August 29, 2011

Wow, another cambio gone. Tomorrow I am going to Concepcion to pick up my new companion. It is kind of sad that i couldnt have stayed with Elder Palmer he was really really awesome but it is always cool to get another companion and get to learn from someone else, every companion has different lessons and skills that you can learn. So yesterday and today we have been going around to investigators and members so that my companion can say good bye. everyone here in Chile when they greet they usually give you a kiss on the cheek. today we were walking on the street, and this drunk lady stopped us in the street and shook my hand and was leaning forward so i would kiss her. so i just leaned back. then she went over to my companion and like pulled him in and almost kissed him on the cheek but then he pulled back, then she came back to me and tried to pull me so we just waved to her and started walking of as fast as we could. it was pretty crazy. in chile they have these things kind of like a huge garage sale, where everyone comes and brings vegetables, fruit, fish, eggs, pretty much everything and they have it every week. there are always a ton of people there. so anyway me and my companion went and he talked to this guy about buying a leather belt, and they guy was trying to get 8 mil off of him which is like 16 dollars and my companion got him down to 4 and a half but didnt have the money so we came back the next week. then the guy was like i usually sell these belts for 5 ad a half but i like you guys and for that i am selling them to you for 4 and a half. we just left but were thinking whatever you were trying to sell it for 8. it was interesting. everyone hear thinks that all the missionaries are really rich so they always raise the prices alot. but what can you do. everything here is great i ll have to let you know next week how it is with my new companion but i am sure that it will all be good and that we will have a good time together. and work hard. thanks for everything love you all

love,

Elder Brimhall

August 22, 2011

this week was good. we had to change the hour on sunday which i still dont understand, losing an hour of sleep but everyone else seems to think that it is awesome so i will just go along with it, but arizona is so much better. when church started on sunday there were like 10 people it was a little scary we werent sure if they were going to come or not, but 45 people ended up coming. its not amazing but the assistance has improved a lot, and the branch is doing really well. what causes some problems is that the branch president is a convert of 1 and a half years. he is awesome though, and knows a ton. he studied with the missionaries two years before he got baptized. but anyway some of the people dont respect him or think that he isnt qualified because he has so little time in the church. what i have learned though in the mission is that very rarely are you totally prepared for an assignment in the church. we receive them to help us grow and help us become better. we have to have patience with our leaders and realize that they have weaknesses just like everyone else. the only people that you think are perfect are the people that you dont know very well.but anyway the branch is doing a lot better. today we went out to the boonies with our best investigator. he is awesome and took us out to see his family. they live out in the middle of nowhere but they are all really nice. they are all catholics so he was a little worried what they were going to say but they were all really nice. so everything is going really well. this is the last week of cambios and i think that my companion is going to leave i hope not but i am pretty sure. so hopefully my next companion is really cool as well.

Sincerely
Elder Brimhall

August 15, 2011

this week went really well. it went by so fast. on tuesday we always have to go to Los Angeles for district meeting which is like an hour away so that is always our mornings on tuesdays. then on wednesday we had a conference with the President in Los Angeles. Then on Thursday we have planning session the whole morning, and then we go to Monte Aguila which is like a whole another city, that is part of our sector but we really only have time to go there once a week. we usually have to hitch hike to get back because the buses dont come by very often. we had such an awesome experience with hitch hiking. so we were going to go back to cabrero, and we were walking on the road back. we saw a car coming in the distance the very first car we saw. so i put up my finger not really thinking it was going to work but he pulled over. we jumped in, and started talking to the guy. it turns out that he is in the middle of getting through a divorce and is really sad. right before he got in his car he told us that he had prayed really hard that God would help him change his life and he saw us and knew that he had to stop and pick us up because it was a sign of God. so we have taught him twice and he is really cool. he hasnt come to church yet because on sunday he goes to visit his daughter but he is awesome. who knows if he is going to get baptized or not, but he is awesome and it is great to get to help him our and it is a really cool story. so ya this week went by so fast. my companion is amazing we get a long great. the branch here is doing tons better, we did an activity on friday which helped out a lot and a ton of people went, and the assistance went up a lot on sunday, and today we played soccer and basketball with a bunch of members and investigators. it was a really good p day. cabrero is really cool, i am really loving it now. it was really hard to leave lota, and it is always different coming in a new sector, but we have been so blessed this cambio, i think this is the most blessed i have ever been in my mission we are seeing so many miracles, its really not that we are the best missionaries, or the smartest, or the coolest we just work hard and Heavenly Father does the rest. thats the same in life just give all you got and Heavenly Father will make up the rest. so everything is great i am loving it here i have two weeks left with Elder Palmer i hope we can be together 2 cambios but we will see how it turns out. Love you all thanks for everythign

