It's beginning to look like winter

here's the latest from Cameron.  it's pretty cold in Germany. Being an Arizona boy,mthe weather takes a little getting used to.  Everyday i wake up and check the weather and it's in the 30's with rain or snow at least half the week. People from Germany have told me the moisture in the air makes it a particularly biting cold. He told us their apartment heater has been out for a while and they have not been able to get it fixed so he's truly getting to enjoy the full scope of the weather. 

"Funny story I actually just got boots today, a member gave us some extra military boots, hopefully that works with missionary attire :) Ipads are a rough subject over here. according to the church we should have had them by next month, but the word from up top is that earliest would be april :P 

I got quite a few thanksgiving meals yesterday so I'm good with food :) 

so we spent P-day playing around with really expensive stuff :) really cool stuff that boys love. I got to wear the Bomb suit and it was quite fun and Heavy! but Elder cole and our member took turns kicking me and I couldn't feel a thing, so I guess it works :) "

I don't think this week will be as chilly for me as last week. So we have a car, but last week we had to turn it in for a few days for repairs, guess what happened the MOMENT we started riding our bikes home from the dealership? IT FLIPPIN' SNOWED!!! just my luck :) we spent a lot of time traveling in our area (one day we spent about nine hours just walking and trying to catch the few trains there are around here). but now we have our car so we are very thankful :) 

also I don't think I'll ever get that package but who knows :) (I accidentally sent Cameron's birthday to the wrong address so somebody else is enjoying his presents :()

Elise better not start dating until I get home. (Fat chance.  His sister Elise just turned 16 and is now allowed to date and already has a few lined up - mom and dad aren't ready for it either)

I always find it interesting that we Judge Peter at all in that story. Of all the disciples he was the only one with the faith to go and meet Jesus on the water. so if you feel like you are Peter in that story I would say that you are well off. ( I was letting Cameron now how sometimes I feel like Peter in that I have faith and I have witnessed things in my life that confirm my testimony with out a doubt. But just like Peter who saw Jesus walk on water and walked on it himself he started to fear and doubt and sink and how important it is to call out for help to The Lord when we are troubled.  I had never thought of how it's true that Peter did have the faith to jump)

Dad should grow out his beard until I get home. Don't let him shave it until then. (Michael started to grow a beard for Noshavember. It looks pretty sweet and we sent Elder Brande a pic- Michael says its going pretty soon)

So Elder Brande and Elder Cole got to do some pretty neat stuff at the military base. He says they were able to maneuver the bomb robot. Below is a picture of him in a bomb suit. The suit weighs 80lbs and the helmet weighs about 20. He sent us some hilarious video of Elder Cole trying to kick him in the suit and him trying to do a pull up.  It seems like they had a lot of fun. It was super nice of one of the members to take them on base

Tell Everyone Hi.

Love you 

A great day

My week has been good! It's cool to find out that we are somewhat related. (This in response to finding he and his companion are second cousins twice removed by marriage :0))

Something really special that happened this week is that DL was baptized this last Saturday. also on that same day we went to go do baptisms for the dead with the recent convert Bro. M. While we were there in Fredrichsdorf afterwards grabbing some pizza for lunch a member did some awesome member work and shared the gospel with a man who came into the restaurant who is crippled. it was pretty cool and as far as we last heard he is going to take the discussions from the missionaries there. 

 

Here's pics from D's baptism 

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

Different Day Same as the Rest

It's been two weeks since we've had an email. His father was terrible at writing with great frequency so maybe this is the result of the dreaded curse, "I hooe you have a son just like you!" Although, that wouldn't be a terrible thing as Michael was an amazing missionary who loved his time in Alaska.  

Despite asking tons of questions in our letters to him he provides surprisingly little detail.  However, I guess I really shouldn't be surprised as Cameron has never been a big talker.  So here's the email, all six sentences :)- Enjoy!

Hi, I'm alive. There's nothing to write about It's been the same thing every day, except we finally have an investigator. His name is Tapas, he's Indian and Hindu. We had zone training and interviews on Friday and we didn't get home from Düsseldorf until 930 because they found a WW2 explosive and everyone had to stay inside until they figured everything out. It was way more boring than it sounds. I got my visa taken care of, so now I'm legal. 

