Oí minha querida Família!!!!!

 

Hey you people there in Utah! What's going on?! So life is going pretty good here and we are loving life. We have some very cool investigators right now. One that is a mom named Helena with 2 children. She is awesome and has a great desire to learn. We taught the plan of salvation and she loved it. We want to try and mark for for baptism this week and continue meeting with her. I got a letter from Bishop Clement and from the young men or the priests. Can you tell them thank you for me and that i will respond soon to the questions that they had. But ya we still are looking for more solid investigators and for people who will progress better and that are more solid investigators.

So today we had a 2 zone Christmas conference and party. It was really cool and we got a great meal form the sisters in my ward. Oh ya i have a dinner on the 24th and i am super excited for this because it will be amazing. Then on the 25th or Christmas all of us missionaries are probably going to come and eat with us on Christmas and it will be like a big lunch. So it is starting to get cold here now. It is especially cold with all the wind. But this is only at night. When it is light out side it is very warm and almost hot.  So ya that is pretty nice. I have been sick with a cold or something like that for the past week. It isn't bad or anything just super annoying and it seems like it is getting better right now. So i am happy.

Well it sounds like everyone is running their tails off working right now. So hopefully you will all finally have the chance to take a break and relax here soon. I know that i would sure like to have one. Well sorry but i think that is everything that i can think of right now. Oh ya you all need to  tell me when you want to talk on Christmas so that way i can be ready to talk and have it all planned out. So i love you all and hope you all have a great week and know that i am praying for you all! 

Love Elder Bascom

It's already December??

So I don't know what is happening to this year. It is already gone or just about gone. So my thanksgiving was a good one. We actually had a meal with a member so that was cool. And we woke up in the morning and we went to go throw around a football!!!!! That was the best part. But also today we went to a Brazilian Buffet and it was all you can eat! :) A missionary's favorite words when your hungry, ALL YOU CAN EAT!!! But Ya Thanksgiving was great and it was  a great chance to think about the things that i am really grateful for in my life. Principally the gospel and each one of you. I am so blessed to be here in Portugal right now and to be able to share the gospel with the people here in Porto.

Elder Davis is doing good. He is a great Elder and is working Hard. We have a few investigators that are progressing but it is still some really hard work. But we are up to the challenge and excited to work here. We had a family history presentation in the street. It was really cool. I have to thank all of you that have already done so much of our family history. I was able to show a fan chart of our family history to the people in the street and it was very helpful and made a lot of people very interested in learning more. Did you know that we have a line that goes to 1230 B.C.?! that is crazy! It was super cool to find that out. I want to start doing it for our family as well and see if i can find more people in our line. 

So earlier today we went out and explored a little bit here in Porto so the pictures that i am sending are all of Porto. It was really cool to go out and really see how beautiful this country is and also how old it is too! We went into an old cathedral that was crazy big and really cool. It was weird because of all the different pictures they have but it was cool just to think of how old it really is. I hope that you all enjoy seeing a little bit of this beautiful city!

As this year is coming to an end i have been thinking a lot about what i have done with this year and what more i could have done. I know that i could have and should have done much more. But right now i can't change this past yer but i can use this year to help me remember that i can do better that i can give more. It is the same for all of us. We have so much potential that we don't even know about. But Heavenly Father knows what we can do. He doesn't expect us to do the impossible but he does expect a lot from all of us. So a challenge i got from Dad is to reflect on this past year and see what we could do better and how we are going to do these things better. I have started doing this and i can say that i am starting to see a difference in my life and in this work. I still have a really long way to go but i am excited and ready to give it my all. We have one chance at life; let's take advantage of it and use it to have no regrets in our lives. One of my favorite quotes that many of you know is "Leave it all on the Field." I know that that came from football but it has stuck with me throughout my life. Don't let fear, doubt or anything else stop you or us from reaching our full potential that is our destiny to achieve. 

Well i want all of you to know that i love you all and am truely grateful for your love and your examples that always have guided me throughout my life. Your the best of the best! Have a great week and i will pray for all of you!

