Week 53- Gilbert

Hello mother and family! well first off... might i remind the family of our unofficial bet of who would have the first baby... Although kristen was not married at the time (only engaged), we all guessed that she would be the first to have a baby. lo and behold... she is the last to have a baby (unless I am but uninformed). pretty crazy, huh?! i can't believe it! i'm going to come home to a 1 year old and a 6 month old! maybe even another (kristen) (or courtney again...). anyway i'm just super excited. 

thank you for writing me even though you were on vacation. i got transferred back up to Gilbert! I love gilbert so i am so excited. I mean san tan valley is great... but gilbert is the best place ever! I love it so much! so i'm serving just about 3 or 4 miles south of my first area. i'm serving in the higley stake, in the higley ward. and we cover a singles ward too. i have an awesome companion, elder lybbert. He is awesome and we do really well together. He's going home in 12 weeks though... so we won't be together too long. and the Higley zone is awesome too. just pumped to be back in gilbert. no i don't know anyone with the last name escobido. i didn't have to throw away anything this time when packing. I don't really have much anyway. i try not to gather a ton of junk. it's weird having only a large suit case and its contents to your name. 

new address.... well i'm just going to use the mission office because we apparently don't know where the mail key is... 1001 n burk st gilbert, az 85234

moment of the week-- pudding, kid, mom, lick

elder bronson

Picture Update

me with my oreos....

skyline zone. pday activity. it was hot. 

brother and sister jones

jones family and elder legrand

old ward mission leader brother dearden. 

 reactivated westcott family. they are so studly. love them so much.

bishop rupp. stud. 

president mcelhaney. previous bishop. 

Week 48 - San Tan Valley

hello mother and family. yes it is definitely getting hot. it's killer. but biking is always better for the work so we do it anyway. barely surviving though. yes transfers are this week. i got a call so i'm leaving this wednesday. should be great though. don't know brother langstraat. it seems like the blessings are a lot more direct and specific? mine is definitely not specific. i always get a little disappointed to how vague it is! but it's alright. yes we got a ton of new investigators this week. but i'm leaving anyway so... but elder legrand is staying. father's day on sunday? shoot thanks for reminding me. shoot you scheduled a vacation over father's day? haha that's hilarious. i don't have any time today so i have to get going. love you though! i will have more to talk about next time for sure!

elder bronson

oh and tell hailey i miss playing soccer with her! we play soccer pretty much every morning now and i always think about her!

ONE YEAR MARK!

Elder Bronson's year mark is June 5th. He has been loving his mission and has kept his fun-loving humor and personality. He is right where he needs to be. His missionary experience comes with many challenges (not excluding the AZ heat :), but his love for the people of the Gilbert area and his testimony of the gospel has proven to humble and strengthen him in so many ways. We love you Elder Bronson!

Here is to another great year hearing about his time in the Arizona Gilbert Mission!

Week 47- San Tan Valley

hello mother and family! haha what did dad say about reminding me of vacations that i will be on next summer? i don't want to discuss my coming home date or anything but it's at the end of june not the beginning. just a heads up. how am i? i am doing just swell! yes it is definitely getting unbearably hot here. slowly but surely! we're usually at like 105ish. constantly. and it doesn't look like it's going to cool down! it is supposed to be one of the hottest summers ever! that is cool to hear about everyone coming over and seeing the home and asking so many questions. you never know how much of an effect you have on people with those pictures of Christ. i thought it was just totally normal growing up. now i go to houses and i'm like, "where are the pictures of Jesus?" especially during Christmas. Santa is just not as cool as Jesus. you can quote me on that. that sounds like a good quote. no didn't have any investigators this week at sacrament. it was a bummer.... but i got to go to a baptism yesterday! i will send you a picture. His name is Tony. he was in my last area. elder abramson and i taught him for about a month before i left. he was studly. he was one of those people that can recognize truth instantly. the story is actually pretty cool so i will tell it real quick. 

