July 9, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

This week was a party!

We had a great 4th of July! We were in the Bar Harbor parade, which was really big! Members were telling us that Bar Harbor is ranked one of the top places in the US to spend the fourth. We pulled handcarts and got a big welcome from the crowd.
Favorite quote: “Are you guys Amish?”

We did some fun things to try to get people to church. We sent fun pictures, and for one person we bought Sundaes then gave them a paper that said, “These Sundaes are good, but not as great as Sunday will be tomorrow at church!”

Sadly none of our friends made it to church this week, but we set a baptismal date with G.! We set three lesson to see her and her granddaughter this week and will be working really hard to help them attend church.

It has been nice to be in our area more this week and doing exchanges with other missionaries. We were able to find some good people and I’m excited to keep seeing what happens!

Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Branch :)

June 11, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine - transfers

Hello! This week has been great!

Elder Dayley headed up to Vermont, I was sad to see him go. He’ll do well though!

I received Elder Lockwood who is just starting his mission! He is from Ohio and is super awesome! He loves sports and is really kind. He’s doing a super good job and we’ve had some great experiences together already! :)

A. gets baptized Saturday!! She has been getting hit with things still but has done a great job! She’s so excited and so are we! She had us over to celebrate her birthday and gave us lobster, fiddleheads, Maine ginger beer, and a Friendly’s ice cream cake, so it was an authentic 100% Mainer meal! ;) So nice of her!

P. is good, we weren’t able to see him this week but have had good contact. He reached out to us and said he’s really excited for us to visit tomorrow, so that’s a great sign! The ward and we are going to participate in his softball tournament, so we’re pumped to support him and his cause, as well as play some softball! :)

J. is good, we’ve got a good idea of what he needs, and what we can share the next several lessons to help him most. He was busy this week for church but we want to get him to A.'s confirmation.

G. is a really great lady who is RLDS. She had family in town so she missed church, but we’ll see her tomorrow and try to set a baptismal date with her! :)

We, as always, want to emphasize finding this week and find at least 10 new people to teach. It’ll be a busy week, as we have a General Authority (a church leader) coming to speak to us this week so we have to travel.

The weather is getting warmer and we’re loving how nice it is! We’re going to go hike this afternoon to get the most out of this beautiful part of the country.

Hope you all have a great week!

Elder Branch:)

Elder Lockwood and I at A.'s "party"!

D. hazing my tadpole

I caught a tadpole!

Nov. 4, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Merry Christmas!

This week was pretty good, Mission Leadership Conference on Tuesday was good as usual. We were in a parade this week and it was pretty funny. In a two hour long Christmas parade, we were the ONLY float themed on Jesus Christ! Our float was a nativity and we handed out #LightTheWorld advent calendars. If you haven't heard of that yet, check it out! It's a worldwide initiative to do service each day leading up to Christmas! Elder Petersen and I were talking to people on the sides of the road and handing stuff out, and ended up getting left by the float!! 😂 We just walked along after that and asked people if they had seen our float and talked about how it was the only one about the real meaning of Christmas.

One really sad experience was as we were walking back to our car we encountered a man, his young son, and the boys friends. We talked to them and got a lukewarm from the dad who said they were another Christian faith. As we talked to the kids about Christmas we asked them if they knew what Christmas is all about and the first things they said surprised me. People always talk about how Christmas is really commercialized, but people and kids I've met have always known it is all about Jesus Christ. These kids however all shouted out things like: toys, gifts, money, Santa, and food! We told them about how it is because we're celebrating Jesus's birthday and they were clueless. Thanks mom and dad for teaching me the true meaning of Christmas! :)

I hope we all remember to love and serve others this season to honor Christ and His example to us as our Savior.

