Come and Claim Your Blessings

This morning I went to the Temple. I haven't been in a while and wow, it's been too long. 

I'd like to share with you just a little bit of the experience I had this morning. I've recently been more stressed than usual because of some recent events in the mission placing a lot more weight on my shoulders. I've been having some personal challenges weighing heavenly on my mind as well. 

I echo the words of Boyd K. Packer when I say that I don't know a lot in this world. In fact, the more I learn the more I've come to see how little I actually do know. But there are some things that I do know of... I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is his son who came to the earth to die for us. 

This is a spiritual knowledge that cannot be taken from me by any power on this earth. I'd like you all to know that I have a similar knowledge, in other words, a similar testimony of the holiness of the Lord's temples. In the Temple I feel closer to my Savior and farther from the world, farther from the weakness of the natural man that I fight with every day closer than anywhere else on this earth. 

Elder Packer himself said, "Sometimes our minds are so beset with problems and there are so many things clamoring for  attention at once that we just cannot think clearly and see clearly. At the temple the dust of distraction seems to settle out, the fog and the haze seem to lift and we can “see”  things that we were not able  to see before and find a way through our troubles that we had not previously known. The Lord will bless us as we attend to the sacred ordinance work of the temples. Blessings there will not be limited to  our temple service. We will be  blessed in all of our affairs ." 

Our Temples are specially set apart and dedicated for the Lords holy work. His power is there, his peace is there. I feel it every time that I go. Whether I need specific guidance or comfort or I'm unsure of what I need, the house of the lord has always been a place of refuge for me in the few years that I've had the privilege to attend. I love the temple and everything that it stands for. It is a shining light in an ever darker world. 

"Our labors in the temple cover us with a shield and a protection, both individually and as a people. So come to the temple—come and claim your blessings. It is a sacred work."

Elder Brunsdale

No Note!! Car Gone!!

Well, this week has been pretty interesting!

On Wednesday morning we awoke to our wallets missing and our keys and car stolen. It turns out that someone actually broke into the apartment in the middle of the night and came into our bedroom while we were sleeping. He stole a backpack and a towel and all of our candy.

For some reason he left the tablets behind though, that was definitely a blessing. Also the fact that we weren't harmed in any way. Anyways, the police came over and dusted for prints and the whole shebang. We're hoping that they find our car soon.
   
The other crazy thing that happened this week was that the other Elders in my district got emergency transferred out of the area. So we got a car, but I lost my two best friends which stunk. It has also left us alone in the ward and we have all of the investigators not only from the Sisters who got emergency transferred but now the elders as well. So we're alone in the stake and covering a giant area which means that we're really, really busy. Which is good!
   
As far as highlights go I had the chance to conduct a Baptismal interview this week, it was incredible to see how much desire a new convert has to do the will of the Lord. I learned more from her than I thought I was going to from the interview. It was very humbling.

Also, Elder Smith visited us from Utah! It was definitely cool to see him. Love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Elder Brunsdale

The Diligence of Abinadi

 I decided recently that I would like to learn a little bit more about the Christlike attribute of diligence. So I thought "hmm, who can teach me about diligence?"... And the first person that came to my mind was Abinadi. 

So, I went to Mosiah and started reading, I read of how they tried to kill him but he fled and later returned to preach in disguise. Later being caught again and at the threat of death, never denying his testimony. Now that's diligence. 

For some reason or another Mosiah 13:9 especially sticks out to me. Abinadi had a message to deliver, he had a work to do. And when the people of Noah "durst not lay their hands on him, for the spirit of the Lord was upon him." He says: (Mosiah 13: 9) But I finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that I am saved. 

This brought to my mind a quote from Elder Eyring- "You will become more diligent as you feel the magnitude of the trust that God has placed in you." 

   

I know that Abinadi knew perfectly what God had trusted him with. He understood his calling, and because of that he was diligent in fulfilling it. He even sacrificed his life.  

Mosiah 17: 10 Yea, and I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you. And if ye slay me ye will shed innocent blood, and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day

   

I would invite you to evaluate yourself and choose something that you would like to be more diligent in, whether it be home teaching or magnifying your calling or simply just church attendance. 

Go to the scriptures and conference talks and learn about it. I know that as your testimony of that particular principal strengthens that you will become more diligent in fulfilling it. God has put a lot of trust in all of us. Let's never take that lightly. 

This week's pictures are basically just a wedding that we went to. A quick piece of advice, don't invite the missionaries to your wedding reception. It's just cruel haha. But the food was great and we loved being serenaded by the mariachi band. 

