Slow Progress

Hola,

I am staying on my mission! We got the transfer email yesterday morning and I was pretty nervous to see it. I have good news for the entire family:

YOU ALL GET TO MEET HERMANA JAHNEL VIA SKYPE THIS CHRISTMAS!!

We are staying together in the Cortez Branch!

This week has been much better. I have definitely felt strength beyond my own this week and I know it is coming from the Lord. A huge THANK YOU to all those who are praying and fasting in my behalf- it's definitely doing something.

The medicine has been helping so I am not too stiff in the mornings. We worked every day this week (slowly and with a few breaks, but we did a lot more than past weeks). Whenever it hurts really bad, I just don't say anything because I know there is nothing I can do about it. I just have to wait till the 'normal' kicks in. Tomorrow I will go to the doctor. I really hope he can give me a little more advice on how to overcome this! I will let you know next week how it goes.

To answer your question about what I will be doing for Thanksgiving…Well, in our mission we aren't allowed to eat with members. Thanksgiving is the only day that we can. We have been invited to 2 members houses to eat (We will go to both, obviously haha). Other than that, we try to help other people remember to be thankful for Jesus Christ while we are out finding.

We have a district meeting in the morning and I am sure we will do something fun. This week is going to be hard being away from my family. I am always at home for Thanksgiving! I hope you will remember that I am thankful for all of you! Also, this Thanksgiving, be grateful for thumbs. Mine aren't working today and it is making everything harder. I am learning to be grateful for small and simple things! Hahaha

The weather here is cooling down. It is still not cold though. Mom, you would love this weather! Tell Sambo congrats for me. It will be fun for you to see her and hear all about her experiences.

HAVE A THUPER THANKSGIVING! I love you all so much.

Thank you for everything you do for me.

Love,

Hermana Bryan

NEEDING YOUR PRAYERS!

I haven't posted anything for a few weeks because I wasn't sure if Jessica wanted me to share her health concerns. Maybe she doesn't, but I know that prayers are answered and we need your help. Here are some of the comments she has shared with me as she has been struggling with her health, specifically the arthritis in her joints. Any prayers on her behalf are appreciated.

Mom, I am a little worried that I will have to come home. Will you please ask the whole family to pray that I will get better and be able to stay out here?

Hermana Jahnel told me that I kept her up all night talking in my sleep. I woke up a couple times and prayed because my body hurt, but other than that I don't remember saying anything. She said I kept calling out for help and saying I couldn't do it (in English and Spanish- so there's one good thing haha). I feel really bad. I let her take a nap for the first hour of p-day while I cleaned the house.

I don't know what to say because I am trying to stay positive. Every day I wake up and wonder how I am going to get out of bed, let alone make it through the day. Somehow I always do, but it makes me so frustrated. Also, there is no way to know if it is going to be a good day or a bad one. I am trying my best to just hang in there. I will continue working as hard as I can while I am out here. I just need to trust in the Lord’s plan for me and keep trying as hard as I can to figure out what that plan is.

We found a super less active member from Hondurus. He has 3 kids and 2 of them can be baptized. We are going to work with him. He is a friend of our recent convert.

We have a new family we are working with. They are awesome and have a baptismal date for this month. They came to our Halloween activity.

The family we are working with came to a fireside last week but they didn't come to church, so we have to push their baptism back. That’s a bummer but we are still working with them.

It finally cooled down here in Florida. (for one day) Yesterday I think the temperature got down to mid-low 70s. These past couple days we were out all day tracting. We avoided stairs and went at a pretty slow pace, but we are working as hard as we can. I am really trying my best. 

Hermana Jahnel found a nice church approved theme song for me. She sings it all the time just to laugh.

"Si tienes otra forma de andar, algunos te evitaran mas yo no lo hare.

Si tienes otra forma de hablar, unos de ti se burlaran mas yo no lo hare"

It is the song "I’ll Walk With You" from the Children’s handbook. When she sings it, I imagine you singing it to me! Haha

The new medicine is helping enough that I can function. I have faith that it will be under control soon enough. My body is week but I am here. The Lord is giving me the strength I need to proclaim his word. There are still people here who need to hear what I have to say and the Lord will give me the strength I need to do his work.

We were going to have a baptism this Saturday but it isn't happening anymore. The changes in the church regarding the children of same sex parents has everyone talking and upset. It is hard to explain it to people. I just know that our church is lead by God and His leaders here on the earth. If it changed, it is because that is how God wants it. To me, it strengthens my testimony. To others, they realize they don't have one or it is too weak.

It would solve all the problems in the world if people just loved God and their neighbor. I was reading in 2 Nephi this week and studying about why God lets such bad things happen to good people. I am ready to answer people’s questions about this one! -more prepared than the policy change Haha

This week we were supposed to have a Thanksgiving dinner at the church. We were so excited. We helped set up the night before while we waited for people to show up for English classes. When we got to the church Friday night we were a little confused because there were only a few cars in the parking lot. Regardless, we walked in ready to eat but everything had been re-decorated and there was a dead person where the food should have been.

