7/22/10

I did get the card with the WTC pics and such. And the letters from your parents and the Williams.

 

Probably don´t send anything else until I have the address of my little flat in the field. The box should make it fine though.

 

Yeah, I get snacks occasionally, ;). Peachie-o´s, Twix, and the occasional Pepsi. Well, okay, a lot of Pepsi, but it´s still fine.

 

I´ve been hearing some more about the mission up there. For the most part, Pres. Hinckley isn´t very strict. He´s not Clegg, but his main concern is just to follow the rules in the white handbook, which are mostly common sense.

 

I guess a little aside about the handbook. There´s a Holland talk from around 2000 where he talks about it. ¨This isn´t something we just came up with. It wasn´t me and three other crotchety old men sucking down pickle juice and saying ¨All right! Let´s write this handbook! And put dat in dere! And that! Yeah! Get dem little bounders!¨

Basically, for every rule, there´s a story, so we follow them.

 

We get cell phones ;)

Depending on the area, you might end up spending three hours on a train to go proselyte for a bit, then three hours back to your home area. Schedule is a little different. In fact, it´s pretty much what my home schedule was-11:30 bedtime, 7:30 wake up. With the siesta from 2-4, where we go back, eat, and do some more personal study.

 

Yesterday we had to go to the outskirts of the city to apply for our residency card. That meant an hour long Metro ride, followed by an hours wait, and then a hour back. We had a guide who´s a local member, but, well...crazy. The lazy eye is handleable, though a tad unnerving, but he kept getting lost even though he´d been on Monday as well. Thankfully, we made it.

 

For the most part, I was better by Saturday. Just kept up on some decongestants and was fine.

 

We did hear that because there´s so many people here from different countries, sometimes we might end up teaching Romanians, South Americans, Frenchie frenchies ;), Armenians, all with different ideas and customs. And while we talk about how far America´s morals have slipped...we´re practically puritanical compared to Europe. They warned us to watch out for the nudist beaches, and to be prepared for some crazy things in lessons.

 

We´ll do a little thing for the 24th, President said.

 

For the most part, my spanish is fine. I can get across what I want to say generally, though sometimes I have to think of a word. But I´ll be fine in the field, as long as they´re not mixing it with other languages. And thankfully I´m not going to Malaga. Not only is it too hot, but the locals tend to mumble and slur all the words together. Makes it much more difficult to understand.

 

Yes, time is going by rather fast. Nearly two months already. And it´ll go faster out in the field. Before too long, I´ll be on a plane home. So I have to enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Don´t know any Miranda´s. Tell binner sorry. ;)

I know there´s some restrictions on music, so hold off for a bit until I see the list.

 

I don´t have anything else for now. For the most part, the days are routine, so there´s not a lot to talk about. Though, when I get back, President owes me a bunch of PowerPoints, so I´ll have those to show off when we get back.

 

Bradley.

7/15/10

I actually got the package with my card on Monday. Might have set a new mail record since mail doesn´t move on Saturday or Sunday here. Yes, the comics were funny as well. Particularly the one with Der Fuhrer.

 

I´ll leave the 27th or something like that. The rest of this week, the full next week, and then we´ll head up on Wednesday. When we get out there they´ll put us with a trainer for the first transfer (six weeks). Most of the missionaries here are from the US, and they´ll put me with an English speaking trainer for that purpose.

 

Unless, of course, I end up being called as Mission Secretary like Grandpa Seth. ;)

 

Okay, money. No, they don´t take the Almighty Dollar here (sadly), but all I have to do is take it to BBVA and get it changed. It´s not much of a hassle, but it might be easier to put it into my account. But for now I´m not really buying anything. And there´s no way I´m spending $91 on a soccer jersey. That´s Red Sox genuine jersey territory.

 

Yeah, it´s been pretty fast. The days are longish, but the weeks are exceedingly short, so that´s how it goes.

 

Hookay, two requests. One, I need two pictures, they´ll probably be easiest to find at Bookworms. The first is of Christ in the boat with Peter, James, and John, calming the sea. The second is of Pilate presenting Christ to the Jews. Both are by Simon Dewey. You´ll recognize them by their realism.

 

Second, I need a picture or two of the Green Tank. You can attach some to an email and send a few physicals, plz ;)

Speaking of which, did you ever get the front bumper tightened back up?

I´m not sure what to tell you to do with the books. It probably isn´t super great for them out on those shelves, no.

 

A turtle? Like one they found, or just bought? I`m reminded of that movie from a few years back, The Master of Disguise, with the idiot going ¨turtle! turtle!¨

 

Would you also do me a favor and just look around for a complete set of the Journal of Discourses? I´m curious to see if they´re really running $300 for a set. Most of it´s gospel, but occasionally one of the discourses wasn´t inspired. I think Brigham Young once said he saw people on the Moon (have to wonder if it was just Armstrong and he didn´t know how to interpret it).

 

We´ve sent out five others, so it´s down to about 20 now. Still a little full, but not as bad. I think there´s only one or two left in Provo for this group.

 

Tell the Booboo to behave. She is a little turd sometimes. Maybe throw some 2x4´s in the back for her to chew on? ;)

 

We speak of the Celestial Kingdom as a beautiful place, but I don´t think most of us understand how beautiful. A prophet once said that ¨if men could see even the Telestial Kingdom, they would kill themselves to get there! (and be happy too)¨

 

I´ll write more later.

 

Bradley.

7-8-10 #2

I´d wondered about some of the wording. The reason I asked for Manti is that one of the prophets, I think it was Brigham Young, said that the temple site was originally dedicated by Moroni when he was traveling to New York to bury the plates.

 

The Merrills are wonderful people. They´re actually here as temple workers, but the Church also called them as councilors in the MTC presidency. Elder Merrill is a former Air Force pilot, and Sister Merrill is delightful. They actually found us a spanish copy of If You Could Hie To Kolob, #284, which isn´t in the Spanish Hymnbook. Since that´s one of my five favorite Hymns (27, 29, 254, 284, 340), I was pretty happy, actually.

 

A funny thing to note about the Hymnbook, actually. The hymn ¨Rock of Ages¨ has a peculiar history. During the older live endowment sessions (still done at Salt Lake and St. George), that was the hymn that Lucifer and his false priest sung. How on Earth it ended up in the Hymnbook is a mystery, especially since it talks about ¨Hide me in the rock of ages at the day of judgment¨

 

I´m actually not sure that I´m going to be President anymore. I´m pretty sure the Lord will need me unencumbered from the demands of that office then. I won´t rule out Governor of our fine state, but the presidency is not my calling in this life. Church leadership is. After all, the President doesn´t do much of the ´teaching´part of the ¨You shall teach and lead many in this life and the life to come.¨ But the Lord will take care of America, until the end. Still, that doesn´t mean I intend to uninvolve myself from politics-far from it. But national leadership on that scale is not my duty here.

 

I realize my quote was somewhat depressing earlier. To better clarify, while he said that, and while revelation has revealed that this Earth is the most wicked of all of the Lord´s worlds, (indeed, being the only one who would crucify Christ), because of that, only the best, most strong spirits were sent here. Remember that in tough times.

 

Still, we´ll return to live with Him soon, as heirs of all that He has. As President says, think ¨Star Trek holodecks on steroids¨

 

I did get the letter from Brandon and Marae. I especially liked the bit about ¨It had nothing to do with a king with a lisp¨, since a mildly annoying Elder here has been insisting that was the case. ;)

 

Yes, please do give my baby a wash. She needed it before I left, actually.

 

I can´t think of anything else to add to this at the moment.

 

The Favorite. ;)

7-8-10

Okay, I can print off stuff here, so just send them digitally. There´s no reason to use up that much postage.

 

I suspected that Obama would do something stupid. Now he´s lost that war, and Gen. Petraeus can´t be far behind. All the good work that Bush accomplished will be undone. But McCrystal was right to say what he did, even if it was a slight breach of protocol. Protocol be, well, yeah. ;)

I doubt he realizes how he´ll go down in history as the worst president since James Buchanan allowing the South to cede before Lincoln came in.

 

Let´s put it this way. While the country is blessed in that no king shall ever rule over it again, (except for Christ), I know that the Lord isn´t too pleased with the way things are over there, and that we´re in for a rough ride. Rougher than the Cold War. The battles between the states will rival the Civil War, but remember that it´ll all turn out right in the end. Arizona will be blessed, due to the righteousness of the Saints there. That is why so many temples are being built there. Mesa was the most attended temple outside of Utah, and has been for some years. I trust Gila Valley is also remaining full in these trying times.

 

I know you´ve seen the picture of Christ, descending out of heaven flanked on either side by angels blowing trumpets of joy. Rarely is the full picture shown, however. The actual, full picture takes place in the desert...

