August 20, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Sounds like you guys had a fun week.  That's cool.  My week was good too.  We had 4 investigators at church and they all loved it.  E**** and her sister came and they told us they will make sure that next week the rest of the family will come as well.  That will be great.  We will teach them this week as well.

My companion gave a talk yesterday at church on the gospel.  I sat and tried hard to understand everything that was going on instead of just daydreaming.  I daydream usually when I get headaches from concentrating.  And loud noises.  I've noticed my ears are becoming more and more sensitive to unnecessarily loud noises.  I wonder who I get that from...

The members are great and like us a lot.  We enjoy working with them and they enjoy it as well.  Every now and then we get a few references from them.  Some turn out great.

The mission is still going well and the days are getting faster.  I am surprised that it is already almost September.  That is weird.  I haven't gotten my visa renewed yet.  I am still waiting for Brazil to approve it and for the mission office to call me in to renew it.  Visas only last for a year and then there are only three months after that to renew it before one becomes illegal.  I've talked to other Elders in my group and they haven't had theirs renewed yet either, so we'll see.

Well that about wraps up this week.  I love you guys and miss you.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

August 13, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, I won't get the package for a while I don't think. [We sent Kevin a package].  Unless someone goes to Florianopolis when it arrives and it is there before interviews we have with President or a Zone conference.  But I will be sure to let you know when I do get it. And yes I have my pin number.  I was sure to write it down and keep it in a safe place so I won't forget.  Sounds like you guys had a fun week as well watching the Olympics.  Go USA.  Brazil came in 23 as far as total metals.  At least that is what I heard from the people.

This week was good.  We taught a few people and had an investigator at church as well as some less active members.  It was good to see them come again.  We also had a zone conference with Elder Godoy of the Seventy and that was really good.  He pretty much said for us missionaries to just listen to our mission president since we were called to serve at this time in this mission to learn from him.  He also spoke about how we can be successful missionaries. And that is by doing our personal best as a missionary.  We need to study and not procrastinate (that was never a problem for me) and we will have successful missions.

My companion is from Blackfoot Idaho and he is thinking about going to college.  He is not sure yet where, but he is looking into being an architect and so probably a school that is good for that.  If one of the church schools has a good program, he will think about going there; if not, he will go somewhere else.  Can't argue with that.

Sorry this is short today, but I love you guys and I know that the Church is true and that preaching the gospel is a great act of service and love. Thank you for your E-mails and letters. They help a lot.

Love,

Kevin Brady

August 6, 2012

Hi Family,

Happy Birthday Mom.  Well, happy birthday in two days, but I won't be able to e-mail that day so here you are.  So, those were some cool letters from all of you.  Sounds like those past weeks [on the road trip] were fun. 

How is America doing in the Olympics? I saw a few Olympic competitions at some of the members houses who keep the TV on during lunch.  Unfortunately, it is showing only the Brazil team events.  Interesting stuff though.  This week was good.  My toe fungus appears to be going away.  Still itches every now and then.  This is the last month of winter over here and it is starting to get warm.  Can't wait.  I love the heat.  I might freeze when I go back home.

Well, this week we got a few references and we are going to visit one tonight.  Let's hope it doesn't get canceled again.  We have one family that is really good and golden, but they won't come to church.  It makes sense since they live so far away but it would be awesome if they did show up.  It could be the Dad that is stopping them, but who knows.  All I know is that they feel the spirit when we teach, and they would feel it more if they came.  The son is really studying what we give him and appears to be really searching for the truth.  Let's hope he feels it soon enough.

My companion is great.  We got to talking about jobs and things and he and I feel that he would do well as an Architect and we feel that I would do well as a movie/TV Writer/Directer.  I would love to do something like that.  Of course we need to finish our missions, but we like to talk about after-mission plans. 

Don't know if there will be baptisms any time soon since we just found out that one of our investigators is living with a man and they are not married and the others we are teaching are not progressing.  It is difficult to teach here and also the fact that the mission president is planning to close the area down in September. So unless we have about 3 or 4 baptisms, this city is no more.  It kind of stunts the motivation factor, but I will still try my best.  Sometimes something unexpected will happen (regarding a baptism), or it may end up being that our experience here was a personal growth type of thing. 

I love you guys and thank you for your support and encouragement.

