True MVP"S

For anyone that actually reads these and is not my Mom and Dad, i am currently clapping for you. You are true MVP's. hehe

This week was fantastic. Let me just tell you that i am getting really good at knocking on doors. I have plenty of chances to figure out my signature knock and i think I've decided on the band aid commercial song. Still developing but i feel good about this one. 

We got to teach two lessons this week with our investigators. Jennifer (one of those investigators) read from the beginning of the Book of Mormon to the middle of Mosiah between our first and second visit. When she said that I'm pretty sure that my mouth dropped like it does in the cartoons and stuff. I just kept saying, "That is Awesome!" over and over and i probably looked crazy because i just couldn't believe what was happening. We had a wonderful lesson about the Plan of Salvation. My mouth opened even wider when she said she had always felt like the idea of only Heaven and Hell. She agreed mostly with everything we said. I was flabbergasted. At the end I asked if she would give the closing prayer and she DID. I felt the spirit so strong as she prayed and i am so happy to see that joy of God's plan really play an effect on someone who had never heard it before. 

Our other investigator went wonderful as well. Just until the end when he handed us an Anti-Mormon book that he told us he had been reading and he wanted to know if any of the stuff in there was right. We kinda stole the book so he wouldn't read it, and now we are using it to set up another date with him. hehe (sneaky elders).

Let me tell ya. I gave another blessing to the crazy guy that told me he wanted to kill me. It was a good one. At the end he stood up and looked at me in the eyes and gave me the most loving hand shake he could muster. (He's a manly man, and will never ever hug me. So the hand shake meant a lot.) He stood up and just said, "Perfect, just like He always is." 

I smile a lot. I laugh probably too much. I love where i am, and i know the Lord loves me. Life is good. I wish everyone could just realize the joy the comes through Him. 

Love y'all and thanks for reading this thingy

Elder Brian

Hello. It's me.

Hello. 

Its me. 

I was wondering if after all this week you'd like to read. Or go over everything. 

They say that Satan tries to get ya, but i'm just out here smiling. 

^ that was pretty good  hehehe

Holy cow. what a time to be alive, am I right? This past week i saw yet another miracle or two. AND then we had General Conference and I was spiritually pumped to the MAX.

At the beginning of the week, we got to meet with the referral we got from the mormon.org people and she was so cool. This girl said that her father was a professor at a local university and he had had one of his students give him a Book of Mormon  awhile back. The book had sat at their home for a long time and she had taken a religion class and came home and saw it. She decided that she wanted to learn more about what the "Mormons' believed so she called and said she wanted a tour of our meeting house. We had some sisters from the relief society there and we walked around and got to teach the Restoration. Jennifer, the investigator, mostly agreed with all the things we were saying. We kinda slid in that there are multiple discussions that we have with people to fully inform them the basics of our beliefs. She agreed to meet to have all the discussions! I was so happy. I know that as we share the truths of the Gospel with her she will see them as they are. Undeniable honest truth. Ill keep everyone posted on how shes doing.

The next day we decided to go find some people that had already had contact with missionary's before. We came to this guys door and he answered and stepped out of his house to talk with us. He was very into politics and we asked if he knew much about Mormons and he said, "Well sure, i voted for Romney!" So we knew he knew nothing about Mormons. hehe We talked for a while and shared with him a book of Mormon and then all of a sudden we were like yeah could we tell you about it and where it came from. Next thing i knew we were in his living room teaching the Restoration. He only believes in the bible... for now, but he has great faith in Christ. I think he liked hearing what we had to say. It was cool because we made sure everything made since and it sorta felt like he was realizing that all of the stuff we were saying didn't seem wrong at all. We set an appointment to come back, and he said that if he felt like what we were saying was true by the power of God he would be baptized. CRAZY. hehehe it was amazing and i know that the spirit was guiding us in our search to find those seeking the gospel.

We also had a chance to go to the Hospital again to give yet another blessing. We were at the icu and a family came up and talked to us. They were very scary looking but had the cutest little girl and boy. As we got to know them they were actually less active members and the lady we were called to give a blessing to was this sweet sisters mother. We talked and the the man told us that he had been part of a gang and that he hopes to be in the military one day, but even with all of this he was the one that called us. He said, "I knew that you boys would be able to do so much more then i could." It was amazing.

