Dirty Laundry

Hey Family,

I´ll start out the email with the cleaning questiona you asked:

Where do you do Laundry?

We have a washing machine in our house, but since like no one uses dryers, we have clothe lines where we hang our clothes to dry. I thought it would be annoying at first, but since it´s crazy hot here, our clothes are usually all dry in as quick as a couple of hours, so it ain´t to bad.

How frequently do I do my laundry?

For me, it´s when I run out of shirts/garments/socks/pants to wear. Usually one batch of whitesevery weekand a batch of blacks/darks every1-2 weeks.

Apartment clean checks or cleanliness?

I´ve actually never had a cleanliness check. I´ve served my whole mission (practically) dpresident´s wife just hasn´t had time to go that far. But one thing I know for sure is when your house isn´t clean, the spirit´s not there. Just like the churchs we serve, our house should be a house of order. Plus, when you get transferred to a new area, there´s nothing more annoying then arriving in a house or apartment that´s a mess. Do yourself a favor and keep things tidy whenever possible.

Cleaning tips before you go on a mission?

Learn to clean dishes by hand. And to clean clothes by hand. I´ve had days without power and had to resort to cleaning by hand. We clean all our dishes by hand. No dishwasher. Also, ironing is a necessity as a missionary. Be the type of missionary where your companion thinks "wow, my comp is great. he always cleans his dishes" rather than " Wow, I always have to clean my comps dishes. He is so sloppy"

Alright, I hope those comments have helped. This computer is very annoying right now, but I´ll do my best. This week was awesome!! We had a great attendance again in the branch of 57. We also had a great zone conference on Wednesday where our mission president spoke a lot about talking to EVERYONE about the gospel. I also saw my first trainee (son, as we call it), so I got a picture with my two 'kids', Elder Inácio and Elder Acevedo. They grow up so fast... 

I received the box yáll sent with socks and a water bottle. Those were two things I actually needed a lot. So thanks! My holed socks have been thrown out and with summer around the corner, I´ll be using that water bottle until it´s judgment day. I have been needing some razor blades for my shaver. They´re the Gillette fusion proglide. If you could send some refills in the next package, that´d be swell, motha. As well as that gatorade powder you sent last time. I loved that stuff to death.

Also, I´ve been wanting to show my investigators and members here a picture from my baptism for a long time now, so if you could in the next email you sned me include a picture (or 2 if there´s more) from my baptism, that would just be all that and a bag of chips. I´d be eternally grateful.

This past week, we´ve been refocusing on teaching juliana and Marlon again (remember them?) Since we reactivated Juliana, she´s been called as a counselor in the YW presidency, is having family home evening weekly, and she even led the music in sacrament meeting yesterday. And Marlon has come to church 3 weeks in a row now, and has become really excited about baptism. Elder Inácio and I see him as a future bishop, you know, when Maricá becomes a ward. At the rate it´s been growing here, we should be able to by the land to build a chapel by the end of the year.

I´m super excited for General Conference! I love being able to hear the words of the Prophet and his apostles. I´ll get to go back to the first chapel I stepped foot in during my mission, in Alcântara, my first area! That´s also where I watched my first two conferences in my mission. I´ll probs be watching it in English with the other Americans serving in the stake.

I love each and every one of you and will be thinking of you while we hear the words of the living prophet! I hear it's a cool thing to send tweets related to conference

now, so maybe I´ll try to write stuff down I learn that I would have tweeted if I were home to include in my letter next week. Until next Monday!

Love,

Elder Braun.