VISION TO BAPTIZE!!!!!

First and foremost.... I LOVE RICHMOND KENTUCKY!!!!

It is fabulous! This week has been amazing!

I got here Tuesday morning, and Sister Durfee and I talked and set goals for the transfer. I love it because Sister Durfee and I have the same work ethic. We both just go go go until we drop. It is great!

Let me tell you about the week....

First off the weather was pretty nice this week compared to how it has been. There was a huge storm on Thursday night with a high chance of Tornado's. Well, Sister Durfee and I slept through the storm, the sirens, and everything. We woke up the next morning to all these texts from our District leader, and members asking if we were okay. We just laughed!

Since it was warmer there were a lot more people outside! So, normally we are supposed to talk to 20 people a day who aren't investigators. Most of the time we don't get twenty a day because there aren't twenty people to talk to outside. We should usually get 140 a week, which I have only gotten a couple times on my mission. Well, Sister Durfee and I talked to 219 people this week. It was crazy! We decided at the beginning of the week that we were going to talk to everyone no matter what. Yes, at I did run across streets to talk to people, I got strange looks all the time, and it was all totally worth it!

Out of those 219 people the Lord blessed us with 19 new investigators! I have never gotten that many investigators in one week! CRAZY!! MIRACLES!

We also had lessons with most of our already investigators.  Almost all day every day this week we had an appointment every hour. It was crazy! It was way cool! At the end of the week we have to total all the lessons of investigators, less-actives, recent converts, and with members. Well normally it is in the 20's. This week Sister Durfee and I got a total of 46 lessons!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!!! AMAZING!!!!!

We met some awesome people too! Some of the people are sooooooo prepared for this gospel! It is crazy! I am excited to teach them more! We also met a guy who wanted to teach us how to be thugs. It was awesome, except he was really drunk when he told us that! Another awesome guy made us yell his name in the middle of the street goin " BROTHER MILLER BROTHER MILLER" he was an evangelist for his church. It was hiarious. The best quote of the week form an investigator was, " I have had more stitches than a quilt has." hahah. It was full of a whole lot of other funny and great things, but I don't have time to write them all!

Sister Durfee and I were so blessed this week. I know that I was only an instrument in the Lords hand! He provides miracles when we not only do our part, but we go above and beyond!

All I can be is grateful this week for Heavenly Father! I know that as I have the vision to baptize, work  hard, and trust in the Lord that miracles will happen. I love this work with all my Heart!

I hope you all have a great week!

I love you!!!

Love,

Sister Bradley 

TRANSFERS!!!!!!

Hello there family and friends!

I have left the great area of Somerset Kentucky! My homeland for the last 6 months! CRAZY! I will miss the people there so much, but I am so excited for this new adventure in Richmond. It was hard to say goodbye to some people, but I will see them again when I come back to visit. I have a lot of pictures. I don't know if I will have time to send them this week. I wasn't that excited at first to come to Richmond, but I am so stoked now! It was my time to leave Somerset, and I know I have been sent to Richmond for a reason. 

My new companion is Sister Durfee. She is from Grantsville Utah.  She is amazing! I am sooooooo excited to be with her! We have a lot of the same views on things as missionaries! We are going to work hard and make this area prosper. 

Richmond is an hour north of Somerset. It is 30 minutes from Lexington. There is a University here called Eastern Kentucky University. I am now in a ward. I am also on a bike again! WOO HOO! I am excited to be on a bike again! 

Everyone told me that this area is one of the hardest areas in the mission. They have hardly any Baptisms ever. Well, Sister Durfee and I are going to change that! We are going to work super duper hard, and change everybody's  perspective on the area. 

I now live in a house. It is two floors, two full bathrooms, and three bedrooms. So super nice! A member owns it, so that is why it is nice. 

It is funny because Richmond is where Sister Heywood (my last companion) was before Somerset for 6 months. She trained my MTC companion Sister Hall here, and that is who I replaced. Funny stuff! What is even more hilarious is that I worked in Richmond for a day when I became companions with Sister Heywood. It is really funny!

We are the downtown area, and the elders are in the car on the outside. The elders in Richmond are the zone leaders as well. 

Well, that is about it for the week. I hope you all had a good valentines day! I hope you all have an amazing week!

Shout out to my BROTHER BEAU BEAU!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! LOVE YOU!!!

I love you all!

Love the one and only,

Sister Bradley

"I do not boast in myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things."

Dear Family and of course friends,

 Why the title of my letter this week? Well, the reference is Alma 26:12. The scripture and that chapter seems to sum up the week pretty well! This week was probably one of the best weeks of my mission so far! I mean every week is amazing, but this one was definitely better. Heavenly Father works is so merciful and blesses us in SO many ways!

First off this transfer has been pretty rough with investigators and such. Week after week people dropped us or we dropped them. Most people just kept cancelling on us and so on. Well, this last week makes up for all of the previous weeks this transfer.

Alright I will tell you all the amazing things that happened! Let me take you through the week...

Monday: We had great lessons with two Less-actives. The Georges came with us to one of them (ward mission leader).

Tuesday: All of our morning plans fell through so we had to quickly change the schedule because we weren't going to a certain area anymore. It ended up working out because we randomly stopped by our investigator April and we had a great lesson with her!  We saw a less-active woman and her husband, who isn't a member. we had a great time with them and they want to learn again! woo hoo!

We got to do service for the cooks, and then she fed us breakfast for dinner! YUM! We also got to see sister Cahill and we had a super great lesson with her!

Wednesday: We had a fantastic district meeting, and then ate out for the last time as a district before transfers end. They end this week, but we aren't having district meeting. We have a zone meeting this week! We then saw our investigator Maureen. We had one of the best lessons with her. She really understood things! She has read the Book of Mormon twice by the way, Joseph Smith History, Our Heritage, and who knows what else. Isn't that awesome! Then we had a great lesson with the less-active Sister Peirson. We went to New Beginnings because Samantha came!! YEAH!

Thursday: We had a member come with us to a lesson with Jason. He is so great! He loved the plan of salvation. We had an appointment scheduled with April, but she had to cancel. It was alright though because we rescheduled and she told us she was bringing a friend to our next appointment. We then saw the best older couple, Jim and Vivian. We taught them, and Vivian has read a lot of the Book of Mormon. A member came with us to an appointment with a family, but they weren't home. We went to a recent converts instead, and were able to have a good lesson with her. We also were able to help her out a lot!

Friday: The Cahill's took us out to eat, which was really nice! We set up an  appointment with a family, who are now investigators. We got to see the wonderful Brother Alexander! We also got to do more service, and then we saw the Jones. We had a super spiritual lesson with them, and I have never been so bold in my life. Brother Jones while we were reading asks, " Why do we even study the scriptures. A couple years ago or so  I studied John chapter 3 and now I don't remember anything I studied." I looked at him and said, "well... do you want me to tell you." He replies, "yes." I go," well, it is because you aren't reading or praying or going to church. Why do you expect Heavenly Father to help you remember if you aren't doing your part." After that came out of my mouth I was a little shocked. the spirit was totally there and he wasn't offended at all. He just looked at me, and was thinking about it. It was awesome!

Saturday: Saturday we went contacting at the mall. There was a pageant thing at the mall, so there were quite a few people to talk with. A daughter of one of the families we are teaching was in it. We also met some members from Cincinatti. They saw us and were like "Sister missionaries sister missionaries!" It was funny! Then we went to the Georges home, and we went out with them. We went and saw four or five less-actives. It was great! Then the Georges fed us dinner. We went through the whole roster and talked about every person! They are seriously the best Ward mission leaders! They go out with either us or the elders every single day! They are awesome!  We then had a super amazing lesson with Samantha! We really got to know her needs and desires. We sadly had to drop an investigator, because of language barrier, and she just wanted to stick to her catholic religion. It was sad.

Sunday: We finally got to see some of the fruits of our labors! The JONES came to church. Mark Ping, a less-active we have been working with, came to church with his two little boys. Sister Cahill came to church again. Rosa, another less-active, came with her two boys. Last but not least Samantha came to church! It was so nice because the chapel was almost full. Our chapel is a lot smaller by the way. There were over 70 people! WOO HOO! We also taught relief society, and boy oh boy it was a great lesson. The spirit was so strong in that lesson! Half the woman were in tears, it was great!  We had lunch at the Bartletts which was great! One of the Young Woman named Heidi brought a friend to church. Well, her friend wants to learn more and wants to join. We are teaching her today in a couple hours during our p-day because she wants to learn so badly! How cool is that? AWESOME! We are so excited! Her name is Brittany and she is a senior in high school. She works with a few of the young men and women in the branch.

Heavenly Father is so great! This week was so awesome! I am so grateful This next week is the last week of this transfer... I have been here for almost 6 months. I have a high chance of leaving, but I honestly do not want to leave. I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do though.

I hope you all have a HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

LOVE,

Sister Bradley

Where did the keys go?

Welp hello family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL NIECE HAILEY NICOLE WINWARD THIS FRIDAY!!! I LOVE YOU HAISEY MAY!!!

