Elder Brown's 21st Birthday Party.......Thanks Bobi so much!

Happy 21st Birthday Elder Brown......

Hi, this is Elder Brown's mom.  It is hard to believe that Elder Brown (Josh) will be coming home next Tuesday, October 2nd.  He will be flying into the Salt Lake City Airport at around 1:00pm.   As a family, we could not be more excited.  We have missed him so much!  We are busy making posters, buying yellow ribbon and ordering yellow balloons to decorate for his arrival.   Today, Josh officially turned 21 years old.  Having a P-day on your birthday was great.  He said that he was so busy responding to all the birthday wishes that he did not have enough time to write his weekly blog.   But he told me he did a little grocery shopping and bought Steaks to celebrate.  He and his companion ate them for lunch.  He went to Bobi's  (a member in his ward and family friend) house for a birthday dinner! Thank you to all the members in the Anaheim, California mission who loved my son and treated him like their own!   He said it has been a great birthday and we can't wait for him to have a big birthday celebration with us when he gets home. Josh said he will write his FINAL blog next Monday and express some of his feelings of what his mission has meant to him these last couple of years.  

His homecoming talk will be Sunday, October 21st at 1:00pm.  The address is 9600 North and 6000 West in Highland.  (Just a block from our home).  Please join us for lunch after!

Octopus soup, Yum!!!!!!!!!

Family and Friends,

 

   This week was crazy busy!  I had exchanges with both the Vietnamese and Korean Elders,  we had zone conference, and we got a new set of missionaries in our ward serving with us. 

    I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Leonard from Mobile, Alabama!  We had a good time in Westminster finding Vietnamese people.  I had a cool experience with one of the gifts of the spirit.  We were going to talk to a potential when we see a Vietnamese guy sweeping his drive way.  So I go up and wave smiling.  He smiled back and Elder Leonard started speaking with him.  As they are talking I was able to have an idea of what they were talking about.  As they are just talking I have just this huge grin on my face.  He then turns to me and says something as if he was asking a question.  I felt prompted that he was asking me what my name was.  So I told him I was Elder Brown.  He had a hard time pronouncing my name but bowed as he said my name. It is out of respect to do that.  After Elder Leonard told me that he was shocked that I was able to answer him.  I said yep the Lord blessed me with interpretation of tongues for that short visit that was a very joyful experience.  I had a great time with Elder Leonard.  He is a great missionary that is learning a very hard language. 

   We had zone conference this last week and it was amazing!   I had the opportunity to go up to Yorba Linda (my old ward) and do service for them.  Our whole mission painted fences off of horse trails for the community and it was a great experience.  It was cool to have service as part of our zone conference.  We did that all morning.  We then gathered together in the Bryan building in Irvine and finished the rest of the zone conference.  I love when Sister Bowen and President Bowen speaks to us.  They are so knowledgeable and spiritual.  They speak with such power that always lifts you and encourages you.  It rejuvenated my spirit to hit the pavement and continue to work hard and look for the truth seekers.  As I was pondering on this, President asked for all the departing missionaries to come and bear their testimony for the end of the Conference.  He then says my name.  I could not believe that this was my last zone conference.  It is a tradition that all the departing missionaries bear their testimonies at the end.  I totally forgot that this was my last zone conference.  So I was able to bear my testimony and it was a good spiritual experience.  I know without of a doubt my testimony has grown leaps and bounds more then when I first came out.  I was grateful for the opportunity but shocked that it is the very end of the middle of my mission.

    I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Korean Elders.  I went to North Korea with Elder Kim and a brand new missionary Elder Cook.  I was able to spend the day with them and teach a lot.  It was hard because Elder Cook and I had no clue what was being said.  It was by far the hottest day of my mission hitting 110 in Garden Grove.  I just sat there baking in an apartment with no A/C.  I prayed for the investigator we were teaching to accept the Gospel and also that I will not die of heat stroke. haha.  We were able to have authentic Korean food and it was very interesting.  I had a lot of Kim chi which is fermented cabbage, zucchini, horse raddish, any other vegetable that can be fermented.  I like the Kim chi cucumber but that is about it.  We also had this sea food soup.  For some reason I was the only one that got a huge octopus with gigantic sucking cups.  I was like there is no way I can eat that.  I decide to just try one of the tentacles then I just tapped out and apologized that I could not eat it.  They rewarded my with some concord grapes that were delicious though.  We were able to get a family to church that we taught and they are progressing wonderfully.  Korean Elders are on fire and I love them very much!

    We were able to get Natalie one of our investigators enrolled into seminary which is great.  She will now have the opportunity to be fed spiritually before she goes off to school.  Her testimony is going to grow into a huge tree until she can be baptized when she is 18.  She is amazing!  She has a lot of courage and determination to follow her heart.  We had some step backs with our investigators but I know that the Lord is the master and he is preparing their hearts to accept the Gospel. 

