Brady's Blog

Greetings to the little town from the big city. I am in the Phoenix metropolitan area known as Peoria covering the Oakwood and Centennial Wards. It is amazing down here. There is so much work to be done. Some people love us and some hate us. While biking yesterday I had a hot dog thrown at me. It missed and I laughed. My companion is a 6'6" twig named Elder Bishop. He is super smart. He only has 4 months left on his mission so I don't know how long I will be with him. On Wednesday we started teaching a girl named K. She is a golden investigator. She knows its true, has the Spirit, and will be baptized after recovering from knee surgery. We saw her every day this past week. There is also another investigator named J. We went to the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center with him and saw the Joseph Smith movie. It was awesome. He has a baptism date for January 17. Love Elder Brady Parkin

12-8-08 This last week I got two new companions what are new Zone Leaders. Elder Cox (Idaho) and Elder Eaton (Iowa). There are two beds in the trailer and I was told by President Beck and his assistant that I won't be on the reservation much longer. I don't really want to leave but it will be exciting. I will have to learn how to Bible Bash. Just Kidding! We have two baptisms this Saturday for V's kids B & B. We have been working with them forever so this is very exciting. I think that is all for this week. Love, Elder Brady Parkin PS Just got transferred!

My mom got an e-mail from Brady on Monday that said he was getting transferred Tuesday. So it looks like Brady will not be spending Christmas in Chinle. Make sure to remember Brady this holiday season. His address is at the top on the side bar so feel free to drop him a little note. ~Heather~

Well, I will not be transferred this time so I will be spending Christmas in Chinle. It will also put me at 6 months in one area and on the reservation. SO this past week I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission. It feels great. This next time through and as I read the other volumes of scripture I will be taking thorough notes. I started this a couple days ago and I am learning a ton. I have created a neat study journal to keep my notes. On Friday we had a baptism for N.E. He is 9 and a very smart kid. It was a nice service. We will probably have two more on the 13th of this month. Well, i am preparing for a new companion because Elder Wright is getting transferred. Right now I am in a threesome because one elder's companion had to go to Phoenix for some medical stuff. It is cool having more than just one other person but we also cover his area too. Well, I think that's all for now. Love, Elder Parkin

How's it going? Things here are great. This past weekend up to now has been crazy. On Friday we had to be in by 5 pm because of Halloween. So I finished "Our Heritage." It's really neat. Y'all should read it. On Saturday morning we had a convert baptism and one child of record baptism. They are father and son and it was so neat to see that whole thing take place. Saturday and Sunday was the Arizona-wide Stake Conference. It was a broadcast form Salt Lake City and the key speaker was President Boyd K Packer. He spoke on increasing our faith. It was kind of funny because yesterday at Zone Conference the main theme was faith. Pres. Beck gave a great doctrinal presentation that just blew my mind. It was an especially good Zone Conference for me because even though I finished it a while ago, i finally turned in my paper and received my APM pin. I also got to showcase my piano talent when I played and another elder sang for a musical number. It was cool. I hope things a...

How is everything going? Things here are really good. Transfers were last week but I didn't move. I did however get a new companion. Elder Wright is from Idaho Falls. He is a Zone Leader so things are pretty crazy. Yesterday I was in Tulsa City with other elders while he was in a meeting in Phoenix. This past week has been crazy because I am now "in charge" of Chinle because I know "everything" which actually means "nothing." It's pretty hard. It is a big learning experience that I cannot shirk on. I can do it though. I have all the tools necessary (the Lord, the Spirit, and The Book of Mormon.) . . . I think that's all for now. Love, Elder Brady Blair Parkin

October 20, 2008 How's it going? Things here are pretty good . . . Transfers are this week and I don't know anything yet. I might know tonight. Saturday was a pretty cool day. We had two baptisms. C & A S. They are really cool and very smart kids. It was such an amazing experience for me because I got to baptize and confirm for the first time . . . I miss you all so much! Elder Brady Blair Parkin

This past week has been crazy. On Friday we lent our truck to the many Farms Elders so we were walking in a giant windstorm, Saturday it turned into a dust storm that knocked the power out. Luckily we got our truck back that morning. Elder Soderling and I have been sick the past two days so it has been an interesting week. I feel better though. This coming Saturday (the 18th) we have baptisms: C & A, the children of P. I have had the opportunity of teaching them every lesson and they have given me the honor of baptizing them. I've never done this before but I'm excited. Things are going well and transfers are coming up (Oct. 22). I don't know what will happen or even what I want to happen. I think that's all for this week. Love, Elder Brady Parkin PS I got my haircut too. Shorter than ever since the buzz cut at age 3 I think. Sorry no picture yet.

