Hey everyone!
Elder Rosenlof here coming to you live from beautiful, warm, and sunny Ventura, California. It's another beautiful day, and I'm yet again in a wonderful mood and still working hard to perform the Lord's work. Life can't get much better.
This week was good, but work-wise was pretty uneventful. People around here are none to keen to talk to us this time of year, which I honestly find kind of funny. They will tell us that they already know the true meaning of Christmas, and yet they refuse to talk about it for 5 minutes. But nonetheless, we were able to talk to a few wonderful souls, and we're still working hard with our investigators. Kayla is doing great! She wanted for a bit to move her baptism to the 1st, but now we're having it on the 17th. She kinda freaked out because she felt like things were moving a little to quickly, so we pushed it back a bit to help her feel more comfortable and ready. She's still super excited though and she's feeling more and more ready everyday. Gary is doing pretty good as well, but we weren't able to see him this week. Their whole family has been a little weird this week, but I'm pretty sure it was just some holiday stress and that things will get back on track this week. Things are also starting to move along with another investigator we have named Naomi. She just recently married a really solid member, and she's been taking the discussions for about a year while they were dating because she was curious about what he believed. She didn't really like the missionaries that she's worked with before, but she seems to like us because she's been very proactive at scheduling appointments and keeping commitments. We're hoping that we'll be able to help her gain the solid testimony that she is searching for.
So for this week, I wanted to talk about my Christmas experience this year. This year was one of the greatest Christmases of my life. Not because I got a lot of stuff or because I had a ton of fun, but because I was able to focus on the true meaning of the season. I didn't have the distraction of the world to draw my attention to the receiving aspect of it, so instead I was able to focus on giving. One of my new favorite quotes is by President Monson, and he says, "He who gives money, gives much. He who gives time, gives more. But he who gives of himself, gives all."
I hope you all have a great week this week! Thank you for the prayers and letters and emails! Keep on keeping on everyone.
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
The Mission Pic
Monday, December 29, 2014
Twas the P-Day Before Christmas
Hey everyone!
This week has been good!! It honestly doesn't feel like Christmas though. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm a missionary or because there's no snow or what, but it's weird to see all this Christmas stuff around. I'm pretty sure it's the no snow thing though. It's amazing how quickly you get accustomed to that.
Anyways I'm doing well! I'm officially a missionary now (or so says Elder Collard) because I had my first bike wreck. That was fun haha! It wasn't that bad though, I walked away with only a few bruises. That was probably the biggest thing that happened. I did get to sing in church though, so that was awesome! You know me, always happy to do that :) Haha but it was great. We had an awesome program in sacrament meeting and it was a real privilege to be a part of it.
There wasn't to much that happened of that. We got some new Elders in the area because of transfers! One of them (Elder Gardner) was serving in the Santa Maria 3rd ward and said that he knew Grandma and Grandpa so that's cool! The other just came out. He's from Bakersfield and he's on a trial mission. He's really cool though, and he's excited to be out. Kayla's also doing well! She's progressed a lot this week and both of us are really impressed with her. She's so ready to be baptized. In every lesson we have with her she makes some huge steps and its just awesome.
So for my spiritual thought this week, I actually wanted to share a miracle that happened on Saturday. During companionship study, Elder Collard and I were planning Kayla's lesson for that day and we both felt very impressed to offer her a blessing. We texted our leaders for authorization, and within an hour we were good to go (which is actually a miracle by itself). That night we had a really great lesson with her, and at the end we offered to give her a blessing. She sat there completely shocked, and then explained to us that she had been praying that morning for strength because she's been facing some strong temptations and she really wanted to ask for one. Anyway, we gave it to her, and by the end she was in tears because the Spirit was so strong.
I hope that you all have great week and a very Merry Christmas! Thanks for all the prayers!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
This week has been good!! It honestly doesn't feel like Christmas though. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm a missionary or because there's no snow or what, but it's weird to see all this Christmas stuff around. I'm pretty sure it's the no snow thing though. It's amazing how quickly you get accustomed to that.
Anyways I'm doing well! I'm officially a missionary now (or so says Elder Collard) because I had my first bike wreck. That was fun haha! It wasn't that bad though, I walked away with only a few bruises. That was probably the biggest thing that happened. I did get to sing in church though, so that was awesome! You know me, always happy to do that :) Haha but it was great. We had an awesome program in sacrament meeting and it was a real privilege to be a part of it.
There wasn't to much that happened of that. We got some new Elders in the area because of transfers! One of them (Elder Gardner) was serving in the Santa Maria 3rd ward and said that he knew Grandma and Grandpa so that's cool! The other just came out. He's from Bakersfield and he's on a trial mission. He's really cool though, and he's excited to be out. Kayla's also doing well! She's progressed a lot this week and both of us are really impressed with her. She's so ready to be baptized. In every lesson we have with her she makes some huge steps and its just awesome.
So for my spiritual thought this week, I actually wanted to share a miracle that happened on Saturday. During companionship study, Elder Collard and I were planning Kayla's lesson for that day and we both felt very impressed to offer her a blessing. We texted our leaders for authorization, and within an hour we were good to go (which is actually a miracle by itself). That night we had a really great lesson with her, and at the end we offered to give her a blessing. She sat there completely shocked, and then explained to us that she had been praying that morning for strength because she's been facing some strong temptations and she really wanted to ask for one. Anyway, we gave it to her, and by the end she was in tears because the Spirit was so strong.
I hope that you all have great week and a very Merry Christmas! Thanks for all the prayers!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
This Week Has Been Wet
Hey everyone!
So I'm pretty sure that this whole "drought" thing isn't true, because we've gotten more than enough rain in the past couple days. And we're supposed to get more this week! What the heck??? President Felix said he's pretty sure that I brought it with me haha! It was pretty cool because the other night Elder Collard and I were woken up at 2 in the morning to what looked like a hurricane. It was awesome!! Luckily it hasn't rained to much during the day, otherwise I would be a very, very wet Elder.
