Brandon's Eighth Email! September 28th, 201

Hey fam,

This week has been good! I'm pretty sure my arches of my feet are dying but whatever haha... I can walk with pretty good pace!!! I can manage the pain and hopefully insoles will help!! 

I have been getting WORKED by bugs every night in bed. It's funny, my arms are dotted. We had a member come to our house to look at the broken window and he was so sketched by all the electricity in the house. He is an electrician and said all of the wires are outdated and the system is super sketchy, and our water heater is right above the spout of the  shadow and he said that's dangerous, it was funny. I understood like 90%, but facial expressions made up the other 10%.

There is a cool song, number 129 and the accompanying scriptures are so cool. I love them. We call this place area of buff dogs. 

Okay, now to the more spiritual side. 

We have a couple cool investigators that I'm super excited about! We found this couple and had the second lesson with them and it was great, they had been reading The Book of Mormon and already knew it was true. He is changing his work schedule so he can come to church. 

That girl has really felt it is true, and is trying to align her life with the gospel.

We had a guy riding on a motorcycle stop and tell us he has been trying to do family history and everything led to the church, he said when he learns about his ancestors he wants to find a path for his family... we were tripping haha like so stoked, so we are going to try and help him and and teach him like he wants...

We got a reference from another area for this lady and visited her last night. Her daughter had been helping her out because she had severe depression. She is looking for the answers to a lot of whys... We taught about the plan of salvation and she was moved by it, so I am excited to go back. It's nice, I'm finally getting a knowledge of our area and understanding soo much more now.

It's fun here. The culture is funny. I like can't place it. It's not like Mexico at all, kinda like America, but not really. It feels like European in a different language. It is really cool to get to know the families in the ward better, I am excited to be here for some amount of time.  

Sorry, this computers USB port is broken, so I'll try and send pics next week.

Top Ten

10. The amount of help we've gotten from the members

9. I can actually understand a lot more now.

8. Alfajors

7. We have come across a lot of people the gospel can help

6. We are finally getting in contact with people we've been trying to for so long now.

5. Losing some love handles. This is cool cause mom, you were right, my pants were too short, but now they sit lower and are fine.

4. Blisters aren't as bad anymore!

3. The amount of lessons that we've had this week!!! 

2. All of the support and good news I hear from loved ones (Baby Jack, family pics, Sheridan's missions call.)

1. Some people are accepting the gospel and I know it'll change their lives!!!! 

Brandon's Seventh Email! September 21st, 2015

So this week it hasn't been as cold!!! There are like days where it is cold but not really terrible.

Random but we saw a dog climbing a fence!! Literally all fours against the fence like 3 feet up!!! How weird is that?

So we have been walking a ton. Like tons. My feet really hurt but it's all good, but mom if you could maybe send me insoles for arch support that'd be great... We have like so much area because it used to be three areas and now it's just one... We have like 5 paved roads in my area so it is all just tons of dirt everywhere; it's really roasting my pants as far as cleanliness. I have blisters on both feet but I'm hoping they will turn to protected skin after but we will see. So it has been better this week as far as having lessons. We have two new investigators who we met through contacting, and the first lesson that we returned to was great. They seem really interested, they are like a couple of like 50 years.
There is another girl probably like 25 years old who is investigating and last week I asked her to be baptized and she said yeah! Haha so her baptism is scheduled for the 11 of October!!! Not 100% it'll be on that date but that is the plan as of now! Other than that, we are meeting families in the ward and it is great. The bishop has only been a member ten years and is so cool. Last night we had a lesson with like a couple of 70 years, and with their children so there were 12 adults. Then we sung 'Called to Serve' and there were 22 people singing it... haha it was nuts. One of the sons is a bishop so I felt funny like sharing a spiritual thought in Spanish to these people but it was good. I asked the mission president today if I can use One Drive to send pics because right now it takes like 10 minutes for each pic to load.

