December 31, 2011

Hola familia y amigos,
I know Mom is going to be so mad that she didn´t get to send me an email this week and i am sorry that i didn´t get the info to you that my p day got switched to Saturday but i didn´t know till after i talked to you guys on skype a few days later. They changed it again this week because of the new year because everyone is just going to get drunk. The next time i email you will be not this next coming Monday but the next. Don´t worry though everything is going so good down here and i am loving it.
First off Christmas was awesome and i had a good time sharing about Jesus Christ during such a great time of year. I just wish we would have got more of a chance to teach and share but since so many people just get drunk down here we didn´t get to work a whole ton. Its the same with this week we can´t be out working in less we have citas. We struggled big time getting citas for the weekend to because no one wants to take any time to listen to the message of there SALVATION!!!!! Especially during the new year. So last few days we have been working really hard to find and yesterday we contacted about 60 people looking for people we could begin to start teach. Here when you contact on the street you have to be real fast because if your not fast all they say is "estoy acupado" and shake there finger at us. So we usually get straight to the point and tell them we have a message about Jesus Christ and the restoration of his church. Or our message can bless families something flashy and fast to catch there attention then we go in and say yo soy elder Brown somos representantes de Jesucristo. The greatest thing about this past week after talking to my great family who all looked great was that i got my first accepted challenge for baptism this week. I have been shut down a few times. This week though i challenged a husband and a wife to prepare for baptism for this up coming month on the 28th and Susan the wife said these exact words to answer. "Yes i will do that. What time is Church!!!!" We are still working on the husband Louis but we will get him for sure he is just a thinker and i think he is sincerely searching to find the truth so i know he will get his answer soon. His wife just has amazing faith and she is just awesome. They also have an 11 old daughter that we hope to help towards baptism as well. That is the highlight of the week.
Today for P-day we went and played soccer at the church and then did a picture scavenger hunt with our zone and the Osorno zone. Where er had to go out and take pictures of things. It was lots of fun. Then after that we went and shopped and got lunch with the Zone leaders and Elder Anderson and Elder Hamblin (who is now my favorite because he loves George straight) but really Hamblin is amazing and he goes home to Orem this cambio so that's kinda sad. Know i am just sitting in a little ciber cafe writing my family and friends.
I want to say thanks to all who have written me letters or sent me Christmas cards in the past few days thank you so much Sister Norris, Elder Dowd, Doxeys, Jenna, and also for all the little notes from the word and extended family thank you so much.
Thank you Brittany for the package and Mom i am sure you threw something in there. I love you all so very much. I am lovin everything out here and i am doing great don´t worry about me. The Lord is helpin us missionaries.

Lacee- Thanks for your email. I am loving it out here. It sounds like your doing alright back in the real world, and that you are adjusting ok. I hope everything goes well while looking for your beautiful SUV. I love you so much thanks for your great example.

Love,
Elder Brown

PS Mother in the next package you send will you put the shaving heads in there and also some deodorant and that would be so awesome of you. Thank you my wonderful mom. You are the very very best.

December 24, 2011

Hola familia!!!

Sorry the first email toook so long to get there. Everything is going really good down here in Rahue. Yes, we are just across the river from Osorno. I don't know our exact address, but we are right across the street from the church on the corner of Valpariso and Iquque. It is back behind a couple of the houses though, so I don't know that exact address. Our house is awesome. It sure isn't like anything that I saw from Lacee's mission, but it is good. I sure am in Chile though. My bed is good. I sleep so amazing at night. I love it. Yes, I do have a Mamita and she does cook lunch for us and do our laundry. Actually, Papito usually makes lunch for us. They are a family of 6 and they are all awesome. They have been taking care of the missionaries for years. They are so kind. I love them all. We are skyping from the mission home because we are way close, but they aren't really having anything over there for us besides maybe a little bit of food or something.
 
I am calling you on skype at 8:30 pm tomorrow. I am so excited to see all of you; it's going to be awesome.

It sounds like everything is going really well back at home for Christmas. It barely feels like Christmas here because it is so warm and there is no snow. I am really excited. It should be fun.

So guess what; tonight I have my first baptism!! Sweet, huh? He is a great guy and so prepared. I actually only taught him like three times, but he has attended church so much that he knows everything. He is very prepared, and one of the members of the Mamita's family is baptizing him so its going to be good. Two other people are getting baptized. Elder   Anderson is doing one of them, so that will be cool.
 
We had an activity last night at the church. It was a dinner for all the members and all the investigators we could get to come. We got one lady and her two sons to come and I was so happy because it was like pulling teeth to get her to come, but once she got there I think she had fun and so did her two sons. I was so happy that she came. Now we just need her to go to church. We are struggling to get people to come to church right now. We are teaching a lot of good people but they just won't come and all I want to do is get them to go. I try to tell them what I am feeling in the broken Spanish that I have. Spanish is actually coming a long OK. It's still really hard to understand and talk in normal conversations, but gospel talk I have done alright. I went on an intercambio with Elder Cross yesterday and that was really fun. I really love him and I am sad he will be going home at the end of this cambio, but he taught me a lot for the one day we went out together. Another Elder is leaving this cambio in our zone. He is Elder Anderson's comp, Elder Hamblin. He is awesome too and he is a great example. I am going to miss him when he leaves. He actually lives in Orem and went to Orem High. I told Elder Cross that when he goes back to BYU he needs to go over to the house and meet all you guys. What else happened this past week? We had Zone conference and that was way cool. I learned a lot even though it was all in Spanish. After the zone conference we went out to a little town called Rio Negro with two other zones and we sang at their town party thing they were having for Christmas. We also gave out pass along cards and pamphlets. It was a good old time till it started pouring rain, ha! It was cool though. That's about all I have to report for this week.
 
