Christmas phone call

There are 3 new posts here.  So look back in the blog archive to read them.

Friday, December 24 (phone call)
We sat around a speaker phone and talked to Brandon for about 40 minutes.  He said he has been assigned to a companion that is from Guatemala and they are in the city of Managua.  Their apartment is very simple with a dirty floor, concrete walls and tin roof.  They sleep on a mattress. no hot water. They eat at a member's house each night.  She is their cook and will also wash their clothes.  They get up at 6:30 each morning and have study and get ready time.  For breakfast, they buy a piece of bread or a roll on the way to the bus.  they walk around and visit church members, talk to their friends and neighbors about the church.  Many people are interested and there are usually people ready to be baptized each weekend.  He said the lessons are short.  Everyone has been really nice. They have to be back home in their apartment by 9pm.

He said the native people are hard to understand, they talk fast and leave off the ends of their words.  Other missionaries he can understand ok because they pronounce their words more clearly.  He said he can reply back ok in spanish. His companion doesn't speak english, so he is teaching him some english, but they talk all spanish to each other.

For Christmas the people have christmas trees and lights on their houses.  There will be fireworks at midnight.  they have eaten 3 times already today.  One family made pizza.  But he usually sees rice and chicken.  They will go around and do more visits on Christmas day.

It is hot, 90 degrees.  Mosquitos and big bugs. sometimes he sees lizards crawling on the walls. He said they played soccer with some other missionaries and members on their P-day.  There are soccer goals in the parking area of the church.

He is happy and doing well.  We know he is safe and the members will watch over him and keep him safe.  He is excited to teach the people about Jesus Christ, and teach them about Heavenly Father's plan for families to be together forever.  The gospel can bring peace to our lives as we repent and choose to follow Jesus Christ.  Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy.

Have a wonderful Christmas with your family!!

First 2 days in Nicaragua

Mon, December 20, 2010

Hola mi familia!!! Im still alive!! Nicaragua is crazy!! But I love it here. I hope things are well back home.

So I made it here ok.  The flight was long but good. There were movies going on in front of every seat, so it was kinda hard to stay focus and not look at the screens. So eventually I decided the best idea was to sleep! our first day was pretty laid back. They drove us around, we met the mission president, then took us back to the mission house to get some more sleep. Then the mission present took us out to dinner to this place called Tacontento... it was like mexican food really good!! Driving here is crazy! The missionaries have this nice toyota truck, and they just had all of us new kids jump in the back. There are no speeding rules. The police men only pull you over if you are illegally parked or on a cross walk or something. And you will love this... Honking your horn is a courtesy! haha so everyone drives with one hand on the wheel, and the other on the horn, just honking to let everyone know you are driving by them.

Currently I haven't been assigned to a companion or a zone yet. They just paired us up with some elders that are in the city. We get our assignments and everything on Wednesday I think. I got paired up with the zone leader, Elder Availa, he is a native from Honduras. I am extremly lucky. Most of the other elders were paired with two new missionaries, and I have one all to myself. He has helped my spanish a ton. In just a couple days, I have learned tons of words. The nicaraguans here are very hard to understand, They never pronounce the last part of their words...ever. I am catching on though. I’ve been extremly lucky. Since I was in intermediate class, I have been able to catch on a little faster than the other new missionaries.

Teaching here is amazing. So amazing. I have only known these investigators for a couple of days but I love them. We are in the really poor parts right now. Most of the families we teach live in these houses with dirt floors, concrete walls, and a shack over their head. Oh and a whole lot of bugs haha. One lesson, we got to sit on a bicycle seat. It was really cool because I got to invite some investigators to church, and then got to actually see them at church the next day. 

Church was a lot of fun. Everyone is really nice and trys to speak slowly for us. I went with elder availia and his companion, so there were just the three of us in the ward. (the other new missionaries went with their missionaries to their wards, There are actually a bunch of wards in the city of Managua). The speakers were really hard to understand. They have sunday school classes for the adults, and then a separate one for converts. for the converts class, the missionaries play rock paper scissors to see who does the lesson. Luckily I did not lose haha. The best part of sunday was, the elders played a trick on me and told me they wanted to show me something in one of the rooms. I walk in and it was the primary!! They sat me in front of the whole primary, and had me answer questions and share a spiritual thought with the kids. The kids were awesome, but speak spanish really really fast haha. At the end, one of the boys came over and gave me this little plastic toy spaceship. He was so cool. His name was Juan. 

I look forward to talking to you on Christmas!  Love you!

Goodbye to MTC -12/14

Tuesday, Dec 14

Im sorry this weeks message is really short... Iv spent all day helping my companion get shipped off to texas and then start packing myself. We also got to go to the temple. We have choir practice in only a few minutes!!

 

This week has been pretty good. I am feeling a lot better. Actually 100 percent now! I am definitely ready to get out of here, I am mostly packed. All I need to do is throw all my clothes in the suitcase. YEAAH! Im leaving a whole week before others in my district.  So they are all sad, but excited for me. Same with my teachers, I am going to really miss all of them. Its exciting too, because all of them are planning on going to school here in utah.

 

This week I got to be a host missionary (help the new kids) It was a blast. I thought our departure was really sad,until I saw some missionaries crying twice as much. It was definitely an awesome experience. It was cool to shake the parents hand, and assure them their son is going to be fine. In a meeting before, they told us to not to speak in our mission language so we dont freak the missionaries out. A lot of the people I helped were foreign, Two of them from london. It was cool to talk to them. They though utah was warm =]

 

I sent a bunch of pictures home, you can open them right away and look. But dont open the cylinder package!! Thats for christmas!!!

 

I got some letters from a lot of people this week. I feel bad because I had no time to write letters back today. Tell Sister Homer thanks a ton for the letters from primary. I loved them. And tell mark I say hi too! Aunt Jen sent me a lovely card, So thanks aunt Jen! Same with grandma and grandpa!! And thank you Scotts for your package. It brightened my day!! I found the letters to be hilarious. Especially Darrens buff picture.

 

Thanks for everything. Sorry again this letter is short. I Will talk to you in two days!!! Thats still ok right? Thursday late at night.. sometime before 12:20.

 

I love you all and i will keep you in my prayers. Talk to you soon!

 

Tina's note:  We did talk for about one hour on the phone Thursday night.  He called from the airport.  He was traveling with 7 other missionaries that were going to Nicaragua also.  He had not met them before, they were in different districts in the MTC.  They had a layover in Atlanta for 4 hours before going to Nicaragua. .  He is excited to start living in Nicaragua and meet and serve the people there.  

Brandon 11/30 and 12/6

I got busy this week sewing a dress for Amanda for the Christmas Dance.  I am pleased that it sewed up easily and she looked very pretty in it. 

Here are Brandon's letters for the past 2 weeks.  He leaves for Nicaragua this Thursday.  
We can send him letters by DearElder.com.

Tue, November 30, 2010

Hey family!!

 This week has been awesome. I’m glad you guys had a great thanksgiving! its been great over here. One of the most memorable thanksgivings I have ever had!

 In the morning of thanksgiving, we had a fireside with Elder Holland! it was so good, he talked about how he was grateful for the atonement. It was kinda a different fireside, I didnt spend a whole lot of time writing notes or anything, everything he said went straight to the heart. I am so grateful for the atonement. I could feel the saviors love in that meeting. He also had some missionaries give their testimony and it was super cool. One of them was a missionary that had cystic fibrosis. He grew up not knowing if he would live long enough to go on a mission. The next was a convert from china, in china, you cannot speak about religion in public. and even when they sang hymns in an apartment, they had to whisper! The other was a lady from africa whose family are not members but are very supportive. Their testimonies were awesome.

 We also got to do some service for humanitarian aid services. I got to cut out material for backpacks. Im hoping that when I get to nicaragua, I get to see someone using one of these backpacks. the guy working next to me was from finland and he was really interesting. He said he watched the office and the event from finland!

 So the food schedule was that our thanksgiving dinner was during lunch, and than we would have sack lunches for dinner so all the workers could be with family. The dinner was surprising very good...the sack lunch... not so much haha.

 Our teacher went on vacation to mexico for thanksgiving and brought back candy from us... Lets just say I hope nicaragua candy is a little bit better! or maybe our teacher just picked out the most disgusting ones! haha the one I had was a sucker that was "corn and chile" flavored. YUCK

Basketball this week was kinda rough. On friday, I got accidentally punched in the face hahah. I got a bruise on my head and the skin around my eye was kinda a weird color... It all went away in a little over a day though. Then, the next day i got hit again, this time giving me a bloody nose! haha I think next gym time i will just run for the whole time =].

I hope things are going well over there! I got a package from the price family today and everyone was jealous cause I pulled out three ties along with it! haha

I love you guys and hope everything is going well!

 _________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday, December 07, 2010  

hey guys!

Only 9 more days! how crazy is that? I got your package today. Thanks a ton! Its gonna be really hard to keep that present till christmas but I guess I will do that.

This week has been a tad different. First, I got a new companion. He is way cool and from southern california, going to chile. He was supposed to leave a week ago but he has had to stay to finish some things with his branch president and at clinical services. I guess they though I would love one last new companion! He is super cool and I love teaching with him. He has brought a lot of good stuff into our district... but he did bring one bad thing.. sickness.

I got kinda sick this week. I lost my voice earlier this week, and then had a fever and everything else a couple days ago. So I got sent to the doctor. He gave me some antibiotics and some mucinex. And then told me to go quarantine myself. I think getting all the extra sleep has helped though! Im starting to feel better.

 My new companion also goes to the same clinical services that elder caggiano went to. I think the secretary there thinks I make all my companions go through counseling haha. But the people on the staff are all pretty cool. While I was waiting during one of the appointments, the secretary asked if I wanted to help put up the Christmas tree and other decorations. It was super fun and reminded me of home.

We got to hear from Julie Beck the other tuesday. It was super cool to hear her stories of growing up in the mission home of Brazil. We also got to see the Christmas Devotional. I loved how President Uctdorf talked about the grinch in his story!

Another thing we did earlier this week was go to the referral center again. Only this time, my teacher challenged me to do it in spanish! I was kinda nervous, but my teacher promised to be there to help me. I got nothing but answering machines at first! Then all the sudden I got a incoming call (which is pretty rare, we usually only get a couple of those every time we come, most of ours are outbound calls.) I quickly answered the phone and spoke in spanish. Then I realized my teacher was in the bathroom!! panicking a little, I said a prayer hoping the person would speak slow enough for me to understand.... there was kinda a long pause. Then he said "uh.... do you speak english?" it was one of the technical support people asking if the phone lines were working!!

 Overall things are going really good over here. I got my travel plans, I leave in the middle of the night! and have a 4 hour lay over in Atlanta. I will call you from the airport.

Tell grandma and grandpa Scadden I said hi! I really enjoyed their letter. Im bummed I wont get to see them!!

I love you all and I will talk to you later.

Brandon

Brandon - happy thanksgiving

Hey guys! Thanks for the emails. This week went by really fast. I cannot believe it’s already Tuesday again.

Last Sunday we got to hear from Elder Pearson from the 70. It was really good. He talked about how we are more than just missionaries, we are disciples of God. It got me to work harder this week! We started a new goal for this week, say everything in spanish! if you need to say something in english, you have to sing it! haha it gets quite embarrassing to sing it. We also got a new district in our branch that is all native spanish speakers. They are super funny, and I think they would be even funnier if I could actually understand what they are saying. We think that Heavenly Father put them in our branch to keep us humble and working hard.

 Earlier this week we did this activity where we brought pictures of our family and sweethearts. It was pretty funny. the sisters won’t stop talking about Nate.... Some of the Elders want to know if Amanda will write them. haha

 Yeah I’m still in choir and loving it!! Today we are singing “Come Thou Fount” in the fireside. There is a rumor going around saying that the speaker will be someone good, since its the week of Thanksgiving!

 haha and another side note, do you think I look like David Archeletta? I’ve had a lot of people tell me that. I think they are going crazy here in the mtc.

 I have not been able to be a host for new people yet. We just learned the other day that you have to sign up for it. I’ve seen a lot of people from Davis. I see Jace and Neal like almost every other day. I can’t believe Grandma and Grandpa S. are not coming!! I was excited to see them. oh well they are missing out.

