Elder M's cousin Kate challenged Elder M to do some service -- specifically wash windows. Here he is, proving that he has done it!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sister Bagnara and Grandson
This is one of the members that Elder M. mentions sometimes in his emails.
The Swensons and Elder M at the Temple
The Frankfort Elders live with the Swensons. Here is Elder McMullin with Brother and Sister Swenson at the Chicago Temple in April, 2009.
Elder Collier and Elder McMullin
This past transfer was a "temple" transfer, so Elders McMullin and Collier were able to go to the Chicago Temple. Here they are in front of it.
Elder McMullin's District -- April 2009
Here's the district as of April, 2009. At least 2 of them will be gone as of April 30 -- Elder Birkett who is headed to Indiana and Elder Collier who is headed home! Others may have changed, but those are the two he mentions in his email.
Elder Collier Tracting at his Last House
April 28, 2009 -- Elder Collier's very last house before he is released from his mission. They picked a cool one, didn't they?
Elder M with a Guitar Signed by Styx Band Members
Remember one or two emails ago when Brad talked about meeting the guy who's uncle was a member of Styx? Well, here's Brad with one of the guy's guitars!
Mission Update -- 4/29/09 A New Companion
Here's Brad's update for the week. He will now be in Frankfort longer than anywhere else he has served. (This will begin his 3rd transfer in the area.)
Hello!
How's everyone doing? I hope you're all doing well. It sounds like everyone's keeping busy. That's good.
Well, here's what's been going on here.
Last Wednesday evening we had dinner with the Fredins. They cooked us ribs that were really really good, but they were no Big Ed ribs. After dinner, we helped them come up with a family mission plan. After that, we went on splits. I went with Brother Giese and a young man to teach a lesson to the Portwoods. I taught them how to teach the first lesson, and we did it as if we were a missionary threesome. It was pretty funny... Mark, the young man, taught about prophets. He said, "...uh, Prophets are cool..." Rich. While we were doing that, Elder Collier and President Fredin got tubed, and had absolutely no success. It's pretty funny and sad, but that happened to him pretty much every time we split!
Thursday was good. Elder Collier had to email something to the mission office, so we came to the library. I was looking at Mokena real estate online, and saw this monster house. We decided we would go tract the 2.5 million dollar + home neighborhood. There are some ridiculously huge houses around here. The people were surprisingly friendly, but we didn't find a new investigator. We got yelled at by one guy, because we were looking around in the courtyard surrounded by 3 garages off of a wing of his castle. After doing that for a while, we went over to Lisa Young's for dinner and a lesson, which went well. After that, we headed over to Branch Council, which went very well.
Friday was awesome. We woke up super early to go to the temple with the Swensons. We got there before it opened, and got ready for the first session. We got to see Elder Philbrick and Elder Thornhill, and also Elder Na'a and his comp. It was pretty fun. After doing 2 sessions and hanging around the temple, we went to lunch at Moon Doggies - some greek place that the Swensons love. Then we went to the book store. I wanted to buy one of those Hugh Nibley books everyone talks about, but settled for The Great Apostacy, and some other little book Elder Collier wouldn't stop talking about. After that, we drove home, but stopped in Niles to go to a produce market. I think Niles may be the most diverse city ever. We saw so many people from so many different cultures in this store. There were Arabs, Mexicans, Indians, Asians of all sorts, Russians, Americans, and other random people. It was pretty fun. After that, we drove the whole way home. The Swensons like hot, so they didn't turn on the AC. It was so deathly hot and humid. I slept, and woke up sweaty and with an aching head. After getting home, we visited Jim who still hasn't come to church (you were right, Mom!) After that, we visited the Cravens and had a good discussion with James. After that, we went to visit the Weichingers, who are a family of investigators with a recent convert husband.
Saturday was good. We tracted, had a missed appointment, then left for Chicago. There was a baptism in Elder Collier's old area, so we got to go up for that. It was pretty fun to go up there. It was neat seeing Stockyards without snow too... And William! We stopped by to see him. He's doing alright, and is taking steps towards joining the church. He's scared to get out and go to church, which is lame, but he's a good guy. We also stopped in China town, and got poured on so hardcore. It was raining really really hard. We got completely soaked, even with umbrellas. It was a pretty good day though.
Sunday was great. We had church, of course. Sacrament meeting started, and the Cravens weren't there, so we were bummed. I was passing the Sacrament, and went into the hall to see if anyone was out there. As I went into the hall, the Cravens turned around the corner, and got to take the Sacrament. It was pretty great. I came back into the Chapel beaming, and got a funny look from President Hunsaker, until that turned into a smile when the Cravens came in right after me. They're doing so well, and we're super excited for them. After church, we went to lunch at the Ericksons, and helped them come up with a family mission plan. They're all preparing for missions. The son is going to put his papers in soon, and the parents will probably go on a senior mission. They're one of the best families in the Branch, and are such awesome people. After that, we went to outreach, and went out with President Fredin. We had some pretty good contact with some less actives, and even got a potential appointment. After that, we went to dinner at the Hunsakers, and had some mean Thai food. Sister Hunsaker is such a good cook. She cooked all sorts of food, including some crazy Squid stuff! I tried the squid, but didn't like it much. Elder Collier wouldn't even try it. We also had some SUPER SPICY papaya salad, which was too hot to handle, and some really really good chicken yum, and some chicken wing things. After eating that, they brought out Rambutan, which is a really weird fruit (and not as good as Mangosteen), and some ice cream. After dinner, we had a lesson, and helped them develop their family mission plan. After that, we went over to the Grey's home for dessert and a lesson. Almost their entire family came to church on Sunday, so that was really awesome.
Monday was good. We had district meeting, then left really fast for an appointment we had with Sister Bagnara and her friend Vicki. That went really well. They're both so awesome. After that, we drove up to the mission office to get a new car. We now have a Mazda, which is kind of lame, but it's still a pretty good car. It just feels like driving a go-kart compared to the Malibu. After saying hi to the office staff, we left for the Foerster's for dinner. Dinner there was great, and the Foerster family committed to think about making a family mission plan after we taught them a lesson, AKA we can help them do that next time. After that, we went to an appointment we had set up, which tubed us. It was pretty lame, because President Fredin came to meet us there, and we all ended up standing in the rain until we gave up and left.
Yesterday was actually really awesome. I got a hair cut in the morning at a beauty school, and ended up teaching a few of the girls as I got my hair cut. One of them was Lauren Grey's best friend, and was quite interested about the church and missionary work. After that, we went to visit the smoothie shop next door. We know the girl there since we really like their smoothies a lot. Elder Collier bore his testimony, and it was pretty nice. After that, we tracted, and had a great day. One guy had been praying for some help due to a family tragedy. We talked to him for quite a while, but unfortunately couldn't get a return appointment. We also met a family from Puerto Vallarta, who said they would come to church on Sunday, and want to learn more. They're awesome, and we should see a lot more of them. After that, we went to a rich area for Elder Collier to tract his last house (we left the $1 million homes for the $3 and 4 million homes). We had a pretty good approach, but unfortunately the person living in Elder Collier's last home didn't want to learn more. After that, we went to check out Sean Nordsells guitar collection, which was awesome. He's got guitars autographed by so many people, it's ridiculous. He's got a lot of Styx stuff, and gave me the autograph of one Styx guy, and some other cool stuff. After that, we went to visit Lisa Young, and had a good time over there. Right before we left there, I got transfer calls and found out who my new companion will be... Elder Hunt, from Las Vegas Nevada. He's coming from Ottawa right now, and is a pretty good guy. I don't know too much about him, but he was with the other Elder McMullin not too long ago.
This next transfer should be great. I'm excited to talk to you on Mother's day. I hope you have a great day. Take care everybody,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hello!
How's everyone doing? I hope you're all doing well. It sounds like everyone's keeping busy. That's good.
Well, here's what's been going on here.
Last Wednesday evening we had dinner with the Fredins. They cooked us ribs that were really really good, but they were no Big Ed ribs. After dinner, we helped them come up with a family mission plan. After that, we went on splits. I went with Brother Giese and a young man to teach a lesson to the Portwoods. I taught them how to teach the first lesson, and we did it as if we were a missionary threesome. It was pretty funny... Mark, the young man, taught about prophets. He said, "...uh, Prophets are cool..." Rich. While we were doing that, Elder Collier and President Fredin got tubed, and had absolutely no success. It's pretty funny and sad, but that happened to him pretty much every time we split!
