Your boy!

Brought your son to the temple this morning!  It's a beautiful day in SoCal. Even more beautiful inside the temple!

Last week as a full time missionary...

So many emotions!!!  

Thank you so much for all those birthday wishes! Those pictures were priceless! Yesterday was such an awesome birthday day! Everyone was asking me what i was going to do for my birthday and i would just tell them, "i'm going to church!" :) Some people from down in the valley even found out/remembered my birthday and surprised me at church with a cake! haha. Then pretty much everyone found out and i had a fan club with me for the rest of church! It was hard as a missionary haha. Everyone was treating me like i was some celebrity yesterday. It definitely was a fun day and got a ton of birthday wishes that's for sure! It was a real feel good day as our phone was getting blown up by all the missionaries out here texting me happy birthday. Great birthday for sure, i was super spoiled and realized i know a ton of thoughtful people! Even our dinner appointment made Cafe Rio and brought out brownies and ice-cream! Love the Kilgore family. 

This past week was amazing as we received/gave more trainings than i have ever experienced my entire mission. President asked me to give another departing testimony again since it was my last time at Mission Leadership Coucil. Those are always super hard to give and i get very emotional. It's impossible to put 2 years of experiences into a 5 minutes testimony.  

Friday we ended up training the zone for a solid 3 hours, then right after, about 100 youth participated in this weekends youth conference and we talked with them for 4 hours about what we wish we knew before the mission and answered all of their fun questions that they have been thinking about. It was a good time. We slept like a rock that night after 7 hours of trainings! Then the next day all the youth were pairing up with a missionary in the mission and would tract with them for 5 hours! It was awesome! I got a pretty shy kid from our ward who is 17 and after a while i got him to open up and got the "deer in the headlights" look off his face and he ended up knocking his first door! He was so proud after and kept getting better and better! It was so cool to see him do that. His first door, he introduced himself, then the guy said,"not now," and he asked if we could come back another time and the guy said "no," then slammed the door in his face. He turned and looked at me with a disappointed look on his face and i just immediately said...,"Nice! Your first door! That was awesome!! You're going to be such a great missionary! Then i high fived him and he started smiling and we began laughing about the situation. -It's all about attitude- Then he wanted to keep doing more because he said he loved the peoples' reactions! We had a great time together and he was on fire. Then come to find out, pretty much all the youth returned with this missionary fire and now they all want to come out with us more! Complete success! 

I cannot believe that this is my last week. It feels so weird as everyone around here constantly reminds me! 

I will try my best to find a place to store my stuff until we come back. I've got a couple places in mind, but i'll call President Jex first. Thank you for all your help! 

I love grandma Tripp! I only know of her doing that for 2 other missionaries. She is so awesome. You'll probably meet her at Kena's baptism. She supports all the baptisms in the valley. She is so amazing. We like to call her the Grandma of the Valley. :) 

This week we have a lot to look forward to, and at the same time, not to look forward to! We are having our amazing twice a year mission temple trip this Tuesday! Tomorrow! Then Wednesday i am doing my LAST exchange with a set of missionaries.Thursday is the temple trip day for the departing missionaries so we will be going again then! Wooohoo! Then Friday will be my LAST District meeting, LAST Saturday which we'll be having Ari's baptism! LAST baptism as a missionary. Then my LAST Sunday/sacrament meeting... Probably have more opportunities to bear my testimony and cry some more  for the LAST time;) Then to finish the week, i have my departing interview with President Hall at 4:30 on Sunday. 

It's looking like an amazing week and yet, not, with a bunch of LASTS... 

Anyways, I love you all so much!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! Your the best parents ever!!!

Well, i'll talk to you again soon if i make it alive through this emotionally draining week ahead! :)  

Love, Elder Brady

NNNNOOOO RRREEEGGGRRREEETTTTSSS!!!!! 

HERE ARE THE STRIPLING WARRIORS SAMOAN STYLE!

100th Email?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!  

Thank you for all those letters! No worries mom, thank you for the birthday wishes and you have already taken care of my birthday so no need to send me anything! I'm having trouble as it is just starting to think about how i am going to get all of the stuff i've collects over the past 2 years home? I'm thinking that most of it will just have to be donated to my fellow missionaries... i might have to start over with clothes seeing that i have 8 white shirts and 4 slacks... i don't think that will fly everyday as a regular person again back in college. Who knows though? Dress for success right? I feel that i have made a good habit of that lol.  

As for the Hotel situation, i don't know how much i'll be able to help you out with that... i would say that Anaheim/disneyland area would be best just because i have lived in Santa Clarita for about a year now and it doesn't feel like much of a vacation spot and i would probably just want to visit a whole bunch of people i come to know and continue to teach them the gospel all day... but i won't be able to do that anymore ;( 

But i would like to maybe take a day and visit that Sunday or something!  

Also, as far as trying to get some of my stuff home, i don't think everything will be able to fit in 2 suit cases unless i just trashed a lot of things? So i was wondering if i should leave it with a family here for us to pick it up when we come or just send it with President Jex to take back...? Let me know in the next letter your advice then i shall proceed to act upon that.  

As far as Ari's baptism, her grandma, who has been a huge part of helping us teach and part of her conversion process, got hospitalized a day before, so they postponed it to June15th... So it's still happening we just have to apply the christlike attribute of patience and endure this delay with her. But all is well and things are going extremely well still! We had interviews with President  Hall this past week which is always good!  

This week we have a big week ahead of us. Elder Wright and I are attending the monthly Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday all day, then we are training our zone from 10-1 on Friday, then right after, hosting a fireside/youth conference for all the youth in Santa Clarita, from 2-6, teaching them what we wish we knew before our missions. Then Saturday all the missionaries are taking a youth out from 1-5 to go tracting/teaching and showing them the life of a missionary! It's pretty cool stuff! I wish i knew what a missionary did before i became one haha!  

This is all the update for now except for the guy we just barely talked to and asked him what his beliefs were and he answered,"i believe in Mermaids... They're beautiful creatures" Lol 

Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady!

NO REGRETS

Overwhelming Spirit

So some big updates for this week! Ari is getting baptized this Saturday at 5:00! We've been waiting a long time for this! She is so excited! Then we set 2 more baptismal dates with two other girls, Kelly and Tiffany for June 16th! My last Sunday! At the beginning of the transfer we set a goal to get 3 baptisms before i return home and it's looking good so far! :) The spirit has been so incredibly strong this past week it's insane. We have felt that we are 100% instruments in God's hands numerous times! Just to share how well things are going right now i will share with you our numbers from this past week. 