As for transfers, both Elder Collard and I are staying here in the Ventura 3rd ward! We're both really excited about it. We were sure that at least one of us would leave, but we're very grateful that that's not what the Lord had in mind. This area is awesome, and Elder Collard and I both love it here. The work has accelerated and we're seeing a lot of success, so we can not complain :)
I'm doing really well! I'm staying healthy and active, and I'm keeping a smile on my face :) The Lord always gives His servants strength, and I have seen that a lot this week. I've been pretty beat this whole week, but somehow I always find the energy to keep going. Definitely a miracle haha :)
As for this week, it was a pretty good week! It was interesting because we were a little limited as to how far and fast we could travel. Elder Collard wrecked on his bike last Monday and just ate it. Tore up his leg pretty bad. But he's been a really good sport about it and we've been able to get a lot of work done. Kayla is still doing well for the most part. She has good days and bad days with her health (she has a hyperactive thyroid), and unfortunately a lot of this week was a bad week. But her desire to learn and to change has increased a lot, and she even came to our ward this week! She's really beginning to see the change that the gospel is making in her life, so that's good too :) Gary Tennison is doing good as well! He's the dad of that less active family that we've been working with, and he's really starting to progress as well. The lesson's we've had with him this week have gone very well and he's starting to gain a new excitement for the gospel. We're hoping that he keeps on this track, because he's already so close. He just needs that final push that can only come from a solid spiritual witness, but that will come in the Lord's time. And he realizes that.
So for this week's spiritual tidbit, I want to talk a little bit about missionary work. Specifically, why it is so important. In the world today, the adversary rages. His power in more than clear. His influence is nearly everywhere, and he is at war with God. However, God has an army. Now when I say that, I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind is the 88,000+ people (including yours truly) who put on a black nametag everyday and proclaim the gospel 24/7. That's not who I'm talking about. Not completely anyway. I'm talking about the army that is over 15 million members strong. Every member of the Church is a valuable and necessary asset to the cause of righteousness. In Doctrine and Covenants 88:81, the Lord tells us that "it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor." WE have been warned, and it is the duty of every single one of us to warn everyone else. Imagine if every member of the church brought one more person to the truth. And then those people brought one more person, and so on. That would millions and millions of our brothers and sisters that have again found their Heavenly Father. The gospel is a universal message. There isn't a single person who it could not benefit. We have been been greatly blessed, and "because [we] have been given much, [we] to must give."
Thank you all for all your prayers, letters, emails, and everything else that you all do. I say this every week, but it helps so much more than you know. Hope everything goes well for you all!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
So I'm pretty sure that this whole "drought" thing isn't true, because we've gotten more than enough rain in the past couple days. And we're supposed to get more this week! What the heck??? President Felix said he's pretty sure that I brought it with me haha! It was pretty cool because the other night Elder Collard and I were woken up at 2 in the morning to what looked like a hurricane. It was awesome!! Luckily it hasn't rained to much during the day, otherwise I would be a very, very wet Elder.
As for transfers, both Elder Collard and I are staying here in the Ventura 3rd ward! We're both really excited about it. We were sure that at least one of us would leave, but we're very grateful that that's not what the Lord had in mind. This area is awesome, and Elder Collard and I both love it here. The work has accelerated and we're seeing a lot of success, so we can not complain :)
I'm doing really well! I'm staying healthy and active, and I'm keeping a smile on my face :) The Lord always gives His servants strength, and I have seen that a lot this week. I've been pretty beat this whole week, but somehow I always find the energy to keep going. Definitely a miracle haha :)
As for this week, it was a pretty good week! It was interesting because we were a little limited as to how far and fast we could travel. Elder Collard wrecked on his bike last Monday and just ate it. Tore up his leg pretty bad. But he's been a really good sport about it and we've been able to get a lot of work done. Kayla is still doing well for the most part. She has good days and bad days with her health (she has a hyperactive thyroid), and unfortunately a lot of this week was a bad week. But her desire to learn and to change has increased a lot, and she even came to our ward this week! She's really beginning to see the change that the gospel is making in her life, so that's good too :) Gary Tennison is doing good as well! He's the dad of that less active family that we've been working with, and he's really starting to progress as well. The lesson's we've had with him this week have gone very well and he's starting to gain a new excitement for the gospel. We're hoping that he keeps on this track, because he's already so close. He just needs that final push that can only come from a solid spiritual witness, but that will come in the Lord's time. And he realizes that.
So for this week's spiritual tidbit, I want to talk a little bit about missionary work. Specifically, why it is so important. In the world today, the adversary rages. His power in more than clear. His influence is nearly everywhere, and he is at war with God. However, God has an army. Now when I say that, I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind is the 88,000+ people (including yours truly) who put on a black nametag everyday and proclaim the gospel 24/7. That's not who I'm talking about. Not completely anyway. I'm talking about the army that is over 15 million members strong. Every member of the Church is a valuable and necessary asset to the cause of righteousness. In Doctrine and Covenants 88:81, the Lord tells us that "it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor." WE have been warned, and it is the duty of every single one of us to warn everyone else. Imagine if every member of the church brought one more person to the truth. And then those people brought one more person, and so on. That would millions and millions of our brothers and sisters that have again found their Heavenly Father. The gospel is a universal message. There isn't a single person who it could not benefit. We have been been greatly blessed, and "because [we] have been given much, [we] to must give."
Thank you all for all your prayers, letters, emails, and everything else that you all do. I say this every week, but it helps so much more than you know. Hope everything goes well for you all!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Letter 12/8/2014
Hey everyone!!
We've had another wonderful week in beautiful Ventura. I would say sunny, but it POURED on Tuesday and Wednesday. You don't know the meaning of awesome until you're biking like a madman, trying to make an appointment, and all the while its pouring rain. It was great! :D
I'm doing really well! I'm still completely intact and I'm not dying so what is there to worry about? I am getting a little nervous though. We find out if and where we are getting transferred on Saturday, and it's fairly common in our mission for new missionaries to get transferred. I don't want to go!!! D: This area is so great!! But I'll leave if the Lord see's fit. In the end, it's what He wants, not me.
