July 16, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello all!

Transfer came again! Elder Lockwood will be heading down to Lawrence, Mass. to speak Spanish in a trio for his last six weeks of training. RIP that man. I’ll miss him tons, but he’ll do great.  

I’ll be receiving Elder Anderson and Elder Sika in a trio! They have both been out for a while so it’ll be a party! Actually it’ll probably absolute insanity cause trios are sooooo much fun! Haha  

We had a good week! We met some amazing people! One lady, K., is INCREDIBLE! She’s Quaker right now, but would love to learn more about what we share. She read 430 pages of the Book of Mormon between Thursday and Sunday, as well as came to church!! She had a great time in the women’s class (Relief Society) at church and a bunch of the younger members who work here in Bar Harbor for the summer talked to her and became friends; they exchanged numbers to hang out! She’s loved how big the Mormon community (which really is mostly in the summer because of workers and tourists) is since the Quaker one is so so so small. Now the trick is getting her to not just add our truths to hers, but learn that what we share really is God’s whole truth for us. As a missionary though, I’ve realized just how easy that is. I don’t ever have to convince anyone. The promise of the Holy Ghost is real, and if people will simply do what we invite them to, THEY come to know it’s true, independent of what we share and do as missionaries. Preach My Gospel (our missionary training book) says: “We will be guides so that you can learn the truth of our message for yourselves. It is your choice to accept and act on the message. Therefore, you should feel free to ask questions.” Amen to that! If you have questions, whether you're a member of the church or not, feel free to try out the promise for YOURSELF. Ask the missionaries, they will be your guides. If you don’t try out what they ask though, don’t be surprised when you don’t receive an answer. If you try it out, acting in faith, you’ll know for yourself.

We have to go down to Manchester to deal with court stuff for the car accident I was involved in last January. The other driver is trying to say it was our fault, which it was not, so we get to go fight it!  I hope we can resolve it there so that we don’t need to go to actual court, but we’ll see.

Have a great week!
Elder Branch

Apr. 30, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine - Transfers...

Hello!

So, I had written out my email and was almost done, when my iPad crashed and deleted it all. 😭 So, my motivation and time are lessened to write, but I’ll still give you the basic highlights.

Wednesday we had to pack because we left that night. We were able to stop by and teach some people that day too so Elder Powell could say bye.

We drove for about 9 hours Thursday because of the drive down, back up, and picking up Elders along the way to bring them to their new areas. Looooong day, but fun to see people. Elder Powell will do well in Vermont. I received Elder Dayley. He is from Idaho, is a saxophone wizard, likes the indoors, but isn’t opposed to the outdoors, and likes to joke!!

We found a track by our apartment, that made me so happy! My mile time on a treadmill got down to 5:47 in Manchester, but that was 3 months ago, but the weather is nice now so we can finally run, and I had a 6:27 mile on the real track without feeling to tired so I’m excited to get to keep running in the mornings! :)

We stopped by a guy named A. who we had stopped teaching a few months back and had a great lesson! Things in his life are clearing up a lot more now and we’re doing a church tour with him tomorrow morning!

Lots of our investigators weren’t able to get together this week, because of the craziness. N. sent us a text that sounded like he wasn’t going to meet anymore which made us super sad! We stopped by though and he actually just meant he was starting work so he’d be a lot more busy and it would be harder to meet. He also was worried about all the commitments he’d have to make. We told him to chill for a second. If we relate the gospel to math, he was trying to do calc without even learning or experiencing addition! We explained that the reason God sent us was to help him, one step at a time. First thing is he needs to read in the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it’s true. We shared Alma 32 and talked about how we had given him a seed of faith, and he said, “ya, and I need to water it, I haven’t done that.” We were really glad he made the connection, hopefully he’ll read!

P. has been busy but we have contacted him a few times and he still wants to meet.

The S. family hasn’t really been keeping their commitments or appointments. We stopped by this week after having scheduled the appointment the day before, to find no one home... we left a note asking them to call us to reschedule because they have missed a bunch recently. If they don’t call we will just wait and come back by in a month or two.

K. is good, she was out of town.

J. had a busy week but we’re excited to see him again.

A lady named A. who had been checking out the church before I got here, came to church this week! We had never met her in person, but had talked on the phone a bunch of times and she had always seemed interested still. She has been sick and busy for the last few months, but has continued to read the Book of Mormon and is noticing how it has been changing her life! We will see her again this Wednesday.

Last thing, I had been praying to receive a sure knowledge that President Nelson is a prophet. I believed he was because I know the church is true, but this week as Elder Dayley and I were praying together before we went to bed, I prayed that God would bless the prophet President Nelson. That was the first time I’ve asked God to bless him since he was called and in that instant, I felt the spirit tell my heart he is a prophet. It wasn’t overpowering or emotional, it was just a happy and sure feeling. I’m glad God answers prayers in his way and time.

Love,
Elder Branch :)

Awesome Elder Powell

A work in progress...

My new comp, Elder Dayley is the second from the right.

Elder Dayley is taking this picture