"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

"Family Trees" - Week 57

August 10th, 2015

     Pretty good week all in all. We're being incredibly blessed right now with investigators that just pop up here and there. It's never happened in my mission, but we have more progressing investigators than we can handle. There just isn't enough time in a week to visit them all. It's kind of rough to have all that combined with the responsibilities of the calling. It's hard to find an equilibrium between spending time as Zone leader, or spending time in the area. And the first usually takes precedent. But all is well.

     This week after district meetings, we all gathered together and set up a black board at the front. In chalk, I had drawn two missionaries inside a seed-pod looking thing, underground with a bunch of roots spreading out from it. As we started asking questions and developing the topic, I drew a family with six children above the ground, then around them grew the tree trunk, dividing into six branches. We continued developing the idea and conclussion I wanted them to get to. Then I drew smaller branches off of the six, and even smaller branches off of those until the tree began to flourish with innumerable branches and leaves. We talked about how many generations of families we could touch just by spreading the seed. I drew a fruit on the tip of one of the branches, representing what could be a future leader or missionary of the church long after we've died. Eventually, that fruit will fall in it's time and spread the same seed, starting new a new tree. I began to draw a forest in the background. We shared Alma 26-22, talking about the possibility of bringing thousands of souls to salvation. It was then interesting to see an infinite network of roots connecting each other traced deep under the ground. It all started from a seed that was planted. We talked about how we're not just baptizing individuals here, rather entire families and generations that will grow and flourish, all traceable through family roots that grow far back. Everything is connected. We bagan to talk about the temple, and the work done therein. I drew the Santo Domingo Temple in the middle of the forest making such vicarious work and connections possible. Elder Romero shared D&C 64:33-34, about placing the cement of a great work, and what we're willing to do for the Lord.  It was a really cool discussion, and I think we all learned a bit more about the importance of finding and teaching families to build the kingdom of God on earth.

Anywho, The mish rocks. Peace out ya'll

Elder Brady

"La Freca" - Week 56

August 3rd, 2015

Dear People,

     The week was a good one. We had the assistants come to the zone this last Thursday to capacitate us leaders. It was really good, and learned a lot. We're getting excited for our next Noche Blanca, which is anticipated to be more successful than the last. It'll be good.

     We've been running around all over the zone this week, trying to solve both little and big problems all over the place. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't love it. Don't have much time this week, but I'd at least like to highlight a funny experience that happened to me this week.

     One day I was on an intercambio with Elder Daniels, and we got into one of the many route cars that pass by after having gotten out of a lesson. Elder Daniels entered the front and I into the back. Now, I'm no prince charming in the States, but down here, any guy with sapphire blue eyes is automatically an exotic gem. There was a girl in back already, and as soon as I got in she had her eyes fixed on me like white on rice. It was painfully obvious to see that she was interested in me, and in a very child like way. Every time I turned my head, she was there staring, smiling, and waving at me. I felt like Arthur in the old cartoon Sword in the Stone, when he's a squirrel, and has a friend he can't get rid of. I tried to start talking to her about the gospel, and soon Elder Daniels joined in. But then, as he was talking up front, her hand slowly started getting closer and closer to me until she was pinching the skin on my elbow... Weird right? Then she started to stroke my arm, and faster than you could think it, I said "Donde Pueda Chófer!" Signaling to the man driving the car to pull over. Well, she decided she had to get her licks in before I got out, almost literally, so she put her hand on my mouth, and then put that hand on her mouth and kissed it. Ladies and gentleman, that day I achieved a feat no human being in history has ever reached without mechanical aid. I flew. I flew out of that car faster than a speeding bullet. I was safe from the 17 yr. old dominican version of Potiphar's wife. Thats what's called a "Freca" here in the D.R. Basically a dominican word for floozy (I apologize for the strong wordage kids). When Elder Daniels asked me if this is where we were supposed to get out, I told him what happened, and he was blissfully unaware of the events that had just taken place. Oh the curse of my blue eyes and blonde hair...

 Anyway, all is well in Zion, and the Church is true.

Elder Brady