"She'll promise you more than the garden of Eden..." - Week 65

October 5th, 2015

     Well, transfers are in... Some interesting news! I'm staying in the same zone as zone leader, but this time I'm going to El Eden, another area in the zone. I'm white washing, and training... So that's a lot. But I'm super excited about it! It'll be interesting, to be zone leader, while not living with my old companion. I'm gonna have at least 10 and a half months in this same zone... But it's really good. I love the zone, and I'll just get to know more of it. Sorry guys... no time today. But everything is great! I love you all!

Elder Brady

"I Went Down to the River to Pray... " - Week 64

September 28th, 2015

     This week was great! We had a baptism! I wish I had photos to show you all, but the internet center I'm in right now unfortunately isn't the most state of the art, and the computers won't read my card... Anywho, it was a very spiritual experience, (a pesar de las circunstancias). It was the first baptism I've done with such little water and such little light. Earlier that day we were at a service project, moving dirt and painting at the house of an investigator family of the Sisters. It went great, and they certainly needed it, but we were dead afterwards from the sun and from shoveling. However, service projects like that, even though they exhaust me, also rejuvenate the soul. After that, several hours before the baptismal service, we went to the church to fill up the font and the generator wasn't working, which also means that the water pump doesn't work either.... so the water level barely reached our knees. It was also very dark, so Elder Daniels, who was acting as one of the witnesses, had to hold a light from our cell phone over us. It was great! Baptizing in the dark... What an experience! Her name is Dilenny. We've been teaching her for about three months. She was crying as I baptized her, and it was obvious to everyone there that the Spirit was present. She has a lot of support from the young adults in the ward. Actually, in the time that I've been here, she's met a special guy... She and one of the other young adults, a friend of mine, Carlos, are planning on getting married! I can hardly believe it! I knew them both before they knew each other! Love is real... Anywho, things are pretty great. Love you all!

"But Pete and I's been saved!"
"Baptism! You two are dumber than a bag o' hammers!"

Elder Brady

"Cave Dwellers" - Week 63

September 23rd, 2015

Great week... Didn't have any time to write the last two days, it's been super busy.

     Well, last week the night before the leadership counsel, the assistants called and told me I was giving talk in the counsel. So the next morning, I got a cake and brought it to the capital. I did the same example I did earlier, but this time applying it to "how to conduct an effective zone meeting". We talked about the way we transfer the info. we receive to the rest of the missionaries. It went well, and they all liked the cake.

     This week we changed our p-day to Tuesday so we could go to some caves called Los Tres Ojos, and an aquarium. It was dope! We found a real life Gollum. His name is Bienvenido, and I couldn't resist taking a picture with him. He basically lives in the caves. He's the only person in the world, as he says, who is authorized to climb and dive in the caves. He really was Smeagol. We had a real good time there.

     Not much time, sorry this letter stinks... We got to head off to do zone interviews with the President. Hope you all have a good one!

Love Elder Brady

"Opening Doors" - Week 62

September 14th, 2015

 Well, twas a good one. Didn't see too many drunk people, and I didn't run into many "frecas", so I'd say it's been pretty outstanding. We had our monthly meeting with the Stake Pres. and I must say, from the first meeting I had with him to this one, things have changed tremendously. The interesting thing is that we had a very low month, considering numbers, just like we had four months ago. Honestly, the results on paper were very similar. Now, that's not a good thing, but the the President's reaction sure was. It was totally different this time. He's now seeing things much more from both sides of the work.

     We also had our desarollo meeting with the zone this week, and it went really well. We talked about working with members, obedience, making inspired questions in lessons, charity, the pure love of Christ, and at the end we talked about "Effectual Doors".  While talking about a good number of scriptures in Doctrine and Covenants, I began to draw a big gate in the middle of a brick wall, one of those old medieval ones that lift with chains. Then I drew the chain. We talked about certain "walls" that seem insurmountable in the mission and in our lives. The wall I drew was immovable. Then they said, well, why don't we just go through the gate? Well, doors, being the means that transport us from one side of a barrier to our destination on the other side, need a key to be opened. Luckily, we have living seers and revelators on the earth that possess such keys to open such "effectual doors". But the thing about the door I drew, is that even after it's been unlocked by someone who has the keys, you still need to pull the chain. You still need put forth the effort. Then I had all the Elders form a line side by side, and link arms. Each of them was a separate link, but together they were a chain. One elder on one end pulled as hard as he could, while the opposite end did the same. The chain held strong. Some of them almost broke, but they didn't. Then I had one of them in the middle make his arms super loose, as though he didn't care about the mandate to stay strong as an individual link. Both the ends did the same, and I think you can imagine the result. The chain broke. And the "effectual door" wasn't able to be lifted up. It shows just how one disobedient missionary can effect the success of the entire mission. We're a team, we're a chain. And if we can't all pull together, staying strong individually, the chain will break, the door won't be opened, and we won't receive the blessings promised to us.

     Well, we'll be having a great week ahead of us, full of stuff to do! Love you all!
Elder Brady

Our zone after an activity at the church!

"Birthday!" - Week 61

September 7th, 2015

     This week was fantastic! We had a temple trip... amazing. We had a mission tour with the Pres... Amazing... Probably the best I've had in the mission. My birthday was sweet. Friday, the sister leaders surprised me with a cake and a card written in by everyone for my Birthday. Saturday, my companion had some decorations for me (humble but sweet) and that morning I opened my package. Not to brag or anything, but just so ya'll know, I have the best mom in the world. I loved every bit of the package. In the night we were at another persons baptism, and brother Nuñez and Rodriguez showed up out of the blue, and they gave me cards and presents. It was perfect. Then, we went back to the house of one of our investigators that came to the baptism, and there waiting for me were a bunch of friends, members and investigators, surprising me. We went up to the roof and ate dumplings and salami. It was awesome. Everything was great, and people really came through. It was a super nice day. Especially compared to my first b-day in the mish...

