Monday, May 27, 2013

Transfers

May 20, 2013

This week the transfer news was pretty much expected. Elder Nielson was expected to leave and he is, so tomorrow I will be getting a new companion. It should be pretty fun. But there was another surprise. President Maynes has asked me to be the district leader for next transfer! It's my first time doing it, so I hope I do a good job. He told me that I have "proven to be a diligent missionary" so he issued me the call. So we will see what happens with that.

We also got a new less active to teach. She hasn't been to church in 9 years, but we contacted her because her daughter tried out for the college's music program headed by Dr. Atkinson, who is also President Atkinson, the western stakes mission president who has similar authority to President Maynes. He encouraged her to meet with the missionaries again, and she agreed so now we will start teaching her. It should be pretty neat, she seems like she really wants to go to the temple. I want good things to happen for this area, and I have an opportunity to make it happen now, so things should really get going here pretty soon.

Thank you all for your love and support.

Elder Bringhurst

 P.S. I did my piano solo yesterday as well and it went really well. I didn't make any mistakes and the next speaker choked up a little at the beginning of her talk because of it. We also hiked a mountain called Mt. Garfield today in the morning. It's a 2 mile hike that ascends 2000 feet. DAH!! It was super steep. But I outlasted all the other missionaries up it (a couple gave up) and was the first one up there. So I guess I'm still healthy even though I'm fat.  Ha ha

 

Stuff

May 13. 2013

We were teaching an investigator named Frank the other day, and then some people came out to talk to us including a recent convert that I taught clear back when I was serving in the 9th ward at the beginning of my mission. Come to find out, he stopped going to church, fell off the bandwagon, and started attending another church. I talked with him a long time while we were there. I told him that he knew that our church was true, and he knew it because the Spirit had told him. I told him he was an Aaronic Priesthood holder that has a responsibility to fulfill his calling, and that he needs to return. It was a powerful moment, and finally he admitted that he still had a testimony but was just having a hard time quitting smoking. I got his phone number and he committed to once again start attending church! It was cool.

Also a Baptist minister-in-training pulled over to talk to us with the intent that we needed to be saved. A couple of funny moments: him - "Are you saved?" me- "Are we in heaven?"  him - "No.“ me - " Well, I guess I haven’t been saved yet because I'm still here."   Another one:  him - "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior by confessing him with your mouth?" me -  "Yes."  Him -  "When?" me -  " At my baptism." him -  "Well,  baptism isn't essential for going to heaven."  me -  "What about the Savior's declaration 'he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned?' " .... no comment on his side. Anyway, I got him to admit I was "saved" and that opened up for me to ask him to read the Book of Mormon. "I only read the Bible." was his reply "it’s all I need." I felt inspired to say "but what if it is true?" No comment and he drove off. It was funny. That's an abridged version but still it was pretty humorous.

We also had this family move in that apparently is black listed so I get a call from at least 4 people telling us not to associate with them at all.   Whatever. It all is confusing. So I hit my 18 month mark last week! Crazy. Well that's all I have this week. I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Bringhurst

 

Saturday, May 11, 2013

What Happens When Drugs and Christianity Collide?

So a couple days ago we received a referral from some other missionaries for a17 year old looking for positivity in his life. We had some time yesterday so I suggested we check it out. 

We enter into this trailer park called Riverview, probably the most low income place in our ward (It was kind of like the "scary" neighborhood from "The Blind Side"). We had never been there before so we got a little nervous. Well anyway we bike around the park to the trailer he lives in, and out he comes, ready to meet us. Totally drunk and stoned, he starts going on and on and on about government conspiracies and (I kid you not) the impending Zombie apocalypse. I wasn't exactly sure how to take this kid. He was extremely Christian and very much what you would call a "believer." He said, "I've been saved by the grace of God, I'm good." I'm sitting there thinking, “well you got a ways to go,”  Anyway, after about a half hour of this (and a couple of random prayers thrown in there) I started to tell him we could help him get off drugs but he needed to meet with us regularly. I said "I have two conditions, 1. That you are sober, and 2. That you read what we ask you to read and pray about it. He consented and we will be seeing him on Wednesday. I'm super excited to teach him.   Think about it.  What if we manage to get him off drugs, stop drinking, coming to church, and straightening out his life? That's amazing! Not only that, when we were about to leave, the OTHER 19 year old we met a few days ago pulls in to that same trailer and recognizes us. Small world!

The ringing in my ear is still there, but not as bad as it was. Sound is a lot clearer so everything will be good. After I sent my letter last Monday I mentioned what happened to President Maynes in that letter. Not 10 minutes later I get a phone call from him. He said "Elder Bringhurst, couple of questions. 1. Why were you playing with a potato cannon?" I felt really stupid at that point. "Because a member of our ward wanted to show us his potato cannon so it perked my curiosity.” Then he asked if I actually got hit by the tennis ball inside. I said no. Anyway he wanted me to go to a doctor (President, you realize that there isn't anything they can do for this type of injury?) So we went to a member doctor who looked at it for free. He said I had some minor hearing loss (doc the problem isn't hearing loss, is hearing bamboozlement) but my eardrum wasn't ruptured. So everything should calm down soon in the ear.

Well that's my update this week.  Hope everything continues to be Awesome!

Elder Bringhurst