Simple Concepts

This is a letter that Braden sent last June, and I just noticed that it was not published in his blog.

Querido Familia,

This week we were really busy, but I like it that way. My camera is a Kodak easy share m530. I really do not need anything right now, but thanks anyways. This week there was 2 missionaries hospitalized for health reasons and one who went home for his bad knees so we had a special changes meeting. Because we are getting close to the mission split they assigned my new companion, so right now we are 4 assistants, and it is a little crazy. His name is Elder Bringhurst from California. Elder Ostler played ultimate frisbee with him at BYU, and he is really awesome. He just loves the work so much and works really hard so I am really excited to work with him because I feel like we are going have a lot of success. I don´t know if I told you very much about my other companions. Elder Gonzalez is from Monterrey and finishes his mission in 3 weeks. He is the short one standing next to me in the picture. He is training me as an assistant, and is really good. He actually was a secretary before, and was one of the secretaries that picked me up from the airport. He loves the work and has very high expectations that he expects to complete. Elder Cordova is from Tobasco, he is a little more laid back and is the assistant that will go to the Southeast.

Ok, María and Diana. They are a mom and daughter that were baptized the week before. Maria doesn´t have work and they are barely getting along right now. Diana read the Book of Mormon and knew it was true. The story that is really cool is that they were thinking about being baptized and were leaning towards no because the hermana wanted to work Sundays and didn´t really want to pay tithing, so we just told them to read and pray. They did and when Elder Cordova and I went back to check how it went they said "We are going to be baptized." It made me so happy because that means that they prayed and read. The Book of Mormon is the best missionary, it is so powerful that when the hijos de lehi read it with a sincere heart, they know it is true. Their faith was so strong that they agree to change houses to be baptized because there was a situation in their house that didn´t allow them to keep some of the commandments, how awesome is this? I love this so much. I love it even when it´s not easy, it wasn´t supposed to be easy.

Through our faith in Christ we are waging war with Satan, and he has no power over us. It is such a simple concept-be obedient with exactness, work as hard and you know how, and always be looking for things to improve through Preach My Gospel and you will be happy. We are opening the doors to the Celestial Kingdom (PME). I love it so much.

I sent the picture of Carolina and Rubi who were baptized this week. They are really funny, the mom Carolina goes to a Neurotics Anonymous group. When we are even 2 minutes late to an appointment she leaves and she always wants to flip a coin to see who will say the prayer, so we had to teach her about the sacredness of prayer. They were really iffy about whether they were going to get baptized, but we told them to read and pray. Rubi had a dream that she got baptized in warm water, and Carolina knew it was true...and the Book of Mormon has another pair of converts.

We don´t have very much time to email because a new sister got here today and we were training her and taking her to her area, so I will write more next week. I love you all so much and am so glad that we are all in the same fight. I will answer the rest of the questions next week. I love you a bunch.


Elder Nelson