Elder McMullin, David's dad (also named David), David, Elder Denter and Elder Williams after David's baptism.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Another Baptism in the Naperville 4th Ward!!
Elder McMullin, David, Elder Williams and Elder Denter at David's baptism on August 22, 2009.
Mission Update -- 8/26/09
Another great week in the Naperville 4th Ward and Naperville Zone! Here's Elder M's email for the week:
Hello Family,
How are you doing? Hopefully well. Dad, if you can, will you please make up a package to give that Naperville lawyer to give me? I can't think of a better way to give us a potential investigator! Seriously. Happy early birthday, Grandpa! I'll send you something soon.
Well, we've had an incredibly eventful week. Thanks for the prayers... They really helped make it a good week. Here's what happened:
Wednesday was pretty good! We had Zone Activity. We went over to Phillips Park, which is in Aurora, to play volleyball and football. It was pretty fun, even if our Zone is pretty small. After that, we came home for some splits. Elder Denter went with Corky Clark to visit the Zacas, and I went with Brother Mitchell to go to the Gamboas. The Gamboas weren't home (a relative had a baby), so we went to stop by David. This is when the stress came. David told us that he had got in a fight with his parents, and they said he couldn't be baptized. We scrapped our lesson plan, and quickly set up a meeting with the family for the next day. We set it up with a high councilman that used to be the Bishop of the Spanish Ward to come and talk to David's parents the next day. They speak mostly Spanish, so Brother Osorio was perfect to bring the next day. After this, we met back with Elder Denter, and told him the news. He was pretty shocked. We then started praying. That night, we split with the Assistants... They started praying too.
The next day was pretty good too. I was with Elder Aragon, who is from Phoenix. He went to Central High School, and worked in the building to the north of the AIG building right by Dad's office. Pretty funny. He never went to Pino's either! Well, we spent a lot of our day in the mission office. There was a lot of work to do to organize the statistics and results from the Gladys Knight referrals. We were there for a long time. After that, we went home for lunch and some Zone review discussion. The Naperville Zone is doing incredibly well. August has already been the most productive month of the year by a considerable amount. We hope September can be just as good. We're already starting to get baptisms planned for September, so things are looking good. Anyways, after the review, we went out to do some stop bys. We didn't get much, but had a pretty funny conversation with an investigator's wife. She tried to refer us to all of her "rude neighbors" who needed the Gospel. She also tried to refer us to a homeless protester that is annoying everyone in Naperville. He's been sitting outside in downtown Naperville, which is a lot like downtown Tempe, for quite some time. After getting those "referrals" (one of them actually had referred the missionaries to this woman's home, and said she really needed to hear the Gospel), we left for dinner. We had dinner at a really nice family's home. The Herberts cooked us a country dinner, which was great. After that, we went back to meet with our companions. It turns out that the meeting with David's family went pretty well. Brother Osorio did a great job. David's dad was ok with baptism, but his mom was still not for it. They got an appointment for us to go Friday.
Friday was great! We had an appointment with Jeremy pretty early in the morning. We discussed charity and service. Jeremy is doing very well. After that, we went to District Meeting and President's Interviews over at the mission office. That went well. After that, we drove over to Aurora to discuss David's baptism. The Lopez family wasn't there at first, so we taught one of their neighboors. They soon came home, so we met with David and his parents. We talked with them for a while, and explained how the church fully supports children respecting parents. They liked it, and both agreed to let David get baptized! It was really awesome. They both even talked about coming to the baptism and church. After that, we mini-split with Elder Sorensen. Elder Denter went to an appointment, which cancelled, and I took Elder Sorensen to interview David. He passed, and it was good. After we got our companions back, we went to visit Amanda. She's still unsure about surgery, but it should be figured out soon. We had a good lesson though. After that, we went to the hospital to visit Mike C, who is a not really recent convert that we meet with regularly. He had to go in for some gall bladder surgery. After that, we went to dinner at the Eldredges' home. We had a good dinner and lesson there to end the day.
Saturday was awesome. We went to an 8 year old's baptism at 10, then got ready for David's baptism. His father came to the baptism. I gave one talk, and Brother Osorio gave the other. Brother Osorio pretty much just challenged David's father to learn about the church, and prepare to join it. It was awesome. The Spirit was there really strong, and it was a great baptism. After that, we went to a ward party for a good chunk of the rest of the day. We had an appointment, but it cancelled on us. We played volleyball and softball in our shirts and ties... It was pretty silly, but fun.
Sunday was productive. We had PEC and Ward Council in the morning, which went well. It's always fun to wake up at 5:30 AM... After those, we went to Aurora to show people where church was. We had 2 investigators at church. We had Kim, who we've been teaching with some young women, and David's mom! Church went really well. After church, we went to visit Mike C again. He's doing well, and is already at home. After visiting Mike, we went to teach Kim. We had a pretty good lesson. It was pretty neat... The girls had been talking about scripture reading the day before, then in Young Women they talked about prayer, then we covered both of those topics in our lesson. They liked it, and we should hopefully see some good things happen there. After that, we went to the La Plants' home for dinner. They're a really great family, and cooked us some good dinner. They had to run to a seminary fireside, so we didn't have a lesson there, but it was still good. After that, we went over to Sister Brown's home. We went through the ward list (I got a new copy at church) and came up with a list of quite a few people for us to visit. It was pretty productive. We love Relief Society Presidents. After that, we came home for some plannning, and ended the day.
