Wednesday, May 9, 2012

He's Home......


What a wonderful day! Love hearing the stories and about the people he taught and loves.
  He will speak in sacrement meeting on Sunday and report on his mission.


Here are some pictures from the airport.




Monday, May 7, 2012

See you in 48 hours

Date: May 7, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento, California




Hey family,


I just had my final interview with president, it was awesome! He thanked me and gave me some good advice... and now I’m here at the mission office waiting to go eat lunch at his house...

Elder Rowland is going to stay in the area... that will mean 6 months here....

Friday, the members had a big party for me, it was cool, each return missionary talked about the mission, and all the members gave me one piece of advice

Yesterday I went and hung out with Vanessa, and said bye to them.. and also Eileen last night...



But yeah I still gotta pack my bags....

I´ll take a taxi tomorrow morning to the airport.

I gotta go see you in 48 hours...

Love you!!!

Elder Ludlow

Monday, April 30, 2012

Date: April 30, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento, California

Hello family,
This week was pretty good, just kinda slow... kinda like when your little and waiting for Christmas to get here.... lol not that I´m THAT excited to go home, just anxious....

But for sure the highlight of the week was on Wednesday, Elder Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke... it was awesome. I really felt the spirit and learned a lot. We took a picture with him and we all shook his hand. He said that by shaking our hand, he interviewed each one of us, it was cool.



We are still working with one family of those boys, but they said they´d go to church but weren’t home in the morning. They are cool people and always listen, but I feel like they aren’t really progressing... but we did have one investigator, a guy named Edson, a reference from a member.



My pics almost got lost this week an elder formatted my card, but I downloaded a program and got them back... I was soooo mad when I saw that they were gone.....



I´m glad that Brooke won her game...I´ll go watch you play when I get home.



For p day we went and visited a couple of people from Tabuleiro... it was cool to see the area and the people again. I hadn’t been there since 2010... I´ll send some pics.




I love you guys, I’m doing great and am excited to see you all in a week!!!!


I know the church is true and that God loves us,
Elder Ludlow

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Elder Holland is coming this week

Date: April 23, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento, California


License Plate, I had my name put on it
Hello family!!!!!

WOW... just 2 weeks until I see you guys!!!!

I´m excited but nervous to go home, and kinda sad!!!!

This week was good!!! We went and taught the families of those kids, and we found a really awesome family! They liked our message and the kid went to church, the rest of the family left... the only thing is that they have been studying the Jehovah’s witness for about 2 years... so the mom disagrees and questions a lot of the stuff we say...like she doesn’t like to say Heavenly Father, she says Jehovah... things like that... but we´ll keep working with them, at least none of them were ever baptized, so that is a plus...

Last night we had a devotional... called "mission possible" with President and Sister Gonzaga... all of the return missionaries of the ward wore their name tags and bore their testimony about their mission, I was the only missionary out of the 4 that spoke, because I´m going home... and President and Sister Gonzaga talked about missionary work... it was awesome... also I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday.


Some ward members
4-18-12

My District

Elder Holland is coming Wednesday to speak to us. We are all excited. I'm the only one left in the mission who was here when Elder Oaks came.
I´m going to Tabuleiro next week, to visit some families!! I´m excited to see them, I haven’t been there since 2010...

I got my official flight plan, I´ll forward it to you!!!!

I´ll write my talk this week... that’s a hard topic... I hope I can speak.. My English SUCKS!!!!!

but that’s about it, I love you guys!! talk to you later

Love Bradley



MISSIONARY TRAVEL
BRAZIL MACEIO MISSION

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

TAM LINHAS AEREAS 08MAY MACEIO AL BRASILIA DF 652A 916A

JJ 3481 TUESDAY PALMARES BRASILIA INTL

Y ECONOMY

NON SMOKING SNACK NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 2:24 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319



TAM LINHAS AEREAS 08MAY BRASILIA DF SAO PAULO SP 1150A 135P

JJ 3578 TUESDAY BRASILIA INTL GUARULHOS INTL

Y ECONOMY TERMINAL 1

NON SMOKING SNACK NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 1:45 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200



DELTA AIR LINES 08MAY SAO PAULO SP ATLANTA GA 930P 640A

DL 104 TUESDAY GUARULHOS INTL HARTSFIELD JAC 09MAY

U ECONOMY TERMINAL 1 TERMINAL S

NON SMOKING DINNER NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 10:10 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-400

SEAT 39F NO SMOKING CONFIRMED



DELTA AIR LINES 09MAY ATLANTA GA SALT LAKE C UT 815A 1025A

DL 1105 WEDNESDAY HARTSFIELD JAC SALT LAKE CITY

U ECONOMY TERMINAL S TERMINAL 2

NON SMOKING FOOD FOR PURCHASE NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 4:10 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767-300/300ER

SEAT 38B NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

Monday, April 16, 2012

See Ya'll in 3 weeks

Date: April 16, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento, California




Hello family!!!!
This week was okay, we had a really hard time finding news and stuff, and we had zero people at church :(   but yesterday we went to visit 2 rapazes (Boys – young men) that marked with us to go and we taught them and marked their baptism and their 2 friends, so hopefully we´ll baptize these 4 young men before I go home... they always are at the activities and soccer and stuff... I´ve decided that I´m gonna let Elder Rowland take charge for the last 3 weeks, like pass the numbers, carry the cellphone, etc... it will help him a lot to learn the language and be ready to become senior companion... we had interviews with Presidente and he thought it was a great idea.... the interview was super chill, we laughed and messed around a lot, he´s a funny guy. He talked a lot about finishing strong so I take my good habits home with me...

