Dear Family,
So, there's an ice storm headed for the mission. Don't know precisely when or where it will hit, but we are prepared. We're stocked up on food and other supplies. We'll be perfectly safe if anything happens where we live.
Our Investigator had some family issues come up so he won't get baptized this week. It will probably be in the next two or three weeks. I would guess the 19th of February. We are very excited and he is very eager to be baptized as soon as possible.
This morning we had Biscuits and Gravy. Chocolate Gravy. It's a Southern food. An amazing one, at that. We got a recipe for it last night and tried it out this morning. I mailed a copy of it home for you to enjoy. The person who gave it to us said that it's best with homemade biscuits, but if you don't make homemade biscuits, get the Pillsbury Layers biscuits(which is precisely what we happened to have on hand. It was gooooooooooooooooood). It was so delicious. Not for the faint of stomach. It is incredibly rich. Easy to make though.
Elder Rowley and I have had colds the last week or so. We're starting to get over it now. His was worse than mine. Theraflu is a wonderful thing. :)
Not too much else exciting to report. I hope y'all have a good week! I hope you go to the temple!
Love,
Elder Bracken
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Dear Family,
It has been an awesome week. :)
I don't remember if this happened last week or the week before, so I'll just tell you. Maybe it's not news. Our "Eternigator" decided to get baptized. He will get baptized on the 5th of February. He just got interviewed yesterday and he is good to go. We are very excited for him. :)
We also got a new Ward Mission Leader yesterday, which we are very excited for. He's pretty gung-ho about missionary work. He just moved here from Sallisaw, Oklahoma where he was a Branch Mission Leader. No break for him! haha.
We also had a less-active Sister come who we've been working with for a very long time. She hasn't been to church the whole time I've been here. It was a huge blessing to see that.
We also got a lot of people to sign up on our Dinner Calendar for once, which we accomplished by taking a picture. We emptied out the fridge, set the camera inside of it on a shelf toward the back, and had it take a picture of us looking inside at the empty fride while looking very sad. It worked wonders. We have so many people feeding us dinner now. :)
Other than that, it's business as usual back at the Ranch. Not much else to talk about, I don't guess.
Sounds like the Super-bowl will be lame. I don't like either of those teams. :) haha
Well, I hope y'all have a good week!
Love,
Elder Bracken
It has been an awesome week. :)
I don't remember if this happened last week or the week before, so I'll just tell you. Maybe it's not news. Our "Eternigator" decided to get baptized. He will get baptized on the 5th of February. He just got interviewed yesterday and he is good to go. We are very excited for him. :)
We also got a new Ward Mission Leader yesterday, which we are very excited for. He's pretty gung-ho about missionary work. He just moved here from Sallisaw, Oklahoma where he was a Branch Mission Leader. No break for him! haha.
We also had a less-active Sister come who we've been working with for a very long time. She hasn't been to church the whole time I've been here. It was a huge blessing to see that.
We also got a lot of people to sign up on our Dinner Calendar for once, which we accomplished by taking a picture. We emptied out the fridge, set the camera inside of it on a shelf toward the back, and had it take a picture of us looking inside at the empty fride while looking very sad. It worked wonders. We have so many people feeding us dinner now. :)
Other than that, it's business as usual back at the Ranch. Not much else to talk about, I don't guess.
Sounds like the Super-bowl will be lame. I don't like either of those teams. :) haha
Well, I hope y'all have a good week!
Love,
Elder Bracken
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Things are going really well. Last week I was on exchanges with a Spanish Elder and we found an awesome family to teach. We taught them the second lesson last night. It went well. We are very excited for them.
It's been cold here, but not too bad. The temperatures have been fluctuating up and down quite rapidly. Arkansas is a strange place.
Transfers are the Thursday BEFORE my Birthday(which is a Monday). I'm anticipating that I'll be moved out, but no guarantees. So perhaps you should send it early?
Not much else too exciting has happened, I suppose. Oh, I ran over a cat(it wasn't my fault nor my intention), did I tell you that? NAILED it. The sound of bones crunching and blood splattering. Then as soon as we turned around and came back to see it, it was gone! Vanished without a trace! No blood, no remains. Not on the road or our car. Nothing. I think that cat was resurrected. :)
Life is good for me. I was frustrated to see that the Library and Post Office were closed yesterday due to the federal "holiday." So I am emailing today, and look forward with an eye of faith to the near future moment when I shall open the mailbox and taste of the fruit there-in. I hope.
