President Martin's Last Week

Hey Hey Family!

First off, I just have to say, that I just had an adrenaline rush looking at those pictures you sent me from the Lake Powell trip! Holy cow I miss that place so much Ha Ha. It sounds like Jason pranked you guys pretty well! "June Fools!" Ha ha, that is so funny. Well yeah, Pres. Martin leaves at the end of this week and they are going to give us one last departing training on Tuesday. Pres. Hall will arrive this Friday. Right when President Hall arrives and steps foot in the mission, he then has the Mission President Mantle and Pres. Martin has to take off his badge... so sad! It's sad to think we'll have to take off our badges someday as well... 

But on a happier note, we spent some really great time with him this week. I even had the opportunity to talk with him for like a half hour in the celestial room! That was a cool experience. We even spent some time at the mission home yesterday and he signed my guitar and wrote a big message on there along with all the other signatures I have acquired. That guitar is becoming very sentimental to me and I wouldn't sell it for the world. This week has been really good for Elder Otis and I. We had 6 investigators show up at church yesterday and we even got invited to attend a Baptist church as long as they came to our church. So long story short, we went to the Placerita Canyon Baptist church and they introduced us to everyone and it seemed like they were all putting on "happy faces" for us. But deep down they despise us... Anyways though, they have an awesome band and I felt like I was at a concert! Ha Ha. It's definitely a cool place to be entertained and party, but not a very good place to go to receive truth... They started bashing us after and we just left as politely as we could. It felt like we Daniel in the Lion's Den! Crazy! Come to find out, they attend the "Masters College" which is not a very good place to become educated. They take classes there that are for the total purpose of "How to Prove Mormon Missionaries wrong..." So they all have crazy ideas about us and whip out papers with questions to ask, then report them back to their classes/professors how we respond... Ha-ha so pathetic. As you can tell I wasn't a big fan of how they treated us, but the spirit helped us out a ton. The scripture just kept coming to mind that "contention is of the devil" and it wasn't worth it to talk with someone with that mindset. But we kept our cool and stayed nice so hopefully we left a good impression on them. Anyways, enough about Baptist...

Our investigators, who are actually investigating the truth, are doing really good! :) Daphina, and her daughter Tanisha are planned to get baptized July 7th. They came to church again and love everything about it and are already converted! We are just waiting for her to prove to us she is conquering her addictions. She struggled last week, but spiritually, she I growing stronger everyday!  We are stoked for them to get baptized. She is already doing missionary work as well. Last week we taught two new kids because Daphina has been inviting her neighbors over to sit in on our discussions when we go over and telling them how much it is changing her life for the better! So we are now trying to get to all their friends in their circle of influence within their apartment complex.

To answer some questions really quick, President Carlson is a different stake president. He is over the Valencia stake. President Lindberg is over the Santa Clarita stake, which I used to be in. These are the only two stakes in Santa Clarita Valley. 

Elder Norton got another companion! I'm still the only one that he has been with for more than one transfer. He is very lucky though, he got moved up to Bishop/Mammoth area! So he sounds like he is doing really good up there from his phone calls. 

And yes you're right, In n' outs are everywhere and it's probably my favorite fast food place by far, besides Training table, but that's not an option right now... Ha. 

Now my last thought before I get going has to do with what we trained our zone on this week... It's interesting to see how the most powerful thing to bear testimony of it what you are currently going through. So this week for me was Prayer. Doing our best to make our prayers very meaningful. Matt. 6:6-8...We should not use vain repetitions or phrases that don't have meaning to us. He doesn't want to hear that. I could go on forever and ever about prayer... How Enos "wrestled" night and day... the Definition of Prayer in the Bible Dictionary... (He has blessing prepared for us and they are given to us upon our asking for them) D&C 101:7-8... My motto for this week.--- "WHAT YOU PUT INTO YOUR PRAYERS IS WHAT YOU'LL GET OUT OF THEM."---- Alma 34:27-28... then with what you pray for, don't be a hypocrite and just say it, DO IT! 

