Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Brandon's Fifty First Email! July 25th, 2016


Opaaa!

hahaha I'm really happy to know they say that in Brazil too! they (usually more the cowboy type) say this instead of hola. Usually the guys that ride in like trailers that a horse pulls, kind of like a 1 hp car.. (No idea what he's saying here?)

So my hands are frozen and I can't type, so this will be short!

We had interviews on Wednesday and it was great! The conference, the interview, the President and his family, it was really cool! 

I had a dream about pop tarts... soooo random! 

On Friday we got on the 4:40 am bus to Montevideo for the new missionary conference and I started barfing like 10 minutes into the ride and the whole 3 hours was to the bathroom and back repeatedly! Super not fun! Once we got there I was fine, and the conference was really fun and I really enjoyed it. I am really excited to see other people with new missionaries also and know that it is something a little stressful for everyone! 

I ate cow tongue the night before, maybe that was the barfing problem. 

I gave a talk in church yesterday about The Book of Mormon and it was fun! Everyone here is super nice and says wow great talk! Even though I'm sure half of them don't understand half of my words with my gringo accent! hahah 

I had some pics and thought I downloaded them but it didn't work, and my convertor broke so I will try and send them next week! ahhh.. super annoying! 

Anyway, that was my week! Christie sent really fun pictures of Jack and Sheridan got to go to the temple! 


Top Ten! Not in order

-Interview with President
-The conference of interviews
-The new missionary conference
-2 investigators came to church (the same two as 2 weeks ago)
-Sheridan hits 6 months in the mission this week!
-Ladd is going to Salvador South Brasil!!!!! So rad! 
-Gabions at home look sweet! 
-Had some miracles this week using The Book of Mormon
-We have handed so many out recently and like had really spiritual experiences


Bottom 2

-Barfing so much
-It's raining and I don't know how to dry clothing! 

But everything here is great, love you all, super thankful for the examples or support you all give me!

Elder Richmond

VIRGINIA GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!!!
The one that made me the scarf!!


So happy!
Other photo



Lunch last p-day. Huge and really cheap. 
Really healthy too I think haha



 Mate celestial 
(shredded coconut in place of mate, and milk instead of water)



Futbol

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Brandon's Fiftieth Email! July 18th, 2016

So they have bleach here and the liquid bleach brand that's biggest is called Agua Jane, but they say the name Jane like honey, so it almost makes me laugh. 

So my card reader isn't working anymore, but I had taken a photo of our room once I started cleaning our walls (with a rag and this bleach stuff) it looks soooo nasty! But this morning we did it and now it's done and I love the room now hahah. The walls here are not fun, paint here is not the same, but I'm learning how to take care of a house I guess.

Soooo this week, we found like a perfect investigator! Something happened so she flaked on one lesson and she couldn't come to church, but I still am really hopeful, I mean she gave us oranges and a green onion plant! But seriously one of the best lessons of my mission. I felt the spirit so strongly. I love telling people that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bless them, because I know that it is true. I KNOW that the gospel is the way to happiness here, and then especially after we die somehow. Seriously, I wish everyone could know what blessings they would have if they believed in Christ and worked on being better, and got baptized! Everyone could feel the spirit so much more. So it was sad she didn't come to church, but I hope I can tell you good news next week about her.

Next, we had another good lesson with this guy, who tells us we were an answer to his prayers. We need to make sure he knows that he isn't just supposed to listen to the message, but actually be better and change for the better and do good things. I like the scripture in 3 Nephi and in Mateo that says where your treasure is where your heart will be also. It's so true. But anyway, that was nice, and he wants to know more, but didn't go to church either even though he said si o si he was going hahah. Flakey. 

I was going to superglue my scrips back together and totally superglued my hand together and it dried before I felt anything. Really dumb. So at church I had dried super glue on my hand.

It rained really hard Sunday morning, we had no investigators even though lots of people told us the night before they were coming! Really frustrating! Also, like no members came, which is also really bad. Like I don't understand how people can lose motivation to renew their closeness with God. I think I need to try and understand more before I can help less active members, because I feel like that has been one of the hardest things in my mission, helping them actually go to church.