Anyway, WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!! Woooohoooooooo!! We met with Kayla several times this week, and she committed to be baptized on January 10th! I'm way excited for her. She's so prepared, and everything is going so smoothly. The Lord has definitely been hearing our prayers. We also are making huge progress with one of the less active families in the ward. They're the one with the daughter who's leaving on a mission soon (I think I've talked about them before). Anyway, they invited us to come over to their house to watch the Christmas devotional last night! It was amazing to see this family who just over a month ago hardly came to church crowed around a laptop to hear the words of the prophets. The dad (who's a nonmember) was super excited about it and was also really excited to show us that he had downloaded the Mormon Channel app on his phone. It was truly amazing.
So this week, I want to talk a little bit about faith. More specifically, the effect that having faith can and will have on us. In Ether, we read the story of the Brother of Jared. He builds the barges to cross the ocean to the promised land, and then he asks the Lord to touch the stones so that they will give off light so they can see in those barges. First, let's look at that incredible display of faith just right there. He has absolutely no way to provide light for his friends and family, but he has complete and total faith that the Lord will provide. Second, in the chapter heading of that chapter (Ether 3), it says that "those who have a perfect knowledge cannot be kept from within the veil." Basically, if we have enough faith, the Lord can't hold anything from us.
Hope everything goes well for all of you this week! Sorry this letter is kind of lame, but know that I love all of you and I'm grateful for all that you're doing!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Ain't it pretty? Oh, and the landscape's nice too I guess...
We've had another wonderful week in beautiful Ventura. I would say sunny, but it POURED on Tuesday and Wednesday. You don't know the meaning of awesome until you're biking like a madman, trying to make an appointment, and all the while its pouring rain. It was great! :D
I'm doing really well! I'm still completely intact and I'm not dying so what is there to worry about? I am getting a little nervous though. We find out if and where we are getting transferred on Saturday, and it's fairly common in our mission for new missionaries to get transferred. I don't want to go!!! D: This area is so great!! But I'll leave if the Lord see's fit. In the end, it's what He wants, not me.
Anyway, WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!! Woooohoooooooo!! We met with Kayla several times this week, and she committed to be baptized on January 10th! I'm way excited for her. She's so prepared, and everything is going so smoothly. The Lord has definitely been hearing our prayers. We also are making huge progress with one of the less active families in the ward. They're the one with the daughter who's leaving on a mission soon (I think I've talked about them before). Anyway, they invited us to come over to their house to watch the Christmas devotional last night! It was amazing to see this family who just over a month ago hardly came to church crowed around a laptop to hear the words of the prophets. The dad (who's a nonmember) was super excited about it and was also really excited to show us that he had downloaded the Mormon Channel app on his phone. It was truly amazing.
So this week, I want to talk a little bit about faith. More specifically, the effect that having faith can and will have on us. In Ether, we read the story of the Brother of Jared. He builds the barges to cross the ocean to the promised land, and then he asks the Lord to touch the stones so that they will give off light so they can see in those barges. First, let's look at that incredible display of faith just right there. He has absolutely no way to provide light for his friends and family, but he has complete and total faith that the Lord will provide. Second, in the chapter heading of that chapter (Ether 3), it says that "those who have a perfect knowledge cannot be kept from within the veil." Basically, if we have enough faith, the Lord can't hold anything from us.
Hope everything goes well for all of you this week! Sorry this letter is kind of lame, but know that I love all of you and I'm grateful for all that you're doing!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Ain't it pretty? Oh, and the landscape's nice too I guess...
Remember Him
Hey everyone!
Glad to hear that you're all doing so well! I'm doing fantastic! This has been an absolutely amazing week. It rained, and our efforts are becoming a lot more fruitful. The Lord has been more than generous with His blessings.
First off, we got two new investigators!! Wooohoo!! The first is a girl named Kayla, and she was a referral from the Zone Leaders. I'm pretty sure if you looked up the term "golden investigator" in a dictionary, you'd see a picture of her right there. She's so awesome. She's been going to the first ward for about 2 months now and she is just so receptive to everything. She's had a little bit of a rough life, especially recently, but she see's all those trials as, quote, "God's way of telling me I should be a Mormon." I. Know. She's just awesome. A complete answer to prayer. So is our other new investigator. He is the son of one of our other investigators. We've been trying to get him and his siblings to sit in on the lessons, but they weren't to excited about that idea. But this last appointment we were able to teach him and now his siblings are starting to want to as well. He also had the quote of the week: "Why doesn't everyone read the Book of Mormon?" Good question, Martin. Good question. So yeah. This week has been awesome.
I also had a chance to go on exchanges with our Zone Leaders this week. That was pretty interesting, but it was fun. I got to go with Elder Welker. He's a really good person and a good missionary, he's just also one of those "robot missionaries" as Elder Collard says. But I learned a lot and it was a really good experience.
So for this week, I wanted to talk a little bit about the spirit of Christmas. More specifically the first gift. If any of you haven't yet seen the He Is the Gift video, go and watch it. But I want to talk more specifically about the scripture it's based on, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." First off, check out that first few words. God loves us. More specifically, God loves YOU. And He loves you so much, that He wants you to come back to Him and live with Him forever. But we can't. Not the way we are right now anyway. Nephi tells us in 1 Nephi 10:21 that "no unclean thing can dwell with God." But our Heavenly Father knew that, and He knew that we can't be perfect by ourselves. So He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to offer Himself up as a perfect sacrifice, and to save us if we would believe in Him and repent. He gave us the ultimate gift. He gave us a Savior. And it's through Christ, that we can receive a greater gift: eternal life and exaltation. This Christmas season, remember that. People are always saying that, but really try to this year.
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement :)
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Glad to hear that you're all doing so well! I'm doing fantastic! This has been an absolutely amazing week. It rained, and our efforts are becoming a lot more fruitful. The Lord has been more than generous with His blessings.
