So, I will make this fairly brief. First of all, we just talked on Friday. Secondly, the library is closed so we are emailing at a members house and I don't want to spend all day on their computer.

Russell didn't come to church and he wasn't there for our appointment on Sunday. So that's a little worrying. I hope that everything is okay.

We had a great Christmas. We just hung out at the Miner's house. Talked on the phone. Played games. Ate food. Watched The Best Two Years. It was fun. :)

Thank you for the gifts. They are very nice. I love the sweaters. :) As far as my birthday goes, I don't know. The only thing I could think of that I could really use is a GPS. They're pretty handy. I don't really need anything else.

Well, I'm gonna get going now. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Hopefully the library will be open on Monday for us to email. :)

Love,
Elder Bracken

Merry Christmas!

I am proud of you for not opening my package. It's nothing terribly remarkable. I hope youre not disappointed. I did get your package and I am very excited to open it. I was hoping that your email would tell me to open it now, but I guess I'll just have to wait too. :)

I am very excited to call home. That's what I'm most looking forward to about Christmas. I will be calling at Noon here. So it will be 11 am there. I hope I get to talk to Amanda & Scott as well, but I understand if they have other plans during that time.

My companion is Elder Robert Sherrick. he is from South Jordan, Utah. He is a good missionary. Very humble. And he never complains. About anything. It's so crazy. That is a skill I definitely need to learn from him during our time together. He has been out 4 1/2 months. He was just serving in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. He has a (fraternal) twin brother serving in Brazil right now.

We gave our tree away. We started teaching this guy Davie(ey?). He's really cool. Very humble guy who just wants to do the right thing. He's helping out a friend of his named Joel. Joel is living with Davie along with his little kids. I think he has 2 of them. So Davie's helping him out trying to make sure they have a Merry Christmas. But they didn't have a tree. So last night we took ours over and left it on his doorstep. Hopefully they will enjoy it more than we did. And hopefully the stupid flashing lights won't annoy them. haha.

Well, I don't have too much else to report this week. Especially since I'm calling home on Friday. I don't want to spoil it. :) So I will talk to you then! Merry Christmas!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Well, another transfer is over with. My companion is leaving me! What a surprise! haha. I am staying here in Webb City. I am going to be Senior Companion. My new partner, who will get here on Friday, is named Elder Sherrick. He has been out like 3 months or so. From what I hear at least.

The big news: Our investigator, Andrew Wyrick, whom we love dearly and would do anything for, has left. He was probably going to go to jail for a year. So he skipped town. He's probably in Kansas right now, probably on the run from the law. He didn't even tell us that he was leaving. So, I hope and pray that he will get his life sorted out and will one day accept the Gospel. He's had many spiritual witnesses that this is the true Church.

Bigger news: Russell O'Neill. His wife Jessica and his son Shane joined the church like a year ago. He was not baptized then because he was on probation. And an alcoholic. Jessica and Shane are currently less-active for various reasons. Hopefully that will change soon. So anyways, Russell quit the sauce about a month and a half ago. He messed up only once and that was pretty early on. This man has had soooo many missionaries teach him. And guess what? He set a Baptismal Date on Saturday for January 23rd! Crazy, no? It was such a miracle. The Lord has been working on him for so long. It's a good thing that God is infinitely patient. I am so excited! Also, he(and Shane!) came to Church yesterday even though Jessica couldn't come. So that was amazing.

As for calling home, I don't know any specific time yet. Hopefully I will next week. We are going over to the Miner's house again. We will call home from there. No phone card necessary. The only snag in the plans is that the Miner's have a son on a mission that they need to talk to. So they need to set up a time to talk to him. So, hopefully I will have a specific time for you on Monday. I will do my best. :)

Well, if you can't send me any Hershey's Chocolate Milk Mix, can you send me some Carnation Brand Tuna? They don't sell that here either! Normal mail will be fine, by the way. I don't plan on opening the package until Christmas Day, I hope that will be fine.

Also, thank you for the package you sent me. I love the little tree and the stocking. :) It's so fun. :)

So we had interviews with President Merkley on Thursday. My interview was very interesting. He said, essentially, that he plans on keeping me here for 6-8 months. He feels that I will see good success and growth in the work here. I am excited. I need to grow and learn a lot though, if I'm gonna be ready to be Senior Companion. Yikes!

Are you going to have a White Christmas? Is there much snow there now? It doesn't really snow here, which is pretty lame. I am excited to see my first ice storm. Hopefully we'll get one while I'm here. :)

Have I told you that I have become addicted to Frozen Custard? It is so good! It's not really a big thing in the west, but it's pretty big out here. I love the stuff.

Well anyways. Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers, and letters! It means so much to me!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hi there!

Yes mom, I did get your Thanksgiving package. I'm sorry I forgot to mention it. :( I was very glad to receive it. The Line of Authority is awesome. And I loved reading a conversion story of one of my ancestors. It was great. Thank you. :)

Yes, it has been very cold here. We were on bikes last week, and very cold. We were blessed for working hard in it though. We found 6 new investigators. That was awesome. I hope it continues. But by the same token, I'm glad to be blessed with a car this week. :)

What do I want for Christmas? Well. I want some Hershey's Chocolate Milk Mix. They only sell Nesquik out here! Lame! I would also love a bag of Werther's Original Hard Caramels. They are my newest addiction haha.

Now calling on Christmas, I don't know about that yet. I either need to find a member who can call long distance(or has Verizon) or use a payphone. I'll try and figure that all out soon. I IMAGINE that I would be calling somewhere between like 9 and 11 o'clock(your time). But we'll see!

I will try to get a letter written for you, mom. About service. I don't have time right now. Hopefully I will be able to later today so it can get home on time.

We have a nice little 2 foot christmas tree set up in our room. I bought some green trim and some red mini ornaments for it. It looks nice. Except for the lights. Sometimes they work normal. Other times they decide to be blinking lights. So annnoying! I can't fix it!

Our investigator, Andrew Wyrick, is frustrating me. We have done so much for him. We took him to Thanksgiving. We took him to a member's house to watch some of last General Conference. We took him to a baptism. He has had multiple spiritual witnesses that this is true. He knows it is. But he's just not putting forth effort to become a part of it. Also, he just got evicted. So he may just disappear one day. I hope he takes his Book of Mormon with him wherever he goes. I know he'll join someday. I just wish it would be now and not later.

We've dropped many investigators who have been stagnating. Many who, I honestly don't understand why Elder's have hung on to them up til now. Emotional Attachment I guess. It is hard to drop someone you care about.

Well, Elder Stapley has less than 2 weeks left. He's fairing pretty well, all things considered. I mean, he is a little emotionally distressed, but not anywhere near as bad as one might expect him to be.

I need to learn to relax.

Anyways. It was great to hear from you! I will keep praying for you!

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Bracken

So, Thanksgiving has come and gone.

We spent Thanksgiving over at the Miner's house. So much food. I am glad we only had one dinner appointment. I wouldn't have survived a second. It was fun. We played Apples to Apples. We took an investigator with us, Andrew Wyrick. He had nowhere else to go. But everyone welcomed him with open arms. It was a very good experience for him. We also took him to a Child-of-Record baptism on Saturday. He enjoyed that as well. He keeps missing church though. It makes me so mad. There's a different reason every week. I know he wants to go. But he keeps letting Satan get in his way.

Life is very good though. I love it. My companion isn't the easiest to work with. He's a perfectionist who does things his way. He's a good missionary though, and he has a strong desire to finish his mission on a good note. Our companionship is half over anyways. He goes home a week before Christmas.

A member of the ward, Jared Metcalf, just came home from the Alaska Anchorage Mission. He knows Elder Burton quite well, apparently. He told me a funny story. Elder Burton is in his favorite picture. They were going to go Ice Fishing. As they were walking across the lake, Elder Burton paused, looking somewhat nervous and said," Are you sure this ice can hold me?" He was standing next to a large ski plane as he said this. :P Small world eh?

I don't know what to do for Christmas. I mean, I'm gonna be sending cards to some people. But I don't know what to get my immediate family. I have 1 item. But it's nothing remarkable. I feel bad. It's hard to get something for someone that you haven't talked to in 6 months. You have no idea what they need or want. And I don't think I can afford a fridge, haha.

We don't have the car this week. It's pretty cold as well. And my companion told the vehicle coordinator that our area doesn't need a car. If we lose the car at the end of this transfer I'm going to be furious. haha.

Well, I hope you get better soon Dad. I will keep you in my prayers. Have you had a blessing?

I don't have too much else to report this week. So, I will get going now. It was great to hear from you!

