Thanksgiving

Sup Fam!

So thank you so much for the awesome packages! Right after Elder Johnson and I finished talking at a baptism, President Jex came over to me and pulled me aside as gave me the surprise packages! So unfortunately, I didn't get to see Bill, but all the missionaries sure were jealous when Pres. Jex hooked me up haha. I feel like I have a lot of connections right now after serving around California for a year and a half. Definitely feel like these people are my extended family out here. So we got transfer calls this week and we are... staying together! Yes! Still keeping it up with being for each of my companions for 2 transfers or more! I feel like just 6 weeks wouldn't be enough time to get to know someone anyways. So we are super happy about that! We will be together for Christmas and New Years! Nice!

This week has been super chaotic... Started off with knocking around on random street doors and coming across a bunker house with "gate keepers". So of course we love mysterious/potentially awkward situations, so we knocked on and talked with the gatekeeper... long story short he let us in and a bunch of his buddies were inside camping out in tents and it looked like a giant fort house! It was so awesome! And of course they were playing PS3 and Xbox games haha. But after we finished hanging out with them we came to find out that they were a socialist group that was rebelling against the government/banks and were on "strike" camping out in their foreclosed home "for a total of 87 days now". Then on our way out they had to hurry and slide their gate closed and lock down because cops were coming down the road. The cops warned us not to go near there because they are very dangerous people... needless to mention that we were just inside hanging out with them for a while having a great conversation about God and that they were super nice... Crazy experiences as a missionary.

Then on Thanksgiving morning we were having a Mexican turkey bowl activity where we play soccer instead of football. And right after we finished we get a call from president needing assistance from us. One missionary got emergency transferred so elder Yovanno joined elder Johnson and I this past week. So we were in a Trio this past week! It has been so much fun! Definitely a week to remember. Long story short, we have been covering 3 wards with Elder Yovanno this past week. Van Nuys 1st, Northridge 1st, and the Northridge YSA ward. Talk about a crazy Sunday yesterday! haha and a Thanksgiving night to remember with 3 Thanksgiving dinners, one in each ward! This week has been super draining but Elder Yovanno will get a new companion tomorrow at the transfer meeting.

Lastly, Rhenz is still getting baptized this Sunday! He is super solid! He wants us to help him so he can serve a mission too! He asked me if I would confirm him on Sunday! I have done quite a few baptisms but this will be my first time confirming someone a member of the Church! So I am super excited about that! Well I got to get going but I'll talk to you again very soon!

Love ya!

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---

Thanksgiving!

Aloha!

Thank you for all those great letters! Sounds like you guys are definitely staying busy at home! I can't believe Lynds and Braden are going to move here to L.A.!  That's crazy! Definitely a lot different from Utah... just look at the picture I sent dad when he receives his birthday gift this week haha. Ridiculous, and that's just a taste of your in-town "scenery" around here... Anyways, this week is going to be a short e-mail. We have transfers coming up this week and one of our sisters is getting transferred early so we have to help her out today. She is going to the grand land of Valencia! She is Korean and they need her to open a new area up in Santa Clarita!

This week, an awesome member is going to feed us on Thanksgiving Day! So we are super pumped about that.

Our investigator, Rhenz, is doing very well and is ready to get baptized on Dec. 2! Elder Johnson and I have really been having a lot of fun here in the valley. We also were helping at the mission office and we played our cards right with the office staff and we scored a new car because they love us so much! Our last car was a beat up valley car with 50,000+ miles on it! So we got a new 2013 Cruz! It's awesome and all the missionaries are super jealous of our "connections" :) . Also one more thing I will mention is that we had an "operation gratitude" this past week! Where volunteers throughout the community came together to make care packages and stuff for the National Guard! We made some parachute bands, and most importantly, sorted tons of candy! With all the candy that was donated we could have filled up my entire room with it! But we had to go through all that was donated to make sure it is legitimate. We found a couple of toys and such we had to take out as well as anything that would symbolize a body part because it could be "traumatizing". So we probably spent over 2 hours sorting hand fulls of candy and throwing it into trailers. Epic.