Love, Elder Bascom

 

 

 

 

 

white washed.

hey guys, its brittany. sorry for the delay of posting. college has my time stretched pretty thin. but I will try to start posting weekly again. here's the elder's letter from two weeks ago (it helps explain things)::

So exciting and plain crazy news. We had transfers happen today. We found out last night that i will no longer be here in this zone. I will be going to Porto.

the address is:

Rua 9 de Julho

N' 195  3' Esq Frnt

Porto, Portugal 4050-436

It is crazy and i don't know how it's going to be because i have never done a white wash. We had just moved our house here in Monte de Caparica and now i will be going to the other part of the country. But also i will be training a new Elder! So ya i feel a little overwhelmed and don't know how i should react right now. I am sad to be leaving this area and all the people here, but that's normal to feel this way. So i will stay here until Wednesday and then i will go to Lisbon for training and to pick up my comp! then Thursday we will head out for Porto. Speaking about that. I am sorry to ask but i really need some money to get up there. I have enough to get to Lisbon but not enough to get there to Porto. So could you please put like 25 dollars on my card. I can get a reimbursement from it but i need money to get up there. And we don't get money until Friday. So if you could put a little on my card today or tomorrow i would appreciate it a lot! I am pretty excited to train but also nervous. My comp will be Elder Davis. I don't know anything more than that about him. Well i know that he is in the MTC right now. That is really weird to think about! I will be sad to leave Elder Barnhart. He is my favorite comp till now and an awesome Elder. We had a stake conference yesterday and i got to see all of my recent converts that were there! It was awesome. I found out that one of them went to the temple this past week! I was so excited to hear that Ana went! I will be  sad to not see them anymore as well but i heard that my new area is great and in an awesome part of town. I will be living in the same house as my last comp Elder Lima as well. Crazy huh. Well it sounds like you all are doing great and enjoying life. Tell Bishop Clement congratulations for me! I know that he will do a great job! I think that is all on my end. Please if you can put some money on my card and i love you all and hope you all have a great week and know that i love and pray for you all everyday! And if you wouldn't mind sendin a few more prayers this way for me i would be grateful. haha love you all

Love Elder Bascom

and his latest::

SO my family how goes it? Good i hope. So i am doing good. This whole new experience is hard, as in training and white washing here in Porto. So it is very beautiful here though and i love it but the people are a little ~bit more closed with us here. I am just about out of time today. We had a few things to do so i don't have much time to write but sorry about that. Happy B day Tiff and i love you all. This is going to be hard here but i am up to the challenge! My comp is Elder Davis from Provo Utah. He is really cool and has a great desire to work. The pictures are Elder Barnhart and me, Elder Davis and me. and me eating fransizinhas. Amazing sandwich! I love you all and sorry this is short but you all have pictures so hopefully that makes up for it. Tchua and have a great week you all.

 

 

Oí whats going on my family?
So i am tired! This week was crazy. We have been working in all of Almada
this past week. So we have been running around all week. I just have been
looking forward to today for a little rest. So Baseball last week was the
funnest thing ever! We are going to play again today. I woke up the day
after though and i just wanted to cry. My body is not used to playing
sports haha. But it was really cool. So life out here for me is going good.
Really hard at times but good. I am kinda of hoping for a change though
from this upcoming transfers. It has been hard with this companion to work
hard and diligently. I am constantly trying to fight with myself to want to
work harder. And that is making it hard to stay focused. It has really been
making me think about why I am really here. So i am trying to just do
things even more obedient with everything to help me stayed focused and
working. But i am happy to be here on a mission. That much i do know. It
just is the hardest thing i have ever had to do in my life. I miss the old
atmosphere in Utah where it was just so easy to find good people and
surround yourself with them. Here it is different but there still are those
people here. Just are harder to find them. But one cool thing that has been
happening a lot is that most people here are saying that my Portuguese is
really good. I was excited when people said that. Well ya not a lot has
happened this week. Sorry that this is so short. But i am doing good thank
you for the prayers and for everything you all are amazing and i am
grateful for everything that you all have done for me! I am glad to hear
that you all are doing good and i hope that your all loving life and here
are a few pictures from baseball haha. Hope you like them. Also we found a
submarine in Cacilhas which was super cool. They just have it there on
display! Way cool. But ya I love you all And i really am glad to be out
here!
Elder Bascom

happy 20th elder.

