Good Things

     So this week has been pretty good, we had some good things happen that we are excited about and things are going well. I hope everyone else had a good week and I love hearing about it.
     Monday we did our usual routine, we went shopping and then to the stake center to email and play some basketball. After ball we went to the Goodwill and did us some thrift shopping, only way to shop really as a missionary. After dinner we tried some potentials, we didn't find anyone we were looking for but we found this family and they said we could come back! So we are pretty excited about that. Then we went to the Bush's and that was good like usual. They are a pretty cool family plus Sister Bush always gives us little treats like ice cream or pie. Oh there was a tornado watch tonight! That was pretty crazy.

Exchange with Elder Sanders

     On Tuesday we did an exchange, Elder Palmer went to Elder Johnson (our district leader) in Fairfax and Elder Sanders came here with me. It was pretty sweet Elder Sanders and I came out together so we did some catching up and the even cooler part is he is from Idaho Falls, so just down the road back home. We had dinner at the Portillo's and it was really good. We had papusas, mmmm they are soo good! The family is awesome too, they are hilarious. Brother Portillo always joked about how disobedient he is but he isn't, he's in the high council so yeah. After dinner ALL of our appointments fell through so that kind of really sucked, but no worries we figured out things to do.
     Wednesday we had District Meeting so Elder Sanders and Elder Palmer switched back. Our District Meeting was pretty good, we talked about bettering ourselves and setting goals to push both ourselves and our companionships. We caught a squirrel, but when we got back for the evening he had chewed through the little pet carrier we put him in; he was loose in our apartment! We started our nerve-racking sweep of our apartment and eventually found him, that's when fun began! When we finally caught him we took him outside and he stuck his tail in the air and waved goodbye.
     Thursday was our Zone Conference and it was actually President Riggs last Zone Conference for our zone before he is done with his mission and goes home. We talked about a lot of things but something I really like is a quote President Riggs used. "We cannot help another become converted beyond our own conversion." We have to constantly be strengthening our testimony and growing ourselves so we can help those around us and those we care about. After dinner we had a lesson with a less-active family, the Ranisate's, we talked with them about hardships and trials and read out of the Doctrine and Covenants with them. After that we had a lesson with the Barton's and we put their 9 year old daughter, Eva, on date! Woot Woot! She is set to be baptized on May 23rd, so we are pretty excited for her. It was a pretty awesome lesson, we had Eva and her sister, Adriana who is 8, teach us the First Vision and it was so good. They are two amazing girls.

     Friday we caught another squirrel! We named him Butterscotch and we had him all day, but we pulled a prank on the AP's and put him in their apartment that night. It as hilarious! Anyway, we made a pretty sweet room in our apartment called the "I'm Ponderin'" room 

Our "I'm Ponderin" Room

during studies just to change things up. We also grabbed a really nice dresser that someone threw away and switched it with ours. Dumpster Diving! Then we did our weekly planning and then dinner with the Thomas' family. They are an older couple, but are way cool and the food was amazing. Then we had a lesson with Jesse and Christopher, Jesse is 9 and Christopher is 8. Their mom was less-active, but is starting to come back to church and really wants them baptized, so we tentatively put them on date for the last week of June!
     Saturday we saw Brother Honesty and read from the Book of Mormon with him, we read quite a few chapters and just had a good time. We talked about his mom a little because she is in the hospital but is doing a lot better now than she was. After that our day went down the drain. No one seemed to be home and we pretty much checked potentials all day but nothing worked out. Definitely a bummer of a day.
     Sunday there was a Regional Conference Broadcast instead of church. It was pretty good, a lot about missionary work and things pertaining to it. After the broadcast we had lunch at the Elijah Bush (he is President Bush's nephew) home and that family is pretty sweet. They have four young boys and they don't slow down. After lunch we tracted their whole street, it took us a solid two hours. Yeah Buddy! We got a couple return appointments and some service out of it though, so it turned out pretty good. After dinner we saw one of our investigators, Nate, and talked with him a bit trying to work out a schedule. The rest of the night we stopped by member families and talked with and shared a message with them. I hope everyone has a great week and thanks for all the support!
     ~ Elder Brady

