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