Goals: 3 baptismal dates; 4 at church; 8 member present lessons;4 new investigators 

Actuals:3 baptismal dates; 7! at church; 9! member present lessons;4! NI's!!!

That is just for our area :)

Then for the zone-

Goals:   7 BD's; 10 @ Church; 21 MP's; 10 NI's

Actuals: 7 BD's; 14 @ Church; 24 MP's; 17 NI's!!!!

These Goals at the beginning of the month were making us stretch and now all the missionaries, in this zone, faith has increased significantly! It's so awesome to see! I feel so much joy for each of these missionaries and being involved with each of their successes! (Alma 29:14-17) Is one of my favorite Zone Leader scriptures... :)

Anyways though, big news! A new missionary got advanced early through the MTC, Elder Pisa from Samoa and came to our mission this last week! They needed a place to put him and saw that we had plenty of room for him here in Saugus. So Elder Ballard is Training him in Saugus 3rd and we are helping him since Elder Ballard is being trained himself haha. It's so much fun. Kind of a language barrier but he has a heart of Gold! We have been wearing the lava lavas(Hawaiian formal dress things) around the house! It's awesome! So right when we got settled down, making both of our plans mesh together, and got both wards under control, they mix things up again! Always keeping us on our toes! "The Gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable!" Haha so true! Happy Always, Content Never!!!

P.s. i got the package this week thank you! And Kena called me this week worried that i wouldn't be able to make it back for the performance of her baptism... I told her "i promise we'll be there",... so we have to be there! July 7th @ 5:00 White Oak Stake Center in Granada Hills,CA! Thank you! As for anything else i am up for whatever we do/ wherever we stay.

Heavenly Father has definitely been blessing us big time! He's spoiling us.

Once you look around you, and take the time to notice his blessings, he blesses you with more. Also if you record them, you'll receive more :) Blessings of having a journal.

"Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done!"

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---

Cali Life in Saugus Wards

Sup Fam! This Past week has gone by way too fast. I am with the 2 most incredible Elders in the mission. We are having such a blast! I am becoming a big fan of Trio companionships! There's NEVER a dull moment! Lately i have been in denial... I don't feel like i am ever going home haha. Like they say, time flies when you're having fun! So, i told Elder Ballard and Wright, guys we need to stop having so much fun... lol. This last transfer is going to go by way too fast! :( 

Sorry for not e-mailing last Monday, but it was awesome talking to you guys last Sunday! It was more of a reality check that slapped me in the face... hearing about all of those updates and knowing that all of my friends are, Married!!! I still can't comprehend it. 

You are on your way to Hawaii!?! Since when? Ha that's awesome. I'm jealous, have fun! I'm glad you liked that picture of the Adams family's tropical backyard. p.s. Is that duac medicine on the way? 

So as far as our investigators that we have, with both wards combined, we have a teaching pool of about 20 investigators! So we are constantly booked bouncing around between areas. We are seeing miracles left and right as we are constantly on the run. We don't know how we are doing it right now, we are just TRUSTING (alma 36:3) in the Lord and it all works out every time! :) This is probably one of the most intense transfers i've had with our very inspired/unexpected Trio we have going on here. It's pretty cool to be back in Saugus 3rd as well, and on Sundays it's pretty awesome to know all the members walking through the building no matter what ward their in. 

I'll quickly share a Miracle of the week. We were able to host 2 companionship exchanges back to back this week. One with the assistants and one with a new missionary! Pretty cool experience to do one right after the other. With the new missionary we had a really cool experience. I went to his area in Canyon Country on bike! It was fun to be back on bike again for a day. Right when the we started the day we set some goals and they were currently struggling to find new investigators. So i asked him if he had the faith that he would find a new investigator that day. He thought about it for a while then said yes i do! So i told him, Great, then we will find one! Right when we went out the door, 10 minutes later we found ourselves at a corner of a stoplight. A guy passed us and we started talking with him. Come to find out, he already had a book of Mormon in his house and has been reading it. He said he decided to convert to Mormon last year and considers himself a mormon but doesn't attend any churches. So we talked to him about it and he is going to start coming to church and we told him about baptism and he hasn't been baptized yet either! He said it's something he definitely wants to do! Miracle! So they are going to start teaching him! Super prepared guy was placed right in our path by the Lord because of our faith! Come to find out, this new missionary was wondering why he was on a mission and thinking about going home. He told me that night, after we had an incredible day talking to everyone we came in contact with, witnessing miracle after miracle, that that experience was a confirmation to his prayers why he is on a mission. Now their companionship has been on fire this past week and got 6 new investigators! Super cool experience!  

Also, a randomly cool side note, i was talking to Kirby Heyborne this past week (main actor from "the best 2 years" movie) and he told me he graduated from Alta! Small world. He is such a funny guy in person too!  

Life is so good right now. Us three are best friends, with a house in California to ourself, two cars, two wards, while being instruments in God's hands everyday all day to change peoples lives for the better! Missions are incredible. Wouldn't give up these experiences for anything! I now know without a doubt that God lives. The Book of Mormon is True. The Gospel of Jesus Christ truly does transform lives, as it has done with mine. Because of my mission, i am now a fully-converted disciple of Christ. Nothing will be able to bring me down as long as i am continually building up my foundation upon Jesus Christ. This Church is soooo True! 

I love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

no regrets.

Your Elders

We're feeding your boys tonight. They all send their love from sunny California!
Have a beautiful day, The Adams Family 

Pictures

Bryant's Baptism

Sup Fam.  

This past week was so awesome! We baptized Bryant yesterday! It happened last night in a members heated/lit up pool surrounded by tiki torches! We started off with a potluck dinner with the ward then did the baptism. It turned out so AMAZING! I wish i could describe how cool it was... Definitely a baptism i will never forget. Everyone in the ward was so excited for Bryant! We even skyped in some missionaries who used to serve here so they could see Bryant dressed up in white standing in a pool surrounded by the entire ward! Very emotional day yesterday. Elder Bates definitely got to go out with a bang and got to do the honors of performing the baptism. He goes home this Wednesday and I will get my next/last companion tomorrow morning... So many mixed emotions right now. Elder Bates has become one of my very close mission brothers just like every other companion i have had! It is just a bummer we only got to be together for one transfer... I guess on the bright side i will be able to have one more mission brother! I will let you know the details next week.  

A couple weeks ago President Hall made an announcement that there are no more 8-5 Zone Leader Council meetings. And the missions are starting a new culture where sister missionaries are now getting leadership positions. So i was able to attend the last ZLC ever as well as attend the first "Mission Leadership Council." It was actually really cool. President would just bring up topics of discussion and we would all throw in our input of how we can improve our mission. Then proceeding that, on Friday we took what we learned and trained our zones. I love how the church operates and how organized everything is, it's so true, and constantly improving.  