I made brownies this week with Elder Perry's recipe and made ice cream from a little 30 peso packet and it was dank! 

We have inteviews with our new president on Wednesday, and then we have the conference for new missionaries on Friday in Montevideo! I'm super excited for that, but unfortunately, none of my "mission friends" will be there. 


Top Ten

10. Exercises
9. Brownies
8. Fun cards from Sheridan!
7. Connor is going on his mission real soon! 
6. Austin graduated high school (kinda late, sorry)
5. The plan of Happiness! (should be higher up I'm sure but I did this all mixed up)
4. The possibility that everyone has to have their own testimony! 
3. My companion! haha I make him workout in the mornings and he said to one of the other elders something like yes, I'm grateful for my daddy hahah 
2. The strong members in the branch who really try to help the work! 
1. Spiritually edifying lessons! Makes the work so fun and satisfying

Love you all! 

Ps. If you like anything about carz, check out Ray'z jeep

Elder Richmond

Super cold

Monday, July 18, 2016

Brandon's Forty Ninth Email! July 11th, 2016

So the start of this week, it rained p-day morning for literally 48 hours straight, at some times sprinkling, but most of the time rain rain!!! Sooo annoying! Like my feet were just wet the whole time, all of ours, it was crazy! So I had everything I was going to type written out in my planner but left it at home.... super frustrating haha. But, I have gotten better at not getting frustrated! It's been something I've been working on. I remember Sheridan would ask me and I would only every say I was "bummed" if someone was annoying me, but I've been learning how to just get over it and be happy, because there will always be an excuse to be bummed...

So I made a cake for Elder Perry's birthday, it was good and buttery. We made grilled cheese one day and it was sooooo goood!!!! On Friday we had zone conference and it was good, and then Elder Delgado stayed in my area, (his first area) fora and intercambio. We had a great time, and he showed me where a member lived and we went and we invited his wife to join us and she was totally into it, and then she even came to church this Sunday and was totally stoked on it! She is really nice and really normal! 

So also, we were going to have interviews this Friday with the new president but it got postponed, so we'll have normal district meetings tomorrow. 

The area centro had an investigator who lives in our area so now she is our investigator I guess but she is 15 and pretty attitude so that will be interesting with my companion, because he is very timid, and not used to talking to people very much at all.
I think everyone should have their kids work or participate in something that makes their kids interact with others because seeing how difficult it is for somebody who has never before does not look fun! 

We played soccer today and this morning, and the cyber was finally open like normal!!!!!! 

 It was sunny for a day and a half and it was sooo nice!!!! I can't wait for summer!!! 

We have sooo much mold on the walls of our house. We have started cleaning a ton. With rags, and then with water and bleach, but it's nasty, you can smell it for like hours after you clean because it like opens it up. Probably not very healthy. 

I love bell peppers and onions now. Something I did not like before, but I seriously love sautéed bell peppers in food. 

So I finished the Book of Mormon finally in spanish, but I've been going slow and reading out loud and marking it so I'm happy! 

I want it to be warmer, but it's great. I love it here. Even though the work is sometimes a little slow, or a little hard, it is still so great being here and talking about the gospel, it just makes me happy! It's great to hear everything is well back at home,I love all of you! 


Top Ten. Not in order!

-Sheridan got a new awesome comp and is killing it!!!!!!
-The cake turned out well! 
-We had family night in the house with the missionaries last night before bed, it was fun! 
-We had two investigators in church! Well, technically like 6 because these 4 boys, but we didn't count them because they are a little crazy haha
-The grilled cheese! 
-Intercambio
-Finished the B.O.M.
-My comp is getting a little bit more comfortable
-It stopped raining (for now)
-Everything is great and I'm on a mission sharing the news about the most important things everrr! I always laugh thinking of my ceramics teacher. When we had to wear dress shirts and ties for lacrosse game days, he would always say, "I'm ready to hear the good news Richmond!" Always make me laugh.

