This has been a busy week and I'm a little late posting Elder M's email from Wednesday. Here it is. Sounds like it was a bit of a disappointing week, but he's always so positive.
Hello Family,
It sounds like things are going well. That's especially exciting about the lady you're helping the missionaries teach, Mom! Keep it up. The Restored Gospel is the best thing anyone could ever accept!
Well, things are going well here. I'll just tell you now, this last week was pretty catastrophic for the work. We had a lot of fallout from our teaching pool. There are a few people that I probably won't mention again, or for a while. Things are still going really well for us, and I'm doing great, so don't worry at all. Seriously. We're doing all we can, and it's just up to others to make the choices they need to. Our efforts make our success. Anyways, if you don't hear someones name mentioned though, just pray for them that they can choose to come unto Christ.
So, having that in mind, here's what happened for the week.
Wednesday was good. We had a cancelled appointment in the evening, but got ready for our exchange with the Assistants. Elder Wilson came to be with me in Naper 4.
Thursday was the real exchange day. It went very well. We had some good tracting in the morning, and found Elder Foster. He's a preacher, and a good guy that we may start teaching. After that, we did some administrative review stuff and ate lunch. We then went to teach another sister, which was pretty wild. She was really crabby, and Elder Wilson didn't know what to think. After that, we went to teach Jose Perez. That went really well. We're transferring him over to the Spanish Elders, because he decided he'd prefer to go to church at the Aurora (Spanish) Ward. After that, we went to Maple Terrace to teach. We ended up finding a new investigator to teach there. Maple Terrace is the low income government subsidized housing, and has a lot of people for us to teach. It's awesome. After that, we went to visit Nancy. After that, we went to exchange back with our companions. Elder Ahlman and I had been with 4 companions within the last week. Prestbury, Spanish, Assistants, and eachother. Crazy. After that, we did some stop bys. We didn't have much happen with that, but had an appointment with the Popes before too long. The appointment went really well. Brother Pope is the man. He's getting really excited for his baptism. The Ward is really excited too, as is the Stake Presidency (and of course, us!). He is so productive at church even as an investigator. He's going to be one of the most capable members for any calling in the church. We hope he'll be a Ward Missionary. He actually brought up tithing with us before we were to teach it last week, and told us he has a testimony of it. He really is good to go now. He's read through Jacob in the Book of Mormon, quotes scriptures he's read, has read the entire Conference Report in the Ensign, much of the Joseph Smith sunday school manual, and is now starting Preach My Gospel.
Friday was a pretty good day too. We started off by visiting Jeremy Hwang in the morning. He's doing quite well. He serves at the bishops storehouse, and helps out at church a lot. It's pretty neat... One of his hometeachers is going to have him and his family over for Thanksgiving! That'll be great, because Jeremy's wife will finally have some contact with the Church! After teaching him, we went to teach Amanda and then went home to weekly plan. After that, we went to teach Krista and Jessica. We taught Krista, and she accepted a challenge to race us through the Book of Mormon. She will probably beat us, because we don't really have much time. I hope she does, because that will be really good for her. After that, we went to teach Nannie, who was the lady we found in Maple Terrace with Elder Wilson. She probably won't progress. After that, we picked up Christian Stratford, a young man from the ward, and went to teach the Zacas. They're doing really really well! It's been so exciting to see Kayla grow up, and see the change that has come on the whole family. Darwin is doing great, and is preparing to be baptized too! After that we went to teach David. After that, we went to dinner at the Stratfords. They are an awesome family. Within the past month, they've given out 7 copies of the Book of Mormon, gotten 60 pass a long cards to give out with Christmas teats, and have made specific plans for individuals they're helping to come unto Christ. We're excited to see what they're doing.
