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

May 21, 2012

Man Logan’s been in the MTC almost a week now! that's ridiculous! I actually got a letter from him the other day. It's a good thing you sent me his address, cuz by the time I got his letter, he's already in the mtc, so I couldn't mail anything back. I just hope one of these days I’ll have time to write him. And damian. man I’m such a terrible friend. But I really want all of you to know, Damian, Logan, Sam, Jacob, Brandon, Chase, Patrick, Kendal, Ryan...all of you guys who have stuck with me and grown up with me, and helped me be who I am...you guys are awesome and I love you all so much. I'm praying for you and I know the Lord has been preparing you for this battle. You're all at different stages in this battle, but we really are the Soldiers of the Lord. I'm so grateful for your example and friendship and determination to serve the Lord with all of your heart mind might and strength. I want to say something to you all...stay strong. There are going to be difficulties. I know that I always thought that life on a mission is a piece of cake. once I get out there it's all smooth sailing. Guess what....that's false. You know why? Because Satan knows exactly what you are all capable of and he cannot afford to have you out there serving the Lord. He will do ANYTHING to stop you from serving because he knows the miracles you will all perform. But there’s also one thing that I've learned. and it's that Heavenly Father's plan, and power, is more powerful. It's deep, pure, and true. and Heavenly Father is watching out for His Warriors. Trust Him. It took me a little while to trust 100% in the Lord, and it was hard. But as I've learned to trust in Him, and turn to Him, and let Him guard my thoughts, and my heart, and as I've let everything go and turned it all over to Him, it's easier. and it's incredible. Trust in the Lord. Fight with all of your heart against the adversary, and you WILL conquer him. We have the power of the Priesthood of God, and that power moves mountains, but more importantly, it moves hearts and minds. let it move yours, and then you can use it to move others. keep fighting Elders of Israel! I love you guys so much! Work those Mr. Mac's right off your feet!

Mom I love your theme scripture!! that's seriously awesome! The Lord said so, so I’m gonna do it. That's part of life right? And really it's always for our benefit. Those second plates were a HUGE benefit to us right? Nephi didn't know why, but he did it. He trusted in the Lord and just did it...and look what happened. That's the same with us. Sometimes we don't really know exactly why the Lord has asked us to do something, but we just need to have faith in Him and trust that His view is a little bit better than ours. And was we try to have an eternal perspective, the perspective of our Heavenly Father, we can see a little better. And even if we can't, we just get that comfort that comes knowing that really, what we're doing, or what we're asked to do, is just a tiny miniscule part of our eternities, and so really, we can do it. And we will ALWAYS receive the blessings for it. Always.

So my week was good....a little bit interesting, but once again, full of miracles. We found this awesome family. We were waiting at a bus stop and there were 957 people there and we could barely hear, but there was this man sitting there with his 8 year old son. And we were in a hurry, and the bus was almost there. But something told me to talk to him. I was like, no whatever; let's just get on the bus. But then something was just like go talk to him. (that something just happens to be the Holy Ghost, for those of you who aren't putting 2 and 2 together ;) ) but anyways, we went and talked to him, and it was like a 20 second contact. We just said, hello we're disciples of Jesus Christ and we'd like to talk to you and your family about how we can have more peace in our lives. And he was like...ok. So we got his number super quick, set up an appointment and then he got on the bus, and we got on a different bus and off we went. We didn't really think a ton about it for the rest of the day. and then we were walking to his house, and we weren't really sure he was gonna be there....yes...this was a lack of faith. But he was there, with his whole family! 4 kids, wife, and him. And it was like a party when we showed up!! His sons (ages 8 and 2) came up and were just super excited to see us and his wife was too and it was like we were the Jonas brothers or something! but really they were super awesome. It turns out his wife Paula is a member. She was baptized about 30 years ago, and doesn0t really remember much about the church or anything like that, but Alage, the husband, actually got a Book of Mormon from one of his friends and had been reading a little bit lately. It was so cool! They couldn’t come to church cuz they had a family thing, but they set up another appointment and they are going to keep reading the Book of Mormon and the Restoration pamphlet and write down all of their questions so we can answer them!! oh man I'm so grateful for the spirit!! it was incredible! they are super cool! he's actually Muslim. We met 3 Muslim people in the same day. I learned a LOT about Muslims. It's interesting. But yeah. so if you could pray that Paula and Alage and their family will read and pray, and also that we'll be able to say the right things and keep listening to the spirit that would be awesome! thanks guys!

Me and Elder Faias are doing great! He's a little less talkative than me, and that's been a change, but it's been really good. I like him a lot! He's really straight forward and wants everyone to know that this is true and doesn't waste any time getting to the point! haha. we're just working on not getting super frustrated when they don't agree with him! hahaha :)

So fish, I've had a couple different kinds. Nothing really big or fancy, just with the members, but it's good....watch out for the sharp annoying little bones though. gosh those are a waste of time! haha ;) With the members we always eat really good Portuguese bread, but I don't like to buy that, because it's hard to make sandwiches with it! heehee :) yes I’m gonna get fat.....but I’m doing sit ups and pushups and pull ups so don't even worry...and i0m actually jump roping too so that's good.

Our branch is way good! I love them a lot. We’re still trying to get to know them a little bit, but slowly and surely we0re getting there. And our meeting house is the stake center....or district center. We're not a stake, so idk what it's called, but that's beside the point. :) yeah it's super nice. Still oober small, but it's nice. and they have Skype....so that's a bonus! :) Things are going really good. We're learning a lot every day. We're still trying to improve on a lot of things, and we have a LOT of things to improve on, but we're getting there. It's really good. I wasn't homesick too bad, until Sunday after church when I realized I couldn't talk to you guys again! haha but even then it wasn’t too bad. I'm doing 100% and madeira is awesome! it'll be nice to see some mountains again though....in 2 years! haha :) I’m still a country boy, all these buildings make me sick sometimes! but that's ok I’ll get used to it right? right? :)

So something that I’m super grateful for are the little tender mercies the Lord gives us every day. for example...the other day, In Gospel Doctrines, we were singing a hymn. It had been a bit of a rough morning for me, but we were singing this hymn right, and there's a recent convert from Spain, who doesn't speak Portuguese and can't carry a tune in a bucket right behind me. but he loves the church and loves to sing even though he has no talent whatsoever. So he was singing CRAZY loud and pronouncing everything wrong and it was all on the same note. It sounded JUST LIKE BRYDEN!!! hahahahah made me laugh SO hard!! it really was a tender mercy from the Lord. I laughed and smiled and felt the spirit and it was incredible! so be on the lookout for the little ways the Lord bless you every single day, in little things like that.

So quick question....random I know...but dad, how's BYU's football team looking? have they started spring practices and stuff like that?

Anyways, so I was talking to some of the members, they're getting ready to go the temple in Madrid, and it turns out there’s a hotel in the temple. Like same building and everything. And it's the church’s and it's super cheap so the people who go to the temple stay there for like a week and do temple work . It's amazing!! the sacrifice people make to go to the temple here is incredible. I took it for granted for sure. I will never do that again. We are so blessed to live in a place where there’s a temple an hour away. These members have been planning to go for like 3 years! and it's super expensive and there's not much work. It's incredible sacrifice, but they make it. wow. yeah it's incredible.

So this week I’ve been reading and studying a lot about the brother of Jared. His story is amazing!!! Ether 4:4 really stuck out to me today. Check it out! the Brother of Jared was awesome!! study it, and tell me what you think :)

So I’ve got to go, but I love you so much, and I miss you and pray for you every single day. The Lord's watching out for you, I have no doubt. Thanks for everything! Até proxima semana! eu amo-te mãe!

Elder Jordan Brady

PS....deodorant here is weird.....if in the next package you could send a bit of American deodorant that would be sweet! if not...I’ll get over it, but just saying :)

Love you!

