Saturday, April 26, 2014

HAPPY EASTER from the land with all the Bunnies

Aloha to all of you,
Have I ever told you about the insane amount of rabbits I see hip-hopping their merry little selves all over town? Well, there are TONS! And I decided to name them all after people in the Bible. I'm pretty sure most of them have like 7 names already, but it is fun. (When we first moved here, I was always telling Sister Zvirzdin to run them over. Now I would definitely cry if one of them died.)
This week has been splendid. Our p-day was spent shopping and dying Easter eggs. Have I ever told you how much fun that is!? I had a blast. We hard boiled and colored a dozen of them. And are still eating them today. YUM!
Our lesson with Ken Shaw on Monday didn't happen. I was really sad.  He took a trip to Louisiana for a work opportunity, and we don't know if or when he will be back.
Tuesday was fun. We walked all day instead of using the car. It was awesome! And the weather was beautiful. It started out cold, but then it warmed up and then with the breeze it would get cold, but it was great! I love walking. (I secretly really, really want to be in a bike or foot area.) We had a really good lesson with Paula B. We watched the Restoration DVD to finish up lesson one. It was really good. She hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon as much anymore and we are struggling with getting her to come to church; it makes me really sad because she has such amazing potential. But her husband is starting to maybe become interested, so maybe when he gets back from his military duties in Colorado, he will start taking the lessons too.
For Easter this year, we decided to show the Lamb of God and Finding Faith in Christ to everyone we could as part of a living Easter message. It didn't work out as well as I hoped. Here is why: The Lamb of God is a very heavy movie. It focuses way, way, way to much on the suffering and death of Christ than I thought it did, so we decided to focus more on Finding Faith in Christ. I like that movie WAY better. It is more of a celebration of the Life of Christ and his Resurrection, so it brings the Spirit better - I think. I have watched it like 10 times over the past week, and we are still using it this week too. I was really sad because only one family invited a friend over to watch the movie where the friend said yes. But it was still an awesome experience.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent on exchanges, so I got to work with Sister Urness and Sister Metzger in my area. We did tons! District Meeting on Wednesday was good as always. Our District Leader, decided that it would be cool to have the training part of our District Meeting in the Chapel. It was amazing! The Spirit was really strong. Thursday, I tried shop contacting for the first time. It was interesting and about as productive as tracting, but it was still fun. We also made an emergency stop at one of the nursing homes in the area. We were driving by and there was a fire truck and tons of police cars near the building, so we decided to drive by to see what was going on. It turned out that a truck had been driven into the building. So we immediately stopped because we have members that are residents there. Thankfully, no one was hurt except the driver - in fact I'm almost positive that he ended up dying because it was a heart attack that caused the accident in the first place. So our day was super crazy!
Sister Z and I had an amazing lesson with an inactive family: the Jumps. We shared the video Finding Faith in Christ with them. It was really cool because their home teacher was able to come with us. So that was awesome. We also were able to have a really good conversation with Sister Jump. It was cool. There family is AWESOME!!! I love them so much.
On Friday, we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Sunshine at the Cox's house. The Spirit was SO strong! It was amazing. We taught the restoration lesson, and it was powerful. It is amazing to see what the Spirit, members and a unified companionship could do. Sunshine prayed with us for the first time. It was the humblest prayer I have ever heard. And it was so sincere and so full of gratitude. Sister E. Harris really had it right when she talked about the miraculous prayers of an investigator.
Saturday was fun! We helped Primary with their Easter Activity. It was a lot of fun! Brother Luddington got to dress up as the Easter Bunny. He's such a great guy and his family is super cute too. They just had a baby a little less than a month ago. They're awesome! We also taught a great lesson to a man named Dave. We tracted into him over Conference weekend. He is really searching. It is amazing. He is attending a Catholic church at 7, and Episcopal church and 9, and he's also attending another churches Bible study class. He is also reading from the Bible, a New Testament/Pslams/Proverbs book of Scripture and the Book of Mormon. When we met with him Saturday, he had already read through 2 Nephi chapter 4. *MIND BLOWN!!!* He's super awesome.
We also had a super awesome dinner Saturday night with the Amaya family (I almost typed the Amazing family.) They truly are Amazing!!! We had a delicious Easter Dinner with them and they also gave us Easter baskets. How cute of them!?! We were super excited!
To finish off our Saturday night, we helped Sister McCormick dye Easter eggs for her grand kids Easter Baskets.   
Yesterday, we had a delicious Easter dinner with the Dobson family. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! They have a daughter out on a mission right now. Right now we are teaching them how to study from Preach My Gospel, so they can share experiences with the Sister Missionary that they have out from their family. It is so much fun! All of their kids are teenagers. I LOVE THE YOUTH OF THE CHURCH! They are so amazing! And they carry such a Spirit and have such strong testimonies. I could work with the youth all day!
Life is wonderful!
Dear Reader: Did you take up Elder M Russell Ballard's call to begin studying from Preach My Gospel so you can share what you are learning from the missionaries you know? If not, you totally should. Preach My Gospel is Amazing!!!! As part of our mission goals, we are asked to study from Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon daily. As I have begun to do that, I have definitely been able to see a difference in my testimony. It is so cool! I LOVE PREACH MY GOSPEL!
Oh, another cool thing - Yesterday was the day of miracles. Yesterday, being Easter, we celebrated the miracle of the Resurrection of the Son of God. And I saw a less actives at church that I hadn't seen in forever! My favorite was a sister who hasn't been to church pretty much since we've been here. She just decided to start coming back about a month ago, but usually she only stays for Sacrament Meeting. Well, yesterday, she came and stayed for all three meetings! The Atonement works. It changes hearts! The church is true!
This morning Sister Z and I went for a 40 minute walk around the neighborhood. It totaled a little less than 2.5 miles. It was so nice. I like being able to go outside and be a part of the world I live in. It brings me joy!
I love the gospel so much! And, I love the scriptures! I just recently read Joseph Smith History. It was so good! His account is so powerful. I know he was called to be a Prophet, and I know that he saw God the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ. I know that he brought forth the record of the Book of Mormon. I know It is a true book that teaches us of HOPE, LOVE and FAITH! I know this to be true.
Much love and Blessings to you all!
Love,
Sister Bryans

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