A Mission Is Not For You

September 21, 2015

I once read an article about how a mission is not for us. That surprised me. The author later went on to explain that a mission is not intended for the man or woman who serves it. It does help them grow and teach them invaluable things but the opportunity to serve a mission is just that. An opportunity to serve. President Monson has expressed the importance of serving and loving our neighbors abut even more importantly Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have told us that we must love and serve Them first and then our fellow man. Being in a mission or just living a normal life is full of challenges. This week we were able to come into contact with more investigators and as a missionary that is awesome. When we were in the house of one of them, we asked her if she had doubts or questions about what she had seen or learned in Stake Conference. It was her first visit. She later explained that she did have many questions and doubts. All of them were sincere but then she asked us what would happen after we died. Almost everybody here believes in God and the Savior and has their own ideas but she spoke with an earnest desire to know and it touched me. She was looking for and wanted the Gospel. Something unique was that she was put off about the Church because of her concept of what churches were like before, but she told us she couldn’t go this week but wanted to. She doubted but her spirit recognized the need of the Gospel and responded to the Holy Ghost that spoke to her. Everybody is looking for and needs the Gospel and many times friends, family, less active members, or investigators know and feel that it is true but fear and doubt. We need to help people understand that with faith in Christ the fear and doubt we sometimes feel can be overcome. Love for Heavenly Father and the Savior includes faith. Faith that They know us and love us and have our best interest at heart and will forgive us if we truly repent. Loving Them includes loving others. My challenge for myself I would like to extend to you. I know we can love God and the Savior more when we serve Them and our fellow men. Lets forget ourselves and help someone else even when it may inconvenience us or be far out of our way. Those may be the most important times and the greatest blessings in disguise. I know Heavenly Father and His Son love us and I know this Church is true. This is the work of the Lord. I love you guys!!!!

Elder Nelson

August 31, 2015

The visit of President Nelson was awesome! He spoke in English so that was awesome too! I felt like I was in General Conference. He sounds the same but is really tall and has very piercing eyes. When we got to shake his hand and say hi, I felt like I really was in the presence of somebody who was a special witness of the Savior. It strengthened my testimony of the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel and that Heavenly Father has called prophets and Apostles today. He gave a powerful message and delivered it in a way that made me think about my own way of teaching. It wasn’t stiff or formal. It was the friendliest setting I have ever felt apart from the temple and my family. I could feel his love for us and it was very great. I cannot imagine the love our Heavenly Father has for our Savior Jesus Christ or us. He talked about tithing, how if we want people to not be poor we need to pay tithing or otherwise they will be in poverty. He talked about Patriarchal blessings and how it all ties to the Abrahamic covenant and how we are to help others come unto Christ and how it is our duty in the last days. He talked and explained that Heavenly Father just wants his children to return to Him. That is His greatest desire. Why not help others do it? Why not do it ourselves because we are ultimately responsible for our own fate. What do we want? I know that this is the work of the Lord. I know that Heavenly Father can and will help us but especially when we do what is right and we plead with Him for help and recognize his role as our merciful Father and Jesus Christ as His Beloved Son and our Redeemer. I know that only the Church of Jesus Christ is the true Church. Other faiths have good principles but lack the fullness of the Gospel. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Book of Mormon is the truest book known to man. I know that we can return to our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ with our families forever and see all of our loved ones and friends there as well. Our Father and Savior will help us.

Lessons Learnt

July 20, 2015

This week was kind of rough. But at the same time heavenly Father always seems to have the way and ability to make even the roughest weeks perfectly fitted for us to learn and grow. This week a lot of our investigators dropped and my companion and I kind of had a friendship timeout hahahahaha. But all this time we have been a very goal focused mission, and as a mission we have seen quite a bit of success. However, this week I learned that goals are good. Numbers are good…IF you see the person who the number represents. Each and every one of those ¨numbers¨ is a son or daughter of God with a family and history with real dreams and real needs and wants and real difficulties. So many times we get caught up in ourselves and for some reason or another we seem to think we are the only ones with dreams or problems or plans. One way to judge if we are being humble is as President Uchtdorf put it ¨not think less OF ourselves but less ABOUT ourselves¨ when we put others needs and wants first we truly feel happiness. That includes putting God and Christ´s desires first above all others. Then we find happiness and not only do what God would have us do, but in so doing show our faith and help others. I learned to focus more on the people and less on numbers or myself. Apart from that, this week we have had a blast as a district doing things together and being crazy…. as crazy as a missionary is allowed to be, hahahahaha. But some of the most interesting things have happened on my mission. We have to plan an activity with our Ward and another Ward, it has to be really cool, have food, and it has to be done in a week. With no money, hahaha. Surprise!!!! It should be exciting. All the skills in high school of procrastinating and then throwing something together at the last minute should pay off he he. I love you guys! See you next week!

