Day 90

The weeks are crazy.. i feel like sometimes im just a psychiatrist for families.. we had a lot of problems this week with families not getting along. Dont worry after one of the really bad situations i wrote in my journal .. MOM THANK YOU FOR TEACHING US TO GET ALONG haha i never knew how some families say that if they could start over they wouldnt have chosen family. but when i see them and they tell us what the problems are ... it reminds me of our family .. it all started with people having their papers and work stuff around.. the apartements are small butttt its kind of like dads stuff he just needs room you know? haha yeah well one negative thing leads to another. thats something i learned about the plan of salvation in my studies. satan was born of goodly parents (god and heavenly mother) and made one decision. and that made way to another and kept going and going until he got kicked out and now look where he is you know? but its just crazy how people dont know us dont know anything about us and they tell us ALL of their problems. haha i think its funny cause deep down there are times where i say ok on a bad note im here for 6 months then i dont have to worry about it anymore but we are here to help them and you see them with different eyes as you try to be more christ like. its weird how school is almost over.. time is flying 3 MONTHS!!! that is weird but its getting into the groove of it. i sent a letter home with the one thing that i am missing now that i am in spain is music. we had elders who just left us who had good efy music and stuff so it wasnt just hymns so it was nice to have semi regular music that was still appropriate .. which brings it up the letter. it was kind of a joke between my companion and me but i dont have room for cd ... soooooo if you love me enough.. send me an ipod??!!! hahahaha you dont have to but its just funny how it started off between elder west and myself and now its kind of like man he has 1 cd and we are already sick of the songs (plus they are english that doesnt help us with spanish in anyway) haha anyways .. iffffffffff you are able i would LOVE it and would appreciate it MUCHO MUCHO MUCHO cause it helps with the studying (bringing the spirit and stuff) anyways the weeks are going by the days are going by .. oh as far as the ffod that you asked about last week.. in this ward we have an eating cita almost everyday during medio dia so i dont eat dinner (its not the culture) and i have a bowl of cereal for breakfast so im doing well on food plus the mission gives us money every month for food and travel (travel is reimbursable) so yeah dont worry about me .. just let me know if there are spanish things you want me to be looking for to send home and ill use my personal card to by that stuff ok?? so just let me know what the girls are wanting and what you and dad want and ill send that stuff home other than that keep an eye on my personal account i wont be using it for anything other than stuff for you guys (you can even use my money from there for the ipod) LOVE YOU TONS AND TONS!!!!!!!
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Hmmmm do I love him enough? That is the Brad we know and love shining through in letters. And of course we had a huge discussion about music before he left and he didn't want to take any. And who knew that Elders become family counselors on their missions. We had a big discussion at our house about whether or not he had enough money for food and I said that I was sure that they were given some stipend of money each month from the money that we send each month so he was answering that question. Well, I think he is starting to get the groove of missionary work. Lucky for him.

Day 83

I definitely think my math is crazy but I sit here on a day off and I get up early because there is an email from Brad. So here it is:



MADRE y PADRE
mi dirreccion para mi piso es
calle tejares #2 1c
malaga malaga 29011
Espana

uhh yeah so i will come back saying that my direction is the address and stuff like that haha they kind of talk funny here but its alright. im trying to get along with it. it was a rough week but you can tell grandma that i taught my first black guy. he was like 6 foot 5 inches tall and built like a muscle man . he is muslum but isnt going back and is inviting us in so we can teach him .. we had our first ever appointment with him last night the first time we met him and he kinda bible bashed us. we werent arguing but he wasnt listening either. he only had scriptures from the bible but we dont think he has ever read the bible so he threw the scriptures out of context and he only wanted answers from us out of the bible and wouldnt let us touch the book of mormon.. too bad i wasnt really raised on the bible. i didnt know anything plus we were speaking english and our scriptures we had were in spanish so i didnt know where nything was anyawsy. lets just say i have a ton of work to do hahahahaha .. anyways i havent gotten your package yet.. its werid how the system works on when we get stuff we usually get it on zone conference or whenver the zone leaders go to the mission home which i dont know how often that is. so i got your letter last week but send stuff to my piso ill get it faster but ill let you know when i get transferred so you dont send more here cause i dont know when ill get it if i even will. anyways you guys are awesome i miss you all tons and tons. but ive only been gone for 3 months (it went by fast) haha so we will see how things are going. oh and we talked to that girl yesterday.. we dont know whats going to happen the member we are working with had to meet the parents first or something because they are very strict on when the daughter can leave. soo yeah . but other than that .. i cant really think of what happened this week. one of the days NOTHING WENT RIGHT at all and it was the longest day of my life and yada yada the only thing that went right is we needed to go shopping and i bought everything i needed to finish the week under five euros. i love you all.. keep chugging keep your heads up and keep praying and reading the scriptures.. oh and also dont do drugs because i have seen some people here who.. i can just know that i will never do drugs. the ghettos around here are scary and the people are too but i guess thats just how it goes. i miss you guys and im trying tell portia and kelsey hi for me!! havea good day!!