Good Week

In DC at the Cherry Blossoms Festival

     Hey everybody hope y'all had a good week! If you haven't emailed me, I'd love to hear from ya! Well here's my week. Monday we went shopping and then emailed just a little bit, then it was off to the metro to go into DC! It was the Cherry Blossoms Festival so there was a lot of people there, a lot of people. Most of the missionaries in our mission went too so there was also a lot of missionaries, it was pretty crazy. It was pretty dang hot and sunny and Elder Palmer and I got a little sun but the blossoms were super cool and pretty so it was worth it, we were way tired afterwards though. We saw the Hoffman's and they are a cool part-member family with a daughter we are going to start teaching. Then we went to the Bush's and talked with them and it was awesome like always. Sister Bush and I talked about Kayla doing ballroom in England and she showed me pictures of when they went on vacation there, it was cool.

     After studies on Tuesday we went to the church and helped the Bush's set up to feed our zone, which they do every transfer. It is to say "thank you" to the missionaries but it's always super good so I think they get more thanks. We had splits with 

Elder Brady enjoying
Bro. Eley's train collection

Brother Williams tonight and we saw the Eley's and the Auguste's. Brother Eley is a big train collector and he has two rooms full of trains and then he likes motorcycles, he has six nice motorcycles, it was pretty sweet!
     Wednesday we had District Meeting, it was the first 
one of the new transfer so we set goals for the transfer and talked about how we were going to accomplish them. After District Meeting Elder Palmer and I helped the Office Elders clear out the other Wakefield apartment because they shut that area down. After dinner we had splits with Brother Deskins and it was pretty sweet. All our appointments cancelled earlier in the day so we just saw the people he home teaches and it was really good. Pretty much the whole night we talked about the zombie apocalypse and what our plan for that should be, it was hilarious! He's a cool guy.

Elder Brady and his new companion,
Elder Palmer

     Thursday was a great day! We went tracting and as soon as we got out of the car we saw three people walking so we went and started talking to them. Elder Palmer asked what they thought the purpose of life was and they started freaking out, once they calmed down we figured out that they had just been talking about that! So we taught them rig out of the Book of Mormon what the purpose of life is (Alma 34:32). After we finished they started telling us all the things that had got them there at that spot at that exact time. It was amazing to see that God had guided them and us to be there at that exact moment to talk. We are now teaching two of them. Later that night we also had a pass-off lesson with the AP's and we are now teaching Nathaniel, he is on-date to be baptized on May 27 so we are super excited for him.
     On Friday we went to an investigator's house and it was soooo dirty! It was nastayyy! There was so much stuff everywhere and so much dirt on all the stuff, it was so bad. I felt embarrassed for the guy. After that we had a lesson with two of the three people we met yesterday, Shahin (he is from Turkey and is Muslim) and Kira (She is from Vietnam and doesn't have a religion) it seemed to go pretty well so whoop whoop! After that we went to the church to help set up for the Swap Meet, the Swap Meet is where everyone can bring something they don't need or don't want anymore and people can take whatever they want for free.

Stellar poster we made

     Saturday was the Swap Meet all morning. We had made a little display board, which was freakin' stellar! So we put that up and then we just talked with people and we actually got some cool stuff for ourselves. When the Swap Meet was over we helped load all the stuff that was still there into a truck to be taken to Goodwill. After that we did some weekly planning.

     On Sunday we had Ward Council in the morning and then we came back to the apartment and finished weekly planning. Our investigator, Nathaniel, came to church and seemed to hit it off really well with the young men so that was good. After church we came back to the apartment and finished our studies and then had a drop-off dinner. After dinner we tried to see some potential investigators and some less-actives and set up appointments with them.

