April 20, 27 and May 4

April 20

woooh! another week here in panama :) I cant believe time goes by so fast man! I cant believe it.. next week i hit 7 months. I dont know where the time goes! 

Tuesday- Me and wrigley started divisions :) It was super fun XD We had a couple cool lessons, but most of our citas fell but we made some really good contacts. One of the contacts turned into a lesson right there in the street. We didnt teach one of the lessons but we talked about the gospel. He basically bore testimony to us about the lack of the gospel after christ died, and that no church had his authority, but in the last days christ would bring all his faithful children into one church. I really hope that he turns out.. he was a really cool guy. He is a preacher of another church, and his name is Domingo (sunday in spanish). and then we continued with the icre cream and uno tradition XD

wednesday- we finished divisions at a service project... I basically single handedly felled a tree :) it was super fun XD but my body was dead for like 3 days after. There will be pictures and videos, i promise :) On our way back home, we stopped by a fruit stand. for $3 I bought 12 mangos, 15 bananas, 4 passion fruits, 1 cantaluope, and a huge green avocado :) Later that day, there was aton of rain and we couldnt really leave the house.. so we cleaned the house and played games together.

thursday- We got permission to go search for some things my comp needed in the morning, so we went shopping a little in the morning. We proceeded with our weekly planning later, and had a little bit of companion bonding time. super cool :) spend quality time with your companion, wife, children, whoever. 

friday- There was rain again, but I forced my companion to go out and work, so we got super wet and super muddy XD I pretended not to care, but I hate wet muddy clothing XD its not comfortable at all. 

Saturday- We had a party! We all (our district) went to wrigleys house to throw a birthday party for him in the morning :) there was cake, and a piñata and everything :) there was a minion balloon... but somehow he escaped. He was weighed down and then a sister said "where did the minion go?" and we looked up and he was in the sky... nobody knows how he got away...  We had another service after. We went and helped cut down more trees and break them apart, but we only helped for an hour or so because we had to go to a bpatism :) 

The baptism turned out really cool :) there were a lot of ward members there, which is always great. The members dont support converts as much here as they do in the states.. but we are trying to help the members have the desire to come to baptisms :)

me and my comp decided to go down a road that we have never gone down... and found a really cool family! we eneded up teaching them on the spot :) super awesome :)

that night hmo medo gave us like a ton of fruit... so we got together with the other elders on sunday to have a smoothie party, and to teach a lesson to their investigator. super fun :) hanging out with an investigator and making smoothies together before the lesson :) 

sunday- well.. church.. and the above statement about fruit and the investigator. 

monday- we went to do laundry and scrub down wrigley and romeros house... we basically killed the whole day there, and then had a noche de hogar at 5, so we didnt have time to go to internet :/ so we got permission to come tuesday :) the power went out and we had to go home early, because our area is dangerous, especially at night when the power goes out. but ya :) everything is all good here :)

I love all of you! thank you for all your emails and support and everything :) I gotta get going. changes are coming next week and I feel like I might leave, but at the same time that i might stay. we will see what the lord has in store for me! chaauuuuuu

siguen adelante :)

haz tu lo justo :)

April 27

Time goes by so fast its crazy XD I dont know where it goes. I dont have my journal with me so we will see if I can remember what ive done this week XD 

Tuesday- I believe I emailed last tuesday as well... and i dont remember what happened after that.

wednesday- I really have no idea what happened that day XD

thursday- I remember we had a goodbye party for sister alvarez, because shes headed home, and then we had ward correlation.

Friday- I have a really bad memory XD sunday-tuesday have been stressful so ill have a lot to write about for those ones

Saturday- I went to the temple :) We took recent converts from our ward to do baptisms :) it was super cool :) I got to be a witness for a while until the endowment session started, and went up to do an endowment session.  I was really in need of the temple :)

Later we had a noche blanca and had 3 baptisms in our zone :) I got to bear my testimony about baptism in front of the whole stake. I was nervous at first but it wasnt too bad :) 

Sunday- we went on divisions. I went to my ward with Elder Campos. Our zone leaders are now required to get to know our ward ledearships so he met the ward and everything.

Later, we went to go to another goodbye party for hna alvarez XD she has spent half her mission in this ward so theyre kind of attatched. Later, i went on divisions with elder hoeft to their area to help him out a little bit. We completed their LPE goal.. they had 50 and needed 80, so we did 30 that night :) super fun.