Putting your shoulder to the wheel

Cameron's latest letter:

So Kenya Oma isn't the one who accepted baptism and it's kinda rough, Dania, the lady from Cuba who accepted baptism.....We're going to have to push back her Baptismal date pretty far back. we've also lost all of our investigators and now our teaching pool is empty. hopefully we can get back in contact with some or find new ones, but losing all those people has been hard

------------------------------------------------

As his mother, I'm not going to lie. These short letters are killing me. The internet costs to use so they're short and lately not too sweet. Missionary work is hard and he's experiencing the hardness of it. Sister Newmeyer, (http://rememberiwill.blogspot.com)

a missionary from our ward shared this great quote that I think sums up the work:

"... mission presidents, you will have an occasion to ask and your missionaries will have many occasion's to ask, Why is this so hard? It's true, Why don't the people just flock to the font? Why isn't the only risk in the mission field that of pneumonia? being wet all day and all night in the font, Why don't the people just listen president? Why can't we have success president? Why is this so hard? ... because Salvation Is Not A Cheap Experience, why do we think that this would be easy when it was never ever easy for Him..." - Elder Holland

Some weeks are better than others

We haven't had a lot to post the last few weeks. Elder Brande is in an area where the internet is expensive to use so his emails have been pretty short. So here are some excerpts of emails he has sent to various family members. We hope to hear more soon. On a fun note, their Mission President's farewell gift was to allow them to watch the Germany/USA World Cup soccer match. It was kind of neat watching it on our end knowing he was watching too. Even though, he only had a short time with President Shwartz he was very impressed with him and grew to love him and will really miss him.

Here is his new companion, Elder Jack:

To give this letter context Michael wrote to Elder Brande detailing his experiences at Girl's Camp:

Dad,

I'm glad you survived that much Estrogen and pain :P It's funny, you can relate anything to the gospel, and I think that is what is so amazing about our church, there is simplicity and all comes back to it. Just when we think we are most prepared that's when temptation hits the hardest. "Let me tell you something you already know, life ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It will beat you to your knees and keep you there if you let it. Me, You, Nobody, will hit as hard as life, But it ain't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward."- Fun Quote

Love you Ganz Liebe

Elder Brande

 So where to begin? Well I found out that my trainer is going to be leaving me in the middle of my Golden cycle and that a new elder is going to be finishing me up :P We had a HUGE storm come through Aachen last week and it went in as far inland as Düsseldorf, it knocked over a bunch of trees and completley knocked out the train systems out here. Public transportation is the only way people get around here in Germany and this storm made it so when we went to Zone training in Düsseldorf, a normally 2 hour straight train ride turned into a six hour adventure. Getting home on time isn't an option anymore :P Good thing is that it has given me the oppotrunity to talk to my Mission Präsident a lot before he goes. I'm in a small little internet cafe in the middle of Bonn now, because we are having our own Distrikt Meisterschaft :) the downside of it all is that this place charges waaaaaay too much for me to justify writing a longer letter so Tschüß 

'm so tired and I don't know what to write about and I don't have time so yeah, ask dad if he knows a Blackley family from Alaska, with a kid named Brandon, just curious, I think I'm a little grumpy because we haven't been eating well because I was out of MSF waiting for some reimbursements, because me and Elder Anderson thought we had at least another transfer together. I'm so hungry and tired. I hope dass alles gute. Love ya

Chio  

Elder Brande

Here's a little excerpt from a letter he wrote to his Uncle Justin. This kind of hurt my heart a little bit but I am so proud of the way he and his companion didn't get discouraged and kept working. It's a great life lesson for all of us.

"Thank you so much for all the letters. They have been a strength to me on tough days like today. Just today we were cursed and spat at (though that's pretty normal). I have a man accuse me of the most horrible things, then a punk kid body checked me and said the most vilest things to me. We got back to our wohnung and I wanted to give up and honestly,just cry. Instead we went out and worked, and we found people that God had prepared and put in our path.

