Called to Serve:Braeden's West Side Story: IT'S MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY MY DUDES

hello everyone i hope youre enjoying this normally boring united states day because here in mexico its pretty much the most lit day of my entire life. the people here have so much pride and so much culture that the united states has definitely taken a back seat for now. last night we had a program about mexican independence and they did a lot of dances and we all did the grito mexicano and sang the mexican national anthem and my love the country and the gente grew so much as i participated! all of our neighbors in our casa are natives and weve gotten pretty close so anytime we see each other we all scream VECINOS and then do the whole hispanic thing where we just point at each other and go AGHHHHHHHH and that definitely doesnt do it justice but its pretty much the most amazing thing ever. hmm what else has happened oh yeah so the fiestas all start on thursday night because mexicanos are party people and so around 7 last night the fireworks started non stop and the music started playing and the fireworks stopped at around 1 or 2 but THE MUSIC DIDNT STOP UNTIL 7AM THIS MORNING it was so amazing we heard lots of spanish music but also WE HEARD BON JOVI AND YMCA it was so funny but i love it here so much. lets see what else happened this week i got to go to the temple again today which was amazing as always and i met two guys that are in my mission right now, and also two that are going to where my dad served! what else this week well elder romero and i still play ping pong for about an hour every day during our gym time and i thinkwe could make the olympic table tennis team for mexico by now. this week i had the amazing opportunity of exercising my priesthood to give hermanas orr and colby a blessing, hermana orr came to me and asked if we could give her a blessing and so elder romero and i gave them both a blessing. i was the voice for hermana colby and him for hermana orr, but its so amazing how the words just came to my mind and i didnt really even realize what i was saying but i could feel the spirit guiding me as i spoke. they were both so grateful and the experience was just so amazing and spiritual and it was such a testament to my faith that God's power is here on the earth and i have the authority to use it. also this week we have two investigators named alex and luis and elder romero and i have a baptismal date for alex after the second lesson and luis wants to be baptized just from his first lesson but we dont have a date yet, the spirit is so powerful when we teach. today at the temple we ran into two missionaries that are serving in mexico city west right now and they came with their investigators they baptized because they were getting married!! they said that they baptize all the time in that mission and the food is great and its a beautiful area so im pretty stoked to get out into the campo!!! in the past three weeks weve heard from three apostles, d todd christofferson, m russel ballard, quentin l cook, and it has been so amazing because theyre speaking just for us!!! i really dont like praying or singing hymns in english though its just weird. our district sings somos los soldados ALL the time its our favorite, its we are all enlisted in english. to end on a spiritual note, this week i was in personal study and I decided to read about the first vision, which I memorized in Spanish a while ago. Dice "vi una columna de luz, más brillante que el sol, directamente arriba de mi cabeza. Y esta luz gradualmente descendió hasta descansar sobre mi...Al resposar sobre mi la luz, vi en el aire arriba de mi a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripción. Uno de ellos me habló, llamándome por mi nombre y dijo, señalando al otro: "Esté es mi Hijo amado. ¡Escúchalo!" And I know for a fact that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father and received divine revelation from them to restore La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Si lee en la Historia de José Smith, y entonces lee las escrituras que Moroni compartió con él, no hay nada manera que no puede creer que esta Iglesia es verdadero. Yo sé que José Smith vio Jesucristo y Dios. Yo sé que esta Iglesia es verdadero. Yo sé que Jesucristo y Dios nos ama más que podemos saber, y estoy muy animado por la oportunidad para servir a las personas de la Misión Ciudad de México Oeste, y digo estas cosas en el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.

pretty patriotic pic of the flag at the temple for mexican independence

this is blurry bc i zoomed in because i didnt want to get too close but these are everywhere its scary, its about as big as my hand spread all the way out. btw that thing is like 10' yards from me right now it makes me anxious

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE IT SAYS THE CHILDREN OF THIS SCHOOL ARE THANKFUL FOR NOT GRAFFITING AND SOMEONE GRAFFITIED DE NADA BENEATH IT ITS SO FUNNY (we saw this on the way to the temple its like staple to laugh at on the way there and back) theres graffiti everywhere in the city