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