Anyway...The Book of Mormon is amazing! Everyone should read it everyday, it makes life better, it teaches us about Christ and His commandments. 

Elder Richmond





We made grilled cheese with ham one day for lunch... so dank!!!!!


 The cake I made for Elder Perry's birthday.




 The mold on my shoe after one day. 



 The mold on our ceiling while I was cleaning it. 




Elder Delgado and me in a part of my area.



I made bread. It turned out well bc we have bread pans! 


 New Prez and family!




 The warm day!


This is from Elder Perry's camera



Father's day activity!!!! Sooo cute!

Brandon's Forty Eighth Email! July 4th, 2016

So to start off, I'm soaked, and my feet are soaked, and have been all day haha. It's rained a lot this week, I saw the sun like 2 times for probably 1 hour. It is suppppper humid, and EVERYthing is molding. So I pulled out my suit for the conference on Friday, and since Sunday it had mold on the bottom and the sleeves and so I pulled it out (both) and like wiped and cleaned them, My shoes, my PILLOW, hahah so I stuck it in the washing machine. We literally don't know what to do, nothing can dry completely all the time. We open all the windows because inside is like a cloud it's so humid. So anyway, I think by the time I leave this area everything will be mold stained, kind of a bummer, pero que va a hacer.. haha my favorite saying people say here. Like (what are you gonna do) and they say it about Super important things, but are so casual about it haha...

So this email will be kind of short. But Friday we had a conference with half of the mission Friday with The Eddy family (new president and his family). The other half had one on Thursday. 
They arrived Wednesday and the conference was awesome! I'm so excited for him and his family being here. He is young, speaks spanish really well, and they brought 5 kids! One will leave in some weeks but the little kids are so precious! The 16 year old is named Brandon and President Eddy yelled to him during lunch "Hey Brando" and it was so weird haha I like looked so confused. 
Anyway, they are really cool, really nice, and seem really excited to help us out and work with us! 
We went in a rented van at like 9 in the morning and got back at like 7.

So I left El Pinar a long time ago. We had been teaching this teenager namer Aarón and then I left. Well Elder Balke told me at the conference that after Balke left, Aarón got baptized!!!! I was so stoked to hear that, I had no idea. He was Natasha's brother who we started teaching. 

We had some good lessons this week, it's good having lessons so my comp can practice and everything. It's good teaching with him. It's funny thinking that he is newer than me, because I still feel like really unqualified to teach about things so important. I just always am scared I won't be able to help someone see why it's so important. Okay not scared, but if someone doesn't get baptized, it's because they don't understand. If someone actually understands the Gospel of Christ, they would for sure get baptized. 

Okay, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! We sung the national anthem for comp study today hahaha.
Really funny mom got to meet her half cousins in CUBA, really random.


Top Ten.

10. Bought snicker and twix from the supermarket today. Wasted like $2.50 but I think it was worth it. Also, at the conference, we had dank pizza
9. Made chocolate chip cookies! 
8. I can now finally do 10 pull ups.. haha pathetic
7. Fun intercambio with Elder Hayden
6. Got really cool letters this week! Everyone is always amazed by Sheridan's cards (really artistic) 
5. These kids came to church who always play soccer and we had a lesson with them. Really random but it was cool. They're all teenagers and one was super legit, we'll see what happens 
4. Seeing friends in the conference (Elder Mcmillina, Elder Ford)
3. The conference in General
2. President Eddy and his awesome family
1. My companion is working into the mission!

-1. All the stupid mold

But it's alright, I love being here and getting to teach everyday! 

Love you all! 

Elder Richmond


After playing soccer Saturday night



                                                                          From during the week. 
                                                      We all got pizza Thursday night (really cheap) 




At lunch today with a member (super dank)




Elder Hayden and cookies


The elders from my group.


Conference!



The old zone of Durazno


Elder Lockhart



Elder Carroll