"He is not here; for He has risen"

Hello Family!

Thank you for all those amazing pictures….Elle, Abby, Rakelle and Braden are all getting so big! ;)

Lexi Brady! Thank you so much for your letter, it made my day!

Well, it sounds like you all had an awesome Easter Sunday! I very much enjoyed that Easter Package you sent me! Thank you Thank you!

So this past week of ours was... extra AWESOME! I don't even know where to start but I am going to type as quickly as I can because I truly dislike these countdowns that flash in your face while using these computers! So forgive me if the following doesn't make sense....

I don't even know where to start, so our zone has been doing a lot of companionship exchanges lately (where we spend the day with another missionary) and I have now served in every area in our Santa Clarita zone! I just totaled it up recently and I have been on 14 comp exchanges my whole mission! That is a lot just FYI. I have strengthened so many relationships with other missionaries by doing these! I love it! So I actually got to go on exchanges with Elder Mcphee in his area and that was so much fun and I'll tell you why. He has only been in the mission for a week and it brought back good memories of my first week in Lancaster :) It was fun to spend the day with him as he tried to figure out the mission life! I have realized how much you learn every single week and the longer you are out, the more comfortable you get and more fun missionary work is once you get the hang of it!

Then Elder Black came to our area and I had an exchange with him as well. He is a stud too! He has been out for as long as Norton and I, so we will all fly home together :) :) Crazy...

And just a quick update, some of the companionship's in our zone are not getting along very well and one missionary almost went home... Norton and I rode our bikes over to their apartment one night to help them out and inspired him to stay with some talks by Jeffery R. Holland, ect. but long story short they still hate each other but we convinced this particular missionary not to go home. And then we also stopped by the other missionaries to relay the message and get them both on good terms. Anyways, with that said, I gave the training at District meeting this past week and the AP's came as well. I gave the lesson on Charity and forgiveness indirectly, but everyone knew it's what we needed to hear with the contention of some. Norton and I are like the peacemakers in this zone trying to conquer all this drama! ha-ha, But after my training, I hit hard on how important companionship unity is and brought some moral into the room (because all our companionship's are awesome!). But then transformed it and said how we need District Unity! So I gave them all papers and we passed them around the room having them write a compliment about each missionary because you can always find the good in someone, we just sometime choose to focus on the bad... So after these compliment/Love papers went around, the contention finally seemed to leave! But we will see for sure as time goes on.

So besides all this fun, Heavenly Father answered our prayers this week as well! After church yesterday, a guy named Stephen Winkler (Grace Baptist) walked into church and "wanted to know more!" Since when does that happen here is Saugus!!? So we took him into a room after church and talked with him for about an hour and a half answering questions, gave him a Book of Mormon, gave him some commitments, and he's going to pray and coming to church again next week and we'll meet with him again! It reminded me of being in Lancaster teaching all the time! Finally something happens around here! So that was very exciting if you can't tell :)

Well, I've got to get going now, I hope that all made sense, but there's just a taste for what's currently going on this past week! I love you all!

Love, Elder Brady!

*****NO REGRETS*****

Letters of Love

Hello!

Thank you for the letters Mom Dad and Abby! I loved them! I can tell you that I definitely feel loved out here and DEFINITELY feel the love from home through your weekly e-mails. Thank you!

General Conference was Amazing! Like always! And I for sure got some ideas to answer my questions! Even if they didn't say it, the spirit is always super strong during Conference and the thoughts/impressions just flow! I didn't see Elder David Enchilada ;) , but I think I saw Braxton Davies! I don't know if that's possible, but it sure looked like him! I can't believe next week is Easter already... and I didn't even realize my birthday is in 2 months, before you said that! That's pretty exciting :)

Wow! It is a small world, that that picture of President Lindberg’s family and us made its way back home! ha-ha. 

Well, to answer some questions, our teaching appointments are going really well. Not as many as Lancaster but we are reaching at least 20 lessons every week which is good! Right?! The thing is though, about 15 of them are less active families... So we don't have very many opportunities to baptize anyone. Unlike El Dorado, the finding efforts are not as high of a priority in this area, which is sad. But we are going to keep on trekking because as long as we continue to teach these families, L Tom Perry said great things would happen! So they will! We don't know what or when that will be, but I sure am excited to find out! This area has not had a baptism for at least over a year. So right now I view us as plowing the field. Planting seeds, and eventually they will have to be harvested!

