Thursday, August 8, 2013

Spiritual truth doesn't come from logic


Familia!
You know, whenever Chase sent letters home, he always got to start his letter with some foreign language, so I decided I'd try that too. As weird as some people talk out here in Iowa, it's still not a foreign language...
Anyway! I really appreciate all of the letters that I got. I included a little soundbyte recorded on the voice recorder you sent! Hope you like it! By the way, the sirens in the background at the end are an ambulance and a firetruck. They stopped at our next door neighbor's... I don't have a clue why.
I had no idea that you were doing a triathalon until Grandpa told me, Dad! That's awesome! Are you and Michael doing that together? And I love hearing about stake coordination and how that goes. You are a wonderful missionary, and I bet it's neat to work with the mission president as well. As for having 26 baptisms in the stake, that's INCREDIBLE. Our zone covers about half of a stake, and we average about 6 baptisms a month. I don't know what you are doing, but keep it up! haha
Is Chase thinking about someday settling at an accounting firm like the one that Michael is at? That would be so fun if EVERYONE ended up in Chico. I solemnly swear that I will try to end up there:)
It's gotta be kinda a party with everyone at home now. How is it having Brooklyn and Caleb there? Is Caleb starting to walk or anything yet?
So for this week, we had a little scare with our golden investigator! Do you remember me talking about R*onda? She was the lady that was a miracle when we found her. We taught her the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity and Law of Tithing all in the same lesson. At first she was great with all of them! She was living them anyway, all except for the fact that she drank tea. We had a misunderstanding where she thought that she was going to be able to drink a certain type of tea, so we tried to clear it up in the next lesson. The members that were at the lesson are so wonderful for R*onda, but the discussion got kinda crazy cause she didn't want to give up her tea. She had done a lot of research on how it was really good for you, and we started trying to prove logically that it was bad. NEVER USE LOGIC. The Spirit is the only one that can confirm truth. Proof of spiritual truths doesn't do a thing. They need a testimony of it. so, at the end, when everything was kinda intense, we bore our testimonies on the word of wisdom then asked her to pray about it.
The next day we watched the pageant with her, and she mentioned that we had taken away "her tea flavored lollipop..." Suspicious.
She needed to be living the Word of Wisdom by Saturday, and we helped her move on Friday, so we were going to bring it up again. When we started into the conversation, she interrupted and said, "guys, I gave it up the night we talked about it. I'm sorry that I was acting like a two year old!" She laughed, and I cried for joy. It was a miracle! this woman is truly an answer to prayers.
Now for your questions, Dad.
I have been very very lonely without my guitar... I miss it so much! It's a necessary sacrifice, but boy do I wish I could play it! A couple of weeks ago a member offered that I could play hers, but we were running out of time, and it took all my willpower to say no. Oh boy I miss it a lot! It's just hard not to be constantly creating that thing. It was something I focused on daily if not hourly. It was part of who I was! But I'm doing good without it. I have found other ways to relieve my stress!
Local customs... well, tons of men walk around with their shirts off. Pretty much no man wears a shirt on a hot day except for the missionaries. I have no idea why... too many lessons have been taught to shirtless dudes in my opinion! haha just kidding. I really love it here! It has a very laid back culture of sitting in your yard and visiting with neighbors.
Remember, the gospel is true!
Elder Brown





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