7/31/17

Hello everyone. Thanks for sticking with me this far. This week was the last week on my mission. Wednesday morning I'll be transferred and we'll go down to the DC Temple that day. Thursday I'll be flying into Salt Lake City by 10 am. Then I'm not really sure what will happen.

But, let me enthrall you with my week. Tuesday we had District Meeting and went to a place called "The Cow" afterwards. Pretty good stuff.

The Cow with the Heifers.

We went out to dinner with the Running family. Good people. After we tried a neighbor of some members that we accidently knocked on instead of said members. So this time around they let us right in. Chase's uncles are Bishops so he is quite aware of how things go. We had a great conversation about college and the Hotel business. In the end we gave him a new copy of the Book of Mormon and his wife immediately started reading it. We'll let the book do the work.

On Wednesday we went to the DC temple with our man Frank. It was a fantastic time. Spirit was strong and it was good.

On Thursday I weekly planned for the last time, except I didn't really do anything. I made Elder Campbell a tie though. Cranked it out in 2 hours-ish. We also had a productive evening, we met two brothers who both accepted copies of the Book of Mormon. That was good. Doing the usual trying people who talked to us at least once.

Friday, we visited Kevin and Rita, read some of the Book of Mormon with them, answered questions about specific people's sins and whether they'll go to heaven. Ah. We also visited a family that night. The dad is less active and not wanting to change that. The wife is severely Catholic and doesn't want to convert, but she is interested in learning more about us because we're interesting like that. She asked some good questions. We gave her some chapters to read.

We also got a bible referral that night, and we called the guy and saw him within an hour of when he requested it. His name is Rickey. He was cool, we showed him LDS.org and he watched the Joseph Smith Movie after we left. We'll be seeing him tonight.

On Saturday we met with our ward mission leader which was productive. That night we saw a investigator that dropped Elder Campbell before I got here. She told us she was thinking about calling us and having us back over. So now she's down again. Pretty sweet. We also saw a lady from Africa that night. Her name is Beautiful, and she was soliciting her 19 year old daughter for marriage to us. Pretty funny.

Sunday was a good day. My last Sunday as a missionary. Pretty freakin' weird but enjoyable. We invited a good amount of people to church, but that didn't happen. But that's life, and I learned a long time ago to not get your hopes up until they are in the door.

But it was a great week, we worked hard. I've been reading a lot of "Jesus the Christ" this week. I finished the book Wednesday and promptly restarted it, and am 300 pages in already. Its helped with the trunkiness for sure.

Well simmonsbrad55@gmail.com is my real email. Have a great summer

Elder Simmons

7/24/17

Hey everyone, I'm officially 20 years old now and have 10 days left out here. We had a pretty solid week this week. A pretty decent amount of knocking on doors. and it was over 90 degrees everyday, but some good things happened.

On Monday we started teaching a part member family and we had a good first lesson. We're going over tonight. Also saw the Liberty Dam and went Rock Climbing.

Went on exchanges on Tuesday to Westminster. We tried the house of my mom's ex-boyfriend but he moved out. So imagine my surprise when I expect to see this alleged potential dad, and see a Indian man (dot not feather). That night was an interesting night when we visited an investigator who had some problems with evil spirits. Inquire in person on that one.

Wednesday we did some Meals on Wheels service, had lunch with Frank, and knocked some doors. I feel like we're fairly ineffective in the afternoons here and its not the most fun. But we're trying that's for sure. I did talk to a guy at 7-11 who took a pamphlet. That salvaged the day I suppose.

I'm sweatier than the picture shows.

Thursday we weekly planned, then saw Kevin and Rita. Rita put herself on date and told us she'll get baptized August 19th. Good for her!

Friday was good when we went over to a guy named Paul's house. He's about to move so it became apparent that we weren't going to be able to give the generic Restoration lesson. Instead we showed him LDS.org and got his address for other Elders to get with. It was nice to give people some resources and bare testimony.

Nancy wasn't interested, but we got a train picture at least.

On Saturday we tracted in the morning then tried some people in the afternoon. One house of an Apostolic family was kind and we talked to the dad and son outside. Matt and James were their names. We listened for a while about what they believe then we were able to talk about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. A good question they asked was, how do you know Joseph Smith was an actual prophet. Then we told him how the apostles, who they love so dearly, came to Joseph and gave him the power Christ gave them. They also related well when we told him Joseph Smith is either a prophet or a phony, they said Christ was either a liar, lunatic, or what he said he was. James the dad, already had a Book of Mormon and Matt took one and said he'd read. That felt good.

