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