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