Crazy week!

Heller!

How y'all doin?

Oklahoma people say some pretty weird stuff. Like "We was going to the store", or "I'm fixin to go to the store". I refuse to say "fixin". Sometimes I will say "y'all" but that is very rare.

This week has been crazy! Elder Karr has been trying to get everything together and packed. He has also been trying to say goodbye to a lot of people but some of them haven't been home. On Tuesday we biked all around our area. We were all over the place and we didn't get to see a single person. 

We rode our bikes in the pouring rain on Thursday to see Marcus and he wasn't home. We decided he doesn't know what the word appointment means. We called him and he said he would be home in a few minutes so we played in the rain and knocked some doors but we didn't have any luck. We were just wet. Marcus loves Elder Karr. When Elder Karr told Marcus he was getting transferred Marcus cried. He said that if me and Elder Karr both leave him he isn't coming to church. We told him he will love my new companion and won't want him to leave either.

We finally got to see Terry. When we went and saw him I felt like we were visiting a less active member instead of an investigator. He has more doctor appointments and he is not aloud to leave his house for a week. The doctors basically put him on bed rest. We are going to try and visit with him a lot and really work on getting him baptized!

We sorta have an investigator whose name is Don. We see him at least once a week and he always has questions for us about different things. We answer them and pretty much just answer like the church believes. He always says that he agrees 100 percent but that there is no use in trying to convert him. He told us this week that the Book of Mormon needs to be translated to today's modern language and that the King James version of the Bible is the least accurate of all the versions. We told him that translating the Book of Mormon would cause it to lose things that we need and that if we wanted to better understand it then he just needs to study it.

We had a lesson with our recent convert Myrna Lee. She is so cool! We take Brother Woodhouse with us every week. We read Moses chapter 1 with her and it was deep doctrine! It was so cool to read it and have the wise Brother Woodhouse tell us exactly what was happening and answer some questions we ALL had.

We visited one of our less active members named Jason Christie this week. We haven't seen him for quite a while. Every time we tried he wasn't home or told us he was about to leave. He usually will want to see us as often as possible and then he falls off the face of the earth until he gets down in the dumps and needs us. That is exactly what happened. He told us that he is going to try and get to church and then he talked about getting married to his girlfriend. He mentioned getting sealed in the temple. I just sat there for a while and then decided he needs to come to church if he wants anything he talked about to happen. I read Helaman 5:12 with him. It talks about building our foundation on Christ and if we do so Satan won't have the power to drag us down. The second I started to open my scriptures the spirit took over. I read the scripture and told him to read, pray, and come to church and build his foundation on Christ and his gospel. I don't even know what I said but I threw down. I am making it a goal to get him to church before I get transferred.

Elisa Valdez was suppose to get baptized on Saturday but because of family health issues we are going to have to push it back into November. Probably the 14th. It is a blessing in a way because we still have a little bit of lessons to teach her and this week is going to be hectic with transfers. Our mission President is emphasizing baptism dates with all of our investigators. We have 10 baptisms for this month. He wants to shoot for 40 baptisms in November and 50 in December. Wish us luck!

Stake Conference was this weekend. President Walkenhorst spoke Saturday night at the adult session. He said he was talking to temple president about the significance of the numbers 7 and 8. On the 7th day (Saturday) God rested. The 8th day (Sunday) is a new beginning. If you think about it on the 8th day we take the SACRAMENT. We renew our covenants we made with god and can be forgiven of our sins to start a NEW BEGINNING. What age are we baptized? AGE 8! How cool is that!? I thought it was cool anyway.

Sunday night we got Transfer Doctrine!! Elder Karr is getting transferred to the Mustang 2 South area! He will be opening that area up, training, and to top that off he will be a District Leader! He is excited isn't excited to be District Leader again but he is excited to finally get a car after serving in full bike area's for 19 months. I will be staying in the OKC 2 North area and my new companion will be Elder Neves (Na-vez). He is serving over in mustang right now. He is in our zone so I see him all the time! I'm not sure if we are going to be able to tolerate each other or not but I'm sure it will all work out fine!

Thanks for all the support, packages, and letters!

