Christmas Week

Hey Family!

I get to call you guys in one week!!! (It will probably be around noon!) I can't believe Christmas is already almost here! Time is going by so fast! Thank you for all the thoughtful letters! Baby Elle looks so great! Seriously a little Angel! I am excited to celebrate my first Christmas on the Mission!

Our Temple trip to L.A. was amazing! We had an entire session with like 70 missionaries and our mission president. The Celestial room experience was truly something I will never forget with all of my fellow missionary friends. All of us, a bunch of 20 year olds, conversing one with another, far away from our families, preaching what we know to be true, in the closes place to heaven, in EXACTLY the best place we could be in this EXACT time in our lives. We were all emotional as the spirit bore witness this to all of us together with our mission president.

We also all gathered together for a Zone Conference again back on Tuesday. It was an awesome meeting, the trainings that President Martin gives are always super powerful. I figured out many things that I could be doing better. The little things are what make the difference. By small and Simple means are GREAT things are brought to pass! (Alma 37:6 I believe?) Then at the end of the meeting, President wanted to end with a testimony meeting and selected 3 missionaries to say a few words... We'd now like to hear from Elder so and so, Sister so and so, and we will finish up by hearing from (I bet you can guess...) Elder Brady. Yeah. Every time without fail... Ludlow turned and looked at me and said that's you! I just looked at him and said, I knew it. He said, they told you before hand? And I said, no, I just knew somehow... ha-ha. So I just got up there again and blabbed for 5 minutes, cried, and told them what I have been thinking about lately and what has helped, (the usual) and hopefully it helped someone out there? I'm not sure if it did, but Heavenly Father wanted me to speak for some reason, I just know that we should never turn down opportunities like these to bear testimony, be his hands and serve.

Speaking of Service, This last week, we have grown very close to Miracle during this Christmas season and I ended up giving them the Christmas tree you guys sent me because they don't have one... Very humbling experience but it reminds us of the TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS once again. And brings us eternal JOY.

We should be having a baptism this Sunday, Christmas day! Jade Mundy wants to get baptized then and we just have to teach her a couple little other things then see if she is ready and passes the Baptismal Interview questions. We found her like 2 months ago and she has come a long way so hopefully it happens! Cross your fingers and that's where we need the prayers this week! I don't think there would be a better way to celebrate Jesus Christ's Birth by bringing a soul unto Him through the waters of baptism! That's as good as it gets!

I love you guys so much and I don't know what else to share but I know there is a lot of crazy stuff happening. Think of some good questions for our phone call because I feel like I have already shared everything that is worth sharing? Ha-ha

Talk to you guys on CHRISTMAS! Until then, have a good one!

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---         

Castillo Family -Miracle-

Hello Family!

Thank you for all the letters and Christmas love! Our (Stripling Warriors Hideout) apartment now has a pretty good Christmas feel to it with all the lights lining the walls and 3 of us received little trees so we have placed them all in our living room! Way sweet! Something weird about California is that they don't have any overhead lights... we just have to use lamps but now we replaced them with all our Christmas lights and trees so when we walk in and flip the switch our apartment lights up with Christmas spirit! Thank you for everything you guys are doing and for your thoughts! They give me a HUGE boost every Monday! Thank you.

So Yesterday was Erin Castillo's baptism! We were stressing about it all week because we are in charge of making sure everything is taken care of and runs smoothly, we felt a lot of pressure, but as always it turned out perfect and was exactly amazing. The Castillo family is by far one of my favorite families out here! They even had their family fly in for the baptism! We had a huge turn out from all their family and the ward attending. They are all super strong and spiritually awesome. We made sure each one of the Castillo's was involved in the baptism. Brother Manriquez, our ward mission leader, (The MOST AWESOME MISSION LEADER EVER!) conducted and set the atmosphere extremely well (He got baptized a year ago and is "so legit" ha-ha, probably barely 30 yrs old). Then, Ben (10yr old) started out with the talk on baptism and delivered such a great message. Then Erin and I proceeded to do the baptism and it worked perfectly. Then while we were changing, Jeremy Castillo said a few words and we came back into the room to find everyone filled with tears and Jeremy upfront crying. The Spirit was so strong! Then to top it all off, little Sarah said the closing prayer and got up there and said "Dear Heavenly Father thank you for Erin to be baptized... (Then started bawling and you couldn't even hear what her little voice was trying to say for like 2 minutes... then she just said in the name of Jesus Christ amen." SO CUTE! No better way to finish off a great baptism day.

Oh and Abby, P.S. she told me, "Elder Brady, I'm sorry I haven't written your sister yet..."ha-ha so, Sarah should be sending a letter to you soon Abby!

So that's pretty much all the big new for this week except we found another awesome lady whose name is Miracle and she is a single mother with like 5 kids! She calls us all the time and feels like we are the only ones that she has to listen to her, so we just go over and she just lets everything out and we try our best to help her. Yesterday we were over at Miracle's and she was reaching across the table to hold our hands and told us that you guys don't know how much I need you right now and we all just started crying. I see such a bright future for Miracle and her family and they want to be baptized as well! But we are going to take things slow with her cause she is struggling right now.  When we leave we kneel down and all the kids run up to us and give us big hugs and say "BYE DA MISSHHONARDIES!" This is what a mission is all about :) Just melts our heart every time. We are probably going to go over and help her clean her house today.

