Wow family, I cannot put into words what I have been feeling the last few days. I will try to do the best I can to share with all of you my testimony and all the things that I want to, but I promise that it will not amount up to what I really am feeling, neither will it explain what I want you to all know, but I will try my very best. I hope that this email will be understandable and that as you read it you can feel how much love I have for the Lord, his work, my family, my mission, the Chilean people and just about everything that has happened to me in the last two years of my life.
First off Mother, you must not worry. I promise that I will be living with you all for a good time. I can´t go so long with out my mother haha. I am so so so sorry to say that the package has not come. I am not sure what has happened because so many packages have gotten here, but yours mother, never comes. I am sorry. I am so glad to once again hear from all of you. I sure do love you all. Mother, thank you so much for that wonderful list of things that you wrote to me. I sure do remember that paper that I put on the side of my closet. I can´t believe that I am on the other side of that. When I put that paper up the mission was a far away thing, and here I am after almost all of it, and I feel every single one of those things with all of my heart. I cannot express the feeling of gratitude I have towards so many, but firstly, the Lord for the opportunities, the experiences and the things that I have learned in the mission. Nothing else could have taught me or given me these experiences. I hope to make my mission a point of reference for all decisions that I make after the mission. Not to live in the past, but to use the past to make the future better. Thank you mother for your kind words. I sat and read them like a little baby (another thing I learned from my mother and the mission - to be a cry baby, haha, not the best thing but whatever). Pops, thank you as well for your words of encouragement, as you reflected on my mission as well as yours and Lacee´s. Your emails throughout two years have always lifted me up as well as to push me to go harder. I have always remembered what you told me when I was working in all my jobs, that I had to work in a way that when I left the boss missed me and missed the way that I worked. I have thought a lot about that in my mission and I hope that the Lord will be pleased with what I have done and that he will miss me as a full time missionary, but I know that he expects just that and more from me as a member missionary after the mission. So there is no rest. I will get right to work. It will not end for me when the mission ends. Oh, I will be with the young men on Sunday. I hope that I can share something with them that will excite them and touch them. Just so you know, you can offer me for any help of any kind. Whether it is in the church, service, work whatever. I am going to work as soon as I get home in whatever I can get my hands on and so offer me for whatever.
Ok, I suppose that I don´t need to tell you all to much because soon I will be able to do so face to face, though with my English how it is you might understand me better when I write haha. I just want you all to know that this last week has been great where I have been able to go work in the streets and invite many people to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. It was a fun week where we were in the north of the mission doing divisions. I am writing in the middle of the sessions of conference, and so far I am loving it. The first session was amazing. I am so excited for more.
OK, to finish things up I don´t want to ramble too much, but I must try to explain, or at least give you all my testimony of this Gospel as well as for my mission.
There is not one single thing that a young man could possibly do that would be better than to serve a mission. I have never felt happier in my life, I have never learned more in my life, I have never experienced the Gospel in my life more than in the mission, and I know that it will be the same for any young man that comes out and does all he can. I love the Lord. He is our Savior. We as well as others can change. We can become better. The little things that we always mess up on can be changed. We can become like Him. It is possible through his Gospel. There is no quest longer than this, but neither is there one that brings more joy, as we see ourselves and others progress. I know that this is Christ's church because it is perfect. It keeps growing even with missionaries like Elder Brown serving for two years. He is perfect and works through very imperfect people to bring about his work. What a blessing we have to be a part of his church and serve in his work. There is a Prophet that leads the Lords Church. As we listen to him as well as read the scriptures our lives will be guided for good. We will be happy. The church is true. I know it. I have had the great opportunity to testify of it for two years, and I hope that I have many more opportunities to do so. I love this Gospel. I love you all.
I just want to tell you all thanks for all you have done for me to help me be out here. It has changed my life. I am so so so grateful for my mission. I will never forget it. It has been the best thing that I have ever done as well as the most humbling. I Love you all tons.
Love,
Elder Brown
See you soon!!!!!
I will show you all the pics when I get home.
September 28, 2013
Hola Familia y Amigos,
Wow, another week gone, another week less. I am so shocked, blown away and any other word that I could possibly come up with that expresses the feeling of complete surprisement and astonishment that is how I have been feeling lately. Wow... is all I got. Well, I sure love you all though. I am so glad to hear from all of you again after another great week. It has been a great week here in Osorno. I will fill you in later. I probably should give you the sad news first. Sorry Mom, but that package has yet to arrive. Packages continue to get here but that one, no. I hope it didn´t get lost. So, I have been thinking a lot about going back to do sports and I would love to, but I am going to have to work so hard to get back into shape and gain some weight back. I would really love to, but it will take a lot. Maybe you could look into UVU track a little bit or convince them to get a football team haha.
I am glad to hear from everyone. I got a letter from every single direct member of the family, that was cool. As well as a few others including Aunt Kanani which was really nice of her to take a little time to write me. I sure do appreciate the support that I have received from so many. I am not sure what I would be with out all the great influences that I have from my family. I received a really funny card from Grandpa and Grandma Brown that had that picture of me eating dirt when I was little. Everyone here in the office got a really good laugh out of it. I sure love those Grandparents of mine, there could not be better ones. I am so thankful for all that they have done for me.
Alright, now for a little bit about our week here in la Gran Mision Chile Osorno. We had a really awesome week and we were here in Osorno all week again. First off, last week we had interviews with Pres. like I told you, and he talked to us about how we had to help change the culture of the office, because for a long time before we got here the office has kind of been known for a place where the missionaries don´t work very much and waste a lot of time sitting there in the office so he asked us to start doing something about it. So this last week we stayed here in Osorno and we talked a lot with the Elders of the office. We set some goals and we worked the whole week in our sector to try to show the other elders of the office how it is much better to get things done well and quickly in the office so they can go out to work. It was a great week. We did not, however, get the opportunity to teach very much because we are not in our area very much so we don´t have a whole lot of investigators or people to visit, so we left with a lot of faith all this last week and even though we did not teach much I know that the Lord blessed us. Why? Because two days ago we were walking in the street just after knocking a door and no one had answered when all of the sudden a women from accross the street came running over saying "I need you I need you", haha. We got all excited as she came over to us and started telling us about her daughter and how she needed help with English. She said we needed to come over to her house the next day. We were happy that at least she wanted our help, inside we were thinking ha we are going to teach much more than just English. We have gone over the last two days just to teach English, but the whole family is super nice and we are going to start teaching a little bit of the Gospel after teaching English. We are even going today too. I know that this was a blessing from God because we left to work even though we did not have anything and He provided. He always does.
We had a lot of exciting events this last week as well. Yesterday we had a big stake activity that the zone of missionaries have been planning for the last few weeks. We had a huge movie night in the church and we decorated the inside of the church like a movie theater, made popcorn and invited everyone. Pres. Rappleye even gave us permission to watch Toy Story 3!!! Never in my life did I think Pres. was going to allow it and he did and he even came and he liked the activity. It was a great activity and quite a few people came - members, less actives, and investigators.
Then, today for P-day as a zone we went to the Beach. Can you believe that in this mission you can see volcanos, sea, mountains, snow and about everything just here in our mission? It is the best. We headed to the beach and did a little barbecue. It was a lot of fun and everyone thought it was pretty cool.
Well fam, I cannot believe that this is the second to last letter that I will write you as a missionary. I can not wrap my head around it. I just want you all to know that I know that this is the true church. I know it because first, I have felt it by the Holy Ghost. I also know it because I have seen miracles, the first one being that me being who I am and as weak as I am be able to come out here and some how teach the Gospel in away that people understand it and apply it. I could never do that on my own. I know it is true because in this work I have learned so much. I have been thinking a lot about all that I have learned here in the mission and one thing I thought about this week is that success is not determined by outside sources or circumstances, we create our own success by the things we think, say and do everyday. Success is something that is processed by our actions and has nothing to do with the results that we see with our eyes or hear from other people. Success comes within. I hope that through out my whole life I can apply this that I can create my success by applying the Gospel at every moment possible.
I love you fam. Thanks for all you do.