So, R. and G. played football with us on Thanksgiving. They couldn't make it to church this week, but D., G.'s younger sister who is a junior, came and she brought a friend! They both had a great time and D. wants to keep working towards baptism. It is great to see them all slowly making changes! :)


Love you all!
Elder Hunter Branch

Sept. 11, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Hello Hello! :)

This has been a busy week! We had a Zone Conference and 3 exchanges, so we were all over the mission! I got to go back to Newport and that was so fun! We had coordination that night so I got to see and surprise some awesome members, it was great! :) We also saw some of the people I taught there which was fun! S. and D. are getting married on the 23rd this month and they are expecting it sounds like! They don't have a set baptismal date but hopefully this next week.

I got to go on exchange with a new missionary which was really cool. We found a lady who we gave a Book of Mormon to who was at Wendy's! She sees missionaries there a lot and has always wondered what we do, but she's been working. She was on break when we met her and it was great to see Elder R. testify. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a man who is recovering from some addictions right now and it was such a cool experience. He loved how God knew us before we were born, how we have a purpose here on earth, and that we are going somewhere after this life! Then late that night as we were out on the street catching up with a few people who they have met before. We had some interesting experiences. We met a HUGE (like just really tall and strong) older man who said his name was Void, and that he owns a studio. He raps and sings. It was pretty crazy, we saw him then decided to go talk to him because we talk to EVERYBODY, and then when he turned around we thought we were dead! Haha, he was pretty cool though. We said hi to this lady a little while later and asked her a question because we were a little lost, and she just gave a quick answer and kept walking. I had no idea in my mind how to relate our little conversation to the gospel and she started to walk away quickly. We almost turned around and kept walking too, but then I just felt like I should say something more. I turned around and said something, although I have no clue what I said or asked her, but all I know is that it definitely wasn't very smooth and didn't make a lot of sense. She turned around though and then next thing we knew we were teaching her about the Restoration of Jesus Christ's church and giving her a copy of the Book of Mormon. Those Elders are going to go visit her this next Wednesday, and it is pretty cool how the Lord always makes our efforts, no matter how frantic they are, work out for good! :)

T. and M. both came to church again this week. We were hoping to have 9 people there, but lots of people had to cancel. That's how it goes sometimes, but were gonna help them all make it there one of these days! :) T. is planning to be baptized on the 22nd and has his interview today. There have been a few hiccups recently, so prayers on his behalf would be great!! M. is amazing!!! She is one of the most amazing people I've met in my life. She has sacrificed so much for her family and kids and works so hard for them. She is going to be baptized on the 30th now we think. She accepted the Law of Tithing this week, which is amazing to me because she is working two jobs all to support kids going to college, family with health problems, and keep her little apartment. She knows it is a commandment and God will bless her, and I think it is amazing to see that much faith.
:)

Elder Bednar will be visiting our mission this week and everyone is really excited! :)

Sure love you all and hope you have a great week! :)
Love,
Elder Branch

Aug. 7, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Hello! :)

So this week was pretty sweet! It was the first one we have had in a while where we were able to work in our area a lot! We found a TON and just had a great time!

So we taught M. and J. about the Law of Chastity this week which God has given us to strengthen families and marriages. I love the resource of The Family from the prophets, and I really like the quote, "Successful families and marriages are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." They were really hesitant at first, but now it sounds like M. is still nervous, but they want to get married and J. will say yes if he asks, so hopefully we'll be wedding planning soon! :)

We also set baptismal dates with two of J.'s siblings! They are really awesome and one of them has a cute little family! We're excited for them! The other one, C. turned 20 this week and invited us to her BBQ party thing! We showed up at like 8:30, but because of rain it had to be pushed back. We talked to them for a while then lots of teens and young adults started showing up and it was pretty funny! At the beginning as people were showing up we were surrounded by a group of little kids who wanted to draw on our iPads and watch Mormon Messages. We mostly talked with the kids and eventually had to go before the food was ready, but it was still good to go to show our support and they were glad we came! It sounded like the party got crazy later on too so the Lord is smart for having a curfew for missionaries! :)

