Mission Update -- 1/13/10

All is well in Aurora/Naperville. Here's Elder M's email:

Hello Family,

It's great to hear from you. I'm glad things are going well. I'm especially happy to hear how well you are doing in your Book of Mormon reading! Grandpa, I hope your eye gets feeling better! You can go to www.lds.org and get the Book of Mormon on audio for free so you don't get left behind in the Book of Mormon Challenge!

That's pretty exciting Helene, Dee, and their friend Jessica (I've never met her... they invited us over to meet her Tuesday, but we were running District Leader Council), made it to Arizona. I believe Brother Adams is coming down next week. They're a nice family. Your task if / when you see them again is to talk Elder Boyer and me up and try to get Jessica open to meeting with us! We'd love to have a new investigator. [A family from Elder M's ward is here for a 2 week vacation. We picked them up from the airport and took them to dinner last night. Very fun!!]

Elder Boyer [new companion] has been out for 14 months or so. He came out with Elder Wiser [one of Elder M's companions in Frankfort]. He's from Seattle. He started his mission in Gary, Indiana... And then got moved to the South Side of Chicago. He was in Hyde Park for a really really long time - 7 transfers! [WOW! That's amazing!!! 7 transfers = 42 weeks!] He's a great Elder, and I'm glad to have him out here in Aurora.

So here's what's happened here over the last week:

Last Wednesday we did stop bys for Elder Ahlman to say goodbye. We also went over to the Pope's home for dinner and a lesson with Chiquita, Nikita, and Mike C. Brother Pope cooked some great smothered pork chops. We had Brother and Sister Pope tell their story for the lesson, and it went great. They have such strong testimonies, and are incredible members. That was pretty much it for the day.

Thursday was insane. We woke up really early to see a ton of snow everywhere. We had been warned fortunately. It took us about 3 hours to get to the Pulaski building in Chicago for transfer meeting! It was a really slow and long drive. Transfer meeting started really late because of the weather. It was good though. We had a good day after transfers. We came home to unload Elder Boyer's stuff. As he was unpacking, we saw some neighbors moving stuff out of a U-Haul into a home. We went out and helped them for a while, then taught them. We referred them over to the Woodridge Elders (Elder Philbrick and Elder Stroud, both from my MTC district). These people were really interested, but were drinking a little bit. I don't know what constitutes drunk driving, but they had a little alchohol in their systems. Dad, if you get a report of a U-Haul accident in the Naperville area from last week, at least know your son taught them before they wrecked the truck. Anyways, after this, we went over to the Barlaugs for a dinner appointment. We had great food, great company, and a good lesson there. After that, we went over to Maple Terrace for an appointment we had with Nikita. She got slowed down waiting for a bus, and was pretty late. As we waited for her, we met Ira in the lobby. We taught him, then went with him to teach his friend, Gabe. We taught Gabe, whose been praying for some help and guidance. It's inspiring how regularly we're led to people right when they're praying for help. After teaching him, we went to see Nikita. We taught her, and that went well. She told us that she had actually made the commitment to God that she'd improve her life and get everything straight within a month or so of us meeting her! Yet another prime example of us being led to someone at the perfect time.

Friday was a pretty good day. We taught Nikita, and had her baptismal interview. The day had some crazy things happen, but was good over all. We also were able to teach Wilma with Mike. She really needs a hearing aid, but is a nice lady. We had dinner with the Christensens, which was great. They're a very nice family. They have a 5 or so year old daughter that has about half of the Hymn book memorized! She's a great little singer. We also got to visit the Adams, which was nice. [The Adams' are the family that is vacationing here in AZ right now.] Other than this, we had preparations and planning to do for part of the day.

