The Eyes Have It

Here is Brigham's letter for the week.  Last week he started to get low on money the packages from family and friends came just in time.  They only eat with members one night a week, so they appreciate anything extra they can get.  

Elder Elton

  This week was good not great. We have had a ton of new investigators and they are all shooting for the baptism on Oct. 10th If all goes as planned we will have over ten people baptized on that day, so that is nuts. I have been working on a new skill i want to develop, i am trying to look into people's eyes as i teach so that the spirit can touch them.  Then i can call it out and assist them in recognizing the spirit.   

Like this one time, with this gal Heidi, i was teaching her and as i covered the Joseph Smith story i saw it happen i don't know how to explain it but her eyes just change. So right then i stopped and explained to her what she is feeling, she looked at me like i was some magic dude it was nuts and i really think that her recognizing the spirit is going to help her move forward quickly.  It is amazing how in tune we are as missionaries.

I cannot believe how evil the world is. We have had everything this week to a guy coming up in my face slithering his tongue to apple cores to gals flashing us. I am not going to lie dad the tongue thing freaked me out. I was sitting down trying to teach someone else so not wanting this influence to seem like it overcame the power of God, which i know it could not.  I stood up knocking this guy back a few feet then proceeded to tell him that he doesn't understand the power he is dealing with, not only the power of God but the power of Satan he is calling on himself. Luckily, after this he left and we haven't seen him again. dang it was so crazy i couldn't believe it.

The power of God huh? The good thing is that after the darkest and hardest times for us the best thing's happen so ya it will all work out for the best for sure...

A Day in the Life

We received this letter from Brigham after asking him for a play-by-play of a typical mission day:

Alright i will try and and answer them but i think we are going to check back later so if i missed some just email me quick and today around five we are coming back.

Yes i get to exersise every morning and also on tuesday nights we have investagater backetball which is nice to mess around. There are two other missionaries that come for P -day,  so that is awesome

Well first thing we do is get up at six thirty and exersise about ten minutes of lifting then twenty of cardio usually running. After that we have breakfast and get ready for the day clean a little bit and by eight we are having personal study. Personal study is twenty min BOM (book of mormon) and the other time you study for the needs of your investegater. At nine we begin with a hymn then a prayer then share what we learned in our personal study and such.  We then do companion study in which we do roleplays discuss the needs of our investegators and do a ton from preach my gospel.

Then at ten we are out.  Usually in the mornings we don't have lessons so we do a bunch of street contacting and tracting. We talk to every one we see even if we have to nearly run them down.. and we don't take no for an answer, they have to say not interested three times before we let them go and we still give them a pass along card. If they will allow it we teach them a principle on the spot with a prayer and a scripture right there.  i think you would be suprised at how many lessons we just teach on a doorstep answering questions and such for about thrity minutes. At twelve we have lunch which is just usually something simple and head back out.

Now days we have daily contact with Mary White whom you guys will totally meet when you come out. she kinda reminds me of mom she is 39 but you would never guess it and i don't know a bunch reminds me of mom.  So we usually teach her for about forty minutes. She is being baptized on the 22 of august which will be awesome. i am kinda hoping i can get in the water with her but we won't know that until this friday. After her we visit the inactive families in the ward and teach them a lesson which is fun, it is nice to be around kids after the MTC with none of them but i think that makes me homesick the most. We do a bunch of drop by's until dinner dropping by referels recent converts and such, most of the time people aren't home but we continue to talk to everyone that is out on the street. Then we eat dinner which usually is pizza or something cheap and simple. so ya. After dinner is when we have our major appointments like almost everyday at 6:30 and 8 we have two. Members are present at this lesson and help us to form friendships in the church.  So like we would teach samantha she is also being baptized the 22nd and i get to confirm her on the 23rd which is awesome, i am pumped for that, then we have to be home at nine or nine-thirty even if we have an appointment. So some nights it is a sprint home so we aren't late. Once we get home we usually plan for about thirty minutes the next day sometimes up to an hour planning every little detail, we also create a focus to use while contacting whether on the street or on the doorstep like today is "our purpose in life" so we are trying to help people find their purpose as we teach many of the lessons.

After planing we get ready for bed and just kinda rest for a little bit, usually fall asleep as quick as we can. Right here durring the day is when i am missing home the most thinking and praying for you guys.  It is awesome though. then i am asleep till that dang alarm goes off again.

This week was great though. the work is moving forward so fast here. We are breaking number records left and right. it is awesome to have stuff to show for our obedience and hard work. The Lord is blessing us so much as long as we do those two things even when appointments fall though we are finding and moving the work forward just as quickly.

So like i said i think we are gettting on again tonight so ya,   if you have any questions let me know.   oh and i got a thing from FED EX today thanks a bunch that is awesome you guys are the best of the best    LOVE YOU SO MUCH

Elder Elton

The Family

The last few moments with brig before he left

Pray for the People of Augusta

This is Brig's first companion Elder Schwab. He has been assigned to Augusta, Maine.  Here is his new address.

Elder Brigham Elton
241 State Street, Apt A-1
Augusta, Maine 04330

We received a great email from him this week.  I leave you with a few of the highlights.

so wednesday we had a lesson with this gal named Samantha, sadly she was addicted to smoking and also she was a cutter i felt so bad for her seeing the scars all over her arm.  We were teaching the lesson the word of wisdom and the law of Chasity so i was nervous.  Yet the very first thing she told us was this story about how her boyfriend came over and she had him watch the restoration she then told us how she testified of the truth that she knows it is true.  the lesson went over way well i mean she is way nervous but she knows that she can overcome smoking that is her biggest fear.  It is crazy just seeing the change in these people.

We have had great succes trackting though throughout the rest of the week we are like breaking records we have these things called ITL's which are short for invite to learns the goal is each week to have a hundred we had around 150 this week it was awesome.  We also found like 5 new investegators which we have begun to teach, i mean this place is blooming.  So for fast sunday i bore my testimony trying to light a fire under the ward to get their help and dang it was nuts they all came up afterwards and had the glow just wanting to learn more and more importantly wanting to help.

This isn't even the half of it, The coolest story i wrote down for you right afer it happened and i will send it out tomorrow so you should get it friday   that was the best part far and away   pretty much the jist is we are going to have two baptisms this month.... dang i am loving this


I am not going to lie sometimes it is hard i have not been able to get enough sleep cause my bedding actually just got here today, so i have been kinda beddingless but hey whatever once i get outside it is gametime baby and we have been doing great well most inmportantly i love you all and can't wait to talk again,   i love getting your letters it just makes that whole day go better. Pray for the people of augusta,

Elder Elton