So how it is going family? So my week was hard. This new area is kicking my butt to be honest with you all. But i like it still. Just really hard because we white washed it and sometime i have no idea what to do. But i am planning a lot more to help with that so hopefully that helps.  So the forth of July was a good day! We had ice cream at night time. Also i went to the doctors office because i was peeing blood a little bit. But the said that by the symptoms i was not having anything serious. But they said that they would run some tests. another day. But then i stopped and i haven't had that happen for the past few days and no symptoms what so ever so i will not have to go back which makes me excited haha. But in other words we sang the nation anthem like 4 times on the forth. It was a lot of fun. And right now in my area it is like 100-105 degrees everyday. Sometimes 108. Kinda stinks to be wearing pants shirt and a tie everyday. But that is part of being a missionary. And we have a match stick cupcake for the 4th of July. Which is a lot of matches tapped together and then you light the tops on fire and it gets big for like 3-5 seconds and then really small. So it was cool. Also an espada de fogo. Fire sword translated. So you wrap a ping pong ball in tin foil and light it on fire it shoots out fire for like 30 seconds and spins in a circle. It was cool and unexpected. Then for my birthday we had Burger King and some food with my district as well. So double lunch! and i drank a ton of water and sweated like crazy. I do not like the heat here!!! But it was a good day. I got a cake and a tie from one of my recent converts and her son that live in Miratejo. They surprised me with it! So that was super cool. Oh ya every night i have to sleep with a fan on me so i can actually sleep. Along with the other missionaries in our house. So we each have a fan that is just for us to use to try and not get too hot during the night! fun stuff. But life here is awesome or was yesterday we baptized two of our old investigators from the Miratejo area, Iolanda and her daughter Jessica. Sad that they weren't in our area after the transfers but really cool that Elder Harris and i got to baptize them. After the daughter Jessica walked up to us and said thank you for being the first ones who brought us the message. But really we didn't do anything. Because they were prepared by God and i know that with everything in my heart! But it was still really cool. And also i found an old addiction here... Orange Juice!!!!!!!!! I drink that stuff all the time right now. And i forgot how much i loved it! But today we went to a mall and i found my birthday present from you all! A new Portugal soccer Jersey! So i just would like to say thank you to everyone and that i really like it a lot. And mom i didn't spend it all in one place i still have a bit left over! But ya my Birthday was great i had fun. Strange to not spend it with you all and to also be in a different country but at the same time it was super cool to realize that i was in Portugal for my birthday! So all in all it was really cool! I love you all and i am happy to hear that life is going crazy for all of you. Because that means that life is good. But i pray for all of you every night and i hope that everything is going great for you all. Have a great day and know that i love you all a lot! And those pictures of the count down are crazy! I feel like i shouldn't have that much gone already. Kinda crazy.

Love Elder Bascom

PS everyone here says my name is Bascon or Bacon. So it makes me laugh and at least everyone loves Bacon haha.

PSS i want to see the great room or is it a surprise until i get home?

 

happy 20th!!!

HEY MY FAMILY!!!!!!!

