Letter #72

Oh the joys of being a missionary.. especially during the holidays!!

Thanksgiving was awesome! We went and stopped by a lot of members and it was awesome! Just for fun, Elder Davis and I did weigh in before the day started and after the day was over. It was pretty ridiculous how much food we ate. Elder Davis gained a total of 11 lbs by the end of the day and I gained 7 hahaha! Oh how much I love the holidays. I'm really thankful for a fast metabolism :)

Friday night I got a call from President and I am now going to be a district leader! I'm pretty excited! So I don't know where I'm getting transferred just yet, we should find out later today but I'm definitely going to miss Laredo a lot. I love this place. The members here are so willing to help and ready to do missionary work and there are so many prepared people but I know that God calls us where we need to be and Elder Davis is going to do really well in  Del Mar. 

Love you guys! 

Have a killer week!

Elder Brian

Goodbye to Laredo!

Transfers are tomorrow and I got word through Facebook that Finn is leaving Laredo. Here he is having a farewell dinner with some of the members in his area. I know he is going to be very sad to leave! 

Letter #71

It has been a tough week, rather humbling, but I don't think I have ever grown more on my mission this week than any other.

This week we went up to Corpus to hear a General Authority speak. It was awesome. Elder Foster of the 70 came up and he gave some great trainings on growing your relationship with the Lord and what really stuck out to me was prayer. I feel like I've struggled a lot with prayer lately but ever since that training and this week, I don't think I've ever felt closer to the Lord than I have in my whole life. Before this, a lot of the times I prayed and I got up and questioned if He even heard what I just had to say and if it was even worth my time to offer a prayer. It was definitely a struggle. I specifically remember having so many feelings of doubt, like I had no one to rely on and I knelt down and I cant even remember what I said but I just remember pouring everything out to the Lord, as if everything relied on Him and this huge feeling of peace came over me and at that moment I knew that He was there and He answers every prayer that we have to offer. Its all up to us, to be willing to offer everything and pouring out our hearts to Him as if everything relied on Him and that is when we will get answers.

I love this Gospel, I know its true with all my heart. I love serving a mission and becoming the man that my Father in Heaven wants me to be. There are still a ton of things I have to improve before times up.  I love the people I serve and I can honestly say that when you lose yourself in the service of others that is when you will find yourself.

Love

Elder Brian

BTW: Transfers are next week! So if you happen to send something, just send it to the mission office. Thanks!

Laredo North Zone

Letter #70

What's up guys!

This week was great! The only bummer is that Kurt didn't show up on Sunday for the confirmation so we will have to figure out what happened and get him back on board. But other than that it was great!

This week I've been studying really hard a lot of chapters that Presidente Maluenda gave me in my last interview. I've read a lot about fasting and I set some good plans to improve my fasting skills. Were you guys able to read about the article that the church put out about Joseph Smith? I haven't yet but I will this week. Its been kind of a struggle, especially for a lot of the recent converts seeing the article, but I know it was put out for a reason and Im thankful for the strong testimony that I have of Joseph Smith and God's church here on the earth today.

Sorry I have like no time. But I love you guys!

Elder Brian

Letter #69

This week was awesome!

 

It was a bit unexpected but still a huge miracle, Kurt got baptized! He was progressing really well, so we had a lesson with him, told him, why procrastinate the day of your baptism? Then committed him to be baptized a week early and it went great! He's loving the church and his wife was able to come too. She's doing really well and is looking to be baptized at the end of this month. I love being able to meet with them, they are such a great family and I love seeing them grow in this gospel. On my mission I've definitely been able to see why the family is so central to God's plan here on earth.

 

This week we also were able to have interviews with President Maluenda. I know I might say this every time I talk about him but words cannot express how spiritually in tune that man is. Every time we are able to receive training from him I know and can feel that he is a true representative of Jesus Christ and this is His work. I know that the leaders of this church are called of God and that if we follow our leaders we will be blessed. Having President Maluenda as my mission president has been a major blessing in my life.

 

So we were leaving Kurt's house one night around 8:30 and we get in the car and as we are driving away all of a sudden the sky lights up and the biggest shooting star/asteroid comes falling down and streams across the sky for like 2 seconds and it disappears. No joke, I thought the world was ending for a second that's how cool it was. And the cool thing was it wasn't just me, some other Elders across town saw it too!

 

Here's some pics from Downtown Laredo!

 

I love the mission and you guys!

