"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;" (D&C 121:7)

"no pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called children of God. It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in Heaven." 

With that said, Elder Broulim has RE-Broke his foot and returned home on a medical release last Saturday (July 27).  He had surgery Monday morning (July 29).  The surgery lasted almost 3 hours and he now has 4 screws in his foot.  He WILL NOT BE BRIDGE JUMPING this time around.....and no more thinking he is Michael Jordan on p-day.  The doctor said that he will be "non-weight bearing" for 6-8 weeks where he will have physical therapy during this time as well.  After a period of time, he will have the opportunity to return to the New Mexico Albuquerque mission.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for Elder Broulim!

I'm in Albuquerque Rio Rancho Area

I have email time today to tell you about my new area, new companion, new everything.. but unfortunately you have already heard the news. My new area and new companion are the greatest blessing to me. I absolutely love the high range rio rancho area of New Mexico. The area is my forte completely. Dirt roads, mountains, coyoties, people riding rzr's and horses, waking up to the sound of dirtbikes... its awesome. My companion is such a blessing. Elder Brown is his name, he is from twin falls. He has been out only 1 transfer. I was called to help him finish his training. I am senior companion and drive a truck. MY FIRST TRUCK. We live in the basement of a members home, we are spoiled absolutely rotten. (pool table, bowflex, AC,...etc) It is a 180 from El Paso. I will forever be grateful for el paso because I learned so much, so humbling.

I love my Heavenly father with all my heart.  I DO. I love Jesus Christ with all my heart. I have a very strong testimony that I love to share and I have so much to learn. 

I'm being Transferred!

I have some big news! This will be the last email from El Paso! Saturday night I found out that I am getting transferred up north to a new area! Just when I started to get comfortable and thought I had things figured out, I get thrown a curve ball and find out that I am leaving! I didn’t realize how much ive grown to love the people here until I found that im leaving. The Elder’s are my brothers and the El Paso 11^th ward is my family. It is going to be hard to leave! I was looking forward to a change, but didn’t expect this! It has been a rough transfer, a fresh start will be good for me! We have made my last days in El Paso the best..we used me leaving as an excuse to have some fun! Elder Mongeli and Mower had a sleep over last night ha we played cards again all night and had a lot of fun! It is going to be hard to leave these guys!  “Ill go where you want me to go, dear lord.” I am so grateful for the hard times and trials I have had in my life. Especially the trials I have faced this last transfer, I have never felt closer to Heavenly father. It is so humbling to work towards aligning  my will, with the lords will. Thy will be done.

I was reading a conference talk from President Uchtdorf and he said, “Not to get discouraged-never give up or flea our allotted field of service. Take courage, find our faith, and keep trying. Your Heavenly father mentors his children and often sends unseen heavenly help to those who desire to follow the savior.” I know that unseen Heavenly help has, and will continue to help me get through this. As we desire to follow the savior by aligning our will with the lords will, our burdens  will be a lighter weight to bear. The desire to follow the savior will turn our feelings to feelings of compassion and love for the great work that we are involved in!

It was really hard to say goodbye see you later to everyone yesterday at church. We just found out that Jose Montoya is gaining custody of his 2 son’s and they have decided to get baptized into our ward! Huge bummer but im so excited for them! I am almost all packed up and ready to go north to my temporary new home! Tomorrow at 10:30 I will be leaving El paso and making the drive to with lots of stops along the way. I have no idea where I will be going to but I will find out when I get there! My guess is somewhere in Albuquerque! At least I will be escaping the El Paso heat! Have the best week for me and know that i am working hard.

I love you,

Elder Broulim

Weekly Journal

7-15-13

It used to be that I would wake up on Mondays and say “ahhh noo its Monday!” Now Monday is a day I look forward to every week! Im in love with the voice recorders! I love hearing your voices! Emails went great, it sounds like everyone is doing awesome! After emails we had a bbq at the church as a zone, Elder Mongelie cooked up some bbq chicken Samoan style! We had a fun day and a good night. We had a lesson with Ishmale and his family. I gave them a book of Mormon and they gave us some awesome mexi food! Good trade. There family would look so great dressed in white! J Their main question was why we need another book (the bofm). This is a great question because there are so many easy answers! Ishmale really struggles with the word of wisdom, so we will work on that down the road. I love you all!

