Getting Shot At

Dear family: Thank you so much for the amazing care package! I estimate that I now have enough candy that, if carefully rationed, will last me my whole mission! I especially liked how you didn't include any letter, and instead you put a bunch of stamps in an envelope. I got the message, loud and clear. :D Also, I was wondering if any of you could send a few more physical pictures of the family, and Evie and Nathan, and all of us together. Thanks!

We had our first two investigators who attended church yesterday. (The last two Sundays they all said they would but none of them did.) It was a real blessing. It made me pay attention in church much more, and care about what was being said. (Not that I didn't before, it's just that when you're worrying about how an investigator will view it it adds a whole new level.) It was a great spiritual experience to me and it helped teach me the importance of missionary work. It was great to see them in church, and it was great to talk about church with them afterwards and during the meetings.

The two investigators who came to Sacrament meeting are Lucy P. and Eva B.

Lucy hadn't been to church in a year, because she has a job that forces her to work every Sunday. So we committed her to ask for Sundays off or to quit her job in order for her to go to Church, and she did it. She'll be baptized next Sunday. It'll be great!

Eva's husband didn't come, even though they both said that they would. They are both hung up with wanting to know everything about the church before they are baptized again into it, but we are struggling to get them to test it out and find out for themselves that the church is true. Eva could be baptized next Sunday, but because her husband didn't come to church yesterday he will have to wait until the 8th of December.

Florida rains like crazy. I'm not kidding, the rainy season ended several weeks ago, but that doesn't mean that it's stopped raining! It's really amazing that Florida doesn't flood. I can definitely see why it's classified as swampland, and why so many exotic plants and trees grow here. It's beautiful, when it's not trying to wash everything away.

I'm going through Alma currently, and trying to relate all of the chapters and experiences in them to myself. In particular, I thought it was interesting what it says that Ammon and Aaron taught to King Lamoni and his father. There's a pretty close association between the missionary discussions and what they taught. (Exception: the restoration.) They also place a strong emphasis on teaching from the scriptures.

Yesterday, we were out harvesting. (A special technique for knocking on doors - you ask them to say a special prayer with you, then you go in their house, kneel down, and give a priesthood blessing on them and their house, they feel the spirit, and then you hit them with the kesyon batèm.) We had started a little late because of the rain and thunder, and because of that we weren't going to get a full hour in, so we were trying to make the most of our time. After we had knocked on a few doors, a car drove by and shot at us with paint balls. I wasn't hit, but Eldè Winslow was hit in the arm. At first we took the experience as a punishment for not being obedient and getting a full hour of harvesting in. (We're supposed to do at least a full hour each day.) Then we decided that whether or not it was a punishment, we still needed to improve in that way and others and we resolved to do that. If nothing else comes from the experience, at least I have a good story to tell.

I'm learning a ton each day, in the language and in how to be a missionary.

All of the members love the missionaries. It's kind of weird, everybody wants to shake your hand during church, and they all get in line to feed you. There's one member in particular who always, always, every single Sunday makes food for us and puts it in the fridge for us to pick up. Yesterday she even gave us a couple of slices of cheesecake. It was delicious!

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

My desk and bedroom, from a different angle. (Shared with Eldè Winslow, of course.)

 My companion, Eldè Winslow

 The Krispy Kreme wall. This looks bad. We don't have them that often, honest.

 My desk

My bike, which received one good day of use, and then was put back into the garage. I don't know when I'll use it again.

Florida!

(Transcribed by Nancy from a letter)

Che Slade family,

        I’m sorry I’m not writing individual letters, and I’m sorry I haven’t written in a while.  The problem is, there just isn’t enough time.  But I’ll try to do better about writing more often!

        First of all, I love all you guys!  I hope your last two months have been as full and exciting as mine have been.  I didn’t get to celebrate Halloween in any way, but I will be having Thanksgiving celebrations for sure.  We are having “fet de Kodenn” (party of turkey) dinner in a member’s house.  Immediately afterwards, we are going to a Haitian party where we’ll eat more food (Haitian food is delicious, by the way) and basically have a great time.  The day afterwards we’ll have a going away party for Elder Hoole, one of the zone leaders who is dying at the end of this transfer.  It will be a welcome relief.  Missionary work is hard!

        I love seeing pictures of all of you in my emails.  Thanks for sending them. I hope that we still have Evie when I return, it would be sad if I didn’t see her again.  And thanks to all of you for sending letters, I appreciate it.  (But you don’t have to stagger them and send them one at a time, postage is expensive and I wouldn’t mind reading them all at once and then waiting a while for the next letter.)

        Florida is not what I expected it to be.  The driving in Miami is terrifying.  And it feels like summer, it’s so hot.  I am not looking forward to the actual summer months…

        My ward is pretty small, and it’s much more diverse than I am used to.  It is half Haitian Creole and half English speaking, and we share the building with a Spanish ward.  (I lost all of my Spanish long ago, unfortunately).  My first Sunday my companion (Elder Winslow) translated the sacrament meeting for those people who didn’t speak English at all.  Yesterday I helped translate for a single member in priesthood meeting it was terrifying.

        I am not learning the language as fast as I would like to, unfortunately.  But it is still coming much faster than I had any right to hope, and I know that that is because God is helping me.  Paul, when you submit your mission papers, you should hope that you get to learn a new language.  It is much harder, but it is much more rewarding, and it really helps your understanding of the gospel, as well.

        I’m struggling with the rule that we’re only allowed to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  It’s not the type of music that I normally listen to.  But I’m grateful I’m allowed to listen to it, this mission used to be a no-music mission!

        Haitian Creole areas are mostly driving areas, fortunately for me.  We ride bikes for a couple of miles occasionally, but for the most part the work is mental and spiritual, rather than physical (something I am immensely grateful for)

For all of you the book you should read is the Book of Mormon.  It is the most important book in the world. (There.  Preaching done for a while.)

        Mom and Dad:  Thank you both for everything.  You both mean a lot to me, and I can’t wait to Skype with you for Christmas. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to grow up in the gospel, and to go on a mission.  I love you both very much...

        Anyways, I am having all kinds of fun adventures here, even though I can’t read books.  For example, I’m meeting all kinds of strange people.  Don’t drink Verve...apparently it contains green tea.  And someone called the police on us for the first time a couple days ago! (my companion and I...) That’s always good...

        Can you guys send me some more physical pictures of yourselves/my family?  Not a lot, just something I can look at during the week.  I don’t have any pictures of Nathan or Evie yet, and I only have one of the rest of the family.  Thanks!

        Our investigators change too fast for me to write about them all.  I’ve taught and dropped about 30 gators (Florida lingo for investigators) in the last week and a half.  It’s depressing but President Anderson really puts an emphasis on teaching those who are already completely ready and prepared to be baptized.  It seems wrong, but you can’t argue with the numbers.

        In the MTC, I learned about a funny way of speaking.  It’s called Jargon, and Haitian kids learn it so that they can speak in front of their parents without their parents knowing what they are saying.  Basically you duplicate any vowel sound and insert a ‘g’ in between.  So “yes” becomes “yeges” and “no” becomes “nogo”, and “Merry Christmas” becomes “Megerreegee Chrigistmagas!”  It literally doubles the time it takes to speak, but it is very hard to decipher without practice, especially if you don’t know the keys.

        I’m just about out of time to write.  I love you all!

Thanks for everything, much love,

Elder Brandon Slade

Not Enough Time

Today marks exactly two months of my mission. It's kind of weird to think about, because two months seems like a long time, and two years seems like even longer, but it hasn't felt like two months at all.

I think the times when I've felt the spirit the most have been during personal study. Apart from that, I've also had some great experiences with different lessons. A couple of days ago we had a lesson with Bernard's wife, (because he wasn't home yet). We were all talking in Creole, so I was doing my best to keep up with the conversation. She kept having questions. Eventually Frè Tony (our member) started sharing his testimony on how he knew that the Book of Mormon was true because he had worked on translating it into Creole. I couldn't catch all of it, that's just what they told me happened after the fact, but I could still feel the spirit a lot and the whole meeting changed tones from there. Also, there have been many instances where I have felt the spirit in other circumstances.

