I hope you all are doing wonderful this lovely November morning. I can hardly tell you what all has happened in the past week, because it feels like just yesterday I was emailing you and telling you about my last week. Pretty insane, it has caused me to think a lot about this. The thing that has come to my mind on why this is. I think it is are perspective. In reality I understand I have 3 months left of the 24. I have already come 21 months. So it seems super short if you look at what you have done. This has caused me to think a lot on things.

I imagine when we move on to the next life and we will look back on what we did while we were on earth only to see it was such a short period of time in eternity. Most of us will only live until we are 90 or so. So 90 years in eternity, we have no idea how long we were with God before we came her but we know it was a while. He got to know each and everyone of us individually and if you think about that, there are currently 6.5 billion people on the earth and you think of all the people that have ever lived and it is insane. But God knows each and everyone of us personally and he knows how to communicate best, with each and everyone of us. Often times we lose perspective on who he is to us and what  he is going to do for us. Often times we have to count are blessings instead of are trials. We have to understand God has given us commandments to free us not bind us. Satan Binds he doesn't Free, but he wants you to see it as if he frees and God binds. Not the case though.

So after that rambling the thing I have come to realize is we have to count are blessings and change are perspective on things. So do it. Be thankful and look at the positive side of things. Love you all and hope all is well with you.

Love

Elder Elquist

Braden's Update for November 11th, 2013

Wow this past week has gone by super quick, I am starting to just forget to think of something to write about, I hope you all are having a great November day, I can't believe how much has happened over the last week but at the same time I don't know what to talk about.

So the thing I decided to talk about today is sacrifice. This word has different meaning for each and everyone of us, but my own personal feelings have really changed towards this over the last little bit. I have realized that all that we are required to do is Have a willing Heart and a Willing mind. I think the key word in this is Willing. We need to be willing to give up everything, but the Lord is going to take everything from us, he requires a little here and there, but then repays in abundance. We also have to realize how much we have. We are a blessed people and we need to be willing to sacrifice in order to recieve blessings, the Lord will tell us what he needs and if we give, we are blessed in abundance.

Just a thought for the week, another thing I have been thinking a lot about is just the amazing power of the Atonement and what all it does for us, I can't imagine what things would be like if it hadn't been for the sacrifice the Savior did for us, I can only imagine what things he went through in Gethsemane. But I am truly grateful for it, it can carry us all, I have seen the amazing power of the Atonement and what it can do for others. So have Faith and Trust in Christ. Love you all.

Love
Elder Elquist

Selected excerpts from other emails:

"New things in the Dayton Area, the weather has decided to get cold here, I am hoping it will warm up, the forecast says a high of 35 tomorrow. Scary. But oh well. We picked up a Former investigator this past week, so we will see how he progress's, his name is Money or D'Arius. He is pretty cool, he was taught by the last set of missionaries and he is doing well, he is just really flaky sometimes, which makes it a pain to meet with him. The Package arrived safely, so thank you for all that was in it. I always like getting new garments, they smell awesome. There is just something about the smell of new garments that just hits the spot.  Weird I know. Oh also if you find some of my old clothes in any of those places, I would keep them if at all possible. I am pretty sure I will fit in them when I get home.

So this past week for us, was slow but at the same time it felt like we had a billions of things to do, so that is always fun and makes life interesting for us.
Monday we met with Lamar and he is doing really well, he is progressing really well and is starting to gain a testimony on his own. Then we had to organize rides for a Leadership council on Wednesday, I will talk about that more on Wednesday. Also on Monday we had a less active come play Basketball with us and we had a good time with that.
Tuesday we had a slower day, we had to prepare a lot of reports and stuff for Stake Coordination on Sunday. Then we got to see Lamar and it went well, we are focusing with him on understanding the need for baptism by the correct authority. 

Wednesday we had an awesome Leadership council, we had 2 people from the missionary department in Salt Lake come in and trained us and it was awesome, we learned so many things, I had the opportunity to be paired up for role plays with a young missionary, and they are on fire, let me just tell you. The mission is in good hands. It is truly amazing to see all that has happened in preparation for this big boom of missionary work, so it is pretty insane to think about the miracles that have happened to make having this many missionaries possible.