Well, I will get going. I love you. Go to the temple. Especially if there are things going on in your life that you must pray for, go to the Temple and do it there.
Love,
Elder Bracken
It's been cold here, but not too bad. The temperatures have been fluctuating up and down quite rapidly. Arkansas is a strange place.
Transfers are the Thursday BEFORE my Birthday(which is a Monday). I'm anticipating that I'll be moved out, but no guarantees. So perhaps you should send it early?
Not much else too exciting has happened, I suppose. Oh, I ran over a cat(it wasn't my fault nor my intention), did I tell you that? NAILED it. The sound of bones crunching and blood splattering. Then as soon as we turned around and came back to see it, it was gone! Vanished without a trace! No blood, no remains. Not on the road or our car. Nothing. I think that cat was resurrected. :)
Life is good for me. I was frustrated to see that the Library and Post Office were closed yesterday due to the federal "holiday." So I am emailing today, and look forward with an eye of faith to the near future moment when I shall open the mailbox and taste of the fruit there-in. I hope.
Well, I will get going. I love you. Go to the temple. Especially if there are things going on in your life that you must pray for, go to the Temple and do it there.
Love,
Elder Bracken
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
It's been snowing! Crazy! It started Sunday night. It continued a little yesterday, but not much. Really, it's not a lot of snow. Just a couple of inches. But for the people here it's like the sky is falling. School's closed. The library closed(hence my emailing on Tuesday). The whole place just shuts down. It's so funny.
We were glad that we bought some De-Icer windshield wiper fluid. It's good stuff.
We just had Stake Conference. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake to all the stakes in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. It was very good. First to speak was Bishop Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric. Then Sister Elaine S. Dalton. Then Elder L. Tom Perry. Then finally President Thomas S. Monson. It was very good. my favorite talk was by Bishop McMullin. He spoke about being "stuffocated." We have so much stuff in our lives taking up our space and time that we leave no room for Heavenly Father and His Gospel. He talked about removing the things that distract us so that we can communicate clearly with our beloved Father. It was very good. President Monson talked about Rescuing those who are lost. The widows, the fatherless, the less-active, the lonely, etc.
Well, I had better get going. Have a good week, and go to the temple!
Love,
Elder Bracken
We were glad that we bought some De-Icer windshield wiper fluid. It's good stuff.
We just had Stake Conference. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake to all the stakes in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. It was very good. First to speak was Bishop Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric. Then Sister Elaine S. Dalton. Then Elder L. Tom Perry. Then finally President Thomas S. Monson. It was very good. my favorite talk was by Bishop McMullin. He spoke about being "stuffocated." We have so much stuff in our lives taking up our space and time that we leave no room for Heavenly Father and His Gospel. He talked about removing the things that distract us so that we can communicate clearly with our beloved Father. It was very good. President Monson talked about Rescuing those who are lost. The widows, the fatherless, the less-active, the lonely, etc.
Well, I had better get going. Have a good week, and go to the temple!
Love,
Elder Bracken
Monday, January 3, 2011
Dear Family,
Weather has been fine. A little rainy. Other than that, no problem. Van Buren is not prone for tornadoes. And you don't need to worry, Mom. If the Mission President doesn't call you, then I'm okay. :)
New Year's was basically just a normal day for us. We went to the Ward Party that was super lame. Hardly anybody showed up. Kinda sad. Oh well. That's what happens when everyone's out of town.
Work has been slow here, because of the holidays. And there's all kinds of sicknesses going around. Colds and stuff. And also a stomach virus a lot of people seem to be getting.
We had an interesting experience this past week. One of our investigators was having weird things happen in her house at night. Things falling off the walls. Toys thrown across the house. All at night. Only her and her son were in the house. No one else. She kept having nightmares. So anyways, we went over and blessed her home. There wasn't anything evil or weird there when we were there. And there hasn't been since, apparently. So that was kind of interesting, I guess.
We also had an "Eternigator" at church yesterday. During a baby blessing he said he felt a "presence." Kind of disturbed him a little I guess. Well, a baby blessing is an ordinance where angels are likely to be present, so I'm sure that's what it was.
Odd stuff.
We haven't been fed hardly at all lately, with the holidays and everything. A member family gave us a crock-pot for Christmas and we've been using that quite a bit. We had the Spanish Elders over for dinner and made some stuff in the crock-pot. It turned out basically like a Mexican flavored Chili. It wasn't quite what we intended, but it was really good.
