Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Week 16- Gilbert

Hey!
the missionary work is definitely picking up. We took frank to the visitor's center this week and he loved it. the spirit was so strong. We were supposed to take him to a baptism yesterday to see what it was like but he canceled last minute. and cancelled the appointment. he still wanted to but satan was workin pretty hard on him. Frank had a group project due the following day and 2 of the people doing the project with him dropped the class, and the teacher made him pick up the slack. ha and we were fasting for him that day too! it's kinda funny because last time we fasted for eric and ally, it ended up bad too. just temporarily though! so i'm counting on that with Frank too! Hopefully we can have another lesson with him and commit him to another date, since he probably won't be getting baptized this Saturday because he missed the other baptism and lesson and such... But it's fine! I have no doubt that he will be baptized. it's just a matter of when! But he's a stud. ANYWAY... transfers are next week and i honestly don't know what's going to happen. really not sure. My Bishop says that he's going to personally email my mission president and tell him to keep me here. So we'll see haha. Our Bishops love Elder Neu and me. He talks us up so much in all of his meetings too haha. Members will come up and say, "man, Bishop was sure talkin you up in pec today..." And we're always confused. Sorry this email is going to be short, because i don't know what else to say!  ummm we also just started teaching this guy that's been inactive for 30 years. all of the oldtimers in our ward think we're incredible because we're teaching him, when really the Lord was just preparing him. it wouldn't have mattered which elders started teaching him. I guess it's just a way that The Lord was blessing us with member trust! along with our  bishops talking us up. and our stake president ha. oh we've been teaching another less active named Ashley. She told us the other day that when we first started teaching her she didn't want to be LDS, but now she's coming to church and loving it. pretty cool. oh we ran into another inactive in the apartments the other day. started teaching him. we were super bold with him and got him to meet with Bishop. That's the best part about being amissionary. the spirit is so strong because of the mantle of being set apart as a servant of the Lord (and because we don't do anything but serve The Lord all day) that we can be super bold with people. doing missionary work as a member missionary, the line between bold and overbearing is pretty low. but as a missionary you can be incredibly bold and they won't take offense to it. as long as they first recognize you as a representative of Jesus Christ. You have to have the spirit to be bold. and you won't be confounded before men (i always use that scripture. because its awesome). if ye receive not the spirit, ye cannot teach. but if you do have it, the words will be given you in the very moment you need them! go promises!   lately, we've been working with members a lot too because well.... it's Gilbert Arizona. Anyway we seek to build their faith by sharing the restoration, and bringing the spirit in really strong, but then after that we give them an apostolic promise given to us by Elder Anderson in the last conference in the talk, "it's a miracle." it's like the coolest promise ever. you have to look it up. actually i'll just tell you it. do it with the fam. please.   Elder Neil L Anderson: As you pray to know with whom to speak... 1. names and faces will come to your minds 2. words will be given you in the moment you need them 3. Opportunities will arise 4. faith will overcome doubt 5. the lord will bless you with your very own miracles.   this promise is awesome. but it's not just a promise. it's a promise given to us by a special witness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. These promises are real. The Lord is bound by these promises, because they are given to us by his servants. Try him. Pray and ask our father in heaven to know with whom to speak. and he will let you know. but you have to do so with real intent, faith in Christ, and sincerely (just like you do when you seek any personal revelation (moroni 10:4)). But real intent means that you are really intending on acting on the personal revelation. please. act on your personal revelation. talk to and invite those people that WILL come to your mind. As you do so, I promise you that the Lord will bless you with the words to say, the opportunities to arise, the faith to overcome doubt, and with personal miracles. You will be able to "catch the wave of missionary work."   So Bronson Family, will you pray to know with whom to speak? ( i know.. just another one of Elder Bronson's assignments. false. this one is awesome)   

