Week 25 I WILL Go and Do

Hey we put Paige on Date!!  It was an awesome lesson we had inside a members home! Sister Alley is a convert so she relates to Paige really well! We had a testimony meeting and it was a perfect way to invite the spirit and use that as a gateway into the baptismal invite. Invites can be awkward but the spirit gave me everything I needed to say so it actually wasn't awkward at all. She seems very committed and she said that she is going to pray about the date we set for her. She doesnt think it is a coincidence that we got an answer to our prayers about this date. We put her on date for the 25th of February! Izzy's Birthday hahaha! Celebrating Izzy's birth and Paige's rebirth so quite the theme going on that day! So exciting gave me a lot more energy! 

 

Anyway there are 2 things that have really sparked my testimony about leaving on a mission. I thought back to an experience I had back in high school. You may not remember this but one night Tyler Thomas was having a bonfire at his house for his birthday. Everyone was sober there and nobody was planning on having alcohol there. A lot of people were there but more and more started coming along. Then somebody brought a couple of cases of alcohol. I remember you telling me that night that I could go and stay for a little but to be home by 11 because I had to get up early for something. That plays a role later in the story. I continued on talking to people at the party and even to the people that were drinking because I didn't want to ignore them just because they were drinking. I actually went inside because Alex was in there and a couple more friends just to see and I started talking to people in there and I was having a good time, so leaving to be home by 11:00 didn't resonate with me too well. But as I was downstairs and was looking at the clock which I actually remembered to do I felt a prompting to get out of there and leave and be home by 11:00.   Surprisingly I haven't felt such a strong warning or spiritual prompting. I still didn't want to leave but I finally got to the car and left. Alex said he was leaving in like 5 minutes anyway so that made me feel a lot better. At the time as I was driving home I thought to myself why did the spirit prompt me to leave, was it to be obedient to my parents or whatever other reason I couldn't really think of. So I was kind of was angry and frustrated. I wanted to come home and talk about how all my friends parents don't care they can stay out as late as they want because they have their parents trust, and I have never drank or done anything to bring dishonor to my family and yet they still don't trust me enough to stay........I get a call a minute later from my Alex. He said are you driving home I said yes, he then told me to pull over and listen. I pulled over and he tells me whispering the cops showed up and he snuck around back and got in his car and kinda sat and watched as the police busted some kids there for alcohol and even the kids that weren't intoxicated. I thought about that story and the role the spirit played. I felt a prompting to leave.   I didn't know what for in the moment but I realized that after I left and got a call from my cousin that they caught a few there.  

 

What I took from that lesson were two things. Listen to the promptings of the spirit, but I can relate it to why I decided to serve a mission. Because sometimes we don't quite understand why we do certain things in the moment. Growing up in the church I always understood the importance of going on a mission and that it was a pretty big deal. My biggest issue was being worthy to enter the mission field. but another big concern I had was that I didn't understand why I should go on a mission. I didn't really pray about going, and I didn't really get a super strong spiritual push to serve a mission. But I thought back to that experience I had leaving Tyler's party. Sometimes we don't know why we leave but we see the blessings from leaving. I have seen numerous blessing from leaving and being on a mission. I have truly learned the meaning of work, I have truly seen the meaning of patience, I have truly seen the meaning of humbling yourself before the Lord and asking him how to direct your path because I am weak and through him I can be made strong. I have learned how to talk to people and turn my feelings into words. I have seen the blessings of the Lord in other people's lives including less actives investigators and active members. I have seen the blessings from the scripture in D&C , "If you have a desire to serve God, ye are called to the work." You don't have to be a spiritual powerhouse to enable you or grant you the opportunity to serve a mission. If you truly love god and want to show your love for him you are qualified for the work. Some people have to pray and ask God if this is right for them because they doubt or they fear and that's okay because everyone is different. I have been the type to always recognize when you put your trust in the Lord and follow him there is nothing to be scared of. To the youth of Lancaster I want to say this. " I will go and do the things the lord commands, I know the Lord Provides a way he wants me to obey" it is said simply in the well known primary verse. The Lord will provide a way, he will shape you and mold you as you serve a mission. Don't be scared, it is scary but it is not impossible. Truly, with the lords help everything is possible...he will provide a way. Serve a mission do it! It will be one of your lifes greatest blessings, because you have the opportunity to change others lives and at the same time and more importantly your life will be changed. It has changed mine. It has given me capabilities..... I didn't even know I had. I was Moses, I was slow of speech but when I opened my mouth the words came out. I have been able to speak and express my thoughts and feelings. That is such a huge blessing to me because I could never do that at home. I had to think about things for a long time before I could express what I felt. Now it is no longer an issue. The Lord will mold you I will say it again! He will shape you because as you serve God with all your Heart Might mind and Strength, he will recognize your effort and faith and in return give you power. This truly is the Lords church and it is run by the Priesthood authority the only authority directly given to a modern day prophet and given to every worthy male! The Book of Mormon is true. As you read from the Pages more and more it will teach you and strengthen you so that when you bare testimony of it, the spirit will be even more powerful! And it is the evidence that all that I said is true. That Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. That we have a living Prophet on the earth who holds the keys to run his church. This gospel is for us! It is apart of our lives, live it, and see the blessings and the fruits that come. So youth 3 things to do to prepare for your mission. 1.) read the scriptures. 2.) humble yourselves before the lord and repent of all your transgressions. Then 3.) Go, serve a mission! That is my testimony. 

