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
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