HOLA from Sacramento!

Kelly with President and Sister Huff

May 12th, 2008

So how goes it for everyone? I'm doing GREAT, especially after talking with everyone yesterday! But after talking to you all yesterday on the phone, I realized that I am either A) really bad at talking on the phone B) really bad at talking and telling stories in general C) the Spanish is really having a negative effect on my English or D) all of the above!

So really there isn't much else to report that I didn't yesterday. Last night after we got off the phone, Sister Anderson and I went to some of the other Spanish sister's (sister Bostrom and Bateman) member's home for dinner and we've been officially invited over there every Sunday if we need a dinner appointment. It was really fun and the member is another widow and every Sunday she has a bunch of people over. It was just buffet style with casseroles and salads and what not. Really tasty.

Yeah, Kim go ahead and laugh at my spelling. It really is awful but that's what happens when you have two languages messing with your brain 24/7. All I have to say is that I AM NEVER SPEAKING ENGLISH AGAIN after this. Learning Spanish is hard work, even with help from the Holy Ghost, and I am going to make sure that I always remember it!

It was really funny. I was thinking about this today and how funny it really is. When we get in and sit down to teach people the first lesson, S. Anderson will usually start talking because I have no idea whats going on and then she will look at me when its my turn to teach. If the investigator starts talking back I just nod my head and act like I know whats going on and then look at my companion to answer. It's great! But one thing I forgot to tell you was about that family we taught the other day, Domingo, Sara y Dulce. When we were teaching the lesson, Domingo and his friends were a little bit... I don't know the word but they kept coming back at everything Sister A said, in a friendly having a good time about it way (don't worry mom! lol) about drinking and what not so I hadn't really spoken for a long time. Well after a while I felt prompted to get us back onto subject with the restoration so I nudged Sister A and then she got everyone to quiet down and then I was able to speak.

They had been talking a lot about the God head (she is very religious and believes in the Virgin Mary) and the different churches and which one was true and so on and I remembered the scripture in Ephesians 4 that Joseph Smith read about "One God, one faith, one baptism" so I opened up to it and read it. And like I do with everyone, I apologized for my Spanish and told them I didn't speak perfect Spanish or understand everything but I did know this. And then I started to talk about the restoration and Joseph Smith. We committed them all to read 3 Nephi 11 but we haven't had a chance to go back and visit them and we probably won't tonight either because I guess we are having a Blitz, which is where all the missionaries in a Zone team up and work in a pair of missionaries area. Should be entertaining! Hopefully we will get to see them tomorrow.

So my first day of church came and went. I don't remember if I talked too much about that but I didn't understand much! Oh well, it'll come... I'm not worried. I just need to get cracking on my studies. Speaking of Studies, can you all send me ideas of how you study. I'm still trying to figure out a study routine that REALLY works for me! It's so hard to find a balance of everything and a way of studying that helps me remember everything that I learned. That's probably the hardest part for me!

Last night we taught another lady, Yarida, who we tracted into on Thursday and taught her the First Lesson. She seemed really interested in it all but at the same time Sister A really had to explain things to her because she wasn't very well educated and she was having a hard time understanding our beliefs because she was going to a catholic church in Mexico before coming to the US. We shall see what happens.

I NEVER realized just HOW important the members are in missionary work until going through the MTC, listening to Elder Bednar's talk AND finally getting out into the Mission field. The members are KEY. Our "Standard" is to teach 10 Lessons with a Member present every week. This helps because we have a member's testimony AND also a built in support system at church so the investigators get to know the members. Continue to keep your eyes open for missionary opportunities and to pray sincerely for those opportunities and for the ability to recognize when those opportunities come around! Your help with the Missionary work is more important than you will ever know and the promised blessings that come from doing missionary work are amazing. All I have to do is hear about everything going on at home with my family to know that there truly are GREAT blessings that come from this work!

Since I spoke with you all yesterday, again, I'm only going to email home this week! I'll be sure to write you all next week and save some good stuff for a hand written letter! I love you all and I am so grateful to be a part of our family. You are all truly amazing and wonderful! Thanks for everything you do for me and all your love and support!

Love Always,
Your Hermana Bradfield

May 5th Letter

The time has come, yes, I leave for California tomorrow morning. Hermana Walker and I have been enjoying each others company today since Hermana Pray got up at 3 this morning and had to be at the travel offices by FOUR! Aychiuahua! I'm so glad H. Walker and I don't have to get up any earlier than normal.

