Post Valentines wrap up. Actually, he says nothing about Valentines day, but it sounded like a good title

Hey padres y familia,

This week was really blurred. It's getting tough to remember individual days, I guess that's why we have journals.

First of all...Jimmy came to church! 

Jimmy has had many events going on on Sundays and he's tried to come but something would always come up, many times crazy things like taking his daughter to the hospital. He made the added effort this week and came, suit and all! I was asked before the meeting to play the organ so I didn't see him come in but when I heard him introduce himself to a member my face lit up. I made the first church experience very real when I completely and utterly messed up the intro of the first song, so bad that I almost had to stop-you know the kind, flats not sharps. Luckily I didn't freeze up and run out the chapel like I would have liked to do. I don't think they would have appreciated that.

Rewind a few days, we had gotten a text from Jimmy saying they were canceling our visits because he was spliting from Dionne. We drove over and had a really good lesson with him about how we can't always control our situations and decided to fast together. It was amazing. When we finalized our fast he texted us saying that him and Dionne were talking again and things were looking up. He also said he had invited his brother and sister in law to the lesson we were going to have that night. His brother was a guy who when the missionaries would come over to talk to his wife, would hide away because he was angry but didn't want to find out what exactly they believed in. When we finished the lesson he explained to us how Jimmy had persuaded him to come and felt like everything we taught made sense. The video, "Because of Him" really had an impact and invited us to teach his family. 

The thing that stood out to me the most this week about Jimmy was that we all will have super low days, but as Joseph B. Wirthlin said that "Sunday will come" and the sun will shine again. 

I really want to stay here for as long as I can, I feel like everything is clicking together and with added strength we can shift this area into a thriving location for the spirit to be. It's so close and at times I can see where it can and will be. I'm grateful for you guys. 

Love, 

Elder Bryan

Back in the low 80's in lovely and historic Buckeye

This week has been quite enjoyable. It's starting to get warm, the
fans are turning back on, water is being delivered to the houses,
'winter' is over. Back to the low 80's for us here in lovely and
historic Buckeye. I try to internalize these memories for when it's
120 and I'm riding bike in north Phoenix.

This week was transfer week and great news! Elder Nistler and I are
staying here! It's really fun being around him since he's from the
country (Medford Oregon to be exact) so all of the saying he has
cracks me up. The game I play is making up sayings and seeing if he
catches it or not. So far so good, especially when I accidentally make
up real quotes.

there are some houses that are hard to feel the spirit in. Others like
Jimmy's you get a little excited waiting for him to answer the door.
It's very easy to see how the Devil is trying his hardest to stop him
and his family from progressing. Sunday morning as they were getting
ready to go to church for the first time, and really the first time
they've been free and not busy with something they'd been planning for
months, their daughter got sick and they decided to take her to urgent
care. Of course they got her checked out just in time for them to miss
any church service. It's always frustrating when things are out of
your control and even more so when Satan swings a low blow like that.
That night we went over and gave Destiny and Jimmy blessings. Jimmy
has been sick since beginning of November and the doctors still don't
know exactly what it is but by tonight will decide whether to do a
biopsy to get down to the answers. He's just a fire though. I'm
excited for when they can come meaning this Sunday because they have a
strong desire and won't let a canonball wound get in the way.  Yay for
faith!

I'm getting better at cooking, no longer do I have that unsettling
feeling that what I made has the potential to kill me :) But in
reality I've improved from lunch meat sandwiches with the occasional
crazy experiment to total experiment/healthy things.

The other day we got to do service in the form of playing "why is the
water bill so high?"  Super fun and I got to use some Nursery skills
again! It's great because in a world of palm trees and cacti I have
felt helpless in the doctoring of plants. Everything looks thirsty.
The family was grateful for both of our yard experience as we dug and
looked important moving dirt around and whatnot.

This week was monumental in the spanish side. I made the personal
commitment not to be so shy and hide in what I already know. During
some of our lessons I was pulling out vocab I had only read before.
Felt wonderful! It's strange how when we actually do all we can we
receive more help.

Hope you have a lovely week!
Elder Bryan

The Super Bowl and what not. Two weeks worth of emails

First off, I'm grieved about Hammy's passing from this world. Don't worry, I'll find another to send :)

This week was  slower, most of our investigators were sick and on top of that, we had zone conference on Wednesday. We still had some great lessons, Jimmy (well he's always amazing.) He was a helicopter gunner in the military for 20 years and is such a treat. We figured out that his wife who is less active, is the key to getting him to church and committing to baptism. She felt like she would be judged because of the divorce she went through. We had a church tour with them and I found that our concerns people can have about church are usually easy to wash away when we realize the why and how things really are. 

Carlos was doing fantastic but unfortunately he went on the internet to find out about Mormons and what do you know? He found false information which is strange, the internet is always a reliable source. We're going to stop by and try to explain how everything he was talking about is false and what we are actually like. I really hope he can be understanding because he was a very bright and enjoyable hombre 

Monday we got a call from the assistants asking if I could play the hymns for Zone conference. Of course I said "Yes, I can play those songs" when I had never practiced them ever. I think I practiced harder than I had ever in my life, well, at least when I came to my senses and realized what I had agreed to. Proud to say I got it down pretty good and shocked president when I busted open the organ (figuratively) and played them with such faith and prayers. Luckily things didn't crash and burn. Yay!

Elder Nistler and I are jiving pretty nice now. We're at the point where we can say what we feel throughout the week and be totally cool. I really have had great companions and with transfers coming up soon I'm wondering if my streak will end. 

Sunday was a little different. At zone conference President Griffin asked us to keep to a low profile at church and then to stay home unless we had set appointments. While I was on exchanges with the zone leaders who's area is in plain sight of the stadium, we could see the blimps doing circles all day. Sunday night we got together as an apartment and made some scrumptious mexican tacos and veggie pasta mix. Man, I loved having that time to make food and relax. 

This week is going to be awesome. 

Love you guys!!

Oh cool story,

On exchanges with the zone leaders, we were knocking on less active YSA aged doors to see if they still lived there. Things weren't going swell until we stopped at this house Elder Hamilton decided to go to out of the route we had set. When the guy answered he got a little emotional. He told us he was baptized last May in North Phoenix and moved out here soon after so he didn't have any contact with this new ward. He kept saying we answered his prayers and that his testimony was strengthened. He was going to go to the NFL experience but decided to catch up on homework instead which proved to be the best thing because his buddies got in a crash after drinking which could have been fatal for him. He was feeling discouraged and felt like he wasn't being a good Mormon. When he finished talking about all this he expressed a desire to go to the bishop and get things in order so he could get his patriarchal blessing and start working on going on a mission himself since he's 22. That was a really nice moment. Those are the silver linings everyone talks about. Whoo!!

January 26th 2015

Candles are my favorite thing now. Unfortunately things are starting to get warmer so I'll have to hold out with the one I have till it gets chilly again.

On exchanges this week Elder Brown and I were walking up to a former investigator's house in the dark. Elder Brown asked if "this house" was the right one and from the porch we hear an immediate response, "Yes this is". Michael Adams who I had only met once was that guy and honestly scarred me out of my crocs that I don't own. He's such a cool dude and reminds me of Jesse from BB. He explained to us that he wants to get back on track and go to church and do "all that stuff" I was a little cautious but he was completely genuine.  Last night (sunday) we had a lesson in his room, all three of us Indian style sitting on the floor-kinda fun, not going to lie- and we got down to the nitty gritties of what was holding him back from being baptized before. He's changed a lot since I had last saw him and man what a cool dude. He commited to the 7th so wahoo! We're really getting things moving along. I guess the time is right, there really isn't an explanation I can give to why things are different now. I'm also not complaining :).

 It's awesome to see how much Taylor has changed from his baptism. We have some lessons set up with an older man (eric-the member who never was) because he has an impact on him. Pretty sweet! Getting Taylor set up to go with the youth to baptisms for the dead on the 31st is one of my favorite times of the day! Our Verrado ward really does a good job of fellowshipping and welcoming him and Michael into the ward.

My spanish is improving which is always good. I understand how to use some of the tenses a lot better and things aren't so tense when I use one instead of another. 

I heard a quote this week that I'd like to share. "We don't always know what is ahead, but the Lord does"- Neil A Anderson. I love this very short quote because even though I don't know what will happen tomorrow, I know who does and that he loves all of us. It's so cool for me to be here on the Lord's errand. I get to Teach people all day, every day. It's the fantastic!

Thanks for all of the emails and prayers you offer for this work. I feel so blessed and loved. You guys are the beeeeest!

Taylor and Janette got baptized!

This week was easily the fastest and busiest week I've had. Interesting how they went together.

Finalizing the programs for both Taylor and Janette was crazy but it all worked out perfectly. We really wanted as many youth participating in Taylor's baptism so he can get a wider influence from the ward. 

On top of this we've been visiting as many members as we can so we can increase our member relationships as well as get more new referrals instead of knocking on the same doors over and over again. It actually was quite effective. We only tried to visit one prospective house but we still got two new investigators, one we're going to try to put on date this week. The ward told us that if we baptize him we'd be famous in the ward. He's the guy who everybody thought he was a member and gave a calling as assistant scoutmaster when they found out he wasn't. 