Monday was good. We had District Meeting in Prestbury. Our District won the commitment contest, so we ordered some pizza. It was good, of course. After that, we went to teach a less active sister, Sister Williams. We went with a member of the Relief Society Presidency, and it went pretty well. It was funny... We were sitting in our car outside waiting for the Sister to come so we could go in, then eventually found out she was already in there! The Sister that was going to come with us got sick, so she got someone else to come. After that, we went to visit another less active family, the Apodacas. Sister Apodacas son is active in a local mega church. He sort of bashed with us, which is always awkward. It's sometimes hard to be nice to people when they've got such corrupt doctrine. Anyways, it went pretty well. After that, we tried to visit one of our Gladys Knight referrals. We've delivered half of them, and haven't got much luck so far. We've got one more that's a member, and one more that is "busy." Hopefully we can begin teaching the busy lady. Anyways, that evening we got fed by the Tevagas. They had to go somewhere, so they bought us some Portillos. They got us a ton of food. We had 3 slices of cake, 2 huge sprites, 2 Italian beef sandwiches with Italian Sausages inside and French fries. It was really good. After that, we went to help a member move a piano, but it was already done when we got there. We ended up sharing a message with the family. Brother Adams is pretty old, and is a pretty big time scholar. It's really fun to hear his experiences and knowledge about the Gospel. After that, we came home for the night.
Tuesday was pretty good too. We went to the Hesed House in the morning. We had a good time serving there. I don't know how I feel about these homeless shelters that take care of people for years. They feed them better lunch than most people, besides Dad, eat. They say it's Thanksgiving every day! Some of the residents are nice, but some are really ungrateful. It's nice to work for the grateful ones, but I think I'd kick a lot of people out if I was running the place. Anyways, after working there, we went to lunch with Brother Rann. He's the guy that took us to the temple when I was in Stockyards. He lives in Wheaton, but came down to take us out to Famous Dave's. We got some BBQ, and had a good time there. After that, we went to teach Jeremy. We discussed Faith, Hope, and Charity. He's a good guy, and is doing well. His wife signed up for a 5 week English class in Chicago... On Sundays. He's got to go up there next week, then the 4 weeks after Labor Day. We were thinking Uh oh at first, but then we got him the address of the church up there. The classes are all day, so he's got a lot of free time, and is going to go to church at the Chicago 7th Ward. That's pretty cool, because that's where one of the first missionaries that taught him is serving now! Elder Eyi was pretty excited Jeremy was baptized, and will be thrilled to see him at church. After visiting Jeremy, we went to teach Nancy. They had some trouble yesterday with their car, but it's all cleared up now. After that, we went to teach David, and to make plans to teach his whole family about the Gospel. They're actually looking pretty good now to join the church. It's pretty great. After that, we came home. Our dinner appointment had cancelled because they were ill, but they gave us some money. We also found out who all the Home Teachers would be for our recent converts. It'll be nice to start them on the new member lessons.
Today should be pretty good. We helped a member move this morning. It was alright. They had way too much stuff. I'm pretty tired, and still have to do my perfect pushups for the day. We're going to go to a liquidation mens warehouse place today, so that should be fun. Other than that, not much is planned.
Well, I love you all so much, and am gratefull for all you do. I hope you have a great week! I'm excited to hear how those study calendars are going. Please let me know! Please tell me about missionary moments you have too. Pray to have one every day... You'll get them.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
PS the picture will come in just a minute.
Hello Family,
How are you doing? Hopefully well. Dad, if you can, will you please make up a package to give that Naperville lawyer to give me? I can't think of a better way to give us a potential investigator! Seriously. Happy early birthday, Grandpa! I'll send you something soon.
Well, we've had an incredibly eventful week. Thanks for the prayers... They really helped make it a good week. Here's what happened:
Wednesday was pretty good! We had Zone Activity. We went over to Phillips Park, which is in Aurora, to play volleyball and football. It was pretty fun, even if our Zone is pretty small. After that, we came home for some splits. Elder Denter went with Corky Clark to visit the Zacas, and I went with Brother Mitchell to go to the Gamboas. The Gamboas weren't home (a relative had a baby), so we went to stop by David. This is when the stress came. David told us that he had got in a fight with his parents, and they said he couldn't be baptized. We scrapped our lesson plan, and quickly set up a meeting with the family for the next day. We set it up with a high councilman that used to be the Bishop of the Spanish Ward to come and talk to David's parents the next day. They speak mostly Spanish, so Brother Osorio was perfect to bring the next day. After this, we met back with Elder Denter, and told him the news. He was pretty shocked. We then started praying. That night, we split with the Assistants... They started praying too.
The next day was pretty good too. I was with Elder Aragon, who is from Phoenix. He went to Central High School, and worked in the building to the north of the AIG building right by Dad's office. Pretty funny. He never went to Pino's either! Well, we spent a lot of our day in the mission office. There was a lot of work to do to organize the statistics and results from the Gladys Knight referrals. We were there for a long time. After that, we went home for lunch and some Zone review discussion. The Naperville Zone is doing incredibly well. August has already been the most productive month of the year by a considerable amount. We hope September can be just as good. We're already starting to get baptisms planned for September, so things are looking good. Anyways, after the review, we went out to do some stop bys. We didn't get much, but had a pretty funny conversation with an investigator's wife. She tried to refer us to all of her "rude neighbors" who needed the Gospel. She also tried to refer us to a homeless protester that is annoying everyone in Naperville. He's been sitting outside in downtown Naperville, which is a lot like downtown Tempe, for quite some time. After getting those "referrals" (one of them actually had referred the missionaries to this woman's home, and said she really needed to hear the Gospel), we left for dinner. We had dinner at a really nice family's home. The Herberts cooked us a country dinner, which was great. After that, we went back to meet with our companions. It turns out that the meeting with David's family went pretty well. Brother Osorio did a great job. David's dad was ok with baptism, but his mom was still not for it. They got an appointment for us to go Friday.
Friday was great! We had an appointment with Jeremy pretty early in the morning. We discussed charity and service. Jeremy is doing very well. After that, we went to District Meeting and President's Interviews over at the mission office. That went well. After that, we drove over to Aurora to discuss David's baptism. The Lopez family wasn't there at first, so we taught one of their neighboors. They soon came home, so we met with David and his parents. We talked with them for a while, and explained how the church fully supports children respecting parents. They liked it, and both agreed to let David get baptized! It was really awesome. They both even talked about coming to the baptism and church. After that, we mini-split with Elder Sorensen. Elder Denter went to an appointment, which cancelled, and I took Elder Sorensen to interview David. He passed, and it was good. After we got our companions back, we went to visit Amanda. She's still unsure about surgery, but it should be figured out soon. We had a good lesson though. After that, we went to the hospital to visit Mike C, who is a not really recent convert that we meet with regularly. He had to go in for some gall bladder surgery. After that, we went to dinner at the Eldredges' home. We had a good dinner and lesson there to end the day.
