Elder Brayden S. Jarnagin: Training Week 1, Understanding Isaiah More, and Jim!

Merry Christmas everyone! May the love of Jesus Christ and the gift of his birth bless your hearts and homes this holiday season. Elder Jarnagin's current address is 1N. California St, Yerington NV 89447

Training Week 1-

This week has been intense, I would say, this week will definitely stand out when I think about my mission in the future. It has been great, I have felt that the joy I have felt has been augmented and this is definitely the most tiring week that I have had. It started off well, with Elder Abbott packing on Monday and going out to see the Funks. We had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom and that was awesome! They had some concerns about coffee, but after some more discussion Renee said, "Well, it's one thing we can do to get more blessings and to get closer to our Heavenly Father." I was so happy when she said that, that is what living the commandments do! They are understanding and progressing very well!
We stopped by McDonalds on Tuesday to try to find one of our investigators, Bruce. We found him there with some of his friends and to our happy surprise, he was drinking hot chocolate instead of coffee! It was so great to see that, because we have been focusing on helping him give up coffee and now he has done it on his own! He is also reading the Book of Mormon on his own! He leaned over to me during church to tell me he had read the chapters that we left him and that he was going to read some more! WE are so excited for Bruce!

Getting Elder Gurr was something exciting. I wasn't really nervous until we got assigned as companions and then it hit me that I really was training. It was good to have the ride home to get to know him better! Wednesday was great, we had a lesson with Bruce Sanders and then with Doyle Snyder and both were really good lessons! Elder Gurr really showed his love for both of them, even though he had just met them! After those lessons we went around trying to see people and set up appointments and no one was answering. That was kind of saddening, but it was alright. Later that day we had a lesson with the Bantas and that was super great. It showed that Elder Gurr really is in tune with the Spirit. He chose D&C 121:7-8 to share and that really hit home with them. The Spirit was so strong. Elder Gurr really has strengthened my testimony in that if we do all we can in the situation we are in, the Lord will provide and help us. He didn't know a lot of these people, but he tried his hardest to love and serve them and follow the Spirit and he has already touched many lives because of that!

Understanding Isaiah More!

Great a week again! I have really felt that in the Book of Mormon, the stories and verses have really spoken to me and showed me how I can apply them in my life. I finished up the first book of Nephi and I realized that this time around the Isaiah chapters even made more sense! That was really exciting! We had a good success with visiting the less actives here this week! We met a lot more members that haven't been to church in a long time and it was great to visit them and to let them know that they are loved. We got to visit Susan again this week, this time we were able to teach her as well as do some service for her. The day before, we had dinner with the Hibbard family and we felt impressed to ask Brother Hibbard to come with us and that turned out to be a real blessing! He brought his truck and that was very much needed to move the fireplace Susan wanted us to move. It was hand crafted and everything, it was so heavy! After we moved that, Susan started talking to us again and she told us more about how she felt like she had no worth, we were able to testify that God really does love her and cares for her. We also had an interesting lesson with Keith Stauffer, who is a less active who has no desire to come back to church at the moment. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon and to testify of the power it has to help us come closer to our Savior. He seemed uninterested, but we left feeling like he had felt the Spirit, and that we had done what the Lord wanted of us. The work continues in Yerington!

We're a little afraid Elder Jarnagin is turning into a Crazy Cat Man... can you see his shirt???

Jim!

The week itself was wonderful! We had a lot of people at church this week! One of them was Jim Button. He is a less active who has been scared to come to church because he thought he didn't know enough. Now he has read the standard works on his own and he said during our lesson on Tuesday that he would for sure be at church on Sunday and he came! He stayed all three hours and loved it all! He even said that he would be there in the following weeks as well! He has not been to church in the past 55 years and it is so exciting to watch him and help him progress in the Gospel! Also on Tuesday we had a wonderful lesson with a missionary who returned two weeks ago, Mackenzie Bohner and her friend. Her friend wanted to understand what Mackenzie had been doing on her mission, so we shared with her the Restoration and she loved it! We didn't have time to ask her before she said she would definitely read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! She also said that she would get baptized when she knew this is true! It was such a great lesson!

We had another awesome lesson with the Bryant family! We taught the Plan of Salvation and they were really accepting of it! They also read the Book of Mormon! We are so excited for them! The Funks came to church this week! It was so great to see them! They are excited to begin to be taught again and move closer to baptism!