December 19, 2011

wow just when the mission is going too well you have to prepare yourself. my companion who was awesome the funniest guy i have even met who was an amazing worker and was really obedient and we got along amazing just got called to be an assistant so i am going to get a new companion and i dont know who. this is really weird because the cambio ends in two weeks more, but the president called him today because he needs some more time to learn all the things. so i am a little sad he really was awesome, and we were working great together and the zone was improving a lot, and we were starting to find awesome people. but the Lord knows what you need more then we do, so you have to be humble and accept whatever He throws at you. from every companion you learn something different so i guess i need to learn something new. but i know that everything will work out and the next companion i get will be inspired by the Lord. i am really happy to get to be here, i love the mission and all the things you learn. this week was really great. we had this day on Wednesday where i felt that we were going to find a great family. but in the morning it was crazy everyone was just being really mean, and it got to the point where it was almost funny how mean everyone was being, it was almost a joke. so we went to lunch and then had a meeting with our ward mission leader but he showed up really late for the meeting, and after a member called us to go give her a blessing in the hospital. so it was a really crazy day, but finally in that night the last contact we did we found this woman. we started to contact her and she was a little stand offish. it was later so we asked her if we could come by another day and she kept saying why all the churches are the same. so we just kept testifying of different principles of the gospel, (especially eternal families she lives with her husband, and 4 kids, 15, 9, 8, 2. and it was really interesting because after probably 10 minutes of standing outside her house testifying to her she opened up and invited us in. we taught the restoration to her, her husband, and the 15 year old it was really cool. she changed in the contact, and she liked the message a lot. it was so nice to be able to respond to her doubt which was that all the churches are the same, that is so false. i know with all my heart and mind that this is the only true church on the face of the earth, i know that joseph smith was a prophet of God, and i know most of all that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that this really is his church that He leads and guides through a living prophet. i hope that you all have a great christmas and have lots of fun. i still am not sure at what time i am going to call, sorry but tomorrow we have our christmas conference and there we are going to learn all the details about calling. but love you lots,


love


elder Brimhall

December 12, 2011

this week was really good. we worked really hard, i remember there were two or three days that we came to the house completed wasted we were almost crawling up the stairs. we made a new goal to find a family of 5, so to do that we contact every family we see in the street which is a lot, so we have been doing a lot of contacts. this week we found some really cool people and sunday night, we found a mom with kids of 15, 12, 10 i was so happy so now we just have to go by the house and teach them. so everything is going really good. today we played soccer and basketball it was a lot of fun. so in the week we were contacting and we got in a house. so we start talking to this really old couple, and then out of nowhere this man comes down the stairs. i guess he was a pastor of this church that started in the usa from a prophet names David Brandam or something like that. so we started talking and then another pastor came down, and then 4 minutes later another pastor came down. they were bringing up all this dumb stuff like p how there cant be anymore scripture outside the bible. so i just told them that we believe that God talks to men today, you believe that God talked to men. there are so many other scriptures that are outside the bible the dead sea scrolls which have been found in the last 20 years and so many other things that the bible doesn't have. it is really sad when people just close there ears and hearts and don't want to listen or understand. because the gospel really does make so much sense, the restoration makes so much sense. here in Chile there is a really really popular believe that it doesn't matter which church you belong to if you are a good person you will be with God, which really makes no sense. it doesn't make sense that God would have different paths. it doesn't make sense that two churches do completely opposite things and are both of God, like it says in the Scriptures God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and doesn't change. but it was really interesting to talk to them, because everytime i talk to other churches it just convinces me more that this is the only true church. thanks for everything love you lots


love,


Elder Brimhall

December 5, 2011

everything is still going really well. my companion is a really funny guy and we get a long really well. I dont remember if i told you guys already but his dad is the person that wrote Forever Strong the movie, which is kind of cool. he is from Alpine Utah and his name is Elder Pliler. this week went by really fast. i had to do 2 intercambios this week and both were a lot of fun. it is always great to go to different sectors and get to know other missionaries. this week was a little hard just because we worked really hard and challenged a ton of people to get baptized and pretty much they all told us no, but it was good, i feel content with the work we did and know that good things are coming. i was reading about the sons of mosiah and everyone also talks about Alma 17 2 and 3 but verse 4 is really good. it talks about after they went through a lot of affliction, trials, and after a lot of hard work they had a lot of success. success doesnt come free, there is always a price that has to be paid. a lot of times in life we want the miracle before the faith but that isnt how it works. we have to prove ourselves and our faith before we see the blessings. every sector so far has always been kind of hard at the beginning but by the end it always is really good, the key is good attitude, hard work, and obedience, and enjoying yourself. the key in life is perseverance. there is a cool quote by winston churchill when he came back to his old high school to give a talk. all he did was stand up and say never never never give up and then sat back down. that really is the key never giving up no matter what happens. if you keep working at it eventually you will break through. i am so grateful for challenges and the chance i have to progress and get better. i really do love the mission and all i have learned and am learning and all i will learn. there really is no better time in the life. its not just the best two years of your life but the best two years for you life. thanks for all the support, hope all is well and that all are happy. love you lots.




Elder Brimhall

November 28, 2011

this week was amazing. i feel really spoiled with my cambio. my companion is awesome he is so funny and cracks me up so much and is a really hard worker. the sector is awesome, it is in the city of Los Angeles and there are a lot of richer people but they are pretty nice for the most part. the ward is great and really loves the missionaries. the lunches here are the best i have had in my whole mission, this week for desert we had ice cream everyday. it is a little hot but being from arizona you get used to the heat. the only thing is that the ozone layer here is really thin and so you get sun burnt pretty bad if you dont use sunscreen. but everything is awesome, i couldnt be more happy. we live in a house of 4 which is also cool because in the morning you can go and play basketball which is pretty cool as well. so everything is great. today we played soccer on a full size field it was fun i am still not the greatest but it was a lot of fun. then we went and ate some huge hot dogs. i dont remember if i have already told you about chilean hotdogs or not, but they call them completos and they are really prideful about them. they put avocado and tomato on them and a ton of mayonesa and they think they are the greatest things in the world. they are pretty good, its kind of an interesting idea who would have thought to put tomates on a hot dog but it works out pretty well. its crazy that christmas is coming up, i totally forgot about thanksgiving until it was over, so we ended up not doing anything for christmas but it will be a lot of fun for christmas here. this week went by really fast, the time here changed so now it doesnt get dark until 9 so it messes me up because i always think it is earlier and they changed the schedule of the mission so now we have to get in the house a half an hour earlier. so all is well it was an awesome week, and we are going to try to make this one even better.

love

Elder Brimhall

November 21, 2011

this week was really good, we ended the cambio really good and worked really well. we got cambios this week and i am leaving to San Martin which is a ward in Los Angeles which is a pretty big city. i am really excited. when i first got my cambio President Martinez called me and told me i was going to Pitrufquen which is the very bottom of the mission, and told me i was going to zone leader there. i was a little nervous because i still havent been in the south of the mission yet and apparentlly it is a lot harder there, at least that is what i have heard, and they baptize a lot less. so i was getting myself all excited about goign to the south and working hard, and then the zone leaders called me to tell me i am going to san martin to still be a zone leader but of Los Angeles south. i am really excited i think it will be a great chance to grew and progress more. in all my cambios so far it has been exactly what i have needed to progress and get better. my last companion was a little harder but i really did learn so much from him and am really grateful that i was able to be his companion. the Lord really does know the beginning from the end and knows exactly where He needs you and with who. i am going to be with Elder Plier who is awesome i have always wanted to be his companion, we are good friends, so i am really excited to work with him. i feel really blessed. the mission is the best. you go through hard times and struggles but afterward you really do receive more blessings than you have room for. something that i have been doing this week that has helped me this week is talking more about joseph smith, a lot of times people here in chile think that we worship him and that he is our god, so sometimes we avoid talking of him and talk more of christ, but this week i made a point to bear my testimony in every contact about joseph smith and it really does make so much of a difference. you really do feel the spirit as you bear your testimony no matter how simple your testimony is, but even more so when you bear it of the Restoration of the Gospel. i am really excited and feel really blessed. everything is going awesome. I love the mission so much and couldnt imagine being anywhere else.