New change, new view, and the day I discovered air hockey.

July 13, 2015

So this week has been really fast and a bit frustrating and really rewarding all in one! Funny how the mission seems to do that to you ha-ha. This week we started out with very few investigators and feeling a little discouraged. We felt tired and I personally was worried about how we were going to go about working this week. We had worked with members and many times had used the same ones. It really is amazing to see how some of the Saints treasure the Gospel down here. Sometimes when we have a lot we forget what is really important but there are members whose faith makes me amazed. I feel humbled sometimes when people who have so little give so much.

Of course there are challenges here as in any place. This week I have been seeing more and more of my weaknesses and some times it was kind of difficult to see how could I overcome them but I realized I cannot without the help of Jesus Christ the Savior. And I learned not only that but also to be as happy and optimistic as possible. Many times in life and even in the mission there are cases of disobedience or many people who face challenges or who choose something instead of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. However as we focus on what we know and trust in them and do what we are supposed to everything will be ok. Personally facing some pressure even from other missionaries to do things that aren’t terrible but also aren’t good has helped me realize what is important and how other things can be distracting and some advice from a wise mother who said when tempted to do something that is wrong simply don’t do it¨.

In other words this week we were feeling kind of down at first but one day my companion just started to contact like crazy. And in a Little bit we had contacted a bunch of families. Out of them we came to know, Juan, Xiomara, Mercedes, Mercedes Jr. and Ricardo. Juan is a really humble guy who has talked with missionaries before and one of them I actually knew in Managua 😛 And he said he wanted to get baptized but wants to investigate the Church more. Xiomara who was just chillin in a chair next to the road asked us if she could get baptized….wow!! Juan and Mercedes actually live in the same house but in different rooms with different girlfriend/boyfriend And Mercedes and her family. Mercedes is the mom, Mercedes Jr. her daughter (go figure) and Ricardo the Little 10 year old son. Mercedes and her family along with another investigator named Rene came to Church this week. But the others unfortunately, no.

Rene is this crazy old guy that is interested in just having company I think but he came to Church. His son is a member but he is not. He talks about all his old times and he doesn’t believe in prophets now but he came to Church. He said I hope I am not boring you but bear with me. I don’t want you to leave like the others in one of the lessons. He talks like for two hours hahaha. Also if you could pray for Stephanie the 12-year-old girl who was baptized last week, she doesn’t want to receive us and didn’t come to Church the week after she was baptized. She was very positive and happy to be baptized but we think her sister who does not like the Church may have said something to her. If you could pray for her and her family that would be awesome.

P-day has been interesting to find things to do. Our district is really close and we always like to do different things. Leon being a touristy place has a ton of cool stuff like the beach and volcano boarding. Yeah. It’s a thing, ha-ha. But seeing as how many of those are not quite authorized or at least volcano boarding we try to find other stuff to do. We came across an old museum and an ice cream/ air hockey table hangout thing here. Didn’t take long before we had blown a bunch of money on air hockey that became dangerous really fast. I felt like a Little kid again instead of a Little man, ha-ha. It was a blast but we almost broke a video game console with a flying puck and I thought I broke my finger. It was pretty fun. I never knew I could get a workout from air hockey.  Well I love you guys. The Church is true!

Housemates, transfers, 4th of July, etc.

July 6, 2015

So this week was quite the adventure. To start it off we received a few new housemates. Just to explain a bit, the house where we live is a tiny room, like Harry Potters cupboard on the second floor of like a 3 story tower thing. On the bottom floor live the dueno and his wife, then us and then our new roommate from Utah…. who happens to be a member of the Church…. go figure. He is staying here just until the middle of the month, but his wife is from Nicaragua and was an ex missionary. So we talked to him about some of the stuff that he has done. He did a lot of volunteer work here and his he met his wife doing volunteer work. His wife has actually cooked and cleaned for some of the missionaries before. One in a million.

This week we had the wonderful experience to see Stephanie, a girl we have been working with, get baptized. She is 12 years old and is friends with one of the families in the ward and has been to Church before. We talked to her and she decided she wanted to get baptized. Her mother at first had doubts because Stephanie’s sister was actually baptized in the Church but then fell in love with a guy from another religion and ended up abandoning the true Church and her mom didn’t like the way she has been acting, although the mother herself is not a member. But talking to Stephanie’s mom eventually helped and in the same lesson, she singed the paper to have Stephanie get baptized.

This week we are trying to see another couple, Raul and Asuncion get married and baptized. They were actually a reference from a less active member. He said, ¨Here are my grandkids, they need to be baptized.¨ Alright!!! But they are having some difficulties. They have a newborn baby and they are a very young couple, and the husband is without work. The said they wouldn’t be able to make it to Church because of the husband’s lack of work. The Church is a bit of a walk, especially with a newborn, but we are trying to see what will happen and how we can help them. If you could, pray for them. They need the Gospel badly…well everybody does ha-ha.

