Family and Friends,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! This week was fun even though there was nothing to do. We were actually able to find and teach a new investigator named Josh. (Ya he has a pretty sweet name) We knocked into him and shared the Book of Mormon story of the prophecy of the star appearing with a day and night and a day and how it stayed bright like noon day. Yep, that is a tongue twister! He really enjoyed hearing the signs of Jesus Christ coming to the earth. How there are other people in the world that knew about his glorious birth. We came back a couple days later and we watched Joy to the World. We then placed the Book of Mormon in his heart and it was awesome! He said that he was going to read it and when he came to know that it is true that he was going to get baptized. Really excited for that new investigator. We are scheduled to meet with him on Tuesday!
We had a zone conference for Christmas and it was so fun! We practice how to have a good righteous routine! We then had the best homemade hamburgers! All you can eat and it was way better then In N out. We called it Out N In if you know what I am talking about. We did a cool tie exchange. I got an old school tie with a bunch of stains on it. Ha ha. Then President Bowen surprised us with a movie. We watched Christmas Carol while eating popcorn. That is what I am talking about! We had some good laughs. It was a really fun Zone Conference and It was memorable that is for sure!
Christmas Eve we were able to walk Gus and Ricky that was so fun. We get to play and play with them all day. Well more like an hour. We got a frame with three pictures of us with the Reed family and gave it to them for Christmas. The first picture was the baptism with Me, Elder Anderson, Jake, and Haley. The Second picture was with the whole family at the baptism. The last picture was with me, Elder Anderson, Gus and Ricky. We thought it was a pretty well thought out gift. We had fun getting it all prepared for them. With the help of the Solesbees of course. haha. We then went to dinner with the Vargha family. They also have a missionary in Taiwan. So it was fun hanging out with the family. We played ping pong and had a blast. Then we had Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp. FANTASTICO! We acted out the Nativity and it was fun!
Christmas morning Elder Anderson woke up at 6:30 put all our Christmas presents in the car and drove as fast as we could to the Anaheim 6th Ward Elders apartment. We took some pictures from the Christmas tree and just having a blast. I open my presents. Heather got both Elder Anderson and I a present. It is funny because they are big Laker fans and we of course are Jazz fans so there is a fun rivalry going on. Well she got both of us Lamar Odom Laker shirts for Christmas. We thought it was really funny since now he is on the Mavericks. So it was a good gift. I Loved it. I also got my sweet calender with my whole family on it! Everyone is looking so big. Best Christmas present a Missionary can get. Then I got a ton of cool little gifts and my favorite BEEF JERKY. That is what I am talking about. So that was fun. We went to Sacrament and had a wonderful Christmas program. The spirit was strong. After I was able to skype my wonderful family and enjoyed seeing and talking with them. That was the best part of my Christmas. We had a zone lunch with Prime Rib from Papa Love. Ya ya. So good melt in my mouth. Then two hours later we had Italian food that was all made from scratch and it was the best. I also had for desert some big old Canolis baby. Satisfied my sweet tooth alright. So tell you how my Christmas was in a nutshell, it is like when Ralphy got his red rider BB gun from Santa! Priceless!!!
Elder Brown
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
Family and Friends,
This week was really slow with all the Holiday commotion. Good new is we taught Jeff and officially invited him to hear the discussions. I didn't know if what he was going to say. It could have gone either way but he said yes. He has already been taught all the lessons when he was sitting in with his kids but now we are going to help him keep commitments and act in faith. We are really excited for that.
I received the news from Elder T. Brown that Gina who I taught like 15 times in Fullerton got baptized on Saturday! It was cool because when I was there I said a prayer after a lesson to help her find out a perfect date for her to get baptized. Right when I finished, Gina said that she saw Christmas time was the right time for her. Well, a week before Christmas she was baptized and It is a miracle with all the opposition that came her way. I am so grateful I was able to be a part of that. She is going to be an amazing member!
Speaking of miracles. A couple weeks ago Elder Anderson decided to go knock on the huge mansions on the hills to see if we could find anyone that was interested. Nobody answered besides like one Filipino lady who is catholic. So we thought that was a waste. Well a couple days ago a lady called us and asked if we could help her and her husband put up a tree. She explained she isn't a active member but she would love to feed us dinner. We get there and this lady was a character. She was going burzurk, so excited to see us. We walk in and the house and it is huge! I repeat huge! It was so nice inside. House was so beautiful! She right then and there opened up to us that she has been suffering with depression for the past two years because of events that transpired. She explained to us that she hadn't gotten out of bed for 6 months. Not showering for that amount of time either. I was like whoa! You were depressed. She told us how she is a convert to the church and how her husband who is a orthopedic surgeon does not believe in God. She said that she prayed to Heavenly Father to deliver her out of this state of mind. Well not soon after, we knocked on her door. She saw our name tags but she was too embarrased to open the door because how big of a mess she was. Well, she is out of bed now and has snapped out of her depression. She is going to start coming to church and wants us to try to teach her husband. She wants to spoil us this Christmas but we are already spoiled to be part of this miracle of being an answer to her prayer. Tender mercies of the lord are every where.
This Sunday I was suprised to get a new Bishopric in the ward. Also to see the Shelly family from my home ward at my sacrament meeting. It was cool to see them and to hear that they have been at Disneyland. I am so close but yet so far away! It was really cool to get a little peice of home. I am very grateful they took the time to suprise me. Thank you Brother and Sister Shelly!
I am so excited for Christmas and to talk to my family! I Love them and miss them very much. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Elder Brown
This week was really slow with all the Holiday commotion. Good new is we taught Jeff and officially invited him to hear the discussions. I didn't know if what he was going to say. It could have gone either way but he said yes. He has already been taught all the lessons when he was sitting in with his kids but now we are going to help him keep commitments and act in faith. We are really excited for that.
I received the news from Elder T. Brown that Gina who I taught like 15 times in Fullerton got baptized on Saturday! It was cool because when I was there I said a prayer after a lesson to help her find out a perfect date for her to get baptized. Right when I finished, Gina said that she saw Christmas time was the right time for her. Well, a week before Christmas she was baptized and It is a miracle with all the opposition that came her way. I am so grateful I was able to be a part of that. She is going to be an amazing member!
Speaking of miracles. A couple weeks ago Elder Anderson decided to go knock on the huge mansions on the hills to see if we could find anyone that was interested. Nobody answered besides like one Filipino lady who is catholic. So we thought that was a waste. Well a couple days ago a lady called us and asked if we could help her and her husband put up a tree. She explained she isn't a active member but she would love to feed us dinner. We get there and this lady was a character. She was going burzurk, so excited to see us. We walk in and the house and it is huge! I repeat huge! It was so nice inside. House was so beautiful! She right then and there opened up to us that she has been suffering with depression for the past two years because of events that transpired. She explained to us that she hadn't gotten out of bed for 6 months. Not showering for that amount of time either. I was like whoa! You were depressed. She told us how she is a convert to the church and how her husband who is a orthopedic surgeon does not believe in God. She said that she prayed to Heavenly Father to deliver her out of this state of mind. Well not soon after, we knocked on her door. She saw our name tags but she was too embarrased to open the door because how big of a mess she was. Well, she is out of bed now and has snapped out of her depression. She is going to start coming to church and wants us to try to teach her husband. She wants to spoil us this Christmas but we are already spoiled to be part of this miracle of being an answer to her prayer. Tender mercies of the lord are every where.
This Sunday I was suprised to get a new Bishopric in the ward. Also to see the Shelly family from my home ward at my sacrament meeting. It was cool to see them and to hear that they have been at Disneyland. I am so close but yet so far away! It was really cool to get a little peice of home. I am very grateful they took the time to suprise me. Thank you Brother and Sister Shelly!
I am so excited for Christmas and to talk to my family! I Love them and miss them very much. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Elder Brown
It has been a White December here in Anaheim!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Friends and Family,
Well this week was Phenomenal!!!!!! A lot of cool things happened that I am so grateful for. First thing is that we went to CAMELOT for p-day. It is like Boondocks in Utah and it was so chill! Our whole zone went and played mini golf, mini bowling and all that fun jazz. Then, 24 missionaries played a massive game of Laser tag! It was so fun I really enjoyed it. Elder Anderson and I teamed up and did pretty good. So that was really fun to do right before transfers.
Jake and Haley got Baptized!!!!!! Elder Anderson and I were able to baptize and confirm them members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints! I prayed so hard that it would be a spiritual experience that Haley and Jake will remember the rest of their lives. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. The spirit was so strong. Every one knows what happens at baptisms. When I brought Haley out of the water she had the biggest grin on her face. I can't describe with words how awesome I felt and I know that everyone else felt it also during the baptismal service. The ward really supported them as the room was packed going out all the way into hall with people peeping their heads in the doorway. The spirit of love was defitnitely there. Jeff, who is not a member yet, felt the spirit so strong and I saw a tear or two. We are really excited to continue to work with this family. Jake got a basketball scripture case which is sweet! Haley got some books from the Deseret book store. This family is the best! I love them so much and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of this amazing act of faith.
So we found out what is happening on transfers and well Elder Anderson and I are staying together during CHRISTMAS!!!! oh ya. That is what I am talking about. We told President we would love to stay together and the Lord thought it would be a good idea too! We are really excited, we have been celebrating all weekend. Sad news is that Elder Tensmeyer is leaving our district. He is one of my most favorite Elders and I am going to miss him a lot. I will say it once again he was my "best district leader". I was called to be the new district leader so I have big shoes to fill. I still have Elder Hansen in my district (my trainee) and he is with Elder Arnold who is from Provo that I love. So I am excited to be with this district and learn how to have greater charity and serve my district members to the fullest. I feel like I am going to be in Anaheim 10th ward for a long time!
We have a lot of investigatos we are still working with but none have baptismal dates yet but they are progressing. It is hard to find time here to meet with them. Everyone is so frantic and busy during this time. We are just going to have to go forward with faith. I really want to get one more baptism with Elder Anderson by the end of this transfer. I know we can as we share the true meaning of Christmas. I love this time of year! I feel the Christmas spirit and the love my Heavenly Father has for me and everyone around me. This Christmas season I want to help someone have a magical Christmas, where all of their wildest dreams will come true. haha. It has been a white December here in Anaheim. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ that makes all of this possible. Have a wonderful week!
Elder Brown
Well this week was Phenomenal!!!!!! A lot of cool things happened that I am so grateful for. First thing is that we went to CAMELOT for p-day. It is like Boondocks in Utah and it was so chill! Our whole zone went and played mini golf, mini bowling and all that fun jazz. Then, 24 missionaries played a massive game of Laser tag! It was so fun I really enjoyed it. Elder Anderson and I teamed up and did pretty good. So that was really fun to do right before transfers.
Jake and Haley got Baptized!!!!!! Elder Anderson and I were able to baptize and confirm them members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints! I prayed so hard that it would be a spiritual experience that Haley and Jake will remember the rest of their lives. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. The spirit was so strong. Every one knows what happens at baptisms. When I brought Haley out of the water she had the biggest grin on her face. I can't describe with words how awesome I felt and I know that everyone else felt it also during the baptismal service. The ward really supported them as the room was packed going out all the way into hall with people peeping their heads in the doorway. The spirit of love was defitnitely there. Jeff, who is not a member yet, felt the spirit so strong and I saw a tear or two. We are really excited to continue to work with this family. Jake got a basketball scripture case which is sweet! Haley got some books from the Deseret book store. This family is the best! I love them so much and I am so grateful that I was able to be a part of this amazing act of faith.
So we found out what is happening on transfers and well Elder Anderson and I are staying together during CHRISTMAS!!!! oh ya. That is what I am talking about. We told President we would love to stay together and the Lord thought it would be a good idea too! We are really excited, we have been celebrating all weekend. Sad news is that Elder Tensmeyer is leaving our district. He is one of my most favorite Elders and I am going to miss him a lot. I will say it once again he was my "best district leader". I was called to be the new district leader so I have big shoes to fill. I still have Elder Hansen in my district (my trainee) and he is with Elder Arnold who is from Provo that I love. So I am excited to be with this district and learn how to have greater charity and serve my district members to the fullest. I feel like I am going to be in Anaheim 10th ward for a long time!
We have a lot of investigatos we are still working with but none have baptismal dates yet but they are progressing. It is hard to find time here to meet with them. Everyone is so frantic and busy during this time. We are just going to have to go forward with faith. I really want to get one more baptism with Elder Anderson by the end of this transfer. I know we can as we share the true meaning of Christmas. I love this time of year! I feel the Christmas spirit and the love my Heavenly Father has for me and everyone around me. This Christmas season I want to help someone have a magical Christmas, where all of their wildest dreams will come true. haha. It has been a white December here in Anaheim. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ that makes all of this possible. Have a wonderful week!
Elder Brown
At the Creche with Jeff, Heather & "Brother Jake"
Monday, December 5, 2011
Baptism of Haley & Jake December 11th (Haley not in the picture)
Miracles, Miracles, Miracles!
Family and Friends,
This week was a blast filled with miracles! This Anaheim 10th ward is booming and it is filled with the Christmas Spirit! We have been working really hard with the members on how we can boost their faith and invite their friends and family to listen and hear the Good News and the discussions. One family in particular we had an amazing experience with. We went in with faith trusting in God that we will help them and promise them many great blessings. We read through the Joseph Smith History hearing the experience Joseph Smith had with the first vision. Right then and there we felt the Spirit testify of the truth of this experience and I felt it so strongly. Elder Anderson and I then both bore our testimonies of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Prophet Joseph Smith, the priesthood power that has again been restored to the earth. It was amazing! We then invited the Keplers, a young couple, to bear their testimony and it was so cool to just here how everyone came to know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet. We then asked them if they would be offended if we taught someone in their home. They said of course not. We told them that we have as of right now nobody to teach in their home. We promised them as representatives of Jesus Christ that if they would fast and pray that they would find someone that we could teach in the next two weeks. It was a bold promise. Brother Kepler is a stud and he had tremendous faith. One week went by and they said they haven't found anybody. Well, this last Thursday we get a text from Brother Kepler and said that he has a friend that would love to hear the discussions and we set up an appointment the next Friday. The faith that we had along with the Kepler's brought forth an answer to our prayers! We will have a new investigator that I feel will be prepared for entering into a covenant with his Father in Heaven. My testimony has grown in the power of being a missionary and having the authority to promise blessings. I am so grateful that I am worthy to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost to lead and guide me through this work.
Miracle Numero dos. From my last e-mail I told you about running into Brother Rodriguez son two days after Thanksgiving. Well our lesson followed through and we had an amazing spiritual experience. Once again with the restoration and the power of the first vision. Robert is a smart college student who is very knowledgeable and uses a lot of big words. He doesn't know what he believes but he knows that what he has seen in the LDS faith and that it is good. When we were about to recite him the first vision in Joseph Smiths own words, we let him know that he is going to feel something amazing and know that what we are telling you is true. Well, once again the spirit came in and swooped in and bore testimony like no other! We asked him what he thought and felt after. He said warmth, joy, happiness, all the fruits of the spirit! We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. He is prepared and there is a support system for him with his dad being a convert. I am so grateful for the Holy ghost and the power of prayer.
