Brady's email address

If you would like to send Brady a short message his email address is brady.allred@myldsmail.net

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

I hope nobody had a heart attack when they didn't see emails yesterday.  I suppose you are all alright cuz you didn't send me another email asking if I'm alright ;)  But I know you were paying attention.

The reason we didn't write yesterday was because we moved our P-Day this week.  We had P-Day today so that we could go to the temple.  It was a great experience.  Really it reminded me of a lot of things.  We did an endowment session, and to be honest it has been way too long since the last time.  But it was a great and edifying experience and I have new goals for this week and for the rest of my mission. It is the greatest thing to be able to go the house of the Lord to ask for guidance and help in my life.  I know that He is always there to give us the direction that we need.

This week was a great week full of Spiritual experiences.  I'll start with one on Friday.

Something that I've learned in the mission is that two good lessons can be very similar but two spiritually guided, and effective lessons will never be the same.  Maybe we will talk about Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, the apostasy, and the restoration, and the Book of Mormon, but if you ask the right questions and follow the spirit then they will never be the same.  We taught a young man called Fernando.  He is studying in the University.  He was very interested to hear about our message.  He read part of the pamphlet and started the lesson asking about the Book of Mormon.  So we did this cool thing where we teach the first lesson, the Restoration with the pictures in the front of the Book of Mormon.  First we talk about God and his love for us.  Then we talk about Families.  Then Prophets, like Lehi.  The Dispensacion cycle that is in the Book.  Then Baptism. Then Christ's coming and his Church.  Then the apostasy.  That leaves us in the perfect place to talk about Joseph Smith and his role as prophet in bringing the book of Mormon out into the light.  It was really cool and really spiritual even though we were standing the whole time.  At the end we invited him to read the book of Mormon and to pray about it to decide if it was the truth.  He ended up telling us no :( so that's real sad.  But if he had said yes then we would have put a baptismal challenge, and maybe even a date.  All of that in less than 30 minutes.  Most missionaries struggle to explain the first lesson in less than an hour.  I do, with out a doubt, know that Fernando felt the spirit, but he did use his agency to choose.  He said it's cuz he doesn't have time, but I know that he will accept the missionaries and their message in a few months when he has more time.

Sunday was really cool.  We were going to church with Gonzalo, the recent convert and his kids.  His kids asked us "Did you eat breakfast?" and before we could answer Gonzalo said "It's the first Sunday of the month, and thus Fast Sunday. No they did not eat"  And we never actually taught fasting super in depth to him.  He just read it in the pamphlet about tithing and put it into practice.   His kids left church to go eat after the first hour.  I think that they weren't fasting, I think that they were just going without food.  I don't think that he warned them, he just made them fast.  It was kinda funny and I got a good laugh out of it.  

We also got to go the temple with Ivon, Gonzalo's daughter, last week. It was pretty neat to hear those great lessons.  It is very worth your time to go to seminary, and even more, if you actually prepare for the classes.  It was a very spiritually edifying experience.

We also got to clean the church this week with the members.  The members are always very surprised when we show up to service and church cleaning activities.  But it's such a great way to get to know them, and to get their confidence, so I always try to set aside time to go help them. We also dug a well this week.  It was cool to go to that too.  I love working with the members.  But sometimes I do wish they would pass a few more references.

We found a great family last week.  We have only met the mom, Vicky, and her daughter. She is great and we are going to go with her again tomorrow. Yesterday when we went, her mom was really drunk and so we couldn't teach much.  She told us that she is going to make sure that all of her chores are done for tomorrow.  She works so hard to take care of herself, her 3 kids, and one on the way, and her mom who struggles with some addictions and some very hard stories.  I really hope that they will open up their hearts to our message tomorrow.

We also found a great brother.  He has a Book of Mormon from about 20 years ago, from sisters that we have never heard of. And they took the sisters out of the ward about 15 years ago.  He has taken great care of it. He saw us coming down the street and ran into his house to pull out the book and he wants to know more.  He's only 86 years old.  If he is willing to go to church then he should progress quickly.

We had a great lesson yesterday with Esmeralda too, an investigator that we found last Sunday.  She's 19 years old, but she has some rough stories about her family.  She really likes the idea of being able to get sealed to her father who died about 6 years ago, her mom, and brothers.  We'll see if she wants to start reading. She's great but so far she hasn't read anything. But we did have a great experience yesterday when we talked about how she could come to have her very own testimony of the Book of Mormon and Christ. And that she doesn't have to depend on anyone else for that testimony.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that every time that we read it, it will help us to make better choices.  We can come to have our own testimony, the testimonies of others will only carry us so far.  Families really can be forever. Go to the temple often. The people in Victoria go to the temple once a month and it is 4 hours away.  Please go, it is only 5 minutes away for you.  I love you and hope that you all have a great week.

Love 
Elder Brady Allred

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