Of course I worry. Ghettos, Graffiti, Drug addicts. I knew that he would face all of that but I continue to worry but I think his advice is good. I will continue to pray and read scriptures and not do drugs.

Day 76

oh my gosh this whole missionthing... i dont really know how im going toget through it.. its freaking really hard but i love it.. my first five minutes here pretty much right after i met my companion there was a girl and i asked if she was a member and she said no and i asked her to get baptized.. we are going to teach her on friday haha my companion is funny he has been out for like 12 months almost and he is kinda scared to talk to people and i do crazy stuff to talk to people cause they just stare at us and call names at us so i say we are lost and stuff and they help us and after i explain that we are missionaries and if we can jsut share a quick message and when we do it that way they always say yes haha its pretty sweet i love it. he is just funny i dont know how to explain it .. i already know i am going to have interesting companions but he knows spanish and i dont.. the members are funny they just make fun of me cause i dont know what im saying but thats ok we will get it down someday i cant understand the spaniards cause the have the lisps on soft c and and z letters but s they say normally but they also cut off words another interesting fact is that in every area they speak a different accent .. some dont say d´s and stuff like that so its really really really hard but we taught a member family last night from argentina and i understood like everything andactually got to participate.. i feel safe cause guns are illegal here but my companion said about missionaries getting robbed i guess people can have knifes .. there is graffiti everywhere you go anddddd lets see i kind of feel like im walking in ghettos left and right its scary they dont have driers so we hang dry everything and they dont have ovens. we have to buy gas to heat up our water to take warm showers and i have my first ever bus pass that is the way we travel minus walking.. haha im so out of shape and there are hills everywhere. we dont knock doors we toca them.. like we push the button and they answer and we say we are missionaries and if they wanna let us in they open the gate.. kinda like new york style in the city. haha peaople just stare at us but try to make it look discreet its really funny and everyone always say tenga prisa which means im in a hurry.. no matter how slow they are walking its funny. i love it here its completely different than anything that i am used to but its life i suppose haha oh and traffic.. everyone has cars that are tiny and they just stop in the middle of the road and park and thats allowed here so itsscary also the roads are su`per super small sooo i dunno its different but soon utah will be so foregn and this will be so normal. im trying to think of what else oh buying food for the week ... i dont know how much is enough the milk lasts forever it lasts til like may and we dont have roomin the fridge for it so it just sits on top of the fridge so i have warm milk with my cereal .. brand name is way too expensive so i buy the other stuff it tasts kind of like no bake cookies haha and then they have their big meal at lunch time and practically dont eat anything at night. so that is weird we have medio dia which means no appointments from 2 til 430 unless its a eating appointment and we get up at 7 and go to bed at 11. its really reallyreally hard to get up`in the morning here and yeah. i dunno we had a baptizm on saturday and we have on this saturday we just baptized a guy from ghana so that was pretty cool and then we have another date for march 19 i think with this other guy and then if that one girl that i asked lets us teach her on friday then we will have on then too so we will see how it goes. anyways thats life here and its pretty crazy .. its hard to understand anything and i just stare at people haha so thats pretty much what is going on
as far as letters go. if you send it to the mission home i will get it everytime it just depends on when i get it cause they bring it to us on zone conferences and stuff unless we go get it but we never have time to get it. i have the adress to my piso (apartement) but if you send me something and i get transferred from this area before i get it the chances of me getting it are slim so... yeah i dunno. anyways i cant think of a whole lot more to say right now im always tired spiritually physically mentally emotionally.. 8 hours is like not enough time for sleep.. plus im still changing from the time. i need to write president clegg now so this is all i have time to send .. i love you all keep in touch i hope you guys are sleeping well right now. this mission thing is super fun cause there are some crazy people and crazy places here ill try to get a picture thing so i can just send pictures or something we will figure that out anther time when i am more used to everything. but yeah. everything is spanish and i can say a lot more in spanish than i have in the past. but its still comeing really slow. some people we teach speak english and i think those have been my best lessons. but i really got to get off now i love you all keep sending me some love!!!!!!!!!!! sorry it wasnt aspersonal to each of you this week!

