Week #30

No letter from Montana this week! :( We did get to chat by email while she was at the computer but no official letter.

Week #29

No email today---probably because Christmas is in 2 days which is also their p-day for the week. So they were working today instead of writing emails!

More pics

Ward Christmas party.

Somewhere in Seattle.

New Christmas slippers from Grandma E. 

Sister Life

The duo has become a trio!

Christmas!!!

At their favorite deli. And they are so cute that they usually get their lunch free!

Week #28

So last P-day, right before we were about to go home we get a call from the AP's and they told us we were getting a new companion. What the what!? So we had to go to the mission office and pick up our new companion!!! Her name is Sister Manning from Roosevelt, Utah. She had just finished her trial mission in the Provo mission and now is here. She was on medical release so they had to make sure she could do it. So now there is 3 of us!! In our polly pocket apartment. And I'm back in bunk beds. Ya win some and ya lose some.. It's squishy but it's been pretty good so far.

 

We had our mission christmas party this week. It was... not so exciting. We ate and watched a prehistoric church Christmas movie and then had President Choi speak. Then we had our ward party which was way more fun. They had breakfast for dinner!!!! My favorite!!! Then a cute talent show and good stuff. Way more fun. Also, this week our stake put on a christmas music devotional. So that was cool.

 

What else... Oh!! Veronica!!! She might be the coolest lady ever. She is our new investigator!!! She lived in California and got in touch with the church through her friend, the mormon pole dancer haha. She is a circus performer, like top in the world hula-hooper and fire eater, and has been basically everywhere! She just moved to Seattle and called up our bishop and asked for missionaries. It was the coolest thing! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and is loving it and is so excited to come to church! She has already talked about being baptized and we are loving it. She is amazing!! Her website is www.kitspins.com and her youtube is youtube.com/vpetra215. I don't know what is on those websites because I can't look so go at your own risk hahaha.

 

By the way, Sister Prows and I really, really, REALLY wanted bikes so we asked our President and in the next couple of weeks we are going to be the tester sisters on bikes!! HAHA awesome!! I can't wait. It will be much better than walking. Which is all we do. Our zone leaders had to take like all of our miles so we haven't even been able to get in the car. It's been lovely.

 

Anway, I think that's all haha. I cannot wait to skype!!! It's so soon!!! Hallelujah. I love you all so much and am so grateful for the support!!!

 

Love,

Sister Brian

 

Week #27

So this week was... different. I love my new companion, Sister Prows. She is the greatest and we're trying to do something different in this area because whatever we were doing before was not working. Clearly. So we have tried street contacting instead of knocking. Freak, it's hard!!!!! And on top of that it has been in the low 20's every single day. I feel like I'm going to die and never be warm again haha. It's awesome. But because we are always out on the street we run into a ton of homeless people. We try to be nice but keep our distance. Most of them around here are crazy haha. We always end up smelling like whatever the people we talk to smell like. It's actually super gross haha.

 

What else... I hit my 6 month mark? It was a very uneventful day but nice to know that time is still passing!

 

We did get a new investigator this week though so that was cool! Her name is Angie. But she is 17 so we have to get her mom's permission before we can teach her so we'll see how that goes...

 

We got to go to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional Broadcast on Sunday so that was kind of fun. I've never watched it before. Truthfully it made me a little homesick! But thankfully it does not feel or look like Christmas around here so that's good!

 

That's about it for me. We are going to the temple next week and I'm so excited!!! I cannot wait!!!

 

Thanks everyone for the love and support!!

Week #26

It was transfers so sorry for the late email! I forgot to mention it last week. But, I am staying here in Washington Park so nothing exciting there. But I did get a new companion so that's cool! Her name is Sister Prows from Murray. She was my sister-trainer leader my first 3 transfers so I know her pretty well already.

 

This week was incredibly slow as you can imaagine. Holidays are hard on a mission because people ARE home but it doesn't mean they want to talk! On Thanksgiving we had a zone activity and got to spend the morning playing games and having treats. It was pretty fun. I spent pretty much the whole time playing Settlers of Catan with some elders. It reminded me of home! After we went to have dinner at the Stake Center. Every year our stake puts on a dinner for singles or people who don't have anywhere to go so that's what we did. We helped clean up afterwards and I think I did dishes for 2 hours straight. No kidding. Then we drove around trying to find members to visit but no one was home... We ended up at a really nice old couple's house for dessert. They had their whole family of like 25 there so it was slightly awkward but whatever. So that was my Thanskgiving!

