July 23, 2012

wow. the mission is going great. arauco is doing really well, well at least the missionary work we are still kind of struggling with the branch to do their visits but we are working really hard. me and my companion talked in sacrament meeting and i thought it went well. i talked about retention, and used a quote by John Taylor that goes something like this. We will be responsible for those that we could have saved if we would have done our duty that was assigned to us. that is so true and is true until the end. if there is one lesson that i have learned in the mission it would be this Put God before everything else. there is a huge difference in the families that do it and those that dont. there is a different spirit for those that really serve with all their might mind and strength to edify the kingdom of God. I know that this work is true and real. This is the kingdom of God on the earth today and it is our calling and responsiblty to make sure that the kingdom keeps striving and keeps moving forward. The mission has been focusing a lot on Real Growth of the Church and it starts with the indivual testimony of all the members. I really know with all the assurity of my heart that this is the work of the Lord. That this is his church and his gospel. i have no doubt what so ever. I know that God really is our Heavenly Father that loves us and answers our prayers, and that if we endure to the end we will receive eternal glory and rewards that in this life we cant fully understand. every calling is build the kingdom and build ourselves and our testimony. not so that we can receive earthly glory and praise or men or be caught away in our pride. that is one of the most important lessons that i have learned on my mission be humble and recognize the Lords hand in everything. never brag about what we have accomplished or have done because without the Lord we would be nothing. Humility is the key to opening the powers of heaven. Charity and love are the key to being happy in this life. without them we will never experience a fullness of joy. The importance of being patient and diligent to receive the blessings of the Lord and never giving up. And the most important thing is that Jesus Christ lives and is the Savior of the world, and that through His Atonement all man might be saved through obedience to His Laws and Ordenances. The mission has been amazing and i will never forget these two years. Rest assured this last week i will give all i have to seal this two years as an offering to Christ and as a demostration of my love and gratitud for all that He has given me. thanks for everything. Elder Brimhall

July 17, 2012

wow. this was great. we had a good week saw a ton of progress in the people we are teaching, and have tons of people progressing for baptism. it has been so great. today i got to go back to lebu to see a lot of the families we baptized when i started the mission. it was such an amazing experience to see them again. i really do love them so much. i forgot how much i really loved lebu and such walking through the streets i remembered so many experiences and all the hard times we passed in the beginning and then the overload of blessings we received in the end. really a lot of times life is like that. it has been that way for me in most of my sectors. it is always hard at the beginning but as you keep working and keep doing the best you can, at the end you get an overload of blessings. life is the same when it is hard just keep going just keep trying and it will all work out in the end. they changed our p day yesterday to today because yesterday was a vacation so they changed it so we could find more families. it was a great day yesterday, we had members with us the whole day for all our lessons and it went really really well. i was on an intercambio with Elder Lamoreaux my comp from the MTC so that was fun to see him again. wow everything is going great i really do just love these people today it was really hard to leave them. i miss lebu a lot i think you always have that special connection with your first sector, but life goes on and so does the mission, you just have to make the most of it. so thanks for everything love you lots. Elder Brimhall

July 9, 2012

this week was great. we have a ton of people that are progressing really good right now. it is a fun time to be a missionary. this week passed by so fast. on the 4 rth of July this member cooked us a barbecue that was really really good (we had to pay $10 but it was very worth it. the branch is doing well right now, finally they are really stressing visits, so hopefully we will see a little progress in that aspect. we worked really hard this week and it was just fun. we taught this catholic lady that her husband died a few years ago. her pastor or whatever they are called in english told her that she would never be able to be with him again as a family that they wouldnt recognize each other after they would be just brother and sister. i asked her how she felt about that. she said a little sad. i asked her if she thought that that feeling came from God and if he wanted her to be sad. she said no. then we taught her a little about the plan of salvation and eternal marriage. she really loved it. it is really sad that so many people dont want to accept the truth and chose to believe the traditions of their parents instead of the eternal truths of the gospel. the mission is amazing, anyone that doesnt want to go on a mission or whats to go home early, or is trunky, or doesnt work hard, doesnt understand the importance of the gospel and the message we carry to the world, or the sacred responsibility the mission is. so dont worry be assured that i will be working hard until the end. this morning we went to the beach and ran it was a lot of fun, it was so pretty with the sun rise. we found a couple of cool shells so it was cool. i am not in the best shape but i can still take out james jk. but seriously. i am really not ready for the mission to end i really would love to extend but i still have 3 weeks left so we will make the most out of it. thanks for all the letters and support love you lots. Elder Brimhall