love you all

Elder Brimhall

November 14, 2011

this week went well. on thursday we had our conference, which was good. it started at 8 10 in the morning so we had to wake up at 5 in the morning to get ready. it is kind of sad but we didnt get to hear the apostole which ended up being Elder Cook, but it was still really good, and they didnt come down to start the temple so i really dont know when they are going to start it, hopefully before i go home, so i can be here. we got to hear Elder Zeballos from the 1 st quorum of 70, he was actually the mission president of this mission right before President Swenson, and President McMullan from the presiding bishopric. Elder Cook went to the other mission the mission Chile Concepcion, but everything happens for a reason, and i still really liked the talks of the people we heard. it was worth it to wake up at 5. i really liked the talk of President McMullan he talked about you can have 2 sorts of testimonies, one that you know from reading and studying the scriptures, and the other that you feel in your bones and that burns within you. he talked about his son who wasnt sure if the church was true and so for that wasnt sure if you was going to serve a mission. so he asked him if he know that the church wasnt true, and his son said no. so he responded of course not because it is, and the way your going to get your testimony is going on a mission and testifying of it, you arent going to get your testimony walking around the campus of byu. and so the son left and developed his testimony. i really liked the conference. this week i have learned the importance of having a good attitude. no matter what is happening around us, it is so important to have a good attitude. a lot of times we cant control a lot of things that happen but you can always control your attitude. today for p day we went with our zone to el salto del laja which is a big waterfall, that was really fun. it is really pretty and has this mist which was really nice today because it was really hot. in one more week there are cambios, and have been with my companion for 2 cambios. he is good, it was a little tough with him at times but that is always the catch because with companions like that you learn and grow so much more. he really has helped me learn a lot and grow a lot so i am really grateful for my time with him. so we will see what happens with cambios.

love you all

Elder Brimhall

November 7, 2011

this week was really fast. like i said last week we went and had a whole mission activity which was really fun. tuesday we had our district zone conference which we have every week. wednesday a companionship came to sleep in our house because thursday we had another conference in concepcion. thursday we went to concepcion for the conference. friday i had to do an intercambio in los angeles. saturday i returned from the intercambio, and today monday i had to go to concepcion again to do some paperwork for my visa. so it was a really crazy week lots of travel. last thursday we had a conference just for the leaders of the mission it was really good. Elder Richards who is from the 2 nd quorom of 70 spoke to us. i learned a lot. he shared with us DC 138 where it talks about many spirits that were chosen before this life to come here in this time. in verse 56 it says that many other spirits were chosen along with people such as Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. he turned to us and told us that we are the many others that this verse refers to. it was really powerful. he talked about the importance of the spirit and obedience. it was really really good. this thursday we have another conference with one of the twelve apostoles who is going to talk to our whole mission i have heard rumors about almost every apostle so really i have no idea who is coming but it will be really cool, i am really excited. it is always awesome to get to hear a general authority speak they really do have a special spirit with them, and they always know so much, especial the scriptures. today on the bus to concepcion i read in the last conference the talk by Elder Oaks about desires. i really liked it. he says that to become a celestial being we have to develop the attributes of celestial beings. that is what i have realized on my mission, it really matters the person we are, our nature. its not just about doing the right thing, its about changing, and doing the right thing for the right reason because we love God and want to please Hiim. everything here in the sector is really good, there are cambios in 2 weeks and i think sadly i am going to leave but we are going to just keep working hard and make sure we finish strong. thanks for everything, love you lots

with love

Elder Brimhall

October 31, 2011

wow today was a lot of fun. we had an activity with all the mission. we played a ton of sports and ate hamburgers. it reminded me a lot of the 4 of july where you play a ton and afterwards you are just exhausted from being out in the sun all day. i made two mistakes today i didnt use sunscreen and i didnt bring water. all they had was soda. so i am still really tired but all is well, and it was really great to see all my friends from the mission, and get to play a lot of sports. they had ultimate frisbee, football, soccer, and volleyball so pretty much every sport, and even a glove and a baseball for the two people that wanted to throw around. our mission has had two bad months in a row, and our president was a little disappointed. i thought about a scripture in 2 nephi 28 21 where it talks about the tactics of satan. a lot of times he tries to make us think that everything is ok and that all is well, when its not. when we have struggles in life its normal and its part of the growing process, but we can never get use to unsuccess. we always have to try to be better and do more. we can never become complecent and stop progressing. i think that is why goals are so important. in preach my gospel there is a quote by elder ballard that talks about goals. it goes like this if we never master the tecnic of setting goals we will look back on our life and realize that we only realized a portion of our talent. that is so true. we all have weaknesses but as it says in ether 12 27, if we come unto the Lord and humble ourselves he will make our weak things become strong. its a constant struggle to just keep getting better, but its what we have to do. i am so happy to be here in chile, on a mission, where i can dedicate 100 % of my time and talents to the Lord. when i am tired and sometimes get discouraged i always try to think if we dont win satan does. if the kingdom of God isnt progressing then his is. we are the ones responsible for making sure we do all we can so that the gospel is preached to all and that they accept it. read in Preach my Gospel chapter 1 in the last part they have a quote from everyone of the prophets of this dispensation about missionary work and it is really good. there was a quote i heard from a missionary that i liked a lot its said that i want to live my life in such a way that when i wake up in the morning satan says o no he is a awake. thanks for all the letters and the support


love


Elder Brimhall

October 24, 2011

this week was a little crazy this week in our branch. on friday our branch presidents wife had a son, and friday night one of the members of the branch passed away. he was an older man that had been sick for a while everyone knew that he didnt have a lot of time left, but it is still sad. today we went to the funeral. in chile everyone meets in the house of the person, and then as a huge group everyone walks to the grave yard, i dont remember it being like that in the states, but i thought it was a little weird. but i was really happy for our branch president. he was an investigator for 3 years, and couldnt get baptized because he wasnt married and had to get divorced but here in chile it is really complicated, and he couldnt. so he has only been a member for a year and a half. but with his wife they couldnt have children, but after they went to the temple and got selled that week she got pregnant and they just had the baby on friday. they are an amazing family. i asked him how does he serve so well, and he told me his thought process. here in chile a lot of people use the excuse that the family is the most important thing and for that dont go to church sometimes dont magnify their callings and dont do their visits. he told me that if we serve the Lord like we should and magnify our callings the Lord is going to bless our family, more then if we were with them. we have to develop a love of the Savior above all else, and then everything else will fall into place. he is a really good example of sacrifice and dedicated service. this weekend was also really crazy because friday we had to go to los angeles to do a baptismal interview. so i asked the missionaries how we could get their and he told me the taxi we had to take and the street we had to wait on. so we waited for almost a half an hour, and this taxi didnt pass by. so i started asking people how to get their and they kept telling me different things. so i decided to go to this other street and wait there, and finally the taxi that we had to take passed by (its actually called a colectivo, which is different than a taxi because it has its set route). so we got in and it turns out that it was the wrong one, but he at least took us close and we just walked the rest of the way, we finally made it to their house at 10, and i did one of the fastest interviews of my life. it was for a 9 year old girl so it wasnt too hard. so that night we had to stay in los angles. and in the morning we came back because another sector yumbel had a baptism buut they dont have a font so they had to come to our chapel. it was a mom and her 8 year old son. the son went first but the first time he didnt go all the way in and he got water in his nose and started crying and it was a little weird, and he ended up not getting baptized that day. so it was a crazy week, with lots of stuff happening, but everything is really good. thanks for all the letters and the support

