More Tidbits from the Christmas Phone Call

Here are some additional things we learned in our Christmas phone call:

• Our Elder M met the OTHER Elder M recently. He is from St. George where all of Ed's McMullin side of the family is also from, so somehow they are cousins. We just don't know how distant.
• There hasn't been a baptism in the Stockyards area in almost 2 years (they've got some great investigators right now and hope that changes soon!)
• A large percentage of baptisms in the Chicago South mission are of Spanish speaking investigators.

I'll post some more as I think of them!

Christmas in Chicago -- Mission Update 12/23/08 and 12/25/08

Yeah! We got to talk to Elder McMullin on Christmas Day!! He's doing very well! They didn't have a dinner appointment for Christmas (when his Dad asked him if he did, he said "Are you kidding me!!") But all 8 of the missionaries in his district (2 missionaries each from the Soldier Field and Cicero areas, plus the 4 missionaries in the Stockyards), all had a potluck dinner and spent the day together playing games and making phone calls home. Here are just a few things we learned in the phone call:

• there's too much snow to ride bikes right now so they are taking the bus (the drifts at the street corners are too high and they have to carry their bikes over them, so it isn't worth it.),
• Elder M's companion, Elder Gardner, has a brother serving a mission in California,
• there are about 1 million people in Elder M's ward boundaries,
• a missionary in his district used to be in Elder Mooker's mission in Germany (and in fact served in the area that Elder Mook is now serving in), but he got sick and was transferred to Elder M's mission.

Pretty fun!! Now it's only 5 months until Mother's Day!!

Here's a copy of the email that we got on the 23rd:


Hey,
The libraries are closed tomorrow and thursday, so we're mailing today. People are setting up their phone calls and everything... I'll probably call in the morning for a little bit, then in the evening for a long bit :) I've been opening / enjoying my 12 days of Christmas!
I don't have much time to write this stuff now, and am excited to hear the update from home, but here's my week:
Wednesday was good. We swapped for exchanges in the evening, and had to drive to Soldier Field so Elder Collier could get clothes. While he was taking 52535 minutes to get ready, I goofed around with a GPS. I remembered Dad's favorite pizza place was Edwardo's, so I looked for that... It's in the mission! We had to drop off the other Elders off on Michigan Ave up near there, so we just went to Edwardo's right after and got a pizza... That was at least better than Giordanno's! It was really good. The cheese was insanely thick, and it seemed like better cheese than most places. I almost choked myself with my first bite, but it was worth it.
Elder Collier and I had a pretty good day Thursday. We taught 4 lessons, and only got stuffed a couple times. This was really good, because as of Wednesday night, we had 1 appointment, and had called 98% (seriously everyone but 1) of our investigators, less actives, and media referrals. Everything came together though, so it was good. We swapped at the orange line, then planned for friday.
Friday was pretty cold and snowy. We drove to our appointments, but got stuffed all but 2 times. I didn't get my Christmas present right. [He was guessing what gifts we had wrapped each day for the 12 days of Christmas. Apparently this was a tricky one to guess.]
Saturday was pretty good. We did service at a member in Cicero's area, and were over there for most of the day. We then went home and waited for transfer calls. While we were waiting, we saw some neighborhood kids sledding down their stairwell, so we went outside. We goofed around out there, then started to play football with the kids. We had a pretty good game going, then Elder Gardner tried to throw a ball past my iron curtain defense, and hit a baby in a man's arms that was near his car.... He got really angry! The baby was wearing a huge parka, and was just laughing, so at least she was ok... But, after "calling the cops," the man finally left. Then we got transfer calls... And our entire district is staying the same, which is pretty unusual. It's all good though, we should have a great transfer.
Sunday was the new coldest day of my life. The high was below 1 degree (it read at .6 on our thermometer), and was in the -'s for pretty much the entire day. After church, Elder Gardner and I went out to tract. It was -2, and they said in the -30's with wind chill, but we said we'd just go until we found a new investigator or froze to death.
Neither of us died, but the 2 hours got Elder Gardner sick, so Monday was pretty dull. We had our district meeting at the transfer meeting, so that was fun. I got to meet the other Elder McMullin there! His mom was born and grew up in Panguitch... How weird is that? I also got a ridiculous amount of letters and some packages, so that was good too. The socks came on the perfect day... I now don't have to do laundry until the day after Christmas! :-)
Today's been good, we've just planned and tried to set stuff up. Elder Gardner still feels ill, so we haven't done much else. Almost no one wants to meet with us until after the hollidays, so we probably wont get much done this week. Christmas will be awesome though, so all's well.
Anyways, that's it for me! I'm excited to hear from y'all the day after tomorrow!!
I love you so much and am grateful for everything you have done, and continue to do for me!
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update 12/17/08

Here's today's post from our missionary!


Hello,
This week has been pretty interesting! We've really laid the groundwork for some serious success in this area. The Stockyards has always been considered one of the crappiest areas in the mission, but that's about to change! I just found out that it takes around 2 hours for people in the north half of the area to get to church via public transit!! Alot of trains and busses shut down on sunday, so for people in our half, it could be a 10-12 hour ordeal going to church... which is a huge commitment for someone w/o a testimony yet! I was able to talk to the Relief Society President (yep, they are good for something :P ) about this problem. Apparently, there used to be a ward transportation specialist, because there aren't many people with cars in the ward. She got us a list of less actives that have cars, and is researching the PACE program, which is supposedly just a CHEAP taxi service for really poor people. We're going to focus on the less actives, so hopefully we can reactivate them! We really feel that some will start coming to church again when they have a responsibility, so this will kill two birds with one stone!
Anyways, there's the great news from the week! It's a work in progress, but I really feel that this area is going to have a boom soon. I may not be here when it's in full bloom, but it's going to be awesome!
It's good to hear from ya'll! I've been opening the 12 days of Christmas presents, and have so far been 100%! Seriously! I just looked at today's box, and guessed it right (it was toothpaste)! I hope you're having a fun Christmas break! You better get those decorations up soon...
So, yeah... My week has been good. Here's the rundown.
Wednesday was Zone Activity. We went to go ice skating in Hyde Park, but the ice rink was covered with a few inches of snow. It was going to take a couple hours for the 2 guys to clear it off... So we all just helped! We finally got it cleared, and zambonied, so it was time to lace up the skates. It was pretty fun skating, even though the ice was really really rough, and there was still snow all over the place. It made for some funny wipe outs. Playing football didn't help either. After that, we went back to the Hyde Park chapel and ate some pizza. After half a pizza, we all played basketball. I lost my first Zone Activity game ever... Bummer. It was really fun though. Everyone cleared out at around 6 pm. We changed at the church, then went straight to a less active appointment at 7. We got there, and the lady's house was boarded / barred up, so we were really confused. Fortunately, we have a cell phone, so we called her. She had moved! Out of our area... We were really close though, so we just went to teach her anyways. It turns out that she has a nonmember sister living with her, so there's a new investigator for the Stockyards northers. We also saw a man dressed up in a santa suit walking through the snow.
The next day was pretty exciting. We only had one lesson throughout the day, but the evening is what made the day extraordinary. Brother Mahon had all of the district over for dinner! We had a lot of Giordanno's pizza, and it was really fun. Brother Mahon and the Bishop sat us down for a white elephant game, except they provided all of the gifts. There were a bunch of ties in the box, and I got a really really nice one. It's black and red striped, and really glittery. I just bought a gold buttoned christain dior suit coat (some hot shot new york designer right?) for 2 dollars at a thrift store (haha), so they'll go well together at district meetings. While this was going on, Soldier Field was getting more and more packed. The Bears had a game that night, so we all looked out the window / balcony at the staduim big screen. We left not long after it started though, so we didn't see much.
Friday went well. We got a new investigator, taught a few lessons, and set up a member present lesson for this friday. We also had dinner at the Leals', which is always good. Elder Gardner's tire popped on the way home, so we had to walk a ways. That was pretty much it for the day.
The next day was one of those days where everything falls apart.We were going to walk to appointments, but as soon as we were on our way, they all cancelled! We literally accomplished nothing, so it was pretty lame. But, I had a 12 days of Christmas present, so all was well. I guessed animal crackers, and lo and behold... It was animal crackers! They were really good, and we gobbled them down in about 15 minutes. Thanks! :)
Sunday was good. We had the Christmas program at church, and it was good. We then had MCM after church, which was very productive, but also took FOREVER. It took so long that we weren't able to go to visit Earl and Diane's church, which was unfortunate. We also found out that we didn't have the means to fix the flat tire, so it was another dissappointing evening. But, I had a Christmas present! I was wondering if it was a newspaper or something, but then Elder Gardner lined an envelope up to the box. The official guess was envelopes, and envelopes it was.
After District Meeting on Monday, I went to Calumet City on a Zone Leader exchange. They swap out with DLs and their companions once a transfer. We had a few appointments over in Cal City, and they went really well! We got two new investigators, and taught some awesome lessons. Elder Petty is probably the best missionary I've ever met! He's a really hard worker, and has a strong testimony. After teaching lessons and eating dinner, we went over to salt an old woman's walkway. Her salt was in her shed, and it was an adventure getting it out. Once we got the lock off, we found out the bricks in front of the door were frozen to the ground. We couldn't move them, so we went inside to get some hot water. The first trip didn't do it, so we went to get more... By the time we got back outside, the water was completely solid!!!! We finally got it off though, and salted the path. It was really cold though. Actually, Monday was probably the coldest day I've ever had in my life. The high was 14 degrees, but there was 30 mph wind, so it was -10 with the wind chill... for a high!!! We all ate lunch at Freddie's, which is an awesome Italian / pizza restaurant in, and watched the weather channel. I saw it was 58 degrees in Arizona... Brrr... Oh yeah, I felt the present for Monday, and was going to guess swedish fish, but then I heard the sugar in the bag... So I guessed Sour Patch Kids! They were awesome, thanks!
Tuesday was cold too. We switched back, fixed the bike tire, then got ready to go. We had two people that confirmed their appointments, so we headed out. It was snowing REALLY hard. We got 3 or 4 inches as we were biking, and it was pretty crazy. It's hard to bike through that much fresh snow. We kept going though, and to our dismay, we got double tubed. One wasn't home, and the other was getting into her car as we came to her house! It was alright though, I had a present to open! Elder Petty had the 12 days presents, and had just got a yo yo, so i pretty much just felt this one and got it right. If I hadn't seen Elder Petty's I probably would never have guessed.
Anyways, that's about it up until today. We don't really have anything planned for today. We're completely out of miles, so it'll be a pain to go anywhere... We'll just have to see what happens. Oh yeah, here's two random things that happened last week or the week before that I don't think I said. One is that I had the opportunity to walk an old lady across the street! This blind woman asked if I would, so she held onto my arm, and we walked to Subway. Pretty exciting. Another was that a missionary was telling us how he called someone outside of the district, then called the ZLs to see if it was ok... Which you're not supposed to do. We were joking about how President was going to chew him out (which wouldn't ever happen), when we got a phone call... From President Roach! It was in the middle of our conversation about him calling, so it was super surprising! He was just calling to congratulate Elder Gardner and I on our success in the area though, which is still extremely unusual, but in a good way. It was really funny to see this Elder's reaction though!
Anyways, I've been doing really well. I know the Gospel is true, and love telling people about it. I love you all, and love to hear from you! I just sent a package yesterday, and also the letter I had written the week before, but never mailed. I just realized I didn't put a note in the package... It's not much for Christmas, and is mostly stuff that's been given to me out here, but I hope you like it. There's not really much to buy out here for ya, and I'd feel bad sending tithing - bought supplies! Enjoy though :)
Have a merry Christmas, I'm excited to talk to you, and to find out where I'll be next transfer, and who I'll be with!
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update 12/10/08

