Week #33: La Eternidad

What is up people?! Man I hope you're all doing great. Things are going pretty well out here. It's starting to get a little cooler during the day, and Im loving it. I hear its heating up over there, so I'm sure we're all happy about the weather we're having right now, haha!  

This week was a good one. One day this week I got to work with an 18 yr. old kid from a different ward for the day while my companion, Elder Seguel, went to Montevideo for a conference with district leaders. Man, that was a fun day! Richard (the youth) is awesome. He's gonna be serving a mission next year, and he reminded me so much of myself just a year ago, when I was preparing to leave for a mission. 

Richard is just that classic kid that everybody likes...we were talking about sports, and video games, and movies...and it was just a fun day. His testimony that he shared with people that we taught that day, was very strong and influencing.  Interestingly enough, after that day I found myself just kind of thinking about our progression in life. From our youth years, to going on a mission, or going to college, and then getting married, having kids, and so forth. Then I began to think about our progression over eternity. I thought about our Father in Heaven. I'm sure He looks down on us and thinks, "Man, if only they knew what they were preparing for right now."

 I started to think about the chance we have to become Gods, as our Heavenly Father is. Many people think we are crazy for believing that we can become as God is...but it wouldn't make sense to be children of God, if we didn't have the chance to become like Him. Every child today in the world, grows up and becomes like his parent...it is the same with us. This life is basically the training grounds for that. We all get tested on a daily basis, and these trials we have and experience, prepare us to become Gods and dwell with our Heavenly Father for eternity. Man, if only we could all understand this concept a little better. To be able to have our perspective on eternity is a hard thing to do when we have rough stuff going on in our lives, but if we can understand that this is just for a moment, and see life as God does, we will be able to take on the challenges of life much easier. 

I truly know that we can become as God is, if we just stick to his commandments and live as His son, Jesus Christ, lived. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Nos vemos! 

Braxton's new District~ He and Elder Seguel and the Hermanas. 

Braxton and his companion with Hermana Lula. 

Braxton and several of the Elders that came to Uruguay the same day. 

A fun ward activity! 

Braxton and his companion with Santiago, an awesome new investigator. 

Interesting sighting of the Statue of LIberty!! 

Knife souvenir 

Armadillo sighting! 

Braxton's first time in Brasil!!! 

Braxton's current diggs! ;) 

Their study area!! 

Some kids playing in the rainwater! 

Braxton and Elder Segal with Martin, a future missionary! 

Love his Star Wars blanket :) 

Week 32: Llamado por Dios

Comó andan todos!? ¡Espero que estén teniendo un buen día! This week was a great one for us here in Tacuarembo! We had a Multi zone conference up in Rivera near the border of Brazil, and I can now officially say I have entered into the country of Brazil and I couldn't be happier! We took some awesome pictures in a plaza right on the border of the two countries with the two flags of Uruguay and Brazil, but the thing that was even better than that was the conference we had with Presidente and Hermana Olsen. 

They spoke about a number of things that day, but they talked to us a little about the new mission president that will be coming to our mission this July. Presidente Dunford, and while I'm very excited to meet a new President and get to know him and his family, I found myself extremely sad, actually, that I'll have to tell President Olsen and his family goodbye soon. At first I was wishing that I'd just have one Mission President for my whole mission, but then I began to realize that President Dunford is the man called to be my mission president for the 2nd half of my mission. It grew my testimony just a little more on the topic of callings by God. 

I know every single Prophet, Apostle, stake president, mission president, bishop, and even down to the deacons quorum president, is truly called by God to serve in that position. I have come to know, without a doubt, that God has a plan for each individual person in this world. There is no such thing as coincidences in this life. Every experience we have is to help us one day reach the point of dwelling with God and Jesus Christ and becoming like them. When we have that eternal perspective in our lives, everything just makes a little more sense. 

Things are going great out here on the mission, I really am loving life and the things I'm learning right now, and the people I talk to everyday. I hope each of you are loving life as well! Have a great week everyone! 

ps. Everyone tell my brother congrats on his engagement!!!!!! 

Braxton with his Zone leader, Elder Weed.

Week #31

What is up everybody! Man I hope you all had a good week, because I sure did. This week was great for finding some new awesome people, and we are also making some great progress with some people we're working with right now.

 One of them, Santiago, is the guy I want to talk about today in my letter. This guy is awesome. We found him a few weeks ago in a rough spot. He doesn't have a job, hardly any money, friends who are a bad influence on him, and to be honest...not a very happy person. But, the one thing he does have is a desire to learn about Jesus Christ. We are working very hard with him to give up tobacco and he's doing a great job, slowly but surely, he's quitting tobacco, and I honestly couldn't be happier for him. 

At first, it was very tough for him to try to give up the tobacco, and then about a week ago, we had a nice long chat with him about the importance of giving up this addiction, so that he can be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The thing we talked about in this chat with him was that each one of us has to give up something that we love in our lives to become closer to the Savior. For each person it is different. For Santiago, its the tobacco. For me, right now, its giving up my family and friends for 2 years. We each have things that we cling to and don't want to give up, even though we know we should. 

My favorite example of this in the scriptures is the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. Abraham, Im sure, was willing to give up absolutely anything for God. But Im also sure that the only thing in the world that he really didn't want to give up was his son, and that is exactly what God wanted from him. Because God is always going to test us to see what we are willing to give up in order to come nearer unto Him. Its a leap of faith for sure, I can tell you from first hand experience from my mission. It's scary and at times you wonder if its even possible, but God will never ask you to do something that isn't possible. He will always shape the back that He places the burden on. 

I know that if we are like Abraham and just take the leap of faith, and put complete trust in our Heavenly Father, and just give up that thing that is keeping us from a stronger connection with the Spirit, we will be blessed far beyond what we could ever imagine. The blessings typically aren't immediate, but I know without a doubt that they come with time. 

I love what I do everyday, calling people to repentance and asking them to change their lives, because these people are the greatest example to me in what I need to do to be closer to the Savior. I hope we all can give up something this week to be a little bit closer to Him. I love you all and hope this week is the best for you! 

Week #30:  ¡Las Ganas a servir!

How is it going everybody?! I hope things are going great back home! Things are going pretty well here honestly. We recieved changes this week, but I"ll still be staying here in Tacuarembo with my Chileano comp Elder Seguel! We get one more transfer together and were gonna be working like crazy! 

We have some great people who should be getting baptized this change and we are very excited for it all! Something that has repeatedly come into my mind lately as I think about the people Im teaching here, is the desire to follow Jesus Christ. I have thought a lot about the blessings we recieve when we have the desire to follow our Savior. I have come to believe that God truly blesses us for our desires, not our actions. We can grudgingly serve others and do Gods will, but at the end of the day it will profit us nothing. 

Especially as a missionary, I have learned the importance of having the true desire to serve others and serve God. You will never find true happiness if you grudgingly serve. I have  learned for myself that you find more happiness in life when you think of others before yourself. I can promise ya, Im not perfect at that, Im working everyday to think about myself less, but I can testify of the blessings and joy that comes from losing ourselves and just having the desire to help someone else. 

"For God loveth a cheerful giver". We have this life to help others progress and become better people, and I know when we do that we in turn progress ourselves. I love you all and hope you find the desires to serve God and your neighbors! Have a great week!