December 8th, 2014

This week was great! Still no snow or cold but rain and meh... clouds.  We did a lot of finding this week and had some success the Christmas video that the church put out. "He is the Gift" has been a great asset to us, its an amazing video and really brings the spirit. I love asking people how Christmas makes them feel and then telling them that good feeling, that is most the spirit and they can feel like that year round. With Christmas right around the corner people are crazy, there are people every where and stores are packed. 

Our ward is awesome, we had a Christmas party and there were so many people there!  It was a great time to eat food and to fellowship. 

Transfers are coming up this Sunday :(  Elder Toner and I have been in Dishman Mica ward for twelve weeks which is usually the max so we are wondering who is leavening. I venture to say I am gone but ya never know, Elder Toner could leave or the best, we both could stay!!!! 

Our Christmas tree we got is sweet!! We got more lights for it and made a better stand and a star out of a metal coat hanger,  its way cool!! 

The sister's missionaries I came out with go home in 6 days, that is a weird thought and one which makes me feel old.  Another weird thought is I have been out on my mission for a freakin long time!  It is sweet to see how my testimony has grown and the great experiences I have had over the last year and a half. I love the Lord and am thankful for the sacrifice he made for me.

Love Elder Joshua Braman  

#sharethegift

December 1st, 2014

Hello!

This week was great !   Like way great, I can barely write it all down it's so awesome!! 

We found a lot of new investigators this week and a few were from our members..crazy story.. ready...go! We have had this member take us out and go with us a lot.  His name is Dan Kerns, and he found and invited a lady to meet with us all on his own. He said the spirit wouldn't leave him alone!  Now shes on date for baptism the tenth of January!! 

Thanksgiving was great.  We went to some awesome peoples houses and enjoyed the day.  I learned my lesson from last year and only scheduled one dinner appointment instead of four, but we did eat a lot of pie!

My testimony this week is of prayer and how the Lord will answer our prayers even if we think they are small and insignificant, the Lord still cares and will always answer our prayers. The answers will come, sometimes they wont be as direct as we would like but he will always answer prayers.  That's what I know and I love!!

Love Elder Braman

November 24th, 2014

Let me start off by telling you how spoiled I am. I got to visit with my Uncle Todd whom I love very much! Our visit was last p-day, it was awesome and not to mention my cousins were there as well so double awesome! And then Sister Reimer (my cousin) came to our baptisms on Saturday so I got to see her again, too!!  See, told ya I am spoiled. 

We are teaching some awesome people, one of them is doing missionary work for us which is sweet each time we teach her she always brings someone. Another lady we are teaching the new convert lessons to. She has so much faith it blows me away sometimes how trusting she is in the Lord and it humbles me to be able to teach her and her family. 

This week biking and black ice have proven to be a great thing to make us laugh, just randomly your companion will drop right in front of you, it makes for a fun time! 

For thanksgiving we have two appointments to eat dinner and supper,  then many many desert appointments a lot of left over  dinner appointments!  

We have been doing a lot of member work and visits which has increased our member involvement in lessons which has helped our investigators tons!  

I love my mission and the church is true!!  But just knowing that wont save you that's why ya gotta live it and love it! 

I hope you all have a great week!!

Love you all, 

Elder Joshua Braman 

October 13th, 2014

Okay, Hello!  This week was great!  I skinned a deer, we planted a lawn, picked grapes and made grape juice and taught the gospel! We had another great week and we found another couple investigators!

Elder Toner is still awesome ! 

I am enjoying myself and working until I am tired out of my mind, loving the work and LOVING THE FALL!! But, it's not cold enough!!  I miss the Minnesota winter! All in all I am just loving this work.  I really can't explain it.  As I look back I haven't done any really big miracles or any really big, great work but all the small and simple things have made a huge impact on me! 

The scriptures are amazing, this church was restored by the Lord for us.  It's always a good idea to wear your safety belt (ie Dad), drink your milk & keep wearing out those knees!!

Love you all!!

Elder Joshua Braman

 Picked grapes & made grape juice!

 Skinned a deer, in my white shirt & kept it clean!

That is real talent, people. 

