Elder May: October Email

I love to read Elder May's emails because even though he is at home we  don't always here the experiences he is having. We think he is simply amazing and we are so proud of our Elder- enjoy!!

Wow this was a crazy month. I had weddings, I went to my first Mission activity and met all of the Elders and Sisters of our wonderful mission, and I went for the first time to the temple with Elder Hayward and Elder Haws. Overall, it was a long month but it was so rewarding!

So the weddings. The first one was of my brother Hunter and his new wife, Alexiss. I was able to take part of her endowment session and even be in the sealing room with them and it's cool how you can have fun in the temple by doing family names and being with other people while also giving people a chance to receive the gospel in the spirit world. I then went to celestial room and prayed there for comfort and the ability to become more humble throughout my mission and letting the Lord's Atonement guide me and the Spirit was so strong with me after those endowment sessions that I know them to be true.

I will touch on my experience with Elder Hayward and Elder Haws. Probably not just touch because it was incredible but I assume you know what I mean. The entire experience was amazing. Elder Haws is so kind and caring and selfless. He would tell Dayton everything that he was about to tell me and keep him in the loop of what was happening. As I was in that session, we sat in the back and they gave us a screen so it was easier for Dayton to watch but I had noticed that I was watching off the smaller, closer screen with the subtitles more than I was watching on the big screen. It is now weird for me to watch it without subtitles being shown!

The longer throughout the session, I started to care more and more for Dayton as I could feel his spirit soften my heart and pierce my soul. Elder Haws told me that sometimes Elder Hayward couldn't control his left hand and every time Elder Hayward couldn't do so, Elder Haws would gently grab his left hand and just hold it on Dayton's leg and to me that was just another Christ-like attribute that Elder Haws was showing to Elder Hayward. The ordinance workers at one point asked Elder Haws and Hayward if Dayton would like to be in the circle and when Dayton blinked, Elder Haws could not hold his excitement in because it was going to be Dayton's first time doing so and it was not only incredible for that but as soon as Dayton went into that circle, his hand stopped shaking and he had control of it for the entire duration of the circle and then as soon as they were done, his hand started to move again. It was just amazing incredible Dayton's spirit is. I want to come and go to more of those with both Elder Haws and Elder Hayward because they are already such amazing example of Christ to me. They carry the Spirit with them wherever they go and I want to be around them more for that Spirit that they hold. They have made me want to change and become not just a better missionary but be a better friend, a better person and just a better example of Christ.

Lastly, I think I am supposed to touch on my strengths and my weaknesses. I guess for my strengths, I have become better acquainted and loved by those at Save the Family. I am helping them with any task at this point and they are becoming more and more aware of me here. I feel like I am developing more traits of love as well as more ways to feel the Spirit, especially while listening to instrumental music and General Conference talks to and from my commute to work. I would say that my weaknesses could be having low self-esteem or low self-worth maybe, as well as trying to increase being humble and loving to everyone me, just being able to let the Spirit enter my heart better but I will try to make those my strengths by changing my perspectives in the upcoming times of my mission. I am excited to keep working with save the Family and continuing to go with both Elder Haws and Elder Hayward in the temple!

Thank you for all your paraders and support - I love you all!!

Elder May: 3-Month Mark (September Monthly Email)

Hello again! 

I feel like a bit has happened in so little time! I have been able to document different stories and different things I have been able to do at my service assignment that I wouldn't have found anywhere else. I am learning more about my new companion and we are scheduling a time to meet up together, to actually meet face to face and to get to know one another better and become better instruments for the Lord. I have been able to pray to Him and feel my own comfort from Him personally. I have been able to trust in Him more and be able to feel His Spirit as I wear my badge every day that I come to work and to serve.

I was looking back and my very first day here at Save the Family was on June 30, 2016. I remember because I got an email that day saying that someone named Kaitlyn had brought the most delicious cookies for all to enjoy and that happened on my first day because I was still wearing a white shirt and tie until my supervisor had gotten approval to change it to what it is now. With June 30 on my mind, I learned that September 30, my 3-month mark is this Friday. Time flies by so fast! The more I help people, the faster that time flies. When I focus on myself, time slows way down. I started out just scanning files and having to wear an enormous nametag so everyone could learn who I was and I have gone to manning the front desk "the front lines as they call it" and I have been able to learn how to do background checks and I have slowly begun to help more people around the foundation like helping with storage issues or with being able to fill in for people when they are away and answering their voicemail calls and helping with insurance packets and really just helping anyone out in any way that I can. I like to tell everyone here that I am Laura's assistant but I am everyone's intern! It's funny and it lets them know that I am willing and ready to help anyone with anything that they may need!

I am ready to continue to serve. I have grown a desire to keep wanting to help the people at the Save the Family Foundation and the clients that we continue to receive. Through my service, I have been able to grow more in my testimony of my Heavenly Father. As I have helped clients here, I have become more grateful for the things I receive every day. I know that Christ lives and loves each one of us and the more I call out to Him, the more He wants and is ready to help me. He knows all of our struggles and our successes, even when we don't tell him and he knows when we will ask Him, we just have to do the asking for help in order to receive it, we can't just expect it just because He knows. I have come to love everyone with their different and unique talents that everyone can possess, I have become able to be good friends with anyone I come into contact with and I can put a smile on anyone's face that walks through our doors, asking for help and Christ wants to do the same but for us. We have to ask for help in order for Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father to make our lives happy. I know that God lives and loves each and every one of us and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love,

Elder May

Elder May: New Companionship

Elder Bryson is really thriving in his new mission and is loving serving the people that he comes in contact with at Save The Family – not only those in need but also those that work there.  Love him so much and oh, so proud of him.  Enjoy!

Hey everyone! Some news for me is that I am now in my own zone! I am now a part of the Scottsdale-Tempe-Mesa Zone! Because they have service missionaries everywhere around the state, that is what our new zone is being called. I also have my own companion! His name is Eric Davis, he's 22 and his service mission is going to be at Resurrection Street Ministries. It's a food bank/thrift store to help families in need. He's into sports, like football and basketball, he is in school and has a job and is big into working out. We have kind of different interests but I already know that he is a great guy and I can't wait to meet him soon. They gave us companions so that even if we don't spend every minute together or even have the same mission, we can have someone to talk to, gain friendships and life skills together and to have a higher standard of accountability with each other. His mission, I looked it up and it is only 4 minutes away from Save the Family, or my mission. They are really trying to make it like a regular proselyting mission except we don't have to be dying in the heat! I am really excited to be working with my companion and I am excited to keep working with the Save the Family Foundation. I know that this mission was here just for me and I am honored and ready to continue serving them and continue serving the Lord.

I appreciate all the continued love and prayers on my behalf.  Please keep saying them. 

Love,

Elder May

Elder May Hits His "100-Day Mark"

I have been remiss in updating Elder May's blog with his 100-day mark.  Even though his mission changed and things are different than a traditional mission, I didn't want the day to pass (even though it was August 31) without him knowing how much we appreciate and love him.  We are so proud of the very tough decisions that he had to make over the past 100+ days but he is defintely stronger and a better missionary for those decisions and trials.  Bryson is amazing with a solid heart of love for service to others but mostly to Heavenly Father.  It has been a difficult time figuring this new role out but Brian and I see him coming into his own and blazing the trail for new upcoming service missionaries.  

Bryson - we love you and are so proud of you!  Happy "100" Days!!

ps - check out his new blog design... so cool!!

Elder May: August Monthly Email

Elder Bryson is asked to report on his service mission monthly to his mission president, stake president and bishop.  One of the biggest reasons is because this program is a pilot program that is blazing the path for the way service missions are performed in the future.  This, among others, is one of the reasons that Elder Bryson felt that this was the right path for him and the Lord had prepared him for this.  Boy, do we love this Elder!  And we are oh, so proud of him!  Enjoy!!

Hello!

For those of you who don't know, my name is Elder Bryson May and I have been serving a service mission with the Save the Family Foundation in Mesa. Save the Family helps homeless families with minor children be able to get back up on their feet and regain self-sufficiency. I get to help homeless people find the next step as they move forward with gaining self-sufficiency.

My service mission has been absolutely wonderful! Everyone here is so nice to me and wants me to help them more and more. I started off when I first got here by scanning documents and organizing the files online and the more that I'm here, I'm starting to get trusted more and more by my supervisor as she is starting to trust me with more important jobs like manning the front desk even though I have like a fear of phone calls and stuff like that. I don't know why either because I can talk to people face to face and I can do text and email but i am just not good at all with phone calls. It's terrible but I'm getting better! It's a new life skill! I know that I am normally terrified of phone calls but relying on the Lord, I am wanting the phone now to ring more and more because through the Lord, I have gotten good at it and the words just flow straight through.

