How are you? I'm doing great! Things have really improved in the area! I'm lovin it. We had someone get handed off to us who has a baptism date. A difficult situation was resolved with one of our investigators and everything is looking up. We have some good stuff set up for this week. It should be good. I'm happy to be here. We've been having fun and working hard and getting it done. This is a great area. We are excited to have a lesson in the stake president's house later this week. It's gonna be powerful. 

Do you know what I did on November 1st? I played some Christmas music. I didn't play it all day like you do but I listened to a couple songs. I love Christmas time. You gotta send me a picture when the tree gets put up. I wish I could be there for thanksgiving. I want some spinach dip....

This week was great. I am having a lot of fun and getting to know my area. We had a baptism this week. His name was Cory. He is a super solid kid. I'm excited to have been a small part of his journey. I conducted the music at his baptism. I'm getting kind of good at that. It was fun. He was one of our few solid people. We are running out! We gotta find more. I feel like I've become a pretty good teacher and I'm alright at helping people get baptized. I just gotta do better at finding, that's the hard part. I know it will work out. this is how things go. You get to a tough spot and press forward and blessings always come. 

So my new area is pretty good. It's the singles wards in boutiful. I am a district leader out here which is pretty fun. I like my new area pretty well. I'm still getting used to it. I don't have much to say about the area. I really miss my old area and Elder Miller. This is ok though. I will get you my sizes once i figure out what they are. There's this cool member that owns a suit shop and he will measure me. He got me a new shirt the other day too. That was way cool. I don;'t have that much to talk about. I hope you liked your present. I'll have a lot more to say next week once I figure out what's going on here. I'll tell you about my new companion i guess. He's elder bickley from Washington. He's pretty cool but we aren't as close as some of my other companions. Well I'll write you next week. We have a baptism this weekend! :)

We had a great week! We found this girl that's super prepared and all we had to do was invite her to be baptized and go over the interview questions! Also we had a lesson with 2 Korean girls and they're so ready to be baptized! I love this area. The thing is the baptisms are October 20. I really wanna be in this area for them. I also love serving with Elder Miller. 

I had some very discouraging news about a choice one of my converts made. It's very private and shouldn't be talked about just know it made me upset. I feel hope knowing it's not too late for repentance though. I sure hope she does and I hope she doesn't stop coming to church. It just made me sad and discouraged for a little while.

Hey guys!

We had a great week! We found this girl that's super prepared and all we had to do was invite her to be baptized and go over the interview questions! Also we had a lesson with 2 Korean girls and they're so ready to be baptized! I love this area. The thing is the baptisms are October 20. I really wanna be in this area for them. I also love serving with Elder Miller. 

I had some very discouraging news about a choice one of my converts made. It's very private and shouldn't be talked about just know it made me upset. I feel hope knowing it's not too late for repentance though. I sure hope she does and I hope she doesn't stop coming to church. It just made me sad and discouraged for a little while.

This is gonna be a great 2nd year! I'm gonna baptize a ton! Have a super great week you guys!

Love Elder Damewood

We had a sweet week! We had a lot go on and we had a super awesome baptism. We didn't do much finding but we have a few good lessons set up. There was also a very amazing experience. First I'll tell you some new then I'll talk about what was so amazing.

I went to the dermatologist this morning. They took off my mole and are checking it out. The doctor said it should be just fine. I have to wait for my hand to heal. It's weird to have a hole in my hand. I haven't looked at it closely yet cuz it's so gross and weird. Anyway it's off and i'm glad about that.

So now for the super cool experience. We had that great baptism of Ainur and Altinnur Jeikey. They are great super cool twins from Mongolia. They were baptized and confirmed on Saturday. We had the Brigham City Temple dedication here instead of church Sunday. As you know you have to be a member of the church and have a recommend to go to one. Well Ainur and Altinnur met with the bishop right after their baptism and got to go! They showed up and were so excited and happy. The Spirit was very strong and made me so happy. It was so cool to sit at a temple dedication with people that had been members of the Church less than 24 hours. The ward was supportive of everything and they are excited. The Bishop said he wants to have a baptism in his ward every month. I'mm all for it. We have one set up on Oct. 6! Dane is gonna get baptized! It's so exciting! I love being on a mission and I love this area. It's so cool to hang out with people my age and then get people baptized. It's so much fun.

I love you guys!

-Elder Damewood

We've been having some super great lessons! We got like 6 referrals this week!. We added 3 new investigators! We had a great lesson with Ainur and Altinnur. They recieved an answer right there that they are supposed to be baptized. Their baptism is Saturday. 

