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