What the transfer??

Crazy stuff... So transfers slapped us in the face this time. So all along we were thinking that Norton and I would stay together since we were doing so well and we were in the middle of being apart of miracles! But Norton has been here for almost six months now so we were thinking it could be time for him to leave. So transfer calls usually come on Saturday morning... so we were a little shocked to see him calling us Friday morning... Elder Norton said, "It's for you." So I got the phone and talked to Pres for a while and basically the punch line is that he has a "special assignment" for me and said I am going to be a zone leader with Elder Otis covering the Valencia Zone. What the heck! It doesn't make any sense at all but I guess duty calls... So I am leaving in 2 hours to my new apartment and I am already packed and ready to go. Serious bummer. I felt like I just got my feet wet here and finally started to have a lot of strong relationships with people in this area. It feels like I'm leaving home AGAIN and AGAIN...

Good news though, Stephen has moved his baptismal date to May 20th and he asked me if I would baptize him! I felt very honored and it lifted my spirits to hear that. Well I don't have too much else to say right now besides Donna's baptism went perfectly! And with her coming to church for the past 7 years, she has A LOT of friends in the ward and it was seriously like sacrament meeting attendance for her baptism! It was amazing.

Actually another thing that happened this week was Mormon Helping Hands. We all went up to the aquatic center and painted 2,000 ft. of fence! There was a big turnout so it only took like 3 hours. Ha-ha

So another good thing is that the Valencia Zone is right next to the Santa Clarita Zone (and both in Santa Clarita Valley) so I'm just moving a couple miles away... The only problem is that I am going from a "suite mansion house" (best place to stay in the mission) to the one of the "worst apartments in the mission." So it will be good to bring me back to reality ha-ha. I'm really going to miss Brother and Sister Maxson though, we've become pretty attached to them and I wasn't expecting it, but they were actually Very emotional about the news. They shared some very heartfelt things with us and wish that we were their sons. Elder Norton's new companion coming in is Elder Chhun. He's from Cambodia and speaks little English. So things will definitely be much different next transfer. We are both pretty sad though at the unexpected change...

It will be good though :) I don't know when we will call on mothers day yet, I don't even know when my new ward starts... so hopefully I will have more information next week?

Love you all! Thanks for the support!

Love Elder Brady

*NO REGRETS*

Stephen and Donna

Hello family! Firstly, I am very excited and proud to tell you that this week was almost as good as last week! I know that seems impossible, but Stephen came to church AGAIN on Sunday and we taught him for an hour and a half after church! We invited him to be baptized and he eventually said YES!!! We had to address some of his concerns such as how he doesn't need to be baptized because he has already been baptized twice! Etc. But he now has a better understanding, so we set the date for May 13 and promised him he will be prepared for that date to be baptized as long as he keeps his commitments we give him! He already asked bishop Stanley if he would speak at his baptism and planning an after party to celebrate his baptism :) I seriously can't believe it... We now have 2 investigators who will be getting baptized within the next month! This is unheard of, Thank you for all your prayers! They are definitely being answered! I feel so lucky to be apart of all these life changing experiences, simply because we don't feel like we are even doing anything special and Heavenly Father is blessing us immensely! Saugus 3rd is officially back in business after being in a "drought" for 2 years! I honestly don't even know what else to say... words cannot describe these experiences as a missionary. :)

Besides all these many miracles that are taking place, I will hurry and give some details about the rest of this past week for your sake mother dearest :)

P.S. you used the word "EPIC!!!".... Perfectly! Your are such a cool mom. Definitely the best one EVER! You da bomb :)

So first we actually did something fun on P-day and went with the Zone Leaders up to Castaic Lake and hiked around through the trees! We skipped rocks and watched all the boats fly around out on the lake, which was probably a bad idea... It was torcher! I want to wake board so badly! It was hilarious though, Elder Emery asked me, how far away do you think that boat is from us? and Norton and I both answered 14 months... ha-ha

P.S. he wants to come with us to Lake Powell when we get back :)

Anyways, we also had interviews with President Martin this week for the last time... Sad, he's getting ready to leave us... While we were in the interview he told Elder Norton and I how we have done exactly what he has sent us here to do. He talked about how there are two different kids of missionaries, Project missionaries and Partner missionaries. He said he usually doesn't put two partner missionaries together very often, but this was a special case and Saugus needed a spiritual bomb. He also referred to us a "Powerhouse Companionship!" Interviews with President are always a spiritual boost! He is such a great guy. And it was very good to hear that we are accomplishing what were here to do. It's the best news you can hear as a missionary from a mission President.

Well I hate to cut short on this e-mail, but I got an e-mail from Mike Pollard!!! and I need to respond to that real quick. Sorry I didn't answer all/really any of your questions mom, just know that everything is Awesome, and if you have any doubts just ask Dad how I'm doing, he doesn't feel bad for me anymore :) ha-ha

I love you all! Have a great week and thanks for everything!

Love, Elder Brady

=*=*=No REGRETS=*=*=

Do you believe in Miracles?

Thank you all for the news again! ha ha and yes Abby, I can still do a back flip even though I am "fat" now :) Dad, nice work in action! I bet Paul and Deanna with be happy with this decision! So much remodeling... I don't even know whose house Logan is in, in that picture! It could be ours for all I know ha ha.

Well to answer some questions, brother and sister Maxson are probably moving to Logan area around June 2013. Richard Maxson is retired and Sandy Maxson will retire next year right before the move. She works as a special Ed teacher at La Mesa Middle school. So their plan is to move right when she is done working. She has a lot of family in Utah and they want to be more involved with them.

The weather this week was incredible as well! People in this area say they have never seen it rain that hard in a long time. We experienced a huge rainstorm! We were actually in District meeting when the best part of the storm rolled around ...There we were, bearing testimonies ect., as the lightning was unleashing, FLASH! BANG! POW! We came to the conclusion that each time it snapped, it was the heavens approval, which made it very epic :) ha ha it was fun.

So some great things happened this week! Miracles!

At church yesterday Stephen walked in again! He stayed for all three hours of church with us and loved it! We even taught him another lesson right after church! He was definitely on a spiritual high! We are going to meet with him again tomorrow and invite him to baptism! So wish us luck! All of this wasn't even the best part... another bigger miracle happened this week! Remember Elder L. Tom Perry's prophecy about if we consistently teach 20 lessons a week Great things would happen?! Well it's true! We are going to harvest the first baptism in this area in the last 2 years! A sister Donna Mathews (an eternigator who has been coming to church for the past 5 years and been taught many times) came up to bishop yesterday and said she is ready to get baptized!!!! So that is going to happen on the last day of this transfer! The 28th @ 3:00!!! We have to meet with her a lot this week to make sure she is good to go and still knows everything. Then bishop will announce it at sacrament meeting next Sunday and everyone will be blown away! Donna has been coming for so long that she even has a church calling! Ha ha.

All of this has strengthened my testimony so much about being diligent and not getting discouraged! Because, with God, All things ARE possible! Even baptizing in a dead area! And we just need to remain diligent to the things we know are right so we can "win the prize!"  YESSSSSS!

I love you all and please keep our 2 baptismal candidates in your prayers as they progress these next two weeks :)

I let you know how it goes when I talk to you again next week!

PEACE!!!

Love, Elder Brady

===NO REGRETS===

"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 ###