May 14, 2018 – Week 85!

May 25, 2018

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Especially to my mom! :)

This week has been pretty good. Even though there hasn't been a ton of progress in the sector because not many people have been accepting baptismal dates like we'd like. We always invite them, but they've also got their agency. Hopefully we can keep teaching and sharing our testimonies so that they feel even more willing to accept a baptismal invitation! We've gotta always remember to invite to repentance as well. Inviting to repentance prepares people for the baptismal invitation too!

Yesterday talking with families was great. Kinda crazy that it's already the last Skype call! I was able to learn a lot from my family, and it helped me be even more excited to keep working here as hard as I can! My companion also has a great family, and their words helped us both! --- Church attendance dropped a bit because of Mother's Day. We invited many, but few came because all the rest were leaving to visit family members. That's alright though. This next week will be even better!

This week was a great week of working with members and less active members. As we were contacting in the streets, we seem to have run into more less active members than we had in the past! And if I remember correctly, almost every one of them gave us a referral to go and visit! We visited one of the less active members who seemed ready to come back to church. She had a great desire to change and partake of the blessings that come with regular church attendance! I know that the Lord guides even His missionaries to those who are less active, and through them, many people are blessed! She had 2 referrals for us, and one was a family member of hers! It's always great to have experiences with people who are prepared to share the gospel with those in need, and they can do it well because they've had personal experiences that help with their testimony!

We also did a little presentation this week for the ward Mother's Day show. We told everyone we were gonna dance, and then we spun around and said "ELDERS DONT DANCE" and they all laughed and were disappointed and we shared a little message for all the mothers. We also helped others in their presentation. It was great because we had a couple investigators attending the activity too, so they were able to see the clean fun we have in the church as members!

This week we've still been workig with Milagros. we're trying to help her build her testimony even more so she can feel like she can make a sure decision about baptism. She's had many spiritual experiences. I know the Spirit has worked in her, and I hope she can feel the desire even stronger to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

CRAZY EXPERIENCE we had this past week. So after P-Day finished, we headed out to work for the last few hours of the day that are left. Then, as we got back to our house, there were (and I'm not kidding) 100+ flies flying around and on the ceiling. Huge ones. Like bee size... I have no clue how they got in. Those in the floor below us didn't have a single one there. 3 hours before, there were 0, and we had just cleaned a lot because it was P-day! We gladly were able to get rid of them all, and none of them entered our bedroom, so we slept well (which was a blessing because the buzzing noise was loud), but yeah.. Crazy mission story complete :)

Even though we haven't had a ton of lessons this week, the spirit is still with us, and we are still working to bless people at any opportunity we have! I hope that we are leaving little seeds so that ina few months, people we've contacted will be prepared for baptism! I know that it is possible.

I testify that repentance is also a blessing. It is a great process. The change that one feels after repentance is great, and the peace that comes is immense. I've been able to see that many times as a missionary. I love teaching about the blessings of repentance. Inviting someone to repent may be kinda difficult or awkward as a missionary, but when you do it with love, and you explain the blessings, people are willing to repent, and it's great :)

Hope you all have a great week! We have transfers tomorrow, so we'll see who stays and who goes!

-Elder Bruner

eating some nice american styled hamburgers last p day. we'll be eating those today too. s/.6.90 like $2

mothers day presentation in the church! singers and presentations.

the littel girl in front in pink in the pic #611 is the daughter of an investigator who wanted to go and dance like the primary kids, so she ran up and started dancing haha.