COLD COLD COLD!

Well tis the season for the cold!

We had a lot of rain and some ice here, but not much snow. It hasn't been that bad.

great things for the week:

- well I am the queen of backing up! haha. Yes, since I don't drive I get to back Sister Heywood up everyday. I get really into it and make it fun. I will do dances and who knows what else... I love getting strange looks from people when I back the car, it is the best!

- We went to a members house, and she just kept giving us food. We tried to say No, but she wouldn't let us. It was funny! Then the next day we helped her print some things off on the computer. To repay us for doing that she took us to cracker barrel. It was hilarious. We try so hard to just serve people, but they never let us go without returning the favor!

-Sister Heywood and I bought footie pajamas last monday! They are the best thing I have ever invested in! They are Minnie mouse and pretty much awesome! 

- We love to jam out to our lovely church music when we are in the car! It is great! Nothing better then jamming out to Kenneth Cope or Hymns. haha....

Work work work:

 A few investigators we are working with are Cinamon, Derrick, and Kyla.  They are so nice! It is cool because every question they have, I am like THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR!! It is like that for everyone, but it is very prominent with them. They are so prepared, it is unreal.  I am excited to continue working with them!

We met with another investigator who the elders were working with named Gale. She is so great! She talks a  lot, but id hilarious!! As we were talking I asked her if the Elders told her to read the Book of Mormon. She replied, " oh yeah I read like they told me too." Then I say, "sweet! What did you read?" She replied, " Well all of it." Sister Heywood and I sat there SHOCKED for a few minutes! I wanted to run around the room and jump up and down! We continued on, and she said she is going to read it again. She is super busy, so we aren't meeting with her for a couple weeks. I am so pumped to continue teaching her though!

We are working with a lady named Claudia as well. Her husband is a member, but not active. She speaks hardly any English, and understands some. We taught her with a Spanish pamphlet, and it was slightly difficult. It is cool though because even though there is a language barrier the spirit is still strong in the lessons. 

We were able to meet with Amy this week! She is so ready to be baptized. She knows the Book of Mormon is true! The only problem is she doesn't keep her commitments.. urg... She said she would this time, so hopefully she does. We are going to keep working with her, and help her in anyway that we can.

We went to visit a less-active last night, and we came at the perfect time. Her name is Mary Cahill, and she is in her 70's. Her husband is a truck driver, and is never home. When we got there she was trying to set up her Christmas tree. We offered to help, and she let us. She kept telling us that we were a " God Sent" the whole time we were there. It is amazing to see that we were prompted to go over there, and she needed us. She kept saying how it would have taken her days to put it up. I love serving others! It is the best! It was really fun to put up the tree, and decorate it!

   We are working with a lot of less-actives in the branch! There are so many of them. I didn't realize it until I was in the car area because we only had 5 in our biking area. If all the less-actives came to church this branch would be a good sized ward. Well don't worry we will make that happen! Work work work!

challenge for the week:

Everyone strive to be more charitable and giving! tis the season!

There are a few things or updates for the week!

I hope you all have had a good, cold, fun week! 

Have a fantastic week!!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Bradley

Yum...Turkey!!

My dearest Family and Friends,

We come together today...to read this lovely e-mail of Sister Breanna Bradley. (you all thought I was going to quote princess bride...fooled you) 

This week was great! New area, new transfer, new apartment, new companion! My new companion like I told you last week is...drum roll please.... Sister Heywood!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE HER so much!!! We already share clothes, finish each others sentences, and dance around in our apartment together. We have only been with one another for 6 days. This is going to be a great transfer! She is from Heber, Utah. She went to Utah State before her mission. She is going to be a nurse. She is a dancer, yoga instructor, and my chauffeur. She has been out for 10 months, so she is the senior companion. She gets to drive everywhere since she is senior companion! haha. It is great to be the passenger!  We drive and make up songs in the car or sing our hearts out. We dance and do sweet workouts on the mornings! This transfer is seriously going to be fantastic! 

This week was crazy! We switched apartments and said goodbye to people in downtown Somerset. On Tuesday I spent the day in Richmond with Sister Heywood while our companions went up to Louisville. I bike Monday night and Tuesday in the snow and rain. It was freezing, but epic! I enjoyed the miserable cold. We are in a car now, so I don't have to worry about wearing ten layers to look like an Eskimo!  

Oh my goodness! Lets just say 12 years of elders living in the apartment makes for a lovely disgusting dirty apartment for me to clean. It was hard to sleep in the new apartment Monday night because I was very disturbed by the filth. Sister Heywood and I scrubbed the apartment down. It is very clean now! 

On the bright side, the apartment is a lot nicer! I have a washer and dryer now! Woop Woop!  There are two floors. The top floor is just one big room with our beds, dresser, couch, workout stuff, and space! The main level is a family room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom with study desks. We each have our own closet. It is pretty great!The best part is....... It doesn't smell like SMOKE!! YEAH! All my stuff smells like smoke still, so I have been washing and wiping everything I own down so it doesn't.

We were driving the other day trying to find a less actives house that is out in the boonies. Well, we got to a  gravel road and were driving on it when we came across a river. The river separated the road, so we obviously could not get across. It was really funny. 

We ate thanksgiving at the Bohannons. It is a family in the branch. The food was pretty good! They had a ton of different dishes. I didn't try a lot of them. I stuck with the basic yummy thanksgiving food!

We got to meet with a couple named Derek and Cinamon this week. They are investigators that the elders had, but are now ours. They are so cool! We are meeting with them again tomorrow. I am excited.

We are trying to build up our investigator pool this week. We feel like we are opening a new area, but we aren't. We are just really low on investigators.

That was about it for the week! It was a crazy, fun, awesome, hard working week!

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Have a great week!

I love you!!

Love,

Sister Bradley 

CRAZY WEEK!!!!

Dear family and friends,

 

Boy oh boy there is a lot of news this week!

 

first and foremost...... I have been out for 3 months!! that is so weird and crazy! Time is flying by!

