12/19/16

Hey people it's been another super fast week.

We've had some unexpected opportunities to meet some of the member's friends that like missionaries. So that is great. I remade some cool Book of Mormon Book marks that a senior missionary made. I haven't printed any but if anyone wants them for their own use let me know!

Thursday was our first day Hot Chocolating this week. When I woke up I saw the trees outside had seizures and I knew that it would be fun day. So we braved the cold for four hours. It was like 12 degrees out there without the windchill. We later came to find out that it was 8 degrees then went down to 4! It was SO cold. I was using 6 hand warmers in various places of my Popsicled body. Two gloves, two socks, two pairs of pants, two beanies, two coats, but it didn't make too much of a difference. We were cold. I think we got called crazy more than we gave out cups of hot chocolate. We gave out 2 in those four hours! Haha we pretty much were crazy! I don't have any hard feelings though.

Friday we went out again and it was like 25 degrees and to us it felt like the middle of May. We were having a great time taking off layers and we were still called crazy Hahaha. But we gave out 9 cups that day and a few Restoration pamphlets. So it even more worth it.

Then on Saturday "Decima" came and gave us a whole lot of frozen rain and not even half the ward came to the ward Christmas party. But we di,d and so did our friends the Giglio 'tos' who are friends with quite a few members and us. They are catholic but one day they'll be Mormon.

The kids wrapped me up as a snowman during the party.

So that was awesome. We were back at it giving out Hot Chocolate. And it was our most productive day. We gave out about 25 cups! 3 Restorations pamphlets and a Book of Mormon. As well as a lady whose friend just got baptized and is now curious to learn more.

This is for sure the most effective thing we can do in this area. There's no other way we'd be able to interact with hundreds of people in a non threatening way. Imagine if we tracted this many people, it would take days and days and a lot of them would not appreciate us knocking on their door. This has really been a game changer, and we've been blessed through other means besides just the stand. Life is good.

Elder Simmons

12/12/16

Hey People. The week has flown by as usual. Its been 16 months now so time flies when you try. On Monday after emailing we went over the the Health Department of Harford County. The first lady we talked to just was raining on our hot chocolate parade. I was frustrated with her just a bit because the lady who shut us down last week said she would work with us and have us back up and running. Thankfully, we talked to another guy who told us all we needed to do. So that was that and we made ourselves the hand washing station.

Tuesday we had a zone training and it could've been worse I suppose. It also rained a lot that day but Tuesday is not the point of you reading this so moving on. Wednesday I went on exchanges up in Aberdeen, we did some fun service and we got to jump around in a dumpster of foam, cardboard, and I'm sure a lot of rusty nails.

We went to mutual for the Susquehanna ward that night and I put on a home made beard like a wig and then I did an impressive limbo. That was funny.

Thursday Friday and Saturday we were out giving out hot chocolate! It was pretty awesome! Thursday and Friday we gave out a little over 30 cups of hot chocolate. Which was really good! So we were able to talk to a ton of people and do our job of offering them the Restored Gospel. We haven't had people walk up to us and ask to get baptized or anything but we are doing the best job that we can, in the most effective way we can do it. So I can't complain. But I will admit that it is crazy cold. But hey I'd be cold anyways right?

This is our friend and local competition, Timothy. Nice guy.

Saturday, however was pretty rough. We gave out like 5 cups. I was surprised I thought it would be the busiest day. So that was kind of a rough hit to the gut. I then started worrying that we might have to give it up, and a whole lot of discouragement. Because I don't know what I'd do in this place with out this idea. But luckily Sunday came and problems fixed themselves and God helped me out and I felt super comforted. I've never been helped like that through the Spirit before. Moral of the story. Sometimes -no all the time we do all we can do and it's still not enough. But God is watching over us and if we ask for help, He does help us in His own time. This week should be another good week of Hot chocolating in Bel Air. I really hope we get some investigators this week.

Elder Simmons

12/5/16

It's been a super crazy week. We got to finally do our hot chocolate stand on Wednesday and Friday. It's definitely the most productive thing we can do in this place so it's been pretty exciting. We gave out around 20 cups of hot chocolate, gave out a Book of Mormon, got three people to sign up with their names and numbers. Ones a flake but life's a flake sometimes. Either way, it has been awesome, members have visited us and seen it on facebook to get them excited about missionary work. All is great and dandy right? Well then a Health Inspector came and shut us down. There's a number of things we get to fix now. Like having a hand washing thing outside so we get hypothermia. But it's super worth it so I'm not too worried. In other news, a few other missionary companionships are starting to do it as well around the mission. I know of at least 3 companionships that want to get it started. So yay for good ideas spreading!

