The Day After...

¡Hola Familia!

Glorious things are happening/have happened here in Monterrey! So let´s get started:

I had the opportunity yesterday to learn at the feet of a holder of the Holy Apostleship, Elder Jeffrey R Holland. Jeffrey R Holland. The Man. The Apostle. The Legend. And I did more than just learn at his feet, I got to shake his hand. And guess what? He stroked my face and talked to me. Here´s how the conversation went:

Elder Holland: ¨Looks like you got some sun there¨ *Strokes my cheek under my eye* ¨That´s good.¨

Me: ¨Yeah! It is...¨

Very exciting. And like always, I didn´t really no how to react to the whole thing. I was a bit stunned and I´m not very good at talking to people in the first place. But yeah. He stroked my face.

We then heard from President Walker, Sister Walker, Elder Gutierrez (Area Seventy), Sister Johnson, Elder Johnson (Jefe of the Church in Mexico and Seventy), and then finally Elder Holland. Elder Johnson told us about how when we teach with the Spirit our words are scripture and that we are not to teach if we don´t have the Spirit. There was also a big theme of the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Enduring to the end) throughout all of the talks.

Elder Holland then got up and said: ¨Well I´m going to change everything that I was planning on talking about.¨ He then felt like he could talk at a higher level with us than with others and that he was impressed with the theme of our mission being the Doctrine of Christ. He then talked about how much missionary work has improved over the years and then gave this lesson on a white board:

The World                                             ^

The Old Church                                      l

The Restoration                                      l

The Doctrine of Christ                              I

(Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost) l

The Life of Christ                                   l

The bottom (The life of Christ) was the theme of the talk. And I can´t really do it justice here, but let´s just say it was really intense. It was Elder Holland after all. The point was that we need to live the life of Christ in order to teach with the power to astonish. His challenge to us was to leave each lesson having astonished our investigators. And how do we do that? By following the Lord´s invitation to ¨Follow thou me¨ and live like he did.

What does this mean? Well, he said, it means that we´re going to face the same rejection, hatred, disgust, and trials that he faced. He said that ¨The path to Salvation leads through Gethsemane¨ and as servants of Christ, we accepted with our call to suffer where he suffered, cry where he cried, walk where he walked, and go where he went. So when times are hard, remember that that´s the whole point. Life is hard. The Gospel is hard. Missionary work is hard.

Well, I was obviously astonished. And I also received an additional testimony of Elder Holland´s position as a prophet, seer, and revelator. It´s because of him and his teachings in General Conference that I´m out here today and hopefully it will be because of him that I´ll be the best missionary I can be.

Also, he´s a funny, emotional, and overall real person. His presence is, well, astonishing. Some of the effect was lost with having to have the translator speak after every sentence or two, and some of the intricacies of the message were lost to my Mexican friends, but he kept his rhythm and the power flowing.

And on that note, we will for sure be having a baptism this Saturday for Juan Carlos. Yesterday, when we saw all of the missionaries in the mission, we talked with some of the old Juarez 2 residents and they were pretty shocked to hear that Juan Carlos was going to be baptized. The wife, Rosalinda, and the kids are already members but he never wanted to listen. But one day, when me and Elder Diaz were teaching Rosalinda (she was less active) he came in, sat down, and started to learn. And from then BOOM! Speedy progress and true conversion. We taught the Word of Wisdom and that day he quit drinking alcohol. Just like that. From about 3 beers a day to nothing. And he hasn´t fallen in the last 3 weeks. He truly is ready.

It´s hot, I´m flush out of money and had to pull out 500 pesos from my personal dinero, and I´m always tired, but I feel like this Saturday it´ll be another testament of the divinity of this work. So yeah. I´m going to try and live more like Christ everyday and put my shoulder to the wheel.

Thanks for all the prayers and I love you all! Even the kids. Who never write me. Ever. Hint, hint.

Love ya´ll!

-Brayden (Elder Decker)

Another Hola from Monterrey!

 Howdy howdy everyone!

Well it was really fantastic to talk to ya´ll (except Masey) yesterday! I feel like even though we talked mostly about food the whole point of calling home is to be able to hear your family´s voices and let them hear yours. It gave me an extra boost of energy (something which I´m lacking right now) and also confused me with all the English. Learning Spanish has really given me an appreciation of the English language, weird as it is.

So I´ve discovered something weird while of been out here in Mexico: Mexicans are universally tone-deaf. I don´t know if it´s part of the curse of the Lamanites or something, but these people can´t really sing. They sing loudly and passionately, just not... on key. I haven´t had the opportunity to play the piano yet here for a congregation or anything, but whenever I´m at the chapel I try and play the piano while I´m waiting. I´ve already lost some of my pizazz which kinda worries me. Hopefully one of these areas doesn´t have a piano player so I can contribute somewhat. But I am conducting the congregation of missionaries this Wednesday when the jefe of the Carribbean Area Elder Anderson comes to speak to us. Very exciting.

