Mission Update -- 9/16/09

Sounds like our missionary is feeling much better! I was glad to hear that and to hear that the week went well. Here's the email:


Hello everyone!

How's everyone doing? How did you do at the swim meet Caitlin? What's the latest news on your upcoming surgery, Grandma? So who's going on a cruise? I don't think I've heard anything about that until today... And it's the East Caribbean, huh? That sounds really fun!

Well, I've been doing well here. We've had a pretty good week. I'm feeling better, but still have a cough. We've been looking at LDS.org for talks and stuff... It's pretty fun! We can now get a lot of things to listen to. We've been listening to a lot of talks lately, and are really enjoying that. Will you please buy and send me some talks. We've listened to John Bytheway, some other BYU professor, and W Cleon Skousen's "Last Days in the Life of the Savior" and "The Sermon on the Mount." They were all good. I'd love some more W Cleon Skousen, and would love a Matthew Cowley talk more than anything else. Thanks! Oh yeah, I bought medicine and other stuff, and blew through my money this month, so I'm now using the home card. Sorry about using so much!

Well, here's some of what's been going on:

Last Wednesday was pretty good! We played a lot of tennis, which really tired me out. It was fun though. After that, we went over to the Allens' home, which was great. It was a pretty big ordeal to try to get an investigator over there too, but even with us and them calling, we failed. It was OK though.

Thursday was pretty great. We saw Amanda in the morning, which went really well. She's getting excited for her baptism. We had some weekly planning after that, then had a cancelled appointment. We later saw Jose and Hermana Santiago. She's really ill, but they like to learn. After that, we went over to the Zacas home. They're doing well. We had a neat lesson where we used the pepper and soap object lesson. For that, you put pepper in water and talk about that being sin. When you put soap on your hand and "baptize the finger with the Authority," the pepper shoots to the sides. It's pretty cool. Anyways, after that we found a lady to teach. We hooked her with a free Holy Bible, then she was interested in the Restoration too. Sweet. After that, we visited David. He's doing pretty well. He's really getting into fitness, and now runs 5 miles a day! After that, we went to visit the Matucks (the man that Brother Dorf baptized and his wife). They're doing alright, and we had a great discussion there.

Friday was pretty neat. We spent most of the day over at the mission home for Zone Leader Council. ZL Council was an extremely eruditious convocation of servants of the Lord. After that long meeting, we went to the mission office to get supplies. We got a TON for the Zone. Some people ordered a lot, and I decided we'd get some extra just to have at our apartment. We filled up our car with media, it was crazy. After that, we came back to teach Krista and Jessica. They're progressing well, and hopefully will accept a baptismal date soon. It was pretty sweet... As we were teaching them on their porch, their neighbor walked up and asked us if we could teach him too. We set up an appointment with Keegan, which was awesome. After this, we went to stop by Nancy's home. She wasn't home, but we talked with Darrel for a while. He's an awesome guy, and has a lot better relationship with the church now. He always tries to feed us, which is pretty nice. After that, we went over to the hospital to deliver a Bible to a media referral. We accidentally almost broke into the psych ward, but then found out that was definitely the wrong place. We got directions to the General Hospital, and went there. Johnnie is awesome, and the lesson went really well. She just moved to Aurora from Chicago, and doesn't have many friends or a church yet. She's just got to recover from her athsma attack, and then hopefully she'll join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Anyways, that was pretty much it for the day.

Saturday was pretty good too. After our morning, we went to teach Yolanda, who was a tracting come back. She started off really "all churches have some truth, and I don't like organized religion," but really grasped the Restoration, and enjoyed it. She's starting to look pretty good actually. Hopefully we can get her to church next week. After that, we had a little bit of time before our next appointment, so we left to tract. Right as we were getting out of our car, a man drove by on a motorcycle and stopped to talk to us. Turns out he is a former member of the church, and has had a lot of trials. We together came to the conclusion that both parties were led by the Lord there for a reason. He agreed to come to church and read from the Book of Mormon. It was pretty crazy. After that, we went to teach the Bible lady from the other day. She couldn't meet, but another man was there that wanted to learn, so we taught him. After that, we went to teach Kim. We did the pepper and soap thing again, and it went well. She agreed to come to church, read and pray, and continue learning, but hasn't accepted a baptismal challenge yet. She's doing well though. After that, we went to do stop bys and find, and met with Solomon. He's doing well. As we were there, we started teaching two of his nieces too. Ta'shon and Ta'shika are 21 year old twins, and were pretty excited about the Gospel. They expressed their feelings that God led them to the appointment, and want to learn more. Awesome! After that, not too much happened until dinner. We had a good dinner with the Zinns, and had a good lesson. We've been committing people to invite people to take missionary lessons. It's pretty exciting, and we're getting some referrals. Nothing too big yet, but I think the foundation is being laid. After that, we went to the Adams home to help them with their move more, and to talk with Brother Adams. He's really awesome. We'll probably go to the Temple with him. If he doesn't get feeling better, I may call Clint Giese from Frankfort to see if he can go. That would be really awesome, but we should probably try members here first.