We got to do our laundry on Saturday with H. Pray, so today we are just going to finish packing our bags and getting ready to leave tomorrow. I'll probably write a few letters to some of the people I haven't had a chance to write yet and shower so I can make sure I get to bed on time. That's one thing they stress OVER and OVER here is obedience with exactness! And I have to tell you, it really does make a difference.

So, I managed to go my whole MTC experience without getting sick and of course last Friday I started to feel a little iffy and have been fighting a cold since PERO (but) I have been taking my airborne and I am already starting to recover!

Yesterday, our district sang the closing hymn. We sang a Spanish Hymn called Placentero Nos Es Trabajar". It is an awesome hymn about missionary work and on the last verse it talks about saying Goodbye until we see each other again in the life after when we will dwell with God. It's really pretty and of course my companions started crying on the last verse so that meant that I wasn't allowed to cry because SOMEONE had to represent the Hermanas ;) It was really pretty and we had a great time. Then last night, as a goodbye song and prayer before H Pray and Elders Squires and Obray left for Ecuador, we sang Tengo Gozo En Mi Alma which to you english speakers is "There is Sunshine in My Soul" which was originally our district song until we found the other. Anyway, it was the best we've ever sang it, the spirit was strong and to finish it off, H Pray left of with a very nice prayer. It was sad to have to say goodbye, especially with the elders since all they got from us was a handshake. Oh well, such is the life of a missionary.

I am so excited to get out to Cali, although I am a little nervous. I want to make sure that I do the Lord's work the Lord's way. I really hope my companion is going to be patient with me and help me know what I need to do. Hopefully they aren't lazy because if they are, Hermana Bradfield is on the way and you better believe that I'm going to be running from door to door and talking to as many people as I can!

Last week they switched the teachers up on us (they switch the teachers every 8 weeks and Hmo Darquea went to the TEC to help out the missionaries who signed up for advice to help them with door contacts, TRC, etc. really hard to explain and I only have 5 mins left! and Hmo Allgood went to Jordan for the summer for a school study program.) Now our teachers are Hmo Valladares from Honduras and Hma Rizley. Its been a fun week and Hmo Valladares did a Time line run through of the book of mormom which was AWESOME because there was a lot of stuff I didnt know, like how everyone was related and who was writing what... it was really awesome.
Anyway, I can't wait for tomorrow! I love you all!

Hermana Bradfield

April 28th Letter

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLA!!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT?!?

We have our flight plans! We got them last friday and I am leaving.... drum roll please........................... May 6th! Yes and Elder Bench is our Travel Leader. He is in charge of the 16 of us total going to Sacramento next Tuesday. Wow, its actually next Tuesday! That's so crazy! I am so excited. Ok so anyway, my flight leaves Salt Lake at 11:25 and I'm flying with Delta! And guess what! I get to call home! I'm so excited to talk to you all. I'll be able to tell you a lot more over the phone! But since I get to call, I will not be writing an actual letter next week! Just a heads up!

Guess what! Of course the day BEFORE we fly, the airlines decided to change the rules to only checking 1 bag so I am going to have to pay for my second bag no matter what. We are flying with Delta so I'm not sure how much it could come to but oh well, I'm going to definitely send some stuff to Kate. Speaking of which, Katelyn, We are going to give our stuff to our Branch Presidents wife, Sister Price, and she said she'd get it to you instead. I trust her more than I trust the mail services, even though I'm sure they are quite excellent. so just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna go with her! That will be awesome for you to meet her! She's so cool! I love her to pieces!

So this last week was great. Tuesday night Elder Gerald Lund (I think he is the author of the Work and the Glory series) came and spoke with us! Dad, you would have LOVED it. He told us right from the beginning that it was a talk for us, to solidify our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It was awesome. He is really into history and stuff so he had a TON of facts about why the Book of Mormon is true and why Joseph Smith couldn't have made it up. I'm going to try and copy my notes to mail home because you would have loved it. But then again you probably already know most if not all of it anyway.