Oh brrrrr....I just looked at the weather for Chicago today and the high is 19 degrees. Think warm thoughts for our Elder McMullin!!

Here's his email update from a couple of days ago:


Hi,
I've been doing really well! It sounds like everyone else is doing well too, so that's awesome! I'm really excited to start opening my Christmas presents... Only 3 days! [We sent him some little things for the 12 days of Christmas.]
We've got Zone Activity today, so I'm going to have to type this pretty fast, but here goes nothing...
On Thursday we woke up early so we could be at the Pulaski building to let President Roach & Co. into the building to set up our Zone Conference. We hung around the church for a while, then took our seats for the Christmas Devotional / Zone Conference. We heard some music, some talks, then watched a Hollywood movie! It was The Nativity, and was pretty good. It was pretty funny when all the previews came on at the beginning and everyone was freaking out. Haha. Anyways, Christmas Devo was awesome, and we got presents too... Every companionship in the entire mission got cell phones! These will be incredibly useful... Especially in an area like the Stockyards! We get dumped really often, so being able to call from their neighborhood will be an amazing help. Anyways, after ZC we booked it home to go to an appointment... Who turned out to be to sick. We then didn't really have much to do for a while until our next appointment, which was with Hector, the less active that just got out of the shelter. It went really well. This family is really strong, and has definitely benefitted from coming back to church. That was our last stop, so we went in for the night.
Friday was a pretty exciting day. We had an awesome schedule set up, but we got dumped 4 times and couldn't find anyone until dinner. We had dinner at the Leals, like every friday, then headed over to visit William. We had asked Brother and Sister Hanson to come with us, and they did... Thus making that lesson the first Member Present in recollectable Stockyards history! It actually went really really well. Sister Hanson was supposedly a less active, but she has one of the strongest testimonies I've heard. William definitely felt the Spirit, and he told us that our religion completely makes sense. He's pretty stuck in his ways, so this was an amazing step. He wouldn't accept a ride to church, so we're going to bring by the man that would give him a ride. They should actually get along really well! Both are living alone and such, and in their 70's... So that could / should be magic! Anyways, after he gave us our weekly Oreos, we headed home.
We did another Former Investigator blitz on Saturday with the miles we had for having the 3rd cleanest car in the Zone (25). We also dropped off some media referrals, and were able to get 2 new investigators. One of the new investigators we got was a real neat guy. He has had an illustrious past, but he wants to repent and find God! He had committed to baptism over the phone at the referral center, and should be a great guy to teach. He is pretty goofy, and actually introduced us to a local drug dealer... Pretty much everyone thinks we're FBI agents or the cops, so all the low lifes get really afraid when we're around... He just wanted to let his neighbor know he was OK. After a full day, we went to the Ward Christmas party, which wasn't attended very well, but was still awesome.
Sunday we woke up, got ready for the day, then found out one of our tires had popped. We changed it, then hurried to MCM. Church was awesome, but we didn't have any luck at all afterwards. We were going to go speak at Earl and Diane's ministry, but they had already adjurned for the day. They just kinda follow the Spirit, so their meetings can be extremely long or really short. After not being able to find anything for a while, we went back home and got ready for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, which was awesome.
Monday started well... We had District Meeting at our apartment, so Elder Gardner and I cooked everyone Egg McMullins. We got loaves of bread for everyone, then filled them with eggs, bacon, and cheese. We used 30 eggs, or something ridiculous, but it was really really good. After that, the other missionaries took the car to Pep Boys, and we left for the day. We only could get one appointment, but it went really well. The people we were teaching brought 3 kids over, and they all had their Bibles out. They really liked the message, and all want to come to church on sunday. One of the men there was telling us about how his attitude used to be against God, and how he still fights that, but he's going to come to church since we promised him that would help. On our way home, we found a pretty good potential investigator for the Stockyards North Elders, which was great. [Brad and Elder Gardner have the south half of the Stockyards and the other missionaries they share an apartment with have the north half.] All in all, this was a pretty good day.
Tuesday was a pretty mixed day. We woke up, looked outside and said, "aww, crap." It had been slush raining, and it was pretty much awful. We made calls though, and did our best to fill in our day. We went out, set a return appointment one place we had anticipated to teach, then got told to come back tomorrow by the next person, and ended up having a few hour block of nothing... And rain was coming down horizontally. We were pretty much soaked to the core, so went to the west englewood library to warm up. We made some calls, and were able to bump our appointment up with Sister Johnson, a less active, to earlier in the day. We rode over there, then heard her amazing testimony. It may have been the strongest testimony I've ever heard. The Spirit was so strong in the room, it was awesome! We shared a message, and asked her if she could come to teach people with us that live in the area. She agreed, then we headed out. That's an awesome step, because teaching lessons with members present is by far the most effective way to teach. We then got out and couldn't find a place to stop by, so we headed over to William's. We had a Q&A, then read through Moroni 10 with him. It went really well. William is Catholic, but his beliefs are more in line with ours... He's just taking a long time to realize it. He said it would be alright for Brother Scott, who is his potential ride, to come visit him with us. He also gave us a Christmas card, which was really nice. After that, we went home. Oh yeah, on the way to William's, the rain had turned to snow... When we went outside from his house, our bikes were covered! It was snowing pretty hard, and was extremely windy... Our bike ride home was pretty interesting.
That takes me to today. We woke up to a nice batch of snow. We're getting a ride to the Hyde Park chapel, but are taking our bikes with us so we can ride home. The ground is really icy, but we're getting pretty good at riding in the snow. When going in a straight line, it is best to sit down... Your back tire gets better traction that way, and you don't peel out all over the place. When turning, it is best to stand up... If you sit down, you will slide out, and won't be able to catch yourself with your feet.
Anyways, that's that for the week!
Thanks for giving me the news for this week! I love you all, and am excited to talk to you on Christmas.
Thanks for sending that stuff mom! That'll be a great help. We drove to make library reservations last night, and I left my soaked gloves in the car... They were frozen solid this morning, and it was pretty crazy getting them heated up with my hands! Those liners will be awesome! :)
Anyways, take care. I love you a lot!
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 12/3/08

Here's the latest email from Elder M. Make sure you take a look at the pictures he sent. They are posted below!


Hi,
This week has been pretty crazy and good! We've had some great success, but quite a few days where we didn't really proselyte... For legit reasons of course! I've been doing well though, and have stayed AWAP (As Warm As Possible)!
Thursday was Thanksgiving, and it started off well. We had a big Turkey Bowl up near Soldier Field, and it was really fun. We played for about three hours, then headed over to the Soldier Field Elders' apartment to shower. After getting dressed, Elder Gardner and I took a cab to Brother Mahon's condo. He lives on the top floor of a lakefront skyscraper, and has a ridiculous view of the city and the football stadium. Besides the Mahon's and us, the Bishop was there, and also some couple young couples. It definitely wasn't Reno [our family all got together in Reno for Thanksgiving], but it was a pretty good Thanksgiving.
Friday was pretty good as well. Elder Gardner and I went to the Zone Leader / District Leader meeting. It was actually pretty good, because we got a car and my bike! So, we have a car now... But almost no miles. We'll pretty much just have it to go to church and district meetings, but that's going to be way nice! After the meeting, we biked to some appointments. We got stuffed once, then went to the Leal's for dinner (the 1 family that feeds us). We had a good dinner, then went to visit William, the eternigator.
Saturday was probably the single most ridiculously productive proselyting day in the history of the Stockyards area. We still had our allotted miles for the month, but only 2 days to use them, so we went all over the place. We killed our media referral list, visited less actives, and also old investigators (Marco's investigator's old house was abandoned by the way). All in all, we visited 13 people! We dropped a good chunk, but got 3 new investigators! After dark, we used some more of our miles to go to Sam's Club... Where we got a few hundred dollars of food. We all just pitched in, since we're living the law of consecration.
Sunday was really good too. After church, Elder Gardner and I did the same thing we did on Saturday, but with much less success. We pretty much just dropped everyone we visited... Except the two investigators we had an appointment with. The lady has her own ministry in her apartment, and they were having a big service for a deceased relative. We were able to attend part of it, and were given the opportunity to teach the Plan of Salvation! It was actually way awesome. Everyone was extremely receptive, and we'll go back to visit them pretty often. Including Sundays. The minister had a less than Christlike past, but was prompted by the Spirit to start her church. We're going to tell her about the Cambellites and explain to her how she can bring her congregation into the Kingdom of God. Anyways, it was an awesome day.
Monday was interesting. We woke up to a few inches of snow. It's an understatement to say it's awful to bike through snow. We did though, and had 2 appointments cancel on us. This was pretty lame, so we went back to the apartment to make sure our last appointment would be there. They never would answer, so we didn't know if we wanted to bike to the absolute corner of our area (74th street and way East). We knelt down and prayed, and felt that we should... So we got up, and started on the most ridiculous bike ride I've ever gone on. As we were slipping around the sidewalk, a car started to pull in front of Elder Gardner. He was forced to suicide wreck so he didn't get ran over. It was alright though, so we just kept riding... Until we hit the train tracks. There was a train that was STOPPED on the tracks, and went completely out of our area! We had to get past it, so we ended up hobo-climbing it, and rode away on the other side. Somehow Elder Gardner's gloves got shredded while climbing. We kept riding though, and before too long, I pressed my brakes a little too hard, and ate some ice. We kept going though, then finally got to our appointment. We tried to watch the Restoration movie, but the DVD player broke. Then we were just teaching, and an insane man comes out and explains over 45 minutes how I'm his black brother. It ended up being me humoring this guy for another 30 minutes or so while Elder Gardner finished the lesson. We got a new investigator over there though, and committed a woman to baptism, so it was very productive. The ride home was pretty uneventful, but that's not a bad thing. Oh yeah, we couldn't unlock our gate because the keyhole was filled with ice. It took forever, but we finally got it open.
We woke up Tuesday and looked at the lowest low on our thermometer. It had gotten down to 3 degrees!!! We left pretty early, and met Brother Rann at a church near his house. He then gave us a ride to the Words of Wisdom bookstore, and the Temple. The Temple was awesome of course. After our session, we left for Brother Rann's house. We got some Buffalo Wild Wings on the way. We got a bunch of different flavors, and also 1 Blazin wing for everyone. It's the hottest of the hot, and it was AWFUL! I ate one bite, and it was alright.... for about a second. Then I felt horrible, and ended up drinking about half a gallon of Oberweis... Pretty fun! Haha. The rest of the day was good, but we were pretty tired.
Today's been good so far too. After I finish this letter, and one to President, we're going to head off to the Planetarium. It should be fun.
Anyways, I've been well, and am enjoying the work. The Lord has blessed us with 10 New Investigators so far, and I pray He'll bless us with more. I'm so grateful I have this opportunity to teach people about the Gospel. I know the Gospel is true, and I know it's neccessary. I love the Lord, and love serving Him!
I love you too! Take care!!
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Elder Greenway

Here's the 4th missionary in the apartment, Elder Greenway. He and Elder Houston are companions.

Elders Gardner and Houston

Here's a picture of Elder McMullin's companion, Elder Gardner (on the left - no hat) and Elder Houston, one of the other missionaries living in his apartment. Cool hat!

Elder McMullin With a Member from Chicago

This is Elder McMullin with Brother Rann, the kind member in his Chicago ward who volunteered to drive Elder M. and Elder Gardner to the temple!

Chicago Temple

Elder McMullin and Elder Gardner got to go to the Chicago Temple on December 2! Here's Elder M. standing in front of the temple. All the missionaries were allowed to go to the temple last transfer, but when it fell through for Elder M and his former companion, Elder Adair, President Roach gave them permission to go during this transfer.

Elder M Looking Cold

Here's Elder M. in front of the house he and 3 other Elders live in, located in the "Stockyards" area of Chicago. Brrrr. Looks cold!

Elder M and a Watseka Branch member

This shows Elder M in his P-Day clothes with one of the kind members from the Watseka branch (Brother Cluetter, whose wife is the best cook Brad has ever met!) and his dog, Curly! This was taken on Elder M's last day in Watseka as he was telling everyone good-bye.

Watseka Branch Building

Here's a picture of the little church building that Elder McMullin went to when he was in Watseka, IL (his first area).

Mission Update -- 11/26/08

Here's this week's update:


Hola Family!
This week has been crazy! We've gotten a lot done, and had some fun. We've had ups and downs, but overall it's been very good. I have my planner, so I'll just go through the days, starting on Friday:
Friday started out well, but very cold. It was 17 degrees outside, and windy, but we still went for a run. After studying, we went to MCM. We have MCM at the ward mission leaders apartment, which is in downtown Chicago. We had a good meeting, then went to the huge Target next door. We bought some food, then went home. After we got home, Elder Gardner and I booked it to visit a less active. She wasn't home, so we went to drop off a media referral bible for Annetta. She was feeling ill, so we rescheduled. After this dissappointing afternoon, we went to the Leal's for dinner (we have dinner with them every Friday). Dinner was great, but it was after dinner that was awesome. We rode way over to visit Mary, who had ordered a Bible, and ended up teaching her and her grown son a full lesson. They were very excited about the Book of Mormon, and we scheduled another appointment. This was awesome, because we got our first new investigators! We didn't have any investigators, so this was a huge step.
Saturday was pretty good, but not very fruitful. We went out looking for people, but didn't find... anyone. Pretty lame, but it happens. We did however find an amazing face mask shop, and bought some. The mask I got covers my mouth, cheeks, nose and ears. It cost $2.00, and is definitely the best value investment I've ever made in my life! After we got home, we made a bunch of calls to set up appointments. Something funny also happened - I was looking through the area book and found a record from Elder Busby! By the way, would you mind asking Sister Busby what areas he was in? One obviously was the Stockyards, but I'd be interested in hearing about the others!
Sunday was extremely weird. Elder Gardners pedal ripped off right as we were pulling into the church parking lot. We were very fortunate it didn't break sooner, or we'd have an awful walk. We didn't have any investigators, but church was still great. The scheduling there is very strange... They have their block completely the opposite of ours. I don't know if I'll ever get used to sacrament last. The ward is very good though. It may seriously be the most diverse ward in the entire world. The members are of every ethnicity and background. Some are extremely rich businessmen that live in skyscraper penthouses, and many struggle to pay rent in desolate neighborhoods. Some are white, some are black, and one is half Korean, half Vietnameese, with a dual citizenship from Iran and the United States... AND, a couple couples are from Arizona! I met families from Mesa and Chandler, and they were awesome! I also met Elder Adair's uncle, who invited us over to dinner for Thanksgiving. This will be awesome, especially since we only get fed once a week.
So there was church, but that was the mildly crazy part. We had a lot of appointments for after church, so Elder Gardner switched Elder Greenway bikes. After eating a quick ramen lunch in the church kitchen, Elder Gardner and I took off at a windsprint pace to get to our first appointment. We were almost there when Elder Greenways bike broke! The pedal got ripped off, so we ended up having to walk a few miles home. Were going to the very corner of our area, and were far away from the other appointments we had, so we had to reschedule. We got home and made some calls, then tried to fix the bikes. One was "totaled," so it is very good that mine is in the mail from home! We also were able to arrange our temple trip with a member from Wheaton too, so that was very good news.
Monday was a crazy day. Elder Maliwake came over on exchanges for a very full day of appointments. We went out and taught Earl and his sister Diane. Diane is a preacher, and runs her own youth ministry in her apartment. Their beliefs are pretty much the exact same as ours, and they're very excited about the Book of Mormon. Their church has about 8 members, and just may be the means through which they all find the fullness of the Gospel! Diane had a crazy life, but shaped up and found the Lord. She went to a lot of churches, but finally felt that God wanted her to have her youth ministry because the other churches werent right. They want to learn more about the Book of Mormon, and are excited to read it. There's 2 more new investigators! After that, we walked way over to visit a man named William. He has been taught alot in the past, and is what we call an Eternigator. He'll be very easy to teach, but hard to baptize. Either way, there's another new investigator, which is extremely great news for this area. The day was good, and we went to bed tired.
Tuesday was also a very good day. Elder Gardner and I went out walking after studying and making calls. We first went to a media referral, and found out the address didn't exist... Bummer. After that, we went and visited a less active. We helped her out and taught her a lesson. She'll try to come to church, but she's pretty ill. We then went to visit Annetta, who was ill the other day. She just had a heart surgery, so is woozy sometimes, but she is a very good lady. We taught her the whole first lesson, and are going to come back with a large print Book of Mormon and Bible. There's another New Investigator! We've gotten 6 so far, which is almost beyond awesome! After visiting Annetta, we went over to visit a less active family that just moved into the ward. They were living at a homeless shelter, and hadn't gone to church in a long time, but they finally got financially stable and want to be active in the church again. They're very nice, and we had a good lesson with them and their kids (who just may be crazier than Tony and Pamela's!!!!!).
Anyways, now it's Wednesday, and we don't have much planned. Just do laundry, shop, and hang out. We have a Turkey Bowl tomorrow, and Thanksgiving dinner, so all's well.
We've been doing well, and are loving the work out here. The Gospel is true, and I'm grateful for it. 45 seconds left, gotta go!
Love Elder McMullin

