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
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