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