Nothing else too exciting has happened. As I said, it's been slow with the holidays. But with those being over, everyone will get back into the swing of things and things will pick up, I'm sure.
Well, I hope you have a good week and that you all make a New Year's Resolution(one that you'll actually keep) to go to the temple frequently!
Love,
Elder Bracken
Weather has been fine. A little rainy. Other than that, no problem. Van Buren is not prone for tornadoes. And you don't need to worry, Mom. If the Mission President doesn't call you, then I'm okay. :)
New Year's was basically just a normal day for us. We went to the Ward Party that was super lame. Hardly anybody showed up. Kinda sad. Oh well. That's what happens when everyone's out of town.
Work has been slow here, because of the holidays. And there's all kinds of sicknesses going around. Colds and stuff. And also a stomach virus a lot of people seem to be getting.
We had an interesting experience this past week. One of our investigators was having weird things happen in her house at night. Things falling off the walls. Toys thrown across the house. All at night. Only her and her son were in the house. No one else. She kept having nightmares. So anyways, we went over and blessed her home. There wasn't anything evil or weird there when we were there. And there hasn't been since, apparently. So that was kind of interesting, I guess.
We also had an "Eternigator" at church yesterday. During a baby blessing he said he felt a "presence." Kind of disturbed him a little I guess. Well, a baby blessing is an ordinance where angels are likely to be present, so I'm sure that's what it was.
Odd stuff.
We haven't been fed hardly at all lately, with the holidays and everything. A member family gave us a crock-pot for Christmas and we've been using that quite a bit. We had the Spanish Elders over for dinner and made some stuff in the crock-pot. It turned out basically like a Mexican flavored Chili. It wasn't quite what we intended, but it was really good.
Nothing else too exciting has happened. As I said, it's been slow with the holidays. But with those being over, everyone will get back into the swing of things and things will pick up, I'm sure.
Well, I hope you have a good week and that you all make a New Year's Resolution(one that you'll actually keep) to go to the temple frequently!
Love,
Elder Bracken
Monday, December 27, 2010
Dear Familia,
BIG NEWS! I'm staying here! And so is Elder Rowley! That was weird. I was not expecting that. They are re-opening the Spanish area this week so we'll be back up to 6 Elders. No one signed up to feed us this week, or the Zone Leaders, and definitely none for the Spanish Elders, so they day they come in Elder Rowley and I are gonna cook a big meal in the Crock-Pot(which a family gave us for Christmas) for all 6 of us. It'll be a fun experiment. :) I do love to cook.
Christmas was awesome. I loved it. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts! :) They were very much appreciated! :) BTW, I got a copy of Lectures on Faith from another missionary, so I got that too! :) haha. I'm spoiled.
We spent Christmas Even night at the other Elder's apartment. We slept in till about 9 a.m. We had French Toast and bacon(I bought 2 pounds, haha). The French Toast was good. Elder Woodward made it. Instead of mixing milk with the eggs he mixed in Coffee mate Creamer. He usually uses the Pumpkin Spice flavor but they didn't have it. So he used the Cinnamon Bun Flavor. It was so good. Cinnamon Roll flavored French Toast.(he also sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon on the toast itself). We each called home. That was fun. Then Elder Rowley and I went and had dinner with a family. We then went to our apartment and the missionaries brought over games they borrowed from a member. My favorite one was a Mormon card game called "It Came to Pass." It's KINDA like Uno, but way more fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. it wouldn't be all that fun with only 2 people, but if you have 3 or more people, it's a blast. They then spent the night at our apartment. Then we went to Church the next day of course.
I'm going to go buy a desk today. Probably at Staples. Last time I was there I saw one for like 30 bucks. I haven't had a desk the whole time I've been here. Studying at the the kitchen table gets old. All I can think about is eating, haha.
Overall, I'm still enjoying life. Our investigators aren't progressing very well right now. We need to find new ones. We're working on it. :)
I don't have all that much to say this week, since I just called home, sorry.
Have a great week! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Go to the temple!
Love,
Elder Bracken
BIG NEWS! I'm staying here! And so is Elder Rowley! That was weird. I was not expecting that. They are re-opening the Spanish area this week so we'll be back up to 6 Elders. No one signed up to feed us this week, or the Zone Leaders, and definitely none for the Spanish Elders, so they day they come in Elder Rowley and I are gonna cook a big meal in the Crock-Pot(which a family gave us for Christmas) for all 6 of us. It'll be a fun experiment. :) I do love to cook.