First off, we got two new investigators!! Wooohoo!! The first is a girl named Kayla, and she was a referral from the Zone Leaders. I'm pretty sure if you looked up the term "golden investigator" in a dictionary, you'd see a picture of her right there. She's so awesome. She's been going to the first ward for about 2 months now and she is just so receptive to everything. She's had a little bit of a rough life, especially recently, but she see's all those trials as, quote, "God's way of telling me I should be a Mormon." I. Know. She's just awesome. A complete answer to prayer. So is our other new investigator. He is the son of one of our other investigators. We've been trying to get him and his siblings to sit in on the lessons, but they weren't to excited about that idea. But this last appointment we were able to teach him and now his siblings are starting to want to as well. He also had the quote of the week: "Why doesn't everyone read the Book of Mormon?" Good question, Martin. Good question. So yeah. This week has been awesome.
I also had a chance to go on exchanges with our Zone Leaders this week. That was pretty interesting, but it was fun. I got to go with Elder Welker. He's a really good person and a good missionary, he's just also one of those "robot missionaries" as Elder Collard says. But I learned a lot and it was a really good experience.
So for this week, I wanted to talk a little bit about the spirit of Christmas. More specifically the first gift. If any of you haven't yet seen the He Is the Gift video, go and watch it. But I want to talk more specifically about the scripture it's based on, John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." First off, check out that first few words. God loves us. More specifically, God loves YOU. And He loves you so much, that He wants you to come back to Him and live with Him forever. But we can't. Not the way we are right now anyway. Nephi tells us in 1 Nephi 10:21 that "no unclean thing can dwell with God." But our Heavenly Father knew that, and He knew that we can't be perfect by ourselves. So He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to offer Himself up as a perfect sacrifice, and to save us if we would believe in Him and repent. He gave us the ultimate gift. He gave us a Savior. And it's through Christ, that we can receive a greater gift: eternal life and exaltation. This Christmas season, remember that. People are always saying that, but really try to this year.
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement :)
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
One Month O.o
Hey everyone!!
How's it all going? Freezing from what I've heard. But I'm doing awesome!! We had a really good week, and life is always better when you're on the Lord's errand. And I hit my one month mark O.o That went by so fast. It didn't feel like it though. A popular saying in the mission field is "The days are weeks and the weeks are days." And holy heck that couldn't be truer. It was pretty funny tough, because on Saturday night my district leader takes me outside (this is his last transfer) and he points up at the sky and says "Elder do you know what that is?"
"An airplane?"
"That's right. How far away is it from you?"
"Uh....a few miles?"
"Nope. 23 months." Then he laughed hysterically and went back inside.
So special events this week!! We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and that was way cool! It goes pretty much all day and there are selected speakers and all that good stuff. I had a blast. It was great to meet so many other missionaries and also to just sit and let the Spirit teach me. I learned a lot about the missionary that I want to be and also the missionary the Lord wants me to be. Now I just have to work as hard as heck to get there haha!!
And we have a baptismal date!!!! Sorta haha!! We referred one of our investigators, Domiquoe (Domiko), to the YSA Elders, and they met with him and he said he'd received an answer to the Book of Mormon and he committed to be baptized on January 3rd!!! I'm so excited for him. He's such an awesome guy and he is so ridiculously prepared. He's going to do amazing things and I really hope I can attend his baptism.
We've got a couple other investigators that are getting there as well!! One of them is the father of the girl who's preparing for a mission (I think I told you about her). He's been coming to church and he understands the doctrine well, and he's working hard to get an answer to the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of desire, and he understands that, in order to receive an answer, he has to work for it. I've got a lot of hope for him :) But of course it's not about the baptisms. It's about the people you bring closer to Christ.
So!! In the spirit of the season, I want to talk a little on gratitude. One of my favorite quotes is "If you woke up this morning, and all you had in your possession was what you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?" Also, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "The greatest sin of the saints in the latter days will be that of ingratitude." Kinda hit's you hard, doesn't it. Unfortunately, I think all to often we take for granted everything that we have. We're so used to it that we begin to see the comforts we have as a right, rather than a privilege. It's important to remember that everything we have is given to us by our Heavenly Father, even our very lives. We are fortunate to live in this country, to have a roof over our heads, to have food to eat everyday, to be able to have clean running water at our finger tips; and we owe all of that to our Father. We also are surrounded by loving family and friends, who care for us and our well being. And, above all, we have a wonderful, merciful Savior, who has made it possible for all of us to become like our Heavenly Father. Where would we be without them?????
I want to challenge all of you to make a list. Sit down for 10 minutes, and write out everything that you can think of that you have been blessed with. (You should still have a lot to write after that 10 minutes) After that, get on your knees and pour out your thanks for all that you have to your Father. I know that sounds kinda cheesy, but I promise that if you do it, you will feel so incredibly loved. You will feel His pure love.
Well I hope that everything goes well for all of you this week!! Keep me updated on everything, and I will do my best to write back to all of you in one form or another. I love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Much love,
Elder Brennan Rosenlof
ps GIANT BOOK OF MORMON!!
How's it all going? Freezing from what I've heard. But I'm doing awesome!! We had a really good week, and life is always better when you're on the Lord's errand. And I hit my one month mark O.o That went by so fast. It didn't feel like it though. A popular saying in the mission field is "The days are weeks and the weeks are days." And holy heck that couldn't be truer. It was pretty funny tough, because on Saturday night my district leader takes me outside (this is his last transfer) and he points up at the sky and says "Elder do you know what that is?"
"An airplane?"
"That's right. How far away is it from you?"
"Uh....a few miles?"
"Nope. 23 months." Then he laughed hysterically and went back inside.
So special events this week!! We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and that was way cool! It goes pretty much all day and there are selected speakers and all that good stuff. I had a blast. It was great to meet so many other missionaries and also to just sit and let the Spirit teach me. I learned a lot about the missionary that I want to be and also the missionary the Lord wants me to be. Now I just have to work as hard as heck to get there haha!!
