Note from Jeri Kay

so I am a huge slacker and had to put a month of emails on today. my apologies...
also, in the interest of getting it done, I just copied and pasted and did not edit, so some of the stuff may not interest the 12 of you who follow this. again, my apologies!
however, hurray that all the posts are on and we are now up to date!

July 2, 2012

Olá mãe!! a semana foi muito muito boa! aprendemos MUITA coisa! haha a infestação realmente, não é tão mal. Eu acho que não temos...sinceramente...eu não tenho nehum outro...bite....i don't know how to say that yet. But anyways...i haven't been bitten in like 2 weeks...so i'm thinking maybe it wasn't too bad....idk. we'll see i guess! haha

oh man!! 3 on 3 tourneys ROCK! I love them! except that i'm pretty sure all of my tiny little miniscule talent already left. totally gone. It's been like 3 and a half months since ive done anything basketball related....triste. haha but i bet dad is SUPER glad to get to watch that tourney! that'll be super fun! so are you gonna wake up and leave at like 5 in the morning or are you gonna go up the night before?

Rattlesnakes?? man that's rough. I don't ever remember there being rattlesnakes that bad at home. What's going on there? don't freak out mom...."just walk nice, they won't getcha!!" ok....that was apostate...i'm sorry. but i couldn't resist. (for those of you who didn't catch that...yes, that was a reference to the runaway bride.)

Mom thanks so much for sharing what Braden said. That really really helped this week. We had an experience with that kind of a thing and that actually really made me feel a TON better. that is really true though. When we think about the priesthood, that's the same power that Jesus Christ used to create the world. It's the power that governs the heavens and the earth, and it's the power that Christ used to perform all of the miracles. It's an incredible honor and responsibility that Heavenly Father has given us. And our responsibility as holders of this priesthood, is to bless the lives of other people. I've already seen amazing miracles with the power of the priesthood. It's a comfort, a protection and a life changing power. super increidlbe.

So Eliza....she's been having a rough time. We had to tell her that unless she was willing to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior, and follow His example, we couldn't keep meeting with her. (the appointments with her were like 2 hours long each.) But we left a reading with her and invited her to come back to church on sunday, and she did! so that was SUCH a miracle! so we talked with her a little bit after church and we're finally being able to help her understand WHY she keeps coming to church. She feels good and we're trying to help her realize that that's the Holy Ghost. She just doesn't quite understand how it works i guess....idk. We keep finding out more and more. little by little. and she keeps surprising us...little by little. I think her biggest problem is confidence. Confidence in herself, in us, and in the Lord. She hasn't been 100% honest with us and she said that she's understood things, but then it turns out that she hasn't, but as the Spirit has been touching her, little by little, we've been able to find out more. and now we're able to plan how to keep helpng her. Please keep praying for her! and us that we can be patient with her. She makes us a little frustrated sometimes...that's why she's been through missionaries for about 8 years. literally. But pray that we can love her and be patient with her enough that we can keep helping her ok? thanks!

Sorry this is short and INCREDIBLY unorganized. i'm ridiculously tired. We had to wake up at 5:30 to take the zone leaders to the airport so they could meet the new President!!! YEAH! but anyways, i'm super tired today, so don't judge my random rambling :) hahaha

I love you all so much and just want to thank you for everything that everyone has done for me. I thank Heavenly Father constantly for the opportunity He gave me to grow up in Grace. To meet the people I met. To have been able to go to BYU and be touched by so many people there. To have such great friends and family in so many places. You are all amazing and I love you all! I just want to bear my testimony to you all that I know, without a doubt, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect. It was restored through Joseph Smith. I know that it is perfect because it was created by a loving, perfect Heavenly Father. And I know without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus Christ is our Savior, and through Him, and through doing our best, one day at a time, we'll be able to return to live with them again. This is real. It's true. I know it because the Spirit has testified of it to me 1001 times as amissionary. I know it's true, and i'm so grateful for it in my life. in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I LOVE YOU MOM!!!!

Love,

Elder Brady

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!

PPS HAPPY FATHER?S DAY DAD!!!

