOST every day (I can't say every day cause then I'd be lying :) ) and I've picked ups some apples for the last few P-days to enjoy. but no, I just love pears that much. :) and eh, we don't get fed much by the members here... mostly because we don't ever really have to to just "stop by" and visit. that usually happens when you're walking around all the time and don't have a car for super sweet speedy transportation. @.@
poop... everyone else is done emailing... well, I'm going to try and get a package sent out this week with some extra stuff that i need to send home so it's not taking up so much space in my bags, so I'll be trying to get a letter to Donny and finish up this email in a letter too, stuffed in there. :)
bah, hump day. as far as i know, there isn't a tradition or anything, but I've heard that some people burn ties or a shirt, so I don't know if there actually IS one or anything. just heard it in passing... so yeah. I'll have to find out. the only problem is... I don't have anything to BURN! :'( it's all good stuff! ha ha ha!
on p day so far what we've done is stopped by a few skate shops/surf shop (elder mason and Ralston are big skaters and masons a surfer (he's from Cali)) and today, we plan on "playin' some b-ball outside of the school... ...when a couple o' guys that were up to no good, started makin' trouble in my neighborhood..." *ahem* anyways. sorry about that. so yeah. maybe hit up a few more skate shops today too. last week we went to this really really sweet place called "mega music warehouse" that I found. mmmmm, that was nice. got to play on some guitars. except that I can't play anymore. *sigh* lame. well, I'll have lots o' practice time when I get back, eh? ha ha ha. yeah. *sigh*
OK, well, I've gots to bust a move. hope to hear back about that neck stuff, too. please please please. :)
I LOVE YOU more than Washington loves to rain! :D
~Brandon
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooooooxxxxxxxexxxxxxohohohoh!!!1111oneoneoneone!!!