     ~ Elder Brady

Enjoying the Cherry Blossoms

Transfers

     This past week was pretty good and I hope everyone else has had a great week! Something really quick before I get going about my week. Lately we have been showing a lot of members, and even non-members, the video "He Lives." This video is amazing and I love it! If you haven't seen it I strongly encourage you to see it. It is on Mormon.org so everyone go take a look! Alrighty now here was my week.
     Monday we went shopping and then it was to the stake center to email and play some basketball. Always a good time. Bishop McConkie took us out to dinner so while we ate we got to talk with him about the ward and the work within the ward. We talked with him about our investigators and then he asked us to see some people in the ward that he felt we should see, so that was really cool. Then we went to the Bush's and talked with them about conference and their own missionary work. They are awesome.
     Tuesday we had Zone Training. I think my favorite part was when Elder Jones and Elder Blanchard (who is from Rexburg as well and we know each other, halla!) talked about the power and authority of our callings as missionaries. They did great and it was cool to see the actual depth that it pertains to be a missionary and a disciple of Jesus Christ. After that we walked to our dinner at the Youngblood's home. We got there a little early and Brother Youngblood wasn't there so we had to stay outside. Sister Youngblood told us we could sit on the back porch so we went around back and we saw a trampoline! So we jumped on it. The jumping turned to us just sitting and talking on it, but it was fun. After dinner Brother Dan Johnson picked us up from the Youngblood's for our exchange.

Saying Goodbye to Elder Schenk

    Wednesday, Elder Schenk was packing for most of the day today, he is getting transferred. It's a bummer, but it's part of the mission. I'm going to miss that kid. Elder Schenk went to Annandale on an exchange and Elder Barnes came here. We went on splits with Brother Altmiller and just had a tough time of it. No one was opening their door.
     Transfer Thursday. We went to the Centreville stake center for transfer meeting and I am staying in Wakefield. My new companion's name is Elder Palmer and he is from Gilbert, Arizona. Well we came back to our area just in time for dinner, which we had at the Staton's home. After dinner we tried a couple of potential investigators, but nobody was home or they just weren't opening their door, anyway, no dice.
     On Friday we did some service first off. We cleaned out this older gentleman's attic and there was some crazy-old stuff up there. Most of the boxes and

 

Goodbye for now to Sister & Elder Rothermel

Elder Palmer & Elder Brady

bags were so old that when we would grab them they would just fall apart, practically disintegrate in our hands. It was pretty nuts. Another crazy thing we found out was that the guy's mother had hid money in some of the boxes and bags and things up there, $48,000 to be exact. After we had lunch we did some weekly planning that took till dinner. After dinner we saw the Jacob Johnson family to introduce Elder Palmer and after that we did some good ole' tracting and finding. We have one promising contact so we will see what happens.
     Saturday we did some more service, we got to finish raking Sister Robertson's leaves. After we had finished we saw that there was a little park behind her house, and well we couldn't resist. After that we had dinner at the Dan Johnson home. The weather was nice so we got some grilled hot dogs, yeah buddy! After dinner we tried some more finding, but we didn't have any luck.
     Sunday morning we had ward council, afterwards we went back to our apartment and decided to take a little nap. I couldn't really fall asleep so I did a little study time. Church was really good, it was the Easter Program so there was a lot of singing but it was great. During the third hour we taught the Priest's Quorum a section from Preach My Gospel and that went really well and was pretty fun. After church we had missionary correlation and then dinner. After dinner we saw some more member families to introduce Elder Palmer and leave a short message with them. It was great to feel the spirit that they have in their homes. Well that was my week, I hope everyone has a good week and I love hearing from you guys!
     ~ Elder Brady

Happy Easter!

     Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a good one and hope it was a good conference for you as well. It was great, I loved conference, I learned a lot. Well here was my last week. So

Elder Brady at the Washington Memorial

on Monday we emailed and then went shopping. After shopping we drove to the metro and took the metro into DC. In DC we walked around and threw the baseball around on The Mall, we were waiting for our time slot to go to the Holocaust Museum. Anyway we played some catch with the baseball and got some cool pictures in front of the Washington Memorial and then we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was really sad. It is pretty crazy some of the videos they have and you just could feel a cloud of sadness once you got into the building but it was really good. They have a lot of information and it makes you think, makes you think a lot. I couldn't help but think how someone could do something like these people did to other human beings. I mean I've learned about the Holocaust in school, but not in that light. It was still good though, we had a good, fun day in DC and we learned a lot.

Elder Brady doing a backflip!

     On our way to district meeting Tuesday, our Zone Leaders called us and told us that there was an escaped, armed convict running around. We saw 4 helicopters and a lot of police cars on our way to the stake center. It was pretty crazy and President Riggs even told us not to do any tracting for the day. Fortunately the guy was caught later that night, but it was still pretty crazy. We went to Eric Honesty's place and read some chapters of the Book of Mormon with him. He really seems to enjoy that so we are going to keep doing that with him.
     Wednesday morning we went with the Zone Leaders to get their car and take it to get fixed so that took up most of our morning. Later that day we had splits with Brother Williams and we got to see about 5 people so that was really good! We even gave a blessing to one of the ladies we stopped by and then when we were getting dropped off, Brother Williams asked if we could give him a blessing so we did. It was awesome!
     Thursday we did some service, we raked leaves for Sister Robertson. Sister Robertson lives alone and is working and going back to school so we decided to help her out. It was a gorgeous day so it was pretty nice to do service, raking leaves and breaking down boxes to recycle. She had a lot of boxes.
     Friday we did some more service, we went with Brother McDonald to rake Sister Rosentrauch's yard. It was rainy and really, really humid and muddy so it wasn't as good as the day before but oh well we still enjoyed doing the service. After that we went to the baptism of one of the little girls in our ward, Sophie Lamb, who just turned 8 and was baptized and confirmed so that was really good! Her siblings, all of them younger, did a musical number and it was so funny and cute. They each had parts of the song to sing and when one sang a part that wasn't theirs the one who's part it was got mad at them. They were pretty funny.
     Saturday was conference! It was so good and so was the Priesthood Session. I don't even know what to say, it was just really good.
     Sunday was conference as well! It was really, really good also. Today we watched it at the Bush's home. We were there for both sessions and then they fed us dinner afterwards, so we spent a lot of time at their house. Some of their family was there and between sessions we helped hide some eggs and the younger kids had an Easter egg hunt. They had a blast and Sister Bush even gave me her nice camera and let me take some pictures! It was pretty awesome!
     ~ Elder Brady

Ball on the Mall

Elders Seely, Robbins, Schenk and Brady

Elder & Sister Rothermel's Visit

     Had a pretty good week and I hope you all did as well. I love hearing about your guys' week! So here's how my week went. Monday we went to the mall as a district. We just 

Elder Schenk taking a nap

after playing some catch

walked around and looked at all the stuff we want but can't get because it costs wayyyy too much. Elder Robbins and I always went straight to the hats! It was fun though. Then we went shopping and then to the stake center to email and play basketball like usual. Elder Schenk, Elder Robbins and I tossed the baseball around too. We did our little double play drill and even got another missionary to be a runner so that was fun. We were supposed to have a dinner at a members' home but uhh they forgot and were in Richmond so yeah but it was ok because we did just go shopping. Then we went to see the Bush's but we could only talk with President Bush, Sister Bush was doing some important school work so we weren't able to talk with her.
     Tuesday night we had splits with Brother Monk, and it turned out pretty good. We were able to go see two less-actives, Brother Honesty and Sister Perea. With Brother Honesty we read a couple chapters of the Book of Mormon and talked about them, with Sister Perea we talked with her and her daughter (who is an active member) and just kind of got to know them because they were in the other elders' teaching pool, but now there is only us in the ward so we are still trying to catch up with all their people that they saw.