I'm a putz i forgot. I'«m sorry!!!!!!!

love you!

 

June 18, 2012

Oi mãe!! como estás?? opá! parece que esta semana foi tão incrivel! mesmo como tu :)

Wow....Damian went through the temple and you and Kendal and Dad and everyone was there. I bet that was AMAZING! I've been thinking a ton about the temple lately. I was thinking last sunday, not yesterday but the other day, about covenants and ordinances. I would really love to go through the temple again, just as a little reminder and spiritual booster, but hey, i'll just appreciate it more after a 2 year drought right? :) but seriously, that sounds like the temple was an incredible moment mom. I'm so glad that you got to be a part of that. You're such an amazing person and an amazing example to me, and all of my friends. I hope you know how much we all love you, but me more than any of them, and i'm luckier than them all, because you're mine :) And I thought about when we all get back too. Patrick, Damian, Kendal, me, Ryan, Sam, Jacob, Chase, Logan. Man I'm so pumped for these guys!! and one thing i've realized, is that time on the mission FLIES!! today is transfer P-Day. Turns out i'm staying here in Madeira, and Elder Faias is taking off tomorrow. I'll be getting somebody new, I just don't know who yet :) But  yeah, anyways, this time is going to pass SO much faster than I ever thought. It makes me think about every day that i have, because i don't have very much left. Then I got thinking about how thats the same in life. We don't have very much time to perform our labors, and to create friendships and to help our neighbors and our brothers and sisters. And soon enough, that's it. It made me think about the times when i feel lazy or when things are rough, we just gotta remember, that the Lord only asks for our best for this short little space of time on Earth. We only need to quote unquote, "sacrifice" to keep his commandments for this short little 80 years on earth, and then after that we're promised an eternity full of happiness and joy and peace, with our families and friends. For ETERNITY....i don't know how many 80 years are in an eternity, but i know that this life isn't very much! :) so whenever we're worried about life, or we get down, or we feel like life's hard, just remember, yeah it is sometimes, but it's short...and the promises are sure, and they are more amazing than we can imagine.

Just real quick this brings me to an investigator of ours that is really starting to progress, and she's the reason that i've been thinking about this lately. Her name is Eliza and she's from England. She speaks portuguese perfectly, but she likes to speak English better, so i've been speaking a lot with her. Basically, Eliza is about 32  years old ish (she won't say, so i'm just guessing :) ) She's the only child and she lives with her mom. her parents seperated just a few weeks ago. Her dad has been horribly controling and even abusive to her and it has really caused emotional problems. She's always been talking about the time that she's lost and how hard her problems are and nobody knows what it's like to have problems like her. She's been coming to church and we've had some lessons with her but she's just super nervous and talks super fast and stutters a little bit, and she gets nervous around the members and she's scared to stay out past 7 at night because of what her dad has done to her, and she's afraid her dad is gonna be in the area. And she calls her mom to ask permission to stay out and all of this. She has just really been damaged emotionally because of her past. And she finally said something the other day that really really made me sad. She said, "I never got anywhere with God!!" She said that all of her friends who followed Satan were better off than her. they had their lives organized and they had a family, and jobs, and all of the things she wanted. She's tried to follow God and never got her anywhere. It made me cry to hear her say that. She was shouting this after church and everyone had left. She was like breaking down. We offered to give her a blessing to calm her down, and so she could feel the love the Lord has for her personally, but she just didn't want it. She was just nervous and just wanted to leave. Finally she said i'm out of here. And she was walking down the hall of the church, and there was a member there. And he just calmly said hi how are you? how are the lessons going? and have you had a chance to pray and ask Heavenly Father if these things are true? and that's when we said....Eliza, these things. We want you to ask Heavenly Father if THESE things are true, and if THIS is the path the Lord wants for you. We don't want you to waste anymore of your time by looking back on the past. Heavenly Father wants you to come to Him and follow him, now. Because this is the path that He created for His children. She calmed down....but then got a little nervous and left. But the Spirit was SO strong. and it made me realize what blessings had come to my life because of the Gospel. And because of my Heavenly Father. It was such an incredible experience. and THEN....she called us today, and apologized for all of the things she had said, and done, and she's starting to calm down. I think we're gonna talk about Alma the Younger with her. I'm SO excited!!! pray for her, that she can be calm and that she can feel the spirit and the Savior's love ok? Thanks :)

So another really cool thing that happened yesterday!! AMAZING! we were sitting down to pray cuz a lesson fell through, and we only had about 30 minutes before we had to get to the house and we didn't have time to go anywhere, but we really wanted to do the Lord's work. So we prayed and asked Him to show us what we needed to do. And we said amen, and then looked up and there was a lady walking down the road to our right. we both felt it. So we got up from the bench we were on and walked over to her. We introduced ourselves and asked if she had 10 minutes to talk with us. She said yeah of course! so we sat down on a bench, talked with her, gave her a book of mormon and she said she would read it and pray about it before our next appointment on wednesday! it was AMAZING!! we felt so good about it and Heavenly Father answered our prayers...right on the spot. Tender mercy. It was an amazing thing. Especially cuz this week was really rough for us. WE hadn't found many people, but then the Lord blessed us in the last 30 minutes of the night. And so please please please pray that Angelina will be in the park this wednesday at 430 ok? thanks so much! :) But this week has really strengthened my testimony of the fact that Heavenly Father guides and directs us. I've felt the Spirit in the work these last few days. And I want to say one more thing. On Saturday, I started a more serious study of the Book of Mormon than I ever had in my life. It's the corner stone of our religion, it's the most correct book on earth, and a man will come closer to our Heavenly Father by abiding to it's precepts than by any other book. I felt like I needed to be close to Heavenly Father. And so I started. And I promise you, that the power of the Book of Mormon is real. That the Lord will enter our lives with more power and directness as we study the Book of Mormon. As we study to understand and study to become, not just to read. It's the promise of the Prophet Joseph Smith and it's the promise of the Lord, and He keeps His promises. I've seen it.

Anyways, so yeah, I just got a call from the ZL's my new companion is named Elder Bond. I don't know anything about him yet. I just know that he's coming in this week! I hope he doesn't have a problem with bed bugs....cuz it turns out that literally, we have bed bugs. I have like 97.5 gazillion bites on my legs and arms.....obnoxious buggers. Have any ideas about how to get rid of this obnoxiousness??? :) yep and Elder fais is off to the continent again. He's pretty excited about that cuz he gets to get away from them!! haha :)

Well mom, i'm sorry i dind't get to reply to all of what you said. I really really REALLY enjoyed reading it and i hope you keep telling me everything that's going on at home, i just wanted to tell you that stuff :) I hope you all know that I love you all, and i'm praying for you everyday. and I know that the Lord is watching out for you and I promise you that the Lord loves you. and I do too!! Love you and thanks for everything!!

Love,

Elder Jordan Brady

June 11, 2012

Bom dia mãe!! Eu peço descuplas, eu não sei quanto eu vou conseguir escrever hoje porque i não tenho muito tempo neste momento porque eu já escrevi pai um pouco e também Presidente Christensen. Desculpa!!!

Man I love sam so much!! he's a stud! I' miss that kid. I miss all those kids, but i'm SO pumped that they are all on missoins. How awesome! PS....tell ryan I say Hi and I love him and miss him and i'm thinking/praying for him. pode ser?