And we have a baptismal date!!!! Sorta haha!! We referred one of our investigators, Domiquoe (Domiko), to the YSA Elders, and they met with him and he said he'd received an answer to the Book of Mormon and he committed to be baptized on January 3rd!!! I'm so excited for him. He's such an awesome guy and he is so ridiculously prepared. He's going to do amazing things and I really hope I can attend his baptism.
We've got a couple other investigators that are getting there as well!! One of them is the father of the girl who's preparing for a mission (I think I told you about her). He's been coming to church and he understands the doctrine well, and he's working hard to get an answer to the Book of Mormon. He has a lot of desire, and he understands that, in order to receive an answer, he has to work for it. I've got a lot of hope for him :) But of course it's not about the baptisms. It's about the people you bring closer to Christ.
So!! In the spirit of the season, I want to talk a little on gratitude. One of my favorite quotes is "If you woke up this morning, and all you had in your possession was what you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?" Also, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, "The greatest sin of the saints in the latter days will be that of ingratitude." Kinda hit's you hard, doesn't it. Unfortunately, I think all to often we take for granted everything that we have. We're so used to it that we begin to see the comforts we have as a right, rather than a privilege. It's important to remember that everything we have is given to us by our Heavenly Father, even our very lives. We are fortunate to live in this country, to have a roof over our heads, to have food to eat everyday, to be able to have clean running water at our finger tips; and we owe all of that to our Father. We also are surrounded by loving family and friends, who care for us and our well being. And, above all, we have a wonderful, merciful Savior, who has made it possible for all of us to become like our Heavenly Father. Where would we be without them?????
I want to challenge all of you to make a list. Sit down for 10 minutes, and write out everything that you can think of that you have been blessed with. (You should still have a lot to write after that 10 minutes) After that, get on your knees and pour out your thanks for all that you have to your Father. I know that sounds kinda cheesy, but I promise that if you do it, you will feel so incredibly loved. You will feel His pure love.
Well I hope that everything goes well for all of you this week!! Keep me updated on everything, and I will do my best to write back to all of you in one form or another. I love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Much love,
Elder Brennan Rosenlof
ps GIANT BOOK OF MORMON!!
Good Morning Ventura!!!
Hey everyone!!
Coming to you all live from beautiful, warm and sunny Ventura, California! I gotta say I do not envy your weather in the slightest. It has been nothing but drop dead gorgeous all week. Just more proof that I'm in the best mission ever.
Anyway, we've had a good week this week! It didn't start off so bueno though. Literally an hour after I emailed you all last week, Elder Collard and I got a call from one of our most promising potentials telling us that she no longer wanted to meet with us. Boooo!! And then the woman that I mentioned last time did the same. I was really bummed. It just really hurt to see this person who was so close to coming to the truth, and then she just turned around and walked away. But hey, its one of the fruits of missionary work :) But it could only be up from there! We went and visited with one of our investigators, Domiko. He's this really awesome guy, and we went in to check and see how his Book of Mormon reading was coming. He admitted that he hadn't really read at all, but he said he did some research on it and was wondering why so many people said it wasn't true. We had a really good discussion with him about how there must always be opposition to the truth. We promised him that if he read and prayed, that he would come to know that it was true, and he was very struck by that. He thought it was awesome that we could promise him that. We've got another appointment with him on Thursday, and I'm praying that he's been reading!
We also went and visited with another investigator named Melissa. It was a really off the cuff, just in the area sort of visit. But we ended up staying for about 40 minutes and gave a really awesome lesson on the importance of faith and baptism, and on Saturday we're going to be giving her a tour of the church building! I'm pretty stoked about that :)
But now I need to tell you about the most interesting visit with the most....let's say interesting person. So yesterday in church, Elder Collard was giving the lesson in gospel principles, and a member and her friend walked into class. That normally wouldn't be a problem, except that the friend kept asking really off topic questions. So we invited her to meet with us and the ward mission leader, and she accepted. So we went and found a class and sat down with her. That's when it started. To put it nicely, she's not as mentally sound as other people are. She kept asking really random questions, my personal favorites being:
"Why does your church think it's okay to use the government to control people's minds?"
"Why does your church think it's okay to do certain things?"
Such as?
"Murder."
She also claimed that Brother Long (our ward mission leader) was possessed. She compared to a slithering snake. So yeah.
Haha anyway that's pretty much all the excitement from me this week! Before I go I just want to share a quick spiritual thought.
So ever since I've left, I have gained a new view of my Savior and His Atonement. Before, I saw the Atonement as something that you used when you screwed up, and had punishments sort of affixed to sins. But now I realize that was a very skewed view of it. The Atonement is something we can use everyday. It's how we can find comfort and strength. Our Savior knows exactly how we feel, and he wants us to accept Him so that we can return to our Heavenly Father. The Atonement isn't just for sins. It's for everything. And when we do mess up, we can humble ourselves so that we can become better and be forgiven. It's not about punishment, it's about growth.
I love hearing from all of you!! And I'm glad that you're all doing so well! Good luck with everything this week and remember that the Lord loves you :)
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Coming to you all live from beautiful, warm and sunny Ventura, California! I gotta say I do not envy your weather in the slightest. It has been nothing but drop dead gorgeous all week. Just more proof that I'm in the best mission ever.
Anyway, we've had a good week this week! It didn't start off so bueno though. Literally an hour after I emailed you all last week, Elder Collard and I got a call from one of our most promising potentials telling us that she no longer wanted to meet with us. Boooo!! And then the woman that I mentioned last time did the same. I was really bummed. It just really hurt to see this person who was so close to coming to the truth, and then she just turned around and walked away. But hey, its one of the fruits of missionary work :) But it could only be up from there! We went and visited with one of our investigators, Domiko. He's this really awesome guy, and we went in to check and see how his Book of Mormon reading was coming. He admitted that he hadn't really read at all, but he said he did some research on it and was wondering why so many people said it wasn't true. We had a really good discussion with him about how there must always be opposition to the truth. We promised him that if he read and prayed, that he would come to know that it was true, and he was very struck by that. He thought it was awesome that we could promise him that. We've got another appointment with him on Thursday, and I'm praying that he's been reading!