One cool experience this week was when we were walking by a park and saw some city grounds crew trying to get something out of a pole electric box. A lady had dropped her phone down it and they couldn't get it. They tried unscrewing it, but that didn't work. They tried a little grabber thing but they couldn't get their arms down far enough to reach it, and they tried a stick with lots of tape, but gravity was stronger that their electrical tape. So after chatting for a while and them trying lots of stuff they were thinking they might have to put in a permit to destroy the pole because it is so old it is an antique and they would have to go though a special process. It is made of cast iron so that would be no easy task. Either that or just have the lady give up on the phone, but she was in a bit of an attitude. I felt like I should ask to try the grabber thing and I was able to reach the phone. I almost got the phone all the way up, so we wrapped the ends with tape and then I was able to pull the phone out! One of the workers had met with missionaries before and we were able to teach them about the Book of Mormon right there and they thought it was great! We will be able to go back and visit one of them, and it was cool to see how we were at the right place at the right time and able to help out! :)

We also had exchanges this week up in Maine and it was fun to go back to a small town for the day! We had been having a rough day and people wouldn't talk to us, but we had faith and kept talking to everyone, and at the end of the day we were blessed with a couple really awesome people who were searching! We just had to have faith and not get discouraged, and the Lord will let us be part of miracles.

Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Branch :)

May 22, 2017 Transfer week in Newport Maine

Hello everyone!!

So, it's transfer week and the news is that Elder C. and I are...... both staying!!!! :) We are also receiving another Elder, Elder L.! Elder C. and I will still be the Zone Leaders, and Elder L. will be a third companion! We are excited to be in a trio, it'll be sweet! We have had some wild stuff happen in our Zone so we've had a third companion for the last week or two, Elder B. We have had a great time together and it has been a wild week. We have worked hard and we ended the transfer well!

L., who I told you about last week, was sick this last Sunday but she is otherwise doing well! Since her baptism it's cool to see the difference it's already making! She just seems lighter and a bit happier, I love it!!! :)

We had lobster this week!! It was my first time getting to try it and it was alright, it wasn't my favorite, but it was still pretty cool! :)

We have so many cool people to teach right now! The highlight people for this week is this cool 20 year-old couple from our trailer park we're teaching that came to church! There are doing really well and loving learning! They have so much real intent and it's really fun since they are our age!

Sure love ya all!!
Elder Hunter Branch

Jan. 30, 2017 in Exeter, New Hampshire

Hey all!!!! :)

I am doing pretty swelllllll! This was a good week!! :) I had Mission Leader Training on Tuesday which was really fun, then we had a *drumrolll*.... MISSIONARY WORLDWIDE BROADCAST on Wednesday! It was pretty neat! They changed the schedule (which they told us in my mission about a month ago for all those in leadership, so we have been living that already) and they changed the key indicators (which we hadn't heard about)! It was super cool and they shared lots of sweet stuff! :)

T. is doing well! We saw him at Subway this week which was way cool!! :) He seems to be doing better, he had broke his foot, but he has a boot now! Ya, we gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he had been going to start reading it but hadn't when we last went by, that is awesome it sounds like he has started reading! :)

J. has been okay, Elder M. saw her while I was at Mission Leader Training this week, but then she has been really sick the rest of the week. :( C. sadly we STILL haven't heard from! It is really sad, we hope she is okay!!! We did start teaching two other people in her apartment building this week though! C. is well too. We saw him twice this week and he is going to need to move his baptismal date back because he will be moving (still in our area), but needs to focus on that and keep learning. He said he would come to church, but then didn't come again which was super bummer!! We are gonna go visit him again soon though.

Mission Leader Training was soooo cool and fun! It was cool to see all these other missionaries who are super cool and pumped about missionary work and to get to learn with them! :) Elder C. is a District Leader now so I got to see him there as well as a bunch of the other Elders who I have meet who trained people from my flight group so that was fun! :) We learned a TON and I am excited to keep working on improving!

