Guess Who??? And the RULES!!!

This is Kelly's last email as a missionary. It's been a great ride - for all of us!!!

Nothing like going out with a Big Bang event. Last Saturday, we had a Spanish temple tour for the whole Sacramento Mission, including the wards/branches in Manteca, Elk Grove, Sacramento AND STOCKTON!!! Yeah you guessed it - I got to see Arturo and Heidi, Rafael, Martin and the Gonzalez's (our family that got married and then baptized). It was SO great to see them, and the sisters down there told me that most of them came just to see me. Arturo was to the point that he made Sister Copier come find me and prove to him that I was there! It was so great to see all of them again, and I am so excited for you to meet them one of these days. The temple tour part went really well - lots of success. Then we ended the night with 5-6 baptisms of people who had been preparing. Elder Dudley thought he would be kind and send me on my way, singing a musical number with Sister Copier. It turned out really nice, especially since we practiced it for 5 minutes before the baptism. What a great night!

The Camacho family were also there and they informed me that they are going to the temple on the 14 of November, and they've invited me to come; so hopefully I can make arrangements, and anyone else that wants to come, to go back and visit and be their for that.

Yesterday was my last Sunday at church and the Primary kids did their program. It was so cute. Half the kids didn't even reach the microphone, and there was one little girl in particular who was so cute to watch; she didn't know all of the words and so she would give it her all anyway and belt the parts she did know!

So now onto the rules. As I know all of you are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hermana Bradfield, here are the established rules:

1. Members of the opposite sex must remain outside a 5-foot radias; no touching is allowed (except for Dad).

2. When reversing, the front seat passenger MUST stand behind the vehicle and direct traffic to ensure a safe and successful reversal of the vehicle.

3. At 9:59 A.M., everything stops until we have recited "Our Identity" as found in 3 Nephi 5:13

4. Companion of the same sex must always be within sight and sound.

5. Nightly planning must begin and end with a prayer and must be done under the direction of the Spirit. Also weekly planning takes place on a day and time that has been selected by the head of household.

6. Someone must be standing by my side when holding infants. I have been out of practice for sometime and the shock of it might just be too much!

7. Car contacting: 3 people daily must be invited to attend our weekly church service and to listen to the missionairies while driving in their cars. These may take place while at stop signs or stoplights or while parked in a parking lot.

8. Shaded glasses only may be worn while riding in the car or on your bike, but must be removed while speaking to someone.

9. Lock your heart. No comments will be made referring to the opposite sex and dating for the 4 weeks (AT LEAST) upon my return.

10. Companionship inventory must take place on a nightly basis. What did your companion do well that day and what can you do better. This is also a good time to bring up anything that might be causing disunity within the companionship!

11. Lots of hugs and kisses are required upon arrival as well as photos (Katelyn!!!) It's my last day as a missionary!

There are 10 rules. Due to the time, all other rules will have to be stated at a later and more appropriate time and place.

With Lots of Love,
Hermana Bradfield

It's Flying By...

**Kelly returns home from her mission on Wednesday, October 21. She will be speaking in church on Sunday, October 25 @ 9:00 A.M. in the Red Leaf Ward @ the Westminster Stake Center in Broomfield, CO. Everyone is invited to join us as we welcome her home and listen to her talk.**

Yes, the time is flying and I can't figure out where it's gone to. It's crazy! If you had told me that my mission would have flown by this fast, I wouldn't have believed it. This last week and a half is going to be the best. It started last Saturday with a Mega Blitz we did, with the Assistants to the President and the Sacramento and Elk Grove Zones combined. About 40 some missionaries joined forces together and went to work in one set of missionarie's area. It was so cool. They set the goal for 50 returns, and everyone invited to be baptized. I was sent on exchanges with Sister Abakite and we had a great time. We talked to at least 30 some people in a couple of hours and invited all of them to be baptized. The funny thing is that most of them say "yes" to the conditional, "If you came to know this is true, would you follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority?" But many of them are not ready at that time to listen to our message. It's ok though, we are just out there planting the seeds!

While on the Mega Blitz, we saw a guy riding his bike down the street, heading our way, so we walked across the street, stood in front of his path and waved him down. When he got to us, he stopped and that led to the best contact of the day. His name was Ken Jaggers and he puts together computers and gives them away to kids that need them (for internet access and word processor for school.) He was so cool. He also is an in-home care giver and takes care of an older woman. We asked him more about himself and had a nice conversation with him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, our missions and what we do as missionaries, the process of going on a mission, etc.; and then we asked him if he would like to attend church with us on Sunday and invited him to be baptized. He said "Yeah, I would definitely be interested in checking that out." So we set him up for church the next day and told him his ride would come pick him up around 10:30. The elders in his area were thrilled and I was thrilled for them. I hope they got him set up and to church yesterday. I'll have to call and ask the Assistants or President Jardine to check up on that for me, or ask President at interviews. It was awesome. Our Mega Blitz ended up with 56 returns! It was awesome.

Things are going really well as far as the work. We had a baptism on Saturday. We've been working with an excommunicated member who has wanted to be baptized for quite some time now, and we got the OK from Bishop to start working with her and preparing her for baptism. It was such a sweet and neat experience to be a part of her "conversion" experience and helping her make that step of membership once again in the Kingdom of God here on earth. She is an amazing woman and I'm sure it was a wonderful moment for her and her family.

Bishop asked me to bear my testimony yesterday, since it was Fast and Testimony Meeting and next week is the Primary program. I didn't know what to say and was a little nervous, but when I got up there, I said a silent prayer and the Lord gave me the words to say. I just want you all to know that I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves us. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to pave the way for us that we may return and live with him again. He offered himself a ransom for us, he bled and died for us so that we could be cleansed of our sins and return back to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. I know our Savior and Redeemer lives. He is the head of this church and is leading and guiding us in this great work of building up His kingdom and preparing us for his coming. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His true church, restored to the earth once again by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Through the guidance, direction and the power of God, he restored that same church and we have evidence of that restoration today, which is the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. With the Bible and the Book of Mormon together, we have the fulness of the Gospel, or teachings, of Jesus Christ on the earth once again. A big part of why I am here is because of the Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful to our Heavenly Father for the love and mercy that he shows each and everyone of us. I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson, and that as we follow his guidance and direction, we may know the way to happiness here on this earth and the way to reach salvation and exaltation in the life to come with our families forever.

I love you all! I can't say that enough. Thank you so much for the examples and love. I wouldn't be who I am today without it! I wish you all a wonderful week until next Monday!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Why???

Why do you all have to twist everything I say? I said to pay extra close attention at conference because Sister Laird and I will be working on a surprise when I get home... You might want to keep studying the words, and spread the word to the rest of the family (Gma and Gpa and aunts and cousins) because this surprise is going to be bomb! I never said I was going to be part of conference in any way! I'm glad everyone enjoyed conference. I feel like all the questions I had were answered in the first session,AND I LOVED Elder Holland's talk! Wow! What an amazing speaker! He is my favorite apostle as far as talks go. He was holding back so much in that talk. I love Elder Holland.

So, I gave my departing testimony at zone conference last Thursday. The elders are all so kind as to remind me that I go home... Even the assistants (punks!)... They won't think it's funny when their time comes!:)

Things are going well here. We had a family come to conference with us on Sunday morning, and we are going to visit them tonight! I feel bad because there isn't really a lot of time to write again, and I don't have much to report on. I am feeling a little lost for things to write about seeing as I will be seeing all of you in a couple of weeks. Sorry this letter isn't going to be anything exciting, but I did want you all to know I was thinking about you and that I love you! I hope you have a wonderful week. Tell everyone I said "Hi!"

Love Always,
Hermana Bradfield

Bueno!

BUENOS DIAS!!!

Let me just say that this last week there have been quite a few times where my stomach has literally dropped to my butt! Last Wednesday, after picking up the new sister, Hermana Freile from Ecuador, Florida and Utah, I went to the temple, departing dinner and testimony meeting with the other departing missionaries. It was so great to go to the temple again, but I'm not going to lie, it was SO weird just sitting around the house, visiting with the other missionaries and not going out to work! The dinner was good and the testimony meeting was good, except for the fact that I was SUPER nervous; and it was great seeing everyone there. The dating advice I thought was a little weird, but I guess that is to be expected. Everyone has made it a point to tell me it's like I've been to the other side and then back again. I'm grateful that I did get to come back for a little while longer!

Sister Freile is awesome. She converted to the church, her and her mom, when she was 13, and she was born and lived in Ecuador until she was 8 and then moved to Florida. Then she went to school at BYU, so she's been around I guess you could say. She's a great addition to our companionship and I love having her around. Being in 3-somes has proved to be quite a treat! I love being in a 3-some and Sister Wyatt is doing a fabulous job in helping me train. I think the new responsibility has been a good thing for her.

Sister Laird came back to visit with her mom. She came out with us on Thursday night and we ate dinner with her and Karoly's family yesterday; so I got to talk with her quite a bit. She is doing really well and we are going to be planning a surprise for General Conference; so you all better PAY ATTENTION in Conference! It's going to be "bomb"!

It's been weird to think about how these are the last few weeks of my mission. Last night we had our transferly meeting with the Stake President, and he shared the story about his last day in the mission field. He had a sense of urgency and when he knocked on the last door, he knew it was going to be his last. Nothing came of it, but he said he came away feeling like he did everything he could. I seriously was so sick to my stomach listening and it made me think about how I need to be treating every day that I have as if it were my last day, and the last door. I think that President Williams was inspired to share those words, even though it did make me sick, because I needed to hear it.

I just want you all to know that I have a testimony of this gospel. This is Jesus Christ's true church, restored to the earth once again, through the Prophet Joseph Smith. What an amazing experience it has been to be able to share this message with everyone these past 19 months. The gospel changes lives and it's been a blessing to see that in the lives of others and my own life as well. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people I have had the chance to serve. They have helped me become the person I am today. I know that my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love each and everyone of us. Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer and through Him, all of us may live again with our families forever.

On that happy note, let me kill the Spirit by sharing the C.A.M.E. moment of the week:

While out tracting, I caught a guy picking a very deep wedgy and had no intentions of shaking his hand; but Sister Freile, who hadn't seen, went right for it and I had no choice. Big Boy Butt Hands... Lets just say that we used lots of hand sanitizer when we got back to the car! YUCK!

Love you all and on that happy note, have a GREAT week!

Love Always
Hermana Bradfield

Another Baby??? ;)

Yep that's right... President Jardine found out last week that the 2 Spanish sisters scheduled for November got bumped up to this transfer, and I'll be training again in a threesome with Sister Wyatt as well! I'm going to be a "mom" again! Crazy... It's always so cool to see the Lord work His miracles, especially in missionary work!

So Sister Wyatt and I are staying and we are going to be training a native speaker. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for these last couple transfers and the opportunity I've had to serve Him with these amazing new sisters. It's been a great blessing and now he is answering one more prayer, one I didn't think would happen, and that's to have a native Spanish-speaking companion! I am so excited and I hope that my Spanish-speaking abilities and accent will improve drastically this last transfer.

[WOOHOO! We almost got the boot out of the office for a meeting, but they told us we could stay if we could handle being locked in for 15 minutes... I think we can handle it ;)]

MOM- Would it be possible for you to send me the BiNGo Conference game so I can use it with some of our investigators and recent converts? Thank you so much for sending me my card and the crunchies. Sister Wyatt and I have pretty much devoured them all.

We got a nice phone call from Elder Cisternas last night, our district leader (I've served with him all but 4 transfers of my mission, including serving near him at the MTC!), who was laughing his head off until he finally said in an Argentinian-English accent, "Hahahahaha! I get to see you die!!!" It was funny and I can't seem to escape the truth that time is winding down. Tomorrow after we go and pick up the new sister, I'm staying with the other missionaries, that are going home on Thursday, to go to the temple and dinner with them. So Sister Wyatt will be training by herself the first day, and I'm going to be hanging out with all the "trunky" missionaries... I'm really excited about going to the temple!

Today we will be destroying SID (the purple/pink unicorn pinata that has been the theme for this transfer in our zone.) We've worked hard to get the "star power" to defeat S(atan)I(n)D(isguise) and now the moment has come. We were all told to bring the ball of our choice to defeat SID, so Sister Wyatt and I decided to use our "SID whacker" and a couple of golf balls. Oh yeah, it's going to be good!

This morning I was reading a really good talk by M. Russell Ballard from March 3, 2002 about how we can put on the armor of God and protect ourselves. I would recommend that you all look it up and read it (from a CES fireside). That scripture in Ephesians is probably my favorite scripture. I love thinking about the armor of God and the way it illustrates the battle in which we are fighting today, not a battle against flesh, but against principalities and powers of darkness. As we arm ourself with the armor of God, with the little acts of righteousness we do everyday, we will increase our own defenses and strenghten our armor every day! It was such a good talk! READ IT!

I can't wait for this Sunday. President Winkle, the temple president of the Sacramento Temple, is going to be speaking to us about the promised blessings and importance of the Book of Mormon, specifically for the Latin American people. It's going to be so cool. I have grown to love these people and I have loved getting to know them and serve them, and be a part of their families. They are truly amazing people!

I don't remember if I told you, but Angie Walker (aka to you Sister Walker from Savory Ponds Ward) has come out with me on exchanges a few times now and it's been so fun. She's doing really well and she told me to tell you "Hi!" for her.

Some C.A.M.E.'s for the week:
1- The elders had a baptism this week of a women who has been investigating the church for a long time. The elder was very nervous as he performed the baptism and the sister forgot what she was supposed to do as she was immersed in the water; so the elder had a hard time lifting her up out of the water. Poor guy, but it does happen sometimes, especially when nervous.

2- I had a less active ask me if I was going to give her my Bible when I went home... It caught me off guard because I had never said anything about giving my Bible away and I felt bad telling her that I was planning on using it after the mission... The good news is the Church finally finalized copy right stuff and released the Church's edition of the King James version of the Bible in Spanish with all the correct translations and foot notes/cross references; so everyone is excited about that!

Well, that's all I have to say for now! I love you all and I wish you a wonderful week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Buenos Dias!

How is everyone? Hopefully everyone is doing well with school and work. Things are going well here. Sister Wyatt and I got a head cold this week so we've been a little under the weather; but things are looking up once again, so that's good news!

Today was a different p-day. The zone decided to go to RPM, a indoor race track, and race go karts. It was fun but to me definitely not worth the $10 (which is discounted for missionaries) you have to pay. Luckily for us, we have a couple of elder companionships that live with members, that help them out more than is necessary with food and such, and they offered to cover Sister Wyatt and me. I didn't have any intentions of racing and was only planning on watching; but they all insisted, so I figured why not!

Ok, I'm gonna go ahead and get started with this weeks C.A.M.E. moment...
1. Tracting into an opening garage only to see the guy coming out of his house in his underwear... YES it happened last night. So to make things NOT awkward, I continued contacting the guy as if nothing was wrong... The moment we were out of ear shot and sight, Sister Wyatt and I couldn't help but bust out laughing! That guy was not expecting to get caught! We asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. Sadly, he said no!

There you have it... This weeks EXTREME C.A.M.E. moment.

Other C.A.M.E. moments:
2. All the elders and my companion counting down my days for me. I hate it, but they all find it very amusing! I personally feel like they are the trunky ones, not me!

3. People who don't understand the NO CONTACT rule who are of the opposite sex. It's always weird when someone who doesn't know or understand that rule comes up to put their arm around you or give you a hug! What do you say??? "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Touch me not or God shall smite thee..."-Abinadi

Since we were sick this week, Sister Wyatt and I were told to take it easy and ended up staying in all day Wednesday. I hate staying in and not being able to go out and work. I feel very unproductive. BUT, although we were sick, we went over to visit the Islas family's cousin, Humberto and Norma, who just lost their 4 year old to a fever. We've been visiting them on and off for the last month and decided to go by and visit them again this week. We set up an appointment and watched "Finding Faith in Christ." They really enjoyed it and we told them what our hopes were for them as far as being baptized, coming to church and later being sealed as a family; they said that we could keep preparing them. It might take a while, but then again it might not. Norma came to church this week and loved it, and we are praying that Humberto gets Sunday mornings off from work so that he can go! They are a great family!

MIRACLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! WHOOHOO!!! YEAH! This week's miracle has to be Ricky. Ever since Alma,his mom, was diagnosed with breast cancer, he's been really closed up and claimed that he didn't believe in God or Jesus Christ and all kinds of bologna... Anywho, we went over to listen to a conference talk with him from the 2006 Annual Conference given by Thomas S Monson on "Maka Fetes" and the different kinds of lures Satan tries to distract us with. It's a really good talk but Ricky, being a typical "punk" teenager, was letting anything and everything be a distraction to him. With God on our side, we said something that grabbed his attention and he said, "I have noticed that!" It completely changed everything! He opened up once again and we are going back over tomorrow to finish our plan to help him stay strong in the gospel. It was a MIRACLE, nothing less!

I was reading about Joseph Smith's experience and pondering over it today: I just love his story. He had a question, in which he wanted to act. Not knowing what to do or what was right, what God wanted him to do, he humbly and faithfully asked God to tell him what was right, with every intention of acting upon that answer. How many of us are like that? How many of us ask "What does God want me to do?" or "Who does God want me to be?" I know there have been many times I catch myself thinking "What do I want?" or "Who do I want to be?" and when I go to the Lord in prayer for guidance, it's hard to know what's right. I was listening to President Eyring's talk, from the same General Conference, about an experience he had when he was younger. He prayed for hours, searching for the right answer, but it wasn't until he changed his attitude from "What do I want?" to "It doesn't matter what I want, but what You want! Thy will be done!" that the Spirit was able to speak to him and guide him to what the Lord knew was best for him, with or without the outcome President Eyring wanted. As a missionary, I have personally gained a testimony of this principle. This is the Lord's work and it's not about "What do I want to do today?" but rather "What would the Lord have us do today?" Our Heavenly Father loves us and is ready to give us the guidance we seek. No one knows better than our Heavenly Father and as we seek and follow his guidance, no matter what it may be, we will be shaped and molded into the child of God that he knows we can be, we can reach our full potential!

I love you all so much and I wish you a wonderful week. Remember next week is transfers so I won't be writing until Tuesday!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Buenas Dias!

Como estan todos? Les quiero mucho! Everything is well in the Grove. Not much exciting happened this last week. We had interviews with President on Wednesday. It went really well;I always enjoy meeting with President. And the best part was that we FINALLY got to be the first group, which meant that we got to go out and work that day! SAWEET. It was a good day!

We found a family at the beginning of the week and went back to teach the mom and daughter again. It went really well. She read in the Book of Mormon and she read more than what we left. She said she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that the church was restored, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet; BUT she's still Catholic as of right now and she's not ready to change. We invited her to be baptized anyway and she said no, BUT she said she wants to come to the baptism this weekend.

Karoly, Andrea's mom, is getting baptized... Again! She was baptized when she was nine, but now she has to be baptized again because we can't find her records anywhere. Apparently they didn't get taken care of right the first time. Anyway, it's been fun teaching her, and we are getting ready to teach her and her husband the Word of Wisdom this weekend. We are trying really hard to reactivate her husband.