On Saturday I got to go, once again, back up to the land of the free, Pennsylvania. Because Ralph got baptized. Its still blowing my mind that it really happened. I'm super happy for him, and I'm sure he is really happy too. It was a highlight of my mission for sure. Elder Davis, Allen, and I got to all be there. Collectively we taught him for pretty much the time he was taught, so it was cool for us to be there.

Sunday was also an unexpected highlight. We didn't have much to do after church so we thought that I should wear the Amish hat and make a video with people's reactions. But it turned out to be a easy way to talk to people by asking them if they would like to help in making a video. I got to be a soccer goalie and I accidently smacked my watch really bad and broke it. haha. Thats not even the point of this story. We went up to Bel Air and it turned out to be the Christmas parade so that was super sweet. I snagged a pic with Santa and Misses Claus, because I'm still a believer.

Elder Simmons

11/26/16

Hey yinz. This week was was Thanksgiving which was enjoyable of course. In the morning we helped the young men rake many acre yard. It was ambitious but I left early so my blisters weren't so bad. This ward treats us well, we had two meals. We got to have a whole bunch of pies and then we played games for quite some time. Signs is always a fun game to play.

Oh my new companion and I get along quite well. We share a lot of similar views on how missionary work should be done. Work hard, be real with people, etc. Elder Peery is his name. We did raking this week. Its not the most fun when no one answers because their black friday shopping. But I came up with a Service Pass a long card that could be handy.

This week I also finished the Christmas Cup wrapper, so that's really exciting. Really that project in general has been the thing we've been working up towards. And we'll start this week! Just about everything is ready to go.

Wish us luck!

Elder Simmons

11/21/16

The week has gone by so fast. Pretty simply put we raked a good while. Some lawns the owners never came out and they'll never know who did it but that's alright.

The other part of the week has been getting ready for our Hot Chocolating. We got permission by a very nice owner of a place called Italian Sensations to go outside their store. They'll also be the ones providing the hot water. The Ward is doing a great job at supporting us by getting other materials: cups, spoons, hot chocolate packets, etc. We went to Office Depot to see if they could print the sleeve and all that. The guy who helped was really easy going and we became friends pretty quickly. It was super awesome. He asked about being a missionary and all that. He's a Christian as well. Near the end I asked him if he'd like a Book of Mormon. He asked about it and after and explanation he consented to I grabbed one from the car. It made my day, you never know how you'll be able to share the gospel with people.

This is the Book of Mormon Cup Wrapper. And I've also started making the Christmas themed one.

Oh speaking of change. Transfers are here and Elder Lewis is gone and I'll be getting a guy named Elder Peery. (I spelled it right) with new companions you never know what to expect, but I know I'll just keep working like I do.

Elder Simmons

11/14/16

Hey folks.

This week we did s'more raking because if it ain't broke don't fix it. At least thats what I hear. We went back over to Ms. Bator's house this week and re-raked the yard and got to ask her about her Book of Mormon reading. She hasn't read too much because there's a lot of new names she's heard. But when we left, we asked her to write down questions she has and we'll answer them the next time we're over, which will be sometime this week. So that's been pretty awesome.

On another random raking we met a really nice guy. He's from Greece and he gave us some super awesome honey that his dad in Greece harvests...grows? Plunders? Not sure on that one. Regardless of method, it tastes awesome. He got a Book of Mormon as well.

We also gave a security guard of a shopping center a Book of Mormon. It has been awesome to see some "fruits" by being able to give out the book. 3 books in the past 5 weeks and I'm happy about it! (I was rereading my journal of when I had first came out and I was having "rough days" when I had only given out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon. How life changes.)

So things are heating up around here. Speaking of heating up do I need to mention the craziness that happened with Good ole America? Probably not. Especially when the house that this narrator's writing to is divided. :)

Honestly pretty much everyday I raked. And it has been exhausting and awesome. I get to feel like I'm working hard.

