Day 261

First off, We were able to email Brad late last night that Portia was in the process of having a baby. She just at about 11:00 Utah time had her baby. Cache Kelly Ames. We are so proud of her.

Brad is training and here is his excitement over that. Apparently a native speaker which will be good for him.


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ok ok... just take it easy over there.
Elder Triana is a sick Elder. haha He is originally form Venezuela was raised up in colombia and the last 8 years of his life was in the Canary islands. ummm he obviously knows spanish like super perfectly and mine is already getting better haha. umm he is just so cool and we are having so much fun!!!
so lets start of with what happened with his very first cita here in valdepeñas haha . we went over to an investigators house and she wasnt there but we have a good relationship with her husband. ha or so i thought. i never have had a problem with him so we have to call up to the window to get his attention because the timbre doesnt work on their house ha so he hears us and has a glass of beer in his hand and throws it on the ground!!! like super fuerte haha it was intense and we were just like woah. he comes to the balcony and starts yelling at us. of course we can see that he is drunk but he starts yelling and saying how he isnt christian. his wife isnt christian and how we cant even say that we are christian. haha needless to say Triana was getting scared. The investigators cousin was there and he comes to the window and was like wait wait wait ill come down.. haha so he comes down and we walk into the little hallway before the stairs that go up to their door and he is saying how they are having marital problems and that he is drunk and stuff and so we are like yeah we know we dont want to start problems we will come back later. Right then The investigator comes to the stairs and was like well what are you waiting for youre here come on up. so we look at eachother and didnt want to make him any more mad and we didnt feel horrible about it so we went up and listened to him vent for 40 minutes. we tried sharing some scriptures and stuff but when they are drunk its really hard. haha they offered to make us food and then when we said we had to go back to piso cause of curfew he got upset again. Dont worry nothing bad happened ha it was just quite a first impression for my little hijo.
haha
Other than that the work is going really good we are just doing what we can and chugging along. i dont really have much to say except we are thinking about starting up mutual. we dont know why there isnt one right now but thats the plan. we are starting with the youth and then we will work our way up to the adults. trying new things here in valdepeñas haha.
oh the other thing . we decided to touch doors on this one street and it took us 4 hours to do just one street haha it was so much fun though! haha anyways i think that is all.
just the thought this week that elder triana and i are working on...
WHAT DOES YOUR FAITH SAY THAT YOU CAN DO? just know there is areason that is the first principle and ordinance of the gospel. i love you all! be safe and keep your heads up!



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Day 254

ok so life is going great over here. i just want to share the great news!!! lets see kelsey has a kid that is over 1. Portia is Pregnant and he will be born in September. well i would like to say that the succession is still in progress. i beat carson. Im pregnant. im expecting and the due date is August 10th ... aka IM TRAINING! haha its pretty intense of a feeling to know that i will be with a kid that seems like i was right where he is yesterday but im not scared we are going to have so much fun!
ummm i made the blog that was really cool!!! i hope you saw me in all of the photos that we had and that you enjoyed the brad classics of picture taking. dont worry the gespacho state of being is over and lots of people have seen the video but im definitely not the first to throw up. but if you are thinking you can im going to be bringing the recipe home and we will have a show down to see if you can really do it! its not as easy as it seems!!!

haha ... ummm im trying to get important things out. Zone conference was SUCH A BLAST i learned things that i never knew existed in the scriptures it just blows my mind. plus we had to teach presidente and hermana clegg in front of everyone hence the matching ties. we had to do it... we just had to . so i was in malaga and i passed by some of the homies down there i was on splits with Elder Hales from the MTC it was really really fun! and i got to see a lot of the friends from the mission. La mancha is the best district though haha we were going so crazy at Zone conference and now it seems like even though no one knows where it is everyone wants to be in la mancha haha and it is hard to be here becasue of the way the people are but im glad i am here. our district is the best.

ummm i think thats about all i have to share today just keep working hard. when you arent thinking of your self you are happier! its better that way too and the time goes by faster haha i love you all!!!