7-16-13

Got my last Dr. appointment out of the way today, so it was a great day you could say! Everything checked out pretty good! We had a good night teaching with our Elders quorum president, brother tolman. We visited a lot of less actives. We had an awesome lesson with a lady named Alecia Maldinado and her non member husband. We talked about the importance of raising a family centered around JC. Families are my favorite to teach about, it blows my mind how important families are! I love you guys!

7-17-13

Wow 3 months today! Whoop whoop. We had a pretty exciting morning! The whole apartment complex woke up at 6 am to no power and the fire alarm going off! It was pretty funny to see everyone standing outside in there PJ’s! There were some very unhappy people to say the least! When lunch rolled around we hit our favorite toco tote! The people there know us by name. I met a lady named Julia and had an awesome gospel conversation with her. She was very interested in learning more but didn’t live in our area..bummer. We contacted missionaries in her area and hooked it  up though! Tonight we had some good lessons. We had a good lesson with a guy named paul. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it seemed to really open his eyes. I invited him to baptism and he told me that he couldn’t swim! HA. He should have a date pretty soon. I found a cool scripture this morning that I want to share.. D&C 122:7. EVERYONE READ THIS. No matter what the trials, rejection, and hard times we go through are for “experience, and shall be for thy good.”

I love you right up to the moon..and back 900 times.

7-18-13

It rained today! I guess you could say.. I MAKE IT RAIN! We had a good day today. This morning we had a lesson with a new investigator named Fatima! We taught her the restoration, she had some deep questions that really made me think. It’s lessons like this one that I learn the most! I invited her to baptism and she said, “Once I read that new book I will! Chill out!” the baptism replys always seem to be the best. We had apartment inspections today. It was the first time this apartment has ever passed! We got docked on 2 things.. dirty dishes and a dirty mirror! Im becoming more and more thankful for you everyday mom! Tonight we had an awesome lesson with Dwight! I love going over to his house to chill and read some scripts. We talked about preparing to receive the priesthood, and what an honor it is to hold it! We read D&C 121 together! awesome chapter, read it!

The rain kept a lot of doors closed but it was still a good day.

7-19-13

Busy Busy day and im tired! We had an awesome brunch with Jose Montoya! He cooked us a super good mexi dish as usual. We had district meeting right after and it went great. Our district has had some struggles so we had a group counciling sesh! It was pretty frustrating to see that the sisters (in our old area) taught 5 lessons total for the whole week..ya 5. We teach that many in one day. There excuse is that there is no one to teach..HA. Small taste of what we have to deal with! We taught a lot of good lessons today. Jose has a friend named ferni that he met while he was in prison and rehab. Jose has been wanting us to teach him for awhile now but we haven’t been able to until today! It was a nice rainy day, We sat outside of our apartment and had an awesome restoration lesson! The spirit was really strong and I got a little choked up! Ferni looks like a scary guy but is so sweet. Goes to show that you cant ever judge people by there looks.. It was so humbling to teach about the atonement and how ferni can have a second chance with life. After our lesson, Jose and ferni sat in on our lesson with Manny. We read from the bofm and it was awesome! We find out transfer news tomorrow! My guess is that I am leaving actually! I talked with president and he says he has “big plans” for me.

7-20-13

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. Im so glad you both fell in love 100 or so years ago! I love you. Great day, hung out with Dwight and Joe (I told you his name was paul last week, oops) Had an awesome lesson with them both. They are really funny. Both single and are 19 year olds trapped in a 50 year olds body. The stake had a big pioneer day celebration party. It was an awesome way to get investigators out with us to meet the ward. There was lots of great food and games. Dwight and Joe took us out to eat afterwards while we anxiously waited for the phone call to tell us transfer news. I was pretty shocked to hear that I am being transferred up north somewhere! Ive got a couple days to pack and im out of here. Pretty stressed about it, but its all part of the game! I will miss El Paso.  I will miss my ward family in the El Paso 11th ward.

Ray's Baptism....no slips or cannonballs!

Elder Broulim     Ray     Elder Taylor

El Paso is HOT as always!  It has seemed 20X hotter this past week because it has been really humid.  I am soaking wet with sweat 24-7....who said I wouldn't be able to go swimming on my mission! jk.  It has been a great week!  We have worked harder than ever trying to make up for our down time last week!  The teaching poll for our new area is growing and we are seeing some progress!  We taught 23 lessons this last week and had a baptism Saturday night!  We are teaching a little more than half the lessons we used to teach before the split but it is a good start!  It has felt great to get back into the missionary work!

I went on exchanges with Elder Jensen on Wednesday.  It was awesome!  Elder Jensen is my district leader and is from good ole Boise Idaho!  he has been out for like 10 months I believe.  He played ball for a community college before the mish and is really good!  He knows Kamen from playing Idaho Select.  We found a lot in common and had a good time together.  I learned so much from him that I will be able to apply to my everyday teaching.  I also taught him a thing or two...(smile)

Ray's baptism has been a long process but finally happened Saturday night!  We weren't quite sure if it was going to happen until the night before!  Elder Jensen and I gave Ray his baptism interview on Wednesday and he DIDN'T pass with flying colors!  We had to touch up on a few things and help him to understand the word of wisdom and tithing a little better!  Once we set all that straight, he was more than ready!  Saturday was a special day!  The baptism went great and there were no slips or cannon balls ha.  I was given the opportunity to give the talk on the Holy Ghost.  It all went great!  Sunday was so amazing when Ray took the next step and received the Holy Ghost!  Ray is FINALLY a member of the TRUE church!

Something that I have enjoyed studying this week was the topic of Revelation.  The Lord leads and guides the church through revelation given to the prophet as well as to his children here on earth.  Each of us receive revelation daily!  According to our faith we can receive revelation to help us with anything!  We need to be prepared to receive revelation that comes through the Holy Ghost!  Pray to have it and it will be given to you (Matthew 7:7-8).  Random, I know, but we live off of revelation in the mission field!

I think the move to our new apartment has thrown the mail off!  I'm still looking forward to those caramel apples!  Take Care and know that I am working hard!

New Apartment!....AND... I'm finally doing better!

Saturday, July 6th email: It is so good to hear from you. I have had a very hard week but am doing so much better. I got really sick after surgery and haven't been able to keep anything down. I had very bad pains in my stomach last night and blood in my stool. Sis miller sent me to the ER to be treated. I have a virus that I don't remember the name of. I also don't remember the name of some organ in my stomach that Is very swollen and is causing the pain. I have some new pain medication that will take care of the problem. We moved to apt 12-I this morning. It is a huge relief being able to flush the toilet!! I also got to take a good shower for the first in a while. I am counting my many blessings. Elder Taylor, Mongeli and Mower stayed with me all night and we played cards.  It was really fun and much needed.  I have had 2 IVs this week. I have been really scared but so grateful.  

New Address:
Elder Richard Broulim
1530 George Dieter Drive #12-I  (used to be 12-J)
El Paso  TX  79936-7619

Journal from Monday email:
7-6-13~ Great day.  We moved into our new apartment, 12-I.  It has the same layout as 12-J, but is so much nicer!  It is cooled by a swamp cooler, and works much better!  I guess it is pretty nice to have a working toilet too!!  Tonight we had a surprise visit from President and Sister Miller at our apartment.  They stopped by to check on me and to say a prayer with us.  They have the "greeny fire" that this mission needed!  They are in El Paso for the weekend to do interviews with all the southern missionaries.  My interview should be Monday morning.

7-7-13~I always look forward to Fast Sundays.  I have had some of the most spiritual fast Sundays in my small El Paso 11th ward.  Each time I get to share my testimony it is strengthened!  It is also strengthened by the other testimonies that are shared.  I bore my testimony about different trials and afflictions we face in this life.  I shared some deep doctrine about how this life is preparing us for the next life!  We were able to get Keith to church today with Jake and Mary!  It went good.  Sunday is always a special day!

Monday, July 9 email:

It is so good to hear from you and even better to hear your voices! The voice recording worked great, it just took a long time to load! I have been recording and will send it soon! We had interviews with the new President and Sister Miller this morning ! We don't have much time to email today! WOW.. I cant believe all of my friends that are getting married! Is Brenan marrying Allison Taylor? Clint and Hailey surprised me the most! I'm happy for Abby and Kinze...Congrats to them all!

I'm feeling a lot better today and the meds have helped me to keep some food down! It is all looking up from here! My interview with president went great and I am loving having him around! He visited us at our new apartment Saturday night and shows us so much love! I am excited to get back to the missionary schedule and get busy working again. President challenged me to speak with at least 15 new people each day and not to walk past anyone! This shouldn't be too hard for me! Working in the store has made me a lot better at talking with people! One thing president stressed is talking with people and not to people!

