"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 19, 2012

Second Week of Craziness (Plus I botched my haircut)


Mi Familia!
 
How is it going? Sounds like things in Xela are going awesome! That's so cool that Dad gets to be around his old mission president. Thinking about it, I hope that someday I'll be able to associate with President Toombs pretty closely. It's such a blessing to be able to look up to such amazing and Christlike Priesthood leaders. They truly stand out from the apathetic and unenthusiastic attitude much of the world has.
 
Update on the work/stuff we do: This week was kind of a crazy week. What I didn't truly realize or accept when I got this assignment was how many meetings we go to and are in charge of. In the mission there are plenty of meetings: Zone Conferences, Zone Leader Council, Leadership Training Meetings, Trainers Meetings, and pretty soon there will be Zone Meetings. So every 3 months or so there is Zone Conference. We have 4 Zone Conferences in the mission. Usually 3 zones meet together for this. We are in charge of giving a lot of trainings at these, and setting up how the meeting will go and such. So Next week, we have 4 Zone Conferences to go to: Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri from 9 to 4 each day. Leadership Training Meetings we hold every 3 months or so too. So this past week we had one meeting from 9 to 4 for the south half leaders on Tues, and one on Thurs for the north half leaders. On Fri we had a Trainers follow up meeting from 10 to 3. We hold a two hour meeting with each group of trainers and trainees--the ones who have been together for a transfer and are finishing up training, and the ones that just got together a week ago. Zone Leader Council is once a month on the first Friday of every month. So the first week I was here we held it. It goes from 9 to 2. I've been on 3 exchanges so far. Tonight we're driving to Laramie for exchanges, the next day we'll go to Cheyenne. On Thursday we'll stay in the area for Thanksgiving, and then on Friday I'll be in Fort Collins, and on Saturday I'll be in Loveland. This week is going to be intense!  But, I guess I have to realize even though I'm not working in my area very much this week, we're still doing the Lord's work. It's just a different kind of work.
 
So an update on our investigators and people we're working with: Beth. She came to church a week ago, but then bailed on dinner with a family in the ward and on an appt with us. We texted her that Saturday to see if she could come to church and she texted back she needs time to think and pray. We decided to knock on her door a couple days ago to see how she was and what was up. She answered and was friendly, and said we could set up an appointment to talk about her concerns. So we're meeting with her in a couple hours to talk about things. We're taking an awesome family with us to talk to her, the Kaisers. Mom, I guess you're friends with Sis Kaiser on facebook? They're awesome, and do so much for us it's incredible. We are so grateful for the Kaisers!  I know they'll help Beth progress, and she has such a strong testimony anyway, I think it's just her family doesn't understand the gospel and thinks it goes against what they believe. We hope and pray that Beth will be able to have her concerns resolved and continue progressing and feeling how much God loves her. Anya left on thursday to go back to NYC. Elder Diaz and Elder McKay had an awesome lesson with her on Wednesday when I was on exchanges in Westminster. She was crying and said she needed to get baptized, and they encouraged her to set a date to get baptized in NY. Awesome! We haven't been able to meet with Travis because he is now visiting his mom in Denver because she is having heart surgery, and he's pretty worried about that. We did have an amazing miraculous experience yesterday where we were visiting a potential investigator Sister Tang, and we decided to knock on the doors next to her. We knocked on the one to the right, and the guy came out and was kind of disgruntled and told us they were religious and we asked him if there was anyone else he knew that might be interested in talking to us. He talked about the people next door (the Tangs) and then the people on the other side of them. He said when they moved in they were looking for a church, but that the father was a police officer, and his wife wouldn't talk to us because he was working and she wouldn't talk to strangers. Well, deciding that no unhallowed hand can stop the work, we went to that house and knocked on the door, and had an amazing spiritual 20-minute conversation with Jennifer on the doorstep. She had been interested in the Mormon religion--her best friend converted in high school. She told us that she had been asking her friend about the Book of Mormon and her friend told her to ask some missionaries to come by and talk to her about it. She didn't, but guess who came by to talk to her about the Book of Mormon yesterday? She was sincerely interested and had great questions and told us we could come back this weekend with a member family she knows in the area. She has two kids, and her husband. She had bad experiences with a church before and has honestly been searching for one where she can feel community and family, and also the peace that Heavenly Father gives through the Spirit. We asked her to find out for herself. And she accepted a Book of Mormon, we gave her 3 Nephi 11 to read, and one of the best moments of the conversation was when I felt prompted to testify how much God loves her. I told her that was the only reason we were there, because of how much Heavenly Father loves her and wants her to be happy. I saw her tear up a little bit and she said Thank you. It was an awesome experience. Please pray for Jennifer that she will be prepared and won't give in to opposition!
 
Well, I love the gospel. It's amazing how much it blesses our lives. How marvelous is the gospel and the knowledge that Heavenly Father Lives, He Loves Us, He Speaks to Us! I love my Savior. He loves us so much. His infinite and eternal sacrifice saves us and paves the way for infinite and eternal happiness. He died so that we might live. Thanks be to God! "Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land. Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen." I love Him. 

Love,
Elder Logan Bryan

No comments:

Post a Comment