Elder M. left on July 30, 2008, so tomorrow is his "hump day". Ed and I talked this morning about "one year ago today". One year ago today was a pretty stressful day for Elder M. -- just general, normal feelings of anxiety...until he was set apart in the evening. Then he became calm and peaceful and I don't think he's had a minute of being anything but enthusiastic since then. It's been a good year.
This was his first week in Naperville! Here's what he had to say:
Hello Family!
It sounds like you've all been pretty busy. How is Nevada? [Taylor is in Nevada on vacation.] How is quiet quiet home? [That's for mom and dad, not on any vacations!!] I can't wait to hear about Israel! [Caitlin is in Israel on vacation.]
I've been doing pretty well. We've had some awesome stuff happen here. This area is pretty nice. It's got some really really weird boundaries, so I can't give you the exact ones, but here's the address of our apartment clubhouse, where we email - 245 N Oakhurst. It's in Aurora I think, but is on the border of Aurora and Naperville. Our area is super small, and shaped like a half-straightened banana. Weird. We only have us in this ward. Naperville has some missionaries that cover two wards though... It's pretty dense LDS.
Elder Denter is awesome, and we're doing quite well here. They had one investigator with a baptismal date when I came in, which is nice (not the one you saw... That's a member's child). Since then, we've committed a couple more, and have found some new investigators too. Sweet.
So, last Wednesday was pretty sad. Last day in Frankfort. Other than packing, we visited a whole bunch of people from the Branch. I had such a great time in Frankfort, and will miss it. The Guymons gave me a gift bag and a tie, which was really nice of them.
Thursday was pretty good. We left for transfer meeting in the early morning. There was hardly any traffic, which was nice, so we got there really early. We had a good meeting, ate lunch, then left for Naperville. I now get cals from people having problems. The first was a missionary from Peru and his new-to-the-area companion who got lost. We busted out the GPS and figured out they were right next to their apartment. After that, we came back and unpacked a little bit, then did a bunch of stop bys. We also had one set appointment, which went well. We committed and set an investigator for baptism on August 15th! It was a pretty good first appointment. The investigator's name is Jeremy. He's one that has been nervous for a while, but keeps commitments he makes. After that, we visited a bunch of other people, but nothing else was quite so exciting.
Friday was pretty good. We started it off by tracting, and had a great time. The first person we talked to and invited us in. Regelio was slightly crazy, but interested. He liked to talk about the Gospel, and decry the iniquities of internet addicted children. We got a return appointment, then got out of there to go to our first appointment of the day. We headed out to go visit Brother Houser, who is recovering from quintouple bypass surgery. We were with him for a while, then left to go visit Javier, a man we found Thursday. We had a great lesson with Javier, who was extremely interested in the Gospel, and liked to discuss conspiracies. He was happy that the Restoration answered so many questions, and wants to learn more. Awesome. After that, we had an appointment that fell through, then went to visit a less active member. Ralph Cano is a war vetran, and is pretty funny. He's a recent convert, and enjoys missionary lessons. After that, we had dinner and did some stop bys for the evening.
Saturday was great. We had MCM in the morning, which was alright. We didn't have half the Branch like we were starting to in Frankfort, but it was still pretty good. We learned that an investigator that was a member, but had her records lost got cleared for baptism. She's been waiting for about 5 months or so. Her date is set for August 15th. After this we did some finding until we had an appointment with Kim, who's the friend of a couple young women. That went very well, but Kim is not quite ready for baptism. After that, we visited David, who's a 15 year old kid that should be baptized soon. We helped him make a study calendar, and got him a ride to church. After that, we had a couple of caneled appointments, then went to Stake Priesthood meeting.
Sunday was great. We missed PEC because we thought it was at 8, but it was really at 7. Oooops! We did have a good time at church though. This ward seems like it's pretty similar to the Tempe 10th. It's going to be hard to remember everyones names. After church, we had a couple appointments and ate dinner at Nancy's home. I got very ill to my stomach in the evening, so we came home and stayed there. Somethings been going around, because this was just the start for the Zone's sickness.
Monday was pretty good. We started it off with District Meeting, which went well. In the district we have the Geneva Elders, which are Elder Church (from Bourbonnais) and Elder Brown, the Prestbury Elders, Elder Sorensen (was in Soldier Field when I was in Stockyards), and Elder Houston (who was in the other Stockyards companionship). This is one of 3 districts in the Zone. Our Zone is pretty small, but still good. After District Meeting, we went to visit Regelio. He tubed us. We tracted though, and found a new investigator who was walking his dog. We got tubed by Javier too. We did have a good meeting with David, and better yet, his dad. David's father said he could get baptized when he really wants to. This is a huge improvement. David is praying and should be baptized soon. Awesome. After this, we had dinner at the Robbins family home. They were really nice, but had one crazy crazy kid. It was pretty good though. At the end of dinner, Elder Denter got very ill to his stomach, so we had to rush home and stay there. We learned that several other missionaries had the same problem too. Yikes.
Tuesday was pretty good. We started it off by working at a homeless shelter. They had us serve food and wrap a bunch of Christmas in July presents. After that, we taught one homeless man who was quite interested, and gave him some information. After that, we went to visit a recent convert. After that, we went to visit the investigator who was set when I got here, but whose baptismal date has fallen through. She had to go to the hospital, which was the problem, but should get a new date. After that, we went to go visit Jeremy with the Bishop's son, Ezra. That went really well. Jeremy has stopped drinking beer, and is pretty much ready for baptism now. After that, we went home to go to the restroom. As we were there, a young man knocked on our door and told us he wanted to hear a lesson. He had been taught about 9 months ago, and just had some questions. He has had a tough past and is concerned, and thus is a great investigator. We should see him soon, and hopefully can help him progress towards baptism. Sweet new investigator. After that, we went over to dinner at a young couple's home. We had a good meal and a good time there. After teaching them a lesson, we left to tract. We found a new person to teach at our second door. Awesome. This area sounds great huh? I think I came at the right time to see the work pick up. We just had the best week for the area in many months last week, and should have an even better week this week, so that is great.
Today should be good. We are going to go to an outlet mall with the district. I'll probably buy a new watch. My old one broke just barely. They've got a fossil outlet, so I can get a nice watch for really cheap. I've also got to get a hair cut to get ready for Zone Leader Council and Stake MCM.
Well, I love you all so much! Take care and have a great week!
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Bob's Baptism!
Bob with Elder Hunt and Elder McMullin. Bob was baptized by Elder Hunt on July 11, 2009.
Mission Update 7/22/09 -- Transfer to Naperville!
I could hardly wait to get Elder M's email today. We pretty much knew he'd be transferred because Elder Hunt only has one more transfer left in his mission, so one of them had to be transferred (so they wouldn't have 2 new missionaries in Frankfort at the next transfer.) Since Brad had been there so long, we assumed it would be him who got transferred. Sure enough....
Hello Family,
Dad's prediction is not right... At all. [Ed had first said he thought Elder M would be transferred to Indiana. Then he said he thought Elder Hunt would be transferred instead of Elder M.] Although I would've been pretty happy with it. [I think he means staying in Frankfort. He has loved it there.] I am getting transferred to the Naperville 4th Ward and will be a Zone Leader. So I'll be conducting Zone Conference and stuff like that. I also will be going on exchanges with District Leaders... Which means I'll be going on an exchange with a Spanish Elder! Weird. Anyways, the area sounds pretty good. I'll be with Elder Denter, who's a really good guy from Springville, Utah. The area covers some of Naperville and some of Aurora. I've come up with an Arizona comparison... It should be like a bean shaped area right around South Mountain; I'll have some rich, like Awhatooke (sorry for spelling) and then some incredibly Latino area, like South Phoenix around the Pointe (or as my tennis coach said, point-ee).
Elder Watson is coming here from South Shore (which is ghetto Chicago). He's a good guy and will do well here. [Side note -- Elder Watson came out from the MTC with Elder M. If you look back at those old pictures from the MTC, you can see him in them.] He also knew Kehaulani from home, which is pretty funny. [Elder Watson is from Hawaii.] Watseka is being closed down... No more missionaries there. Elder Bradsher is going to be in Hyde Park with Elder Philbrick (MTC Companion) for the Gladys Knight fireside. Pretty lucky, that's where I wanted to go. Elder Richmond is going to Stockyards to be with Elder Bird. There's going to be 4 missionaries in Stockyards again (once again because of Gladys Knight). Elder Thornhill is going to Bourbonnais to be with Hunt Jr and Elder Church is coming with me to Naperville. He'll be in Geneva, which is right next door. It's pretty wild about Watseka being closed. They're also closing 2 other areas. I don't think we're getting a single greenie this transfer, so our mission is shrinking pretty well now.
I'm going to miss Frankfort a lot. I was pretty upset when I got moved here from Stockyards, but am so glad I did. The Lord has blessed me, and the Branch, so much in the last 6 months. I'm a little nervous, but excited for my next opportunity to serve the Lord, the Naperville 4th Ward, and the Naperville Zone. I'll at least still get to work with President Fredin a lot... He comes to all of our meetings with the Stake Presidency and Mission President. I've been saying goodbyes, and will be visiting quite a few people today. Should be busy. I haven't done much to get packing, but will do that soon.
Anyways, I hope everyone's doing great at home! I'm sorry about your back Grandpa! I hope it gets feeling better, and will be praying for you. Have fun in Pioche Tay! I just saw some girl with a shirt that said "Tay Tay," and thought of ya. Have fun doing orchestra and jury duty Mom! I think you're the one in a million that probably will enjoy jury duty, so that's exciting! Thanks for Brother Baker's address, even if it took a year! Hahaha. [That was Caitlin, not me!!!]
Anyways, here's some of what has happened here this last week:
Last Wednesday was pretty good. After E Mailing, we went to Applebee's and ate some lunch there. Thanks for the gift card! After that, we went and played a round of frisbee golf. We're no longer very good, because we hadn't played in quite a while. After that, we stopped by a potential investigator, who wasn't home, and not much else.
