July 4, 2016 in Statesville, North Carolina

Howdy ya'll,

I had my departing interview yesterday, and it was a blast! Really good and really spiritual. It was a great review and I am so grateful for all I have learned. It's weird that I start hitting my "last's" this week. I had my last zone conference last week, and bore my departing testimony. I am very excited for this last week, this is such a great area and I love the people here. Elder B. is great, he can do anything it seems!! I am just so grateful for everything this week!

N. had her interview and is getting baptized on Saturday! There were some wonderful testimonies on Sunday from the Bishop and his wife about being able to teach her, and it was so touching! There were many testimonies of Christ. The spirit was very real, it was one of the best fast and testimony meetings on my mission! We are teaching her a couple more times this week, and I can't wait for Sunday!

The other really exciting thing this week was exchanges! On Thursday, Elder J. (Spanish Elder) and I went to our area and spent the day doing service and teaching a couple families. Several said we could come back this week, so we should hopefully have some great new investigators once I leave! Then on Friday we had a Zone Conference and it was super good! We had a big training on the Atonement, it was such a great discussion to have for a last zone conference. Elder H., Elder W. and I got the chance to share our testimonies and none of us cried! We all felt like it, but our testimonies came out more powerful than reflective, and it was a good moment. We sang the mission song one last time with the missionaries, and then Elder H. and I spent the day on exchange. That was a super fun exchange, and we taught like 6 lessons with members present and had the best sushi in the world!

Church was fun in general, and I am way excited for this last week! More good stuff! :) Thanks for all the stories! Sure love you folks!

Love,
Elder Branch

We chopped down these huge trees at Sister F.'s with some dull ax's, and got loads and loads of blisters. It was in the middle of a rainstorm and the chainsaw was broken. All in all, we felt like real men. Twas good.

Nov. 23, 2015 in Catawba, South Carolina

Hello!

Things in Catawba are just peachy. Peachy as in R___ accepted a baptismal date for the 19th of December! Woohoo! And she came to church again this last Sunday and loved it. We had a lesson Wednesday with Brother B___ (Ward Mission Leader) about the word of wisdom and it was super good! So yeah, R___ is pretty much the best. At the end of that lesson, Brother B___ told her the story of the Catawba Tribe (he is an Indian, though kinda distantly) and she was super amazed. She really likes Native Americans. Keep praying for her! Thanks for all the prayers already! 

Church on Sunday was wild, cause we had something going on all the time, plus ward council, plus choir at the end. We got to share a training in ward council on Vision, Goals, Plans, and Accountability. It was pretty fun. Then in church we helped pass the sacrament, as well as give the opening and closing prayers. Elder B___ taught the Gospel Principles class the second hour, and the 3rd hour we stayed for part of Relief Society so that Elder B___ could play the piano to accompany Sister R___ while she sang a song. It was good!  After church we went to choir. The Sister who conducts is super nice, and makes good apple crisp.  ;)  The piano player is the actual choir director, but he is usually playing the piano. Elder B___ helped people get some things worked out  and it all turned out good.  That was our crazy Sunday to cap a crazy week. But that is how I like it!

On exchanges this week I went to Monroe where we were feeding the homeless. Some other highlights this week include seeing the C___'s.  During our lesson with them this week we were teaching their 10 year old son and 8 year old daughter, and the son totally wants to get baptized soon and at the end of the lesson the son volunteered to pray and prayed that he could be baptized! So please pray for them too.

We saw Brother S___who we are going to start teaching. We also saw Brother P___  and the C___ Family. Brother C___ makes Catawban pottery, and he had some sweet pieces he showed us! We had a good lesson with them, gave them blessings, and at the end they invited us back when we didn't have a dinner sometime, so nice of them.   :)

On Saturday we went to Sister C___'s (yes, they are related somehow) and raked her leaves from her huge backyard into one gigantic pile. Here in the fall, everyone out in the country rakes their leaves into piles, lights them on fire, and let them smolder for the next 3 days. We made a huge pile and then jumped into it. It was a blast! (Elder B___ had only jumped in leaves a couple times before, so he really enjoyed it). Afterwards she fed us homemade soup and banana pudding! (Banana pudding is my favorite! :D) It was well worth it. I'll include some pictures.  :)

We are always praying and fasting to find more friends to teach. We found a couple good leads this week, so we are looking forward to this next week, especially with it being Thanksgiving. I've realized even more than before how thankful I am for my mission, and the longer I am out the more I feel this sense of urgency and excitement for the work.

I am ponderizing 2 Nephi 2: 25-28 this week.

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given. Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life, according to the will of his Holy Spirit;

Thanks for the emails and fun stories! I sure love ya!

Happy P-day! 

