Wednesday, September 23, 2015

September 21

Well :) another week has ended. A week that finally involve no traveling, however still didnt involve much real work :/ Its always nice being in our area at least :) Our recent converts pass by the house all the time so its not like there is nothing happening. Theyre great kids :) With Bartlesons still broken foot (lame doctor) we havent been able to get out of the house much... so this is going to be another summarized week to keep you all from getting too bored haha.
Basically, this week, the only thing that happened was an attempt at divisions. Our district leader, Elder Barker (from my MTC group) was going to come do divisions wiht me so we could get some work done in our island- buttttt the ponga (speed boat) screwed up and we couldnt catch a boat ride to trade bartleson and barker. so, we tried again on friday, and our ponga never showed up.. again. so we canceled. and then 3 hours later, it showed up, and expecte us to still travel with them. we had already cancelled our plans!! Lame people..
Today has been pretty good :) I always love sundays :) theyre great days to think and to partake of the sacrament. We get to remember and renew our covenants, and complete our weekly repentance process. Today I got a unique view of the sacrament- a view i havent had in close to a year. there were no priests that showed up so me and my companion were asked to bless the sacrament :) It was a great experience i havent had in a while :) ANY PRIESTS READING: dont take for granted what you are doing- you are standing in place of the Savior and helping all who partake to renew their covenants, and to finish their repentance process. Its an amazing opportunity.
anyways :) thats pretty much my week in a nutshell.. tomorrow we have Zone Conference, so we get to take another lovely motor boat out to Playon Chico. Hoping we dont drown in te ocean :) haha. itll be fun. President is coming this time around! itll be a good time :) thank you all for staying tuned :) Heres to hoping ill have more missionary work to talk about this week (I should- im going to stay in nargana with Elder Taylor for the week- so ill havethe opportunity to work this week)
anyways. Love you all! take care of yourselves! Bap Dummad bemar bendake gusgu. Nuegambi :)
-Elder Bradburn (Machi Siniqua... translated.. "short boy" even though im taller than all the men here, thats what they call me xD)

Saturday, September 19, 2015

September 14

well... as the title implies... im back on my island :) not a lot else to report on... I didnt throw up on the trip back xD so thats a good thing. I said a prayer before so i think i had a Little help. this week has been super boring... not much has hapened.
 
on Tuesday, we went to the doctor.... the verdict on my companions foot... the doctor sees nothing on the x-ray. soooo.. the doctor said to go back to the island, and walk on it for two weeks, take pain medication, and hope that it breaks bad enough that we can see it in an xray (Im not sure if thats logical... maybe Brother Whipple could give me some insight on that) but ya. sooooooo I organized our travel on thursday because we got the ok to head back :) 
 
Wednesday- well... We got ready to leave. and an island didnt get some things on their list of stuff so we had to go shopping for them- it made our day stressed and complicate, but its all good :) we got to buy a few more things that we didnt have as well
 
Thursday- the travel- travel went well. it was a lot faster tan expeced, and like i said, i didnt throw up. so that means it went pretty smoothly xD
 
other tan that, things have been quiet out here. we have had just acouple of lessons since we have been back. the chapel is close, so we have been having important lessons there, because my companions foot is bothering him a lot. 
 
so thats basically the summary of our week this week. its slow, and aggravating, butttt teres nothing we can do. satan has worked hard to keep me out of the game- ive definitely learned the important of WORKING WHILE I CAN. working hard because who knows the next time ill get sick xD
 
annnnyways. I love yall tons! thanks for keeping up with me and my life :) take care of yourselves, and live your life to the fullest :) and DONT FORGET TO PRAY :)

Friday, September 11, 2015

September 7

well... this week isnt going to have a long explanation... to make a long story short... We are still hanging out in the city. We went to the doctor tuesday, and he ordered an xray, told us to come back wednesday. I am not even kidding, when we walked in on wednesday, his desk lady said he was out of the country. Getting eye surgery in both his eyes. Sooo... my companion has a blind doctor outside of the country. Convenient. So President set us an appointment with a new doctor... the following tuesday (aka tomorrow) and then we will see what happens. 