So we had a funny little run-in with Elder´s from another zone that borders our area. We were visiting a less active in our ward that we were asking to come to a teaching appointment when suddenly Elder Stark and Elder Hood (from my district at the MTC) walk up to the open door. Turns out that we were in their area and they were a bit angry. We´ve had some issues with members from their ward boundaries going to our ward since our Chapel is closer to their homes so we had to go to the Stake President to fix it up. And we lost a progressing investigator to the other missionaries :( But the work's the same wherever and with whomever it is done.

So we have eight baptismal dates right now and we´re pretty sure about... Juan Carlos, Gimena, Fatima, and sorta with Celia. The problem with the last is that she´s moving at the end of the month and we can´t find her! It´s kind of an issue. Juan Carlos is the wife of a less active and is progressing more than all of the rest, Gimena is the sister of members and is really excited to be baptized, and Fatima is the daughter of a less active family from Veracruz that we stumbled upon while looking for a reference. They´re not in the ward directory so it was a bit of a surprise.

 We´ve also been chewed out for not having enough street contacts. Elder Diaz and I don´t particularly like doing them since the contacts either end with ´´No, I´m a Catholic¨ or ¨No, you guys aren´t Christians¨ or, my favorite, false addresses. But we´ve been commanded by the Lideres de la Zona, so we will go and do.

 So the weather here is a bit whacky. It´s been either unbearably hot; rainy, hot, and humid; or rainy, cold, and humid. It´s messing with my brain a bit.

 Thanks for the prayers and well wishes! Tell the kiddos to write me or give me their email addresses so I can write them. I have a lot of time in this here cyber cafe. I´m praying for you guys every night and can´t wait to come home from a successful mission.

 Love you all!

-Brayden (Elder Decker)

A bit more...

I discovered a bunch of talks on the iPod the other day, to I listened to two by Elder Bruce R McConkie during some down time. He talked about how we as members of the church are entitled to receive personal revelation and become prophets for ourselves and for those whom we have jurisdiction over. He specifically talked about the ability to dream dreams, see visions, speak with angels, and view the face of God. He said all we have to do is study the word, be obedient, and ask in faith and we could receive all of these things. He quoted Joseph Smith and said that 5 minutes gazing into heaven will teach you more than you could ever find out by reading about it. He also said that if we receive these things, we'll be able to declare things that we know with our spirits, not just our intellect. There was also a whole lot about the superiority of the spiritual over the intellectual.

 I'm going to put that to the test. See how it works out. I think it's called "Seeking Personal Revelation" or something and was given at BYU during the days of David O Mckay. Thought it was interesting. Wanted to share it.

Love ya'll!

-Elder Decker (Brayden)

Hola from Monterrey

Hey family!

So it's been a bit crazy this week (per the usual) but I'll start with the happy.

So this Sunday I'll be able to receive a phone call from ya'll in the Chapel at 6:20 Monterrey time. That's 4:20 Vegas time. It's limited to 40 minutes and here's the number: 011-52-81-88613903. Can't wait to talk to all ya'll!

Four converts were baptized yesterday! Sadly, none of them were mine and Elder Diaz's. But in the end it's all the same and doesn't really matter who baptizes who. Ah well. We've been told that this is the highest baptizing ward in the mission due to the strength of the members and everything, but I think it's the other area that has so much of the success. We currently only have one person attending sacrament, her name is Celia and I've never seen anybody so excited by the Church. That is other than her ten year old daughter Perlita who never comes... And we may not be able to baptize them seeing as they're moving at the end of the month. All in the Lord's time I guess. The family has committed to come to church (all 5). But they need to come to Church twice in order to be baptized. But I did have the opportunity to teach the first part of Lesson 2 (finally) so up to where we came from and why we're here. They're all really receptive and seem to believe everything, but it's hard to get them to keep their commitments... Ah well.

So we're preparing for the visit of Elder Anderson (not the Apostle) from the First Quorum of the Seventy and the boss-man of the Carribbean Islands. He's going to come talk in our zone conference which will be pretty cool.

I still have to fight feelings of dread whenever we go up to doors. Once we start talking (or allow the Spirit to start talking through us) it's much easier. I do need to work on expressing more disappointment with the investigator's who fall through on their commitments. PMG tells me to be devastated and tell them how important it is. Elder Diaz usually says "está bien" like most of his responses. To everything. Also, it's hard to ask inspired questions sometimes. It all falls to having faith that the words that are spilling from your mouth are inspired by the Spirit. Which is hard when it's another language. There's also the bit about how much you should share with investigators. Both Elder Diaz and I have said "Padres Celestiales" in our lessons. I blame one of our videos.

