Christmas Week

     Another good week, but it was also snowless. That was bummer. First 

Christmas without snow. ... I hope you all had better luck haha.     Monday we had a white elephant gift exchange as a zone activity. You pretty much had a bunch of missionaries scrambling around their apartment, looking in the narnia closets trying to find something to take. At least that's what happened in our apartment ha. It was actually a pretty good white elephant given the fact it was all missionaries...and we are all broke.... Whoo! It's all good because we played some basketball too so it wasn't a complete bust of a Monday.     On Tuesday we had yet again another great district meeting. Elder Rothermel (older couple missionary) said something that I thought was pretty significant. He said, "The Lord, when he was in Gethsemane, didn't say nope this isn't for me. He had self-discipline." Thinking about that for awhile I realized he was right. Christ went through so much for me, for all of us, I want to give back the little I can. After district meeting I went on an exchange with Elder Erickson. He is a Spanish elder so that was interesting....I pretty much just   sat there while he went crazy in Spanish woo hoo!

Elder Brady having some fun with Alma

     Wednesday Elder Oyler and I had dinner at the Kough's and it was great! We also went caroling as a district that night and that was awesome. Almost every door we went to and sang at the people were so excited and they all said they've never had Carolers before, that they had only ever seen it on T.V. That blew my face right off! I immediately felt bad for not really wanting to go at the beginning, but it turned out to be a great experience. It was a good Christmas Eve.
     Thursday....CHRISTMAS!!!! It was great we woke up and opened presents haha that was fun! Then we played some games and ate breakfast and just relaxed. The best part was getting to skype home though. I loved seeing them and talking with them was so great.
The rest of the week we have spent trying to get back into the groove of missionary work and oh boy is that tough. Partly because we want it to be Christmas again and partly because everyone is still gone on Christmas vacation. Oh well the work goes on. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and hope everyone has a great New Years!      Love,     Elder Brady

Chillin'

Messing around with our Mike Wozowski

Candy cake Mataia made and sent

Merry Christmas!

     I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Hope it's a great one and we all remember Christ, Our Savior, through the holidays.

     Another good week in Fort Belvoir. On Monday we went with our whole district (two sets of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior missionary couple) to Gunston Hall which was the home of George Mason. It was huge! It was also pretty cool because there was like no one else there so it was a private tour pretty much. After we went through the house we got to walk around the grounds. Behind the house there is hills dropping down into woods on the side of the Potomac. It was a great view. The peace of the outdoors is one of my favorite things ever! Later that night as Elder Oyler and I were biking home we started trying to dance. On our bikes. It was interesting and I'm sure we looked ridiculous but it's ok haha we have done it two or three times since then so obviously we don't care how crazy we look. We look pretty crazy a lot of the time I'm sure. Oh well it makes things fun!

     Tuesday at District Meetings I taught on a Christ-like attribute, I taught about diligence. I made it super easy on myself and showed a video after explaining diligence a little bit. In the video it talks about a lot of great things. (The video is on my Facebook page, so go watch it if you want to). Something I stressed when I was teaching was "Be yourself." Be yourself and don't let the negativity of the world get to you and drag you down. Stay diligent no matter what others think and no matter what they say.

     We had interviews with President Riggs on Thursday and it was great! We get to talk to him about whatever we want to, and if he wants to talk about anything with us. He shared three stories with me that helped me see how I can become a better missionary. It's nice having help sometimes. I know that's true in everyday life as well.     Friday morning we helped a couple move. They don't have very much stuff so we got it all packed and over to their new house fairly quickly, and the unpacking didn't take that long either. It was the couches that took forever to get into their house! Elder Strawn and I got the first (and smallest) couch in the house and it only took us about 15 minutes I'd say. The next couch was the bruiser. It was the last thing we had to get into the house, everything else was done. We took the legs off of it and got it standing up just inside the door which was the only way we could get it in the front door. Once we got it there though we were stuck because we had to go at a right angle through another doorway. We ended up taking the door off and eventually got it though! That one took about a good 45 

Washington DC Temple Lights

minutes. It was nuts. Got it done though. Yeah buddy! Elder Oyler and I also got togo see the temple lights Friday night with a part member family. It was so amazing! There was so many lights and the temple is huge, it was just incredible. I can't wait to go back again.