This is my thought for this week and what I'm working on :) Prayer takes a lifetime to master. We just need to continually work on it. 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Brady

//// NO REGRETS ////

Happy Father's Day

Happy Fathers day Dad! Sounds like you're celebrating it the right way...On Lake Powell! Sweet! 

Thank you for all the support and birthday wishes this week they were great! And thank you Lynds, Brade, Kris, and Jas for helping me celebrate it all week! :)

I might have bought a new backpack with the b day money... I am really excited. My last 1-800 contacts Black backpack is now Maroon/Brown ha ha. So thank you for making this possible! 

This week is going to be crazy as well. We get to go to the temple with President Martin for the last time! We'll be going on Thursday. Then Friday, We will be Training the zone and yes mom, I hit my year mark that day! Holy Cow! It sure hasn't felt like that long... It's pretty funny that you mention that mom because I will hit my year mark as a missionary and Elder Otis hits his year mark as well, but as a Zone Leader! Ha ha hopefully I'm not following in his footsteps! 

I am so excited to go to the temple though, it's so refreshing! 

This past week we had an awesome event take place! We have meetings with the stake presidency and Pres. Martin and we all decided that we should have a get together with the Leadership in the Valencia zone along with all the missionaries! So we did that on Saturday morning at 7:00AM @ Pres. Carlson's house! The houses around here are incredible and President Carlson's "home" should probably be referred to as a hotel. It's gigantic! So all of the Bishops, ward mission leaders, etc. etc. showed up for a huge breakfast! His house is on top of the mountain and overlooks the valley along with a golf course in his backyard! It was incredible as we sat around his lava rocks and steaming pool while we watched the sunrise as uplifted and edified one another with trainings and reviewed our progress on the Valencia Stake Goals. Missionary work is the best. EARLY... But the best :) 

President Carlson said something that made it in my quote book. He said, "You know, the Early Bird gets the worm! And that always makes me think that the worm was already up as well!" 

I love the mornings. It seriously is my sacred grove. Studying the scriptures in the morning is so rejuvenating to the soul! Revelation is so powerful and clear in the quite calm morning. Whether us missionaries decide to study or not in the morning can either make or break your day. It influences attitude a lot as well. So Elder Otis and I have made our studies a huge priority. 

One thing that hit me pretty powerfully yesterday morning was simply the principle, Faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, Faith is simply belief+works= Miracles! But is there a difference in FAITH in Jesus Christ and TRUST in Jesus Christ? Yeah we believe that he exists... but do we trust what he says by our actions? 

The revelations that have come to me as a missionary are incredible. I never really knew how to "listen" to the spirit very well before the mission and I am very grateful for my mission and the practice I've had with Heavenly Father teaching me how to understand the language of the spirit. 

My last thought is about Daphina and Tanisha. We planned on baptizing them the end of this week but we felt that they need more time so it's not rushed so we pushed it back a week. They totally have the desire but we are helping them maintain keeping the all the commandments and get those good habits established now so they will be much better off with keeping the covenant of baptism in the future with the assistance of the Holy Ghost.

I love you all! We're going to go do some Martial Arts now! Keep up the great work family :) You're awesome. And multiplying like crazy :)

Love, Elder Brady

---No Regrets---

Transfer #9

Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Hello Family! First off I would just like to say thank you so much for all the e-mails/thoughts and gifts! They are awesome! I have been sitting here for the past 45 minutes just straight up reading e-mails! It's so great! The downside is that we have to get going soon so I try to write as much as my fingers can type before then! 