Also, I got to buy groceries from LaColonia…. which is like a mini Wal-Mart. I felt too poor to be there. It was almost American. There are some things…and by some I mean almost 90% of things in America that you cannot buy here. Having canned peaches and other American things made me feel rich. Well for all those who didn’t remember…the 4th of July happened. Didn’t even know until one of the sisters told me…but for all you Americans…I salute you. AMERICA!!!!!!

But being more spiritual. This week was very special and with this last change I learned that in order to have more blessings and be happier in general, we need to be more diligent. We wont be perfect, but we must do the very best. And then rely on the Lord to help us do what we are incapable of doing. Heavenly Father has helped me and is still helping me to understand that this Gospel is the ONLY way to happiness. There is no other way. Wickedness never was happiness. In regard to the commandments, mission rules, thought, actions, words. If we follow Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and if we worship them we will be happy. People who don’t have the Gospel, I do not believe are truly happy. Not to say they don’t ever feel happy, but they don’t have the long lasting, peace, security, and joy that comes from the Gospel and living it. I love my family so much! I love my friends! And Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are helping love everyone. I know they live and love us and following them will make us truly happy now and forever. I know this work is true! Share the Gospel! It will bless you and others!

Jasmina and Ana

This is me realizing I’m actually Percy Jackson.

Blessings and Trials

June 22, 2015

Well this week was pretty difficult at first but as we went on the week started to look better. At first we started with nothing really too special just a HOT HOT week in Leon, but for the week we had been helping teach two investigators Jasmina and Ana, whose families are all members but only they are not. Jasmina and Ana were taught by other missionaries but never baptized. We had the opportunity of picking up where they left off and this last Sunday Jasmina and Ana were confirmed!!! AWESOME!!! Apart from that looking around Leon we start to see more and more white people who speak English, which for me is super weird. A lot of them are from Europe or America but like none of them speak Spanish…NOOBS!!!! We ran into people from Australia, England, Scotland, and a ton of surfer people from the States…it made me pretty trunky ha-ha. But I know that carpet and cheeseburgers will be worth the wait!!!! Learning to pass through trials, with difficult, lonely, sometimes scary experiences brings us closer to our loving Heavenly Father more than ever before. In the moments that I have been sad, or lonely, or desperate even for help, I have found that the Lord is indeed very mindful of us and His help comes in many different ways. Maybe not the ways we expected or hope but they are all for the best. I just want you guys to know that Heavenly Father loves you. Jesus Christ loves you. There is nothing more worthwhile or anything that will bring more happiness to you or others than this Gospel. So take it seriously if you have not and share it if you have not. I love you guys too.

More Pics

Cerro Negro. An active volcano just outside of Leon. Tourists come for the “volcano boarding”- 30 mph down volcanic gravel on a piece of plywood. As you can imagine, missionaries are not allowed to participate, haha.

Monsoon season in Leon.

What’s Air Conditioning?

June 1, 2015

So this week passed by quick and really slow hahaha. After receiving transfers and literally flying from one end of the country to the other, and then missing the last pday I was both physically and mentally exhausted. BUT there is a but…. this week it turned out to be one of the hardest and interesting weeks of the mission. Me and my companion Elder Paniagua are reopening an area and it’s been kind of hard. No records of what has happened in the last six months in the area book, and meeting some of the weirdest and coolest members ever. This is the first time in my mission I have served in a ward. My area Subtiava is HUGE!!!! As in it was 3 other areas but now just one! We have some members that are very cool and really nice. In fact we got in invited 8 times to eat last week! That has never even come close to happening in any other zone of my mission. At the same time this ward is apparently notorious for criticizing each other and spreading gossip, even about the missionaries. But that’s not a huge concern of mine if we just work hard and do what we are supposed to do. It has been heaven and heck at the same time here with being able to eat Burger King for the first time in forever!!! And also being SUPER HOT!!! Leon is the name of the city and has lots of older buildings and is more developed than a lot of other places and has touristic attractions, in fact I saw like 50 American/European people here all going to the beach. There is also a nearby volcano called Momtombo and the missionaries sometimes hike up for activities. Today we just got to know the zone better but this I feel will be a challenging area but also rewarding in the sense that I feel I will learn a lot. Having been in what I think what must be one of the more disobedient missions in the world, I just want to testify of the power of obedience to Heavenly Fathers commandments. Great people are great because they love God and Christ first, and love their brother second. These two greatest commandments include all others especially being obedient. I know that this is the true Church and I know that we need to keep ourselves away in thought, word and deed from everything that even resembles sin and then we can have confidence before God. I love all of you guys and if any of you have recipes, workout suggestions or jokes…they would be appreciated ha-ha. Love Elder Braxton Lawrence