 

As Joseph Smith once said, ¨This generation (meaning our time) is so wicked, they would crucify the Savior again.¨

 

Yeah, now there´s slightly too many people here. Too many for the close atmosphere we had before, but I know that it´s alright, as President Earl has shared all we needed to hear in private from him.

 

Tell Dad he can´t be leaving the lights on. Batteries don´t usually like that. As long as it´s driven once a week, it always runs fine, so that´s good.

 

I think we´ll have fireworks here if Spain wins the World Cup, so we´ll see how that goes. Saturday we went down to Lidl and bought some junk for a little party afterwards(thankfully they have Twix, M&M´s, and peachie-o´s here), and we had sundays after dinner, with cake a little later, so we were fine.

 

Okay, some chores for you. One, help Brandon unhook the 360 (pull any game out of it first) and take it outside and blow out the dust with a compressed air can. There´s only three cables to unhook, and they all only go back in one way, so it will be easy. Just don´t drop it...

 

Second, the desktop had some code issues and I couldn´t set up the automation center. So, you´ll need to do three things. One, Disk Cleanup. This is found in Start-All Programs-Accessories-System Tools-Disk Cleanup. It´ll scan the hard drive and then the box will pop up, just like it does at work. Make sure any option with a number other than 0 K is checked in the box, then press okay. If a prompt pops up asking ¨Are you sure?¨, press okay again. It´ll automatically close when it´s done. Then, Disk Defragmenter. This is found the same way you found Disk Cleanup. When it pops up, press the button marked ¨Defragment¨. Click ¨Yes¨on the pop up box, if it appears. When it´s done, close the report, and close the program.

 

That´s all the maintence tasks.

 

No, Pepsi is a little cheaper than 60 bucks, lol.

 

Thankfully it´s overcast today, since we´re taking the newbies into downtown again. I want to visit the armory in the Palace this time. Monday it hit 109, and it was about 102-105 the past few days.

 

I´m sure Brandon´s knees will be better in due time. He won´t have that pain his whole life.

 

Yeah, hopefully I won´t be in for as big of a cullture shock as President had. He left before the hippie culture started, came back to the US and had to spend a day in LAX. He said ¨I just knew the Second Coming was like a week away¨

 

Interesting double significance of rainbows. Not only is it a renewal of the covenant that the earth won´t be flooded again, it´s also a sign that the Second Coming is delayed another year. So when you stop seeing rainbows, that´ll be one sign.

 

That´s all I have for now. I´ll probably come down and send a short addendum a little later.

 

All my love,

 

Bradley (the favorite). ;)

Pictures from Pres. Earl from Madrid MTC

This is the group that will be going out to The Barcelona Spain Mission Field soon.  Bradley is 6'3" and standing on the bench in the back middle...He told me the kid on the right bottom is from Sweden and is 6'10".  Wow!  President and Sister Earl are the ones standing next to the missionary from Sweden.  They send us pictures like this...they truly are a blessing.
6/4/10 Update:  The couple on the bottom-left.  A couple in our ward Bro. Sis. Richarson.  This is their youngest daughters in-laws, Bro. Sis Merrill.  Both couples are from Gilbert Arizona....a super small world.  The Merrills emailed the Richardson's and said..."Hey, we have a young man here from Benson, AZ"  So many blessings are pouring out.  I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father...he comforts my heart in so many ways.

July 1 2010 x2

I had some spare time and figured I'd update you on today's excursions.

 

We hung around until after lunch, then caught the bus (The Metro doesn't extend over to the mall until 2011). It was a pretty tiny mall, and rather expensive, actually. 10 euros for eight AA batteries! (Roughly $13.00) I wasn't buying some, but someone else did. There wasn't a whole lot there. No Pepsi, unfortunately. Some of the elders were looking for Real Madrid soccer jerseys, but they're about 50-70 euros right now. No way I'd pay that much. Besides, you can't wear it in Barcelona unless you want to get pummeled. :)

 

We did go by the cheap little store in the area. Most everyone picked up a ton of Tobelerone, but I stuck with some peachy-o's and M&M's.

 

Still, the people are friendly, even to foreigners. Thankfully it's not like Japan or such. The swedish Elder is frequently called by the kids "alto vaso de agua", or, literally translated, "tall glass of water". 

 

It'll be weird being in a country that doesn't celebrate Independance Day, but I guess they put on a little party here. But it's on Sunday this year, so I'm not sure how big it'll be.

 

I guess that's it for today. Talk to you next week.

