This is a talk that was given by Momma Judy on January 24, 2010; reporting Elder Brady Hafen's mission to the home ward
Published by Elder Brady Lee Hafen under on 9:15 AM
I’m a pretty lucky mom, because I was asked by Bro. Sorenson to brag about my son Elder Brady Hafen, who is serving a mission in Ireland. Mothers love to talk about their children, but I’ll try to stay under control. Many of you do not know Brady because he left for his mission just a few weeks after the stake division took place almost two years ago; so yes he is on the downhill side of his mission. His release date is April 16th so he will be standing at this podium in just three months. Many of you might actually see him occasionally or at least see his picture since I do have the most well known missionary in Utah County! Somehow the Daily Herald has my son’s picture and uses it to advertise; the advertisement is to place an ad to announce or share with Utah County everything worth celebrating; so we see him in the news paper frequently.
His mission is called the Ireland Dublin Mission, and includes all of Ireland; Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He went to the Preston England MTC, and loved it. The Preston England MTC is smaller and very personable which he really enjoyed. He loved being able to attend the Preston England temple and misses the temple since there is no temple in Ireland. He has served in 5 areas of Ireland; Bangor – which is in Northern Ireland, Bellyfermont (Jeremiah Sorenson makes fun of the way I say this-good he’s not here; Jeremiah served his mission in Ireland as well) – he actually re-opened this area; it had been closed since 1992, it is very close to Dublin; Tralee which is along the South West shore of Ireland; Firhouse, which is by Dublin; and his new area as of the first of January Londonderry; which is in Northern Ireland, the most Northern part of Ireland you can get.
Ireland is not a big baptizing mission; but they contact people on the street, work in charity shops, and a big part of his mission has been reactivating and fellowshipping members. Every area he has served in he has helped to reactivate someone and he loves doing that. I know that we shared this experience with the youth in our ward, so I apologize in repeating, but this really touched us as a family as well as Brady. After Brady had left his first area in Northern Ireland, our family received a letter from a member of the Bangor ward named Sister Jacqui Richards. Jacqui joined the church in 1978 and was active for only a short time, becoming inactive for many more years. She always believed that the Church was true, but was in a rebellious stage for a long time. In June of 2007 she was diagnosed with cancer and had to have radical surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment. I would like to quote her letter now: “It was a horrible time for me and my family and it forced me to think about life and what was important; family and a relationship with Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. So one day in April I decided that I was going to go back to Church. When I walked through the doors (which in itself took a lot of strength because I had been away for so long) were the missionaries. One of the missionaries was an Elder Headington from Wales who appeared the more senior of the two. The other was a brand new missionary, just out on his mission, looking very nervous and shy. His name was Elder Hafen, from Orem, Utah.
These two young boys, neither of whom I had ever met before, were to turn out to be real friends to me. They came to my house, taught my children, fellowshipped with my husband, (who isn’t a member of the church) did some carpentry work for me, painted the outside of my house and generally made my transition of going back to church so much easier.
Thank you so much for your son, he is a fine young man and whom you can be very proud. He is no longer with our ward, but while he was here I watched him grow from a shy nervous boy into a confident spiritual young man.
Please take heart in knowing that even if he doesn’t baptize anyone on his mission he was instrumental in bringing at least one soul (mine) back to the Lord and I will always be grateful to him and you for that.” Brady didn’t realize how much the service rendered meant to Jacqui until I mailed a copy of the letter to him.
Brady has been blessed with one baptism that took place while serving in Firhouse. Johnathan Manning became a member of the church on October 24, 2009. One thing that Brady has learned while serving is that sometimes missionaries do not get the opportunity to reap the seeds that they plant, others may reap those seeds. Johnathan Manning was just that, he had been taught by previous missionaries, but because of his strong Catholic bonds with family decided that he shouldn’t be baptized. Three years later Johnathan found a pass along card and knew that he needed to be baptized. He called the number on the card and the missionaries were there; he was baptized after receiving the discussions again. Brady had just broken his wrist playing soccer with the missionaries so he was unable to do the baptism, but felt privileged to perform the confirmation. I would love to read to you a part of his letter. I need to preface this since many of you do not know Brady, but Brady loves to swim. During his High School years he swam for Orem High School, winning State. I quote: “On Sunday I confirmed Jonathan, I was so nervous. It was like being on the blocks for the 400 free relay at state and you are swimming up against the fastest swimmer on the East High Swim team. I could actually feel the adrenaline pumping into my blood, my whole body felt really hot and tingly but once I put my hand and cast on his head I calmed down. I said all the necessary parts but once I came to the blessing I couldn’t say what I wanted to well; but it all came out and went well. Bishop commented on the blessing afterwards. Jonathan afterwards looked a bit goofy cuz there was no way to wipe the smile off his face. He was just so excited. He says he can feel the spirit so strong now.”
Brady’s mission president is from Provo, the Edgemont Stake; their names are Gordon and Janice Creer. Brady loves them. President Creer knows that Brady loves to swim so every time he visits with him he asks if he is gotten in the water. Brady always responds no President that is against the rules, but it is really hard for him to not jump into the ocean. President Creer is released in July and tells him that the two of them are going swimming when he gets home-Brady thinks that might be a scary thing to see President Creer in a swimming suit.
Brady is in a really cold place right now Londonderry, it is actually snowing. Ireland usually doesn’t get snow, they get slush, but he has snow. This area is also an area where many rebels live; they call themselves the Para Military. In 1968 civil violence broke out and continued for thirty years. Peace has returned but there are some who believe the war is still on. They deal with this more in Northern Ireland, so he lives through bomb scares, and basically terrorist activity a little more now where he is serving.