we were eating dinner with the randall family. we asked brother randall who it was outside working on his house. he told us it was one of his good friends that has helped him with projects around the house for years. we went outside and started talking to him and asked him if he would join us for our after dinner message. we decided to share our "temple presentation"(baiscally a video on the temple and some testimonies). he didn't have any questions but we felt inspired to talk about baptisms for the dead. not really something you always feel inspired to do. but we followed the spirit and did so. he told us that he had a few children pass away. the lesson was great and we asked him if he would meet with us again. two days later we taught the restoration. he knew it was true. those are the best kind of people! the people that recognize truth from the Holy ghost when it comes. he has been catholic his whole life so he understood the holy ghost. we invited him to be baptized. he looked distraught. we invited him again. he looked up and said something to the effect of, "I know this is true and i know i need to be baptized. but i have too many hurdles to jump before i can. i don't know if i can."we share our testionies and promised he could do it. he accepted a date. and then i left. it took him a few months to overcome his smoking problem, but he did it. the service was the most spiritual one i've ever been to. it was incredible. after he was baptized, he turned and gave bishop walker a hug (the guy who baptized him) and started crying. and so did the whole congregation. it was amazing! anyway... he's such an incredible guy. the most sincere guy you've ever met. so funny too. but a heart of gold. he just wants to do what's right no matter how hard it is.

anyway... there's the story sorry it was a little long. the story doesn't do the experience justice. we don't bear our testimonies very often. always when we get into a new area though. we have the opportunity every hour of every day! you can't force anyone to share their testimony. you can invite but it won't do much either. when the spirit invites, that's when it's important. but yeah the fear gets in the way sometimes. just have to obey the spirit with courage. 

love, elder bronson

Oreo Collection

Tony and Elder Bronson at his baptism

the simmons family

Week 46- San Tan Valley

(Memorial Day)

good morning to you too! mother and family! shoot i love the beach! i don't so much miss swimming as much as i do the beach. marcus is going to efy? what a stud. everyone says they go for the spiritual experience, and i hope they all do feel that way, but that wasn't necessarily my top priority when i went. "the power of every day missionaries" is an awesome book. i actually have not read it, but i know the principles taught in the book. i love it. i think one of the principles taught, if i remember correctly, refers to our outlook on who is ready to receive the gospel. sometimes we think, "man that family is perfect! they would make great members of the church!" when we should be thinking, "man! that woman is having a really hard time. the gospel would help her so much!" We should share the gospel with everyone, not matter what situation they are in, but sometimes we think that way. I was reading an incredible talk this week. it's not out of general conference or anything, but it is from Elder corbridge. It's called, "the fourth missionary." Basically teaches us what types of missionaries there are and what ones we should be. It really helped me understand the effect my mission CAN have on my life. Christ doesn't force change upon us. he invites us with open arms, and expects us to come unto him. "return unto me, and be converted, that i may heal you" or "follow thou me" or "come unto me all ye that labor..." he invites us to change. in order to allow your mission to take the most effect, you need to give it all to Him. leave nothing back. give all of your desires, passions, habits to him. and he will change you into what he wants you to be. We need to surrender our own will to the will of the Father. "offer our whole soul as an offering to him" (omni) like Christ submitted to his father. "not as i will, but as thou wilt." Christ is a perfect example of utter submission. "I came into the world to do the will of my father, because my father sent me." We need to put off the natural man (our own desires, passions, hobbies, future, expectations), and become as a child, "willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (mosiah 3:19). Alright preaching complete.

Well good to hear you went out with the sister missionaries! if you help reactivate 2 people, you will get a baptism. statistically speaking. yeah it is so crazy that you can see her face. it's not even going to be a surprise at all whens he comes out. that's not even fair! you never got to know what we were going to look like! anyway love you much!

Elder Bronson

Elder Ash is going home this transfer

kichelle simmons. moving... dayquan's cousin.

elder harmon. one of my roommates. stud

black widow

Week 45- San Tan Valley

momma and fam.

haha no more seminary, huh? happy day! sleeping in must be pretty great. i can't imagine!! that is so great that you only missed one day of seminary. whom the lord calls, he qualifies! even if that means qualifying you with a capable back and a healthy body! what the heck. kellie is graduating in a year? when you said that, i thought you were kidding. that is crazy to think about! does she want to go on a mission? is she thinking about it? tell her to start studying! i'm so grateful that the desire to study and learn the scriptures was instilled in me since youth! thanks to dad's scripture chase stuff! nothing is better than learning from the scriptures. they are the best. the book of mormon is true! "the church is true, the book is blue." Anyway... yes i got the forwarded email from christine moody. man she is the best! yes i keep in touch with mostly everyone. i don't email them every week. but probably once a month. I am also probably going back for a baptism at the end of the month. elder abramson and i taught a guy named "tony." he is getting baptized at the end of the month. it was awesome teaching him. he is catholic. We would teach him truths of the plan of salvation and restoration, he knew they were true. didn't even have to think about it. when he heard truths, he recognized them as truths. We were teaching him once and he was somewhat frustrated when we invited him to be baptized. we asked him what he was feeling, and he said something to the extent of, "I know this is true and i have to get baptized. It's just going to be really hard. But I know i have to." He had some things to overcome but he is ready to go now!  what a stud! anyway... i get to see him get baptized at the end of the month. so pumped. 

