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