Good, Solid Week!

     Hey everyone this past week was pretty good and we had some good things happen. It's still a little different being a "regular" missionary, but it's been fun. We have a couple people we are working with and hope to see some baptisms soon, I guess we will have to justwait and see, but I'm sure something will happen soon.
     Anyway Monday was p-day and we went shopping at a fancy shmancy Wal-Mart. It had an escalator and part of it was for the shopping carts! It was crazy haha. After shopping we want to the Centreville Stake Center to play some basketball. There were quite a fewmissionaries there so it was pretty fun, there were some good games. We had dinner at a member's home tonight, so that was kind of nice.
     Tuesday we had a quick Zone Portion before our District Meetings, then we had our District Meeting. I talked about our purpose as missionaries, the powers and authority we have in our calling, and how we know we are successful missionaries. My district is pretty sweet, so it went pretty well and then afterwards we got lunch at Cafe Rio. After Lunch Elder Horman and I had service at the Jansen's. We helped Brother Jansen put a screen up around his porch and pull a bunch of nails out of boards, so he could put them back up on the porch. Then we had dinner at the Bywater's, our Ward Mission Leader, with Mary Susanand her son and another member her son is living with. Mary Susan is going to get baptized as soon as we get permission from the First Presidency and we are going to start teaching her son (he has graduated college) this week. His name is Daniel and he's cool.

At Barrett's church, Cornerstone
Chapel, at the pulpit! Woot Woot!

     On Wednesday we had a pass-off lesson with the Oakton sisters with someone they found. Her name is Alphonsia and in the lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon mostly. After that we did some service and then we drove to Leesburg and saw Barrett. We got to watch him give a sermon in his church which was pretty cool, he talked about Joseph(coat of many colors) and forgiveness. He did way good and it was good to see him again. Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen with him, his sister, and his girlfriend and got ice cream. We had a good conversation then, they had a bunch of questions about what we believe and we tried to answer them the best we could. It was awesome.
     Thursday morning we went to the leasing office and did some online work and then grabbed some lunch and went to do service. We went to an Assisted Living Center kind of place with the McLean elders and helped people with technology. If they are having a problem and can't figure it out they bring it to us and we fix it for them. After dinner we hada lesson with a less-active named Jonathon, we talked about faith and looking to the future and it went pretty well. Then we checked a potential and knocked some doors, but no one would even let us talk so that was a bummer, but oh well.
     Friday morning we went to the Food Bank to do service there with a bunch of missionaries. We unloaded and sorted a truck full of food, but because there was so many of us there it only took an hour or so. After lunch we cleaned the apartment and did our weekly planning and then we had dinner at the Martinson's. They are a young family with some funny kids full of energy. Then we checked on some potentials but didn't get anything, like none of them were even home. Today is Elder Horman's year mark so we met up with some other elders and they burned their shirts. It was pretty fun.
     Saturday morning we did some online stuff in the morning and then had lunch. After lunch we tried a bunch of potentials, but had nothing and then we had dinner. After dinner we checked on more potentials but again got nothing and then we headed home.

Broke and beggin'

     Sunday we had Ward Council and then church. The talks in sacrament were all about pioneers and what they went through. It was really good. Elder Horman and I taught the lesson in second hour, Gospel Principles class about The Church of Jesus Christ Today. It went pretty well and most everyone contributed even Mary Susan, our investigator. In third hour we went to the Priest's class and they did some role play teaching of the Restoration. I got to go with one of them named Nick and he did a pretty good job even if he was a little nervous at first. After church we did our studies and made a mini golf course in our apartment, it was awesome! Then we went to dinner at the Nielson's, they're an awesome family and their whole family was there plus a non-member family. We played games with them and had a BBQ, a couple of the guys there had recently returned from their missions so it was cool to talk to them about things.
     Well this week was pretty fun and we had some good lessons. The members in this ward are pretty sweet and I'm enjoying being here. We have some good people we are teaching too, so it's been good so far. I hope y'all have a great week and remember Christ in all you do!
     ~ Elder Brady

Last Transfer....

At the Mall!