Eating at a BBQ Restaurant
"Red, Hot and Blue"

     On Thursday the Rothermel's (senior couple in my last area) came up and took Elder Schenk and I out to dinner. It was great and they are awesome! After dinner we went with Brother Ross to go see the Torrico family. This was a family that the other elders were teaching so this is only the second time we have seen them. It didn't work out though because they were all sick and not feeling so hot so we are going to have to wait until next week to see them. After that Elder Schenk and I went to see the Barton's. They are a less-active family that the other elders were seeing so we went to see how they were doing and get to know them better. They are a pretty awesome family and the parents actually just got a calling to be primary teachers so maybe that will get them coming out to church more.

Elder Brady with

Elder & Sister Rothermel

Elder Brady & Elder Schenk

                Friday, during dinner, we got a call from our Zone Leaders. Their car is in the shop and Elder Seely needs to go to the doctor so we went and picked them up and took them to the doctor. Elder Seely and Elder Robbins thought he just had a spider bite that wouldn't go away, but it turned out to be staff infection. Yuck! So after the doctor we went to Wal-Mart to get his prescription and by the time we got that it was time to go home.
     Saturday Morning I went with Elder Seely to Ft. Belvoir. A kid that we taught, his name is Junior, was getting baptized. When we showed up no one was there, we were like ok what's going on. We called Elder Oyler and asked what was up and he said that the night before they had changed the time because of building schedule problems. So instead of getting baptized at 10:00 in the morning like we thought he was getting baptized at 5:00 in the evening and it was even at a different building. So we weren't able to make that but we did go say hi and congratulations to Junior before we left. I was with Elder Seely until dinner doing service so it was just like old times when we were companions.
     At church on Sunday it was the fifth Sunday and we were asked to teach primary, both the junior and senior primary classes. So we taught them about prophets and General Conference and then showed them the church's new video that just came out. It's called "He Lives" and it is really good! I'd encourage everyone to go take a look at it, it's on mormon.org. Anyway, teaching went really well and it was pretty fun. Have a great week this week and a great General Conference! Oh and Happy Easter!!  

     ~ Elder Brady

Working Working

     Hope everyone had a great week this past week! Mine was pretty good and we had some funny stories, so here you go.
     On Monday we went shopping and then emailed. After that we went to a park with a turf field and we tried to play a little football but not as many people showed up as was thought to be coming, so we went to a different park to play some basketball. The hoops were a little shorter so some of us could dunk. There was some local kids there so we got to play against them a little too, it was nice playing someone else rather than other missionaries for a change.
     Tuesday we had district meetings and that was really good. We talked about how we can achieve out goals as a district and what our plans were as companionships. So all day 

We "cleared" the area. Rambo Style.

Elder Schenk, Elder Brady and Elder Grow

today Elder Schenk, Elder Grow, and I played like we were military guys when we came into our apartment. We would go through it and "clear" it, make sure no one was there. It was pretty fun and just changed things up a little.
     Wednesday we had a training meeting. It was about using the Book of Mormon more in our teaching. In Preach My Gospel it says " The Book of Mormon plus the Holy Ghost is our biggest and best conversion tool." So obviously it is pretty important. We also talked about using the pamphlets we have and using them more and, of coarse, iPad Safety. We are no longer in a trio. After the meeting Elder Grow went to a different area because there was a missionary there in a trio as well, so it is now just Elder Schenk and I in our ward.
     Thursday night we went on splits with Brother Mortensen and because he works for the FBI that's pretty much all we talked about. After we knocked on this one door we were sitting in his van just chatting and pulling up the address to our next person to try when we saw someone in the house we just knocked so we went back and knocked again. This time a woman answered the door and after we told her who we were, but before we could really say much she said that we had scared her and her friend. Her friend was walking down the street and was very upset with us. I guess seeing three guys in a dark van isn't the most comforting thing ever. Oops. They weren't the people we were trying to see anyway so....yeah oops.
     Friday, Elder Schenk had a leadership meeting so we were at the church for awhile. When that finished we got back to work. The whole rest of the day we tried doors no one answered. Not a single door. That was a bummer.
     Saturday was a "not much happened day" too. Nothing worked out for us and only a couple people answered their doors but we never got inside.
     Sunday we went to Ward Council in the morning and then after that we went to see a less-active/part-member family. The husband is the member. When we knocked the wife opened up and was all happy and nice and let us come right in. We talked with her for a bit until her husband came out. They are a really nice couple and both want to come back to church but they are going through some things now that make it difficult. They don't know how much church will help that. Anyways, they are really nice and said we are welcome back anytime. We talked with them until it was time for us to go to church. I decided to wear my glasses to church and I guess that threw some people off. I had at least four people come up and ask if I was a  new elder. It was pretty funny.
     Well love you guys!
     ~ Elder Brady