 

We visited Richard and Marie again this week.. I might have talked about them before. Richard is really sick and has lots of health issues and had a brain annuerism or something like that... So we saw them in the hospital. They are the sweetest.

 

Our investigator Zola is not really willing to work right now... We don't want to give up on her just yet but she is so wishy washy! Ah it makes me crazy! But i love her anyway. Just keep her in your prayers that she quits smoking.

 

On a side note... I made it almost a whole 6 months without playing the piano in a meeting and my streak got ruined this Sunday!! It wasa a little boy in our ward's baptism and no one was there. So of course I got roped into playing... It actually wasn't as bad as I thought! But hopefully it doesn't happen aagain haha.

 

Other than that, nothing else exciting happened this week! I hit my 6 month mark on Thursday!!! Crazy!!

 

Thank you all for the love and support!!!

 

Oh, P.S. Our mail has been dumb this week and some of it could potentially be sent back.. If it is I'm sorry the address really is right!!! Just send it agaain :)

 

Love,

 

Sister Brian

Week #25

Hello all! Another week goes by in the Washington Park area... It was a long one too. Not a ton happened but I'll see what I can come up with...

 

We have 1 investigator (yes, just 1) I think I have mentioned her before. Her name is Zola. Anyway, we had a couple of lessons with her this week but we are probably going to have to drop her. She isn't progressing at all and it's so sad!

 

We've been trying to keep ourselves busy so we are doing a lot of LA work. There are hundreds of people in our ward that nobody knows anything about. So we are trying to find them all. 90% don't live there anymore and the other 10% are gay now but it's all good! It's keeping us sort of busy. We did get to see a less-active couple this week though. Richard and Marie. Richard has so many health issues and so we visited them in the hospital. Ah it was the saddest thing. He loves the missionaries so much but can't come because of his health so we visit them often. He is probably on his last few weeks of life though. It's the saddest thing! So be grateful for your health! I know I am.

 

I think that's about it! We did service for a lady in our ward and got to plant flowers for her so that was fun. And I think that's it! We're getting a nice long list of potentials who will hopefully turn into investigators soon so we'll see!!

 

Love you all!!!

 

Sister Brian

Week #24

Surprisingly it was a pretty eventful week here in the wonderful Washington Park area!! We got to help a phillipino lady in our ward move. HOLY CRAP. I've never seen so much stuff in my life. We just kept moving and moving and moving!!! It was like a clown car. Only a house. We were only supposed to stay for like 2 hours but ended up staying the whole day because nobody else showed up. But, she bought  us Ihop so I was happy haha.

 

Then, we taught seminary!! But dang. Early morning seminary is a nightmare. It's so early! I couldn't have done it. I'm grateful I had it during the day or I probably wouldn't have gone haha. We taught on family history so that was cool. The poor kids were like all asleep but whatever haha.

 

Then, we had a couple of potentials we went back to try this week and we actually got to teach lessons! It was the craziest thing! One lady is named Miku. She has like no concept of God or religion or anything so that was different... But we taught about God and about the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon. She committed to read but is a Phd student so she is so busy. The next is a guy named Will. 85 year old dude, slightly off his rocker, but so cool! He invited us right in and said, "So, what do you have to teach me?" It was awesome! I seriously think we covered every single lesson. We taught all about the priesthood and baptism and the whole time he was just saying," Oh, wonderful! That makes sense!" Golden right? So, we get to the point in the lesson where we're going to invite him to be baptized and.... He stood up and said,"Well, thank you for coming by! It was a wonderful talk! We'll see you in the spring!" ummm what!? Then we figured out his wife had just passed and he is still mourning and not really ready for change yet. We're definitely not going to wait until spring but we'll try again.

 

On Sunday we had a super cool meeting. Every ward in the stake here was asked to shorten their meetings and at the end have sort of a meet-n-greet type deal. Everyone was encouraged to invite their friends and show them how a mormon service was run. We invited a million people and nobody came but thankfully members had friends show up. It was so cool though because it was the Primary Program!! Ah. It was incredible. I was so close to tears the whole time. Honestly, I kept thinking that everything we need to know in the gospel we learned in primary. Those kids have the most amazing spirits about them.. SO sweet. I love this gospel. Man, it's good.