There is never (never) enough time to get everything done throughout the day. It's so frustrating!

I think that one of the main things that I've learned (or at least, am learning) in the Book of Mormon is that the ancient prophets only wrote what they thought was important for us to know. They only write things that are important in an eternal perspective, even though logically back then there would have been just as many or more temporal things to distract them with. They spent a lot of time writing these things for our benefit, even though it was hard to write on plates, because they care about us and want us to learn from their mistakes. In other words, they were doing missionary work, to help us come unto Christ.

Haitians are kind of weird. They have a weird tradition where they talk in the middle of prayers. (Such as "Praise the lord!" "Hallelluja!" and "Yes, Jesus, yes."

We biked for the first time this week. It's terrifying to drive in Miami, let alone to bike next to/in between 6 lanes of traffic.

I have some funny experiences with investigators, but I am almost out of time to write, so I'll try to send them in letters or in next week's email. For now, just pray for Lucy, who is trying to get Sundays off so that she can be baptized on Dec. 1st.

I'm out of time.

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

Transfers

Here is the fate of your most favoritest missionary, Sister Slade:

I found out Thursday that I get to train again! Not only that but... I'm leaving Oak Harbor. So many mixed emotions there. I'm sad to leave these people that I love so so much, but I have been feeling that it's time. I'll be especially sad to leave the Seeley's and Harris'. They have become eternal friends for me. Because I’m training and leaving Oak Harbor that means... me and my comp are either going to be whitewashing an area or starting a new area! Eeeya! So many mixed emotions! I'm excited, but nervous too. I've decided that the definition for a mission is pretty much feeling inadequate and being stretched to your limit 100% of the time. Love-hate relationship. But mostly love :)

I'm sad to leave Jana. When she found out one of us was going to be leaving on Saturday she started to cry. It really surprised me, because I hadn't realized that she cared about us that much. Jana is such a sweetie. She is really struggling with finding an answer to know if she should continue to prepare for baptism, and she also has some extremely difficult changes to make in her life for her to be ready. Please pray for her. She came to church yesterday, and loved it as always. I think that some of the speakers said things that were exactly what she needed to hear. Funny how that happens :)

Steve came to church again yesterday with his two girls! He is solid. He texted us this week saying, "caffeine withdrawals are not fun." apparently he decided that he just needed to give up his coffee now. You know you love somebody when you get a little bit emotional over them giving up coffee. :) Our entire district helped him clean out a trailer that he has been preparing for them to live in, and it really meant a lot to him. I don't think I told you about this trailer, but it is the definition of biohazard. The old woman who used to live there was a major hoarder, and you couldn't even open the door it was packed to the ceiling with stuff that had been sitting there for years. Rat poop and dead mice and spilled food and spiders everywhere. Most disgusting service project of my life.

I'm really hoping I'll be able to find a ride back to Oak Harbor for the baptisms of all these wonderful people.

Well, love ya!

Sister Slade

We used to teach Skye the recent convert lessons, since she was an unbaptized child for a while. Love this family to death!

 The district.

 We still teach Chuck every now and then. Twice in a lesson I have felt inspired to tell Chuck that I know that he knows what we are saying is true, he just won't admit it to himself or to God. Both times he hasn't denied that it's true, he just gets a little bit emotional and avoids eye contact. I LOVE this family!! I'm definitely making my way back to Washington when he decides to be baptized.

 I wish I had a pocket-sized brother Rehaume. Aren't the people of Oak Harbor so wonderful!?

 Sister Cruz is one of my all time favorite people! She doesn't speak English super well, but she is a HUGE help at any of our lessons with people who speak Spanish, and every time we go to their house for dinner- REAL Mexican food! She calls me "Misseses Eslade" (Mrs. Slade) :)

MTC Tricks

Today is my last day in the MTC. In ~11 hours, I am going to be reporting to the travel office; in ~18 hours, I will be on my way to Florida.