The Spanish is progressing quickly. It's hard to convince the members that I do in actuality understand them now. They still think that I can't speak so they usually direct their questions to Elder Diaz.

Speaking of whom, we're getting along much better now. Apparently there's a custom here that "suyos son mios y mios son suyos" I explained that en los Estados, "Mios son mios y suyos son suyos" and it went smoothly. Oh, English, "What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours". Yeah. We're making jokes and having a much better time proselyting than we did before. I think a lot of it was just me getting used to the mission. And being tired all the time. I fall asleep every week in Church. Also whenever I sit down. It's kinda bad. Oh well.

As to the problems with the Elders not having much to do during the day, I don't really know how to fix that. We aren't allowed to door contact either, only street contacts and referrals. What's really essential is that we get a bunch of referrals from the members and work with less actives. We also eat at 2 in the afternoon with a family, not at night. We don't really teach until around 4 o'clock. Unless there's somebody who has lost their job or works at night. We've gone many days where all of our meetings fall through because of work. Hmm... I don't know with Vegas. The Elders sometimes set up booths in street-markets and such.

Congrats to Colby for getting his license! And Eli for being baptized! I'm missing quite a bit. Sad that Great Grandpa passed away, but now Grandma and Grandpa have the opportunity to join me and Masey here in the Mission field! Exciting times!

Love ya'll and can't wait to talk to you this Sunday!

Hola hola!

Howdy familia!

It´s been a pretty crazy week. We have a bunch of new investigators, a few we dropped, and I had the opportunity to remind a priesthood holder of his responsibilities to his family. Loads of fun!

Firstly, the Spanish is progressing quite nicely. I'm definitely understanding the language much more better now and so can teach more effectively and get to know everyone better. It's truly amazing what one can do with the Lord's help. I still have trouble with the mumblers, fast speakers, and when they talk about anything not Gospel related, but it's gotten better.

Let's just say it's been a little interesting with Elder Diaz. I'm seriously freaking him out with the way I teach and how blunt I am sometimes. He's what I like to call a "lesson 1" missionary in that whenever I get off lesson 1 in the first visit even a little bit he starts to freak out. I tried explaining to him the importance of following the Spirit, but he's pretty sure he knows what the Spirit is saying. So I've had to sacrifice some of my beliefs about teaching for the sake of unity. Hopefully I chose the right course of action, but if I freak him out every once in a while, all the better. ^_^

Speaking of freaking Elder Diaz out, I had a really strong prompting to talk to an inactive-for-fifteen-years endowed return missionary whose family we've been teaching. HIs wife is baptized, but his kid is not, and the wife is a bit of the ''If it ain't in the Bible, it ain't true!'' types. He has a strong faith in the Church but his wife kinda wears the pants in that relationship. At the end of the lesson, my heart racing because I obviously don't like to put myself out there, I went up to a man 20 years my senior and asked if we could talk with him outside. Elder Diaz --> O_O <-- I told him straight up, "You have a testimony, you know this Church is true, and you're the endowed priesthood holding head of this family, so act like it!'' But in a bit more friendly of a tone. Elder Diaz about died and later told me never to do that again while the member (convert of one year) told me that the Spirit truly spoke through me.

So yeah. It's been fun.

We also have a wonderful family with baptismal dates for May 18. They're hesitant (they say they want to learn more) but seem to really be accepting the Gospel. The mother went to church on Sunday and really liked it but was really confused about baptisms for the dead (oh, Sunday School) since we've only taught her lesson one. I haven't taught past lesson one yet, by the way. And Lesson 2 is my favorite... But I'll teach it eventually!

I ran out of money today, so if you noticed a charge on my debit it's because I needed food. Correction, I thought I ran out of money today, but we actually got our monthly supply today (YAY) and Elder Diaz forgot. Ah well. We spend all our money on taxis and  buses since our area is so huge. We've got the biggest ward population wise in the mission. 500 people. I don't know how that compares actually with Vegas...

Oh, the sunscreen and sweat destroyed one of my shirts. It's yellow. Yay. All the other's also have little black stains on the bottom of the back from my backpack so... yeah. I'll have to wear them and that's the way it'll be.

Love ya'll oodles and oodles. So exciting that Eli's being baptized! Wish I was there.

Adios y les amo!

-Elder Decker (Brayden)

God Bless the USA!

Hey howdy hey! (Hola también...)

Hey! If you guys get this in time we could have a back and forth email conversation! I'll be here for a while.

Here I am! First P-day here in.... Juarez, Mexico! (Southeast - I think - of Monterrey.) Looks like I'll be in the Monterrey East Mission after all. But all is well!

