WEEK 21 & 22 Holy Crap I Love it Here!!

My prayers have been answered! Wow what a start to our new area. I was Transferred to Parker area. Opening it back up.   Elder Cluff my new companion is only 3 months out and is already a stud missionary. His testimony is so strong and he is the nicest elder ever. I can be myself around this stud and we work super well together and get along real well.

Lets talk about our first day! Me and Elder Cluff got to our apartment at like 11:30 in the morning. The apartment hasn't had anyone living in it for the last 4 months. The elders before left it completely trashed. The trash wasn't taken out,  the shower wasn't clean! It smelled nasty and there was a pile of dirty dishes in the sink piled up to the cupboards above grosss! I was pretty ticked off but I got over it and once I cleaned everything, I  was fine. By the way, Elder Cluff was new to the area also,  so we swept in both of us to the area not knowing anything. We got to the apartment and said well lets build this place up. For about 4 hours we went  and started studying the area book and the people the missionaries have taught and the tons of work that the missionaries before weren't doing. After that we took another hour and started calling investigators, less actives, and recent converts. We set up appointments with tons of people so there is a lot of work to be done. That night we went to our Ward mission leaders house and let me tell you how awesome he is. He typed up this sheet of the most progressing and lessons taught to them and members from the ward who have fellow shipped them and there was a list of about 30 people that haven't been contacted in a while. We started working with him and said if we needed anything just let him know. He then took us to the store bought us our groceries showed us around the area and the day after he came to two lessons we had as the member present. He is in his 60's never served a mission but is a great teacher. That day which was two days ago we already had 4 lessons, 2 with new investigators who really want to learn more. The next day we had an amazing lesson, committed a less active couple who hasn't come to church in forever to come to church and they said they will. We really connected. That evening we were able to get another member to come along with another investigator we had. The member that came with us was a convert and related super well with the investigator. The investigator is half way through the book of Mormon and really wants to learn more, I was feeling the spirit so strong in the lesson and we put her on baptismal date for the 28th of January and she is coming to church this week! WOW what a week already and a hot start! 

 

The members are awesome we get fed every night and brother Night said there are 5 ward missionaries in the ward and all the members are engaged in missionary work. Even the bishop is super engaged in missionary work. Honestly this is a blessing from the Lord. Although all these good things are happening it has been pushing us to work harder than we have ever worked before. I have no time to dilly dally and it is very time consuming. Truthfully, I am starting to feel like a real missionary and the spirit is working with me more than it ever has before. I know the Lord has called me to this area and even though biking stinks in the freezing cold it is worth it! I want to stay here for a while and with Elder Cluff! I know this is where I need to be

Last week was interesting, I was very emotionless, because face timing you didn't feel real at all. Although it was really good to see your face in person it didn't feel real. I was honestly in shock the whole time. Sorry if I was acting weird. but I bet you were as happy to see me as happy I was to see you. It was still really good to see your faces.

 A gift I bought myself with some of the Christmas money!

Tell Everyone Thank you!

 I love to play Chess!Thanks Grandma!

Remember the savior and what he did this Christmas season and you will find more joy.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Elder Brown 

Week 20- This Christmas started out as a challenge!

 OOPS!

 I am greatly Blessed!Thank you for the tree!

It's cold and snowy!

Hey Mom and Dad!

Holy guacamole it was a cold one this week. I was outside tracting for 2 hours in -12 degrees.   I had so many layers on hahaha! We taught and found 3 new investigators that day and mainly because people saw how cold we were. But we taught this couple and I felt at that time that I was supposed to be there teaching them! Sometimes I have had those moments on my mission. I got everything you sent except the letter.  I should get that today. I got the Christmas gifts from you and Aunt Karen. I got the hand prints from the brown family and the Anderson's. Hey I am emailing this Saturday because Monday the library is close so p-day is on Saturday. We are calling Sis Bracy to get every detail and I will relay that info to you on Saturday because we are face timing Sunday. Facetime will be okay!  

I'm glad you liked the video I sent. I recorded myself like 3 times. Twice in the bathroom and the one time on the chair that I was leaning back and forth on. The two I thought were way to long and I couldn't send one longer than 2 minutes and After I was done recording the first two I looked at the length and it was like 6 minutes. So I gave up on condensing so I decided to make it short and sweet and funny. Glad that everyone thought it was funny!

 6 more dayzzz......whew!!! I'm excited and am prepared for you too cry. To be honest I don't feel homesick this Christmas at all and here is why.... 

This Christmas started out as a challenge. Being away from home in the freezing cold getting doors slammed in your face isn't what I have ever pictured Christmas to be like haha! But my ward family and all of my extended family sent me little hand prints with little encouraging messages on them which  I taped each individually to my paper Christmas tree dangling from the wall (WHICH FELL 5 TIMES so I finally used duck tape and its been fine) I read every note which was about over a hundred and by the end I was sobbing and just filled with the spirit. You're right, I have a lot of support from my friends and family back home and that made me feel Christs warmth despite the freezing cold hahaha.  I didn't even care for the gifts or packages that were sent because the best gift that was given was Christ's radiant love that he has for Me. And I felt that sitting on the floor balling my eyes out. I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a while.  That gave me a lot of peace and comfort and the motivation to keep barreling out in the snow in -14 degree weather.

