March 12th - A GOOD week!

Gutentag Meine Fruende! (Good Day My Friend!)...I think...

WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE TODAY!!

Sorry the email came so late. We spent the day in Manhattan :)

This week has been wonderful! I'm not sure if I ever brought it up, but our ward is fasting for the whole month of March for missionary work. The youth had the first week, the relief society had the second, the high priests have the third, and the elders have the last week. We have noticed a huge improvement in our missionary work. It's way awesome! We have about 3 new investigators because of it. So, fasting is awesome! 

Elder Alivio and I gave talks in sacrament this past Sunday. I talked about "Relying on The Lord to learn" and Elder Alivio talked about "Fasting". Both of our talk were 10 minutes! My sacrament talks are improving! In my talk, I told the story of when I gave Alex a blessing. I don't know if I ever told you guys but one day Alex was really really depressed and because his dad had takin sleeping pills, I had to give him a blessing. So in that case, I had to rely on The Lord for guidance and courage. It was awesome. I had a couple of people in the ward tell me that I looked really comfortable at the pulpit. So yeah. I guess I'm gonna be a general authority some day haha, just kidding.

It has warmed up significantly! It was 60 degrees yesterday! We were driving around with the windows down. Man it was nice. I'm so tired of the cold. We are suppose to get rain tonight and have snow tomorrow. 

We went to the temple today. Finally we got permission! The city was awesome! We went to a store called Century 21 and they sell tons of awesome cheap ties. I got 2 sweet ties for $20! It's been a year next week since Jeremy and I went to NYC. Such a beast city!

That's so sad that Brenn and Nate left. Although, it's so good for them. This is a new chapter in their life and they are handling it responsibly. I'm proud of them :) that's awesome that you were able to road trip around Idaho and see the family! If I was there, I probably would have driven with you so you had company. Also, that was a little mean bringing up the enchilada thing. We just worked out this morning, and I'm so hungry! Haha, it's okay though. 

I'm still having a rough time getting along with the other elders. We don't fight, but they really know how to push my buttons. But, I'm learning how to make my life sucky for their benefit lol. 

So, we have a bunch of youth in our neighborhood. One of them is a teenager who shares the same complex with us. He is the child of the fighting parents. Anyway, a bunch of the teenagers got a basketball hoop right outside our house. And the past few days, the impression to play ball with them has come to me but every time I asked the other elders they made up some dumb excuse. So, finally I convinced my companion yesterday to play with them. Man it was awesome. I was being my weird self and said: "I'm super good...so look out!" Little did I know that I would be pretty good haha. I'm usually suck. All the black dude were like: "ooh! Man! He's got the step and everything!" It was awesome. Then wait for it...I gave them a challenge after we beat em. I said: "how bout another game later this week? Let's raise the stakes a little higher. If WE win, we get to teach you a lesson. If you win, we will buy you a soda." They were like: "Yeah, I'm down!". I felt like a beast. Especially being jr companion haha. The kid that lives next to us. His name is Ryan. He is such a good kid, but he is heavily influenced by bad people and also has crummy parents. The gospel can totally bless his life. But my companion doesn't think so. He just thinks he's a crappy teenager. This is the kinda thing that makes me not like the other missionaries. Because I'm new I "don't know" so I don't get to decide. I feel like the reason they didn't want to play basketball in the first place is because they thought it was a waste of time. Gah! It's so frustrating! Anyway. Hopefully we beat them so we can teach Ryan. I also came up with the idea to go tracting yesterday. We didint have any luck, but I finally felt productive. I told my companion that I feel like we could be doing more and he was like: "what? We never have any down time. What are you talking about?" So, there goes one of the "your new" examples. Any idea that I have to hasten the work just gets shut down completely. They treat me like an infant sometimes. The things that we are doing now obviously aren't working so why not try something new, ya know? Jeez Louise...some people. 

If you're reading this, that means you love mean cause you dealt with my little rant. So thank you :) I'm just a little frustrated, that's all. 

I love you guys! Thank you for all your support and love. I'm beginning to love being a missionary. I'm trying to do my best. So your support is very appreciated! 

Love,

         Elder Branndin Brian Long