So, my flight schedule is split into two flights. The first is from here to Texas, and the second is from Texas to FL-FTL. So I was thinking that in order to make it easier for you guys, I could call from the Texas airport instead, if I can't get any time on the phone in the morning. The problem is that I don't know if they adapt the times to the time zones of the places where you land, so I don't have any idea what time it would be for you. So I'll call in the morning, if there ends up being enough time, or I'll call it from the Texas airport anywhere from 9:00-12:00. Sorry if this doesn't work out, I just realized that there are going to be a lot more missionaries than pay phones tomorrow morning. I'll try my best.

I don't know if they would let us Skype together, or if I'll have the resources to do it, etc. Either way, Paul would be the one to ask, he's the one who actually used Skype.

Eldè Trockel left with the rest of my district last week. It turns out that they have no idea what's wrong with his liver, but he's not gluten intolerant. His liver has grade 1 liver damage, for some unknown reason. The doctor said (nonchalantly) that worst-case scenario, he has to have a liver transplant. No big deal. But for now they're just waiting to see if the problem gets worse.

My last week in the MTC has been chaotic, to say the least. Enough said.

Tonight, my temporary companions are planning to play a trick on one of the new districts in our zone. We bought a new alarm clock, and they are planning to hide it in their room, set to go off ~1:30 AM. (I will be staying up outside of our residence, because if I fell asleep then I would only get ~2 hours of sleep anyway, and then I would be groggy. I can sleep on the plane.) The alarm clock will be hidden behind a vent in the ceiling outside of their room. I'm going to do my best to pretend that I can't hear it, but I don't think I'll be able to keep a straight face.

Thanks for all the pictures! I don't have any for you! Sorry!

Thanks,

Eldè Slade

Great things from the Washington Everett Mission

Lots of great things happening in the WEM!

I hope you all had a great Halloween. Sister Anderson and I got permission to go to our wards trunk or treat, and that was fun! Some less actives and one of our potential investigators surprised us by showing up too, so that was awesome. Sister Anderson and I switched nametags, and we also wore matching sparkly black tights with black skirts and our red sweaters. Lots of fun!

Jana P. is on date to be baptized December 7th! It's not a super solid date, because when we first asked her she said she still needed to read and pray and think about it some more before she decides, but we challenged her to show her faith by preparing for the 7th and being baptized then if she feels ready, and she said yes! We are proud of her for continuing to read and pray, even though the Book of Mormon has been hard for her to understand. She came to church again, and she loves it! Her son Chris, who is in 2nd ward has been joining us for lessons and is really excited. Jana and Sister Anderson seem to relate really well, so that's another testimony to me that the Lord knows exactly where we need to be and at what time!

Transfers are on the 18th... we'll see if the Lord feels I need to be in Oak Harbor longer than 6 months or not! :)

Bennett blessed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday :)

Steve's baptism date will probably be pushed back. He got called into work last Sunday, and he didn't come yesterday either even though he said he was going to make it, so we're not sure yet what happened. He's been super sick all week so we were only able to have one lesson with him, and it looks like he doesn't understand the Book of Mormon as well as we initially thought. :/ He still wants to be baptized and knows that this is the right direction to go with his life, so hopefully with a little bit more time and study he will be prepared!

So funny story! A few days ago Sister Anderson and I contacted this guy who talked to us for about 10 minutes about how he believes his mom became part of the universe after she died, and the way that he knows this is that he was constipated for 13 years, but the day his mom died he wasn't constipated anymore. Well after we had shared about our message and we were saying goodbye, I said, "It was nice meeting you, this was a great con...con...conversation." When we walked away I told Sister Anderson how I had almost told the man "This was a great constipation," and we both couldn't stop laughing. So throughout this week we have been saying things like, "I loved your input during that constipation," or "That constipation was very enlightening to me!" Haha we've met some extremely interesting people here. So funny.

