From Braedon

hello everyone,life on the mission continues to be amazing. dont get me wrong, i still miss home and such, but missions just rock. the ward and work are doing so well right now. yesterday we confirmed socorro and her three daughters alexis, naomi, and andrea. the son in that family, christian, is getting baptized this coming sunday. hes been coming to church for 3 weeks now and fits in perfectly, hes a rad guy. plus, he digs classic rock like led zeppelin and such...its a huge relief walking up to a house that isnt bumping rap or mexican tunes. also going on this week is natty's wedding and baptism! were filling out the papers with her today and the actual marriage is going on thursday. then she gets baptized sunday. and shes also asked us to come over to teach her husband (to-be) this saturday. he hasnt been super receptive so far, but she really wants us to try. its been so much stress trying to figure out her situation. on saturday we went to the temple with her and valeria (our recent convert from a few weeks ago). they loved it. but afterwords she was telling us about how she wasnt sure that she should get married because she was thinking of leaving him and going to mexico because she only got to see him one time a week on saturday mornings, and that he would usually go exercise or work anyways. so she didnt want to seperate because she wants it to work out with him, but didnt want to get married if she was just going to leave him in a month or so. that makes sense but at the same time it was ridiculous because she received a very strong answer that she needs to be baptized, and she couldnt do that if she didnt marry or separate. so, we finally got them to sit down together and lay things down hard. natty said what she wanted (baptism, marriage with him and more time with him, kids) and told him that if he couldnt help her with that then she was gone. well he promised to drop hours once the car payments were done (in february). so, we finally got all the madness figured out. married thursday and baptized sunday. woot. im stoked for her, she rocks. earlier this week we went to the temple too with two recent convert families (gaitans and castros). it was a blast and they loved it. on the fifth theyll be a ward temple trip to do baptisms, and we should have 7 of our recent converts going. woot! awesome stuff. then wednesday night and thursday night we practiced for the ward christmas party play. that happened friday and was a hit. we had a bunch of investigators come and they loved it. good food, music, dancing, and the christmas story in a play (i got to be one of king herod's priests...it was fun and everyone loved seeing the missionaries dressed up weird). plus, one of our members brought a non-member family to it! the family is so solid. weve stopped by a couple times already and they came to church yesterday. the mom already received an answer that this is the church she should be going to, and all of her kids love it. she just moved into her apartment in our area and she was telling us about how she didnt buy a phone for it on purpose because she doesnt want to get called into work on sundays because she wants to come to church hahah. rad. theyre super ready and they members are already helping us out with them big time. they got presents for the kids for xmas and were showing them to classes and all. bonita 3rd is definitely the best ward in the mission. what else...mission christmas party is this wednesday. members are having us over all week long for christmas dinners(tamales) /family nights. tonight were going to the temple again with a less active family. lifes just good. i played some football this morning and that was a blast. things are just going really well. now, christmas with you guys....i get the family present on tuesday, so im thinking im going to priority ship it so you should get it wednesday or thursday. ill probably have to use my credit card to do it so just be aware that ill have charges on my card after christmas. now, calling. so heres the thing about skype...if we did that wed have to use a members computer, which would be fine or whatever but well have 4 missionaries with us all christmas day. so, in order to have everyone calling home were going to have to go to the church and use phones there. so i dont think ill be skyping this christmas. if president donaldson gives you the ok, then ill do it for mothers day. is that ok? sorry, i just really dont want to feel rushed with 3 other missionaries wanting to call home too and not letting them because im skyping at a members. i really want to, but i just dont want to cheat the other guys. ill probably call around 1-2 your time. what else....i think thats about it. if you want, make a list of questions and ill answer them. what else...tell everyone merry christmas for me. get fun pictures to send me. i really hope im not forgetting anything essential. the rest i can tell you this friday when we talk! enjoy your week, dont get stressed, and im super stoked to talk to you on friday. love you all!!!!!!!!!!!! elder roney

From Braedon

hey everyone,this last week has been pretty awesome. last monday we played mud football in the downpour of rain...it was awesome. i ruined a pair of socks, but it was worth it. tuesday we started the training exchange thing. i went with two english elders, elder meldrum and henrichson. lets just say that im super glad that i got called spanish haha. no, the english work has plenty of potential too, but i really just missed spanish for those three days. we used the trolley/buses, so everytime i saw a hispanic i took the chance to sit by them and chat a bit. i was surprised by how many people in that area werent spanish. it was like my first time going to costco in a whiter area out here...it just felt weird seeing so many white people. im going to wig when i get back to utah. anyways, the training exchange was alright. i had a lot of interesting experiences. the 'good' investigators that we visited turned out to be quite the trip...poor elder meldrum and henrichson were at a loss after. one that had a date for yesterday ended up being an alcoholic, living with his girlfriend, and im pretty positive hes an active gang member. the elders werent aware of that, so it was awkward when he was looking forward to his baptism on sunday and they had to explain that they had to make some changes haha. another lady has massive explosions of anger and got pretty upset with elder henrichson. it was an interesting few days with those elders, but they handled it pretty well. we had some big time hippies call us over and they showed us their house and all. they were making food for the homeless (that was actually something really cool, they do it every week then even have leftovers for neighbors). there were like 20 of them preparing food, cooking it, drinking, smoking, or doing all of it at the same time. the walls were plastered with cd covers and such, i cant even tell you what color of walls they had. they had a compost pile outside that you could ski down. it was nuts. they were just going off about the project they were doing and then throwing in random tangents about the government and the world and such. super nice, but it definitely threw me off a little. then one of them started asking us questions about the church. he was legitemately interested and wasnt high or drunk, so it was actually a really good conversation. this week they should hopefully be teaching him again. anyways, after that and their little tour i asked if they needed help with anything. he said maybe next week they could use some help. so, i lined up some good fun service for elder meldrum and henrichsen this week, theyll have a good old time. and finally, as we left, eric, the guy who seemed to be the leader of the crew, gave us a big old hug. hahah, what a good guy. it was a very odd experience, but theyre doing a lot of good for their community so props for them. the whole three days were full of weird random things like that. anyways, that ended thursday and i was very glad to get back to my area. friday and saturday were pretty busy. we had to see everyone that we had been neglecting for the past three days. it went well though. then sunday come. sundays back in city heights used to be rough. theyd be the day of great expectations and then a giant crash. but not here in bonita 3rd ward. sundays rock. socorro and her 4 kids came to church, they brought a friend, and then the next door neighbor came too. then natty showed up again even though she really didnt want to. she felt super beat and just wanted to sleep, but she knows what she needs to do so came. shes solid. anyways, valeria got confirmed and that went well. im super happy for her and she keeps telling us how shes felt so great ever since her baptism. awesome. the chapel was full (when i say full i mean the front part...the divider into the chapel gets opened for a few people but we dont use too much of it). that was great. one of the speakers was from brazil and spoke portuguese. i really like it, i think its a pretty language than spanish. its really similar to it (i was able to understand it better than i expected), but just cooler sounding haha. idk, everyone loved it. the rest of church went well too. then we went home, ate, got stuff ready for the baptism, and made sure everyone had rides. socorro, alexis, andrea, and naomi had their baptism at 5. it was awesome. they were all so excited. and the ward gave a lot of support, we had 30-40 people come, it was amazing. bonita 3rd ward rocks. the baptism went really well. solid talk by the ward mission leader, the hymns actually sounded good, it was just solid. elder hanks baptized socorro and andrea, i baptized naomi, and elder crapo (he taught them twice before getting transferred) baptized alexis. so that was kinda unusual and isnt something we usually do, having 3 people baptize 4 people. but it went well. president and sister donaldson came to congratulate them and us too. it was just a really good night. then after that we had a mission-wide fireside, so i got to see a lot of the missionaries and members and such from my last ward. sister galvas (she used to teach us spanish and feed us often) says hello and merry christmas to the family hahah. she rocks, i hope you all get to meet her some day. but yah, that went well too. christian (socorro's son) and natty were there for church, the baptism, and the fireside too, and they loved it. christian was about to cry at the baptism and were really excited to focus more on him now. natty received her answer this week too. shes been having a rough week, so i left her those mormon message videos that they have online. i left one from elder holland about the atonement (the talk he gave this last april) and one from elder wirthlin (sunday morning will come is the title i think). so we told her to read, watch those, then pray on her knees. well, she did and she got pounded by the spirit. awesome. she knows its all true now and feels super peaceful when shes reading/praying/at church/etc. its amazing how miracles like that can happen when youre sincerely doing whats right. shes got a date for the 27th of december, im super happy for her. oh, and this is kinda random but its an awesome story. so theres a recent convert in our ward of 7 months. she was just made relief society president. so i asked about her conversion story. well, she and her husband met with the sister missionaries once and learned how to pray. that same week, her husband had a heart attack and she was with him. he was gone...done...past help. but then she remembered about the lesson she had with the missionaries and about prayer. so she prayed the way she had been taught and miraculously her husband came back to life. coincidence? definitely not. anyways, needless to say, she and her husband are super solid members and rock. ive heard lots of rad stories like that since being out here, but i just never remember to put them in my emails. ill try to be better about that. anyways, miracles can and do happen. radical. anyways, the work is still going really well out here, not thanks to me but im glad to be in for the ride. i just try to be as in sync as i can and things just work out. weird right? you live the gospel and do things God's way and then God's work gets done right. the mission rocks. its got lots of rought patches, but it still rocks. what else is going on...i feel like a keeblers elf. ive been making cookies all week long, giving them out to investigators and recent converts and such, and of course eating my fair share haha. but besides that, i havent eaten my own food this whole week. the members here really take care of us, were really lucky. um, what else. about skype. as of right now, i cannot find a computer to use to skype. my one hope is natty. she might be around on christmas and so i may be able to use her laptop. we wont know until this wednesday though. next week ill give definite plans, times, etc about christmas. and dont worry mom, all the elders in our apartment are getting thing for christmas from their families. even the one from el salvador is expecting a box this week. so yeah, were good to go. sorry, i had more typed but this comp wigged and i didnt copy the rest so it was lost. ill send cds with pictures on them next week. the big xmas gift will be late, sorry. ill send a small something though then the big one as soon as its ready. everyone needs to get feeling better. rest, take meds, and drink you 'icky'nasia stuff that mom gives you in your drinks. if i forgot to answer some questions, write me an email labeled 'questions' with whatever you want to know and ill respond to them all next week. sorry im out of time and cant rewrite all that was lost. super sorry. know that i love you all, miss you all, and hope everyone gets feeling better. have fun and enjoy the snow! love elder roney