next possible transfer is 3 weeks from wednesday. so not for a while. you're going out with the sister missionaries? that's awesome! for what? a lesson? i hope so. having good members there is one hundred percent essential. marcus is 5'7"? shoot. he's catching up. 6 more inches and he's got me. don't let him do it, mom. holy cow valerie had a kid? she got married like right when i left! you're going to israel and italy? shoot that is awesome. haha yes dad would definitely be mad if he knew you were talking about it. anyway... love you much! keep up the good work. i hope you get a new calling this summer so that you have no time off! but only because i love you! have a good week!

Elder bronson

Week 44 - San Tan Valley

Momma and family! yes it was so great to talk to you guys yesterday! i thought i would be trunky after talking to you but i was totally fine! so that's good. ready right away to get back to work. ummm yes my face is a little better. here and there i get some acne (i hope this isn't going to be sent out), but yeah overall it's fine. haha a sister missionary said she wanted broccoli? oh that caserole is so good. our mission is so small, that when we play ball on mondays, it's usually a zone or 2. or whoever wants to come in the area. oh yes i forgot to forward you that email. i'll take a sec and do it right now. there ya go! Sister moody is seriously awesome. I remember first talking to her. We just saw her on the ward list, and didn't know who she was so we went and contacted her! She was friendly, but didn't want much to do with us. she lived in an apartment, and she had like 30 cement bricks behind her. we were in a service kind of mood that week so we decided to go bring them to the trash. it took a 30 mins or so, but later she said that was one of the defining moments for her. not a defining moment like, "the gospel is true", but a moment like, "maybe i should reconsider". We would try to build her testimony on the porch week after week, with not much success. However, Elder Abramson (who is decently quiet), really spoke up that day, and basically told her, "hey christine, experiment upon our words. come to church. if you want to know if it's true, you gotta do (john 7:17. that rhymed, unintentional). so she decided to come. She came and felt the spirit powerfully. ever since then, her faith has been building. She's made incredible changes.

anyway... moroni 6 is awesome. i love using that. "nourished by the good word of God." just like President Hinckley said. once their baptized, they gotta keep coming. meet together oft to fast and to pray. alma 6:6. you're right, we need to help others. most of the time, we focus too much on ourselves. even building our own testimonies. why am i not happy? the best way is to fix all the problems at the same time. serve others. it's part of our baptismal covenant (mosiah 18), and if we do it, he will pour out his spirit more abundantly upon us. we can be happy, we can have our testimonies strengthened. Just this last week, we were teaching an inactive family (who came to church this last week). and she brought up a concern of hers. she said that she doesn't receive the attention and doesn't have all of her needs met. no one has reached out to her for the year that she has been here inactive. except us. For a short time i almost lost my temper, and wanted to rebuke her for thinking so much of herself. i wanted to say, "how can you say that? you have not so much as thought of yourself, when there are others in the same position! why should they be required to help you? who have you helped to come back to church?" thankfully i did not say such things. but simply invited her to try again. they did and were met by good members of the ward that showed interest and love. It's too easy to think of ourselves. But when we think to feed his sheep, he rewards us (mosiah 2:22). and then we are still indebted to him. i digress.

love you too! have an awesome week!

elder bronson

Week 43 - San Tan Valley

Mother! and family of  course. yes easter was solid. and the week was too. We got a new bishop last week, and i don't know if it was the new bishop, or if it was the fact that it was easter, but that sacrament meeting definitely made the top 5. So good. no better song than "i know that my redeemer lives" it's my favorite. Anyway... yes i got the see's candy. actually they send it with ice packs. so it stays. and they are great thank you! yes i got the ties in time. and yes i wore one for easter, and yes i got some complements thank you. yes i know elder prestwich. he's a stud. awesome missionary. teaching is going well. yes found a few new investigators last week. Elder Legrand is doing awesome. oh! we went to the easter pageant on wednesday. it was so awesome! there were so many people there. the spirit was so strong right when you walked on to the grounds of the temple. and the production was excellent. Mama jean was there. She is one of our investigators. i don't know why she likes to be called that, but we have no problem with it. she is hilarious. anyway, she went to the easter pageant and loved it. this is the lady that hated the book of mormon and joseph smith, and then after the miracle of the book or mormon, and the spirit that accompanies it, she knew it was true. this woman knows and loves the bible like no one you've ever seen. and soon she'll love the book of mormon just as much! anyway, we saw Elder Zwick there. he spoke in conference a few weeks ago. He talked to us for a while, and then proclaimed to our ward mission leader so that we could hear, "these are the best lookin missionaries in the entire kingdom!" He was speaking to me and elder haus. so this past week my neck has been super sore trying to lug around this giant head of mine. But anyway, mama jean talked to elder zwick for a few minutes about joseph smith and the book of mormon. it was amazing! anyway... yeah!" i realized the other day that mother's day was coming up. and in sacrament meeting they said it was may 11, and i was like, "hey! that's my mom's birthday!" Dad better do better than a bug zapper. short sleeve shirts are doing fine. we have a washer/dryer in our house. love you much!
Elder Bronson

