I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

BERD GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Ironically, it was my 1st, and my companion's last. She left this morning for Oahu and then goes back to St. George on Wednesday, weird.....I'm in denial she's going home, I feel like she just transferred to another island or something. BUT it was a FANTASTIC last week! We were able to surpass our goal of 30 lessons with 35 lessons, AND we ended it with the Baptism of Berd. BAM! It was AWESOME! The ward is doing awesome and completely surrounding him and supporting him! There were so many people there! And he was just all over the place bouncing around haha. It was awesome to be a part of it, and I got to give the talk about Baptism, which was then referenced by the rest of the speakers! I talked about how baptism is the gateway and how Jesus Christ has made the path for us to walk on that leads to Exaltation! I'm so excited to see more people enter the waters of Baptism and really commit to follow Jesus Christ! This was an awesome experience!

Now, as for the title of my e-mail. We have a HUGE goal for our mission for the month of December and it's gonna require a LOT of miracles. We're trying to get 1200 baptisms for the mission for the year (the highest ever is 1101) which means we're gonna need a white Christmas. Meaning, LOTS of people dressed in white jumpsuits, ready to be baptized! :D :D :D WE CAN DO IT!!!! But we definitely need a lot of prayers! I hope we can do it!!!!

ANYHOO, so my new companion arrives tomorrow and I hear she's on fire! That she's an AWESOME missionary and just so nice! I can't wait to meet her!

Oh! And guess what! My and my trainer just received this e-mail from a worker at the temple in Santiago, Chile, and apparently this AMAZING couple who we gave a tour at the VC lost our e-mail and have been trying to contact us! We took them through God's Plan for his Families and they LOVED it! They had the most amazing spiritual experience and now they really do want to learn more and so they went to the Temple and talked to the people there, JUST so they could try and get ahold of us! How amazing is that?!?!?! I feel so loved and special! The spirit works in AMAZING ways! I really hope this couple can get baptized and then get married and sealed in the Temple!!!!!!! Now....if only I could speak Spanish so I could understand what their e-mail says! hahahahaha

Also, so I feel like I need to make a little spiritual thought on all the crazy happenings that have been going on in the world. (Yes, the members told us ALL about them) The shooting in Oregon, Connecticut, the cyclone in Samoa, and all this other stuff: President Hinckley (I think) one said, "to have perfect faith is to be above fear." We have a TON of scary things going on right now and we all know it's going to get worst. But now is NOT the time to hide in our houses, close the blinds and lock everyone out. Now is the time to stand up for our beliefs, to live IN the world but not OF the world. To BE great examples to our kids, and to have FAITH that as long as we're doing EXACTLY what we're suppose to we will not have to worry about death and when it will come. In Alma 57:21, it talks about the EXACT obedience of the 2000 stripling warriors and how it was their MOTHERS who set the example for them. WE NEED TO BE LIKE THEM! WE NEED TO BE LIKE THE SAVIOR!!!! We need to be EXACTLY obedient to the rules and commandments our savior and prophets (which all come from God) have given us. We need to be FULL tithe payers. We need to attend ALL of our church meetings and we HAVE to read our scriptures and pray EVERY DAY!!!! There's no more time for excuses! Time is up! And we either shape up or ship out!

I love you guys so much and I'm so grateful for all the stickers I've been receiving for Christmas I'm so stoked and excited to use them all!!!! :D :D :D I hope everyone is doing awesome I love you all! Thank you for all the letters and all the support! Work hard! Pray always!

love,
Sister Bradley

P.S Polynesian men don't know how to smile in pictures.....