Feb. 16, 2016 in Catawba by way of Fort Mill, South Carolina

Howdy all!

Darn Bed Bugs! At least we are safe here in Fort Mill. The adventures have continued to pile up, some good and some bad. But first, an update with our investigators:

B. has kind of dropped us, he still has committed to read and pray but it is less and less likely it seems that he will come to church :( We are just praying that he will have some new spark of interest or insight.

The C.'s are doing great though! We went back and had a Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson on Wednesday with Brother R. and it was super solid! We reviewed the whole gospel using verses from 2 Nephi 31 and at the end invited her to baptism again. She still wouldn't accept a date, and said it will still take lots more thinking and praying, but at least she is moving on the right track, and she likes everything she is learning. She is reading the Book of Mormon and really enjoying it a lot!

Pastor C. is hopefully going to be able to meet this next week. We are super excited for that!

We also have a new man named R. that we will be hopefully teaching at the church this coming week (we think), and he may have some real potential if he doesn't end up moving!

So our main miracle this week was our finding! We were so blessed this week to find a whole 5 new people! A bunch of them were all on Friday. We went out to this one street that we have had planned for a while, and literally 3 of the first 5 people we talked to accepted return appointments. On one of the doors, we noticed as we were walking up that they had a no trespassing sign. We trespassed anyways, and as we got to the door, we noticed that the house had like 3 big padlocks and a couple of chains on the other side so it couldn't get kicked in or anything. We knocked and heard some footsteps. I honestly thought we might get someone answering with a gun, but it was actually a 50 year-old woman who introduced herself as T. We started talking with her and she was way open!! Elder P. shared a fantastic brief Restoration message, and she started asking questions about the Prophet. She told us that she has had a rough life and that she had a testimony of God but doesn't understand why there are so many churches. The best part of the whole thing was she started committing herself to do everything! She was like "So if you could schedule me for 45 minutes next Friday, I would love to read this pamphlet and we could discuss it. I'll read this and write down my questions on a piece of paper.." It was amazing! I am super excited for her, she is so great :)

R. is doing swell, she had her temple recommend interview for baptisms this last Sunday! She is also a Bronco's fan, so we were happy about the super bowl. We are seeing her tonight.

Anyways, that's about it for the week. Life is good here. My foot is feeling better. Living with Elder W. and S. is pretty fun. Living with 4 Elders is always a wild experience, but we are getting along and working hard. We got the pizza from Sister P. and it was delicious! Thanks lots Sister P.! I also got the package and it was super fun!

I sure love y'all!
Elder Branch

May 5, 2015 in Rock Hill, SC

As far as how I am, I am stressed but surviving. We just seem to have backslid the past couple of weeks, even though we have been working hard.

We do have a bunch of super families we are working with. That would be great if you could pray for them please!! :)

My favorite visit was with the N's this week. Ever since being in the area I have felt a special connection with them, and I feel like they are definitely people I was friends with in the pre-earth life. We had a great lesson about how to receive the Spirit and discern the Spirit. It was a really good visit. I love them, they're great.

Love ya!

Elder Branch

Pictures of District activity to Lazy 5 Ranch

Jan. 5, 2015 in Huntersville, NC

Our investigators have been harder to contact this week, a couple of them got sick or had family in town. Luckily, they are all still interested. We were able to have a couple member present lessons this last week, and our investigators have all committed to reading the Book of Mormon. We're working hard each day and striving for miracles.

I'm grateful to be companions with Elder S. He's such a solid missionary and has taught me a lot. One of the things that drives him crazy is when missionaries are robotic, and I really appreciate the help he's given me to help me remain careful, while still managing to have fun and be who I am. He helps people to "open up" to us, which is a great strength of his, and one that I am still trying to improve. It's been a great chance for me to learn from him. I'm still not quite sure what I'm teaching him, he seems to know most of it already! Being together has been good for the both of us I think, and we're excited for miracles these next 6 weeks!

The members here are all onboard with missionary work. Whenever we have a scheduled appointment, we are almost always able to find a member to go out with us, even among their busy schedules. We've even have had a couple brothers volunteer to go to lessons with us on their lunch breaks. We will keep working with them and do our best to gain their trust and help them with missionary work. 

Well, I love Yall so much!!! Thanks for the emails! I'll write more next week :) (Good news, I got to reply to a whole bunch of emails that have been waiting! Yay!) :) I sure love Ya!

Elder Branch :)

The pictures at the bottom are from a sandwich shop here that's fantastic. It's called Which Wich and you can write notes and hang them on the wall.