My family,
I love you very much, and I've missed you more than normal this week. This week tested my faith, and my fortitude. We had several ups and downs this week, and I hope that in the future there will be more ups than downs, but that's how it goes.
We had several great things happen this week and a couple of downers too. We got to meet with Ricky and Erik Garnica (14 and 13 years old) and they committed to come to church. And they did which was a miracle and we taught them after church at the Browns' (an awesome family in the ward. He used to be bishop before Bishop Ross, and Sister Brown's brother just got called to the Nevada Las Vegas mission Spanish speaking!), and they committed to be baptized on March 24th. They seem different this time around and they seem more committed and more aware of the commitment that is necessary to be a member of the church. They are very receptive, and I hope and pray they are ready and will continue on this path. Rita this week was our biggest let down. She has been called back into work, and now has to work Sundays with no immediate end in sight. She is upset about having to work but corporate told her they couldn't switch around everybody's schedules, and she has to work Sundays now. Which means her baptism will be pushed back indefinitely. It is rough, and it made me do a lot of self-reflecting on how much I had taken this for granted, and how much I needed to improve. Rita has been so golden, she has progressed amazingly, and her husband has been so supportive, and now the situation is hard, and could be that way for a while. We fasted for her yesterday, and I know whatever happens will happen for a reason. It's just been hard to see someone so ready have only one thing holding them back. One thing they don't have much control over. We're going to keep trying. K'neesha has been doing pretty well, we're trying to jump a few hurdles with her, and as long as that happens, her baptism will be set. We taught Sunshine, the sister of a member of our ward, and talked with her atheist husband a lot. He is a really great guy, just sees things differently. That went pretty well, and we'll keep working with them.
Things have been going great in the good old state of Wyoming. I find it hard sometimes to look at my trials in an eternal perspective. I think of the things I go through, and although they are nothing compared to Christ's, or the Prophet Joseph's, they test my will. I think of the promise-filled, and peace-giving comfort the Lord gave to Joseph Smith while undergoing surely some of the most painful and absolute loneliness: "My Son, peace be unto thy soul...". What greater witness can we have than from God? He gives us the peace we seek, He supplies us with the tools we need to tackle the trying tribulation that so often plagues us--His weak, mortal children. Then I think of the self-inventory that the Lord invites when he sheds eternal perspective on the situation: "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" What comfort comes from considering the complete and truthful line from the hymn: "Who, who can understand? He, only one." I love Him.
Love,
Elder Logan Bryan
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