Thursday was an awesome 3 meal day. We went over in the morning to help the Weichingers pull weeds. We told them we would if we could also share a full lesson with them. They upped the ante and gave us breakfast and lunch in addition to listening to the lesson, which went extremely well. Later in the day, we went to visit Austin Cramer with Chris Spencer. After having a lesson there, Chris took us over to teach Jim. Jim committed to driving Elder Hunt and I to church on Sunday (and almost followed through with it)! That evening, we went over to the Loftus home and taught Linda, JoAnne, and Christine (JoAnne's friend) the Plan of Salvation with President Carlson. It went quite well, and now Linda's reading the Book of Mormon, and is progressing! Awesome. We also played rummy over there (we had an FHE format for the meeting), and I got whooped.
Friday went well. I mailed a package home, and a package to Mooker. I sent him a Bears shirt and some other stuff. What's crazy is that it cost me about the same amount to send something to Germany as it did to send to Arizona. I think those flat rate boxes are bogus because the bag box thing I sent to Germany was about the same size. Other than that, we had a lot of awesome stuff happen. We were able to have the first new member lesson with Bob. He's doing so well, and has got such an incredibly bright future. After teaching Bob, we went over to teach Sharon and her son Kyle. Sharon is stopping smoking now, and will set a baptismal date when she's stopped for a week. Brother Vines sent her an awesome letter and challenged her to get to the temple. I think she's finally going to make some steps forward. We also visited Jim, a referral we got from Jacob Carlson, who turned out to be a religious fanatic. He's Christian, but believes the Old Testament is more legitimate than the New, and studies a lot of Hebrew. We had an interesting discussion, but he was not willing to pray and receive revelation from God about the Book of Mormon. After that, we went to the Portwoods' home for dinner. We had an excellent dinner and lesson there. Laura should be baptized pretty soon. They're moving, but they don't know where. If they end up staying here, I'll probably be able to go to it. If they move to Missouri, which is a possibility, that would be tough. As long as it's done, that's what matters though.
Saturday was pretty great! We started it off by going to visit the Browns. Megan is stopping smoking. Awesome. She's also getting a new job that will clear up her Sundays. Awesome. We should see them at church more, and see some good things as they progress to the point where Amber can be baptized. After that, Brother Giese took us out to lunch. After lunch, we went to visit Shirley, who's a super reclusive less active that lives in Manhattan. We had a good appointment there. Saturday evening is when the miracles started happening. I had felt for a while we needed to go visit the Bellus, a family of former investigators that is Nigerian. We went there and had a great visit. We ended up getting a return appointment to discuss the Restoration. Awesome. After that, we felt impressed to go visit some random less active who we doubt even lives at the address we've got. He wasn't home. The neat thing though, was we drove by a family that Elder Wiser and I tracted into's former home, we felt touched to stop by that house. We knocked and met a lady that had just moved in. It turns out her mother just died and she doesn't have a church around here. We taught the Plan of Salvation and made some big promises, and in turn watched her get washed by the Spirit. We got a return appointment and a solid new investigator / baptismal candidate!
Sunday was great! I was able to confer the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain Bob a Priest! That was pretty awesome, and went really well. Neither Brother Johnson or Brother Murphy were at church, so I got the opportunity to teach Sunday School with zero notice. We had Brother Fisher, from the High Council, there and also the Stake President's recently returned missionary son, so it went pretty well. They were here to speak in Sacrament meeting right after JoAnne! JoAnne gave a wonderful talk. Her mother also came to listen, and did pretty well at church. After church we had a wonderful MCM, and Brother Fisher praised the whole Branch, which is great since he's usually the MCM Nazi. He told us Frankfort is the most productive area in the whole Joliet Stake now! The whole Branch is doing great. We're having a ridiculous amount of people in MCM, which is pretty wild. We also got a ton of team teachers from the meeting. After church, we went over to the Cravens' for dinner. Both Brother Dupin and Brother Craven were out of town, so their wives pitched in together with some kids and made us dinner. It went really well, and was pretty fun. We helped them make study calendars, and caught bugs. They gave me 5 fireflys in a jar to keep in my room overnight. Awesome. That was pretty much it for the day.
Monday was pretty great. In the MCM, they asked what we needed... We told them breakfast and lunch appointments. We got a breakfast appointment from the Vines' Monday morning. It was a 5 course breakfast, and was stellar. After having a lesson over there, we went down to District Meeting. After District Meeting, we went to lunch, then went over to the Loftus home for a lesson. We took Sister Fredrick, who got along well with Linda, so that was great. After that, we went over to the Guymons' for dinner. They made us Edwardo's Pizza, which was great! I LOVE it. After a good time, and a lesson, there, we went over to the Greys' home for Family and Friend Home Evening. We had the Youngs and JoAnne over, and it went very well.
Tuesday was pretty wild. We started proselyting by going to Trish's home for a lesson. We took Sister Cammarata with us, and couldn't have gotten anyone better. Sister Cammarata is pretty much Trish in 15 years. Trish has a husband that is not supportive of her going to church. She wants to be baptized, and we're helping her work to that point now. It should go well. After lunch, we ended up going to Sharon's home. We had a good lesson, and she's going to progress now. After that, we went to the Murphy's for dinner. As we ate, I got a call from President Roach. They said it was ok to answer the call, so I did and got the transfer news. I was pretty surprised to hear what it was. After the dinner and lesson, we went over to the Youngs home. They had Anna over, and we had a pretty good lesson. We went through Romans 12, and some of the duties of Saints. At first I accidentally had us reading Romans 13, which is good, but not what we wanted to teach at all. Hahaha. I made some calls to people that evening to say thank you and goodbye. I'll be sad to leave Frankfort.
Today should be good. I've done laundry so far and will be packing. We've also got quite a few appointments to visit people that want to say goodbye. A couple families have requested your address, Mom and Dad, to write you a letter. Hopefully they're good.
Well, I've still got to write President Roach and have to get some pictures on here, so if you want to write me something really quick I'll probably see it. I love you all so much, and am grateful for everything you do for me. Take care!
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
Hello Family,
Dad's prediction is not right... At all. [Ed had first said he thought Elder M would be transferred to Indiana. Then he said he thought Elder Hunt would be transferred instead of Elder M.] Although I would've been pretty happy with it. [I think he means staying in Frankfort. He has loved it there.] I am getting transferred to the Naperville 4th Ward and will be a Zone Leader. So I'll be conducting Zone Conference and stuff like that. I also will be going on exchanges with District Leaders... Which means I'll be going on an exchange with a Spanish Elder! Weird. Anyways, the area sounds pretty good. I'll be with Elder Denter, who's a really good guy from Springville, Utah. The area covers some of Naperville and some of Aurora. I've come up with an Arizona comparison... It should be like a bean shaped area right around South Mountain; I'll have some rich, like Awhatooke (sorry for spelling) and then some incredibly Latino area, like South Phoenix around the Pointe (or as my tennis coach said, point-ee).
Elder Watson is coming here from South Shore (which is ghetto Chicago). He's a good guy and will do well here. [Side note -- Elder Watson came out from the MTC with Elder M. If you look back at those old pictures from the MTC, you can see him in them.] He also knew Kehaulani from home, which is pretty funny. [Elder Watson is from Hawaii.] Watseka is being closed down... No more missionaries there. Elder Bradsher is going to be in Hyde Park with Elder Philbrick (MTC Companion) for the Gladys Knight fireside. Pretty lucky, that's where I wanted to go. Elder Richmond is going to Stockyards to be with Elder Bird. There's going to be 4 missionaries in Stockyards again (once again because of Gladys Knight). Elder Thornhill is going to Bourbonnais to be with Hunt Jr and Elder Church is coming with me to Naperville. He'll be in Geneva, which is right next door. It's pretty wild about Watseka being closed. They're also closing 2 other areas. I don't think we're getting a single greenie this transfer, so our mission is shrinking pretty well now.
I'm going to miss Frankfort a lot. I was pretty upset when I got moved here from Stockyards, but am so glad I did. The Lord has blessed me, and the Branch, so much in the last 6 months. I'm a little nervous, but excited for my next opportunity to serve the Lord, the Naperville 4th Ward, and the Naperville Zone. I'll at least still get to work with President Fredin a lot... He comes to all of our meetings with the Stake Presidency and Mission President. I've been saying goodbyes, and will be visiting quite a few people today. Should be busy. I haven't done much to get packing, but will do that soon.
Anyways, I hope everyone's doing great at home! I'm sorry about your back Grandpa! I hope it gets feeling better, and will be praying for you. Have fun in Pioche Tay! I just saw some girl with a shirt that said "Tay Tay," and thought of ya. Have fun doing orchestra and jury duty Mom! I think you're the one in a million that probably will enjoy jury duty, so that's exciting! Thanks for Brother Baker's address, even if it took a year! Hahaha. [That was Caitlin, not me!!!]
Anyways, here's some of what has happened here this last week:
Last Wednesday was pretty good. After E Mailing, we went to Applebee's and ate some lunch there. Thanks for the gift card! After that, we went and played a round of frisbee golf. We're no longer very good, because we hadn't played in quite a while. After that, we stopped by a potential investigator, who wasn't home, and not much else.
Thursday was an awesome 3 meal day. We went over in the morning to help the Weichingers pull weeds. We told them we would if we could also share a full lesson with them. They upped the ante and gave us breakfast and lunch in addition to listening to the lesson, which went extremely well. Later in the day, we went to visit Austin Cramer with Chris Spencer. After having a lesson there, Chris took us over to teach Jim. Jim committed to driving Elder Hunt and I to church on Sunday (and almost followed through with it)! That evening, we went over to the Loftus home and taught Linda, JoAnne, and Christine (JoAnne's friend) the Plan of Salvation with President Carlson. It went quite well, and now Linda's reading the Book of Mormon, and is progressing! Awesome. We also played rummy over there (we had an FHE format for the meeting), and I got whooped.
