Well. Its been a pretty good week :) Things on bunny island are going
pretty well. Im in Paradise!! Lets jump into my week...
Wednesday- Wednesday was an interesting day. I dont really like
divisions, but it was cool to be with Barker, from my MTC group. So i
guess it wasnt al bad xD We had to find him a boat ride back to ukupa
for the next day, go buy clean wáter, and a few other small errands.
so we didnt start work work until around 4. At 4, we went and talked
to the excommunicated guy that we have been teaching. hes a great guy,
and has a huge desire to be baptized again. President Carmack is
coming to interview him in october :)
Later that night, we taught the Word of wisdom to our group of
teenagers we are teaching!! they are getting baptized this coming
saturday :) super excited. they are all really good kids. I love them.
We just have to get permission to baptize them from their parents.
thats a lot of work when they dont live on the island xD
Thursday- Well. Elder Barker left at 5am, and I went to the chapel to
exercise and spend the day alone until 3. i hate being alone. its a
really weird feeling. especially when you cant work. it just makes me
feel lazy because i have to do nothing in the house. but ya. bartleson
got back and was tired from traveling, so he emailed home (where he
was, there is no internet) and then we rested for the day.
Friday- the higlight of our day, was a lesson with a kid named Joel.
hes 20 years old, and goes to some kind of evangelical church. hes a
good kid, and says he believes in everything we say... but that it
doesnt mean he should change churches. lessons with him end up being 2
hours because its "our lesson" and then his testimony about
everything. I just want to get the priesthood and the restoration
through his head!! he would be a great member, and very religious.
either way, i wanna keep up with him. hes a good kid :)
We taught the law of chastitiy to our group of Young people who are
getting baptized xD that was a fun one. teaching 9 teenagers between
12 and 18years old the law of chastity xD it was all god thought :) we
got them to be serious enough to understand the doctrie :) theyre
really good kids :)
Saturday- Well... we got up at 4am... a group of kids in the branch
wanted us to train them in basketball... so we got up with them xD so
early. its imposible to play basketball before the sun wakes up haha!
xD
we had to make up sleep later xD well. my comp did. I just stayed
awake. we were supposed to go give service in a farm in the mountain
today, but 1.it started raining like crazy, and 2. they didnt tell us
until that morning that there was a Central America missionary
conference broadcast.. so we tried to watch it, but it basically
failed drastically. it ended up being just a waste of time.
We had some cool lessons. I also baught a cool painting :)
Sunday- I gave a talk in church :) we give talks like... twice a month
in our branch.. but its all good :) I love church and taking of the
sacrament. my favorite part of every week :) Sundays tend to be
tranquilo here. we had to help a kid with some english work, and so I
took that time to make a bunch of agenda covers for my planner :)
Anways. thats pretty much my week this week!! this coming week is the
last week of the change... so next tuesday we will recieve changes...
i shouldnt be leaving but anything is posible. PRaying I stay, but Ill
go wherever the Lord needs me. I FEEL like im going to be here for a
while. So we will see what happens :) I love you all! thanks for
keeping up with what Im doing out here :) I appreciate the support and
emails that yall send me!! Everybody have a great week :) Remember to
pray
Bap Dummad be bendakoe (literally translated Great Father Will Help
You.. meaning... God bless you)
-Elder Bradburn
well... Another week (4 days) have past since we last spoke! so much
and yet so little has happened xD ill just jump into my week (we did
zone conference)
Well.... Saturday (because we emailed friday) saturday turned out
interesting... my companion kind of hurt his foot. he somehow bruised
his heel and split open the side of it... so he hasnt been able to
walk, but has been trying. and basically his mom got super made at him
and he realized that he should probably rest up a bit. so we rested on
saturday. I decided to take advantage and clean the house... so I
literally took everything away from the walls and swept EVERYTHING. I
organzied my companions stuff (I figured it would make him feel better
to have a clean area..) and then sprayed the house with insecticide to
keep all the stinkin bugs away from us. it was fun. I also found like
3 crabs living in our house. one of them was huge... its beause its
been raining and we sleep with the door open because its hot... crab
poop is actually pretty big xD
We taught english class later that night, and it basically destroyed
us. the kids are starting to get hard to control during that time. I
dont know why they get so hyper with us. we have had to threaten to
stop teaching english class. but its all good.
Sunday- We went to church :) I love going to church. we had 60 people
there that day :) it was pretty cool. we have been having pretty good
attendance. after church, we had to go and charter a ponga to take us
to zone conference the next day... all the pongas on the island said
no... and then in passing Salmos 23 told us that they made a mistake
and were traveling the next morning! miraclesssss.
Monday- We left super early, in the middle of a rain storm. the water
was pretty choppy but it wasnt too bad. We got to playon chico at 630
am xD super super super early. but... its the only time a ponga left
Ustupu.