     Hey hey everybody, I hope y'all are doing good and having a great summer! It hasn't been too hot out here all though there have been some scorchers, altogether it hasn't been that bad. I'm pretty thankful for that for sure. Anyway this last week was transfers and I got transferred to a new area. My new address is :  7338 Dartford Dr.  #8, McLean, VA 22102

      Well I already wrote a little about this last Monday in my last email but I'll do it again, on Monday we went into the office to do some work there before we went and met the mission leadership. (Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders) We had MLC today and for it we all went into DC and met with Senator Orrin Hatch. We got to ask him questions and listen to him talk about his mission, it was pretty cool. It took forever to get back from that because of traffic but it was still a pretty fun day.

Saying bye to the Hodgdon's

     Tuesday was our p-day and we went into DC with the Braddock elders. We went to China Town and then went to the Mall to see the monuments. It's always sweet going to the Mall and seeing all the monuments and memorials. We got a couple things from the street vendors there too. After dinner Elder Rammell and I went to the Hodgdon's so I could say goodbye. They are a great family and I got to help them with a lot of service through my 6 moths there so I had to go say goodbye to them haha. Then I stayed up late packing because I wasn't gonna have much time the next day.

     Wednesday we went into the office to get ready for transfers, we went with Elder Andersen to pick up the U-haul and then grabbed some lunch. After lunch we headed to the airport and picked up the new missionaries. We drove in quite a few circles waiting for them because their plane was late, almost two hours, I was getting pretty tired. Finally got all the missionaries and their luggage and got into DC to see the Lincoln Memorial. President and Sister Huntsman took pictures with each of the new missionaries to send to their parents and then we headed back to the Mission Home. We had dinner, President interviewed the newbies and then we took them to the hotel. When we got back to the apartment I had to finish packing a little.
     Thursday was transfers, at transfers I helped with the training meeting and then getting luggage of the missionaries going home into the U-haul and then I found my new comp. My new area is Great Falls ward in McLean and my companion is Elder Horman from Friendswood, Texas. He has been out for a year and he's pretty cool, should be a good transfer, even if it is a one and done for me.
     Friday we did weekly planning and then did service. We helped the Robert's move some stuff for Renette, a lady living with them. She's from Cameroon and is way nice. It took longer than we expected and we were there for most of the day, we got all the stuff moved though so that's good. After we grabbed a quick bite to eat we went to the Ward Mission Leader's house so I could meet him, his name is Brother Bywater and he's pretty cool. He is a hugger though haha. He will pull you right in and hug you good.

High five!

     Saturday we did more service that again took longer than we expected. We went with Brother Jansen to pick up a swing-set. A big one. We had to take it apart just to fit it in the 17 foot Uhaul he had rented, it was ridiculous. On the way back Brother Jansen all of a sudden saw a 7/11 out of the corner of his eye, behind a gas station, in a shopping center and slammed on his brakes and turned around on a dime. He wanted a slurpee. I asked how he saw the 7/11 and he said "My Slurpee senses were tingling." Haha it was awesome! We got back to his house and they fed us dinner and after dinner we saw a baby deer in their backyard so Elder Horman and I decided to catch it. We didn't get it fast enough though and it found a hole in the fence and bounded away.
     Sunday we had Ward Council before church and then we had church. We had three investigators at church, which was awesome! I haven't had that in a long time so it was nice. We taught part of the lesson in the young women's class in third hour and it was interesting. They  didn't answer any of our questions, I guess we were intimidating or something. After church we went with Brother Rhee to give a blessing to Brother Taylor who is beginning to have dementia, it's super sad. Then we had dinner at the Rhee's and played 5 Crowns (a card game) with them, it was super fun and I won! Whooo buddy! Then we checked on a potential and while doing that we got a call from Sister Roberts asking us to come get a queen bed set out of her house and to the curb to throw away because there was bugs all over it.
     Well this week was pretty good, I'm sad I got transferred out of the office but it's kind of nice as well. I'm just a regular missionary, well almost I'm the District Leader but that's alright. I just got to learn how to be a missionary again haha, it'll be good. This area seems pretty good, the only downside is they don't have a gym! We go to the high school every morning and do stuff there on the track and football field so it's really not all that bad. I hope everyone is doing awesome and has a great week! Keep smiling.     ~ Elder Brady

4th of July

Elder Rammell eating a 6x6 burger,

that's what he called it haha

Washington Monument & Lincoln Memorial

     Hey everybody, I hope y'all are doing well and had an awesome 4th of July! I don't have a ton of time so this is going to be a short email, but I'll send some pictures. 

