July 13

Heyy! So this week was pretty great!! We had a lot of success this week for sure. We had a mission wide challenge to see who could find the most investigators and set baptismal dates with them. Out of all the areas in the whole mission, my comp and I won with 33 new investigators! We found so many new people this week!! It was pretty great! So right now we are teaching a lot of people which is great! Besides working hard this week, nothing else really happened. haha. I did learn most of " La Bamba" on guitar this week, which is fun. If you guys want to send me sheet music for guitar for some songs, that would be great. Nothing in particular. I loved that karaoke song performed by Paige, Peyton, and Mia. It was awesome. You guys should send me that actual song. I really like it. Idk why. But I hope everything is going great there! You guys seem like you are having a lot of fun lol the other day, I was so hot because its been getting really hot here lately. I felt like jumping into a pool, but since I'm a missionary, lol, I couldn't do that, so I took the coldest shower ever and it reminded me of the pool. It was great. #lifeofamissionary. I hope you guys are doing great though! Love and miss you! Elder Cowan Brady

*Say 'hi¨ to the beach for me. It has been getting crazy hot here. I ordered a few more Elder Brady nametags last week, so when I get them, Iĺl be sending one to you guys. You can stick it on the fridge or something.
About the possible parasite...My appetite is gone. I haven't eaten that much lately because everything I eat ends up hurting my stomach. My comp had a parasite when he was in Mexico and there is this other guy in the mission that weighed 240 lbs, got a parasite and now is super skinny.

                         

July 6

Hey! So, this week was a great week! It kinda felt long, but it was good! However, I'm excited to email. I'm in the same area, so you can continue to send letters here! English for days. lol. I got a new companion though. His name is Elder Velez. He is from Utah but his parents are from Columbia and he was raised speaking English and Spanish. He served a year in Mexico and then came to this mission and he's been here for 6 months now. There's good and bad about every companion, but the good thing about this companionship is that we're working really hard. We worked super hard this week, were really focused on the work and had a lot of success! This week we found 13 new investigators and set baptismal dates with almost all of them. We are teaching this Spanish family right now and set baptismal dates with all 4 of them. They are a good family and could easily get baptized early next month, if we work for it. We also found another family yesterday and set baptismal dates with 3 of them. They are an awesome family. We also set baptismal dates with another family this past week, so we've had a lot of success. I was thinking last night of a commitment that I could give you guys. Something that would make the missionaries there so happy. I thought of this. If the missionaries are doing there job right over there, they will be asking you for people you know that they can teach. I want each of you to give them someone you know that they could teach. Earlier in the week, we helped this family move. They were moving to San Antonio because of some difficult circumstances they were in. We taught them a little about our basic beliefs and then we called the missionaries in San Antonio to see if we could get them to help them unload once they got to San Antonio. Members showed up that day and the lady came to church yesterday with her kids. We told her that if she wanted to see a surprised look on the missionaries faces up there that she should tell them that she wanted to be baptized, because she did. haha. That was pretty cool, though. Please pray for me this week to have success and people at church this Sunday. Hope everything is great there! Love and miss you guys lots, Elder Cowan Brady
I want to share one more experience I had this week with you guys. It happened on Tuesday. A super great experience that I've never really had to that extent. Theres a less active family that we have in our ward. Its that family that we've been going over too that committed to church that hadnt been to church in forever! But we went over there on Tuesday. For some reason, I really like visiting this family because talking to the mom always puts me in a great mood. She really reminds me talking to Maria, Ashley's mom. Same exact personality. But a few days before we visited them, her pregnant had a very scary experience with her baby. The baby was too low in the womb. So this situation stressed out the family a ton. But we went to the moms house and I told her that I just wanted to share one scripture with her. I started reading the scripture and half way through I look up and she is bawling her eyes out. I continued to finish the scripture and bore my testimony on it. The spirit was super strong and the lady looks at me and told me" Elder Brady, that scripture is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you." It just gave me a super good feeling. super powerful experience.

