Hello everyone!

We had a solid week. Did lots of searching for people by of course knocking on doors and talking to people on the streets of Grand Rapids. A ton of our lessons did fall through so we really only taught a couple of people this week, but that’s okay! It happens.

We’re doing our best to help the people who are investigating here to continue in their progress toward living more like the Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that it’s through exemplifying the attributes He had that we can have the most joy in this life. And when you really examine his attributes, life, and actions, you will see that he ALWAYS turned outward and did everything he could to help, serve, teach, and bless others. This Christmas season the church has an initiative to Light the World through service 🙂 Just go to http://www.mormon.org

There is a simple thing you can do each day from December 1st to December 25th to truly have the happiest Christmas season possible, by following the perfect example of the Savior.

Elder Laaksonen and I are hoping this week to be able to do service for refugees through Bethany Christian Services, but we are just waiting for our background checks to be finished! So if it happens this week I’ll let you all know how it went, but I am SO excited. We’ll be helping to teach refugees who know almost NO English, and they are from all over the world and collectively as a class they speak 7 different languages, so wish us luck. Or rather, pray for us and them x)

Also, for those who would like to learn a little bit more about this church and our beliefs, this is a sweet website to check out with awesome, short videos that explain everything:
discover.mormon.org

I know that our Savior lives and loves us. I know that He looks out for us in our roughest trials, and in our happiest moments. I’m so grateful for this Gospel and for the love I feel from God, and His guidance throughout each and every day I am out here trying to serve others. I couldn’t do any of this without divine help, because inherently, I am weak. If we can all work together, we are strong, and with the help of God, anything is possible.

Have a wonderful week everyone and continue to enjoy this season. 🙂

Love

Elder Breinholt

Enjoy this video of me eating sardines for the first time.

Tyler Eating Sardines

Hello Everyone!

There is seriously no time.

Yesterday I was super duper sick but I am doing lots better now. Don’t know what happened, but I know God provided some tender mercies which allowed me to be able to rest without pushing myself too hard.

We taught some awesome new people this week! Also had some people disappear from us… but that happens sometimes. I just hope and pray they are well and that they can be taught in the future by others sharing Christ’s message.

Happy Thanksgiving I love you all! 30 seconds left no pictures sorry bye!

Elder Breinholt

Hello friends and family!

Well this week was great. Just great. As you can probably see in the title of this email, Elder Laaksonen and I went to the temple this week! It was a wonderful experience. For those of you who don’t know, the temple is a sacred building dedicated to God where you can feel peace and joy, and where you make further covenants, or promises, with God to keep your life in harmony with His commandments. There are 150 operating temples throughout the world! On thursday we attended the Detroit Michigan temple, which must be one of the smallest in the world, I’m assuming. Brother Banner took us all the way down there and back and I slept during both car trips.

We are on a car rotation, meaning that we get to have a car for two weeks, then give it to another set of missionaries, go without a car for a week, and then another set of missionaries passes us their car which we keep for two weeks, and so on. Unfortunately, the last Elders of the rotation got in a wreck. So even though we have now been given the car as per the regular roatation, we will have to take the car in sometime this week and it will take four days to repair. Here we go! 😉

This week is also going to be very different for another reason. Transfers are happening this wednesday instead of a week from today, because of thanksgiving coming up. Elder Laaksonen is very likely to be leaving, seeing as he has been here for about 6 months. It’s been a great companionship so if he does leave, then hey, that’s okay. I just hope I don’t also end up getting suddenly moved as well.

We talked to a lot of people downtown this week. 11 people accepted our invitation to learn, which was awesome. People downtown are cool, especially the college kids. We don’t try to force our invitation on anyone, but it’s nice to at least have a good conversation with people! Don’t be afraid to just converse with people out and about!

I love you all, it’s time for us to get going. Have a wonderful week, stay safe, stay warm, and my God be with you in your endeavors in work, schooling, family, and anything else.

Elder Breinholt 🙂

(Also, we got haircuts the other day so we don’t look as bad now as we do in these pictures.)

Hello loved ones!

Had a great week! Not to judge, but it was pretty great. After district meeting on Wednesday, dropped the car off to the Sister Training Leaders, and now we are without a car until this Wednesday…. hopefully…. Turns out the Elders who will be giving us their car for the week got in a wreck on Saturday… So we’ll see if it is able to be repaired by then.

Me (Indeed it was a strike)

Elder Laaksonen

Elder Laaksonen and I are doing trying harder and harder each day to rely more on the Spirit instead of on our own understanding or “skills” as missionaries. We’ve had great conversations with people, and you know, as we go around talking with everyone we can, sometimes we choose NOT to be too persistent because all that will do for some of them is push them away or upset them. Just let the Spirit guide your words, and you will know what to say, and what to ask. A verse I love from the Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi chapter 4, verse 6 – “And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.”

Messing around at Guitar Center

God blessed us with great miracles throughout the week, and we picked up 5 new people who want to learn more about the Restored Gospel. One of them was completely unexpected. We went to visit a member who has some family visiting from Utah. We thought they were all members of the church too, but it turns out one of them is actually Travis’s brother in law, and he seems a little rough around the edges (but he’s actually super nice), but he came in and sat in on the lesson and asked questions as we spoke of the Apostasy and the Restoration. It all made sense to him, and he told us he believes it and he feels God has been leading him to these truths and to this church his whole life! He wants to be baptized, so we are going to do everything we can to keep him safe from the opposition Satan will try to throw at him. His name is Dane.

#TheDistrict

Please pray for protection for:

Dane
Kevin and Alisha
Maurice
Chels

I love you all! I hope you had a wonderful week and a happy Halloween, I know we did! 🙂