Week 6: Letter from Elder Clarke

Here is a very sweet letter that Jeffrey's mother received in the mail from Elder Clarke:

                                                                                                                                                                  21 de Mayo, 2013

Dear Sis. Bromley,

               

                 This is Elder Clarke, your son's companion here at the MTC. I just wanted to write you a letter to thank you personally for the amazing boy you have raised - he is an incredible Elder and representative of Jesus Christ. I could not be more grateful to have him as a companion! I know with all my heart that the Lord has a hand in the choosing of companionships, and I have benefited greatly from this one.

         Elder Bromley is an absolute JOY to be around. Some days are hard here, no doubt, but your son always brightens up my day, and many others' as well. He has such a fun and joking personality at times and yet brings the spirit in the room so strongly when he bears his testimony at what's most important to him. I know and have witnessed the depth of his testimony, and you should be proud. He is everybody's favorite here! I have definitely learned how to have fun on a daily basis with him. He loves to imitate the campus animals (small birds, etc) and what they are saying when they are chirping - it's pretty hilarious. :)

               He told me so much of how you are an amazing woman, and don't doubt it in the least. Thank you for all the good that you do - it has a widespread effect on many people; even me, and we've have not met before. But thank you; Jeff has made a lasting impression on me for my mission. Thank Belle too! She's always sending sweet and funny notes, and you have no idea how much it cheers him up, and how he loves it. It's his favorite thing in the world to hear from you both!

               I am very glad Elder Bromley and I get to go to Oregon together - it will be a wonderful experience and I'm excited. I surely hope we'll meet up again in Peru too.

              Thank you for everything again! Just letting you know (again) how amazing your son is, and you should be proud.

Sinceramente,

                     Elder David Kenneth Clarke

Week 6: Picture with Elder Granschow at the MTC

When Jeffrey was still at the MTC, he got to see one of his old hometown buddies, Elder Granschow, from the Danville California Stake. Elder Granschow will be serving in the Colorado Springs Mission in a few weeks. He sent this picture of the two of them together.

Elder Granschow and Elder Bromley

Week 6- Medford, Oregon: In the Field

Hello Everybody! 

So it is my first p-day in the field! Medford, Oregon is pretty much exactly how you'd imagine it; overcast a lot with a couple hipsters. There are three other Spanish missionaries here including Elder Clarke, my old MTC companion. We all live in a little apartment and are the missionaries for a small Spanish branch of about 50 people attending. 

Being in the field is pretty different. The first door that I knocked ended up being a woman who was a pastor for her church. Needless to say, she invited me to pray about whether or not God wanted me to be on this mission or not so I told her that I would. That was pretty fun. But other than her, the people here have been really nice. Although the language isn't too big of a problem anymore, they all understand when I'm speaking and can't remember a word or two. On the other hand, my new companion, Elder Ketchum, and I are teaching an older man to read so I got to draw some flashcards up. But all of our investigators are really nice and I enjoy talking with them. 

Something cool that happened yesterday is that we went to go visit the Fuentes family, a newly married couple and their three kids, last night in their trailer park. The dad and oldest daughter are ready to get baptized but are waiting on the mom to make up her mind. We decided to visit her and share a short message. We all ended up talking for an hour and a half about faith and at the end my companion gave the parents blessings to help them feel comfort in their thoughts and decisions. The spirit was very strong and I know that it helped strengthen our investigators testimonies immensely.

It is so cool to be part of the mission field now. I feel so blessed to be able to go to people's houses and spread a message of hope to everyone who will listen. I can't wait until I get to be able to witness the full change of heart in people as I serve here in Oregon. 

I love and miss you all!

Elder Jeff Bromley II

Week 6- Medford, Oregon: First Photo from Medford

Here's a photo that a kind member sent of Jeffrey eating dinner at another member's home in Medford. He is serving in the Medford 4th Ward. I wonder if he got a chance to play that guitar hanging on the wall behind him... :)

Dinner at the Pool's house

Temporary Mission Reassignment: Photos from the OEM Office!

