"Come on in Boys! The Water is Fine!" - Week 67

October 19th, 2015

     This weekend, Hermano Pedro Hernandez (Padilla), was baptized in Vista Bella and I had the privilege to attend and perform the ordinance. I've had five months working with him, and several months before that he was contacted by missionaries. I've witnessed for five months, ups and downs, highs and lows, first his baptismal dates fall, goals met, goals failed, week after week, month after month, good days bad days, failures and triumphs, invitations declined, and invitations accepted. I've had the blessing of seeing the Lord work in the lives of this family, witnessing the conversions and baptisms of first his daughter, then his wife, and now him. It's been a long and arduous road, but one most worth taking. I can't believe the change he's made in his life with divine aid. If you could see who he was when I first met him, and who he is now, you'd have the same testimony in the healing power of the atonement and the process of repentance as I do. It's incredible. He's left drinking, coffee, and has repented of past infidelities in his marriage. This man is my brother, and this family my family. Missionaries don't often get to see the fruits of their labor like this, so I'm counting my blessings and walking on clouds. I know it was the Lord who truly prepared the way for him to make this covenant. If it weren't for obedience to the opposite sex rule, and the new policy of minors and spouses, I know he wouldn't be where he is today. We never would have been able to involve him in the lessons. In a year from now, the Hernandez family will enter into the temple of the Lord and be sealed for all eternity!Que asombroso es!

     Other than that, things are going well in El Eden. We're finding more and more members, and more and more families. This week we didn't spend as much time in the area as I would have liked due to the meetings we've had, but we'll be making up for that this week. The zone is swell. This week will be our desarollo meeting, and we'll be talking about chapters 2, 8, and 10 of PMG, so we're excited. I'll also be taking some time to talk a bit about faith. I've really been searching for some external remedies to treat internal sources of discouragement. It's not that the zone is discouraged... not at all. But we could all be a bit more invigorated about missionary work, and I'm thinking that faith is attribute we can develop more. Drawing upon that same source of faith in Jesus Christ will give us more confidence, making us more powerful messengers of the gospel, thus finding more success in the field. External to internal, and visa versa. I've always thought it was a question of perspective, and that concept has been reassured many a time. Other than that, Elder Lemus is progressing very well. He's learning a ton, and gaining more and more experience.

Anywho, Love you all!

Elder Brady

"All is well, All is... wait, is that Pica Pollo?" - Week 66

October 12th, 2015

     New area , and new everything! "La vaina ta buena paka!" as they say in dominican... -"thing's are all good over here!" We made it safe and sound to El Eden, and I receive my little boy this Tuesday. His name is Elder Lemus, from El Salvador. He's a real good guy, and we have a pretty good time together. He's learning a lot about the mission, and it brings me back to my early times, the first weeks in the mission, adjusting to all the new and strange cultural aspects of a completely foreign experience. He's battling some very common homesickness, but he's soldiering on quite well.
     The ward here is better than I thought it would be, but still very apparent that there's some "heating up" to do with the missionary work. The Bishop is basically a psychopath, but as they say, "Entre locos, se entienden" and I believe I can get into his mind and carry out the plans he has for the ward. I've dealt with a lot of different types of people, but this is a whole new species, so it'll be fun to discover what makes things tick here in El Eden. Things are swell here. With a positive attitude, hard work, tried and tested strategies, creativity, obedience, and revelation from the Lord, miracles come to pass. I'm a firm believer in said miracles, and we'll be seeing many of them soon. Our first night in the area we put a date with a man who has 4 months receiving the missionaries, but just hasn't been able to commit himself to baptism. He's now preparing to be baptized the 5th of November. I know this was gift from God, for him, for the ward, and for the work. Things are a bit complicated, what with being in a different house than the other Zone Leader and what not... the communication is fun! But things are going really well. Other than that, I thought I'd end on a high note, stating that the runs I've had these past several days from some pica pollo I ate have now come and gone. All is well in Zion. Thanks for all your prayers everyone!

Elder Brady

"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!