Guys Like Bacon.

Elder Cook & I waiting for our ride to interviews.

     Hey! I hope everyone had a great week and nothing too insane happened!  I had a pretty good week with some fun things that happened.
     On Monday we did our emailing and then went with the other elders to look at a showroom of cars. Elder Harper is a big car guy so he was pretty excited about that. The guy in their ward that works there took us out to lunch and then after lunch we got our shopping done. Then we all came back to our apartment and just hung out. After dinner Elder Cook and I went to the Jones' so he could say goodbye because they are leaving for a month and by the time they get back he will be gone. We tried some potentials but no luck.

Bacon Wrapped Grilled Cheese!!

     Tuesday was district meeting and that was pretty good, afterwards Elder Cook and I had a great idea for lunch.....we made bacon wrapped grilled cheese sandwiches!! They were so good! We had dinner at the Gomez's and they are awesome.

    Wednesday we had interviews with our new mission president, President Huntsman. He is a really nice guy and seems pretty cool, he also said the mission will be changing in the next couple of transfers so it will be interesting to see what changes take place. After interviews we had our missionary correlation with Brother Wride and the sisters.
     Thursday morning Elder Harper and Elder Rice picked us up and we went and helped them with some service, after that I went on an exchange with Elder Harper to his area and Elder Rice came to Elder Cook in our area. Elder Harper and I had a lesson with an elderly lady and she was hilarious! She was so nice too.

An investigator found Cokes with
Elder Cook's and my name on them!
No we didn't drink them...

     Elder Harper and I saw a less active member Friday morning and then we switched back to our usual companions. It was a pretty good exchange.     Saturday a member that Elder Cook knows from a previous area took us out to lunch. After that we went to the Canigiani's and there was some other elders there that are going home soon and they were throwing like this going away dinner/party. It was really fun! I got to see some of my friends, Elder Robbins and Elder Palmer so it was cool.
     Sunday we had Ward Council and then we had church. Elder Cook and both sisters gave a talk but I didn't....I don't know how that happened. One of the sisters said in her talk that it was because they were talking about Pioneer Day and they were all from Utah. Perks to being from Idaho I guess haha. Anyway it was a good Sunday and church was great!
     ~Elder Brady

Temple!

Temple Buddies. Elder Rickertsen, Elder Brady, Elder Grow,
Elder Harper, Elder Cook and Elder Rice.

     So this week was pretty good we had a lot of fun and did work, so it was good! Monday we emailed and then we drove around trying to find a cheap place to golf, but that doesn't really exist in this area we found out. We ended up just all coming back to our place and hanging out playing some little games. Elder Cook and I had missionary correlation at Brother Wride's house before dinner and then we had dinner at the Jones' home. After dinner we did some street contacting.
     On Tuesday we did service pretty much all day. We were with both the other sets of elders at one of their investigators' house.
     Wednesday morning we helped move a 

Elders Brady & Cook at the Meng's.
Happy Birthday Bro. Meng!

whole town house, well just the things inside it to another one. There was twelve missionaries there to help, so we got everything packed and out of the first home and into the next one before lunch. The town house they moved into was just down the street so we were filling mini vans or just walking things over, it was a crazy move. Went to the Meng's and taught some English and then we checked on a couple less-actives. Only one answered the door, but at least we got that.
     Thursday we had Zone Training and then one of Elder Cook's former investigators from a previous area took us out to lunch. After lunch we tried some more less-actives from the list Brother Wride gave us, but none of them answered. We met with a recent convert named Theo, who was just baptized less than a year ago along with his wife and young daughter. He's a great guy and he wants to come out working with us so that will be fun.

Me & Elder Cook

     Friday we woke up at 4:00 in the morning and went to the temple! It was awesome! It was my first time going to do a session on my mission, so I was super excited. We didn't make the session we wanted to so we had to wait for the next one, but we got a little private tour so it was all good. After the temple we came back and Elder Cook and I met with Barrett, our investigator who just got back from Turkey, so we were pretty excited about that too. Then we went to the Meng's for dinner and a cake because it was Brother Meng's birthday. After we had a little party we ended on a spiritual note and read some scriptures with them. It was definitely a good day.
     On Saturday we went to the Canigiani's for lunch and Jon made his "famous" steak and cheese sandwiches which were reallyyyy good. Brother Todd picked us up there and we went with him to help move the book shelves that were an eagle project of one of the boys to the Salvation Army. He took us out to lunch and while we were eating we started talking to this lady, well she started talking to us about the Book of Mormon play and we ended up giving her a couple cards and she said because we were so nice she would look into some of the stuff we talked about! We tried some more less-actives from the list in the evening, but we didn't have any luck with anyone being home. 

Elder Cook & I teaching primary - "Elephants on Bicycles"

     In church on Sunday we got to teach Sister Fairchild's class again and it was awesome! We were teaching on how the Lord prepares us to serve a mission and so after we had a good spiritual part of the lesson we played some hangman with missionary related words. All except for the last one, I let one of the girls pick something totally random and she came up with "Elephants on Bicycles." It was so funny when we figured it out and we got a picture of it. It was great! We had dinner at the Smith's and they are an awesome family, they have so much faith and the spirit is so strong in their home. It's always cool going over there. Well I hope everyone had a great week and that you have a great week! Stay awesome!
     ~ Elder Brady

Workin

Elder Cook & Elder Brady
Just taking pictures because we wanna.

