Road trip to Texas!

Heller!!

This week has been crazy busy! We also got a little food poisoned but we are alive and well :)

We have been visiting a bunch of members on the roster that nobody has any idea if they live there or not and we have met quite a few people who are really nice and open to having members of the church come by which is really cool!

We are trying to do a lot of member missionary work! We have been setting up appointments to meet with the ward council leaders and their presidencies. So far we only met with the Primary President, Sister Ferreria, from the Edmond 2nd ward. It was a super good meeting though and she gave us a list of kids we can visit and teach the discussion too. Most of them are already baptized except for one!

We went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week. It was fun but they literally called us like the day before and wouldn't take no for an answer. The 7th ward is huge and is impossible to bike so Elder Holcomb and I just drove to different places all throughout the day. It was nice getting out of the City!!

Speaking of getting out of the city.....WE WENT TO TEXAS!! Elder Hilton, the office elder, needed to go take a car to the Sisters in Wichita Falls and pack up Elder and Sister Johnson's old apartment so we got to go help! In Wichita Falls we ate at an investigators house for lunch and he has a food truck. He kept bringing us plates of 5 tacos each and everyone was like WOAH THIS IS SO MUCH FOOD so the Sisters of course stopped after their first plate and Elder Hilton didn't eat to much but Elder Shira and I had to finish it all!!! So I ended up eating around 16 Tacos and Elder Shira had around 22. We were stuffed but they were SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!! 

Being in Vernon again was so weird! There was quite a few members at the apartment ready to help us load everything into the trailer and I got to see Robert Gomez!!! He was so excited to see me! It was a really fun road trip!!

Well that is about all the exciting stuff. Remember who you are, make good choices!!

Elder Brisk 

Road Trip to TEXAS!!!

I also got this cool feather and called myself a Lamanite! :)

​Elder Shira tried chasing geese away and then crashed...

he's lucky they didn't try attacking him!

Exchanges with Elder Holcomb in the outskirts of OKC

Giving blessings are just the best!

HELLER!

For those of you who are aware of the day Oklahoma had an outbreak of tornadoes. Don't worry I lucked out and only got rain/lightning. I still have time to get a picture of a tornado!!!

On Tuesday we took our car in to get fixed and we were without it for 2 days. Luckily we have our bikes! We rode the bus down to the City to give a blessing to a man named Joel, who is dying of cancer. He isn't a member because he can't give up tabacco.. Isn't that sad!!? He had 2 friends there that are not members and they were very emotional as we gave the blessing but Joel was totally calm! We were able to give his 2 friends John and Vickie a blessing and they were no doubt touched by the spirit. It was such a cool experience to be there and hear how the blessing helped them feel God's love INSTANTLY!!

One of our investigators, Mandy, texted us this week wanting to meet. We haven't seen her in like 3 months but we went by and found out she is getting divorced!! It's actually kind of a blessing though? Her daughter is way more outgoing and not shy or anything anymore! Mandy is so proud of her because she loves daycare and makes friends so easy now. Also Mandy was sort of being held back by her husband but now that he is out of the way she is ready! Blessings come in disguise sometimes! We are seeing her Friday at 2.

We helped a lot of people move this week and it was crazy. Members don't always understand we aren't a moving crew.

We went down to the City on Saturday to see a referral for a Gary VanCuren. He is a member in Rehab and he was so shocked we found him. I guess his counselor saw some other missionaries down there and flagged them down so we were able to go see him. He wanted a blessing and wants to come back to church!! Super cool experience once again. Giving blessings are just the best! :)

Having 5 hours of Church is draining. Sunday's are going to be so hard with 2 wards now but we can do it!!..I hope..

On Friday it was Elder Holcomb's birthday so we went to Chick-fil-a and I asked the lady if he got anything for his birthday and he got a free sundae and the rest of us got free ice cream cones! Then a worker comes out of nowhere and asks if I wanted to try a frosted lemonade for free and so I got that too. Best Chick-fil-a experience of my life! The cashiers name was Ali and she was jumping up and down telling us their better than McDonald's. We told the manager she needed a raise.

Well that's it for this week! We are going to go to McDonald's now! haha no joke.

Elder Brisk 

Model Shots from the City

Watching Oklahoma Storms!

Sunset after the storm

Elder Holcomb's B-day

Dinner at Kettles

Elder Shira has been driving...sorta

How missionaries park

Stressful week ended with a Mother's Day skype!

Heller!

It was so fun talking to the Briskensen's yesterday! (Brisk and Christensen fam)

Also I turn 20 tomorrow. GOSH I'M SO OLD!

If I could describe this week in one word it would be "STRESS". Taking over 2 areas is actually harder than you think because we 1. Have 0 miles 2. Edmond 2 is not organized at all! 3. We have to decide who to cancel dinners that overlap with 4. Our washer needs a new transmission so it's basically toast 5. We had to clean the other apartment up and it was disgusting. So much stuff to do but the good news is we are basically done so we can start figuring out where to work and then to go and do it!!

So 5 hours of church was actually not my favorite thing but I guess we will get use to it for the next several weeks!!

We are teaching this cool family in the Edmond 2nd ward. Her name is Kathy and she is the lady Elder Ball and I found on exchanges a few weeks ago! Anyway her grand kids are super cool and the grandson named Kevin is going to be the best missionary in the world btw!

I don't have much to say this week other than I love Edmond, love my companion, love this work!! Being a missionary is so fun!

Here is the highlight of the week:

Crazy homeless lady comes up to me at the library and talks for a straight 5+ minutes. Here is the just of what she said.

