Transfers!

Elder Jones and I chowing down
on dinner at the mission home

     Hey everybody I hope y'all are doing good! This past week was pretty good for me and it was transfer week, I'm not getting transferred so no worries there. Anyway transfer week is always the busiest week for us, but I think it's one of my favorite times as an office elder.
     Monday was an okay p-day, we were going to play football, but Elder Chan wasn't feeling the best, so we went to the stake center instead so he could be inside and lay down if he wanted to. The rest of us played a little basketball, but not much because most everyone was playing football. After basketball we went to a couple thrift stores just looking around. After dinner we went into the office to do the warrior report.
     Tuesday morning we started moving furniture to all the apartments opening or to trios, there is only one trio and one apartment opening so it should be easy but nope. Went to move furniture into the new apartment and we couldn't get in because we didn't have a key, we got a key and put our first load in and were coming back to unload a second when Elder Andersen (senior missionary) called us and told us to stop! There was some problems with the complex and opening the new apartment, so we had to take all the stuff back out that we had put in. That was a pain, we did have a lady come up to us and say she wanted missionaries to come back and teach her two daughters. I guess they were being taught about a year ago but stopped. Then we took a bed and a dresser down to Manassas for the trio.
     Wednesday morning we met Elder Andersen at the office and we went to pick up the U-haul we were renting for transfers. Got the Uhaul and went back to the office to help the APs with some last minute transfer work and then headed into Ronald Reagan Airport to pick up the new missionaries! We usually drive around the airport 4-6 times and then President and Sister Huntsman and the AP's come out with the new missionaries, but this time we went around 21 times! Elder Chan was getting sick. We found out their flight had been delayed and no one had told us, so we could go park somewhere -- awesome. Anyways then we took them into DC to see the Lincoln Memorial and at the memorial Elder Jones and I always slide down the side of the stairs on this little ramp like thing, except Elder Jones crashed and burned this time haha it was awesome! There were tons of people there too! It's ok though he laughed it off like a champ. Got back to the Mission Home, ate dinner and got to know the newbies while President interviewed them one at a time, then we took them to the hotel.
     Thursday was transfer day. In the morning we picked up the new missionaries from the hotel and headed to Centreville. We had the trainers and trainees meeting and then got some lunch before transfers. Elder Chan and I are staying together for another transfer and he goes home next transfer, which means this will be the third companion I send home. After transfers Elder Chan and I went to the office and got Sister Huntsman's transfer board cards done for the new missionaries, so she could put them on the board she has at the Mission Home. We had dinner with the departing missionaries and played some volleyball afterwards. Then all the departing missionaries had a chance to bear their testimony, which is one of my favorite parts, and Elder Jones bore his too because he goes home before the next transfer. When everyone was ready we took them to the hotel, Dan (President Huntsman's son) was riding with us again and he's awesome. On the way there we got a call from Elder Blanchard, who was right behind us and we were racing them, saying the back of the U-haul was open. I though he was just messing with us trying to get us to stop, but we decided Elder Chan better jump out and check and sure enough it was open. One of the missionaries had left it open when they were getting some of their stuff out at the mission home, it was hilarious! Nothing fell out though so we were good.

Dulles Airport

     Friday morning we got up early, picked up the departing missionaries, and took them to Dulles Airport to catch their ride home. After that we went to Denny's to have the traditional breakfast with the APs and two other sets of elders showed up. After breakfast we returned the U-haul and then went back to the apartment and took a nap. It was soooo nice! Woke up, grabbed some lunch, and went to the office to do transfer board cards, update contacts and some other things. Tonight Elder Hudson was messing around and lit a ping pong ball on fire which set off our brand new fire alarm. He was standing there covering the fire alarm, yelling help, and trying to blow the smoke away from the fire alarm. It was pretty funny! Then once it started going off he took it off the wall and stuck it under a couch cushion to make it be quiet, haha it was great!

     Saturday we went to the office and did some work there and then we went and blitzed our area with the Braddock elders. Elder Bunn and I got into a guy's house, but it wasn't much of a discussion, it was mostly him just going off on what he believed and he wouldn't let us talk much. On our way back to dinner Elder Chan and I stopped to help an elderly couple who were working on their front yard. They were digging holes to plant two trees, that kind of thing is right up my alley. The digging holes part anyway. We helped them for about an hour and a half, got both the trees planted and then they invited us in for watermelon. They spoke broken English so it was a little hard to understand each other but it was good, felt nice to do some work.
     Sunday was good, church was good like always. During the third hour we got asked to teach a class in 10 minutes for about 10 minutes so we went into a young women's class and taught them a little about the Apostasy and why we needed a restoration. It was pretty good and I don't mind teaching so that's a good thing. After church we had our ward missionary correlation and then ward council. Then we went to dinner at the Fleming's and as soon as that was done we headed back to the church for a musical fireside our ward put on. It was really good and it was a great thing for people to bring non-member friends too. After we talked to some people we went to the office to do some numbersssss.
     Well it was a busy week but it was a good week. Transfer week is always the most hectic, but it's awesome because we get to be with new missionaries and departing missionaries within a couple days of each other. We get to see both sides of the spectrum and how excited both are. Usually there are a lot more tears from the departing missionaries, but I'm beginning to understand that. Anyway I'm excited to be staying in the office, it's pretty fun. Well I hope y'all have a great week! Stay happy and awesome!     ~ Elder Brady