Thursday was good. Elder Collier had to email something to the mission office, so we came to the library. I was looking at Mokena real estate online, and saw this monster house. We decided we would go tract the 2.5 million dollar + home neighborhood. There are some ridiculously huge houses around here. The people were surprisingly friendly, but we didn't find a new investigator. We got yelled at by one guy, because we were looking around in the courtyard surrounded by 3 garages off of a wing of his castle. After doing that for a while, we went over to Lisa Young's for dinner and a lesson, which went well. After that, we headed over to Branch Council, which went very well.
Friday was awesome. We woke up super early to go to the temple with the Swensons. We got there before it opened, and got ready for the first session. We got to see Elder Philbrick and Elder Thornhill, and also Elder Na'a and his comp. It was pretty fun. After doing 2 sessions and hanging around the temple, we went to lunch at Moon Doggies - some greek place that the Swensons love. Then we went to the book store. I wanted to buy one of those Hugh Nibley books everyone talks about, but settled for The Great Apostacy, and some other little book Elder Collier wouldn't stop talking about. After that, we drove home, but stopped in Niles to go to a produce market. I think Niles may be the most diverse city ever. We saw so many people from so many different cultures in this store. There were Arabs, Mexicans, Indians, Asians of all sorts, Russians, Americans, and other random people. It was pretty fun. After that, we drove the whole way home. The Swensons like hot, so they didn't turn on the AC. It was so deathly hot and humid. I slept, and woke up sweaty and with an aching head. After getting home, we visited Jim who still hasn't come to church (you were right, Mom!) After that, we visited the Cravens and had a good discussion with James. After that, we went to visit the Weichingers, who are a family of investigators with a recent convert husband.
Saturday was good. We tracted, had a missed appointment, then left for Chicago. There was a baptism in Elder Collier's old area, so we got to go up for that. It was pretty fun to go up there. It was neat seeing Stockyards without snow too... And William! We stopped by to see him. He's doing alright, and is taking steps towards joining the church. He's scared to get out and go to church, which is lame, but he's a good guy. We also stopped in China town, and got poured on so hardcore. It was raining really really hard. We got completely soaked, even with umbrellas. It was a pretty good day though.
Sunday was great. We had church, of course. Sacrament meeting started, and the Cravens weren't there, so we were bummed. I was passing the Sacrament, and went into the hall to see if anyone was out there. As I went into the hall, the Cravens turned around the corner, and got to take the Sacrament. It was pretty great. I came back into the Chapel beaming, and got a funny look from President Hunsaker, until that turned into a smile when the Cravens came in right after me. They're doing so well, and we're super excited for them. After church, we went to lunch at the Ericksons, and helped them come up with a family mission plan. They're all preparing for missions. The son is going to put his papers in soon, and the parents will probably go on a senior mission. They're one of the best families in the Branch, and are such awesome people. After that, we went to outreach, and went out with President Fredin. We had some pretty good contact with some less actives, and even got a potential appointment. After that, we went to dinner at the Hunsakers, and had some mean Thai food. Sister Hunsaker is such a good cook. She cooked all sorts of food, including some crazy Squid stuff! I tried the squid, but didn't like it much. Elder Collier wouldn't even try it. We also had some SUPER SPICY papaya salad, which was too hot to handle, and some really really good chicken yum, and some chicken wing things. After eating that, they brought out Rambutan, which is a really weird fruit (and not as good as Mangosteen), and some ice cream. After dinner, we had a lesson, and helped them develop their family mission plan. After that, we went over to the Grey's home for dessert and a lesson. Almost their entire family came to church on Sunday, so that was really awesome.
Monday was good. We had district meeting, then left really fast for an appointment we had with Sister Bagnara and her friend Vicki. That went really well. They're both so awesome. After that, we drove up to the mission office to get a new car. We now have a Mazda, which is kind of lame, but it's still a pretty good car. It just feels like driving a go-kart compared to the Malibu. After saying hi to the office staff, we left for the Foerster's for dinner. Dinner there was great, and the Foerster family committed to think about making a family mission plan after we taught them a lesson, AKA we can help them do that next time. After that, we went to an appointment we had set up, which tubed us. It was pretty lame, because President Fredin came to meet us there, and we all ended up standing in the rain until we gave up and left.
Yesterday was actually really awesome. I got a hair cut in the morning at a beauty school, and ended up teaching a few of the girls as I got my hair cut. One of them was Lauren Grey's best friend, and was quite interested about the church and missionary work. After that, we went to visit the smoothie shop next door. We know the girl there since we really like their smoothies a lot. Elder Collier bore his testimony, and it was pretty nice. After that, we tracted, and had a great day. One guy had been praying for some help due to a family tragedy. We talked to him for quite a while, but unfortunately couldn't get a return appointment. We also met a family from Puerto Vallarta, who said they would come to church on Sunday, and want to learn more. They're awesome, and we should see a lot more of them. After that, we went to a rich area for Elder Collier to tract his last house (we left the $1 million homes for the $3 and 4 million homes). We had a pretty good approach, but unfortunately the person living in Elder Collier's last home didn't want to learn more. After that, we went to check out Sean Nordsells guitar collection, which was awesome. He's got guitars autographed by so many people, it's ridiculous. He's got a lot of Styx stuff, and gave me the autograph of one Styx guy, and some other cool stuff. After that, we went to visit Lisa Young, and had a good time over there. Right before we left there, I got transfer calls and found out who my new companion will be... Elder Hunt, from Las Vegas Nevada. He's coming from Ottawa right now, and is a pretty good guy. I don't know too much about him, but he was with the other Elder McMullin not too long ago.
This next transfer should be great. I'm excited to talk to you on Mother's day. I hope you have a great day. Take care everybody,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Mission Update 4/22/09
It's Wednesday. That means it's time for another update!! Here it is:
Hello,
This week has been pretty good.
Thursday went alright. It was a day filled with a lot of cancellations, and some disappointments, but we had an excellent lunch appointment. Sister Bagnara had us over for lunch and a lesson again, and you'll never guess what she cooked............... Sloppy Joe's! Hahaha, they were really good though. The lesson went really well, but we're going to have a problem soon, since Vicki doesn't even live in our Zone. We'll probably finish teaching her the lessons, then will give her to Elders Gardner and Stratton, who are in Orland Park (where she lives). We told her she'd have to go to church up there, and made sure the OP Elders got in contact with her. Anyways, we had a lot of fun there, and that was pretty much the only highlight of the day.
Friday went pretty well. It was nice outside, so tracting was pretty great. We had a few appointments, but it was a day filled with mostly tracting. We had some pretty interesting people that we taught, but none that really wanted us to come back. We had one canceled appointment, then one soon after with Jim... He's been watching a lot of BYU TV, and loves it, so that's great. He asked us how missionaries have such diligence, so we told him it was because of our testimonies... and that we're giving out testimonies at Church! We tried talking to Jim's neighbor, but he told us he was a devil worshipper, and "loves Satan," so we definitely didn't write him down on our potential investigators sheet. In the evening, we went to the Cravens. They told us they consider themselves completely active now, which is very exciting. Sister Craven was sitting on her laptop, and told us how facebook is so neat, so I said, "hey, you should look up my mother!" Did you get her message, Mom? It's pretty funny, so many old people are talking about that now. Well, after the Cravens we went over to the Vines' home for dessert and a lesson. Brother Vines is a private detective, and showed us some of his stuff... He's pretty intense! He pulled up this website, and typed in Ed McMullin, and within a second had your social security number! He quickly closed it though so no one could write it down, but it's pretty ridiculous how easy it is to find. After that, we went home. Oh yeah, we also saw a snake! We walked up to this one house, and heard something move in a bush. We had been playing Bird Bingo (try to spot 5 different species of birds), so it was pretty critical to find out what was in there... I got down and looked, and holy crap it was a snake! Grandpa, do you have a bird book you could send me? There's a lot of birds out, and we're trying to identify them, and also their calls. Actually, I think I have one on my bookshelf in my room. Please check it out! Thanks.
Saturday was good. We went to play frisbee with the branch at 9, and it was really fun. The branch is pretty intense about frisbee. The game is structured kinda like football, but touchdowns are 1 point. You go to 15, and have to win by 2. The second game went to 20 or so before the greatest team ever emerged victorious (my team). After that, we had a lesson with the Portwoods, and stopped by a LOT of people's homes. We got quite a few appointments for this week, so that was pretty awesome. We also had a great dinner and lesson with Lisa Young and her family in the evening.
Sunday was pretty disappointing. A ton of people told us they would be at church on Sunday, but pretty much no one was. One less active man was, and he said that he didn't want any contact. After that, we had a pretty unfruitful day, except we were able to stop by the Fredin's and are going to help them make a family mission plan next week.
Monday was better than Sunday. We had District Meeting, ate lunch at buffalo wild wings, then came back to Frankfort to tract in the rain. It was pretty miserable outside. We were in a pretty rich area (really close to that man that said he was insulted by us), but still had some pretty good contacts. After going around for a while, we went over to the Guymon's home for dinner... But they ended up taking us out to a pizza buffet! Sweet! That was really fun.
Tuesday was alright. We had a great discussion with Sharon. She had a dream that was pretty crazy, and tied in perfectly to a lesson. It was pretty wild. We tracted for a while later in the day, once again in the rain, but ended up just putting pass along cards in doors pretty much the whole time. Our dinner canceled in the evening, so that was a bummer. Elder Collier really didn't have a good day (it was kind of funny). In the evening, we went on splits. I went with President and Chris Hunsaker to home teach a less active & Sister Bagnara while Elder Collier and Brother Swenson went to an appointment we had with a part member family. I had great appointments and lessons, got fed, and had a good time. Elder Collier and Brother Swenson got tubed, so they went around trying to find anyone else, and eventually got in contact with a less active that said he wanted his name removed from the records! Pretty sad. My day was good though, and Sister Bagnara gave us a bunch of gumbo, so it was good.
Today is Zone Activity. We're going over to Lockport to play bean bag (a horseshoe like game everyone plays over here), football and baseball. It should be fun.
Well, I love you all! Thanks for writing me, I love hearing all the news. Sorry you were sick Tay!!! Good luck taking those tests Cater!
Take care! Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hello,
This week has been pretty good.
Thursday went alright. It was a day filled with a lot of cancellations, and some disappointments, but we had an excellent lunch appointment. Sister Bagnara had us over for lunch and a lesson again, and you'll never guess what she cooked............... Sloppy Joe's! Hahaha, they were really good though. The lesson went really well, but we're going to have a problem soon, since Vicki doesn't even live in our Zone. We'll probably finish teaching her the lessons, then will give her to Elders Gardner and Stratton, who are in Orland Park (where she lives). We told her she'd have to go to church up there, and made sure the OP Elders got in contact with her. Anyways, we had a lot of fun there, and that was pretty much the only highlight of the day.
Friday went pretty well. It was nice outside, so tracting was pretty great. We had a few appointments, but it was a day filled with mostly tracting. We had some pretty interesting people that we taught, but none that really wanted us to come back. We had one canceled appointment, then one soon after with Jim... He's been watching a lot of BYU TV, and loves it, so that's great. He asked us how missionaries have such diligence, so we told him it was because of our testimonies... and that we're giving out testimonies at Church! We tried talking to Jim's neighbor, but he told us he was a devil worshipper, and "loves Satan," so we definitely didn't write him down on our potential investigators sheet. In the evening, we went to the Cravens. They told us they consider themselves completely active now, which is very exciting. Sister Craven was sitting on her laptop, and told us how facebook is so neat, so I said, "hey, you should look up my mother!" Did you get her message, Mom? It's pretty funny, so many old people are talking about that now. Well, after the Cravens we went over to the Vines' home for dessert and a lesson. Brother Vines is a private detective, and showed us some of his stuff... He's pretty intense! He pulled up this website, and typed in Ed McMullin, and within a second had your social security number! He quickly closed it though so no one could write it down, but it's pretty ridiculous how easy it is to find. After that, we went home. Oh yeah, we also saw a snake! We walked up to this one house, and heard something move in a bush. We had been playing Bird Bingo (try to spot 5 different species of birds), so it was pretty critical to find out what was in there... I got down and looked, and holy crap it was a snake! Grandpa, do you have a bird book you could send me? There's a lot of birds out, and we're trying to identify them, and also their calls. Actually, I think I have one on my bookshelf in my room. Please check it out! Thanks.
Saturday was good. We went to play frisbee with the branch at 9, and it was really fun. The branch is pretty intense about frisbee. The game is structured kinda like football, but touchdowns are 1 point. You go to 15, and have to win by 2. The second game went to 20 or so before the greatest team ever emerged victorious (my team). After that, we had a lesson with the Portwoods, and stopped by a LOT of people's homes. We got quite a few appointments for this week, so that was pretty awesome. We also had a great dinner and lesson with Lisa Young and her family in the evening.
Sunday was pretty disappointing. A ton of people told us they would be at church on Sunday, but pretty much no one was. One less active man was, and he said that he didn't want any contact. After that, we had a pretty unfruitful day, except we were able to stop by the Fredin's and are going to help them make a family mission plan next week.
Monday was better than Sunday. We had District Meeting, ate lunch at buffalo wild wings, then came back to Frankfort to tract in the rain. It was pretty miserable outside. We were in a pretty rich area (really close to that man that said he was insulted by us), but still had some pretty good contacts. After going around for a while, we went over to the Guymon's home for dinner... But they ended up taking us out to a pizza buffet! Sweet! That was really fun.
Tuesday was alright. We had a great discussion with Sharon. She had a dream that was pretty crazy, and tied in perfectly to a lesson. It was pretty wild. We tracted for a while later in the day, once again in the rain, but ended up just putting pass along cards in doors pretty much the whole time. Our dinner canceled in the evening, so that was a bummer. Elder Collier really didn't have a good day (it was kind of funny). In the evening, we went on splits. I went with President and Chris Hunsaker to home teach a less active & Sister Bagnara while Elder Collier and Brother Swenson went to an appointment we had with a part member family. I had great appointments and lessons, got fed, and had a good time. Elder Collier and Brother Swenson got tubed, so they went around trying to find anyone else, and eventually got in contact with a less active that said he wanted his name removed from the records! Pretty sad. My day was good though, and Sister Bagnara gave us a bunch of gumbo, so it was good.
Today is Zone Activity. We're going over to Lockport to play bean bag (a horseshoe like game everyone plays over here), football and baseball. It should be fun.
Well, I love you all! Thanks for writing me, I love hearing all the news. Sorry you were sick Tay!!! Good luck taking those tests Cater!
Take care! Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Monday, April 20, 2009
Mission Update -- 4/16/09
I've been out of town so haven't had a chance to update for a while. Elder M. wasn't able to use the computer for long on his Pday on the 15th and his companion wasn't able to use it at all, so they went to the library on the 16th to do their emails. Here is Elder M's:
Hi!
Ok, so I didn't write another email yesterday... Sorry! We were busy until too late, so we just had to rearrange our schedule for this morning. [He had written us a quick note on the 15th telling us he would email later in the day after his companion got back from a meeting in Naperville. 3 missionaries who are going home soon went to a meeting in Naperville while their companions stayed in Joliet. Brad, of course, was one of the ones who stayed in Joliet.]
Anyways, I've been doing well, and am loving all of the candy I got in the mail. I got an interesting request from Kathy... I've got to take pictures of a few ridiculous things as we tract! I'll send you her demands, and some pictures next week.
Well, here's the weekly update...
Last Wednesday was ok. We played some basketball with some Lincoln Way East players, who weren't very good... Other than that, we didn't do much until going to set up for the Walk with Christ.
Thursday was pretty good. We set out to tract, and had a pretty good day. We got a new investigator, and taught a few lessons... Which is really awesome for the middle of the day on a weekday! That evening, we met Brother Johnson for team teaching. He took us to Jim's house, which was interesting, as always, then to dinner at Panera Bread, which is pretty much just Wildflower in Illinois. After that, we all met President Hunsaker at the Chapel. Elder Collier went with President to visit the Cravens (it went great, as it typically does when President Hunsaker is there), and I went with Brother Johnson to the Lovelaces (a super less active family that likes four wheeling more than church). Overall, it was a great day.
Friday was good too.We had one appointment in the day, and went out with a member to invite a bunch of people to the Walk with Christ. We didn't get a hold of many people, but it was fun going around with Brother Giese. After that, we ate and got ready for the Walk. The Walk with Christ turned out really well! There was a good amount of people there, including some non members. The highlight of it was finding a part member family that had been looking for the church since moving in town, but couldn't find it due to a messed up map on mormon.org. They saw the ad I put in the paper, and found their way to the Walk with Christ though, and it went well. It was the husband's first contact with the Church, and he was really beaming and seemed happy to hear the lessons! It was really great to see them, and to have a good time with the branch. We also ended up taking home a few pounds of food!
