Trying to be creative is too hard...

Hi! (: my apologies for the subject.. but I'm all out of creative subject lines. Haha.
This week was way good! Filled with amazing experiences and tender mercies.
But emailing about it is the greatest struggle of my life! :P haha just so easily distracted!
   Monday was pday.. we didn't do too much. I got to take a 2 hour nap which was soooooo nice. We ended up having to drive the Oakleaf sisters to orange park because they needed a ride. So our proselytizing time was a little short. Haha. In the evening we had a phone lesson... a term I'm using rather loosely in this case. It was with an Australian man, who's entire purpose in calling was to prove the "Mormon God" false. It was so sad, he was hard-core bible bashing and wouldn't listen to anything we tried to say. I couldn't help but think of Korihor in the Book of Mormon. WE ended up sharing our testimonies and hanging up. It was kinda a bummer way to end our night but oh well. Haha. Just another day in the life of a missionary serving in the south (;
   Tuesday we had our first district meeting. It was awesome! We also were able to find 3 new (investi)gators, miracles!! I loved IT! It was like a tender mercy from the Lord because he knew we needed a little pick me up.
   Wednesday we went to the Orange park district meeting. Photo 1.

And had a great tradeoff with the Fleming Island sisters. I seriously love them. I went with Sister Ganir to Fleming Island. We really enjoyed the time we spent together. We had some powerful discussions, she is such a consecrated missionary. She works so hard and is so focused on her purpose it was inspiring to see. She is such a great leader and I can see how she is blessing the missionaries she is serving with as well as her entire area. We also discussed having the faith to find the one. We both studied faith and President Uchtdorf's conference talk, "Fourth floor, Last door." I feel like that talk came at such an inspired time for the mission. I think a lot of missionaries don't truly understand what having the faith to find means. It doesn't mean you will find a new investigator everyday, and it doesn't mean you will have never ending success. Because as President Uchtdorf taught faith can't take away others agency or force our will on God. What it does mean is that we are diligent and we don't give up the faith that we WILL find the one today even if it's been a week since we last found someone. It means we trust God, his love, his plan and his timing. I think it was a really powerful study topic and something that was able to change both our perspectives. Photo 2.

   Thursday we went to Oakleaf and helped the sisters. We were having another emergency transfer. One sister was going home the other to a different area. It wasn't all that unexpected, they will be closing the Oakleaf area for a while. But I think it'll be alright. We spent a few hours cleaning and saying goodbye. Then we came home and went out with Lindsay. She truly is the best! At like 7:30 we finally ate dinner of pizza in our car. Such fun being a missionary (: lol.
   Friday we had an amazing tradeoff with the Whitehouse sisters. I went with Sister Thomas to their area and I am so impressed by the growth of Sister Thomas. She is so amazing!! I watched with excitement as I she talked with everyone. She teaches powerfully and she is so consecrated. She puts her heart and soul into the work and is so focused on her purpose. While Sister Thomas and I were together we were able to do a lot of finding. One of our favorite parts though was meeting Amy, she wasn't interested and was a little standoff-ish, but when we saw her as a person and payed her a complement her attitude changed. She became very friendly and actually offered us some fresh peanut butter cookies. We still weren't able to teach her, but we were able to leave a sweet spirit with her that I feel she'll never forget. It really was a tender mercy to see how much Sister Thomas has grown and what an excellent missionary she's become. Photo 3.

 And oddly enough while we were out tracting we found a Cambodian Buddhist temple... in the middle of the ghetto of Jacksonville. Photo 4.

   Saturday we went to Hendricks  and were able to see Dusty baptized! It was amazing!!! (: (: Dusty asked me to speak so I gave a short talk on baptism. It was exciting to see the glow of the gospel in him. He truly is so much happier now than he was when we first met. He loves the Lord and I was very touched by his testimony at the end of the service. That was such a celestial moment, that is what I want to remember from my mission experience. Those moments when the spirit is so strong and I am just so humbled that I was able to play a tiny part in the salvation of another. I just love being a missionary so much!! :D Photo 5.

   Sunday we had church and then went a finding. We found the cutest little old lady, Dorothy, and just sat and visited with her. She was very lonely, and we were able to talk about the Lord. I love seeing the faith of others. It is such a blessing.
All in all this week was awesome! I am humbled by the saviors love and I still encourage each of you to give President Nelsons challenge, to read each referenced scripture in the topical guide under Jesus christ, a shot! It will inspire you and help you to become more Christlike. I really feel the spirit and I am thankful for the atonement more everyday. I love you all so MUCH!
all my love, Sister Bryans
Bonus photo 6! 3 generations photo: Sister me, Sister Thomas, Sister Yingling. I love them all so much!