We have been using the GPS a TON, thanks for sending it to me! We would be in trouble without it.

So last week I had been going to say that this transfer is going to be crazy because we have still to come: zone conference, zone interviews, new missionary and trainers meeting, exchanges with the Assistants (they want to go on exchanges so that will be fun!!) exchanges with the Zone Leaders, and two exchanges with the Derry Elders! We also have district p-day and we're going to try to go to the temple with M. for a p-day as well, so it will be a WILD transfer, we're so excited! ;)
 
So this week we were able to have one of the coolest lessons of my mission! Elder M. and I went and visited this way cool guy who Elder C. and I found Christmas Tracting (idk if I ever mentioned that. Basically for Christmas tracting you would just knock doors of people who had cool Christmas lights and talk with them about Christmas. Usually people who put up cool lights are way nicer that the average joe). This guy is named M. and he is super neat! Elder M. and I went and talked with him and he were able to teach and testify of the restoration and the Atonment of Jesus Christ. It was SOOOO powerful and incredible! :) We are going to go see him with Brother L. tomorrow night!

Hope you are all doing well!! Oh, one last cool thing is that Elder M. and I along with a few other guys are going to be singing Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy this week at zone conference, it should be way cool!! :)

Love you!
Elder Hunter Branch :)

Our District

Elder C. at Mission Leader Training

He has a goal to never smile in a picture. 

I have one of him smiling though at Christmas time

 - he said I'm supposed to delete it.   ;)

Jan. 16, 2017 in Exeter, New Hampshire with a new companion - generation 2 of Elders Morris-Branch

Hey everyone!!! :) 

I hope you are having a great day!!!

So J. is pretty great! We have been talking with her and we will need to move her baptismal date back a bit cause she has some stuff to do, but we are all pumped for that! :)

C. has had a hard week which is too bad, but we're hoping things are better this week. She is way awesome and we keep praying for her and know that things will get better. :)

C. is well too. Elder D. and I went and saw him on exchanges on Monday and we had a good time and he said he was gonna come to church again this week but then he didn't! Because of how the week is going and set plans, we won't be able to go over and see him till Wednesday!

We didn't get to do much finding this week, but we did get to see a few people who we hadn't in several weeks which was nice! :)

I wanted to say, thanks SOOOOOOOOO much everyone for the gifts and cards at Christmas!!!!! It was so touching and I LOVED hearing from you and I am so grateful for all the love! :)

So as many of you heard, I am STAYING in Exeter!!!!! :) I was so happy to hear that! Sadly Elder C. will be leaving to Manchester to be a District Leader in a trio, but I'm glad I got to serve with that stud! :) I will be staying District Leader and I am going to train 🚂!!!! I don't know who yet but I'll find out tomorrow morning! :)

So, story time for this week, I rode a pink sparkle bike a mile and a half down downtown Exeter... J. had a little bike that she isn't using anymore and M. has a neighbor who we are pals with and she has a young daughter. J. said we could take the bike to her, but it wouldn't fit in M.'s or our car! Soooo, next most logical option, have Elder Branch ride it the mile and a half back to M.'s apartment in the rain! M. and Elder C. drove the car and I rode the bike, which ended up having a leaking back tire, so by the time I got there the tire was just about flat! The bike was small so I had to stand up and ride it the whole way which was pretty crazy and tiring, and way fun!!!! ;) It was probably a sight to see, but it was definitely a good experience. 8 out of 10, would recommend in warmer weather. ;)

Hope you all have a FANTASTIC week, please keep me and my trainee in
your prayers, and love ya all! :)
Elder Hunter Branch :)

Last p-day with Elder C.

J.'s pink sparkle bike

M. sent this picture of Elder Branch and Elder Morris as new companions! 

Generation Two of Elders Morris - Branch!!