Sunday was good, but disappointing. We went to church really early, only to discover the early meetings were cancelled because of Ward Conference. We talked with the Stake Presidency though, which was nice. One of the councilors just got back from vacation, so another one asked him how it was, then jokingly asked me how my vacation's been. I told him it was a great two year vacation! They both expressed feelings of "Oh yeah, that honestly would be nice!" We had an incredible Ward Conference. We had some great talks and a great combined Priesthood and Relief Society lesson. Elder Denter and I got sprung on to teach Gospel Principles, and a youth sunday school class. We just combined them, and actually had a really good lesson. It was pretty great. Church was all good... Except there were a ton of investigators that had stuff come up and couldn't come. One child had pneumonia, one got ill, others were "busy," so that wasn't the greatest. Oh welll. We had a good rest of the day though. We taught Nancy and co., then taught her neighbor too. Elitania is doing well, and has read over 30 chapters of the Book of Mormon. She's going to come to church next week, and we're pretty excited. After teaching her, we went over to the Israelsens' home for dinner and a lesson. That went well.

Monday was pretty good. We had a great District Meeting. Our District Leaders have really stepped it up. The whole Zone has been doing so well lately. It's really exciting. Last month we saw the Naperville Zone account for 40% or so of the missions baptisms, which is incredible. Of course we'd like to see more from everywhere else, but we love to see our Zone so productive. Anyways, after that and lunch, we went out to teach. We had one fall through, then went to teach Keegan, who is Krista and Jessica's neighbor. We went in to teach, pulled out our scriptures, got ready to say a prayer, then got told we had to hear something first. Keegan got a CD with beats on it, and freestyle rapped for us for about 15 minutes or so! That's the first time I've ever have an investigator just bust out rapping before a lesson. It was pretty fun though, and after he was done, he was excited to learn. We had a good lesson, and he's pretty much ready to go. We extended a baptismal invitation, and I think he would have accepted if it weren't for him going on a vacation right when he'd be able to be baptized. He'll be looking good soon though. He can't read well, so we gave him a pamphlet, and are having him make a rap song about the Restoration to make sure he comprehends it. After that, we visited Krista. She's been ill, I think with what I have, but it turned into bronchitus. After that, we went to teach David's neighbor, Javier. He's the "subliminal message" guy. He really liked the lesson though, and wants to start learning seriously. He's going to come to church too. After that, we went to dinner at the Mitchells. They're awesome, and are getting ready to go on a mission. We're pretty excited for them. After that, we went to visit the Glavianos and had a lesson there. Sister Glaviano is having some sweet missionary experiences which we're excited about. That was pretty much it for the day.

Tuesday was alright. We had the Hesed House which took up a good chunk of the day. After that, we taught Mike. That was good. After that, we had a cancelled appointment, so we went out to prepare for our lesson with Kim, which was for the night. We prepared for an awesome object lesson, that was tough to prepare for and took forever. I'll write about that later thouh. Anyways, before that lesson, we went out to teach Solomon, Ta'shon and Ta'shika. We took Trevor Pearson from the Ward to come teach with us. Ta'shon and Ta'shika unfortunately weren't there. Solomon's brother was there though! He came up and thanked us for coming over so faithfully and being good to his family, then sat in for the lesson. He liked it, so we set up an appointment for the Prestbury Elders to go over to his home and teach his family. It's pretty funny, Solomon's family is all starting to learn now, and they're liking it. We hopefully will see some greater things there soon! After that, we went over to the Nielsens' home to teach Kim. We had an awesome object lesson. We had a hard boiled egg that represented Kim, or Elder McMullin, or anyone else for that matter. Now this egg had to get into a Gatorade bottle, which represented heaven. There were some things the egg had to do though. It first had to develop faith, to motivate it to move forward. Then it had to "repent", and wipe off sin, which was written on the egg shell. After that was wiped off, it still wasn't good to go... It had to get the shell off. So it was "baptized" and shelled. After that it still couldn't fit into the bottle. The next step was the "baptism of fire". We all headed outside, and put rubbing alcohol into the bottle, lit it on fire, then put the egg on top of the bottle. The pressure sucks the egg right into the bottle. It takes a while to go in though, so we of course have to endure to the end. Kim liked it a lot, and understood it which was the important thing. She is getting more excited about learning and coming to church, but still "isn't ready" to be baptized yet. Hopefully soon! That was pretty much it for the night.

Today should be good. We've been looking at LDS.org, which has been fun. I'll probably make a CD of Bible stories soon too. They've got everything on there. We'll probably play tennis again today, which should be fun. We've got a couple of appointments for the evening too.

Well, I hope you all have a great week! Take care! I love you and know the Lord does too. Continue reading the scriptures every day. There is no substitute, and no excuse not to. Let me know what you learned from the scriptures this week when you next write please. Thanks! Also, thank you for the awesome missionary experience story you sent me, Tay! Good job! Let me know how your friend is doing too. Did he come to church with you? Keep it up!

Well, I'll talk to you all later!

Love,

Elder Bradley E McMullin

PS Mom, thank's for Brother Baker's real address. The one you sent me before was not even in Palmyra. Who know's where it was, or even if it was real. Hahaha. Thanks again, and happy early Birthday!