July 9, 2012

So is Logan in Hungary yet??? Man I love that kid!! he's gonna be the best missionary in the world....without a shadow of a doubt. I feel really bad that i haven't written him yet....but last week i didn't write anyone.....sooooooo.....yeah. I'm a putz. But i love you all and him too and everyone so yeah. No stress! :) Man everyone’s taking off!! On Wednesday all the grace kids will be gone!! and William leaves here in a week or two.

Mom thanks so much for sharing Alma 7:11-13 with me. It's been a long time since I’ve read that in English, and I love it so much. Some of those words just mean more to me in English...and I really needed to hear those. Thanks so much. And you're so right. The Savior has such a personal and deep love for all of his brothers and sisters. It's been such a privilege and honor to have the chance to work with some of them very personally here in Portugal. I've started to see that so literally. As I’ve tried to change my point of view of people, and been doing what it says in Moroni 7:48....and praying with all the energy of heart for this love....and the Lord has blessed me enough to be able to feel just a tiny portion of what He feels for us. As we look at people not just as people, but as people that were with us in the Pre-mortal life, as people that we knew and loved and worked side by side together, we start to look at them differently, and we start to feel differently about them and the scary part of sharing the gospel starts to go away, because they already heard it once, and we loved them once, so let's love them enough here to get them back with us again. I challenge everyone to think of a person that they know, that isn't a member of the church....and think about them as a person that you knew and loved before this life, and then to pray and ask Heavenly Father how it is that you can help them get back. Pray for missionary experiences and the Lord will give them to you 100% and He'll fulfill all of the missionary promises. "Take no thought beforehand what ye shall say". "Treasure up continually the words of life". I also want to bear testimony of the power of member missionary work. We've been working a TON with our new branch president...and miracles are happening. The members have such a strong influence and example and testimony that as missionaries, we can't bring on our own because we're not "normal people". we work hard to gain the trust of the investigators and we succeed, but it's not the same as a friend they've had for a long time. I invite you all to offer to have the missionaries in your home, and ask them how you can help. Invite a friend to church or to an FHE or a dinner with the missionaries, and don't be afraid to share what you know. Sharing the gospel can be scary, but when we get over it and we feel the Spirit testify of what we're saying, our testimonies grow, and so do those of the investigators. It's an incredible experience, and lasting, eternity changing experience. I invite everyone to participate in this "great and marvelous work!"

So this week, we've still been working with Eliza. Slowly but surely she's progressing..And with the help of Irmão Ornelas, she's starting to be ok with praying about stuff....so that's great!! and Susana finally got her own testimony about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith!!!! The Book of Mormon is so incredible! There’s such a power there, it's ridiculous! So the next step with Susana is her family. They're all Catholic so she's a little bit nervous, but with the help of the Lord, she'll make it there!

And we found this awesome lady named Orlanda!! i'm not going to tell you the complete story until next week....keepin' you on the edge of your seat! hahahaha so don't let me forget to tell you about that miracle ok? k :)

So I just need to apologize. I didn't get a letter in the mail last week. It was a little bit rough on timing. Elder Bond has been super into cleaning up the Hobbit Hole, so we spent a little more time deep cleaning! haha! He's way in to fixing things up and stuff like that, so that's been kinda cool. We haven't embarked on anything deeper than just scrubbing the scum that's been there since before we were born, and getting the nasty butter that the other elders left behind the oven, that i didn't even know was there the entire last transfer....so....yeah. we decided to clean that up. It's super cool to have a clean house! haha. I had to remember this morning to quite whining about stuff like that and just do it. I just wanted to leave and do emails. Like, I washed the dishes and cleaned up the study area a little so the kitchen and the study room were as clean as they have ever been in my 9 weeks here in Funchal, so i was content. And then as Elder Bond was continuing scrubbing the baseboards and stuff, I was like ok, fine, your right, let's do it. And now, it's amazingly beautiful. And i just got thinking, how many times do we leave our lives like that. We wash the recent stuff, or the stuff that we need to do every day. Like we'll read our scriptures, and we'll repent of the really big things every week, but how many times do we forget to do the deep cleaning of our lives, so the spirit can be with us more and more. It made me think about my attitude too. Lately i've been a little bit selfish, and not real accepting of rough things, or accepting a ton of help that the Lord has been trying to give me, through your letters, my incredible zone leaders, Elder Gunter and Elder Jensen, or through my young new companion, that i need to do a deep cleaning of my life. And I've come to learn, that yeah sometimes life is rough, but that's the Lord leading us to the Atonement. As we have rough days or weeks, and stuff like that, that's just the Lord's invitation to use the Atonement. To "always remember Him". And that's what i've done this weekend. As I've been evaluating my life, with sincere and honest prayer, Heavenly Father has shown me some of the "baseboards" that need to be cleaned in my life. And so i've manned up and cleaned them. And it was kinda scary at first, to see how much scum had been underneath the cracks, but as i've finally decided to change them. Full on change them, and make the sincere effort to change things, i've felt the Spirit in my life more. I've felt more of the energy and excitement that i've been lacking a little bit, and i'm just completely filled with love and gratitude for my Savior, for giving me the opportunity to "Deep Clean" my life. It's awesome.

But yeah, i'm sorry i didn't write you last week!! I love you so much and every single one of your letters has helped me so much! and they were perfectly timed and honestly inspired. In the letter I got this morning you talked about maybe having a 24th of July party. And yesterday I talked with the zone leaders about maybe having a combined activity with our 2 branches and watching a movie about the pioneers or something, but i didn't make the connecton to pioneer day!! and so now the Student Body President button kicked in. I've already made a brainstorming list on the bus to the library with Elder Bond about what it is that we can do. I've called the other 4 elders of the other branch (ZL's and the other elders in my district) and told them to brainstorm for district meeting tomorrow. I've identified the members of the Branch that I'm gonna call today to get them fired up and on board, and we're gonna make this the most amazing, (and probably 1st) Pioneer Day here in Madeira!!! I'm SOOOOO excited!! thanks for the help dad!!
Haha ok....quick random thought, I have been thinking about MASH lately....i dont even know why, but i have...and you've been watching it lately.....i think there's something in my brain that just knows when somebody is watching that show! haha :)

Anyways, dad, i'm sorry i've got to go real quick. Gotta write mom and steph....but i love you so  much. Thanks for the help, support, friendship and prayers. I pray for you so much and I love you tons! I honestly can't believe 6 months have almost come and gone. It blows my mind. Its going so fast. it makes me a little nervous to think i onlyl have 3 more of these 6 months periods and i'm done. Just all the more incentive to work harder every day right? Right. Love you dad!! thanks for everything!!

Love,

Jordan (Elder Brady)