Good Things are Happening in the Kingdom!

Ya'at'eeh,

So this last week was pretty good! On Tuesday, we  helped out at the Bishop's Storehouse. It was so neat to see where fast offerings go and how they help those in need!  We also saw an investigator named Jack Schindler. We went over the baptismal interview questions with him. He is ready to be baptized this Saturday! We are having his interview this evening. He has such a strong desire to be baptized! He is a great guy and his heart is in the right place! 

Wednesday was interesting. We had a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy come and do a Mission Tour. We heard earlier in the week that, Elder Cristoffel J. Golden, was going to inspect our apartment. We tidied it up, and he was impressed. He said that we had a pretty nice apartment and that we should keep it up! He was a very kind man, and he taught us a lot in the conference that we had with him. He went pretty deep into some doctrine that was in the Book of Moses. It was very enlightening. My favorite thing that he said to us was, "This is not a church for sissies." That's absolutely true. It is hard to live the commandments in a changing world, but it is worth it.

Thursday, we spent our morning pulling weeds at a members house. Sister Compton was very appreciative of that. She cant bend down to pull out the weeds herself. She was really happy that we could help her out! We had a pretty slow rest of the day. People weren't home or they were too busy. We did go to the shelter and walk dogs. I walked a dog named 

Friday, we did weekly planning, and that took up the majority of the day. we did however go to the jail and see a less active member named XXXX. He is trying his hardest to get out early on good behavior. He is doing his best!

Saturday, we moved apartments. It's cool because our new one has a washer and dryer. That will be super nice! 

Sunday we had church and that was good! 

That was my week! We have 2 baptisms scheduled for this week! 

Ayoo anishnii. 

hagoonee!

--

Elder Breinholt

Missionary 

New Mexico Farmington Mission

Work!

Received August  17, 2015

Ya'at'eeh

Well, this has been an interesting week. So on Tuesday, we went to try some people, but all of our appointments fell through, so we tried some other people, and they weren't home.

Wednesday, We saw Sylvia and Charles. Sylvia is on date for September 5th. She is almost ready, she just needs to continue to go to church and pray and read. Later that day, we went and saw a man named Chris. He is in a physical rehab facility. He is a really cool guy that really wants to get baptized and be a member of the church. He's great. We also saw Evalisa Stevenson. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She had questions about  the Holy Ghost, and also questions about repentance. The spirit was really strong, and she had a solid understanding of what we were teaching about. She is progressing really well. Her boyfriend, Brian, is also progressing well, but he hasn't been home for some of the lessons. We are hoping to get them Waptized (Wedding and a Baptism).

Thursday, we had District Meeting, and that went really well. Elder Richards our DL is super cool. We had dinner later that evening with the Aiekle's. They are a couple in their 20's. Johnathon was recently called as a ward missionary, and he is super cool. He also played in the Energy Classic Tournament in '06, so he knows where Gillette is! That was cool.

Friday, we did weekly planning, and that ate up the majority of the day. It was good though. I also got the opportunity to organize the 4th ward area book. (It was a mess) 

Saturday, we did some service. We went to the animal shelter and walked some dogs. I enjoy doing that. The dogs are super chill... most of the time. Then we helped an investigator named Sudel (he is a Liberian man) move a pool table. Luckily, it was a wood topped one, so it wasn't to heavy to move. We tried to contact some referrals later, and none of them were home.

Sunday. Man you think 3 hours of church is hard? Try 6! That's all I'm gonna say

Well that was my week. Hope you all are well. Ayoo' Anishnii'

Hagoonee',

Received August 10, 2015

Ya'at'eeh!

Well, this week has been a crazy one. I was put with Elders Thalman and Bratt here in Farmington 4th and 7th wards. It has been fun with them. This email is mainly going to focus on some of the lessons we taught. It has felt like the longest week of my life, so I can't really remember absolutely every detail.

Monday, we taught a new investigator, named Megan Perez. She is awesome, and she reads on her own before we get there, and without even asking her to. She is the only one in her family on board, so we are hoping and praying that the rest of her family will listen to the lessons as well.

Tuesday, we taught a recent convert named John Valdez. He is a really great guy, and wants to do the right things for himself, "...not nobody else," as he puts it. He is trying to make it through the Book of Mormon, and we are reading it with him. He is a great guy with a solid testimony. 

Wednesday, we went by Ivan Mills' home. Carolyn, his wife, is a member, but Ivan is not. He is a born again Christian from Oklahoma. He talks about his years driving the Church Bus for a Baptist church when he was younger. He is a really great guy. He is about in his 70's or 80's. He is really funny. We talked about salvation and the atonement with him. He got a lot out of it I feel like.

Thursday, we taught John Valdez again. He talks about how he feels like he has been forgiven, but he hasn't forgiven himself, because he feels unworthy of receiving the preisthood because he still feels like he can try harder. We directed him to 2 Nephi 4, and helped him realize that even prophets have a hard time forgiving themselves. It was a pretty neat lesson.

Friday, we taught Shelby Davis. He is a Less-Active member in the San Juan County Jail. He wanted to meet with us. He said that he wants to really try when he gets out. He was a great guy with his heart in the right place.

On Saturday, we went over to the Pofreymans for breakfast. After that, we went and painted the living room of the house of a member. It was nice to be able to serve them. Their walls needed it. Later that day, we received transfer news. I will be staying in Farmington 4th and 7th with Elder Bratt, and we will be training the same missionary.  

We had a lesson last night, with a Native man named  Jonathon Catson. He just wanted to argue with us about points of doctrine that he interprets in his own way. We testified as hard as we could. He was confounded, and couldn't remember scriptures that he thought would back his points up. I felt really sick yesterday, but the spirit was sustaining me through it. I didn't even feel that bad during the lesson. As soon as we walked away, I felt my headache and stomach ache again. I was EXHAUSTED! We got home and I fell asleep at about 9:00.

That's all for this week. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about next week.

Received August 3, 2015

Ya'at'eeh,

This week was good. Tuesday we tried contacting a mormon.org referral. Turns out, the guy's friends were just playing a joke on him. That was hard. We decided to stick around Bluff for a bit, and knocked on a part member couples home. The wife, Anne, is a member but the husband, Jerry is not. They were very friendly towards us. they invited us to come back, so let's hope something comes of that. Then we went out and taught Niyah one of the recent convert lessons. That went well. We then went and tried a bunch of people, but people are still out of town. 

Wednesday, we went to a recent convert's house. Briannon has been baptized for a couple of months now, and we are just trying to keep her and her family at church. They are preparing to move to Cortez, CO. So they have been in and out of town. We went and taught Don Tsosie also. He actually was at church this last Sunday, so that was pretty neat! We also taught the Laughings, and they are getting closer and closer to baptism.

Thursday, we went to Blanding for district meeting. It was good. We came back to Bluff, and worked around, but pretty much no one was home, so that was disappointing

Friday, we had weekly planning, and that took a lot longer than it usually did. So we stayed in Bluff for the rest of the day. It was just a long day.

Saturday, we went and saw Betty, and we shared a message with her. She is awesome. She brought Yvonne, her 104 year old Shima, to Church yesterday, so that was pretty neat! Wilbur also came to church for the first time since I've been in Bluff! We also saw the Gruette's later that day. Gene is a recent convert, and he is just an awesome dude! We shared a message with them and Jackie brought up some really neat insights. They are an amazing family.

Yesterday, we went to church and there were people there that I haven't seen in a while. There were more Dine than Anglo's at Todah. That was super neat! 

In studies this morning, I was reading the Teachings of Joseph Smith, One part, he said, "When we understand the nature of God, we know how to come unto him, and he knows how to come unto us." That is such a true principle. As we understand the nature of God, we will start to recognize the blessings as they come. I've seen that a lot this week. 

Anyway, I hope you all are well. Love the Lord, and keep the faith. 

Ayoo Anishnii'.

Hagoonee',

--

Elder Breinholt

Missionary 

New Mexico Farmington Mission 

Received July 27, 2015

Ya'at'eeh,

This past week has been pretty busy.

Tuesday, we went and saw Don Tsosie, a less active man, and visited with him and shared a message. He was very receptive, and actually came to church yesterday. That was cool. We also saw Betty Bigboy, and talked with her for a while. We shared the Sermon on the Mount with her, and she really enjoyed that. Then we saw Leroy Boy and we helped him take the tires off of his old Jeep. He has a bad back, so we help him out as much as we can. It was nice to be able to help him. The rest of the day was pretty slow, because people are getting their end of summer trips out of the way, and also... It's Rodeo Season! 

