January 31, 2012

Happy New years Eve! Dec 31, 12

Well I must say that it was really good talking to you guys. Sorry if I didn't say too much to some of you, I was just soo tired that morning and for some the room I was in was freezing and I was shivering the whole time. But you all sound great and I am soo glad that you guys are happy and enjoying life. The rest of Christmas was great and it was nice to be able to talk to big D before the night ended even though he was half asleep! ha no just playing. So to tell you the truth I am really jealous that you guys are snowmobiling right now. The snow is amazing this year and it just keeps coming down. How are the new sleds though? There can't be too much of a difference then the last year models. oh also I met a guy Sunday morning I am trying to remember his name but he has been snowmobiling with us up at Daniel summit before and he bought K hill in Showlow from dad and Tyson like 6 years ago. Anyways, he is awesome and was just called by the stake to start working with us missionaries more so we are going over to his house next week to think of some new ideas we can do for the missionary work in the stake.

Well I am going to get my mind off of snowmobiling before I go crazy! So the only thing new with our investigators is that we put someone on date for the end of January and he is pretty much golden. We just need him to start coming to church more and we should be ok. The problem is he just has a really bad back so sometimes he just lay's in bed all day because it's hard for him to get up. Our church is changing times to one o clock in the afternoon so hopefully now he will have enough time to get up and go. A really cool thing happened when we were knocking doors Friday night. We went to this one house that we have been trying to contact for a while now and this older man came out and recognized who we were. He started telling us that this past week he went and saw the Salt Lake temple and that it was the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in his life. He said after seeing it he walked away with the best feeling and told himself that he wants to be a member of whatever church that is. ha-ha pretty crazy right!? Well the upset to it is that he is only here until January 10 and lives in Mexico so we got his address and are going to turn it in to the mission office so that they can contact him down there. On top of that we had another later that isn't a member that came to church. She is just here for the holidays and lives in Chile. She told us after church Sunday that she really enjoyed in and wants to learn more the time she is here. The best part is that she is here until the end of February so hopefully we can get her baptized before she goes back to Chile!

I am crossing my fingers this month and am hoping that we can start preparing more people to be baptized since we just got done baptizing all of our other progressing investigators. With transfers coming up in just 2 weeks it is going to be interesting to see what happens and to see if I stay or my companion. I hope that all of you are being safe this week and enjoying the great snow without me. I can't lie and say I don't miss that stuff because I miss it a ton! After calling you guys I missed you a lot and really wanted to be with you guys but it was still a very neat experience to talk to you guys after six months and hear Avery and Logan talking! But I'm all good now and back to the work. I love you all and am glad that you guys have so many great opportunities to grow closer to each other. have a great week!

Elder Breinholt

December 17 - 2012

Its Christmas time!

This week has been a one of a kind and opened my eyes with a lot of things. I am excited to be able to call you guys next week! I am going to call next on Christmas at 9:30 and I am just going to call on the phone because if I Skype I will only have 30 minutes to talk to you all instead of a hour if I just talk to you on the phone. Maybe next time I will Skype! ha The snow here is looking pretty good for you all up in the mountains. It snowed all day Saturday but the ground was too hot so it just melted as it hit the ground. It is suppose to snow today tomorrow and Wednesday though. This week I received a lot of nice Christmas cards and I should be getting mine to send home today. I also got two big box's which I think I am suppose to save for Christmas so don't worry I haven't opened them yet.

I don't want to say too much today because I am just going to talk to you next week but I'll just tell you about my weekend since it was the most important. It all started Friday when we were teaching these 3 kids that got baptized Saturday, and we were helping them put away some things in their rooms when I noticed that they really didn't have anything in the rooms at all! I mean only a dresser and that's it. I found out that the two boys and the two girls in the family have been sleeping on the ground since they moved from California 4 months ago. Their mom works from 6 until 11 at night sometimes just so that they can have some presents for Christmas. I felt so bad when I found this out so Sunday at church I talk to someone and our amazing ward got two beds over to their house that same day, to help them out a little bit. Their ward is also going to get them some presents for Christmas. Man did I feel blessed after I found out that news about them and it really made me think about even those little, little things I have always had. I mean I have always been grateful for the things that I have in my life, but when you really see how bad that some people have it in person especially with people that you really care about, it makes you think differently. So please just think about those things as you are going through hard times this week.

Be happy that this Christmas you have a wife or a husband that still cares about you and would take a bullet for you if it came down to it, even though you just want to strangle them at times. Be happy that you can go home and lay down on a bed at night and have some food in the cupboards when you wake up in the morning, and be happy that you have a Savior Jesus Christ that literally gave up his whole life for us and our Heavenly Fathers plan. If you really, really want to be happy in life you just have to do one thing, Serve! Just serve others and I promise you, you will see that it brings happiness. It's like the scripture "If you serve the least of these my brethren, ye are only in the service of you God." It something like that I know it better in Spanish, but that is what we need to be doing right now at this time of the year and always.

We give gifts to each other to show our love for one another, but what kind of gift are you giving to your Heavenly Father? Well, you give many gifts to Heavenly Father if you serve his children. I have a lot more I would like to say, but I will save it for when I get to talk to you all. I love you guys soo much and I look up to you all of you. The decisions you make that are good, make me want to be a better person too. We are a family and will always be one for forever and we need to lift up each other and build each other up. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas...

