May 26th, 2015

Last Letter ;( 

 2 John 1:12 
"Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak FACE to FACE, that our joy may be FULL."

May 11th, 2015

I spoke to my family on Mother's Day, it was great! 
I go home in 21 days.
I am well and I love Jesus. 
The End.  

Love,

 Elder Joshua Braman

April 20th, 2015

Transfer calls are in!!  I am staying here in Sandpoint, ID which surprised me. Although that is not the surprise...Elder Baczuk, my companion that I had in Kamiah, ID is coming up here for my last transfer!!!!!

Once I found that out I had smile on my face for a solid hour and still do! 

Anywho... I love the work and I am doing great. I only have 6 weeks left and that will fly on by so I am freaking out about that!!! 

Love you all!!

Elder Joshua Braman

April 13th, 2015

These past few weeks have been great. I am loving the work and I'm working hard!  Some funny things have happened and some tragic things have happened.  Mad, stress, love, compassion, exciting jump for joy moments and some let downs. Some situations that pushed me far beyond what I thought I could handle, friends made, investigators dropped, people hollering at us, but all measurable growth. 

The best part of being a missionary is that we get to see people grow and learn and actually see their testimony form.  Kind of like hearing the corn grow on those hot summer nights.  We have an awesome clutch of people who we teach, they are all different yet so similar. 

Here's a weird thought.

This week at a baptism we asked someone to speak and they spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was an okay talk, but as they spoke a few cell phones went off.  First a small ding then another buzzed and then the last one did a real quite like almost silent beep. I correlated that to how sometimes in our busy lives our phone goes off and we don't hear it or feel it because we are to busy rushing and being loud. We'd miss an important message, just like how sometimes we aren't listening to the small beeps of the spirit so we miss them. 

We ought to either put our spiritual phones on a bit louder or calm down a bit so we can hear it a bit better. 

Well that is my week. 

Love you people! 

Thanks for being my devoted followers!

Peace!! 

Elder Joshua Braman

April 6th, 2015

General Conference was so amazing!  I cant begin to tell what my favorite talks were and how the spirit helped me understand many points of truth and answered questions . 

Its amazing to even try to comprehend  how much God truly loves us and how He WANTS us to repent and come closer to Him.

My testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ has grown over the years and for me General Conference has always been a boost for me and after each one I want to be even closer to my Savoir.  I am eternally grateful to my Father and Mother for lovingly and sometimes forcefully...more like sternly teaching me the principal of watching General Conference. Oh the wisdom that is to listen to a prophet of God to teach us what we need to hear from God. Thomas S. Monson said ''When God speaks and man obeys that man will always be right '' that's pretty cool and the fact that we have the chance to listen and have instruction to help us live better lives is my favorite part!

I wrote down some questions before listening and during the conference ALL of my questions were answered!! 

 This week was great, full of meetings. We had 3 days of meetings and then Saturday and Sunday with conference

P-day (today) was intense! We climbed this huge mountain. Not only that but we climbed the shelved water falls as well, technically we just hiked up the water fall basin 

 This picture was taken where the first picture in the other email was taken, near the bottom of the picture is about 300 feet up. We climbed to the snow in to the clouds, about another 200 feet or so, a 5 hour hike easy hiking sorta, sometimes rock climbing (mom we had rope no worries).

To get to this we had to cross a river twice, there and back . The first time we stripped down to our under wear and crossed bear feet so our boots and pant stayed dry and the second time.(it was snowing and ice cold mountain water we were soaked from the brush, so we just went boots and all) it was great!! 

In the picture where you can see the highest relatively small one the mountain takes a hard left so there were many more water falls there and most of the hiking was done there it took us by surprise to see the other ones. 

We saw a couple moose and never had to use our grizzle bear spray, a win all around. 

We left with this, ''Northern Idaho is sure pretty when you drive though it but its freaking amazing when you experience it and hike all through out it!!''

Elder Lyden and Elder Padilla didn't want to attend because it was to snowy and cold so lucky me, Elder Orchard went with and it was the two of us!   They stayed in the apartment and played games. LAME! We had fun and to calm all of you fears we had no really scary moments like mentioned by "Jeffery R Holland" in conference ... we had similar ones but nothing bad even closely happened be cause of the rope .. #weweresafe 

Love you all Elder Joshua Braman

March 30th, 2015

This week was way weird for a few reasons . 

We were doing member visits and found out one of the less active members in our ward owns a dairy farm. I MILKED A COW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 22 MONTHS white shirt and all!  It was the weirdest feeling ever my companion said I had a permanent smile the whole time!  For those of you who talk dairy it was a single side entry 4 cow parlor. 

I got pulled over twice in twenty four hours and both times no ticket ;) 

I got to go proselyte in good ole Dishman Mica Ward 

The work is going well and I am enjoying Sandpoint and the wards we cover. 

I'm loving the mission, we have a couple new people to teach and they are awesome!  I hope you all enjoyed those talks at General Conference! 

Have a great week!!