I was able to go to the Creche (100's of nativities) in Orange this Christmas Season! I wanted to go so bad last year when I was in Irvine but we were not able to get investigators there. So, Jeff, Heather, Jake (my mom will post picture) came with us and it was absolutely amazing! There were nativities from all over the world! They really enjoyed it. We saw Bobi there and I wanted to get a picture with them in front of the Christmas tree and Little Brother Jake was being a little stubborn. ha ha. He did not like taking pictures and Bobi was able to convince him just to take one. I was so happy ha ha. I wonder what will happen on the big Baptism day when we want to take pictures. haha.
We moved the baptismal date to December 11th so that more family of Haley and Jake will be there. I have the opportunity to baptize Haley and confirm Jake a member! I am really excited and Elder Anderson is doing the opposite. The biggest change I have seen is in Haley. She has really come along way and Heather sees it every day. Haley is reading so much of the Book of Mormon and I am so proud of her. She is like my new adopted sister! Jake who we now call "Brother Jake" loves church! He loves primary and now loves to pray. It is so cool to see his growth and how he loves spiritual things once he chooses to enjoy it. haha. I am really excited. Miracles are happening every day. I love this family so much.
Transfers are next week, so Elder Anderson and I are going to let President know if it is the Lord's will to keep us together for one more transfer. I have never heard of a companionship being together for 3 transfers but we are tearing it up in Anaheim and they just got to let us keep Baptizing. I love what I do. I do it because I Love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ! The love that I feel from them I am able to transfer to those I teach and serve. Christmas season is here. Love one another and serve others and I promise you that you will have a magical Christmas filled with miracles also! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Brown
This week was a blast filled with miracles! This Anaheim 10th ward is booming and it is filled with the Christmas Spirit! We have been working really hard with the members on how we can boost their faith and invite their friends and family to listen and hear the Good News and the discussions. One family in particular we had an amazing experience with. We went in with faith trusting in God that we will help them and promise them many great blessings. We read through the Joseph Smith History hearing the experience Joseph Smith had with the first vision. Right then and there we felt the Spirit testify of the truth of this experience and I felt it so strongly. Elder Anderson and I then both bore our testimonies of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Prophet Joseph Smith, the priesthood power that has again been restored to the earth. It was amazing! We then invited the Keplers, a young couple, to bear their testimony and it was so cool to just here how everyone came to know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet. We then asked them if they would be offended if we taught someone in their home. They said of course not. We told them that we have as of right now nobody to teach in their home. We promised them as representatives of Jesus Christ that if they would fast and pray that they would find someone that we could teach in the next two weeks. It was a bold promise. Brother Kepler is a stud and he had tremendous faith. One week went by and they said they haven't found anybody. Well, this last Thursday we get a text from Brother Kepler and said that he has a friend that would love to hear the discussions and we set up an appointment the next Friday. The faith that we had along with the Kepler's brought forth an answer to our prayers! We will have a new investigator that I feel will be prepared for entering into a covenant with his Father in Heaven. My testimony has grown in the power of being a missionary and having the authority to promise blessings. I am so grateful that I am worthy to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost to lead and guide me through this work.
Miracle Numero dos. From my last e-mail I told you about running into Brother Rodriguez son two days after Thanksgiving. Well our lesson followed through and we had an amazing spiritual experience. Once again with the restoration and the power of the first vision. Robert is a smart college student who is very knowledgeable and uses a lot of big words. He doesn't know what he believes but he knows that what he has seen in the LDS faith and that it is good. When we were about to recite him the first vision in Joseph Smiths own words, we let him know that he is going to feel something amazing and know that what we are telling you is true. Well, once again the spirit came in and swooped in and bore testimony like no other! We asked him what he thought and felt after. He said warmth, joy, happiness, all the fruits of the spirit! We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. He is prepared and there is a support system for him with his dad being a convert. I am so grateful for the Holy ghost and the power of prayer.
I was able to go to the Creche (100's of nativities) in Orange this Christmas Season! I wanted to go so bad last year when I was in Irvine but we were not able to get investigators there. So, Jeff, Heather, Jake (my mom will post picture) came with us and it was absolutely amazing! There were nativities from all over the world! They really enjoyed it. We saw Bobi there and I wanted to get a picture with them in front of the Christmas tree and Little Brother Jake was being a little stubborn. ha ha. He did not like taking pictures and Bobi was able to convince him just to take one. I was so happy ha ha. I wonder what will happen on the big Baptism day when we want to take pictures. haha.
We moved the baptismal date to December 11th so that more family of Haley and Jake will be there. I have the opportunity to baptize Haley and confirm Jake a member! I am really excited and Elder Anderson is doing the opposite. The biggest change I have seen is in Haley. She has really come along way and Heather sees it every day. Haley is reading so much of the Book of Mormon and I am so proud of her. She is like my new adopted sister! Jake who we now call "Brother Jake" loves church! He loves primary and now loves to pray. It is so cool to see his growth and how he loves spiritual things once he chooses to enjoy it. haha. I am really excited. Miracles are happening every day. I love this family so much.
Transfers are next week, so Elder Anderson and I are going to let President know if it is the Lord's will to keep us together for one more transfer. I have never heard of a companionship being together for 3 transfers but we are tearing it up in Anaheim and they just got to let us keep Baptizing. I love what I do. I do it because I Love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ! The love that I feel from them I am able to transfer to those I teach and serve. Christmas season is here. Love one another and serve others and I promise you that you will have a magical Christmas filled with miracles also! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Brown
Happy Turkey Day!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Family and Friends,
This week was great! Full of turkey and amazing cranberry sauce! This week was a lot different then others. So I am just going to talk about my amazing Thanksgiving day. Well my Thanksgiving started as the worse day possible! I woke up and worked out getting all pumped up and ready to play in the turkey bowl! This is the first time I am going to actually play football in little over a year. Our whole Zone was talking about it through out the week. We found no problem with playing and our Zone leaders knew we were playing. I have been planning on this for a month. Well, we get a voice message at 7:00am in the morning. Guess who it was from? It was from the Zone Leader. The message went a little like this. "Happy Turkey day, Yaaay! We are just informing you about participating in the Turkey bowl is prohibited. So have a great day!" Right then in there I was so mad and angry and knew without a doubt this was going to be the worse Thanksgiving ever! For an hour getting ready for the day I was pouting and throwing a little tissy fit why I can't play some football on Turkey day. I start my personal study and read in the Book of Mormon. I then meditated why I am so angry. I decided to read in my journal last year on Thanksgiving and my whole attitude to things were different. I was so happy and just thanking my Heavenly father for everything I have. So I decided that I am going to turn my frown upside down and make this the best Thanksgiving ever! So we went out that day with faith to make something happen. Well, a lot of people were not home or cooking up some turkey and didn't want anything to do with us. So we went to go see what was going on with one of our favorite families the Fraziers.
We get to the house and Sister Frazier told us that Max and Fox are at the park playing with their Dad. So we went on over there and guess what happened. We had our own Turkey Bowl with the Frazier's. It was really Turkey Olympics playing football, baseball, kickball, doing cool tricks on the playground all the above. Max and Fox are little studs and I could not think of anything better to do then play sports with them this Thanksgiving. All the other kids looked at us and were so jealous. That was a really fun time.
We then went to our turkey dinner. We didn't know the people that signed us up for dinner. So I thought this dinner was going to be awkward. But it was Awesome! The family was so cool and we just talked and ate so much food. Bro. and Sis. Rodriguez were just recently married and had kids on both sides. Bro. Rodriguez is a convert and all his kids are not members. So it was cool answering their questions about what missionaries do. They were all around our age and couldn't believe what we did for two years. We were able to share a sweet little spiritual message about thanksgiving. They enjoyed it but nothing really happened after. Two days later. We just pull up to a random street and we knock into one of his sons. We were like Whoa! We know you. ha ha. We asked if we could share more about the Book of Mormon with him. He was like ya! He said that he is going to be at his dad's house on Tuesday and we can share with him there at two o' clock. I was like Cha-Ching! The Holy Ghost works in so many ways. So cool to see these miracles happen each and everyday!
Haley (14) and Jake (8) are for sure getting baptized December 10th! We are so excited! They have been progressing so fast it is amazing. So cool how a willing heart can bring forth so many blessings when you live the gospel teachings. I love this family so much. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and asked some amazing questions. They bore testimony how cool it was to know that there is a Plan of Happiness. Funny story! So Jake asked us a question after he is baptized if he is going to be referred as brother. Heather (mom) said to him, " when you get older you will be referred to that". He then said, "well I want to be referred as Brother Jake now really bad"! It was so funny!!!! So now Elder Anderson and I say, "Whats up Brother Jake." I am so excited to see them enter into a covenant with Heavenly Father and see them be blessed more then they can ever imagine. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To be his representative and be able to see with my own eyes the way the Gospel blesses families. I am so grateful my family can and will be together forever. That right now I have the opportunity to help other families do the same. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Elder Brown
This week was great! Full of turkey and amazing cranberry sauce! This week was a lot different then others. So I am just going to talk about my amazing Thanksgiving day. Well my Thanksgiving started as the worse day possible! I woke up and worked out getting all pumped up and ready to play in the turkey bowl! This is the first time I am going to actually play football in little over a year. Our whole Zone was talking about it through out the week. We found no problem with playing and our Zone leaders knew we were playing. I have been planning on this for a month. Well, we get a voice message at 7:00am in the morning. Guess who it was from? It was from the Zone Leader. The message went a little like this. "Happy Turkey day, Yaaay! We are just informing you about participating in the Turkey bowl is prohibited. So have a great day!" Right then in there I was so mad and angry and knew without a doubt this was going to be the worse Thanksgiving ever! For an hour getting ready for the day I was pouting and throwing a little tissy fit why I can't play some football on Turkey day. I start my personal study and read in the Book of Mormon. I then meditated why I am so angry. I decided to read in my journal last year on Thanksgiving and my whole attitude to things were different. I was so happy and just thanking my Heavenly father for everything I have. So I decided that I am going to turn my frown upside down and make this the best Thanksgiving ever! So we went out that day with faith to make something happen. Well, a lot of people were not home or cooking up some turkey and didn't want anything to do with us. So we went to go see what was going on with one of our favorite families the Fraziers.
We get to the house and Sister Frazier told us that Max and Fox are at the park playing with their Dad. So we went on over there and guess what happened. We had our own Turkey Bowl with the Frazier's. It was really Turkey Olympics playing football, baseball, kickball, doing cool tricks on the playground all the above. Max and Fox are little studs and I could not think of anything better to do then play sports with them this Thanksgiving. All the other kids looked at us and were so jealous. That was a really fun time.
We then went to our turkey dinner. We didn't know the people that signed us up for dinner. So I thought this dinner was going to be awkward. But it was Awesome! The family was so cool and we just talked and ate so much food. Bro. and Sis. Rodriguez were just recently married and had kids on both sides. Bro. Rodriguez is a convert and all his kids are not members. So it was cool answering their questions about what missionaries do. They were all around our age and couldn't believe what we did for two years. We were able to share a sweet little spiritual message about thanksgiving. They enjoyed it but nothing really happened after. Two days later. We just pull up to a random street and we knock into one of his sons. We were like Whoa! We know you. ha ha. We asked if we could share more about the Book of Mormon with him. He was like ya! He said that he is going to be at his dad's house on Tuesday and we can share with him there at two o' clock. I was like Cha-Ching! The Holy Ghost works in so many ways. So cool to see these miracles happen each and everyday!
Haley (14) and Jake (8) are for sure getting baptized December 10th! We are so excited! They have been progressing so fast it is amazing. So cool how a willing heart can bring forth so many blessings when you live the gospel teachings. I love this family so much. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and asked some amazing questions. They bore testimony how cool it was to know that there is a Plan of Happiness. Funny story! So Jake asked us a question after he is baptized if he is going to be referred as brother. Heather (mom) said to him, " when you get older you will be referred to that". He then said, "well I want to be referred as Brother Jake now really bad"! It was so funny!!!! So now Elder Anderson and I say, "Whats up Brother Jake." I am so excited to see them enter into a covenant with Heavenly Father and see them be blessed more then they can ever imagine. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To be his representative and be able to see with my own eyes the way the Gospel blesses families. I am so grateful my family can and will be together forever. That right now I have the opportunity to help other families do the same. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Elder Brown
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Family and Friends,
This week has been good because of one amazing family. We were able to teach Jeff, Heather, Haley, and Jake two times this week preparing them for their baptism on December 10th. I want to share with you an amazing experience that we had. Miracles came in ways that we would never expect. So we get to their house planning on teaching them the Plan of Salvation. We get into the house and everyone seemed down. Usually they are pumped to see us but something was wrong. Well Heather explained that Haley who is 14 was having an attitude and Jeff (dad) did not handle the situation the way Heather wanted him to. Haley was mad at her parents and went to her room. Jeff was upset with Haley. Heather is upset with both of them. So the spirit of contention was in the home. So when they explained the situation and how Haley was probably not going to join us in the lesson, I was like Deja vu! They are just a normal typical family. That has happened to me in my family a lot and that is how we learn and come closer to our Heavenly Father. So I was happy that we were here right after that argument. We decided to change it up a little bit and talk about the chapter they read in the Book of Mormon. Jeff asked a ton of great questions. He said that he was always against the LDS church and he knew nothing about it. He was asking how the Book of Mormon ties into all Christianity and the Bible. So we were having just a great discussion and the Holy Ghost was once again filling the air. I was thinking in my head that I really wished that Haley was here to be a part of all this. Found out later that Elder Anderson had the same thoughts and impressions in his mind at the moment. Well a couple minutes later while Elder Anderson was talking a HUGE spider crawled across his face. It was like in his hair, came from the ear over to the cheek to his nose. He swated it off thinking it was like a moth or something. It fell to the floor right by the dogs. I guess the dogs eat spiders. So Heather yells. "don't let the dogs eat it". I start laughing chasing down this huge spider. I was laughing so hard. Every one was just going nuts. So Haley, hearing all this commotion comes outside smiling to see what was going on. Once everyone got their composure we continued our lesson and Haley was right there listening. We got on the topic of prayer and how powerful it was and Elder Anderson bore a powerful testimony of prayer. He was praying that Haley would come out and the spider crawled on his face. The Lord works miracles and answers prayers in so many different ways. It was just so cool to leave feeling the spirit of joy and hapiness and see the difference we made. I know we did our job as missionaries bringing the Holy Ghost into the home.
We invited them to come to the temple tour and they came and it was a blast. Bobi was able to meet them and introduce herself. It was just a great week. I want to talk about one of my favorite missionaries Elder Tensmeyer. He is my District Leader and is a stud. Total spiritual giant that leads by example. He is by far one of my best District leaders and he encourages me to do my best. So I just wanted to give that shout out! He is one of the Elders my family met when they went to Irvine. So he knows all the great members in Westpark my boys Zack & Zane. So we have fun together. Well, running out of email time. I will talk to all of you next week.
Elder Brown
I attempted to eat a snail yesterday. Not worth it!
