Aug. 13, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello all!

This week has been great! Lots of driving, as is standard in upper Maine. We had our friend C. accept a baptismal date!! :) He and CJ both came to church again which was great! One of the members did a great job befriending C.! He got his number and asked C. if he could come help work on his boat, then he’d take him out for lunch. They did that and it was SOOOO awesome! :) I love members.  :)

We have been starting an effort to see and help more members do missionary work. This week we got a call from the Elders Quorum President (one of the men’s leaders in the church) and he said that he and his counselors are going to start setting one night aside a week to go contact people who haven’t been to church recently and let them know we love, care, and miss them! They would love it if we’d come with them! That will be so awesome for this ward!!

Our young couple, J and M are so close, they just missed church this last week. I hope we can give them a baptismal date this week. They are a family that will be so blessed by the gospel! We had a few really great lessons this last week which we could feel the spirit so powerfully during! :)

Well, I LOVE being a missionary. 😆 I can’t believe it’s been two years. I am so amazed by all I’ve learned and become. I’ll just close by saying I know God makes true on his promises. Don’t be afraid to go search for truth! God has given us a divine process to find out. I know Heavenly Father loves us and that He sent His Son to suffer for us and atone for sins. He LOVES us all so much and wants us to love, grow, and learn! :)

Love,
Elder Branch

Aug. 6, 2018 in Ellsworth, Maine

Hello!

This has been a great week! We had such a busy week!

We had Zone Conference this week, as well as a festival in Newport which we helped out with. Those were both super. At Zone Conference they had those of us who return home soon share one “Golden Truth” which we have learned as a missionary. I had so many ideas, it in the end I decided to share that: God is our Heavenly Father, Christ is His Son and our Savior, and the Holy Ghost can be our constant companion. Also, I know that God makes true on his promises as we continue in Faith. :) Haha, I shared a bunch more, and cried. It was great to hear what other missionaries who I’ve loved and served with the past two years have learned. :)

We had two new friends come to church! Both are young guys. One stayed the whole time and even got up and shared his testimony! The other left early because he was super nervous, but plans to come again! The one who was super nervous impresses me SOOOO much! We got in contact with him because he signed up for a young adult rafting trip the church was hosting! He had never been rafting so he decided to go! We got in contact with him and have talked with him a bunch. He drove about an hour to get to church, after only being invited once! He loved getting to meet people, but also was super anxious because of it. He is excited to come again next week and stay the whole time! It is amazing how people are prepared and ready to exercise faith! :)

Hope all is well for everyone, have a great week!!
Elder Branch :)