Week 9- Gilbert

good to hear from you. and keep up the updates. i love them. maybe pictures even? deal. Anyway... That's awesome that so many people were able to show up at the family reunion. It all sounds like a ton of fun! yeah it's weird that school starts so early. it starts really early here too. it starts this wednesday, august 7. but we love it because that means there are actually people in Arizona! If i didn't tell you already, a lot of people like to leave Arizona in the summer because it's really hot. and humid too. i don't think i told you how humid it was. only in august and september though. and there are monsoons too. weird huh? so basically it's really hot and it pours rain once every couple weeks. haven't seen a haboob though... A haboob is a huge dust storm thing that looks like a wall of sand coming at you. I don't think i'm spelling it right either, so i wouldn't look it up until you can spell it right haha. ANYWAY...

All is well in Gilbert! We gained two new investigators this week so we're excited. and that guy named marshall that we taught last week, we taught this week too. He wasn't super engaged last lesson, but the spirit was strong toward the end of the lesson. we gave him a soft commit, and he said when he comes to know it's true, he'll get baptized. Which is a miracle in itself because He's been catholic all of his life (which is a pretty long time). But we have another lesson with him this week and we're hoping to have a church tour with him this week. Hopefully he'll accept an invitation to church this week too! just this last lesson we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Anyway i know that was super jumbled, but i don't really have time to go back and make it understandable so that'll have to work. But Marshall is are most hopeful investigator right now. so if you want someone to pray for... there ya go haha. We went on exchanges the other day and came across someone that accepted a book of mormon but we didn't have one with us so we said we'd drop one by this week. So we're praying for success with him. We also have a super good potential investigator that we were supposed to have a lesson with this week but it fell through. We hope to meet with her this week. The work is definitely progressing in this area! The Lord is really blessing us through our patience and dilligence! it's so cool to see the development of the area over the past six weeks that elder cook and i have been here. The Lord has really used us to completely change the area. And the zone for that matter. we came into the val vista zone, which is a new zone (but the areas aren't new, just reorganized into a new zone) with only one progressing investigator. but everything is changing rapidly! We're pumped.

 

I don't need a raincoat. I'm just enduring through the random rain. It doesn't come often enough to need a raincoat. So i don't really need it yet. The arizonans say that it doesn't even BEGIN to cool down until halloween so i'm in for a treat. But when it does i'll probably need some conservative v-neck sweaters. and maybe a windbreaker or something. But not for a while.

 

Anyway... I hope the family is keeping the commitments I've been sending! I know they are sometimes hard but push forward! I'm super pumped that you are encouraging your seminary students to invite nonmembers to activities. it's all about inviting. Our purpose as missionaries is to "invite others to come unto Christ..." Everyone has their agency. It's one of the gifts we are given in this life to allow us to progress. So people are going to say no to the invites. It's going to happen. But that should never stop us from continuing to invite. the invite is the success, not the fact that they come or not. They are not going to get offended when we invite either. We learned from Elder Nelson in the broadcast weeks ago that if we invite our friends out of pure love for that person to come unto Christ, they cannot and will not be offended. Role play with them if you can. Role play with dad. and with the kids. By role playing, we get the lame invites out of our system and learn how to do it well. PMG teaches us to role play a ton.  Show them that video of the one black kid that changed his teachers quorum from just him, to like fifteen people.

 

Sorry for going off on tangents.

Love, Elder Bronson 

Parker writes about a 'monsoon' that happened where him and his companion were totally drenched and had to go home to dry their clothes.

At the temple

Week 8- Gilbert

Hello! 

good to hear Ryan came home and gave an awesome homecoming talk. believe it or not I actually did write him once... but i forgot to send it. It sat in my scriptures for about a year. I can't remember where I put it but i definitely lost it. I wrote it at efy like two years ago haha. Anyway...  that doesnt' mean he can't write me!! he's got it all backwards. he has to write me first!\

 

Thanks for the thought. It's definitely true that we need to be positive even if difficulties lie ahead. All good thoughts. I kinda have something that kinda goes along the lines of that haha but I think that Alma 26 is one of the greatest chapters in the book of mormon. At least missionary related. All of Alma is missionary related but anyway... Alma 26 is about Ammon as you know. but there is a ton of good stuff in it. especially toward the end when it says "and the lord comforted us and said: 'bear with patience thine afflictions, and i will grant unto thee success.'" totally applicable. The work is tough. especially during the arizona summer. not the heat though, that's easy. but the members. not even the members but all of Arizona. they are all gone! haha they call them snowbirds. They leave during the summer and don't come back until it's cool again. But basically 1/3 of the ward comes to sacrament every sunday, and 2/3 are out of town. So those are our afflictions. It causes the work to sometimes be tough. But we've worked with patience and dilligence and faith (D&C 4 and Alma 26), and we were able to see success. and are looking forward to more success. Elder Cook and I were able to have a lesson with a guy named marshall. he's about mid forties. We did some service for him a couple weeks ago and we were able to get in with him. we taught the restoration. He's a lifelong catholic but it didn't even matter. the spirit was there and super strong toward the end when we got into the restoration. It was so awesome. They just stare at you without blinking when you are quoting joseph's experience. I love it. But anyway he said that he'd read the book of mormon and pray about it. We gave him a soft commit too ( that's basically like, "When you come to know that the bom is true, will you follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized by proper authority?") And he said yes so we'll see how it goes! But we have two more lessons set up this week with two other investigators, so we are seeing the work pick up and we're super excited! But it's all about the members! read pmg and it'll tell you the same thing! but definitely in this area. \

 

Elder Cook and I are happy to see the work pick up. There are a few people in our area desiring to come back to activity and so we are working on them slowly but surely! and we had an awesome lesson with a new investigator last week! his name is marshall. and a couple more lessons set up this week with other investigators. We're excited. Anyway love ya Court! but you are definitely right. never let doubt or discouragement creep in. Discouragement can result in a decrease of faith. never doubt. coolest quote ever ready? I'm sure you've heard it and i'm sure i'll butcher it but... Elder Holland, "for two hundred years this book (book of mormon) has been examined, and attacked... but i'm sticking to what my great grandfather said 'no wicked man could write such a book. and no good man would. unless it were true. and he were commanded of God to do so." It's wayyyyyy better when you hear holland say it so look it up! good stuff though!

 

Also as a ward missionary, when you are trying to get members excited, look in the first chapter of preach my gospel. there are a bunch of quotes from all of the prophets about member missionary work. some of them inspire, others condemn. but my favorite one (which is kinda condemning) is by President Hunter, "When you feel the blessings of the atonement in your life, you cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others. A good indicator of your personal conversion is your desire to share the Gospel with others." Use PMG.  

Maybe you could start incorporating pmg into family night, or nightly scripture study. but there are some quotes in the first chapter from each latter-day prophet about member missionary work. some of them are so awesome, and slightly condemning haha but my favorite one is the one by president Hunter (I actually shared it with court already too but...). It says, "When you feel the blessings of the atonement in your life, you cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others. A good indicator of your personal conversion is your desire to share the gospel with others.) Pretty intense, huh? i think so! but anyway  love you lots! keep writing!

 

Love, Elder Bronson

Week 7- Gilbert

good to hear you are having so  much fun without me! haha just kidding. that is so awesome to hear that valerie got married! and that whole member missionary story is truly incredible. all the connections!
i'm glad you're sending more letters.. i like letters.. i never told you about the ties because i didn't get them until like tuesday so i didn't have a pday to write to you about them! but i love them! except one of them lost its color the other day when we got attacked by a monsoon. it was pretty awesome. We were just riding our bikes and some guy was like "you should probably get inside, the storm's about to hit." Obviously we shrugged it off because it looked fine outside. and then... we immediately got hit by a gust of wind and couldn't hear anything that we were saying to each other. Elder Cook and I went into the nearest house which happened to be where other missionaries in the mission were staying. but they weren't there. and then on the way back to the apartment from the wml's house we got hit by the rainstorm. pretty eventful day. We had to hang all of our stuff up because it was all soaked haha. arizona's got a monsoon season if you didn't know! haha. yeah don't worry about the water thing. members take care of us. yeah i've met with president a few times. Elder Cook and I always seem to be the ones that run into him. We've had a few ten minute conversations with him completely by accident when others have barely met him haha. good to hear Ryan's back! tell him hi for me!
 