BTW, I weigh 150 now, so I lost 15 lbs. We aren't sure if it's from a parasite, though.

There were a bunch of fruit trees in the back of this lady's yard
and she gave us permission to take some.
There were lemons, oranges, grapefruits and other stuff.

June 29

Heyyy! What's up?? Well, this week was a pretty good week. It was the last week of this transfer! So I find out tonight if I stay and if I get a new companion. So, if you send any letters this week, send them to the mission office until further notice. But this week was good. We had zone conference on Wednesday. That was really good. Also, we sang and played guitar and it sounded really good...the first time I've played in front of a real audience besides Paige's talent show. I just heard about the gay law that passed the other day, so I'm sure we'll get asked as missionaries a lot about that from random people. It was funny, though. The other day we went by this less active familiy's on an exchange. My usual companion left to go to a different area and a different elder came and worked with me in our area. My normal companion is a little too prideful doing missionary work and is a little too formal, so it was interesting working with someone else. The elder I worked with is not like that at all. But, this less active family was one that was going to be really hard to get to church or progress with. But, on this exchange, we were super chill with them and we actually got the parents to commit to church, which has never been done before. We also got 4 referrals from them, which was a miracle. It was good though because my normal companion got really humbled from this experience and is starting to change, which is good. Another thing that happened this week is that I gave 3 blessings to people, which usually doesn't happen that often. It was cool to be able to do that, though. I also got a blessing today for myself which was the first blessing I got on my mission. Apparently you're supposed to get a blessing more often than that on the mission, so the elders were surprised when I told them that was the first blessings I'd gotten on my mission. But, besides that not too much happened this week. I'm interested to see what happens for transfers haha. It's always exciting. Love you guys. Have a great week. I'm not exactly sure what size pants I need yet so I'll let you know. I'll probably still grow a little so I'm not sure what I should get. Have a great week! Always look forward to letters and pictures that I can have in my hand. Elder Brady. PS: on 4th of July we have to be inside at 6 pm, so I'll just be hanging out that night which is fun.

June 22

Hey!! So, this week was pretty good actually...a little rough towards
the beginning of the week, but later on it started to pick up. This is
the last week of the transfer, which is exciting. Last Sunday, one of
the members at church gave everyone a BOM reading chart, so I started
over in the Book of Mormon and am going to read the whole thing
through. It's crazy because I've read through 1st and 2nd Nephi a ton
of times in my life, but now everything in it is starting to make
sense. Maybe I'm just more focused, but I learned a lot of cool stuff.
I've still been playing guitar a lot this week. Another Elder taught
me how to read tab, so I've been working on that. We have a zone
conference on Wednesday, so President will be there and so will Corpus
Christi zone and our zone, so there will be a lot of missionaries
there. My companion and I were asked to do a special musical number, so
we are playing Be Still My Soul. I'll be playing guitar and he'll be
singing. I've definitely learned a lot this week, though. I hope
everything is great there! It's always really busy here, so I never have
much time to do anything here, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I
guess we'll see what happens with transfers. As far as pants go, I'm
not sure my size, so I'll look here and get back to you on that. A
member had a measuring tape the other day and said that I'm 6'2¨, so
I've gotten a little taller. But, hope everythings great! Elder Brady