Mission Update -- 11/19/08

Elder M is enjoying serving in the city. Here are his emails. He did a quick one on Tuesday the 18th to ask if we could send him his bike and then another quick one on Wednesday. Here they are:

11/18/08:

Hey Mom!
I'm here at the library... My companion is getting us museum passes for tomorrow... We're going to the Science and Industries Museum, and if we get the passes here today it's significantly cheaper.
Anyways, I'll still email you tomorrow, but I'm just letting you know I'm alright! This new area is AWESOME, and my new companion is AMAZING. Seriously, this transfer is going to be phenominal.
It's been cold, but I've stayed warm. My coat is great, and bike riding keeps you warm... Actually you start sweating after a couple miles, but it's alright.
Anyways, they told us at the beginning that we may get a car, so I haven't bought a bike. There was an old crappy bike here that I've been riding, and it's pretty bad. It's going to be awful riding on this, so I pretty much need a new bike. Since I've got this junkola one, I can get around until you send me mine from home... That one's pretty nice, and I would do all but kill to have it. So would you mind looking up the price to ship it and stuff (apparantly it's about $100), because I'm pretty sure that'd save, and I'd be happy to ride around on a junk bike for a week until that one came if it meant that I could get a nice electric shaver, and save you some money! :-) And actually, it would pretty much be a pain to buy one here, since the shop is miles away...
But, please let me know what is best for you and what you want to do. If you send it to the mission office, they'll get it, then the APs will just bring it to me the next day... They're pretty much the delivery boys for the Chicago Zone.
Thanks, love you! I've been doing well, and having a lot of fun. Elder Gardner is a great missionary, and he's very easy to work with. We're getting caught up with all the referrals they had jammed up, and have a good amount of appointments set for Thursday! This area doesn't really have any members, so food should be interesting... But I've been cooking some mean quesodilla's with the stuff I bought at the mexican store right next to us. We live on Talman and 51st by the way... The house with a McMullen Realty sign in the yard!
Anyways, gotta go.
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin


11/19/08:

Hello family!
Will you please forward this to G&G, I've got 15 minutes, so I've got to pump this out fast.
Anyways, this week has been SO good. This area is so awesome, and my companion is great. We've gotten organized, and are going to be exceedingly busy, but that's good. Neither Elder Gardner or I like the cold, but we both want to work hard more than we hate it out side - so we ride our bikes ridiculously far every day. I've been getting pretty beat up from the bike I've been riding, because I can't really sit on the seat. Haha, anyways, I'm super excited to get mine in the mail! Maybe just call the office if it's not going to work.
So, we had quite the experience moving in because we had to refurnish the apartment. It was pretty crazy because there were only two beds there. [There are 4 missionaries sharing the apartment.] We got some new ones and moved desks around, and now are totally situated. The apartment has two heaters and is pretty warm.
I forgot to bring my planner here today (I'm in jeans and ready to go to the science and industry museum), so I don't have my list of all the crazy things that have happened, but I'll try to say some.
On Thursday we had transfers. For transfers, everyone meets at the Pulaski Chapel (which is mine now), and after a meeting, packs up and goes to new areas. That's pretty much it for the day besides unpacking.
Friday was good, we did a little work, but mostly rearranged the apartment. The APs brought over the new beds, so we set them up. We also went out to a couple of media referrals, and went to dinner at the Leal family home near Marquette Park. They live about as far south as our area goes... And Elder Greenway's bike tire popped right by their house... So we had a long walk! We also had MCM with Brother Patton, the ward mission leader at about lunch time.
Saturday was very good. We had a bunch of media referrals, and rode bikes a lot. It was exciting just to see the areas, some of which were pretty trashy. One area we spent a while in was pretty bad... Like every other duplex was boarded up, and there was trash EVERYWHERE. Actually, that's pretty much my whole area. I don't think I've seen an unbroken sidewalk brick in Chicago... Or one without grass growing through, and with trash all over. It's ok though, the people are nice. Funny thing of the day - we saw 2 guys with eyepatches.
Sunday was good, I'll tell you more about church next week though.
Monday was excellent. We did a lot of delivery and tracting. We were really far south east... Like 78th and Yale, if you look that up. A kindergarten age kid told me "give me yo bike!" it was pretty funny.
Gosh, I hate having this limit... This library I'm at is the Englewood library, and has a lot of computers, but you can't go on for long w/o a library card... I don't have one yet.
50 seconds.
Love you!
Take care!

Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 11/12/08 (Transfer)

Elder McMullin is being transfered tomorrow. Take a look at his email below to find out where he's headed!


Hello family!
This week has been CRAZY!
So, I'm writing this in Watseka now... I'll probably be on a computer later today in Gilman, because I have to e mail the mission office some pictures. A deer jumped in front of Elder Na'a, and Na'a swerved out of the way, but then rolled his car a few times. Elder Jenks from the office came down, and had to use my camera to take pictures at the junkyard. The missionaries in the accident are fine... Actually, it's pretty crazy how fine they are. The only injury between them is a cut on an arm that came from crawling out of the upside down car! It's a good thing the Lord was watching out for them!
I've been doing pretty well though... It's been cold, but we're doing great. The other night it was 25 degrees at about 9 PM, and I'm sure got quite a bit colder! Yikes! At least we've got a car here in Watseka though...
Ok, so now to the crazy happenings of the week. Artie came to church Sunday without April! That was completely awesome, he's really progressing, and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets baptized within the next transfer! Also, Grandma Willow said that she's seriously considering joining the Church. Every time she goes to read the Bible, she reads the Book of Mormon instead. She's definitely feeling the Spirit, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the most stubborn lady ever step into a font within the next transfer. Phil has really helped us work wonders there.
We were going to go to the Temple this Tuesday, but something came up, and Sister Clutteur ended up going to Tennessee with Darrin that day... And our backup ride ended up not being able to go either! It was a perfect storm of crappiness, but we called President Roach, and he told us just to go next transfer. So, I'll be going to the Temple next transfer, which will be totally fine.
Speaking of this next transfer, we got calls last night! Our District is going to be very shaken up. We figured Elder Na'a's companion, Elder Bradsher is going to some suburb, and Elder Birkett is coming from Naperville to be with Na'a. Birkett looks a lot like David Archuletta (we were trying to think of who he was, and that's what we came up with). Elder Bird and Elder Thornhill finally got split up. Thorny is going to Ottawa with my MTC companion, Elder Philbrick. Elder Bird is staying in Frankfort, and will be training a greenie. He's a very good missionary, and should be an excellent trainer.
So now here's the transfer call you've been waiting for:
I'm getting transferred to The Stockyards area, and will be serving with Elder Gardner! The area should be really interesting, to say the least. Elder Na'a has served there, and Elder Adair has served in the area next to it, so I've heard a lot about it. The Stockyards is in the city, and isn't a very affluent area. The area boundaries go West from the freeway next to the University of Chicago to right next to Midway Airport, and I'm not sure the north and south, but I think it's like 38th on the north, and 71st on the south.
I'll be living in an apartment with another missionary companionship, and I'm not really sure where the apartment will be, but I'll tell you my address because Google probably will have a street view around there so you can see it! Aparantly the apartments not that nice, but I guess when you're living in that area, there aren't really any nice one's to get. It will be fun living with other Elders, but should be a little cramped because... we're all riding bikes!
That's the fun part about it, I'll be biking through the snow! Hahaha, actually, I'll probably freeze, but I'll definitely learn to appreciate the burning in my bosom from the Holy Ghost that much more. We're driving up there for transfers tomorrow, so I'll get a bike there. I also am going to have to get some intense gloves and probably a scarf or neck beanie pretty fast too. Mom, I'm so glad that you sent me those smart wool pants, because they're going to keep me alive tomorrow!
So, I'm pretty excited about the transfer since it's going to be such a huge change. After averaging 1 media referral a transfer in Watseka, I'll pretty much be a glorified delivery boy in The Stockyards... It will be an excelent way to get into houses, so I'm pretty excited for that. I've been packing today, and am just out making the good bye rounds. I was going to take a picture with Grandma Willow today, but she wasn't home! Lame! I can't get one with Sister Clutteur either, but I'll get one with Brother Clutteur and Curly, so that'll be ok. I'll probably email those to you later today.
Well, I ought to go and say some more goodbyes, then do some packing to get ready for tomorrow! I love you so much, and am so grateful for my opportunity to serve the Lord here in Illinois! I know the Gospel is true, and am so excited to share it with the people in Chicago!
Take Care,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 11/6/08