Saturday was a pretty good day. We had a great MCM in the morning. It lasted quite a while, but that was OK because we had a lot to cover, and it was really productive. After that, we had lunch, then went out. We had an appointment to help the Gamboas plan missionary work. We went there, and ended up teaching a Hispanic family in their home. Sister Gamboa was our interpreter, which worked out well. She's such a great missionary. They accepted the invitation to investigate the Church, and will be taught by the Spanish Elders. After that, we went to teach Brad and Sue, who are doing really well. They love the Restored Gospel. They'll take a while to progress, but are doing very well right now. After that, we went to the Housers home. They had us over for a sort of Primary party where they were making home made pizzas. We had some pizza there, which was really good. After that, I believe we found for a little bit. We soon went to the Adams home. They had a friend over, who we began to teach. She's really nice, and it went well, but she decided to not investigate the Church. One thing I've found out is that relationships are definitely not damaged when people share the Gospel. We have to have the attitude of "We are offering you a gift." Who would ever be offended if we offered them a gift? Certainly not a true friend, which is the case. The lady we taught at the Newcomes' home is doing well. She's still great friends with them, and is actually about to come to a Relief Society activity. Family, I'd like to challenge and commit you to invite at least one person to hear from the missionaries before the year's end. Pray for a name to do it, and I promise you that it will help you out, and especially help them out. Anyways, after visiting the Adams, we went to dinner at the Zinns. That went very well. They're a really nice family, and help us out. They're coming up with a list of families to share the Gospel with. Sister Zinn also is starting to help us teach Amanda.
Sunday was alright. We started it off with early morning PEC. That went well. After that, we went around to try to get people to church. We had a pretty good turnout. Brad and Sue came for their second time(their first was to Stake Conference) and absolutely loved it. The members love them too. We've got it just about arranged to have them over to the Matucks' home for dinner next week! Mark Pope is doing very well, of course. After church, we had a cancelled appointment, so we did our studies. After a while, we had dinner with the Harris family. They're really nice, and are quite missionary minded. They had made a list of people to share the Gospel with, which was our last commitment. This time, we helped them make specific plans for those on their list. They're also going to make us flyers to hand out for the Christmas Devotional too. After that, it was dark. We went home to do some organizing, and calling to set up appointments with less actives.
Monday was not the greatest day, but still a blessing. We had an awesome district meeting. After that, we tracted a few hours, and didn't have much happen. We had some cancelled appointments, but got a referral for the Spanish Elders. In the early evening, we went to help the Weislers, a move in, move some heavy things into their home. After that, we drove over to Naperville to have dinner with the Matthews. They fed us well, and gave us banana milk, which was pretty good. After we shared a message with them, we drove all the way over to Aurora, only to get tubed. We went to visit Nancy and Brandon and were there for a little bit before going home for the night.
Tuesday was a great day! In the morning, we went to the Stake Center for a Zone Fireside. Larry Gelwix, who is the "winningest coach in America," came to speak. He's the rugby coach that the movie Forever Strong is made about. He's been traveling doing firesides for the Church all over. He was in town to speak at a business convention, and was kind enough to also talk with us. He's a great speaker, and was quite inspiring. After that, we went over to the Hesed House. After the Hesed House, we went to get tubed by Amanda. We then went to teach Mike C. After we read from the Book of Mormon, we started teaching others in Maple Terrace. We taught Gail, who we've been talking to for a while. She's now going to investigate, which is pretty exciting. After her, we went to teach Roger. He was a referral from Mike. Roger seems somewhat out of place in Maple Terrace. He's really interested, and has been searching for truth for a while. He felt the Spirit, and should be one of our best investigators actually. After teaching him, we went to teach Lorenszo. We did a litle bit of preparation, then went to dinner at the Coopers' home. They're a great family, and we had some good steaks. After that, we went to the Matucks home. They are doing so well, and are now becoming great missionaries!
Today should be great. We have Zone Activity, then appointments with Lorenszo and the Popes in the evening.
I hope you all have a great week. I love you, and appreciate all you do!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
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