So good to hear about the cabin! It sounds like it was such a fun time! I'm glad you guys played the music loud for me! the 4th is my favorite time of the year up at the cabin! The cabin is just my all around favorite! I love the banner and picture you sent! I CANT BELIEVE HOW GREEN IT IS! it looks fake ha.  Tell Spenc to kill it in the mission field.. I know he will be the best!  I hope you all have a good week! I love you and miss you and want to make you proud!

First Baptism, New Mission President, AND SURGERY

HAPPY 4^th of July!

How is everyone? I hope you are all having an awesome summer and are staying cool! I miss you and love you! Im so glad I get to email you today, It feels like its been forever.

It has been a long week and a half I must say. This week consisted of lots of Doctors appointments and not too much missionary work unfortunately. My surgery went well and I am slowly but surely recovering. I had 2 cysts removed, one in the middle of my back on the left and one on the lower right. It has been painful but everyday gets a little better! I know that we are tested and tried in this life to see if we will exersize our agency to follow Christ or satan. Satan has been working hard to get me down. He knows my potential and ability to hasten this work and kick butt out here, he wants me to give up and go home. One thing he doesn’t know is that I get knocked down, but ill get up again..and again. I can identify with joseph smith and the book of mormon a little bit now. Although my trials are hard, there is always someone who has it harder. I've been reading a lot in Alma. Alma 34 talks about having patience and hope in afflictions. Sometimes we have to do more than just read and tell the stories in the book of mormon, we have to live them. Along with Alma, D&C 122:7-8 have been scriptures that have given me lots of hope and comfort.  Sometimes we don’t know why things happen the way they do, but we do know enough--Enough to keep the commandments and do what is right. This has been hard for me, but if I can get through this, I can do anything.  With all my down time, I have spent a lot of time watching mormon messages. They are packed with the spirit and we can learn something from each one! I've also done a lot of pondering about my life. I am so grateful for the way things are going, but I have so much to learn and so many adjustments to make personally.

Chris’s baptism was awesome and was so rewarding. It was amazing to see him enter the waters of baptism to make covanents with Heavenly Father. I got to confirm him a member the next day in sacrament mtg. I was a bit nervous but the blessing was complete revelation and the spirit was so strong! It is amazing to see how the priesthood works!

The new President and Sister Miller hit the ground running this week! The new President Miller is an answer to my prayers. Tuesday night after the surgery, I was really struggling with lots of pain. I was praying for help and relief when the phone rang. I answered it and found the new president Miller on the other end.. “wow, finally I get to hear the famous Elder Broulims voice! I love you elder and can't wait to meet you!  I've heard so much about you!” He went on to tell me about how his sister in law own’s Lee’s markets and told him all about me and my family! It was an answer to my prayer that night and for my whole mission. He showed me both the humor and love that I needed! He knew that I wasn’t planning on making the 2 hour car ride to meet him that next day in Las Cruses but he told me to pray about it and that he really wanted to meet me. I layed in the back of the car for the miserable ride and made it to Las Cruses! After President and Sister Miller spoke to us on Wednesday, President Miller pulled me aside and I got the only personal interview from him for the day! We found so much in common and we found some things to laugh about. He is such a blessing to this mission! He has the ability to do so much with this work. I am excited to serve him and serve with him.

Thank you so much for all the support and love through not only letters and cards, but through prayers and fasts. I can truly feel them. It is hard being cooped up in the apartment all day but I know this is all part of the plan. I know that you would all be by my side if I was home, but wouldn’t want me there in the first place!  I want everyone to have the best 4^th of July and light a sparkler for me and dance like crazy! Play some Lee Greenwood and Katy Perry Firework in the boat loud enough that I can hear it! Most of all, have so much fun and remember that simply being together is the happiest and most fun you can have!    

I know this church is true and these challenges will be but a small moment! I love you all! Happy 4^th! 

Journal for the week

6-24-13

Today was a big relief! I felt like a big burden was lifted off my shoulders and I was able to breath! It was a very much needed P-day fosho. It should make for a good week! Emailing was great, it really helped me with a few struggles I was having. This week I really want to focus on thanking instead of asking for things in my prayers! I am so blessed to have such an amazing family supporting me as I serve the lord. We went with a group of missionaries to the mall after emails. It was awesome to see all the new shoes and clothes but made me lose focus and I didn’t like it. We played a couple games of basketball at the church and it was really fun. I love the elders in my zone! Elder Mongolei and I are super tight. I had a BIG package arrive on my doorstep this afternoon! I love my new bike!! There is only one problem.. It is missing instructions on how to assemble it! There are a few parts that im not exactly sure how to put together. Tonight we FINALLY got to meet with the infamous Ray. Ray and his GF invited us over to teach a FHE lesson along with their friends Chris and his GF. Chris is a recent convert, Elder T got to witness his baptism. We had a great lesson and a fun time. We are all relatively the same age, so it was super fun just to chill. We set another appointment with Ray for tomorrow at 1! You're probably wondering why we taught Ray and not the sisters that should be teaching him.. well the sisters are having a hard time I guess you could say. We set another baptism date for the 13^th of July. Ray seemed pretty solid for that date! And yes, we will be able to attend his baptism. 

6-25-13

Today was a busy day. A busy day is a good day! Earlier today, we had an awesome lesson with a girl named Amy at Matt G’s house. Matt met her at school in a bible study class, and invited her to meet with us. She is 18 and comes from a Catholic family. She has dated a kid for 1 year that is now serving an LDS mission in Houston, TX. It wasn’t easy for her to let him go serve, but his desire sparked her interest in the church. She had a lot of questions as we taught the restoration so it went good! The spirit was very strong. Shortly after that we had a lesson with Ray. The sister’s took lead, and it went good. Ray should be dunked on the 13^th of July. Tonight we ran around visiting a few people. Maria tried to drop us and told us that she wants to attend the abundant living church. We were persistant with her, and she told us we could come back later this week if we want. So we plan to throw down on her! We had correlation mtg with our ward mission leader, we hope that he will start doing his job a little better and start finding us some people to teach instead of just matt G. We found a bike shop today that will hopfully be able to give me some directions on how to assemble my bike! Im excited to shred the trek.

6-26-13

The Priesthood is powerful!

Today was a day of blessings! Literally. The first blessing was for me actually.. The day started out a little bit rough. I have been fighting a very bad pain in my lower back. The bump that ive had for awhile has grown twice its size. Sister Miller advised me to get it checked out at the doc asap. I found out that I have a tumor or cyst growing that I have to get removed. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a specialist to see the steps that we have to take. Not going to lie.. Im really scared. Tonight was really spiritual. We gave blessings to the whole Ramirez family. They have been going through a hard time, plus two of the girls are having their tonsils taken out tomorrow. The room was in tears and each person said they knew their blessing was from god. It was a great experience, and even better for the family because they are a little less active. Shortly after, we gave a blessing to brother Alitor. He is having a lazer surgery done on his eyes tomorrow. Elder Taylor and I  excercised our priesthood powers a lot today. It was a great opportunity to strengthen my testimony of the priesthood!

I love you guys!

With you till the finishline—

6-27-13

Just gotta roll with the punches!

Today was a long one. We drove to see the surgical specialist this morning and waited about 3 hours in the waiting room with 900 mexicans. Gave me some good time to study and write. I visited with Dr. Gomez. After he checked my back, he talked to me and set me up for surgery. The surgery was first set for Saturday, but I COULDN’T miss chris’s baptism. So now the surgery is set for Monday July 1^st at 7am. I have to check in at 5am. I had to fill out a lot of paper work then they sent me off to the hospital to do some LABs. I again sat waiting a couple hours. Then, did a lot of paper work, got poked by lots of needles, and talked with lots of nurses! The surgery should be about 30min, and between 5-7 days recovery. Little do they know that im super man and will be better in 1 or 2.  JK.  We were able to squeeze a lesson in with Chris Martin tonight. It was his last lesson before baptism! Im so excited for Saturday! So It was a rough day! I guess HF is really just trying to humble me!

I love you guys and am SO grateful for you support! I can feel your love from here.

6-28-13

Press forward with faith!

Faith is the foundation of all things, It is something that I am working hard to strengthen each day. Faith without works is dead. I have been a little discouraged today, but I wont let it knock me down. I will smash satans D’s. We had a good district meeting today. We learned a lot about contacting and speaking with everyone. Lunch at Jose’s was good as ever! He always provides us with an amazing meal and gives us all he has. I had another Doctors appointment and it was a pain in the butt. Bro butterfield gave me an amazing blessing, so powerful. We had dinner with Matt G and his family, they are a blessing to me. We had a going away party with the butterfields. They are going on a long summer vacation, I am excited for them but It was really sad! Tonight we are going on exchange with our zone leaders! Elder Vallejo Zamora, will be sleeping with me at our apartment, and I will be the Senior comp all day tomorrow! Elder Taylor is traveling to the zone leaders area. Im really excited but mostly because I will be able to drive for the first time in 2ish months! Im also excited to take lead in everything. Elder Taylor and I are ready for a little break. Im praying that I will feel well to work hard, kick butt and take names. Chris Martins baptism is tomorrow! So stoked. He asked me to give him the HG! I am a little nervous, but really excited. Elder Taylor and I will be back together tomorrow night.