Love ya 

Elder Josh Braman

Words of Wisdom ..... ''Let your Regrets be the Fuel that help your Resolutions actually happen'' 

Just remember if you feel odd in a crowd there is always someone 

out there who has got it worse. 

March 23rd, 2015

This email comes with homework . 
You must read these talks, both are available on www.lds.org. 

We Are Doing a Great Work and Cannot Come Down.  
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

His Grace Is Sufficient
Brad Wilcox 

My testimony has grown so much as I have listened to these talks and applied them and focused on the Savior and becoming more and more Christ like. 

One of the lines in "His Grace is Sufficient" that struck me was, 

Elder Bruce C. Hafen  “The great Mediator asks for our repentance not because we must ‘repay’ him in exchange for his paying our debt to justice, but because repentance initiates a developmental process that, with the Savior’s help, leads us along the path to a saintly character” (The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 149; emphasis in original).

Another that struck me 

"We are not earning heaven. We are learning heaven. We are preparing for it (see D&C 78:7). We are practicing for it.”

And yet another, 

“Have you been changed by grace?”

 (pretty much his whole deal on that part of being changed, and when he talks about getting in to heaven, that part is dang good!)  ''Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly.'' 

If Jesus Christ did not require endurance to the end, then there would be no internalization of those changes over time. They would forever be surface and cosmetic rather than sinking inside us and becoming part of us—part of who we are. Put simply, if Jesus didn't require practice, then we would never become pianists.

I encourage each of you to read these talks, even if your not a Mormon!  Either which way if you want to read them or if ya don't, still do it!  You can listen to them and watch them.  I promise they will help you find relief, peace, hope and direction in life. 

''Changing our behavior and our nature due to the things we read and hear is the ultimate test of our character and our love for God ''  -Joshua Braman 

*******************************************

I also have another request, I have two months left.  Yikes !!!!!!  Anywho, don't talk about it, its a long time even though I know its short. I am going to finish better than I started, even though coming home scares the crap out of me!

Elder Lyden and I are doing well, probably my favorite companion.  He's a good kid, HUMBLE and a hard worker. I appreciate those things in a companion. One of our favorite thing to do is to make a game of how many times we can get rejected. Not like we are trying to but the more people we talk to the more we get rejected.  Kinda sad actually. 

So far I believe I am slightly ahead of Elder Lyden.  This week we dubbed as THE WEEK OF REJECTION!  In all ways we have been rejected.  By our bishop, our landlord, everybody!  It's been great...

Things are great, I'm loving the mission and loving the work.  I am some how growing to actually like the Young Single Adult Branch ( for those who don't know what that is, it's church for single adults ... reallllly awkward and really quite).  I have seen a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father in all of it. It is really (shhhh!!!) really peaceful and quite during church and wow, I like to be able to focus on the spirit during the sacrament! 

Keep being awesome!

I love you all!!!

Keep on keepin'on. 

You cant say I didn't do anything for ya, I just gave ya some homework!!  Or I just gave you your next three to four family night activities.  

You're Welcome!!

With love,

Elder Joshua Braman 

 Elder Braman riding a very slow train... 

March 9th, 2015

I am being transferred to Sandpoint, Idaho.  My companion is Elder Lyden he has been out for 6 months or so. I am pretty bummed about leaving PostFalls, ID 2nd ward.  A lot of good people here but I am pumped for Sandpoint.  We will cover three wards; Sunny Side Ward, a YSA Branch and then a ward in Montana, Libby to be exact, so that's pretty neat.  We should have enough on our plates to keep us busy so that will be nice. Elder Padilla, one of my past companions from Republic, WA, will be in my zone so that will be sweet. Sandpoint is going to put me back in the boonies so that will be neat . 

Our investigators here I am sad to leave, but there in good hands and they are all on date for baptism.  The ward is good and has an amazing ward mission leader, Brother Cook. He is literally the best I have seen! Partly due to the fact he is from Brainerd, Mn which helps out, eh?  Also on the topic of Minnesota, a whole family in the ward I am leaving is from Aitikn, Minnesota only a hour away and a couple three lakes from where I call home.  That's a neat fact, eh?

 

I hope you all have a great week love you and miss ya!

Elder Joshua Braman 

 Biking to Spokane, WA.  25 miles before. 

 and after. 

What do you know, I ran into my amazing cousin along the way, Brad Reimer! 

February 17th, 2015

Okay people gather around and put your reading glasses on...

And, begin.

1. We biked from Post Falls, ID to Coeur d'Alene, ID.  It was nuts!! 

2. I jumped a huge jump on my bike and ate dirt. HARD. 

3. We have plans to bike to 'MLC' a missionary meeting in Washington Spokane, it's 25 miles  and it is going to be sweet! 

4.  We met some sweet people..like a lot. 

5.  We got dumped, dropped, and screamed at and then the next day the lady that screamed at us gave us cookies, and we ate them! I don't quite know why because they could have been poisoned but that was an after thought.  Whoops! 

6.  I took a lot of pictures. You are welcome.  

7.  I got my trunkies (i.e the papers that tell me i am going home and when i leave .. June 1st  no surprise there)

8. We had Stake Conference and there were a lot of really great talks and some answers to my prayers.  
 

We had a great last two weeks and are having fun and working hard and loving the work. I hope you all have a great week and keep it real. Wear out those knees, work hard and pray your brains out. 

Love Elder Joshua Braman 

 Just a normal picture of me at the city park. 

My companion and I competing at a bike fight. A bike fight is where two people go head to head and battle it out on a stationary bike for 60 seconds and see who can peddle the longest distance.

 On someones door.  I added my special touch.

 ????

February 2nd, 2015

One knows they are in Northern Idaho when at testimony meeting when a man stands up and says, "I'd like to say a few words about chickens..."  Also, when did everybody start hating Mormon? 

Transfers were last week and I am now living in Post Falls, Idaho and we live on a freaking golf course!!  It's a hoopty golf course in fact!! Like, over the top fancy!!!

The work is going well we are in a finding mode, nothing but trying to find new investigators.  This area is new & hasn't had missionaries in it for a long time so its been fun to start from scratch and meet TONS of new people. Miracles are every where and its strengthened my testimony a great deal.

My companions name is Elder Haws from Provo, Utah  He is weird its a good weird..like me.. we work very hard and teach really well with each other (at least we think we do) but we have way too much fun together. And he talks in lessons!!  That's kinda a new thing for me, the last couple of my companions didn't talk much. 

Our ward is interesting. Lets put it that way... maybe it is just me or the fact that I just came from a ward that understands missionary work and the auxiliaries all worked together with the bishop, or maybe its just the bishop here, but either way the work is moving forward and each area is hastening in there own different ways. 

Hope you're all still alive and kickin... thanks to my sister Lauren keeping count I only have 119 days left... no worries though I am still going strong and working my tail off.  I'm not planning on slowing down until I'm done here. 

Love Elder Joshua Braman ...     

or as my other tag says Brayman (I was just tired of people of getting my name wrong :) 

PS. I am fat, 220...... not cool!!!!  Don't worry mom, I'm being well fed here! 

January 26th, 2015

Hello (insert name) how are you?  

I am well, thanks for asking, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED!! ugh  Okay, time to be real for a second.  The one thing I hate about being a missionary  is; here lets put you in this place and then you will learn to love the people and you basically have a new family and then, we will rip your heart out and make you go to a new place and then once you really, really love them and the missionary work is going really well...then we'll do the same thing all over again except this time it will be your heart and your liver...

Goodbye Dishman Mica Ward, my heart and liver will always be with you. 

I am being transferred to Post falls Idaho Second Ward and my new companions name is Elder Haws.  I actually knocked doors with him on his first day so I already know him. Weird, eh? 

This week was great, I will give you a series of events that happened this week 

I ate really good Chinese food a member cooked.

I got bit by a dog again... 

When I packed last night I fit all my stuff in to two suit cases instead of three.

I finally got Elder Li to eat peanut butter, he almost threw up.

I got to see a bunch of other missionary's who I know, that was cool. 

I will be sad to be leaving this area and the people.  I will miss them very much and once again my heart, and liver will always be with them.

I hope you all have a great week!!

Love ya,

Elder Braman

January 6th, 2015

Hello people I never email :/ that's my bad but I am doing it now and I have a lot to cover so it will be fast and wild a little bit of ADD in there as well... shocking, eh?

Christmas here in Washington Spokane was sadly a brown one and there wasn't much  to write home about weather wise that week so sometimes I feel like Christmas never happened.  This week it snowed about 6 inches but as I type it is melting, dumb.  City life... Christmas was great, we had a eventful morning between Elder Li face timing  to China at 5 in the morning, two breakfast's and the my highlight was talking to my family!! That was the best ever. It was good to talk to them but really weird because the next and last time I Skype with them I will be seeing them in a couple weeks later which will be weird.  

After Christmas was good still working hard and then to news years and we watched THE BEST TWO YEARS it was good just felt bad to sit for that long, I like to stay busy doing missionary work! 

We ate a bunch of dang good food n then went home.  But the next morning I was sick, I thew up until my little stomach almost died, and then I was fine. And then I got a really bad case of strep throat and it swelled really bad and was having trouble breathing.  I went to the ER and they doctored me up and the next morning  back to work and loving life!  I am doing better now still a sore throat and headache but that will go away eventually, eh?   

Those are my highlights for the last few weeks, its been fun and its been some wild missionary work but it is going well!  We are having a lot of successes and we are working hard and loving it!  Our minivan's horn broke and sounds funny, ads some humor to our days!  

Elder Li and I are doing well, the language barrier is still weird but I just put my nose down and keep going and he will follow and learn the language. He is doing better and better each day, this week he learned compaction and compassion.. those to words sounded the same to him but are definitely not!  

I hope you all have a great week!!  

Love You All!!!

 Elder Joshua Braman