My new greenie's name is Elder Brisco. The mini Dwight Schrutte. Because we work in the office, I was expecting to get a tech guy, but Elder Brisco has spent his entire life in front of a computer. He lived in Saudi Arabia for 3 years because his dad was a computer programmer over there. He's white and actually lives in Chandler, AZ and going to EA in Thatcher. He is also a computer programmer and has a black belt in Taekwando. SO he could probably kill me.
Update on Elder Bonaro, he somehow managed to make both his flights to Miami and back in the same day! He successfully got his visa :) He called me from Minneapolis asking about transfers. I know we butted heads a lot, but towards the end, Elder Bonaro and I got to be really good friends and we worked well in the Singles ward. So last Monday I spent the day with Elder Isaacson and Schramm and we had dinner with one of their members...I don't even know what I ate! It was a Korean lady and it was some type of Soup/sauce on rice. It had oysters and shrimp, and a bunch of unknown substances. I didn't ask haha. When we got home, the three of us stayed up eating cake till Elder Bonaro got home at 1230AM. We made "megabed" with all our mattresses together and talked all night.
Tuesday we took a second P-day since Elder Bonaro didn't get one. Rylee Nelson's parents took Me, Elder Bonaro, and Elder Schramm out to a fancy Italian restaurant because Elder Bonaro was leaving, it was Rylee's mom's birthday, AND Rylee's last night! Super nice of them to take us out. Afterwards, the BYU-I Dance Alliance was doing a show here in Billings, and President Mecham wanted all of us to go! So we got in for free, and members were handing us their extra tickets to give to people outside who weren't members. The dances were SWEET! And a lot of people we were able to talk to.
Wednesday Morning I was still with Elder Bonaro and we taught our Golden investigator Josh Connor. We actually were asking for a member to be present, and we got a hold of Tyler Nelson, the one who introduced us to Chase. He came...AND BROUGHT SOMEONE WITH HIM! He brought a guy named Baudry who is from Cameroon Africa. So we were teaching the Plan of Salvation to two different investigators with different needs. It was extremely tough. Baudry seemed to get a lot out of it, but I hope we didn't lose Josh :/
Thursday we tried something new with the ward. Josh Smith (EQP) wanted to have a, "Missionary Night" where we invite Less-Actives and investigators to a discussion specifically designed to meet their needs. People like Tim enjoys listening but doesn't ask questions. So the idea is that all of Tim's fellowshippers (Josh and Landon) ask those question for him because they know him best. We as missionaries want to talk the least. It went really well! Josh, Tim, and Landon were there. Meagan, an investigator on baptismal date for August 31 was there with her fellowshipper. Chase Slade came (recent convert) and a few other members.We discussed what true happiness was. We watched the Mormon Message, "The Will of God" by D. Todd Christopherson. Probably my favorite mormon message ever. Watch it for FHE!
We picked up 2 new investigators this week. Both were referals and we have return appointments with one of them named Jake (good name). Decker, was found by the zone leaders in Walmart (he works there). He said he loves Jesus Christ and wouldn't mind having missionaries over to talk about religion. This was Elder Brisco's first discussion ever! It went relatively well and he accepted a Book of Mormon! Hopefully he will come to an activity! and church! He asked some good questions about Prophets.
I have SO MUCH online work to do! The phone directory for the whole mission, Zone Baptism goals and actual, President's iCloud calendar and contact list, as well as phone reports. So we did that all day Saturday!
Yesterday was interesting. More than half the ward was in Powell, WY for a YSA conference so there were only maybe 45 people in church. Elder Brisco and I were the speakers...and I was left with 40 MINUTES to speak. I was terrified haha. We spoke on conference talks, mine was President Uchtdorf's, "The Hope of God's Light." It's a good one!
Well that sums up my week. Good news though! Elder Bonaro is going to be my companion again! We are going to be a tri-panionship. President Interviewed me asking about Elder Bonaro and he told me that they weren't planning on transferring him but they wanted him to experience what it was like to be transferred from an area you have come to love. So he will be with us tomorrow!!
I can't believe Jesse is going to seminary and actually ENJOYING it! Good for him. I can just imagine how excited he is for school again. But he's such a stud at dances! Torie sounds like she is loaded with things to do. We have such a busy family! Emily Hatch is going to Jacksonville?! That is where Elder Bonaro is from! Awesome. Tell her I said congrats! Thank you for everything you help me with and I can feel your prayers daily! Love you!
Spiritual Though: When Christ was baptized, the Holy Ghost descended in the sign of the dove. What is cool about that, is that John the Baptist was told to look for that sign to confirm he had baptized the Savior. John the Baptist did not know that Jesus was actually the Christ until that had taken place. Jesus Christ also didn't fully understand who he was until this time. He learned gradually like we all do. Afterwards, he fasted for 40 days because he had come to a full knowledge of who he was. If you remember, Satan tempted Christ. What I learned, is that it wasn't the THINGS Satan was tempting Christ with (Kingdom, etc.). The way the sciptures are written, Satan says, "IF though be the Son of God...do this." Satan was tempting Christ to doubt his Divine sonship. Then on the cross, Satan did the same. "IF thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross and save yourself." HE wanted Christ to feel completely abandoned and challenged his Faith. It goes to show how much Satan knows us. So even the Son of God and John the baptist needed the confirmation of the Holy Ghost to recognize truth.