Day 247

Subject: ké ponokekioakua

ok cool story email i guess. 8months down 1/3 of the way done and going strong!!!!
first off. you are probably wondering what the subject says at all haha its not a spanish word. so take a breather there when i was in the mtc in provo in my zone there we had elder kunahi parker. from hawaii. haha he was way cool and he gave me this name "ke´ponokekioakua" which in english translates to righteous child of God. i dont know if that has been mentioned before but i was reminded of it when i took out my beautiful blanket aunt kristi made for me for my companions so that we can plan where elder rencher will sign it. We are both feeling like he will be leaving on the tenth which means we will find out this thursday or so. Just a fun little get to know elder bradley experience. and yes. you will all call me that someday. hahaha
next so that you all stop worrying my foot is good. the mission nurse says its something i will probably jsut deal with the rest of my life but only when i exert a lot of energy in my feet. so it will be off and on throughout my mission. as for now it doesnt hurt and we are good.
on to other health issues. I am not a spaniard. i cannot lie and say that i am. want to know the story??? ok well here in spain the make all their food. there isnt really much known as fast food restaurants. of course that doesnt mean there isnt mcdonalds and stuff becasue there is but they usually go to restaurants bars or just make their own food. soo, on sundays after church we go to a menos activos house and share a message and then the mother gives us food. they have this thing here in spain called "Gespacho" which the best way i can explain it to you is a weird v-8 juice thats like vegetables and stuff. as those of you who know me texture stuff is not elder bradley in any way shape or form and to add to the fun they put hard boiled egg chunks into it. now most of you are probably thinking not too bad, i mean i had worse on my mission. and i remember before the mission everyone was saying get used to eating weird things on the mission. NOTHING i repeat, NOTHING PREPARES YOU FOR GESPACHO! haha. so A BLESSING for this experience starts at the beginning. we dont eat the food at their house. we take it back to our piso and eat it there. Elder rencher can eat anything. he bet me 10 euros if i drank the rest of it. so i accepted. i mean 10 euros. why not? i poured the first cup and as all my sisters know i dont have the strongest stomach in the world in fact they are laughing right now reading this because i have probably the weakest one in the world. i BARELY TOOK A SIP and i threw all my food up. it felt so good to throw up,... (it didnt taste as good as the french toast i threw up in Bishop reeces driveway) and now that i think about it i think that was the last time i threw up its been a while but it was horrible and im just glad that we were in our own piso becaue i just couldnt handle it.

alright now on to some other stories,
all of you should know emlio by now. the man who was never happy who wouldnt accept a book of mormon from us and it was just trying so hard to get anything out of him, it was like each time trying to convince him that life was fun and it took the whole time and all of our energy to do it. well we were doing an english class activity on pronunciation of words. well one of the only things we have in english is a liahona so we had given him one to practice with. one day we wanted to do it again so elder rencher left to look for one in our chapel. i proceeded to talk to emelio about life, how his day was going and so on. I asked him why he thinks life is always so bad. it couldnt be. so a little bit back and forth and we found the problem. part of it is the poor in the world, another he misses his mother who died a while ago and finally he compares himself to everyone. So i proceeded to tell him how elder rencher and i are different, we came from different backgrounds and so on. he tried to say how we know eachother before becasue we are both missionaries. i explained how the process works. he was surprised to know that he knows elder rencher longer than i have. well we finally got him to admit a couple things.. HE IS HAPPY! he ADMITTED HE IS HAPPY, he also TOOK A BOOK OF MORMON! he finally accepted one! AND the final one is he wants to meet with us more than just thursdays and saturdays during english class so we will start going on tuesdays too. i have invited him to baptism more than 3 times already but he hasnt accepted yet haha and the other thing, he doesnt know what he is getting into over here. it might take some time but i think we can get him baptized haha he is just a funny man.

Thank you family for the package. starbursts and sourpatch kids are AMAZING!!! they dont have candy that compares to american candy over here. haha starbursts just have the flavor in your mouth even 10 minutes after your done eating 1 here the flavor of the candies are gone before you swallow them haha. but i have to be honest, i didnt recognize ryker at all. HE IS SO BIG!!!! and i am so happy he blew me some kisses! haha that was so cool!!!! definitely a good thing to see, thank you :)

anyways life is going good i get to go back to malaga this weekend to have a zone conference and we will be doing exchanges down there for a little bit while we wait for the train and what not so i am hoping that i get to see some of the people that i was able to teach down there and see some of the homies. anyways other than that everything is going really well i miss you all keep doing good!


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So seriously we were laughing because he can't even clean out the center part of a pumpkin so it was just a matter of time. We sent him a new camera and put pictures of home and a home movie of his nephew Ryker. Fun times!

Day 240

Here is the latest from Brad!! The Jake mentioned in the email is his friend, Jake Snelton from Orem.