Elder Jeffery Holland is coming on the 25th. we are way excited!


Today money was supposed to fall but there´s a problem with the bank... so maybe tomorrow...

So for p- day we are here at the beach in Pajuçara, Ponta Verde... there´s 2 big markets to buy some stuff.. it´s super cool here I´d never been here... it´s actually nice and clean, I´ve been stuck in the crappy dirty part every time I´ve been in Maceió... but today was absolutely awesome... we ate açaí right on the beach... that´s definitely the food I´m gonna miss the most, I´ve eaten it every p-day for like the last 14 weeks... we´re here at a lan house, and we´ll take a bus home after... I got some sweet pics today...





Vanessa loved the gift, she liked your card, she said she´ll visit you guys first.... she gave me a Corinthians (my soccer team) beach towel. It´s sweet!

I love you guys!!!!
See yall in 3 weeks!
Elder Ludlow

Monday, April 9, 2012

29 Days!!

Date: April 9, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento, California



Hey guys!!!!


How are you guys? Everything is going good here in the Bebedouro ward. This week was kinda rough this week was a holiday, Semana Santa (Holy Week) started on Friday so naturally everyone is drinking, dancing in the streets, etc... It’s sad that even Easter is a time for wickedness....

We confirmed Nadja and Marcia, last week we couldn´t because of conference.... and we had a few baptisms marked for next Saturday, only problem is that they didn´t go to church, and we don’t know what happened...

We also painted the inside and outside of the bishop’s house this week, it was a nice service project...


I also got the package!!! Thanks a bunch, we enjoyed the rockstars!!! lol and right after this we´re gonna go to Vanessa´s house for a family night so I´ll give her the gift...

They had a huge drug bust today in the alley right by our house... there was like 15 police officers and a bunch of people crowded around... pretty crazy.



I´m doing good, less than 30 days!!!! it´s flying by and I´m not gonna lie I´m starting to get trunky!!!! I can’t help but think about it!!!!

I took some money out today to eat Açaí. I´m just gonna do fun stuff on p-days.... only 4 more!!!!!

I´m glad Brian took work off to do fun stuff, I’m excited to hang out with my brothers when I get home...

Anyways, I gotta go already. Take care you guys!!!

Love you!!!!
Bradley

Monday, April 2, 2012

General Conference, Nadja's baptism

Date: April 2, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento, California


Eliene, her family, and the 2 girls I baptized in Paraíso, Ingrid and Tainá they were all at conference



Hey family
This week was good, I absolutely loved conference... I learned a lot and felt the spirit, especially when the prophet spoke... it was great, it was focused a lot on families. We watched the 2 sessions on Saturday in Portuguese, and then on Sunday the bishop brought his laptop and we watched it in his air-conditioned office in English....On Sunday we also baptized Nadja, Marcia´s mom. It was good...


Nadja's Baptism
April 1, 2012
  I am going to try and baptize weekly until I go home, just that we don’t have anyone for this week... we are working with a super cool kid named Rafael who is the brother of the relief society president... he is really interested in serving a mission. We are also teaching a girl named Eliene; those are the 2 people that are progressing the best. We’ve gotta find new investigators this week.





Transfers were this week. Me and Elder Rowland are both staying in the area. I´m glad... one elder from our house was transferred... and only 2 from our zone were transferred. They had a big emergency transfer in the middle of the transfer and so everything was done last week.

Elder Rowland made 6 months.

Elder Rowland 6 months, burning of the tie!


Elder Ludlow 6 weeks left
Elder Rowland's been out 6 months

As of tomorrow, I´m the oldest missionary in the mission... crazy! and this is a short transfer, just 5 weeks.



Still no package.

My tooth is good; it´s fine since they glued the crown back on...

I´m doing good... just trying my best to focus on my mission and have fun...

Today for p-day we went to center and my comp sent letters and we revealed photos for our baptisms... it was okay. I want to have fun on my last 4 pdays...

The kids sitting next to me are SOOOO annoying in the lan house... I´m about to whoop these punks...

But yeah that’s what´s up here... hope everyone´s doing good!!!!!

Love, Bradley

Monday, March 26, 2012

Happy Birthday Dad!

Date: March 26, 2012

Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From Sacramento,  California



Hey family!!!


