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