none of the following missionary lingo will make sense to you but here we go. and it's gonna be quick because i'm out of time but..
 
yesterday we had to get 47 oyms to achieve standard of excellence. Elder Ballard said if you talk to 20 people a day then you'll qualify for blessings in the future. So we have been getting standard of excellence in oyms every week. but this week we were at 93 and had to get 47 more yesterday. and yesterday was a sunday. We couldn't get out of church until about 4 and then dinner was at 5, and we had a member visit at 8, so we basically had about two hours to actually be able to contact people. But we prayed super fervently and i did personally a ton on saturday night as well. This is the Lord's work. And if we're praying for help with His work, he's definitely going to give it to us. as long as we do so with real intent, having FAITH. which is key. So on the way to church we usually see 1-2 people we can talk to. But we saw 10. right then i knew the Lord was helping us. it was awesome. And then long story short, we were able to get our 47 oyms by the end of the night, with only having like two hours to do it. it was crazy. awesome actually. prayer works. tell your friends hahaha. anyway, while getting oyms the yesterday, we came across a guy that we've talked to a ton before. His name is renee. he walks his dog like every night so we always see him and talked to him. We've testified and taught him like the first two times that we saw him, but he's not ready yet. he's got it in him though so i guarantee that he'll become a member at some point in his life. but anyway, we talked to him for a while again and i don't remember what the context of the conversation was but i said to him something like "well we got you out there helping us proselyte right?" and he was like "well what would you want me to say to people, something like 'i know a couple guys that can help you out' " and we were like "YEAH THAT'S PERFECT!" so we basically have a nonmember helping us out now haha. we'll see how it goes. pretty awesome though.
anyway that was not short at all haha oops.
Gotta go love you mom! and everyone else!
Love, Elder Bronson

Week 6- Gilbert

I'm doing well thank you! the weather has barely gotten cooler. still up in the 115s. well actually that's just what i assume. i don't have a phone to tell me otherwise haha. and no more backpacks as of a few days ago! so we're just going around with our scriptures beggin for water! haha we may get a satchel today though because they're permitted. yeah there are a ton of stakes here. i'm in the highland west stake. my stake president is awesome. super missionary minded. one of my bishops is too. A lot of the past few weeks has been getting the members excited about the changes, and about missionary work. Any invite is a success. We have a ton of prospects so it's exciting to see the future of this area. But yes you are correct about people not being in the area because it's summer and it's hot. it's kinda funny actually. At church we have like sixty people. out of like 400. In August it will be so much better though so we're excited. i use my bike every day. that is what we do. No walking, no driving. However, zone leaders live in my apartment so they give us a ride to things like this (emailing at the library). i wear short sleeves always. long sleeves would kill me. keep praying! and get to the plan when you get back! our family has incredible potential of being an awesome missionary family! Love you! and the fam!

sounds kinda like the mission. we probably won't get any ipads or anything for a few months. who knows though. "no man knoweth. Good news about talking to people about the gospel is that if you do so in love, we're promised (in the broadcast a couple weeks ago) that they will recognize that you are doing it out of love and won't/can't be offended.  it's good to agree with certain people on their beliefs to open up conversation. like we both belief that Jesus Christ is our savior, both believe families are great, etc. but our unique message is the restoration. so if there's something to study it's that! It's more our job as missionaries to share that message but it wouldn't hurt to brush up on it a little bit. the pamphlet and preach my gospel explain everything perfectly. they explain the "need" for a restoration. the pattern that god follows in reaching out out to his children on earth. He reaches out to a prophet to tell his children how to get back to him. They listen for a while, then distort truths and disbelieve them. When that happens, he takes the authority/priesthood off of the earth. and does it again. Moses, noah, abraham. then Jesus Christ. Also disbelieved, and distorted, and taken off the earth. And then............ RESTORATION!!!