An invitation for baptism

He's been extra busy so his letter is short and sweet. Don't ask us what his "German" says. It doesn't quite make sense in Google translate so I'm not sure if the spelling's correct 😄.

Ja, alles klar. Mein Deutsch ist nicht schlimm. Mein mitarbeiter und ich sind töll. Die Idea von meine schwesterin fahren gibt mir ganz angst! So we just hit a minefield of investigators, here's a quick list of all of them; Dragos is this romanian guy who's homeless but not a druggie and he seems quite intelligent, Susan is an older lady who we call Kenya Oma because she is always so nice to us, Matthias is this old 40 something man who REALLY loves AC/DC, Till and Patrick are two Uni students who live in a HUGE frat house, Taran is a turk who is really religious the only problem is he worships the wrong side, then of course there is Dania who Nammen die gelegenheit für taufen an! Dania acceptet the invitation for baptism and here date is on the 19 of July! She was just so prepared and I was just lucky enough to extend the invitation. I love you and I hope that everything back home ist klar.

Elder Brande

Here's a picture of Elder Brande on a P-Day having fun with his Dusseldorf zone.  He's holding up his zone leader Elder Varney.

Finally making some contacts!

Here are some excerpts from Elder Brande's latest letters to us

It's been a little crazy for me here this past week. On Monday afternoon  Anderson, the other two Elders in Aachen and I traveled to Köln and stayed the night in the Köln Elders' apartment. I don't suggest ever visiting there. Tuesday we traveled to Frankfurt for Golden/Trainer Meeting. Then I returned to Köln that afternoon and went on a split with Elder King from Köln to Bonn. After he lost me in the Köln Hauptbahnhopf für eine stunde I went to Bonn and we taught a man. He's a great guy but he is Islamic. He just won't accept Jesus Christ as anything more than a prophet, and I know if he just prayed that he could gain a testimony, but he wont because he says the way we pray is like building a relationship with God and that is the one thing in his religion that is unforgivable :P then we had Zone conference that same afternoon and then I went on a split with one of the zone leaders, Elder Varney. We contacted like crazy, but no one was interested but I was able to bear my testimony to one man and change his whole outlook on prayer, but he still didn't want religion. We then taught a man from Greece. we taught him the stop smoking program, and he agreed to do it, and so far he has been doing great! We then taught a member, sister G I was able to use some of the Spanish I learned from landscaping to make her laugh (she's from Spain), then we gelehrt a guy from West Africa and he was baptised a few months ago and he wants to go serve a mission! Finally we thought A man from Guatemala and he accepted the Erlösungsplan  and the invitation to be baptized! Friday afternoon Elder Anderson and I returned to Aachen. We now have about five investigators and one of them showed up to church! her is D and she is from Cuba. She wanted to learn more and we will meet with her on Mittwoch, she also wanted us to teach her 10 year old son A. I'm excited to see where things go! 

Aachen is so hilly and you have to walk everywhere, your legs definitely get that burn :) We're going to hike out to the Tri Punkte land today, so I'll make sure to send you pictures of me in Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium :) As Die GML, Gemeinde Missionare Leiter, or Ward missionary leader, please help the Elders/Sisters build up that relationship with Die Gemeinde and prayerfully pair up the Untersucher mit members that would be the best für them. those are the Best GMLs :) There's quite alot of crazy stuff happening with the whole election thingy going on. Elder Anderson and I got caught up in a little etwas, a certain group of 10,000 people were marching through Aachen and were going to end infront of a Synagogue. Now a certain group of people like this attracts opposition and it needs police involvement. Elder Anderson and I were unaware of this and if it were for the fact that it was a little rough it would have been awesome. Nevertheless we didn't become Involved at all. really. Elections were yesterday and people here get pretty heated so that's why we're having P-day outside of the city :) 

Please Keep your commitments! as a missionary there is nothing quite as frustrating as someone not keeping there commitments! for being so practical and rule following, Germans aren't so good at keeping missionary commitments :P 

Ich liebe dich, und Ich weiß, dass wir Gottes kinder sind. Ich weiß, dass Jesus uns leibt. Ich glaube, dass beten und hören die geboten ganz wichtig sind, damit wir zu unser Vater im Himmel zurükkehren können.

