Brandon's Sixtieth Email! September 26th, 2016

This week went by sooo quickly, but very slowly also! We walk so much; It's nice kind of because I feel like it's more exercise but it's a ton of time on my feet. But the week was very broken up which was awesome. Last night I was talking on the phone and someone asked me if I could send them an email tomorrow on p-day and I was so confused, it felt too soon.

So thanks Jessica and Chase for the tie and socks you sent me!! Super fun!!

Sheridan, super artistic letters haha. I just got a text saying the senior missionaries brought a few more from Montevideo right now.

We had a really cool experience this week. We knocked a door and this lady didn't want anything but we were a little persistent. We just stood there after she kind of told us off and talked about Christ and she said fine, pass. We read from the Book of Mormon and it softened her heart. I know she felt the spirit of the message because by the time she left she said don't forget to pass by! We are excited to see how she goes. I know that everyone has the light of Christ, and am so thankful for the moments when somebody obviously feels the influence of the spirit.

We had a fun intercambio with a DL this week. I went with Elder Peterson in my area. He is really cool, we started the mission almost at the same time.

Thursday we have interviews with President. We aren't having a conference. We'll have our interviews and then my comp and I are going to have lunch with him, then he'll finish interviews and then in the afternoon he is going to work in our area with us for a bit!! Super excited!!! 

We went to the senior missionary's house to surprise the wife with cookies for her birthday. I was talking to her husband and he was like go inside the house. I left the door open, and I was like okay, you are giving me permission to go in right?? haha but it was fun, my comp makes dank snickerdoodles! 

I don't have a lot of time! But we have been using the Book of Mormon so much, I love it, we handed out a lot this week!! 

Top ten.

10. I actually really enjoy mate (pronounced mah-tay) now, it's nice and cheap 

9. My comp and I got sick jump ropes today! I love jump roping!!!

8. The weather is getting nice!!!

7. We have lunches in this area almost everyday!!!

6. Always supportive letters from Sher

5. Sick tie and socks from the wedding from Chase and J

4. The Wall family, the senior missionaries are awesome!

3. MY comp is rad and we're totally friends.

2. I love my journal. Looking back now over a year ago, and seeing how I've changed is so weird. Really glad I've been diligent on that.

1. Using the Book of Mormon and seeing how it touches people

Love you all!!!

Read the B.O.M.

Elder Richmond

 I don't have a lot of time, but pictures tell a thousand words? What's the saying?

 25 de mayo!!!

A little town of like 2000 people in our area we are starting to work in! 

We went there one day this week

The chocolate mate stuff.

 DANK BURRITOS 

These last three are from my companion's camera-

Brandon's Fifty Ninth Email! September 19th, 2016

HEY!

I'm very excited about my new area!!! So it's Estación Florida, if you want to look it up and a ward locator online to see my area on google maps (through the church's site) IT'S HUGE!! We have a lot of little campo houses and one pueblito called 25 de mayo. We have a small slice of the city, but the sisters have most of it. There are 4 sisters and 4 elders here. The 4 elders live together, then in our zone there are two more small elder areas in the middle of nowhere. 

I live with Elder Villacillos (my comp, SUPER rad and fun and funny and a good teacher and everything), and Elder Valqui (from Peru) and Elder Teixeira (from Brazil). It's funny because Elder Teixeira is in his second transfer and speaks half Portuguese still. Like always says, "Está me hablando?" Instead of, "Está hablándome?" It's funny. And despois instead of despues... He is really crazy and funny. I like the house.

The branch has about 40 in attendance. My companion and I gave talks this Sunday, it went well! Some member's son lives in San Clemente, and he totally knows San Diego, so that was cool! We have counselors and a secretary, so that's awesome!! 

Dad, could you send me the before picture of my XS 400 please?

And the date of your marriage for my family pamphlet?

So we were in a lesson with this guy and I said, "Cool well, do you still use it?" And he said, "No we closed it off." And I asked why and he said, "Oh, some lady killed herself in it before we moved in. Hold on a sec."

So then he went inside and had a shoebox full of the lady's photos and showed them to us and we were like terrified like why do you have these? And he said he even had the note she left... we were like okay that'ssss enough... Super crazy how he described it so detailed and we were like why are you telling us this. I don't get why some people are so random... it was so sad the story.

Well I don't have much to say. I packed and everything and changed areas. My area is exciting, and my comp is great, he has been here two transfers so it's likely that he will go, but maybe not! 

We had that meeting on Friday with Elder Teixeira and it was really cool. I learned a lot from some of the ideas we talked about. My companion and I were giving an accounting of the progress of the zone and he pulls out this huge cannon and took photos and we were like ummm... it was funny because it was just of ours. He speaks Port, Spanish, and was throwing in funny english sentences too. He must be very very smart. That was an all day thing. 

I'm excited, we have our zone conference tomorrow and then we'll have divisions where Elder Peterson and his trainee will come to our area.

Well, that's pretty much all I have to say for now, hopefully I'll have cool stories for next week! We're really excited to find people to teach in the fields sort of, and always use the Book of Mormon! 

Top Ten (not in order)

-The AWESOME gaucho store here. They have soo much stuff, like cool leather things.

-They have like chocolate mate pretty much; It's like cocoa shells that you put hot milk into and use a bombilla and everything, super tasty. 

-My new area seems really full of potential

-My new comp is really cool, easy going, hardworking. I'm excited

-WE HAVE LUNCH ALMOST EVERY DAY!!!!!!

-Our area is large! Kind of overwhelming, but less constrained than Rocha.

-Using the Book of Mormon reminds me why I need to be here, to help others learn of all of the truths we know thanks to the Book of Mormon. And the fact that they can know Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that our church has a true prophet! 

-We went in the morning to these random hills in the grass fields we could see from the outskirts, none of them had talked to missionaries, and we gave all of them copies of the Book of Mormon!

-We can drink mate in our house now. My comp likes it too so in the morning we just heat up water and have our mate.

-I'm really excited to meet all the people in my area and zone and just try and work my very hardest so that everything progresses! 

I love this work! Elder Richmond

 Excursion to Brazil yewwww hahah sooo good!!! 

 Chicken hearts!! 

 Saying bye to people in Rocha. 

Angelito- he knew Elder Scott!!!

 the atez family

Paulo

 The plaza in Rocha as I left

 Elder Mcmillian in Montevideo

 The house in Florida

My companion and me

  Elder Peterson and his comp

Elder Teixeira eating rice I dyed blue haha

Brandon's Fifty Eighth Email! September 13th, 2016

Hey!!! Fun week, so Tuesday I think it was, we had District meetings, and the WHOLE afternoon was going from lessons with investigators to other lessons with investigators, it was so fun! It was like the first time that we have had that in Rocha.. it was short lived... but whatever. I love the Book of Mormon, getting to teach and testify about it all day long.  We had one lesson with an inactive lady from another church who was kind of just in disagreement with everything and we told her how and why we knew the Book of Mormon was true, and what that means to us and she changed, it was nice to see. 

THEY CAME OUT WITH A SPANISH QUAD! And they are sooo nice! They open normally, unlike the old triple and bible, so they must've fixed the binding problem. 

We had temple conference on Friday and it was super great, I really had missed the temple. Elder Ford and Gomez were there too so it was really fun! We were eating pizza (the best I've eaten in my mission) and my comp wasn't smiling at all or talking because he never does because he says it takes too much effort, and president and his wife were sitting in front of us (they are SO cool, like just normal, nice, but super spiritual people. They have their family and live the gospel, it's awesome.) and I asked my comp le gusta? And he was like si, està bien. But super plainly, and president was like, "Disfrutalo vos!!" Haha which is like the Uruguay/Argentina dialect which we aren't allowed to use as missionaries, but president said it to my comp 

Elder Hayden, my friend from this zone who was going to come to Chuy today got assigned to be secretary, and took off on Saturday to go get special training. 

We are in Chuy right now, Elder Sarkady and I are going to be together all day, and we will eat at the Spectu's which is sooo dank!!!!!!!!!!! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!!!! Not totally sure how old you are, probably 22? 

I am getting transferred mañana to Estaciòn, Florida (in Uruguay, not the U.S. Mom).

Elder Villacillos from Arizona will be my comp, I'm really excited, I've heard good things!! So I'll be there tomorrow afternoon. Friday afternoon there is a conference in Carrassco, and Elder Texiera will be there, so I'm really excited and a little bit anxious! 

Anyway, that's it for this week! It was sad saying bye to Gastòn and Yesica in Rocha. I really just want the best for them, to get married and baptized and eventually sealed! It was really sad. Whenever I think about all of the people in my last area it makes me sad, like Terezinha and Hermana Sosa! 

Top Ten

-Excited for my new area

-Super fun lesson-filled day

-Sheridan had another baptism!!!!! So cute

-Temple conference

-Lunch I will eat today!!!