June 15

Hey, so this week was pretty good! We had this big competition going on all week with all of the missionaries. There was a bracket and everything. We did really well. We got 3rd place. Each day you would face a different companionship and battle for something. For example, who could get more new investigators, or people committed to church. So, that made things more fun. I've been continuing to play guitar for just about every family. I've been singing too. It's super fun. There was even this one day that I walked around with the guitar and strap and was playing hymns for ppl on the street. I thought that was really fun. It is getting a lot hotter here, but its not a big deal to me. I'm used to it from Georgia. It's probably the same there. Yesterday I gave a talk at church about faith. It actually went really well. I'm getting better at putting my thoughts on paper because all I had when I gave my talk was a Book of Mormon and a few note cards. There was a few people that cried during my talk and then there were a lot of people that came up to me after and congratulated me, which I really appreciated. It was funny, though, because during my talk, I shared this quote "Faith can move mountains, but sometimes it starts with a shovel" and this black guy on the front row had a huge smile and talked to me about it after. But, that was fun to speak. Besides that, there wasn't too much that happened this week. It's stormy today kinda. We actually got a text from the mission president this morning asking if anyone spoke sign language because I think theyre opening up a sign language area, which is cool. I might go look for some pants still. The ones I have are really getting shorter on me. I think I'm growing. Also, if you could look for a cheap recording device or something. That way I could send you recordings of some things that happen during the day or of us singing and playing guitar. That's about it, though. I hope you guys are doing great! Love you guys! Elder Brady

Twin brothers in our ward

twin brother 

One of the fathers in our ward got a signature from John F Kennedy for
being the one to protect the first black person to go to school. He
was part of the border patrol in Mississipi.

the letter

Texans

June 8

Hey! So, this week was pretty good! I really appreciated the packages
and stuff. The capo really helped too. I've been playing guitar a ton
this week. This less active member gave me a guitar strap which is
really helpful too. I've learned a lot more hymns. It's really funny,
though. We went over to this less active family's that is struggling and
I brought my guitar over there and played some music for them. They
loved it so much that they want us to come over again and requested
that I bring my guitar. lol. She ended up coming to church this week for
the first time in forever. That was cool. She also ended up bearing
her testimony and mentioned the missionaries in it, but it was cool.
This other less active family invited us to come over too. She used to
play guitar a little, but she loved it when we played and sang for her.
This family also hadn't come to church in forever. We played some songs
for the family and the other people that were over there and they
loved it. We asked them if they'd come to church and they were still
hesitant about it, so I promised that if they came to church, I'd bear
my testimony for them. They liked that, so promised they would
definetly be at church. To me, that was a tender mercy. It was pretty
cool. Besides that, we taught a few other people, but nothing too solid
yet. Tonight we are going to the church at 6:30 to watch Meet the
Mormons. There should be a bunch of nonmembers and less actives there,
so it is a good teaching opportunity. This week, I went on an exchange
with a Greenie. It was super funny because I took him to this spanish
non member family and we sat down with them. He had no idea what they
were saying, but I was having a conversation with them. I remember
being where he was at, though. I used to not be able to understand
anything. But, it was nice to sit down and actually use my Spanish. It
was good to know that I didn't really lose any of it. But, that was
about all that happened this past week. Keep sending letters and stuff.

I love it. It's something to look forward to in the middle of the
week when things start to get tough. Hope everything is good, though.

Elder Brady

Yep, we're in Texas!

Weird picture I took at night of the full moon

My comps...I love it!

Random tree growing through someone's porch

That's Weird

I just tried twice to send a message but something always happened.
But this week was good. tHe weather was a little stormy. It rained a bunch which was nice. Its hard seeing a bunch of people swimming and pools here and stuff and not being able to swim. But I still havent received any letters or packages yet so hopefully that stuff makes it here. I'm in Texas A&M right now which is cool. Its in my area.
Nothing too crazy has happened here though. Its crazy that its June already. This week marks 6 months that I have been out on my mission.
The past 2 months have felt the slowest just because I've moved around more than usual and dont have time to really settle in anywhere. We did have this one guy yesterday threaten to kill us. He was cussing out. He had a bunch of weapons outside of his house lol but he said he was going to shoot us. Idk why but that made me crack up. I was laughing after we left that house. Its crazy that so many missionaries die in car crashes. Thats happened here pretty recently. There was also this one missionary here that ran away a couple of months ago.
Elder Perry died too which is big news. We've taught some good lessons this week to some pretty cool people. Still getting used to the area.
I went to the bank today to solve that 10$ situation and I actually kind of had a missionary experience with the lady there. She was super cool. She noticed I was from Georgia so she asked me some questions about what I was doing here and everything. I have been playing the guitar a ton lately and have continuted to learn some new chords.
We're still singing and playing for families here. I want to get a guitar strap so I can play on the streets. I feel like we would get more people that way. It would be easier to approach them playing music. But besides that, theres not too much happening here. Hope everything is good there! Miss you guys! Have a great week.Hopefully the packages get here! Elder Brady

Heyyy!