This week: We are having Zone Conference this tomorrow and we all get to go to the Los Angeles Temple on Thursday! SOO EXCITED! Sister Kabel is going to give Sister Brown, Sister Mix, Elder Ludlow and I a ride up there! I love Sister Kabel. We call her Grandma Kabel and she takes such good care of us. Easily one of my favorite ladies in the ward. Grandma Kabel took us to the chiropractor and spent a day with her last week because something was wrong with Ludlow's sinuses and he is very stuffed up for like the past ...7 YEARS of his life... so yeah. Ha-ha Grandma Kabel is trying to fix him. We love her so much.  I have become very attached to the people out here in Lancaster. Maybe since I’ve been here for 1/2 a year and it's exactly where Heavenly Father wants me and I feel like I was destined to know these people. The Right thing, Right Place, Right time for sure.

Well I have to get going but I believe we can call you for free from a member’s house or cell phone on Christmas day. We still don't know what time but don't worry, we'll surprise you! :D

Until next time, I love you guys and hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---

Fantastimagical News!

Thank you so much for all the support! I received your package and Ludlow and I immediately put up the tree in our room along with the present under it! Yay! I love Christmas! We also put the lights around the apartment along with some other strands of lights and now it's all decked out! That story was also amazing! Thank you Thank you

So this week Ludlow and I did a lot better! We taught about 15 lessons this week, which is more than he has ever taught the last 5 months of his mission! Yeah, we're making progress! Hopefully we can keep this up... last week was exhausting! The weather is getting very BITTER and in Lancaster, people like to refer to it as land-scatter because of how WINDY it is. We have found that any direction that we are riding our bikes the wind is always blowing against us in our face. We must be in a tornado or something... Last week we were going to meet the Spanish elders to knock some doors with them and it took us 45! Minutes to rendezvous with them! Crazy wind. Too bad we are only getting STRONGER! Ha-ha. We just laugh because there is nothing else we can do about it.

Anyways, also this weekend was the Christmas Creche Festival! A huge celebration where all religions in the community come together to worship Christ. Everyone brings Nativity scenes to display them from all different religions and countries! It was so cool! I took some pictures of some way sweet and creative ones that I will have to send to you. We spent a lot of time up there answering any questions that people had as they walked around. Oh! And get this, they had some nativity scenes all the way from Chinese ones that use the heat from lit candles to operate the nativity scene to things as simple as white chocolate and Lego ones... and even HALO!!! Yeah, Halo. The coolest Nativity scene I have ever seen in my life.

So we visited with the Castillo's again this week (like usual) and we shared a message from the Ensign this time mix things up, nothing too special, but then she started crying! We helped her out and we then started talking about her baptism and how important it is and she is so excited! We then started to figure everything out like what songs ect. She wanted at her baptism. Then we asked her who she wanted to baptize her and we assumed it would be her husband, but then he said he couldn't... so she then she looked up at me and said" Will you baptize me?" and I just hit a brick wall and couldn't believe it! The spirit hit me so strong and of course I said yes and we were all excited! I am so happy to do this for Erin Castillo, she is so awesome I am thrilled and honored to perform such a sacred ordinance for someone I love. MISSIONS ARE THE BEST!

Love,

ELDER BRADY

---NO REGRETS---

Thanksgiving

All I can think to say right now is... WOW! Thank you so much for those thoughts mom and dad. That was exactly what I needed to hear right now. I started tearing up while I was reading that.

It has been a tough week and that letter just gave me the motivation and morale boost that I needed. I am going to print that off and keep it somewhere safe to keep me focused. Man, seriously though, that was amazing!

It's almost as if the spirit told you my feelings... What you said was pretty much what happened at church last week... we taught Gospel Principles class with our investigators and ward missionaries and I pretty much soloed the whole thing. This is also how most of our appointments and meetings have gone but I have seen some improvement! We have been going over lessons and helping him to know what to help teach. He has been with some hard companions in the past and a long story short, before he came up here to Lancaster, he hasn't taught a lesson in over 4 months and some lessons even not at all. I love Elder Ludlow so much and he is one of the best guys I have met out here and I am so glad we are companions. He is a very humble guy and wants to learn so badly. We have had some great talks and we are figuring out who we want to be and what we want to accomplish and have set some really good goals that we are excited to accomplish!

Update: Thanksgiving was really good! We had probably 3 dinners within 4 hours! We hung out with Jackson and Salisbury on Thanksgiving and road around in their car! Way nice to get from point A to point B in less that 5 minutes.

For Christmas we have a family (Pomazal's and Bernard's) that reserved us (Barlow), and Jackberry for the whole day and told us we can't leave! People have been asking us what we are doing and the Pomazal's and Bernard's tell them to "get lost because we already reserved the missionaries!" So that's where we will be all Christmas day... held hostage. Yeah it will be interesting. But I have to go now, the other missionaries just got here and they need to e-mail.

PS: I got the bike lights finally and they are awesome!

PSS: We are having a baptism on the Dec. 11th! Erin Castillo! The Castillo family is one of my favorite families by far! I don't know if I have mentioned them but they are way cool! Oh, yeah, I just remembered that I have! I did tell Sara about Abby and told her they should be pen pals! I gave her our address and hopefully you get something soon from Sara, Abby!

I love you all! Have a good week and I hope I can hear that song about grandpa sometime! ;)

Love, Elder Brady

---No Regrets---

Congratulations Lynds and Braden!

Thank you so much for your letters and pictures! They are awesome!  I want to be there to see Baby Elle so bad! CONGRATULATIONS!