The departing sisters laughing at us with the Uhaul door open

Another Busy Busy Week...

Springfield Zone

     Hey Hey I hope everyone had a great week! My week was pretty good just staying busy doing the work that is given to us. We always seem to have something else to do, but I like being busy it helps to keep me out of trouble a little bit.
     Anyway a on Monday for P-Day we had our Zone Activity. We went to a park and played whiffle ball and kickball with the whole zone and had a BBQ so that was fun. Afterwards we switched vehicles with the APs so we could have the truck to move some stuff. We took a full size bed over to Alexandria to an investigator of some sisters. She had bedbugs and couldn't afford to get a new bed and we were trying to get rid of it anyway so it worked out great. When we were dropping off the bed a lady started yelling at us from a second story window. She was saying how we always come around on our bikes in our shirts and ties getting all up in people's business. It was kind of funny but I don't think she cares for missionaries all the much.
     Tuesday morning Elder Hudson and I were playing "What are the odds" to see what we could get each other to wear to Zone Training today. He got me once so I had to wear boxing gloves but I got him three times, so he had to wear a funny shirt, moccasins, and carry his Ukulele around the whole time. It was hilarious! At Zone Training they talked about the Mission Vision and then seeing yourself achieving your goals, it was pretty good. After lunch Elder Chan and I went to the office and did the baptism pictures for the 300. We went to dinner with Brother Bold and Brian Short (A recent convert) and it was good, they're cool guys. Then we took a desk down to the Mt. Vernon elders.
     Wednesday we went on exchanges with Elder Ma and Elder Thygersen, Elder Thygersen came with me and Elder Chan went with Elder Ma. Elder Thygersen and I went to the office so I could put some people into the concert entry and then we went to the storage sheds to grab some stuff we needed to take to people after dinner. We had dinner with the Steiner's who are a part-member family, he dad is not a member. It was good, but I guess the dad isn't interested at the moment. After dinner we dropped of a bed frame to the Spring Lake elders, a lamp to the Algonkian elders, and then we drove up to Leesburg to drop off a dresser to the Shenandoah sisters. It took all night and was a lot of driving but it was good, Elder Thygersen and I talked a lot and he was asking a bunch of questions and asking for advice, it seemed a little weird to give advice but I hope I helped him out.

AP's and I ...
they were sleeping at Return and Report

     On Thursday we had Return and Report in the morning and we were all set up and ready and then we realized we had forgotten one of the videos, so we had to book it back to the office and get it. For lunch the APs make grilled cheese sandwiches and Elder Jones' grilled cheese making skills have gotten better since the last time he made one for me! Finished lunch and went to the office and got some stuff done there and hen we went to dinner at the Blaine's. After dinner we tried to find a referral but the address doesn't exist and he wouldn't answer the phone....
     Friday morning we had our office staff meeting and then the senior couples had brought us food so we ate lunch. After lunch we went with the APs and President Lowe to Tysons to pick up two brand new cars! I drove one back and Elder Jones rode with me while Elder Blanchard drove the other and Elder Chan rode with him, it was sweet! We met back up at the office and Elder Chan and I went to the storage sheds and met the Ito's and Torgersen's there to clean the sheds out a little. Basically they told us to just go through them both again and get rid of what we don't think the mission will use. So we took a trip to the dump. After dinner Elder Bunn and Elder Hudson came with us down to Mt. Vernon to finish cleaning out an apartment that is closing down there, it was a party.

Cherry Blossoms

      Saturday's morning we took some chairs, that were in good condition and we didn't think he mission would use, to an organization called ACCA. They take donated furniture and give it out to people that can't afford to get their own so that was pretty cool. After that we went to a Korean restaurant called IL MEE and it was really pretty good. It was a buffet but you could also order certain meats and they would cook it on little skillets right at your table! It was pretty cool. When we were done gorging ourselves (dad I used chopsticks the whole time!) we went to Oakton and started cleaning out an apartment that is closing. We didn't finish before we had to leave to go to dinner at the Alplanalp's house and they fed us more Korean! I guess it was a Korean kind of day. After dinner we tried a potential and a referral, both didn't answer. We then tried four less-active members and none of them answered either. I think we more than struck out tonight. Oh well we will keep going and working.

Street named after my Grandpa!
Not really, but hey it's cool.

     Sunday we went to church and it was good, in sacrament they talked about baptismal covenants and why they are so important, it was great! In Gospel Principles we talked about why the church focuses so much on families and marriage and why they are so important, which was also awesome! In third hour Elder Chan and I got to go in and teach the senior primary about the example of Jesus Christ. That was way fun and there were a ton of kids so it wasn't boring at all, they kept it interesting. It was a really good day at church that is for sure. Right after church we met with the ward missionaries and did our correlation then and we had ward council later. We came back to the apartment and Elder Chan went straight to sleep, he wasn't feeling good and pretty much slept the rest of the day. He woke up just long enough to eat some dinner and then went back to sleep again, poor guy.
     Well this week was pretty good, we definitely were able to stay busy busy busy. We had some good meetings this week and learned from all of them, missionary meetings and church are great places to learn something new you can implement into your life. I hope everyone is doing well and starting to get ready for summer, it coming! Thanks for the support y'all show me, it really means a lot. Stay happy and live life!     ~ Elder Brady

Minion Day

     Hey y'all I hope you are doing well and living life to the fullest. The days are starting to warm up out here and I don't know if I'm ready for the heat yet. I'm definitely more of a cold weather kind of guy I guess.
     Anyway on Monday we did our shopping and then went to the stake center to play some ball. We had a couple of good games and then a few of us went to a park and tossed the football and baseball around. It's super nice to be able to go outside now. After dinner we ran to the Ox road building to drop a ball off to the Braddock elders and pick up a bag for another missionary. We then went to the office and did the Warrior Report.
     We had district meeting this morning and we talked about the vine of Christ and how we are a branch of that vine. We reach out to others and help bring them unto Christ. Not only us missionaries but all the members of this church are to reach out to those around us. After lunch we went to the office and ended up trying to fix a printer but it was the outlet that wasn't working so they are having someone come in to fix it. We ate dinner and then went on exchanges with Brother Bold to go to one of the families he home teaches who is a less-active and his wife isn't a member. It went well, Elder Chan and I shared our stories of why we came on a mission.
     Wednesday morning we had an apartment inspection by the Torgersen's and then went to the office to have a meeting with some of the senior couples. The meeting was mainly about moving out the queen size beds and buying new twin size ones but President Huntsman came to our  rescue and said not to do it. It would have been a lot of work for us and taken us away from proselyting even more than we already are. After that we helped President and the APs make some small and simple goal videos. The APs send one out almost everyday and the mission really makes a focus to obtain or do that goal, it's pretty cool. We had dinner with the Buss family and their little daughter said it was Minion Day tomorrow so we had to sign a paper and wear purple or yellow.
     Thursday, Minion Day, I wore a yellow tie and Elder Chan wore a purple tie. It was awesome! We had MLC this morning and President talked a lot about the Mission Vision, and the APs talked about creating model areas. It was pretty good and seemed to excite the missionaries there, which are all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders so that's a good thing. We went to the office to do some work there before dinner. After dinner we tried some people but no luck so we tracted a little bit. We talked to this lady named Retana and she was really nice and took a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet so that was sweet!
     Friday we met the Ito's at the storage sheds so Elder Ito could look around again and make some decisions with what to do. He told us he needed a spot leaned out and have a bookshelf set up for him by Monday. Thanks man. After lunch we went to the office and sent a bunch of iPads back to Salt Lake, most of them are from missionaries that have gone home but some are just broken. When we got back to the apartment we did some weekly planning. During dinner we played truth or dare with the other elders and Elder Bunn had to drink an egg raw with ketchup in it, it was gross! After dinner we did a blitz in our area with the Braddock elders and did some tracting but we didn't get many nice answers...oh well.     Saturday morning we took Elder Chan to meet up with some other missionaries so he could go to the temple with a recent convert from one of his previous areas. Elder Bunn, Elder Hudson and I were in a trio the rest of the day so that was fun. We cleaned out one of the storage sheds and took some stuff to Goodwill. We had dinner at our Bishop's house and had breakfast for dinner. After that Elder Bunn and Elder Hudson had a bunch of non-members playing basketball with some of their members so we wet and played with them, it was pretty fun. When the day was over we went and picked up Elder Chan and headed back to the apartment.
     Sunday was fast and testimony meeting which was really good, they are always good. I also got to help pass the sacrament which was cool, I haven't done that in awhile. After church we had Missionary Correlation and then Ward Council. We then went to the Torgersen's (related to the senior missionary Torgersen's) and met and talked to them for a bit. We decided to take some little snack things Elder Chan had to the less-active member we had seen earlier this week with Brother Bold and talked wi him for awhile. So we ended up being short on dinner time so we picked it up from a member's home and ate it at the church. After we are we hustled over to the Mueller's home and we're giving a spiritual message, at the end of it when Elder Chan was about to bear his testimony their puppy started peeing on the floor haha end of that message pretty much. We had to leave anyway though so we could go on exchanges with Brother Bold again and see more of his home teaching families with him.
     Well this week was an alright week, we had some good things happen and some not so good things happen but that's life. Life is a roller coaster and we are here to ride it and have fun. I hope you are all doing well and still thinking about Conference! Don't let it just slide away till you forget about it, remember it and learn from it so you can continue to become better. Have a great week and be awesome!      ~ Elder Brady