Love,Elder Bracken

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is here already! Mind-boggling. We're going to have dinner(really, lunch since it's at 1) at the Miner's house. I've never had dinner there before, but brother Miner went on exchange with us one night and he was really cool. So it should be fun. :)

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was the best Zone Conference I've had on my mission. I greatly enjoyed it. The big focus was on Family Home Evening. President and Sister Merkley really want us to teach our investigators and recent converts about family home evening. We played a game called "Love in the Zone," part of which included all of us singing "Popcorn Popping." It was so fun. But I did gain a much greater appreciation for family home evening. President Merkley talked a lot about how important it is. In his opinion, it is the second most important meeting in the church. The MOST important meeting is what one of the General Authorities called "Family Executive Council" aka Date Night. He said that it is extremely important for Mom and Dad to have regular date nights. They also need to discuss their childrens needs and seek the Lord's counsel regarding their children. He quoted an old talk by a Modern-Day Prophet(I think it was David O. McKay). The Prophet spoke about the most important Priesthood Interview we will ever have. The one with the Savior when He judges us. He said that he knows the first 2 questions He will ask us. First, He will ask us to give an accounting on our relationship with our spouse. Second, He will ask us to give an accounting of our children. I believe that to be true. Pres. Merkley quoted another General Authority when he made a promise in a talk. He said that if we have Family Home Evening BEFORE we have children, God will bless us with Children that will listen when we teach them the Gospel.

Pres. Merkley also told me, basically, that I need to be ready to take over Webb City, because that's exactly what's going to happen when Elder Stapley goes home. I'm glad to know that he trusts me with that responsibility. But it does put me under a lot of pressure to learn the area as quickly as possible. The Lord has helped me to learn it very quickly so far. I know that I can handle it with His help.

We have one Ward Missionary here in Webb City. He is an awesome guy. He and his wife are finally going to the temple in December. (they have been married for a few years and have several children). I am so excited for them. I miss the temple so badly. I hope that as part of Thanksgiving you all take the opportunity to go to the Temple and pray within its walls to Heavenly Father and thank Him for your many blessings. I promise you that as you do so, you will feel the Spirit and know that our Heavenly Father loves you and wants nothing but your happiness.

In answer to your question mom, we are never home when the mailman comes so I couldn't sign for it. It would be just fine to have them drop it off. Nobody will hurt it. :)

We have not had any snow yet. It was rainy last week(our bike week, of course). But no snow yet. The weather here is just ridiculously weird.

We are teaching an RLDS aka Community of Christ family. They are really cool. They pretty much know that their church is false. It's just hard for them to leave it because it's their whole life. They will come around eventually though. Teaching them did lead me to look up this awesome article:http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=09cd615b01a6b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Well that's about all I have to report this week. It was wonderful to hear from you! I hope you have a good week!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Another week gone by. I can't believe how fast time goes!

It's been an interesting couple weeks, learning the area. We do have a number of investigators, which is great, but most of them aren't going anywhere....

There's this one guy, Andrew. He's 22. He's lived a very hard life. He's on probation right now. He's in all kinds of legal trouble. He's done many bad things in his life. He has nothing. He is living in his sister's apartment by himself, whose rent hasn't been paid in 2 or 3 months. His water is shut off. He has no job. He's getting very sick, also. He's in a really bad situation. He's been being taught by the missionaries for a few weeks now. We've seen him many times since I've been here. Of course, repentance has been a HUGE topic of discussion with him. But the amazing thing, is the Spirit that is there when we teach him. It's always so strong. It is teaching him so much. Recently we taught him the Plan of Salvation and drew him a diagram of it. Yesterday he had some questions about it so he brought out the drawing and we talked some more. Then, he asked about the parable in Luke 16. About Lazarus and the Rich Man. It was so cool. When you read that parable in the context of thinking about Redemption for the Dead, it takes on a whole new meaning. I learned so much in that short lesson because of that. It was awesome. :)

The weather has been great this last week. Yesterday morning we had to give the car back to the Carthage Elders, and guess what! It started raining! On our car week it was beautiful, on our bike week it is raining. haha. That's just how life goes for me I suppose.

Tomorrow is Zone Conference. I am excited for that. It's always fun.

I heard something sad recently. I was one of 9 Elders to come out in May. That was our "travel group." 3 of them have since gone home. :( That's so sad! I don't know the details about 2 of them, but one messed up his ankle and he can't come back until he can walk 3 miles without his foot swelling up. Crazy.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving. It is well on it's way! I hope it is a good day for all of you. We're gonna have fun. :)

Well, I've gotta get going now. It was great to hear from you, as always. Tell everyone Hi for me!

Love,
Elder Bracken

So, I've been in Webb City for about 3 days now. Very different from my previous areas. It's a small town. 10,000 people or so. Then there a couple even smaller towns that we cover. This might be the smallest area, geographically that I've had. Definitely the lowest in population. I mean, just the city Sapulpa had 20,000 and we covered two areas then. Also, I am in Missouri. And Oklahoman's, Arkansans, and Missouri... ans(?) are all very different people. There are some hicks out here, I tell you what.

My companion is interesting. He was in my Zone 2 transfers ago, so I've met him before. He is a large man, a little taller than me. He is also an Opera Singer. He is going home a week before Christmas.(so I will probably be here with a new companion over christmas) The only thing I don't like is that since he's been out so long he doesn't really value my opinion. He still considers me to be pretty green, so he doesn't fully appreciate my opinion. But that's okay. We'll make it work one way or the other.

We had the Ward Primary Program on Sunday. That was nice. I enjoyed it. :) In our Gospel Principles class we used the new manuals. They are so cool! I really want one for Christmas(hint hint mom).

Transfers are simple. They send the "Bull" (the 15 seater van) with a trailer in one direction, and they send the 3 pick-ups in the other direction and they go around to designated "transfer points" picking up and dropping off missionaries. They both circle around they mission and end up back in Tulsa around 4 p.m.

Looks like you all had fun at Halloween. That's good. :) I'm glad. :)

Oh yeah. So the Razorback Stadium was cool. My camera battery died halfway through though, so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. Oh well. But yeah, they have a nice field. That was my first time walking on Turf ever. They also have 2 outdoor practice fields which are immediately next to each other. They have a weight room that spans 110 yards. And they have an indoor practice field. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed it.

Oh. Our house is so cool. Yes, I said house. It is nicknamed "The Hut." It's so awesome. We have a bedroom, a living room, a study room, and a kitchen. Everything shakes when you walk across the floor. It's so fun. :) I would totally live in this house while going to college. It'd be the best bachelor pad ever.

We are in a car-share, so we have the car every other week. We have it this week, which is great.

Well, I hope you get feeling better soon, Dad! I'll keep you in my prayers! And make sure you get a blessing, if you haven't had one yet.

Well, I've gotta get going. I'll talk to you again soon!

Love,
Elder Bracken

So, the big news is, I'm cuttin' out of Dodge. I'm headed to Webb City, Missouri. Here is my new address:
618 N Elliott
Webb City, MO 64870

I will be serving with Elder Stapley. He is exceedingly large in stature. An opera singer. He goes home in the middle of December. Should be fun. :) It will motivate me to work very hard to prevent him from becoming "trunky." For anyone who doesn't know what trunky means, it's kind of like home-sickness. You are just very eager to go home and you can't focus on the work at all. I hope he's not like that, but I know it must be hard not to be when you're about to go home AND it's the holidays. So we will just work really really really hard. :)

The area is a car-share. So I will be in a car every other week. On a bike for the others. That'll be good. I'll stay in shape AND be warm haha. Also, another note dad, when you send me a DearElder, could you put my name on it in stead of "Hermana Analey Yeates?" If one of those gets sent here when I'm not here, no one will know who it's for.

Please tell Grammy and Aunt Vicky thank you for their kind gifts! I really do appreciate it! :)

We had our Trunk-or-Treat on the 30th. That was fun. Lots of really good chili. Today we are getting a private tour of the Arkansas Razorback Stadium. So that will be a lot of fun. :)

Well I must get going. It was great to hear from you all. I'm very glad that you had a Happy Birthday Mom!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hey mi familia!

(living with Spanish Elders is starting to rub off on me).

Well, this week has been pretty slow, sadly. The worst news is that our family, the Hayes, are moving to the other side of Springdale into the Springdale 1st Ward. Like, within the next week. That really stinketh.

Cool highlight of the past week: Marina Lemos was baptized in the Spanish Branch. We attended the Baptism. The cool thing was that I was there when the Spanish Elders found her. We tracted into her and she sat us down for a Lesson. Now, a couple months later, she's baptized. :)

Well, Transfer Awareness Night(as my trainer called it) is on Saturday. Halloween. That's kinda crazy. Either Elder Thomas or I will be leaving, pretty much guaranteed. I think I'll leave, and he thinks that he'll leave. We will see.

The ward Halloween Party/Trunk or Treat is on Friday. There will be a Chili cook-off, so that will be fun. Then on Saturday we will be hanging out with the Morris's. They are awesome people. They have called dibs on us for Thanksgiving. Of course, from what I understand, most missionaries here end up eating 2 3 or 4 thanksgiving dinners. That's a LOT of turkey.