 

Alright. That's all for this week. Thank you for everything! I love you all :)

 

Sister Brian

Washington Park

Some of Montana's favorite people.

Stuck in traffic on Halloween.

Their car (Sammy) with 2 flat tires. 

Week #23

Another week goes by! With still nothing new to report... We are having a bit of a rough stretch here right now. It's frustrating because we do a TON of tracting. Ah well. Miracles are out there we just need to find them.

 

We did have a Zone Conference though. It was about how to solve the problems we are having through doctrine and principles. It was pretty cool. Then, we got in to setting goals for next year. Our mission has a goal to baptize 1200 people next year with our specific zone wanting to baptize 200. It's achievable I think. Definitely going to take some work but that's what we're here to do! I guess the hard thing for me about the Zone Conference was I walked away feeling that it was all about the numbers. I don't like that because I am here to help people. Not to just baptize them. Maybe I just thought about it the wrong way or something.

 

What else... We went on exchanges with our Sister Trainers. They are serving in the Tongan ward so I got to go to Tonga this week! It was pretty cool. They serve over our whole mission so we did a ton of driving. We didn't see too many people but I am dying to serve there!!!! I think it would be legit.

 

Funny story for this week... So it's like 9:15 on Sunday night and we are heading home. We are in the Southern most part of our area (which is like super sketchy) and my companion was not paying attention at all and nails a curb. Like, hard. 5 seconds after we hit the car is making a weird noise.. And she says,"I think I just blew the tires." So we pull over and sure enough! 2 flats! It was insane. They were totally trashed. Haha so we had to wait for the elders in our area to come help us and then we had to wait even longer for the sisters serving like 20 minutes away to come and take us home. It was a disaster haha. But on the bright side, I officially know how to change a tire! I changed 2!

 

So that is all for this week. Pray for the Washington Park area... It needs help. A lot of it. Thank you for all the love and support!!

 

Sister Brian

Week #22

Tomorrow is my 5 months!! Crazy. It feels like it's been an eternity but sometimes it seems so short! It's the weirdest thing.

 

This week was pretty fun!! We went to downtown Seattle and Pike Place for pday. That was a blast!! It's such a neat place and I am in love.

 

As far as the work, nothing super exciting... yet. We tract. A lot. Thankfully our ward is awesome and want to start getting more involved so we're hoping to set up something with them to get us more referrals.

 

Sorry it's so short but I want to share a cool poem Grandma and Grandpa England sent me. It explains my life perfectly....

 

The Highs and Lows of Missionary Life

 

A mission is a strange experience, it's a trial and a test.

A mission throws at you the worst and teaches you the best.

 

They told me this would be the best period of my life,

But I guess they didn't explain it all too dear.

I came looking for a bed of roses,

I just wasn't expecting all those thorns I've found out here.

 

Since I've been out, I've never been so happy;

I've never been so depressed.

I've never felt so forsaken,

I've never felt so blessed.

 

I've never been so confused.

My mind has never been so clear.

I never felt my Heavely Father so distant,

I've never felt him so near.

 

I think I can go forever;

I think I've never had it so tough.

Things have never gone so smoothly;

Things have never gone so rough.

 

I've never traveled through more valleys,

I've ascended so many peaks,

I've never met so many nice people,

I've never met so many freaks.

 

I've never had so many ups,

and I've never had so many downs.

I've never worn so many smiles,

I've never worn so many frowns.

 

I've never been so lonely,

I've never had so many friends.

Man, I hope this is over soon.

Gosh, I hope it never ends.

 

 

That explains my life PERFECTLY. GAH!! But, I know this church is true. Without a doubt. I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much. Thank you for all the support. I love you all!!!!

 

Sista Brian

Week #21

This week... was awesome. Hooray!!! I love it here. It's so different from Issaquah and it is exactly the change I needed. My new companion and I get along great! Which is awesome. She has only been here for 1 transfer longer than me and sisters haven't been in this area forever so we're figuring things out together. It's funny because we have certain areas that our bishop told us to avoid at night. Ha! We have some sketchy parts here. I think it's funny.

 

Our apartment overlooks the water which is so cool! I have no idea where anything is and I'm all turned around so truthfully I don't know what I'm looking at but it's way sweet anyway. The view makes up for the apartment. We live in a freaking shoe box! It's a one-bedroom apartment and probably the smallest thing ever. We don't even have a full size fridge! There is no dishwasher and no garbage disposal either. Apparently I was living the high-life in Issaquah.