Love Elder Brande

It's a one jacket week!

The weather has been pretty nice for the last few days and I'm finally able to wear just one jacket! We had a really neat experience the other day; we left our apartment early for an termin and we ended up heading the wrong way (we don't completly know the way around town yet) and out of a blue a lady called out to us. She had just gotten out of an internet cafe in which she was trying to Email a missionary she had lost contact with, so she found us and we set up a time to meet with her this week or the next! It was a huge testimony to me that the Lord puts his missionaries where he needs us. 

To be honest I kind of miss being able to work outside and I don't know why but I'm craving some yard work.

I'm sorry to hear about Aunt Karol. I hope that Grandpa is doing fine, I can't even imagine what one of my siblings passing away would do to me. The Branch here in Aachen is really amazing, and the building is in the Städtteil Brand so every member has brought that up to me. the Elder's Quorum Präsident, Mario is a really great guy, he's always taking us to appointments and helping us with   Weniger Aktives. He's a convert and he went on his mission to Frankfurt (he's German) and moved here to Aachen afterwards and became a baker ( he's always giving us bread and that's awesome!). We found out that he was once married, but his wife died in a car accident, which is totally sad! but it is amazing to see how groß his testimony on the Plan of Salvation and forgiveness are. 

Ugh! look up a picture of a German keyboard. You don't realize how often you use Y until it's switched. Also forgive my spelling, German is kind of killing it. The good thing about German is once you begin to understand it it's really easy to spell. We have cell phones and it is nice to be able to use those, helps save us 40 € train tickets :) 
-We don't have Ipads as a mission, but our district got chosen to be the test group with some new Ipads so we'll see where that goes! 

-No pain really, I did a net weight gain of -4 in a week and a half, but I gained about 18 pounds then dropped :P don't worry I've been doing Morgen Sport so I've been staying in shape :) 

-Elder Sprunt went to Bommburg, Apparently that is one of the nicest Wohnungs, I found out this week that we are liveing in one of the most rundown/Ghetto Wohnungs in the Mission, but that's how I want my first one to be, it will make the rest seem awesome :)

-Cmbrande Mch13f777

Love Elder Brande 

First week in Germany!

This building is where his grandma and grandpa lived while on their mission!

We ended up getting a letter Tuesday after all so here's the latest from Cameron:

Well after a crazy last week at the MTC and a really long flight I made it to Germany! I´m so excited to be here and I can really feel that the work is progressing in Germany. I'm in a area called Aachen and my trainer, Elder Anderson, and I are both new to the area and have gotten lost every day so far, but we're starting to learn the area bit by bit.
Elder Anderson and I are Uni Elders, meaning that we do all our finding and contacting on the big University here and Aachen. It's been tough, we've yet to teach a single person and almost all the referalls we've gotten have shut us down. I feel like we've been working like crazy, but no one is interested yet, but I have faith that this week will be better! We have hade quite a few fruitful conversations with a few students, so there is hope! 

Aachen is so beautiful and so freaking cold! It has rained every single day I've been here! It just started pouring outside as I type!!! We contacted a nice referall the other day, but she lived in a small little town to the west and while we were walking to her house we walked through a part of the Netherlands! 

The Branch here is so awesome! Every single member is so freindly and just loves to help us missionares! They are so excited about missionary work and on Sunday when two investigators showed up to church they just were so welcoming! 

I'm so excited and I look forward to serving the People of Aachen!

Elder Brande 

Here's President Schwartz, Elder Anderson and Elder Brande

No Letter this week so here is an update from the Mother's Day phone call:

Here's Cameron at the mission home with President and Sister Schwartz, the new missionaries and their trainers:

After waiting on pins and needles for a few days and having the possibility that Cameron might be sent home due to his illness, he was cleared by the doctors and sent to Germany! Cameron arrived on Wednesday May 7th. He went to the Mission home where he was interviewed by President Schwartz and assigned his trainer/companion. His companion is Elder Anderson. I am on a Germany missionary mom's facebook group and his mom is on there and she was able to give this information to me on Thursday so we didn't have to wait until Mother's day to hear. SO grateful for technology!