So Abby never got my letter? What! I sent her one like at least a week ago! I feel like so many things are happening at home right and I can't keep up with all the events that are happening! Slow down!

All right so I have some updates for you guys! My new companion is a super cool guy! The differences between my two companions that I have had are night and day. Elder Kennard was super obedient ... a little overboard... but now Elder Ludlow is completely opposite. Yeah, our apartment is a little off the hook now and it's been a super crazy week. It's Brady/ Ludlow and Jackson /Salisbury. Jackson is the District leader. So basically, there is no structure any more and it's kind of scary. 

President Martin had a talk with me and wants me to be a leader without a title, so that's what I have been working on... keeping everyone somewhat on task, not going downhill and keeping everyone focused on why we are out here. Everyone always comes over to our pad because it is "the coolest." But it has been getting out of control this last week and kind of annoying. So this is what I am going to be doing, trying to keep the work going and motivating others to work, and you know me, I don't like to pry into other people's space so I am going to try to lead by example and focusing on the work.

We are like the Fantastic Four. We get along so well and all love each other, unlike in the past... yeah. It's hard to go to bed on time because of the fun we have but I am going to try my hardest to keep them focused even though I am the youngest one in here. So this is my mission lately.

Now as for Ludlow, it is way funny when we go to members houses because of course they already know him! They say, "Hey look it's old school with new school!" (Aka. Ludlow and me) Pretty much everyone we are teaching is new and Ludlow doesn't know them but we figured he came back here for a reason, so we stopped by some of the people that he used to visit and we got back with a person he used to teach before Kennard and now we are meeting with her everyday! We have a lot of investigators around here now with many more to come, I can feel it. As long as we get out there and stay focused which will be interesting. I know I am going to learn a lot this transfer and from Ludlow, and I’m thinking "someone" might be wanting me to work on my leadership skills... Being in the "super busy" El Dorado ward, with all this work going on, in this situation, only having a couple months of experience under my belt, being senior companion, in an apostate apartment, with an unmotivated to do missionary work companion and district leader, = pressure off the wahzoo. And I say....BRING. IT. ON.

I love you guys so much and I am so glad everything went well with Baby Elle and Abby is okay from passing out. You guys are the best family ever!

Sorry if I said too much about nothing... I haven't written in my journal this week and it all kind of came out in this letter to you guys... ha-ha well I have to go now but if you have any questions that I haven't answered or want me to answer please write them in BOLD LETTERS so I can remember and see quickly. I wish I had more time but I have like a half hour once a week to read the letters and hurry and write something back.

Have a good Thanksgiving! Don't die at black Friday!

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---

Transfer #4

Hello Family! Thank you for keeping me updated on all that is going on at home! I love hearing about all these experiences! I get a feeling like I am there with you guys. 


Well, now it's my turn to fill you in on all that is going on here! Let's see where to start? First off, transfers are happening like right at this moment. These are my last couple minutes with Elder Kennard. I am staying here in Lancaster and taking over the area and he is going down to the Valley in Burbank (where I flew into the mission)! I am happy that I am staying here; I love the people here so much and have bonded/connected with so many people out here. The El Dorado Ward is now feeling like a home to me because of the great relationships and knowing EVERYONE. It's great! 
Elder Jackson is staying in the STRIPLING WARRIORS HIDEOUT (AKA the missionary Pad (apartment) in East Lancaster) with me. Elder Emery is going out to Palmdale. So this means that I am going to have spent the most time in the SWH out of everyone. Ha-ha at the end of this transfer, I will have been in this Pad/Area for over HALF A YEAR! 
So my new Companion is someone I already know! His name is Elder Ludlow! He is from Salt Lake. He is an awesome guy! The funny thing is, is that he was already in this area before and showed Elder Kennard around the area right before he got me! Ha-ha small world. Now he is coming back and the person that I replaced in this pad is now my new companion! We are going to tear it up out here. Both of us have spent quiet some time out here and now we can combine everyone we know and DO WORK. The work of the Lord that is. Find, Teach, and Baptize! HOORAY! 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-PA BRADY! 



Awesome experience this week: We got two of our investigators to come out to church this week! 1) Jade 18yr old girl 2) Armando 19yr old boy. We have been teaching Armando for like 3 months and he is what you call a "gang member" but he says he has never had "real friends like us before" We have connected with him in so many ways and he finally came out yesterday! Jade feels like my sister and we are very close with her and the way we met was destiny and the Lord has definitely prepared her and her family. 
-The Castillo family is one of the best families I have met out here. Jeremy is the dad (Member) Erin, wife. Ben, son (10 yrs old) Sarah, daughter (7yrs old and her birthday is May 13th!) Erin and Ben are SUPER SOLID and they are getting baptized on the 11th of December! Then, Sarah, when she turns 8! They all know it's true and have been coming to church every week for the last month and a half! This is another reason that I am happy to stay, to see them get baptized! 


P.S. Call of Duty MW 3 came out this last week and we talked to a lot of people who were camped out for days to get it and everyone has been playing it. It has been driving me nuts!!! Pretty much all of our investigators love it and they know how much I love it too and I told them that we can't play them, so, they let me hold the case of the game and laugh... RUDE! Ha-ha nah it's all good. I have never had more joy in my life doing missionary work and wouldn't want anything to jeopardize this. I will have opportunities for the rest of my life to play Call of Duty 3... and 4... and probably 5... but only 2 years to serve a mission!