Tchau

May 14, 2012

It's just a quick note today; we spent a lot of time talking yesterday. What a joy that was! We were able to Skype with Elder Brady. It was so delicious to see his handsome face and enjoy his humor and his expressions! That was so much better than a phone call!
Elder Brady has been transferred to Madeira. It's an island about 320 miles from the African coast. It is called "The Pearl of the Atlantic." You should google it, it is stunningly beautiful.  There have been 10 new missionaries sent there to whitewash the island. Elder Brady expects he will spend quite a bit of time there, as it is expensive to fly the missionaries in and out. Elder Brady is the district leader and sr. comp. He's a bit nervous as he's only been 6 weeks in the country, but he'll be fine! He speaks the language better than he understands it, so that has gotten him in a couple of sticky situations! :) His new address will be on the right side of the screen. 
Here is his letter from today:

So yeah, we live right in funchal. right on the coast. and so there are tourists EVERYWHERE! a little ridiculous. and this morning i actually met a man from england who is here to write a book. and he was unbelieveably athiest (get it? UNBELIEVE-ably? tee hee) but yeah...i was talking to him, cuz he doesn't speak portuguese, but it was super interesting. He wouldn't let me start talking about anything religious cuz he said it was stupid and how is it that we could believe something like that. But then it's good if that's what we think, but it's ridiculous and how could we believe that and stuff...and everytime i was trying to bear testimony, or to ask questions about stuff, he changed the subject (we were on a bus btw...just saying) he was incredibly closed minded, didn't like to think about anything. I asked him waht he thought about where we came from and where we're going, and he just asked me who cares and all this stuff. yeah it was interesting. But it really made me so grateful for my testimony. I realized that i know that Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that he really did translate the Book of Mormon from the gold plates. Even this man, who thought it was ridiculous and child's play, couldn't affect it, because i KNOW it happened. I never saw it, but i know it happened, because the spirit told me it happened. I'm so grateful for that man, who was an unbeliever, because he really fortified my testimony, that i DO know. just food for thought, be grateful for the stubborn people who don't believe you, because the spirit will tell you that you know it's true, and so life's good :)

So i'm gonna get, so i can write ash :) but thanks for everything! I love you so much! and basically the only thing i need is anything that has sugar and is American ;) and peanut butter! but don't stress about that...it can wait til whenever. And prayers too...that would be good too :) but i love you so much mom. Always remember there's a missionary that's on an island in the middle of no where...and he's praying for you.

Love you mom!

Love,

Jordan/Elder Brady

Ps....did you know that Elder is a portuguese name? only it's spelled Helder (H's are silent in portuguese...so it's waste to have it there....anyways) and so everyone and their dog thinks that all mormon's from america are called Elder.....yep kinda funny. Anyways eu amo-te! Tchau!

May 7, 2012

Eu SEI!! eu tenho um cunhado e eu estou bem animado!!! é muito incrível!! e ele é um.....stud....eles não têm uma palavra por "stud"....minha culpa :)

I KNOW! I have a brother and I'm really excited! is very amazing! and he is a stud .... ..... they do not have a word for "stud" .... my fault :)

I love you mom!!!! lots....just saying ;)

President Torgan is incredible. Seriously that man is inspired. My interview wasn't really an interview. I think I said like 8 words to him, but seriously he knew everything that I needed to hear. He said that he could feel a great spirit about me and that I have desires to serve the Lord and the people and that's an incredible thing. He said that I need to make sure that I’m serving people with love, and that my focus is love. The love that Christ has for me, and for all of His children. He challenged me to study the Atonement everyday for at least a little bit in personal studies, and so heck yes I will! And He also said that I need to be careful of pride. He said that it's something that everyone has to deal with, him (pres. Torgan) included. He said that it's something that Satan will really try to work on me with, and honestly, it's exactly what I was struggling with. Pride is a bugger....don't like it. At all. And it turns out that for like 6 days in a row, I’ve been reading about it in the Book of Mormon. Think that's the Lord trying to tell me something? I think yes. Man seriously I am a prideful person and I don’t' like it!!! But I’m working on it. I think I’m starting to get better. I'm listening more to Elder Weiss. I don't always take/apply what he says, because I don't agree, but now I’m starting to listen to find out where he's coming from. It's made things a lot better. I'm still struggling with pride, but I can promise you, when you have pride, the spirit really has a hard time working with you. It's something I'm learning. We need to be willing to listen to everyone. We need to be humble enough to understand that we can learn from everyone, and there are better ways to do things. We don't have to take everyone’s advice, because everyone in the world is different. Heavenly Father created all of His children differently. We have personalities and characteristics that are different and unique, and that’s part of the beauty of being human. And the beauty of it is, as we learn and apply the Principles of the Gospel in our lives (which requires humility which is not pride...just saying) we can change those things that are weak in us. We can apply what we learn from other people, to help us become better, and then to share that with others, and help them become better and progress. That's what it's about. Helping others come unto Christ. We can't be prideful if we want to help others come unto our Savior. But oh how sweet is the joy, when we finally humble ourselves. I promise that the Savior is just waiting for us, and begging us, to humble ourselves, so He can touch us, and heal us. When we finally humble ourselves, and then partake of the sacrament, and renew our covenants, and try and become better, the Savior's love, and peace enters our hearts. And there's no greater feeling in the world. It's incredible.