Saturday was awesome. We went to an 8 year old's baptism at 10, then got ready for David's baptism. His father came to the baptism. I gave one talk, and Brother Osorio gave the other. Brother Osorio pretty much just challenged David's father to learn about the church, and prepare to join it. It was awesome. The Spirit was there really strong, and it was a great baptism. After that, we went to a ward party for a good chunk of the rest of the day. We had an appointment, but it cancelled on us. We played volleyball and softball in our shirts and ties... It was pretty silly, but fun.
Sunday was productive. We had PEC and Ward Council in the morning, which went well. It's always fun to wake up at 5:30 AM... After those, we went to Aurora to show people where church was. We had 2 investigators at church. We had Kim, who we've been teaching with some young women, and David's mom! Church went really well. After church, we went to visit Mike C again. He's doing well, and is already at home. After visiting Mike, we went to teach Kim. We had a pretty good lesson. It was pretty neat... The girls had been talking about scripture reading the day before, then in Young Women they talked about prayer, then we covered both of those topics in our lesson. They liked it, and we should hopefully see some good things happen there. After that, we went to the La Plants' home for dinner. They're a really great family, and cooked us some good dinner. They had to run to a seminary fireside, so we didn't have a lesson there, but it was still good. After that, we went over to Sister Brown's home. We went through the ward list (I got a new copy at church) and came up with a list of quite a few people for us to visit. It was pretty productive. We love Relief Society Presidents. After that, we came home for some plannning, and ended the day.
Monday was good. We had District Meeting in Prestbury. Our District won the commitment contest, so we ordered some pizza. It was good, of course. After that, we went to teach a less active sister, Sister Williams. We went with a member of the Relief Society Presidency, and it went pretty well. It was funny... We were sitting in our car outside waiting for the Sister to come so we could go in, then eventually found out she was already in there! The Sister that was going to come with us got sick, so she got someone else to come. After that, we went to visit another less active family, the Apodacas. Sister Apodacas son is active in a local mega church. He sort of bashed with us, which is always awkward. It's sometimes hard to be nice to people when they've got such corrupt doctrine. Anyways, it went pretty well. After that, we tried to visit one of our Gladys Knight referrals. We've delivered half of them, and haven't got much luck so far. We've got one more that's a member, and one more that is "busy." Hopefully we can begin teaching the busy lady. Anyways, that evening we got fed by the Tevagas. They had to go somewhere, so they bought us some Portillos. They got us a ton of food. We had 3 slices of cake, 2 huge sprites, 2 Italian beef sandwiches with Italian Sausages inside and French fries. It was really good. After that, we went to help a member move a piano, but it was already done when we got there. We ended up sharing a message with the family. Brother Adams is pretty old, and is a pretty big time scholar. It's really fun to hear his experiences and knowledge about the Gospel. After that, we came home for the night.
Tuesday was pretty good too. We went to the Hesed House in the morning. We had a good time serving there. I don't know how I feel about these homeless shelters that take care of people for years. They feed them better lunch than most people, besides Dad, eat. They say it's Thanksgiving every day! Some of the residents are nice, but some are really ungrateful. It's nice to work for the grateful ones, but I think I'd kick a lot of people out if I was running the place. Anyways, after working there, we went to lunch with Brother Rann. He's the guy that took us to the temple when I was in Stockyards. He lives in Wheaton, but came down to take us out to Famous Dave's. We got some BBQ, and had a good time there. After that, we went to teach Jeremy. We discussed Faith, Hope, and Charity. He's a good guy, and is doing well. His wife signed up for a 5 week English class in Chicago... On Sundays. He's got to go up there next week, then the 4 weeks after Labor Day. We were thinking Uh oh at first, but then we got him the address of the church up there. The classes are all day, so he's got a lot of free time, and is going to go to church at the Chicago 7th Ward. That's pretty cool, because that's where one of the first missionaries that taught him is serving now! Elder Eyi was pretty excited Jeremy was baptized, and will be thrilled to see him at church. After visiting Jeremy, we went to teach Nancy. They had some trouble yesterday with their car, but it's all cleared up now. After that, we went to teach David, and to make plans to teach his whole family about the Gospel. They're actually looking pretty good now to join the church. It's pretty great. After that, we came home. Our dinner appointment had cancelled because they were ill, but they gave us some money. We also found out who all the Home Teachers would be for our recent converts. It'll be nice to start them on the new member lessons.
Today should be pretty good. We helped a member move this morning. It was alright. They had way too much stuff. I'm pretty tired, and still have to do my perfect pushups for the day. We're going to go to a liquidation mens warehouse place today, so that should be fun. Other than that, not much is planned.
Well, I love you all so much, and am gratefull for all you do. I hope you have a great week! I'm excited to hear how those study calendars are going. Please let me know! Please tell me about missionary moments you have too. Pray to have one every day... You'll get them.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
PS the picture will come in just a minute.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Bulls Court in Member's Home -- Geneva, IL
This "Bulls" basketball court is in the home of a member family in Geneva, IL. The missionaries went to the home to play basketball for P-day. Pretty cool!
Elder McMullin on P-Day -- August 12, 2009
Elder M. getting ready to play basketball in the Bulls Court.
Baptism in Naperville 4th Ward!
Jeremy was baptized on August 15 by the Bishop of the Naperville 4th Ward. Here they are, standing with Elder McMullin, Elder Williams and Elder Denter. Elder Williams does not serve in their area, but my guess is that he was there right before Brad.
Another Baptism in the Naperville 4th Ward!
Nancy was baptized on August 15 by a counselor in the Naperville 4th Ward bishopric. Here she is standing with Elders McMullin, Williams and Denter. Elder Williams must have been the missionary who Elder M. replaced.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Mission Update -- 8/19/09
Sounds like another great week in Illinois! It also sounds to me like Elder M is very busy. It's exciting to read about all of the things they are doing. I want to know more about the Gladys Knight fireside! Sounds like they received lots of referrals, so that's fabulous.
Oh, at the end of his email, he refers to Phillips Park. I looked it up, and it's a park in Aurora (city he lives in now) with a zoo, gardens, and a golf course.
Here's his email:
Hey family,
This week has been great! Sounds like it's been pretty good for you too! Except I haven't heard a bit of news from Caitlin or Tay... How are you two doing?? School has started, right? That's gotta be pretty exciting!
Well, I've been doing well. I survived teaching Zone Conference and had a couple of great baptisms. We also had a couple nights of staying up SUPER late because of the Gladys Knight Fireside, and woke up extra early too!
Well here's the day by day:
Last Wednesday was pretty good. I can't remember what we did the whole day, but the evening was good. We went over to the Stavrons for dinner, which was great. After that, Brother Stavron took us over to Brother Christensen's home, where we split. I went with Bro C to a part members home, and Elder Denter went with Bro Stavron to visit the Gamboas. We had some good lessons, then came home.
Thursday was pretty good. We started it off with an interview for Jeremy. The Prestbury Elders came over to do that. After that, we all went over to Nancy's home, where she was interviewed too. After that, we had some lunch and did some planning for Zone Conference. We made a commitment checksheet for the Zone, and made it into a contest. I'll send you a copy of that, which I think you'll enjoy. After some planning, we went to visit Amanda. After that, we taught Solomon. After that, we went to the Neuders' home for dinner and a lesson. They're a really nice family.
Friday was pretty great. We had a great overall Zone Conference, which is great. The hardest part by far was managing time. We're instructed to have a lot of involvement from other missionaries, and sometimes they take way too long. After Zone Conference, we went to Prestbury to exchange with them. Elder Sorensen came with me to Naper 4. We went to dinner at the Glavianos' home, and took Ezra Nair. That went well. After that, we went to visit the Zacas. Kayla, a 10 year old in need of baptism, was excited and invited a couple friends in for a lesson. It went well, and the other kids want their families to be taught now too. Pretty cool.
Saturday was pretty good. We had to deliver a ticket for the SUV fireside [Gladys Knight fireside -- not sure what SUV stands for????] early in the morning, which took a while. After that, we got ready to swap back. As we were about to swap back, we realized we had no money for parking. We went to McDonald's to get some change, and there got stopped for having a fake $1 bill! Elder Sorensen got ripped off somewhere and had a counterfiet! It was pretty cool, so we went to a bank to get it checked out, where they said it was real, but we don't think it really was. We were super late to lunch where the other Elders were to switch, then all were comparing dollars to the fake, and ended up wasting some time. When we were done, we were ready to get Elder Williams, who came back for the baptisms. We then went to the church to turn on the water. It turns out that the air conditioner at the church was out, and the water was all hot. The whole baptism room was a sauna. It was pretty funny seeing Jeremy and Nancy step into the jacuzzi of a baptismal font! It was also a really great service. After this, we stayed up really late because we have people call into us every night. The second showing for Gladys Knight started at 8:15, and was in Hyde Park. We got to bed at about midnight...
...Then woke up at 5:30 to get ready for PEC. It went well, as did ward council. We also had a great church service. Jeremy and Nancy were both confirmed. After that, we did some studies, then went to teach Nancy. After that, we went over to the Clarks' for dinner, which was great.
Monday was great too. We started it off by teaching Kim at the Neilsens. She is not really progressing, but hopefully will start progressing soon. After that, we taught Solomon. After that, we had a cancelled appointment, then did some stop bys and finding. After that, we went to the Tevagas for dinner. Sister Tevaga is the best cook in Naperville. They're polynesian, and know how to cook! After that, we went and taught David.
Tuesday was pretty good too. We left the house before studies to pick up the Gladys Knight referral packages for the Zone. Our Zone got 22 referrals, and we got 4, which is awesome! One of them is the parent of a kid we tracted into that became a new investigator, but never progressed, and we never even mentioned Gladys Knight too! Crazy. Anyways, after that, we went to teach Jeremy. After that, we worked at the Hesed House. After that, we taught Mike C. After that, we tried to deliver some media referrals. After that, we taught Amanda. After that, we taught Nancy and her family. After the lesson, they offered us dinner, so we ate some steaks there! When we were at their house, a friend of their kids came up, and we taught him. He is really interested, and we set up an appointment to teach his family. That's pretty much the day.
Today should be good. We've got Zone Activity today. We're going to Phillips Park (look it up!). It's got volleyball, football, and a Zoo. After that, we've got splits with the ward, then exchanges with the Assistants. I'm going to the APs area tomorrow with Elder Aragon, who's from Phoenix. Should be good.
Anyways, I'm doing great, and am loving my time serving the Lord. Take care and know I love you!
Adios,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
PS: A family just moved into our ward named the Matuchs. Brother Matuch was baptized by Mark Dorf, who's in our ward... right? They showed me a picture, and he looked the same. If he's in our ward, tell him Brother Matuch's doing alright! [The Dorfs were in our ward, but moved some time ago. Too bad. Brother Dorf would probably have liked to hear about Br. Matuch!]
PPS: We've got a Brother Davis in our ward that knew President Christensen from the Tempe 10th ward really well too. He was a Bishop over in the Tempe South Stake, and worked with him. Crazy.
PPPS: We've got a family that wants to move to Arizona and live on 47th and Elliot.
PPPPS: I WILL SEND PICTURES TODAY OR TOMORROW IF I FORGET. I'VE GOT SOME GOOD ONES!
Oh, at the end of his email, he refers to Phillips Park. I looked it up, and it's a park in Aurora (city he lives in now) with a zoo, gardens, and a golf course.
Here's his email:
Hey family,
This week has been great! Sounds like it's been pretty good for you too! Except I haven't heard a bit of news from Caitlin or Tay... How are you two doing?? School has started, right? That's gotta be pretty exciting!
Well, I've been doing well. I survived teaching Zone Conference and had a couple of great baptisms. We also had a couple nights of staying up SUPER late because of the Gladys Knight Fireside, and woke up extra early too!
Well here's the day by day:
Last Wednesday was pretty good. I can't remember what we did the whole day, but the evening was good. We went over to the Stavrons for dinner, which was great. After that, Brother Stavron took us over to Brother Christensen's home, where we split. I went with Bro C to a part members home, and Elder Denter went with Bro Stavron to visit the Gamboas. We had some good lessons, then came home.
Thursday was pretty good. We started it off with an interview for Jeremy. The Prestbury Elders came over to do that. After that, we all went over to Nancy's home, where she was interviewed too. After that, we had some lunch and did some planning for Zone Conference. We made a commitment checksheet for the Zone, and made it into a contest. I'll send you a copy of that, which I think you'll enjoy. After some planning, we went to visit Amanda. After that, we taught Solomon. After that, we went to the Neuders' home for dinner and a lesson. They're a really nice family.
Friday was pretty great. We had a great overall Zone Conference, which is great. The hardest part by far was managing time. We're instructed to have a lot of involvement from other missionaries, and sometimes they take way too long. After Zone Conference, we went to Prestbury to exchange with them. Elder Sorensen came with me to Naper 4. We went to dinner at the Glavianos' home, and took Ezra Nair. That went well. After that, we went to visit the Zacas. Kayla, a 10 year old in need of baptism, was excited and invited a couple friends in for a lesson. It went well, and the other kids want their families to be taught now too. Pretty cool.
Saturday was pretty good. We had to deliver a ticket for the SUV fireside [Gladys Knight fireside -- not sure what SUV stands for????] early in the morning, which took a while. After that, we got ready to swap back. As we were about to swap back, we realized we had no money for parking. We went to McDonald's to get some change, and there got stopped for having a fake $1 bill! Elder Sorensen got ripped off somewhere and had a counterfiet! It was pretty cool, so we went to a bank to get it checked out, where they said it was real, but we don't think it really was. We were super late to lunch where the other Elders were to switch, then all were comparing dollars to the fake, and ended up wasting some time. When we were done, we were ready to get Elder Williams, who came back for the baptisms. We then went to the church to turn on the water. It turns out that the air conditioner at the church was out, and the water was all hot. The whole baptism room was a sauna. It was pretty funny seeing Jeremy and Nancy step into the jacuzzi of a baptismal font! It was also a really great service. After this, we stayed up really late because we have people call into us every night. The second showing for Gladys Knight started at 8:15, and was in Hyde Park. We got to bed at about midnight...
...Then woke up at 5:30 to get ready for PEC. It went well, as did ward council. We also had a great church service. Jeremy and Nancy were both confirmed. After that, we did some studies, then went to teach Nancy. After that, we went over to the Clarks' for dinner, which was great.
Monday was great too. We started it off by teaching Kim at the Neilsens. She is not really progressing, but hopefully will start progressing soon. After that, we taught Solomon. After that, we had a cancelled appointment, then did some stop bys and finding. After that, we went to the Tevagas for dinner. Sister Tevaga is the best cook in Naperville. They're polynesian, and know how to cook! After that, we went and taught David.
Tuesday was pretty good too. We left the house before studies to pick up the Gladys Knight referral packages for the Zone. Our Zone got 22 referrals, and we got 4, which is awesome! One of them is the parent of a kid we tracted into that became a new investigator, but never progressed, and we never even mentioned Gladys Knight too! Crazy. Anyways, after that, we went to teach Jeremy. After that, we worked at the Hesed House. After that, we taught Mike C. After that, we tried to deliver some media referrals. After that, we taught Amanda. After that, we taught Nancy and her family. After the lesson, they offered us dinner, so we ate some steaks there! When we were at their house, a friend of their kids came up, and we taught him. He is really interested, and we set up an appointment to teach his family. That's pretty much the day.
Today should be good. We've got Zone Activity today. We're going to Phillips Park (look it up!). It's got volleyball, football, and a Zoo. After that, we've got splits with the ward, then exchanges with the Assistants. I'm going to the APs area tomorrow with Elder Aragon, who's from Phoenix. Should be good.
Anyways, I'm doing great, and am loving my time serving the Lord. Take care and know I love you!
Adios,
Elder Bradley E. McMullin
PS: A family just moved into our ward named the Matuchs. Brother Matuch was baptized by Mark Dorf, who's in our ward... right? They showed me a picture, and he looked the same. If he's in our ward, tell him Brother Matuch's doing alright! [The Dorfs were in our ward, but moved some time ago. Too bad. Brother Dorf would probably have liked to hear about Br. Matuch!]
PPS: We've got a Brother Davis in our ward that knew President Christensen from the Tempe 10th ward really well too. He was a Bishop over in the Tempe South Stake, and worked with him. Crazy.
PPPS: We've got a family that wants to move to Arizona and live on 47th and Elliot.
PPPPS: I WILL SEND PICTURES TODAY OR TOMORROW IF I FORGET. I'VE GOT SOME GOOD ONES!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Mission Update -- 8/12/09
Here's the update for the week. Sounds like all is going well!
Hello Family,
I hope you're all doing well! I hope that your surgery goes well and you get better Grandma! Have fun in school girls. I hope Brynlee feels better. Duane drives fast even without a reason to... I can only imagine how fast he was driving to St. George!
