3 new investigators!

Heller!

This week has been a hard working week and the blessings are starting to come!! Also I am 21 months old now. I'M OLD!!!!! Goodness gracious where has the time gone??

We have met with Diana this week and she is still reading the Book of Mormon. Slowly but surely progressing and we are just doing everything we can to help her find her answer. She is afraid to come to another baptism because the last one was 1.5 hours long when we told her like 45 minutes. She is so funny and sassy I love it!

We did a lot of finding this week. At least 3 days of straight finding. We found 3 new Investigators though!

1. Christy Sims. She just moved here from Childress Texas which is really close to Vernon and her mom is a member who has been through the temple and all that jazz. She heard the missionaries talk but never bothered to pay attention so she had some misconceptions of our beliefs but we started teaching her the Restoration and she was so happy and understood it so much better! She is super cool and wanted us to come back.

2. Erika Mitchell lives right across from Christy and we taught her the restoration as well. She was open to learning more so we will be teaching her more hopefully! She lives with her boyfriend and has a 16 month year old little boy. She is pretty cool but shy and quiet.

3. THOMAS! He is so cool! We talked about the Raiders for a little bit and he actually remembers when my uncle played for them which was cool. He was watching a movie with his wife and daughter but felt like he needed to talk to us so he paused it and talked to us forever! We are going to teach him and his family tonight. SO EXCITED!!

We really want to find a family! We are working so hard and know the Lord is blessing us but we want to see a baptism together so please pray that Elder Shira and I can accomplish that. Also that we will stay together another transfer because this one is going by too fast!

On Friday I was on exchanges with Elder Wirthlin and we had a lot of fun! It was kin

d of rainy but he was wearing a poncho and had so much fun. I will attach pics of him. It's pretty funny! We taught Sharon, who Elder Ball and I found last week, and she was ready for us and it was such a good lesson! We are going back on Friday to see her :)

So a long time ago in Vernon Elder Clarke and I knocked into a lady named Gail Martin. You might remember her from past emails...well she got baptized!!!! Elder Clarke and I didn't get to make the road trip to Vernon but we got to skype and talk to the Johnson's and Gail and it was such a cool experience!! Gail bore her testimony and in it she gave Elder Clarke, Elder Davis and myself a shout out! I am so glad I got to see a seed I planted be harvested!!

Funny Story for you! Amongst the finding efforts this week we met this lady and offered to give her a pass along card (picture of Jesus). She didn't want it at all which was weird and said that Jesus isn't white he's black. She also told us how she is from the tribe of Judah and all this jazz about Jesus being black and we tried to talk to her about different things but she didn't really know what she was talking about so she couldn't answer us. She told us Jeremiah 14:2 says Jesus is black. We looked at it once we got home and had dinner and it was the biggest joke of my life!! I will attach the scripture...

2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

I am convinced she read that scripture and based her belief off of it. Oklahoma people are literally crazy. #BibleBeltProbs

Elder Brisk

Real missionaries bike 

Elder Clarke and I were basically companions for a day and it was so fun!!

Elder Wirthlin and I on exchanges!

Elder Shira has had many flat tires this week..

Random things from Oklahoma

We had to get rid of some mice before dinner..

I am a better person than I have ever been.

HELLER!

Remember that awesome part member family find we had last week? yeah well they had to reschedule so we are seeing them tomorrow!

This week Elder Shira and I worked super hard...like we always do of course! We took Brother Taylor out with us now that he is a member and it was such a cool experience to have him with his. We even found this guy standing outside who ranted to us about his girlfriend problems and Brother Taylor just kept telling him reading the Book of Mormon and praying really helped him in life. It was great!!

We have been meeting with Dede to go over the lessons. This time she is teaching us so it is kind of fun seeing what she remembers!

We taught the teachers and priests on Wednesday night for their young men activity. We still weren't sure what we were going to do exactly but it went so good! We taught about teaching people not lessons and even did some role plays with them! The leaders and the kids loved us and it was a lot of fun! they are trying to do a monthly missionary activity!

Elder Ball and I were on exchanges Thursday and Friday and we had so much fun! It was POURING rain on Thursday night and we were knocking doors in it! We found a cool girl named Amber who was actually interested in reading the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately all our cards, pamphlets and Books of Mormon were a little wet but she still took it. It was kind of funny we were handing out soggy pass along cards. Haha!