Love, Elder Bronson

Week 15- Gilbert

Mother and Family (well just family i guess)! yes you can still call me parkie, but elder bronson is preferred. how come i'm not getting another from marcus soon? tell him to get on that! paper letters are like 10000% better than emails. it's hard getting to bed at night for seminary? i have an idea for you mom! do missionary work all day. trust me. you will have no problem falling asleep at 10:30 haha. yes we definitely have a lot of sisters coming in. and next transfer is at the beginning of october. which is super crazy because it feels like it just started. Elder Neu and I have been workin hard so it's been going sooo fast. it's amazing that i've been out for 3 months because it seems like i just got out. training is coming along great though. We work well together and teach well together, so our teaching opportunities go up and up each week.
cooled down in tennessee? what? lucky. it's cooled down like ten degrees since june though so it's only about 105 or so in the day now. but i think it might go up again this week. yes some ties and pants would be so awesome. and i actually never wore a 30 waist ha. a 32 would be preferred. 32 length too.
Our investigators are doing awesome! and yes we got a couple new ones this week. I think i told you last week but we have someone we're working with named Frank. He's a stud. We've taught him four times and he's come to church the last couple weeks. He's so ready to get baptized. We're taking him to the visitor's center this week, but i have no doubt that he'll be baptized in the next 2-3 weeks. He's so great though. We commit him to read a chapter or something at the end of the lesson, and he'll come back having read it like three times. He then proceeds to explain it with incredible detail, and the spirit always is super strong. It didn't take long for him to really feel the spirit because he was super prepared. The Lord was preparing him for years. Our last couple lessons have been awesome too, and i'm super pumped for the visitor's center on tuesday. and he is too! anyway, Ally (eric the less activie's girlfriend) is doing well too. We've been teaching them for a few weeks and the had a bad week this week... but we fasted for them last week, and they ended up agreeing to meet with the Bishop. Anyway Bishop did his thing (like bishops always do. I swear there is a hole in the ceiling of every bishop's office where revelation just shoots down from the windows of heaven). So anyway, we visited Ally and Eric yesterday, and Eric kept telling us how much ally was crying after the bishop's office. We held back our excitement until we got home...  haha but they are doing awesome.
Yes some of the ward members are doing awesome. It's kind of a hit or miss kind of thing. There are many members that have such a desire to do missionary work so we help them make a family mission plan, and teach them how to do member missionary work. other times it is harder to get them motivated. And the only way we can get them motivated is to let the spirit do its thing. Our mission president has advised us (as well as pmg) to share with them the restoration to let them feel the spirit of the message and have them desire to share it. However, when Elder Anderson came the other day, he advised us to not cast our pearls before swine, and said specifically to not share the restoration if they aren't ready to hear it. So Bronson family, if you want the missionaries to share an awesome message, talk to them about missionary work at dinner. Tell them about the experieneces that you are having. or that kellie is having. Get them excited about the work that you are doing. They will recognize your desire to do missionary work, and should share some encouraging advice for you guys. unless they're lame missionaries. Anyway... i keep getting off track.
Good to hear that you are still having an awesome experience with seminary! keep it up! want to bring the spirit in? bear your testimony to them. There is nothing more powerful than someone bearing powerful testimony about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and validity of the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit will not let you down. When you sincerely say, "I know that the book of mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God", the spirit will accompany your statement with conviction. He will carry your testimony into the hearts of the children of men. and you will not be confounded before men. There are so many incredible promises given to us in the scriptures. God does not put those incredible promises in there for us to read them and move on with our lives, but to use them. He says "prove me herewith." try him. see if he doesn't carry your testimony into the hearts of those that hear you. alright. off track again.
thank you for the tennis updates. That is awesome that the match was so good. go nadal.
the apartment is nice. we sometimes keep it clean. we don't cook much because the members love us. and i don't really need gift cards. i am fine financially. pants and stamps and ties sounds good to me! oh and a tie clip. a conservative, plain one. Oh is Ben gone already?! man time flies! I am sure that Kathy is having a hard time. But his letters that he sends will comfort her i'm sure. as I hope mine do! and yes my letter is long enough too haha.
Love you all!
 
love, Elder Bronson