It's explained so simply, and just makes perfect sense! the Lord delights in plainness. and nephi haha. But it's so true. There are so many things like processes and statistics, that can SOMETIMES distract you from your purpose "to invite others to come unto Christ." (spirit of the law). My companion, Elder Cook, and I noticed that the other day pretty vividly. We were street contacting in between some member visits and were really seeking to help everyone we saw. That was our motive. to invite someone to come unto Christ. And we had a few of the greatest OYM's ever! an oym is an "open your mouth." Anyway, we met a guy working named Kevin. He looked a little scary but ended up being the nicest guy. We talked about religion, and agreed upon a ton of things. Just talking about Jesus Christ as our savior, and accepting and living doctrine from the bible. We brought up james 1:5 and some other scriptures that explained the power of prayer, and how we can ask for anything really, including wisdom/questions. That lead into the book of mormon (another testament of Jesus Christ), and we bore our testimonies on the truth of it, where it came from, and how it can help us. but most importantly, that it was another book that is the word of God, and contained the fullness of the Gospel. We showed him moroni 10:4-5 and he not only agreed to do it, but was really excited. It was an awesome experience. Our most successful OYM. However, he was just working here. He lives in Mesa, so we'll see what happens. We had some other great ones that day as well. Anyway, the point i'm trying to get across is that when you seek your purpose "to invite others to come unto Christ" you end up doing so. When you seek for numbers, you don't. we figured that out the other night when we were trying to meet our goal of OYMs for the day, and were short about 15, and just tried to find 15 people to fulfill our goal. None would even talk to us. The Lord puts prepared people in the path of his prepared servants. Anyway, i thought that went along with what your spiritual thought was about. Anyway hope all goes well this week!

Love, Elder Bronson

Week 5- Gilbert

It's going decently well here in Gilbert. The members are awesome, which is good because in the Arizona Tempe mission, 60% of baptisms were from member referrals. And now in a more defined, lds rich area, the Arizona Gilbert mission will probably be 90% member referrals. Which is good and bad. It's sad coming across people that aren't really that dedicated to the work. makes me want to be the best member missionary ever when i get back! which i will be. 

Anyway, Elder Cook and I are really putting 100% effort into the work. We are kinda starting fresh in the area so it's not moving very quickly right now. but we're committed to getting it moving. haha the other day, we were OYMing someone (OYM is "open your mouth". basically just talk to everyone you see), and some random person stopped, got out of her car, and said

"Hey do you have one of those books?"

We replied, "umm a book of mormon?"

"yeah that one"

"umm yeah here you go!"

We tried to tell her a little bit about it and get her address but she had to run because she was in a hurry. it was sad but awesome haha

Just yesterday, we were riding our bikes and some random guy across the street yelled "Oh boy! am i happy to see you two!" We were super confused, because the only people that are happy to see us are members, and he did not look like a member. not at all. He was a recent convert and was having family issues. His name was vincent. We went into the church because we were right next to it and gave him a blessing, and had a lesson with him. It was super powerful and the spirit was so strong. Although he was struggling, it was so great to see that desire that was in him to follow our Savior.

random thought about the doctring of Christ. If we ourselves, are living the doctrine of Christ (faith in jesus christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy ghost, and enduring to the end) every day, then we're going to have a desire to share it with others. If we have faith and repent, and are "baptized" every week at sacrament, and feel of the Holy Ghost, then we are taking part in the Doctrine of Christ. When we do so, we have a natural desire to share with others. It truly is a natural result of living the doctrine of Christ. so make sure you're living it to the best of your ability (2 nephi 31) and you will have a desire to share the gospe

alright quick advice from a missionary that talks to ward missionaries a lot. and ward mission leaders. and just ward members.

 

1.  We tell this to all of our ward members. it's kinda the stake theme. If you do these things, you are qualifying yourself to be used as an instrument in the Lord's hands. He will put his trust in you with opportunities to share, if you show that you can be trusted.

a. pray daily that your faith in Jesus Christ will increase and that you will be able to be an instrument in the 

Lord's hands to bring somebody into the gospel for the first time, or back into the gospel.

           -pray specifically for certain people/families" and for missionary opportunities

b. attend the temple regularly. if you don't have a reccomend, be working toward getting one.

c. study the scriptures individually and with your family daily. Also study the words of the living prophet/apostles.

d. serve someone every day. Whether that be someone in your family, or a member, or a friend of another faith.

 

2. Create a vision, goals, and a plan.

a. vision: something big like "this person/family baptized, and getting ready for temple covenants"

b. goals: goals are steps to the vision. They are things that are not completely in your control. They require the agency of the person/people you are working with. ex. "this person/family accepts and reads the book of mormon"\

c. plans: plans are something COMPLETELY in your control. like "invite them over for dinner" or "invite them to a ward activity" or something like that.

