Week #50--June 27, 2016

Good morning America!

This week practically did not happen it went so fast, but I'll try and give a little bit of a re-cap. 

Monday- P-day

Tuesday- Did missionary work after a meeting

Wednesday- Did missionary work with a different companion

Thursday- Did missionary work

Friday-Did missionary work

Saturday-Played Ball with some young men, Elder Wedel got crazy and sprained a kids ankle... Then we did some missionary work

Sunday- Had to give a talk in sacrament meeting, teach the lesson in 2nd hour and got assigned the lesson in Elder's Quorom. After such a stressful morning, we decided to mix things up and do missionary work for the rest of the day

So that was exciting. 

One of the young men we play ball with had a birthday yesterday so we got him some presents, one of which was a small plaid stuffed piggy. He always uses the insult "You sack of wine" So we decided to name the piggy 'Sack of Swine'

Our investigator Otis surprised the heck out of us and showed up to church. That was #cray. He enjoyed himself a lot and told us that Elder Wedel's talk and my talk touched him so give three cheers to the spirit. 

Speaking of the spirit, this morning we got hair cuts at this salon where a member works and she does them for us for free. Every time we've gone there's always a lady there doing nails who is nearby and we'll chat back and forth. Nothing really gospel related, just nice good talking. (And then we'll talk to the member about church related topics and she'll listen in) So this morning, we were wrapping up and the member, Sister Smith (Name changed for her protection... Jkjk, I've just always wanted to say that... But just to clarify, I did actually change her name, her name is Sister Merfeld, but we're going to go with Sister Smith because I'm just #TooDeep at this point) mentioned that Elder Wedel and I were going to get transferred this week most likely (pray we stay for 4) and that she was going to miss us, and the nail lady piped up and said "You know, I'm going to miss you too! I don't know what it is about you boys, but you just bring this happy feeling whenever you come. You have such a cool prescence, and I'm going to miss that!" 

Yeah boys, that's what we call the Spirit. Live worthy of it and you can have an impact on people in cool ways and cool places. #GetPumped #Let'sGo

Also yesterday we went over to Bishops house and we were updated on pop culture. Allow me to bring you up to speed on the things I've changed in my life:

• Whenever I have a bad day, just remember the advice of Rihanna that I have to go to work work work work work and I've got to go to church church church church church church
• When I burn my companion, my first instinct should be to dab. Always dab.
• If that boy ain't giving up, all I have to say is 'no to the no to the no no no'
• That's actually pretty much all I can remember. They tried to teach us some dance moves, but it didn't do well

So that's pretty much the gist of it. We taught some cool lessons and some awkward lessons, some good times and some bad times, we laughed, we cried, honestly... It was better than cats. 

Also we had the opportunity to give a talk, and I mostly talked about the wise words of my Mother that have driven me through a lot of my mission, and the wise words of my trainer that have done the same. 

"There will always be a reason not to go. We need to focus on the reasons we should go." -Momma Brown

"(In response to me saying 'I don't want to be a missionary today') Well Elder Brown, sometimes in life you'll have to do what you don't want to do. You'll probably wake up one day and think 'I don't want to be a Father/husband/employee today'. That's normal. It doesn't mean we stop doing what we're supposed to do. Do what you can, and the Lord will cover the rest." -Elder Russell

I talked about how we can't focus on all the bad things of life. That's easy. The hard part, and the important part is to choose to focus on the good. There will always be a reason not to go to church one day, a reason to not go to work, a reason to shut out friends and family, a reason to do what is wrong. There will always be a reason not to believe. Choose to believe. Remember that, in the paraphrased words of Brad Wilcox, Christ is not just the light at the End of the Tunnel, but the light that carries us through the tunnel. So that's my invitation to all of you who are struggling. Any who feel trapped in a dark and seemingly endless tunnel, the end is closer than you think. You are stronger than you think. Christ's Grace is completely sufficient to carry us to do good beyond our own physical capacity. While there will always be a reason to give up, choose to stay. Choose to believe. 

I love you all so much! I know that this Church is God's church, and that it contains the Fulness of the everlasting Gospel in all of it's splendor and glory. 

Church is true!

Week #49--June 19, 2016

I honestly can't tell you much about what we did this week, haha. Not because it's bad or anything, I just can't remember. I can honestly say I'm totally and completely exhausted. In every sense of the word. I'm sweating 24/7. 

It's 90 degrees by 8 or 9 in the morning and doesn't go below that until late at night. This heat is miserable, but I love it in the strangest way. 

We found a family this week! Just yesterday actually. I felt a prompting a little after Reatha was baptized that there was a family in this ward waiting to be taught and baptized. So I've been praying for the guidance and knowledge to know where to look to find them. In my mind I imagined this perfectly happy family that has been reading from the Book of Mormon and was just waiting for someone to come and teach them and bring them to church, perfect marriage, perfect family, etc.... And they're far from orthodox. I'll admit, in my selfish judgemental way when they let us in I looked to Elder Wedel with a look of, 'well, this sucks. This is never going anywhere.' How inappropriate of me. How ungrateful. Afterwards talking with Elder Wedel we realized, if we pray for something why should we complain if it doesn't come in the wrapping paper we expected? So what if they're a little odd? Does that make them unworthy of the gospel? Not at all! I'm more than a little odd! And I need/love the gospel. And so they accepted the invitation to be baptized. I'll keep you updated on the Husted family!

We've started reading the Book of Mormon with Dan. We got through 1 nephi chapter 2 on Saturday and then that night he could tell Elder Wedel and I were in a bit of a bad mood. So sunday morning when he picked us up for church he said "Alright boys, open up your books of mormon to 1 nephi 3:7!" We were so happy! 

We did have our last Conference with President Hobbs, so that was most likely the last time I'll see him. President Taylor will be arriving this week, and there won't be a ton of crossover time. We'll probably meet him during the first few weeks of next transfer. President Hobbs is a great man, but I look forward to seeing what this new mission president will bring.

That's pretty much the Sumum Bonum of our week. It feels like such a blur. To think that we've been here since February blows my mind. I'll miss Elder Wedel a lot if one of us gets transferred. He's had a huge impact on my life. And I certainly don't want to leave the area just yet. I just want one more transfer here. 

Love you all! Church is true

Week #48--June 13, 2017

This week was long, and pretty hard. The mission sure does seem to have it's rollercoaster moments doesn't it? 

Anyway, this week was good. We saw Sister Holloway and had a good lesson with her. And then she came to church! Honestly it's one of those moments where I feel like I had nothing to do with it, it was completely God he just needed willing hands. She told us this last time that she actually did have missionaries come to the door a few times but always turned them away angrily, but something about this time softened her heart. Again, she was just prepared and we were there and willing to see her! She told us how loved she felt and that she plans on coming for many weeks to come. 

We also had a really cool discussion with Dan. As time progresses I think he is beginning to know for himself that he needs to be baptized, but for whatever reason he's holding out. But they still all come every week!

The Young Men's President called us in to help teach the lesson on why we should serve missions. He said a lot of really nice things to Elder Wedel and I. I felt undeserving of the love we've received from this ward. 

Well, that's all I can think of.

Love you lots!