Branch-Morris Companionship Video from Sister Blair

Nov. 7, 2016 in Exeter, New Hampshire

I realized last week after my emailing time was out that I hadn't sent you a copy of my letter to President like I said i would. I felt like a goof ;P   Here it is.

Hey President!
1-9 are all yes's again.

We have had a great week here in Exeter! It was an interesting week though. We only got to teach 5 people this week!! :P   We did however still have an awesome week!

This week our car was in the shop so we were on foot. We got a few rides, but mostly we tried to find people to teach in Exeter. We were planning to teach 15 people this week, but then we had tons of cancellations because our investigators we were working with are going through lots right now. So anyway, found 12 new people to teach this week! It was pretty sweet! There were times where we wished we had done better, it rained 5 of the 7 days this week and because of that we weren't as diligent as we should have on been on Friday and Saturday with getting out there with umbrellas. We did still go out, but it took us around half an hour longer to get out than it should have. We talked about it as a comp and repented and promised to be more diligent everyday.

In the Old Testament for seminary last year we learned about how to repent is translated as to change. Repentance really means change, so each time we try to align our will with Gods and try to do better we are repenting! It is cool how we can always be "repenting", always changing and trying to be more like Christ.

S.'s baptism was so great!! He was really excited, we had a good amount of people show up from the ward to support him, and the spirit was there! The next day in Sacrament meeting, after S. had been confirmed and was walking back to his seat, he stopped at the front of the chapel, raised his arms, and said really loudly "Awesome sauce!" It was pretty great, the New England accent really makes it! :)

Happy Halloween!!
Elder Branch

This weeks letter...
Ohloh?
It's hello sir.
Oh, hello?

Haha, how are you all doing?? :)

How was your week?
My week has been pretty great!! We didn't get our car back until Wednesday because parts didn't come in, so that was rough! Then yesterday our battery died so we ended up having to get a jump, then it died again, so our plans got killed for the day which was sad, but we did get a ride to go contact people in a neighborhood by the people we were having dinner with and we found a new person to teach which was nice! We didn't teach as much as we wanted because of that dead battery, but we still taught 9 people and found lots of other people to teach. We had exchanges this week on Tuesday, and so I stayed here in Exeter without a car with the two newer Elders in the Derry trio (Elder C. and Elder D. [He came out with me]), while Elder B. and our District Leader, Elder E., worked in Derry with their car. Elder E. said he wanted me to take the lead even though Elder C. has been out for 6 months, and that this would be like a "test". So that was exciting and scary, but we ended up killing it! We only had set up to teach one person for the next day, but after setting some solid plans, being diligent with calls and with working hard during the day, we were able to teach 5 more people, meet a new person to teach, get 2 referrals, give out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon, and talk to TONS of people!! It was so cool, probably one of if not the most successful day of my mission! And that was all done without a car! So that was really sweet!
We will be able to teach S. this week, we hope to help him get to the temple this month! :)

Are you finding ways to stay warm?
Haha, ya I am, I bought 2 sweaters this week so I'm surviving.

I have a great story!! So there is a thing celebrated in England called Guy Fawkes day, and we have some people from England in our ward who have a party for it! :) We also have these 2 super awesome brothers with downs syndrome in our ward named T. and M. who are like 26 and 24. They are so nice and hilarious! They can't go more than like 3 minutes without talking about football! Anyways, for Guy Fawkes day people here burn a fake Guy Fawkes for what he did trying to help assassinate King James I, and after the fire was going and "Guy Fawkes" was burning, M. just yelled out "Guy Fawkes sucks!!!" It was the funniest thing ever, everyone was just dying   :)  :)  :)

Coach Dooley will like this story!