So long story short......watch out for pride!! It’s a bugger.

So Kamal and Jassy (the Indian family). Kamal was not baptized this weekend :( :( he says he knows he needs to be, he just isn't quite there. I think he needs to read more of the book of Mormon. He's been kind of struggling with that lately. Not good. We're gonna work on that. And his wife, Jassy, hasn't been to church yet. We invited and invited, but she didn't come...I think because Kamal wanted to "check it out" first. But then we introduced him to the Relief Society President, who is incredible, and now I think he'll be more willing to bring his family! Cuz the gospel is for families. That's what it's all about. Pray that Kamal will read the book of Mormon and that Jassy can make it to church....can you do that for me? Thanks guys :)

And Tavares and Sandra....they're still having a hard time finding work. The economy here is really rough. Especially here in Figueira. Not much work. But I know that they'll get work. The Lord will help them find a way to be baptized and receive the blessings of the gospel. We haven't been able to get a hold of them these last couple days, cuz they've been with Sandra’s mom. (Mother's day here is one week ahead of us.) But we'll be going for it this week hard core. I'm pumped!

Apparently, holidays are a big deal here....everything shuts down...especially church. No one wants to go to church on holidays. It’s rough. One of the quirks of Portugal that still weird me out. Easter, no one came. Mother's day...no one came. Man this is NOT good! And the trains shut down, basically you just chill at home on a holiday....I don't even know.

So there's this one sister, she's an incredible lady. Her name is Orlinda. She was pretty religious when she was younger, but she had a really bad experience with a different religion, and so she just totally....afastou...um....this is a word in Portuguese...but not really in English. Basically, she quit going to church and turned away from religion in general. Not God, just religion. But we were walking one day, and her window was open, so we stopped and started talking to her. She told us that the only reason she let us start talking to her is because she saw some other missionaries once, who didn't teach her, but they always said hi and asked how she was. They were just nice and polite. And now she's willing to listen to us, and she's really starting to progress. Don’t' EVER think that a smile and a Hey, how are you? doesn't mean anything. It can make all the difference in the world! haha and funny thing about olinda, we've never actually been inside her house....we always teach her through the window! haha I honestly don't know why, but its fun :) she says she's super impressed because we're not embarrassed to talk about our Savior in the street. That we're willing to share our testimonies about Him anywhere. That helped open her heart. It's super cool! but if you could pray that Olinda will continue to read, and that she'll accept the gospel and the Atonement to heal her heart, that would be amazing! :)

So the wedding sounds incredible!!! Oh man I’m so glad! :) 65 people in the sealing room??? my word!!! that's awesome! super stoked! I know there were people there. Eternal families are so important to the Lord. And it just makes me happy to know that they started their own :) this is definitely something that Taylor and the grandparents would want to see! and so do I....so pictures would be gnarly amazing! ;)

So honestly, I’m super jealous that you can go to the temple...I’m going through withdrawals!!! not cool man...not cool. I never realized how hard it would be. After going every week for 9 weeks in Provo, and then not at all for another 22 months??? oh man...not fun at all. Maybe you should pray that the new mission president will let us go to Madrid once eh? I will too! good plan! I like it. ~

well mother, I love you so much. thanks for everything! And you are 110% fine! your plate has been MORE than full these last couple weeks, and you've still managed to make me feel like I’m the only thing you think about, so I promise your doing just fine! I love you so much, and I'll talk to you Sunday! on your special day oh wise and beautiful queen :):) love you tons!

Love,

Your missionary (yep that's me Elder Jordan Brady :) )