HOLA again!

August 25, 2008

Hola Familia-

This week was such an AWESOME week. Sister Dastrup and I are doing a 10-day trial of Operation Santificacion that we came up with a few days ago and we are already reaping the blessings! We have been trying really hard to speak Spanish 24/7 and to be obedient with EXACTNESS which means EXACTNESS! There is more to it but those are the basics. We had 8 new investigators this week and we picked up Arturo again and a new guy named Rafael. Just wait till you get my newsletter and here about the miracle we had with those two.

Sounds like everyone at home is doing really well! I'm so excited that you got to meet Sis. Skousen! That's so funny. I never thought she would be in your ward for a transfer. I was just hoping that you might see her in passing! That's really cool! Tell her I said “Hi” and that I hope her mission is going really well!

This email, I am going to write about another miracle that happened this week. We really are the Lord's representatives and people really are watching what we are doing and know exactly who we are. The other day, Sister Dastrup and I were debating whether or not to go over to a members house in person and ask them if they could come out with us to an appointment that night. We ended up going and on our way back to the car, a guy driving down the street in an old truck stopped in the middle of the road to ask us if we were the Mormon missionaries, halting traffic in the process. When we replied yes, he continued by shouting out his address and then told us we needed to go visit his wife. As we got him to pull over we talked with him for a few minutes and found out that he and his wife had listened to the missionaries back in Feb or March and that his wife was terminally ill and the doctors have only given her till December and that she has been asking for the missionaries to come back. She doesn't know she is terminal and he hasn't told her because their daughter is expecting her baby around that time. It was really sad but we were so glad that we could be there at that exact moment to take down his information so the elders could stop over and visit them. It's amazing how what seems like little decisions in our lives have big effects on our lives. One little decision to visit a member in person and we were able to send the missionaries over to someone who needs the gospel. One little decision to invite someone to church and they end up getting baptized. We never know what effect or outcome our little choices in life are going to have on our lives or the lives of others.

As always I love you all so much and I hope everyone is adjusting nicely, getting back into the swing of school and life! Give my boy and Blue a big hug and kiss for me!

Para Siempre
Hermana Bradfield

Buenas Dias Noticias Newsletter - Greeting Grasshoppers! This last week was a really great week. We met a ton of new people, added a bunch of new people to teach, and we started teaching Arturo again! Yesterday was the coolest miracle I have yet seen in my mission.

The zone leaders gave us a referral for a guy they had tracted into this week, and we went back to teach him a couple of days later. He's really smart, knows the Bible really well and was really excited to read the Book of Mormon when we invited him to read and pray. Two days later, he came to a baptism with us and told us he had been reading for hours and cross referencing with the Bible, using the footnotes; he started asking us about the Doctrin and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. It was so cool to see his enthusiasm. so I gave him a copy of the triple combination (B of M, Doctrin and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price) and he has been reading in all three since. He really likes it all and says it all makes sense and that they really do support each other.

The real miracle happened yesterday at church. We were walking up with Rafael and saw Arturo waiting for us at the door. The two of them looked really excited to see each other and they told us they had been really good friends for 20 years but hadn't seen each other for the past four because Rafael stopped hanging out with their group of friends so he could change his life around. They were both really excited to hear that they were both learning about the gospel from "Las Hermanitas!" It was so cool to see them together and know that they both now have a friend to turn to when everyone else is telling them that what they are learning is wrong. It really is such an awesome miracle.

I love serving the Lord. I love being a part of this great work and seeing the miracles, big and small, the Lord works everyday. There truly is no greater work and nothing that brings a greater joy than to help and see people grow closer to our Heavenly Father, learn about the plan he has for us, and change their lives for a better, happier life, one that will lead them to receiving exhaltation.

I love you all and am so grateful for all your love and support! Until next week!

Para Siempre,
Hermana Bradfield