So how y'all doin? Pertty good I'm reckonin. haha love you all and i had to you my red neck speech. So things are crazy right now. And mom your thoughts somehow are always what i need. I have not gotten the package yet, but i should this week like Tuesday - Thursday time frame. But ya and thank you for the b-day gift i am excited for that. I am planning on using it for something really cool. But i don't know what for yet. So i am still the district leader. But my district is now half of the size that it was. Also i kept my same comp and we white washed an area where the sisters were. So right now nobody wants to talk with us in the new area. But we did have a baptism yesterday of an eight year old boy named Rafael. He is super cool. and i got to baptize him! it was really cool. But i don't have any pictures of it. And if you would all pray more for me to have patience i would love that. Because i will need alot with my new ward. Because there is drama here. But other than that it is all great. My new area is in Almada and super cool. We have a part that is right next to a giant river and the ocean! So i can't complain about the scenery. SO it is crazy to think that for the first time in my life i wont be having my birthday with all of you. And no fireworks! That will be a little hard to bear. but i think i will live. Because then i just think holy cow i am in Portugal. And that usually helps with a lot of stuff. So this past week had a few rough spots. We had a guy say that we don't believe in aliens then tried to push me alot and just argue saying that we are stupid and have no reason to be here. Also he kept saying what are you selling and it was super strange. He was drunk for sure. And then we tried to leave and he ran up after we were leaving and stopped us and pushed me again. Then we just said we are leaving you don't want anything so bye. Little crazy and just a weird guy but i stayed calm for the most part with him. Until he pushed me then it was really annoying. But i didn't do anything to him. So ya fun mission life. But i wouldn't trade this time for anything. and then we had another guy that wouldn't stop arguing with my zone leader when we were on a split. But with that time i was 100% calm and was super proud of myself that i didn't get annoyed or anything. And in the end it was actually a good talk with that guy. But ya i am learning alot of patience right now. But i am grateful for that. But i want you all to know that i love you all so much and i have the best support and Family in the entire world. The church is true the book is blue and i love Portugal! I hope you all have a great day and know that i am praying for you all everyday!

Love Elder Bascom

Sorry that it isn't super long but i don't have a ton of time. Love you all and know that you all are the best!!

 

elder bascom is turning 20 this week!!!! so of course i had to give him a happy birthday shout out! cant believe my brother is all grown up! so proud of him and all that he is doing! love you elder!!

xoxo, britt

 

 

my all time favorite picture of the mission. what a lucky guy. i sure do miss him.

 

Transfers!!

Hey Family,

So hey this week was a great week. We found this really elect lady. Here name is Iolanda and her daughter Jessica. So we taught the first lesson and gave her a book of Mormon. And the way that we found here was that she came to the church and said that she wanted to have the lessons by the missionaries. So ya way cool! Then after the first lesson we invited her to pray about the book o Mormon and read 3rd nephi 11. So we called the next day and she said that she felt amazing after she prayed and that she was really happy. So we already had marked a next visit. Then we marked her for baptism for the 7th of July. it was really funny because when we were marking her she just kept saying yes and so we just kept asking the question so we could say the date. But it was  really cool and she is so elect. Also i sort of got transferred. My area got switched with one of the other areas in my district. So my new area is in Alamda. But the weird thing is that i will sleep in the same house and have to take a train to my new area every day. But it will be kinda hard to do all of this. But oh well and that's mission life. Also in my district i had the zone leaders and two groups of sister missionaries wow that was hard to think of in English haha. but now its just me, my comp Elder Harris we stayed together so we both have finally had a comp for more than 1 transfer. and then just one group of sister missionaries. So ya its alot smaller now. So i am pretty sad to not be in my old area any more because the people there are really awesome and i don't want to leave because we have alot of great investigators. But i will do my best to work and give my all in the new area. So ya that is my crazy life right now. But its good and i will see all of the people on Sundays because we have the same church building so that is really cool. And for all of you life sounds crazy but at the same time good. And Dad is everything going to be alright with your Elbow?! i hope so and i will pray more for you! But that is exciting that Kirsten and the kids are up in the house right now. It was great to hear from you all and i love you sorry this isn't super long but ya i don't have a ton of time. But i love you and hope that you are all doing great! And by the way is it hot there right now? Because here it is crazy with how hot it gets everyday! But ya things are great right now. Probably will be a little crazy for a while but still it will be fun. and hey i am on a mission right now in Portugal! Doesn't get much better than that! Love you all and have a great day!

Love Elder Bascom

Happy 7 months!!

Hey y'all!

So how's my family doing? Hopefully great! So it does sound like everything is going a little crazy. But things here are doing pretty good for me. Being a district leader is still hard but i am starting to get the hang of it right now. So that is kinda nice and i don't feel super stressed. The only crazy thing is that i am in the last week of this transfer already. I can't believe that. I can't believe how fast the mission is passing. But its also cool to see how long i have already come from where i was when i first got here. but also i have alot that i still need to do in order to be at where i should be. I have some worries about this next transfer because i might leave and i really don't want to because this area really is amazing! Oh ya and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD, KAMERON, DEVIN, and JAMIE. I love you guys and hey thank you all for the examples that you set for me. And here i actually had forgotten that yesterday was fathers day. And we ate at the house yesterday. We had sandwiches and ice cream haha. It was a very nutritional meal. I am pretty jealous of what you all ate. It sounded amazing. I hope that you send me some or keep some of the elk until i get home. Or get another one right before i get home. And ya it sounds like it was a super nice day and really chill. Nice day to spend with the family. So i can't believe that Brad is already in the MTC and starting the mission. I feel like it was so long ago and that i can barely remember it. So hey how did all of the preparation go for YWs camp? I hope that everything ended up working and that it wasn't too stressful. And how are all of the movings going with the great room for Dev and Kirsten? and how are all of the babies and kids doing? It was awesome to see all of them last week in the pictures. And ya that whole first 7 months went by crazy fast. And i will be hitting 6 months here in Portugal next month. I am just trying to make sure that i am working hard and i do the things i should to work the best i can. And i can't believe that everyone is coming home already that was gone. Also that everyone younger is starting to go on their missions. How is it that people are growing up so fast. I don't think that i ever actually thought about how fast things would happen. Especially since i would have wanted to learned more and taken things more seriously. So also tell that to anyone that is wanting to serve a mission that they can actually think about that and realize that things pass by way to fast. Well really though on my end things are great and i love it out here. It is the hardest thing that i have ever done but also the most worth while i have done also. Like when it comes to seeing how people can change and turn for the better. Also it is really fun to meet crazy people. I have met alot of people who really don't like the USA and i think that's funny. But that is one of the best things about being in a different country. Also the 3 girls that we baptized aer so awesome and are super strong members right5 now and they just are like sponges wanting to absorb everything they can. Also it was really cool to see that Ana the lady we baptized last transfer she got a calling and it was super cool to see that actually happen. She is one of the coolest people in Portugal and is going to be one of the strongest members here. Ah it is so cool to see people change adn to know that i got the chance to help with that. Well i love you all and i hope that you all have a great day adn remember that i really do love you and think about you all and pray for you all everyday. Love from a crazy elder in portugal. Remember that times go by quick but that we have got to enjoy them while we have them!

Elder Bascom

 

 

Hey Hey Hey

So this week started off great and ended a little slow but it was still great. So my comp and i are doing great. Transfers are this next week. I hope that i stay here for one more and after that there is a good likelyhood that i could possible training a new missionary that is crazy. The way that us Elders travel between islands is by plane right now but i think we could take a farry. But not sure. We have a great couple that we are teaching but the man doesn't think that he needs to be married which is really annoying. But we are praying that he will pray and get an answer. But today we did a volta around the island which just means that we toured the island i will send some of the pics from today. It was a lot of fun. That is crazy that everyone is leaving and coming home from missions. Tell them all hi for me if you can. Sorry this pday went a little long so i can't write alot but i love you all i think that i answered the questions that most of you had if not i am sorry and ask them next week adn i will answer them. But i love all of you and i really look forward to hearing from you. And that is not anything to do with trunky it actually makes me want to work harder. Well ate proximo vez família. The weather here is really rainy right now.

Love Elder Bascom

 

his emails just seem to be getting shorter and shorter!! but we still love him! enjoy some snapshots he sent us::

 

 

4 month mark.

Oí Família
So you should have Kam write me and tell me what his little kid is! I would like to see some pictures of this little kid too. So right now the mission is interesting. We are trying to go out and find new people that we can teach but at the same time we have to try and reactivate all of the old members that aren't active to make our branch bigger. Mainly we are looking for preisthood members so when the military downsizes the base our branch can still stay here. But its ok i have faith that we will still have a branch here in Praia. So we have been teaching a couple and i still don't know how it is going really. Because he has alot of strange ideas about how things are but they aren't bad things by any reason. But in the end i think that José and Celest will get baptized which would be awesome. I am sort of struggling with my comp right now. He is a very perky and always talking kinda person. And as you know that is not really my style of always talking haha. And ya i don't know i just have a really hard time trying to like him, but i know that it's not his fault and that I am really the one who should change not him. So i have some work to do with that. The weather here has really sucked lately. It is really cloudy and also it is raining for most of the day here. But I like the rain. It would be nice though to have some sunshine after just having clouds these past few weeks! So how has the weather been out there for y'all? Tell Bro. Vincent congrats for me and that i am super happy for him. Also tell Bro. Melville hi as well and that i hope everything is going well for him as well! And that is cool Dad that you and Sterling are home teaching companions! Tell him hi also for me please and thank you! I am very jealous that you got to play with Korbin and Brody! I miss those little guys alot! GIve them a big squeze for me! I have started to gain a little bit of weight here. But i am still under the 200's so it looks like i have to start working out a little harder. Maybe putting a few more Books of Mormon in my back pack everyday too haha. Tell the claypools hi for me. And that i am doing great and that i hope they are aswell. Also that is crazy that Jeff gets home this week! Tell him hi for me too. Well i think that is about it for this week. I love all of you so much and i am blessed to have all of you as family! Até proximo semena!
Elder Bascom 


I think he's starting to miss some people... CRAZY that he's been out 4 months today!!  

a quick update

Sorry that we haven't updated in a while! Life got pretty crazy around the Bascom house... But i'm sure that you'll all be happy to know that our sweet elder in Portugal is doing great! Here's his latest email and a little bit more about what he does everyday::

Como Vão?

I am doing great here in the Açores! The work has been really slow because alot of people have been canceling on us and that has made it slow. But a typical day here for me is Wake up at 7 or 6:45 and work out. Eat at 8 then study at 8 30 till 11 30 then we work from then until 1 and we have lunch and then language study for an hour. Then we go back out at 3 and work and try to eat dinner at 5 but that usually never happens. And we go back to the house at 9 30 or 10 at the latest. Then bed time is at 11. It is alot of fun and also a lot of work. I mostly eat rice or noodles with every meal and then meat and what ever we have in the house to drink haha. We eat out maybe two times a week and we get like one or two member meals every week which is awesome! We walk everywhere here. We have a bus to take us to like 2 or 3 places but other than that we walk everywhere. But i think we only walk like 4-6 miles a day so not alot. So i haven´t seen any new missionaries yet because i am on the Açores. But i think that we have new missionaries here now. The work will hopefully speed up this week. But i will be in Angra all day tomorrow and part of Wednesday because my comp will be in Lisboa for training. It is warming up a little here but it has rained everyday this week. And when it rains it is either lightly sideways rain or heavy sideways rain. It makes no sense at all but ya that is Portugal i guess. They have sweaters here and they are around 12-15 euros to buy. So not to much and so i would like to get at least one if that is ok. That is really exciting that you get to go and see Tiff and all them this month! Tell all of them hi for me! I hope that everything is going good up there and that is way cool that you all get to see Dev too! I hope that your first event goes well and that you all take a deep breath and enjoy it all haha. It is kinda weird thinking that i wont be there for it. But that is ok and it will go great! I am way excited for all of you with the coming of Kam and Mims baby. I want some pictures when it comes! Well that is it for me i think. I love all of you so much and i want you all to know that because of you i am here and am the person i am today! Love you!