     Saturday night we did service for an older couple the other Elders are teaching. We got to put up their lights around their house. It was pretty fun even though we did end up doing them in the dark and it was a little chilly. It was nice to see how happy it made them.

     On Sunday it was the Christmas Program at church and it was so good. The choir did the whole thing and there was lots of great songs. After sacrament Elder Oyler and I handed out little gifts to the kids (thanks to our parents) and the kids loved them. It was cool to see how excited they got over just little gifts. Reminded me that presents aren't what it's all about, it's about Christ. 

Elder Brady & Elder Oyler

     MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

     ~ Elder Brady

Elder Brady at the Washington DC Temple

Gunston Hall - Home of George Mason

The view behind Gunston Hall

Birthday Week!

So this week started off great! It was my birthday on Monday woo!!
Birthday week! Birthday week! We ended up biking to the Stake Center
and playing basketball all day which was fun. When we got home Elder
Oyler and I had dinner with the Maygren family. It was awesome because
it was their daughter, Lilly's birthday as well and she was turning
10. We had a little party and it was way fun, they are such an awesome
family.

On Tuesday we went to the Kough's house for dinner and had another
birthday party there. Elder Oyler and I both got our own cakes and we
are now fat. No but really it was so much cakeeeeee it was awesome!
After the party we helped them set up their Christmas tree and
decorate it. This whole time Alma was being so cute. She was a ball
full of energy flying around putting ornaments up and singing made-up
Christmas songs. They were pretty good ones too she like needs to make
a CD or something.

Wednesday was another good day. It was Elder Oyler's birthday! He
turned the big 20. For dinner we went to Zohra's house, Zohra was one
of Elder Oyler's investigators when he first got into the mission
field and he got to baptize her. Anyway, we had Afghan food there
because she is from Afghanistan and she is super sweet! The food was
different...but it was good, it was good. She made a pretty good
cheesecake from scratch too.

Friday was the next big day in the weekly line up. We had the Mission
Christmas Concert which was pretty much a giant talent show. There was
a whole bunch of acts that went on and it was really good. After the
talent show part there was a more spiritual part where we had a
speaker come in and talk to us. Something that really stood out to me
was that we can never quit on anyone. We can't ever give up on
someone. Someone needs us and if we don't give our all we will let
them down as well as ourselves.

Saturday morning rolled around and we had service to do, we got to go
to Arlington Cemetery and put wreaths on the graves. It was probably
one of the coolest things I have done so far on my mission. There were
thousands of people there and even with all the commotion of that many
people, there was a peace. I walked out of there with so much respect
for the people who fight for our great country. It was a surprisingly
spiritual experience, such a simple act of service by honoring those
that have gone on with a wreath. It is something I really want to do
again. I can't wait to go back to Arlington, it was just amazing.

Last night we had dinner with the Lyman family. They are a young
family with a little two year old boy named Ethan, and a girl on the
way. We had a great dinner and afterwards we showed them the "He is
the Gift" video. (If you hadn't seen it I highly recommend you watch
it!) During the video I looked at Sister Lyman and saw tears running
down her cheeks. It really made me stop and think about Christ and the
meaning of Christmas. Christ did so much for us we should be able to
give a little back, especially during this holiday season.

Speaking of holidays I wish you all a Merry Christmas! Hope it's a great one!
Remember Christ.

Elder Brady

Happy 19th Birthday, Elder Brady.

Birthday Week for Elder Brady on December 8th,
 and then for Elder Oyler on December 10th.

Sister Kough made me a wonderful ice cream sandwich cake for my birthday,
and then we helped them set up their Christmas tree.

The Finished Product at the Kough Family. 

Mission Christmas 2014 Concert - Dinner & Talent Show
Placing Christmas wreaths on the headstones at Arlington Cemetery.

What a beautiful site.

No Snow in December

Hey hey everyone! Hope everyone had a great week! As you can tell there is no snow in December. . . . and it's pretty warm..ish. It's definitely different that back home.