Tonight we are also helping out the new missionaries that are coming in. They are going to stay at our house tonight and then we'll give them a training then take them to their new companions tomorrow. I love welcoming the new missionaries and helping them chill out because they always come in so stressed!  

Oh, last Saturday was Elder Bates' birthday, and just like my companions in the past, i planned a couple surprise parties for him all throughout the day with the help of the missionaries in our zone :) It was such a great day, but i think both of us are not going to eat cake again for a while... haha

Besides all of this i guess all of the other updates for this week was that we helped a new young couple that moved into the ward paint their house. As we got to know them, i found out that he graduated Alta High School around the same time as Kristin? He said her name sounds super familiar but couldn't find his year book. His name is Zach Collins if that rings any bells for you Kris... Also we had dinner with the Cook family this week and come to find out sister Cook is Marianne Haslem's sister! Super small Mormon world that's for sure... they said they have even gotten some vegetables from grandma Erickson's garden and know what house i live in! haha super crazy.  

Lastly mom, i would love it if i could get some appointments scheduled at the dentist and such. I haven't had one for 2 years! Thank you! Also i am out of duac if i could please get some more of that. 

I love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

Baptisms

Sup Fam! 

Thank you for all the letters this week! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for your inspiring words! I will definitely pay more attention to the sacrament prayers and reading those scriptures!

Also Congratulations Braden! I told the other missionaries that are here e-mailing with us and they thought it was the coolest thing as well! High fives and celebrations all around! Also, not to be selfish or anything, but i am super happy that you guys are staying close! California is definitely a hot spot and there is a lot of missionary work to be done here! So it sounds like Heavenly Father is sending in his secret weapons here to Cali to progress his work (Braden and Lyndsey!)! No better place than that of the center of the Oakland Raiders ;) 

These weeks just keep going by faster and faster! Elder Bates and I are shocked at how we only have one more week together! Our time together went by way too fast! Last Saturday we participated in the annual Mormon Helping hands service project of painting fences at Canyon Country Park! It was pretty hilarious when they were giving the entire community directions on how to stay organized and productive and they asked, "By raise of hands, who participated in last years service project?" Then out of all the missionaries my hand slowly raised up. So Elder Bates and I were supervisors to make sure everything goes good and people have enough paint and such. It's moments like these make me realize how long i really have been here in California! Feeling like a major veteran now... haha  

Also, Kenna, a girl from Northridge that we started teaching, surprised me at sacrament meeting yesterday! She came up to Santa Clarita to tell me that she is getting baptized and wanted to wait until i finished my mission so i could be there. She said her date is July 7th, and she asked me if that works and i said probably?... so i have no idea really what the schedule will look like when i get back, but do you think that will work?  

Anyways, we have finally made some progress here in Saugus 2nd with one of my favorite investigators, Bryant. He is a black guy that is one of our best friends and we have been spending a lot of time with him lately. He has been taught by missionaries for the past 3 years and i remember when i taught him a year ago when i was on exchanges with Elder Emery! So finally we worked through some road blocks and he has stopped smoking for the past 2 weeks now and we are planning on baptizing him this Sunday! He is a character and has been wanting to get baptized in a waterfall for the longest time, but we couldn't get that to work. Then he wanted to do it in Castaic Lake, but that got complicated as well... Since he doesn't want to do it at the church, we all came to common ground and decided to do it in a members legit swimming pool/hot tub with lights and tiki torches! So this Sunday, the whole ward is getting super pumped and Bryant is really excited for this to finally happen! Everyone in the ward is really good friends with Bryant because he has been coming for a long time now and he is definitely one of the funniest guys i have met on my mission. You never know what your going to get when you go and visit Bryant. Elder Bates will probably baptize him since he has been here longer but we will see. Bryant has his baptismal interview tomorrow so wish us luck! This will also be the first baptism this ward has had since the beginning of last year! Well we got to go, we planned a zone activity of making zone shirts again! Time to get loopy off of spray paint for the next couple hours... 

Love you all! 

Congrats Kristin and Jason on May 1st! :)

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

Full Throttle Mode

Sup Fam!

These weeks just keep going by faster and faster. It's scary really! Elder Bates and I are having such a great time and we are pushing it as hard as we can right now! Things are going really well and i feel like i am literally living the dream right now in this house with 3 other amazing missionaries! When i say that Elder Bates and I are working super hard, i mean we have spent straight up around 30 hours this week spiritual tracting! Praying, then being led to new areas and talking to everyone we can and knocking on doors that we feel prompted to. It's always a hilarious time going around talking with everyone you can. You come home at night with some great stories that's for sure! You never know what lies behind those random doors we knock on, it's always a surprise!  We have found a lot of new investigators this past month since we have been together, now we are just working on solidifying them. One of the strategies we have been using lately is giving out as many Book of Mormons that we can! We gave out 15 last week to only those who committed to read and pray about it! Then as we follow up with those people we can then see who is actually going to progress by keeping that commitment! One lady was having a really rough day and we left one with her and when we followed up with her she said it changed her day completely! Miracles! She was going to bring her family out to church with us yesterday but her little boy tripped and split his lip open right before church and they had to go to the hospital so they couldn't make it... pretty good excuse i guess... We'll let it slide this time:) Jk hopefully their family will make it out next week! Then there are other contacts we have that are not too solid... One lady said she would love to hear our message when her husband gets home, so we were all excited and went back that night! They invite us in, picture perfect family, perfect dog, perfect house, super smiley, fed us cookies, made juice for us, then took the their kids to the back room and put on a movie so they could listen to our message without any distractions! Holy shmoley! I felt like i was in the Truman Show and they were just acting it was so perfect with their smiles and such! Then they sit us down on the sofa and pull up two chair and sit right in front of us... Okay, too good to be true, it started freaking us out. Just then, once we started our message they pulled out their insanely marked scriptures and anti-Mormon literature to bash us and tell us how we are brainwashed and wrong for the next hour. It was definitely a chore to get out of there but eventually we made it out alive! Total set up! 

Anyways, like i said, you never know what experiences you'll obtain when knocking on random doors... but the Lord's work must progress and we will continue knocking! 

 This past week we have also been doing a lot of service. We helped a non-member build a fence in his backyard and we also helped another non-member paint a giant playhouse he just built for his kids in his backyard! Then yesterday we were asked by a new couple that just moved into the ward if we could help them paint their house this week! Professional Painters now? I think so! 

