The Bradley's in Manti, Utah

2 weeks ago, I talked about some hard times that I had in my mission. Today I want to share one of those times that I had.

My third area that I served in was a place in Central Utah called Manti. A town of about 3,500 people with 10 wards and a temple. One of my favorite towns to be in.

Here's a picture of the Manti Temple.

Such a beautiful building.

Manti was also one of the hardest areas in my mission. Most of the people there are already members of the Church or not really that interested.

It was a difficult time in my mission. My companion and I didn't really get along super well. Plus we lost our car about a week into the new transfer being together, (that's a story for a different day).

Everything began to look up when we met the Bradley family.

They were a really awesome family. Sister Bradley was from Loa, (which is where I ended my mission), and her husband was from Manti. They had gone less-active for a little bit and the Ward Mission Leader told us not to visit them. The Ward was working with them to get them reactivated. When he gave us the go-ahead to visit them, we stopped by one night and Sister Bradley answered the door. We had a good chat for a few minutes and she told us that her daughter, Lilly, was not baptized and wanted to be baptized.

I was excited. Maybe this was the reason I was sent to Manti.

Lilly poked her head out and told us she didn't want to meet us. She was a pretty stubborn kid.

After that first visit, things progressed more smoothly. Right before she was baptized, Sister Bradley told us that the sister missionaries who were serving in Manti before elders got sent there had visited them previously. They promised that they would be back to get Lilly baptized. And they never visited again until we knocked on her door. It confused her for the longest time. I knew that this family had been prepared by Heavenly Father to receive us when the time was right. Lilly got baptized the Saturday before that area was closed to young full-time missionaries for about a year.

I knew that I was sent to Manti, probably for a bunch of different reasons, some of them, I may never know why, but one of them was definitely to teach the Bradleys. I am so grateful that I was able to have hard times in my mission, because they prepared me and made me appreciated the good times that I had.