Here's Elder McMullin with his second companion, Elder Gardner, who served together in the Stockyards area -- November, 2008 through February 4, 2009.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Chicago zone missionaries
Elder McMullin is standing with Elders Maliwauki and Greenway, both of whom served in his district while he was in the Stockyards. Elder Greenway was actually in the same apartment as Brad and served in the Stockyards North area (Elder M and Elder Gardner had the South area). Now those two areas are combined and Elder Greenway was one of the missionaries who stayed in the combined area.
Elder McMullin with William
Here's a picture of William, who Elder McMullin talked about a lot while he was in the Stockyards area. William always gave the missionaries juice and cookies and other treats every time they came over.
Graffiti in the Stockyards area
Here's some graffiti in the Stockyards area where Elder M. served from Nov. 2008-Feb. 2009.
Mission Update 2/25/09 -- Some pictures today!!
I was so excited to open today's email and see that we also got some pictures! I've posted them so you can see them too. Here's Elder M's update for the week:
Hello,
It's been good to hear from you today. Thanks for the emails and letters! What's Diane and Pat's address? I'd love to send them a letter, but tell them thanks too! It sounds like everyone is busy... It's fun, huh? That's exciting the missionaries are coming over for dinner, G&G. They'd love a roast. That's about as good as it gets... At least it's better than I've ever gotten! You asked if we get lasagna a lot, and nope we don't! If you think missionaries get a lot of some particular dish, they probably don't... because everyone says the same thing. The only thing we get too much of is sloppy joes. So just don't give them sloppy joes, and ask them to teach the first lesson. They'll probably teach it anyways, but make sure they teach the real deal instead of an abbreviated one. Then you'll experience what I do everyday! But anyways... it's really rough getting so much food in this area... It's just TOO hard to microwave leftovers. Guess what? Elder Birkett, who's in Bourbonnais right now, has never had a night without a dinner in 8 or 9 months!!!! He started in Naperville, and now is in Bourbonnais. Spoiled missionary.
Anyways, I've been doing pretty well. I've started a fantastic exercise routine. Elder Wiser has got these perfect pushup things, and they work you out hard. The Swensons have a lot of exercise equipment in their basement, so I've got all the machines and stuff I need to stay in shape. That's good, because we have a car to drive around in, and a lot of food to eat.
Last P-Day wasn't terribly exciting. Everyone did their own thing, and we just went shopping and hung out. We went over to the Vines' for dinner. Brother Vines got baptized about 30 years ago by an Elder Egbert when he was living in Cicero. I wonder if it was President Egbert... Brother Vines thinks the world of that Elder Egbert, you ought to ask P Egbert if it was him. That'd be pretty neat, but either way, Brother Vines is the man. He's a Privite I, and is pretty missionary minded. He has Sharon over most Tuesday nights to have a class. They're really productive.
Thursday was interesting. We had Stephanie tube us at 11, Jim cancel for 12:30, and Erica cancel for 2:00. It was just like being back in Chicago! We tried to go stop by people from the area book, and tract, but we had no success! Lame. At 4:00, we went to visit the Ericksons and go over their list of people potentially interested in the Gospel. They haven't lived here long, so they don't know many people outside of the church, but they're going to try and invite a friend over for dinner with us. After that, we had dinner with the Bagnaras, which was fun. Sister Bagnara is really funny, and cooks some mean fajitas. They love their horses, and country western movies. It was pretty much like being with Elder Adair again, because they're crazy about Lonesome Dove... The 8 hour "ultimate" western movie that I've heard much too much about.
Friday was a good day. We went and tried to stop by a potentials house, but she was gone... So we went and visited Sharon. She's been feeling pretty ill, and now is wearing a back brace. She's got a crazy dog that likes to antagonize her two cats. It's pretty funny, but it gives her problems trying to keep him out of trouble. After that, we tried to visit Jim again, but he canceled again, so we went and visited the Cravens. They're a part member family, and have been coming to church lately. We had Brother Dupin come with us, and it went really well. Really well. They'll probably be our first baptisms in this area. We had dinner with them too, then went for a lesson with some Jehovahs Witnesses. They didn't want to listen much, so we exhorted them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, then got out of there. They've got some interesting ideas, and know more than they realize about the Plan of Salvation, and where they're going after they die. It actually went fairly well, at least for meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses, and they were very nice. After that we went home and watched it snow!
Saturday was WINDY and snowy. It was pretty crazy. We went outside to clear off the driveway... I used the snowblower, which was pretty fun. Those things are cool! We did that for a while, then went to teach. We went to the Hunsakers for some Thai food, a lesson, and ping pong. All 3 of which were good. The Thai food was probably the best though... Sister Hunsaker is from Thailand, and is an excellent cook. She definitely puts the Wild Thaiger to shame. Sister Hunsaker is really funny too. She doesn't speak the best English, but doesn't have a problem saying anything, or pushing people out of her way. After that we met with some less actives, and went to what we thought was going to be a lesson, but turned out to be a party. We didn't stay for long. It was a good day, even if it was cold and snowy.
Sunday was good. We had church, lunch, then went back to church. They've got a really neat program here called Outreach. Once a month, they have a bunch of priesthood holders meet up after church, and go out to invite as many less active families to church as possible. Elder Wiser and I went with Brother Forest, and tried to get 3 families to come... Including the ever elusive Jim, who told us that his house was too dirty. It went well though. After that we went to the Statchuras for Shane's (the 2nd councilor in the branch presidency) graduating physical therapy school party. It was pretty good, and most of the branch was there. We finished the week 7 for 7 for dinners.
Monday was good as well. We visited Sharon, tracted, and then ate lunch. Then we finally had an appointment with Jim, which went really well! We got there, said hi, let him talk for 30 minutes (we just nodded and said ok), then taught a lesson and invited him to church. We then tried to find people, and got told how it's so insulting that we try to teach people in upper middle class neighborhoods by one guy. Ooops! I'm sorry, we should have known upper middle class neighborhoods were off limits! After a frustrating day of that, we went to dinner at the Fredricks, who are awesome, then a member present lesson at the Stachuras.
Tuesday was alright. We had a really promising appointment cancel, then had no luck finding, but we did get a good idea from an investigator for finding... Put an ad in the newspaper! I'm going to look into how much that costs after I finish typing this. We don't really have to spend any money here, so we should be able to afford one pretty easily. It's really a drag having so few investigators, and it's been difficult to find anyone, so that may be the solution! Anyways, it ended up well with us eating pulled pork sandwiches at the Spencers, then going to visit some less actives. Nothing too exciting.
Today should be a fun P-Day. We did some laundry, came here, and are waiting for the District to come up here. We'll play basketball and stuff, so that'll be good. We've got dinner and another appointment tonight, so that'll be awesome!
Anyways, I've been enjoying my mission, and am loving Frankfort. The Gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ. Our Heavenly Father loves us. He's given me so many blessings that I'm grateful for, especially my family. I'm grateful for the Restoration too, and know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know Thomas S Monson is a prophet today, and that what I tell people is true. I know this because the Holy Ghost has born witness of it too me. It's pretty nice knowing this, because it really simplifies my job. All I have to do is get people to read from the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray about it. They will get an answer. 100%. God's promised it, and I'm grateful He did.
Anyways, I love you a bunch! Take care,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hello,
It's been good to hear from you today. Thanks for the emails and letters! What's Diane and Pat's address? I'd love to send them a letter, but tell them thanks too! It sounds like everyone is busy... It's fun, huh? That's exciting the missionaries are coming over for dinner, G&G. They'd love a roast. That's about as good as it gets... At least it's better than I've ever gotten! You asked if we get lasagna a lot, and nope we don't! If you think missionaries get a lot of some particular dish, they probably don't... because everyone says the same thing. The only thing we get too much of is sloppy joes. So just don't give them sloppy joes, and ask them to teach the first lesson. They'll probably teach it anyways, but make sure they teach the real deal instead of an abbreviated one. Then you'll experience what I do everyday! But anyways... it's really rough getting so much food in this area... It's just TOO hard to microwave leftovers. Guess what? Elder Birkett, who's in Bourbonnais right now, has never had a night without a dinner in 8 or 9 months!!!! He started in Naperville, and now is in Bourbonnais. Spoiled missionary.
Anyways, I've been doing pretty well. I've started a fantastic exercise routine. Elder Wiser has got these perfect pushup things, and they work you out hard. The Swensons have a lot of exercise equipment in their basement, so I've got all the machines and stuff I need to stay in shape. That's good, because we have a car to drive around in, and a lot of food to eat.
Last P-Day wasn't terribly exciting. Everyone did their own thing, and we just went shopping and hung out. We went over to the Vines' for dinner. Brother Vines got baptized about 30 years ago by an Elder Egbert when he was living in Cicero. I wonder if it was President Egbert... Brother Vines thinks the world of that Elder Egbert, you ought to ask P Egbert if it was him. That'd be pretty neat, but either way, Brother Vines is the man. He's a Privite I, and is pretty missionary minded. He has Sharon over most Tuesday nights to have a class. They're really productive.
Thursday was interesting. We had Stephanie tube us at 11, Jim cancel for 12:30, and Erica cancel for 2:00. It was just like being back in Chicago! We tried to go stop by people from the area book, and tract, but we had no success! Lame. At 4:00, we went to visit the Ericksons and go over their list of people potentially interested in the Gospel. They haven't lived here long, so they don't know many people outside of the church, but they're going to try and invite a friend over for dinner with us. After that, we had dinner with the Bagnaras, which was fun. Sister Bagnara is really funny, and cooks some mean fajitas. They love their horses, and country western movies. It was pretty much like being with Elder Adair again, because they're crazy about Lonesome Dove... The 8 hour "ultimate" western movie that I've heard much too much about.
Friday was a good day. We went and tried to stop by a potentials house, but she was gone... So we went and visited Sharon. She's been feeling pretty ill, and now is wearing a back brace. She's got a crazy dog that likes to antagonize her two cats. It's pretty funny, but it gives her problems trying to keep him out of trouble. After that, we tried to visit Jim again, but he canceled again, so we went and visited the Cravens. They're a part member family, and have been coming to church lately. We had Brother Dupin come with us, and it went really well. Really well. They'll probably be our first baptisms in this area. We had dinner with them too, then went for a lesson with some Jehovahs Witnesses. They didn't want to listen much, so we exhorted them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, then got out of there. They've got some interesting ideas, and know more than they realize about the Plan of Salvation, and where they're going after they die. It actually went fairly well, at least for meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses, and they were very nice. After that we went home and watched it snow!
Saturday was WINDY and snowy. It was pretty crazy. We went outside to clear off the driveway... I used the snowblower, which was pretty fun. Those things are cool! We did that for a while, then went to teach. We went to the Hunsakers for some Thai food, a lesson, and ping pong. All 3 of which were good. The Thai food was probably the best though... Sister Hunsaker is from Thailand, and is an excellent cook. She definitely puts the Wild Thaiger to shame. Sister Hunsaker is really funny too. She doesn't speak the best English, but doesn't have a problem saying anything, or pushing people out of her way. After that we met with some less actives, and went to what we thought was going to be a lesson, but turned out to be a party. We didn't stay for long. It was a good day, even if it was cold and snowy.
Sunday was good. We had church, lunch, then went back to church. They've got a really neat program here called Outreach. Once a month, they have a bunch of priesthood holders meet up after church, and go out to invite as many less active families to church as possible. Elder Wiser and I went with Brother Forest, and tried to get 3 families to come... Including the ever elusive Jim, who told us that his house was too dirty. It went well though. After that we went to the Statchuras for Shane's (the 2nd councilor in the branch presidency) graduating physical therapy school party. It was pretty good, and most of the branch was there. We finished the week 7 for 7 for dinners.
Monday was good as well. We visited Sharon, tracted, and then ate lunch. Then we finally had an appointment with Jim, which went really well! We got there, said hi, let him talk for 30 minutes (we just nodded and said ok), then taught a lesson and invited him to church. We then tried to find people, and got told how it's so insulting that we try to teach people in upper middle class neighborhoods by one guy. Ooops! I'm sorry, we should have known upper middle class neighborhoods were off limits! After a frustrating day of that, we went to dinner at the Fredricks, who are awesome, then a member present lesson at the Stachuras.
Tuesday was alright. We had a really promising appointment cancel, then had no luck finding, but we did get a good idea from an investigator for finding... Put an ad in the newspaper! I'm going to look into how much that costs after I finish typing this. We don't really have to spend any money here, so we should be able to afford one pretty easily. It's really a drag having so few investigators, and it's been difficult to find anyone, so that may be the solution! Anyways, it ended up well with us eating pulled pork sandwiches at the Spencers, then going to visit some less actives. Nothing too exciting.
Today should be a fun P-Day. We did some laundry, came here, and are waiting for the District to come up here. We'll play basketball and stuff, so that'll be good. We've got dinner and another appointment tonight, so that'll be awesome!
Anyways, I've been enjoying my mission, and am loving Frankfort. The Gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ. Our Heavenly Father loves us. He's given me so many blessings that I'm grateful for, especially my family. I'm grateful for the Restoration too, and know that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know Thomas S Monson is a prophet today, and that what I tell people is true. I know this because the Holy Ghost has born witness of it too me. It's pretty nice knowing this, because it really simplifies my job. All I have to do is get people to read from the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray about it. They will get an answer. 100%. God's promised it, and I'm grateful He did.
Anyways, I love you a bunch! Take care,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Mission Update 2/18/09 -- 2nd Week in Frankfort
Here's Elder McMullin's update for the week:
Hello,
It's good to hear that you've all been doing well! I've had a great week too! Frankfort has been great... And two of our investigators in the Stockyards are getting baptized!!! Both William and Jazmine are planning on entering the waters of baptism, and I don't know if I've been more excited in my life. We'll probably be a little shot on miles, but it's going to be a beautiful strain since I'll be able to go back and at least see Jazmine's. She's going to be baptized on March 9th, and William hadn't set a particular date last I heard. I just hope it's soon enough so I can go to it!