From Elder Branch

So I have always heard about the infamous doughnut hamburger, two Krispie Creme doughnuts for the bun, burger in the middle. This week, thanks to the anonymous kind gift of a whole box of doughnuts and buying hamburger meat, I decided to give it a whirl. It honestly tastes a whole lot better than it sounds, but it is definitely the messiest and probably highest calorie hamburger I've ever had.

 

Nov. 9, 2015 in Catawba, South Carolina

Hello!

Wow, so I know I say every week is crazy, but this one might have been even more so! We had a great start to the week and were able to see a couple people, but come to Wednesday and things just got super busy! On Wednesday we had a Zone Conference with the Alexanders and it was fantastic!!! The best Zone conference I have ever been too, hands down! We talked all about the Sabbath, the Sacrament, and watched Elder Holland's talk entitled: "This do in Remembrance of Me", from October 1995. It is only the best talk about Sacrament ever!

This Do in Remembrance of Me

Probably the wildest part of the Zone Conference came in the second half when we talked about Vision, Goals, Planning, and Accountability. We were having a really good discussion and all of a sudden the Alexanders surprised us by telling us that we would have no more "standards of excellence" and to excursive our faith so that we could be personally accountable for reaching goals. I think it is amazing! Later in the week as we did our weekly planning we saw a huge difference! Our goals are higher than ever this week, and I feel full of more faith to personally accomplish them.

Anyways, after the conference, Elder H___ and I went on exchange but it turned into more of a sleep over because we got back pretty late, went to coordination meeting, and went to bed. The next morning we studied and then went back to Catawba to exchange back. So all in all nothing eventful, except for the fact that I traded him for a snazzy tie with tiny little shields on it that looks pretty legit. So we are going to do another exchange later on. On Friday we had Zone Meeting and it was pretty good. They announced that we are going to start having Zone Conferences and Interviews every single transfer, so that will be way fun too! I sure love the Alexanders!

As far as friends, M___ dropped us. It was all really weird. Sad. Good news is that R___ came to a church tour on Sunday! She wasn't able to make it to Sacrament, but she was able to come later and we showed her the building and had a super spiritual lesson. She liked everything, and she has next Sunday off so she is going to be able to come to church! :D  Her husband hasn't shown interest yet, but please pray for her and him, that everything will continue to work out! We did have 3 friends show up for church this Sunday, they are a family we have been teaching for a little while. We hope to help them understand baptism this week. So pray for them too, their names are the C___ Family.

So anyways, that's my week. I haven't chosen a Ponderize scripture yet, I might do last week's again, I wasn't able to Ponderize it as much as I would have liked due to the craziness of the week. It was wonderful though, and I know God answers humble prayers of faith! I am so excited for the next week!

A couple other random stories about today: I got to see Elder G___ and the other Rock Hill Elders! We ran into them at Sams Club, and they were able to set up a time to see K___, so I got to see her! It was a party and a half! :D Anyways, thanks for the emails and all the stories. Y'all are the best.

Happy P-day!

Love,

Elder Branch

Oct. 12, 2015 in Greensboro, NC

Hello!

On Monday, after p-day, we tried to see T___. He didn't answer but then we went down the street and saw our classy 85 year-old Pentecostal friend D___, and he is doing well. He surprised me because his tool shed that we helped clean up was magically off of the sketchy trailer it had been on and actually looked pretty good! Mom, you need to forward this picture to Elder G___. His socks will be blown clean off!!!!:) Anyways, D___ was happy to see us, and his wife was too. We talked about his brother S___, who is having health issues and isn't "saved," so D___ wants us to help him. We offered service or teaching him, but when they asked S___ he turned it down, which was a bummer. Anyways, at the end of the lesson, D___ randomly started getting off his chair and onto his knees, and it looked like he was falling or something, only in slow motion. Turns out he just wanted to hold our hands, bless us with power, and pray, which was pretty nice of him!

After that adventure, we 'felt inspired' to go get smoothies from Smoothie King. It turned out it was real inspiration, because we talked to the guy who worked there and he was pretty neat. We gave him a Book of Mormon.

On Tuesday we taught the S___'s and E___ all about general conference, and reviewed our favorite parts. We committed E___ to go back and read/watch the talks once they were posted online.

Probably the 2 best parts of the week though were these. First we got to visit with Brother R___ on Friday morning, and we invited him to a ward cook off that night. Turns out, he came!! That was a pretty big step for him, because so far he has only really come to things if he was going to do service for someone, but this time he came just to have fun and get to know people! It was great!! As for the actual chili and international dishes Cook off, they had a whole competition and everything. People made lots of chili, and there were also a couple international dishes. Best part was... Elder J___ and I were two of the 3 judges! I have a whole new respect for the judges on Chopped and such, judging is really hard!! There were some mighty tasty things there. In the end, we decided that the egg roles were the best, and the Sister who made them was super touched and even cried a little bit :) It felt good.

