February 11, 2012

Hola madre!

yeah it's pretty crazy how time flies! This is the last week of the transfer already! It really blows my mind! Especially since I was just on the computer like 4 days ago! haha :) This springtime goes really fast. Its been really weird to think back and realize that literally, 1 year ago, I was already on the mission. It's been a strange thing to think about, and sometimes it really hasn't sunk in that I've been away from home that long. It kinda scares me sometimes to think about how fast time goes. To think I've got less than a year to do so much. To become who the Lord needs me to be. To be able to help the people and the church here in Portugal the way He needs me to.....there's no time to waste! :)

Man you got to be there when Sal went through the temple?? Was it incredible??? I bet. I would have loved to have been there. I miss her so much! and Brandi and Hadlee were there too! so so cool! Super jealous! Give all 3 of them a hug from me....or a handshake or high 5 or something. Hugs aren't allowed yet :) Hadlee is going to New York right?  I've already forgotten where the Sal and Brandi are going....Sally is like Texas or something right? 

As far as the work goes, this week has been hard. we've seen some amazing miracles and had some really cool experiences, but it's been hard. Joaquim and Maria Julieta fell through on the baptism. IT was super sad. They came to church and loved it! and then as we started talking more about the word of wisdom, Joaquim started to shy away from us and we weren't able to get a hold of him for that whole weekend. and we still haven't! last week he called us and said he wanted us to come by, but then we came by and he wasn't there. It was weird. We're super bummed out. We pass by almost every day trying to catch him at home and we call, but we can never get a hold of him. We're just praying that we can get a hold of him. We've had a couple slow days, but we did have one miracle that was just SO cool! We're teaching a 28 year old guy that named Nel. He's such a cool kid! We found him when we were on a bus. He accidentally bumped my shoe and said "Oh Sorry!!" in English. so we started talking to him and told him it was fine and asked how he knew English and everything. (This was with Elder Rodrigues) He studies and is just this really smart guy. His mind is so smart, but he has a hard time focusing on just one thing. His mind goes from one thing to another so so so so fast. He's a little bit disabled, but not really. It's hard to explain. But he is one of the nicest most sincere people you will ever meet! He made a decision a couple years ago that he was going to be perfect!! haha he said he would never do anything wrong again and that he would treat everyone nicely. He's so cool! He's come to church a couple times  and has loved it. He loves the people, he loves the spirit. He has a hard time staying focused during sacrament meeting, but he's been doing so well! Our lessons are very slow, very simple, and super fun :) We've been teaching him for a while, and we decided that we need to invite him to be baptized. So we were actually with one of the other elders in our district at that time so there were 3 of us in the lesson last Friday. And we were trying to teach the 2nd half of the plan of salvation, cuz we didn't finish it the last time and it just wasn't going very well. He was being distracted and we just couldn't keep the lesson focused. We were all getting a little bit frustrated and confused. Trying everything we could. Nel just randomly got up, (in the church) and went to the bathroom and we were all just about ready to give up for today and try another day. But while he was gone, we just decided we were gonna be patient and go at his pace.  and we prayed in our hearts so sincerely. I don't know if I've ever prayed so sincerely in my life that the spirit would guide us. then he came back....and as we started talking........you could just see him start to make the click. He just changed. We invited him to be baptized, and he told us no at first. he said he couldn't because of his family and what would they say, and stuff like that. And honestly, this is the miracle. I don't know what happened, but as we kept talking, i don't know what we said, or what he said, but somehow the spirit guided HIS thoughts, and he finally decided that it was something that HE needed to do, and that it was something that he could do and wanted to do and that he would do it!!! He will be baptized this Saturday!! it was SO amazing! because honestly, it was such a smooth calm thing that only the spirit could have done. The spirit calmed his fears, focused his thoughts, and testified that he could do it. and we didn't do anything at all! that was the key! the whole time we had tried so hard to do it ourselves, with our own abilities, but when we relied on the spirit 100%, the spirit did what we couldn't. it was incredible. I was so grateful for the spirit at that moment. It was really really neat. But if you could keep praying mom for him, that everything goes OK that would be great. You'd really like him mom. He's a super cool guy. I love him a lot!

