Here's Elder M. with the Hwang family. They are headed back to Korea in a couple of days. Brother Hwang was one the first people baptized after Brad came to the Naperville 4th Ward about 7 months ago.Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Elder M. with the Hwang Family
Here's Elder M. with the Hwang family. They are headed back to Korea in a couple of days. Brother Hwang was one the first people baptized after Brad came to the Naperville 4th Ward about 7 months ago.
Elder M's District in the Naperville Zone
Bottom Row: Elder Dearinger, Elder T, Elder Gates; Middle Row: Elder M and Elder Wiser; Top Row, Elder BoyerElder Gates is leaving the Zone tomorrow to become a Zone Leader in the Chicago Zone. Elder Bird is coming in to take his place.
Zone Activity 2/10/10
These are the Elders in the Naperville Zone as of 2/10/10. I know there are sisters in the Zone, but maybe they weren't at this activity?? Looks like they were having a great time!
Mission Update -- 2/17/10 Another Transfer in the Naperville 4th Ward!
Wow, I can't believe that Elder M. is staying in Naper 4 for another transfer! This will be 6 transfers in one area. He'll have 3 transfers left after this one is over at the end of March, so he thinks he'll only have one more area after this one. Wow!
Here's his email:
Hello Family,
How are you doing! It's good to hear from you. I'M EXCITED ABOUT BYU CAITLIN! [Caitlin just got her acceptance letter from BYU yesterday and Brad has been pressing her to go up there with him next year. She is not committed to going at this point, but he's hoping!] It will be fun to go to college together! I am glad you're going to go check it out though. That's what made me want to go there. I have to admit I never really did before going to check it out.
So, here's the news. I'm staying here another transfer. It's pretty crazy. There are very few missionaries that have stayed in an area this long. We're not having too many things change around here. Elder Gates is leaving Prestbury to take Elder Denter's spot up in Chicago. Elder Bird is taking his place. The Naper 6 Elders are both going to Chicago, and Sisters are coming in to take their place. They're putting Sisters in both Naper 6 and Wheaton with the intentions of combining the areas next transfer. Pretty crazy. The only other change is for the Spanish Sisters. I am now the single longest serving member of the Naperville Zone. Sister Gutierrez came in at the same time as I did, but is gone to near Chicago now. I'm happy to stay here another transfer. We have a lot of neat things coming up soon, and I really love the area.
So here's some of what happened this last week:
We had dinner with the Coopers on Wednesday, which was great. They're a nice family, and are doing some great missionary work. Sister Cooper is working with the manager of some snowboarder named Vito... It sounded like he's good. Have you heard of him with these Olympics going on? After dinner there, we went over to the Mitchells to help them with missionary work. They're going to do some great things. They're going to hand out a Book of Mormon and 2 DVDs. Easter will be a perfect time to give out copies of the Lamb of God DVD or the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. What an excellent way to share the Gospel. Missionaries would be more than happy to give anyone a copy of them.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We volunteered at the Hesed House which went well. The Hesed House where we volunteer had someone that was infected with TB staying there, so we had to get tested. I got tested last week, but had the return appointment Thursday, and I am NOT infected. We had almost a 0% chance of catching it since we have almost no exposure, but they asked us to get tested just to help the County see if it spread to anyone. The place is sanitary, don't worry. We then went and got a pie for Sister Apodaca. It was pretty neat because that ended up being an answer to her prayer she said. We had a good discussion with her and John. We had a lot of different things happen throughout the rest of the day, but I can't really tell what exactly happened from my planner, so I don't know what to say. We did have dinner with the Adams though, which was great. We had chicken parmesian, which is one of my very favorites! We then went on exchanges with Naper 6. Elder Kotowski came over to be with me in Naper 4.
Friday was a great day. We had an appointment with Amanda in the morning. It went well, and she's working to try to get work off on Sunday. We went to Maple Terrace and taught a couple lessons there. We taught Sue, Lorenszo, and Wilma. Wilma is an old lady and is scared of going to church in the snow. She does have a Jazzy brand electric scooter that she feels confident riding though. It just so turns out that a member from our Ward makes his living by selling Jazzys! We're going to bring him to prove that he can dissemble and reassemble Jazzys, and can bring her to church. He's pretty excited about it, as are we. It should be good. We also went over to teach a less active member that just moved into our are named Brother Ottinger. He has many non members living in the home he moved into, so we hope to begin teaching them. We did some stop bys for Elder Kotowski to meet people he had taught before. We also visited Nancy and company. We then went to visit the Glavianos, which was great for Ariel.
Saturday was an interesting day. We had MCM in the morning which was productive. We then went to part of the Youth Basketball games to try to meet with less active and part member families there. We saw a less active, but the part members we really wanted to set up an appointment with were unfortunately not there. It was also fun to see the youth in action. The Newcombe family from the Ward does a lot of coupon shopping and gets a ton of stuff for free. The called us and had us come over to "go shopping" in their pantry which was really nice. They gave us a lot of supplies. We got to visit with Ben Kaval's grandparents, Brother and Sister Eis, and have great hope for the family progressing. They are really nice. We also had a lesson with the Langstons and talked with their father for a while. We then had a lesson with Adam and Nancy which went well. When you call Nancy, it plays some obnoxious country song instead of having the dial tone... We made a deal with Nancy that if she said the prayer, I'd sing the song for them. She said the prayer, so I sang the song... And found out they were all in league with Elder Boyer and recorded me singing it! It was pretty funny. I just may have a future as a country singer.
Sunday was a crazy day. We had PEC in the morning which went well. Church was great. Ben came to church and absolutely loved it! We're really excited for him. He fit in really well with the Young Men, and was excited for mutual. After church, we had a few members to stop by and drop off media for them to hand out. We've got some great member missionaries in this ward! We had dinner with the Glassets, which was fun. They're a very nice family and are going to do some awesome missionary work. A son there just got back from his mission to Baltimore, and told us about how he got visited by some big time general authorities like we are. It sounds like they changed the P-Day over there to Monday, so maybe they'll do that for us. I hope they don't. We also had an appointment with Bobby at night. That was pretty much the day. There was a funny baptism that happened for the Wheaton Sisters this week. They're both going home this transfer, and really wanted to finish their mission with a baptism. Their strongest investigator knew this, and refused to accept a baptismal to make them anxious. He finally accepted one, and got baptized, then told them he really wanted to for a couple weeks, but just wanted to make them anxious!
Monday was a good day. We had our District Meeting, which was great. We got taken out to lunch afterwards by Brother Rann who came to Naperville to feed us Portillos. He's pretty nice. We also went by and taught the Zacas. That went well. Kayla gave a sweet prayer and thanked the Lord that we always offer to help the family out. We went to the hospital to give Adam a blessing. His leg got infected, so he's in there on a ton of antibiotics. Derrel and Nancy were over there too, and I think it was really productive for the whole family. Derrel is starting to talk about coming to church now because he appreciates how the church (we) helped take care of Sister Drebenstedt when they were in Florida. He's also planning on quitting smoking now, which is really exciting! After this, we had dinner with the Andersens, which was great. We had a good time over there, and are excited for them to do missionary work. They're doing some good work, and are ready to do more. It's pretty funny, because we were really close to tracting their street out just a few days ago. We had done quite a few stop bys, and had one on their street, then debated tracting it. We decided not to, and went on to another stop by. We talked with them, and will do it now. We lost our cell phone, and spent the rest of our evening looking for it, which was a bummer. We were going to try to stop by Amy Gonzalez, but she'll have to wait. We did find the phone buried in some snow, so that was good!
Tuesday was a good day. We started our proselyting by teaching Amanda. We then went to read the scriptures with Mike. After this, we took Brother Adams out with us and went to teach Derek, a former investigator turned new investigator who had gotten into the Greek and Hebrew translations of the Bible. The lesson went really well, and Derek should progress! We then went out with Brother Newcombe and visited a less active named Tim. Tim is very nice. After this, we went to the hospital again and taught Adam, Derrel, and Nancy the Plan of Salvation. Derrel is always friendly, and likes to cook us food, but this is the first time he's stayed in for a lesson. It was really really great. We talked about the temple and it was perfect for the family. Brother Newcombe did a great job at helping us teach too. After this, we went over to Jeremy Hwang's home for our last appointment. It went well. They're set to move to Korea on Friday. It is pretty awesome to hear about their story. I can't remember if I've told you before, but here's some of it here:
Jeremy and the Hwang family moved to the United States for a job, which he soon lost. He moved to Illinois to look for work, and stopped at Temple Square on the drive up here. He met missionaries, and was baptized here. He hasn't been able to get a job, even though he is qualified, because of his visa situation. He is going to move back to Korea to live with his parents for a little while. They live about a block away from a newly constructed church building in the northern suburbs of Seoul, Korea! It is very exciting, and we're sure he is going to help strengthen his Ward, and will be in the right place for his family to progress in the Gospel. He bore his testimony on Sunday and promised the Naperville 4th Ward he would stay true to the faith and keep the commandments in Korea.
After dinner there, we had a lesson which went well. We then went by the Gaffneys and had a lesson there. We also went to the Matucks for a lesson, and awaited our transfer news there.
Today should be an ok day. Elder Boyer isn't feeling the greatest, so we probably will not do much. I've just asked the front office ladies if they have a camera I can use to upload pictures, so we'll see what they can get for me to use. If they don't, we'll go back home and get Elder Boyer's camera and see what we can do.
Well, you have a great day and week! Share the Gospel - It's true!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Here's his email:
Hello Family,
How are you doing! It's good to hear from you. I'M EXCITED ABOUT BYU CAITLIN! [Caitlin just got her acceptance letter from BYU yesterday and Brad has been pressing her to go up there with him next year. She is not committed to going at this point, but he's hoping!] It will be fun to go to college together! I am glad you're going to go check it out though. That's what made me want to go there. I have to admit I never really did before going to check it out.
So, here's the news. I'm staying here another transfer. It's pretty crazy. There are very few missionaries that have stayed in an area this long. We're not having too many things change around here. Elder Gates is leaving Prestbury to take Elder Denter's spot up in Chicago. Elder Bird is taking his place. The Naper 6 Elders are both going to Chicago, and Sisters are coming in to take their place. They're putting Sisters in both Naper 6 and Wheaton with the intentions of combining the areas next transfer. Pretty crazy. The only other change is for the Spanish Sisters. I am now the single longest serving member of the Naperville Zone. Sister Gutierrez came in at the same time as I did, but is gone to near Chicago now. I'm happy to stay here another transfer. We have a lot of neat things coming up soon, and I really love the area.
