October 6, 2016

October 1, 2016

Alright, well, this is it.This is my last email. I don`t have a lot of time because I need to go and eat lunch before La Conferencia General, so this will be short. 

I have enjoyed every single minute of my mission. I have changed so much physically (not in height) and spiritually. I have grown a firm and undeniable testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ and his gospel. I know why this church is so important and why it is SOOOOOO important to OBEY!! I love this country, I love President Laboriel. I will miss him so much. However, I know that I will see him again in the future. Thank you, all of you for your examples to me. Your help, support, and most of all, the love. I will always remember MY mission experiences. I am so, so so glad that I endured on this mission. I learned so much and suffered even more. But that is the way that Heavenly Father builds us up to be the children he knew we were going to be before the foundation of this world. He loves us and knows us personally. I have changed, I have learned, I have made covenants, I have suffered, and I have been cut down. ALL OF IT, for a purpose that only my Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ know about.

I love you, See you on Thursday!!

Love always, Elder Brady Black

NEW SECRETARY! Elder Mattinson

September 17, 2016

Miracles Week, my area, and UTAH JAZZ

Independence Day in Costa Rica!! September 15th 2016!!!

September 10, 2016

HELLO MY FAMILY!!

This week I have worked 3 hours in my area! (at most) 

It has been a very bust week that I didn´t plan on being busy. I never told you, but I gave my last Testimony in the Leadership meeting, I gave my last testimony Yesterday in our Zone Conference, and I will be giving it again during the Multi-Zone Conference on the 29th. Normally missionaries don´t have to do this. Maybe the Lord is trying to tell me that he wants me to share my testimony even more! 

Well, this week, I bought a new suit! (Don´t judge me for wanting to look handsome;) It is a $250 Suit that I bought for $100! That's right! Back to school is good for me too even in a 2nd world country! It´s Black (me) Italian! It´s really good! I will be wearing it when I come home. 

So this week I took President and Sister Laboriel to Migration to get their Cedulas renewed. I got to spend some quality time with President. We were just talking,(in Spanish) and he said to me, "With all of the trails and Sicknesses that you have had, I didn´t think that you were going to make it this far into the mission. I thought you would have gone home" It really caught me off guard. I really have gone through a lot of problems physically here in the mission and i have suffered A LOT. The Lord has helped me so much. He has had so much mercy on me. I love him so much for that. 

We had a lesson with a family this week. The mom and the daughter came to church last week, but had to leave after sacrament because of the youngest son. It was fast and testimony meeting and when we went over to their house that night, the daughter was there with her dad. And she just acted weird. So we asked her, Jisela, what´s wrong? And what she did was amazing. she said, "why do you talk so much about Joseph Smith? and Why do you ALL say that you KNOW that this is the only true church of Jesus Christ?" She opened her heart and wanted to know why. She said it like a prissy kind of way, but then she realized really WHY we were here as missionaries. We just looked at her and said. Because its the Truth! They all say that, because they literally KNOW that it is True. They have asked Heavenly Father and have tested the Book of Mormon to find out whether or not it really is important. She then understood and the Spirit was so strong! She almost cried. She started say things like, "so the reason why you came here for two years is to help US find out that there is a true church of Jesus Christ?" She has been prepared, and her sister María will follow her. The Lord prepares his Children. We have just been thinking that they were all different and closed with their other religion, but they are actually looking for something that they need. 

This week I was studying 1 Nephi chapter 17-18. Laman and Lemuel were really stupid. Did you know that? This is your scripture for this week. Study these chapters. "Obedience, is the Key to Success." Always remember this.

I love you all! I hope that everything goes great this week. Next week is Miracle week and so I will be very busy as well! Wish me Luck! LES AMO!

Took an Elder to the airport at 2:00 this morning. Just in case you´d like to see how tired I really am today! 

Closest to the Jungle that we get here in the city!

Elder Geiger and REAL Mexican Tacos with Bishop Savedra

Pictures of the River

Drove by the temple and a river

September 3, 2016

Our family came to church last Sunday and the parents and the kids loved it. They still don´t understand the importance of it yet, but they enjoyed it! The 7 year old kid that we are teaching just sits and listens to us. (Probably because of my devilish good looks) but we haven´t had any problems teaching him!

 Pictures with some ZLs Last Leadership Council

Elder Navas

Elder Medrano

Elder Stott

 

 

 

 

Sunset in Costa Rica!

August 20, 2016

Miracles week!!

Brady Black
OKAY!! My dear Family,  This week was SO WEIRD! Lots of things happened that were unplanned. Let me tell you about it.  To start off the Miracles Week, I get a call from Central Services telling me that I need to get Elder Pineda (A tico missionary that will be going to Utah on his mission) here to San José to pick up his Passport with the Visa. So I had to call him in from a 5 hour bus ride randomly and take him to the post office in San Jose to pick it up. Then we went to the office of Central Services to plan for his trip. At this point they told us that he wouldn´t be leaving until Monday and could go back to his area in the mean time. Elder Pineda had brought his luggage with him because they told us that he would be leaving on Friday! So they spent the night at our mansion.  On Tuesday, we got a call from the AP´s saying that there was a Sister in the hospital that needed a blessing ASAP! So we ran as fast as we could from one end of our area to the center of San Jose to give this Sister a blessing. She had Appendacitis.(I hope that´s how you spell that) so she had to get surgery. We were getting ready to give the blessing and my phone rang. It was a number from out of the country, so I had to take it. I am very glad I took it because it was President Laboriel. This week he was in Guatemala for a mission President´s conference. He asked me where we were. I told him in the Hospital. And then he asked me a question as though to test me. He said, "Elder Black, I have a question, Do you have your Oil with You?" I always walk around with my oil so It was easy to answer. He then said, "Good, Now give that sister a blessing" So I we did. She is better now and today she is working in her area. Yesterday, we were contacting with the other missionaries in the area for 2 hours, and we weren´t having success at all. Finally Elder Frederiksen and I decided to leave the little activity that we were in and go to our area. We started talking about how the Lord prepares people everyday, but we have to find them. We literally have to open our little mouths and find them. We were walking down the road and we saw another man sitting on his stairs outside the house. He looked sad and stressed. My companion and I decided to talk to him. At first, he didn´t want to receive us. His wife was watching some soap opera and didn´t want anything. Then we told them that our message can help the families resolve their problems and become closer to Heavenly Father. The man said, "We are going through some challenges right now, please come in." We sang Jesus Once of Humble Birth and we had a powerful lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Happiness that it brings to those who accept it. We explained that when the people keep the commitments that we give them, they themselves are Repenting. So the Father says to us, "What is the first commitment?" When he said that, a question came into my mind. I said, "When was the last time that you and your family prayed together before bed?" They looked at each other like they had eaten something bad. They said, "Never have we done that before, but Tonight, we will kneel as a family and Pray" They accepted a pamphlet and accepted their commitment to have family prayer that very night.  I know that the Lord prepares his children, I know that there are people WAITING! We hust have to find them. Sorry this is long, but it was a changing experience. I hope that you all have a great week! This next week will be very crazy! I love you all, and thanks for everything!  Con Amor Siempre,  Elder Black Our new investigator!! Hospital, and the edge of our area.