 

Letter from Mindy Reimer, October 2nd, 2014

As some of you know, Josh has cousins (Brad & Mindy Reimer) that live in Spokane.  Last year he was able to be there at their house on his birthday and this year he was lucky enough to be there again!  This is not very common to be so close to family on a mission nor is it common that missionaries would be serving near or in their ward.  Grandpa Bob & Grandma Dee must be having so much fun organizing this whole thing together! ;)   Mindy (our cousin) was able to go to a home of a little girl that was being taught, Mindy was there as a leader and she was able to serve along side of Josh.  She wrote this and sent it to our family about her expeirence.  Josh isn't good with all the details and certainlly not with names and the specifics of those he is teaching.  It was fun to read this, being able to picture Josh in this home teaching this little girl.  Good thing he has had so much expeirence with all the kids in his life!  I am sure the kids just love and adore Josh, I know mine do!  

Emma 

Oh!  How sweet is this…to get a front row seat on Josh’s mission!!!

As Brad told you, I was able to visit a little girl in Elder Braman’s ward along with the Primary president.  We were able to sit in on her last lesson with the missionaries. 

Peighton just turned eight years old.  Her family has just recently returned to church activity largely due to efforts by Elder Braman and his companions.  Her mom wanted her to have lessons with the missionaries to be sure that she understands the covenants she will be making at baptism.  This lesson was on the Word of Wisdom.  Elder Braman and Elder Toner took turns sharing parts from the lesson.  At one point, Elder Braman got up, went and sat on the floor in front of Peighton, and talked personally with her about the pictures and words in the booklet they were using to teach her.  It was so like the Savior to me!

During the missionary lessons and other times with the family, you can see how much they have grown to love the missionaries.  Peighton’s dad has been baptized, but has not been active very much since his baptism.  He was not at the home last night, and so efforts for him were discussed.  As Elder Braman shared some inspiration to stop by and visit with just the father, Peighton’s mom said, “Because it is you, I really think that would work.”  Several times she expressed how much their family loves Elder Braman.  How down to earth, “real,” and unassuming he is.  How comfortable they all feel with him.  How much they feel loved by him no matter what.  The primary president in the ward shared what great work he has done for their ward.  Now , of course, they all know he is my cousin.  But I want you to know how genuine these feelings are.  They love him.  They are grateful for him.  He makes them laugh.  He brings the Spirit of love into their home and ward.   

The family’s last name is Peterson.  I know how much we love to pray for specific people that Jordan is teaching…now (if you didn’t already know) you can pray for them J

As I was reflecting on my visit last night, I was so grateful to see that the unconditional love that Grandma Dee and Grandpa Bob have for others, emanates through their grandson.   He loves people as they are and makes them feel special and loved.  Isn’t that a trait we all love about Grandma and Grandpa. 

I gave him a hug as they left last night.  I meant it from all of you.  I now know what it is like to miss hugging a son.  How grateful I am to have had this opportunity to serve alongside Elder Braman. 

Love you all!

Mindy

Septmeber 29th, 2014

 Well transfers came and went and this little missionary is VERY, VERY HAPPY with them!!
 My new companion is Elder Toner (like the printer toner) fresh out of the MTC and he loves to work!  He's a great teacher and he is a funny guy. He is from East Amherst, New York and he is a nice lady.  We get along great and not to mention the best part is not only does he do missionary work but he loves it, too! And I like that. 

We had an awesome week,  37 none member lessons and 20 less active lessons! We found 12 new investigators. have lessons planned with 8 of them and have already met with 4 and those 4 are awesome!  I just love missionary work!!! 

I would love to sit here and tell you of every single miracle and tender mercy that the Lord blessed us with but that would be hard to do and take forever.  I do know though that prayer is an amazing thing and if we rely on the Lord to put someone who is ready to hear the gospel and we have faith he will do all things!  Its simple and its complex, but I know if we pray for things, have a hope that they will happen, and keep walking in faith the Lord will provide. That is my testimony for this week.

 

Thanks for all the Birthday wishes!!  I had a great birthday!!  I had cake, I got a present and a awesome companion so I cant complain! The big 21 passed by like a normal but great day as a missionary, BEST BIRTHDAY!! I hope you all have a great week!!

Love You All!!!

Take care and keep wearing out those knees!!

 Love Elder Joshua Braman 

September 22nd, 2014

Hello family and friends and people who adore my lovely face.... 

This is going to be intense due to that fact I have many announcements and a few fun facts.   

-Transfer calls came and went I am staying & training!  I have no idea what his name is and as we speak he is just getting to the mission so next week I will tell you his name maybe even a picture. 

-I am very glad to be staying in Dishman Mica Ward.  I love this place and the work is happening and training is always a fun time!

This week also Elder O'neal went home (after 2 years in the mission) that was weird but good for him! We had Elder Spendlove with us for the last day, it has been great! We had an awesome lesson with a family in our ward that invited there friends to listen and come to church, it went amazing as they were prepared as they could be! And...we taught the lesson with three missionary's booyaaahh!

Its a pretty awesome feeling to know and see other people feeling the spirit and literally watching lives starting to change in front of you!!  That's why being a missionary is the best thing in the world!!

I hope you all have a great week!!

Love you all!

Love Elder Braman

Septmeber 15th, 2014

Well, Elder Braman didn't feel like finishing this email so he asked me (Elder O'Neal) to write you for him. I don't really know what he did this week or what he wants me to say, so I'll just say this: Elder Braman is freaking nuts, but I love the guy. He's hilarious and crazy but an insanely hard worker. He gets stuff done. Living in his apartment this transfer has been Crazy fun and has provided me with some good memories.

Thanks for raising this crazy kid, for I know it must have been hard. You guys are saints. Really. 

 

Haha, okay now I am back!  I go away for five mins and look what happens! 

This week was awesome though good time good memories. Elder O'Neal is going home next Sunday !! That's weird.  Any who, yup transfers are coming up on the 21st hopefully I stay, sure love this place! I hope you all have a great week keep wearing out those knees!!

Love you all!!!

Elder Joshua Braman 

 Spokane, WA

 Spokane Temple at night 

At the park for district meeting. 

September 8th, 2014

Hello family, friends, people who read, and blog followers to all greetings.

Lets make a list and I will expound on some of them. This week we met a drunk guy who said he was God and he owned the cops and he was going to call the whole police force on us Mormons.  We also met a lady with a beard.  I petted a cat without hating it.  We got a new car 2014 Chevy Cruze, it is very small and very short.  We had tons of meetings, cool and lame ones.  I broke Elder Riches bike!  That was neat, I guess I don't know my own strength.  And we biked, a lot. And finally, it's getting cool enough to open the windows at night!
  

We found a new investigator named Rick he is sooo prepared!! Before we even shared the Restoration he talked about Christ being in the Americas and told us about a bunch of other stuff that we already believe. It was amazing, he invited himself to church and at church he asked to be baptized, what an awesome experience! I gained a testimony this week of prayer and how much our Father in Heaven is very much aware of our needs and wants, and he wants to grant them to us and he can do that if we pray for them! 

It's been awesome to watch peoples progression as we share the gospel with them their life's turn around, but only if they want it to!

Here is a great scripture   Helaman 5:12 

 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that YE MUST BUILD  your foundation; that WHEN the DEVIL SHALL send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when ALL his hail and his mighty storm SHALL beat upon you, it shall have NO power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon IF men build they CANNOT FALL. 

There is some pretty powerful language in that verse  things like SHALL and WILL the biggest,  IF!  I love it because bad things will happen and Satan is a jerk and we will come across some bad things or some trails, but we have a promise that if we build on Christ, We Cannot Fail!! Pretty sweet, eh?  That sums up most of our worries in life as long as we build upon Christ.

I hope you all have a great week!!  
Count your blessings and your sheep as you go to bed.  
Love you all,
Elder Joshua Braman

September 1st, 2014

Hello Family,  People and Freaks!

This week we were swamped! Our goal was 35 lessons but we wanted to smash it so we got 50 lessons!  It was great but it felt short, the week flew by!  Not even the best part of our week, we had two less actives fellowship each other and BOOM, both came to church & not to mention they're like best friends! 

Missionary work is great and I am loving every bit of it, every awkward street contact and every not interested, its all worth every bit of it! I am looking forward to this week as we have a few legit people we hope to contact and teach. 

I hope you all have a great week!  

Love, Elder Braman

We text our Zone leaders our numbers for the week and this is their response! 

{Josh sent this following video with absolutely no explanation.  If you know Josh, you don't need any explanation as you can hear him laugh.  I wouldn't be surprised if Josh gave that squirrel something....}

August 25th, 2014

Hello Family and Friends! 

This week was great!  Super busy and productive! 

Tons of crazy and awesome events, the worst thing though is I cant remember any events, I should write this stuff down, eh?  Time flies bye so fast by the time Monday comes back around, i cant remember anything! Things here are great though. Elder Daniel Johnson of the seventy came and spoke to us, it was awesome. He spoke about teaching people by the spirit, it was really amazing! On a less spiritual note, we got Nerf swords and had (and will have many more) sweet fights with them!

