Greeley Week 2

Hey Family!

This week there isn't a whole ton to report on. It was a week full of all kinds of administrative stuff, which can be so much more tiring and so much less fulfilling than missionary work. I guess it is missionary work, but it doesn't feel like it. I'll give you some updates on the work:

1) The Schumans are being taught by the missionaries from the ward they live in. They should be doing well, and I hope they continue progressing and gaining testimonies.

2) Alissa didn't make it to church on Sunday, but we are meeting with her today and hopefully it will go really well. I think she'll be super receptive and ready to be baptized.

3) We didn't get to teach anyone in the University ward this week, but we set up appointments with both Calebs (actually I think one is spelled Kaleb) this week.

4) All in all, this week was a week of setting up appointments and getting ready for this week. It's kind of discouraging when you have a week like that, but we're going to have a great week this week.

5) Cool experience of the week: We were in a meeting for Peakview ward yesterday before church, and we had a little bit of time in between church and the meeting. So we went tracting in a neighborhood right next to the church. We were "spirit-guided" (tried to focus on where the Spirit was telling us to go) to a street and we knocked the first door...nobody was home. Knocked the second one...it was a guy whose best friend was a Mormon and he is set in his church. Knocked the fourth one because we skipped the third because the lady and kids went inside the garage and shut the door. Nobody was home. Then we felt like we should go back and knock the house with the lady that went into the garage. We did, and she answered. She said that she had been on a 17 year mission to the Lakota Indians and helping people find God. We talked to her and in the beginning she said that she was good with what she believed (kind of closing us off). We talked for a while and we really felt like she needed to be invited to look into our church.  We testified and invited her too, and she lit up a little bit. She said she had never been invited before, but she wants her children and grandchildren to be able to follow in Christ's footsteps. We took down her number and she has ours and we should be able to meet with her and her husband sometime in the next couple of weeks. She said she has known Mormons and has always been impressed with their outlook on life, and their perspective. Her name is Lucy Bighead (her husband is Lakota and that's his tribal name). It was a way cool experience to be guided on a doorstep to do what we need, to help children of God to come closer to Him. Awesome!

Well I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon. Work is going well and this upcoming week is going to be awesome!

Love you,

Elder Logan Bryan

This Week in Greeley

Well family I have about no time to email right now.  I'm sorry.  We have had a ton of zone stuff to figure out.  But here's a quick update on the work:

1--The Peakview Ward is awesome.  One family, the Tippets brought some friends to church.  The Schumans.  Bro. Tippets works with Mr. Schuman.  Apparently Mrs. Schuman was going through some really hard trials, and I think medically she was fading fast.  She's only in her 30s.  Well Bro Tippets went over to the Schuman's house with another member and gave her a blessing.  Sis Tippets said it is nothing short of miraculous that Mrs. Schuman is alive today.  So the Schumans introduced themselves to us and told us they were VERY interested in becoming part of our church because it has blessed their lives so much.  MIRACLE.  Also one of the members, Bro. Myers, has a friend named Alyssa who is a single mom, and she's been coming to church since October!  We introduced ourselves to her and she said she is ready to take the step to become a member of our church.  MIRACLE!  We're so grateful to be in this ward.

2--Elder Stanger is awesome.  He's on the quieter side, but is a great missionary.  HE is from Mesa AZ, and is probably the best guitar player I've ever met.  HE's amazing.  He connects with a lot of people by playing his guitar, so it's awesome to be his companion.  As a zone (combined with the Loveland zone) we're planning on doing a Spanish musical fireside, made by that one lady that mom sang for.  The lady that made all the Spanish fireside music.  Elder Stanger and I are doing a song called "En Un Hermoso Bosque" about Joseph Smith.  I don't know what the fireside is called, but if you look up that song, I'm sure it will have more info on the fireside.  It should be great.

3--We're ready to do work, and it's going to be awesome this transfer.  It's getting hot here in G reeley, and it doesn't stink as much.  It's pretty awesome!  I love the work.

Elder Logan Bryan

Still in the Farmhouse

Catherine getting baptized by Sam!!!

Hey Family!

So we're still in the farmhouse probably until July 15th or so.  Elder Dodd is leaving though.  That was a huge surprise!  We found out on Saturday after the baptism.  He's getting transferred to the Denver North Zone to be a zone leader there.  Guess who the new Assistant to the President is? ELDER WASHBURN!  What a beast!  I'm so excited.  We'll get to go on an exchange this transfer! It's going to be crazy!  So I'm staying in Greeley, and my new companion will be Elder Stanger.  I'll meet him in a couple of hours.  Apparently he's really musically talented--especially on the guitar. Everyone I've talked to loves him, so it should be great.