 

Well, Sister Peterson is being transferred. I will miss her a whole lot! Here is the twist.... I am also being transferred...sort of... They decided to switch the Elders and Sisters in Somerset. I will now be in a car with my new companion. The elders will be on bikes now. We are switching apartments and everything tonight. I will still be in the same branch, but new investigators and area. The elders will have downtown Somerset, and we will have the rest of Pulaski County.  It will be different. I have very mixed emotions about it all! I feel like this area is my baby since we opened it. I know the Elders will take good care of it though!

 

My soon to be new companion is Sister Haywood ( I don't know how to spell it). She has been  with Sister Hall, my MTC companion, for the last two transfers. Someone told Sister Haywood where she was going, so she told me yesterday. I am super excited to be companions with her! We will find out where Sister Peterson is going tomorrow at transfer meeting.

 

We had stake conference yesterday. Our whole zone got to sing during it. It was really fun! Sister Peterson and I also sang at Young Womens in Excellence.

 

Last Monday I got to go to the gym, and play around on the equipment. There equipment was older, so I couldn't do everything. I did all the things that I could though! It was a lot of fun!!! I haven't really lost any skills. It was great!

 

Sister Peterson was really sick again this week. We had to go to the doctor twice. She is doing better now that she is on antibiotics. It was turning into bronchitis.

 

The weather here has been rainy and cold this week!

 

Do you remember the guy I told you about last week named Brother Lequire? He is the one we sang to in the hospital. Well, he passed away on Monday night. It was sad, but he is in a better place.

 

We had some great lessons this week. One of them was with April. She is keeping every commitment we throw at her! She reads, prays, and comes to church. She is so willing to do anything. She always talks about how we are going to do fun things with her after we are off our missions. It is funny.

 

We also met with Amy...finally!  Her life has been so hectic lately, so we haven't been able to meet with her. We had a great lesson with her, and she knows the Book of Mormon is true! What what!!! oh yeah! That is what I like to hear! We will meet with her again this week. I am super duper excited!

 

We had a few investigators drop us this week. It stinks, but oh well what do you do. We had one investigator named Mary. She is an older lady. She sat there for 20 minutes trying to convert us to her apostolic penicostal church. It wasn't the first time someone has tried to convert us to their religion. She wouldn't let us talk because she jsut kept reading scripture after scripture from the bible. We then got a chance to talk, and just bore our testimonies. She sat there and looked stunned. We told her we loved her and said goodbye. She did not seem to happy.

 

Congratulations to Karlee and Tyler on getting hitched! I hope the wedding was marvelous!

 

I hope you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

 

What are you grateful for?

 

I am grateful to be out here serving the Lord. I am grateful that I get to be bringing people closer to Christ. I am grateful for all the wonderful people I get to meet. I am grateful for all the little things in life. I am grateful for all of you that are reading this! I am especially grateful for my family, and all that they do for me. I hope you are all grateful for the things you have in life. Don't take anything forgranted because you never know when you might not have it anymore. Someone always has it worse than you, so be grateful for what you do have. Being grateful is the best!

 

I love you all!

 

Eat lots of turkey and pie.... don't get fat!

 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

 

Love,

Sister Bradley

Zone Conference

Well hello family and friends! I hope you are all just wonderful!

I would like to give a shout out to Aunt Jan for sending me a package! Thank you! I loved it! especially the book that you put together!

I would also like to give a shout out to my best friend KARLEE BLANSCETT who gets MARRIED on Saturday!!!

We had zone conference this week. It was amazing! Zone conference is where President and Sister Woodbury come with the AP's and teach us. We drove up to Lexington for the conference. We had trainings, and I learned so much from them. Sister Woodbury had everyone in the zone ( about 50 people) take a cleaning quiz. Mom you will be so proud because out of those 50 or so missionaries guess who won the cleanest award! Oh yeah... that is right... I did! I got a container of homemade chocolate chip cookies for it! haha. I gave the cookies to a Sister who is leaving, but I am just glad that I won! haha

On the day of zone conference it SNOWED! It was crazy. We woke up and it was snowing. Luckily we were inside all day, so we didn't have to bike in it.

Speaking of weather, it POURED RAIN last night. We were walking home from our last appointment and it started to pour. Luckily we got under an awning for a few minutes. We ran from awning to awning, so we could get a little closer to home. On top of the rain it was super windy. It was crazy. The rain slowed down finally and we walked home. While walking home we had to walk through huge puddle ankle deep. We were drenched too! It was fun though! I am just glad it was freezing cold.

Well April, the 25 year old, came to church again. We set a baptismal date with her this week for January 11. It is a long time away, but she smokes so we have to work with her on quitting. She is progressing really well. She is so bubbly and enthusiastic about life. I just love her!

We had a branch pie night this week. We were the judges for it. Luckily I only had to have a little bite of each one to judge. April came to that as well, so she is getting involved with the branch. It is great!

We did service a couple times this week. We got to clean this older couples windows. They were cool because the window came in so you could clean the inside and the outside of the window while still being on the inside of the house. We also got to do a service project for a younger less active couple. 

Well we ate at a members house this week, and I tried another new thing. I tried coleslaw. Lets just say I almost puked. It tasted like horse raddish. Yucky. I did try it though.

We taught one of our investigators Maureen this week. We have only met with her twice because she is so busy. The lesson was so cool! We were about finished and this scripture Helaman 5:12  just came to my mind. I really felt like I needed to share it with her. Well I did because I am not going to ignore the prompting, and she almost started crying. She loved it, and was like that is so true! It was amazing! I hope that we can meet with her more. She is so great! The spirit is great!

We went and saw a couple of less actives in the hopital one night. We went and saw one lady who we have met with before. We chatted with her for a bit, and then we went to visit a guy named Brother Laquire. We had never met him before, but knew he was in the hospital. The elders told us he loves singing. He was in the hospital because he face planted it on the floor in the nursing home. He broke his neck and was all bruised up. They had a lot of tubes down his throat for breathing and eating. What makes it even worse is that he was supposed to go home from the nursing home in one day, and then he fell. He was in bad shape and couldn't speak to us with the tubes even though you could tell he wanted to. It was heart breaking. We said a prayer with him, and were about to leave when I remembered that he loved singing. I looked at Sister Peterson, and said lets sing to him. We sang "I know that my Redeemer live," and that spirit filled the room. It was amazing to see the peace that it brought to him.

