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
September 21, 2013
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
September 14, 2013
Hola Familia y Amigos, (I am sure you are sick of this beggining but I can´t change it now haha its been almost 2 years with the same one)
Obviously, you already all know that I feel like the time is going by faster and faster as the day gets closer and closer because probably about a million times I have said it in my emails since I started the mission. It just seems to blow me away a little more every single day. I am always so glad to hear from you all and I wanted to start my email with a couple shout outs. First, Happy B day Gramps!!!!!!! I sure do love you Grandpa and Grandma. I really have a hard time expressing myself a lot of times, but the thankfulness that I feel for you is so great, and for so many reasons. First, for the way that you, Grandpa, have lived your life. I don´t know of many others who have been such a great example to so many. Second, for all the support that you have given me since I have been out on the mission and not to mention the support you have given to so many other missionaries in our family. Third, for creating such an amazing family that reaches further than many families that I know. All that I have recently said applies to both Grandpa and Grandma Brown, I just used Grandpa more because it was his birthday. I love you both so much and I hope that you had a great B day gramps. I am glad I will be there for the next one!!!!
Second shout out is to Aunt Vicky. I got a B day card from her and I wanted to give her thanks. She has always remembered me in every special date even after being gone so long and you would think that many would forget about me, Aunt Vicky sure hasn´t. I love you Aunty haha.
Ok, now just to let you know mother, mail is now working but that package does not show... I am sorrry I will hopefully get it soon. About college, first off it makes me sick to think about a couple things. First, college in generel, haha, second how bad my grades are. WOW, I can´t believe it. I have long since repented of that, just to let you know, but it looks like I still have the price to pay for it. I am going to be working my bum off it looks like. If you are sure that it is not even worth trying to get into BYU for now I guess that I can try UVU first, but if there is a chance that I could get in I would love it. One other thing I want to ask you to look up is about night school at BYU. I heard that is a good option to get grades up. As well as a Spanish test that one can take to get a bunch of credits if you pass it. Thanks for all that you are looking up for me Mother, so that I can stay focused here. About the money, it looks like I am going to be working like a crazy man to pay for school.
Ok, this week was reallly good. We had mission leader council this week in the mission home on Thursday, but that means that pretty much all this week before that we were preparing things for that, namely numbers - lots and lots of numbers haha. Everything turned out good on the report that we made for the meeting, there were no big time problems. I got to drive President's Explorer this week and I thought that I was in a resurrected version of Dora, haha, it was pretty funny. We had divisions yesterday with the Zone leaders in La Union and that was a lot of fun. I went with Elder Amone who is a big poly guy that is going to play middle linebacker for BYU after the mission and it was super awesome. There are so many great examples to learn from hear in the mission. I sure love it.
Alright, to finish things off I just want to share something that I have learned and am still learning about here in the mission. It is something that Pres. Rappleye has taught me. He always talks about the Host and the Guest. The difference of the Host from the guest is that the Host is always productive he is always doing something and its almost always something for someone else. He is running around doing good and making things happen. A guest sits around and waits for things to be given to him. He does not do almost anything of his own will and does little good and the good that he does is usually for himself. Pres. is always trying to help us to become Hosts. I hope that I have become more of a Host in my mission because we all know that before the mission that was not the case, haha. I know that if at some moments in my mission I have been a host the good that I have done might not amount to so much. As Elder Ballard explained in one of his talks about honey bees that all they do is to only give out a 12th of a teaspoon. I hope that up to now that I have done my 12th of a teaspoon, I feel that I have tried and that there is still more that I can give to make it up to that 12th. If all that I have done even amounts up to a 12th of a teaspoon to the Lord I am so grateful what all of that has done for me. I will tell you right now it has done a lot more for me than a 12th of a teaspoon. It has blessed me so so so much. I have learned that that is how it is with the Lord. That there is no way to ever break even with him. We give a very very very little and he gives us so much more. I feel that in the last year and.... almost 2 years that I may have done what amounts to very little to the Lord, he has given me so much. I feel so overly grateful. I love you all so very much.
Love,
Elder Brown
Sorry no pics this time the camara is in the car.