Love

elder Brimhall

October 17, 2011

this week went by really fast again. on friday we had an intercambio with some other missionaries, it is kind of a hard sector so we went there and worked for the whole day. but i went with a new missionary who is on his second cambio. he is from Idaho, his name is Elder Page, his great great great grandpa was Hyrum Page one of the 8 witnesses, anyways it was really funny with him, we had a good time, and were able to find some really cool people. we were talking about their ward and he was telling me about how they only have around 5 active priesthood holders, right then this guy passed us and said hi elders. and just kept walking, and i turned to Elder Page and told him man we should have contacted that guy. so we turned down this street, and were looking for this house but couldnt find it, so we asked this girl in the street if she knew where it was, but she told us that she didnt. then this guy from the window of his house starting saying some mean stuff to us, so i started to talk to him, and he kept being a jerk, so i asked him if he knew someone else that we could teach and he pointed at this guy walking toward us, and told us his name, sure enough it was the same guy. so we started to talk to him and he was a returned missionary from Santiago, who right now is inactive but before was the elders quorum president, it was really cool, and lives with his family and none of them are members. So that was my cool story, as well as finding really cool people but just by the normal knocking doors and people letting us in, we have seen so many blessings. this week a ladyand her daughter came to church, they are a miracle how we found them. one day we went to lunch and the sister told us that lunch wasnt ready so we would have to wait. so i said we were going to do some contacts, the sister looked at me kind of werid and my companion as well. so any way we left and contacted their neighbors the first house let us in. it was a boy that had 16 years. he was cool so we started to teach him the restoration and got to the book of mormon when his sister came in so we pretty much taught all of lesson one again, and she really loved it. so we came back another day and found the mom who is amazing such a cool lady. it was a testimony for me to do a little more. sometimes we think that we are doing all we can but like it says in 2 Nephi 28 one of Satans tactics is to let us think that all is well in Sion and the Sion prospers, and cheats our soul. Thats something we always have to remember dont be satfisfied always try to do a little more, do a little better, and the results will be drastically better. thanks for everything love you all

Elder Brimhall

October 10, 2011

this week was good. it was really really fast. tuesday like always we had to go to Los Angeles like always for the district zone meeting. then when we got back it was kind of a rough day, all our visits fell through and we were just walking from house to house and no one was home, but you have to have days like that to appreciate the good ones. on Wednesday we had to go to Concepcion for a conference which was really good. President Martinez talked about all the tactics of Satan and all the things he tries to do to bind us with his cords. it was really good, he is a really smart guy. he talked about the importance of obedience. that in teh world there is a lot of problems but if we are obediente everything will work out for our good. we will be successful. that is why it is so important to be obedient in the mission because if you dont learn obedience now you never will. obedience is the key to success not only in the mission but in life. no matter what is happening in the world we should not fear if we are obedient, we can trust in the promises of the Lord. it was also really good because i got to see alot of my really good friend s in the mission and a lot of my old companions. it is always great to see them. but we got back pretty late at 8 o clock so we visited a few people and then we had to go back to the house. on thursday i had to go to yumbel another sector to do bautismal interviews and we were there waiting for a bus for an hour and a half. so once again we got back at about 8. so this was a pretty crazy week. we got our cambios and i am staying here with my companion. i am happy to stay here it is such a great sector with really good people, the branch is good, our branch president is awesome, our investigators are the best, we have amazing converts here, i think one of them is going to be the next branch president, he is such a good guy. so i am really happy to stay here another cambio. today we played soccer i am getting better still not the best and ping pong. it was fun. so everything is really good here, Cabrero is awesome, i am really happy to stay here another cambio. so i will be here until the 22 of november.

love you all

Elder Brimhall

October 3, 2011

wow this week was so fast. in chile the schedule saturday was 1 to 3 5 to 7 and 9 to 11. so it was almost pure conference in the small time we had between sessions we were running around trying to invite as many people as we could to the conference. it was so good. one talk i really liked was by Elder Callister or something like that, one of the new presidents of the 70, about the Book of Mormon. it was so true with what he said, that is what we try to explain to people all day. that is always the question i ask people if there is only one God and one Bible why are there so many churchs, because here in Chile there are so many. and they always give me the same answer that people are differnet and they worship in their own way. but we as humans cant be saved worshipping in our own way God sets the bar and we have to go meet it, we cant set our own bar for our salvation. and so how can we find the bar of God, and find HIs church, its the Book of Mormon. With only the Bible it is impossible to prove which chruch is true, because everyone has there own interpretation of the Bible but like he showed with the two testaments there is only one line that we can follow.so i really loved that talk. also in the priesthood session Elder Holland gave an amazing talk, it is a classic Holland where he is yelling and all fired up but it was really really good.But it was so awesome to hear conference and all the great talks there were. it is such a testimony builder to hear all the messages it strengths my testimony every time that this is the truth, this is the ONLY church on the face of the earth that has all the truth, that is actually guided by Jesus Christ, through a living prophet. Thanks for all the letters, and hope that everyone liked conference because it really was awesome,

Love

Elder Brimhall

September 26, 2011

this week was really good. we were able to work really hard and find a lot of really good people. things with my companion are going a lot better. we talked a lot about things that we both could improve and things went really well. i read a quote by President Utchdorf that said the only perfect people are the people that you dont know very well, which is so true. when he said it he was referring to marriage and said since there is no chance in finding a perfect person the only hope that we have is to try and create perfection in each other. the key is to try to be humble and always be willing to learn, no matter from who. that is something i struggle with sometimes, thinking that i know what i need to do, but the humbler we are the more we will learn and grow. this week something that has worked miracles for us, is when we are knocking doors and someone tells us no, we ask for their neighbors name, and then when we knock on the neighbors door we say that the neighborhood has all told us really good things about them, and more often then not they let us in. i think a lot of life just depends on your excitement and attitude. if you are excited and have fun doing what your doing your going to have success. there are times in the mission where it seems that you just go through the motions you are talking to people teaching people, but the results are minimal. in the conference last october there was a 70 that talked about what makes a succesful teacher and he said it was his excitement for the gospel. i think if the members had more excitement the church would soar. i look at the jehova witnesses and see how much success they have. the reason is because of their members. so i was thinking about what we could do, and i thought of a challenge for everyone. that they could bring one person in the church. i remember a few years ago Uncle Paul talked about having a spirit stake on the other side of the veil. i think we could actually have an actual stake in a year if evey member could bring one person to the church. it really isnt that hard. there are so many people that are looking for a better life. more peace, happiness, happier familly, segurity about what is going to happy after this life. like is says in dc 123 there are many people looking for the truth but dont know where to find it. that is our job and responsiblity as memebers. when we were baptized, we promised to be a witness at all times and all places. there is no better time to do that then now. talk about general conference with everyone. before the mision i took it for granted but it really is a huge deal that we have a living prophet that gives us the messages and revelations that God has for us. so that is the challenge Invite at least 5 people to general conference, and by the end of the year bring one person to church. thanks for everythign love you lots.

Elder Brimhall

September 19, 2011

sorry for not writing last week. the whole mission had an internet fast, so no one could use the Internet. but everything is well. here in chile it is the 18 of september which is the 4 of july for them. but unlike us they celebrate at least 3 days sometimes 5, this year it just happened to be 3. the bad news is that the 18 fell on a sunday this year. there were only 29 people in church and half of them were from los angeles visting from the stake. but you just got to keep working hard and not get discouraged. it is funny here, EVERY house has a chilean flag outside, adn they dance their national song all the time, and eat a ton of meat and empanadas, it is a lot like the 4 of july but just for 3 days instead of 1. this week was a little tough. my companion is different, but the last few days have been a lot better. since my time in the office i have been pretty spoiled with my companions so its good to get a difficult one, because you really do learn so much and grow a lot more. obvioulsy no one wants more trials or struggles but it really is the best way to learn and grow. i was reading in the liahona the talks of the last conference. there is one by Elder Christofferson, he tells a story about Hugh B. Brown when he was a gardener and had a current bush that was 6 feet tall was growing very tall and had tons of leaves. but he chopped it down. he said he thought he heard it say, i was growing so good i was making so much progress how could you do this to me, i thought that you were the gardener here. he replied i know what i want you to be, i dont want you to be a large plant, or a shade tree, i want you to be a current bush, and some day you will thank me. so life went on and a few years later he was in the canadian army and was going to be promoted general but didnt get the job becasue he was LDS. he was so mad and said the same thing that the current bush had said. the Lord responded the same way. He knows what he wants us to be, and the trials we have to face to become the person he wants us to be. We will not just be judged from the things that we do, but also as the kind of person we are. its not always just about what you do its about who you are. your character. so the Lord is refining me and helping me become more polished but the only way he can do that is by putting me in the fire and burn off all those impurities that i have. i know that He is always with me and will not allow me to go through more than i can handle, or make me suffer more than is necessary for my eternal benefit. i also know the same is true for you. trust in God, he sees what you dont he knows what you dont. be patient, lift up your head dont get down, keep chugging and you ll make it through. i really like a quote from President Swenson. If you accept and live the gospel there is nothign in your life that will be permanently bad, and if you dont there is nothing that will be permanently good. no matter what the cost, what we have to go through Heavenly Father promises us a 100 fold in His kingdom. Love you all thanks for everything

Elder Brimhall

September 5, 2011

well.... my new companion is good. he is a newbie from the united states who doesnt speak very much or understand, but he is a hard worker and is obedient so you cant ask for a whole lot more. new people are always good becasue they come from that mtc mentality which is really good. we get a long pretty good, it is sad to not be with Elder Palmer anymore he was awesome we worked really well together, but good things can never last forever, since my time in the office i have been kind of spoiled with my companions so it is good to have someone different. he is a really nice kid that is a good worker, a little weird but we all are in our own way. the fact is is that as long as he is a good worker that is the only thing that really matters. we had a really good week and worked really hard. on sunday we were so blessed. saturday was a prety rough day we were going to all our appointments and NO ONE was in their house we were just going from house to house and no one was there. but we just kept working hard and tried to stay positive. i think that is the key try to always just be postiive and be an example for others. i am reading in the book of mornon about the sons of helman and just about how big of an impact they had. they were always positive and always had faith in God that everything was going to work out. that is what i learned this week, well actually i knew it but was reminded just stay positive, trust in God, work hard and everything will work out. so everything is good, love you all tahnks for the letters and everything

Elder Brimhall

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

July 25, 2011

So i am now in Cabrero. my first week went really well. it is really cold here though, and rains a lot. my companion Elder Palmer is so awesome. He is a cowboy from Utah, and is just such a great guy. we get along great. he grew up in a small town in Utah called Blanding, Utah. He is a really good worker, and is obedient. so i am so happy that he is my companion and know that we are going to have a great cambio. Cabrero is really cool town. it is a lot like Lebu, we live by ourselves and are an hour away from any other missionaries. the branch is pretty small only 40 people go on a good sunday. the capel is so small they have sacrement meeting in like a sunday school class. but it is really good, it is always hard to leave a sector though especially an amazing one like Lota but Cabrero is really good as well. there are a ton of catholic people here. it is funny talking to them though because they will almost always say ya there is a lot of things i dont agree with that the catholic church does but i am still catholic. it is a lot more because they are afraid of what their familes are going to say and more peer presure, they are worried that if they change their families will be mad at them. so it is a little different in Lota most of the people were evangelical. last night it was raining so hard and as a mission we had a goal for the first week to get into 25 houses, so we lacked 7 so we spend like 3 hours contacting in the rain and no one let us in, but it was still so much fun. my companion is so awesome we had a great time. i think the key is to just be postive no matter what happens. i think you get the real satisfaction of knowing that you did all that you could and worked hard. there are always two questions i ask myself at the end of the day, Is the Lord happy with the work i did today, and am i happy with the work i did today, and if at the end of the day you can say yes to those two questions it was a succesful day. and the same for the end of the mission i want to be able to say that i am happy with teh work i did and that the Lord is happy with the work i did. the sector is really good though they really didnt have very many people they were teaching when we got here but we worked hard this week and found some pretty cool people, so we are just going to keep working and finding good people. love you thanks for all the support.

elder Brimhall

July 18, 2011

so the last week of the cambio, it is always sad to leave a sector especially one as good as this, but you have to go where the Lord wants, He knows where He needs you. I am going to Cabrero which is a small town that is in between Concepcion and Los Angeles. My companion right now was in Cabrero a few cambios and loved it, he would talk about it a lot. Also I am going to be with another really cool companion so I am really happy the way cambios turned out. Lota was amazing there are such good people here that i love so much that we were able to help, but you have to move on, its going to be great in Cabrero. I think the key to life is just accepting what comes and making the most of it. The Lord doesn´t just call us to a new postion and leave us there alone, He is always with us helping us, always conscious of us. the thing is that we have to have changes so that we can reach our full potential. There is a quote that i found when i was in the office and was a little bit sad about going there. It says Our Greatness doesnt depend on so much of what happens to us in life, but what we do with it. that was one thing President Swenson would always say. so we are going to have an awesome time in Cabrero going to work hard, have fun, and help others change their life, that really is the best part of the mission. today we played basketball for 3 hours today, so i am exhausted, we invited a few guys from the branch and all the misisonaries from the zone came, the latins just grab you, so i had to just calm down, and remember that there were no NBA scouts there (James quote). but it was a lot of fun.we played in a gym that was actually pretty nice, similar to most of the gyms we played in high school. so i am really excited about the change, my companion now was awesome and you always try to soak up these cambios the most you can, but it was awesome we worked really hard, had a lot of fun, and success together, so i am content at leaving Lota, The President always tells us to leave the sector in a better postion than when you found it, and I can honestly say that it is really good now. So I am content, happy, healthy, there really isnt anything to complain about except the fact that i have a year in the mission, and it is going by to fast but other than that everything is great. Love you all thanks for all the letters and the support

Love,,

Elder Brimhall

July 11, 2011

This week was great. I cant believe it is the last week of the cambio, it went by so fast, probably my fastest yet. My companion is awesome, we get a long really well, i hope that we stay together another cambio but i dont think that will happen. this week i finally had my first robbery attempt.. i know that usually you dont tell your family these experiences until you get home but i promise it was more funny then scary. so we were walking home at 9 30 at night ready to go to the apartment. we had 28 contacts for the day so we wanted to make it an even 30 so just then these two younger kids like 18 walk by, so we stop them to talk with them. then the one was like do you guys have a camera, or a cellphone. we just looked at him weird, and then he started to put his hands in my companions pockets looking for the cell phone which was in my pocket, so then he turns to me and tried to put his hand in my pocket where the phone was. so i just pushed his hand away and told him not to touch me. then my companion was like look your trying to rob missionaries, you dont do this. then the kid put his hand in his pocket and was saying he had a knife and stuff like that. then right then one of the kids friends came up and said hi to us, and started to make fun of his friend that was trying to rob and, so we just laughed and walked away. its not quite as exciting as larry´s stories but it was pretty entertaining. we had our first conference with the new president. he is really cool. i like him a lot, he was really funny and told a lot of jokes, but was also really spiritual. he talked a lot about how the mission marks the rest of your life and that the decisions you make now, have a big affect on your future. hermana martinez talked about faith and about never giving up no matter how hard it gets, just keep going and have faith that in the end everything will work our for the best. she shared her experience on how she got to meet her husband. she was in her 20 looking for her husband and couldn´t find anyone, she was going to the temple every week, to get some direction. then one time she went and looked over on the other side of the room and saw her husband and said it was love at first site, so the blessings of the temple are real lol. so it is sad to see President Swenson leave, but it will be good, we will get to learn from another person, and get different ideas. his mission president in his mission was Elder Zwiff or something like that who is a 70, whose mission president was Elder Scott, so while President Martinez was in the MTC he talked with Elder Scott and he said that he is coming to our mission, which will be really cool. today we played basketball my play has really regressed, but playing in chile makes me look a lot better. lol. it was a lot of fun to play again, i hadnt played for a while since i was in lebu, like 5 months ago. everything is going really well, i will know my cambios next week, hopefully i stay but if not the Lord knows best and will gladly go wherever i am called.

Love you all

Elder Brimhall

July 4, 2011

today was really fun. we had over 40 missionaries come down from around the mission all to lota to the beach. we had a huge bbq, and ate so much food. afterwards we played 2 hand touch football, adn ultimate frisbee. it was really fun. all the gringos sang the national anthem and afterwards a member brought a flare, and shot it off after the song it was really cool. it was such a fun day. the sector is doing really well. tomorrow we have our first conference with teh new president so we will see how that goes. everything is going awesome, thanks for everything. sorry for this lame email, but i dont have a ton of time to write today because we just got back from the activity, it was so fun. Love you all, Happy 4 rth of July!!!! Enjoy the US and what you guys have. Chile is amazing but just be grateful for the US and all the opportunities that you have there, and all the blessings you get from living there. I really am proud to be an American and be able to celebrate the day of independence. Have a good day everyone.

love you all

Elder Brimhall

June 28, 2011

This week was amazing. I am writing today because our P day got changed because President Swenson had his going away conference yesterday. He is leaving tomorrow and the new President is going to arrive. It was so sad. I love our President so much, he is an awesome guy. We traded ties i gave him one of my Trumps and he gave me his favorite tie that he always wears at conferences. He is such a stud. I am so tired i havent had very much sleep the last two nights. the whole mission met up in Concepcion which never happens this was the only time. the mission is like 8 hours from the top to the bottom. so all the people coming from the bottom had to come sleep up at the north, so we had 6 other missionaries in our house Sunday night. then we had to wake up at 5 30 to get to teh conference on time. it was a lot of fun. there were a lot of skits from missionaries, and a bunch of musical numbers it was cool. then right after lunch we did the Haka, 50 missionaries it was so funny. we have a missionary from New Zealand and he taught a bunch of people and we did it for President. It was a lot of fun. President talked a lot about consistency and about how you have to be consistent in life. No one in life is a victim, we may have different experiences and struggles in life but you choose how you are going to act and develop from them. He talked about how the smart decisions we make now will bless our families until the 3 and 4rth generations. Hermana Swenson talked about the pre existence. she talked about how before this earth we choose to come during the time to be a missionary, and made a covenant with God that we would serve during this time. It was an awesome conference. then last night we sleeped in Concepcion because my companion had a lot of people to see, some converts and members up there. we went to the mall in Concepcion which was cool. THis week was great we found some amazing people that went to church, so we had the 2 families that came last week adn then 2 more this week. it was a really good meeting. they had the recent converts give talks, it was so good. one of the girls gave the best testimony. she talked aobut how before she used to fear death but now no becasue she knew waht we going to happen and knew that she could live with her family for ever. she testified that Jose Smith was a prophet of God. it was so good. So i guess i will end my letter with the same. I know that Jose Smith was a prophet of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is teh word of God, and every time i read it i feel my tesimony increase. I know that if we are faithful we can live can live together forever in the presence of our Heavenly Father in a state of never ending happiness. I am so grateful for this Gospel and dont know where i would be with out. I know that Christ loves me and feel his love every day and know that he loves each and every one of you aswell.

Love

elder Brimahll

June 20, 2011

This was a great week. We worked really hard. We have been doing a ton of door contacts and they have been working really well. My companion is great. We have both been put with a lot of harder companions and now that we are together it is awesome, we can just work hard and dont have to drag someone along. He is a really cool guy and likes to work hard. We found this one awesome family this week. We knocked on their door friday and they let us in and we taught them a little bit. we invited them to church and they accepted, so we told them we would come to their house to pick them up. when i called them on sunday morning they told me they were waiting for us. it was awesome. their little son loved primary, and the dad liked priesthood. the mom knew like 4 members so that helped out a lot. I have three goals on my mission 1. Baptize a complete family 2. Get a couple married 3. Baptize a future missionary. this family has the potential to complete all 3 goals, they have been together for 10 years and arent married. luckily the class this sunday was about eternal families, and after the lesson the husband was asking us a lot of questions about marriage. so i ll keep you updated about this family but they are awesome. The son is 10 and is such a cool kid. we also had this other mom who came to church with her 15 year old and 5 year old. she is really nice when we found her we knocked on her door and said that we had a message for her, and she let us in right away. we taught her a little bit and she liked it a lot. she had been going through some tough things but she felt a lot better after our lesson. it is so great to help people out. today i am writing a little bit later because we just got out of doing service. we had to help some one fix their roof. i am getting so fat our convert Juanita the pastor always gives us a ton of food she gives us lunch every week. she is awesome. her son the one who baptized her leaves with us all the time to go teach, he loves it so much.. i hope i will get to stay in lota another cambio after this one because it is so good here. great sector great investigators great companion. life is pretty good, not a whole lot to complain about. this is one of those times you just try to enjoy as much as you can, and just soak it in. thanks for all your prayers, and your thoughts, we have been so blessed this week, and i know that it is in part due to your prayers, so i really do thank all of you for them. if there is anything i know for a fact its that our Heavenly Fathers answers prayers. maybe not in our time table but he does answer. so thank you so much for all you do

Love,

Elder Brimhall

June 13, 2011

this week was really good. i really like my companion. we worked really hard this week. the mission had a goal to get into 25 houses this week, which when they first told us was a little hard to believe because it is usually pretty hard to get into someones house, street contacts are usually pretty easy and i can do them pretty well, but door contacts i really havent done as much in my mission. but this week was awesome we found so many great people. there were several people that just let us in right away it was awesome. we came into sunday with 17 needing 8 more, but we did it, it was such a miracle. my companion is from Minnesota but he is a really good missionary and likes to work which is always awesome. it is starting winter here so it is starting to rain, but not to bad yet. they say that usually by this time of year it is pouring rain but luckily it hasn't rained to bad yet. it was also funny this sunday we were on a bus to church and as we were getting of the bus my companion askes this drunk guy who was on the bus if he wanted to come with us, it was really funny he got off he sat through the whole first part of sacrament meeting but then left half way through. it was funny but it made me think as well. a lot of times as missionaries we only focusing on the people that are ready that are golden. but everyone needs the gospel not just the people that dont have problems, or are easy. we shouldnt judge anyone, Heavenly Father loves a homeless man just as much as me, his soul is just as valuable, he has the same potential as me. i remember in my first sector my trainer showed me this older video about this violen that is made and is brand new and is sold for a ton of money. but then this punk kid gets it and messes it up drops it and breaks some of the strings, and then sells it and it goes on like this and gets keep getting badly treated and sold to another trainer. finally there is this auction and only one person bids 5 dollars for it. then the maker of the violen comes and cleans it fixes teh strings tunes it and plays a great song with it.. after the violen is sold for thousands of dollars. the related the story to people there are some people who have had really hard lives and have faced some really real trials. so it was a good experience for me, i learned a lot. this week was awesome, and i expect to keep having a great cambio. love you all, thanks for all you do.

Elder Brimhall

June 6, 2011

this week was good. this week is cambios which is always exciting. my companion is leaving and going to Temuco, and i am staying here in lota, which I am really excited about. my new companion i guess is an awesome guy i have talked to several people who knew him and he is awesome. he came in the mission the same time as me, but went to the MTC in Santiago becasue he knew Spanish before. but i am really excited to work with him, i was so happy when i found out my cambio. President Swenson came to our branch this Sunday which was cool. He only has three weeks left. I guess in two weeks we are going to have a big mission conference where the whole mission is going to get together which never happens because the mission is so big and spread out so much. the new presdent is coming in 3 weeks, it is so crazy. Since my companion was leaving the Hermana Juanita who is the old Pastor made so many empanadas and sopaipillas it was crazy i feel so fat right now. Someone stole my camera, i dont know how or where but i definetly dont have it, i was so mad, luckily i made a cd of all my photos up to lota, and my companion is going to make a cd of the photos he has of us together, but i was so mad, but i guess there is nothing you can do about it. tomorrow i am going to concepcion to pick up my new companion tomorrow. my old companion had to go to consejo in Concepcion today so i am in a three some with two other elders still in lota. last night he had to pack so we didnt get to sleep until 12 i am so tired right now. the mission is great i really have learned so much during my time here, and still have so much more to learn and accomplish here. the best part about the mission is that you get to help others change and really become the people that our Heavenly Father wants them to become. The gospel just makes sense, i didnt really appreciate it before, but now i really do. i am so grateful for our Savior who died and suffered for every single one of us, so that we could return and live with our Father in Heaven again. This really is the Lords Church, not the church of a man. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that really he does live. I know that he really does love each one of us so much, more than we can even comprehend. Thanks everyone for your letters and everything love you all.


Love,

Elder Brimhall

May 27, 2011

this week was really good. our investigator got baptized. it only took two times, which i was surprised i was worried it was going to be like 4 or 5, because he is a really big guy. we got a member to do it and he did a great job. since he is so big i was in the water as well, to try to lift him up. it was funny because the first time his feet floated up so i reached over and tried to push them under and then his head came up so the member pushed him under again and then his stomach came up, it was like that game wack a mole where just different parts of his body float up. but the second time was great. after he got confirmed he was crying a little bit, it was really cool. he is a really nice guy. this is the last week of the cambio, i think i am going to stay and my companion is going to leave but you can never be sure. cambios are always crazy because you never knows whats going to happen or who your going to be with but whatever happens will be good. we had interviews with the President this week, i think these are going to be the last ones, which is really sad. today we went to playa blanca which is the half way point in chile, which was fun. we are going to eat too bbq´s today. one of another companionships investigators got married today and invited us all to her party afterwards and gave us steak, and later today the ward mission leader invited us over to eat a bbq as well. i am so impressed about lota and some of the members. we have this lady who feeds all six us us every sunday rain or shine and she gives us so much good food, but the thing is is that she is poor and only works one day a week. she makes her two kids wait until she feeds us and we are done eating, she is awesome, such a good lady, and our convert she gives us such good lunches she feeds us every week. it was a really good week, we found some really good people that we are going to work with and see what happens. i hope i stay in lota but we will see what happens. love you and thanks so much for your letters.