     Anyway for our 4th we went to a parade in Fairfax and then we had a BBQ we went to and because it was our p-day we just hung out with the Braddock elders and played board games. It wasn't all that bad and we got to go watch fireworks in the evening so that was sweet! I really like Independence Day and all that it stands for. I think a lot of people are forgetting that and it's pretty important that we don't. Freedom isn't free and it takes a lot of sacrifice to obtain that which we are blessed to have. 
     Well onto this week, I am getting transferred on Thursday and will send my address as soon as I have it. I am going to Great Falls which will be the closest to DC I have served, so it's going to be interesting for sure.
     On Monday we got to go into DC with the leadership of the mission and meet with Senator Hatch and talk with him for about an hour. It was a really cool experience and something he said that stood out to me was "Never give up on anybody." Always be there for people and never quit on them because you never know what they need or the good you're doing. 
     We changed our p-day to Tuesday and we went into DC so that why I don't have a ton of time, plus packing for getting transferred and getting ready for transfers as an office elder. It's a lot going on and kind of difficult to keep up with but its fun, gets the heart pumping. 
     I hope you all remember how great our country is and that we can help. We can also help the people around us even if we don't see it. Again sorry for the short email but I'll send some more pictures to make up for it. Have a great week!!     ~ Elder Brady

At the parade! Elder Bunn, Elder Mecham, Me, Elder Hudson, Elder Rammell, Elder Hansen

Senator Hatch, Pres. Huntsman

Leadership Conference with Senator Orin Hatch

Elder Brady sitting in Senator Hatch's chair

Winter Olympics 2002 Memorabilia in Senator Hatch's Office

Happy 4th of July!

Waiting for the truck at the shop

     Heyo everybody! It's the 4th of July and I've got a lot of things to do on America'a birthday so this might be a shorter email. I hope you all had a great week this week though.
     On Monday morning we helped the Burke elders with some service, we moved a members things from inside the house to outside. They are moving to Rigby and the truck was supposed to be there early, but it ended up not being there when we were, so we just moved everything outside. Then we had our zone activity at Burke Lake. We had a BBQ and played sand volleyball. It was pretty fun.
     Tuesday we had district meeting and it was about our calling as missionaries. It was pretty good and there were some good reminders. After lunch we went to the office to help a sister who is having problems with her tablet and then we started getting things ready for when the Woodbridge Zone comes back into our mission this week. It was part of our mission about three years ago and got sent to the Richmond Mission, but we are getting it back now. We took the truck into the shop and when we went to pick it up they were closed.
     Wednesday we picked up the truck and went to the office to do some work there and then we took some beds to some sisters. We took a bed to the Braddock sisters for exchanges and one to the Kingstowne sisters because hey are in a trio now. After dinner we went down to Ft. Belvoir and I got to see the Kough's! Woo hoo! They're the best. 

Got to see the Kough's!










     Thursday we did more work in the office to get ready for Woodbridge and help the senior couples with anything. Then we took a table to the Mt. Vernon Zone Leader's apartment but it was locked so I climbed the balcony and got in that way. We took the table up and then traded a desk they had out. When we were done with that we took a box spring up to Tysons.

     Friday we spent the afternoon in the office redoing the key indicator reporting document and that took forever. It was a bunch of redoing formulas and making sure everything will work so they can report numbers this Sunday. We only got it done for the month of July too so we have to do it for the rest of the year eventually. After dinner we went to Centreville to see if the new projector we got will work with the distance we use it at, it worked so that's good.

     Saturday we spent the afternoon helping the Andersen's (senior couple) move furniture from one apartment to another. We were getting an apartment ready for a new senior couple that's coming into the mission at the end of this month. The Burke elders helped with that so that made things a little easier. After that Elder Rammell had to fix some iPad screens so we went to the office so he could do that.

     Sunday was Fast and Testimony meeting and that was really good. I really enjoy hearing other people's testimonies, it helps me a lot. Our lesson in Sunday school was good too it was about our Heavenly Family. After church we had dinner at the Payton's, who are sweet.

     Well that was my week for the most part. Happy 4th of July!!  I hope y'all have a great day and remember what we are celebrating for. America is awesome! Have a great day and have fun with some fireworks.     ~ Elder Brady

Found my happy place!