Busy and Eventful Week!

Family and friends,

   This week was busy and very eventful!  I want to talk about a investigator named Sonia.  She is very spiritual and has a great desire to follow Jesus Christ.  She is Catholic, 21 years old and has a 5 year old daughter.  We have been able to meet her on a regular basis.  She knows that the Book of Mormon is true.  She knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet.  But she likes her church and feels the spirit there.  She doesn't see why she needs to come to our church or be baptized again.  We invited some members who are converts and who were less active to come meet with her.  We had an amazing lesson that helped her concern.  One of the members told us a experience he had.  He just prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon is true.  He received a witness that is was.  He was all excited.  His Uncle was a pastor and invited him to his church.  TJ, knowing the promise in Moroni 10:4-5, he prayed to know whether what his uncle was saying was true.  To his surprise he received a witness that is was true.  This made him so confused.  He didn't know which church was the right church.  He went to the Bishop and told him his problem.  The Bishop asked him what did he pray for.  TJ said whether what his uncle was saying is true.  The Bishop replied, "well what he was saying is true."  As he was teaching that Jesus Christ is the Savior.  Tj then gave an amazing testimony about the truthfulness of this gospel.  How other churches has bits and pieces of truth.  But the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints has the fullness of the everlasting Gospel.  Adds to your joy.  The spirit was so strong.  We invited her to come to church.  She accepted.  Sadly a hour before sacrament she texted us and said something came up.  She said that she will for sure come next week.  The adversary knows she is ready.  If she comes to church she will find the truth and it will definitely set her free.  Shows right here the power of a member's testimony right here.
   We were able to find two new investigators this week which was awesome.  Really solid they are 18 and 22  so we are going to have to pass some more to the Singles ward haha.  But that is just how the cookie crumbles my friends.  I am just glad that I was part of their spiritual journey in finding them. 
  I have a funny story to tell.  So we are teaching a girl named Caitlyn at a pond.  We are sitting on the grass and it was very pretty.  Through out the lessons I felt ants crawling on me and stuff I would shew them off.  We finish our lesson and get in the car.  we are driving for like 5 minutes.  Charles, a member is sitting in the back seat.  Great kid.  Well out of no where he screams in a girly frantic voice.  DUDE, THERE IS A HUGE SPIDER ON YOU!!!!  Before I could respond he hit me with his huge scriptures on my shoulder.  I am like what the heck.  I look down I got spider guts all over me.  I was grossed out.  Charles said the spider was like a size of a golf ball.  I was like dang.  The spiders abdomen exploded and it was big.  We didn't have time to go home and change as we were really busy.  So that was not fun.  It was a pretty funny story I will remember.
    I want to talk about my last convert Bradley.  He is 14 and he was able to give a talk in sacrament meeting on temples.  He did amazing.  It seemed like he had been a member his whole entire life.  Later that day he was given the Aaronic priesthood which was awesome.  He is a good kid.  I am so proud of him.
   It is crazy the June is coming to a close everyone have a great summer.  

Elder J. Brown

Me & My Companion!

Lots of Miracles!

Family and Friends,

 

   Well, this week was good we were able to find two new investigators .  Both are for the singles ward.  The one that stands out the most is a cool story about Daniel.  We went to a referral which was a bad address and decided to knock on this random street.  We run into Daniel and set up an appointment for the next day. He mentioned something about his brother being a member.  I was on exchanges with Elder Moe when we went to go teach him.  We get to his house and he wasn't there.  We decided to knock on some doors around the house then we see him pull up a half hour later.  We go in and taught him the restoration and extended a baptismal invitation.   He accepted everything.  So we contact the Newport Coast Singles ward and told them about their new investigator.  They were amazed to find out that he is the brother of David Figauroa.  He was baptized by Elder Toland and Elder Hart up in Fullerton a couple weeks ago.  It was a cool miracle to see the Lord guide us to his home.  He now has a very solid fellowshipper in his brother.  There are a lot of miracles going on with finding in the California Anaheim Mission.

 

Elder Brown 

Fasting & Prayer Never Fails!

