January 21, 2013

Hi Family and Friends,

So this week we are working in a neighborhood full of people ready to hear the word of God.  And they love to hear it from all the churches such as us and Jehovah's Witnesses.  We are teaching one man named M******, I think i told you about him last week, but he is still coming to church and enjoying our message.  He invites everyone else in the neighborhood has well to come to church.  His wife (or girlfriend actually since they are not married on paper) came as well and she enjoyed it.  We also had another family that came to church and they enjoyed it a lot.  This area is starting to get a move on.

We also found another family whose mom is a baptized member, and the daughter was going to be as well, but because of some emergency transfers (a while back) and information being told to other missionaries, the missionaries did not show up at the baptism.  The mom was upset (the daughter as well) and stopped going to church for a while and then she started going to another ward.  We found her and she accepted us and was friendly and we marked a day where we can come by and talk with them and mark another day for the daughter to be baptized.  We had no Idea that they existed.  My companion arrived in this area not knowing anything that was going on and the members didn't tell us.  We had to learn about this family from the missionaries in the other ward.

Lunches are good here.  The members are nice.  We taught a lady the restoration but afterwards she stated that she was going to continue going to her church but we can stop by anytime we want to.  So that was that.  She had two yapping dogs.  It was really upsetting.

I hate mosquitoes.  They keep me up all night buzzing in my ear.  If i had one wish in the world, I'm not sure if I should wish that mosquitoes never exist, or dogs never exist.  probably I would wish away dogs though. (JK to all my dog loving friends).

I am always hungry.  And the funny thing is that I am not gaining weight.  I probably have the worst diet as well.  I rarely eat fruit or vegetables.  They don't taste good.  i love cheese bread and crave it constantly.  I miss taco bell.  And Cheeze-its; like the jalapeño kind.  I love cheese.  Cheeto's are good too.  I am really hungry right now.  i want a pizza. I might make one today.  Do I have to knead the dough or do I just mix the ingredients?  I'll figure it out.

Well that was my week.  I love you guys.  The Church is true and the gospel is true.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

January 14, 2013

Hi Family and Friends,

Yeah my last letter seemed kind of depressing, but I am perfectly fine right now.  I am able to look back at some of the rough moments and laugh.

This week was OK I guess.  We had a zone meeting where we talked about how our attitude needs to change if we want to have a good mission and I was thinking to myself, (well gee, that isn't so hard for me since it changes 24/7) and then how we need to persevere until the end.  I also finally received the letters that were sent to me in December and I got the Christmas letter and nearly flipped a lid when I saw that, out of all the pictures of me that could have been chosen, the one with me and that dog was on the Christmas letter.  That was a joke picture because I am not super fond of dogs. Remember??  Now everyone back at home is going to think that I love dogs and try to get me to pet theirs.  I do not love dogs.  they constantly bark at me.  Everyone has a dog here in Brazil and everywhere I walk is BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK.  "Hi we´re missionaries of the church of BARK BARK BARK BARK!  Excuse me, but would it be all right if we have a glass of BARK BARK BARK BARK!!  This message means a lot to me because it talks about BARK BARK BARK BARK! those feelings you describe are from the Ho--BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK!!"

This week we found a guy named M*****.  He took us to his house and we began to teach him about the gospel.  Luckily, his wife is not a fan of dogs too, so we didn't have any interruptions.  He goes to bible study with the Jehovah's witnesses but he does enjoy learning from us.  He has already felt the spirit during the lesson of the restoration and he is now asking more and more questions.  We are trying to visit him as often as possible and he even came to church yesterday.  He told of how he used to sell drugs, but because of a spiritual experience he had, he decided to abandon that old life and start anew.  And very soon after that is when we came into the picture.  God places us in the areas that we are in for a reason.  I could have complained to the mission president and gotten transfered to a new area but I decided to endure this area and figure out the reason I am here.  If I was gone, who knows if my companion would have made the same decisions that led us to finding M******.  Probably, but maybe not.

So I have decided to stop complaining and stop being lazy and get back to work.  I ran into a hurdle in my life and I need to get up and brush off my knees and start running again. (If you remember when I did hurdles back in middle school I fell down almost every hurdle returning home with scraped knees.  Always)  Things will get better. I hope.

For now I am going to give another week of doing my best and staying obedient. Seriously, as of now I feel great.  I trust in the Lord that all things will turn out fine in the end.  I just have to reorganize my priorities and follow the Lord's will.

I love you guys. Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

January 7. 2013

Dear family and friends,

The week passed by and it was kind of the same old.  I am still getting frustrated over small things.  I shouldn't but I can't help it.  I shouldn't really be feeling all of this since we have a baptism marked for the 26th and that is exciting and wonderful, but at the same time something small happens and I get upset.  Or something big happens and I get upset.  Either way something happens and I get upset.  I am trying to do better. I am.  But the adversary does not want me to do my best.  It feels at least to me, though I know many others go through the same or worse, that the adversary works extra hard to make me feel like a failure.  Difficult stuff that is going on but what can I do.  Only the same thing every single week and day.

