SNOWpocalypse

Hey Ya'll!
 

I had a great week!  It was filled with snow and the Spirit!  The locals were calling this storm, "SNOWpocalypse."  It was tough getting snowed in for two days, and not being able to go to our area, but we were able to shovel plenty of snow for our neighbors!  We were able to have so much fun, as well!  We were able to make plenty of phone calls, check up on our investigators, and set up times when we could come see them after the snow died down. 

Well, also another transfer came and went.  Elder Maxfield and I are staying together, but Elder Bingham is leaving the Roanoke apartment.  Tough luck.

Well, here's the week!

Monday Jan. 18:  MLK day/P-day/Elder Binghams Birthday
We played football/basketball at the Stake Center.
We had dinner at the Blevins, and met Chase, a family friend.  He knows a lot about football, so we had a good talk, as well as a good message on the Book of Mormon.
We had a 2nd dinner with the Cowlings's.

Tuesday Jan. 19:  We emailed today - because of MLK day yesterday.
"No go" for our return appointment with Melissa.
We talked to people downtown, then Bishop Williams took all three sets of missionaries out to dinner at IHOP.
We worked in Brother Laymon's neighborhood, and got several referrals from those who were not interested, but the referrals weren't interested either.  :(
Brother Laymon came with us to Brian and Shyvilli's, and we had a lesson on the Law of Chastity.

Wednesday Jan 20:  Church world wide missionary broadcast!
Every single missionary in the world got to view it.  It was wonderful. The speakers were: Elder Anderson, Elder Bednar, Sister Oscarson, Bishop Waddell, President Clayton, Elder Neilson, and Elder Oaks.
We met a man named, Jim while tracting.  His wife's funeral was the day before - he was still in mourning and we told him a little bit about forever families and said a prayer with him.  We will go back in a week or so.

Thursday Jan 21:  We had a really good weekly planning - we focused on less-actives and part- member families.
We had a great visit with Kennis and Wondra Waldon. (a less-active couple).
We had dinner and a lesson with Brother "L" on missionary work.  He's doing really good, even though his dad is having nothing of it.

Friday Jan 22: The snow came!!  

A view out the back of our house

2263 Maiden Lane SW #5

Roanoke, VA  24015

We were instructed to stay indoors.
We did get to have dinner with Brian and Shyvilli, as well as a Law of Chastity follow up lesson. Their plan is to get married once they have the money to do so.
We walked home in a blizzard.

Saturday Jan 23:  We got a ride from Brother Winkler (who has a Toyota 4-runner) to go shovel the church sidewalks and then we spent the rest of the day shoveling snow.

We met some really cool people while doing so -  we did four houses in a row; we had one request after another.
We found out that Elder Maxfield and I are staying for another transfer.

Sunday Jan 24:  BRONCOS!!!  SUPER BOWL 50!!!!
Church was cancelled today because of the SNOW.
We met some of the Cowling's neighbors/friends who they've been working on.  We offered to shovel their driveways.
We met Joan, who needed help getting her car out.
We had a good visit with Brother Nilsson.
And the Lewis family dropped off dinner to us.

Monday Jan 25:  We had a good introduction lesson with the Brunal couple, Sandra and Chales.  We talked about God the Eternal Father, the Gospel, and the Book of Mormon. They are from Columbia, so we will bring a Spanish speaker for them next time.  We had spanish pamphlets and El Libro De Mormon all ready for them.
We had lunch with Chase Lester. and his family, and met his baby momma/girlfriend, Erica.  They are a really great family.
We had another great visit with the Waldon's. 

{Brother Waldon and his daughter, Wanda}

 

Brother Waldon's giving me crap that the Panthers will SMOKE the Broncos in the Super Bowl.  Nah!
We had dinner at the Blevins' - they served some of the best shepherds pie ever!
We did a drop-by visit with the Bell's and Tim.  He opened up and said, "No" to the Baptismal question.  At this point, he's not sure if there is a God.  Sister "B" really said how more fellowship is needed for both of them.

