November 12, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, I have my new companion.  His name is Elder S**** S*****.  He is from the city R*****e or something like that.  Maybe it's the state.  I am not exactly sure.  All I know, and he agrees with me, is that his accent sounds like he is gargling marbles.  But he is a cool guy and is chill.  He only has been out four months on the mission, but he loves to work.  Only right now he can't work because he has a serious problem with his knee.  President is trying to find a Corto Prazo (a young man that is waiting for a mission call and is asked to come in and serve while he is waiting).  My companion is not allowed to leave the apartment almost ever.  (Was that correct English?)  So we have been chilling for a bit while his knee gets better.  We have no idea right now if he will need therapy or surgery until the swelling of his knee stops.  I hope all goes well with his knee.

Yesterday was Stake Conference of the Stake S*** J***** and we actually had to have the stake Conference in Florianópolis which is the main city of the island.  The reason for this is because the Stake Center of S*** J*** is being fixed.  The whole ceiling collapsed or something.  This stake, though, is very large; I was surprised.  I heard that this might become two stakes sometime in the near future.  But for now we are worried about helping the Area grow.

This ward has many less actives members and the missionaries before me have worked with a lot of them, trying to help them to come back.  President came out with a new idea that will hopefully get references from the members.  I feel that this area will grow with investigators mainly through references.  I heard that this area is full of people that are more closed about the idea of new religions.  That is completely understandable because if you think about it, we are just as well.  Of course we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ on earth, but at the same time there are other people who believe their religion has the truth.  The most that us missionaries can do is invite people to come unto Christ and to learn the fulness of His gospel. We help them through the conversion process.  I am not a big fan of going around talking about how our goal with people is baptizing them, because it's not.  I can baptize 20 people and it wouldn't matter if they truly did not become converted to the gospel through the Holy Ghost.  The conversion of course is the between the investigator and the Holy Ghost, but we can help that process.  That is our mission as missionaries.  Not baptize, but to help others with their conversion.  Of course, we have more control over our own conversions than others.  That is another reason we are on missions.  Missions help one to understand and adapt to a life dedicated to the Gospel.  I still have more work to do with myself.

I am deeply grateful for your prayers and words of encouragement.  I do hope that these last few months are the best on the mission, and that I can completely endure to the end and actually continue to work rather than not put in all my effort near the end.  I love you guys and am grateful for your examples.  Mom, Dad, thank you so much for pushing me along to do what is right.  Thank you so much for your teachings and examples on how to live a good life.  Michelle, Katrina, Tessa, Erica, and Emily, thank you all for your encouragement and for helping me to stay on the path rather than drift away.  And to all others who read this letter, thank you for your examples and encouragement.  I love all of you.  You are great friends and family.

I love you all.

Elder Kevin Brady

November 5, 2012

Hi Fam,

There will be a new transfer this week.  I am going back to the Zone S******* and I will be in the area F***************.  (M********* is the translation).  So my time with Elder B******was short but great.  I learned what I needed to and I will apply it when I get to the new area.  I wonder how many more transfers await my mission.  I will be a senior as well, so now I get to practice my leadership skills and serve my new companion.  Additionally, I will serve the area and ward as well.  It will be good.  I also heard that it will be much hotter than it is here.  I will be sure to get you guys an address so you can see where I live on Google earth or something.

This week was really good but at the same time - meh.  No investigator came to church on Sunday, but it makes perfect sense, since it was a Stake conference and in a different city.  We found some people who appeared to accept the gospel really well but than the seed hit the rock under the surface and they said they wanted to continue going to the church that they had instead.  I had no time to go back while I was here, but Elder B******* will go back.  I pray that success will come with those and they will come to realize that this church has the truths that they need.

Lots of Brazilians hope that Mitt Romney becomes president.  They say that Obama hasn't done anything for us Americans.  They even say that the whole death of Bin Laden was kind of sketchy.  They believe that Romney will help America a lot more than Obama.  I'm not really sure which is better since I haven't been following politics here on the Mission.  I just hope that the next 4 years won't increase our national dept by 5 trillion dollars or more. 

