Mission Update -- 3/3/10

Here's this week's update. Chicago North and Chicago South had a WONDERFUL conference last Thursday and Elder M. got to meet Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Hallstrom, as he will tell you below:



Hello Family,

This has been a good week here. It was great to hear from ELDER L TOM PERRY and ELDER HALLSTROM!

I'm glad to hear things are going well at home. How is swimming going, Taylor? How did this Grandparents Dinner go? Is anyone else in the family out hiking with Dad? How's Monty feeling now with his allergy medicine? Where is everyone in Book of Mormon reading?

Well, here's some of what we've been up to here:

Wednesday was pretty good. we had a calm Preparation Day, and did some preparations. I worked a lot on lesson plans, and did some studies throughout the day. We also cleaned and did things of that nature. We had a good dinner appointment with the Matthews family, who have relatives in Elder Boyer's home ward! We were going to have a late appointment with Amanda, but that fell through, so this was pretty much the day.

Thursday was awesome!!! We started it off by trying to stop by a former, and going to the Hesed House. We took Mike with us to visit Sister Apodaca, but she wasn't home, so we got ready for our Mission Conference. We went there really early to be the ushers. We got to meet a lot of missionaries from the North Side, which was fun. President Doll is awesome too, and will be a great mission president. President and Sister Roach and President and Sister Doll were out in the foyer waiting for the Bretheren as we were the "guards" for the door Elder Perry was going to come in as pretty much everyone else was in the chapel singing hymns. Everyone was pretty excited. Finally we got word from the ushers on the other side (who had seriously been praying Elder Perry and Elder Hallstrom would come in through their doors) that a mysterious black Mercedes was arriving on the wrong side! President Roach ran over there, and soon came back across the building through the church's gym doors. I was about to ask him if they were there yet, but then Elder L Tom Perry, and Apostle of the Lord, walked through the door! He made a joke and asked us if we were the guards, then shook our hands and walked through to another room where he spoke with the mission presidents before the meeting started. You really could feel the spiritual power Elder Perry and Elder Hallstrom had - when they came in and shook our hands we felt our hearts fill up with the Spirit as a glass fills up with water. After their meeting, they walked into the chapel. Everyone stood, and sang until we finished the song. When it was over, Elder Perry exclaimed, "Why'd you stop singing?!" He is pretty funny, and made everyone laugh the entire time he was there. We then all lined up and went to shake the hands of President and Sister Roach, President and Sister Doll, Elder Hallstrom, and Elder L Tom Perry. It was awesome. We then heard from the two mission presidents. They gave excellent talks. It was nice to from two very different leaders speaking with a unified voice. After they spoke, we heard from Elder Hallstrom. He had a great presentation, and got us reading a lot on why we were gathered there today. We learned of learning by Faith. After he spoke, we got to hear from Elder L Tom Perry! He told us some great stories, and really got us motivated. He had a good one about how missionary work prepares us for life after the mission. He got a new job after graduating college at a financial institution. He was taking over for a man who just got fired, because he had never been able to get a budget through the board. The man had done presentations on a chalk board, and would get flustered when the executives started arguing. Elder Perry was looking around the auditorium where he'd do the presentation, and saw some flanel on a wall. He remembered the flanel boards he used on his mission, and decided he'd use a flanel board to present the budget. The business men were amazed, and passed one of the budgets he had prepared. They called him the next day, and made him a Vice President. He also went through some excellent scriptures about the organization of the Church with Chrsit as the Head. Elder Perry told us a lot about the new program the Church has with an emphasis Ward missions. Since they (L Tom Perry was the head of the missionary department) instituted that program in April of 2009, baptisms worldwide have gone up 12%! We also heard about the 3 step process of (member) missionary work. It starts with step 1. Enlighten. We must enlighten others about what the Church really is all about. 51% of the people in the North America Region don't even know about the Church. 47% of those that do have a negative impression of it. We have to let others know who we are and what we believe. 2. Engage. We have to find out a way to get people interested. Let's get them involved in discussion about the Church, to activities, to family home evening, and best of all, into a missionary lesson. 3. Convert. This is when the full time missionaries step in with members, and present the missionary lessons. The Spirit then changes the heart of the Child of God, and covenants are made. We also learned much more, and I'm still going through my notes to discern the Spirit of the conference. After Elder Perry spoke, we closed the meeting, and the Bretheren walked out the back door. L Tom Perry put his hand on my shoulder as he walked by and exclaimed, "we've got to do something with you!" He was either issuing me a rubuke or a call to duty... or was simply being a funny Apostle. Whatever way, it was pretty fun. After the meeting, everyone had to book it out of the parking lot. All of the Stake Presidencies, Bishops, and Ward Mission Leaders from the surrounding 8 Stakes were coming in for a meeting with Elder Perry. It was an extremely productive meeting, and got the members really pumped up. We went to dinnerat the Matucks after the Conference, and had a great time there. We went through the Articles of Faith there. They're still doing very well, and are reading their scriptures daily!

