Another Week in the Broadlands

This week was kind of a crazy one, but it was an awesome one. We had two leadership training meetings--one on Tuesday, and one on Thursday. Those meetings are from 9 to 4, and we do a lot of training at them. Elder Young and I each had about an hour to train. Elder Young's training was stellar. He trained on Preach My Gospel chapter 2. Study and Lesson Preparation. It was great. I have felt the need to train the missionaries on Faith. It was a great day, and (unlike a lot of times) I felt pretty good about the training I gave. I know the Spirit was directing me. We studied for preparation, but really all I did as far as an outline goes or notes was write down one story I wanted to read, a few scriptures I could draw on, I had Kenna's and my call letter opening videos, and a list of questions that I thought would be good to ask. It was great discussion and great training, but I think the best part of it was the role play that happened in each meeting. As I talked to the group, I said, "I know we have the faith to go tracting, but do we have the faith to find?" I asked two Elders to get up and role play in front of the group knocking on a door and having the faith to find, and having the faith to make something happen with the person behind the door (Elder Young). I told the missionaries to talk together before they "knocked" and decide what they wanted to do and how they wanted the door to go. It was some of the most powerful testifying and witnessing I have ever seen, especially in a role play. What a blessing! The first time had Elder Young, President Toombs, and I all in tears. Amazing!

So we taught Mickey again this week on Thursday. It was an ok lesson, but not as good as we would have wished. Mickey started off our lesson by saying she would never read The Book of Mormon because of the language it was written in. The rest of our lesson was testifying of how important the Book of Mormon is, and inviting her to pray about the Book of Mormon. We invited her to read 3 Nephi 11, and it was good, it just wasn't a great lesson. We came out feeling almost like she's just having us over to be nice, and not to really investigate. But we will pray for her and do more.

We talked to Jeff Worlton this week, and it went pretty well. Jeff is such a great guy, but there's something holding him back, and I don't know exactly what it is. We talked to him about teaching his kids. They were there, but right when we got there his wife said it was time for them to go to bed. They were super excited to see us, but they had to go to bed! It stunk! So we told him our goal is to have his kids baptized, and to have HIM do the baptizing. He told us how great that would be, but then said we have to take it slow and easy with that  because his wife isn't LDS and he doesn't know how supportive she would be. I think that's some sort of excuse but I'm not sure. They are such an amazing family, but they just need a push. They're in Florida for spring break this week, so no updates on them for another week, but we'll be praying for them.

The last great thing that happened this week was last night. Doesn't it always seem to be Sunday night? It's that sense of urgency I think. So we went over to the Zuments' house. Sis. Zuments is a member, but George is a Catholic. It's both of their 2nd marriages, and they're an older couple, but we went in determined to invite George to investigate the church. We shared several Mormon Messages on the DVD we have and they brought in the Spirit strongly. Then we asked George, "What would it take for you to be baptized a Mormon?" He laughed and said he'd never even really thought about it, and we said, "Well think about it then." We then testified of the importance and crucial point of reading and praying about the Book of Mormon to know if it's true. If he knows it's true than he knows which church he needs to be a part of. It was clear none of the other missionaries who have ever visited George invited him to do that (or maybe they had, but not very effectively). He committed to do it, and we're super excited! It was a tender mercy for sure.

Well I don't have much time, but I have a testimony of this work. It is the work of Almighty God, and He allows us to be a part of it. What a blessing. The work of God will go forth! How grateful I am to be a small instrument in his hands to help it move forward. 

Love,

Elder Logan Bryan

Week 2 In the Broad Lands

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Mi Family!

I had a pretty dang good week. First off, Elder Young and I worked really hard to reach our goal of teaching 20 lessons this week. And we did it! We were super excited to do so, and we feel pretty accomplished. I don't think the Broadlands Ward has ever had 20 lessons in a week ever, so we feel like the Lord and the ward are beginning to trust us as we have put forth good effort.

The biggest miracle that we had this week was incredible. It's amazing how you can look at a week at the beginning and have no idea of what the Lord has in store for us or for his children. We had a goal to teach 20 lessons, and He let us accomplish that. On Tuesday night we took a guy that has his mission call in our ward out with us, his name is Wyatt Swicegood. We tried the Worltons (Jeff and Keaton and Kennedy), but they didn't answer. We tried an investigator who's been out of town for a while, but they didn't answer either. We weren't sure exactly what to do, and Wyatt said to us, "I know a lady we could try. Do you guys want to go see her?" We of course did, and Wyatt told us that this lady was the grandmother of the kids that his mom nannies. We knocked on her door, and she saw Wyatt and was really happy to see him. Wyatt said to her essentially, "I'm out with the missionaries, preparing for my mission, and our last two appointments bailed on us. We're looking for people to teach." The lady laughed a little and told us to come in. We were stoked! We got to know her, and her husband (?). Their names are Mickey and Lynn. Mickey is a super nice lady who is Catholic, and Lynn isn't super religious, but we started talking to them and teaching the first lesson. It went amazingly. The Spirit was so strong. We talked about the Apostasy, and the restoration through Joseph Smith, and then The Book of Mormon. When we testified and taught about the Book of Mormon, Lynn asked, "Is there nothing contradicting to the Bible in the Book of Mormon?" We testified that there isn't, and that the Book of Mormon is true because the Spirit has born witness to us that it is. The Spirit was very powerful, and it was an amazing lesson. Wyatt was blown away! We set up an appt with Mickey for Thurs night, and Lynn is out of town for a couple weeks, but it was an amazing miracle. What a blessing. Afterwards Wyatt was talking to us about the lesson, and he was amazed at the Spirit and how it guided us. He said to us, "I totally trust you guys. I would trust you with my friends..." That was one of the most rewarding things to hear. What a way to build the trust of members. 