But we do plenty of playing hard too.

Today we went down to Baltimore and visited Fort McHenry. It was pretty awesome.

Making painting great again...

11/7/16

Hey people of not Maryland. The new thing to do in slow areas is service. So we raked leaves all the week long. It's been pretty awesome what's come from it. Really the only super legitimate thing that has happened came from raking a lady's yard. She has some good Mormon friends, she's 83 mind you, and really appreciated us helping her. The first time we met her was when we were raking her neighbors place and she asked if we could help the next day. The "only thing" I had to write our number in was a Book of Mormon obviously. But she was happy to get a book as well. I talked to her a few times when we helped her out. She said she had skimmed around, and she asked about the names Joseph Smith and Moroni. It's all in the introduction. She said she was going to start reading the book. she also said in a half joking way that she was going to tell her children that she is going to leave Catholicism. She mentioned that actions speak louder than words. So she could be really epically someone who's ready. We're going back Wednesday.

Another highlight of the week was going to a Hawaiian restaurant that some members in our ward started up. It has to have been some of the best food I've ever had. Thank goodness we're missionaries because the check wasn't going to be afforded by my wallet anytime soon.

We had a zone conference this week, which are some of the hardest meetings I have to go to. I mean that more literally because I'm sitting on a metal chair for 8 hours. It's rough. In the fifth or so hour, one of the Assistants to the President told us, "It's not our job to be buddy buddy with people. Friendships come through the Atonement." and later he re-emphasized by saying "It's not our job to be their friends." Maybe he got a little too into his training and pulled a Brigham Young. But either way I don't agree with that at all, and was pretty done with the meeting. It just felt like robot training, thats the truth. though I did really like what President had to say to us. Next paragraph please.

We also had stake conference this week, but in between time we've been able to rake a few more yards. One guy was so beside himself that we wanted to rake for free for him that he called us crazy a few times haha. We also raked a Pastor's yard, the other Elders haven't gone back over yet. All in all almost every time we've raked it's been a really positive experience. I'm ready to be doing that for the next few months. Stake Conference was good though. Our missionary choir did mediocre. Which was a miracle in itself, hahaha.

Monday we've gone to a military base and got to see some awesome helicopters.

Companionship Pull-ups the best unity builder around.​

10/31/16

Tuesday was quite a day. We didn't have too many set plans, which turned out to be good. We went to a park and I, being so tired of not talking to people, was determined to talk to the few people at the park. I started talking to a to a guy that was obviously having a bad day. His name was Aaron and he was living at his parents place after getting out of the hospital drinking too much. He took a walk from his parents place and he knew he was just going to get alcohol. and he did and that's where I found him. He wasn't very drunk at first, he wanted to change and make his life better, he was saying that God sent us to him, all good things. But then he just kept pounding the Vodka, chugging that bottle down to the point where he was happy with being drunk. It is sad to see people's lives go to words. There was nothing we could really do, he didn't want to read the Book of Mormon, or learn about the Word of Wisdom so what were we supposed to do? Leave him like the past missionaries have done apparently? Nah, we walked him back towards his parents house. It was quite the walk, we sang songs, he peed on trees, played the harmonica together, asked a guy in a truck for a ride. And for a few seconds he wanted to stop and say a prayer. So we knelt right next to a loud road, with a cop watching us in the parking lot. He felt that everything would be alright. His plan was to grab his guitar at his place and then get even more drunk and sleep in the woods. Not what we wanted but we were just there to walk the 2 miles with him home. Near the end of our sojourn a truck pulled up, it was his dad. Who was probably glad that we were there helping. Aaron almost got in the truck after he waved goodbye. But then they started fighting, and we figured we better leave because if he didn't get in the truck it would be an awkward situation to be in. So we started walking away, but he still wasn't in the truck. "Get in the truck Aaron." we'd say to ourselves, "Get in the truck man." We went over the hill and never saw him get in the truck or not. I don't know what happened to Aaron, but I do know that we did our part and that he's got a great book to read in his backpack now.

That was too long of a story, sorry.

Wednesday we had the ward's fall fest, which is a relief society way of saying Halloween party. It was a good time, I really enjoy this ward. We got to help with parking, and I had a good time. But I took my job very seriously.