Things are good, and then Conference happened and my mood went through the roof. I'll make this short and sweet. FOLLOW the word of the leaders of this church. They know what they are saying. The Lords words were just handed to us and now its our job to act and to receive true JOY! I promise that by living by the words of the Book of Mormon and the Prophets we will never be lead astray. NEVER.

My companion loves to talk in his sleep and i laughed all night last night because he sat straight up and mumbled something then i woke him up and he had no idea what was happening  or where he was. hahaha i laughed for probably an hour. hehe

GUYS, this Gospel is good,

LOVE Elder Brian

We watched General Conference at the church

Leaves are starting to change!

Filling up our packs for the day.

Ping pong table at the office elders apartment - Good times!

Gotta love Mormon.org

Alright to be frank, this week has been really cool. No super amazing out of this world experiences, but I've come to realize God hears our prayers.

So here in Frontenac, we are blessed with only talking to very wealthy white folks, who are very comfortable where they are. It has been a real challenge to have any investigators because no one knows that they want to hear the good news of the Gospel. I've been praying hard to receive some help from above. 

We had Cage, but he's been hiding from us ever since we told him he was gonna get baptized and I think he got a little frightened. no worries tho, we will pick him back up again in the coming future. haha and then we have this man named Bill. I dont think his real name is Bill, but that is what he told us. haha We got to teach Bill this week and it was my first experience with this type of investigator. He is an older gentleman who is very Hindu. I thought that was pretty cool but I could tell my companion was not too thrilled. Something I learned is that his religion lets him believe in all religions. He believes in ALL the beliefs of God. hehe no matter what we said he said, ah that is nice.*(Indian Accent)*  I had no idea what to say. We left him with a copy of the Book of Mormon, and asked if we could return later in the week and he told us it wasn't necessary. hahah So i was a little down with how things were going. We lost our investigators and we were back to tracting a TON. haha but we kept praying and hoping and loving the people. Heavenly Father loves that diligence. 

We got a 2 calls within an hour. Both from Mormon.org people who rarely ever call missionaries. They called and first told us about this lady named Jennifer who is looking for some missionaries to tell her more about the Church. Pretty much GOLD as a missionary. We meet with her on Wednesday. We were just calming down when we got another call and they asked us if we could go teach in a Catholic school about what Mormons believe. Which never ever happens. THEN on Sunday this less active man who could be a  Seventy if he just went to church came to church and sat in the back during sacrament. The man has not been to church in 6 months. Blessings were raining down. 

Looking back it is such an answer to my prayers. He was listening and is always listening and we just have to listen and watch for the answers. I Love being here. I love the people, I love them even though they arn't very nice to me sometimes. haha I can feel the love of the Lord. I hope  you can as well. 

Love Elder Brian

Don't let knowledge supersede your faith

Okay, 

The experience I had this week is so different than the one that happened last week. We are still having a hard time finding people to teach, Cage our only real lead wasn't there for our appointment, and it rained a ton. But I luckily love to look on the bright side.

We had this appointment we were forced to go to, because were a threesome for the day with an Elder who is usually in a threesome with the Zone Leaders. This pretty much means that we have to do whatever that elder wants to do for the whole day. So we were at this appointment that he had set up and as soon as we walked in I knew that this wasn't a good place to be. It looked like a normal home with a normal large guy and his tiny wife, but there was something off. On the far wall they had some decorative signs that said things like "FAITH" and "LOVE" and all the other good stuff, and even those signs didn't seem right. As we began talking we found out that we were talking with a man that had  his PHD in Theological Studies specializing in the Bible. He use to be the Preacher at a Southern Baptist church.  I thought "wow that's good because he will understand pretty much everything we talk about." Boy was I wrong. 

We started talking and he told us that the whole conversation would be in vain unless we could answer him two questions. The first being "How wide is the path into heaven?" or in other words how far can I go astray and still make it into heaven. His second question was, "What physical evidence do you have about anything you believe?" These questions were something I thought about for a few seconds and knew the answers to. I let the other Elders talk for a solid 40 minutes, in circles, as the man refused to talk about the restoration. I lost my mind and started spouting the gospel in his face. 

I began by asking questions about his beliefs, and that's when I realized that this dude was an Anti- Christ. He was pretty much Korihor. He didn't believe Jesus was a real man, he didn't believe that God is a loving God and he didn't believe that prayers could be answered by God but he still prayed anyway. This guy knew Hebrew and Greek and everything he had read the Bible in multiple languages and chose to not believe a word it said. He then told us that if we rely on faith that he didn't wanna hear about it because he cant trust his feelings. 

I EXPLODED. I went off on how I know. The spirit testified so strong and I even got a little choked up because this man was so far off. He had been lead so far off. Satan had his grasp on him and he did it the same way that he tempted Christ, though quoting scripture and then twisting it. I answered his question simply and plainly. 1. The width of the path into heaven is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. 2. You have proof that I can hold in my hand -and that is the Book Of Mormon. I know its true. There is nothing anyone on this planet can say that an didn't know what to do because I testified a long time. We left and the man was no closer to the Savior simply because of his belief that he, a mortal man, was smarter than God.

I learned a good lesson that day. Knowledge is a powerful tool and ally as long as it doesn't supersede your faith. Faith is first. "... By the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." Moroni 10:5  Its by that power alone. I know because I've been told. Not by my mom or dad, or my friends, or by a teacher. I know because the Spirit of God has told me, and NO ONE can tell me I'm wrong. 

Anyway, hahaha i had a fun week. hehe just to let everyone know I'm still a child, and I stacked four beds on top of each other to sleep on and its fun.  hehe

I love and miss you all

Love Elder Brian

PS. if you read the whole thing I am clapping for you right now.

BTW i ate that entire loaf of Banana Bread in less than 10 min

Apartment complex

Okay, what a week. Twins!

Okay, what a week.

    Let me tell ya, being set apart as a missionary is so cool. Not a lot of changes in how much tracting we are doing, but i am learning more and more to actually love it. I wrote the first letter that I've written in my whole life and I'm now loving studies. I am no longer afraid to share what i know and love and i honestly can attribute all this good stuff to an experience i had this past week. 

     We have two hospitals in our area and they are absolutely huge. The other day we got a call from a lady who we didn't know who asked us to come and give her daughter a blessing who was pregnant with twins in the hospital. Upon arrival we found out that the pregnant women was a non-member, her husband a less active of over 20 years and they were kinda sorta okay with us being there but the soon to be grandma was the one that called us and she insisted on the blessing. We chatted and i told her about Maddie and how i have a niece and a nephew, and i kept saying this is amazing this is so good and exciting. I think i freaked her out because i just was so happy for her and her soon to be bigger family. We gave the blessing and there was a good spirit in the room. After, i felt overwhelmed to tell her that everything was going to be okay. We found out she is in about 9 weeks early then they were supposed to come and she was very nervous. We left and i was on a cloud and it was so cool. Little did i know that wasn't the end. She had her babies literally the next day. Twin boys who were very early. We got a call a day later and they said they wanted us to come back and hopefully give the babies a blessing. I was so excited to hear that we were going to go back to that family, but then i realized that we were going to be unable to touch the babies due to them being in incubators and under lights and the whole shabam. We called our mission president to see what we should do and he told us to simply be as close as we can. We got there and the now new mother was so so so happy to see us. She had felt the spirit and she knew that this thing we were doing was real and worth while. She took us to the NICU to go see the babies, and as soon as we stepped through the door the whole world changed for me. This was a sacred place. We saw the two tiny little people in those boxes and i almost lost my mind. This was a visual evidence that God is real, that he loves us, and that He works miracles today. We talked and i was without words for a long time, but then out of the muffled sound i heard them say that Elder Tompson could put a drop of oil on the babies heads. (Yes, the same one that practices knife skills was about to touch a brand new baby.) hahaha He dabbed his finger in the oil and lightly touched the first ones head. I was in the clouds again and then everyone looked at me and i was asked to give the blessing. HOLY COW. We couldn't touch the baby so we put our hands on the Incubator. The blessing began and i again, was almost speechless. It felt as if i could feel the baby breathing. There was a tangible force pulsating. The priesthood is remarkable, it is the authority to act for God. It is not my power it is our Heavenly Fathers and it is no doubt real. I felt it quite literally hit me. The exact same experience happened for the next child and by the end i was holding tears back. I looked at the mother and i knew that she recognized the power that was there.  We said thank you and told her that if she needs anything to just let us know. As we walked out, the three of us (we had a Zone Leader with us for the day) all said that we felt the exact same feeling of radiating power of the priesthood.