My companion's name is Elder Diez, a native Mexican from the state of Sonorro (I think that's the name). He's a really cool Elder who's been out here for sixteen months. And because he's been out here for sixteen months and didn't just barely come out of the MTC, he's what we call ''Old school.'' A new teaching at the MTC is about the importance of conversion over testimony, the need to break from the lessons if need be, and the need turn every lesson into a personal conversation with every investigator. Let's just say I had a hard time explaining the concept to Elder Diez... But I think he understands where I'm coming from if not exactly what I've been trying to say to him.

It's been quite hot the last few days. Especially days 2 and 3. We basically walked through our entire area all day both days seeing as nobody was at home. We can't door contact, but we can street contact, so we did that while we were basically walking around.

Big culture shock. Like huge. I don't understand these people very well and would very much like to. They seem a bit abusive at times, have a very strange sense of humor, and tend to be annoyed (Elder Diez included) with the new white American guy trying to speak their language. 

I'm a bit frustrated right now seeing as I can't speak the language perfectly. More importantly I can't understand the words that these people are saying. But I have had some really cool experiences with investigators where I didn't know what they said but was able to pull out a scripture that they needed at that moment. Elder Diez gets very perplexed at me sometimes as I seemingly direct the conversation into a different direction than we were going. He likes to teach all of Lesson 1 in one sitting while I was taught at the MTC to go at a slower pace. My ''first lessons'' were always about the love of God, prayer, getting to know the person really well, trying to understand their religious background, asking them what they expect, and generally establishing an emotional connection with the investigator. I feel like we could both learn from each other and can meld the two into one nice big whole.

Not to be unoriginal and all, but this is not the language they taught me at the MTC! The accent is very odd and difficult to understand. Especially the first few days. Everything went way over my head into never-never land. Elder Diez's Spanish is much better (to an American's ears) than the accent here in Monterrey. Here they have a very sing-song way of speaking. As if they rush through part of a sentence, pause, and then pick it up. It's like "DA duh duh duh duh DA duh duh duh DA" so very difficult for a n00b fresh from the MTC. Also all these red underlines... And weird keyboard. They also have a bunch of slang words that even Elder Diez doesn't understand. He speaks more slowly and clearly. It's all very confuzzling. I've been told I speak like an Argentine by quite a few people. I don't know why...

Oh! I went to the temple on Saturday! Elder Diez had some former investigators who were going through the temple to be sealed so I got to go with him and see my first real sealing! And it was all in Spanish! I understood all of it (the temple worker talked a lot about the potential to become gods and goddesses) except for one part where he made fun of me and another missionary (who is also new who was there because the family was from his ward and his companion was their missionary too) who had just recently arrived from the mission. He said something about Americans that I didn't catch and all the Mexicans started laughing. Very confused. I also got to do a session of the Endowment in Spanish which I also understood. It was all very surreal. Also most missionaries don't go to the temple until the day before their last day when the President takes them through. I'm quite the lucky Elder.

Guess what?!?! Elder Holland is coming next month to speak to us! I'm quite pumped. Apparently a few months ago Elder Bednar came to speak to the East and West missions and my companion got to shake his hand. He'll be coming back in  2014 according to the reports.

I forgot about Eli's birthday! I can't really send him a letter seeing as I'm in Mexico. I'll send a special email to him that ya'll can give him. I think that packages to us are held by the President until we're transferred or something as there were a bunch of packages in the Mission home. I dunno.

Thanks for all the pictures and letters! They really help me remember that there's a real world out there. I'll pray for all of you if you pray for me! Trust me, I need it.

Love ya'll tons!

-Elder Decker (Brayden)

Pics part 2

Me at the temple, me and Elder Diez, me at the MTC with my district and the Branch Presidency and such

Pics!

The first is with me and Hermana Collier, the second is me in Dallas airport, and the third is me and Elder Diez.

Estoy aqui!

 Hey family! I made it to Monterrey! I'm a bit sick and the keyboard's really weird, but everything's good! By sick I mean that it's really hot and I'm wearing a suit. Good news! They don't send Americans to certain parts of the mission that they deem dangerous, so no need to worry. We can make street contacts but can't knock on doors. Apparently it's mostly referrals and working with inactive members. I have a meeting with the President after this and then I go out and "work" whatever that means. I meet my trainer tomorrow too! Just letting ya'll know that everything is ok. I'm so excited!
Les amo muchissimo!

My last week!

Hola familia!

It's my last week here at the MTC and boy am I ready to get out and preach the word. It feels like my MTC experience started out really slow, went really fast, and is now going at a snail's pace. I really have learned a lot here, but I need to get out in the mission field and do work.

There's a problem with that, by the way. We were supposed to get our travel plans this last week, but we didn't. Hopefully I get them soon so I can tell ya'll when I'll be calling. We'll see Last Thursday Me, Elder Katzenbach, and Elder Hood went to the consulate with all of the other Monterreyans to get our visas all finished (don't really know why.) They took our pictures and our fingerprints and then we just sort of sat around. I really liked it though. It was fantastic to see all of the little kids stare at me like I was a god. One little girl on the train couldn't take her eyes off me. It's interesting how they can see the mantle that's been placed on our shoulders more than we possibly ever could. Also getting out of the compound was just fantastic.