Tuesday Jan 26:  We walked to the east boundary of our area, and were able to have a visit with Sister Jeanie Hale - she's such a great lady.
We found a gal named, Bethany - she's really open and cool.  We might pass her on to the YSA missionaries, though.
We finally had lunch at 2:30, then we met the Wholford couple.  They are a sweet, young couple in the ward, and have an adorable 6-month old baby girl.
We did a quick lesson with Brian - Brother Lewis came with us.  The lesson was on Living this life as you would in heaven.
The new missionaries flew into Roanoke, and we are housing them!  This takes me back to my Charleston days!  Elder Tyler Esplin is the little brother of Elder Alex Esplin, who was in my district in Beckley!  2 brothers, 1 Mission!

To share a very spiritual, touching experience this week, I wanted to share one of our visits yesterday.  I sat in a sweet old lady's living room yesterday.  She truly was struggling with believing that God is there.  Her life is in a wreck right now.  She asked me, "How do we know God's there if he doesn't answer our prayers, and take away the pain?"  The Spirit came to me, and I told her that no matter what, no matter where, God is there, and loves her.  She is a daughter of God, and very much loved.

You are all children of God.  He loves each and every single one of you.  Then comes Jesus Christ and the Atonement.  One of my favorite scriptures illustrates this perfectly.

Romans 8:16-17

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him.

I know that we are Children of God.  I also know, because we are Children of God, we are heirs to all the Father has. Also, joint heirs with our Savior and older brother, Jesus Christ.  Because he suffered, and we suffer with him, I truly know every single one of us, with our families, will be glorified, side by side, with the Savior and our Heavenly Father.  I know this to be true, and the Spirit has touched my heart very strongly this week.  I love all of you!  Thanks for the prayers on my behalf! 

Love, Elder Brenchley

The 1st Annual Brenchley Invitational

Hey Ya'll! 

Hope everyone had a Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!  That's why I'm on the computers a day later! (no library access on holidays)

Mon. Jan. 11: P-Day/day of the Brenchley Invitational 

We had a great mission-wide district leader conference call this morning - I loved every minute of it! We were able to hear a lot of good questions, then give input and ask our own, as well!  I took four pages of notes! 

We emailed afterwards.

We had the Brenchley Invitational Basketball Tournament!

We had a really good turnout; about 12 Elders, 4 Sisters, and 3 non-missionaries.  Everyone had a blast just playing some good basketball.  Elder Maxfield set up his tripod with a camera and recorded a couple of the games! 

We were able to set a return appointment with the Burnal family (that family from Colombia who we helped move some heavy things for!) 

Tues. Jan. 12:  We've been going through our area book lately, and kind of filtering out the potential and former investigators, and seeing if people still live there or not. 

Ya'll would be surprised by how many of these addresses we go to where the houses are vacant, boarded up, or condemned.

We had exchanges with the Salem 2 Elders today.  I went with Elder Kelly to Salem (our 2nd exchange on our missions).  He was my district leader in BV. 

We had two wonderful lessons with their two progressing investigators.  One that especially stood out to me was with their friend named, John.  He had investigated the Church for over a year, and Elder Kelly did a really good job of "teaching people, not lessons."  We were able to extend a Baptismal date for February 13.

Wed. Jan. 13:  We were out, and it was cold and the wind chill was up!

We were out trying people and didn't have much luck at all, but what made it all worth it is, the last former investigator we tried answered the door, and has had a lot family in and out of the hospital recently, so they were very humbled by our visit, and we said a prayer with them and they felt The Spirit. 

We had district meeting combined with interviews with President Salisbury.  It was a choppy district meeting because none of us were all there together (someone or some companionship was always in with President).  

President & Sister Salisbury, me, and Elder Maxfield

But, we had great interviews with President Salisbury.

We had dinner with the Blevins family - very good spaghetti and meatballs!

We had a wonderful lesson with Courtney and Johnathan.  We think we found the best fellowshipper in the world for them with Brother Winkler - they get along great and are all the same age!

We had a lesson with a man named, Lorenzo and we'd called, confirmed, everything with him.....his house address didn't exist! 

We had ward missionary coordination meeting.

Thur. Jan. 14:  Weekly planning! 

We planned to go see some former investigators on Patton Avenue.  It turns out they had moved out, and a girl named, Diamon lived there now, so we started teaching her!  She seemed really interested; she had just moved in and is wondering what church to go to!  

Her boyfriend, Marcus came up halfway through the lesson and he (trying to be friendly, but accusing) said, "Hey, your religion don't allow my kind into heaven." (he was light-skin African American).  

I immediately responded, "That's False!  God loves all his children!" 

Then Elder Maxfield jumped in, "Yeah, look at me!  I'm not white!"  Haha.  That basically nipped Marcus' concerns in the bud.  He still wasn't interested, but Diamon still was! 

Basically, all the people we tried today, were not having us inside.

To make life a little bit better, we had dinner at this place called, Maccado's!  39 cent wing Thursday.

Elder Numbers was here on exchanges with the zone leaders, so we were able to chat about the good old times!

Elder Numbers!

Fri. Jan. 15:  I was not feeling well this morning, so I contacted Sister Salisbury (our temporary mission nurse) and she sent me to get some Cold-Eeze from the pharmacy. 

I decided I was all right, and we were able to visit two less-active brothers, but then it started raining.  It was pouring rain on our bikes today!  We still have no snow, but these cold temps being freezing, really got to me!

Brother Tourville let us in out of the cold, but I was still shivering the whole time I was in his heated apartment. 

We had dinner with Sister Fischer and her boyfriend/baby-daddy, Mark. (They should be married; they have two small kids, and are a great family).  They both used to live in St. George, Utah (Desert Hills area).  Mark is a non-member, and as we tried to talk to him about the Gospel, he very friendly put walls up, but he is such a funny, good guy.  He went to great lengths to hook up a trailer to his SUV so he could give us a ride home (and our bikes), so we wouldn't have to be in the rain.  He gave us his cell number, and said, "Call if you need anything, I mean it!"  We think he really grew fond of us!  He was the one who suggested we have dinner again this next Wednesday. 

Brother Winkler came with us again to Courtney and Johnathan's.  They are awesome!  They didn't read the Book of Mormon, but they committed to come to church next week!  We had a good lesson on prophets. 

Then we had a really cool experience/lesson with Brian.  We were talking about preparing for Baptism and Confirmation, and he related an experience he had.  When he prayed to know about the Word of Wisdom, he said he felt like a warm blanket came over him.  He has been living the Word of Wisdom every day since! 

Sat. Jan. 16:  I spent the whole day sick in bed with a cold!  Probably one of the worst days of my mission.  I figured I should rest up, and not go out in the cold and rain, and be 50%, rather than being able to come back closer to 85-90%.

Elder Maxfield found ways to stay effective and set-up a ton of appointments with people we just had phone numbers for.  He was a really big help and support to me throughout the whole day!  His parents raised him right! 

Sun. Jan. 17:  I still felt awful, but I decided to go to church.  I'm really glad I did - I got some answers I needed.  Church is just a great place to receive revelation.  It seemed all the topics/lessons were focused on the Savior! 

Brian didn't end up coming to church. :(  Or anyone else! 

We found two new investigators today.  One named, Melissa, we found as we were trying someone else.  The other is Brother Turner's roommate, Nathanial.  We were just having a lesson with Brother Turner, then Nathanial asks if he could join in!  Awesome! 

Well, I just wanted to wrap up this email by telling you how much I have grown to love the Savior, and how much more love I have to give him.  I love these verses I recently studied:

Mosiah 26: 18, 21-22

 18 Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my name; for in my name shall they be called; and they are mine.

 21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.

22 For behold, this is my church; whosoever is baptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall believe in my name; and him will I freely forgive.

I Love this so much!  I love the Savior and how personal he is to us, and receiving us, calling us his sheep.  He is the Shepherd, he loves each one of us!  I know that my Redeemer lives! 

Love You All! 

Love, Elder Brenchley

Hot Soup [from a random guy] Hit the Spot on a Cold, Rainy Day

Well, Hey Everyone!
This week was wonderful.  Don't get me wrong, a lot of stuff fell through, but the good always outweighs the bad!  Always! 

Hope helps you conquer discouragement. -"Hope" Christlike Attributes, Preach My Gospel Page 117

Mon. Jan. 4: P-Day.

We went to Valley View Mall  today, and I was able to use some of my Christmas gift cards to get me some new missionary clothes!

The Blevins had us over for dinner today.  They invited their friend, Jack Turner, over.  He's a less-active member, but he is now getting Sundays off work, so he's going to be able to return to full activity!

It was COLD riding our bikes around today!

Tues. Jan. 5:  The BV zone leaders came by at 5:00 in the morning to pick up the Roanoke zone leaders for MLC, so I got to see Elder Wasden and Elder Johnson!

It was really cold this morning!  I remember wearing five shirts underneath my sweater and jacket!

Our appointments ended up falling through.  We had a rough afternoon.

Brother Winkler did feed us dinner, then he went with us to see Sister Jeanie Hale, a less-active Sister, age 72.  She's had health problems and just needs additional help.  WE moved a mattress for her and she was so appreciative!  She just had a smile afterwards that could light up the whole world!  She remarked, "What a great Christmas Gift the Lord has blessed me with.  I just had to wait after the New Year!"  I couldn't believe how happy she was over us doing a small little token - it was just truly remarkable!  The Spirit was so strong throughout the whole visit and the lesson.

Brother Winkler also came with us to teach Brother Brian Thierry.  He's doing remarkable!  With him, we had him write down/set goals for when and how he would start living the commandments.  His faith is really growing, but it will only continue to grow as he lives the commandments, and gets a testimony of specific blessings that come from keeping specific commandments. 

Wed. Jan. 6:  We were biking down Mountain Avenue and I saw a lady sitting on her steps, and she looked sad, so I asked how her day was. 

She said, "Not good." 

I asked, "why?" 

"My car won't start."

"Can we help?"

"Why would you want to help someone like me?" 

"Because helping other people makes me happy!"

She really softened up after that!  Her name was Krissy and she was totally interested in the Church and it's beliefs.  We were able to teach her the Restoration, and she really wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon.

We had a lesson with Brother Tourville.
We had a good visit with Brother Michael Avery.  He's been inactive since age 18.  He's the most friendly guy in the world, but it seems like he's oblivious to the Gospel or the Church's teachings.  He ended up feeding us dinner later that night, but he offered us alcohol, unknowingly, 3-4 times.  We explained to him about the Word of Wisdom and left him the pamphlet to read.
Brother Avery ended up giving us a ride to our 7:00 p.m. appointment, then brought us back for dinner at Michael Avery.
Our 7:00 p.m. appointment was with Courtney and Johnathan.  Courtney was a former investigator in the YSA ward, but then she got married, so she fell out of the YSA.  But, we were able to teach her and her husband, Johnathan.  They are both great, humble people.  They enjoyed the Restoration lesson - Courtney actually said "No" to the Baptismal invite; she said it would be too much of a change.  We will help her with the concern - they are both willing to keep meeting, though!

Thur. Jan. 7:  Weekly Planning.
Brother Richardson, our ward mission leader, came with us, but no one was home!  We did catch Brother Lawrence at home, and Denise was there with him.  Brother Lawrance was about to head to the hospital, but we had a short visit, which he and Denise were both really appreciative of.
We knocked some doors - nothing really came immediately from it.
We had dinner with the Gundlach's.  They are going to find service opportunities for us with their neighbors, so they can introduce us to them!
We had ward correlation meeting.

Fri. Jan. 8:  We had zone meeting today!

{cruising to zone meeting}

 

I definitely got so much out of it!

{Elder MacDonald, Elder Numbers' Trainee, and I}

 

Brother Vaussen

Brother Vaussen (who also drives the "Transfer Train") made lunch for the whole zone! (pancakes, sausage, bacon, and fruit!) Yum!

Lunch at Zone Meeting

I also conducted exchanges with the zone leaders today.  That was such a far exchange!  Haha. (down the hall of our house).  Elder Kropushek came with me to Roanoke Walk.

Elder Kropushek

We worked hard all day!  Especially pedaling on our bikes from place to place. 

We had another wonderful lesson with Sister Jeanie Hale.  Her visiting teacher, Sister Thornton came along (who is just perfect for her) and Patriarch Boulion came as well.  We taught Sister "H" the Restoration; she is going to be be reactivated!  I can feel it coming!  She has a great testimony, and that great countenance that will continue to just light up the room! 

Also, we had a lesson with Brother Lloyd today on living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then sharing it.  We had him all set to go to the temple this next week, but he is having tooth problems, and will likely get all his teeth pulled next week. 

We received a referral from the Vinton 2 Elders for a Becky Ward.  She needed help moving into our area, so we were able to do some heavy lifting with her boyfriend, Moses.  They were so appreciative, and we will get to teach them next week! 

We peddled long and hard. (Oh, I forgot to mention it was raining this whole day!)

We had another great lesson with Brother Brian Thierry!  He read the whole Word of Wisdom pamphlet twice, and was quoting it to us!  He also wrote down all his goals, and additional goals in the back of the Word of Wisdom pamphlet!  He's just truly doing incredible right now!

We had a visit with Chase Lester and his four sons.  We committed them to pray as a family and see their Faith grow from it! 

I got a flat tire on my bike, so we walked a good 3/4 mile before Elder Bingham and Elder Maxfield came and saved us from the pouring rain!     

Sat. Jan. 9: We exchanged back.

Krissy had to reschedule our appointment for today.  We set it up for 3:00 tomorrow.

We had a wonderful first lesson today with Larry Hendrick.  We found him about two weeks ago and he let us in today.  We had a really great first lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel.  We invited him to be baptized on March 12.  He first said he'd already been baptized, but then we talked to him a little bit, and then he said it made sense and that he would work towards getting baptized on that day! 

We also had another nice visit with Brother Tourville.  We read Alma 32 with him and he liked it a lot.  He's still a little hesitant about consistently coming to church. 

A guy named Mike invited us in for hot soup (it was cold and it was raining again).  He was really down to earth, wanted us to chill and watch football with him, but as soon as we started teaching, he really closed up.  He's a good guy, just not ready at this time.  We will leave him for other future missionaries to contact him. 

Sun. Jan. 10:  Brian came to church today, and he is fully participating in the Gospel Principles class now.  BTW, we were notified just before church that Elder Maxfield and I would be teaching.  We held our own, I hope! ;) 

Larry was going to meet with us after church, but he had to spend time with his kids today. 

We also went and saw Krissy with Brother Winkler - she wasn't expecting us, and we must have caught her at a bad time.  She had some questions about the Book of Mormon - and every question or doubt she had either was answered by us or Brother Winkler.  She said she's going to do some more digging before she calls us back. 

The Laymon's had us over for dinner!  We discussed with them how influential they were in bringing the Shorter family into the Church.  Haylee Shorter (age 12) is a recent convert, and her brother, Devon (age 9) is soon to follow.  Sister Bridgette Shorter (their mom) also wants to be baptized, but wants to take a lot of time to be worthy.  It actually all started by the Laymon's 8 yr. old son, Joshua, inviting Devon to church!  That's all it took!  It was just as simple as a simple invitation from a child that brought this family to the knowledge of the Gospel.  Let's not be afraid to invite our friends to church, no matter how old! 

Brother Cain came with us to see Brian again.  Brian is a hardcore Redskins fan, but he turned off the playoff game to have a lesson with us!  WOW!  We discussed The 10 Commandments and how they are so important, especially keeping the Sabbath Day holy, since the brethren are making that a really big push now! 

Have a wonderful week, everyone!  Follow-up is so important in life; with goals, with tasks, with sharing the Gospel, everything! 

I know as we turn to the Lord, that he will help us in all righteous pursuits!  Keep having high hopes! 

Love You All!

Love, Elder Brenchley 

P.S.  Well, we are having a wonderful time here in Roanoke!  We are actually going to the Brenchley Invitation Basketball Tournament today!  Yep, you heard me right!   I really wanted to see all the missionaries come play basketball together!  So, I planned this about a week and a half ago.  We have some good ballers here in the Roanoke zone.  Elder Maxfield made flyers for it and everything!