Here's Elder McMullin's update from Nov. 6. It came on Thursday because they had a zone thing on Wednesday and couldn't get to the library. I've been busy busy, so it's taken me a few days to post, but I hope you enjoy! Here's the email:


Hello Family,
Yesterday we had our Zone Activity in Joliet, so we're just emailing today. Zone Activity was really fun, but I'm sore today ... We played Chicagoball (softball with a huge soft ball... no gloves) and football. I still have never lost a game on my mission! They were pretty close this time though. After playing games, we all went to Cici's pizza buffet. We were pretty much dying because they had no water at the park. I drank about a gallon of root beer, and it was probably the best thing I've tasted in my life. The pizza was really good too. Extra bonus of the day: The Zone Leaders also brought me down 2 packages! I got a Thanksgiving package from home, and a package from the Gallup McMullins! Thanks!!
I laughed about the squid jerky [this probably seems crazy, but our package to Elder M had a package of squid jerky in it -- kind of a family joke], and then gave some to as many elders as would take it. Only one threw up a little bit. One Tongan elder actually liked it! hahahaha. I'm keeping what I have left to give to Tony and Pamela's kids... It's going to be funny as heck seeing their faces!
So, right now we just got done taking around meals on wheels to our seniors. It was pretty good, although Earl didn't say a word. He's an old man (obviously), and I never heard him talk til about the 8th visit, and I have once or twice since then... So it's always exciting when he says hi! We're about to go mow a less active's lawn, so we're dressed in shorts and t shirts. It's pretty nice today, and hopefully it won't rain!
The weather has been great the last week or so... It's the Indian Summer... The last bit of warmth before the icy winter. Yikes. It was really cold a week and a half ago or so... We were wearing coats the whole day. It was pretty crazy, but not too bad. I still have to buy some gloves, but that hopefully won't be an issue for a while! Thanks for sending me the thermal pants, Mom! Those will definitely be nice... I was fine under my coat and stuff last week, but my legs were cold!
The lint roller will also come in handy, I've kinda been mooching off Elder Adair for that.
This whole week has been pretty good... We've visited most everyone throughout it, and have done plenty of service. Brother Navas is stopping the English classes, which is a bummer, but the students really have decent English now! I don't know if I ever told you this, but I got a hair cut a while ago... Cut really short! I like it though, so that's good. One of the members in the Branch cuts hair, so he did it for free.
Church was good on Sunday. We called Tony and Pamela to 'wake them up' on Sunday, and they were going to come, but they didn't. We did have a few investigators come, and of course Artie. We haven't been able to see Artie since then though, because he's been driving a car to Utah. April's sister drove home for a week, and Phil's homecoming. She somehow conned Artie into driving back with her all the way.
We also had a very good Missionary Correlation Meeting, and a lot of input from an unusual amount of church leaders. Mom, how often do you have these at home? Our Branch mission leader is a bit spacey, but we still have them every other week or so. They're very helpful in getting the ward to help us with our work. Working with the members is the most effective way of missionary work, and that's what they've been stressing at Zone Conference.
On Saturday night, we went to Andy and Marcell's last football game. They lost to Central, which was pretty sad. It went into overtime, and Watseka barely barely lost. They were killing in the first half, but then Andy got ejected for a bogus call (they looked on film later, and saw it was bad) and the team just fell apart. Andy had the most takles in the area, and was pretty much the man, but is super bummed now.
We're going to go to the Temple next Tuesday with the Clutteurs, so that should be good. It's pretty much the last day we can go up there, because the transfer is almost over. We'll get calls Tuesday night to tell us where we'll be, and who we'll be with. One of us will almost definitely be moved, so it'll be interesting. I could be anywhere from Naperville, Downtown Chicago, Indiana, or right here in Watseka!
Hey, here's something cool that happened this week: We got our first media referral! At the MTC, we answer phones for people calling in about TV ads and pass a long cards... We then set them up for appointments with missionaries. Some Elder or Sister, maybe even Mooker, answered the phone and gave us their address! We are going to go this weekend, so that's pretty exciting. In some areas, the majority of missionaries' day is going to media referrals. From the sounds of it, Watseka is the worst area in the mission for getting media referrals... but that's just because it's not very populated.
We've been doing good though, and have been eating alright. We don't get fed every night, but when we do get fed, we get fed alot. I've gained like 5 pounds or so! Uh oh, I better get called to a bike area haha. I still haven't had a nasty meal yet, so I'm lucky for that. It was funny listening to some Elders talk about what they had just eaten at an Indian man's house. They first got their tongues burned out, then they got a drink to cool their mouths off... But, the drink was a salt n jalapeno pepper smoothie or something like that, and they just about died. Haha.
This next week will be good. We'll meet with Artie, and have a lesson on praying for the truth... He knows the church is true, and is a very active almostmember.
Phil's Grandmothers are doing well, and should start coming to church. They're both very good ladies, and are awesome. They should start to progress much faster now that Phil's home, and hopefully we'll see some of that in the next week.
We haven't seen Brett in a while, so hopefully we'll be able to track him down, and teach him something along with Dana and Kye.
Pat moved out from the Clutteurs, which is a bummer for us, but will probably be good for him. He's a good guy, and hopefully we can at least check on him if he comes and visits.
We haven't seen the Onarga girls in a while... They haven't answered the phone, so we'll go stop by this week. They said they wanted to come to church, so we'll arrange a ride for them, assuming we can catch them, and they'll still come!
Hopefully we can find some new people to teach too! Brother Navas has someone he's trying to talk to at work, and we gave a bunch of fliers and pamphlets out to Brother Francis a couple weeks ago. Brother Francis lives on the edge of our boundaries to the East, where we don't have many people to teach... We're going to go visit him though, and hopefully can get into contact with his friends he got the pamplets for! He said they were interested, so that's good at least. We'll go around and see what's up in the town there, and knock around a little. Everyone's very cold around here, but hopefully they'll be a little more open. If they are, we'll be spending more time in that area. We've also got the good ol media referral too, so this week should be good!
Oh yeah, we also had Halloween this week. It wasn't too eventful actually. We had to be inside at dark, but we took around some bags of candy to kids we know. We dressed up as missionaries...
Tay, that's awesome you've got the Mission Viejo meet coming up! That'll be so fun!
Cater, hope your Homecoming was good! Or will be good? :)
Well, I think that's it for this week! I'm so grateful to have a wonderful family! I know the Gospel is true, and am so grateful to be out here on my mission. I'm excited to help the people in this area, and love to see when they come to church, and most importantly appreciate it. I know that we can only be saved through Jesus Christ, and am so grateful for his Atoning sacrifice. We can be perfect through Him, and return to live with our Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for everything my Heavenly Father has done for me, and am happy to do as much as I can for Him.
Take care, and have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 10/29/08

Here's an edited version of Elder M's email. We've been asking him to tell us about his investigators or people he randomly mentions in his emails, and he spent a lot of the email telling us about them (lots of really nice things -- they sound like wonderful people), but I'm not going to duplicate all of that here. So....here is the email with all of that removed.

