He IS The Gift

I am still in Beckley 2!  Elder Johnson is getting Transferred :(

{Kanawha River in Charleston}

 

Anyway, I'll have the same address.

Thanksgiving was so awesome!  We had a ward Turkey Bowl....turned into Mud Bowl.

Me and Elder Johnson

Since I have limited time and a more days to talk about, I'll make it real brief.

Mon. Nov. 24:  P-Day.  I wrote letters all day and relaxed.
We met with our investigator, Rita and her husband, Ernie.  They fed us a delicious dinner of beef stew.

Tues. Nov. 25:  The whole district went to Sister Suigine's house to clean up her yard.  She's in the hospital, so we wanted it to look nice when she got back.  Bro. Doolittle headed that up and bought us all Little Caesar's after!  Service does pay off.  ;)
We also had district meeting and I was assigned to give a 10-minute lesson.  I chose to do it on, "Looking the part, acting the part, and doing the part of a missionary."  I thought it went well.
 We taught "Sister Cline with Bro. Barnett on the power of the Spirit in conversion.

{Sister Cline & Elder Johnson}

We then taught Tom Wood.  He told us he was moving in the morning and didn't know where he would be.  Hopefully, we can keep in contact and continue to teach him, or some other missionaries will, wherever he may end up.

Wed. Nov. 26:  We had zone meeting today explaining the "He is the Gift" initiative.  I would encourage Ya'll to go to http://www.mormon.org/christmas to watch the video, and share it with your friends and family!  What a better time to talk about our belief in Christ around Christmastime!  The Church is making a really big push for this one!  It's going to be the whole advertisement on YouTube for December 7th!  WoW!
Later, we taught Ms.W a Plan of Salvation review with Bro and Sis. Brooks.

Thurs. Nov. 27:  Thanksgiving!  Turkey Day!  My Click Date - I've been a missionary for 3 months!

Anyway, we had an awesome ward Turkey bowl, except because the field was so wet and muddy, it was really a "Mud Bowl!"  It was so much fun!  I had one passing touchdown and two receiving touchdowns!
Then Elder Johnson & I got cleaned up, and went and helped the Young's and the Heller's make Thanksgiving dinner, and we enjoyed it with them.

After that, we went contacting investigators and potential investigators, wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving, and setting up appointments.

Fri. Nov. 28:  I still have the food coma!
We met with a new investigator, Tom Poe.  He talks a lot, but is totally open and listens well.  He wants to come to church and we invited him to be baptized...and he said, "yes!"
The rest of the day, we had little luck teaching people, but we were able to invite several investigators and potential investigators to a Baptism service tomorrow.  We prayed that at least one would come to the Baptism.

Sat. Nov. 29: Today was the Baptism for two teenage girls who the Beckley elders have been teaching.  The font wasn't as full as it needed to be, so while the actual program was happening and the two Beckley elders were stalling, Elder Johnson, Elder Bodily, Elder Jacklin, and I were frantically filling up ice cream buckets, pots& pans, and empty trash cans with water and pouring them into the font.  With much prayer and hard work, we raised the water level from the 1st step to the 4th step of the font in less than an hour.  It was the craziest thing I've ever been a part of!  It was all worth it; as the girls got baptized, Elder Johnson and I got to be the witnesses.  Ms.W showed up right after the actual ordinance, but she still enjoyed the rest of the program.  We gave her a church your after, and she loved all the paintings.  She promised she'd be a church tomorrow.  Maybe if the font had been filled up, she would have missed the whole thing!  God answers prayers and works in very mysterious ways.
We received a call that night that one of us would be getting transferred.  They didn't tell us who (like usual) but just that either Elder Johnson or I would be getting transferred. :(

Sun. Nov. 30:  Well, no one showed up at church, not even Ms.W.  :(  Ahh well!
We visited Sister Gill and her less-active husband about 40 miles away, so that took up our whole day.

Mon. Dec. 1:  Miracle!  We found where Civi and Kay relocated to!  We actually saw Mark (he was only in jail for a month, I guess) in the Kroger parking lot, and he told us where they were!  So, we went and saw them with Bishop & Sister Geisler.  Awesome!
We shared the "He is the Gift" video with the McGrady's, who had us over for dinner.

{the wonderful McGrady's}

 

Minutes before this picture, we just gave Roger a Priesthood blessing.  He's been feeling sick, as you can tell. :)

Tues. Dec. 2:  Today we got a call from President Salisbury, I answered and he said I would be staying in Beckley and Elder Johnson would be a District Leader in Covington, Va.  Usually the zone leaders will call us, but President had to ask Elder Johnson if he would accept the assignment.  That night we got a call from the zone leaders and they told us who our new companions and areas would be!

We spent some time visiting our peeps one last time, so Elder Johnson could say, "Good Bye" to them.

{Rita}

 

{The Graham family, Lucksas is the younger boy on the couch}

We were over for their 6 yr. old daughter's birthday party last night.

{David}

 

{The twins, Mackenzie & Lindsay, with their grandmother, Sis. Blackburn}

Anyway time is running short, so I challenge every single one of you to share, "He is the Gift" with someone!  Share it on Social Media using #sharethegift.

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

We have so much to be grateful for!  And how grateful we should be for Jesus Christ; He is the reason for the season.  God's greatest GIFT to us!  HE IS the gift.

I Love You All!

-Elder Brenchley