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.