So here's some of what happened this last week:
We had dinner with the Coopers on Wednesday, which was great. They're a nice family, and are doing some great missionary work. Sister Cooper is working with the manager of some snowboarder named Vito... It sounded like he's good. Have you heard of him with these Olympics going on? After dinner there, we went over to the Mitchells to help them with missionary work. They're going to do some great things. They're going to hand out a Book of Mormon and 2 DVDs. Easter will be a perfect time to give out copies of the Lamb of God DVD or the Finding Faith in Christ DVD. What an excellent way to share the Gospel. Missionaries would be more than happy to give anyone a copy of them.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We volunteered at the Hesed House which went well. The Hesed House where we volunteer had someone that was infected with TB staying there, so we had to get tested. I got tested last week, but had the return appointment Thursday, and I am NOT infected. We had almost a 0% chance of catching it since we have almost no exposure, but they asked us to get tested just to help the County see if it spread to anyone. The place is sanitary, don't worry. We then went and got a pie for Sister Apodaca. It was pretty neat because that ended up being an answer to her prayer she said. We had a good discussion with her and John. We had a lot of different things happen throughout the rest of the day, but I can't really tell what exactly happened from my planner, so I don't know what to say. We did have dinner with the Adams though, which was great. We had chicken parmesian, which is one of my very favorites! We then went on exchanges with Naper 6. Elder Kotowski came over to be with me in Naper 4.
Friday was a great day. We had an appointment with Amanda in the morning. It went well, and she's working to try to get work off on Sunday. We went to Maple Terrace and taught a couple lessons there. We taught Sue, Lorenszo, and Wilma. Wilma is an old lady and is scared of going to church in the snow. She does have a Jazzy brand electric scooter that she feels confident riding though. It just so turns out that a member from our Ward makes his living by selling Jazzys! We're going to bring him to prove that he can dissemble and reassemble Jazzys, and can bring her to church. He's pretty excited about it, as are we. It should be good. We also went over to teach a less active member that just moved into our are named Brother Ottinger. He has many non members living in the home he moved into, so we hope to begin teaching them. We did some stop bys for Elder Kotowski to meet people he had taught before. We also visited Nancy and company. We then went to visit the Glavianos, which was great for Ariel.
Saturday was an interesting day. We had MCM in the morning which was productive. We then went to part of the Youth Basketball games to try to meet with less active and part member families there. We saw a less active, but the part members we really wanted to set up an appointment with were unfortunately not there. It was also fun to see the youth in action. The Newcombe family from the Ward does a lot of coupon shopping and gets a ton of stuff for free. The called us and had us come over to "go shopping" in their pantry which was really nice. They gave us a lot of supplies. We got to visit with Ben Kaval's grandparents, Brother and Sister Eis, and have great hope for the family progressing. They are really nice. We also had a lesson with the Langstons and talked with their father for a while. We then had a lesson with Adam and Nancy which went well. When you call Nancy, it plays some obnoxious country song instead of having the dial tone... We made a deal with Nancy that if she said the prayer, I'd sing the song for them. She said the prayer, so I sang the song... And found out they were all in league with Elder Boyer and recorded me singing it! It was pretty funny. I just may have a future as a country singer.
Sunday was a crazy day. We had PEC in the morning which went well. Church was great. Ben came to church and absolutely loved it! We're really excited for him. He fit in really well with the Young Men, and was excited for mutual. After church, we had a few members to stop by and drop off media for them to hand out. We've got some great member missionaries in this ward! We had dinner with the Glassets, which was fun. They're a very nice family and are going to do some awesome missionary work. A son there just got back from his mission to Baltimore, and told us about how he got visited by some big time general authorities like we are. It sounds like they changed the P-Day over there to Monday, so maybe they'll do that for us. I hope they don't. We also had an appointment with Bobby at night. That was pretty much the day. There was a funny baptism that happened for the Wheaton Sisters this week. They're both going home this transfer, and really wanted to finish their mission with a baptism. Their strongest investigator knew this, and refused to accept a baptismal to make them anxious. He finally accepted one, and got baptized, then told them he really wanted to for a couple weeks, but just wanted to make them anxious!
Monday was a good day. We had our District Meeting, which was great. We got taken out to lunch afterwards by Brother Rann who came to Naperville to feed us Portillos. He's pretty nice. We also went by and taught the Zacas. That went well. Kayla gave a sweet prayer and thanked the Lord that we always offer to help the family out. We went to the hospital to give Adam a blessing. His leg got infected, so he's in there on a ton of antibiotics. Derrel and Nancy were over there too, and I think it was really productive for the whole family. Derrel is starting to talk about coming to church now because he appreciates how the church (we) helped take care of Sister Drebenstedt when they were in Florida. He's also planning on quitting smoking now, which is really exciting! After this, we had dinner with the Andersens, which was great. We had a good time over there, and are excited for them to do missionary work. They're doing some good work, and are ready to do more. It's pretty funny, because we were really close to tracting their street out just a few days ago. We had done quite a few stop bys, and had one on their street, then debated tracting it. We decided not to, and went on to another stop by. We talked with them, and will do it now. We lost our cell phone, and spent the rest of our evening looking for it, which was a bummer. We were going to try to stop by Amy Gonzalez, but she'll have to wait. We did find the phone buried in some snow, so that was good!
Tuesday was a good day. We started our proselyting by teaching Amanda. We then went to read the scriptures with Mike. After this, we took Brother Adams out with us and went to teach Derek, a former investigator turned new investigator who had gotten into the Greek and Hebrew translations of the Bible. The lesson went really well, and Derek should progress! We then went out with Brother Newcombe and visited a less active named Tim. Tim is very nice. After this, we went to the hospital again and taught Adam, Derrel, and Nancy the Plan of Salvation. Derrel is always friendly, and likes to cook us food, but this is the first time he's stayed in for a lesson. It was really really great. We talked about the temple and it was perfect for the family. Brother Newcombe did a great job at helping us teach too. After this, we went over to Jeremy Hwang's home for our last appointment. It went well. They're set to move to Korea on Friday. It is pretty awesome to hear about their story. I can't remember if I've told you before, but here's some of it here:
Jeremy and the Hwang family moved to the United States for a job, which he soon lost. He moved to Illinois to look for work, and stopped at Temple Square on the drive up here. He met missionaries, and was baptized here. He hasn't been able to get a job, even though he is qualified, because of his visa situation. He is going to move back to Korea to live with his parents for a little while. They live about a block away from a newly constructed church building in the northern suburbs of Seoul, Korea! It is very exciting, and we're sure he is going to help strengthen his Ward, and will be in the right place for his family to progress in the Gospel. He bore his testimony on Sunday and promised the Naperville 4th Ward he would stay true to the faith and keep the commandments in Korea.
