Miraculous Weekend and Spiritual Backhoes‏

Hello!

Well you know you've had a great transfer when you're idea of a bad week is still a really great week! This week wasn't as great as the others have been, but we still had a lot of really great experiences this week :)

On Tuesday we got to drive all the way down to Oxnard for a trainers/trainee meeting. This was the first time that they decided to do this, and it was really great. We had a lot of great discussion, and the trainers got further training on how to help their trainees as they train. (Boy that sentence was like Grand Central Station. So many trains. (*buh dum dum tss*) ( Sorry I really couldn't resist.) The trip took up basically the entire day, but hey road trips are always a blast :)

Christina also was released from the hospital this Saturday! She's feeling a lot better, and they are planning on putting another power port in, but not until AFTER she gets baptized. I love how the Lord works :) We talked more about baptism and went over some of the interview questions, and it amazed me how ready she is. As we talked about it, she bore a simple but powerful testimony of Joseph Smith and her Savior, and she told us that the Church has helped to fill a void that she's had her whole life. That was a pretty amazing experience :) She was planning on coming to church as well, but she's been in the hospital so long that she thought yesterday was Saturday haha! She felt bad, but she's definitely planning on coming next week!

Also, one of our LA/PM families came to church yesterday!!! Shannon and her son Eric and daughter Jaden came to our ward for the first time, and they loved it. I was so excited about the ward's outreach to them, and the family that had us over for dinner also invited them, and we had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation with them all. They had a wonderful experience yesterday, and Shannon is now talking about setting a date for Eric to get baptized!! That has made my week.

Now for the funny story/spiritual thought of the week. So last Wednesday, while we were at Barber Dan's (a member) getting Elder Crook's haircut, we got a call from the 2nd ward Elders. Long story short, they slid into a ditch while trying to do a U-turn and were stuck. So we went and picked them up and brought them back to talk to Barber Dan about what we should do. While we were talking about it, a construction worker walked in and overheard our predicament. He freely offered to help and asked where the car was. We told him, and he went out, hopped in his backhoe, and followed us over there. He hooked up a chain to the car, and hauled it right out no problem, no harm done. It was awesome, and there's a lot we can learn from this story. First, don't judge. That really rough looking construction worker named Tiger could be one of the most charitable guys you've ever met. We've also drawn a gospel analogy between the whole situation because we're missionaries: when we commit sin, we spiritually get stuck in a ditch. We can't move forward. We've halted our progression. But Christ can provide a "spritual backhoe" for us and haul us out as long as we're willing to accept His help.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! As a reminder, transfers have come around once again so be conscientious of that. However I don't think I'll be out of Atown quite yet. But I'll let you know what the verdict is next week! I love you all!

Much love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1.The backhoe!



2. Elder 'Murica



3. Greetings from the A-Town Elders

A Blast from the Past‏

Hey everyone!

Well this has been a really interesting week! A lot of exciting shenanigans went down, so I'll give ya'll the spiel:

We had a lot of really great lessons this week. Christina is still in the hospital, but we've been visiting her when we can. She's not doing quite as well as she was, but she's hoping and praying that she'll be out by this Sunday so that she can come to church. But she's had a lot of time to get some good reading done, so that's good ;) We also had some great lessons with a LA named Shannon and her 10 year old son, Eric. She's really wanting to get back into church, and he's as sharp as a tack. We talked with them about the Restoration and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they both just soaked it all in. We're hoping to be able to get a baptismal date set this week, and if so we'll probably have 2 baptisms next transfer! That would be awesome :D

The weird moment of this week happened on Wednesday at Zone Conference. The conference itself was nice, but it was held at the Santa Maria Stake Center, which, for those of you who may not know, was the building I was raised and baptized in. That was kinda weird. It brought back a lot of fun memories and made me feel like I was 12 again, which isn't necessarily a good thing but it was fun anyway. The greatest part of all of this was that President Felix gave me permission to visit with my grandparents while I was in town. That was a really awesome experience :) They were so excited, and so was I haha! Plus my aunt was there helping them, so that just made it all the better. We were able to talk for awhile and we had a small dinner in the cafeteria of the complex they live in. Anyhow, its not something that many missionaries get to do and I'm really grateful for the experience :)

As for the spiritual thought for this week, I just wanted to talk about a big testimony building experience that I had this Saturday.So we had an exchange with our Zone Leaders, and I spent the day with Elder King in San Louis Obispo. It was a very interesting day to say the least. SLO is a college town, and this whole last week was their "week of welcome" which, essentially, is a week long party to welcome the incoming freshman. Almost the entire day was spent witnessing people my age make absolutely horrible decisions, and the saddest part of it all was that I could tell they were earnestly seeking some sort of fulfillment and freedom. But they were looking in all the wrong places. It made me incredibly grateful for the knowledge I have of who I truly am, where I came from, and what my potential is. We take for granted sometimes the knowledge that we have and the power that it gives us. Those who don't have it can and often do waste parts of their life trying to find that power, but they are "kept from the truth because they know not where to find it." (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12) It's given me a renewed sense of duty and love to spread the gospel to those of my brothers and sisters who are lost, and I encourage all of you to seek after them as well. Often times all that stands between them and exaltation is an invitation to accept the truth.

I hope you all have a marvelous week! Keep on keeping on everyone :)

Love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1.1250



2. Me and two of my favorite people :)

Blessings in Disguise

Hello everyone!

Well this has been another very successful week! The Lord has been more than generous to us as we've gone about doing His work. We're seeing a lot of miracles, which is one of my favorite perks of being a missionary :) So here's low down from this week:

First and foremost, Christina is in the hospital. She's had a fever of at least 101 for the past week, so she went in to get some help. But fear not, my friends, because this whole thing has actually been a multitude of blessings in disguise:
1. We've been able to get several members of the ward involved in helping her out. Someone gave her a ride, and there have been a few that have gone to see her and talk with her.
2. The doctors identified that the source of the infection was her port, the same port that was going to make baptism tricky. So to stop the infection, the performed an emergency operation and removed it. Now, she's feeling a million times better and her baptism will be a million times easier. So that's pretty awesome :)

Also exciting is that Cassidy is now planning on getting baptized! If you don't remember Cassidy, she is the granddaughter of a member that I found about a month and a half ago. She's known the missionaries for a while, but Elder Walker and I started teaching her. She has been so incredibly prepared, but unfortunately we had to refer her to the YSA Elders because she's 22. However, we've still been a part of the teaching process because the YSA Elders mainly work in San Louis Obisbo and don't make it up here to Atascadero very often. So we go over stuff she has trouble understanding or has questions about, and they'll take the lead in teaching her the actual discussions. Anyhow, we were doing a church tour with her and her Grandma (the member) and we were showing her a picture of Alma baptizing at the waters of Mormon. As we were talking a little bit about it, she just smiled and said, "I actually agreed to get baptized in October, yesterday." Her grandma just about passed out, she was so excited. We're really excited for her to,and now I'm praying that I don't get transferred so I can be here for it!

And that's really about all the exciting highlights of the week! For the spiritual thought, I just want to leave you with a quick quote by President Monson: "The future is only as bright as your faith." I hope you all have a bright week! Love ya!

Much love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

Miraculous Happenings in a Hastening Work‏

Well hello everyone!

I have to start off by saying that I know that this is the Lord's work. This week would be to good to be true if it wasn't haha! This week was just one miracle after another, and Elder Crook and I have been running around like mad men trying to keep up with all of it. Here's the low down for the week.