 I got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa E. and sounds like they are doing really good. It was good to hear from them.

 Thanks for everything and I will keep you guys in my prayers! Happy Thanksgiving! and make sure to eat my share of the food! I think we are getting sack lunches so the cafeteria people don’t have to work!(I'm kidding)

Love you all,

brandon - another awesome week

Hey! guys! thanks for the emails! This week has been great!

This has been an awesome week. I love it here. We got to hear from another apostle! David Bednar. He is probably one of my favorites. We also got to hear from Sheri Dew. She was really good.

            Elder Caggiano left and it was so sad but I’m happy for him. The Lord has huge plans for him, and he has already made a big impact on my life.

This week we got to go to the referral center. It was super cool. We get to call back families and people that have either been referred, called the LDS number from a dvd, or recently ordered a pamphlet, Book of Mormon or dvd. At first it was really frustrating. I got the answering machine or "not interested" every time. I made 80 straight calls (yes I counted) and no success. It was kinda hard too because everyone else was getting to talk to people and stuff.  I decided to say a prayer, we only had about 20 minutes left. On call 83, I got someone! It was an amazing experience. I talked to her for the whole 20 minutes. She was a mother, and thinks she will probably die from cancer within the next year. It was amazing to hear her testimony. The spirit told me exactly what to say. I got to bear my testimony, and tell her the impact the gospel has had on my life. She agreed to receive a Joy to the World dvd, and maybe have the missionaries come over to teach her family. That one call made the 80 previous answering machines worth it.

            Thanks for your prayers and everything you do. I’m doing great out here. My spanish is awesome. Also tell thanks to the Branhams, they left me a note the other day. I also got a letter from Lexie, Tyler and Evan from Chicago. tell them thanks! their addresses were not on the letter.

Brandon - week 3

Hello family!

This week has been so awesome and one of the most spiritual ones. We had another apostle speak to us! Elder Russell M Nelson. And on Sunday we had Sheri Dew speak to us. I was very impressed and learned a lot. Sheri Dew is one of my favorite people in the world now.

I got your package today! thanks a ton!  I love the sweater.. its perfect timing to because it is snowing this very instant.

I got a new companion this week. His name is Elder Caggiano and he is amazing. He is going to Nicaragua and has been here for 14 weeks. 4 weeks ago, he was suppose to leave in 4 days, but he busted his ankle in gym. So for the last 4 weeks he has been on crutches and helping... his last companion just left for Argentina and he is now my companion. He is an inspiration to all of us. He is a super hard worker and only wants to serve till he leaves.... everyday while we go to gym, he sits on the stairs and sings hymns. Its also a good opportunity to serve him too.. since he cannot really do anything.

Sunday was an awesome experience though, we had a meeting with the branch president - just me and my companion. Elder Caggiano, talked about how hard of a time he is having here and confused on whats going on.... I got to bare my testimony to him in that meeting and it was a neat experience. Later in the day, he asked me to give him a blessing. I was so nervous. Giving a blessing was such an amazing experience though. The Lord put words in my mouth. At first I felt kinda discouraged, I did not feel like I gave that all of an amazing blessing, I did not promise any blessings or immediate healings. One thing that stood out to me was "although it seems like many things are going wrong, everything is going exactly how the Lord wants it." Later that night, I felt impressed to share with my companion a scripture. It was about never giving up. I shared it with him and he said he had just been reading that scripture. He then went to tell me that the blessing helped a lot, its exactly what he needed. I was really touched by the spirit. He said last night he had been staying up at night and he had the thought in his head that "there is something you need at home"....

I went with him to his Doctor appt. Sure enough we got an MRI for him and the doctor says he needs 4 more weeks.. which means he will have to go home and come back. He promised that no matter what, he will do everything to make sure he completes the rest of his mission, but first he needs to figure out what he needs at home...

I love it here, things are going great, I got to leave the mtc this week for the foot doctor appt. It was kinda weird cause there was a tv on and magazines on the tables... I kinda just found a corner and read my scriptures. It seemed like everyone just stared at me hahah

good luck with everything at home.

love ya,

Brandon - week 2

Hola familia!