Brady loves his mission, and knows that the gospel is true. He knows that he is acting in behalf of the Lord, and feels it a great honor to wear Jesus Christ’s name everyday on his name tag. He knows that he is planting seeds, and that someday the people of Ireland will be ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.
His mission is called the Ireland Dublin Mission, and includes all of Ireland; Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He went to the Preston England MTC, and loved it. The Preston England MTC is smaller and very personable which he really enjoyed. He loved being able to attend the Preston England temple and misses the temple since there is no temple in Ireland. He has served in 5 areas of Ireland; Bangor – which is in Northern Ireland, Bellyfermont (Jeremiah Sorenson makes fun of the way I say this-good he’s not here; Jeremiah served his mission in Ireland as well) – he actually re-opened this area; it had been closed since 1992, it is very close to Dublin; Tralee which is along the South West shore of Ireland; Firhouse, which is by Dublin; and his new area as of the first of January Londonderry; which is in Northern Ireland, the most Northern part of Ireland you can get.
Ireland is not a big baptizing mission; but they contact people on the street, work in charity shops, and a big part of his mission has been reactivating and fellowshipping members. Every area he has served in he has helped to reactivate someone and he loves doing that. I know that we shared this experience with the youth in our ward, so I apologize in repeating, but this really touched us as a family as well as Brady. After Brady had left his first area in Northern Ireland, our family received a letter from a member of the Bangor ward named Sister Jacqui Richards. Jacqui joined the church in 1978 and was active for only a short time, becoming inactive for many more years. She always believed that the Church was true, but was in a rebellious stage for a long time. In June of 2007 she was diagnosed with cancer and had to have radical surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment. I would like to quote her letter now: “It was a horrible time for me and my family and it forced me to think about life and what was important; family and a relationship with Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. So one day in April I decided that I was going to go back to Church. When I walked through the doors (which in itself took a lot of strength because I had been away for so long) were the missionaries. One of the missionaries was an Elder Headington from Wales who appeared the more senior of the two. The other was a brand new missionary, just out on his mission, looking very nervous and shy. His name was Elder Hafen, from Orem, Utah.
These two young boys, neither of whom I had ever met before, were to turn out to be real friends to me. They came to my house, taught my children, fellowshipped with my husband, (who isn’t a member of the church) did some carpentry work for me, painted the outside of my house and generally made my transition of going back to church so much easier.
Thank you so much for your son, he is a fine young man and whom you can be very proud. He is no longer with our ward, but while he was here I watched him grow from a shy nervous boy into a confident spiritual young man.
Please take heart in knowing that even if he doesn’t baptize anyone on his mission he was instrumental in bringing at least one soul (mine) back to the Lord and I will always be grateful to him and you for that.” Brady didn’t realize how much the service rendered meant to Jacqui until I mailed a copy of the letter to him.
Brady has been blessed with one baptism that took place while serving in Firhouse. Johnathan Manning became a member of the church on October 24, 2009. One thing that Brady has learned while serving is that sometimes missionaries do not get the opportunity to reap the seeds that they plant, others may reap those seeds. Johnathan Manning was just that, he had been taught by previous missionaries, but because of his strong Catholic bonds with family decided that he shouldn’t be baptized. Three years later Johnathan found a pass along card and knew that he needed to be baptized. He called the number on the card and the missionaries were there; he was baptized after receiving the discussions again. Brady had just broken his wrist playing soccer with the missionaries so he was unable to do the baptism, but felt privileged to perform the confirmation. I would love to read to you a part of his letter. I need to preface this since many of you do not know Brady, but Brady loves to swim. During his High School years he swam for Orem High School, winning State. I quote: “On Sunday I confirmed Jonathan, I was so nervous. It was like being on the blocks for the 400 free relay at state and you are swimming up against the fastest swimmer on the East High Swim team. I could actually feel the adrenaline pumping into my blood, my whole body felt really hot and tingly but once I put my hand and cast on his head I calmed down. I said all the necessary parts but once I came to the blessing I couldn’t say what I wanted to well; but it all came out and went well. Bishop commented on the blessing afterwards. Jonathan afterwards looked a bit goofy cuz there was no way to wipe the smile off his face. He was just so excited. He says he can feel the spirit so strong now.”
Brady’s mission president is from Provo, the Edgemont Stake; their names are Gordon and Janice Creer. Brady loves them. President Creer knows that Brady loves to swim so every time he visits with him he asks if he is gotten in the water. Brady always responds no President that is against the rules, but it is really hard for him to not jump into the ocean. President Creer is released in July and tells him that the two of them are going swimming when he gets home-Brady thinks that might be a scary thing to see President Creer in a swimming suit.
Brady is in a really cold place right now Londonderry, it is actually snowing. Ireland usually doesn’t get snow, they get slush, but he has snow. This area is also an area where many rebels live; they call themselves the Para Military. In 1968 civil violence broke out and continued for thirty years. Peace has returned but there are some who believe the war is still on. They deal with this more in Northern Ireland, so he lives through bomb scares, and basically terrorist activity a little more now where he is serving.
Brady loves his mission, and knows that the gospel is true. He knows that he is acting in behalf of the Lord, and feels it a great honor to wear Jesus Christ’s name everyday on his name tag. He knows that he is planting seeds, and that someday the people of Ireland will be ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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