NEWS UPDATE: Elder Otis and I are STAYING TOGETHER! We are so happy. Every other Zone Leader companionship had a change except for us! Amazing! We also figured out that Elder Otis is the oldest zone leader in the mission and I am the youngest! Quite the deadly duo! ha ha. So we are VERY happy about how things are going right now. Things are going to get crazy this transfer! President Hall comes at the end of this month and right when he enters and steps foot in the mission boundaries, he then has the mantle and President Martin is no longer our mission president :( Pretty crazy how that works. So we imagine we will probably be helping Pres. Hall out a lot when he gets here. And Elder Richards, the assistant to the president goes home, so we'll have a new AP as well! Lots of changes. We had our last Zone Leader Council with Pres. Martin... He just informed us how we'll be able to help with the mission president exchange. So we will see how that goes! We think a lot of things are going to change, which will probably be good. Give the mission life a little spice! 

Anyways, It sounds pretty eventful at home still! You’re going to Lake Powell? Lucky! I'm so jealous. 

Elder Otis, Elder Verive (one of our District leaders) and I have been doing Marshal Arts on P-days with some members! It's so intense! We are literally dying on the floor after our trainings! We are getting pretty good though! So watch out! I might be a black belt when I get home. :) Ha-ha nah, jk. 

Daphina update: So Daphina is doing extremely well with overcoming her addictions! We have still been meeting with them every single day since we met them. They love us so much and we all enjoy being together! She calls us her little angels... Last Monday, she was struggling really bad and freaking out when we got to her house. She demanded her cigarettes back that we destroyed and we told her we didn't have them... After being furious and needing one SUPER bad we finally got her settled down said a prayer and shared scriptures with her for about an hour. By the end of our visit, the spirit completely filled the room and she was totally calm and was stating her purpose with her head back on straight. Thank goodness... Then we helped her to recognize it was the spirit helping her right now and she didn't even notice at the moment! Then she broke down and said she had no desire to have a cigarette again! Absolutely amazing. The spirit TRANSFORMS us when we let Him into our lives. Then we agreed that this was a perfect example of why we need to visit her every single day and bring the spirit into her house until she is baptized and has the spirit with her! Daphina is doing amazing and her 15-year-old daughter (Tanisha) is super supportive and loves it all so much! Daphina is usually drunk for 14 hours of the day and smokes a whole pack of cigarettes a day. Since we first met her, she hasn't taken one single drink and she has only had 7 cigarettes in the past two weeks!!! We also had a little meeting at the Whitmore's house yesterday where we invited Daphina and her daughter Tanisha to come. The purpose of these meetings is just to get our investigators more comfortable and get to know the ward members so they can fellowship into the ward smoothly after baptism. Our meeting was on Satan’s influences and how to recognize them. Daphina started bawling because she is very sensitive to spirit and being in the awesome atmosphere of the Whitmore's home. Ladies that were there comforted her as she wipes away her tears and says," I KNOW THIS IS TRUE. I KNOW I NEED TO GET BAPTIZED. SATAN IS WORKING VERY HARD AGAINST ME. THANK YOU ALL FOR DOING ALL THIS FOR ME." It was so powerful! This has been an amazing experience and please keep praying for her!

Quick weekly thoughts: 

Trials are blessings. We must face them and overcome them. It is how we grow. It's the purpose of this life. Grow, gain experience, prepare to meet God again and have JOY in the process! God will never give us a command we cannot fulfill... (1 Ne. 3:7)

----LIVE FISH SWIM UPSTREAM----

"No Effort is ever wasted"  -Abinadi

Unfortunately, we had a very sad instance in our zone where a sister went home this week.    Nobody ever saw it coming. (Sister Welker, Layton, UT) There was nothing we could do... President Martin said she was struggling with personal stuff.  

Zone Leader advice. "No matter how many sheep you find... DON'T lose any of the Shepherds" -Brother Rich

Love Elder Brady

---No Regrets---

Newhall 2nd miracles/feelings

Holy Cow! It sounds like this week was spiritually insane for the both of us!

Congratulations Abby! It sounds like your baptism was an amazing day that you'll never forget! I love you so much and I am so happy for you! You look so big in your pictures!

Thank you all for all the amazing letters this week and the birthday wishes! And yes Grandma and Grandpa, I got your letter! Thank you Thank you! Love you "bushels and Pecks!"