So yeah, there's the super good news. This week here in Frankfort has been great too. After I emailed last Wednesday, we went and played basketball at the Kiwanis Park ish place here in Mokena. The Watseka Elders drove to Bourbonnais, then they all rode in the Bourbonnais car up here to Frankfort. It was really fun, and was a good P-Day. After everyone left, Elder Wiser and I went to dinner at the Ericksons' home. We had made a bet on what it would be, and the outcome was pretty funny. I had said lasagna, and Elder Wiser had said casserole. We get in, and Sister E told us the casserole was almost done, but then as it came out Brother E told us it was really lasagna! Whatever it was, it was pretty good. We left them with the commitment to come up with a list of potential investigators. We have a follow up with them tomorrow, so hopefully we can get some people to teach!
Thursday was great too. We started off going to Sharon's, who's the investigator that wants to be baptized, but has to quit smoking. After that, we looked around for a while, but couldn't find anyone to teach. Then we went and had a lesson with a woman named Erica. She was RIDICULOUSLY well prepared. We had given her a Book of Mormon chapter to read, and she had a lot of questions from scriptures that cross references led to. We had Sister Carlson with us, and she helped us answer the questions, and fellowshipped Erica. They got a long well, so it was good. After that, we taught a lesson to a potential, who's busy, but really friendly. We then stopped by the Cravens, who are a part member family. The dad has always been pretty antisocial towards missionaries, but he was really talkative, and super friendly! It went really really well, and was pretty exciting. After that, we had dinner with a part member family, and had a pretty interesting discussion with a hard core catholic. It went well too though. Oh yeah, they had lighthouse pictures all over the place, and I recognized Cape Hattaras pretty easily!
Friday was good too. Earlier in the week, Sister Roach told us to use every arrow in our quiver, and to find new ways to find people to teach. We decided that playing basketball at the rec center could work. We had fun, but it unfortunately didn't work as a method of proselyting. Bummer. After showering, we went and visited Sharon and then had dinner with the Dupins.
Saturday was good. We tried to find people via stop bys and tracting for a while to no avail. At 2:00 pm, it was time for Elders Quorum basketball. We had 3 nonmembers there, so that was pretty good. They were friendly, but didn't come to church on Sunday. I also got some nickel size blisters on my big toes, so I'll have to stop playing basketball for a while. After that, we did more stop bys and taught a few lessons.
Sunday was great. We had a Linger Longer at church! Linger Longers are awesome... They're pretty much just random pot lucks right after church. There was a LOT of good food! And we had some investigators come, including the Cravens... Who apparently hadn't come two weeks in a row before. After church we did a lot of stop bys, then visited some members before going home.
Monday was good. We had district meeting, then played a game of arena football in the gym. My team just barely lost, which was too bad. After the quick game of football, we went out to eat, then left for our areas. We had a dinner appointment with some Steelers fanatics, so that was pretty fun. They wanted us to teach the full second lesson, so we did... And they pretended to be super obnoxious! It was pretty funny.
Tuesday was good too. We did more stopping by, and more tracting. We found out one guy we were going to teach had died recently. Then we were knocking around the neighborhood, and some guy came out of his house before we got there... And proceeded to yell at us at the top of his lungs! I don't know how he saw us or anything else, but it was pretty crazy! Then it started to snow, so we got out of there... And eventually wound up eating dinner at a members house, then going to another members house to have a lesson with an investigator. It was a pretty busy day.
Today is Wednesday, and we cant go to Bourbonnais, because we'd be shot on miles. We'll probably just go teach a lesson in P-Day clothes, and hang out. Oh yeah, we're going to go to the thrift store and get hair cuts too. Nothing too exciting, but I guess it has to be done. Then we've got a couple of appointments this evening, so that will be good.
Anyways, I've been doing well out here, and am excited for the work! I'm curious, why was I never taught David O McKay's Golden Questions?????? I just barely read about them, and they have got to be the best member missionary tools ever! No one would ever be offended if you asked them, "How much do you know about my church? Would you like to learn more?" then if they say yes invite them and the missionaries over. It's so simple, and has so much potential. I just read that in some random church book the Swensons had, and we're going to commit members to ask people that at our follow up appointments. It's going to be sweet. You should do that too.
Anyways, I'm happy to be out here, and am grateful for all that you do for me. I've written you a letter G&G, and it should be mailed tomorrow! I could use more stamps by the way mom. I'll be buying more tomorrow. I did buy an electric razor at Target by the way. It works alright... I'm not as satisfied as I was expecting, but they say it takes 14-21 days for your "beard" to get used to it.
Well, you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Hello,
It's good to hear that you've all been doing well! I've had a great week too! Frankfort has been great... And two of our investigators in the Stockyards are getting baptized!!! Both William and Jazmine are planning on entering the waters of baptism, and I don't know if I've been more excited in my life. We'll probably be a little shot on miles, but it's going to be a beautiful strain since I'll be able to go back and at least see Jazmine's. She's going to be baptized on March 9th, and William hadn't set a particular date last I heard. I just hope it's soon enough so I can go to it!
So yeah, there's the super good news. This week here in Frankfort has been great too. After I emailed last Wednesday, we went and played basketball at the Kiwanis Park ish place here in Mokena. The Watseka Elders drove to Bourbonnais, then they all rode in the Bourbonnais car up here to Frankfort. It was really fun, and was a good P-Day. After everyone left, Elder Wiser and I went to dinner at the Ericksons' home. We had made a bet on what it would be, and the outcome was pretty funny. I had said lasagna, and Elder Wiser had said casserole. We get in, and Sister E told us the casserole was almost done, but then as it came out Brother E told us it was really lasagna! Whatever it was, it was pretty good. We left them with the commitment to come up with a list of potential investigators. We have a follow up with them tomorrow, so hopefully we can get some people to teach!
Thursday was great too. We started off going to Sharon's, who's the investigator that wants to be baptized, but has to quit smoking. After that, we looked around for a while, but couldn't find anyone to teach. Then we went and had a lesson with a woman named Erica. She was RIDICULOUSLY well prepared. We had given her a Book of Mormon chapter to read, and she had a lot of questions from scriptures that cross references led to. We had Sister Carlson with us, and she helped us answer the questions, and fellowshipped Erica. They got a long well, so it was good. After that, we taught a lesson to a potential, who's busy, but really friendly. We then stopped by the Cravens, who are a part member family. The dad has always been pretty antisocial towards missionaries, but he was really talkative, and super friendly! It went really really well, and was pretty exciting. After that, we had dinner with a part member family, and had a pretty interesting discussion with a hard core catholic. It went well too though. Oh yeah, they had lighthouse pictures all over the place, and I recognized Cape Hattaras pretty easily!
Friday was good too. Earlier in the week, Sister Roach told us to use every arrow in our quiver, and to find new ways to find people to teach. We decided that playing basketball at the rec center could work. We had fun, but it unfortunately didn't work as a method of proselyting. Bummer. After showering, we went and visited Sharon and then had dinner with the Dupins.
