A Mountain To Climb
This last week was a very interesting one so get ready for quite the update.
July 20, 2020 Mon
Today was P-Day! We slept in, did some chores, I called family, then De Voe and I joined Nielsen and Knowles on a hike. In Hurricane there's a Mountain called "Mollies Nipple". It's shaped like... a nipple...and we climbed it. It was painful hike though, and I could make a conference talk out of the experience. After the hike we filmed as much as we could of "The District" but complications arose and we didn't finish. That's alright though. Also 7 months today!
July 21, 2020 Tues
We went shopping, did a little planning, and edited what parts of the video we had. It's pretty good. De Voe and I also met a couple of the new Elders. Nielsen's new companion is Elder Williams and Knowles new companion is Elder Tui'one. (He knew Eli Morgan in Sierra Leone btw.)
July 22, 2020 Weds
We met our new Zone Leaders today. Elders Earle and Ahrens. De Voe and I are splitting the area with them. They came over, we had lunch and talked about the area. They seem like good guys. After that De Voe and I went for a walk, got dinner, stopped by Hurricane west, had a solid day.
July 23, 2020 Thurs
We did some contacting this morning, grabbed subway for lunch, went on a small field trip to help Hurricane West with some stuff, had a lesson with members over zoom, and finally finished filming for "The District"! YES!
July 24, 2020 Fri
We had District Council Meeting today and got to know Elders Williams and Tui'one a little more. We had pizza for lunch together, then De Voe and I worked on finishing "The District" and we did! President Kaluhiokalani told us that after 5:00 pm it would be P-Day because it's Pioneer Day. So our District played Basketball. Afterwards we went to Hurricane West and showed "The District" they loved it.
July 25, 2020 Sat
We went for a walk today which was nice. We got to spend more time with Zone Leaders, we hung out with the elders in Hurricane West, and unfortunately had to reschedule a lesson.
July 26, 2020 Sun
Today was a rollercoaster.
Bad news first.
The Zone Leaders came over and told us that Sister Kaluhiokalani wanted "The District" taken down from Facebook because "we didn't get permission to use their name in the creds. She didn't like the jokes about disobedience, and said that it isn't a good representation of the mission." So I put it on private so no one can see it. The ZL's, I could tell hated asking this of me. Elder Nielsen also came by frustrated and upset about this situation. Afterwards we went over to Gish and Saucier's and had a tearful conversation. Now the ZL's and AP's (Assistants to the President) want to meet with us tomorrow to chat.
I plan on talking with President President and Sister Kaluhiokalani about "The District" later this week. The whole situation is kinda just frustrating right now but I'm doing my best to keep a level head and praying for guidance, so don't worry about me. Besides my Mom has access to it so y'all can still see it if you want.
Bad news over.
Good news from today.
De Voe and I had two awesome member lessons today and even set up a time for an online Fireside with the youth.
Gish, Saucier, Hansen, Huxford, De Voe, and I are now all easily Best friends. And I saw Sister Reed! My old Seminary Teacher! It's the little things.
(We found out that Sister Reed just moved to Hurricane a few days before. They happened to run into each other while he was out walking in her neighborhood with the other Elders. He told us that after having a hard day this was such a highlight. We are grateful for this encounter and know that our boy is being watched over. God is good and seeing His tender mercies unfold is a blessing.)
Anyway I wish to tell about that Climb for earlier. We started our Climb around one o'clock. Huxford and Hansen did the Climb earlier and apparently Huxford threw up cause he had over exerted himself. I thought that was hilarious, but I soon understood why he threw up. The climb was very tough. There are many steep parts and many careful steps were apart of this journey. We felt the need to take many breaks on this trek to where the mountain flattens out. After close to 30 minutes of hiking, we reached a clearing point where it flattened out. Our journey was finally over...nope! I saw that Mollies nipple was right and front of us and we had much more to go. We continued the strenuous journey to the top until finally we reached it. The view was great and beautiful, and I had conquered the nipple. Now that we had reached the top came the realization, we still had to go back down.
Life is a lot like this hike. We face steep trials that require careful and thoughtful footing. We go through trials up till the point where we think "life can't get much better than this." But then we see it can. So we continue onward through the trials until our goal is reached. The view is more breathtaking than ever, and not just because we're exhausted at a higher elevation.
The Gospel provides that goal and that desire to reach that goal, and a guide to help you reach that goal. His name is Jesus Christ. Through him all things are possible. I challenge you to pray to him and ask for help in anything that you require help with. And if you ask in faith, you will receive that help. I promise this, and share this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I love you all, shoot me an email, and keep me in you Prayers, I'm gonna need em.
-Love, Elder Bradford
Parental Note:
Thanks for all your love and concern for our Elder. We're sorry this post is a little slow in getting up. Life has been busy. We are grateful for being able to speak to Elder Bradford every week. The quality of our communication is a vastly different experience than Uganda. So being able to speak to him (at a normal hour of the day) about the ups and downs of his missionary life is a gift. And although this week was a hard one for him, it was/is also an opportunity to learn and grow. Having the choice to learn from your experiences is a blessing. And when all is said and done he will be able to look back on this time and recall all the blessings of growth it provided.