 

But it really is great here. We pick up food from members almost every night of the week so that has been not so great. Everybody seems to think the sisters are running out of treats! We are NOT! But the ward is great. The bishop likes to have the missionaries involved with everything they do so we go to most activities and the sisters are active members of young women. They have 5 young women!!! So crazy. They had a trunk-or-treat that we got to go to, which was really cute. Then, at church on Sunday.... Oh my gosh. The people here!!! They are so liberal!!! The lesson in Relief Society turned into a debate on gay marriage. The ladies that were speaking seemed to think that once we got some 'new blood' into the leadership that gay marriage would be allowed. Yikes.

 

As far as the work goes, we have a ward of almost 500 people and maybe 150 are active so there is lots of work to do! We are just trying to figure things out. We did have a lesson with a less-active who has started coming back to church which is awesome! But during the lesson, i don't know what it was but I totally fell asleep! Hahaha it was hilarious. Thankfully she is going blind and deaf so she had no idea...

 

Anyway, i think that's it! Halloween should be interesting. Our Zone Leaders said we were going out to proselyte?! But we couldn't figure out if they were kidding or not.. Regardless of that, Sister Boyd and I will probably be spending the night at a member's. Our area is too sketchy to be out!! Okay. I think that's all now.

 

I love my Savior and I know he is there! I am soooo incredibly blessed and I know it all comes from Him. The church is true!

 

Sister Brian

Week #20

BIG NEWS!!!! I got transferred!!! I totally knew it was coming though. You just get this gut feeling. But I was so ready for it. I love the people in Issaquah but I really needed to get out of my first area. And other big news.... I'm in downtown Seattle! I can't wait!! My companion is Sister Boyd and from the first 20 minutes I've been with her she seems really cool. She is from Texas. I am really interested to see all the people in this area! And Pike Place and everything cool is here so we can explore on pdays :)

 

So. That was the most exciting thing this week. But we did have Elder Paul Johnson from the seventy come and speak to us. That was cool. He is a really nice guy and talked to us about remembering that we are in our specific areas and places for a reason. It was cool.

 

This week was a really good week for me personally. I finished counseling! I'm still slightly embarrassed that I had to go see her but she helped a lot so I got over that really fast. When I first went to see her, I had to fill out a bunch of papers rating my feelings and stuff like that. The results came back that I was depressed. So we kept meeting over the whole transfer and when I went to my last appointment she said I had come leaps and bounds from where I was before. That made me happy. Not that I love my mission (yet) I still can't say that... Everyday is still really hard but it's gotten much better. I've totally realized the power of prayer this past week. My Heavenly Father knows me!!! And he listens! I say about a hundred prayers a day. No joke. Any time I feel myself start to think of home I just say a little prayer to help me focus and pretty much instantly I feel so much better. Prayer WORKS! I still struggle but I know my Heavenly Father loves me and doesn't want me to hate my mission so he has given me so much peace. That has been the most amazing blessing. I still feel like I have a million years left to serve but I know I can do it!

 

So this week was good :) Thank you so much for the love and support. I love you all!!!!

Lunch with Holland (and Whitney)

Week #19

I love you guys!! It sounds like fall break was pretty fun. And pretty cool you married some people too, Dad. A temple wedding is still where I'm aiming for so that's good. I hope California is fun for the both of you! Sorry this isn't exciting I just want to say that I love you both so much!

Good Times....

Eating Asian food with the Asian companion (Sister Lee)

Apparently they see this all the time!

Ice cream from some members!

Last day with Sister Monks----their first and last meal together was Taco Bell!

Week #18

Another joyous week in Issaquah! This time no sarcasm!! We found 3 new investigators!!!! It was a dang miracle I tell you!!!! 

One lady is named Joyce and we found her tracting. (who'd have thought?) She just moved her but we taught her the restoration and she said she'd pray to know if it was all true! We asked to come back this week but she said she just moved and it's a transition time for her and her family so she doesn't want to rush into any decisions so we're going back next week. We're crossing our fingers that everything works out.

The next is a lady named Debbie. We met her going to visit a member and she was having a hard time so we prayed with her and talked about the Book of Mormon a little bit. We asked if we could come back and teach her more and she said yes!

