December 12, 2007

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you are all doing well! I am doing great. We have a new apartment (meaning people not the building itself) since Thursday. Our apartment is actually the youngest apartment in the mission. We lost Anziano Goddard (my mom) and Anziano Scoville (my dad) and gained Anziano Silva (the new District Leader) and Anziano Breen (my followup trainer--I call him my Godfather). As missionaries we have 16 transfers and we determine our age by how many transfers we have had. I am in my 2nd transfer (I am very young), Anziano Silva and Anziano Breen are both in their 6th transfer, and then Anziano Funk is in his 5th transfer. Ya..., we are very young, but so excited. We have a lot of fire and energy. I can tell that it is going to be an incredible transfer. Yes, I do miss my Dad, Anziano Scoville. I learned so much from him. But it is a good thing that i have a new companion. I notice that i talk a lot more and am more involved because i got pass the afraid, new stage. I love our investigators and inactive members we are working with. I would go into more details but there is not enough time in the day. To make very long stories short, i will summarize them all in one word: PATIENCE. This word is key. I am learning to have patience and to realize that things take time. We have one investigator who has been investigating for 3 years. So to me it may seem like a super long time, but i know that everything has a time and a season. For some people, they are ready to get baptized within a month (for example, Monollo--his baptism is on Jan 5th by the way.) and others need time. I have realized that things arent going to go as planned but that doesnt mean that we did something or that they did something wrong. Everything we do has a purpose. And as long as we follow the way of the Lord and do all He asks, all will go the way he wants it go. I hope this all makes sense. And if it doesnt make sense to you it makes sense to me. So know that i have learned a lot here and am continuing to learn. I am learning and working on taking every opportunity i have. This is important to me because i never know if i will have another opportunity to do a certain thing or talk to a certain person. So, my advice is to take every opportunity you have. You will be amazed with the results. A small example in my life is that we were on the metro coming home from Church. I sat down and waited for it to leave. Many people entered onto the metro and when all the seats were full and people were standing I got up and offered my seat to a lady. She sat down and was very grateful. Once we left and stopped many times, people got off and the seats opened again. I asked if i could sit by this same lady. She said, "Of course" and then we talked until we got off on our stop. That is just one example of how putting forth action and taking advantage of the situation. I made a good friend and was able to serve and be served by talking with her. This email is probably way to long, i apologize. But if your emails are super long to me, never apologize because i love super long emails or any emails. Before i go i want to say how much i love this opportunity to share the gospel. I know that this gospel is the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the leader of this church. I know that the Book of Mormon is a book from Him. Its impossible to convince people of this truth. We must all know for ourselves and feel the personal revelation of its truth. I have experienced its truth and recieved an answer for myself. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God. I know that we can only gain true everlasting happiness through this gospel. I love my Savior and i know without a doubt that he loves all of us individually. Know that. I love you all. Have an incredible Christmas Season. Serve others. Love, Anziano Brewster