We also found a lady named Sharon Wood who wants us to come back Friday! She had a Book of Mormon once upon a time and is interested in meeting again. She is Methodist right now because that is the only church she could find that wasn't male dominant. She also showed a lot of interest in coming to our church some day.

The Sisters had a Baptism on Saturday and we invited Diana to come to it. We were pacing outside waiting for her and she wasn't answering her phone and we were freaking out but guess what...SHE CAME!! We are meeting with her tomorrow to see what her thoughts about it were but she met the Stake President who is an incredibly humble guy but they had a little OSU vs OU dispute. Diana is progressing very very slowly...

We had a good Easter! We were planning on knocking doors and finding people but President Mansell said it wasn't a good idea to knock yesterday so we were with some different Members. We had dinner at the Hutt's. She is a member and nobody else in her family is but she is ready to come back to church! Our Ward mission leader also had us over so we finished the lunch appointment at 4:30 and ate dinner at 5:30 so we were pretty stuffed!

This email is kind of long..sorry but I want to end with my Testimony of Christ. We are never alone because He is walking with us all the time. His arms of Mercy are always stretched forth to us but we must reach out to him. I invite you to evaluate your prayer, scripture study and church attendance. You will find ways you can make them more meaningful and I promise you will feel closer to Him than you ever have. I love my Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart and will never forsake Him.  His gospel has changed me. I am a better person than I have ever been. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and brings peace to our lives.

Visit Mormon.org to watch the Easter Video #PrinceofPeace

Elder Brisk

Matching Easter ties

You could say we enjoyed Easter

Exchanges with Elder Ball

This transfer is going to rock!

HELLER!

On Wednesday we had to wake up earlier than we usually do to go teach early morning seminary and it was not my favorite thing! I don't know how those kids do that but they deserve Brownie Points! Everyone was so quiet because it was so early so it was kind of awkward but it was still good!

We have been able to read the Book of Mormon with Diana this week. She is really good about reading what we leave her. She wants to keep focusing on the Book of Mormon before moving on to Joseph Smith and other things so she is progressing but it is at a slower pace which is fine.

Steven is out of the Hospital! They still aren't sure what happened to him but he said him and his wife are more serious about finding a church now so we are going to visit him this week and help them find the church they have been looking for their entire life!!!

We had a lesson with Ron and Janessa this week and unfortunately we had to drop them. They have other things they need to work on before they will be ready to receive the restored gospel. Great family and will miss them but its all for the best.

We have been knocking SO MANY doors this week! Luckily we are able to make it fun which is good otherwise it would suck. We were knocking the street named Zion Pl. Yes the street is literally named Zion Place. So we knocked one side and it wasn't to promising and we weren't really excited to keep knocking but we knew we needed to knock the other side so we did and we had 5 people tell us to come back!!! The biggest miracle was when we knocked on the door and a lady answered. We introduced ourselves and she said she wanted us to meet someone so she went to get him and we were sitting there thinking it was going to be some guy coming to tell us to go away or bible bash with us and he came and said he is actually a Mormon and hasn't been for a while but needs to come back. We probably were open mouthed at that point and pretty shocked actually! So we are seeing them tonight and we are so excited because it is a part member family!!! #TenderMercys

We also saw Shawn again this week and had a good lesson with him. We read the Book of Mormon and felt the spirit so strong. Then he wanted to come to church with us the next day and was even asking if he could come hangout with us for a day. He said he would walk, bike do whatever he wanted to help us and we were shocked but gladly accepted! Unfortunately we went to pick him up for church Sunday morning and he didn't answer so not sure what happened. We aren't giving up on him though!!!

Elder Shira and I have talked so much this week and we know without a doubt that it was God's plan for us to be companions. Learning and growing from each other has been so great...and its only been a week!!! This transfer is going to rock! We are going to see so many miracles!

The Mission Office is moving to Edmond this week so the new address is:

Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission Office

1967 W 33rd St #100

Edmond, OK 73013

Packages and Letters can either be shipped there or to my apartment now that the mission office will be right by us!

Have a great week!

Love Elder Brisk 

 Oklahoma Sunsets

Best Companionship EVER!!