I get to go to the gym today to jump on the trampoline. I am stoked! Yes, I will be careful. Don't worry!

That was all for this week here in Somerset Kentucky!

I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Bradley

BRITTANY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!

Well everyone....

BRITTANY GOT BAPTIZED!!! WOOP WOOP!!

It was so so cool to see her get baptized yesterday!! She was so excited! Lets be real, so was I! haha. The spirit was so strong during the baptism! There was also over 60 people there, so we didn't have enough seats! Everything about it was great!

I love GUMBO. Yea I know, you never thought I would say that. This family in our branch made gumbo for after the baptism. It was so good! It was spicy though. It was still delicious!!

We are still working with April. She is the 25 year old with a 5 year old daughter named Zuleima. April is so cute and I just love her. She came to church with her daughter yesterday. She  has come to church twice but we haven't even taught her that much. It is funny because she has asked a million questions though. I know that one day she will be baptized. Hopefully soon!

We are starting to work more with Jenny and her family. She is the one who owns the Yoga studio. They are the Watkins, and they are super duper nice and great! They found out that I did gymnastics and want to take me to their friends Gym next Monday. They want to take me, so they can see me jump on the tramp and tumble. I doubt I would be able to show them anything good. It has been a while. haha  It was funny! . I won't mind if we go to a Gym though! I would actually be super pumped! We will see though.

After district meetings on Wednesdays we go out to eat usually. We went to a new place called tracks end. Well they have this omelet called the HOBO. It is a dozen eggs with hashbrowns, bacon, ham, cheese, peppers, and who knows what else. Two of the elders in our district got it! It was massive! I sent a picture of it. They had to eat it in 30 minutes or they had to pay for it! One elder finished it, but the other didn't. It was gross though! I don't know how the one elder did it!

Well that was about it for the week! Super busy and starting to get cold! It is weird because the temperature isn't too bad. The humidity on the other hand is awful. It makes the cold ten times worse. The cold just goes through all the layers of clothing! haha.

I hope you all have a great week! Happy Veterans day! Thank you to all of our troops!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Bradley

HALLOWEEN!!!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic HALLOWEEN!!

 

Halloween here got cancelled because of the weather. There was a storm that came through with a ton of wind and rain. They did trick or treating on Friday night instead. We weren't allowed to be out on the night they did trick or treating, so we went to a members house to have dinner. Half the branch was there, so it was fun.

 

The Hensleys moved this week. NOOOOOOOO! It was very depressing, and makes me never want to be transferred. haha. I did not like saying goodbye to them because they are so awesome. They told me I could come live with them for a few weeks when I get home. Brother Hensley told me that he will teach/tell me how I can become a millionaire. ha! I wouldn't mind that. They are so great! They moved down to Fort Lauderdale Florida (I don't know how to spell that). 

 

Brittany is doing really well! I seriously love her so much. She bore her testimony yesterday at church, and it was so cool. She also got her dad to come to church with her. What an amazing example she is to her friends and family. We made invitations for her baptism last night with her family. It was really fun, and her family is great!

She gets BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!! WOOOOOOHOOOO!!

 

It was our turn to teach Sunday School this week at church because we switch off with the Elders. Well, we also had to teach relief society. The relief society president called us Saturday night at 10:26 to ask us. I was excited to teach, but it was a little stressful. I like to be prepared, and we didn't have much time. The lesson went really well though, and everyone particapated.

 

When we contacted at the zombie walk a couple weeks ago I met a girl named April. We met with her this week, and she came to Church. That is a big deal, because we struggle getting people to church here. We haven't even taught her the first lesson yet. I am excited to get to know her more, and teach her.

 

Since we had weekly planning and Halloween on Friday we only had 3 1/2 hours to work. Sister Petersons bike is broken, so we were walking too. Well, we got two new investigators and a bunch of other awesome things happened all in those 3 1/2 hours. What is cool is we didn't even really tract or contact to get those investigators. We were walking to an apartment complex to go tracting. We saw this house on one street, and decided to try it first. There is one new investigator. Then we kept walking and decided to try this other house on another street. There is the second new investigator. It was crazy! we seriously only tried two houses on two different streets and got two new investigators.  There were a lot of houses on each street too. The Lords  hand really is in every aspect of our life.

 

Brother Alexander is the old guy in the nursing home that we visit every week. It was his Birthday this week. We took him a cupcake and card for his Birthday! He loved it so much. We went on Wednesday as a district to celebrate his birthday as well. He started crying because he was so happy. He couldn't express enough thanks for all  that we do for him. It was so touching. He is such an awesome guy! I love visiting with him every week. 

 

There is a sewage leak somewhere in Somerset. They can't find it, so it stinks so bad. It literally smells like a port- a- potty. It only smells in the downtown area, and the worst smells are in the pit where we live. I can't express enough of how much I love walking through the smells of peoples waste (SARCASM). It is really funny though that they can't find the leak. I hope they can find it soon. 

 

I hope you all have a great week!!! 

 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

 

Love,

Sister Bradley 

BLITZ

Well hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week!

   We had a blitz this week with the Sister training leaders. They came down, and we went out with them for a day. I was with Sister West from Idaho Falls. This is her last transfer as a missionary. She is so great, and  I had a fantastic time with her. I definitely learned a lot from her since she is more experienced than I am.

     The last car show was this week. We had a good time talking to people for a few hours. I am becoming pretty good at talking to everyone. I am definitely not afraid anymore of walking up to random people. I actually enjoy it thoroughly. It is cool to meet so many different people. 

  

    We met a guy last week named Cameron. He is in the navy, and does recruiting right now. He has two daughters named  Genneveve and Autumn. They are so cute! He is engaged, but his fiance lives in San Diego. She is also in the navy. It is really cool on how we met him. We were walking towards downtown from an appointment that we just got done with. I saw an apartment with lights on, so I said Sister Peterson lets try this one. We went and tried it, and hello Cameron. It was pretty cool. The lesson was amazing. It was great because you could tell that he felt the spirit so strongly. We are teaching him the second lesson tomorrow. I am so excited!

     Sister Peterson got really sick this week, so we had to stay in for a couple days. She had a fever for three or four days straight with body aches, headache, and a cough. I felt so bad for her. I just kept drinking that emergenC vitamin C stuff, so I wouldn't get sick. I just painted my nails, studied, baked, and cleaned while she was sick. She is doing better now, but still has a pretty bad cough.

   The Hensleys finally came to church yesterday. They are the older couple that is less active. Well he is a less active, and she is a recent convert. I was so glad that they came. He is the one that predicted my future. haha. At church he asked if I was up for adoption because they wanted to adopt me. It was funny. It is sad thought because they are moving to Florida this week. They move to Florida for the winter, and live in Kentucky during the summer. I will miss them.

   I saved the most exciting news for last. Brittany is officially getting baptized. The date is set for November 10th. She has been coming to church, and is super excited to get baptized. We are making invitations with her tonight, so she can give them to her friends. I am so excited for her! I just love her so much. She is such an awesome person.

   That was about it for this week here in Somerset Kentucky!

I would like to give a shout out to Anna Siddoway and Morgan Heeder for the Package! I loved it! Thank you!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

 Sister Bradley

2 MONTHS!!!

I can't believe I have been out for 2 Months! That is crazy business!

 Funny stories of the week: 

    Our neighbor who is an older guy thought that we were nuns. He asked us if we were allowed to get married. We told him we could after our mission. He then asked if we can have kids. We told him we could after our mission, and after we were married. He then said, " Well God bless ya, hope you have a lot of kids." It was pretty funny! That is definitely on the top ten of strange things that have been said to us.

While we were tracting we came across a lady who said she would pray with us. Before we prayed with her I asked her what her name was. She then said, "sorry, Robin." I am pretty dumb, and didn't hear her say Robin, so I go " well nice to meet you sorry, that is a cool name I have never heard it before." Definitely a "could of had a V-8 moment right there." It was slightly embarrassing but oh well. 

The branch had a trunk or treat and chili cook off on Saturday night. We invited a lot of people, but no one we invited showed up. Not much we can do when people have their agency. It was a lot of fun though. The kids were all dressed up and looked really cute. The four of us missionaries had to judge the chili cook off. Yea, I tried two of them and  then just let the other three judge.

The weather this week was sort of crazy! We had fog every single morning. It rained quite a few days this week too. When it rained it was usually a misty rain. We would still get soaked because it was a constant mist. It was strange. It is starting to get chilly at night, but still pretty warm! 

Brittany, the 12 year old girl, is doing really well. She is understanding all that a 12 year old mind can understand. She has such a strong desire to get baptized, which is so great. She is doing better with keeping her commitments, but we are still working with her on scripture reading. She came to church yesterday, so that was exciting. We will be setting a new baptismal date with her this week since the other one fell through. She is our only progressing investigator right now, but I know we will have more by the end of this week.

Things are starting to look up more in Somerset. We are getting more investigators slowly but surely. The members are getting more involved, which is really nice. I am excited to start teaching all of our new investigators this week.

We had zone meeting this week, which is always great! I love being able to learn more, and know how I can be a better missionary. It is also fun to  get to know other missionaries.

The new Elder in Somerset with us is Elder Beale. He is from New Mexico and has been out for 14 months. I worked with his sister in law Ariel at Pizza Pie Cafe. I thought that was pretty funny.

Well that is about it for the week! I love Somerset Kentucky and all the people here! I hope all of you have a fantastic week!

Love you all!

Love, 

    Sister Bradley

ZOMBIE WEEK

The title of my e-mail this week is just fitting. Let me tell you why!

Well on Saturday they had a thing downtown called Zombie walk. We went and contacted for a couple hours, and boy was it fun! We talked to a ton of people! There were a lot of people dressed as zombies, but we talked to them anyways. We will hopefully get some new investigators since we talked  to so many people!

I crashed on my bike yesterday. Yes mom I am still alive and fine. We were going down a hill and I was going pretty fast. I was trying to be cool like my companion. Well I accidentally went off of the sidewalk onto the grass. I tried to get back on the sidewalk, but that did not work out so well. My handle bars went all crazy and my bike went down. I skidded across the sidewalk and everything flew out of my bag. Sister Peterson was ahead of me, and just heard the noise. I got up and my hands were all bloody along with my elbow and knee. I was more mad because it ruined my shirt, belt, and skirt. My hands/arms and my knee are pretty bruised today, but what can you do. I am all good and life is great! The tire on my bike is bent up, so I have to get that fixed. 

We met this older couple while tracting this week. We chatted with them, and he was in the army, and had a lot of inventions. He told us of one invention that he made for cars. He modified his car and he drove across the whole country on one tank of gas. I thought he was joking at first, but he was dead serious. We talked about it, and he said he couldn't tell us  anything about it. He told us that he tried to sell it to different companies, but they wouldn't buy it. They won't because of people high up in the company that would lose their jobs and money if they bought it. He said that when he got home from trying to sell it there were cops waiting at his house for him. They told him  that if he ever reveals that invention they will throw him in jail. I thought it was pretty cool! I was skeptical about it at first, but by the end I totally believed him. Wouldn't it be nice to drive across the country on one tank of gas!

We met another older couple who is in our branch this week. They are the Hensleys. They are like one of three people in the branch that live in our area. He was a combat surgeon for the army, psychologist, and realtor. He has done a lot in his life. His wife was an engineer for the army, a realtor, and a beautician. Brother Hensley said he could tell our personalities just by looking at us. We didn't say one thing about ourselves and he told me I was a natural born leader and headstrong. It was funny! He then proceeded to tell me about my future husband. He said I would have a husband who is also a leader. He said he would be a millionaire!! oh yeah! He also said specific dates that would be important. It was weird, but he is an awesome guy! Sister Hensley was baptized this past April. She was really nice! We are going to their house again this week! I am excited!

I would tell you cool spiritual stories about investigators, but we only had  a few lessons this week. Yea, so sorry about that.

Transfers are tomorrow, but I am not getting transferred. Elder Chrichton, the big samoan guy and our district leader, is getting transferred. I am really sad about that! He was an awesome district leader! We are going to a going away dinner for him tonight. 

I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Bradley

We had a low week with investigators, and everything, so it was a dead (zombie) week. We probably tracted like 20 hours this week and contacted almost 200 people. The average that we contact normally is around 100. We are working hard to find new investigators because we had to drop so many. We are back to square one, but it is all good. You just keep pushing along. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!

What is up family and friends?! I hope you all had an awesome week!

  How did everyone like general conference? I thought it was amazing! I loved it all! I loved S. Gifford Nelsons talk he was so enthusiastic.

Well lets just say that this week has been interesting. We went from three baptismal dates to zero.

We tried Louise three days in a row and she wasn't there. The last night we went over there she wasn't home. Her neighbor said she was next door at her other neighbors apartment. Well we called her before we walked over, and a lady answered saying we had the wrong number. Well we decided to go over to the neighbors apartment that she was at. We walked over and the door was open. I looked in and saw Louise. I said, " Hi Louise." Her friend looked at us and told us to go away and was just rude. Louise hid behind her friend while she yelled at us. Her friend was also the one who answered the phone ans said it was the wrong number. It was weird and I was pretty upset. She texted us the next day and told us she was simply not interested.

  Brittany's baptismal date was dropped because she needed to come to conference and didn't. She forgot about conference. We are still working with her though.

We don't know for sure if Debbie is still interested or not. She cancelled on us the other day. We saw her yesterday morning and her neighbor yelled at us and told us to get off the property or he would call the cops. He said there was no soliciting allowed. She just told us it would be best to leave. We asked her if she was still interested, but she wouldn't answer. We will see about that, but we aren't going back to those apartments.

We met a lady named Jackie who writes poems for God. They were actually really good!

We were bringing our bikes into our apartment one night, and a cat ran in. We chased it from room to room trying to get it out. We were making weird noises and doing everything we could to get it out. We were finally able to chase it out. It was really funny!

Oh my goodness listen to this funny story. I called a person the other day and they didn't answer so I left a message. This is what I said in the message, " Hi this is the sister missionaries we were just calling to see if we could meet with you sometime. We are so grateful for thee... (pause as I realize what I just said)." Sister Peterson was laughing her head off. I started laughing and then I tried to say our phone number. I said the first three numbers and then Sister Peterson had to finish. It was hilarious! I literally was saying a prayer or something in the middle of a voicemail. I hope that person doesn't hate us! haha. It was really funny though.

That was about it for the week. There was nothing to exciting. We did a lot of service for members of our branch and other people. We stayed super busy though!

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love you all!!

Love,

Sister Bradley

CRAZY WEEK!

Well OLO family and friends! (name that movie)

I hope all of you have had a fantabulous week! Keep smiling and being awesome!

This week has gone by super fast! It has a been a crazy, busy, and fantastic week. 

 Well on Tuesday we were teaching a lesson to our investigator Debbie outside when her neighbor came by. His name is Frank. He was hilarious!  He sat and told us that if he were to come and preach at our church all the ladies would be oohing and aweing. He was super full of himself. He said, " me and Jesus are tight, we be best friends and he is my main man." He then raised his finger in the air and pointed to the sky like ah yeah Praise Jesus. It was really funny. What makes it  even better, is that he is a 60 year old basketball playing african american man. He is pretty much awesome!  I also forgot to mention that he was drunk. Yea, so that was a great night!

We met this lady who was outside her apartment with her kids named Amy. She has this daughter named Abigail who is 7. I am not even kidding you, Abigail is a miniature me. She had the same hair color and blue eyes. She was bouncing off the walls, and never stopped talking. She loves gymnastics and dancing. I literally just wanted to take her home with me. I just love her she is great! We will hopefully be teaching Amy, Abigail, and her brother this week sometime.

Well we set three baptismal dates this week WOO HOO!!

The first one is Debbie! Debbie is 56 and single. We have been teaching her for a couple weeks now. She is always wanting to learn more and she keeps every commitment that we ask her to do. She has nothing keeping her from baptism either. She is golden! She came to church with us with past Sunday, and loved it! Her baptismal date is October 26th. I am super excited for her! She is such an awesome daughter of God! I love her! She is so sweet and wants to be a missionary already. It is great! I love being able to see the change in her countenance as she comes to know the truthfulness of this gospel. She has changed so much in the two weeks that we have known her. It is so cool! I just love her.

The second one is Louise. Louise is a 57 year old woman who also lives by herself. She is really sweet and loves when we come over. She tells us all her life stories. She is unemployed right now, and is looking for a job. I hope she can find one soon. She has a boyfriend that she sort of obsesses over. We are working with her because she doesn't have as much of a desire as Debbie does. We have to teach her a little slower because of her needs, and understanding of the gospel. She also came to church with us this past Sunday. It was so great to have two investigators at church with us! I love Louise she is wonderful and so kind. Her baptismal date is November 2nd.
 

 The third one is Brittany. She is a 12 year old girl whose parents are members, but are not active. She is such a great example to everyone around her. She goes to mutual every week by choice. She always wants to come to church, but never has a ride so we are working on that. She reads her scriptures and prays daily. She is making the decision to get baptized all on her own. She is so great! She is super busy though, so we can't meet with her very often. She is in 7th grade, but is in the High School marching band. She plays the trumpet. Her baptismal date is October 18th. She is so awesome! I just love her too!

We went to the TEMPLE  this week!! We went to the temple on Thursday as a zone. It was so awesome. We rode up with the Somerset Elders to Louisville. The temple was great. I love going to the temple!

We had a blitz this week with the Sister training leaders. Those two came to Somerset and I went with one while Sister Peterson went with the other. I was with Sister Hodges. She is from Washington, and has been out 6 months. I went around with her all day, and I learned so much from her! She is so awesome. We had a great time teaching and being with each other. She knows the Reddish family. We had a good time talking about how we knew them.

Sister Hodges and I went and did service as well. We went to a members house to clean because they are moving. The new house is nice. The old house on the other hand is not so nice. It was flea infested and disgusting. We had a "great" time cleaning the old house.

We went on friday night to Whitakers house. They are the older couple that I told you about who said they would have us over for dinner. Well we ate dinner at their house on Friday night. Everyone be proud of me because I ate 2 new things this week. At Howard and Sues house we had fajitas. The chicken was mixed in with peppers, tomatoes, onions, and mushrooms. Yes, I ate it. It was actually good. I also ate at panda express for the first time. We went after the temple, and yes I liked that as well.

that was a summary of the week. I hope all of you have another great week!!

I love you all!

Love, 

Sister Bradley

Southern Hospitality

Why hello family and friends,

I bet everyones week has been fantastic! Can I just say that I love southern hospitality. There are so many genuine people here!

We met an older couple this last week while walking down the street. They invited us into their home and we chatted with them. They told us they are hard core baptist, and weren't going to change. We respected that and had a nice conversation about what we believe. Before we left they invited us to come over for dinner sometime this week. They also told us that if we ever needed anything that they would help us. Everyone here is always watching out for us. They are so generous and kind. I love the people here! One lady we talked to was like I respect all of you for doing the Lords work, and I am not going to change my religion but here is 100 dollars. We can't accept money since it is a rule, but that was really generous!

I am pretty sure I know how to roll cigarettes now. We have less actives that we visit, and they all roll their own cigarettes. One lady explained how you do it and showed us. It was funny. 

You all know how klutzy I can be. Well lets just say I am pretty dumb sometimes when it comes to riding my bike. I have ran into so many poles, curbs, and construction signs it is not even funny. People probably think that I am a drunk person riding a bicycle. I don't mean to run into things but sometimes I just don't see them. Most of the time I am distracted and that is why I run into things. I am just fine and I have no broken bones, so no need to worry about me.

We have videos in our apartment that we can give out to people, and Sister Peterson and I haven't seen some of them. Well we decided that every Friday we are going to have "date night" haha! We eat our dinner while watching one of the videos. It is hilarious and great! One of them is called together forever. It is the cheesiest video I have ever seen!

We stopped and talked to this 28 year old guy, and boy was it an interesting conversation. He told us he was in prison for a while and that they had a Book of Mormon in the prison. He  said he studied it and told us what he thought. He told us all the things he thought were weird or wrong about our religion. He wouldn't let us get a word in so we just listened. We said a few things, but he didn't care what we had to say. He asked us how long we had been Mormon. We both said that we were raised in it. He said he was sorry that we had been raised in it and then proceeded to tell us of how our religion was a cult. Well then he told Sister Peterson that she had no hope of getting out of the cult and that she was to deep into it. He then looked at me and told me that I was still searching for the truth and that I had hope of getting out of the cult. He was strange. Don't worry everyone I have hope of getting out of the "cult". Haha! Yea definitely wouldn't be on a mission if I was still searching for the truth. People have some strange opinions on things though.

We found an investigator tracting this last week named Mattie. She is this adorable old lady that is in her eighties. We taught her the first lesson, and I committed her to baptism. It was crazy because she said yes! That was awesome! We met with her again, and she knows the Book of Mormon is true, but she won't come to our church. Se doesn't fully understand everything yet, so we are working with her. 

We have another investigator named Debbie. Debbie is in her fifties. She is single, in her fifties, and has had a rough life. She is so strong though for what she has gone through. We have taught her three lessons and she is so solid! She has a such a desire to learn more, and she understands everything. She can't see very well so we are getting her a large print Book of Mormon. I know she will get baptized. She is constantly telling us how we are blessings in her life. She is going to come with us to the general relief society meeting so she can meet other sisters from the branch.

Okay so it kills me to see how some people live, and what they go through sometimes. One investigator that we have was sitting on her front porch as we were riding by, so we stopped and talked to her. Well she was crying and she told us how her husband is abusive and she showed us her bruises. It killed me to have to hear that. She is an awesome person and does not deserve that. I hope she gets out of the situation somehow. She has five children too, so hopefully everything works out. On the positive side she hasn't put down the Book of Mormon and loves reading it! She remembers everything she has read too! It is crazy! I hope that things work out and that her life will turn around for the better.

Well that is about it for now! Things here in Somerset Kentucky are fantastic! The people are great, the weather is great, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is great!

Have a great week everyone!

I am going to do a challenge of the week for everyone back home.

CHALLENGE: This week I want everyone to think of one person. Take the person that you thought of and do random acts of service all week for that person. I am sure by the end of the week you will like or love that person a lot more than you did before.

I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Breanna Bradley

Well Hi Ya'll

Well hello family and friends!

I hope everyone has had a great week! Things here in Somerset are are pretty fantastic!

- Funny story: An old lady answered her door the other day holding an old black pistol. Once she saw who we were she put it behind her back. It was hilarious! It scared sister Peterson. I thought it was funny because it was this old lady wearing her awesome pink pants and floral shirt with a gun in her hand. It was also funny because we were in a nice area.

 We went to an older couples home who are less active. Their names are Danny and Anna. Anna didn't really ever say much she just sat there. She is probably the first woman I have ever seen with a full on beard and mustache! haha. Danny is a super depressed man, and he never stopped talking about how awful his life was. He told us that he had a friend who killed someone and ate them. I was mortified when he told us that. He was an interesting person to say the least.

There is a family we are starting to teach.  They are so great! We have only taught them one lesson, but we will teach them again this week. I have high hopes for them!

Another investigator that we have is Conan. He loves theology and is very intelligent. Most of the things he said just went up and over my head. We taught him the first lesson as well and have an appointment with him again this weekend. We will see how it goes.

A mailman gave Sister Peterson pepper spray the other day. He told us that there are a lot of vicious dogs around the area that we were in. We just have sitting in our apartment now.

We have had a couple guys who want to bible bash us. We always just walk away and tell them we have to leave because they are pretty crazy!