Friday went well. I mailed a package home, and a package to Mooker. I sent him a Bears shirt and some other stuff. What's crazy is that it cost me about the same amount to send something to Germany as it did to send to Arizona. I think those flat rate boxes are bogus because the bag box thing I sent to Germany was about the same size. Other than that, we had a lot of awesome stuff happen. We were able to have the first new member lesson with Bob. He's doing so well, and has got such an incredibly bright future. After teaching Bob, we went over to teach Sharon and her son Kyle. Sharon is stopping smoking now, and will set a baptismal date when she's stopped for a week. Brother Vines sent her an awesome letter and challenged her to get to the temple. I think she's finally going to make some steps forward. We also visited Jim, a referral we got from Jacob Carlson, who turned out to be a religious fanatic. He's Christian, but believes the Old Testament is more legitimate than the New, and studies a lot of Hebrew. We had an interesting discussion, but he was not willing to pray and receive revelation from God about the Book of Mormon. After that, we went to the Portwoods' home for dinner. We had an excellent dinner and lesson there. Laura should be baptized pretty soon. They're moving, but they don't know where. If they end up staying here, I'll probably be able to go to it. If they move to Missouri, which is a possibility, that would be tough. As long as it's done, that's what matters though.
Saturday was pretty great! We started it off by going to visit the Browns. Megan is stopping smoking. Awesome. She's also getting a new job that will clear up her Sundays. Awesome. We should see them at church more, and see some good things as they progress to the point where Amber can be baptized. After that, Brother Giese took us out to lunch. After lunch, we went to visit Shirley, who's a super reclusive less active that lives in Manhattan. We had a good appointment there. Saturday evening is when the miracles started happening. I had felt for a while we needed to go visit the Bellus, a family of former investigators that is Nigerian. We went there and had a great visit. We ended up getting a return appointment to discuss the Restoration. Awesome. After that, we felt impressed to go visit some random less active who we doubt even lives at the address we've got. He wasn't home. The neat thing though, was we drove by a family that Elder Wiser and I tracted into's former home, we felt touched to stop by that house. We knocked and met a lady that had just moved in. It turns out her mother just died and she doesn't have a church around here. We taught the Plan of Salvation and made some big promises, and in turn watched her get washed by the Spirit. We got a return appointment and a solid new investigator / baptismal candidate!
Sunday was great! I was able to confer the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain Bob a Priest! That was pretty awesome, and went really well. Neither Brother Johnson or Brother Murphy were at church, so I got the opportunity to teach Sunday School with zero notice. We had Brother Fisher, from the High Council, there and also the Stake President's recently returned missionary son, so it went pretty well. They were here to speak in Sacrament meeting right after JoAnne! JoAnne gave a wonderful talk. Her mother also came to listen, and did pretty well at church. After church we had a wonderful MCM, and Brother Fisher praised the whole Branch, which is great since he's usually the MCM Nazi. He told us Frankfort is the most productive area in the whole Joliet Stake now! The whole Branch is doing great. We're having a ridiculous amount of people in MCM, which is pretty wild. We also got a ton of team teachers from the meeting. After church, we went over to the Cravens' for dinner. Both Brother Dupin and Brother Craven were out of town, so their wives pitched in together with some kids and made us dinner. It went really well, and was pretty fun. We helped them make study calendars, and caught bugs. They gave me 5 fireflys in a jar to keep in my room overnight. Awesome. That was pretty much it for the day.
Monday was pretty great. In the MCM, they asked what we needed... We told them breakfast and lunch appointments. We got a breakfast appointment from the Vines' Monday morning. It was a 5 course breakfast, and was stellar. After having a lesson over there, we went down to District Meeting. After District Meeting, we went to lunch, then went over to the Loftus home for a lesson. We took Sister Fredrick, who got along well with Linda, so that was great. After that, we went over to the Guymons' for dinner. They made us Edwardo's Pizza, which was great! I LOVE it. After a good time, and a lesson, there, we went over to the Greys' home for Family and Friend Home Evening. We had the Youngs and JoAnne over, and it went very well.
Tuesday was pretty wild. We started proselyting by going to Trish's home for a lesson. We took Sister Cammarata with us, and couldn't have gotten anyone better. Sister Cammarata is pretty much Trish in 15 years. Trish has a husband that is not supportive of her going to church. She wants to be baptized, and we're helping her work to that point now. It should go well. After lunch, we ended up going to Sharon's home. We had a good lesson, and she's going to progress now. After that, we went to the Murphy's for dinner. As we ate, I got a call from President Roach. They said it was ok to answer the call, so I did and got the transfer news. I was pretty surprised to hear what it was. After the dinner and lesson, we went over to the Youngs home. They had Anna over, and we had a pretty good lesson. We went through Romans 12, and some of the duties of Saints. At first I accidentally had us reading Romans 13, which is good, but not what we wanted to teach at all. Hahaha. I made some calls to people that evening to say thank you and goodbye. I'll be sad to leave Frankfort.
Today should be good. I've done laundry so far and will be packing. We've also got quite a few appointments to visit people that want to say goodbye. A couple families have requested your address, Mom and Dad, to write you a letter. Hopefully they're good.
Well, I've still got to write President Roach and have to get some pictures on here, so if you want to write me something really quick I'll probably see it. I love you all so much, and am grateful for everything you do for me. Take care!
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Mission Update -- 7/15/09
Good update this week. It will be fun to see if he is transfered next week. It sounds like he thinks he will be. He's been in Frankfort for 4 transfers now. Here's his email:
Hello Family,
Thanks for the line of authority! That's pretty cool seeing who's on there. Thank you Uncle John! He hasn't got the Priesthood yet, but will get it next Sunday (probably my last in Frankfort). [Brad had sent us an email a couple of days ago saying that he was going to ordain Bob a priest, so he wanted his priesthood line of authority. Ed's brother, John, had that information on hand, so he sent it to Brad.]
Also, thank you everyone for the birthday gifts! I really loved everything (especially the signature and picture of Slo-Mo...hahahaha)! [Slo-Mo is one of our Mission Beach "characters". We see him every year when we are on the beach, and this year we had him sign a birthday banner for Elder M. and took his picture holding the banner.]
Wow, Dad says I'm getting transferred to Indiana... The consensus here in the district is that I'm going right up to the heart of the South Side for this big Gladys Knight fireside we're having next month... It's supposedly going to bring in 1000 referrals for the mission (the amount we typically get over like 6+ months). It's going to be crazy. I've really felt like I'm going up there too, but we'll see. I really hope I don't go to Indiana, but if I do, I'll do all I can to make the work move on over there!
Ok, here's the answers to the questions Dad sent (some of which I've already answered...):
1: Did I get both T-Shirts? No! I only got the one that says Club Ed. I have no clue what happened to the one from the bottom of the canyon!
2: Have I given them away? No, but hopefully someone else is enjoying the one I never got.
3: Did I get the letters from the kids in Santa Fe? Yep! Thanks for sending them! I enjoyed them, and I have never got 14 letters in one day before I got all those!
5: Do I cheat in Frisbee Golf? I used to do jump shots, but found out that you're not allowed to within 10 meters of the basket. So the answer is not anymore!
6: Did I ever thank Mom for my birthday gifts? Yes.
8: How long has Elder Hunt been out? Next transfer is his last.
Alright, there you go! The questions have been answered.
It's pretty crazy... I've almost been out for a year! Time really has flown by. I've been in Frankfort for almost 6 months. I'm almost going into my 4th area. I've now been 'senior companion' for the majority of my mission. I'm getting OLD! It's kind of sad seeing that this really is going by so fast. I'm excited for what's coming up next though!
Alright, well enough of that. Thanks for letting me know what's been going on at home. I'm a little disappointed that yous all (that's what Chicagans say instead of "y'all") didn't make a pizza for my birthday! [We had told him that we were going to make Chicago style pizza on his birthday. We ended up not doing it because we're still looking for a deep dish pizza pan!] That's alright though. I had a pretty good birthday here. I'm glad that all's well for Caitlin. I'm also glad Savannah's service went well. Thank you Dad for sending me a program.
Ok, well here's some of what's been up here:
Last Wednesday we had Zone Activity! It was really fun! We played A LOT of basketball. After Zone Activity, we went out with President Fredin to visit Adam. Adam's a less active member, and we had a great meeting with him. We also tried to stop by some other less actives, but didn't have any luck.
Thursday was pretty neat. It was my Birthday! We went over to the church at 8 AM to help Denny DeLaney, who's the nonmember husband of a now active sister, chop down a huge tree. It was crazy. He brought a backhoe, a chain saw, and a dump truck. It still took 4 hours! Elder Hunt and I just loaded up the sticks as they fell. It went pretty well. After that, we had lunch and got ready, then went over to visit Sharon Kodatt. After that, I showered and we got ready for dinner! Dinner was great. Elder Hunt's got a picture, so I should send it soon. I got a rib eye steak, which was superb. After dinner, Brother Giese took us over to the Cravens, where we had a new member lesson.
Friday was pretty great. It was the last day before Bob's baptism, so we had a final lesson with him. It went well, and he was definitely ready. We had our planning session and lunch, then went to visit Joaquin, who hasn't been coming to church ever since the Elders Quorum made up a rides sheet. He's doing alright. We had a good visit about daily scripture study. After that, we went over for dinner and a lesson at the Vines' home. They're great. NASCAR was going really close, so we could hear them driving. It was pretty crazy. We also saw Tony Stewart's car at Office Depot in our area (he's a pretty good driver). After the Vines, we went over to the Weichingers and had a good visit there. We set up a return appointment, then went over to the Youngs' home. We had a great visit about daily scripture study again. We've been getting people to develop daily assignment calendars. I'm sending you your own very soon, so be prepared!
Saturday was great! Before Bob's baptism, we went really early to the church to let some sisters in to clean it. We also stayed, and helped them clean the church. After a few hours, people showed up for Bob's Baptism. Everyone came into the Relief Society room, where Brother Vines conducted. We had hymns, a prayer by Kehaulani, a talk by Brother Erickson, then dismissed for the baptismal room. Bob is a pretty big man, so we were a little worried about the baptism. Elder Hunt was definitely lent some power from on high, and the baptism was very smooth. We had a fairly recently reactivated brother that got the priesthood not long ago as a witness, so that was neat too. As Bob and Elder Hunt got changed, Christine Guymon (the girl from my classes at BYU) lead us in some hymns. When everyone was in, Brother Swenson gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and President Hunsaker gave a welcome. We then had a closing hymn, and a prayer by Sister Swenson. Pretty exciting day. After that, we had a cancelled appointment, and couldn't get much going until the evening, when Lisa Young called us and said she had someone over. Her brother was in town, so we went there for dinner, a lesson, and service. Lauren just got back from girls camp, and was a zombie. It was pretty funny. It reminds me of that time Caitlin stayed up all night at a sleep over, and Mom didn't let her go to a birthday party. Cait was saying all sorts of weird things, and had no clue she was delerious!
Sunday was really good. Actually, it was really really good. We had 90 people in sacrament meeting! That's wild. It included 4 investigators, 1 potential investigator, 4 recent converts, and a good chunk of less actives / recently reactivated members! President Hunsaker's daughter, Elizabeth, brought a friend... Which is pretty funny because he told me a few months ago the second coming (or something else that extreme) would happen before she brought someone to church. I wrote her a big congratulations letter inviting her to invite her friend to take the missionary lessons. It was pretty funny, but serious too and it went pretty well. After church, we had an incredible MCM... 7 members and us! That's pretty great. The whole Branch is going pretty wild because of all the success here. The month of June equalled the last 3 years totals for baptisms. July has come off to a great start. We've been getting referrals too! 4 in the month of July so far, including one that is incredible that happened later Sunday! Ok, so back to the narrative of the day. After church, we had lunch with Brother Giese. He fed us some Italian Beef, which is pretty much a staple of life here in Chicagoland. After lunch, JoAnne came back to church for a new member lesson with us and Brother Giese. After that, we taught the Swensons a lesson about daily scripture study and helped them make a daily scripture assignment calendar. Then, the unbelievable happened. JoAnne called us and said she got us an appointment to teach her mother! The lady that was anti for the longest time, but as a fulfillment to prophecy accepted JoAnnes conversion, is now investigating the church! We taught the Restoration, and it went really really really well! She's noticed the change in JoAnne, and accepted our message. She's going to read and pray, and now we've got a return appointment tomorrow night (where JoAnne's going to bring 2 friends, and we're going to bring President Carlson of the Stake Presidency)! It's pretty great.
Monday. Monday was alright. We had District Meeting, which went well. After that, we went to the Browns for an appointment, only to find Amber was at Six Flags and Megan was at lunch. Bummer. We came home and made some calls and stuff, and tried to get things going, but nothing much happened. We studied, and ate, and prepared for our next appointment. The next thing exciting that happened was us going down to Peotone. Jacob Carlson came and picked us up to go down there. It turns out non-member Jean's non-member Mother was in town, so we had a double duty lesson. We had a really great discussion about the Restoration, and she committed to call the number on a pass a long card to get a copy of the Book of Mormon (and thus, missionaries in the home). We had a great Chinese food dinner, and a good time. After that, we had the long drive home.
Tuesday was pretty great. We started it off with an appointment with Brother Forrest and JoAnne for a new member lesson. That went well. We had a couple cancelled appointments, so did some stop bys. We had a great visit and lesson with the athiest, David Cullinin. We got a return appointment, and it all went pretty well. After that, we went to the Spencers for a Mexican dinner. Brother Spencer is going to come with us for a new member lesson with the Cancialosis on Friday, and Chris Spencer is going to come with us for 2 lessons tomorrow, so we went over how to teach those for their lesson. After dinner, we went to go visit and teach the Witts. We had a good, if brief, lesson with Jordan Witt, who's not a member. After that, we went to visit and teach the Logsdons, which went quite well. After that, we stopped by Trish, who had investigated the church a while ago. We had a great lesson, and set up a return appointment. Awesome. At that point, it was time to go home.
Today should be good. We don't really have any plans, but I've got a load of laundry in, and already took a nap. We don't have any appointments for the evening, which is pretty unusual, but will probably call the Greys and visit them. Should be good.
Alright, well thank you all for all that you do. The Gospel is true, and I'm so privileged to be able to share it with all I can. I hope you pray for, prepare for, and step up when you have missionary opportunities. This really is the greatest work there is. I'm grateful for the Savior's love, and love to help others apply the Atonement to their lives. Take care and have a great week! Study the scriptures, and forever repent!
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
Hello Family,
Thanks for the line of authority! That's pretty cool seeing who's on there. Thank you Uncle John! He hasn't got the Priesthood yet, but will get it next Sunday (probably my last in Frankfort). [Brad had sent us an email a couple of days ago saying that he was going to ordain Bob a priest, so he wanted his priesthood line of authority. Ed's brother, John, had that information on hand, so he sent it to Brad.]
Also, thank you everyone for the birthday gifts! I really loved everything (especially the signature and picture of Slo-Mo...hahahaha)! [Slo-Mo is one of our Mission Beach "characters". We see him every year when we are on the beach, and this year we had him sign a birthday banner for Elder M. and took his picture holding the banner.]
Wow, Dad says I'm getting transferred to Indiana... The consensus here in the district is that I'm going right up to the heart of the South Side for this big Gladys Knight fireside we're having next month... It's supposedly going to bring in 1000 referrals for the mission (the amount we typically get over like 6+ months). It's going to be crazy. I've really felt like I'm going up there too, but we'll see. I really hope I don't go to Indiana, but if I do, I'll do all I can to make the work move on over there!
Ok, here's the answers to the questions Dad sent (some of which I've already answered...):
1: Did I get both T-Shirts? No! I only got the one that says Club Ed. I have no clue what happened to the one from the bottom of the canyon!
2: Have I given them away? No, but hopefully someone else is enjoying the one I never got.
3: Did I get the letters from the kids in Santa Fe? Yep! Thanks for sending them! I enjoyed them, and I have never got 14 letters in one day before I got all those!
5: Do I cheat in Frisbee Golf? I used to do jump shots, but found out that you're not allowed to within 10 meters of the basket. So the answer is not anymore!
6: Did I ever thank Mom for my birthday gifts? Yes.
8: How long has Elder Hunt been out? Next transfer is his last.
Alright, there you go! The questions have been answered.
It's pretty crazy... I've almost been out for a year! Time really has flown by. I've been in Frankfort for almost 6 months. I'm almost going into my 4th area. I've now been 'senior companion' for the majority of my mission. I'm getting OLD! It's kind of sad seeing that this really is going by so fast. I'm excited for what's coming up next though!
Alright, well enough of that. Thanks for letting me know what's been going on at home. I'm a little disappointed that yous all (that's what Chicagans say instead of "y'all") didn't make a pizza for my birthday! [We had told him that we were going to make Chicago style pizza on his birthday. We ended up not doing it because we're still looking for a deep dish pizza pan!] That's alright though. I had a pretty good birthday here. I'm glad that all's well for Caitlin. I'm also glad Savannah's service went well. Thank you Dad for sending me a program.
Ok, well here's some of what's been up here:
Last Wednesday we had Zone Activity! It was really fun! We played A LOT of basketball. After Zone Activity, we went out with President Fredin to visit Adam. Adam's a less active member, and we had a great meeting with him. We also tried to stop by some other less actives, but didn't have any luck.
Thursday was pretty neat. It was my Birthday! We went over to the church at 8 AM to help Denny DeLaney, who's the nonmember husband of a now active sister, chop down a huge tree. It was crazy. He brought a backhoe, a chain saw, and a dump truck. It still took 4 hours! Elder Hunt and I just loaded up the sticks as they fell. It went pretty well. After that, we had lunch and got ready, then went over to visit Sharon Kodatt. After that, I showered and we got ready for dinner! Dinner was great. Elder Hunt's got a picture, so I should send it soon. I got a rib eye steak, which was superb. After dinner, Brother Giese took us over to the Cravens, where we had a new member lesson.
Friday was pretty great. It was the last day before Bob's baptism, so we had a final lesson with him. It went well, and he was definitely ready. We had our planning session and lunch, then went to visit Joaquin, who hasn't been coming to church ever since the Elders Quorum made up a rides sheet. He's doing alright. We had a good visit about daily scripture study. After that, we went over for dinner and a lesson at the Vines' home. They're great. NASCAR was going really close, so we could hear them driving. It was pretty crazy. We also saw Tony Stewart's car at Office Depot in our area (he's a pretty good driver). After the Vines, we went over to the Weichingers and had a good visit there. We set up a return appointment, then went over to the Youngs' home. We had a great visit about daily scripture study again. We've been getting people to develop daily assignment calendars. I'm sending you your own very soon, so be prepared!
Saturday was great! Before Bob's baptism, we went really early to the church to let some sisters in to clean it. We also stayed, and helped them clean the church. After a few hours, people showed up for Bob's Baptism. Everyone came into the Relief Society room, where Brother Vines conducted. We had hymns, a prayer by Kehaulani, a talk by Brother Erickson, then dismissed for the baptismal room. Bob is a pretty big man, so we were a little worried about the baptism. Elder Hunt was definitely lent some power from on high, and the baptism was very smooth. We had a fairly recently reactivated brother that got the priesthood not long ago as a witness, so that was neat too. As Bob and Elder Hunt got changed, Christine Guymon (the girl from my classes at BYU) lead us in some hymns. When everyone was in, Brother Swenson gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and President Hunsaker gave a welcome. We then had a closing hymn, and a prayer by Sister Swenson. Pretty exciting day. After that, we had a cancelled appointment, and couldn't get much going until the evening, when Lisa Young called us and said she had someone over. Her brother was in town, so we went there for dinner, a lesson, and service. Lauren just got back from girls camp, and was a zombie. It was pretty funny. It reminds me of that time Caitlin stayed up all night at a sleep over, and Mom didn't let her go to a birthday party. Cait was saying all sorts of weird things, and had no clue she was delerious!
Sunday was really good. Actually, it was really really good. We had 90 people in sacrament meeting! That's wild. It included 4 investigators, 1 potential investigator, 4 recent converts, and a good chunk of less actives / recently reactivated members! President Hunsaker's daughter, Elizabeth, brought a friend... Which is pretty funny because he told me a few months ago the second coming (or something else that extreme) would happen before she brought someone to church. I wrote her a big congratulations letter inviting her to invite her friend to take the missionary lessons. It was pretty funny, but serious too and it went pretty well. After church, we had an incredible MCM... 7 members and us! That's pretty great. The whole Branch is going pretty wild because of all the success here. The month of June equalled the last 3 years totals for baptisms. July has come off to a great start. We've been getting referrals too! 4 in the month of July so far, including one that is incredible that happened later Sunday! Ok, so back to the narrative of the day. After church, we had lunch with Brother Giese. He fed us some Italian Beef, which is pretty much a staple of life here in Chicagoland. After lunch, JoAnne came back to church for a new member lesson with us and Brother Giese. After that, we taught the Swensons a lesson about daily scripture study and helped them make a daily scripture assignment calendar. Then, the unbelievable happened. JoAnne called us and said she got us an appointment to teach her mother! The lady that was anti for the longest time, but as a fulfillment to prophecy accepted JoAnnes conversion, is now investigating the church! We taught the Restoration, and it went really really really well! She's noticed the change in JoAnne, and accepted our message. She's going to read and pray, and now we've got a return appointment tomorrow night (where JoAnne's going to bring 2 friends, and we're going to bring President Carlson of the Stake Presidency)! It's pretty great.
Monday. Monday was alright. We had District Meeting, which went well. After that, we went to the Browns for an appointment, only to find Amber was at Six Flags and Megan was at lunch. Bummer. We came home and made some calls and stuff, and tried to get things going, but nothing much happened. We studied, and ate, and prepared for our next appointment. The next thing exciting that happened was us going down to Peotone. Jacob Carlson came and picked us up to go down there. It turns out non-member Jean's non-member Mother was in town, so we had a double duty lesson. We had a really great discussion about the Restoration, and she committed to call the number on a pass a long card to get a copy of the Book of Mormon (and thus, missionaries in the home). We had a great Chinese food dinner, and a good time. After that, we had the long drive home.
Tuesday was pretty great. We started it off with an appointment with Brother Forrest and JoAnne for a new member lesson. That went well. We had a couple cancelled appointments, so did some stop bys. We had a great visit and lesson with the athiest, David Cullinin. We got a return appointment, and it all went pretty well. After that, we went to the Spencers for a Mexican dinner. Brother Spencer is going to come with us for a new member lesson with the Cancialosis on Friday, and Chris Spencer is going to come with us for 2 lessons tomorrow, so we went over how to teach those for their lesson. After dinner, we went to go visit and teach the Witts. We had a good, if brief, lesson with Jordan Witt, who's not a member. After that, we went to visit and teach the Logsdons, which went quite well. After that, we stopped by Trish, who had investigated the church a while ago. We had a great lesson, and set up a return appointment. Awesome. At that point, it was time to go home.
Today should be good. We don't really have any plans, but I've got a load of laundry in, and already took a nap. We don't have any appointments for the evening, which is pretty unusual, but will probably call the Greys and visit them. Should be good.
Alright, well thank you all for all that you do. The Gospel is true, and I'm so privileged to be able to share it with all I can. I hope you pray for, prepare for, and step up when you have missionary opportunities. This really is the greatest work there is. I'm grateful for the Savior's love, and love to help others apply the Atonement to their lives. Take care and have a great week! Study the scriptures, and forever repent!
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Baptism on June 27, 2009
Elder Hunt, Elder McMullin and the Craven family. Brother Craven baptized his 2 oldest children.
Mission Update -- 7/8/09
Today is Elder M's sister, Caitlin's, birthday and tomorrow is Elder M's!! 20 years old as of 7/9/09. Here's his email for the week:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAITLIN!
Hello family,
It sounds like you've all had a pretty good week. How was your trip to the lake, Caitlin? Are you excited to go to Israel? I haven't sent Caitlin's gift yet, or Grandma's gift... But you should hopefully get them soon.
Well, my week has gone pretty well over here. I was sick for a few days, but am getting over the cold pretty well. The weather has been beautiful too. We've got Zone Activity soon, so this will probably be fairly short.
So, here's what happened here last week:
Wednesday was pretty good. We were down in Bourbonnais for P Day and hung out at some members house. It was really strange, they got fire bombed or something, because all of a sudden a tree in their yard was up in flames. There was a broken bottle too, so we figured it was a molotov cocktail. After leaving Bourbonnais, we came back to Frankfort and had dinner at Lisa Young's home. After that, we went with her to teach a new member lesson to the Cravens. After that, we went over to the church and played football with the youth, then came home.
Thursday was pretty good. We had a visit with Jim, Lisa Young's family again, JoAnne, then the Portwoods. The Portwoods were really late, so we sat in their hall for a long time before they got home. They're possibly moving to Missouri now!
Friday was great! We had Zone Conference in Naperville. John Guymon came to ZC, and gave us a ride there. It was pretty good, even if it was on the same topic that we've now had 4 times in a row! It's a good topic (becoming baptizing missionaries), but if they have it again next transfer, I think everyone will just get up and leave. After Zone Conference, the Swensons - Senior missionaries that work the office - took us to Wal Mart to get some bug spray (to kill the earwigs). After Zone Conference, we came back and helped move a fridge into Sharon's home. We taught her a lesson, then went and visited the Witts, then helped the Swensons develop a family mission plan.
Saturday was really rainy, but still good. We were going to go watch the parade in Mokena, but it was raining too bad, so we didn't. We pretty much spent the entire day at the Stachuras' home. They had a good chunk of the Branch over, and it was pretty fun.
Sunday was OK. I woke up feeling sick. We went to church, then came home and went to bed. We woke up for dinner with the Stiglers though. We had a great dinner over there, and got to meet the never-seen Mr Stigler, who's a really nice man. After dinner and a lesson there, we came home and went to bed. Oh yeah, they put me on the spot to teach a lesson in Elders Quorum too, which went pretty well.
Monday was better. I slept in, but still woke up feeling not so hot. We went over to Sister DeLaney's for lunch. After that, we went to an appointment we had with a media referral, but he had forgotten about it and wasn't home. After that, we went to District Meeting. That was all we did til the evening, when we went over to the Greys' for Family and Friend Home Evening, which went really well. They had us, JoAnne, and a new investigator over for a lesson, some food, and a game. After that, we went to bed.
Tuesday was pretty good. We had Bob's baptismal interview. The Zone Leaders came for that, and he passed with flying colors. After that, we visited Sharon. After that, we came back and slept for quite a long time. We woke up for dinner though, and had it at the Browns. They had some sort of family reunion too, so we got to teach some people we usually don't, and got a family to refer the Orland Park Elders too. Sweet. After that, we went to bed.
Now we're on today! Today is pretty good. I woke up great, and did some laundry, studying, and the normal morning stuff before coming here. We've got Zone Activity today, so that should be fun. We're going to play basketball and stuff at the Joliet Chapel. After that, we're going out with President Fredin to teach a few people.
Well, I hope you all have a great week! I hope the funeral goes well. Bob's baptism should be great. Elder Hunt is going to do the baptism, then I'm going to do the confirmation on Sunday. The Gospel is true, and I love you! Take care.
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAITLIN!
Hello family,
It sounds like you've all had a pretty good week. How was your trip to the lake, Caitlin? Are you excited to go to Israel? I haven't sent Caitlin's gift yet, or Grandma's gift... But you should hopefully get them soon.
Well, my week has gone pretty well over here. I was sick for a few days, but am getting over the cold pretty well. The weather has been beautiful too. We've got Zone Activity soon, so this will probably be fairly short.
So, here's what happened here last week:
Wednesday was pretty good. We were down in Bourbonnais for P Day and hung out at some members house. It was really strange, they got fire bombed or something, because all of a sudden a tree in their yard was up in flames. There was a broken bottle too, so we figured it was a molotov cocktail. After leaving Bourbonnais, we came back to Frankfort and had dinner at Lisa Young's home. After that, we went with her to teach a new member lesson to the Cravens. After that, we went over to the church and played football with the youth, then came home.
Thursday was pretty good. We had a visit with Jim, Lisa Young's family again, JoAnne, then the Portwoods. The Portwoods were really late, so we sat in their hall for a long time before they got home. They're possibly moving to Missouri now!
Friday was great! We had Zone Conference in Naperville. John Guymon came to ZC, and gave us a ride there. It was pretty good, even if it was on the same topic that we've now had 4 times in a row! It's a good topic (becoming baptizing missionaries), but if they have it again next transfer, I think everyone will just get up and leave. After Zone Conference, the Swensons - Senior missionaries that work the office - took us to Wal Mart to get some bug spray (to kill the earwigs). After Zone Conference, we came back and helped move a fridge into Sharon's home. We taught her a lesson, then went and visited the Witts, then helped the Swensons develop a family mission plan.
Saturday was really rainy, but still good. We were going to go watch the parade in Mokena, but it was raining too bad, so we didn't. We pretty much spent the entire day at the Stachuras' home. They had a good chunk of the Branch over, and it was pretty fun.
Sunday was OK. I woke up feeling sick. We went to church, then came home and went to bed. We woke up for dinner with the Stiglers though. We had a great dinner over there, and got to meet the never-seen Mr Stigler, who's a really nice man. After dinner and a lesson there, we came home and went to bed. Oh yeah, they put me on the spot to teach a lesson in Elders Quorum too, which went pretty well.
Monday was better. I slept in, but still woke up feeling not so hot. We went over to Sister DeLaney's for lunch. After that, we went to an appointment we had with a media referral, but he had forgotten about it and wasn't home. After that, we went to District Meeting. That was all we did til the evening, when we went over to the Greys' for Family and Friend Home Evening, which went really well. They had us, JoAnne, and a new investigator over for a lesson, some food, and a game. After that, we went to bed.
Tuesday was pretty good. We had Bob's baptismal interview. The Zone Leaders came for that, and he passed with flying colors. After that, we visited Sharon. After that, we came back and slept for quite a long time. We woke up for dinner though, and had it at the Browns. They had some sort of family reunion too, so we got to teach some people we usually don't, and got a family to refer the Orland Park Elders too. Sweet. After that, we went to bed.
Now we're on today! Today is pretty good. I woke up great, and did some laundry, studying, and the normal morning stuff before coming here. We've got Zone Activity today, so that should be fun. We're going to play basketball and stuff at the Joliet Chapel. After that, we're going out with President Fredin to teach a few people.
Well, I hope you all have a great week! I hope the funeral goes well. Bob's baptism should be great. Elder Hunt is going to do the baptism, then I'm going to do the confirmation on Sunday. The Gospel is true, and I love you! Take care.
Love,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Mission Update -- 7/1/09
Our family is going through a horrible, tragic, sad time right now -- our neice, Elder M's cousin, 13 year old Savannah McMullin, was killed in a car accident on June 27 and her parents and sisters were injured in the accident. We waited to get as much information about the condition of family members and on Monday the 29th, Ed called President Roach to tell him so that they could determine the best way to let Brad know about the accident. President Roach ended up calling him to tell him about it, and that is what Brad is referring to in his email below.
Hello Family,
Wow, I am sorry about the Gallup McMullins' tragic accident. I've been praying for the family's healing, and for Savanah as she takes this next step in her eternal progression. I hope that they get feeling better, and the funeral can be set up. I don't know if I told you this or not, but Kevin, Sharon's son, passed away about a week and a half ago. We've had the opportunity to comfort her in this hard time, and the Plan of Salvation really is great. It's infinitely easier to take comfort when a family has been blessed with temple covenants though.
Well, I'd like to thank you for the love and support! I got my birthday package from you, G&G, the other day, and am enjoying it. That book is some really nice light reading (Doctrines of Salvation). I'm not sure about light actually, but it is really good.
So, here's the update on the ridiculous Chicago weather. We just endured the coldest winter in a decade. Then we had the wettest spring in all recorded history. Then we were way hotter than normal, which was totally miserable. Now, we're having the coldest July 1st in 60 years!! And, there's earwigs everywhere because of all the rain. We kill about 2 of them every time we walk into our bathroom. One even crawled on my tooth brush, so I have to buy a new one today! They're crazy too. If you flush one down the toilet, it will come right back up. If you pour bleach on it, it will just swim right through it. We cut their heads off and everything, but are convinced we just keep killing the same 5 bugs. On a lighter note... We now have a ton of fireflies outside, which are really cool! (forgive the pun, please).
Well, it sounds like San Diego went well! It's pretty funny... I think every time you go to the beach, we have a baptism here. For JoAnne's, it was Florida. For the Cravens, it was San Diego. I don't think you should risk jinxing Bob's... Where can you go to the beach on July 11th?
Caitlin, how long are you staying in Israel? Are you staying with the Schurs? Take a lot of pictures please! And have fun!
Well, here's what happened here this week:
Wednesday was OK. We switched back companions in Bourbonnais, and sat in Wendy's for a really long time. After hanging out in Bourbonnais, we came back to New Lenox to have dinner with the Carlsons. They cooked us some Thai food. They had Matt over again, so we taught him the 3rd lesson, and extended some invitations (which made Sister Carlson the Younger's eyes perk up). Matt is really open, and is a great guy, but doesn't have a baptismal date yet.
Thursday was a pretty good day. It started off in the morning with a split! Elder Hunt went with Brother Swenson to visit the Browns, and I went with President Hunsaker to visit Sharon. We scheduled and planned Kevin's memorial service. It was pretty wild, as we were eating lunch about an hour and a half later, we got a call from someone asking about an invitation for the funeral they saw on facebook. Crazy. After that, we visited Jim, who told us he would come to church. He's finally saying he definitely will come, which is a huge improvement... Even if he never has come. My relationship has changed from me having a silly vendetta against this crazy guy that harasses missionaries, to me becoming a sincere friend, and wanting the best for Brother B. I really hope he comes to church at least once before I'm transferred. He needs it. That evening, we had dinner at the Foersters', then had Branch Council. Branch Council went well, like always, except for some reason the air wasn't on, and it was HOT. We really have to watch out what we pray for. "make it warm!" "please get Kevin out of Sharon's life, he's her stumbling block!" Those two were definitely answered in unanticipated ways. I guess that's why they say specific prayers are so much more powerful than general ones.
Friday was great. President Hunsaker went out with us to teach in the morning again. He is such a faithful and great leader in the Lord's Kingdom. He helped us discuss Bob's baptism. It went really well. Bob is excited, and set for the baptism. That day, we also visited the Vines family, and shared a lesson with them. We also had linner with Elder Bradsher and Elder Richmond, who were up in Joliet for the district leader meeting. They brought my birthday present from G&G! Thanks for the present yet again! I just realized I admitted I opened it like 2 weeks early. That's ok though, it's not like I'm going to have a party for my birthday or anything :). Although Brother Giese is going to take us out for steaks! (2 baptisms = steaks. I chose my birthday to go, so I could keep the steak streak alive). [Elder M always chooses steak for his birthday dinner -- since he was at least 7 years old, if not before.] Ok, so back to what happened on Friday. We had a last lesson with the Cravens. This is pretty great. We went to the Cravens home, and no one was there. We called them, and Sister Craven answered, yelling, "THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME! CAN I CALL YOU BACK?!?" It turns out Randy, the 5 year old, elbowed Kaden, the 11 year old, in the face, and gave him a huge black eye! They went to the minute clinic, and ended up quite late for their appointment. It was pretty funny, but Randy was in big trouble. Sister Craven went over the ABCs of repentance with him. Then she sent him to the corner, so I had to plead for Randy and say, "but Sister Craven, he repented." The lesson / baptismal prep & practice went well. After that, we visited the Weichingers, then Lisa Young and her family. Brett took out some stitches (he fell through a mirror when getting out of bed last week) with fingernail clippers. He also participated in the lesson quite a bit. After realizing it was getting very close to our curfew, we ran out, hopped in the car, and drove the speed limit home.
Saturday was really great! We played softball for quite a while in the morning. I forgot to put sunscreen on, so I looked like a tomato for the next couple days. After softball, we helped JoAnne create a mission plan. (How is yours by the way? President Egbert told me that all families are expected to develop family mission plans. I think that's great. That's what we've done here the last few months. We had 1 referral in the 1st Quarter of 09, but then saw a ridiculous spike and had something like 6 for the 2nd! They definitely work.) One of JoAnne's weekly goals is to bring a friend to church with her. She's also planning on having at least one friend start taking lessons per month. Doing baptisms for the dead is another monthly goal. JoAnne is quite the achiever, and is doing very well. She's now visiting teaching, and being visiting taught. We're quite excited for her progress. So anyways, back to what we did on Saturday. We ate some lunch, then got ready, then went over to the church to get ready for the baptism. The baptism went really well. We had a great turnout. We even had President & Sister Roach come, which was nice because the Cravens initially found the church through a mission president in California! Sister Craven was beaming the whole time. This is what she's been praying for for quite a while. James did a great job, as did Garrett and black eyed Kaden. After the baptism, we went home to help the Swensons develop a family mission plan. They ended up watching the news, so we just read in our room. I've been reading that Doctrines of Salvation a lot lately.
Sunday was a good day. We went to church an hour early for a second session of Branch Council, which went well. After that, we had sacrament meeting. We heard some stellar talks. The rest of church went well. James did a great job confirming Kaden and Garrett. After MCM, we went over to the Ericksons for lunch. They know I love jello with bananas (it has to have bananas), so we had that and quiche. We don't get quiche very often, which is too bad, because it was really good. After sharing a message with them, we went over to the Cravens' open house. We had a good time over there. I was playing soccer with the boys indoors... with giant bouncy balls... which was fun, and nice for them because that's pretty much the only way they can get away with it. I'm getting pretty good at saying, "aw come on Sister Craven, we won't break anything!" [Sounds like what he used to say to me!!] After that, we hurried over to the church to meet up with Brother Forrest to go out and teach people. We went over to Sister DeLaney's home, and had a great visit there. After that, we went over to the Greys' home for dinner and a lesson. The Greys are really nice.
Monday was a pretty unique day. We started it off by going over to the Browns for a lesson with Brother Johnson. Amber was out of control [fussy]. We had a good visit with her mom though, and are going to help her stop smoking now. During our appointment at the Browns, we missed a call from President Roach, and got a message saying he needed to visit with me. There's only two reasons for a call like that - You're in big trouble, or something really bad happened. I couldn't think of anything President would get upset about, so I had a pretty nervous day. After visiting the Browns, we visited Sharon, and gave her a blessing. After that, we came home to get ready for Kevin's memorial. Right before we left, President Roach called and gave me the news about the McMullin family. They are in his prayers and mine. After throwing on some black ties, we left to be ushers at Kevin's service. It went really well. There were over 100 people packed into the Branch Assembly Room. 2 of Kevin's friends spoke, and President Hunsaker gave a touching sermon on the Plan of Salvation. Everyone left the building enlightened, and hopeful. Hopefully they will search for more truths that have been Restored in these Latter Days. After we cleaned up the church, the Greys took us and the Ericksons to Chili's for dinner. It was pretty funny eating Monday night dinner with the 2 families that fed us on Sunday. The dinner was great too.
Tuesday was pretty lame. We had 4 canceled lesson appointments. BUT, we had a great one with the Cancialosis! We took Brother Swenson with us to discuss the priesthood, and what Bob's role will be when he's ordained. We also filled out paper work and set up his baptismal program. Elder Hunt is going to baptize Bob, and I'm going to confirm him. He'll be a great asset for the Frankfort Branch.
Today should be pretty good. We're going to go down to Bourbonnais since we all have new miles. We also got some great news this morning. Sister DeLaney called us and asked for our dinner schedule. She's been called as the missionary dinner mom! We asked for someone to do that on Sunday, and President Hunsaker really hopped on it! She's going to get us dinner / lesson opportunities with less active and part member families, which will be great. This evening we've got an appointment with a part less active family... Lisa Young. After dinner and a lesson there, Lisa's going to come with us to share a new member lesson with the Cravens! It should be a good day.
Well, I hope you all are doing well. We certainly are here. I'm loving my time serving the Lord (I just hit 11 months actually), and am growing so much. I've learned so much here in Frankfort. There are so many incredible members here that have taught me a lot, and I've also had a great opportunity to personally study the Gospel. I've been going super in depth with the Book of Mormon my whole mission, and am about to finish it. It looks like a rainbow on every page. Every color and marking means something though! I've also been doing it to the Doctrine and Covenants and the New Testament, which has slowed down my reading significantly. It gets really tedious sometimes going through it like this, but I've been setting up a foundation for my lifelong scripture studies. I've also had the wonderful opportunity to read some other great doctrinal books, and am now moving along in the Joseph Smith lesson manual, and Doctrines of Salvation.
Take care family! HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY CAITLIN AND GRANDMA! I can't believe you're almost 17 Cater, and still look like you're 27 Grandma!! I love you both so much! Well, take care! Until next week...
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
PS I'll send you pictures soon.
Hello Family,
Wow, I am sorry about the Gallup McMullins' tragic accident. I've been praying for the family's healing, and for Savanah as she takes this next step in her eternal progression. I hope that they get feeling better, and the funeral can be set up. I don't know if I told you this or not, but Kevin, Sharon's son, passed away about a week and a half ago. We've had the opportunity to comfort her in this hard time, and the Plan of Salvation really is great. It's infinitely easier to take comfort when a family has been blessed with temple covenants though.
Well, I'd like to thank you for the love and support! I got my birthday package from you, G&G, the other day, and am enjoying it. That book is some really nice light reading (Doctrines of Salvation). I'm not sure about light actually, but it is really good.
So, here's the update on the ridiculous Chicago weather. We just endured the coldest winter in a decade. Then we had the wettest spring in all recorded history. Then we were way hotter than normal, which was totally miserable. Now, we're having the coldest July 1st in 60 years!! And, there's earwigs everywhere because of all the rain. We kill about 2 of them every time we walk into our bathroom. One even crawled on my tooth brush, so I have to buy a new one today! They're crazy too. If you flush one down the toilet, it will come right back up. If you pour bleach on it, it will just swim right through it. We cut their heads off and everything, but are convinced we just keep killing the same 5 bugs. On a lighter note... We now have a ton of fireflies outside, which are really cool! (forgive the pun, please).
Well, it sounds like San Diego went well! It's pretty funny... I think every time you go to the beach, we have a baptism here. For JoAnne's, it was Florida. For the Cravens, it was San Diego. I don't think you should risk jinxing Bob's... Where can you go to the beach on July 11th?
Caitlin, how long are you staying in Israel? Are you staying with the Schurs? Take a lot of pictures please! And have fun!
Well, here's what happened here this week:
Wednesday was OK. We switched back companions in Bourbonnais, and sat in Wendy's for a really long time. After hanging out in Bourbonnais, we came back to New Lenox to have dinner with the Carlsons. They cooked us some Thai food. They had Matt over again, so we taught him the 3rd lesson, and extended some invitations (which made Sister Carlson the Younger's eyes perk up). Matt is really open, and is a great guy, but doesn't have a baptismal date yet.
Thursday was a pretty good day. It started off in the morning with a split! Elder Hunt went with Brother Swenson to visit the Browns, and I went with President Hunsaker to visit Sharon. We scheduled and planned Kevin's memorial service. It was pretty wild, as we were eating lunch about an hour and a half later, we got a call from someone asking about an invitation for the funeral they saw on facebook. Crazy. After that, we visited Jim, who told us he would come to church. He's finally saying he definitely will come, which is a huge improvement... Even if he never has come. My relationship has changed from me having a silly vendetta against this crazy guy that harasses missionaries, to me becoming a sincere friend, and wanting the best for Brother B. I really hope he comes to church at least once before I'm transferred. He needs it. That evening, we had dinner at the Foersters', then had Branch Council. Branch Council went well, like always, except for some reason the air wasn't on, and it was HOT. We really have to watch out what we pray for. "make it warm!" "please get Kevin out of Sharon's life, he's her stumbling block!" Those two were definitely answered in unanticipated ways. I guess that's why they say specific prayers are so much more powerful than general ones.
Friday was great. President Hunsaker went out with us to teach in the morning again. He is such a faithful and great leader in the Lord's Kingdom. He helped us discuss Bob's baptism. It went really well. Bob is excited, and set for the baptism. That day, we also visited the Vines family, and shared a lesson with them. We also had linner with Elder Bradsher and Elder Richmond, who were up in Joliet for the district leader meeting. They brought my birthday present from G&G! Thanks for the present yet again! I just realized I admitted I opened it like 2 weeks early. That's ok though, it's not like I'm going to have a party for my birthday or anything :). Although Brother Giese is going to take us out for steaks! (2 baptisms = steaks. I chose my birthday to go, so I could keep the steak streak alive). [Elder M always chooses steak for his birthday dinner -- since he was at least 7 years old, if not before.] Ok, so back to what happened on Friday. We had a last lesson with the Cravens. This is pretty great. We went to the Cravens home, and no one was there. We called them, and Sister Craven answered, yelling, "THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME! CAN I CALL YOU BACK?!?" It turns out Randy, the 5 year old, elbowed Kaden, the 11 year old, in the face, and gave him a huge black eye! They went to the minute clinic, and ended up quite late for their appointment. It was pretty funny, but Randy was in big trouble. Sister Craven went over the ABCs of repentance with him. Then she sent him to the corner, so I had to plead for Randy and say, "but Sister Craven, he repented." The lesson / baptismal prep & practice went well. After that, we visited the Weichingers, then Lisa Young and her family. Brett took out some stitches (he fell through a mirror when getting out of bed last week) with fingernail clippers. He also participated in the lesson quite a bit. After realizing it was getting very close to our curfew, we ran out, hopped in the car, and drove the speed limit home.
Saturday was really great! We played softball for quite a while in the morning. I forgot to put sunscreen on, so I looked like a tomato for the next couple days. After softball, we helped JoAnne create a mission plan. (How is yours by the way? President Egbert told me that all families are expected to develop family mission plans. I think that's great. That's what we've done here the last few months. We had 1 referral in the 1st Quarter of 09, but then saw a ridiculous spike and had something like 6 for the 2nd! They definitely work.) One of JoAnne's weekly goals is to bring a friend to church with her. She's also planning on having at least one friend start taking lessons per month. Doing baptisms for the dead is another monthly goal. JoAnne is quite the achiever, and is doing very well. She's now visiting teaching, and being visiting taught. We're quite excited for her progress. So anyways, back to what we did on Saturday. We ate some lunch, then got ready, then went over to the church to get ready for the baptism. The baptism went really well. We had a great turnout. We even had President & Sister Roach come, which was nice because the Cravens initially found the church through a mission president in California! Sister Craven was beaming the whole time. This is what she's been praying for for quite a while. James did a great job, as did Garrett and black eyed Kaden. After the baptism, we went home to help the Swensons develop a family mission plan. They ended up watching the news, so we just read in our room. I've been reading that Doctrines of Salvation a lot lately.
Sunday was a good day. We went to church an hour early for a second session of Branch Council, which went well. After that, we had sacrament meeting. We heard some stellar talks. The rest of church went well. James did a great job confirming Kaden and Garrett. After MCM, we went over to the Ericksons for lunch. They know I love jello with bananas (it has to have bananas), so we had that and quiche. We don't get quiche very often, which is too bad, because it was really good. After sharing a message with them, we went over to the Cravens' open house. We had a good time over there. I was playing soccer with the boys indoors... with giant bouncy balls... which was fun, and nice for them because that's pretty much the only way they can get away with it. I'm getting pretty good at saying, "aw come on Sister Craven, we won't break anything!" [Sounds like what he used to say to me!!] After that, we hurried over to the church to meet up with Brother Forrest to go out and teach people. We went over to Sister DeLaney's home, and had a great visit there. After that, we went over to the Greys' home for dinner and a lesson. The Greys are really nice.
Monday was a pretty unique day. We started it off by going over to the Browns for a lesson with Brother Johnson. Amber was out of control [fussy]. We had a good visit with her mom though, and are going to help her stop smoking now. During our appointment at the Browns, we missed a call from President Roach, and got a message saying he needed to visit with me. There's only two reasons for a call like that - You're in big trouble, or something really bad happened. I couldn't think of anything President would get upset about, so I had a pretty nervous day. After visiting the Browns, we visited Sharon, and gave her a blessing. After that, we came home to get ready for Kevin's memorial. Right before we left, President Roach called and gave me the news about the McMullin family. They are in his prayers and mine. After throwing on some black ties, we left to be ushers at Kevin's service. It went really well. There were over 100 people packed into the Branch Assembly Room. 2 of Kevin's friends spoke, and President Hunsaker gave a touching sermon on the Plan of Salvation. Everyone left the building enlightened, and hopeful. Hopefully they will search for more truths that have been Restored in these Latter Days. After we cleaned up the church, the Greys took us and the Ericksons to Chili's for dinner. It was pretty funny eating Monday night dinner with the 2 families that fed us on Sunday. The dinner was great too.
Tuesday was pretty lame. We had 4 canceled lesson appointments. BUT, we had a great one with the Cancialosis! We took Brother Swenson with us to discuss the priesthood, and what Bob's role will be when he's ordained. We also filled out paper work and set up his baptismal program. Elder Hunt is going to baptize Bob, and I'm going to confirm him. He'll be a great asset for the Frankfort Branch.
Today should be pretty good. We're going to go down to Bourbonnais since we all have new miles. We also got some great news this morning. Sister DeLaney called us and asked for our dinner schedule. She's been called as the missionary dinner mom! We asked for someone to do that on Sunday, and President Hunsaker really hopped on it! She's going to get us dinner / lesson opportunities with less active and part member families, which will be great. This evening we've got an appointment with a part less active family... Lisa Young. After dinner and a lesson there, Lisa's going to come with us to share a new member lesson with the Cravens! It should be a good day.
Well, I hope you all are doing well. We certainly are here. I'm loving my time serving the Lord (I just hit 11 months actually), and am growing so much. I've learned so much here in Frankfort. There are so many incredible members here that have taught me a lot, and I've also had a great opportunity to personally study the Gospel. I've been going super in depth with the Book of Mormon my whole mission, and am about to finish it. It looks like a rainbow on every page. Every color and marking means something though! I've also been doing it to the Doctrine and Covenants and the New Testament, which has slowed down my reading significantly. It gets really tedious sometimes going through it like this, but I've been setting up a foundation for my lifelong scripture studies. I've also had the wonderful opportunity to read some other great doctrinal books, and am now moving along in the Joseph Smith lesson manual, and Doctrines of Salvation.
Take care family! HAPPY ALMOST BIRTHDAY CAITLIN AND GRANDMA! I can't believe you're almost 17 Cater, and still look like you're 27 Grandma!! I love you both so much! Well, take care! Until next week...
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
PS I'll send you pictures soon.
Mission Update -- 6/24/09
We received this email while we were in San Diego on vacation, so it's taken a while to post it. Sounds like Chicago was beyond miserable (hot and humid) that week! Here's the email:
Hello Family,
I hope you're having a good time at the beach!!! I sure hope it's nice out there, because it is miserable here! It's been in the 90's with 90% humidity! You pour sweat even walking from the car to a house, let a lone teaching people at doorsteps! Good news though - The Swensons let us put an air conditioner in our home!
So how is the beach this year? Is everyone boogie boarding? Playing baseball? Are the Bentzs and Johnstons there this year? I'm assuming the Piochers are. Tell everyone hi!
Well, this last week has been pretty good, other than it being gross outside. Spring is over. We apparently had the wettest Spring in recorded Chicago history!!!! It's rained SO MUCH! It still rains, but has mostly just gotten hellishly humid. It's not that hot, it's just gross in a suit. Ok, I'm done complaining about that... Here's what we did for the week:
Wednesday after we emailed was pretty good! The whole district came up to frisbee golf. We did best disc teams. My teammate and I shot -10, which is not too bad. After playing frisbee golf (which is just like golf, but with frisbees. Instead of holes, there are metal baskets that you toss them into), we went over to the Cammaratas for dinner. We committed Tony to baptism again, but he's still not ready (hahaha). We had a good Italian roast, pasta, ice cream cake, and lesson. After that, we went over to Lisa Young's for a lesson, which went well. We had JoAnne over there too, and went over parables.
Thursday was pretty great! We had a good lesson with the Browns in the morning, then visited Sharon, then visited Jim, then did some planning, then got ready for the evening. We went over to the Carlsons for dinner, then went out to teach with President Carlson, but didn't get the chance with anyone, so we went to the Weichingers' home to teach them after he left for a meeting.
Friday was great too. We had an early morning meeting at the Vines' home, then went over to the Cancialosis' to teach Bob. He changed his baptismal date to July 11th, and is excited to enter the waters of baptism! We're excited for him too! After that, we came home to put the air conditioner in... The Swensons work at the temple on Fridays, so this was our chance. We put it in, got it all set up, then stood in front of it for a long time. After this, we went back out to sweat, and ended up teaching a lesson to an atheist, and got a return appointment. He didn't believe in God, but was quite open to finding out if he exists through reading the Book of Mormon. It went really well actually. After that, we went over to the Cravens' for dinner, and had a good lesson there. It started raining and storming like crazy when we were over there, so we stayed there for a while. There were tornado watches and stuff near by, so it was pretty crazy. They're excited for the baptism too, as are we!
Saturday was pretty good. It was still pretty nasty out, and crazy humid and hot. We just could not set any appointments up, so we deep cleaned our room. It looks so good now! Later in the afternoon, we taught Joaquin, then went over with him and some other people for a cookout at Lisa Young's. It was really good and really fun. That was pretty much it for the day.
Sunday was a very mixed day. We had a pretty good time at church, and had a linger longer. Then we got some bad news. Kevin (Sharon's son) got hit by a train and was killed. We went over to Sharon's to see what we could do and to discuss the Plan of Salvation. It's pretty sad, but she is very comforted by the Plan. She's hanging in there, but the whole family could use a lot of prayers. After that, we went over to the Carlsons for dinner, games, and a lesson. That was quite fun, and was the last thing we did for the day. It was really weird... It started raining there when we were eating, but was only raining in the front yard. The back yard was totally dry! Weirdest thing ever. Well, here's a late Happy Fathers Day to you Dad and Grandpa! Did you both get the cards I sent you??
Monday was as good as can be. We had a district meeting in the morning which went well. It was hot as heck, so we went to McDonald's for ice cream and lunch... Only to find out their ice cream machine was broken!! Lame. After that, Elder Richmond came back to Frankfort with me (to do the Cravens' interviews). We visited Sharon (who is doing much better now than she was on Sunday), then JoAnne. After those lessons, we went over to the Fredricks' home for dinner, and to help them create a family mission plan. After that, we went over to Lisa Young's home. They're pretty upset about Kevin's death too. Monday wasn't a very happy day overall.
Tuesday was really great! We had a ton of appointments, which was awesome... Especially because it was the hottest and most humid day ever. We started off by having a lesson with the Cancialosis. Bob's excited for his baptism. After that, we ate some Wendy's for lunch, then went over to Joaquin's. After that, we took him with us to go to Austin's (he's a less active). After that, we took Joaquin with us to go visit the atheist, but it turns out the atheist wasn't home. Bummer. Joaquin told us he did that a lot too when he was first investigating the church, which makes me laugh. After that, we talked to Sharon, then went and stood in front of our air conditioner. We got ready, then went over the Cravens for their baptismal interview and lesson. After that, we went over to the Murphys' for hamburgers and banana splits! That was one of the best desserts I've ever had on my mission. After that, we went over to the Portwoods' for a lesson. It went well enough for them to give us some really good eclair cake. Yum. I'm getting so fat.
Today should be great. We're going to go down to Bourbonnais soon to switch back and to do whatever. Maybe mini golf. After coming back, we've got an appointment for dinner and a lesson with an investigator. Sweet.
Well, you take care! I'm loving my mission. It's great to serve the Lord full time. He's blessed us so much, and I'm grateful for that.
With love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Hello Family,
I hope you're having a good time at the beach!!! I sure hope it's nice out there, because it is miserable here! It's been in the 90's with 90% humidity! You pour sweat even walking from the car to a house, let a lone teaching people at doorsteps! Good news though - The Swensons let us put an air conditioner in our home!
So how is the beach this year? Is everyone boogie boarding? Playing baseball? Are the Bentzs and Johnstons there this year? I'm assuming the Piochers are. Tell everyone hi!
Well, this last week has been pretty good, other than it being gross outside. Spring is over. We apparently had the wettest Spring in recorded Chicago history!!!! It's rained SO MUCH! It still rains, but has mostly just gotten hellishly humid. It's not that hot, it's just gross in a suit. Ok, I'm done complaining about that... Here's what we did for the week:
Wednesday after we emailed was pretty good! The whole district came up to frisbee golf. We did best disc teams. My teammate and I shot -10, which is not too bad. After playing frisbee golf (which is just like golf, but with frisbees. Instead of holes, there are metal baskets that you toss them into), we went over to the Cammaratas for dinner. We committed Tony to baptism again, but he's still not ready (hahaha). We had a good Italian roast, pasta, ice cream cake, and lesson. After that, we went over to Lisa Young's for a lesson, which went well. We had JoAnne over there too, and went over parables.
Thursday was pretty great! We had a good lesson with the Browns in the morning, then visited Sharon, then visited Jim, then did some planning, then got ready for the evening. We went over to the Carlsons for dinner, then went out to teach with President Carlson, but didn't get the chance with anyone, so we went to the Weichingers' home to teach them after he left for a meeting.
Friday was great too. We had an early morning meeting at the Vines' home, then went over to the Cancialosis' to teach Bob. He changed his baptismal date to July 11th, and is excited to enter the waters of baptism! We're excited for him too! After that, we came home to put the air conditioner in... The Swensons work at the temple on Fridays, so this was our chance. We put it in, got it all set up, then stood in front of it for a long time. After this, we went back out to sweat, and ended up teaching a lesson to an atheist, and got a return appointment. He didn't believe in God, but was quite open to finding out if he exists through reading the Book of Mormon. It went really well actually. After that, we went over to the Cravens' for dinner, and had a good lesson there. It started raining and storming like crazy when we were over there, so we stayed there for a while. There were tornado watches and stuff near by, so it was pretty crazy. They're excited for the baptism too, as are we!
Saturday was pretty good. It was still pretty nasty out, and crazy humid and hot. We just could not set any appointments up, so we deep cleaned our room. It looks so good now! Later in the afternoon, we taught Joaquin, then went over with him and some other people for a cookout at Lisa Young's. It was really good and really fun. That was pretty much it for the day.
Sunday was a very mixed day. We had a pretty good time at church, and had a linger longer. Then we got some bad news. Kevin (Sharon's son) got hit by a train and was killed. We went over to Sharon's to see what we could do and to discuss the Plan of Salvation. It's pretty sad, but she is very comforted by the Plan. She's hanging in there, but the whole family could use a lot of prayers. After that, we went over to the Carlsons for dinner, games, and a lesson. That was quite fun, and was the last thing we did for the day. It was really weird... It started raining there when we were eating, but was only raining in the front yard. The back yard was totally dry! Weirdest thing ever. Well, here's a late Happy Fathers Day to you Dad and Grandpa! Did you both get the cards I sent you??
Monday was as good as can be. We had a district meeting in the morning which went well. It was hot as heck, so we went to McDonald's for ice cream and lunch... Only to find out their ice cream machine was broken!! Lame. After that, Elder Richmond came back to Frankfort with me (to do the Cravens' interviews). We visited Sharon (who is doing much better now than she was on Sunday), then JoAnne. After those lessons, we went over to the Fredricks' home for dinner, and to help them create a family mission plan. After that, we went over to Lisa Young's home. They're pretty upset about Kevin's death too. Monday wasn't a very happy day overall.
Tuesday was really great! We had a ton of appointments, which was awesome... Especially because it was the hottest and most humid day ever. We started off by having a lesson with the Cancialosis. Bob's excited for his baptism. After that, we ate some Wendy's for lunch, then went over to Joaquin's. After that, we took him with us to go to Austin's (he's a less active). After that, we took Joaquin with us to go visit the atheist, but it turns out the atheist wasn't home. Bummer. Joaquin told us he did that a lot too when he was first investigating the church, which makes me laugh. After that, we talked to Sharon, then went and stood in front of our air conditioner. We got ready, then went over the Cravens for their baptismal interview and lesson. After that, we went over to the Murphys' for hamburgers and banana splits! That was one of the best desserts I've ever had on my mission. After that, we went over to the Portwoods' for a lesson. It went well enough for them to give us some really good eclair cake. Yum. I'm getting so fat.
Today should be great. We're going to go down to Bourbonnais soon to switch back and to do whatever. Maybe mini golf. After coming back, we've got an appointment for dinner and a lesson with an investigator. Sweet.
Well, you take care! I'm loving my mission. It's great to serve the Lord full time. He's blessed us so much, and I'm grateful for that.
With love,
Elder Bradley Edward McMullin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)