July 3, 2012

wow this week went by really fast. my companion is awesome he is really funny and a good missionary. he is new so he comes with all that excitement and desire. things in arauco are doing well. this week church went really well we had a lot of investigators and a lot of inactives or less actives coming back. it was testimony meeting which was really cool you never know here how they are going to go but it was really good i felt the spirit really strongly. a lot of members shared about the restoration which is always a good way to invite the spirit. this week the goal was to find families, so we were working really hard for that goal. so we planned out really well prayed really hard and picked out a street and a time we were going to contact the street. i felt really good about it and knew that we were going to find the family. so we went and started contacting, nothing. no one wanted to receive us. so we kept going. nothing. so we left that place and went to another sector nothing. it is getting a little frusturating because we had prayed and really had looked for revalation and i felt that i had received it, but we got nothing. but we kept going and kept contacting, and then we talked to a man and he let us in. he was there with all his family and we taught him the restoration and it went really well and they understood great. it was such a testimony of just being persistent. just keep going even when nothing is going how you want it to just keep trying just keeping pushing and you will have success. it was a really cool experience. the mission is amazing, there is no better time. everything is awesome thanks so much for all your letters. Elder Brimhall

June 25, 2012

this week was awesome. my new son is from Chile from Santiago his name is Elder Segovia. He is great really funny and going to be a great missionary. he is really humble as well, so it is going to be a great cambio with him. we worked really good this week and saw a lot of blessings. on saturday i had one of the coolest experiences of my mission. i got to go back to San Martin my old sector and baptize the wife of one of my best converts. in san martin it was a little tough we were working really hard and doing the best we could but we really didnt see that many fruits for a while, but at the end Dario her husband just started to progress like crazy and got baptized and now she got baptized. he gave his testimony at her baptism and it was so great he shared about tithing, and prayer. but it really was one of the most powerful experiences of my mission. i really felt God´s love and really felt like that all the sacrifices i made and all the work we did was worth it for that one moment. i really know that God answers prayers and really blesses us more than we can ever imagine if we just trust him and never give up. every struggle is for our good and in the end if we endure it well it will be for our good. it was just an amazing experience. i know that God really does love us and wants us to be happy and that every trial we have is for our good. the mission is like the movie karate kid sometimes, where you have all these rules and are doing all this things that you dont understand why but as you keep waxing on and off you develop skills and talents that you never thought about and you progress and then you look back and understand why you had to go through all those drills and training. the mission is the best, really if there is one thing that i have learned is that obedience is the key to success and that when we obey we are blessed. i know that sounds really simple but its true. thanks for everything love you lots Elder Brimhall

June 18, 2012

this was an amazing week we saw so many miracles. i got my cambio and i am going to train again. i really enjoyed it so it will be fun to do it again. i wanted to but i didnt think i would because there were only 3 news coming and i had already trained twice, but president called me again so hopefully it all works out again. new missionaries are always great they come with such great excitement and have no limits to what they can accomplish. in life there is no ceiling only the ceiling we put, we really can accomplish anything with God´s help, but with time sometimes we lose a little of our faith, but it is always important to remember that with the Lord´s help anything is possible. today we went to concepcion to say goodbye to a couple of my friends that are going home Elder Lewis is actually from Thatcher and is going home right now, he is a really good guy, also my favorite companion Elder Pliler. our sector is doing really well, the branch is a little lazy still but the district president came down and gave a couple of palos so hopefully that lights a fire in some of the members. there are a lot of people that try to justify not completing with their callings to spend time with their family. but there is time for both it is just a matter of planing out your time. i have really learned the importance of service in the mission. when we serve everyone wins, us, the Lord, and the people we serve, if we dont we all lose. it really all comes down to how converted we are to the gospel. if we are truly converted we will want to help others and share what we have with others members, inactive, and non members we all need the gospel. Heavenly Father doesn´t just want an elect few of his children to be saved, He wants all His children to be saved, He loves us all and wants us all to get eternal life, but He relys on us as his tools to help Him in this great task. i can personally testify of the great blessings we receive when we help in this great work when we forget about ourselves and serve others is when we really gain the most and are the happiest. I know this truly is a great and marvellous work that has started and that the Lord needs each and every one of us to help it grow. if i can say one thing it would be to MAGNIFY YOUR CALLING it doenst matter where you serve or what you do, give the very best you have and you will never regret it. one day we will have to appear before the Lord in the Judgement Day and have to give an accounting of all the opportunities we had to serve in his kingdom and what we did with them. This is the truth i feel it in every bone and know that it is true with assurety. thanks for everything Elder Brimhall

June 11, 2012

wow the mission is passing by so fast. this week was a little difficult just with trying to get the people to progress, but there was a cool miracle on sunday we were in the new convert investigator class and the lesson was on baptism, and this lady we have been working with for 3 months finally accepted a fecha for this weekend which was awesome. we found her my first week here and baptized her son, he was the easiest investigator ever we put the fecha in the first lesson and he was great. but she had already been baptized but after a lot of lessons and time she finally understood. it was cool to see the power of agency, and how much agency is really important. before it was like we were trying to drag her to get baptized, but after the spirit testified to her she understood and wanted to do it. we have a lot of really good people we are teaching but this week was a little hard with getting them to progress, but with every challenge and difficulity comes growth and progression. on tuesday i had an intercambio with Elder Badger who played football for Stanford a year ago when they were like 3 in the nation and won the orange bowl or something like that. but he was really cool we had a great time and worked hard. he was just a walk on but still it was cool he was on the team and knew a couple of famous players and the really good coach they have. so everything is going great this week is gonig to awesome, tomorrow we have a conference and the next week we have cambios so we will see what happens. love you lots Elder Brimhall