Elder Brisk is getting transferred to Edmond, OK

HELLER!!

EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

The OOCM (Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission) is going to be getting 3 more stakes in the Tulsa area. This is happening on Wednesday! This means that the branchs/wards in our mission will only get 1 set of missionaries whether it is a missionary couple, elders or sisters. There will be some wards that have more than 1 companionship because of size. With this news Vernon will be losing Elders and keeping Elder and Sister Johnson. 

Elder Brisk is going to get transferred to Edmond, Oklahoma!! Edmond is the rich part of our mission so not to sure how receptive people will be but I'm excited! My companion will be Elder Adams or Adam...can't remember. We will be leaving Vernon on Wednesday so please don't send anything to Vernon!!

My new address is

400 W Edmond Rd 

Apt. 13D

Edmond, OK 73003

Funny story because Elder Davis said all he wanted was to go back to Oklahoma and I told him watch him go to Wichita Falls, Texas, and guess what...HE DID! He was a little upset but he's excited now :)

This week was less than Eventful. We had Christmas Conference all day Tuesday where President Mansell told us about Tulsa, We had some musical numbers, some words of encouragement and then we enjoyed a waffle bar, gingerbread houses, The Burkburnett zone did a special musical number that Sister Mansell posted on Facebook, and then we had a Turkey dinner and stopped in Chickasha to look at some lights on our way home!

I have been sick since Wednesday but I am finally getting better just in time or Christmas!

Vernon has been dead. Not a fly is moving so you could say we are more than excited to leave. Especially because we will both have more work!!

I am sad to leave the Johnson's behind. They have been so good to us and I love serving around them. They are sad to lose us too because they say missionaries are what makes the mission fun! I guess we really are the life of the party! ;)

I invite all of you to find the time to read Matthew 1&2 and Luke 1&2 about our Saviors birth. Christmas is literally tomorrow! I am so excited!!! The wise men gave gifts and I think we focus a lot of the gifts during this time of year. We need to focus on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior and Redeemer of the world. I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be true and restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that we can all return to live with our Heavenly Father through the Plan of Salvation. I invite you to find out who Christ is to you personally and then to continually increase your relationship with him. He will bless our lives and our families lives!

Fun Christmas Facts!

1. Swaddling clothes made it so the babies would have good posture

2. 3 gifts given but could have been more than 3 wise men!

3. Christ was actually born on April 6, same day the church was organized

Love and miss you all. I will talk to you next year!

Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Love Elder Brisk 

That is all.

Some of my favorite people right here! 

The one and only Vernon Texas Gingerbread house

Pillsbury holiday cookies are a must have

Caroling brings Christmas spirit!

HELLER!

This week we were able to see Tom Smith. We started the Addiction Recovery program with him to help him with his smoking. So far it went well but we are just starting so we will see as we continue to help him quit smoking.

We saw the Blevins again this week. Still can't believe the change they made. They are so accepting of us and love us! We cleaned up Brother Blevins back porch for him. His whole family thought it was going to be the worst thing we ever did but it really just needed to be picked up and blown out. They fed us and promised to have us over for dinner. Brother Blevins said he would also watch #LIGHTtheWORLD. He called us a few days later trying to find the video and so we told him where to go. He then called us back not 5 minutes later and was like "what am I watching" We were laughing like what do you mean and he said "it's TOUCHING my HEART!?" he also keeps telling us that we shouldn't be surprised if he shows up at church one of these days. He told us when we first met him that he "probably won't go back to the Mormon church." I love Brother Blevins!

We met with Lupe and taught him about the Sacrament. it was a really good lesson and he said he would come to church. Unfortunately he didn't so not sure if we will be able to continue teaching Lupe because he doesn't seem like he really wants to continue anymore. We will have to see!

We Christmas Caroled with the Johnson's again to other people that live in the surrounding towns of Vernon. Caroling is so fun! It is a great way to bring the Christmas spirit into peoples lives and nobody gets mad at you for doing it!! They would rather listen to me sing that listen to me try and bring salvation to their lives through Jesus Christ. I don't understand it but whatever!

On Friday I went to Altus on exchanges with Elder Chamberlain. It was such a fun exchange! I was able to do a baptism interview for the sisters investigator. it started snowing and got so cold that we had to go get gloves and beanies. BTW Walmart is sexist and only carries women winter wear...so we went to JC Penny because why wouldn't you want to look fashionable while staying warm!? We got beanies and gloves and they were even on sale! We saw one of the elders investigators there so we talked with her and we are going to try and volunteer with the Salvation Army to be the people ringing the Bell as you walk into Walmart! I'm so excited!! Elder Chamberlain and I had so much fun and we definitely need to be companions someday!

We had interviews with our President Mansell and he told me I will be getting transferred. Not sure where I will be going but I am for sure getting transferred on the 28th. We find out tomorrow at Christmas conference the information for transfers.

P day has been moved from December 26th to December 24th so I will not be emailing next Monday!

Have a Great week and stay warm!! Love and Miss you guys!

Elder Brisk

That is all.

My Christmas card

Exchanges with Elder Chamberlain! He is taller than me and it's so weird!

It was literally 80 degrees Friday.   Then Saturday was 29 and snowing.  Sunday was 1 degree....weather here is crazy!  Our heater also wasn't working Saturday night so when we woke up Sunday morning our apartment was 47 degrees...YIKES!! Don't worry the heater is working now:)

Being a missionary is my favorite!! :)

HELLER!

This week has been so wonderful!

