Mission Update -- 9/2/09

Transfer day, but no transfer for Elder McMullin. We didn't expect one, so no surprise there. Another great week! Here's his update:


Hello!

Everything is going well. We got transfer calls last night. Pretty crazy stuff. Elder Denter and I are staying the same. Elder Sorensen is leaving Prestbury for Woodridge 2, which is in the Joliet Zone. Elder Gates, who is a really good soccer player, is taking his spot. Elder Price, from Woodridge 1, is becoming a new Zone Leader in Chicago. Elder Tzunun is taking his spot to be with Elder Barker, who's been in his first area for 6 months already. Elder Baum is coming to take Elder Wiser's spot in Naper 6. The Spanish are all staying the same. We've also got a new AP, Elder Wilson, who was a Zone Leader in Chicago. There's the news for the Zone! The other Sisters and the Geneva Elders are staying the same.

So, how's everything going? I hope you have a fun Labor Day! Tell me all about it. Send me some pictures too please. How was your Birthday, Grandpa? I'm sending you a card! Sorry it'll be a little late.

Well, here's what happened for the week:
Wednesday was pretty good. We just went to a liquidation Men's Warehouse place. It was pretty neat, but really made us want to buy stuff. Elder Sorensen gave in to temptation, and bought a leather jacket. That's pretty much all that happened actually. It was raining really hard that day.

Thursday was good. We went on an exchange with the Woodridge Elders. Elder Price came here to Naper 4 with me, and Elder Denter went to be with his old companion, Elder Barker. We had a pretty good day. We visited Solomon, who is doing well. Solomon has now got a job, and things are looking bright for him. Hopefully he can get permission from his parole officer to attend church. After that, we stopped by Amanda who is doing OK. She has another doctor's appointment today, and hopefully will finally get a timeline for her treatment. After that, we visited and taught the Gamboas. After that, we went to stop by a recent converts house, and talked with his sister. Krista listened to a lesson, and agreed to come to church and start learning. That was pretty exciting. At some point in the day, we came home for a couple of minutes. We decided to try that seaweed.[A little "gift" from Ed!] It was gross. We took a movie, so I'll send that to you soon. After that, we went to the Houghtons' home for dinner. We had some taco salad, and had a good time. After that, we swapped back... Then came home to exchange with the Spanish Elders. I went with Elder Yarrington to be in the Spanish program for a day!

Friday was really fun. The Spanish program is awesome. The people are really nice. We found a couple of new investigators, and had quite a few appointments. We had one with a man who was about to get baptized (and was the next day) and his wife, who was previously pretty anti. We had a pretty funny lesson with her, and she got interested. They spoke English, so it was nice. After that, we had an appointment with a man that spoke no English... So I just sat there and listened except for bearing my testimony through translation once. After that, we had dinner with an awesome family. They gave me 2 referrals, and we had a great time over there. The wife could speak very little English, and the husband spoke OK English. That's usually how it is apparently. The men know more because of work. We had a good time over there though, and I learned a lot of Spanish. Sister Palacio learned some English too. The food was really good. After that, we exchanged back.

Saturday was pretty good. We had a breakfast appointment with some members from the Naper 6th Ward, which was pretty good. It was with the Nielsens, who is the family that has us and Kim over for lessons. After that, we had MCM. MCM was good, but we got fed another breakfast, which was kind of too much. After that, we helped a family of potential investigators move into our area. After that, we tracted and found 4 new investigators, which is really awesome. After that, we helped another family move. This family was moving from a big house into a townhome, and had a ton of stuff to move. A good chunk of the Ward was there helping, but it still took a while. They fed us pizza there... Already a 3 meal day. After that, we left to teach Amanda. We're trying to get her to commit to baptism. She's been flaking out a bit, but should get serious soon. Please pray that she does. After that, we went to visit the Gaffneys, who are a less active family. After that, we taught Krista, and got her a ride to church.

Sunday was nice. It's the one Sunday every 3 months that we don't have to get up at 5:30. We have PEC and Ward Council every 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sunday, then have Stake MCM every 1st Sunday before church. It's ok though, they get things done. Sunday went well though. We had great attendance, which was great. After church, we got tubed by two appointments in a row, so went tracting. We tracted into one family that was on their way to an Adventist baptismal service. We got a return appointment with them, which was pretty funny. We later had an appointment with Kim at the Nielsens. It went well. She's coming to church next week, and we should hopefully see some good things soon. After that, we went to teach Nancy. She's doing pretty well now. They had us over for dinner too, which was nice. We started teaching some of their neighbors when we were there too. They've actually become some good investigators. We got an appointment for Monday with them Sunday night though... So more about them later.

Monday went well. We had a good District Meeting, then went out to eat some Buffalo Wild Wings. After that, we tracted. We found a new investigator after a while, and got a referral for the Spanish, which is seemingly going well. We also visited a new investigator from saturday and had a lesson there. Elvin, Jose, and his wife are doing alright. The wife is really ill, so we didn't stay long. After that, we went to visit Sister Apodaca. She's pretty feminist, so we read from Esther, and discussed that. After that, we got tubed, so went to get a haircut. I tried to teach a lesson to the haircutter, but unfortunately never got an opportunity. She was a talker, but just seemed to have no interest in the Gospel. Elder Denter did though, good for him. After that, we went to dinner at the Robbins' home. We had some Swedish meatballs, which were good. After that, we went over to teach Nancy's neighbors. Elitania and Gustavo both have rough backgrounds in gangs and stuff. They've both made a lot of changes though, and are really sincere people. Both committed to reading the Book of Mormon and doing the experiment to find out it's truthfulness. Gustavo will read 3 Nephi 11 on, and Alma 32, and Elitania is going to finish the Book of Mormon within a week. She volunteered that, which was pretty wild. They've also got a young girl named Mimi that came for the lesson too. They're awesome, and we will have another lesson next week. That was pretty much the day!

Tuesday was great. We taught Amanda in the morning, and had a good lesson. She's getting her results from the doctor today, and tomorrow we're going to help her make a spiritual plan to get to baptism, and where she needs to be. We should hopefully set a date tomorrow. After that, we went to work at the Hesed House. After that, we went to teach Mike. He's doing a lot better now that he's out of the hospital. He doesn't really eat... He just drinks a couple liters of Pepsi a day. His home teacher is trying to teach him how to cook, and we may too. After that, we tracted and eventually found a new investigator. We'll go visit him Sunday. He is actually pretty promising. After that, we got tubed a couple of times, then visited David Lopez. That lesson went well. He's a good kid. After that, we went to check up on Brandon, who's doing ok. After that, we went to eat dinner at the Capeners' home. We had pancakes and smoothies. It was pretty good. After dinner, Jeremy came over for a new member lesson. Brother Capener and Brother Hoyt are his home teachers. The lesson went pretty well. After that, we waited for transfer calls so we could relay them to the Zone. They came really late, which was crazy.

Today should be good. We scheduled one appointment with a new investigator for this morning, but she wasn't there so it was kind of a waste. We don't really know what we're doing today, so it should be interesting. We've got a dinner appointment tonight, and that's pretty much it.

Well, there you go. I'm doing pretty well, and am enjoying serving the Lord. I love hearing from you, and appreciate all you do. Will you check and see if that really is Brother Baker's address you gave me, Mom? I wrote him a letter, but it got returned to me. I got a funny letter this week too... Elder Noah Robins sent me a letter from the Dominican Republic. It got to the mission office in April, then came to Frankfurt... But the postage was 1 cent short, so they sent it back to the Dominican Republic from Mokena. Those postal workers there really live up to their notoriety! He resent it, and eventually I got it at the end of August!!! 1 cent. Wow.

Anyways, I hope you all take care. I love you so much!

Hey, I've got a question. Who is Monty staying with? [while we go on vacation this weekend]

Thanks for everything.
Love,

Elder Bradley E McMullin