Anyway so last Monday we went thrift shopping for Preparation day woooo! Life of a missionary! After that Elder Oyler and I raked some leaves at an investigators home and we finished right as it started raining. Perfect timing!

Tuesday we had a great District Meeting. We talked about ways that we can do finding through service because it is the Christmas season. We came up with a lot of great ideas that are soon to be put into motion we hope! After district meeting we all came back to the apartment and crashed on the couches. We were so tired ha that nap was awesome!

Jumping to Thursday. We had a big, long meeting with three Zones and President Riggs talked to us. He talked about a lot about our attitude and how we see things and how we should try to see things through other peoples' eyes. It was really good but sitting for seven hours made me really tired. Really tired and my backside was pretty sore haha.

On Friday we took more naps during meal times. This week was really tiring I guess. We taught the Plan of Salvation to the Hales, a member family. They are super awesome and they probably feed us Elders the most. They are an "Elders' Family" haha.

The ward Christmas party was Saturday and it was sweet! Santa was even there! It was way fun and the primary kids did a Nativity and there was lotsssssss of food! I love food. When we got back from the party we decided to rearrange the apartment for some reason, so we moved the couches and table around. Just to change things up a bit.

Yesterday was an interesting day. We were supposed to have a baptismal interview for one of our investigators, but she bailed.....again. This is the third time we have had an interview set up and she has bailed day-of. It's so frustrating because she is so close and every time we talk about baptism she says she is ready and gets all excited. I've been able to see her life improve as we have worked with and taught her and it's frustrating that she never pushes all the through. Oh well, I guess it's not a mission without hardships. Hopefully she comes through for us next time!

We'll have a great week! Keep smiling!

Love,
Elder Brady

Thanksgiving!

First of all happy Thanksgiving!! Hope everyone had a great one!

So last Monday we had all these plans to go play some basketball and
we just couldn't get them to work out. So we decided to just go home.
On the way home we stopped at Five Guys and had lunch and the potatoes
they were using that day were from Garth Sutton Farms in Rexburg,
Idaho! Yeah Buddy! Anyways, as we were going home Elder Oyler and I
decided to go ride around the pond across the street from our
apartment. We made it about half way around when we stopped to talk to
a lady who looked upset, her name was Arleen. She said she was having
breathing problems and didn't think she could make it back to her car
and she asked us to help her. As we were helping her we talked about
life and God and she kept asking us if we thought we were there at
that time for a reason. We said of course! She doesn't live in our
area so we gave a referral to the missionaries in her area to go teach
her. After she left we went fishing. It was awesome haha Elder Oyler
and I always have fun and are always laughing, it's so great. It
turned out to be a good day!

Tuesday was not so great a day. Last week Elder Oyler crashed, this
week it was my turn. Through a series of events of stupidity, I had
the best crash yet. I ended up flipping over the handlebars and it was
just awesome..... Woo for crashing!!

Wednesday it snowed!! Well sort of, it was more of a slush. So it
slushed. Close enough to call it snow though. It didn't really matter
because none of it stayed but it was sweet to see some snow fall for a
little bit.

Turkey Day! We played in a turkey bowl this morning and the field was
like a sponge of water. Everyone was slipping and sliding and falling
and penguin sliding all over the place. It was awesome!! So much fun!
After that, from about lunch on, we went from one meal to the next. We
had three houses we went to and that meant three meals to eat. I paced
myself but the other three guys were full after the first house, by
the end of the night they were dying. It was a lot of food. A lot of
food.

Friday was Elder Jones's six month mark! Elder Oyler and I bought him
a tie to burn. It was way fun and he was pretty excited. He's awesome.
We have been working hard lately and not seen very much come of it,
but that is a part of missionary work. We are in the grunt work and
it's kind of a bummer. Something should come up soon though so we will
keep trucking woo! Never Quit.

Elder Brady

Week 12 - Transfers!

So this week I got my second companion on my mission! Woo haha.  Last Monday we had a Zone Activity where our whole zone got together
and played some volleyball and did crafts. Oh and some basketball. I
never made it to the crafts.... Oh well! It was way fun and everyone
together had a blast!