But yeah, real quick, Alage. THis has been super interesting. Because he went to chruch the other week, and then the next day he finally got some work, which he hasn't had. So that was a HUGE blessing from the Lord. But now because of this blessing he has been working on sundays and has been INCREDIBLY difficult to get a hold of because he works from 9 in the morning until like 10:30 at night, and we have to be in the house at )9;30 or 10. So that's been rough. But we've been teaching his family, and they are so great!! I love them so much. Tatiana has just been so fun to get to know. She didn't realize that God was actually her Heavenly Father. We said that, but she didn't really understand, so the Spirit told us to talk about taht a little bit more, and it was amazing to feel the Spirit testify to her that she really was a daughter of God. SO COOL! and we showed them Finding Faith in Christ and she couldn't believe that they would do that to our Savior. She just keept talking about the injustice and how horrible it was. We talked about how He did that just for her. And if there was no one else in the world, He would have done it again just for her, because it's true. Jesus Christ would have suffered exactly what He did, all of it, just for one of us. That's the love He has for us. It was amazing to see her. But then she didn't come to church!!!!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!! but she promised she would next week. So please please please pray that Tatiana will come to chruch. She's 17 and we trying to help her become friends with the Branch Presidents daughter, whos 14 and totally awesome! She's Brazilian and her mom invited us over for FHE next week. This is cool cuz their family is awesome and super spiritual and also, Brazilian, and that means that the food with be AMAZING!! hahaha :)

And we're teaching this incredibly lady named Maria. She's the daughter of a recent convert who is so sweet. Irmã Bemvinda is like 75 years old and doesn't know how to read, but her testimony is so sweet and she wants to share it with everyone, and now we're helpiung her daughter. Maria knows the Restoration happenend. She knows taht Joseph Smith saw Heavenly FAther and Jesus Christ. We watched the movie the Restoration, and the Spirit was SO strong and she told us she felt it. She is just scared to go to church because of the experience she had with the Jehovah's Witnesses. So pray that she'll be able to get over taht fear ok?

Ok well mom, I'm super sorry this is oober short, but i'm out of time.... I love you so much. I'm so glad that swimming lessons are going so good. I told you you'd do great!! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Jordan Brady.

~

PS yeah i got nikki«s letter. Sorry I haven't written back!!! I love her tons!!!

June 6, 2012

Olá mãe!! eu te amo mais!!

That sounds like such a great day!! naps are always good! that's one thing that we don't really have here. I'm not gonna lie...i'm always tired! but i always seem to have energy. We get home at night, we plan, then i call the other elders, and then i eat :) and then it's hit the sack. But it's always incredible that when i force myself to exercise, and then take a shower, i have energy again. I am SO grateful for just the little boosts during the day. I'll find myself getting tired, or getting down, and then we'll meet somebody who's super funny, or i'll think of a cool scripture, or i'll start singing primary hymns (those are the coolest btw, they teach such awesome messages!!) and then i'll have the energy to keep going. It is seriously such an amazing blessing. But yeah primary hymns, "I'm trying to be like Jesus", "I Feel my Savior's Love", man they are so cool!! I really do love to sing those. They're so simple and so peaceful, but honestly, that's all there is to it. that's what the gospel is. I'm trying to be like Jesus, I'm following in His ways. I'm trying to love as He did. It doesn't say, "I'm as perfect as Jesus was" or anything like that. We're trying, and learning and growing, and when we try, we can feel our Savior's love. The love He freely gives me. It's so true.

But yeah, so your Sunday was awesome!! Todo mundo estava lá!! Everyone was there!! that's super cool! ANd you guys were apparently a little bit hard core on the SF!! haha :) That's super cool that matthew is Buckskin! He would do a great job! hahaha watch out for those saddle sores! that made me laugh super hard!! Have you been up there to Jackson this summer yet? And it is a bummer that he's not interacting with the people as much, cuz he's way good at it! I'm still learning how to interact with people in portuguese. The sense of humor here is a little bit different, and i don't understand a lot of their jokes, so i feel like sometimes my sense of humor is lame....but then i talk with one of the elders in my district, and i realize that i'm still a little bit funny in english, so that's good! :)
Dave and Aubri are having a baby???? That's so cool!!! man i'm so excited for them!! I miss them tons. Tell them hi from me ok? and tell Dave...."eu recebi tua carta, e eu quero dizer que realmente, este sotaque é um pouco estranho, e eu provávelmente vou mudar para a sotaque de Brasil quando chegar em casa!! haha eu gosto muito de presidente do ramo aqui. Ele é de Brasil e a sotaque da família dele é mesmo incrível!! mais, não julgues o sotaque que tenho!! E parabéns Dav!!! mais um filho em tua família!! que bom!!! parabéns!" yeah he should understand that, but maybe you should have him read it, cuz i'm pretty sure you'll slaughter the pronunciation ;) haha just kidding mom :)

Cody's done already?!?! that's ridiculous. Time flies in the mission field. I was thinking today, that i have more time in the field now then i did in the MTC. super crazy. ANd the church history stuff would be so sweet! I want to do that when I get back. I think that would be a sweet thing to do. Im pumped for them. And Lacey Ackerman is going on a mission??? that's so sweet!! I didn't know she was even thinking about it! she'll be a stellar missionary! Wait where did chase get his call to? I already forgot.

Ricky is so cool!! I love that kid so much!! Way to rock the missionary work man! That's where it's at! he just needs to go back and see if she read. One thing that we've found has worked really well, is to read with the investigators. That way we can help them understand what's going on, and we know they are reading. They are going to feel the spirit if the read, sometimes they just need a little bit of help to read it. So maybe one day he could go back and read a little with her. That would be awesome!

Britten's home!! That's so great! I love that kid. Turns out that he knows my trainer i think. Elder Weiss was in the MTC with him I think. But yeah anyways....that's so amazing that he's doing ok now. I love him so much!

Yes on the pictures!! i'm SO EXCITED!! haha :) pictures are my favorite! haha

That lesson in Relief Socitety sounds like it was great. That's something that's so important. Visiting Teachers and Home teachers are 2 of the most important things in the chruch, but i never really realized how important it was until i got out here. It's how the Lambs of our Heaven Father are watched over. All of His sheep are numbered, and it's our responsibility to make sure that eveyone of these incredible children of Heaven Father are taken care of. It's so so so important. Especially here where there aren't very many members, the members have to stick together and strengthen one another more than ever before with all that's going on in the world. And i'm really still trying to focus on the needs of the people. Sometimes i get caught up in just giving the lesson and then ok...sweet well we've got to get to another appointment so....tchau! and honestly that is one of the most ridiculous things i could ever be doing!! I have been called by God to help His children come closer to Him. And sometimes I just get caught up in thinking about getting to and from the appointments. And I can't. I've got to learn to think about their needs and how we can best help them. We're getting a little bit better at it. But just like you said mom...that's the amazing thing about the Atonement. And there's nothing sweeter, nothing in the world. Then true repentance. When we mess up, and when we sin, we feel this awful, heavy guilt on our shoulders....and it's horrible! and we don't have the spirit with us and we're just wandering around in the world of darkness. And satan has a hold of your mind, and your thoughts are negative, and the world seems so cold and sad. But as we repent, truly honestly and sincerely repent, and change. And become new people, and accept the Savior's sacrifice, and forgive ourselves, it's gone. The darkness is gone. The light and the warmth floods into our hearts minds and spirits, and We Feel our Savior's Love. It's such a beautiful feeling. Then there's nothing sad in the world. Only happiness. I'm so grateful that my older brother suffered for me, so that i can be happy again. The Atonement is such a beautiful thing.

So Alage....(ah-lah-je) he and his family are great! He's muslim and so we're still talking about Jesus Chirst as the Savior and not just a prophet. But Alage is really really accepting. He's so elect! and his kids are awesome! pedro is 8 and we gave him his own BoM the other day and he was reading it out loud to his mom and asked if he could read it everyday and I told him YES!!!! hahaha and we taught him how to pray and he loves it!! it was one of the coolest things ever! I really feel like he's going to help his parents and siblings more than anything else...just by his example. it's amazing.

So one more thing real quick before I go.....I just want to say one thing about prayer. Never, ever, take prayer for granted. Sometimes we find ourselves being caught in the routine of "Heavenly Father, please bless this, thank you for this, in the name of Jesus Christ amen." And that's better than not praying, but not by much. The thing is, sometimes we take it for granted. But prayer is such a beautiful gift that Heavenly Father has given us. The ability to acutally talk with Heavenly Father and have Him talk back. To be able to receive revelation and answers to prayers is so beautiful and so sacred, but sometimes we take it for granted. And that's what Satan wants. He doesn't want us to pray sincerely. He wants us to be repetative. Because when we don't pray with a sincere heart, we're not going to be full of the Spirit and we aren't going to receive revelatoin as clearly, and that's when Satan will be able to slip into our minds and hearts and cause us to do and say things that we shouldn't be doing. But honest and sincere pray is the greatest weapon we have against this. and coupled with scripture study, not reading, but study, Satan's out. Next batter up. But we cannot take it for granted.....don't let Satan get you into that routine. Prayer is communication with Heavenly Father.....talk with Him. Just like you talk with dad. and He'll talk back.