 
Thank you all for everything! I have got to go now and get my new companion and say bye to Elder Kennard! Talk to you all soon!

No Regrets... Elder Brady!

Nike (Just do it)

Hello Family!

Thank you for all the letters! They were awesome! This week I also got some letters from the Bishopric/ Brad Simons/ Logan's 1st birthday card/ and a letter from Elder Golden! Great week for letters. Thank you so much.

I am doing really good. Things are going well and Elder Kennard and I have made a complete 180 and are super best friends now and don't want to be separated. Now we think that things are going so well that things will change. We have learned the lessons that we were supposed to learn and now it's time to move on? Heavenly Father definitely knows what he is doing up there and it impresses me how things are working out so well. Transfers are next Monday and we will find out this week what is going to happen. I am excited to see what Heavenly Father has in store for me and the lessons that I need to learn with my next companion. Goody!

This past week we had interviews with Pres. Martin and that was a great morale boost! We also had Combined District meeting and our Zone leaders made us a video of our zone and all the great times we have had so far. The video was hilarious and it was fun to see how many things we have accomplished already! Some things feel like so long ago only because we have done so much!

We were shopping at Wal-Mart and heard the Christmas music too! I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It has gotten a lot colder and we have been bundling up lately. Some members gave us hot chocolate the other day as they saw us ride by! Tender Mercies from the Lord. ---Seek ye not what ye shall eat, drink, or be clothed. For seek ye, fist, the kingdom of God and all else shall be added unto you. --- Very true! I see it everyday!

Christmas... Hummm. Like always, I have no idea. Things that would be nice off of the top of my head would be PLEASE: 1) Lights for bike (Back and Front) 2) Gloves, those nice black ones, in my truck I believe, that we got from Kohl's.... and that's about it? Thank you so much

I have been getting all your emails but I don't have enough time to respond to each, so I try to include it all in this one.  I will try to be faster and get back to each of them the best I can.

Have a great week!

I just want you all to know that I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is God's church once again establish on the earth today. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to receive the FULLNESS of Christ's Gospel and to apply it into our everyday lives! "The True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."-Pres. Boyd K. Packer

ACTING on what we have learned will bring greater knowledge of the Gospel (John 7:16-17) DO the will of the Father and you will know the doctrine.

I love you all and I feel your love.

Love, Elder Brady

---No Regrets---

Happy Halloween

Hello Family! I love you guys soooo much!

Our ward is Dynamite ever since the Sisters got here! The Sisters are awesome, and us four make a great team. Before, we would be getting around 20 lessons in the El Dorado ward boundaries and have a lot of area to cover and not enough time. Now, every week we have been teaching somewhere around 50 lessons a week! (Around 25 lessons per companionship on opposite sides of Ave. J) It's awesome. Also, basically the entire ward council has changes since we have been here and we have a new ward mission leader who is way cool and he is helping us out a ton with rides and lessons lately! I think it's safe to say that Elder Kennard and I know everyone in the El Dorado Ward now. The ward is super cool and we have a member feed almost every night! We look forward to it ha-ha. We are not the best at making meals but we are trying! I have now mastered making hash browns! Yeeeah Sonnn! Anyways though, we also have some youth in this ward that are getting ready to go serve their missions sometime next year and we take them out with us pretty frequently during the week. Their names are Angel and LJ. They are way cool and we have become super close friends and have a ton of fun. They drive us around which is nice. :)

I am glad to hear that Elder Golden wrote you guys! What a nice surprise! He is such a great guy and I really enjoyed getting to know him. We also have interviews with President Martin this week, which I am looking forward to. I am also very curious to find out what is going to happen this next transfer.

Elder Kennard and I have become closer than ever this past transfer and we are basically one person. We experience the same things, think about the same things, finish each other's sentences, know all the same people, basically we know EVERYTHING about each other now. It will be weird to have another companion and start from scratch again. Ha-ha it was funny, the other day, I was in the next room with Elder Jackson and we weren't even talking, but I was thinking about one of our investigators, Armando. And then Elder Kennard runs in and says," What did you say about Armando Elder Brady?” I couldn't believe it. We have now gotten to the point where we can read each other’s minds... nuff said.

Well, yes, today is Halloween and we have no idea what we are going to do tonight. Probably go hit up some nightclub and see if we can find any new investigators? Yeah? Definitely not. Just making sure you're paying attention. Ha-ha but seriously, no clue, but we're missionaries, with the imaginations we have, we will probably come up with something Absolutely AMAZING to do. Besides Lancaster is scary enough as it is. Every night by itself is a nightmare. Lancaster+Halloween=_______, who even knows? I don't even think there is a word to describe it...

Last Saturday we had a Halloween activity/trunk or treat thing and everyone dressed up in the ward and decorated their cars. There was also a Chili Cook off and the Sister, Elder Kennard and I were the judges that had to taste all the chili and come up with creative awards for all 30 of them! It was truly hilarious the awards that we came up with. "The Chili that feels like a Hot air balloon ride, during a sunset, in your mouth award!" Way fun. There was a huge turnout and like 20 of our investigators came! Even though it was a total of like 3 families... It was way good!

My quote of the day: "If your friends talked to you the same you talk to yourself, how long would they remain your friends?"

I hope you guys have a Great day and have a Happy Halloween! Get lots of candy! And remember Abby if you don't get enough there is always more loads in my drawer!

Okay we are going to get creative and have some good clean fun! Ha-ha

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---

If you are tired of the same old story, turn some pages

LIFE IS GOOD!

