Elder Vasquez, New Companion and Trainer

Hey Mom thanks for the Package! It was really nice and everyone wanted me to tell you thank you.

Elder Fernandez wanted me to tell you to add his Mom on Facebook he is the trainer of Elder Decker and lives in the same pention as me. Her name is Gabriela Fernandez Lopez.

I am doing really well and Elder Chuquel did get transferred. Transfers in our mission all of the missionaries go to Maipù for changes. We have a reunion and they list all of the changes. We are getting 25 new missionaries tomorrow and 19 elders and 6 hermanas. They will be trained and Elder Chuquel has a (whitewash) or a fresh sector. So he is opening this area without contact with others and he is training again in Peñaflor. He is really excited and nervous. The reunion is awesome and I love how the mission does it. Elder Smith, my Grandfather in the mission, was a District leader training my uncle, Elder Stevens, in the last change and now he is a new Zone Leader in Peñaflor. I am still in Lo Espejo 2. My new companion is Elder Vasquez from Peru. He was serving in the Coast in the Zone San Antonio before as a District leader and is District Leader now in Ochagavia. He has 11 months in the mission and finishes one year in this change with me. I am leading the sector, but he is senior companion finishing my training. I´m excited and it will be a really good experience for me. There is a lot going on and it will be amazing.

I am perfectly healthy! We have dust like everywhere does, but we clean. I believe mold is inevitable in the world and it doesn´t bother me and we have termites in parts, but I am dealing with everything. I don´t have problems with asthma now or anything. Yes, I am using my inhalers and everything and I got the package and read all of the letters and shared everything and am still reading the articles.

The schedule for the mission is like the normal missionary schedule. We wake up at 6:30 and end our day at 10:30. I am doing just fine. I have my 3 baptismal dates still going strong but we are working on getting them to attend more. I am doing all that I can.

Thanks for everything and I will try to find a converter that will work. I don´t know for certain though and if I can´t this week I will find another method to use. Patience without photos. I want to share, but I am having a hard time with the technology not liking the new stuff from my camera. I will look for a way to change it.

Note from Mom:  Braxton talks about his grandfather in the mission.  This is part of the missionary culture.  I don't know if they do it everywhere, but they did in our son, Curtis's mission to Ecuador.  Your father is the missionary that trained you.  If he has trained or does train other elders, they become your brothers.  Your grandfather is the missionary that trained your father.  If your grandfather trains other missionaries, they become your uncles.  If you have two trainers, like Braxton now has, the second one is your step-father and I suppose the missionary that trained him would be a step-grandfather.  When the missionaries all get together they like to catch up with their families from previous transfers, so I bet their reunions are really fun.  I suppose the hermanas probably have mothers, grandmothers, aunts and sisters.