The last lady was so awesome.. We were visiting a less-active member (her husband) and he was busy so she invited us in and basically just opened right up and told us her whole story. She was an alcoholic but is sober now because she found a higher power. She said she felt something was missing and she filled it with faith. She told us we could come back and teach her about our gospel so we're hoping it fills what is missing in her life even more! Her name is Carise.

So conference was AMAZING!! It was so interesting watching it as a missionary. We had to watch it in the Stake Center with all the other missionaries so there was no way I was falling asleep. All the sessions went by so fast that I was bummed there wasn't more! I couldn't pick my favorite because they were all so amazing! President Packer's talk particularly stuck out to me though. 

OH!! It was Salmon Days in Issaquah this week. We live right by a river so there is a Salmon Hatchery right here and every year for 2 days they just celebrate the salmon I guess. They close off streets and there are booths and tents and games and rides everywhere. It's like the fair a little bit. It was fun but there were some crazies there. Good food though? Hahaha. 

What else... OH!! Umm it's a miracle I'm not dead yet. Seriously. Sister Lee just one day took the liberty of driving and holy cow it was the sketchiest thing ever. I've been getting a lot of headaches lately and I decided it was whiplash. If there was an award for best driver.... It would not go to her. 

I think that about wraps up my week. Thank you so much for everything! Love you all!!! 

Week #17

Another eventful week here in Issaquah!! Sort of. haha.

 

On Friday, it was the funeral of the missionary in Mexico who died. His mom is in our ward and one of my favoritest ladies ever. She is a single mom and Peter was her only son so it was tragic really. But the funeral was absolutely beautiful. Elder Martino from the seventy came and spoke and there was just such a feeling of peace there. It was awesome. We go and see Mary pretty often and she is such an amazing lady! She is one tough cookie that's for sure. 

On Wednesday we had a meeting with President Choi and he told us that he was speaking at a fireside with Korean members only and asked if the sisters in our zone would sing I am a Child of God in Korean. Yeah that came as a shock. We had like 3 days to learn it! Good thing my companion is Korean. He wanted it memorized too so that was all I was singing last week. But, it turned out great and I still find myself singing it haha. It was a cool experience to be there at the fireside! I didn't understand a word but it made me realize that the gospel is the same no matter what language. I'm so grateful for that. 

What else... Nothing I guess. It has been raining so hard since basically last Friday. It hasn't stopped yet! Tracting in it is a blast. I am always wet and cold. I guess I should get used to it. Thank heavens for my rain boots!

That about wraps up my week... Thank you for all the love and support! Love you all!!! 

Week #16

Hello! This week was about the same as last. Not much has changed. We still tract all the time and still haven't had much success. I'm still struggling so my mission president and his wife have decided to have me meet with a counselor. I'm meeting with her on Wednesday so we'll see how that goes.

The rain is starting to come now. It pretty much poors at night and is on and off throughout the rest of the day. It's pretty gloomy here now. It gets dark at like 5 and the rest of the day is just a really bright gray.

The funeral of the missionary from our ward who died is going to be on Friday and a general authority is going to come speak. It should be a beautiful service and we're lucky we get to go.

That about wraps things up around here. Thinking of you lots! Love you so much!!

 

Sister Brian

Week #15

Wow. Honestly I have no report for this week. It was probably the most boring week EVER. We did nothing. Except tract. and Tract. and TRACT. With no success. HA. 

So Sister Lee is nice. But our house always stinks like Kimchi. and rice. She only eats Korean food haha. 

What else... I think that about wraps it up. Oh, I wore my crocs. For those who don't know what they look like... They are actually pretty cute. Not like the normal crocs. But they are super comfortable. I just had to laugh at myself when I wore them because I feel like such a missionary. Ahh well, I suppose I am so whatever. haha I can't even think of anything else to say... so on that note.... Love you all!!

Week #14

Wow.. Transfers! I made it another one so I am still staying in Issaquah!! It's a blessing and a curse. I love this place and I truly hate it sometimes haha. It's just great. But my new companion is Hyunah Lee from our home ward!! Haha hilarious. It's been alright for the 2 hours I've been with her so far so we'll see how the next 6 weeks goes....

 

So this week we did a ton of service! It's a miracle since no one will ever let us do service! But an awesome lady in our ward works at a place called House of Hope. It's a place where women can go and live for free with their children if they have an abuser have been abandoned... Things like that. It's like a women's shelter but they live in million dollar houses. It's insane. But they have people donate clothes so we got to go and organize the clothes! It was awesome. And I got to wear pants!! That barely fit. It's proof I'm getting fat! GAHHHH. But whatever...