Jeff's mom received an e-mail from the Oregon Eugene Mission Office on Thursday May 23 after Jeffrey arrived for his temporary mission reassignment.

Here is the note from the mission office:

"We are so happy to have your missionary here with us in the Oregon Eugene Mission.  We had great fun getting to know them  yesterday. They are going to be awesome missionaries!

We have attached 4 pictures for you.  One of the entire group of new incoming missionaries, one of your missionary, one of their first companion, and one with President Young and Sister Young.  Please know the prayerfully chosen “trainer companion” will take very good care of your missionary.  The first few weeks of training will be some of the greatest weeks of their  mission!

President Young is a wonderfully spiritual and loving mission president.  He takes great care in watching over his missionaries so please know that your missionary is in very good hands!

Thanks for sending  them our way!

PS:  Don’t forget to watch President Young’s blog at oregoneugenemission.blogspot.com for happenings in the mission."

The whole group of new missionaries in the Oregon Eugene Mission (with the mission president and his wife)

Elder Bromley

Elder Bromley and his trainer companion, Elder Ketchum

Jeff with the mission president and his wife (President and Sister Young)

Temporary Mission Reassignment: Calls from the Portland Airport and Eugene Mission Office

Here is a message from Jeffrey's mother, who was able to speak to him on the phone yesterday morning as he was on his way to Eugene, Oregon:

"Our dear Elder Jeff Bromley called this morning from Portland, Oregon, as he waited for his connecting flight to Eugene, Oregon with his wonderful MTC companion Elder Clarke. He was happy to report that he was very excited to start working as a field missionary and said that it felt very weird to be speaking English with others after speaking Spanish only at the MTC, so he decided to talk to me in Spanish and his Spanish was amazing- so eloquent and clear! He sends his love and gratitude to all of you. Thank you so much for helping me raise such an amazing young man."

Another message after she received a call from the mission office:

"I just got a phone call from the Oregon mission office. Our Elder Jeff Bromley is now in Medford, Oregon- the southern most part of Oregon, almost to the border with California! In a Spanish speaking mission!  His new companion is Elder Ketchum from Arizona and his former MTC companion Elder Clarke is also in Medford and will work with Elder Fernandez. All four missionaries are sharing one apartment and will get to work together sharing the gospel in Spanish! I'm so super happy! 
Immensely grateful to Heavenly Father!"

Jeff's mom was also told that his new P-Day will be Monday, so that's when we can expect to hear from him next. Also, they will be sending her more mission information with Jeff's new address in Medford shortly- I will post the information here as soon as I receive it. 

Week 5- MTC: Another Photo of Elders Bromley & Clarke

Here is a photo that Elder Clarke's mother sent to Jeffrey's mom. Looks like these two companions are becoming good friends :)

Week 5- MTC: Family History and Missionary Work

So before I tell this week's story, I have gotten my temporary reassignment and am going to the Oregon, Eugene mission until my visa comes. I leave this Wednesday and I am so excited to go!

One thing I have learned about this church is that when a lesson needs to be taught, many smaller events lead up to the main lesson.

First off, for an online mission portal that I have to do every week I had to watch a video about family history and missionary work. Normally I would not have been that enthused about geneology type things, but this video intrigued me. It said that we as a church need to remove the line that divides missionary work from family history work and instead realize that we are all supposed to be focusing on bringing people to Christ.

After the video, there were links available to click on and I decided to go to FamilySearch.org to check out my lineage. On my Dad's line, I could see symbol after symbol that meant that all of the temple work was done, but on my Mom's side, it just had the names of her parents listed, one of which had a symbol different to all of the others have seen. My Grandpa Perez died about a year ago so now his name is presented with a picture of a temple and a hazard triangle. Upon seeing this I leaned back to one of the Sisters in my district and said, half-jokingly, "help me save my grandpa!" It wasn't until those word came out of my mouth that I realized how true that statement was. My grandpa is in desperate need of temple ordinances so he can progress in the Spirit World. I immediately understood how important and relevant proxy temple work is, and my perspective has been permanently changed.

