End of Tansfer 1

Brothers and Sisters,

Aunts and Uncles,

Mom and Girlfriend,

Friends and all else,

I am not dead. I am definitely alive and well here in the Crownpoint, New Mexico Branch. Things are going really well all around. The work is moving at a swift rate and Elder Martin and I are finding more people than we know what to do with. The only struggle is moving them along to progress towards lasting conversion and "real growth". I pray every day that these amazing people can find for themselves the value in having a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It answers so many questions and eases so many different pains. He is continually calling out to each of them by name and wants to help them. Please pray that they have a desire to come closer to Him.

As for myself and who I am progressing along to be, each and everyday I am becoming more and more aware of my weaknesses and shortcomings. It is becoming very present that I fall short of the work that is to be done out here. With these feelings and awareness, I am seeing the influence of the Lord more fully in my life. I truly could not do any of this without Him. It is absolutely amazing to see who He is shaping me to be. I could never fully explain the process that He goes through to shape, stretch, and mold me, while at the same time making up the difference of my weaknesses.

Keeping this short and sweet, we had a baptism last week, that was a member baptism. The family has been pretty active for the last year. The son just recently decided he wanted to be baptized, he's 9 years old, and it was an absolute honor to be a part of. At the baptism was the Branch President and his wife, the family- two little girls, the son, and mom/dad,and then my companion and I. It was a very powerful and spiritual experience. The gospel has affected this family so deeply and you can see the blessing it has been to them. The happiness and joy that they were able to experience was a sight that I will treasure forever.

I invite each of you to look at your life and see what it is that makes you happy. Really think about and ponder what brings you the greatest amount of joy. Then try and see for yourself how that happiness is connected to God and His plan for you. If you can't make the connection, maybe reconsider what true happiness is.

I love you all very much and hope all is well.

Elder Sandberg

Week 2!

It has been an adventurous week here in the Farmington New Mexico Mission. For those of you who wish to know the area a little bit better where I'm at- I am in Crownpoint New Mexico, and I live in the trailer behind the church on church road. The people here are of the Navajo Tribe, and most of them are of a Traditional belief when it comes to religion. For those of you who don't know what those beliefs or rituals consist of, look it up :) Everywhere I go there are what's called "Res Dogs", short for reservation. Just about every house out here has anywhere from 1-7 dogs. Not exaggerating. They all like to bark up a storm and look like they're tough, but for some reason if you just reach down like you're grabbing a rock or something, they run the other way. It's actually quite hilarious! The kids down here are all adorable and are a blast. Elder Martin and I have had a good time playing basketball with some of the kids down here, and has led to us teaching some families because they remember playing ball with us! The people are very very humble and I clearly have a lot to learn from them.

Miracle for the week was with a family of 4 children. They live in the housing for NTU. Two boys and two girls. The parents have been on date to be baptized for quite some time now. When we go and visit, the two little girls are normally jumping all over my companion and I while the tv is up pretty loud to keep them distracted. (doesn't really keep them distracted) The miracle was was Elder Martin and I were going to give a lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel and the importance of the Priesthood in all of that coming about. It's kind of hard to really have an impactful lesson when all of these things are going on. So Elder Martin prayed before hand that the tv would be turned off and that the kids would be reverent. Within 10 minutes of us being in there, the mom told the kids to go to bed and asked her husband to turn the tv off. It doesn't sound that big, but it was detrimental to giving this lesson we had prepared. The Spirit is a very quiet voice that can only be heard when you pay close attention. In life we tend to get caught up with all the things of the world and it can be hard to hear those subtle promptings that we are to receive. Having the tv turned off and the kids go to bed, was absolutely needed for the Spirit to testify of our message. 

Miracles happen everyday and it is a wondrous opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord's hands. Things that might not seem so big to me, are making the world of a difference to those around me. Each day I can see more and more that the Lord is preparing individuals, and already has, to receive his truth from us knuckleheaded missionaries.

The absolute greatest part about the mission is being able to be with people. This is the absolute greatest work that any man could commence on because it's being led by God. The Lord's Kingdom is being established on the earth at a very fast rate, and more each day His children are starting to see the difference between what the world would have us do and what he would have us do. This work is more than just trying to get someone to come to church. This is so much more than us trying to baptize people, or read books, or simply meet with us. This is HIs way established on the earth for us to find the absolute greatest amount of happiness and peace. It's not just the right thing to do, but it is the most intelligent thing to do. If there is a God and if he does have a truth that he has established, what greater reason do we have in life than to find what he would have us do? There is no greater reason. Because when all is said and done, wither we acknowledge Him or not, He is there.  He is continually reaching out to each of us to help and guide us along the path. Take His hand and He will take care of you....