I got the Halloween package today. Much to my chagrin, it was not just for me. But everyone else was very appreciative haha. Thank you!

BTW, the new rule on music in our mission is Hymns only. So, if you send me music, make sure it's a Hymn.(I'm hoping for a Christmas Manheim Steamroller CD...hint hint). haha.

So, I ended up spending 70 bucks at Wal-Mart the other day. I bought a 50 dollar pair of in-soles, because those other Dr Scholl's ones I bought already fell apart. So I decided to spend more money in hopes that they would last a lot longer and be a lot more comfortable. They're pretty nice so far. I also bought a bunch of socks to replace my holy ones. I bought 2 pair of the coolest Argyle socks ever. I'm only going to wear them to Interviews with the Mission President, Baptisms, and Zone Conference. It's gonna be amazing :)

So, the couple that bought us the bikes are Alex and Roberta Simon. They were married 4 or 5 years ago. (they both had previous marriages) They met online. They are in their 60's. Bro. Simon is from the Philippines. He's hilarious, and an amazing cook. Sister Simon is white and American. She's just a real sweet dignified lady. She sells insurance now, but until the last couple years was an interior decorator. Bro. Simon was an Engineer for Wal-Mart but got ousted by some shady business politics. So now he's retired and delivers newspapers for extra cash. Their address is: 4570 Stonecrest Circle, Springdale, AR 72762.

Well I've gotta get going now. Have a wonderful week everybody!

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hey!

Well, it's been another good week! I love it here still!(believe it or not, haha). And to answer your question dad, yes, everyone in our apartment gets along great. Although Elder Chidister's greenie, Elder Lloyd, is kind of annoying. He'll get over it though. He's still new. :)

So let me tell you about a neat little miracle we saw yesterday. After Stake Conference, Elder Thomas and I walked around the neighborhood and visited a couple members at their homes. One of the families we visited were the Maits. They are awesome people. Well, Brother Maits was struggling to help his 13 year old son with his math homework. He hasn't done that kind of math in so long, he just couldn't remember how. We shared a message about Prayer and committed the Maits family to Pray that the Nations of the World would be opened to missionary work. Later that day, Brother Maits called us. He thanked us for the message we shared. He told us that after we left he went and prayed about the homework and he remembered how to do it. He later got stuck on another part. So he went and prayed again, and he remembered how to do that part of the math. So he was grateful to us for reminding him about the power of prayer. I thought that was a wonderful miracle to hear about. :)

I can't believe Jason is about to get his papers in! That's so cool! That makes me very happy! I need to know where he's going ASAP. I'll be praying for the Oklahoma Tulsa Mission haha.

Ya know, I was thinking about my mission call the other day. We were having dinner with Brother Myers. He was a Bishop here that Elder Bednar called and set apart when he was the Stake President of the Rogers stake(which was prior to the existence of the Springdale stake, which we are currently in). So he knows Elder Bednar fairly well. He was telling us that Elder Bednar said that a few times as a Stake President he was prompted to wait to submit a missionary's papers for a week or more. That's what happened to mine, remember? Well, the reason that matters is that every week there is only a certain amount of missions where missionary's are called to. So, if your papers were processed this week, you have no chance of going to missions that arent having missionaries called to them until next week. They day that your papers are put in is a factor. When I heard about this, is just increased the testimony that I already have that I am supposed to be here in this mission at this time. :)

I did get my package. And that is a very nice coat, actually. The gloves too, are very nice. And the thermals are very nice and toasty warm. :)

Transfers are November 6. Which means transfer calls are Halloween Night. That'll be crazy. I can't believe this transfer is half over already!

Speaking of the Halloween Party. We invited a Less-Active, Part-Member family to it. I think they're going to go. That makes me so glad. Elder Thomas and I have a very good feeling about them. We think that if we just get the husband going back to church, then the wife will come right along and will be baptized in no time. :) Only hard part is getting them to church. But the Ward party is definitely a good start. :)

Well, I've gotta go. It was great to hear from you! Thanks for everything(especially the coat)!:)

Love,
Elder Bracken

Another week gone by! Pretty Crazy!

Life is pretty good here. Latest news on the Hayes Family. Well, they were supposed to come to church yesterday. But another friend invited them to their church, so they went there. Which sucks. But we fasted and prayed that they would notice the lack of the Spirit there at the other church. We saw them last night and they set up a return appointment with us, so thats good. I don't think we've lost them :)

Thank you for getting the coat. I can't wait to get it. It's like, really cold. Elder Thomas lets me use his trenchcoat, which is nice. But it will be much better when I have my own. We are not allowed to wear beanies, so don't worry about that. I do have a really nice pair of ear-muffs that Elder Perry(shockingly enough) gave to me. So that's good.

We had Zone Conference on Saturday. That was pretty nice. I enjoyed it. President Merkley(being a retired Navy and FedEx Pilot) started to explain to us all this really complicated stuff that pilot's learn about Air-foils and things like that. Then he read a quote in Preach My Gospel about how True Intelligence is the ability to take something very complicated and make is so that a child can understand it. He then said, "I'm going to show you just how intelligent your mission president is. When you pull back on the stick, the houses get smaller. When you push forward on the stick, the houses get bigger." It was pretty funny. :)

It would be nice to do SOMETHING for the Simon's. Like, a gift basket or something. I dunno. I do want to thank them in some way.

What did Manda and Scott think of the Camaro? I need details! And if Dillon is out of work, tell him to go on a mission, by golly! He's almost 19! It's time for him to get ready. Out of curiosity, who did Lindsey Lambert finally marry? I know she was waiting for a missionary. Is it him or someone else? haha.

Well, I just printed out Elder Holland's talk and I am way stoked to start reading it with people. I hope I get a chance to soon. :)

I'm sorry for the brief email. There just isn't THAT much to talk about this week. Thanks for everything!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hey!

What a week! General Conference! :D

I LOVED General Conference! I learned so much! I watched all 5 sessions at the church, front and center(well, second row, actually, but no one sat in front of us). It is really cool to watch it at church. No distractions. It was very peaceful. The Spirit was very strong. I loved it.

There were so many wonderful talks. I only fell asleep for two, haha. They were by Seventies who had super thick accents so I couldn't understand them anyways. :P

I greatly enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk Saturday Morning about God's Love. I also loved the talk in the Saturday Afternoon session by... was it Elder Callister? It was the talk all about Joseph Smith. I loved how he compared him to Peter. Peter made horrible mistakes, but he was still a prophet. So did Joseph Smith. He was still a prophet. They're human. They are not any stronger than we are. We make plenty of mistakes. The only difference between them and us is the level of responsibility God has placed upon them.

My FAVORITE talk, by a long shot, was Elder Holland's. That was marvelous. He laid down everything that he is and has in defense of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps my favorite part of his talk was when he spoke about how anyone who leaves the church must crawl over, under, or around the Book of Mormon. No matter how weak our testimony gets, if we REALLY want to know if the Church is true, the Book of Mormon will answer that question. If we will just read it and apply it's teachings, all our worries will be done away. I love that truth, and I add my testimony to that of Elder Holland. I know that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. I know that the truths it contains can and will bring us back into our Heavenly Father's presence. I know that it is the most correct book of any book on Earth, and that anyone who reads it will come to that same knowledge. As a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is my greatest privilege and responsibility to share this message with the world. I am so very grateful for this opportunity I have to do that. My personal challenge to all who read this is to pick up your copy of the Book of Mormon and read 3 Nephi 17. I promise you that as you do so, you will feel the Spirit and your testimony of and love for the Savior will increase.

Not much else is new on my end. Life is just wonderful. I hope you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. By the way, Mom & Dad, when the November Ensign comes out, can you buy me a copy and send it to me? I really want to have my own personal one to study and share with others. I would also like a CD of it like you made of last Conference's, if at all possible. :)

I really would like the Missionary Mall coat. I think that would be the best choice for my circumstances here. :) Thank you. :)

As far as my pictures are concerned.... I've been slacking a little bit. I have taken pictures, but probably not as many as I should. I will try to do better. Thank you for the reminder :)

Well I must get going. Thank you for everything! You are all wonderful!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hello!

Wow it sounds like you had a blast in San Diego! I'm glad! :) Maybe I'll go someday. But I don't know, we'll see haha.

Life is really good here. I love the work that we do. Elder Chidister just got his greenie on Friday. Elder Lloyd, from Fruit Heights, Utah. Nice guy. Kinda Quiet. Diabetic. Pretty smart.

I had to buy new shoe in-soles today for my Doc Martens. The old ones were falling apart and were way uncomfortable. But hey, now I have Dr. Scholl's. :)

Thank you for sending the recipes. They will be nice to have in the future. :) I look forward to the hard copy, haha.