This week has been good because of one amazing family. We were able to teach Jeff, Heather, Haley, and Jake two times this week preparing them for their baptism on December 10th. I want to share with you an amazing experience that we had. Miracles came in ways that we would never expect. So we get to their house planning on teaching them the Plan of Salvation. We get into the house and everyone seemed down. Usually they are pumped to see us but something was wrong. Well Heather explained that Haley who is 14 was having an attitude and Jeff (dad) did not handle the situation the way Heather wanted him to. Haley was mad at her parents and went to her room. Jeff was upset with Haley. Heather is upset with both of them. So the spirit of contention was in the home. So when they explained the situation and how Haley was probably not going to join us in the lesson, I was like Deja vu! They are just a normal typical family. That has happened to me in my family a lot and that is how we learn and come closer to our Heavenly Father. So I was happy that we were here right after that argument. We decided to change it up a little bit and talk about the chapter they read in the Book of Mormon. Jeff asked a ton of great questions. He said that he was always against the LDS church and he knew nothing about it. He was asking how the Book of Mormon ties into all Christianity and the Bible. So we were having just a great discussion and the Holy Ghost was once again filling the air. I was thinking in my head that I really wished that Haley was here to be a part of all this. Found out later that Elder Anderson had the same thoughts and impressions in his mind at the moment. Well a couple minutes later while Elder Anderson was talking a HUGE spider crawled across his face. It was like in his hair, came from the ear over to the cheek to his nose. He swated it off thinking it was like a moth or something. It fell to the floor right by the dogs. I guess the dogs eat spiders. So Heather yells. "don't let the dogs eat it". I start laughing chasing down this huge spider. I was laughing so hard. Every one was just going nuts. So Haley, hearing all this commotion comes outside smiling to see what was going on. Once everyone got their composure we continued our lesson and Haley was right there listening. We got on the topic of prayer and how powerful it was and Elder Anderson bore a powerful testimony of prayer. He was praying that Haley would come out and the spider crawled on his face. The Lord works miracles and answers prayers in so many different ways. It was just so cool to leave feeling the spirit of joy and hapiness and see the difference we made. I know we did our job as missionaries bringing the Holy Ghost into the home.
We invited them to come to the temple tour and they came and it was a blast. Bobi was able to meet them and introduce herself. It was just a great week. I want to talk about one of my favorite missionaries Elder Tensmeyer. He is my District Leader and is a stud. Total spiritual giant that leads by example. He is by far one of my best District leaders and he encourages me to do my best. So I just wanted to give that shout out! He is one of the Elders my family met when they went to Irvine. So he knows all the great members in Westpark my boys Zack & Zane. So we have fun together. Well, running out of email time. I will talk to all of you next week.
Elder Brown
I attempted to eat a snail yesterday. Not worth it!
Best time of my life!
Friends and Family,
This week was the Bomb! I had such a fun, spiritual, exciting week! So we just played hard like we always do, Elder Anderson and I. Last P-day we went to zone activity and we got put on the same team for basketball. Ya so we went 15-0! We could not miss! Nobody could beat us. We were alley ooping, jumping, passing, shooting, cutting, running, all over people. It was a fun time and yes that shows our companionship unity right there! So that was a really fun day!
Some AMAZING news that I need to get out with a family we are teaching. Its a part member family and their names are Jeff (dad), Heather (mom), Haley (Daughter -14 yrs) and little man Jake who is 8. Well I have told you a little bit about them. We walk their amazing dogs Gus and Ricky. Can I tell you how much I Love this family. Well, Haley and Jake have baptismal dates for December 10th! So excited! We thought that Haley was already baptized but at Family Home Evening we found out that she wasn't. So the next lesson we taught them was about the gospel and baptism. Haley said that she has been wanting to get baptized for a couple of years. We were so Happy! After talking about baptism, Jake said in his funny little man words " We really need to start going to church" We were Like YESSS! So the whole family came to church and they are totally awesome we sat by them and Jake had an amazing time at Primary. We are going to be meeting with them a lot! They are the best.
The next cool event is that I had one of my most favorite Sundays on my mission yesterday! We were able to get 4 investigators to church this Sunday. It was Crazy! We have the highest number of progressing Investigators in the Zone! We were able to sit with them and talk to them. Jake had a hard time In Sacrament. He got a little bit bored. He is one of the those kids that always has to be moving and doing something. Kind of like my little Bro. Brayden. We had to run to the library to get him some books of stories to look at to help him enjoy sacrament a bit. We then were able to teach the 12 year olds Sunday School class and they were so hyper. So I said to all the boys, "let's see who can do the most pushups"! They suprised me, a couple pumped out 25! It took their energy out quick! We had a nice and calm lesson after that. Ha ha. After church we were able to go teach a lesson to a new investigator who wants to get baptized. He has a lot of friends that are LDS and everyone thought that he would be a good Mormon. So he wants to try it out. He made it very clear to us that he obeys the Word of Wisdom and that he lives his life according to our "rules" haha. We explained that we live the Gospel and obey and keep the Commandments, and we are blessed. So it was a good lesson! We taught Jared who has taken some steps back in his progression but he is still reading. So props to him! He is so close! He just needs to gain the spiritual witness that the Book of Mormon is true! Right after we booked it to the Stake center and we watched a family that I taught a couple of times get baptized in the Yorba Linda 4th Ward. It was awesome! It was like a family reunion seeing all my favorite ward members there. That ward is so good at supporting new members and each other. Really grateful to serve in that ward! It is where I learned and grew the most! I felt the Holy Ghost so much on Sunday with such power it has just filled me right up! Its funny, I thought getting transferred to this area was the weirdest dumbest thing ever when it happened. But it is one of the BEST things that has happened to me on my mission. Just proves that the Lord knows what is best for me. I just got to go do what I do! Anaheim 10th Ward is one of my favorite areas and I am so grateful to be here. We have 8 different sets of investigators we are working with! When I first came in, we only had one investigator and only taught one lesson a week. Well, the Lord has blessed us as we have turned our hearts to him and relied on him for our success and it is working! I love you all!!! I am having the best time of my life serving families I love! Keep praying for those who have not heard the truth yet! (Alma 6:6) I know that if you do that they will find it. I say these things in the name Of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Brown
This week was the Bomb! I had such a fun, spiritual, exciting week! So we just played hard like we always do, Elder Anderson and I. Last P-day we went to zone activity and we got put on the same team for basketball. Ya so we went 15-0! We could not miss! Nobody could beat us. We were alley ooping, jumping, passing, shooting, cutting, running, all over people. It was a fun time and yes that shows our companionship unity right there! So that was a really fun day!
Some AMAZING news that I need to get out with a family we are teaching. Its a part member family and their names are Jeff (dad), Heather (mom), Haley (Daughter -14 yrs) and little man Jake who is 8. Well I have told you a little bit about them. We walk their amazing dogs Gus and Ricky. Can I tell you how much I Love this family. Well, Haley and Jake have baptismal dates for December 10th! So excited! We thought that Haley was already baptized but at Family Home Evening we found out that she wasn't. So the next lesson we taught them was about the gospel and baptism. Haley said that she has been wanting to get baptized for a couple of years. We were so Happy! After talking about baptism, Jake said in his funny little man words " We really need to start going to church" We were Like YESSS! So the whole family came to church and they are totally awesome we sat by them and Jake had an amazing time at Primary. We are going to be meeting with them a lot! They are the best.
The next cool event is that I had one of my most favorite Sundays on my mission yesterday! We were able to get 4 investigators to church this Sunday. It was Crazy! We have the highest number of progressing Investigators in the Zone! We were able to sit with them and talk to them. Jake had a hard time In Sacrament. He got a little bit bored. He is one of the those kids that always has to be moving and doing something. Kind of like my little Bro. Brayden. We had to run to the library to get him some books of stories to look at to help him enjoy sacrament a bit. We then were able to teach the 12 year olds Sunday School class and they were so hyper. So I said to all the boys, "let's see who can do the most pushups"! They suprised me, a couple pumped out 25! It took their energy out quick! We had a nice and calm lesson after that. Ha ha. After church we were able to go teach a lesson to a new investigator who wants to get baptized. He has a lot of friends that are LDS and everyone thought that he would be a good Mormon. So he wants to try it out. He made it very clear to us that he obeys the Word of Wisdom and that he lives his life according to our "rules" haha. We explained that we live the Gospel and obey and keep the Commandments, and we are blessed. So it was a good lesson! We taught Jared who has taken some steps back in his progression but he is still reading. So props to him! He is so close! He just needs to gain the spiritual witness that the Book of Mormon is true! Right after we booked it to the Stake center and we watched a family that I taught a couple of times get baptized in the Yorba Linda 4th Ward. It was awesome! It was like a family reunion seeing all my favorite ward members there. That ward is so good at supporting new members and each other. Really grateful to serve in that ward! It is where I learned and grew the most! I felt the Holy Ghost so much on Sunday with such power it has just filled me right up! Its funny, I thought getting transferred to this area was the weirdest dumbest thing ever when it happened. But it is one of the BEST things that has happened to me on my mission. Just proves that the Lord knows what is best for me. I just got to go do what I do! Anaheim 10th Ward is one of my favorite areas and I am so grateful to be here. We have 8 different sets of investigators we are working with! When I first came in, we only had one investigator and only taught one lesson a week. Well, the Lord has blessed us as we have turned our hearts to him and relied on him for our success and it is working! I love you all!!! I am having the best time of my life serving families I love! Keep praying for those who have not heard the truth yet! (Alma 6:6) I know that if you do that they will find it. I say these things in the name Of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Brown
Holy Batman!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
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I received this picture and email from a member in the ward where Josh is serving.
Dear Brown Family,
We have your son in our ward right now and I wanted to let you know what a wonderful missionary he is. Our boys, Max and Fox, love having him and Elder Anderson over. They carry the spirit with them and we can feel it when they are in our home. They are making my boys excited to go on missions, which as a mother, I am grateful for.
We have them over almost every week for dinner and we got to have them over on Halloween. He so cute with my boys that we had to take a picture with him. I thought you might like it so I asked Elder Brown for your email. Hope that was ok :) He is so fun with my kids, but still shares a spiritual message. He teaches, by example, how to be a good missionary. We love having him in our ward. Thank you for raising such a great young man.
Let me know if he has a favorite meal or treat that I can make when he comes next. When I ask what he would like he always says "anything". I know he means it too, but I would like to make something he likes. Especially around the holidays when I'm sure he'll be missing home.
Love,
Elizabeth
Having a Great Time!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Family and Friends,
Well, I thought this week was going to be the best one yet! We had 13 appointments scheduled for this week and all of them got cancelled besides 4! So I could be feeling down right now but I am not! One of those 4 we were able to teach a new investigator named Julie. She is a single mom with two kids and she is awesome. She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and wants to follow him. She grew up Catholic and found out for herself that Catholicism is not for her. Ever since then she has been bouncing to different Christian churches trying to find the truth. Well, we knocked on her door and she was willing to hear our message. We scheduled appointments 3 times and finally were able to get in and teach her. When we taught her about the Restoration she asked why she didnt know anything about Joseph Smith. We told her that is why we are out here serving our missions to help everyone have an opportunity to hear the Restored Gospel. She was really interested and accepted Baptism and to read the Book of Mormon. She is really knowledgeable of the Gospel and she is just on fire. I feel like she is so prepared and I know that she will get Baptized! So even though all our appointments got cancelled, I still feel like it was a good productive week. Elder Anderson and I can always improve and do bettter which is great! I felt very happy seeing the spirit lead and guide us to those who are prepared.
There has not been too much progress with our other investigators. Obviously many of their appointments were cancelled. Just need to keep following up with them and help them keep their commitments. I am sorry I am going to have to cut this e-mail short but I Love you and hope everyone is having as great of a time as I am!
Elder Brown
Well, I thought this week was going to be the best one yet! We had 13 appointments scheduled for this week and all of them got cancelled besides 4! So I could be feeling down right now but I am not! One of those 4 we were able to teach a new investigator named Julie. She is a single mom with two kids and she is awesome. She has a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and wants to follow him. She grew up Catholic and found out for herself that Catholicism is not for her. Ever since then she has been bouncing to different Christian churches trying to find the truth. Well, we knocked on her door and she was willing to hear our message. We scheduled appointments 3 times and finally were able to get in and teach her. When we taught her about the Restoration she asked why she didnt know anything about Joseph Smith. We told her that is why we are out here serving our missions to help everyone have an opportunity to hear the Restored Gospel. She was really interested and accepted Baptism and to read the Book of Mormon. She is really knowledgeable of the Gospel and she is just on fire. I feel like she is so prepared and I know that she will get Baptized! So even though all our appointments got cancelled, I still feel like it was a good productive week. Elder Anderson and I can always improve and do bettter which is great! I felt very happy seeing the spirit lead and guide us to those who are prepared.
There has not been too much progress with our other investigators. Obviously many of their appointments were cancelled. Just need to keep following up with them and help them keep their commitments. I am sorry I am going to have to cut this e-mail short but I Love you and hope everyone is having as great of a time as I am!
Elder Brown
We are being so blessed!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Family and Friends,
Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is it going back in Utah? Well, I am going to tell you a little bit about my experiences in the Hills of Anaheim California this past week! First of all transfers calls came in and I am staying wih Elder Anderson for another transfer! Oh YA!!!!!!! We were thinking what was going to happen and what we wanted to happen and it happened! We have so much potential in this ward and we are excited that we are going to baptize like crazy this next transfer! Well, we have taught the most lessons this last week then all the rest! Our teaching pool is getting huge and we are going to need to start doing splits with the ward members so we are pumped about that. Our only problem is nobody is excepting baptismal dates. They have heard all the discussions and are keeping their commitments but they are just not able to make that next step! So we are working really hard to figure out our investigators concerns and how the Lord can help! We found a new investigator that the Gospel is really blessing his life. We found this kid named Austin just out of high school that has a lot of problems. We met him at a park and he was asking us a lot of questions. He said that he wants to find God and quit doing a lot of drugs. He is battleing Heroin addiction and trying to get his life back together. We were able to meet his family at his house. He lives in a mansion, his dad owns a car dealership and he has everything he could ever ask for. Drugs have really messed him up. We have been meeting with him this past week and he has been off heroine for a week and we have helped him reduce his weed and tobacco intake. Right now his dad kicked him out of his house because he has been lying to his dad and it is just a mess. So we are just trying to help him battle some stuff right now and the Gospel is going to do that. I am seeing first hand how bad drugs not just effect the person taking them but everyone around them. Austin is an awesome kid and he has a true desire to change and find God. We are going to invite him to be baptized for a date in January sometime. I am really enjoying my mission right now. We are being so blessed right now in our area. We went and saw some former investigators of about two years ago. They have had the lessons multiple times and they were all ready for Baptism two years ago. We talked to them about it and their concern is that they are scared that they might break their covenant with God after they get baptized. They want to make sure they are perfect and know everything before they are baptized. It is really admirable that they are taking the Baptismal Covenant serious but they are underminding the grace of Jesus Christ. We explained that out knowledge and our journey to be christ like will be a life time pursuit. How the Holy Ghost after baptism and confirmation will help us make the right choices. So we are going to invite them to be baptized as I know now is the time that they can be blessed being within the fold. Elder Anderson and I went to the best Halloween Party in the World! Anaheim 10th Ward knows whats up. We were able to get a lot of our investigators to the party and we had a blast. We had some good Chili! We had a sweet Spook alley that would give the the Haunted Forest a run for its money! Elder Anderson got Tazed! Yep that happened. Then we had Trunk or Treat. These Trunk or Treats are massive! So many people come to these parties its crazy! We had a blast in our costumes! Yep I said costumes. So It was great week. I hope that you all have an amazing week!
Elder Brown
Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is it going back in Utah? Well, I am going to tell you a little bit about my experiences in the Hills of Anaheim California this past week! First of all transfers calls came in and I am staying wih Elder Anderson for another transfer! Oh YA!!!!!!! We were thinking what was going to happen and what we wanted to happen and it happened! We have so much potential in this ward and we are excited that we are going to baptize like crazy this next transfer! Well, we have taught the most lessons this last week then all the rest! Our teaching pool is getting huge and we are going to need to start doing splits with the ward members so we are pumped about that. Our only problem is nobody is excepting baptismal dates. They have heard all the discussions and are keeping their commitments but they are just not able to make that next step! So we are working really hard to figure out our investigators concerns and how the Lord can help! We found a new investigator that the Gospel is really blessing his life. We found this kid named Austin just out of high school that has a lot of problems. We met him at a park and he was asking us a lot of questions. He said that he wants to find God and quit doing a lot of drugs. He is battleing Heroin addiction and trying to get his life back together. We were able to meet his family at his house. He lives in a mansion, his dad owns a car dealership and he has everything he could ever ask for. Drugs have really messed him up. We have been meeting with him this past week and he has been off heroine for a week and we have helped him reduce his weed and tobacco intake. Right now his dad kicked him out of his house because he has been lying to his dad and it is just a mess. So we are just trying to help him battle some stuff right now and the Gospel is going to do that. I am seeing first hand how bad drugs not just effect the person taking them but everyone around them. Austin is an awesome kid and he has a true desire to change and find God. We are going to invite him to be baptized for a date in January sometime. I am really enjoying my mission right now. We are being so blessed right now in our area. We went and saw some former investigators of about two years ago. They have had the lessons multiple times and they were all ready for Baptism two years ago. We talked to them about it and their concern is that they are scared that they might break their covenant with God after they get baptized. They want to make sure they are perfect and know everything before they are baptized. It is really admirable that they are taking the Baptismal Covenant serious but they are underminding the grace of Jesus Christ. We explained that out knowledge and our journey to be christ like will be a life time pursuit. How the Holy Ghost after baptism and confirmation will help us make the right choices. So we are going to invite them to be baptized as I know now is the time that they can be blessed being within the fold. Elder Anderson and I went to the best Halloween Party in the World! Anaheim 10th Ward knows whats up. We were able to get a lot of our investigators to the party and we had a blast. We had some good Chili! We had a sweet Spook alley that would give the the Haunted Forest a run for its money! Elder Anderson got Tazed! Yep that happened. Then we had Trunk or Treat. These Trunk or Treats are massive! So many people come to these parties its crazy! We had a blast in our costumes! Yep I said costumes. So It was great week. I hope that you all have an amazing week!
Elder Brown
One of my most favorite days on my mission!
Family and Friends,
Alright, so this week was crazy busy!!!!! I was able to go to the temple on Wednesday and do a session with my District. I love the temple! You can feel the presence of the Lord so strongly. I am so grateful that we as missionarries get to go to the temple and experience that. I had a cool experience after the session where I received revelation for myself on how important being a missionary is. I am so thankful I can help others. I was able to go to the Family History center in the city of Orange County. We had a cool little tour and talked about ways we can help our investigators and potential investigators get involved. I learned a lot how you should get started and I really enjoyed it. We started using that as a door approach telling people we are sharing a message about the family and how we can help them be with their family eternally. So usually when people don't even want to hear a message about the family we know they are not prepared yet. I have had a mormon.org file up for a while and keep forgetting to send you all the URL. Check it out and if you are a member make sure you make one. It is a great missionary tool to help others learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. http://mormon.org/me/2K59/
We ate dinner with one of my favorite families in the ward. They have two little kids Max (5) and Fox (2) and they are the funniest kids ever. They remind me of my little cousins back home. They want us to always play with them. They invited us to come for Easter so that we could dye eggs with them. They invited us for Thanksgiving so that we could meet their Grandma and Grandpa. They are just the coolest little kids that are just full of love and they love the missionaries. We were able to sing with them this Sunday. We were part of the Primary Program and we went up to go sing "I hope They Call me on a Mission". When is started all the little kids turned around and were looking at us. I felt like the center of the show. I forgot the second verse so I was trying to mouth it looking at Elder Anderson trying to follow his lead and then I realized he was trying to read my lips also. So ya we failed but it was the thought that counts right Ha ha. But I was glad I was able to sing with Max because he is a STUD! We were able to go to Temple Tour and I was able to see all my favorite Elders in the world! Elder Sumsion, Elder Knight, and Elder Kato. I was so happy to see that they are doing good and having a lot of success. It was kind of like when Ammon and the rest of the sons of Mosiah reunited with Alma the Younger. That is how I felt. So that was great!
Sunday was one of my most favorite days on my mission. I had an amazing experience in Sacrament Meeting, being part of the Primary program and really seeing the pure Love of Christ of all the little children. Jared our Investigator came and watched his daughter in the Primary Program. We learned about the Holy Ghost in the Gospel principles class and it was just perfect for Jared to learn about that. The Spirit was so strong all through church and I know that Jared had a wonderful experience. After Church we prepared a lesson for him and I was praying really hard to know how we can help him progress and come closer to being Baptised. Well we studied up on revelation through prayer and how God gives answers through the Holy Ghost. We brought a member with us. We were ready to go. I remember praying so hard asking heavenly father if he could give us the gift of discernment and help us find out Jared's concerns . I prayed that the Holy Ghost would be with us. We walk in and I saw a totally different Jared. He was a lot more excited to see us. We sat down and he asked if he could say the prayer and we said of course. When he said his prayer the Holy Ghost was so STRONG. I felt it come into the room like night and day. I was just pondering like this is amazing. I could not stop smiling! We followed up how his reading was going and he said he read several chapters. He was telling us in great detail what he read with enthusiasm in his voice. I was so happy. We asked him what he learned in Gospel Essentials class. The topics were about Baptism and the Holy Ghost. He has a great understanding of the Gospel and he has the desire but there was something missing. So we were talking about the Holy Ghost and how through him we recieve answers. I asked him if he had been praying about the Book of Mormon and about the Prophet Joseph Smith. He told us that he hasn't yet. Right then and there we found out what was holding him back. So we shared a scripture and our Testimony on how important it is that we pray and ask. We taught him how he will feel and how he would get his answer. It was one of the best lessons I have ever taught. The Holy Ghost was guiding every word of mine. Elder Anderson taught with such great Unity It so cool. We invited him to be Baptized and he said that if he finds out the Book of Mormon is true he will get baptized. So he has that real intent.
So after that amazing lesson I was able to go back to Fullerton and see my Boy David Get BAPTIZED!!!! I was so happy that I was able to go and see him enter into a covenant with Heavenly Father. He asked me to give the Missionary invite and I gladly said YES. There was great support for David as the room was filled with people. I was able to get pictures with him and congratulate him. It was AWESOME! I was so happy and the Baptismal Service was quite remarkable. Great talks, amazing Baptism, peircing Testimonies, and a wonderful dvd presentation. I was so happy! It was a big crowd and I went up and gave a talk and it felt good inviting and bearing testimony. David has a lot of non-members in his family so it was great. I was able to see my last recent Convert Billy Boy! He is doing great and is still an amazing member that is helping build the kingdom of God. After my missionary invite he asked if he could have a book of Mormon to give to a friend and asked if that was okay. I said of course it is okay. That it is what I was suppose to try to get you to do. I Love Bill. So ya this week was so good. The Lord is blessing me in so many ways I can't name them all. I am so grateful to be on a mission. To see the Tender Mercies of our Savior each and every day. I Love you all. I hope everything is going as good as it is going for me. Have a Great Week!!!!!!!
Alright, so this week was crazy busy!!!!! I was able to go to the temple on Wednesday and do a session with my District. I love the temple! You can feel the presence of the Lord so strongly. I am so grateful that we as missionarries get to go to the temple and experience that. I had a cool experience after the session where I received revelation for myself on how important being a missionary is. I am so thankful I can help others. I was able to go to the Family History center in the city of Orange County. We had a cool little tour and talked about ways we can help our investigators and potential investigators get involved. I learned a lot how you should get started and I really enjoyed it. We started using that as a door approach telling people we are sharing a message about the family and how we can help them be with their family eternally. So usually when people don't even want to hear a message about the family we know they are not prepared yet. I have had a mormon.org file up for a while and keep forgetting to send you all the URL. Check it out and if you are a member make sure you make one. It is a great missionary tool to help others learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. http://mormon.org/me/2K59/
We ate dinner with one of my favorite families in the ward. They have two little kids Max (5) and Fox (2) and they are the funniest kids ever. They remind me of my little cousins back home. They want us to always play with them. They invited us to come for Easter so that we could dye eggs with them. They invited us for Thanksgiving so that we could meet their Grandma and Grandpa. They are just the coolest little kids that are just full of love and they love the missionaries. We were able to sing with them this Sunday. We were part of the Primary Program and we went up to go sing "I hope They Call me on a Mission". When is started all the little kids turned around and were looking at us. I felt like the center of the show. I forgot the second verse so I was trying to mouth it looking at Elder Anderson trying to follow his lead and then I realized he was trying to read my lips also. So ya we failed but it was the thought that counts right Ha ha. But I was glad I was able to sing with Max because he is a STUD! We were able to go to Temple Tour and I was able to see all my favorite Elders in the world! Elder Sumsion, Elder Knight, and Elder Kato. I was so happy to see that they are doing good and having a lot of success. It was kind of like when Ammon and the rest of the sons of Mosiah reunited with Alma the Younger. That is how I felt. So that was great!
Sunday was one of my most favorite days on my mission. I had an amazing experience in Sacrament Meeting, being part of the Primary program and really seeing the pure Love of Christ of all the little children. Jared our Investigator came and watched his daughter in the Primary Program. We learned about the Holy Ghost in the Gospel principles class and it was just perfect for Jared to learn about that. The Spirit was so strong all through church and I know that Jared had a wonderful experience. After Church we prepared a lesson for him and I was praying really hard to know how we can help him progress and come closer to being Baptised. Well we studied up on revelation through prayer and how God gives answers through the Holy Ghost. We brought a member with us. We were ready to go. I remember praying so hard asking heavenly father if he could give us the gift of discernment and help us find out Jared's concerns . I prayed that the Holy Ghost would be with us. We walk in and I saw a totally different Jared. He was a lot more excited to see us. We sat down and he asked if he could say the prayer and we said of course. When he said his prayer the Holy Ghost was so STRONG. I felt it come into the room like night and day. I was just pondering like this is amazing. I could not stop smiling! We followed up how his reading was going and he said he read several chapters. He was telling us in great detail what he read with enthusiasm in his voice. I was so happy. We asked him what he learned in Gospel Essentials class. The topics were about Baptism and the Holy Ghost. He has a great understanding of the Gospel and he has the desire but there was something missing. So we were talking about the Holy Ghost and how through him we recieve answers. I asked him if he had been praying about the Book of Mormon and about the Prophet Joseph Smith. He told us that he hasn't yet. Right then and there we found out what was holding him back. So we shared a scripture and our Testimony on how important it is that we pray and ask. We taught him how he will feel and how he would get his answer. It was one of the best lessons I have ever taught. The Holy Ghost was guiding every word of mine. Elder Anderson taught with such great Unity It so cool. We invited him to be Baptized and he said that if he finds out the Book of Mormon is true he will get baptized. So he has that real intent.
So after that amazing lesson I was able to go back to Fullerton and see my Boy David Get BAPTIZED!!!! I was so happy that I was able to go and see him enter into a covenant with Heavenly Father. He asked me to give the Missionary invite and I gladly said YES. There was great support for David as the room was filled with people. I was able to get pictures with him and congratulate him. It was AWESOME! I was so happy and the Baptismal Service was quite remarkable. Great talks, amazing Baptism, peircing Testimonies, and a wonderful dvd presentation. I was so happy! It was a big crowd and I went up and gave a talk and it felt good inviting and bearing testimony. David has a lot of non-members in his family so it was great. I was able to see my last recent Convert Billy Boy! He is doing great and is still an amazing member that is helping build the kingdom of God. After my missionary invite he asked if he could have a book of Mormon to give to a friend and asked if that was okay. I said of course it is okay. That it is what I was suppose to try to get you to do. I Love Bill. So ya this week was so good. The Lord is blessing me in so many ways I can't name them all. I am so grateful to be on a mission. To see the Tender Mercies of our Savior each and every day. I Love you all. I hope everything is going as good as it is going for me. Have a Great Week!!!!!!!
A Year Went by so Fast!
Family and Friends,
This week was AWESOME!!!! I have seen so many miracles this week! I am so happy right now! Well remember the part member family that I was telling you about. We ate dinner with them and we had the best tacos ever! Yep, just wanted to throw that out there. Then we shared a message about prayer. We committed them to pray as a family. Well, we followed up with them and they have been praying every night together! Heather (mother) who is a member said that she is seeing the blessings poured out upon them by the Lord. So cool! They are going through a lot of different trials right now and the Lord is really blessing them. We asked if we could share the lessons with her family and she gladly with a ton of energy said, "yes". We are going over there tonight and we are so excited to help Haley (14) and Jake (9) learn about the restored gospel.
Then with our next investigator Jared. We had a great lesson on teaching the ten commandments and focusing on keeping the Sabbath day holy because he needs to come to church. He really enjoyed it, especially his daughter as we taught it by sign language. Really fun. Well the next day HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! He stayed for all three meetings too! Even better, was in the Gospel Essential class the lesson was on Baptism, Yep! It was Great. He is progressing as he is keeping his commitments we just need to help him recognize the spirit and invite him to be baptized again. At church we were invited to be a part of the Primary program! haha Elder Anderson are going to sing ''I hope They call me on a mission!'' This Primary program is intense! ha ha. We got micro-phones and everything. haha.
We are not finding too many new investigators but our investigators we do have are progressing! Their faith is growing in Jesus Christ and in his Restored Gospel and I am so grateful that I am able to be his Servant! Funny story that made me sick. ha ha Elder Anderson and I were knocking in this apartment complex. It just rained and there were snails everywhere. It was in the middle of the day so nobody was home so Elder Anderson made a deal with me. If he ate a snail and it's shell and everything I will have to owe him a big slurpee cup! So I said go for it. Well he ate a snail and its shell! Yep, the grossest thing I have seen in person. He would do so good in fear factor haha.
