Email From Jenny: Mon. Oct. 24 9:55am

Rain, Rain Go Away!

What a week! I feel like I've been in Indiana for 5 minutes and 5 years all at the same time!!! How weird haha so this past week Sister Harris and I have been doing a lot of knocking on doors to try to find people to teach and let me tell you, it isn't the most encouraging thing to do most days. Thursday was especially hard. It rained all day. Literally ALL DAY!!! I also don't have rain boots so I am super lucky I wasn't freezing! haha We knocked on doors and people would say "wow it's really wet outside, good luck and stay dry" and then shut the door! Will you let us inside to teach you please?!? This obviously means a lot if we are willing to talk to you rain or shine! Anyway about the middle of the day we got pretty discouraged because we tried to visit a less active and she wasn't home and then we decided to tract that neighborhood. We knock on 3 doors, got rejected 3 more times and then this man came walking up to us with an umbrella because it is still raining and he proceeds to tell us in an annoyed and kind of angry voice that we ran over him mailbox! For real?!?! (usually you are supposed to back your companion out of driveways, but because it was pouring we didn't) We apologized and asked if we could do anything and he said no he just wanted to inform us. Definitely the cherry on top of a sad day lol anyway, but even through all this we kept going, and the next house we knocked on someone talked to us!!! AND she let us share our message and she said we could come back!! It is so amazing to think that we could have gotten discouraged and just decided to switch neighborhoods because obviously we weren't wanted there, but literally the next house we knocked on was willing to listen to our message! :) and we actually met quite a few people the rest of the day that said we could come back and share more :) this is not the first time that this has happened on my mission either! There have been so many times when I've though to myself "for real? Can we just have one person listen to us?" and not long after someone does listen :) It is all about finding joy in this work too. I love that Sister Harris and I can find joy in silly things like dogs trying to eat us (not literally) and spiders crawling across doorbells and playing Book of Mormon golf (a game where someone reads a scripture and the other person tries to guess where it is) so please in whatever you are going through right now, press on and find the joy in it! It is there I promise, and don't be afraid to laugh! I've had soooo many awkward moments but they are great! Treasure those!

 I've been studying charity lately and how important it is to possess it as children of God. I came up with a little questionnaire for myself that I wanted to share. It is based of of Moroni 7:45

Do I "suffer long" or am I impatient?

Am I "kind" or am I rude and mean?

Do I "envy" others?

Am I "puffed up" or humble? 

Do I "seek my own"? or do I turn outward?

Am I "easily provoked" meaning quick to get angry?

Do I "think evil" or "rejoice in the truth"?

Do I "bear all things"?

Do I "believe all things"?

Do I "hope all things"? 

Do I "endure all things"?

Do I possess Charity? Am I striving for it? Or living it?

I invite you all to do a self reflection as I have done and choose some things to improve because there is always room to improve. Charity leads to an increase confidence in self because your confidence in God increases. An increase of joy, and love comes with it too, and I think that's something we all desire!

 One more funny story, my comp and I did some service at this museum in Zionsville and we stuffed sooooo many envelopes!!! so many!!! We literally answered these ladies prayers because they were trying to stuff 1400 of them and there was only like 6 of them! Yeah, do the math, that's a long time! haha anyway we were a big help and they ended up inviting us to the activity for free!! It's like $55 a ticket!! And we could get in for free!! haha it's an Artisan fair though and there will be lots of drinking so we won't go but hey, it shows how much impact service can have on others and hopefully someday those ladies let missionaries in their home because they remember how we made them feel :)

Anyway, I love you all! Be Charitable! Remember who you are and what you stand for!

Oh, and we had our first lesson with Bryan today! I'll give you more details on that next week! Keep praying for him please!

Serving with a Smile,

Sister Bradley

Pictures, Part 2 From Jenny

​Sister Harris 

 ​Isn't it so pretty??​

 ​This creepy church that we though was a house when tracting! ​

​Our couch ate our phone... we literally had to cut a hole in the bottom of the couch to get it out lol​

Pictures From Sister Bradley

​My silly MTC district, last devotional!​

​On the frontrunner on our way to the airport​

​Sis Powell and I chilling off 2 1/2 hours of sleep​​​

Elder Goff and Grieve on the frontrunner

​Indianapolis Temple!!! ​

​Look at that!! An old family friend who served his mission in Indiana! Randy Gillespie

Email From Jenny: Week 1 in Indiana

Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 9:46 AM

I MADE IT TO ZION!!!! hahaha well pretty close, I am serving my first 2 transfers here in a town called Zionsville!!! It is super cute and all the people here are super rich!! Seriously like everyone here is a doctor or owns a business or something like that! haha The ward seems great so far, everyone is super friendly and willing to help with the work :) So we haven't done a lot of teaching because we are both new in the area but we are diligently looking for people to teach, oh and we got this super sweet referral! Do any of you recognize the name Jerry Sloan ( I didn't... haha) anyway he is the former coach of the Utah Jazz and we got a referral for his son Bryan Sloan!!! Bryan wanted to read the entire Book of Mormon before taking all the lessons with the missionaries and he is finally finished!! Right now we are trying to get in contact with him, we missed his call this morning, but hopefully we will be able to find a time to teach him this week!!! :) so please pray for him!!

