November 26, 2012

Hi family and friends,

Well, my companion and I have been completely white-washed in this area of F*************, so this week we went around trying to get to know the members.  We're trying to gain their trust and show that we are not weird so that they can help us out as well and give us references.  We have no investigators; we have only one recent convert that we are teaching who still has a problem with the Word of Wisdom.  My companion and I feel that he was maybe not quite ready to be baptized when he was, but we can't do much about that.  Now we have to help him out to overcome his addiction.

Our area book is not filled out completely, and the stuff that is filled out is filled out incorrectly.  So I am now cleaning that up.  We got lost this week on the way to Zone meeting.  We had to take a bus to get to the chapel, but we took the wrong bus and we ended up heading over to the island of Florianopolis.  We got off, and tried to walk to the chapel, but we were too far away and our District Leader called and said that we should just go home because we were late enough as it is.  

This has probably been the most stressful area that I have ever been in, and the facts that I don't know anything about it and the past missionaries did not leave anything behind just adds to it.  But, the Lord sent me here for a reason.  Probably to learn how to deal with stress and even more importantly there is someone that is waiting for me and my companion to come and teach the gospel to them.  I literally reached my breaking point here and I had to make a decision of whether I would turn to the Lord or turn away from Him.  I chose to turn to Him.  I know that only through Him, will I be able to find the peace that I need to get through this.  I need to humble myself and follow His will.  He as authority over me and I need to follow that authority.  I promised that I will do this mission His way and not mine.  And I need to turn to Him in order to have the Spirit with me.  It is literally pointless to do missionary work without the Spirit.  That is like hitting a hammer on a wall without a nail.  What is the point of that? To destroy the wall?  It all makes sense when you think about it that way.

This week we will be making a ton of contacts, trying to find people, and in every situation, I made a goal:  I will ask people if they know anyone else who is interested in hearing our message.  We need references.  That is what I have seen that brings the most success in missionary work.  Members and missionaries working together.  We are here to establish Zion.  All of us have been commanded to gather together in unity and faith.  For me right now, that means going out and finding people to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to.

I am learning a bit of Spanish with Elder A****** my companion.  He is great and likes to work.  We speak Portuguese only since that is pretty much the only way we can communicate.  It helps me a lot and he helps me to know what conjugations of verbs to use since Spanish and Portuguese are so similar.

I know this gospel is true and I know that Heavenly Father loves us and will help us in every way to follow His will.  I love you and hope you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

P.S.

So I have decided this for now and I will tell you my thoughts, so I can put it aside and you can deal with it while I am doing mission work.  I have decided to come home and work until January and then go to school.  I need the money in order to pay for school.  I am pretty sure I won't get a scholarship any time soon.  Also about Erica: am I just going to tell you what to get her for Christmas or am I sending something?  What's going on, I don't understand this whole trading and buying for someone.  I need more explanation.  

PS -
One more thing, do you think you could send a recipe for pizza to me? The members want to try American pizza.