Also we helped Brandy with some service. She has a huge garden and she cans EVERYTHING. Seriuosly everything. So we got to go and help her can! It was awesome. Then she sent us home with so much stuff! So much squash and zucchini! (by the way mom, I made bread and everyone loved it!!!)

What else... I hit my 3 month mark!! I can't believe it! As I always say, it's a miracle I made it this far. And that about wraps up my week. Haha pretty slow week. But it's all good. Hopefully I'll have some more cool things to say next week. My emails are getting pretty boring. Anyway. Love you all!!!!

Kathryn's Baptism

Sister Brian, Sister Monks, Kathryn and Scott Denninghoff (Kathryn's work friend who baptized her)

Dave and Terri Young (ward members who helped fellowship Kathryn.

Turning on the water to fill up the font!

Putting in the plug!

After-baptism celebration. Ice cream with a fork!

It was amazing! So many ward members and missionaries came. Like standing room only! The talks were beautiful, given by the ward members who fellowshipped her--Dave and Terri Young. They are the cutest! Terri (Sister Young....oops!) reminds me of Grandma Brian. Ah, it makes me miss her! We also had a lady in the ward play the harp. She played Nearer my God to Thee and it was incredible. I was tearing up! (Thanks, Mom!) Sister Monks and I walked around the temple after (our stake center is right behind it). That was the moment I thought, man I'm doing something right! It was the best feeling and I'm so lucky I got to experience it.

On a funnier note....We had to be at the Stake Center 2 hours early to start filling the font but you can't leave it. It was right during our dinner time so we just decided to eat there. Sister Monks brought a little thing of easy-mac and I brought pancakes! Yes, pancakes! They sounded soooo good so I brought my pan, PAM, my Kodiak cakes, peanut butter, all the works! It was hilarious. I was still flippin' away when people started to show up! Ha ha! The whole room smelled like pancakes because of me. Ooops! Anyway, it was awesome.

Week #13

Kathryn got baptized this week!!! It was incredible!! There were a million people there! Okay, maybe not but there were a ton of missionaries and so many people from our ward! It was packed. Like standing room only. Everything went perfectly and we had someone in our ward play the harp. It was so perfect! After, Sister Monks and I got a chance to just walk around the temple. That was so nice. And peaceful!! She was confirmed on Sunday and everything went according to plan. She is awesome and we love her!!

That reminds me.. The temple last week was so awesome!!! The Seattle temple is so cool! It has escalators in it haha it was hilarious. But it was beautiful. I honestly wish we could go more! I'd go every week if it were possible. 

What else... Transfers are next Tuesday! I have a hunch I'm going to stay here and that Sister Monks is leaving? It's so weird! I like don't know a mission without her! Hahaha. I guess we'll see what happens? 

We got a referral from a new convert in our ward to teach her friend. So we went over for dinner and taught Ariane the Restoration and part of the Plan of Salvation. We gave her a book of mormon too! It was cool but I'm not sure she's super interested. So we'll see! We also taught another lesson to a kid in our ward's girlfriend. Her name is Melissa. She was so cute! She was just rollin with everything we taught and she is already like half way through the Book of Mormon. Crazy!! Hopefully we'll get to teach her again!!

I think that's all.. Super short but our time is way short today. I love you all!!!!

Week #12

I'm the worst. I have zero time left. So this week was good? Kathryn is getting baptized on Friday! Yay! We get to go to the temple today! And life is good!! That's all. Love you all!!!

Life in Issaquah

Week #11

his week wasn't the most exciting but here it is anyway!

We had a zone conference and it was good. Man are they long though! They fed us, which was nice but still.. I felt bad because I was dozing! President Choi talked about being homesick and how we should have fun with the spirit.  

Kathryn is doing great! She does in fact spell her name that way... I've been spelling it wrong since day one. Oh well. She is still getting baptized on the 30th so we're really excited! She is solid. I'm so happy we're baptizing her but not? As soon as we do, there goes our teaching pool! Ah well, it happens.

So we have been meeting with a former investigator named Lorena. She has had a few sets of missionaries but hasn't gotten baptized because of her live-in boyfriend. I can't remember if I told about her or not... Anyway. We put her on date for this coming weekend! We were so excited! But then she missed her baptismal interview on Sunday so we'll see what happens with that. We're really hoping though. She is ready she just doesn't quite know it yet. 