Much love,
Kristen and Jeff
July 20, 2020 Mon
Today was P-Day! We slept in, did some chores, I called family, then De Voe and I joined Nielsen and Knowles on a hike. In Hurricane there's a Mountain called "Mollies Nipple". It's shaped like... a nipple...and we climbed it. It was painful hike though, and I could make a conference talk out of the experience. After the hike we filmed as much as we could of "The District" but complications arose and we didn't finish. That's alright though. Also 7 months today!
July 21, 2020 Tues
We went shopping, did a little planning, and edited what parts of the video we had. It's pretty good. De Voe and I also met a couple of the new Elders. Nielsen's new companion is Elder Williams and Knowles new companion is Elder Tui'one. (He knew Eli Morgan in Sierra Leone btw.)
July 22, 2020 Weds
We met our new Zone Leaders today. Elders Earle and Ahrens. De Voe and I are splitting the area with them. They came over, we had lunch and talked about the area. They seem like good guys. After that De Voe and I went for a walk, got dinner, stopped by Hurricane west, had a solid day.
July 23, 2020 Thurs
We did some contacting this morning, grabbed subway for lunch, went on a small field trip to help Hurricane West with some stuff, had a lesson with members over zoom, and finally finished filming for "The District"! YES!
July 24, 2020 Fri
We had District Council Meeting today and got to know Elders Williams and Tui'one a little more. We had pizza for lunch together, then De Voe and I worked on finishing "The District" and we did! President Kaluhiokalani told us that after 5:00 pm it would be P-Day because it's Pioneer Day. So our District played Basketball. Afterwards we went to Hurricane West and showed "The District" they loved it.
July 25, 2020 Sat
We went for a walk today which was nice. We got to spend more time with Zone Leaders, we hung out with the elders in Hurricane West, and unfortunately had to reschedule a lesson.
July 26, 2020 Sun
Today was a rollercoaster.
Bad news first.
The Zone Leaders came over and told us that Sister Kaluhiokalani wanted "The District" taken down from Facebook because "we didn't get permission to use their name in the creds. She didn't like the jokes about disobedience, and said that it isn't a good representation of the mission." So I put it on private so no one can see it. The ZL's, I could tell hated asking this of me. Elder Nielsen also came by frustrated and upset about this situation. Afterwards we went over to Gish and Saucier's and had a tearful conversation. Now the ZL's and AP's (Assistants to the President) want to meet with us tomorrow to chat.
I plan on talking with President President and Sister Kaluhiokalani about "The District" later this week. The whole situation is kinda just frustrating right now but I'm doing my best to keep a level head and praying for guidance, so don't worry about me. Besides my Mom has access to it so y'all can still see it if you want.
Bad news over.
Good news from today.
De Voe and I had two awesome member lessons today and even set up a time for an online Fireside with the youth.
Gish, Saucier, Hansen, Huxford, De Voe, and I are now all easily Best friends. And I saw Sister Reed! My old Seminary Teacher! It's the little things.
(We found out that Sister Reed just moved to Hurricane a few days before. They happened to run into each other while he was out walking in her neighborhood with the other Elders. He told us that after having a hard day this was such a highlight. We are grateful for this encounter and know that our boy is being watched over. God is good and seeing His tender mercies unfold is a blessing.)
Anyway I wish to tell about that Climb for earlier. We started our Climb around one o'clock. Huxford and Hansen did the Climb earlier and apparently Huxford threw up cause he had over exerted himself. I thought that was hilarious, but I soon understood why he threw up. The climb was very tough. There are many steep parts and many careful steps were apart of this journey. We felt the need to take many breaks on this trek to where the mountain flattens out. After close to 30 minutes of hiking, we reached a clearing point where it flattened out. Our journey was finally over...nope! I saw that Mollies nipple was right and front of us and we had much more to go. We continued the strenuous journey to the top until finally we reached it. The view was great and beautiful, and I had conquered the nipple. Now that we had reached the top came the realization, we still had to go back down.
Life is a lot like this hike. We face steep trials that require careful and thoughtful footing. We go through trials up till the point where we think "life can't get much better than this." But then we see it can. So we continue onward through the trials until our goal is reached. The view is more breathtaking than ever, and not just because we're exhausted at a higher elevation.
The Gospel provides that goal and that desire to reach that goal, and a guide to help you reach that goal. His name is Jesus Christ. Through him all things are possible. I challenge you to pray to him and ask for help in anything that you require help with. And if you ask in faith, you will receive that help. I promise this, and share this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
I love you all, shoot me an email, and keep me in you Prayers, I'm gonna need em.
-Love, Elder Bradford
Parental Note:
Thanks for all your love and concern for our Elder. We're sorry this post is a little slow in getting up. Life has been busy. We are grateful for being able to speak to Elder Bradford every week. The quality of our communication is a vastly different experience than Uganda. So being able to speak to him (at a normal hour of the day) about the ups and downs of his missionary life is a gift. And although this week was a hard one for him, it was/is also an opportunity to learn and grow. Having the choice to learn from your experiences is a blessing. And when all is said and done he will be able to look back on this time and recall all the blessings of growth it provided.
Much love,
Kristen and Jeff
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