With transfers coming up, I guess my main focus has been on working as if I am staying forever, while trying to leave things better than I found it. So for my letter this week, I would love to share a story about one of my favorite people I have been able to teach here. When Elder G___ and I were together, we met P___. She answered her door and asked us to pray that she would have confidence to meet with us. We prayed for her, and in 2 weeks, followed up. This time, she said she had to tell us something, and broke the news that she was actually a member but she hadn't been to church in 30+ years. We got to start teaching her, and it was a slow process. At first she didn't want her records transferred in. Slowly but surely, she started opening up. Just this last week, we were able to go over with a great couple and we invited her to church, and yesterday she was right there beside them, taking the sacrament for the first time in 30 years. It was a wonderful blessing to be able to see that, and I am so happy for her! This truly is a work of love.

Elder TooBlessedToBeStressed Branch

(Elder Branch has a friend serving a mission in Russia who sends pictures of Russian cats in his emails most every week. We can only suppose that this is Zac's response to his friend's Russian cat pictures, two North Carolina cats.)

Apr. 13, 2015 in Rock Hill, SC, Last interview with Pres. C.

Hello!

B. and T. are doing super great!! Both of them have a desire to learn and learn and learn, and they are super good friends. They have been reading the Book of Mormon, and understanding things even we haven't noticed before in it. On Saturday night, we had one of the most spiritual lessons on my mission. It started off super rocky, due to a super drunk man named wild B., who was talking and slurring words and kept forgetting he had already introduced himself. B. and T. told us to leave and meet them down the street at a field while they got wild B. inside and came to meet us. We tried that, but wild B. followed them. They told us to ignore him, and after a little bit he left (not until he held up his fists and threatened to fight me though) ;) but after that, we were able to talk to B. and T.

They are both facing some deaths in their families currently, and while the lesson started with talking about priesthood authority, it ended up with us watching Because of Him, Because He Lives, and talking about the hope of the Plan of Salvation. It was a wonderful lesson, and we were all emotional and feeling the Spirit. Downside is they still didn't come to church!! That is something we are definitely working on and need members to help, so keep praying for them!!

You asked if we ride bikes or drive a car in this area. So we switch off every week with the other Rock Hill Elders. One week we're on bikes, next on car. We have 650 miles for the month for our companionship, and we have already used tons, so were in trouble! Haha :)

We had interviews with President C. this week, and its wild because it could have been our last interview with him! It was a very good one, and in part he asked how y'all were doing, and I told him about how fantastic you all were, especially when Hunter and Dad helped the lady who ran out of gas and then prayed for their blessings for the service to come to me. President C. loved that story. Also in the interview, he told me what my "role" in the mission has been. He said "You have the gift of optimism, of temperance. You're the steady-Eddie. We speak of Shiblons and Sams in the mission, missionaries who are diligent and obedient without looking for recognition." At the end of the interview, he thanked me for the good things in Huntersville that Elder S. and I helped to bring. He brought me in for a hug, and it was just a really good moment with him, easily my favorite interaction with him :) So thanks for raising me to work hard and be happy! It reminded me of the talk "Truly Good and Without Guile" from conference.  :)

I'm loving the mission more and more each day!! For example this week has probably been the craziest week in the entire planet, with our apartment situation, meetings, and a sickness that took out all the other Elders but miraculously passed me (allergies still got me though, but I just bought local honey, so I'll be good). Elder A. was sick Tuesday night, and is still sick today. Elder S. has poison Ivy on his leg, and got food poisoning one night. Elder D. got sick the day after Elder S., and just got better today. In the past when my companions have been sick, I've been content with the "day off," but not anymore! I was begging to go on splits with the other healthy Elder (whoever it was ) all week, and it was a blast! On top of that, despite 2 elders being out all week, we were able to triple the amount of lessons we taught this week! Elder A. and I started the week with a bunch, then Elder D. and I taught 10 times in one day! Elder S. and I had great quality lessons the next couple days, and we ended with like 21 lessons per companionship!

The next wild part of this wild week, was that Elder D. and Elder S. were assigned talks in conference, but then Elder D. got sick, so I had to give his. But because we were at M.'s house in the morning, we didn't even get to church in time for the Sacrament, and barely made it in time for the talks! The primary sang, and then next thing you know, I'm up at the pulpit with no time to prepare! We received a promise from President C., a counselor to President C., that if we were living worthy of the Spirit, our mouths would be filled. Well mine fortunately was, and I was able to speak for the 5 minutes I had been assigned minimum on charity and I don't even know what else. After church we were able to go back home and perform the Sacrament, after asking the Bishop, and the Spirit as we performed that ordinance was powerful and real, in a way I had never felt as strongly before. I love love love the Sacrament!!!!  :D so yeah, all in all, we lived through this week, but just barely.

Haha, well I sure love ya!

Elder Branch :)

(An older picture of Fountain Park and Elder Branch)