Aaaaaaand that about wraps up my week. Nothing exciting but it's all good. Thanks for the letters and emails! Love you all!!! 

Week #10

So this week was a little better than last week! We met with Katherine the night I emailed and she committed to be baptized onAugust 31! woooo! We are so so excited! She asked what we would be teaching her next and we said the commandments and we gave her a little teaser on what they were. We said Word of Wisdom and told her it was like our health code then she says, "Oh! We don't need to worry about that, I already threw out all my coffee." Umm wha!? Still in shock we told her about the Law of Chastity ("No problem there, I'm dating a Mormon guy") and Tithing ("Oh yeah! When should I start paying that?") Are you kidding me!? This lady is golden! We cannot wait!!

Then, we were street contacting one night when we saw a harmless looking old man wearing red suspenders. We go up and talk to him and he says, "Will you come with me? I write poems about Jesus Christ and want to show you some." So we follow him and stay outside while he goes up to his apartment to get the poems. He reads them to us and they're nice, blah blah. We give him a Book of Mormon and tell him we'd like to come back. We schedule an appointment for Thursday at 2 and we left. This was Tuesday. He calls the next day and asks for someone elses number to verify that we're actually sister missionaries. Umm for real dude? Who would impersonate us? LDS Sister Missionaries, really? So we give him the bishop's number and tell the Bishop to prepare for a weird call. He calls us and says that Roger seems nice, a little weird, but nice. Then he tells us to take someone with us when we go see him. So the next day we get to his apartment just us 2. We couldn't find anyone to go with us. He comes down and says, "I hope you girls can walk up 3 flights of stairs to my apartment." We told him we couldn't go in to his apartment because of the ratio/safety rule. At this point... He loses it. He starts yelling and saying "You didn't tell me you couldn't come up to my apartment! I had everything set up and ready for you!" Woah, acca-scuse me!? You have WHAT set up and all ready for us?! There was no way we were going up there! Then he has the nerve to call us LAZY! Bah! Sister Monks and I were in complete shock. We had no idea what to say! He told us we were lazy and inconsiderate and didn't know how to do business because we didn't call him and tell him we couldn't come up to his apartment. Then Sister Monks said, "Umm, Roger. We never told you we would go up to your apartment." Haha that shut him up for a minute. We asked if we should just leave and he told us how he valued his time so now that we took it he wanted us to teach him. We were both so flustered at this point I had no idea what we were teaching him. We got our act together and gave the fastest Restoration lesson in history. Like a minute 30 tops. We testified of the Book of Mormon and asked him to read it. He said he had and that it was the most boring book he's ever read and it didn't even talk about Jesus Christ in there! Sister Monks then said, "clearly you didn't read it" Haha! So after that we promptly left. Yikes.

But... The story continues. He showed up to church on Sunday!! He sat in sacrament by his grumpy old self and then we asked if he wanted to come to Sunday School. He followed us there and walked in the class and saw a lady with a baby in there. He lost it again! This man is crazy. He said is there no adult class? We told him this was it and he said, "Why are there babies in here? When I study the Bible I want it to be quiet with no crying babies and distractions!" Long story short he stormed out of the class and that was the end of Roger. Man, we are not calling him back. So that was a long story but it needed to be shared!

We had a Zone Meeting this week, that was pretty fun. We met with Brandy again - she isn't progressing unfortunately. We, well Sister Monks, made Gooey Butter cake. Yeah, it makes my butt get bigger just thinking about it. It's a Paula Deen recipe so you can imagine.. It's to die for. And clearly I'm getting fat. Really though. There is a lady in our ward who served a mission in Russia and actually married her Zone Leader haha, who we went to see. She told us all about her mission experience and gave us an awesome pep-talk. She is so awesome! And it's funny because there are actually a lot of people in our ward who married people from their missions. We are always making bets on who is getting married from ours. We have started meeting with a lady that has had a few sets of missionaries teach her now. She has been dropped every time because of Law of Chastity issues with her live-in boyfriend. But we stopped by and they broke up so hopefully we can start making progess with her. We'll see!

I think that's basically it! It's been a pretty eventful week. Thank you for the emails and letters and prayers! They are so appreciated! Love you all!!

Sister Brian

Week #9--another letter

hello fam!