On Wednesday, we had exchanges. Our district leader Elder Butterfield came out to Bluff, and we had a pretty good day. We went out to the Sam's and had the Baptismal interview with Niyah. And prepared her for Saturday. She was nervous at first, but answered all of the questions like they were nothing! It was awesome! After that, we tracted Red Mesa Rd, more specifically a housing group out there called Yellowman's Camp. We knocked a few houses, and no one was home. We finally ran into Kathleen Begay, we gave her a Book of Mormon, and she told us to come back some other time. It was pretty neat. After that, we taught the Laughing kids about Repentance and Baptism. We did the rocks in the backpack object lesson, and they liked that.  After the Laughing's, I had a bitter-sweet experience with one of our investigators, Dwayne Lameman. He is such a good guy and is really trying to change his life. We taught him about prayer, and we asked him if he wanted to get baptized, he said, "Yes!" Then we found out that he had recently gotten a job out of state, like in Missouri or Mississippi, I don't remember which. Anyway, he said he was leaving on Saturday to start training and 3 months of school. Its hard to see him go, but it will be better for him. He is really excited for the job. He told us to keep in touch with him, and he said he wanted to still meet with the missionaries when he gets out there. We gave him a Mormon.org card and told him he can request missionaries to meet with him from there, he seemed pretty excited about that. I'm gonna miss him. After that, we taught the Begay family, Paxton Pearlphena, and her brother, sister, and mom. They were really receptive to the message that we shared about the reasons for baptism. The mom asked us about the authority needed to baptize, and she was really interested. We hope they progress more. They are a great family. We came back in from the Reservation, and went and saw the Gruettes. Gene is a Recent convert, and Jackie is a member. They are so fun to talk to. Gene is just a cool guy. He invited us to play pool with him next p-day, so we might take him up on that offer. 

Thursday, we had Zone Training in Blanding, and it was good. Elder Middleton and I trained on 'Goals'. Our entire training consisted of Elijah's goal to refute the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings. It was super cool. We feel like everyone got a lot out of it. After Zone Training, we went out to Lameman's Camp, which is a housing division out on the reservation. We met a less active member named Luci Begay. She was happy to see us and so were her Grand kids. She is having surgery this week and rolled her ankle the day before we visited her. She asked for a blessing and we gave her one. She felt more at peace after that. 

Man, Friday was tough. We did weekly planning, and went out to try people after. We tried 12 houses (that's a lot for the rez because it's so spread out) and nobody was home!! So that's how that went.

Saturday, we had to fill up the Font for the baptism. I'll send you pictures next week. We had the baptism at 12:00 and it went really smooth. We went out to try people, but it was the same as Friday. 

Sunday was good. I had the opportunity to confirm Niyah. It was a cool experience. We went out to the Sam's that afternoon, and taught Damien the Restoration. after that, we played football, and I ripped my pants!!! It's a good thing that there are gifted seamstresses at the Fort, that can fix it with no problem! It was a mighty sweet catch though! We had to call it a day after that. 

Today, we have just been doing laundry, and we came up to Blanding to chill at the ZL's house. It's been fun. Anyway, I'll have pictures next week! Talk to you then. Ayoo' Aniinishni.

Hagoonee',

--

Elder Breinholt

Missionary 

New Mexico Farmington Mission 

Might be short.

Ya'at'eeh,

Aa' (how are you)? This past week has been slow, but good. 

On Tuesday, we went and saw Nigel Sam, and talked to him about receiving the Aaronic Preisthood. He was super excited for that and had a lot of questions. That entire family is amazing. Valentina, the mom, is trying to get back to the temple not only for her, but for her family as well. Niyah is being baptized this Saturday on her birthday. She is excited. After she get's baptized, She is headed to Youth Conference with Nigel next week, and they are going to the Temple in Monticello. Valentina, Nigel, and Niyah are all really excited for that.

On Wednesday, we had Zone Conference in Cortez. It was great! It was super long, but very uplifting and helpful. We did How to Begin Teaching roleplays, and I was paired with Elder Lewis, one of the Assistants. He thought I'd been out longer than I had. He was very helpful with just giving me compliments. He goes home at the end of this transfer, so it will be super hard to see him go. He's super cool, and just down to earth. During ZConf, Elders Nichols and Hudson did a training on teaching with the Spirit. My favorite quote from the day was from Elder Nichols, he said, "If you want to drop a spiritual A-Bomb on someone, bear testimony!" Elder Middleton and I could not keep it together after that. We died laughing. After Zone Conference, we went to Wal-Mart with Elder Nichols and Elder Hudson. We did some shopping and left the thriving metropolis of Cortez Colorado. 

On Thursday, we went and saw Eric Begay. He is super open to hearing from us, but the thing he struggles with is the Word of Wisdom. We haven't taught him that yet, but we are for sure going to be listening to the spirit with that one. We went and did some service for Leroy Boy, a member. We also shared with him the Gospel Principles lesson about the Gifts of the Spirit. I felt like he got a lot out of that. Later in the day, we went and saw Rose Goodman. We aren't sure if she is a Member or not. We had some time to kill in between appointments, so Elder Middleton got the impression to go to her. She was very happy to see us. Her grandson just died at only 4 months old. She was super upset about that, so we shared 2 Nephi 32:9 and told her to pray and seek the strength of the Lord. She Invited us back, so we are going to see her this week.

On Friday, Nobody was home. We did weekly planning, and we got out to the Reservation and pretty much came right back in. That was hard.

Saturday was the same as Friday, except we got a lesson with a less active member named Don Tsosie. We are trying our hardest to get him back to church. He comes every so often. But the branch needs him there more!

