Turtles in the Road (Caution: contains graphic images)

Letter from September 9

I am going to be honest. I don't like emailing that much. by the time I get here I have now idea what to say. 

this week was good. we are teaching our bud Albert. he is so fun! he is in his 60s and adores my companion! he also adores his preacher! so we are working on getting him to choose the right. he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and believes the book of mormon. but doesnt want to offend or leave his church. he said he deosnt feel like they are family. but he came this sunday to ours!! and everyone was so nice to him! so I think we made excellent progress with him! he is stellar I love him a lot. 

we gave a book of mormon to zz top

I got a free guitar. it only has three strings. I have been playing that a bit. like the mission song on it. 

I fixed two flat tires this week. one on my comps bike and the other on a sisters. I like stuff like that. I kinda wanna work at a bike shop when I get home. 

sad story. tortuga is a turrtle I named. tortuga is dead. we were driving to the church cause we were out of tp and we see a car pull over and move a turtle out of the way. so i was like cool. lets pick him up on the way home! so on the way back he was back in the road. so we pull over and I walk over to pick him up, and he had been nicked by a car. the side of his shell was broken and he was bleeding and was obviously going to die. so we were like "oh no!" what do we do? we decided to put him out of his misery... so we put him in the middle of the road and went around to hit him. hoping that someone else would do the dirty work. but alas. they all dodged him. so it had to be us. we hit him and he broke and me and my comp were like "oh no!" so sad! it was tragic. 

on a brighter note I love you more than tortuga!

Letter September 2

Letter from September 2

So I got this idea from another missionary and that is take notes on what  you can send home in your planner so you can flip through and see what you have to say! So I did that a little! and I don't have my planner with me! yay!  So we will spit ball again! So first my comp is dl and he had a meeting in topeka for 3 hours. So me and someone else went to wallmart for 3 hours and talked to people about The Gospel. That was fun! 

We have someone named cody that we teach. He is super awesome! He is on date for this saturday and he is worthy and able. Been keeping W.O.W. for two weeks. married. been to church 3 times. But we might push it back a week. to make sure he is serious enough about it and understands that commitment. So we might have a bap this saturday. please pray for him. 

my companion is Elder Myers from draper Utah. I love him a lot and he is a good worker! We have this one man that we just started to work with his name is Dave.  

I freaking love it out here on the mission. best place ever! "with the sun beating down, yes I'm [in kansas]. and there's nowhere else that I'd rather be!" that is from brother bear.

it is getting colder again so that is cool. I like it like that. and I like it how I like it.

anyways thus concludes this weeks letter! and I love you more than this letter!

Giant Spider Named Jeremy

Letter from August 18

Well this week was full of emotion. from creepy, then happy, to sad, then sadder, then joyful about to burst happy, then sad. let me explain... Jeremy. jeremy is this freaking huge spider I caught. way bigger than a silver dollar. yellow and black big spider. likes to spin web and eat things. and he's a mormon. 

it all started when I was at someones house and my comp was doing a baptismal interview and I was telling a story about chicken when I saw it. a big spider in the middle of the web. my story went sorta like this: "so they gave us this chickens with HOLY COW LOOK AT THAT SPIDER!" and that is the creepy part. so let me tell you the happy part. I caught him. in a water bottle. it took a while but me and my comp caught him. 

we pinned him down with four sticks then i put the bottle next to him and we scooped him into it. he didn't fit too well. it probably hurt so that is too bad. then I biked around emporia for about 2 hours with him on my bike! and i named him Jeremy. and I was super happy to have a friend. I think I heard him sing "you got a friend in me" at some point. 

now I got sad afterwards. because I got home and moved him to a milk jug. I pinned up a picture of a temple next to him and wrote jeremys goal, but I felt bad. he had a pretty rough life in there. can't even see through the walls. and no food. so I was sad. I was sooo sad. so I released him. I lost my friend. that is the even sadder part. I let him go in the bushes out side our apartment :(. 

but there is a happy ending!! the next day I went out and lo and behold, he had made a web in the bush! I was so happy to have a friend that I didn't feel like I was imprisoning. every night before bed i would go outside and play him a song on the crappy guitar in our apartment! then not a happy ending.... last night was a rainy and thundery. and I woke up and he was gone. either the wind blew him away or he packed up and moved. so i am sad. hopefully the wind just broke his web and he will make another soon. and that is my story. 

there was someone this week that we talked to, that did not believe we were christians. he believed the internet over what missionaries for that church said. I know that jesus Christ is the savior of the world. the son of God. and nobody telling me that I don't will change my mind. I know that the book of mormon is a blue and true book. I hope y'all and great week! love you!

love you more than Jeremy :)

Missions are the Best (and Black Widow)

(Letter from July 7)

My companion wrote a new song this week. in the chorus he sings about how the KWM (kansas wichita mission) is the best. and coming on the mission is the best decision! I can certainly attest to that. I love it so much. I am going to ramble about that again this email, so if you get sick of reading that then dont read it :) 

Before I came out on the mission I thought I had a pretty decent life. I never really realized just how blessed I was. I will not ever regret coming out. Everything will still be there when I get back. Except maybe Maddie and Wes, I got some sort of going away party invitation from Uncle Ross. But I will be able to listen to that weirdo fox song from Norway when I get home. And can watch that weirdo movie about not being cold (the cold never bothered her anyway) and building snowmen when I get home. 

But know what, I will not be able to learn what I have at home. I would have continued on my merry way doing nothing with my life. I repeat the words of Jacob Osborn when he said, the lessons learned on a mission are lifelong! I have been able to see a big difference in me also since I have been gone! I love it! Not being gone, but the mission. I will be so grateful for this in the future. College can wait. 

If by chance anyone that does read this is going on a mission soon or trying to decide if they should, do it! it will be a blessing that you will love. It is a lot of work. You wake up at 6:30 e'eryday and go to work. I bike mucho miles every day in 100 degrees, and it is freaking humid here. I heard it is more humid here than texas. From people that lived in texas and served missions there. So I can get a little sweaty at times.... *cough* but I love it so much. It is totes worth it. Totes cray cray, but totes worth. 

What my companion also sang about is praying about it. You can get an answer and know what to do. And then follow it and be happy! Every body wants to be happy, and sharing the gospel makes you happy and others! Which in turn makes you happy! 

And due to popular demand, my mom asked me, I should answer the question "what it means to me to serve and teach in the saviors name and be a missionary" paraphrased. But it is wonderful. As stated before, not a better place to be than out serving my Lord and my God. The Savior suffered and died for the people of Kansas. 

"They say the worth of souls is great in the sight of God, but really, it is the life God." That puts it in better words than I could. When Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane it was not an instant giant mound of sin and pains that he felt. It took him hours where he suffered and died for us personally. For me. He spent the time suffering for me, and for my dear Brother Stuart. Spent the time bleeding from every pore for him. And for Jacob and Maren. (I am not trying to call them repentance or something just to clarify. I was just trying to apply it. So I used my siblings. I love them a lot and think they are wonderful.) 

But he HAD to have been prepared for that. Not just emotionally and spiritually, but physically. That pain is beyond what any human could endure. A drop of blood through a pore is a basketball through a garden hose, and that was going on all over his body. The Atonement is so real and the way to know that is to pray and apply it to yourself. I am out here to share it with others. 

In lighter news I got a cup with Black Widow on it from the avengers... and Man Scarlet Johanson is mighty fine! She pulls of that age quite nicely if I do say so myself! 

Anyone have any good advice or lines? send here: brady.daines@myldsmail.net

And my bite is doing a lot better

Spider Bite! WARNING: This post is not for the faint hearted

Ya, last week i ran out of time.... Bummer. I had less than an hour. So ya that stank. I didn't get to email dad cause it kicked me off. sorry dad. but ya I got a bite.  

I noticed it monday night. and but tuesday it was this. the black sharpie is the outline of the infection. it is hard to see in the camera

next day it was this, that is one day later.

here it is draining this morning

also this one

and that is my bug bite :) enjoy

and other than that, not much happened. I was on the couch a lot of the time, I couldn't really walk, whenever I did, it was really slow and funky looking. and having to go to the bathroom during the night was the worst. it hadn't moved for a while, so when I would stand up it would hurt really bad, then the blood would rush to it. and it would hurt even worse.... muy malo. 

[Side note from mom: he did go to the doctor with this. I know because I got a call from the doctor's office asking for insurance information.]

Isaac is going to get baptized soon! this saturday!! how exciting is that? he is wonderful! he is Jamaican from england! wow! I am excited for him!! It reminds me of about a month ago, when Cheryl was baptized!! that was so great!! ya, and they just took elders out of valley center, so hopefully things keep going well there. 

anyways, love you tons!! more than spiders!! and cellulitis infection!

First Week in New Area (Letter from June 23)

Well this week has come and passed. I say that a lot. It happens a lot.

Anyways I hope you have a great day cleaning. I have some cleaning to do. but this week was fun. I bought an organ for our apartment :) yep, 5 dollar organ from goodwill! it works pretty well, only a few keys dont work but it is electric so we dont have to pump it. and it has two rows of keys, foot keys, and all sorts of cool effects you can use!! how cool is that!! for only 5 bucks!! score one for the republic!! man, it is weird being back in Emporia. it is a little nostalgic. it makes me miss my friends that I was with last time. 

The work is going good here though so far. I have been enjoying it. we do biking every other week. and car every other other week. so ya. not much to say here. Isaac is on date for this saturday. he is a little iffy though. I think he can make. he is ready. he just really needs to be on board for it. he knows he needs to be baptized and is just working on a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon. I dont have much time so, ya, enjoy this wonderful letter! love you all! fun pictures you sent. covey looks like a mountain man. 

love you more than a mountain man!!