Sunday was a great day. A introspective one for me for sure. The Linger Longer after also helped to make it a better day. That night we had a Stake Priesthood meeting, I enjoyed it a lot.

I got to see Elder Dyer who will be holding my hand on take off and landing next week.

Excited for my last week and also anxious to find my place in the real world again. So its been a weird birthday.

Elder Simmons

7/17/17

Well lets see. First off, ,"hi", that's a kind thing to say.
Well I'll just get into it. On Monday I got a hair cut and the TV there was playing a triathlon that was in Logan so quite a few Utah themed commercials played while I waited for 30+ minutes. I know I'm coming to the end of the line here but that's ridiculous. A few people listened to our message that evening, whether they will do anything about it we have yet to find out.

Enjoying some sprinklers.

On Tuesday we saw our friend Darlene, we read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon for her. She's looking into it just to see what we're about. I hope she starts applying what we're telling her to her life. Another notable thing was it was 7-11 day. So we could get a free small Slurpee at each store. On our way back from district meeting we hit up 4 stores that were on the way back. It was epic. Then Elder chamberlain went the extra mile/extra Slurpee, and got no. 5.

Wednesday we helped deliver some food for Meals on Wheels. I'm not sure what else we did that day because my planner indicates that everyone cancelled that day. But we did have lunch with Frank. Oh wait we tried to do missionary work in Sykesville. It didn't really work... that was a long day.

Frank is the man.

Thursday was hard for me especially. We weekly planned like all day and two lessons cancelled. I really am not enjoying my time out here when I'm not able to be doing work when I should be. I can do 'nothing' at home with my family, watching baseball. So I'm quite motivated to work hard.

Friday was a quick day. We had interviews with President and part of my job is to be there the whole time. So from 10am-7pm I was chillin in the church foyer. But I enjoyed the company of others and read like 3 chapters of Jesus the Christ, which I have a chance of finishing on my mission. lol. We saw some recent converts that night. They are from Pakistan and my blue eyes were a sight to them I guess. They kept saying pretty blue eyes to me. Words of some song over there in the that part of the world.

Enjoy some eye candy.

Saturday was good because we went hard all day. We tracted for like an hour and a half in the morning. Can't say anything particularly wonderful came out of it but I was happy to do it. Crazy how God can change you. I've always hated tracting till now. We saw Rita and Kevin, 2 African Missionaries were trying to argue with us, but whatever to them. The best part of the day was when we tried a house and a lady answered she said she was busy making dinner. I asked what she was making. Rice and Chicken was the reply then an offer to have dinner with her. So we got in and had dinner, she gave us 5 minutes to tell her something. She got super excited for the Book of Mormon. Told us she always wanted to read it. Joko is her name.

I got bit by a Asian Tiger Mosquito, if you take note of the swollen middle finger you'll take my advice and not try to smash them while they are in the car with you.

Sunday was lovely as always.

That was my week essentially, got 2 more.

Elder Simmons

7/10/17

Happy Monday reader.

To kick it off, my 4th of July was pretty good. I took some nubs on a trip to Baltimore during the day. They enjoyed it, nothings changed there, and its all pictures you've seen before but I'm the one in control of the content of this email anyways.

Camden Yards is always my favorite.

At Poe's grave someone left on apple of top, assumedly for Ed to eat. But I figured he wasn't going to need it anytime soon so I helped him out.

On Wednesday I was on exchanges in Columbia. Elder Larson and I had a pretty good time. We did some officey stuff like helped load a trailer with some furniture for missionaries. We did teach a woman the Restoration. That was super good.

On Thursday it rained a lot so I was glad to weekly plan for a time. We had a dinner with a family and we knocked on their neighbor's door on accident, the woman was really nice and said we could come back another time. That was a surprise, especially because I didn't know what the members looked like so I didn't know what was going on at the beginning of that conversation. Worked out well. Also on Thursday night we taught a guy named Charles the Restoration. It was super good and Charles said he'd get baptized if he came to know if it was true. We'll be seeing him again this week and he will likely come to church too.

On Friday we had a long missionary meeting from 10AM -4PM so that was most of my day and the drive home took like 2.5 hours because we swung up to Pennsylvania. It felt good to be in that State again. But that night we taught a guy named Ray who listened to us and as we told him that we were either the kingdom of God or a complete sham, he said he'd read the Book of Mormon.