We've had some other really cool miracles this week, that have just made me so grateful to still b here in Gaia. I'm not gonna lie, 6 months sometimes seems like a long time in the same area :) But I love it so much and I know that the Lord knows what I need, and why I'm here. And then there are times when I look at these 6 months and wonder how time flies! I don't know about you mom, but this time has just whipped by! haha :)

As far as me and my comp are concerned....we're doing alright. Elder Lindsey is a good kid and has good desires. We're like the same person, but then kind of completely different. I see a LOT of things in him, that were exactly how I was at the beginning of my mission.  A lot of the questions that he has or doubts and some of the same things frustrate him that frustrated me. And It's been really a different but cool experience to be on the other side of the picture. It's humbled me a lot actually. I've been realizing where I was. and where I am now, but where I still need to go. It's really weird. haha :) And then there are some differences too......but that's not important :) haha ANYWAYS.....TOAST! I was just thinking about Nacho Libre, and one thing that is super funny, just to finish here, but this week, I have NO MONEY!! haha we had to pay for our Lisbon trips and they haven't reimbursed us yet.....and I HAVE NO MONEY!! haha they're gonna get money to us this week, but these last 4 days, i have had cereal, and toast. literally.....that's it! So I was just thinking, Elder Lindsey would you like to join me this night for some toast? HAHAHA  OK....enough apostate thinking :)

Love you mom.- So much. I hope you know that. Fique bem. te amo!!

The Church is true and the Book is blue!!

Love,

Elder Brady

February 7, 2013

Oi Mãe! Como vai?? 

So I'm sorry about the whole waiting until Thursday to write thing. We had an INCREDIBLE training with President! All of the missionary leaders went. Usually it's just the zone leaders that go to leadership council, but this week all of the district leaders went as well. We left Sunday night, rode the train for 3 hours, and then had training had a 2 day training. It was absolutely amazing!! it really blew my mind how cool it was. The spirit was so strong we could almost see it! And President Fluckiger is such an amazing man. I love him so much. I have never met a man that was more inspired than President. And his love for the Lord and his work ethic and desire for us to do what is right is so inspiring. I want to become like him. He's so cool. So we got back SUPER late on Tuesday night because half of our district leaders missed the train and so we were waiting for the other half and then we almost missed the last one.....confusions....but it was super funny to see 4 missionaries hauling tail to get onto the train! made me chuckle. But anyways, we got home Tuesday night, then we had our zone meeting with the rest of the zone that didn't go to Lisbon, and then we did a division yesterday with some elders that work 4 hours away. so long story short, we didn't have time to write yesterday. Sorry about that :) But you'll be happy to know, it has stopped raining for the time being, and the sun is shining and life is good! :) 

That scripture in Isaiah 40 is super cool mom. I really like that a lot. Especially that part about waiting. That's really true. It makes me think of a quote in Preach My Gospel by Ezra Taft Benson

~-"I have often said one of the greatest

secrets of missionary work is work!

If a missionary works, he will get the

Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will

teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches

by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts

of the people and he will be happy.

There will be no homesickness, no

worrying about families, for all time

and talents and interests are

centered on the work of the ministry.