Saturday was good. We tried to find people via stop bys and tracting for a while to no avail. At 2:00 pm, it was time for Elders Quorum basketball. We had 3 nonmembers there, so that was pretty good. They were friendly, but didn't come to church on Sunday. I also got some nickel size blisters on my big toes, so I'll have to stop playing basketball for a while. After that, we did more stop bys and taught a few lessons.
Sunday was great. We had a Linger Longer at church! Linger Longers are awesome... They're pretty much just random pot lucks right after church. There was a LOT of good food! And we had some investigators come, including the Cravens... Who apparently hadn't come two weeks in a row before. After church we did a lot of stop bys, then visited some members before going home.
Monday was good. We had district meeting, then played a game of arena football in the gym. My team just barely lost, which was too bad. After the quick game of football, we went out to eat, then left for our areas. We had a dinner appointment with some Steelers fanatics, so that was pretty fun. They wanted us to teach the full second lesson, so we did... And they pretended to be super obnoxious! It was pretty funny.
Tuesday was good too. We did more stopping by, and more tracting. We found out one guy we were going to teach had died recently. Then we were knocking around the neighborhood, and some guy came out of his house before we got there... And proceeded to yell at us at the top of his lungs! I don't know how he saw us or anything else, but it was pretty crazy! Then it started to snow, so we got out of there... And eventually wound up eating dinner at a members house, then going to another members house to have a lesson with an investigator. It was a pretty busy day.
Today is Wednesday, and we cant go to Bourbonnais, because we'd be shot on miles. We'll probably just go teach a lesson in P-Day clothes, and hang out. Oh yeah, we're going to go to the thrift store and get hair cuts too. Nothing too exciting, but I guess it has to be done. Then we've got a couple of appointments this evening, so that will be good.
Anyways, I've been doing well out here, and am excited for the work! I'm curious, why was I never taught David O McKay's Golden Questions?????? I just barely read about them, and they have got to be the best member missionary tools ever! No one would ever be offended if you asked them, "How much do you know about my church? Would you like to learn more?" then if they say yes invite them and the missionaries over. It's so simple, and has so much potential. I just read that in some random church book the Swensons had, and we're going to commit members to ask people that at our follow up appointments. It's going to be sweet. You should do that too.
Anyways, I'm happy to be out here, and am grateful for all that you do for me. I've written you a letter G&G, and it should be mailed tomorrow! I could use more stamps by the way mom. I'll be buying more tomorrow. I did buy an electric razor at Target by the way. It works alright... I'm not as satisfied as I was expecting, but they say it takes 14-21 days for your "beard" to get used to it.
Well, you have a good week!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Mission Update 2/11/09 -- First Week in Frankfort
We heard from Elder McMullin this morning. Looks like he's going to get fed more often now! Here's his email:
Hi everyone!
I'm doing great! My new companion is Elder Wiser, from Kaysville, Utah. He's a really cool guy, and I'm excited to be here with him. We're living with some members in Mokena, which is right south of Tinley Park, and Orland Park.... Which is where Elder Gardner is. We are on the border of the Chicago Zone and the Joliet Zone though... Which have the same boundaries as the Chicago Stake and the Joliet Stake. Unlike heavy LDS areas, our Zones are pretty much just Stakes. In Chicago, we actually have 2 Zones (Chi-Eng & Chi-Spanish) for one Stake. But yeah, here I am back in the Joliet!
I was REALLY disappointed to leave the Stockyards. I thought for sure that I would be staying there, and at the very least, Elder Gardner would. We worked so hard, and got that area rolling better than it has in as long as anyone here knows... Then we get double transferred out. It was pretty confusing, because the same thing happened to Elder Atwood and Elder Maliwauki in Cicero too. Ugh. But it's alright, I trust that the Lord will take care of the investigators and members in the area. I love them so much, but I know that my place is now in Frankfort. I can just be satisfied that I made it out of there alive...
Which is actually a pretty good accomplishment! I didn't say too much of the crazy stuff that happened there, because I didn't want you to be scared or anything, but it was nuts. Stockyards is THE crap area of the whole mission, and isn't a very safe place... Unless you're working for the Lord. There are a lot of gangs, drugs, and other ridiculous things. But suffice it to say, we met some interesting people. We narrowly missed so much, it was ridiculous. Definitely a testimony builder of how the Lord keeps us safe. We only got a gun pulled on us once, and it wasn't a big deal, so we were fortunate. But anyways, it is a little comforting to be out of that. Don't worry, there isn't anywhere in the mission I can go and be in danger. The majority of the crime light streets are in the Stockyards, so I'm good... Especially here in Frankfort, which is REALLY nice.
So yeah, here's the weekly news...
Wednesday was pretty good. We woke up, emailed, did some packing, then headed over to visit Gardner's grandma's cousin, Beulah Brooks. She lived a block or two away from Obama in a NICE apartment. It was one of the most awesome houses I've seen; I think I'd rather have her house than the Mahon's top floor penthouse. But anyways, it's a condo in Hyde Park where you walk in to a Victorian style lobby. After you get buzzed in you walk through another door, and look at all of the ridiculous paintings. Then you can either walk up the stairs to one of the 3 condos, or take the elevator. There's decorations everywhere when you walk, but the elevator is really cool, so it's a tough choice. Then you get in, and see more Victorian deco, including busts, clocks, ancient looking art in museum display cases, maps, crown molding with crown molding on it, brick walls, etc, etc, etc. Then you walk into the next room, which hangs out side and is filled with light... Then you go to the kitchen, the maids quarters, the master suites (yes, that's plural), the other bedrooms, the bathrooms, the closets, etc. It was really big. [After looking at the house] we drove to a nice restaurant and had lunch. Then we left, came home, packed some more, then got ready to go say bye to people. We went and saw Hector and Elizabeth, and took pictures (which I sent, but I don't think they went through). Then we went and said bye to William. He was pretty sad we were leaving, but we promised to keep in touch. He finally is gaining a testimony, so that was exciting to see. Elder Gardner and I both wrote our testimonies in the Book of Mormon Mom wrote her testimony in, and gave it to him. He was pretty glad to get that, and promised to continue reading and praying about it. I really hope he gets baptized this transfer so I can go back to it. He's such a great man, and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to help him progress towards salvation. After that, we made good bye calls, then came home. When we were home, I got to work. The biggest problem for double transfers is no one leaves records of who's being taught. We had kept the area book mostly updated, but I started making an extra record just to be safe. I wrote about 8 pages on who's being taught, what to teach them, who to have call them, who's scheduled to be visited within the next week, and basically just what's up in the Stockyards. It took a long time, but it will be a great help for the new missionaries in keeping that place running.
