Getting caught in the rain

Well I am doing sooo much better! Your comments made me laugh haha Yeah it's not sanitary to walk barefoot, but when your bladder is about to explode the last thing I think is...Where are my shoes? haha or did I leave the iron on? lol Bad joke...Brian Regan. It was a crazy week for sure. The pictures are of me and my companion getting soaked in the rain! Every day for like 45 minutes it pours like crazy and then it stops. We were heading home so we didn't care and the other is of a more poor part of our area but there is a canyon on the right side. We are going there for our next p-day so we are pretty stoked. It has a giant river so hopefully the dams hold up because if they break...let's just say I'm in a valley so it would be a giant pool haha. Well lake I guess. I was asked about my baptisms...I am going to keep that one for myself. We are baptizing but I find the stories a lot better. I wanted to talk about miracles because it seems like they were unceasing this week. In the Book of Mormon in Moroni chapter 7:27-30 it talks about miracles never cease. They only come after a trial of faith. We put that to the test. To have true faith it takes a sincere heart and a true desire. We worked hard and had that desire and asked the Lord for help. We came to a lady named Blanca Luz Lopez. She gladly let us in and after two minutes of being in her house talking about Christ, she began to cry. We Asked what was wrong and she explained that her daughter left her this morning. She had a lot of problems and didn't know what to do except offer a prayer to God for any kind of help. Two hours later as she was about to leave the house, we knocked on her door. She said she has never received an answer so quick in her life but she really needed it. Our message turned the sorrow in her heart to a smile on her face in 25 minutes. There are no coincidences like that. The Lord prepare the needy to accept the righteous and prepares the righteous and leads them to the needy. She has accepted baptism in two weeks. We await that joyous day. I love you and I pray for you all daily. I am doing well. The only thing bad this week is I played futbol with some kids and got whacked in a bad place haha Smile. Pray and Read

Getting wheeled down a dark hallway with 2 Mexican ladies laughing at how much I weighed...

Whelp...that was an interesting week haha. So if you saw the pictures, hope they got to Mickie (yep they did see below), I was in the hospital for 3 days and 2 nights. Thursday night I woke up about 5 times having to go to the bathroom, and Friday morning I had to throw up about 3 times. We were on exchanges and we waited for my companion to get back and the four of us went to a doctor. When I say doctor I mean this guy had a rented out room that was big enough for his desk, a bed thing, space for maybe 9 people to stand, and a bathroom that was big enough to put in the toilet. After asking a few questions I felt a little queezy and was about to throw up in the trash can. Well the doctor wanted me to go to the bathroom so I ran there and threw up. I remember thinking, "Wow! That's a lot of throw up!" haha and the next thing I know I am being woken up by a door being shoved into my back. Turns out I passed out haha. The only reason they knew is because they heard a big smack (my body hitting the ground and probably the toilet haha). The elders couldn't open the door because I was passed out on the ground and I was too big for them to open to door completely haha. Finally I gained conscienceness and went to lay down on the table. Next thing I know I am getting woken up by another Elder saying we were going to a different doctor because this one couldn't do anything for me haha. We get to the actual hospital and I got wheeled down a dark hallway to the second floor by two Mexican ladies laughing about how much I weighed haha, but from there I rested for a really long time. Turns out I had a stomach infections, and amibas. I dont know if amibas is the same word in English but the zone leader described it as, "Sweet, you got a bunch new little friends!" haha. I got checked out Sunday at like 2. I got a package from Mickie with a bunch of candy but since I'm on a strict diet for the next week, I cant eat it haha. I get to eat veggies, rice, and jell-o. nothing, sweet, fattening, or basically delicious haha. I feel better but today was still a little rough. Other than that it was a great week haha. Hope everything is going good in America. I love you and miss you all. Thanks for your prayers! Smile

Elder Braden M. Spence

Roughly translated Amiba en Fresco means Live Amoeba. 

Follow the Example of Christ

Hey everyone! 

Yeah I haven't written much in a while sorry. Everything is going well. Still not sick, so that's good. Thursday is my 4 months I have been on a mission! That's pretty nuts. It has been really fast and really slow at the same time. I don't have any good photos this week sorry. It has been a different week. A lot of thinking. As I am on the mission I hear a lot of problems a lot of people have in life. Unfortunately I have heard too much of loss of family members this week or things happening as far as sicknesses and what not. One of the kids we baptized is in the hospital now. I try my hardest to pay attention to the spirit to think about what I could possibly say seeing as how I am 21 years old trying to comfort a family who lost their Father. There are a lot of people with hard lives. There are a lot of people that don't know what to do in their time of need. As I tried to search the scriptures for anything that could help, I couldn't help but stop at Malachi 3:10, it is talking about tithing for the Lord but I know it can apply to all aspects of life. As we obey the commandments of the Lord and help those in need, following the example of Christ in ALL ways, and as it says is Malachi, that there won't be room enough to receive the blessings from our Father in Heaven. As we go through temptations and trials, and as we reach out to God with a willingness to obey his words, He will bless you and your family. The gospel of Jesus Christ is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I promise you that if you do ALL of these things, the burden will be lifted, and the joy will un-measurable. I love you and I miss you. Thank you for being there for me, all of you. Remember, like striving for clean air after breathing in a cloud of smoke, we strive for the comfort and security of God to release us from the ever so strong grasp of the devil, and he will ever so help.

Elder Braden M. Spence

p.s. I don't have to wash all my clothes by hand, just my pants now. Some of the members have washing machines so that helps out a lot. as far as my schedule goes on my p-days; I wake up, study, go buy food, wash the clothes (takes forever), eat at a members house like every day haha, clean the house, write family...yeah that's about it. I don't know how everyone always had so much time to go do activities...oh wait I remember, they had washing machines! Oh and yeah we got our water back finally and our broom haha. No really funny stories except a naked kid almost peed on my companions foot the other day lol he came out naked while we were door contacting and started peeing and the mom didn't stop him till he was done haha. 

Caption Contest?

Editors Note: Hey all! Braden didn't send any explanations or captions for his pictures this week, he ran out of time... so I thought it would be great if y'all could leave a comment giving your own comical captions. 

For example, (picture #1"Look! I wore this tie special for doughnut making day..." ) 

Okay that was lame but I bet most of you out there can think of something WAY better for these pictures.