Family and Friends

   This week was slow but there was still a lot of good things that happened.  We were able to teach Sonia.  We have taught her the first three lessons and she believes everything.  She does not know if she believes that Joseph Smith is a Prophet and that our church is the same church that was organized by Jesus Christ.  Her family goes to the Catholic church and she likes it a lot.  She also loves the Book of Mormon.  We were able to teach her about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. She said that she will no longer go out to eat with her family  so that she could keep the Sabbath Day holy.  That was cool to see her exercise her faith there.  We invited her to church.  She was a little hesitant but we told her she needs to come at least once to see if she feels the spirit.  The same spirit she feels as she reads the Book of Mormon.  She committed but didn't come because she had an engagement she forgot about.  I was disappointed but I know she is sincere.  She will come to church next week.
   Another Investigator that I am really surprised about is Mike. He is a strong Catholic and he said that he would never read the Book of Mormon.  He is reading it!  We invited him to church, he declined.  But he did say that he is not against it.  So as we work with him little by little we will get him to church.
  I have been praying for this part member family.  We have been working with them since I got into this area.  The adversary is working so hard on them.  Joe, a recent convert of about year and a half, is trying to be worthy so that he will be able to baptize his son Jacinto who is 9.  He has had a lot trials in the last year that makes it hard to come to church and stay active.  He is willing but he is just not able to keep commitments and do the things necessary to get the job done.  It was cool.  I felt the need to truly fast and pray for that family.  As both Jacinto and Joe have not come to church.  Well,  I did so yesterday.  They both came to all three meetings and had a very spiritual experience.  The talks in Sacrament meeting were for Joe as they talked about covenants and how we can keep them.  It was just a cool experience.  My testimony in fasting and prayer is almost becoming a perfect knowledge.  It never fails!!! Joe is going to meet with the Bishop and get on track to baptize Jacinto in a couple weeks.  I know it will happen.
   I am really getting into the scriptures and studying about  "faith" and being agents.  It applies to everything.  I have a hope that the last 4 months of mission are going to be my best!!! Thanks family and friends for your prayers.  I feel them through out the day. Have a great week.

Elder Brown

Mr. Mountain Dew

I am very blessed!

Family and Friends, This week was tough! For some reason, once again I got sick with a bad head cold. Elder Herron got sick last week and now he got me sick. So battling through my cold was the biggest test for me this week. We spent the whole week finding and knocking. It was a grind. We were not finding anyone to teach and the people we were following up with were not home or too busy for us to share. Well, Saturday night we got out of a dinner appointment and started following up with potential investigators. We did this all the way up until 8:15pm and decided to go see Marta. We scheduled an appointment with her once and she stood us up. We had visited her a couple times but she was not home. Well, we finally get a hold of her and she brought us right in. I was like YESSSSS! Obviously at this point my nose was stuffy, sore throat, massive headache the works from the labors of the day. Well right as we said a prayer to open up a lesson, my symptoms went away. Either they were still there and I didn't notice them or it just went away I was able to give my undivided attention to Marta. Elder Herron and I were able to teach with such great unity. Asking inspired questions and listening to the spirit. That is my favorite part of being a missionary, how you are able to feel the spirit work through you. When you recognize it, your joy is full. We were able to answer the questions she had. Which questions were of the soul. She was so sincere. She is Catholic and her family is strong in that faith. She expressed how she doesn't know a lot of things about Jesus Christ. How her son who is 16 asks her questions about him. She doesn't know what to say. She is so grateful that we came to the door to share this message with her. When we recited the First Vision to her about Joseph Smith, her reaction was awesome. She said "Wow that is amazing". She told us all she wants to know is the truth and she happily accepted the invitation to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. Experiences like that makes missions worth while. I am willing to knock doors all week to have a experience like that. I am very grateful that the Lord blessed me with that opportunity. Just like in the scriptures "A women when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remebereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." John 16:21. The work is going good I feel the spirit doing all I can to help those recieve the gospel. I know this work is true and that lives are being changed through the saints around the world. We were able to give a missionary invite to a family in the ward. We promised them that if they would pray for missionary oppurtunities that they would receive them. We challenged them in the next two weeks that they will find someone that the missionaries can teach. Two days prior to the day we were going to follow up they called us. They told us that they found someone for the San Jose missionaries and that their friend is willing to hear the discussions. Everything is going good in the South Coast Ward. Thanks friends and family for everything. Have a great summer because I know I am working in the sun of SO CAL!!!! Elder Brown