I am glad you guys got our video that we finally got thrown together! I'm not going to lie; Heavenly Father definitely helped us out with that. We recorded that I think on Wednesday and we had one free hour that day... So we quickly asked the Sarmiento family (Awesome family!) if we could use their house to record. Then on our way to their home we figured out what we would do for a lesson and we thought of that "egg" lesson but we have yet to teach it together or anything... So once we got there we were going to run over it once together before filming but it was already 4:30 and we had an appointment every hour of the night starting at 5:00!!! So long story short, we were hilariously stressing out about it and just sat everyone down in their house and starting filming right when we got there. The boys on the couch didn't even know what was going on until we told them after! Don't tell anyone but that lesson was us totally winging it... ha ha and then we hurried off to our appointment so we didn't even get to watch it and see if it was good or not? I have finally seen it and we were pretty disappointed with the volume. Sorry about that, we should have done a lot better.  

Anyways! Besides this, we had an amazing week! We have been teaching 20+ lessons every single week so far! In the past 2 weeks we have found 10 new investigators! And this week we set 3 more baptismal dates! We are making this Newhall 2nd ward explode! The members love us so much and we have amazing trust with them. They have struggled with missionaries in the past because they didn't do anything, but they have come to find out that we are not all talk and see us working super hard and we now have them all on our side with helping the work progress! It is so great! That is usually the hardest part, but we think it's safe to say that we finally have the members trust back now. We just started a 40-day fast with the ward and it is going super well! We brought 4 investigators to church yesterday and right away got up and bore our testimonies first, and again dropped a spiritual bomb up in there! ha ha. It's so amazing to me, with this calling that we have, that it seems like every time we have an opportunity to speak the spirit pushes us up there and that Heavenly Father literally speaks right through us! Everyone always thanks us after for what we said because it was exactly what they needed to hear. Interesting how that works... every time. 

I'll tell you guys a story really quick, one of our investigators Daphina and her daughter Tanisha, came to church yesterday. We have been meeting with them every day this past week. Daphina has been a hardcore smoker for her whole life and she is so ready to quit and she is completely trying to change her life as we teach her all the missionary lessons. The gospel is literally transforming her and turning her life completely around. She is overwhelmed but the spirit is always there and comforts her and us reassuring all of us it is completely possible. They are like sponges right now and loved church! She was so happy after the 3 hours of church and we got outside she said," Yes! I haven't smoked for 3 whole hours and I don't even want to!" We then told her that the spirit can change and transform us and it will change her habits, as long as she keeps the commitments we give her, her addiction will be gone! It has been super powerful teaching her. Yesterday after church she wanted to destroy them and she ripped a cigarette up to "destroy her addiction."  Then Elder Otis and I wrote all over her other packs of cigarettes fun and inspirational sayings like "Don't do it! It's a Trap! These will kill you! (Drew some skulls and cross bones) and wrote if you continue smoking you will look like this ---> (pointing at the picture of the Camel.)" ha ha. So pray for her, she is trying really hard. She actually told us to take her unopened packs so we destroyed those for her. 

Miracles are happening right now in our area! We are working super hard and I know I have said this before but I feel like I am the most tired I have ever been my entire mission! Again! For example, we got home last night around 9:30 and had to make our weekly calls to the missionaries in our zone and collect numbers for President Martin. Right after we finished, I laid down on my bed for a sec before getting ready for bed... and then I accidentally fell asleep and the next thing I knew, it was morning and the alarm was going off! Time is going by way too fast right now... Elder Otis and I are hoping so badly we stay together for another transfer this week. We are having too much fun together, we feel the spirit so strongly, we're super tired all the time with everything we are doing, but the spirit always gives us strength! We pretty sure we wouldn't be able to accomplish all that are without this missionary calling. This is so rewarding. Best thing I have ever done in my life. I am so glad I still have a whole year to apply what I have learned. 

I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week!

Happy Birthday Jason!

Love, Elder Brady

<<<NO REGRETS>>>