It's so great to see the changes in the lives of the people we teach and get to know. Sometimes its hard and it feels like you aren't making a difference in the lives of the people, but I was reading in the new Ensign about the sister who faithfully did her visiting teaching assignment, even though she never thought she was making a difference. By the end, when the less active sister she was asked to visit was getting ready to move, she thanked her visiting teacher and told her that because of her love and friendship, her and her less active husband were going to go to church in their new ward. Sometimes I've felt the same way, that nothing I do makes a difference but it does. If it does nothing but plant a seed, that's good enough. I may or may not see the fruits of my labors, but I know that they haven't been wasted, and that goes for anyone who serves others.

Some more C.A.M.E. (Common Awkward Missionary Experiences)for today:
1. Talking to people thru ridiculous black or white security screen doors, with hundreds and thousands of little holes about this size -> O (NO JOKE!) You can't see who you are talking to 90% of the time, and sometimes you don't know where to even look; we don't know if we are looking at their face or above their heads or at their chest... it's so awkward, it's funny!

2. Walking around in the wind and your skirt starts to fly up; OR in the middle of a door contact! It's not even awkward anymore for me to do a swift movement to tuck my skirt inbetween my legs.

I love you all very much and I hope you have a great Labor Day and week!

Love always,
Hermana Bradfield

Hola!

Another week! I can't believe how fast they are going by!

Not much new to report on today. These last few weeks have been really slow as far as finding people to teach. We find people but we have a hard time getting them to church, or to progress for that matter! It's crazy BUT the less active work is going really well. Last night we had a cottage meeting (a name for a missionary-themed fireside they do every 6 weeks or so) and the Villarruel family came. They were less active when I got here, but we've been working with them and little by little they've become more and more active. They are now staying all three hours at church and I set them up with Bishop Almendariz to talk about setting a goal for receiving the priesthood and going to the temple. He's going to visit with them next Sunday!

Bishop and Sister Almendariz are so great! Sister Almendariz doesn't speak much Spanish and Bishop has been serving on the high counsel for many, many years before receiving his call as bishop; and I just love serving with the both of them. We are actually at the Bishop's house right now! They live WAY far out of the way but a while ago, Bishop was telling us about the pear butter that his wife makes. So we asked her about it and the told us to come down and that she would teach us. So here we are, in the process of making pear butter. It smells SO good and these pears were picked 2 days ago from their very own trees! I LOVE California!

Alma (Alma and Julio who were coming for the new year) started her chemotherapy. I don't remember if I wrote home about it, but she was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple months ago, and she got the surgery and was waiting to start the chemo. She didn't have anyone to go with her. She is such a strong woman and she was just gonna go by herself, but we offered to go with her for a little bit before Julio could get there and she seemed very grateful. So we ended up setting up exchanges and I went and sat with Alma for 2 hours (we had only planned for one). It was actually interesting to see how they do the whole thing, and going through it with Alma made me wish I could have gone through it with Grandma. I'm grateful for the opportunity to help Alma out because I've learned a lot about what Grandma had to go through. Anyway, she was feeling really good the next day but then she got really sick on Friday and has been sick since. I guess the first week after chemo is a really bad week and then the following two weeks are just normal. Anyway, she's so great and Julio as well, and they won't be coming to visit the new year; but as soon as everything is done with, they want to come out and visit!

Ricky, Alma's son, WAS going to move out to Colorado with his biological dad, but he decided to stay. I'm really happy about that! His dad works for the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park so I told Ricky that I'd bug him in Colorado too! He'd be in NUGGETS territory! I also told Alma I'd make sure he gets to church on Sundays. She seemed pleased, I think that's probably why he decided to stay! Lol! I'm just kidding. Anyway, everyone seems really glad that Ricky is staying! Dad, when is that Laker's Nuggets game? Can I have dibs on that one?

Anyway, as I said, not a whole lot to report on and now I must excuse myself to go finish pear butter and start helping get dinner ready! I can't wait for you all to come out here to Cali with me next year and meet all these amazing people!

I love you all. Good luck with school, work, family, kids etc... Until next, keep smiling cause your sister missionary loves your guts!

Love always-
Hermana Bradfield

Hola!!

This is your weekly "Hola'" from your favorite sister missionary, serving in the California Sacramento Mission. How is everyone? Doing well I would imagine?

This last week has been fun. We found a lady named Maria who loved everything that we taught her, wanted to be baptized on the 12th of September, was all set up for church... and then she told us last minute that she was moving to Mexico on Sunday! It's all good though. It's a good thing that the Church is in Mexico as well!

We went to the temple tour with 3 different families last Saturday. Every Saturday, they do tours around the outside of the temple, and we got a big group of people together to go up to it! It was a lot of fun and a great opportunity. One of the families is a family in our ward who are awesome member missionaries. They have a cousin who just lost their 4 year old son to a fever. His family has been going through a really rough time and they've been talking with the bishop; and the bishop sent us over to their house with a Book of Mormon and to help his wife out when he has to work and she's home all alone. We went over last Friday and set up an appointment for Saturday and invited them to the temple as well. They came! We taught them a little about the Book of Mormon and the restoration, and then we left them with the story of Jesus Christ visiting among the people in the Americas and gave them the same testimony that He gave to the jews. We are going over to the members house to do a family home evening with them this Friday! We are going to be teaching about the Plan of Salvation.

Today, we were shopping at a grocery store called Winko (like a Costco but it's cash only) and we met a old member named Jim Lee. He served a mission 40 years ago in Minnesota on the indian reservations, and we had a nice little chat with him. The best part was how it all ended. Their was a lady shopping on the fruit isle in front of us and the next thing we know, Jim points to her and asks us really loud "Have you shared the gospel with this young lady?" She looked at us confused as we said "no," and Jim points to her again and says, "Hey come here... Do you know who these two young ladies are? They are sister missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ, have you heard of that church before?..." and then continues to go on for 5 minutes about his conversion story and about how the sisters found him in line at a grocery store when he was 19 and invited him to listen and then when they came back by to teach him, it was two "ugly" elders. Hahaha! I was trying really hard not to laugh by this point. Anyway, he ended up bearing a really nice testimony to this lady and told her to listen to what we have to say. We ended up giving her a pass along card with our phone number on it, so we'll see what happens. It was all so unexpected and funny. It was great! I love the members here in California. They are so missionary minded!

We had zone conference this week. It went really well. We learned about how to plan more effectively and with the Spirit, and we also learned about how we can invite people to come to church and find more people to teach. It was all really good. It's so cool to see how every zone conference touches on exactly what I need to learn at that precise moment. I always leave zone conference pumped up and ready to go out and work!

I love this work. I love going around everyday and talking with people and telling them about the restored gospel. There is no greater work! Anyone who has the opportunity to serve a mission should not let it pass them by. It is an amazing experience to not only see the people you meet change their lives for the better, but to see your own life change as well, your testimony grow and to become a disciple of Jesus Christ! I don't even want to think about who I would be without these last 18 months of my life!

I love you all and I hope you are all doing well. Good luck getting ready for school or getting back into school. Have a great week with everything you have planned! I LOVE YOU!

Always and Forever,
Hermana Bradfield

Training

It's not so bad! It's still hard though. You are constantly trying to make sure that you are doing everything that needs to be done so that your missionary can see every aspect of missionary work and know how to do it later on when they are on their own. Anyway, Sister Wyatt is amazing! She's 5'10", which means I'm not the tallest Spanish sister anymore, (Woohoo, now I'm the chaparita) and she's AWESOME at basketball. She schools me! It's all good, I plan on taking every advantage of her skills as I can. We already did some one on one training over lunch one day. She had a doctor's appointment (yes I'm already killing my companion!!!) and we didn't have the miles to go back to our apartment before we met up with the elders for a blitz; so we decided to eat lunch at the church and then play some bball. She doesn't miss a shot! Kody, after this transfer, I'm gonna be able to hold my own against you again!

WE FOUND CLAUDIA AGAIN!!! We stopped by last Thursday and she was home. She was so happy to see us and she LOVED the heart attack we did to her. It turns out that her sister in Mexico almost died, so she was on the phone all weekend. But in between then and now, she has been teaching her friends at work about the plan of salvation AND has talked to her boss about not working anymore on Sundays. Shes so great! She said hopefully last Sunday is the last time she has to work on Sunday.

Dad, you may be wondering why I made yet another purchase today. I shall briefly explain. First of all, I needed a new pair of shoes so I bought some last week; BUT the shoes broke 4 days later, so I took them back and they would only let me exchange them; so I found a pair of shoes for after the mission that were $10 more since those were the only things I could find that looked decent and worth the money. THEN I have been going through withdrawal since Sister Laird and Sister Harris left with their Magic Bullets. YES you read that correctly, Magic Bullet. Sister Laird's parents sent her one in the beginning of her mission, and she's shared with me since I got here; then she converted Sister Harris as well, and Sister Harris got the last one at Rite Aid last week. I was planning on waiting, but I couldn't resist when I saw it at Longs Drugs today; so don't you worry, I'm ready to go on my Magic Bullet and that is the last big purchase I will be making on the mission. I would just like to say, I testify that the Magic Bullet was worth every penny, and if you don't know what a Magic Bullet is, you should check it out on the internet! Everyone should have a Magic Bullet!

Things have been going about the same here - working hard and trying to get people to progress and come to church. It's been a tough few weeks trying to get people to church, but I know that anyday now we are going to see the miracles and find a bunch of people to teach. I love this work, I know that God is going to make this trial of patience worth it for me in the end, whether I have to learn a profound lesson or whether we get to be a part of bringing a family to the gospel!