Thanks for helping me with that wallet situation haha. They should be mailing it to me this week. Just hold on to that other card until i get home. I should be fine until then. 

President Killpack!?! That's awesome! I'm super excited for that and that feels very good to me!

Also! I am so excited for Braden and Lynds! This week is super exciting for them! I wish i could stay in tune! Let me know for sure next week when he gets drafted to the Denver Broncos :) ROAD TRIP!

I love you all!

Talk to you again next week!

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

Ty's Email!

Sup Fam! 

This week was most totally triumphant! Elder Bates and I are having a super radical time here in Saugus, Cali! LOL. I can't believe it snowed there!? I'm forgetting what snow is like! We just finished playing sports and having a picnic at Central Park! The weather here is truly incredible. So i guess the big news for this week is that we had 9 of our investigators come to church! So we are blowing our goals out of the water right now! As for baptisms, they are coming soon! We just have to keep pushing them back right now because we feel we are rushing it and they need more time... Or else we could be baptizing every week! So I'll keep you posted on that, but we are excited to see them start coming through. We are hoping we will have some together while Elder Bates is still here. He only has 3 weeks now! Crazy! It's going by way too fast! He is originally from Northern Carolina but his family moved to American Fork one year before he came out on his mission! He is going back to BYU, Provo so I'll be able to keep in good contact with him as well! We are pretty stoked about that. I have never had a companion for only one transfer so it is feeling super short! It's crazy because my next companion is going to be the same way. One transfer is not enough time to get to know your companion in my opinion... 

Elder Ludlow came back and visited the mission with his parents and they tried to get a hold of me but i was on exchanges with the AP's and didn't get to see him... serious bummer. 

I did have a stake Presidency meeting with Pres. Hall and Pres. Lindberg this week! That was awesome! I love the stake Presidents i have served with! President Lindberg was the one whose wife is the sister of Sister Eyre! Or something like that... But when i saw him, he came right up to me and gave me a big hug and said i knew you would be back serving here with me! He is such a lovable guy! 

The last bit of news i have for you, unfortunately, is not very good... With all of the back to back exchanges we did this week i misplaced my wallet, I'm thinking probably around Wednesday and it hasn't shown up yet... So i was wondering if you could please just cancel my card from home and we will be going to the mission office today to cancel my mission card and figure out a way to get a new drivers license. But this is just a little trial because there has to be opposition in all things so with everything going so well, this is expected. haha. But thank you for sending that money with the package! That was very inspired! :) 

Well i got to go, but still love you all sooooooo much!

Have a great week! Keep reading Dad! You're the best!

The Church is true! The Book is Blue! and God is a Mormon! ;)

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

Saugus 2nd - General Confernce - Lots of LOVE

Hey Family! 

Things are going extremely well with us right now! I can't believe i forgot to mention in my last e-mail that we are living in a house! We live with the Saugus 3rd Elders as well! It's definitely the best missionary arrangement in the mission! We feel super spoiled. It's just us four with the house to ourselves. It's such a blast and to say the least, life is good :) 

It's Elder Bates, Me, Elder Shrum (who has been out for 6 months, from salt lake) who is training Elder Ballard (been out for 2 weeks, from Texas, but grew up in the Bahamas). So they are super Legit and us four have been having such a great time together! I forgot how much fun a 4 man Pad is... Starting in one and now finishing in one. The only thing different about this one is i love how mature they are. Everyone here is focused on the work and we all motivate each other and share our miracles/crazy stories of the day for a hilarious time. I have been catching myself literally laughing out loud at the overwhelming joy this whole experience is bringing. I already love these guys so much and it's only been two weeks! I have also been able to help out the Saugus 3rd Elders with the area and people to visit so it's been a very inspiring experience.  

Elder Bates and I attended another Zone Leader Council on Wednesday and then trained the zone last Friday for 3 hours and got very well acquainted with them already and feel we have great relationships with each one of them already! We have been doing 24 hour companion exchanges with quite a few of them already to get to know them better on a personal level. These missionaries are incredible! Elder Ballard is 22 and has such an amazing story about how he sacrificed everything to come out here on a mission and he is just the happiest guy to be a missionary right now! It's crazy, recently i have felt such a burning love that feels like it is just stuck in my chest making it feel like it's going to explode! I can't really describe it very well, but as i have been praying for more charity i have felt a taste of God's love he has for his children and how proud he is of his faithful missionaries. I also got a call from the Meza family this week and all the kids saying how much they missed having us around! As i talked to each of them on the phone for a second Mother Meza mentioned how it feels like her son is calling home from his mission. So many emotions! I'm not really the emotional type, but now as it is getting closer to the end, Heavenly Father is really pulling on my Heart strings with all these amazing relationships and experiences i have been so blessed to have during my mission. Elder Bates and i don't want to waste a moment since he only has 4 weeks left! We have made a rating system this past week of how effectively we are using our time and on average we are working as hard as we can for 90% of the days! When we have any free time we are quickly sharing messages with members and asking for referrals then off to the next place. We have been doing a lot of spiritual tracting when we don't have appointments and spent around 20 hours knocking this week! It's been a blast and we have had some really great experience from running into some that are atheist and yelling/lauging/cursing at us all the way to contacting others who start crying while telling us we have been an answer to their prayers as we teach them! Priceless experiences.  

I also wanted to mention that i got the package! I got a hold of Pres. Jex and he ran it up here to Santa Clarita and i was able to have a great visit with him at our house haha. The salsa is a major hit and we have all been trying to discipline ourselves to make it last the rest of this transfer! It's a serious matter around here and we treat it like gold, so thank you so much for that!  

Then lastly, we were spiritually filled with listening to General Conference again! We watched all the sessions at the stake center with the missionaries in our zone. It was hilarious, we compared all our notes and the inspirations we received to come up with what the theme for each of us was. At the end it was awesome to see all the new missionaries picking out all the cliche missionary work themes and then i was shocked to see that the majority of Elder Bates's and my notes was marriage and families!?! haha everyone seemed to get a kick out of that ;)  We were laughing so hard when we realized that we did this and shocked we are starting to think about this now....?  

P.s. i did get my first ticket a while ago and just hurried and paid it... Unfortunately i made a u-turn where i wasn't supposed to since it was in a "business area". Now i'm terrified of making a u-turn anywhere... But it was a cop who was definitely having a hard day or something because he was not a joy to talk to. Anyways though i was super shocked at the price when i logged onto the website! 250$ burned! For making one wrong turn in California... :( California is insanely expensive! We were confused when others were making that same u-turn but getting away with it even the members we were riding with! haha. But we think it was the lord's way of saying,"No, i assigned you elders to a bike area, and you are still driving cars all the time..." LOL> But now i am officially in a car area so it should be all good :) 

I love you all!