Monday- We went as a zone to go see meet the mormons in the chapel by the temple :) super fun and super good movie... the only thing... i lost our cell phone on the way there XD I was talking on the phone, and then I paid for food and had to run across the street to catch the bus.. somewhere in that confusion i dropped the phone and couldnt find it. :/ so after the movie i killed the rest of my pday in the city, getting a phone chip for me, and a phone chip for some other elders, along with running zone errands so the ZLs wouldnt have to since I ws already there XD I got home at 11PM. shoot. And then Elder Hoeft got confused about what we were doign so accidentally told the phone people the wrong phone number- he gave them their phone number- he didnt realize the numbers we were giving were the ones getting disactivated, i didnt notice because I didnt know his phone number. So we killed a phone XD

We ended the night with some root beer floats at his house. 

Tuesday- Temple trip! My companion and elder Polio (comps with Elder Hoeft) showed up at 4am supposedly with clean clothing for me... but my cmpanion forgot I needed clean clothing and their was no time to go back... So I had to go to the temple in very dirty clothes... but its all good because I really really really needed the temple. They had to kick me out of the celestial room because I really didnt want to leave. I love the spirit we can feel in the temple and its such a good escape from the world. 

Anyways :) Ill have to talk to yall next week! Im out of time! Thanks for tuning in to another week of my crazy mission life. I love you all- Remember the blessings we receive from the temple, and that unique opportunity we have- its a beautiful place with an amazing spirit. never pass up an opportunity to go to the temple. You cant trade that experience for anything in the world. chau everyone! BTW... I didnt have changes. So we will see what happens through the next 6 weeks with Elder Mejia! love yall!

May 4

alright :) lets talk about this week. 

Wednesday- changes! not much excciting that happened. I started a spontanous companionship inventory because I could tell my comp was upset with me. So we didnt get much done that day.

Thursday- We cleaned the house, and had our weekly planning :) there were always some things we needed to find in chorrera, so we headed out there and looked for stuff. we did some LPEs and contacting while we were out there :) super fun

Friday- We had a district service project in Guadalupe :) we helped another person repair their roof :) and in the meantime I helped pic axe a rock wall that they wanted to get rid of. super fun :) I talked al lot with elder Guzman, the new companion of elder romero. hes super legit! I really like him. Later we went home, and got ready for the ward talent show at 5. The talents came out super cool! although basically all of the talents were from the missionaries in our zone XD it was cool :) our district did a shadow doctor thing :) 

Saturday- We had a service project at our investigators house, but it got rained out :/ so we couldnt go. we stuck around the house until lunch, and we got a phone call from the Zone Leaders. Elder Ah Sue wasnt allowed to leave the house for health reasons, and his comp wante to do divisions because they had important citas, and we didnt have anything planned. So I went out there and chilled with Ah Sue in his house and we played games and stuff. it was pretty fun but I felt lazy XD we started fasting after lunch and I got a migraine from fasting :/ I called the enfermeros (mission nurses) and they told me I shouldnt do a complete fast :/ I can still "fast" just have to eat and drink minimally.

Sunday- Fast Sunday :) we wore white ties to ask for references, because white ties are what we wear when we baptize people. its a cool idea. 

lunch ended up being delayed till 4... without telling us... so we sat in their house waiting for lunch... from 1-4 and they never said anything XD We had a noche de hogar, and then played a little bit of uno to finish up our night before bed. super cool.

Monday- well, we started off doing laundry, and went to the stake center to play games with the zone :) it was fun, and later we got a big group to go to Temptation Point, which is a really delicious pizza place with super cheap pizza :)

PAteince is a virtue! Be patient in your afflictions, and just do the best you can in the situation you find yourself in. Its a good standard to live by, and makes things a lot easier to deal with in times of stress and complication in our lives. Jesus take the wheel :) (I just downloaded that song XD)

but hey, i love yall :) thanks for tuning in for another week!

March 30, April 6 and 13

March 30

Alrighty :) I have another week to talk about! This week was pretty exciting... there were a lot of things that happened. Ill start with Tuesday

Tuesday- The day after our games with president... my companion was super super sore so we had to work really slowly on tuesday. We started off with my companions first ever district meeting, and it actually went pretty well. I enjoyred it. We had a few appointments fall through later in, but we had 1 really cool one :)

Basically, this lady named Bianca, has been living with a return missionary for 6 months waiting for their marriage papers. I didnt even know she was an investigator who needed the lessons... so we started teaching her this week :) She is super cool and basically already knows everything.. she has been going to church every sunday for over 6 months. so things are going really positive with her :) 

 