It was a little bit of a shock for us. Apparently there was a conflict in scheduling who has the building which days. Obviously a funeral is more important than a dinner activity. It was funny because I always joke around and say that not even death can stop these Hispanics from having a party, but this just goes to show I was wrong.

I love you so much and I really am so grateful for all you and Dad are doing to help me. I am forever grateful for this opportunity you have given me to serve a mission. Please give my love to everyone.

Love,

Hermana Bryan

taking missionary work to a whole new level (someone will appreciate this..?)

right before bed- tired but happy girls

at the Halloween Party

We really did "Meet the Mormons" this week.

I had a random flare-up this week. I felt so bad and I was really trying to work through it and just do what I could so I didn't complain or get sent home but then we had a training meeting with President Cusick and it was so bad. We were late because I couldn't walk fast enough and then I had to drive there. We missed a turn and Hermana Jahnel was just talking to me as fast as she could in Spanish. We walked in during the opening song and I just lost it. Everyone turned around to watch us and I looked like an 80 year old missionary walking in. It was so awful and I couldn't go any faster because it hurt so bad. I just started crying. 

President spoke with us after the meeting. That is when he called you. Thank you for all your help with the Doctor this week. Please thank Tiffany too! I’ll keep you posted as I find out more.

This week we got to listen to Sister Don Armstrong. She is the woman in the movie Meet the Mormons who sends her son out on his mission.

This week Sister Armstrong talked to us and I really liked some of the things she said. She talked about the beauty in keeping it real. It made me think of you mom. She went on to say how moms like their kids to have everything perfect and win everything etc. She said, "I am all about making my kids feel uncomfortable. Like, 'Welcome to life, baby!' haha!" That also made me think of you. I laughed.

She talked about her family relationships and how love is necessary. It was a really cool experience.

I had exchanges for the first time this week. It was scary but it was all right. I liked it because it helped me to see what things I am doing well and what I can improve on. Also, I taught a couple people in Spanish all by myself, and they even complimented my Spanish! (I think they were just being nice, but still!)

We had zone training conference. We are doing awesome in our mission. We are leading the area and President Cusick is really pleased with that. He had a general authority ask what he was doing in the mission to have success and he said it’s because our missionaries are obedient. It was cool. He is a great guy. We have interviews coming up in November and I am excited. I will probably just cry because he is like my dad while I am here haha. He loves all his missionaries and I am grateful for him.

Love you all,

Hermana Bryan

Called as Sister Training Leader's

Something crazy happened. We have been called as the sister training leaders. I am sooo not qualified for that! I guess the Lord calls the weak and the simple. I am trusting 100% in the Lord! If He wants me to, then I will! We are going to do an exchange for the first time this week. I have never done one before! They are on an "as-needed" basis. So I guess it's good that I never had one. I have heard there is some drama with other sisters but I love all the sisters in my zone.

We got the call to be STLs when we were role-playing in the driveway of an investigators house. She is a great lady, but struggles with gender issues. And we were going to teach the law of chastity. Hermana Jahnel told me that the law of chastity is the hardest one because of the language and that she would let me do it and just add thoughts that came to her mind and comment as prompted by the spirit. I was so scared out of my mind! So when we got the call at that moment, we were both experiencing stress.

We prayed really hard and the Lord helped us to be focused on the lesson. We keep in mind "All I have to do right now is.... " and it helps us. We taught it then went back to teach another lesson and ended up teaching the law of chastity again.. ah it is so hard! I don't know all the answers and I ended up just telling her that I had never taught in this situation before so I would have to get back to her. We asked all the elders and sisters and leaders and it’s so hard to know. I think she will be baptized next month though. We will have to wait and see.

Here is something funny/sad.

We attended the English ward this week and there was an old lady speaking.

She ended her talk by saying "I pray that this will be my last talk. I don't want to do this again" On the way down from the pulpit she tripped down the stairs. It was scary at first but she was fine. When we went home for dinner I laughed for so long because God answered her prayer so fast! Careful what you ask for. hahaha

We are going to have a chili cook off for Halloween in our branch- I am so excited.

As sister training leaders we were privileged enough to go to a special training by Elder Soares of the 70. He is from Brazil and spoke Portuguese with Hermana Jahnel for a while after. It was training on how we can better work with our wards and stakes. Also, as leaders in the mission he shared 1 Nephi 3:7. I know this scripture very well but it had new meaning this time around. Nephi didn't say he would go and do it because his leaders said so or because his dad said so. It was because the Lord asked him to. The same is with us. When we receive advice from our leaders it is really the Lord asking us to do it. This can especially relate to the standards of excellence or acceptable performance standards. They are from the Lord, not President Cusick. I really liked that.

Well, I have to go now. If I don’t stand up to leave Hermana Jahnel might never finish and we still have a lot to do today. I love you all so much!!

Make it a great week and I will talk to you next Monday!

Also, Tim gets my prayer day this week

Love,

Hermana Bryan

Meeting with Elder Soares of the Seventy

Add caption