Saturday was a crazy day. I was going nuts with talking to everyone, but I wasn't nuts, there is a difference. But essentially we got like 8 potential people who said they'd be interested in meeting with us again. It was crazy. Another guy named Cyrus was on his porch just by chance and I asked him about his solar panels, then we taught him the Restoration. It was epic, he was super excited and also said he'd get baptized if he knew it was true. I've been trying to do better at testifying and it's been helping a lot. I've told every one I can our claim that we are God's Kingdom on the Earth again, and that every person should read the Book of Mormon, because its either the most important book out there to read, or its fake book made up by a guy. Cyrus is awesome. At 8:30 we were walking around our neighborhood, we randomly helped two people bring mattresses into their apartment. I asked them if we could then share our message with them. We were already in their place so it worked out great! They accepted the challenge to read the Book of Mormon. Saturday was nuts.

Sunday was a great day, Logan came to church again with his kids. Sacrament meeting was wonderful. I on the spot taught Gospel Principles, it was decent. In Elders' Quorum we play 20 questions for new folks. Elder Campbell reminded me of a question we were discussing earlier. I laughed too loud so the one being questioned said what is it? So I asked, If you could take one item out of the Word of Wisdom what would it be? There's really no good answer for it but it got a good laugh.

After church we got another investigator named Tarik, he is a nice kid. He didn't know too much about the Gospel so we really had to start from the basics. But it was cool and we'll see him this week and keep teaching him.

Last thing, I tracted my mom's house she grew up in. The guy was nice but was trying to sleep, but he took a picture with me and took a pamphlet!

The End. three more of these emails and we'll be done. I'm having a wonderful time here in Randallstown/Eldersburg. Just working hard and its working out well.



Elder Simmons

7/3/17

Hey people, time is flying by. goodness. Got like 30 day left on my mission, which causes me to have an anxiety to share the Gospel more, so its been a good motivator.

Monday was a standard p-day in which nothing exciting happened. Tuesday we had district meeting, and went out to eat an Asian place.

I found a steel wool hair(?) in my dish and let them know so I got a whole new meal free. That's what happens when you pay for other people I guess. The left overs have came in clutch I tell you.

Also on Tuesday my grandpa came and took us out to eat! It was a wonderful time. He also took a whole suitcase of junk home for me. What a guy.

On Wednesday we moved apartments! The place we have now is so much better. We have a working A/C now and the washer and dryer work properly. But last night the police helicopter kept flying over near us so I wonder, like grandpa asked, who put you into this dump? After we moved we helped a member move his place. Good stuff.

It was super hot this week, but $1 snowballs were quite welcomed. And I got to teach one of them the Restoration, and gave him a Book Of Mormon. Too bad he lives on the other side of Baltimore County.

The majority of my week consisted of trying potential investigators who at one point were nice to missionaries. But most of them aren't home, others just look out the window then lock the door like they think I'm going to break in or something. It's made for some pretty long hours. But lets just brush over that like missionary work is a walk in the park.

Sunday was the best day by far. Elkinah came to church again, with his two kids. It was awesome. Testimony meeting is always great and the national anthem at the end always rocks my world. Also my former companion Elder Haroldsen came to visit his uncle who is in this ward. That was pretty crazy, he got home Wednesday and this was his first Sunday as a returned missionary.

After church we went to the wedding of Kevin and Rita! It was pretty awesome, the cake was pretty solid too. Now Rita can get baptized in the coming weeks!

We have picked up 2 people this week. and if Tuesday goes well then we'll have two more. So more good things to come here in Eldersburg.

Elder Simmons

6/26/17

Hey everyone!

On Monday we weren't doing anything, and because of the thunderstorm it was raining like crazy. So Elder Vu and I decided to run down to the harbor and get wet in the fountains. Well that was fun, we were extremely wet. I brushed off the thought of lightning safety as I was walking through a fountain next to a harbor, during a thunderstorm.

First an update on my last day of Baltimore. Not sure how much this spread across the nation but Baltimore's age is starting to show.

A steam pipe exploded, it was pretty nuts, we got there before the firefighters and such. Last pics with Hank.

So on Wednesday I left the crazy city and went to Eldersburg/Randallstown, and I'm with Elder Campbell. He's from Mapleton Utah. He is only my 5th Utah grown companion. We get a long just fine and hes got a nice camera so life is very good. Oh, and we have plenty of work to do. Its been great.
OH and I've been fed super well this week. I've been fed everyday and I've had 2 steak dinners and even ate crabs one night. And I ran across my mom's high school so that was cool.

The school is in need of an overhaul.. but its cool still.

