Hey Mom!!
So something that was really really cool happened this week! We had a goal as a mission, to have 100 baptisms in the month of December as a gift to the Savior. All month long we've been focusing on making this goal! All of our conferences and district meetings and everything were focused on reaching this goal. And yesterday we found out that the total number of recent converts in Portugal in the month of December was 98!! We were SOOO close! It was a really fun month and the focus of the mission was incredible. As a companionship, Elder Rodrigues and I want to keep this focus going through the last 2 weeks of this transfer and rock it here in Porto. This transfer has been amazing up here! We've been so blessed. The misisonaries in our zone are really focused and are very obedient. We haven't had any serious problems. I'm really super grateful for that. Just keep praying for all of us ok? We want to end this transfer super strong! And also we had that 3-zone zone conference with Elder Teixeira, that Area President. It was amazing! He focused on working with the members, especially with the Leadership of the ward and stake, and also we focused a lot on our teaching. He challenged us to start teaching 21 lessons a week to investigators (we are at an average of 11 in the mission) He shared an experience with us about when he was amission president and how the average number of lessons was 6-7 per week per companionship and he challenged his lesson to do it. He talked about how one elder took the initiative on this and lead his companionship, district, zone and finally mission to reach this goal, and in the end, when they were teaching 21 lessons a week, they had 241 baptisms!!!! It was super cool! Elder Rodrigues and I have decided that we're going to focus really on reaching this goal and teaching the gospel more frequently. It's going to be really fun!
So just a really random side note real quick, I found out the other day at the zone conference that one of the guys that Elder Weiss and I started teaching right at the end of my first transfer was baptized about a month ago!!! I don't know if you remember the Indian family that we were teaching, but his name is Kamal. He was baptized the last week of last transfer, and then Elder Bergeron actually went to Figueira da Foz and was there when he was confirmed! I was SO excited! It was really cool to hear! made my whole day! anyway......
Haha yeah I'm a little bit worried about this whole weight thing. I'm right on track to do the exact same thing that Brother Mickelson did! haha, but that's ok. Um....our running thing hasn't worked out too well.....BUT, Elder Rodrigues has taught me about 6 ways to do pull ups, so that's pretty cool! haha. That's a really cool exercise program that you guys are doing! What are the rules in this whole exercise game? What counts as exercising? and what's the individual prize? Sounds like fun! And I'm really excited about this whole thing, because I don't want you guys to die. So this will be good :)
Man Brandos taking off!! He's gonna rock it! I can just imagine how powerful he will be. I have NO doubt that the Lord has great things in store for him. That's super cool about the gingerbread houses. And actually, last week, I showed Elder Egbert (an elder in my district) that picture of our gingerbread house last year, and he was super impressed. That's how cool we are brando. Those pretzel walls were totally worth it! haha. Yeah I'd love to see some pictures! pictures are my favorite part!
That's super funny about alyssas apartment! I bet ash just LOVED that! haha :) today was Elder Rodrigues' turn to clean our bathroom actually, and when we got done, he said that we had to go to the Church because he needed to go to the bathroom and didn't want to use ours cuz it was so clean!! hahah made me laugh :)
Here in Gaia (Guy-uh) Things are going super great! we need all of the prayers that you can send our way this week. Adelino is super excited for his baptism on saturday, but he's still holding on to 4 cigarettes per day. We're working really hard with him, and he's working hard too, but we can use some Brady family prayer power to help him out :) We're going to an FHE tonight with our stake president and his family and Adelino and his family so that will be really cool! The Lord has just been doing so much work here in Gaia it's incredible! The other day we found this amazing sister named Ana and her family. We talked to her in the street and she was super nice! she gave us her number and address and invited us to come back another day. We were super pumped! she had 2 amazingly cute little kids and was super cool! then as we got there, we started explaining a little bit about who we are and why we were there, and the spirit was just super strong, in such an edifying way. Then we started talking about the Savior, and that we're here to help people come unto Him and follow His example. And then we talked about baptism and what a blessing that is in our lives and how we accept the Saviors sacrifice through this ordenance. And we invited her to pray about baptism, to know if this was what the Lord wanted for her and her family. Her response was AMAZING! she said "Elders, I don't need to pray about it. I already know!" MIRACLE!!!!!! It was so cool! we told her that absolutely we are here to help her take this step in her life. She told us that she has been going from church to church, just looking for something, but hasn't been able to find it. She's been lead and prepared by the spirit. We're going back tomorrow! I'm learning day after day, that honestly, Heavenly Father is preparing His Children to receive the gospel in their lives. He loves all of them so so much. All of us, and He is pulling strings, working miracles and preparing the way, even though we can't see it. I really love Nephi's testimony in 1 Nephi 9:6. The Lord knows everything from the beginning. He's been preparing the way since the beginning for His children to accept the gospel. It is so fun! I love being a missoinary! :)
One last thing that I want to share. One of the greatest things I've learned since being a missionary, is that trials, completely depending on our attitude and view of them, can be our greatest treasure. Trials come in all shapes and sizes, whether a hard day at work, a little doubt or weak spot in our testimony, or a financial struggle, or maybe even a member at church who did say that in the perfect way. Whatever the trail may be, this are just moments for us to grow. They are moments of learning, trying, failing, and relying on the Lord, and trying again. I have had some of the hardest moments of my life on my mission, but I'm so grateful for every single one. I know that Heavenly Father knows everything. I know that even when we don't know why, or maybe even when we doubt that maybe Heavenly Father doesn't know, He does. That we may hold on to that faith and trust in Him day after day and look forward with an eye of faith is my hope. I know He loves you. I know He knows you. And I know that He is our Father and the Savior is our Brother and Friend. Our best Friend. I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Mom I love you so much!! thank you for everything!! I loved talking to you! You are looking really good with your blonde hair....just sayin :) fiquem bem! boa semana e até logo!!! tchau tchau!
Love,
Elder Brady
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