Wakefield District
Elders Brady, Chan, Barnes, Seely, Schenk, Grow, Robbins

Good Week

     Hellooooo everyone! Hope you all are doing good and have had a great week. Well here's my past week in a nutshell. Monday we had our Zone Activity. We all got some PVC 

Trio at Church with new haircuts

Elders Brady, Grow & Schenk

pipe and nerf darts and had like a nerf war! Well of was more of like a zombie apocalypse and if you got tagged you were a zombie but it was awesome. After that we had a district dodgeball tournament, so all the districts were their own team and it was a double elimination tournament. Finally we played a little basketball like always. We cut our hair tonight, Elder Schenk cut mine and I cut his and Elder Grow's hair now we are all look in' pretty fresh.
     Tuesday was Zone Training and it was a lot of stuff about faith. We were put into groups and given scriptures to read that told a story and all of them went back to faith. We need to have faith in the Lord but we also need to have faith in ourselves. We are capable of so much more than we think and when we can't do anymore the Lord is there to do what he can. He really will help us through our struggles and trials and he will help us to become more than we are now.
     On Wednesday we were helping out the other elders a lot by driving them to some of their appointments. I felt like a taxi except I didn't get any money out of the ordeal. I don't think I would like that job very much, I don't want to be a taxi driver. That's why you go to school!
     Thursday we got our very own iPads! We bought these ones and will take them home with us after the mission. We are also going to be receiving training to help us in using the iPads and our online proselyting efforts to become more efficient and effective so our mission will not be on Facebook for awhile. We don't know exactly when we will be back on Facebook but the target area is about a month or so of no Facebook. So until then if you want to contact me you can always email or write!
     On Friday we had lunch with our Zone Leaders, Elder Robbins and Elder Seely, at a park. We started throwing the baseball around a little too. Eventually that lead to rolling double plays and putting ourselves into scenarios. That then lead to us doing fly balls which took us to long bomb diving catches. We happened to be doing this on a turf field and we also happened to be in our shirts and ties... Yeah that happened. It was really fun though! Later that night Elder Schenk and I got a new investigator! Her name is Maggie and she was a referral from our Zone Leaders. She is from Ghana and has a 14 year old daughter we might be teaching as well so we are super excited for this next week to get to go see them.

     Saturday there was an ET. (Emergency Transfer) One of the other Elders in our ward, and quite a few other missionaries, got moved around. Now we are in a trio! It is still Elder Schenk and I and now we have Elder Grow. He is from Grantsville, Utah and actually came out with Elder Schenk. It is pretty interesting having three guys in our tiny apartment...we are pretty crammed but hey it's pretty fun so no complaining here.
     On Sunday we went to church and I was pretty tired. I almost fell asleep in sacrament meeting but I made it! Gospel Principles class was really good today though. We talked about the Creation. It was interesting to see how much eternal families are actually incorporated into the creation. It was just a really good class. I love how important families are in the gospel, I mean it is the most important unit here on earth. Families are Forever! Speaking of families, happy anniversary to my parents! You're the best! Well I hope everyone has a good week and thanks for all the support!
     ~ Elder Brady