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alright,
well this week was good we met a black guy from boston haha he was the first guy we saw and he was like are you guys american? and i was like yeah and he was like what part? and i was like im from utah he is from washington and then he was like im from boston. and i tried to get more out of him so we talked. and then i was like can we get your direction and he was like yeah so he gave it to us and then he was like if you guys ever need a drink.... of water or anything yeah you got a house there!! man I LOVE AMERICA hahahaha oh man ... it was so funny so we passed by again on sunday and saw him sitting on a bench and we gave him a book of mormon and taught him about it and he was like wait you are from utah right? and i was like yeah he was like i used to like your team down there and we started talking jazz. and we were talking about karl malone john stockton jeff hornaseck and all of that ... elder rencher had NO idea what we were talking about haha elder rencher isnt big on sports he doesnt really know ANYTHING about anything so yeah it was funny and then elder rencher and i last night were talking about the superbowl and the only one he knew was seattle and pittburg when pittsburg killed them haha and he was surprised i knew.. it was so funny. he thinks its a waste of time.
anyways this week was a good week. my foot is getting better kind of haha i mean i guess im just getting used to how it hurts cause it hurts but still... i dont know and i have hamstrings that are bad haha i dont know... its all these trials its just so amazing i love them and the reason i do... i am going to give you guys some homework . Elder Paul V Johnson more than conquerors through him that loved us. MY FAVORITE TALK.. read it. spare time if you are busy. JAKE GOT HIS MISSION CALL TO ARGENTINA!!!!! he sent me an email that was pretty exciting news. haha but other than that things are still going here nothing much to report this week .. i am excited for the camera and all of that jazz thanks so much for everything you do! love you!!!!! let me know if there is anything i can do to help!

Day 233

Here is his email for the week! Always excitement wherever he goes!

Thank you for your emails!!
haha you guys are so funny and mom... why are you trying to ruin my tom sawyerness.. i just read the blog. haha super funny and yes so true. but they dont need to know that haha. umm things are good here. so i have had another "trial" now dont get worked up.. i have nothing more to lose haha i didnt come with much our here. buttt. i had to call the mission nurse. i was walking down the street and i just wasnt able to walk anymore. we dont know what happened but we sat down on the bench and gave the mission nurse a call up and he was like what??? haha he didnt know what happened. so he gave me some stuff to do for my foot. ibuprofin and ice yada yada. well.. he said its he thinks its an enflamed tendon or something in my foot. i am good now we just had to do a lot of wobbling down the streets this week. haha it has been a funny week. something as well that we started doing were tender mercies journals and we right down all the good things that happened in the week which has been a blessing. its starting to help me be just more positive in all the days. even if it feels like the worst day ever. haha its been a blessing thats for sure. always looking at the little good things and not the bad things at all.
alright we are going to pause the story. we are right now in the youth center here at valdepeñas and we dont konw what happened but elder rencher just lost his camera. ......... uhhhh i am sick of this place right now, they are calling the police right now. haha its such a hassle. the lady saw that he had it in his hands and so they are calling the police and they are probably going to come and then its going to be a mess with everyone. haha oh the stories of the mission.
oh man. anyways. things are just a trial right now. for dads questions. its just a branch there are only like 10 people that come to church and its vacation times so thats how many are at chuch counting us. the president works crazy hours so its hard to do anything . the elders quorum consists of just us as the missionaries and like one or 2 others. all the active members that we have live in a pueblo that is 30 min away by bus. so its hard to get them to come and do anything with us. its not that we cant and they dont want to its just the way the circumstances are. and we cant do any stake activities because thats an hour and a half away and people here dont have cars. so its just a lot of thngs going backwards and stuff.
ok update. the police arent really doing anything . they just showed up and they are just kind of acting like .. well your out of luck. but they are searching people now. so i dont know .... this is one of the things i dont like about spain right now. but i love it sometimes. just dumb people.
ok well i dont have a whole lot of time. just know that i am doing well and that things are going. oh and we think elder rencher is leaving this transfer because he has been here for like 5 and a half months its about just his time. oh man ... ok well the way this week is starting it might be really interesting haha everyone is yelling now.. i love it!! alright. have a great week!!!

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Email #2

ok well i dont konw what to do as far as pictures go.
i can look for a camara here or whatever, i just dont know how much money i have on my personal card
ummmm let me know? ha or whatever you have in mind so that i can do it and get it done. ok i love you!
keep being the best mom!


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Alright already. I will send you a camera -- Are you impatient or what?

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Email #3

they just found the camera in the bathroom and they are yelling at the 2 kids haha YES I LOVE THE POLICE when they get mad at the kids areound here but its found haha no worries. life is better now! hhaha ok for reals now love you!