Christmas was awesome. I loved it. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts! :) They were very much appreciated! :) BTW, I got a copy of Lectures on Faith from another missionary, so I got that too! :) haha. I'm spoiled.
We spent Christmas Even night at the other Elder's apartment. We slept in till about 9 a.m. We had French Toast and bacon(I bought 2 pounds, haha). The French Toast was good. Elder Woodward made it. Instead of mixing milk with the eggs he mixed in Coffee mate Creamer. He usually uses the Pumpkin Spice flavor but they didn't have it. So he used the Cinnamon Bun Flavor. It was so good. Cinnamon Roll flavored French Toast.(he also sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon on the toast itself). We each called home. That was fun. Then Elder Rowley and I went and had dinner with a family. We then went to our apartment and the missionaries brought over games they borrowed from a member. My favorite one was a Mormon card game called "It Came to Pass." It's KINDA like Uno, but way more fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. it wouldn't be all that fun with only 2 people, but if you have 3 or more people, it's a blast. They then spent the night at our apartment. Then we went to Church the next day of course.
I'm going to go buy a desk today. Probably at Staples. Last time I was there I saw one for like 30 bucks. I haven't had a desk the whole time I've been here. Studying at the the kitchen table gets old. All I can think about is eating, haha.
Overall, I'm still enjoying life. Our investigators aren't progressing very well right now. We need to find new ones. We're working on it. :)
I don't have all that much to say this week, since I just called home, sorry.
Have a great week! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Go to the temple!
Love,
Elder Bracken
Monday, December 20, 2010
Dear Family,
WOW! Steak! Holy Carp! That was amazing! I didn't know you could ship steak to people! :) That was "just a real nice surprise." :) I haven't cooked them yet, but we will soon. :) Thanks! All the packages(as far as I can tell) got here safely. So, thank you! :)
I can't wait for you to open up the package I sent you. I hope you enjoyed the job I did taping that thing, haha. I may have went a little overboard. I used most of a roll of packing tape, haha.
We've had a pretty good week. We've had some good success tracting. We're really excited for a family that we're going to go teach tonight at 7. They seem golden. So, if you wouldn't mind saying a prayer that the Floyd family will be receptive to the Gospel, that would be wonderful. :)
For phone calls, I will call around 11:00 a.m. here. So 10:00 a.m. there, if all goes well. I look forward to hearing you. :)
I would like to share with you something I've learned from my studies recently. I went through the Savior's Discourse in 3 Nephi Chapters 12-14 and compared it side-by-side to the sermon on the mount(this is a study activity suggested in Preach My Gospel). At first glance they're almost identical. But there's a few significant differences. The difference that caught my attention the most is this:
3 Ne. 12:23-24 reads:
"Therefore, if ye shall come unto me, or shall desire to come unto me, and rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee- Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to they brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you."
So, we must repent and forgive our neighbors before we can come unto Christ, but that's not what I'd like to focus on at the moment. Cross reference this with Matthew 5:23-24:
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there they gift before the alter, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer they gift."
Interesting difference there. In one place he tells us to come to the altar, in another place he tells us to come unto Him. I realized(or rather it was revealed to me) that to come to the altar is to come unto Christ. That's what we're doing when we go to an altar. Now, where do we have altars? Primarily in 2 places. First, in the Temple. There are many altars there, all used for seemingly different purposes, but if we really think about it, the purpose is the same. Christ. Coming unto Him to receive Salvation.
The other typical location of an altar is the Chapel. The Sacrament table is an altar. Every week we have an opportunity to come to the Altar, to come unto Christ through the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. As I was pondering this yesterday while the Sacrament was passed to the Congregation, I thought of the words of the Sacramental Prayers which plead to the lord to "sanctify" the bread and water to our souls. My mind was cast to another scripture on the topic of Sanctification. Moroni 10:32-33:
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye shall in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the Grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."