 My Jesus moment!

I hope this is okay dad, share that with the youth word for word, I feel prompted that something I said is what some kid needs to hear.

   

Dinner at the Condie's

Week 24 GOD is a God of Second Chances

Aloahaaaaaaaa! How are you doing!

 A Couple of things to talk about this week! Paige is still progressing she came to church this week ahhhhhh!!! That was exciting.  She doesn't like large crowds so that is hard for her but she stayed for all three hours! There are some couples  that are her age....Sisters Burt and Sister  Mcken our ward missionaries and Paige loves them so that helps her feel comfortable at church! Her son is crazy! He is off the wall and he loves hitting me and my companion over and over again.  So sometimes I grab his hands and step on his feet so he can't move and he always laughs and struggles to move and when I let him go he comes right back and hits me, so trying to get him in control is hard. He came to Church with Paige and went to primary.  He is sane in class because he is not around us but after all his classes he found us and started whacking us again so that's Kalen! I'm making him a deal next time we go over for  lesson. That is when we go we play with him for 15 minutes and then teach him and his mom for 45 minutes! Hopefully that might help and so we can get his energy out and then have him join in on our lessons because I feel they should be baptized together. We are putting Paige on date this Saturday and we are going to have a lesson in the Alley home! 

They are a BOMB family and they take care of us! She is a convert and they have 4 kids. He is in the air force but they both love to bike. So they have this huge garage full of bikes and really nice ones. So they hook me and Elder Cluff up with biking gadgets or tubes or whatever we need. Their son is a wicked piano player and he is only 14 he will be a master by the time he is done. He practices an hour each day! 