I also said goodbye to a good friend, Elder Evans, and that's about all. The work is going great! I love you all and hope you have an incredible prayer filled week! :) 

Elder Brunsdale

So Little Time

This week is going to basically just be pictures. I've been a bit pressed for time but I'm still doing great! I'm just loving the Lord's work! Have an incredible week and go read a scripture and pray or go to the temple or something else to help you escape the world this week. Love you all! :) 

Elder Brunsdale

Hello Friends

Hey, did ya'll know that President David O. McKay once said, "Prayer is the pulsation of a yearning, loving heart in tune with the Infinite. It is a message of the soul sent directly to a loving Father. The language is not mere words.… The first and most fundamental virtue in effective prayer is faith. A belief in God brings peace to the soul. An assurance that God is our Father, into whose presence we can go for comfort and guidance, is a never-failing source of comfort." 

    

What a beautiful statement. Our prayers are more than mere words. I feel as though I cannot express through an email my burning and living testimony of prayer. I'll just say that God is a real, physical, actual Father who loves you. Because of the unity between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit you can literally communicate with him through the power of the Holy Ghost. It's as though we are in his presence. I've received personal guidance countless times, and I know of the never failing source of comfort. Keep praying, have faith, God answers our prayers! 

This week was pretty fun, a super rich English member took us out to eat some lamb at a Greek restaurant and then showed us around Old Town Alexandria as well as his million dollar home with all of his art and Rolex watches. haha 

We also found out about transfers and my entire district is staying the same which is crazy! I'm super excited to have another transfer with all these guys. That's about all! Have a wonderful week everyone! 

Elder Brunsdale

Walking in Little Ghana

Just last night before bed I was studying in the old testament and came to one of the very last verses of Job. It reads... 

Job 42:13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

This has surpassed Job 19:25 as my favorite verse in this beautiful book of scripture. It seems insignificant so let me explain how it has touched me so profoundly. In chapter 1 we learn of the kind of man that Job was, as well as the many possessions that he had. 

Verses 2 and 3 say 2. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

3. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

We all know that Job lost everything. In fact in the case of Job that phrase is used too frequently to quite communicate the exquisite and profound pain that he experienced. We then read something like 40 chapters of his 'friends' telling him to curse God and that he's a worthless pile of trash who has had the wrath of God brought upon him because of his iniquity. There's plenty to be said about that. But in the end Job stays faithful and repents, he is then visited by the Lord and blessed abundantly. We read:

Job 42:10 ...the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13. He had also seven sons and three daughters. 

So, the Lord blesses Job with double of everything that he had before. So why wasn't he blessed with fourteen sons and six daughters? Simply because he never really lost those first children that he loved so deeply. They lived on, and I'm sure he knew that if he stayed faithful he would be reunited with them. I love this scripture so much because it testifies simply of the reality of eternal families. As well as the restoration of the Gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

This week we were super guided by the Lord and found some really cool people. I got a picture when we were walking in little Ghana and someone had a bag of rice on their head so I said "Woah!! That's amazing! Can you teach me??" So she just grabs the bag of rice and throws it on my head and we walk it to their apartment for them. haha, 

Sorry, no more stories because I don't have much more time and I didn't take pictures of anything else but I love you all! 

Keep praying and reading those scriptures!  

Elder Brunsdale

July 4th

D&C 101:36 "Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full."

This week has been very, very fun. So, before I share all the things that we did this week I want to say something really quick about joy. I learned a lot about it this week because we had such a fun time. But while we did all these fun activities the joy I felt didn't come even close to the joy that I've found in Jesus Christ.

In learning about him and his Gospel and serving our brothers and sisters in the mission field I've experienced a joy that the "world" cannot give. I was surprised to see that I was left feeling relatively unsatisfied after activities that used to fill my "joy tank" you could say. I know it's because now I've experienced a fuller joy. One that is found in reading and following the word of God written in the scriptures. One found in loving your fellow man. And most of all one that is found in my personal relationship with my savior, Jesus Christ.
       
So anyway, here's what happened.

The first day of the week was a P-day, it was a real special one too because the whole zone went to the Mission Presidents home to play foosball and basketball and ping pong and volleyball and all that good party stuff.

The next day for the 4th of July we had a ward party in a big park right next to Mt. Vernon Manor right on the Potomac river. We just ate food and chilled and played soccer for literally 5 hours. It made for a great 4th of July, we didn't watch a fire work show but we saw them on our drive home.
       
On Thursday we had a lesson with our most progressing investigator in a members home. It was my companions birthday so they brought a cake up and started telling me to throw it in my companions face! They did it in a really sneaky way and so my companion couldn't understand what they were saying but I didn't know what he'd do if I did it. And I will not sacrifice comp unity for ANYTHING. So I made probably the most impulsive and immature decision of my mission and pretended to go for my companion and turned and just plastered the member right in the face with this cake. Thus commenced a cake war between this member and us and our investigator. Not gonna lie it felt good to throw some cake at some people and just be a child again for a moment haha, I'm still in the process of getting the stains out of my shirt though.
       
Now on Saturday we had a baptism in our church. We got there about 45 minutes before it started and realized that the other Elders (whose baptism it was) hadn't started filling up the font yet, and this particular font takes 4 hours to fill. So we got it going and decided we'd better grab some buckets! So we ran to the kitchen and found this huge pot and just started running buckets and pots and empty trash cans full of water from the kitchen and bathrooms to the font. The sisters helped us out and to make a long story short we filled up the font in 38 minutes. We were absolutely drenched in sweat and our suits (as well as the floor of the church) were soaking wet but it was worth it.
       
After the baptism our ward hosted this awesome activity about the Plan of Salvation and basically the whole ward came. We got some investigators there and just had a ton of fun running our mini games and then later teaching our assigned kingdoms and Gospel topics. My companion was in another area at another baptism so I had to do everything solo but it was actually really fun. It was a super spiritual, cool experience and it was awesome to have some investigators go and to also strengthen member relationships.
       
Today was just as great, after playing basketball we went and got some Philly cheese steaks and then went to the Pentagon City Mall. It's a pretty crazy big mall. It also has a sweet view of the Pentagon and the Washington monument. My boy Elder Cottle and I tried to take a selfie with it. So we had some fun there and then came back to chill and play some pool. And thus ends one of the craziest weeks of my mission.

Believe it or not I actually left a whole lot out but I just don't have time to type it all up and it would very likely bore you. So I got the big stuff ;)

I didn't get too many pictures but here's what I have.
       
I love you all :) Keep praying, keep reading, and start writing me ;D LOVE YOU.
Elder Brunsdale

Another Car Fast Story

Well this last Saturday was the mission wide car fast so my companion and I jumped on the bikes ready to do some work. 

About 10 minutes after leaving the apartment it went from 102 degrees and sunny to FLOOD. We took a good swim back to the apartments and changed. Thankfully, we remembered to throw our white handbooks in our bags and save them from the rain and ourselves from condemnation. 

We changed real fast and also made a change of plans, the rest of the night was sunny and hot not a cloud in the sky. It seemed as if every single person that we talked to that night needed our help. Even if it was just to tell them that God loved them and that we loved them. The Lords timing truly is perfect. 

        

I also just wanted to share a little spiritual thought with y'all. I've recently been reading in the Old Testament book of Job. As you probably know, Job was a perfect and upright man. He feared God and eschewed evil. The Lord had blessed him with much, wisdom, a loving family, thousands of livestock, and a "very great household." 

As the story goes this was all taken from him as a trial of his faith. Not only was he afflicted physically with boils, crushed by the loss of his possessions, and shattered by the loss of his dearest loved ones. But he was told to "Curse God, and die." His best friends turned against him, telling him that he brought it upon himself because of his wickedness. But Job was confident in his righteousness, and knew in whom he had trusted. In this whirlwind of pain, false accusation, and loneliness we find the beautiful, profound and simple proclamation of Job. 

Job 19:25 "For I know that my redeemer liveth..." 

        

I too know that my redeemer liveth. I know that Jesus of Nazareth walked among us, that he healed the sick and afflicted and cast out devils and lived a perfect life. I also know that he then sacrificed that life for us that we might be able to repent of our sins and come unto him, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, all this as a testimony that we believe in him and desire to do his will and be better. 

I am not as job. I have not suffered such great pain or trial. But just as the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ brought comfort and strength to job, my knowledge of Christ has carried me through every challenge I've had in this mortal existence. He has always been there for me, I know He always will. Just as He promised "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." 

I love you all so much. Please, never stop saying your prayers :) Have a wonderful week! 

Elder Brunsdale

The Horror (Chinches aka bed bugs)!

For the record, I have endured 7 weeks without a single murmur!! 

Okay here it goes. 

Tenemos chinches (Cheenchays)... We have bed bugs... and it's a nightmare. Their bites are itchier than mosquito bites and bigger and always in groups, and I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to them. 

Try waking up every morning and finding chinches on the wall right by your head! Sooo gross! 

Here's a cute little detail, they stick to the wall pretty good and if you aren't careful they'll just fall to the floor and disappear. So, you have to kill them first, you do this by crushing them against the wall until they "pop." They pop because they're filled with our blood. Lovely, isn't it? 

We have giant spots and smears of our own blood all over the walls and ceiling where we've popped chinches.

        

Now for the good part :) We told our housing director about it and he gave us bags to wrap our mattress and bed frame in as well as a pretty mild spray. So the first day of our companionship we take the beds apart and OH MY DAYS! It was the most disgusting, repugnant thing I've ever experienced. 

Our mattresses and especially our bed frames were infested with chinches. Many of them filled with our own blood. I can't describe to you how nasty it was. Especially knowing that it's your bloody bed for heavens sake! Good grief! If I had known there was an entire colony of bed bugs living under my mattress I never would have slept there! 

There were big ones and small ones all on top of each other as well as many of their old skins that they had shed...

        

It's hard when you can't sleep in peace because you know what your sleeping in. Despite our precautions, all of which have not even been mentioned, they are absolutely impossible to get rid of... like I said, a nightmare. 

Not to mention that fact that we have a ton of spiders, earwigs, and the worst of all, cricket spiders. They're terrifying. Oh, we've also seen a few cockroaches. So two of the greatest pleasures of life -eating and sleeping- have been greatly diminished. hahaha.
Love, Elder Brunsdale

Ouch!

I did a really bad job at taking pictures this week so I'm sorry. It's been an amazing week though. I've been working a lot with the other Elders in our district about getting members more involved in the missionary work. It's going incredibly well. We set a goal to take every single member to at least one lesson before the end of the transfer in a month and we're well on our way. Our area is seeing more success than it has in a really long time. We're very excited. 

      

The highlight of the week was probably last night. We had just had an amazing lesson with our investigator who's on date. 

And I just had a very distinct feeling to try a potential on completely the other side of our area, absolutely destroying our plans for the night. We got in the car and when we arrived we had probably one of the most powerful restoration lessons I've had on my mission. 

We found a family of 12 brothers, 7 of which are named Jose. Hispanics man... Anyway one Jose and his wife and sister were interested in the message and asked all of the right questions. It was truly a blessing from the Lord and exactly what we needed at the time. 

      

The only picture I have is one of my hand after burning it. We were about to leave for the day so I threw down my pre-pross pop tart. They came out of the Toaster on fire and in my panic I accidentally flipped one over and the boiling pop tart jelly destroyed my hand. A great reminder of what a dope I am. 

Well, I love you all! Pray always and don't forget to look for the answers! 

Elder Hyrum Brunsdale

New Companion

Hey friends! This week has been a blast. My good friend Gabby Royle arrived to the mission and it was the craziest thing! I felt like I was breaking a rule or something, it was super fun to see and talk to her though. 

I feel surrounded by people from home because Elder Furguson is my new companion and it's so fun to talk with him about people that we both know. 

We're doing a lot of great work and met so many people this week. There's a ton of stories but basically we've been in the right place at the right time. God truly puts us where we need to be to bless those around us. All of us, not just missionaries. haha. 

We met someone named Dara who has been talking to missionaries for years and even goes to Utah to visit some sisters that were teaching her. She's a concert pianist and so Elder Ferguson and I told her that we were in an orchestra together and had some fun talking music for a minute. She was super cool and let us take a picture with her. 

We also had the chance to give quite a few priesthood blessings to people in need. We saw some miracles which I might expound on in a later email, we went to an antique store and.. yup! It's all just going so well, I love you all and hope that you're praying fervently and patiently. Have a wonderful week :)

Elder Brunsdale

Bye bye, Elder Smith

Wow! What a week! We just found out on Saturday that Elder Smith is going to be leaving this area tomorrow and I'll be receiving.... Drumroll please.... Elder Mark Ferguson! If you don't know him we went to high school together and played in the orchestra together for 5 years! He just got trained so I'll be breaking him in and showing him how I do things ;) I couldn't be more excited, it's going to be a very, very good transfer. 

        

Other than that this week was very good, we found 17 new investigators and we're teaching a lesson every day, it was a good week to end our companionship on. I did go on one exchange with Elder Lawson, he's also new to the mission so it was fun to get to know him and do some good work. 

We met a man named Hermano Chavez on our exchange and had a great conversation with him. He pulled out his Bible as we went up to him and bore testimony several times to us that Christ lives. He wasn't interested in the message but I felt impressed to give him 3 of our cards (which are basically just a mini portrait of Christ) and ask him to help us with our missionary work by giving our number to people. The way his face lit up was incredible and he was so excited to help spread the Gospel with us.