Our week has basically been doing nothing. The Zone Leaders came out to buy everybodys stuff for blas, so I got to help with that. But other than that, not much has happened this week. 

I got to have an interview with president while Ive been here :) He let me know that ill probably stay where im at for a while- Im very happy where Im at :) its super tiring living on an island with poor living conditions, but I really enjoy it. I wouldnt trade it for anything :) Not even for Cardenas (the area where all the foreigners with money live... its a cushy sister area.. they get to speak english) 

But anyways :) Things are great. I love it here. Panama is a great country :) and I love the Tule people. theyre amazing. I know my Father called me to be where I am. I know Im meant to be here. And i am so blessed for that. not just because that place happens to be where I am, but because in this place, I can feel its where im needed. I know its where my Father needs me to be :) I wouldnt trade this or anything :)


Love yall :) glad yall are keepin up with my story :) 

Cedomalo :) Cuidase

Nuegambi :)

Thursday, September 3, 2015

August 31

Well... its been both an eventful and uneventful week. there isnt a whole lot to write about though. so Im not even going to break it up into days... just the important things that happened.

Monday.... we had a family home evening with our landlord and his family. and, during the opening him the hermana asked me if i would give te class part. so, I talked about helaman 5:12, and how we need to be built upon the rock of our redeemer. Afterwards, we always play a game. we were playing what would be called "cops and robbers" in english, and my companion stepped on a rock or something... and broke his foot. so, we were given two days of rest, and then the misión nurse decided we had to go to the hosptal. The hospital... is 7 hours in boat, and 4 more hours in car away from us. 

Now. hospital was out of the question. Why? we had baptisms on saturday. so we talked with president, and he said if my compnion stayed OFF his foot, we could stay for the baptisms and come to the hospital on monday :) 

sooo... Baptisms were a success. We had 7 baptisms :) Bello, Exler, Lain, Ronilka, Kankiler, Calvin, and myireth. The are all great kids :) I actually got to perform baptisms for the first time in my misión :) usually we get a priest to do it, but we couldnt this time. so, saturday we marched out to the beach to do our baptisms :)

It was super cool, watching each of these 7 teenagers come out of the wáter as new kids :) walking into the ocean they were all screaming and loud, but as son as they came back out of the wáter, they stayed quiet till the end. One of the kids came out of the wáter and even said "no more sins.. Im clean". Im just super proud of these kids :) I hope we stay in touch and that I can one day see them go on missions :) one day.

well :) thats pretty much my week in a nut Shell. there wasnt much leaving and teaching, due to the school Schedule and curfew hours (kids get out of school at 530, and have to be inside by 6... I almost got a kid put in prison for the night because he was being my companion). but it was a good week :)

This next week will be an interesting one, we are going to the city and not come back here til probably friday. itll be an interesting week to write about! Itll be the first time ive seen a car or a real building in 3 months. or eaten ice cream. Theres definitely going to be ice cream involved in the next week xD

I love all of you! Im greatful for the impact you have all had on my life, whether youre family, bishop, seminary teacher, close friend, etc. You have all had an impact on me and helped me turn into the man and missionary i am today :) I can only imagine being a father, after being so attached to these kids and baptizing them, what it will be like to see my children taking the correct steps in their lives. watching them struggle, get better, and grow. 

Im greatful for the góspel i have in my life. A missionary recently told me about a book that explains that Faith, is not knowledge. or it wouldnt be faith. so we cant say "I know" in our testimonies, because we DONT know. however, after Reading this book, it also explains that faith, can eventually turn into knowledge. Even if you havent seen proof. that Faith and acting on faith, can bring knowledge. and I CAN say, I know Christ is my savior and my redeemer. I know that I am his representative as a full time missionary. I know that I am a child of my Heavenly Father and he carefuly watches over each and eery one of his children. I can honestly bear testimony of these things :) I love you al. keep Reading the scriptures, keep looking for truth. As we find truth and light, we wil have a greater capacity for more. 

Elder Bradburn