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Brady

20514 Caitlin Ln.

Santa Clarita, CA 91350

NO REGRETS

Transfer 16 info

APRIL FOOLS MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Hey Family! 

So we are running super short on time and we just stopped by the Valencia mall Apple store to e-mail again just like the good ole days :) Can't miss writing my e-mail again, because last time it didn't turn out so pretty...haha.

Anyways, yes you have already heard the news! I am back up here is Saugus 2nd ward serving with Elder Bates! He is such a boss! Probably one of the best missionaries out here. We know each other very well already. Last year when i was in Newhall 2nd, he was serving in the Newhall 1st ward as an assistant and we would do exchanges and hang out all the time. We had milkshakes every sunday night at broher Rich's house. We were in the same zone, so all of those activities we did(marshmallow wars/zone t-shirts, etc.) he was there! We are super stoked to be serving together! We have had a great week this week already! We have 5 baptismal dates and 14 investigators we are teaching! President put us together so we can do some straight up HArD WoRk!!! President gave me an analogy and told me this would be perfect because he has felt that i have been sitting in a plane for the past couple of months and now i am just ready to get out and go running/sprinting around! So he put me in this area with Elder Bates and told us it will be fun to see 2 of his most experienced missionaries together. We are the most senior companionship in the mission! Elder Bates will show me the area this transfer, then go home... Then i'll show someone the area next transfer then go home... CrAzY! This seems to be a really great ward and i am excited to "sprint" around here! So here is the big news! We got to get going now we are planning another zone activity that starts in 10 minutes! We gotta be there! Rugby! :) I love you all! Have a great week! Tell Ludlow i love him! haha

Love Elder Brady

no regrets 

Transfer 16 calls/Brett's baptism

Hey Family!

We have had an amazing week this week! We did get transfer calls! As you know Elder Ludlow is going home, he goes home Wednesday morning, super crazy! Then Pres also told Elder Yovanno that he is leaving as well. Right after i figured i would be the one to hold down the fort and stay here... Then he began to tell me that he has another assignment for me. He told me i would be getting transferred as well. He wants me to go ZL again. I also just found out that Elder Norton is leaving Elder Johnson and Johnson got a ZL call again as well! Maybe we'll be put back together again! He only has one transfer left! We'll see tomorrow what happens. I feel really good about what is happening though and i am excited for this calling again to get me focused again and help me to finish strong with a motivating companion whomever that may be. President did tell me though that when he prayed about it he felt a strong spirit and told me i am definitely going to like where i am going!

We have felt like Kings the past couple days as people have found out that we are leaving. They are so sad that the 3 musketeers are leaving!  We have made so many great relationships here in this ward and it's like leaving family AGAIN! It was super hard, like always, and the Meza family was in tears! We felt so bad, so we made them a collage picture for them to remember us! lol

But i felt like i recieved a nice welcome home yesterday! We went back up to Valencia to Newhall 2nd ward so i could baptize Brett! Brett and Jen got married last week and now they are going to be shooting for the temple marriage a year from today and seal their family together! Brett, Jen, and Brian :) It was so good to see everyone from that ward again it's so crazy how close i have become with them! Hugs left and right! I felt like a celebrity haha. The Sirias family and Mother Sarmiento! So good to see all of them!

Anyways, i have not yet received the package from Pres Jex... But i am super excited!

Also to answer your question about the homecoming talk... the sooner the better would be nice.

Well i have to go now and get packing! Talk to you again next week with some more details!

Love, Elder Brady

(((((((NO REGRETS)))))))

Congratulations Lynds and B House

Congratulations Lyndsey and Braden! WhaaahWhoooo! That picture was awesome! I have been telling everyone this past week and they thought it was such a cleverly cute way to show it! Come on boy, come on boy... fingers crossed. Lol. :)

I am very excited for this package you speak of that is coming with President Jex! Salsa!!! haha thank you so much!

So yesterday in between our meetings we attended the YSA ward sacrament meeting again for Franco's confirmation and reminisced with some of the glorious memories we once had in that ward. Franco wanted us to be in the circle so we snuck in there and participated. Then Bishop quietly asks, so who is doing your confirmation? Then Franco answered, Elder Brady. In my mind i was like..WhAt? Alright sounds good. Then they put the mic in front of me on the spot... haha good thing i had the confirmation prayer memorized or else that would have been really embarrassing. So i felt super honored that i was able to baptize and confirm Franco.

Then we had our interviews with Pres. which went really well! We talked about how great the mission is and what i am going to do school-wise after the mission and told me what i should look out for when i get home. The rest of it was him basically just trying to get me to self discover on what would be best for me these upcoming transfers. I went on to tell him my expectations for these last two transfers and to have an awesome motivating companion to help me. He then told me that's perfect because he had in mind for me to go ZL again somewhere or to train for my last two. He gave me a list of all the missionaries and ZL areas to choose from and i just got overwhelmed knowing it could be my last mission adventure and companion... So i just told him to pray about it. So the options are narrowed down a little, yet still up in the air. Right before the interview ended he asked me if i would be okay going to back to an area i already served in? Maybe a hint of Santa Clarita/Valencia again? Who knows??? But I'll be sure to let you know what i find out for sure next week!

Sorry it's so short this week, but I've got to go

Love You!

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

Apology Letter... I LOVE YOU MOMMA

Yeeeah...ummmm...i don't even know what to say to that last e-mail...haha, besides I AM SUPER SORRY MOMMA!!!

That will never happen again! (Even though i am a missionary and nothing bad could possibly happen to me in my little spirit bubble REMEMBER!) But as of last Monday, it was super crazy. We had so much going on and so we were going to e-mail you on Tuesday but didn't get permission from President in time. AKA, he didn't text us back...We had exchanges halfway through P-day with the ZL's so i was in Encino Monday and Tuesday. We had apartment inspections on Monday as well so we did some deep cleaning. We also had to bum some rides to the nearest laudromat to do our laundry and got stranded waiting for someone to pick us up. Basically the same hassle to go shopping as well. Then when i gave a training to my relief society district at the first of the month, i asked them what they were expecting to accomplish this transfer together and we made some visions for this upcoming month. One of their visions they told me was to be ultimate Frisbee champions... So of course i made some phone calls and i challenged the other district to a game of Frisbee for last Monday. It was interesting considering our districts are nothing alike... So it was Me, Ludlow, Yovanno, and 6 Sisters VS. 8 Elders. Needless to say, a super priceless moment when our Relief Society District won! lol. Yet we still turned it into a hilarious spiritual moment when i read the scripture (Proverbs 29:18) saying the only reason we won, was because we set a goal/vision and related that to how important it is to set goals as a missionary, because just like the other district, they had no vision, therefore, they perished... haha. It might of been one of those jokes where you just had to be there?

