July 4th
Date
July 2, 2018
Area
Del Rio, Texas
Companion
Elder Toone
July 4th
Hello Everyone!
My week has been pretty good! We have had a lot of good times and we are getting ready to ship Elder Toone back to Utah... Kind of crazy to think he is heading out! I am going to miss him! You never get along with a companion all of the time, but we have been great! I would say these transfers and my first with Elder Webb are definitely my favorite so far! Anyways, we had the chance to help Martin get to the temple this past week for the first time with the youth to do baptisms for the dead and he loved it! We were not able to go up to San Antonio, but when he got back, we asked him all about it! He said he loved being baptized for his ancestors and he got to be the one baptizing too!!!! How crazy is that? He has been the baptizer in the temple before even i have! I thought that was super cool and he is loving the gospel!
We ate dinner with the Crapo family and him yesterday and had a lesson on the temple and how everything is symbolic! It was such a great time and i just loved seeing his eyes glow as he realized how amazing the temple is! We also visited a less active family who is one of our favorites, so we had to get a picture! Their name is the Estrada Family and we have become close with them! They are like Elder Toones favorite people and we have been trying to help them get back to coming to church! They have come a couple times, but still lack the motivation to be consistent! I AM NEVER GOING INACTIVE! After working with so many people and seeing them miss the blessings of the gospel, there is no way i will let myself do that! Anyways, so we took a picture with them and Brother Estrada put his hand like on my waste and pulled me in.... it was strange.... but oh well right? haha so youll see what i am talking about in the photo! We also had MLC this week so i had the chance to go up to San Antonio for that and decided about how we are going to make the mission better! We do a lot of reflecting here, and that has honestly helped me to see what i need to change and keep working on! We were challenged to have 40 baptisms as a whole mission every transfer so i am going to try my best to make that goal come true! I got to take a picture with one of my old companions Elder Smith and it was fun because the picture was of every missionary that Elder Smith has been with so it was fun to all be together (all except one missionary who was in Austin). We have also been working with Ana and Timathy this week to prepare them to go to the temple this coming Saturday when they are going to be in San Antonio visiting family! They wanted to go with the youth, but had some things come up. So we let the temple know that they would be coming on Saturday and they are ready and expecting them! It has honestly been a really good week and i have had a great time! i know that as i lose myself in the Lord's work and just forget about my selfishness, He is going to bless me immensely and there won't be room enough to receive all the blessings He gives me (3 Nephi 24:10). I love the gospel literally so much and don't know where i would be without it! It has blessed my life in so many ways that i will never be able to give back to the Lord. I think about all the blessings i have and just marvel at the fact that my heavenly father is still giving me more blessings. Sacrificing everything for the Lord brings forth the blessings of Heaven, as stated in the song praise to the man! I love that! Through our sacrifices we will be blessed beyond measure! Its like tithing... think about it. When we pay tithing, we are literally giving 10% of a blessing the Lord has already given us back to him, like money from a job. Then he promises us more blessings for doing that! Like holy cow we are blessed! The Gospel is so true! The Presidents of the two branches i am covering are both so sweet! The one from the English Branch is President Mallya and the one from the Spanish is President Garza! They are both so missionary minded and it has been such a big blessing to us! They are very personable people and actually remind me quite a bit of Dad. They are studs and i am glad to be able to be working with them! I think the craziest thing i have eaten on my mission would be this weird red soup, with raw fish and shrimp in it.... yeah not my favorite but definitely interesting! haha that was a hard day especially being my 4th day in the mission field! The Weather out here is dang HOT!! Holy Cow! Like it stays over 100 pretty much all of the time from 11-7.... so yeah it stinks and i get burnt basically everyday even with sunscreen on! The acne medicine is doing really well and i am hoping that i will be all cleared up here in a couple weeks! I think any missionary would say the best advice is to lose yourself in the service of the Lord. When we do that, the miracles just flow down from heaven and it is crazy to recognize everything that our Father in Heaven is willing to give us as we work and ask! And finally my favorite food i dont know.... There is a lot of really good food and i couldnt pick but i love barbecue and we seem to get that every now and then! You would be surprised that they eat the same kind of food here as they do in Utah.... I know crazy! But yeah its all good, i still LOVE pasta so that would be my favorite! But it is catching up to me in the fact of gaining weight in my face so i am taking a break from pasta for now.
I love you tons mom and thanks for always being there and supporting me in everything! I know the mission is never going to be easy, but it has been such a great blessing in my life and i wouldn't give up the opportunity to serve a mission for the world! I hope you all have an amazing week and that every does well in their activities! I love you all so much and am grateful for all of your many examples to me!