Love you all so much!!!

Elder Sandberg

 

 

Good Tidings To You!

Hello all,

Just want to start off and appologize for the scare I might have given everyone about how I have been holding up while here at the MTC. It really was just an odd series of unfortunate events that all of that happened in one day. Getting sick, having the nightmares, and just getting used to a new scenario can be one that can be hard for anyone to take in. I'm grateful it happened though. Because everyday I wake up, I feel grateful to have my health and my peace of mind. It's good to know that the first day here wasn't going to set the tone for the rest of my time. I would have done it, but it would have been difficult. But things are going great now and I don't have any complaints.

Story time!!!

So just a funny random thing. We were sitting in one of our classes being instructed on the Restoration of the Gospel, and out of nowhere a bird flies up and smacks our classroom window! IT cam out of nowhere. The poor thing! HAha what's even better, is that it happened again not even twenty minutes later! I told my companion that it wouldn't be funny to hold up a cookie inside the classroom for the birds to see, but he couldn't resist. Totally kidding! but seriously.. Birds, hitting the window?!

Everyday is jam packed full of study and more study. At this point you start to see those who are taking this experience seriously, and those who just want to goof off. I think there is a good balance to be had because after sitting and learning about the Gospel for 14 hours a day, I think some goofing time is well deserved :) The teachers here are amazing. They are granting us lots of opportunities to grow and apply the principles we are teaching in different scenarios. The food is honestly not that great. It's edible, but not even in the least bit filling or nutritional. Oh! For those of you who haven't seen this, I apologize, but the apples here are as stubborn as can be! There has never been an apple that I haven't been able to just rip apart with my bare hands. For some reason the apples are way to stubborn, and dirty to get a good grip to tear them apart. I get them eventually but not as easily as a normal apple.

My district is absolutely amazing! They all posses qualities and characteristics that I admire and hope to obtain for myself. It's starting to hit me more and more that the same Brayden I was 5 years ago is gone. You have all told me this so many times, but it is now hitting me with the manifestations of the abilities I have gained to get this far. Really hope to continue to refine myself and those around me as the mission goes a long. Most of the people in my district are from the U.S. but Sister P ( dont ask me to spell the rest of it) is from NEw Zealand! The MTC has been quite a bit of a culture shock for her and has been missing home quite a bit. We've all been reaching out to her and doing what we can to uplift her. It wasn't until Saturday that she was able to make a little more headway. It's truly amazing how the Lord can use us as instruments in his hands to do his work. The ones who are great at doing the Lord's work, are that way because they know best how to give their will over to him. With this sister, one of the fellow Elders asked if she wanted a blessing. She said yes. I'm still not sure why, but this Elder and a couple others all looked at me and said I should show them how it was done. Still have no idea where that came from. But I continued to give her a blessing, and as you can already tell she has a hard name to spell, so you could imagine it is pretty hard to pronounce. I'm pretty sure I butchered it pretty bad, but the Lord definitely accepted it for her. The blessing continued and the spirit was so strong. It was overpowering to feel the words coming out of my mouth as someone else's. When we left the room, it was as clear as the day. The Lord is using each of us to commence on a work that is far greater than our comprehension. 

Learning a lot here at the MTC. Starting to see how their is a knowledge an understanding of the Gospel, and then there is a complete change of heart to that knowledge and understanding received. You can tell a lot of Elders and Sisters came here pretty confident because of the knowledge they had growing up. They felt comfortable telling people these lessons because they grew up with it their entire lives! I pray for these Elders and Sisters every night. Because we teach people, not lessons. We guide and counsel people with the teachings we've received so they can make it through life. There is nothing greater than seeing someone who knows the Gospel is true, and seeing someone who lives it as well. My challenge to each of you, is to find something you feel you have a pretty good knowledge of. Something you've read about, something you've seen, something you've been taught, and really go find out for yourself why it even matters. Find for yourself the emotion and reasoning for such a thing in your life. Go and find for yourself the meaning that this principle has, and how it is going to effect you NOW. 

I love each and everyone of you so much and I'm sorry if there are certain people I have forgotten. I don't have everyone's emails right now so if you can spread the word for people to send me a simple message so I have your contact info that would be great! 

Hope this was what you were all looking for in my weekly email, if not message me a simple statement or question and let me know what I can include!!!

Love,

Elder Brayden James Sandberg