So, we come unto Christ by going to the Altar. We go to church to partake of the Sacrament. We repent and commit to deny ourselves of all our ungodliness. We choose to follow Christ and not Satan. We do not lay hold upon the unclean thing. We love God. Then he makes us perfect in Christ. You and I will never attain perfection in this life. We sin daily. But if we do our VERY best, and we follow Christ with all our hearts, we can become perfect in Christ through His Grace. He makes up the difference. The gaps are filled. The rough places are smoothed over. His infinite atoning power pays the debt of which we are so incapable of paying. Now when this happens, if we do not deny the faith and God's power, we become Sanctified. We become holy, without spot. We retain the remission of our sins. What blessing! The "covenant of the Father unto the remission of [our] sins" is Baptism. Where do we renew that covenant? At the altar. At the feet of the Savior. We have now come full circle. We now understand how we may lay hold upon Eternal Life. Do you understand how totally, supremely important it is that we partake of the Sacrament each week? We WILL not and CAN not receive Salvation and Exaltation without it. We will not be sanctified. We will not be holy. We will not be perfect in Christ. We will be of a lesser glory. Of a terrestrial or telestial glory.
So that's what I learned yesterday as I partook of the Sacrament. I know it to be a true, saving ordinance. We MUST do everything in our power to partake of it regularly. May the Lord bless us as we do so is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Bracken
WOW! Steak! Holy Carp! That was amazing! I didn't know you could ship steak to people! :) That was "just a real nice surprise." :) I haven't cooked them yet, but we will soon. :) Thanks! All the packages(as far as I can tell) got here safely. So, thank you! :)
I can't wait for you to open up the package I sent you. I hope you enjoyed the job I did taping that thing, haha. I may have went a little overboard. I used most of a roll of packing tape, haha.
We've had a pretty good week. We've had some good success tracting. We're really excited for a family that we're going to go teach tonight at 7. They seem golden. So, if you wouldn't mind saying a prayer that the Floyd family will be receptive to the Gospel, that would be wonderful. :)
For phone calls, I will call around 11:00 a.m. here. So 10:00 a.m. there, if all goes well. I look forward to hearing you. :)
I would like to share with you something I've learned from my studies recently. I went through the Savior's Discourse in 3 Nephi Chapters 12-14 and compared it side-by-side to the sermon on the mount(this is a study activity suggested in Preach My Gospel). At first glance they're almost identical. But there's a few significant differences. The difference that caught my attention the most is this:
3 Ne. 12:23-24 reads:
"Therefore, if ye shall come unto me, or shall desire to come unto me, and rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee- Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to they brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you."
So, we must repent and forgive our neighbors before we can come unto Christ, but that's not what I'd like to focus on at the moment. Cross reference this with Matthew 5:23-24:
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there they gift before the alter, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer they gift."
Interesting difference there. In one place he tells us to come to the altar, in another place he tells us to come unto Him. I realized(or rather it was revealed to me) that to come to the altar is to come unto Christ. That's what we're doing when we go to an altar. Now, where do we have altars? Primarily in 2 places. First, in the Temple. There are many altars there, all used for seemingly different purposes, but if we really think about it, the purpose is the same. Christ. Coming unto Him to receive Salvation.
The other typical location of an altar is the Chapel. The Sacrament table is an altar. Every week we have an opportunity to come to the Altar, to come unto Christ through the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. As I was pondering this yesterday while the Sacrament was passed to the Congregation, I thought of the words of the Sacramental Prayers which plead to the lord to "sanctify" the bread and water to our souls. My mind was cast to another scripture on the topic of Sanctification. Moroni 10:32-33:
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye shall in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the Grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."
So, we come unto Christ by going to the Altar. We go to church to partake of the Sacrament. We repent and commit to deny ourselves of all our ungodliness. We choose to follow Christ and not Satan. We do not lay hold upon the unclean thing. We love God. Then he makes us perfect in Christ. You and I will never attain perfection in this life. We sin daily. But if we do our VERY best, and we follow Christ with all our hearts, we can become perfect in Christ through His Grace. He makes up the difference. The gaps are filled. The rough places are smoothed over. His infinite atoning power pays the debt of which we are so incapable of paying. Now when this happens, if we do not deny the faith and God's power, we become Sanctified. We become holy, without spot. We retain the remission of our sins. What blessing! The "covenant of the Father unto the remission of [our] sins" is Baptism. Where do we renew that covenant? At the altar. At the feet of the Savior. We have now come full circle. We now understand how we may lay hold upon Eternal Life. Do you understand how totally, supremely important it is that we partake of the Sacrament each week? We WILL not and CAN not receive Salvation and Exaltation without it. We will not be sanctified. We will not be holy. We will not be perfect in Christ. We will be of a lesser glory. Of a terrestrial or telestial glory.
So that's what I learned yesterday as I partook of the Sacrament. I know it to be a true, saving ordinance. We MUST do everything in our power to partake of it regularly. May the Lord bless us as we do so is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Love,
Elder Bracken
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