Thursday, April 15, 2010
April 12, 2010
Hey everyone!
Its good to hear that not too much is new at home. That’s better than bad news. I would say I’m jealous of the weather there but that would be a lie. The weather here has been gorgeous. Short sleeve shirts in the 60's-70's. It’s a nice change, and I never thought it would come. Transfers are tomorrow and Elder Teixiera and I are staying together another one. I'm pretty excited, he's awesome. He has been here all together a year now and would like to go to another area but we're having success, so its perfectly fine with him that he stays. We struggle a little with the zone cuz most of the guys in our house are doing stupid things lately and we're trying to lead by example and its just not enough. Its hard to help missionaries when they don’t have a desire to work. I don’t know why people come on missions if they aren't going to work, it doesn’t make sense to me but whatever.We had an incredible week. My companion was sick all week but I pulled him out of bed each night so we could work. He's a trooper and pushed through it until we would get back to the pad at night and he would hit the bed immediately. He’s got some virus and is taking antibiotics. The week started off great so we decided to try and hit the mission standards of excellence. (The new mission goals). Only 1 companionship in the whole mission had hit all the goals since they came out but I am proud to say, we hit them this week! It definitely wasn’t because of us; we just received so much help from the Lord. We were able to get 2 baptismal commits for the upcoming weeks as well.We went over to teach Gabrielle and Sharma with a member this week. We went over some homework we left with Gabrielle about the atonement, and then taught a little more about it. We then asked Gabrielle if she wants to know if all of this is true. She said she didn’t really want to know right now, she doesn’t want to change her life at this moment. She is 19 and it is hard to change, but after all the lessons we've taught her and all the times the spirit was so strong, it was hard to hear that. We talk about baptism with her a lot and she always says she isn’t ready but we just tell her to pray. The member we were with was baptized a year ago and is so strong in the church. She told Gabrielle that she first met the missionaries when she was 17. She knew it was true but also didn’t want to change at that moment in her life. She then said she met the missionaries for the second time at age 22 and was quickly baptized. During the years of 17-22 were the most heart aching, sinful, painful years of her life. She said she would give up anything to go back and join the church at age 17 when she first met the missionaries. Because she didn’t, she went through so many trials and she told Gabrielle, don’t make the same mistake I did. Gabrielle then put her face in a pillow and started crying. I then committed Sharma to pray about the 18 of April for baptism. She said she would and we left. We went back last night, and Sharma said she is good to go for the 18th which is this week and Gabrielle will be coming to watch. Its sad to see her not commit to join the church at this time but its a great feeling knowing I did all I could. I fulfilled my purpose as a missionary and now it is between her and the Lord. Our frenchie Michelle was not baptized yesterday like we hoped. She didn’t get her answer yet but we're hoping she gets it this week so she can be baptized within the next coming weeks. She lives with all members and has a great support system; she’s just waiting for an answer.I had a cool experience with a recent convert named Ricardo. He’s 19 and is from the Caribbean. His mom was talking with us about how disrespectful he is to her. We could tell that she loved him very much and does a lot for him, but he has a false idea of what love is. We sat down with Ricardo and tried to teach him what true love is. We tried to tell him that his mom really loves him, and has done everything for him. I swear I saw a little bit of myself in him when I was a few years younger. It was weird teaching him everything that I have been taught by my parents for example. Dads quote," you get more with sugar than you do with salt." Oh and how true that statement is. That kid is the most thick headed person, but I think we helped him understand a little bit of why his mom does the things she does. Its all out of love. I cant tell you how grateful I am to have the greatest mom in the world. Even though I was a punk, she never stopped caring and has made every difference in my life.The work is going great and I’m looking forward to another miraculous transfer. We have 3 baptisms this transfer that are for sure, so it’ll be a blessing to help those people get on the path to true happiness.
Thanks for all you love and support.
I love you all,
Elder Breinholt
Its good to hear that not too much is new at home. That’s better than bad news. I would say I’m jealous of the weather there but that would be a lie. The weather here has been gorgeous. Short sleeve shirts in the 60's-70's. It’s a nice change, and I never thought it would come. Transfers are tomorrow and Elder Teixiera and I are staying together another one. I'm pretty excited, he's awesome. He has been here all together a year now and would like to go to another area but we're having success, so its perfectly fine with him that he stays. We struggle a little with the zone cuz most of the guys in our house are doing stupid things lately and we're trying to lead by example and its just not enough. Its hard to help missionaries when they don’t have a desire to work. I don’t know why people come on missions if they aren't going to work, it doesn’t make sense to me but whatever.We had an incredible week. My companion was sick all week but I pulled him out of bed each night so we could work. He's a trooper and pushed through it until we would get back to the pad at night and he would hit the bed immediately. He’s got some virus and is taking antibiotics. The week started off great so we decided to try and hit the mission standards of excellence. (The new mission goals). Only 1 companionship in the whole mission had hit all the goals since they came out but I am proud to say, we hit them this week! It definitely wasn’t because of us; we just received so much help from the Lord. We were able to get 2 baptismal commits for the upcoming weeks as well.We went over to teach Gabrielle and Sharma with a member this week. We went over some homework we left with Gabrielle about the atonement, and then taught a little more about it. We then asked Gabrielle if she wants to know if all of this is true. She said she didn’t really want to know right now, she doesn’t want to change her life at this moment. She is 19 and it is hard to change, but after all the lessons we've taught her and all the times the spirit was so strong, it was hard to hear that. We talk about baptism with her a lot and she always says she isn’t ready but we just tell her to pray. The member we were with was baptized a year ago and is so strong in the church. She told Gabrielle that she first met the missionaries when she was 17. She knew it was true but also didn’t want to change at that moment in her life. She then said she met the missionaries for the second time at age 22 and was quickly baptized. During the years of 17-22 were the most heart aching, sinful, painful years of her life. She said she would give up anything to go back and join the church at age 17 when she first met the missionaries. Because she didn’t, she went through so many trials and she told Gabrielle, don’t make the same mistake I did. Gabrielle then put her face in a pillow and started crying. I then committed Sharma to pray about the 18 of April for baptism. She said she would and we left. We went back last night, and Sharma said she is good to go for the 18th which is this week and Gabrielle will be coming to watch. Its sad to see her not commit to join the church at this time but its a great feeling knowing I did all I could. I fulfilled my purpose as a missionary and now it is between her and the Lord. Our frenchie Michelle was not baptized yesterday like we hoped. She didn’t get her answer yet but we're hoping she gets it this week so she can be baptized within the next coming weeks. She lives with all members and has a great support system; she’s just waiting for an answer.I had a cool experience with a recent convert named Ricardo. He’s 19 and is from the Caribbean. His mom was talking with us about how disrespectful he is to her. We could tell that she loved him very much and does a lot for him, but he has a false idea of what love is. We sat down with Ricardo and tried to teach him what true love is. We tried to tell him that his mom really loves him, and has done everything for him. I swear I saw a little bit of myself in him when I was a few years younger. It was weird teaching him everything that I have been taught by my parents for example. Dads quote," you get more with sugar than you do with salt." Oh and how true that statement is. That kid is the most thick headed person, but I think we helped him understand a little bit of why his mom does the things she does. Its all out of love. I cant tell you how grateful I am to have the greatest mom in the world. Even though I was a punk, she never stopped caring and has made every difference in my life.The work is going great and I’m looking forward to another miraculous transfer. We have 3 baptisms this transfer that are for sure, so it’ll be a blessing to help those people get on the path to true happiness.
Thanks for all you love and support.
I love you all,
Elder Breinholt
April 5, 2010
Hey everyone,
I can’t believe dusty is engaged!! What the heck? I’m so happy for him though. The ring looks pretty nice as well.Sounds like you all had a great time at the cabin. It must have been nice relaxing in the movie room watching conference. It was a rather dull week but conference definitely was amazing. We started off the week well, teaching a few people on Tuesday. Wednesday morning we had zone leader’s conference which was awesome. We accomplished a lot and also learned a lot. On the way home from ZLC my comp started getting the chills and came down with a fever. We stayed home Wednesday night and all day Thursday as well. I was going crazy ha-ha. I hate staying home and not working so much. I set up 6 chairs going from one room to the other and sat in each chair for a few minutes and then moved to the next chair. I was so bored, you don’t even know. Friday morning we had combined district meeting, it was such a great time. My comp and I led the zone in a great discussion about love, unity, and obedience. Later the district leaders all gave awesome workshops on the standards of excellence for the mission. It was a really spiritual morning. That night we finally went out and visited a couple people. We had a great lesson with Gabrielle and taught her the vision of Lehi and the tree of life. We read it in the book of Mormon and showed visuals of the dream. She understood it perfectly.Saturday was sooo good. I was so excited for general conference. The Saturday sessions were better than the Sunday in my opinion, but they were all so incredible. I loved the talk by Holland about love and lust; He is one of the best speakers. His teaching is always so powerful and touching. The last 3 times he has spoken in conference have been a lot more powerful. I wonder if he was given counsel on being more bold and direct when speaking because his talks are so amazing. The priesthood session was also very spiritual. I remember looking at president Monson during the priesthood session and feeling the witness that he is a true prophet. It was a wonderful experience to look at him and know that he is the God's mouthpiece on the earth to guide his children back to him. I was able to take notes for all the sessions and learned sooo much. I’m excited to go back through my notes so I keep those teachings in my mind at all times. The prophet himself said that priesthood meeting was one of the best he had ever been in, and it truly was for me. On Sunday a couple of our investigators came. Unfortunately not as many as we wanted, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t visit your investigators all week. I wish they all could have felt the testimonies of the special witnesses that we have been given. I wish that everyone could have seen and heard the prophets talk Sunday morning. I am so privileged to have the knowledge that I have. To know that this is the true church. The only true and living church on the whole earth. It’s a blessing to know that God has called men on the earth and given them the authority to direct the church with him. I know that if I follow the teachings that I have heard this past weekend then I will return to the presence of the father and the son. It is most definitely my goal and I pray it is all of yours as well. I hope we can always retain in remembrance the savior’s teachings and act accordingly. I love you all and hope you had the chance to listen to our prophet’s voice.
Have a great week!
Elder Breinholt
I can’t believe dusty is engaged!! What the heck? I’m so happy for him though. The ring looks pretty nice as well.Sounds like you all had a great time at the cabin. It must have been nice relaxing in the movie room watching conference. It was a rather dull week but conference definitely was amazing. We started off the week well, teaching a few people on Tuesday. Wednesday morning we had zone leader’s conference which was awesome. We accomplished a lot and also learned a lot. On the way home from ZLC my comp started getting the chills and came down with a fever. We stayed home Wednesday night and all day Thursday as well. I was going crazy ha-ha. I hate staying home and not working so much. I set up 6 chairs going from one room to the other and sat in each chair for a few minutes and then moved to the next chair. I was so bored, you don’t even know. Friday morning we had combined district meeting, it was such a great time. My comp and I led the zone in a great discussion about love, unity, and obedience. Later the district leaders all gave awesome workshops on the standards of excellence for the mission. It was a really spiritual morning. That night we finally went out and visited a couple people. We had a great lesson with Gabrielle and taught her the vision of Lehi and the tree of life. We read it in the book of Mormon and showed visuals of the dream. She understood it perfectly.Saturday was sooo good. I was so excited for general conference. The Saturday sessions were better than the Sunday in my opinion, but they were all so incredible. I loved the talk by Holland about love and lust; He is one of the best speakers. His teaching is always so powerful and touching. The last 3 times he has spoken in conference have been a lot more powerful. I wonder if he was given counsel on being more bold and direct when speaking because his talks are so amazing. The priesthood session was also very spiritual. I remember looking at president Monson during the priesthood session and feeling the witness that he is a true prophet. It was a wonderful experience to look at him and know that he is the God's mouthpiece on the earth to guide his children back to him. I was able to take notes for all the sessions and learned sooo much. I’m excited to go back through my notes so I keep those teachings in my mind at all times. The prophet himself said that priesthood meeting was one of the best he had ever been in, and it truly was for me. On Sunday a couple of our investigators came. Unfortunately not as many as we wanted, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t visit your investigators all week. I wish they all could have felt the testimonies of the special witnesses that we have been given. I wish that everyone could have seen and heard the prophets talk Sunday morning. I am so privileged to have the knowledge that I have. To know that this is the true church. The only true and living church on the whole earth. It’s a blessing to know that God has called men on the earth and given them the authority to direct the church with him. I know that if I follow the teachings that I have heard this past weekend then I will return to the presence of the father and the son. It is most definitely my goal and I pray it is all of yours as well. I hope we can always retain in remembrance the savior’s teachings and act accordingly. I love you all and hope you had the chance to listen to our prophet’s voice.
Have a great week!
Elder Breinholt
March 22, 2010
Hey everyone!
I still can’t believe it was spring break for you all last week. I’m so glad spring is officially here. It’s raining over here for the next couple of days and its made things pretty complicated. We've been trying to do the zone activity the past couple weeks and we can’t cuz it keeps raining on p -day. We went out on Saturday and bought all the hamburgers and hot dogs and everything necessary for a bbq at Coney Island, but it’s raining and we have to cancel again. The sisters are mad but what can we do? We can’t change the weather ha-ha some people are just funny but everything else has been sooo awesome. We had a really great week with 2 baptisms yesterday, and many miracles.Sounds like you all had a great time at the cabin, except for Pampa, that’s a bummer about his truck. I can only imagine everyone trying to get that thing out of the ditch, its hard working with a bunch of Breinholts ha-ha. That’s weird that it’s still snowing over there. It’s finally warming up over here. It gets in the 50s and I’m so used to the cold that 50 are hot. It'll be as rude awakening when I go back to AZ someday.This past week was so crazy. It went by fast but everyday felt so long. We had zone leader’s council on Tuesday and then I stayed in queens for exchanges with the assistants. I learned a lot from the AP's. We spent the whole day getting our appointments juked, so we taught a few crazies on the street and the rest of the day was pretty boring but its all good, got to have days like that once in a while.While I was on exchanges my comp and the other assistant went to this Lady Michelle’s house. She’s one of the frenchies, (the pretty one). They taught her the third lesson, the gospel and she asked how she one day receive eternal life. They took advantage of the great question and she is now committed for the 4th of April. She has been wanting to get baptized for a few weeks, it’s just hard to get over and teach her cuz she lives pretty far. On Tuesday we went and taught the 2 teenage girls that have been coming to church. (Gabriel and Sharma). We had one of the best lessons I’ve sat in on my mission. We went over to explain a doubt that they had 2 nights previous. They both were baptized in another church and really want to do baptisms for the dead but learned that they cant without being baptized in our church. They have a little sister who is 6. When we got to their house the little girl, Samantha was bouncing off the walls. We sat and talked for a bit and then told Samantha to sit down and chill out while we said the prayer. At the end of the prayer I looked over and Samantha was laying on the couch sucking her thumb, completely asleep. WE then taught Sharma and Gabriel the clearest lesson on the restoration that I've had and they both asked us," Does this mean that the rest of the world that’s been baptized aren’t really baptized cuz it wasn’t done the right way.?" We asked them what they thought, and at the end of the lesson Gabriel sat there and just said she was so shocked. If Samantha hadn’t fallen asleep I don’t think we would have had the spirit there so strong and the girls wouldn’t have understood as well as they did. Oh the tender mercies of the lord. Yesterday elder Teixeira and I had 2 baptisms. Erilia and Berkley. We went over there during the week to finish teaching them everything. We were teaching the word of wisdom and Erilia said the only thing she used was coffee but right then she said, “now that I know about the word of wisdom I will never drink coffee again." She has sooo much faith and has so much love for god its incredible. During her baptismal interview with the District leader she committed herself to read the book of Mormon and the bible once a year. She already reads the bible once a year but now the book of Mormon and also the doctrine and covenants. Erilia has her degrees in the study of religion and theology but is still so humble. She is 58 years old and Berkley is 12. My comp baptized Erilia and I baptized Berkley. It was so awesome. They were both so happy after their baptism and both felt this time the baptism was done right, by the right authority. It was such a great experience to be apart of.We are still working on getting the other frenchies married so they can get baptized. They said they were going to split but now they aren’t so sure. I really hope and pray we can get it worked out.I am still learning a ton about the atonement and is been the best experience. I also learned a lot about prayer and how true the scriptures are when they say, "ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Is it that simple I ask myself? The great news is YES it really is that simple. The lord sticks to his word. I’ve learned some great things on what’s called, piercing the veil. The work is so good right now and I can’t complain. We are being blessed so much and are seeing so many miracles. I love this gospel and pray that others may receive the blessings of it like I have.