Anyways this week we tried a whole lot of people and we found 2 new people who are pretty dang solid. The best one by far is named Elkinah. We were trying a potential and he opened the door and we started talking to him. He's in his 50's probably, from Liberia. Something we said got us in the door. So we sat down and taught him a pretty quick Restoration lesson. He was moved by the Spirit pretty hard. He told us he was going to make it his duty to come to church. He even told a different relative, who was talking nonsense, that they needed to listen to us because we're missionaries who are trained and our time is precious. Wow. So that was super cool.

We also have a member and his fiance who are doing great. Her name is Rita. They are getting married July 9th and then she'll be baptized soon after.

We found quite a few others who may become something soon. Its been really exciting.

Anyways the week was great, I love having a car with A/C. Our apartment doesn't have A/C so that's been rough. Good news is that we're moving in two days.
Sunday was the best day by far. A whole ton of people knew me already which was super cool. If you're wondering why that is, its because my mom grew up in Eldersburg and quite a few people know the Mudgett Clan. But Elkinah came to church! and he had a super amazing experience. Sacrament was about reading the Book of Mormon. 2nd hour was on the gift of the Holy Ghost. 3rd hour was a testimony-ish type discussion, in which Elkinah told the Elders Quorom that he has felt something very strongly and that he'll be attending here every week. He told us he wants to get baptized but first wants to learn more, which I think we can help him with.

Pretty good first week with 5 more left!

Elder Simmons

6/18/17

Hello everyone, this week has been pretty fun. Turned out to be my last week in Baltimore because I'm getting transferred to Eldersburg this week. So by next Monday my life will be much different. I'll be in a car, and not in the ghetto of west Baltimore. It doesn't really matter to me where my last 6 weeks of my mission are. I'm going to try my best to make it productive and fun.

On Tuesday I was on exchanges in Pikesville. It's got a lot of Jewish people there. I realized it must be what non members feel like in Utah County. Every corner had a synagogue, and most cars have anti-Nazi bumper stickers. We gave out some copies of the Book of Mormon. I've been kindly calling people out who say they know the book but don't. Its been a good way to see if people actually know what they're talking about and if they're interested.

Thursday was good, we gave out 3 copies of the book of Mormon, we also helped a guy from Iran get home. He lives in DC but came to Baltimore for a green card. He got the card but then started smoking something green and got lost. So we helped him out.

Friday was the best day by far. Half the mission met in Columbia and we listened to Elder Neilson and his wife. He is the director of the missionary department. It was a super good meeting. Learned a good amount, felt a good amount, ate a good amount. I sat with him during lunch so that was cool. After that spiritual high I was trying to tell a guy about the Book of Mormon and he said it was not the word of God. I reminded him that he's never read it so he doesn't know. But he was sure it wasn't. That wasn't cool.

Saturday we were in the quality ghetto trying to contact referrals. We never get any trouble there so its all good. But we hear about crazy stuff going down and think where were we for that? We did see a fight. Here's a picture

That was something.

Sunday was good as always. Heres some pictures of my week.

Holding lit juggling batons with a street performer. (kapowshow.com)

My friend Terry.

Bro. Curry was with us for two dinners this week. oh happy Fathers Day by the way.

Elder Simmons

6/12/17

Hello everyone who reads this. This week has been a fun one.
Even though I had pink eye technically (the non spreadable kind causes by allergies), and today my right eye's Sty has blown up leaving me looking swollen silly at best.

Tuesday I was on exchanges in my area with Elder Fisher. We had a good time, we tried a lot of potential investigators who weren't home. (that seemed to happen a lot this week) But it was still a great day because I was able to give out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon. Also Hank was interviewed.

Keeping out of the sun, waitin' for a bus.

On Wednesday I went to the eye doctor. It was my fist trip to the doctor's office for myself on my mission. At Rite Aid I gave an employee named Caleb a Book of Mormon. So now we have a better excuse to get strong pain med prescriptions, like everyone else in the city. We attempted to see Edward with Bro Garner but he wasn't home. We tried again later in the week. He was texting us on Sunday, he's gone off the wall. Super bummer there. Pittsburgh Pirates were in town against the Orioles this week, I was conflicted when we past some Pirates fans and wanted to say "GO BUCS!" but I was wearing a Orioles tie. What a mess.

Two "entrepreneurs" let me hold their fat stacks of cash. At least $3000 I was holding (tax free too!)

