Transfers Tomorrow

Hey, what's up? Que Tal? Pues esta semana ha sido muy bien. No tenia algunas historias maravillosas esta semana porque fue la tipica semana pero todo esta bien. Transferencias son manana. I don't know if I'm getting transferred or not though. I find out later today. But, a few things I realized that you could send me if you wanted was stamps and envelopes. I wouldn't worry too much about it, but whenever you send a letter of something, you could always stick some stamps in it because those are something I might need. I baptized Zamantha yesterday. It was a cool experience, ha ha, especially doing it in Spanish. After that whole incidence with Pete, he has lost a lot of hope. We went to visit him the other day, though, and we took a member. His hope was down, so we talked to him a little and basically told him that we can't teach him anymore if he's lost the desire. So, we all left and went to visit other families, but later that night, it had to be pretty late, our member went to his house because he felt bad and he asked Pete if he was hungry. He bought Pete some food and even let Pete sleep over at his house. All of a sudden, Pete's desire is huge again. He actually went to church and is cool again, so we are going to try to teach him and see where it goes with him. My companion is most likely leaving tomorrow, so I'll get a new one. I think it's good to learn how different people teach. But, that's about it for now. In the zone total, this past weekend, 9 people were baptized. Idk if we're going to hit our goal though, this month, unfortunately. We only have 12 baptisms this month, so far, and not much time. We have a lot of people that could get baptized this week, but I guess we'll see what happens. Well, that's about it for this past week. It just got cold again today. and rainy. I love when I get letters, so keep that up. It's super awesome that Megan scored so high on the SAT. That's great. But, I hope everything is well. I don't think there's anything specific I need right now. Just pray for my Spanish and teaching. I've definitely learned a lot of lessons in the past few weeks about a few things. But, take care. Love, Elder Brady

Transfer 1 Down

Hey, so the computers were down yesterday, so I couldn't email, but I have my first scary story of the mission. So, Zamantha's baptism got changed because she was really busy, so it's happening this Sunday now. But with Rigo, he was doing everything great. He was reading the Book of Mormon, went to church, loved it, was keeping all commitments. We went to pick him up for church and he was acting all weird. He relapsed and starting drinking again and he wouldn't stop. So, he didn't come to church. We knew that it wasn't Pete [Rigo's nickname]. When you looked at him, he know longer looked like Pete. His eyes were empty and he had a devilish smile now. We tried to get him to put down the beer, but he kept going and wouldn't stop. He said that he gets visited in the night by someone every night. They tell him he can't sleep because he has to go do things. Idk what it's called, but we found out now that he's one of those people that devoted himself to Satan a long time ago and he wanted to change, but its really hard now. Something was wrong with him and we knew it on Sunday when we went over. That night, we came to his house in hopes of giving him a blessing. We walked in and he was still drinking. He was happy, but it was a fake happiness. When I would look him in the eyes, his eyes were red, and that same smile was on him and it really creeped me out because it isn't the Pete we know. We talked for a little while, but it was dark outside and we had to leave soon, so we asked if we could give him a blessing. He then asked us if we could go to the store so he could get more beer. We kept telling him ¨no¨ and he kept asking. We asked him if we could give him a blessing again and he said, ¨yes.¨ Things were getting really out of hand with him. We told him to sit down. He sat down and we told him to scoot the chair up. He then looked out the door of the trailer and pointed. His eyes are still red and he looks like a demon. He pointed and said , "He's here." My companion and I felt the darkness of a being that must have been there. Rigo said," He is telling me... "shhhhh," as he put his fingers to his lips. At that point, chills went down our spines. Remember that we are in his little trailer. My companion puts his hands on him to give a blessing and Rigo started doing this chant. It's a series of sounds that he made that were coming out of the spirit in him. They were of Satan without a doubt. I was standing by the door of the trailer when something pushed my back. I turned around and nothing was there. My companion told me to quickly put my hands on his head. We then started to say the blessing, commanding the evil spirit to leave him. We said it once and then the chanting got louder. We said it again and he stopped chanting for a few seconds and then immediately shot up and starting running at us, but he fell onto the couch still looking out the window. His eyes weren't moving, but he was still chanting. We took a beer that he was drinking and poured it out in front of him, but his eyes didn't move at all. He just kept chanting. He was still possessed. We walked away and got into the car, which took about 15 seconds, and then we saw someone at the trailer and they walked into the house really slowly. There's no way that someone could have been there that quickly. and they weren't even freaking out either. My companion had to get a blessing after this experience because we were both shaken up about it. Scariest thing that ever happened to me. It strengthened my testimony so much, though. I know that Satan is real. Rigo described the guy that visits him as being perfect, just like Satan. Satan looks probably attractive and worldly, but full of evil which is why he tempts people so easily. But, while we were in the trailer, I remember feeling tons of darkness around us, but I also felt the Spirit so strongly, as if there were angels around us. There really is a war in Heaven and that experience made it really clear. Usually people don't have experiences like this during their mission or so close to the beginning of it. We were so scared the rest of that night. We didn't feel right. Even in my prayer that night, I felt a spirit rush through my body. The feeling has never been so clear. So, that was the most interesting thing that happened this week. Hope you guys are all doing good. We aren't going back to Rigo's again. We are going to talk to the bishop, because its really dangerous there after what happened. I don't even feel right being kind of close to his trailer. But, hope everything is well. I got the package you sent, which was great. I took pictures of all of the scriptures so I can use them. I've definitely changed my motives for being out here. I really try to learn the most about the gospel, instead of focusing on the language so much. That has been improving while I do the other things. "Look unto me with every thought. Doubt not, Fear not." Elder Brady