Speaking of Elder Katzenbach, did you see the special on missionaries after general conference? Him and his family were featured on that thing. I was also in the choir that was singing at the beginning but they didn't show my face. :'( It really is an exciting time with everything that's going on in the mission field right now. Especially when I compare the color in the missionary audience now with the one in the videos that they show us on Sunday nights. It's dang exciting to have all these new sister missionaries coming out. I talked to a few men (ugh... men) about it and they have a much more negative view of the sister missionaries. Mysoginists bug me. All intolerance bugs me. I've gotten angry a couple of times with my fellow missionaries as they've talked about other religions (Scientology) and how weird they are and also bagging on gay people. One of the guys in our zone said that he wanted to beat up every gay guy he saw and I just about lost it. Nothing is more harmful to the work than bigoted missionaries and hopefully the Lord straightens them out. Elder Blotter went so far as to say that all books which don't have religious significance didn't matter in the bit. Which, as I'm sure you all know, made me quite peeved. Ignorance is a sad state.

There's been a bit of contention recently with my companion. We usually do good, but sometimes he treats me like a complete idiot and as if I don't know anything about Spanish. He always turns for help to other missionaries in the district which really bugs me since I always go to him when I need some clarification. I've really progressed quite a bit and I'm really comfortable with my Spanish. It's gotten to the point where my English is suffering a bit which is extremely depressing. I don't always speak in proper grammar, but from TRC I've learned that native speakers can understand me. It just bugs me when I feel like people doubt my intelligence or knowledge (pride I know) when it comes to doctrine or language. I'm trying to get over it. I was told that the MTC is like a petri dish in that he brings out the best and worst in people. With me it's brought out my love and care for the children of God but also my pride. Prayer is helping.

After reading the letter that you sent me, Mom, and you sent me, Dad, I've decided to pray a lot more for my cousins and Grandma and Grandpa, and not just for you guys (I mention ya'll specifically in most of my evening prayers.) I feel like General Conference had two main themes: obedience and problems in the family. Families are being broken apart everywhere because of the wickedness of this generation and it's really depressing. I forget who mentioned it, but I remember a talk (I don't have my 25 pages of notes with me) where he said that the best way for our families to receive blessings is through service. I've decided to dedicate my mission to helping all of our family members find the love and peace of the Savior in this life and in the life to come. I feel like with that in mind it'll give me a little boost to my efforts to serve the Lord's children.

General Conference was amazing. As I said before, I took about 25 pages of notes because there was just SO MUCH there. My favorite talk was probably President Uchtdorf's in the Priesthood Session. I loved his message about the individuality of spirits and how the Church isn't trying to churn out a bunch of carbon copies of everyone. It feels like everyone (me included) likes to think that our way of doing things is the right way and that any deviation from that is anti-God. The differences between the Apostles exemplifies that. If everyone was Elder Holland that'd be far too overbearing. We all have our different reasons for believing in the Church and for having chosen to follow God in the pre-existence. Some may have had a strong belief in the importance of obedience (talked about last night.) While others may have been strong believers in the moral agency of mankind. I feel like I'm part of that last group. Like Joseph Smith said, teach true principles and the people govern themselves.

I've come to a realization here that I've been blessed with the gift of knowledge of the truth of the Church. I've always known without a doubt that this Church was true. It's been a blessing and a curse seeing as I'm probably going to be held to a higher standard and that it may be frustrating when other people don't have that same belief. What really helped was the talk by Elder Holland which talked about how we only need a desire to believe.

Well I've gotta go. Love ya'll! Miss you tons! I'll get back to you on when I'm going to be able to call you guys.

Love, Brayden (Elder Decker)

more

This pic is of a guy from Britain. Just so ya know.

more pics

The one with the white board was the elder on TV after conference.

dum...

even more

more pics

Pictures

I had some time to send pics. Here ya go.

Howdy howdy.

Hola familia!

It's been a pretty dang good last two days. On Sunday we had a gigantic sacrament meeting with all of the missionaries in the big auditorium area. Bishop Causse (He's from France!) of the Presiding Bishopric presided and it was really cool to experience such a huge celebration of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Later that day we listened to a devotional given by Sherry Dew which was probably the best devotional I've been to at the MTC. This is especially compared to last week's Tuesday devotional where we were told that we basically never taught correctly and how we'd all fail. That was weird.

