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
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
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
(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
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