Friday Henok got interviewed and he was good to go. We tried a bunch of people on Friday but no one was around. Its super hard to meet up with people when they're never home and never answer their phone! But I get my satisfaction from effort not results so can't complain

Here's the neck brace picture I didn't send last week.

Saturday was a great day. Hank, Henok and Kevan all got baptized! So here's the pictures.

I had the opportunity to Baptize Henok. That water was HOT. Like it felt like a hot tub in that font. (I didn't fill it.) But Henok was baptized, and audibly said, "Wow" afterwards. Hank was next and Elder Hyde Baptized him and I stayed in for back support. Hank's foot came up a few times so the third time was the charm for him. Then Kevan was baptized by Elder Petersen and I got to help lower him as well. It was super cool. It was a great baptism. Sunday was also great with the 3 men's confirmations. Henok was telling us that Saturday afternoon he was super happy, was laughing all the time and had a two hour conversation with his wife and they didn't fight. He told us how the Spirit was so strong on Saturday and it was even more powerful as he got Confirmed. Hank also expressed some of his feelings and told us that as he was confirmed the Spirit awoke him. More literally then metaphorically because he slept really bad the night before. It was a highlight for me to hear their testimonies. The power from God is here. Its great.

Finished off the week with a wonderful meal at the Hydes. Couldn't get much better then that.

This week we're going to have a heat wave. That should be fun.

Elder Simmons

6/5/17

Hey everyone, in contrast to last week this week has been much better. I don't know if its because circumstances have changed or my attitude or both. But regardless its been a much more positive experience. The letters from the Primary were cute, by the way. On Tuesday we emailed because Monday was Memorial day and out of respect for the soldiers who aren't able to email their families we waited till Tuesday. Or its because the library was closed Monday. We tried to see Edward but he wasn't home, his problem is that Mormons think black people are cursed. Satan always goes hard before or after baptism, but we'll get him back. I just have a feeling he can't be gone gone. He was so solid. But in the same neighborhood we met a lady named Toni who was very interested with the Book of Mormon and asked if she could meet with us. (She missed the appointment later in the week but its a work in progress.)

Here's a guy we saw one morning, had the Officer check him out. Turns out he was just sleeping. Have yet to see a dead body or hear a gun shot surprisingly.

Wednesday we saw a few potentials I've been trying to see consistently for a while now. Dennis is one of them, turns out he has actually been reading the Book of Mormon and has some questions he wants to talk about sometime. He told us to come on Tuesday. We gave our 80 year old friend Mr. Holly an Ensign. He's Jehovah Witness so we gave him the Christmas edition haha. Also saw Hank Wednesday and we read some good chapters in the Book of Mormon. He's excited to get baptized this Saturday if all goes according to plan.

Here's a really fat Moth who was injured in some way.

Thursday was a bit less happy, we weekly planned, and then tried 4 people in one area. All of which weren't home. But it was like 5:30 pm. Friday we gave out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon. If I can give out 1 a day then I have to call it a good day regardless of anything else. So it was a very good day. 2 of the people we gave them to we got phone numbers/addresses'. One guy's Godmother was a Mormon and the other was a referral. The referral's name is D'ong. I thought at first he was an Asian man but I was wrong. I've never taught a Asian person come to think of it.. Anyways D'ong was very cool and he wants to meet with us and have his Fiance be there as well to make it a family matter. Super awesome.

Saturday was a stacked day. We helped some members move and got Donuts for it. It was the most organized move I've ever been to. We saw Henok and talked about the Sacrament and keeping the Sabbath day holy. Along with his Baptism coming up this Saturday. It was a great lesson, but sadly he missed church. I'm not really worried. He's reading the Book of Mormon and opposition has been a thing for him from the beginning but he decided to be baptized himself so its just a matter of time. We also saw Hank with Bro. Allred. Those two are good pals and we had a great time there. "Hanky Panky" is a very funny guy, his humor is witty. There's a wonderful picture of us wearing his neck braces but that'll come next week. Hank is also very excited to get Baptized.

Sunday was nice as always. Church was wonderful. After church we gave a woman a blessing. Her friend in Hagerstown is investigating and sent us to visit her. She got in a really bad car accident. It was nice to teach her about the restoration of the Priesthood power, and to testify that in essence Jesus is giving her a blessing. Then to give her a blessing to feel the power and have the Spirit's words come out of your mouth is very powerful. The fun part of Sunday was running into some black guys who preach about white people being evil. They recognize me very easily and cussed us out. But I've gotten much better at not caring what other people think about me, so it didn't bug me at all.

Looking forward to another good week.

Elder Simmons