Saturday was good. We had weekly planning after our morning schedule. We then went to the Stake Center to prepare for the baptism. As the font was being filled, we watched our teachers quorum basketball team play the Naperville 1st Ward. We got smoked. The other team had a kid with a beard, and some other shady looking players. Nikita's baptism went very well! Mike gave the opening prayer, which was great. We then were blessed to hear a talk from Mark Pope, and one from Lily Pope! They gave great talks. It was pretty funny when Brother Pope told everyone he was here being baptized only 34 days ago. The Bishop baptized Nikita, which was great. Brother Manning was telling us that is the secret to get Wards more missionary minded. It seems to have worked, since the Lord has really blessed us and this Ward since the day Jeremy Hwang was baptized by the Bishop 5 months ago! After this, we heard some remarks from Brother Stavron, then heard a prayer by Sister Matuck. Chiquita was telling people that she is next! After this, we went to give Brother Adams a blessing. We also went to teach Gabe. Gabe once again had been praying and thinking of us, and was quite open for our visit. We got prompted to have a pretty loose lesson plan before going in. This confused us a little bit at the time, but worked out really well because we were mostly supposed to just listen to Gabe. We used a Subway giftcard for dinner. Thank you for them.

Sunday was a good day. Church went very well. We had a good turnout, and learned a lot. After church, we went over to the Hoyts to help them with their missionary work. They've got a few nonmember families they're working with, and are going to invite them over in their home to fellowship and get them ready to be taught the missionary lessons. We had some time, then went over to the Clarks for dinner. They're another great missionary family. They've given us 2 referrals since I've been here. They're working on a Family Mission Plan. I'm excited to see how the Lord blesses them for their missionary efforts! After our dinner, we went home to call a bunch of less actives and former investigators. It's nice having 2 phones for this.

We had a good Monday too. We had District Meeting in Prestbury. Elder Wiser did a good job at teaching District Meeting. After District Meeting, we came back to Aurora and had another meal at Subway. We went to visit Sister Apodaca. She's doing well. She continues to pray for our investigators, and loves to hear how they're progressing. After that, we went to find, and got back into contact with 2 former investigators. We were inspired to go visit one, and happened to get to his home as he pulled into his house. He was just about to leave for somewhere else, but scheduled another appointment, which was great. We also visited Krista. She's doing well, but is studying for final exams. After all this, we went to the Robbins home for dinner. They were surprised to see me again. They moved into the Ward at the same time as I did. They're a nice family, and are doing well. They're coming up with a list of 5 people to share the Gospel with. We've got a return appointment to help them plan on how to best meet the peoples' needs. After this, we went home to prepare for District Leader Council.

Tuesday was great. After our studies, we went to the Stake Center for District Leader Council. It went very well. We set some new goals for the Zone. Our new monthly goal for baptisms is 7. We ended up the year averaging 4 a month, but the first part of 2009 was pretty rough and skewed our average. We've had 2 so far in January, and are moving towards our goal. This weekend is going to be a good one. After DL Council, Elder Boyer and I went to Maple Terrace. We taught Nicole Wade, and also read scriptures with Mike. That went well. After this, we ate a late lunch of Burger King (I had a giftcard for there too). We then went to visit Jeremy, and read the Book of Mormon with him. We haven't been able to see his wife in a while because Korean tradition says babies cannot leave the home for 21 days after their birth. We're going to meet baby Caden next week though! After this, we went to visit the Gamboas. They're doing well. Alex went to mission prep mutual, which should be good. After this, we went to the Matucks for dinner and a lesson. We taught about receiving and recognizing personal revelation. It went well.

Today's been great. I studied scriptures for the first lesson this morning. Elder Boyer went through good questions for the first lesson. We're going to go to Nancy's most likely this evening, and are also going to visit and teach Gabe. It should be a good day.


Well, things are great. I'm loving my mission. I would really appreciate some more CDs though. I really really want Jesus the Christ on CD. That would be very nice. We've gone through the ones you've sent, and others Elder Boyer has (like Profile of a Prophet, by Hugh B Brown, and others), and have gone through ones from LDS.org. Thank you for the ones you sent!!!

I love you!

Love,

Elder Bradley E McMullin