October 6, 2014

Three letters from Erica this week:

Letter #1 - to Dad from Erica

Dear Dad,

I love you!!!

General conference was fantastic!!!!!!

We had cinnamon rolls too!! But ours were store bought :)

One of our investigators, B******, watched conference this weekend. He
watched it at his mom's house so we weren't able to watch it with him,
but we are SO proud of him!!!

Yes, Elder Holland's talk was amazing! And Dallin H. Oaks was another one of
my favorites!

We dropped off some clothes at a former investigators home who really
needed them for her boys. We put the bags on the porch and knocked on
the door and ran! It was thrilling!! We left a note on the bag that
said "you are loved."

This week was great and tomorrow we get to go to the temple and watch
"meet the Mormons"!!!! Make sure you go see that this weekend! (If
it's playing anywhere near you :))

I love you!!

Love,
Sister Brady

Letter #2 -  to Mom From Erica

I LOVE YOU soooooooo much mom!!

I think of you all the time! I love your letters so much! Thank you
for writing me every week :)

I just wanted to send you an extra email of love :)

Love,
Sister Brady

Letter #3 -  from Erica

Conference!

Dear Mom and dad,

I AM SO HAPPY FOR EMILY!!! That's the role she wanted right?? I look forward to the letter when it is written and sent :)) [Emily got the role in the High School Play – Bone Chillers. She is playing Kissy.]

Dad, thank you for your updates about grandpa!

If I transfer it won't be until the 22nd, so I would know by the 20th. You can still write letters to the same address (it's the mission offices address) and they forward it to our apartments. So no matter where I go (or sister T***** they will always find us! :)

I have eaten at Backyard Taco! We always go there after the temple! (Missionaries get half off, so it's a great deal!)

After listening to Carlos A. Godoy's talk, I read my patriarchal blessing. It has definitely helped put things into perspective.

I love my nieces and nephews!!!! I am so glad Hank [Erica's nickname for Henry] loves kindergarten! I was just thinking about my elementary school days. They were a blast. :) One time a girl burst into tears because we weren't in the same group and I remember thinking "what a weirdo..." For a girl who was, and is, highly emotional, I was not very compassionate.

Haha, Mom I think you've mentioned your 300 day project in the last three letters :) hahaha. But I love to hear that you are making progress on your goals and vision!! Keep me updated on it!! You can send me the pictures through email. I am excited to see them!! I see a few of them on FB when they pop up on my news-feed. :) I saw the mermaid one, and the "none for dad" post. :)

I remember always having to do Michelle and Katrina's chores while they were in plays (and they never had to do chores dress rehearsal week) but as soon as I was in the high school plays I had to do my chores AND be in the play!! (I mean, I didn't have to be in the play I guess :))

Bunco sounds like fun!! I'm glad you got invited and you went!! I have made a goal to be more extroverted when I get home from my mission. Also, I have this image of the perfect member missionary I'm gonna be. I know life will get crazy once I get home, but I'm gonna do everything it takes to keep this vision and follow through with who I want to become.

I saw that Sara was playing in the powder puff game!! (Facebook) how did it go!! I'm bummed BYU is not doing well :( you "watched Emily walk around with the drama kids"? Wow, I wonder what life would have been like if I was the youngest child... (But it's just a thought, Emma. I'm so glad I have my baby sister :)) [Clarification here – Brady's don't let kids just roam around – we are mean and strict. I was not clear in my letter. Emily was walking around the track in the Homecoming Parade not just randomly walking around with the Drama kids or any kids :)! I will clear that up in Erica's next letter! Haha!]

I had this thought!!!! Now that Bishop Wilson is released, he needs to be the bishop of the YSA ward!!! Right?!? :))

Yes! I can have sugar :) all things in moderation, right? I also will probably need new regular socks and footie socks by December.... (I like the footie socks from H&M better than the Payless kind. And I like the colorful Costco socks for the other kind.) wink-wink. hint-hint.

I LOVE the improv competition!!! So much fun!!! I am soooo excited to read the letter when Emily writes it and sends it here :)) and the freshman homecoming skit?! I played Mario in my sophomore homecoming skit!! So much fun!! How did she get to be a part of the homecoming skit?

I am glad you study those talks for FHE too!! The words of the prophets are scripture!! You should try to incorporate Preach My Gospel into your FHEs too :)

Okay before I talk about conference, I just want to throw out here the fact that if I did return to BYU Hawaii for the winter semester, I would have LESS THAN 5 DAYS with you all at home!!! What the what?!

Now conference:

Every talk was amazing!!! Seriously, there wasn't one talk where I was like "Yeah, this one is not for me..." No!! Every talk either answered a question, or brought to my mind someone I needed to reach out to! 

Side note: I friended P***** on Facebook!! I haven't seen her since I was 9!! She lives in Arizona now!!! Crazy!!! But I can't meet up with her on my mission :/ Do you still keep in touch with her mom?

Jeffery R, Hollands talk was amazing! And I loved Tad R. Callister's talk about parents!! Yay parents! Jorge Klebingat is the old mission president in Ukraine, and two missionaries in my zone got transferred from that mission when they got all they missionaries out of Ukraine. So that was cool for them to see him speak in conference! Also, his talk was perfect. Did I tell you we are training for a mission 5k? I met Elder Hamula!! He spoke to he missionaries in my district at the stake presidents house! Richard G. Scott's talk was great! Because he just told it like it is, and he seemed so done with our excuses. It was awesome :) M. Russell Ballard had amazing analogies!! Thomas. S. Monson's words to "be a little better" than we were before has inspired me. :) I love our prophet!! Also. David A. Bednar stalk was GREAT!! I loved the story about those boys!! Hahah I was dying!! It was so cute!!

Conference was amazing and I can't wait to reread those talks!! I will do that as soon as they come to the gospel library app :)

I love you so much!!!!

Love,

Sister Brady