On a related note, last Tuesday the MTC was honored to have Elder Nelson from the Quorum of the Twelve speak to us on none other than Family History work. Some things he said touched my heart dearly; he said that there are spirits of those deceased and gone from this world who are desperately praying and praying for their posterity to receive the gospel. These people walk around completely unknowing of how much their loved ones who are no longer with them are trying to bring them joy. It is our job, not only as missionaries, but as members of this church to go and answer all of those prayers and get both the quick and the dead to complete their temple ordinances and be saved.

In summary, I would like to reitterate to all of you from Elder Nelson to do your family history work. Try to find the little hazard symbols next to your ancestors names and save them. They are depending on us. We are the only ones who can help them. So go and save somebody's grandpa! They will literally be eternally grateful.

I love and miss you all!

Elder Jeff Bromley II

TEMPORARY MISSION REASSIGNMENT: EUGENE, OREGON

Jeffrey still has not received his visa in the mail, so he has received a temporary mission reassignment to Eugene, Oregon! His current MTC companion, Elder Clarke, has also not received his visa, so they will be traveling there together this coming Wednesday. They will dive right into their new roles as field missionaries upon arrival, and will remain in the Oregon Eugene Mission for an indeterminate amount of time. Whenever their visas arrive, they will be back on track to their original assignment in the Peru Lima South Mission.

Here are some photos of the beautiful place where Jeff will be spending the next portion of his mission:

While Jeff is serving in Eugene, you can still send letters and packages to him through DearElder.com. I will post his new Oregon address for direct mailing once I receive that information from him. Can't wait to hear about his first experiences in the mission field!

Week 4- MTC: Pictures

Jeff with his companion, Elder Clarke

Elder Bromley and Elder Clarke at the Provo Temple

With his district at the temple

Jeff's former zone leader, Elder Stanford (post-haircut)

Elder Stanford (pre-haircut)

A picture that Jeff drew for Elder Stanford a.k.a. Elder Tarzan

P-Day pic of Elder Bromley and Elder Clarke 

Smiley Elder Clarke

With his other former zone leader, Elder Varner

Jeff with his roommates- he described this as a "dumb girly pic of us all"

Week 4- MTC: Faith and Miracles

I've survived a month! The funny part about it is that it feels like I've only been here a couple days still. So last week I was unassigned as District Leader and then three days later my companion and I became the Zone Leaders. I love this job because it just means that I get to care for even more people, which has recently become my favorite thing to do here. The older district here just left making my district the oldest one here. We were also blessed to have a new district move in, six Elders and three Sisters, all only being 18-19 years old. They are very young but dang do they work hard. I'm going to enjoy the next nine days as Zone Leader.

So as Elder Clarke and I were teaching an investigator, we asked him what made him want to talk to the missionaries in the first place. He said he had gotten in an accident and while praying for help a couple days later at his bedside, the missionaries came by. He said it was a miracle. Upon hearing this, my companion and I decided to look into miracles. We found the story in the Bible where Christ heals the man who was blind from birth and immediately I started to understand more about what the story meant. In St John 9:39 it reads "And Jesus said, For judgement I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." Apart from solidifying my notion that the Bible has the most confusing grammar ever, it opened up my eyes to a new view of miracles; how are we different than those two types of people described. While teaching that lesson, another scripture popped up into my head, Ether 12:6 which reads, "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."

Faith is things which are not seen. Miracles don't produce faith, faith produces miracles. If we want to see miracles in our lives, we must exercise faith in Christ that he was "a man of God." Christianity is based on the greatest of all miracles, the resurrection of our Lord. If that be admitted, all other miracles cease to be improbable. This includes the miracle that we have the truth on the earth today and that we can have happiness in this life as well as for all eternity. All we need to do is align our will with God's and we will start to see all the small miracles in our lives. Life gets easier once you see the hand of God in every part of your life, once you have enough faith in Christ to let Him heal your blindness to the true purpose of this life.