Our one investigator that was on date for the 28th dropped us and said that she doesn't want to meet or feel rushed and she wants to continue to read the BOM on her own. That's always tough but hopefully she will keep coming to church and feel the need to meet again with the intentions of joining the church. She knows the Book of Mormon is true. She even says how can it not be true. We tried to tell her when you say the Book of Mormon is true you say that Joseph Smith did restore that priesthood authority to the earth and that this really is the true church of God! She doesn't understand how that works. It is probably the most challenging to explain to people how that does work! The Book of Mormon doesn't have a middle ground. There aren't some parts that are true and others that are. it is either 100% true or 100% false. That is why we invite people to read the book of Mormon and ask God if it is truly his word. It's hard because she says that she has already been baptized before in her other church. Not saying that her church is bad because churches provide a lot of hope and light for tons of people and I love that! It's just that if she says the book of Mormon is true and the  church that she knows that the priesthood of God that was on the earth during Christ's time is here on the earth and that although those other churches are great and teach a lot of truth, that they dont have the authority to perform that ordinance of baptism. I have learned on my mission that those conversations can be a very touchy subject but I can bare testimony of how powerful the BOM really is. It has brought so much truth and light to my life and now and I know that the Book of Mormon and the Bible go hand in hand. they truly are both Gods word. The book of Mormon being an account from the ancient inhabitants of America and the Bible being an account of the people of Jerusalem. God loves his people everywhere and I know that God would not leave those people stranded in the Americas a long time ago. The teachings of God never change he wants them to be taught everywhere and to everyone. If someone who dies and leaves this earth doesn't have that opportunity now they will have that opportunity in the next life. God is a God of 2nd chances and we have as many chances on this earth to get it right because of his atonement which is real! Without it we cannot be saved. But that doesn't mean that we can just accept our savior and everything is okay. If we truly love our savior we will show him by keeping his commandments and trying our best to show our faith everyday. We will never be perfect nor will we ever achieve perfection here on this earth but that doesn't stop us from trying our best. By grace we are saved after all that we can do. That is what truly defines grace, when we can't go any further and the Lord swoops in and grabs us and lifts us up. We need to make that effort and he will help us the rest of the way. 

Life is great! be happy, turn to the Lord in all that you do and you will come off conquerer to Satan! Pray often! 

Love you Mom and Dad and  everyone!

Week 23 It was cold this week.

Hi MOM!  How is it going? New year fresh start, One more Christmas left hahaha!

Everytime I begin my email I have no idea where to start I just throw my thoughts down!

This week was tough. It was so cold ! I had so many layers on but when you are outside for 4 hours the cold starts penetrating through your gloves and shoes so that has been tough. I started to complain like Laman and Lemuel and started to murmur....Why can't I be in a car this winter. I have been complaining especially because everyone we tried to see this week wasn't home and so it has been extremely frustrating to walk out in -1 degrees for 4 hours and nobody lets us in but its not keeping us down. Everyday we have always had a really good lesson with our progressing investigators. We had 3 investigators show up to church and this transfer I have been relying wholeheartedly on the spirit. The members have been so awesome. We are meeting with this woman named Paige.  She is 30 years old and has a 9 year old son named Kalen.    Every time we go over to her house her son is always out of control and being insanely disrespectful to his mom. She is going through a lot of stress being a single mom.  I can only imagine her troubles. There were times I wanted to discipline that kid and scold him so I think my inner Kelly was coming out.....just teasing! But the spirit couldn't be there and she would learn but the spirit couldn't work with her to help with her conversion. So I had the impression that we needed to have a lesson in a members home so Kalen could play with the kids.  And we could have two members testimonies( which one of them btw is a convert her age) would help her. The family is awesome and Sister Alley related so well with her and the spirit was  so strong and we finally committed her to read the BOM everyday and to come to church.  She is coming next week,  I'm excited. As missionaries in our district meeting we always express the importance of having members come along to lessons. They make a huge impact. Hopefully you can invite the missionaries into our home  with an investigator they are teaching. You will be blessed so much mom and you will always know what to say. Just sit and listen to the spirit. 

We had the investigator that we put on date come to church and she actively participates in gospel principles class. She is awesome! She continues to read the BOM and continues to learn more. She  still wants to learn more and doesn't like the bap date over her head but that will change as she continues to pray and read the BOM.   The Lord will pour out his spirit I know he will. 

 My comp is great. He is a spiritual powerhouse and He is a super hard worker and very obedient.  He helps me a lot.  The Ward is big, awesome members, they really take care of us! 

I'm actually getting good at shopping. Chicken breast, peanut butter, eggs, hot sauce, fruit, cereal, sandwich meat, bread and milk is all I need to survive hahaha.  I'm doing another musical number.  Today feels like 70 degrees.  I love it!

Other than that, that has been our week. New Years was pretty uneventful hahaha.  I wish I was at grandmas like old times. I wanted to be by my whole extended family and hope when I come back home that I can continue to do activities with Grandma and the kids. 

I miss you mom and dad.  I'm thankful for all your support, and keeping me up to date on what is going on at home.

Mom I love you. This is my weeks letter.

Elder Brown

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