The morning of the baptisms I woke up with pink eye which made the day really funny. Everybody thought I was super emotional just blubbering away in the back playing the hymns, being the witness, taking pictures. Could anyone actually be that distraughtly happy in tears for back to back baptisms? Thankfully my acting skills kicked in and the other eye shed a few tears so I could balance it out a little. 

The saddest moment was finding out the guy who gave an amazing talk on baptism was only 14. I guess we'll have to have lessons at their house so we can get him to participate. 

I've been so fortunate to have taught Taylor from his first lesson. Seeing the whole process has been awesome. When we came out of the water he was just beaming. I understand why inviting people who are investigating the church to a baptism is a wonderful idea. The spirit dropped into the room so fast when Taylor bore his testimony. 

With both Taylor and Janette, they haven't had it super easy. Their families support them joining the church but don't want to be a part  so that only Janette's mom came and left as soon as it was over. It must be hard to feel like you are alone. I'm so grateful for our ward and branch who are welcoming them into the family. 

Sunday Elder Nistler and I shared a "this week was exhausting" look. It was hard but so much fun. I love it out here. 

                                  Elder Bryan, Taylor, David, (Rockin fellowshipped) Elder Nistler

Elder Nistler, Janette and Myself

Transfers/New Companion

I have a new companion. His name is Elder Nistler but sometimes (which
means all the time) I want to call him Elder JT Eborn because that's
who he reminds me of. He's a paramedic/firefighter from Oregon. He's a
jack of all trades, master of all and is an excellent teacher.
Having New Years right after the transfer was wonderful for us because
we got a full day of planning in. Made transitioning so much easier.
Having Elder Nistler who's been a district leader for six months now
and knows his stuff also helped.


With the Christmas season behind us and a solid weekly planning, we
hit the ground running-almost literally from lesson to lesson. It was
awesome. First time setting up a skype lesson...and taking it right
back down when the investigator never picked up. I could see how
effective missionary work can be when we do all we can do and leave
the rest to God. I'm so grateful for this knowledge. It's quite
incredible.


Now just because we planned everything out and for the most part it
happened, the next day was quite flat. We did the same amount of
planning and preparation so what happened? Well this part is the part
I'm not a big fan of, people's agency. Like who's idea was that? Of
course when people do what will help put them on the path of
righteousness it makes me very happy. Like setting up Taylor's and
Janette's baptisms for this weekend is one of the happiest moments of
my day. A few nights ago, Taylor called us and asked for a blessing
since he's had pneumonia the whole week. It was the first time I'd seen
his house since his parents don't want us there. After the blessing we
talked about the Holy Ghost and why that incredible feeling (spoiler:
holy ghost) can be his constant companion. One thing that I've worked
on is having a daily contact with our investigators. At the beginning
I thought that was super weird and why would you want to contact them
every day of the week. But I've come to realize that if we establish
that we will send a scripture every day to read or another form of
message, they'll think about us and the commitments we've left with
them.


I feel wiser, I know now how much I don't know. I really appreciate
the words of wisdom I've gotten from my parents (shoutout, you know
who you are) and grandparents as well.


I love you guys. Have a wonderful week.


And if I don't see ya: Good afternoon, good evening and good night

Why is the Eggnog always gone?

You wouldn't believe it, real snowstorm in Arizona! We got a couple inches but still. 

What some people have to do to experience winter.

Ok so that didn't happen, nor will it down in the valley but I imagined it once. sorry everybody.

Christmas is next Thursday which completely blows my mind. Bro Randall said this is one of the mildest Decembers he's seen here. The first half of the week was high 70's and I wasn't the only one not wearing a coat, it was nice to blend in because when it rained Thursday night I was right next to them with my cute sweater (picture up on Hermana Mendoza's facebook btw). I really like Arizona. Maybe it's because I haven't been here in summer yet but I'm sure 120 can't be that bad right?

We had a lesson with Janette Saturday at this "casa de yogurt". Pretty cool place but felt out of place. Even though it said casa on the door didn't make it feel like I was in someone's home. 

Janette is crazy. She knows more about the gospel than any investigator would ever. She took institute this last semester and has read the Book of Mormon and D&C all the way through. In addition to all of that, she's taken the 'lessons' 3ish times. When someone knows the subtitles of your lessons, they should be a member already. To recap, we got her record from elders in the Tempe mission because she goes to church here and will be baptized here. Kinda funny was when we were talking a little about our backgrounds we found out that Janette had looked us up already and knew most of the things we talked about before. She found the blog of my letters home and all. I really hope she sees this :) Hey Janette! 

I think that showed me that we need to take responsibility of what we say and do because everything has weight. I wonder if things would have gone different if I had a really bad mark on myself. Maybe she wouldn't talk to us, we never know when our past will show up.