Well, we've been doing well out here in Illinois. We've seen some great great things happen this week, and are set to have an awesome transfer! It's pretty cool... We've already had 7 baptisms in the Zone in August, and are set to have over 10 more! This is in the same Zone that has had 0 baptisms in multiple months this year, so that's awesome. President Roach has really been pressing committing investigators to baptism hard and fast, and it's working. Baptismal rates are skyrocketing, so life's good!
Here's what we did last week:
On Wednesday we went to the Bulls Court! It was awesome. We played a lot of basketball and some ping pong and pool. I'll send you a picture later today. I forgot my camera, but we just use the computers in our apartment clubhouse. After playing ball, we came home and got ready for our appointment. We went out with Brother Eldredge and visited Regilio and a less active part member family, the Zacas. It went well.
Thursday was incredible. It was the single most productive day of tracting I've ever experienced. We started it off by going to interview a baptismal candidate for the Spanish Elders. I did the interview, and was super impressed with the man. He's been coming to church for 3 weeks, and is already talking about bringing the Gospel to all of his relatives so they can return to live with Heavenly Father. He's a stud, and was baptized on Saturday. After that, we went to teach Amanda. She's the lady who was set for baptism when I came in, but her hernia has stopped all that. She's been getting tests to see if / when she needs surgery. We don't know yet what's going on, but hopefully she'll be alright. After that, we tracted. We found 2 new investigators, then came home for lunch and some planning for District Leader Council (a meeting that Zone Leaders teach). After that, we went and taught Nancy and then went tracting again and found 3 more new investigators! The standard of excellence is 4 a week, so 5 in one day is about as good as it gets. The best one we found was Solomon, who is a really good guy. He's a 22 year old African American man with a rough past that is changing his life and coming to Christ. He's on house arrest now, and loves to have us over. He's been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon and is great. We're lucky to have met him, and hopefully can see him progress as his legal issues are solved.
Friday was pretty good too. We started it off with the big old District Leader Council meeting. It's a little weird to teach stuff and have people take notes. It went well though, and set a good tone for the rest of the day. After that, Elder Denter felt like we needed to set someone for baptism, and I agreed. We visited David, and set him for baptism. He got an answer to his prayers the night before, and is going to be baptized on August 22nd! He's a good guy and is progressing well. After that, we visited Regilio, who was pretty wild, and determined he would progress better by learning in Spanish. We're excited to hear from the Spanish Elders about him! After that, we got tubed by a new investigator, then had an appointment with Solomon. That was pretty much the day.
Saturday was ok. We started it off with MCM. That went alright. On the way back from MCM, we drove past some members who asked us to help them move some stuff into their storage unit. We did service for them for a while, then they took us out to lunch. After that, we went to visit Solomon. After that, we got tubed a couple times and tried to do stop bys, but didn't get anything until dinner with the Adams family. They cooked us some lamb, which was great.
Sunday was pretty good. We had PEC at 7 am. After that, we had Ward Council. After that, we went to wake people up then went to sacrament. We had a lot of investigators at church, which was great. After church, we ate lunch, had an appointment fall through, then visited and taught Nancy. After that, we prepared for Zone Conference, which is coming up on Friday.
Monday was pretty good. We started it off by visiting Jeremy S. He's a part member that has been investigating for 10 years. We extended a baptismal invitation to him, and heard all of his concerns. We left him with a pro con chart to prayerfully fill out for baptism. It should go well. I really hope it does, because he comes to church all the time, and seems to be just about ready. After that, we taught Solomon. After that, we ate lunch. After that, we went to teach Sister Zaca with Sister Brown, who's the Relief Society President. After that, we went to Pep Boys to get our oil changed. After that, we went to dinner at the Matthews' home, which was good.
Tuesday was pretty great. We started it off by visiting Jeremy. He's doing great, and his baptism should be awesome.[Different Jeremy from the one he mentions earlier in this email. This Jeremy is getting baptized on Saturday.] After vistiting Jeremy, we went to the Hesed House to serve lunch. After that, we came back home because I was feeling ill, and saw some other missionaries from our district ready to prank our apartment. We foiled their plot, and put them to work. Elder Sorensen went with Elder Denter to visit Solomon and David while I slept. After that, they went home and Elder Denter and I went to dinner with the Jones family. They're an awesome super missionary minded family. We had some good enchiladas, and a good time.
That takes us to today. Today should be good. We're just hanging around here. We've got splits this evening, which should go well.
I'm doing well, and am excited to see great things happen here. I took a picture of the Bulls Court, and will email that soon... Probably later today.
I know the Gospel is true and am so grateful for the Savior. He's done so much for all of us, and I'm happy to fulfil my duty of serving him for a while out here in Illinois. I wish you all the best!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Hello Family,
I hope you're all doing well! I hope that your surgery goes well and you get better Grandma! Have fun in school girls. I hope Brynlee feels better. Duane drives fast even without a reason to... I can only imagine how fast he was driving to St. George!
Well, we've been doing well out here in Illinois. We've seen some great great things happen this week, and are set to have an awesome transfer! It's pretty cool... We've already had 7 baptisms in the Zone in August, and are set to have over 10 more! This is in the same Zone that has had 0 baptisms in multiple months this year, so that's awesome. President Roach has really been pressing committing investigators to baptism hard and fast, and it's working. Baptismal rates are skyrocketing, so life's good!
Here's what we did last week:
On Wednesday we went to the Bulls Court! It was awesome. We played a lot of basketball and some ping pong and pool. I'll send you a picture later today. I forgot my camera, but we just use the computers in our apartment clubhouse. After playing ball, we came home and got ready for our appointment. We went out with Brother Eldredge and visited Regilio and a less active part member family, the Zacas. It went well.