Brownsville Going Strong

So, this week was pretty good. A few things before I start...please send me the ukulele. I spend about 50 bucks every week for groceries, so put like 20 bucks on my account every week, if that's possible. Send me some Nike socks or exercise socks and send me pictures. That's all. This week was good. It was a little hard starting up this area because all of our investigators were in the other one, but we're starting to get things moving now. We have a baptism coming up in the Spanish branch this week. It's this 23 year old girl named Zamantha. She's not in our area anymore but she requested that I baptize her so that's what's happening this Sunday. We have a plan called ¨operation reactivation¨ that we started as a companionship. Obviously, the goal is to reactivate families. In this area, there are tons of families, but only like 5 are active in the church. It's so weird down here. There are a lot of people that show up to church with jeans on that are members, and with white short socks.. The other night, we taught English classes to a few families. That was pretty fun. We had a zone meeting the other day and I've never felt the spirit so strongly. We talked about the reasons why we came on our mission. I wouldn't say many people had a similar one to me, but we all had pretty bad reasons to go on a mission. They weren't necessarily bad, but they weren't good either. But, it was so cool to see how much the reason that we're on our mission changed. When I left for my mission, my motives weren't great. They were to almost serve my mission as fast as I could just to go home, but now they've changed. I've had a few experiences lately that have really changed my perspective. I'm out here for the right reasons now. Because I love the Lord and I know there are people that have been waiting their whole lives to talk to missionaries to change their life around. I know because I had that experience last night. Two nights ago, we were in this area called Olmito. It was after the zone meeting which focused on where our hearts are. We came across this family that drank and smoked and had many different problems. The dad was in jail and had been in jail for a while. The mom went lesbian because now she has a wife. and there are tons of people living in the house. One kid was really interested and talked to us so we set a baptismal date with him, which was cool. As we were leaving the house we got down the street a little when we saw a guy in a tiny trailer waving us to come to him. My companion figured it was somebody trying to waste our time, but I thought it was somebody ready to be baptized. So, we went to the trailer and the guy pretty much told us that he is ready to change his life. He is an alcoholic and he wants to stop. He was tired of feeling like that. We set a baptismal date with him too and invited him to come to church. We weren't really sure how serious he was, though, because he was smoking while he was saying that. So, the next day church starts and they aren't there. We thought the other kid would for sure come, but he didn't show up on time so we drove to his house and he skipped out. He was gone with some friends and didn't come. But, I wasn't about to drive there without taking someone to church with us, so I went to the guy in the trailer. He had on the same shirt and pants as he had on the other day. I asked him if he wanted to go to church and he said he didn't have many clothes. I told him to come in what he's wearing. So, he hops out of his trailer and we take him to church. We asked him how he felt after and he said he really liked it. We stopped by later that day to give him the first lesson. It was dark when we came by his trailer. We called his name but he was sleeping. We called a few more times and he woke up and came to the door of the trailer. This is when a very humbling experience took place. He told us again that he was so greatful that we came. He doesn't have any food, so we brought him some food to eat. We asked if we could come inside, but he doesn't have any electricity in the tiny trailer that he has and the flashlight that he has doesn't work because the batteries are dead. He's the humblest guy I've ever met. He was so grateful for the food. And, it was so sad to see all of his circumstances. We asked him again about church, and he said that he felt so good. He noticed how all of the people were so nice at our church. He said that other churches he's gone to, people weren't like that. He said that everyone treated him so kindly even though he wore the only clothes that he owned. He said he prayed for the first time that night and he thanked God for putting these 2 missionaries in his life. He's been waiting his whole life for missionaries to come by and talk to him. After going to church, he now wants to find a job, get married, and he hasn't taken a drink of beer or smoked since going to church. He's changing his life completely around and its so great to see as a missionary because we know it's because of the gospel. He said he even wants to get a haircut and be a missionary like us. That experience really changed me. It made me feel so grateful for the gospel. I'll never forget him. His name is Rigo. We're finding a job for him right now and he already committed to coming to church every week. But, that experience was really great. This is why I'm serving a mission. I hope you guys are all doing well. I still struggle and am not great at the gospel or Spanish right now, but I do know how to love people, so that's why I'm out here, to share the testimony that I have so others can gain theirs. I hope to get mail because I haven't yet. Send everything to both addresses. I'll try to get the other mail. But remember apartment F6. Also, send me more pictures of what happens there and Ashley. I always look forward to pictures. I took a good amount of pictures this week and I'll send those to you when I have a cord. But, take care. Elder Brady

2 months gone

So, it's February. I'll definitely need some more money for food and stuff. I'm fine right now because of all the cash you guys gave me and walmart gift card. and they have a lot of grocery stores here and they have that stuff. This week was good. And I'll try to go the bank. I'm just always really, really busy and we can only do that stuff on P Day. But, this week we got 3 people to commit to baptism on the 22nd. And, we had about 15 people commit to going to church. It's pretty great. But, it stinks because yesterday we got a call saying that this area called Riverbend won't be in our area anymore, and that is where all of our investigators are. So, now we basically have no one in our teaching pool. These new sisters are going to be in that area now, which isn't fair because we did so much work on that area and things were finally starting to get really good. We had a competition this week with the district and my companion and I had the most members present in our lessons. So, we win something. We're going to some zoo today at like 2. One of our investigators has a recording studio in their house and they make music. We were in there the other day teaching them and we were rapping one of the scriptures. It was so funny. The family got a laugh out of that. We also wrote a huge rap with the guys in our apartment and we all performed it in front of the zone. It was awesome. It definitely got everyone excited. I had a really tough day the other day, though. I got really frustrated with the language. It made me really mad and no words were coming to me. It made everything so hard on me. And then, I still miss home. Not sure if that's ever going to go away. I wouldn't say I miss home, though, I just miss my friends and stuff and all of the people. The music is pretty great to listen to, though. Put the song ¨Hallelujah¨ on whatever you send me. I love that song. Also put this song called ¨Steal My Show¨ by Toby Mack, or something, and lots of songs. I can listen to a lot of music, which is good. One of our other investigators is named Isa. We set a baptismal date with her, but we found out by her friend that her dad died in a car crash about 5 months ago and it has totally been destroying the family. So, we're going to visit them and hope to help them out. I've definitely seen a lot of sad things here as far as family situations and economic situations with some people. I'm nowhere near fluent as far as Spanish goes. I learn more everyday, and can understand a lot of what people say, but I still am learning to put it all together. I'm being too hard on myself, though, because I've only been here for 3 weeks. But, I miss you guys. I still don't have too many pictures yet. There's not too much to take pictures of here. This one person we are teaching posted a picture of me on instagram, though. Her name is 9Celia or something on instagram. I miss you guys and I'm here. And, as far as the mail address. I'd probably just send it to the mission office because I don't want you to send it to my address and it not to get to me. If you want to do a test mail then my address here is 1900 Coffee Port Road. Apt. F6. Brownsville, TX 78521 . You can try that out and see if it works. But, I love you guys. and keep sending stuff. I actually haven't gotten anything yet besides the CD's Mimi sent, but I'll let you know when I do. I've definitely learned a lot here already and I'm still going. Elder Brady