August 7, 2017 – Week 45!

This week has been great! I hit my 10 month mark in the mission! Crazy. How crazy. 

Well, even though the work is a bit slow in the sector, that doesn't mean that the mission is bad or anything. It's the opposite! It means we are setting goals to change how we work and setting goals to find more people to teach in the sector! I am so glad that Elder Morales is my companion, because he has such a great desire to work and he also is just a great Elder! The week goes by fast with him. We get together well, and have similar interests! We've gotta make sure we don't get distracted though haha. It's easier to get distracted when you have common interests :P

Last Monday (after getting kinda lost in the center of lima and taking a taxi to get back to our house haha) we were able to have a lesson with one of our recent converts, Alberto. It was a great lesson, and we were able to help him use the application for scriptures better, and now he's more interested and excited to read! He's progressing well! He's awesome, and this week he'll be going with us to do some visits, which will be awesome!

We also had an intercambio this week with our district leader. Well, it was more of divisions, where we just changed for a few hours. I was with Elder Gardner, and I found out that he likes Bowling too! AWESOME! We'll have to bowl when we get back.

This week was great because we were able to have a lesson with an investigator named Ester. She has been taught by the missionaries for 5 years, but hasn't been baptized. She really has a testimony of the church and she knows it's true and wants to get baptized, but there's just a little opposition from others that's making it hard. This week though, that changed. Those who had the opposition were a little more receptive when she wanted to go to church, and she was way happy because of it!

Sunday was a great day because of that, AND because we had a special visit from Elder Uceda from the Presidency of the 70! (The bishop's dad). We gave our testimonies about the chapel open house activity, and when we went up to wait, I sat there right next to him. He's a great guy. Very happy, and when he bore his testimony / said some words, they were so powerful. He speaks great in English, but wow, when he speaks in Spanish about experiences with others from the Quorum of the 12 and other gospel topics, you can just feel the power he has in his voice. It motivated everyone I'm sure. The room was silent as he spoke. The coolest thing he said, which was said by Elder Holland (which Elder Uceda heard when he was traveling with him), is that we should't be ok with just the spiritual experiences we've already had. We ALL need to have more spiritual experiences as members of the church. It's necessary! I can testify of that as well. I thought I was well off before the mission, but I came here and the spiritual experiences I've had have changed my view of everything. Being immersed in the gospel really changes your mind about everything. It's amazing. If we all strive to have more spiritual experiences, I know we can feel the spirit even more in our lives and we can feel a peace that the world can not bring into our lives. I know that is true. I have felt that peace.

We also had interviews with President this past week. Interviews are always great, and it's great to receive counsel from our mission president and his wife. Hermana Larson also wants me to design some Baptismal Invitations to hand out to people, so they can make copies and give them to all the districts and companionships. I'll be coming up with a good design, and Hermana Larson said she'll be buying some of the amazing Micron pens so I can use them :) I'm alright with that haha. It'll be cool if we end up implementing these baptismal invitation cards / reference cards for those who may not be members of the church or for those who have friends / family who aren't members!

This week has been awesome. Just awesome. I know the work of the Lord may be difficult sometimes, but as Elder Holland said, sometimes as representatives of Jesus Christ, we may have to feel at least a portion of what he felt. It's a great blessing though! As we feel pains and have trials, just think, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest man who has ever lived.

I know the Gospel is true, and that Jesus is my Savior.

Hope you have a great week everyone!


Elder Bruner


making Completos. A chilean food. pretty much cool hot dogs.



at the catacombs.


cool pic with the sun

pollo take 2



pollo a la parilla (grilled chicken). mmmm pituco.

with the Manrique family

With the Baron family

the zone after playing sports. only 2 elders werent there, the rest were.

Comments

  1. AriannaAugust 13, 2017 at 9:12 PM

    Yayyyy! 10 months is crazy! Sounds healthy and happy and we love seeing the pictures :)

    ReplyDelete

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