"The companionship that eats cereal together stays together" -Elder Brisk

Elder Shira has been a huge blessing in my life!

HELLER Y'ALL

You better all of watched conference, if not repent and go do it! My favorite talk was Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Priesthood Session about Leadership. Elder Shira says Uchtdorf is my favorite just because he is a pilot and while that may play a key factor I have to say he is definitely my favorite. His talks always stick out to me for some reason!?

Elder Shira and I have been working so hard! I don't know how many times we have specifically planned to give him time to unpack and that still hasn't happened. Maybe someday he can get fully settled in! We have been knocking a lot of doors and biking around but it has been super fun!

We were knocking doors and both were worn out from 2 days of conference. Elder Shira had an impression that we needed to keep knocking doors and we both felt inspired to knock on this specific door. The lady was super friendly and invited us right in! We joined this bible study and it was kind of weird because the guy was answering for everyone. After everyone left we bore our testimonies to them and left. Nothing really happened but we followed the spirit and we both felt it as we shared our testimonies.

On our way home right after that it started raining pretty bad and we were getting soaked! We were still a good couple miles away from our apartment and all of a sudden Elder Shira goes "Should we find shelter? Hey lets go talk to her!" and runs up to this lady to ask if we can use her porch and I was still on my bike trying to figure out what just happened. We ended up talking to Jacquelyn Chaney for a little while! She was crying and amazed at our love for God. We said we were an answer to her prayer and felt so at peace with what we were sharing. We testified that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and left her with a Book of Mormon. It was a very spiritual moment and we are going to stop by next Sunday to see her and her husband Mitch. The rain stopped too!!...for a minute and then it started raining again but we both were working so hard having so much fun we just slowly rode home and basked in the rain!

Elder Shira has been a huge blessing in my life! I am so thankful to have a companion that wants to work as hard as I do! We know there aren't always going to be good days but we are both going to push each other on the days we need it. We are going to work harder this transfer than I ever have and I'm so excited! As I look back on my mission the happiest I have been was when I was working as hard as I could. Being a missionary is so fun. I would be completely fine with life freezing right now!

Love and miss y'all!

Elder Brisk

Elder Shira and I

Random Pics

Missionary work is no fun if you're not soaking wet :)

Following Elder Choi's instructions from Conference!

Dede gets baptized!!

HELLER!

Transfer calls were last night and we found out Elder Thackeray is going to Choctaw and I am staying here in Edmond 4. My new companion is going to be Elder Shira!!! We thought we would never get to be companions but God works in mysterious ways! I am super excited for these next 6 weeks!!

Dede got baptized!! Unfortunately her grandparents got sick and they were a big part in her baptism so they were unable to make it to the baptism. She almost wasn't going to get confirmed Sunday because her grandparents were still sick but they came because they knew she needed to be confirmed ASAP! The stake president, President Gray, baptized her and gave an awesome testimony at her baptism. The Sisters had an investigator there that got to talk with him for a little bit which was cool!

We had a super good lesson with Ron and Janessa. The addiction recovery program is going so well that they were writing in their books and fully engulfed in them that we said well OK lets pray and we left. They are doing so good and we will see them this week and go over Step 3!

We went to see our investigator Steven who we haven't actually taught yet. Come to find out he is at the OU Edmond hospital so we were like we have to go give him a blessing so we started biking and as the scriptures say "The devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea his shafts in the whirlwinds" we had to face a pretty big head wind but we were able to pull through and made it all the way to the hospital and gave a blessing.

I went on exchanges with Elder Ball. We rode the bus down to the city and this less active called out to us and said she wanted to come back to church! We were definitely led to go that way by the spirit and then we went to Subway for lunch and we heard this huge thud and some guy had the fuel nozzle hooked up to his car and started driving away and broke the hose! Luckily it didn't explode and we lived. People are crazy here.

So Elder Thackeray has been sick the past few days so I have been so bored stuck in the apartment but it started raining and I really needed to leave the apartment so we went and walked around and we found Shawn!!! He said he was coming to Dede's baptism and church but he didn't. Sad that he is going through a rough patch in his life but he is reading the Book of Mormon still!!