Anyways, super busy day to say the least and i slept like a baby that night after trying to please everyone except for the most important person in my life!!!... so again I AM SO VERY VERY VERY SORRY Mom and would have e-mailed a later day if we got permission in time...

 

HEy Momma Brady! This is Elder Ludlow I just want to let you know that your son is the most amazing influence for me and Elder Yovanno. <THIS IS ELDER HOLM YOURE SON IS AWESOME> And we want to let you know that he would never intentionally miss writing you on purpose and that we didn't tie him up with yarn, we used Duct Tape, much safer, haha no not at all but I just want to let you know that Elder Brady is a great friend to me and I'm thankful that I've been able to serve with him twice now. I know that will stay close after our missions and look forward to what we become later. Thanks for your son! He's like Elder Holm said, Awesome!!!

 

See what happens when i leave my computer for a second... it's okay I'll be sure to get them back.

So as i was saying, hopefully you have accepted my apology by now, if not, i totally understand... Now i shall go on to give my weekly(s) update.

Franco got baptized yesterday!!! I got to perform it and it was such a special experience with Elder Ludlow and Elder Yovanno being the witnesses. Franco is definitely going to go on to do great things that's for sure! We have already been hooked up with some of his friends and they are becoming interested in learning more as well! Too bad everyone we are finding (such a Franco's friends) we have to had over to the YSA sister missionaries. We feel that we connect with them so well! Oh well, more investigators for the sisters! Wahoo! Still none for us! haha anyways, Franco is going to be such a great example to his friends and family. His member girlfriend came down from University of Utah for the baptism and i know they will be married in the temple in about a year from now. They seem perfect for each other and it seems that she had been waiting for this moment for a long time :) We want to plan a trip with them and the Meza's too!

I am just glad to have some work going on and get to baptize people from my previous areas right now because without that, i think i would go insane having so little work to do right now. Tender mercies from the lord i tell you. lol.

Ludlow is getting his bags packed and starting to send things home and is basically already done haha it's going to be sad to see him go. Everyone is still talking about how ridiculously awesome our Trio is and how well we get along. There is definitely never a dull moment with us three that's for sure! We were just talking about how weird it will be to go back to a duo companionship... I could possibly only have one more companion and if it turns out good with i highly bet it will i could have 100% best friend companions! Awesome!

Lastly we have interviews with President on Wednesday, so i am trying to figure out what i want so i can tell him? It's a crucial moment with only two transfers left...

Well i got to go! Hopefully this letter makes up for the lack of last week.

I Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

5 Week Transfer

Sup Fam!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA ERICKSON!

Thank you mom and dad for those awesome letters this week! That is exactly what i needed. Things are going very well with us, but as far as the ward goes, we still don't have any new investigators for the Northridge 1st family ward... Although, the members here are some of my favorites! The Meza family has now officially adopted us haha, now making my 3rd mission mom... (Mother Helaman, sister Sarmiento, and now sister Meza!)

probably even more than that now that i come to think about it. Also, at least two Grandma's! (Grandma Tripp, and Grandma Kabel!) While I'm at it, a ton of new best friends too! (All of my companions!)

Anyways, i think it's safe to say that i have made a lot of friends/family here in California!

You wouldn't believe it, I always talk highly of my past companions, and i got Johnson and Norton to request each other and they got it!  Now they are serving together not too far from us in Woodland Hills! Hopefully they are doing well and it's turning out as good as i thought it would. Elder Holm got called to train a new missionary so we have been helping him out with that as well. Seeing this new stunned missionary fresh off the plane took me back and i still feel like i just did that a couple months ago, not 20 months ago! Mission time goes by so darn fast. Sorry to say, but right now, i don't feel ready to come home yet... I still have no idea what i want to do in life or where i want to go to school etc. I thought all that stuff would just come to me and i would have time to figure that out, but here i am, and still don't know!... The mission definitely knows how to keep every minute of the day busy and no room to think/research any of that kind of stuff. Basically, i think it would be cool to go to BYU, but UVU was super fun and i liked that... Honestly, i would just like to stay somewhere in the Provo atmosphere... So yeah, i don't know if that answers your question about school mom? But there it is. Elder Yovanno has made his decision of what he wants to do in life... follow me wherever i go... haha and he's pretty serious so i think i have found a permanent roommate for the rest of my life. lol

Oh i don't know if i told you this yet or not, but this transfer is the transfer that is only 5 weeks. So this transfer is also why everyone after this transfer will be going home a week early :(  So basically we only have 4 weeks left together already. We went a whole week with just walking/getting rides from people, now as of Saturday, we got two bikes! We are borrowing two other missionary bikes so we don't have to buy new ones, thank goodness! Elder Ludlow and Yovanno are super unmotivated by the whole bike idea so going around finding some new investigators is pretty tricky with zero motivation... but I'm working on that one now, it's my new game scenario. Wish us luck!

Got to get going now, Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

NO REGRETS

Transfer 15

Hello!

Big News!

We got transfer calls!

So president doesn't like trios at all but he told us that we were doing very well and basically told us he doesn't want to fix something that's not broken... So yes we get to stay together another transfer! Ludlow called up Pres and told him that it would be his dying(last transfer) wish to have us stay together to help him finish strong! Same with Yovanno, and it looks like the phone calls worked! So they are super pumped right now! And they are finally splitting up the wards! All three of us got moved over to the family ward and two sister missionaries will be going to the YSA ward for now on. We'll find out who it is on Tuesday! Hopefully it's sister Ngalu and Fili, they're our favorite, super chill, Tongan sisters!

Anyways, the only down side to this is that we are giving up our car to the sisters in the YSA ward and they are putting us on bike! Noooo! Elder Yovanno is the only who actually has a bike still... Ludlow's got borrowed/broken/lost and mine was stolen in Valencia. So we are currently trying to figure out the bike situation now without buying one with so little mission time left. We were thinking we would just put some back wheel pegs on Yoko's bike with a handlebar basket and have all three of us ride it :) ha jk.

Sadly, Elder Johnson is getting transferred out of Van Nuys, finally, which will be hard to see him go!

We just accomplished our big transfer goal and finished the Book of Mormon last Thursday! Pres called us and congratulated us but is too busy to take us out to lunch because of the crazy transfer stuff going on right now.