I love you all,
Elder Derek Breinholt
I still can’t believe it was spring break for you all last week. I’m so glad spring is officially here. It’s raining over here for the next couple of days and its made things pretty complicated. We've been trying to do the zone activity the past couple weeks and we can’t cuz it keeps raining on p -day. We went out on Saturday and bought all the hamburgers and hot dogs and everything necessary for a bbq at Coney Island, but it’s raining and we have to cancel again. The sisters are mad but what can we do? We can’t change the weather ha-ha some people are just funny but everything else has been sooo awesome. We had a really great week with 2 baptisms yesterday, and many miracles.Sounds like you all had a great time at the cabin, except for Pampa, that’s a bummer about his truck. I can only imagine everyone trying to get that thing out of the ditch, its hard working with a bunch of Breinholts ha-ha. That’s weird that it’s still snowing over there. It’s finally warming up over here. It gets in the 50s and I’m so used to the cold that 50 are hot. It'll be as rude awakening when I go back to AZ someday.This past week was so crazy. It went by fast but everyday felt so long. We had zone leader’s council on Tuesday and then I stayed in queens for exchanges with the assistants. I learned a lot from the AP's. We spent the whole day getting our appointments juked, so we taught a few crazies on the street and the rest of the day was pretty boring but its all good, got to have days like that once in a while.While I was on exchanges my comp and the other assistant went to this Lady Michelle’s house. She’s one of the frenchies, (the pretty one). They taught her the third lesson, the gospel and she asked how she one day receive eternal life. They took advantage of the great question and she is now committed for the 4th of April. She has been wanting to get baptized for a few weeks, it’s just hard to get over and teach her cuz she lives pretty far. On Tuesday we went and taught the 2 teenage girls that have been coming to church. (Gabriel and Sharma). We had one of the best lessons I’ve sat in on my mission. We went over to explain a doubt that they had 2 nights previous. They both were baptized in another church and really want to do baptisms for the dead but learned that they cant without being baptized in our church. They have a little sister who is 6. When we got to their house the little girl, Samantha was bouncing off the walls. We sat and talked for a bit and then told Samantha to sit down and chill out while we said the prayer. At the end of the prayer I looked over and Samantha was laying on the couch sucking her thumb, completely asleep. WE then taught Sharma and Gabriel the clearest lesson on the restoration that I've had and they both asked us," Does this mean that the rest of the world that’s been baptized aren’t really baptized cuz it wasn’t done the right way.?" We asked them what they thought, and at the end of the lesson Gabriel sat there and just said she was so shocked. If Samantha hadn’t fallen asleep I don’t think we would have had the spirit there so strong and the girls wouldn’t have understood as well as they did. Oh the tender mercies of the lord. Yesterday elder Teixeira and I had 2 baptisms. Erilia and Berkley. We went over there during the week to finish teaching them everything. We were teaching the word of wisdom and Erilia said the only thing she used was coffee but right then she said, “now that I know about the word of wisdom I will never drink coffee again." She has sooo much faith and has so much love for god its incredible. During her baptismal interview with the District leader she committed herself to read the book of Mormon and the bible once a year. She already reads the bible once a year but now the book of Mormon and also the doctrine and covenants. Erilia has her degrees in the study of religion and theology but is still so humble. She is 58 years old and Berkley is 12. My comp baptized Erilia and I baptized Berkley. It was so awesome. They were both so happy after their baptism and both felt this time the baptism was done right, by the right authority. It was such a great experience to be apart of.We are still working on getting the other frenchies married so they can get baptized. They said they were going to split but now they aren’t so sure. I really hope and pray we can get it worked out.I am still learning a ton about the atonement and is been the best experience. I also learned a lot about prayer and how true the scriptures are when they say, "ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Is it that simple I ask myself? The great news is YES it really is that simple. The lord sticks to his word. I’ve learned some great things on what’s called, piercing the veil. The work is so good right now and I can’t complain. We are being blessed so much and are seeing so many miracles. I love this gospel and pray that others may receive the blessings of it like I have.
I love you all,
Elder Derek Breinholt
March 15, 2010
Hey guys,
Sounds like a lot is going on back home. I can’t believe its spring break already I had no idea. Time is going by so fast its crazy. I thought it was funny how you were saying Cory had to run in 50 degree weather and that’s cold or something? Ha-ha that’s WARM you got to be kidding me. I sweat at fifty degrees now. You guys are all at the cabin now? I’m jealous; the weather here has been terrible! It rained all week and we had the craziest storm I’ve ever been in on Saturday night. Huge 50 foot trees were falling in the road and we still walked around all night. It was funny watching everyone walking around and clinging onto poles ha-ha. The wind was so strong that when my comp and I were crossing the street we started to run cuz a car was coming and as we started to run the wind picked up our feet and we both almost fell flat on our faces.I can’t believe Ashley scow got married. That’s so crazy to me. And then Dusty is thinking about getting engaged? What the heck? What’s going on with this world?This week was so good. We actually had a slow start. I went on exchanges with the American Sign Language missionaries cuz they’re in our zone. I got to go to Manhattan with them because that’s where they have church. It was a lot of fun. We were struggling to get some lessons in the beginning of the week and I was stressing out. We started filling up our days towards the end of the week and had an OUTSTANDING day yesterday at church.We had 7 investigators at church again. I was so shocked that we had all those people at church 2 weeks in a row. It was a long day having to go to 3 hours of Spanish and then 3 hours of English church but it was so awesome. We have this lady who’s in her 50's from Haiti that we’ve been teaching. We went to pick her up for church last week and she brought her 12 yr old grandson. He loved it and was asking me during our lesson with him this week if he could go to church again. He came and we committed him and his grandma for baptism next Sunday so they’re supposed to be going down. It’ll be sweet having those 2 baptisms. We are also teaching these 2 girls from Haiti that speaks perfect English. They weren’t progressing at all at the beginning of the transfer. We thought they liked us more than church but we had such a great lesson with them during the week. We watched the restoration DVD and one of the girls starts taking notes, and she recited the whole story afterwards. She might be the best investigator I’ve had. Their names are Gabriel and Charma. Gabriel is 19 and Charma is 12. They went to church and we went to their house afterwards to eat with them. Charma told us she wanted to go to the ward temple trip for baptisms for the dead April 1st but she was so sad cuz she knows you have to be baptized to be a member and go. She said she was already baptized in another church and knows you can’t be baptized twice. We were so stoked to tell her that that’s true; you can only be baptized one time, but in the true church. We told them we would explain more and how they can go to the temple. I hope they can get baptized as well; it would be such a good transfer. We are also teaching 3 French people that came to church and are working on getting an answer from one of them to see if they’re going to get married so they can both get baptized or split up to get baptized. They want to get baptized so badly, but the lady is iffy on getting married cuz the guy hasn’t always been so faithful, but since meeting with the missionaries he’s changed. They were supposed to tell us what they are going to do yesterday but we didn’t have time to be alone with them and talk.The other French lady is so good and called us last night to make sure we were coming over this week to teach her. I think shell get baptized for sure. The work is awesome right now. It’s never been so good. We had our zone meeting on Friday with everyone and it went well. We are trying to get our zone to step it up; nobody has anyone real great right now except the ASL program. It’ll progress here as long as we have good attitudes. I love you all and thank you for all your support.
Have a great week,
Elder Breinholt
Sounds like a lot is going on back home. I can’t believe its spring break already I had no idea. Time is going by so fast its crazy. I thought it was funny how you were saying Cory had to run in 50 degree weather and that’s cold or something? Ha-ha that’s WARM you got to be kidding me. I sweat at fifty degrees now. You guys are all at the cabin now? I’m jealous; the weather here has been terrible! It rained all week and we had the craziest storm I’ve ever been in on Saturday night. Huge 50 foot trees were falling in the road and we still walked around all night. It was funny watching everyone walking around and clinging onto poles ha-ha. The wind was so strong that when my comp and I were crossing the street we started to run cuz a car was coming and as we started to run the wind picked up our feet and we both almost fell flat on our faces.I can’t believe Ashley scow got married. That’s so crazy to me. And then Dusty is thinking about getting engaged? What the heck? What’s going on with this world?This week was so good. We actually had a slow start. I went on exchanges with the American Sign Language missionaries cuz they’re in our zone. I got to go to Manhattan with them because that’s where they have church. It was a lot of fun. We were struggling to get some lessons in the beginning of the week and I was stressing out. We started filling up our days towards the end of the week and had an OUTSTANDING day yesterday at church.We had 7 investigators at church again. I was so shocked that we had all those people at church 2 weeks in a row. It was a long day having to go to 3 hours of Spanish and then 3 hours of English church but it was so awesome. We have this lady who’s in her 50's from Haiti that we’ve been teaching. We went to pick her up for church last week and she brought her 12 yr old grandson. He loved it and was asking me during our lesson with him this week if he could go to church again. He came and we committed him and his grandma for baptism next Sunday so they’re supposed to be going down. It’ll be sweet having those 2 baptisms. We are also teaching these 2 girls from Haiti that speaks perfect English. They weren’t progressing at all at the beginning of the transfer. We thought they liked us more than church but we had such a great lesson with them during the week. We watched the restoration DVD and one of the girls starts taking notes, and she recited the whole story afterwards. She might be the best investigator I’ve had. Their names are Gabriel and Charma. Gabriel is 19 and Charma is 12. They went to church and we went to their house afterwards to eat with them. Charma told us she wanted to go to the ward temple trip for baptisms for the dead April 1st but she was so sad cuz she knows you have to be baptized to be a member and go. She said she was already baptized in another church and knows you can’t be baptized twice. We were so stoked to tell her that that’s true; you can only be baptized one time, but in the true church. We told them we would explain more and how they can go to the temple. I hope they can get baptized as well; it would be such a good transfer. We are also teaching 3 French people that came to church and are working on getting an answer from one of them to see if they’re going to get married so they can both get baptized or split up to get baptized. They want to get baptized so badly, but the lady is iffy on getting married cuz the guy hasn’t always been so faithful, but since meeting with the missionaries he’s changed. They were supposed to tell us what they are going to do yesterday but we didn’t have time to be alone with them and talk.The other French lady is so good and called us last night to make sure we were coming over this week to teach her. I think shell get baptized for sure. The work is awesome right now. It’s never been so good. We had our zone meeting on Friday with everyone and it went well. We are trying to get our zone to step it up; nobody has anyone real great right now except the ASL program. It’ll progress here as long as we have good attitudes. I love you all and thank you for all your support.
Have a great week,
Elder Breinholt
March 1, 2010
Hey everyone!Well we had a great week here, it doesn’t sound like much is going on at home like usual. We were off to a good start in teaching lessons this week. It rained everyday until Friday. We woke up Friday morning to 8 or so inches of snow and a text from president saying nobody can drive the cars so we had to stay at home. We couldn’t go out and knock cuz we live 10 minutes out of our area in car so we stayed at home, played games, and rested. A member drove us over some pizza and late at night we went to the church and played basketball for a couple hours. It was indeed the ultimate p-day ha-ha. I woke up at 4 in the morning on Saturday and couldn’t get back to sleep due to bad body aches. I ended up crapping my pants like 5 times due to diarrhea or however you spell it. Yeah it wasn’t too much fun. Especially cuz we went to an Elder’s quorum breakfast at the church and played basketball, I thought I was gonna die. I didn’t want to have district meeting that was planned, but since it would be the last of the transfer I pushed through it and had it Saturday morning. It ended up being a lot of fun and it was amazing how through feeling the spirit my body felt 100 times better. So I have some bad news, I got a text from the zone leaders Thursday saying President wanted to have an interview with me Friday afternoon. Well since it snowed, President just called me to talk to me. He asked me to be ZONE LEADER! He asked how I felt about it and I said I didn’t want to do it ha-ha too much work, but he said too bad ha-ha. He told me I’m going right back to MIDWOOD where I came from 6 weeks ago to be in a zebra companionship, which means I will be teaching in English and Spanish. I will have to go to the English and Spanish wards. My companion will be Elder Teixiera who I just lived with 6 weeks ago. He’s awesome and speaks Spanish along with 4 other languages so that'll be cool. We will be teaching in French also so I will learn a little bit of French ha-ha. His dad is Elder Teixiera from the seventy. We have transfers tomorrow morning.I had to tell everyone here in Brentwood I was leaving. I couldn’t believe how mad they were. Nobody could believe that President would take me out after only 6 weeks. The ward has really changed and the attitude there has also in such a short time. We went from 80 people at church to over 120 and growing. The past missionaries here didn’t love to work so much and so the members weren’t all that excited about the work. My companion and I were able to help change that a little bit and now the ward is on fire.We had a few investigators at church yesterday, it was so awesome. We asked one of the guys, José to get baptized and he said he will very soon. He has come 3 times now, but we haven’t really been able to teach him. A member brought his niece who is older and has a kid. She came and loved it, and I’m kinda mad I won’t be here to teach her cuz she’s really good looking ha-ha. Melvin our recent convert also blessed the sacrament for the first time. He didn’t want to wear a white shirt and tie at all, but we went to bishop’s house Saturday night and he gave him a new shirt, pants, and shoes, so Melvin had no choice but to wear them. He is the funniest guy, I’m gonna miss him.I’m so mad that I have to leave this area already and go back to walking in the city, but I guess there’s something I need to still do in Midwood. I was just district leader over half the zone there, now I’m going back zone leader. I really don’t want to be zone leader, too much monkey business. I'd rather just be a normal missionary sometimes, I don’t even know why people want to be leaders ha-ha it’s not very fun. Its all good though, I’ll do what I need to do and I know I’ll learn a ton just like I have being district leader the past 4 transfers. We found a really good investigator here last week who is one of the best people I’ve found, and I hope things will be great in Midwood like they are here. Midwood is one of the hardest areas, but it can all change with attitude. I’m excited to see all those people I just left last transfer and it’ll be fun getting to know the English ward that are all black. I guess its Heavenly Father’s way of helping me love black people more right? I love you all and hope everything is well. I appreciate your letters and your support. Have a great week. Love, Elder Derek Breinholt
February 22, 2010
Hey!
Well I got the good news just like you all did. I’m gonna be an uncle. I’m so stoked, but I won’t be home to see the baby born or to see Katie get fat. Craig and Kristin better get to it themselves so the little kid has someone to play with ha-ha.I can’t believe Blair jacked his shoulder. How did that happen? Lets just say at least I know how he feels ha-ha I’ve been there a couple times before, it’s so much fun.This last week was pretty normal as the work goes. The office called us Wednesday morning and said they were bringing us a new car in an hour. They showed up an hour later with a 2010 Subaru. It was better than Christmas!We have just been teaching the same investigators and some aren’t doing too well anymore, but we have a couple new investigators who are progressing well.We had our restoration musical again Saturday. I made tickets and fliers a month ago and then set everything up and made programs Saturday morning. We called all the leaders in the ward and told them to call all the members. The English ward went at 5 o'clock on Saturday and only 20-25 people showed up. Unfortunately their’s, wasn’t that great. At 6:30 we started ours in Spanish and we had over 90 people that came. That’s basically everyone that comes to church on Sundays, it was incredible! We all did our parts, I taught the apostasy and sang the last song with the child prodigy Elder Call who came in to play the piano cuz he’s ridiculous. We sang “Praise to the Man” and it went really well. The members loved the fireside. I want to do it when I go home for the ward. After the fireside we had a big Spanish party with dinner and dancing. The bishop said he’s never seen so many people come to an activity in that ward, he was really impressed.In church the next day we had over 120 people which is another HUGE number at church. Lots of people came from the fireside which was lots of actives and less actives. We were able to get a couple member referrals due to people that brought their friends so hopefully we can visit them this week and help them come to church next week.I was able to confirm Melvin a member of the church and give him the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting. It was an amazing experience. He also received the priesthood later on. It was a great day at church. We got a new ward mission correlater a couple weeks ago and he’s so excited about missionary work and is going to help us SOO much. The work is gonna progress so much in this ward, I’m excited to see what happens. The bishop is ridiculous and almost impossible to get along with, all the members dislike him and I am trying really hard to love him. He makes it a little difficult for less actives to come back due to offending lots of people, but we just keep doing what we have to do I guess. This week we get transfer calls, I’m gonna be so mad if president takes my comp or I out of here. I told him to please leave us together at least one more transfer and then he can do what he wants so I guess we'll see what happens. So last night we and the sisters went to a member’s house to eat and have a little family night. There was also another family there, so about 20 people. We ate, and then had a lesson and everyone said they wanted to show us a game called muertito. Which I guess a bad translation to that word is ‘little dead person”. So everyone suggested that my comp and I were the little muertitos. They laid pillows on the floor and told us to lay on our backs. They then covered us with a sheet and about 3 blankets over our heads so we couldn’t see. They then started taking measurements of our bodies. Our hands, arms, head, feet, and leg. We had no idea what was going on and had to pretend like we were dead. They were just yelling out all sorts of measurements and lifted up our legs. All the sudden we felt water go down our whole leg and filled up our pants. They ended up lifting out legs up in the air, and pouring a whole cup of water down our suit pants ha-ha. We couldn’t believe it! We were in shock! I guess the joke was on us last night but it was funny.I hope everything’s great at home. I can’t believe Ashley is getting married, that’s so nuts. Everything’s great out here though, we're having a good time and working hard to build this place up. I’m loving the work and learning more and more everyday. I love the gospel and have learned the importance of it. My testimony of the church is stronger than ever and I just wish others could see how true the gospel is. I really don’t understand how people don’t see it. I love you all and hope you have a great week, Love Elder D. Breinholt
Well I got the good news just like you all did. I’m gonna be an uncle. I’m so stoked, but I won’t be home to see the baby born or to see Katie get fat. Craig and Kristin better get to it themselves so the little kid has someone to play with ha-ha.I can’t believe Blair jacked his shoulder. How did that happen? Lets just say at least I know how he feels ha-ha I’ve been there a couple times before, it’s so much fun.This last week was pretty normal as the work goes. The office called us Wednesday morning and said they were bringing us a new car in an hour. They showed up an hour later with a 2010 Subaru. It was better than Christmas!We have just been teaching the same investigators and some aren’t doing too well anymore, but we have a couple new investigators who are progressing well.We had our restoration musical again Saturday. I made tickets and fliers a month ago and then set everything up and made programs Saturday morning. We called all the leaders in the ward and told them to call all the members. The English ward went at 5 o'clock on Saturday and only 20-25 people showed up. Unfortunately their’s, wasn’t that great. At 6:30 we started ours in Spanish and we had over 90 people that came. That’s basically everyone that comes to church on Sundays, it was incredible! We all did our parts, I taught the apostasy and sang the last song with the child prodigy Elder Call who came in to play the piano cuz he’s ridiculous. We sang “Praise to the Man” and it went really well. The members loved the fireside. I want to do it when I go home for the ward. After the fireside we had a big Spanish party with dinner and dancing. The bishop said he’s never seen so many people come to an activity in that ward, he was really impressed.In church the next day we had over 120 people which is another HUGE number at church. Lots of people came from the fireside which was lots of actives and less actives. We were able to get a couple member referrals due to people that brought their friends so hopefully we can visit them this week and help them come to church next week.I was able to confirm Melvin a member of the church and give him the Holy Ghost during sacrament meeting. It was an amazing experience. He also received the priesthood later on. It was a great day at church. We got a new ward mission correlater a couple weeks ago and he’s so excited about missionary work and is going to help us SOO much. The work is gonna progress so much in this ward, I’m excited to see what happens. The bishop is ridiculous and almost impossible to get along with, all the members dislike him and I am trying really hard to love him. He makes it a little difficult for less actives to come back due to offending lots of people, but we just keep doing what we have to do I guess. This week we get transfer calls, I’m gonna be so mad if president takes my comp or I out of here. I told him to please leave us together at least one more transfer and then he can do what he wants so I guess we'll see what happens. So last night we and the sisters went to a member’s house to eat and have a little family night. There was also another family there, so about 20 people. We ate, and then had a lesson and everyone said they wanted to show us a game called muertito. Which I guess a bad translation to that word is ‘little dead person”. So everyone suggested that my comp and I were the little muertitos. They laid pillows on the floor and told us to lay on our backs. They then covered us with a sheet and about 3 blankets over our heads so we couldn’t see. They then started taking measurements of our bodies. Our hands, arms, head, feet, and leg. We had no idea what was going on and had to pretend like we were dead. They were just yelling out all sorts of measurements and lifted up our legs. All the sudden we felt water go down our whole leg and filled up our pants. They ended up lifting out legs up in the air, and pouring a whole cup of water down our suit pants ha-ha. We couldn’t believe it! We were in shock! I guess the joke was on us last night but it was funny.I hope everything’s great at home. I can’t believe Ashley is getting married, that’s so nuts. Everything’s great out here though, we're having a good time and working hard to build this place up. I’m loving the work and learning more and more everyday. I love the gospel and have learned the importance of it. My testimony of the church is stronger than ever and I just wish others could see how true the gospel is. I really don’t understand how people don’t see it. I love you all and hope you have a great week, Love Elder D. Breinholt
February 16, 2010