After dinner there, we had a lesson which went well. We then went by the Gaffneys and had a lesson there. We also went to the Matucks for a lesson, and awaited our transfer news there.
Today should be an ok day. Elder Boyer isn't feeling the greatest, so we probably will not do much. I've just asked the front office ladies if they have a camera I can use to upload pictures, so we'll see what they can get for me to use. If they don't, we'll go back home and get Elder Boyer's camera and see what we can do.
Well, you have a great day and week! Share the Gospel - It's true!
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Mission Update -- 2/10/10
It's been a busy week and I just realized I forgot to update on Wednesday. Here's Elder M's email:
Hello Family,
It is very good to hear from all of you. I am glad you are doing well.
I've been doing well here. We've got Zone Activity today, so I probably won't be here long. We're playing volleyball which should be fun.
Here's some of what I've been up to this last week:
Wednesday was good. We played clue with some other missionaries after spending some time in our apartment. We also had a dinner appointment with the Mitchells which went well. They're a nice family, and are coming up with some plans for missionary work.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We had the Hesed House, which was great. We also had a visit with Lorenszo, which went well. Deanne Adams had been asking us to come over, so we went over there to see them. [The Adams' were the family that came to visit last month. Deanne is their autistic 26 year old daughter. It was so fun getting to know all of them.] Brother Adams just had surgery for a cataract, but he's recovering pretty well. We took Josh Nair out with us in the evening, and had an appointment with Amy G. It went for a long time, but was very productive. They also fed us some dinner over there which was nice.
Friday was a long day! We had President's Interviews, which are at the Mission Office for the Naperville Zone. We stayed for every District Meeting for the Zone. It was like another Zone Conference, except we didn't get lunch. It was good though, and we learned a lot. President Roach is great too, and it was good to talk with him. After this day of District Meetings, we came back to Aurora. We helped cook some dinner for Sister Drebenstedt and Brandon. We also read 2 Nephi 33 over there, which includes the famous "If you don't believe in these words, believe in Christ..." passage. It went well. After that, we taught Bobby Martinez. That went well too. That was pretty much it for the day.
Saturday was actually an unfortunately slow day. We went over and cooked lunch for Sister Drebenstedt, and prepared dinner for Brandon and her. We had some stop bys and people to contact, but didn't get an opportunity to teach them. Our dinner appointment cancelled on us, so we went back to Sister Drebenstedt's home, and had some of the New England Boiled Dinner we made. It was good. We then stopped by Arsone, and got an appointment with him. We saw Mike driving by in Brother Eldredge's car when we were there, so we went to stop by and visit him. He went to the temple for endowments on Saturday, which was exciting. He had a great showing from the Ward there to support him. He's doing well.
Sunday was great. We had my 7th Stake MCM in the early morning. We've got a good Stake Presidency, and they're doing great things. This month was the best by far for member present lessons. That's a really important key indicator to track. Members help more then most realize when they come and help us teach. After this, we had some time to study before church. Fast and Testimony meeting was great. I got asked to give the opening prayer, which was neat. The entire block went well. After Church, we took Christian S. We had a fall through appointment, but got to teach Jessica Langston. We went through the Tree of Life Vision, which was fun. We didn't tell her any answers, but gave her the chapters where she could find them. The task we all have is to draw a picture of the Tree of Life Vision and label everything. Jessica's excited about it, and we are too. After this, we drove to the other side of the area and had dinner with the Petersons. That was great, as always. They're doing some great missionary work, and have a family mission plan now. After this, we didn't have too much time left in the day, so we did our planning, and took call ins.
Monday went well. We had a morning appointment with Amanda. She really felt the Spirit, and received some direction from the scriptures. We then went to the Spanish District's District Meeting. They had a good one. After that, I went with Elder Melton to serve in the Spanish Area for the day. It was fun. We went to our first appointment which was a referral from Elder Gates and Elder Dearinger. It turns out that they just couldn't understand the lady telling them she wasn't interested. She did let us in to teach though, and I didn't do much besides bear my testimony. "El Libro de Mormon, Otro Testamento de Jesucristo es verdad. Yo se la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias es la Iglesia de Jesucristo y es verdad." We did some stop bys and some tracting. The tracting bought us what was most exciting for Naper 4. On the same street we found a less active member that isn't on the Ward list, and a great new investigator. It turns out Ben has been praying for a church every night, and wants to get baptized. We're really excited to be able to teach him. Elder Melton and I called his information over to Elder Boyer and Elder Ferrel who taught him the next morning before exchanging back. After this tracting, we taught some members who have a 7 year old kid who's getting ready for baptism. That went well. We had some other stop bys, and one encounter with a really obnoxious Jehovah's Witness. Ugh. We had dinner with a really nice family that is from the Dominican Republic. It is Alcario's (I interviewed him for baptism quite a while ago) brother and sister in law. We had some other stop bys after this, but nothing too exciting.
