Thank you all for the birthday wishes and all! This week was, as predicted, much better than the last. Things are going well. Work is being done. The ward is thriving and the stake executives are impressed with all of it. We have a new ward mission leader, and two new missionaries in training in the district. I haven’t met Elder Reynolds, but Sister Robertson (serving in Three Rivers) is from Holiday, Utah and she is ready to learn and to get the Lord’s work done.

I’m probably going to keep this one short, but I thank everyone back home for love and support, because I truly do feel it. Even if it’s something as simple as wishing us well within your heart, I promise it is felt because even something as simple as that is a prayer in your heart and Heavenly Father hears and answers all prayers.

On Thursday was my birthday, and the Bishop’s family put together a lovely Puerto Rican dinner for us using instructions from my mother, because apparently Sister Peterson had corresponded with her. o.O Anyway, she also made a tres leches cake and printed out pictures of my family for me and gave me Oreos and milk! Holy cow how could I NOT have a good birthday with people here taking this much care of me to make sure I have a good day?

Lastly, we met the Martinez’s who are a lovely family whose son Micah used to serve here and was then known as Elder Martinez (obviously). I only knew them for three days, but Micah dropped by on Friday at our apartment to say hi, and we came down to talk to the whole family for a bit, and then Sunday they were at church and we had dinner with them and Brother Davis who they were staying with, and now they are gone and I already miss them. It’s crazy how so much love and kindness can be wrought through the gospel and through Christ, and I can only imagine what that will be like in heaven.

Stay awesome my friends and family, and I will report to you again soon!

Elder Breinholt

P.S. Interviews with the Mission President are this Saturday so wish me luck ;P

Hello friends and family! About time for an update, huh? Well we had a plethora of wonderful lessons this week, and even received a media referral! Haha, yes! Those are very rare here!

I can’t decide whether my first week or this last one was harder, but I will say, as many do, that the mission field is the hardest thing I have every experienced, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. That’s why it’s so good.

My district, (although today Sister Young is leaving)

We did have the chance last Monday to have a large conference with half the missionaries in the Michigan Lansing Mission to hear from Elder Anderson from one of the quorums of the Seventy, and to learn a lot more about missionary work and things we can do to help our investigators to continue to learn and grow.

I don’t even know why this picture was taken, but I cook a mean plate of rice and chicken

We have three particularly progressive investigators at the time, who I will give a brief summary on: Jason, who we found through doorknocking, is a fun loving, videogaming, My Little Pony-fangirling man who does have a desire to know whether or not the Gospel is true. We have brought a couple of different members to lessons with him, and I can say that Jason is definitely comfortable with us, and through his prayer and study, the answer he has received thus far is to continue reading the Book of Mormon. If he does as the Spirit directs, and comes to church, he is soon to receive a big answer of the truth of the teachings. Pray for him to be able to get to church everyone! His work schedule won’t allow it but that can be changed! 😀

Gerald was our media referral. He has been studying our doctrine online for a few months now and sent in a request for us to bring him a Book of Mormon! Apparently, after he requested it is when it told him that the missionaries would stay for lesson with him, and he was not expecting to see us within like 5 hours.

Nichole, who we doorknocked into as well, is doing very well, but will not come to church because of her fear of issues happening because of her autistic child. We had a lesson with her the other day, in which I bore my testimony and witness of the things children such as hers can teach others, like how I learned many important lessons from a youth with mental disability in my old ward. Nichole and I both cried, and when we asked her to give a kneeling prayer at the end, she started it quickly and asked for our safety, and then paused, and that pause turned into a long moment, silent aside from her heavy breathing, after which she began to cry once again, and although nothing was being said, we could all feel the Spirit she was feeling in that moment. She quickly finished the prayer so as not to cry any longer, and stood up and said goodbye and gave us quick hugs.

Haircut selfie (had it done today by the bishop’s wife)

My friends and family, I know that if you will include these people in your prayers at this time, it will help them in their lives. These are real people, who need truth and light, whether they know it or not. Your prayers will help them, whether they end up choosing to believe and follow the Gospel or not.

I love you all so much, and I hope you will continue in your endeavors to continually grow and learn, because knowledge is light. Knowledge, is literally, light.

With love and gratitude,

Elder Breinholt

Hi everyone!  The weekly letter is going out today because on Monday we have a half-mission Pday in Kalamazoo, so our district Pday is today.

It’s true, sometimes I feel the need to break out in random dance in public, but the missionary guidebook advises against doing that; however, it was a fun week in spite of that!

So there are no new pictures this week (bummer), but this is what Tyler wrote:

It’s been somewhat of a difficult week, but hey, if things were too easy it’d be boring, right…?

