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