Tuesday was great. We woke up to a lot of snow. We went to visit Alcario quickly before District Leader Council at the Stake Center. DL Council went well. Afterwards Elder Boyer and I went to visit Sister Matuck at work (it's right next to the Stake Center). It was nice to see her and JoDee there (member from the 1st Ward). We then got some Arby's and headed back to Aurora. We had our weekly Book of Mormon reading with Mike, and also saw Sue and some other people over at Maple Terrace. We then went out to do a lot of stop bys. We got a few done before dinner over at the Jones' home. That was great and went well. We did a lesson with them about how to answer Gospel questions. We then had an activity and all had questions to answer, which went well. We had that lesson plan given to us randomly by inspiration, and we've got to use it a couple times. After dinner, we went out with Brother Osorio. Our appointment fell through, so we did some more stop bys. We did get to visit with Sebastian's son, which was great. The whole family seems ready, we just never seem to be able to teach them all. Brother Osorio is an awesome member, and was a great help driving us around in the blizzard!
Today should be a great day. We have Zone Activity and a couple of appointments.
The Gospel is true and I love you! Take care and have a great week.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Hello Family,
It is very good to hear from all of you. I am glad you are doing well.
I've been doing well here. We've got Zone Activity today, so I probably won't be here long. We're playing volleyball which should be fun.
Here's some of what I've been up to this last week:
Wednesday was good. We played clue with some other missionaries after spending some time in our apartment. We also had a dinner appointment with the Mitchells which went well. They're a nice family, and are coming up with some plans for missionary work.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We had the Hesed House, which was great. We also had a visit with Lorenszo, which went well. Deanne Adams had been asking us to come over, so we went over there to see them. [The Adams' were the family that came to visit last month. Deanne is their autistic 26 year old daughter. It was so fun getting to know all of them.] Brother Adams just had surgery for a cataract, but he's recovering pretty well. We took Josh Nair out with us in the evening, and had an appointment with Amy G. It went for a long time, but was very productive. They also fed us some dinner over there which was nice.
Friday was a long day! We had President's Interviews, which are at the Mission Office for the Naperville Zone. We stayed for every District Meeting for the Zone. It was like another Zone Conference, except we didn't get lunch. It was good though, and we learned a lot. President Roach is great too, and it was good to talk with him. After this day of District Meetings, we came back to Aurora. We helped cook some dinner for Sister Drebenstedt and Brandon. We also read 2 Nephi 33 over there, which includes the famous "If you don't believe in these words, believe in Christ..." passage. It went well. After that, we taught Bobby Martinez. That went well too. That was pretty much it for the day.
Saturday was actually an unfortunately slow day. We went over and cooked lunch for Sister Drebenstedt, and prepared dinner for Brandon and her. We had some stop bys and people to contact, but didn't get an opportunity to teach them. Our dinner appointment cancelled on us, so we went back to Sister Drebenstedt's home, and had some of the New England Boiled Dinner we made. It was good. We then stopped by Arsone, and got an appointment with him. We saw Mike driving by in Brother Eldredge's car when we were there, so we went to stop by and visit him. He went to the temple for endowments on Saturday, which was exciting. He had a great showing from the Ward there to support him. He's doing well.
Sunday was great. We had my 7th Stake MCM in the early morning. We've got a good Stake Presidency, and they're doing great things. This month was the best by far for member present lessons. That's a really important key indicator to track. Members help more then most realize when they come and help us teach. After this, we had some time to study before church. Fast and Testimony meeting was great. I got asked to give the opening prayer, which was neat. The entire block went well. After Church, we took Christian S. We had a fall through appointment, but got to teach Jessica Langston. We went through the Tree of Life Vision, which was fun. We didn't tell her any answers, but gave her the chapters where she could find them. The task we all have is to draw a picture of the Tree of Life Vision and label everything. Jessica's excited about it, and we are too. After this, we drove to the other side of the area and had dinner with the Petersons. That was great, as always. They're doing some great missionary work, and have a family mission plan now. After this, we didn't have too much time left in the day, so we did our planning, and took call ins.
Monday went well. We had a morning appointment with Amanda. She really felt the Spirit, and received some direction from the scriptures. We then went to the Spanish District's District Meeting. They had a good one. After that, I went with Elder Melton to serve in the Spanish Area for the day. It was fun. We went to our first appointment which was a referral from Elder Gates and Elder Dearinger. It turns out that they just couldn't understand the lady telling them she wasn't interested. She did let us in to teach though, and I didn't do much besides bear my testimony. "El Libro de Mormon, Otro Testamento de Jesucristo es verdad. Yo se la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias es la Iglesia de Jesucristo y es verdad." We did some stop bys and some tracting. The tracting bought us what was most exciting for Naper 4. On the same street we found a less active member that isn't on the Ward list, and a great new investigator. It turns out Ben has been praying for a church every night, and wants to get baptized. We're really excited to be able to teach him. Elder Melton and I called his information over to Elder Boyer and Elder Ferrel who taught him the next morning before exchanging back. After this tracting, we taught some members who have a 7 year old kid who's getting ready for baptism. That went well. We had some other stop bys, and one encounter with a really obnoxious Jehovah's Witness. Ugh. We had dinner with a really nice family that is from the Dominican Republic. It is Alcario's (I interviewed him for baptism quite a while ago) brother and sister in law. We had some other stop bys after this, but nothing too exciting.