I know that this gospel is true and it has the power to change people's lives.  I know that no one can find true happiness without applying the principles of the gospel.  Joseph Smith was a prophet.  Jesus Christ atoned for our sins and through him we can be changed and become pure.  I know these things are true.

I love you.

Elder Kevin Brady

October 29, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

So the emergency transfer this past week made things a little crazy and so we weren't able to work too much.  My companion is Elder B*******.  He is really awesome.  We actually met when I was companions with Elder S****** in the office.  He was part of Mission staff.  So it was good to catch up and get to know what is going on.  He is from W*********, the city (I don't know the name) is 40 minutes from S*********.  He loves the people and teaching them the gospel.  This will be a good transfer.

Today we did a lot of walking.  It is getting pretty hot over here.  Like really hot.  I am surprised at how hot it is.  But at the same time it is not that hot.  Only like 85 degrees Fahrenheit.  Not too hot.  I'm just not used to it yet.  I am realizing how late this E-mail will be.  There is actually not too much to talk about.  The members here are noticing that I forget a lot of things and they have joke going on that I don't know anything.  I'm getting better, but at times I do forget some things.  That has been something that I have struggled with my whole life.  Planners help with remembering things, but at times I don't remember to put it in my planner.  Or I put it in and I forget to look at it again.

Elder N**** felt that he knew our family very well since he read all of the Christmas letters of our family.  He had a few favorite stories and also liked how Dad described me as oblivious.  I think it is funny as well.  I have been a lot more relaxed when people tease me and have learned to just laugh a long with them.  Anger and contention just drive the spirit away and it is against the doctrine of Christ.  It is actually quite interesting, the doctrine of Christ because Christ stated his doctrine many times.  It's the Gospel, which is: Faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  That's it.  His doctrine also states that we stop having discussions of deep doctrine because that will only lead to contention.  This is all in 3 Nephi 11.  We missionaries of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints are going out to the world, and preaching Christ's pure doctrine.  His doctrine.  By studying and feasting on the words of Christ we can come to a full understanding of the gospel, which is the doctrine of Christ.  This is what we should worry about.  Not what Heaven will look like, or if everyone has beards in heaven, or when the holy ghost will actually receive a body.  All of that does not matter to us and the understanding of it will not help us get into heaven.  What matters is the Gospel and that is why we preach it to others.

I love you guys, and encourage each of you to look for missionary opportunities.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

October 22, 2012

Hey Family and Friends,

Oh yeah, we heard that young men can go on missions when they are eighteen years old now.  Cool stuff.  I hope Bill is OK. [My friend Bill has fallen a couple of times.] That doesn't sound good.  Dad never took me to a football game when I was a kid.  I always asked to go, but he would just remind me of the times he got angry at me.  Ha ha Just kidding

So this week all of our appointments fell through.  We did a hundred contacts as well.  We had 6 investigators at church though, which was awesome.  One of them I had never seen before, but we were unable to get his address. So, maybe next week we can.  But we have some investigators who are really cool.  We have one guy named M******.  He goes to church every week with his family (his wife and son are members) and he loves having us missionaries over at his house.  However, he is also very strong in his Catholic faith.  He is a great Catholic that practices everything that he is taught.  He goes to church every week.  So we still talk to him about our church and eventually he kind of implied, if not confessed, that the reason he is so strong in his Catholic faith is because of his father.  It was how he was raised.  So I guess that will approach the way we teach him in a way that suits him better.

Experiences like this are what make up the mission.  There is always one obstacle that the investigator has that keeps them from getting baptized.  So we missionaries come in and we help them around it. Of course, conversion really only happens if it is their choice (and/or desire) to be converted.  It literally comes down to agency.  We can't force them.  We can't.  We have to be patient with them and keep encouraging them.

We have two less-active families though that we are teaching.  We are doing our best to be their friends and help them out.  They have been inactive for a while, but they are coming back to church little by little.  We have made plans to visit them every day of the week so we can help them to gain the spiritual strength that they need.  I am sure that this will help them out a lot.

There has been a new change in our mission:  Because it is daylight savings time, the missionary schedule changed.  Instead of waking up at 6:30, we wake up at 7:30.  We then go to bed at 11:30 at night.  President wants to give us an extra hour of proselyting.  I am not completely sure that we can work up until 10:00 at night, but maybe we can plan more family home evenings with members that can last a little longer.

President F***** called today, and Elder N***** will be transfered tomorrow to C*******.  He will be Zone Leader.  I have no idea who will be my companion yet. It is a good thing though that I have memorized this area.  We have made enough contacts right now, that I think we can start going to the addresses and teach the people.  I have high hopes for this area.

This is the Lord's work and I enjoy doing it.  I love the people here and I learn new things everyday.  I love you guys.

Love,

Elder Brady

October 15, 2012

Hey Family and friends,

Things are going well in ******.  Sort of.  Our investigator, *******, who was marked for a baptism, didn't come to church and told us that she didn't think that the Mormon thing was for her.  So we went over there and talked to her and we explained that our church is different than any other church and that this gospel is for everyone.  We asked her again to read the Book of Mormon and pray for an answer.  We felt impressed to leave Alma 32 for her to read.  Hopefully she receives an answer.  It is all in the Lord's hands as of now.

We have been having some ups and downs with some of the investigators.  Some who receive our message with joy and vigor and then after a few days or weeks, they lose it.  Kind of like the parable of the seeds in the four different places.  Also there are the people who are much slower at accepting the gospel, or growing in it.  I have much more patience with my investigators and I also feel that it is very difficult to cut any of them (take them off our teaching list).  As for me, I don't remove any of my investigators until they remove themselves.  I don't want to give up on them, but if they don't want to listen, then there is nothing that we can do.

We are though, working with a young man, who is in his twenties, to come back to church.  His name is *****, he smokes a bit, but he knows that the church is true.  We felt impressed to ask him to work with us, and come with us as we teach our investigators.  He did and I feel that it was really good for him.  We had some guy talk about some anti-Mormon stuff and giving evidences how the Book of Mormon was false. (obviously he got this from the Internet.)  Our investigator said, "that guy is crazy."  Didn't faze him.  And ******* actually came to church yesterday for the first time in a year, saying he wants to stop smoking.  So we are going to work with him quite a bit these upcoming weeks and help him out.  Maybe ask him to go proselyting with us.

I've been praying recently on how we can help this area grow with the potential that it has.  Did you know that this area had 8 elders or so at the same time once?  So it has a lot of potential.  So as I was asking and praying, I received an impression that we needed to do a service project.  I pondered for a bit last night on what kind of project we should do.  I felt an answer this morning during personal study that it needs to be a project that will get the Church's name in the paper.  So it has to be big.  We are going to talk to one of the members who is good friends with the mayor, if there is something we can do.  I feel that it will be really good for the area to get our name out there, and to show that we are not just another church's missionaries but that we are here to serve the people, as Ammon did with the Lamonites.

I know that this church is true and that it can bless the lives of individuals and families.  The fact that we can perform sealing ordinances in the temple so that families can be together forever is amazing and I am very grateful to teach the atonement of Jesus Christ to the people here in Brazil.  I love you guys.  Stay strong.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

October 8, 2012

Hi family and friends,

Yeah that announcement about women being able to go on missions when they are 19 years old came as a surprise to me too, but it is going to be great.  I have a feeling that there will be a ton more female missionaries in the mission field.  It will be good stuff.  I'll probably be home by the time any of them get to our mission.  So, I missed that era of missionary work.  But the Lord needed me now, so I will serve him now, the best I can.

Conference was difficult for me.  It wasn't really the understanding that I had difficulty with, as much as actually paying attention to what was going on.  I did notice though, that as I doodled, I was able to pay attention a lot better.  To each his own I guess.  But the talks that I did pay attention to were great.  They always are, but I think I will better understand the talks if you guys did send the Conference addition of the Liahona Magazine.  That would be very nice.  thank you for the offer.

We taught a lot this week and found a lot more people home, but the problem is the progress that they have.  For some it is extremely slow.  Also, the fact that people don't keep commitments kind of bugs me.  Why say you will go to church and then don't.  If you won't go, say that you won't go.  Don't give us your word if you won't keep it.  Then at the same time I realize that at baptism, we members gave our word to keep the commandments and at times we don't keep them and we sin.  So we have to learn to be patient with people and have mercy for them.  One day they will get to their conversion.

The food is still good.  I enjoy eating the hot pepper sauce that they have here.  I actually bought one of those things (that makes hot pepper sauce) and I will bring it back to show you guys.  It's good stuff.  There is actually a lot of Brazilian food that I want to learn to make and share with you guys like pão de queijo (bread of cheese) or churraso (Brazilian barbecue) or pasteis (this has no translation).  You guys will like the food a lot.  Also, how they make hot dogs here is crazy.  They put on ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, dill relish, pepper sauce, mashed potatoes, little fried potato strings, and shredded cheese.  This is all in the bun, mind you.  I could eat at least two even if I am already somewhat full.

There is a lot of sacrifice that goes into missionary work.  There are times when I have gotten really upset at the sacrifices that I have to make, and I have considered if a mission is something that I even want to do.  But then I remember the Savior (which we promise to do every week when we take the sacrament), and I think of the incomprehensible and most wonderful Atoning Sacrifice that He made for us, and then I think: "Oh yeah." and then I shut up and get back to work.  We should all be grateful when we have an opportunity to sacrifice for the Lord and give something back to him.  What we do will never pay back for what He has done for us.  It is kind of like a mother or father who pays for their child's schooling or music lessons, the kid can never pay the parent back, all the parent wants is for the kid to practice and appreciate the gift. Just like that, all the Savior wants is for us to use His gift of the atonement and do our best to improve every day.

I love you guys and I can't wait to hear from you next week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

P.S. Is Tessa's baby a boy or a girl?  You guys never said.

October 1, 2012

Olá Família and friends,

First off, yes, I did use my debit card at the store the other day.  Tell the bank thank-you for being cautious.  Second off, my new companion Elder **** is awesome.  We already have 7 new investigators and we marked a baptism on the calendar with one of them.  She is very spiritual and she loves the Book of Mormon and how it teaches the same principles that are taught in the Bible.  She also talked about how she was baptized at another church but that she didn't feel it was a life changing experience for her.  She said that she felt something was missing.  Elder **** and I were very excited to hear that.

We are working with all of the members that we have lunch with to give us references so we can visit those that they know and are ready to hear our message.  We also did a ton of contacts.  The people here are very open and that is great.  We did run into someone that wanted to argue with us about religion.  As we were talking to him he started yelling to no one in particular and I thought it was weird.  We're the only people in the house.  Why are you yelling so loud? Everyone can hear you.  Some people these days.

We´ve been trying to start an English class but no one shows up.  It gets kind of annoying and so I don't know if we will ever have one.  The members want one and they think that it will introduce a lot of people to the gospel, but no one shows up.

This week we are going to mark baptisms on the calendar with ******* and *******.  ******* is a really cool guy, who is studying intently the Book of Mormon and is very much investigating our church.  They accepted baptisms already so I feel that if we can mark a date with them, that will help them to focus on a date and prepare themselves for baptism.

General Conference is coming up and I will be able to watch it here in *******.  Hopefully my brain doesn't get confused with the English and Portuguese that is going on at the same time.  If that happens, General Conference will be very long.  I love it when the Apostles and Prophets speak to us.  They are telling us exactly what God wants us to know at this time.  God is still speaking to us this day.  I find this to be wonderful and amazing. 

Well that is it for this week.  I hope to hear from you next week.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady