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 ...