Catherine's Baptism!  It was awesome.  Everything was great!  Sam baptized her and did a wonderful job, and it was just cool to see.  Afterwards she felt great, whereas before the baptism she was nervous and kind of freaking out.  It's amazing what peace the gospel can bring us.  She had several friends come that were Catholic, and it was cool to be able to talk to them and see them watch the baptism.  I think it was a neat experience for them.  I got to confirm her on Sunday and it was an awesome experience as usual.  It was cool to see what my thoughts were as I was confirming her.  I think her relationship with our Heavenly Father is strong, and so much stronger than it used to be. Afterwards she said this weekend was awesome!  It really was.

So Kaleb Cook we taught for the first time on Monday, and he is just so ready to be baptized.  It is awesome to see someone who has waited their whole life to be baptized, and now will finally get the opportunity to do so.  He read the scriptures after our lesson, and is having all of the memories and knowledge of the gospel come back to him now that he's really searching for it again.  The only problem will be getting him to church.  He's had family in town over the last little while, and it's hard getting him to come with them there.  We also taught a guy named Caleb Alipio, who we tracted into a few weeks ago.  He is a believer in Christ, but doesn't believe in one true church.  He believes there's really no right and wrong but it's only about your relationship with Jesus.  He's a really great guy who has a sincere desire to learn about the gospel, and it's awesome being able to teach him.  We taught him a little bit about the restoration and then he had to go, but he set up his own return appointment, and really wants to keep meeting with us.  The tender mercies the Lord gives us are awesome.

Greeley is doing awesome, and I'm excited for this transfer.  Elder Dodd and I have made some sweet changes here, and things should be going great.  We're going to be picking up the Peakview Ward which is on fire, and we're stoked for that blessing.  Things do slow down a little bit for the summer, and I think we'll go back to just University after the summer.  Greeley is awesome and I'm so grateful and humbled to be able to be here and doing the Lord's work.  I was reminded this week of the responsibility we all have to be the captains of our lives.  We don't necessarily have control over everything that happens to us, but we do have control over how we respond.  Our attitude, our outlook, and our emotions are within our control, and when we feel that we are going through challenging times that don't seem to be positive at all, we have the right and the responsibility to respond with positivity, with happiness, and with peace of heart and mind.  There are times when we let our emotions or our attitudes be in control, but through the peace that the Comforter gives us, we can once again be the masters of our lives.  Self-mastery is one of the greatest achievements, but also one of the hardest.  We can only come to ourselves in this way through the Master of our salvation. How great it is to be in His service.  I love it.

Love,
Elder Logan Bryan

No Time, Sorry

Hey family. I don't have any time today to email. Sorry :(

But here's some updates on what is going on:

---Elder Dodd and I this week figured a lot of things out about the zone.  We have been trying to create a vision and something that will unify the zone so that the Greeley Zone won't plateau in its success, but that it will keep skyrocketing.  We are planning on making some awesome additions to the zone next transfer including zone goals, a welcome-to-the-zone packet, and calling the zone when someone sets someone for baptism. It will be great.

---We also have been working with Catherine closely and she is set to be baptized this week. She is awesome and is weathering all the storms that are coming her way.

--We got some great referrals this week, one of which was from some other elders. The guy's name is Caleb and he has pretty much been a member his whole life, but his mom wouldn't let him get baptized (or give him permission because he didn't live with her).  We talked with him, and he definitely wants to be baptized now that he's over 18.  So that's a tender mercy of the Lord.  All in all the Greeley Zone is doing great!

--We reserved some plots of land on the church farm and are going to make a zone garden! We're going to grow jalapenos, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, corn, etc. It's going to be awesome and unify us.

I'm so thankful I got to talk to you. I love you so much and I miss you so much. But even though it's hard, this is where Kenna and I need to be.  And even though it will be hard for Kenna to go home in December alone, that's where God needs her to be also.  Whatever happens, it's the Lord's will.  I love being His servant so much. 

Love,
Elder Logan Bryan

Graduation Party!!

Zone Leader Council

Hola Familia! 

How are you today?  I'm doing awesome, and it's been a good week.  Finals was this week and Graduation was Saturday.  The Institute will be getting smaller, but it will still go on.  We might pick up another ward for work.  We'll see.  This week we had some awesome things happen.