Sincerely,

Elder Cory Breinholt

December 3, 2012

Dear family, Dec 3, 12

So this morning I woke up and went to the gym, (where I saw Talon again and he said he is coming down there this week) and then I went home, got dressed and waited for the call for transfers from the AP's. It was about 9 when we got the call and Elder Getts, one of the AP's told Elder Cebreros and I that we are both staying in our area. It was bitter sweet news because at times I feel like I could defiantly work with someone else but, I am so happy that I am staying in this area. Elder Cebreros is really awesome though and has taught me a lot! I am officially done being trained and I doubt it will feel any different since I still have the same companion that has trained me.

It is a blessing in my life though that I get to still keep teaching the same people though. Also over the past two transfers I have held in a lot of things that have bothered me about Elder Cebreros until this week when he said something that just pushed the limit and let's just say we had a fun little companionship inventory. The good news is that when we got done, I think we both felt way better about each other and ever since everything has been awesome and I feel like we have the spirit more as a companionship and work together more. So I know that this next transfer we are going to have even more fun together and work hard because right now we have 9 baptisms planned for the month of December.

We had a baptism for Maria Guzman this weekend which went very well and we are still planning on having 4 this Saturday. One of these twin boys that is getting baptized this Saturday asked me yesterday if I would baptize him so I am pretty excited to be able to baptized my second person in the field. I can really feel the Lord blessing me right now and now, I just want to make sure that I work hard so that I can repay him for the good things he is/has given me in my life right now.

I also have a wonderful story about an Elder who is in my district and who was one of my companions in the MTC. I am not sure if you remember Elder Ray who was put with me and Elder Jackson about half way through the MTC, but he is in the area right next to mine. Just the other day the mission President came out and said that even if the person speaks perfect English, if their fist language is Spanish then they must be taught by Spanish missionaries. So Elder Ray and Elder Contreros got the referral by the English missionaries that fell under this guide line. The first lesson they had with them, the parents kept talking about this one missionary that they love and when he was there he had baptized the dad. He was having success with the mom too when he got transferred. Well the mom said after he left things just didn't feel right so she didn't end up getting baptized. When they told us that the missionaries name was Elder Ray too we were surprised and it just so happens that Elder Ray's brother served in the same mission, but is an English speaking missionary. Well to make the story a little shorter, Elder Ray (my Companion) showed them a picture of his brother and it was him and the lady knew that this was a sign that she must get baptized and pretty much told them that she wanted to get baptized as soon as possible. She wanted Elder Rays (the one that taught her first), brother to baptize her. So Sunday night I went to this baptism and saw Elder Ray's brother baptize this lady after getting permission from the mission President to come and perform it and Elder Ray (my companion) will give her the Holy Ghost next Sunday. It is nothing more than a miracle and just shows that the Lord works in mysterious ways. I know this doesn't have anything to do with me, but I really thought you guys would enjoy it.

Everything is pretty much the same in my area this week and my investigators that are progressing are doing great.

We need to start finding more people to teach though because all are investigators are going to get baptized and we aren't going to have anyone to teach. I guess that is good though in a way.

I got the package from Grammy and Pampa this week and from all the cousins and man was that amazing!! Thank you soo much, I am happy that I have a present every day until Christmas and the cards that I got from all the cousins was the best!! It kind of sad, but I'm pretty sure Carter and some of the cousins have better hand writing then me! ha-ha. You guys are wonderful though, and I am going to try my best to get some letters out to people and try to make a Christmas card that I could send to mom and maybe she can just make copies and hand them out (so I don't have to pay 20 dollars or more on pictures and run out of all my stamps:) ha I love this time of the year and I hope it ends up snowing more here for your Christmas trip because right now there is only snow on the top of the mountains and that's it. Maybe Herber on up got more snow yesterday because it rained all day here yesterday, but it wasn't cold enough to snow down in the Provo valley. I am sad that I didn't get to see that Christmas devotional because we had a lot of lessons last night, but I hope everyone is getting into the Christmas Spirit and teaching others about Jesus Christ.

I love you all and I will have pictures of the baptisms next week for you all! Have a wonderful week and good luck trying to potty train that crazy animal Logan!!

With Love, Adios!!

November 26 2012

 

The feast is over! Nov 26, 12

It sounds like you guys had a wonderful thanksgiving and it was full of adventures. Mom thank you for the sugar cookies, I forgot how much I love those cookies. I shared them with my district because I don't think it would have been good for my weight to eat all of them. I am watching my weight well though and I only weigh 150 after the great Thanksgiving feast. Of course that is a 150 pounds of pure muscle though. My companion and I had 4 dinners for Thanksgiving and by the last meal I was soo sick of eating and of the taste of ham. It was a really neat experience to see the traditions that people have for Thanksgiving. It made me look back on all the cool things we do and how we usually go up to the cabin and play soccer in the morning with all the Breinholt. I must say that you guys better watch out because I play a lot of soccer here and my touches have been getting a lot better. ha-ha

Also grandma I loved the scarf you made me and I used it a lot this week. It was cold every single day this week with lots of wind! Our turkey bowl Thursday morning was awesome and our whole district made shirts for it. I'll put pictures up of them, but I was really surprised to see how good president McCune was! He was a animal out there and has a really good throwing arm. He played all time QB for us and he loved our shirts and said that we have to get one for him.

