This week on "Elder Brown In Iowa"...

• Ch*ndler passes the sacrament for the very first time.
• Elder Brown gets on the scale and sees the numbers 167.4 lbs.
• J*nnifer gets baptized!
• So dim the lights, buckle up, and put out your footrests, cause here it comes!

Family!

I love you so much! I love hearing from you and getting your letters. Brooke, thank you so much for your insights... those really help me. I know that sometimes I seem kinda crazy in my emails, but sometimes a pickmeup is exactly what I need. I loved that. I think I'll print it off and take it with me. I can't believe you are moving in with Aunt Becky! Tell them I love them and I am grateful for their love.

Michael, thanks always for your letters. I'd love to see pictures of the family!

So a follow up on my 86 year old friend... We have had the WORST luck with finding him a member friend. The members that we have brought with us have been kinda... overbearing. They are great great members who love the gospel, but they have scared him a little bit. He said, "I like your people, but I'm worried that if I didn't join your church they would never talk to me again..." ah man... but we're working with him. The lessons that we have had with him have been filled with the Spirit and powerful. The Lord is proud of this man's life and desires him to know the fullness of the Doctrine of Christ.

As for meeting my new mission president, I didn't get a boatload of time to speak with him yet. He was really busy and trying to figure things out at zone conference. He is fairly quiet, but is a BRILLIANT man and extremely loving. He isn't really what I expected, but I really like him :-)

This past week, I had the incredible experience of seeing J*nnifer get baptized. Elder Adamson found her about 4 1/2 months ago, and when I got here. After working day in and day out, the Lord blessed us with a baptism. She was baptized in the Nauvoo Stake Center, and then right after, we took her, her husband, and her two little kids around the Nauvoo temple and talked to them about getting sealed. Her husband is too macho to admit it, but I think he teared up at the baptism...:)

Our next miracle was that our recent convert, 12 year old Ch*ndler passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday! He was so nervous, but he did great.

And yes. Let it be known to all the world. I have gained 20 pounds since I got here. Now let me clarify, I don't think it's all fat! Elder Adamson and I run three times a week and he makes me work out super hard in order for me to "get big" Whatever that means. Just look at the pictures. I'll let you judge... haha

One of those pictures is of my wonderful district. Transfers are Thursday, so we're losing a couple of the sisters, but the rest of us are still here!

As for what you should tell the people in Mission Prep... tell them to remember who the Senior Companion is. I was super antsy and agitated on Sunday morning, thinking that there was no way I could do this for two years and not go nutso. As we went to our investigator's houses, I kept praying for relief, I got nothing again and again. I hoped for any sort of answer to prayer, but I felt nothing! It took until I was sitting in sacrament, partaking of that wonderful healing ordinance. I finally was calm. It just washed over me. Peace and utter calm. I felt the Spirit whisper, "You don't need to be afraid as long as you remember who is your senior companion." Christ will ALWAYS be the senior companion. Christ will always comfort you. The most wonderful woman I've ever met said it this way, "He is our great hope in this life." That's truth. Remember who your senior companion is, and He will lead effortlessly.

I love you. Keep up the hard work. Know that you are in my prayers and I love your letters!

Love,
Elder Brown