I'm sorry this email isn't too exciting, I'm guessing they rarely are since I can't ever remember everything I want to talk about when pdays come around.

Some CAME (Common Awkward Missionary Experiences)moments for ya:
1. Runs in your nylons: It never gets old...

2. Wind + Skirts... NOT a good combination!

3. The nice stream of sweat sliding down your back as you are out contacting people. always a great feeling!

Thats all I have for today. I love you all and wish you all a wonderful week!

Love always-
Hermana Bradfield

Transfers - BAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

AHHHHHHHHH!! Where does the time go??? This transfer I am training on my own! I don't know why -- I knew I was going to be training before hand -- but I'm super nervous. I think training this last transfer went so well because Sister Laird and I were there to back each other up and fill in where the other forgot something! But now I am 100% responsible for what I do and don't teach the new sister. Anyway, her name is Sister Wyatt, from ST GEORGE Utah (Jason know a wyatt family there?), and she has been teaching the last two years; apparently, President says that she loves sports just as much as I do! Maybe I can learn some new skills as we exercise in the morning! Anyway, it was kind-of a reality check for me, to realize that I wasn't going to be tag teaming this one, and it scares me a little bit! But, I know that the Lord will help me fill in the gaps as long as I am doing my best and being obedient and being myself!

I get to stay in Elk Grove. I'm happy about that. I still feel like I have a lot of work to do. Things are still slower than before, but we have faith that God will bless us with people to teach. ACTUALLY, a couple of things have happened this last week! First of all, we invited Carlos, Alma and Manuel's 9yr old son, to be baptized, and he said yes. He ended up changing his mind later because he wants to wait for his family; BUT because he said he wanted to be baptized, that finally got the family to a baptism, something we've been trying to do for a long time! We were so happy and we feel that was part of the reason why we needed to invite them to be baptized.

THEN there's Karoly, Andrea's mom (the little girl who just got baptized.) The bishop can't find her records, nor could her old bishop in Hayward; so he said she needs to be baptized again. So now we have an excuse to go over and teach her and her less active husband the lessons again! And Andrea can help us! She is so cute!

Claudia is MIA. She's avoiding us, which is really sad, but there isn't much else we can do. We even HEART ATTACKED her apartment door and had to run "Mission Impossible" to the front office of her apartment to borrow their tape to tape the hearts on! It was such a FUN rescue activity. Our exchange, Bonnie, got us some good pictures and was a good sport about all of it. Bonnie is amazing! She served her mission in San Antonio, Texas.

I don't know if you remember Alma and Julio and Ricky, our recent converts (the ones you talked to on Mother's Day) -- they are going through a rough time right now. Alma was diagnosed a few weeks ago with breast cancer. She is such an amazing woman, she looked at all of her options and has chosen to take the most efficient and successful treatments. So she went in and had surgery to remove the breast and lymphnods (I don't know if I'm saying these body parts right), and she starts chemo in a few weeks. It was a real shock for everyone, but they are doing really well with it. Julio and the kids came to church, on Sunday, for the first hour and that made us really happy. They have such amazing faith and this trial was given to them for a reason. It's amazing to see how the Lord works and prepares his children to receive the gospel right when they most need it! The gospel is amazing.

So, as we haven't really had many people to teach, we've been doing a lot of member work and tracting (aka knocking doors). Sister Harris and I went on splits last week and ended up talking to a couple of really great people. One of them was this guy who, of his own free will and generousity, offers his home to help people with drug addictions kick the addiction. We walked up to him and he asked us if we were Jehovah's Witness (C.A.M.E.) and we told him we were Mormons; and he said "Oh, great! You are just the people I want to talk to." I thought that we were going to be dealing with a "Bible basher" but then he ended up asking us about the Family History Center that he friend told him about, located at the stake center. It ended up being a really great contact and he ended up asking us to send the English elders by.

Then, Sunday, we ended up being 40 minutes late to our dinner appointment because we were talking to one of Long Beach University's basketball players about the gospel. He was really nice and it was neat to hear all the things that have lead him to want to find the truth. He's had contact with the church before, through an old friend, and was eager to read the Book of Mormon. Someone he knew (aunt, sister or someone close to his mom) walked up and as she walked in the door, she said, "Oh yeah, Sister Moss and Nanai are visiting me as well!" Those are two of the sister missionaries in the Sacramento zone! It was such an amazing contact and we ended up leaving him with a Book of Mormon to read and take back with him to Long Beach! I LOVE miracles like that. What made the miracle even better -- I was driving and I remember thinking "I need to find the shade..." If I hadn't kept driving down the road to find the shade, we wouldn't have ever found him! God is guiding this work, even if he has to guide his missionaries to the shade! Missions are so cool! Kim and Kody, I would HIGHLY recommend serving one!

Well, my time is up. I wish everyone a wonderful week, and remember that your Hermana loves you! I hope this letter wasn't too crazy and all over the place for you! Until next week...

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Hola!

Buenos Dias Familia y Amigos,

Como estan? I'm doing just wonderful. Today we did our zone "Secret Santa" gift exchange. It's was funny. The Elders in this zone are something else. One elder, who is going home in two weeks, got a ring and earrings; and then others got t-shirts and what not. It was a fun way to end the transfer with Christmas in August! I ended up printing off a couple of pictures, of one of our members, and giving them to my secret santa with writing on them that said, "Use our member coupon!" It was an inside joke kinda thing, but I think the elder rather enjoyed it!

The work is going really well. We had to go by and tell almost all of our investigators that we couldn't teach them anymore, but encouraged them to keep studying for themselves. No one was progressing. It's always hard because you love the people so much and you want them to experience the same joy and blessings you have from the gospel; but we also can't force them to accept the gospel either. Anyway, so "dropping" people is always hard, but we all have faith that the Lord will bless us with other people whom he has been preparing!

With all the opposition we've been facing, it's really helped me to realize one important truth. I felt like the first half of my mission, we taught, baptized and brought many of God's children to the knowledge of truth. In comparison, this last half has seemed as if I haven't been doing any good. BUT I know that that isn't true. Every person we talk to is a seed planted. Just like it says in Matthew 13, sometimes the seeds fall by the way side and the fowls come and devour them up; some fall upon stony places where there isn't enough soil, so when they spring up, the sun dries up the roots; but some seeds fall into good ground and bring forth good fruit. There is never a wasted effort. I know that while I'm not seeing the fruits of our labors that what we are doing is making a difference in the lives of those we meet.

Yesterday we were all ready to go to church. We had spent the week preparing Claudia for church, but she wasn't home when we went by to "face to face" her. That's not like her at all and she wasn't answering our phone calls. We hope nothing has happened to her. But anyway, it was one of those let down kinda days, and I just felt drained. As we were studying together over a quick lunch, we read Alma 19 and I read the story of Ammon, King Lamoni and his household. They all were overcome with the Spirit and all seemed to be dead. But there was one Lamanite girl, who had been converted by a vision her father had long before, who was overcome with joy at what had just transpired and went to tell the rest of the people what had happened. When the people all gathered together, things didn't work out quite as she planned. Everyone started arguing over what was to be done, and she felt sad for what had happened. But instead of letting herself get down about the situation and giving up, she put her faith to work and went to the queen. As soon as she touched the queen, the queen arose and then the others arose as well. Although this might not mean much to anyone else, I knew that this was a tender little mercy from God pushing me forward and telling me not to give up. We ended up going out and knocking doors 15 minutes later, and during that time, we ended up finding a bunch of people from English, Hmong, and Miehn, interested in learning more about the restored gospel; AND a part-member family who moved here from San Jose 4 years ago and hasn't been to church since, and set up an appointment with them. Funny thing is, this is the second part-member family that we have tracted into that aren't on our church records! I love the Lord's little tender mercies!

Some C.A.M.E. Moments for the week (I kinda forgot to keep tract):
1. When you knock on a door, a Spanish man answers it without his shirt on and sees that it's 2-3 sister missionaries; so he excuses himself and returns a minute later, completely dressed. Very thoughtful of him, wouldn't you say?

2. Going by to drop off a granola bar for your investigator for a quick snack on her lunch break, only to find her home, hand her the granola bar and leave without an explanation. We didn't expect her to answer the door and be home. I guess next time we will plan better!

So, there you have it, another week in the mission... In a VERY short summary. Really, everything is going by so fast that it all kinda mooshes together somehow.

One more funny good note to end on... Our family, who can't be baptized right now, ended up getting a ton of good jobs lined up for this month. He was so funny because he told us, "amazed at the fact that it did "EVERYTHING that you've told us to do ACTUALLY works!" Lol! It was so funny and we got a kick out of it. But that's what happens when the doctrine is true, the blessings are sure and the authority by which it is promised is given by God. I LOVE being a missionary, nothing beats this work!

Love you all; have a great week! Remember, next TUESDAY is p-day and that next Wednesday I will have another new companion. I think President told me in interviews that her name is Hermana Wyatt. I'm excited to meet her but nervous about training her. I think training this transfer has gone a lot easier because it has been a joint effort, and Hermana Harris is just an awesome missionary. I'm not worried at all for the Spanish program after we leave because the mission just got 3 AWESOME new sisters to keep the fire going and growing!

Ok, Love you again,
Hermana Bradfield

Buenos Dias!

Another week in the mission AND... I got my trunkie papers! That stunk but I guess it had to happen sooner or later, right! I can't believe I already have my flight plan! The clock is ticking and I feel like I still have a TON to do!

We had interviews with President last week. He told me that,next transfer, my trainee's name is Sister Wyatt (if I remember correctly, it was in passing...) I'm kinda nervous to be doing a one-on-one training next transfer. This transfer I've always had Sister Laird to cover for me if I messed up, or vise versa. Anywho, next week is the last "normal" p-day and then the week after that are transfers. I can't believe how fast time flies!

This last weekend, Andrea was baptized. She is so cute and I'm so glad we had the opportunity to teach her. She was so excited and happy about her baptism, and she looked great! Her mom, Karoly, has been a member since she was 8 or 9, BUT the ward clerks can't find her records anywhere; so bishop told her that she might have to be baptized again! If that is the case, we are gonna have to review a few lessons ahead of time! Crazy! Her grandma also came to church for the first time in years and really liked it. Hopefully we will get to see more of them!

We have been working for a while with a family in our ward who has been inactive for over a year. We went over wednesday night and talked with them about their reading assignment we gave them, in Ether 12, about faith. We talked about ways we show faith everyday, and then we all shared one way that we could improve in our faith. They said going to church. So we told them they should set a goal. They said that they would come to church for the first hour before the end of the month. They didn't realize that that meant this Sunday... It was pretty funny because we are missionaries, and there was no getting off the hook after that one. So they walked in on Sunday and it made my day! Especially since...

I had to speak on Sunday. The new bishop (did I mention that we got a new bishop a couple weeks ago?), Bishop Almendariz, invited the sisters to speak. So Thursday night we got a call with the topics, had to prepare lesson plans on Friday and Saturday we had to get ready for Andrea's 10:00 A.M. baptism. We basically had Sunday morning and a little bit of time on Saturday to prepare our talks. It was so crazy and Sister Harris was funny. I was asking, 10 minutes before Sacrament meeting, if they thought that I would be ok only using 2 scriptures in my talk. Sister Harris exclaims passionately "You are thinking WAY TOO HARD... We have to talk in TEN minutes!" I guess you had to be there, but it was so crazy it was funny. I actually felt quite calm and put together on my thoughts, and I enjoyed the whole speaking experience, especially after we spoke with Bishop on Saturday in his office over lunch.

Yes you read that correctly. After the baptism we were cleaning up, and the bishop came up to us and asked us about our talks and who got what topics (I was assigned the topic "If Joseph Smith was a prophet, what is Thomas S Monson?"). He gave us a couple of ideas of what he was looking for and then invited us, while we were still chatting, to go over to his office and eat a simple lunch with him. His wife baked homemade bread, and he had fresh tomatoes from his garden. So we joined him and asked him some questions about some of his plans with the ward, how he met his wife and some of his experiences in the gospel and about his family. He is an AWESOME bishop. He is definitely going to keep this ward progressing forward.

So, to finish this letter off, I would like to end with something New we thought up (thanks to Sister Harris) called C.A.M.E.= Common Awkward Missionary Experiences. (Today's will be longer since it's new and I have to catch up on some...)

1)Car Contacting - Rolling our windows down at a stoplight and inviting people to listen to the missionaries and come to church.

2)Interrupting family barbeques to contact them. Look, we are on a mission! What we have to share is important!

3)Eating while families watch you like fish - Yes, in the Spanish program, it's very rare that they will actually sit down and eat with you! You get used to it, but I can remember how Sister Harris feels.

4)Forgetting to ask if the salsa is "hot" and spooning it into your soup (Sister Harris) and then your companion(s) reaching their spoons into your bowl to help you out before you can protest.

5)Always being covered in a thick layer of sweat due to the heat and nylons.

6)When you don't understand what someone says in Spanish, and you just nod and smile and hope that no one said something about their dog dying. (It get's better but still happens every now and then...)

7)MoTAB... Missionaries can't help but loving MoTab and the cheesy Mormon music! We have made it tradition to drive home with the windows down, MoTab blasting and directing the choir. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

8)People confessing a lot of things to the missionaries. We try to keep it from happening, but it still happens and sometimes its awkward.

9)Probably one of the worst - the awkward fight to not fall asleep during the lessons. It's CRAZY but it happens more often then not, especially in the heat.

10)Missionary tan: Watch tan lines and church shoe tan lines... Yeah, even better than a farmer's tan!

11)Going through companion's closets because your closet is so boring (especially after a year and a half!)

12)Continue to car contacting - Car contacts getting the wrong message and blowing kisses and waving goodbye as he pulled onto the highway. Yes, that just happened last night.

13)Sister Harris using the word "Gringa" from the pulpit yesterday. To some that might be offensive!

14)Preparing our talks the morning of church (see earlier.)

15)Begging for rides. We are running out of miles and we had to drive 20 miles to get to a blitz! I'll explain it to you later!

16)Constantly being mistaken for Jehovah's Witnesses. The Elders don't run into this problem so much, but we do!

Those are a few of our C.A.M.E. moments for the last of couple weeks! Look forward to more, hopefully, at least while I have the sisters to remind me!

October 25th is fine with me to speak. Please just get my topic ahead of time because as you can see, we don't want a repeat of yesterday!

I love you all and I hope you are doing well. Until next week - have a great week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

QUIT CHANGING!!! STOP EVERYTHING AND WAIT FOR ME!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHA I'm just kidding! AHHHHHHHHHH! I can't believe Katelyn had her baby! Everything keeps changing! Am I going to recognize ANYONE when I get home? I'm actually writing you with my new companion, Sister Harris, the chiropractor's wife. She's been my companion while Sister Laird and Sister Harris ran to Walmart to use our prep time to the MAX. Anyway, Sister Harris (C's Wife) joined in with me on the celebrations! You all caught me in one of those "I completely spaced Katelyn was pregnant/gonna have a baby" moments! That's so cool! I LOVE the name you picked for her... Maybe you could wait for the baby blessing till I get home??? Nah, I'm just kidding. No me crean!

This has been a good week. We added a new investigator last week named Claudia. She was a member referral. One of the members invited her to an FHE and we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she invited us over for dinner and a lesson on Friday. We taught her the Restoration and she was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and agreed to the conditional baptism invitation that we gave her! She is amazing and the Lord has been preparing her to receive the gospel. She told us that she didn't know why, but she just felt really good when she was around us. We didn't hesitate to tell her that the reason why wasn't us, but the Spirit!

Andrea is getting ready to be baptized this week and she's so cute. We love teaching her. She's 9 years old and her family are/were less active because they got lost in a move. But we've been teaching her and preparing her for baptism the last 2-3 months, and the date is coming up quick. She wanted her dad to baptize her, but when she found out that he couldn't, she decided that she wanted Elder Curtis to do it. He is one of the elders that bonded with her when we helped them move a few weeks ago. You can imagine just how thrilled he is, and I think this might be his first time baptizing on the mission!

Last night we went on splits to help the elders out with their Blitz. I was able to go with their member, Leslie, an awesome recent convert. Anyway, we ran into some great/interesting people as always. We even got a return with a guy from Fiji. The guy from Fiji sent us to his neighbor, which ended up spicing the night up a little bit. This guy was so bitter and rude and angry because I was at the door talking about Jesus Christ, when he said that he believed in Jesus Christ. I hardly got to say anything and when I did, he'd cut me off. It was one of those few moments on the mission (at least for me) where all they wanted to do was shove their beliefs down my throat. Anyway, he told us that we could come back anytime if we wanted to talk about Jesus, but if we talked about anything else, that was the end of the conversation. I tried to tell him what our purpose was as missionaries, but he wouldn't let me get it out. So I finally just asked him, "If you come to know that what we share is true, would you be willing to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority?" It was the only thing I could think of to let him know part of our purpose as missionaries. He flat out rejected and ended up slamming the door in our face. This was the first time I've cried after a door contact, but I couldn't help it. In the conversation at the door, it came out that his daughter ended up joining our church and that she won't come over to visit anymore. It made me so sad to see someone who was so closed-minded and blinded by it that he pushed his own daughter away. I couldn't help but cry a little! I learned a lot from that door contact, especially about the importance of charity and loving those who despise and hate you!

This morning I was reading the end of Abinadi's cry for repentance and about how King Noah felt the Spirit, was afraid of the judgements of God for a moment, and was about to let Abinadi go free; but his priests' words overpowered those of the Spirit and Noah gave into his priests and denied the Spirit. I thought about us and how many times we do that in our lives. How many times do we receive spiritual promptings in our lives but we allow the noise of the world to drown them out and ignore them and sometimes deny them! Some food for thought!

Well anyway, that's a brief update on Sacramento happenings! We are getting ready to go over and play scatter ball with the elders at one! I love you all and wish you a wonderful week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Hola!

*Note* - Kelly will, for sure, be serving thru October. President Jardine is excited to have her stay on and assist with incoming Spanish-speaking sisters.

The times a tickin', so this is going to be another short note! I'm sorry, I don't know where the time goes anymore. I feel like the longer and longer I'm out, the faster and faster the time keeps flying!

Important notices: NEW BISHOP! Last week we found out our bishop was being released from his calling, after 6 years; and now we have a new bishop and bishopric! We are all very excited to work with him, but I'm not 100% sure on how to spell his name because I'm not 100% sure of the name; but I think it is Bishop Alme.... Yeah, I don't remember; it's something long and it sounds like Almond Tree in Spanish!

I was asked to speak at Zone Conference! I saw that one coming; thank you very much for the notes! I ended up using D. Todd Christofferson's quote and the Moroni 7 scripture, and talked about giving our will over to Heavenly Father's - and 2 ways to do that, as a missionary, were thru charity and obedience... I pretty much repeated President's talk... Not quite, but those were 2 of his main points in his presentation!

All is going well... Sorry this is short, but that's how pressed for time we are! I love you and wish you all a wonderful week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Feliz Dia de Independencia

Hola everyone! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Independence day! I have thoroughly enjoyed mine! We are currently sitting in Taffy Joe Hoops' house, eating dinner and checking email! She has got to be the boldest, funniest, most amazing personal-revelation-receiver I have ever met! She is so cool! She's an awesome missionary!

So week .5 of training has been great! Sister Harris is our trainee, and she's amazing! She is from all over, most recently from Dallas, and she has 3 semesters left to finish school at HARVARD!!! Yes HARVARD. Man did I feel really lame telling her about FRCC (Front Range Community College.) She just laughed at me when I told her I felt lame, and told me that was really great! Things have been great being in a three-some! She has been really great at talking to people and she has taken 6 years of Spanish, so she understands a lot and has done really well at teaching our investigators! Everyone loves her. She's gonna be a great "replacement" for the Spanish sisters leaving this transfer!

Thanks Mom and Dad for the talk ideas. The info is really going to help me write my talk! I think that writing my talks is my least favorite part of the whole experience. I have come to realize that I am such a perfectionist, and that I have to get it perfect; but the actual delivery of the talk doesn't bother me one bit! I actually love it.

Today we get to run a geneology booth at a 4th of July event, and then we are getting back together with the Elders at 7:30 for scatter ball!

I'm sorry this is the worst email I've written in a long time, but Taffy Joe is such a fun, energetic spirit, and I'm fighting to listen in on her conversation! I wish you could meet her! Anyway, I'm gonna go because I'm gonna end up taking some of the sisters time if I keep getting distracted.

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week and a half!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Round 2

So, I started to write my letter, and it got deleted, or sent off or something, in the process of writing it. Good news is that I had only written a couple of paragraphs! So, I can't believe that it's coming up on the last transfer for the other Spanish sisters! It's crazy to think about how I could be going home this transfer! I would be on my last 6 weeks!

Last week, President got word that 2 of the 3 Spanish sisters, scheduled for August, got bumped up to the 3 week advanced Spanish program in the MTC, and are coming out tomorrow with the other Spanish sister! So, this means that EVERYONE is training. Sister Laird and I are staying together and we will be co-training a new sister. Tomorrow we are heading to the Mission office for an 8:00 A.M. training session, and then we will meet our new companions and begin training. We hear that they are all very accomplished sisters. President and Sister Jardine have apparently been praying for Spanish sisters just as good as the ones he has now. Sometimes I can't figure out how I got included in this group because the other Spanish sisters really are amazing! Anyway, so we are going to have a new little "daughter" to take care of. (Trainers and trainees have a father-son, mother-daughter relationship!)

Yesterdays unity activity went really well. There were a TON of Elders! The whole mission was there, and I signed up for basketball as my activity (surprise surprise, I know!) and so did probably a good 1/3rd of the elders, even though there was one basketball court and only a few lines to sign up on. We worked it out though, and the ASL sister played with me, Sister Shumway, and she's good. She played in high school, and she was fun to box out on! I realized that I haven't been playing real ball with the guys for a long time! Haha, you just can't box out the elders and the guys at home - half of them are married, so it's probably just best to avoid it all together! It was funny thinking about it and chatting with her about it! I like Sister Shumway. She's another great missionary.

Then we had a mission talent show. It was a lot of fun and some of the acts were really creative. One zone did a "drumming on plastic pipes" skit, moving the pipes in and out to make different notes; and another did a skit where they made themselves into glow in the dark stick figures with those glowsticks and danced around. It was very creative! We had a lot of fun, and everything ended with a few thoughts on "unity" from President and Sister Jardine, the mission presidency and then transfer "calls" or announcements. It was a very interesting day.

Next week, we have to prepare a 3-4 minute talk on how to feel greater unity with the Savior in this work; so if you have any ideas or scriptures that might be helpful in writing my talk, please email to me before Saturday. REMEMBER, next week we don't have a p-day because we have another p-day this Saturday! So... WARNING!

Sunday night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner with the Mullen family, an English family in the Elk Grove Stake. They are very gospel knowledgable, and I learned a lot from them just in the hour visit that we were there. I guess it's tradition to ask any "deep doctrinal" questions while you are there, and Bro. Mullens can answer most of them. They showed us their church library upstairs, and they have to have over 1000 church books; and he's read about 80% of them. One thing that they talked about really stuck out to me. We got to talking about the pre-existence and who we were before. Everything that we do in this life, every talent that we have, is a clue to who we were before. Some of us were more musically talented before, others had more faith in Jesus Christ - those are just some examples. It was so interesting the way they put it, but this life is a time for us to prepare to meet God and for us to perfect our talents and obtain new ones by our works. It was all really interesting and I guess it's something that really peaks their interest!

Another thing that I've been thinking about, since our visit on Sunday, is how little time we do have, and the words of the Prophets and leaders of the church today. We don't have the time to waste and just sit around. They have all had a central message that we must prepare and we must prepare now. We need to be doing everything, within our power, to help build the kingdom of God on this earth and to prepare ourselves, and our families and others, for that great day when our Savior will come again. I've been thinking a lot about the things that I'd be willing to give up to be a greater disciple of Jesus Christ. What are you willing to do? Something to think about.

Well, I love you all VERY much, and I look forward to hearing from you about your thoughts and ideas for my upcoming talk!

Have a wonderful week!

Love,
Hermana Bradfield

WOOOOOOOOO!!!

YEAH KATELYN!!! I hope you realize you just got called to the BEST calling (in my humble opinion!) in the church! SAWEET! Now you get to experience a little bit of missionary life! Are you super excited? I am! When I get home, we are going to train you to become the best ward missionary ever!!! Actually, the family doesn't know it yet, but we are all going to get some extensive training! We are going to become a missionary-minded family yet!

So how is everyone? Aussie Girl (Kim)enjoying my dream vacation to the down under? Kody, how was Basketball camp? (or rather is?!?) Did everyone enjoy Father's Day! I feel super bad because I never got the opportunity to get dad's surprise in the mail but I will do so today! So again, Sorry Dad! I was thinking of you!

A little bit of business... Next week are transfers so I probably won't be emailing until Tuesday. I say probably because this transfer is a little different, seeing as we are having our Unity Celebration at the end of this month. Monday we are meeting up as a mission to do sports and activities, and then have a talent show where each zone picked one person, or are doing something to represent their zone, and then President is going to call out Transfers there! It actually all sounds super cool! I'm really excited. Anyway, from what I heard, we are going to then have a half day pday on Tuesday to pack and finish everything that we couldn't finish the night before. Should be very fun and it will be interesting to see what President does with the Spanish sisters because one of us is training (most likely not me since I will be training in August); and he has to get Sister Olson and me where we need to be for the next transfer. It will be interesting to see if I stay or go to Del Norte. Either way, I know it's whatever the Lord wants!

Then... Next Saturday (the 4th of July) is a full day preparation day, which means I will be emailing you all on that Saturday again; and then you won't hear from me for a week and a couple days! So, be prepared.

This week was ok. I feel bad because there really aren't too many exciting things to report on (in comparison to the last few weeks.) We are working with a lot of great people, but they all are facing their own trials that are keeping them from progressing. It's been a little bit of a struggle to figure out what their needs are and how to resolve them. That is probably one of the hardest things about missionary work.

The gospel is something that blesses everyone, no matter who you are or where you are in life. It's something that has blessed me tremendously and I am so grateful for this time that I've had to give my heart, might, mind, and strength over to the Lord, and be completely submerged in the gospel. You just can't help but want to share these blessings with everyone, and it's really hard to see people reject it and harden their hearts to it's message and blessings. But on the opposite spectrum of things, it brings great joy to see people truly converted to the gospel. What an amazing blessing. Katelyn, you are really lucky that you have the calling you do and that you will be able to participate more in this wonderful work and see the gospel change and bless lives! I wish more people would take the time and look at the way it blesses the lives of others by doing missionary work! I'm sure Dad and Jason know what I'm talking about! Their isn't anything like it!

Anyway, Sister Laird and I are facing lots of adversity, but we are pushing through it with the hope, in the scripture, in 2 Nephi 25:23 "...that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." I know that as we keep enduring these trials that the Lord has blessings in store for us and those we are teaching.

On that note, I'm going to close this. Today we are going to have a water balloon fight (upon my request!) I'm pretty excited! Have a wonderful week and I'll look forward to hearing from all of you next week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

How the weeks fly by!

If you can believe it, it is already June 15th! We are starting the 5th week of the transfer. I seriously have no idea where the time goes! Next transfer is everyone's last transfer before they all leave for home. It's kinda scary to think about and how I was going to be one of them. It makes me very grateful for the opportunity I have to extend my mission a little longer! One thing that is so precious in the mission is time, and before you even realize it, it's almost up; it makes you reflect on how well you've used your time, and gives you the extra push you need to help you improve and use the Lord's time wisely! At least for me it does. My new favorite hymn is "The Time Is Far Spent". It's very fitting!

Another week of miracles! I just love miracles ,and as you all heard last week (I think) Sister Laird and I keep track of a "daily miracle" in our miracle journals! I think I am going to enjoy reading that journal more than my other journal! Not to mention that one gets a daily entry unlike the other!

This week was much like last -- miracles upon miracles. Saturday was a rough day, trying our faith as appointment after appointment canceled; but that was because the Lord was preparing us for the next day's miracles, which we'll get to in a minute.

