Progress Nonetheless

Hallo!
Well, another week down and I must admit that it wasn´t the greatest week of my mission, but progress nonetheless. And the spacebar in this lovely internet cafe doesn´t want to work so I´ll probably be making this short. First, the good news. Judy was baptized Saturday! Despite a whole slew of trials in trying to fill the water font when the chapel had nothing in the cistern and dipping her under in 3 feet deep water...Honestly I wanted to cry a little bit, but Judy felt special and was happy and even shared her testimony, so that is all that matters. Another wonderful miracle is that Alondra now has a fecha and is super excited about getting baptized December 10th. She even made it to church for all three hours on Sunday and met the bishop. She is SO funny and every time we talk about her baptism she just says determinedly ¨I´m going to get baptized before you leave Bradley.¨ LoL. Another funny story from Saturday was that of Felix, one of the recent converts in the ward. He showed up to English class that morning a little late and when he saw me his eyes got huge and he rushes up to and starts telling me he had a dream this morning about me yelling at him with my finger pointed telling him that he didn´t learn English because he didn´t want to. So of course he jumped out of bed and came to the class. Basically, I´m so outspoken that ward members even DREAM about me giving them reprimands. But hey, at least I´m making a difference right? Haha. All the other stories from the week have to deal with strange skin rashes and digestive problems that I don´t care to relate. Hopefully we can get the doctor to shed some light on the situation. Other than that the work rolls forward. Love and miss you guys!
Hermana Bradley

A Little Nostalgia

Hi Fam!
So this week has been another good one full of work and progress and of course trials. But the blessings always outweigh the trials. Always. This Sunday Anthony FINALLY came to church. We actually passed by his and Carla´s house Satuday to help them clean so they could come early Sunday. When we passed by that morning and walked up to their apartment building Anthony was sitting in the window still with his head on his hands looking like a little kid on Christmas morning. It was great. He really liked church and we´re set to pass by again on Tuesday.

Judy´s baptism was announced in church and she is just so excited to be baptized since she´s been waiting for a long time apparently. We feel very blessed to have found her. Our miracle reference. Each week I just get a little more sad knowing that I´m going to have to say goodbye to so many people I love. The ward of Villa Carmen has greatly changed in my time here and I feel like a mother chick who doesn´t want to live her chickling to fly alone yet. But, there´s still 4 more weeks, and I know Hermana McEntire will take good care of all these wonderful people.

In other news, I´ve been thinking alot lately about things in the D.R. that have just become normal to me that probably would have made me crazy at home. Here´s just a few examples: cold showers where there´s not even a knob for hot water, people cutting their lawn with machetes, bus drivers that get out of the bus just to fight over getting cut off when the other driver pulls out his pistol (don´t worry that just happened this morning haha), mopping the entire house by hand, speaking Spanish so fast that your tongue can´t keep up (the newest hermana in the mission told me she can´t even understand when I speak Spanish because I do it too fast lol), never leaving anywhere without a giant backpack and umbrella, not flushing toilet paper, and falling asleep to the brassy ringing of bachata or loud bass of reggatone. And you know what? I know I´m going to miss it. Missions are such crazy things! But coming out to serve the Lord was the best decision of my life and I wouldn´t take it back for anything. Thank you so much for all of the love and support you have all lent me through it. I couldn´t have done it without you guys, and every one of you knows who you are. :) Anyways, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving, and only request that you eat some stuffing in my honor since Dominicans don´t believe in that kind of food. Haha.
Love,
Hermana Bradley

November 14, 2011

Hoooola,
Well, here we are another week down the road and as hard as I´ve been racking my brain, I can think of nothing new to tell you guys! The mission can sometimes be a little scarce on news. But that´s not to say we´re not working or seeing progress, because everyday there are miracles. We now have to investigators set to be baptized the 26th, Felicia and Judy. They are both very special women and it´s a great blessing to see the gospel change their lives. We also continue to teach our golden family, Anthony and Carla. Although they haven´t been able to come to church yet, each visit we see the Spirit light up their faces as we study the Book of Mormon and share the truths of the restored gospel. It´s incredible how the Lord truly prepares people and softens hearts. Another blessing has been the cool breezes and rain that have come in this week. I even find myself getting cold here! Which probably means I´m going to die of hypothermia when I get home. Haha. Well, other than that, I´m drawing a blank of anything exciting to tell you all....except that I am coming home in 36 days!!!! (For those of you who didn´t already know, I´m coming home December 20th) Haha. I´m trying not to be trunky though. Poor Hermana McEntire has to put up with me daydreaming about snow and Christmas lights at Temple Square. But, there is still work to do! Anywho, love you all and have a great day!
Hermana Bradley

And the Last Transfer is...

Playing with the vine at Botanical Gardens

Elyse Bradley elyse.bradley@myldsmail.net

Greetings Family!
How are ya´ll doing this week? I´m sure just dying to know how transfers went for me. Well let me tell you, some pretty exciting news.....I´m staying in Villa Carmen.....with Hermana McEntire. Haha. Yeah kind of anti-climatic, but that´s okay. I´m content with it as we have some really special people we´re teaching right now and I´ll get to work more with them and hopefully see a few more of my brothers and sisters enter the waters of baptism!

I´m especially excited to see what happens with Anthony and Carla. Last week we got to meet with them twice and Anthony is zealously reading AND meditating over the Book of Mormon. Every time we visit them the Spirit is like this electrical current in the air and we just walk out with dopey grins on our faces. LoL. We even taught them about the Word of Wisdom, which we were a little anxious to do since we know they will have some trials to overcome with it. But they knocked our socks off when they both firmly committed to giving up their addictions. They couldn´t come to church Sunday though because of a prior commitment, but they both said they´re really excited to visit the church next Sunday. They have an ADORABLE little boy named Aaron and I just can´t wait to see what blessings the Lord has in store for them, because we were definitely led to this family.

We also are now teaching a new young woman named Judy who´s dating a member and seems really interested in learning more about the gospel. Yesterday we finally got to visit with Esperanza after almost 2 weeks and even though she feels she has some doubts about some things, she still feels the Spirit strongly when we visit and wants to keep learning. So as always, there is work to be done!

This last week I also got to go to leadership training where we got to talk about how we can better build up Zion and strengthen the members and less actives. It breaks my heart to see so many of the Lord´s children that have received the truth just fall away. There are so many lost sheep that need rescuing! My mission has forever changed me in that respect. I want to be a missionary for life! Well, that´s all I can think of for now to tell you guys! Hope you´re enjoying the early snow! Love you!
Hermana Bradley

Hna McEntire and I for Halloween dressed as eachother