Tuesday, May 22, 2012

May 14, 2012


Hey family and friends,

It was so great to hear from you all and I enjoyed every minute of our Mother's Day phone call (skype).  Things are beginning to turn around, especially since we are trying to find new people and get people to set a date for baptism.  The president has given out "Pass-off Cards" to all the juniors in the mission that they must get passed off by their district leader, and once they can, they are ready to be a senior whenever the president needs one. I am on the way to finishing it off this week.

We have been doing a lot more contacts these days trying to find people to teach. We had zone leaders come over this week and do divisions with us so they can help us find some people.  We did find a few and we will be preparing these people for baptism.  A lot of other people just said to come back at a different time.  So we will be going back until they say that they are not interested. 

This area is slightly difficult in some parts but areas are fine. The only problem is that lots of people don't want to walk to church and others don't want to go to church at 8:30 in the morning. They won't change the time either since lunch is the most important meal of the day here in Brazil and starting church after lunch would be annoying to some people.  I don't know.  Maybe we should start inviting people to sacrament meeting since that only starts at 10:30. 

I love the mission and I am glad that I made the decision to go.  I love you guys and I am grateful for the examples that you set for me.  I love you.

Love,
ElderKevin Brady

May 7, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was weird. My companion had a meeting for district leaders over in Florianopolis so I spent a day over in some random city for a "division." We made some good contacts and we had some great lessons with two families. Hopefully they will stay strong. I have no idea, since I am back in good ol´ Joaçaba. Not much has happened this week. We have been trying to get ahold of our investigators but most were not home. We did get ahold of one though and we had a great lesson on the plan of salvation. A lot of the questions that they asked were great and we had to end up explaining about outer darkness.

We had a district meeting (like a stake meeting only it is called a district) for the Ipoméa district and the mission president said that he wanted to make the district into a stake and now everyone has to look at the new district president and help him so he can help the district become a stake. President has high hopes for this district because Ipoméa was actually the first branch to open in all of Brazil and right now it is the slowest growing. The district as well. After we missionaries were told this, we actually want to do even better to help this district grow. Our job in Joaçaba is to help the branch here to grow.

The mission is tough. It requires us missionaries to change into what the Lord wants us to become. This change is very difficult and stressful, but it is worth it. I hope that I can become the missionary the Lord wants me to be, so that I can help the people here in Santa Catarina. I want to place my will with the Lord's so that we can work hand in hand together - He being the vine, and I being a branch - To bring great fruits here in the Florianópolis mission. I want to change for the better, each day of my life so I can return to Him, to live in His presence, with my family. I know that this is the Lord's work and that it is true. I testify to all that read this that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints is the true, and only true, church on earth today and will bring joy to all those that accept its teachings. I love all of you and hope you have a great week.

Love, Elder Kevin Brady

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

April 30, 2012


Dear Family and Friends,

Have I mentioned to you guys that Brazilians eat pizza with ketchup and mayonnaise? I thought you would get a kick out of that.  I knew there was a reason I was so keen on that before my mission...

Sounds like you all have busy lives going on.  We do too.  We started out our week extremely well.  Then Elder F***** got sick.  Then our awesome week went out the window.  So maybe this week will be awesome.  I will be going to a different area for two days while Elder F***** is at a District Leader meeting.  So hopefully after he gets back he will be motivated and we will do awesome,  and find more people to teach.  That would help.

We have been making quite a few contacts with people and we have a ton of potential investigators.  Now we just need to get inside their homes and teach them the gospel.  One of my pet peeves though is when people say that their family is "just leaving, so...," and you look in and see that he or his wife is laying on the couch looking like all they want to do for the rest of the day is relax.  "Oh, we are leaving right now." Umm, no you are not.  Look at how you are sitting and sipping that Chemarrão.  You are not leaving.  But what can we do?  Just got to move on and search for those God is preparing for us.

While Elder F***** was sick, someone rang the doorbell and I answered it and it was three Jehovah's Witnesses.  I stood patiently and listened to what they said and told them that I was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Once they finished talking, they told me that they appreciated so much that I didn't slam the door in their face and that I and my companion were some of the first Mormons they had met who practiced what they preached.  That stuck with me.  Even though I wasn't interested and they knew that, they were glad that I first heard them out before telling them "no, thank you."

I just got to Captain Moroni in the Portuguese Book of Mormon, and I am now understanding everything that I am reading.  Captain Moroni is awesome.  I love the fact that the Book of Mormon states that Moroni is just as righteous as any of the prophets, but that he knew his place in the line of authority of God and would always ask Alma [the prophet] to communicate with God on how they should act in times of war.  I love it.  It states that if everyone was like Captain Moroni, hell would tremble and the devil and his angels would have no power over the hearts of men.  So I highlighted all the attributes of Captain Moroni.  This guy is the real deal.

There is so much to learn on my mission, and I am really glad that I chose to go on a mission and chose to stay on through the really tough parts of it.  Thank you all for your support.  I love you.

Love,
Elder Kevin Brady