February 7, 2012

Hi mom!!!
I love you so much!! ps your portuguese is quite phenominal :)
This week has been better. Still up days and down days, but the Lord and I are working our way through it. My teachers are absolutely amazing! They care so much about me and they teach us with the Spirit all the time! Irmao O'Brien is one of my most favorite people in the world! He's my head teacher guy and he just rocks my world! He always makes me feel better about myself and he's always upbeat and postitive and I just love him to death. Another one of my favorite people is Irmao Williams. He's not my official teacher but he's a helper guy who comes in and helps us out. He's not even a teacher but he just cares so much about me and is willing to listen to me when i freak out (haha :) ) and he's so calm and his spirit is just so amazingly awesome. I can't even tell you. I love him.

Oh that scripture is awesome! It's amazing how when you have a question or a concern you get different things out of the scriptures. This week i've been reading the Book of Mormon, and it feels like the entire thing is about missionary work and how much the Lord loves us and how He's always going to take care of us. It's so incredibly. I feel the Lord's love for me every second of every day. I've come so much closer to the Lord......and that's one of the reasons why i'm learning the incredibly difficult language of Portuguese, because the Lord needed me to be humble, and to come to Him, and for me to figure out that there are things we have do do alone physically, away from my family and friends, but I'm NEVER alone spiritually. THe Lord is with me. It's one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I got to go to the temple today. It's so fantastic. I wish i could spend all day in the temple, but I can't :/ haha. Did I tell you about Elder Hamilton? He's a kid from Ririe that I played ball against and he's going to Mongolia and he's on my same schedule so I play ball with him in gym every day and I saw him at the temple today which is so fun! I also play ball with Elder Savage from Kaysville Utah. I love that man! He's a stud!

I see Elder Harrison everywhere, which is the highlight of everyday almost (physically ;) ) but i ahven't seen sister stoddard or elder bushman yet, but i'm praying the Lord will let me, because it would make me so happy :)

On Sunday we got to watch the movie "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" and oh my gosh mom....it's incredible! I don't know if you've seen it but if not you should! It's so crazy how strong the spirit was. If anyone doesn't believe in the Restoration or in Joseph Smith, have them watch that movie. They will not be able to deny it. It made me realize that if Joseph can give up his life for the Lord, and not even flinch, even though he loved his family SO much, I can leave my family for 2 years. It seems like such a small sacrifice.....and it is. That really helped me too :)

Well, that's it for my week i guess....oh no wait!! last tuesday nightat devo we had Elder Holland and Elder Nelson come speak cuz it was a 50 year celebration of the missionary training program! Man I LOVE those 2!! that was specatular! The spirit that was tehre was so sweet!!

So I found out that in the next 2 months, there will be 28 new missionaries in portugal, and 15 of them will be sisters. There are 150 missionaries there now and 15 are sisters. Random cool facts eh? and president Torgan is released in June....so a new boss on the block. another random fact, a guy in my zone going to Cape Verde AFrica is from Ethiopia!!! He's the first ethiopian missionary to come to the US for the MTC and he speaks 5 languages plus he's learning portuguese!! crazy huh??? yeah. cool.

Anyways that's so excitiong for brandon mathews! tell him congrats for me please! haha i'm excited for the girls!!! I hope they do well! i can't blame sarah 1 bit for not wanting to go to another ball game! hahah :) how's ash liking her "nannying"?Tell the Holyoaks I love them so much would you please? I miss them! tell them to write me too ;)

YES!!!!!! about time they're finally getting married!!!!! officially :) May 5th can't come soon enough!! I love Matthew so much!! I can't wait for him to be an official part of our family. He treats her so well and it makes me feel good handing steph off to someone that capable. I just wish i could be there for the celebration part-ay! cardboard cutout is a must! slash also pictures....of everything!! :)

Mom don't stress about stud gov. You will PARTY up in Boise!! tell brando and lacey I love them tons and miss them and they need to write me ASAP k? k. thanks :)

I'm sorry about Becki. I will most definitely pray for her! give her my love. I hope everything works out. that's so sad! And sister andersen too?? man we don't need another tragedy filled year. We just got done with one.....they'll be in my prayers.

I hope you arm feels better!! i'm so sorry mom! be careful k? Dr. Jared is good. he'll take care of you til I get back....and go through 8 years of school.....yeah. haha :)

Go YOLI!! you'll be a great salesperson/sponsor/distribute/person. haha that's way fun! Extra cash flow is always nice for sure! :)

So i'm praying the button on my suit coat doesn't come off like so many elders here. cuz i'm realizing...we never practiced that.....so that could be a bad situation! hahaha i guess i'll figure it out huh?? hahah :)

I love you mom....tell everyone there I love them so much. I'm SO grateful for all the letters. I can't wait to check the mail every night. keep it coming guys!! :) I love you and you are ALWAYS in my prayers. be safe. Love you all!

love,
Elder Jordan Brady, you're son/favorite missionary ........of all time. /most humble too :) love you!

ps.....got the yummie bars...and my zone LOVED them! almost as much as i do :) Love you all!!
tchau tchau! :)