-Fun two changes with Elder Cristobal!

-Conference this Friday! 

-Stuff Elder Johnson is giving me because he is ending the mission (I'll take a pic of the stuff next week)

-It seems like it's getting warmer (even though it's raining sooo much)

-All of the great amazing treats they have here in Brazil for SOOOO cheap. Good thing I'm not in Brazil. I'd explode. 

Funny how like most of my best friends went to, are in, or will go to Brazil. Including father!

Love you all,

Elder Richmond

 My comp eating tacos with his normal face, 

and then the next picture is when I forced him to eat as if he enjoyed it hahah

 Bread! Turned out legit like normal bread this time!

 I learned how to do it!!!!! 

 Hemano Salaberry

Okay, funny graffiti. This says Vamos Bien. But like it's just funny spanish.

 Sometimes my comp says he feels bad that I'm learning spanish here because it's so mixed up.

 Hermana Suarez and Redìn

 Gaston and Yesica 

Brandon's Fifty Seventh Email! September 5th, 2016

I have had some really funny rejections if somebody hears the word Mormon. Like door slammed instantly and lock turned as if we were going to break in and take everything haha. It's really sad actually because it's likely that they never accept the gospel, but a little bit entertaining at the same time. We're the last people they need to worry about! 

So before I forget, P-DAY NEXT WEEK IS TUESDAY, like it is every 6 weeks (so don't get concerned every 6 weeks) hahah... The following day, we have transfers... there is about a 95% chance I'll leave, but I'll let you know next Tuesday. We are going to Chui so it'll be kind of nuts. We hear Monday night, Tuesday all p-day we'll be in Chui, we'll come home at 9 and then I'll have to finish packing, then Wednesday have the crazy Tres Cruces struggle with my bags and busses! 

So I've made a bunch of bread this week! Maybe not a bunch, but a bunch for mixing and kneading by hand because we obviously don't have kitchen aids. A couple kilos. We have non stick loaf pans so it's no worries. Everything else is destroyed, so it's cool using good pans. Today I am making a cake for Elder Sarkady but it's so ghetto, I used two totally different pans without handles to cook them this morning so it'll be a tower, not a straight even cake haha.

We have temple conference on Friday!!!! We will leave really early I imagine, go there and I've heard that with the new president it is really quick, but I'm excited to go, I feel like I haven't been in FOREVER! Excited for when I'm home and can go a lot! 

We had two intercambios this week. On Wednesday my comp and I both worked in the area of the LZ in divisions. It was fun, I was with Elder Palomino and we had a good day! 

On Friday I went to La Paloma with Elder Sarkady and it was good! We could do a lot of contacts because that's something that is kind of hard in their area. (Summer town that is dead in the winter) and we were like right by the house at 8:30 but it was early and so we decided to just go around and look for any house with light and the first one we came to was a young father (holding his precious baby) who invited us in and said curiosity just struck him, and we taught him about the plan of happiness and it was good! He said his pareja (live in girlfriend, it's how everyone lives here) would like to hear also and so they will teach them together! It really was a blessing for deciding to work a little more even though it was really cold and kind of raining!!! I really hope families like theirs can listen and receive all the blessings that they could have!!!

That's pretty much all I have to report. We have been doing lots of contacts; It's been somewhat hard because it's been raining a lot, but we're really trying to get them in!!! I love telling people about the gospel!!! I think the best thing will be when I have my own family and can invite people over to learn about this plan so special, and great!!!!! Sometimes I feel tired to do contacts, but after I talk to the first person, I always realize what I'm actually saying and how important it is, and then I get stoked to tell everyone hahah. 

Top Ten.

Not in order 

-Intercambio with 1B (LZ) 

-Intercambio with La Paloma

-Centro had a baptism (a really cool 18 year old)

-Teaching that new investigator in La Paloma

-Excited for temple conference!!!

-Cool seeing photos of Jessica's wedding, congrats!

-Going to eat cake today! 

-I remembered my converter for photos (always frustrating when I always forget something)

-We had two investigators in church this week

-Getting to see hear a lot of funny things in the street! 

I love my mission. Obviously at times it's hard to do whatever it is I'm going to do at the moment, but in general haha. 

Chao Chao todoossss,

Elder Richmond

Pics from like 2 weeks ago on my b-day.

 The package Sheridan sent me!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So Fun!! I opened it in the bus on the way back!!! 

  Above bead and below a dessert pizza that I made last night. 

The dessert pizza is like cinnamon stix from pizza pie