Thursday was the big day... We left for the Church at about 745, then waited around for the Cicero Elders to let everyone in the church. It was really good to see all the missionaries there. I hadn't seen Adair or Na'a in a long time, so it was fun to catch up with them. They finally gave in, and rooted for the Cardinals in the Superbowl... HAHA. That was funny, because they would always talk trash about Kurt Warner, but Adair likes the Broncos, so that didn't go anywhere. So, I was there, met my new companion, then all the missionaries went to Freddie's. I've probably told you before, but Freddie's is this Italian / Pizza / Hamburger place which is really good... And for some reason, everyone goes there after every single transfer meeting. After Freddie's, Elder Wiser and I drove to the Stockyards apartment, and loaded my stuff into our 08 Malibu. Nice! Elders Baum and Richmond, who are serving in Watseka, followed us from there down to Monee, then went down to Outer Darkness (Watseka). We came to Frankfort, where we live with the Swensons. They're an old couple, and are really nice. They're retired, but work at the bishop's storehouse, and the temple (which has been closed for a couple months). They're REALLY into being healthy.
Ok, so I just had to switch computers because some dude needed the scanner, which happens to be connected to the computer I was on... But I'm back, and writing again.
Friday was a really good day too. I had my planner filled with things for my last area, so I didn't write anything in for Frankfort. I do remember that we visited a part member family though, and they were pretty friendly. At least the wife was. Other than that, we found out that the most recent convert in the Branch got incarcerated for shoplifting. It was pretty sad news actually.
Saturday was good. Actually, we found out that jail news on Saturday. We taught one of his roommates a lesson, and it was pretty interesting. He got super freaked out about the Restoration and told us, "Holy S... Wow... Oh man, I have to go eat my hamburger." He said he'd come to church though, and wanted to learn more, but it was funny. We also taught someone else a lesson, but I didn't write down who, so that's all I know for the day... Except we went and played basketball with the Elders Quorum! They just started this week to play at one of the local high schools. The schools here in the Lincoln Way area are RIDICULOUS. Compared to these schools, Desert Vista is ghetto. The school we played at had a huge indoor pool and an enormous field house with a full size indoor track and a ton of courts. They also have a "1 row less than professional level seating" auditorium, and a bunch of other incredible amenities. It was pretty fun to be there, and was definitely worth 3 dollars.
Sunday was really good. This branch has about 50 people coming, but is super strong. It is fairly small, but is really functional, which is a great accomplishment for a branch in Illinois. The branch is filled with talented people, and they are starting to become more missionary minded. They have had pretty high goals, but haven't had a baptism, or much success, in a really long time. They just got their numbers for last year, and were pretty shocked to see how poorly they did. They saw that, and are now excited to kick it up a notch. The MCM was great, and super organized. This branch is pretty much going to be awesome. We've got a lot of members willing to go on splits with us, and get fed really often. We started a new dinner calendar, and already have about 5 meals a week lined up. It was also really awesome, because I had already met most of the ward from a service project I got suckered into on exchanges. They remembered me, and have been super friendly though... So it was great. After this awesome Sunday, I was still really homesick for the Stockyards though. It was strangely hard to leave my last area.
Monday was a very good day. Monday got me really excited to be here in Frankfort. We visited Sharon, who's the investigator here... She wants to be baptized really bad, but has had trouble quitting smoking. She's been discouraged, but we had a good talk with her, and hopefully she'll quit soon. We also had an appointment with some Jehovah's Witnesses. It was pretty interesting to hear their points, and it wasn't as bad as everyone says it is. It ended up with me promising to sincerely pray to know if their church was true, and them promising to read the testimony of Joseph Smith, and to do the same for ours. After that, we had a lesson with a less active, then got ready for our dinner appointment. We went over to the Guymons, and I saw a strangely familiar picture on their fridge. Their daughter, Christine Guymon, was in my Freshman Academy at BYU! It was pretty ridiculous to meet the family of a friend from school, but they were super nice. Brother Guymon is the assistant dean at the University of Chicago, and is really cool. Sister Guymon is an actress, and the Stake Young Women's president. She's super nice too, as is their son. They cooked us a great meal, then after talking for a long time, we taught them a lesson. They committed to coming up with a list of people to share the Gospel with. We're going to follow up, and then help them come up with ways to introduce these families to the Church.
Tuesday was great too. We had President's Interviews and District Meeting. It's always interesting when Sister Roach is there, and this time we learned how to lead music. I was fortunate enough to get 2 packages, including one completely stuffed with candy, and a Donald Trump tie! Thanks! :) And, I got a letter from G & G, which was filled with a lot of awesome stuff! Thanks!!! I really appreciate these Valentines Day gifts! Elder Wiser and I are going to get some pizza soon, so that will be really nice too. [G&G, also known as Grandma and Grandpa :) sent him a Pizza Hut gift certificate for Valentine's Day.] After the meeting, we went to have a district lunch at Taco Bell. So, here's the district: Elder Birkett (from California) and Elder Church (the District Leader from Utah) in Bourbonnais, Elder Baum (from Utah) and Elder Richmond (from California) in Watseka, and Elder Wiser (from Utah) and Elder McMullin (from Arizona) in Frankfort! It should be a pretty sweet district. After lunch, we drove up here and taught the Branch President and his family a lesson on Faith. Actually, we tried to prepare for an object lesson, but that didn't work... If you take a certain kind of herbal tea bag, and light it on fire while holding it on your palm, it burns pretty fast. It goes all the way from the top, and looks like it's going to burn your hand, but then it floats into the air, and flies away. I had learned it from the Webbs, who live in Bourbonnais, so I called them and got the info... Then we went and bought some herbal tea, and attempted to get it working. We ended up sitting in the Target parking lot dumping out Apple Cinnamon Tea, lighting stuff on fire, and burning our hands for 15 or 20 minutes. It was a pretty epic failure. We eventually just consigned to the fact that it wouldn't work, and drove to the Hunsakers. We had a good lesson, gave them a commitment, then drove with the President to visit Sharon. We had a good lesson over there, and she committed to go to the addiction recovery class on Thursdays. It was great. After that, President took us to some burrito shop, and bought us "baby burritos," which had to have weighed over a pound. Then he dropped us off at home, and we got ready for the next day.
Today has gone well so far. Elder Wiser and I played checkers for a while, then came here to the library. The rest of the district is going to come up here to play basketball in the Mokena field house. It should be really fun. We've got a dinner appointment tonight, and then are planning on going to mutual. After that we'll make a lot of calls and set stuff up. It should be a good day!
Anyways, I love you so much, and am so grateful for all of your support. If there's ever anything I can do for you, please let me know! I hope you haven't gotten bored by this long letter... If you want me to cool it next week, let me know. Anyways, I'm happy to be serving the Lord in Frankfort, Illinois! There's a lot to be done here, and Elder Wiser and I are ready to get some work done.
I love you,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hi everyone!
I'm doing great! My new companion is Elder Wiser, from Kaysville, Utah. He's a really cool guy, and I'm excited to be here with him. We're living with some members in Mokena, which is right south of Tinley Park, and Orland Park.... Which is where Elder Gardner is. We are on the border of the Chicago Zone and the Joliet Zone though... Which have the same boundaries as the Chicago Stake and the Joliet Stake. Unlike heavy LDS areas, our Zones are pretty much just Stakes. In Chicago, we actually have 2 Zones (Chi-Eng & Chi-Spanish) for one Stake. But yeah, here I am back in the Joliet!
I was REALLY disappointed to leave the Stockyards. I thought for sure that I would be staying there, and at the very least, Elder Gardner would. We worked so hard, and got that area rolling better than it has in as long as anyone here knows... Then we get double transferred out. It was pretty confusing, because the same thing happened to Elder Atwood and Elder Maliwauki in Cicero too. Ugh. But it's alright, I trust that the Lord will take care of the investigators and members in the area. I love them so much, but I know that my place is now in Frankfort. I can just be satisfied that I made it out of there alive...
Which is actually a pretty good accomplishment! I didn't say too much of the crazy stuff that happened there, because I didn't want you to be scared or anything, but it was nuts. Stockyards is THE crap area of the whole mission, and isn't a very safe place... Unless you're working for the Lord. There are a lot of gangs, drugs, and other ridiculous things. But suffice it to say, we met some interesting people. We narrowly missed so much, it was ridiculous. Definitely a testimony builder of how the Lord keeps us safe. We only got a gun pulled on us once, and it wasn't a big deal, so we were fortunate. But anyways, it is a little comforting to be out of that. Don't worry, there isn't anywhere in the mission I can go and be in danger. The majority of the crime light streets are in the Stockyards, so I'm good... Especially here in Frankfort, which is REALLY nice.
So yeah, here's the weekly news...
Wednesday was pretty good. We woke up, emailed, did some packing, then headed over to visit Gardner's grandma's cousin, Beulah Brooks. She lived a block or two away from Obama in a NICE apartment. It was one of the most awesome houses I've seen; I think I'd rather have her house than the Mahon's top floor penthouse. But anyways, it's a condo in Hyde Park where you walk in to a Victorian style lobby. After you get buzzed in you walk through another door, and look at all of the ridiculous paintings. Then you can either walk up the stairs to one of the 3 condos, or take the elevator. There's decorations everywhere when you walk, but the elevator is really cool, so it's a tough choice. Then you get in, and see more Victorian deco, including busts, clocks, ancient looking art in museum display cases, maps, crown molding with crown molding on it, brick walls, etc, etc, etc. Then you walk into the next room, which hangs out side and is filled with light... Then you go to the kitchen, the maids quarters, the master suites (yes, that's plural), the other bedrooms, the bathrooms, the closets, etc. It was really big. [After looking at the house] we drove to a nice restaurant and had lunch. Then we left, came home, packed some more, then got ready to go say bye to people. We went and saw Hector and Elizabeth, and took pictures (which I sent, but I don't think they went through). Then we went and said bye to William. He was pretty sad we were leaving, but we promised to keep in touch. He finally is gaining a testimony, so that was exciting to see. Elder Gardner and I both wrote our testimonies in the Book of Mormon Mom wrote her testimony in, and gave it to him. He was pretty glad to get that, and promised to continue reading and praying about it. I really hope he gets baptized this transfer so I can go back to it. He's such a great man, and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to help him progress towards salvation. After that, we made good bye calls, then came home. When we were home, I got to work. The biggest problem for double transfers is no one leaves records of who's being taught. We had kept the area book mostly updated, but I started making an extra record just to be safe. I wrote about 8 pages on who's being taught, what to teach them, who to have call them, who's scheduled to be visited within the next week, and basically just what's up in the Stockyards. It took a long time, but it will be a great help for the new missionaries in keeping that place running.
Thursday was the big day... We left for the Church at about 745, then waited around for the Cicero Elders to let everyone in the church. It was really good to see all the missionaries there. I hadn't seen Adair or Na'a in a long time, so it was fun to catch up with them. They finally gave in, and rooted for the Cardinals in the Superbowl... HAHA. That was funny, because they would always talk trash about Kurt Warner, but Adair likes the Broncos, so that didn't go anywhere. So, I was there, met my new companion, then all the missionaries went to Freddie's. I've probably told you before, but Freddie's is this Italian / Pizza / Hamburger place which is really good... And for some reason, everyone goes there after every single transfer meeting. After Freddie's, Elder Wiser and I drove to the Stockyards apartment, and loaded my stuff into our 08 Malibu. Nice! Elders Baum and Richmond, who are serving in Watseka, followed us from there down to Monee, then went down to Outer Darkness (Watseka). We came to Frankfort, where we live with the Swensons. They're an old couple, and are really nice. They're retired, but work at the bishop's storehouse, and the temple (which has been closed for a couple months). They're REALLY into being healthy.
Ok, so I just had to switch computers because some dude needed the scanner, which happens to be connected to the computer I was on... But I'm back, and writing again.
Friday was a really good day too. I had my planner filled with things for my last area, so I didn't write anything in for Frankfort. I do remember that we visited a part member family though, and they were pretty friendly. At least the wife was. Other than that, we found out that the most recent convert in the Branch got incarcerated for shoplifting. It was pretty sad news actually.
Saturday was good. Actually, we found out that jail news on Saturday. We taught one of his roommates a lesson, and it was pretty interesting. He got super freaked out about the Restoration and told us, "Holy S... Wow... Oh man, I have to go eat my hamburger." He said he'd come to church though, and wanted to learn more, but it was funny. We also taught someone else a lesson, but I didn't write down who, so that's all I know for the day... Except we went and played basketball with the Elders Quorum! They just started this week to play at one of the local high schools. The schools here in the Lincoln Way area are RIDICULOUS. Compared to these schools, Desert Vista is ghetto. The school we played at had a huge indoor pool and an enormous field house with a full size indoor track and a ton of courts. They also have a "1 row less than professional level seating" auditorium, and a bunch of other incredible amenities. It was pretty fun to be there, and was definitely worth 3 dollars.
Sunday was really good. This branch has about 50 people coming, but is super strong. It is fairly small, but is really functional, which is a great accomplishment for a branch in Illinois. The branch is filled with talented people, and they are starting to become more missionary minded. They have had pretty high goals, but haven't had a baptism, or much success, in a really long time. They just got their numbers for last year, and were pretty shocked to see how poorly they did. They saw that, and are now excited to kick it up a notch. The MCM was great, and super organized. This branch is pretty much going to be awesome. We've got a lot of members willing to go on splits with us, and get fed really often. We started a new dinner calendar, and already have about 5 meals a week lined up. It was also really awesome, because I had already met most of the ward from a service project I got suckered into on exchanges. They remembered me, and have been super friendly though... So it was great. After this awesome Sunday, I was still really homesick for the Stockyards though. It was strangely hard to leave my last area.
Monday was a very good day. Monday got me really excited to be here in Frankfort. We visited Sharon, who's the investigator here... She wants to be baptized really bad, but has had trouble quitting smoking. She's been discouraged, but we had a good talk with her, and hopefully she'll quit soon. We also had an appointment with some Jehovah's Witnesses. It was pretty interesting to hear their points, and it wasn't as bad as everyone says it is. It ended up with me promising to sincerely pray to know if their church was true, and them promising to read the testimony of Joseph Smith, and to do the same for ours. After that, we had a lesson with a less active, then got ready for our dinner appointment. We went over to the Guymons, and I saw a strangely familiar picture on their fridge. Their daughter, Christine Guymon, was in my Freshman Academy at BYU! It was pretty ridiculous to meet the family of a friend from school, but they were super nice. Brother Guymon is the assistant dean at the University of Chicago, and is really cool. Sister Guymon is an actress, and the Stake Young Women's president. She's super nice too, as is their son. They cooked us a great meal, then after talking for a long time, we taught them a lesson. They committed to coming up with a list of people to share the Gospel with. We're going to follow up, and then help them come up with ways to introduce these families to the Church.
Tuesday was great too. We had President's Interviews and District Meeting. It's always interesting when Sister Roach is there, and this time we learned how to lead music. I was fortunate enough to get 2 packages, including one completely stuffed with candy, and a Donald Trump tie! Thanks! :) And, I got a letter from G & G, which was filled with a lot of awesome stuff! Thanks!!! I really appreciate these Valentines Day gifts! Elder Wiser and I are going to get some pizza soon, so that will be really nice too. [G&G, also known as Grandma and Grandpa :) sent him a Pizza Hut gift certificate for Valentine's Day.] After the meeting, we went to have a district lunch at Taco Bell. So, here's the district: Elder Birkett (from California) and Elder Church (the District Leader from Utah) in Bourbonnais, Elder Baum (from Utah) and Elder Richmond (from California) in Watseka, and Elder Wiser (from Utah) and Elder McMullin (from Arizona) in Frankfort! It should be a pretty sweet district. After lunch, we drove up here and taught the Branch President and his family a lesson on Faith. Actually, we tried to prepare for an object lesson, but that didn't work... If you take a certain kind of herbal tea bag, and light it on fire while holding it on your palm, it burns pretty fast. It goes all the way from the top, and looks like it's going to burn your hand, but then it floats into the air, and flies away. I had learned it from the Webbs, who live in Bourbonnais, so I called them and got the info... Then we went and bought some herbal tea, and attempted to get it working. We ended up sitting in the Target parking lot dumping out Apple Cinnamon Tea, lighting stuff on fire, and burning our hands for 15 or 20 minutes. It was a pretty epic failure. We eventually just consigned to the fact that it wouldn't work, and drove to the Hunsakers. We had a good lesson, gave them a commitment, then drove with the President to visit Sharon. We had a good lesson over there, and she committed to go to the addiction recovery class on Thursdays. It was great. After that, President took us to some burrito shop, and bought us "baby burritos," which had to have weighed over a pound. Then he dropped us off at home, and we got ready for the next day.
Today has gone well so far. Elder Wiser and I played checkers for a while, then came here to the library. The rest of the district is going to come up here to play basketball in the Mokena field house. It should be really fun. We've got a dinner appointment tonight, and then are planning on going to mutual. After that we'll make a lot of calls and set stuff up. It should be a good day!
Anyways, I love you so much, and am so grateful for all of your support. If there's ever anything I can do for you, please let me know! I hope you haven't gotten bored by this long letter... If you want me to cool it next week, let me know. Anyways, I'm happy to be serving the Lord in Frankfort, Illinois! There's a lot to be done here, and Elder Wiser and I are ready to get some work done.
I love you,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Mission Update 2/4/09 -- Transfer Day!!
I predicted Elder M. would stay in the Stockyards and I was WRONG! Take a look below to see where he's headed:
Hey family... Transfer news is in! It's pretty crazy, but before I get to that, I just want to tell you I love you!
I'm glad you had a good birthday Tay! I'm glad that you made regionals Cater... Even if your quartet wasn't really a quartet. And it's good to hear everyone else is doing well.
Well, this last week was good, so I'll give you the update...
Thursday was crazy. All we did was get an appointment dumped, and try to fix our phone. We ended up going way down Cicero Ave, then found out that place wouldn't work, but there was a place in our area that would... So we went there, and it took like 2 minutes to fix, so all was well. I can't remember if I told you this or not, but our phone screen randomly turned 100% white. We got a new one, but then when we activated it, it gave us some Peoria Zone Leaders' phone number, and gave them ours. That was a problem... So we had to cancel them for a couple days, then get it activated, then drive all over to get our information off of the one and onto the other. By the time we got it fixed, we had an accumulation of like 25 media referrals on our phone, so we had text messages coming in like crazy! Anyways, other than that, we just stopped in a pet shop... Then left after 30 seconds because it stunk. That was the day.
Friday was better. We got tubed a few times, then had a lesson with a part member family then William. William has made some SERIOUS PROGRESS, and has been smoke free for 2 and a half weeks!!!
Saturday was pretty sweet. We had a lot of lessons, and did some service. We had to threaten to drop an investigator, and spent some time next to a huge masonic temple. That's pretty much it.
Sunday was good. It was testimony meeting, and we heard some good ones.
Monday was good, we had district meeting, then had a single appointment that was FAR away. It was on the Frontage Road, in the south east corner of Englewood, and we took the Red Line train... You know it's far if you're taking the train in the Stockyards. It turned out really well though, and we got 3 new investigators. After that, we made the trek back home, where we warmed up and hung out for a while... Until the APs called. While driving down the Dan Ryan, they had popped a tire right next to where we had been for our lesson... And broke their wrench. We drove down, but found out that the Corolla wrench is not the same size as the Malibu wrench. They had to call more missionaries. By around 10:30 PM, we had 8 missionaries and some random guy looking for money. It was really cold out, but we all survived the tire changing event of the year.
Tuesday was really good too. It was really cold... At one point, it looked like fire works were going off all around, but it was really just snow forming out of the air! We had a great lesson with our investigator that just got out of rehab. He's making changes and progressing, so that's good. We also had an AWESOME one with William. Actually, the best one we've ever had. We had some members over with us, and discussed seriously praying with specific intent. He had read the testimony of the witnesses and Jospeh Smith, and promised to pray about it. As William meditated and prayed, we awaited our transfer calls. We finally got them and found out that our District is really getting changed up... Elder Atwood is being transferred out of Cicero, back into his old district. He's going to Geneva, which is as rich as it gets. They've got executives for the Olive Garden, Lays, and McDonalds in their ward apparantly, so he'll be well taken care of. Elder Maliwauki is also being transferred out of Cicero. He too is going back to his old district. He's going to Chi-Heights, and is taking over for the other Elder McMullin. He's pretty excited about that. Elder Houston is being transferred out of the Stockyards North. He's going to La Porte, which is pretty much the Watseka of Indiana. He's slightly excited, but happy to leave the Stockyards. Elder Gardner is being transferred out of the Stockyards South, and is going to back up train Elder Stratton (the Lobo) in Orland Park! [In case anyone is wondering, Brad keeps calling Elder Stratton "the Lobo" in his emails because Elder Stratton is from Ed's hometown of Snowflake, home of the Lobos!] That's an awesome area, and he's got a cool companion... I'm a little bit jealous actually! Elders Sorensen and Collier are staying together in Soldier Field, and Elder Greenway is staying here... In a three some with Elder Kubosumi and Cuthbert... Which means I'm gone.
