Grandma Brown

Family!

So, we live with our Bishop here in Quincy. It's him and his wife and their family of 7 kids. Their names are the Loves. They are so so so great! Really often after nightly planning and things are done, we'll go up and visit for a short while before 10 30 rolls around. Last night, we got to participate in family prayer and family scripture study. It was so much fun to be able to feel the Spirit in a family. I haven't felt the Spirit that way in a long time. 

Now don't get me wrong. The Spirit has taught me loads of things in Sacrament meeting, and it has been present in a lot of the lessons that we are able to teach, but it's a whole different thing seeing a mom or dad explain the scriptures to a ten year-old. There is a different type of Spirit. When you are in a home with a family who all is trying their very best to keep the commandments and love one another, that's heaven. I don't know why I didn't figure this out way earlier in life, but that's it! Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation was all about living in love in a family setting for time and all eternity.

Super cool. I love being able to live in a home like this. It's a whole different atmosphere than normal. 

Anyway! As for our week, we had a great one! There is this lady that I'll refer to as Grandma Brown, because she has the same last name as us, and she is wonderful. She has been in a wheelchair since a very very young age due to contracting polio. We met her as she was riding down the street about a month ago.

We have been trying to help her come to church this whole time we've been teaching her, but the past weeks have been a let down as we have tried everything, but something would always come up last minute and shake the plans. This week, however, we had a lesson where we read the Book of Mormon with her and one of her friends and a member from the congregation, and she was explaining all SORTS of things to her friend about the apostasy as we read 1 Nephi 13. It is amazing! I don't think I've ever heard someone understand so thoroughly the Restoration of the Gospel after just 1 month. Sister Love (Grandma to our host family) said to her, "My goodness! If you understand this much already, just wait til you come to church! You'll be dangerous!"

And then she came to church! I think it was a little bit overwhelming, but we're teaching her today, so more news to come!

I love you all! Sorry my email is scattered!

Elder Brown

dropped, dropped, dropped

Family,

 

This is one of those weeks that I haven't wanted to tell anyone about. We got dropped by like everyone! And it all happened on Tuesday! Everyone!

 

You may be thinking, "Everyone? Can he really mean that?" Well, no. It's an exaggeration, but we got dropped/postponed by 4 of our most solid investigators. It was rough. Not fun in the slightest. It did teach me a lot about patience though. In Kirksville, I studied patience on at least a weekly basis because of how frustrating the work was there. We worked so diligently and hardly saw success. I started to realize that, just like an engine needs oil to stay cool and not explode, we need patience in order to avoid the same type of blow out. There is something cooling and relaxing about noticing that the work of the Lord cannot be frustrated. I guess that means that the workers of the Lord can't be either... eh? What do you think?:)

 

So! We march forward! Elder Kay and I will continue to push and help these people to come to the waters of baptism, and I promise I will stop being stressed and frustrated!

 

We had a great opportunity to have interviews with President and Sister Jensen this week though! That was really fun. Because Elder Kay and I had to stick around for all of the interviews, President and Sister Jensen took us out to dinner too. It was so fun to be able to talk to them and get to know them on a less formal basis. Turns out that President Jensen is really famous in scientist circles. He's like the best, smartest guy in the whole universe. He is a geospatial engineer, and he's written like a bunch of textbooks, published 150 science journal articles, and worked for NASA.

 

We asked what their favorite vacation spot was, and they said that they went on Safari in Africa once. President said, "It's really unique. It's like a huge, diverse, incredible zoo! The only difference is that everyone is eating each other!"

 

Anyway, it was a week being a missionary. We had really hard parts and really joyful parts. It's just a rollercoaster!:)

 

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

 

Elder Brown

 

PS Sorry I didn't email yesterday. Library was closed for Labor day.

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