Hola Familia!!
How I miss you today. I feel SO tired and kinda under the weather so I really really miss you and miss being able to talk and laugh about anything and everything and spend time together. The thought of your roadtrip made me so happy for you and that time you spent and also sad because I miss you all so much! Dumb BYU haha oh well. Maybe the season will start looking up.
I have LOVED hearing about the updates on Nicole, Mom and Dad. She has always impressed me with her patience :), love for her kids, etc. Keep me updated. So cool about Tara´s baptism and when you told me about her husband, I started crying. How this work changes lives!! I bet she can hardly keep her joy contained.
Thank you, Dad for the wonderful scriptures and advice about continuing to minister. That actually has been a huge internal battle with me when I can see the lack of interest from people and hate that I feel that we are wasting time on those people and there are others out there who need this message. I just have to use discernment to know when to continue ministering and when to not. We are trying! And trying to find ´los escogidos´ the Lord has promised are ready and waiting to receive and act upon this message. We still don´t have much of a program but are trying to work and give it all we´ve got.
Packages, Mom thank you for your early thoughts for Christmas! I´ve racked my brain and really don´t have many ideas because there aren´t many things I need need. I would love protein bars as you know, that CD sounds awesome, a dress suit--they are needed for conferences with Pres sometimes, CTR rings for Manuel and Rebeca and Hna Angulo (although she will be in Colombia by then I will send it to her), anti itch cream and I will keep thinking :) Thank you so much mom I miss you and love you so much!
Congratulations on the engagements to Josh Tuscano and my Brookie Friedel/Eric Boman!!! :) so excited for you!
This week started out kinda rough after P day ended on Monday and was another up/down week after such an amazing week of happiness and laughter, etc. but we learn tons every time!
Monday we made Patacones to celebrate the first day of our new cambio! Look up patacones on google and thats what they are haha. Those and Chifles are hugely popular here. We were waiting for Manuel to show up for his lesson on Monday and he didn´t so we taught Rebeca and that crazy loving family served us Ceviche and wouldn´t let us leave and we finally ended our lesson to realize it was 10 minutes past 9:30--the latest we should ever be in the house. Manuel finally arrived and walked in the door as we were walking out. I made sure to shake his hand say bye and say bye to everyone else but Hna Angulo really quickly and shortly said goodbye to him--it was kind of rudely but only because she was so concerned about being late. However, Manuel took it that she was super mad and disappointed in him for missing our lesson and wasn´t worth her time of day. I know her and really it was only because she was super worrried about being late but everyone else couldn´t see that. It was bad. I saw Manuel´s face and it killed me--he was super hurt and sad and shameful. It literally killed me to see him like that because I can tell how sensitive he is and how much he feels things. I couldn´t really sleep and had to write him a letter.
Anyway that was our drama of Mon night. Tuesday we got a new Zone leader: Elder Van Wagoner and he is awesome. I learned SO much that day--more so than in my 7 weeks of zone meetings combined. And our district leader got changed too--we couldn´t believe our luck haha this change will be a more difficult one. We really are the ones that will be teaching the district for a while--its kind of a disaster because he has no idea what to do or how to effectively teach, yet kind of exercises dominion in a brusque manner--Hna Angulo is WAY struggling with it haha poor thing. I just laugh at our luck but oh well! Oh Joseph. We had a lesson with Isidro that was pretty frustrating on Tuesday. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and all he had to say after was that he had seen it before and it was a good movie but he had seen it! He is only thinking and not feeling so we explained things to him pretty directly and committed him to try and feel. We need revelation for this guy! And we haven´t seen him since Tues because of his schedule.
We then saw Manuel and Rebeca later on and Manuel wasn´t okay of course! So I kind of told Hna Angulo I think we should change things up. We spent time regaining their trust and confidence and played Truth or Dare--mostly Truth because there are few things missionaries can be dared to do haha and then chatted. They wanted to talk about what we really have analyzed about each other´s personalities. It was super interesting and it was mostly right on! Manuel was a teeny bit hostile towards Hna Angulo because he was hurt but I gave him the note I wrote and then we watched with them ¨To This End Was I Born¨. We bore testimony and the Spirit was there and I felt a ton better afterwards and that we had grown closer to them for sure. It was slmost 3 hours but it did wonders for regaining the relationship. Maria--Rebeca's mom was telling us that when we come back they want us to spend the night with them and they will put down mattresses and take us to their favorite place Cohimiis (no idea how to spell) etc. They really do love us and I´m so grateful for them!