Wow, another week gone, another week less. I am so shocked, blown away and any other word that I could possibly come up with that expresses the feeling of complete surprisement and astonishment that is how I have been feeling lately. Wow... is all I got. Well, I sure love you all though. I am so glad to hear from all of you again after another great week. It has been a great week here in Osorno. I will fill you in later. I probably should give you the sad news first. Sorry Mom, but that package has yet to arrive. Packages continue to get here but that one, no. I hope it didn´t get lost. So, I have been thinking a lot about going back to do sports and I would love to, but I am going to have to work so hard to get back into shape and gain some weight back. I would really love to, but it will take a lot. Maybe you could look into UVU track a little bit or convince them to get a football team haha.
I am glad to hear from everyone. I got a letter from every single direct member of the family, that was cool. As well as a few others including Aunt Kanani which was really nice of her to take a little time to write me. I sure do appreciate the support that I have received from so many. I am not sure what I would be with out all the great influences that I have from my family. I received a really funny card from Grandpa and Grandma Brown that had that picture of me eating dirt when I was little. Everyone here in the office got a really good laugh out of it. I sure love those Grandparents of mine, there could not be better ones. I am so thankful for all that they have done for me.
Alright, now for a little bit about our week here in la Gran Mision Chile Osorno. We had a really awesome week and we were here in Osorno all week again. First off, last week we had interviews with Pres. like I told you, and he talked to us about how we had to help change the culture of the office, because for a long time before we got here the office has kind of been known for a place where the missionaries don´t work very much and waste a lot of time sitting there in the office so he asked us to start doing something about it. So this last week we stayed here in Osorno and we talked a lot with the Elders of the office. We set some goals and we worked the whole week in our sector to try to show the other elders of the office how it is much better to get things done well and quickly in the office so they can go out to work. It was a great week. We did not, however, get the opportunity to teach very much because we are not in our area very much so we don´t have a whole lot of investigators or people to visit, so we left with a lot of faith all this last week and even though we did not teach much I know that the Lord blessed us. Why? Because two days ago we were walking in the street just after knocking a door and no one had answered when all of the sudden a women from accross the street came running over saying "I need you I need you", haha. We got all excited as she came over to us and started telling us about her daughter and how she needed help with English. She said we needed to come over to her house the next day. We were happy that at least she wanted our help, inside we were thinking ha we are going to teach much more than just English. We have gone over the last two days just to teach English, but the whole family is super nice and we are going to start teaching a little bit of the Gospel after teaching English. We are even going today too. I know that this was a blessing from God because we left to work even though we did not have anything and He provided. He always does.
We had a lot of exciting events this last week as well. Yesterday we had a big stake activity that the zone of missionaries have been planning for the last few weeks. We had a huge movie night in the church and we decorated the inside of the church like a movie theater, made popcorn and invited everyone. Pres. Rappleye even gave us permission to watch Toy Story 3!!! Never in my life did I think Pres. was going to allow it and he did and he even came and he liked the activity. It was a great activity and quite a few people came - members, less actives, and investigators.
Then, today for P-day as a zone we went to the Beach. Can you believe that in this mission you can see volcanos, sea, mountains, snow and about everything just here in our mission? It is the best. We headed to the beach and did a little barbecue. It was a lot of fun and everyone thought it was pretty cool.
Well fam, I cannot believe that this is the second to last letter that I will write you as a missionary. I can not wrap my head around it. I just want you all to know that I know that this is the true church. I know it because first, I have felt it by the Holy Ghost. I also know it because I have seen miracles, the first one being that me being who I am and as weak as I am be able to come out here and some how teach the Gospel in away that people understand it and apply it. I could never do that on my own. I know it is true because in this work I have learned so much. I have been thinking a lot about all that I have learned here in the mission and one thing I thought about this week is that success is not determined by outside sources or circumstances, we create our own success by the things we think, say and do everyday. Success is something that is processed by our actions and has nothing to do with the results that we see with our eyes or hear from other people. Success comes within. I hope that through out my whole life I can apply this that I can create my success by applying the Gospel at every moment possible.
I love you fam. Thanks for all you do.
Love,
Elder Brown
Elder Brown
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