Cherry Blossoms/General Conference!!

     Hey y'all I hope you had a great week and an even better weekend! It was General Conference and it was so good! I got asked which was my favorite talk and I really couldn't pick one, there were so many good ones and so many struck me, that it is impossible to really pick a favorite. Anyway I'll tell you a bit about this past week.

     Monday for our P-Day we went into DC to see the cherry blossoms and it was awesome! They were a little better than they were last year, but not the best they could be, we probably missed he peak of it by about a day or so but it was still really good. We were just walking around looking at things and we got a text from our Zone Leaders telling everyone to leave DC as quick as they good, there was a shooting at the Capitol! It was pretty crazy, but nothing happened to any of the missionaries so we are all good.
     Tuesday morning was our district meeting and it was on asking good questions, ones that are inspired. I've come to see that questions can make a huge difference in a lesson and the better and more thoughtful and spiritually inspired they are the more we have God working through us to that specific person. It was really good. Went to the office and printed out some baptism pictures of people baptized to put on our 300 wall. Went to dinner at the Hodgdon's, who are sweet, and spent some time with them. We gave the dad a blessing and shared the Glenn Cunningham story with them, the spirit was really strong. For those of you who don't know who Glenn Cunningham is go look him up, there's a story about him which is really inspiring. It's about him being able to run, you'll know it when you read it!

Endure to the End Group

     Wednesday morning I had my Endure to the End meeting. It's basically a meeting where everyone that goes home in three or four months get together and President talks to us about not just coasting to the end. Not giving up early. It was pretty good and there are so many ways we can coast, but we need to focus and stay chugging till the end. Anywho, after lunch we went to the office and did some work there, took most of the night.
     Thursday we spent most of the day in the office trying to get a lot of things done. I swear there never seems to be an end of stuff we have to do haha it's kind of nice and yet kind of not. Good thing is we are always busy for sure. Funny story: while at the office Sister Alcantara called (she is from Peru and still doesn't get some American phrases) and wanted me to explain to her what "white trash" is. Haha it was super funny but it's really hard to try and explain that to someone who doesn't know any other phrases like hick, hillbilly, and redneck. Sister Alcantara is in a trio and I guess the other two sisters said it and she didn't know what it was and they couldn't explain it so she decided to call me.....I don't know what that means but ok whatever haha. After dinner we went on exchanged with the Braddock elders and I went with Elder Hudson to institute, that was pretty fun and pretty interesting.
     Friday we did our weekly planning which took awhile and then we went to the Burr's house for dinner. Earlier in the day I got to hear from my trainer! Elder Seely called and said they were in town and he wanted to come see me the next day.

Elder Brady & Cole Seely (my trainer visiting)

     Saturday Elder Seely and his family are out here and he came by to see me so I got so talk with him and meet his family. He has been home for six months already it is super weird. After meeting with Seely we went to the office to unlock it so a set of sisters could get some materials they needed for a lesson. We watched General Conference at the Andersen's, a senior couple in the mission, and it was sooo good! We ate dinner at the Payton's house and then went to the Priesthood Session at the stake center and that was also really good!
     Sunday we went back to the Andersen's and watched Conference there again. I was sad when it was over, it was a really good Conference. I had a lot of the talks that I really liked so it's hard for me to choose a favorite. We went to dinner at the Wadsworth's and then went and checked up on a potential but no one was home. Then to the office to do numbers.
     Well this week was really good and I really, really enjoyed General Conference. I've come to appreciate it a lot more since I've been on a mission because of what we can learn and we get to hear from our church leaders. Anyway this one was really good! I hope y'all learned something from Conference that was meant exactly for you and put it into your life to use it. Have a great week and Happy Birthday to my big sis Kayla!!
     ~ Elder Brady

Elder Chan & Elder Brady at Cherry Blossom Festival

Washington DC

Missionaries I will come home with.
Elder Brady, Elder Neyman, Sister Taylor, Elder Frew & Elder Sanders