So that's what I learned this week! I encourage all of you to start acting on your faith. Find three small changes every week you could do to get that much closer to God. Soon enough you'll have a mountain of small changes and you will definitely feel the affects of your efforts. I love and miss you all

Alma 37:6

Sinceramente,

Elder Jeff Bromley II

Contact Info Update: DearElder.com

If you want to write a letter to Jeffrey, but can't find an envelope or have run out stamps, don't you worry! There is a super easy and FREE way to get a letter to Jeffrey at the MTC free-of-charge and have it delivered to him within hours! 

DearElder.com is a website that lets you type a letter, which will then be printed at the MTC and delivered right to Jeffrey's MTC mailbox the very same day you send it. You can also order pre-made care packages with baked treats, savory snacks, or even get well supplies to be delivered through the website. 

You will need the following information when you send your letter/package to Jeff at the MTC:

     MTC Mailbox #303

     Estimated Date of Departure: 5/22/13

The Dear Elder delivery service will also be available after Jeffrey arrives in Peru, for a small fee. So, let's get writing! Jeff would love to hear from you!

Week 3- MTC: New P-Day and an E-mail :)

Jeff sent me a note this morning saying that his P-Day has been changed to Saturday. So for the next few weeks while he is in the MTC, we will be getting his e-mails on Saturday. Here's his e-mail for this week:

     It has almost been a month since have been at the MTC. Weird, right? Pretty soon I'm going to be a field missionary! For now I am trying my best to make an impact on the lives of my "investigators." It is a little bit difficult sometimes, but that is normal. It doesn't matter what we were or what we were good at before we decided to be missionaries, even if we were good at teaching. None of us have ever been missionaries before, and I promise, the experience is both very humbling and very rewarding.

     So usually when we teach people, it is one of our teachers acting as somebody important to them in their lives. For example, my awesome teacher Brother Avila portrayed his brother, Josue. I love teaching them but I always feel a little let down when the lesson is over and I am reminded that I'm not really teaching "Josue" or "Antonio." But now we have been introduced to something called the TRC, or the Training Resource Center. The task is to go and teach member volunteers who are literally just themselves, there is no acting going on at all.

     Last week during TRC my companion and I had the opportunity to teach a middle aged woman named Sister Rice. We were talking to her about prayer and I felt like I should share with her two verses that had been very important to me. First was Ether 12:6 with defines faith. It says "faith is things which are hoped for but not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of you faith." I described to her that faith is a principle of action and power and we must not be afraid to change for the truths we discover as we act on our faith. I then shared the scripture Alma 36:3 which says, "whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day." In summary, if we have faith, we need to act on it in order to overcome difficulties in our lives, and if we do so sincerely, God will support us through whatever hardship we are facing as we learn to trust in Him and His love for us. Immediately Hermana Rice started tearing up and told us that what we said complemented the last two lessons she had gotten that day and had answered a question she had for 25 years.

     This is the reason why I love what I am doing. I am not even out of the MTC and I already know that I am helping others in their lives. That is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I challenge all of you to trust in God and act on your faith in whatever way you can. It doesn't matter what kind of problems you have, all can find joy when we turn to Christ.

I love you all and miss you all!

Ether 12:4

Elder Jeff Bromley

Week 3- MTC: No E-mail This Week :(

We did not receive an e-mail from Jeffrey this week, and his companion's family did not get an e-mail from their missionary either. Elder Clarke's mother e-mailed Jeff's mother with this message:

"I am wondering if you got an email from your missionary?  I did not.  My son, Elder Dave Clarke, has a good friend from high school who now works at the MTC in the health center for missionaries.  She sent me a message today, and said that she saw him today at the health center, because he had a bad cough and needed a prescription.  She said she talked to him for a few minutes, and met your son too, and that they both seemed happy.  She said they both told her they were doing really well learning the language.  They both told her that they were leaving for Peru 3 weeks from yesterday---but I wonder if their visas will arrive in time.  What do you think?"

So, it sounds like our Elder Bromley is still doing well. We will hopefully hear from him next week when his companion is back in good health. And hopefully soon we will be getting his e-mails from Peru!