 

Elder Brian

Letter #68

I'm just gonna start it right off with a pretty weird but cool experience. So I think it was on Saturday, we show up to the church for one of our meetings and we get there and there is a black, homeless man sitting outside of the church. So a lot of us just thought it was normal cause we always get homeless people who come to the church looking for money and stuff but we got out of the car and went and talked with him. So the conversation goes on, his name was Irvin Butler, we find out he is a member and has been for about 7 years, has been through the temple and everything and then he starts explaining a lot of stuff from D&C and quoting scriptures and revelations from D&C and had a pretty firm testimony of Joseph Smith. He then takes off his dew-rag and shows us this tattoo he has right on his forehead and he then asks to see a copy of the Pearl of Great Price. I was kind of weirded out by this point but we gave him a copy and he flips to the diagrams, I forgot what they are called, and he then starts to point out symbols and talk a little bit about them and he points to one of them and stops and then asks us all to look closely at his forehead and it was the same symbol that was in The Pearl of Great Price in the book of Abraham. After, everyone just stops and there was a couple seconds of silence and he says "You guys don't know who I am. I know a lot more than you guys think I do" and then it was awkward for a couple seconds and then we gave him some food and we went inside. I don't really know if that guy was just making stuff up or what but it kinda freaked me out, seeing how much this guy knew about D&C and the Pearl of Great Price and I don't know, I guess it was a good spooky Halloween experience haha. Probably one I will never forget. 

Letter #66

I'm staying in Laredo!! Almost our whole zone is staying except for 2 elders and 1 sister. I'm excited to stay here just a little bit longer. Maybe I'll hit one whole year in the city of Laredo?! That would be pretty sweet.

Besides the fact that I'm excited to stay, we just had 5 investigators at church yesterday! It was a huge miracle and I'm stoked to start/continue to work with all of them this upcoming transfer. Erica was able to make it to church and she is doing really well! We also had some more of Jonathan's family come and they loved it. So we are gonna work with them a lot these upcoming weeks and a less-active came to church and brought her non-member friend who now wants to start taking the lessons! I can see the Lord continuing to hasten his work day by day, especially here in Del Mar!

This week we did some service for a couple we are teaching. Their names are Kurt and Grace. They are really cool. They had one jungle of a backyard, not the worst I've seen on the mission but, it was fun.

Mom, I'm so sorry I have no photos! I'll work on that. I made a goal this week to take at least a photo a day! So by next week you will have some!

Love you guys!

Elder Brian

Letter #65

I feel like the days and weeks just go faster and faster. Especially on the mission when you have so little time to work. This week we went up to Corpus Chrsti and we watched Meet The Mormons. It was an awesome movie and I definitely recommend you guys going to see it! And telling your friends about it too of course.

 

We are coming up on the end of another transfer. Its been really good working in Laredo! I could stay another, I could leave, but thats up to the Lord. I'll let you guys know next week.

 

To tell you guys just a little about how much we really get fed down here. Its ridicoulus. Missionaries do anything and everything to keep the weight off haha. Last week we took the advice from our leaders and went by and set up appointments with every member we could so that we could get to know them a little better and we ended up having 4 meal appoinments in one day. One at 3:00, another at 5:30, then 6:30 and last at 7:30. I dont know how I packed down that much food but it was a miracle that i did.

 

We are working with some awesome people right now. I feel like i kinda go through fazes of what kind of people i teach. A couple months ago it was a lot of young people and a couple months before that it was a lot of old people and now we are going through the faze of teaching a lot of single women with kids! I dont know what it is but, hopefully everything goes well and they make it to church this week! One of our investigators names is Erika. We brought over all the missionaries in the district and she cut our hair. It was cool. She's awesome and has a baptismal date for the 9th of November. If you could keep her in your prayers that would be great!

 

Have a great week! Love you all!

 

Elder Brian

Letter #64

Talk about an awesome General Conference weekend! I know you guys can probably already guess what my favorite talk was, cause I'm sure it was every full time missionaries favorite, Elder Ballard's talk. I love how right from the get go he focused his talk and directed it to non-members of the church. It was powerful. Even though it wasn't directed to me as a member it still hit me hard and helped me remember my purpose as a missionary and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 

This week we didn't have a lot of time to hit the streets and talk to a bunch of people, which makes me think we didn't do that much work. But I think I need to get over the fact that you can still be very effective in your work without hitting the streets. We did a lot of service this week. We helped the ward mission leader Brother Bryand roof his house. It was pretty fun! Just Elder Davis, him and I. I've never really done roofing before, but it was a sweet experience. I'm glad we got to it before the heat did.

 

This week I've been working a lot on knowledge of the scriptures. I love it when you're in a lesson teaching and someone brings up a doubt and right then a scripture will come to your mind and you can teach right to the doubt using the scriptures. Its the best. Its weird to think and see that no matter what doubt a person may give, you can in someway tie their need into the scriptures. I have a really strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that if we read it and study it we will grow closer to Him and gain more of a knowledge of the plan He has for us. Going along with scripture study, I received something in the mail the other day, from someone I don't know and it was filled with like 6 or so CD's of teaching to the doubts of people from the bible and the Book of Mormon. Its called Mr. Mormon. I have no clue where they came from or who sent them, but thanks if it was you cause they're pretty sweet!!

 

Que tengan exito y disfrutan la vida!

 

Elder Brian

Jonathan's baptism

Letter #63

It was a great week! Not to say that we barely slept... but that can come after the mission right?

Jonathan was confirmed! Elder Davis was able to confirm Jonathan yesterday. It was great! It kinda got me thinking a little bit about Priesthood and the power that we hold as worthy young men. We had about 5 men from the branch that participated in the confirmation of Jonathan and they were all older that Elder Davis but him being the youngest was able to be the speaker and give the blessing. As worthy young men we all hold that same priesthood. We all have that power to use and to bless people's lives. Even though a member may be a lot older than me, I still hold the same power that he holds. Its really cool how Priesthood power and authority works. 

A crazy little story i cant remember if i shared this last week or not but anyway. The other Elders in our zone live in a pretty sketchy area of Laredo. In fact they live right in front of one of the top gangs in Laredo and a big chunk of South Texas. So a couple weeks ago there was a drive-by shooting and some other crazy things, so they have to move out asap. Pretty nuts huh. Not to scare any of you at all...... But Im not too worried, we've got the Big Man up top on our side. LDS missionaries are the best gang out there. ;) But i was sharing this with you because we might be switching areas asap because of the changes that they have to make. Its kinda confusing, but i will keep you guys informed!

Con amor

Elder Brian

Kind of blurry. Finn, Elder Tilton (from Laredo) as he heads out to the MTC in Provo and Elder Browning. 

Letter #62

What's up guys!

 

The weekend was awesome! Jonathan was baptized! It was sweet. Many of the members were there to support him and he feels really comfortable with his new family the 3rd branch.

 

We had zone conference last week. I love zone conference. I always leave wanting to improve and do better. Presidente Maluenda put a big stress on using Preach My Gospel and teaching people not lessons. I've seen a lot in my mission where we sit down to teach a person and the main goal is to set a baptismal date so we can hit our goals for the month and get out of there as quick as we can. But that shouldn't be the case. We should be sitting down with people with the main goal of blessing their lives and having an impact on them for the better.

 

The other day we were walking some streets and a crazy guy waved us down. He was carrying a 7 ft. tall walking stick and we talked to him for a little bit, then he decided to show us how it was that he expresses his love for God and started doing some squats and yelling "The Lords Prayer" at the top of his lungs. It was pretty entertaining :) Some people have some very interesting ways of expressing love for God.

 

Letter #61

Hey guys!

 

Not so bad of a week. Our numbers might've showed that we didn't work at all, but that's not the case!! Numbers aren't everything in missionary work.

 

Were kind of struggling with finding people to teach right now. I cant tell you how many times this week that I've heard the phrase or sentence "Im Catholic and I have my beliefs. Thanks" or Soy Catolico y estoy bien aqui. Gracias" haha. But its alright cause we had a good time working.

 

Jonathan is doing great! His baptism is this Sunday. He's pretty excited and ready for it. So that will be something to look forward to this week.

 

I've been studying about prayer a lot these last couple days because it was too often that I would catch myself waking up at 2 in the morning still in the prayer position with my ribs aching and knee caps numb from falling asleep during my prayers haha. So I thought I would put an end to that and set some goals as to how to better my prayers. There was a pretty cool quote about prayer and how a man cannot gain salvation without prayer. Prayer is important! It shows our love that we have to our Heavenly Father and shows Him that we are really looking to Him for the help that we need in our daily lives. Make sure you are saying good thoughtful prayers and not just going through the motions!

 

Love you guys!

 

Elder Brian

Letter #60

Que tal guerros!