Every Saturday morning we play basketball with some ward members and investigators, and I've been practicing a bunch every p-day too. Elder B. played for Mesa high school in Arizona, which has one of the best basketball programs in the nation, and he is pretty good. So for one game this Saturday it was Elder B., C. G. (a recently RM who is also pretty good at basketball, he played for the Junior Nuggets team back when he lived in Colorado), and Brother S., against Brother G., Brother B., and myself. We had been playing youth and skill VS old age and treachery as my dad calls it, but us young guys won 4 in a row so Brother S. and I switched. In that game though, my team won in a game to 15, and I scored 13 of my teams points!! It was crazy, hit 3 3's and had some sweet drives! It was a good day but especially that game was crazy!

I hope you're all doing great and thanks for all the birthday wishes! :)

Elder Branch

Car repairs...

Oct. 24, 2016 in Exeter, New Hampshire

Hey Pals!!

Brother Barnes asked what scripture you'd like on you missionary plaque.
Lets go with the Alma 53:20-21, I love that one! :)
"And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity;  but behold, this was not all - they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.  Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him."

How was your week?
It was a good week!! :) We had zone interviews which were really good! President Blair is a great guy!

This week our car is in the shop, which is hard because most of our investigators are a 4 hour walk from our house, so we're gonna rely on members a lot, and also do lots of finding around in Exeter.

We had a ton of appointments cancel this week, we only ended up teaching like 6 to 8 lessons, so that was a bummer. The good thing was that with every cancellation, they went out of their way to set up another time, so we know they are really interested and want the gospel, they just have crazy lives. We still have 12 investigators, but soon that'll be 11 cause S. gets baptized!!!! :) He will be the first person baptized in this ward!! We're so excited for him and so is the ward! :)

We had transfer calls and Elder B. and I are both staying so that is nice!!!! :)

Did you get the recipes and song names?
Yes I did get recipes and song names, thanks so much for all the
family and friends that sent them!!! :) I would love any more people
have to send! :)

What would you like for your birthday?
I'm almost 19!! That sounds old! That is like as old as Zac, minus a year! 😮😜 Honestly, I would love sweaters! It is cold here!! ;) Also ties are cool, and money, and snickers, and sour stuff, and ya, that is about it I guess! ;)

Ok, to understand this, a VGPAA is a goal setting tool my mission uses. It stands for:
Vision (Our overall goal)
Goal (Ways we'll work towards our vision this transfer)
Plan (The thing we'll do this week to accomplish our goal)
Action (Specific actions we'll take this week)
Accountable (Who we are accountable to)

My letter to President Blair this week.
1-9 are all yes for this week.

Hey President Blair! First of all can I just say thanks for all you guys do for us, and thanks for the interviews! You guys are great.

I am doing well, after our Zone Interviews meeting I finalized my personal VGPAA and have been working on that. It is...

V: Become more consecrated as a missionary.
G: Gain the characteristics given by President Blair
- Valiant in Christ
- No fear of man
- Conform to the rule and won't have to be commanded
- Work with zeal and to limits of strength, be really tired
- Forget yourself, not casual or careless
- Humble
- Helaman 3:35 (Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and thesanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.)
P: Valiant in Christ
A: Study Christlike attributes, read in Book of Mormon where Jesus comes, Read
Jesus the Christ by the end of this transfer.
A: My companion and President Blair.

I plan to work on a different characteristic/attribute each week of this next transfer, and read all of Jesus the Christ by the end of it too. I asked Elder B. to keep me accountable, but I would also like to report to you on it as well each week. I know I'll be able to improve as a missionary thru this VGPAA so I'm excited to keep working on it!