I can't believe that this is the last week of the transfer and after this week I will be done getting trained. I found out this Saturday if I am staying in this area or staying and getting a new companion. I am crossing my fingers that I stay in this area because it is the best and we have a lot of baptisms coming up in the next couple of weeks. We got a call from some Elders in a different area this week that told us a family they had been teaching was moving into our area Monday (which is today) and the mom just got baptized yesterday and the four kids are planning on getting baptized too. The two daughters want to get baptized this Saturday so we are going to have to put on the baptism now since there in our area and there are two sons that we are going to try and get baptized either this Saturday too if they feel ready or the following week. We have an FHE with them tonight and so were going to talk to them about it tonight and see how it goes. Also on top of that, the De La Rosa family who was the family I had my first baptism for out here in the mission, we talked with the mom this week and she said that she will let her daughter get baptized now too. So we put her on date right there for the second week of December. I want to stay in this area just to teach here and see her get baptized because we have been working so hard to make this happen.

To end it, we had a baptism for Natalie Yvette Gomez this last Saturday and it was awesome. I was able to perform my first baptism in the field and also in spanish and I won't lie being back in the baptismal font took me back to the times with Cole and Cheyenne. There is a spirit it that font that you cannot describe and I felt very honored to be a part of Natalie's baptism. She is the sweetest little girl ever and I love going over to her house to teach her because she is always so excited to see us. I am going to always check up on her throughout my whole mission to make sure that her and her siblings are still going to church. The baptism as a whole though was a great spiritual experience and just that extra boost that I needed to get more excited about this week. I just want to say that I am soo grateful for everything I have and I am so grateful for all of you! Yeah I missed you guys a ton this Thanksgiving and it was weird not being with you all but it made me that much more grateful for my family. I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity that I have to just serve people for two years. I have a lot more time to go and I am happy because I'm not even close for this to be over. I am just warming up!! I love you all sooo much and hope you are all getting along.

You should all be because compared to a lot of other families that I have seen. We are soo blessed and have it a lot easier. Don't ever forgot of how blessed we are and that we only have what we have because of our heavenly father and we have amazing parents that serve the Lord and are faithful!

Thank you mom and dad, and I love you guys,

Elder Breinholt

Send A Photo Message to CORY!!!

 

Hello all!! This is Cory’s sister-in-law. I am writing because for Christmas this year Kelly had a great idea to send him a photo book with pictures of family and friends holding up a special message for him.

If you would not mind sending us a picture of yourself holding up a message we would really appreciate it and we know Cory would love it. You can get as creative as you want by having multiple photos for a long message or just one photo with a simple ‘I love you.’ Below are some examples of what we are looking for (obviously the messages are not but just so you can get the idea). Please let Kelly or I know if you have any questions.

Thanks so much!

Send your photos to me at ckbreinholt@gmail.com by December 1 so that we can get the book put together.

 

November 12

Dear family, Nov 12,12

I would be lying if I said that this wasn't the craziest week on my mission. Mom and dad I got your letter with the money and thank you so much. I am going to go buy some boots and gloves today. I had one of our investigators make me a scarf so I don't need to buy one of those anymore. Also I got to drive a car this week because one of the English Elders in our district got hurt so I was the only one eligible to drive him to the hospital so it was nice to get behind the wheel for a little after four months. The snow here is awesome and I couldn't believe how much came in just one day. I'll try to put some pictures up if I have time. But I don't really want to waste time on my message today so I am going to get straight down to it. I saw a lot of miracle's this week and have heard a lot of information.

Ok so first I want to talk about my companion. He is a great guy and really funny but is one of those really, really manly guys who is too good to ever show emotion. For instance he has only cried twice before in his life and never on his mission he said. Well I won't lie I have been praying since I have been his companion for his heart to soften up in some areas and this week he just broke down in one of our lessons while giving his testimony. It was with Brother Cordero who has just gone downhill after he went on the Internet to look up things about the church and in our lesson this week he pretty much just called us liars and how the church isn't true. But after Elder Cebreros gave his testimony the guy had nothing else to say and said that he is going to just try to pray and come to church once and if he doesn't like it then he is done with us.

Well I am really hoping that he feels the spirit at church when he goes and likes it because yesterday at church didn't go so well. It's funny cause sometimes you have the mindset that all you have to do is take them to church and they will feel the spirit and have a good time but it's never like that. Yesterday we brought two families to church, one that has been on date for baptism and the other this lady who we have been working with since day one I have been in this area and we finally got her to come to church. Well this lady Adriana told us once sacrament was over that she wasn't liking the way church is going and she wanted to go home so she just took her kids and walked out. Anyway so that was a little hard nut then on top of it this girl Maria Angeles who is suppose to get baptized in 2 weeks told us after the seconded period that she didn't like her class and she actually didn't want to get baptized anymore. I won't lie after she said that I felt like a train hit me and I was just soo down. But we found out that in her class that none of the young women said a word to her and didn't try to make friends with her at all and then on top of it I guess she was asking the teacher if he could teach in Spanish and he just kept teaching in English and she doesn't really know english. Well we had a lot of fun in the third hour of church talking to the young women in the ward and the teacher. It is important that members realize that our responsibility as missionaries we are suppose to teach them and bring them to church and once they are at church it is the members sole and responsibility to take them in and make them feel included. That was probably one of the most frustrating/disappointing Church's I have ever had and I just hope that all of you back home are going out of your way when you see a non member at church. So this week we are really going to try and focus on helping these people see the good in the church and that we don't go to church for the people that are there but for our heavenly father and to partake of the sacrament. hopefully everything works out ok.