We met a guy named Dane who is super prepared. He accepted to be baptized the first visit! Oct6! We met with Hillary and she got an answer to be baptized but to wait until her life calms down. I usually get disappointed when that happens but the Spirit told me it was best for her. I care about her so much. I want her to be baptized at the right time rather than rush into it cuz I want a number. I'm excited for this coming week. Pray that we will find people and that my throat will feel better. 

I love you have a great week!

-Elder Damewood

Hey everyone!

 I can't believe it's been pretty much a year. The time has gone so fast and the privilege of being in this mission is half over. 

 We had a pretty good week. We didn't really meet all of our goals. It was transfer week and as a zone leader it's even busier. All the districts got entirely moved around. Things were insane but they've calmed down. We have a few potential investigators and yesterday we had great lessons. Hillary is almost on date. Plus we actually got a referral in our almost always empty referral box!! I was so excited. We had great lessons with Ainur and Altinnur (the twins from Mongolia) and Jiyoun (from Korea) is doing very well. This is such a boss area and it'll give me a great start to my second year.  

 I've been thinking about what I want to be different about this year. My first and most important goal is to baptize more! President Winn said the key to success is faith. I will increase my faith by having more effective studies, following the schedule better and striving to do whatever it takes to have the spirit with me. I'm excited for this next year and I want to have 2x as many baptisms as last year. I have 30 so far, I want 60 next year... It could happen but it'll be really hard. I can't give up!

Hey guys,

  My week was good. It was the last week of the transfer. We had a baptism. She was so solid we didn't have to teach her anything. It was the easiest baptism ever! I loved it! 

Yeah the zone is doing well. I'm very tired. Being a zone leader is tough work. 

I'm not sure what else to talk about. My companion is getting transferred. It's ok though. It happens. Well I ought-ta get going. We are going to the Salt Lake Bee's Baseball game. 

Oh! Dad! We sang that hymn in church that says Victory! Victory! and it was about 10 times so slow. I turned to my companion and had this sad tired look on my face while singing and we both cracked up! I thought you'd like that story.

I love you,

-Elder Damewood

 Yeah it is getting close to the hump day! It's gone so fast! It really doesn't feel like it was that long!

We almost reached the standard......... We were 3 baptisms short. We had everything else!!!!! We needed 12 baptisms, we had 17 on date and ended up with 9!!!! I'm so upset about that.

We had a surprise baptism though. Gi-Man Lee from Korea got baptized. 

it was a ton of fun this week. we all worked really hard and our faith was built. it was a record week for the New Salt Lake Mission. We had 55 baptisms. The record for the old mission is 88 though! 

We did service at the humanitarian center today. it was fun. I don't know why President chose our p-day to do service though. the rules say to avoid doing service on p-day. It was pretty cool though. We were putting together backpacks full of supplies for kids. I asked the zone, "Doesn't this just give you back to school fever?" It was pretty funny. The answer was a big "no" almost in unison from everyone else.

Another cool thing was that we have 3 people on date right now. There are these twin girls from Mongolia that started to meet with us. They are so solid. Then there's this one girl Juliana who texted us and referred herself. It was so cool! I'm so happy that school started again. The work has really picked up!

I sure love being a missionary here. It's tons of fun. Not only do we do a lot of fun things, we also help people who can't do this for themselves. It's cool to be having an all around awesome experience. I love my mission and I can't believe it's already pretty much half over. I just now feel like I know what I'm doing. We had an amazing lesson last night. There's this girl Hillary. She's always had a rough life and she's so caring. We helped her see that it's not selfish to look into this just for her. She deserves and needs to be happy. It's so cool to see her get that answer from God in the lesson. It's crazy how God can give you love for someone. I just met Hillary (and all these other amazing investigators) and I love them before I even really know them. It's so fun!

Have a great week. I'm glad the Hurricane didn't come.

love,

-Elder Damewood

Hey! 

 We had a super awesome week! I really loved it. We had 2 baptisms! 

  Doctrine and Covenants 4:1 "Now behold a marvelous work is about to come forth [in the Salt Lake Zone of the Utah Salt Lake City Mission]." You know the Standard of Excellence right? Well we are going to hit it as a zone. I'm so pumped for it! We have the people on date ready for this weekend. We are gonna have at least 12 baptisms 36 on date 60 to church 96 lessons with members present and 36 new investigators in this zone this week. Please pray for this to happen. We know it's what the Lord wants and we're so excited for it. 

Man it's not easy being a zone leader but it sure is worth it when you get to be a part of something so cool. I am so excited to hit the Standard. It really rekindled the fire in me. I love it so much.

