Close Encounters‏

Hello hello hello!!

It's been another awesome week here in the Great California Ventura Mission. Life is great, the work is great, Atascadero's great. All around everything is just great :)

So. Exciting news for this week....well to be completely honest not to much went on haha! We've spent most of our time going for 100% accountability on the ward list, so we've talked to a LOT of less active members. Not really any weirdos or mean people on that end. That's one thing that I love about being on the northern end of the mission: even people that don't want anything to do with you are generally pretty polite about it :) We did meet this one guy yesterday though! We were over talking to one of our investigators, and on our way back to the car this guy randomly walked up to us and thanked us. Turns out a few months back some missionaries helped him move and he wanted to thank missionaries in general for the help. We talked to him for a bit, and it turns out he is a Jewish Freemason. We had an interesting conversation with him, in which he informed us that when we get high up enough in our Church we get a ring. We're obviously not there yet, but that sounds cool to me! He then bid us adieu with a 2 minute long song in Aramaic. And I've got to applaud the guy. It was pretty good!!

Aside from close encounters of the odd kind, we had President interviews this week! He decided to switch it up a little and come visit us in our apartments which sent all of us into a panic. It's not everyday that Pres just decides to come and visit you in your apartment. Needless to say, we scrubbed every inch of our apartment last Monday. But it was a good visit. I know for sure that I'll be staying in A-town for at least one more transfer, which I'm totally okay with, and I think that there's a possibility that I'll be training next transfer which I'd be super stoked for. If there's one thing I want to do on my mission, it's train haha :) So fingers crossed!

Anywho, that's about all for this week! Hope ya'll are doing great! Thanks for all your support and your prayers!

Much love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1. The Rosenlof and the Walker

Killing the New Comp and Adventures In A-Town!!‏

Hola mis amigos!!

Well we had this weird phenomenon yesterday. Little water droplets fell from the sky? Is that normal? I don't know. We never see that in California. Me and my comp just hid in the corner all day. Pretty scary stuff man.

Aside from that it's been a pretty adventurous week. We had transfer meeting, which was as great as always. That also means that we sat in a car for a total of 6 hours. Less great, but hey. Whatever works. I'm loving it here in Atascadero. The ward is great, and the area is beautiful. It's all rolling hills, and after the rain yesterday it's even looking a little bit more green! So as for the area, so far so good.

My new comp is also pretty great. His name is Elder Walker and he's from Eugene, Oregon. He's finishing out his mission this transfer, so that means that I'm going to have another Elder to add to my list of kills. He and I are getting along great, and we're having a lot of fun so far. So all around it looks like this is going to be a great transfer.

Highlight of this week was a great miracle we had yesterday at church. We've been praying for investigators over the past week because we don't have many and the ones we do have unfortunately aren't progressing right now. But the bishop's wife brought a friend with her to church. She loved sacrament meeting, and in gospel essentials she made some great comments. My favorite was as always: "This just makes so much sense." I love it when people say that. Anyway, we talked to her afterward and she said she has a ton of questions for us and would love to meet with us. We set up an appointment for this Thursday at the bishop's home. All in all, I love being a missionary :) We get to see miracles like this everyday and it's just great!

That's all for this week! I love you all! May God be with you :)

Love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

Transfers and Dunk #3!‏

Hello everyone!

Well it's been another marvelous week here in Paso! I really love it up here. This town is truly blessed by God and I've loved the chance I've had to serve here. You can call that foreshadowing, but I'll get to that in just a sec!

First, ELIZABETH GOT BAPTIZED!!!! WOOOOOO!!!! Baptisms are great :D There are two things in this world that any missionary loves, and that's mail and baptisms. Not necessarily in that order, but still. Anywho, it was a really great service. Her husband, Jon, had a lot of family there, and he also invited several people from where he works at Camp Roberts. There were also a lot of people there from both our ward and the Templeton ward. The Spirit was SUPER strong, and it was just awesome. Again, I feel so privileged to have been a part of it all. God's hand has truly been in these people's lives :)

Now as for transfers! Results are in, and I'm...........moving! Kind of haha :) I've been assigned to serve in the Atascadero 1st Ward! For those of you who don't know much about California, that's only about a 10-15 minute drive from where I already am! So I'll still be close by. In fact, I'll even be in the same district. And since my new companion is the District Leader, I'll likely come on an exchange here at some point. Speaking of, my new companion is Elder Walker. I haven't worked around him much, but he's a hard worker and we should get some great stuff done.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! If any of ya'll want to know more about how everything is, always feel free to write :) Love you all!

Love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1. Me and Elder Waite with Elizabeth right before she took the plunge.



2. Me with the rest of the Cripps Clan!

Heaven on Earth, the Loss of a Legend, and One Crazy Year‏

Hello everyone!!

Well. It's scorching up here in good ol' El Paso de Robles. Summer has finally hit, and it's hit with a vengeance. But no matter! The Lord's work never slackens so neither do I.

So the biggest highlight this week is that we got to go to the temple! That's a very rare opportunity in this mission since we don't have a temple in our boundaries. But we are permitted to go during the month of our birthday so we had a member drive us out to Fresno. Let me tell you, that was much needed. I've been going through temple withdrawals over the past 8 months and it was so good to be there again. The temple is such a wonderful blessing. The work that's performed there is miraculous and to be a part of it is a wonderful privilege :)

I'm also sure all of you have heard the news about President Packer. It is definitely a loss. I honestly wish that I had the same tenacity as Boyd K. Packer, because that man was not afraid to say what was on his mind. He was a wonderful man and a wonderful Apostle, but I'm sure that he's doing even greater work now in the presence of the Master.

Finally, I realized today that this Thursday marks a year since I received my call to serve! A year ago now, I honestly could not have imagined where I am now and what I've experienced. This past year has been a roller coaster, but it's been the greatest ride of my life. I'm more and more grateful everyday for the opportunity I have to be a missionary of Jesus Christ. There's no greater calling :)

And that's all for this week! I hope you all have a marvelous week. Thanks for all that you do, and may God be with you all!

Love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1. The 2nd ward Elders also came! Me, Elder Magoon, Elder Payne, and Elder Waite.



2. Me and Elder Waite with Bro. Grover, who drove us out there.

Week of Miracles‏

Hey everyone!

We have had a great week this week. The Lord has been very generous to us here in Paso, and it just feels like its been one miracle after the other.

In our Zone Conference last week, Elder C. Scott Grow of the Seventy advised us that we need to be praying for new investigators and referrals. I decided to take his council, and holy heck why wasn't I doing this earlier?? The Lord has done any and all finding for us. It's been amazing. We have been in the right place at the right time far to frequently for it to be a coincidence. I just keep praying that He'll continue to bless us like he has and that we'll be able to handle it if He does!

Most notably was a referral we got from the Templeton Elders. Her name is Elizabeth, she's the daughter of a Southern Baptist minister, and she is married to a newly reactivated member. They've been attending the Templeton ward for the past couple months, but they live in San Miguel. (Right next door to another newly reactivated member and recent convert couple, the Plale's. The Lord is funny like that.) She decided to look into the Church since her husband is getting back into it, and so she read the Book of Mormon, all of the pamphlets, and half of the Gospel Essentials manual. She decided that she wants to be baptized, and honestly her meeting with us is more of a formality than anything else. She's practically teaching us! If you looked up the term "Golden Investigator" in Webster's, there would be a picture of her right there. I have a hard time believing that this is actually happening because honestly its feels like a story right of the Ensign or New Era. But she and her family are awesome, and Elder Waite and I really hit it off with them. I couldn't ask for a greater miracle.

Other than that, we've received a lot of referrals, wrestled a dog to get it's owner to church, and got condemned to hell by a now former investigator. So yeah. Just the average week in the life of your everyday missionary :)

Have a great week everyone!! I wish you all the best :) Know that I love all of you, but remember that so does the Big Guy Upstairs! Adios, mi amigos!

Love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1. Our DL got the Sister Training leader's van for a couple days so we took a district road trip...to Wendy's.



2. Elder Waite attempting to pry a rope out of that dog's mouth.