We met with Tom Smith and unfortunately he has started smoking again. It was really cool though because we tried and tried and tried to get him to understand he needs to stop smoking but he wouldn't budge. I then bore my testimony of how much we loved him and that is why we wanted him to stop and afterwards he stood up and threw them away with a smile on his face! Showing people how much you love them really will help :)

We have received 3 referrals this week from people referring themselves. This is the best time of the year because people are so ready for the Gospel and are in a position to accept the blessings of a loving Heavenly Father into their lives!!

One of our referrals was for an inactive member who requested a Pearl of Great Price?? Her name is Deborah Stolle and every time I have met her she wouldn't give us the time of day to even smile and say hi. So we took over her requested item and she literally came outside and hugged us. She is so ready to come back to church and misses it so much! Her heart hasn't been softened...it's made a 180 degree flip!!! MIRACLES!

We had exchanges with the zone leaders in Burkburnett and we helped a member build an shed for his sheep. We also tried chasing sheep and goats and even got ourselves a Coyote!! It was a fun exchange even though we didn't do much missionary work!

We went Christmas Caroling with Elder and Sister Johnson and it was so much fun!! The first house we went to the little 2 year old boy put his hands over his ears and started SCREAMING!! It was so funny but apparently we are pretty bad at singing! Overall I think our Caroling was a success! :)

On Saturday Vernon had their Christmas lighted parade where we were able to set up a booth at the Court House for the day. First of all, Robert Gomez is the best because it wouldn't have been possible without him. Second, it was FANTASTIC!! We had a little TV showing #LIGHTtheWORLD and everyone really loved it. Relief Society made us over 200 cookies to pass out for free and every last crumb was taken by the end of the day. We also had members write their testimony in a Book of Mormon and we were able to pass all of those out to people who wouldn't just turn around and throw it away! We talked to over 80 people and it was so fun! I wish we could always have a booth set up because they are way more effective than knocking doors all day! I loved every bit of it except the part where some guy tried to hit on Elder Davis and I....

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. The thing about Vernon is it's full of good Christian people. Even though they aren't part of the true church they still have their hearts toward Jesus Christ. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas! It's not because of the present under the tree or Santa Claus..It's all about Jesus Christ and His Birth. Because of Him we can return to live with the Father. We can be cleansed of our sins, and be resurrected. I love my Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. Being a missionary is my favorite!! :)

Merry Christmas!

Love Elder Brisk

That is all.

Best Booth EVER!!

Sponsored by Robert Gomez

Exchanges in Burkburnett Texas

It's getting so cold!!!!

Christmas on the Western Trail

Dinner at the Methodist church

Heller!

If you are planning on sending me a letter or package send them to my apartment not the mission office. Otherwise they are making us go get them and we don't have miles to do that because we are the most isolated missionaries from there. Please and thank you! :)

This week we were able to see Victoria Villegas, the referral from our fast, and we had such a spiritual lesson with her! We started teaching her the restoration and then she had questions about baptism of little children and different things and we were able to stop and open up the Book of Mormon and read it with her to answer her questions because the Book of Mormon LITERALLY answered all of them. It was so cool and if I picked the scriptures up she would do the same so she could read along. We tied it all back and finished teaching her the restoration and she loved it! We are going to go over Thursday night and teach her, her son, and her 2 grandson's and we are so excited!! She is Catholic and said she hadn't been to church for a while when we first met her but when we went back she said she went to the Catholic church and it just wasn't the same!! She is so coming to church with us next week! I hope...

We did service at the library again this week but instead of straightening books they had us put up their giant Christmas tree and decorate it and we did so good that everyone was saying to come to their house and that we should start a business!!

Last Monday this random lady came up to us and invited us to dinner at the Methodist church here in town so on Wednesday we decided what they Hay lets go!! So we got there and we heard her talking to the servers about us. She was waiting for us the entire time!! It is a good thing we went or else she would have thought we were undependable. So she got us some food and the moment we walked from the kitchen to the dining room everyone stopped and stared at us. It was so quiet and awkward. I just smiled and said "Hi"  We got to talk to a lot of people though and got free dinner so that was cool!

I went on exchanges with Elder Terry this last weekend! We were riding our bikes and it started to pour on us and didn't stop raining until the next day so that was fun! We knocked on this door and this guy opened up and started talking to us

Guy: We're busy can you come back another time?

Us: Uh Sure

Guy:Ok thanks um.. Tuesday's are probably the best for me come back Tuesday

Us:Uhhh ok

Guy: thanks bye! *shuts door

We just shrugged our shoulders and said cool! then went on our merry way!

Saturday night we were doing weekly planning and I felt like I was getting sick because I had the chills and all of a sudden I sat up and said we needed to go to Taco Bell (At 8:30pm) so we ran to the car (and by we I mean I). When we got to Taco Bell the random guy that Elder Terry and I met on exchanges was working their! His name is Willie and he met missionaries 15 years ago in Lawton, OK and he has had contact with one of them for these 15 years...Like what??

Taco Bell brings miracles!!! 

We had a lesson with Bill and Gail finally! Little recap.. they are baptist. Gail wants to join the church and will when she moves to Pampa where her daughter lives who is a member and Bill is a stonch baptist. We read 2 Nephi 33 and it was perfect because it was about what Gail was studying for her Sunday school lesson at the baptist church and she is going to read the Book of Mormon again! It was such a great lesson!!! She told us to find another chapter we can read because she really like that one.

Paula also came to church on Sunday which is fantastic because we haven't seen or had much contact with them since our lesson a month ago!!!

That is all for this week!

 Elder Brisk

That is all.

Elder Johnson found some random high school kid to come take our picture 

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ARE COMING OUT!!!!

Sister Nicoll and Sister Hernandez stole my camera

 TEXAS

Grandma Gussie is in rehab :(

 Grandma Gussie is in rehab :(