May 27th, 2008

Hi everyone!

Happy Memorial Day! I'm not 100% sure what it is, and no one around seems to know either, but what it means is that I have to send letters today instead of yesterday.

Alma's gone. :( She went to visit family in Houston, and she'll be away for at least two months. It also means that we have to do our own laundry; but she gave us her house keys and said we can use her machines. She took her leaving us rather hard. Transfers are coming up on June 1st, and we might have to leave and we won't see her again.

Transfers are every six weeks. On June 1st, we get a call from the zone leaders, and they tell us if we're leaving. If we are, then the next day or the day after, we hop on the bus with our bags, and we only find out where we're going when we get there, and someone there tells us that we have to get off!
However, Elder Jenkins suspects neither of us will be transferred this time. That’s probably a good thing, because I'm just barely getting used to things, and the people here are really great.

a perfect example of that is when we went to the Richmonds for supper. They live out of town, so they came to our place and drove us to their home. Then they gave us my first real Texan steak! Oh, and it was good. They also own a flock of chickens, so they gave us eggs.

And if that wasn't enough, Elder Jenkins bought a brisket for $10, and marinade it for three days before cooking it for the weekly district meeting. we had it for lunch today along with scalloped potatoes and the peach cobbler Elder Duffy made, and I'm about ready to burst.

This last Sunday, we went out to Comanche, and we gave talks. I spoke about the Great Apostasy and Elder Jenkins spoke about the Restoration. They had 11 people not including us this time, so it's an improvement. Despite this, there's talk of closing the branch, so they're focusing on missionary work and perhaps reactivation.

We’ve been doing a bit of that ourselves. One of our investigators has been taught everything, but still isn't progressing. Then we mentioned the branch's weekly Thursday-evening softball game, and she jumped on the idea. The Brownwood branch plays softball every week against one of the other churches in the city. I think it's some sort of league. And, because she (an investigator) is going every week, we get to go too (and maybe even the occasional practice!) so not only does she get to bond with the branch but it's also one less night out drinking and something fun we get to do.

The other week, we had a day with not much to do, so we decided to make it a whole day of finding. So from ten in the morning until supper, we knocked doors trying to find someone who's interested. We didn't find that many, but we got three media referrals later on. It’s been pretty humid lately. It was a good experience, but we wouldn't really want to do that again.

Every letter, I always talk about how I always hear or read something that strengthens my testimony. Let me tell you about something else I'm always hearing about lately: the end of the world. Never in my whole life have I met so many people so unanimously pessimistic about the fate of their lives. Whether rich or poor, member or non-member, young or old; it always starts off with the gas prices. It’s just about at $4.00 a gallon now, and there's talk of going up to $5, $7, or even one mention of $10. Then, they move on to how these prices are killing them, and they can't afford anything anymore. Then, it goes into how food prices are increasing, and there are food shortages here and there, and soon there won't be enough to go around, and it won't matter because no one will be able to afford it, and we're all going to die of starvation because of no food, and it'll be at home because we'll have no gas to get anywhere. There’s probably a lot of truth in all of it (by the way, how's the family food storage coming along?), but I've never seen so many different, unrelated people talk about the exact same thing in the exact same tone.

By the way, Paraguay!?!? That’s cool! I'll have to write him...
and Ogden, too? Is that true?

Anyways, things are great.
Except... could you send some Lipton's soup packs? They sell them in boxes of twos here, and they taste different. ;) So does the chocolate milk syrup I bought. Well, I guess I could live with that. :P Don't bother. In any case, you should probably wait to send anything the slow way until after transfers, just in case I am transferred, in which case anything will take at least two weeks to get to me via the forwarding service. I'll tell you the p-day after June 1st.

Anyways, I love you!
Hope you're doing well.

-Elder Brandon Wong

Elder Wong wrote a note to everybody May 20, 2008

Thanks for your letters! I haven't been ignoring you in not responding directly; I just don't have enough time to address everyone individually - which is probably why they recommend we only email family, and write only regular letters to everyone else...
I'll do my best to answer your questions.
In any case, the best place to know what's going on with me is the blog (which was Sister Kaufman's idea - thanks!), asking my family, and the pictures - once I send them home.

Much love,

-Elder Wong

Letter written May 12, 2008

Greetings from the only place in the mission that's green, yet ironically called Brownwood! (and it's the 41st day!)

We were finding the other day, and we met this lady who was playing with her daughter in her front yard. When we came up, she went inside to get her husband, who told her to be on the lookout for "people like us". We thought that he just wanted to speak with us to argue, but he just let us in, and we taught the first lesson. It was great!

It’s kinda hard covering three counties - knowing that while you're trying to work with people in this tiny town, there are lots more (who are your responsibility) who don't get anything.

That’s also why it's really important for the members to do missionary work. Elder Bednar said that members are full-time finders, while missionaries are full-time teachers.
When we're out finding, we're searching for a needle in a haystack, one door at a time - that's at least one minute or two between doors. But if members bring us a small handful of potentials, getting a needle is a lot easier.

This morning, I started reading “Jesus the Christ” (written by James E. Talmage) and it's pretty good so far. I've always thought that it's possible to write so much on something with so little material, but this is proof of that - and it's engaging, too.

In the meantime, find people for the elders to teach, and encourage others to do the same. In the month or so since I've been here, we've only found one person through knocking who might be interested.

Everyday I'm learning more and more that say nothing but that the Church is true. It is.

I love you all!

Talk again soon.

-Elder Brandon Wong

Second Week in Brownwood

Hey all,

Things aren't too bad here.

The other day, we went on the bikes for the first time - I hadn't even ridden mine yet.

We were biking across town to get to the chapel to do a lesson there, and I was running out of steam every minute! I'm going to get more exercise. We got to the chapel, and the investigator cancelled at the last minute so we had to bike back. Just before we left, we found out that the front brake pads were too tight, and were holding the wheel in place. Elder Jenkins loosened them, and it was much easier to ride. I still need more exercise, though, and Fast Sunday is hard when you're out biking all day.

Oh, today is Cinco de Mayo - or fifth of May - which is one of two Mexican independences (one from the French, and one from Spain - the other is in September but I'm not sure which is which). Last Saturday, we went to a Cinco de Mayo cook-off, and we got to eat tamales and briskets, which both were really good.

Did I tell you about the joke that Elder Jenkins played?
We were finding [tracking] along a street and came up to this one door. It opened, and this man with a big, long gun was standing there. We introduced ourselves, and said why we were there. My companion asked what kind of gun that was, and he said "the kind that hurts". I was thinking that this guy is really weird. We kept talking, but then he interrupted and said, "Why don't we play a game? You run as fast as you can and tell me if it really does hurt," motioning to the gun. He didn't really scare me so much as make me think that he's absolutely nutty. Then he put on this big smile and said, "Hi, I'm President Timmons". He turned out to be the branch president. Yesterday, I got to tell that story as part of my testimony during fast and testimony meeting

As for groceries, we haven't had to buy much, since we've been fed quite often. We also have been too busy to do much ‘finding’, but it's slowing down, so we're going to have to start doing more.

Anyways, it's great here. We're working hard, and it's a lot of fun. I don't have time to write everyone individually, but I read every letter. …And it's kind of weird reading letters; I'm so used to hearing you, and the letters don't sound like the way you'd talk.

There's a lot of other stuff, and a lot of stuff coming up, but I have to go now - talk again soon!

The church is true.
I love you all!

-Elder Brandon Wong