Cameron was assigned to Aachen, Germany. This is a new area that he and his companion get to open up. They are mainly assigned to the University. They live in an apartment right next to the University. The university is considered one of the best in Europe so there are people from all over the world there. They have Books of Mormon in several different languages to pass around. He says the translation in Arabic and Persian is super interesting. He thought it was pretty funny that his first contact was a family from Cameroon - considering his name is Cameron.  They didn't speak much German and neither did Elder Brande so he and his companion used a mixture of English, German and hand gestures to communicate.

The other neat thing about this area is that three countries intersect at one point and it is possible to be in three countries at once - Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.  Because this is a new area, neither Elder Brande or his companion know the area and have been walking everywhere and getting lost at the same time.  He said they went to deliver a Book of Mormon to a referral and they kept walking for hours, pretty soon they saw all these signs saying goodbye in German. Pretty soon, they realized they had left Germany and were walking in the Netherlands.  They quickly turned around and found their way home.

He says it's beautiful there. Here is a little video of the town if you want to check it out:

Luckily, we got to speak with Elder Brande on Mother's Day.  Best Mother's Day present ever. He is feeling much better. The work is hard but the Spirit is strong!

Here's a picture of the Persian Book of Mormon he was talking about:

Health challenges and spiritual experiences

This is Cameron's letter for today. Between talking to the MTC health office and information from Cameron he's had a fever but it finally broke and he is feeling much better. He is on antibiotics and it seems to be helping. He really hopes he doesn't get delayed but we all know that it's in the Lord's hands and he will leave  when it is the right time

Guten Tag!

So my P-day was switched from Monday to Wednesday so I've had to wait a week and a half for laundry and Emails! I was pulled aside last week by President Trost and he informed me about Grandpa Derrell's passing. Even though I had been expecting the news it still hit me as a surprise and it brought me down. It just so happened that that day we were teaching the plan of salvation to an untersucher and as I was teaching about it and giving my testimony the Spirit gave me a testimony of the truthfulness of what I was saying. I know that Grandpa Derrell is in a better place and I know that he is no longer in any pain.

Last Thursday around seven in the afternoon in the middle of class I noticed some pain, and very quickly it turned into a lot of pain and I had to make a trip to the ER. They did a lot tests and couldn't find anything wrong with me, so they sent me back to the MTC. Something really amazing happened at the ER though; As we were waiting in the lobby in front of us was a young couple. The Woman was crying and looked really pale, but at the time I didn't think much of it. I was lying in the the room and me and my companion Elder Sprunt had been waiting for an hour between tests and the man from the lobby came into our room and asked if we were able to give blessings. We knew they weren't members, he had earrings and she had tattoos on her arms, yet he had humbled himself and came to us in faith asking for a Priesthood blessing. My companion agreed to give the blessing and after a short prayer with me went of to give the blessing, after he left they wheeled me off to a dark room to get an ultrasound. After an hour I returned to the room and Elder Sprunt was waiting for me. The doctor came in and let us know that I was fine for the moment and wasn't in critical condition and so they were going to send me back to the MTC. I was confused and a little angry, but Elder Sprunt said something profound to me, he said "What if the Lord was just putting us in a position where we could give Kelsey a blessing?". then it hit me that before I even felt the pain I had grabbed my vial of oil without thinking of it and it turns out Elder Sprunt needed to use that oil. While I was experiencing this pain, Kelsey's Kidneys were failing and her body was shutting down. I know that the Lord will place us where we can bless other people, I just wish He could have done something else to get me there! On Saturday I returned to the ER for pains even worse than Thursday and long story short I'm almost all better today! The doctor at the MTC is wanting to keep me here another week so they can observe my progress though, so let's hope that doesn't happen! 

Yesterday D. Todd Christofferson Came and talked to us about Trust. There is no one else's trust we should search for or treasure more then the trust of the Lord.

I love you all and I know that my Redeemer lives.     

Elder Brande

Here he is with Elder Williams who was also confined to a wheelchair due to recent surgery. This in front of the Provo Temple

Rough Week!

It's been a hard week for our Family. Our dear Grandpa passed away. We called the MTC and let Elder Brande know. He sent us a wonderful letter posted below. A few days after receiving this letter, we got a call from the MTC. Elder Brande has been having some severe abdominal pain this week. They took him to the Emergency room and thought he might have appendicitis. After a few tests they decided that is probably not the issue. He is still in pain so they are going to be running some more tests. Any prayers on his behalf would be appreciated!  His dad and I have been joking that perhaps it's revenge of the MOAD!  Here's his latest letter:

Subject: Storben ist nicht die Ende

Dear Mother,

As I came out of a practice meeting with an investigator a member of an MTC presidency pulled me aside and told me about your phone call. I was deeply saddened to hear about Grandpa, but also at the same time I was able to take a breath of relief. The Spirit was able to bear testimony to me that he was in a better place and that he isn't in pain anymore. I hated to see him, a man who was so strong be held down by his disease. All day we have been learning and mostly teaching about Der Plan Der Erloser and I couldn't help but teach that life and our journey doesn't end at death. I have found great comfort in serving others and teaching about the plan of salvation. Thank you for thinking about me and sending me a call, but don't worry about me i'll be fine, I hope that you are to find comfort and peace in knowing that Jesus died so that we could all live again. I love you and I know that Grandpa is in a better place

Love Elder Brande

A Spiritual Feast

Guten Tag Ihre,

This week has been a spiritual feast, so much so that my spirit thinks that it has been Thanksgiving all week long! On Dienstag we got to listen to the Apostle Neil L. Andersen speak to us! He spoke on how the Das Buch Mormon is a companion to the Bible, it was real interesting to have an Apostle speak to us in such a personal way. On Saturday our Lehren came in and for the erste time spoke to us auf Englisch! We read out of Mosiah Kapitel 15 bis 16 and really had a strong connection to the spirit as we discussed our Saviour's Atonement and how it was personal. We then watched the video Because of Him and if you haven't seen that video I implore you to look it up right now, even if you have seen watch it again and think of someone with whom you can share it with. Go on I'll wait. Have you seen it yet? Good, now once you wipe away your tears share that video with that person you thought of, I promise that it will touch their hearts and I know that it was the Spirit who brought that person to mind. It is such a powerful message and the Spirit will testify of it's truth to whomever you share it with. Member or non-member they need that message and to know that He lives. I don't want to brag or anything, BUT I did get to listen to President Uchtdorf am Sonnstag as well! He Really brought in the spirit and spoke about how we are sometimes like Peter. Peter, who so strongly testified that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, denied knowing Jesus three times. Being stricken with guilt he prayed for forgiveness and on Easter he learned the great truth that we may all know for ourselves, He lives! With that great truth being made known unto him he preached the Gospel without fear, standing up for what he knew to be right even in the face of Death. I know that sharing the Gospel is hard, I have to try each day, In German! Yet I know that God placed people around us for a reason and that you can have an Impact on someone's Eternal Life.

I really absolutely love the German word for Atonement; Suhnopfer (with umlauts over the u). Es Bedeutet Son and Sacrifice which it really was. The Son of God Sacrificed His life so that we could Enjoy Eternal Life with our families. I know that my Redeemer lives! Froh Ostern, Happy Easter Everyone! I love you all!

Elder Brande 

PS. Here is the link to the video he is talking about: www.mormon.org/Easter

Learning German and definition of a MOAD

I'm doing well here in the MTC. I'm trying to enjoy my time here.  My German is coming along well.  My Companion, Elder Sprunt is awesome! Everyone in my district is amazing.  We all have so much fun together.

At lunch today, Elder Spencer (his dad served in the Alaska mission too) and I made each other a drink. It was 2% milk and cranberry juice.  It was surprisingly good.  So Elder Spencer and I decided to mix each other's drinks during dinner and not to stop until someone dropped. (Mother aside here: This sounds like a brilliant idea:))  After we each had five of the best and grossest drinks ever, Elder Spencer's miterbeiter,Elder Hall made us a MOAD (Mother Of All Drinks).  Needless to say, it was the one that put us over the edge.

From Day one they overload you with German, and the second day was as long as the first.  I was able to teach my first "investigator" all in German yesterday. I won't be surprised when the investigator turns out to be one of our teachers next week.  I am able to understand people when they speak German.  It's mostly trying to speak it that is giving me problems at the moment.

As you may have noticed - my address has changed slightly so I will be leaving earlier, around May 06

Elder Cameron Brande
May 06  Ger-Fra
2007 N 900 E., Unit 64
Provo, UT 84602

My companion, Elder Sprunt's mom sent him a care package and there was a bag of rice krispie treats she made for me.  How she knew my one true vice, i know not but I can't control myself around those buggers!  So us Germans live on the bottom floor.  We own one half of the hall and the Russians have the other half, so naturally we've formed a friendly rivalry.

Ich weiss das Buch Mormon warh ist. Ich weiss dass Joseph Smith eine Prophet war. Ich weiss dass Thomas S. Monson eine prophet ist.  Ich weiss dasgott unsere beten antwort. Ich weiss dass ich bin einen  representive Jesu Christi. Ich Liebe dich.

Elder Cameron Brande

Week 2 - He's Lovin' it!

Guten Tag!

Almost two weeks down and it feels like it's already been several months! Classes here are really rough, considering how I can't respond to most of the questions, but i can feel my knowledge growing each day! Man General Conference was amazing! After each speaker was done I wanted to yell "No, no, no! Don't sit down yet! I need to hear more!" I really enjoyed President Eyring's priesthood session talk. I almost forgot how much i missed Dieter F. Uchtdorf's plane stories! I forgot to bring my general conference talk notes, but i nearly took up a quarter of my journal! I really can't stress the importance of each and every talk enough! Maybe because I'm an Elder now, but almost every talk seemed to be focused on missionary work! Elder Holland's talk during the morning session really hit me hard. 

I really do love the MTC and I really feel the spirit all around! Although on Mittwoch one teacher made us all want to go home :P it was only a temporary feeling but it brought our whole district down for a day. My favorite teacher sister Covey is going to be gone for a whole week! she wrote each of us a little note, but it was all auf Deutsch so it took me a solid three minutes to read four lines. 

I've attached a few photos of me and Elder Sprunt, our zone, and a Couple of me and Cliff! He's got apurple cast on! I was really worried because the day before he had told me he might have to go and get surgery and that he might be delayed for a few weeks! luckily he doesn't need the surgery but it's going to be a month or two before he can use his hand!

Ich weiss dass Gott uns leibt. Ich weiss das wir Gottes Kind sind. Ich glaube in Der Plan Der Erloser. Ich leibe Dich!

Elder Brande

Our First Letter!

So excited! We received our first letter:

The first week here has been extremely crazy! The first day felt like i was being bounced from one place to another with no time to catch my breath! My companion Elder Sprunt is so awesome, he's so much like me and we get along really well. My whole district is really awesome, but out of the 30+ elders that reported on the same day only four of us, Elder Sprunt, Elder Baxter, Elder Suave (pronounced So VEE), and myself are going to Frankfurt, the rest are going to Berlin. but in April 45 Elders are being added to the German Zone and in our last week 60+ are to report for our zone! 

I really Enjoyed reading that note3 in Jesus the Christ dad left for me and the Dear Elder Letters i got from Dad, Justin, and Jared.

From day 1 they completely immerse you in deutsch! it is so Stressful! On day 3 Ich belehre ein "unterzucker" auf deutsch! it was really scary at first but as me and mein mitterbeiter began teaching about prayer and how God truly is our Himmlische Vater the spirit completely took over. I'm not going to be surprised when Unsere Unterzucker turns out to be one of our teachers tommorow.