Tuesday was great. We woke up to a lot of snow. We went to visit Alcario quickly before District Leader Council at the Stake Center. DL Council went well. Afterwards Elder Boyer and I went to visit Sister Matuck at work (it's right next to the Stake Center). It was nice to see her and JoDee there (member from the 1st Ward). We then got some Arby's and headed back to Aurora. We had our weekly Book of Mormon reading with Mike, and also saw Sue and some other people over at Maple Terrace. We then went out to do a lot of stop bys. We got a few done before dinner over at the Jones' home. That was great and went well. We did a lesson with them about how to answer Gospel questions. We then had an activity and all had questions to answer, which went well. We had that lesson plan given to us randomly by inspiration, and we've got to use it a couple times. After dinner, we went out with Brother Osorio. Our appointment fell through, so we did some more stop bys. We did get to visit with Sebastian's son, which was great. The whole family seems ready, we just never seem to be able to teach them all. Brother Osorio is an awesome member, and was a great help driving us around in the blizzard!
Today should be a great day. We have Zone Activity and a couple of appointments.
The Gospel is true and I love you! Take care and have a great week.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Mission Update -- 2/3/10 BIG Changes in Chicago -- North and South Will be Combined
Wow, big news! The Chicago North and South missions are being combined on July 1. How this will affect Brad I don't know. The issue will really be his return date. The return date is tied into transfer dates, and Chicago North's transfer dates are a couple of weeks off of Chicago South's. That could mean he comes home earlier or later than we had thought OR, who knows, it could stay the same. I'll be curious to see what happens for sure! Here's Elder M's email:
HELLO FAMILY,
It was good to hear from you. I'm glad to hear things are getting better for your eye Grandpa! How was your Birthday, Tay? What are your thoughts about college, Caitlin? I'm having to think about that stuff now, and I don't really like it.
Well, things are going well here. We found out some crazy news at Zone Conference. Our mission is being combined with the Chicago North Mission. Both missions are dropping in missionaries pretty dramatically, so when President Roach finishes his presidency, President Doll, from the Northside will take over. It will happen on July 1st. Our mission is coming off of a record year, and it sounds like the Northside isn't doing too bad either. It should be exciting to have so much more ground to cover, and 80 new missionaries. We'll be able to meet President Doll and the other missionaries at the multi-mission meeting with Elder L Tom Perry, President Hallstrom (of the 70) and Elder Wade (Area 70) we're having on February 26th. If I don't get transferred this transfer, I'll be an usher at the door reserved for the Brethren. Pretty cool!
Well, here's some of what's been going on this week. I've been looking at BYU stuff, and still have to make a Stake MCM report, so I'm not sure how much I'll put here, but here it is:
Wednesday was good. We took it easy and made preparations in the apartment, then went to an appointment with the Robbins to help them get focused on their missionary work and set some goals. They've got some great people on their list, and are focusing on meeting more neighbors. They haven't lived here long, so that will be a great thing for them to do. After this, we went to dinner at Nancy's and had a good time there. We also got to teach Adam there.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We went to the Hesed House. A bunch of volunteers started coming on Tuesday, and it was almost pointless for us to go on Tuesdays. We decided to go Thursdays, and cut our time there back a little bit. I'm not sure if we'll even continue going much longer. We've got a few investigators from there, but no one that's really progressed. We had an appointment with Jeremy. He told us he may have to move back to Korea. He looked on the computer and found out there is a church building down the street from his family's home in Korea, where he will stay if he goes back (99% chance he will). The address for the church is 735 and the address for the home is 725 (or visa versa), so that's pretty opportune. There is no question as to why Jeremy was lead to the United States. He'll be a stalwart for his Ward in Korea. I think he'll learn more quicker over there too. He's got a firm testimony, and a great knowledge of the Gospel, but is still learning English. He closed our meeting with a sincere prayer that included "let the missionaries be your slaves." It was pretty sweet, and we enjoyed it. That being said, Jeremy is actually very good at speaking English. We then went to another family that is in the learning stages of speaking English. The Osorios just moved into our Ward from the Spanish Ward. They are awesome. We helped them make missionary goals. They have quite the list of friends they're going to share the Gospel with. They've got some they're going to invite to church, and others they're going to invite to take the missionary lessons, and even more they're going to give Church DVDs too. They've got a wonderful spirit, and are a great family. After this, we went to dinner at the Weislers. We had a fun lesson with them. We had made questions for each member of the family to come up with a response for. They ranged from "how many wives do you have?" for Brother Weisler to "Hey, want to smoke this cigarette?" for a young man, to "Are you Mormon?" for a younger son. They did great, and do a great job at sharing their testimonies with others. We also did some Zone Conference finalization on Thursday. I still can't believe this was my 5th time preparing to teach at Zone Conference.
Friday was a good day. We had our Zone Conference in Joliet, which went very well. We've got a great Zone, and have some good goals we're working towards. We heard some great training from President and Sister Roach, and the Assistants as well. Our mission is pretty excited to move forwards in the work and help others come unto Christ. About 2 minutes before the end of Zone Conference, President Roach announced our mission is being combined. That caused a lot of discussion amongst missionaries. After Zone Conference, we came back and had a dinner with the Adams. It was fun to see their pictures. They really enjoyed their stay in Arizona. Deanne also seemed to enjoy Mom's lasagna. She continues asking for it here in Illinois, and wants to go to the airport to fly back to Arizona. Brother Adams did show me his granddaughters picture and the like... For the rest of the day, we had some driving around and at least one stop by. We also had a cancelled appointment. We were pretty drained from Zone Conference, so we fell asleep well Friday night.
Saturday was a good day. We had appointments with the Langstons, Amy Gonzalez, and Sister Drebenstedt. We did some stop bys and finding as well. That was pretty much it for the day. We got in contact with some people as well, so it was a productive day.