As I was listening to his talk, I was thinking about all these facts and how it was really fun for me to hear them because I already had a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. But I also thought about those people who are looking for proof as to why these things are true. And when I thought about it, I realized that if someone needed all these facts to know that the Book of Mormon was true and Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, then they aren't ready for the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is power in discovering that truth of these things for yourself through prayer and study. I am so grateful that I had that special witness from the holy ghost testify to my heart and mind that these things are true.

Yesterday was an awesome day as well, but most Sundays are. We started out the day with breakfast as usual and headed up to class to study and write our weekly letters to President Price. At 9:30 we headed down to Music in the Spoken Word in the gym and then immediately following that is Relief Society. Being a Sister at the MTC is AWESOME. Unlike the Elders who meet as Zones or in smaller groups like that, WE get to meet as one big group and we usually have a General Authority come and speak to us! Yesterday (and our last Sunday with Relief Society since next week is fast sunday and we have a Mission Conference again), Sister Elaine S Dalton, the new YW Gen. President, came and spoke to us and it was a really good talk. She mainly talked about the Holy Ghost but also about our missions and life in general. One thing that she said that I really liked was when she was talking about running with her husband. She said she usually can beat her husband on the Hills but this particular day she didn't realize how big the hill was and started to slow half way up as he pushed past her. Since she didn't want to lose she said she was going to turn around and go back to the car but he came back and told her they would get up the hill together and when she got to the top, she said it was one of the most beautiful views she had ever seen. She then proceeded to tell us that we were going to run into tough times but she said "Don't Look Back!" Don't turn around half way up that hill and go back. It is during those uphill climbs that we grow! I absolutely loved her talk and we all waited to shake her hand and chat with her after RS. She is probably one of the nicest ladies I have ever met but I think sums up most of the Women in GA positions and those women here who's husbands serve in the MTC branch presidencies. It's pretty cool.

On top of Sister Dalton, Sister Dibbs, Pres. Monson's daughter came with her and spoke for 5-10 mins. She had never been to the MTC and wanted to come with Sister Dalton. She talks just like her dad, it was great. And it was interesting to here about her experience with her dad extending the her call to be 2nd Counselor in the YW Gen Presidency!

Anyway, my time is up so I'm gonna sign off. Love you and I'll talk to you next Monday... AND TUESDAY!

Love you all,
Hermana Bradfield

April 21st Letter

HOLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ESTA LOCO! Yo tengo dos y media semanas mas en el MTC! It's crazy. Even though I am not yet fluent in espanol, as I never should have expected to be, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited to be heading out to Sacramento and getting started in the mission field!

The Spanish is coming along really well. As I said, I am nowhere near fluent but I know that will come with time and that the Lord will help me as long as I do my part to study, learn, speak it and live it as much as possible, just like we have to do with the gospel.

Really quickly, I don't know when I am leaving yet but I should be getting my flight plan by the end of this week so heads up for next week! I can't believe how fast this has flown. If the field is going to go by like this, I better be running from door to door and person to person so I have time to be an effective teacher in the Lord's hands!

So because my time at the MTC is coming to an end, you should probably start sending mail to my CA address starting on the 28th or 29th of this month. Okee Dokee?

So I see Elder Bausfield at least 2-3 times a week. We have classes in the same building so it's not uncommon to see him going back and forth between classes and meetings and such! I didn't really know him before but it always is nice to see someone from home and now we are the best of friends who ask questions such as "Hola, Como esta?" "Bien, y usted?" in passing. It's fantastic how much spanish we are using, right?

I was so excited to hear that Brother Ron Scharr? (Couldn't quite make out the spelling in your letter) got baptized. My companions and I are going to write a card for him so if you will please pass it on to him at church on Sunday for us, that would be wonderful!

So I don't think I have told you this but, yes, I am singing in the choir, but don't hate me because we weren't on General Conference, Please! It's a lot of fun. We sing every Tuesday night for Devotional and have practices on Sundays and Tuesdays before dinner. So on Sundays my companions drop me off to go sing for an hour while they go back to the room and take a nap. Yes, believe it, I chose Singing over Sleeping! Anyway, singing with the choir is really a lot of fun, especially since its the biggest choir I have ever sung with that actually can sing the parts, unlike when I was in elementary school! This week we are singing "This Is The Christ" by James E Faust on the Testaments DVD. It's such a beautiful song and I love that it's all about 3 Nephi 11! I'm so excited for Tuesday! One of the best parts about that song is....... I don't have to sing higher than a G and lower than the other G! Go ALTOS!