So because Elder Seely was getting transferred on Thursday we went
around and saw everyone he wanted to say goodbye to. It was cool
seeing all the good friends he had made and sad that he had to leave.
He was made a District Leader though so that's cool!

On Wednesday Elder Jones and I were stuck cleaning pretty much all
day. Elder Seely and Elder McInerny had to pack because they were
leaving. So basically I felt like a cleaning maid all day. That is not
a feeling I will cherish. Jammed out to music though ha as good as you
can jam to missionary music. It was fun though, always fun.

Transfers were on Thursday, as was my 3 month mark! Woo!! Anyway Elder
Seely left and my new companion is Elder Oyler. He is from Filer,
Idaho which is over by Twin Falls. He actually knows my cousins and I
know his....crazy! He also trained the same time I was being trained
and when we (the new missionaries) walked in he thought he was going
to be my trainer. But no. He is my second companion haha so cool! It
was meant to be. I might be bad luck though because he crashed last
night for the first time on his mission and he has been out over a
year. Not good, not good at all. It was way funny though haha.

We, as a mission, are working hard with members and trying to reach
people through them so finding has slowed down a little. It will
bounce back up here pretty soon. It's going to change how this mission
works and it's going to be awesome! Always working hard and trying to
bring some light to others. That's the goal.

Love you all,
Elder Brady

E. Brady fishing.

E. Brady & E. Oyler doing a little fishing.

Wow! Potatoes at 5 Guys are from Garth Sutton Farms
in Rexburg, Idaho, where I worked spud harvest last year.

What do you want to Become?

Had a pretty dang good week this last week.

On Monday we went and played some football and it was awesome! Boy do
I miss that sport. Something funny that happened Monday night as we
were coming out of a lesson at 8:30 we got a text from the other
elders in our apartment saying we were having an apartment ship
meeting and to meet at Taco Grande. This meant that we were going to
meet there and just get milkshakes! (Makes no sense at all unless you
are a missionary.) Funny thing about Taco Grande is that it is a
Mexican restaurant, run by Filipinos, and the best thing to get there
is a sandwich and milkshake...... also doesn't make sense unless you
are a missionary. Well no even then it still doesn't make sense.
On Tuesday we went to Su Pollo for lunch and ran into a guy there
named Don Pascal. After he and his friend asked us where we were all
from he said he was going to buy us lunch! How sweet is that!! He was
a way nice guy and totally awesome!

Wednesday was Elder Jones's 20th birthday, so now I am the only one
under 20 in the apartment . . . WooHoo! Anyway we had cake and a party
and it was crazy haha. After we finally got out of the apartment Elder
Seely and I went and raked leaves at one of our investigator's house.
His name is Jason. Well I guess it wasn't really raking until the end
because we got to use a leaf-blower! That made things super nice. When
we got all the leaves into a pile we jumped in. We couldn't help it
the pile was huge and just too tempting!

This week was colder than it has been and I whipped out the gloves for
biking. It's not too cold, nothing like back home, but once you get
going its a little bit chilly.

Last night there was an awesome fireside. It was a New and Returning
Member Fireside. So basically it was a couple people telling their
stories of conversion and their testimonies. It was so great. Brian Emmons, a new member in our Ward, was asked to talk and he did a great job!

This gospel leads to happiness and joy, just open your hearts and let
it in. We can all learn something new from it every single day,
something that can help us become. Become is a work that is pretty
vague. Just think about that a little bit. 

What do you want to become? 

Love,
Elder Brady

Celebrating Elder Jones 20th Birthday

Raking and Blowing Leaves - Service for an Investigator

Fast and Testimony Meeting

So this week has been a pretty good week. We found and taught a new investigator, his name is Sherman Smith 3rd. How cool is that! He is a ripped, black dude with dreads and he is awesome! He had a rough upbringing but is super knowledgeable of the Bible and wants to change and serve God. He has started changing his life already and he actually came up to us on the street and asked us if we were "brothers in God" and we went from there. We had two lessons with him this past week and he came to church too which was a super awesome experience. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, because last week was Stake Conference, and towards the end of the meeting he leans over to me and said he wanted to get up and say something. I told him he could but then he said I should, that I needed to lead by example. Man he got me ha so when the speaker went down he jabbed me in the ribs and I got up and bore my testimony. Then he got up and bore his. He talked about how the world is dark and cold and how we all need the Lord. It was super sweet! He is a pretty cool guy. 

