July 11, 2016 Last transfer...last email home from North Carolina Charlotte Mission

Hey family! 

Thanks for the great email!

N.'s baptism was so good! I gave the talk on baptism, and for the Holy Ghost, they got a video from the first missionary who taught her in Japan. That was super super great, and she was crying a lot. There was a great spirit :)

On two different nights, we went to a luau based around missionary work. It was put on by family members of the Raleigh Mission President. I will send some videos, it was super amazing! I got to see lots of missionaries and members from past areas too, what fun! All in all, it was the craziest but best last week ever!

So it has come to the end...transfers have come. Biggest shocker I guess is that I'll be going home. That was a surprise! ;) haha, jk. Anyways, besides me, Elder H. also got transferred and he is going to Danville, Virginia! Elder B. is getting Elder R., and Elder T. is getting Elder N. They will be good :)

Thanks again for the emails, and I'm super excited to see y'all! Sorry if this email is short, but we were hanging out with D. and Ej. from rescue ranch, so it was kind of rushed, but if you have any questions, I'll tell you in person :) 

Sure love ya!
Elder Branch :)

This couple have hearts of gold and are so good to the missionaries. 

We love them!!
(Thanks for the pictures, Lisa)

Three of the Elders going home this week. 

They were all serving in the same zone. 

Farewell to the Rescue Ranch  <3

Mar. 14, 2016 in Statesville, NC

Howdy y'all!!

So life is good, the sickness is gone, and this week was full of crazy ups and downs. For the first couple days this week it was mostly down, because I was just frustrated with how the missionary work is going. Elder E. is great though. He is the nicest person ever and means good, and I learned more how to recognize that this week.

Our area is doing well, and I feel like we are on the verge of some really good things here! We have some new potential investigators that seem pretty solid, and our Bishop has been stellar at helping us with other families we can visit. I really like the new Easter video too, we will show that to everyone! 

#Hallelujah

On Friday we had a zone meeting and it was exactly what I needed to hear. Every training seemed like it was prepared just for me! It helped answer lots of questions I had, and gave us some good insights on what we can improve. I was also able to make some good friends with some of the zone members. 

So the week was rocky at the start, but we are doing good now! One update on someone we are teaching: We were able to see C. this week. She is 9 years-old and interested in being baptized. Her mom has attended church with her more in the past 3 months than she has in like 6 years, and we had a pretty effective lesson with her. 

Thanks for all you do!
Sure love ya!
Elder Branch

This is a common brand of t-shirt in the South. 

O.W., a priest from Catawba, bought this one for me.  :)

June 8, 2015 in Greensboro, NC

Dear Family, (written on his 19th birthday)

I got my Eclipse 6 CD and it is too great!!! :D Evening Prayer is great, and in my last apartment we did a lip sync to All creatures of our God and King, which is a super fun video! I'd say my favorite is probably Go With Me, all about the Restoration :)

I got my package and presents and they were a blast! Also, I heard from Kaylene and Corbin. That was a blast! Everyone and their dog have been giving me birthday gifts, everyone's been so nice! I got cupcakes, pizza, I will get a milkshake later, and lots and lots of Facebook notification emails! So it's been fun :)

We got back in contact with J.!! We are seeing him tonight :D we also are getting lots of appointments set up with families that we are hoping to start teaching.

Last night we had dinner with the B. family. He is in the stake presidency and they have a bunch of kids who are all in their teens or their 20's. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ using scriptures and core experiences, and at the end committed them to pray for opportunities to share it this week. They started talking about missionary experiences they had already had. Then they invited us to their son Z.'s graduation party this Saturday to meet a bunch of their friends!! It was great! 

Other than that, this week was a hard one pretty much across the whole Zone. A. and A. aren't interested, and we had a couple other good contacts but nothing super huge.  But as the prophets say, there isn't any real way to measure conversion. Probably one of the greatest things we did get to do was go out with a bunch of the Priests. We got to give them all a little taste of missionary work, and it was lots of fun :)

Elder old man Branch

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.