Brady Grondel's Mission: March 2015

Sunday, March 1, 2015

February 23, 2015

This week was pretty interesting. We taught a ton of lessons, but we didnt get all of the goals we were trying to get, and our zone is having quite a bit of difficulty right now. But we have great missionaries that can do so much better. We will have a multi zone conf tomorrow in goiania. We are pretty excited. The mission is really excited to try and get 200 baptisms in march. there is 5 weeks to baptize and usually thier is only 4, so they really want to take advantage of this month and are making everyone make plans and goals. We are super pumped. And this week we will have a few baptisms here in Senador Canedo! Yesterday we only had 13 people at church. And their was so many that should have come. theirs a few that arent married, so thats annoying. but their are still quite a few that can be baptized.

We are teaching a guy here who is super cool and has a young beautiful family,he speaks english too! Just that he is super presbitarian and teaches in his church, and so does his wife. he has a lot of questions. and its cool because its not a bible bash. he is sincerely searching, he said that the first day he prayed, God told him that are message wasnt true. Then he said he read galatas 1 about another gospel. and we explained about how its the same gospel. And we always talked aobut the faith and works deal. it was kinda nice, because there is very few born agains here...and i was sooo wanting to talk to one every since i learned how wrong it is. My comp is super smart and is reading a marvelous work and a wonder and has been using some great scriptures from that in our lessons with him. We told him that he has to read the book of mormon and pray :)

Baseball is already starting up? wow. haha thats alright gerrr gerr im sure you are faster than me bud...just keep it up.

Thats awesome jake and caleb that you guys are studying the scriptures! Its so important to study them, i regret sooo much not studying them before the mission. dont make the same mistake as me! but i repented and now I LOVE studying the scriptures! im addicted, whenever i have a spare minute i love to study them, im also reading jesus the christ, and i finished "our search for happiness" last week. That book would be great for someone wanting to understand the basics of the restoration. i think caleb and jacob would love it. it would help them defend their beleifs and strengthen testimonies. My comp let me borrow the institute study manual of the pearl of great price and i started that this week, im really loving it! I have a few books that i am dying to study when i get back!!!

well their is so much work to do here and so little time! we are running from place to place. haha. Thank you so much for the fast....my knee has been feeling so much better. well that dr guy sent me an email that told me to do the excersizes but looks like he forgot to attach the file with the exercises....haha. so i will email him now.

but have a great week fam!

Love you guys

-Elder Grondel

February 16, 2015

Hey fam!

THis week was great! we were so close to getting our goals! We needed one more lesson with a member and one more with a recent convert or less active. I hate getting sooo close! But im 3 weeks straight on setting personal records for people at church. We had 14 investigators at church! it was awesome. we had so many that shouldve gone as well that had annoying things happen right before church. ughhh. but im so grateful for how many went. The chili was great at the americans house this week! o my comp is from indiana, did i say india? ha

a fast?! really?? Thank you guys sooo much! you didnt have to! thanks lex! it really helped, yesterday and today it feels way better. i just wanna make it thru the rest of my mission. a missionary doctor from sao paulo called me this week and said by the description it sounds alot like my miniscus. but im really trying to take care of it. He sent me an email to do ecercises...just that he forgot to attatch the page with the exercises! haha.

Thanks for the spiritual thought! i really like that scripture, lots of people seem to focus soo much on the mercy, that soometimes they forget the justice...

Well i love you guys! have a great week!

- Elder Grondel

February 9, 2015

This week was great!

We ended our time with a baptism the last night in the area, we had marked Valerias baptism for thursday night and then heard that we would e transfered thursday morning so the ward helped out and valeria really wanted us there so the last night in the area we had a great baptism at the fat carlos guys house because the church didnt have water. I really liked that area, the people there were so great, and the bishop is a boss, he was the General of the brazillian special forces until 2 weeks ago. He told us some pretty sweet things he had done.

But my new comp and area are super great! My area is sooooo cooool! like noone here has ever heard of the missionaries, we also have a few little cities out in the boonies that we have to take a bus to. But the members here are really excited and really want the church to open a church in this city. We have to take a bus about 30 min to goiania to go to church. it was kinda interesting because this is the farthest ive ever had to take investigators to church but yesterday was the day that i had the most people at church on my mission. There was 11 investigators that went! There are two great families that we are helping to get married that love the church and are sooo ready for the gospel. We are finding som awesome people here.

In one of the boonie little towns lives an american! hes super cool, he is 80 or so and lives with his 20 something year old brazillian wife. haha. normal right? he is from the south and is a firm member of the church! we went there and it was great to see american things in a house, he had is Bama "Roll Tide" hat up on the wall and a picture of a stealth bomber on the other wall. haha. i was so pumped to see a college football fan down here in some crazy small town in the middle of nowhere,Brazil. ha he said he is gonna make a flaming hot chilli american style for me next saturday!

My new comp is Elder Inman from indiana. he is the one on the right side of me in the football pic, Elder Smith is on my left. But he is super smart, he is one of those guys that has read "jesus the christ" ten times and reads the bible in a week. But he teaches really well and is pumped to work to death with me! He has the same time as Elder Smith has. And he cooks, we are gonna make burritos today with the taco seasoning you sent me.