What's up?!? Things here are great! Wasn't conference amazing?!? I loved so many especially L. Tom Perry and Pres. Uchtdorf's "Lift Where You Stand." What were y'all's favorite talks? The work here is great! The mission sets a goal of 20-10-2 for us to meet. 20 lessons total taught, 10 hours of tracting and at least 2 lessons to a part member family. Elder Soderling and I have now hit it 3 weeks in a row. Our investigators are doing great! We might have a baptism on October 18 for a couple of youth. Their names are C & A and they are great! They absorb knowledge like a sponge. It will be awesome for me because I have been teaching them all the way from Lesson 1. It makes me so excited because recently the area has not had many baptisms and its almost like its been in a drought. Not any more. The roller coaster looks to be on the up swing. This last week, Many Farms Elders borrowed our truck again (theirs is broken) so we were on borrowed bikes. I rode ...

This week has been pretty good. Last Tuesday we taught 9 lessons. That's a lot. Pres Beck even congratulated us on that. It was pretty cool. We have investigators getting close to baptism. We are teaching a guy named "Q" who is living with his girlfriend. They will be married on October 8th and he will be baptized on October 18th. It's exciting because I helped a lot on this one. It's a good feeling. Other investigators close to baptism are VJ and two kids B & B, C & A S, C&L, and N&L B. One cool thing, tonight we start teaching a lady whose kids go to school in Mesa and are going to be baptized and she wants to be baptized up here with them. Golden Investigator!!! She is a referral from the Mesa Temple Visitor's Center. I think that's all I have. Love, Elder Brady Blair Parkin

(I didn't post last week because most of Brady's letter was answering silly little questions from my family. A lot of my letters seem to be like that so you get the dissected version. ~Brady's sister Heather) Letter 1 . . . Yesterday all of the companionship's got cell phones and I am in charge of ours. That's right, I have a cell phone. Next week is transfers. I'd like to go somewhere new but I like chinle too. i don't know what will happen . . . Letter 2 Things have been great. I am anticipating a phone call from the Zone Leaders about transfers. I don't know if I will be or not but wither way I am excited. I have now been out 9 weeks and it has been crazy and cool. this week I split my time between Chinle and Flagstaff. It was neat and I really enjoyed flagstaff. That's the real big news from me this week. Elder Brady Blair Parkin

I just got your letter from the 13th. Here are the answers to some of you questions: - I am learning a small amount of Navajo but it is not required. - Weather is hot. About 20 degrees cooler than Phoenix so about 100 degrees. We had a huge thunder and rainstorm Saturday. - Nathan Bedonie is progressing slowly but surely. His mom is now listening to the lessons. Love hearing about life. Keep writing. Got to go. Elder Brady Parkin P.S. Invite your missionaries to dinner.

What a week I have had. Basically it has been non stop appointments. A good amount of these appointments fall through so we have to go to a back up. Looking at our schedule for this week we are packed again. There is so much work that needs to be done but there is only one companionship. I guess it is a good thing that there is so much work because if we didn't have work, we would have no purpose. This Wednesday marks my 6th birthday or my 6th week of my mission. People always say it goes by so fast but right now it seems so slow. Are there any funny stories from you? Here's one from me. Last week sometime around 4:00 am, I was awake for some reason and all of a sudden Elder Soderling sits straight up in his bed and says,"Let's start with a prayer . . . Heavenly Father" and goes back to sleep. He woke up when he said "Heavenly Father" and wondered why he was praying so he went back to sleep. It was so funny. I still tease him about it a little. I think t...

The mission is great!!! I am loving it so much even when I am dead exhausted. Like I said previously, I am in Chinle which is said to be the heart of the reservation. It is absolutely gorgeous. It's like that perfect place to ponder the meaning of life. My companion, Elder Soderling, and I are getting along very well. he is quiet but has a great work ethic. Too bad he goes home on December. There is a good scripture in Jacob. I believe Chapter 2,3,or 4 in verse 2 that says "feast on the love of God." When I read that, i had to stop and think about what it meant. You can find your own thoughts but my thoughts were that we should always recognize the Lord's hand in all that we do and to always be thankful for our blessings. Elder Brady Parkin

Here is a picture that my parents received from Brady's mission president, President Beck. Doesn't he look good with that short haircut?

I AM IN ARIZONA!!!!! Well, my first area is Chinle. AZ on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Only two elders are being trained on the Rez and this is the first any have been trained for 6 years at least. This is a beautiful place. The weather is hot because it is desert but cooler than Phoenix because of latitude and altitude. Saturday was my first two baptisms. Two young girls: Jamie and Danielle ages 16 & 14. It was neat and I'm counting it even though I didn't really teach them. The trailer I live in is in the church parking lot. Got to go. Elder Brady Parkin

My mom received a call from Brady's mission president tonight. He wanted to let her know that Brady had arrived in Arizona safely and that the first area they were sending him to was Chinle, AZ. Chinle is located on a Navajo Indian Reservation and the people there are very poor. He told her that they only send their best missionaries out there and they hardly ever send the new ones there. This will be such a good learning and humbling experience for our missionary!