Hola family,
It's been good to hear from you today! I'm here at the Gilman library at the same computer that doesn't write sometimes, so forgive me if half a word is missing! I had to sit here because this is the only computer that prints... And the man that lives downstairs from us is being evicted for 'gross overuse of water,' amongst other reasons, and wants a written statement that we live in the same house and are using water. We called the mission office, and they okayed it, so now I have to type up a letter head. Fun stuff!
I just got some letters today, which were fun to read! Thanks for sending them, and thank Sue for sending all those pictures! They were fun to look at. I can't remember if it was Mom or Grandma that was talking about the people here, and how I sometimes mention some random people like Grandma Willow. Sorry I'm not so clear on all the people we visit! The obscure Grandma Willow is actually one of the people we spend the most time with! I'll type up a little bit about everyone right here: [He gave us a little paragraph about each person.]
So there's the investigators we visit pretty regularly. We spend a lot of our time doing service for them, which has been a good way to strengthen their relationship with missionaries in general. We also spend a lot of our time doing service for less active members. One of the main goals of missionary work is reactivation. There are a lot of less active members in Watseka, so we go around and try to get ahold of them alot, which is a lot harder than it sounds! We also go around trying to find people, but most people around here are pretty cold towards the Church. It's really sad, especially since the Church did so much for them when it flooded. We get some one time visits, but get stuffed pretty regularly.
So work could be going better, but we're always optimistic! Especially because we recently had two missionaries return! Derrin has been home for a while now, but has been very sick. We still haven't been able to go out with him because he's had some bad tonsilitus, and is going into surgery to get his tonsils out! Phil's back, and we'll probably go out with him tomorrow! We went around town with him, and met his family (none of whom are LDS), which was very good. They're all nice, and very excited for Phil to be home. He's got more people for us to meet, so that will be awesome! People are infinitely more willing to have us teach them when someone else brings us to them.
Elder Adair and I have been doing alright this last week too. We both got sick, which hasn't been fun, but are finally feeling better today. We've bought and consumed a LOT of cold medicine! We didn't see investigators that much until yesterday, but no one want's sickos in their house... Especally not our older folks.
On Monday, we found out that there was a mall in Bourbonnais. This was ironic, because we had traveled to the next town into the city to get my coat. We had been told there weren't any good shops in Bourbonnais, but there was actually the same store I bought my coat at. Elder Adair had been dreaming of a coat he saw when I bought mine, so we went over there after District Meeting so he could get it. I got a towell because I left my second one at the MTC. My towell is HUGE! It covers from my neck to my knee, and wraps around me two times. It's pretty insane, but is soft and I like it alot. I still have to buy a beanie and some gloves, so I'll get those after Zone Activity next week. We have it in Joliet.
So, I also had Zone Conference this week. It was in Naperville, which is incredibly far away. Like three hours far a way. We had to wake up at 4 AM to get there. It was really good, but we were beat at the end of the day. Actually, in retrospect, I'm sure that's what got us sick! We're ok now, and have some good notes in our binders, so we're set!
I'm not sure what we'll do [for Halloween]. We're thinking about going to a member's house to pass out candy or something, but who knows. We'll have to pass out pass a long cards too :-) . The branch is not having a Halloween party... We just had two for the returning missionaries, so they're partied out for a while!
This Friday is going to be pretty exciting... Watseka made the playoffs, and it's their first game. It's against Central, which is up in Chebanse or something, so it's in our area. We watch the games with Mark and Nancy Clutteur, Derrin, and Pat. They should win because some big time player on Central just got injured.
Caitlin, good luck at your regional meet! Tell me how you do! Tell me how Homecoming goes too, and send a picture!
Dad, I'm glad you're reading the book of Mormon! You're going to beat me to the finish of it! I'm reading it really slow and in depth, marking a lot and writing notes and stuff. It's pretty fun, and definitely helps me to remember key points and doctrine.
Our temple trip is whenever we want. We just have to find someone to take us, and will go in the next week or two. There aren't many members that go from Watseka, so we may end up carpooling with the Bourbonnais Elders. We're pretty excited about going!
Well, I ought to write up this letter for Roger, our neighbor that's being evicted!
I love you a lot and am so grateful you're in my life! I love the Lord, and love to serve Him. I'm so grateful for my opportunity to share the Restored Gospel, and to see how it affects lives. I have a testimony that it brings families together, and am grateful we had it in ours. I know that the Lord died for all of our sins, and am so grateful for that. By ourselves we can only make it to the Terestial Kingdom... but we can all make it to the Celestial through Christ.
Love you,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 10/22/08

Another update from Elder M. Sounds like he's doing well, but please keep him in your prayers!


Hey, how's everyone doing?
It's been good to hear from you today via email, and throughout the week via mail! I got G&G's package yesterday from Elder Na'a! Thanks for sending it!!! I really appreciate everything enclosed! :)
My week has been good. We had a missionary come home, so the work should pick up. We have another coming home next week, so our work should get another ridiculous boost then too! Artie's home, and is very hospitible... Things are looking good all around.
My planner is chilling in my one pair of cat hair free suit pants, so I don't know if I can give a day by day, but I'll give something of one.
Thursday was great... Well, at least it was good enough that I really don't remember it or what we did. BUT, we may have gone over to see Grandma Willow. She's an awesome lady, and is very spiritual, but is what we call an "eternigator." She always has missionaries over, but won't ever join the church. She probably never will until her grandson Phil comes home from his mission... Next week! She's very excited, as are Elder Adair and I.
Friday was probably pretty good. Watseka lost it's football game, which is unforunate... They probably won't make it to the playoffs now. Marcell, another football player, is going to star as a wise man in the ward Nativity Pagent, which will be good. The Clutteurs are spearheading the nativity, and it should be good.
Saturday was good. We did some service for Tonya, a less active member that lives in Ashkum. Actually, we did a lot of service. We took a bunch of old furniture out of her house, then went down the road and picked up a dresser, a couple armoirs, desks, chairs, beds and a mirror. She pretty much refurnished her house. It was fun.
Sunday really was good. We had a few investigators come, and all got to listen to Derrin give his homecoming talk! It was really good. After the block, we had a linger longer. It was good, and fortunately, I did not get sick this time! Hoorah. Andy came to church on Sunday, and brought a friend! He was decked out in a nice suit too. Nice.
Monday was good, we were up in Bourbonnais, and went to Appleby's with Elders Na'a and Bradsher. April is the manager, and gave us all over 50% off! I got steak, shrimp and a soda... and paid like 6 dollars! That was pretty much the highlight of the day! We also saw Elder Bradsher's ankle - he fell down the stairs last week, and messed it up bad. To everyone's dismay, he decided to 'tough it out' for a few days. It looked like he had leprocy or something, and finally the mission doctor came down and checked it out. He just got a cast put on it this morning.
Tuesday was good. We're putting together another list of people to stop by in some of the far out towns we haven't been to yet, and will do the rule of 9 out there. The rule of 9 is when you tract out 9 doors every time you get stiffed, which is pretty much every time you go to someone's house you don't visit regularly. We still have a couple of less actives to visit too, so they'll be good to see.
Today was good. We slept for a while, and are now at the library. I was writing letters earlier. Oh yeah, after I showered the curtain rod fell down! It was a pain to put it all back together since it's like 150 years old. Hehehe. Actually, the houses around here really are that old. Artie's been doing a lot of work on his house, and has found a bunch of hand cut 2.2 by 4.3's and stuff like that. The old nails in the house are pretty neat looking - they're like railroad spikes, and are not sharp at all.
We're at the Gilman library now, and the librarians are friendly, as usual. Haha. I'm wearing my crocs, jeans, t shirt and hoodie. It's perfect out now, but it's starting to get chilly at night. The bugs are dying, so that's good. The bugs aren't all that's dying in Iriquois County - we hit a possum last night while driving home. The animal walked into the road, looked at us, then got smashed. Goodbye possum.
I've been dying lately since I don't have that many ties. There's seriously no such thing as enough. I bought 2 of them when we were at Wal Mart the other day. They're my favorite ties of all time, besides the blue one I stole from Dad. I really want a gold colored Donald Trump brand tie, but they only sell those at stores like Dillards at malls... (Wink Wink).

Oh yeah, we've got Zone Conference tomorrow. It's in Naperville, which would be fun... if we didn't have to wake up at 4 am to make it on time. We'll be tired, but it'll be fun to see everyone and to hear from the President. We were going to carpool fom Bourbonnais, but we just got called by Elder Jenks, the senior Elder in charge of the car fleet; he told us we have to drive our car the whole way. Hopefully we'll be able to write off the miles!
I've been doing well, and am excited to share the Gospel with everyone in Iriquois County! I love it here, and am so grateful for my opportunity to serve the Lord. I'm excited to go to the Temple this transfer, and am so grateful we have a Temple to go to. I'm so grateful for you relativos, and love you a lot! Have a great week. Until then, adios!
Love
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 10/15/08

Here's the latest news!


Hello!
The week has been good. I got the Halloween package... Thanks! It was awesome. Elder Na'a brought it down from the District Leader Meeting, so there's another chance to get one.
It's good to hear from you! Dad, it took forever to find and download a program to look at that picture with, hahaha. Thanks for sending it.
Thanks for mailing the ballot too mother. I'll probably get that at Zone Conference. I hope Cait & Dad get feeling better! And hope that you all cope with being so busy! You really are ridiculously busy!
Anyways, I've been doing pretty well. It's been nice out, and the work's been going well.
Last week ended well. We had President's Interviews on Thursday with District Meeting. President and Sister Roach are doing well, which is good to hear. We had the same old District Meeting stuff, and then a presentation from Sister Roach on hygene, etc. Then we all cut out paper snowflakes for the mission home Christmas tree. Mine was such a piece of crap, hahaha. Some people's looked really cool though! The tree should look nice... Kind of like ours with all of the snowflakes from Grandma! The day ended well too. We went over and visited Tony and Pamela, who have been talking about getting married, which is awesome news!
The next day was great. We did some service throughout the day, and then helped the Clutteurs clean out a shed. They have been busy getting ready for their missionary to get home from California. He actually just got in last night, which is awesome; he has a lot of people he wants us to teach, so he'll be a phenominal help! We also went and visited Grandma Rosa in the hospital. She had a heart attack scare, but it turns out she's alright. She spent the night, but got released, and she should be alright. Brother Clutteur and Brother Navas gave her a blessing, which was good. One of the brothers was there, so hopefully us visiting her helped out on their attitudes too.
We had a good weekend. We did a little more service and visited with some members. Everyone has been excited for Elder Clutteur to get home, and we have been too. Church was good... Especially because Artie finally got back in town! Sunday evening, we went over to the Webb's for dinner (April's parents who live near Bourbonnais. Brother Webb used to be Watseka's Branch President). It was awesome, and we had a lesson for Artie, and the whole family.
Monday was great too. We went over to Artie and April's for the evening, and had a good time. We helped out with working on Artie's attic too. It seems like everyone in Iriquois County is working on their attics. We put up some insulation, and threw a bunch of busted plaster and plywood out the windows.
Yesterday was good too. We went around and couldn't really find anyone for a while, but finally went over to Tony and Pamela's. They've been doing well, which is good. They definitely have the craziest kids of all time. They're pretty fun though.
Today's been good. We both took naps and hung out for a while. I just did some shopping for Zyrtec (sorry I didn't tell ya I was out before it was too late!). We've been finding a lot of huge wasps in our house the last couple of days too... It's been pretty strange. This morning, I killed the sixth one in two days. We've figured they're just starting to die, and are coming inside. It hasn't been very cold, but some big time storms have just come in. It's rained alot today, and is pretty much perfect out right now.
I think that's it for this week! Thanks for keeping in touch. I love you and am so grateful for everything you do for me. I'm grateful to be out here on my mission, and know it's where I'm supposed to be. I'm so grateful for the Gospel, and for the Atonement. I'm grateful for libraries also, even though I just got told to get off the computer!
Adios, take care! Love you!!
- Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