Elder Brimhall

August 8, 2011

this week went awesome. as a mission they put a goal to do 500 contacts which is a ton, usually for a week we do 140. this week went by so fast. i had to go do an intercambio with a sector called Yumbel. it used to be the best sector in the mission, where all the assistants would go and it was awesome. but then a dumb missionary did something with one of the members there the wife of one of the counselors in the bishopric and now it is really hard to work there. there used to be 50 people that went and now there are 25. president swenson actually talked about that in his last conference just about how it takes so much hard work to get up the top of a mountain, and so little effort to slide down. it is so dumb when some one does something stupid and the rest have to pay the consequences. but anyway i had to go there on tuesday, got back on wednesday then we a ton of lessons on wednesday, and thursday we had to go to a different part of our sector and visit a ton of inactive people. so it was friday and we had like 128 contacts and had three days to do them all. so friday we left really early and decided to do our companion study doing contacts, and our language study as well. we left at 10 in the morning and got back at 10 at night i was so tired, but it was really cool. and we were able to get the goal of 500. my companion is really cool and is a really hard worker. we are really similar he grew up in a small town as well and we did a lot of the same stuff. this sunday we were so blessed. during the week we worked a ton and got so blessed. we got 6 people in church which was totally due to our Heavenly Father who blessed us so much. i was in the middle of bearing my testimony during sacrament meeting and this lady walked in who we had taught like a week ago, but hadnt gone by this week and she had brought her husband. it was such a miracle. and than all these people that had been inactive for a while came this week. it was one of the best sundays in my whole mission. it was awesome. so ya all is great, thanks for everything.

Love

Elder Brimhall

August 1, 2011

things are all good here in the mission. this last week i completely a year. in the missionaries there is a tradition to burn a shirt for your one year anniversary so on friday we found this old shirt that had probably been in the house for like 3 years and we burned it in our back yard. everything is going well here, we are still trying to find some good people to teach. the branch here is kind of going through some difficulites, but i think it will be all good. like 6 months ago there were 60 to 70 people going every week, but then they changed the branch president and now there are only 30 to 40 people going. it is really dumb they dont go for really dumb reasons. so this last week we had to visit a ton of members and try to excite them for church but still only 38 people went, but we are just going to keep working and try to help the branch out. it is kind of dumb that people let really dumb things rob them of all the blessings they could be getting. and the really sad part is that it is not only them they are hurting it is their kids and their grandkids who are going to have to pay the price as well. president swenson would always talk about for every good decision you make your familiy will be blessed up to the 3rd and 4rth generation, well it also works in reverse as well. but everything is going well my companion is really cool and we get a long great and are working really hard. we had interviews on wednesday.they went really well. i had to direct the meeting which was kind of scary at first but really was actually pretty easy, i just had to say who was going to pray who was going to direct what we were going to sing. it was pretty cool. our president is a really awesome guy it was weird to have the interviews in spanish but they were good. the mission mom was probably the biggest difference hma swenson was just so nice and happy so she is kind of hard to replace but it is just different and after a while we will be used to it. pres martinez just talked about obedience and how it protects us spiritually and physically. but ya everything is going really good here i am doing really well. the goal is to have the second year as good as the first or even better. thanks for everything

love
Elder Brimhall