Monday, September 15, 2014

September 15th- Gilbert

hello there mother and family! yes of course i am doing well! really? more rain? interesting. we are getting quite a bit lately. carter woods is leaving for a mission? holy heck that's crazy. i always felt like he was so much younger than me. apparently not! any other news from idaho? haha i remember her taking a picture and asking, "are your moms on 'missionary moms?'" and i responded that i had no idea. so she decided to put it on anyway. of course i should've taken into consideration that somehow you'll know someone who knows someone who's heard of someone but willing to contact them that knows me. just like the athlete's foot! haha. palmyra new york, huh? that is so awesome! the prophet joseph is incredible. tell me what you learn! i wanna hear! 
yes i am of course still liking my new companion! he is awesome! he was one of the first missionaries i met in the mission field. we came out together, and spent our first night in the field in the same member's home. just us two. we were split up randomly. he is from longmont, colorado. church was good. we had our two singles ward investigators at church this sunday. Andre is awesome! he is doing so well. accepting every commitment we give him. we had our lesson at the church so we could show him the baptismal font. good lesson. word of wisdom. 
anyway... thank you for all of your letters/emails. always love receiving them. this may be a little short because i'm not sure what else to write. i think i answered all the questions. oh shoot! yes my foot fungus is healed you don't have to worry, mother! 

love, elder bronson

September 8th- Gilbert

hahahaha oh gosh... yeah i was trying to make sure you never figured it out. IT WAS BAD. and that's why i didn't want you to know. i figured it would just go away. and it didn't. and 9 months later. it was really big. and the podiatrist didn't know what to do. in fact he made me spend a ton of money on random ointments that weren't working! it turns out it was more eczema, than it was athletes foot. so the dermatologist solved it pretty quick. i gotta send you picture now that it's basically gone. it was SOOO bad. i forgot to take a final picture before it healed up. so the latest one i have is like a month out of date. anyway.. it's bad. i have both insurance cards. but missionary medical usually takes care of it. i think i used both to cover the deductible. i have a new companion. elder bailey! he's awesome. i've wanted to be his comapnion for a long time! we spent our first night in the mission field together! since we came out with like 30 missionaries, we didn't spend the night int he mission home, we had to go to some random member's house. and we went in twos. and i got put with elder bailey. didn't know him at all before hand. but he's awesoem. good worker. super funny. yes a couple of investigators caome to church this week. andre in the singles ward is ond ate for sept 27. he's doing awesome. he texted us the other day... "hey so how do i receive revelation. how do i know if i am getting any? how does it feel? what's supposed to happen?" we called and answered his question for him. it was awesome. well with a few scriptures. alma 5:20ish i think. alma talking about how he knows for himself. anyway... he's doing great. he wasn't going to make it to church yesterday. but booked it out during his break so that he could make it to sacrament. what faith. i don't know what else to day. saw a ton of miracles with our mini missionaries this week. we got to take a couple out from a nearby stake. they were hilarious. it's pretty funn doing that. they have an awesome time. we do too. and they always decide to go on missions. the stake president, president lines, was like, "these two were on the fence about going on a mission and it's amazing to hear them bear their testimonies that way." (they bore their testimonies during the closing of the mini mission. little meeting thing). it was great. anyway... love you much family! i'll send pictures

elder bronson

Picture Update




mini missionaries with us for a few days. brother ray and brother patterson. love thsoe guys


haha sad


elder benson is back!


elder fuhrman and sister rawlings. my ward at byu. in the tempe mission. had an mlc together. 


elder rohrbacher. love that guy. tempe mission. in my district int he mtc. 

September 1st- Gilbert

hello mom! yes i'm having a good day. well kinda... we have to drop elder lybbert off at the office today. in like 2 hours. so that's too bad. but other than that it's been pretty good. actually a little hectic. lots of mini errands to run this morning. but we're pushing through! there's a small BBQ in singles ward but we won't be going because i will be sticking with some other elders for a couple days covering two areas. oh that pizza place with the woodwards was so flippin good. hahaha classic courtney. that was quick! i'm sure he didn't like that joke either. i don't know how much weight i've gained because we don't have a scale. but i don't think i've gained too much. however... the other day i looked at my license picture (taken senior year when i was working out a lot), and then at the mirror. and then at my licence picture. and then at the mirror. i've got some nasty neck fat.however, it was so relieving to exit the denial mode and enter the "fix it" mode! so here we go haha. 