 

Sounds like another fun week at the Brian abode! Thank you SO much for the package!! It was perfect! I've had Crio everyday since I got it and pretty sure Sister Monks thinks I'm psycho. She still won't try it but I'll get her too! I'm buying creamer today so I'm really excited. The tank tops were awesome and I've worn my OneDirection shirt every single night to bed :) THANK YOU! Thanks for the scissors too! I'm sorry I feel like I am always asking for you to send packages and things to me. I do love you guys! Not just the packages.

 

Sounds like your biking trip was fun! Sorry about your crash, mom. Good thing it wasn't too bad. You guys are going to be crazy bikers when I get home I just know it! Do you have a bike hitch to take them down to St. George? That would be beautiful to ride down there! Especially in the fall.

 

I can't believe school starts for the kids so soon. It seems like the summer just flew by! But doesn't it always? Any other fun trips? Dad Hawaii will be fun! But I guess it's mostly work and no play. It's your traveling time here pretty soon right? It sounds like you'll be going a lot of cool places! Mom, since you are in the market for a job.. Work at 3B! How cool would it be if you taught yoga? Or work at Soel and send me cute clothes :) Tell Em good luck with the soccer tryouts! Be sure and tell me how she does!

 

Haha that cat story was hilarious dad! The people around here are crazy animal people so I do not like cats anymore. I barely like dogs. All the ones here nip at your ankles are little demons. I do miss Duke though... Is he still alive? Send a picture!

 

The apartment is good! We didn't swap with the Elders. They moved into another apartment with new Elders. There are 5 of them in their apartment. I kinda feel bad sometimes, we caused this huge domino effect. Oops. But it is nice to sleep without distractions! The members were bummed we left but we are not. It was a terrible environment for missionaries so it's much better where we are now. We are eating dinner with them tonight actually so that should be interesting.

 

I wish Finn and I exchanged emails! We don't. Haha he doesn't email me. But it's okay. I know getting an email out in the MTC is hard. I do pray for him everyday though. I hope he's doing good. I'm starting to read Jesus the Christ but it's pretty deep stuff. I'm excited though! It should be good though!

 

Tell Nate good luck on the mish! Finland is going to be crazy cool!

 

Thank you for your fast and prayers - they are so appreciated! We are still teaching the same people so hopefully something actually happens this week.

 

I love you guys! so much!!

 

Sister Brian

 

Week #9

Hello! and happy 2 months to me! This week wasn't the most exciting but here is a little rundown of what happened..

 

We had a Zone Conference but it was a weird one. It was multiple zones and President Choi spoke. It was pretty good! It was supposed to be on mission culture but he kinda just spoke. He is a funny guy, I like him. His wife spoke too so that was pretty cool.

 

We met with Brandy, as always. Her husband just had major surgery though so she has to take constant care of him. The poor lady looked exhausted so we didn't get to teach her. The people that referred us to them had their son get baptized this week and invited Brandy and her kids but of course she didn't show up. We'll get her though!

 

I can't remember if I told you about a referral we got from the Elders but her name is Christina. Single woman with 3 kids. One of them is old enough to be baptized! We haven't been able to set a time to meet with her but we keep stopping by. We're so excited to start teaching her! HOpefully it will be this week! We're trying to get her (like everyone else we talk to) to come to church.

 

Speaking of church.. Jami promised she would come. AND she didn't. surprise. haha. Katherine did though! So that was awesome. We're teaching her tonight too.

 

That about wraps up my week. Seriously. HA. Pathetic.

 

BUT, on the bright side our apartment is AWESOME! It's so spacious and amazing! I'll be in the bathroom and Sister Monks will be in the kitchen and I can't even hear her! I've asked her to come in the bathroom with me cause I get lonely in there haha. But, the Elders seriously have no mirrors in there. That may or may not be a bad thing considering I'm getting fat and don't like to look... But it's still a pain. We had members go buy us one haha. The Elders did leave us all their food though. That was not nice of them. We had to clean out so much crap! The mold on all of their food was like growing into the tupperware so we could not even save them. I'll send some pictures of the apartment soon. Another odd thing, there are candles everywhere! Like what in the heck Elders? Seriously everywhere! The tall, white, Jesus candles too haha it's hilarious. It still slightly smells like Elder too. We're working on it.

 

Well, that's all. Love you guys!!

Mission Life

The Zone Leaders---Elder Yamashita and Elder Harding

The "pie" they ate at a member's house.

The 7-year old granddaughter of the members where Montana lived her first 6 weeks in Issaquah.