St. George Area, New Comp Elder Bravo

Hola Padres!                    28 March    2011

        I will begin my epistle by saying that I had another great week and have seen a bunch of little miracles come about. The work is still ridiculous! We have taught 42 lessons in back to back weeks. That isn’t for the two weeks combined, that is just for one week. We are definitely leading our zone, and are probably in contention for leading the mission, if not leading the mission. We have been working super super hard everyday and really taking our calling seriously. We talk to everyone and try to teach them something about the Restored Gospel. This was shown when one day we had 15 lessons. That is more then I have had in some weeks of my mission. That is one miracle in itself right there.

We had two miracle baptisms last week. We got a call from our Branch President and said there was a family that wanted to be baptized that week. So of course we didn’t say no to that. In one week they got married, baptized, one of them had surgery, and after all that they then were confirmed on Sunday night. Talk about a crazy week!

The baptismal service was amazing. The one scary thing was I did have to give a talk about the Holy Ghost, in SPANISH! I was so nervous. I had never given a talk in Spanish before, I had only just talked to people and given lessons or thoughts, but never a talk standing in front of a bunch of people. I was so so so nervous, but my nerves were calmed as I stood before everyone and just did work on the talk. I would have sent some pictures this week of the baptism and my companion and I, but somehow I lost my camera cord.  I will continue to look for it throughout the week and hopefully I will find it, or I will have to come up with some alternate way of sending pictures.

With all these miracles and things, I am really starting to understand how "by small and simple things, great things are come to pass". We just go out and continue to do the work, and don’t think that we are doing anything out of the ordinary, but we are blessed. For example, on Saturday it was pouring down rain and we were out walking around, and weren’t having too much success. So we decided to go get some lunch before we planned for the week. We went to this Mexican restaurant to eat. While we were there we had two different people come up to us and start talking to us. So when you talk to missionaries, of course the Gospel is going to get brought up. One of the guys we talked to wanted us to come by and teach him more and clear up some questions that he has. We just went to get some lunch, but we were able to teach two different people! That was a small and simple thing, and maybe it will turn into a great thing.

Now onto the Spanish thing. I have really been trying to speak it more and it really is helping a ton. Speaking it makes it to where you can really understand it better. I think I am doing well, but there are mixed results and reactions from the people I talk to. Some people are really impressed with my Spanish, and others say"your Spanish is terrible" but I guess it is just on how you look at it. It isn’t easy to learn a language in just 6 months. I know this is definitely true, since the people I talk to live here and have trouble speaking English, even though they have lived here for 20 years. But I have gone from nothing to being able to speak Spanish in just 6 months. So I think that is a pretty fair accomplishment that not all native speakers understand. I still have a long way to go before I am fluent and a master of the language. I just need to keep my studies going and make sure I use that time effectively.

I am really enjoying Elder Bravo. We seem to get a lot done and work hard, but we also seem to have a ton of fun. We are both relaxed and go with the flow kind of guys and that helps us bond. We just need to work on a few things here and there to be a little better in some areas that we are lacking.

The weather here has been bi-polar. I thought I was in St. George, not Seattle. All last week it was just super overcast, and drizzly. Then the next day it was like 65 and nice out. It was back and forth all week until Saturday when it just poured all day. On Sunday it was 75 and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky! I don’t if I am just being protected from the heat or what, but I think I will be happy for this weather or looking for weather like this in July!

It is ridiculous that another week has come and gone. I feel that my mission is flying by so fast. Sometimes I am not sure how I feel about it, whether I want the time to slow down or speed up. I just keep going and working, and then the days come and go and then weeks, and then months. I guess the next step is going to be years. WOW! When I first got to the MTC, everything felt like an eternity, now I blink and three weeks are gone. I don’t know if this is just how it feels to be me or is that how you are feeling as well. 

Well it sure sounds like a lot is going on back at home. Staying busy really helps! It is good to hear that Trevor (Lott) is doing well. I did know that he was still in the States at the MTC here. Jett and I email back and forth every so often. We encourage each other and experience a little bit from each other. But visa problems are big things lately, especially going to Brazil. Not to kill anyone’s hopes, but we have had a missionary that is here, who has been waiting for a visa for 6 months. So visas are getting tougher to come by. So who knows Trevor may get it soon and be off for Brazil, or he could finish the two months at the MTC and then get reassigned temporarily to another mission, maybe even the St. George Mission. We seem to get a lot of  "Visa Waiters" as they are called here.  I love you all and appreciate your support! Make each day better then the last!

Live it, Love it, Preach it!            Te Amo   ELDER D