Hello hello! :) - Email from Jenny

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S !

We have had a lot of blessings this wonderful week of December!

We met some really awesome people on Monday while we were tracting, so much so, that my companion who doesn't particularly like talking to strangers said that it was her tender mercy for that day!!! Flash forward to Saturday, I really felt like we needed to see some of those people again that night. So we drove to the neighborhood and knocked on the door of a man named Nick who had told us he and his wife were in between churches. He laughed when he opened the door and said, "You're back already!" Yep :) he told us he looked us up on Wikipedia and and was "comfortable" with where he was at... too bad we don't take that for an answer. We kept talking and eventually his wife came and joined us and we got a return appointment with them! We then remembered this lady who said she was busy because she was making meatloaf and to try back another time and knocked on her door. She had met missionaries at the place she had worked and enjoyed their company, and after briefly talking about the Restoration, she said we could come back as well! "Meatloaf lady" as we called her, is named Kat :) Please pray for these people!

Random fact about Indiana: You can't buy beer on Sunday from the store.

You may wonder how I know that? Don't worry I don't speak from experience! We were knocking on doors and met this Catholic man named Nicholas. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. We talked to him about our beliefs and ended up giving a Book of Mormon. He said, "Will you do me one favor?" Uh, I never know how to respond to this anymore...haha he asked if we could raise the alcohol limit in Utah...I guess he missed the fact that we were not from Utah, and then proceeded to tell us this random law about Indiana haha

We also were able to participate in zone caroling where all of us missionaries sang Christmas songs on the back of a trailer and sang while 4 missionaries sprinted from house to house letting people know we were out there. This one lady sprinted across the street and knocked on the door across the street to let all this kids having a Christmas party come and listen to us :)

I feel like tracting is all we do sometimes, but it sure gives some funny stories, here are 2 more for you!

#1 We knock on door, man answers, "Hi! We are the missionaries in the area!.."

man: "Ooh, you're THE missionaries, huh?"

us *a little taken aback*: Uh, yeah, we are with the Church of Jesus Christ..."

Yeah, this sassy man wasn't very interested....we got a good laugh out of it though.

#2 We knock on door, we hear "hold on one minute" from inside, so we wait and this man throws open the door and with a bunch of dollar bills in his hand looks shocked. He starts laughing and says, "You're not Papa Johns!" 

us: "Nope, we are the missionaries! :)" we talked to him a little while, I don't think he ever quite got over how surprised he was that we weren't the pizza delivery guy. I wish I could video some things and show them to you! 

As I have been pondering the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, I read in the Book of Mormon the story of a group of people who were anxiously awaiting His birth. You see, 5 years earlier, a prophet had said "Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God" the people were very wicked at this time and remembered this great prophecy. They began to mock the believers saying, "Behold the time is past, and the words of Samuel are not fulfilled; therefore, your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been vain." They made "a great uproar throughout the land" and the Saints at that time began to be "very sorrowful" and worried that their sign would not come. However, "they did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been vain." But then, the unthinkable happened, " it came to pass that there was a day set apart by the unbelievers, that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass, which had been given by Samuel the prophet." Needless to say, things were getting a little urgent. Nephi, a very faithful servant "went out and bowed himself down upon the earth, and cried mightily to his God in behalf of his people, yea, those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers. And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day;" And after praying all day, he received a glorious answer in response to his faith, "Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets." What a glorious answer!

As I reflected on this passage, and the miracle of Jesus Christ's birth, I found a deeper meaning to this story. You see, because Jesus Christ was born that day, all of those people literally had their lives saved, and just the same with us, because Jesus Christ came into the world, we too, will not suffer physical and spiritual death if we come unto Him. Look at all the blessings that come into our lives because He lived! We can repent, we can forgive, we can see our loved ones who have passed on, and the list could go on for miles. I invite each of you to reflect on the blessings you have received in your life because Jesus Christ lived, and ask yourself, "what can I give back to Him?"

Serving with a Smile,

Sister Bradley

 1. This elderly lady needed help decorating her tree :)

2. "The stocking were hung by {their desks} with care" :)

Lots of Love - Email from Jenny

Well ladies and gents, your girl in Indy has shook the hand of a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Elder Neil L. Anderson. This is like having James or John from the New Testament come and meet you!! What a special experience!! Elder Anderson talked about how he served with my mission president, President Carlson, in France! It was so cool to see how he joked around and made little side comments about how President Carlson was "living it up in the mission home" as an Assistant to the President while he was freezing on the streets of France as a "normal missionary." haha okay okay, I know you are dying to know what he talked to us about, as you should be! Elder Anderson devoted a great portion of the time he spoke to us about the principle of Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. He addressed keeping our faith in the Lord, in ourselves and in the fact that the Lord has prepared people for us to bring closer to Christ at the forefront of our minds, making our faith more active than dormant. He invited us to "make substance of our faith" over and over and over again and invited us to not be satisfied with where we are but to be constantly and continuously striving to be better. He had us pull up scriptures about miracles, and not surprisingly, the majority of the scriptures that talked about miracles were "according to their faith." There is great strength and faith involved with memorizing scripture and recalling it in time of need, it is yet another way to strengthen our faith. Our Father is ready and willing to bless, strengthen, uplift, and help us as we exercise our faith in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ who has shown us the way and performed miracles Himself according to the Father's will. He told us not to fret when our Faith struggles, because it means that we are growing, and becoming, as long as we press forward and keep moving toward the Savior. The power of our faith can never be underestimated, and "no effort we give will go unnoticed" to our Father in Heaven. (Elder Anderson)

I was able to Facetime into my brother Tyler's funeral on Saturday (shout out to Skyler for taking charge of that!), and friends and family, there was a lot of love felt there. Though I was not present physically, the experience was indeed very special, and I am not sure I could have felt anymore love than if I were there. I loved what my brother in law Ben said "We all come from different Faiths, backgrounds, and are diverse, but the one thing we all have in common is love." (hopefully I got that pretty close Ben!) It was definitely not an easy experience, but one that will be dear to my heart the rest of my life.