  Have a great week.  I know that I am.

 

Elder Brown

Recognizing the Spirit

Family and Friends,

 

   This week was crazy and tiring!  I had so many crazy experiences and things that I am not able to really discuss them.  All I can say is that I am tired and the work is true. haha.  Elder Wood and I had a lot of opportunities to exercises our faith.  We went out and talked to every one followed the spirit and every thing.  It was just not our week numbers wise. A lot of our investigators got busy with school starting this week and every one is running hundred miles an hour.  Saying they have no time for God and spiritual things.  Wo wo unto them. Ha ha. We were able to have a lot of spiritual messages with individuals and it was great.  I was able to feel the spirit do its magic.  We had the opportunity to be trained by the assistants what we are focusing on this month as a mission.  It is exactly what I have talked about!  Recognizing the spirit in Ch. 4 of Preach my Gospel.  We then have one companionship study to teach our zone of 16 missionaries the importance of the spirit.  Every time I feel like we are not as prepared as I would like.  The Lord really has our back and gave us the words we needed to say to get our message across.  It was amazing to feel the promptings of the Holy Ghost on what to say and what to do.  I was chastised by the spirit that there were some things I needed to work on to be a more powerful missionary.   We read D&C 121 about the Priesthood how it is only performed through righteousness.  If we do anything that is carnal, low or cheap, we can say goodbye to the priesthood or the authority of that man.  I believe that we have the best missionaries in the mission in our zone.   I don't have to worry about any of them whether or not they are doing the work.  We just talked about ways that we can sanctify ourselves more fully.  It isn't going to be anything big.  Just little things that will give us more power and authority in our teaching.  We will receive a greater adage of the spirit.  (EX. Getting out of bed on time, keeping our conversations on missionary work, getting to studies on time, etc.)   I know the Elders will do the things necessary to take it to the next level.  Our zone will be lifted to a whole new playing field. 

   Crazy stuff.  Well I will let you know some more stuff that happened when I get home because I would be here for hours if I wrote every thing.  Tune in next time

 

Elder Brown

  

Excited to Hit the Pavement!

Family and Friends,

   This week started off really good.  We were teaching a lot.  We were able to get right in a door.  We met a man by the name of John who is a Presbyterian head usher.  He loves us Mormons he told us.  We are the ultimate examples of a Christ-like people.  He tried to talk to us about how amazing Mitt Romney was and how he is trying to get his whole congregation to vote for him.  It was really funny.  He is just an awesome old man.  We had to let him know that the church is neutral in politics and that we had no clue what is going on with the election.  We were able to share the Book of Mormon with him and invited him to read.  We found out a member already gave him a book and that he has read first Nephi.  I was so happy.  He says he loves Mormons and he knows the Book of Mormon is true but he has always been going to the Presbyterian church and he will stay.  Really nice man that is a good voice for LDS members outside of the faith. 

    We were able have a great lesson with Cathy.  She has been having a lot of trials in her life.  We were able to bring a great couple from the ward with us and we were able to teach the whole Plan of Salvation in one sitting.  That is a miracle in itself.  Her only concern was the degrees of glory.  She didn't really comprehend that.  She feels like they are elevators going up and down.  We were able to solve that concern.  She is so ready and prepared.  She doesn't even know it.  We need to teach her a couple more lessons.  Her baptismal date is going to be pushed back a little bit.  Hopefully she will be ready in the near future. 

   This next part was a miracle.  We knocked into this kid that looked like he was our age named Justin.  He is a very strong kid and buff.  We asked him how old he was and he said he was 16.  I was like, "really?"  He told us that he is Catholic and goes to Mater Dei high school.  I was like awesome that was in my last area in Santa Ana.  So we got talking and found out he plays football and is a middle linebacker there.  So imagine this kid and how huge he was.  We asked him if we could share our message.  He said sure.  He feels like he doesn't get too many spiritual experiences because he rarely goes to church and just hears stuff from school.    We started teaching him the Restoration.  He is one of the most humble kids I know.  He was starving spiritually.   He believed all our words.  The spirit was so strong.  We shared the first vision that Joseph Smith had.  We asked him how he felt about it.  He said that he could believe it.  We invited him to read the Book of Mormon.  He accepted.  The way he answered our questions was with so much humility I know that he is a truth seeker.  He is going to read and come to know for himself that the Book of Mormong is true.  He said that he would love to get baptized when he knows for himself that these things are true.  So we were really excited. 

    From that day on we had a lot of appointments fall through and investigators not come to church.  Got a lot of doors slammed on us.  Some guy got in my face wanting to fight.  Knocking 15 doors nobody answering.  Things that make you discouraged.  We were able to get pass that.  Good things are going to happen and the adversary doesn't want it to happen.  Excited to hit the pavement this upcoming week to reap!

Elder Brown