Week 42- San Tan Valley

Hello mother! haha i apologize for the chastisement. i should not have done that! my apologies... things are pretty good in san tan valley. yes it's getting warm here. we're well into the hundreds nowadays. no one is having us for dinner tonight. it is p day. but we had awesome mexican food a couple days ago. at the acuna's. is kellie on the path of kristen as far as piano goes? not as far as boyfriend going on a misssion goes. the entertainer? haha yeah i remember that song. haha yeah having 4 kids play piano in the house is certainly annoying. you got the book for your graduating seniors. excited to talk to you guys soon! it's been a while, huh? I'm actually more excited this time which is a little bad, because i shouldn't be excited! excitement leads to trunkiness! anyway... feels weird to be out so long. i liked being a greenie much more. but yes it goes by extremely quick. sorry mother, the long one went to dad today. i hope you don't delete all these emails. put them in a folder or something. it's going to have to be my journal when i get home, because i certainly never write in mine. love you much!

 

Elder Bronson

Week 41- San Tan Valley

haha don't feel guilty mama! you are fine. yes dad told me about marcus getting his life. pretty crazy. he's way ahead of the curve. well the bronson curve. marcus is going to efy? oh shoot that is hilarious! wait did he go last year?  oh my gosh haha. kellie hit a mailbox too? that his downright hilarious. elder haus just commented on your statement there, "three different cars, three different girls, three different mailboxes" like it was a preview for a movie. "this summer... the bronson girls.." i don't know if that made sense. 

Week 40 - San Tan Valley

Mother and fam. yes i should definitely start writing things of significance to you via email because it's certainly not going in a journal. i'm terrible at that stuff. kinda like emails are the large plates of nephi, and journals are the small plates of nephi? now i know how nephi felt when commanded to make a second record… you're in 3 nephi in seminary? the best. nothing better than 3 nephi 11. not there yet though. i started a couple weeks ago from the beginning underlining The Doctrine of Christ (Faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, Repentance, Baptism by emersion for the remission of Sins, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end) in a separate book of mormon. And yes i underlined each principle/ordinance in a different color. it's amazing! you really see how, as the introduction describes it, that the book of mormon contains the fullness of the everlasting Gospel. You cannot go a page without underlining something about Faith  Christ, repentance, baptism. hg, endure. I advise it for everyone. i still have a little bit of the groceries left. not much. went through it pretty quick. i need some more chocolate milk… when buying that for me, you actually brought back a previously overcome addiction. Good to hear the Egberts came in town. i always remember you having her on the phone during elections. i hear a few comments about politics here and there and i feel absolutely lost. we found four new investigators this week (which is really not that significant, but you told me to tell you about our experiences). 3 are pretty solid. we are looking forward to teaching them this week. We found two of them by contacting old potentials from the area book. The potential ended up not being there (because she moved), but the people that moved in ended up being prepared. pretty awesome. 

Happy anniversary! the big 28. wow!  no i'm fine without pants… a tie here and there wouldn't hurt… but no obligation whatsoever. yes i will miss easter when it comes time too. have you heard about the "because of him campaign?" The church put out a video entitled, "because of Him" from yesterday until easter. share it on facebook and stuff. they want it to go viral. it's awesome too. anyway love you much!