We have been putting great effort this week in working with the members this week to find and teach people, the process is a bit longer, but we know that the fruits will be great once harvested. Some sisters invited their friends to the Relief Society party, and we were able to socialize and explain who we are :) One of the ladies who came with a friend loved talking with us! She was a cute, old Catholic lady, who we will hopefully be eating dinner with this week! Pray for her heart to be soft please!!

Random experience: We were trying to find a member in an apartment complex, when this lady looked at us and we waved to her, but she kept walking. She did three double takes and then yelled "Are you the Mormon Sisters???" We replied "yes!!" and she said "my son is in my apartment, he would love to see you!" and she proceeded to tell us where she lived. We hurried over to her apartment :) Her son went to Southern Utah University and is very familiar with our church, we asked him why he chose SUU and he said one of the reasons was because of the good morals! We can teach you more about why we have good morals :) haha hopefully there is potential there!

Brothers and Sisters, I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, without Him, I would be nothing. Without Him, I would never see Tyler again. Without Him, I would never see any one of my family members and friends again or my dear Father in Heaven. I am incredibly grateful to be representing His name this season that we celebrate His miraculous birth. Let us praise Him in all that we do this season, and share His divine light with all that we meet.

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12)

Serving with a Smile,

Sister Bradley

Pictures:

 1. Posterity Pic! Me and my two "babies" Sisters Degener and Bitter, then Sister Bitter's "baby" Sister Arlint and then Sister Arlint's "baby" Sister Burrell :) hopefully you followed that! All of that non-sense means that I am a great grandma! :)

2. It Snowed! :)

3. #LightTheWorld

Indiana Facebook Page - Meeting with Elder and Sister Andersen

Our missionaries were so blessed to have a special two hour meeting with Elder and Sister Andersen. They inspired us to have better FAITH - the substance and the evidence of faith. They taught us about the importance of goals and the power of scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, in our own personal conversion and the conversion of our investigators. We also appreciated the testimonies of Elder David L. Buckner and Paul Sinclair, of the Seventy. It was a really good day!

Here is a good quality photo of the entire mission from yesterday's meeting with Elder and Sister Andersen. Thank you to our wonderful photographers Brother Chapital and Sister Davis for their willingness to provide this service to the mission. Also posted here are some snapshots of the missionaries singing as they waited and then as Elder and Sister Andersen arrived. We will print the photo of the mission group and give each missionary a copy. Enjoy! Aren't they a beautiful and handsome sight? We love these missionaries.

The Lord's hand is in all things - Email from Jenny

God's timing is so unpredictable, so perfect, and so confusing all at the same time, and I wouldn't have it any other way. This past week my dear brother Tyler left this world of trial and hardship and joined all of our other loved ones who have passed on. This has not been easy, but I have witnessed so many tender mercies from the Lord throughout this experience, and learned so many things about myself and about the glory of God's great plan, I know it couldn't have happened any other way.

I have learned more deeply the power of Heavenly Father's love. I love Tyler, and then I thought of the love my Mother has for Tyler, and then I realized how much love Heavenly Father has for my brother, and I knew he would be okay. Heavenly Father knows him perfectly, as well as me, and I have been able to apply that into numerous aspects of my work as a missionary. It can apply to my companion who has been struggling, the people we meet who aren't very nice to us, the strangers we get to serve and love as the Savior would.

The power of service is incredible. I felt incredible joy through the many service opportunities Heavenly Father provided for us even through the sorrow I felt. I have been told time and time again that when things get hard, you need to serve others, but you know, I am not sure if I ever believed that, but WOW do I ever have a strong testimony of that now. We had a moment of impromptu service when we were driving into our apartment complex and saw a lady in her 50s and a lady in her 70s trying to wheel this massive mattress to the dumpster. We immediately pulled over and offered to help, it brought such smiles to their faces and a sigh of relief to the 70 year old haha, we then offered to help them move later that week, which was not only a blessing to them, but an even GREATER blessing to me in my time of need. We then passed off our investigators Chantise and Jordan (the 13 year old girl and 7 year old boy) to the sisters in Indianapolis, and were blessed to help them move as well. Not only did they feel a burden of relief but my burdens were lifted as well. They are now passed off to the Indianapolis sisters who will take good care of them :) on top of all of this we have been sharing #LightTheWorld with as many people as we can which is all based on service and sharing Christ's light with others. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matt 25:40)

We were also blessed to have the son of a Part member family become one of our new investigators. The only hold up for him might be his dad not wanting him to be baptized, but he is 11 now, and hopefully his dad can respect his decision. Please pray that his heart will be soft!!

Last, but not least, I received a priesthood blessing during all of this and word for word Heavenly Father told me, "You are exactly where you need to be." I know this is true, there is no other place I could've learned these precious lessons. I am so grateful to an all knowing, all wise Father in Heaven who has blessed me beyond measure for serving Him these past 14 months. Come what may, and LOVE it.

Serving with a smile,

Sister Bradley

Pictures :)

 1. These Elders were pretty proud of this picture...and the King size mattress they somehow managed to cram up the stairs.

2. The moving crew! Jordan, Amelia, and Chantise are to the right of me and Sister Degener :)