Elder B. is doing great, he felt sick yesterday, but he got up and we went out to work. Before a dinner appointment yesterday we were knocking doors about 15 minutes away from the members. We had knocked several and were starting to head back to the car, because we had 25 minutes until the dinner and we wanted to contact a old old referral by the members, when I felt we should knock this other house that was the opposite way as our car. We did it, and no one answered. Elder B. felt we should knock the next house, also away from our car, and the guy there wasn't to friendly as he shut the door in the middle of one of our questions. We didn't feel like we needed to knock any other houses there so we headed back to the car. There were 3 more houses by our car, and as we were walking Elder B. was telling a story, but I felt like we should knock them, so I politely interrupted and asked if we had time to knock the last few, then contact the guy another day. He agreed and we went up to the first house. A younger guy answered, probably in his late 20's, wearing a Patriots hat. I asked him about the hat and we talked football for just a minute, then Elder B. just went right in and asked if we could share a message with him about Jesus Christ. The guy said yes, and we got to share an awesome shortened version of the restoration with him, introduce the Book of Mormon and give him a copy, which he was interested in, and leave him with a restoration pamphlet! We asked if we could meet with him again and he was interested in that! He is around on weekends usually so we're excited to go back and meet with him. Oh, and his name is S. (we liked how he spelled it). Hopefully we can pick him up as an investigator this next week or two! It was cool to be lead by the spirit and get a potential investigator from tracking.

I hope you're having a great week, we wanted to invite you to the Exeter Halloween Trunk or Treat this Wednesday at and to S.'s baptism this Saturday. We hope to see you here! By the way the members here loved you and Sister Blair, they have mentioned it to us a bunch!

We love you guys too, thanks again,
Elder Branch

This week we came to primary as the super missionaries 

and sang and marched around! 

It was like being at Camp Kiesel again 

or teaching my rad primary kids!! :)

From our apartment

At the church

Sept. 20, 2016 in Exeter, New Hampshire

Hey family!!!  

How's it going!? Life is so hard but good. Missions are so good but hard. My letter to the Pres. sums it up, 

"20 Sep 2016
Hey President Blair!
I totally forgot that there is a format of what we are supposed to write you, I'll make sure to bring the paper next week so I know what to write specifically. My first week has been pretty great! The members are really nice and our investigator with a baptismal date is really cool too! 

There has been a lot to take in and learn this week, but I'm working on getting use to it. It is weird because I have done lots of hard things before, but being a missionary is really hard so far. I just want to become the most I can be and do so much, but there is so much to work on, but I'll get there eventually. 

It is also hard for me to just be lead as a missionary right now, because I'm use to leading I guess. There are things I want to do as a missionary that my senior companion may not think are best for the area, so I'm accepting that and trying to follow, but it's hard. There are some things that I think will really help our area though, so I'll try to make those happen, I'll let you know how it goes next week. Let me know if you have anything you want us to do.

Thanks so much for all you do for us!
Your friend and missionary,
Elder Branch"


1. Dad asks do people have accents?
Yes!! They weren't too apparent the first few days, but ya, people say "idear" for idea, and just as a whole add and drop R's as they please.  :)

2. Tell us all about your companion, please. :)
He is a great guy! He's name is Elder B. and he's from Arizona. This Friday is his year mark. He likes to get out to work, we're out to 9:30 like every night!! :)

3. Do you have dinner appointments very often?
So far we have had 4 out of 7 dinners provided so that's been super nice of people! :)

4. Have you hopped up and done the dishes at dinner appointments?
I've been trying!!! I offered at houses, but I'm gonna have to just do it and talk to Elder B. about it too. Idk if he'll be down, but we'll see.

5. Best experience teaching/contacting so far?
My first day we met a lady smoking under a tree and talked to her for a while. She was waiting for the bus for her kids and she said we could come back on Thursday. On Thursday we were going to meet her and there was a man on the corner. We talked with him for a long time and it turned out that he was her husband! That lady was actually having dental surgery that day, but the husband said he had seen her Book of Mormon and we could come over later. Then we went to go visit on Saturday and we met the Grandpa!! He talked and talked with us and said he had meet with the missionaries before and said we could come back!! So we have met with all 3 adults in the house and they are all cool with us so that was awesome!!! :)

6. How was Monday's training?
Oh, it was so incredible!!!!!!!!! I have so much to work on its ridiculous!!! But I learned so much, it was really good. :)

Love you all!!!!

Elder Branch