Well that's about all I have  to write. I am so excited to talk to you guys tomorrow. I love you all so much.

Love,
Elder Brown

PS Get some people to write me letters, haha!! I love letters and pictures. 

December 19, 2011

Hola Familia,
   So I made it to Chile alright, pretty crazy I know. I can´t believe that Lacee is already home and that she is back into the real life. That is so crazy. So my first zone is Rahue Bajo 2. It is right outside of Osorno. It's pretty awesome. I am just trying to get to know our sector a little better and stuff. We have settled in good though. My companion is Elder Purser. He has been out a little over a year and he is from Alabama. We might have the biggest companionship in the whole mish, it's pretty sweet. I live with 4 Elders. The other companionship are the zone leaders Elder Key and Elder Cross. 
   The mission pres is really cool. I like him a lot. I was so happy when we flew into the little tiny Osorno airport. I kinda felt like a was where I was supposed to be, like it was my home. Pres was there to greet  us. We went to the mission home in Osorno and had lunch. It was way good. It was lasagna, mmmm! Then we had interviews and stuff, had some orientation, had dinner, then went to a hotel to stay the night. The next day we met our trainers and headed out to our areas. It was sad saying bye to the fantastic four of the mtc, but I am sure I will see them again. 
    This mission has to be the most beautiful mish in the world. It is way legit and I love it. It's way green and  the people are great. Now for some funny stories. So we knocked on this lady's door and she came out and with her are her crazy kids. They started running around and messing around while we were talking to her. Then all the sudden we hear this ewww from all the kids turn and look and one of the kids had dropped his pants and starting peeing. It was funny.  But little kids are not the only ones that pee in public. Yesterday we saw a drunk guy in the street and he was just peeing in a corner ha. The drunks always want to talk to us and we always just hear this loud mormones and turn around to see guys who are just about to pass out beckoning us to come talk to them. It's funny. There are a lot of Evangelical people here and they like to fight with us. It's pretty funny to see my comp try to talk to them and I have no idea what they are saying. Then I just pipe in and tell them who we are and that the gospel is true and the Book of Mormon is true and we are the only ones that have the authority to baptize. Then we leave, it's pretty funny. 
   So I got some awesome news. We can skype this Christmas, meaning you can see my face and I get to see you. So you guys need to set up an account and get a camera to hook  up to the comp. or just use someones mac. You can send me all the info about your account before Saturday because we have another p day Saturday for some weird reason. So email me before then. I will be skyping you from the mission home at 8:30 here, so I am not sure what time it will be there. I am so excited.
   So the mission rule is we only write one email to home so you will only get one from me every week and I will just include everything for everyone in one. 
The address you send all the mail to is the mission home or office. Here is the address.
 
Elder Tanner Brown 
Mision Chile Osorno 
Casilla  7-0
Osorno Chile 
 
Well I love you so much family. I have not got that package that you have sent yet, but it takes a way long time to come. I love you all. I hope everything is going well and you guys are all reading the scrips. Lacee don´t get married too fast. Caiden I love you. Keep reading and preparing for when you will come here. 
Love,
Elder Bown

December 7, 2011

Hola familia y amigos,
   Once again parents, sorry i couldn´t write one just to you but i have no time. This week was a really good week. We lost our native companions yesterday because they left to the mission field. There is a new batch coming in tomorrow but we don´t get any of them since we will only be here for a week more and all the other gringos are here for three more weeks. Everything is awesome in here. The other night they had a big revealing of Christmas lights and we got to have cake and take pictures. It was so awesome. We were all so happy. After i am done with this we get to go on a tour of Lima. I am so excited and then we get to play night soccer.
   So for your questions, if i can remember them, we have no idea what the plans are for us leaving. They don´t give them to us until the day before we leave because they want us to stay focused. So i can´t answer any of those questions except we are still leaving on Tuesday next week, i believe, ha i know nothing else.
   So guess what i got to do this last week on Saturday? I got to go proselyting. It was so amazing. We went with our latino comps and me and Elder Diaz marched out and knocked on doors. I loved every second of it. There is no better feeling then looking someone in the eye and testifying of a truth like prayer or the Book of Mormon. It was a wonderful experience and we ended up teaching one full lesson and we committed him to be baptized if he came to know of the BoM truth. It was awesome.
  Well that's about it for this week. Everything is good here. My clothes are all working fine and i am enjoying every bit of it. I love you all so much i wish i had more time to tell you more.
   Con muhco amor!
Elder Brown