The 57th Chronicle

Hello family and friends! 

*watches a guy hop on his mountain bike*

Me: "Hey! Are there any trails around here?"

Dude: "Yeah! There are some sweet single tracks right along all these hills."

Me: "Nice! I love mountain biking. I did a lot of that before I came out here from Utah to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people."

Dude: "That's cool. Hey! I could show you guys some of the trails real quick if you have a second?"

Me: "For sure! I'm so down to check these out."

*Proceeds to run a half a mile down a steep decline through trees and brush trying to keep up with homie on bike before he finally stops and points*

Dude: "Check out these jumps I built with my buddies!"

Me: "Bro, those look narly! I've never seen jump markers like this. Black diamond track, huh?"

Dude: "Yeah, I've been biking for years and that one is still scary."

Me: "So you wanna hit one of these for me so I can get a sweet video?"

Dude: "You know it!"

*Dude proceeds to hit the jump while Elder Brady gets an amateur clip of a lit shot*

-end of story-

Well! As you can see we had a blast on exchanges! We met a guy that loved biking and as we expressed genuine interest he wanted to share that with us. As missionaries we keep things natural and normal. We share in the interests and talents of others. We let them see we are human too! I loved meeting my man on the bike, 'cause it was another example of how kindess and charity will open doors. We went with the Glenwood Elders for exchanges (I went with Elder Conlee). We worked hard on "The YES List," saw some good success, and had a great time!

The Nebraska Omaha Mission had the honor of welcoming four seventies and one of the quorum of the twelve to our mission-wide conference last weekend. We had Elder Renlund (and his wife), Elder Cook (and his wife), Elder Jones (and his wife), and my man Elder Taylor (who visited us last week for our MLC and Zone Conf). It was really cool to shake Elder Renlund's hand and to be instructed by all those who attended. I've never gotten to meet an apostle face to face so kinda special. We discussed the roles of leadership as well as organization of the church. We talked about how we need to teach, testify, invite, promise, and followup on each contact. We learned how to be a successful missionary by looking at Preach My Gospel. I loved that last one because as Elder Renlund taught he revealed the fact that success comes from commitment and action not outcome. Our success lies on us and our agency. Our success is who we choose to be now not necessarily who we were. We can be successful from day one until day 730+. So when we do not feel successful, we may be holding ourselves back.  More importantly we can choose today to make that shift in our personal commitment and diligence.

Something we discussed recently was the difference between "Perfect Obedience" and "Exact Obedience". Before you read my thoughts, shoot me an email with what you think. I've always wondered what exact really meant. In the MTC we learn how obedience brings blessings and exact obedience brings miracles. So how do we be exactly be obedient? Exact sounds like perfect, or does it? I believe the difference is that 'perfect' means no mistakes. It means you are on top of your game all day every day. It means you don't lose momentum or motivation. It means you follow the rules. It means you are 100% doing what you need to do. Contrast that to exact. Exact means precise. It means carefully keeping our covenants and promises. It means getting up when we fall. It means not getting discouraged, but turning to the Lord for support. It looks like doing the Lord's will and not our own. It means following the letter and the spirit of the law. It means sustaining our Mission President. It doesn't mean perfection, but it does means consistently working towards that. So is perfect and exact the same or different? What do you think?

Kia Kaha!

Elder Brady