Any way, we didn't have that good of a week this week except for marking the baptism.  Her name is M****** and she feels that she is ready.  She is the girlfriend of H****** and H*******'s mom feels that it will be good for him if M***** was baptized.  It appears that way to me as well.  She has already shown that she is wanting to get baptized for herself and not for him.  So this will be good.

We tried to find C********** but he is almost never home nowadays.  and he is not coming to church.  He doesn't wake up on time.

I'm doing all that I can to change and do better.  I am trying to lose myself in the work but sometimes I feel like giving up (don't worry, I won't). This area has tested my faith like no other.  Trial after trial after trial happens.  

I love you guys and I always thank you for your encouragement.  Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

Monday December 31, 2012

Hello family and friends,

That was a lot of fun to see you all and talk to you on Christmas.  Everybody is growing up.  

This week was not that great because nobody wants to hear our message.  So it's just getting real sad here in ***********.  Everyone that we try to teach says to come back after New Years, or never.  So hopefully this week will be better.  Otherwise, I fear all of my letters are just going to be boring.

So this week we visited C********* who is a new member who is less-active and has some struggles.  He acted really weird for awhile (he might have been drunk). We stayed at his house for some time and he started to get sober again and normal.

We have a new woman investigator that came to church last Sunday with a less-active member but she didn't come this Sunday.  We visited her and she said that she would come to church but she didn't.  This week we will go and find out what's up.  She appears to like the message but then again so do a lot of other people who later decide to stop taking the lessons so we'll find out sooner or later.

Anyway, that was what went on this week.  Other than that stuff it's just the same old: People rejecting us, raining when we are outside, stopping when we get inside, muddy roads we have to walk on, when the road is cement it is dry, buses taking forever to arrive causing us to miss the other.  Of course there are some good things like sleep, and eating at the members houses and at home. Sorry if I am sounding down . . . it has been a hard week.

I am trying out shaving with a blade and cream to see if I have a skin reaction to that.  The electric shaver is irritating my skin.  I noticed that I only get acne right now where I shave and it itches like crazy so if it happens with a blade and cream then my skin is sensitive to shaving.  I will admit, I have never felt such a close shave before in my life.  I have never shaved with a blade and cream before.  I keep on cutting the mole on my face as well.  Also, close to my chin I cut. (I think I just mixed Portuguese grammar in that sentence).  But it heals up in like 5 seconds so it's no big deal.

Well I do hope that this week turns out better than last.  Things are going slow and fast at the same time.  Hopefully our luck will change as well since so far it seems we don't have any right now.  I'm trying not to give up but right now I am feeling a bit down.  I love you guys and I hope you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

December 24, 2012

Hi family and friends,

Yes I will try Dad's name first [when I skype tomorrow].  Don't worry.  I have all the information saved on my list on my Skype page.  

Anyway,  not much to write about since we will be talking tomorrow and you can ask your questions to me then. This week I had a low fever so not much happened anyway besides being stuck in a extremely muddy place during the rain.  Wasn't my favorite day of the mission.  Well, I love you guys.  I will see you tomorrow.

Sorry this e-mail is short.  I'm trying to remember things to tell you guys but I can't come up with anything.  Oh and this is sent to you really early because after this we have been authorized to watch movies for Christmas today and so we are heading over there [?] in just a bit.  Lots of fun.  I love you guys.  Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

PS - one more thing, I don't know exactly when after lunch I will be Skyping, because my companion might go before me. . . or not . . . so just be ready to answer :)

December 17, 2012

Hi Family and Friends,

Well, this week we had a conference and that was a good experience.  There were quite a few changes announced on certain things for the mission.  For example, one is that when we have a transfer, we leave on P-day (our preparation day which is Monday for us) instead of Wednesday or Thursday.  Also, a new rule is that we now, during the summer time, have to take, at the very least, two showers a day.  Strange for us Americans, but important.  It's been said that if we don't, fungus will start to grow on us.  Weird.

The president gave us some great tips on contacting people and planning.  He wants detailed planning.  I have never had to list all of the meetings during church before.  He also talked a bit about how he knew that his wife was the one to marry.  He gave us advice and said that choosing a wife should be 50% passion and 50% reason.  He then went to explain why.  It made some sense.  I guess.  

Practically all of our appointments fell through this week.  We did get to visit *****, though, and he liked the lesson.  The only thing that worries me is [whether] he is actually following through with his commitments.  We plan on visiting him this week and, if needs be, we will explain to him the importance of following through and how commitments are key to repentance.  Repentance not just asking for forgiveness, but it is also about changing our ways.  Commitments help us to change our ways.

We didn't find anyone to teach this week.  Nobody seems to want to accept our message.  I am not giving up though.  We are planting seeds everywhere we go so at least that is something that is good.  Like the parable that Jesus taught:  sometimes we just have to plant the seed and then wait for the Lord to do what is needed as we go on our way.  Then, one day in the future, other missionaries will come and harvest what has grown.  I feel that is why I was transfered so often.  Just to plant seeds in the hearts of the people here in Santa Catarina.  I hope that those seeds will someday bear fruit.

I will Skype on Christmas day after lunch so about 1 or 2 o'clock my time.  That is when I plan on calling, so be  ready.  I am excited.

Well I love you guys.  I hope that everything is going well for you.  Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady