A few pictures

Well, unfortunately, as has become the norm not much details to report. This is his response to my letter asking how things are going and please send some details. 

Good, still good. details are hard. especially detail to "things"

Yep. That's what constitutes a letter around here. At this point I just have to laugh. He had his 20th birthday on Sunday. I thought I sent his package to the mission home but it got sent to his old address. I am sure the Aachen elders are enjoying his birthday presents :0). He did send a few pictures. The first is of Porta Negra - it's a Roman gate, the second is of a piñata he and his companion made and the third is a picture of Cameron and his companion, Elder Cole.

Good things

Just to give a little context to the letter - his birthday is coming up so he is responding to my asking him if he needed anything. We also wrote him how much we missed his help with yard work. He was always a hard worker. Here's his latest letter:

So I'm staying In Bitburg with Elder Cole. thanks anyways, birthdays out here aren't really anything special :) I'd kill for some warm weather over here, it just gets colder and colder and our heaters in our apartment don't work so :P I actually miss yard work, but then again maybe the grass is always greener on the otherside :) 

Things are going really well here, the families we have been working with are awesome, one of them is stalking my blog because I told her about it so give a shout out to sis. Calder, she made me rice krispy treats and she makes fun of me for not writing to you enough! ( thank you Sister Calder for taking care of him and please don't let up on him about writing his mother - I need more information :))That's pretty sick about Michael, give him my best of luck ( he's referring to his friend Michael Pettingill, who just received his mission call South Dakota)

A quick update

Just a short but promising update:

Friday we were meeting with a part-member family and it was a lesson about Eternal families and we ended up giving him the invitation to be baptized and he said yes. He's  a super cool dude from Hawaii. His wife was/is less-active but she has been trying to come back to activity. I absolutely love this family, they are so cool, they bought us Spam and chocolate chips, I don't know why. But it is super awesome anyways

A little help for a friend

Last week they had a district Pday and did a lot of traveling so he didn't have time to write. The first part of his letter was just general items for me. He has a new companion Elder Cole. He said this picture pretty much sums him up - sounds like they are having fun:

He also said he is eating well and sent a comparison of German and American pickles. The American pickles are your standard Vlasic. The German pickle jar is only about as big as his hand 

 

Gifts from the scriptures and a baptism!

This is the kind of letter that makes a parent's heart swell. We can really see the spiritual growth and the power that Christ can have in all our lives. He is currently living in Binsfield, Germany. He has a new companion, Elder Jacob Cole. They are by the Air Force base so he says there are a lot of Americans. 

As he has been studying the scriptures these are some things that have stood out to him:

Lehi says to his sons in 2 Nephi, Awake and arise from the dust. That scripture really stuck out to me and I am impressed by how many times he tells his sons to awake or arise. 

As I've been going through my scriptures I've started actively studying and marking. It has made all the difference. As I have been striving to be active in improving myself instead of waiting for God to do it for me I have found that I have been yoked with Christ and that he has been carrying me. His Grace is sufficient. 

Mission conference with Elder Ballard was interesting, He talked a lot about the power of  a smile and how the major converting factor to the investigator is the missionary. That was strange to hear, we know that it is the spirit that converts, but Elder Ballard said that the overwhelming factor as said by investigators and recent converts was the missionary. Being who you are is really important and as you stay true to yourself you can allow people to feel the spirit. 

During our stake conference Elder Bednar came to speak. He is such a powerful speaker! He taught about how we should be striving to be the action not acted upon. We should ask God for the ability to do, not for Him to just do everything for us. He also said that when he served in Germany he had an American Area and said that it was the Celestial Kingdom so I give that a big stimme dazu. 

We just had a baptism this weekend and it was an amazing time. D. is such a spiritual powerhouse and he has made so many improvements in just three months. It was so awesome to be able to participate in his confirmation and to just feel the spirit so strongly. Afterwards, I saw him sitting with his family and they were all so happy and I just can't wait for them to become an Eternal Family. The gospel truly does bless families and I've been able to witness it firsthand. 

Love Y'all

Elder Brande

Enjoying the new area

Well it seems the pleas for a little more info did not fall on deaf ears. He sent us a letter with a list of answers to questions asked over the last few letters. He put it in list format so I hope I got the right answers with the right questions. He also sent us a fun package with chocolates from the Lindt factory in Aachen. It was such a treat to receive. We also got some fun pictures of his new area.

Here are the questions and answers

I'm very anxious to hear about your new area. How do you like it?

Yes, I like it

 How about your companion?

Good

 What part of England is he from? -baldock town, north of London 

How are you getting along? good

It looks like Bitburg is every bit as rainy as Aachen. 

-it hasn't rained too much here, our apartment is in Bisburg

How are you handling the rain? Good. It gets tiring after a while

Have you learned to love it or loathe it?  good

Now that the portion of this letter devoted to motherly guilt is over how are you?  Good

Have the Germans settled down after their win?  It sure looked like an exciting time! -yes, like two days after it was like nothing happened

Meet any new people? everyday I do. 

How are your investigators?-they come and go

What do you think of Aachen as a city?it was good

Any advice you  have for Lucas entering his first year of highschool?

advice for Luke: have fun, don't get caught up in the academics 

Where is your companion from? Utah  (this was in reference to his old companion, Elder Jack)

 How is the work going?  Same old, same old

How are you feeling about your language learning? Gut

How are you feeling spiritually, physically, emotionally? Good

Cameron enjoying the weather

His companion Elder Smith.  He's from London so Elder Brande thinks he talks funny and says he says Smith like Smiff. I can only imagine how he thinks Cameron speaks :)

Here's Elder Brande and Elder Smith in Trier,, a city in their area

Here's Connor Moores.  He describes him as a mini missionary that will be working with them for the next week

Here's a snap of the letter that came in the package

Transfer and a new companion

Well I don't know that we'd call this a letter,  more of a minimal informational update.  Despite asking specific questions and begging for more details our requests have been denied. Here's what we know. If you receive a letter from Elder Brande we would love to hear from you. Maybe if we all piece our information together it will form a bigger picture 😄.

Latest Email from Elder Brande:

seriously im not depressed I just dont like writing long letters :) its too much effort :) Im lazy you know that .) I just got transferd to Bitburg and I´m going to be serving with a Brit named Elder Smith. also I will be driving D: it´s hard to write in english now and I cant spell anymore :P My new area is apparently a military ward, so my german is probalbly going to take a dip :) 

Yep that's all he wrote folks.  I'm not bitter ( I say sarcastically 😜).  I looked Bitburg up online and it looks like a really neat place. They are a fairly small city, it looks quite picturesque. The Bitburg Air Force Base is there and it's next to Luxembourg.

It's a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate