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 :)

Oct. 30, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Hello everyone!!

This week we had MLC on Tuesday and then exchanges the rest the week!

One crazy experience this week was on exchange with a new missionary. One of the people we're teaching called and told us about how he had talked to his Pastor about us and his Pastor had told him the classic few things that people use to talk bad about the Church that are all lies or misunderstandings (us believing that we have to work our way to heaven is one example [Answer: Mosiah 3:12 "...For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ." That's all we have to say about that!]) So we talked to this man and answered his questions, and then he told us his Pastor would like to meet with us to talk. It was interesting because the natural response could have been yes, which would have led into a big Bible Bash that wouldn't have done either of us any good. Instead the spirit guided me to say very sternly that we would love to meet with his Pastor, but not until he had done his research. We have read the Bible, the same one his Pastor reads, and we believe in it, but the Pastor was making fictitious claims that would easily be resolved if he were to do what he should have and read the Book of Mormon before trying to attack it. We talked more about that and I was able to very lovingly but boldly testify to our investigator that I know the Book of Mormon is true and that he needed to read it and ask God if he wants to know if it is true as well. 

After the conversation the new missionary was pretty surprised because he had never seen any missionary be so bold to their investigator, but it was pretty cool because we stood for the truth firmly but respectfully, and the Spirit was there with us to testify.

Elder Petersen had a lesson with that man later that day, and when they arrived, he was listening to the Book of Mormon on his computer!

We have an awesome lady named C. who has a baptismal date for Dec 2nd! She called us, and has been to church a few times over the past 10 years and has almost gotten baptized but things came in the way, and now she is ready to finally get baptized! :) It is awesome to see how happy she is with everything! She came to the Halloween party and had the best time, and she thought church was great and was just so happy! The gospel is a happy thing! :)

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

Exchanges and p-day activities from the last little while...

Our activity for the Ward Halloween Party

Oct. 25, 2017 in Manchester, New Hampshire

Hello everyone and happy Monday!!

This week we had the meeting with the new missionaries which you saw since we had to email late last week. The coolest part of that was the fireside at the end that we really had around a campfire! Last year there were a few more new missionaries so the Assistants to the President did most of the talking, but since we had a couple less, we decided to give everyone a part! They all either taught, prayed, shared a story, sang, or bore testimony. It was so cool and President Blair loved it! It will hopefully stay a memorable experience! :)

This week we got to work! Sad news is that N. who was progressing really well blocked us on Facebook randomly one day and we haven't hear from him since. That's how it goes sometimes though. We started teaching 11 new people this week, had a few new people come to church, and probably the best thing, we had A. at church! She was baptized a little before I got here and hasn't been able to come except for once. This week we celebrated Brother and Sister D. (they are from Nepal) with her and the family, and then she came to church on Sunday! :) It was the coolest feeling sitting in Church, M. who just got baptized sat in front of me, one of the awesome people we are teaching was to my left, A. was on my right, another Recent Convert (D.) who we visit a lot was next to A., and P. (a returned member) was next to her! Missionary work is so powerful and changes people! :) We had a special service about missionary work on Sunday. Elder Petersen spoke, as well as our Ward Mission Leader and Assistant WML. Elder Ricks and I got to sing "Called to Serve" and added a special third verse that we sing in our mission that goes:
"Called to Serve the people of New England,
With the Gospel of our loving God,
Teaching, preaching unto true repentance,
Holding to the Iron rod"

I sure love being a missionary and am so grateful for the missionaries a long time ago who taught my family! There is power in the Book of Mormon! A man we are teaching really wants to find historical proof that the Book of Mormon existed. We shared the talk from this last Conference by Tad R. Callister, and I love the story he shares. He tells of a friend who left the Church, and years later decided to investigate again. He can't get past trying to see if there is historical evidence of the Book of Mormon for a while to build his testimony. It is only after he begins reading the Book of Mormon that he learned that it's true. At last his 3.5 year investigation of the Church ended and he was baptized, all because he finally took a step of faith and read! How powerful that is!

Love you all, go read the Book of Mormon! :)
Elder Branch

Sunday late night dance party on parking garage 

after putting in mission numbers and updating all info