We also went and visited with another investigator named Melissa. It was a really off the cuff, just in the area sort of visit. But we ended up staying for about 40 minutes and gave a really awesome lesson on the importance of faith and baptism, and on Saturday we're going to be giving her a tour of the church building! I'm pretty stoked about that :)
But now I need to tell you about the most interesting visit with the most....let's say interesting person. So yesterday in church, Elder Collard was giving the lesson in gospel principles, and a member and her friend walked into class. That normally wouldn't be a problem, except that the friend kept asking really off topic questions. So we invited her to meet with us and the ward mission leader, and she accepted. So we went and found a class and sat down with her. That's when it started. To put it nicely, she's not as mentally sound as other people are. She kept asking really random questions, my personal favorites being:
"Why does your church think it's okay to use the government to control people's minds?"
"Why does your church think it's okay to do certain things?"
Such as?
"Murder."
She also claimed that Brother Long (our ward mission leader) was possessed. She compared to a slithering snake. So yeah.
Haha anyway that's pretty much all the excitement from me this week! Before I go I just want to share a quick spiritual thought.
So ever since I've left, I have gained a new view of my Savior and His Atonement. Before, I saw the Atonement as something that you used when you screwed up, and had punishments sort of affixed to sins. But now I realize that was a very skewed view of it. The Atonement is something we can use everyday. It's how we can find comfort and strength. Our Savior knows exactly how we feel, and he wants us to accept Him so that we can return to our Heavenly Father. The Atonement isn't just for sins. It's for everything. And when we do mess up, we can humble ourselves so that we can become better and be forgiven. It's not about punishment, it's about growth.
I love hearing from all of you!! And I'm glad that you're all doing so well! Good luck with everything this week and remember that the Lord loves you :)
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
First Week!!
Hey guys!!
So first things first: I'm serving in the Ventura 3rd ward as my first area! It's a beautiful area. It's been about 75 degrees all week and nothing but sunny skies!! Of course there's the whole no water issue, but we try not to thing about that ;) We cover some really nice parts of town and it's absolutely beautiful. To give some perspective as to where exactly that is, we border Oxnard on our south side and it goes up about 10 miles I think. Then we're about 8 miles wide. I think. Don't quote me on that haha! But we're a big area, and we're on bikes! Woohoo! To be completely honest though, I like that a lot better. It's a lot easier to talk to people when you're walking or riding than when you're in a car. (By the way, I inherited a bike from an Elder who just went home. No need to buy a new one!)
Now for my companion! His name is Elder Collard and he's a pretty awesome missionary. He's been out for about a year and half, and he's from Huntingtion, Utah. He's pretty quiet and it took us a little while to hit it off, but we're getting along fine now. He's awesome. He's been in this area for a couple transfers now, and he seems a little discouraged because this is a pretty tough area. The last baptism was almost a year ago. But I think that's why I need to be here! Having a little greeny energy always helps!
Anyway, I'm doing really well!! I'm pretty much all settled, just still getting used to missionary life. I thought it was pretty funny, because just being in the Phoenix airport last week gave me a glimpse as to what to expect. No one would make eye contact with me haha! I thought that was pretty funny. As for the field, I haven't been yelled at yet, but I did get a door slammed in my face! So I'm getting the full missionary experience! Haha all jokes aside, I'm loving it. I love being able to go out and talk to people and help them see how the gospel can bless their lives. It's wonderful.
And I've already seen miracles. I'll tell you my favorite one :) So like I said, this area is kinda tough. People are pretty hesitant to talk to us and a lot do their best to avoid us at all costs. Investigators are kind of in short supply. So I've been praying day and night that we'd be able to find someone that's been prepared. With how big this area is, there has to be one of those "elect" that the scriptures talk about. So I've been praying hard that we'd be able to find them. Friday night we were walking back from a dinner appointment and we were trying to get to the apartment so we could take care of some office work. But as we were walking, I had the distinct impression that we needed to take a detour. So we did, having absolutely no idea why. As we were walking up the road, we saw a woman standing out on her porch. We waved, she waved back, and the next thing we know we're talking to her for the next half hour. She had so many beautiful questions that we were able to answer with simple gospel principles, and it seemed the more we talked the more she wanted to hear. We're going to go by and talk to her again in a couple days :)
And that's only one!! There have been a few more as well :) Basically, I love being a missionary. It's so great. Thank you all for all your prayers :) They help more than you know. Keep doing well and don't end up in the hospital anymore!! (Tori that means you.)
With much love,
Elder Rosenlof
So first things first: I'm serving in the Ventura 3rd ward as my first area! It's a beautiful area. It's been about 75 degrees all week and nothing but sunny skies!! Of course there's the whole no water issue, but we try not to thing about that ;) We cover some really nice parts of town and it's absolutely beautiful. To give some perspective as to where exactly that is, we border Oxnard on our south side and it goes up about 10 miles I think. Then we're about 8 miles wide. I think. Don't quote me on that haha! But we're a big area, and we're on bikes! Woohoo! To be completely honest though, I like that a lot better. It's a lot easier to talk to people when you're walking or riding than when you're in a car. (By the way, I inherited a bike from an Elder who just went home. No need to buy a new one!)
Now for my companion! His name is Elder Collard and he's a pretty awesome missionary. He's been out for about a year and half, and he's from Huntingtion, Utah. He's pretty quiet and it took us a little while to hit it off, but we're getting along fine now. He's awesome. He's been in this area for a couple transfers now, and he seems a little discouraged because this is a pretty tough area. The last baptism was almost a year ago. But I think that's why I need to be here! Having a little greeny energy always helps!