Love,
Elder Bretzing
My week has been pretty good! We have had a lot of good times and we are getting ready to ship Elder Toone back to Utah... Kind of crazy to think he is heading out! I am going to miss him! You never get along with a companion all of the time, but we have been great! I would say these transfers and my first with Elder Webb are definitely my favorite so far! Anyways, we had the chance to help Martin get to the temple this past week for the first time with the youth to do baptisms for the dead and he loved it! We were not able to go up to San Antonio, but when he got back, we asked him all about it! He said he loved being baptized for his ancestors and he got to be the one baptizing too!!!! How crazy is that? He has been the baptizer in the temple before even i have! I thought that was super cool and he is loving the gospel!
We ate dinner with the Crapo family and him yesterday and had a lesson on the temple and how everything is symbolic! It was such a great time and i just loved seeing his eyes glow as he realized how amazing the temple is! We also visited a less active family who is one of our favorites, so we had to get a picture! Their name is the Estrada Family and we have become close with them! They are like Elder Toones favorite people and we have been trying to help them get back to coming to church! They have come a couple times, but still lack the motivation to be consistent! I AM NEVER GOING INACTIVE! After working with so many people and seeing them miss the blessings of the gospel, there is no way i will let myself do that! Anyways, so we took a picture with them and Brother Estrada put his hand like on my waste and pulled me in.... it was strange.... but oh well right? haha so youll see what i am talking about in the photo! We also had MLC this week so i had the chance to go up to San Antonio for that and decided about how we are going to make the mission better! We do a lot of reflecting here, and that has honestly helped me to see what i need to change and keep working on! We were challenged to have 40 baptisms as a whole mission every transfer so i am going to try my best to make that goal come true! I got to take a picture with one of my old companions Elder Smith and it was fun because the picture was of every missionary that Elder Smith has been with so it was fun to all be together (all except one missionary who was in Austin). We have also been working with Ana and Timathy this week to prepare them to go to the temple this coming Saturday when they are going to be in San Antonio visiting family! They wanted to go with the youth, but had some things come up. So we let the temple know that they would be coming on Saturday and they are ready and expecting them! It has honestly been a really good week and i have had a great time! i know that as i lose myself in the Lord's work and just forget about my selfishness, He is going to bless me immensely and there won't be room enough to receive all the blessings He gives me (3 Nephi 24:10). I love the gospel literally so much and don't know where i would be without it! It has blessed my life in so many ways that i will never be able to give back to the Lord. I think about all the blessings i have and just marvel at the fact that my heavenly father is still giving me more blessings. Sacrificing everything for the Lord brings forth the blessings of Heaven, as stated in the song praise to the man! I love that! Through our sacrifices we will be blessed beyond measure! Its like tithing... think about it. When we pay tithing, we are literally giving 10% of a blessing the Lord has already given us back to him, like money from a job. Then he promises us more blessings for doing that! Like holy cow we are blessed! The Gospel is so true! The Presidents of the two branches i am covering are both so sweet! The one from the English Branch is President Mallya and the one from the Spanish is President Garza! They are both so missionary minded and it has been such a big blessing to us! They are very personable people and actually remind me quite a bit of Dad. They are studs and i am glad to be able to be working with them! I think the craziest thing i have eaten on my mission would be this weird red soup, with raw fish and shrimp in it.... yeah not my favorite but definitely interesting! haha that was a hard day especially being my 4th day in the mission field! The Weather out here is dang HOT!! Holy Cow! Like it stays over 100 pretty much all of the time from 11-7.... so yeah it stinks and i get burnt basically everyday even with sunscreen on! The acne medicine is doing really well and i am hoping that i will be all cleared up here in a couple weeks! I think any missionary would say the best advice is to lose yourself in the service of the Lord. When we do that, the miracles just flow down from heaven and it is crazy to recognize everything that our Father in Heaven is willing to give us as we work and ask! And finally my favorite food i dont know.... There is a lot of really good food and i couldnt pick but i love barbecue and we seem to get that every now and then! You would be surprised that they eat the same kind of food here as they do in Utah.... I know crazy! But yeah its all good, i still LOVE pasta so that would be my favorite! But it is catching up to me in the fact of gaining weight in my face so i am taking a break from pasta for now.
I love you tons mom and thanks for always being there and supporting me in everything! I know the mission is never going to be easy, but it has been such a great blessing in my life and i wouldn't give up the opportunity to serve a mission for the world! I hope you all have an amazing week and that every does well in their activities! I love you all so much and am grateful for all of your many examples to me!
Love,
Elder Bretzing
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