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)