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Day 226

Funny Story -- I was talking to someone this week and I said that Brad was having a struggle in the area that is in because he probably isn't able to just smile and get people to do things the way he could here at home. From this letter apparently I am wrong again. But I am glad that he is using his skills to get the job done. And by the way-- he has NEVER read "Tom Sawyer" as many times as I have tried to get him too. So that is just a hilarious reference. Happy Days!

hola todos.
i hope your holidays are awesome. here. they have holidays it seems other week. and its summer vacations so every thing is REALLY SLOW!. haha umm we are doing good we had presidente and hermana clegg this last week as you coul see on the blog. we had to teach them and we had our interviews. afterwards we talked and elder rencher and i are thinking that he will be leaving on august 10th. but we will see. there is no absolute there of course but this is his 4th transfer here so we will see how that goes. umm this week was another hard one. not many people could visit with us so it was a great big week of looking for people and trying to get the little members we have excited to help us. haha. umm we are still doing everything we can. i think. i mean it might be something little that we arent doing haha but yesterday it was funny elder Hatch our district leader i was giving him our numbers and we were talking about whats going on in our area and he was just like "This is a great learning opportunity i mean you will be looking back on this area when you have 3 kids and your wife is sick and you have financial problems and be like man Valdepeñas was worse i can get through this" i know as a leader he is inspired over us as missionaries but i really dont want him prophesying things like that hahahaha it was obviously done in a little bit of a joking matter. anyways you are all awesome keep living the life. enjoy it all keep reading your scriptures and praying and all of the stuff you need to. life in spain is going. its kind of actually going really fast ohhh... and quick side note the guy lastweek that smiled for 7 minutes striaght HE SAID HIS OWN PRAYER!!! haha i dont know how iwas able to get him to do that but i did. it was amazing!!
oh and the compliment of the week. Elder rencher told me that i remind him of tom sawyer. haha which. i take as I AM VERY SMART!!! haha he says he is baffled at how i get people to do things for me and everything like that haha. i think its an art. haha but a secret for those out there who look to me as an example. if you make it SOUND better than it is people will think its more FUN than it us and its all a mental game out here. for example dont call it contacting. call it go out and make a new friend or meet people. dont call it planning call it getting ready for tomorrow .. dont call it praying call it having a conversation with someone who cares. dont call it bring a friend to the capilla call it be an angel and help give miracles in other peoples lives .. dont call it painting a fence call it THE BEST TIME OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!!! and then share it! haha :) love you!

Day 219

I'm not sure what he is thinking but I am not mad. He just needs to learn these life lessons and I am sooo thankful that he is learning them. He is a great kid-- always has been and this will just make him better.

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buenos dias
espero que el dia este bien. y que esteis disfrutando las fiestas! haha life is going over here. there are miracles happening left and right. not the miracles we exactly want but who will say no to a miracle. yes i am sure you have heard mom say "oh my gosh im going to kill him" or mumble under her breath "what is he thinking" but yes i can admit i was the biggest idiot and lost my camera with all my pictures that i have taken so far. but life goes on. we cant dwell on the past. SOOOO....
lets talk miracles
1. emelio is a man who hates life doesnt like it pretty much doesnt wanna be here anymore. he... SMILED for 7 minutes straight. the reason i think he stopped was cause his cheeks hurt a little bit. haha it was SO AMAZING. he comes to english class and i changed things up. it was my lesson but you knwo how i get bored with books andeverything so i decided we are here why not. lets sing songs. but what are the ONLY songs missionaries can sing? so we went to the piano opened a hymn book. (sister stiman thanks for teaching me what you did on the piano sorry i didnt learn more) but we picked out a song and wen with it . i am achild of god first in spanish next in english . the spirit was so strong. then we said THANK YOU!! kind of like the one lepor. thanky ou emelio for changing my life and being the example i need. oh my gosh. its amazing how something so small and simple changes peoples perspectives in an instant.
2. we spent an hour talking about pre earth life with a family. so stressful but to see that the family realized that they knew eachother before this life and that they had the opportunity to be together forever brought SMILES to their faces.
3. we went with a member who to a lesson and the lady at the timbre said she had to shower we waited 15 minutes and then she shut the door in our face saying come back later. cause she couldnt do it. he was like holy cow i dont know how they do it i was a little upset with it because that was wasted time but the Elders had big SMILES on their faces. what an amazing testimony.

i just want to say this. even though we have trials in out lives. car accidents, arguements, not recieving emails from the family, or losing a camera. its ok. if you look for the littler things and PUT A SMILE on your face. you will see SO many more miracles in your lives. keep doing the things you need to .. i miss you all!!! havea great week!