"Excuse me can you help me, I can't go into any public bathroom at any restaurant, store without being spied on! People are watching me and they won't leave me alone. I was tryin' to get some help from young William Jones and then I went into the bathroom and people try to make sin out of it with my mind! I can't be alone in any bathroom, anywhere without being watched."

by this time everyone in the library is looking at me like what is he going to do, she's crazy doesn't he know that and Elder Shira is to my right doing everything he can not to bust up so I simply responded in the most mono tone voice ever "Sorry we can't help you." Then she said "it should be illegal to invade someones privacy" and walked away.

Love Elder Brisket! 

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Skype

 Sister Scadden went home this week!

 Elder Shira is a goof ball :)

Edmond 24

HELLER!!!!!!!

So transfer calls came and Elder Shira and I are staying together!!! HALLELUJAH!

We will also be covering the Edmond 2nd and 4th Wards!!!!! (Hence the new name "Edmond 24")

We are so excited because we literally talked about this a few days ago!! AHHHHHH

I didn't sleep at all last night! haha!

Anyway so that's exciting stuff right! We will have 2 apartments, 2 phones, a car, and a butt load of work to be done! I've never been more excited to be so busy!!!

We starting teaching a lady named Mona today. She missed her appointment the first time we went by and so we were like eh we'll probably end up dropping her but we tried her again and she was outside and started asking us a bunch of questions and it lead to a very spiritual conversation! By the end of the lesson she said that she felt so good about what we were teaching! #HOLYGHOST

We had another lesson with her and there were kids running around, people barbecuing and so many other distractions but she gave ALL her attention to us and the lesson. Elder Shira and I both felt the spirit in it and we're so excited to continue teaching her!

On Saturday we had a special MLC where Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was a really good meeting!! We talked about agency and responsibility. We are to accept 100% agency and responsibility. It is so important that we are accepting responsibility for our actions. All these crazy false church's out here try to teach that we don't need to accept the responsibility because "As long as you accept Jesus in your heart you're saved!". Gosh it drives me crazy! I am convinced that you have not truly served a mission until you have served in the Bible Belt. Anywho learning from Elder Robbins was a great experience! PLUS WE GOT HOMEMADE CAFE RIO AFTER!!!!! 

Elder Shira and I were getting burnt out of finding all day everyday but we decided to say a prayer and start our fast Saturday night and after we did we were so much more motivated! We literally started talking to everyone we saw and it was so fun! Elder Shira was working hard and helped me realize that we needed to talk to more people and not let people pass by us. Elder Shira is such a hard worker! We are going to have so much fun working so hard this transfer! Wish us luck!!

THAT'S BRISK BABY! 

My fancy new hat will go great with my overalls!

Pic with Elder Robbins!

Exchanges with Elder Yamane! (We fought a Jehovah Witness) duh we won!

Me and my comp 

Lousy week!

Heller!

Well our most progressing Investigator, Diana Murphy, passed away unexpectedly this week. She didn't answer the phone or her door when we went over for our appointment. Later that day we were biking down her street and all the cop cars were outside. It was pretty sad and we were bummed. Our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation helped us a lot though!! We know she is in the spirit world and is so happy! I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to get to know her and share the gospel with her. There is no doubt in my mind that she will accept it in the spirit world. 

R.I.P. Diana Murphy!

I can't tell you how many times we got in disputations with people about what Jesus's skin color is. All I can say is it was too much, I was angry, told I didn't know squat, testimony was harshly rejected, Oh apparently I am not sensitive either. All I know is Jesus is the Christ. I am trying to proclaim his Gospel to God's Children. It has nothing to do with "White Supremacy". Like I said...it was a lousy week.

This week we got a new investigator named Chris! His dad actually moved out of our ward the beginning of this transfer and so we met him. We met him at the Library and he looked so familiar and then we figured it out. He said he wanted to be baptized and study the Book of Mormon and we were excited! Well, his roommate kicked him out of the apartment so he has been kind of homeless now. Everything is just so weird. We thought maybe he just wanted help from the church and we were so stressed about it because we didn't know what to do at all!! Well, we sat down with him and told him the church will help whether he is meeting with us or not. He said he wanted to study regardless of if he receives help or not and Elder Shira and I both felt he was sincere and the spirit was there for the first time in like 3 lessons with him! We set a baptismal date for May 27th. Now he didn't show up at church and missed his appointment so not sure what is going on...stay tuned.

We also have a lady named Amanda that we are going to be teaching soon. She is just moving into the area so we have to give her time to settle in but she is so cool! She said she use to be Athiest until she came to our church.

I was on an exchange with Elder Ball this week and it was so fun! First, we got on the bus to go to the City. Well for whatever reason the bus wasn't going to the City at that ONE TIME during the day. So we rode the bus in a circle of Edmond and it was a waste of time. We tried to see a bunch of people and everything was just so weird. We ended up in an area and felt like we shouldn't go where we were going so we stopped for like 15 minutes thinking of where to go and we went to a different investigators house in the area. We said well this is weird parking in front of their house so we pulled around the corner. As we walked to the investigator's house we saw this lady and she was very emotional. We went and talked to her forever!!! Her name is Cathy and she is so cool! We shared God's love with her, cried with her, and promised her blessings through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so spiritual and without a doubt where we were supposed to be. At the end she was saying "Look I am not even crying anymore!" As we walked away we looked at each other and felt so successful! It was definitely and experience I needed for such a lousy week!

I am so thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My faith has grown tremendously throughout my mission and it carries me through the good and bad times. I am also thankful for Elder Shira because he still works hard even when it gets tough! This week best be better!!

Love Elder Brisk 

 I long boarded for my first time and didn't die!

Sister William's mom sent us Candy AND custom made JIMMY shirts!!

 Ask me about the Jimmy story when I get home. It's hilarious!

Being a missionary is stressful, especially when it's cold and raining all week!