March 12, 2018 – Week 76!

March 20, 2018

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 to accepting a scam. I'm glad my companion and I were able to realize it before he got into more finiancial problems. We're trying to help him act on his gospel faith more so that he can get a job. It's sad to see when people are passing through problems. I know that the gospel is the biggest help one can receive though, because God knows our trials better than anyone else, and knows how to bless us!

We also had a lesson this week with an investigator named Rosi, from Venezuela. We were able to teach her about the Restoration of the Gospel, and she accepted a baptismal date! I hope she keeps progressing! She could be a very firm member of the church who could help many other people too!

We also have been visiting Dana more this week. We taught a few more of the missionary lessons and commandments, and she accepted them all! Even though she has some doubts, I know that the spirit can help her gain a testimony of what we've shared with her until now!

We also have taught Brandon this week. He's preparing to be baptized on the 24th of March! He's been preparing for a while now, but he's now keeping his commitments and he's progressing! I love seeing when investigators progress. It's so great to know that they are applying what we teach, and applying what God has commanded! I see blessings come to them as they accept these principles and apply them.

On Friday we had our ward mission night activity. It was based on the atonement of Christ, and it was a good dynamic to show the suffering of Christ, and how he saved us! (Having someone do pushups to represent Christ suffering) Then at the end we took some pics and shared a snack. It was a great activity!

On Saturday I turned 20. I wanted to contact more than 20 people for my 20th birthday, because contacting has been one of our difficulties this week. Well, we reached the goal and passed 20 contacts! We also happened to pass by the church at the right moment and they were serving empanadas and chicha morada for a ward activity, and they invited us to some! It was a good day! Not a ton of celebrations, but a good day in the work of the Lord! We also bought some pizza at the end of the day to celebrate a tiny bit in our room.

Sunday was good! We had 3 investigators who went to church! Brandon stayed for the 3 hours and made a friend in the church! Awesome when an investigator has a friend in the church! It helps them progress even more!

Well, that's about it for this week! Today we deep cleaned our room to prepare for a general authority visit to the mission, and he'll be reviewing some of the rooms, so they've all gotta be clean and ready!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It was a great day. I hope you all have a good week this week!

Elder Bruner