Work, work, work—there is no

satisfactory substitute, especially in

missionary work.”--

I've found that honestly to be one of the truest statements of my life. and I believe it applies to every aspect of the gospel. As we work, and as we serve the Lord with ALL of our heart and just work. Just buckle down and do it, the Spirit of the Lord is with us. We are happier, we are guided and we have the promise of Isaiah, that our energies will be renewed. I've met some of the most devoted and converted people here in Portugal. Brother Reginaldo Cruz, and President Paulo Ribeiro are some of the most devoted men I've ever met. They work so hard, but are so happy. I think that scripture applies to both lives. ;) You're studies are rocking it huh? One thing that I was pondering the other day, was really cool. I was thinking a little about our family and our undesirable tendencies to fret. I do it unfortunately on a regular basis. dad does it. we all do it once in a while. but something that was really cool that the spirit taught me was that there is only 1 difference between "fretting" and "pondering" and that's our faith. When we fret, we think, "Oh man! what does this mean? What if this? What if that? do you think that this?" And we worry about it frantically and we get gray hairs and ulcers! :) . But pondering is basically asking the same questions, with our faith. "What does this mean? Why is this happening right know? What does the Lord want me to learn?" That thought hit me really hard. Because I had been trying to ponder the things that had been going on in the work and in life and all this stuff, but I had been fretting. I was a little bit nervous and wasn't fully relying and trusting in the Lord. And when I realized that, and tried to change it, and tried to really ponder. with faith. I have felt the spirit guiding my thoughts and have found a lot of really cool lessons that the Lord has planned out and laid out for me. it was really cool. :)

But MIRACLE ALERT!!! our baptism fell through last weekend. It was SO sad! we had Joaquim Silva and his daughter ready and preparing for baptism, but then from Tuesday on, we just couldn't get a hold of them! We passed by we called we did everything we could. We coudlnt' understand it. We were trying to see what we had done wrong, but we just didn't know what happened. So we just decided that the Lord knows better. he was the one that set up everything last week. He provided the miracles last week that we needed and that He was in charge. So we just kept going. Then yesterday during the zone meeting, HE CALLED US!!!!!! he had gone to his sisters house and just hadn't told us! and he wanted us to come talk to him tonight!!! we were SOOO grateful! and still are! It really strengthened my faith in the Lord. Because really, He had done all of the work. All of it. We just needed to trust in Him. :)

and just one last thing. There are some really cool mini preach my gospels in Portuguese that are perfect small sized. I was wondering if there was anyway you could like order it online and maybe just have it shipped to the Mission office? IDK just a thought. 

Well mom, I gotta run, but I love you SO much! thank you for everything! I miss you tons! Keep trucking up there in the snow!!! :)

HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!

Love,

Elder Jordan Brady

January 28, 2013

Howdy ma! 

This week, this transfer, have been SO incredible! Full of just plain old miracles! This week has rained a TON just a ton! and it has been so much fun! I've loved it! Elder Lindsey wakes up every morning and groans, and it just makes me laugh. But then we get out in the rain and we're just laughing the whole time! I've decided that Mr. Mac coat wasn't a complete waste of money after all :) But honestly we've just seen miracle after miracle. These last 2 weeks the Lord has helped us to find some  of the most amazing people. One thing I've learned, is that the Lord wants us to be diligent. He wants us to work hard, and when we do, He blesses us so abundantly. But one thing I've also learned, is that honestly and truly, the Lord wants us to be happy as we work. Elder Lindsey is still really young in the mission. He's only in his 5th transfer. He's been a stud missionary, but he is really young still. So in the first couple days of the transfer, things were a little rough and we did a lot of knocking doors, and things just weren't working out really well. No one was answering, andit was raining and there was nobody in the streets to talk to, so it was just knocking doors. and we just weren't having that much success and we weren't getting in many doors. This really made Elder Lindsey bummed. He had just been called as ZL and was just full of fire! but then things were a little rough for a day or two and he was a little down. I felt SO bad. So I just remembered when we were cleaning the house, that was never very fun, if we had music blasting, it was a lot cooler right? So I decided to become the Mo-Tab of Gaia :) We started singing and singing and just trying our very best to laugh and enjoy the work. And we talked to EVERYONE who would listen :) It was so much fun! all day long we didn't have anything. All of our appointments fell through, but we just went right on to the next one and mom, we were working hard. And we had SO much fun! then right at the end of the night, Heavenly Father guided us to a building that had 3 people right off the bat that opened the door and listened. And the were amazing! it was SO fun! Elder Lindsey was SO happy it just made me laugh :) And then, honestly, I can't remember exactly how this worked, but for some reason, we decided to pass by a family that Elder Bergeron and I had found 2 and a half transfers ago, that we were SUPER excited about! but then for some unknown reason, honestly I have no idea why, we quit passing by. I think they weren't there 2 or 3 times in a row, and then we just lost contact because we didn't have their phone number. And then, about a week and half ago, we were walking down this little shortcut that we found, and we saw a guy from a ways off, and we said, hey, let's contact taht guy. Turn sout it was this same man! Joaquim Silva! He was like, hey, where have you guys been?? We apologized so much and he was like that's ok, come on back to my house! so we set up an appointment. And then this saturday was the first time we were able to meet with him. But as we were teaching him, we found out that his wife was amember but she is in angola. Joaquim and his 8 year old daughter Maria Julieta were never baptized, but know a lot about the church. Me and Elder Bergeron had left a BoM with him, and he'd been reading it! As we were talking the spirit told us both, Elder Lindsey and I that we should invite him to be baptized. We taught him about the gospel, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End, and Invited him and his daughter to be baptized on the 3rd of February, and he said, I believe this, I feel this is right, and I will!!! it was amazing!!! So we invited him to church that next day, (this is at 8:45 pm) and he said he wanted to, but it would be a lot easier if he had a ride. So we told him we'd get him one. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little bit nervous because it was already so late and there werne't many members that live close. But the Spirit just said, try it. Call them. So we called one member, and he couldn't. But then the other member came to our mind. So we called them, and just by chance, the mom had to work that morning so wouldn't be able to come to church, which left just enough space for Joaquim and Maria Julieta! It was such a miracle! Heavenly Father provided EVERYTHING that he needed!! And church was INCREDILBE!! the spirit was so strong and the ward was SO great! They met Joaquim and were taking care of little Maria Julieta! It was so amazing! It was such a miracle. It really really was. And we taught the Word of Wisdom and he accepted all of it with out question. It was so cool. THe spirit has just prepared this man, and a way for everything. It has been so much fun! please pray mom, that everything goes well :) 

So that's a summary of the crazy miracles that have been happening here in Gaia!! :)

January 21, 2013

Yesterday was Jordan's 20th birthday. I was missing him like crazy all day! We kind of make a big deal about being 20...It's a whole year of being nothing...not an adult, not a teenager, just nothing for a whole year. Anyway, I thought I'd just stick the first paragraph of my letter to him on here cause it's a funny joke on me, and it makes the first paragraph of Jordan's letter make sense...

"Feliz aniversário querido filho

I am so utterly ridiculous! Just so ya know…I’ve been moping around here all day cause it’s your birthday…this is a biggie ya know…you’re 20 on the 20^th…a whole year of nothingness starts today and there’s no celebration and no cake… And I was a little while ago thinking, “Man, last year wasn’t this bad, why is this one so awful?” And then I remembered that you left for the MTC AFTER your birthday last year. Yes, I am just that intelligent…(keep in mind that it’s like 9:00 p.m. when this amazing fact finally dawns on me)...are you laughing out loud right now in public …. Yeah, well, I deserve it! I’m sorta laughing at myself right now! Holy Mackerel!"

Hey mom!! THanks so much!!! Haha i've never been so popular on my birthday. I'm thinking that every January 20th I'm gonna head to Portugal from now on! :) hee hee :) Im a NOTHING!!!! haha I'm SO EXCITED!! I've been waiting since I was like 7 to be able to say that I turned 20 on the 20th! haha made me laugh :) But actually, here in Portugal, I'm not a nothing, cuz here when your 18 your a legal adult. crazy huh? and you know something else crazy. Here in Portugal, you can legally drink and smoke at age 16!!! CRAZY HUH?? Sad day :( But anyways....

hahahaha mom, I literally did laugh in public! It was super funny!! 