Scripture of the week: D&C 123:17. One day this week I was dead dog tired (oh wait... that's every day :)) and having a hard time focusing during personal study, especially since we didn't have any lessons planned for that day, so I decided to study diligence. I found this scripture in D&C that says "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see that salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed." I realized that it's one thing to work really hard and be obedient, and it's an entirely different story to work hard and be obedient cheerfully- every day! That's the power of enduring to the end! In whatever life struggles you're going through, no matter how busy you are, and how tired you feel, always remember that you are a Child of God. He loves you. He has blessed you in so many ways, especially by allowing you to be part of His restored church. Because He loves us, and because He sent His son to die for us, we have every reason in the world to be happy.

Love you all! Please don't miss even one day of reading your scriptures and saying your prayers. Some days a few verses is all you can fit in, but don't even think about hitting the pillow before you get those few verses in and before you've really focused in to talk with your Heavenly Father!

Love, Sister Slade

Picking Pumpkins for Halloween

 At the top of Mt. Erie with the Burminghams

 An Island on a lake on an island.

Introduction to my MTC Teachers

I only have one more week in the MTC. I received my travel plans a couple of days ago. I leave at 2:30 AM next Tuesday, the fifth, and I'm flying to Texas first, then to FL-FTL. When I arrive, I will have to wear my suit jacket for the entire first day. From what I've heard of Florida, this may just be the hardest thing I will ever have to face in my entire mission. But I will bravely... try... to do it.

My entire district has already been sent off to their respective missions, with the exception of a few people who are leaving early tomorrow morning. Actually, my entire zone, except for me, two other elders, and three sisters, will have left by about 8:00 AM tomorrow. The entire zone will consist of two companionships, which collectively span across four different districts. For this reason, the other elders and I have been called to be the zone leaders. I'll be able to return from my mission and be able to say that I was a zone leader. Unfortunately, the entire reason we were chosen for this position was not because we are ready for it - it is because there are literally no other people to choose from.

My two new companions (effective as of ~3:00 AM tomorrow morning, when the last member of my district leaves for Boston) are Elder Soll and Elder Ehlert. They are both learning French, and they have been here for two weeks and four weeks respectively. So, because they are on different levels and I am learning a completely different language, we will go to our classroom building, split up into three different classrooms, we will be taught by three different teachers (one on one student-teacher time) and then we will meet back up when class is over.

As well as getting my teachers to myself, I will also be the only Haitian Creole student in any MTC in the world. Only the Provo MTC teaches Haitian Creole, and there won't be another Creole student until December (and only one then). Just to show you about how many people can speak Creole. It's kind of sad, really. Seven billion people have something that is good or better than good, but only a few million people have the thing that is best.

I decided to go through my Haitian Creole instructors, because I don't think I've done it yet. There are three; all of them went to the Fort Lauderdale, Florida mission.

- Frè Hall (Brother Hall), who returned from his mission most recently. You have to question everything that he tells you, because you can't always trust it. For example, he tried to convince us that you can say "just kidding" like this: "m'ap joure", which means "I'm screaming/cussing". (You're actually supposed to say "m'ap jwe", for the record.) He's a funny guy, but sometimes I think he's trying to get us killed.

- Ti Frè Nelson (Little Brother Nelson), who is very serious, and it is obvious to everybody that he cares about us and about what he is teaching.

- Wo Frè Nelson (Tall Brother Nelson), who is about a foot taller than Ti Frè Nelson, and who enjoys his name much more as well. He's really the only teacher who takes time out for language study any more; the other two expect you to use the dictionary and other forms of study on your own time. He's a nice guy.

By the way, happy late birthday, Mom! M' espere ke ou gen yon bon anivèsè! (I hope I spelled that right.)

Lastly, I wanted to talk about serving a mission. I firmly believe that all young men should live worthily to have the opportunity to serve one. And if they are worthy, then I firmly believe that they should do so. The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought so much good to me and my family, and I know that going out to share it with the rest of the world is exactly the right choice to make. If you have any doubts, then squash them, they're not worth having.

Thanks,

Eldè Slade