I really want to talk to you about this week with the elections and Elder Bednar though. First of Elder Bednar is just a stud and man he is the best teacher in the world. I just wish you all could have been in that room and felt his spirit. He talked to us about faith but we focused a lot on how we need to treat others as agents and not objects. It was really fascinating to learn and realize how much the opposite happens though. For example we should never tell people what to do but just invite them to do something and extend the invitation. That is how he taught us the whole night where he never called on anyone to answer a question, but simply would ask a question and call on us if we wanted to give a answer. It was pretty cool too cause I stood up to answer one of his questions and me and him ended up having a little conversation about the issue so I can definitely say that I have had a conversation with a apostle. ha-ha Anyway it was really cool cause I got to open the door of the church for him and shake his hand before and after the meeting. It is experiences like that mission conference that helps you realize with your own eyes that these really are apostles of the Lord and are the most perfect examples we have here on the earth today and they receive direct revelation from the Lord.

Now I want to tell you what my mission president told me when he was with Elder Nelson from the quorum of the twelve Saturday morning before our thing with Elder Bednar. This has to do with this past election and also that now in America we have more states that are for gay marriage and abortion than ever before. President McCune told me that Elder Nelson stood up in the middle of the meeting they were having that morning and said that this week and had received Revelation from God that he is not happy with this country right now. With the path that this country is heading down that God is not happy at all and he will soon have to take force into his own hands because of the corruption of man. Well with that said you wonder why these things disasters have been happening on the east coast and I just found out yesterday that a 7.0 earthquake is predicted to hit Utah within the end of this year. But the important thing is that Elder Nelson said what has been said again if you are on the right side you need not worry.

It is true, we are in the last days now, and before the apostles and the prophet have told us to prepare and prepare but now all they say is to strengthen your faith repent and share this message so that we can help has many people as we can before it's too late. I know though that what we are doing right now and by following the teachings of this church we are doing what we need to do and we shall not fear if we are on the Lords side.

So do not let all this news that has been going around bring you down but help it motivate you and let you know that we have been saved for these times because the lord knows that we can be those instruments that he needs and that we can overcome anything's with his help. The church is true and man am I grateful to be a part of it. I love you all so much and I hope you are really preparing yourselves showing that this church brings happiness even when things get bad. Thank you for your support and prayers.

with love,

Elder Breinholt

October 22, 2012

Family and Friends first transfer done, Oct 22, 12

It sounds like you guys are getting all ready for Halloween and have some pretty cool costumes made. I better see some pictures of you all in your Halloween costumes I will be waiting for those. ha-ha! I can't believe Jake and Ryan are already home from their missions! Man I wish I could see them and see how much they have changed. I saw Tallen again this week at the gym. Sorry I didn't tell you I saw him last week I just forgot, I will try to right down things during the week that I want to share. I am a little jealous that you guys went to the mountains and got to ride the razors. I haven't touched a steering wheel of any kind in like 3 1/2 months and still counting, ha-ha I am happy though that I get to live in the mountains everyday though.

So this week was the end of the transfer and Saturday we found out that we are still staying in this area and I am keeping my trainer. I am really happy that I still get to teach these people because we are about to have some great success during this next transfer. Also I get to work with the best Spanish ward in Provo and live with the Embrey's, who are so nice and feed us very well. This week was tons of fun and full of different events. Last Monday for p-day we got our whole zone together and went Lazar tagging at Nickel city. That was a blast and just one of those extra things we are blessed with serving in Provo. We also got some new bikes this week from some members. They are good bikes for being purchased at Wal-Mart, but with that super soft seat that mom sent me it rides like it was bought at a mountain bike convention, ha. I just need to take it easy on it because I already pop the tire once trying to do some cool jumps!

I feel like this week we started to receive all the blessings that we have been trying to work for the past 5 weeks. We put two people on date for baptism on the 17 of November. The first one was Noel Gomez. He is a single dad about the age of 50 and is wife passed away about a year ago. We started out teaching him about the plan of salvation and it was weird because it didn't really catch much of his attention. But the more we started teaching him the restoration the more he started asking questions. He would start arguing with us about the Catholic church, but every time he asked us a question we would answer it with a scripture or testify and it would just make sense to him. Then this week we met with him and he just totally shocked us. He said how that he is starting not to believe in the Catholic church and doesn't really like it. Well, we jumped right on this opening and in the lesson asked him to be baptized and he said yes!...

