Your son

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

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

1st Baptism

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

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

 

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

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY UNCLE PAUL!!!

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

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

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

-Living my life celestial-

-NO REGRETS-

Love, Elder Brady

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

          ---NO REGRETS---

2nd Transfer down...

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

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

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

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

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

Love, ELDER BRADY

Homie G/L-Unit came to church!

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

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

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

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

Love you guys!

Love, ELDER BRADY

--NO REGRETS--

When it rains... it pours!

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

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

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

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

Love, Elder Brady

Afflicting the Comfortable

Hey family! Right now I am really short on time and have to hurry so I’m just going to write a regular update again! So many things to do, so little time!

Crazy news! So in my ward there is a family, named the Noriega's, and they are super cool. We eat at their place a lot and we were talking with them one day, and as I have been been staying in touch with Elder Robinson, we all discovered that the Ty is companions with their Nephew! Talk about small world!

This week we had a lot of success! We set ANOTHER baptismal date with a lady named Estella and she was super excited about our visit with her.  Unfortunately though, she couldn't make it out to church... It must be because it's so early (9am) for the people around here to make it, there are parties going on every night and from what we hear, people don't really sleep, and at nights is when Lancaster comes to life. They are all super excited to come when we meet with them, but then when Sunday comes around.... nada. nothin. zilch. zero. We have about 6 scheduled baptisms but they can't get baptized unless they have come to church 3 times. So that is our weak spot right now. 

Our meetings have been awesome this week and we would mainly focus on the importance of church attendance with them, so they are definitely aware of the blessings and perks. 

It will be a very glorious day when one of our investigators actually comes to church because they will then realize how great it is.  Elder Kennard and I teach Gospel principles class on Sunday and that class is a blast with all the fun people we have in there. Great discussions. Pretty much all of our investigators don't have cars and neither do we. So setting them set up with a member who has a car is a big hassle. Especially when the members don't know how to drive and get in a car crash on the way to church transporting one of our investigators (Amy). Amy still has been a little shaken up about the accident and has been hesitant about getting rides.  Poor Amy.  We have been working with her for a while and last Thursday she finally said she was ready to come out and try it again but she wanted to take the bus. We looked up the bus times and scheduled everything for her. But then the bus pulled up Sunday morning and, no Amy... Dang! WHAT IS GOING ON!!!

Satan is definitely a hard worker and is not making church easy for anyone. We have just stuck with them though and continue to visit with them regularly helping them understand everything they need to know and hopefully someday they will make it to church :)  

Anyways, sounds like everything is going great at home! Thank you for all the letters! You are all an inspiration to me! I did get Grandma and Grandpa's letters! They were amazing. The exact wisdom that I needed, thank you. Mom, You are right about not over scheduling! Just like Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, "If life and its rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to focus on what matters most. - Strength comes not from frantic activity but from being settled on a strong foundation of truth and paying attention to what matters most. Doing the things that matter most will lead us to the savior of the world!"

The Gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.

Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady