Your leisurely time will reveal your true nature.

My new companion: Elder Geilman!

Hope all is well...

THings are going so well out here in Holbrook Arizona.. It is way too hot for my liking.. Those mounds of snow that I once despised are sounding a lot more appealing now.. 

Last week was a crazy one because things kept falling through and it threw us for a whirl! Normally, unplanned opportunities are something I thrive on, but not when you have a day planned to go out to Farmington for the whole day, or you have planned to have another set of elders to work your area with you.. It's been a crazy week! Lot's of good things on the way though..

One of my favorite people right now is a man named Richard Ramirez.. Holy cow! This guy is just stellar! He recently started taking the discussions and has just taken off with his testimony of the restored gospel.. He's not in our area, but him and I have a great bond.. Something about him reminds me of the conversion experience I had while in Canada.. It's neat to see.. What is really so inspirational about him is the fact that he almost didn't get baptized because of a ton of opposition from those he loves.. To spare the details, it amazes me to see his commitment to be a part of the restored kingdom upon the earth... The picture is at his baptism, and you can just tell, we get along well... We will see how it goes!

Another miracle person who is actually in our area, is a lady named Mary.. Mary took the lessons in the past from the missionaries in Snowflake and could feel it was what she needed to be a part of.. For some reason she lost contact and is now engaged with someone in our ward.. She is the most gun hoe person I've seen with wanting to be a part of all of this.. It's incredible to see the Lord prepare all these wonderful people... 

The hard lesson I learned this week that has been a great source for my uneasiness, has been the confirmation of how prideful I am.. Never a fun lesson to learn from the Spirit, but one that is required... With it I know the Lord is helping me to grow into the man I would like to be... I love this gospel so much and I will never give up with trying my best to be my best and help others do the same...

I love you all! Smile goofily to a stranger today! 

Elder Brayden James Sandberg

New Transfer

Happy Birthday Elder Van Ry!

Got a new companion! His name is Elder Geilman from Twin Falls Idaho. He is a blast! HIm and I are already getting along great..

Had a miracle on a way to a service project.. Lately we have been walking a ton more because of the need to save miles (zone goal!). We were walking to where we thought we needed to go, and then we walk past this welding supply store where a man comes out and stops us. He says that someone inside the building needed us.. We hesitantly walked in and found that there was a gentleman who had just fallen out of his truck and felt as though his back might have been broken.. He was hoping to get a hold of someone to give him a blessing, but was unfamiliar with the are because he was a truck driver.. As he was pondering on this, he sees two guys walking down the road in white shirts and figures out that they are missionaries! Miracle!

Another great thing that has been happening has been the progress of those we are working with.. Sometimes it can be so hard to tell who is going to take it seriously and who isn't.. This week it was a woman named Xotchi, who actually reminds me of my mother. She is a super open individual and has been listening to everything we say.. We left her the intro to the Book of Mormon to read and for a while she hasn't gotten to it when we ask her in passing.. We went last night for a lesson and she had read it! It was awesome.. For some that might seem weird why I would get all excited about that, but those little decisions make a HUGE difference!

Helped out for the Route 66 Festival this weekend! It was a blast. Got an awesome tan line, and lot's of new faces and names.

Psalms 19:1-4

Elder Brayden James Sandberg

A little Q&A with Elder Sandberg

Tell me a little about Holbrook. Holbrook is the town that Cars is based off of! The place where the animators for the film actually worked at a particular restaurant just down the road from our house! Our house is basically a giant room with a half way wall in it.. First place with no washer and dryer, windows to open, a dining room, and overall just a homie feeling.. It's strange but it's good for us!

Who are your favorite people to visit right now? Favorite people to visit... Hmmm well.. This might just be a little rant for right now, but since coming here we have had to build the area up! I don't know if I've ever had so much resistance on the mission. Most people are easy to get in with and to grab hold of, but the Lord has not put such people in my path yet! Maybe it's just a growing opportunity but right now I am working to find those people I love to visit! 

