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
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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
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
Friday, October 10, 2008
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
[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.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
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
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
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