Last Skype Call

Well, first off... Happy Mother's Day to everyone!  I hope everyone was able to spend time with or think about our mothers, grandmothers, and the mother-like figures in our life!

I was blessed to be with my mother and family yesterday for my last Skype call home!  WOW!  I truly did cherish it, though! 

I have been very blessed by my studies recently this week and this past zone meeting.  I feel like I have gotten re-juiced and inspired to go and do better.

Mon. May 2: P-Day.  We did the regular stuff. We played ultimate frisbee at the YSA building. I got a free haircut from Elder Young, also.
We went and had dinner at the Moore's, and we made it there just in time before a huge thunder storm hit!  The Moore's are a really good couple and an excellent example of faithful saints.  They fully committed to bring someone to the devotional next Sunday night.

{Botetourt County is SO green!}

Tues. May 3: We worked mostly in Cloverdale today and were able to set up some return appointments with former investigators named, Joanne and the Snider's.

Wed. May 4: We packed a lunch and worked this one area for the whole morning and afternoon - some fruit came from it. We met a hippy who made glass smoking pipes. We met some nice people, but everyone wasn't interested.  They were over the top friendly. 
We got dinner from the Huffman's, which we ate at the church before Missionary Coordination. 

Thur. May 5: We had our weekly planning session.  Brother Chris Winkler came with us for basically the whole day, however Connie cancelled.
We had a lesson with Marshal and Carol Clark; they are a part-member family.  The Sisters had been teaching them, so they came to the lesson, as well, to make a smooth pass off.  We taught about keeping commandments and following Jesus Christ.
We found a miracle investigator while looking for someone completely different.  We only realized that it was Angie, and not "Jennifer" we were looking for.  It was half way through the lesson, so we kept rolling with it, and she seems pretty interested because she doesn't have a church she goes to yet.
We had a lesson with the Smith's and Brother Keeton; all are less active, but Brother Keeton has come four Sundays in a row!  We had a lesson on the Priesthood and are excited to help Brother Keeton receive the Priesthood. 

Fri. May 6: We had zone meeting today which was really awesome and uplifting.  We had the best zone brunch that was put on by the members.  Good as always!
So, while in Daleville, I parked about 40 yards away from a house which had a For Sale sign + a Sold sign.  The place I parked did not look like their yard, and it looked more like a jungle, so I totally thought I'd be fine.  WRONG!  Someone called the cops on us!  While we were out tracting in the neighborhood, a undercover cop car rolled up, and asked us to move.  Geez....
We had a lesson with the Harris couple.  We were able to hear a lot of Sister Harris' concerns about the Church.  Andy (her husband) said whenever she's ready to come back to church, he will come with her and join the Church (please keep them in your prayers).

Sat. May 7: We worked up in Fincastle today (it is the oldest town in our mission, dating back to the 1760-1770's). 

There are buildings there erected before the Declaration of Independence was signed!  We were able to talk to the Fincastle librarians, and they are so wonderful; they were trying to help us out, give us service opportunities, gave us the contact info on how to get in touch with the Genealogy specialist of Botetourt County.  It should be great!

{A Shout-Out to my Bro!}

Brian cancelled (he's a potential investigator), so we went and visited Mary Silcox and her husband, Richard; a part-member family.
We went to the ward Cinco de Mayo party!  The Roanoke 1st Ward has some families from Mexico and RM's who speak Spanish.  It was plenty of fun, and there were plenty of less-actives and non-members who came. The food was amazing; most of it made by the Crosse family!

"Back Street Boys" (do you get it?  Haha)

Sun. May 8: Happy Mother's Day!

We had a really good Sacrament meeting today! We had Brother Keeton, in our area, come (so that was his 4th Sunday in a row). The Downtown Elders had five investigators come to church, all who I started teaching when I was there and love!  1. Roxanne, 2. Myra, 3. Garrett, 4. Susan, 5. Jim Flemming.  I was really stoked for them.  It's such a blessing to be able to keep close tabs on a past area. 

We had dinner and our Skype call at the Scroggins'.  I love this family.

And it was really awesome to be with my family for an hour.

{My view of our Skype call}

{My family's view}

Well, I'll wrap things up this week by saying: Personal revelation comes when we seek for it; when we dedicate time to pray and study, and when we have questions in mind.  The Lord knows those questions (especially if you ask them in prayer), and he can guide you to the answers as you seek for them. 

Doctrine and Covenants 88:118

118 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.

I love you all!

Love, Elder Brenchley

Riding a Bike was "Just Like Riding a Bike"

Happy Mothers Day!
Man!  There were a lot of holidays this week! 

I'm so sorry ya'll weren't able to read my last week's letter over email on Monday.   I guess my Mom was the most freaked out....... (FYI: Not a good Mother's Day present!)

P.S. I've got a lot of pictures to show you this week! 

{Pine Creek Mill}

 

{The public restrooms of Floyd} ;)

Quote of the week: "Let me tell ya, he was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!" - Brother Hall 

Monday, May 4: National Star Wars Day! (May the fourth be with you!) Haha. 

Well, we made an appointment with April to go see her on our P-Day.  Wouldn't you know, she wasn't there.  Hmmh.  So that's one reason our schedule got offset.  Then we did some emailing. 

We went up to Radford and we had a District P-Day!  

It was a blast, we played tennis.