Saturday was good. We visited Sharon in the morning, then played basketball, then tracted, then had a FHE with Lisa Young's family. The FHE was actually really awesome... Lauren Young, a high school freshman, invited 2 friends over for it, and they were really interested. One had just come to the Walk with Christ, and the other said she wants to come to church. She couldn't on Sunday, because it was Easter, but she should be coming soon!
Sunday was sweet. We had MCM at 8, then got picked up at the Church by the Cravens for Stake Conference in Bourbonnais. They have a few sessions of Stake Conference at different buildings - at least for regional Stake Conference, which is what we had. We got to watch a broadcast where President Snow, Sister Lifferth, Elder Dallin H Oaks, and the Prophet, President Thomas S Monson all spoke! It was really great! I also got to see some people from Watseka and Bourbonnais, which was great. After that, we went over for Easter Dinner with the Youngs. We had a great meal, and had a good time. After that, we were going to call the Greys to see if we could stop by, but they called us first... So we spent the evening over there, and had some good pie.
Monday was good, and almost great, but not quite great. We had a District Meeting, then came home to plan. We were going to have another appointment with Doug, one of our super promising investigators... But he tripped over his neighbor kid's toy and landed on his neck. He had to go to the doctor's office, so we'll have to see him soon. That's ok though, we still had some other appointments. We were able to see President Fredin's mother, who's a non member. We got an appointment with her from the Walk with Christ. She's super friendly, so it was good. It was fun hearing about President Fredin's family too. After that, we tried to find. Then we went over to the Hunsakers' for dinner. My first bite of beef yum had a big pepper on it, so I got smoked fast. It was SO hot. Even Sister Hunsaker's kids had a lot of trouble with that beef yum. It was really good though. We also had this amazing chicken in green beans, and some noodles with chicken and stuff. It was an excellent dinner. After dessert, they busted out some crazy Thai fruits... We got to try Mangosteen, which is really good actually! Look it up on Google, it looks weird. After that, we helped them make a family mission plan, and gave their daughter a hard time about texting too much. It came up that Caitlin crashed the Jeep, so that turned into a teaching moment for their kids, haha. After that, we rearranged the area book to set up another round of stop bys.
Tuesday was alright. We got tubed and had a canceled appointment, so that was lame. We did some stop bys in Peotone, which was unfruitful, then had dinner with a family out there. Dinner was great, but the non member of the family split when we had the lesson... Bummer.
Wednesday was good though! Elder Collier went up to Naperville with Elders Na'a and Neibaur. They had that employment thing up there while Elders Mitchell and Shaw and I stayed in Joliet. We played a lot of darts, pool, and some ping pong at a members house. They were really nice, and also fed us dinner. One of the best parts of the day was I got a few packages. Sweet! Thanks for sending all of that stuff! I really appreciate it. There's a dentist in the Branch... I'll ask him when I can come in. We're actually having lunch with a dental hygenist in a couple of hours too, so there's another possibility.
Well, you all take care! I love you a lot and am grateful for all you do. Have a great week,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hi!
Ok, so I didn't write another email yesterday... Sorry! We were busy until too late, so we just had to rearrange our schedule for this morning. [He had written us a quick note on the 15th telling us he would email later in the day after his companion got back from a meeting in Naperville. 3 missionaries who are going home soon went to a meeting in Naperville while their companions stayed in Joliet. Brad, of course, was one of the ones who stayed in Joliet.]
Anyways, I've been doing well, and am loving all of the candy I got in the mail. I got an interesting request from Kathy... I've got to take pictures of a few ridiculous things as we tract! I'll send you her demands, and some pictures next week.
Well, here's the weekly update...
Last Wednesday was ok. We played some basketball with some Lincoln Way East players, who weren't very good... Other than that, we didn't do much until going to set up for the Walk with Christ.
Thursday was pretty good. We set out to tract, and had a pretty good day. We got a new investigator, and taught a few lessons... Which is really awesome for the middle of the day on a weekday! That evening, we met Brother Johnson for team teaching. He took us to Jim's house, which was interesting, as always, then to dinner at Panera Bread, which is pretty much just Wildflower in Illinois. After that, we all met President Hunsaker at the Chapel. Elder Collier went with President to visit the Cravens (it went great, as it typically does when President Hunsaker is there), and I went with Brother Johnson to the Lovelaces (a super less active family that likes four wheeling more than church). Overall, it was a great day.
Friday was good too.We had one appointment in the day, and went out with a member to invite a bunch of people to the Walk with Christ. We didn't get a hold of many people, but it was fun going around with Brother Giese. After that, we ate and got ready for the Walk. The Walk with Christ turned out really well! There was a good amount of people there, including some non members. The highlight of it was finding a part member family that had been looking for the church since moving in town, but couldn't find it due to a messed up map on mormon.org. They saw the ad I put in the paper, and found their way to the Walk with Christ though, and it went well. It was the husband's first contact with the Church, and he was really beaming and seemed happy to hear the lessons! It was really great to see them, and to have a good time with the branch. We also ended up taking home a few pounds of food!
Saturday was good. We visited Sharon in the morning, then played basketball, then tracted, then had a FHE with Lisa Young's family. The FHE was actually really awesome... Lauren Young, a high school freshman, invited 2 friends over for it, and they were really interested. One had just come to the Walk with Christ, and the other said she wants to come to church. She couldn't on Sunday, because it was Easter, but she should be coming soon!
Sunday was sweet. We had MCM at 8, then got picked up at the Church by the Cravens for Stake Conference in Bourbonnais. They have a few sessions of Stake Conference at different buildings - at least for regional Stake Conference, which is what we had. We got to watch a broadcast where President Snow, Sister Lifferth, Elder Dallin H Oaks, and the Prophet, President Thomas S Monson all spoke! It was really great! I also got to see some people from Watseka and Bourbonnais, which was great. After that, we went over for Easter Dinner with the Youngs. We had a great meal, and had a good time. After that, we were going to call the Greys to see if we could stop by, but they called us first... So we spent the evening over there, and had some good pie.
Monday was good, and almost great, but not quite great. We had a District Meeting, then came home to plan. We were going to have another appointment with Doug, one of our super promising investigators... But he tripped over his neighbor kid's toy and landed on his neck. He had to go to the doctor's office, so we'll have to see him soon. That's ok though, we still had some other appointments. We were able to see President Fredin's mother, who's a non member. We got an appointment with her from the Walk with Christ. She's super friendly, so it was good. It was fun hearing about President Fredin's family too. After that, we tried to find. Then we went over to the Hunsakers' for dinner. My first bite of beef yum had a big pepper on it, so I got smoked fast. It was SO hot. Even Sister Hunsaker's kids had a lot of trouble with that beef yum. It was really good though. We also had this amazing chicken in green beans, and some noodles with chicken and stuff. It was an excellent dinner. After dessert, they busted out some crazy Thai fruits... We got to try Mangosteen, which is really good actually! Look it up on Google, it looks weird. After that, we helped them make a family mission plan, and gave their daughter a hard time about texting too much. It came up that Caitlin crashed the Jeep, so that turned into a teaching moment for their kids, haha. After that, we rearranged the area book to set up another round of stop bys.
Tuesday was alright. We got tubed and had a canceled appointment, so that was lame. We did some stop bys in Peotone, which was unfruitful, then had dinner with a family out there. Dinner was great, but the non member of the family split when we had the lesson... Bummer.
Wednesday was good though! Elder Collier went up to Naperville with Elders Na'a and Neibaur. They had that employment thing up there while Elders Mitchell and Shaw and I stayed in Joliet. We played a lot of darts, pool, and some ping pong at a members house. They were really nice, and also fed us dinner. One of the best parts of the day was I got a few packages. Sweet! Thanks for sending all of that stuff! I really appreciate it. There's a dentist in the Branch... I'll ask him when I can come in. We're actually having lunch with a dental hygenist in a couple of hours too, so there's another possibility.
Well, you all take care! I love you a lot and am grateful for all you do. Have a great week,
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Mission Update -- 4/8/09
Here's the Wednesday update! Sounds like all is going well. I love his tracting anecdotes at the end of the email. Especially the man with the parrots... Funny!
Hello everybody!