Anyway, I'm doing really well!! I'm pretty much all settled, just still getting used to missionary life. I thought it was pretty funny, because just being in the Phoenix airport last week gave me a glimpse as to what to expect. No one would make eye contact with me haha! I thought that was pretty funny. As for the field, I haven't been yelled at yet, but I did get a door slammed in my face! So I'm getting the full missionary experience! Haha all jokes aside, I'm loving it. I love being able to go out and talk to people and help them see how the gospel can bless their lives. It's wonderful.
And I've already seen miracles. I'll tell you my favorite one :) So like I said, this area is kinda tough. People are pretty hesitant to talk to us and a lot do their best to avoid us at all costs. Investigators are kind of in short supply. So I've been praying day and night that we'd be able to find someone that's been prepared. With how big this area is, there has to be one of those "elect" that the scriptures talk about. So I've been praying hard that we'd be able to find them. Friday night we were walking back from a dinner appointment and we were trying to get to the apartment so we could take care of some office work. But as we were walking, I had the distinct impression that we needed to take a detour. So we did, having absolutely no idea why. As we were walking up the road, we saw a woman standing out on her porch. We waved, she waved back, and the next thing we know we're talking to her for the next half hour. She had so many beautiful questions that we were able to answer with simple gospel principles, and it seemed the more we talked the more she wanted to hear. We're going to go by and talk to her again in a couple days :)
And that's only one!! There have been a few more as well :) Basically, I love being a missionary. It's so great. Thank you all for all your prayers :) They help more than you know. Keep doing well and don't end up in the hospital anymore!! (Tori that means you.)
With much love,
Elder Rosenlof
First Week=Done
Hey everyone!!
First off, I'm so glad to hear from all of you. It really makes my day a million times better to read a letter or an email from home. We joke a lot here that a letter is to an Elder as a milkbone is to a dog. And it's true. One of my responsibilities as district leader is to collect and pass out mail at the end of the day, and you'd be surprised as to what missionaries will do to get their mail.
Anyway sounds like a lot has gone on! I'm only gone a week and Tori breaks! I'm really glad to hear that she's okay though. Appendicitis is not on my list of things to do.
As for me, I'm doing really really well. Health wise I'm doing good. I went to the doctor yesterday to get this weird rash on my face checked out and it turns out being in the MTC gives me eczema I guess. The doctor was pretty baffled. Anyway enough about the endless adventures of Elder Brennan's random problems....The MTC is incredible. The closeness that I can feel to our Heavenly Father while here is absolutely amazing, and the spiritual growth that's taken place since I got out of the car is breathtaking. I am a completely different person since when I left. But it didn't come easy. As much as I love this place, it's hard. Really hard. But it's so worth it as well. On our first day during the devotional, Sister Nally (the MTC president's wife) said, "There is rarely growth in a comfort zone, and rarely comfort in a growth zone. This is a growth zone." And boy was she right. I have grown so much this past week and I haven't been comfortable a moment of it. But through literal constant prayer and trust in my Father and my Savior, I'm making it through and doing it with a smile.
But being a missionary is awesome!!!! There are so many awesome things that come with being on the Lord's errand. I'm so much more in tune with the Spirit for one. It's incredible how clearly I can feel promptings and understand them (I'll give an experience in just a sec). Reading the scriptures is also a whole new experience. Doctrine and parallels and principles and cross references and everything else you can think of just jump off the page and practically smack you in the face. IT"S SO COOL. Being a missionary is just awesome. I just love it.
So!! I wanted to share with you guys an awesome experience that was a couple days in the making. So on Tuesday we had a devotional and the Primary General President came and spoke to us. (Also I sang in the choir so that was pretty sweet) Anyway she gave an amazing talk, but it wasn't anything that she said that struck me the most. It was two of the impressions I received. One was "What are you willing to sacrifice for me?" and the other was "Why don't you have more faith in me?" I was kinda struck by that. I wasn't entirely sure what to take from it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was relying more on myself than I was on Him. Especially when it came to lesson planning. So I decided to change that. I talked with Elder Hatman and we both agreed that the next lesson we prepared would be entirely guided by the Spirit. We wouldn't include anything in our lesson if we didn't pray about it first and feel distinct conformation. We immediately put it into practice.
So before I go further, let me explain how teaching goes here at the MTC. We have what we call Progressive Investigators, who are actually actors hired to give us an idea of what teaching investigators is going to be like. Is it real? Technically no. But if we treat it like it is, so does the Spirit. We have one who's name is Lisa. Lisa is a really great girl and we've been teaching her since last Friday. She's had a bit of a rough past, but she's putting it behind her and has been meeting with us to try and find something more. She's been doing well, but Elder Hatman and I were getting a little frustrated because she wasn't progressing as much as we knew she could. We gave her a Book of Mormon on Saturday and she wasn't really keeping her commitment to read it, and she'd already turned down baptism once. But we could tell she was so so close. So we put our plan into action. We planned and studied and prayed, and we came up with a lesson. We decided to read in Mosiah 14 and also read Alma 7:11-12. (Please read these before continuing :) ) That's all. That was the lesson. But we had faith and we went for it. We started the lesson with a prayer, and then asked her if she had any questions. She did. She had been reading in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we gave her and had really liked the part about Christ's Atonement and how we can be made guilt free through Him. She said she wanted to learn more about that. So we read. The Spirit was so strong. It was so evident that she could feel it. We asked her again to commit to baptism, and she said yes without a moment's hesitation. THAT, right there, was the most incredible moment of my life. We were so excited. So, in short, have faith in your Lord in everything you do and He will lift you up. Guaranteed.
So sorry that this was kind of a long email.....but I hope you liked it anyway!! Keep writing and telling me what's going on :) I love all of you!!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Ps I tried to attach pictures but apparently that's not an option at the MTC. I'll send them when I get out in the field :)
First off, I'm so glad to hear from all of you. It really makes my day a million times better to read a letter or an email from home. We joke a lot here that a letter is to an Elder as a milkbone is to a dog. And it's true. One of my responsibilities as district leader is to collect and pass out mail at the end of the day, and you'd be surprised as to what missionaries will do to get their mail.
