Monday, January 30, 2017

Summer!!!!!

Well, it finally has been warm for a whole week!  This summer has been nothing like my first summer here in New Zealand.  My first summer was real hot all summer, but this year it hasn't been that warm.  This week finally felt like summer though.  This week we went and tried to knock on some of the really flash houses that are really close to the beach.  We had pretty much no luck, but it was mean to see all the massive houses haha.  We did find a pretty cool guy from Germany, so hopefully he will be keen.  Nothing overly exciting happened this week.  Sadly this is going to be my last week with Elder Fellingham :(  Elder Fellingham will leave on Monday and I will have to stay with some other Elders until transfers on Thursday.  I'm not looking forward to having him leave.  Elder Fellingham is the man!  He is probably the most on to it companion that I have had.  We have had some good success being together, and it is really fun to teach with him.  He has a great understanding of the scriptures and works really hard.  This week we met a guy that has been to Washington State and loves it.  He even knows where Kennewick is!  He was describing a lot of the places that he has been to in Washington and he made it sound so cool that Elder Fellingham decided that he wants to come and visit Washington.  I told him I will give him a tour of Washington if he comes.  The guy even made me want to go and explore more of Washington.

Well we got heaps of exciting news this week.  The missionary schedule will be adjusted and we will be having Dale G. Renlund come to our mission in the middle of February and some other members of the seventy.  I'm so pumped because the apostles are seriously the coolest people ever!  When Elder Christofferson came that was one of the coolest experiences of my mission.  I'm sure Elder Renlund will be just as exciting!  We had a really awesome District meeting this week on Tuesday.  It was Elder Holmes last District meeting and he gave the training.  It was really good and he got a lot of input from everybody.  One of the things I talked about was the importance of controlling our thoughts, and the importance of having good attitudes.  This is something that I have learned a lot about over my mission.  One of my favorite quotes is from Elder M. Russell Ballard and he says "Be positive! Your actions, attitude, mission, and life will be directed by your thoughts."  I remember one time when I was in a slump in Baseball.  I kept telling my mom that I couldn't hit the ball anymore.  She would always tell me that if I said I couldn't hit the ball I would never ever hit the ball, but if I told myself I was going to hit the ball, I would hit the ball.  I told her that was a stupid idea and that it didn't work that way.  It definitely took me coming on a mission to finally develop a belief in this principle.  I can honestly say no matter how tough the mission gets, if you try and be positive and see the tender mercies of the Lord the mission is the best!  I'm so thankful for my mission!  There are countless lessons that I have learned.  I wish I could put it all into words, but it's not possible.  I especially loved President Hinckley’s article in the January Ensign.  He was such a good example of the principle of optimism.  I would encourage all of you who have not read the article yet to read it.  One of my favorite quotes from the article was "Keep trying. Be believing. Be happy. Don't get discouraged. Things will work out."  I still have fears, and challenges that lay ahead, but I know that with the right attitude and with the Lord on our side all things are possible to them that believe.  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Brunson