Our appointment with the twins, Ciara and Fatima, went really well last Monday. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. The twins and their mom met up with us and followed us over to a members house for an early appointment. They had lots of sincere questions and are eager to read the Book of Mormon. We ended up talking with them quite a bit after our appointment, and it feels like we have known them for a long time! They are really awesome.

Thursday we went to visit a referal, (you will hear more about that in a surprise I will hopefully get in the mail this week) Lourdes, who was contacted by Elders at a gas station. They wrote down her info and we stopped by; she has lots of good questions about God and this life and the resurrection. We went back the next day and taught her about the Restoration, and left her with the Book of Mormon and Alma 40, that talks about the resurrection and life after this. She ended up coming to church yesterday!

Now back to Sunday. We had 10... TEN!!! investigators to church yesterday. Alma and Manuel came with their kids, including his daughter Elizabeth, and we now have an appointment set up where she is going to come over and learn as well. Then Teresa came with her troops (3 grandkids--they don't count as investigators--and Danny!) She told us she knew the church was true. Now we just have to help her feel a desire to be baptized. Evelyn, a member preparing for a mission, invited a friend to church, and we are going to start teaching Ruby on Tuesday. Our members are so awesome! Then our 9 year old (as of today) investigator, Andrea, came with her mom again (part member family). Part member families are great.

My miracle from yesterday comes from a part member family. The Garcia Flores are a reactivated family. They have been inviting their nephew to come to church with them, these past of couple months, and he loves coming to church. When his uncle calls him, he runs over to the house 10 minutes later. I've always felt the need to talk to him, but to be 100% honest, he kinda intimidated me a little, especially around his cousin; he has a very serious face. Yesterday I sat next to him in the Gospel Principles class, and during the class, I felt a very strong impression to invite him to be baptized. So after class, I started talking with him, found out that he had just finished with his parole, and I asked him how he liked church and if he wanted to learn more. He said "yes" without hesitation, we set up a time to meet at his aunt and uncle's house on Tuesday, and then I invited him to be baptized. After explaining a little about the authority and what baptism was, he said yes to the baptism invite. Of course we told him to pray about it, and to pray about the things we are going to teach him; but he said if he knows it's true, he wants to be baptized! It was a miracle!

I love this work. I know I say that every email, but it's true. There is nothing like missionary work. I have a strong testimony of following those little impressions you receive. President Jardine once told us something like this, "A first impression, or prompting, received is from God until proven otherwise!" If you have an impression to do something DO IT! As you act on those little things, God will start to trust you more with the bigger things.

I love you all so much and I wish you all a wonderful week! Tell Kim "Hi" for me in the down under!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Hello! Hello! Hello!

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLA from good old Sacramento! What a WEEK! We have seen SO many miracles. It's amazing! I feel so grateful and blessed! We have been keeping busy working towards our mission goal of 100 baptisms for the month of June, and we are well on our way. With our goals set high, there is bound to be opposition, especially when it's a righteous goal.

We ran into some opposition last week when Teresa and Danny didn't show up to church. After a spiritual lesson with Teresa, crying repentance, she is once again on her way in following the footsteps of the Savior. We still need to work more with Danny, but I know that the Lord sent us to their house for a reason.

Our Miracle Family, Manuel and Alma, are doing GREAT! They are working on getting their divorce papers going and signed so that they can get married, and the next day get baptized! I don't know how I got so blessed to be one of God's instruments in bringing them to the true gospel, but they are an amazing family. We've been teaching them for some time now, and everyday the gospel changes another part of their lives for the better. You would be amazed at the change. He has quite a few members of his family who are members of our church. He gave up drinking and smoking (I don't remember if I told you or not, but that was when we helped him dump out the last remaining cans of beer in his house), and he's been working on his health. He informed us yesterday that he was feeling really good now, and that they are going to try and start staying for the third hour! We are ecstatic about that!

We had planned a lesson to teach them about tithing and making a budget, as well as sacrifice, to start their divorce papers with their current spouses this week; and when we got there, they told us that they had just sold a computer and other items in their house to begin the divorce papers for Alma. She is married to someone in Mexico, and she hasn't seen him for years. The process for her could take 4-6 months. Sister Laird and I are praying for a miracle that it happens sooner! Manuel's divorce will be a lot easier since he and his wife are already in contact and were married in the states. Anyway, it was a miracle for us to hear that they already started their papers and are on their way towards getting baptized, and more importantly, becoming an eternal family! They truly are elect! I can't wait for you all to meet these amazing people!

Saturday night, our District planned to do a church tour for our investigators who would be coming for the first time. Sister Laird and I put it in our plans to go and take someone, even though we didn't have anyone planning on going. At 4:30 (an hour and a half before hand) we got a call from the Office Elders, telling us that the Sac Zone Leaders called them with an emergency referral for us. They gave us the name and number for a mother and daughter. We called them up about 5:20, invited them to the church tour, and 5 minutes later had someone set up for our church tour. If that wasn't enough of a miracle, Lorena (the mom), Ciara and Fatima (twin sisters, 17 years old) came to the church, loved the tour and told us about their story. Lorena and the girls came to visit over a year and a half ago, and she married a man from Italy here in the United States. She told us that she can't come to church because her husband is hard core Catholic, and that she had to go to church with him. The girls, however, don't feel anything when they go to Catholic church, so they wanted to come to ours and see what it was like. Lorena, not us, taught her daughters the importance of praying to know if it was true and how they would receive an answer through the way they feel. They are Elect, not kidding! We are all praying that her husband's heart will be softened so that she can come to church with her girls as well. The girls came yesterday, loved church and young womens and we are going to teach them about the Restoration of the church and invite them to be baptized tonight. I love this gospel and I love this work! You would not believe the miracles!

I can't believe how amazing these last couple weeks have been. We ran into our trials, but the Lord is blessing us for working through them. I have no doubt in my mind that this church is Jesus Christ's true church, restored once again on the earth. I have no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith was God's chosen prophet to bring about that Restoration. He saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in that Sacred Grove! The Priesthood Authority, God's Authority, to baptize has been restored on the earth once again. I know we have a living Prophet on the Earth today; his name is Thomas S. Monson. He is called and lead by God to be our guide today in a world of changing values. I know the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ, written by God's ancient prophets here in the ancient Americas. It's teachings are true, and as we live by it's principles and teachings, we will find the keys to eternal happiness. Most importantly, I know that my Savior lives. He lives and loves everyone of us. Sister Laird said something in a lesson last week that caused the Spirit to burn within my heart. We were teaching about the Plan of Salvation and the Celestial Kingdom. She used the analogy that we all have dirt covering our shoes, standing at the gate to enter in, and Jesus Christ is there waiting with a towel to clean off the dirt so that we can enter. I truly felt my Savior's love for me in that moment. I love this work; this truly is the Lord's work and there isn't anything else I would rather be doing or anywhere else I would rather be than here on my mission in Sacramento! What a wonderful blessing it has been to serve my Heavenly Father with all of my heart, might, mind and strength.

I love you all and I hope you have as wonderful of a week as I know we will! Don't forget to look for those missionary opportunities and take advantage of them every chance you get! Until next week...

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield (Now aka Hermana Garfield or Hermana Campo (Kody, tell 'em what Campo means in Spanish!) in the Sacramento 10th ward! For some reason, people have a hard time saying Bradfield ;) and always confuse me with Garfield! Haha, go figure!)

Guess what?

You will never guess who I just met yesterday... but we'll get to that in a minute! How is everyone doing? From Mom's email, it sounds like everyone is doing well and keeping very busy. I like the sounds of your new elders already. Make sure they leave you with a commitment and DAD- No turning them down and saying "to be honest with you..." You should all be grateful for the opportunity to help the missionaries out ;) I love you all and I promise you that you will help bring someone to the gospel as you accept and act upon the commitments they leave with you and share the gospel with others!

This week has been an interesting week but a very good one. We had our Zone Conference that was based on being bold with love. It was really good! I LOVE zone conference. I wish we could have things like zone conferences every 6 weeks for the members! If we did, I have no doubt that we would have a bunch of Captain Moroni's for members of the church and that the very gates of hell would tremble before us!

We spoke with President over the weekend. The mission has set a goal of 100 baptisms for the month of June and Satan knows that we are all set upon reaching that goal. There has been so much opposition in the mission these past couple months as we have been working hard to prepare ourselves to reach our goals. I feel very blessed to serve under the guidance of President Jardine. He is a great mission president. Elder Pearson, of the 70 (he gave a talk last conference and it was part of the presentation he actually gave to us last year at mission conference!) said that we were sent to the mission based on the mission president and based on the location. I believe that is true! I would not want to serve under any other mission president!

Teresa and Danny didn't come to church this week. I was really bummed about that but Danny has been going to church with his sister again these past couple weeks, and Teresa said she was too tired to go this week. We think there was something a little more to what went on, and we are going to try to see her this afternoon. I really hope we can help them to keep that seed of faith they have planted and continue nuturing it!

Our family, Manuel and Alma and their kids, are doing really well. As I said, they can't be baptized for a little while, but Manuel is doing great. He told us yesterday that he has been tempted a lot and offered a beer or two, but he hasn't wanted to drink it. He knows the gospel is changing his life, and he's not afraid to admit it. He has a hard time walking and yesterday he was really sore; but when we stopped by to visit them before church, they were already in the car. They said they wouldn't miss church for anything! They are so awesome and hopefully we can help them get ready for baptism by the end of this month. That is going to be a great baptism when they are ready!