Obviously, you already all know that I feel like the time is going by faster and faster as the day gets closer and closer because probably about a million times I have said it in my emails since I started the mission. It just seems to blow me away a little more every single day. I am always so glad to hear from you all and I wanted to start my email with a couple shout outs. First, Happy B day Gramps!!!!!!! I sure do love you Grandpa and Grandma. I really have a hard time expressing myself a lot of times, but the thankfulness that I feel for you is so great, and for so many reasons. First, for the way that you, Grandpa, have lived your life. I don´t know of many others who have been such a great example to so many. Second, for all the support that you have given me since I have been out on the mission and not to mention the support you have given to so many other missionaries in our family. Third, for creating such an amazing family that reaches further than many families that I know. All that I have recently said applies to both Grandpa and Grandma Brown, I just used Grandpa more because it was his birthday. I love you both so much and I hope that you had a great B day gramps. I am glad I will be there for the next one!!!!
Second shout out is to Aunt Vicky. I got a B day card from her and I wanted to give her thanks. She has always remembered me in every special date even after being gone so long and you would think that many would forget about me, Aunt Vicky sure hasn´t. I love you Aunty haha.
Ok, now just to let you know mother, mail is now working but that package does not show... I am sorrry I will hopefully get it soon. About college, first off it makes me sick to think about a couple things. First, college in generel, haha, second how bad my grades are. WOW, I can´t believe it. I have long since repented of that, just to let you know, but it looks like I still have the price to pay for it. I am going to be working my bum off it looks like. If you are sure that it is not even worth trying to get into BYU for now I guess that I can try UVU first, but if there is a chance that I could get in I would love it. One other thing I want to ask you to look up is about night school at BYU. I heard that is a good option to get grades up. As well as a Spanish test that one can take to get a bunch of credits if you pass it. Thanks for all that you are looking up for me Mother, so that I can stay focused here. About the money, it looks like I am going to be working like a crazy man to pay for school.
Ok, this week was reallly good. We had mission leader council this week in the mission home on Thursday, but that means that pretty much all this week before that we were preparing things for that, namely numbers - lots and lots of numbers haha. Everything turned out good on the report that we made for the meeting, there were no big time problems. I got to drive President's Explorer this week and I thought that I was in a resurrected version of Dora, haha, it was pretty funny. We had divisions yesterday with the Zone leaders in La Union and that was a lot of fun. I went with Elder Amone who is a big poly guy that is going to play middle linebacker for BYU after the mission and it was super awesome. There are so many great examples to learn from hear in the mission. I sure love it.
Alright, to finish things off I just want to share something that I have learned and am still learning about here in the mission. It is something that Pres. Rappleye has taught me. He always talks about the Host and the Guest. The difference of the Host from the guest is that the Host is always productive he is always doing something and its almost always something for someone else. He is running around doing good and making things happen. A guest sits around and waits for things to be given to him. He does not do almost anything of his own will and does little good and the good that he does is usually for himself. Pres. is always trying to help us to become Hosts. I hope that I have become more of a Host in my mission because we all know that before the mission that was not the case, haha. I know that if at some moments in my mission I have been a host the good that I have done might not amount to so much. As Elder Ballard explained in one of his talks about honey bees that all they do is to only give out a 12th of a teaspoon. I hope that up to now that I have done my 12th of a teaspoon, I feel that I have tried and that there is still more that I can give to make it up to that 12th. If all that I have done even amounts up to a 12th of a teaspoon to the Lord I am so grateful what all of that has done for me. I will tell you right now it has done a lot more for me than a 12th of a teaspoon. It has blessed me so so so much. I have learned that that is how it is with the Lord. That there is no way to ever break even with him. We give a very very very little and he gives us so much more. I feel that in the last year and.... almost 2 years that I may have done what amounts to very little to the Lord, he has given me so much. I feel so overly grateful. I love you all so very much.
Love,
Elder Brown
Sorry no pics this time the camara is in the car.
September 7, 2013
Oh my goodness family, I can not explain to you how tired I feel this week, haha! It has been one crazy week. I am sure I will hear from you all later today but we got on to write right now, so sorry if you have any questions I will have to answer them next week.