Remember who you are! Make good choices!

Sincerely, Elder Brisk! :)

P.S. I am dressing up as a missionary for Halloween because everyone is scared us. I feel like it's Halloween every day!

That is all.

This is Elder Karr and I while we was waiting for Marcus to get home. We were drenched!

I found my weave while we were riding bikes in the Ghetto!

We LITERALLY biked to Utah! ;)

Sometimes Elder Karr has to improvise when the members are out of napkins

Sister Baldwin has finished her mission and she is going home! (dying in missionary terms)

We had to take one last district picture before transfers

Goodbye Elder Karr! We will miss you!

Elder Steed (dude on the left) picked the best attire for kickball!

EXACT OBEDIENCE IS THE KEY!

HELLER HELLER HELLER!

Our area has been on fire! Every Thursday we do weekly planning and we set goals for the upcoming week. These past few weeks we have met or exceeded most of our goals! EXACT OBEDIENCE IS THE KEY! Sometimes you have a companion that isn't being as obedient as he should but when you take care of that you see miracles! We got 3 new investigators this past week! I know people always say that it isn't about the numbers but to me it is. There are real life human beings behind those numbers. When those numbers improve that means that our investigators and potentials our improving. That is what I like to see :)

Our first New investigator is a lady named Shelia. She is kinda crazy but that's OK. Anyone can accept the gospel! We met her last week. She told us that she was talking to her son that just became a preacher and he told her she needed to find a church because church is important. Right after she hung up the phone with him she received a knock at her door. When she opened the door there were 2 tall skinny kids dressed in white shirts and ties! (Yes that was Elder Karr and I) We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she grabbed it out of my hands when I asked if we could give her one. We also gave her a restoration pamphlet and wrote the church address in it. Unfortunately she hasn't been to church yet. It's OK sometimes you have to take it one step at a time. We met with her this week and she was wondering why the Book of Mormon isn't like the Bible. Apparently we didn't do very well at explaining that the Book of Mormon is ANOTHER testament of Jesus Christ. We cleared that up and the taught her about the Restoration! She told us she loves having us over! I have been working on extending the invitation to be baptized at the first lesson and I have to admit, I was scared but I did it and she said YES!

The second New investigator is a 10 year old boy named Perry (He wants us to call him PJ) His family moved into the ward a few months ago and somehow nobody knew until recently. His mom was baptized when she was 11 and his sister got baptized not to long ago. PJ was taught by the missionaries before they moved but they weren't able to get him baptized before they moved. We gave all the kids their own Book of Mormon and PJ was so happy. He started reading it from the very first page when we gave it to him. He came across the pictures and started asking us who was in the picture and what they were doing. It was awesome! Every night he reads the Book of Mormon with his siblings and then they say their prayers. He's already getting into the habit! I am so excited to start teaching him!

The third New Investigator is a lady named Barbara. Barbara has been on our list of potentials for a while and I saw her name and decided to give her a call. She said that she was told that we don't teach homeless people and that turned her off about our church. I told her I would find out. The Zone leaders told us to go for it so I called her back and said we would love to meet with her and we weren't sure why she was told that in the first place. We were worried about the homeless thing but she sent us her address and I saw that it was the exact same hotel that our old investigator Felicia and James stayed in. (the ones that wanted the churches welfare system) We were nervous about going to see Barbara because we thought that she would be the same but she actually wasn't! She has 2 kids and they live in a 1 bedroom hotel room. She didn't mention money or food or anything. We were so happy that we finally have someone that really wants to learn the gospel!

Saturday was trainer calls. Everyone that was going to be training this next transfer received a call Saturday night. I was worried that I would be called because I am not ready to train! It was 10:29 (1 minute before bed time) and the phone rang. Elder Karr was like "Oh Crap" and he answered the phone. Elder Karr will be shotgun training! That means that he will be opening a new area while training. He said he couldn't sleep so we stayed up for a while and played card games! He is excited to leave this area because he has been here for 7 1/2 months, but he will miss everyone here. I am so excited for him and can't wait to find out who my new companion will be! I will most likely stay in the same area. I should find out who my new companion will be on Sunday night and then Transfers will be next Wednesday! CRAZY! I have almost been out for 3 months!