Mission Update -- 10/8/08

Elder McMullin took some pictures of Watseka and Gilman, etc. and I've posted those below with his comments. Here is his weekly email:


[First he describes the pictures that he's attached to the email.] I'll take some more later, but here's some of Watseka! There's not really much going on, and a lot of corn, but it's where I live!
So, anyways, thanks for writing me the letters! It was great to get them today. It's always exciting to get the letters, and the emails. I'm not really sure what I did this last week... We just started using new planners, so I'm kinda shot for using that, but I'll try giving a day by day.
Last Thursday was transfer day. Our district only had one transfer, and it was Elder Grether. He went to the city, and Elder Bradson or something like that took his place (from the MTC). I'll meet him tomorrow. We may have gone by Tony and Pamela's or something, but I'm honestly not sure.
Friday was probably good. I think we went around in Ashkum. Ashkum is just another town of 750 in the area. There are a lot of grain silos, train tracks, and dead animals!
Saturday was great. We spent most of the day alone at the church house. We got to watch 3 sessions of General Conference, and in between the day time sessions, we got to watch a biography of President Monson! He is such a great example of hard work and faith. I'm really grateful that he's lived his life to be prepared to lead and guide this church. My testimony really grew of the prophet this weekend. I'm also really excited to get next month's Ensign because it will have all of the Conference talks! There were some good ones!
Sunday was also good. We got to watch 2 more sessions of General Conference. Once again, my testimony was strengthened of how inspired our Prophet is. I have decided that he's going to be my role model. What a great man to be like. He's always happy to serve others, and has a great work ethic! We also had some great dinner over at the Clutteurs, and I was able to give a blessing to Bro Clutteur.
Monday was interesting because we didn't have District Meeting; we're having District Meeting and President's Interviews on Thursday. We found some new planners later in the day, and wrote dates in them. I have a long time before I come home. Haha, that's ok though. Elder Adair only has like 7 months or something, so he's starting to get excited about that. We also visited Grandma Willow, who was feeling sick Thursday, but is starting to feel better. We talked about the state of the world and how much better it would be if everyone lived the Gospel. It really would be SO much better!
Tuesday was pretty good. We went around Ashkum again, then had dinner with a member there. She's not very active, and is going through a divorce, but is a very nice woman.
Today has been good too. I took some pictures, came to the library, and haven't really done anything else. Today is probably the most beautiful day ever. The weather is perfect - low 70's and overcast! It's so nice, but it's going to get cold soon.
I got my jacket last week too! It's a nice looking black one with something of an inner liner that will come out. It was raining the other day, so I wore it... It's pretty warm! I still have to buy some gloves, and probably a scarf or neck thing like mom bought me one time.
As for thermals, one set would probably be nice... Most people don't wear them much unless they're biking, and our mission has really been shifting to mostly cars. I'm pretty sure there's only like 4 bike areas left, so I probably won't be in one, but it wouldn't be bad to have 1 shirt and 1 pants of them. Hopefully I'll be alright in my long sleeved shirt, jacket, and coat! Hey, actually one thing I really will need is a couple of sweaters!! Could you send me the 2 I got for BYU, and maybe another? That would be way nice... That's actually something missionaries wear alot under their coats. Thanks!!! :)
I love you everyone! Take care! Thanks for writing me, I love to hear from you. Have a good week,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin

A bad picture, but it's of the main drag in Watseka. It's taken from the same place as the picture of Tony and Pamela's house [below]. You can see the Police station on the right (a cop backed out right as I took the picture!), and a couple shops. Not really much going on down that street until you get to the post office and bank.

This isn't the greatest picture, but on the left, right above the cars, you can see Tony and Pamela's house. You can also see the Lube shop where we got our oil changed, and one of the train tracks. We live right on the crotch of two train tracks, and they're pretty annoying. We deliver food to Melvin, who lives in the house to the right of Tony and Pamela. To the right of Melvin is one of the 50 billion huge gothic churches that are in Watseka. It's a Methodist I believe... One of 2 or 3 on the block.

This is me not at a baptism on September 27th. [They had a baptism scheduled for that day but it fell through.] Elder Bird, from Idaho Falls, and I had just gotten dressed for the day in Frankfort, IL. [Editor's note -- Elder Bird is in Elder M's district and they did an exchange for a day.]

Part of Gilman

They were unloading something at the Fire Department / Ambulance garage. We live right next door, so we get to hear the sirens a lot.

The City Hall of Watseka, complete with a drive through window. It's really close to our house.

Mission Update -- 10/1/08

Another update from Elder McMullin. Sounds like it's been a disappointing week in some respects, but good in others. Here it is:


Hello.
Ok, so this week has been very up and down... in the generally bad direction. So, where to begin...
Ok, so here's an up. We were at Tony and Pamela's Wednesday night, and I had the great opportunity to talk to Kye's friend Brett. He's in 8th grade, and is strangely mature. He hasn't had very good experiences with church, but he was really interested and said he'd come on Sunday! We talked about church, and the gospel for quite a while, so it was all around very good. I have really good feelings about this kid.
Thursday was pretty packed. We started off by going to the hospital to "apply" for a volunteer job there. The sisters had been doing it apparently, but hadn't told us. We just happened to meet the lady that was in charge of them, and she told us to come over. We'll probably be greeters for a couple hours one day a week. After that, we went over to Grandma Willow's. Both she and Wanda are sick... Yikes. We also went to watch Kye's tennis match, then drove to Onarga. We taught the Girls (Rosa Linda, the 11 year old grand daughter of Rosa, Isabelle, the 17 year old grand daughter of Rosa, and Selena, the 14 year old grand daughter of Rosa) the last of the commandments. We had taught them everything requisite for baptism, so we left them with a list of the baptismal interview questions so they could prepare.
The next day we left early to do an exchange with Elder Na'a. He's the district leader, so he is the one to do all the interviews. I actually ended up going to Frankfort with Elder Bird, because they hadn't done an exchange yet this transfer. We hurried up to Frankfort (which is like an Anthem of Chicago) to do some scheduled service at a retirement center. We served coffee and tea to some bingo players. It was actually pretty fun.
After bingo, we left to get dressed in Pros. We went to do a couple stop-bys, and I got to meet some investigators. They are having pretty good success at getting people to believe in Frankfort, but those with newfound testimonies aren't having great success at quitting smoking. They started an addiction recovery program at the Joliet Stakehouse that they're excited about, and they seem to have made improvement, so that's really good news.
After going around for the day, we went over to the O'Rourke's for dinner. Brother O'Rourke just got married to his wife, who introduced him to the gospel at work a couple years ago. He joined the church, and they got married, and they are way awesome. Brother O'Rourke looks and acts like Rich Kraus... I wouldn't be surprised if they're related. Anyways, he prepared an amazing dinner with chilled forks, deep dish pizza, gourmet ice cream, and a lot more. It was pretty funny actually, he acted just like Cornwall and the other servers from the cruise ship. We ended the night with a really good lesson, and subsequent discussion. The day was great... Until we got the nightly call:
When Elders Adair and Na'a went to Onarga to interview the girls, they were approached by a brother. He said they couldn't be baptized. He had gotten violent, so it wouldn't be good for them to just do it anyways. They want to move out, and have testimonies, so it'll happen, but until then, please pray for them. It was very dissappointing news, but what can you do except carry on?
Saturday was good, even if it could have been great. [That was the day the girls were supposed to be baptized.] We started it off early with service at the church. After mulching for a couple hours, we went over and painted at an investigator's house. Her aunt and uncle were in town, who happened to live just outside of the Watseka area - on the Indiana side. We talked for a while, and they got a good impression of missionaries, so that was good. After that, we got dressed and did stop-bys / tracting. I had my first bible basher, first drunk, first creepy old wiccan-ish woman, and a couple other funny experiences. We stopped by one old investigator's house, but she wasn't home. We went and tracted a little bit, then came back to the car which was outside the former's home. We were sitting in the car deciding what to do next, and the former drove up. We were like sweet, and jumped out... The little kids from the car ran away, and the lady was totally freaked out that some stalkers were waiting for her in a car by her house. It actually wasn't even the former anyways... so yeah, we're pretty much creepers out here in Chicago.
Anyways, Sunday was good, albeit fairly uneventful. Brett did come to church for a surprise fast Sunday. He liked it and wants to come back, which is very good news! We had some powerful testimonies shared, which is nice when investigators are there. Ok, speaking of investigators, Artie wasn't at church because he's still out of town. He should be back soon.
Monday was our last district meeting of the transfer. It was pretty good, and we also ended up having a little basketball tournament. We thought that there would be 2 transfers, possibly even 3 or 4, but it turns out that we were wrong...
Tuesday night everyone in the mission gets 'the call' to find out if they're being transferred. Neither Elder Adair and I are being transferred, and shocker here neither Elder Bird or Elder Thornhill are being transferred. Elder Na'a is training, and Elder Grether is moving to the City. Missionaries are usually with each other for 1-2 transfers, and can be in an area anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months. Every once in a while missionaries are together for 3 transfers, like Elder Bird and Thornhill, or will stay in an area for 7.5 months.
Anyways, new missionaries are coming in now, so I'm no longer the youngest! Weird! On missionaries first transfers, they actually get moved fairly often, so we had thought we'd go to the city tomorrow for a coat and companion swap, but that didn't happen. It's actually just starting to get cold, like today, so we're going to go coat shopping today. After the library, Burlington Coat factory is the next stop.... Wherever we can find one!
Anyways, I've been doing good. I know that as long as we trust in the Lord, everything will work out. I'm so grateful for the many blessings he's given me, and those around me.
That's so exciting for Elder Mooker Bentz! I just sent him a letter at the MTC, so he'll probably get it on day 1 or 2! That's way exciting for Aaron! I can't wait to find out where he goes! Tell him congratulations for me.
Dad, that picture did come through... Thanks! I like it.
Have a great week! I love you all, and am so grateful for your support! Have a great week Tay! You too Caitlin! Love you G&G! Thanks for your letters and packages!
Grandma, what's your new email again? I still have to answer the questions you wrote me... I'm just waiting for the next letter to come from you and Grandpa! ;)
Love, Elder Bradley E McMullin