6-29-13

Today was an AMAZING DAY! Elder Vallejo and I had a late night.... talking! We woke up early and hit the studies hard. Comp study was so great, I learned so much, more then ever. Elder Vallejo is an amazing missionary. He is the most genuine and loving guy you will ever meet! He is truly intune with the spirit and is inspiring. He is a Spanish speaking missionary from Guatemala! He had to learn English in the MTC though. He has been out for 18 months and feels that he doesn’t have enough time to be a missionary. He brought so much fire and experience to our work that I have not been able to experience yet. I was finally able to drive! There is an indentation of my hand on the passenger side door handle from elder Taylors driving.. ha jk.  It was a nice change! I took full advantage of Vallejo’s Spanish speaking abilities and did a lot of tracting! We were able to contact a LOT of people. Even though it was nice to drive, we rode bikes a lot! I took my bike to a shop to get assembled, and got it back today! I loved it. I got a lot of sun and rosie red cheeks! I couldn’t believe how much I learned from Vallejo from the time we started studies and throughout the whole day of working hard. We contacted the moralis family, Aaron broke his  arm playing football so I had to give him some crap. Set a return appointment. We visited with old man manny..he told us he is trying to start his own religion of what he believes, but wont believe what we teach because it is “man made.” Other then Elder Taylor slipping and cannon balling into the font.. Chris’s baptism went great!!! Elder Taylor just made it that much better. It was amazing to see our work come to life and witness chris making the covanents with his HF. I am privileged with the opportunity to confirm chris a member of the church and give him the gift of the HG tomorrow in church! It has been a busy day full of hard work! I really am so thankful for my opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Vallejo. He is an amazing zone leader and missionary. Im excited for the mission to shape me into a missionary like him! Tonight we got a call late from the sisters screaming bloody murder and crying hysterically. We thought the worst but found out that there was a 3 inch lizard holding them hostage in their apartment. We weren’t very happy, but ran over there to save the day. The sisters were standing on top of the table, and I walked over and stepped on the little guy.. picked him up and threw him out the door.. It was really funny.

Goodnight familia 

6-30-13

Today was a very special day! Not only was it the lords day, but It was Chris Martins day to officially become a member of the church! I was able to comferm chris and bestow the Holy Ghost unto him. It was a very sacred and amazing experience to use my priesthood. I was able to perform a lot of priesthood actions today! First, Chris’s blessing, Second, Passing the sacrament. Third, giving a sick member of the ward a blessing. The Priesthood is amazing. We had a good lesson handing dora off to the sisters tonight! She asked me to give her yet another blessing for the day. It was a very spiritual day. Im very nervous to go to sleep, but it will be a quick one! 4:00 will come fast.

7-1-13

As I flipped my calander to the month of July, I wasn’t supprised to see “Forget yourself and go to work” as the monthy quote. My procedure went well this morning. I feel like I have been stabbed in the back twice..I think that will be my story anyway. I have 2 incisions that are about 3 inches long on each side of my lower back! I have slept most of the day! It has felt good despite my lack of sleep lately. This surgery a tender mercy from the lord for sleep! Elder Taylor would agree! Dr. Gomez reminded me a lot of Uncle John. Coming down off of the anesthesia gave elder Taylor a good laugh! I will have a lot of down time this week, I should have the mormon messages and Jesus the Chris memorized by the end of it! I wish I could have emailed you guys today, but I couldn’t do much else other then lay flat on my face. I would love for you to send me some disks with talks on them asap. 

7-2-13

Rough Day!

7-3-13

Short and sweet tonight.. Ive had a great day. I got to meet the new President and Sister Miller! I feel I have a personal relationshp with President Miller. He is such a blessing to me and is exactly what the mission needed! He is exactly what I needed. He is an answer to prayers. He has shown me love that I didn’t feel from the old Millers! I look forward to serving with him, I know there is big things coming for this mission! I love him and am so grateful. I should be able to email you tomorrow!