 We also had some interesting experiences...we met with a less active who sings songs to us on our voicemail and we were trying to get her to come to church with us. She starts making up all these excuses when we met her and so we started talking about the sacrament. She then proceeds to tell me she has her own communion and eats bread and water on her own...uhhh okay.....so I start talking about the priesthood (God's authority given to man to act in His name, only given to males) and she proceeds to tell me that she has the priesthood and blesses the bread and water herself and that she is actually a prophet too.....WHAT???? OH MY!!! At this point I was at a loss for words, I looked at my trainer Sister Harris with the "you better save this situation right now because I NEED help!!" She shared Moroni 6:4-6 which talks about when Christ blesses the sacrament and "they did meet together oft". Bless her soul!!! She brought it right back to Christ which is where it needed to be and the Spirit came back. Needless to say this lady is a little crazy, she then wanted us to clean an do laundry, I really think that is one of the only reasons she lets us over but she calls us her angels. We also met Carla who is a recent convert who lives at an assisted living home, we play Bingo twice a week with her and these old people are so serious about their bingo. Carla was having a bad day Saturday when we played, but she won Bingo 4 times!! haha I think she needed that to lift her spirit! We are trying to get her prepared to go to the temple on the 29 of October so pray for her too! One last funny thing. Here in Indiana people are so nice!! So nice, that they shut the door on your face as they are smiling ear to ear telling you they aren't interested!! This lady wouldn't even let us in when it was raining haha so I guess you could say we are "happily" being rejected which I'll take any day over being screamed at. Indiana is beautiful, the gospel is beautiful, and life is a beautiful thing. One of the biggest things I love about serving is that we get an hour a day to study personally. I invite all of you to read the scriptures each day this week and search for something that you need to know that day. I know that if you do this and show God you care by writing it down you will be blessed with more revelation. Sometimes it is my personal studies that get me through the day! I love you all! Please keep enduring, it is the best decision you will ever make, next to making those covenants with God.

Serving with a smile,

Sister Bradley

Surprise Text For Mom

Mom got such a sweet surprise on her phone the other night from an unknown number.  The Hanson's had Jenny and her companion over for dinner.  Sister Hanson sent mom this picture with a message saying she had a lovely young lady and she is doing well! 

 

I think I love the people of Indiana even more!!  So thoughtful!! 

New Companion

Sister Bradley and her new companion, Sister Harris.  They have been assigned to the Zionsville area.

She's In Good Hands

A sweet message and picture send to Brother and Sister Bray!

We know she's in such good hands with President and Sister Carlson!

Sister Bradley Has Arrived

Photos courtesy of mission president, posted on the Indiana Indianapolis mission Facebook page.

    

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More MTC Pictures!!!

Elder Goff looks like the statue... haha he is coming to Indiana with us​

 ​Heart attacking like pros!​

​I saw Elder Grieve! ​

​Our District in a nutshell...my comp is an amazing artist!​

 The sistas!!! left to right Sis Powell, Hauck, Bradley, & Duzett​

 ​Pretty flowers at temple that smell amazing!!!​

Email From Jenny: Thu Oct 6, 10:40am

Well this is my last preparation day in the MTC! The time has flown by so fast! It has made me appreciate the time I do have here. A lot of people complain and just want to go to the field but I really have found a lot of joy here because I have tried to focus on living in the moment! Just like the quote from President Hinckley's wife says "The trick is to enjoy life. Don't waste away your days waiting for better ones ahead." I know as we focus on where we currently are and find the joy right where we are in life, we will be able to find it, and then be even more grateful to God for allowing us to have that joy because in reality that is all God wants for us.

I have learned something super super important when teaching and that is to FOCUS ON CHRIST! I cannot explain how much better and easier lessons go when we always bring everything back to Jesus Christ. For He is the reason that there are so many missionaries around the world. He is the reason we can be with our families forever. He is the reason we can feel peace in this life. He is the reason we can repent and return to live with our Heavenly Father someday. The Spirit loves to testify of truth when we talk about that. And oh the tender mercies He gives to us, if only we will recognize His hand in our lives. For example, last night there was a sister in our zone having struggles but she doesn't want to admit them and the other sisters told my companion and I because we are the Sister Training Leaders and we were kind of at a loss for what to do because it isn't something we as teenage girls know how to deal with, in other words she needs a professional. We decided we would pray that night and make a concrete decision in the morning on what to do. Literally 5 minutes later guess who shows up? A sister from the branch presidency!!! One of the very people who could help with this problem WAAAY more than we could. We explained to her what was going on and she expressed her gratefulness in letting her know what was going on. I know Heavenly Father loves that sister who is struggling and He sent us someone who could help with the situation. I know that is a simple example, and there are so many other tender mercies that have happened but it is proof that God is involved in the details of all of our lives and He cares so much about us. I invite all of you to take time everyday and write in your journal the way you have seen God's hand in your life. Pray to Him for help to find it if you are struggling, I know He will help you, just as He has helped me. I have done this here in the MTC and it has been such a blessing to me.

I love you all so much! I am so grateful so many of you watched conference! What an amazing experience that was to hear the words of our Prophets and apostles! Thank you for your prayers!

 On Monday I leave for Indiana! I can't believe the time has gone so fast! I don't think I've ever laughed this much in my life, or felt so tired, or felt so good. The gospel is true my friends and family and will bring you so much happiness. 

Serving with a Smile,

Sister Bradley

Sister Bradley Sings in Conference

This was a great opportunity for Jenny to share her testimony through song during conference.  Plus, such joy was felt by friends and family to see her sweet face and hear her beautiful voice! 

 

 

 

   

Saturday afternoon session of general conference, October 2016.