I'm also throwing in a picture of one of our investigators, her name is Monica and she's just incredible! 

As a brief spiritual brownie I'm going to include a link to a new video that the church has recently put out. I'd love to invite all of you to watch that video and perhaps if you feel impressed to share an experience about "hearing the music of the Gospel" I would absolutely love to hear from you. :) 

I love you all, the Church is most definitely true, and God loves you. Pray to him. :)

Elder Brunsdale

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-01-005-the-music-of-the-gospel?lang=eng

June

This week we fixed up the bikes that have been sitting in our apartment and took them for a ride to see what it's like to be an English Elder! Turns out it's a blast!

We had some great service opportunities this week! One of which was painting the porch of a woman named Monica, we just found ourselves exactly where we needed to be. It's an incredible feeling to just know that the Lord is using you as a tool in his hands to bless the lives of others.

I went on an exchange with my homeboy Elder Cottle and we went for a cruise with a less active named Gabe in his brand new Jeep. Then he bought us some Philly cheese steaks at a local restaurant and it was incredible.
     
I decided to start taking pictures with all the interesting people I meet to remember them better, so this week I included a pic we took with two great guys we went and talked to while they were sitting in their drive way. It was a very fun conversation because they both had recently been released from the insane asylum. Their names are Douglas and Thomas!
   
The best experience of the week was that we taught a lesson to a man named Julian who is super prepared for the Gospel. While teaching him I felt so guided by the spirit and asked a series of questions that I've never asked before, then I felt that I should invite him to baptism and he asked us when we hold our services. We gave him a date and we're super excited to help him prepare. He's from the Dominican Republic and they're honestly just my favorite people in the world. It makes me hope one of my little siblings is called there one day!
   
Well it's crazy to think this is the last week of the transfer, I'm excited for what's to come and love all of you! Keep praying with all your hearts!
Elder Brunsdale

Maryland

 Sorry about the absence of a weekly email last week, mission's a bit crazy. 

The investigator I mentioned in the last email who came to church a few weeks ago has come the last two weeks as well! We finally had the first lesson with him and it was incredible. He's completely changing his life and it's an amazing and beautiful thing to see. We talked to him about attending the English ward and he wants to give it a shot. He speaks and understands Spanish perfectly but he says that English just resonated better in his heart. I know exactly what he's talking about. haha. So he's going to try the English ward and we'll probably end up passing him to the English Elders so that he can feel the power of the message better.

 

The funny happening of the week was when we were dropping off some English elders after interviews with the president and my companion missed the exit and we went over the bridge into Maryland outside of the mission. We got a call from one of the senior elders and had to explain the situation to him but we got some pictures of the national harbor and the welcome to Virginia sign which very few missionaries in our mission have. haha. 

We've been doing really good work and have a thriving area right now. The people here in Alexandria are a lot kinder and more open to talking than the people from Manassas. There are actually of lot of people from Mexico in this area which is a relief because they speak a clean Spanish which is a lot easier to understand and I actually know the slang words they use because I study Mexican Spanish. The ward here is also huge and has many very strong members.

 

That's the scoop on Old Town my new area! I'll just leave you all with the same invitation to pray with faith and diligence. Prayer is so much more important than most of us realize. We are told in the scriptures to pray with all our heart, to pour out our souls to our Heavenly Father. It's something that we can always improve. But as we pray more fervently our sins are forgiven us and we're better able to recognize the spirit and overcome temptation. Have an amazing week!

Elder Brunsdale

Look how green!
This is what we run through in the morning
 but there's also a little pond with beavers in it.

Mother's Day

Happy day after Mothers day to all! If you're a mother you're amazing!

I was able to talk with my family this week and it was an amazing experience.

We got some investigators in church for the first time and one of them turned to us and said, "This is a special church man!" It was awesome because we haven't even taught him a lesson yet! But we may have to pass him to the English Elders which would makes me sad. But that's just how it works!

I hope you're all doing amazing. Keep praying with faith and diligence. God answers prayers.
Elder Brunsdale

New Area!

My new area is beautiful and the people are absolutely amazing!! 

We broke my record for the most lessons in a week and I'm really excited for what's to come this transfer. 

My new companion is named Elder Smith and he's amazing, there's so much to learn from him, he's only got 3 months left in the mission so we're gonna be going pretty hard to get some baptisms for him. 

That's about it! Love you all and keep praying and reading the scriptures and go to church, nothing's like it! 

Elder Brunsdale