Mom I love you so much. Thank you for everything. I hope you all know that i love you and I'm praying for you and i think you're all incredible!!! :)

Love you!!

Elder Brady

May 29, 2012

Hey mom!!! so basically i have to say i'm sorry for no email....it's not my fault!! haha we had an AWESOME Zone Conference yesterday, and it was all day, so today is a mini-pday to buy groceries and email, and then afterwards get right back to work. So i apologize. And i didn't know that we were gonna have this conference until like thursday, so i couldn't let you know. my bad. but anyways......CONGRATS!!! you all made it through one more year of school!! time sure does fly when you're having fun eh? :)

That's super sweet that Brando and Lacey made it to your house! and she's learning! slowly but surely she's learning to just walk in to the house eh? maybe she'll just start coming over too, and not wait to be invited! but idk, that's a big step. And really the only ones who ever did that were Frack, Scott, Chase, Damian and Kendal! hahaha :) But that's sweet that their senior trip was good! St. George would be a rockin place to hang out for a senior trip!

Ash only has 361 days left?? man that's ridiculous. Seriously cuz i can remember so vividly when i only had that many days left. That's wierd to think about. It's wierd to think that she'll be in college when i get back. She'll actually have more college done than i do!! hahaha that's messed up!

Headed to CALI!!! right on! That's really gonna a great trip for you and dad. I'm super stoked for you guys. it'll be nice to get away. That's something that i've noticed is kinda hard here. Everyone is just trying to work to earn enough money to pay the bills, and they don't have a lot of family time. That's super super hard, but it's also something that is super important. I've been thinking a lot about family home evening. We just taught our recent converts to have a family home evening, and i've really been understanding the importance of having that night together. It's a time to strenghten the relationships as a family, and to learn and grow in the gospel. Just a little reminder from Portugal, that the prophets really are inspired, and FHE is really an essential part to family unity. Just sayin :)

OH!! before I forget....I got Dad's letter today, and inside were all the notes from the wedding!! Thanks SO MUCH everyone who sent those!! It was so fun to hear from you all and it made my entire life!! :) You all rock! hope  you all know that. and i'm so grateful for all of the amazing examples in my life. You have all helped me become who i am, and i thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be raised in Gem Valley. You are all amazing people, and you have a special place in my heart and I love you all.

Wow! the Lord really is watching out for you. 2 blowouts in the suburban would have been terrible! Honestly, it's amazng how the Lord works. You weren't even thinking about the tires, it was the oil. But because Dad followed the Spirit to check the oil, they were able to find out about the tires. Our prayers are answered in little ways taht we don't even expect. Sometimes it's just a little thought taht pops into our head, a memory or something like that that brings a smile to our face. That's been one of the tender mercies that the Lord has given me. And then the fact that we have such incredible friends. The Andersens have done SO much for us, and they're still looking for ways to help us. Man I love Grace!! :)