Wednesday- well... all the district leaders had to go to the city... sooo... we did divisions Tuesday night with another district leader so that us non leaders could hand out and still study the next day. I was put with Elder Gibby from the MTC :) it was super fun XD we bought a gallon of ice cream for dinner, and a bunch of cookies. We talked for a while. Another Elder, Elder Figueroa arrived at our house at 430 AM... so... we all decided we were hungry. We walked to a supermarket near the house, and Elder Gibby had the genius idea of buying a huge 3 gallon bucket of ice cream... and i had the genius idea of supprting the idea and convincing elder figueroa. Soooo... between the hours of 5 am and 2 pm with ate 3 gallons of ice cream and 2 packages of oreos... I think I still feel sick. 

Our companions got back at around 3 or 4, and my companion felt really bad so we went home to rest for a while. We left later to have ward correlation, but our ward mission leader wasnt there. We went to search for him in his house, and hes been really down lately and didnt want to go. so we left him with a message and I bore my testimony about how sometimes we go through hard times, but the Lord brings us 

knowledge and blessing and strengthens our testimonies through our challenges. 

Thursday- started off the day with 3 hours of service :) super cool, and the rest of the day we spent at lunch, and doing weekly planning. so there isnt a whole lot to talk about. 

Friday- We got no work done, but it was a cool day. Guadalupe Elders needed help cleaning their chapel because their members dont do the weekly cleaning.. So we went and cleaned a very dirty chapel and swept, mopped, and cleaned all the windows and bathrooms. 6 and a half hours of service. We then went to lunch, and the zone leaders called at 3 (during lunch) to tell us we had a zone day of service at 4. so we went back home, to change, and went to more service. We lost the entire day of work, but it was super fun :)

Saturday!!! The day started off with a Zone Meeting. It went pretty well and I felt the spirit. Me and Elder Ah Sue went on divisions to our area for 2 hours after the meeting, and we were told again 1 hour before that we were needed for another night of service... so.. we canceled all our plans.. again. oh well. It was fun :) 

Sunday- Sunday was a really good day. I always love going to church. We set up a family home evening for that night but it fell through :/

We did our numbers that night and had to go home early to recieve the numbers of the rest of the district... it takes like 3 hours every sunday night to get ahold of everyone and get all the numbers. Yikes. but its all good :) I got to go to bed early while my comp collected the numbers ;) life is good as a normal missionary

Monday- Today we really just hung out together as a zone in the stake center :) it was super fun and I always love hanging out with the other missionaries :)

Well... The main thing that I learned this week... In our lives, especially in our missions, its very easy to follow the crowd and do things you know are wrong. Ive learned that it is important to realize who you want to be, and what you need to do and change to get there, and do not give in to peer pressure for any reason! Jospeh Smith said "we teach the brethren correct doctrine, and leave them to govern themselves" and DC 29:35 says that the lord leaves us to be our own agents... We have so many good influences in our lives, but too often we choose to listen to the wrong voice. We all know what is right- we all know what we need to do- we just have to make the decision to follow and choose the right. I am committing to be more obedient as a misssionary, that I might be an example to those around me. Because even in the mission field, nobody is perfect.

Anyways :) Thats it for this week! I love you all!

Seguir el adelante 

Dios Les Bendiga

April 6

hey! This week I completed 6 months! I cant believe I have been serving for a total of 6 months! haha! and yes.. for all those asking.. I DID burn a tie. Its actually not as easy to burn a tie as youd think. I also realized that every conference will mark 6 months in my mission... the next ones will be my year mark, and 18 month mark. super cool. 

Tuesday: Me and Elder Romero did divisions! It was fun :) We went to the doctor to get him a check up for his heart, and then We worked hard during the day, and taught a few lessons to some cool progressing investigators we have. super cool :) and later... we went for ice cream and mangos. Ice cream has officially been made a divisions tradition...

Wednesday: We finished up divisions in the morning, and my companion, being a clean freak, immediately went on a cleaning spree of the house. so the house is super clean again XD I was a little upset at my companion later in the day, and we went to teach a lesson. The lesson did not go well at all and I really didnt feel the spirit. It reminds me of a quote from Joseph Smith when he was made at his wife and couldnt translate the Book of Mormon until he went and appologized to his wife- the spirit of contention is not conducive to the spirit- especially not as missionaries

Thursday- My 6 month mark!! woooooh! I sat at my desk that morning, and put down 4 quarters in a square on the table... and i stared... and then I took one of them away... and stared... and then continued the day as normal XD. We had a Zone Meeting that morning :) and then weekly planning. I always feel a little stressed after weekly planning, so I wasnt feeling so well. We went a little early to dinner with the family Escobar :) Man they always pick me up. I think in every area, every missionary has a family that they get along really will with and always make them feel better- for me, thats the Escobar family :) they are amazing man.

On the way to dinner, we contacted a man and taught him about general conference, and invited him. He was so eager to hear from a modern prophet, that he asked us to come by his house before conference to go with him- more on that later... (sautrday morning)

and that night... I burned my tie XD woooh! ties arent as easy to burn as you think.. happy 6 months!

Friday- We had 4 hours of service that morning :) we went to our ward mission leaders house to help him clean up his yard.. which involved me cutting his grass with a machete (they dont use lawn mowers here... they use machetes) and accidentally killing his watermelon vine... I didnt know what it was, it didnt have watermelons on it XD oops. Even servants of the Lord made mistakes haha. After that, and lunch, we killed the rest of the day in the doctors office. My comp hasnt been feeling well and got permission to go to the doctors office. so.. we waited all day for them to tell us to come back sunday.

Saturday- mannnnn. We went searching for that man we contacted, but couldnt find him anywhere. All he said was that his name was Sedeno. and the street he lives on, there are 5 different and unrelated Sedeno families. how is that possible?? but, we found an amazing family of old investigators (familia sedeno) that is very interested again :) so we are going to come back and start teaching them again :) they are super positive and I really like the family.

anways.. we rushed to conference. The gringos got a special room to listen in english XD and we all got to bring snacks and stuff because it wasnt in the chapel XD So I have a picture of all my conference cookies and ice cream... haha XD i eat too much ice cream. 

Sunday-  Coinference again! and all of our meals getting cancelled on a day we cant buy food! shoot man XD that was hard. But I was nourished by the word of God :) I love conference and I recieved a lot of answers to personal questions, both that I had, and didnt know I had. 

Anyways.. we went to the doctors.. and my comp needs to take it easy for the next week. We can work, but he has to take it slow, and take a lot of breaks.  so its going to be a slow week but its all good :) 

Monday- Today we went to Airrejan to play soccer against their zone :) super fun! I loved itt... also... i bought mangos.. their was this lady selling really sweet ripe mangos for really cheap.. I bought 12 good size mangos for 75 cents.. I have my breakfast for the nextfew days XD

Anyways... I am so thankful for general conference :) I know that we have a Prophet who leads and guides our church. A prophet who really can recieve revelation from God to guide the church. Im so very thankful for this knowledge! Im thankful that I have the opportunity to be a missionary... as hard as this is... I know that it is turning me into who the Lord needs me to be for the rest of my life. I encourage everyone to go to LDS.org and watch some of the conference talks :) members or non members :) watch any of the talks you missed, because there were good messages in every session of conference.

Anyways, Im out for this week :) Chauuuuuu

-Elder Blake Travis Bradburn

-Dios Les Bendiga

-Seguir el adelante

-haz lo justo

April 13

This week has been a little bit rough... we had everything from immigrations to divisions to no water.. so lets start the tale of the crazy week...

Tuesday- Tuesday was fairly normal. We had a district meeting and killed alot of time trying to find a couple of refferrals. we sadly couldnt find them :/ I was invited monday night to help out at the local community college, so we went to the community college after pday was over. It was a super cool experience! I just sat and talked with the students in english. At the end they asked me a bunch of questions about being a missioanry and the teacher gave us 5 minutes at the end to bear our testimonies and stuff. We didnt get any immediate refferals but I could tell we sparked interest and everyone wrote down our phone number. The teacher said that he loved that experience and asked us to come back, and asked us to invite his class to a church activity. super cool!

Also.. tuesday night we looked at the areas... our ward is split between us and a companionship of sisters.. so we resplit the areas. we now have ahuge section called Raudal.. but I dont even know how to get htere XD

Wednesday.. We had to get up INSANLEY early to make it to the city on time for immigrations... We were wasted by the time we got home. but i now have an official panama ID! super cool :) 

Thursday- divisions with elder ah sue! Super fun :) We bought way too much ice cream (as usual) and had some really cool lessons in his area. We had some really amazing lessons. like seriuosly probably the most spiritual lessons ive been a part of in my entire mission.. im so very thankful for that. I needed to feel the spirit like that. .

Friday.. Weekly planning. and then later... our water went out!! the rumor was that the water would go for 4 days... so we got ready for the long haul. the worst part is we used to have water storage but we gave it to the hermanas when their water went out. This time was super bad because water went out in ALL of chorrera. 

Saturday. We helped a member change their roof... we were in the service close to all day.. which was fine because my companion refused to work normal if we couldnt shower. So that was fun :) The sisters had a baptism.. I really really wanted to go, because there was no water, they had to do the baptism in a river! I wish i could have been there. the sisters said it was really pretty.. they could only take 5 pèople in one car (most members dont have cars here)

A MIRACLE- the water came back that night :)

Sunday- Well.. not much happened. we went to church, and later I went on divisions with a member so I could work while my companion helped cook lunch. It was an interesting situation.. I dont really have much time to explain. but that pretty much sums up sunday :) and then we went and hada family home evening with our dinner family :)

Monday- well.. today we just went to play soccer again in the stake center :) it was super fun :)

anyways... I love you all! Thanks for loving me enough to keep up with whats going on in my life :) Being a missionary is hard.. its definitely the hardest thing ive ever done... But I wouldnt trade it for anything. One day Ill look back and miss these rough times I have... Just remember that! Be greatful for every moment you have. Even if its difficult, because one day youll look back at everything you learned and how much you grew in those times. Although its not super fun to deal with in that moment.

Anyways :) Ill talk to yall next week! love ya

March 16 and 23

March 16

I dont even know how many weeks I have in the mission... this is like.. week 10 in panama or something. I dont know. 9? Someone else do the math, I dont have the time right now XD 

Well... tuesday and Wednesday are one entry... I got a little distracted tuesday night and wasnt able to write in my journal. We started divisions! I went with Elder Ah Sue, probably my best friend in the mission right now. It was super fun XD 

Me and MArtinez set up a plan to just go contact for 6 hours of the day and Ah Sue didnt like that. He told me a new plan- We were going to say a prayer, and the first name that popped into my head, we would visit. So... for 6 hours we said prayers and then followed promptings to find people to talk to. That was so amazing! I dont think there was a lot of real success in that time, but I definitely helped me learn about the importance of the Spirit in the work that we do.

that night.... we went back home a little early because our area is a little dangerous, but not before we stopped buy a Chino to buy a gallon of ice cream and supplies for a milk shake.. and chips and cookies XD. and we proceeded to play Uno and drink milk shakes till lights out. 

sooo... the following didnt happen. Shhh. Those of you who know about missionary work, its a rule that lights out is 1030. But when 2 gringos get together for a while... we end up talking about life and deep doctrine until 3 or 4 AM XD and then wake up at 600 XD the next day was rough because of that.

Wednesday.. we found a very amazing thing called the Area Book. Everyone who has ever been taught in our area, has a teaching record in this magic book. Well... if the missionaries were good missionaries. and... low and behold... 6 months ago there were sister missionaries. sooo... we have a billion teaching records of people who were forgotten about in the swtich to Elders. so the work is cut out for me in this area :) We went searching for all the people, but its hard in panama because we have to follow hand drawn maps that missionaries drew in the teaching record, because panama doesnt use addresses. 

and then re read the previous statement about milk shakes and staying up late and re insert it here. 

Thursday- Ended divisions.. sadly. I had enough confidence sparked by Ah Sue to keep us working.. somewhat. My comp has been really down since then.. dont know why. But we did teach this girl named Linda! Shes an old investigator that we happened to contact and asked that we go teach her :) So we passed by on accident and taught an impromptu lesson. Shes super super prepared for the gospel! But.. I think her mom is going to cause complications.. She really likes to talk and isnt so enthusiastic about our message. So we will see :) 

Friday- There was a leaders meeting for my comp :) how fun. I hung out with all the other missionaries who dont have leadership callings XD I also recieved my mission card! finally! but... it doesnt have money on it. I talked with Elder Bird, my good friend in the office, and he forgot to put my quinsenna on the card. Soo.. Im broke till friday XD I can do hard things. 

Saturay- Super fun day! We had a zone service XD Everybody in the zone got sunburned... I didnt know latins could get sunburned! Not trying to be rascist I just didnt know XD My comp and Elder Ah Sue took turns with a hacha... uhm.. with an axe chopping a masive tree in half. it took them 6 hours XD holy cow. The rest of us made an assebly line to help move other wood into a pile in an area that was safe to burn the wood. It was sos much fun XD We finally finished at 3 and took a zone trip to the Mcdonalds. so fun XD Im still burned. On sunday all the members called me tomatoe because my face is super red XD 

That night at 5 we met up again to go on divisions to do a less active member rescue as a zone in someone elses area.. we went with members but I got put ina atrio of elders. Me, elder campos (ZL) and elder rodriguez. Super fun! It was nice to teach with other missionaries. 