I hope you have a great Grand Canyon hike. When exactly is that? It sounds like it may be this weekend.
I haven't gotten the easter packages, but I hopefully will soon! Thanks for sending them, and
HAPPY EASTER!
It's pretty exciting, the Branch has got the Walk With Christ this Friday, which should be good. We've been inviting everyone to this Good Friday celebration, and they finally printed the invitation I wrote for the paper! Sweet.
Anyways, I've been doing pretty well. We've had a pretty exciting week. If you want to see one of the more ridiculous days, just scroll down to yesterday.
So... Last Wednesday was ok. We don't really do anything on P-Day anymore. We've got transfers this month, and there may be a baptism that we go back to Chicago for... So we've got to be pretty conservative with miles. We didn't do much until dinner time, when Brother Forrest took us out to dinner. We went to a cafe and got chicken sandwiches. After that, we tried to stop by a few less active members of the Branch, but didn't get a hold of anyone. So we went home, and that was that.
Thursday was a crazy good day. We fixed our beds with Brother Swenson in the morning, then got ready for the day. Everything was done right before lunch time, so it worked out perfectly... For us to go over to Sister Bagnara's for an amazing Mexican lunch, and to teach her friend the Restoration. The friend ended up being 1 hour late, then she ate, then we taught her and gave her a blessing... It was a super long extravaganza, and we were there for about 3 hours! After that, we went to visit Jim (we were 5 minutes late, and he didn't like that). Then went to tract. We had a lot of success tracting, and ended up teaching a few people and getting a return appointment... In the span of about 40 minutes or so! After the quick-tract, we went over to Derek's for dinner. Derek was super nice, and his wife cooked a really good meal. It was pretty great. After eating, the religious discussion began. He wanted to talk about Justification, which is basically the main point of "Born Again" Christianity. We had a very good discussion, and all ended up learning quite a bit. It's kind of neat... They believe that once you accept Christ as your Savior, all of your sins, both past and in the future, are paid for by the Atonement, and you are Justified to be resurrected and live in Heaven. We talked about the Plan of Salvation (and the Restoration, and the Gospel), and it hit me that their belief is really pretty true - that single acceptance of Christ just happened in the Pre-Existance when we chose Christ as our Savior, and to accept our Heavenly Father's Plan! Pretty neat. All of what we taught him really hit him, and he realized that the Restoration has the power to basically shatter his world. He is scared to pray, but we gave him some information about conference, and are praying that he will pray. He's got faith, so once he sincerely prays it's going to get interesting. It probably won't happen soon though, but I guess that's where hope comes in. Anyways, after a second almost-3-hour-long appointment, we were really worn out, and went home.
Friday was great. We stopped by Sharon, who is not doing very well. Her burn is pretty much gone, but her drugged out son is harassing her something terrible. He's such a menace. After consoling her, we went home to plan for the week. Then we got tubed by Brent, and tracted for a while. After tracting and eating a vanilla, chocolate, orange sherbet, pistachio, and arnold palmer ice cream cone, we went over to the Craven's. They are doing very well. Kaden was filling out an application for some scout camp, and it asked what religion he was. He asked his parents, and they said, "Kaden, what do you think we are?" He said, "Mormon." After that, Brother Craven basically said he'll be committed to the Gospel, and I think it'll stick. They've been coming a lot more often recently, and I think they've just hit the next level. That was great to hear, and was a great way to end our day... Because we couldn't get an appointment with anyone else.
Saturday was chock full of conference. We were going to watch the morning session with the Ericksons, but their daughter had a baby, so they had to rush over for that. We called up James, who's got an elusive non-member wife, and asked if we could go over there. He said yes, but we'd have to go play basketball between sessions, so we happily agreed. It was a great conference, and D Todd Christofferson's talk stuck out, which was great for Sister Holmes, who's always at church, but isn't baptized. After that, we played basketball, which was pretty fun. We couldn't play for too long though, because we all had to rush back for conference. We had to rush over to the Vines' home for conference and some hamburgers. That was a great session, and we had a good time there. After that, we went home for a bit, then left with Brother Swenson to President Hunsaker's to carpool. We got to the Hunsaker's home quite early, and got fed a great Thai dinner, which is always good. Then we drove to Priesthood session, watched that, then all got ready to leave... To Steak and Shake! Most of the men in the Branch met there after conference for a late night dinner and shake extravaganza. We carpooled, so we pretty much had to go, although we stayed out way past when we were supposed to be in. President Fredin, of the mission presidency, was there though, so we all figured it would be fine. It was a really good time there, and a generous Brother bought us some really good shakes.
We woke up early Sunday to have MCM before our meeting with President Hunsaker, which was before conference. Those all went well, although we were pretty tired because of them. It was ok though, we had a good day of conference coming up. We went to the Dupin's for both sessions. They have a lot of people over, and have a lot of fun there. The Cravens came, which was great. They get a long really well with the Dupins, so that was excellent. We had a lot of food for lunch, so that was also really nice. After the second conference, we left to do some stop bys. One person we stopped by was Doug, a media referral. We got his address, and a phone number, a couple days ago for my first media referral in the Frankfort area! It turns out the phone number was actually that of a ward mission leader in west Salt Lake City, who was a really nice guy. The missionaries there cover like 24 wards or something, and they're not even in a terribly dense LDS area! Holy cow! He was shocked to hear that we had 8 missionaries in the Chicago 7th ward. After I talked to him for a while, we determined we would stop by Doug's home... Which we did. It went really well, and we got an appointment for Tuesday with him. Oh yeah, it also snowed and stuff Sunday, and was really nasty.
Monday came, and was a pretty crappy day. District meeting got changed to the afternoon, because the Watseka Elders had something come up. That basically killed the entire day. We stopped by a couple less active families in the evening, which was great though. One was a family that just moved here from Sacramento. I can't remember the suburb they lived in, but you may have been there, Dad.
Tuesday was a pretty crazy day. It started off fairly slow, but after lunch it got nuts. We went tracting, and it was really slow for a while. Then we got to this one house, and saw this dog behind it, but still went to knock on the door. No one was home, so we turned to leave and saw this dog standing at the bottom of the steps. He looked at us, then started to run up the stairs. I thought, crap this thing is going to bite us, so took off running. It ran after me, jumped, and tried to bite me in the butt! It ended up hitting it's muzzle right on the back of my hamstrings, but didn't get it's teeth on me. Elder Collier saw the dog chasing me, and 2 more coming from the back of the house, so he took off too! It turns out that they had an "invisible electric fence," so we didn't have to run too far until we were safe, but then we realized the problem... Elder Collier lost a shoe. We had to devise a plan to get it back... Elder Collier was going to step into the lawn on a far side, and I was going to run and grab it, and then come back. We were about to go, but then someone came into the back yard, so the dogs backed off, and I made a run for the shoe. It was pretty ridiculous, but we made it out safe, which was what counts. We also put a pass along card in a plastic easter egg that someone had on their porch instead of in their door. We thought it was funny, and are hoping they'll see it as a sign from God. After that tracting run, we left for the appointment with Doug. It went really really well, and he said afterward that he can really feel the difference when we come into his house, and when he reads the Book of Mormon (of which he read like 8 chapters). He's going to come to the Walk With Christ, and hopefully church. Brother Erickson was there and did a great job of helping us, and befriending Doug. After that, we tracted, and had some more ridiculous experiences. One wasn't that crazy, but was kinda funny. We knocked on this one man's door, and see these 3 little kids come up. They start talking to us, and end up showing us like all of their toys as the dad is kind of listening to us, as we kind of teach a message. It turned out to everyone just talking with the kids, and us then testifying of how families can be together forever. The guy was nice, but didn't want us to come by again. We left, and all of the kids were saying bye, bye, bye, and yelling to us out the window as we walked down the street. Haha. Also, the other day, we tracted and said hi to these girls that were riding their bikes. They told us they couldn't talk to strangers. We said, good job, keep listening to your parents, then didn't talk to them. As we drove by them later, they said, "By hotties" in unison. Haha. Ok so here's the last one. We knocked on a door, and it takes a minute for the homeowner to answer. The door opens, and there stands an older man, in a dress, with a parrot on each shoulder. He told us it was a really bad time, so we got the heck out of there! After all of that, we did some stopbys, and had some dinner with the Swensons. Oh yeah, one of the stopbys was pretty funny. We stopped by Amy, who is the ex girlfriend of Brother Portwood. Her husband is the brother of Sister Portwood's sister's ex boyfriend, who we had met at the Portwood's, and also once tracting. He is really cool, and he happened to be there too! He's a really cool guy, and played the guitar for us. He said he was good, so I asked if he could play the eruption solo by Van Halen, which turns out to be his absolute favorite, so he was pretty excited. He invited us over to see all of his guitars, so we're going to do that next week. He's not a member, but hopefully we can make something good happen out of all of our random encounters! Oh yeah, his uncle is the Styx bassist, so he knows like the whole band! Sweet. Anyways, that ended a pretty crazy day.