Man we ate at Taco Time (cuz it's free) and now I feel yucky. Plus I'm still a little carsick from texting in the car. I'm having so much fun out here on my mission. I can't believe how fast time is going! It's crazy. Things are going good in our area as well. We had a busy day and found a few people at church yesterday. School started today and there's a lot more people to baptize here now. I love it. 

I love missionary work! The Church is true. The Book is blue. May the force be with you!

I love you

-Elder Damewood

Hey guys,

Thanks for the birthday package. The cake didn't turn out but I'll put the frosting and candles on a cobbler we got... maybe. I really liked the presents though. Thank you so much.  We just got done at the Salt Lake temple this morning. It was really great. I hadn't gone in like 9 months I really missed it. 

That is what being a zone leader is like... minus the glory... It's still fun and I get to work with some amazing missionaries. I can't wait for Skylar to go either. I'm like a year ahead of him. Brooke is starting senior year! That's crazy! 

This week was awesome for us. We put this guy Jake on date and then this girl Devin came back from her trip to Orlando and the first thing she said to us when we saw her at church was, "I wanna get baptized" It was so exciting! We didn't find anyone new this week but we worked well with the people we have. I had a good birthday. The member we live with gave me cookies and a gift card. He's way nice. I got a great card from this cool girl I know ;) and Elder Singleton got a package on my birthday it was funny. 

Well I gotta go now,

I love you,

Elder Damewood

Dear family,

 You guys rock! I got my box but I haven't opened the presents. I read the note. Thanks. I was frustrated when I saw them all wrapped. I knew I'd have to wait. I'm excited for that though! AHHHHHHH I'm gonna be 20. how are the Olympics? I got to watch like 10 seconds of them total so far. It seemed kinda good. 

 We're gonna try and have a baptism on my birthday. We'll see if we can find one.  Thanks for all you do for me. It means a lot I'm having the best time out here! I love it!

Things are going good in this area. We met some cool people and they're starting to progress. The one thing about college kids is they like to think. It's good to think and understand but you can't have a testimony without paying attention to your feelings. They'll get it eventually.

Well I hope you guys have an awesome week!

I love you,

Elder Damewood

Hey guys!

 This week was crazy busy. I was so sad to leave Green River but I'm glad to be here. It's so crazy busy being a zone leader. I know hardly anyone in my zone and it's kinda stressful. I wanna get to know them all better. George is awesome! I like staying in his house. We're in the basement so it's nice and cool. 

Yellowstone is awesome I'm so glad you were able to go. Speaking of the Hinkley building the institute building at the U of U looks just like it! It makes me miss BYUI and that's the building where Cassandra had church in college when we were both there. It sure is weird. I was hardly in the benson. That's the science bldg. The ricks is math. I'll be there a lot. The Taylor is the girl bldg. That's where the cooking and sewing and stuff like that is. The MC is where food is so it's my favorite!

This week should be good. Pray that we find a lot of people and that our mission will reach 3500 baptisms this year please. I like this area a lot even though I really miss the people in Green River. 

I love you. Have an amazing week and a safe flight.

-Elder Damewood

Hey, 

  How are ya? It's so cool that you're in Idaho. I like it there a lot. Did you have fun in rexburg?

We didn't have a baptism but we had a good week. There's a lot going on in this area. I'm sad to have to leave it soon. I want to stay here for the rest of my mission! We have a lot of solid people that are getting ready to be baptized! We had a few great lessons today. We also went atv-ing this morning. The scenery is awesome. There was a part where we drove through the river. It was so cool. You gotta meet the family that took us. They're great! I'll send the pics and videos when I have time. It was so much fun!

I'll tell you what my new address is on Friday. 

I really don't wanna leave Green River. It's so much fun and the work is going great! My companion is great and things are just amazing here! Well I don't have much time. We had a busy day and just had to squeeze in time to email. 

I love you,

-Elder Damewood

hey guys! I'm in Bonneville YSA stake! I love it. I'm a zone leader here and I'm with Elder Singleton. He's really strict but really great!

My new address is 

Elder Brandon Damewood

550 Northmont Way

Salt Lake City, Ut 84103-3323

Hey guys!!!!

 I have a great story but first lemme reply to what you said:

Being a leader is great. It's stressful but rewarding. I get to work with some amazing missionaries and I'm learning a lot. 

Have fun in the tropical storm. It's probably about as windy as Wyoming is right now lol.  You can't shoot fireworks in city limits here so I don't get to get warmed up for the show. Hopefully I can see the fireworks show here though... Sounds like that was a fun birthday! It's really cool to hear about people back home. I'm glad the BYD went well. 