To start off I just want to share a story of one of our investigators right now who is doing really well. Its about how he came to find the Gospel and start learning. Its really strengthened my testimony.

 His name is Jonathan. He's 21 years old. His family is kind of in a tight situation right now. His dad is suffering from cancer and the doctors have taken him off of chemotherapy and have given him limited time to live. His mom his struggling with work and sent him out to find a job to help provide for the family. He found a job, its about an 8 or so mile walk to work and back. One day, Jonathan was walking home and he couldn't take it anymore. He was sick of it and he was really starting to doubt if God even existed. So as he was walking, he said a prayer, asking God if he really existed and if he did, that he would send someone his way to help him. He finished and that moment a man pulled up next to him and asked him if he would like a ride. He hopped in, thinking about the answer he had just received. The man took him to his house and the man said, Im heading to church right now, would you like to come? Jonathan, as shocked as he may have been from the answer that he had been given said yes and came to church. That man who picked him up was Aquiles.

That story really helped strengthen my testimony of how aware God is of each and everyone of His children. He knows exactly what we are going through and exactly what situation we are in.  I know that there are children of God in each and every one of our paths that are prepared and ready to receive this Gospel, we just need to look. I know this Gospel is true. The faith that recent converts of the church have are an example to me. I know that God has a plan for each and everyone of us cause we are His children and He loves us and He really does answer our prayers.

Love

Elder Brian

My district and the sweet mini-van I get to drive.

Letter #59

Wow! What a week! It has all gone by so fast. So I will try and fill you all in on the news without being too confusing.

So Thursday night around 1045, (way passed bed time :0) I got a call from the AP's to let me know I was training! That was pretty sweet. My sons name is Elder Davis. He's awesome. He's from Sacramento, California and he's fresh out of high school. Which is sweet. I was praying I could train someone like that. We are working up here in Del Mar in Laredo still.

Last week Aquiles was baptized! It was a really cool experience because he was fasting also. He told us that he wanted his baptism day to be the most spiritual experience ever and he brought up the topic of fasting and asked us if he could fast for 24 hours and then do the baptism to finish it off. I almost thought he was going to pass out right into the font because he had never gone without food and water for that long. But it turned out great and he's looking good for the confirmation this Sunday.

In Del Mar we don't have a ton of people that we are working with at the moment, but it wont be too long before that changes!

I have some pics I wanna send you guys! But I forgot my camera and cord today but I will send some next week for sure.

Love

Elder Brian

Letter #58

So, Mom and Dad, thanks for the little discipline and getting after me about writing longer letters. I'm sorry ok! I will try! Its just so hard when so much is going on at once that I cant even remember what happened two days ago! But I can honestly say I do love my mission and I am trying my best to save all the memories I can.

So I am going to back track a little bit and cover some stuff that I'm not so sure if i covered yet. Right now we are teaching a man named Achilles. He's awesome. Very humble man willing to do anything it takes to change. We've been teaching him for about a week and a half now and he's doing great. We started teaching him through one of our members, Brother Bryand. Its one of his best friends and Achilles was going through some rough stuff and went to Brother Bryand for help and that's when we came in. He's an ex-cartel member and he has some crazy stories! Anyway, we went through some rough patches in the teaching process, a lot of anti stuff that he heard and we thought we lost him but through fasting and lots of prayer we made it through and he's looking great for baptism this Sunday! He will have his interview tonight! 

That is our main focus right now in Del Mar. Actually, Achilles, being the great man that he is brought a friend to church yesterday and he loved it! His name is Jonathan. He accepted to be taught and we will work with him this week!

Transfers are coming up next week! We'll receive news this Sunday. This transfer is only a five week transfer because Presidente Maluenda will be going to Salt Lake City for a mission president conference so that means that next transfer will be a seven week transfer.

My comp is doing great! He's still kinda green but its alright, we're on the mission to learn right? We have a good time and i love him. The only thing that is hard is that I'm like 3 years younger than him and I can tell that he does NOT like being told what to do or receiving advise from a 19 year old kid! Haha.

Love

Elder Brian

Letter #56

Another week of hitting the streets. Those weeks are the best!

