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!!!!