Well, I'm going to go through the rest of the week quickly, I've been here a while typing all of this.

Friday was a good day. We did our weekly planning. We went over to read through PMG with Mike, then took him with us to visit Sister Apodaca. We also taught a lady named Kathi. She's nice. We're going to try and set her for baptism. We also went to dinner at the Zacas. It was their first time having missionaries over for dinner, and was great. We had a lesson over there afterwards, and Martin came in. He joined us in the lesson, and participated, which was great. He's a good man, and if he gets Sundays off work will hopefully progress.

Saturday was a strange, yet good day. We had an excellent MCM meeting in the morning. Brother Stavron was pretty excited because of the meeting with Elder Perry. He gave the prayer, and therefore was one of the first to shake the Apostle's hand. We helped the Anderson family move after this meeting. We moved so much heavy stuff. It took a while, but was great. This family is really starting to do some great missionary work, so it was nice to get to spend some time with them. After this, we had a follow up appointment with the Flemings. They are going to distribute some media to help Enlighten their friends and then to move onto phase 2 of Engaging them. We went over to Nancy's house to bake some cookies for a Ward party we had in the eveining. We did that, and read some scriptures there, then went to the party. It was really fun. We were expecting quite a few referrals from it, but a lot of people couldn't make it unfortunately. It was still great, and we had 3 investigators and 1 potential there. It was good to have them there. I've got a picture of our cookies I'll send to you. Everyone was pretty surprised to see our baking supremacy.

Sunday was a good day. We had a productive PEC in the morning before church. Church was great, and we learned a lot. We had some good talks and lessons. We also got to guest teach for a couple minutes for the Teachers Quorum. After church, we did a bunch of stop bys. We found out that a less active member moved. We then had dinner with the Madura family that had invited a part member family over for dinner. It went well. They're a wonderful family, and do a great job at fellowshipping. After this, we went over to Amy's home, and had a good appointment there. They want to get involved with the Young Mens and Young Womens, and we're pretty excited about that.

Monday was Zone Leader Council day. The North Side Mission APs came, which was pretty fun. They're pretty good guys. After the meeting, we went to the mission office. I got the package, and loved it! Thank you for sending me a package, and thank you for the gifts G&G for Valentines day! We went to an early dinner at the Newcombe's after this, which was great. They're doing some good missionary work! They invited a family over for us to teach in their home a while ago, which was great. We went to interview a guy named Todd for baptism. I had met him at the Woodridge Pageant, and was able to share my testimony with him there, so it was rewarding to have the opportunity to interview him for baptism. We then went to get a Priest, Kyle LaPlant, to come out with us for a late appointment with Amy Gonzalez. That fell through, so we drove Kyle home. It was overall a good day. Kyle is doing some good missionary work, and is going to get us a few people to teach. We're excited for that.

Tuesday was a good day. We did some tracting in the morning, and met a family who was moving to India. They didn't want to investigate, but they gave us a bunch of stuff. It was nice. We went to Maple Terrace, and read with Mike for a while. We tried to find by tracting and stop bys throughout the day, but not too much happened. We did meet with a less active that doesn't want to come back. We went to an early dinner at the Olive Garden, which was great. Thanks for those cards! We then went to try and teach the Gamboa's Polish neighbor, and taught their family. They always do great missionary work.

We have a good day set for today, and hope to find some new investigators to set for baptism! I didn't mention it, but we also got to visit with the Baylogs again this week. Andrea was baptized quite a few years ago, and has some non member kids. Her daughter really wants to come to church. They're a super nice family, and Sister Baylog has a testimony. Life's just crazy for them, so they haven't been able to make it. We're really hoping they can soon, and are pretty excited for their progress actually. They're a family to pray for! Sister Baylog is 50% Sister Pope, and 50% Sister Craven. I have a good feeling about this family!

Well, things are going well. I love you a lot, and appreciate all you do. Keep up your Book of Mormon reading, and share the Gospel! I know the Book of Mormon is true, and have been blessed by the Lord as I've worked to strengthen my testimony. Let us always do missionary work, and seek to Enlighten our friends, Engage them with the Church, and then we'll see the miracle of Conversion!

Take care!

Love,

Elder Bradley E McMullin