June 18, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello!

I’m convinced every time I think it’s really summer here, it’s a trick. It’s like April fools, but each week! ;) It gets warm and we’re sure we’re about to die because our apartment has no ac, nor does it have any windows that would work with an ac. (We have 3 mighty fans though 👍). Then, just when we’re sure the end is near, it’s chilly again the next day and we’re wearing jackets. What a blessing! :)

We did have a splendid week! A. was baptized!! 😃 She worked so hard and she did it! I’m amazed at the true conversion she has had. I’m 193% convinced that if you want to know the church is true, you NEED to read the Book of Mormon. M. read religiously and got all the way to 3rd Nephi before her baptism. A. has read the Book of Mormon almost 2 times through! She brought her copy to the church to have people mark their favorite scriptures at her baptism. We asked if she wanted a new copy, but she said she wanted to use hers! :) When I got to mark mine at the baptism I was so touched. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a classic missionary blue copy of the Book of Mormon that was so worn! It wasn’t worn because of poor care, it had been seriously searched. I have to say again, I was so touched. I hope I’m as awesome as A. when I grow up. :)

We were so busy with that and the Mission tour this week I don’t have a lot more to report. I have been considering how to work smarter, rather than harder as a missionary. Elder Stanfill said we work hard as missionaries. We plan, contact people, and do all we can. What we need to do to move from a good Mission to a great Mission is work smarter.

We have an insane week with New Missionary and Trainers Meeting tomorrow, then exchanges down there the next day before some other big event and meeting we’ll be helping with. So, we’ll get back late Thursday. Then Saturday we are doing the Softball tournament for P. We have dropped his date to be baptized because of how busy he is, but we did a little dtr and decided to take a break for 2 weeks from trying to meet because of his busy schedule. We’ll still send little inspirations though. :)

Life is good, lots of things going on. Hope you all have a great week!
Elder Branch

June 5, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine - transfers and we're speaking espanol this time!

Hey everyone!

It’s been a great week!!
We were able to find a bunch this week and have some solid people from it!

A. is still working hard to get baptized next weekend! She had a rough week with Satan fighting against her, but she is amazing and is still going! We shared the Mormon message “Spiritual Whirlwinds” with her yesterday which she really liked! We also gave her a little drawing on a piece of wood that she liked.  :)

Spiritual Whirlwinds

J. came to church!! :) He showed up for second hour and checked out primary and Sunday school. The lesson was the Word of Wisdom, which is a health code given to us by the Lord, just like He’s always given His followers. The lesson was going really well but then it took a few turns onto things that are not in the Word of Wisdom. Luckily he seems to be ok and not scared off, we’ll be visiting him again tomorrow. It’s always good to remember that everyone is at different points in their gospel learning so we should be careful with what we say in cases of opinion rather than doctrine. If we stick with the Lord's word and simple doctrine, with the promised blessings, we know we will be safe.

A lady named G. has been doing really well! She hasn’t been to church in a while, but has read and believes the Book of Mormon because of past religious affiliation! She loved our chapel and we’re visiting with her again tonight with some members.

Others like P. and A. have been hard to catch, but we have appointments with both this week.

We have a few less active families who really just need friends in the church. We’re hopeful we can find members who will minister to them and be friends. We can only do so much because we come and go. Members in the area reaching out in love can help people make the changes they need. If you don’t know who needs help in your area or community, ask the missionaries! :) They will have some great ideas of those who need a friend and can introduce you.

We got transfer calls and I will be staying! Elder Dayley will be heading off to Vermont. I’ll be training a new missionary who speaks Spanish! It’ll be an adventure for sure! :) Not sure how that will work since I’m just English speaking, but maybe I’ll pick up a little more Spanish, I guess we will all see!

Have a great week! :)

May 4, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

¡Hola!

It has been another wonderful week in Ellsworth! We had Zone Pday today in Acadia Nat. Park which was awesome so I’m short on time.