On sunday we had a devotional and brother Elliot, an organist from the Mormon choir, and David Archuleta, some special guy i assume from how the sisters were swooning, spoke to us. I'm sure if you are a person who gets really nerdy about musik this devotional would have been your dream, but for me it wasn't too spiritual. Brother Archuleta gave a good talk about the changes we can see in people, but when he broke out into song at the pulpit it felt as if the spirit left. I realize that i'm in the minority here but i don't like the way he sings, but the elders in my district also mentioned to me how it felt like the spirit just wasn't there. Afterwards we went to see a recording of Elder Bednar's talk in a MTC called "how To Recognize The Spirit" if you are able to find a video of this talk I highly suggest you do. It was so amazing! I want my siblings and little cousins to remember what Bednar said on how to make sure you do what the Lord wants you to do (and really everyone)

1. Be a Good Boy/Girl

2. Remember Your Covenants

3. Keep the Commandments

4. Always Press Forward Doing Your Best

Ich weiss dass Das Buch Mormon wahr ist. Ich weiss dass Gott uns leibe und dass Jesus Christus unsere Ertloser ist. I know that I'm doing what the lord wants me to do and that He will Bless us because He loves us. Ich weiss dass die Kirche wahr ist.

Ich liebe dich,

Elder Cameron Brande

Leaving on an airplane

Cameron has experienced some amazing growth in the last 18 months. It has been so gratifying as a parent to see him grow from this stubborn teenager to a stubborn but spiritual young man. He has been such a help around the house always helping when asked. He was always willing to take his siblings to their activities.  He even took his sisters every morning to early morning seminary so I could get a little extra sleep.

Before he left he shared with the family how strong his testimony is and how he truly felt that not only did he want to serve a mission but the fire was so strong in his heart, he had to serve.  My mama heart is full of gratitude!

Tuesday night he was set apart and President Jones gave Cameron an amazing blessing. He told him that he would be able to learn the language, he would have joy and success in his work and he would be protected and many other wonderful and sacred blessings.

It was crazy to see his bags all packed and his room cleared of his things. You could see in his eyes that he was anxious yet ready to go.  We got up early Wednesday morning and headed to the airport.We said our goodbyes.  I asked him to wave back when he was going through security.  He told me, "I've made my decision and I'm not looking back."And he never looked back.  That was hard and wonderful at the same time. I know what he is doing is right but it's a pretty quick and severe cut of the apron strings.

Cameron headed to Salt Lake where his Grandma & Grandpa Brande picked him up and took him to the MTC. And like that he was off.....

The Call

Cameron received his call to serve in the Germany, Frankfurt mission. Cameron had taken three years of German in high school and loved the German culture. In addition, his grandparents recently returned from a mission there. Cameron had the chance to visit them in Frankfurt last summer. He really wanted to go to Germany, so of course we knew he wouldn't go there. As his mom, I felt he was going Spanish speaking.  In fact, I had told him that taking German was a waste. Boy was I wrong.

When Cameron received his call he wanted to open it in private.  He went in to his room and we heard a huge yell of "Yes!" When he came out and told the family, I didn't believe it at first. It was too good to be true and the Spirit spoke so strongly to my heart that this was the place he was meant to go.

The next big shock was that he was to report to the MTC in just five short weeks.  There would be a lot to do in a short amount of time. Cameron was up to the challenge and it was so neat to see him take charge as a young man. He finished his employment and was able to save up for more than half the cost of his mission. He took care of most of his list and making his temple appointment. I was so proud of him. However, it was a bittersweet moment as I knew it was getting closer to my first born leaving the nest.

March 23rd was his farewell talk. We were blessed to have lots of family who made the trip down here from Utah. We also had so many friends come out. We felt so loved.

Since Cameron loves pies, we decided to do a pies and ties theme. Cameron's favorite pie is Cherry.Somehow, I always forgot to get him Cherry pie so I had to make sure he got his pie.( It's a long silly story so you'll have to hear it another time.)  I did have to play a trick on him and hide the cherry pie. I had 10 different pies with no cherry.  He really thought I had forgotten his cherry pie! I finally brought it out and it was a great laugh.  The whole day was wonderful and we were so grateful for everyone who helped make it a fantastic day!