Sunday- uhm.. the positive way to look at it.. I listened to a lot of conference talks and read like 10 chapters in the BOM. Also... our power went out XD twice in one day. How fun. 

But ya :)

Monday- Today was super fun! Me and my comp went to san carlos to go hiking :) It was super pretty :) I love hiking. Up in the mountains, its really cool. like climate wise. I hope at some point I get put in a cooler area XD 

Anyways.. I learned something this week that I want to share. Elder Eyring (I think) gave a talk about the challenges we go through. He says many of us make the mistake of asking for challenges to pass from us. But what we need to pray for us that "the cup might pass before us, but the will of the father be done, and drink the bitter cup". He will help us through any challenges we have. He knows what is best, and I know whatever happens this week, if we have transfers, that it is the will of the Lord. 

I love you all! have a great week :) 3 weeks till conference!

March 23

This week has been great! I got a new companion :) His name is Elder Mejia and he is a really hard worker, and really clean :) ya hes cool :)

Tuesday- We got the phone call for cambios at 1 AM. I have officially decided that there is no phone call, even that one, that the phone needs to be on at 1 am XD from now on Im turning the phoen off at bed time XD

We then spent the whole day in the temple :) I love going to the temple! And we got home at like 10 PM :)

Wednesday- Well... my companion left at 7, and I was left with the Elder Figueroa to wait for our companions. Sooo... We picked up my companion at 9 and then went to Figueroas house to help him clean up. LAter, we had a lunch and an apointment in my area that we had to go to, so we went back to our area, and dropped off my companions luggage. During lunch, we got a phone call that there was a missionary all by himself that we werent expecting because he took a bus to Chorerra, and not to the bus station. So we had to quickly go find him, because he didnt have a phone XD We spent like 30 minutes trying to find him, but we finally did! Elder Hoeft! from my district in the MTC :)

When we finally got home, My companion said the house was to messy. So whats the first thing he did? Took off his tie, his shirt, and told me to do the same. We then continued to take everything out of the houseand clean EVERYTHING. oooooh the house is so clean now. There was a rat living in my old companions droor... where he kept his clothes.... uhm... gross. Also, there was a dead bird under his dresser. GROSS!

Thursday- We had a zone meeting to  introduce the zone, and then we went back home. We had 2 lessons, but one fell through. The lesson we had was with a cool menos activo named Solustiano Arcia. He is a super cool guy :) He gave us some kind of strange fruit that Ive never heard of or seen in my life XD It was good though :)

After, back to work cleaning. And when we finally finished, (or so I thought) My companion said we needed to go buy supplies to clean. So we went and bought things to organize the apartment, and cleaning supplies. but we finally did finish cleaning.

Friday- We went getting to know the area all day, taking my companion to the houses of every member that I knew of who lived in our side of the area. Super fun, having short little lessons and talking with the members :) We really have a cool area :) We also had to rush to do a baptismal interview for the sisters.

Satuday- I realized... That when you goZ from not working, and studying a ton every day, to actually working hard, it really taxes you. Im super tired all the time, but Im glad we are working. Satuday and Sunday my spanish was super hard because I couldnt focus or think straight. Im super stressed, but working hard, and happily :)

We had another meeting in the stake center with al the missionaries, but we had to leave early for the baptism and to do the second baptismal interview for the sisters. But the mom wouldnt give permission for the girl to be baptized :/ entonces there was only one baptism. All the missionaries noticed something different about me and mentioned it- I look a lot happier now that Im working XD and me and my companion get along really well. I think he gets frustrated with my spanish, but we get along really well. 

Sunday- I was super exhausted. I couldnt stay awake through church. It was super crazy. Ive never been so tired in my entire life. I feel like Im not sleeping as well as I should be XD ITs just the stress and readjusting to actually working. I also talked members of the bishopric about the area, because I dont know it that well and they told me straight up- You really dont know the area that well. What did you do for 8 weeks with Martinez? and it was awkward to explain that my companion didnt want to work, but they essentially told me that now a lot of thinsg made sense and that they are here to help me get to know the area.  super cool :) I also went on divisions with members of the bishopric to get to know less actives who live in our ward :)

We finished our day going to the dinner. We heplped the hma cook, and talked all about mission stuff and her mission and everything. it was super fun :) We asked to sing a hymn but she said no because she didnt feel the spirit. I carefully asked if everything was ok, and she said no and started bawling. I still dont know whats wrong but she asked for a blessing. MY companion gave the blessing, and she seemed to feel better. 

I really love the members of our ward!

also today, super fun, we got a random call that changed our pday plans- President Carmack called the Zone Leaders and told them that he wanted to have a zone activity with us! Super fun :) We played capture the flag and everything :) we all got super tired out and sister carmack gave everyone cookies :) It was a lot of fun.

Anyways, thats all I have for today :) The Lord brings us blessings! Just remember- Do what you can to continue progressing in life. REading scriptures, going to church, and everything. Because sometimes you have to fight for your own spiritual time. and other times, like now, Im working hard. Our life is filled with roller coasters and our situations are always changing. Just remember the Lord is there for you :) 

I Love yall! talk to you next week :)

March 2 and 9

March 2

Well... Another week down. I cant believe its already march! Where does the time go? seriously. I hit my 5 month mark on thursday... Ive been here in panama for almost 2 months. Its hard to believe how fast time flies.

This week was a lot better for me, emotionally. It was still difficult though. I focused on changing my perspective. Im not here for myself, Im here for others. And with that change of thought, and forcing myself to think that way, I saw a lot of improvemtns in my attitude as I tried my hardest to serve my companion and focus on the people I was serving. 

Tuesday- We went to a service :) The Hma Kaira lives on this big hill that everyone always gets exhausted on... like halfway up. So me and my companion went to mae stairs in the hill! We worked hard for 2 hours picking stairs into the hill, and still didnt finish. We even went back wednesday, and there is still more to do eventually. 

We had a lesson that night with an investigator named Yohan. He is a super cool kid who is my age (18). Hes been investigating the church for over a year.. He comes to church, reads the BOM, but still doesnt feel ready for baptism. We talked with him about it. After talking with him, me and my companion both feel that it isnt his time for baptism. But it will come :) I hope Im here to see that day!

Wednesday- We recieved a call at 7 am... that president was coming to our stake center to conduct missionary interviews. Ahh! talk about a change of plans. We went to the service, and had to sprint home in order to shower and get ready on time. We lost our whole day from 11 until 5. It takes 6 hours to interview 22 missionaries XD well... our zone is half sisters... he finished sister missionaries at 330 XD (sisters always have emotional problem to talk about... I didnt say that XD)

We talked about my concerns and what Im doing to help my area. I also asked for a blessing of comfort. It was super cool, and Im thankful that I asked. President is definitely an amazing man. He told me that I could achieve some of the things I was working towards personally (I didnt tell him, but he specifically mentioned them in the blessing) and told me that I will be able to quickly dust myself off when I become discouraged. 

After, we lost the rest of our night because the sisters were sick and we had to take them medicine. I swear the whole missionary world is sick.

Thursday- We went to the house of Hma Kaira again... but we didnt make stairs. I was a one man video and photo taking crew for her instructional video on how to make empanadas and other things for a stake activity. I apparently have the best camera she has access to, and I take a lot of pictures so she asked me to stay and take the pictures and videos for her XD It turned out alright because we got empanadas and Chicheme out of it :)

Later, we went to visit Romero and Wrigley to do.... DIVISIONS. me and Wrigley came to our area. We werent able to get a lot of work done the two of us, because we started divisions so late in the day, but we were able to contact and find 2 new potential investigators :) We also met with a really cool blind lady named Hma Edith. She went blind 4 years ago due to a messed up eye surgery. super sad. There is a chance her vision will come back. sShe was baptized 2 years ago, but has gone inactive for the past year. She even went through the temple! she basically went to the temple and then went inactive after. Super sad, but she has a very strong testimony. Her life is very hard and its difficult for her to make the trip to the chapel without her sight.

Friday- Capacitaciones! and ending divisions. It was nice being with a gringo for a while XD not to be racist. It was just nice to be able to work with someone who speaks english.

We went to visit Joel :) He didnt feel ready for baptism, so we had to change his baptismal date to the 14th. He also showed us his telescope and we looked at the moon and the stars. Telescopes are super cool man! I want one XD 

Saturday- A little bit of a diffcult day. There was a lot of pereza (basically a disease called laziness) going around. We went with the Hmas to visit a few people and then our plans to break the pereza fell through... so the pereza continues XD 

At 2 we got a call from Romero that Wrigley was sick... So we had to go to their area to bring medicine and stuff. And when we arrived, my companion started to get sick XD So we were stuck there till 5. Me and Romero went to contact a little bit and to go buy medicine and dinner. After that We had an activity called "the Niht of White" basically, in all of the zone there were 15 baptisms in one day, so we did them all together. It was super spiritual and cool. It started 2 hours late XD hashtag latino culture. (spanish keyboards dont have hastgas)

Sunday- Sunday was awesome :) started of slow. I was sick in the morning so I slept in. I had the same thing that wrigley had the day before. Im starting to really feel comfortable in the ward that im serving in. I better not leave this change XD I dont think I will, as I only have one change here. 

Later we went to the temple :) We went as a zone, and were supposed to bring investigators and everyone who got baptized, but there were really only the missionaries, and 2 familes there. It was still spiritual though :)

MONDAY-- today we went to cosco antiguo again :) super fun. I spent more money than I should have XD I need to make a better habit of spending money. things I need and dont need... I also took a bunch of new pictures XD 

Well I think thats it for this week :) I was a good week even though it was a little slow. The Lord answers prayers :) I love yall! have a great week :)

Vaya con Dios :) 

Dios les bendiga :)

-Elder Blake Bradburn

March 9

ahhhh! I saw a sloth this week on divisions! super legit. they really do move really slow.. in spanish theyre called... something perezoso... something lazy. I dont remember the other word XD

anyways on to my tales of this week :) 

Tuesday... great day :) It started off a little frustrating, but got a lot better because we went on a ward temple trip :) man I love the temple :)Also in the morning my comp cut his own hair XD I helped cut the back... it doesnt look too bad but I dont have enough trust in him or myself to do that XD

we didnt get home till 10 so theres not much else to say about that day :)

Wednesday- we went in the morning to meet the leaders of the ward of hermana stuki because their area is struggling :) it was cool. later we went to pass out Proclamations to the world for contacting :) it was fun. people are very interested in a proclamation to help familes! annnd we had a ward volleyball match with the ward and some investigators later that night :)

thursday- we did divisions with the elders in our district again :) Romero came to my area. Super pritti maaaan. Hes a cool elder. He had to go home for health problems, so he and i went through some similar experiences with that. We get along very well. We got lost a few times but its all good XD we laughed about it. 

I never realized before how many missionaries have had very hard lives before the mission. Its sad but amazing that they are willing to sacrifice to help others in a mission :) 

friday- friday was weekly planning so there isnt a whole lot to talk about about that. we made plans.... or i made plans.. for the area and my companion either said yes or no. soo.. we have some interesting plans for the week. at least we have plans this time.. XD 

Saturday- we had service for Hermano miguel :) his yard was super dirty and he had scrap metal all over... we worked for probably 4 or 5 hours at his house. 

it was super fun :) I was worked id get cut by rusty metal and get tetanus... but ÇI didnt get cut.. so i live! nobody worry.

LAter we went to Los Altos area as a zone to do a less active saving activity... the branch attendance on sunday was... over 170. previously was in the 60s. huge change! team work man, team work :)

Sunday- Well... oh! sunday. There is a lady in our ward who grew up in the united states but has always moved around from country to country and state to state her whole life. she is spending her time in our ward right now, and saturday night she fell and sprained her ankle, and probably broke her nose and damaged her face pretty badly. She walked all the way to the church building from her house to ask for a blessing. Specifically, a blessing from me because I speak english, her strongest language. It was an amzing expereince. It was testimony building to see the transformation in the way she walked and even the expression on her face after the blessing I gave. The priesthood is real, and priesthood blessings are real! Im so very thankful that I hold the priesthood of God (or the power of God according to his will)  and that I can help other people like that :) 

I was able to find time to go through liahonas to find pictures to decorate the apartment and to find little games and toys to make :) Super cool :) I just need to find cardstock to mount some of the stuff :) Little projects like that help to destress me. I think Im going to start getting back into some origami 

Monday- today!!! we met as a zone in the stake center and all the mexicans in the zone cooked mexican food for lunch and we played a bunch of games and stuff :) I love doing stuff with the zone! 

Anyways.. thats all I have for this week. I love serving the people here! Im also learning how to work through my struggles. Things arent easy here, but life after the mission wont be so easy either, getting married and starting a family, college, and everything. Im learning how to work through things even when its tough. The key- PATIENCE AND FAITH. and scriptures study and prayer :) scripture study and prayer bring testimony and faith.. they build our faith do endure those trials :) 

Dont forget to read and pray!

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Dios les bendiga :)