Love,

Elder Brady.

It's the wide arm runner...  lulz [note from Shelly – this is an inside joke between father and son – don't ask :)]

July 30, 2012

Dear Family,

Things are going pretty well.  We still don't have a baptism marked on the calendar but we might get one this week.  That will be awesome.  This area is slightly difficult and kind of weird  that re-activating members can be tough and in how some just live too far away from church and how some come about once a month or so.  The members feel the Spirit and they know that it is true, they just feel that other things have a higher priority such as work.  Hopefully one day they will come back to full activity.

The area is good and we get fed lunch every single day on the mission, except P-day [preparation day], and the food is really good.  The only weird food that I have had on the mission is this ravioli pasta stuff that they put squash inside of.  I find it odd since fruit and pasta do not mix well for me unless it's tomatoes.  I'll eat it and not complain but I don't like it.  I have not had fish yet, gratefully so I love the lunches here.

My companion is doing well about the extension.  He doesn't feel like it's too difficult.  He is getting very trunky though.  He has been reading some letters from home and he is ready to go back soon.  But he won't stop on his mission.  He will still work and not just be lazy all day, so it works out great.  I've been out for almost 14 months already.  Wow time flies.

Mission is going good.  I liked that article from dad about how being grateful is the key to success.  That is definitely true.  That is something I can work even more on.  I may try it for a week and see how it changes my perspective.  I always remember that story of the ten lepers who Jesus healed and only one of them came back and thanked him.  I like to ask myself at times who I would be in that situation.  It would be good to be the one who comes back and thanks him, I think.  I am grateful to serve the Lord and I love you all very much.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

July 23, 2012

Dear family and friends, 

Yes, I do have my card with me so my card was not actually stolen (just my card number). And, by the way, it did not seem like someone stole 800 dollars from me because the other day I used the card and it worked perfectly fine.  (I spent about $2.50)  It could have been someone hacked into the machine that I used.  I am not sure.  But I will be a lot more careful with how I use it now.

We are receiving tons of references now and that is awesome.  We may have a baptism coming up very soon.  Who knows?  We gave a few blessings this week to help out a few people.  Most were people who are less active in the church right now.  Hopefully some will come back to church.  This week we had a district meeting and the meeting was about how the Book of Mormon was saved for our time and that is part of the reason it is so important in our missionary work and why we need to use it when preaching the gospel. 

My companion was supposed go home at the end of this transfer but he will not leave until the next transfer.  The president made the decision without his acknowledgement and my companion was not super happy about it, but what could he do?  The fact that he is not complaining too much about it is incredible to me because I have no idea what I would do in that situation.  But he is a cool kid.  We have the same interests practically and he is very simple to get along with. 

We had tacos yesterday.  First time in a year and one month.  Tasted great. I ate a lot.  Though that wasn't so great for my stomach.  You see, they don't have cheese and lettuce and such on the tacos.  Just meat.  So eating a lot of taco meat doesn't do well with your system.  Good food though.  I miss Taco Bell.

The church is true and we all have rough patches in our lives.  Wouldn't really be life without them.  But, "men are that they may have joy,"  so we need to learn from our trials and come out stronger.  That is what makes life great.  That is when one can look back at their life in the afterlife and say, "I did a good job" and feel satisfied with everything.  I love you guys and I am glad I made the choice to go on a mission.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

July 16, 2012

Hi everyone,

Someone completely stole my number and money.  The mission payday was on Saturday, so I still had plenty of money and had no need to use my card.  Yes, someone stole my money.  That is a bummer.  Now we will have to figure out how to get the card over here.

So now that the day started out great [sarcasm], I guess I will talk about how our investigators are fine, and that we are trying to reactivate some people and are teaching others as we have invited them to be baptized.  We are getting a ton of references right now and we are working with the members as we teach the people about the gospel.  Things are going smoothly.  We may get some baptisms in the future, but for now, we are moving at the speed of the investigators.

The area I am serving in now is cold but I am keeping warm.  And my toe rash is doing fine.  The doctor says I need to use the stuff [medication] for 4 weeks and it should be cured.

I am kind of upset about the money thing and I don't remember much of what I was going to say in this email.  We are getting fed and things are going great.  I love you guys.  Sorry this E-mail is so short.

Love,

Elder Brady