So, to tell you all a little bit about what has happened in this last week...... I am not sure where to start, so much has happened and I feel like I have been around the world and back, even though I haven´t even gone that far. This last week though, we went over 1000 kilometers doing intercambios and trainers trainings. It has been one full week and I am feeling it now. I will start with the beginning. We had planned on heading to Chiloe on Monday, but we ended up leaving Osorno really late so we just got to Puerto Montt and stayed the night there. Tuesday, bright and early, we headed for Chiloe and we were confronted with a few problems, such as strikes in the middle of the highway, so that we couldn´t pass and we ended up missing the trainers training in Chiloe, but we got there later that day to be able to do intercambios with the Zone leaders. Wednesday we went to a district meeting in Chiloe and then headed to Puerto Montt where we did intercambios with another set of zone leaders. Thursday we did another trainers training and then had intercambios with the other zone leaders of Puerto Montt. Wow, I was tired byThursday but it wasn´t over yet, haha, yesterday we had a trainers training in Frutillar and then intercambios with the Zone leaders in Puerto Varas. To say the least, I am finishing this week wet and tired because this week I think that it did not stop raining until today, so we were pretty wet all week, but the drops of water did not stop us from having some awesome divisions and I sure did learn from every single one of them. Life is good, the mission is the greatest and a little bit of water will not stop us from working in the work of the Lord and it will defininately not stop God from bringing forth his work.
We got back this morning just in time to eat a great pancake breakfast with the Goodmans and the office elders; it was a great time. I have not had such a great breakfast since before the mission. It was sure a good one.
Haha, thanks Mom, Dad and Britt for taking the time to write me. Everything is going great with my Comp. We are just as busy as ever. I am so glad to always hear from you all, and I was able to see the video of the boys and Caiden. All the guys in the office thought that it was pretty funny. It was pretty funny and they really are so cute. I love those little guys.
Haha, I promise to you all that I have never felt so tired in my whole life. But at the same time I have never felt better in my whole life. This work has changed my life so much and one of the greatest opportunities that I have had lately has been to be able to visit with all the new elders in the mission and share with them the love that I have for the mission. Lots of times it is so hard for me to express myself to them and help them to understand the magnitude of what they are starting now. It will change the lives of so many. They seem to have heard it a million times, but I feel that they do not comprehend it. I feel that I am just about beginning to understand a little of the magnitude that it has had in my life and in the lives of others. I am sure that there is much about it that I still don´t understand, but I so badly want these new Elders to understand at least what I have come to understand in this short time. There is no better choice that they have ever made than to come out here and serve the Lord. I just love it so much. I want to thank all those that helped me to make such a choice, and who have done so much to support me as I have been doing it. I love you all so much and thank you all for all you do for me.
Love,
Elder Brown
1. Camino a Chiloe
2. Puerto Varas
3. Puerto Varas
4. Pancake breakfast in the Goodmans
So, to tell you all a little bit about what has happened in this last week...... I am not sure where to start, so much has happened and I feel like I have been around the world and back, even though I haven´t even gone that far. This last week though, we went over 1000 kilometers doing intercambios and trainers trainings. It has been one full week and I am feeling it now. I will start with the beginning. We had planned on heading to Chiloe on Monday, but we ended up leaving Osorno really late so we just got to Puerto Montt and stayed the night there. Tuesday, bright and early, we headed for Chiloe and we were confronted with a few problems, such as strikes in the middle of the highway, so that we couldn´t pass and we ended up missing the trainers training in Chiloe, but we got there later that day to be able to do intercambios with the Zone leaders. Wednesday we went to a district meeting in Chiloe and then headed to Puerto Montt where we did intercambios with another set of zone leaders. Thursday we did another trainers training and then had intercambios with the other zone leaders of Puerto Montt. Wow, I was tired byThursday but it wasn´t over yet, haha, yesterday we had a trainers training in Frutillar and then intercambios with the Zone leaders in Puerto Varas. To say the least, I am finishing this week wet and tired because this week I think that it did not stop raining until today, so we were pretty wet all week, but the drops of water did not stop us from having some awesome divisions and I sure did learn from every single one of them. Life is good, the mission is the greatest and a little bit of water will not stop us from working in the work of the Lord and it will defininately not stop God from bringing forth his work.
We got back this morning just in time to eat a great pancake breakfast with the Goodmans and the office elders; it was a great time. I have not had such a great breakfast since before the mission. It was sure a good one.
Haha, thanks Mom, Dad and Britt for taking the time to write me. Everything is going great with my Comp. We are just as busy as ever. I am so glad to always hear from you all, and I was able to see the video of the boys and Caiden. All the guys in the office thought that it was pretty funny. It was pretty funny and they really are so cute. I love those little guys.