- a vision has multiple goals, and goals have multiple plans.

 

3. you don't have to be best friends with someone to ask them if they want to know more.

ex: "Hey you know i'm mormon right?

"yeah."

"great. do you want to know a little more?"

"ummm sure."

"great. i know some good looking young men that would love to teach you."

ex 2: "Hey you know i'm mormon right?"

"yeah."

"great. do you want to know a little more?"

"umm no."

"cool. how was your day." (life goes on) (converts statistically reject the gospel seven times before they accept it.)

4. When you extend an invitation to learn more, by the spirit, and with love, they will not be offended. If you do so with love, they will recognize that, and realize that you are trying to help them, even if they do not accept your views.

As you show the Lord that you can be trusted by qualifying yourself with these things, he will trust you with his children.

 

 

thanks for all the updates. keep sending them! 

Week 4- Gilbert

Here is the weekly update from Parker.  Again-- his location information is on the right of the blog. 

Hello!

 I'm doing very well in the new Gilbert Mission! President Natress got here the other day and our zone has a meeting with him today (cuts four hours out of our p day but oh well). It's exciting anyway! I attached a few pictures of the mtc and out in the field for you guys.  yeah that fire in phoenix is news to me! we aren't really in tune with "worldly affairs." My mission president is from Idaho! So he's gotta be good. can't go wrong with idaho. and yes! I'm so excited for marcus to go to efy. That kid is a boss. He's gonna get all the women. and he's over 5' so nothing is stopping him (that's a reference to me)! But yes it has been EXTREMELY hot here. record highs eh? yeah i've definitely witnessed them. My area is basicallly all cement and roads. No grass. All of the homes just use rocks for their yards so it just makes everything hotter. It was 120 a couple days in a row, and with the lack of grass, and riding on the street, it goes a few more degrees up. so i've basically experienced 125 degree weather! It's not terrible though. We drink a lot of water. and after about five minutes of being outside, you're wet enough to where it doesn't matter if you stay out any longer. I don't know if that makes sense but i attached a picture of my back after being outside for a couple hours. anyway the work is kinda slow, but we're workin on it! There's a lot of potential in the area, we just have to get it going. and get the ward going, because it truly is 60% up to them statistically in the tempe mission. and probably even more in the new gilbert mission. But this week is going to be super good I can feel it. My companion, elder cook, worked super hard this last week, so we'll start seeing the fruits of our labors this week for sure. but it's all up to faith so I'll tell you how it goes. James 2 says faith without works is dead, but I also thing works without faith is dead. anyway, i don't have much time because our new mission president decided to have a zone conference for four hours on our p day, so i'll write more next week!

Love you all! And thanks for the letters Hailey and Marcus!
Elder Bronson

first picture:district at the temple

second: Sister Horne from my ward at byu

third:Elder Schroath. friend from bavck home

fourth: my district

fifth: my district

sixth: found a turtle

seventh: found a cool fortune cookie

Week 3- Opening the mission in Gilbert

This email below was sent to my mom today.  I'll update the other one that was sent later on this evening.  He sounds like he is doing great. He and his companion are the first official Gilbert missionaries for the Arizona Gilbert Mission #spoileralert. --courtney


That was Sister Priday who sent you the picture. She's one of the greatest member missionaries I've ever met. . We were introduced by the stake president in front of the whole stake. They had us sit up at the front and everything. Kinda exciting. But the work here is relatively slow for now. My companion and I are dedicated to speeding it up though. Our area is so small though (one square mile) that we rely solely on referrals and street contacts. So mostly referrals. So a lot of it is up to the members to step it up, and to us to encourage the members to step it up. So yeah not only am I in the gilbert area, I'm in the gilbert mission. I didn't have one day in the Arizona Tempe Mission. I got there and was assigned to serve in the highland west stake, val vista zone, of the Arizona Gilbert Mission. WE are officiallly the first Gilbert missionaries! Pretty exciting but a little intimidating. I won't be having President Toone. i'll be having President Natress. I know we know him somehow. He was an area seventy in Idaho but maybe there are some more connections that mom can inform me of.

We don't pass of discussions or anything. We are "to become preach my gospel missionaries." basically we understand the doctrine, understand how to recognize and teach by the spirit, and follow the spirit, and have faith that it'll be given us "yea, in the very moment what ye should say".

 We have 5 investigators that aren't very dedicated/receptive. But we have an appointment with both of them this week so hopefully we can teach  by the spirit and have them feel it/recognize it. We've had some cool expierences street contacting as well. Met a guy named Glen the other day, and we taught him about the Book of Mormon, and commited hiim to reading 3 Nephi 11 and praying about it. We're going to drop by tonight and see how it's going. 

It is definitely a little toasty here. We don't really have access to the weather report, so we just have to guess. It's basically just hot. all the time. But I enjoy it! I like the heat! and there comes a time (every day after ten minutes of being outside), that you are so sweaty that you don't really care if you get a little more sweaty.

My new address is  5332 e baseline rd, apt # 1065, mesa, Arizona 85206. So send away! lookin forward to your letters!

No we don't have four missionaries in each ward. But my companion and I cover only two words or one square mile. And yes I know! everything going on right now is so exciting! It's incredible to see God's work progressing so fast. All of these new announcements lately are going to accelerate the work exponentially! What an exciting time!Send me whatevery you want! I'm happy to get anything! letters included! Thanks family! love you!

Carling Capture

Photo Credit to Jenn Carling of Gilbert, AZ for the picture at Walmart. Looking Great!

Elder Bronson arrives in AZ

The mission home emailed the following two pictures to our family.  They said that he arrived safely and looks great.  This is the group of missionaries who arrived to his mission on the same day. They are excited to have him there!

Week 2

Sister Priday, a member from Arizona, just sent this to my parents! Hey Elder Bronson!  We haven't heard from him since he has gotten to AZ so we are thinking we will be hearing from him every Monday. 

Week 1- MTC

It's so good to hear from you all! thank you so much for the pecans. seriously made my week. None of the elders in my room like them so i guess that's a good thing. more for me! And marcus, thanks for the reese's and prologue to that story. I'm super excited to see the rest of them. I showed the elders in my district and they thought it was awesome.  i'm going to apologize in advance for the grammar errors because i don't have enough time to backspace and fix them. anyway... the mtc is so great! I got out of the car, hugged jeff and kristen, and got a little sad. But just turned around and knew I was ready for whatever lied ahead of me! I was brought to class immediately and we got started. I didn't even have time to think ha. But my companion is awesome. He speaks a lot of spanish so i think that is truly a blessing. We've been practicing a lot together and it's so awesome. And We teach so well together! we are incredibly different so i thought it would hinder our performance together at first, but I tried my best to get along with him, and it turned out perfect! We role play a lot with different investigators (actors), but believe it or not you can still feel the power of the spirit working through you to open the heart of the investigator. I've realized very quickly that obedience is absolutely necessary in order to teach with the spirit. So no matter what I've committed to being obedient in every way I can. "obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles." The mtc is summed up in a lot of studying and a lot of classes. I can't believe how fast i'm progressing. It truly is a witness to the idea that if you dedicate your time to the Lord, he will bless you. We got to listen to Elder Arnold of the seventy. It was so awesome. He was so powerful. The branch president's wife spoke in church the other day, and she quoted one of the coolest things i've ever heard. She was speaking about how sometimes past sins can creep up on you and make you feel unworthy of serving. Sins of course that have already been forgiven. She said, "When satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future." It sounds kinda harsh but it was so cool to hear! That's so awesome to hear that Lauren and her family are coming to dinner. That truly is a perfect missionary opportunity! I hope all goes well with that! Keep me updated. Oh the food is decent here. It's kinda hit or miss, but hey I always have my chocolate milk to rely on. I have 4-6 glasses every meal. My district thinks I'm crazy. Thank you so much everyone for the letters and packages, they truly brighten up my already awesome day! But keep em up!... love you all! can't wait to hear from you again!

MTC Drop Off

Elder Bronson's journey to the Tempe Arizona mission started this week! Many emotions and tears for the Bronson family but we all know he is going to be an awesome missionary! Kristen and Jeff were able to drop him off at the MTC. He was anxious to begin his mission and we were anxious to start the countdown. Can't wait to hear from him Monday.