But anyways, Sister Dew was amazing. The power and authority that eminated from that blessed lady was amazing. I knew she wasn't married seeing as she was by herself on the stand and was pretty interested. She talked about how Jesus Christ is the only hope we have in this life and compared her father saving her and her brother in the middle of a snowstorm to Jesus Christ saving us from our sins. Later she talked about the knowledge, power, and authority that we are entitled to as Endowed Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ. She told us that through the knowledge and power that we gained in the Endowment ceremony we can invite angels and spirits from the other side of the veil to help us teach and testify of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I was a bit curious how that worked, so when I went to the Temple today I thought long and hard on it and decided to attempt something. We'll see if it works. So remember to pray for ministering angels Masey! She also told us that we were the noble and great ones talked about in the Book of Abraham who were chosen before the world was to prepare the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. She shared Gordon B Hinckley's thoughts that we were the noblest of God's spirits and prepared for this time. So tell the young uns that they have even more potential than I do and shouldn't forget that they have been prepared in the eternities to be soldiers in the army of the Lord.

Later we watched a pre-recorded talk from Elder Bednar about learning to recognize the Spirit. He taught me the most powerful message on the Holy Ghost that I've ever heard. He said that missionaries and members always ask how they can know the difference between their own thoughts and the promptings of the Spirit. His answer: "Quit worrying about it!" He said that as long as we're keeping our covenants and "being good boys and girls" that everything good which we taught would be the words of the Spirit. He shared a few stories from his life on where he knew it to be true, but it really just hit me. As long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to and am worthy of my calling than I'll do as the Spirit directs. Sometimes we get crazy gigantic spiritual promptings, but most of the time it's just us doing what we know to be right and trusting in the Lord to do the rest.

Yesterday I met another of the noble and great ones talked about in the Book of Abraham and D&C. His name was Brother Kayende (we taught him in TRC) and he just oozed wisdom and intelligence. He was born 53 years ago in the Congo and learned two native languages and French while he lived there. At 23 he was able to escape the Congo and fled to Switzerland. There he learned how to speak German (that's 4 languages so far) and, more importantly, met two sister missionaries. These sister shared the message of the Restoration with him and he was immediately converted after the first lesson. He told us that he knew the Book of Mormon was true before he even read it seeing as the Spirit testified of the truthfulness of the Joseph Smith story. He later moved to Ecuador where he met his wife - who was a convert at the age of 30 and became a missionary immediately afterwards - and learned how to speak Spanish (that's FIVE now.) He has two daughters, one at UVU and another who graduated from BYU. He came to the United States about seven years ago - and learned his SIXTH language English - to get a Masters in Criminal Justice from BYU and is now a professor at Weber State. Probably the coolest guy I've ever met. It's crazy that there are people out there like him who are already so prepared to accept the restored gospel. It really fortified my testimony of the divine calling that I have and that if I'm obedient and endure that I can share the Gospel with people like him.

Thanks ya'll for the Easter candy and the letters! It really brightened my week. Also, I've maintained 220 lbs since I got here, so the food hasn't destroyed me yet! I've also been lifting every single day so that is probably helping. Speaking of which, could ya'll send me some protein bars again? I had to borrow one from Elder Katich so I owe him back. Also before I leave on April 15 (TWO WEEKS!!!!), could ya'll send me those exercise bands? They're going to be oodles of help out in the mission field.

I really want to get out of here and start teaching the Gospel to the world, but my experiences in the last two days affirm why the Lord wants me here. I'll just keep trusting in him and I'll be able to overcome the problems I may have with self-righteous hypocrites or my REALLY slow (at speaking and doing just about anything) companion. I'm doing my best to be humble and remember that the Lord is the teacher.

Love ya'll tons! Also, could you remind me of Eli's birthday? It's this month right? I don't really remember... Gracias!

Les amo!

-Brayden (Elder Decker)

All's well

          Hola familia!

Everything's going pretty well here. I'm getting much better at Spanish to the point where I'm saying my personal prayers in Spanglish (accidentally) and thinking a lot of the time in Spanish. It's becoming easier and easier to teach and I'm getting un poco tired of this place. I really want to get out there and start preaching to the Lamanites in the land of the Jaredites (I figured it out in my cabesa.) We looked up the satellite map of Monterrey a bit more and looked at some pictures. I've decided that even if I'm in the city mission I'll still be pretty dang happy about it. But I'm still hoping for the border!

The Elders are doing pretty well. Some of them don't understand my need to get out there and start teaching NOW, but others are spending half their time dreaming about going to Mexico City (like Elder Blotter and two others in my district) or Monterrey (like the two others and me.) I'm trying to not get discouraged being here at the MTC but at times it's just annoying. We used to be able to listen to MoTab during our TALL time (language learning on the computer) but then our Branch President decided that we might get distracted from doing TALL if we do this. It's actually dramatically impaired my ability to concentrate and finish the lessons in TALL. I've always listened to music when studying so not being able to do it anymore is a real bummer, but I'll get over it. Also, I really wanted to watch the Easter Bible Videos and won't be able to do that anymore...