Well i love you guys! have a great week!

-Elder Grondel

February 1, 2015

January 26, 2015

Dear Fam:
This week was pretty good. We taught alot of lessons but couldnt find anyone good, they were all super flaky. But this week will be way better!!!

Spencers home! Thats crazy, his misson passed so fast! hes such a good example for all the youn men. ya i emailed him like 2 weeks ago, i felt bad because i hadnt like emailed him his whole mission. but he served with my good buddy reid arne!

Thats awesome jake! you are one determined dude, stay focused and keep progressing in the gospel! i remember my first lesson in priest quorum...i was scared to death. ya dont worry about this fall, we´ll go on member lessons with the missionaries all day erryday boiii! and when we arent baptizing those sinners we can go to the gym and get jacked together.

Dad you´re awesome. you´re the best dad ive ever had! :)

4th quarter is our quarter!!!

well now for a little spiritual thought:

We did have one experience really special this week, we had a less active named nathalia that called to us in the road a few weeks ago and has been going to church 4 weeks straight now and talked with bishop and really wants to get her life back together. she said she loves going to church and has never felt this much desire to go to church in a long time. She has one of the strongest testimonies i have seen. We have taken her on a few member lessons and she has helped a ton, we took her to this other girl we are teaching named valeria, and it was awesome! Valeria has 20 years old and has a little boy of 2 years, she has said so many times she wanted to go to church but hasnt gone, but she read the whole book of mormon and the whole index in the back! she said she knows its true, so we didnt wanna give up on her. But we had to talk to her really firm about going to church, and it seems like it helped. She went to a baptism on saturday and to church sunday. she loved it and already has a few friends at church! her baptism is marked for the 7th of febuary. Im sure nathalias testimony helped strengthened valerias . The spirit is so strong and nathalia cant help but try and hold back her tears everytime she bears her testimony in the member lessons. When we walked her back to her house after the lesson she started crying as she thanked us for "rescuing" her and helping her come back to church. It caught both of us (Elder Smith and i) offguard, we were speechless and sat there for a moment and then she quickly changed the subject. But It was kinda nice to hear someone say thank you, its not what i look for or even what i desire in this work, but after knocking doors all day and being rejected so much when we are just trying to help people, it was kinda nice to hear a sincere "thank you." I think we experienced just a little of what Christ feels when someone applies his atonement, experimetns of the fruit of the tree of life, and stops, and with a sincere heart kneels down and cries out through the tears "Thank you! Thank you!" I think thats why the Savior was so willing to do what he did, so that he could see all of us experience the love that he has for each one of us "True Love of Christ". So let us show the Lord that we are grateful for what he did, saying "thank you" for his sacrifice and his service, but not just with our words, but with our actions, applying the atonement in our lives, and helping others to do so, and afterwads saying thank you! I know He Lives and Loves each of us. I know his atonement is powerful beyond our understanding, i know that "whoever you are, and whater you have done, you can be forgiven!"

Love you all! have a great week!

-Elder Grondel!

NGUNNGU

January 19, 2015

Diligent missionaries and Prayers from all over the world brought to pass this beautiful day!!!

January 12, 2015

BOM DIA!!! Ya i have been loving the treats...i miss america...alot. ha. Elder Smith is loving the treats that came as well.

Thank you so much for the prayers! You had a big influence on the spirit that was felt in the lessons and at the baptism. The baptism was wonderful! There were so many people there! and they made threee cakes! it was great to see the support of the members, all the prayers and testimonies and everything was all members! it was the most organized bapism i have seen on my mission. We have a ward mission leader thats 20 years old and is on fire.

Igor was baptized by his uncle who lives in another ward here and served a mission and is super firm in the church. he has been helping rogerio and is family out a ton in this process. Yesterday at church the bishop had an interview with rogerio and simone and it looked like it helped out a ton! also, Elder smiths dad sent us a talk about marriage to give them and we saved it on their computer but the comp broke a little bit ago and when simone was messin with it this week the screen came on and that talk was opened up and she said she read the whole thing! and she loved it! the name of the talk is "falling out of love and climbing back in" its on the church website. i havent read it yet but it sounds super good by what people have said about it.

well we are still working with karen but her life has gotten really busy because of this test she has been waiting to take for like 8 years to get the job she wanted, so her time is super limited ith studies and stuff. but i know she knows its true, shell for sure get baptized.

sounds like life will be gettin pretty busy for you guys as well! i thought jake would graduate early? wouldnt he graduate in june either way?

The mission is getting super intense, they are raising alot of the rules and our goals, i think we could all use this pep talk from dad to awaken the giant within!!!

well it has been super sunny and its supposed to be the same thing this week, high 80´s to low 90´s. i thought the rain would start...but no:(

i got some super good mission shoes from this american elder that gave me when i went and did a division there last week. they are super comfy and super storng. they are called "mission shoe" ha.

well we have another great week in front of us! continue praying please, it will be a super important week for rogerio so that he can stop smoking and be baptized this week! well i love you guys and im so grateful for all that you are doing for me!

have a great week!

tchau!

-Elder Grondel