yes andie is very cute. it's weird not being able to interact with her though. i got way excited when dad sent a video of her. but this ancient computer won't play it. sad. but anyway...
yes elder lybbert goes home tomorrow. yeah it's super sad. he's an awesome missionary. we did great work together. he's loved by many. haha it's actually kinda funny... we go to say goodbye to some people, and they cry. and i'm sitting here like, "whoa this is weird. he's been here for like 4 months." so it looks like i gotta develop a little more charity. because i haven't shed a tear yet, and don't see it happening at all in the future haha. his plans? he doesn't have much for plans. he went to a community college before his mission. he says he may want to go to byui. or byu. but he hasn't applied at all. so he's going to go home and work and such. and then go to school. i don't think he'll be married, but you never know! i know that was a joke but it really happens. some of my old zone leaders are engaged. so yeah. it happens. 

yes thank you so much for the package. i love pecans. and the pistachios were a nice addition! and all the rest of course. that week was awesome. i got like 5 letters and a package! and we had 14 people at church this week. it was pretty great. so we went off with a bang for elder lybbert. we get transfer calls today because
yeah we have a dust storm once every couple weeks. it will rain hard during the dust storms too. it's pretty cool. anyway love you too!

love, elder bronson

August 25- Gilbert

hhahaa i love it. that would've beeen a catchy title! if you just said, "i can't come up with a catchy title." sorry i have to be short this week. whenever i say that, i end up writing a lot though... hailey has her first soccer game, huh? take some pictures! i wanna see her in action. she is our last hope for an athletically successful family member! courtney was the closest... but no one else could make the cut! that's awesome that jeff and karlee were the witness couple though... pretty amazing. i remember you telling me how special it was to, about 5 years ago, have your whole family in the temple. every sibling for the first time. pretty awesome. can't wait for that day! president nattress says, when speaking about the temple, "imperfect people, can have perfect moments." that's one of those perfect moments. where nothing else matters. and all you feel is joy. pure joy. no baptism this week. she fell off date. but she will be back on soon. "it's like Novocaine. give it time, it always works.." (remember the titans). some are referrals... some are tracts/street contacts. the family we just baptized was a tract. but the one that fell off date this week was a referral. but i did get a text the other day from the assistants that said... "you've been requested to attend a sealing for the westcott family. give them a call." an inactive family that we just knocked on their door. and they just took off. just needed a little kick in the pants. he just received the melchizidek priesthood. and they are taking temple prep right now. they will probably get sealed in september. so i will be able to go to that. they are awesome. i've sent a picture before. so you'll just have to search for it. yes i feel like i will stay for a while in this ward. next transfer is next wednesday. but elder lybbert is dying this transfer and they won't whitewash the area, so i will definitely stay another transfer. i feel like i'll be here a lot longer than that though. which is fine because i love it here in higley ward. love the members. 



Brother and Sister Bronson,
My name is Rodney Ross (I go by Rod or Rocky). Just a few moments ago, your son left our home after having dinner with us. I want you to know that Elder Bronson is an excellent missionary. He is a natural leader, very spiritual and personable. You should be very pleased that you have sent out such a fine young man to serve the Lord.

You will note that I have included a few pictures of your son and his companion, Elder Lybbert. These pictures are just a few minutes old. We take great joy in sending them to you.

Our best to you. Your son has changed lives here in Gilbert. I'm confident he will continue to do so.

Rodney Ross (the fat guy in the middle of the 3rd picture!)
Gilbert AZ

August 18- Gilbert

hello mother! i'm doing well, thank you for asking! finished seminary? oh good. mondays are tough? no! mondays are the best! emailing family. playing ball. relaxing. good stuff. hahaha jeff bowling? you may have to take him to practice before his orientation. teachers quorum president? that is awesome. one of the few people in the ward that hold priesthood keys. make sure he understands that! we had a meeting at president nattress' house this weekend. and he talked about a 12 yr old kid that came up to him and started asking him questions about his calling. he told him a few things. but the main thing he told him was, "aaron... you have the keys of finding, teaching, baptizing, and reactivating all the 12-13 yr old people in those ward boundaries." months later, he ended up reactivating every single deacon. and had four 12 yr olds meeting with the missionaries. pretty amazing. so same thing for marcus. except 14-15 yr olds. so that's the advice i would give him. that's his responsibility that the Lord has entrusted him with. He can know he is fulfilling his calling if he is building the faith of the current teachers and helping them to make right decisions (perfect the saints), reactivate and baptize (preach the gospel), and he can redeem the dead too through the temple. his mission is the same as the church's. and the same as the missionaries. to invite others to come unto Christ. anyway... utilize your missionaries. investigators are coming along well. Marlene is getting baptized this weekend. thomas should be getting baptized at the end of the month.  we love the Higley ward. elder lybbert goes home in 2 weeks though... yes my clothes are holding up. shoes are good too. cup of bleach, huh? yeah i don't think i've ever used bleach. my garments are super nasty too. arizona sun will do that. i don't need money for drycleaning. we get it free here in gilbert. just got free haircuts today too. I LOVE GILBERT. anyway... love you so much! sorry i'm short today! thank you for your support! 

elder bronson