Haha, I promise to you all that I have never felt so tired in my whole life. But at the same time I have never felt better in my whole life. This work has changed my life so much and one of the greatest opportunities that I have had lately has been to be able to visit with all the new elders in the mission and share with them the love that I have for the mission. Lots of times it is so hard for me to express myself to them and help them to understand the magnitude of what they are starting now. It will change the lives of so many. They seem to have heard it a million times, but I feel that they do not comprehend it. I feel that I am just about beginning to understand a little of the magnitude that it has had in my life and in the lives of others. I am sure that there is much about it that I still don´t understand, but I so badly want these new Elders to understand at least what I have come to understand in this short time. There is no better choice that they have ever made than to come out here and serve the Lord. I just love it so much. I want to thank all those that helped me to make such a choice, and who have done so much to support me as I have been doing it. I love you all so much and thank you all for all you do for me.
Love,
Elder Brown
1. Camino a Chiloe
2. Puerto Varas
3. Puerto Varas
4. Pancake breakfast in the Goodmans
August 31, 2013
Wow, another week has blown past me and I am not sure where it went, but with it took 15 elders home and brought 20 new ones. It was a crazy last week. I will inform you all more about that later. Once again it's a gusto to hear from you all again. I sure do love you all. I know I say the same every single letter but there is no other way for me to describe it. I just love every single one of you.
My new comp. is Elder Virhuez, haha, I have known for so long that it just seemed to me that you all knew. I have known for like 3 weeks that he was going to be my comp. He is an awesome guy. He is from Argentina. I like him a lot and we are going to work hard. Well, I will start with the beginning of the crazy week. Monday was normal and we prepared everything for the new guys to get here. The new elders got here on Tuesday. It was a super crazy day where we were running around all day until about 10 at night. I woke up super early that day too, and I drove down to Puerto Montt with 2 of the office elders and left them there in the airport, and took the new Latinos back up to Osorno. Then a second group headed down to Puerto Montt in the afternoon to pick up the gringos that came from the Mexico MTC. It was the first group from there. We were giving a welcome presentation to them in groups, first the Latinos in Spanish, then the gringos in English and I cannot tell you how bad I was at English! I am sure you can kind of tell by my spelling and vocab. Ha, the new Elders thought it was pretty funny that I mixed so much of my Spanish and English. This new group was so awesome, they were full of energy and ready to go to work. One of the best groups I have seen come to the mission. They are so young though. I was so suprised, an Elder got here from Timpanogos, but I didn´t know him because I had graduated before he was even in high school, but he does know Caiden. His name is Elder Burop. Wednesday we had a meeting to train the new trainers that are going to be training the new group that got here and they were all great. All of them are just such great missionaries. I feel so blessed to get to know so many of them and to learn from each one of them. Then the hardest part of all came - 15 elders were preparing to go home. The last devotional and super are always the worst for me. It makes me so sad to see such great missionaries go home. I love every single one of them so much. We said goodbye to my companions, Elder Balbuena and Stanley, which was so hard to do. As well as my good friend Elder Crosby, who I lived with for 4 months. I was so happy to see pics of him as he got home, baptizing his mother!!! It was so cool to hear that and see the pics. Then the rest of the week has been pretty normal, We have been getting to know the sector more and we had an acitivity yesterday as a ward and us missionaries sang a few songs for the festival of songs that we did. It was pretty fun. Now here I am writing my wonderful fam.
Dad, that was such a good story to hear and I think that it explains much better the principle that I was trying to share. Now days I find it hard to express myself in the way that I want for two main reasons. First because my english is so bad and second is that with lots of time in the mission elders start to be big babies and I think I am at the point that I am just a big baby. Oh, I forgot to tell you what we did for my B day. Hna Rappleye made a cake and we shared it on my B day as well as all the office elders and I ate pizza for lunch. It was a good bday in the mission, simple, and that's all one needs. I am sorry to tell you mother, that the package has not come yet, but I think it will get here. I was also glad to hear from a few friends for my birthday in some emails today - thanks great friends I love you all.