So. I stayed in Gaia!!!! I'm super pumped! I'm with a kid named Elder Stephen Lindsey from Kaysville Utah. He's way cool! He's only in his 5th transfer! He's a way good missionary. He speaks portuguese UNBELEIVABLY well. It's crazy! He's super funny though. We get along really well. He's a good worker. He's really excited about the work. and he's really good at making relationships with the ward Leaders and stuff like taht. Randomness....in my first transfer here in Gaia, we did a division cuz he was in my zone. Then he went to a different zone and came back to be my comp! and awesome story!! at the end of last transfer, a lady that we found and started teaaching together on that division was baptized!!! super cool huh?? it's been way fun! This week has been FULL of miracles! The Lord has blessed us to find some absolutely amazing people! ON Friday we had one of the funnest days of my whole mission. Not even kidding. We had weekly planning, and then we got out and got ready to leave, and it was windy and rainy and in aobut 3 minutes, my umbrella broke. Sad day. And I didn't have my big raincoat but I didn't watn to go back to the house to get it. So we walked around all day with just 1 umbrella. We were cool. But then it started raining SO hard! It was the harddest rain storm I've ever seen. Not even exaggerating. It was absolutely ridiculous! we were DRENCHED!!! so drenched. It was unreal. And all day, there was nobody in the streets.No one was letting us in the buildings and all of our appointments fell through. Elder Lindsey was a little bummed out cuz it was like his 2nd day in  Gaia, but I just felt so good! I was laughing so hard and it was super fun. And we kept working. We went from one appointment, which fell, so we knocked doors and talked to everyone that would let us :) and there just wasn't much going on. But then we had one more appointment before the ward activity that night in the church, but we still had about 45 minutes before that appointment, and we were wet. so wet. but we decided that we'd knock the doors in that area. There were a ton of buildings there, and I'd worked there a lot, and knocked a lot of them. But we just kept going. Then as we were walking trying to decided where to go. All of a sudden we just walked in a building. We didn'tknow why, or reallly how we got in, but somebody came out or something at the same time and we were in the building. The very first door we knock, was this amazing lady named Paula, who has 3 kids and her husband! we offered to say a pray with her, and she said we could. We prayed and the spirit was so strong. and we explained who we were and bore testimony, and she said she would love for us to come back and meet her family! It was amazing!! so we were super happy and super grateful for this miracle right? and then we go done to the next floor, knock on the door and these 2 teenage girls answer the door. We tell them who we are and ask them if they believe in God. They said....um...kinda. So we explained a little about prayer, and asked if we could pray with them. They said sure. THen as we prayed the spirit was SO strong again! then just as we were talking to them, we started teaching a little about the plan of Salvation, and who Heavenly Father is and what our purpose is here. We bore our testimonies of the Plan of Salvation, and the Spirit was SOOOO strong! It was AMAZING!! they said they wanted to learn more and we should com eback an dmeet their family!! it was AMAZING!!! Heavenly Father blessed us in a totaly of 20 minutes with 3 of His amazing children prepared for the gospel!! It was SO cool! Elder Lindsey about died with happiness!! it made my day! :) haha we said a prayer of gratitude and went back out into the rain :) It was SO Much fun mom. I just laughed the whole day! I loved it. 

January 13, 2013

OK, I am a huge slacker, I know, but it's all updated now. I just cut and pasted, so there are typos and all kinds of stuff going on, but he's alive and well!

January 7, 2013

Happy First Week of 2013!!! 

That sounds like you guys had the funnest new years eve party ever! haha! What show did you go see? And was I with you when you went to that Pimpernel show? I think I was riding with Laura McGregor maybe? Idk....but that's super cool! Holy cow, -21 is crazy! But that had a good ending for you guys. congrats on that :) Watching basketball games in the marrito center is super fun! gets me super pumped! haha :) That's fun they won. how are they doing overall? How's their season?

I'm SUPER glad dad is doing better! flu is a bad deal! But I actually don't remember having it.....did I have it last year?

Ashleigh is so amazing. I love her so much. She has always just been super in tune with the Spirit. Such a rock star! I love the fact that she didn't question it. Sometimes we have the desire to want to know everything that will happen, or why it's not a good idea or stuff like that before we are willing to act and follow the spirit. But ashleigh has never had that problem. She's just super willing to follow what the Spirit tells her and it always works out great! Just like it always will :) Ryan will be ok. No stress. 

Oh mom!! You're not in the primary anymore! sad day! Heavenly Father's got a reason for everything eh?? ;) Funny story, our stake president's wife has been the primary president in our ward for a long long time. Like 6 or 7 years or something like that. A long time. And she has been telling us that she just doesn't have patience and she just can't do it anymore and stuff like that and everytime they are changing the callings and leadership in the ward she is just waiting for the release to come, but then it never does. And she was like "Why am I so stubborn! why can't I just learn patience already!!" Hahaha super funny. Moral of the story, you've already learned what you need to mom, so now you can move on to bigger and better things :) Sometimes I get frustrated cuz there's something I want to learn or want to develop or something like that, and I just can't seem to get it. And then after a while of me being frustrated and upset, Heavenly Father finally shows me the milk that I need to drink before I can eat the meat. Heavenly Father is the perfect teacher, sometimes we're the ones that aren't very good students :) haha :)

We had the coolest baptism on SATURADY!!! It was amazing! I think I already told you about this amazing brother named Adelino. He has been super anti-mormon....well not anti mormon, but kinda. His wife is a member of about 6 years. She always wanted to talk to the Elders, but they never knocked on her door. So Adelino passed them once in the street and brought them to his house so they could talk to Isabel, his wife. Then she was converted and was a really strong member, and adelino was just like fine whatever go for it, but I don't want to give up smoking or drinking. He was always super friendly with the missionaries but would always just raz them a little bit. He found a lot of Anti mormon stuff on the internet and used that a lot against the missionaries. A lot. Then when their daughter turned 8 he got really mad when Isabel allowed her daughter to be baptized. about 3 years ago. He was still friends with the members, but he said he jsut didn't agree with the teachings of the church and the commandments. Then his wife went a little bit less active, but always had a super strong testimony. Still does. Super strong! And then one day we passed by and she was like, Hey elders, Adelino wants to talk to you. so we went there again, started teaching him, and then step by step the Lord touched his heart. It was amazing to see the changes in him. He quit smoking, he quite drinking, he accepts the law of tithing and is amazing!!! He bore testimony at his baptism and honestly mom, it was the most amazing testimony I've ever heard! he told about how for a long time, his pride wouldn't let him accept the gospel, but then as he humbled himself, and became as a child, he accepted the ordenances of the gospel. It was so amazing. I'm so grateful to have been able to be there for that. It about made me cry! It made me super happy!! 

And Jhenyffer, the little brazilian girl is progressing so well!! she's reading from the book of mormon, coming to church and she feels that the church is true!!! Oh my word she's so cool mom!! you'd really like her. Her sense of humor is almost exactly like yours! haha :) she's going to an FHE with our stake president tonight, it's gonna be amazing! She's only 13 but she has had some of the most honest sincere desires to know and do what's right. She's been studying with the Jehovah's Witnesses a little and it's made her really confused, but she has been super sincere and has been asking such great questions. Heavenly Father has definitely prepared her for the gospel! It's been a fun ride with that whole family! haha :)

so to answer your question, Elder Rodrigues (pronounced Ho dree gus) (portuguese, not spanish mom :) :) :)haha jk) 

yeah he goes home next monday, so we'll see what happens. The Lord knows where I need to be and with whom I should be, so we'll see. I love gaia. A lot. The ward is incredible and has made SO much progress. I'd love to be here one more! we'll just see what the Lord wants i guess :)

Well momk, I gotta run, sorry this isn't the greatest letter, but you're the greatest mom, so that's totally makes up the difference :) Thanks for everything and don't even worry about the package mom, I'm not even a little bit worried about it :) I love you so much!

Tchau tchau!!

Love,

Elder Brady

December 31, 2012

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