So I have a little notebook that contains 80 pages and I am proud to say that with this General Conference and the last General Conference combined, it is all filled up :)  I actually have it in my backpack right now so I’ll share a couple of favorite notes I took real quick... 

"Nothing can stop the work of God from progressing!" -Pres. Monson

We must unite the GOSPEL with the CHURCH and become fully converted/active in BOTH to help strengthen our testimonies so we don't fall away and go inactive! -Donald L. Hallstrom

Find and awaken our DESIRE to do good continually! Desire has everything to do with it. -Paul E. Koeliker

Trials may be hard at the moment, but they will only make you stronger in the long run! (D&C 122:7) - Henry B. Eyring

What thinks Christ of me?  Being a disciple of Christ will be a badge of honor for the eternities.  -Elder Anderson

We must rescue the less actives! It's not easy for them to come back to church, they all need our help! -Richard C. Edgley

The WHAT informs us, The WHY transforms us. Understand the Why! ---- If we have any Hating, Gossiping, Ignoring, Judging, or Holding any Grudges towards anyone, STOP IT! -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Sacrifice- if you want something you never had, you have to be WILLING to do something you've never done!

I wish I had more time but this is going to shut off in less that one minute! so I have to go! I love you all and hope you have a great week and Easter Sunday! Find those baskets Abby!

Love Elder Brady

NO regrets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

General Conference #2

Hakuna Matata Family!!?

Dad, that picture was AWESOME! L Tom. is everywhere! ha-ha that's amazing that you got a picture with him! Okay... I'll let you in on a little secret. and what "20" means! Are you ready?! It's super exciting! well actually it's not really something too exciting, ha, he just challenged our mission to teach 20 lessons a week and great things would happen!... So there's the big secret ;)

Anyways, nice work with the aerator! That machine brings in the dough! I also know how you feel right now ha-ha, playing around with that thing for a couple days made me more soar than any other workout I've done!

Well I am super excited for this week to listen to General Conference! I can't believe it has already been six months! Crazy! We will probably watch the Saturday sessions with the Maxson's at their home then the rest of the sessions at the stake center with all the other missionaries. I will be providing the treats for them as well :) But I will be keeping the notepad for myself this time because I need all the notes I can get! It's crazy how much this mission life is changing me. I remember not really caring too much about these sessions, but now, General Conference is what I live for! And I am working on some really good questions and am excited for them to be answered, because I know they will!

This past week it has been raining quite a bit so biking has been interesting. I have come across a couple roadblocks that I am trying to work out. For instance, I LOVE going knocking and just am experiencing every element of surprise behind every door! It makes my day:) And another thing I LOVE, is my companion, Elder Norton. They are both awesome. But there is just one problem, they HATE each other... So to get Elder Norton to go knocking is like pulling teeth sometimes, but we have successfully done it 3 times now for a couple hours and they have all been great experiences! Giving away Book of Mormon's, trying to progress the work, and find some new people to teach, ect! Very exciting stuff! Now my next task is to try and get Elder Norton to actually say something, rather than me knocking and doing all the talking at every single door... This is one of my questions right now and would love some input on the situations because I am all out of ideas!  

Besides this, I just found out this past week that Elder Salsberry is District leader in Lancaster with Elder Irvine (the missionary I replaced, and Elder Norton's comp before me here in Saugus). They drove down here to Santa Clarita to pick up Elder Beazer's new missionary and they just spent half the day with us while they were waiting for the Greenie Trainings to end. It was so good to see Salsberry and hear about what's happening in my hometown. Elder Arrieta is now home... It's getting to the point where all of the missionaries I was "raised up" with are going home! It's so sad!

The ward members here are awesome. I still don't feel as connected as I did in Lancaster with some of the people but I would say I am close with about half the ward right now. The other half is more of acquaintances but will get to know them better as time goes on. And I keep thinking about how it took 7 months to get really close with everyone in El Dorado and I've only been here for 2 so far, so I'm sure it will be the same. I hope.

Well I am sorry but I am running out of time on this computer, so I will have to get going.

I love you all and hope you enjoy General Conference! Remember to think of some good questions and watch them be answered!

Talk to you again before you know it!

Love, Elder Brady

~~~~NO REGRETS~~~~

L. Tom Perry

Well Hello Family!

Sorry it's so late, but Surprise! We finally got around to e-mail during this chaotically busy P-day!

Today we had the opportunity to hear Elder Perry, Elder Maynes, and their wives speak to us! It was absolutely amazing. Right now I couldn't be any happier with life and feel the spirit so strongly. I also had an awesome interview with President Martin. Heavenly Father truly does call some inspired leaders for His church :)

So our entire mission (180ish) came together for this occasion, and it was so much fun to see all of the missionaries I have ever met/lived with/been companions with/ect. They all feel like family as we all reunited! President Martin had a hard time quieting us down while we were in the church waiting for Elder Perry because we were all so excited! It was so good to see Ludlow, Jackson, Salsberry, Everitt, Coffin, Sister Mix, Sister Stewart, Ruiz, Souza, Arrieta (goes home in 9 days), ect. ect. ect. it's crazy how we all go through so much together, then get called somewhere else and go our separate ways and get totally different experiences to share with each other!  I love it!

At the meeting, L. Tom Perry talked to us about how we need to be prepared, and treat our calling seriously. We need to be teaching all the time and use the power we have with Energy and Boldness! He was so much fun to listen to and had the whole room roaring at times with his jokes :)

Elder Maynes talked to us about being worthy AND sensitive to the spirit's promptings so we can be more effective instruments in Heavenly Father's hands.

Awesome messages! L. Tom Perry is sooo tall! I was not expecting that. Each of us got to shake Elder Perry's hand (I’m never washing this hand again). He asked me where I was from and I said "Draper, Utah." Then he responded with a smile and said,” well that's a very good place :)" Then, I got booted out of line... so that was my 5 seconds of fame with an apostle, and for the record Draper is a very good place :) Oh! also during his presentation he called on Elder Norton and I to read a scripture for him! Coincidence? I think not! (I am actually getting used to this getting called out stuff ha-ha) So I read Luke 6: 12-13 out loud for everyone, so now, that is probably my new favorite scripture!! ha-ha with a side note of... "Scripture that L. Tom Perry asked me to read!"

(Well, an Asian Lady just came up to us in the library and we started talking with her about the church and why we were all dressed up so this is all I will be able to share this week cause we're out of time.)

Sorry for the short letter. Life is very busy right now!

Mom, my back is feeling 100% and I am doing better than ever in every other aspect in life!

Love you all! Love Elder Brady

### NO REGRETS ###

Gaining Weight, Technology, Apple Pie

Wow! Thank you for all those amazing e-mails! That is a lot of information to take in, in just a half hour... Ha-ha. So many things are changing! It's crazy! Congratulations Kris and Jas! Twin girls! I actually could of guessed that... but HOORAW! We don't have enough girls in the family, so bring it on! :) I'm really racking up the numbers now, 4 nieces! It's fun to hear about Logan's speech attempts... I was laughing so hard when I read "awpo doppo" for applesauce! That's hilarious. Well, I’m excited to be around for that stage of life with "The Twins" ha-ha. I am now kind of starting to get another perspective on life, this mission life is beginning to seem more real to me and not as fake of a world anymore, but the things I hear from home are now sounding like some fake world... I guess this means I have been out for a "little while" now and getting used to it? I don't know... But anyways! It's time to answer some questions!

 The members are really good at feeding us in this ward; in fact, they're getting a little too good at it. I have some crazy news, are you ready? So you know how I was trying to gain weight for football and trying so hard to get to 170lbs. and tried so many things but just couldn't do it? Well yeah, I finally figured out what I need to do :) go on a mission... Elder Norton and I stood on Brother and Sister Maxson's scale a couple nights ago and we just laughed! I now weigh 180lbs! HaHaHa. And he weighs 195lbs! We have both gained about 20! Say what! Ridiculous. So that sums up how we are doing food wise... The members are great and it's a lot of fun getting to know them. Elder Norton has been here for 3 months longer than me so he knows them all pretty well. Most people in this area are extremely wealthy... We'll be at their house they whip out their I Pads and gadgets and use them to turn on their TVs and other things in their house! It's crazy! Also I was pretty blown away when one of them wanted to show us a clip and pulled out his I Phone and had a projector attachment and showed us a Mormon message YouTube clip from his I Phone projected onto the wall! Technology... Elder Norton was talking about how insane it is becoming and they will probably have a Plasma I Phone 7 or something when we get back. When people ask us why we don't use these resources, our defense is that our scriptures will never run out or battery. :) 

My legs are definitely getting bigger and the hills, easier.  We probably have just gained 20lbs. of muscle being on bike. So besides this, I don't know what else to share. We are still doing great work together. I just feel that I have been little too prideful with our successes and with how well things are going, so Heavenly Father has given me a dose of Humble Pie that I am currently chewing on... Never take the Holy Ghost for granted. He makes everything work and we are just the instruments in His hands. I am just happy to see how much our Heavenly Father has blessed so many people's lives through us. We are so lucky to have this great opportunity to be apart of it 24/7. It's hard to always keep Perspective! So Heavenly Father reminds us, to help us.

P.s. I got the package Mom! Thank you so much!

Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

---NO REGRETS---

27!! In Saugus

Surprise! I'm e-mailing you and it's on Monday again! ha-ha Sorry I had you guys worried last week. But anyways, I have great news for you! Elder Norton and I DESTROYED Saugus this week, and broke the all time teaching record of <<<27>>> Lessons in one week! We also met with Jesse at Central Park like we were talking about because he did show up and had an amazing lesson! We also now have a total of 4 INVESTIGATORS now!! Whoo! Stuff is finally happening! We were all over the place and biked easily 100 miles this week. Man, I don't really know what else to share... that pretty much sums up our whole week! Elder Norton and I are getting pretty good at teaching together and get along great! Oh! We had our usual 9-hour zone conference, this week as well which took up mostly all day Thursday! We heard some awesome training and got to see President Martin again. He saw us together and forgot we were together and look shocked, as if he had forgotten, then as the light bulb in his head came on he said, "wait were you and Elder Norton MTC companions?" Yes Sir we were!! Ha-ha then he just looked back at us while shaking his head and said "Oh no how did I not see that!" Then we just said, "Because it's meant to be Pres!"  - I have been so lucky with my companions and love each of them to death. Norton is my third and I'm his sixth! Ha-ha he has not had a companion longer than 6 weeks... and let's just say, I'm opposite. So hopefully we'll get to stay together. - Playing basketball the other day, I Elder Norton and I were dunking and one of my attempts failed and I got rejected by the rim... and that's not even the worst part, a sharp pain went through my back and now it's super stiff and hurts when I breath in to hard... Lesson learned. - We taught Elder Quorum this week and shared a BOMB lesson!! IT was on the last General Conference talk "You Matter to Him" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf.  You'll never guess what we did ;) okay, I'll tell you. With our creative brainpower that Elder Norton and I have, we tied it all in with Lion King! We showed the clip where Rafiki takes Simba to the water to look at his reflection to discover himself and realize that his father lives in him <"Look Harder" says Rafiki> (We are children of God and created in his image) and Simba's father appears to him in the clouds and tells him to remember who he is and to reach his full potential. A lot of great quotes from that 3-minute scene and all of Elder's Quorum just blew up about it and we had a great discussion about how we matter to Got and we are not forgotten. We also read (Moses 1:4, 6-7, 12-13, 16) and how is emphasizes "My Son" and Satan tries to temp Moses, but Moses tells Satan to get away from him because he is a Son of God.  Some great Lion King Quotes we used off the top of my head...

"You have forgotten who you are, and so, have forgotten me"

"You are my Son"

"You are more that what you have become"

"You must take your place in [my Kingdom]"

"Remember who you are"

Lessons like these are so much fun and making teaching an enjoyable experience :) Especially in Elders Quorum ha-ha, such a funny group.

The last thing I am going to share is more of just a funny story... So there is a dance around here known as Mormon Prom. And one of our really good friends in the ward wanted to ask a girl and had a big plan of how to ask her. Come to find out if you ask a girl in a way that has already been done, your lame. So he is a funny guy (Senior in high school) and with us, came up with a very Original idea. "I know! Let's have the missionaries ask her!" So yeah, Saturday night we asked a girl to Mormon Prom and her family was laughing so hard and recorded the whole shebang. So now it's the talk of the valley right now. I'm going to try to get a copy of it to show you how we did the whole thing. It was absolutely hilarious. We are known as either Timon and Pumba or the Missionaries that asked a girl to Mormon Prom now. We have such character around here. Such great memories already and its only beginning of week 4 in Saugus! 

Whelp, fun stuff. I probably have lots more to share but can't think and this computer is about to go black and shut down in 30 seconds so I better send this off!

Love you all and hope you have a great week this week! 

Love, Elder Brady

Valentines Week

Hey Family!

Sorry I didn't write you guys yesterday, because of the Holiday, the library was closed, so we got permission to come up and write this morning. Thank you so much for all the pictures this week! I officially have the cutest nieces in the world! Air Elle... ha-ha that was so awesome! And her swimming suit. I seriously cannot believe Logan is as big as she is... I just look and think, you have got to be kidding me and just laugh. That picture of her helping Papa G paint was priceless, holding on to G $'s leg :)

I love the Maxson's! They are such wonderful people and it has been so much fun getting to know them! Mother Helaman decorated our door with tons of hearts for Valentines Day so we had a nice surprise when we got home! Well things in this area are going good as always! Come to find out, in the past, Bishop Stanley, (our Bishop) who doesn't really even talk to the missionaries, (so Elder Norton tells me) came up to us Sunday and somehow knows about my background and where I came from and challenged us to teaching 25 lessons a week! This area averages around 10-15... So from missionaries always living under the radar in this ward are now in full throttle! Ha-ha. We are going to try really hard to find some new people because like you said Dad, no matter what area you are in; there are people that need help! When I got here this area has a total of 1 investigator, someone who we like to call an "Eternigator" (an Eternal Investigator) who has been meeting with missionaries for the past 6 years... but besides this, missionaries just share messages with members in the ward.

Everything is coming together a little better now after getting a feel for this place for the past 2 weeks. A couple of nights I felt a little depressed, because I wanted to continue teaching the people I loved that we had out in Lancaster and not teaching anyone here at all. Sad combination... But, Last Saturday we met a skater kid named Jesse (20) on the street that is questioning life and investigating religions at the moment. We got his number and we are meeting at Central Park today at 4:30! So hopefully that goes well and he shows up. I bet he will, he was pretty emotional with us and is searching for answers. So if he really wants to know, He will come. :) Well we need to get going now so we can teach a record braking 25 lessons in this area for once! After all Bishop, it's all about the numbers? Even if that sounds weird (because it does to me), but a very important lesson that i have learned is, Always listen and obey your church leaders and you will be blessed. Even if they are wrong, they're right! 

P.S. this is only Elder Norton's 2nd transfer being DL so we are both figuring this stuff out together. Ha-ha  

Real quickly, I just wanted to share that we just found out about our new Mission President that is coming this year! President Hall! I will just copy paste everything Pres. Martin has told us below.

 I have exciting news to share with you.  Brother Kenneth T. Hall and Sister Dianna M. Hall have been called to succeed myself and Sister Martin as the new mission president and wife on or about July 1, 2012.  The Hall's have already been highlighted in the Church News as a new mission president but without a specific mission assignment.  The new mission president assignments will be published in the Church News on March 3rd.  Below is the article that appeared in the Church News.  The Hall's have four children.  Two daughters age 18 and 13 and two sons, age 15 and 7.   I had the pleasure of speaking to the Hall's this weekend.  They are bubbling with excitement to serve in this great mission alongside each of you.  They were fun to speak to.   The Halls have a very deep faith in the gospel of Christ.  They are people of capacity.  You can trust them to lead you well and lift the mission to even greater levels.  Sister Martin and I already feel a great love for the Halls.  Now with that said, I want you each to know that Sister Martin and I will serve to our capacity to the last moment of our mission.  We have much work to still complete here.  We have many missionaries to teach, many seekers of truth to baptize, much work to do with the stakes, wards and branches, many miracles to still experience.  We will finish our course until the Lord says: "Your work is done here."  In this tender moment, we realize even more how precious each of you are to us.  We are all fellow servants in the work of the Lord to bring about his great purpose, which is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."  So let's remember whose errand we are on and get back to work!
 With heartfelt love,President Martin Kenneth Troy Hall and Dianna McConkie Hall.
Kenneth Troy Hall, 43, and Dianna McConkie Hall, four children, Arrowhead Ranch Ward, Glendale Arizona North Stake. Brother Hall serves as a gospel doctrine teacher and as a stake strengthening marriage instructor and is a former stake mission president, stake Young Men president, high councilor, bishop, high priest group leader and missionary in the Argentina Buenos Aires North Mission. Former senior vice president, Pet Smart, Inc. Born in Richland, Wash., to Troy Edward and Lucille Yancey Hall.Sister Hall serves as a Relief Society president and as a stake strengthening marriage instructor and is a former counselor in a Relief Society presidency, counselor in a Primary presidency, institute teacher and gospel doctrine teacher. Born in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., to Stanford Smith and Kathleen Ann Sorensen McConkie.

Well like always, we've got to get going especially because it's not P-day and we have appointments to get to.

P.S. I think we might miss e-mail again on March 12th (so hopefully we'll e-mail the 13th if we can) because the entire San Fernando Mission is coming together to hear L. Tom Perry!!! And Elder Richard J. Maynes!! Speak to us!

Love you all!

Love, Elder Brady

---No Regrets---

Happy Birthday Grandma Erickson!