So... you are all wondering about the title of my e-mail this week. Well let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there were two sister missionaries, Sister Bradley and Sister Heywood. They decided to walk to district meeting because they had hardly any miles left. They grabbed gloves from the car before they left, and then started on the trek. They had a fantastic spiritual district meeting. They went out to eat with the district afterwards. They got a ride from the senior couple Elder and Sister Hoopes. Well, after all of these wonderful things, the Hoopes dropped them off at home. Well, they went to leave and guess who couldn't find the their keys, Sister Heywood. The sisters searched hi and low with no luck. They retraced their steps all the way back to the church. They searched the church, bags, apartment, and anything else they could search. They called the Hoopes and the restaurant. The keys were not in the Hoopes car or at the restaurant. They were over by the mall, and had to be to a members house in that area in an hour. They went and talked to people, went tracting, and then went to dinner. They had a lovely dinner where Sister Bradley tried okra, ( I don't know if that is how you spell it)  which was really good. Then the member took them to the apartment,and they talked to the landlord. No one had turn the keys in, so they went to the church again. They called the Senior missionary who is in charge of cars. He told them a bunch of things that they would have to do if they didn't find them. They would have to get a new car key, change the locks on the apartment, and mailbox. Another words spend a lot of money. Well, they prayed real hard. When they got home that night they grabbed flash lights, and decided to look outside the apartment one more time. They looked under, over, and around the car. They decided to walk over to the grass by the street and look. While looking the flashlight spotted a pink key ring. Sure enough the lost keys were found!! It was a  miracle. It was also a great relief. On the plus side they saved miles that day, so they could have more the next day. THE END.

I hope you all enjoyed that little story. It was a fun adventure, but very annoying. It definitely tested my patience in trials. I just wanted to do missionary work not look for keys, but all is well.

This week was pretty great. We are starting to work with more families. I am really excited! One of my goals as a missionary is to teach and see a family get baptized. Then be able to see them get sealed in the temple. The families we are working with are awesome!  We were able to receive quite a few potential investigators this week. They are all very promising, but were busy when we went by. We will try them again this week.

   
We are struggling with getting a lot of lessons. We feel as if we are working hard, but are lessons have been really low lately. We are going to do more finding again this week, so we can find fantastic people who are prepared.

  

So, we go and see everyone on the roster pretty much. We went to a couple new people this week, and two of them are getting their records removed from the church. It is so hard to have to take their letter and give it to the branch president. I think in my head " YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE DOING" Then I try the best I can to teach them or help them feel the spirit before I leave. I know one day they will accept the gospel again.

 The Cahills, a less-active couple, came to church yesterday! It was so exciting! I wanted to jump up and down, but I refrained. I love seeing the fruit of my labors. That was such a missionary phrase. It is Fantastic (ponyo- for Beau Bradley)  when I say missionary phrases. I love it! haha. I know that they definitely felt the spirit during sacrament meeting! I recognized that we had a consistent, persistent effort with them. We were also able to serve them multiple times. I compared it to Ammon, who served the king in the Book of Mormon.  He was able to teach him and help him by first serving him. Serving others really helps gain that trust and relationship with people.

We walked a ton this week because we had hardly any miles. We walked in the freezing weather. One day I had a wonder tee, shirt, cardigan, jacket, and a big coat. Then I had a big scarf wrapped around three times, ear muff headband, and a hat over that. Then I had 1 pair of fleece leggings, 2 pair of normal leggings, and a pair of thermals. I also had 1 pair of normal sock, and a pair of wool socks. I had leg warmers under my boots, and three pairs of gloves on. So.... I had a lot of layers! I felt like the kid off of the christmas story! I was still cold too! haha. It was 2 degrees outside with a negative wind chill and humidity:)

We taught the old adorable couple Jim and Vivian this week. They are so precious! She told us she is going to adopt us! We had a nice visit and lesson with them. They gave a box of chocolates, and Jim put 20 dollars in it without us knowing. When we left he said have dinner on us. We had no idea what he was talking about until we got home and saw the money in the chocolate. They told us that they sold their house in Florida. Well, their house in Florida was on the PGA national golf course. I thought that was really cool!

We had a broadcast with Elder Perry, Rasband, Zwick, and other general authorities on Saturday. It was for 11 stakes over in this region. It was a great conference! It was about how we can hasten the work. I loved it! Elder Perry has so much energy! He is awesome! He called out a lot of people it was hilarious.

We talked to this lady on Friday who was walking on the side of the road. Well, lets just say we could hardly say two words. She kept going on and on about weird things. She told us the Book of Mormon was false and that Joseph Smith was a false prophet. I was fuming inside when she said that. I knew that she wasn't going to listen, and the only thing we could do it bear testimony. I bore a powerful testimony, and it made her be quiet. She didn't say anything about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith after that, but she did keep talking. It kills me when people deny the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith when they haven't even given them a chance. It was cool how the spirit bore testimony though.

We are working with Samantha who has a baptismal date. She is doing pretty well. She is struggling with her commitments, but we are working with her on that. We are going to start seeing her more frequently, so we can read with her.

  
We have a new investigator named Jason. One Sunday morning we had to get our roster from the car. After I grabbed it I saw a guy (Jason)  walking in our parking lot. I went and talked to him, and taught him about the Book of Mormon. We got a return appointment, and we taught him this last week with a member. He now has a baptismal date for March 15th. I love how when we talk to everyone, the Lord does put the prepared people in our paths. It is great too because he lives in the same building as us. Those that are prepared are all around us. We just have to find them.

I love this Gospel more and more everyday! It is fantastic! I have never been happier! This is truly the Lords work!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love you all!:)

Love,

Sister Bradley