Ben got baptized!!!

HELLER!

We had MLC on Tuesday. Elder Adams and Elder Williams stayed the night with us because Elder Adams had to get his cast Wednesday morning. So basically we spent the evening having dinner once again at the mission home and saying goodbye to people because Elder Adams never got the chance to.

Ben got baptized!!! We spent most of the week teaching him all the lessons so he was prepared. Teaching the Law of Chastity to a 9 year old is so awkward we didn't even do it! We asked Sister Matheny to help us and she sat there for like 5 minutes trying to say something but couldn't figure out how to talk about it so she grabbed him off the couch and ran into a bedroom for like 5 minutes and came out and he sat down with the most puzzled look on his face. We asked him if he knew what the law of chastity was now and he stood up and was like "NOPE I don't want to talk about it" as he walked away from us! It was literally so funny! Sister Matheny was like I just told him not to take his clothes off in front of anyone or let anyone else take his clothes off and he was so disturbed by it!

We had a lesson with Dede and it went well! She said she wants to be baptized around May 29th because that will give her something to be excited to look forward too! Why isn't a birthday exciting for a 11 year old to look forward to? I have no idea. We told her she can/should be baptized like March maybe April but we left the decision to her so we are meeting with her tonight and will find out what date she wants to be baptized! She also wants the Stake President to baptize her which is cool!

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week. I was with Elder Jeffs and we found 3 new investigators!! We have appointments to see them this week so we will see if it goes anywhere. Hopefully it will! We need more investigators and finding in the rich city is difficult! That is why we are working with part member families. We are most likely going to be able to visit a part member family that has a 10 year old that is unbaptized! So many part member families here it is crazy!

We had dinner at a members house on Saturday and they set it up like a Hibachi grill and we hate veggies, meat and rice with chopsticks! Needless to say it is a good thing I didn't go to an Asian mission....

But it was so fun!!!

We have also been trying to find a place to move to because our apartment has had missionaries in it for 11 years and it is disgusting beyond repair. Unfortunately we are on bikes so there is a certain area we need to stay in and there are no good apartments so we are looking for duplex's as we ride our bikes around!! We found the most beautiful apartment ever and then found out it was $1600/ month and so that made us sad but we are still looking!!

Well that is all I got for this week!

Also pictures of the baptism will be posted next week because Sister Matheny has them.

Peace out 

Elder Brisk

PDay! Elder Clarke literally follows me everywhere around the mission 

so basically we should just be forever mission comps

 Jandal Club....get on our level!!

 Tracting in the dark as the severe thunderstorms roll in!

Goodbye Elder Adams...Hello Elder Thackeray!

HELLER

So this week was pretty wild if I say so myself. Elder Adams had his surgery and stayed at the mission home until Friday and went to Claremore, OK. I was all over the place! I was at the mission home and then I was with Elder Ball and Elder Shira in Edmond 2nd for a little bit. I also got to take P day on Tuesday since I was in the hospital all day Monday so I hung out with the Mansell’s son Justin. It was pretty fun. We went go cart racing and I won. We also had to go to Top Golf because he had to win something and I love top golf. It’s pretty fun! I also got to drive a car...BY MYSELF Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. It was so weird! Definitely realized how relaxing it is to be by yourself for a little bit!

Wednesday was transfers and my new companion is Elder Thackeray. He is from Etna California and has been out for 17 months, just one transfer less than me. He is also the youngest of 7 kids. We have already been working so hard! We had Elder Pulice with us Wednesday because he had to wait for Elder Adams to get better so they could go to Claremore. Being in a trio for a day was so fun!

The weather is so bipolar here. Today it is cloudy, might rain and in the 50’s. Saturday it was 88 degrees and it was beautiful. I miss my southern Utah weather and mountains!!

Also the Sisters and the Elders are in Trio’s so Elder Thackeray and I are the only ones in the district not in a trio. Kind of sad because trio’s rock!

There is so much work for Elder Thackeray and I to do here. So Ben Newark is 9 and we have been teaching him for a week. He was with his dad in Midwest City this last week and we are having his baptism Saturday at 11am if everything goes well. That will be a main focus for us this week.