So, Guess who I met dad!!! Do you remember a mini-missionary in Chile named Gloria La Torre? She was taught and baptized by an elder in your mission in 1980 and served a mini mission the same time that you were serving. I didn't know she was from Chile, but I was talking to, now Hermana Bues, about where she was from and when she was baptized. She told me she remembered an Elder Bradfield in her mission. I told her that you served in the Santiago South Chile mission in 1979, and she said that she knew you. She asked me to ask you where you served. She said that her dad was branch president of the Las Rocas branch in the Estaca de Las Condes. The stake president was President Tapia. She asked if you were there when President Kimball came for the ground breaking dedication for the Chile temple. She mentioned a couple of elders names, Elder MAxfield, Murphy, Keller, Josephson (he was the one that baptized her.). She said it sounded like it was you when I described you as tall, skinny, big glasses, and thinning hair ;) She served in some areas like Antofagasta, Providencia Indepencia, Ricoleta. She was really excited to talk to me and tell me about the mission, and try to learn more about where you served, and everything, so that she could make sure it was you! I'm pretty sure it was you. So Dad, can you send me a picture or two of you on your mission so I can show her, and can you write back on the areas that you served in and where. I ALWAYS wanted to meet someone you served with in Chile or taught, but I never actually thought I would. It was WAY cool to talk to her and talk about how the mini missionaries would go around and help you teach and figure out which investigators were sincere and had real intent about learning. She's a really cool lady and a very strong member in the church. So WRITE ME BACK!

Today we played soccer for zone activity. That is ONE sport that I have no natural talents in whatsoever. If I want to be good, I'm gonna have to practice. I was born with more hand-eye coordination. I've never felt so humble in my life! The Argentinian elder and the Spanish member, that came, were both getting after me (in a nice teasing way!) about missing good passes. Yeah, I'm gonna practice so they can't say anything next time ;)

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week and be sure to tell everyone I said hi!

Love always-
Hermana Bradfield

Ye need not fear...

Yes, I know that it's late again, BUT we had to race around like chickens with our heads cut off today to find a computer to check our email. Since it is Memorial Day, the libraries and our apartment's office were closed, and we just got back from Downtown Sacramento about an hour ago! It's been a crazy day.

We started off the day normal, with our cleaning and our studies, and then we headed over to the trolley and rode down to Downtown Sacramento to go shopping. It was great! It was actually the first time I walked into a store and was THRILLED to be there, even though I knew I couldn't buy much since I'm still a missionary; and there is no point in buying "worldly clothes" since I'd only be able to wear them on p-days. I ended up buying a few short-sleeved white shirts, which means I might even be able to throw away my old ones (the ones I brought from home that now look discolored... ugh I feel like an elder sometimes! lol). Although, they are so worn that they are really light weight and that's nice for the summer. We'll see. I also bought a couple of colored shirts and a super light weight cardigan. Kim, Katelyn and Kody, you would be so proud of me and the shirt selections I made! I'll get around to sending my memory cards home someday! Promise!

Then we met up with some of the other Spanish Elders, in Old Sacramento, to go to lunch and see the sights on Memorial Day! We all had a good time, but it definitely took up a ton of the day!

This last week was interesting. I wrote about it in Gma and Gpas letter this week; but last week after our Zone activity, we were shopping and I started to feel sick. Before I knew it, it was 8 o'clock and I was super sick and our exchange (who was a nurse) ended up taking Sister Laird and I home early so I could go to bed. By 1 o'clock in the morning, we were BOTH sick, and Sister Laird spent a good chunk of the night in the bathroom sick! We were both feeling really weak, and we both were laughing (even still) at the magic touch of the mom. The most common phrase said between us those couple of days we stayed in sick were, "I want my mommy!!!" You are never too old for your mother when you are sick! But all is well now in Zion; we are both fully recovered and are back too work. I think we both got the stomach virus that's going around. One of the members here had it along with her whole family!

After being in sick for two days, we ended up having one of the BEST lessons with Teresa. She's had somewhat of a rough life, and she told us she didn't know or believe that God loved her. It was one of those times on the mission where I felt the Spirit guiding me to say the words that she needed to hear and promising blessings that the Lord had for her. We promised her that if she had faith and would kneel down and pray to ask God, if she was a daughter of God and if he loved her, she would receive an answer in one form or another (we gave her examples like a burning feeling within your heart, goosebumps, feeling of someone throwing a bucket of water over your head, etc.). She said she had the faith that she would receive the answer, and so we knelt down and we all offered up a prayer. The Spirit was so strong in that room. I could feel the love that God had for her, and I knew she was feeling it too. After a couple of minutes, of waiting for her answer, she looked at us and she had a new light about her. She told us that she felt a burning within her heart and that she felt something she couldn't describe all over. She now has a testimony that she is a daughter of God, and for the first time, in a long time (or maybe even the first time in her life) she knows that God loves her. It was an amazing experience! Danny didn't make it to church yesterday, but she did! (This is significant because, in the beginning, she said she'd go to church if Danny did because she wasn't the type of person who ever desired to go to church every Sunday!) She is such an amazing person and the Lord has been preparing her to receive the restored gospel. I have no doubt that she will soon be ready to enter into the waters of baptism!

I just want you all to know that I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity I have to share the gospel and see the blessings it brings as people begin to live by it's principles. I hope you will all pray to have more missionary opportunities and take advantage of them. There is nothing that compares to this work! I love you all and I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

PS. Kim and Shelby- Congrats on Graduation! Hope you had a good weekend!

Transfers!

Nothing too exciting to report about transfers this time. All the Spanish sisters stayed the same, as we all expected. I forgot to mention, last week, that this week was transfers. Sorry, I know Mom was probably really sad when my email didn't come yesterday. Just to let you know, this is going to be a short email because we don't have a lot of time. We've spent this morning at the temple and then the rest of the day/afternoon at an English member's home, who has arcade games and all sorts of blow up castle things, and a home jeapordy game. It was a fun afternoon.

Yesterday we taught an awesome lesson to Manuel y Alma about the Word of Wisdom, and Manuel committed to live the Word of Wisdom and not smoke anymore; and he dumped out the rest of the beer cans that he had, in the sink, down the drain! They are such an awesome family! I love teaching the gospel and seeing it change lives. It's going to be a while before they can be baptized, but they truly are a sincere family and the moment that they can be baptized, I know they will be ready and more than willing!

Well, as I said, not a lot of time. REALLY SORRY! We have to go and get our shopping done. I hope you all have a great week, and I'll write more next week!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield

Hola!

Just got back from Coloma... It was fun to be with the other missionaries and I'm soaked! Just ask Grandma and Grandpa on Friday for details! It was really fun!

It was great talking with you all yesterday. Glad to hear things are going so well! It went by way fast! So, the next time I hear your sweet voices will be in Oct.

Sunday was great. Teresa and Daniel came again and we asked Teresa for permission to invite Danny to be baptized; she said that was ok and that he was old enough to make his own decision! She is also praying to know if she should be baptized on the 30th. She has to overcome a few things, but I know she will.

I found out today from Elder Hall (old Stockton district leader) how everyone is doing in Stockton. Sounds like some things are good and other things not so good! I'm really sad to say that Martin has taken a turn for the worst, has started drinking again and last time he talked to Elder Hall he wanted to know how to get his name removed! I was REALLY sad to hear that. I mentioned more in my letter to Gma and Gpa, so you can read about everyone else there.

Well, I'm on my way back to Elk Grove, minus one flip flop that was lost to the creek on our detour back in the creek!

Love your guts always-
Hermana Bradfield

Whoop! Whoop!

What a week! We have seen so many miracles. We had 6 people come to church this Sunday. Our Family, Alma and Manuel and their kids, all came again, along with Manuel's daughter from his first marriage. She and the kids LOVED Primary and Young Women's. They didn't want to leave at the end of the second hour, so when Manuel and Alma had to leave for health reasons again, they were thrilled that their kids wanted to stay and very pleased that we offered to find a member to take them home after the last hour. They are such an awesome family, and as long as they keep their commitments by reading, praying, coming to church, and living the commandments as we teach them, I have no doubt that they will get baptized. They already expressed how much they felt a difference and a desire to change their lives around in the first week after going to church! It's been so great to see the gospel changing their lives!

We also brought a new mom and her son to church. Their names are Teresa and Daniel. Daniel wants to go on the Young Men's campout this Friday. Hopefully we can get him set up to go! That would so awesome. Ricki (Our recent convert as of Saturday) did a great job fellowshipping Daniel, and was so great in helping us to make sure Daniel felt comfortable and welcomed and enjoyed church! I love that kid! Ricki is super awesome!

Ricki's baptism went really well. He seemed really pleased with it, especially with the fact that he made me sing in front of everyone for the musical number! I ended up singing River God (even though it's in English. I figured he spoke English and that's what counts!); he seemed very appreciative for the song. He came up to me and told me I did a great job; but it was only a tender moment for 2 seconds before we returned back to our jokes and hard times about who's gonna win the semi finals - the Nuggets or the Lakers. We shall see, but from what I'm hearing, I have faith in the Nuggets!

Things have been going well. I got a hair cut the other day (By the way... I was going to send you a pic over a month ago when I first cut my hair back in Stockton, but I just haven't got around to it!). Anyway, the guy was very nice but did a really fast, quick job on my hair and NOT at all what I wanted. Oh well, give it 2 weeks and any bad hair cut turns into a good one, right! Anyway, don't make fun of my hair when you get the pictures soon (probably not this week!).

Well no one ever said anything about when to call on Mother's Day, so I will just plan on calling around 8-9 your time! Be on the look out this Sunday! Congrats with the move, and I hope you all have a great week!

P.S. I saw Keith Urban has a new cd out, and I just wanted to buy it and listen to it; but I remembered that I was a missionary and that wasn't allowed! Fooey!

Love your guts!

Love Always-
Hermana Bradfield