The devotionals are fantastic although we haven't had an Apostle come yet (here's hoping for tonight!) and I'm singing in the MTC choir. I was really majorly bummed out when I heard that the MTC isn't going to sing in General Conference :''( But the change in pace from all the (occasional) tedium of this place is really helpful. I always feel the Spirit most when I'm singing or listening to spiritual music so it's helped a lot with my spiritual fortitude and whatnot.

I have the First Vision memorized in Spanish minus all the scary Devil parts. I also have Moroni 10:4-5 memorized. It's nice to be able to tell a story without having to look in the Scriptures.

I can't get over how much I love doing TRC. The difference between the actors and real people is getting more and more obvious the more that I learn Spanish. I can truly feel Heavenly Father's love for his children when I'm talking to a real, genuine person. We taught an eighteen-year-old sister from Peru who has only been in the country for about seven months and is going to BYU, and I'll tell you that Peruvian Spanish is the clearest and most understandable Spanish I've heard yet. The other lady we taught was and older sister from Chile and it was extremely difficult to understand what she was saying. She spoke extremely fast, her grammar was iffy, and she had a very strange accent. But I was able to understand about 70% of it and was able to teach according to her needs.

Tell Colby to get better! Here's hoping he doesn't shrivel up like he did last time. That was scary. And remind Brooklyn that I had a hard time with friends too and I turned out fairly ok. ;) Tell all the other kids I love them and miss them and that they should do what they're told and stop causing trouble.

Thanks for the news stories by the way! I'll read them today during laundry (I haven't had time.) It's always nice to get mail. I think I only got that great one from Dad in the last week other than the big one with all the stories and your letter, Mum. Mis amigos at BYU haven't responded to me and I don't really look forward to mail time anymore. It's a bit depressing to see all the others in my district get loads of letters. But thanks ya'll for writing me! I really appreciate it!

And about the resistance bands, heavier to heaviest is probably best. I don't want to come back looking to tiny.

Le amo muchissimo familia!

-Brayden (Elder Decker)

PS: I got an email telling me I get two hours of email time in the field where I can email anyone I want. I don't remember if I mentioned that. So if you give my email out on Facebook that would be awesome, thanks!

Oh the MTC

Hey family!

Thanks ya'll for the Birthday wishes and candy which totally fills one of my drawers (I haven't eaten most of the stuff I brought with me.)

The MTC is going fairly decent. I'm much more better at español now and can improv (with the Spirit) like a boss. We've taught lessons about faith and baptism that we haven't prepared, but because we're prepared with other lessons the Lord provides. We did TRC yesterday which is where you teach actual people from the outside world. I absolutely loved it. There's a dramatic difference between teaching my teachers (who are actors) and actual people with real concerns in their life. I shared your story, Mom, of where you were able to push through the pain of fibromyalgia and run a half marathon as an example of enduring to the end despite our many afflictions in life. I think it really helped a Sister who we taught that had been sent home from the MTC seven weeks in because she was sickly. She was going to go to San Antonio Texas and is apparently expecting to be able to go out in May. It's pretty amazing what that seven weeks did with her Spanish, since she didn't take it in school but spoke it pretty dang fluently after seven weeks. Hopefully I can reach that level of Spanish ability by the end of my time here. The other people we taught in TRC were a little more difficult since they were less cooperative and didn't talk as much, but one was a native speaker from Chile so it was interesting to hear her speak Spanish. The other one was some guy who had gone on a mission. He told me a story that went totally over my head and I just nodded and said "have faith." But it was still good.

I've noticed that I have a bit of a gender bias. I love teaching sisters and being taught by Hermana Coller (my morning teacher.) But I really struggle with teaching men and I don't really like Hermano Fonda (my evening teacher.) I think it's mostly because he has ZERO sense of humor and seems a little too self-righteous. Hermana Coller laughs and makes joke and generally makes the time at the MTC more enjoyable. But I'm going to try and work better on that and look at all people as children of our Heavenly Father.

Somewhere else where my gender bias has peaked through is with my companion and district. They're all really great guys and all, but some are extremely self-righteous and others are just a little too full of themselves. I'm learning tolerance though and hopefully I'll be able to do better. Elder Blotter and I are really doing well teaching together and have some great unity as we're teaching (though not so much as we're planning.) Being a solo guy all my life has made working with somebody else much more difficult than I really expected it to be.