Thursday we had a pretty good day, we planned out zone meeting, only to find out later that day, that the mission decided to move it to Saturday, so they could get us more information, then it got moved on Friday to Tuesday. So tons of fun with that. Then Friday, we tons of service, we are helping to dig a trench to get this spanish Family power. So that has been fun to do. I am learning Spanish while doing it, I am pretty sure this family loves me, they love me coming over and trying to speak spanish. I am going to be fluent when I get home.

Saturday was a slow day, we had a couple of lessons go through with some other investigators, for some reason we were not able to meet with hardly anyone this past week, so we will have to see how it goes over the next week.

Sunday we had a really good Stake Coordination meeting and got a lot of assignments from it, so it should be a good month this next month. 

That was my last week, hopefully it all goes well with you. Hopefully you guys don't have any more cool medical stuff that happens over the next few months. I get to miss all of the really cool stuff. That sucks by the way. Everyone decides to have all these cool things happen while I am gone, Jason breaks a leg and needs surgery and then Kaylee getting her knee fixed, what a bummer missing all of those, I also missed Jason and Alyssa having braces, so there goes my plan to tease them like they did to me. You guys should hold of on anything else exciting like that."

So how is everyone doing this lovely November morning, that is pretty weird it feels like it was just Christmas and everything yesterday. So that is pretty interesting to see how quick it has gone.

One thing I have been pondering as of late has been just the amazing things we have been blessed with. It is amazing to think about how much each and everyone of us are blessed and we get to see the Lords hand in are everyday life. So my quick spiritual thought today is just to count your many blessings instead of looking at what you don't have.

Love
Elder Elquist

Braden's update for October 28th, 2013

So how is every one doing on this beautiful fall morning, everything is going really good here we are just enjoying it being cold. Not really, I would prefer summer to come back. It was good times with warm weather. 

So the random thought I have for this week is, the Book of Mormon and Bible. This is something a lot of members I believe get a little confused on, we need both of them. They are equal and contain the fullness of the gospel. We had an interesting experience this last week with guy trying to prove us wrong, well it actually happens quite often, but anyways we were talking with him and he wanted us to show him the need for the Book of Mormon. So the answer is simply this, it clarifies and enhances the Bible. And it goes both ways. There are a lot of instances where the Book of Mormon is confusing and we are able to gain clarification by cross studying parts of the Bible. I think a lot of us forget about one or the other, where in reality we need both. We have so much more of an advantage having both of them and being able to study out of both. We have more word, then to add on top of the Book of Mormon we have modern Prophets and Apostles. So there is your random thought for the day. Love you all and take care.

Love

Elder Elquist  

 

Additional info from other emails:

 

"So new things with me, it got really cold last week and then it is warming up again, so that has been fun, I think that is pretty much all from me as far as I know on new things.

 

My past week was a good one, the chapel still has bed bugs, which has really been a pain in are butt. Usually we have 6 or 7 investigators at church and less active members also, but for some reason we can't even get the active members to show up. We usually average at about 140 people in the congregation, but this past week we had 25. So it is like being in a branch all over again.
So Monday we had a lesson with a Recent converts sister Myanna, she is doing well she is in 1 Nephi 19 right now and is progressing really well. She will hopefully be getting baptized on November 9th and it will be a good experience to see her make that covenant. 

Tuesday was a fun day, we met with a former investigator. He was taught a year ago, and for some reason the missionaries stopped seeing him. We quickly found out why on that one. He just wanted to prove us wrong the whole time. He didn't really want to listen at all just bash with us. So we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. 

Wednesday we had a really slow day and nothing really happened, it was cold. Pretty sure there was snow on the ground in the morning, but quickly melted and went away, hopefully it went away for ever. 

Thursday we had a really good day. We were able to meet with Myanna again and talked with here about the importance of Church and making sure that we come and partake of the sacrament. Then we also had another miracle happen and a part member family called us up and wanted a blessing, so we talked with them and got to give a blessing and teach them a lesson. 

Friday we had a really slow day, nothing to really report on that one, super cold.

Saturday was super busy and we had a lot of good stuff happen. We were able to meet with Chris, the son of a member he is 49 and likes to drink. Then we met with a couple of other random people. 

Sunday was okay, only had sacrament meeting due to the bed bugs, and then went out and tried to find people to teach."

