Hey Ya'll!
We had another great week here in Beckley 2! I don't mean to sound boastful, but if I didn't tell ya'll how much we are tearing it up out here, then I would be lying.
Don't worry though, I have a scripture about that:
8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.
9 For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have been strangers to God.
10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.
11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.
12 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.
13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.
We truly do sing praises to our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is Their work and it will go on, with or without me, so I am and always will be committed to be a part of this amazing work! I'm not boasting of our success, I'm boasting of God's work and my joy is full! I get to be a part of this marvelous work!
Jan. 19, Mon: Martin Luther King Day. So we couldn't email, hence email received on Tuesday. We called up some potential investigators to try to set up an appointment. They seemed a little hesitant and weren't sure when they wanted to meet. We asked them if they needed anything, and they replied, "Food. We don't have any food!" I joyfully responded back, "We have food! Lots of it! We'll bring you some tomorrow!"
Jan. 20, Tues: We had district meeting in the morning.
We went to the potential investigator's, Kevin and Deloris, with two boxes full of food - we've received all this food from the members and we've gained quite a pantry since I've been here. When we brought over the food, they were so grateful - they were down to their final Ramen noodle packet. They were so grateful and their hearts had been softened; they wanted us to stay and talk with them. We gladly taught them the Restoration; they accepted the Book of Mormon and Baptism if they receive an answer.
The Young's were going to have us over for dinner, but something came up. So, Alison Young made us a plate of food to hand us instead. Now I can tell Kyle his future wife is an excellent cook, as well! ;)
Jan. 21, Wed: We spent some time trying to get information from potential and former investigators.
We had two lessons tonight; one with a former investigator named, Victoria, and her boyfriend, Larry. Victoria got in a huge car accident that injured her and her two sons and killed her daughter. This accident occurred around 2007 and it was in Utah on I-15 down by Fillmore. While at the Provo hospital, her Mormon friend gave her a Priesthood blessing, and she referred herself to the church missionaries shortly after. So, we were really excited to be teaching her. She's awesome. She believes in everything - her only concern is that the church is too far away and she has no one to go with. We accidentally left our phone there.
We headed up to the Snuffer's. We weren't in there two minutes before Richard is ready to get the lesson started! He offered his first "public" prayer in decades, he says. He did great! We taught "the Gospel of Jesus Christ" and they were both really into the lesson. Richard hasn't been to church since he was 15 (now in his 40's) and he had some interesting questions like:
"Do I need to be baptized again?"
"Now, when I was in church, I would pass the bread and the water - what was that called again?"
So, it's really fun teaching both of them; they both really want to learn! We offered March 14 as a baptismal date for the wife, Robin, which she accepted! They fed us, too!
Jan. 22, Thur: Not much cracking, besides weekly planning. All our appointments (3) fell through. Just a downright tough day.
Jan. 23, Fri: We met with Kevin & Deloris today, and Bishop & Sister Barnett joined us. We talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. They have been reading, but just can't really understand it. We shed some light, and Barnett's gave great insight.
We also taught Sister Cline today with Bro. Duran. We were trying to teach about the Ten Commandments, but somehow it got off on to serving others. Sister Cline is a great example to us, for serving others. (She is the one who collects and makes ready hundreds of stuffed animal toys for children's charities.)
Then we were able to meet with the Hicks' and teach them about praying always. (Alma 34)
Jan. 24, Sat: We met with Kevin Harvey (shirtless, intimidating guy from last week) and his wife, Shainelle. We taught the Restoration. We were kicking ourselves after, because we just jumped into the conversation and [forgot] didn't open with prayer. So, the Spirit wasn't as strong, if it was even there. We asked Shainelle if she was feeling the Spirit, and she said, "NO." So, we will definitely learn from our mistakes. We feel the lesson would have gone so much better had we opened with prayer to invite the Spirit.
We went up to Sister Jackson's, but the power was out, so they couldn't call to tell us Matt & Jasmine weren't even up there. We visited with Sister Jackson and she still fed us.
Jan. 25, Sun: We had three investigators @ church today. We're guessing everyone else got scared off by the weather. But, we had Matt & Jasmine and good ol' Tom Poe.
We were suppose to teach Matt & Jasmine right after church, but they had to leave early. So, it's going to be "a year without rain" (not teaching them for 2 weeks).
Heller's had us for dinner, then Josef joined us for an appointment with Ms. W. Josef got a taste of how much "SOUL" she has. She believes the Book of Mormon is true, and believes the Prophet is called of God, but only for the Mormons, not everyone. So, we'll pray and ponder how to answer that concern.
Well, another week has come and gone. Come tomorrow, I will have been a Missionary for five months. I feel a little bit older, but then I see District Leader, Elder Spencer, going home in a month, then I don't feel so old.
The Gospel is true, I know it!
My Challenge to everyone this week is to memorize the First Vision. It is so important to have a testimony of that First Vision & the prophet, Joseph Smith. "Call him and this church crazy or call him a Prophet and the church true. This Gospel is ALL TRUE, or all false. I testify that it is all TRUE!"
Love You All!
-Love Elder Brenchley
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