Today should be alright. We may go play some basketball or something later. We're going to set up for the Walk With Christ this evening. That's pretty much it.
Well, you all have a great week! I love you a lot, and love to hear from you.
The Gospel is true, and I'm loving my time spreading the word (we also almost knocked on the door of a house that had a sign saying "NO SPREADING THE WORD." I went to put a pass along card in their door, and their door bell went off! I think it was motion activated... but however it went off, we took off running. They fortunately weren't home).
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hello everybody!
I hope you have a great Grand Canyon hike. When exactly is that? It sounds like it may be this weekend.
I haven't gotten the easter packages, but I hopefully will soon! Thanks for sending them, and
HAPPY EASTER!
It's pretty exciting, the Branch has got the Walk With Christ this Friday, which should be good. We've been inviting everyone to this Good Friday celebration, and they finally printed the invitation I wrote for the paper! Sweet.
Anyways, I've been doing pretty well. We've had a pretty exciting week. If you want to see one of the more ridiculous days, just scroll down to yesterday.
So... Last Wednesday was ok. We don't really do anything on P-Day anymore. We've got transfers this month, and there may be a baptism that we go back to Chicago for... So we've got to be pretty conservative with miles. We didn't do much until dinner time, when Brother Forrest took us out to dinner. We went to a cafe and got chicken sandwiches. After that, we tried to stop by a few less active members of the Branch, but didn't get a hold of anyone. So we went home, and that was that.
Thursday was a crazy good day. We fixed our beds with Brother Swenson in the morning, then got ready for the day. Everything was done right before lunch time, so it worked out perfectly... For us to go over to Sister Bagnara's for an amazing Mexican lunch, and to teach her friend the Restoration. The friend ended up being 1 hour late, then she ate, then we taught her and gave her a blessing... It was a super long extravaganza, and we were there for about 3 hours! After that, we went to visit Jim (we were 5 minutes late, and he didn't like that). Then went to tract. We had a lot of success tracting, and ended up teaching a few people and getting a return appointment... In the span of about 40 minutes or so! After the quick-tract, we went over to Derek's for dinner. Derek was super nice, and his wife cooked a really good meal. It was pretty great. After eating, the religious discussion began. He wanted to talk about Justification, which is basically the main point of "Born Again" Christianity. We had a very good discussion, and all ended up learning quite a bit. It's kind of neat... They believe that once you accept Christ as your Savior, all of your sins, both past and in the future, are paid for by the Atonement, and you are Justified to be resurrected and live in Heaven. We talked about the Plan of Salvation (and the Restoration, and the Gospel), and it hit me that their belief is really pretty true - that single acceptance of Christ just happened in the Pre-Existance when we chose Christ as our Savior, and to accept our Heavenly Father's Plan! Pretty neat. All of what we taught him really hit him, and he realized that the Restoration has the power to basically shatter his world. He is scared to pray, but we gave him some information about conference, and are praying that he will pray. He's got faith, so once he sincerely prays it's going to get interesting. It probably won't happen soon though, but I guess that's where hope comes in. Anyways, after a second almost-3-hour-long appointment, we were really worn out, and went home.
Friday was great. We stopped by Sharon, who is not doing very well. Her burn is pretty much gone, but her drugged out son is harassing her something terrible. He's such a menace. After consoling her, we went home to plan for the week. Then we got tubed by Brent, and tracted for a while. After tracting and eating a vanilla, chocolate, orange sherbet, pistachio, and arnold palmer ice cream cone, we went over to the Craven's. They are doing very well. Kaden was filling out an application for some scout camp, and it asked what religion he was. He asked his parents, and they said, "Kaden, what do you think we are?" He said, "Mormon." After that, Brother Craven basically said he'll be committed to the Gospel, and I think it'll stick. They've been coming a lot more often recently, and I think they've just hit the next level. That was great to hear, and was a great way to end our day... Because we couldn't get an appointment with anyone else.
Saturday was chock full of conference. We were going to watch the morning session with the Ericksons, but their daughter had a baby, so they had to rush over for that. We called up James, who's got an elusive non-member wife, and asked if we could go over there. He said yes, but we'd have to go play basketball between sessions, so we happily agreed. It was a great conference, and D Todd Christofferson's talk stuck out, which was great for Sister Holmes, who's always at church, but isn't baptized. After that, we played basketball, which was pretty fun. We couldn't play for too long though, because we all had to rush back for conference. We had to rush over to the Vines' home for conference and some hamburgers. That was a great session, and we had a good time there. After that, we went home for a bit, then left with Brother Swenson to President Hunsaker's to carpool. We got to the Hunsaker's home quite early, and got fed a great Thai dinner, which is always good. Then we drove to Priesthood session, watched that, then all got ready to leave... To Steak and Shake! Most of the men in the Branch met there after conference for a late night dinner and shake extravaganza. We carpooled, so we pretty much had to go, although we stayed out way past when we were supposed to be in. President Fredin, of the mission presidency, was there though, so we all figured it would be fine. It was a really good time there, and a generous Brother bought us some really good shakes.
We woke up early Sunday to have MCM before our meeting with President Hunsaker, which was before conference. Those all went well, although we were pretty tired because of them. It was ok though, we had a good day of conference coming up. We went to the Dupin's for both sessions. They have a lot of people over, and have a lot of fun there. The Cravens came, which was great. They get a long really well with the Dupins, so that was excellent. We had a lot of food for lunch, so that was also really nice. After the second conference, we left to do some stop bys. One person we stopped by was Doug, a media referral. We got his address, and a phone number, a couple days ago for my first media referral in the Frankfort area! It turns out the phone number was actually that of a ward mission leader in west Salt Lake City, who was a really nice guy. The missionaries there cover like 24 wards or something, and they're not even in a terribly dense LDS area! Holy cow! He was shocked to hear that we had 8 missionaries in the Chicago 7th ward. After I talked to him for a while, we determined we would stop by Doug's home... Which we did. It went really well, and we got an appointment for Tuesday with him. Oh yeah, it also snowed and stuff Sunday, and was really nasty.
Monday came, and was a pretty crappy day. District meeting got changed to the afternoon, because the Watseka Elders had something come up. That basically killed the entire day. We stopped by a couple less active families in the evening, which was great though. One was a family that just moved here from Sacramento. I can't remember the suburb they lived in, but you may have been there, Dad.
