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
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