Sherman Smith III & Elder Brady

Later in the week Elder Seely and I were out late and we hadn't gotten to eat dinner so we were starving. We were flying down Route 1 to go get some food and stopped to talk to a guy waiting for the bus. We didn't get his contact information but he did give us a pizza and some drinks! We weren't sure if we should eat it or not but we came to the conclusion that it was all part of the mission experience, so we did. It was super funny. We haven't died yet so it's all good! Staying alive staying alive! 

Lots of Love, Elder Brady

Elder Seely & Elder Brady having some fun after Elder Brady slid
down a hill on his bike on a wet day, now he is all nice and muddy.

Halloween

     This week was a fun week. What else can you say about Halloween week though right? Nothing too insane happened but we are all insane in the Fort so it's ok.

     On Wednesday we went to Cold Stone and got some ice cream of course but Elder Seely did work. While we were munching on ice cream he was talking to the lady behind the counter about the church. Ice cream in one hand, pass along card in the other! Got to say he is one heck of a trainer!

     Skip to Friday and Halloween! We dressed up but it didn't start out that way. First we were going to just wear mustaches but again Elder Seely took it to the next level. So we all ended up getting things we had around the apartment and dressing up the best we could. We had a Zone party and got to watch Despicable Me 2 and Frozen! It was awesome!! Those movies are even more hilarious when you're out on a mission.

     November has struck. It came in with a vengeance. It was warmish during October, but November flipped the tables on us. It's getting cold now. Cold and windy, but with the cold weather there has been some blessings. Our teaching pool has been running more on the dry
side lately but late in the past week we had multiple people come to us and say they want to come to church or have us teach them! One of them, a guy named Sherman, even said we could come teach his mom too! It's amazing what God does for us each and every day.

     A quote I found this week that has come to mean a lot to me. 

     "If you are on the right path, it will always be uphill."

                                              - Henry B. Eyring

Elder Brady

Weirdness in the Fort

Hello my fellow awesome people!

Don't judge my letter today because I am in a weird mood. Well all us
elders are right now so no judging me. Anywayyyyy Elder Seely can't
get the alarm to go off right now and is yelling at the microwave,
like I said we are all in a weird mood. Well this week has been a
weird mood week..

Elder Jones, Elder Seely, and I played some madlib football this week.
It started off as a sort of studying tool, we would toss the ball back
and forth and when you caught it you said a word from the First Vision
and we tried to get it all said. It didn't work. We started saying
random things and eventually we were trying to say weird things...but
they still kind of had to make sense...kind of.... Sometimes they
didn't make any sense but a lot of the time we don't make any sense so
no worries! 

We had a Zone Conference this week and it was my first. It was way
good too and was all about the Atonement. I love the Atonement. Later
that same night, I think it was Thursday, we had a mission call.
President Riggs talked to the whole mission over the phone. Learned a
lot but one thing that's stuck in my head is "Don't let others control
your attitude." We always have agency! 

Friday night things got crazy in the apartment. It was Safari Down
Under! Elder Seely put Elder Jones' safari hat on anddddd then went
all Croc-hunter Seely on us. He was hilarious. At one point that night
he had all of us dying of laughter and rolling on the floor or falling
off the couches. Always a party in the Fort. (That's what we call our
area because it's Fort Belvoir) 

Yesterday we had a Half Mission Conference and a General Authority,
Elder Kopischke, came and talked to us. That's why our preparation day
got moved to Tuesday instead of Monday. He talked a lot about giving
all that we have to God but nothing more. We need to strive to give
OUR best and that's what God wants from us. We all are different and
so we all give different things and amounts. It was a great conference
even though it was 8 hours long.