Two years seems like a long time right now. It feels like I've always been at the MTC and always will be, but the idea that I'll be able to eventually leave to the field gives me a great deal of hope. I just pray that I'll be able to get so lost in the work that time starts to fly and I'm able to stop worrying about how long I'll be out here for. It's weird and I've gotten a bit worldsick (and homesick of course.) It's just that my passions and stress relievers can't be used here in the mission field. I can't talk about politics because people in my district get all worked up about how ungodly my political views are and how I should want to control everyone's lives. I also can't read for fun or really make up stories like I used to do to lose myself in those. The book Jesus the Christ has really helped with that. It's one of the greatest books that I've ever read. I've been getting more out of that and the Doctrine and Covenants than I ever did just reading the scriptures dry. It's definitely made me more appreciative of the power granted to Eve and Mary and how motherhood is truly the weapon that crushed the head of the serpent. I don't remember the exact reference, but if you look in that book in the index for Eve it should be in about the third or fourth chapter. God gave women the power to destroy Satan and overturn the Fall. That's why Christ couldn't be born of a mortal man, but instead needed to be born of Deity and a righteous woman. Look it up. It's deep.

Well my times up, les amo con todo mi corazon. I miss you all so much and can't wait to see you again after my work is completed.

Love lots, Brayden (Elder Decker)

First Hola to the familia!

Hola familia!

Thanks for the birthday package! You have no idea how fantastic it is that my P-Day and my Birthday matched up perfectly. I definitely needed this. The junk food was much appreciated and my glasses case was much needed. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I totally forgot that it was my birthday until I logged into this computer here. We were at the temple today doing a session and I had no idea that today was March 12. I had told everyone yesterday that it was my birthday, but for some reason it didn't stick in my mind. The temple was fantastic but it was weird not having you guys (Mom and Dad) to talk to afterwards. The whole sitting and pondering thing was really weird. Also, the screen was much bigger in the ordinance room.

Masey! For some reason it didn't register that the MTC was going to be this difficult to get used to. Maybe you wrote about it in one of your emails but I was just dying in the last few days. We get there and immediately (within two days) we're teaching an investigator totally in Spanish. His name is "Rolando" and the first two lessons were a bit iffy. It's hard to translate all of my thoughts about the Gospel from my Brain into Spanish. But the third lesson was amazing. Me and Elder Blotter (my companion) had prepared a really good lesson on the Restoration and the First Vision and comparing Joseph Smith's experience and questions to Ronaldo's, but instead of teaching that we ended up teaching about Repentance, Baptism, and the Atonement. Something we hadn't even studied! He just asked about it (we had given him a Libro de Mormon and told him to read the guia in the back about anything that he might have questions about. He started asking about being with his family forever (his "parents" had died in a car accident) and how he could do that. We just began testifying to him and everything turned out fantastic. At one point he asked about the ability of the Atonement to make all of the pains that happened to him in the past go away and I just started bawling my eyes out and testifying about the transformative power of the Atonement. It was one of the best experiences of my life. Even though he's not really "Rolando" (the actor is a teacher portraying an investigator he had in the past) I've grown to love him. It's truly fantastic.

Prior to that experience (yesterday) I had been having a really hard time. Elder Blotter and I don't really see eye to eye on much, we have different views about how to teach properly, and our personality's are almost polar opposites. But he's a really good guy with strong faith in prayer and the Church. Most of my faith is based on what I know and not on what I feel so we're able to combine those things to help teach the lessons properly. He also speaks much slower than I do so at times he's more thoughtful with what he says. Yo hablo muy rapido en Espanol y Ingles.

Oh I saw Axel here the other day. He's going to be leaving the same week as me so I'll be able to see him every once in a while. For some reason seeing him here gave me a big boost of strength and happiness that I really needed.

The food is terrible. It's some of the least appetizing food I've eaten in a long time. But I discovered the wrap bar the other day and so that should help me get through all of the coming nasty plates of gunk that they'll be giving us.

My district is awesome. The Hermanas are all strong in the Gospel and so are all the Elders. I've already learned to love them all in the short time that I've been here. It really does feel like a long time though. I swear I've been here for the past two years especially with all of the progress I've made in Spanish and all the stuff that we've been doing.

Oh yeah, I also have to wear a suit everyday! Isn't that fantastic? Our Branch Presidency told us that we had to wear our suits every single day unless they're getting dry cleaned. Which isn't that awesome since I have one pair of slacks that I can wear with the suit. I figure I'll get it dry cleaned tomorrow (especially seeing all the little stains that have gotten on it in the past few days) and that means I'll be able to wear whatever I want. I figure Elder Blotter and I could time our dry cleaning sessions so we don't have to wear suits EVERY day.

Oh! Before I forget, would you send me a "care package" of protein bars from Amazon? They have a weight room here that I go on splits with Elder Katich (in my district) to go use. There are also machines and pull up bars so I've been able to work out whenever I'm in the gym. No me gusta basquetbol and I can't play it with my Vibrams (I was told this by the head gym dude) anyways.

Te amo mucho! I miss all of you and can't wait for the day that I can come home from my mission and tell you all that I finished the work that the Lord sent me to do.

-Brayden (Elder Decker)