I love this gospel so much! I would like to ask for prayers for my investigators. Specifically Marcus Johnson and Terry Stephens. Marcus has been leaving town a lot because his dad has been in and out of the hospital so we haven't been able to see him forever! Terry knows the Book of Mormon is true and has literally been taught everything! He said he "Won't get baptized until the good lord tells him to." Please please please pray for them!

Thank you so much for the support, packages and letters! I love you all!!

Sincerely, Elder Brisk

That is all.

Elder Karr and I at lunch

Oklahoma is representing the promise land! ;)

Halloween decoration...

Here is your random church sign of the week!

The zoo and new investigators!

Heller!

This week was pretty great! Let's start with Monday...

We went to the Oklahoma City Zoo. It is actually a pretty cool zoo! We saw lions, gorilla's, giraffe's, zebra's, elephant's, etc. Unfortunately it was a little cold but we survived! However, we did not get to see the baby elephant because it died of elephant herpes. Yes apparently that is a real thing and I am not even lying that is what killed it.

Our Bishop moved to North Dakota :/ We helped them clean up there house before they left. We are going to miss them so much! We got our new bishop this past Sunday. We totally guessed who it was! Bishop Wadsworth is the new Bishop of the Oklahoma City 2nd ward. They were going to move to Utah and go back to BYU. They sold there house and everything and then decided to stay. I guess it was so he could be the Bishop! He is going to be great!

On Thursday Elder Karr and I went with the sisters to the Chiropractor! I thought he was going to say I am messed up but apparently I am in good shape and a lot more active then I think. Elder Karr was the one who is messed up. He was asking him if he had ever been in a car accident, bike accident, etc. Elder Karr said no but the Chiropractor fixed him right up! Now his legs are the same length or something like that? haha

Sunday night was the best! We went out with Brother Meuller and taught a family the spanish sisters reffered to us. Manuel and Mckayla and their 3 kids Sahara, Delila, and Armondo. Sahara is 8 (WOO HOO baptism age!) Delila is 2 and Armondo is 9 months. We taught them the Restoration and Mckayla said it answered all of her questions. We asked them if they would be baptized the first lesson and they said YES! (but they want to learn more) They are so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. We are going back next Sunday night to teach them that families can be together forever!

We also went and taught Brother Meuller's brother's girlfriend, Shelly. We taught her the restoration as well and like Mckayla, It answered her questions. She has already read the Book of Mormon!? She thought it was so cool but she hasn't prayed to know if it is true. We asked her if she would reread the Book of Mormon and pray to know that it is true and what we taught her is true. She said YES! We are also going to see her next Sunday night as well!

In a time period of 3 hours we got 4 new investigators! That exceeds the goal we set for the week! I am so excited for this week because we have a lot of appointments set up already and I think we will be able to get more investigators!

Remember to read your scriptures and pray! Remember who you are, make good choices!

Sincerely, Elder Brisk

That is all.

We wanted these zoo masks but they were to expensive :(

We really wanted to watch the Lion King after this.

.This Gorilla was hilarious! He just sat there itching his butt and picking at is fingers!

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The baby Gorilla was so cute!! This one was funny and kept making faces at me!

This is the elephant that did NOT die from elephant herpes.

Giraffe's are Elder Karr's favorite animal!

I decided that snakes just really creep me out...

I didn't fit on the ride :'(

My favorite missionaries in all the land!

The zoo was a success!!

Simplify

Heller!

I'm doing good, I'm safe, I'm healthy, all that fun stuff. Let's get to what is really important...

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!

General conference was awesome! I hope everyone watched it! if not repent and watch it. 

Elder Karr and I taught Book of Mormon class on Thursday and we gave the commitment to come up with a question for conference and it will get answered. 

Brother Ruick is crazy! He always goes off about something and really makes us think. He likes to be tough on us. He sent us a text during Saturday Mornings session of conference and said; "Hey Brisk, got that answer to the question you challenged me to ask of conference....I thought the challenge was stupid, I was wrong, thx for your wisdom."  That made me so happy! I thought he was stupid for thinking my challenge was stupid but I have seen him a lot this week and we are friends now. He keeps telling everyone how wise I am!