 

So we were walking down a street the other day and we were heading to go contact a referral we had just barely received. We knock the door and a viajita (old hispanic lady) comes out and she's holding a bible.  She gives a surprised look and we make some small talk and we end up sitting down with her. We could tell pretty quickly she was a happy christian lady cause she started just rambling off random scriptures from the bible. So we get the few words in that we could and we ask her for some water. She then comes out with some water and out of nowhere she starts singing us a happy christian song and she belted it. I guarantee the whole neighborhood heard her! I couldn't take it. I just started busting up laughing, and almost spit my water all over the place. She continues to sing as i choke down the water that i have left and then it went really really silent, like she was expecting us to say something and then my companion yells while still laughing, Que Bonita!! Hahah! And then we gave her a card and got out of there pretty quick. It was hilarious.

Also we were out contacting and we run into this other Hispanic happy christian guy. He was working on his car and we asked him if we could help him out. He says no, but he asks us if we want to come sit down for a minute in his house. So we go in, he gets us some water and we have a good little talk and he pulls out his electric guitar, and his amp and he plugs it all in and starts to sing us a happy christian song in Spanish. And when Hispanics sing, they sing sin verguenza. ( I don't really know how you would say that in english. But like without shame. They don't care how they sound haha) So that was fun. It was just a week full of Hispanic people singing christian songs to us! I got a good laugh out of it. It was a blast. 

Love you guys!

Elder Brian

Letter #55

Here I am writing from the north side of Laredo! I never thought that would happen, getting transferred just 30 minutes away but its like a whole different world up here. Almost pure English, nice homes and more white people. You could almost call it like a little suburb of San Antonio I guess haha. Also Grandpa E, there is a lot of trucking up here. I see England trucks every so often which is pretty sweet.

I am working the Del Mar area. Its a great area! Lots and lots of English members and returned missionaries. It boarders Mexico and its right smack in the middle of the world trade bridge. We also drive a car. I was kinda bummed out about that, just cause I've been in a car for a pretty long time already, but guess what we get to drive around in? A mini van!! I feel like a total soccer mom driving that thing around. When me and my comp both get out, dressed in white shirts and ties, I feel like everyone in the neighborhood gets a good laugh and then runs inside before we can talk to them. Haha. We will definitely be taking more than enough bike days this transfer.

My new comp is Elder Browning. He's from Washington. He's 22 years old and he's been out on the mission for about 5 months. He's awesome and I love him. He's played football at SUU for about 2 years.

We are getting the area going pretty quick, we found a family of 4 the other day that we are working with. Its the Cantu family. Great family. We've only had 1 lesson with them so far and it went great! They loved it and invited us back. We have another lesson with them tonight and we are hoping and praying that all goes well! Also we are working with a couple named Noah and Karla. They are pretty young. 18 and 17 but they love hearing the message and having us come over. We hope they can all make it to church and we can start seeing some progress in the area!

Here's a cool quote for the day. Its gets me pumped every time I get a door slammed in my face. :)

"Its not about how hard you can hit. Its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward!" -Rocky Balboa

Love you guys! Have a killer week!

Elder Brian

Letter #54

Sad to see this day come but, I'm leaving South Laredo. This area was awesome! Im gonna miss it a lot. Now I'm just praying I go to another border town! Or maybe Corpus Christi would be pretty cool too haha. But all I know is wherever I'm headed is gonna be great and its where I'm meant to be!

Love you guys! Ill fill you all in on the news next week! And if you by chance send anything just shoot it to the mission office. Thanks!

Letter #53

Hey hey!!

Just last week we had interviews with Presidente Maluenda! He is so rad! I don't think I've ever talked to a more "in tune with the spirit" kind of guy in my life. He just knows whats up in life and I think that is awesome. He definitely picked me up off my feet and got me going again and ready to work hard. 

Every other day we play morning soccer at the cancha at 530 for like an hour and a halfish and this morning we played. It was sweet. Everytime we leave, its literally like we just stepped out of a steam room, just soaked. My pants and shirt arent even the same color. Just to give you a little picture of how humid and hot it is down here, we set the phone down on the bleachers and when we came back to leave, the phone was soaked and now its... broken. Haha. We didnt even set it in a puddle or anything, just the humidity killed it i guess. It wont turn on. Thats the second phone that has broken on me! And they both happened while I was playing soccer! Ni modo. 

Transfers are coming up again! Time is flying by. I'll find out this Sunday if I'm staying or going and I'll let you guys know next week! I love the mission. It makes me pretty sad just thinking how much time has gone by and how much time I have left. Live it up while you can.

Love you

Elder Brian

1. Homies at What-A-Burger

2. Zone Blitz in Zapata