Okay, so I couldn't email yesterday because all libraries are closed on Memorial Day. But, a huge surprised happened. I got transferred, so I'm no longer in Harlingen. I'm in Kingsville, Texas right now. Also, I didn't get any packages or letters yet, so hopefully they make it to me somehow. My new Address is 105 Ranger Road Apt C, Kingsville TX 78363. Send all packages and letters to that address. This week has been such a crazy week. One day I could be somewhere and the next I'm in a completely different area meeting new members and in a different ward. This area is still all English, so I guess God really wants me to learn English. lol. I really liked my last area a lot, so It was hard leaving it. I didn't really get to say bye to any members either because there was like a 90 percent chance that I would have stayed there. But, my new companion's name is Elder Hutchinson. He's a district leader... my first companion that has been a district leader. He's kind of nerdy, so it will take some time to get used to. lol All of the areas here are so spread apart, so we don't get to see everyone else as much as I used to. I have been picking up guitar a lot recently, though. I've learned a bunch of new chords and songs. We play and sing for all of our members. I've learned how to play a ton of hymns, so we play those for everybody. I think it's really fun to play guitar. When I came to this area, we had no investigators here, but now we have 5 and some are looking pretty solid for baptism. But, that's pretty much my life right now. Its not always easy, but I do my best. Hopefully I get those letters and packages soon. If not, maybe there's someone you can contact at the other apartment complex.
Love you guys. Elder Brady

Tie that my last comp gave me as a gift

my scriptures

End of another transfer

Hey hows it going?? Some of this week was great and some of it sucked. Its hard being here. The transfer ends tomorrow. My companion is probably leaving because he got called to be a district leader. Besides that, no one knows if theyre leaving or staying yet. But I appreciate the letters and everything. I miss you guys! I miss Ashley! The mission is great but it sucks so much! Im going to send some letters out today so be expecting those. I think Lauren said that she sent a package but I didn't get it if she did sent it. it is sam houston drive though. I did have this one really fun day here though this week. It was on wednesday night and thursday. I was with these 2 elders and we were in a trio. We played soccer that we set up with the spanish branch and that was fun. I think we're playing a little soccer today too. But on the exchange, we saw so many kids outside and ended up taking pictures with them. It was super fun. Hopefully I get a good companion this transfer too. I'm hoping I become senior companion and get somebody younger than me on the mission, or the same age on the mission. That would be super fun. But not too much happened this week. I do have one request for a capo for the guitar. It would be useful. I did learn how to play hallelujah on the guitar now which is fun. I'm trying to learn a bunch of songs. Hopefully I can set up a Soundcloud and put all of my videos on there. Thats the plan. But hope everything is good! Pictures coming soon!

Love you guys! Elder Brady

Heyy!

 Hey! hows it going? It was super fun to get to skype you guys last night. It never seems like long enough, but it was fun. I'm trying to remember what happened this week. So, I know we taught a lot of lessons to this one 10 year old that is planning on getting baptized, probably a few of his siblings too.Wednesday we taught a Book of Mormon class. We found 7 new investigators this week, which is pretty good. But, this week was pretty typical. I did take some good pictures of this owl and this raccoon which I think you'll like. But, it really was so good talking last night. I especially appreciate all of the packages and everything you guys have sent me. It's so good to get letters during the week when I don't expect them. This is the last week of the transfer, so, things could be changing a little bit after this week. But, not too much is going on right now. I'll try to take more pictures of my surroundings here. I'll also try to send out a letter today. Even P days are pretty busy. And then today we have a huge FHE with tons of investigators and missionaries. I was wondering, though, if you guys know what the missionary schedule is like. Just so you have an idea of about what I'm doing for some of the day:
6:30 Wake up and excercise
7 Get ready for day
8 Personal study
9 Comp Study
10 Spanish Study
11 Lunch/ District meeting/Role plays
12 or 1 or 2 or 3 - planned lessons and whatever else depending on how long of a meeting we have.
But, that's the first half of the day.
I'd love to get some recordings of you guys or whatever else. But, I hope you guys have a great week. Take care! Elder Brady

In the care package from mi familia


Some animals we encounter in South Texas:

5 Months Gone

Hey! Hows it going?? So, to start it off, I get to skype this Sunday!! I told you guys that it will be about 6 o'clock, but that will be 6 here, so its 7 o'clock there. Just a heads up. And, that google thing isn't loading right now. So, if it doesn't load on Sunday, I'm screwed. But, this week was alright. It started off with a surprise. Last Monday it started off with a surprise. We ran into this guy from Utah that came down here for work. He said he'll be staying down here and then he gave us a 140 dollars. It looked like just 20 dollars, but inside wrapped up was 120 dollars more. We're using it though for someone in the ward that needs it. So, that was a pleasant surprise. Overall this week wasn't too great. I feel like I'm losing a little bit of my Spanish just because I don't have as many opportunites to speak it in this ward. I can still speak it and understand most of it, but not perfectly. So, I'm hoping that changes. But I'm super excited to skype this Sunday! I'm also nervous because its only an hour and once it's over, I'm going to miss it. But, I biked super hard this week since our area tripled in size. So, my legs are toast. lol But, I did have a super good lesson the other day. We were on an exchange in our area and we came to this black guy that I'm cool with. He had 4 friends over. And I taught the Restauracion. BTW, the black guy is from GA too, so he calls me his homie. haha But, the lesson was super good. And the guy, even though he isn't a member, committed his 4 friends to get baptized, and said that he's getting baptized too. The other elder that I was with said I'm really good at talking to black people, so I thought that was funny. But, one of the elders in my district is originally from Mexico City. He has a place down there and said I'm welcome to come stay with him. He says the City is super safe. The only dangerous part of Mexico is the border. So, it sounds like a good option for a vacation of some sort. I've learned the importance of having a good attitude on the mission and being super social. It has helped me enjoy it more. It's still something super hard. And I can't say I do enjoy every day on the mission. I enjoy certain things, but one thing I don't like, is that people focus too much on numbers. Numbers are important, but it shouldn't be the main focus. The main focus should be to bless lives. But, I can say one thing I learned on the mission so far is to not be scared to talk to anyone, older or younger than me. And I've also learned to be super bold when I have to. So, the mission has taught me a lot. I'm grateful for it. It's still super hard and sometimes it's more difficult than other times. The hardest part is just learning to enjoy every moment of it. But, I like it and I know it's good for me. There is this one quote that if you guys could send me it, it would be awesome. It goes something like this, " Serenity is accepting the things you can't change. Changing the things you can change. Wisdom is knowing the difference. [I already sent him the quote.] I love that quote. And one of the missionaries worked for J Dawgs before the mission...the one with that guitar. So, I figured she'd like to know that. But, that's about all that happened this week. I did a lot of helping people move and doing lawn work, but it was a good week. I hope everything is good there. Love you guys.

 Elder Brady

Texas animal of the week...can you identify it? 

Last day of April

Hey! So, this week was alright. I thought it was pretty boring myself. It wasn't the best week for sure. Nothing really exciting happened. I've started writing random stuff that happened, though, so I have stuff to write about. But, this week, I saw a Blockbuster, which I thought was funny, so I decided to tell you guys about it. But, this week we've had a lot of bike trouble. On Monday or Tuesday last week, I fell off my bike once and got a little scraped up. About 2 seconds after that, my companion's pedal fell off. The next day, a little part broke on my bike, so I bought the part to it the other day. It only cost 20 dollars. I thought it was going to be more. And now my companion's bike is broken again. And I'm waiting for some guy in the ward to put the part I bought back on my bike. So, we both aren't riding our bikes. The day my bike broke, though, we were far away from our apartment and we had to get to an appointment, so I had to run with my bike all the way back. It was super tiring and then once we got back, the appointment was canceled and then we had to fast for someone that night, so it was a pretty exhausting day. But, there's honestly not much happening here. Church was fun yesterday because I taught primary and the kids are awesome. I hope you guys are doing well. Keep sending letters and some recent pictures too. I got the pictures you sent me and I like them and I got the letters you sent. It feels like forever ago that I left for a mission now. It's weird. But, I'll be able to skype soon. I'll see if I can do it on the person's skype account that I use. But, send me your skype info or something so I can add you guys as a contact. I've been picking up guitar a little more while I've been here. I've learned some more chords and I'm going to keep practicing. The concert we have will now be on May 15th. I was going to sing a song called Dream Big, but they changed it up now, so now we'll be doing something with a member in our area and a non-member, just so they get more participation. Any thing you want to send me that you think will be helpful with the language, or just anything that I like, feel free to send it. Have a super good week, Elder Brady

What's Uppp?

Hey! So, this week was pretty good! There are a few changes that happened and I wouldn't say I'm really happy with them, but there's nothing I can do about it. So, they decided to do units for each ward. So, now we only have 3 companionships in the English ward and I'm one of them, which means we only teach English people now. I'm afraid my Spanish is going to go down hill this transfer because I don't speak as much now. All of the Spanish investigators that we find, we have to hand them to the Spanish Elders. I still use my Spanish on the street, but not that much anymore. I don't even go to the Spanish Ward. But,that's that. Also, our area that we're in tripled in size and we're still on bikes, so it's gonna be crazy.
But, I like biking a lot. It was tiring for the first week, but I've gotten in good shape, so we are cruising as a companionship now. It has gotten pretty hot here, but it's nothing bad yet. The wind from biking keeps you from sweating, but as soon as you stop, you get drenched in sweat. It even rained here a few days this last week. It was an alright week though. Mothers Day is at the end of this transfer, which means I get to Skype you guys. Idk if I have a Skype account, so that might have to be something that we work out before the time comes. Also, we are having a concert with all of the missionaries on May 9th, which is cool. I'm playing violin for one song and I'm doing a duet with someone for another song. It's going to be at a big park. Members will be coming, investigators, and just about everyone. It's supposed to be a huge turn out. Some of the missionaries will be going around throughout the concert and trying to meet and teach people, so it will be a good missionary activity. So, that's cool. One of our recent converts that lives in our apartments got in a fight the other day. We came at the very end of it. It all started with not keeping dogs on leash. The neighbor had a few pitbulls that he wouldn't keep on a leash. They discussed it, but the other neighbor starting talking with an attitude and messing with him, so he just punched the guy. The guy starting bleeding pretty bad but then the guys friend starting fighting too, so it was 2 on 1. They all ended up going to jail. But Kevin, our recent convert, is out now. The guy he punched is the son of the owner of the apartments, so they are moving, but they'll still be in our area. It gets pretty crazy here. There are a lot of interesting people here. It's mostly a Catholic population, but there are tons of Jehovah Witnesses here too. But, it was a pretty good week. I taught Gospel Principles class yesterday, which was fun. People said they really liked the lesson. It's a lot easier to teach Gospel Principles after being a missionary for this long. Keep sending letters, if you can. Hopefully, you can find the right address. [I am pretty positive it's Sam Houston STREET] The mission office should have any details if you guys have any questions. Hope you guys have had a great week!! Continue to pray for me! Elder Brady.

Spanish member that we have to leave behind

Flooding at the beginning of the week

Flooded path we ride

Poisonous snake some rednecks killed and skinned

Some family's pet raccoon in their backyard

Our Apartment Complex