Hi family and friends how's it going?
I heard that my favorite Kmart store is closing down. How very sad. I had so many fond memories at that store. Farewell Chippewa Falls Kmart. (I'm pretty sure that Chippewa Falls is now going to die by the way.)
At least there is a Kmart in Cheyenne, though I have never been to it. I really want to just for fun. It is surprising close to the Wal-Mart and Target. Hmmm.... anyways - (The first Sister Bryans rant of the day. Let us keep a tally shall we.)
I have started in on my new journal. <3 It is the best! I love starting new journals. Of course it does make life exciting when we think back to how many volumes I have at home. (Is that another tangent?!?)
I can't believe that last Monday was the celebratory birthday of Senior Benjamin. Holy Moley! He's such an old man.
It's terrible when I can't remember what I shared last time. Ooops!
So I bought another notebook for some notes and personal inspiration that I get when I read from my patriarchal blessing. That is super exciting! (I am going to have so many notebooks and journals waiting for me at the end of my mission. Yikes!
The 4th of February was my two month anniversary as a Sister Missionary in the Colorado Fort Collins Mission. (That went by super fast.) Because it was Tuesday on the 4th, we had a really good lesson with Kevin. I love Kevin. He is a silly man sometimes and he definitely has some mental issues as well as some health issues, but he is such a great guy. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Lesson 3). He told us that he wants to make it to the Celestial Kingdom, so we explained that the way to do that was to be baptized. He keeps saying that he is thinking about becoming a Mormon. The thing that is holding him back the most though is smoking. So this week we are going to talk about the Word of Wisdom.
I LOVE THE WORD OF WISDOM! I could study it all day every day and never get bored. Anyways, he is also struggling some with keeping commitments, but hopefully we can help him with that. We want to take him on a church tour this Saturday if we can so that maybe he will come to church this Sunday. *crosses fingers*
We ate that night with the Relief Society President. That was fun. She's a really good lady. Anyways, the cool thing about dinner that I wanted to share was that we ate on pewter plates and out of pewter bowls. AWESOME!
So did you know that the seminary scripture mastery scriptures changed again?!? I didn't. So I've been marking them in my scriptures. I'm only through the Old Testament, so I still have a ways to go. But yeah that was news to me. (Thanks for telling me guys.)(Does this count as another tangent?)
Wednesday was fun. We did some service at the VA hospital again. I met some men named Tom, V and Bill and I also talked with a lady named Mary. They were all very friendly. Bill was in a service of Marines that was disbanded a while ago and sent into the Navy. I don't remember what it is called, so you may have to do some digging to find it. I know it starts with an M. Tom studied dirt, cereal grain crops and water and was a g... scientist. Again, I don't know what the word is. But it's not your typical g- science study.
They were all really nice people. I really like listening to older people. (I feel like my life is really boring, so I like to listen to other peoples lives and life stories. They are much more interesting.)
Wednesday evening, instead of going to mutual, we went and visited the Cox family. Brother Cox served his mission in Ireland and he looks like Uncle Fester. It is so cool! His wife is really cute too. We are going to their house this evening to visit and see how we can help her strengthen her relationship with the savior. (She is a 3 year old or so recent convert and has some social anxiety that makes it hard for her to come to church, but we love her anyways.)
On Thursday, we had district meeting which was awesome. Our district leader is one of our new elders in the Buffalo Ridge ward. Anyways, he is really cool. His name is Elder Day. He is a short elder with spikey blonde hair and kind of a sassy/sarcastic personality. He's a really good missionary though. I'm excited to have him in our ward. His companion Elder Hattabaugh is really nice. He's a 3 month old missionary, so he just got done training. He is very tall and like I said, super nice. He's awesome.
Anyways, after district meeting, we did some service at Habitat for Humanity. That was fun. Sister Zvirzdin and I put together two ceiling fans, and then I organized some tables. Have I told you that I really like organizing? Anyways, that was fun.
Then we visited with Jenny Parsons - Sister Parsons daughter. She is an awesome lady. She has three kids one of them is a one month old. She is just starting to come back to church. Her kids are really neat - super active and super sweet.
Friday was probably my favorite day this week. =D Sister Zvirzdin had to go down to Fort Collins for MLC's (missionary leadership conference). So I go to work with Sister Waite and Sister Hebertson. I love those sisters. Sister Hebertson has been out less than a week, and Sister Waite and I came out together. We worked in Sister Waite's area of the Cornerstone ward. That was a lot of fun. We went to pizza hut for lunch and had the buffet. We also had a butter knife thrown at us. That was an exciting adventure. (There was a school their on a lunch field trip.)
Anyways, the really cool thing about Friday though is I met a lady names Karin Hopkins. Her maiden name is Stringham, and she is related to the same Brother Stringham that fought with President Brigham Young all those years ago. =D She's family! I was so excited. She got out her Stringham line book and we found Joseph Oxborrow in it. I was like?!? WHAT, FAMILY, SMALL WORLD! The way I found out we were related was when her husband told us the story about Brother Stringham fighting with Brigham Young. It was awesome! =D
So I have her email and am going to stay in contact with her if I can.
Saturday was exciting. It was a hard day. We did some service for Sister Law. (She needed help jumping her car so we went over to try and help. Her cables were bad so it didn't work, but she was eventually able to get it to work.) Then we did some service for Sister Hamby. We helped her shred some papers. We also helped her clean a little bit. It was cool to see her smile.
Then we visited with Chris and Emma. That was an adventure we weren't prepared for at all. We decided to hand Chris over to the Elders to have them start working with him.
Anyways, so...something is wrong with my feet, and I don't know what it is. My 4th and pinky toes are swollen, and they have purple pin sized bruises on them. They hurt when they rub or when I bend them. They "burn" and sometimes they "itch." Like I said, I'm not sure what's wrong with them. They haven't spread to any of my other toes yet. I hope it's not some nasty fungus. I don't think I could deal with that. I also hope they aren't planters warts. I might just cry. (Not really I never cry.)
But anyways, that certainly makes missionary work an adventure.
Yesterday was a really good Sabbath. We had sister Kristina Dobson's missionary farewell yesterday. She's a cute girl. She will do well as a missionary. She is serving in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mission. We take her out with us on occasion. She has been helping us teach Kevin. Last week we took her tracting, and this week we are going to take her with us when we go to teach one of her friends. How awesome! (I really like almond flavored things btw.)
Two cool quotes from Sunday yesterday:
Faith Faith
----------- + ------------ = Faith to Conquer All
Fear Doubt
"To Return with Honor means to Live with Honor"
Also, a neat scripture I read on Friday during companion study: Acts 2:37-38. It says that if we want to teach, we need to have the Spirit. And if we want to have the Spirit we need to repent. Therefore, if we want to teach we need to repent. I thought that was really cool.
Also, there is a riot/protest out by the capital building today, and we don't know why, and we're not allowed to go over, so if you're curious cause I know I am...
Anyways, I can't think of anything else super awesome to share with you except this:
I know that God is my loving Heavenly Father. I know he loves me and knows me personally. I know the Savior Lives. I know that he suffered the Atonement for each one of us as individuals, so he would know how to succor us in our times of greatest distress. I know that, when we use the Atonement in our lives daily that, we come closer to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. We are able to understand our purpose on this earth, and we are able to have the spirit in our lives more abundantly. I know that Heavenly Father called a 14 year old boy named Joseph Smith to be the Prophet of the Restoration. I know that he gave his life for his testimony. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God given and written to a branch of Israel located on the Ancient American continent. I know that it is true, and I know that reading it will bring all hope and assurance of a better life. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet of the earth today. I know that he was called of God. I know that prayers work. I am grateful to be a missionary in this great hour of Haste before the Savior comes. I know I'm not perfect and I know I fail - a lot. But I know that through Faith and a Hope of the Savior, I can do anything! I love you all, and I wish you the best week ever.
Love,
Sister Bryans
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