       Let me tell you, I can say that without a doubt that this church is the true church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. From this one experience alone I'd be willing to say such a statement. I Testify because I know and I've felt for myself that Joseph Smith has to be a Prophet of God because if not, I would not have had that experience in the NICU. Its been restored guys, I know it. 

I'm learning a lot. Im figuring out ways to cope with my companion and trying to enjoy him even. He is goofy but not as bad as ya think. (Im just used to living alone) Im getting good at knocking on doors but i cant quite get my distinct knock down so if anyone has any good knocks let me know. hehe My comp used to tell me that i need to talk more and last night he told me that he feels like he can't say anything anymore because i talk to much. hehehe- my bad. Im loving what I'm doing no matter how hard it gets, because its gonna be so worth it. 

Follow up on Cage: We talked with him some more and he does not believe that he will ever convert because he's already found truth. hehe We shall see about that. We invited him to a baptism but he was getting food with a "politician" so he couldn't come. We meet with him on Saturday for a lesson.

I definitely don't have a six pack. 

LOVE YA,

Elder Brian

p.s. Okay so here is the scoop. Everyone wants a robe now. I have worn that stupid bath robe like every night and morning and everyone thinks its so funny and cool. hahaha so if you see any robes around, go ahead and send em my way because people are begging me to get them one and asking where I got mine. Also thank you so much for sending that stuff. I loved the pudding and all the Elders got a kick out of it because I'd always offer everyone a "puddin." In our apartment complex there are two other sets of elders - the Zone leaders and the office elders, the senior sisters, and the car people so we always have the elders hangin' at our house at night and I make them laugh and its so fun. One of them really wants to date Aubrey or Ellie and is planning on it when he gets home, that's ELDER BOTT. He's a silly kid. he also wants me to ask you to get him a robe pretty please with a cherry on top.

Tracting and testifying

Hey gang. whatsup?

   It is so crazy hot out here. haha. This last week has been a good week. Lots of tracting and trying to find people, but I think that this trial for me is definitely something that is going to help me in the long run. 

 While tracting this past week we knocked on this guys door named Cage. I knew from the moment we saw his house that this was going to be a good person to talk to. They had bumper stickers on their van that said, "God is Real" and other things like that so I knew they were going to be religious. We knock, and a large black man opens the door, smiles and then says, "Boys, you came at a bad time, how about this Saturday at 11 you boys come back and tell me what you have for me?" Then I started to try to say that we were missionaries and then I gave up and just said, "You bet, we will be here at 11. Thanks, and have a good day." It was the first time ever that we knocked on the door and didn't say anything and then were invited back in a few days. Part of me was skeptical and I was thinking that maybe this dude was playing a prank on us or something because we can never get into peoples homes that easy. 

Saturday came and we were there right on time. He opened the door and invited us in and I couldn't believe what happened. Cage was a minister, but he didn't necessarily belong to any denomination. This guy could preach. I had to stop myself a few times while he was talking from saying out loud, "AMEN," because everything he said was so spot on. He talked for a while and literally ended up teaching us the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He finished and said he wasn't going to talk and he wanted to hear what we had to say. We brought out the Book Of Mormon and he was like, "OHH yeah, I've read that thing before!" and my companion and I looked at each other and just started laughing. He couldn't really tell us what went on in the book, but he had listened to it on tape before and based some of his ideas of religion on it. We asked him to read a few things and told him we'd be back to see what he thought and he was excited to read them. I'll keep you posted on Cage - and his baptism and stuff hahaha hopefully.