I know it is going to be hard for you not to cry and that is okay but let it be a happy time. I don't think I have truly known what the true meaning of Christmas was  till I have been out here during this time. As I sat driving in the car and listening to the lyrics of Josh Groban's song "Believe" I really thought about the lyrics and it is much deeper than believing in Santa Claus.....  " When we feel that we have lost our way...we find ourselves again on Christmas day." I love that verse. We know that we can look to the savior and not just remember his birth but what he has done for us even when we feel that we have lost our way. Christmas isn't a one day celebration it is a gift that is given to us 365 days a year....his Atonement. Thank goodness for Easter because there would be no Christmas. If there was no Atonement than the baby Jesus would be another baby born that day alongside the hundreds of other baby births in the Inn's where there was no room. There is no place I would rather be than here on my mission during these two years and more specifically during this time of year! 

We had zone conference this last week and wow that was amazing. Each zone which were about 6 put on a little Christmas skit. We were assigned to do a skit based on Silent night. We first started off by singing the hymn....but it gets better. Our zone leaders assigned me and Elder Chun to talk about silent night. We decided to make it funny and add some humor in it which was expected when the zone leaders chose me and and elder chun the two goofballs of the zone. Elder Chun is literally another version of Nic Padilla and funnier haha so we had fun with it. We pretended we were two angels that day looking down on the nativity scene. We told the audience to close their eyes and imagine this scene of the baby Jesus. I first started out by saying into the mic.....Elder Chun, do you remember that day....Yes Elder Brown I do...and you guys(the audience) were all there too. Then I said.... we were all cheerleaders chanting something like this. Then me and Elder Chun did this cheerleader chant as girly as could be hahha people laughed at that. Then we explained the nativity scene and Elder Chun asked....Hey Elder Brown, do you hear that....I said what?....Elder Chun said I hear a donkey I said... oh my gosh I hear it too,  then I said....wait a minute that's just President Mendenhall and everybody started dying of laughter.  We went on adding all these funny remarks and then concluded with our testimonies. That's probably the most I have ever made people laugh. Im starting to get comfortable with speaking in front of large audiences. Anyway that was fun, then we went into the chapel. I got to direct the choir and hold a choir practice way before people got there in the very beginning. I also was the accompanist for Elder Olsen who sang O Holy Night. MOM, HIS VOICE IS INCREDIBLE! and It sounded so good and made a lot of people cry. Then we had a special guest speaker and President and Sister M gave remarks. This lasted from 7-4:30 but an awesome day!  

That was this week.  Today is zone pday so we get together with the sisters at the stake center and are doing a white elephant gift exchange. My gifts are funny. The zone leaders used to call me eraser head when I first came into the zone area..Because my head was shaved completely on the sides and then I had hair up top like the shape of an eraser. That stopped when I got my new hair cut before zone conference which they think my hair is awesome because it is slicked back like David Beckam the hot Soccer player! So now they call me David Beckam. Anyway I bought two eraser heads and I wrapped it up and hopefully they get the gift hahaha! 

Anyway Thats all that i got! I love you so much I will email you the face time details saturday on pday....remember....not monday.....saturday! I love you Mom and Dad!         

Week 18!! 19 more days till I get to talk to you via Skype!

Hey mom!

Very successful week with investigators.  We had 26 lessons which is my record. Its not all about the numbers because they are souls,  but it was pretty cool to teach that many people. We tracked into this lady last week named Patricia who is a 40 year old catholic mom who is very devout and wasn't that interested.   I was very persistent in explaining that the bible is a record of people in Jerusalem and the Book of Mormon is an ancient account of the peoples dealings with God in America. I had her read the tiny gold letters under the BOM title which says, "another testament of Jesus Christ" She was very shocked and said that she would read.  To our surprise we set a return appointment with her. Although we set the appointment we didn't really know how interested she was but we gave her 3rd Nephi chpt. 11 to read. This week comes around and we showed up to her house for the appointment and she opens the door and says come on in. We were really shocked to find out that she had read chpt 10,11,12 and the restoration pamphlet and plan of salvation pamphlet and did even more research on it. She is thirsty for more knowledge and has a great gospel understanding. I love it when we have investigators that keep commitments. She is awesome!

We are also sharing light the world with people we meet and that is awesome also! We are finding tons of success with sharing the cards with people. I love sharing the video at dinner messages! Speaking of dinners we hardly get any but a lot coming up this week. Last night's devotional was really good. I felt a lot of peace and comfort from every ones messages. I thought about you guys while watching the devotional but I was comforted by the spirit.

 

Hey I got a huge package of food.  Thanks I needed that haha. Oh and I did get the package of music thank you!  I didn't open it,  the zone leaders still have it but I'm excited for it!  The best way to send me a package is to the mission office so I know I will get it on p-day because this week I have been checking for my package since Thursday and it just came last night so I was pretty nervous that I gave you the wrong address oh well its here. 

 

A tree a member gave us!!

 

The boots! Just get me a cheap pair that will keep my feet from getting soaked. I dont need it anytime soon. Only flurries for the next two weeks. They say the heavy snow doesn't come till Jan. Feb. and March. For Christmas I'm thinking Skype because Facetime can drop really quick. 19 more days I'm excited!!​

 

 I love you mom so much!! Have a good Christmas season and look to spread the gospel the best way you can do that is just acting as Christ would everyday. I promise when we do that our lights will shine so bright they will reach the darkest places! love you mom!

 

Elder Brown