It has been officially a year since I have been out in the mission field! It has been a year that went by so fast! I am learning so much and I am enjoying my mission . I am trying to make it the best! I get to go to the temple today. What a treat! I love you all have a great week!
Elder Brown
This week was AWESOME!!!! I have seen so many miracles this week! I am so happy right now! Well remember the part member family that I was telling you about. We ate dinner with them and we had the best tacos ever! Yep, just wanted to throw that out there. Then we shared a message about prayer. We committed them to pray as a family. Well, we followed up with them and they have been praying every night together! Heather (mother) who is a member said that she is seeing the blessings poured out upon them by the Lord. So cool! They are going through a lot of different trials right now and the Lord is really blessing them. We asked if we could share the lessons with her family and she gladly with a ton of energy said, "yes". We are going over there tonight and we are so excited to help Haley (14) and Jake (9) learn about the restored gospel.
Then with our next investigator Jared. We had a great lesson on teaching the ten commandments and focusing on keeping the Sabbath day holy because he needs to come to church. He really enjoyed it, especially his daughter as we taught it by sign language. Really fun. Well the next day HE CAME TO CHURCH!!!! He stayed for all three meetings too! Even better, was in the Gospel Essential class the lesson was on Baptism, Yep! It was Great. He is progressing as he is keeping his commitments we just need to help him recognize the spirit and invite him to be baptized again. At church we were invited to be a part of the Primary program! haha Elder Anderson are going to sing ''I hope They call me on a mission!'' This Primary program is intense! ha ha. We got micro-phones and everything. haha.
We are not finding too many new investigators but our investigators we do have are progressing! Their faith is growing in Jesus Christ and in his Restored Gospel and I am so grateful that I am able to be his Servant! Funny story that made me sick. ha ha Elder Anderson and I were knocking in this apartment complex. It just rained and there were snails everywhere. It was in the middle of the day so nobody was home so Elder Anderson made a deal with me. If he ate a snail and it's shell and everything I will have to owe him a big slurpee cup! So I said go for it. Well he ate a snail and its shell! Yep, the grossest thing I have seen in person. He would do so good in fear factor haha.
It has been officially a year since I have been out in the mission field! It has been a year that went by so fast! I am learning so much and I am enjoying my mission . I am trying to make it the best! I get to go to the temple today. What a treat! I love you all have a great week!
Elder Brown
Raindrops keep falling on my head.....
This week I had a great hard working week! I went on exchanges with my District Leader Elder Tensmeyer in his area Anaheim 6th ward. I learned a lot from Elder Tensmeyer and how he is a huge spiritual giant. He is just a great example of a humble follower of Jesus Christ. I feel his love and charity towards me and to all those in our District. He is just a great example. We were able to work in the RAIN! First time I have seen rain come down this hard for a while. Like 9 months. So it was cool to see a difference in the weather and tackle the pavement with a downpour of rain as a missionary with a mission to accomplish. I was suprised that nobody let us in. ha ha. I was able to see Elder Tensmeyers style of contacting doors and I learned a lot of cool things. At District Meeting this week we learned that our mission is going to go from 150 Missionaries to 180 missionaries in the next couple transfers. So there are going to be multiple companionships in different wards so it is going to be interesting. There is going to be a lot more baptisms with more missionaries coming in! That is some cool news. Also my trainer and now Zone Leader are going home in 3 weeks. I was with Elder Bannister when he hit his year mark and to think that he is going home is really crazy. I thought about how it was like yesterday that I was with him and now a year has gone by and he is going back to Pocatello Idaho!
We were able to teach one of our Investigators Jared. He kept his commitment of reading the Book of Mormon and everything! We had a great lesson on dispensations and of Prophets. Right now he feels like all churches are good and that there are multiple ways to get to Heaven. So we are really trying to help understand that there is one Lord, One Fatih, One Baptism that there is a Prophet today on the earth. So he is little by little, as he is feeling the Holy Ghost, coming to the knowledge of that. I was disapointed because he didn't come to church like he said he would. He will come next time.
We have been walking dogs Gus and Ricky twice a week for a part member family. They are Boxers and they are cutest things ever. We have been able to gain a really good relationship with the family and they invited us over for dinner. So Elder Anderson and I are really excited to get to know them more and share a spiritual message that will help them come closer to Jesus Christ. We are going to invite them to hear the discussions. We feel that they are ready to hear and accept the Gospel and we are very excited for that.
I am tracting a lot right now. It is not my most favorite thing to do but we are being a warning voice to everyone and it is cool to have the spirit lead and direct us. Elder Anderson and I have been praying for a more effective way to find and teach people. We have come to the knowledge through the spirit by watching General Conference that Family History work will interest people. Opening a gate to allow us to tell them why we do family history work and how it is linked directly with the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Church. I know nothing about it but I am really excited to study and used it as a tool for people to feel the spirit of Elijah. We had a really cool experience receiving an answer to our prayers. Now we just got to capatilize!
Thank you family and friends for your love and support and for all that you do. Talk to you next week.
Elder Brown
We were able to teach one of our Investigators Jared. He kept his commitment of reading the Book of Mormon and everything! We had a great lesson on dispensations and of Prophets. Right now he feels like all churches are good and that there are multiple ways to get to Heaven. So we are really trying to help understand that there is one Lord, One Fatih, One Baptism that there is a Prophet today on the earth. So he is little by little, as he is feeling the Holy Ghost, coming to the knowledge of that. I was disapointed because he didn't come to church like he said he would. He will come next time.
We have been walking dogs Gus and Ricky twice a week for a part member family. They are Boxers and they are cutest things ever. We have been able to gain a really good relationship with the family and they invited us over for dinner. So Elder Anderson and I are really excited to get to know them more and share a spiritual message that will help them come closer to Jesus Christ. We are going to invite them to hear the discussions. We feel that they are ready to hear and accept the Gospel and we are very excited for that.
I am tracting a lot right now. It is not my most favorite thing to do but we are being a warning voice to everyone and it is cool to have the spirit lead and direct us. Elder Anderson and I have been praying for a more effective way to find and teach people. We have come to the knowledge through the spirit by watching General Conference that Family History work will interest people. Opening a gate to allow us to tell them why we do family history work and how it is linked directly with the Restoration of Jesus Christ's Church. I know nothing about it but I am really excited to study and used it as a tool for people to feel the spirit of Elijah. We had a really cool experience receiving an answer to our prayers. Now we just got to capatilize!
Thank you family and friends for your love and support and for all that you do. Talk to you next week.
Elder Brown
"In His Strength I can do All Things"
This week has been an improvement! We were able to teach a couple more lessons and get in with more families! I know that it is going to take a little while to get our lessons numbers up but with patience and having faith in God I know that we will continually improve little by little. We were not able to meet with our new investigator Mario because he accidentally scheduled an appointment with us on his son's Birthday. Oops ha ha. I am getting to know a lot of wonderful families and doing my best to serve them the best I can. We were able to have an amazing treat, to sit back and watch and listen to Apostles and Prophets give us strength and encouragement. While being on my mission I have gained an appreciation and an excitement hearing the Lord's Servants address us! In between the sessions on Saturday , the District went to a burger Placed called 50/50 where its 50 beef and 50 Bacon for Elder Tensmyer's Birthday. I got the most Juicy, sticky, interesting burger ever. It is called Peanut butter and Jellousy Burger. Yep, I had a meat patty with bacon, Peanut butter, and Jelly burger. I have to tell you my experience in two words "Absolutely Amazing" so good never knew that could mix and match like that. I had a good weekend of learning and forgiving and all the topics that were said during Conference. It is weird hitting my year mark. You realize that you have hardly any time left. This last year has gone by so fast. I am so excited that I have another year to serve full time and to show through my actions how much I love the Lord by being faithful, diligent, and obedient. I know as we all strive to be obedient to Christ Teachings, the commandments, and for my case to the missionary handbook we are coming closer and closer to God, doing his will. "I know that I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak, I will not boast in myself, but I will boast in my God, for in his strength I can do all things; (Alma 26: 12) I am so grateful for the Lord and his love! How I am coming to the knowledge how weak I am according to my own strength. I know that I can do all things with the Power of God. As long as I am doing his will, I can do the same things that Ammon and his brethren did, bringing forth many mighty Miracles! I love you take care. I will fill you all in more in detail later.
Elder Brown
Elder Brown
Happy Birthday to me!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thanks Bobi for making my birthday extra special (Birthday lunch and brownies)! Also, congrats to Bobi for being called to the Anaheim, California Mission working in the mission office. You are now one of us!
Week of Miracles!
Family and Friends,
I just want to THANK everyone for the Happy Birthdays! It really made me smile and have a great birthday. I am now officially 20 Years Old. Yep, I don't know what to think about that. Probably on a maturity level I think I am the closest I ever have been to my age. I give all the credit to being on a my mission and the Lord sculpting me to be the best that I can be. Ha ha. This week has been interesting. This is a really nice area and I feel like I am officially in my vacation spot. Before I came out on my mission this area is what I thought California was going to be like and I Love It!!!!!!!!! So when I got here we had 0 investigators. So that was depressing and I taught the lowest amount of lessons for a very long time. Only 3 this week. I know Elder Austin Rich, one of my best friends, averages about 3 baptisms a week in Africa. Ha ha. Hey I am trying. Some very cool things happened. So on my Birthday . . . . . . . the Youth were having this Missionary camp thing and so my companion and I went on splits. I took 2 young men out tracting with me. One was 14 and the other 16. We ran into a theologin Scholar who comes out with his Bible and had all these tricks up his sleeves. I have been in Yorba Linda for a while so I had it all in control. We were talking to him and exchanging things we believe and backing it up with scripture. Everything he would tell me I would crush it down with a scripture. So after a couple minutes of this I knew this was going no where but I saw these kids get into it. I told him that we had to go because this gentleman didn't want to listen to what we have to say. He tried to throw down all he could on these kids and it was just crazy. I told them if people are just trying to tear you down and don't want to hear what you have to say you just nod your head and leave. I thought that was a cool experience for those kids. On the bright side, we found a couple potential investigators. Well, the next day we went and taught one of those potentials and his name is Mario! OH Ya!!! We taught him the first Lesson! He was so pumped that there is a prophet today on the earth! He was even more pumped that he is going to address the world this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. This guy has some great potential. He has a wife and two little kids that we can hopefully get involved. He is going to get baptized this upcoming month because the holy ghost whispered to his heart that the things we are teaching are true. Can I say MIRACLE!!! It was a great birthday weekend. We also ran into a Palistinian Catholic guy who is a millionaire. He thought we were the FLDS Church. So we addressed his concerns and he committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He is retired in his mansion. He just hangs out and has plenty of time to read that amazing holy scripture. He said that he respects us and our ancestors because of the persecution we went through. He is from Ephraim (that is what we think he pronounced his city, it all crazy) a little village outside of Bethlehem. He said that village is still Christian and that they have been persecuted like we did for what we knew to be true. So we are excited to go back, he loves to talk to us! All in all it was a great week. Elder Anderson and I worked hard. We knew that this week was going to be slow and we were knocking on a lot of doors. But this upcoming week is filled with scheduled lessons and miracles. So I will catch you all on the flip side and the next time I email you I will be on the way down. I will hit My HUMP this week! Love you all have a fabulous week. Do everything possible to offend Satan every second of every day!!!! (EX. Pray, read your scriptures, go to Church, serve others) That is my goal every day!!!!! I always feel so good because I know God always has My Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Brown
I just want to THANK everyone for the Happy Birthdays! It really made me smile and have a great birthday. I am now officially 20 Years Old. Yep, I don't know what to think about that. Probably on a maturity level I think I am the closest I ever have been to my age. I give all the credit to being on a my mission and the Lord sculpting me to be the best that I can be. Ha ha. This week has been interesting. This is a really nice area and I feel like I am officially in my vacation spot. Before I came out on my mission this area is what I thought California was going to be like and I Love It!!!!!!!!! So when I got here we had 0 investigators. So that was depressing and I taught the lowest amount of lessons for a very long time. Only 3 this week. I know Elder Austin Rich, one of my best friends, averages about 3 baptisms a week in Africa. Ha ha. Hey I am trying. Some very cool things happened. So on my Birthday . . . . . . . the Youth were having this Missionary camp thing and so my companion and I went on splits. I took 2 young men out tracting with me. One was 14 and the other 16. We ran into a theologin Scholar who comes out with his Bible and had all these tricks up his sleeves. I have been in Yorba Linda for a while so I had it all in control. We were talking to him and exchanging things we believe and backing it up with scripture. Everything he would tell me I would crush it down with a scripture. So after a couple minutes of this I knew this was going no where but I saw these kids get into it. I told him that we had to go because this gentleman didn't want to listen to what we have to say. He tried to throw down all he could on these kids and it was just crazy. I told them if people are just trying to tear you down and don't want to hear what you have to say you just nod your head and leave. I thought that was a cool experience for those kids. On the bright side, we found a couple potential investigators. Well, the next day we went and taught one of those potentials and his name is Mario! OH Ya!!! We taught him the first Lesson! He was so pumped that there is a prophet today on the earth! He was even more pumped that he is going to address the world this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. This guy has some great potential. He has a wife and two little kids that we can hopefully get involved. He is going to get baptized this upcoming month because the holy ghost whispered to his heart that the things we are teaching are true. Can I say MIRACLE!!! It was a great birthday weekend. We also ran into a Palistinian Catholic guy who is a millionaire. He thought we were the FLDS Church. So we addressed his concerns and he committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He is retired in his mansion. He just hangs out and has plenty of time to read that amazing holy scripture. He said that he respects us and our ancestors because of the persecution we went through. He is from Ephraim (that is what we think he pronounced his city, it all crazy) a little village outside of Bethlehem. He said that village is still Christian and that they have been persecuted like we did for what we knew to be true. So we are excited to go back, he loves to talk to us! All in all it was a great week. Elder Anderson and I worked hard. We knew that this week was going to be slow and we were knocking on a lot of doors. But this upcoming week is filled with scheduled lessons and miracles. So I will catch you all on the flip side and the next time I email you I will be on the way down. I will hit My HUMP this week! Love you all have a fabulous week. Do everything possible to offend Satan every second of every day!!!! (EX. Pray, read your scriptures, go to Church, serve others) That is my goal every day!!!!! I always feel so good because I know God always has My Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Brown
New Chapter
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Well . . . . . . . . . . A lot has happened this last week! I got sick and I was out for the count for a couple days. Getting the flu was not that fun but I did recover. ha ha. I was able to get a little bit ahead with reading and so forth which is cool. We were able to teach my boy David! Taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he had a pretty good knowledge about it. A lot more then we thought. He is going to get baptized without a doubt in October. Very excited about that because he is an amazing guy with a strong heart! Also, we were able to meet with Gina twice this week. My testimony of involving members in this work has grown so much. Gina would not be an investigator and progressing like she is if it were not for the members of this ward. They have really made an impact in her life and I have seen and been a part of so many spiritual experiences with her. She has accepted baptism and she is going to get baptized in October also. I am so happy to be a part of all this and I am so grateful the Lord is blessing me and my companion and this ward! Well, transfer calls came. The most unexpected thing happened! I am getting transferred to the Anaheim 10th Ward in Anaheim Hills. Right across the 91 Freeway where my last area, Yorba Linda 4th Ward is at. I am in the same church building as them. Crazy stuff!!!! I am with Elder Anderson from Taylorsville Utah. When I got this call I was pretty upset! I thought that I was going to be able to continue to help with the progression of all those I love. But the Lord has other plans for me. I am still going to be able to come back and see the baptisms so I am pretty excited about that. But I am now again in a wealthier area. The apartment is nice. I want to thank everyone for getting me my early birthday presents! They are the Best! I could not wait to open them so I did but Mom I promise you that I will wait to open yours on Saturday! Me and my new companion are just going to have to work a little bit extra harder on Saturday to make it a good Birthday. I am excited for the new transfer, a new page, a new chapter. But I am NOT excited for packing all my stuff up again ha ha. I am learning a lot about just doing your best, getting lost in the service and let the Lord will do the rest. I Love you all and really do appreciate all the Happy Birthdays! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Elder J. Brown
Elder J. Brown
Humbling Experience
Monday, September 12, 2011
Family and Friends,
Well this week has been incredible! We were able to get a lot of missionary work done! We have a new investigator named David! He is Budhist and has a girlfriend that is a member of the church. He just got out of the Millitary and is going to school at Cal State Fullerton. He is a stud! We were able to teach him the first lesson, about the Restoration and invited him to be baptized! He is scheduled to be baptized October 8!!!! He also came to church yesterday so we are very excited! We have to start from scratch because he does not know the basic principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we are going to definitely help him with that!
