Everything But English

Hey!

Let me ask you all a question?  Wasn't I called to an English speaking mission?  That's what I thought, and I double checked my call letter, and that's what is says...

But here's a list of the different people/languages I met this week: 

A Muslim family from Sudan, who spoke Arabic.

A woman from Honduras, who spoke Spanish.

Some guys from Afghanistan, they spoke Afghani.  

Our new investigator, Gordiano, from Tanzania, who speaks Kirundi and French.

Another man who speaks Arabic, who will soon be our investigator.

A lady from Jamacia who spoke that very heavy English. 

A Polish man we knocked into, he spoke English, too. 

A lady from Puerto Rico, who speaks Spanish, who we have a return appointment with. 

And there's probably some I'm forgetting, there was so many!

Ah, well blessings of living in the city! 

As for the rest of the week... 

Mon. Feb. 15: President's Day/P-Day.

It snowed 9 inches today.

We were able to meet Yolanda, she's from Puerto Rico, and she was real excited to have us come over and help her come closer to God. 

We did our shopping and had the “Brenchley Invitational 2.0” - we got a good group out to it (basketball). 

We rode the bus today, in an effort to dodge the sleet (we couldn't bike), and I've always heard of missionaries finding people, then baptizing people they sit next to on the bus.  Well, we were the only ones on the bus......

We were able to teach a man named Brad.  We've talked to him over the phone, but finally decided to drop in when we had Brother Winkler with us.  Brad's cool; age 55, and has member friends.  He's read through half the Book of Mormon and had it out on his coffee table.  He actually is Catholic, but while we were there, he proceeded to tell us everything he thought was wrong with the Catholic Church.  I think he's prepared! 

{Snow and ice taking it's toll}

 

Tues. Feb. 16:  It didn't seem like any of the libraries in the whole county were open, so we could email since we weren’t able to on President’s Day.  We finally found one though!

We were able to find a nice lady, who originally gave us the cold shoulder, but then realized we were the Church who did Family History.  She was excited to talk to us after that.

We did a lesson with the Bell family.  We read Alma 32.  They made the comment that the soil has to be ready for the seed (the word) and hinted Tim isn't ready to join the Church.  They are so awesome, though - when they heard it was my birthday this next week, they signed up to feed us then! 

Wed. Feb. 17:  We had district meeting in the morning - since Brother Winkler is into cameras and stuff, I had him film us role playing, talking to people about their families and the Gospel. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Kyle Johnson (the WVCM has had a lot of Johnson's serve here) to Salem 1 which is also a bike area.  

We had dinner and a lesson with this awesome part-member family, the Soto's (they are also Hispanic, if you want to add another tally to the list above).

Thurs. Feb. 18:  We finally taught David Johnson.  He's a media referral, who requested a Bible.  Brother Richardson drove us there and David is a really cool guy; he's 49 yrs. old, but looks 32.  He has 7 children with a couple of "Baby Mamas" as he put it, but he has the nicest house (interior) in that rough part of the neighborhood by far!  We were able to teach him the Restoration, as well as talk about how the Bible and Book of Mormon support one another.

Brother Buillion, took us to see Brother Lawerance.

We met Donald and his brother, Rod.  Donald was somebody the zone leaders were teaching until they realized he lived in our area.  We talked with Donald about making time for scripture study. 

We were trying a former investigator, and we knocked into a lady named Emily instead; she was real nice and listened to what we had to say and she gave us hot chocolate.  She asked a lot of good questions.  She wanted to read from the Book of Mormon, but when I asked her to pray about it, she was a little hesitant; she said, "I feel like I'm good with my church, though."  I responded, "God won't lie to you, then [if you pray]!"  I think she felt the Spirit, thinks it's true, but still has a little wall up. 

Fri. Feb. 19:  We went on exchanges with the zone leaders; I went with Elder Boer to Roanoke South and Elder Kropushek and Elder Maxfield took over the bikes in Roanoke. (where they had a great lesson with Myra, and set her on date for Baptism Apr. 2).

Elder Boer and I tracted a lot.  We met with a less-active couple, the Mason's, and they came to church on Sunday!

