The Buses

So it rains here.... a lot! We bought all this rain gear but I never use it because you get wet anyway. So I just put my scriptures in a bag and go. On Friday we had a meeting in the capital. We woke up at 4:00am and took buses for 2 hours. On the way home we had to take this bus that was packed!!! I had to hang off the side and we were on the freeway!! The bus was playing this crazy sweet dubstep and I felt like I was in a movie! So tight!! This place is really so beautiful if you can overlook all the trash and dogs haha.

This is our baptism font. The water is so cold and it is raining.

No baptisms this week but we have 3 this Sunday, so boom! These people are awesome out here! So loving!

We have a bus that takes us to church every Sunday that is owned by a member. We drive around and pick of investigators and members. We then drive for an hour and a half to the church along the most beautiful roads!! It’s awesome because I don’t have to contact. I can just rest and hangout with the youngens haha.

Lake Amticlan

We had zone p-day yesterday and we went to this sick park that overlooks Lake Amtitclan!!! So beautiful! Then we got to go to McDonalds!!!!! And it is so much better here!!!!!! It was amazing!

I just pretended yesterday was my birthday. We are working hard and progressing!!! I love you all! Thanks for all your birthday emails.
PAZ Y AMOR
Branson

Zombieland

This field is right in front of our house

Hello Everyone,

Ok so this didn’t happen very much in my first week here, but now all the investigators ask me to sing to them in English haha. Kinda funny. We also got to visit my favorite area this week twice. It’s called the Mercedes!! It’s this big farming area with rolling hills and tall grass and huge mountains. We teach this cute old man there and I just want to hug him. He is awesome and learning super quick. Saturday we were teaching a lesson and the family we were teaching were from out of town, and my companion knew the area they were from. So he asked if they knew one of his friends in that area.... they did. But he had been killed a couple weeks before. My companion was pretty sad about that but he is doing all right now. 

The buses here are insane, we’ve done more gnarl off roading in a bus then I ever did in our RZR! I enjoy it a ton!!!! So fun!!!

Everyone also gives us pineapple because we basically live on a pina plantation!! It’s so humbling here! The families are huge and the houses are so small!! They make it work though and they are amazing and so happy. We teach the family of the little kid I baptized and its awesome! They are all so happy.

Every old person here is absolutely nuts, I don’t get it! I miss normal old people!! Where are my grandparents? hahaha! It’s like an insane asylum every time I walk into one of their houses.

I will also never take running water for granted ever again haha! Bucket showers every morning and its COLD!!! And then sometimes we don’t even have electricity. I also went on an exchange last week! Something new and kinda fun! The people in my area always let us in! It’s nice. 

My companion and I have learned to live by rule number 57 from Zombieland, “Enjoy the Little Things”. We mess with every drunk here! It’s always pretty fun! But bad news, I finally got that Guatemala sickness! 
I love you all!
Branson 

Mission Field

Hello everyone,

I am here!  The first day we loaded everything onto a bus and left to the mission home. We got there and had lunch and all that good stuff. Then we headed to the mission office where we were going to spend the night.  Then we partnered with an office assistant and went out contacting. It was Elder Powell, from the MTC, and I with Elder Roney. I have never seen someone walk so fast in my life. Powell and I were jogging haha.  We got to a bus stop and Roney says, who wants to contact the bus, so I did and I just got on and yelled at everyone haha. Pretty fun. Then the first person I contacted on my mission spoke English!!!!! Pretty cool. We then taught a family and they had every baby animal alive! It was nuts -puppies, kittens, baby chickens! Then we had change meetings! My companion is Elder Tinoco! He is Latino and he is cool -kind of weird sometimes but cool. So we leave the change meeting and head to a public bus. We throw my bags on the public, packed bus and start contacting! I’m bad at Spanish! That first day was super stressful with all the bags but we made it, oh and my companion almost fell out of the bus. We are in this crazy cool area!  It is the farthest from the office! Its called Jocotillo and it’s kind of in the mountains.  There are no stores in my area!! Solo little tiendas (only little shops) with no food!! This area is super super poor! Nobody has a floor but the temperatures are really cool! Thank goodness! Our house is crap but it works. It’s a brand new area so we only have a lady that does laundry!!! I starved for the first week! We basically eat cereal! It will be a miracle if I don’t die from food!! My companion was feeding me some gross stuff and we don’t have running water either so he barely cleans dishes!!!!