We had an AWESOME lesson with the Gentry's last Monday. We sat down and started talking to them, asking them how their week had been all that good stuff. We talked for a bit and I started trying to think how we could transition it into the lesson, but no sooner had I thought that did Sam, the wife, ask, "So what's the first thing you teach people when you meet with them?" We, of course, were happy to tell her. We then launched into an amazing discussion about the Restoration, and we managed to answer some pretty searching questions from the both of them. By the end of it, Sam kept saying over and over, "You guys have finally helped me to see the need for modern day prophets." Her husband, Chad, who had at first been a little hesitant to talk to us, had also warmed up to us by the end and they both readily accepted another appointment for later today!

Christina has also taken a big step! She's agreed to be baptized on October 17th!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! :D We talked with her and she has really enjoyed church each time she's come, and she also feels that she's beginning to receive her answer on the Book of Mormon! I'm very excited for her to say the least :)

But hold on ladies and gents, that's not all. We've also started working with 3 different LA/PM families in the ward that want to start coming back and have their children baptized, as well as working to reactivate a few LA. We've also picked up a former investigator that is really looking to change his life, and we're working on picking up another. I've honestly been blown away by everything that's happened this week. I was very nervous about dropping some of our investigators, but the Lord has provided for us in ways that I didn't think possible :)

For the thought this week, I want to share a couple of quotes. The first comes from CS Lewis: "If you are looking for a comfortable religion, I certainly wouldn't recommend Christianity." The second is something that has stuck with me since the MTC: "There is rarely growth in a comfort zone, and there is rarely comfort in a growth zone." As disciples of Jesus Christ, we should not be "getting comfortable." I think Nephi said it best when he said, "Therefore, wo unto him that is at ease in Zion!" We should be constantly striving to magnify our calling and to do all that we can to further the progress of the work.

I hope that all of you are well!! Thanks for all that you do! Have a marvelous week!

Much love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1. Surprise from an old friend and old Elder!



2. Greenie dinner!



3. Selfie with some of the greatest kids on the planet.

Diet Truth

Hello everyone!

This week has been absolutely awesome! Its been hotter than heck, but we've been hitting it hard and I've got a lot to cover, so here goes:

Well Elder Walker is no longer with us. He has passed on to the other side, but he died honorably and went out in a fiery blaze of spiritual passion. It was majestic. Then out of the ashes, a little green at gills, rose my new companion! His name is Elder Crook, and he hails from Lyman, Wyoming which is a little town in the middle of nowhere, and he has a wit so sharp I'm surprised that he hasn't cut himself yet. It's definitely an honor to bring this fine young Elder into the mission, and after what I've seen this week I'm a very proud father :)

Work wise, things have started to explode! We unfortunately have had to drop a couple of our investigators, but we've also received some very good leads! One of them is the Gentry family, long time friends of the Cruzen's, some members of our ward. They asked us to go by, and we were welcomed with open arms. We have an appointment set with them for tonight, so hopefully that goes well!

Christina also came to church for the second time this week!! She was a little apprehensive after her first visit, but yesterday was a really good experience for her. She got to know some more members and really felt a part of everything. Needless to say, I'm a bit relieved. Even greater news, she texted us last night asking about getting baptized!!!! :D.....with the added request of possibly not doing it by complete immersion because of her health. That's the first time I've gotten that request on my mission haha! But hey! Now we know what to go over with her in our next lesson :) Plus that's a HUGE step forward for her.

I need to be a lot better about spiritual thoughts, so for this week I'm going to include a quote by Sister Mitchell, our WML's wife, from gospel principles yesterday: "Once you taste the truth and really embrace it, everything else just becomes diet truth. You don't want Diet Jesus." First of all, I thought this was hilarious. But more importantly, I love the principle behind it. What we have is the most beautiful thing in existence. Like Alma, it is "delicious to me." (Alma 32:28) And that's why I'm out here. To show everyone the beautiful taste that is the fullness of the gospel and help them to experience it for themselves.

That's all for now! I hope that you all have a blessed week.

Much love,
Elder Brennan Jon Rosenlof

1. My little portion of the vineyard.



2. My boy!!