I´m gunna try and sum up a lot of the rest haha. I almost got bitten by a dog this week! That was pretty crazy. I was walking by and the dog was chilled out and wasn´t doing anything and all of a sudden Hna Angulo yelled CUIDADO and the dog's face and mouth was ON my leg as I jumped forward and ran a bit to get away from him. He almost bit me but didn´t have the chance before I reacted. Scary haha.
Also EVERYWHERE we go we see the name Alcivar and it's kind of become creepy that everyday someone mentions their family or the name or we find papers or old Books of Mormon with their names that really aren´t theirs, etc. It´s a sign we are there for many reasons we have taken it to be :)
So we had frustrating lessons with Rocio and were super concerned if she was ready. Thursday I broke down for a little while because sometimes I have felt like it´s a waste of my time here because so many of the converts here become less active right away so what are we working so arduously for if our words will be held against them when they choose to not follow through after baptism?? When our whole body and heart is in this work it´s hard to think about people not remaining firm and I started bawling at the thought of leaving and having no one. It's hard because really I only have a few investigators and have had zero baptisms which I know does not matter at all but the ones that do get baptized, I want to remain and from Hna Angulo's experience she has only a few of hers that are still active. I just felt a bit worthless that day and know it was Satan trying to get me down! Because my whole heart is in this work, I really do love the people, I see the vision of the importance of this work and see how much it matters and that´s why I care--I want them to remain and have their own strong testimony too so we will do all we can to make sure that happens and pray and pray and pray :) Just another hard thing to deal with in the mission when you work and work and work and still don't have much of a program and nothing to show for it but our hearts are in it, our laughter and tears too and we pray everyday for more revelation and inspiration and strength because this is not our work! It´s the Lord´s.
We had a wonderful lesson with a couple Marianela and Gabriel. The Spirit was SO strong during the First Vision as it usually is and they described how strongly they felt it and accepted to get married and then baptized. We followed up on Saturday and they both had prayed and felt this was the right thing and although some things will surely be difficult for them, they want to get married and baptized and have agreed to set a date for their marriage before their baptismal date of Oct 22. They also wanted to know if they could get married in the church, etc and we talked about temple marriages and how 1 year after they would have that beautiful opportunity and they immediately wanted to know if we would be able to go with them :) They are golden and a blessing from the Lord for sure.
Friday = WEIRD day where everything was crazy and went wrong. Rocio didn´t show up for her baptismal interview and we waited for 2 hours for her, calling, etc. We decided to walk to the church to see if she was there and on the way there an elderly man stopped and called us over, super happily and kindly! We were thinking wow maybe this is the reason for this desafio right now! He started pulling out some credentials and asking our ages and then pulled out his ID card and asked me to read what it said. Well it said Viudo bahaha and Hna Angulo immediately laughed and said Hermano we´re not going to marry you! He then immediately spent like 10 minutes directly talking to me and offering me all kinds of money, materialistic things, a good life, his good personality, etc. He was 70 YEARS OLD. Bahaha Hna Angulo was busting up laughing not even trying to hide it and I felt badly because I was laughing too even though he was talking to me and trying to convince me to accept his marriage proposal. Oh Joseph.
Saturday we found out that Rocio had gotten super mad at tithing. Not about the commandment because she agrees with paying tithing, etc but about the tithing slip. Just the paper! She got super mad and doesn´t agree that you write a name because ¨God knows and that´s all that matters¨ and even though we tried to explain and testify that just as God has registers in the heavens and organization, he expects the same organization here on earth, etc etc but she wouldn´t have it. It´s incredible how something so small changed a person completely. So our baptism fell through this week! But surprisingly we weren´t super disappointed--I think we could tell something was off and not completely ready. Saturday we had a great lesson with the Alcivar family again and each time we meet with them someone new becomes our investigator :) Friday it was Manuel´s little sister Isabel who is 14 years old and Saturday Ulbio--their brother who is 17 years old. Of course everyone else was there too haha. Ulbio is another testament and miracle of how much this family is amazing and we are there for a reason and how people change because of the Gospel.
Last Sunday, we stopped by for Rebecás birthday and he was there. Pedrito was trying to convince Ulbio to go to church and he harshly told me he didn´t believe in God, only evolution and his parents, etc etc. He was super closed and hard hearted about it. Well Saturday, he was in the same room and said he didn´t want to participate he would just sit there. Before teaching, we addressed the topic of evolution and testified that God exists and directs all of that science and evolution he believes in. We explained to him our beliefs and united the two topics into a testimony of the both of them combined and he was super interested. After that, he wanted to read over my shoulder the scriptures we read and then accepted to read parts of other things we were reading and then contributed in the lesson! We had an FHE with them later on on Saturday as well and shared 1 Sam 16:7 and then went around writing a quality we can see in the other people that isn´t super apparent. Well I think that really touched Ulbio too because he was super full of light after that and interested and said he would be willing to go to church.
