The Shirt or "Suit" Off His Back - 8 FEB 2016

8 FEB 2016

Hey everyone! So this week the biggest news was that we finally had our meeting with Presidente Casariego haha. It was really good, he focused a lot on bringing investigators to church. He put as part of "el estandarte de la mission" (the goal for each week as a missionary) that we have / investigaters in church EVERY week! Which will require a lot of work but it makes sense because if they never go to church they will never progress enough to get baptized. So were going to focus a lot more on doing that and staying organized enough to be able to accomplish it. So thats been our focus this week, find more people so we can bring more people to church.

We actually did find one family recently. Bishop gave us a reference for a less active family. so a couple days later we were able to pass by and when we knocked the door, the wife said, "Hola

Service project with local members

Elderes, we've been waiting for your visit, pasen!" (in a little spanglish) and we found the husband, "D". He had a big bandage over his head and a couple over his arm. It turned out that a few days before we came, their family got in a car accident and "D"got ejected out of the car.  Miraculously he lived and was the only one hurt. But talk about being inspired to visit someone at the right time! Plus they have two kids, and the younger daughter is not baptized! We have a noche de hogar (family home evening) with them today!

And to end with one more story, so "M" has been helping us out a lot recently, but he went to church every week in normal clothes. He wanted to have church clothes together before he went. He had a suit but when he tried it on, it was way too small for him. So, I tried on the coat and it was slim on me but it fit, so I decided to give him my suit for his. It is a grey suit too so on Sunday I brought him my suit and I wore his.  I will admit, the pants on me are kind of tight haha but the suit fit perfectly on "M"! It was so cool! he gets the Melchizedek priesthood in April and were getting him ready for the mission. That was super cool. I'll send fotos next week!

Well, I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Lunch with a local family

"Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts" - 25 JAN 2016

25 JAN 2016

Hey everyone!

First things first, I can't send fotos again because I left my camera in Plottier and I am in Neuquen for transfers!! Don't worry I'm staying here in América, but Elder Coyle se va! And my new comp is coming from Esquel in the south, so he wont be here until late :P  His name is Elder Aquilera from Chile, he's got 6 months.

This has been a long but good week, I'll get you all caught up on this area.

So first off I need to tell you all about MJD. He is this 20 year old guy that the other Elders found before heading back home. He was baptized when he was about 16 but went inactive after a year. We started to pass by and visit him. He decided he wants to serve a mission and he stopped smoking. He asked us to give him a blessing for his anxiety problems and he said, "I know it will work" and it did! He told us he doesn't even need the medicine he used to take to help him out! He's an incredible guy!

So as MJD has been going back to church, he has been bringing his niece and nephew with him and now they have a fecha (date) for this week! All we need is both of their parents to give permission. The only other problem is that their mom lives in the boundaries of the other ward but their dad (MJD's brother) lives here within ours. But were still going to do all we can! They are the closest for right now!

We had a really cool transmission this past week for ALL missionaries where a few of the apostles spoke to us and it was really spiritual and interesting. They made sure that we know what our purpose is, "Teach repentance, and baptize converts". They asked us to focus on the Savior and how HE is our message, of course we teach about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but the most important lesson we have is that we have a heavenly brother named Jesus Christ, who understands each and every one of us perfectly. Not only does he know us, but he died and suffered just so we can live with our own families together forever; to literally live happily ever after. All we have to do is repent and turn our lives over to Him. And then we are baptized. Thats why there are missionaries, thats why me and my brother Curtis are far from home teaching of Him. And I know He lives, and that He loves us all no matter what. I love you all too and I'll talk to you soon.

P.S. next week, sí o sí I will send fotos!! haha

Baptisms to End 2015 - 28 DEC 2015

28 DEC 2015

Hey Everyone, Merry Christmas!

This has been such a great week! Our baptisms came through! Its actually a crazy story because we had scheduled their baptisms and then on Wednesday they said their Mom didn't want to sign the papers. So the next day we fasted, then when we passed by their house, we asked how their mom felt and the kids went inside to ask her, then we waited for like 10 minutes.  While we waited we started to pray and they came out super excited saying "We can get baptized!" It was so cool!

On Christmas we had a P-day all day with all of the missionaries. We had a gift exchange and it was a lot of fun.  We're going to have the same thing on New Years but I think this time we will make tacos! haha.

I wish I had more time to write but its been a super busy week and its still busy :P but that's a good thing! So I hope you all have a good week, and I'll talk to you soon!

Christmas P-day Fun

An Asado with various meats - Argentina BBQ

Christmas Program at Church

Elder Coyle in on the Christmas Program too!

Transferred to Plottier, Goodbye to Roca - 15 DEC 2015

Hey Everyone!

So this week all my stories are just about visiting people because, I am sitting in a ciber in my new area in...Neuquen again :P haha I am in the area of Plottier, America and my new companion is Elder Coyle!! From Lodi, California haha. So I'm pretty pumped!

It was really sad though to say goodbye.  My last day in Roca I gave my testimony in sacrament meeting and it felt so crazy! We ended up visiting 3 families on Sunday, the familia Muñoz, Epullan, y Caram.

We had lunch with the Familia Muñoz and I shared a scripture at the end and was just thanking them for everything. They have a son named, Misaiel who just got the priesthood that day. I was wearing my grey suit with the vest, so at the end I took it off and gave it to him. Then the hermana and abuela were crying and thanking me and the kid gave me a big hug, it was a really good parting.

We then visited the Familia Epullan and we were there for a while. They all drew me picture and were writing me letters. At the end, I said the prayer and the hermana started crying. She told me that I mean a lot to them and that I'm part of their family. In the hermanas letter, she opened up to me about something in her life and thanked me. It was super rough to say goodbye to the girls like Aimé and Luciana.

Then of course I ended at the Familia Carams. We were all laughing and joking. They wrote me and took pictures and it was so nice, all theses people mean a lot to me and they said the same so I'm glad I was there at least for them.

But, I'm really excited to be here, There is a lot waiting for me here I can tell.  I'll send fotos next week.  I love you all, and talk to you later!!

Elder Darren Bramell

Transfers are Coming - 07 DEC 2015

7 DEC 2015

Hi Everyone!

Umm so really this week has been a bunch of meetings spread throughout the week. This week was stake conference too so we've been in our suits a lot of the week haha, Presidente came also and gave us our interviews and that was interesting!

I'll get back to the interviews because after that I'd say the biggest success we had this week was teaching "R" and "F" again!

We didn't have a lot of time to get in a full lesson but we did manage to show a video and talk a lot about our beliefs and things like that. When we got there "F" actually told us that she got engaged that day and we met her boyfriend too and he listened to the lesson! "R" said one of her dreams is to get married and start a family and we can definitely see the most interest from her. The only down side is that "M" left for somewhere and "F" is headed home for vacations (their finals are this week) But we have high hopes for "R".

So with the interviews it was kind of out of nowhere but it went well! The only thing is I was kind of hoping to stay here a little longer for Christmas but Presidente told me I'm probably headed out :P sooooo so much for that haha I'm still excited though.

Stake conference was also really well! They talked a lot about the story of Peter when the Lord asked him three times "do you love me" which I think is a good topic. It went well and a lot of people showed so it was nice!

Anyway I hope you all have a good week and that you start getting into the Christmas spirit, it's just the best part of the year! I love you guys!

Christmas Season 2015

Salutaciones Pueblo de Manteca Y Afuera - 9 NOV 2015

9 NOV 2015

Hey Guys!!

So to be honest this week wasn't much different from the last, I even got another pair of shoes from someone! haha "L's" Dad, gave me a pair of dress shoes he never really used.

Missionaries are tough on shoes...

So where to begin this week...
Oh well I guess last Tuesday I hit my 11 month mark already... that's pretty weird haha We ended up passing one hermana who is active but we haven't really visited a lot.  We stopped by and they were digging a big hole to drain water out from their house (they live in the tomas so its all dirt with brick and stick houses) but we helped her husband dig the hole another 2 meters deep (still not sure how deep that is but it was like 2 of me deep or something haha) so that was fun! He isn't a member so well see what we can do there..

We also have been visiting hna "C" a lot again and shes been doing better.  We had a noche de hogar (FHE) with them and her grandkid brought her friend who went to church the next day, we are going to try to pass by again this week.

We're still teaching "L" and her family, but its slowing down a little because they are getting pretty busy. We are trying to figure out how we will make them more interested because I feel like her parents, "F" y "V", are more just listening, but we can see their curiosity growing. We have the goal to be exactly obedient this week so it should help, were going to try our best :P

Other news I guess would just be that our ward had the primary program this week in sacrament meeting and the attendance rose to over 100, that was pretty sweet! So was the program haha

Anyway, I'm glad to be here and I love all you guys! I'll see you all soon!

P.S. Here are some pictures of us making french fries with fry sauce haha

Sorry I always send food pics no mas, I'll try to take more entertaining pics this week :P