All 3 sessions on Saturday were my favorite! The morning, afternoon and priesthood session. I tried to come up with a question for conference but I couldn't think of one. I went into conference without a question. As soon as conference started I realized that my question was just a big ball of doubt and lack of faith in myself.

In almost every talk I felt like it was made just for me. Dieter F. Uchtdorf is my hero! He destroyed by doubt! He said that sometimes we need to take a step back and simplify the gospel in our lives.

There is so much to learn that we won't ever be able to know everything. When you get stressed out just take a step back and simplify everything. I am going to simplify it by reading my scriptures and praying. By doing those 2 things I will be able to increase my knowledge, get a reconfirming testimony of the restored gospel and become more in tune with the spirit. By doing those 2 simply things I will be able to help so many people and myself.

I want every sister to read/watch Jeffrey R. Holland's and Russell M. Nelson's talks. They were directed just for you!

I just want everyone to watch conference over and over again. I loved conference so much! BEST CONFERENCE EVER!

Take time to "Ponderize". If we are keeping the commandments and living our lives in harmony with the gospel teachings we will be able to learn so much. Have an open heart AND mind! If you do the Holy Ghost will testify the truth of these things to you!

This is the restored church of Jesus Christ. I know that this gospel is true without a doubt! I love my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, So much! I feel there love around me everyday as I bring others unto Christ!

Sincerely, Elder Brisk

 District Meeting!!

It's really hard for Elder Karr and I to relax in the back of the car.

Sometimes we remove the sisters headrests. We are a weird bunch of missionaries! :)

Mormon Superbowl at Sister Bass House!

This is the Pimp of our area. We just so happened to see them on Camo Sunday

Oklahoma...

Awesome yet stressful!

Heller!

First things first. A lot of missionaries say "Heller" here and it is super funny! I have officially been on my mission for 2 months! Sometimes it is hard to believe and other times it has definitely been 2 months!

This week was awesome yet stressful! We pretty much had our week booked up with service and meetings! We had a STM meeting which is where the zone gets together and the Zone Leaders give a training. We helped 2 people move furniture on Tuesday. We went to the Food Bank and did service for a few hours there like we usually do every Wednesday. On Thursday we had Zone Conference from 9-3! Yes the meeting was really that long! you get used to it when you're a missionary! We had District meeting Friday and then Helped the Hernandez Family, the only active members we have in our area, move out of the ward. It really sucks because they always let us stop by and get a drink or take a little break. We also helped them finish moving on Saturday morning.

This week we received a lot of revelation on what to focus on. Throughout all of the meetings we had, we talked about involving the members and working with less actives. I didn't know that the members really had that much importance in missionary work. When you think about it, The members are the ones become friends with those who are new to the church. Nobody wants to go to church alone. It is like school with no friends! Members are the fellow shippers of everyone we teach! We have a handful of less active members in our area! This week was super busy that we weren't able to see a lot of people but this week we are going to focus on taking members out with us everyday to see our investigators and less active members.

In case you didn't know, Elder Richard G. Scott passed away. That means that this weekend we will get 3 new apostles!?  Although it is sad to lose a member from the quorum of the 12, That means that the Lord is up to something...

We have the opportunity to hear from our Living Prophet this weekend. Every talk that will be given this weekend is directed by the Spirit!! They Quorumn of the 12 doesn't get together and talk about topics for General Conference. They all listen to the Spirit and end up on the same page! Is that cool or what? Do NOT miss conference!

If you have anyone that has been interested in the Gospel or has been asking about our religion, Invite them to watch Conference with you! There is no better way for them to feel the spirit than listening to our Prophet!

Thomas S. Monson is our Modern Day Living Prophet! I know that without a doubt! He receives revelation for the entire church. I know that your questions will be answered this weekend!

Find people who are interested in the Gospel! Give them a Book of Mormon or bear them your testimony! In Doctrine and Covenants Section 100:5-8 It talks about the spirit telling us what to say and what to do.