Love, Elder Brady

Boy Band?
Elder McInerny, Elder Seely, & Elder Brady

Good thing we love to Bike

Elder McInerny with sombrero

1st Investigator Baptized

This week some good stuff happened. First off, well nothing exciting happened until Wednesday. on Wednesday we got us a pet! He was a tree frog and we named him Pierre. ( Obviously he's French ) When we went out for the evening we came back and he was gone! We found him just
chillin' in our laundry room like a boss. It also has been raining a lot but sometimes it's not really a rain but more of a mist. So it's great, we get a shower on the go. Whoop whoop!

On Thursday when we went to Maxwell's Esther was being hilarious. She let me do her hair in a Mohawk, but Gad didn't like it. Esther also started calling me "uncle" haha so ya. 

Friday night Elder Seely and I had a little more free time than usual coming home so we decided to make dumb little videos. Mostly of us messing around on our bikes. He ended up doing "The Titanic" down Pole Road which is this long road in front of our place. At the apartment we have been playing some pretty serious games. Muffin, Blow Dart, and Batman! They are all stupid. Haha but fun, the best ones are Blow Dart and Batman. In Blow Dart you look someone in the eye and act like you shoot them, if they're looking you in the eye when you shoot them they are hit and have to fall over like they have been hit with a tranquilizer dart. (We played it in church on Sunday) haha it's dumb but fun. In Batman you have to be looking in the eyes again but this time you put your hands up to your face like you're batman and if they look you in the eye they have to touch a knee to the ground. We play that one everywhere. 

Saturday was a big day. Sando Tagalm got baptized! He's from Ghana and is 23. Sando has only been in the U.S. For a little over a month but was so ready. He's the first investigator I've taught that has gotten baptized and it was awesome!! Elder Seely baptized him and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. It was so cool seeing someone I taught make the decision to get baptized and change their life.

Sunday Sando got confirmed and I got to stand in on that. Coming home late at night we came across a homeless guy. A HIGH, homeless guy, named Chucky. It was interesting, pretty sketch too. After we finished talking to him he wanted a hug from both of us..... Weird. Oh well hope it made his night a little better. 

We also played the World Cup in our apartment. We have this little rubber soccer ball and we decided to play soccer. Some intense soccer. It was crazy! The ball was all over the place and rocketing into us all the time. It was so fun though! We are lucky nothing broke I guess but you don't think about that, it makes it less fun. 

Love you all,
Elder Brady

Pierre - our pet frog

Elder S. playing Batman 

Elder S. & Elder B. riding their bikes

Maxwell's kids

Sando's Baptism on 10/18/14
Elder B., Sando & Elder S.

Elder B. & Elder S.

1st Transfer, but I didn't get changed. WooHoo!

Elder Brady with his little friend

So this week on Thursday was my first transfer meeting. Elder Seely and I are still companions which is awesome. Elder McInerny got a new companion though because Elder Ekins went home, the new elder's name is Elder Jones and he is from Oakley Idaho. Go Idaho! 

This transfer
meeting was a little different, instead of just the missionaries that are being transferred going to it, the whole mission was there. The reason for this was we got to watch "Meet The Mormons". Yeah buddy! Got to watch it a day before it came out WooHoo! It was so good too!! If you haven't seen it yet I strongly encourage you to go watch it. 

Friday night was a fun night. We were being stupid....again... and were trying to balance on one another. It was dumb, but fun haha. Then somehow I ended up on Elder McInerny's shoulders and he started spinning....and we ended up piled on top of Elder Seely on his bed! Some crazy goings on's be happening. 

So Saturday night the coolest thing happened! We went to a concert and it was the Nashville Tribute Band!! It was amazing!! I seriously like and love their music so much more now. About half way through the concert they surprised the missionaries by having us come up and sing a song
with them (I Was Born). It was so much fun and the spirit was so strong! Afterwards I got them to sign my tie haha and we just chilled and talked with them for awhile. It was so awesome! They are great guys.

During the day on Saturday another cool thing happened. Elder McInerny's mom got baptized. He got to skype them and actually gave a talk in the service. Good ole technology. He was super excited and that kind of rubbed onto all of us I think. These guys are awesome.

Miss and Love you all,

Elder Brady

District Sisters & Elders

Elder Ekins, Elder McInerny, Elder Seely & Elder Brady
wearing our handmade ties from Africa

Nashville Tribute Band Concert

Esther A. pretending to be a missionary