I am really loving life today and this last week was very hard and to be honest I was not in the mood for missionary work. I was seriously thinking, "I am missionary, I am doing everything right, I'm trying my hardest, then Why don't I feel happy? I was struggling with this and faking a good mood left and right. I began to think it was from my sickness last week that was lingering, but I wasn't sure. Then a couple days ago as I was reading my scriptures, I came across 2 Nephi 10:23.    (I have started from the begging of the scriptures again and I have seriously been dissecting them this time with notes/highlights. it's awesome, I’ve never gotten so much out of the scriptures before... simply just pray before and ask for understanding and let the miracles and Holy Ghost teach you. It really works!!!)    But anyways, back to my story. So as I was reading chapter 10, I got to verse 23, and it literally just slapped me in the face! I don't know what happened but that was my answer for sure. At that moment I felt like that scripture was written just for me and Heavenly Father read it to me.  I just sat there in amazement. Scriptures and the Spirit they carry is the BOMB!

So, to make a long story short, my Spiritual experience for this week was yesterday at church. Elder Kennard and I were teaching the Gospel Essentials class like always and we had another amazing group discussion with the class. There were probably 12 in there this time, the biggest we've ever had! The spirit was so strong in that classroom and everyone was very into it. I then felt prompted to share my new favorite scripture that I just discovered! Yes 2 Nephi 10:23. I gave the class a background of how I was feeling this past week and then shared the scripture. I don't know how, but the Spirit got even stronger somehow and I started crying and couldn't even finish reading it. It took me a good 1 whole minute to read a couple sentences. I finally got over it and bore my testimony and everyone was getting teary eyed as I told them that WE ARE FREE TO CHOOSE FOR OURSELVES. It's that easy. Just simply choose Eternal Life, and DO IT! This is why we are here on Earth. God gave us Agency for a reason. It's 100% up to us what we do with it and where we want to end up in the next life. It's this test that we are in Right Now that will determine where we go for the Eternities.

If we just keep this in mind, (at least for me) it's very hard to let someone peer pressure me into doing something wrong, because I know where I stand, the decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until Heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know and work until he stops me.

Everyone thanked us so much for the lesson but we all knew that it wasn't us that was teaching in there yesterday. Thank you so much Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost for helping us all out yesterday!

I love being a missionary and literally being God's hands around here in Lancaster California.

Thank you so much for all your love and support. I am also very grateful for all the learning experiences that I have been having out here and to have these EXPERIENCES (I don't like to call them trials) because it's all about attitude and how we overcome and learn from these experiences. It's because of these experiences that make us who we are today. Well, this is my thought for this week I hope you liked it, because this has been my life lately...

I LOVE YOU ALL!

PEACE OUT, Living my life Celestial.

Love, Elder Brady

Your son

Here is a fun letter we received from the Bishop's wife in the ward Ty is serving in...

My hubby and I really enjoy your son in our ward.  He is just so sweet and down to earth.  The other night we had them over for dinner and we can't remember what he said, but my husband's response was " are you running for office Elder Brady?"  I wonder if he just had a sweet way of complimenting us about soMy hubby and I really enjoy your son in our ward.  He is just so sweet and down to earth.  The other night we had them over for dinner and we can't remember what he said, but my husband's response was " are you running for office Elder Brady?"  I wonder if he just had a sweet way of complimenting us about something.  Tonight they were over again, there was much discussion about missionary work with my husband, myself and Elder Kennard.  Your son was quiet throughout most of the discussion, which was just fine.  Sometimes that just happens, especially with newer missionaries.  Anyways my husband tried to involve Elder Brady and asked if he had anything to say, and he said "So we are switching nights of eating dinner with you guys from Wed to Thurs this week?"  We all had a good chuckle over that and said how Elder Brady talks about the important stuff!!  He is very kind and loving yet at the same time has a sense of adventure and ready to do what ever is expected of him.  Thank you for raising such a great kid!!  Enjoy PDay!!  I know I will!!  :)  Jackie Whitemething.  Tonight they were over again, there was much discussion about missionary work with my husband, myself and Elder Kennard.  Your son was quiet throughout most of the discussion, which was just fine.  Sometimes that just happens, especially with newer missionaries.  Anyways my husband tried to involve Elder Brady and asked if he had anything to say, and he said "So we are switching nights of eating dinner with you guys from Wed to Thurs this week?"  We all had a good chuckle over that and said how Elder Brady talks about the important stuff!!  He is very kind and loving yet at the same time has a sense of adventure and ready to do what ever is expected of him.  Thank you for raising such a great kid!!  Enjoy PDay!!  I know I will!!  :)  Jackie White

1st Baptism

YESSSS! JUAN SANCHEZ got baptized last Thursday! Such a cool experience!

This was definitely the highlight of this past week. We have been working with him ever since I got here and he has been ready for a while. He just got off parole last week and so we could finally baptize him! His whole family is now a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints! We are now going to start the new member lessons with them and they are striving to prepare to go through the temple and get sealed together as a family!!!! Fantastically awesome. It makes me feel so good helping others to achieve this eternal goal and accomplishing the best thing we could ever do in this life! I LOVE being so close with these awesome families and helping them out in any way I can. This IS true happiness.

 

 I love you guys so much and yes last week was pretty action packed and that is usually how every week goes! Stuff is always happening everyday when you are out there talking to random people in the streets and knocking on unknown houses all day long. You never know what kind of surprises that you are going to get and crazy stories that you are going to hear. Every person/house we approach is usually pretty exciting and very... different?  The weather is getting quite cold around here also! Even though it's nothing compared to Utah it is still considered "cold" to having triple digits every day. It's probably around the high 60's low 70's the past couple days and it's been freezing and everyone is wearing jackets now. Ha

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY UNCLE PAUL!!!

2nd biggest news this week: WE HAVE SISTERS in our area now.... yeah sisters. Our ward got split in half this transfer and we have sister missionaries in our ward now. Pretty different, and from what I hear, this is unheard of. But anyways we have been showing them around this week and introducing them to our investigators that are way sweet. I guess it's a pretty big culture shock from where they came from and they are scared at how sketchy this area is. We have just been trying to help them out and make them feel comfortable this past week the best we can.  There is a main road in our area (called Ave. J) and they are taking over the South side of J and we are covering the North side of J. I am now realizing that I love so many of our investigators and have become super close with the people that we visit regularly. We had to give all our people on the South side to the sisters which were very hard. I felt bad for them though. A lot of people would say, "Wait! What?! You're taking my boys away from me! That’s it, I'm moving to the North side..." (Stuff like that) We tried our hardest to talk them up and make the sisters sound really good but on the inside we don't want to leave them too. Oh well, if that's what Heavenly Father wants, it's for the best, and so it is. But any who, besides the sisters coming in and taking half our people, they are really cool! Ha-ha VERY friendly and will definitely make this transfer different! (Which is what I wanted...be careful what you wish for!)

Well I have to go now and I just wanted to say that everything is going really well! I wanted to send you guys a letter, I'm not sure if it got to you... but anyways I just tell you again while I am writing this. Could you please (no rush though) send me one of those USB memory sticks that has a lot of memory that I could store all my pictures on for the rest of the mission just in case something happens or when I send it in the mail and it gets lost. I was going to buy one but found out that they are really expensive and I have one at home anyways... If you could please do this, it would be much appreciated and I will then send my pictures home to you guys once I get them transferred. Sounds like everything is going well around there. Thank you so much for all the details! I love reading them. You guys are all awesome!

p.s. Elder Jackson and I are making up a way cool song on the guitar called "Living my life Celestial" It's super cool! I'll have to make a video of it sometime and send it home.

-Living my life celestial-

-NO REGRETS-

Love, Elder Brady

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!! I love General Conference! Thank you so much for all the support and the PACKAGE! That was AWESOME! It seriously felt like Christmas already... ha.

This week was really good. Where to start? Ok let's just start on Monday. We were walking back to our apartment after visiting a couple investigators that lived in nearby apartments around 9:00 when a car that was parked next to us started throwing eggs at us! Knowing us and our ninja skills, we dodged all of them then I raised my scriptures up into the air and they drove away!!! Ha-ha priceless. Then as we were walking down the next street, they did a drive by and came up behind us and one of them drilled me right in the leg! I took the bullet for Elder Kennard because he was hiding behind me. I then just raised my scriptures in the air again and they hurried and peeled away! Love it. Once we got home, we had a surprise in our apartment. President Martin and his wife were waiting for us while talking to Elders Jackson and Emery! They wanted to see how we were doing. I then walked in with an egg all over my pants and said, "PRESIDENT, I LOVE THE MISSION AND BEING A MISSIONARY! Everyone got a pretty good laugh.

Then Tuesday, we were knocking in a neighborhood right behind Wal-Mart when all of the sudden cop cars started flying up and down the streets with officers running through. We were so confused, then a cop asked us if we had seen a black male wearing all black running through this neighborhood because he just attempted to rob Wal-Mart? And in the process stabbed someone 3 times! What!!! It was so intense. We just stayed on the front porch of someone’s house and waited for them to catch this guy. There were THIRTEEN, yes, 13! Cop cars and at least 20+ officers patrolling in this neighborhood. They were everywhere! Finally they located this guy in the backyard of the house across the street from us! They started braking down the fences and getting back there and chasing this guy down and arresting him… it was EPIC.

Then I had a companion exchange with Elder Bennett Thursday and Friday! He is our Zone Leader and goes home tomorrow! NOOO! We have become super close and we wanted to hang out before he left so he requested me for 2 days! It was so much fun. Elder Kennard was not very happy about it. He has a hard time getting along with anyone in our District and I feel like I’m the mediator between him and his own District. As I was talking to Elder Bennett he said that so far I have been a Mop Elder and probably will be for the rest of my mission... (Mop Elder as in cleaning up every one's messes) I really do feel like the therapist around here. But speaking of this, we got transfer calls and everyone thought I was going to take Elder Kennard spot at District Leader but come to find out, NOTHING. Nothing is changing again! WHAT! I want to see something new and experience something different! I feel too comfortable here now. But here we go! Bring it on. I know this is part of Heavenly Father's plan so I will go and do.

Conference was awesome! We got to watch all the sessions in our church building! It was so much different. Us missionaries were the only ones in there and we brought some investigators to watch it with us. At the Priesthood session, there were only like 30 people in there! Compared to having a full house and it being completely packed back at home.

I don't think I have ever watched ALL the sessions before... I LOVED IT SO MUCH! I couldn't get enough. Elder Jackson and were blown away by how fast it was over. I love Elder Jackson. He is awesome. He reminds me a lot of Andy and his mannerisms. He is hilarious and super cool. We spend a lot of time together at the apartment. Definitely makes life a lot more fun.