I invite everyone to read that scripture! If we live our lives in harmony with the gospel the Lord will bless us with his spirit! When we take the sacrament each week we renew our covenants and are cleansed of our sins. He promises us that we will have His spirit to be with us.

I came across a quote by President Ezra Taft Benson said; "For if the Book of Mormon is true, Then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his Prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelations".

The Church is true, Amen!

Sincerely, Elder Brisk

That is all.

Elder Karr was very sleepy before Church!

This week we had the opportunity to go to the Temple with our recent convert Lance! He is the coolest dude ever! His first time doing baptisms for the dead and he loved it! He was angry about wearing the jumpsuit though!

I got to experience the Taco Truck! They also have cow tongue in case you are interested!

My First Ghetto Gas Station! They also had beer salt just in case you wanted to spice it up a bit!

This week's random church

Every Member a Missionary

Heller!

It's official! I have been out for 1 transfer now! Tuesday will be my 2 month mark! Last Sunday we got Transfer calls to see who would be getting transferred. The only change in our zone was Sister Garner. She got transferred to the Village ward. Now we have Sister Johnson. She has been on her mission for 11 months and she is a Spanish speaking missionary so her and Elder Karr like to talk in Spanish. Elder Karr tried to teach me Spanish but it didn't work out. I am going to stick with English!

Since transfers were last Wednesday, 28 new missionaries flew in on Tuesday. Elder Karr and I got to have 4 of them stay the night at our apartment! They all had their blow up mattresses and blankets. We made them breakfast burritos in the morning before the got picked up to go meet there new companions. They were pretty funny! Maybe I will get to be companions with them! I guess we will have to see.

I had a really good week! We had a quite a few appointments this week and only 2 of them flopped. We were able to reschedule them for this week though! Every Thursday we set goals for the upcoming week. This week we met almost all of our goals and we even went above our goal in some spots! We had 10 less active members at church! Sister Valdez, the less active we have been focusing on, came to church again Sunday. We are teaching her 9 year old daughter Elisa and they want her to get baptized in October when her grandpa comes. She has had the lessons a few times apparently so she remembered most of what we taught her but not all of it.

On Thursday we took our recent convert, Percy, to IHOP. Elder Karr and I got 2 gift cards but we had no way to get to IHOP. We decided to take Percy and buy him dinner. After dinner we went to Book of Mormon class. This week was our turn to teach. We had a lesson on prayer and it was fantastic! Percy liked it and is realizing that he needs to get his butt back to church!

Sunday night Elder Karr and I were knocking doors in a neighbor hood. We were walking and this lady crossed our paths. She look at us and said, "Oh Mormons! I know you guys got a Book of Mormon on you. I need a new one because I lost mine!". Elder Karr gave her the one he had in his hand and then she said, "Thank you." and walked away. Elder Karr and I looked at each other like uh what just happened!? Then I yelled "Mam!" and walked towards her and asked her if I could give her a card with our number on it incase she had any questions about the Book of Mormon or would like to talk with us. She said "Ok" and then walked off. It was funny!

We had a meeting with the Bishop on Sunday. We talked about how the work in this area has slowed down the past few months. We realized that we need the members to do there part. I referred back to my farewell talk. "Every Member a Missionary!" The members are the ones who really do the work. Without the members we don't have anyone to fellowship our investigators. We came up with a few ways to get the members more involved in missionary work.

As members, we need to take every opportunity we get to share the gospel. Invite someone to church, Pray for someone you think can use the gospel in their lives, share your testimony, give the missionaries referrals! ANYTHING! We give a lot of people pass along cards and they pass them out like candy!

My challenge for you this week is to be more involved in missionary work. Find ways to share the gospel with those you come in contact with. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel and the lord will put people in your path!

Sincerely, Elder Brisk

That is all.

Elder Karr and I trying to find souls in the ghetto...

Our last group picture before we said goodbye to Sister Garner!

The new crew of the OKC 2nd Ward! #SouthSide

This is Sister Garner's replacement, Sister Johnson.

I put every letter I get on my wall of letters!

What, What, What, What

This weeks random church sign.