December 10, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this week unfortunately, we didn't plan that well so we ended up not being that productive.  I blame myself for that since I didn't take the lead, as I am supposed to, and plan with my companion.  We taught a few times, but we only made 3 contacts.  President wants us to make at the very least 40.  So, I have learned that lesson -- it was an extremely boring week and nothing that I am proud of . But, Sunday, last night, we did an extremely good weekly plan for this week.  Hopefully, it will be much better. No, wait, it will be better.  So sorry if I don't have a whole lot to talk about.

We have been teaching a man named *****.  He's the one that knows the Bible extremely well.  We have been studying a lot this week (that could have contributed to not making a lot of contacts) so that we could come prepared to show him why our church believes certain things.  He likes us coming over and he does not want to Bible-bash, just only understand our religion.  We will be teaching him tomorrow night about the Plan of Salvation.  I pray that his heart can be softened.  We actually were talking to a member (who was converted two years ago) about his conversion and how he believes that the investigators heart needs to be softened before one can hear of the Restored Gospel.  This member said that, before being baptized,  he would never accept the missionaries lessons and would always use the scripture saying that we should not accept angels or persons who preach another gospel.  But then a missionary taught him about the Plan of Salvation rather than the Restored Gospel and his heart was softened.  We then felt impressed to teach ****** this, because there are many scriptures in the Bible that he can relate to.

We are also teaching a woman named **** who is progressing very well, only she feels a little shy when it comes to church.  She asked many questions on what she is supposed to wear, whether we will be standing outside waiting for her.  So, we made plans to teach her with a family, and talk about church with her.  We also plan that this week we can bring her to the building before Sunday and show her around, so she feels a little more comfortable.  It will be good.

We plan on talking with the members during lunch about references and doing Family Home Evenings with the references and families.  I have had a lot of success with references before in ****, so I feel that working with the members here will also help a lot.  Members and missionaries working together will help Zion to grow in the area. That is what we need.

Tomorrow we have the Christmas conference with President, so I will get all the details about skype.  Skype was authorized by the first presidency so we will be using Skype.  The good thing about this area is that many of the members have nice computers, so I don't think we will have a problem.  Also we will get a list of the movies we are allowed to watch on Christmas day.   Of course that doesn't matter much on the mission, but it is fun to think about.

Well that is it for me.  I love you guys, and stay true to the gospel.  It's true, and Jesus lives and loves us.  God, the Father, does too.

Love,

Elder Kevin Brady

December 3, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry to hear that everyone is getting sick over there.  That's no fun... at times.  Of course, I remember that I liked being sick because I got to watch T.V.  Those were good times.  I am sorry also to hear that our friend's house was broken into.  I hate it when people steal.  How rude.

Well, this week we are still teaching the same people.  We have two new investigators.  This week we are going back to visit them.  One liked to talk about Jesus and he liked our message and asked a lot of great questions while we taught him.  The other got a diploma for studying the Bible so I think that his real intention for letting us teach him--to Bible-bash; but don't worry--we always just bear our testimony instead.  Bible-bashing won't do any good.  But he is a cool guy, and he likes what we teach.

We have done a lot of contacting people this week but no one really wants to hear our message.  Everyone says that they were born Catholic, they still are Catholic, and they will die catholic.  I don't understand why, since many of them say that they don't even frequent the church.  It makes no sense.  Other people see us and just shake their finger and say, "No."  I think that is the most hilarious.  They start yelling at us that they have no time.  I just laugh. So many people reject us without even knowing what our church is about.  It is sad.  But some people, well, I can only just laugh.

We still are going to go out and talk with people.  Try to find new people since three investigators is not enough to work with.  We are getting to know the area better, so it is easier to get around.

I got the Christmas Package.  Or, it arrived in the mail, but I had to pay 75 bucks because of taxes.  What exactly did you put in there? I'm excited.  It must be really cool.  Yeah, so that is kind of why I have been using my personal card a bit because of the Christmas box.

Well that has been my week.  Sorry this is really short.  I love you guys though.  I am grateful for your prayers.  I pray for you too.  Have a good week.  I love you.

Love,
Elder Kevin Brady

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.

November 19, 2012

All right family and Friends,

That was a long letter, Mom.  Wow.  But it was good; I liked it.  And yeah, no problem about the whole school thing afterwards reminder.  I remember now that it will be a little hectic.  I will pray and think about it and give you a what's up a little later.  I do, however, know the perfect job for me, and you guys will like it.  But I won't say till I get back.  I'm trying to push it aside so I can focus on my mission.

So my companion is having an emergency transfer tomorrow and I will have a new companion from A********** named Elder Aagoirhneoghp.  I forgot his actual name it but it does start with an A.  So I haven't really learned the Area yet exactly but I will figure it out.  The members here are very helpful.  I like it here.  Lots of hills, but they are small compared to J******* (where I was last).

So this week, we are trying to figure out how to help our less active members and those non-members learning about the Church.  It is tough over here.  I really want to help them, but me being new, and now I will have a new companion, we have to learn to gain their trust.  I guess we could start by doing service.  That always helps people to be more receptive to us.  "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God."  I always have liked that scripture from Mosiah.  I think Dad was the one that taught me it.  And it stuck.

We stayed in the house a lot this week.  So I looked at it as a break.  I didn't want my companion to overwork his knee so we just stayed at home.  He had some Monopoly card game and we played that forever.  This week though, I will get right back to work.

There is not too much to write about, but I do love you all and I thank you for your encouragement.  I want to be able to get lost in the work and feel the Spirit all the time in order to teach by the Spirit.  That is our main goal.  To teach by the Spirit.  That is the reason us missionaries have all of these rules; so we can have nothing that will dull the feeling of the Spirit.  I understand now.  Teach by the Spirit.  Makes sense to me.

I love you.

Love Elder Brady

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