Mission Update -- 11/4/09

Sounds like everything is going great! Here's the email:


HELLO MOM, DAD, CAITLIN, TAYLOR, GRANNY & GRANDPA,

THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS & SUPPORT! I HAVE ENJOYED GETTING LETTERS AND HALLOWEEN PACKAGES FROM YOU! I loved the pine nuts especially. They were really good, and we even made some chicken and put pine nuts in the sauce. It was kind of a pain cracking them all to put in there... Because I couldn't eat any! We've been marinading chicken pretty much every day. Our best recipe has been marinading chicken in apple cider. Yum!

So where is Thanksgiving going to be this year? We're going to have it at Nancy's house, and also at the Pope's this year. Should be pretty good. How's everything else going? That's exciting you're getting your springs off, Tay! I can't believe you're almost done with High School, and are almost in Relief Society, Caitlin. Where do you think you're going to go for college? BYU?

Well, things have been going well here. We've been having some incredible experiences lately. We've had a super good week. Here's what's happened:

Last Wednesday was ok. Brother Pope got ill, so we had to cancell the appointment over there. We did teach Lorenzo though, which was good. We also taught his friend who was over. Lorenzo's friend has seen a UFO. I told him some of my relatives have seen "aliens" too... Or maybe they were just frog hunters near Caliente.

Thursday was great. After the morning schedule, we started it off by going to visit a lady we thought might be less active, but turned out to be a super active widow. She was really nice though, and we had a good time teaching her and her grandson. After that, we did some final planning for District Leader Council. After that, we went over to teach Kim at Nancy's. Nancy was asleep, but Sister D. was there. We taught Kim, and Sister D. sat in and made it difficult. It went well though. Kim's got a testimony, and is doing extremely well. After that, we went to visit the Akrongs. We taugth Manny and Sister Akrong. Manny had to go soon, but set up a next appointment for us. He likes our planners, and asked for us to bring him one. He's a sincere, deep thinking, 10 year old boy. Later, we went over for dinner at the Houghtons. That was great. Their family reminds me of ours. Their youngest is humorously grumpy, and reminds me of when Tay gets cranky. After that, we did some stop bys and had a pretty sweet experience. We went to stop by a former investigator, but found out they had moved. We ended up teaching the new resident though, who was quite receptive. Marisol became a good new investigator! After that, we went to teach the Zacas. It was actually a really good lesson. Darwin behaved, and decided he wants to be baptized too! He's preparing for November 28th. That's pretty exciting. After that, we went home for the night.

Friday was pretty good. We had a cancelled appointment in the morning, but that was ok because it allowed us to do a little more preparation for DL Council. At 11, we had District Leader Council at the Stake Center. It went well. Afterwards, it was raining so hard outside it looked like Niagra Falls. It was insane. We went home, and prepared for Stake MCM. We've got to make some statistical reports, and reports on the member work from each unit. I enjoy making the reports actually, so it's pretty neat. I also do analysis for fun, and find out things like how much different key indicators have changed, and what the causes are, or may be. Anyways, after that, we went to visit David Lopez. He's doing alright. We had a good lesson with him, and helped him make a Scripture reading plan, and also a healthy eating plan. Elder Ahlman pretty much did the second one actually. He's knowledgeable about fitness, and healthy eating. He's helped us make a companionship exercise and diet plan. It's starting to work, and I'm excited for that. After that, we had an appointment tube us, so we stopped by Krista and Jessica. They're doing well. After that, we had dinner with the Stratfords. They're an awesome family. We had some good dinner, and also got vampire teeth to wear. That was our last stop for the night.

Halloween was alright. We're not allowed to do finding in the afternoon, so it was fairly slow. We did have a lesson with Nancy and Brandon, which went well. They made a list of who they're doing missionary work with. They do a great job. We also taught Alba, who's doing well at quitting smoking. She's a pretty neat lady, and is really sincere. After that, we tried some stop bys, but didn't get much. We finalized plans for Stake MCM, and did some other preparation stuff before dinner. We had lamb at the Adams for dinner, which was great. Like always, we taught our quick lesson, then asked Brother Adams questions and learned from him. I also got to give some candy to a couple of kids that came to their door. After that, we went home, switched our clocks back, then went to bed.

Sunday was great! We started the morning off early in Stake MCM. That went really well. President Roach is great, as are his councilors. We've also got an exceptional Stake Presidency. President Duffield (the 2nd councilor in the Stake Presidency) has been having an email conversation with Mark Pope. The work is going well. October was slow, but November is looking like it may be one of the best months ever. We've already got twice the amount of baptismal sets for November as we did coming into August, which was the highest baptizing month in years, and quite possibly Naperville Stake history. Church was also great. We had a great turnout. Our investigator class is always packed now. It's almost ridiculous how stuffed we are into the class room. Brother Stavron taught a great lesson, which was awesome. Everyone just loves his classes. Alba especially loved it, which was good. After church, we gave out some copies of the Book of Mormon to some members to hand out. One young woman, Christina Rosa, does incredible missionary work. She's who took the girls to church for the class. One has been asking her, "When are you going to get me a Book of Mormon?" Hopefully she'll begin investigating the church. After church, we went over to the Petersons to break our fast. They're awesome. They have missionaries over to break their fast every month. They cook incredible meals too, so it's really nice. They also do great missionary work. They got a Book of Mormon to hand out, and will try to get us referrals. Later, we went to the Gamboas home. They had a friend over, so we taught him with them. He understood the Restoration, but didn't want to learn more or read the Book of Mormon. It went well though. That evening, we went over to visit the girl we found by stopping at a former investigator's former home. She let us in, and we taught her and her family. It went great. They felt and recognized the Spirit. The family speaks Spanish though, so we gave them over to the Spanish Elders to teach (the Spanish Elders have already started teaching them, and it sounds like they should do well). It was dark at that point, and we didn't have another appointment, so we headed home.

Monday was pretty good. No District Meeting this week because it's Zone Conference week. We started our Zone Conference planning in the morning, which went pretty well. After that, we went out to tract for a while, and found a new investigator. We also got a couple of referrals for the Spanish Elders. We give so many referrals to them it is ridiculous. They told us they don't tract anymore because we do it for them! We later taught Amy, who is doing well. She feels the Spirit and is growing. She can't come to church this week because she's having a birthday party at her house, but should come the next one. We also taught her kids, which was good. After that, we rushed over to the Akrongs. We taught Sister Akrong, Kelly, and Manny. It went great. They want to prepare for baptism. We'll help them with that. After that, we went to teach David again. He had slacked on reading, so we helped him catch up. After that, we rushed over to dinner with the Mitchells. They're a great family. We love going over there every month. We had Okie Potatoes, which is chili over fried potatoes. They also gave us the hugest ice cream sundaes of all time. Our diets were destroyed, but they tasted really good. After that, we tried to drive the speed limit all the way to the Zacas. They're getting excited for Kayla's baptism. We are too. After the lesson Darwin randomly ran away from home, so we chased him down in our car, and on foot. It was pretty crazy. He got home safe though. We did too.

Tuesday was a good day. We had the Hesed House at 10:30, which was pretty much the same as always. It went pretty well. After that, we went to visit Mike. He's a great member missionary, and is doing well. We gave him a Restoration pamphlet to hand out to a neighbor (who liked it a lot). After that, we went to visit Sister Apodaca. We taught her, and also raked some leaves for her. After that, we tried to stop by Jose Perez, but didn't catch him. We later went to visit Jeremy Hwang. He's doing well. He's now going to start the Book of Mormon from the very beginning. He says he wants to just read the first chapter of every book in the Book of Mormon, then read the second of each book, then go that way... So we'll see what he does. He's just about finished reading Gospel Principles, and has it all marked up with a highlighter. He's a smart guy, and is doing great. After that, we went to teach the Gaffneys. We gave Guy (the son) the prize from the scripture calendar we gave them. We gave him a frisbee. He started throwing it around inside, and knocked stuff over. It got a little crazy. It went well though, and we gave them new scriptures to read. After that, we went to teach Alba with Mike. She's doing great! Only 1 drag of a cigarette over the past several days. She went out and bought some pills to help her out too, so that was nice to see. After that, we went to teach Kim at the Housers. She made me eat some liver sausage, which was absolutely foul. She's going to just give it up totally, but may try roma. Brother Houser said just drink hot chocolate. She said she doesn't like it, so I had to remind her that she can definitely drink hot chocolate if she can stomach liver sausage. The lesson went well. She's doing great, and has a testimony. We went through the baptismal interview questions, and she's just about good to go. She's got a list of assignments for her baptism she's going to make before our next lesson. We're excited to see her continue to grow.

Today has been good as well. We did more Zone Conference planning this morning. It should be a great Zone Conference. I'm going to get a hair cut later today. After that, we're going to play basketball at the Stake Center. We've got dinner at the Adams with a family of potential investigators they invited over. Awesome!

Life's good here. I'm loving my mission, and am grateful I have the opportunity to share the Gospel with others. It is true, and blesses anyone and everyone that applies it into their life.

Well, I hope you all have a great day and a great week! I love you, and appreciate all you do for me. I'll send you some pictures soon. Let me know what's new.


Love,

Elder Bradley Edward McMullin