So, I think I told you about the Hayes and Sharin Raymo. Well, they Hayes are still solid. But Sharin on the other hand.... she's kinda gone off the deep end. One day she decided that Jesus was the last Prophet and that the Trinity is the way to go. She then threw away her Book of Mormon. But, she said she may go back to church some time since her son really loved Primary. Weird, eh?

I got kinda sick a week or two ago. I had tons of stomach pain and.... other related problems. But I took tons of Vitamin C, got a blessing, and now I'm fine :) haha.

So, I have a challenge for all of you. Almost a year ago, President Monson challenged us all to Pray that the nations of the World will be opened to missionary work. I want to re-commit all of you to do that. In 3 Nephi 18:20 we read: "And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you." I know that that is a true Promise from the Savior. I also know that praying for the rest of the world to be opened to missionary work is a good thing to pray for. If we have faith, it will happen. I promise you :)

I can't wait for General Conference, btw. It's going to be amazing! :)Well I've gotta get going. It was good to hear from you again! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Bracken

Hola!

Great to hear from you again! And mom, please don't apologize for writing me a lengthy, detailed letter haha.

First things first, before I forget. I've been wanting to ask since I've been on my mission, but I just keep forgetting! Will you mail me copies of the Brownie and Pancake recipes? I need them bad!

Okay. So. Elder Thomas and I are not getting transferred. We'll both be here another 6+ weeks, which makes both of us very happy.

Friday was Mission Tour. It's when a General Authority comes and speaks to the mission. Elder Marlin K. Jensen of the Seventy came and instructed us. He did half of the mission on Thursday in Joplin Missouri. He did the other half on Friday here in Springdale. It was amazing. My first time personally meeting and shaking hands with a General Authority. He has truly been called of God. We learned a lot about Faith and about how we build our faith by Sacrifice. Amusing note, he rebuked a Missionary over the pulpit. This particular missionary(who has been rebuked for things his entire life and just won't do anything about it) had his top button un-done and his tie all loose. So Elder Jensen told him to fix it. It was hilarious. Maybe you just had to be there, but believe me, it was funny.

After Mission Tour we had dinner at an Investigator's house named Kong Lee. She is Hmong(look it up! it's interesting!) and made us an Asian dish called Pho. It's supposed to have a little line over the o. It was really good. It was rice noodles in a really good beef broth, and they had all of this stuff you can put in to change the flavor. So it's totally personallized. Kinda Hawaiian Haystack-esque in that way. I loved it. I know dad would love it :)

The Hayes family came to church yesterday! I was so happy! They seemed to really like it. Sharin Raymo and Kong Lee didn't show up though, which was sad. But oh well.

The older Spanish Missionary, Elder Poulsen is being transferred. Elder Chidister is staying here and is going to train. It'll be way fun to share an apartment with them to see what it's like to train and be trained. And who knows? we may even help a little :P

I am VERY excited for General Conference. Yes, we see it. Every session. :) I can't wait! haha. Our apartment has all of these old Ensign's, dating back like 30 years. We found an old conference issue from.... 1985 i think? Well there's a talk by an Astronaut in there haha. I'm excited to read it. :)

I can't believe you fed the Missionaries. That's so funny haha. What message did they share with you? And what did you feed them?

Well, it was great to hear from you all again! I will talk to you again soon!

Love,
Elder Bracken

I am very sorry. This week's email will be short because of extenuating circumstances.(meaning, the internet wasn't working this morning, so now I'm finally on but we have a teaching appointment in a very short time)

The good news though:

The family we are about to go teach is the Hayes family. They are freakin' sweet. One afternoon, Elder Thomas and I went to try and visit a Less-Active member. They didn't answer their door. But right next door, a family pulled in to their house. So we went and talked to them. The dad is Jared. He's been to church like 3 times in his life and has never been baptized. Lately he's been thinking a lot about a church to go to. The mom, Christina, was raised being forced to go to a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall which she HATED. She really doesn't like that religion. As an infant she was baptized Baptist. But if she found the right church she would change,she said. The next is JH(that's his actual name). He is Christina's little 13-year-old brother whom they've basically adopted. He's pretty cool. He went camping with the scouts last friday night and LOVED it. The next is ShyAnn, an adorable 11-year-old girl. She loves church and really wants to come to ours. The next is Austin, an 8-year-old. Cute little kid. Loves church too. The last is Lacey. She is 2. Very cute. She's very shy around us. But overall, that family is amazing. They committed to coming tochurch on Sunday which we are EXTREMELY excited for.

Recently, Pres. and Sis. Merkley ate dinner at a Red Lobster in Fayetteville. They talked to their waitress for a long time. They got her name, address, and phone number and gave it to us. We have since started teaching her. Her name is Sharin Raymo. She is single and has a 6-year-old boy named Marcus. We've taught her 3 times. She loves our message and the Book of Mormon so far. She's not too sure about Joseph Smith. She was raised to be very against our church. She has a few other challenges as well, but she wants to be baptized and join the church at some point in sounds like. She came to church yesterday and loved it(except she didn't like how Joseph Smith was the focus of the Relief Society Lesson instead of Jesus). But the Ward pounced and fellow-shipped her like crazy. She may be coming to several activities this week. A Relief Society one, a Primary one, and a Ward Choir one. Cool, eh?

Well hey, I've gotta scoot. Thank you all so much for everything!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Yah-kweh

(that is Marshallese for Hello, but I don't know how to spell it so that'll have to do)

I can't believe that yesterday was Labor Day! That is nuts! No, we didn't do anything fun, btw. I was on exchanges in the Springdale 1st Ward. It kinda sucked. haha.

I just got the package today! that made me very happy! Candy and pictures, what more could a missionary want? :) Thank you so much! :) I love the pictures of Elder Bear haha. BTW dad, I would LOVE Jesus the Christ on CD, if it can all fit on one :) I would also LOVE "Life is a Football Game." I was wrong before, it isn't by John Bytheway. I THINK it's by Troy Dunn. Some old BYU football player. I would also like "God is the Gardener" by Hugh B. Brown. Bro. White(in my last area) gave me a CD with a ton of famous talks on it. So I've got many good ones now. :)

Last week we helped Bishop Scott(the Bishop of our Ward here) move. He moved so that now he is only a couple blocks away from the church. He has a Gun Safe, btw. Just thought I would let you know that we moved a gun safe. So, he loves us now, if he didn't love us before. :)

The Ward here is amazing. I love it. There are wonderful people here. :)

We are teaching 2 people right now that could be baptized pretty soon. Cong Lee and Sharin Raymo. Cong is an investigator that just moved here from another ward. Sharin is a referral from President Merkley. She was his waitress at a Red Lobster in Fayetteville. They are both awesome. I am very excited :)

Well, I must get going. But I will talk to you again soon! Have a wonderful week everybody! :)

Love,Elder Bracken

Hola

I am angry at my email for being so lame. As I understand it, I'm not the only one in the mission experiencing problems. Hopefully you'll get this one and last week's. I still have been getting all of your emails. Which makes me happy. :)

So. Life is good. Springdale is an interesting place. The work here is slow. But hey, that's why Elder Thomas and I got shotgunned in. It will get better :)

The ward here is AMAZING. They do so much for us. Yesterday we got 3 referrals from members. It makes me so happy. They are also going to give me a new desk(my current one is an abomination), and hopefully a bed(if I don't get a new mattress I'll need a chiropractor by the end of the transfer, I did buy a mattress pad today though). We also have about 4 young men that are willing to go on exchanges with us. One just became an Elder. Another just had his mission papers put into the Stake President's office. Exciting stuff! I remember what that was like. It wasn't very long ago, but it feels like ages. I sure have grown a lot these past 4 months.

In September Marlin K. Jensen of the First Quorum of the Seventy is going to come speak to us. I am WAY excited! And then General Conference is the month after that! Yay!

Mom and Dad, I am so proud of you! Going to AND cleaning the temple? Sweet! I am so jealous! You don't even know how bad I miss the temple! I'm also glad you are taking a trip to San Diego together. You need a vacation. Please take as many as you can. Don't not go somewhere just because I would be jealous :)

I am very grateful to all of you for your thoughts, support, and prayers. It means the world to me. I could not do this without it.

I know that I am where the Lord wants me to be. I know that I am doing what he wants me to be doing. I know that this is the one COMPLETELY true Church upon the face of the Earth. I am very grateful for this opportunity to share it with others.

Love,
Elder Bracken

Last Weeks Letter

Hello family!

Wow! It's been a crazy week here!

So, earlier this week I spent a lot of time packing and saying goodbye to people and stuff. Friday was transfers. We drove up here and my comp (ElderThomas and I) got dropped off. A member picked us up, took us to lunch, and dropped us off at our apartment.

We share our apartment with 2 Spanish-Speaking Elders. Elder Poulsen and Elder Chidister. They're pretty cool. It way too much fun sharing an apartment haha.

Springdale has 2 wards. Springdale 1st and Har-ber. There are two other English Speaking Elders that cover Springdale 1st. The Spanish Elders go to a Spanish Branch. And here's the interesting thing. We have two Marshallese-Speaking Elders. yeah. Um, 10% of the world's population of Marshallese people live in Springdale, Arkansas. It's the largest concentration of Marshallese people outside of the Marshall Islands. Talk about Random. I hear that it's mostly because of all of the Chicken Factories out here (there's a ton). There is also a Marshallese branch. And there's another ward about a half an hour away (not in our district) that meets in our building. 5 units in one building. Insanity. haha.

My companions name is Elder John LaRoy Thomas. He is from a little town in the middle of no-where called Panaca, Nevada. His father is Devin Thomas. Owner and operator of Devin Thomas Damascus. Apparently, his father is the best in the world at making Damascus Steel. Apparently Damascus Steel is this amazing stuff that most professional knife-makers use. And, coincidentally, there are a ton of professional knife-makers in Northwest, Arkansas. Weird, eh? But Elder Thomas is really awesome. Very Gorilla-esque. Big guy. Big heart. He has great people skills. Great sense of humor. He is the District Leader here.

So on Saturday we first met with the Relief Society President. She is amazing. She gave us like 13 names of people to baptize. We later met with the Elders Quorum President. And apparently, Home Teaching here is just awful. We will have to fix that.

Yesterday we went into church way earlier and had about and hour and a half long meeting with the Bishop here. Bishop Scott. We learned a ton about the ward and about the work that we need to do here. He is very gung-ho about missionary work, which is awesome. I'm excited. He had us over for dinner yesterday. He grilled us up some AMAZING steaks (he used to be a butcher, and now works for Tyson, so he knows his meat). We tried something interesting. Black Raspberry Jam on Cheddar Cheese. Very interesting. Very good.

I like it here. Our apartment is way nice. The complex has it's own 9 hole golf course that residents can play for free. Sweet, eh? It also has a gym which we exercise at every day.

Well. I am glad to be here. Life is good! I'm excited to keep moving the work forward here. The Har-ber ward will be Translate before the end of this transfer, haha.

Not much else to talk about right now. And I've gotta go. My computer time is up! I love you all! Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, and support! It helps me so much! :)

Love,
Elder Bracken

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Arkansas! Arkansas! I just love ol' Arkansas! Love my Ma and Love my Pa, but I just LOVE ol' Arkansas!

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm headed to Arkansas. Springdale, Arkansas. Harbor Ward. According to Elder Perry, it is a bike area, which I do not look forward to. It's the hottest time of the year! I don't want to be on bike! Oh well. Maybe I'll lose weight? My companion is going to be Elder Thomas. He is the District Leader there. According to Elder Perry, he LOVES push-ups. I head out on Friday. So my next e-mail will be from Arkansas. My first time changing areas. Should be pretty interesting.


My new mailing address is:

4193 Links Drive Apt. #206
Sprindale, AR 72762

Oh. My email is on the fritz, it seems. I keep getting all kinds of error messages(at least I did last week). I hope it works this week.

Jenny Hattabaugh is still on date for August 21st. :) yay! She is the only person ready for August though. There is at least 1 in line for September, but hopefully more will fall into place.

Yesterday a lady who lives near the church just showed up to Sacrament Meeting. Apparently she's looking for a local church because she is sick of driving to Tulsa every week. She loved sacrament meeting. She didn't stay for any other meetings though. We plan to meet with her on this week and teach her. I hope she stays interested.

We had to take our truck in to the dealership last week. It had a lot of engine noise. We were out of a truck for a day. They thought it was the clutch fan, so they replaced that. Still didn't fix the problem. Turned out that it was a pulley. They replaced that and it worked. They also fixed a short in the air conditioner. The other problem is the front passenger window. It's posessed. Sometimes it will just roll itself up and stay up. Sometimes it works just fine. The dealership couldn't duplicate the problem, so of course they didn't fix it. Lame-o's!'

Today we went golfing with the Ward Mission Leader in the Jenks Ward, Bro. Huckell. Another member named Bro. Williams came. It was fun. Elder Perry and I then went to the Oklahoma Aquarium with Bro. Humphrey's from the Sapulpa Ward. It was kind of boring. I have quite a few pictures of fish though.

BTW. I don't know if I ever told you, but I take Fish Oil now. I've FINALLY listened to the doctor, haha. I'm not sure that it helps at all though. I also take a generic multi-vitamin. I don't know if that helps either.

BTW, do you print out my emails for Granny? I hope so.

Not much else to report on my end this week. I will write to you soon and tell you all about Arkansas! I'm excited!

Love,
Elder Bracken.

Hey Parents :)

Good to hear from you, as always :). I am EXTREMELY glad that you went to the temple! How was it? When are you going back?

Last Saturday was the Tulsa Stake's "Fill-the-Temple Day." Apparently it was a huge success. The Stake's goal was 400 endowment sessions and they reached 405(by making the temple workers participate in sessions with them, haha). Pretty exciting. A number of people bore their testimony on temples yesterday.

I bore my testimony on Seminary, as that is starting soon. I sure do miss that. Fun times. I hope that sometime on my mission I'll get to sub for seminary teachers on occasion. As I understand it, that's a fairly common thing out here. Seminary teacher is just a calling out here, not a job. And it's just at the church. And if the teacher can't show up for some reason, they call the missionaries. Of course, people do that to fix all of their problems haha ;)

I am doing very well. Life is pretty peachy :). On Saturday we have "Transfer Awareness Night," as some missionaries call it. So next week I'll let you know if I'm transferred or not. I think I will be, personally.

So, dad wanted me to explain a typical day in the life of Elder Bracken. Here goes:

6:30 Wake up, pray, exercise(which I don't really do..... haha)
7:00 Shower, get ready for the day, eat breakfast, etc.
8:00 Personal Study
9:00 Companion Study
10:00 Head out and proselyte
12:00(or around there) Take a lunch hour
1:00 Proselyte
6:00 ish is usually dinner with a member family
7:00 Proselyte
9:00 Come home and plan the next day out
9:30 write in journal, get ready for bed, etc.
10:30 go to sleep.

Our evenings we try and have set appointments of people to teach. And we like to have a member go out on exchange with us. Having a member present in a lesson makes a huge difference.

In the morning we usually pick some people to drop by and visit. Or sometimes we'll have other things in the morning, like District Meeting or Mission Coordination Meeting or something.

In the afterrnoon we try and drop-by some people to teach. We get set appointments if we can, but the afternoon is pretty rough.

Right before dinner is usually when we'll do our "Power Hour." That is an hour of Finding. Which is usually Tracting and Street Contacting. We are supposed to talk to 20 people per day. Tracting is useless. It is pretty much the most inneffective method of finding that a Missionary has at his disposal. But we always end up doing it. Personally, I hate it with a passion. A member in the Jenks Ward told us, "Tracting is for bad missionaries." haha.

The best time is the evening when we have set appointments and an exchange. That's when we get our most effective teaching in. I love teaching. It's amazing.

As far as I am aware right now, I don't need anything. I'm pretty set here. I promised myself that I wouldn't be a missionary that accrues lots of stuff, but I've failed miserably. Every week I end up buying something, I swear. Even if it's something small, like White-Out. But something. But as far as big things go, I'm doing well. I don't really need anything at the moment. But I will let you know if I do :)

Thank you for writing me :) I am very excited to read about what goes on at home :) But I have to get going now. Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hey there! So you got my pictures, I take it. How'd you know that it was an ironing board? Spoil my fun! grr! Yes, we had way too much fun in the MTC haha :)

Things are going very well here. The work is ramping up. Jenny Hattabaugh should be baptized on August 21st, and there are at least 3 other people who COULD be baptized in August. We will see with them though.

One of them gave me one of my favorite new quotes. Her name is Hailee. She is 14 (i think). Her friend invited her to church and gave her True to the Faith and all this stuff and Hailee really wants to be baptized now. We haven't taught her yet but when we last saw her we asked her how she felt about what she's learned about the church so far. She replied, "It's amazing! It's better than being Christian!" hahahaha!

We had a really amazing miracle this last week. So, I was on exchanges here with Elder Bracken. At one point we drove down this one street and Elder Bracken told me that Elder Perry and I should do some tracting there some time. A couple days later, we did. We knocked on this door and a lady came out and talked to us. Her husband got home from work just a minute or two later so we talked with both of them. And they have a 5 year old daughter, btw. Apparently, they investigated the church about 2 years ago, and attended church a couple of times. Things were going great. But then the missionaries that were teaching them got transferred and they lost contact with the church. They recently purchased a used pickup. However, the previous owner, it seems, made some people pretty mad. Someone did a drive-by shooting at their house. Put a bunch of bullet holes in the truck. One bullet went through the house and shot through a picture of Jesus that was hanging on their daughter's wall. They took that as a sign that they need to get back to church. So they want us to come teach them! :)

I've been thinking a lot lately about being prepared. Ya know. Getting out of debt. Having ample Food and Water Storage. Owning all our own property. Having various emergency plans and supplies. It's very important. It's going to get bad here in a few years. I hope everyone back home has these things in mind and are working on them.

And, of course, my weekly Temple question. When was the last time you went? You should all go every chance you get. I don't have a chance, and I am unbelievably jealous of you all. The temple is extremely important. There's a quote in Preach My Gospel by Spencer W. Kimball. "I hope to see us dissolve the artificial boundary line we so often place between missionary work and temple and genealogical work, because it is the same great redemptive work!” That pretty much says it right there. :)

The next transfers will occur on August 14th. I will know on the 8th if either of us will get transferred, if Jenks will be opened, or what. I personally feel that I will get transferred somewhere else. We will see though.

Today is my 3 month mark. That's pretty insane. I'll be home before you can blink. Thank you for your letters. I love hearing about what's going on back home. I can't believe the Garvins are coming to Utah! Is it the Apocalypse or something?

I got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa Bracken. That was really cool. And I got a sweet package of letters and Brownie Mixes from the Garcias! It's been a good week :) haha

And mom, it is NOT hot in St. George. It's hot here. :P

Anywho. I love you all and I will, of course, keep writing every week and keeping you up to date :) Just FYI, since Labor Day is on a Monday, my Preparationg day will probably be the next day, on Tuesdays. I guess they do that mostly because Library's close on Holidays so missionaries can't email home. But yeah. That's the latest news on my end!

Love,
Elder Bracken

Hola!Good to hear from you all today! :) I love preparation days. :)

Speaking of which. So, my companion has been meeting with Dr. Chai on Preparation Days lately. He is the Elders Quorum President. He is also a Chiropractor. And he wears a tinfoil hat, I tell you what.(yes, I use that phrase now, haha). But anyways, apparently my companion has a slight tear in his meniscus on his knee. Sucks to be him. It's good for me though, because he can't try to convince me to go running in the morning.

While he was in there I met with Sister Bailey, the Bishop's wife. She works in Dr. Chai's office doing this very hippie-ish thing called Emotional Freedom Technology. It's an interesting idea, but I'm extremely skeptical of all this hippie crap. At any rate. We met and she tried to cure my fear of bees. We'll see if it actually worked the next time a bee crosses my path. I'll keep you updated.

Also. Very small world. Apparently a lady in the Jenks Ward graduated with you, Dad. And her sister graduated with you, mom. Her maiden name is Jill Allstrom(I think), she's now Jill Curbello. She didn't know either of you, but she looked you up in the year-book and sure enough, there you were!(i didn't see it but she told me about it). Crazy, no?

Well, this week has been pretty good. We got some new investigators, which is always exciting. And of course Zone Conference, which was awesome. We met President and Sister Merkley. They are really cool. I'm excited to serve with them. The Conference was all about Unity. With your companion, your leaders, the mission as a whole, the local ward and bishopric, etc. It was really good. I learned a lot. We had some really good Sloppy Joes for lunch :).

I spoke in Church yesterday on Teaching the Plan of Salvation. I think it went okay. Could've been worse. I actually took up my share of the time this time, for which the High Counselor was grateful.

About my memory card, I'm sorry that I keep forgetting to send it. I do think that I will make a copy of the pictures on a disc, just in case. I think Wal-Mart does that. Maybe even Walgreens. Not sure. Regardless, I will get that done and send my pictures home as soon as I can.

Well, that's what's goin on in my life this week. It was great to hear from you about what's going on back home :) I hope Janice gets better!

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hello :) I hope Scott's work gets going again soon. I'll keep them in my prayers, for sure.

Ladderball looks like a blast. I haven't played it, but I've seen people play it. I can't believe that you beat Manda & Scott though haha.

Things are..... okay. I mean, we're working hard and teaching and everything. But the Sapulpa Ward Leadership is not helping us at all and it is very frustrating. Also, it is VERY hot and humid! holy cow! I hope none of you every complain about Utah being hot. lol. I HATE humidity! It's the pits. The good news is, my allergies aren't bad at all and I haven't had a bloody nose yet :) *knocks on wood*

We have our first Zone Conference with President Merkley on Friday. I'm excited! He sounds way awesome! Apparently I was mis-informed about the 90 day thing. He's already changing things. The rule for investigators being baptized used to be that they had to attend church 5 times in our mission. But he has changed the rule to simply say that it is up to the Bishop to decide when they are ready. Be that after 2 times or 12. I like it because it forces the Bishop to take a vested interest in our investigators. I'm hoping that it will evolve into Bishops assigning member families to keep track of the individual investigators. That would be fantastic.

Dillon should not be buying a car, he should be saving for a mission! Grr!

I have to talk in church this Sunday. While I hate doing that(as you are well aware), I do look forward to having the chance to guilt-trip the members in Sapulpa into doing missionary work ;) haha

Not much else is new here on my end. Just gonna keep working hard. :) Thanks for keeping me up to date on what's going on back home! :)

Love,Elder Bracken

Hey,

I did decide on a scripture for the Plaque. I want to use Jacob 5:71(I think that's the reference). It's from the Allegory talking about how this is that last time that the Vineyard will be nourished. There were a lot of good scriptures on that list.

I haven't sent the memory card yet, actually. I will let you know when I do though. I will soon, i think.

That is awesome about Chris. I'm way excited for him!

The 4th of July wasn't much fun. We didn't get much good work done. Everyone was out of town. The Ward Mission Leader in Sapulpa took us to Taco Bell(Elder Perry's idea). And we watched the Joseph Smith movie with the members that we live with.

Today the Elders Quorum President and the Executive Secretary in Sapulpa, Bros. Chai and Contreras, respectively, took us out for a round of golf. It was a blast! I did terrible. But that's okay. I haven't played seriously in years. It was Elder Perry's first time playin 18 holes. He's just done the driving range before. He did very well. Though I am unsure how much he enjoyed it.

The Bishop of the Jenks ward had us over for steaks a week ago Sunday. They were AMAZING steaks. He is an F-16 pilot. He is in Houston two weeks of the month, so he can't be at church during that time, which is sad. But he still does an excellent job. And he protects a large chunk of our nation's oil supply, which is good.

Speaking of which, it sounds like the Jenks ward will be getting their own set of missionaries next transfer. It's not set in stone, but is pretty likely. That will be nice for both wards.

113 degrees in St. George is nothing. Try 105 degrees in Tulsa, with 50-60% humidity. THAT sucks. This week has cooled off quite a bit though, which is nice. I don't look forward to August haha.

So, I keep forgetting to tell you about my one of my favorite treats here that I make. I learned it from Elder Nielson. It's called a Brownie Delight. So, you buy a super cheapo Wal-Mart brand Brownie Mix(and you know I hate that kind of thing, so you know this must be good). You mix up the batter and refrigerate it. When you want a treat, you put a heaping spoonful of it in the bottom of a bowl, along with a spoonful of Hot Fudge. You microwave it for 30 seconds, then throw about 2 scoops of ice cream on there. Preferably chocolate chip or Cookies and Cream. Simple. Hot. Cold. Chocolatey. Ice Creamy. Delicious. I love it! It's so unhealthy.... haha.

Remember the family that we baptized? Well the still have 3 kids unbaptized. We are working on them. One is pretty close. One is a few months away. The Third has no interest.... yet haha. They will get there though.

Baptists are really hard to talk to. You can tell them about the Restoration. They won't even try to say it's false. They're response is simply, "Well, I'm Baptist." Period. It's very frustrating.

I hate all the Preachers who try to tel us what we believe, and how it's false. They never even know or understand what we believe, and they won't listen long enough to find out. That is also very frustrating. So, although being here has many advantages(car, cell phone, good wards, free country, email, wal-mart, etc), it certainly has it's own unique challenges.

I bore my testimony in Sacrament Meeting in Jenks yesterday. It was awesome. I love this country. It may be pretty screwed up right now, but it's still the Promised Land, and it is still the best country in the world to live in.

Well, That's all I can really think of to say right now. I will talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Bracken




Hey,

My 4th was.... okay. The Ward Mission Leader in Sapulpa took us to Taco Bell, and we watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with the family that we live with. It wasn't bad. No BBQ though.

Sounds like you had a lot of fun! That's so funny that Michelle got hurt. Sad, but funny. She just has the worst luck with water fights!

That sucks about Manda and Scott. I'll keep them in my prayers.

That Tab Choir concert was amazing, or so I hear from all the members here.

I haven't met President Merkley yet. I will at Zone Conference in a couple of weeks. We talked to him on the phone for about 2 minutes the other day. Sounds like an awesome guy.

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hey mom,

I hope things work out well for you with the new Principal :)

I'm glad you made it to the open house :) That is awesome :) But other than that, how's your temple attendance? :)

That's pretty cool about the gate. Bout time :) haha

My companions name is Elder Chris Perry. He is a farm boy from Parma, Idaho(near Boise, apparently). Nice guy. Kind of self-obsessed though. He is what Brian Regan would call a "me-monster." (ask amanda what that means).