Dede came to church! She is the 11 year old girl we are teaching. Right now she just picks and chooses when she wants to meet with us so we will have to try and setup weekly appointments with her so we can get her baptized ASAP! Her grandparents were with her and this was their second week back to church.

Ron Mais, he is my favorite! He is such a free spirited guy and he is finally starting to come around. He sees now that he needs to focus on improving spiritually and he has such a desire to pray and read the scriptures. He is always the one to ask if we can pray when we are there. We don’t even have to ask him to pray he just goes for it! He has been working on improving his marriage by reading the scriptures with his wife. It hasn’t been going to awesome but the desire is there and that is all that counts.

We took our mission Presidents son Cannon out with us this week and it was so fun! Ever since I was around the Mansell’s a lot the beginning of this week I have really come to love them more than I already did. I am definitely in the best mission and have the best mission president!

Elder Thackeray and I decided we will be working with the Part Member families in the ward since we are already seeing success there with Ben and Dede. We biked clear to the West end of our area which actually isn’t flat believe it or not. Also where all the rich people live. As hard as it was I loved it. When you work hard your faith increases and you believe you can get through anything and everything! Being a missionary is so fun!

Elder Clarke is sitting by me RN and says hi :)

Have a great week!

Peace and Blessings, Peace and Blessings.

Love Elder Brisk

New Companion and New District, sorta.

Left to right:

Sister McFadden, Sister Williams, Sister Streiff, Me, Elder Thackeray, Elder Ball, Elder Shira, Elder Wirthlin

Shawn’s Baptism!

Shawn’s Baptism!

NOT HAVING A COMPANION!¡!¡!¡!

My new favorite shirt mentioned in last weeks email

Surgery for Elder Adams and Baptism for Shawn.

HELLER!

What an eventful week! We found out that Elder Adams was going to have to have surgery to have his finger fully heal so that happened today. Being a missionary and having to wait 4 hours in a hospital isn't fun. Luckily there were some complimentary snacks. We will be staying at the Mansell's house tonight.

Elder Adams is going to be getting transferred on Wednesday as well so my new companion is Elder Thackary and I don't know to much about him but that will change very soon!

SHAWN GOT BAPTIZED!!!

It was so great to have a baptism for Shawn. He is such a great guy and he was so ready for the gospel. Elder Adams performed the baptism for him and I was able to perform the confirmation. So funny story. There is a Sister from a different ward who is responsible for fellowshipping him into the church and she wanted to be a big part of the baptism program. Well her and her 2 daughters ended up singing 2 songs and during the first one (When I am baptized) She and her daughter were standing in front of the podium and then She just pushes her daughter out of the way and Solo's the song as if she is competing. Then towards the end she grabs her daughter and pulls her in close to finish the song. During the second song she literally leaned over and told her daughter to stop playing the flute because it wasn't quite on track with the Piano. Then in fast and testimony meeting she literally yelled "I LOVE THE USA" and I was dying! She was miss America at one point in her life so I guess that is where the competition comes from.

We taught the Matheny's 9 year old son Ben and set a baptism date with him for February 18th. We will be working with him very closely as we only have 2 weeks to teach him everything. We are so happy for the Matheny family. They are just the best! <3

Can't remember to much of what happened this week because my planner is missing. It was a great week though besides the whole surgery deal! :)

Love and miss all y'all!

Brisk <3

Dinner at President & Sister Mansell's

 Sno Cones and P day playing Disc Golf

Sketchy apartment building we went in that had bloodstains on the floor....

My companion cant ride a bike...

HELLER,

This week has been so crazy! In the annual missionary broadcast they adjusted the missionary schedule. Basically we plan in the morning instead of at night when we get home. I think it's a great change!!

So my companion, Elder Adams, can't ride a bike. I know its sad. The traveling AP, Elder Maughan (Mon) came to our area on Tuesday and on our way to our first thing with him Elder Adams ate it and luckily landed on some guys yard but he destroyed his shirt and popped his tube. So we had to walk home and go to Al's bicycle to get a new tube. Later on that evening his front tire washed out on some gravel and landed on his face in a parking lot. He started to go into shock and was going crazy. Anywho he had to get 3 stitches above his eye and broke his pinky finger so he has a hardening cast on right now and might have to get a real cast on. We will find out tomorrow. For the time being we are using the UCO sisters car.

While we were with Elder Maughan we visited a less active family and they were so cool. They have been to the temple and still have testimonies of this gosepl. At the end of our visit we found out that their granddaughter Desiree had been taught by missionaries before and we asked her if she wanted to learn the lessons again and she said yes! So we are teaching Desiree now and she is so going to get baptized! Also she goes by Dede. While we had our first lesson with her this week they got a call that a family member was on life support and so the family has been struggling trying to decide what to do. Please keep the Parker family in your prayers!

WE ARE HAVING A BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!

Yep Saturday at 11am Shawn Taylor is getting baptized. He came to church and met all the leaders. He has been attending a different ward for several months but now is going to become a member of the Edmond 4th ward!! He has been having so many struggles. Satan literally attacks people the week of their baptism. Shawn went and got insurance and right after that he rear ended someone. His lights have been falling from the ceiling randomly almost hitting him. He just laughs at all of it! We are so excited for Shawn!! Please pray for him also!

We taught this super awesome young couple named Andy and Sam this week. They loved everything about the restoration and are so open to learning different beliefs. Before we even asked them to read and pray about what we taught Sam was already committing herself to find out the truth. They are so cool and will most definitely be baptized. They also attend life church which is a giant rock concert. We are doing a church swap sometime soon so I will return and report hopefully next week of my experience. 

We are still working with Brother and Sister Matheny and they are making such great progress! Every time we are their the spirit is so strong. Sister Matheny shared with us that her 9 year old son Ben is interested in learning more and wants to be baptized so we will begin teaching him this week when he gets back from his dads.

Literally we have Shawn, Andy, Sam, Dede, and Ben who will most likely be baptized and they are falling into our laps! If I have to hurt Elder Adams again for all this success I will probably do it.

I also bought a shirt that says "Y'all Need Jesus"

it's basically my favorite

That's Brisk Baby!!

The gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families.

HELLER

Monday we went to escape room with a bunch of missionaries and our mission presidents family. It was definitely one of my favorite P-Days. If you haven't done an escape room than I highly recommend it...if you have...do it again!!

Tuesday we were able to go to the Temple. Sister Burr gave us a bunch of family names that she had. The spirit in the temple was so strong. I have never seen a more jam packed session. I guess that is what happens when missionaries take over the temple!

I went on an exchange to Edmond 2 with Elder Shira. Probably the best exchange of my life! We met a less active who was really down to meet with missionaries. We also met some spanish folk in his neighborhood so we were able to send them to Sister McFadden and Sister Strieff! We also were able to figure out the bus schedule so on Wednesday morning we rode the bus down to the City! It was so fun! Except for the bus driver totally passed our stop because he was to busy talking and had a fit that we needed out before he drove all the way back to Edmond. We spent the whole day walking and talked to people! A baptist preacher from Texas even bought our lunch for us!

So I found out that Ray and Yesika Cordier (couple I baptized before I left OKC 2) moved into the Edmond 2 ward so that is basically why we went all the way down to the city but we got to see them!!! I cannot explain the amount of joy that I have felt this week. The kids are so big! Their living situation is a lot better and they are so happy! The gospel has blessed their life and I can now testify with every fiber of my body that the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. They can go to the Temple to be sealed for all time and eternity now and I hope that happens while I'm here in Edmond so I can be there. AHHHHHH I love them!!! 