This past week has been quick and yet at the same time it felt like a normal week. So I don't know really what is going on  time front. It seems like everything is just speeding up and it is going super quick. 

So I don't have much time today to say much, but I will talk about something that is pretty dear to me, and that is the Savior and his example. A lot of you remember me from my young childhood days and remember how much I loved to ask questions. I can successfully say that, that has not changed, in fact I probably ask more questions now. So back to the Savior, in all he did he asked people questions, he would explain what he meant, but usually every answer he gave was in fact a question. So questions make us think. So ask questions people. Love you all a ton and miss you. 

Love

Elder Elquist

Braden's Update for October 14th, 2013

How is everyone doing this fine October morning, I am sure you are all loving it, I am sure loving it, so in other news transfer calls came and I am staying for at least another 6 weeks, so it should be a fun 6 weeks. I can't wait to see what it brings.

So the random thought of the day is just about life. One scripture I have been thinking a lot about is John 14:27. "Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you; Not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid." The reason I have been thinking about this a lot is because, when life seems hard, stressful, tons to worry about, dark clouds hang over you, the Lord has given us this promise. That he would give us peace. Not world peace or things like that, but he would give us personal peace, peace to deal with what lays ahead of us, peace to handle the world. He is always there for us and will always come through on His end. So trust in the Lord and let nothing waver.

Love
Elder Elquist

a few excerpts from Braden's email to me (Mike):

"So Transfer calls came and I will staying here another 6 weeks with my current companion, so that will be a total of 4 and a half months with him, my guess is I will stay here the rest of my mission and die off here. Which I would be happy with, I enjoy being here and it is a awesome area with tons of people to talk with and it makes it a ton of fun. We are pretty much in a humble area and it makes it a ton of fun to be able to talk with tons of people and they always are willing to listen to improve there life's. They have been humbled and are willing to learn.

So This past Monday nothing to exciting happened we saw a recent convert and his sister and were able to teach them, she is doing well, she is reading and progressing well to baptism and confirmation, so we will have to see how that goes. Then Tuesday we got to see them again and also saw some of are other investigators and so that was good. Nothing to exciting that day either. Wednesday we went to district meeting in Spanish land and got to see a lot of cool stuff happening there with them so that is always good to see happen. So Thursday was an average day, really nothing to exciting happened until Friday and that is where the fun stuff started happening and we had interesting experiences starting to happen.

So Friday, this was the super bad part, I had to eat SeaFood. I have had to eat fish before but not to this extent. We had Crab, Lobster, Shrimp and other things. Let's just say that I am not a fan of fish or seafood of any kind. So I just want to say that. To make matters worst the members just keep giving it to us, I thought I was going to be sick, the cool things was watching the member crack and get the meat out of the shells. I honestly believe people take so much time to get so little meat out of it. It seems like a waste of time, doing all that work for such little meat. Just saying.
Saturday we went on exchanges with the Eaton elders and that was a lot of fun as we had tons of zone leader crap to get done that day and even though we were at the computer typing up reports and stuff for a meeting on Sunday we still found 1 new investigator and taught several lessons.
So Sunday was a fun day, it was fast Sunday so we were fasting and fasted from 7pm the night before to 8pm Sunday night. We had a meeting with the Stake president and Mission President starting at 4 and ending at 8. We had to leave at 3:30 and had appointments from the end of church at 1 to then. So that made it a fun day. Needless to say I know what it is like to fast for a full 24 hours. Lots of fun.

So yeah that was pretty much it for my, week. I don't really know anything else to say as of right now. Lot of fun happening here, it is scary that tomorrow is my 20 month mark, where did the time go. It feels like I just got here to the mission field yesterday."

Braden's Update for October 7th, 2013

Well I don't have tons of time to email today so I have resorted to pictures this week and then next week will be back at it, on second thought. I just want to say how grateful I am for modern day prophets, and having a modern mouth piece of the Lord. It is awesome to have a open cannon of scripture from Prophets and Apostles. No other church has that, which handicaps them. We have some one who speaks and gives us direction directly from God. He unifies the church. The Closing song yesterday was awesome. You could feel the spirit in the Room as they sang the song Follow the Prophet. There is my two cents for the day. Love you all and take care.

Love
Elder Elquist