Hola Familia y amigos,
Here we are again writing this saturday afternoon. We just got back from a baptism that some missionaries had and we decided to go. The bad part is that we missed the baptism because we had to run home to change into our mission clothes. We got there for the last hymn and prayer. Well, once again it is awesome to hear from all of you, though many trunky comments were said. I will act as if I did not hear them, haha. Don´t worry mother, the carpenter story at the end made up for all the trunkiness! It's always good to hear about what is going own over there in O town. I can´t believe the BYU Utah game is today. I can always hear all the noise and shouts from down here! I hope that everything went well in Caiden's soccer game. I am sure that you are there right now cheering him on.
OK, now for a little bit about this last week... It was probably the most un-busy that I have ever had. Why??? Because it was the 18th of September, which means a lot of parties and drunk people to celebrate the independence of Chile. It's not like the 4th of July in the states when it is just one day, this has been going on since Wednesday and hasn´t let up till today, haha. These Chileans sure like to party. Well, for all the partying and stuff it made it really difficult for us as missionaries to work. So we really could only work with set appointments and service stuff. So we cleaned churches and houses and ate a lot this last week. It was a little slow though. More so for us because we couldn´t go anywhere and we don´t have as many people that we know in our sector so we didn´t have very many set appointments.
This week we did have interviews with President. We had ours on Wednesday and they were great. The first thing that Pres. asked me when I went into his office was... Are you trunky? I said no but the Elders of the office are really trying! He just laughed and said good don´t let them get to you. We had a great interview and of course I learned a lot. I asked Pres. how we can always be doers of the word and not just sayers. He gave me some cool answers that would be really difficult to write here so I will tell you all some other time. I sure do love to be here and to learn from so many different people. It continues to change my life more and more and I sure hope that I can continue to change because I still got a lot of rough rough edges.
Ok, so I haven´t really told you all a lot about Elder Virhuez. He is from Argentina and he is great. He has about 2 transfers more in his mission. His family are all members besides his Dad. He is a great Elder and we get along just fine. We do fight a lot, as in pushing each other and stuff like that, just joking around with each other. It's like me and Caiden because he always ends up saying that his shoulder hurts or something like that haha. We have a good time together though.
Alright, I don´t want to bore you all but I have to share with you all something that I found in Preach my Gospel. Well, I have always tried to put in words the things that I have felt and feel while here in the mission and it is always impossible that it comes out right, because everyone has already said all those things a thousand times, but I have now found what explains my feelings the best in doctrine form and I love it. In PMG, page 4, it talks about the power and authority of a missionary. At the bottom it gives 7 examples of how we should feel and see this power while serving a mission and it explains what I have felt in the mission:
1. Being led by the spirit to say things right when they need to be said. I know that this has happened because some how I have been able to teach the Gospel in a language that before I could not speak and some how people have learned the truth I know that was not by me but by the spirit. What a great privilege to even be a part of such a thing.
2. Receiving guidance on where to go. Though very weak, some how the Lord has guided so many missionaries to find people who are ready for the Gospel. I feel that on a few occasions the Lord has guided me though I was not trying nor noticed that he was doing so. He is kind enough to involve me in such a great work even when I may not be worthy of so many blessings.
3. Having testimony confirmed by the spirit. My testimony has been confirmed through much study and prayer and experiences that this is God's church and he has been merciful enough to confirm the truth of my small testimony to others.
4. I have been able to take part in ordinances of salvation. There is nothing that brings more joy.
5. Being able to give priesthood blessings. I have been able to feel that the Lord's power has truly been restored to this earth while being able to use it to bless others.
6. Praying with and for the people you work with. I am not sure how many prayers I have said so far in my mission, but it has been a lot. I know God listens to our prayers. I have had great experiences kneeling in prayer in the house of someone I recently met and be able to feel the spirit testify of the truthfulness of this Gospel.
7. Be able to express your love for the Lord, your family, fellow missionaries and the people that you serve. This may be my favorite one. There are no other things that I love more than these. I feel so much love for all of them. It makes me so happy to feel this love. I am so thankful that the Lord up to this point has let me have such great experiences.
I love this Gospel with all my heart. I love the mission. I love you all so much. Thanks for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Elder Brown
1.Putting a grill in the car
2.Trying to fix something on the car
3.Mission home
4.same
5.Eating lunch with the Goodmans
6.Partying for the 18th
7.Chilean at heart
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