Mission Update -- 4/14/10

Here's Elder M's email:

Hello Family,

It sounds like your trips are going well! That's too bad Michigan was cold... It is absolutely perfect here! It feels like we've been in San Diego for the past few weeks.

Things are going great here! This area is so awesome! We've been able to find more people, and two of our new investigators set a baptismal date last night. We've got some other investigators with huge potential.

So, week in review:

Thursday we went to Brother Moore's for lunch. He is awesome, and has great stories of the South Side of Chicago. He fed us some lunch, and we shared a message with him. After that, we went to our appointment with Ashley, who gave us the fake phone number. She wasn't there! Who would have guessed... After that, we drove down to Calumet City, which is quite a drive on the freeway. We met with Esau to get some things going for the baptism. That went well. We then had another appointment with a new person fall through. We drove up to Chicago and stopped by a media referral we had. Tonja Rowe let us in, and we taught her. She is great, and has some potential. She just moved here from the South, and is about to make a quick trip back there before coming back to Chicago. We'll teach her a lot more soon. We then had a dinner appointment with the Hoffmans. They're really nice and had a great dinner. After that, we had another appointment fall through, so we made some calls I believe. This week was pretty bad with appointments falling through, but we had a lot of good too.

Friday was a pretty sweet day. We met with Tonika and had a lesson there. She's so smart and is ready for her baptism next week. It will be exciting. We want to start teaching her whole family to help them get baptized too. After this, we went over to meet with Victoria, Errol (pronounced Arrow) & Mercedes. That was pretty great. They're a sweet family. We want to help Victoria prepare for baptism. After that, we went to teach the friends of the Ervins. They had moved actually, but someone new was there. We'll start teaching him. Sister Ervin used to be a Jehovah's Witness, and is pretty good at finding us people to teach. After this, we had a foray into Calumet City again that was filled with cancelled appointments. We went out to stop by people, and stopped by one former investigator's home that I helped find while on exchanges in Calumet City when I was serving in Stockyards! Crazy! They weren't home though. We had a dinner appointment with Sister Tomoko, who is pretty outspoken and funny. She would always feed the missionaries until 2 companionships ago when she and the missionaries had a miscommunication and they missed an appointment. She got upset. The last remaining offending Elder got transferred out, so we called her and told her so, and she invited us over. She cooked a great meal. After this, we went out to Cal City again to have a last lesson with Charity and Esau before Charity's baptism. She also had her interview. She passed with flying colors! While she was being interviewed, everyone else went out back and threw a spear they had at a target. It was pretty random, and really fun. After that, we came home for the night.

Saturday was good. For the past several years, the Elders have hosted a weekly neighborhood pickup basketball game. We inherited that, and it was great. We had 20+ random neighborhood kids and men come play. There's some talk of beginning classes for them, so we'll see if we can get that going. After this, we had a fall through appointment, so we went to the church to start filling up the baptismal font. We then had an appointment with Brother Butler. We went through some scriptures and questions he had. After that, we had another appointment fall through, so we again went to the church to fill up the font. After that, we had an appointment with Michael Moore. He lives at a shelter on the South Side. He's a great guy, but has some things to overcome. We'll continue working with him. After that, we went to the church to do some baptismal preparations. The baptism went well. I'll send a picture of Charity at her baptism. After the baptism, our appointment canceled, so that was pretty much it for the day.

Sunday was pretty neat. We had a meeting with the Sisters before church to go through the Ward list and see who is in whose area. We then had MCM, which went well. We've got a lot of exciting stuff that's going on. We then had church. It starts with Priesthood last here. We had that, then Sunday School, then Sacrament Meeting. People just run up to the pulpit to bear their testimonies here. It's pretty interesting. We had some great classes today, and it was productive. We had a few investigators at church, and it was productive for them. After church, we drove out to Cal City to do the sacrament for Sister Flowers. We also helped her fix something in her yard and read the scriptures. Our other two appointments for the evening fell through. It was a good day all around though. Our Church starts at 1 PM, so that takes up a lot of the day.

Monday was a neat day. We had President's Interviews in the morning that went well. We then went to a media referral we had set up an appointment with. It turns out that Henry Webster's daughter is a convert that lives in Tucson. The lesson went well. The daughter is going to come up and visit, so I think that will be a huge help for us as we try to help Henry Webster come into the Church. After this, we went to Harvey, but had our work there not really work out. We then went out to stop by, and got to meet Altoine Barker, who is trying to get active. He's pretty much good to go, and has an unbaptized daughter. We want to help them get active and help the daughter, Phoenix, get baptized! It should work out well. After this, we went to go visit Michael Moore again. He's doing alright. We then went to visit Victoria and the kids. Errol had been a little distant since we got here, so we tried to befriend him and went skateboarding with him on the sidewalk. It was pretty fun, and he really opened up. We then had a good lesson. After that, we went to the Hills and had an awesome appointment! It was really really good. We were really open with Caraline about getting to church and getting baptized. She really wants to do it, and is going to come to the baptism this Saturday, and then should begin preparing for her own. They are such an awesome family. She's overcome a lot, and is great. We left them with Mosiah 3:19 to read and think about, but the paper we wrote it on got smudged, so Caraline just read the entire chapter and loved it. After this, we exchanged with the Spanish Elders. Elder Solis came to be with me in Beverly.

Tuesday was a good exchange day. We did some tracting before our first appointment. It was pretty unsuccessful. We did find out that someone actually called the number on the pass a long card we had left on their door Thursday! That is pretty rare, so it's exciting! So who knows, we could still find some investigators from where we tracted even though we didn't set up any appointments. After this, we went down to Cal City. Esau and Charity had asked us to come down because they had some questions. They had some events happen in their lives that caused some stress. The appointment was productive. After this, we had a couple of appointments fall through, so we went to get a Philly Cheese Steak for lunch. They've got all sorts of Steak and Lemonade stores around here. We found out that "Lemonade" actually means slushie. I had a good lemonade flavored slushie! We had an early dinner appointment that we didn't think about when we got all that food. It was not long in between meals. We got stuffed to the brim from our dinner with the Forrests, which was great. It's pretty funny... Sister Forrest is from Mesa and Brother Forest is from New Lenox. I knew his relatives in Frankfort! They also gave us a TON of food. It was great. They just loaded us up with a couple big boxes filled with all sorts of food. After this, we went to meet Collette, who has investigated for a while. She is so awesome. She just hasn't been able to get to church. We were very open about baptism and commitment, and she really wants to do it. She committed to all of that, and is going to figure out how to get to church on Sunday. Once she gets there, we can set a date for baptism. After the lesson, we helped them move a huge TV, which is a lot harder not having Elder T as your companion. After this, we went to meet Wendy Whether (I love the name!) and her two kids. They wanted to know how they could come unto Christ, so we discussed the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to do what it takes, and have set the goal of getting baptized on May 15th! Diamonte, the son, was jumping and dancing when he accepted the baptismal date because he was so excited! It was an awesome appointment! After that, we went to exchange back. It was a great day!

Today should be good. We're going to play volleyball again. We then have a dinner appointment with Charity and Esau. It should be good.

Well, I hope you all take care! I love you!

Caitlin, I know Dad probably says this to you ALL THE TIME, but pick a winner!!! (for your college... of course!)

Love,

Elder Bradley E McMullin