Work is going very well. We teach many lessons. Rain isn't really a problem here. So far, the storms come, rage for about an hour, then leave. Nobody has sprinkling systems out here. No need for it.

Thanks again for the sweet package :) I ate the Dove's and the Kit-Kats waaaaay too fast. I'm trying to pace myself with the M&M's. :)

Keep on keepin' on. :) haha

Hey Dad,

Thank you for not spoiling Transformers for me :) I want to be completely surprised when I see it :) I'm glad you liked it though :)

The heat is pretty bad. The members tell me that it usually doesn't get this hot until August. It makes our work in the Afternoon pretty fruitless. I don't like it. I miss dry heat!

Tell the fam in St. George hi for me :)

I'm glad that you read the Chapter :) It's so great. I love leaving that one for investigators to read when we first give them a Book of Mormon. Very powerful. (when they actually read it, haha)

We are teaching an ex-communicated lady and her less active boyfriend/husband-to-be. It is so amazing to see people make the change in their lives and do what Christ wants them to do. She won't count as a convert Baptism for us, but that doesn't matter. I'm really glad that I have the chance to help her and her family. They're really awesome :)

President Merkley rolls into town today. It'll be really interesting to meet him. As I understand it, new mission presidents aren't allowed to change any rules for the first 90 days that they are in their calling. Which is wise, I think. That should be long enough to figure out what's working and what isn't. And it removes the temptation to come in and change everything without giving and of the current programs a chance to prove themselves.

It sounds like Ben is thoroughly enjoying himself in New Zealand. I'm excited for him to learn and to grow. It's really cool thinking about where he is right now emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I was there such a short time ago. It's crazy all that I've learned these past 5 weeks. He is 10 minutes away from the temple, btw. I'm so jealous! Speaking of which, other than the Open House(which I am also jealous of), how has your temple attendance been?

I'm very glad to hear that Cambry is doing well. I'm very proud of Jake and Brandy for stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for their wonderful new child :)

I've been studying Faith lately. I've decided that it is the most underrated Principle of the Gospel. It is so important! We can't do anything without it! It's not an accident that it is the First Principle of the Living Gospel. I really love the story in Matt 10(i think it's 10). Where a Roman Centurion asks Jesus to heal his servant, but says that he is not worthy for the Savior to enter his home. He asks Jesus to but speak the words and his servant would be healed. Jesus marvels at this mans faith. He hasn't seen such faith before, not even in Israel. Because of the man's faith, his servant is healed. That is what we all need to be striving for.

I've decided that I have a new favorite painting. If you look in the (latest?) Ensign, the one after the General Conference Addresses, and you look on the absolute last page, there is a painting of Christ walking on water, and Peter trying to walk to him but drowning. It's beautiful. As the lady on Napolean would say, "I want that." haha.

Well, I've gotta head out now! :) I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hola!

We got transfer calls on Saturday. I'm being made a Spanish Speaking Missionary. haha jk.

My companion is getting transferred though. He has one transfer left. He requested to go back to his last area, Mountain Grove Missouri. He served there for 6 months, and then came here to work with a missionary named Elder Earle. I replaced Elder Earle, and he went to Mountain Grove. So Elder Nielson will be serving with a companion he knows, in an area he knows like the back of his hand, having a second chance to baptize people that he didn't previously. Not a bad way to end your mission, eh?

I'm staying here. Someone named Elder Perry is coming. Apparently, he plays piano and wears glasses.

Today was our last District Meeting and Interview with President Seal. We took along Jordan Hattabaugh(the 17 year old boy we baptized) to get him excited about going on a mission. The interview was cool. I got rebuked for not doing a good enough job with my planner. I wrote my name next to one of my favorite scriptures in his set. And then I was given a blessing. I won't (I don't think) get to see Pres. Seal again before I go home in 2 years. Jordan really liked the meeting. He wants to go on a mission when he turns 19, and he is very interested in going out on exchanges with us.

The work continues to progress. I've been riding bikes a lot more lately, which is very not fun. At all. It is very hot and very humid here. I've seen some crazy storms. (and some crazy people,btw)

I'm studying Faith right now. Fascinating subject. There's so much to learn about it! I have decided that it is the most underrated principle of the Gospel. It is not an accident that it is the first principle of the Gospel. Faith leads us to action. Through that action we see miracles. Miracles DO NOT happen without faith. It's really interesting.

Dad, President Seal told me that I need to go with you to tour your old mission. He suggested that you come pick me up, tour around here, then we drive down there and hang out a little while. What do you think of that idea?

Thank you so much for the awesome package! It's so sweet! That's a great MP3 player. And I've eaten almost all of the dove chocolates. :)

How has your Temple Attendance been?

I have an assignment for all of you. Read 3 Nephi chapter 11 this week. Mom and Dad, you should go read it with Granny sometime this week. Please? :)

What's the latest news on Granny's Swine Flu?

Does Amanda have any kids yet? (haha)

Well, I can't think of anything else to really talk about right now. Life is good! Hot. But good :) Love you all :)

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hello!

Well, it sure is great to hear from you! :)

Dad told me about Ben. That is crazy!

I am glad that Granny is okay. That sounds like a ton of blood!

Food here is fine. Nothing terrible. I haven't had anything that was just outstanding yet. Nothing weird. I did force down a bunch of strawberries yesterday, you will be happy to hear haha.

When is Brandy due? Soon, right? Is it a boy or girl? Speaking of which, is Amanda pregnant yet?

We are teaching a few people. We are teaching two kids of the family that we baptized that didn't get baptized then. We will get them though! We are also teaching this lady named Wednesday Thomas, who looks and talks just like Sue Pyle. It's kinda freakin me out. haha.

We're also teaching this lady Vicky Schaffner. A couple years ago she married a Swiss member named York(or is it Yorg? I don't know haha). She goes to church like every week. She knows all of the stuff that we teach, essentially. But when she married her husband, her kids, especially her oldest son, were very upset. They think we're a cult. Her son stopped talking to her. She is afraid that if she is baptized he will completely disown her. She has made progress recently though. Hopefully she will realize that she needs to just do it.

So, overall, things are going pretty good out here. We taught 40 Lessons this last week. That was awesome. We have been really blessed.

President Seal goes home in a couple weeks. That's kind of weird. I'll only see him one more time. He has one last time of going around the mission and interviewing everybody. He told us that this final interview will be short, consisting of two things: One, we will write our name next to our favorite scripture in his set of scriptures. That way when he reads them he'll be reminded of us. Then, he will give us a blessing. And that'll be it. It will be really sad to see him go.

The rain here is insane. I didn't know what rain was before this week. Honestly. It's intense. I just witnessed yesterday that lightening can cause a car alarm to go off if it is close enough.

I have to talk in church in July. That will not be fun. My topic is "Teaching the Plan of Salvation." Which will immediately be followed by a High Councilman speaking on "The Plan of Salvation." Any ideas/tips/suggestions/etc would be greatly appreciated :)

I hope you are all going to the temple very often. I really miss it. Elder Nielson goes home in a couple months and he is so excited to go to the temple again. Please please please take advantage of the temple being so close!

Supposedly, the church already owns land in Rogers, Arkansas for a Temple. So there will probably be one there in the next few years.

Also, I don't know if I've ever mentioned it. But President Seal is extremely convinced that within the next year or two our Mission will be split(is it pretty huge). So that will be interesting.

Well, I've got to get going! It was great to hear from you! I love all of you! :)

Love,

Elder Bracken

Hey! I'm really glad to hear that Dad is okay. President Seal pulled me aside on Friday at Zone Conference and told me about it. He said that you'd be writing me and telling me all about it. I was really really worried. I'm glad he's alright though :)

Yeah, the Baptism was way exciting! 119 Baptisms in May for the OTM! woot!

The family we baptized is awesome. Rock Solid. They re-defined the term "Golden Investigator," honestly. But there are still 3 kids yet unbaptized(and one older one that's less-active). We will get them though!

The Lord really is hastening his work. He is preparing people to hear the Gospel.

Yesterday was a prime example. It was such and extremely bizarre experience. I still don't know what to think about it, honestly. So, we decide to do some Tracting in some spare time that we had yesterday. We pull into a random neighborhood, park, walk to a house that had the garage door open and music playing in it(so the odd's of someone being home were pretty good). We knocked. A man opened the door. We introduced ourselves. Had a minute or two of Small Talk. Asked if he had ever met missionaries before. He said that he had. We asked what they shared with him. He said that he honestly didn't know because everything they said went in one ear and out the other. So, we were going to just bear testimony, ask for referrals, and leave. Elder Nielson stated that he knows that the message we share changes lives. So the man immediately said, "Okay." He had us sit down on some chairs on his porch, and he told us to share this message. So we immediately related the First Lesson to him. It went incredibly well. He paid attention. He answered questions. He was extremely receptive. He accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and committed to read it with his wife. We set a return appointment, then he schooed us on our way. It was almost creepy how well this went! Hopefully it will bear fruit.

