New Years!

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!! Hi Maa, Pop, Sam, Connor! I can't believe it's really 2010! This year, I will ACTUALLY make it to 2 DECADES OLD- bet you'd never see the day huh?! haha :)

I had a great New Years :) It was such a party! On the 31st all the Missionaries in my residence 3M got together in the corner of one of the floors and counted down the seconds to 10:00- and then all celebrated and drank apple juice and partied it up... for 15 whole minutes!! At 10:15, quiet time comes into effect and the new year's celebration was officially over. Hahaha but it
was fun while it lasted. :)

Elder Linford, my DEAREST companion, thinks it's HILARIOUS that everytime i see the snowcovered mountains I whine- I WANT TO SKI SO BAD!! haha! From our desk in the classroom we have a perfect view of the Provo Mountain range... and Elder Linford will say "Hey Elder Hellberg, look how beautiful the mountains look... can you imagine the powder? the crisp snow in the trees as you glide by on your skis?" Lol what a jerk! Haha I still love him though...

QUICK funny story- On Wednesday, I was telling a story to the whole district- with a blue pen in my hand. And you know how I tell stories, I use my hands all the time (We're Italians, it's understandable)... WELL anyway, mid story, I somehow managed to draw a line from the corner of my mouth all the way to my eye, where I stabbed myself and went blind for about 10 minutes. It's pretty much the most embarrassing thing that's happened to me here. It's the districts favorite story. lol.

We have a new district rule- Todos en Español. Everything that needs to be communicated between anybody in the district must be said in Spanish! Haha it's hard sometimes, because If you don't know the meaning of a word you have to look it up before you can communicate. Tough luck. But it's really improving all of our Spanish. :)

Last night at Dinner a BIRD flew into the cafeteria!! It was so funny! It pooped in peoples food and just caused a huge commotion! So awesome. We named him Lorenzo. :)

SO my spelling in the English language has officially, CRASHED. Spanish is so grammatically and phonetically correct, and English is so, well, NOT. "Prophet"- is now spelled "profet". (Profeta en Español). "Gratitude" no longer has an "e" at the end, and any words that end with "-tion" are now "-ción." Just a few examples of the hundreds of words I spell wrong now. The name of the Savior is even different! In Spanish it's Jesucristo- So when I write it in English it's either One word- Jesuschrist, or i forget the 'h'- "Jesus Crist" Ahh!! I hope He understands..!!

SO yesterday, I got called, along with my companion Elder Linford, to serve as Zone Leaders for our branch. It's me and him- in charge of 5 districts- with about 12 Missionaries to each District. I'm having to juggle with this whole new concept of "responsibility." I'm in charge of hosting new missionaries, conducting meetings, teaching Branch-wide lessons, setting a "missionary Example"- (wish me luck), and training new missionaries and new district leaders throughout the Branch. We're all over the place! haha! This coming wednesday, another District is coming in, and I'm kinda feeling stressed- I have so much
to do to prepare everything for them!! But When President Studdert asked me to be ZL, he said the Lord needed me to be it- so I couldn't say no! ( I wouldn't have anyway, I don't think...)

Elder Linford and I are on fire- we're teaching a few real investigators over the phone systems (conference calls) and I have a few investigators that I've been emailing back and forth, trying to answer their questions about the Savior, the Church, and their purpose in this life.

I love being a MISSIONARY!!!

Such an epic adventure I'm on- wish me luck!
LOVE YOU ALL!!

Always and Forever,
Elder Brandon Hellberg