Mission Update -- 5/6/09

Wow, this week got away from me and I realized that I haven't posted last weeks email yet! First of all, I have to report that we had a FANTASTIC phone call from Elder M on Mother's Day!! We talked for a while and then conferenced my parents into the call so they were able to talk too. It was funny -- Brad asked us what the caller ID said when he called. We looked and told him it said Ali Syed. He said "Oh no, they still haven't changed it!!!" Apparently it's said that since they got it (maybe the previous owner of that number??) and they've called to get it fixed, but it never has been. Kind of funny! He told us that he is loving being in Frankfort. He says the members are so incredibly helpful and supportive that he hopes he can stay there for a while. He told us that there will probably be some baptisms soon. There are a couple of kids from a family that has become active that he thinks are well on there way to baptism and there is also a college age woman that they are teaching that is pretty close to baptism. So that's pretty exciting. We'll see how that progresses in his emails. As I think of more things from the conversation I'll post them, but here's a copy of the email that we got a few days before Mother's Day:


Hello Family!
Well, we just got news that we can't call home for mothers day. I guess our mission went over on minutes for the last 2 months straight, so we have to cut down... Not! I'm actually really excited to call! That's so funny you're both giving talks, Mom & Dad, Elder Hunt's parents both are too... And so is Elder Hunt! It seems like I'm the only one that got off free.
Well, this week was pretty good. It's always exciting to get a new companion, and Elder Hunt's a good guy. It's pretty funny... He was with the other Elder McMullin just a couple transfers ago. The other Elder Mac has been in Indiana the entire time I've been here, so I have only met him a couple times.
I'm excited to get the photos and letters you've sent. I just sent a letter home to Mother and have one going to Grandma soon! Hopefully they'll make it in time. Thanks for all you do Mothers!!! I love you a lot! Oh yeah, can you send me some more singulair please? Thanks!
Well, I've been doing pretty well... Except the new APs stole my Malibu. There's now 4 APs since we're missing 1 senior couple in the office. Some dumb Elder wiped snow off of our car with a metal shovel, and then we got another scratch on our car... So it "had to get fixed" AKA the APs wanted it. We've got a little Go Kart (Mazda 3) now, which is alright. It's alright though, the new APs are both great guys, so I can probably use this to get into Bourbonnais easily! And on exchanges, I helped find one of them a new investigator that I believe got baptized too...
Anyways, enough with that. Last Wednesday was pretty good... Elder Collier just packed, we went to dinner at the Stachuras, then said goodbye to the Cravens. That's pretty much it!
Thursday was pretty good. We drove up to transfers, said goodbye to Collier, then loaded up Elder Hunt's crap. It didn't fit in our little Mazda, so Elder Church and his Greenie (another Elder Hunt, this one from Fredonia, Arizona) took some of the Las Vegas Elder Hunt's stuff. We all went to lunch at Freddie's, then made the journey down to Frankfort. We stopped by someone in Hunt's old area on the way, which was pretty neat... Although I'm sure it was much more neat for him than it was for me. After that, we unloaded some stuff, then went to the Grey's. They're doing well, and were excited to see a new missionary. Elder Hunt's been out 20 months by the way, so he's just new to the area.
Friday was pretty good. We had a canceled appointment, then stayed at the house until the Bourbonnais Elders came up with Elder Hunt's stuff. We chatted with them for a while, then left to visit Jim. Jim and Hunt are actually old friends! Hunt started his mission in Orland Park, which is actually where Jim used to live.
**Aside - There's some crazy girl sitting close to me that is just cussing up a storm. She walked in a minute ago, and is just saying all these obscenities really loud! **
Ok, back to Friday. After Jim's we went and stopped by a potential, who turned out to be Buddhist, but is interested in all religions. She's a good gal, and a hard core hippie. After that, we visited the Cravens, who were pretty excited to meet Elder Hunt, because James is from Las Vegas too. After playing basketball and having a lesson with the Cravens, we went over to Lisa Young's home and had a good lesson / visit there.
Saturday didn't start out with a bang. Only 4 people showed up to frisbee, so we ended up just going to McDonald's for McGriddles (which are kind of nasty), then doing to play basketball at the Choate's house. We ended up just shooting a Choate boy's airsoft guns, which were CO2 powered and ridiculous, then going home to get ready for the day. We went out tracting for a while, and tracted a supposed Cub's players home / castle in New Lenox. Nobody answered, unfortunately. We ended up going to visit a couple of members, and having good lessons / family mission plan commitments. After that, we went to the Branch Progressive Dinner. We had dinner at the Murphy's home with The Murphys, Brother Erickson and Keri Stachura. It was really good! After eating ham, German Potato Salad (which is infinitely better than American Potato Salad), we left to the church for dessert and a game. It was a quiz game where they gave 10 facts about different people to see who knows everyone the best. I tied President and Sister Hunsaker and I think Sister Dupin with 5/8 right, but got beat in the tie breaker. Bummer! It was a really good activity, and the Cravens liked it a lot, which was great.
Sunday was pretty good, but pretty mixed. We had church, MCM, and a President Hunsaker Monthly Meeting. All of those went well, and we got a list of a few names of less actives to focus on. Elder Hunt got a migraine though, so after church we just went home, and he slept for the rest of the day. I read some Hugh Nibley and got really bored, but it was good to rest I guess.
Monday was pretty good. We had a really late District Meeting, which killed the day. Watseka had their monthly Meals on Wheels service, and didn't get a replacement for the day. After District Meeting, we went to go visit a family, and ended up watching their kid's little league game. That was pretty much the entire day.
Tuesday was pretty good. We visited Sharon, and had lunch there. After that, we went over to Tony Cammarata's (he's pretty much just Grandpa... Not a member of the church because he's stubborn, but still is a great guy.) and taught a lesson. Tony committed to reading from the Book of Mormon and praying about it though, which is actually pretty good! After the lesson, we cut his grass, and did some yard work. He was just in the hospital with a bad virus (not H1N1), and was incapacitated for a while. After that, he left and his wife came home, so we taught her a lesson too. Elder Hunt's migraine flared up again, so Sister Cammarata gave him some ice and cracked the heck out of his back. After that, we went home for a while so Hunt's head would stop hurting, then left for stop bys in the evening. We met with a Weichinger I haven't met, and taught her a lesson. Hooray for New Investigators. We tried a lot of other places, but couldn't get anyone. We did have some coupons for completely free KFC meals that Tony gave us though, so we got dinner there.
That leads us in to today. We haven't had much going on yet, but we're going to go down to Bourbonnais in a bit. We're going to mini golf there. We got a new car, so we got a lot of free miles, and Watseka just got a crazy amount of extra miles, so we're probably going to go down there fairly often, which will make P-Days a lot more fun. We've got a dinner appointment tonight, and the family is bringing over an investigator. Awesome. That's pretty much it for the day!
Oh yeah, the other day we tracted into a full family that committed to coming to church! The wife, Breeza (Spanish for Breezy) is from Puerto Vallarta, and they're all really friendly. They're pretty good potentials, and hopefully they'll join the church soon! We also tracted into this man that had been praying for help in his life, and enjoyed our discussion, but didn't want us to come back. That was really disappointing, but still was a testament of the Spirit guiding us to where we need to go.
Well, I'm doing well and am enjoying my mission! I know the Gospel blesses families, and am glad to bring joy into as many people's lives as possible!
Take care,
Can't wait to talk to you! A simple 3 way call will get you in G&G, so that will be good.
Love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin