April 24, 2017 in Newport Maine

Hey family and friends!

We had a GREAT week! So Tuesday we had a meeting in Manchester with all the other Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, and the Mission Presidency, Assistants to the President and the Sister Training Leader Trainers (we basically have Sister Assistants as well. President Blair started that just a few transfers ago.) We learned a lot and talked about a ton of stuff. It was super awesome! :) I also got to see a bunch of mission friends so that was fun too!

The rest of the week was great as well! We had exchanges with the Waterville Elders and we got to meet and talk with some awesome people! I was with Elder S. who has been out for 4 months and who is 25! He is such an awesome guy, I like him a lot. He has an awesome story of how he got out on a mission, and the main point of it was that God doesn't give up on us. If we really ask if things are true, God will let us know if we really seek it out! We also tried Fruit Loops milkshakes from Burger King and they were pretty good! Solid 9/10, would try again!

Something else that was awesome this week was that even though we had that meeting Tuesday, we worked hard and prayed for help and talked with everyone we saw and met and started teaching 13 new people! It was super awesome, it was so much fun to find and get to talk to so many new people! Meeting people is great! :)

One cool story with the people we started teaching is with a couple, Z. and A. We met them at the Easter Egg Hunt thing for the city last week and they said we could come visit them. In between us meeting them and us getting to visit, they talked together and decided that they would really like for their kids to be raised with God (a religion) in their lives because they knew it would be such a blessing. So when we went by we got to have an awesome visit with them, and at the end A. gave the closing prayer which was super powerful. It turns out too that they know this really awesome family in the ward named the W. who are converts of 7 or so years! A. was really good friends with this awesome family and knew both of the W. before they got married! A. had actually seen us on Sister W. Facebook page and so that was a great connection to make! We are going back to see Z. and A. again later this week and will try to bring one of the W.'s with us! We called the W.'s right after the lesson with Z. and A., and after we told the story Brother W. was like, "Oh thanks, now you made Sister W. cry!" Haha   ;)

Well I hope you all have a super great week! Sure love you!
Elder Branch :)

On exchange with Elder S.

Maine Cooking Utensils in Camo

Mission Leader Conference

A few more pics

April 17, 2017 Transferred to Newport Maine where we got to be the Easter Bunny =D

Hello everyone!!!! :)

Sorry I didn't get to send an email last week! I found out I was getting transferred and then the next few days were a blur! The ward was so nice and after we found out Saturday night around 7 that I was leaving, they threw together a party and all went out and bought food that night and we had a great big dinner and party at the church the next day! It was one of the sweetest things ever, I sure love the people in Exeter! ❤️ We had 4 tables of food and at the beginning they had me come up and they said all this nice stuff about me and had me give the prayer. I'm sure I was blushing, it was so sweet, it was basically like having a second mission farewell! :) I got to see a bunch of awesome members of the ward and it was so great to get to say goodbye! :)

We had a ton of people who wanted us over to say bye and so we ended up visiting people all day P-day! Haha, we taught like 5 lessons, visited lots of other people, and had 2 dinners and I never got to email! It was so wild but fun! :)

Man, SOOOOO much has happened in the last two weeks and I don't have a bunch more time, so I will have to summarize a LOT!

So, I am in Newport Maine now serving with Elder C. He is super cool! He has 4 months left on his mission. We are the Zone Leaders for the Bangor West Zone. We're in a branch here in Newport and they LOVE to feed us! We have someone who's calling it is to arrange meals for us, so we are fed every night, and sometimes twice! HAHA, it is wild! :) We live in a mobile home, and are, as a paper in the mobile home says, "High class trailer trash" haha! :) Also, life as a Zone Leader is crazy, we have to drive crazy far distances and have so much we have to do, so we have only had time for 1 morning workout so far, and won't have time for another one till Thursday!! HAHA :) We get to drive a Jeep Compass which is pretty sweet! The roads here are insanely bad and it is super dusty and spread out. I feel like my moms wish of me going to the middle of nowhere in Montana has come true! ;) It is super cool though, we still found a ton of new investigators this week and teach a lot! Honestly if you take every chance to talk to people as a missionary and are happy, you won't need to go tracking all the time, you will have plenty of people to teach! Just be happy and have fun!!!! :)

Last week in Exeter was super awesome too! We found a bunch of cool people and taught some super promising investigators! Exeter is an awesome place! :)

I'm so happy and I love being a missionary! It is cool to get to be a Zone Leader and to get to help the other missionaries! There is a lot to do, but I know we can do it with the Lords help!

I just want to say in closing to all you who are thinking about or preparing for missions, or who aren't and should be. Going on a mission is the best thing I have ever done. Missions are such an incredible experience! If you go into a mission ready to be obedient, work super hard, and love the people, you will have the best time of your life. We had a crazy spiritual lesson with a family who is really struggling last night. We just had the feeling to go over there and we followed it. It turned out that they were definitely in need of help. We were able to have an incredible lesson with lots of crying and love and completely filled with the spirit. After walking outside from the lesson into the pouring rain, feeling sorry for what they were going through, but totally blown away by the spirit of the Lord and the peace it brings, I couldn't help just saying a prayer of thanks in my heart for the opportunity to be serving the Lord.

I know the Lord loves us all and is so aware of us! I know that if you pray to God, repenting daily, and ask him for help and to know if he loves you, you will receive an answer! :)

Sure love you all!
Elder Hunter Branch :)

Saying goodbye to the awesome people in Exeter

(This is the only pic that caught the awesome Matt!)

Transfer Meeting

In Newport, we got asked to wear the Easter bunny suit 

at the community Easter Egg Hunt. 

While Elder C., the rabbit man, would take pictures with the families 

I got to talk with them! 

I was able to get us return appointments with two families for this week!

Me as the Easter Bunny

Apr. 3, 2017 in Exeter, New Hampshire

Hola everyone!!!

This week has been super as always! :) C. has been doing great since her baptism! We did some family history with her this week which was cool! She got a little confused at one point with new family search and wanted to quit, but we helped her out and it was great! :) We got her records in so we are hoping we can get her Temple Recommend soon and go to the temple with her this Saturday!

General conference was this week and it was just the best! :) We watched them all at the church except for the last one, which we watched with the R.'s! They are a super cool family who's dad isn't a member. They made us lots of snacks and food and we had a great time watching it together! I think my favorite talk was given by Elder Costa of the Seventy. His talk was sooooooo good and I loved all his suggestions to those learning about the Church! 

Elder Costa's awesome talk

This week we had exchanges with the Elders in Portsmouth. Elder M. and I both went up there for exchanges. I served with Elder Mc. for the day and we had a great time! He has only been out for 5 weeks but he is doing great. We taught this one super cool dude who is in his 70's or 80's. He is a cool cucumber! He has a really strong accent and was really friendly! We also taught and found a few other people and got Taco Bell, so it was definitely a successful exchange! ;)

We have been going around and sharing the new Easter video with people and it has been so sweet! The new Easter video is called #PrinceofPeace and is super good! I love how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring all of us peace! As the Book of Mormon says in Helaman 5:47, 

"Peace​, peace be unto you, 

because of your faith in my Well Beloved, 

who was from the foundation of the world." 

Link to #PrinceofPeace

One cool experience for this week is with a lady named E. She has been doing really well and we'd had two lessons with her before. She has a husband who is nice but not interested, yet, and a cute little boy with a growth problem. One side of him grows faster than the other. They are an awesome little family and we had a great third lesson with E. where we brought the L.'s from the ward, who also have a son with a growth/developmental disability. We taught a powerful restoration to her which was so cool! Having the L.'s there was a great help! We are having dinner with E. and her husband S. at the L.'s home this Saturday, which will be so awesome! I love how much the Gospel blesses families! :)

So I am worried that my stay in Exeter may be coming to a close. We have transfer calls this Saturday so I will get to find out if I will get to be a 9 month missionary in Exeter, or if I'll end up leaving. I honestly hope I get to stay one more transfer because of some awesome people like E. and others who we are teaching, but we'll see what happens. :)

Thank so much everyone for all you do and for your prayers! Sure love ya!
Elder Hunter Branch :)

General Conference with the R.'s

Visiting Sister S. with M.

Rock that E. made

Random cat