This week we had a multi zone conference in Moldanaldo and it was such a nice city!!! We also got to stop at these giant fingers in the sand on the way home, it was really cool and there were people surfing at the beach!!! It killed me actually... haha. We cleaned our apartment tons and made a fire in the roast pit thing... It was a good time. We don't have like any time to email I feel like. Sheridan sent me a digital voice recorder cause like everyone here has one here so I can say more with that in a month or so when it comes! What an angel! haha. So the members give us lunch, and we were in a house and they were cooking like a vegetable stir fry and I was like okay, it's time. All the grief mom has given me all these years came down to this moment. So I ate it super fast and so she like got me more and it was tough hahah... Okay well sorry, I have like time to say nothing. If this pic loads it is a typical road in our area, on our way back to our house last p-day. Hopefully I can One Drive it or I'm gonna buy another memory card and send this one home when it is full or something like that... Idk.

Thanks everyone.

Top Ten

10. I am not fat yet!

9. 2 weeks in the field and I'm lovin it

8. The members here are great

7. I am understanding wayyy more of the spanish now.

6. We have one investigator with a baptismal date

5. The cool couple we found!!! 

4. The alfajors here

3. I have three pairs of shoes to change when I get blisters

2. There are lots of people that are helping us get rolling here, and it is helping! I love the hymns in spanish and I can read the B.O.M. in spanish and I understand most everything..

1. SHERIDAN HOFFMAN IS GOING TO RECIFE, BRAZIL JAN 27th!!!!!!!!!!! Portuguese speaking. Brazil is stoked!!

Brandon's Sixth Email! September 14th, 2015

Hey family!! Not sure where to start. This email is gonna be janky and I'm sorry! First of all it's hard to type because it is frigid hahah. Since I've arrived I could see my breath at all time in all places, studying at 8am while seeing every breath is funny.

So my last couple days in the MTC were cool/fine. We left at 3am and my flight to Uruguay go canceled, so we took an Air france flight to Uruguay like 3 hours later. When we arrived lots of full hugs from missionaries! haha. We slept that night in like this church hotel next to the temple and the next morning met our trainers. Mine is Elder Rae from Seattle, Washington, he only has 6 weeks left in the mission!!! So we left to our areas at 3pm Wednesday and got to our apartment! JANK! hahaha it was super dirty with trash everywhere. It was fine though, we set our bags down, then left and went and met with the ward mission leader and it is crazy people just speak spanish here.. haha my trainer speaks english but we mostly try and speak spanish. The meetings went well and so for the past 5 days we have just been getting our feet under us. This was a whitewash for us, which means he is new in this area as well, and this area used to be 3 areas but is now one so it is huge! So we don't know anyone and we have been meeting with members, less active members, and investigators... getting to know everyone. My area is El Pinar in the La Costa stake, next to the beach!!!! Haven't actually seen the beach though... But yeah, we have been teaching lessons and stuff which is cool! Yesterday in my first sacrament meeting we had to get up and talk for like 5 minutes so I introduced myself and bore my testimony and it was cool. A lot of the members here are super cool! So I don't wanna write much more right now, I will just include some pictures from since last Thursday. I only have like no time. I haven't taken pictures really of Uruguay because my comp said we only can after 10 on p-days and even then not really so idk if I'll have pics much... we'll see. We walk a tonnnnnn!!!!! It is so crazy haha. Okay so yeah, It has been cold. The first two nights here were 0 degrees celsius and soooo humid, I couldn't sleep cause I was too cold!!!!!!! ahhhh, I'll try to explain more next week. 

Oh!! and a piece of my wisdom tooth came out on the bottom left side!! It was stuck in there and I thought it was food, then I grabbed it with my finger and it was a tooth fragment!!! It came out of the hole! There is tons more I forgot to type, but I'll type it someday. It's in my journals. 

Top Ten

10. Milanessas

9. I'm here!!!

8. My comp is cool and we are working hard!

7. We have gotten to teach like three lessons to investigators

6. I haven't frozen to death, yet!

5. Even though the first two days I ate nothing between lunches, it wasn't even bad

4. My spanish comprehension is going up, I need a bigger vocabulary!

3. I got to email after 12 days!!!!

2. BYU football.

1. This ward and area are great, and I am excited to see the missionary work take off

My District

Brandon and his trainer in Uruguay

They have the sickest keys here, like everyone uses the old school most dope keys, I'll send a pic next week!!!! Also more of the apartment!