. . . I have been in the MTC now for 2 weeks and I leave for Arizona next Tuesday, July 29. The MTC is crazy cool and there are a lot of good stories. On Saturday, there was a practice teaching appointment and Elder Shill and I had a lady that was a member and a gentleman that wasn't. I didn't know this until after we taught. It was really cool, they had lots of questions about the Book of Mormon and somehow I knew where to find the answers. I was just rattling them off. It was so cool and the spirit was so strong. It really helped my testimony of the Book of Mormon grow. We got the July Ensign and I highly recommend reading about Pres. Henery B. Eyring and Deiter F Uchtdorf . They are such amazing men. I want to know more about Pres. Monson . . . Hope everything continues going well. Elder Brady Blair Parkin D&C 84:88

. . . The MTC is great. I love all of the learning. Elder Shill, my comp., is awesome . . . By the way, you remember how I didn't like playing the piano in front of people? Well I did it in priesthood and at the New Missionary Fireside. Before any of that happened and without any knowledge of the past, I was called as my Branch Music Coordinator. So Cool. Here is a must read scripture: 2 Nephi 4:28-35. It makes me happy! Love, Elder Brady Blair Parkin

WOW! Day 1 and I am havin' fun. I love it here. The people are great and you learn so much. My companion, Elder Shill, and I get along great and really connect. We are rooming with Elder Stevens and Elder Landeen. Elder Shill is from Jacksonville, Florida. All three of them are going to Jamaica so I am a little bit jealous but it is great. I love you so much and appreciate your thought and prayers. Love, Elder Parkin

Here are some pictures that my parents sent me to post from the MTC today. It was actually a slow day at the MTC with only 100-150 missionaries arriving today. (They are expecting around 450 next week!)

WOW!!!! I leave in 2 days. This is crazy. This past couple of weeks has been crazy. Since returning from my sisters house, it has been a week and a half of constant preparing for the mission. It is a lot harder than i thought that it would be. You have to go through and label everything and make sure you have everything six times so that you know nothing is missing, then you have to go to the store and buy all of the things that you are missing and from there you have to worry about all of the last minute little things. WHEW. Try saying that all in one breath. Well from here on out, my sister heather will be taking over my blog because as a missionary i have extremely limited access to computers and cannot blog. I hope that she doesn't mess it up too bad. Just kidding, Heather. She will do a great job and will be posting most all of the letters and pictures that i send her. Wish me luck.

So this past weekend has been a crazy one. I had a lot of family visiting over the weekend for various reasons. On Sunday i had to talk in my homeward and this next week i have to speak in my other ward. Anywho, because this was my "farewell" talk, i had a barbecue after where family and friends came to eat and talk. It was great and i got to spend time with everyone including my cute little nephews. (pictured above). The addresses for the MTC and my mission will be posted soon so don't anyone worry. Also if you want to know more, please e-mail me, you know my address. As of now i am spending time out of town with my big sis and am having the time of my life. Well, maybe not my life, but it sure is fun.

Well, this Friday is my last day at my workplace. I loved it there and i became like a second home to me. This final week will have a lot in store for me. I have had a manager that has promised me that he is going to write me up for any reason whether it is true or not. He told me that it is just so that he can 1.) write someone up and 2.) so that he can somehow get a leg up on me. He is a very sarcastic person so i don't think that it will happen but if it does, i will know that it isn't a big deal. Other than that, not much is really going on. I will be giving my final talk in church on Sunday and i hate public speaking so it will be fun, right? I guess i have to do it and i don't have a choice anymore. Oh, well.

I saw this on my sister's blog and thought that i would try. To see the full picture, right click on the picture itself and choose "View Image" then it will show the whole thing.

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Well, after the whole shock thing simmered down from all of the changing and shopping, i have been really excited. It just seems like things are falling into place for me, and it is a good feeling. I am now almost done with all of the shopping. All i have left to get is shoes, socks, and more white shirts. It is a crazy time and my family had to go into crisis mode but it looks like everything is going to be ready with plenty of time to spare. Except me that is. I still have a lot of things i want to do and a lot of people that i need to hang out with before i go that it is hard to keep everything straight. More time would be nice but at the same time, i am ready to go.

