Brandon had a conference this week, so he got to travel to Cuenca to hear from their area authority. While there, he found his best friend from Mexico City, Elder Toledo! It was a sweet reunion. Below, you can see pictures of them as little guys, and now as missionaries! Two new missionaries are serving with him in catamayo. They are Elders Ibañez and Hirsche. He is enjoying working with them. They have not had much progress with their investigators, so there is not much to report on that. Please include their efforts in your prayers! He was excited to find a rangers hat, a cowboy hat, and some formula 1 toy cars. It looks like he is having fun and growing in his testimony of our Savior.

Below are a few more pictures from this week!

Brandon sounds like he's doing well. He is still as funny as he ever was. I am sure his sense of humor isn't quite understood by the Latinos, but that's ok. He didn't write much today. I think he has been busier than he thought he would be. He said they had a baptism this week, and he got to eat his favorite French dish, Carbonara. He seemed to enjoy that. Transfers occurred this week, and he and his companion will stay in Catamayo together for at least 6 more weeks. However, they will get to work with another companionship starting on Wednesday. One of the missionaries will be brand new to the mission. He is hoping it is Elder Toledo. Elder (Carlos) Toledo and Brandon were best friends when they were very little living in Mexico City. Carlos's mom and I served in the Ward Primary Presidency together. Both families were excited that these sweet boys were called to the same mission only weeks apart. I am so looking forward to hearing about their reunion sooner or later!

Hey all! I fought a goat this week, and almost got stabbed by it's owner. It's all good, because i'm a Jesus man, so he couldn't stab me. He has no interest for our message though. Funny contacting experience this week though: YO- Hola, nosotros tenemos un mensaje sobre Jesucristo. MUJER- Gracias, pero no. Soy Católico. YO- ¿Católicos no creen en Jesucristo nada mas? Bueno, ¡hasta luego! which translates to; Me: Hi, we have a message about Jesus Christ Lady: Thanks, but no. I'm Catholic Me: Catholics don't beleive in Jesus Christ anymore? Well, see you next time! My compañero gave me a nice backhand to that. I thought it was funny. Nothing too cool happened this week, other than we had conference with President Moreno. He's a great guy. I wish I listened to more of what he said, but I ended up throwing up all this week's food during his sunday talk. On saturday though, he talked about how we should be nice to everyone, and that sharing the gospel is necessary for everybody, because everybody needs a chance to accept or reject the restored gospel. He also talked about reading scriptures,

and how people don't do that a lot anymore, and lose their faith. Full triste. Anyway, send me letters about your lives! I want to hear from you all! -Elder Beech

A little video today!

I'm doing super good out here. Spanish is going well and I had my first baptism! It was a 10 year old girl. It was such a neat expirience! First week out and I'm baptizing. The work of the Lord. We're not aloud to eat anything super weird, so my diet consists of rice, chicken, bannanas, and water. But It's fine. The only problem I have with the food is that they feed me too much. It sucks having to eat three times as much as I'm used too. The first night I stayed at the assistants' house. My house is a castle compared to their's. Next time Audrey or Maddie complains about what they don't have, show them where I have to shower, when we have water. There are only 2 missionaries in Catamayo, and we're in a branch. There are a ton of inactives around here, so there's always work to do. I had to buy a blanket last week because it gets pretty chilly up here. So I bought the most normal one possible. I'm having fun out here, and Elder Merizalde is most of the reason. he's such and awesome guy. Also, I think I was called here because of the stupidity of the kids. I love them, but they're always running around with no shoes on and getting stabbed by one thing or another. So I have to bandage their feet up and do EMT stuff all the time. It's cool though. Not much else to report on, other than the kids love El Gringo, and the 20-odds hate me. The people are super awesome for the most part. We have to teach the word of wisdom a lot, because all the drunk dudes want to drink with the Gringo. It's awesome.

Hey Gringos, I leave the CCM on Monday and get to Ecuador on tuesday. A quick report on the Elder who got hurt, he has a great attitude, despite having half his head shaved and stitched up, and his face all wacked out. He's back at the CCM, and hes doing awesome. The doctors said, that he shoul've died or at least been blinded in one or both of his eyes. Hes seeing fine, and is more than alive. Right after the injury, we gave him a preisthood blessing. He was pretty out of it, and was bleeding a ton from his nose and several lacerations. As soon as the blessing ended, and we said amen, a peace fell over him, and he stopped bleeding. I've seen a ton of broken faces, but I've never seen one stop bleeding, or a patient calm down without drugs. It's truly a blessing that he is alive and recovering so quickly. I spent a little time with him this week, when he wanted to take a nap, so I went on splits. He's super upbeat. He's a real trooper. This just goes to show that blessings work and God will help us if we have faith. can't wait to bring back more stories, -Elder Beech

Hey everybody! It's really boring here, and nothing much has happened. I was able to give a priesthood blessing to an elder who got a severe injury this week, and use my EMT skills to help him. As always, I appreciate emails and words from home! I love you all! -Elder Beech