Elder Preston Bruner

This week has been great! First off, we'll talk about the highlight of the week. Elder Alonso came to visit our mission. He was sent a while ago by President Nelson (who now is prophet of the church). I am 100% sure that he was sent by revelation, because the things he shared helped us so specifically here in the mission. He cut down some of the traditions that have become common in the mission. Things that aren't bad, but that could be more effective, for example: Contacting (one missionary) while the other one prays in his mind for his companion, instead of both taking turns doing a ping-pong portion of the contact and sharing brief statements back and forth. Also, Contacting with more of a "surprise" approach, saying that you'll share more in the lesson rather tahn just sharing a small lesson there in the street without much of the spirit. Also, contacting but asking for references rather than being direct, and they then may give themselves as a reference ...

This week was pretty good! I'M 20 YEARS OLD. Kinda crazy. I still feel like I'm 18, but at the same time I feel like I'm 20.  This week we contacted Ana, who is someone living close to another one of our former investigators. We contacted her because we saw a contact card in her window that missionaries had left before in her house. At first when we contacted her, she didn't really want much, but then we started talking about the Book of Mormon. We started explaining some of the doctrine, and showing her that what we shared wouldn't confuse her children, but would help clear up false ideas and doctrines that many times in the world today we hear. She became more interested, and she accepted a visit! We'll be visiting her this week, and I know that as we share more of the Book of Mormon, her testimony will grow and hopefully she will accept a baptismal date! We also were working with an investigator this week , and we helped him realize that he was close...

This week has been a good experience, but there's still a ton of stuff to learn! This week we started teaching a part member family. The couple isn't married, but they have plans to do so in the future! Carlos isn't a member, and his wife Ana is.They are great! From what I heard, they came to church after being visited by a home teaching companionship! That just testifies that doing our Home Teaching / Visiting Teaching really can be a help in bringing less active members back, and also in finding people to share the gospel with! Many people don't have the blessings that come from being a member of this church, but it could just be because they don't know much about what we believe! Always share your spiritual experiences with others, and help the feel the joy you do, and many will have a greater desire to follow Jesus Christ in their lives! We also had interviews this week with President Larson. As always, interviews are a great experience and I learned a ...

Wow. New transfer already? New companion already? Yep. My new companion here in Caja de Agua is Elder Rios from Santa Cruz, Bolivia! He's awesome! He's my 4th companion in a row from Bolivia! I think there's something that President sees in me knowing that I have to be with Bolivians or something haha. This week ahs been pretty good! Tiring though. There is so much sun right now that it's hot every day!  Last Monday we had a great Family Home Evening. Our ward mission leader practically explained all of the 1st 3 missionary lessons (The Restoration, The Plan of Salvation, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ) in about 30 minutes! It was cool! He knew how to teach it simply but completely! Transfers were on Tuesday. On the night before transfers, a cockroach entered our bedroom right as we were trying to go to bed. We didn't want it to stay, so we got up and tried to get rid of it. It was a big fast little bugger, so it took a bit to find it. Gladly we got it ...