The next person we put on date is the Cordero Family. This story is just the best because when we first met him, he opened the door and said sorry I'm Catholic and I am not changing my mind at all. Well after meeting with them a lot and just being friends with them, the dad started opening up and was asking us a lot of questions. (It is the best when investigators have questions) The great thing I have come to realize in Hispanic homes is if you usually convert the dad you convert the whole family. Well there are 7 people in the Cordero family with five boys that are all baptismal age. So we worked really hard and patiently with brother Cordero and he has just absorbed everything. We asked him and his wife to be baptized and he said yes, but she said she isn't ready which was a little shocking because she was almost more interested than the husband but we were just SO happy that we had gotten to the dad. I can't even tell you how much I love this family too. Besides the Alberto De la Rosa that we baptized I this family is my favorite. Some of people that we teach I feel right at home with them. You can tell by the spirit which family's the Lord has been preparing for our message.

This week I also had the opportunity to go on splits with Elder Ray who was my companion in the MTC for a little bit with Elder Jackson. I went into his area and we were really tested our Spanish not having someone that was fluent in the companionship, ha-ha. That day though I felt like the Lord help me with my Spanish more ever. We taught some pretty good lessons together especially to this one girl Christina who is 16. She runs cross country and so I really used this to relate with her and taught her a principal on faith. It is amazing how close you can grow to someone in just 20 minutes when you are feeling the spirit together. She started opening up to us a lot after not being there for too long and was like on the edge of her seat with everything we told her. She then told us something very personal to her, she can see spirits sometimes and how she can't even go into hospitals because she just gets SO scared. I didn't really know how to act at first and didn't want to get deep onto this subject at all so I just testified to her that with whatever problems she may have she can always pray to her Heavenly Father for help and he will comfort you. I asked her to kneel down with is and pray that she may feel comfort and peace. As she said the prayer you could tell that this was probably the first prayer she had ever said out loud and with such a sincere heart. It was a amazing experience to see her feel better and the power of prayer really help this girl.

I still feel so lucky to be able to invite the spirit into people's life's and see how they feel or look when the feel the spirit really strong for the first time in their lives. The Holy Ghost is the best thing that we have ever been given to help us here on this earth. It is so real and truly is the love of God. I am so happy to hear that mom is really trying to make these fiestas she is doing for Halloween and opportunities to do missionary work. You don't have to be on a mission to be a missionary and when you invite a friend to take the lessons or come to church you are just a blessing to the missionaries in your area. Like this Sunday we had a member in the ward invite a friend from work to church and we didn't even know anything about it! It was awesome to just have another investigator walk through the door like that and after meeting with him after church and having a quick lesson he told us that he has been looking for a long time for a church that he can feel a remission from his sins from. It is also a great feeling to be able to tell him with full confidence that this is that church! It is so easy to share the gospel when it is the truth! It is the true church and I know with all my heart that nothing I am teaching is false or not from the Lord. Thank you so much for your support this week and for the your prayers. I love you so much and glad that I have the last night Breinholt which no Hispanic can pronounce. ha-ha but have a good week pray for obedience in the Provo mission:) I love you again.

Elder Breinholt

(p.s.) does Pampa remember a missionary from his mission field in Mexico with the last name Hokanson? They are the same age and this guy is teaching English in our ward for a mission with his wife and thinks he remembers a elder Breinholt from back in the day in his mission in Mexico.

Photos Sent Home From Cory

October 15 2012

 

That was really scary to hear what happened to Emaree this last week. You guys keep scaring me with these little kids! I hope that they really start getting better soon. I put pictures up on snapfish last week so I don't know why you can't view them. It sounds like mom and dad are really busy back home and getting to know some really exciting people. Even though the people that I have been meeting are not has known to the world they are becoming so special to me. Things are starting to turn around in a positive way for my companion and I. We put 3 people on date for baptism on the 27th of October and we have a couple more people we want to put on date this week too. Our teaching pool has been slimming down a little bit because we are starting to see who is serious and who wants to learn more, but we are always visiting people trying to make sure we are being good friends.

This week just went by way too fast and was kind of a blur as a whole so I don't have too much to report this week. We went to a wedding for this guy that my companion baptized earlier in his mission and it was a really neat experience. Afterwards we went to go get something to eat and for the first time on my mission we had someone pay for our check when we went to leave and pay.

I have really come to find out in this mission that there a lot and almost the majority of Elders in this mission are lazy and just don't follow all the rules. It's sad and it almost comes off as you're not a cool missionary if you are 100 percent obedient. It makes me sick, because I am trying and want to be the best I can! It's not that any of these Elders are bad, but I think people just need to realize that we can have even more success in this mission and have more miracles if we are being the best we can. This is just something I really want to try and strengthen while I am serving in this mission, because this mission is going to grow even more by 1/3 of its size and needs people to have a different mindset for the new missionaries we will be getting.

Anyway it's not like I'm changing anything by talking about it oh well. I only have one week left of this transfer and I find out if I keep my trainer or get a follow up one this Saturday. President pretty much told me that I am staying in this area so if I get a new trainer I will have to take a little more action and introduce him to the area and the people we have been teaching. That is all I have time for this week I'm sorry it's not much, but I would like to leave you with a scripture that I want you all to read. Its in 3 Nephi 27:8, just remember that this church is Jesus Christ's church and we are only the wonderful tool that help run it. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a tool in the Lords hands right now 24/7. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful fall break!