Alright now Imma tell a story. So we were planning and felt to set a baptism goal of 1. We had Ken on date but we didn't feel it was that solid. He gave some excuses and stuff and we thought it would fall thorough. We set a goal of 1 anyway. Then we stop by Thursday to either set up the baptism or drop him. We talk to his niece and she said he was still planning on the 23rd! We set up the program and got everything ready in like 2 days! It was awesome! I'm so glad we listened to the Spirit and set a goal of 1 because it gave us that mindset and we worked for it. Without that I think it may not have happened. That's our cool story this week. Another cool thing is we hit the Standard of Excellence! It was a lot of work but it's always worth it!

I love you so much,
Elder Damewood

Hey president let's us email the friday after transfers to let everyone know our address. It's still

220 Shoshone
Green River, Wy 82935

post that on the blog and tell everyone thanks I love you.
Also, I'm a district leader now. It's stressful and a lot of work.
Love you,
Elder Damewood

Hey guys!
 Sorry this email is a day late. We went to Martin's Cove yesterday. It took all day. We get a little extra time today to get all our usual p-day stuff done. 
 I have a miracle that happened I'd like to share with you. I was on exchanges with a zone leader. We were teaching a lesson to this guy Ken. Things went pretty well. We taught him and had him pray about baptism. After he prayed we were all silent for about 2 minutes. It felt like a really long time! Then he said he felt this calm chill and that he was going to get baptized. His date is June 26. Pray that everything will work out so that he can get baptized on that day. 
Lemme tell you about Martin's Cove. It was so cool to walk where those pioneers walked. It was a really hot day though so it wasn't all that authentic. It was still the same place though. I took some pictures and we saw a snake. It was really small and I didn't hear a rattle. It was really cool. Other than walking that day we had a 5 hour round trip in the car. That took forever!
Oh one more thing. Starting after this next transfer on June 13 all mail will be sent directly to our apartments. I'm allowed to send a short email out friday after transfers to let you know my address. So, we won't use the mission address anymore. So ask Cassandra when she sends her letter that week to make sure it's after she checks what my address is for that transfer. Thanks.

I love you and hope you all have a super awesome week!
-Elder Damewood

Our week was good. Yes our baptism happened. I gotta tell you a story about that later. Be sure to post this email ASAP so everyone can see the story.

We had a lot of fun yesterday. We stayed in Green River. We set up a tennis game with some of the kids from the stake. It was a lot of fun. We played basketball and tennis and the 6th ward invited us to their activity that was at the same park. After that we went shopping and a real nice guy paid for us. We had a lot of fun and now we're gonna go have a good day of work after emailing. 

Well now for that crazy story. Here in this stake we have assigned font fillers. They called me to say they'd be out of town. They asked if I knew how to fill the font and if I could do it. I said, "yes." I didn't know that there was more to it than just turning on the water. Anyway they told me to start filling it at 8 in order for the font to be full by 10. Elder Little(our district leader) came down cuz the family wanted him to give the opening prayer. So we go at 8 and turn on the water then we leave to get a couple other things ready and come back in an hour to set up chairs and  see how the font is coming along. I open the doors to the Stake Center and you can't even imagine the feelings running through me when I see water in the hallway! I run to the Primary room and turn off the water. There's at least 30 gallons in the Primary room, hallway, and Bishop's and clerk's offices! It's 3 inches deep in places! There was so much water it was crazy! We just start pushing water back into the font. We make calls and get shop vacs and all sorts of stuff. We work up a sweat sweeping water into the font. Then people start showing up and they panic more than we did. It didn't look as bad as it was when we first got there. So we were baptizing this 10 year old kid. He saw the font. It looked a little like watered down mop water at this time. We drained some of it and filled it with more water to dilute it. He still wanted to get baptized. It was cool to see how he understood the importance of baptism and didn't wanna wait any longer. He was so willing to do what he was supposed to it was amazing! When we got in the clerks office there was a cardboard box of documents and a power cord with a ring of dry around them. That was pretty amazing. Anyway we stay and clean until people take our jobs from us and start cleaning themselves. It's fine cuz we had to take Elder Little back to Rock Springs anyway. So that whole day we were trying to relax and calm down. It was so crazy every time I thought or said the words, "We flooded a Stake Center." So we decided to give ourselves a nickname. We're the Wet Bandits! Then Sunday a funny guy came up with a better one, "Hydromaniacs." Anyway it was all a crazy event and we had some laughs and stress. Things are better now. You can't afford to not serve a mission cuz you miss out on all these crazy stories.

I love you,
Elder Damewood