First, we taught Becky twice, and then she left on Friday, and so now she is in the Denver South mission.  Both lessons were great, we made sure we had taught her everything, and we shared testimonies.  She is going to get baptized, and she is so solid.  She has such a strong testimony and has gotten so many answers to prayers.  I'm so glad I had the opportunity to teach her and see her grow so much.  We taught Catherine as well this week, and she is doing great! She is set to be baptized May 19th still.  Sam will baptize her which will be awesome!  I don't know if I told you, but Sam received the Aaronic Priesthood last Sunday and he asked me to give that to him.  It was a way cool experience, one that I hadn't had the chance to do before.

I don't know if I told you about the other Sam yet, but last week we taught a guy named Sam Erickson, who was a contact by the missionary here that I replaced. He taught him while Elder Dodd was on exchanges, and then we didn't hear from him for a while.  Last week we finally set up an appointment.  He told us he was agnostic, and didn't really know what to believe.  We taught him the first lesson, and it went really well.  He said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it was true.  Well we taught him this week on Friday, and I was definitely not expecting what happened.  We started talking, and we asked him if he read and prayed.  He told us he hadn't had a chance to read yet because of finals, but he did pray.  He said one night he was just struggling to know how to approach a certain issue that had come up, and he thought for a while and then prayed.  He said that when he prayed he felt this overwhelming feeling come over him that was hard to describe, but he said it gave him clarity as to how he needed to approach this problem and what kind of attitude he needed to have. We read Galatians 5 with him about the fruits of the Spirit, and he said that he felt this comfort, joy, and peace like he never had before.  He said he was almost to the point of tears--which is extremely unusual for him.  It was such a testimony of prayer.  I then asked him, "So where is your belief now?"  He then said, "I believe in God".  It was so amazing and I couldn't really realize the weight of how awesome it was until after, but it was a stunning and real testimony to me of the truth of what we teach. Sam left on Saturday to go work for the summer in a small town East of San Diego, but he is planning on reading the Book of Mormon. Baptism has been on his mind, and he said he is a little afraid of the commitment and change he would have to make, but it is on his mind and he knows he needs to pursue this.  Awesome!

This week my testimony is that of deep love and charity.  I can't tell you how much I have learned about those things in the past 4 weeks.  It's amazing how much the Lord can give you situations that try you and test you, but help you grow and strengthen your testimony so immensely.  There is no greater gift you can give than charity, and we will be blessed so much by it as well. Pray for it, and find a way to give that gift to someone--the gift of love, forgiveness, acceptance, comfort, the gift of charity.

I love you so much,

Elder Logan Bryan

Greeley

Well my family, how are you doing?  

Today I'm doing pretty fantastic.  I love being a missionary, and I love the work that we are entrusted with and privileged to perform.  This week was a good week, and it was also kind of a crazy week, but this week is going to be even crazier.  This week is finals week for UNC, and lots of people are busy.  Well we taught Catherine this week, and she is doing awesome.  So when Sam's parents found out, his dad called Catherine's mom, and Catherine's mom didn't take it very well at first.  She didn't talk to Catherine for awhile, even though Catherine tried to talk to her and explain why she was getting baptized, etc.  Well, Catherine and her mom had lunch together on Thursday, and when it came up, they talked about it openly.  It sounded like they had a good conversation about it, and in the end, Catherine's mom wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon to "see what you guys believe".  Crazy, huh?  

Becky's lessons were awesome this week.  For one of the lessons, I wasn't there because I was on an exchange with an elder, but Elder Dodd said it went really well.  They talked about how she pretty much knew she needed to be baptized, but she had a few small doubts.  I went on an exchange two days later with Elder Goesch (my old zone leader in Cheyenne who is now an assistant to the president) here at UNC. We taught Becky and it was an amazingly intense lesson. We talked for awhile about how far she has come and the changes that have taken place in her life.  Erica, her LDS roommate, talked about how much she has changed and how miraculous it has been. We then talked about how everything so far has been good, and God isn't going to throw a curveball at her that makes it to where she no longer believes in our faith.  Then the clincher came--we read Mosiah 18.  When it talks about mourning with those that mourn, we also said, "and are willing to give up coffee, etc. (talking about the things she has changed)".  Then the next scripture really hit Becky.  It says basically, if you're willing to do all these things, then what have you against being baptized? She thought about it after we explained it and kind of laughed and said, "I hate it when I know you're right".  She knows she is going to be baptized, and now we left it to her to decide when and keep it up.  She is moving back home on Friday, so we'll be giving some elders in the Denver South mission (Littleton) a golden investigator who is ready to be baptized!  

I've been thinking the past couple of days about an interesting phenomenon that happens in our lives, and also in our mission lives.  What did we have when we were first fully converted (or first came out on the mission)--what faith, desire, excitement, trust, love, strength, did we have that we have lost?  We as human beings not only tend to, but do, forget the things that matter most in our lives. How can we go on, how can we move forward with the courage, valor, and vigor that we once had?  "If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26) The key to becoming who we were, and becoming better than who we were, lies in one word that in itself encompasses thought, action, reflection, change, and motivation.  We must "remember".     

Where have our past intense spiritual experiences gone; where are the many successes that we have experienced; where are the moments of victory over trial, defeat of shortcomings, cleanliness over muddening sin?  They are within us, but we have to rely on the Spirit, and submit ourselves to God to apply and enjoy the promise:  "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost...shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance".  To become better, to progress and become for ourselves all that we were meant to be, we have no choice but to actively remember what we have become, achieved, felt, succeeded in.  Then we become better, achieve more, feel stronger, and succeed again.  God has given us the tools and the opportunity because He loves us.  Let us remember Him and His Son, Jesus Christ--without Him it would be impossible to find ultimate and lasting joy and peace.

Love,

Elder Logan Bryan

Week 2 in Greeley!

Mi Familia,

So here I am again in Greeley.  It's so weird not to be in Cheyenne!  So Elder Dodd is from Red Bluff, CA.  He was called as a Spanish speaking missionary, but we only cover an English area here in the University Ward.  We get to talk to Latinos often though.  I have studied a little Spanish, but not much.  I went on an exchange this week with one of the Spanish elders in his area.  He's brand new and green, so doesn't know Spanish.  We went tracting, and boy was that an experience.  I realized how little Spanish I actually know.  I gave a couple of approaches in Spanish and it was difficult understanding the people when they replied--with their words flying a billion miles an hour.  It's ok, though. Someday I'll learn it.  Elder Dodd and I get along great.  He's a great and obedient missionary.

Life as a missionary in a university ward is much much different than usual. There are special rules for campus missionaries.  The rules we have are (completely serious these are our rules):  We are the LIFE of the Institute! (We've been thinking about getting visors, wearing them sideways and upside down, walking in with a boombox, and being the LIFE of the 'tute.) We ALWAYS have to have a smile on our face!  We MUST be at all Institute activities to gain the trust of the members (from where most of our investigators come [referrals])!  We go to FHE on Mondays, we have lessons with members a ton to help them invite their friends to be taught. We walk around on campus and talk to people all the time. We take part of our pray on Saturday because we cut it short on Monday to work because people are on campus on Mondays.

This week in the area was great!  Sam had a hard time leading up to his baptism where Satan was working hard on him, but he did it, and he pushed through.  He texted us on Friday and said, "I know this isn't going to stop until I get in those waters".  He's awesome!  He was baptized on Saturday and the Spirit was super strong.  Elder Dodd confirmed him on Sunday (the spirit was also strong there), and he texted us last night and said his parents found out, and his dad said some terrible things to him and hung up the phone.  We texted him that we would pray for his parents' hearts to be softened, and that one day they would thank him for his choice.  Catherine is chugging along.  She gave up coffee this week for good, and she is set to be baptized on May 19th.  With Becky, we had some good lessons about recognizing the Spirit and the answers God gives us.  She is starting to do just that.  She is starting to truly see the changes that have been wrought in her since she started reading the Book of Mormon and learning more about the truth of the gospel.  We are going to have a lesson with her this week about the importance of baptism, and why we have invited her to be baptized.

Things are going great in the Greeley Zone (that's what it's called Dad).  We found 20 new investigators as a zone--which is crazy for Greeley (it's kind of been known as the armpit of the mission in times past).  I am excited to be here and to be working as we are.  I love this gospel.

Something I learned this week was the love that God has for us. He truly and completely and purely loves us.  I know He puts us in situations for a reason.  I know He gives us trials and lets us turn to Him to overcome them.  We are never alone.  He sent His own son to let us live.  And it is only because of Jesus' and God's sacrifices that we can find happiness.  He is the fount of every blessing. We wander, we stray, but eventually we all have to have Him take and seal our hearts to be His.  Let us show our love for Him who loved us first by doing so.  I love Him.  Love you all so much. 

Love,
Elder Logan Bryan

Sam and Catherine at his Baptism!

Sam's Baptism!