Elder McMullin and Elder Adair

Here are Elder McMullin and Elder Adair at the hardware store??? Elder Adair is Elder McMullin's first companion. They are serving in Watseka, IL (pronounced Wat-seek-a NOT Wat-sec-a -- we just found out that we had been pronouncing it wrong!)

Mission Update 9/24/08

Here's Elder McMullin's update for the week. Sounds like another good one!



Happy Birthday Mom! Hope my package made it in time! It's good to get the emails! My week's been good, it sounds like yours have been good too!
Dad, how had you been pronouncing Bourbonnais and Watseka? Watseka is Watt-Seekah and Bourbonnais is either Bourbon-ay or Burr-bonus (people that live around it call it burr bonus, but people from anywhere else call it bourbon-ay). That's what I've heard too about the winter, so yikes! It's actually pretty warm still... Today it's like 91 degrees!
That's so crazy Mooker is going into the MTC in a week! It's going to be awesome, tell him good luck from me! The MTC is seriously the best place ever, I still miss it even though Watseka's been great! It really hasn't felt like it's been that long, but at the same time he goes in, I'll be done with my first transfer! How crazy is that?? New missionaries are going to come out in a week... Old missionaires are going to go home... Elder Adair or I may get transferred... Weird!
Anyways, the weather here has been nice lately. It cooled off pretty well, and has been just plain nice all day and night. The corn is turning brown, and the beans are getting ready to be harvested. I heard that it's officially Fall now too! They said a couple weeks ago would be the last hot day, but it's 91 right now, and for Illinois, that's considered hot... So who knows what they were talking about back then! It's actually still really nice, I'll be a little bit sad when it starts to freeze. It's ok though, the people are great, and we've made some awesome progress.
I'm trying to think of what all has happened this last week... It's gone by so fast, I think I'll need my planner. So anyways, Thursday went well... We taught Rosa Linda, Selena and Isabelle, and had English class. English class was pretty funny, we all planned a big fiesta for Sunday, and everyone signed up to bring something. Roberto didn't know what to bring, so Elder Adair suggested Jarritos (mexican soda)... It turns out that a Jarrito is a sippy-cup, and they were all like what the heck? This guy's a weirdie... But it eventually got all cleared up.
We went back over to teach Rosa Linda, Selena, and Isabelle again Friday, and brought some food for their family too. They had been running out, so we brought some from the food pantry. Grandma was very grateful. We also went to the Watseka Homecoming game that night. Watseka killed the other team... like 49-0 or something crazy. Andy got something like 18 tackles, and was pretty much the MVP. We've been sitting next to Andy's Uncle Huck, who's been more open and friendly every time we see him.
Saturday was pretty unfruitful all around... Pretty dissappointing, but that's really all I have to say about it. Actually, we met with a less active for a bit, and she has an 8 year old daughter that needs to be baptized. She wants to have her baptized, so that will be good.
Sunday was good. We had church, and had a decent turnout. Artie is still out of town, and so were Tony and Pamela, but Selena, Rosa Linda and Isabelle all came to church. They pretty much needed to to get baptized on the 27th, but they did, so all is well! We had some great lessons and talks, and it was all around spiritual... Like always!
On Monday we had a district meeting, which was good. The topic was having members present for lessons, and how to get them to come. I did the role play, and when the "member" said he had a headache, I got a Tylenol out of my backpack and promised him blessing if he'd come. It was actually pretty funny... We also went over to visit with Rosa Linda, Selena and Isabelle. We made plans for the baptism... I'll just type up a 'program' for it at the end of the email. After that, we had dinner at the Kaisers with some other members, and a non-member couple. It was really good, and the non-members were very friendly.
Tuesday was good, we visited with the Diaz girls yet another time, and finished the plans for the baptism. They're pretty excited. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but only Rosa Linda and Isabelle are being baptized. After the lesson, I talked to Rosa Linda and Isabelle, and Elder Adair talked to Selena off to the side. She knows Joseph Smith was a prophet, but it turns out her mother just wont let her be baptized. She's going to be at her mom's house that day, but who knows, hopefully she'll let her sometime soon!
We don't have too much going on today, just MCM tonight at 7... Maybe... The Ward Mission Leader is out of town (alot) and may not be here for it tonight. Hopefully yes though. My nose has been stuffy for a couple days, so I tried some farmer-cure this morning... I put salt water in a waterbottle up to my nose, and sniffed it in. It felt very strange, I almost coughed to death, and had a ridiculously runny nose for a while, but it worked! My sinuses are pretty clear now!
Here's a makeshift program for the baptism on Saturday:
Opening Song: ?
Invocation: TBA
Baptism Talk: Sister La Turner
Rosa Linda's Baptism - by President La Turner
Isabelle's Baptism - by Elder McMullin
Holy Ghost Talk: Alex La Turner
Closing Song: ?
Benediction: TBA
Alex is 12 years old, and he's giving a talk... He's a little nervous, but will do a great job. Hahaha, that's the fun of living in a small branch! (and not having Grandma to give a talk!) It's pretty exciting to have this coming up, and we should have a good turnout for it. It's the first baptism in a long time, so everyone at church was taken aback at first, but they're all excited. It's going to be at the Bourbonnais Chapel since the Watseka Branch House doesn't have a font. The Bourbonnais Elders just had a baptism last Saturday which is pretty exciting... Our district will have had 50% of the entire mission's baptisms for this month! 2 in Bourbonnais and 2 in Watseka. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it up, I know that Frankfort (the other area in our district) and Bourbonnais should both have baptisms coming up, so we've got to keep finding people here in Watseka!
Watseka has 2 missionaries coming home in the next couple of months that should be incredible catalysts to the work here. One of them is in California, and the other is in Washington. They both have multiple people they want to bring the Gospel too, so we'll be very busy and effective when they get back! Pretty exciting!
OH YEAH! I got a couple of packages at District Meeting! I got the one from G&G, one from Bishop & Sister Bennett, and one from Rainy! Someone from the Mission Office comes to all the baptisms, and when they came to the one in Bourbonnais, they brought down the district's packages! Thanks so much for sending them to me! They were great and I really appreciate them! Fruit Roll-Ups are definitely the best thing to send me... Good call G&G! :-)
I did get the questions Grandma sent me, but still haven't gotten the questions from Mom. I'll just write back to all of them this weekend or next week, and send a picture of Rosa Linda and Isabelle at their baptism! I'll try to take some pictures of around town. Anyways, I think that's that for this week! It's good to hear from ya'll! Hope the driving was good for you G&G! Hope the birthday was good for you Mom! Hope the new car's good for you Dad! Hope the swim meets were good girls! I love you! I love being on my mission too. It's really good to see the joy that the Gospel can bring into peoples lives. I know that the Gospel blesses lives and that the Commandments are only for us. Just like that scripture in Mosiah says, the lives of the righteous really are blessed & great!
I was reading a book last night and came across an awesome analogy of the Atonement:
Let's say that we are a company that is crappy, and losing money. Let's say that Christ is a company that is ridiculously successful... One with infinite profit. When we repent, get baptized, and take the sacrament, we become one with Christ - with the covenant, we take upon ourselves His name. This is the same as our two companies merging into one big corporation. Christ's company's assets are infinite, so it pays off our company's liabilities, thus making our 'new company' incredibly profitable! We are made perfect IN CHRIST every single week. As long as we accept Him, we are perfect. By ourselves, we are horrible unprofitable servants, but with Christ, we are perfect. This Short-Run perfection allows us to grow in the Kingdom of Heaven so that we can some day be perfect by ourselves. Anyways, I just liked that alot. We've been commanded to be perfect, but the only way to do that is through Christ. We can only make it to the Terrestial Kindom by our own merit. That's why Jesus Christ, the creator of the world, came down to be killed by His own people. Thanks!
Anyways, I love you! Have a good week, and please pray for the girls being baptized this weekend! Please also pray for Selena, that her mother will let her be baptized. And for Artie, that he'll be open once he gets home from his trip. I'm thankful for your prayers.
-Elder Bradley Edward McMullin