Well, today was a crazy day. As previously said, i am leaving on my mission earlier than i planned so things really had to be put into action. My mom woke me up this morning and took me shopping. Little did i know that by 3:00 we would have spent almost $500 and we haven't even gotten to the suits, shoes, and luggage, which are the biggies. At work to day on my lunch break, the manager and i got Chinese food from a local restaurant. Everyone know that the best part of the is the fortune inside the fortune cookie. It almost scared me when i read it because it said "Your path may be difficult but will be rewarding." I know, it's freaked me out because i knew it was true. The mission will be hard but worth it because then my wife will be more beautiful. I almost believed in fortune cookies for a second until my manager opened his and it said, "You will achieve perfection." Huh, i guess that i better hope that my outcome will be true at least.

We are all so excited for Brady's mission. This site will be going through a lot of changes the next couple of weeks (so please bear with us!) Please feel free to leave Brady comments by clicking on the comments at the bottom of the posts. You don't have to have a blogger account to do this. Just pick anonymous and sign you name up in your comment so Brady knows who it's from. Lastly click on publish your comment and Brady will be able to see it. Thank you all so much for the support and friendship you have given my brother. I know he appreciates it! ~Heather (Brady's sis)

This morning i received a call from my stake president saying that people from the mission office want me there earlier than scheduled. They want me on July 9 th which is only a month away. It is exciting, nerve wracking and scary all at the same time. I don't know all of the details because i still have to talk to my parents but yeah, that is big for me. Just thought y'all would want to know.

So i made a list of things that i want to do before my mission and one of the things was to read a lot of books. At first i made a huge list that had about 37 large books on it but i knew that i wouldn't be able to do that so i had to update it. It is now down to about 20 but i am still skeptical on completing the list. I really want to read good books and i don't know if i am going to like all of the books on my list or not and i don't want to waste time. So . . . if anyone recommends any books for me to read before i leave, please let me know in the comments and also tell my why i should read it. i am looking forward to seeing your recommendations and reading the books that y'all like.

I have decided that i am going to write reviews of sorts and maybe give y'all books to read or movies to watch. I think that it would be interesting to you and i know that it will be fun for me. This first book is "Anthem" by Ayn Rand. It is a book about a future civilization that has digressed and instituted some strict guidelines. In the book, there is a narrator that breaks the rules. The story follows him and his quest. This is a really good book that is interesting in the way that it is set up and written. The style is very modern especially coming out of the early 1900s. I think that y'all should definitely read this book because it give insight and it made me grateful for the things that i have that i had not thought about before (especially the ability to talk to the female species). ****1/2 of 5

Yesterday I started on a roll of 4-of-5 days of work. It is crazy and i never seem to get out of there on time. I usually get out at around 10:50 pm. The store is going through a lot of constant changes. The company finds the things that are selling well and then they have to place it so that there is more room on the shelves for it and so that the customer can get to it easier. Along with that, the items that don't sell either get condensed or deleted from our inventory. Customers don't like it when these changes occur and i got an ear full last night when i was working with on one of these "resets" of product. I usually don't mind it but for some reason this customer last night was really annoying me with her complaints. It isn't fun but it is what has to happen. Overall, i am enjoying my job but at the same time i cannot wait to quit and be a little more liberated. I guess that is understandable isn't it?

Tonight my parents and i began to solidify our family vacation for this year. It was a very exciting event filled with a lot of drama. Anywho , we decided that we are going to go down to Reno for two nights and with the in between day being a daytrip to Lake Tahoe. On the third day we are traveling to Sacramento for two nights and coming back on the fifth day. I think that the most exciting part of the trip is going to be the fact that i get to go to the American Idol Live 2008 Tour on July 9 in Sacramento. I am super pumped because i am a huge Idol fan and a big David Archuleta fan hence the first song on my playlist .

Well, there isn't a lot that is new. Yesterday was Memorial Day but i still had to work. Yeah it's a bummer but i work during the day so that i could hang out with some of my friends from the word in the evening. I had a good time and met some new people which, as some people may know, is not something that i am particularly good at. Today i got to spend some time catching up with Sophia, a high school friend, over lunch. It is always fun to hear from good friends and to spend time with them. I am hoping that i will be getting pictures for my entries in the near future but i don't know how to yet so y'all will have to deal with the ones that my sister will hopefully be able to get up for me soon.

If you are wanting to comment but can't, it is because something weird is going on with the blog. To find where to leave comments, just move your cursor straight across from the time at the bottom of the post. It should show up but don't go too far.

This is super exciting!!! My sister started a blog and then made it sound so appealing to me that i had to start one. So far so good. I love it when people comment so feel free to do so. I would love to hear from you. Right now my life is going pretty well, I am very excited for my new mission call to Phoenix, Arizona. It is hard to believe that it is that time already because it seems like only yesterday i was starting Junior High. Time sure flies.