We are going to have to start working extra hard now because ALL of our investigators progressing towards baptism are YSA's. So whoever the sisters are going there are going to walk into a couple baptisms and a golden area that we built up. However, the 1st ward is not so hot... so basically even though we are all staying together, this transfer is not going to be anything like our last one. Franco is trying to move into the Northridge family ward boundaries so that we can continue to teach him haha. We'll see how that goes, fingers crossed!

Well I've got to go! Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

no regrets 

Finishing Strong

Hey Family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNDSEY! I LOVE YOUUUU!!!!

This week was a great week! Still experiencing the little miracles all around us. With the exchanges, we had some really great experiences dedicating an entire day to straight up finding! We ran into numerous people who were looking for us and we got some numbers to contact them. For example, we had really cool experiences talking with people who told us they were actually already a member but have been having some trouble sharing the gospel with their neighbor so they actually prayed for a missionary experience a couple days ago, then we show up at their house! Amazing! Coincidence? I think not!

So President wanted to do his checkup with Elder Yovanno and Ludlow, so i got to talk to him as well. I talked to him about going to Newhall 2nd to baptize Brett, and there is a new rule that he is no longer letting missionaries go back to previous areas to baptize... After talking with him for a while, Pres Hall is basically cracking down on a lot of things trying to change this mission to an exactly obedient mission, so when the new missionaries come, that is all they will know and will be okay with it. But as for me, he said since i have been around for a while that he can let this one slide! So i already got permission to baptize Brett on the 24th of March! Then we will also be baptizing Franco March 10th in the YSA ward! Franco found out that we get transferred as missionaries and he got super sad talking about how he has been telling everyone that he has a strong bond with his missionaries! We play basketball with him every Wednesday and we have an official team! It's us three, Franco, and his non member cousin, Allen! It's so much fun and hopefully we will be able to start teaching Allen because Franco keeps talking us up to his friends to meet with us. Franco is probably one of our best friends and has been one of the coolest experiences i have had teaching someone on my mission. We are hoping that we will all still be here next transfer for when he gets baptized.

We will find out what is happening this weekend and the actual transfer day will take place next Tuesday. Next transfer is only 5 weeks long. And that's Ludlow's last one! Crazy! Then Johnson goes home the transfer after that, then comes my time! In the interview with President, he thanked me for everything i have been doing and the "special assignments" he's given me. He asked me what i wanted to do with my last couple transfers and i had no idea what to tell him... Haven't really thought about it too much and he wants me to think about how i would like to finish and he'll make it happen. So i was pretty stoked to hear i can pick whatever i want to do, but i told him i don't think i will. My plan is to continue giving up my will so i can "finish strong". He said i knew you were going to say that but let me know what if you decide what you want and I'll walk through walls for you for what you have done for me. It was a very touching/eye opening experience and Pres got teary eyed and i thought i was going to cry too! We have been partners in crime for some time now and accomplished a lot together these past couple transfers.

Anyways though this is the update for this week, I've got to go now but love you all!

P.s. we should be finishing the Book Of Mormon this Thursday and President wanted to take us out to lunch for such a great accomplishment. Good job Dad! Keep up the diligent reading!

Love, Elder Brady

                                                        no regrets

Confirmation of James

So i have a short e-mail for you this week. Things are still going well, still learning life long lessons every single week, and working miracles. I did get your e-mail mom and dad, thank you so much!

This transfer has gone by super fast! We are getting nervous to see what happens in two weeks when the transfer calls come. Only time will tell.

We have another exchange this week that is taking place tonight and all day tomorrow we are just going to do some spiritual tracting! Just pray and go where the wind takes us all day, contacting whomever God places in our path, we have the faith that we will find someone else who wants to be baptized! Yesterday in church, in the family ward, James got confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost and was just glowing all day! Then during the YSA ward, Franco, one of our solid investigators who we have been teaching was fasting and got his answer to set a baptismal date for March 10th! So we are super excited about that as well! Oh and big news!!! Remember Brett and Jen? Brian Tavelli, who i baptized in Newhall 2nd, his dad and girlfriend are now getting married in March 16th and Brett is getting baptized March 24th and he called me and wants me to baptize him! I was so stoked when he told me that! So this is all the big news for this week! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Brady

no regrets

Three Nephites

Hey Fam!

Things are going super good right now!

We have been tearing it up lately! We had James's baptism yesterday and it went perfectly! It was amazing! All three of us got dressed up and got in the font with James to help comfort him with his fear of water! It was so epic having all of us in the font! Right after the baptism they closed the curtain and we gave each other a hug in there and could feel the spirit so strong and all of us were super happy! Everything is turning up! President has written me some awesome (big headed) e-mails and is super proud how on fire we are right now. Also the Bishops of each of our wards thanked us for everything we have been doing and say that the missionary efforts have increased 10X around here in Northridge! Miracles! Also our dinner calender is full for the month of February already! Incredible! We definitely are gaining the trust of the members around here as well! haha They call us the 3 Nephites because we're working miracles! Great area, Awesome companions, Legit friends(Elders Johnson and Holm), and Fantastic experiences! What more could you ask for? Oh and Sis/Grandma Tripp is taking us 5 out to lunch today again! She also asked me for a picture of me because she wants to sew a portrait for me!

We also picked up some new investigators again this week and we are seeing a trend going on around here. 4 of our progressing investigators are Chinese! We bring them to church and they fellowship each other by teaching each other and talking in Chinese! We're thinking about starting a Chinese branch :)

Besides this, We also have the best district in the mission! They call me the relief society president because our District is all sisters... So I'm right there with you mom! I think growing up with nothing but sisters has prepared me for this moment! ;)

P.s. we are half way done with the Book of Mormon and President has been using us as an example and wants to take us out to lunch to celebrate when we finish!

Well I've got to go, Love you guys soooooooooooo much!

PeAcE!!!

Love, Elder Brady

NNNNNNoooooooo   RRRRRRRReeeeeeggggggggrrrrrrrreeeeeeeettttttttttttssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Miracles

Sup Fam!

So i'm just sitting here chillin', shootin the breeze, trying to figure out how to write a so totally radical e-mail to you peeps...

Jk. I don't actually talk like that,,,,yet ;) But anyways, this past week has been awesome! Unfortunately, James's baptism got pushed back to next week because they moved to a different apartment and it felt too rushed so hopefully things have settled down and they will be ready this Sunday. Besides this, we had some more miracles this week! We gave one of the sister missionaries investigators a blessing and he has been investigating the church for about 7 years and still hasn't received an answer about baptism... Elder Ludlow gave the blessing and right after he felt the spirit super strong and we talked about baptism then left and went on with the rest of our day not thinking too much about it. Then that night the sister missionaries in our district called us and told us that he got his answer from the blessing earlier and he wants to get dunked now! So the sisters went back over the next day and set a date with him for Feb. 3rd! The priesthood is real!!!