Sat. Feb. 20:  We met a Muslim family that spoke Arabic, and a little English.  We promised them we would bring them an Arabic Book of Mormon. 

We met Gordiano, another man from Africa. 

Had dinner with the Blevins, and brought Brother Tourville with us - the Blevins know him well.  We had a good lesson on Baptism and Confirmation.

We had a lesson with Brian on cbedience, and I was able to use my favorite scripture (Alma 57:26-27) and share the story of how The Stripling Warriors’ obedience helped them be unconquerable.

Sun. Feb. 21:  Church.  Sister Blevins came (the first time since I've been here), and they brought Brother Jack Turner!

We taught Gordiano - we thought he knew a lot more English, we were wrong.  It made for an interesting lesson, as we used his iPhone and Google Translate to say something in English, so he could read/listen to it in French.  We also had him read a couple of verses from his Kirundi Bible, which helped him understand some of the pictures we were showing him.

We had dinner at the Wade's.

We tried to contact a less-active man.  We had the street address, but not the apartment number, so we started knocking on all the units, and we found a lady from Honduras, then another lady from Jamaica.  The lady from Jamaica was named, Patricia, and she was more interested than the Honduras lady, at least I think.  I lost her, after she told me how old and what grade her kids were all in. 

What a great week!  I felt really good about this week.  We were able to teach a wide variety of people this week.  After meeting all these different people from different countries, languages, and cultures, it amazed me how many people there are in the world, and how God loves all His children, no matter the background. 

Til next week!  Love You all! 

Love, Elder Brenchley

When Ferrets and Bugs Attack....or Something Like That

Hey Everyone! 

How's it going!?  Happy Valentines Day and President's Day! 

We had a really good week this past week including a wonderful Stake Conference, where Bishop Dean M. Davies, 1st Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric presided and spoke.  We were asked to sing in the Saturday Night Adult Session.  We sang, "Hark all Ye Nations."  Then President Bohon (Roanoke Stake President) had us stand and used us as an example for his talk, "The Rising Generation."  He said [indicating to us who were standing], "This is our goal brothers and sisters; we want our Rising Generation to have a burning testimony of their Savior, and want to share it, just like this Army of Missionaries behind me. We want them to get to this point, like these Elders and Sisters."  It was really awesome!  President and Sister Salisbury were there and spoke, as well.  Bishop Dean M. Davies was really funny, but was his talk was very spiritual and emotional.  It was a great conference.  We were also blessed to have a wonderful zone conference on Wednesday with great emphasis on finding and teaching families.  We were also blessed with many heart-warming experiences. 

Mon. Feb. 8:  P-Day - we played basketball. 

 

{wrapping Elder Boer's ankle, that he rolled in basketball}

 

We contacted Jim Brown, a friend and a referral from Brother Lloyd.  Jim was really interested in us helping him to quit smoking, so we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, and it being ordained of God, through a Prophet, and that we have Prophets here on the earth today. 

Tues. Feb. 9:  We had breakfast and a lesson with Brother Ostrander (he's the one who came to church and bore his testimony).  It was a great breakfast and great lesson.

We were able to teach John Kasey. for the first time.  He's one of our newest investigators.

We had a good visit with Nate Henegar. and his wife, Cedes.  He hasn't come to church once since I've gotten here, but it's probably due to work - he gets off at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday night/Sunday morning.  He let me hold their pet ferret.

After lunch, Brother Spaulding picked us up for a lesson with the Brunal couple.  Brother Spaulding is fluent in Spanish, and is wife is Hispanic.  It was such a powerful lesson, basically all in Spanish, but I could feel the Spirit, and you could see the Spirit working on Charles and Sandra.  We talked a lot about the Restoration and 3 Nephi 11.

We taught Brian in the evening with Brother Caen present. 

That makes it a 5 lesson day!

Wed. Feb. 10:  Zone conference today was awesome!  It was so focused on different finding ideas, and how we can find and teach more families. 

We had dinner at Gundlach's.  They are going to pray to see which neighbor they want to have us introduce ourselves to. 

Johnathan and Courtney had to cancel - Courtney's son was at the doctors. 

We had a 2nd dinner with the McLaughlin's - they are an awesome family.  Sister M has been a member her whole life, but has been inactive/less active since she was 16 yrs. old.  Both her parents are in the ward.  She has 2 kids, Aden (age 10) and Piper (age 6).  We gave each the kids their own Book of Mormon; they were so excited to read as a family, and the mom bore testimony of the Book of Mormon!   At the end of the night, their grandmother/mother (who's also in the ward) gave us and the brother we brought, a sincere gratitude phone call.  She was in tears as she thanked us for caring for her family and doing what she had been trying to do for years.  We are excited to teach their father/husband, a non-member, when he returns home from business.

Thur. Feb. 11:  We had lunch at Blevins'.

We had a lesson with Jim Brown.  His place (a 1 bedroom room) had to be one of the most disgusting places I've ever been.  Bugs everywhere!  From now on, when we teach him again, it will be at Brother Lloyd's house. 

We had a lesson with Brian - he read and wrote down his questions.  Finally! 

{the great city of Roanoke}

 

Fri. Feb. 12:  I ran into the Miller's (Claire and Trevor) from Buena Vista!  They were at Viriginia Western Community College.  We were down there using the computers. 

Brother Cowling picked us up to go to a couple of lessons (John and some potentials) and we went 0 for 7 - no one was home! 

We had dinner at Michael Avery's house.  He's a less-active who has us over for dinner randomly, so you might not hear about him until next month. 

Sat. Feb. 13:  While looking for a media referral, we found a woman named, Myra - she's funny!  She met with missionaries a while back, and she shocked us by how much she remembered about the Restoration! 

The Adult Session of Stake Conference was awesome! 

Sun. Feb. 14:  Happy Valentines Day!

Stake Conference was today, and we were able to get Brother Nillson (an inactive member) to come to Stake Conference. 

We visited with Brother Lloyd.

We also had a visit with Sister Fischer and Mark (her Baby Daddy).  He is funny, but always tries to throw jabs at the Church; I boldly told him if he has a problem, he should first read the Book of Mormon, and pray about it. 

We had dinner and FHE with the Blevins' and the Vogel family (another family from the ward).

There's the week; a little abbreviated, because I don't have that much time to begin with.  But, it was one of the best weeks on my mission. 

I wanted to share a scripture that I was reminded of this week, Matthew 11: 28-30

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Don't we all need a little rest?  Something I loved from Bishop Davies in his Sunday morning talk is his recounting of the Savior's Life and Ministry; it was so simple.  I know that with the Restoration of the Gospel came the Restoration of the full knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ; who He is.  We know the fullness of His role, His Gospel, His mission, His character, His atonement, His love.  I learn more and more about the Savior each and every single day.  I Invite you all to do the same.  I know he is real - we must rely on him, and by doing that,  our testimony of Him does grow.  I truly know he is our Redeemer and Savior. 

I Love You All! 

Love, Elder Brenchley

I Guess it's Only Fair that While out Proselyting, We Got Proselyted to, as Well

Here's my wonderful week!  We had three investigators and two less-actives we've been working with come to church yesterday.  I did bear my testimony, as well, because I need to!

ALSO Broncos won the Super Bowl 50!  Can you say Best Sunday Ever!  WooHoo!

Monday Feb. 1:  We had dinner with the Blevins'.

David Johnson was a referral we contacted and set up an appointment for - we tried him tonight, and either he wasn't there or it was the wrong door.

The Brunal's also had to reschedule.

Brother Newcomb and his friend, Michael said, "not tonight." =(

To top off a tough night, a guy we talked to just wanted to bash - and you never feel good after something like that.  The Spirit was definitely not there. 

Tuesday Feb. 2:  We picked up our bikes from the repair shop - one of the workers there is really cool, named Jordan.   His best friend was Mormon, and Jordan's been to Utah.  We have a good relationship with him and he's coming to play basketball with us on Presidents Day.

While tracting one road, we saw a lady go in and out of her house - when we knocked, she was so quick to the door to hand us her own [religious] tract.  =0

We used the library at Virginia Western Community College today.

We found a new investigator named, Genia.  She lives right across the street from Chase Lester - she was real interested and wants to find a church.

We also had a lesson with Brian - our member who was going to go with us and drive us had to cancel, so we biked all the way down to his house.  Wheww!

Wednesday Feb. 3:  We were able to go see Jack Turner (a less-active) and we talked to him; we have a pretty good relationship with him.  We really hit on church attendance and receiving revelation there.

We had a lesson with Brother Jack Nillson - he was telling us how he's done all the temple work for his family, as if to say he's done all he needs to do.  He's a good man. just not much desire to come to church.

We had a good lesson with Courtney and Johnathan, it was about the Plan of Salvation.  We helped them understand the big picture.  I recently thanked Courtney for being a mother, and promised her that her 8 yr. old son, Lucas, would be my age (almost 20) someday, and realize how much his mother did for him, and want to do nothing more than to be with her as much as possible, and thank her tons and tons!
Thank you so much, Mom!

Ward Missionary Coordination meeting was tonight, also.

Thursday Feb. 4:  We had our weekly planning.

The Roanoke YSA Elders came with us to downtown Roanoke Inc. where we coordinated with them; we went to the library to find out events that are coming up.  We are going to do St. Patrick's Day parade float.  We'll probably do Family History theme: "Are you Irish?" or "Do you have Irish Heritage?" 

Bummer story: Ginia's husband texted and called us and told us that she wasn't interested.  We never talked to her.

Brother Gary Tourville - what a goof ball

We did have an exceptional lesson with Brother Gary Tourville on the restoration.  It's interesting to see that members who go less active often times forget the basic doctrine of the Gospel.  Our job, as missionaries, is to teach them and re-ignite that testimony and knowledge.

Brother Lloyd fed us dinner

Brother Lloyd

and we were able to teach a less-active on preparing him to share his testimony on The Restoration.

We contacted a media referral named, Felicia, who had requested a Bible.  We set up a return appointment with her.

Friday Feb. 5:  We had a zone meeting which was excellent.

We went on exchanges with the Salem 2 Elders.  Elder Rose came to Roanoke with me.  He's an awesome Elder (he came out with me on the plane).  We had a really good exchange!

We were able to teach the Shorter's at the Laymon's house.  

Haylee & Devon Shorter

Haylee (age 13) is a recent convert, and her brother, Devon (age 9) is technically an investigator.  They are moving down to Texas, but we were really excited to teach them one last time.

We met a girl in her 20's that we tried to talk to - she felt bad that she couldn't talk longer, but she did pull back by, and went and bought us some O.J.

We had a great lesson with Courtney and Johnathan that was focused on the Atonement.  They were very grateful, but are still hesitant about everything.  They are coming to church this Sunday, though!

We also had a focused lesson on the Book of Mormon with Brian.  We really want him to read the Book of Mormon, start to finish. 

Saturday Feb. 6:  We exchanged back.

We had dinner with the Bell's.  We gave a great spiritual thought on "God is our loving Heavenly Father."

We also met the Toler family; a semi-active family. 

Sunday Feb. 7:  Brian came to church.
Jack Turner came to church.
Brother Ostrander came to church - we recently just found him; he's a less-active member, but he was really excited it was Fast and Testimony Meeting, so he came and bore his testimony!
Johnathan and Courtney came!  They were a bit late, but they also stayed for Sunday School!
We had a lesson with Brother Ostrander - he proceeded to text us updates of the Super Bowl every hour, after the lesson.  He's a really awesome guy.  We are excited to work with him, and help him return to full activity, hopefully.


Love You All!

-Elder Ryan Brenchley

Connections Back to my First Area

Hey Ya'll!

It's just been a short time since I last wrote (Wednesday).   I'm super excited to continue to serve here in Roanoke, and we saw a good week as we taught many lessons this past week.  Thoughtful, inspired planning helped out very much!

Wednesday Jan. 27:  Just a normal P-day.
Becky and Moses cancelled on us - we are having the hardest time just getting them to meet with us.
We had ward mission coordination meeting.

Thursday Jan 28:  Transfer day - I said goodbye to some great missionaries.

Elder Bingham & I

 

{Elder B. Johnson, transferring out of Virginia}

{Elder Crouch & I}

 

{Elder Williams & I - we went to Jr. High together}

 We had an extra elder with us today - it was Elder Brandow.

We found a new investigator named, Carlos.  He's a musician, and travels the east coast.  The only thing he had heard about the church is that he's seen "The Book of Mormon" musical (NOT an accurate source of info!)
We did have our ward mission leader, Brother Richardson, come out with us this afternoon, however most of our appointments fell through.  We did get to visit Brother Lawrence.
We had a visit with Brother Lloyd on following the Prophet.  I'm glad that we taught this because he is still new in the church and gets confused during Sunday School and Elder's Quorum when they start quoting people (prophets and apostles) he doesn't know.
We met Brother Newcomb finally.  He's a good, older man.  He was straight up with us, "I'm angry at the world, God, the Church, etc. I'm an alcoholic and I struggle with PTSD."  We taught him about first having faith.  Our hearts really went out for the guy.  He really appreciated our visit and his friend, Michael, was in the next room and wants us to start teaching him.

Friday Jan 29: 

Elder Young & I on exchanges

Elder Young (who is the nephew of Young's from Beckley) came with me to Roanoke, and Elder Maxfield went to Salem 1 with Elder L. Johnson (we have several Elder Johnson's in the mission) on exchanges.  The Salem 1 elders are now in my district; Salem 1, Salem 2, Roanoke Walk, and Roanoke ZL make up my district.
We had a good lesson with Brian - Brother Caen came with us and we read Alma 42.
Then we got a ride to Courtney and Johnathan's where Brother Winkler met us there.  We had a very spirit-filled, powerful lesson.  Elder Young did a great job of bringing in the Spirit.  We invited them to be baptized on March 20 - there were both really close to saying yes!  Courtney said, "I'd more than consider it."  Johnathan said, "I'll get back to you on that."

Saturday Jan. 30:  We walked very far, and met some good people along the way including this one man named, Vincent, who was outside his church (attending a funeral).  We were able to speak with him, and he gave me an awesome quote: "If you remain humble and hungry, the World is yours."

We were able to have a good, solid lesson with Brother Tourville about prayer, scripture study, and coming to church.  We feel like he doesn't have much holding him back from returning to activity.
After lunch (P.S. Never trust Chinese food made by two Brazilian guys), Brother Cowling picked us up, and we were going to go to our lesson with John - and even after confirming just 2 hours before, he wasn't there.  We were, however, able to go see a less-active Sister, named Sister Franklin, we've never met with before, so it was nice to do that.
We exchanged back - I was very blessed to be on exchanges with Elder Young - he's a really good Elder.  
We had a member visit with Brother Hannon, the 1st Counselor in the Bishopric.

{Sunset off our back deck}

 

Sunday Jan. 31: 

Courtney and Johnathan weren't able to come to church today, but they committed to next week. 
Brian did come to church.

Brian

He always wants to sit on the front row of Sunday School and Priesthood, and it helps him get a lot out of church.
We were able to walk and talk to people today.
We had a visit with Brother Lloyd, then he was so gracious to go with us to dinner at Sister Cook's because we needed a 3rd male.
We had a lesson with Brian; he's been a little discouraged - some things have come up that will probably move his Baptismal date back. I'd ask that everyone can keep him in your prayers.

{Our Stake Center}

Well, I really enjoyed having a busy schedule and teaching this week!  Using the Lord's time wisely is a very valuable skill we can all develop.  We only have a short time here on this earth, so what will we do with the time the Lord has given us??? 

I also finished reading the Book of Mormon for the second time on my mission.  I kneeled down and prayed and asked if it was true.  I noticed something; not only did I feel the Spirit warm myself, but the Spirit guided the rest of my prayer.  I prayed that if the Lord would continue to help me know this Book is true, that I would dedicate my life to Him, and His church.  Because, through this Book, I know that the path I am on is the right path!  I know that I have much hope and many promises ahead of me!  I know this Church is true, I know we have a Prophet on the earth today, I know families can be together forever, and I know The Book of Mormon contains the FULLNESS of the everlasting Gospel! 

I Love You All! 

Love, Elder Brenchley