My fav members to visit are my Ward Mission Leader! He looks like the guy off 300! SPARTA! Beard and all.. He is a beautiful man with a great family.. It was his son that I fed the ice cream too.. He's probably one of the best wml I've worked with, which is quite a few being in Monticello!

Is the food pretty normal or are there some traditional foods you eat that would seem strange to me? No traditional foods! Holbrook is pretty main stream because of all the white people and stuff.. It's cool :D WE do have a gym though! AH! I Pray if I get transferred again that I can continue to have one.. The people who open it are out of town this week so I will have to do various other excerciess bluh... :p

I have set a new goal of being able to dunk! SO that means my new big focus is doing squats, squats, and more squats! If you know of any work out plans to improve your vertical, that would be great! I'll be the next Michael Jordan! ;D Not..

Do you still make tortillas? I don't have to make tortillas as much anymore! They are very time consuming and I finally have down a cheap, fast, and somewhat healthy way to have food! 

Things are great! 

People giving me a hard time here is a good thing right? Hopefully it's not from being to big of a knucklehead 

Love ya!

Elder Sandberg

What did the donkey say when you took his pants off? "Who put these pants on me!" :D

To be completely honest, this past week has been a butt kicker! Maybe I'm just soft, but rejection after rejection after rejection.. Normally, by this point, I'm at least able to shmooz someone, but it just hasn't happened! It was a rougher week for whatever reason!

Something fun though was two accounts of children that were hilarious. The first one was at our Ward Mission Leaders house- Brother Black.. He has a man of a beard, and is just super awesome.. His son, Bridger, is about 4 years old and is a cute little kid.. We went over to talk about the missionary work at his house, and while we talked about it, they invited us to have some ice cream. Me being the turd that I am, decided to get their son all hyped up on sugar by sharing my ice cream with him.. It started out with a shyly accepted bite from my spoon. Then, as it came time for business, we started with a prayer and he was right next to me looking down into my bowl in my hands.. During the prayer, I fed about 4 spoonfuls of ice cream to him while everyone was reverently bowing their heads for the prayer.. Probably not the best decision in the world! But it was funny :D

THEN we went to visit a family who had 3 little kids. Age 3, 6, and 7. We were teaching them about the Holy Ghost, and did so by blind folding one of the little girls and having the voices of everyone in the room yell where to go. When she was blindfolded, we picked one person to be the Holy Ghost to lead her in the right direction, but everyone else would lead her astray.. We started and the voices started yelling where to go.. THe whole time she was familiar with my voice because I told her where to go.. So I told her to start moving ahead and she took off on a fast sprint and ran face first into the wall and fell down! Luckily, she was laughing. Even better, she now knew that my voice was not the Holy Ghost :D

I love being out here.. Some more brutal honesty, lately I've been super trunky.. BUT I have not been trunky for home or anything of the sort.. I'm trunky for Crownpoint.. Lately there have been members out here who have had some kind of connection to people out there and it is just AMAZING to hear about the growth of certain individuals! I miss the people out there dearly..

Then there is Monticello! Where do I even begin? Monticello is like a second home.. I honestly might retire or move there someday.. There are many people that I wish I could call and connect with again, but can't right now..

Most recently, Tuba City! I didn't even know at the time, how much I would miss Tuba City.. It was a tough area for me due to personal challenges, but getting to know the people out there, and thinking about them, I miss them dearly.. Especially ELder Ah CHee! Love that guy.. BUt also the people there.. I feel there was a deep connection that I made with quite a few.. Many of whom are receiving this email..

I've learned from this "trunkiness" that my life is forever changed because of the people in the four corners area.. The thing I look forward to most upon returning home, is being able to stay in contact with everyone.. WHAT A WONDERFUL BLESSING IT IS TO HAVE YOU ALL SO CLOSE!!!! I love it! None of you will ever get rid of me.. It's just how it is...

Below are some pictures of our zone BBQ! Elder Sandberg- the grill master doing his thing!

Love you all!

Elder Brayden James Sandberg