I biked up to a guy last night and thought in my head that I was going to be bold. I looked at him and said, " what would you do if you knew that the church Christ established was on the earth today." He just looked at me and said I don't know. We had a long discussion with him, and will be teaching him when he has time. He is working 4 jobs right now.

Everyone here has a cat or dog it it crazy! Every house we enter either smells like cats and dogs or smoke. Everyone also smokes here. One house we went into I had to leave because I could not even breathe the smoke was so bad.

We have people here in town that we see all the time who are baptist that are now our friends. They always ask us if we need anything. Definitely some southern hospitality!

We saw a pig the other day in someones yard! I wanted to chase it and and go look at it,but I knew I shouldn't. We will go back to that house one day and I will take a picture with it!

Well family and friends I am doing great! I hope all of you are fantastic!

I love you all!!

 Have a great week!

Love,

 Sister Bradley

FIRST WEEK IN THE GKLM!!

 

Hi Ya'll!

   Well It was my first week in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission! Boy oh boy was it interesting. haha!  

I am serving in Somerset Kentucky which is south of Louisville. It is funny that I am serving here since that was the street we lived on in Poky! My companion is Sister Peterson and she is awesome! We are opening a new area, which sucks by the way, but we will see the miracles happen later. We are in the downtown area of Somerset. Yes it is a little ghetto, but its not bad haha! It is soooo Beautiful here. This town reminds me of Pocatello. It has about the same population, the mall is little, the downtown area is about the same too. I already love the people here though!

Oh so the first 2 days our water was BROWN! It was sooooo gross. I felt like I was in a third world country. Luckily it was just that the apartment had been vacant for so long that the water heater just needed to run for while. It is all good now though! 

Sister Peterson is from Riverton Utah. She is 20 and has been out for 4 months. She has been in 4 areas, which is crazy! I feel bad for her. She is such a go getter! She talks a lot and sometimes I don't really get to ever talk when we go tracting or contacting, but it is fine with me! She always knows exactly what to say haha!

 

The branch here is little. There are about 60 people that come regularly. There are a ton of less actives. The church is a half an hour away when we bike. It is not in our area. Luckily we get rides to church. The members are awesome and we will get fed a lot. I had a yummy pot roast dinner yesterday at a members house! There are elders here in Somerset too. They cover the outer area, and they have a car. They are awesome though. One of them is the district leader and his name is Elder Chrichton. He is from America Samoa.

Our apartment is great except it smells like smoke ugh! Its fine though because everyone smokes here! I will definitely be used to smelling smoke soon enough. It was sad because we saw some little 12 year olds smoking and I was appalled! I didn't even know what to say or think.

The first day on our bikes was interesting haha! There are a million and one hills here in Somerset, so my legs are getting nice and strong.

We started talking to some guys on the first day who were out on their porch, and boy was it interesting. One of them started talking to us about how we don't believe there is a hell, and all this crap. Then he  started to try and prove all this stuff. It was dumb. I stopped listening and just looked at the trees while Sister Peterson listened to him.Then the other guy came up to me while other one was talking to Sis. Peterson, and started asking me about Joseph Smith. I told him about it, and then he asked me some random conversation questions. He told  me that both of us looked like we weren't old enough to be doing this, and we told him our ages. He then proceeded to ask me out, but I didn't understand/hear him. Sooo I said yea, because I didn't understand what he said. He goes so when would be a good day, and I went WHAT? He asked me out again, and I go oohhh. Yea I can't do that. I told him why and he told me that it would suck to not be able to date for a year and a half. I was so grossed out afterwards and just laughed a lot since I misunderstood him. He was probably in his 30's. YUCK!  Another guy the other night told me that he felt safe around me and that I was an angel. That was also interesting.

The reason why opening a new area stinks is because there is not much info about it. We got some info from elder Chrichton, but most of it was potential investigators. We have visited almost all of them, and none of them are interested. We have done sooooooooooooooo much tracting and contacting it is ridiculous. Sister Peterson told me this was the hardest week of her mission because of how there was not much success in finding people.

We have 4 investigators. Two different couples. One couple is an older couple who is strong in their Baptist faith, but told us they would read the Book of Mormon because they love reading and learning. They are also going to let us teach them.

The other couple is Nicole and Michael who we found while looking for someone else. They have 5 children, and they seem like good parents. We taught them the 1st lesson and it went really well. We go back this week sometime. I think they are really interested, but I know they will struggle with the word of wisdom! They both smoke and drink a lot. Lets hope that their hearts will change over the next couple of lessons.  

Guess What everyone  I have 45 mosquito bites at the moment!  Yes they itch, but I try to resist from itching them. I have been using repellant, but it doesn't work to well. I guess they just love me! It will all be good though.

We met a couple who is catholic and they chatted with us just because. They collect clocks and they had over s thousand in their house it was crazy!

There is one girl that will get baptized here in a few weeks hopefully. She is the only member in her family who isn't baptized, but she is 12. We will be teaching her all of the lessons soon!

Love,

Sister Bradley

The first Pictures

This little excerpt is from the Mission Presidents Wife. The pictures are from her first day in the field and are with her first companion.


Dear Brother and Sister Bradley,

Your letter, as wonderful as it was, didn't do  justice to your daughter. She is even more amazing and delightful than you described, and we've only just started getting to know her!

Your beautiful daughter arrived safe and sound Monday evening here in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission. We instantly fell in love with her, with her faith, her enthusiasm, and her commmitmetn to serve the Lord, and are looking forward to great things with and through her.

Thank you for sending your precious daughter to us.

Love, Sister Woodbury

Chivalry isn't dead!

Well Hi everyone. It isn't p-day but we don't really get one since we are flying on monday. We leave the MTC at 3:30 a.m. to the airport. We fly out at 7:30 from SLC. We get into Atlanta at 11 or so. Then we land in Louisville at 4:30. I don't know for sure when I will call but it will probably be in the morning before we get on the plane, so before 7.

This week has been spiritually awesome! We seriously have the best elders in our zone ever!! Story time!!!

