Subject: Last week in JULY!
DEAR Home!! FIRST off, let me apologize for not being able to write home a big letter last week! The Library didn't have working laptops, and it was packed- so my companion and I had to share a computer! Didn't have enough time to do anything! :( BUT all is well, I'm here bright and early on Wednesday morning and it's nearly empty- minus the Olmstead Zone (12 missionaries) who are all rapidly typing to their families as well! :)
Let's see... what to report...
Well, first off, I'd like to officially announce that because of my new found ability to speak Spanish... my ENGLISH skills have improved! Hooray!! I'm not sure exactly HOW it happened, but somehow a few missionaries and I were discussing diction and articulation (cool topics, huh?) and mine came up and they all agreed that I speak very clearly and at a good moderate speaking pace in English. WHAT!?! I was shocked!! I had a flood of memories of family and friends all telling me to "slow down" and "pronounce" my words... Missions really do work Miracles!! I can speak in my native tongue! Hooray!
Dad, I did get your package! WIth the flash drive! I LOVED IT! I laughed and cried and loved it! Aww :) Mom, I'm so glad you, Sam and Con had fun in Nauvoo! I got a letter from Pres. CHamberlain yesterday about how dad stayed home and painted the garages and stuff- and how he was so excited for you two that you went to Israel! Busy summer! Wow! I miss the Hellberg Hectic travel plans :) I'm definitely going to raise my family on-the-go! hahah!
CAN YOU BELIEVE it's been 8 months!? that seems like so long but it feels like so short!!
Funny experience on Friday... Elder Torres and I went tracting in a big apartment complex and had tracted a couple floor without much success. We knocked on this man's door and he answered and looked surprised and asked us who we were. I explained who we were and about our message. I asked him his name and he said "I'm Aguedo from the Dominican Republic!" Just then we hear from somewhere inside his apartment this screechy yelling woman's voice- "AGUEDO! What are you doing!" He ignored the yelling and kept talking to us. About 30 seconds later, the yelling comes again "AGUEDO! Who are you talking to!?" He ignored the yelling again. He told us his situation and that he would love for us to come back and teach him about our message. We asked him for his phone number and he gave it to us, when the yelling came again; "AGUEDO, who are you giving your number to!?" Finally he turned around and yelled back into the Apartment "Can't you see I'm talking to the Men of God, Woman!?!" Hahaha it was so funny!
WE MOVED! Hooray!! We are in these SUPER nice white, clean, rat-free apartments... with BALCONIES!! Hooray! We love them! We celebrated the move by making a Shepard's Pie- and burnt it and set off all our brand new fire detectors! Hooray!!
So.. something strange happened the other day, but it's going to be a little hard to explain over e-mail.... SO we have quite a few really awesome investigators right now, all pretty different and in different parts of our area. We'll break them up into families A, B, and C. Family A and B are Dominican and family C is Honduran/Puerto Rican. We've been teaching Families A and B for quite some time and Family C is fairly recent, 2 or 3 weeks. We went over to Visit Family A on Monday, but when we knocked, someone from Family B answered the door. We were confused, but got invited into the apartment so we went inside where we met family A and B- turns out they are linked through several family marriages. We had just started chatting with them when the doorbell rang and it's none other than Family C! Turns out THEY are related to family A directly and Family B through marriage on both sides! None of the families knew we were teaching the other families- and there were many exchanges of "They are teaching you guys too?", "Wow you know these guys?" It was all very strange but very exciting- we're all going to have a big giant tri-family lesson very soon!! Hooray!
Elder Torres and I are doing great! We are best friends and always laugh and have fun even when it's 100 degrees with 100% humidity and we're stinky and sweaty and tracting doors. Elder Torres is such a "Pick-me-Up" kinda guy, there's never a day to dull or discouraging that we can't laugh about and make better. :)
**OH AND SHOUTOUT TO MY AUNT DEBBIE FOR BEING A HERO!!** GOOOOO DEBBIE!!***
Oh computer just about to kick me off!! I love you soooo uber muchly! Please pray for me! And a couple we are teaching named Jensy and Ydarmis! (jen-see and Ee-dar-mees) from DR! They are amazing and need prayers!
I love you guys! I love the Gospel and the amazing opportunity I have to be a Missionary! I love the Savior and all He has done for us. I feel privileged to represent him in New York!
Church is TRUE!B Happy, B Safe, B Articulating!Love Always,Elder Brandon Hellberg
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