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)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
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.
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)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
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)
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)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
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)
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)
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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)
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)
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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)
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. :DYES! 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)
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Re: home again, home again
Wed, Mar 09, 2011
Chacho! You loaded me this week! Man... sounds like you had all kinds of fun with those airplanes! Gosh. But yes, I'm gonna try and get a letter out to grandma soon, because it really has been a while... speaking of which, has Robin been able to stop by and visit Grandma since she's been down there by herself? I mean, I ask because she lives in the same state and stuff. Obviously you told me she visits with you and stuff, but I was just wondering...
I dunno though, I'm just really tired, so I might just be asking redundant questions. :)
Ha, ha, oh man... that’s so crazy about Bryan's car though... stolen and then chased... and then destroyed. Total bummer. Ha, but at the very least he'll be able to parts out his car. But sweet! CAR CHASE! :D
Ahh. Naw, I wasn't saying that their beliefs were inferior or anything... just that I thought it was interesting how they expressed their belief in regards to a more firm testimony... dah, I dunno. I'm too tired to be able to explain it... :-/
But today... wOoOoOo! We got to go get Elder Blacks license today! :D YAY! so after two days of Ponce flooding and getting up at five thirty, I got to get up just as early on P-Day so we could go to the license place before the rest of the world got there. But, so much for that, because we had to wait for some papers to go through... and then we had to wait in line... and then... heh, Elder Black failed the test two times, ha! That was great. He comes out and he's like... "Um... I didn't pass." and then after paying another ten dollars, he comes back and sez "eh... I didn't pass again" Lolz, that was funny. So, after all that, and getting there at around seven in the morning, we left at eleven. *sigh* way too long. And to top it off, I didn't sleep very well last night, and I'm getting intermittent pain in my kidney throughout the day again. Wonderful. In fact, it hurts right now a little bit. Goodness, do I love feeling great. Plus, I've been walking around without my name tag and my planner all day because I was so tired this morning and we're 45 minutes away from the apartment.
I'm sorry; this is kind of a negative now... how lame. That’s my fault. I'm going to try to just toss that up in the air and start something better, cause nobody likes a grumpy Gus. Or a negative Nancy. My bad.
:D
Woo! Much better.
So YES! I think Cameron might like this part! :D we were out in Coto Laurel, part of our area, the other day, and Elder Black had to go to the bathroom. Yup. That’s it. Lol, naw. Ok, so we went to Walgreens so he could use the bathroom, right? Well, walking up to the door to go in, I see this guy on a bright yellow crotch rocket getting ready to head out. I run up to him and start to contact him. Cool, he's talked with missionaries before, and they've stopped by once or twice, cool. Also cool, he's heard a bit about the church. Super cool: he's a stunt man. For Burn Notice. And for a bunch of other movies. As well as for the up and coming Die Hard 6, which they are going to be filming right here in Ponce. Oh yes. We contacted the stunt man for Burn Notice. WOO! And even better, we stopped by him yesterday and taught him... he is VERY interested in the Book of Mormon and promised us that he would read it. :3 oh man, how cool would THAT be, eh?! Get to baptize the stunt man for Burn Notice? Freakin sweet!
We also went and taught a new family last night that I contacted two days ago. While we had been contacting in the Elementary school, right before we were about to leave, a lady comes up to me and said " 'scuse me, I have a doubt" wait. You have a doubt? Sweet! And she then asked us what God's name was. Turns out the testigo's have been visiting. (grrr *shakes fist*) we proceeded to explain to her about that and gave her a restoration tract and set up an appointment for last night. When we show up, she was really excited that we were there and had tons of questions. She read the whole pamphlet and was super excited to get a hold of the Book of Mormon and really wanted to read it. We also made it a point to talk to her about the fact that the only way to know about the truth of ANYTHING was through prayer, and she told us that she was going to pray and ask God before we came by El Jueves... ehh... Thursday.
So yes. That’s just two happenings for the past few days...
Yeah. Do you realize that I now only have three and a half months? It’s ridiculous how fast time has gone!
Eh... and due to this morning’s events, as well as our normal Library being closed, I don't have any pictures to send through email... because I'm sending my memory card today! :-O *gasp* that’s right, folks! Elder Bryan now has a box and everything, and he's planning on stopping by the Post Office right after whopping... what? why did I type that? *ahem* SHOPPING! WOOO! *crowd cheers* YAY!
So yes... I’m' sorry today's email kinda sucked... it's not the most content heavy, nor is it the best emotionally. I'm just so excited, you know? :D oh yes.
But I DO want to say that I love each and every one of you dearly. Mom, Dad, Donny, Hannah, Robin, and everyone else that reads my emails. But not the people that don't read them. They don't deserve my love. :P
So yes. I think I may have just released the secret to my love. Read my emails. Yes. Or even send me letters! Because I really REALLY love letters. Especially the ones from Bryan. You know the ones that he would write. By hand. Just throwing that out there.