We also picked up 3 more awesome investigators this past week.  We have been becoming very good friends with, Franco, a 27 year old Filipino guy. We started up playing basketball on Wednesdays again! He has been coming to church every week for the past 4 weeks! We are thinking about setting a date with him as well when we meet with him tonight. He is going to Utah tomorrow to visit his girlfriend and i told him to say hi to you guys! You guys would love him, he's so legit.

We have also just been trying to exercise more faith and pay attention to the little miracles around us, they're everywhere! Whenever we are led to an apartment complex where we can't get in, because it has a security gate, we know we ended up there for a reason so we decide to pray for a miracle! Just then, as we begin to pray we get interrupted by someone on the inside getting the prompting to check their mail or something and let us in! Coincidence? I think not! So just cool miracles like that :) haha

Lastly, one more "miracle" i witnessed this past week was when we went bowling as a zone and i definitely bowled the best game of my life! 180 you say? nope, higher!.... 200 you say? nope, higher!..... 220 you say? HIGHER! .... 233 you say? ding ding ding we have a winner! The miracles you witness that only seem to happen as a missionary make me laugh :)

Anyways, things are still going great in our little Trio! They met with President this week and President said they were doing fantastic! And it made his week with the improvements he saw in them. We didn't notice because these changes seem very gradual to us so it was nice to get an outside perspective! I didn't get to meet with him because i was on exchanges that day working in Encino with the ZL's... It's hilarious though how attached us three have gotten to each other. Right when i returned back the next day i was so happy to see them, and they ran up to me and hugged me saying,"Brady! Don't ever leave us again!"

 

Thank you so much for you letter Grandma and Grandpa Brady! You guys are awesome! And to answer some questions, we attend church from about 7:30- 3:00 in and out on average covering both wards. The 1st ward starts at 9, and the YSA ward usually starts at 11:30 depending on how many show up haha... It's a big day! The address to our church building is

17101 Plummer St.

Northridge, CA 91325

Love you all!

Love Elder Brady

no regrets

Best Trio Ever!

Hey Fam!

Sorry to hear about the "news" this week... i wanted to call you guys and President Hall told me i could but i decided it would be better not to... Elder Yovanno and I have become really close in this past month together and now Elder Ludlow is with us and as you know we are already super close and it is so good to be serving with him again. When people heard about our Trio that we have going on here, the rumors have spread throughout the mission like wildfire and missionaries are calling us with jealousy saying that it's not fair we all get to be together and now have the funnest companionship in the mission...haha. I believe that statement is true as well! We are having a blast and i am happy to say that they don't want to go home anymore! I just feel like we could do a lot better on the missionary work side of things. We are making improvements though! We sat down and set some goals of what we want to accomplish and we are all going to read the book of Mormon this transfer together. We read 15 pages a day and have awesome discussions on what we read, the book of mormon is working miracles for us right now! This stuff is pretty personal stuff that i am telling you, but this will be the first time they have finished the entire book of mormon so we are all super excited! So as hard as it is for me to not be finding all those new investigators out there as i could be, i am at least glad to say that i am helping my companions become more converted to Jesus Christ. Which leads back to another one of my favorite quotes, "no matter how many sheep you find, don't lose any of the shepherds!" I have seen some great things just this past week with Elders Yovanno and Ludlow, they are on fire right now and we are all just feeding off of each others energy. Oh! Also, the package came! It was in our leasing office for a couple days! Elder Yovanno says thank you so much! He loves you guys! I told him, yeah they're pretty awesome, i love them too :)

I also sent the shorts and shirt back last Thursday-ish and placed the sizes that i think would work best in the package. Hopefully that makes it there! I am so sick of Post office drama!

P.s. i bought a Bocce set that was on sale for $20! The missionaries are definitely starting to like playing it!

I love you guys! have a great week and focus on the positives! It works! :)

Love, Elder Brady

ooooooNoRegretsooooooo

Transfer 14

Hey Family, sorry this is going to be short today. Things are getting super crazy around here...

Things have been going really well for Elder Yovanno and I this week! We have had some awesome spiritual experiences together. One of which we were teaching an 11 year old black kid whose mom is a member but he is not. As we were teaching him we wanted to find out what was holding him back from getting baptized? After teaching him how to follow Jesus Christ's example and the happiness that gospel brings he got really excited and was showing some real interest! Then when we asked him if he would get baptized he was hesitant again... come to find out, he is just scared of going under the water and didn't want to do it. We decided to give him a blessing to see what would happen, so Elder Yovanno performed it, and right after the blessing James looked up at me and i then asked,"Well James, how do you feel now?" Then James answers,"Not scared!" MIRACLE! Heavenly Father literally just took that fear from him! Then we set a date for 2 weeks from now (20th) and he agreed! He just wants both of us in the font with him for a little "comfort" and we told him we could do that. I told him that Elder Yovanno is a really good baptizer so he wants him to do it! This will be Elder Yovanno's first time performing a baptism! I am so excited to be apart of this, i know this will change both of their lives forever.

So besides these awesome experiences and seeing Elder Yovanno feel the spirit and exercise the Priesthood numerous times, this isn't even the big news for this past week...

I got another call from Pres this week and he really pumped me up on the phone for a while thanking me for everything i have been doing and basically gave me a big head. I was just confused why he called to just tell me all this and give me compliments, then i finally came to that conclusion... all in a nut shell, he told me he has been working with another struggling missionary for the past couple weeks who almost went home this past month... This missionary doesn't have any motivation right now and wants to go home but he only has 3 months left! He told me that he would like to stay if me and him were companions... So this is where him buttering me up comes into play, he is now giving me another assignment... to help out another missionary. He recognized that i am already on an important assignment so he wants to put him with us in a Tripanionship! I asked who it was and he said Ludlow. Right when i heard that i got so happy! I love Elder Ludlow so much and was one of my favorite companions! We always fantasized about being comps again but it didn't seem accompishable! But he definitely pulled some strings to make this work! Haha. This is going to be so interesting! We are not supposed to know until the transfer meeting but president wanted to make sure i was okay with it. I told him "DEFINITELY!"

So now we got to get ready to equip our apartment with things of 3 for when we pick him up tomorrow! We still haven't done laundry and we're helping the sisters in my district move to a different apartment for more sister to move into our district and we got an appointment at 7:30 so we got to go!

Love ya!

Love Elder Brady

--No Regrets--