July 1 2010

Oh yes, I got the foot powder. And the crunch n munch. It made it through the trip here, though I´ve been just munching on the nutter butters. They feed us really well here-salmon, beef, canoli, etc. No soda though-I miss my Pepsi. I´ll probably buy one today when we go out.

 

As for the MTC, if the Temple is in the top of the picture, the MTC is to the left. It´s the taller building with all the windows. Floors 1-3 have the Distribution Center, the hotel, and the rooms for temple workers. Fourth floor is for instruction, fifth is for rooms, and sixth is for the dining hall.

 

The picture, though I don´t have it in front of me, should have had Elders Booher, Martherus, Bennett, and Ferguson. Then Sister Bell. Sister Bell is already out in the field, and Elder Bennett and Ferguson leave Tuesday, along with Elder Marchello and the Portuguese Elders, Piña, Silva, and Caputo de Sousa. Then, Wednesday, we get in five Italians, and ten more from Provo. We have an Elder from Sweden here. He´s 6´10¨!

 

It´s a small, close atmosphere here, so everyone is friends with everyone, don´t worry. And the President doesn´t like the way Provo teaches us, so we´re set up ¨School of the Prophets¨ style, like Joseph Smith held for the original Elders of the church. Now we actually get doctrine classes for us and our learning, not only Spanish classes. When you´re studying the gospel this intently, lots of questions pop up, and it´s nice to have them answered! Plus, President keeps his office door open most of the time, with a standing rule that we can come ask anything we want or need about scripture, or anything, really.

 

Saturday´s, we take the Metro to one of Madrid´s parks, Retiro, and walk around making contacts. Last week, (they assign temporary companionships at random), Elder Marchello and I met a man who was very interested. It could prove interesting, as he said ¨I´d love to hear the message, after my woman moves out. She´s the devil!¨ And I´m pretty sure he said he was in the country illegally... ;)

 

I did get your card with the pictures in it. Thank you very much. Would you find and send the dedicatory prayers of Manti, Mesa (the initial and rededicatory), and Gila Valley?

 

I know you´ll love this, but President Earl has been telling us that we have to be married within a year of our return, or he´ll kick our butts. As he said, ¨Yes, you´re on a mission to preach the gospel. But you´re on a mission for you as well! We expect you to go back, get married, and get to the temple. Then all you have to do is stay on the path.¨ Since he´s released in 2012 as well, and lives in Gilbert, he probably could!

 

Now that the temple is open, we´re back to going. We did two sessions on Tuesday, and the normal session this morning.

 

The weather is lovely here. It´s pretty much like Arizona, maybe just a tad more humid, but other than that, fine. A lot of the other Elders are ¨Oh, it´s hot!¨. I just laugh, because it´s nice. Getting a decent tan as well. Barcelona and the Islands are supposed to be like San Diego, and Bilbao is a little colder.

 

We took a trip into town last week and saw the city. Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, and the cathedral next to it (which wasn´t the best of places. Lots of unholy feelings in that place). The Metro drivers are on strike though, so I don´t think we´re going anywhere today.

 

The other night, when Spain beat Portugal in the game, there were horns and firecrackers going off all across the city. Lots of happy people now.

 

I´m pretty sure that ENS doesn´t count. But I don´t have a dictionary around at the moment.

 

I heard going through the airport that General McCrystal had made some comments about Obama, and was in trouble. Has he resigned his commission, or been court martialed? If he leaves, the war in Afghanistan will be lost. Or we´ll end up with North Afghanistan and South Afghanistan. Sound familiar?

 

Don´t feel goofy about talking to God in your head throughout the day. He´s your Father, so of course he wants to hear from you. And I´ll be taken care of, always. ¨You shall be protected from any harm while you preach the gospel.¨

 

Yes, U.S. Dollars are made with recycled jeans, actually. That´s why you can see fibers in the paper, and why they have that distinctive texture. Makes it much harder to counterfeit.

 

As for prayer, there´s no proper way. Sometimes I won´t say anything for a bit, just thinking of what best to say. As long as you have a sincere heart, God will get the message. As for the Book of Mormon, read it like a novel. Sometimes the interpretations are difficult, or perhaps not needed by the reader at the moment.

 

I´m taking pictures, I just figured I´d get a decent amount before sending one of the cards home. And the batteries charged fine.

 

Yes, we´re able to shop here. There´s a little store nearby, and we can take the bus or Metro to the mall during free time. I haven´t needed anything yet though.

 

That´s all that I have for now.

 

Bradley.