Love 

Elder Bascom 

Elder Bascom and his new companion, Elder Berg::

 

 

His Own Words

I guess that there's not better way to tell you how Elder Bascom is than say it in his very own words. So, here you go. Oh, and don't mind the spelling, us Bascom's were never too good at that ;)

Como Vão?
Eu espero que vocês estejem bem. I think I said that right but I don't really know haha. This week has been a really good one. The work is really starting to pick up and I am starting to finally understand most of the things that people are saying. But it's really hard at times and I try to keep myself positive and happy about it. But then I think that I finally understood that I wasn't giving my all to the work. I wasn't doing everything that I could be and so I didn't really deserve to have help with the language. But I am ready to go now and just want to try to give my all and see how the work will go from here. So on Friday I went to a little island called Pico. You only go there if you serve in Praia. Which is my mission. So it was a lot of fun and I took a lot of pictures but my camera died and i forgot the charger in Lisboã, so I'm kinda out of luck with that. But my Comp is actually in Lisboã right now for a Zone Leader confrence adn he said that he would get it for me. So right now I'm on splits in Angra which is another city on Terceira. His name is Elder Owens and he is an awesome Elder, and I am really excited to see how it all goes here. So there is a possibility that my trainer Elder Leonard will be transferred when transfers come. Because he has been on the islands for like 4 months. So that is really nerve racking to think about since that means that I would basically be in charge of what my new comp and i would be doing. So I'm really hoping that he doesn't and taht I get the full 12 weeks with him. So ya that's that haha. So the weather here is really windy and it rains alot too. But I guess that the good thing fo rme is taht I really like the wind and rain! My apartment is pretty big and actaully a decent place. But nothing like the MTC or our house. There is alot more mold here and nothing gets super dry. I got more complements on my portuguese which was cool. But I just keep wanting to work so that I can understand everything and be able to teach. I haven't gotten any emails from you all and I hope everything is ok. My guess is that because it was the Super Bowl last night that you all got kinda busy. And so one question though who won? Ravens or Ninners? It was kinda weird knowing that it was going on and that I couldn't watch it. But ya I think that is about all that is going on in my life right now. I love you all and i hope that everything is going good! I was given a paper that was Titled my missionary commision. You all should look it up. I would type it but I don't have it with me right now and I don't have it memorized! Well again I love you all and i hope that everything is going great for all of you. 
                                                                                                           Love,
                                                                                                      Elder Bascom

I love that he is worried about who won the Super Bowl. He always did hate the 49ers! xoxo, brittany

Portugal!!!

Elder Bascom arrived in Portugal on January 17, 2013. He is already in love with the country! He is currently serving on the Azores Island. (google it, that place is amazing!) His companions name is Elder Leonard and is from Texas!

A snippet from his latest email::

"So it doesn't feel weird to me to be on a small island. I actually love it. It is such a beautiful place to be. And the people are all really nice here. The language is slowly coming. But i have gotten a few comments from the Americans that can speak Portuguese and also natives that have all said that i can speak really well for only being here for 11 days and 9 weeks in the MTC. So i was really excited about that and it gave me a little bit of hope! So i can actually understand a lot more that i could before. I can stay caught up in a conversation with about half of the people. But the other half speak really weird and usually are missing most of their front teeth! haha."

"Oh ya Elder Leonard and I marked our first person for Baptism. His name is Miguel. Great guy but he has a little problem with smoking still but i think that we got it all taken care of. We are working alot and had a great Zone Conference yesterday! I love it here and am doing my best to speak as much as i can. But i get nervous at times and a little frustrated at others because i cant speak or say the things  that i want to. But i cant complain because i have already made a lot of progress and just need to keep working!"

We are so proud of this Elder and all the progress and work he is doing!! Already having his first baptism?? Way to go Elders! We love and miss him everyday. Til next time, Brittany.

 

Elder Bascom and his Portugal District!