Also while on exchanges we had dinner at a members house who had invited a young man they met to come eat dinner and learn more about the gospel. Elder Shira was super nervous and we practiced teaching the restoration all day! Well when the time to teach came the spirit told us to teach the Plan of Salvation and I can honestly say it was the most spiritual lesson I have ever taught. Kendrick is the coolest kid ever and he was eating up the gospel! If you have a friend that needs the gospel and you want to feel the spirit stronger than you ever have, invite the missionaries over for dinner and a lesson!! or just invite them over to teach you and your family :)

We tried to see a less active sister in the ward. We were able to visit with her and her husband and her husband totally wouldn't watch a Mormon message because he is stonch Catholic. Then a miracle happened and he started going off about how he thinks his wife needs to come back to her church and she is more comfortable there and just can't get comfortable with Catholics and her countenance changed so much! She was content and smiling on the outside but on the inside she was bouncing off the walls excited!! She is going to come to church this week and we are having dinner with them on Saturday :)

We ended the week with Stake Conference and it was so great! There is so much work here in the OKC stake and they are getting a new building!! So much growth going on right now and I'm so blessed to be apart of it! I love the gospel! :)

Love Brisket 

That is all.

​​​​​​​​​​Escape room!!​​​​

Exchange with Elder Shira in OKC

 Ray and Yesika!!! 

 Oklahoma christians in 1 picture

 HAPPY 18 MONTHS ELDER BRISK!!

Don't worry these pants were ripped anyway :)

​​​​​​​​​​​​Temple Trip with my favorite people! :)​

Being a missionary is so fun!!!

HELLER!!

Ok so for all of you wondering about the ice storm let me just tell ya that it didn't happen. You can be a weatherman in Oklahoma and give the most bizarre forecast and everyone will listen to you and it is impossible to lose your job. Everyone was calling it the Ice apocalypse and we literally just got rain and icicles. So that is cool!

This week I had a sinus infection so I wasn't able to work as hard as I would have liked too. Luckily EVERYONE in this ward has a career in the medical field so Brother Johnston was able to call in some antibiotics for me and Brother McCullough is a pharmacist so he took us to Walmart and hooked me up with all I needed. Besides the sickness we had a great week!

We met with a lady named Diana and her son David. David is a member as of 6 months ago and has his sights set on going to the temple. Diana was about to be baptized in the 90's but because she felt like whoever did he baptismal interview got to personal and so she canceled it. She obviously wasn't fully converted so that is where we come in! Diana is really cool and she made me a hat to welcome me to Edmond!

We met with Ron and Janessa again this week! We had dinner with them on Tuesday and it was so fun! Janessa is getting really comfortable with us know and she is getting ready to accept the gospel! We committed them to read the Bible together every night starting in Matthew and going to the end of Luke. They were so excited to do it! We promised them that it would help Janessa because she doesn't have a religious background and promised it would make their marriage stronger!

We also met this super cool girl named Amelia! She wanted to read the Book of Mormon and was just so down to talk with us. Unfortunately she is going to UCO which means we had to hand her over to the sisters. BOO!!!!

We got a referral from Sister Wilkinson to try a new family that had moved in to the ward. Because this is Edmond of course they had to live in the gated community that has the biggest gate I have ever seen! As we drove to it with Brother Smith I said a prayer that we would get in somehow and we pulled up and it was unlocked. I saw a car coming to turn down so we flipped around and followed the car through the gate and met the Adams family. They were so nice! The husband is not a member but she is and she is pretty active. Except for the last few weeks because they have been traveling. Her husband builds street cars all over the US and he actually built the front runner in SLC! She gave us the code so we can legally get inside next time!

MIRACLE!!

So I finally met our investigator Shawn that Elder Adams has been talking so highly about. Here is how our first few minutes went with him..

Shawn: So I have been thinking about being baptized and I think I want to do it.

Us: Uh......Yeah when were you thinking about doing this?

Shawn: I don't know like SOON! Haha

Us: Cool...how about February 4th?

Shawn: Yeah!!

Shawn has been attending one of the Guthrie wards for about 3 months now. He is literally so prepared! I am pretty sure my jaw was hanging to the floor when he said that! Lets keep Shawn in our prayers please! :)

Being a missionary is so fun!!! 

Love Elder Brisk 

That is all.

Pdays in the city are so fun!! #bowling

Shoutout to Krista for hookin' us up while I was sick this week!

 ​​Brother Howell did a ventriloquist act at dinner for us!!! Best thing ever!!!

Check him out on YouTube.com

Ventriloquist Gary Ray Howell​