Elder Bronson

http://easter.mormon.org

Week 39 - San Tan Valley

hello mama! and family! what do you mean i should have a lot of things to tell you in this letter? haha that sounds like i'm in trouble. i flash back to the times i received a text like that, "well you should have a lot to tell me, right?" "uhhh...." i start flashing back to anything i ever did wrong. i hope this really means something like "there's a lot that happened this week. i want to hear about it all!" so i'm going to take it that way. anyway that is so good to hear you went to conference. yes i saw all of the pictures. Aunt linda did so amazing! My old companion, elder haus leaned over to me before her talk and said, "all the sisters give the same talks. they are all 'feel good' talks". and then Aunt linda got up there and proclaimed to the whole world the dangers of pornography. i turned to him, "man, those sisters and their 'feel good' talks..." but needless to say, she did amazing. There were so many incredible talks. I loved President Packer's! i love when he said there are some things that cannot be taught, only learned through prayer, study, revelation. i've certainly learned that on the mission. obedience brings knowledge. prayer, study, pondering, keeping the commandments, that is how you obtain knowledge, progress. i also loved his testimony of Christ! at the very end he gave (what sounded like a dying testimony) an incredible witness of the existence of Jesus the Christ. he mentioned joseph and sydney rigdon's witness, "after the many testimonies that have been given of him, this the testimony last of all, which we give of him, that he lives! for we saw him!" the next words he spoke were, "there words are my words." Wow. Anyway... so many good talks. Elder Holland's, President Uchtdorf's on gratitude, Elder Hales. i haven't heard much on the whole women wanting the priesthood thing, but whatever it was, elder oaks put an end to it. "stop thinking about your rights, and start thinking about your responsibility." shoot son. Anyway... so many good talks.

surprise birthday present was great! thank you much! nothing is better than chocolate milk, mom. you read my mind. yes elder thornock was laughing while talking to me. he kept saying that i had an awesome mom. i could only agree. Thank you mom!!

anyway... you didn't give me many questions to answer. so i'm not really sure what else to say. oh district meeting this week is on the book of mormon. "the book of mormon and the spirit are our two most powerful resources in conversion." it would only make sense to use them together. listen to the talk by Elder Holland entitled, "safety for the soul." it is one of my favorites, if not my favorite talk. watch it though, don't read it. you know how elder holland is. anyway.... love you much!

Elder Bronson

Dayquan's baptism

having a good conference elders??

Week 38- San Tan Valley

thank you mom and family! i am doing well. 20 years old? doesn't feel much different. good birthday card, yes. after reading it i thought, "sounds about right." well i'll see what i can do. P-day ends at 6:00. we work from 6:00 to 9:00. so i'll see what i can do to make it home five, maybe ten mins early. so maybe you can relay the message to the person. I hope you are planning on staying within the rules. yes people knew it was my birthday yesterday. it was good. we had cake at a member's home. and i got to confirm dayquan in sacrament on my birthday! pretty cool. he was baptized on saturday. solid service. companion is doing awesome. learning english quickly. the more english he learns, the more facetious he gets. it's a win lose scenario. haha just kidding he is awesome. he's got a solid testimony. his parents were actually converted/baptized by somebody in the ward's son. small world. yes we attend gospel principles every week. "the book of mormon" musical? ugh. welp... any publicity is good publicity, right? get's people thinkin! just long enough to where they get smashed with the spirit! i have heard of the different advertisements the church puts out to combat the play. pretty cool how the church makes light of something that is making light of us! anyway.... you're going to general conference? solid! i'm so excited! i was wondering when aunt linda was going to speak! and kathy doesn't want to go? haha that's hilarious. anyway... nothing much to report. awesome week. eddie, shelby, and emily are back on date. i don't know if i've ever talked about them. but we're meeting with them again tonight. ummm... i don't know what else to say! so sorry... oh! thank you for the see's! best gift ever. and for the gift tonight. just thanking you in advance. but another heads up. we work between 6 and 9. so i can be home at the earliest at 8:50. otherwise the gate is open on the side, and the potential intruder is free to go around back. 

love, elder bronson

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

Week 33- San tan Valley

Hello mom and family! sorry this one will be short as well. i have no time! size of my pants? 32x32. you don't need to send some. it is fine. unless you already did, then thank you. missionary work is going great. definitely feeling more comfortable in the area. we are teaching a few families. and there is so much potential in this area, that we should be teaching even more soon. we got 6 new investigators this week and hope to get the same amount next week. just one ward; the brenner pass ward. bishop is good. yes i have made some connections. wanna hear a cool story? so there are 2 over age youth in the ward with the last name wright. anyway we  have tried to contact them before but have had no luck. but we felt like we should the other day so we did. knocked on the door. no answer. a minute later a guy walked out to go to his car. he looked familiar. he said to me, "are you stalking me?" i was stunned. elder abramson and i had street contacted him in my last ward a couple months back and had helped him out with making a flower thing. anyway... talked to him for a while and of course he asked why i was here. so i told him wer were looking for sister wright. he went inside and got her and we talked to her for a while, established a relationship with her and her two over age youth. then her husband came home and we talked briefly to him too! crazy how the Lord always knows what's up. He always has a way of bringing people together. that is cool about imagine dragons. yes i know who they are. yes we live in a house. four us living there. yes we went to the gilbert temple again. pumped for the dedication. brother slaughter i think is getting rebaptized this week so we may go down. so i'll send pictures...

