From Braedon

hey everyone,

so this morning the first thing i heard when i woke up (besides the alarm) was my companion saying, "seven days" all creepy (and mexican-accented) like from that movie the ring or the call or whatever that lame movie was hahaha. always good to wake up with something to laugh to. anyways, things here have been nuts. i know i was supposed to work out more trip details last wednesday over email, but we had an emergency come up. ive had some crazy stuff happen on my mission, but this probably topped it all haha. however, im going to wait to tell you about it until next week hehehe. dont worry though, everyone is ok, it was just nuts (kinda like the bathroom at kathy's restaurant...haha that ones for kinny and adam). anyways, the madness keeps coming cause this coming week is packed with exchanges, departure activities, zone activities, and then the mission president's fireside down here in the el centro stake (its this legit fireside theyve been doing in san diego for the past year, but its never been done here so were yanking it down here so the stake-and i- can see it at least just once haha). plus, just last night i was told (not asked...told) that ill be giving a talk and doing a musical number on the guitar for the fireside. craziness, but itll be tight (like britns pants). this past week started off a little crazy with the incident ill tell you about later, but it wrapped up well. we met this interesting guy named pedro sanchez. his beliefs are unique, but hes open and willing to learn. weve taught him a few times already and he ended up coming to church this past sunday for all three hours, so its moving along well. the problem is that hes staying at a home where his sister is hard core catholic, his brother-in-law is an extreme (and i think drug-fried) pentecostal, and his brother that hangs out there often is a hard core christian (even though he says he doesnt believe all of it, yet he fights anyone over it hahah). then next door just happens to be a house full of what appears to be unemployed and bored thugs that boom rap from their ghetto-mobiles with subwoofers that probably cost more that the car itself hahah. so, not the ideal environment, but we talked to a recent convert last night whos willing to take him to church and be with us for lessons. kevin and christian saravia also came to church sunday for the three hours and ate it up. they loved sacrament meeting, even though the speakers were some gringos from the stake and one struggled with his spanish the whole time (but it was a bomb talk, and definitely what the ward needed to hear). im pretty positive theyll be getting baptized in just a few weeks. the mom is a less active member but wants to come back. sunday she wasnt feeling good (shes got a bad back but catered a school event anyways and came back dying), but she told us and actually seems pretty solid about coming next week. the dad, who supposedly isnt involved in religion, told us this last week that he really appreciates having us over to teach his family, so thats no longer a possible barrier, but now a possible investigator. good family. things with the reyes have been going really well (we helped them set a family vision/goals, and another time taught the son more about the restoration) but they didnt show up on sunday or even to english classes on monday. when we saw them saturday they were excited to come it seemed, and they never miss english classes, so we dont know what happened. were going to try to stop by today and see if all it ok. juan estrada is doing well. hes been reading in the book of mormon and weve been able to see him regularly, but he didnt feel comfortable going to church because he felt like hed be betraying his catholic mom (he doesnt go to church with her, but he feels like if he went to another church shed feel betrayed or something lame like that). however, he has been really open with us and its helped us see a lot about what he needs and i think weve got some good plans to get him confident and excited about this stuff. hes a great guy and ive got great hopes for him. we havent really be working with the landins recently, but we went by this week and talked to the husband jerry and hes having us over to do a FHE with everyone this week. that family would be a bomb mormon family that the ward could really use, so pray that we get lots of extra help with them. the benitez girls, sabrina and lydya, continue to do great. they brought two of their friends to institute last tuesday. woot! the friends...well, although they enjoyed it, they werent too excited about having the missionaries come over hahah. but they got shown the mormon.org stuff and were given a copy of the book of mormon, so who knows how thatll play out later on. im just excited because the benitez are just rockin it. theyve been doing a great job of missionary work, and even though it hasnt taken off with most people, it made all the difference with their sister sharon and im pretty sure that lidiana will become a member because of them too. uriel (less-active) is back again. he was coming pretty consistently like 6 or so months ago, but wasnt ready for the commandments stuff too much so dropped out again. but we started seeing him these past weeks and this week he showed up to church, stayed the three hours, and i saw him filling out a tithing slip between classes. props to him, hes a rad guy. so funny story. sunday, the ward had a baptism for steven barron (recent-convert/part-member family). during the service we had a musical number by the missionaries. however, elder mata didnt know the song too well and couldnt see the words for the life of him (and didnt have his glasses on him). so of course their is a 'guys only' part in the song, and elder mata was just humming randomly, so during the men's part i had to do a mini solo while elder mata hummed randomly hahah. it was super hard not to laugh but we made it through haha. anyways, questions i need to answer. church in calexico starts at 10 AM. calexico is 2 hours from san diego. there might be like one or two hotels in calexico that could accomodate all of us, but im not sure. the marriot in el centro would be a safer bet and its only like 10 minutes from calexico. de anza hotel isnt really a hotel anymore. its fixed up from the earthquake, but ive been told that they just use it to rent now, like an apartment complex. i think thats all the questions. plans sound good. ill be sending stuff home this week in a few boxes. ashton, happy birthday! your gift from me will be missionary stuff too, so dont get too excited haha. but a mission is definitely the best gift ever, right? well, i know i should probably say something epic here because its my last email...but alas, i dont think i will hahah. just know that i love you all and if you want to hear something specific, ask me once im home hahah. SD mission rules, definitely changes my life, but i know if i tried to say something uber cool that it would utterly fail. ill tell you all about it next week hahah. love

elder roney