Guess what!!!!! I had my first baptism!!!!!! Louis Raton!!!! Such an awesome experience!!! I don’t have time to write so sorry if I don’t respond to all letters!!! I love you guys so much and I miss you!!! General conference was the bomb!

Peace,
Branson

P.S. We have rats in our roof haha...lots!
P.S.S. Our p days are Mondays, but we get to write on Tuesdays!!! Which is really nice actually! A little break on both the days!

The Cool Kids

What is up! Not much to report on this week! My comp and me have been killing it teaching! It is pretty dang fun actually. All the kids in my district are just goofs and it is so fun. My Spanish is progressing so fast and I feel so cool speaking with all the Latinos. I finally got Latinos in my room for the last two weeks!!!!!! I was so pumped because it's good practice!!! They are all going to cuidad central (this is Branson’s mission) as well so I’m just too pumped!!! The Latinos in our room are like the cool kids so all the Latinos flock to my room and they all call me their Latino brother because I’m the only one that understands them hahaha its so awesome! I know I won't understand much when I actually get out there but it is nice for now. It's the last p day here and we went to the temple and I did the endowment is Spanish, dificil (difficult) is all I can say haha but it was awesome. I also bought a custom scripture cases from someone here, i'll have to send you a picture out in the field! I don’t think I get to write next week because I'll miss p day put I’m still alive and I’m ready for the shock of the real world!!! I love you lots!
Paz Y Amor (Peace and Love)
Branson

Independence Week

Ok on to my week, it was interesting! Some kids got in a fight on my floor and one kid just straight flattened his companion! It was crazy but now the kid is going home! He was stupid anyway. Also all this week has been Independence week for Guatemala so a ton of fireworks and gunshots!! It was so cool! Also there was this huge group of people walking down the street in front of the MTC with torches and they were all chanting! It was kind of sick! We went to the market today and they had a bike shop, and it was actually legit! They had some demo 8s and p slopes and it made me want to ride! Not much else - I’m starting to enjoy it more! We are all best friends and the Latinos are hilarious! My Spanish is decent and I can teach pretty well!!!! I’m not sure when I'll write next week but probably Tuesday in the afternoon!!! Two more weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!   And also my scripture Philippians 4:13
Love you

Branson

We Got to Leave the MTC

This week was Amazing! We finally got to leave the MTC!!!!! My entire district was losing it! You guys would have thought it was so funny how pumped we were about everything outside of the gates. We got on a big tour bus and they took us on a tour of Guatemala! It’s the most beautiful place I have ever been. Even in the middle of the city is a jungle, and man do I love the jungle! We went to this super cool 3D map of Guatemala and you go up on this big tower and look down.  We were able to see our mission boundaries!! I’m stoked to get out there.

Then we went to the market that was something else. So many people and little kids running around. I was playing hide and go seek with all the little kids and it was the funniest thing ever. Everyone is just so nice here. We went to the basement of the market and that’s where they sell the meat... so gross. Not refrigerated at all. They just put them out on hooks and people like touch it! So nasty and it smelled bad! Got me super stoked for the food! Then we went to Wendy’s and can I say, the Wendys in Guatemala is ten times better then the Wendy’s in the US! So good!

A bunch of missionaries have flutes from the markets now and we all dance around to their “music”! The Latinos are nuts and have all these funny dances! The nights make the days worth it!

There is this kid here that is a snowboarder too and he plays a bunch of sick songs on the piano like MGMT and Local Natives and we just sing away! It’s awesome!  Other than that nothing really new!   

I love you so much and I miss you guys a ton!

Branson 

Working Hard

CCM District

Not much new here. Still hate this place but it is getting much better. Spanish is coming along pretty well and teaching is easier in Spanish.  Tomorrow we are going to the market so we finally get to leave this place!!!!!!!  Just for a little though. All my roommates are leaving and it sucks!  My companion isn't a great singer, so I almost start laughing when he sings, but I love the kid and he helps me quite a bit! Exciting things that happened this week- it rained really hard a couple times turning roads into rivers, we also heard a couple gunshots last night in the middle of the night so that was also cool. Another thing was some dude was trying to kill himself, so he walked out into three lanes of Guatemala traffic and walked down the road for like a mile in front of the MTC! super crazy! Nothing else really!  Just working hard to learn the language and how to teach the gospel.

love you lots!

Branson