I don’t have much time but I wanted to tell about trade-offs which happened on Friday. So Thursday night, Elder Yadon and I met with the zone leaders, Elder Marley and Elder Alley at Three Rivers at about 8:30. The plan was for Elder Alley to go with Elder Yadon back to Sturgis, while I was to head with Elder Marley to Kalamazoo; however, the zone leaders had forgotten that Elder Yadon does not have his driving privileges, and Elder Alley had just lost his driving privileges the day before for medical reasons. SO, we had to switch everything up, and I had to go back to Sturgis with Elder Alley and would have to be in charge of the Sturgis area for all of the next day. I was all kinds of nervous, but what ended up happening is that I had the opportunity to learn more in 24 hours than I have through most years of my life. I had to drive, manage the phone, plan out the day, set goals, lead studies, and went doorknocking for a few hours and found two new potential investigators; all along the way, Elder Alley, who is a very great and experienced missionary, guided me without doing anything for me, and helped me know what I was doing right and what I and my companion could improve upon. He cleared up so many of the questions that I had which I was not getting answers for regarding missionary work, and I just want to be the best missionary I can be for the Lord. I have been conducting frequent prayer between me and my companion now, and although he doesn’t agree with it, I know that when we do pray we are more successful and the Spirit is closer to my heart.

Heavenly Father is absolutely testing my strength, both physically and mentally, and I’m very grateful for it. I’ve encountered quite a few people who tell me right to my face they believe I’m going to hell and explain why. They explain how I am being deceived, and how as a “cradle Mormon” I wouldn’t know otherwise, and I am blind to the truth.

This is what has helped my testimony grow more than it ever has before, faster than I’ve ever known. I know with every fiber of my being that we are not deceived, we are lead by a true and living prophet of God, who receives direct revelation from the Lord and hearkens unto it, and therefore we are truly lead by Jesus Christ Himself. This is God’s kingdom on earth, and these are the last days before His Second Coming. There is not much more I can say at this time, as per the fact that I do need to get going for my preparations for this week of missionary work, but know that God loves all of His children, and desires them to know the truth. That is why I am here in Michigan, to give that truth to those who are willing to receive it, and to receive the blessings thereof. Always remember that knowledge is a blessing, for without it, life seems to be for naught. Primary children know their purpose, they know where they came from, who God is and that he loves them, and they know where they want to go. So I am glad to be a “cradle Mormon,” because these things I know and testify of in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 🙂

Hello again everyone!

I am so excited and happy right now to be sitting here writing to you and letting you know what’s going on and how awesome my mission is!  I am not going to pretend like I haven’t already had some hard things happen or that the mission life is all running through fields of flowers throwing Book of Mormons everywhere baptizing everyone you see.  But, there is much joy in preaching what I know to be the word of God, and what we need to do to be happy in this life.

Quickly I want to describe a little bit of detail of how things are going and what I do:

My first companion/trainer is Elder Yadon (pronounced  YAY-Dun) and he’s really awesome, nice, and loves dubstep and chillstep music.  Probably the reason we were put together.  ;P

Typically, a new missionary in training cannot receive driving privileges until at LEAST 6 weeks.  That’s not the case for me… Elder Yadon was not able to receive his driving privileges during the 14 months he’s been here because before he left his license had expired and out here he cannot provide two proofs of address.  SO, I have been driving us since day one in a white 2013 Ford Fusion.

The climate.  Yup.  Right now it is so hot, and especially on Saturday, which is our “car fast” day on which we have to either find rides or walk.  We did a lot of walking and door knocking (aka tracting) and sweated bullets.  When the wind blows or when you are under shade it’s honestly not that bad, it even feels good, and in the evening when the sun goes down they are warm, nice nights.  But when the sun beats down on you while you’re walking in a shirt and dark slacks it just drains the life right out of you…

I ought to finish this up as we do not have a particularly long amount of time on preparation days to email, but although we have had doors slammed on our faces, people tell us our doctrine is wrong, and people who just don’t care what we have to say, we are out here for those who have been prepared and will be willing to accept Christ into their lives and become a better person.

–
Yesterday on our third door of the day, (Sundays we only have the afternoon to door knock,) we met a man named Mike who is 37 years old.  This was actually in Indiana, as the Sturgis area goes down a little bit into the state of Indiana and we see a lot of Amish people.  But Mike expressed to us his misery in living alone, his want for a family, and the fact that he believes that God has been seeking him out.  We sat and spoke with him in his home for almost an hour and our purpose here, where we came from, where we are going, and the restoration of the gospel.  Mike might not realize it, but God has prepared him to learn and accept this message.  I hope he does, because I know how much joy the gospel of Jesus Christ brings us.  I think I always took for granted the blessings we have of knowledge of our purpose here, and have a strong relationship with Heavenly Father.  I am starting to see how it changes us, gives us a “fulness of joy.”

I am so very grateful to be out here, even though the days are long and rough sometimes.  I go to bed grinning from ear to ear because I know I am accomplishing the Lord’s work, day by day, and I hope to do so throughout these two years.

I know this Gospel is true, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith was a true prophet as the prophets in the bible, and that Jesus Christ is the only way we can return to live with God again.  In the name of Jesus Christ I say these things to you my friends, amen.

Elder Breinholt

We just got an email from Tyler’s mission president letting us know that that he made it successsfully to Lansing.  See the information they sent us.

The Breinholt’s