Thursday we had a "Christmas Conference". three zones got picked up on a bus and we rode down to the Mesa temple to go through the visitor's center to see how it can help us in our missionary work. Also on the agenda was a temple session and a buffet, followed by going back to the temple and seeing the lights. A full day! Unfortunately Elder Anderson and I got sick that morning but didn't feel the full effects till lunch time. It was quite miserable waiting for everyone to do all these awesome things while we felt super gross inside. President Griffin who is the coolest man ever, gave us some money to run down to a Walmart and pick up some medicine while they went to the buffet. Walmart is generally a weird place that makes people feel dizzy but I had no idea what fun it could be under the influence of disease. You can imagine two elders stumbling through a modern day Sahara. If you can't, well....how about that animated Hercules near the end when Herc is swimming in that green pool in the Underworld. I think that's a accurate description of that historical event. On the bright side, President invited us to come back tomorrow with another section of the mission. Yahoo!

I hope everyone is being on their best behavior for little saint nick!

Love,

Elder Bryan

A step up from the Ragnar honey bucket

From the Tundra plains of Buckeye

This week was incredible. We had a lot of lessons and a plethora of new investigators. Whoo! People to teach again!

Monday night we stopped by Adriana Martinez who we haven't been in contact since the first day I was here. Now almost of her family is deathly ill or something like that. We're not sure how true it is, they were running around really fast when they saw us pull up. She's a really good actor if she doesn't want us to visit her, it seems like she really wants to get baptized. Who knows what will happen there.

We got a lesson with Taylor, who we hadn't seen for a week. Definitely worried going into that lesson but everything he said was awesome. He had serious problems with the word of wisdom and this last month he focused on going cold turkey of the things he hadn't already dropped. He understands the meaning behind the commandments which is golden. He asks us questions about things that tell us he really is serious about getting baptized. We set a date for January 3rd for him and a temple baptismal date two weeks after. He's pumped and has been going to early morning seminary and mutual. Between him and our ward missionary who is devoting his life to missionary work, I couldn't be more excited. 

We had dinner on Wednesday with the Guinchos which was a different experience. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish and she's Italian. My brain was on a carousel with four languages flying around as the three small children would switch like nothing. It was really weird how similar they all were and how I could grasp small bits of everything. I think I'll stick with Spanish till I'm proficient though.

We watched the Christmas Devo with the Randalls and the Gedulds, two member families who are really just one big family. Super cool people who always invite us over. Sister Randall told me to "go to school, get a wife, work hard, then come home to Verrado!" They're a hoot and with everything really picking up here, I don't want to get transferred ever. We'll see what happens on the 31. I'll be finished with training and Elder Anderson will have been here close to 9 months. 

Elder Anderson said it hasn't been this busy the whole time he's been here. I guess some say Buckeye is something of a dead area, but I'm learning to solely focus on the potential. It's easy when your companion is a really patient, calm dude. I learn so much by watching how he handles situations, especially with other missionaries. I'm trying to glean as much as I can. 

We started teaching two families, The Fregosas and the Sanchezs. Fregosas are a young family who are community of Christ who at first seemed not interested but the dad, Humberto is really willing to listen. His wife thinks he's losing faith and at times it can feel awkward but it's all good. The Sanchez family came from Janette who's going to ASU but wants to be baptized here where she will go to church. It's kinda weird because she's very bold and "hinted" that she doesn't really like us as much as the elders at ASU but she wants to follow our rules. After the first lesson, the grandpa who lives with them, asked if we are allowed to drink soda. Thinking it was about the WoW we explained that we can. He leaves and comes back with a 12 pack of Sprite. Man even people who aren't interested recognize how important the work we are doing and they feel it's their duty to help provide for messengers from God. Super neat. Janette also wants to get baptized but has a really hard time talking during lessons, I guess she's shy around her family. We decided to have her over at the Mendozas to get her to open up a little so we can find out how much she's learned.

On Friday the Verrado community had a christmas lighting party. A whole bunch of local business set up tents and two trucks came in to make man made snow for the kids to play in. I wish I could say that Elder Anderson and I ran into that area and duked it out till we got thrown out, but sadly we restrained ourselves. We did help Sister Geduld set up her cupcake business and Bro Guincho with his Craig's Cuts. And got some good PR for missionaries, who knows.

Saturday we had surprise interviews with President Griffin. Just being in the room with him made me feel all warm and whatnot. *grinch smile* It was so cool how personal he made the interview. I can't imagine how he does it with every single missionary. The best part is I get to hang out with him again on Thursday for our Christmas Conference. 

Hope everyone watches the "He is the Gift" video and shares it or likes all of my posts so I get a big head and feel so popular. Let GG Norma know I'm praying for her as well. Have a great week!

From the tundra plains of Buckeye with love,

Elder Bryan