Man I was just thinking about Kim and Jason Stoddard the other night! That's super cool :) and she had the coolest calling ever!! Spiritual Enlightenment Leader? yeah that's rad. and to be in nauvoo and do baptisms for the dead in the temple there!! oh man! I miss the temple. I think i've already said this, but really it's such an amazing thing to see the members here sacrifice so much to go to the temple. They talked about the amazing blessings of the temple and how we need to be prepared spiritually. and how yes they have to prepare physically, (sometimes for years) to go the temple, we also need to prepare ourselves spritually for the temple. And honestly that is so true. and that actually ties into one of the things that I wanted to talk about today. Yesterday in the Zone Conference, the AP's talked about Christ-like Attributes. As disciples of Christ (which isn't just missionaries) we always need to be striving to become like Christ is. And there were 2 Attributes that really stuck out to me. The first was Virtue. This ties in to the temple. What is virtue. Virtue is being pure of thought and mind and heart. We know that the spirit can't dwell in unholy tabernacles right? Well if we want to be able to feel the spirit, and have the spirit put thoughts into our minds, we have to have clean minds, so the spirit can dwell there. And sometimes we think, ah...no big deal. I don't think anything really bad. Well DUH! (can I say that as a missionary? I hope so) but seriously. Satan isn't gonna tempt us with anything really big at first. Satan isn't gonna tempt us to think about things really really bad the first time, because he knows that we will push that thought out of our minds the instant it's there. He's gonna start with just little things. Little things taht we'll rationalize. Especially here in Madeira i've noticed it. There are so many tourist and so many distractions. And the big things are no big deal. like the billboards with the immodest girls. I can push those out no problem, because i know that's really bad, and i can't think about it. So i sing a hymn and it's gone. but i'll always find myself thinking about little things that aren't as bad, or really "sinful", but are simply distracting from the work. like, "oh cool! look how cool that boat is!" or "man all of these tourists speak english! Maybe i'll go talk to them!" and that's not bad. It's not a sin. In fact it's a good thing. to talk to these tourists and plant seeds and help them feel the spirit. and we still talk to them. But we have to think. Is this the best thing i could be doing? or is there a better way to use this time? So when we see the tourists, we'll say hi and get to know them, but we've got to help the people that live here first as our priority. and all the boats. It's not bad to look at the beautiful creations the Lord has given us, but wehn it leads to me thinking about what i'm going to be doing in 2 years, and maybe i'll do that when i get back, it's not good. it's distracting from the work and i'm not doing the Lord's will. and that's all Satan wants, is for us just to be distracted for a second, cuz then he'll get us to one more. One step more. and then before we know it we're not thinking things that are appropriate, and the spirit can't be in our minds. And then we have to repent. But then that also brings me to the 2nd attribute. Patience. We're human. All of us. You, me, my companion, you're mother-in-law, the Jehovah's Witness that won't let you talk for 2 seconds, all of us. and all of us make mistakes. The Savior was the perfect example of patience. WE need to follow His example and be patient with everyone. We need to be patient with the people who are just imperfect in a different way.

But also, we need to be patient with ourselves. this is probably the hardest one to do. For everyone. We feel like we're not perfect. We feel like we're less perfect than the other people, or we feel like maybe the Lord can't use us because of the mistakes that we make, or that we've made. Mom, I'm here to tell you that the Lord loves you. He loves everyone of us with a perfect love. He loves who we are, and who we want to be. But sometimes He gets really sad, and hurt, when we won't be patient with ourselves. When we're not patient with ourselves, we don't have faith. When we think that the Lord can't use us, or that the Lord isn't accepting our sacrifices, we don't understand the Atonement. Our brother and Savior sacrificed His perfect life, so that we could be imperfect. He suffered for our imperfections, 100% aware that we would have more just after we repent. He knew that going in. And He suffered anyway. We have to try and improve everyday. When we make mistakes, we have to fix them. Christ said to be "perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect". But He knows we can't without Him. He knows we're going to make mistakes, and He loves us anyways. He accepts our sacrifices, but if we don't accept our own sacrifices, we're not fully utilizing the Atonement, and His sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice, was a complete waste. Don't be like me. I didn't fully understand the Atonement, and I will never fully understand it, but I have learned a little bit more now, that the Lord will accept our sacrifices. He's patient with us and every single time we repent and make the decision to change and become better, He accepts it. but we have to be patient with ourselves and our shortcomings.

Well mom, I'm sorry i didn't respond to all of the questions you had this week, but i really wanted to share this little learning experience with you. Mom, I love you so much and i'm so grateful for all you do for me, and I hope you know that you're in my prayers. Heavenly Father blessed me with the best mom in the world. Eu te amo.

Love,

Elder Jordan Brady