A. is doing great! We had a church tour with him and he loved it! He’s hoping this next Saturday to get his whole family to church. He especially loved the art at the church. Talking about Jesus visiting the people in America, or quoting the first vision while looking at a painting of the experience is powerful! :) We saw him in the park later in the week and were able to have him sign our Mother’s Day board! We had been meeting with our ward Mission leader in the park so we were able to introduce them which was super, they had a great time talking! Thanks members! :)

A. is also well, she and K. came to church. A. is still progressing towards her baptismal date of June 16. We’re working on scheduling her interview! This last week when we taught her she gave us some Vermont maple syrup from her brother who lives there! We had some great pancakes after our run the next morning!

P!! We got to meet him because of a crazy miraculous change of plans because an Elder forgot his tablet after District Meeting. We had been planning on going to Bar Harbor that night but had to head half way to Machias instead. On their way back we adjusted plans and decided to stop by P. He let us right in and we were able to teach. The spirit was SOOO strong, and he understood what we taught. I could go on and on about it, and probably will later, but because of time today I’ll just say he really wants to learn and grow, wants to get his family to church, and has a baptismal date now for July 7th! :)

Others are good. We dropped a few who aren't putting in the effort to learn, and may drop some more. The good part is, meeting new people to teach is my favorite thing! :)

Have a great week, thanks for all you do to share the gospel with those around you! Even if you feel like you don’t know anyone who needs the gospel, I promise you do. Even if your sphere of influence is small, pray for missionary opportunities, fast for them monthly, and do the best to live the gospel yourself, and God will show you who you are called to serve.

Have a great week!
Loves

Elder Branch

Apr. 16, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello!!

Sorry, this week will have to be quick, we had Zone Pday.

K. and two new people came to church!!!!! :D     N. who we met this week, who like P. last week rejected us at first but then changed his mind as we causally talked, came to church! He loved it, said it was even better than he thought! He knew K. actually and sat by her in Sunday School. We had a lesson with a member on Wednesday with J. who watched General Conference, and he had tons of questions as usual. The member did a great job inviting him to church. He told him over and over, “come and see.” J. thought about it all week and I almost cried as I was standing there talking with N. who showed up early, and looked down the hall to see J. walking in! 😊 And right behind him was a less active member who we’ve been working with! Wow, there are a lot of exclamation points in there, but nothing makes me more happy than people showing up for church! :) Same for the ward! Because of the new people at church and all we’ve done with quick visits, memorizing all the kids and youths names, and other things, 8 men from the ward came up and asked if they could come teach with us this week!! Another texted last night to confirm a meal appointment this week and said he’s free to come teach any time we want him! We also have members feeding us every day this week, as well as a few who we had to ask to do next week instead! Haha, ya, life rocks! ;)

Elder Powell and I both gave talks Sunday, as well as taught sharing time in primary so it was a BUSY Sunday! It reminded me of teaching my primary class of 6 and 7 year-olds back home and I just wanted to tell any of them who’s families read my letters that I love each of them and miss them a ton! ❤️

I was SO PROUD of our ward!! Members came and met both our new friends at church, and invited our friends to sit with them. If people don’t feel welcomed at church, they won’t want to come back, it’s as simple as that!

P. is doing well, he is so excited to learn and try it out. We taught him this week and when we asked to leave with a prayer, he remembered from the first time we visited, and was kneeling down on the floor before we were! 😂     D. is good, we’re seeing him tomorrow. We don’t think he, as well as two of our solid families, really understand what it means if we come to know the Book of Mormon is true. We’ll work on that. :)

It’s the last week of the transfer and I only have two more full ones (and a month at the end but then I have to come home 2 weeks early for school) which makes me want to cry! I love it out here.

I love the words of a song by The National Parks called “Wherever I go”. It says, “And when everything is different, some things never change. It’s the light in the eyes and the love that stays the same... And wherever I go, I’m home.”

Love,
Elder Branch :)

Mar. 26, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello family and friends!

We have district p-day today and are going to Acadia, so I’ll have to make this a quick one. E cut his hair!!! He looks so great! Smoking is still a work in progress. K is great too, we’ve started sharing chapters with her and teaching over FB. D has still backed off. We have a couple new families and old families we’ve followed up with like the C's and N's who are really interested and ready to go. J. read all of 1 Nephi but still has lots of questions.

Midway through the week we decided to have a get together at the church on the 30th for a message and to dye Easter eggs! We have a bunch of members coming and a few less actives. We’re working on getting more people we’re teaching to come, and the members are inviting friends! :) When members invite friends to come and see, miracles happen. The success in sharing the gospel isn’t in if they accept, it’s in the invitation. Do you invite them because you love them or because someone told you to? Do you do it lovingly? Do you do it with the plan to still be their friend whether they accept or not? Do you talk about the gospel naturally? These are what make inviting friends to learn about the church a joy.

I love the song “If the Savior stood beside me”. The song, as many of you know, is about how or if we would live differently if the Savior was with us. The second verse says...
If the Savior stood beside me, would I say the things I say?
Would my words be true and kind if He was never far away?
Would I try to share the gospel? Would I speak more rev’rently
if I could see the Savior standing nigh, watching over me?

I noticed the importance of a line in there recently that I’ve never thought about too much, and one that I know I could improve on from who I was before my mission, “Would I try to share the gospel?” I think most those other things in the song I would specifically try to do each day, and I’d always hope for the chance to share the gospel, but did I actually try to share it myself? I was excited for the opportunity to come along, but that’s not enough! I love the thought of trying to share the gospel with the savior at my side, and I’m grateful that’s how it truly is. :)

We’ve been doing a thing with the ward where we open an Easter egg with a scripture and related object inside, and the ward loves it! For those we can’t visit, we post a picture each day on the ward FB page with the family who did it, so others can follow along. The ward loves it and it’s helping us draw a lot closer to them. :)

Love you all and happy Easter!
Elder Branch :)

Mar. 13, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello!

It has been a wild week! With snow storms, partridge people, stage preforming, lost keys, returning to Newport, and so much more, this has been a full week!

I think I'll do a day by day breakdown this time.
Monday:
P-day, great time hiking in Acadia!! :) We also met some guys there who were our age while hiking who were pretty cool then one of them started trying to mess with us for being Mormons. We were able to clear up some misconceptions, and call him out for getting his "facts" about Mormons from Southpark and some other media. His friends thought it was pretty funny when we called him out.

Tuesday:
Exchanges and I went back to Newport! Elder Glenn from my MTC room is one of our Zone Leaders there so it was nice to be with him too. We had a great day and talked to some awesome people. Seeing a few members was really fun again!! It feels great to see people you love and have them be so excited to see you again too! :) Elder Glenn and I talked a bunch and one thing we talked about really hit me and I've thought about it a lot. Sometimes it's easy to be hard on yourself as a missionary and focus on all the small things that you need to be so much better. Elder Glenn said something along the lines of, the Lord probably thinks of our missions just as much for us as for the people we're teaching. I love that. As long as we're trying our best and doing what we should, it's okay if we aren't perfect. That's no permission to start doing less than we are, rather it should encourage us to keep trying and working as we make mistakes and fall short.

Wednesday:
Elder Powell and I had a good day and worked hard. We got to teach D. who is making great progress. It was his first formal sit down lesson, and he accepted a invitation to be baptized as he comes to know its true. E is also doing well, he decided to stop smoking and drinking coffee on the 15th! Pray for him! :)

Thursday:
Ok, this is when things got wild. The Machias (furthest east branch of the church in the USA btw [aka first ones to see the sun rise each day in the country]) elders came down and we worked. Because of the snow storm we weren't allowed to drive, but we walked all over! Elder Gardner and I met a cool guy with what he said was a partridge/grouse in his yard. He was a real mountain man and was super grateful for a copy of the Book of Mormon! 

We also met a new person to start teaching above a bar. Working in the snow is actually one of my favorite things! People usually are pretty nice when you bring a shovel and do service. We also carried around a white board in the snow and got 14 people to write on it what brings them peace. It was a fun way to talk to people! Would have sent a picture of the board but one of the elders smudged it all before I could get a picture. :'(
On the way back though I was talking about things that are fun and decided to jump into some snow. After a few jumps, Elder Gardner decided he'd try it out too. We put things like our tag and such in pockets that could zip. We jumped in the snow from like 9:10-9:29 as we walked back to our apartment. We even found some swings to launch off of! :)

Friday:
We headed out to District Meeting and the Machias elders called saying they couldn't find their keys... We took them to district Meeting, cancelled our exchange with the Belfast Elders, and spent the whole day searching for their keys. Apparently the keys hadn't been put somewhere secure when we were jumping the night before. We borrowed a metal detector and shoveled snow for hours, but never found the keys.

Saturday:
The new vehicle coordinator couple (the Trainers) drove up and brought spare keys. It was soooooooo nice of them to do that! It is a 4.5 hour drive from Manchester, so we made them cookies to say thanks that morning while getting ready. Later that day we had a ward talent show which went really well. E came, brought a dessert, and enjoyed the show! :) The Trainers stayed for the talent show and Elder Trainer helped Elder Powell and I close out the show with "called to serve" :)

Sunday:
E. and K. came, D. couldn't cause he was sick. We took him some food though which made him happy. :)

Monday:
Transfer calls, Elder Powell and I are staying which is great! All the other Elders have someone leaving, and a new one coming. Elder Donn who I served by at the beginning of my mission will be in my District which will be so fun! :)
It was going to be a normal day of missionary work, so we were on exchange with Belfast, but because of the storm coming today they made the last couple hours preparation. Elder Powell and I were caught up so we went hiking for the couple hours we had on a trail someone told us about. It was sweet!

So, lots happened!! I'm excited to keep going and see how the changes take us!
Love you all! :)

Acadia - Beehive Trail

Cars grounded - p day

Mar. 5, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello everyone!

So as you heard the North East had a crazy storm this last week, but upper, coastal Maine seemed to avoid most of it! We had some wind, but it wasn't anything special. No rain or anything even! Bummer, sorry for the let down! ;) Southern Maine had some flooding, but nothing remarkable here.

This week went well! We had a new person at church! His name is D. He had been dating a past member of the church who was still very friendly with the church, loved the missionaries, and wanted to get back into it. She had moved down to Florida for the summer and sadly passed away down there. D. was down there visiting her last week and had just come back when he received the news that she passed away. This week on exchange Elder Petersen (not my former comp) and I prayed that we could meet some solid people to teach. We walked out the door and the first person we met was D. He didn't respond to a hello, or a how are you doing, but when I complimented his coat, he stopped, smiled, and said thanks. I asked him where he got it, he told me, then he said he liked my talk last Sunday! I was confused because I hadn't met him, but he said he had been praying for his girlfriend and decided to stop in at church. He came late and left early so I never saw him last week. We shared Alma 40

(...the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.)

with him on the street, gave him a hug, and prayed for him. He then came to church this Sunday and had a great experience. A member knew him and they talked for half an hour after sacrament meeting, laughing and crying. I think D.'s awesome! :)

E. is doing well too, he came to all 3 hours of church for the first time! He's planning to be baptized the end of April. He read all of 1 Nephi and really learned from it! :)

We still have a long way to go, but it seems the ward really likes us, and we love them! We're getting into more of their homes to share quick messages or have dinner, which is great! :)

Thanks for all your love and support,
Elder Branch :)

Bud the dog

12 week training - 

watching The District

Feb. 12, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello hello hello!!

Well this has been a good week. It was good to meet more members and find some people. It is pretty intimidating to do something so new with so many unknowns, but things are calming down now.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was nice to be back on the learning side. :) We went on exchange in Skowhegan, because the coast was going to get blasted with snow. We went out in the storm in Skowhegan and had a great time! Missionary work in the snow is the best, people think we're crazy, but then it's really fun to say something dumb about us going out in the snow and get them to laugh. We found 10 new people to teach that day in Skowhegan between the two companionships!

Our area is getting moving too. We had one person come to church and we found a few new ones to teach. My favorite person we found this week was a man named G. We went out to Bar Harbor and went to contact someone the old missionaries had talked too. The first house we knocked on (cause we were lost) had a woman inside who looked at us then walked away. ☹️ The second one was a nice Jamaica lady who said the guy we were looking for went back to Jamaica, and no, she wasn't interested. We felt like we should go to an apartment on a a side street and knocked a door. A young Jamaica guy (G.) answered the door and we talked for a while. Eventually he asked what we door and Elder Powell said we teach people about Jesus. G. opened the door wide then, invited us in, and apologized for keeping us waiting. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a copy to read. We're going to go visit tomorrow night, and then go play soccer with him and meet some of his friends. :)

Love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love,
Elder Branch :)

Jan. 29, 2018 Last week in Manchester, New Hampshire - winds of change, great week, and got crashed.

"Do you hear that, those are the winds of change." -Randal from Monsters Inc.

Hello Everyone!

It is amazing how much serving a mission changes you, and I think Manchester has changed me the most. I've been here for 5 transfers (7.5 months) just like my first area. In other places I have learned a lot more about the scriptures, about how to talk to people and things like that. Here in Manchester I have learned a lot about what really matters in life, how to fit the basics into a busy schedule, and how to be a leader. There are so many things and people that I'll miss in Manchester as well as around the mission, but I'm excited for new opportunities.

I'm heading up to Ellsworth Maine! It is on the coast, includes Acadia national park and bar harbor, and is going to be awesome! I'll be training a new missionary there who will be arriving on Wednesday, so neither of us will know the area. I'll also be serving as a district leader with three other sets of Elders in my district, so it is going be to an exciting transfer!!! :) I'm excited to have a lot more time to focus on the people we have to teach and serve. I've got some ambitious goals for rest of my mission. (Also, to follow up, a couple months ago I said I wanted to run a mile under 6 minutes. Life got busy so we didn't get to run for a long time, but we have been again and I ran a 5:48 this week)

This week was good, lots less time to work, but we found some people and had G., D., and B. at church again! They really liked it and are excited to come again next week! B. is doing really well and has a ton of potential. He likes how church feels peaceful and he is reading in the Book of Mormon! He understands that coming back to God and making changes in his life are important.

There was a baptism of an awesome family in the Bedford Ward this week, and we had our little friend D. come, as well as their family friends who we're teaching, R. (23) and his little brother D. (5). R. really liked the baptism and although he couldn't make it to church this week, he is really excited to come next! :)

The baptism was of a family named the F.'s who were found my first week in Manchester at the fourth of July parade. They have learned a lot, given up coffee and tea, and were almost ready to be baptized when they called it off (this was in December.) They liked the people, but didn't know if the Church was true. They decided to keep learning from the missionaries, but to go look at other churches. They said none of the others felt right. The family has a little 8 year-old daughter who LOVED the Book of Mormon. Every night she'd carry it out to the family and have them read before bed. As the daughter did this, the family was touched and had the spirit tell them the Book was true. They then were baptized this week. It is AMAZING the impact a little 8 year-old girls had on her family, and will for generations to come. :)

Love you all and have a great week,
Elder Branch :)

=D

Guy crashed us.

We had a green light and he was in left lane. 

We were driving in the right lane and he accelerated into back side of our truck.