Thursday was incredible. It was the single most productive day of tracting I've ever experienced. We started it off by going to interview a baptismal candidate for the Spanish Elders. I did the interview, and was super impressed with the man. He's been coming to church for 3 weeks, and is already talking about bringing the Gospel to all of his relatives so they can return to live with Heavenly Father. He's a stud, and was baptized on Saturday. After that, we went to teach Amanda. She's the lady who was set for baptism when I came in, but her hernia has stopped all that. She's been getting tests to see if / when she needs surgery. We don't know yet what's going on, but hopefully she'll be alright. After that, we tracted. We found 2 new investigators, then came home for lunch and some planning for District Leader Council (a meeting that Zone Leaders teach). After that, we went and taught Nancy and then went tracting again and found 3 more new investigators! The standard of excellence is 4 a week, so 5 in one day is about as good as it gets. The best one we found was Solomon, who is a really good guy. He's a 22 year old African American man with a rough past that is changing his life and coming to Christ. He's on house arrest now, and loves to have us over. He's been reading a lot of the Book of Mormon and is great. We're lucky to have met him, and hopefully can see him progress as his legal issues are solved.
Friday was pretty good too. We started it off with the big old District Leader Council meeting. It's a little weird to teach stuff and have people take notes. It went well though, and set a good tone for the rest of the day. After that, Elder Denter felt like we needed to set someone for baptism, and I agreed. We visited David, and set him for baptism. He got an answer to his prayers the night before, and is going to be baptized on August 22nd! He's a good guy and is progressing well. After that, we visited Regilio, who was pretty wild, and determined he would progress better by learning in Spanish. We're excited to hear from the Spanish Elders about him! After that, we got tubed by a new investigator, then had an appointment with Solomon. That was pretty much the day.
Saturday was ok. We started it off with MCM. That went alright. On the way back from MCM, we drove past some members who asked us to help them move some stuff into their storage unit. We did service for them for a while, then they took us out to lunch. After that, we went to visit Solomon. After that, we got tubed a couple times and tried to do stop bys, but didn't get anything until dinner with the Adams family. They cooked us some lamb, which was great.
Sunday was pretty good. We had PEC at 7 am. After that, we had Ward Council. After that, we went to wake people up then went to sacrament. We had a lot of investigators at church, which was great. After church, we ate lunch, had an appointment fall through, then visited and taught Nancy. After that, we prepared for Zone Conference, which is coming up on Friday.
Monday was pretty good. We started it off by visiting Jeremy S. He's a part member that has been investigating for 10 years. We extended a baptismal invitation to him, and heard all of his concerns. We left him with a pro con chart to prayerfully fill out for baptism. It should go well. I really hope it does, because he comes to church all the time, and seems to be just about ready. After that, we taught Solomon. After that, we ate lunch. After that, we went to teach Sister Zaca with Sister Brown, who's the Relief Society President. After that, we went to Pep Boys to get our oil changed. After that, we went to dinner at the Matthews' home, which was good.
Tuesday was pretty great. We started it off by visiting Jeremy. He's doing great, and his baptism should be awesome.[Different Jeremy from the one he mentions earlier in this email. This Jeremy is getting baptized on Saturday.] After vistiting Jeremy, we went to the Hesed House to serve lunch. After that, we came back home because I was feeling ill, and saw some other missionaries from our district ready to prank our apartment. We foiled their plot, and put them to work. Elder Sorensen went with Elder Denter to visit Solomon and David while I slept. After that, they went home and Elder Denter and I went to dinner with the Jones family. They're an awesome super missionary minded family. We had some good enchiladas, and a good time.
That takes us to today. Today should be good. We're just hanging around here. We've got splits this evening, which should go well.
I'm doing well, and am excited to see great things happen here. I took a picture of the Bulls Court, and will email that soon... Probably later today.
I know the Gospel is true and am so grateful for the Savior. He's done so much for all of us, and I'm happy to fulfil my duty of serving him for a while out here in Illinois. I wish you all the best!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Last House in Frankfort
This is the last house Elder McMullin tracted in Frankfort. (I think he was saving it for a special occasion.) Pretty nice!
Elder McMullin and Elder Denter
Elder McMullin with his companion, Elder Denter, in their apartment in Aurora, IL. They are serving in the Naperville 4th Ward and as Zone Leaders for the Naperville Zone.
Mission Update 8/5/09
Here's this week's update. Sounds like all is going well.
Hey family,
It sounds like you've had an exciting week! Thanks for the letters and the pictures! [Caitlin sent him some pictures of her trip to Israel.]
Thing's have been going well here. We've been really busy, which is pretty good. Here's what's been going on here:
Wednesday was alright. We went to the mall, which was boring. Then we came home and played cards. Our appointment canceled, and that was the day. I did get a new watch though, which is pretty nice.
Thursday was pretty good. We started it off by making some spreadsheet forms for Stake MCM. After working on those for a while, we left to teach Christine, who we had tracted into a couple nights before. We had a great lesson there, and she's looking like a really promising investigator. After that, we went to go visit David, whose dad OKed him for baptism. Now he's having some doubts though, so please say a prayer for him. After that, we went to do service for a partially less active family and had a lesson there. After that, we went to teach Nancy.
Friday was even better than Thursday. We got tubed by a man we had previously tracted into at 10:00 AM. We tried to find for a while, but didn't have long before we had an appointment with Amanda. We had a good lesson with her. She no longer has a baptismal date because she may have to go into surgery for a hernia. Ouch. We'll find out more information soon, so hopefully it's good news. After that, we went to teach Jeremy. We took the Bishop with us to teach him, and it went really well. He's looking good for his baptism on the 15th. After that, we went to visit Kim, who's doing alright. She's lost momentum from where she apparently was a month ago when she went to EFY. She still wants to learn though, and will hopefully progress towards baptism. After that, we taught Nancy, then went to dinner at the Allens. They're an awesome family and said they'd open their home for lessons any day but Thursdays! Nice.
Saturday was pretty good. We woke up at 5:30 to get ready for Zone Leader Council. We went over to the mission home, and had a ton of training, and also developed some of the training plan for the mission. It was pretty interesting. After that, we went to the office and picked up the supplies for the Naperville Zone. After that, we finished our Stake MCM preparation. After that, we went to dinner at the Christensens for pizza and a lesson. After that, we went to teach a less active, Ralph Cano.