Anyway sounds like a lot has gone on! I'm only gone a week and Tori breaks! I'm really glad to hear that she's okay though. Appendicitis is not on my list of things to do.
As for me, I'm doing really really well. Health wise I'm doing good. I went to the doctor yesterday to get this weird rash on my face checked out and it turns out being in the MTC gives me eczema I guess. The doctor was pretty baffled. Anyway enough about the endless adventures of Elder Brennan's random problems....The MTC is incredible. The closeness that I can feel to our Heavenly Father while here is absolutely amazing, and the spiritual growth that's taken place since I got out of the car is breathtaking. I am a completely different person since when I left. But it didn't come easy. As much as I love this place, it's hard. Really hard. But it's so worth it as well. On our first day during the devotional, Sister Nally (the MTC president's wife) said, "There is rarely growth in a comfort zone, and rarely comfort in a growth zone. This is a growth zone." And boy was she right. I have grown so much this past week and I haven't been comfortable a moment of it. But through literal constant prayer and trust in my Father and my Savior, I'm making it through and doing it with a smile.
But being a missionary is awesome!!!! There are so many awesome things that come with being on the Lord's errand. I'm so much more in tune with the Spirit for one. It's incredible how clearly I can feel promptings and understand them (I'll give an experience in just a sec). Reading the scriptures is also a whole new experience. Doctrine and parallels and principles and cross references and everything else you can think of just jump off the page and practically smack you in the face. IT"S SO COOL. Being a missionary is just awesome. I just love it.
So!! I wanted to share with you guys an awesome experience that was a couple days in the making. So on Tuesday we had a devotional and the Primary General President came and spoke to us. (Also I sang in the choir so that was pretty sweet) Anyway she gave an amazing talk, but it wasn't anything that she said that struck me the most. It was two of the impressions I received. One was "What are you willing to sacrifice for me?" and the other was "Why don't you have more faith in me?" I was kinda struck by that. I wasn't entirely sure what to take from it. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was relying more on myself than I was on Him. Especially when it came to lesson planning. So I decided to change that. I talked with Elder Hatman and we both agreed that the next lesson we prepared would be entirely guided by the Spirit. We wouldn't include anything in our lesson if we didn't pray about it first and feel distinct conformation. We immediately put it into practice.
So before I go further, let me explain how teaching goes here at the MTC. We have what we call Progressive Investigators, who are actually actors hired to give us an idea of what teaching investigators is going to be like. Is it real? Technically no. But if we treat it like it is, so does the Spirit. We have one who's name is Lisa. Lisa is a really great girl and we've been teaching her since last Friday. She's had a bit of a rough past, but she's putting it behind her and has been meeting with us to try and find something more. She's been doing well, but Elder Hatman and I were getting a little frustrated because she wasn't progressing as much as we knew she could. We gave her a Book of Mormon on Saturday and she wasn't really keeping her commitment to read it, and she'd already turned down baptism once. But we could tell she was so so close. So we put our plan into action. We planned and studied and prayed, and we came up with a lesson. We decided to read in Mosiah 14 and also read Alma 7:11-12. (Please read these before continuing :) ) That's all. That was the lesson. But we had faith and we went for it. We started the lesson with a prayer, and then asked her if she had any questions. She did. She had been reading in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we gave her and had really liked the part about Christ's Atonement and how we can be made guilt free through Him. She said she wanted to learn more about that. So we read. The Spirit was so strong. It was so evident that she could feel it. We asked her again to commit to baptism, and she said yes without a moment's hesitation. THAT, right there, was the most incredible moment of my life. We were so excited. So, in short, have faith in your Lord in everything you do and He will lift you up. Guaranteed.
So sorry that this was kind of a long email.....but I hope you liked it anyway!! Keep writing and telling me what's going on :) I love all of you!!
Much love,
Elder Rosenlof
Ps I tried to attach pictures but apparently that's not an option at the MTC. I'll send them when I get out in the field :)
Brennan's First Letter Home (10/25/2014)
Hey Guys!
So today has been intense. Like I didn't stop moving since I got out of the car. I'll give you all the details when I email you on P-day (next Thursday).
But I'll tell you about other stuff! My companion's name is Elder Hatman, and he's a big, teddy bear sort of a guy. He's a bit shy, but we've had a good day today and we're already best friends. In my district there are 4 elders and 4 sisters. Most of us are going to Ventura, but 3 of the sisters are going to Canada. They're all fantastic. We've only met together a couple times and we're already all so close. Today has really been amazing. And I've seen friends! I saw Elder Lund and Elder Burgoyne.
And guess what?? Sister Clinger is one of my training supervisors! We were both excited to see each other and it's good to have that connection to home. And no matter what anyone tells you, Disneyland is NOT the happiest place on earth. It's the MTC. Seriously. I don't mean to sound insensitive saying this, but today has been one of the happiest days of my life. This place is incredible.
I hope you're all doing well. You guys are all in my thoughts. Remember how much the Lord loves you. I've felt that today. I hope you guys did too.
With much love, Elder Rosenlof
So today has been intense. Like I didn't stop moving since I got out of the car. I'll give you all the details when I email you on P-day (next Thursday).
But I'll tell you about other stuff! My companion's name is Elder Hatman, and he's a big, teddy bear sort of a guy. He's a bit shy, but we've had a good day today and we're already best friends. In my district there are 4 elders and 4 sisters. Most of us are going to Ventura, but 3 of the sisters are going to Canada. They're all fantastic. We've only met together a couple times and we're already all so close. Today has really been amazing. And I've seen friends! I saw Elder Lund and Elder Burgoyne.
And guess what?? Sister Clinger is one of my training supervisors! We were both excited to see each other and it's good to have that connection to home. And no matter what anyone tells you, Disneyland is NOT the happiest place on earth. It's the MTC. Seriously. I don't mean to sound insensitive saying this, but today has been one of the happiest days of my life. This place is incredible.
I hope you're all doing well. You guys are all in my thoughts. Remember how much the Lord loves you. I've felt that today. I hope you guys did too.
With much love, Elder Rosenlof
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