December 17, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos,

 

Wow pops, I am glad to hear that all is well and that you weren't injured in the accident. That is so crazy. For some reason when I got on to do email today and saw that no one had written I had a feeling that something happened, then, as I was writing president I got an email from you and of course something had happened. I am very glad to hear that all is well though. I haven't got anything from Mom this morning yet, so she will probably mad when she gets this before she is able to write. This week has been a crazy and a tuff one but as well very good. Just pretty much a lot of emotions packed into one week. I will tell you more about it later.

 

Well, from what Dad told me it sounds like the week was a really busy one, and to finish off with that crash I am sure you have seen better weeks ha, but hey, if we never had bad weeks we would never know what good weeks are. As well, we would not be able to develop Christ-like attributes like diligence, patience, faith or hope. This is something that I have been slowly learning here in the mission is to look at all trials, afflictions, infirmites and even accidents with an attitude of "If ........... (something negative) never happened, we would never learn ...........(something positive)" This has really helped me to keep a better attitude and as well to really search for ways to learn and grow from the hard things that often confront us in our lives. So my example for you today is "If there was never black ice on the street we would never appreciate a good nice dry road." I have also found that a little bit of humor never hurts in a difficult situation.

 

My following example is to kinda explain to you all how this last week was. "If we were never tired, worn out, and exhausted, we would never learn how to be diligent." That is the phrase of this last week. Wow I was tired at the end of this last week. I will start from the beginning. Tuesday we had intercambios with the zone leaders, so me and Elder Renshaw in the morning went on a 2 and a half hour bus ride to Lanco, the zone leaders sector, and then Elder Walker and I took another 2 and a half hour bus ride right back to Pangi to start working. Elder Walker is one awesome Elder. I learned a ton from him and we are very similar in a lot of ways, one of the biggest being the fact that we both love fishing. Although he is much more experienced than me on the subject of catching big fish haha. It was a great intercambio though. Thursday the four of us Elders from Pangi woke up at 5 in the morning to be able to take a bus down to Valdivia and be there before ten for a Zone Conference. It was an awesome conference and also I was able to see many of my great friends there, namely my kid Elder Jensen, Rytting, Carmen, and last but for sure not least my mtc comp Elder Cowley. I love that guy. The conference was great and we talked about a lot, but one of my favorite parts was talking about how we can use our agency to become the 4th missionary. Lacee can explain what that is. It was awesome. Then to finish the week off we found out the new transfers and Elder Renshaw is headen south to Punta Arenas and to my suprise I will be training again!!!!! I am so excited to get another new one. We are going to tear things up out here in Pangi. I don't know who he is yet, but I am going to get him Thursday. I am excited. Pres called me Sat. night to tell me. It was funny he didn't tell me before because I saw him so much this week because he was here in Pangi looking at the house for the couple missionaries.

 

Well, I better end so I can put on some pics. I love you all and I thank you for your prayers and support I need them. I love the mission with all my heart and I am so thankful for my Savior and for what he has done for me so I can become better. Love you all.

 

Elder Brown

 

Ps I love the 12 days of Christmas I am opening them everyday and the stories are awesome. 

1. Pangui!!!!

2. Elder Cowley and I at zone conference - they gave us Christmas hats and we sang some carols

3. The pigs at the house of Luis and Vitalia. Haha I love chile!

 

 

December 10, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Wow, does time fly or what?! Lacee made me really think about that when she said that she will have been home for a whole year this next month. That is crazy! I feel kinda old as a missionary now, but then again, it seems like just yesterday that I got here to Chile. This week I will also be completing 1 year in Chile, crazy!!!!! Sounds like the Christmas season is in full swing there in O town. It sure is here in Pangi now, considering how fast that three of us got packages this week ha. Yep mom, you don't have to worry, it got here, as well as the present from Britt from ArtsCow. Dad, that is so cool that you get to go work in Kanab. I sure do love that place. I remember one of the last days that I spent there in Kanab before coming out in the mission. We were with the whole fam out behind Matt's house and I just sat there looking around knowing that I wouldn't be back there for 2 years, or see a lot of my fam for 2 years, and I got emotional. I think I hid it pretty well and I don't think anyone saw me ha. I sure do love my FAM and Kanab.

 

That is so cool that Kenz is going to Honduras! Tell her congrats from me, and good luck with Spanish, but that it's not too hard when you've got the Lord on your side helping you. That's the only way I learned Spanish. Even with the amazing help from sister Burdett, I still needed the help of the Lord to get it through my thick head. I can't find my vitamins mom. I don't know where they went, sorry. I can't remember any other questions, sorry. I will get to work on my tooth then this week.

 

Alright, now a little for my week. It was a very interesting one and a little hard, but that's alright we are going to get it done this week. Monday at 6 we got a call from the office saying that Elder Moreno had to go to Santiago to do stuff for his visa and that he had to leave in like an hour, ha, so we rushed to get him off. We were here in the whole city as a trio, trying to work in two sectors and it had it's toll on the work, but we kept working hard and we had a good time, us three together. Elder Moreno got back on Friday and we were able to get some more done. On Sunday we ate with a family of members and the mom has been a member for almost 50 years. She has 2 kids that live in Orem and Provo haha how cool is that?! Her daughter and her family live there behind Target ha. We had a good time talking a little bit about my good old home. She has visited Orem like three times. Right now I can't think about much more that happened this week, but I know that more happened.

 

Now for the work. We are doing good and still just working with the same investigators trying to help the family get married and we are teaching a lot of youth of 19 to 21 years old that are all really interested. They seem to all be related here in Pangi - it's kinda funny. We have a lot of great people that are listening to us and we are just really excited about the people here in Pangi. They are so nice and I love them. Something that I was studying a little bit this week was the difference between sacrificing our will and consecrating it, and the difference between the two. Sacrifice is when our will bites the bullet when we do the Lord's will but we hold on to our will. Consecrating our will is to drop and forget our will entirely and to grab ahold of the Lord's and make it ours. When we do that the Lord blesses us a hundred fold as it says in Matt 19:26, I believe but am not sure ha. "He who forsakes father, mother, brother, sister, truck, good food, and friends for my sake will receive a hundred fold" That was the Elder Brown translation, just so you all know. I hope to be able to become that kind of missionary who drops all else to do the Lord's will, to make my will His will, so that I can do what he wants me to do so that he can bless others through me. I love the work of the Lord. I have no doubt of its truthfulness. I know that Jesus Christ knows how to help us to overcome weaknesses that seem to swallow us up. I have experienced that help. I am trying to sing that redeeming song every day out here in Chile. 

I love you all so much.

 

Love,

Elder Brown

 

Dear Jenna,

If you can tell me your birthday that would be great because I forgot..... I am a terrible person I am so sorrry ha.

Love,

Elder Brown

 

Brother Turner I love you my brother from another mother haha thanks for the email.

Love,

Elder Brownsito

December 3, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos.

It is so great to hear from all of you. I can not express how much love I feel for you all. Thanks for always remembering me and praying for me out here. The prayers are always needed. I can't remember much of the questions that you asked me because it has been a crazy day and you will see why from the pic that I just attached. I will tell you more about that later.

Here are my answers to the questions that I remember: No, we are not close to the office. We are like 5 or 6 hours from there. Sadly, I never see my bud Elder Anderson. My tooth is not bugging me yet but the office can't do much to help me because they are far away. I have to pay it will my own money and from what I have found so far it will be like 50 dollars for a silver filling and like 80 or 90 for a white one. I don't know what to do. What do you think. I haven't heard from anyone really at all, ha, but no biggy, we are just out working hard and getting things done out here. Oh ya, where is your friend Tanya from?

Well now, for a bit on down here in Chile. Everything is going really well. We are just working hard, walking up and down hills and teaching lots. We have been finding a lot of good people and we are working with a lot of people that I am pretty sure will be able to get baptized here in December. We are looking foward to a really good month. Elder Renshaw and me are getting along great. I think it has something to do with the fact that he is just like my good old friend Rick Doxey. I am always laughing with him. We are just enjoying working hard together while laughing all along the way. We have been working a lot with Luis and Vitalia and their son Bastian. They are talking and praying about whether they should get married or not. I sure am hoping that they can get that answer and folow it. They are awesome and I love them so much. Vitalia invited us to come with them to dedicate the grave of her mom, who died 3 years ago in a fire that burned down their whole house and left them with nothing. Vitalia asked me to dedicate it and I felt so blessed to do so. Another great experience here in the mission. They are so great and have gone through so many hard things and I know this is what they need and search for. Other than that there is not much to tell you about except for what we did today.

Today we went to a place called Huilo Huilo, and wow was it worth it, going in the pouring rain!!!! Wow, was it pretty. I am not sure if I have been to a place prettier than that. I was amazed and all I could do was stand there and stare ha. It was amazing. I am not going to lie, the pics don't do it justice. I was able to organize for a member to take us so it would be cheaper. We went as most of the zone, there was 10 of us, and it was awesome. SO WORTH IT.

