Week 37- San Tan Valley

Hello mother and family! thank you for the happy birthdays! yeah it's weird that i'm almost 20. i'm sure having a birthday is going to be super exciting on the mission... anything i would like for my birthday? ummm... Bordeaux again? one pound again? i'm not really sure what else i would want. a few ties? (skinny ties. non skinny ties always tie bad knots.) but don't make them too skinny. otherwise they are not approved. i trust your stylet. just like what you and hailey were talking about.... something you are better than aunt linda at. but i didn't say that.. you did. the 33x34 was good. they are my favorite pants now. yes i will send the others back today hopefully. 

sounds like jeff and karlee are workin through some tough decisions? keep working hard! brother kerr got in an accident? shoot. mack emails me and didn't tell me! no i don't see anyone from my wards in gilbert. nobody comes down here. i don't think i've sent you any pictures as to what it looks like down here... haha. yes we have new people that we teach every week! dayquan gets baptized this weekend. tomeka in a couple more weeks. new companion is awesome! it's so good to be training again! i love training. elder legrand is his name. except it's pronounced "laygrawn" with a soft n. and a weird throat noise on the "gr". he's French! straight from the south of france. in a place called perpignan (pronounced piowpenyawn). he's awesome! he doesn't know much english at all. and it's a lot of fun teaching him haha. but he's got an awesome testimony. we work well together, teach well together, and find well together (it's easy to walk up to someone on the street and say "he's from france! wanna come to church!" just kidding.) He's cool though.

weather is getting a little warm. we lost our car.... so we're biking all the time again. "we lost our car" sounds like it was taken because we abused privileges. not the case haha we just had to split up our ward into two areas, and elder haus and his companion took the car because their area is bigger. anyway.... i'm still going to beat marcus in basketball when i get back, no matter how tall he is! hear that, marcus?? yes there are about 200 missionaries. yes we go to the church to watch conference. i'm so pumped. anyway... sorry that my emails are always super lame. i never talk about experiences. just about random stuff that doesn't matter much. love you too! 

elder bronson

Week 36 - San Tan Valley

Mom and Family! no i don't have a green tie. but i don't plan on wearing one either. it's pday anyway. so basketball is calling my name right about now. anyway... yes i saw pictures of your vacation to florida. looks like a lot of fun! was it warm? i'm sure it was awesome. the pants? haven't received them yet. i'll try them out and let you know. thank you for helping me out!

well i hope everything is going well in tennessee. marcus looks like he's like 6'! crazy... and is kristen pregnant yet? i'm pretty sure we all had an inside joke that kristen would be the first to get pregnant. obviously it didn't work out that way. so courtney's gettin a belly, huh? i'm so excited!

investigators are well. Debbie was baptized last week. and we did family history with her and a couple nonmembers yesterday. it was awesome. they are doing really well. came to church yesterday. it was stake conference. Elder cardon spoke and did very well. our bishop is now the stake president. so we are going to have a new bishop, new stake president, new companion (we got calls last night. i'm training again), new area (same area actually. they are just splitting me and my companion up and giving us both new companions. so we have to work in the same ward. it's going to be tough.), and a new transfer. a lot of changes. anyway... i feel like being a missionary is all i've ever done, and it's all i'll ever do. which is a pretty good feeling.

no daylight savings in arizona for some rebellious reason.

anyway.... sorry about the short email. love you much!

elder bronson

Week 35- San Tan Valley

florida, huh? not bad! it's actually been really nice here too. 60s and 70s. well i think. i don't really know. just how it feels outside i guess.  yes thank you for all of the pictures. i love seeing what it's like back home/vacation/family. yes i am doing well! san tan valley is awesome. a little different, but the ward is so humble, and kind. church was good! Debbie was confirmed yesterday, and baptized the day before! Awesome service. Dayquan was at church too. a new investigator we picked up this week. i haven't sent the pants back yet. i will hopefully pull it off today. otherwise i'll have to wait til next week.mom, you are 50? what! i could've sworn you were 40!  no i haven't seen the new church video on bullying. i'm sure it's awesome. speaking of President Uchtdorf, the superbowl is coming up (general conference)! i'm way excited. nobody in the ward writes regularly. marcus' sunday school class wrote me. but i haven't written them back. i've been looking at pictures by the way... and what happened to marcus? how tall is he now? looks like he's 5'9" or something? i wasn't that tall until senior year! what is happening. make sure he stops playing basketball... so i have a chance when i get back. anyway... gonna be short this week. i gotta go shop and get back in time for some bball! looks like the family is doing great! you all look happy! love you much!

love, elder bronson

Week 34- San Tan Valley

momma and family! whaddup. yes all is going well! another snow day? haha dad said that is was not even an inch of snow on the ground. that's hilarious. dad's home and marcus too? they're probably fakin it.. haha just kidding. I was sick for like 3 weeks! it's hard to get over an illness when all you do is nonstop thinking and teaching and biking and talking. that reminds me. my zone leader's answering machine is, "hello you've reached the missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, elder schwab and elder Swenson, we're out teaching, preaching, exhorting, expounding, and administering in the ordinances thereof. if you'd like to leave a message..." it's hilarious. anyway... elders over for dinner, huh? awesome. hope you didn't keep them longer than an hour! 5-6. Courtney and Kristen are coming too? that's awesome. sound like fun! kellie's going to Germany? what the heck? that's nuts! who approved that?! yes I received a couple packages in the mail! they were so great thank you! I got the see's three days ago. ate the last one yesterday. I thought I could stretch them out a couple weeks. eating one, maybe two a day. yeah........ they're gone. but I did give 2 away. I don't think that helps my case too much though. but i'm still fine! haven't gained a pound! the only reason I take pride in that (unlike every other part of my life) is because every other missionary here has gained 30 pounds! crazy. they all look at me in envy (because I eat 2 packs of chips ahoy, and 1 pack of oreos a week) haha it get's a little expensive! I got the pants too! they are a little small... I may have to get the 33x33. but they are way nice though! I looked at the thing and it is an easy exchange. all I do is call, and send the other ones back and they can do an easy exchange. can I do that?  you don't need to send suit pants. the suit pants are not ripped or anything. I take care of them. it's just the day to day pants that are torn up. so no worries! no shirts needed.
 
new area is definitely coming along! it was a little slow when we got in... but we have a baptism this week so that's good! We have been getting a lot of new investigators. this area is a little different than gilbert. I was going to send a picture. it's basically a lot of desert and cacti. yes I went to the temple dedication. we watched it in our stake center, but afterward the missionaries got to go clean up the temple. we saw president monson and president eyring leaving when we got there. it was awesome! It's so great to have a prophet of God on the earth. He was about to leave and then someone started singing, "we thank thee, oh God, for a prophet." and then he turned around and started leading us haha. So we kept singing! I also got to meet and talk to elder callister. that was awesome! he is my favorite! he is like the smartest man ever. watch "the blueprint of Christ's church." he gave it at a CES devotional I think. it is incredible. basically tells the whole world that this is Christ's church. and proves every other religion wrong. all using bible scriptures. it's awesome. love it. anyway...good to hear from you. gotta go!
 
love, elder bronson