2/16/10Hey everyone! Well as you know I didn’t email yesterday due to president’s day and the library being closed so I’m doing it real quick right now during our break. I’m sure mom was wondering why I didn’t email, but don’t worry I’m still alive and everything’s great. That’s cool that the movie I saw being filmed here last summer is coming out, but ill probably never see it. It’s snowing right now which stinks. We got a couple feet of snow last week, and all of it in one day. We didn’t stay inside however like we probably should. We went around and shoveled snow all day for investigators and random people on the street. A couple Elders in a different area called us and told us one of their members were talking to this little old lady at the post office and she would get baptized if we would just show up at her house to shovel her driveway. Hearing this, we flew over to her house and I knocked on the front door, as I had my shovel in my hand. I started speaking in Spanish because I thought she was Spanish but she wasn’t. She didn’t really respond too well and she started thinking I didn’t speak English. She was communicating to me in broken English like I was some little child that didn’t understand. I couldn’t tell her I spoke English cuz I would of broke her heart as she was crying and pointing to her tears and trying to communicate to me as if I were a Spanish person. It was the funniest thing. I felt bad but she was sooo appreciative of the work we did and we handed her off to the English sisters. We had a blast rallying around the good old mission car.Last Thursday we had zone conference with 2 zones and president. It was all about faith. It definitely strengthened my faith and knowledge that we can do anything according to our faith. The big thing in the mission is the 800 baptisms for the year. Doubling last years. It’s been a struggle as we obviously aren’t where we need to be. Its not just gonna change right away, but its going to take time and a lot of change in ourselves. We have progressed a lot though and we will reach our goal by next November. We have been finding some new investigators that are doing awesome. We couldn’t get anyone but Melvin to church which was a bummer but people will come. We have had a few member referrals this past week which is awesome and we're going to meet with those people this week. The members are starting to like us and help us out in the work. On Sunday Melvin was baptized and it was awesome. Elder Kerby my comp baptized him. It was his first baptism on the mission and was a great experience for the both of us. For some reason baptisms are a lot of stress. Between making the programs, assigning everyone to do things and putting everything together, but it’s more than worth it to see someone make a covenant with God to follow him and his son Jesus Christ. Melvin bore his testimony afterwards and like always the spirit had witnessed the importance of baptism. I sang the rainbow song in Spanish at the baptism. It was a last minute thing.Everything is awesome right now. The area is sweet and our pool is getting better and better. We are getting the ward more excited about missionary work as they haven’t seen baptisms for I think 8 months but we're gonna change that here. I love the work and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. The island is awesome, and I really don’t want to go back to the city ha-ha. We're just living the dream out here. I love you all and thanks for all your support. I hope you all had a happy valentines day! Love, Elder D Breinholt
February 8, 2010
2-8-10 Hey guys!,This week was pretty awesome. We were supposed to get a couple feet of snow on Saturday, but the storm stopped right before us. Everyone else got a couple feet, but it only snowed half an inch but we did end up getting the cold. I’m glad it didn’t snow, I hate the snow now.Doesn’t sound like too much is going on there. Everyone went up snowmobiling? Life must be good, but I'm sorry to say life’s better here right? Ha. Our week started out slow. We went to Fire Island for p-day. Oh man it was so sick! There’s a huge lighthouse, nude beach, and DEER! I got pics of the lighthouse and some deer but don’t worry the old man didn’t come out to the beach, it’s a little too cold for that ha-ha. We were driving on this tiny island and we saw deer 5 feet off the road so I told my comp to get out and tell Bambi to come over to us. He did so, and Bambi actually started coming so he jumped back in. Bambi decides to try and get in with him! Can you believe that? His whole head and neck was in the window in the car and he was kissing and licking my comp in the face. I was trying to get it on camera but I was laughing too hard and only got a couple pics but it was so funny. We found some new investigators that are pretty good. We had some great lessons with other investigators and came up with some awesome object lessons. Maybe one day I’ll show you all. We had 3 investigators at church yesterday. One of them is named Isaiah. We've been teaching him for a few weeks and he was interested but never too much. We went over and taught a bomb lesson on the plan of salvation and he was just dumb founded. The spirit was super strong and so he said he was gonna come to church for sure. We called a less active couple and had they go over at 8:30 Sunday morning to pick up Isaiah and bring him to church. Killing 2 birds with one stone. Anyways, I asked Isaiah what he thought about sacrament meeting and he told me he didn’t think too much of it. He said he was just feeling this weird feeling the whole time that he's never felt before and didn’t know what it was. I just told him we would discuss it more the next time we would visit him. It’s amazing that a 50 year old man has never felt the strong spirit that’s in sacrament meeting. The other 2 guys that came are Melvin, who is our commit for this Sunday and Jose. Jose came for the 2nd time with a member and we tried to have a family night with him and the member family last Monday but he didn’t show so we forgot about him. He ended up coming again so we're gonna try and teach him this week again. Melvin is awesome though. He’s so funny but is getting super scared about baptism. He starts having doubts and wants more time but we're trying to tell him to forget those bad thoughts because they don’t come from God. I was going over the baptismal questions with him yesterday and he told me he had killed 15-20 people in Honduras. He said he was a police officer and had to do it so I’m gonna talk to president and he should be fine, so he should be getting baptized this Sunday; we’re praying for that. My comp hasn’t had a baptism yet in 9 months so this will be awesome when we get him down.We were supposed to have a few other people at church and had members set up to pick them up, but they called us last minute and said they couldn’t come, so hopefully this Sunday they’ll make it. We're starting to make this dead area grow again, and help the ward also. We have a couple who the bishop of my last area works with. He told me to visit them cuz they are inactive and need to return to church. I looked them up and they haven’t been to church in 5 years but have now come the past 3 weeks in a row. We also have Melvin’s relatives the Trochez family who are still coming; the dad and his 3 sons. They’re the coolest family and I’ve never seen grown men have more respect for someone than for their dad. It could be cuz he’s 500 plus pounds and will eat them if they talk back, but they really are awesome.Not too much is new. We're working hard and trying to help this ward grow again and get the less actives back. I’m putting together the restoration fireside I did in Brooklyn. We're doing it the 20th of this month. This week my comp and I made tickets and fliers and handed them out in church. I think it’s gonna be a great success. Everything’s going well except I have to get a root canal maybe. I talked to mom already this week cuz I have a tooth that’s messed up and the doctor says it looks like I hit it or something so its dying and they’ll do a root canal. I’m not looking forward to that but everything else is great ha-ha. I love you all and hope you have a great week.Elder Derek Breinholt
February 1, 2010
2/1/10Hey everyone!Well not too much is new here or there. This past week has been another fast one. The time gets faster and faster, it’s crazy. Elder Kerby and I are starting to find our way around these cities. Our area is just so big we get lost all the time but we're doing better. We were in the house of a less active eating yesterday and her ex husband was there. We got lost on the way to their house again and so he went to his car and came back with a GPS and is letting us use it till we leave the area. We used it last night and looked up a bunch of members a lot faster. It was amazing, the first night without getting lost haha. It’s been a lot of fun though, elder Kerby is awesome. Well happy birthday dad! I’m not gonna lie, your kinda an old man now, its sad. Ha-ha but seriously hope you had a great b-day.Well I think I’m coming home 1 transfer early which will be December 22 so I can get right into school. It looks like that’s what other missionaries are doing and to get home for Christmas so I really have only 10 1/2 months left so I got to keep working hard cuz the time goes sooo fast.My companion and I were lifting last week and he tore the whole side of his chest. Its pretty bad so now we don’t exercise too much and I’m gonna get fat. We had a pretty good week. We got a lot of new investigators who are pretty good. I’m getting spoiled out here in a car. Its funny, we go and knock doors and then run in the car and turn the heater on full blast. I forget that I used to walk around in this weather 8 hrs a day. We have one referral we got from someone calling in to the church for a book of Mormon and they sent us a text with the guy’s info. We went and looked him up and taught him. His names Heber. He found a pass along card on the side of the road and called to learn more. We taught him the restoration and gave him a book of Mormon like always. We went back 2 days later and he had read 60 pages and the chapter we left him with twice. He’s an awesome guy. We committed him for baptism but he said he wants to learn more still so that was a bummer but he will definitely go down if he keeps reading. We still have our baptismal commit for the 14th, Melvin. The family he lives with are my favorite. He lives with his uncle who weighs over 500lbs and his 3 sons. They’re all so cool. We go over there a couple times a week and we got them all to come back to church so bishop loves us now. Melvin didn’t come to church with the family however because he got home too late on Saturday and couldn’t wake up at 8 to leave to church ha-ha but I’m praying everything will be good when we visit him this week.District meeting went really well on Friday. Our focus this transfer is member work and some other stuff. We did a practice where we all split up with another missionary and one person asked questions and tried to get to know the other person and learn about them. When we learn about someone, something they say will ALWAYS highlight a truth of the gospel from which we can then share more. When the time was right the one missionary would share a scripture or something to help the other person and its such a great experience and helps us to really go to the members and let them feel the spirit and feel that we care about them, not just to go there and think they’re a referral vending machine. Lots of times missionaries go to member’s homes and share a spiritual thought, and then ask for a referral. It’s lame when members won’t give up their friends unless they feel the spirit. So yesterday was a good day at church and a random guy come? We're gonna go do a family night with him and a member family tonight, so hopefully that goes well. I had to sing and give a talk in sacrament meeting. I didn’t want to prepare a written talk cuz I know I hate listening to people when they get up and read something for 15 minutes, it’s boring. I thought a lot about what I was going to say. The bishop asked us to speak on missionary work. A sister spoke first for 10 minutes and then my comp for 15. Then I sang nearer my god to thee. I then spoke for 15-20 minutes to close up the meeting. I got up and just shared personal experiences I’ve had in mission and how they’ve blessed my life. Missionary work is the most important thing we can do in our lives. The time ran out a lot quicker than I wanted it to and of course because I was nervous I forgot to say a lot of things I wanted to but it was a good experience. The bishop hasn’t liked missionaries for a while due to a bunch of previous lazy ones. He’s starting to like us a lot though and we're trying to get him excited about missionary work again. They haven’t had a baptism here in over 6 months so he’s excited about the one we have soon. We're working with him to strengthen the ward and less actives and we're doing another musical of the restoration the 20th of this month. The island (Long Island) is a lot different than the city. We have to work a lot differently and we're trying to find where all the members live so we can visit them, strengthen them, and hopefully they can help us with our work and to fulfill our purpose. I’m hoping for another great week and for another commit for this transfer. We're working hard and trying to do all we can to have success. We're going to an island right now called fire island to pet some deer and check out a lighthouse so I got to go but thanks for all your love and support, I love you, Elder Breinholt
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
January 18, 2010
Hey!I’m so jealous you guys are up in the snow and went boarding. That's the hardest part of the winter is being in the cold and not doing the things I normally do but its been more fun here, a different kind of fun ha. I want to see some pictures though; it’s been some time since I got some. I want to see the new cabin, Sounds pretty cool.I survived this week. We had interviews on Tuesday with president, which went very well. He didn’t tell me if I was leaving or anything because he didn’t know yet. He called me Thursday night and told me I would be leaving and I would be going to Brentwood! It’s in Long Island. I’m so stoked. I finally get a car, and it’s the perfect time for that because January-march are the coldest months and I won’t have to suffer anymore ha-ha.I’m also pretty bummed though because I love this ward and the people sooo much. It was so hard saying bye to all them yesterday. They’re all like a family. It’s interesting how different English and Spanish wards are. English wards back home function so well and almost everyone fulfills their callings. The Spanish wards don’t function as well but they have their own positive side. The Spanish wards and branches are always one big family and they love missionaries. I told these 2 old ladies who are sisters that I was leaving and they both started crying and hugging me. Ha-ha it was so cute.My patience has been tested a lot this transfer with my companion. I’m proud to say we never argued or fought. I’ve learned more than ever when to bite my tongue and let stupid things go. It’s been hard but every companion teaches you something important. I also realized that as my companion thinks he’s always right, so do I. Everyone always thinks they’re right all the time so I’ve learned a lot of humility and love. We had an amazing combined district meeting on Friday. The district leaders were in charge of everything and we did workshops and put ideas together. We shared the importance of member work and how to do it. Often times we get taught things and missionaries are expected to know how to do them. We don’t, that’s why we don’t do a lot of things. We did a bunch of practices that brought the spirit really strong. We just sat down with someone we don’t know so well in the zone and talked. One person would try to get to know the other by asking questions and just listening. When the time was right and when they felt they could help the person they would share a scripture or a message that they felt the person needed. Preach my gospel says that if we talk to someone wanting to know who they are and listen, something they say will ALWAYS highlight a principle of the gospel of which you can share more. Often times we go into members homes share a scripture and ask for referrals and it doesn’t work. However, if we go in and talk to them, show love for them and interest in their lives, then share something that will meet their needs, they’ll feel trust in us and will feel the spirit and want to help out missionary work. We are still working with most of the same investigators. Someone I’ve been working with for a while named Jonathon, is from Peru and finally came to church. He loved it! He isn’t married to his girlfriend and they have a kid, but he said next week he's gonna bring her. I told him the next time I come back to the ward I want him to be a member and he said he wants to get baptized real soon. We also have the Dominican Melvin who is still the man. He will get baptized this transfer, when he quits his job cuz he doesn’t need the one where he works on Sundays. He'll get baptized for sure. He’s been living the word of wisdom since we taught him and takes the B.O.M on the train to work with him. He’s the coolest guy I’ve met on my mission and I’m bummed I’m leaving and can’t see his baptism but its all good. As long as he goes down, that’s what matters.Well I know who my new comp. is too. His name is Elder Kerby and his family lives in Tyson’s ward. They moved in like 6 months ago. He’s a good guy; we're pretty close already so it’ll be a fun transfer. I've learned a lot from Elder Lee and ready to take what I’ve learned and help out the ward where I’m going. They have about 70 people at church a week and should have almost double that. I’ve been in the good and bad wards now and will do what I can and put to practice what I’ve learned. I’m gonna have more sisters in my district and I’m not too happy about that ha-ha, but it’s all a learning experience. Being in leadership has made me have different thoughts about a lot of sister missionaries, they cause a lot of drama.I’m bummed to leave the house I’m in and all the guys. It’s been sooo much fun I can’t even tells you. I’ve become best friends with a lot of the guys here. I was able to teach the wife and kids of Angel who I baptized a couple transfers ago. We haven’t been able to teach his wife for the whole transfer but we did last week. The lesson was Amazing! We brought a member and the spirit was so strong it was an awesome lesson. We taught the plan of salvation and I know she will get baptized. She will take some time but I don’t think it’ll be too long. I’m praying that she does get baptized because Angel is one of the most humble loving guys I’ve ever met in my life. He'd give me the only shirt of his back if I asked him for it. Every time we go there he feeds us terrible Puerto Rican food and I want to puke but he is so proud to give it to us and it’s all he has. I always just tell him he should open up a restaurant cuz he’s an awesome chef. It’s not true but he loves it ha-ha. Time is flying, and I’m loving every minute of it here. I’m learning so many things that I never thought I would. The mission has really helped me to become a better person and has changed my views and outlook on a lot of things. The gospel really is true and does bring happiness. Happiness that I didn’t think I could have before the mission. This life is so short and we need to better ourselves while we're here and do all we can to continually learn and progress. Thanks for all you do I love you. Elder Breinholt
January 11, 2010
Hey everyone!Man, this week flew right by. I don’t even remember what I did, it’s all a blur. The week went really well though, cold of course but got to deal with it. Complaining about the cold wont change a thing, it’s all mental anyways ha-ha. We spent a lot of time looking for new investigators and have dropped a few old ones because they have blockers that they can’t overcome. The mission is hard when it comes to dropping people. You know they need the gospel so bad and it will help them with all their problems but they just can’t see it from the point of view that we have as members. I get so frustrated because I just want people to be happy living the gospel and they will never find that happiness anywhere else.I was able to go to the temple for my year mark. I went with 16 missionaries. It was the most incredible experience. I forgot over the last 10 month the feeling in the temple. There is a spirit that is felt in the temple that is not felt ANYWHERE ELSE on earth. I have felt the spirit everyday since the MTC but it isn’t the same. I’ve had many spiritual experiences and seen miracles, but it isn’t the same. There’s just that feeling in the temple that can be felt in every temple and it’s the spirit of the lord’s house. My testimony of the gospel was strengthened even more just going and helping other people makes such great covenants with the lord. I think that we should be able to go every couple months. I think it’s weird that we are held back from doing service in the temple but twice in 2 years. It just doesn’t seem right to me. It was an awesome experience though, I enjoyed it a lot, and Manhattan was cool too ha. We are still trying to get our good investigators to church.It has been so difficult this transfer for some reason. I’m just trying to work hard and I have a companion that is negative about everything but doesn’t have ideas to change things. He’s frustrating but we have never fought. I’ve kinda learned to deal with things and people better. Its awesome being able to learn from each companion and build up who I am and who I want to become. It’s stressful not having a baptism this transfer. It kills me, but I know that I’m doing my best. This is the last week of the transfer, which I can’t believe. I just want to find some new investigators that are prepared so if incase I leave I left the place with a pool. I think I might be going to long island but I guess we will see. I hope everyone is doing well.My message to the world is just CHILL. Everyone gets so caught up in the little things and so caught up in the world and loses sight of what’s really important. Why are we here in the first place? We are here to have JOY. It’s so simple. Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have (JOY). We forget about that all the time. So the world needs to just CHILL and just live life and be happy. Don’t lose sight of what’s important. That’s all I have to say though. I love you all have an awesome week, Elder Breinholt P.S.We also had a Holland TV crew in our pad filming all of us this morning. They are following the zone leaders around today for some TV show on what 20 year olds are doing around the world and they decided to come here and film missionaries. One of the ZL’s is from Europe so that’s why they’re following them but it was weird this morning but cool.
January 4, 2009
Well hey everyone!Sounds like the trip was a lot of fun. Everything except the car ride. Mom’s email explained the whole week and made me wish I was there but it’s ok. One more year right? I miss snowmobiling a lot; it’ll be cool to do it next winter. It’s freezing here, Oh man, this week was rough. It snowed a little bit but it’s been dropping in temperature. It was 18 degrees over the weekend and tons of wind which was terrible. It was a little hard walking around for a few hours with these conditions. I don’t have a binni so my ears were about to fall off. I guess ill invest in one of those. I was sick for the first part of the week. So much for the flu shot I got a couple months ago. They don’t work, it’s a fluke. I got really bad body aches, migraines, and chills for a few days but, I’m a lot better now. I tried to go out and work Monday night but was gonna pass out so I came home and got a blessing. I rested Tuesday morning but worked from then on. I feel lazy if I stay home, even if I’m sick. Our best investigator Melvin, the Dominican, can’t get baptized. He started working for Bishop and we thought he only had to work one Sunday, but he has to work every Sunday. Pretty lame to me. I have always heard church and family before everything else. Our bishop has work first and as much as I wanted to tell him how I thought, I can’t. Bishop said he will have to work for a while on Sunday and will have to get baptized in the future. I was pretty upset but got to deal with it. The Puerto Rican, Gomez, says he’s moving to Boston this week cuz his brother in law has work for him and a place to stay for free. He isn’t working here so says he’s going. We have a couple good investigators, but the problem like always is getting people to church. We try, and they say they'll come, but church now starts at 9 which made it worse. Spanish people are sometimes lazy so it’s a little more difficult to get them there now, but the prepared will make their way there. Not too much is new. We're just working and not trying to freeze out here ha-ha. I’m having a lot of fun though and trying to become more like Christ. It’s hard to change but it happens little by little. I get to go to the temple this Friday! I’m so stoked. I haven’t been since last March so I’m ready to go. I’ve been waiting for the year mark temple trip, its gonna be so awesome. Everything is great though and now I have full energy and health again we're gonna kill it this week. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Elder Breinholt
December 28, 2009
Hey everyone,I don’t have much to say ha-ha I just spoke with you all. I just want to thank everyone for the Christmas cards and for the presents. I thought Christmas on the mission would be a depressing experience but it was the opposite. It was so good. We got fed 3 times on Christmas day, watched a cool missionary DVD and talked to the family. It was nice living with 10 missionaries. It made things exciting. We met with one of our investigators on Saturday. His name is Melvin, this is a funny story. We were gonna baptize a guy named Gomez a week ago but due to some things he can’t get baptized right now. The baptism was announced in the ward and everyone knew. Melvin’s last name is Gomez also and he’s a 22 yr old Dominican, coolest guy ever too! His wife is a member but she can’t come to church due to work. He has been coming by himself to church and loves it. Two weeks ago at church everyone thought it was him that was getting baptized and going up to him at church saying congrats. He just thought to himself, isn’t this my decision? However he just went along with it. We called him last Sunday to tell him church was cancelled and he said he was so relieved cuz he thought he was getting baptized that day. He told us the story on Saturday and we were dying laughing. He totally thought he was gonna get baptized. We told him that it was another guy and everything was clear. He has been looking for a job for a while and our bishop gave him a job last week. He had to work on Sunday and couldn’t come to work. Yeah kinda weird, bishop giving a job and has to work on Sunday? Oh well. We don’t know if he has to work all Sundays, hopefully not, if so ill talk to bishop. Melvin is ready for baptism and wants to get baptized. When he doesn’t have to work he will go down. Church was really good yesterday. It’s been 2 weeks since we've been so it was nice to see everyone. We have a really cool ward. The sister had been teaching this guy named Gerardo. Every week at church I would sit with him and talk to him. I taught him a couple times me because he lives with a member in our area. We became pretty good friends. He asked me to baptize him but I told him no. I wanted his cousin to do it who is a convert of 1 year and is a 40 year old guy. Gerardo didn’t want him to do it and told me he wanted me to baptize him. I ended up baptizing him yesterday. It was a really great experience. The feeling of helping that person reach salvation is incredible. Its awesome being able to perform such a sacred ordinance; the spirit is always so strong.Not too much new is going on. We have been playing soccer in the basement of the church every morning at 6:30 for morning exercise. My comp stays in bed till late though so I go with a couple other Elders. It gets me up and ready for the day. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It is a better experience being able to focus more on Christ. Being able to enter into the houses of members and investigators and sharing a message of our savior. Focusing on Christ helped me to feel of his love more on Christmas. I was able to try and share that love with others. All you at home are pretty fortunate getting to spend time with the family together. People here don’t have that privilege. Most had to work or members of their families. It’s not as big of a deal over here to people because they can’t afford to take off work, it’s just another day. Be grateful for all you have and give thanks everyday. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Love,Elder Breinholt
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