I'm being transferred to FRANKFURT! Hello Mooker, here I come. Weird huh? Actually, I really am being transferred to Frankfurt... Just the one in my old district! It's so weird, just like the Cicero Elders, I am going back to the only other district I've been in. I'll be back up training Elder Bird's greenie. It will be good, Frankfurt's really nice, and I've always thought it would be great to serve there. Elder Na'a, Adair, and Bird are being transferred out of the district, so it will be all new, but it's pretty crazy to be going back there! You can tell Jimmy that I am once again going to be right next to his future college at least once a week!
So yeah, it's pretty crazy. I have no clue why they double transferred Gardner and I out, or the Cicero Elders. They've got 3 people that are really close to baptism, and we've got a couple too. I wrote up a few pages of notes on all our investigators so G-Way will be able to find his way around.
Oh yeah, then I called William to let him know what was happening... And got told that he had prayed... And felt really good about Joseph Smith being a prophet!!!! Oh my gosh! 3 months of hard work finally coming into fruition... Right as I leave. You guys ought to send him a letter of encouragement with your testimonies... I'm going to give him one of the BoM's with a testimony in it tonight. [Our family sent him some Books of Mormon a while ago.] His adress is: [I removed it for privacy reasons, but we will write him!!]
But yeah, there you go... I survived the Stockyards. We'll be going and saying bye to some people today, then I'm gone!
Well, I love you! Take care, I'll email you next week! :) I'm excited for the package(s)? I'll probably have to stop at the mission office tomorrow, so if you overnighted it I'll get the one you just sent.
Take care,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Hey family... Transfer news is in! It's pretty crazy, but before I get to that, I just want to tell you I love you!
I'm glad you had a good birthday Tay! I'm glad that you made regionals Cater... Even if your quartet wasn't really a quartet. And it's good to hear everyone else is doing well.
Well, this last week was good, so I'll give you the update...
Thursday was crazy. All we did was get an appointment dumped, and try to fix our phone. We ended up going way down Cicero Ave, then found out that place wouldn't work, but there was a place in our area that would... So we went there, and it took like 2 minutes to fix, so all was well. I can't remember if I told you this or not, but our phone screen randomly turned 100% white. We got a new one, but then when we activated it, it gave us some Peoria Zone Leaders' phone number, and gave them ours. That was a problem... So we had to cancel them for a couple days, then get it activated, then drive all over to get our information off of the one and onto the other. By the time we got it fixed, we had an accumulation of like 25 media referrals on our phone, so we had text messages coming in like crazy! Anyways, other than that, we just stopped in a pet shop... Then left after 30 seconds because it stunk. That was the day.
Friday was better. We got tubed a few times, then had a lesson with a part member family then William. William has made some SERIOUS PROGRESS, and has been smoke free for 2 and a half weeks!!!
Saturday was pretty sweet. We had a lot of lessons, and did some service. We had to threaten to drop an investigator, and spent some time next to a huge masonic temple. That's pretty much it.
Sunday was good. It was testimony meeting, and we heard some good ones.
Monday was good, we had district meeting, then had a single appointment that was FAR away. It was on the Frontage Road, in the south east corner of Englewood, and we took the Red Line train... You know it's far if you're taking the train in the Stockyards. It turned out really well though, and we got 3 new investigators. After that, we made the trek back home, where we warmed up and hung out for a while... Until the APs called. While driving down the Dan Ryan, they had popped a tire right next to where we had been for our lesson... And broke their wrench. We drove down, but found out that the Corolla wrench is not the same size as the Malibu wrench. They had to call more missionaries. By around 10:30 PM, we had 8 missionaries and some random guy looking for money. It was really cold out, but we all survived the tire changing event of the year.
Tuesday was really good too. It was really cold... At one point, it looked like fire works were going off all around, but it was really just snow forming out of the air! We had a great lesson with our investigator that just got out of rehab. He's making changes and progressing, so that's good. We also had an AWESOME one with William. Actually, the best one we've ever had. We had some members over with us, and discussed seriously praying with specific intent. He had read the testimony of the witnesses and Jospeh Smith, and promised to pray about it. As William meditated and prayed, we awaited our transfer calls. We finally got them and found out that our District is really getting changed up... Elder Atwood is being transferred out of Cicero, back into his old district. He's going to Geneva, which is as rich as it gets. They've got executives for the Olive Garden, Lays, and McDonalds in their ward apparantly, so he'll be well taken care of. Elder Maliwauki is also being transferred out of Cicero. He too is going back to his old district. He's going to Chi-Heights, and is taking over for the other Elder McMullin. He's pretty excited about that. Elder Houston is being transferred out of the Stockyards North. He's going to La Porte, which is pretty much the Watseka of Indiana. He's slightly excited, but happy to leave the Stockyards. Elder Gardner is being transferred out of the Stockyards South, and is going to back up train Elder Stratton (the Lobo) in Orland Park! [In case anyone is wondering, Brad keeps calling Elder Stratton "the Lobo" in his emails because Elder Stratton is from Ed's hometown of Snowflake, home of the Lobos!] That's an awesome area, and he's got a cool companion... I'm a little bit jealous actually! Elders Sorensen and Collier are staying together in Soldier Field, and Elder Greenway is staying here... In a three some with Elder Kubosumi and Cuthbert... Which means I'm gone.
I'm being transferred to FRANKFURT! Hello Mooker, here I come. Weird huh? Actually, I really am being transferred to Frankfurt... Just the one in my old district! It's so weird, just like the Cicero Elders, I am going back to the only other district I've been in. I'll be back up training Elder Bird's greenie. It will be good, Frankfurt's really nice, and I've always thought it would be great to serve there. Elder Na'a, Adair, and Bird are being transferred out of the district, so it will be all new, but it's pretty crazy to be going back there! You can tell Jimmy that I am once again going to be right next to his future college at least once a week!
So yeah, it's pretty crazy. I have no clue why they double transferred Gardner and I out, or the Cicero Elders. They've got 3 people that are really close to baptism, and we've got a couple too. I wrote up a few pages of notes on all our investigators so G-Way will be able to find his way around.
Oh yeah, then I called William to let him know what was happening... And got told that he had prayed... And felt really good about Joseph Smith being a prophet!!!! Oh my gosh! 3 months of hard work finally coming into fruition... Right as I leave. You guys ought to send him a letter of encouragement with your testimonies... I'm going to give him one of the BoM's with a testimony in it tonight. [Our family sent him some Books of Mormon a while ago.] His adress is: [I removed it for privacy reasons, but we will write him!!]
But yeah, there you go... I survived the Stockyards. We'll be going and saying bye to some people today, then I'm gone!
Well, I love you! Take care, I'll email you next week! :) I'm excited for the package(s)? I'll probably have to stop at the mission office tomorrow, so if you overnighted it I'll get the one you just sent.
Take care,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
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