"Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."
-- Alma 26:12



Monday, November 28, 2011

Transfers...

Well my awesome family,

You can tell what's on my mind today. I won't know anything until Saturday, but transfers have kind of been in the back of my mind this whole transfer, and I think I may be leaving, but who knows?

Well, this week was actually really good, which is kind of surprising because I thought Thanksgiving would be a really slow week. It was slow on Thanksgiving, and a little bit the day after, but it's amazing how much the Lord blesses you for just stepping out the door and working. The numbers just seemed to work themselves out, and we reached several of the goals we had for this week. Thanksgiving was a good day. We found out the day before that the lady we're staying with (Bobbi Estes, she's awesome and we love her) bought a bunch of stuff to have a thanksgiving lunch with us. So we woke up, and from like 7 to 12 we cooked. We cooked everything, the turkey, the stuffing, the potatoes, the rolls, it was awesome! At first, we felt very badly for staying in our house and not proselyting, but we realized that if we weren't there, she wouldn't have been able to cook because her hip is really bad and she's getting surgery next month so she wouldn't have been able to stand up and cook, and she wouldn't have had anyone to eat with for thanksgiving. It was great to be able to eat and cook with her and talk with her. She is awesome! Then that night we ate dinner with the Blanchards, and I couldn't eat like anything! I was stuffed from lunch, and I ate a few bites of corn and stuffing, and I was stuffed. They had invited a guy that works at Terry Bison Ranch (where their daughter works) to eat with them, and he is probably the most legitimate looking the truest bluest cowboy I've ever seen. He was wearing a brown leather vest, serious boots, wranglers, and had a sweet mustachio. He was awesome! We gave his info to the sisters in another ward because they cover where he lives.

So on Tuesday we had our first Thanksgiving dinner of the week with Brian and Jess. It was awesome, and we went in there knowing that we were going to be bold with them. We basically talked about Jesus Christ, and told them he would want them to get married soon. They agreed, and then we said, "Well Jesus Christ isn't here in this room right now, but we wear His name, and we are representatives of him. As such, we want you to know that we want, and He wants you to get married as soon as possible so you can enjoy the blessings of living a life dedicated to Him." It was awesome. They said they were planning on getting married pretty soon, so we'll see how that goes.

On Wednesday, I was on exchanges with Elder QuicaƱo and we tore it up. We saw a few less actives, and we went to Anthony's house to see him before he left on Friday for Australia for the next few weeks. Well, we talked about the Book of Mormon with him because he hasn't read any yet, and we asked him what he thought its purpose was. He gave an answer and then we told him that we'd look in the Book of Mormon to see what its purpose is: to come unto Christ. We asked him, "Do you want to come closer to Christ?" He said yes. Then we said, "Well, then the only logical next question would be, do you want to read the Book of Mormon?" He thought about it, and said yes. Then we had him promise to read up to 1 Nephi 19 before the next time we saw him, in a couple weeks, and he agreed and seemed happy to do so. It was great. That night, after Elder McKay got back from Leadership Training, we had an appointment with Neil and Jess, where we taught about the Book of Mormon and commitments, and they agreed to prepare to be baptized on January 21st. It's a ways off, but Neil can't get off work until a month from now, so it will be great.

Friday, we taught Tashanna, and Jess (Neil's wife) was there too (they're good friends). TaShanna committed to come to church on Sunday....and she did! She brought her 5 year old daughter with her and they stayed for all 3 hours. It was awesome. We also taught Jeff, the Olsen's 13 year old foster son, and he was very receptive to what we taught and said he wanted to be baptized. We'll be working with him this week too. Then that day we set up an appt with Kelsie for this week, so we haven't seen her in a while.

Saturday, we saw quite a few less actives, and we went street contacting downtown before the big Christmas parade. Yes Mom and Dad, that day was FREEZING! My toes felt like they'd fall off. But good thing for the monstrously thick long johns Mom got me (which I love). It was awesome though. I just felt so good talking to these people on the street, and we actually got two people to tell us to come back and talk with them, and one of them is in our area! It was so fun, and I really enjoyed my first experience with legitimate street contacting.

Then Yesterday, we had Tashanna and Jeff at church which was awesome, and Todd Hufford blessed the sacrament for the first time! It was a great day. We also met with the Jumps, an awesome less active family. They have two preteen daughters-one of them has been baptized and one of them hasn't. Her dad, who lives somewhere else is pretty anti, so she has taken the lessons, but never really pursued it because she didn't want to make her dad mad. But yesterday, Elder McKay gave the spiritual thought with them, and he rocked it and basically invited her to take the lessons again and she was super interested. He was awesome, and his teaching is great. We told her that it didn't matter what we said, or what her mom said, or what her dad said, but this decision for a religious path was between her and God and who cares what anyone else says or thinks? She was very receptive, and decided to meet with us.

So this week has been a huge success, and I really enjoyed it. I'm a little nervous/anxious to hear about transfers, but who knows what will happen. The work is awesome, I love it, and I love to see people change. It's the most rewarding thing I've ever done, and the best thing I've ever done.

Love,

Elder Logan Bryan

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