This last Wednesday we were able to teach 5 lessons! I was so pumped! I am feeling the blessings of the Lord each and every day. We were able to give out a lot of referrals to the singles ward Elders. It felt good teaching and testifying all day and getting to know people. People here in Fullerton are really humble and are good people, most of them anyways.
This last week we were able to have a Zone Conference with Elder Bowen of the Seventy. It is President Bowen's cousin and they both Rock! Elder Bowen talked about the Abrahamic Covenant, Baptismal Covenant, the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, and the Gathering of Israel. It is absolutly amazing! I am so grateful and proud to be a part of this Work! The Lord's work. How much responsibility I have as his Servant and the blessings that not only I will recieve and all others that I come in contact with. Right after gaining a greater knowledge of this, a couple days later I had a pretty crazy experience. There is a little lake that is in our area and it is called Laguna Lake. There are always people there fishing and feeding the ducks. Well, we were walking up to it when we see this young lady just sittng on a picnic table. We were trying to contact this person and trying to give him a pass along card and he denied us. He was not being very cool and asked if he could give us a Devil card. We kind of laughed it off and walked away and that young lady was yelling, " Ya man the Devil" and was just yelling at us. As we were walking away the spirit told us to go back and talk to her. I was ready for this girl to put up a fight and say not very nice words to us. . As we approached her, her whole attitude changes. She told us how she use to be a Mormon and was baptized 9 years ago. She told us her name was Timothy and she was very ancy and seemed stressed out and we could smell alcohol on her breath. We asked her questions and then she starts opening up to us. She had 3-D Glasses on and took them off and she got beaten the crap out of her as her eye was black and blue swollen cuts eye barely open. Man, I felt so much compassion for this daughter of God. It was Crazy. I would not say she is of the norm but she was in distress. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time she said. Her friend say that they had to go. But Timothy wanted us to pray for her because she remembered that her family would always pray. Right as we were going to give the prayer she said wait..... "Can you give me a blessing?". In my head I am thinking, we are in a park with a ton of people around. This girl is going crazy and she is drunk. Elder Brown and I are looking at each other seeing if this setting was appropriate to give a Priesthood Blessing. She then said that her Grandpa use to give her blessings and was frantically begging us. (So just picture the scene in your head right now) So I ask her "Do you have the Faith that this Blessing will make you better?" She said, "Yes". Then I said, " we will give you a blessing". I felt like a true desciple of Jesus Christ being led by the Spirit and Blessing Heavenly fathers Children. Elder Brown and I gave a blessing of Comfort, people watching us! the spirit was so strong! As the blessing was given you could feel that Timothy was regaining her composure and she felt at peace. When it was done she was crying. We told her that drinking is not the way to solve her problems and we took it from her. She gave us a hug and left to her AA Class. I have never felt so much compassion and love for this stranger and I am so grateful that I had the Priesthood Authority to perform blessings to help others! Really humbling experience for me.
It was Elder Browns Birthday on September 11, 2011. We had a lot of fun serving the Lord. The Zone Leaders made us dinner and made Elder Brown sweet Birthday Brownies. ha ha. It was fun! The Work is going!!! I can't beleive that there is only one more week left of the transfer. Elder Brown are tearing it up and hopefully we stay together!
Elder J. Brown
Well this week has been incredible! We were able to get a lot of missionary work done! We have a new investigator named David! He is Budhist and has a girlfriend that is a member of the church. He just got out of the Millitary and is going to school at Cal State Fullerton. He is a stud! We were able to teach him the first lesson, about the Restoration and invited him to be baptized! He is scheduled to be baptized October 8!!!! He also came to church yesterday so we are very excited! We have to start from scratch because he does not know the basic principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we are going to definitely help him with that!
This last Wednesday we were able to teach 5 lessons! I was so pumped! I am feeling the blessings of the Lord each and every day. We were able to give out a lot of referrals to the singles ward Elders. It felt good teaching and testifying all day and getting to know people. People here in Fullerton are really humble and are good people, most of them anyways.
This last week we were able to have a Zone Conference with Elder Bowen of the Seventy. It is President Bowen's cousin and they both Rock! Elder Bowen talked about the Abrahamic Covenant, Baptismal Covenant, the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, and the Gathering of Israel. It is absolutly amazing! I am so grateful and proud to be a part of this Work! The Lord's work. How much responsibility I have as his Servant and the blessings that not only I will recieve and all others that I come in contact with. Right after gaining a greater knowledge of this, a couple days later I had a pretty crazy experience. There is a little lake that is in our area and it is called Laguna Lake. There are always people there fishing and feeding the ducks. Well, we were walking up to it when we see this young lady just sittng on a picnic table. We were trying to contact this person and trying to give him a pass along card and he denied us. He was not being very cool and asked if he could give us a Devil card. We kind of laughed it off and walked away and that young lady was yelling, " Ya man the Devil" and was just yelling at us. As we were walking away the spirit told us to go back and talk to her. I was ready for this girl to put up a fight and say not very nice words to us. . As we approached her, her whole attitude changes. She told us how she use to be a Mormon and was baptized 9 years ago. She told us her name was Timothy and she was very ancy and seemed stressed out and we could smell alcohol on her breath. We asked her questions and then she starts opening up to us. She had 3-D Glasses on and took them off and she got beaten the crap out of her as her eye was black and blue swollen cuts eye barely open. Man, I felt so much compassion for this daughter of God. It was Crazy. I would not say she is of the norm but she was in distress. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time she said. Her friend say that they had to go. But Timothy wanted us to pray for her because she remembered that her family would always pray. Right as we were going to give the prayer she said wait..... "Can you give me a blessing?". In my head I am thinking, we are in a park with a ton of people around. This girl is going crazy and she is drunk. Elder Brown and I are looking at each other seeing if this setting was appropriate to give a Priesthood Blessing. She then said that her Grandpa use to give her blessings and was frantically begging us. (So just picture the scene in your head right now) So I ask her "Do you have the Faith that this Blessing will make you better?" She said, "Yes". Then I said, " we will give you a blessing". I felt like a true desciple of Jesus Christ being led by the Spirit and Blessing Heavenly fathers Children. Elder Brown and I gave a blessing of Comfort, people watching us! the spirit was so strong! As the blessing was given you could feel that Timothy was regaining her composure and she felt at peace. When it was done she was crying. We told her that drinking is not the way to solve her problems and we took it from her. She gave us a hug and left to her AA Class. I have never felt so much compassion and love for this stranger and I am so grateful that I had the Priesthood Authority to perform blessings to help others! Really humbling experience for me.
It was Elder Browns Birthday on September 11, 2011. We had a lot of fun serving the Lord. The Zone Leaders made us dinner and made Elder Brown sweet Birthday Brownies. ha ha. It was fun! The Work is going!!! I can't beleive that there is only one more week left of the transfer. Elder Brown are tearing it up and hopefully we stay together!
Elder J. Brown
Losing myself in the work!
Monday, September 5, 2011
This week has been good! We were able to find a new Investigator! His name is Chase and he is 14. His mom has been less active at a very young age but believes that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bless him and help him get through high school and life. He just made a friend that is LDS from Utah that just moved in and has been telling Chase about the Book of Mormon. Chase says that he recognizes a difference from us missionaries and his friend to every one else in his high school. He says we are calm and know what our purpose is in life. The Holy Ghost really does radiate off the members of Christ's church and people feel that. We taught Chase the Restoration and the spirit was so strong. We invited him to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. He told us after we invited him that he already believes in it and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. We then Invited him to be baptized October 1st. He accepted and Elder Brown and I are so excited. One downer was that he did not come to church. But we know that he is solid and that he will make amazing covenants to bring him closer to his Savior, Jesus Christ.
We did have 3 Investigators come to church! Gina, who is our most progressing Investigator is solid. She is talking about baptism and she feels like Christmas sounds good to her. Elder Brown I are thinking about October but we will see what we can do. We found out her concerns, so we are going to address them and help her come unto the fold. We are trying to do a lot of finding. Half of my area is Spanish so we are passing out a lot of Spanish pass a long cards and using the little Spanish that I have. Hola, como estas ustedes. Ya something like that ha ha. I am learning about repentance and striving everyday to be the best missionary my Heavenly Father knows and expects me to be. I love serving the Lord. I am finding myself as I am losing myself in the Lord's work. I am so grateful for the many blessings that I have. I am blessed to have an amazing mission, with an amazing mission President, with the best Elders in the world. I love serving. It is hard but worth it! I love you all take care.
Elder J. Brown.
We did have 3 Investigators come to church! Gina, who is our most progressing Investigator is solid. She is talking about baptism and she feels like Christmas sounds good to her. Elder Brown I are thinking about October but we will see what we can do. We found out her concerns, so we are going to address them and help her come unto the fold. We are trying to do a lot of finding. Half of my area is Spanish so we are passing out a lot of Spanish pass a long cards and using the little Spanish that I have. Hola, como estas ustedes. Ya something like that ha ha. I am learning about repentance and striving everyday to be the best missionary my Heavenly Father knows and expects me to be. I love serving the Lord. I am finding myself as I am losing myself in the Lord's work. I am so grateful for the many blessings that I have. I am blessed to have an amazing mission, with an amazing mission President, with the best Elders in the world. I love serving. It is hard but worth it! I love you all take care.
Elder J. Brown.
Taking it to another level!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Family and friends,
This week was very slow. With Bill getting baptized and Gina going out of town for a week we had to go out and find people to teach. We were able to find a part member family and start teaching Chase, a 14 year old stud that wants to go to Young Mens. He is not a member and his mom, who is a member who had not been to church in years, is allowing us to teach him the gospel! So that was exciting to find a new investigator. The good news was he went to Young Mens and he was having a blast playing football with all the boys! We also have been teaching another young lady named Autumn about the gospel and invited her to be baptized. I know missionaries can be intimidating and so she kind looked at us like what? Did not know what to say. haha. So we explained if she has a desire to find out for herself if what we are saying is true and as we teach her and she believes, will she will get baptized. She said, " Yes". So it was a good day that day. Everyone is going back to school around here so with all the colleges here and the high schools it is getting pretty crazy busy. It gets harder and harder to meet with people.
We went to the mission office to pick something up for Elder Brown when President came out and asked about Bill and how he was doing. He then told us how there were going to be MTC representatives coming out to our mission and they want to go out with a companionship and see how they teach their Investigators. President asked Elder Brown and I if we could be the missionaries to help the MTC representatives see how we are teaching. We will represent the mission. So I felt pretty honored but now we have a lot of pressure ha ha. But it won't be a big deal , Elder Brown and I teach with so much unity. So that is coming up and we don't have an appointment for a designated time so we need to get on that.
This transfer is going by so fast I can't believe August is over and another school year is starting. It is good to be a missionary and serving the Lord. Elder Brown and I are going to take it to another level!
Elder Brown
This week was very slow. With Bill getting baptized and Gina going out of town for a week we had to go out and find people to teach. We were able to find a part member family and start teaching Chase, a 14 year old stud that wants to go to Young Mens. He is not a member and his mom, who is a member who had not been to church in years, is allowing us to teach him the gospel! So that was exciting to find a new investigator. The good news was he went to Young Mens and he was having a blast playing football with all the boys! We also have been teaching another young lady named Autumn about the gospel and invited her to be baptized. I know missionaries can be intimidating and so she kind looked at us like what? Did not know what to say. haha. So we explained if she has a desire to find out for herself if what we are saying is true and as we teach her and she believes, will she will get baptized. She said, " Yes". So it was a good day that day. Everyone is going back to school around here so with all the colleges here and the high schools it is getting pretty crazy busy. It gets harder and harder to meet with people.
We went to the mission office to pick something up for Elder Brown when President came out and asked about Bill and how he was doing. He then told us how there were going to be MTC representatives coming out to our mission and they want to go out with a companionship and see how they teach their Investigators. President asked Elder Brown and I if we could be the missionaries to help the MTC representatives see how we are teaching. We will represent the mission. So I felt pretty honored but now we have a lot of pressure ha ha. But it won't be a big deal , Elder Brown and I teach with so much unity. So that is coming up and we don't have an appointment for a designated time so we need to get on that.
This transfer is going by so fast I can't believe August is over and another school year is starting. It is good to be a missionary and serving the Lord. Elder Brown and I are going to take it to another level!
Elder Brown
My Mission Rocks!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Family and Friends,
This week was AMAZING as I was able to witness Brother Bill get baptized! It was awesome! The story of Bill and his conversion story is inspirational! This last week I have never prayed so much on my mission. Bill had no support from his family as they are against the church and all his friends told him that it would be the wrong thing to do. But he said that he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints is indeed Christ's church. So he went full board. His faith was not wavering. The day of his interview with President Bowen and three days before his baptism one of his friends brought anti-Mormon literature to him. He said that he read it. There are a lot of people that did not like Joseph Smith and said a lot of negative things about him. Also, about the church and many other things. As he was telling us this, Elder Brown and I were like Oh man! this isn't good. But he then said that he came to a scripture in the Bible that talked about Prophets being persecuted for testifying of God and of Jesus Christ and standing up for truth and righteousness. He said that he could relate to Joseph Smith as other churches persecuted him for standing up for God and the scriptures. It was just really cool to see his testimony. He then brought up Mathew 7:15-20, "By their fruits you shall know them". He said that the missionaries and the Church has changed his life. That we produce good Fruit. His attitude for life has changed. He is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and he is going to be a strong member. He is awesome!!! I am so grateful that I was able to meet him and see him excercise his faith. Fasting and prayer works. Especially to do the will of our Father in Heaven! I can't wait to go out and find another "Bill". The work is going forward and I am loving every second of It!!!!!!!!!! Oh ya, My Mission Rocks! Also My Companion Elder T. Brown!! Stud!