Sunday was pretty good too. We woke up at 5:30 again for an early morning meeting with 6 Presidents (full Mission Presidency and Stake Presidency), a High Councilman or 2 and a Secretary who was taking notes. It was pretty neat. The Naperville Zone is doing better than ever. We've already had 5 baptisms in August, and have about 10 investigators set. This is in the same year with multiple 0 baptism months. Everyone's getting excited, which is great. After Stake MCM, we met for a while with the Mission Presidency, then left for church. We had a great time at church, although we had a disappointing turnout from investigators. After church, we went to break the fast with a member family. We had a roast and other good stuff. After that, we did stop bys and finding, and finally found a couple investigators. After that, we went to visit Regelio and had a pretty good lesson. That was it for the day!
Monday was disappointing. District Meeting was pretty good in the morning, but after that, it wasn't the best day. We had one less active man pack up and leave for Texas. We got tubed by 2 investigators, then finally got to teach a less active boy. After that, we had dinner at a member family's home, then had more unsuccessful finding. A goal we've set is to not have dinner until we find a new investigator. We failed on Monday, which was disappointing. We did eat ribs though, which were pretty good!
Tuesday was better than Monday! We started it off by working at the Hesed House homeless shelter. We had a good time there. After that, we went to go teach Mike C, who's a fairly recent convert. He invited another less active, who seemed to have some mental disabilities and it was pretty awkward. After that, we took a young man with us to teach David. It went pretty well. After that, we stopped by Nancy's, then almost got ready for dinner... We got called and told the family that was to feed us was sick, but they'd order a pizza to our house. We went home and ate that early dinner, then left with the determination to find a new investigator. We finally did after a lot of tracting. Antonio invited us back to teach his family on Friday. Sweet!
Well, today should be pretty good too. We're going up to Geneva to a really rich members house. This house has got a Bulls basketball court and some other cool stuff, so it should be fun.
I hope you are doing well! I love you all so much, and am grateful for all you do! Take care.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Hey family,
It sounds like you've had an exciting week! Thanks for the letters and the pictures! [Caitlin sent him some pictures of her trip to Israel.]
Thing's have been going well here. We've been really busy, which is pretty good. Here's what's been going on here:
Wednesday was alright. We went to the mall, which was boring. Then we came home and played cards. Our appointment canceled, and that was the day. I did get a new watch though, which is pretty nice.
Thursday was pretty good. We started it off by making some spreadsheet forms for Stake MCM. After working on those for a while, we left to teach Christine, who we had tracted into a couple nights before. We had a great lesson there, and she's looking like a really promising investigator. After that, we went to go visit David, whose dad OKed him for baptism. Now he's having some doubts though, so please say a prayer for him. After that, we went to do service for a partially less active family and had a lesson there. After that, we went to teach Nancy.
Friday was even better than Thursday. We got tubed by a man we had previously tracted into at 10:00 AM. We tried to find for a while, but didn't have long before we had an appointment with Amanda. We had a good lesson with her. She no longer has a baptismal date because she may have to go into surgery for a hernia. Ouch. We'll find out more information soon, so hopefully it's good news. After that, we went to teach Jeremy. We took the Bishop with us to teach him, and it went really well. He's looking good for his baptism on the 15th. After that, we went to visit Kim, who's doing alright. She's lost momentum from where she apparently was a month ago when she went to EFY. She still wants to learn though, and will hopefully progress towards baptism. After that, we taught Nancy, then went to dinner at the Allens. They're an awesome family and said they'd open their home for lessons any day but Thursdays! Nice.
Saturday was pretty good. We woke up at 5:30 to get ready for Zone Leader Council. We went over to the mission home, and had a ton of training, and also developed some of the training plan for the mission. It was pretty interesting. After that, we went to the office and picked up the supplies for the Naperville Zone. After that, we finished our Stake MCM preparation. After that, we went to dinner at the Christensens for pizza and a lesson. After that, we went to teach a less active, Ralph Cano.
Sunday was pretty good too. We woke up at 5:30 again for an early morning meeting with 6 Presidents (full Mission Presidency and Stake Presidency), a High Councilman or 2 and a Secretary who was taking notes. It was pretty neat. The Naperville Zone is doing better than ever. We've already had 5 baptisms in August, and have about 10 investigators set. This is in the same year with multiple 0 baptism months. Everyone's getting excited, which is great. After Stake MCM, we met for a while with the Mission Presidency, then left for church. We had a great time at church, although we had a disappointing turnout from investigators. After church, we went to break the fast with a member family. We had a roast and other good stuff. After that, we did stop bys and finding, and finally found a couple investigators. After that, we went to visit Regelio and had a pretty good lesson. That was it for the day!
Monday was disappointing. District Meeting was pretty good in the morning, but after that, it wasn't the best day. We had one less active man pack up and leave for Texas. We got tubed by 2 investigators, then finally got to teach a less active boy. After that, we had dinner at a member family's home, then had more unsuccessful finding. A goal we've set is to not have dinner until we find a new investigator. We failed on Monday, which was disappointing. We did eat ribs though, which were pretty good!
Tuesday was better than Monday! We started it off by working at the Hesed House homeless shelter. We had a good time there. After that, we went to go teach Mike C, who's a fairly recent convert. He invited another less active, who seemed to have some mental disabilities and it was pretty awkward. After that, we took a young man with us to teach David. It went pretty well. After that, we stopped by Nancy's, then almost got ready for dinner... We got called and told the family that was to feed us was sick, but they'd order a pizza to our house. We went home and ate that early dinner, then left with the determination to find a new investigator. We finally did after a lot of tracting. Antonio invited us back to teach his family on Friday. Sweet!
Well, today should be pretty good too. We're going up to Geneva to a really rich members house. This house has got a Bulls basketball court and some other cool stuff, so it should be fun.
I hope you are doing well! I love you all so much, and am grateful for all you do! Take care.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
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