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