Sorry, I have to go! We are going to have a California snowball fight zone activity! (Aka. socks full of flower) Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

No regrets

Granada Hills

Hiya! So this week has been super busy for Elder Johnson and I! We got the GPS and it is so helpful thank you!!! We made some trips up to Santa Clarita for ZLC, and i am really starting to like those! It was so much fun to see all the other zone leaders serving around the mission! Kunz goes home in 2 weeks! Dang!!! Same with my father, Elder Kennard! Crazy stuff... very sad. 

This week we set 2 more baptismal dates with a father and a son! December is looking like a great month for multiple baptisms so we are lovin life right now! Elder Johnson and I are really kicking things off well, we are working hard and having tons of fun! We had companionship exchanges with the Elders in Northridge YSA ward this week that are covering the whole valley and we visited a referral up in Topanga/woodlin Hills area (aka the richest area in the mission) and that is such a nice area! As we were driving up through the hills this elder i was with took me to the top where you could see the whole valley and then you turn around and you could see downtown L.A. off in the distance and the Beach/Ocean! It was crazy to see how close we really are to all that stuff! Oh haha and come to think of it, on that JPS, it listed a previous search of Anaheim (Aka Disneyland!) as only 30 miles away! Our zone is awesome. We trained them last Friday and it's a whole lot easier keeping a group of 12 under control rather than 22! We have also been having a lot of fun and we have been bringing basketball games here every Monday for those who want to play, and it's becoming tradition now! Elder Johnson is... you guessed it, my best friend. Just like the past 5 companions of mine have been. We have so much in common too it's crazy! He played football as well loves Michael Jordan apparel! We even both have Mosiah 2:17 as our missionary plaque! It's hilarious how much we have in common but i will just leave it at that for now. :) 

Sorry we've been super busy today and i proposed the idea of making zone shirts and everyone is super excited so we'll probably be doing that here as well. So we got to go now! 

I love you all! Have a great day! Talk to you again in a couple minutes! (1 week in missionary time:) 

Love, Elder Brady

no regrets

The update

Hello family!

Thank you so much for those pictures! I'm glad you guys had a great Halloween! We all laughed so hard when I pulled up that Halloween jib jab card from Braden... I definitely was not expecting that. We did do the monster mash pretty well though! Our Halloween was pretty fun as well! We were not allowed to go out after six so our whole zone got together and we played games, got pizza, and just partied! Our missionaries in this zone are awesome! It's so fun hanging out with them. I'm still trying to get the hang of this ward... It's all over the place ha. They are mostly off doing their own thing and I think Elder Johnson and I need to do some work to gain their trust or something because we only have like 4 dinners this whole month! Very different from Valencia, where they were fighting over spots to feed us for even the upcoming months! Well, we'll just have to change that somehow and show them how awesome missionaries are!

This past week we had some miracles! We have been teaching a less active family trying to get them to come back to church and their extended family are not members. The less active work is golden here! So while we were teaching, a 17-year-old Filipino kid named Rhenz, came in and joined in the lesson wearing a Kevin Durrant Jersey. So we started talking about basketball and we ended up playing some pick up games with him. Long story short, after getting to know him and becoming friends with him, he now has a baptismal date for December 2nd! We were trying to figure out if he was really serious about baptism and we invited him to come to church. Then yesterday, Rhenz showed up, and the less active family we have been working with, brought him! Magical! Two birds with one stone! So the work here is starting to pick up. :)

This is the major event of this week, and mom, don't worry, something that I have come to find out is that change is a good thing! Just like how Pres. Monson changed the missionary age limit... shocking at first, different, but it's perfectly what Heavenly Father wants for us and it ALWAYS works out. Also, we can't get too comfortable, we need new experiences! If they only fixed things when they were broken, I would probably still be in Saugus 3rd with Norton where everything seemed to be going perfectly! But now I was there and now I am here and wouldn't change these choice experiences for the world. Your counselor needs that new experience and will do great at her new calling!

 So I can't believe Logan is 2... That's crazy. Mom, I’m glad you liked that card, it definitely was one of my favorites! Dad, you too have something special coming your way this month! ;) Oh and a GPS would be Super nice to have, but I don't need a new one... If I got a new one, I should have gotten it at the beginning of my mission... but it's pretty late for that! I could just give back your GPS when I come home to save money!... just thought I would throw that idea out there.

Well, this is all for now! Keep Reading, Praying, and going to church cause that's how we endure to eternal life!

Love, Elder Brady

No Regrets