District P-Day {L to R: Elder Degooyer (a little overdressed, don't you think?), Elder Ballard, Elder Boyd, Me, Sister Lively, Sister Banks}

Elder Degooyer thought he was just going to sit on the sidelines and write letters because he had a cough, we finally coaxed him into it!  The Sisters borrowed three rackets from someone in their area, and we borrowed three rackets from the B family.  Problem was, we only had one ball.........

When we got back to Floyd, it was too late to email from our city library. :( 

Later tonight, we met with Sister Briggs at the Swortzel's.  She is SO dedicated to knowing as much as she can about the Book of Mormon and knowing if it is true!  She just recently bought the student study manual and bought herself a quad (scriptures) online! 

Tuesday, May 5: Cinco de Mayo!
We had District meeting; the Sisters had the great idea of having a Spanish potluck after the meeting.

So that's exactly what we did! 

I made a great Rice and Crunchy Taco Casserole! (Thanks Hamburger Helper!) and brought tortillas,  Sister Lively made the jalepeno poppers, Sister Banks made Spanish rice & homemade tortilla chips, Elder Boyd brought soda, the zone leaders brought popcorn and chip dip, the Radford Elders didn't bring anything. :/

I also conducted exchanges for the day.

Elder Ballard

I got to go up to Radford with Elder Ballard.  

We rode bikes all day!

 It was also the hottest day of the year so far!  85 degrees plus humidity!

Elder Ballard & I were working hard all day, but weren't able to teach anyone.  Elder Boyd & Elder Degooyer actually taught Mike & Katrina Fizer in Floyd! 

Wednesday, May 6:  We rode more bikes!

Afterwards, we exchanged back.
We always take the opportunity to eat-out up in Radford since they have a million and one places Floyd does not have.  We went to Applebee's so Elder Boyd could have All-You-Can-Eat Wings.  Man, this Elder can eat; I think he ate around 30 wings!  Anyway, the Steen's, from our Branch, walk-in, and wouldn't you know, Brother Steen was shouting at our waitress to bring him the bill! (I guess it's not just in Utah where missionaries get meals paid for!)
We were glad to be able to meet with Brother Trout, a less active.  He's really starting to think about coming back to church, so he can raise his daughter in the Church.
We also, with our new Branch Mission Leader, Brother Light, had a Correlation meeting, then he took us to see Sister Guthrie.  We were so blessed to finally get back in contact with her.  I originally gave her the goal of going to the temple when I first met her back in March; Brother Light took it a step further, and gave her the goal of going on the Stake temple trip in October!  We also ended the lesson with teaching Keith the Plan of Salvation.  We will have to slow things down, he's not retaining info really well. 

Thursday May 7:  We went to go see our investigator, Nara, with the Sunberg's.  She was so sorry, and explained she didn't have time to meet with us at that time.  Then she and the Sunberg's proceeded to talk for 20 minutes.  When we were leaving, I said, "You know Nara, we could have had a lesson in 15 minutes, and we've been here for 20 minutes."  Haha.  Hopefully she can realize we're not asking for her whole day, just 15 minutes.
We went to go play basketball, and it turns out our investigator, Taylor, has been sleeping at the gym.  Well, we were able to have a lesson with him before we went and played basketball!  It's going to be hard to get him to church, since he doesn't have a car or a place he lives that someone can go to pick him up at. 

Friday May 8: In the morning, we had a great lesson at the church with Ron.  He cleaned up well; he hasn't had a sip of alcohol in two weeks!  We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and that really hit home with him because of the passing of his friend recently.
The rest of the day we spent walking and talking to people; picking up a few potential investigators along the way.
A guy named, Mark came and gave us a ride someone's house we wanted to try to meet with.  Turns out, his son is a Mormon up in Northern Virginia.  He gave us his address and we're going to go see him soon!
Sister Richards signed up to feed us.  We needed another male to go have dinner with her, so Brother Lafon and his son, Caleb came since they are her home teachers.  Caleb gave the message, then afterwards when we were in the car, he turned to me, and said, "It's moments like those that make me want to serve a mission!"  YES!
I tell everyone this, "Us missionaries aren't just here to serve, we are here to recruit [future missionaries], as well!" - Elder Brenchley

Saturday May 9: I got a nice haircut today.  I gotta look PER-TY for my Mother's Day phone [Skype] call!
We also helped the YM out with a service project at the Steen's.  I also got to sit in Brother Jeppeson's sweet ride!
We taught Keith again, this time, as we re-taught the Restoration, we had him take notes in the pamphlet. 

Sunday May 10: Happy Mother's Day!
We honestly thought we'd have four investigators at church today.  We got none. :(  It was a bummer; the program here in Floyd Branch was wonderful.  We had six youth speakers give their thoughts on mothers and the Primary sung a couple of songs.  Branch President Garret gave a great talk on mothers, and treating the woman in our lives with respect!  Also, we did have one less active show up who we weren't expecting.  Apparently, that was his Mother's Day gift to his mom!  Whatever it takes to get him here, right?
Then after dinner at the Light's, I got to Skype home my wonderful, eternal family!  It was awesome!
 To end the night, we met with Brother Ferguson, a less active.  We committed him to read the Book of Mormon and he graciously accepted a copy!

{Beautiful Floyd, VA}

 

Well, everyone, the POWER of the Book of Mormon is incredible!  Always remember the importance of reading from it everyday!  That is the commitment/promise we give to those we teach out here in order for them to develop a testimony.  So, I also promise YOU; that is how you will strengthen YOUR testimony, by reading from it's pages everyday! 

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there! 

Especially my Mom, grandmas, aunts and mother-figures in my life!  I Love You All! 

Love, Elder Brenchley