Monday, December 12, 2016

What’s it called when you pay in advance for your sins? Besides apostate haha.  Well whatever it’s called I'm going to have to do it.  I'm going to apologize for my letter in advance because my brain has absolutely nothing in it to write about haha.  The coolest part of my week was one day when Elder Taito and I had been knocking doors and talking to people all day long!  We had pretty much no luck, which sometimes can put me in a bad mood, but thankfully I was actually really happy and hadn't been bothered by the fact that we had been working hard all day, but hadn't had any luck.  Well we were walking down the street trying to find a house we felt we should knock and then I turned to Elder Taito and I said this is awesome!  He was probably thinking in his mind that his trainer is absolutely nuts.  I had a big ole grin on my face and I just said how awesome it was to be a missionary.  We got talking and I was just thinking when else am I ever going to be walking down the street and trying to follow the promptings of the spirit so I can knock on their door and talk to them about Jesus Christ.  I realized that I'm really only going to get this opportunity once and it just made me so happy to be able to be a missionary!  We kept talking and just realized how cool it was to be able to have the constant companionship of the holy ghost and how we probably don't even realize how strong of an influence the Holy Ghost is in our lives compared to when we are back home.  There is no better feeling to have than the Holy Ghost with you.  I think no matter who you are, whether you are a missionary or not, you can have the influence of the Holy Ghost in your life.  It comes simply by obedience.  If you feel you want the Holy Ghost to be a strong influence in your life, be obedient to God’s commandments.  There was a cool experience this week when Elder Taito and I were out with an 18 year old member named Gups.  He is the man!  He literally came out with us all day!!!  I would have died back home if I had to spend all day with the missionaries.  Young men listen up... help the missionaries!!!  Don't be like Elder Brunson haha.  Anyway, we were driving down the road and I saw a long driveway and it led back to this house that had a black car outside.  It was down this driveway that I had been wanting to try and visit a different house, but we hadn't had a chance yet.  The house I wanted to try I knew the people had moved, but I felt like we should go back for some reason.  We had put it on our plans several times, but each day we never got the chance to go.  Well we were driving and it was a little weird to just stop, but we did it anyway haha.  I said, “Let’s go try that house down the driveway.”  They both agreed and so we went! When we knocked on the door this guy answered who was wearing a monopoly shirt with some cheesy saying on it.  I told him I liked his shirt.  He said thanks and said he was really into board games.  Perfect!  I asked him if he played any European board games.  He said yes!  Perfect!  I then listed off all the European board games I knew: Settlers, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, and guess what?! He knew them all!  We got talking and Josh told us he had just recently moved and that he hadn't been going to a church because the church he used to go to was not in Manurewa.  He told us that he had been looking for a church to go to.  He was a little hesitant but we gave him a pamphlet and invited him to read and pray about it.  We testified that we knew God had sent us to him and that it was The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints that he was looking for.  I don't know if he is even going to meet with us and take the discussions, but I definitely know that it was a prompting to go to his house regardless of what the outcome is, and it felt good to see the blessings that come from following the Spirit.  If you haven't had many experiences with following the promptings of the Spirit I would encourage you to pray every day this next week to be given an opportunity to receive spiritual promptings and then to be able to follow them!  I love you all heaps!  Hope everyone enjoys the snow!  Congrats Chad and Tami on the new baby!!!!! 

Love,

Elder Brunson