     The Friday after the mission tour, we had our district meetings. At the end, we all met as a zone to talk about our baptismal goals. We talked about the mentality of faith as though what the Lord has promised has already come true. During the conversation, I called up Hermana Hinrichsen as a volunteer. I asked her if she trusted that I would tell her the truth, and that what I asked of her would be possible. She said yes, and agreed. Then I asked her to give me 1000 pesos. Laughing, she said she'd love to if she could, but that she didn't have it on her.  After several moments of questions like, "but didn't you have faith?" and what not, we asked them all to go to 1 Nephi 3:7. As they all turned to it, Hermana Hinrichsen was extremely surprised to find a thousand peso bill I had slipped in her Book of Mormon earlier in the meeting. "You've got some pretty light fingers there Everet..." She didn't know it, but I had provided what I asked of her, and had prepared a way. After that, we turned back to the goals, and the result from the Zone was great. They all started raising their goals saying "I think such and such family could really be ready this month..." It was great. And luckily, Hermana Hinrichsen gave me my 1000 pesos back...

     Anywho, thanks for everything! Love you all!

Temple trip!!!

I snapped my self a pretty rad pic with the president... Oh ya!

I've got the best Zone ever!

Goofballs...

Love these guys!

"Hurricane... Or Maybe Just a Couple of Clouds and Rain" - Week 60

August 31st, 2015

     Well, the hurricane came and went... Not much of a hurricane. It was kind of just down graded to a tropical storm with a lot of wind and rain. The entire mission did have to stay in that day though. It was quite dissapointing to tell you the truth.

     The area is great, and we have a lot of really cool things coming up... mission tour, temple trip, and all that jazz. It's exciting.

     Sorry for the lame letter this week, I'll do better the next one. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! Love you all!

Elder Brady

"Red Cross Translator, and a Couple of Oranges" - Week 59

August 24th, 2015

     Well Hello! This transfer has flown by. The transfers are in, and I'm staying here another month and a half, so I'm super happy about that. Elder Romero is going to train, and I'll be getting Elder Ruiz, from Nicaragua. Saturday, we had a special zone conference call to sing Elder Romero Happy Birthday. It was super funny. If you would think we're bad at singing in real life, we're about ten times worse over the phone.

     This week was awesome. We went to help the traveling Red Cross boat translate. They're in the DR for 10 days. It was amazing. I translated for military doctors in the dermatology section, and it was one of the coolest experiences of my mission. We saw some of the whackiest stuff. I'm talkin legs falling off people. You wouldn't believe it. I assisted in a tumor removal surgery. It was huge! The experience taught me a lot, and there were also several sad cases, where people will have to lose their feet or a leg. The entire day I felt as though I was on the real life set of Doctor House or something. On one hand, I felt almost intimidated by how much medical knowlage these people have, but on the other, they had no idea what the patient was saying, and I understood them perfectly. It was a cool feeling to be honest, and at the end of the day I was walking on air knowing with asurety that I really helped a lot of people that day. I got to know some of the coolest guys there.

     The week before, we had our Zone meeting, and I used another example Mom had given me. I took an orange, and a vase of water, and passed around the orange having them examin it. They said it looked great. I plopped it in the vase, and it floated perfectly in the water.  I then started to peel a piece off, saying that I woke up late today, and didn't have time to do my personal study. Then I started peeling more, and the zone gave me  a bunch of ideas, things that I didn't do that I should have done, and things that I did, that I shouldn't have. After a good little time of bursting out a nice plethora of disobedience, the orange was completely peeled. Then I put it in the water again, and something interesting happened... It sunk to the bottom. We had a really good and really inclusive conversation about maintaining our peel strong. We read a bit of proverbs, and how the Lord is our sheild, and a bit in Ephesians about putting on our armor daily. We can also choose to take it off, little by little, until we find ourselves sinking. Then I put in the other orange, saying that that's what repentance is for. It floated perfectly above the other orange. It was a well developed conversation.

     This week Beatriz was finally baptized! It was a long and arduous process, but so so so worth it. She was incredibly happy. The next day at church, I had the privilege of confirming her. And as she sat up, with tears in her eyes, it was apparent to us all that she had, without doubt received the gift of the Holy Ghost that day. The next runner up is her husband, and he's a harder challenge than her, but he'll understand it all it soon. Any who, thanks for all the prayers. Love you all.

Elder Brady

"El CCM Mini" - Week 58

August 17th, 2015

     Not much time. This week we had a pretty awesome MTC experience for the Youth in our ward, we missionaries were the teachers. It was super fun, but also very frustrating to try and control a bunch of teenagers who won't shut up and learn something... I've found a great deal of respect for all my Young Mens leaders. It was really fun though.

     We had our monthly report meeting with the Stake Pres. again.... Boy are things a heck of a lot better with him. After many many family home evenings, service projects and teaching our investigators with him, President Abreu has become my good friend. And good friends don't bash on each other. He now see's things from both sides, and it's awesome. In July we had 10 baptisms, so that was a much better number to report than 2...

Any who, all is well! Thanks for everything! Love you all,

Elder Brady

The group!

Hermanas preparing for the activity. Love these missionaries!

We had some pretty awesome class room setups

Lunch break. Pizza time!

Water balloon fight at the end... No worries, I took my tie off