 We had a devotional at the marriot center Tuesday night at 7. It was everyone in the whole MTC that went. Guess who spoke??? It was Elder Anderson from the 12! It was an awesome talk!! We walked to the devotional and it is about a 25 minute walk from west campus. Well after the devotional was over they made us sit and sing  for a while because I guess there was lightning and thunder outside. After that went away they let us go. Well it was pouring rain!! We literally stepped outside with our zone and all the elders gave up their suit coats for us to use! It was great! Yes we got drenched but it was fun! They also never let us open any doors, and never let us take our trays at meal times to the garbage. They are just great!

     Well we taught our real investigator who are people hired by the MTC on monday night. some of them are real investigators, but most are members just acting. Well Sister Hall and I got a real one. They aren't allowed to tell us but we just knew. The first lesson went awful! We left there very hopeless. Well we worked hard and the next one was great and we helped her with her PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) She really has it. When we showed up the 2nd time she was having a mental breakdown. She told us an emergency phone number to call in case anything happened. It was scary. Well we got her relaxed and having a good time, so we didn't share much with her that night we just got to know her. Well last night we taught Leah for the last time. She wrote us notes thanking us for everything we did for her. We sang songs and did our lesson. When we were done we bore our testimonies and she totally felt the spirit it was awesome! She is christian and says that Jesus Saved her. She is the director of her singing group for church. She is a really great singer and plays the guitar., She made us sing with her to a song she wrote that is amazing grace mixed with another song. It was different but awesome! haha. She had us write down our e-mails, so she could keep in contact with us. At the end we had her pray and when she prays she asks us what we want to pray for and writes it down. That is what they do in her church I guess. Well during the prayer she said that she had felt something different tonight with us and was grateful for the happy feeling she felt. I was pumped when she said that! Since she has PTSD she blocks out all feelings because if she lets in positive ones that bad ones come in too and over power her good ones. We are so happy we got her to feel something! It was the best feeling ever. After we left all I could do was be thankful to be a missionary. These are the experiences that make this church so true! Seriously most spiritual experience ever. I cried with joy! She told us she loved us and was so grateful for us. I hope that one day she gets baptized and converted to this true gospel.

   Well that is about it for the week! Today is the last day of classes and then one more full day until I am out in the field!! CRAZY!!! 

LOVE YOU ALL!!

especially you mom!

Love

Sister Bradley

The First Letter

Well Hello friends and family! 

BEST DAY EVER!! I SAW ELDER HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!! He came to the west campus to just check it out. 

Things here at the West MTC are fantastic! I am on the west campus, so I live in the Wyview apartments. They are nice! It is 2 girls per room and there are two rooms. It is way nice because we have a lot of space! The food here is okay...some days are better then others. We only get gym time for an hour each day, so I enjoy and use every second of it haha! My companions name is Sister Cannon Hall. She has an awesome first name! She is great! The majority of the time we are thinking or saying the same thing it is funny. She is so strong spiritually. Sometimes she talks and I just sit there like uh.... what did you just say. It goes up and over my head. She is from Southern California (fallbrook). She is short with short blonde hair and is a total nerd sometimes. She is going into ancient near eastern studies. It is like archeology/egyptology. pretty much she knows all the history and everything about egypt! it is really cool though! Sister Hall and I were called as the sister training leaders on Thursday. It is pretty much zone leaders for all of the sisters in are zone/branch. We love it! we get to visit all the sisters every night and make sure everyone is doing okay. Unfortunately we also have to make sure they are being obedient and we have to tell them when they aren´t. We had meetings all day yesterday because of it. Literally in meetings from 8-8. It was great though! I am learning soooooooooooooo much it is awesome! The spirit is so strong here I love it! We are in class with our district most of the day, we have personal study, companion stuff, and teaching investigators. My district is four sisters and three elders. Sister Hall and I, Sister Phillips (the one from facebook), Sister Ewell, Elder Staheli, Elder Geary, and Elder Beecroft. All of them are awesome! Sister Phillips has been really homesick and wanted to go home yesterday. It was devastating! she is so awesome I just want her to focus on learning and feeling the spirit instead of focusing on home. She is a lot better today though! I think it is because we got to go to the temple this morning. There are 4 districts in our zone that are going to Louisville Kentucky! Yea all of us are in the same zone/branch. There are 14 of us sisters. We have the most awesome branch president!!! He is a spiritual giant and his smile takes up his whole face its hilarious! I have learned so much from him its crazy! He was a seminary teacher at Orem High. He just retired though. His name is President Gublar. My teachers are awesome! My favorite one is Brother Balzer he is from Poky!! He went to Highland. I have learned a ton from him. I saw Brian Carter. So funny thing, seriously every single day until today we have been late to something because we have gone to the wrong building! The schedule is wrong about EVERYTHING! I can´t even tell you how many times we have gone to the wrong building or have been told the wrong thing. We just laugh because it is all of us not just a few. I got a huge rope burn on my neck from my laundry bag this morning! It is beautiful. Holy crap! Tell Alexa to be prepared. They give you a million and one talks about MODESTY! It is understandable, but they just give it to you flat out and aren t afraid to tell you if you are wearing something that is not approved. It is the branch presidency wives that tell you. They will just pull sisters aside and be like um you can´t wear this. We as Sister training leaders get the honor of telling any sisters in our zone if they are being immodest. I don´t really like that I have to because I feel bad. None of the sisters are being Immodest but it is just little things like your skirt needs to be 1 inch longer or you can´t wear that headband. 

The cupcakes were delicious we loved them!! We are always starving at night because we eat dinner at 4 and lets be honest the food does sort of stink. They only have 2 options at every meal since our cafeteria is smaller then the main campus. We are living out of our suitcases since we are only here for 11 days. We fly out on September 2 so next Monday at 7 so we leave here at 3 in the morning. So are district is really tight with the Las Vegas district. They are the only ones in our zone not going to Louisville that came here with us on Wednesday. They are all elders and we play volleyball during gym time and its hilarious! We are all going to e-mail each other since we can because were not in the same mission. Okay well that is all I have time for!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!