sorry for the short note

elder bronson

Week 32- San Tan Valley

How's it goin?! i'm good thank you. yes i got the valentine package. thank you! i saw that you addressed it to elder bronson and elder haus. so i was obligated to give him half the chocolate. kinda sad... but i live with it. queen creek is awesome! well i don't actually live in queen creek. i live in what is called "san tan valley." well that's what everyone tells me. it is way different from pioneer ward that's for sure. It is called brenner pass ward. It is about 15 square miles. it's huge. we are working on the support and such. but we just put a family on date yesterday. it was an awesome lesson. oh don't worry about the fact that he crossed himself before dinner. all catholics do that whether they are active or not. The Gospel is for everyone! the church is way accepting. "tattoos and temple worthy" is the phase that's catching on these days..... and anyone with a catholic background (especially mexican catholic), holds more to family tradition more than anything. they are afraid of social outcast more than anything. it's a family thing, not a religion thing. anyway..

okay answering questions now. yes i'm in a car now and it is probably the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I seriously prayed for a car haha but we still bike too... but if we manage our miles we only have to bike a few miles a day. the area is huge. like 15 times the size of the last area. yes we are teaching some people. This area is awesome. we picked up 6 new investigators this week, and the standard of excellence is 2 new inv per week. so it was a good week. We put 3 of those 6 on date last night. the spirit was way strong. Eddie is her name, and she has two daughters, shelby and emily. They are awesome too. a little shy. anyway... we are also teaching a few others that i don't have time to talk about. i realize that i always email you the useless information, when i'm sure you want to hear more about who we are teaching/baptizing rather than what the weather is like and who my companion is. But his name is Elder Haus and he is my favorite companion yet! they just get better and better! He's awesome. and we are quite the duo. do i want khaki pants? whatever you send me (if you send me anything. and you are certainly not obligated to do so), it needs to be decently high quality. i only wear one pair of pants, because the others have issues in some way or another. and the ones that i'm wearing have a huge rip at the bottom haha. but i wear them every day anyway and wash them biweekly. yes we can wear sunglasses and that is certainly my next investment. There's a member here that can get me some spys for cheap. so i may go there. need them soon though because it's getting hot. don't send me glasses though. i look retarded in ninety percent of glasses.  yes i packed everything into one suitcase. pretty awesome, huh? i haven't acquired much, and i throw away a lot of stuff. not much of a hoarder. love you too.


good to hear everything is going well! keep up the good work! send pictures. sorry i forgot to. will do soon.


Elder Bronson

Week 31- San Tan Valley

Momma and family! always good to hear from you. president nuttall is the greatest man in the world. what are you sending??? when will it be coming? Brother Garcia is awesome as well. He was the pioneer ward ward mission leader. we did a lot of work together. and yes, his wife's mexican food is the best thing you will ever have. it seriously is delicious. it beats any restaurant you've ever been to. Yes my replacement in that area is certainly a good missionary. His name is Elder Bailey. He is a hard worker.

Oh! i'm so glad that christine moody emailed you! She is seriously the greatest. Being a part of her conversion was just as good if not better than a baptism. "greater light, greater condemnation." She is awesome though. I could go on forever talking about my last area but hopefully the last emails will suffice. Gotta move on. But save all those letters an emails. i'd like to see them in a couple years.  yes i remembered that story of king lamoni as we were working with her. in fact... we initially helped to just throw out some cement blocks for her and it did wonders! really helped build my testimony of service. i'm going through quick because i don't have any time. so sorry... but that is great that Jeff got in! he's been working hard for that so it finally paid off! so what does that mean for jeff and karly?? memphis?? sounds great!!

umm i will send in that referral. not in our area but we'll get missionaries to that house in no time.

love elder bronson.

oh yes elder haus is from kentucky. he's a great guy. he is not a greenie but he's only been out 5 months.. we'll do good work together. can't wait.