     On Monday we emailed, then we skipped shopping and went to the stake center to play some basketball. We didn't have to go shopping because we had enough food from last week so we were set. We had dinner at the Smith's and then we stayed for Family Home Evening with them. It was super fun to be a part of it.
     In district meeting on Tuesday Elder Grow and his district came into ours and challenged us to a finding contest. Whoever finds the most new investigators by next Tuesday wins and the loser district buys the winners ice cream. After district meeting we had some lunch and then we went to the Meng's and had an English lesson with them. Then we did some online and checked on a potential investigator, but he wasn't home.
     Wednesday we got picked up early in the morning by the other Elders to go do some service out in the boonies. We were fixing fence and building a new one and it was awesome! It was crazy humid and the bugs were everywhere, but it was great to do some service like that, I really liked it. After lunch we did some hard work for a non-member in the Potomac Crossing Ward and that took all afternoon. We had dinner at the Peterson's, they are a young family with two little girls aged 3 and 6 and they are so cute. When we were leaving they were blocking the door because they didn't want us to leave. When we finally left we checked a potential and set up an appointment to go back next week.
     Thursday we did a lot of biking, but nothing really came of it, that we can see yet anyway. We had dinner at the Vermillion's who are an older couple but they are super nice. After dinner we did some online and then tried to talk to some more people.

Raining pretty good.

     Friday we ate ourselves into a food coma. It was awesome haha, but anyway we went to do service with the other elders again but traffic was terrible. By the time we got there and the guy we were doing it for got there it was time for us to leave so we will go back tomorrow.
     Saturday we went back to do service for Dean Coleman, we painted his deck. We started early in the morning and went all the way till dinner, but we still didn't finish so we will go back again soon. We had dinner with the Meng's and it was super good like always!

     Sunday morning we had Ward Council and then the Canigiani's gave us a ride to and from church. We had dinner at the Rothman's and it was kind of crazy. They are an older couple, but their son and daughter and their families were there so there was a lot of young kids there and it was awesome. It reminded me of being at Grandma and Grandpa's with all the cousins, it was great. After dinner we went to the Canigiani's and talked with them. We had a little game night too, they just bought a new ping pong table so we played ping pong with them.
     Well that was my week and it wasn't too bad. I hope you all had a great week and something awesome happened!     ~ Elder Brady

Playing in the water.

July 4th

Elder Brady & Elder Cook

` 
Elders at the Gisseman Family for dinner on July 4th

Walking back from fireworks with Elders

Grow,Rickertsen, Cook, Harper, Rice & me

     So I hope everybody had a good 4th of July and saw some sweet fireworks!  My week was pretty good and we had some fun. Well here goes my week.

     Monday we emailed and then went shopping, after shopping we went to the stake center and played some basketball. We came back and an investigator of Elder Cook's from one of his other areas came and took us out to dinner. His name was Ernesto and he was pretty funny, I don't think he ever stopped talking haha, it was great.

     Tuesday we had an exciting district meeting, we were just getting started when we heard a crash and then squealing tires, there was a wreck! We called 911 and went outside to see if we could help and we were out there for the next hour or so. One lady was taken to the hospital in the ambulance, but other than that we don't know of any injuries so that's good. After lunch we helped Elder Harper and Elder Rice do some service and then we got Elder Grow and Rickertsen and we all helped set up for youth conference and then we made sure no one really got hurt or anything during it so that was fun.

     Wednesday we had missionary correlation and since I was the only one there that knew the ward mission plan, Brother Wride went through it again with Elder Cook and the Sisters that are in the ward now. When correlation was over we checked on a potential. but no one answered the door so we went and saw one of our investigators, Jack Mogus. He pulled out some of his guns and showed them to us and we are going to help him build a gun bench, it's gonna be sweet!

     Thursday we started off doing some online and then we got picked up to help the other elders with some more service. We helped them set up tables for the end of youth conference lunch/dinner thing, then we ate dinner at Elders Rice and Harper's place.

     On Friday we had a zone meeting and got to meet our new mission president, President Huntsman. He is related to the Huntsman's in Utah and he is John Huntsman Sr.'s son. His family was there so we got to meet them as well and they seem like a great family and he seems like a pretty good guy. It will be interesting to see the changes that take place in the mission though. We ate lunch at Carolina Brothers and it was free because a member owns it. After that we met an investigator and went to this big hotel/resort thing with them and the other elders and watched fireworks.

     Saturday morning we helped set up a ward breakfast for Elder Harper and Rice's ward and then they fed us too so that was nice. But the day got even better, we even skipped lunch to do this, we pulled a plastic toy hummer behind the car and it was awesome! When we were done with it the hummer was destroyed. Ain't nobody driving that thing again. For dinner we went to a family in the Potomac Crossing ward, Elder Grow and Rickertsen's, and they fed 8 of us missionaries. 8 of us! They were awesome! Then we went to the church to help give out ice cream and watch the fireworks. Happy 4th of July!!  America!

     Sunday was pretty fun, we got to teach Sister Fairchild's class again and that was great. They are a super cool, funny bunch of kids. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and had them practice teach a little bit and they seem to like that so we will probably keep doing it when we teach them. We had dinner at the Jones' home and they are just a sweet family, always fun and definitely one of my favorite families. After dinner we went to Brother Higginson's and got a couch he was giving to us so we got another couch.

     Well that was my week and it was a pretty good one. I hope y'all had a good week and enjoyed your 4th of July! Stay awesome and happy, I miss you all. I love hearing from everyone and it really means a lot to me so thank you.

     ~ Elder Brady

Proud to be an American