WE SHOULD BE HAVING OUR FIRST BAPTISM THIS THURSDAY!!! Juan Sanchez. He gets off parole either today or tomorrow and we have been working with him for a while now and he is super ready! Hopefully everything goes according to plan! So exciting!

My Pre-Earth friends: We met with Carrina Cruz and her son Dillon Stafford (14yrs old) and we taught them for the first time yesterday morning and brought them out to conference with us for the 1-3 afternoon session. They loved it and Dillon asked me during Randall K. Bennett's talk what he has to do to gain this Eternal Life. And so I told him and they both decided and said they want to get baptized!! We went over again after conference last night and they fed us dinner! We laughed a ton and I have never connected with anyone so QUICKLY and so well before in my life! We taught them some more and had a great time with them last night! Right before we left they wanted to give us a hug because we had already established this super strong love for each other. Then we talked about how we didn't even know each other on Saturday! It was such a crazy feeling and I know that I knew them before somewhere :) :) :)  

As you can tell, we had some extra time today to e-mail. I wish I always had this much time.

My last thought and testimony for you guys is that God DOES ANSWER OUR PRAYERS and he answers them perfectly. He knows us better than we do and knows our potential and will put the obstacles/trials/experiences that we need to have in order to push us to our full potential! What I have been trying to figure out lately, and what we should all try to figure out, is who we were before this life and why we were saved and chosen/chose to come to this world in these last days. We are the strongest and chosen generation. INDIVIDUALLY figure out our duties and Destinies to help bring to pass God's great and marvelous work. We are God's hands, so we should act like and serve each other. Don't get caught up in these worldly things and materials. All the riches in the whole world would not even be able to purchase a loaf of bread in Heaven. Worldly possessions will get you nowhere. God loves the humble and meek and they will be the richest in Heaven! Set your heart upon the things of Heaven and not of this world. For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH and think about each of you all the time! Thank you so much for everything and the great examples you are to me!

P.S. don't get used to lengthy letters like this because I usually am really short on time ha :) Love ya

<><><>ELDER BRADY<><><>

          ---NO REGRETS---

2nd Transfer down...

So this is the last week of the transfer and we will find out if things are changing or not. Pretty exciting! Whelp, thank you so much for all the letters this week, Grandma Erickson, Grandma/Grandpa Brady, Brade, Lynds, Mom/Family! I love you guys! I have not yet received the "package" but I am super excited! Thank you!

This week has been pretty good. I went on companion exchanges with Elder Ruiz this week which was a blast! It's nice to be with other missionaries once in a while considering Elder Kennard and I have been together for 12 weeks! But yeah it was great, we ran into a VERY interesting guy as we were knocking... George... an Atheist! He does not believe in God. Crazy, I know. Poor guy. We had a very deep conversation and Elder Ruiz and George was going to get in a fight and I was trying to calm the situation... It got pretty ugly and I finally just said, "What would it take for you to believe there is a God, George?" then he said he needed some evidence and not to get brainwashed like we have been... Then we sat there in silence, then I slowly reached into my backpack and pulled out a Book of Mormon all Epic like and pushed it towards him across the table and said, "Here's you evidence, George" ......ha-ha he sat there stunned and was speechless. After a while, he finally kicked us out/ we ran away, but the Book of Mormon is still sitting on his table in his house. MISSION ACCOMPISHED. ;) After that experience, Elder Ruiz and I were a little shaken up, but experiences like these only make us stronger!!! I love it!

This week the Spanish Elders had a baptism!! And I was asked by Darleen (the one getting baptized) to participate in her baptism and give a talk, and I said yes. Then come to find out I was supposed to give a talk in Spanish...? Whoa, Como estas? What? Ha-ha so yeah we all know I don't know Spanish and I was about to give it in English but then we all decided it would be best if Arrieta gave it. Bummer, I know, Darleen is awesome and just turned 18 on Friday. Our whole District threw her a party and gave her a cake on Friday. It eventually turned out to be a disaster. Cake flying everywhere and smearing it in each other’s faces. 8 Whites shirts, Ruined. ha-ha nah jk it was awesome though. Darleen said it was the best party she has ever had! MISSION ACCOMPISHED. Anyways, about the baptism. We brought an investigator, Armando, (who plays soccer with us on Saturday morning) to Darleen's baptism. He thought she was sooo pretty and wanted to get baptized right then and there! Ha-ha very funny experience. Then I introduced them to each other and she bore her testimony (WHICH WAS AMAZINGLY AWESOME!) about baptism and how she felt so clean and pure and gets to start a new life sin free along with the commitment to follow God's plan. It hit Armando so hard and he really wants to change and follow through with this so we are all very excited about that!

Alright well I have to go now. I have become super close with Elder Bennett and he goes home in ONE WEEK! What? Noooo! So we are going to have one last companionship exchange and Do Work together on Thursday! Pretty excited for that. But besides that, Enjoy General Conference and sorry I won't be providing the treats at Priesthood this year...

Love you guys and thank you so much for all the motivation, thoughts, and Prayers! I can really feel it and I feel so blessed! Talk to you next week!

Love, ELDER BRADY

Homie G/L-Unit came to church!