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Elder Breinholt

October 8, 2012 -

Dear family,            

  I just want to get one commit out of the way since someone has been complaining about my typing (Cole) ha my typing has come a long way over the years and I try to type as fast as I can so that I can tell you everything I want, so sorry if what I say doesn't always make since. ha-ha ok, wow this week has been up and down like you wouldn't believe. Mom thank you for the package and I force those vitamin pills down everyday kind of like I would with your relieve shakes. My bike is still broken so I haven't put the seat on to use it but it looks great. Also I would still like some protein because I need to have motivation to work out every day so I don't get fat! I do get feed way to much here and a couple days this week I had to eat two dinners! ha also I am going to try the picture thing right after this hopefully I figure it out.

     Anyway This whole week we had so many lessons that just didn't go through and it was disappointing because some of them were people that we wanted to put on date. Also my companion has been having a really hard time back at home (and with his girlfriend) so he has kind of been in a bad mood this week. Can I just say man am I happy that I don't have a girl friend to worry about! ha-ha I wonder how good it feels for mom and dad to hear me say that. But seriously there is already so much to worry about out here in the field that you can't think about home and stress about it. I feel like that I was put with my companion for a reason though and that I can help him with some things that he is going through.

    Besides the down parts the week defiantly ended the best it could have. Never in my life have a learned so much from conference and felt that each session went by so quickly. On top of it I didn't even think about falling asleep like a would at home! ha-ha My heart is full though from the words I heard this weekend. When I heard them telling about the new ages for when boys and girls can leave on missions, never have I felt the goose bumps so strong. The missionary service in the church really is going to grow and we are going to see sooo many more young women serve missions. Also young men too! I feel that President Gordon B Hinckley's dream of missionary work is finally in sight. If you don't know this talk he gave about the future of missionary work I advise you to look it up its great. Yes I was a little bummed that I had just missed this cut off by a year, but then I see how much my life changed and how much I grew just in the one year out of college. I am out here now and happy so I was not down about the news personally but just so excited. My companion and I almost shook the house down we were so excited about the news. I noticed a theme though about all the talks. they seemed to all lead to one thing. Following the savior Jesus Christ. What really hit me over the last couple days is that everyone in the world needs to know, and have a relationship with out savior Jesus Christ. He is out brother, our father, and our best friend. This is why we need to do missionary work so that others can know this too. I hope that each and every one of you have a personally relationship with the savior, and if you do that you try to strengthen it every day! not just on Sundays, or in the morning when we are reading our scriptures but throughout the day.

           There is a lot that I could say about this weekend, but I just want to bare my testimony to you all. I love you so much and I carry you in my hearts everyday and on every door I knock. I have a testimony of this gospel and I know that it is true. I know that president Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and he is a man of God. He is there to help us and guide us here on this earth. I am so grateful for the opportunity that the lord gives us twice a year to learn from and grown are testimonies from the leaders of this church. This work is a marvelous work and I wonder and we are engage in a good cause. I know that we have a savior Jesus Christ and he atoned for the sins of the world, he is glorious and we should represent who he is through are actions. I love my savior and am grateful for what he has done for me. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

               Elder Breinholt

October 1, 2012

 

Dear Familia,                                      

     The last week as been great and full of different events. I found out that you go on splits for 24 hours. ha I didn't know that before the mission, but I had to go on splits with one of the zone leaders this past week. It was a good experience because we literally had lessons from 1 to 9 that night with pretty much no time in between so we didn't get to eat dinner back at our place until after 9. That was Thursday and Friday we had our first zone conference and Elder Calligar  from the quorum of the seventy talked to us for 4 hours that day. The spirit was really strong that day and things were said that I just really needed to hear at that time. The experience as a whole though was very uplifting for me and just what I needed. It really prepare me spiritually for Saturday for the Baptism of Alberto.

     Saturday was one of the best days of my life, and I will never forget that baptism. Sorry Cheyenne and Cole but I have never felt the spirit it so strong before as it was at this baptism. As I have said before the mom of the family is a strong catholic, but the spirit was so strong that her and all their family were crying. We are really going to try this week to meet with her while that feeling is still fresh in her mind.

   

 

  So about brother Marriott he is such a nice guy. We were just walking down the street Saturday night just about to go home when my companion and I thought we should go check on one other person. So we were walking down the same street that this guy lived on when we saw brother and sister Marriott out front and they call us over. They just asked us to go talk to their son that is home for a little on medical release. We went in and talk to him for a little while and shared a spiritual thought, and when we were leaving brother Marriott just came over to us in tears and said that are message that we had tonight was just what his son really needed to hear. It just really goes to show that the Lord puts you where you need to be if you just let yourself be guided by the spirit. What my companion and I did was nothing special and was no different then what we would do at someone else's house. Even though that was a great experience for this family is was a great experience for me too and it was just another reminder to me that this is the Lords work. We are his tools to getting his message across to the people in Provo Utah.

     I feel so blessed right now in my life to have such a good companion, great people in our area, an amazing ward that wants to do missionary work, and the spirit I get to feel every day. All I need to do now is just stop stressing so much about this Spanish and just learn it so I can share more of my thoughts and do this work to the fullest.

      Other then that I am going to try and develop some pictures today so that I can send them home in a envelope I have with a letter for mom, Blair, Avery, Logan. I just got  letters Sunday from Alli and Katie so I will try to write you back soon. Oh, also we got some fishing poles from some members this week and on p-days we can go fishing in this river in our area that had some nice trout in it. I would also like it too Madre if you could send some chocolate protein because we have a free membership to Gold's Gym and go to the gym in the morning about 3 or 4 times a week. Well I love you all and I want you all to take some good notes this weekend watching conference. I am so excited for this weekend. I didn't get tickets to it this time but I guess you get to go watch conference at least 2 times while you're out in the field so I will probably be going to the one in the spring. Anyways have a good week and stay out of trouble.

Elder Breinholt

Monday September 24, 2012

 

This week I had some good days and just bad some other days. It is really hard to find more people to teach in a area that you don't know anyone and sometimes the best tactic you have is to go track. We have started to become friends with a lot of the people this week and build a relationship. I have already realized that sometimes you have to just be peoples friends and just talk to them before you are even able to get your foot in the door for a message. Even though we don't have a ton of people we are teaching, the ones we are teaching are really opening up to us.

I do have my very first baptism this Sunday with Alberta de la Rosa. He is awesome, and we are going to try and invite a lot of people to the baptism this week so that we can maybe spark something up with them. I'm not sure if you remember but last week I said how the mother of the de la Rosa familia is a strong catholic and is the only one in the family that wants nothing to do with us. Well last night we finally got her to sit in on a lesson and I could tell that she really enjoyed it. This morning we found out from the son in the familia that he caught her reading the book of Mormon the other day so I am really excited to see what is going to happen in the next couple weeks with her.

I may not be the best teacher with all the lessons yet and with my Spanish, but with my companions help I was able to come up with a really cool way to begin teaching lessons, and so far every new person that we have met through this activity has been willing to have us come back; so I feel like me and my companion and are pretty good at making people feel comfortable around missionaries. I think this week is going to be good because we are going to try and double the amount of lessons we are teaching and put some people on date for baptism.

Last week we taught a family home evening lesson with this guy and two less active girls and afterwards this guy Zack said that he would one day want to serve a mission because he sees that it really helps you figure out who you are and stuff. Well we are teaching Zack again tonight and my companion and I feel like we should maybe ask him to be baptized.

Other than that nothing too crazy has been going on with teaching, but I won't lie we bike a lot during the day. My butt is starting to become raw from my bike seat ha-ha. I come home every night so sweaty and gross, it's great. Oh, a funny story, we worked on a farm one day this week so that we could get to know the Hispanics and we had to move these huge bags of soil. So me and this other Hispanic were lifting this bag when all the sudden he grabs me and pulls me away. I looked at him like what's wrong and then I saw this huge wasp nest on the side of this big sack of soil. I was so lucky I didn't even get stung and there were a lot of wasp in it, ha-ha other than that and almost getting hit on my bike this week nothing else major happened.

I just want to wish Logan and Avery happy birthday and I'll wait next week to wish mom and Blair happy birthday and Craig and Kristin happy anniversary. I think that is all I hope if I left something out let me know.

I am going to trying and put some pictures up right now so I have to go, but also tell Young that I am so excited about his mission call and start the Spanish now! ha-ha I love you all of you. I want to just leave a scripture with you guys to read. Mathew 5:14-16. for some reason this scripture has came up a lot since I have been out in the field and I love it. Read it and remember to try and have to light of Christ with you always. don't do anything that will drive the spirit away, but only invite it. Its good if people say you look Mormon, because that's means the see something different in you.

Have a good week and I will pray for you all,

Elder Breinholt

Mission Photos

Elder Breinholt with President & Sister McCune

Elder Breinholt with President & Sister McCune. This was the first day that he entered the mission field from leaving the MTC.

September 16, 2012–First Week in the Mission Field

Sept 16, 12

 

Hey there everyone!

         Man the last week has felt like a month! It doesn't feel like just six days ago I was in the MTC. It was sad leaving all of my friends that I had made, but so worth it once I got out here. I just want to get started about telling you about the field. First off, it's the best. Wednesday morning we went to the mission home and had breakfast then went straight to a church where we went over the mission and all the rules for a couple hours.After that we were revealed who are trainers are going to be. My trainer is Elder Cebreros from Las Vegas. He was born in Mexico and has pretty much been fluent in Spanish his whole life growing up. So he is really helping my with my Spanish. The only thing that stinks is he has no idea what grammar is and that's all I learned in the MTC, he just says the words he does because he was taught to,  but he is an awesome guy and has been out for 15 months.

     So we were assigned to the Provo Parkway area and were white washing the area. That means both me and him are both brand new to the area and know no one. My area touches Provo Lake though and is pretty much straight down from the Y on the mountain. The first day we went straight to work and met the Bishop the ward mission leader and lots of other people. There are two people that have already been put on date for the 29 of September so my first night we went and met with them so that we could get to know them.

     The whole time we were getting to know them I was just sitting there like what language are they speaking!!! I learned Spanish in theMTC and it does not sound like that. They speak sooo fast!!! ha-ha anyway they are an amazing family and I have already learned to love them. They are the Dela Rosa Familia and have two sons that got baptist about 2 months ago and now the dad and the daughter who is 13 want to be baptized. They have only been taught the restoration so we still have to teach them the other 3 lessons.We taught them the restoration again though Friday night and I had one of the best experiences of my life. I had the opportunity to tell them the first vision in the lesson and after saying it I just passed and let the spirit work.I asked the daughter how she feel about Josephs experience. She started crying and saying how she knew that it is true, seeing that really made me realize what I am doing out here can change lives and that this is the best thing I could be doing; it was awesome! But just wait it gets better, I bore my testimony to her and the father and my companion also and then the father stands up and bares his testimony to us about what we just said it true!! can you say the word GOLDEN!

I don't know how I was so lucky to have my first investigators be so good. Trust me I know though that that is not how it is always going to be! ha besides this family we have been trying to get more lessons and have set up more appointments with some other people but not as many as we would like. We go out tracking a lot and run into a lot of Catholics, almost every Hispanic that isn't LDS here is catholic. This week we have made it a goal that we want to trying and put another person on date for  baptism.

        I can tell thoughthat we are going to be teaching a lot of less active members. My companion wastelling me that the English missionaries here have the best mission ever andjust have referrals fall in their laps because the member do a lot ofmissionary work, but the Spanish missionaries have a real mission! Ha-hawhatever that means exactly I'm not sure. 

     We only have one Spanish ward that we cover even thoughwe have 2 stakes in our area. The whole area is seems to be trailer parks. Wewere tracking Saturday and my companion turns to me and said, I don't even feellike we are in the United States, it feels like were in Mexico! ha-ha It istrue though, we pretty much have all ghetto areas where the people that answerthe door look like Don's cousins!! Well that's only with the white people werun into, but with the Hispanics they are all very nice. I can already tellthat the Hispanic culture is very caring and they are so easy to talk to. Ilove them I really do...

    I won't lie I have felt really stressedsince being out and frustrated because my Spanish is horrible and I just wantto be able to speak my mind, but yesterday really helped me a lot. We had ourfirst dinner last night with the De la Rosa familia because the lastmissionaries didn't leave us any meals this week. We had some of the bestMexican food in the world!! it was so good and after we got to spend some timewith the family and I almost just felt like I was at home. It was really niceto just be able to sit there and feel like I had a family we can always go toin this area. I forgot to mention that the mom is also I strong catholic anddoesn't want to hear anything we have but last night we just got to hangoutwith her for the first time and talk with her for a little. I am hoping thatevery time we go that she will warm up and want to hear our message.   Fridaynight the father told us that she doesn't want the daughter to get baptizedbecause she is too young, and this girl has already born her testimony to us. Ijust hope that we can change the moms mind on that over time.

    The field is awesome and I am so happy tobe out. Me and my companion have a lot of work to do this week to try and meetnew people but I am excited. We have a family home evening lesson tonight withtwo less actives and a non member and we told them to bring friends so I hopetonight goes well.

      I love you guys a lot and mom thank you for thepackage. We actually live in a members house and they let us eat whatever foodthey have and use their stuff so I don't really need all those bathroom andkitchen supplies, so I don't need all of that stuff now but maybe I will in thefuture. Anyway I have to go eat lunch, I'll tell you more next letter.

 

     I love you all and have a good week,

   Elder Breinholt

August 23, 2012

Hola,

       So I won't lie itsounds like there has been some crazy things going on back home. I really hopethat the little kids are starting to feel better, I pray for them every night.Also tell Robert nice job on flooding the basement! ha-ha accidents happenright!? I'm glad I'm not the only one that forgot to do stuff like forgettingto turning off the heater in the hot tub until a day or two later and thebill that month happened to be a little bit more then the month before...ha-haI'm still sorry about that by the way mom and dad.

So this week we finally had aApostle talk to us for our devotional! It's been the first Apostle to come inover 2 months! It was Neil L. Anderson that spoke and the same night it happento be President Thomas S. Monson's birthday. So he Shared some points with usthat the prophet gave him and wanted us to here. It was a very uplifting talkwhich I needed, but also a very informing talk on what specific things theprophet would have us work on. I just wish you guys could have felt the spiritthat was in that room while he was speaking. You would have known without ashadow of a doubt that he was an Apostle of the Lord. I love it when Apostlesget done talking and share their testimonies that they are special witnesses ofthe lord Jesus Christ. Its True...

     I would say that the biggest thingI have learned and strengthened my testimony on this past week is my lovefor the Savior. I have always loved and believed in him, but I have learned toreally be grateful for what he has done for us. He is the Savior of every worldand it is amazing that we just happened to be born on the same Earth as hegained his physical body. I am so grateful that I can walk on the same earth asthe Savior did and that he made it possible so that I can be resurrected and beable to use the atonement. The next time you pray I challenge you to just givehim thanks and talk to him as if he is in the room with you.

I had a wonderful opportunity to just sit in the celestialroom after doing sealing's this morning and the spirit told me things that Ineeded to hear. I know that that was possible only because the Lord knowsus all individually. I am working on trying to look at all the things I havebeen blessed with and I am grateful for before I ask for help with things now.I find myself not asking for as many things as I used to...

      Well I don't have much moreto say, and I don't mean to preach to ya!  ha-ha The MTC is flying bywhich is great cause I can't wait to get out of here and get out in theworld!  Thank you for your prayers and for being great examples tome. Also thank you for those that wrote me dear elders and letters, I have justlearned to cherish every letter I get. I love you all and I hopeeverything gets better back home. 

Love,

ElderBreinholt