June 26, 2017 in Newport Maine

Hello pals!!!!

This week was really great!! We had interviews with our mission President, and in mine we started talking about missionaries in the Zone and then suddenly we were talking about raising kids and teens! Haha, it was some good advice, and I'm glad I've still got a while before I have to worry about that!!

This week was so good! S. and D. have been doing well! We currently have 6 people planning to be baptized on July 15, and I'm especially excited for S. and D.! They both came to church this week again and loved it. S. was really sick though so they left after first hour, but I though it was amazing how she came even though she was sick! Originally, she was planning to be baptized on July 1st. We haven't gotten to finish teaching her everything yet and so we were thinking about moving her date back. We thought about the 15th and about how we would talk to her about the date. We thought she has made a ton of progress, but that she would still need a little more time to learn to feel comfortable with getting baptized. When we got into the lesson I asked how she felt about that date of July 1st to get baptized. This is where things went so wrong but right! We had anticipated her saying that she wasn't quite ready, but instead she said that originally she had thought that date was scary, but now she feels like she knows it's true and that date would be great! That was so awesome!!!! But also scary cause we hadn't anticipated that for some reason!!!! Haha! :) It was really good though, we talked with her and D. about their testimonies and they both said that they feel that it is all true, that Jesus is our Savior, that the Book of Mormon is true, and that we have a Prophet on the earth today. :) We told them that we know that is true and that we just have a few more things to teach before they get baptized, so would July 15th work? They both accepted that date! We will be seeing them a lot so keep them in your prayers as we go forward!

This week we also helped a member pour cement early Saturday morning and that was pretty cool! I have never done that on a large scale before so it was awesome!!

Today is Zone P-day and we are going mini golfing (which we didn't get to do last transfer because of rain). I can't wait cause there has been a lot of heatlhy trash talk about the outcome!! ;)

I hope you all have a great week!!
Love, Elder Branch :)

Dec. 19, 2016 in Exeter, New Hampshire

Hey pals!!

I hope you all have had a great week!

So we had a great week this week! J. wants to be baptized and she decided on March 18th, which is actually her birthday!! It's so sweet!

C. couldn't come to the Christmas party or church this week (we think because of the snow and freezing rain), but we did get to meet with him and R. (his girlfriend) on Wednesday which was sweet! We hope to go back and see them tonight or tomorrow.

We've been contacting people in the area to confirm with them that they would like to have some donated food brought over to them for Christmas, and it was a really cool opportunity to meet people!! There was one lady named E. who was super nice and she has been wanting to get into religion! We were able to share a message with her and become pretty good friends. We will be checking back with her this week! :)

The church had a pipe break so on Sunday rather than ward council meeting, we cleaned out water! The building is all ok now though. :)

Elder C. and I are great!! Last night we had a really cool contact with a guy who we actually are going to start teaching, and Elder C. took the lead and did most of the talking, which was really awesome! He is a really good guy! Elder D. and C. seem to be getting along really well, so that is awesome! They found 10 people to begin teaching this week! ;) The Sisters also are doing well. Sister D. was really sick but she is doing better now.

I'm still working on being District Leader. Teaching this week was a lot more fun because I knew what to expect from the week before. It is actually really fun to get to teach and lead the conversation! The Zone Leaders give me good advice after each meeting, so that has been nice to have them there to help me improve and change! Elder M. and Elder W. are super great, Elder C. says that we are lucky because they are really good Zone Leaders, and I agree!

So for Christmas I'll probably be calling you from the G.'s house, so that'll be fun!

We have a half mission Christmas meeting this week that will be at the Joseph Smith Memorial, which is where the prophet was born, so that will be really cool too! :)

Sure love you all and Merry Christmas!!
Elder Hunter Branch :)

Baby it's cold outside!

During our dinner hour, 

we made magic cookie bars for our friend

 who had a loved one pass away.