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 :)

July 1, 2017 Transferred to Manchester New Hampshire Mission Office - will miss so many awesome people in Newport Maine

Hey everyone!

Wow, this has been a CRAZYYYY week! So much has happened and I can't fit it into words, but I'll try my best. There have been so many thoughts, ideas, and feelings, and it is wild to think how many people can relate, but also how no one has really had the same experience. Except of course Jesus who really knows what we are going through. :)

So, we started off the week with a Zone P-day of mini golf and Elder C. was the winner! That night we had a Zone Blitz in Waterville. We had the Waterville Sisters and Elders direct us to some of the people who they knew. Then we all went out to meet people! We had an appointment to have a "Family Night" back in Newport that night with a member family and our awesome S. and D., so Elder C. and Elder L. went back to Newport and I did the blitz with the Waterville Elders! As we were driving to go talk with our people, I saw a man out on his porch smoking and drinking a Dr. Pepper. I had a feeling that we should go talk to him so I asked the Elders if they had seen him. We ended up going back and along the way got to talk with several people who the Elders set appointments with and we got to talk to the man on his porch and testify and teach of truths like that our families can be together forever! The Elders will be seeing him again next week. The next day we had a big combined district meeting that was a really great experience.

So basically this week was a blur! We had exchanges with Rockland, had two friends set baptismal dates, taught a bunch, and had a blast! We taught the Word of Wisdom to S. and D. and they understood it really well! The next time we were at their house their coffee machine brews were all replaced with hot chocolate!! :)

Transfers are this week and we were expecting that the three of us would stay together, since Elder C. and Elder L. only have one transfer left. Our p-day was switched to Saturday and we got to go to Fort Knox with our awesome Branch Mission Leader and his wife, the M's. There is a really cool bridge observatory and when we were a couple hundred feet up at the top our transfer call came! It was pretty epic to be a few hundred feet up looking across the river and getting a transfer call. It turns out the Bangor stake, which was two zones, will be combining into one massive, 14 sets of missionaries, Zone! Elder C. will be staying and will lead that crazy change with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder P., from the other Bangor Zone. They will be staying in Newport which will be sweet! Their Zone, from Farmington to Machias will be roughly 4.5 hours across!! So, that will be super cool! Elder L. will be in another Zone Leader trio in Winthrop with my MTC companion, Elder P.! I will be heading down to Manchester to serve as an Assistant to the President, which is really exciting and crazy and scary! I think anxious would describe it well. Really excited and nervous. :)

S. came to church today for her 5th time, but it was her first time staying all three hours! She had a great time, and later we got to have a barbecue with a few families from the Branch and S. and D., and it was so fun! We taught them about temples after and it was such a great last lesson! I'll be so sad to leave Newport and miss all the awesome things coming up, but I know that the Lord needs me somewhere else. There are currently eight people here who are excited to be baptized, so I'll be excited to see pictures of them all!! :)

Thanks everyone for all you do and the prayers you offer for the missionaries. I sure love you all and hope you have a great 4th!!
Love,
Elder Branch 🎏

(Thank you Brother and Sister M. for the fun pictures 

and your great kindness to the missionaries.)