Tuesday was a pretty crazy day. It started off fairly slow, but after lunch it got nuts. We went tracting, and it was really slow for a while. Then we got to this one house, and saw this dog behind it, but still went to knock on the door. No one was home, so we turned to leave and saw this dog standing at the bottom of the steps. He looked at us, then started to run up the stairs. I thought, crap this thing is going to bite us, so took off running. It ran after me, jumped, and tried to bite me in the butt! It ended up hitting it's muzzle right on the back of my hamstrings, but didn't get it's teeth on me. Elder Collier saw the dog chasing me, and 2 more coming from the back of the house, so he took off too! It turns out that they had an "invisible electric fence," so we didn't have to run too far until we were safe, but then we realized the problem... Elder Collier lost a shoe. We had to devise a plan to get it back... Elder Collier was going to step into the lawn on a far side, and I was going to run and grab it, and then come back. We were about to go, but then someone came into the back yard, so the dogs backed off, and I made a run for the shoe. It was pretty ridiculous, but we made it out safe, which was what counts. We also put a pass along card in a plastic easter egg that someone had on their porch instead of in their door. We thought it was funny, and are hoping they'll see it as a sign from God. After that tracting run, we left for the appointment with Doug. It went really really well, and he said afterward that he can really feel the difference when we come into his house, and when he reads the Book of Mormon (of which he read like 8 chapters). He's going to come to the Walk With Christ, and hopefully church. Brother Erickson was there and did a great job of helping us, and befriending Doug. After that, we tracted, and had some more ridiculous experiences. One wasn't that crazy, but was kinda funny. We knocked on this one man's door, and see these 3 little kids come up. They start talking to us, and end up showing us like all of their toys as the dad is kind of listening to us, as we kind of teach a message. It turned out to everyone just talking with the kids, and us then testifying of how families can be together forever. The guy was nice, but didn't want us to come by again. We left, and all of the kids were saying bye, bye, bye, and yelling to us out the window as we walked down the street. Haha. Also, the other day, we tracted and said hi to these girls that were riding their bikes. They told us they couldn't talk to strangers. We said, good job, keep listening to your parents, then didn't talk to them. As we drove by them later, they said, "By hotties" in unison. Haha. Ok so here's the last one. We knocked on a door, and it takes a minute for the homeowner to answer. The door opens, and there stands an older man, in a dress, with a parrot on each shoulder. He told us it was a really bad time, so we got the heck out of there! After all of that, we did some stopbys, and had some dinner with the Swensons. Oh yeah, one of the stopbys was pretty funny. We stopped by Amy, who is the ex girlfriend of Brother Portwood. Her husband is the brother of Sister Portwood's sister's ex boyfriend, who we had met at the Portwood's, and also once tracting. He is really cool, and he happened to be there too! He's a really cool guy, and played the guitar for us. He said he was good, so I asked if he could play the eruption solo by Van Halen, which turns out to be his absolute favorite, so he was pretty excited. He invited us over to see all of his guitars, so we're going to do that next week. He's not a member, but hopefully we can make something good happen out of all of our random encounters! Oh yeah, his uncle is the Styx bassist, so he knows like the whole band! Sweet. Anyways, that ended a pretty crazy day.
Today should be alright. We may go play some basketball or something later. We're going to set up for the Walk With Christ this evening. That's pretty much it.
Well, you all have a great week! I love you a lot, and love to hear from you.
The Gospel is true, and I'm loving my time spreading the word (we also almost knocked on the door of a house that had a sign saying "NO SPREADING THE WORD." I went to put a pass along card in their door, and their door bell went off! I think it was motion activated... but however it went off, we took off running. They fortunately weren't home).
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Elder McMullin in front of the Swenson's house
Elder McMullin wearing his new tie that he bought for $2.30! This is where he lives in the Frankfort area. He and his companion, Elder Collier, live with Brother and Sister Swenson.
Elder McMullin and a Strange Umbrella
Elder McMullin heading out to tract in the rain with Sister Swenson's umbrella. It didn't keep him dry, so he didn't tract long. :-)
Spring Snowstorm 3/29/09
Elder McMullin woke up to snow. This is the view out the front window of the car on the way to church Sunday morning. Brrrrr!
Mission Update 4/1/09
Here's Elder McMullin's update. Sounds like he's had some disappointments this week, but I appreciate that he always looks for the postive. I'm proud of him. Here's his letter:
Hello,
I'm glad to hear everything is going well in the West. Things have been going well in the MidWest, even if the weather has not been very nice at all. We've had some good missionary success though.
Last Wednesday, we went to dinner at Dan and Jean's home. Jean isn't a member, and is usually pretty elusive, but she stayed for the lesson, and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, which is great. Until that point in the day, we didn't really do much [for P-day].
Thursday was an OK day. Actually, it wasn't that great. One of our most promising investigators, Erica, told us that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. I convinced her to pray about it specifically, then to talk in a few days to see if she should continue to investigate, but we haven't talked yet... So that was a bummer. We also had another investigator family tell us they love having us over, but they don't want us to come over if we're going to teach anything. Bummer. Another appointment canceled in the morning, because her surgery hasn't healed as well as it should have. Ugh. We did get to visit a less active member, and then go to the Guymons' home for dinner. The Guymons are awesome, so it was a great dinner appointment (they're the family of the girl I went to BYU with). We tracted between those appointments, and had no luck. We also tracted after dinner until Branch Council, once again without much luck. We almost tracted into the Spencers though... but we saw Sister Spencer outside, which was pretty fun. Branch Council went well, like always. President Hunsaker is pretty on top of things. After Council, we booked it home and got ready for Friday.
Friday was pretty good. We tried to find some service, but nothing far away since we have been super pressed for miles. We didn't find much, but invited a few people to the Walk with Christ. We had a return appointment with Brent, a guy we found tracting, at 2. It went really really well, and he was happy to read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it. After that, we went finding, and only found one person for the rest of the day.
Saturday was actually really good. We visited Lisa Young and Co in the morning. They're awesome, and after we asked for referrals, they told us they'd invite a family to have FHE with them and us! Sweet! So there will be a whole family of very promising new investigators! After visiting them, we left for Sharon's. She's doing a lot better, and attributes it all to the blessing. She's got a lot of faith, but still is having a lot of trouble quitting smoking. After that, we got ready to play basketball with the Branch, only to discover that everywhere was full. That was quite the bummer, but life goes on. After that it started raining, so we went to stop by some people's homes. We stopped by one potential we had found tracting, and ended up giving her a blessing and teaching a short lesson. After that, we left for the Cravens and had a good visit with them. After that, we felt inspired to visit a family in the area, and ended up choosing the Logsdons, who didn't have a phone number in the Branch List. They were home, and were very friendly. As it turns out, Brother Logsdon had been seriously contemplating coming to church for the first time in many many years. We had a very good lesson, and they said they would seriously consider coming again. After that, it was time to go home.
We woke up Sunday morning to a pure white hell. Our windows were open, so we saw all of the snow that covered the area. It was coming down really hard, but we didn't get nearly as much as they did farther north... Thank goodness. I'm sending some pictures of the snow, by the way. Anyways, church went really well. We had one of the best fast and testimony meetings I've ever been to. After church, we went to lunch at the Ericksons. They fed us amazing shredded pork burritos - I'm salivating now that I've thought about them because they were so good. After that, we went to Outreach, which is one of the coolest things ever. Once a month, the Priesthood Brethren meet up after church to go stop by less active families. We were able to get a hold of 2 of our 3 families, and extended invitations to church, and branch activities. Brother Swenson always has really good luck for outreach, and we were fortunate enough to go with him. After that, we left to find some new people. Most of the snow was melted before the late afternoon, so that made it not so bad finding people. It was still pretty cold and windy though, so it wasn't that fun. We ended up teaching a lesson to a woman whose husband we had taught a week ago or so, and gave her a Book of Mormon. We also taught another woman that lives near a member family.
Monday was also good. We had Presidents Interviews, which went well. President basically just congratulated us, or at least me, for doing good work in the area. That was a pretty good improvement from last time, where he basically said Frankfort sucks. After that, we tracted for a while, and got a potential referral for the Joliet Spanish Elders, who just drive around the Stake teaching all the Spanish speakers everyone else finds. They get a really good chunk of the missions baptisms... I'm a little bit jealous. We also got to call in a referral we got for the Peoria mission, which was fun. A random lady we gave a blessing to gave us that referral, so hopefully that man will become a good new investigator for the Champaign Elders. After that, we started something awesome. We arranged splits for the evening! I went with Nick Grey to the Stachuras, while Elder Collier went with Brother Swenson to visit the less active Sister DeLaney in Manhattan. After dinner and a lesson with the Stachuras (Part Member family), I switched companions, and went with Shane to visit the Portwoods. Elder Collier and Brother Swenson then tried to stop by another family, but that didn't work... So we all met up, then Elder Collier and I came home for the evening. It was really great, and is something I hope we can continue to do.
Tuesday was alright, but could have been much better. It was really rainy out, so that was lame. We tried to do some stuff without being outside, but eventually had to go tract. We looked for umbrellas, but only could find Elder Collier's one... So we had to ask the Swensons if they had any laying around. They looked, and could only find Sister Swensons... Which was really little and pinkish-purple. We decided, what the heck... We'll just go out. But, it turned out that the little umbrella didn't really do anything, and all of my stuff was getting wet, so we had to go to the store. We drove to Kohl's, and I bought an umbrella and 2 ties which were like 90% off. One of the ties was like $2.30, and is the ultimate tie. It looks like a rattlesnakes back, and was super cheap. I'm sending a picture of me wearing it outside of the Swensons' home... So you can see me, the tie, and where we live! After that, I stopped by Ritz Camera and bought a new memory card. My one has been full, so I haven't really been taking many / any pictures. After that, it stopped raining, so we did some tracting before dinner with the Spencers. Dinner was an incredible homemade lasagna. It was REALLY good. After dinner, we helped them make a family mission plan, which should be really good. After that, our day was pretty much done... Especially because we were over miles. We came home and got ready for bed.... That's when the story gets interesting... We were laying there, and Elder Collier got an impression to check the screws holding our bunk bed together. I really felt like it was something real, so we got out of bed and checked it out. One screw was hanging out, and some others were coming out... So we decided to not sleep in the bed. We slept out in the living room, which turned out to be awful. It was really bright out there, so we didn't sleep well at all. When we woke up for the morning, I just went into our room, and rolled myself up in my blankets and slept on the floor for a while. It was really lame.
When I woke up, it was officially P-Day! We're probably not going to do much today. I've been doing laundry, and now we're at the Library. I'll have to read the Lincoln Way Sun newspaper, because they're publishing the invitation to the Walk With Christ that I wrote. That's pretty exciting. We've got team ups with Brother Forrest this evening, and found out that he scheduled us a dinner appointment with the Greys, which is about as good as it gets. For team ups, the person we go with is supposed to get us a couple of teaching appointments, so it's pretty funny / awesome that he got us a dinner appointment!
Well, that's it for the week! This week should be great. We've got a lunch and dinner appointment tomorrow. Lunch with Sister Bagnara, who is bringing over a friend for us to teach the Restoration, then dinner with the man we tracted into! Sweet!
Anyways, the Gospel is true, and I love you! Take care and have a great week.
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hello,
I'm glad to hear everything is going well in the West. Things have been going well in the MidWest, even if the weather has not been very nice at all. We've had some good missionary success though.
Last Wednesday, we went to dinner at Dan and Jean's home. Jean isn't a member, and is usually pretty elusive, but she stayed for the lesson, and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, which is great. Until that point in the day, we didn't really do much [for P-day].
Thursday was an OK day. Actually, it wasn't that great. One of our most promising investigators, Erica, told us that she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. I convinced her to pray about it specifically, then to talk in a few days to see if she should continue to investigate, but we haven't talked yet... So that was a bummer. We also had another investigator family tell us they love having us over, but they don't want us to come over if we're going to teach anything. Bummer. Another appointment canceled in the morning, because her surgery hasn't healed as well as it should have. Ugh. We did get to visit a less active member, and then go to the Guymons' home for dinner. The Guymons are awesome, so it was a great dinner appointment (they're the family of the girl I went to BYU with). We tracted between those appointments, and had no luck. We also tracted after dinner until Branch Council, once again without much luck. We almost tracted into the Spencers though... but we saw Sister Spencer outside, which was pretty fun. Branch Council went well, like always. President Hunsaker is pretty on top of things. After Council, we booked it home and got ready for Friday.
Friday was pretty good. We tried to find some service, but nothing far away since we have been super pressed for miles. We didn't find much, but invited a few people to the Walk with Christ. We had a return appointment with Brent, a guy we found tracting, at 2. It went really really well, and he was happy to read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it. After that, we went finding, and only found one person for the rest of the day.
Saturday was actually really good. We visited Lisa Young and Co in the morning. They're awesome, and after we asked for referrals, they told us they'd invite a family to have FHE with them and us! Sweet! So there will be a whole family of very promising new investigators! After visiting them, we left for Sharon's. She's doing a lot better, and attributes it all to the blessing. She's got a lot of faith, but still is having a lot of trouble quitting smoking. After that, we got ready to play basketball with the Branch, only to discover that everywhere was full. That was quite the bummer, but life goes on. After that it started raining, so we went to stop by some people's homes. We stopped by one potential we had found tracting, and ended up giving her a blessing and teaching a short lesson. After that, we left for the Cravens and had a good visit with them. After that, we felt inspired to visit a family in the area, and ended up choosing the Logsdons, who didn't have a phone number in the Branch List. They were home, and were very friendly. As it turns out, Brother Logsdon had been seriously contemplating coming to church for the first time in many many years. We had a very good lesson, and they said they would seriously consider coming again. After that, it was time to go home.
We woke up Sunday morning to a pure white hell. Our windows were open, so we saw all of the snow that covered the area. It was coming down really hard, but we didn't get nearly as much as they did farther north... Thank goodness. I'm sending some pictures of the snow, by the way. Anyways, church went really well. We had one of the best fast and testimony meetings I've ever been to. After church, we went to lunch at the Ericksons. They fed us amazing shredded pork burritos - I'm salivating now that I've thought about them because they were so good. After that, we went to Outreach, which is one of the coolest things ever. Once a month, the Priesthood Brethren meet up after church to go stop by less active families. We were able to get a hold of 2 of our 3 families, and extended invitations to church, and branch activities. Brother Swenson always has really good luck for outreach, and we were fortunate enough to go with him. After that, we left to find some new people. Most of the snow was melted before the late afternoon, so that made it not so bad finding people. It was still pretty cold and windy though, so it wasn't that fun. We ended up teaching a lesson to a woman whose husband we had taught a week ago or so, and gave her a Book of Mormon. We also taught another woman that lives near a member family.
Monday was also good. We had Presidents Interviews, which went well. President basically just congratulated us, or at least me, for doing good work in the area. That was a pretty good improvement from last time, where he basically said Frankfort sucks. After that, we tracted for a while, and got a potential referral for the Joliet Spanish Elders, who just drive around the Stake teaching all the Spanish speakers everyone else finds. They get a really good chunk of the missions baptisms... I'm a little bit jealous. We also got to call in a referral we got for the Peoria mission, which was fun. A random lady we gave a blessing to gave us that referral, so hopefully that man will become a good new investigator for the Champaign Elders. After that, we started something awesome. We arranged splits for the evening! I went with Nick Grey to the Stachuras, while Elder Collier went with Brother Swenson to visit the less active Sister DeLaney in Manhattan. After dinner and a lesson with the Stachuras (Part Member family), I switched companions, and went with Shane to visit the Portwoods. Elder Collier and Brother Swenson then tried to stop by another family, but that didn't work... So we all met up, then Elder Collier and I came home for the evening. It was really great, and is something I hope we can continue to do.
Tuesday was alright, but could have been much better. It was really rainy out, so that was lame. We tried to do some stuff without being outside, but eventually had to go tract. We looked for umbrellas, but only could find Elder Collier's one... So we had to ask the Swensons if they had any laying around. They looked, and could only find Sister Swensons... Which was really little and pinkish-purple. We decided, what the heck... We'll just go out. But, it turned out that the little umbrella didn't really do anything, and all of my stuff was getting wet, so we had to go to the store. We drove to Kohl's, and I bought an umbrella and 2 ties which were like 90% off. One of the ties was like $2.30, and is the ultimate tie. It looks like a rattlesnakes back, and was super cheap. I'm sending a picture of me wearing it outside of the Swensons' home... So you can see me, the tie, and where we live! After that, I stopped by Ritz Camera and bought a new memory card. My one has been full, so I haven't really been taking many / any pictures. After that, it stopped raining, so we did some tracting before dinner with the Spencers. Dinner was an incredible homemade lasagna. It was REALLY good. After dinner, we helped them make a family mission plan, which should be really good. After that, our day was pretty much done... Especially because we were over miles. We came home and got ready for bed.... That's when the story gets interesting... We were laying there, and Elder Collier got an impression to check the screws holding our bunk bed together. I really felt like it was something real, so we got out of bed and checked it out. One screw was hanging out, and some others were coming out... So we decided to not sleep in the bed. We slept out in the living room, which turned out to be awful. It was really bright out there, so we didn't sleep well at all. When we woke up for the morning, I just went into our room, and rolled myself up in my blankets and slept on the floor for a while. It was really lame.
When I woke up, it was officially P-Day! We're probably not going to do much today. I've been doing laundry, and now we're at the Library. I'll have to read the Lincoln Way Sun newspaper, because they're publishing the invitation to the Walk With Christ that I wrote. That's pretty exciting. We've got team ups with Brother Forrest this evening, and found out that he scheduled us a dinner appointment with the Greys, which is about as good as it gets. For team ups, the person we go with is supposed to get us a couple of teaching appointments, so it's pretty funny / awesome that he got us a dinner appointment!
Well, that's it for the week! This week should be great. We've got a lunch and dinner appointment tomorrow. Lunch with Sister Bagnara, who is bringing over a friend for us to teach the Restoration, then dinner with the man we tracted into! Sweet!
Anyways, the Gospel is true, and I love you! Take care and have a great week.
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
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