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