On a mission, on a mission.

It's so strange how time is passing by.  I've gone through a Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and now a St. Patrick's Day all on my mission. On the way to Easter!

I'm super excited for conference.  That should be great, as I will probably pay attention to conference a lot more than I ever have! The reason is to find better ways to teach the basics. Other conferences I was always excited for "new" stuff. Stuff to learn. But now I'm looking for stuff to teach. And who better to take it from than the prophets of the church?

It's interesting how you are all participating in a 40 day fast.  I am too. I stumbled upon a talk written by president Maynes to leave behind all things that hold you back from serving with all your heart and put it completely on hold for 40 days. I had the impression to actually try it out, so I wrote down some things that might be holding me back and started this 40 day fast yesterday. And come to find out my entire stake back home is doing the same thing. Wow there is power there.

So this week was kind of slow again. But I have a cool story or two.  We got this Mormon.org referral for a guy. The text said he had been in a halfway house and was currently on parole. We went to the address, desperately tried to contact him for days, and no answer came. One day we got the impression to find the nearest Halfway house. We got the idea that a pizza delivery place might know, so we went there and they pointed us out to the place. We went there and wow I thought I was walking into Shawshank prison or something. There were all these angry looking guys just staring us down, smoking and tattooed up, super scary. We went to security, and they (being extremely rude) were being uncooperative. But finally I just said, "We are ministers, and this guy wants to contact us, just send him a message." and they agreed to send a message to him. Yes, he was there. Guess what? The next day, we get a call and this guy had been investigating the church and wants to be baptized. Wow, and guess what else? He showed up at church yesterday. The guy is kind of rough looking but we taught him before church started and told him we would talk to president about baptism (being in his situation requires a higher authority than us).  So that was cool.

Next story:  we tracted into this lady who has brain cancer, who had read the book of Mormon cover to cover but was turned off to the church because she asked a strange question in Sunday School and apparently they threw her out. But we established a common ground of belief with her and then just for some reason talked about Jesus Christ. It was really powerful. She said "you guys have convinced me to give this a try again.   I thought I was done with Mormons, but come back on Tuesday and we can talk more." She told us she was terrified of death and we plan of teaching her the plan of Salvation. Those were some highlights to my week and I'm glad we are on a syncopated fast!

Elder Bringhurst

I Got Home on Friday to a Surprise

(NOTE FROM DIANA:  For Valentine’s Day this year Cory gave me a gift certificate for dinner at our favorite restaurant, J. Alexander’s.  We discovered it when we lived in Dayton.  It is an east coast franchise so we rarely get to eat there.  Upon searching for the nearest J. Alexander, Cory found one newly built in Denver.  It was the cheapest plane ticket so that’s where we went this weekend.  It was a quick “over-nighter” just for dinner.  However, since Brandon was serving right in Denver this transfer, his apartment was 20 minutes or so from the restaurant.  We decided to leave him some of his favorite frozen items we can’t send in the mail.  We had fun shopping at the grocery store he probably shops at!  We were sneaky and made sure we wouldn’t see him or he us!  I even asked Heavenly Father in my personal prayer to allow us to deliver it safely without us seeing each other. I wrote Brandon this week that I love him and want to send fun stuff, but it is all about OBEDIENCE and SACRIFICE and I would never break a mission rule.  I think our little surprise turned out great on both ends!)

So it’s late, and we are going home to find a Styrofoam freezer on my front door. At first I thought it was a package just delivered, until my brain kicked on (it was late) and I realized there was no way something like this could be delivered. I opened it up to find some of that fudge.  Yup it was from mom! Elder George fell over dead. I called the zone leaders and they were laughing really a lot. I played a prank on my district leader telling them we had an hour long conversation and you refused to leave. He was about to call President then I told him I was yanking his chain and we all had a laugh. I was like, "My family was here.  I'm going through the weirdest set of emotions right now." Oh it was great! Yeah that means I don't have to go shopping this week J Thank you guys so much. What time did you do it? (P.S. you would have a good chance of missing us that day. We are NEVER at the apartment. Just for sleep mostly.) We usually go back for lunch and we are out at 1 o clock and don’t come back till 9 or 930. So that was a great finish to my day. But don't worry about it making me homesick or anything, my mind is fully on the work. J

Well I had a better week. Our numbers would disagree but we are trying! I've learned a lot about life this week. Sounds weird huh? We had zone conference on Wednesday and President Maynes gave us a talk on integrity. He told us that Jesus Christ will save ANYONE who wants to be saved. And that means everyone. The telestial Kingdom is a Kingdom of Glory right? He told us that every Kingdom has one thing in common: honor (or integrity). Telestial is people with little or no honor. Terrestrial are the honorable. Celestial are the honorable WHO MAKE AND KEEP THEIR COVENANTS. Integrity! Thus he told us that the purpose of this life is to become men and women of integrity. That's how we can become like him! Integrity and Honor are actually the source of God's power. His integrity is so perfect the ELEMENTS obey him. It really affirmed my purpose as a missionary. It’s not just to baptize, it's to find those people who are willing to become those men and women of integrity. Baptism is the way we show Heavenly Father that we are willing to become men and women of integrity (keep commandments, etc.) God doesn't have a little magic wand that makes the planets move, he commands them to move and they obey.

I love being a missionary. I learned this and now have such a better understanding of the mission of the church. Other churches seem to be checklist churches. Baptism? Check. Communion? Check. Restitution? Check. Come to church? Check. I love it when we talk to people and they say, "I've already been saved." Our church is not like that. It’s about the gospel, and the gospel is to perfect us -- to become men and women of integrity. If you can’t tell I really ate up that talk President Maynes gave us.

Well in other news we are having trouble finding more investigators to teach, and it’s a slow process. And now I'm okay with that! I've learned that even if I go the rest of my mission without a baptism, I will have at least converted myself. So I can save my children, and teach them to save their children. I've learned a lot about my purpose as a missionary. Everything I go through is to give me experience and will help me. God is perfect and I just need to trust that He will help me along the way, as long as I stay an honorable man of integrity and keep my covenants. It’s amazing how my understanding of these things can help me understand about the basics. I love this gospel!

Thank you so much for all the emails you send me. J Thanks for the fudge, egg mcmuffins, and pizza's. J  I really needed them... We are poor as missionaries... Love you all!

Elder Bringhurst

Another Week Passes By

Well, well, life as a missionary . . . It can really be a tough road, and a lot of hard work goes into it. Not necessarily physical labor, more like emotional and mental taxation. Not fun sometimes, but hey the work progresses.

This week I really have to honestly say there is not a lot to report. We just basically taught less active members of the church this week, many of whom really don't ever want to come back to church. They are the people in Lehi's dream who partook of the fruit and were ashamed. I hear a lot of them generally say that they gave the gospel a "good try" and now they are done. Sometimes I want to say back, "If you gave it a good try you wouldn't be less active."

I am also trying to encourage my companion to find other methods rather than tracting. He is angry at the request, but in my mind, missionary work is evolving out of that. There used to be required tracting hours for every week, and now if you look at preach my gospel, they give a list of about 50 things to do to find people, one of which is tracting. I feel like the day and age we live in is not conducive to only tracting. Many people get offended simply at our presence. Even people who would probably respond favorably to the church are automatically inclined to tell missionaries who show up at their door that they are "not interested.". People are kind of going "hermit crab." It makes it a lot harder to find people through our own efforts as a missionary.

I had to go on exchanges this week with an Elder Cook, who doesn't talk a lot. This was last Tuesday, but it was really cool to be able to work the area for one day. It's really hard, but I was able to fill our day with meaningful activities and we were able to teach 4 people that day. Yah!! So it really was fun.

It’s kind of sad how poor we are though. We really don't get a lot of money from month to month. Good thing I like ramen! I'm gaining weight for some reason.   I'm up to about 166 pounds.   So I might be a fatso when I come home. Haha

Well that's my report this week. Thanks so much for all the letters you send me! J

Elder Bringhurst

And they wonder why we attend church each week . . .