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Well, I hope that you enjoy this installment. He seems to be experiencing mission life. A baptism and he had been there 2 days. Holy cow. I can remember feeling free and easy in Los Angeles and now I don't think I would even drive in some of those areas that I spent days and months in. There is certainly something to be said for the mantle of protection that happens on a mission. Maybe I can get him to ride the bus in Provo now. Necessity changes things for all of us doesn't it. Wahoo! he is really a missionary now.

Day 72

Here is an email from Brad's mission president and a picture. Why can't his tie be straight?

Dear Bro. and Sister Bradley,

We just want you to know that Elder Bradley arrived today in the Spain Malaga Mission. He looks great and is ready to work. He will be serving in Malaga and his trainer is Elder West. We have a mission blog at spainmalagamission.blogspot.com We post every Sunday night and he will definitely be on the blog this weekend.

Thank-you for raising such a wonderful son. We look forward to working with him and watching him grow.

Sincerely,

Pte and Hna Clegg

Day 71-2

MOM!!!!!

i have checked my email waiting for a lovely letter but no.. its ok though .. no necesito. esta bien. i only leave to be a real missionary tomorrow.. i dont know that i will have time for letters anymore either... what a sad day today is and im trying to share it with you and its not happening. i have to do it all alone. what. a. bummer. ummm mtc here is ... bein. i am pretty sure the cocinas hand make everything cause it tasts seven trillion times better than in provo. so dont worry about sending candy im getting well fed. you are teaching right now.. i wonder how thats going.. well it could go one of two ways .. either the kids are angels today and doing everything you are asking (not likely) orrr you are playing wicked witch of the west and they till arent doing their work .. hahaha chista mama. well i have some sweet pictures of my spain adventures but i cant send home the memory card because i havent recieved any yet. im probably going to go to bed soon which is weird to think about becuase you arent even done working and ill be FAST ASLEEP cause im so tired this whole mtc thing is really getting to me. i feel like i have aged like 3 years maybe thats why missionaries come home and seem so mature haha because the MTC TAKES 80 YEARS TO COMPLETE!!! im spending my last moments as an almost real missionary and im here on a computer that only speaks spanish. and a keyboard that i didnt know where the delete button was or the i dont even know .. its all in weird symbols. so be grateful that you dont have to go hrough that . oh i got my hair cut today by some spanish lady .. 8 euros.. im gonna die .. it was thecheapest place i dont know what the equivalent is in america. but yeah we went to buy sodas to drink.. uhh and the lady showed me the thing and it said .8 .. yeah i didnt know that was like 80 cents i was confused i couldnt even pay her with out getting help haha i felt dumb uhhh funny moments though for sure. i spent the afternoons with the nativos and i can only speak spanish to them ... its hard... ok well i dont really know what to say .. ave fun teaching!! i leave tomorrow i dont know which day is my p day anymore... quizas monday or tuesday. Hasta!

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Okay so I am such a slacker because I read his email right before I went to work and today of all days by student teacher was ill so I worked all day and did not email him but in my defense he did say that he didn't know if he was going to get a chance to email because he didn't get a p-day until he goes to his actual mission. So apparently he is suffering from letter withdrawal after leaving the conveince of Dear Elder.com or just Provo postage in general.

Day 71

I love Wednesdays. I didn't think that I was going to hear from Brad but we did. His MTC president in Madrid sent us a short email that said he was doing good and this picture.


Doesn't he look good. Then surprise of surprises -- I also got an email from him.

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GOOD MORNIGN!!!!

haha well not for you its about noon here. and yeah just saying hi. which means its about 4 in the am over there. how did your interview go? thats gonna be sweet we got to go to the madrid temple yesterday and today and i did it in spanish .. it was different but i understood it and it was so cool.. it is way pretty i am pretty sure its my favorite temple. anyways . everything is good here we get to leave a lot we went into the city yesterday to do some visa paper stuff with the lawyer that as an experience we got to go on the metro and that was my first time it was definitly different. ummmmm. im trying to remember .. im still adjusting to the time and we have to get up at 4 tomorrow which means you will pretty much just be finishing dinner when i have to get up to go to malaga. we get to go on the bullet train down there and then im sure we will just be getting orientaitin and then head out and do our missionary stuff .. so expect to see me on the blog next week. we have to speak in spanish to the natives here cause they dont know very much english so its funny becuase we talk fast and they dont know what we are saying and they talk fast and we dont knwo what they are saying but we ende up saying the exact same thing hahaha . umm lets see .. the keyboards here suck cause its all in spanish so the buttons change and it has the spanish word on the mand its abbreviated sooo thats why my emails are going to start not making sense. also when everythign is in spanish we have to force ourselves to start speaking it more which is super fun but super hard uhh i had my first contact what was it .. yesterday? yes she stopped us and we dont know what we are saying and i could barely pick apart what she was saying cause they have the lisp thing and they chop their words so like como esta would be co sta kind of a thing but i invited her to church haha i dont even remember her name and im a bad missionary because i didnt have pass a long cards or book of mormon and i didnt write donw her informatoin .. but i have a contact haha the ccm presidente dice que that its ok because everytime its a positive experience with thiese people they will remember us more.. anwyays go back to sleep ... enjoy your day tell everyone i love them!