I hope you guys have a great week.  Thanks for all the letters and cards, if you have written me a letter in the past month I am 99% sure I already wrote you back  but if you have written me a letter and I haven't replied, write me another and chew me out! ;) 

Love you all and take care!

 

Elder Braman 

Brad Reimer (Josh's cousin who lives in Spokane with his family) 

did a training at our Zone Conference, it was sweet to see him again and hear him be a boss! 

Brad Reimer & Elder Braman 

August 18th, 2014

Hello people! 

Back to the city grind, eh?  It's an odd feeling to see people and talk to them and such.

This week was nuts! We had over forty lessons and we had times where we could have had more if we had not gotten lost. We met a ton of new people and got. We even got a Book of Mormon chucked at us that was a neat experience..

So to fill all of you in, here is my new life here in the Spokane Valley. My companion is Elder Rich. He is a nerd, like super nerd.  He went to a satellite school for Technical Theater! He enjoys long walks on the beach, magic, computers, girls, and video games. He is the oldest in his family from Henderson, Nevada. That's E Rich in a nut shell. 

Its nice though to have a nerd again, he helps me tons with the phone and spelling stuff and all the tech stuff of life! 

Other than that this week has been full of meetings the new ward trying to memorizing names, and tons of other stuff!  We bike a ton and we get the mini van two days a week so that's how Elder Braman has been for the last week. I do miss Kamiah, ID very much, that place was sweet! 

I hope you have a great week!

Take care and God Bless!

Love Elder Joshua B  

August 4th, 2014

Well this week flew by but on the same hand it feels like last Monday was forever ago!  

Lets see, a quick update as I am running short on time.  This week we got a few new investigators, a flat tire, told we were going to Hell by a not so nice lady, and I got bit by a dog!  We had a tiny wind storm that freaked everybody out and much, much more that I cant remember! 

As much as I somewhat dislike it, we had a dog filled week!  It seems like everywhere we went there were dogs, we even returned runaway dogs to a member!  Not to mention, I got bit by one!  The dog came up, sniffed me, never barked or nothing.  Then, BANG!  Stupid thing bit my knee!  I was not a happy person.  It's not that it hurt or it scared me, I was just was mad it didn't give me a fair warning!   It bit me so I kicked it.  Hey, all is fair in love and war, except there was no love there.

Other  then all that,  we had a really good week! Great lessons and some new contacts.  Transfers are this week so for the next 6 days I will be wondering and hating the endless possibility of what could happen!! I hope you all have a great week and take care! 
 Love,
 Elder Joshua Braman

  Me and the members runaway dogs we found & returned.  

My knee, where the dog bit me. 

July 28th, 2014

Another week flew by, I don't quite understand how it slips away so fast here on the mission!  

You can see by the pictures we are being well fed and being put to work, a good life!  The missionary work is going really well, moving right along.  We found a few new investigators and the ones on date we already have are progressing closer and closer!  All in all, I am enjoying the work and staying somewhat cool, I haven't burned up yet so gotta be thankful for that ! 

Deer here are stupid.  I don't know how in the heck they have survived this long here!  First off there's no food for them as everything is dry and dead. Second, they all come within  ten feet of the bumper, I venture to say they have a game of, " who can get the closest with out death happening" kind of thing going on!  This is short and sweet again today, so much to do!

Jesus Loves you.  I kinda do as well. 

Have a great week and do something wild, but don't get caught!!

Love,

Elder Joshua Braman 

 We put a shed in a hole felt like an Egyptian it was so neat   

 That mallet split three cords of wood like that and is still going strong!

Sister Sandberg in our ward made us an awesome breakfast, it was waaaay good!!

July 21st, 2014

Howdy Folks!  This will be sort and sweet!

This week was good and I am packed, we are staying very busy and productive!

We have another person on date and a two new investigators! One of them is like a scholar with the Book of Mormon so its been fun to watch him connect things and learn things. He has read it twice in about a month and a half and is already on his third time, amazing!  

The work is going good, my companion is good.  It's crazy to me to think I only have a little over ten months left, NUTS !!!! 

We bailed hay this week, only a trailer load of hay but it was fun and sure brought back some dang good memories. It was fun so get some labor work done! Oh, and just to let every one I am a girl and I wear work gloves now because I've lost all my calluses on my palms and hands! 

Thanks for all the emails! I loved reading all your deep dark secrets! 

Love you all!  Have a great week, take care and do something out of the ordinary and weird!!

