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

10/3/16

Quite the week in Lititz ward. First off we got a good case of clowns in Lancaster County so that has been quite the stir. An Elder I am friends with has spotted some in Lancaster city, so its not a hoax. I want to see one, from afar and knowing it can't see me. Anyways.

Tuesday we had zone training which was goodish.

my hand was "close enough" to the iron rod.

But that didn't matter because after we had actually lessons to teach new investigators. We visited a guy who has looked into a lot of churches and was skeptical the whole time, so we of course told him the Book of Mormon is what he really needs to study. We visited him later and he had only gotten a few pages in but hey, he's actually doing it.
The other lesson we had was with a mom and daughter, our goal was to teach the restoration but mom had some questions that had us go on some tangents. But it was awesome because only recently in life have I been confident in answering any question, and teaching the concept they way they will understand it. Questions about the end of the world, who is going to be angels, and heaven and hell. All good stuff.

That evening we had dinner with Ralph at a member's home. It was another good experience for Ralph. As of now his family is still opposing him, and also sends him all the anti he could need. So that's been an annoyance. One of his daughters has read the whole Book of Mormon now. She first said it was impressive, and on the second questioning of her opinion by Ralph she said it, "Reads like fiction". Anyone who has read the book and remembers it, should have laughed out loud at the ignorance displayed. I can't even begin to go off on how wrong she is. If the Book of Mormon reads like fiction she must believe Christ's Doctrine is fiction, because that's what it teaches you in SO many chapters. Second if Joseph Smith wrote this fictional book then it should be read in every 8th grade English class in the United States. If its fictional then Joseph Smith should be one of the most famous fictional writers in history. Ignorance must be a blissful island somewhere in the archipelago of Hell.

Wow obviously I'm still not happy about that situation, moving on. On Wednesday I went was with Elder Ressler, we had a good time. We first went with Bro. Maninger to up weed an overgrown garden. Ressler and I tore out the weeds then Maninger tilled it. We were there barely over an hour but we did some serious work. It was impressively fast.

I later got a call thanking us and telling us it would've taken her 5 days to do what we did in an hour. Elder Ressler and I continued our day of service by helping a family move. Turns out they had a lot of things. (which has taught me to never have a lot of things when I grow up) They started with a 26 ft. U-haul and I was the appointed stacker of the boxes. We were there for 5 hours. F-I-V-E. And when we left the first truck was almost finished. Wait Elder Simmons, you just said first truck. yeah Italicized other voice, I did, and that's because it was the first of not two trucks but three moving trucks used to clear out this constipated house.

We did have a day where every scheduled thing fell apart and we were left walking in the rain for a few hours. I was a little sick-ish and my face was trying to help me out by shifting sneezing and nose running into sixth gear but my face just turned out to be a wreck. Then I got a paper towel from the local car place and I wiped up the mess.

The weekend of course was General Conference and that was just awesome as always. We watched one session with Ralph and he also came to the priesthood session so that was good for him. He was left thoroughly impressed, he knows its the church of God, he just needs to do something about it. We also spent a session with David and Tabitha. David is planning on being Baptized on the 15th of October! which is super awesome and its obvious that its the time in his life for it to happen. Course I more than likely am leaving the 12th but no worries.

And for the last part of my subject line, on saturday Trump had a rally in Spooky Nook sports which is in our ward boundaries, a few miles from where we used to live. So that's pretty crazy. If your wondering who I'd vote for I'd tell you quickly, I don't know who it should be but leaning toward Trump. Don't hate,

Elder Simmons

Finally got to see a clown