Sunday was good too. We had a great time at Church. Brother Stavron was on a Disney Cruise, and Mark Pope is out of town, so we were going to teach class. We jokingly said Sister Pope was going to teach as we walked in, and she said, "Yeah! I'll do it." So she taught, and did a great job! It was awesome. We also had a member bring a friend to church, which was great. She's not going to start taking the lessons right away, but had a great time at church. We had a couple of appointments after church, and spent some time with Brandon and Sister Drebenstedt. Nancy is out of town in Florida, so we're stopping in to check on the family. Our dinner with the Allens was great. They're a very nice family, and are going to do some great missionary work! They're going to prepare to have a block party when it gets warm. What a great thing to invite missionaries to. We can come and simply ask people, "Are you a member of the Allen's Church?" "Would you like to learn more about it?..." and find some people in a perfect and non-imposing environment. Awesome. They're also going to invite some part member families over for dinner.
Monday was a good day. We had Zone Leader Council which went well. We received a lot of great training, and discussed quite a few things to help the mission move forwards. The mission ended the month with 22 baptisms, which is pretty good. Our goal is 25, so we got close. I've seen the monthly total of the mission range from 7 to 41. Our Zone ended with 5, which was close to our goal of 7. We want 55 for the year, so we're on pace to hit that. It's pretty funny, my last 3 companions were there too. Elder Denter is still in Chicago, and Elder Ahlman is serving in Joliet now, and of course Elder Boyer is here with me. After this, we had a couple of appointments. We had one with the Coopers which was great. They had us over for dinner, and also had their non-member son in law, Jorge Quintana, who we've been trying to contact for a while. Bishop Nair told us he's our next baptism. He is very receptive, and we're going to start teaching him more. He just has work on Sunday, but other than that, seems great! We're very happy. After this, we went to exchange with the Geneva Elders. Elder Wiser came to Naper 4 to be with me, and Elder Boyer went up to Geneva with Elder T. Elder Wiser was my companion a year ago, and Elder T was Elder Boyer's companion a year ago. It was pretty fun.
Tuesday was a great day. We had quite a few appointments. We taught Amanda Alvarez about the Restoration. That went very well. We read the Book of Mormon with Mike. We then took him with us to visit the Apodacas. Our discussion there ranged from reading Genesis to answering the question "what makes God a god?" Sister Apodaca is great. She tells us how she's never had an unanswered prayer in her life. She prays for investigators and they get baptized. We had given her the name of an investigator from Woodridge that had been taking the lessons for 32 years. He just accepted a baptismal date. After this, we took mike with us again to visit the Adams. Elder Wiser is from the same place as Brother Adams, and went to school with his Granddaughter, so we thought it would be fun for him to meet Elder Wiser. We had a lesson there on Enduring to the End which was very fun. It's always a joy to discuss the Gospel with Brother Adams. We then dropped Mike off and went over to Jeremy's home. We got to meet his son Caden! Jeremy is almost for sure moving to Korea, which is too bad, but will probably be for the best. We then went to visit Sister Drebenstedt and Brandon. They're doing well. We had a great Gospel discussion there. After this, we went to the Matucks home for dinner and a lesson. That went well. After that, we exchanged back. It was a good day.
Today should be good. We've got some things to do for Stake MCM and the like. Elder Boyer is looking at college stuff too. We should have a good day, and have at least one appointment in the evening.
You take care and have a great week! Thanks for all you do. I love you.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
HELLO FAMILY,
It was good to hear from you. I'm glad to hear things are getting better for your eye Grandpa! How was your Birthday, Tay? What are your thoughts about college, Caitlin? I'm having to think about that stuff now, and I don't really like it.
Well, things are going well here. We found out some crazy news at Zone Conference. Our mission is being combined with the Chicago North Mission. Both missions are dropping in missionaries pretty dramatically, so when President Roach finishes his presidency, President Doll, from the Northside will take over. It will happen on July 1st. Our mission is coming off of a record year, and it sounds like the Northside isn't doing too bad either. It should be exciting to have so much more ground to cover, and 80 new missionaries. We'll be able to meet President Doll and the other missionaries at the multi-mission meeting with Elder L Tom Perry, President Hallstrom (of the 70) and Elder Wade (Area 70) we're having on February 26th. If I don't get transferred this transfer, I'll be an usher at the door reserved for the Brethren. Pretty cool!
Well, here's some of what's been going on this week. I've been looking at BYU stuff, and still have to make a Stake MCM report, so I'm not sure how much I'll put here, but here it is:
Wednesday was good. We took it easy and made preparations in the apartment, then went to an appointment with the Robbins to help them get focused on their missionary work and set some goals. They've got some great people on their list, and are focusing on meeting more neighbors. They haven't lived here long, so that will be a great thing for them to do. After this, we went to dinner at Nancy's and had a good time there. We also got to teach Adam there.