I have gone from scanning files to helping at the front desk and helping people up front and with phone calls and transferring people and now I can do background checks on people and helping more of my coworkers with different jobs they have. They all really like me and I love the group that I am with. They treat me more as a missionary and that I am here to help them. They see me more as an equal, a part of the team, rather than the typical boss and employee kind of relationship. I have been able to help them on different days depending on the need rather than only coming on specific days. Soon, I might be asking for an extension here, on if I could stay for both years of my mission because they believe that I can only be here for a year and soon I will ask for my supervisor to extend it to the two years because as I have become acquainted with everyone, I have come close to all of them and my desire to serve them has grown more and more. I'm planting the seed, and increasing other people's faith in Jesus Christ through my service to them.

I can't wait to continue growing through with my mission. I love to serve all of these people and I love to be a service missionary. I feel like I am learning so many things and through relying on the Lord I have been able to get so much more of the Spirit to be inside of me as I am trusting in him while I am at my mission. I can keep eye contact with people and I know exactly how to help people as I interact with them, either through the phone or face to face. I can't wait to keep serving these people and being how the Lord would want me to be. I can't wait to continue serving my mission here! 

Elder May: Week 12 (Service Mission)

Finally... after weeks of waiting and mulling over his decision, Elder Bryson May was formally called to the Phoenix Arizona Youth Service Mission to serve the duration of 24-months in the various service capacities outlined by the service mission area.  As earlier stated, Elder Bryson is serving at the Save The Family working directly with the COO of the organization and really is thriving.  He has so many experiences and opportunities to serve.  We love him and we are oh, so proud of him.  Enjoy!

Elder May at Save The Family

Hello!  It has been a crazy couple of weeks.  I was officially called to the Phoenix Arizona Youth Service Mission and was set apart as such last Thursday night.  It was a different blessing than the one I got before I left for Tennessee but still very inspiring.  I had an orientation meeting about everything of the service mission stuff last Wednesday and I really liked getting to know the mission president and what me new experience entails.  It is far more structured than I thought it would be.  It makes me sad that the purpose is so much different than that of a proselyting missionary. The service mission is like pray and study, serve others, something else and learn life skills. I have realized too that my example in my service is what people are looking at and through that example I am showing the love of Jesus Christ to them.  I love to serve and help others so much, especially those at the Save the Family Foundation like helping answer calls for homeless people and helping coworkers around with different things. It just makes me sad that now I can't fully teach people anymore if you know what I'm saying.

I'm starting to get trusted more and more by my supervisor as she is starting to trust me with more important jobs like manning the front desk even though I have like a fear of phone calls and stuff like that. I am not sure why either because I can talk to people face to face and I can do text and email but i am just not good at all with phone calls. It's terrible but I'm getting better! Life skill! I know that I am normally terrified of phone calls but relying on the Lord, I am wanting the phone now to ring more and more because through the Lord, I have gotten good at it and the words just flow straight through. I have hit my 3 month mark too and I am now 1/8 done with my mission and I am excited to keep on going. Thank you for all your support and encouragement.  It was a long 3-months but I know that this is where I am supposed to be.  I am excited for the next 3-months to come.  I love you all and wish you all a great week!

Love Elder May

Elder May: Being home...

Elder Bryson May is been home for approximately 2 weeks now and things are moving very quickly for him with regards to his service mission.  We are very proud of him and his decision and desire to continue to want to serve the Lord...Enjoy!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm home and I'm doing well.  My asthma is in much better control and I am able now to focus on my service mission.  

I am working really hard on getting started on my service mission.  Apparently there is a pilot program going on in Arizona to start out new Church-Service missions. Apparently there is about 45 of us going around doing service by not proselyting and we share stories to Salt Lake City and the authorities all there are supposed to read our stories. If the pilot program goes well, it's going to branch out to other states and so on.

The couple in charge of it, Brother and Sister Pugmire, reached out to me and asked if that was something I would be interested in.  There are so many different options for where I would like to serve.  Since meeting with them, I have chosen the things that I would like to pursue and help further along the Lord's work.

Right now, I am working with them and someone from the Save the Family Foundation to become an Executive Assistant to the Chief Operations Officer there, very similar to the Executive Secretary in the bishopric.  I will be assisting them to find housing for homeless people in Arizona. I'm also going to be helping an Elder in the temple. He has cerebral palsy and can only blink but has a desire to serve the Lord through doing temple work so I have accepted to be one of the two elders that would help him throughout the week in different sessions by helping him get dressed throughout each session. As of today, I am just waiting on the Church to update the system and we can move further along with it.

Once my hours are set, I will also be working in the temple once a week as an ordinance worker.  I will also be going on splits with the missionaries assigned to our ward once or twice a week which I am very excited about as well. 

I'm really grateful that even though I had to come home, I was still able to further increase the work. I'm really glad to be chosen as the few groups of missionaries to help bring this church service to Arizona and maybe even the world one day! I love you all and I'll keep updating!