Okay guys, I've gotta tell you a little something about living with one dude for a while. My companion is insane. I knew it from the beginning but I'm pretty sure its getting worse,. The other night he had some caffeine and it was a terrible mistake. I went in to change out of my proselytizing clothing and when I walked back out he had a knife and was practicing his moves. I was honestly a little scared but he's just a little different and I'm learning to love him. He also likes to tell me that he was a janitor at home and I can tell you folks that he had to be a terrible janitor. hahah (MOM you'd be so proud of me)  I keep everything I have separate from him so nothing gets touched by him. I cleaned the counter and the fridge and the microwave and the stove after he cleaned them and I am pretty sure if I hadn't of done that we would have gotten deathly ill... okay, I may be exaggerating a bit -but yeah...

Throughout this week I know I've seen the Lords hand in my life and in the work. Doing missionary work is so amazing and I know I haven't felt a happiness quite like this before. Its pure joy when you testify of the love of God and because of that love he sent his son Jesus Christ. That joy is something everyone deserves to feel. I encourage everyone who gets this far in this email, be bold and talk about the Gospel with those who don't have it in their lives. To become like Christ we must strive to do as he did, and pretty much all he did was testify to every person he talked to about the truthfulness of the Gospel. Just start talking and the spirit will guide you. I've seen it happen, I have a first hand account. Get after it.

I love you and miss you all.

Love Elder Brian 

With Elder Bott - visiting the Senior Sister missionaries.

 (All of these pictures are from Sister Gore.)

With Elder Havili. Both of them "greenies."

Sister Gore and Sister Kroupa had them over for dinner. (Bless them!)

Week 2 in the mission field 8/29/2016

Hey, hows it goin'?

This past week I went on exchanges with Elder Peterson, and I got to go to Pagedale. This place is literately the ghetto. We talked to so many people and almost all of them believed in Jesus, which was awesome. We were walking down the street and I walked up to this guy and asked him if i could share with him a message about Jesus, and he was like, "yoooo- heck yeah, brother."  Then he proceeded to tell us that he is in the gang Crips and that if we ever need any help to do this weird call thing then tell the people that show up that "Richie" told us. Elder Peterson didn't realize we were talking to a full blown gangster and he started laughing and I was like, "we are just gonna leave ya with a card." hahaha as we were talkin, another guy walked up and said, "you got any money?" In my mind i was thinking holy cow its happening... I'm about to get robbed, then my comp. said, "probably as much as you do" and I thought we were done for. Then Richie said "Hey man, these boys work for Jesus." the man that asked for money then shook our hands and walked away. The name tag I am wearing saved my life, I swear. hahahahaha

We walk a little further and decide we have to get on a bus. We sit down at the bus stop and this older looking guy walks up and is like, "Sup."  So, we naturally start talking with him. It doesn't take long to find out that this guy had just got out of prison the day before for homicide, and he was on his way to his momma's house! He showed me all of the 19 bullet holes on his body and a whole bunch of stab wounds, and I was thinking, "holy freaking cow, I am going to die today." Turns out this guy was from the Bloods, a different gang, and this guy was one of the leaders in the area. I asked him if he was going to change and be a better person now that he's out of prison, and he was like, "yeah, I gotta change- but I still have some stuff I gotta finnish up. You know - pow pow." then he started laughing and said, "Jesus Forgive me," and told me he was kidding. He wasn't,I'm pretty sure. He told me he always believes in Jesus and tries to give back to the streets like Jesus would.

IT was an awesome experience in the Ghetto, and i hope i get to serve there some time. hahaha Everyone there has so much faith in God and Jesus they just dont act like it. 

Now im back in Frontenac and we are back to people telling us they dont need God or Jesus. Nothing gets me more mad than when people tell me that, but I try to be kind. haha Im eatin well and having fun. Its been a month since i left home and i cant believe time goes by that fast. I love you all and miss you.

Love Elder Brian

my MTC companion, Elder Martin

My Trainer, Elder Thomson

Workin'