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
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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