I´m having a good time this week! This week we had ward conference, so we spent most of the week visiting less-actives and inviting everyone... the ward had a goal to double the attendance. Normally we have 60ish people so the goal was 120. We had 140 at church so it was a huge success!!!! There were a lot of investigators. Also Presidente and Sister Gonzaga went... in my gospel principles class there was like 30 people President and Sister Gonzaga went... so it was pretty intense. but it was good...



And after church yesterday we baptized a girl name Marcia. We will baptize her mom and maybe this other girl that went to church yesterday next week. The baptism went well, she was really excited.

Marcia's Baptism



Ummm...I´m doing good, this week is the last week of the transfer! Then we have a short five week transfer... my last. it´s definitely getting harder to focus but I´m still going strong... I kinda feel like my trunkyness is making Elder Rowland trunky... poor guy, I never had a comp that was about to go home, it would be hard I bet. But he´s coming along great in the language and is an awesome companion. I dunno if he´ll be the one to "kill" me, but it´d be cool if he did...



This area is just pure hills and craziness... most of the area is like favela, just on the hill with no legit roads or anything, so its super hard to find houses... plus around here the people put whatever number the feel like on their house so there’s no order... but I´m liking it the leadership and the bishop are really good... and there´s some cool members..



That´s cool Brian came up for a while... congrats bubs on the race! That’s sick he won a board!

I hope Brookie does good in softball.



but yeah not much else... today we took the train to center its actually nice. only 50 cents....



I think next week my comp and I are gonna go to a Rodizio Churrascaria and eat... since one of us might get transferred...



But yeah... I´m doing good learning and growing every day and thankful and I´m glad to be here doing the Lord´s work!!!!!



Love you all

Elder Ludlow

Dad!

Happy birthday!!! here in a few weeks I´ll give you your birthday hug... lol. I´m great here and loving my mission. I hope that work and everything is going great and that you have an awesome birthday! wow you´re 44 old man! hope you can keep up with me when we go hunting this year! just kidding!
You´re a great dad and I´m so lucky to have you in my life!

Love, Bradley

Monday, March 19, 2012

50 More Days!

Date: March 19, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From: Sacremento, California



My District




Hey Fam!!!!
This week was pretty good!!!

We´re working with a few cool people.


This week on Thursday I got a call from President Gonzaga at 6 am he told me I had to go to the hospital and stay there with my zone leader that was super sick, so I went and spent the whole day with him while his comp went home and slept and stuff.... but yeah he´s a super cool kid he´s going home in 2 weeks and is just chillin until then at the secretaries house till then... but yeah besides that we´re working with a small group and trying to find new investigators.... today for pday I bought a hammock and some other stuff, we ate Açaí, and that’s about it, we´ll probably go home and clean the house... and tonight we have a family night...


It sounds like the kids are all doing good, I hope Brookie likes softball... and thanks bubs for the video! You´re getting hecka good at longboarding!!! It´ll be good for you guys to have Brian around for a few days!

That´s cool that Bubb’s is racing, and doing good!!!! That’s awesome I can’t wait to go watch....


It´s super-hot here today!!! I got fried when we went downtown!!!



But yeah I’m doing good!!!! Just trying to finish strong and not think about how soon my mission ends!!!! I´ve been working out trying to get kinda in shape before I go home, but I hecka have a gut!!!!



We have ward conference this week; Presidente Gonzaga will go... it should be good...



Not a whole lot else, just a normal week in the mission, my recent converts are doing awesome here!!!!!
 It makes me so happy to see them progressing in the gospel....


But yeah, that’s about it!!! Love you guys!!!!!

Love Bradley!

Monday, March 12, 2012

We baptized Kerline and Claudya

Date: March 12, 2012
Area: Bebedouro, Alagos
Companion: Elder Rowland
From: Sacremento, California

View of Sunset from our house
March 7, 2012

Yo FAM!!!!


Hey everyone, this week was really good here in the Bebedouro ward! We baptized Claudya and Kerline on Tuesday night it was really good! They were excited and are doing well! We confirmed them yesterday. They are going to be really strong members of the church. It is so awesome to see people grow and build their testimony.



Kerline and Claudya Baptism
March 7, 2012




We also are working with a few other people, this week we got quite a few references from members and have been teaching these people... we had 3 investigators at church and we´re working with a few others, so we should be able to baptize a lot of people this transfer. We also went to my last area yesterday and saw a girl I taught and baptized; it was cool to see everyone!!!



Today for p-day we´re just planning on chillin and cleaning the house, probably eat açaí again, and maybe go throw a football around. but we´re not going anywhere fun or anything today... it´s been super rainy these last few days, our power went out because of the rain last night... but it´s nice that it´s finally starting to cool down!

That´s crazy that Kelsi Baldwin is home and that grandma is getting home this week! They both left after me, so that’s weird...

Thanks for sending me bubba´s video, I like to see those! He looks good with short hair!!!!! And thanks for sending one more package!!!!

I hope that Brian is doing good!!! That work is okay and everything... how are the kids???

I love you guys!!! Just 2 more months and I´m home!!! But for now I´m here working hard and having fun!!! I´m super grateful for my mission and being able to save some souls!!!



Love Elder Ludlow