Love

Elder Brimhall

May 23, 2011

This week was really good. This week if everything goes right we are going to baptize a 400 hundred pound 72 year old guy. the story how we found him is kind of interesting. we were knocking doors looking for this teenager that we had contacted early in the week. so knocked on his door and he answered. he cant really walk very good and has to use crutches. so we asked him if he knew where he lived and he told us not really. i wasnt even thinking about teaching him because he was so old and i didnt think he would be able to come to church because he cant walk hardly at all and lives at the bottom of this huge hill, that is so steep. so we were about to leave and then he asked us if we wanted to talk to him, and i looked at my companion and we said sure for a minute. anyway we went in and taught him a little bit and he was really cool, we put a fecha with him the first lesson, and has gone to church the last 3 sundays, he has to use a taxi but it works and he makes it to church. it just really made me think how much the Lord really does bless us, and how some times we dont even realize it. Hermana Swenson talked about that the last conference that when we are with the Savior and look back on our life we are going to fall down at his feet when we see really how much he has blessed us. So keep your eyes open there are blessings all around. the guy who is going to be baptized made us sopipeas (no idea how to spell that) it is pretty much like fried bread, that is fried in animal fat and oil. yummy!!!!jk they were so big, we should a picture to a member and she said they were the biggest she had every seen. we helped one of our converts paint her house this week. she made us steak with french fries and the fried bread with this mexican salsa stuff it was so good. so this week i think i gained like 10 pounds, everyone just kept giving us food, but it was really good. my companion is really good we have 2 more weeks together but we are getting a long really good. our president only has 2 more months left, and then he is leaving. it is kind of sad. but i have heard that the new one is really cool as well. he has kids of the ages 11,6, and 3 at least from what i have heard. Well thanks for everything love you all

Love

Elder Brimhall

May 16, 2011

Ya this year really has flew by. That would be cool if you guys ended up going on a mission. Just dont go foreign, we have a senior couple and the husband cant speak spanish so they have to work in the office, and he hates it. i had to work with him everyday, and i dont think there was one day that he didnt complain. so ya i would say that navoo would be a pretty cool mission, if you get to pick, but i dont think that you can, but i really have no idea. thats retarded about the goat, i really would report that to the police, because that really is ridiculous. But that is good that everything is going well, and that there are lots of marriages. i am surprised by haley because i think that she is pretty young and i think his son just got back off his mission a little bit ago, but as long as they get married in the temple you cant complain to much. well love you lots mom, thanks as always for your letters, and your love.

love,

Elder Brimhall

May 2, 2011

i am going to hope that g mail works because the other way seems really complicated jk. i am going to try to call at 5 or 6 here maybe 7 latest, but this saturday we are changing our time. i hate day light savings time lol. maybe you can look it up on the internet to find out for sure what time that will be. its great to hear from you, and that madelyn gave you the opportunity to babysit here. jk. thats crazy that jon is going to get married in one month that is insane. youll have to send me some photos. that is kind of crazy that dennis stopped by but hopefullly he had a good time. the stake presidency i have no idea who any of those people are, but i was only in the single ward so you really dont have taht many activities with other wards. i am glad that you are doing well, and am really excited to hear from you and get to hear your voice love you lots mom.
Elder Brimhall

April 25, 2011

this week was really good. it was really stressful preparing for the baptisms. saturday i was really stressed out. we had to go down early and feel out the font. so we started filling it and started to clean the church which took a while, because it has been raining a lot lately so there was a lot of mud. so we cleaned it all up, and then my companion realized that he had forgotten the pants for one of the people that were going to get baptized. so we had to take a bus back home get the pants and come back. when we got back the water was green in the font, because all the rain we have been having. so the mom of the kid didnt want to baptize him in that water, so we had to empty the font and refill it which took a way long time. the baptism was suppose to start at 6 but since we had all those crazy things happen it started at like 7 30. luckily our ward mission leader had a bunch of movies about the church so we were able to watch some as we waited. so then the baptisms happened, it was really good. the water was still green and kind of cold but we did them anyway. the first two went well without any problems, the the third one was crazy. it was the evangelical pastor. her son who just got the priesthood a week before baptized her. but i think he got a little nervous because he mixed up the words a few times, and she was kind of hard to baptize because she is shorter and her belly kept floating up. the first time was kind of funny he dunked her and she came up saying all this evangelical stuff like blessed be the name of Jesus and stuff like that and then we had to tell her that they had to do it again. i think she ended up getting dunked like 7 times it was crazy. we ended up just using a chair, which we should have done in the first place, but they all got baptized and confirmed on sunday so it was a really good weekend. we got cambios this week and i am staying in Lota with the same companion for 6 more weeks. i am happy, the sector is really good, and my companion is a nice guy and we get a long pretty well. so all is well lota is amazing, i am really happy i get to stay here again. thanks for all your letters and everything i really do appreciate everything.

Love

Elder Brimhall

April 18, 2011

This week was good. our investigators right now are kind of funny. We have this one lady named Juanita Campos who was a pastor for the Evangelical church, which is like the same as a Baptist Pastor. Her son just got the priesthood a week ago, and is going to baptize his mom this weekend, which should be really awesome. Her son is awesome he was baptized like 3 months ago but he completely changed when he started to meet with the missionaries. That is what drew her interest in our church, and started going and now is going to get baptized. She still gets a lot of pressure from her church, for example they will tell her that she cant leave they need her and stuff like that, but we are just going to keep visiting her and make sure that she is ready to go this week. she is very evangelical though which is really funny. She will say really loudly AMEN like a million times in sacrament meeting. But she is getting a lot better. Evangelicals when someone prays they pray to, but its really weird they will be mumbling to themselves really loud while your trying to pray. she used to do that all the time but now doesnt so she is getting a lot better. its really funny too because she went to the investigators class and kept answering all the questions it was really funny, she would always quote some scripture in Psalms or Isaiah. She is really cool, and signed up in relief society to feed us on Friday so she is awesome. we have this other person named Christian Saez. He is like 44, his wife and daughter got baptized like a month ago. He is a nice guy, but he hates my companion. last night he told me that i can come to his house if i come with someone else but if i come with my companion he wont accept us. my companion is a nice guy but they always argue and he just does dumb stuff sometimes, so this is going to be really hard because we are going to have to find members to come with us so we can do intercambios. so i will let you know how it goes, but hopefully we will have 3 people this week, if everything works out, but the week of the baptism is always the hardest for the investigators so we will just have to keep working hard and visiting them. so thats a little about the people we are teaching they are all really cool, and have their own personalities. Lota is awesome it is a really good place, i love it alot. Well thanks for everything love you all.

Elder Brimhall

April 11, 2011

this week was good. we just got done playing soccer as a zone it was a lot of fun. we went to arauco and played on this huge field. our zone is pretty cool there is an elder from thatcher named elder lewis, who i guess was pretty good at football he redshirted at ea, but he is pretty cool, and we have a zone leader from New Zealand who is pretty cool as well. this week was good our investigators are all doing well, we just have to find more people this week we didnt really find anyone. that the thing so far in my mission, i go through dry spells where there is no one and then when we start finding people we get tons of awesome people. so we are just going to keep working and hope that we find lots of good people this week. we visited a lot of inactive members this week, and got a lot of references from members, but none of them really worked out. we will just have to keep doing our part and the Lord will do the rest. I was sick on Tuesday but we worked anyway, but it was pretty rough, i was so tired that night i woke up like 5 times. i feel a lot better now though. its turning into autumn here now and all the leaves are turning yellow and falling off. its going to start to get really cold. i guess during the winter it rains like every day, so that will be a good experience. from may to july it is pure rain, which is good because i will probably never experience that in my life living in arizona. so ya everything is good, my companion is nice he is a good guy he is from utah. we have two weeks left in this cambio so we are just going to keep working hard and everything will work our for the best. thanks for everything love you all.