Elder J. Brown
Check out pictures below....(click on to make larger)
This week was AMAZING as I was able to witness Brother Bill get baptized! It was awesome! The story of Bill and his conversion story is inspirational! This last week I have never prayed so much on my mission. Bill had no support from his family as they are against the church and all his friends told him that it would be the wrong thing to do. But he said that he knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints is indeed Christ's church. So he went full board. His faith was not wavering. The day of his interview with President Bowen and three days before his baptism one of his friends brought anti-Mormon literature to him. He said that he read it. There are a lot of people that did not like Joseph Smith and said a lot of negative things about him. Also, about the church and many other things. As he was telling us this, Elder Brown and I were like Oh man! this isn't good. But he then said that he came to a scripture in the Bible that talked about Prophets being persecuted for testifying of God and of Jesus Christ and standing up for truth and righteousness. He said that he could relate to Joseph Smith as other churches persecuted him for standing up for God and the scriptures. It was just really cool to see his testimony. He then brought up Mathew 7:15-20, "By their fruits you shall know them". He said that the missionaries and the Church has changed his life. That we produce good Fruit. His attitude for life has changed. He is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and he is going to be a strong member. He is awesome!!! I am so grateful that I was able to meet him and see him excercise his faith. Fasting and prayer works. Especially to do the will of our Father in Heaven! I can't wait to go out and find another "Bill". The work is going forward and I am loving every second of It!!!!!!!!!! Oh ya, My Mission Rocks! Also My Companion Elder T. Brown!! Stud!
Elder J. Brown
Check out pictures below....(click on to make larger)
Lots of Pictures!
Elder Brown (my companion) - what a stud!
One of my most favorite families - The Hannigans
Grateful to be back!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Family and Friends,
Well, this week has been awesome! I have done more teaching in one week in Fullerton then I did in one month in Yorba Linda! So I am stoked! We have two progressing investigators. We taught 12 lessons to our investigators. It was amazing to teach the gospel principles. Our first most progressing investigator is Bill! He is a 64 year old hillbilly that I love!!! Elder T. Brown and Elder Saxton found him two weeks ago and have visited with him on a regular basis. Elder Saxton, who just finished his mission, gave Bill a baptismal Date for August 21 right before I came in. Through out this week, I have been able to teach him all the lessons and grow to love his sparky, fiery attitude and his love for the Gospel. We taught Bill the Word of Wisdom and he gave up coffee cold turkey! Yesterday, Elder Brown and I fasted and prayed if the 21st of August was a good date to plan for. We got our answer and Bill's baptism will be August 20th! He accepted and is so excited. Bill said when I came in I had big shoes to fill in for Elder Saxton. Yesterday, he told me that I am filling them Spectacularly! I am so grateful to be a part of this and to be able to help Bill on his journey back to our Heavenly Father.
Our second investigator is Gina. She is progressing and we were able to meet with her four times this week teaching her different gospel principles. She accepted the law of tithing. Which was exciting and she has continued to stay off coffee for the past three weeks. She will not accept a baptismal date but she has been coming to church on a regular basis and this Sunday she brought her 12 year old son Mathew to church with her. She really enjoyed it! Mathew is planning to go to mutual and get into the scout program! So we are really pumped! We are continuing to pray for more investigators but man my week has gone by fast teaching and focusing on others. I am grateful to be back in Fullerton and seeing so many miracles.
Last subject is my Boy Elder T. Brown AKA Dark Brown. I am so grateful that I am with such an amazing companion as Elder Brown. To get to know him a little bit he is Samoan from Australia. He is a stud and played Rugby OH YA! He works hard and knows how to play even harder! It is really nice not having all the responsibility on myself and working in unity with Elder Brown. We have the same teaching style and the work is going great. Also Elder Sumsion who I went Sky diving with (before my misison) is now in my Zone! We had Zone Activity and I had a blast. Elder Sumsion is the man! Happy to re-unite with him!
The Lords work is going forward! Love You All!!
Elder J. Brown
Well, this week has been awesome! I have done more teaching in one week in Fullerton then I did in one month in Yorba Linda! So I am stoked! We have two progressing investigators. We taught 12 lessons to our investigators. It was amazing to teach the gospel principles. Our first most progressing investigator is Bill! He is a 64 year old hillbilly that I love!!! Elder T. Brown and Elder Saxton found him two weeks ago and have visited with him on a regular basis. Elder Saxton, who just finished his mission, gave Bill a baptismal Date for August 21 right before I came in. Through out this week, I have been able to teach him all the lessons and grow to love his sparky, fiery attitude and his love for the Gospel. We taught Bill the Word of Wisdom and he gave up coffee cold turkey! Yesterday, Elder Brown and I fasted and prayed if the 21st of August was a good date to plan for. We got our answer and Bill's baptism will be August 20th! He accepted and is so excited. Bill said when I came in I had big shoes to fill in for Elder Saxton. Yesterday, he told me that I am filling them Spectacularly! I am so grateful to be a part of this and to be able to help Bill on his journey back to our Heavenly Father.
Our second investigator is Gina. She is progressing and we were able to meet with her four times this week teaching her different gospel principles. She accepted the law of tithing. Which was exciting and she has continued to stay off coffee for the past three weeks. She will not accept a baptismal date but she has been coming to church on a regular basis and this Sunday she brought her 12 year old son Mathew to church with her. She really enjoyed it! Mathew is planning to go to mutual and get into the scout program! So we are really pumped! We are continuing to pray for more investigators but man my week has gone by fast teaching and focusing on others. I am grateful to be back in Fullerton and seeing so many miracles.
Last subject is my Boy Elder T. Brown AKA Dark Brown. I am so grateful that I am with such an amazing companion as Elder Brown. To get to know him a little bit he is Samoan from Australia. He is a stud and played Rugby OH YA! He works hard and knows how to play even harder! It is really nice not having all the responsibility on myself and working in unity with Elder Brown. We have the same teaching style and the work is going great. Also Elder Sumsion who I went Sky diving with (before my misison) is now in my Zone! We had Zone Activity and I had a blast. Elder Sumsion is the man! Happy to re-unite with him!
The Lords work is going forward! Love You All!!
Elder J. Brown
Elder Brown & Elder Brown
Monday, August 8, 2011
I AM GOING BACK TO FULLERTON!!!!!!! I am getting transferred to the Euclid ward in Fullerton as a senior companion and driving! My new companion is Elder Brown, a Samoan from Australia. Ha ha. I replaced Elder Brown when I came into Yorba Linda 4th. All the members here loved him. He was the one that trained Elder Lamb right before I came in. I am going to have a blast this transfer. He is going to have to go by Elder Dark Brown and I am going to have to go by Elder Light Brown. Ha ha. We are going to have fun with this!!!!
I am actually really sad that I am Leaving Yorba Linda 4th ward! Every one told me how hard this area is and how missionaries go crazy here. Well I had a blast with Elder Hansen and we found a ton of new Investigators! I love the members here. I thought that I was coming to the ward to serve them but they always returned the favor bigger and better. I am going to miss my investigator families who are ready to accept the Gospel. The good news is my Boy Elder Schwenke is coming to take my place and he is going to baptize them. Elder Schwenke was in my District in the MTC and I love that Poly!! So I am happy for that! Elder Hansen is going to love having him as a companion.
I am happy and kind of bummed I am going back to Fullerton. I wanted to try a new area out like Santa Ana or Costa Mesa but I guess that I have some unfinished business that I have to take care of in Fullerton. I am going back to my old District and I am going to be with Elder Alshengiti... Same District!!!!!!! I am going to miss Elder Hansen even if he might not miss me. ha ha
I love you all!!!
Elder Brown
I am actually really sad that I am Leaving Yorba Linda 4th ward! Every one told me how hard this area is and how missionaries go crazy here. Well I had a blast with Elder Hansen and we found a ton of new Investigators! I love the members here. I thought that I was coming to the ward to serve them but they always returned the favor bigger and better. I am going to miss my investigator families who are ready to accept the Gospel. The good news is my Boy Elder Schwenke is coming to take my place and he is going to baptize them. Elder Schwenke was in my District in the MTC and I love that Poly!! So I am happy for that! Elder Hansen is going to love having him as a companion.
I am happy and kind of bummed I am going back to Fullerton. I wanted to try a new area out like Santa Ana or Costa Mesa but I guess that I have some unfinished business that I have to take care of in Fullerton. I am going back to my old District and I am going to be with Elder Alshengiti... Same District!!!!!!! I am going to miss Elder Hansen even if he might not miss me. ha ha
I love you all!!!
Elder Brown
Tender Mercy
Monday, August 1, 2011
Family and Friends,
This week was great even though our numbers didn't show that. We were able to teach 7 less active lessons but only two lessons to investigators. We had two of our families cancel on us this week so i was very bummed. That is why patience is a Christlike attribute! I know these families are searching but they need to have more of a desire to find out if what we are saying is true. I am sad because the Blancas who are one of the families we are teaching, are going to be out of town until August 8th and that is when transfers are. So if one of us gets transferred, we won't see them and get to say goodbye. We were able to get a sister fully re-activated and she is progressing to get her temple recommend. Pumped about that!
This last Sunday we had three Baptisms!!!!!! haha. The McGlawns, who we are really good friends with, had family coming in from Tennessee to be baptized by brother McGlawn. It was a family and It was so cool to be a part of it. We didn't even teach them but they were still considered Convert Baptisms so we had to be there. Elder Hansen and I were asked to give talks and be the witnesses at the Baptism. It was so cool to see that. I have had the opportunity to see many people enter into the water of Baptism and be a part of it one way or another. I love feeling the spirit at Baptismal Services and how much love there is. I was grateful to be there.
At church yesterday, we get to the Chapel about a half hour early and we are chilling, praying that investigators or less active members would come to church. When I see this older gentlemen walk in, who looked like my Head football Varsity Coach, Coach Knight. I sit there staring dumb founded and realized it was Coach Knight! I go up and Say COACH KNIGHT!!!!! He turns around in shock. We give each other a hug and he looks and grabs my name tag. He said Elder Brown! It was so cool. I asked him what brought him to Yorba Linda 4th Ward. He said that he was on vacation with his family and heading down to San Diego. He said he just looked for the closest church building with the best time for him. What a small World!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like a little bit of home came to Yorba Linda. I spent a lot of time of my high school career with Coach Knight. Love him so Much! He influenced me to be the person I am today and helped me learn discipline, diligence and hard work. It was seriously a tender Mercy to see Coach Knight. Very grateful!
Elder Hansen and I have one more week and we are going to try our best to endure to the end. We are starting to get "Chippy" with each other. I know that it is hard to be with me 100% of the time for three Months but we are hanging in there. I Love Elder Hansen! He has helped me grow and learn from my mistakes. I know that this companionship was definitely inspired. This week is going to be the Best one Yet.
I love you all take care and tune in next time
Elder Brown
This week was great even though our numbers didn't show that. We were able to teach 7 less active lessons but only two lessons to investigators. We had two of our families cancel on us this week so i was very bummed. That is why patience is a Christlike attribute! I know these families are searching but they need to have more of a desire to find out if what we are saying is true. I am sad because the Blancas who are one of the families we are teaching, are going to be out of town until August 8th and that is when transfers are. So if one of us gets transferred, we won't see them and get to say goodbye. We were able to get a sister fully re-activated and she is progressing to get her temple recommend. Pumped about that!
This last Sunday we had three Baptisms!!!!!! haha. The McGlawns, who we are really good friends with, had family coming in from Tennessee to be baptized by brother McGlawn. It was a family and It was so cool to be a part of it. We didn't even teach them but they were still considered Convert Baptisms so we had to be there. Elder Hansen and I were asked to give talks and be the witnesses at the Baptism. It was so cool to see that. I have had the opportunity to see many people enter into the water of Baptism and be a part of it one way or another. I love feeling the spirit at Baptismal Services and how much love there is. I was grateful to be there.
At church yesterday, we get to the Chapel about a half hour early and we are chilling, praying that investigators or less active members would come to church. When I see this older gentlemen walk in, who looked like my Head football Varsity Coach, Coach Knight. I sit there staring dumb founded and realized it was Coach Knight! I go up and Say COACH KNIGHT!!!!! He turns around in shock. We give each other a hug and he looks and grabs my name tag. He said Elder Brown! It was so cool. I asked him what brought him to Yorba Linda 4th Ward. He said that he was on vacation with his family and heading down to San Diego. He said he just looked for the closest church building with the best time for him. What a small World!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like a little bit of home came to Yorba Linda. I spent a lot of time of my high school career with Coach Knight. Love him so Much! He influenced me to be the person I am today and helped me learn discipline, diligence and hard work. It was seriously a tender Mercy to see Coach Knight. Very grateful!
Elder Hansen and I have one more week and we are going to try our best to endure to the end. We are starting to get "Chippy" with each other. I know that it is hard to be with me 100% of the time for three Months but we are hanging in there. I Love Elder Hansen! He has helped me grow and learn from my mistakes. I know that this companionship was definitely inspired. This week is going to be the Best one Yet.
I love you all take care and tune in next time
Elder Brown
The Lord's Work is Going Forward!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Family and Friends,
This week was Awesome!! We had so many opportunities to teach and testify about the Gospel. We were able to reach our goal of 10 lessons this week and had seven of them with investigators! We were able to teach Daphne but all of a sudden Ray, her husband doesn't want to join us anymore. He was making so much progress praying for the first time in a very long time and having a desire to learn more about the Gospel. But with us not being able to meet with them for a month I think he forgot the way he felt when he sat in with the lessons. So we were only able to teach Daphne and Michael. We invited them to be baptized on a date but they rejected. She said she wants to get baptized but she doesn't know if it should be in her church she is going to or our church. After the lesson, Elder Hansen and I were thinking in our heads, "what is going on?". We thought about it and we were going way too fast with her. We taught her all three lessons but she has not been keeping her commitments. We need to slow down and go back to the principle that will convert everyone. That is the Book of Mormon. She has only read a chapter on her own in the last month. So we need to re-teach, re-testify, and re-commit her to read the Book of Mormon. I got so caught up teaching all the lessons to her so that she could get baptized. I was being selfish and not thinking of what could help her come closer to Jesus Christ. So I have repented and really putting a focus on how she can come to know for herself the power of The Restoration. I also think she is upset that her husband Ray did not join us. So that was really tough.
We also were able to teach our other family who we have only taught once. We found out that they are reading and they still have a hard time believing the experience Joseph Smith had. Mario (dad) is very humble and has been seeking truth his whole life. He was a Seventh Day Adventist and just wants to find the Truth. He explained that he wants to know but it is hard to read the Book of Mormon and not have a bias attitude while reading it. So we are trying to find a scripture or a way that he can open his heart and just experience on the word and not cast out the seed with his unbeleif just like in the parable of Alma 32. We invited them to church and Mario is a fireman so he was not able to accept the commitment but Susan (mom) and her five kids all accepted. We were so excited for Sunday when we heard from Bro. Carter who came with us that he got an E-mail from Susan saying that they don't have the proper clothing to come. I was lIke NOOOOOOO. Bro. Carter said it was okay and they are going shopping this week so they can come this upcoming Sunday. So good and bad. They have a desire to come to church.