Wow! Super crazy week! Not a lot of success on paper, but we sure improved a lot this week!  We had many meetings this week! First we had Zone Conference, then the adult session, ZDM, District Meeting, Stake Conference... yeah, a lot of meetings. It was awesome though! At Zone Conference, we had all the missionaries in our entire zone come up to Lancaster (about 75-100 missionaries)! We heard that a General Authority was going to come speak to us! We got there and it was Elder Golden. He is such a great guy.  We started out the meeting with zone reports and stuff and then out of the blue, they called on a couple random missionaries to bear their testimonies and share some words with everyone.  Talk about Pressure! After testimonies, Elder Golden talked to us for probably 2 hours! It was a very good meeting! Everyone was in Awe. Then at the end of the meeting, President Martin said," We will now have a couple of missionaries interview with Elder Golden." He called on 4 missionaries and... Yes... Wait... What? He called my name?? Wait, Elder Brady..? Yes. It was me! He was interviewing some zone leaders and then, there's me... ha-ha probably one of the youngest ones there. So we each got to have a personal interview with Elder Golden. It was awesome and very inspiring! An interview with a General Authority... nuff said.

Then, yesterday we were getting ready to go to stake conference which was at 10 instead of 9 am. We walked over to some investigators apartments and knocked on their doors to wake them up for church like we always do, and Jasmine and Larry came to the door dead tired.  We visited with them and told them that church started in an hour and they said yes they would come! It was very complicated getting them a ride and getting us there with them as well. But we did it! Larry, Jasmine and their 2 kids came to church!!! First investigators we have had make it there! It was an amazing experience watching them as they entered for the first time and just observing them throughout the meeting. It was so much different and totally opposite from what they are usually around. They were amazed! We introduced them to a ton of ward members, showed them around the building, and answered some questions. Larry and Jasmine said, "These were the nicest people they have ever met!" They were excited and decided that they were going to come every week!! Hallelujah!! I feel like somehow I knew that they were going to say that (smart-alike) Ha-ha it was funny though watching Larry walk in for the first time wearing Sweats, a pair of high top Nikes, Tall white Tee, and a backwards baseball cap while holding his two daughters in his arms. Absolutely priceless. Different, but hey they made it and that's all that matters! Awesome experience.

Hey I actually do have a request this time! When you decide to send me a little something, something, could you send me one of those Plan of Salvation puzzles that they have at the missionary mall please?  Elder Kennard has one and it is awesome for teaching that lesson to little kids! Thank you so much! I love you guys so much!  Thank you so much all that you have done for me. You guys have made me who I am today and without you I wouldn't be at this point. I am very grateful to be on a mission and to learn so much everyday and strive to be better continually. Also to be raised in such an awesome family because I see every day out here how difficult it can be without one. We are here on Earth to Learn, Grow, gain experience, be happy, and PREPARE ourselves to me God. In order to reach the Celestial Kingdom, we need to be Celestial material! (D&C 88:22ish... I think) so let's live Celestial Lives now! The sooner the better EVERYONE always say!

P.S. we have been eating "Ghetto Cheesecake" (simply an Oreo with Easy cheese sprayed on top) Amazing... you should try it, ha-ha. I have been introduced to so many crazy things out here.

Love you guys!

Love, ELDER BRADY

--NO REGRETS--

When it rains... it pours!

So I only have like 5 minutes today so I figured that I would hurry and write a short story that happened this week!

One morning we started tracking just like we always do and when we left the apartment at 10 it was pretty overcast and felt extremely good outside for once! We were loving it, and loving the feeling that our faces didn't feel like they were on fire. So we were out talking to everyone and going from one appointment to the next, when all of the sudden, we felt some rain drops!!! Whoohoo! Then we heard some thunder and we looked around to see some huge rain clouds coming our way! Very exciting. Just then we saw a huge wall of rain coming down the street and everyone was freaking out! It was the coolest/most awesome thing ever. Just then it hit us like a ton of bricks and we were probably 2 miles away from our apartment and our next appointment. So we kept on tracking towards our appointment! Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy especially when it started Hailing! We were soaked and the draining system in Lancaster is not very good considering this happens about once a year.  So the streets instantly filled up from curb to curb and until you couldn't even see the middle of the street! It was now a legit river. We were biking through 1-2 feet of water making our way to our appointment Yelling, “the Gospel must be shared!!" hahaha it was awesome! It was unreal and garbage cans were floating down the streets... The rain made it super foggy and you couldn't see anything past a quarter mile because of how much rain was coming down. So we finally pulled up to Keith and Vivian Cones house (the Lancaster Baptist family that is super nice but don't believe that God has a body and other things like that) (and also the picture that I sent you of Benjamin and Joseph, that family) anyways, everyone was looking out of their windows admiring the rain when we pulled up to their house.  They instantly ran to the front door and said, “What are you guys doing out THERE! Quick! Get in HERE! (Yelling over the rain and thunder) Just then we got off our bikes, crossed the river and nonchalantly walked up to their front door as they waited for us.  (At this point they was NO way we could possibly get any more wet) Then, with an epic voice as we approached their house, I said, “Keith, we came to tell you that God, Has, A body." and they all laughed and they really respect us and know that we truly do care about them. We have great conversations and I have a good feeling about them. They will know of the truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saint! The Book of Mormon works miracles.

I love being a missionary and experiencing moments like this. It strengthens my faith and I know without a doubt that I am doing the right thing and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not knowingly, has blessed my life so much! It's out here on a mission that I am now realizing how important it is to have in our lives. We are so blessed to know of this message and to apply in our everyday lives! I see it every day!

I love you guys so much and I thank you so much for all your support and I'll talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Brady