Mission Update -- 3/31/10

Well, Elder M is finally being transfered after ALL these months. It will be fun to be in a new area and meet new people, although he has loved working with the people of Aurora/Naperville for the past 8 months. In anticipation of the missions combining, they are combining lots of areas (because they have fewer missionaries), as you will note in Elder M's email. His current area is adding two areas (so there will be 2 missionaries where there used to be 6), and his new area is the same -- he will have what used to be 3 areas, and it looks like maybe next transfer they will take over a 4th area. So, that means lots more area to cover! Here is this week's email:

Hello Family,

It's good to hear from you. This is a crazy day. I'm packing up to get double transferred into BEVERLY! I'll be serving with Elder Taukeiaho who is from Sacramento. We'll be in Chicago. It's just south of Stockyards and is a huge area. The Morgan Park Ward used to have 8 missionaries, but Beverly has recently overtaken 2 other areas! It is sounding like we'll soon take over a 3rd. This area got the most Gladys Knight referrals even before taking over one of the areas we have. That means we should have a ton of people to teach. We'll probably cycle through them pretty quickly, but it's going to be awesome! So, it's going to be crazy... They're combining the Spanish and English Chicago Zones. Which is why Beverly is getting double transferred out... They're having the Spanish ZLs take over, which will be weird, and sending Elder Gates to come take my spot here in Naper 4. [Elder Gates was a ZL in the Chicago area and will move to take Elder M's place as a ZL in the Naperville Zone. Elder M won't be a ZL now.] I'm happy for him to come here, and am really excited about going to Beverly. It's going to be nuts. The Ward is pretty notorious for having a ton of characters.

So anyways, this has been a pretty good week. I'll write this pretty quick because we've got a lot to do today. Here's some of what's happened:

Wednesday was a good day. We just did some housework and rested. We then went on exchanges with Naper 2/3 for the evening. I went with Elder Thompson to a dinner appointment with the Tevagas, which was great. They cooked some mean steaks. After this, our appointment with the Baylogs fell through, so we went to the Greissmeyers to look at the Area Books for 2 and 3, which Naper 4 is getting this transfer. Elder Boyer and Elder Ojelade went to dinner at the Andersens and to an appointment with an investigator N4 is picking up from N23.

Thursday was pretty good. We had a great appointment with Derek. He is so smart and so awesome. We watched the Restoration movie and he loved it. He then took us through where he is in his Bible studies and what his dead ends are. He's found so much truth and really likes the Book of Mormon because it adds to it. I'm pretty excited for him. I'll tell more about him later on this email. We had our weekly planning as well, which went great. We went over to Sister Apodacas and read from Revelation with Mike too. That was good. We went to do a baptismal interview for one of the Spanish Elders' investigators. That went well. We had dinner with Nancy and the Barlaugs, which was great!

Friday was a fairly unproductive day actually. We went to the Adams' home to discuss the appointment we had with Derek. We had a visit with Amy Gonzalez, which was nice. Elder Boyer had a doctors appointment. We did some finding and visited the Gamboas who cooked us dinner.

Saturday was a good day. We had a productive MCM in the morning. We then went to help deep clean the church building. That took a while. We went to Maple Terrace for a while and talked with some people there. We had a great dinner with the Christensens. They invited a friend over, so we had a lesson with him. What great member missionaries!

Sunday was nuts. We had PEC / Ward Council for the 4th Ward at 9. We then have the end of 3rd Ward Sacrament. After that is 3rd Ward Gospel Principles, then talking with 4th Ward people before their Sacrament, which is at 11. After 11 Sacrament, there is 12 MCM for the 2nd Ward. Then there is 2nd Ward Sacrament. After that it's talk with 4th Ward people before 2nd Ward Gospel Principles. Then was Priesthood for 2nd Ward. We went to Priests Quorum, and the YM President served his mission in Tempe. He lived on the Vance Farm right where Benedict Park is! It was fun to meet a man that pretty much covered my home ward! I should have asked him if it was the Tempe 10th Ward then! Anyways, after that, we had MCM for the 3rd Ward. We then went to the Stacey's home for a lesson. They are such an awesome family. Brother Stacey is so ready. We taught the Restoration, and he completely got it and loved it. This was our first lesson with what I've called the Drumm family, but is actually the Stacey family because Sister Drumm is married to Mick Stacey. After this, we had dinner way over in Aurora with the Bradfords. That was great. After this, our day was done. It was a long, but good day.

Monday was good. After District Meeting, we went to visit the Zacas. They're doing well. It was a nice appointment. I said goodbye there. After that, we went to visit David Lopez. He's doing pretty well. We were there for a while. After that, we had dinner with the Whipples. That was nice. Alex Whipple is going to BYU this fall and is staying at Heritage Halls. He's pretty excited. After that, we went on another exchange with N23. I went with Elder Ojelade this time and went to visit an awesome part member family. I think the kid will get baptized really soon. Elder Boyer and Elder Thompson went to visit an investigator N4 is taking over. Pretty cool.

Tuesday was a great day. We had an awesome appointment with Derek. He had read Mosiah 3-5, Jacob 5 and part of Mormon since our Thursday appointment. He hasn't prayed about Joseph Smith yet, but is doing really well. We talked about Covenants because he's had some issues with the differences in the relationships Gentiles and Jews have with God and is confused about baptism. It went really well. He's going to read the talk on Covenants by D Todd Christoffersen and watch General Conference this weekend! We then helped out with a move that took forever. We moved so much stuff, it was crazy. After that, we went to visit the Drebenstedts and the Adams. I had my last supper at the Adams. I had called President Roach to see what was going on before going to the Drebenstedts, so it was nice to know.

That's pretty much it! We've got a lot of people to stop by today! Have a great week! I love you. I'm loving my mission, and am grateful for the Gospel! I know Jesus is the Christ and am looking forward to helping people in Beverly learn about the Restoration!

Love,

Elder Bradley E McMullin