Day 67

well as of 915 in the morning spain madrid time i have been here ... this mtc is SO much better haha we got here and all the other missionaries were in the park doing cantacting and stuff soo that was pretty sweet to hear about .. everything is in spanish here which is really weird and there are some natives that speak spanish and very little english so its fun to talk fast in english because they dont know what we are saying and that makes it seem fun because its like complete opposite we dont know what they say when they speak fast haha .. anyways .. they only use military time here... its about 7 right now just after it... anddd yeah the flight was good.. it was long but it was good its still weird that i am all the way over here. its really weird but its pretty here ha the temple is WAY pretty and i get to go next tuesday i believe . uhh i changed all my cash for euroes... that was quite theexperience. Sorry i didnt get a hold of everyone. when i called there are 27 missionaries in the ccm over here and a bunch leave next week .. i leave at 630 in the morning on thursday .. our time .. haha and my alarm on my watch went off at 230 this afternoon during testimony meeting and i dont have carson here to tell me how to change my time so that i can use it haha but we will see. i dont really know what to say more besides that its a lot easier to just listen to what everyone is saying and try to catch the words than to speak back... haha plus im super super super tired cause planes suck to sleep on and it has been a long day.

other than that we are here safe in madrid its really really pretty .. the cars are really nice there are a lot of old buildings and tons of graffiti EVERYWHERE.. hah and they let us leave a lot as long as it isnt during our class time to go on the metro and stuff which i havent done yet but would be pretty cool... anyways love you lots and lots i dont know when i will be able to email again because i dont have a p day in the mtc here.


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Well we wondered if he made it or not. Rich and I watched flight tracker all day to see his flight until 1 am. Seriously in the evening it was weird to see his plane in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean but part of that is probably from not being world traveler's ourselves. He sounds really great and excited for his 5 days in Madrid. I think it will just fly by and before we know it he will be in Malaga or LaMancha or wherever they send him for his first area.

Wow, it is really happening and no longer is he just across town. Wow!

Day 66

Elder Bradley will really be in Spain. He called from the airport and I was able to go get Abby out of class for a few minutes. He sounds so good and excited to be in moving on in this whole mission experience.

Day 64

k well as of 4 this morning i am the lone ranger.. last one in my district until friday.. thats when i am leaving.

ummmmmm ill be calling between 230 and 430 ish ... i dont really know how the scheduling stuff works but thatll be close enough. ummmm so the last two nights were full of crappy sleep haha but yeah and packing and unpacking becuase i didnt know when i was getting out of here ha anyways abby was way fun to talk to haa tell her hi and tell everyone hi for me!!! uhhh its super cold and we had to drop elder phillips off today at the travel office .. we all set our alarms for 3 in the morning and we all slept through them and they had to intercom him over the speaker this morning and i was the only one that heard and they called us at 4 in the morning haha so we ran out to drop him off and it was freezing and my card that lets me into the building got broken ,.. so it wouldnt let us into the building we were just chilling and i was like dang why cant a security gaurd check our doors at 4 in the morning!! ( they usually do it at 11 at night) and right as i said that they walked by to check our building haha funny stuff ... anyways yeah so i have had like 3 p days this week and i get to go to the temple tonight butttt when i go to spain i have to go to the mtc there for a week and i heard its a 85% chance that i get to go to the temple there.... so im pumped .. anyways that is pretty much all the news from here ... love you all!!!



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I am so excited for him. I hope that the adrenalin will keep him going until Friday and that the snow will have subsided in the East. I think it will be a little lonely flying alone. I am glad that he gets to go to the Spain MTC because we thought he wasn't going to go there at all. It will be really great if he gets to go to the Madrid Temple. How fun would that be. Well, he is certainly moving on to an exciting and interesting part of the process. Yippee!!