January 24, 2011

So this week went a lot better. it started out really crazy though. so on Wednesday morning it was 9 30 and my companion was still sleeping. so i went into his room and told him he needed to get up and start getting ready. then he was like ya whatever leave me alone. so then i was like no i am sick of this we are always late we never go out to the sector. then he was like why are you being such a b----, what the f---- is your problem. and we just argued for a few minutes. he was cussing up a storm, he dropped the f bomb like 10 times. i was so mad we almost had a fist fight but we didnt. so then he got in the shower and got ready and ran out the door. so me and my other comp went to the office without him because we didnt know where he went. i was going to call the president and tell him i could not deal with this craziness, but he had a meeting until 5 so i had to wait for that. but he came in an hour later. so anyway we went to lunch that day. we were sitting there waiting for our food, and then he turned to me and was like ya i am really sorry your right we need to leave to the sector more, and then i apologized for kind of being a nag. so since then we have left for the sector everyday. we found this one cool family so we will have to see whats going to happen with them. but he has been a million times better this week since that incident. he is going to leave out of the office this week back in the field he still has a year, so hopefully he does good, we have been getting along a lot better since that. he is actually a good missionary, when we went out to do contacts he actually does them really good, and has a lot of potential. he is a good guy he still does some things he probably shouldnt do but he has changed so much this week, so anyone who prayed for me i thank you so much and know that Heavenly Father really did answer your prayers. My first week in the office i prayed really hard that this guy would be transfered and i wouldnt have to work with him, but after my prayer the thought came that he was one of the reasons that i was here. i am not trying to take credit for helping him change because really it was the Lord and his own decisions, but was a cool experience to be here and see it. so this week was a lot better. i have been reading a lot about nephi and how he always had such a great attitude. his life was so hard but he always saw the big picture. he always did what he should even when it was hard, or didnt have success right away. he never gave up and always had such a great positive attitude. like in nephi 18 11 his brothers tie him up because he was trying to help them keep the commandments, but instead of whining or complaining he just looked at the big picture. laman and lemuel had all the same experiences in the desert the difference between them is there attitude. the one complained the whole time and separated himself from God, while the other always had a great attitude and as a result from this experience grew and learned a ton. its the same with us when something hard comes up we can complain and say it is a hard thing thou hast asked of us, or i will go and do. so at least in the office i think i am starting to learn that lesson at least. so thanks for all your prayers and help. no really exciting stories, except there was this crazy guy who has the scariest eyes i have ever seen. he would just look at us on the bus and tell us to shut up in english even though we werent saying anything. he was so crazy. then he just kept staring and glaring at me, he was so crazy. so ya i think thats all. thanks for everything


Elder Brimhall

January 17, 2011

This week I am not going to lie was one of the hardest in my mission so far. The office is definitely different. Right now I have two companions one is "training" me, and the other is my companion for a while. Its so hard with my "trainer", he will not come out to the sector, we are suppose to leave the office at 6 every day to go out and work, but he wont, I ve tried every motivation tactic I know how, so finally I was a little mean and just kept nagging, but that doesn't work either. It is really really frustrating. I am trying to stay positive, but its hard. Its also hard because I am still new too its only my 3 rd transfer and he is suppose to be senior companion. In the office where we are at they haven't baptized anyone for a long time i think almost a year. But I know we can do it, I have no doubt in my mind that there are tons of people out there, our sector is awesome, all we have to do is leave the office and go find them. The problem is its so hard to leave and by the time we do I dont even feel the spirit because its such a hassle to leave. But we are just going to keep working hard, this other companion is leaving in two more weeks, so we just have to do our best to help him out, and try to remind him why he is here on the mission. If anyone has any good advice I am willing to hear whatever you got. So on a awesome note we were able to go back to Lebu, for some baptisms. It was really really cool. I got to perform my first actually baptism, not including the temple. It was a really really cool experience. The family is so awesome, it was really hard to leave them, but thats just the way the mission goes. When you start to get comfortable and get your grove it changes. On the mission we are suppose to grow and progress, and we grow and progress the most when we are changed and put out of our comfort zone. I think this will end up being really good for me being in the office. I sometimes feel overwhelmed here, that I cant do some of the things asked of me (driving in Concepcion) jk. but i know that with the Lords help I can do anything. I still really like the mission, even with this new change, and challenge. I appreciate everything, and I hope everything is going well with everyone. I love you all,


Elder Brimhall

January 10, 2011

wow!!! ok a lot of stuff happened this week. so on tuesday afternoon i got a call from the president and told me i was being part of an emergency transfer. apparently this other companionship had a fight and they had to be separated so they sent them to lebu. but thats not the worst part i got transfered to the office of the mission.... there are only two office missionaries me and my comp, also the guy who is training me but he is going to leave pretty soon. we live with the assistants eat with them, and pretty much do everything with them, which is cool because they are really cool guys. i have no idea why i am in the office, we were having so much success in lebu, we were going to baptize a lot of people this transfer there are now 8 people with baptismal dates. it was really hard when we got to lebu it was a dead sector but we worked hard and with the Lords help found the people He had prepared for us. We only baptized one person in the 3 months I was there, but we found a lot of great people that are going to enter into the way for eternal life. I was originally a little sad about the fact that I wouldnt be the person baptizing them, and that i was transfered right before we tasted the fruits of my labors, but then i realized that doesnt matter. as long as they get baptized it doesnt matter who does it, who gets the credit for it, thats all stuff for wordly glory, and in the end no of that is going to matter, only the glory of God. So I was able to get over that problem but the office is kind of really boring, and we havent been able to leave for the sector very much this week to actually do missionary work. the guy who is training me in this job is the most disobedient person i ve ever seen. he listens to rap songs that drop the f bomb and watches like rated r movies, i am not even making this stuff up. I really dont know why he is on the mission or what he is getting out of it, i am really hoping he leaves soon. but we ll have to see. i have wondered alot why i am here but i guess its what the Lord wants, i dont understand right now but i am going to just have trust in the Lord. obviously i am disappointed to be in the office, its not what i want, this week i havent felt very much like a missionary. but i have read several good quotes that have helped me try to be positive about this new experience. This quote is from Elder Eyering........You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands. His work is to bless His Father’s spirit children with the opportunity to choose eternal life. So, your calling is to bless lives. That will be true even in the most ordinary tasks you are assigned and in moments when you might be doing something not apparently connected to your call.........
I know there is a reason why the Lord called me here to serve in the office. I still dont know what it is, but I am going to work hard and do all that is asked of me. I love God and know that he always wants the best for me, even when I cant understand why I have to do certain things. The fact is this is defenitly a trying time, its not easy but i know that with the Lords help I can do anything. Thanks for everything and all the love and support.

January 3, 2011

this week went really well. it was hard at times to teach people because everyone was so busy with the new year coming up. its kind of werid but news year here is bigger than christmas which i found to be strange but hey what can you do. we did find some cool people however, and they are coming to church and like it a lot. there is this one family that is so funny they have come to church for 4 weeks in a row now. the dad still smokes, and has been smoking since he was 9 years old, but we are trying to help him quit. he is so funny he always calls us his two angels, he is a really nice guy. he is building a new house, so today we were going to help him, but it is raining so we cant, so now we are trying to think of something fun to do, so if anyone has any good ideas for a fun p day i am all ears. but anyway that guy and his family are so cool, he works selling fish, so there house always smells like fish but they are such good people. we ate with them on christmas eve they had a grill, it was really nice of them but it was a little nasty. they gave us some intestines no joke they were so nasty. my companion actually ate it all, i have no idea how he did it i guess thats what being in chile for a year does to you. i tried one bit and nearly vomited three times just trying to swalow the first little bit, so what i did is i put my napkin over it, and left it for about five minutes. then i sneakly shoved it in my pocket, because there was no way i was going to be able to eat that thing. so that was a fun experience. it was also funny because we brought fruit to make this stuff called tooty fruity, so anyway i was cutting up the fruit, and left for a little bit and came back and there stupid cat had walked over it, it was so nasty, but they didnt care and ate it anyway. then at night they had fire works so we watched those, it was actually pretty cool, but they dont believe in grand finalies here. me and my comp were waiting the whole time but it never came. also there was this other lady who we found that was super awesome. she had been praying for a long time to know gods will for her, and we found her. she had a doubt about being baptized again because she already was before. so we read with her a story in the bible in acts 19 where some people were baptized, but didnt receive the holy ghost so they had to get baptized again. so anyway we left and told her to pray about it. the next time we came she told us what happened. she had prayed right when we left, and after randomly opened the bible and found acts 1:5 which is a scripture i dont think i have ever read in my life. it was so perfect it talked about people being baptized by water and the spirit in no many days. it was such an awesome answer, at least the coolest i ve experienced yet. so i am really hoping she gets baptized, she has a date for the 22 of this month. it was kind of hard at the beginning of my mission. we would find some cool people, but after time they would hear some bad stuff about the church or lies, and wouldnt want to hear more or anything. there are a bunch of evangelical preachers here, who say all these lies about our church bad stuff about joseph smith, and all sorts of stuff. one time we were visiting a guy who was baptized in our church, but now he doesnt go. he was like ya i dont believe in your church anymore because you dont believe in the holy ghost, or the laying on of hands. we were like um ya we do hello.... so that was difficult but now we are finding a bunch of cool people. i think at the beginning you just have to kind of prove yourself. in the scripture accounts of all the great missionaries alma, ammon, it always talks about them first experiencing a lot of trials and struggles at first before all their success. i think the same is true. you have to prove to the lord that your willing to go through whatever it takes. so those are some of the cool stories with our investigators right now, i dont know if anyone cares or not, it is easier when i know what you guys want to know, but ya it was a really good week, i enjoyed it a lot. the mission is going by so fast its insane.

love you all

elder brimhall