Brandon's Fifth Email! September 3rd, 2015

Okay so not a ton to say this week and definitely not a lot of time, sorry. I already sent pics. 

I almost died during workout time. I was running and an elder threw the basketball like a football, and led me toward the fountain and I tripped on the path right in front of the fountain going full speed and was like 6 inches from drilling my face on the concrete fountain and tucked at the last second. I still nailed it in my neck and back of my head and my back at full speed, but was totally alright, it was so lucky!!! 

Elder Cordoso from Brazil left, he is going to Mexico but was really funny, he would say the only english we would tell him, like we would tell him to go to other Americans and say, "I hid the body," and with his accent it sounded so gnarly, but he had no idea what it meant.

I bought an indexed triple to match my Bible from the distribution center for about 17 dollars as my B-day present with the money you gave me mom, so thanks :)))))

That road we prostzlyted in (no idea how to spell that in english), was so gross with the dead dog in a bag, and like huge pieces of flesh and big pieces of pelts... It smelled so nasty and I am kinda just confused what goes on there...

I unhemmed my huge baggy suit pants haha. I am gonna tailor them so they aren't ridiculously floppy and then I took out the cuffed hem, and am gonna straight hem them so they're a tad longer too. Already have done one leg... Hopefully it turns out. But I think it will. Also wish I had a sewing machine.

My companion and I got filmed while we were doing a practice teaching our teacher as a fake investigator and the MTC director filmed us just for a couple seconds because Provo MTC asked for it, so I think we may be in the MTC devotional intro video or something like that which is sick hahah, but I'll never see it because I won't see the Devo's. 

I want some pics of our family all together with me included! I have zero haha... Also of my motorcycle, but I asked dad for those. 

So the only real thing to talk about that has changed is proselyting. So our new area for last week and this Saturday is wayyy poorer, like way way poorer. We were out for like 5 hours though and had like 27 contacts (where you introduce yourself and at least talk to people) and 7 references for other missionaries, which was like the most of anyone. We talked to this husband and wife who had a kid get in a wreck and die recently and it was super sad, but we taught them about the plan of salvation and they were into it. Other missionaries are gonna go teach them I think, we got all their info, but they like had their son go get us ice cold juice from inside which was nice cause it was really hot, and then we were talking to them and we were like yeah sorry we can't speak better and explain this more clearly, I've only been learning here for 4 weeks so it is really difficult to say what I am thinking, and he was like all serious, and was like wow, and shook my hand, and was like "Well you are opening your mouth and God is speaking through you, I understood what you said, thank you."

So that was really really touching. We had like 3 or 4 good lesson type introductions that got us references. I'm excited to go out in the field. I leave this Tuesday at like 3 in the morning. I get to email next Monday I believe, Sept. the 15th. I am finally understanding most of the language stuff, not fluent at all, but at least now I understand what tenses people are speaking in and I can do it too, but I think when I go in the field I'll have a pretty good base on my confusion. 

I love you all

Top Ten

10. I DID NOT die on the fountain

9. Got some nice citrus juice on a hot day

8. Am not fat yet

7. We had a good amount of chicken this past week. 

6. Only 5 more days left here!!!!

5. I have worn all my shoes now and I think they're all gonna be good

4. I got to go out in Argentina, where Grandma and Grandpa were living as mission prez.

3. My comp and I had the most activity in proselyting, not saying we're good, just that it was exciting.

2. The days are going by faster in here now! And I'm almost out in Uruguay!!!

1. That one lesson with that father was really touching. Happy that happened, it acutally makes a mission feel real as of now.

 Dead dog in a bag... 

This street had tons and tons of dog scraps and fur and flesh

 Falcons erewhere

 Super dirty

 Bought this triple.. to match the Bible... Thanks

Elder Cordosa only knows how to say, "skate is not a crime," and do this haha