Wow, I am so glad that I had the desire to serve a mission! This is BY FAR the greatest experience of my life. Every talk, meeting, fireside, devotional, etc... gives me something new to think about and apply to myself as a missionary and to my investigators that I will be teaching. I get so excited to go out to California that I've wanted to jump up, hop on a bus and head out right then and there! It doesn't matter that I don't know Spanish fluently! I know the Lord is going to be there with me every step of the way as long as I am obedient with exactness and focusing on His work and the people I serve.

We watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" again last night and there is a quote in there that I absolutely love and hits me every time I watch it. Joseph Smith is talking to Brigham Young about serving a mission and he says "If a man be truly converted, he will not want to bless his family alone, he will be anxious to bless the whole human race." I LOVE this quote. This work is SO important. It's so important for the world to know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. It is through Christ and Christ alone that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and our families for eternity. His Atonement is infinite, it's for everyone and it's personal. But it's also conditional. We need to have faith in Jesus Christ and do the things that we have been asked to do and use the atonement in our lives when we mess up.

The message of the gospel is really quite simple. Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer and His church has been restored once again on this earth! I know that I am going to run into some disappointing times on my mission, whether its thousands of doors being slammed in my face or helping someone get so close to receiving the gospel and have them reject it in the end, whatever that disappointment may be, I have promised myself that I am not going to let that get me down! The Lord will provide a way and I will always put my trust in Him. He is my Savior and Redeemer and I know that he lives.

I love you all SO much and you are always in my thoughts and prayers and I know that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you! Thank You for everything!

Hermana Bradfield!

April 14th Letter

Hola Familia,

It's almost week 6 here and its coming down to the wire. Things are going really well. So, throughout our stay here in the MTC, everyone in every companionship has had the opportunity to be senior and junior companions. It is my turn to be senior companion for the last three weeks and pretty much I just get to ask/pick who says the prayers and I meet with the District leader once a week. Crazy stuff but hopefully I'll do alright.

The TRC (the volunteer teaching) went really well last Wednesday. The spirit was so strong even though it was a member we were teaching. I know that the spirit was the one bringing words to my mind so I could convey the message. I had the opportunity to teach the part about the restoration, which is my favorite part. Every time I teach the first vision in Joseph Smith's own words, the spirit testifies yet again that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. It's amazing. Anyway, the spirit really was putting words into my mouth. It was awesome!!!

So this week has been a really good week. Yesterday in Relief Society, Sister Barbara Thompson, 2nd Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, came and talked to us about her mission. She talked about different experiences she had with listening to the Holy Spirit. It was a really good talk and once again got me pumped up and ready to get out to California! Before she talked about her experiences though, she started out by talking about an experience she had with attending the dedication of the Provo Temple and how she fasted and prayed and while she was attending in the Marriott Center, she had never felt more close to the Lord and she knew she was a daughter of God. Then she pleaded with anyone who was here that didnt know that they were a daughter of God and called of God to serve mission, to pray and fast and do all that they could to know that! It was really powerful and I hope whoever needed to hear that is taking that advice!

Last night for our Sunday night fireside, Richard I Heaton, the Admin. Director of the MTC, spoke to us on Pondering. It was probably one of my most favorite talks, if not my favorite, that I have heard so far at the MTC. It was a talk that was just for me. He devided the process of pondering into 3 steps:
1) Be quiet on the inside- Even when the world around us is noisy, we can still be quiet on the inside and ready to receive revelation.
2) Ask the right questions- Jesus Christ always taught with questions and we need to ask the right questions to receive revelation. When we ask the right questions, this can lead to other questions and help us through our thought process
3) Remember the Savior- Ponder His Life, Teachings, Atonement. Think of the Sacrament prayer and the covenants we make to always remember Him. Think about our Savior.
He promised us that if we take time to ponder, whether it be gospel principles, where we stand with God, investigators progress, etc... that the voice of the Lord will come more clearly to us. I don't know about you but I think that's a pretty awesome promise, especially for a missionary preparing to teach our Heavenly Father's children!

I am so grateful to be here serving the Lord. I feel so blessed to bear the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, everyday and I only hope and pray that I can live up to that name! I love you all so much and I appreciate all your love and support!

Love,
Hermana Bradfield