Dear Homebase,
This will be my final P-day with my companion Elder Anderson. He returns home before next Monday. It's been a solid time with him. He's a scriptural master with a strong testimony of the work and of the church and set a fantastic example for me. He doesn't want to go home. He leaves before transfers. I will be with Elder Talbert and Elder Oveson for a few days until I get my new companion. Taking over the area, wish me luck.
I believe transfers are not until the 20th.
Aw yeah! Good on Mikel! Keep the improv strong. Wasn't until my mission I realized how much church and some school activities help prepare people for missions and life. The church especially, with giving people talks and callings even in youth really prepares kids and gives them experience for a lot of things.
I love the CD player and speaker. Elder Anderson loves using the speaker with his iPod. He has the whole History of the Church on his iPod, it is very cool.
Everything else is going alright. An investigator given to us by Sister Crickmore who seems so great may have dropped off the map. On the other hand she may have just been busy. We'll find out soon if she does not went to speak with us. Hopefully nothing went wrong. C*** will be getting baptized this week though. There was a fluke earlier but now it appears he will for sure. Fingers and arms crossed.
When they talk about dropping someone that is because they do not want to waste their time nor the people they are trying to teach. So if someone isn't following through with reading and learning or keeps breaking appointments or things like that they use the term drop meaning they will go their own ways. A lot of the time people will decide they don't want to know anymore but instead of telling them missionaries that they just stop showing up or dodge their calls. The missionaries want to give people the benefit of the doubt, knowing everyone is busy so they keep trying to call or stop by for awhile.
When I was on an exchange with Elder Minnick we met a man at his door who lived with Investigators Elder Minnick had a return appointment for. He spoke to us with genuine but misguided concern that being on a mission while eighteen or nineteen for two years was a waste of our precious prime time in life. That we would be better off attending college or joining the workforce in order to benefit society the most.
I have learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that that idea is completely false. There is no greater benefit for me or for society as a whole than for me to sere a full-time mission at this very moment. Doing it later would be procrastination and not doing it at all would be devastating to all those I could have reached. The message of the gospel is the greatest thing and believing and adhering to it is the easiest and best way to improve our lives.
I would never have know what I've missed if I hadn't come on my Mission. The blessings, wisdom and majesty of Jesus Christ's Church are enormous and it is painful whenever someone rejects this glad message. The love of God is the drive for everything from both parties and I cannot express how great my gratitude for recognizing that is.
One of the first things Elder Anderson taught me was the significance of baptism and how we as missionaries are meant to baptize people. That step combined with the gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the most important things we can grant to allow greater conversion to occur. Our Stake Conference here spoke a lot about acting as Missionaries and Saints in our respective areas. Remember to keep strong and true to the faith and get the Good Word out there.
- Elder North
Elder North would love to hear from you. So please drop him a note in the mail. Missionaries love to get mail, it brightens their days to hear of things at home. Also people are starting to ask about Christmas. I am usually not a big proponent of gift cards but for Missionaries they are one of the best things. You can get them for local places, it gives them a chance to go out to eat or get the things they need at the store. Missionaries don't want to collect a lot of things because then they have to move them from each place when they transfer so gift cards work really well. So places like Taco Bell, Wal Mart, Applebee's are all great. Thank you for the love and support you give our family by supporting Bryen in whatever way you can.
Elder Bryen North
Arkansas Little Rock Mission
606 Rainer #10
West Memphis, AR 72301
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