Dear Family,
 
We had a baptism this week! That was AWESOME! I loved it.Christina got baptized. It was a wonderful thing to be a part of. Very rewarding as a missionary to see someone you teach progress so far. I was the Chorister for the Baptism, by the way.
So, today we went to Branson! It was AWESOME!!! We had the Springfield and Springfield South Zones all combined together. First we had a meeting for about an hour being instructed by the Zone Leaders. Then we went and saw the Hughes Brothers. It was a great show. I thoroughly enjoyed it. They let us in for free, gave us free candy, gave us a free CD(and I bought some CD's of another LDS group called Six, who are fantastic). Very fun experience.
 
We then(about 12 of us) headed to Lambert's Cafe. It was very good. Throwed Rolls. Fried Okra. Black-eyed Peas. By the fistfull. I had Grilled Pork Steaks. I ate 1 1/2, and Elder Gardner ate 1 1/2 as well. I am VERY full. I LOVE Pork Steaks, by the way. I'm not sure if I've told you that or not. I don't think I had ever had any before my mission, but it's one of my favorite meat products now.
 
The other good news is that a member is giving me a Box Spring. I gave mine to one of the Sister Missionaries who apparently did not have one. I haven't slept very good since. But I'm getting a new one soon! yay! I should be sleeping good now!
 
I'm finally getting over my cold that I've had the last week or two. It's been annoying. Mostly it has made me really tired(and not having a Box Spring to sleep on hasn't helped).

I am very glad that you went to the temple! I am quite jealous! I hope you continue to take advantage of it! I recently spoke with a member of the Aurora Ward here who is a Temple Sealer. He spoke with me a little about the temple. He told us about how much faster we learn in the temple than anywhere else. For example, he and his wife did a Temple Mission once and they don't speak Spanish. But they learned basically the whole Endowment Ceremony in Spanish. He also spoke of a prophecy in Ezekiel Chapter 37. Ezekiel sees the temple that will one day be built in Jerusalem. Waters flow out from underneath it and heal the Dead Sea. Just as the Water of Life from the Temple pours out into the rest of our life and heals the Spritually Dead part. As Ezekiel follows the stream down, it gets deeper and deeper. First it's ankle deep, then knee, then waist, and soon it's so deep that you must swim. Our temple experience is the same way. The more we go, the deeper it becomes. Our first time we go through it is very shallow. Ankle deep. But as we continue to go as much as possible we will have Spiritual Waters that are deep enough to swim in. Beautiful concept.
 
Well, have a great week, family!
 
Love,
Elder, Bracken