I've been making some good friends. I went on exchanges with Elder Ainsworth, we had a good time. And I had us walking all day. We walked 8 miles and it rained all day. But we happened to come across on a big ole mansion built in the 1890's. The sign said open so I went in and announced to the place that we were visitors. A lady named Leslie came and gave us a great tour. The house was a summer home of a doctor who was a founder of John's Hopkins University/Hospital. It was super cool, we also met a guy who got to play in the house when he was a kid. Also an artist who was setting up her gallery in there. It was quite the place we found ourselves in.

Saturday was fun because we went leaf raking, which is my new found passion of doing missionary work in a rough area. It's great. I raked two lawns-and when I say I, it was just me because we only had one rake. then a guy was started raking his leaves so we went over and helped him. He was super grateful and it was such an awesome way to meet some one. When he learned that Mormons were helping him he said, " no wonder! Mormons are the nicest people ever!" He and his wife are Catholic, I asked if we could swing by again sometime and he is now completely down to let two strangers into his house, "..whenever!" So that made me happy. Things are starting to slowly happen around here.

I've got too many tags.

I had a little fun with Elder Ainsworth...

10/24/16

Hey people. I'm having quite the experience of being in Maryland. The first week here we walked a lot. This past week week we had a car. We tried to visit a lot of people. Elder Lewis and I are doing much better in the department of doing work and feeling happy about it. The Ward is pretty cool.

This is my actual companion, Elder Lewis. (Had that sicker on him for like 5 hours.)

Cookin' patties

Elder Dyer and I went to a cool little league stadium. The Camden Yard like building is actually a hotel, thats all baseball themed.

Really the highlight of the week was the week end. We got picked up by Bro Whiting and drove back up to Lititz for the Baptism of David Doyle. He's an awesome guy, who went to the open house and new it was time to join the church and one day get sealed to his wife. I really didn't have much to do with the conversion process, but it was awesome to be there for it and they we're happy I was there.

Ralph was also there so I got to see my grandpa of the East again.

And another shoutout to the whitings. Travis drove 6 hours for me. what a man.


Hopefully this upcoming week we'll get some good things happening as we walk a lot.

Elder Simmons​

10/17/16

Brad is now in Bel Air Maryland. He didn't have time to write a letter this week, but sent lots of photos. These are photos of the members in Lititz, the area he is leaving.

The Whitings

The Kellers

Brother Davis and Ralph

The Drydens

The Hassons

The Youngs

The Henrichsens

The Brice's

I broke a members swing my first day in my new area in Maryland.

10/10/16

Hello everyone this week has been a good one. A lot of ish went down.

I went on exchanges to York on Tuesday, that was a good time. We did a lot of service which included whacking a huge bush up with a machete. I'm sure the insurance didn't cover it but it was worth it. Wednesday and Thursday mainly consisted of playing ping pong in the park in the afternoons. It has been a good way to meet new people and make friends. On Thursday Elder Allen talked to a dad about the gospel for a good hour and a half. I was charged with watching his 10-ish year old kid for that time. We played a lot of ping pong, a few of the balls went into a stream, 4 balls that day were stepped on. It was a fun time and I've improved at child management I think.

Another highlight was when we went out to eat sushi with our awesome neighbors. I wouldn't call them investigators but close friends for sure. They easily fit the picture though. We met some of their friends at the place too. We had a great time, the sushi was perfect.

On Saturday we had interviews with President, and stake conference, but the most important thing was also that day. Bingo with the old folks. Somehow we made it all work. The interview was good, President Christiansen is a good guy. It was pretty obvious that my odds of staying in the area were slim but I tried. The adult session of stake conference was pretty awesome because the stake gave everyone in attendance the Member Missionary guide. Bro Shaffer did a good job of presenting it and it was cool. Never thought it would happen.

Today I got the email and last night the call, telling me that I'm leaving Lititz Pennsylvania. Now I'll be off to Maryland. I'm going to a area in Baltimore County (no where near the city, thank goodness) called Bel Air. I think President sent me here because we need to get member missionary work going. It's a nice area and not much is happening. Kinda like State College but with out the giant university. So I'll try my best not to spend time tracting... it doesn't work. I'll be here for winter so it will be interesting to see what we do for finding while it snows. Oh man. Maybe some long days ahead but it'll be an adventure.



Elder Simmons