August 13, 2018 – Week 98!

Wow! Week 98! Pardon my bad typing this week. Sticky keyboards still bug me haha.

this week was full of great experiences! Let me start with the first and most exciting.

This Sunday, we had an investigator attending named Veronica. She'll be baptized in a few months after she can get married, but through a few visits we've made, and through keeping her committments, she's gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the church, and her family (members) is even happier! We had another investigator named Ropsaura who got to church on Sunday, but during the 2nd hour, Veronica invited her to move closer and sit by her! She shared her Gospel Principles book, and then when the class ended, Veronica said to Rosaura, "Let's go to the next class together?" and they both headed up and stayed during Relief Society! Later in teh night we visited Veronica, and she comented that Rosaura has a desire to keep learning and even mentioned her desire of being baptized to Veronica, and Veronica shared her story of knowing that the Book of Mormon helps when Rosaura shared her doubts with the Book of Mormon. Then Veronica invited Rosaura to her house one day so we could come and they could learn together! This visit will be this week, so I'm really exccited! This is true charity and love. This is what friendship and befriending is really like. EVEN INVESTIGATORS can help one another progress! I know this is true. It was so cool to hear about this, and I know that as one person acts as a friend to others, it's the best way to help them!

As Preach my Gospel says, "Latter-day Saints can best help new members remain active by being their friends. Members should reach out to those you are teaching and to new converts with a warm, positive attitude. Visitors and new converts will often respond favorably when greeted with a smile, when sincerely asked about how they are doing, when others sit by them during meetings, and when they are invited to a family dinner or home evening."

This week we also found some pretty cool new investigators! One was a former investigator who had heard the missionaries beforehand, but there wasn't much noted about him in the area book. We visited him, and he told us he's been reading the Book of Mormon each day! We weren't sure if he was really reading the book of Mormon or the Bible daily, because some people confuse the 2, but at the end of the lesson, he saw the picture of the Book of Mormon and said, "this is the book they gave me!" It would be really cool to see that he's been reading each day! He even said that Jospeh Smith must be a prophet because of what he did and how he helped people know more about God! I hope we can teach him again this week and help him progress! He accepted baptism but wasn't able to attend church, so we'll be working on teaching about the Sabbath Day this week.

Sabbath Day observance is extremely necessary as members or non-members of the church. If we procure to put aside all other wordly distractions and make the focus of Sunday a focus in God, we will be blessed. Sports, videogames, tirelessly browsing on facebook or twitter etc. without purpose can be done on other days. On Sunday, we must know how to use our electronics wisely, and our time as well. God has given us these things for our benefit, and Satan is trying to exploit them and distract us. I know that as we focus on God and have an eye single to His glory, we can rejoice and receive both temporal and spiritual strength each week!

We've been working with a future missionary in our ward this week too! It's always cool to see how soemone who even is really shy come with us to work. This young man shared his testimony in various lessons, and opened up in a way that only the gospel can permit. Every future and returnd missionary should go out with the missionaries to again feel how they can be instruments in the Lord's hands! We all can be missionaries! Even without a nametag!

Funny story of the week. One day, returning to our room, I felt water hitting my head. Usually happens in the winter, so yeah, it's normal. So we go up the stairs and on the 4th floor we see a huge puddle of dog pee, and there just happened to be a circular hole in the wall to prevent flooding, which led to a pipe that dripped in the street, which happened to be the only thing dripping withing the limits of our building..... Yeah, I think you can guess.... That wasn't water falling on my head... CURSE YOU CHONA (The dog's name is Chona) hahaha. These stories are priceless really haha. (PS, yes, I washed my head with water when we got into our apartment)

Well, I'm still district leader this transfer, but this time over 2 sectors. 2 sisters and 2 elders. 6 in total including us! As a leader I still learn a ton from others in the mission. I hope to keep learning, because I love it! I know that as we continually learn, we will continually progress, and we will come to be "perfect, even as [our] Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

I can't wait to work hard for the last weeks of my mission here in Ingenieria, Rimac! Miracles happen and will keep happening, I know it!

Thanks for all your support!

Love you all!

Elder Bruner

with the elders in my last district

with our amazing zone leaders Elder Fairchild and Elder Mejilla, and my amazing companion Elder Fuentes

eating chicken!

Making Patacones (i think thats how you spell it.) it was a 1st try just hearing about them. Just take Green platano, and boil it, then mash it like mashed potatoes, then put cheese inside, then fry it. It didnt turn out perfect because the cheese ddint met and it wasnt too salty like it should be i think, but it was good! Mashed green platano tastes like potatoes practically,