However, I love you mom. More than I love the person that's going to buy my kidney. :)
~Brandon (Elder Bryan)
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Re: off i go...
Wed, Mar 02, 2011
Wow, you're right; it really was a shorty this week. *sigh* well, I guess I'll have to make do with what I've got.
But, at least you get to get up ridiculously early! :D I can just imagine your sunshiny face. Just think about it... you get to go to Cali! :D yay! Even if it IS going to rain!
So, we had transfers this week. aaaaaaaaand, drum roll please, *drum roll* sooooooooo... no changes. :D Elder Hargadon and Elder Radmall are staying together, and so are WE! yay! I still can't believe that it's already been one transfer since he's come in, though! That’s just crazy! And now... holy crap... I only have three transfers left. Holy crap... that’s really soon. :-O wow. That’s pretty crazy, huh?
so... and an update on la familia Ruiz-Rivera... we had a cita with Nestor, el padre... it didn't go very well... we talked a lot about how he knows that the catholic church isn't true, but how he feels amazing going to church there. *sigh* he kept telling us that he feels the same way that we do about "our church" and that he would invite us to his church if he could, so we could see how it has changed him for the better... *sigh* I dunno... but I'm not sure when the next time that we stop by will be...
So, I've been thinking about testimonies recently. That experience with Nestor and a few other people we've been teaching has caused me to think a bit about the things that other people say. I've noticed that others, in other churches, are only able to say certain things. they can say "I believe..." if they are going to talk about their church or about their understanding of the scriptures... but they NEVER say, "I know" I don't think I have met a single person that has said to me that they KNOW their church to be true so far. They ALWAYS say, I believe. However, if someone were to talk about Jesus Christ, in example they say "I know that Jesus Christ is my savior" or, "I know that the Bible is the Word of God" but that is the extent of their ability. I've felt that it adds an extra value to my testimony because I know that I have received it from the Holy ghost directly from God, and I can say with a certainty and conviction that I know this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, is the only true church on the earth today, the only church with the fullness of the Gospel. And I know that Jesus Christ, my Lord, My God and My best friend, guides this church by speaking directly to a living prophet. I know that this living prophet is Thomas S Monson, and that he has received his authority directly from Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that God Loves us so much that he speaks to us today, and that he worries about each one of us individually as his children.
So yes. I emailed my crazy friends, and now I'm out of time! :-O but I think this still might have been a good email, even if it WAS short. :3
I love you more than Plastic food! :D
~Brandon (Elder Bryan)
Wow, you're right; it really was a shorty this week. *sigh* well, I guess I'll have to make do with what I've got.
But, at least you get to get up ridiculously early! :D I can just imagine your sunshiny face. Just think about it... you get to go to Cali! :D yay! Even if it IS going to rain!
So, we had transfers this week. aaaaaaaaand, drum roll please, *drum roll* sooooooooo... no changes. :D Elder Hargadon and Elder Radmall are staying together, and so are WE! yay! I still can't believe that it's already been one transfer since he's come in, though! That’s just crazy! And now... holy crap... I only have three transfers left. Holy crap... that’s really soon. :-O wow. That’s pretty crazy, huh?
so... and an update on la familia Ruiz-Rivera... we had a cita with Nestor, el padre... it didn't go very well... we talked a lot about how he knows that the catholic church isn't true, but how he feels amazing going to church there. *sigh* he kept telling us that he feels the same way that we do about "our church" and that he would invite us to his church if he could, so we could see how it has changed him for the better... *sigh* I dunno... but I'm not sure when the next time that we stop by will be...
So, I've been thinking about testimonies recently. That experience with Nestor and a few other people we've been teaching has caused me to think a bit about the things that other people say. I've noticed that others, in other churches, are only able to say certain things. they can say "I believe..." if they are going to talk about their church or about their understanding of the scriptures... but they NEVER say, "I know" I don't think I have met a single person that has said to me that they KNOW their church to be true so far. They ALWAYS say, I believe. However, if someone were to talk about Jesus Christ, in example they say "I know that Jesus Christ is my savior" or, "I know that the Bible is the Word of God" but that is the extent of their ability. I've felt that it adds an extra value to my testimony because I know that I have received it from the Holy ghost directly from God, and I can say with a certainty and conviction that I know this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, is the only true church on the earth today, the only church with the fullness of the Gospel. And I know that Jesus Christ, my Lord, My God and My best friend, guides this church by speaking directly to a living prophet. I know that this living prophet is Thomas S Monson, and that he has received his authority directly from Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that God Loves us so much that he speaks to us today, and that he worries about each one of us individually as his children.
So yes. I emailed my crazy friends, and now I'm out of time! :-O but I think this still might have been a good email, even if it WAS short. :3
I love you more than Plastic food! :D
~Brandon (Elder Bryan)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)