The Last Week

This past week has been Elder Bascom's last week in the MTC. He recieved his VISA and is leavin on Tuesday to Portugal!! It's SO crazy how fast time has been flying!! I can't believe that the 9 weeks are alread over! He is doing so well from all of his letters! He told me that he doesn't get homesick, which is definitely a good thing, but it's wierd to think that as well, when all of us here are missing him. Ryan is honestly so stinkink excited to go serve the people of Portugal. His letters are full of strength and enthusiasm as he prepares to go. It's gonna be hard not having him just down the road, but we are so extremely proud of him and all that he is doing. This past Wednesday, January 9th, our cousin, Elder Mitch Karr, went into the MTC. He is going to the Canada, Vancover mission. Here's a cool experience that happened that day::

We had an awesome experience with Mitchell as we dropped him off at the MTC yesterday.  We timed everything just perfectly to arrive and have time to take pictures, hug, etc and when we reached the canyon road Mitch noticed he didn't have his backpack with all his books, id, passport, important papers, etc.  The rules at the MTC now are that you can't drop anything at the front desk.  Security reasons.  We pulled into the parking lot across the street and they suggested we go back and get it, which we did.  We all had a good laugh and it definitely lightened the mood from somber to fun.  When we arrived at the place to take pictures Mitch was anxious to get to the MTC because by now he was an hour late (Yes...have a laugh.  Typical Karrism) so no tears as we loaded back up and drove across the street.  Now they have "host" missionaries that greet you and take your missionary to get settled.  There were probably 30 missionaries on the curb waiting.  Some groups tried to get us to stop while the group ahead was waving us forward.  We pulled to the front spot and who was there but Ryan Bascom, Mitchell's cousin who entered the MTC in November and leaves next Tuesday!!  He had the biggest smile on his face when he saw us and one of the Elders in his group said "I think our group prayer this morning was heard!"  Mitch was supposed to forget that backpack.  We were too organized for that to happen and yet.... We hugged, we took pictures, and when he left it was just him and Ryan.  It honestly felt like he was going to off to hang with his cousin.  I'm not saying it wasn't hard but it wasn't the trainwreck of emotion that I was prepared for.

Ryan had talked about seeing his cousin at the MTC since Mitch had gotten his call. He never thought that he would get to see him very much, let alone be his first companion as he entered the MTC. What a special experience for the both of them!

 I'm not sure why the pictures arent able to load, but here is a link to Ryan's facebook page with lots of pictures!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.4400153009417.2160809.1456295599&type=1

 

Christmas in the MTC.

Hello everyone!
I'm so sorry that I haven't updated this in a long time... Life has been crazy! But I promise I will update it every sunday from now on!

Elder Bascom is doing extremely well! He has gotten the language down a lot better and writes short things to us in Portuguese in every letter he writes. Christmas was quiet without him, and everyone else to say the least. We weren't able to talk to him on Christmas day because he is in the MTC, but we were extremely lucky to have hand written letters delivered to us by a member in our ward from Elder Bascom. We all opened them Christmas morning and many tears were shed, by far the best Christmas present that we could have gotten. We did the 12 days of christmas for Elder Bascom and his companion. We put some random gifts in as well as some needed things. I hope that they enjoyed it just as much as we did getting it ready for them. He sent home a bunch of pictures of Christmas and them working hard, but still having fun doing it. I tried to upload them, but i couldn't get them to work, so I will try again next week!

In Ryan's most recent letters he told us that he was able to be a host missionary this past week. It's crazy that that much time has already passed! It feels like just yesterday we were dropping him off at the MTC to the other host missionaries, but now he is one himself. He also told us that his district is now the oldest district. He said, "That is really weird. But i like it too haha." He is still waiting for his Visa to come through and asked us to pray for it to come, since he is supposed to be leaving to Portugal on January 15. I honestly can't believe that he's already been gone for this long! Mom keeps telling me "only one more Christmas and he'll be home!" which is true, but it's a lot longer than that!

We are all so proud of Ryan and all that he is doing right now. I know that he appreciates all the letters and packages that you all have sent. He loves hearing from you all! In his own words, "I hope you all have a great New Year and remember to keep smiling."
-Brittany