We taught Joseph and Caroline from Iran and we found out that they don't understand us at all. They know five different languages but are not able to communicate stuff in the Gospel in English. So it was really interesting showing them words in English and getting their English Farcey Dictionary to understand what we are talking about. Cool thing happened is that they showed us one of their old Bibles they bought in Austria as they were coming across to America. In it was a book mark and I looked and it was "Finding faith in Christ "Pass a long card From the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It was in a different language which we found out was German. LDS Missionaries have talked and taught them before and they want to hear more about the Restored Gospel. Joseph has already read 15 pages since last week. So we are really excited to help these wonderful people and hopefully we will have the gift of tongues and interpretations to help them come closer to the their Savior Jesus Christ.
Well, we have a lot more scheduled appointments this week. I am sad because transfers are coming up August 8th and our investigators who I have learned to love are really progressing. I have been in this area the longest compared to everyone else in my District and have a feeling I am going to move. I really love Yorba Linda. Coming in I knew it was going to be hard but I have grown to love it. I can say this is my favorite area so far! I love you all so much keep up the good work. The Lords work is going forward!!!!
Elder Brown
This week was Awesome!! We had so many opportunities to teach and testify about the Gospel. We were able to reach our goal of 10 lessons this week and had seven of them with investigators! We were able to teach Daphne but all of a sudden Ray, her husband doesn't want to join us anymore. He was making so much progress praying for the first time in a very long time and having a desire to learn more about the Gospel. But with us not being able to meet with them for a month I think he forgot the way he felt when he sat in with the lessons. So we were only able to teach Daphne and Michael. We invited them to be baptized on a date but they rejected. She said she wants to get baptized but she doesn't know if it should be in her church she is going to or our church. After the lesson, Elder Hansen and I were thinking in our heads, "what is going on?". We thought about it and we were going way too fast with her. We taught her all three lessons but she has not been keeping her commitments. We need to slow down and go back to the principle that will convert everyone. That is the Book of Mormon. She has only read a chapter on her own in the last month. So we need to re-teach, re-testify, and re-commit her to read the Book of Mormon. I got so caught up teaching all the lessons to her so that she could get baptized. I was being selfish and not thinking of what could help her come closer to Jesus Christ. So I have repented and really putting a focus on how she can come to know for herself the power of The Restoration. I also think she is upset that her husband Ray did not join us. So that was really tough.
We also were able to teach our other family who we have only taught once. We found out that they are reading and they still have a hard time believing the experience Joseph Smith had. Mario (dad) is very humble and has been seeking truth his whole life. He was a Seventh Day Adventist and just wants to find the Truth. He explained that he wants to know but it is hard to read the Book of Mormon and not have a bias attitude while reading it. So we are trying to find a scripture or a way that he can open his heart and just experience on the word and not cast out the seed with his unbeleif just like in the parable of Alma 32. We invited them to church and Mario is a fireman so he was not able to accept the commitment but Susan (mom) and her five kids all accepted. We were so excited for Sunday when we heard from Bro. Carter who came with us that he got an E-mail from Susan saying that they don't have the proper clothing to come. I was lIke NOOOOOOO. Bro. Carter said it was okay and they are going shopping this week so they can come this upcoming Sunday. So good and bad. They have a desire to come to church.
We taught Joseph and Caroline from Iran and we found out that they don't understand us at all. They know five different languages but are not able to communicate stuff in the Gospel in English. So it was really interesting showing them words in English and getting their English Farcey Dictionary to understand what we are talking about. Cool thing happened is that they showed us one of their old Bibles they bought in Austria as they were coming across to America. In it was a book mark and I looked and it was "Finding faith in Christ "Pass a long card From the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. It was in a different language which we found out was German. LDS Missionaries have talked and taught them before and they want to hear more about the Restored Gospel. Joseph has already read 15 pages since last week. So we are really excited to help these wonderful people and hopefully we will have the gift of tongues and interpretations to help them come closer to the their Savior Jesus Christ.
Well, we have a lot more scheduled appointments this week. I am sad because transfers are coming up August 8th and our investigators who I have learned to love are really progressing. I have been in this area the longest compared to everyone else in my District and have a feeling I am going to move. I really love Yorba Linda. Coming in I knew it was going to be hard but I have grown to love it. I can say this is my favorite area so far! I love you all so much keep up the good work. The Lords work is going forward!!!!
Elder Brown
Inviting people like crazy!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Family and Friends,
This week was Good! We were able to refocus and set up a new plan and approach to get some progress with finding and teaching investigators. We have prayed and recieved inspiration to invite all the part member families to hear the discussions. We were able to visit with two sets of families and were able to talk to them and invite them to hear the discussions and explained to them all the blessings that would come if they were unified in the gospel. One of the families is a young Couple that has a baby on the way and I really think the Plan of Salvation will help the husband sincerely seek the truth. So we are excited to start teaching them. Our Preperation day got switched from a Monday to a Wednesday because we were scheduled to go to the Temple!. It was amazing! The temple gives you that spiritual rejuvenation that brings your spirits up and makes you want to be a better missionary. The Spirit is so Strong in God's Temples!!! We have been working with our less active members a ton and it is going really well. We were able to get 5 families to church on Sunday. We are really excited about that! We are doing our best to strenghthen this ward! Here is a cool story. We ran into a man named Joseph a couple of weeks ago. He didn't speak much english and we got his information to go see him. Well, we went by on Saturday to follow up and his son answered the door. He is 20 and his name Is Ilbron. They told us they are from Iran and they are Persian. I was like cool but then they told me that they are Christian Persians. I was like "No Way" that is so cool. Ibron said that while they lived in Iran, christians get persecuted a lot. He said that he couldn't even talk to the girls there that are Muslum without be endangered of getting executed. I was like dang, good thing you are in America! We shared the Book of Mormon with them and explained how it is another Testament of Jesus Christ. How the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. They were so excited to learn more and to get a hold of a Persian Book of Mormon! So we have a scheduled appointment to go see them! I have a really good feeling about them! The whole mission was able to have personal interviews with President Bowen this last week and it was Great! President Bowen is the Best!! All the Missionaries really like him and it is going to be a great year and couple months with him! So misisonary work is going well. Elder Hansen and I are inviting people like crazy to here about the Restored Gospel. All you guys take care. Love all your support!
Elder Brown
This week was Good! We were able to refocus and set up a new plan and approach to get some progress with finding and teaching investigators. We have prayed and recieved inspiration to invite all the part member families to hear the discussions. We were able to visit with two sets of families and were able to talk to them and invite them to hear the discussions and explained to them all the blessings that would come if they were unified in the gospel. One of the families is a young Couple that has a baby on the way and I really think the Plan of Salvation will help the husband sincerely seek the truth. So we are excited to start teaching them. Our Preperation day got switched from a Monday to a Wednesday because we were scheduled to go to the Temple!. It was amazing! The temple gives you that spiritual rejuvenation that brings your spirits up and makes you want to be a better missionary. The Spirit is so Strong in God's Temples!!! We have been working with our less active members a ton and it is going really well. We were able to get 5 families to church on Sunday. We are really excited about that! We are doing our best to strenghthen this ward! Here is a cool story. We ran into a man named Joseph a couple of weeks ago. He didn't speak much english and we got his information to go see him. Well, we went by on Saturday to follow up and his son answered the door. He is 20 and his name Is Ilbron. They told us they are from Iran and they are Persian. I was like cool but then they told me that they are Christian Persians. I was like "No Way" that is so cool. Ibron said that while they lived in Iran, christians get persecuted a lot. He said that he couldn't even talk to the girls there that are Muslum without be endangered of getting executed. I was like dang, good thing you are in America! We shared the Book of Mormon with them and explained how it is another Testament of Jesus Christ. How the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. They were so excited to learn more and to get a hold of a Persian Book of Mormon! So we have a scheduled appointment to go see them! I have a really good feeling about them! The whole mission was able to have personal interviews with President Bowen this last week and it was Great! President Bowen is the Best!! All the Missionaries really like him and it is going to be a great year and couple months with him! So misisonary work is going well. Elder Hansen and I are inviting people like crazy to here about the Restored Gospel. All you guys take care. Love all your support!
Elder Brown
Happy 4th of July
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Family and Friends,
Well, this week has been crazy and fun! Last P-day I challenged Elder Hansen that he couldn't drink one gallon of milk in ten minutes and hold it down for five Minutes. With Elder Hansen's personality, he confidently took that challenge and thought he could do it. So we just got done playing basketball for a couple of hours and we get the trash can out just in case and we see if he could do this. He didn't know that it is impossible to drink a whole gallon of milk and keep it down. So the time starts going and he drinks like a quarter of it in like one minute and then he is like, " I can't do it". It was so funny. Obviously the whole District is cheering for him to down it and keep going. Five minutes into it he has downed half of it and he is just talking and then all of a sudden he threw up and it projectiled 13 feet. It was the biggest projectile throw I have ever seen and I was on the side of him like two feet away and it was the funniest thing ever. So that was an adventure in itself.
The next crazy event is that when we had District meeting President Watrous was there. It was his last day in the mission feild as a Mission President and he gave us some good insight and he was just awesome. He has a funny cool personality and strict at the same time. He know hows to help us missionaries out a ton. I really appreciate all he did for me and how much work and love he put into this work. I am going to miss President Watrous but I am excited to have President Bowen come in.
We were not able to teach our progressing investigators this week due to the vacations and the 4th of July. But we were still able to teach a lot of lessons and help less active members gain more of a testimony and come closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. So it was a good week. We were able to have fun this week serving and celebrating the 4th of July.
I love the 4th of July in Utah! One, I am with my family we get to go to the parade! We get amazing fire work shows all over the place and you get to light off fireworks basically the whole month of July. Here in California you couldn't tell that the 4th of July was coming until that afternoon. But having said that, my 4th of July was Awesome!!! It was our P-day and our whole District got invited by the Daltons to a BBQ and play on their new sport court. We played in the sun (about 95 degrees) for 4 hours! We played Basketball, Volley ball, and Paddle Tennis and it was a Blast. Oh, and the food was amazing. It was so hot and for some reason us Elders forgot to put on Sunscreen. Yep, Our whole DIstrict got fried. I even got fried and have the sickest tan line or I guess you could say Burn line. haha. But it was fun and the members here rock. We then went to another BBQ and we were able to do a suprise attack on non-members who were there. We shared the Book of Mormon and invited them to read the Book of Mormon and find out for themselves if it is true. They accepted it and they thanked Elder Hansen and I for doing what we do and going around telling people what we believe in. So that was pretty cool. We then were able to see the fireworks with the Hanagans and got home just in time for cerfew. It was Totally awesome!!!
Then this morning, I was able along with my whole District to go and meet President Bowen. He is a really cool guy! I am so excited because I know that he really was called by God and that there are going to be a lot of Miracles here in this mission. He said that all he cares about is that we follow his advice to come closer to Jesus Christ. If you have the understanding of his Compassion, Charity, and Love for us, then we will have more of a desire to work harder and not to do anything that would offend the Savior. I really liked that. Instead of being obedient just to be obedient. You have Faith in Jesus Christ and it makes you want to be Obedient and do all we can to be his servants. President and Sister Bowen are Awesome and they have had a lot of trials before they arrived here! I am really excited and so grateful I am in this mission in Yorba Linda with Elder Hansen! I know that If I continue to be faithful to my Lord, my Savior, and My King that everything will fall into place. I love you ALL and hope you all had a Great 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Brown
Well, this week has been crazy and fun! Last P-day I challenged Elder Hansen that he couldn't drink one gallon of milk in ten minutes and hold it down for five Minutes. With Elder Hansen's personality, he confidently took that challenge and thought he could do it. So we just got done playing basketball for a couple of hours and we get the trash can out just in case and we see if he could do this. He didn't know that it is impossible to drink a whole gallon of milk and keep it down. So the time starts going and he drinks like a quarter of it in like one minute and then he is like, " I can't do it". It was so funny. Obviously the whole District is cheering for him to down it and keep going. Five minutes into it he has downed half of it and he is just talking and then all of a sudden he threw up and it projectiled 13 feet. It was the biggest projectile throw I have ever seen and I was on the side of him like two feet away and it was the funniest thing ever. So that was an adventure in itself.
The next crazy event is that when we had District meeting President Watrous was there. It was his last day in the mission feild as a Mission President and he gave us some good insight and he was just awesome. He has a funny cool personality and strict at the same time. He know hows to help us missionaries out a ton. I really appreciate all he did for me and how much work and love he put into this work. I am going to miss President Watrous but I am excited to have President Bowen come in.
We were not able to teach our progressing investigators this week due to the vacations and the 4th of July. But we were still able to teach a lot of lessons and help less active members gain more of a testimony and come closer to their Savior Jesus Christ. So it was a good week. We were able to have fun this week serving and celebrating the 4th of July.
I love the 4th of July in Utah! One, I am with my family we get to go to the parade! We get amazing fire work shows all over the place and you get to light off fireworks basically the whole month of July. Here in California you couldn't tell that the 4th of July was coming until that afternoon. But having said that, my 4th of July was Awesome!!! It was our P-day and our whole District got invited by the Daltons to a BBQ and play on their new sport court. We played in the sun (about 95 degrees) for 4 hours! We played Basketball, Volley ball, and Paddle Tennis and it was a Blast. Oh, and the food was amazing. It was so hot and for some reason us Elders forgot to put on Sunscreen. Yep, Our whole DIstrict got fried. I even got fried and have the sickest tan line or I guess you could say Burn line. haha. But it was fun and the members here rock. We then went to another BBQ and we were able to do a suprise attack on non-members who were there. We shared the Book of Mormon and invited them to read the Book of Mormon and find out for themselves if it is true. They accepted it and they thanked Elder Hansen and I for doing what we do and going around telling people what we believe in. So that was pretty cool. We then were able to see the fireworks with the Hanagans and got home just in time for cerfew. It was Totally awesome!!!
Then this morning, I was able along with my whole District to go and meet President Bowen. He is a really cool guy! I am so excited because I know that he really was called by God and that there are going to be a lot of Miracles here in this mission. He said that all he cares about is that we follow his advice to come closer to Jesus Christ. If you have the understanding of his Compassion, Charity, and Love for us, then we will have more of a desire to work harder and not to do anything that would offend the Savior. I really liked that. Instead of being obedient just to be obedient. You have Faith in Jesus Christ and it makes you want to be Obedient and do all we can to be his servants. President and Sister Bowen are Awesome and they have had a lot of trials before they arrived here! I am really excited and so grateful I am in this mission in Yorba Linda with Elder Hansen! I know that If I continue to be faithful to my Lord, my Savior, and My King that everything will fall into place. I love you ALL and hope you all had a Great 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!!
Elder Brown
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