Conference was fun. we got personal life jackets from the church (they
are stinking huge...) and medication to prevent malaria. which im
super happy to have. we are now taking doxycycline daily to keep away
the malaria (and it also happens to kill any other bacteria in the
body) so its all around a helpful thing. We played soccer and ultimate
frisbee the whole day. it was super fun :)
We talked later about the importance of preparing for war... how we
prepared all our lives for a mission, and now in the mission we need
to keep defending ourselves and preparing not only for our time here,
but also preparing to defend our families after. Elder Alonzo (our
area 70) said when he came to visit that our success as missionaries
and preparing ourselves can be measured in 5 years when we have
started a family. it was really cool. just thinking about how we are
really preparing for the rest of our lives, and learning to be serious
about whats important in life.
Tuesday- well... thats today. our district leader decided to do
divisions, so im currently back on my island againm but with Elder
Barker. We were in the MTC together :) itll be a good couple of days.
We didnt get back till 2 because the pongas dont pass by on their way
here until 11am. but ya. itll be an interesting couple of days :)
So... our computer broke today... so im again in the age of borrowing
peoples computers.... so dont be surprised if i cant find a computer
once in a while. but ya :) i should be able to communicate every pday.
anyways :) thats where we are at! i love you all! dont forget to keep
building your walls and towers to protect your cities... defend not
only your weaknesses but also your strengths.satan is looking for the
smallest weak spots in our armor, and we need to be ready and waiting
for him when he tries. its too easy to fall into his traps!!
anwyays :) I love you all. thats all i have for today. Im sorry it
wasnt much, but Ive spent a lot of time off my island or my companions
been sick. this week will be better... his foot has healed, so we are
going to hit the ground running :) talk to you next monday!!!
Dios Les Bendiga
Bemar Nuegambi
Bab dummad be bendake
-Elder Bradburn
Hey! so I know there is a lot to catch up on.... like a lot lot. just
to summarize. We have been without internet for an entire month.
somehow our internet satelite dish in the chapel broke (the man who
fixed it says that he thinks something got struck by lightning) but
its finally been fixed!!!
Alright... well... I dont have the time to go over EVERYTI¡HING that
has happened over the last month... so this is gong to end p being
brief. bascially, the week internet went out (after the last time i
emailed) I started with stomach problems again. That week, was also
changes. I figured me and Teichart would stay together, but we didnt.
We got changes, Teichart went to Playon Chico to be San Blas Zone
Leader, And Bartleson came to be my companion. hes a pretty cool guy
from North Salt Lake City in Utah.
so after he got there, we waited another like 2 weeks, making it 3
weeks with stomach problems, and I made the decision to go to the
hospital on the island. for the second time, i got a gastrointestinal
infection from unclean water... and was knocked out of working for a
whole week taking super pwerful antibiotics. Im not being legit super
super careful with the water...
Also, a guy here hunted 3 sea turtles, and cooked them for us. so we
got to try sea turtle (which is realy really good) and gave us leather
and skulls. because that definitely isnt illegal here but its legal
anywhere that isnt an indian reservation... so i have to smuggle it
home XD shhhh i didnt say that.
I also got some kind of crazy rash on my arm. The children here get
scabbies and other weird skin rashes, so ive been fighting it with
medicine for 3 weeks now, and its starting to go away! No need for
another hospital visit :)
uhmm... what else... Oh! our water is kept in gallon jugs. I have
figured out that you can use a stick to put them in and workout as if
you had weights XD soooo... i now have a private gym XD
uhm... what else. another missioanry got malaria, so we now have
doxycyline pills to prevent malaria (it also doubles as a acne
treatment)
Things are going well. my companion is a cool guy, and we have some
pretty positive investigators. we should hve 6 or 7 baptisms on the
22nd, and there should be more coming up soon :) im excited :) I love
things out here. Im definitely roughing it, and my body is being torn
apart inside and out, but its totally worth it :) I love my island and
my people! a member the other day was saying we needed permission to
go somewhere because we were gringos from somewhere else and then he
said "actually, nevermind. yall are basically kuna brothers after
being here for so long" im officially adopted into the Kuna people XD
what other stories can i tell... Everybody here has been talking about
how the sun is going to go away for 3 or 4 days all over the world on
the 23rd or 24th of august.. not sure what to think abot that. The
Silahs (religious/government leaders of the island) have declared that
nobody can leave their houses during the days of no sun. so we will
see what happens.
but ya. sorry i cant give more details or anything more informative!
just know that im doing well, and loving it out here :) even though my
body is slowly falling apart (faster than before) sorry I cant go into
more depth about our investigators, I know thats what everyone wants
to hear about. this next week Ill be able to start explaining
everything in more depth. Zone Conference is Monday, so we will be
traveling monday morning... The ocean has been acting angry and we
have had a lot of storms so pray that we will all stay safe in our
travels! We dont want to have half the zone lost in the ocean again.
I lvoe you all! I love the Lord, and im so very thankful that Im out
here serving him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Hes
literally supporting me in my calling, and I can feel him push me out
of bed every morning and carry my throughout my day every day. I
couldnt do it without him :) Im thankful for the gospel that I ahve in
my life, and that IVe been called to be a representative of Jesus
Christ :)
I love you all! (english)
An bemar abege! (tulegaya)
Les quiero! (spanish)
PS. Church/chapel in Tulegaya is "Bap se goled nega" which is
literally translated "house of calling to Father"
nuedi!! cedomalo!