Atte.

Elder Brimhall

April 4, 2011

This week was really good. The conference was awesome. Since i am in lota and there are a lot of gringo missionaries here they actually set up a room for us to listen to it in english so that was really cool. there were so many good talks and great messages. There was a ton of messages about the family, which i liked a lot because most of our investigators here right noiw are part member families. That is really what separates our relgion from the rest, its the fact that through sacred covenants and with the proper priesthood authority we can live with our families forever. obviously there are a lot of things that lead up to that but that is the ultimate goal. baptism receiving the holy ghost are great we cant be saved with out them, but they are only the beginning of the multitud of blessings that our Father in Heaven has in store for us. we offer so much more than that. we now have Gods power on the earth again that has been restored by a prophet of God. We have temples which are such a great blessing. i liked what President Monson said about temples, about when we actually understand the blessings that they offer there is no sacrifice to great, no obstacle too large to keep us from going to the temple. the conference was great, on sunday morning we went to our investigators house and he wasnt really sure about going. i promised him if he went he would find out how to be a better person, husband, and father. he was still unsure and we had to leave, so we left not knowing if he was going to come. he came to the sunday afternoon session, and one of the 70 gave the perfect talk for him, it was awesome. like Elder Holland said it is amazing that the people assigned can give talks to such a wide variety of people with such different needs and still say things that are exactly what you need to hear personally. We didnt get to actually do very much work on Saturday because of conference. we had to go to coronel which is like 20 30minutes in bus. so we had to leave at 12:30 had conference at 1 to went to eat lunch with one of my companions old converts conferenc from 5 to 7, and then 9 to 11 for the priesthood session. we didnt get back until 11 45. so ya it was a good few days. we are working with this inactive member who is really awesome. he went on a mission like 8 years ago was a really good missionary zone leader had great converts, but now is inactive. we went and visited with him and had a good lesson. he speaks great english, we pretty much just spoke english in the lesson, but anyway he went to conference this week. This morning we hung out with the other two missionaries of Lota, the zone leaders had to go to Concepcion for Consejo where all the zone leaders go once a month. I am losing a lot of weight here which is nice, i am not an office fatty anymore jk, lota has a ton of hills. i have been working out really hard every morning. my companion who left early left me a dumbell set, and the other day i bought a fitness orb ball. i am getting back in good shape i have a bet with President Swenson before he leaves. In the office he would always give me a hard time that i got a little chumby in the office so i made a bet with him, if i can get my old form back he will give me one of his top 5 ties (he was a CEO of a fortune 500 company), if i lose i have to give him one of my donald trump ties which are like gold to missionaries jk. so ya i have been working out a lot. its crazy that i have 8 months in the mission now it is going by way to fast, it seems like i just got here. President Swenson is leaving in 3 months that will be really sad. I love him a lot, he is a great guy, i will hopefully stay in contact with him after the mission. So ya Lota is really good, its really pretty. We are ready for a really good week, to find a lot of people and have a very successful week. Love you all thanks for everything.

Atte.

Elder Brimhall

March 28, 2011

So I am in Lota now. I love it so much. Its awesome the its actually a branch but has over 120 members that go. The problem is that it doesnt have enough worthy priesthood holders who go to be a ward. It was funny seeing these huge families go in for church being like 6 girls and not one single guy. I guess there are over 2, 000 members though on the records though, but thats is not always accurate because a lot of times people move and dont tell anyone so they dont get taken off the list. the church system down hear is a little disorganized, but its hard just because there are so many inactive members. We have already met a ton of inactives. Most of our investigators right now are part of incomplete families. One is this really nice lady named Juanita who was a preacher for the Evangelical church, but her son got baptized and now is talking to us, she is so nice. we are going to try to get him the priesthood so he can baptize her. It is a lot poorer town than San Pedro which was like one of the richest. Its nice the people here are a lot more open. The branch is great they do a lot of activities and seem like they have things running pretty effectively. There are two other companionships that work in Lota as well one of them is the zone leaders but they live together with the other companionship and we live alone. We live in an apartment which is really nice as well. President told me its one of the top 3 places to live in the misison. The showers are amazing they really can change your day jk. We live on the fifth floor and have a balcony that is overlooking the ocean it is really pretty. i am getting paid back for never seeing the ocean before my mission. My companions Elder Hillman he is a pretty nice guy. He reminds me a lot of Daniel and looks a lot like him too i think. i ll have to send pictures. i knew him pretty good we were in the same zone in lebu. Today we had to go to Concepcion to get the carnet of my companion and just got back to lota. we take a lot of buses here but they are pretty cheap, its like a dollar 50 to go to concepcion. it takes about an hour. ya so lota is amazing i am really excited to be here. We are going to have a lot of success. Love you all lots thanks for everything.

Elder Brimhall

March 28, 2011

Tell dad thanks for the March madness update its too bad we lost but i am pretty sure no one predicted us to make it that far so thats really good. also its always great when we beat duke and annoying coach k. i never know what is better a duke loss or a wildcat win, but we got to see both so that is awesome. also i am glad that your animals are all doing well and all having lots of kids. the dogs i am not sure about i originally thought about mixing as well, but the money goes way down, but i guess the breeding program never worked to well for morgan, with all blacks weener dogs running around so we will just have to see. i guess if they help dad with the sheep and keep coyotes away they will earn their keep. also if no one wants their pups you can just send them to chile they wont even notice with all the dogs they have running around here. well i am glad all is well. i really love lota, its great it reminds me a lot of lebu which i loved. Thats too bad about grandma but i know everything that happens will be for her good. also i will try to remember to pray for golden and becky that is exciting, for them. also what happened with the eileen thing do you guys ever find out the final answer. Also geneolgy is always great to see. the other day back when i was in the office there was a history of the church book on the ground and i picked it up and turned right to the page that talks about newell knight when the devil was cast out of him it was pretty cool. so ya all is well love you lots.

Elder Brimhall

March 21, 2011

This week was good, it went really fast. We got to pick up the new elders that came in. There were only 3 which i guess was an all time low for the mission, but thats ok, because our mission is huge. we have over 200 missionaries, which i think is one of the bigger missions, at least the biggest in Chile. It was cool since there was only a few new people we did everything in Presidents house, we ate lunch there had all the meetings, it was pretty cool. So this week i had my new companion. We knew each other from the MTC, he is a good guy, he just hates to do missionary work so it is really hard to get him out and leave the office. There was this one day where i had to physically grab the mouse. He is a funny guy though he really likes to fix things, so when he came to our apartment he fixed all our sinks. there is this u pipe under all of them, and he unscrewed it and cleaned it out. it was the nastiest thing i have ever seen, it smelled and looked like poo. he was in the bathroom so i went in to see what he was doing, and right when i opened the door i almost passed out, it smelled so bad. and my comp is just sitting there like nothing scooping the crap out with his hands. that was really funny. This week was really good at church we had 5 people at church the most the office has had for like a year and a half. i wont baptize in the office which i am a little sad about but at least the sector is doing well, and now they have good investigators, that are progressing. when i came the office people never even left to the sector ever it had been like 3 months of just hanging out in the office, but now it has changed a lot. so i am leaving on wednesday to lota. i am really excited. i have to pack and get all my stuff ready. Elder Corbridge from the 1 st quorum of 70 came to our mission. he was really cool. he talked about joseph smith and about how with out him nothing in the world makes since. without him the mediocre would just walk right into heaven with those who had given everything. he talked about Joseph Smith was always so optismist in spite of everything he went through, he always knew he would be successful, and how no man could do that without really knowing something more. His whole life he only had opposition after opposition, but he always had confidence that the church would go on and be successful. he also talked about the book of mormon and how it has a bunch of quiasmas or something like that. Alma 36 is a perfect example of one where the beginning and the end is the same, and you repeat. The first verse is similar to the last, the second verse similar to the second last, third and so on. It is a Jewish way of writing and he explained that there was no way that Joseph Smith knew anything about that. Also that the favorite word of Joseph Smith was confidence that it appears in his personal writing like 500 times, or something crazy, but is not once in the Book of Mormon. It was a really good talk i liked it a lot. Well all is well, going back to the field really excited.


Love you all


Elder Brimhall

March 15, 2011

Sorry i didnt write yesterday. it was crazy we had cambios so the last two days have been so busy. first sunday night we were busy picking up all the missionaries who are leaving and all there luggage. i went with elder moreno who was an assistant to say good bye to some people and then i went with him and a few of the other missionaries who are leaving. we didnt get to bed until 1 in the morning running around trying to get everything done. it was kind of sad. this is the first group in the mission that i will actually really miss the other groups were just older people that i really didnt know but in this group i have a lot of friends that are leaving and its sad but i guess its just part of the mission. the only thing in life that is constant is change. thats when we learn the most in life is when there are changes that we have to adapt to and learn from. i think that is why there is so many changes in the mission, changes in companions, in sectors, in assignments, because that is when you learn the most. so i found out that i am leaving to lota in two weeks. i am really excited to leave the office. it was a good experience and i feel i progressed a lot, but i am excited for another change and another experience to learn. three new missionaries came today, we got to eat lunch with the President and sit through all the meetings it was interesting. President is such a great guy he is leaving in 3 and a half months. that has probably been my favorite thing about the office is getting to know President more. So ya this is the really busy time in the office cambios are always crazy, it wasnt as bad with the last one because we didnt have anyone coming but this cambio was insane. i am so tired, i think we have gone to bed at 1 o clock for three nights in a row. i think this will help my cramming abilities in college when i get home from the mission jk. so ya i am doing good, really tired looking forward to finally going to bed at 11 again, it will be awesome to get my good 8 hours of sleep, but i guess this is good practice for when i am a dad as well. so ya everything is good, the sector is doing well, we found some really cool people. so ya all is well thanks for your letters and thoughts on my birthday. we went bowling and had a good time. i attempted to bake the cake that leah sent me but we tried to do it in a bread pan so the bottom was burned and the top was still uncooked, but we ate it anyway. but is was a good birthday. thanks for everything love you lots.


Elder Brimhall

March 8, 2011

This week went by really fast, the time in the office is flying by we are always busy. Everything is going well. we had a conference this week that was really good. our president talked to us about caracter. he had this weight and lifted it the whole time as he talked. his point that we could come up there and lift the weight one time and not get any stronger. he compared that with our character you can do something right and not change, its after you do it time after time after time. you cant just do things every once in a while if you really want them to take affect. i thought that was really cool. the president is such a good guy being in the office you get to know him a lot better which has been awesome. i think i am going to be leaving in 3 weeks from the office. but i was suppose to leave 6 weeks ago but my replacement went home early. its hard i have already had two hard companions and a third one is on the way. the office is usually where the president puts people who are having a hard time or are struggling a lot thats why i was so shocked when he sent me here, because we were doing well in lebu we were going to baptize a lot, and he pulled me out all of a sudden and put me in the office to a comp who was pretty much dead. but the office has been a good time, i have learned a lot and it has been a good experience. not everyone gets to experience this part of the mission and i am glad i got to, it helps you not to judge people and be humble. anytime anyone would have an emergency cambio i would always think that they did something bad or messed up, but when the emergency cambio happened to me i didnt want anyone to think those things. thats when i realized that if we dont want people to think bad about us we should not think bad about them. i am still not totally sure why the president put me here, but most things in life we cant understand at the time, all i know is i worked really hard and did the best i could, so i can leave with a clear conscious knowing i did my best. the office has presented new challenges like a computer with internet knowing that u of a is doing well in basketball, but so far i have held out strong. lol, but ya its been good. so i think thats all i am doing well nothing really exciting, thats one of the down points to the office not a ton of really exciting experiences but i really do love it a lot

with love
elder brimhall

February 28, 2011

this week went really well, the office is a lot better now that my comp isnt listening to rap music or running off everyday jk. when i first came to the office it was so crazy. but it has calmed down a lot and it is really good now. our new president is going to be from Chile actually in our mission. I dont know him but i guess he is really young but a good guy. there is not a ton new to report this week. i scratched the van pretty bad again. it was really bad but as we were driving there was this guy fixing cars, so i asked him what he could fix it. he actually did a really good job cleaning it up, it is pretty noticable still but it doesnt look that bad, the guy only charged me 10 bucks good thing i am in chile jk. i dont know how in the world i did it. i was leaving the parking garage the one that i leave everyday, but this time i got to close to the edge and scraped. i will have to take some pictures just so you know how tight it really is. someone has to come down here and drive in chile just so i can get another witness. everything is good, my companion is a good guy he does kind of funny things. he used to make chain mail, but now he is obsesed with cards and doing tricks with them. he does it in the street when we are doing contacts even. but overal he is a good guy. spanish is improving it depends on the day though. we went and visited a bunch of people for my companion this p day so it was a little boring but thats alright because i think we are going back to lebu again which will be a lot of fun. so everything is going well, sorry i dont have really any interesting stories, but i love you all a lot and appreciate everything


Elder Brimhall

February 21, 2011

this week went really well. we were able to go to the sector every day which was awesome. the assistants went down south for conferences so they werent here all week so the house was pretty calm, but it was good. we are still trying to find more people, we have these two teenager girls that we are teaching they have come to church the last three weeks and are praying and reading the Book of Mormon. so thats been good to finally get some progressing investigators. i started out a little skeptical of them just because they are two 17 year old girls but they are actually good investigators who actually understand things pretty well. so thats been good we are still having trouble finding people we have been doing a lot of contacts but still really havent found anyone. sometimes i start to get discouraged and then remember those poor suckers in the states or in Spain, jk but really chile is a really good place to be. the people are for the most part really nice. this week we were teaching a lesson in the park and we had these two different crazy people come up and disrupt us. the first one was this old guy, whose argument to us was that Joseph Smith didnt exist, it was such a dumb argument that i didnt even know what to say, and then he went on to say that in Salt Lake City we have a mountain of gold that we are hoarding up or something it was so crazy. The guy was crazy you cant argue with irrational people who try to pass crazy ideas off as facts. the second was another old lady who i swear was old enough to be the lady off the titanic (Singles Ward reference) but we were reading a verse out of the Book of Mormon and she was like why are you trying to teach about the false Christ so we were like have you read it, and then she walked away without saying anything more. So that was the cool thing of the week. this week for p day we went bowling it was a lot of fun, the mall here in Concepcion is awesome, it is really nice i was surprised. so anyway i think that is it, we are trying to work hard stay busy, the office is good i am learning a lot of things here. Love you all


Elder Brimhall

February 15, 2011

Sorry this is a day late, I couldnt write yesterday it was so crazy. it was the presidents birthday so he took the office out to eat at some restaurant it was a lot of fun, but also they gave me a few extra jobs so i have been really really busy. He is a great guy its kind of sad he is going to be leaving pretty soon. We should find out this week who is going to be the next president. This week went really good. My other comp ended up going home. It was sad but he kept running off and was kind of a hard situation. President got really mad and lost his patience with the running off thing. So in the end I think it was the best thing, like President said when he came he didnt think he would send anyone home but in the end he realized that its better that one missionary should be sent home then a whole mission wonder in disobedience jk. but it was really sad, I wish he could have stayed but thats the way it is. We went bowling this p day it was a lot of fun. i started out amazing only to tank at the end. i think in my first 5 bowls i got like 3 strikes, but after i was only hitting like 3 pins. it was crazy. the mall here in concepcion is actually really nice it could pass for a mall in the states. i got to eat mcdonalds which actually tasted the same i was surprised. it is nothing like lebu thats for sure. we have two girls coming to church now which is cool they have come for the last two weeks now so we will see what happens with them. their families are kind of against it so we will just see how it plays out. this weekend was crazy because we have been having little earthquakes like every couple hours. we had a few people stop us in the streets and were asking us what to do. some of them were crying they were so scared. everyone here is terrified that there is going to be a huge earthquake here in chile, and all these little ones are just leading up to it. some of them have been pretty strong, we are in the office which is on the fifth story so we got a few good rockings. but everyone here is save, everyone has been making a big deal out of the earthquakes but they really arent that bad so dont worry at all. i am not sure if you have even heard of them, but all is well. well thats it i think i am doing really well, the office is really good, i am liking it a ton more now, its really busy but really good. thanks for everything. love you lots
Elder Brimhall