Being a missionary is hard work sometimes. It is hardest when you really don't have anything to do for the next 2 or 3 hours. It's so depressing when people commit to do things and they don't do them. We had like 5 investigators and another 5 inactive people commit to come to church and only 1 came. Uggh.... it's frustrating sometimes. It makes me feel like I'm starting to understand what Heavenly Father goes through. We KNOW we should do it, and we CAN do it... but yet we don't.

Man you know how many people do marijuana here? I thought it was kind of a dumb "political" thing they brought up in government. But MAN! It’s just amazing how many people think it’s just fine. We are teaching this one guy who goes to church every week. He gave up smoking and drinking, but under no circumstances will he give up his "medicinal" marijuana. You think getting someone to stop smoking and drinking is hard, try getting someone to stop doing marijuana. It's NASTY -- smells like a skunk or something.

The week has been pretty good, although Elder George has been in a bad mood because he got a speeding ticket in a school zone. He didn't intentionally speed, but did not notice the school zone lights flashing. He got slammed with a $280 ticket. Ouch!

Tonight I'm going to this "interfaith dialogue class" presentation and we’ve been invited to speak there about the church. And when I say we I mean I. Elder George is going to go on exchanges somewhere else and I will be working with Elder Cook.

Did I tell you I accidentally broke the word of wisdom last week? I ordered a chocolate shake at Wendy’s, and I took a few sips of it.  I realized they gave me a Jamocha Shake! ahh!! Repent!! It was funny.

Oh thank you all for your loving words and thoughts.  They really help me a lot. I love you all and have a great week!

Elder Bringhurst

One Baptism!

First off let me say yes mom I remembered my camera at Chris's baptism and took a picture with him. But before I go on, Elder George and I will continue to serve together for another transfer, so six more weeks here J Send stuff please! J

The baptism was a nightmare getting ready for, because the time we told the ward he was getting baptized someone had already scheduled the building for the WHOLE DAY.  So we pulled some strings and finally got it all sorted out for Saturday at 2:00. It was kind of sad to see only about a dozen people show up for him, but then I kind of realized that he had never been to a baptism before so he didn't know the USUAL attendance for convert baptisms. But it was a great experience.  When he came out of the water he got this big smile on his face and just said "wow." He was bubbly and happy as always and the next day he asked me to confirm him a member of the church. It was kind of scary, considering PRESIDENT MAYNES showed up for our church services. The spirit helped me a lot though.

Speaking of blessings, I had a pretty neat experience blessing somebody this week. First off I am usually pretty nervous giving blessings to people because I don't know the first thing to say, so my blessings are pretty simple. But this time was different.  The spirit was just feeding things to me like I couldn't believe.   I'm convinced it truly was a blessing from our Father in Heaven.

Yeah, it was a good week. Chris is like a shining light in the people we teach, because otherwise people are just moving slowly. So this transfer might be pretty slow.

Thank you so much mom for sending me the letter about the priesthood! It helped so much. It helped a lot, but this woman we teach will slowly but surely grind to a halt. She thinks Jesus was a "good teacher" but doesn't believe the concept of sin. (moral relativity anyone??) She says anyone can be a Jesus.?????  She refuses to pray the way we ask her to. (She prays so strangely. She says she prays in the "affirmative." She tells God what she knows....doesn’t ask questions, nothing.) So after she's done asking US her questions we have to stop seeing her because she refuses to get answers from God.

Ahhh! Agency! My mission is teaching me so much about people and what they are able to do with their agency, and I'm learning about the phrase in D&C 4 that says the field is white already to harvest. We aren't out here to convince the green, tiny plants to get white, but to find and usher in those who are ready. It's why we make the decision to stop seeing people.  It’s when we decide they aren't white, but they need time to grow. We've given them all the rain and sunshine they need. They just need to take advantage of it.

I love you guys so much and keep sending me stuff. Thank you so much I love you all!

Elder Bringhurst

Another week - Woot!

So interesting fact before I start. President's day is on Monday, so all of the libraries will be closed. So I won't be able to email until the next day, and that day is transfers. So a lot could unfold this coming week.

Well we've been having some trouble getting a hold the 18 year old I told you about. His parents are VERY against the church, and unfortunately they don't want us in the house. So we are trying to arrange another place in which we can meet him. It's kind of been a bit of a fiasco.  He has cancelled like 4 times on us already, and unless this works out soon we'll have to drop him as an investigator. It's sad but we have to able to meet with him and so far he hasn't lived up to it. It's sad to see but we are just going to keep on pushing to meet him.

Chris has finalized his baptism for this Saturday at 5 o clock. He asked Elder George to baptize him. So it will be fun and he will be confirmed on Sunday.

In other news I have a funny story. We got a referral from the big Mormon.org campaign going on here in Denver.  Come to find out this referral was a self referral and she wanted us to come over because she was studying to be an "interfaith minister".  She wanted to talk to an "empowered member of the church." She was EXTREMELY excited to talk to us, so I like freaked out when we showed up at her door. She is 28 years old and single. And from our conversation, I will describe her with one word - liberal.  We taught her the first lesson on the first visit, and she was extremely receptive. It was a great visit. She wanted us to come back the next day. We were going to teach the plan of salvation, but then she started asking questions about the church’s stand on gay marriage, abortion, transvestites, why women can't have the priesthood, etc. We tried to explain that by nature men and women have different roles, but we all enjoy the same blessings from the priesthood. We gave her the family proclamation, but she still accused the church of having this "equal but separate" philosophy on men and women. It was crazy! I just told her that a woman wanting the priesthood is like men wanting to have a baby. Fundamentally we have different roles. She is so nice, yet so liberal!

Well that's my report for the week. I love you all so much and keep sending me letters. I love getting mail!!!

Elder Bringhurst

From Sun to Snow

So yeah -- We had been having quite a few days of sunny days and then we wake up one day to find about 8 inches of snow on the ground. It snowed that whole day, and it was kind of an interesting experience. My bike has just been giving me troubles! The ground here is diabolical! I've had 2 flat tires from stupid things that were just lying around on the ground. So I got these special "slime" bike tubes that say it will prevent flats from this stuff that's in the tires. Hopefully that will make the tubes last longer.

So it was a good week this week. Snow and Super Bowl made it hard to teach a lot of people this week. But otherwise it was amazing! We were able to go to the Denver Temple last Wednesday. That was really great. I saw my MTC companion Elder Mclaughlin there and afterwards we talked a bit. It really helped to go and do that this week.

Oh yeah, our investigator is doing just amazing. He's been reading the Book of Mormon like a madman. He's almost done with 2 Nephi. He's marked up to that point as much as I have in mine! He loves it! He just absorbs every word like none other. In fact, we gave him some pamphlets, and in the pack are some questions you can answer about it, and he actually took the time to answer them! Wow he loves it. He’s been to church twice now and is right on track to get baptized on the18th. (Mission president requires all investigators to come to church at least 3 times before baptism.) So yeah, he is really amazing, and is currently obeying the Word of Wisdom. He totally understands what we teach him. He kept telling me at church that he "felt touched and close to God whenever he reads the Book of Mormon." His prayers always include things like "thank you for helping me to find your true church, and thanks for sending your missionaries to teach me your word." Wow, it’s just powerful to hear someone say that in a prayer. He also got up in front of the congregation last Sunday for fast Sunday and actually bore his testimony to the whole church. Wow, that was so special.

We also found this 6'6" kid this week, about 18 years old, and he said he wants to get baptized. So he will get baptized sometime in March if all goes well with him. Things are going well here, just chugging along.  Some days are really good, and some days you get NOTHING. But I've learned that when all is said and done, I won't remember how many lessons I got on a certain week or if I had a bad day on January 30th. I will only remember the absolutely good things. My success is measured primarily by my commitment to find people and help them come unto Christ. If I do that, all will be well.

I love you family and thank you so much for your letters you send me every week. They really are amazing!

Love Elder Bringhurst