Elder Spencer Brady's Mission to D.R.: " Two letter's this week"

February 8th, 2016

* This week we've been blessed with two letter's from Elder Brady!

** First Letter

These are letter's from a good friend of mine. The first is from a long time ago when we were both in our training, and the second is recent. Thought I'd share the story...

"Friday,
We talked to Yunior and his mom. She says we can go ahead with the interview but she is going to wait to see a change in him. Come on Yunior! We had interviews with President. I am pretty sure from my interview that I am staying and Elder Hanks is going. We will see in two weeks! We had a lesson with Adolfo that night about the Book of Mormon, he had a ton of questions! Wow. Hatians have such big hearts, they are so open to the truth. We did Noche Amistad on what God has given to us. I shared Mosiah 2:41 at the end. If we truly are greatful for all he has given us, then we will keep his commandments, and keeping this commandments make us happy.
Saturday,
We had ton of baptismal interviews. Including the one with Yunior. He passed with flying colors. Now we just need to get that signature. We had class of English and then we got a call from Adolfo. Adolfo doesnt have a job and was living with some people from his other church. Well aparently the pastor of this church found this out and kicked him out. He came to us begging to help him. As missionaries all we can do is refer him to the ward. It was so painful. I wanted to give him all of the money back at the appartment, but I couldnt. So hard. So we told him we would talk to the ward in ward council tomorrow. Our ward mission leader gave him some money to try and find somewhere to sleep. So hard.
Sunday,
We didnt have to many investigators at church. Its hard when they promise things but dont do them. Adolfo sat next to us in sacrament. He slept in a parking lot that night. It is so sad. So sad. We literally cant do anything to help him. We told him to wait till later after ward council. We then went up to Brisas and had a lesson with a lady we were pretty sure was drunk. She was going off. That or shes a firecracker. I dont know. I kept looking at Elder Hanks like, is that really just what she said? Haha. So funny. We had ward council and they were able to pitch in money for Adolfo and everyone is on the lookout for work and places for him to stay. They are all timid because hes new and nobody knows him, and hes a Haitian. They are so racisit towards these people here. So sad.
We had a talk with Adolfo later that night. He asked if there was anything we could do for him. We really cant, except for pray and check up on him. He has been sleeping in a parking lot and is really worried about his safety. He told us to not pray that he finds a job or a house, but that he is safe and if he dies, that he dies in peace. He started crying and so did we. I cant believe this. The ward wont do anything to help because of where he is from and I feel like we got him into this mess. He is so scared, yet I feel like they dont care. Makes me so angry."

Over one year later...

"Beuno, so our baptisms in our area fell for the noche blanca. It was really sad and all week I was talking about how I never get to see people get baptized and how I always just leave tons of prepared people in my areas. Basically just complaining about life. I know, bad Elder Davis, but God taught me a really important lesson. The story starts a year and a half ago. Elder Hanks and I had an investigator named adolpho. He was a man from Haiti. We taught him in his house a couple of times and he started to come to church. Adolpho didnt have work and needed help finding a job because he was here to study. He was progressing really well and we became good friends with him. He came to church a couple of times and everything was great. Then we found out that the owner of his apartment had kicked him out. The owner was a pastor of an evangical church. I remember vividly sitting in the church foyer with Aldopho. All three of us were crying because the sitiuation looked so hopeless. The members of the church didnt want to take him in because of his race and it was really sad. Nobody would help him. He left up to villa mella to sleep in a parking lot everynight. I said he would cry himself to sleep every night because he was so scared. In this moment I was mad at the mission handbook. How could we let this man pass through this. If it wasnt for the mission handbook he would be sleeping in my bed at home, safe from harm. He ended up moving in friends in Villa Mella and his phone stopped working and that was the last we heard of him.
Saturday we got to the Noche Blanca. Elder Rios (My son in the mission) Had told me he was teaching a hatian man who had been investigating for a long time, and that he would be baptized on Saturday. I really didnt think much, I was so stressed because I know that this was a big night for the stake and I felt kind of incharge. I was rushing around everywhere making sure everyone was doing what they should. Suddenly I open the door and there standing was Adolpho... I hugged him and all he said was, oh my brother, God is good. I could not believe it. It was incredible. He was going to be baptized that night. I happened to have my white clothes for a special number we were going to do before the baptisms and he immediatley asked me to baptize him. I could not hold in the emotions. After my whole week of feeling down on my self I had witnessed a miracle. I felt like God was telling me that he was incharge and had a plan. Adolpho and I talked and he told me that he had been going to church for a while over there when Elder Rios finally asked him if he was a member. He said no, and they started teaching him. His progress report said that some other missionaries had taught him before, but obviously it was not the same that we had in Los Frailes. Elder Rios had no idea. Adolpho has given almost everything for this church. When he came up out of the water I just give him a big hug and said congrats my brother. It was the most amazing experience. My mission kind of turned full circle for me. I know that sometimes as missionaries our fruits of our labors are small, but they are much bigger than we will ever understand. I am so thankful for this work. I love it with all my heart. I wish I never had to go home. I thank the Lord for this opportunity that he has given me to serve. Miracles happen, daily, because he will never cease to be a God of miracles. I love you all!"
Elder Davis

**Second Letter

"Transfers... (don't judge, I've run out of creative titles)"

The transfers are in! We received the news Saturday night with a phone call from the President. I'll be staying, and my companion will be companions with a missionary that's had some obedience issues as a special assignment. President then told me that I will be training starting tomorrow. He told me that it will be a special assignment as well.
My companion is from a small island in the Caribbean called Grenada, (which is only about twice the size of Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake for perspective) His name is Elder Charles, and has less than 14 months as a member of the church. He speaks English, but cannot read or write it.
In the words of President Corbitt, "Since the very moment the MTC president told me of this Elder, I knew that you were going to be his trainer." -It's not an uncommon occurrence that president receives such clear revelation. He continued, "Elder Brady, you will be teaching your companion how to read and write English, how to speak Spanish, how to be member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and how to be a missionary... I'm not asking much!" -followed by my nervous laughter...
If feels as though the Lord has given me the opportunity to greatly and directly impact the life of another individual. The funny thing is, a day earlier I had already met him at the MTC. We passed by the temple after a dentist appointment to buy some stuff from the distribution center, so we mooched off of the kitchen staff and just ate there. I talked with him before I knew I'd be training him, and didn't ever think that I would be training at all this transfer.
I'm excited for the new experience, and only pray that I can receive the inspiration needed in order to not mess it up. It'll be fun. By the end of his training he'll be reading Shakespeare. Love you all!

Elder Brady