I know, however hard the path is to success and progress and perfection, it is worth it. If we try our best, we will be given strength to try even harder. President Eyring said, "I can't be a perfect servant every hour, but I can try to give more effort than I thought I could."  I know that strait is the gate and narrow the way, but I am striving to stay on it, and to help others on to it as well.  It's amazing the insights and blessings we get as we serve the Lord.  He is our trainer. That is a marvelous truth. I need not rely on myself, but I know He is here for me. He knows me. For that I am grateful.  I love Him and his ever-outstretched hands.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Love,

Elder Logan Bryan

Broadlands

Well My Family,

This week has been hectic, crazy, trying, and tiring. I'm a little sick right now, but hopefully I'm on the up-swing. Monday we picked up 24 missionaries from the airport. Crazy! Next transfer we're getting 28 missionaries, and only 2 are going home! We picked the new missionaries up on Monday and took them to the mission office. What a stellar group. We had 9 sisters come in on Monday, and next transfer we're getting 11 more! Monday night we drove 4 sisters and 2 elders to Loveland and Greeley in our 12 passenger van and trailer! Never thought I'd drive one of those! (Luckily I didn't have to drive it, Elder Young did).

A lot of the week was getting things done. We've had some stuff that we had to get done in the office lately, but luckily most of it is done.

We met a lot of the ward leaders this week, and have been trying to win them over and develop a good relationship with them so we can gain trust and succeed in this ward. Bishop Esplin is a wonderful man, very humble, and told us that we can yell at him or keep him on track! What a cool guy, and we would never do that! Our WML is brand new and is an awesome guy too. His name is Bro. Rennaker. He's a dentist. We probably have 7-10 dentists in our ward. Broadlands Ward is in my opinion (without a doubt) the wealthiest ward in our mission. It's going to be fun taking you back here and showing you these mansions! Crazy stuff. The highlight of the week was last night. We had been trying a guy in the ward who is less active all week, named Jeff Worlton. He is from the Springs, and is such a great guy. Last night, we finally caught him. He has two kids, Keaton (10) and Kennedy (7). They aren't baptized, and are the coolest, greatest, well-behaved kids ever. I already love them and barely know them. Jeff just told us he's been out of the habit of being active. His parents got divorced when he was a teenager, and that shook his world, and he hasn't been very active since. But he knows the church is true, and he wants his kids to have the values and morals and knowledge the church provides. We asked him if we could teach his kids, if that was something he would like. He then responded, "Yeah definitely, and I think that's something that THEY would like too." At the end of our lesson about doing the basics--scripture study, prayer, and church--Keaton asked quietly to his dad, "Can they come back?" How cool to see the humility and receptiveness to the Spirit of a wonderful young child of God. What a blessing. Elder Young and I are going to work hard, and we're going to baptize Keaton, and reactivate Jeff, and eventually baptize his wife who is not a member either. What a blessing and privilege. I love this Gospel.

The marvelous miracles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are all around us. We need not overcomplicate the Gospel or the church by making them out to be an important part of our lives. That is a serious error on our parts. The Gospel IS our lives. It is that simple. This wasn't intended to be a cool program  to implement on earth to be happy or make friends. This is life eternal. This is God's work and His glory. This is the "power of God unto the convincing of men", "the power of God unto salvation". What a blessing. The atonement of Jesus Christ is the most immense blessing and power that we can use in our lives. We cannot become better, become good, or become perfect without it. I love it. With all my heart, I would echo the words of one of my gospel heroes, "seek this Jesus". 

I love you,

Elder Logan Bryan

Not Much Time

Dinner at the Kaiser's before we got transferred to the Broadlands Ward

Hola mi Familia Linda! 

Sorry I'm sending this on Thursday!  I wrote part of it on Monday and part today.

This week was pretty awesome!  We taught Michelle on Wednesday and again on Saturday. Saturday's lesson was amazing!  We taught her at the Kaisers and it was one of the best lessons I've had in a long time.  We had Elder Gin with us, an Australian Elder that we were taking to the airport that day.  We taught Michelle the first lesson,  The restoration of the gospel.  It was amazing.  We taught her about prophets and authority and apostasy, and then she asked (after Elder Young had compared the ancient church/gospel to a glass table held up by 12 legs[apostles] and crashed and broke when the apostles were killed off, and there needed to be a restoration to the table), "Well how can I know that the church now IS really the whole table with everything in it?"  What an inspired question!  She is so prepared, and Sis Kaiser the whole time, looked astounded at the searching questions Michelle was asking.  It was a phenomenal lesson, and Michelle agreed to be baptized on March 31st. What a blessing!

Elder Young and I are doing well, it's been a crazy transition--and a very hard one--but we're doing well.  We're excited to gain the trust of the Broadlands ward and see miracles happen. We're going to have 4 baptisms together--we've already decided and set a goal, and the ward's goal for the year is 5.  I know the Lord wants many of the children that he's already preparing to be baptized here in this ward. 

I love the gospel and the privilege to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ every day. What a miracle!

Love,
Elder Logan Bryan                                   

Dessert First!!!

Bundt Cake my family sent the Kaisers

Yummy dinner--appetizer with crab meat and mango, green salad, fruit salad, green beans, potatoes, steak and bread.

Shane drew owls for each of us to wear in honor of my funny quote a few week's back, “If you want to be 'in' you gotta get an owl tattoo.”  I meant to say owl tie--but it came out tattoo!

Sporting our tattoos

My owl tattoo!