Have Fun.  Enjoy life.

 I miss you all! 

Love Elder Joshua Braman

I finally got a hair cut!  My hair was getting so long!

July 7th, 2014

Another Fourth of July passed by with out seeing a explosion of any kind...its not that important, maybe next year.  We had a good week this week, stayed busy and some what cool!  Its been super hot here, sometimes I feel like I am in Utah, that's how dang hot it is! 

Our investigators are doing good and the area is doing better and better every day!  Weird stuff happens every day, we meet some fairly odd people.  For example, today while we've been emailing on our prep-day, a guy with a legit bath towel wrapped around his head asked us if we could talk to him outside.  We did and he said some interesting things.  Then he said,"Okay lets pray and then I have to go talk to more people", what?!  Nice guy though, but for real there are some odd people out there folks!  

I've learned a few things lately, mostly just about the scriptures and the gospel. One thing is that the Gospel is simple and if we try to over complicate it then we are asking for trouble.  If we will just focus on the basics: Faith,  Repentance, and Enduring. Those things will keep us busy enough and we wont need to worry about  things like if Adam and Eve had belly buttons or any of that useless info!  If we focus on the basics of what Christ taught and we do are darnedest to follow the commandments, we will be okay!

So often we as people sick our noses in other peoples business, if we neglect to tend to our own affairs and our own lives we will find our self's always trying to measure up to some one else and then we will forget to be who God wants us to truly be.  So, be yourself. Work to become your best self and when you find a huge gap between you and perfection, use the atonement and become better every day. 

I hope you all have a great week!  Stay cool, don't touch pokey things, never stand behind an angry donkey, and make sure you don't leave your kids in the car on a hot day. Check your tire pressure weekly, drink your milk, never put a CD in the microwave and always wash behind your ears while your in the shower.  But more importantly, remember to thank God for the little things!! 
WEAR THOSE KNEES OUT!!

Love you all,
Elder Joshua Braman

 A deer in our back yard with a floppy ear! 

 The truck name made me laugh, thought I should show you!

 Me holding a Restoration Pamphlet in front of that sign ...  

June 30th, 2014

Hello, Ladies & Gents!  This week was great and we had a lot of good lessons and met a lot of new people which is nice for missionaries. Transfers came and this week!  I am staying in Kamiah 2nd ward with Elder Baczuk I was hoping for a transfer back up to Republic but that hasn't happened yet, not likely that it will!

Our investigators are doing good, we had 6 at church so we enjoyed that very much.  The work here is going good picking up slowly but surly.  I don't have any pictures to send, there isn't much that is picture worthy down here, unless it's the cows you like.  I am looking forward to this week, we have more lessons  set up and a few good other things.  Again, sorry this is so short, gotta run! 

Love you all!

Take care and have fun and play hard!!

Love Elder Braman  

June 23rd, 2014

Well, good day to all of you humans!  Glad to see you're alive enough to read this email. 

This week was crazy! We saw and did a lot and we had some good lessons and some great cancellations... haha, any way just another awesome  week as a missionary! We went on exchanges that was a nice break!! 

This week we also got to watch two bulls fight! It was pretty neat to watch.

The one got its butt kicked, the bigger of the two shoved the other in to a fence so he gave up, I guess he didn't like the barb wire poking him. 

Monday we played basketball at the local high school and I landed on a kids foot and rolled my ankle pretty good, that's been a great thing to have always bugging me, oh well just keep on keepin' on, eh? 

The Kamiah 2nd Ward in which I serve in is very very boonie. For example the biggest town in our area is has 226 people called Stites, Idaho. Then we cover Harpster, ID and Clearwater, ID both of which are very tiny.  One can imagine it is very hard to talk to people simply due to the lack of people!  Here is the kicker, the place where most people go is the dumpster!  The county does not do personal garbage cans so people have to take there garbage to one of three locations (in our area, the county has like ton) That's where people are so that's where we go!  It's weird to sit and talk to people/or wait for people to come but its the best way to contact people in this area so we do it! 

We got a flat tire this week so we put the spare on and went to a few more appointments

and then went home.  We woke up that morning did studies and then went outside to to get our tire fixed and then, as luck would have it, our back tire was flat as well! We were up a creek with out a paddle!  We called a tow and the guy picks us up then we started talking to him, we learned a bunch from him and then gave him a book of Mormon . He also told us a ton about our area so that was good!! Then another tire experience!!  We were on exchanges and as we were driving we stopped and helped a guy change his tire!  We learned he was from Wisconsin and we gave him a Book of Mormon and got him in contact with some other missionaries!  Flat tires can be a blessing!! 