Thursday was a pretty good day. We went to the Hesed House. A bunch of volunteers started coming on Tuesday, and it was almost pointless for us to go on Tuesdays. We decided to go Thursdays, and cut our time there back a little bit. I'm not sure if we'll even continue going much longer. We've got a few investigators from there, but no one that's really progressed. We had an appointment with Jeremy. He told us he may have to move back to Korea. He looked on the computer and found out there is a church building down the street from his family's home in Korea, where he will stay if he goes back (99% chance he will). The address for the church is 735 and the address for the home is 725 (or visa versa), so that's pretty opportune. There is no question as to why Jeremy was lead to the United States. He'll be a stalwart for his Ward in Korea. I think he'll learn more quicker over there too. He's got a firm testimony, and a great knowledge of the Gospel, but is still learning English. He closed our meeting with a sincere prayer that included "let the missionaries be your slaves." It was pretty sweet, and we enjoyed it. That being said, Jeremy is actually very good at speaking English. We then went to another family that is in the learning stages of speaking English. The Osorios just moved into our Ward from the Spanish Ward. They are awesome. We helped them make missionary goals. They have quite the list of friends they're going to share the Gospel with. They've got some they're going to invite to church, and others they're going to invite to take the missionary lessons, and even more they're going to give Church DVDs too. They've got a wonderful spirit, and are a great family. After this, we went to dinner at the Weislers. We had a fun lesson with them. We had made questions for each member of the family to come up with a response for. They ranged from "how many wives do you have?" for Brother Weisler to "Hey, want to smoke this cigarette?" for a young man, to "Are you Mormon?" for a younger son. They did great, and do a great job at sharing their testimonies with others. We also did some Zone Conference finalization on Thursday. I still can't believe this was my 5th time preparing to teach at Zone Conference.
Friday was a good day. We had our Zone Conference in Joliet, which went very well. We've got a great Zone, and have some good goals we're working towards. We heard some great training from President and Sister Roach, and the Assistants as well. Our mission is pretty excited to move forwards in the work and help others come unto Christ. About 2 minutes before the end of Zone Conference, President Roach announced our mission is being combined. That caused a lot of discussion amongst missionaries. After Zone Conference, we came back and had a dinner with the Adams. It was fun to see their pictures. They really enjoyed their stay in Arizona. Deanne also seemed to enjoy Mom's lasagna. She continues asking for it here in Illinois, and wants to go to the airport to fly back to Arizona. Brother Adams did show me his granddaughters picture and the like... For the rest of the day, we had some driving around and at least one stop by. We also had a cancelled appointment. We were pretty drained from Zone Conference, so we fell asleep well Friday night.
Saturday was a good day. We had appointments with the Langstons, Amy Gonzalez, and Sister Drebenstedt. We did some stop bys and finding as well. That was pretty much it for the day. We got in contact with some people as well, so it was a productive day.
Sunday was good too. We had a great time at Church. Brother Stavron was on a Disney Cruise, and Mark Pope is out of town, so we were going to teach class. We jokingly said Sister Pope was going to teach as we walked in, and she said, "Yeah! I'll do it." So she taught, and did a great job! It was awesome. We also had a member bring a friend to church, which was great. She's not going to start taking the lessons right away, but had a great time at church. We had a couple of appointments after church, and spent some time with Brandon and Sister Drebenstedt. Nancy is out of town in Florida, so we're stopping in to check on the family. Our dinner with the Allens was great. They're a very nice family, and are going to do some great missionary work! They're going to prepare to have a block party when it gets warm. What a great thing to invite missionaries to. We can come and simply ask people, "Are you a member of the Allen's Church?" "Would you like to learn more about it?..." and find some people in a perfect and non-imposing environment. Awesome. They're also going to invite some part member families over for dinner.
Monday was a good day. We had Zone Leader Council which went well. We received a lot of great training, and discussed quite a few things to help the mission move forwards. The mission ended the month with 22 baptisms, which is pretty good. Our goal is 25, so we got close. I've seen the monthly total of the mission range from 7 to 41. Our Zone ended with 5, which was close to our goal of 7. We want 55 for the year, so we're on pace to hit that. It's pretty funny, my last 3 companions were there too. Elder Denter is still in Chicago, and Elder Ahlman is serving in Joliet now, and of course Elder Boyer is here with me. After this, we had a couple of appointments. We had one with the Coopers which was great. They had us over for dinner, and also had their non-member son in law, Jorge Quintana, who we've been trying to contact for a while. Bishop Nair told us he's our next baptism. He is very receptive, and we're going to start teaching him more. He just has work on Sunday, but other than that, seems great! We're very happy. After this, we went to exchange with the Geneva Elders. Elder Wiser came to Naper 4 to be with me, and Elder Boyer went up to Geneva with Elder T. Elder Wiser was my companion a year ago, and Elder T was Elder Boyer's companion a year ago. It was pretty fun.
Tuesday was a great day. We had quite a few appointments. We taught Amanda Alvarez about the Restoration. That went very well. We read the Book of Mormon with Mike. We then took him with us to visit the Apodacas. Our discussion there ranged from reading Genesis to answering the question "what makes God a god?" Sister Apodaca is great. She tells us how she's never had an unanswered prayer in her life. She prays for investigators and they get baptized. We had given her the name of an investigator from Woodridge that had been taking the lessons for 32 years. He just accepted a baptismal date. After this, we took mike with us again to visit the Adams. Elder Wiser is from the same place as Brother Adams, and went to school with his Granddaughter, so we thought it would be fun for him to meet Elder Wiser. We had a lesson there on Enduring to the End which was very fun. It's always a joy to discuss the Gospel with Brother Adams. We then dropped Mike off and went over to Jeremy's home. We got to meet his son Caden! Jeremy is almost for sure moving to Korea, which is too bad, but will probably be for the best. We then went to visit Sister Drebenstedt and Brandon. They're doing well. We had a great Gospel discussion there. After this, we went to the Matucks home for dinner and a lesson. That went well. After that, we exchanged back. It was a good day.
Today should be good. We've got some things to do for Stake MCM and the like. Elder Boyer is looking at college stuff too. We should have a good day, and have at least one appointment in the evening.
You take care and have a great week! Thanks for all you do. I love you.
Love,
Elder Bradley E McMullin
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