Yesterday, Sunday = Sacrament meeting of MIRACLES! We went by to pick up the Alcivars and Manuel hopped down the stairs--the first one ready! I was so so so happy haha this kid has made SO much progress! Rebeca, Manuel, Pedrito, Maria and then Marianela (the spouse of Gabriel) came to church and then they wanted to stay for more than Sac meeting! Rebeca and Manuel were going to leave but then wanted to stay becuase it was my class :) Marianela stayed all 3 hours, Pedrito got whisked away with the young men and women and it was just SO so happy--this is the true joy that people describe. I love these people SO much! Also, when we stopped by to use the restroom yesterday, Ulbio was there and said no one had woken him up but really wanted to go to church next Sunday! Such a difference between that answer and the one from one week ago :) I can´t even describe how much I love this family haha we were there every single day this week and please pray for them that they will continue and accept baptismal dates and remain firm and strong in the Gospel even after we leave. We are a bit concerned about when we leave because of how close we all are but the Gospel and a testimony of that takes care of that part :) Also, every single young girl in the church was completely enthralled with Manuel haha and I´m pretty sure he doesn´t even recognize it. Never has another investigator gotten that kind of welcome before ;) Also at church, a young girl walked in and said she knew about the church, loved it and wanted to be baptized. WHAT?! Such a blessing that walked into our lives. We are going to start meeting with her--she is super sharp.
Well we had another hard lesson with a less active last night who is actually the coach of Rebeca´s handball team. She has gone through a ton of hard things and because of that feels regrets for never seeking after her dreams or becoming the person she dreamt of becoming. Because of those thoughts, she constantly leaves her kids with her sister, seeking after other things and while it´s so sad to think of how she feels and what she´s going through--she can´t think about only herself right now. She has a family, kids to take care of who need a mom and God to put first in her life as well. It´s incredible that selfish thoughts--that people take for happiness deserved--actually end up ruining people and families and making them less happy. We are testifying boldly and calling people back to the church one individual at a time it seems like haha.
Anyway sorry this is long and random but this was our week. We are working, trying to rise above the tired-ness and are so grateful for our Alcivar family and Marianela and Gabriel. We recognize the blessings of the Lord and are humbled by how far we have to go and just could use all the prayers you have for us and especially our investigators and that we can find the Lord's chosen and people who are willing and waiting to receive and act :)
The pics are of me and Hna Angulo making Patacones and of us with Daniela Zambrano--such a great young 15 year old girl who will be an incredible missionary!
Love you all so SO much and miss you! I´m praying for you everyday--thank you all for your emails and examples to me!
Love,
Hermana Bryan
Logan: how are Kelly and Jake? I love your boldness with Todd--such an example to me Logee! You are the best missionary EVER. Do you have any ideas for object lessons--you mentioned one in your email? I would love those ideas! I miss you so so much and hope your week was incredible. You are the BEEESSST---Nacho Libre
Mom and Dad: how I miss you. You both make me want to be better and I am SO grateful for your example to me and the way you have taught us in the Gospel. Thank you for your example of a happy marriage and how important this Gospel is and remaining firm. I love your counsel, scriptures, experiences, thoughts, feelings, etc. MISS you so so much. Can´t wait until we can all come here together and share in the happiness :)
Dallin; I loved your email! How´s school? Hard? What's your responsibility for Stuco and homecoming? Buddy I´m SO proud of you that even though you have been invited to things (how could you not--so popular, good looking, funny, such a beast, with light and love for everyone :) but really though) that you have talked with Mom and Dad and all realized how important it is to avoid any and all situations where there are any MAYBES. There can be no Grey areas in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ because that is what leads to all this heartache and hard work we have when we see how many less actives or people who are truly not converted in the Gospel. You have such a strong testimony and realize how important it is. Although it may be hard to resist some of those seemingly fun activities, I PROMISE you, Dallin you will be blessed doubly for standing true to what you know to be true and also for your obedience to Mom and Dad because they receive revelation for us and can know and feel what is good for us as children. Dallin you are the best 15 year old I know and teach me so much. You are stronger than half of these members here who are adults and have families--you will be the best missionary and father along with Logee. Stay strong, happy, funny, dance for me and always be obedient--that´s the key to happiness! LOVE YOU!!!
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