Also somehow last week I forgot to mention that on my exchange with Elder Shira we were knocking doors and this lady took a article of faith card and asked for 2 more. We didn't have any but I knew I had a pamphlet in my bag so I reached in and saw the green on it and was like oh yes the Plan of Salvation pamphlet is perfect and pulled it out and gave it to her and then both Elder Shira and I realize that I just gave her a word of wisdom pamphlet instead so we left and started laughing so hard. It was so funny!!

Conference is coming up and this will be the last one on my mission. I am kind of sad about it! I hope you all enjoy it and have questions in mind to get answered. Have a good week! Love and miss y'all!

Elder Brisk

Dede's Baptism

Somehow we went to the Zoo when it was 97 degrees! :)

 Exchanges with Elder Ball! I hit 20 months and he hit 9 months

 so we celebrated with Pillsbury holiday cookies 

Me dying of boredom while Elder Thackeray was sick.

20 month mark!

HELLER!

This week we had a lesson with Ron and his wife Janessa. We started the Addiction Recovery program with them and the lesson was awesome! Ron wasn't sure we would be able to get Janessa in on it but I think she was more excited than he was! We had to help them realize that they both needed to work together to help their family. We will be going over the program with them for the next 12 weeks! :)

On Wednesday I went with Elder Wirthlin to his area. We knocked so many doors and talked to so many people! Unfortunately we didn't find any new investigators but we sure had fun trying! We found this box that said free library on it. So we put a Book of Mormon in it! Hopefully someone will take it and read it! We also went to a trailer park that was not the nicest place I have been to in Edmond and Elder Wirthlin wasn't comfortable their at all! We had Elder Shira with us at that point so we made him knock a few doors. Elder Wirthlin is so funny! I love that kid so much!

President Mansell's twin boys, Cannon and Jared, opened their calls on Thursday night! Cannon is going to Sydney Australia South mission speaking Mandarin Chinese on August 16th! Jared is going to Rome Italy speaking Italian on July 26th! It was so cool watching them open their calls and definitely brought back memories of when I opened my call! I can't believe I hit my 20 month mark this week!!!

Dede is getting Baptized on Saturday at 11am!! We just have one more lesson with her this week and then the Zone Leaders will have her interview on Thursday! I have really enjoyed teaching her! She is the only investigator I have had that takes notes! This will be the 5th convert Baptism for the Edmond 4th ward since December! We have seen so much success here in Edmond! I have really enjoyed serving here.

We had interviews with President Mansell on Friday and then after that I went on ANOTHER exchange with Elder Shira to his area! Their area covers Edmond and Oklahoma City so we went to Oklahoma City because the people down there are a lot more receptive. We knocked some doors, tried to see some people. We found this lady named LaToya who was super cool and so intrigued that we knocked on her door! They are going to see her this week! We also talked to this guy named James Brown FOREVER! He started talking about how he has seen Angels and then started showing us his videos on YouTube and how this "angel" can down to him....it was so animated...he also started going crazy and talking about how the government knows of a planet headed towards earth and how they are building underground bunkers...1st of all an underground bunker isn't going to save you from a planet colliding with another planet. My favorite part was when he said in the last days there would be trumpets and our president is Donald TRUMP. So he goes TRUMP, TRUMPet and looks at us with this face like he had made the worlds biggest discovery. It was so funny and his neighbor kept waving at us and saying he was crazy!

I have been on multiple exchanges with Elder Shira since I have been in Edmond and we always have so much fun! We have done so many exchanges this transfer that they are probably all sick of me but we have one more this week and I will be with Elder Ball!! Yay for exchanges!!!!

Somehow I forgot to mention last week that we did service as a district for this lady named Jo. She went to the hospital and her door got left open so rats, mice, raccoons, and other animals got inside her house and completely destroyed it!! We had to help her get some personal belongings out of it so they can go through and clean it up and it was so nasty! We also kept throwing little things at Sister Williams making her think it was a rat and SHE WOULD FREAK! haha this district loves teasing each other so much!

Remember who you are, make good choices!

Love all y'all!

Elder Brisk

Elder Shira and I are overall buddies! lol 

Service for Jo. 

The Sisters and their investigator are indeed wearing bags on their feet.

Some random pics throughout the last 2 weeks...

Exchanges with Elder Wirthlin

Oklahoma Sunsets 

Cool Jesus statue in downtown Edmond