Well, I always love to hear from all of you. I can't believe about all the people getting home from missions, going out on missions, and getting married. There is a new person in every single one of those groups every week. It is crazy. I sure do love all of you and I am so glad to hear from all of you. Dad, that is so cool that you get to go work in Kanab. Caiden, way to go on your game. Britt, I sure do love your fam and I can't wait to hug those two little boys of yours. Mom, I sure do love you and want to tell you that everyone that sees your pic when I show them my fam asks me... IS THAT YOUR MOM???? She is so young, they say, ha! They say you look like my older sister. I love you Mom!!! As well as everyone else. Sorry if this letter is a little short. I know that this is the Lord's work. I have never been happier doing anything else. I can not express the amount of gratitude I have towards my mission, the things I have learned and all the things I can and need to still learn. I love you all.

Love,
Elder Brown

1. Huilo Huilo waterfall
2. Only in the Grand mission Chile Osorno
3. One of my favorite treats here in Chile "La Bachata", but don't worry we all shared those haha

November 26, 2012

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Another incredibly beautiful week here in Pangi. The days just slip away, all sneeky like, so that you don't even realize how fast they go by. I am glad to hear that you passed the Thanksgiving weekend by super good. I sure do love this holiday. Sadly to say, we didn't do anything, but I did carry around with me a little post-it that I wrote all the things I was thankful for on when I thought of them. That was my activity for Thanksgiving and I sure did enjoy it. It's interesting to realize how much the mission helps you realize how good the simple things we have are. I am so eternally grateful for all the things I have learned here in the mission and I hope to continue to learn more and more. Dad, that is so cool that you are going to go work over there in "Grandpa's world"! There aint no better place to work. That is so cool. I can't wait to see what the church is going to be like after you are down, that will be cool.

 

Ok, now for some of mother's questions. Love you mother! All the packages that I have gotten have been in great shape and have looked just fine. I will be sure to tell you when I get the next one. E. Renshaw is from Iowa and he is one of the funniest guys ever. I am always laughing my head off at something that he says. My legs seem to continue to get smaller, but leaner everyday. These hills are nothing for me now haha. We have a Mamita here so everything is good. Yes, I am the district leader still. What we do here in Pangi is we have divided it in half. So the others have one half and we have the other. We got news this week that we will be having a married couple of missionaries here in Pangi as well to help the district of Los Lagos to grow. So we have been looking for a house for them. We had an awesome week this week. Oh, and still I have not been able to find a dentist, but I am working on it.

 

Alright, so now a little bit about this last week. It was an awesome one, with 4 investigators in church that are all preparing to be baptized in December. I am so excited about this next month in Pangi. We are going to see a lot of miracles done by the Lord. I want to share at least one story about this week so I will do it fast so I have time to put some pics on. So we have been teaching this golden family that lives in the country and we have to walk like 30 minutes into the country to get to their house where they raise sheep and have horses and have a huge garden where they grow everything, but mostly potatoes. Well, this family - the parents are not married - have been having a lot of problems with their relationship. One day we decided to go out there at the beggining of our work day that starts at 3. So we get there about 3:30 and there is Luis working out in the field on the potatoes. I called out to him and he came in and as soon as I saw his face I knew that something was wrong. We go inside and I began to ask how he was and he just said he was fine and all, but I didn't believe him so I continued to ask until finally he told us that he had gotten into a big fight with Vitalia, his partner. We shared with him that if he could live the Gospel with his family that they could solve their problems and achieve an eternal family where they can live in harmony forever. After that he expressed his testimony of prayer and that about an hour before we got there, about 2:30 he had said a prayer that he could have the energy to work and that if it was God's will that he would send us there to help him. Turns out that at about the same time that he said that prayer me and Elder Renshaw were doing a little bit of planning in our house and we felt that we needed to go to the house of Luis. I was so humbled to realize what had really happened and that the Lord could trust and use us weak, incapable 20 year olds to answer a simple but fervant prayer. Wow, what a testimony builder. I feel so strongly about this Gospel and I know that the Lord hears and answers our prayers, sometimes through his servants even when they might not even realize that they're an answer to a prayer.

 

I sure do love all of you. I am glad to hear that all is well. Mom, if you ever see Elder Nelson tell him I miss him too ha. Caiden, you wish that you will be able to beat me! We will just have to see in a few months more. Lacee, I hope all is well. I love you sis, and I am glad to hear from you. Oh, and find a boyfriend please, but don't get married till I get home. Britt and fam, I love you all you, are the cutest fam ever.

 

Love,

Elder Brown

1. Lake Pangipulli -  this is on the way to the country where Luis lives. We live right in front of this lake.

2. This is what happens when you go up and down hills all day.

3. We are Pangi!!!! Me and Elder Renshaw