The MTC is so freaking awesome. I love it here. lots has happen this week.. and Im still getting used to timing myself with my limited 30 minutes on the computer, so I will probably only get to one big letter.

This tuesday, we got to here from Richard G. Scott! It was so awesome. He talked about the holy ghost. I learned a tons, he also gave us an apostolic blessing with safety and the gift of tongues. It strengthened my testimony on apostles being called of God, but also how every other position is called of god... like my companions, branch president and so on.

We watched "Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Restoration" on Sunday.. it was like watching Remember the Titans before a football game.. got us so pumped!

The gift of tongues is definitely doing wonders with me. I've learned so much spanish... My vocab has probably multiplied so many times I cannot keep track. We are speaking mostly in spanish now, I still mess up every now and then though. The other day, we were teaching an "investigator" and I got excited and really into it, but I suddenly realized the investigator was laughing.. I then realized I had just said "Jesus is our son" instead of brother... whoops!

There was a hermana in our district that has gotten pretty sick and was not getting better after a week, so she asked us for a blessing. It was a super cool experience, and guess what? She was back to 100% the next day!

I think thats way funny that Amanda dressed up as me for Halloween! I hope you guys had tons of fun. I miss you guys so much, thank you for praying for me. I can definitely see all the blessings!!!

My companions talked me into joining choir. Its actually way fun! I love it... I think my voice is getting better too. I've never had the spirit testify to me through music as much as this. We are actually singing today.. so wish me luck!!

 oh and here is your joke for the week.... is your name virtue? cause you garnish my thoughts unceasingly!

Brandon - our missionary!

Brandon is in the MTC (Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT) for about 2 months.  Then he will leave for Nicaragua for the next 2 years.

His first letter was written at the end of his first day.
"Things are awsome.  Today has gone by fast.  I got put into the intermediate class for Spanish.  Most of the others in the class have been at the MTC for a couple of weeks, so it will be challenging.  My companion is awsome.  We are already best friends. He is from Sacramento.  He has a great testimony and funny sense of humor.  The MTC is awesome.  The spirit is so strong and everyone is so friendly.  I've seen Jace and other friends from Davis High.  My estimated departure to Nigaragua is Dec 16. This is where I am suppose to be.  Don't miss me too much. :) "

We got an email about his first week.
Oct 26, 2010

Hey family!

Things are going great here though. I lost my companion on the second day... he decided to try to test out of spanish class so he could leave for nicaragua earlier... and he passed. So my companion got moved to an advanced spanish district and I was left alone!

Things have gotten a lot better though. I am finally starting to catch onto spanish. I have learned so much spanish. The lord has really answered my prayer for the gift of tongues. I saw Jace Bowen earlier today during breakfast and I got to bare my testimony to him in spanish, it was a cool experience. My teachers are really cool. They both just got back from their mission about a year ago. I got put into the other companionship in my room, so we are now a trio. They are so awesome. One is Elder Straight from Riverton, he is funny but has a strong testimony of christ. The other is Elder Roads, and he is goofy but awesome to be around too. In our district we also have four other sister missionaries. They are so fun to be around and help us with our spanish and everything else.

Everyday we get an hour of gym time, and so far we have played basketball everyday. For some reason my basketball game has been red hot all week. I did not even miss a free throw for the first four days... haha my companions called me Elder Deron Williams for a little while...

The spirit is so strong here. We had an awesome sunday with great lessons. His main focus was on "how will the lord introduce us?" will he introduce us like our brother, "this is my beloved son, hear him." we also had a fireside and the speaker was very funny but said a lot of comforting things. It was also funny because he had this girl come up that told a story how she was engaged to her finance after waiting for him after his mission, and then she felt the prompting she needed to go on a mission, so she cancelled her wedding!

The food here is surprisingly really good. I also like how we get unlimitied chocolate milk every meal. We got some tips to avoid the combo line no matter what is in it... and never drink the orange juice... haha

Everyone here is awesome. I love my teachers, my companions, my district, and everyone else here. I know this is exactly where I am suppose to be. There is a feeling here like no where else. I hope everything over there is going awesome. Thanks for your suppost and I know you will be blessed. Send me some mail sometime.... I get kinda lonely =]

"Why did the Lamanites always have sore knees? because of the Knee-fights!