Bread Crumbs

6/11/12
Hey Family!

This week has been a very busy week here in Brantford. It has been a
week full of opposition and a week full of good things as well. Before
I forget again- the only people who I know we are related to somehow
is the Taylor family. Judy Taylor is a Davis, and is somehow related
to Welby Davis. But I have lots of names of people who knew Grandma
and Grandpa Oles, and lots of people have told me I look a little bit
like Grandpa. Here are the names: Jean Sheldon (or Shelton), Linda and
Dale Crandall, Sister Berkley (I'm told was your primary teacher,
Mom), and the Hampshire family, Brother Hampshire was a Branch
President here in Brantford way back in the day, and Grandpa Oles was
one of his counselors before they moved to Salt Lake City. So that's
really cool! I find out new things every week. I'm anxious to learn
more about our roots, and to find out the reasons why I'm here in
Brantford. Because I know it is not just a coincidence.

I'm a huge believer in bread crumbs. I like to define bread crumbs as
a trail of events leading to something that is meant to happen. I've
had lots of those events in my life, and we had one just on Saturday
night with a potential investigator. It was 9:00 pm, so we were
finished for the day. But before we headed home, we were going to stop
for a "Sunday Eve Treat," which is what my companion likes to call
getting a McFlurry. But this time he was undecided/leaving it up to me
to decide, and we were by a McDonalds, a Wendys, an A&W, and a Fast
Eddies (kind of like Rallys or Checkers). We were going to drive to
the other side of town, but then we realized we were by all of these
places already, so we stayed.

I suck at telling stories... but I will continue anyways. We first
stopped at A&W to see if they had milkshakes, because apparently some
do and some don't. We drove through and asked, and the girl said no.
So then we asked her if she thought we should go to McDonalds or Fast
Eddies, and she recommended Fast Eddies. So off we went across the
street to Fast Eddies!! Then came the next dilemma. Walk up, or drive
thru? I wanted to walk up, so we did. I was the driver so I was kind
of in control that night. (My companion later on said he was just
being nice, he wanted to drive thru-- that little detail is important
as you will see) We were walking up and some guy yelled from his pick
up truck "Hey! You guys have walked quite a long distance today, huh?"
We went and talked to him as he was parked for a minute. He went on to
say that he saw us earlier as we were walking, then saw us again just
then walking up to Fast Eddies. And he said something like "I don't
know, I just felt like I should come talk to you guys. This is the
second time I've seen you, so maybe its a coincidence but I don't
really think it is." The guy's name is Brandon, he is 22 years old,
and we met with him on our porch yesterday afternoon for about 45
minutes or so. We're meeting with him again tonight at 8:00. The most
exciting thing about him is that he is SO open. He is WAY into
positive energy kind of stuff. And he tells us constantly that he
thinks he is talking to us for a reason. He also mentioned that he saw
missionaries like us a year ago, but never had the time to call us or
anything.

Alright... so I feel like that story is very anti-climatic in an
email. But its way more exciting in my head, just so you know. The
point was, there were so many silly little things that led to us
meeting him. Things that if hadn't happened, we wouldn't have seen him
as he was driving through that very parking lot at that very time...
just sayin'... And I know there is a reason why we met him.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ allows people to be diverse. It might not
seem like it from the outside, or even on the inside sometimes. But I
know that God has created us all to be unique. We all have our own,
specific and unique "piece of the puzzle." A lot of Mormons would
automatically think "Oh, positive energy... that's weird." and feel
like someone into that doesn't fit into the imaginary cultural bubble
of mormonism. Or some would even say that my bread crumbs theory,
which I stole from Glenn Beck's book "The 7", is a weird theory and
that not everything happens for a reason. Take GB for an example. He
is hated, he is loved, both by mormons and non mormons. Not all
mormons have to have the same political views, or the same opinions
about government or any other silly political thing. Or views about
fate, or psychology, or science... we all are different. We are all
unique. We are all individuals in a huge human family.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us a way to constantly improve
ourselves, and teaches us how we should treat each other. That is why
I believe the only thing that will ever unite us as a human family is
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There isnothing to lose. Test it for
yourself if you haven't already done so, and I promise you will find
answers you are looking for, or you will find the void inside of you-
that you didn't know existed- being filled.

I love you all. I love hearing from you. You're in my thoughts and
prayers, and I hope I can be in yours as I do need them every day.

Love,
Elder Brett Simper