All in all we had a really good week, stayed busy and had a lot of lessons. The work in this area is picking up and moving along which makes time fly even faster which I dislike and like at the same time but it sucks when yesterday feels like today and tomorrow feels like so far away but then I hear the alarm go off and its the next day suddenly!  Mission time is freakishly fast.  

I hope all you kids have a good week and take care of yourselves  now, ya hear me?  And don't go doing anything silly (please say that in a Minnesotan accent)

Love,

Elder Joshua Braman  

 Cool sign, good quote. 

 Sweet Sunset in Kamiah, ID

Another flat tire!  And the spare tire is already being used.  Yaay.. 

June 16th, 2014

Attention people who adore me and love me!  Glad to see your all taking time out of your day to acknowledge me and my presence in writing form. I will start by saying hello and end this most likely saying goodbye in some form.  In the middle of my email I shall inform you of my week!  Now we all know the plan let us begin.  

To whom it may concern, 

Hello and welcome to this letter.  This week was great we went to the temple and had Zone meeting and interviews with President, three of the days this week were all driving and all sitting but we did have a jam packed rest of the week.  All of our investigators are doing good, some better than others but still good! Church was good and I learned a lot there. I think I actually got my call to the coast of WA because its like none stopped rained for the last couple days which is nice, but bad at the same time!  I got my hair cut today . Emma and the rest of my sisters would be proud, I actually cut it different lengths. instead of all one half inch on the top and one fourth on the sides.  Almost over an inch on top was taken off which is like a huge deal because I HATE my hair long!

You might ask yourself why did Elder Braman just tell me about his hair?  He could have just told me about a spiritual experience or something like that. That is because last week was a blur, time is getting faster and faster and when I sit here its like the hardest thing to remember details of my week!  Good thing I write in my journal every night, eh?   

All in all we had a great week and looking forward to this up coming week. I hope you all have a great week!

Love you all tons & take care!

Elder Joshua Braman

 Josh just hanging out with his new friends. 

 Climbing a 50 foot tree house

June 2nd, 2014

Well this week was another good week, crazy things as usual! 

Our ward is just referring all their friends to us like crazy, we have been so busy teaching driving and then sleep, its great.  I have been working on learning to follow the small promptings of the spirit more on my mission and its been hard because some times I don't like to talk to people or chase them down because sometimes it can be awkward.  Not saying I don't talk to people but like when people are walking on the side of the road and your driving and then the spirit tells you to talk to them but its such a small voice its can be easy to ignore. For the last couple weeks I have been working on following those promptings, and as I have we have had great meetings with people and have picked up a few investigators from it. I have learned that the Lord is guiding me a lot more then I thought, its actually been the best part of my mission thus far.  All in all I am doing great, loving the work and enjoying myself.  My companion is pretty cool, this morning we played hockey with milk jugs and brooms in our two car garage it was a blast!

  

I hope you all have a great week!!

  

Love,

Elder Braman  

May 27th, 2014

Well I should start off by saying I have been banished to  Kamiah, Idaho.  Kamiah is boonieville!  Like worse than Republic, and that is not even the worst part.  Actually the best part  is my area isn't even in Kamiah that's just where our church building is! We have three towns in our area; Clearwater, Stites, and Harpster. The biggest is Stites and there's 262 people in it!  We live in a town of like twenty people! Legitimately the boonie'est area of the mission.  All in all I am doing great though.  Good people and no straight roads, all mountain roads and all right along the river! My Companion is Elder Baczuk pronounced bay-zik is pretty cool normal kid from Utah.

I hit my year mark this week that's a weird feeling,eh?!  I hear the second half flies by so I'd better just hold on to my britches and keep going. 

Who the heck knows what the next year holds, I could get an actual banishment to the city (Spokane) again or I could get put with a weird-o!  For now I will count my blessings that I am in the boonies and with some one I don't have to drag to do missionary work.  I will say this getting transfered to a new area is weird.  When I left Republic I felt like I was leaving from home and going on my mission again, having to relearn everything and say my good-bye's and such.  But, its great.  I love the work and love the people. We have two on dates for the 14th so that will be a good day.  You all have a good week!  

Thanks for all the letters!!

Love Elder Braman

 Church clothes to service clothes in a flash!! 

 The local grocery store. 

Elder Baczuk