Another fun story that I suppose it is time to relate to you. Our second day in the Mission Home was New Missionary Day. Every new missionary got put with an old missionary and we went out and did missionary work for 3 1/2 hours. That was a strange experience. The highlight was this: The first door we tracted, was on a house who's yard had not been cared for in.... who knows how long. The car in the driveway had a bumper sticker stating, "I think, therefore I'm Republican." We knocked. Someone yelled, "Just a minute!" A few moments later the door cracks open. A head pokes around. This man was clearly hiding his body behind the door because he was naked. From the crack in the door I could see that his entire floor was COVERED in trash and garbage. This man had glasses, unkempt hair, and a short gray beard. he talked funny. Apparently, he is Jewish. We started asking if he's met missionaries before. He said that he had indeed been afflicted by us before. He goes on to berate the Book of Mormon, ranting about Horses in America. Finally, I told him that you cant prove any religion by logic. Only by Faith and Prayer. He said that's true. So he said, "Oh God, is the Mormon Church the True Church?" He paused. Nothing happened. "Nope? Okay!" So we left. haha. Crazy Naked Jewish Guy.

That's exciting that Dillon graduated! Tell him congratulations for me! Also tell him that he needs to write me back dangit!

I will be excited to get a memory card so I can send this one back to you. Any ideas on what the best method for sending memory cards is?

We are supposed to ride our bikes one day per week. We haven't though haha. We will do better!

I just sent Amanda an email on packages. Ask her what I said haha :)

Life is good! I am glad that you are all okay! Thank you all so much for your prayers and for your support!

Love,Elder Bracken

Letter from Mission President Seal

Hello!

Busy Busy!

So I am here in Sapulpa. About a half hour southwest of Tulsa. Been here about a week and a half. We cover 2 wards, Sapulpa and Jenks(Jenks may get their own set of missionaries soon, we'll see). Very nice people. There are some true hicks out here. It's crazy.

People are nice. But odd. I love how (for the most part) everyone out here has a very strong faith in Jesus Christ. Oh yeah, and ya know how people say that Oklahoma is KINDA in the Bible Belt? Well, Tulsa is the Buckle of the Bible Belt. It's really strange. There's just as many churches here as in Utah, except none of them are ours. haha.

We run into a LOT of Baptists. A lot of "non-denominationals" and a few Pentecostals. There is this Mega-Church in Tulsa called Victory. It houses about 15,000 people. Crazy, no?

You should look up info on a man named Oral Roberts. This guy is completely nuts. A lot of people think he is a prophet. He designed these towers that are like, based off of Noah's Ark and stuff. Tower of Babel, anyone?

My companion is Elder Chad Nielson, from Meridian, Idaho(about 4 miles south of Boise). He's a total dork. Quite resembles Scott actually, haha! He leaves in 3 months. He is our District Leader.

The craziest thing that has happened is on Saturday we Baptized a family of 4. Jim and Shelli Hattabaugh, and 2 of their kids, Jordan and Julia. Awesome family.(Dad, you're one day older than Jim haha). I baptized Jim and Jordan, Elder Nielson baptized Shelli and Julia. We did the Confirmations the same way. It was really super cool. I am going to try and attach a couple pictures that were taken to this email(i had forgotten my camera, sorry mom). I hope they work. The girl in regular clothes is another of their kids, Jenny. She is more hard-hearted. But we will get her baptized, dangit!

Our Mission officially Baptized 116 people in the Month of May. It is the first time the Mission had one over 100. It's pretty amazing. President Seal has been working toward that goal his entire mission, and he got it on his last full month as President. He leaves on June 29th. It will be interesting to see how much(or how little) things change with President Merkley.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but Elder Bracken is my Zone Leader. He's awesome. A lot like me, actually haha. I will definitely try to get a picture with him.

We eat with members between 5 and 7 nights every week. It's awesome. The rest of the time we eat a lot of Ramen and Cheese Quesadillas.

Our apartment is itty-bitty. It's a converted garage that an awesome member family owns. The ward converted it just for the missionaries. A lot of work and love was put into it. It's nice. Just.... very very tiny. Its the smallest apartment in the Mission, according to my companion.

We are pretty spoiled. We drive a Chevy Silverado. And we have a cell phone(every companionship out here does). it's very very handy. We might have gone over on our miles for May though(oops!).

I'm starting to get into the swing of things here. I love teaching. I'm not a fan of finding though. I'm not good at going up to people and talking to them. Of course, if missionary worked the way it was supposed to, we wouldn't have time to do anyting except for teach the people that member's referred us to. But that isn't the reality, sadly.

A Camaro? That's awesome! I would love to come home and see one in the garage! Get Bumblebee-Yellow!

My allergies are pretty bad, actually. Well, about the same as they are in Utah. But they're awful in Utah haha.

Virgina is moving? crazy! I hope we get some sane neighbors!

Isn't it crazy that Ben is in the MTC now? I kind of know what he is going through right now. It's fun to think about. The MTC is awesome. He'll have a blast!(as long as he gets along with his District).

It was really sad not getting any letters last week. But it was really nice to see so many this week! Thank you!

I hope Grammy is okay. Send her my best.

It's really strange here. Before, I was just a normal kid. Member of the Church. That was great. I liked it. But nobody much pays attention to you. Now, I'm a Missionary. Everyone knows who I am and what I'm doing. They all rely and depend on me. It's crazy.

I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers! So much!

Send everyone my love!

Love,
Elder Bracken

5-25-09

Mom & Dad,

I am here in Sapulpa, Oklahoma! It is my first Preparation Day (not P-Day) in the field. I may not email you, as the library is closed. If I can convince Elder Nielsen to, I will send you and email tomorrow.

But, Happy Birthday Dad! I hope it is a good one! Buy yourself a nice treat!

Sapulpa is a nice place. Friendly people. A town of about 20,000 people or so. Our apartment was once a garage. It has been converted into an apartment for the mission. According to my companion, it is the smallest apartment in the mission. It's a tiny little place. It is on the backyard of a member's home. It is immediately behind Walgreens. We drive a Chevy Colorado. My bike is all here. I haven't ridden it yet. We have dinner at member's homes almost everyday. We live off 130 dollars per month.

I am safe. Everything is okay. I was a little homesick when I got here, but I'm okay. I've just got to go to work.

The return address on the envelope is where you can write me if you need to.

I love you. Keep on keepin' on!

Love,
Elder Bracken

P.S. There are kittens in the backyard of the member's home. The momma cat had a litter of 6 adorable little kitties. I want a pet! They're the closest I'm gonna get.

First letter from the field

We received a hand written letter from Jordan. I have retyped it here.

5/20/09

I am at the Mission Home right now. President and Sister Seal are really nice people. Very dedicated. They leave on June 29th. They have been feeding us very well. Sister Seal is very into health food, and she is an excellent cook. So we have been eating a lot of very tasty, very healthy food.

5/21/09

Okay, so I'm finishing this letter Friday night. Today we tracked for 3 1/2 hours. I went with Elder Bracken. We talked with an athiest and an agnostic in one day. Weird, huh? It was a good experience.

I have been assigned to Sapulpa. About half an hour away from the mission. My companion is Elder Chad Nielson, from Idaho. Elder Bracken is one of my Zone Leaders. I will email on Tuesday. Our Preparation Day (not P-Day) is Monday, but it won't be that way this week because of Memorial Day. Which brings me to:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

I hope it's great! Go buy yourself something nice!

I Love you all! Life is great!

Love, Elder Bracken

(No emial came this week)

Hey! :)

Great to hear from you! Thank you so much for the cinnamon rolls! Mmmmm! :)

I can't wait to call you tomorrow! It will be nice to hear you again :) Thanks for the phone card :)

Good luck with your new principal! Hopefully it will go well for you! :)

I have tried my best to take many pictures. Most of them are goofy ones tho, sorry :P

Yeah, the food is terrible. But since we went to the temple today we ate at the cafeteria today and it was SO good! :) The Temple is amazing! We did Initiatory's today, which was way awesome :) i hope you guys have been to the Temple since I left! Will you committ to going once a month, mother?

If I have everything straight and correct, tomorrow I fly to Denver(call you of course), then I fly to Tulsa. We will be picked up by President and Sister Seal. We will be driven to the Mission Home. We will spend about two days there, receiving instruction and getting generally pumped. Then we will go to work! I will let you know my new address ASAP :)

Life is going great. I'm keeping busy! I have felt the Spirit more these last 3 weeks than in my entire life before! I know that I have been immensely blessed in my work here, and I know that you and Dad will receive more blessings during these 2 years than you ever have before! :) Send everyone my Love!

Love,
Elder Bracken