Alright fam well, I love you all so much. I thank you all for what you do. I just want to share one thing with you all before I head off. I never liked it when Elders got home and talked about how they learned how to be salesmen thanks to the mission. I always said that they were completely different things. Then Pres. Rappleye, who has been a salesmen his whole life, shared something with me that changed a little my perspective. He taught Elder Balbuena and me that sales like everyone knows it now, is not really sales. Now days people just try to put their product on you, and force you to buy it no matter what you need, want, or can afford. He said sales is first listening to the costumer, getting to know them, finding what they search for, need and want, then with all this information collected you help them out. You give them what they need. You show them how that specific product can help them, so that when they leave that store they know that you are their friend, that you helped them get what was best for their needs, and that they will be coming back. This is the same as missionary work. We must first listen to those who are not members, get to know them, their desires, needs, and problems. Then, after knowing all this, show them the one product that will solve all their needs - The Gospel. We help those who do not know the truth to realize why they need the Gospel, how it will solve any problem, need, or desire that they will ever have. There is nothing better to sell than the Gospel, that is when we are talking about real sales, not the kind of sales that I have never liked (selling football cards that have no value and will solve no ones problems). The Gospel is the solution to life. I hope that I can be a salesman of this product the rest of my life. Whether it is as a missionary, brother, son, father, friend, or examples I want to always be selling this product. The Gospel is true. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Brown
1. The ending group
2. Hna Goodman giving a cake to blow out the candles
3. B day lunch
4. Osorno Zone almost all of us and Elder Homie (the little guy in my had haha)
5. Me and my new comp.
August 24, 2013
Hola Familia y Amigos,
Wow, what an awesome week. I will tell you more later. First... I love hearing from you all. Thank you so much for remembering me, even though I am sure that it takes a big effort to find time in the day to write me. I love you all so very much and thank you for all that you do for me. I am glad to hear that all is well. That is so crazy that Caiden is now a Junior and that he already started the school year. I didn't even realize that it was time for that. That blows me away. AS well, that Ryan Draper is married, ha wow, that is so crazy. It seems to me that almost all my friends are home now. I might be the last one standing, but I am going down swinging. That is so cool that Lacee is working up there in Heber keeping the team alive. As well, its always great to hear from the Peterson family and to see how big the boys are. It blows me away. Wade sounds like he is working a lot but that he is doing great. I appreciate every single one of you and I love you all so much.
Well, I was so hurried in writing you last week that I forgot to tell you some pretty big news... Elder Balbuena, me, Pres and Sister Rappleye headed down to Coyhaique, which is the second most southern zone in our mission, which also requires getting on a plane, and happened to be the only part of the mission that I did not know. Well we left Wednesday and we got back a few hours ago. Ha, try that one on for size. Who would have thought that I would fly so much in my mission. It was an awesome week there though. We went for the zone conference and we took advantage to do as many divisions as possible to get to know the missionaries and learn from them. I will tell you I learned a lot from a lot of great Elders. It was an awesome week of learning. E Balbuena and I tried to take advantage of traveling with Pres. Rappleye for a lot of hours to ask him a lot of questions and learn as much as we could from him. I tell you right now Pres. does not disappoint - he taught us so much in the last few days and hours that we were traveling together. While there in Coyhaique I had an experience that I have never had in the mission, haha, a bunch of kids threw rocks at me and Elder Hawkins while we were in divisions. It was pretty funny, luckily they only hit us with snow balls, haha. It was a good week though. I loved it so much. I learned so much and Coyhaique looks a lot like Utah, so that was really cool as well.
Before I wrap things up I will share just a few things of what I learned. Through out the time in the mission so far I have learned a lot about the importance of the spirit. Learning more about this, I have found myself always trying to verify whether I am following the spirit or not. Well, we were talking to Pres. Rappleye about this on the way to Coyhaique and he said something that really changed my way of thinking. It does not matter if we know whether we are following the spirit, it is important that we are always trying to follow him. Why do we have to know if the spirit guided us to do some thing? So we can get prideful that we know that the spirit guides us and end up losing that same spirit we were looking for? I learned that it does not matter whether we know if the spirit guided us to do something, but that we are always trying to follow impressions whether they come from the spirit or not. Go and do and don´t judge the outcomes. The spirit is so important and with out him we could do nothing, but searching for how much he guides us will do nothing. Always focusing on inviting him and following what we feel is the way to go. I hope that I can learn to focus on following the spirit more than focusing on whether he is guiding me or not. I love the Gospel, it is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love the mission, there is nothing better in the world for young men and young women. There is much more to learn, much more to improve and that is what I am going to go try and do. I love you all.
Love,
Elder Brown
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