On Sunday, President and Sister Adams came to church in Bluff. It was nice to have them there. They are such amazing people. After church, we went out to the Sam's for Nigel's youngest sister Pia's birthday party. It was a lot of fun. We got there late, so all of the mutton was cold. Let me just say that cold mutton is pretty much the worst. I ate about half of my mutton and couldn't do it anymore. 

We have Zone Training this week, and Elder Middleton and I are training on Goals during that. Well that's pretty much it. I hope you all are well. Ayoo Aniinishni (Love you all)

Hagoonee',

--

Elder Breinholt

Missionary 

New Mexico Farmington Mission 

First of the month is hard on the Rez

Sent July 13, 2015

So this week has been pretty difficult. This email might be shorter than those in the past, because  it's the first part of the month, so all of the natives receive their monthly check from the government and they leave for weeks at a time. We haven't seen a lot of the people we teach regularly for about two weeks straight. We have a less active and a nonmember that we are teaching named Wilbur and Jolanda Williams. Wilbur's dad is a practicing Medicine Man, and he has been trying to pull Wilbur away from the church and to practice again. Wilbur is a Roadman (Medicine Man) for the NAC, or the Native American Church. He says he wants to go to church, but he never comes. We have been trying to see them this week and they have been gone for about 2 solid weeks now! It's frustrating, but if they aren't home, we usually go over to Betty Bigboy's. She always feeds us, and that cheers us up. She taught us how to make real fry bread this week, it was awesome.

On Wednesday, no one was home, so we went exploring. We stumbled upon an Anasazi cliff dwelling just south of the San Juan River. Anasazi is Navajo for 'The Ancients, or Ancestors'. It was super cool. I'll attach some pictures of that! It was a bit of a hike, mainly because it was super steep, but it was well worth it. Elder Middleton and I  were discussing how crazy the Anasazi were. They must've been really skilled rock climbers. The climb down must have been really scary for them. It was super neat walking where an ancient people walked. We also taught the Laughings on Wednesday. we taught them about prayer, because we want them to have a solid testimony so they can ask for themselves before we invite them to be baptized. They are so close to being ready!

On Thursday, we went up to Blanding for District Meeting. It was good. Sister Brady did the training on following the spirit. It was super helpful. After district meeting, we ate lunch and went back to the Rez to work. We taught the Tuni's. Tiffany Tuni is a recent convert to the church, and her husband Lyle has been a member for some time. They rodeo competitively, so they have been gone a lot this summer. They are a good family. As soon as rodeo season slows down, I'm sure that we will see more of them at church. We also taught Paxton (14) and Pearlphina (20). They are brother and sister and are really benefiting from the lessons. Elder Middleton threw me in the deep end and told me to lead the discussion. I was reluctant, but it was good. For the first time, I felt like he and I were working as a team. The spirit was so strong in that lesson. And Pearl and Paxton could feel the spirit and they understood the importance of prayer.

Friday was a crazy day. We had weekly planning, and as we were about to leave, Elder Middleton lost his wallet. So we called the Vehicle Coordinator, Elder Jensen, and he told me to drive. I didn't want to. I feel like I didn't know the area well enough. But it turns out, I know it better than I thought. We retraced our steps from the day before, thinking that his wallet was on the Rez some place. We couldn't find it. We got Fry Bread, and that was good. We didn't see anybody that day. It was discouraging. We went back to Bluff and Lo and Behold, His wallet was in the pants that he wore the day before. It was a funny moment.

Saturday was also very slow. We drove on the road out to Betty's. One of our investigators named Dwayne Lameman lives on that road. We drove past and saw a Tee-Pee. That's not a good sign out here. When you come into contact with people out here, they may say that they are traditional. Traditional may mean one of two things, they practice the Navajo traditions, or they are members of the NAC. Tee-Pee's are not traditional among the Navajo. Navajo's have Hooghans. When we saw the Tee-Pee, we were both like, "NOOO! NAC!!!! WHY!!!???" The NAC doesn't like the Church. They like that we talk about Christ, but they don't like anything else that we teach. It makes it hard to teach members of the NAC.

Sunday was good. Since it was the second Sunday, the branch does a pot-luck. Kasey Boy, a native man, made mutton stew. It was so good! We went out and got Niyah Sam's Baptism all scheduled and planned. That family is so great. The mom Valentina is trying to get to the temple. The oldest son Nigel is receiving the Aaronic Priesthood next Sunday. Niyah is getting baptized on the day she turns 12 (July 25th). Damien is getting closer to baptism. They are such a strong family. Elder Middleton and I are so excited for them.

Anyway, that's all for this week.  

Hágoónee’,

Elder Breinholt

Missionary 

New Mexico Farmington Mission