Christmas Day

Family!

I loved talking to you guys. I cannot believe how big all the kids are and seeing Caleb talk was unreal. I hate to think that you guys are doing fun things without me, so make sure that in the next little while your lives are boring. I don't want to miss out!

Just for those that don't know, Cory did not get baptized, but it was an awesome experience to have him come to church this last week. He is starting to open up quite a bit more. I don't really know what it is.

Our other focuses have been on a family we were led to a few weeks ago, Jessica and Clint. They are so cool, and we love them! It is helpful to have people that are so humble that you can work with. I've started to think that the most vital attribute for anyone to have if they are going to learn is humility. Although it is "impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance", I also am under the impression that it's equally as hard for a man to be saved when he has all knowledge, and pride to boot. SO! I'm really grateful for them. They humbly want to learn as much as the Lord will teach them.

It's also caused a bit of reflection on my own personality, because, well... I can be pretty darn prideful. It's always been difficult for me to accept counsel from others, especially those that are younger than me. I really want to change that. Elder Wardell, for example, is so smart and wonderful and full of faith, but a lot of times, I get the mentality that it's a "me and him" companionship, rather than a "we". I'm praying for that humility to be completely unified with him. He has it nailed already.

I love you all! Not much to say about this week that I didn't already say!

Keep your testimonies strong and your conversion stronger!

Elder Brown

Picture: The Loves gave us toilet paper for Christmas. Who knew that would be such a precious gift?

Love's Christmas

Family!

Happy December! It was so exciting for me to walk upstairs today and see the Love's Christmas tree and lights all over the house. I was so pumped because I just LOVE Christmas. Being a missionary during Christmas is super weird, but I definitely don't want to be anything else during this time. I've realized more and more now that the time is a little shorter than it used to be how much of a blessing it truly is to be a full time servant. I've also realized that sometimes I act like a part time servant. My mind will remain focused! 

Thanksgiving was so so so fun. We spent the main portion of the day doing district meeting and then having our studies, then we went upstairs and helped the Love's make final Thanksgiving preparations. The night before, Sister Love asked me what Mom's favorite traditions were. I told her about the red cabbage turkey that we always made. Lo and behold, when we went upstairs the next morning, a red cabbage, cheese, sausage, and pickles were all laid out on the table beside skewers. Sister Love told me that I would have to put it together, but she had all the ingredients. What a sweet surprise. I miss Mom a lot, so it was a good thing for me to be able to remember her in that way.

We spent the rest of the day going from one place to the other, eating this, and then eating some more. I think every house we went to made me my own individual gluten free pumpkin pie and then made me take it home. I never want to see another pumpkin pie in my entire life.

But the week ended off with a fantastic climax. Cory, the young man who I mentioned last week, came to a baptism of someone else, and he liked it quite a bit. I feel like Cory's going to make it. He's got to! Someone's GOT to make it!

One last bit of info. Elder Kay is getting transferred for real this time around. I'm going to miss him a lot. He has been a powerful teacher for me here in Quincy. I've learned a ton from him. He is the easiest person to get along with, and he never takes himself too seriously. I love him and wish him the best in his new area.

Man, this email feels like an infomercial. 

Well, I love you! Hope you all have a great week!

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White Thanksgiving

Family!

It snowed here for the first time last week! I don't even know what to think. Last winter was MISERABLY cold, and I have not been looking forward to this one rolling in. Last winter had been the coldest and most snowy in the past 20 years, and they said this winter is supposed to be just as bad. I didn't think I realized this phenomenon last year, but the colder it gets, the more we smell like cigarett smoke. Think that's strange? Think again! You see, a large majority of people that we teach smoke cigarettes, and during the spring, summer and fall they find the initiative to smoke outside... but not so during the winter! -10 degrees sends them back indoors, cigarettes and all. It is a blessing in disguise, however, because a lot of people will have a desire to quit during the winter months that they never possessed before that. Pretty neat if you ask me.

This last week was a good one! We got to teach a whole lot of people who were all great. This guy named Cory that we are teaching is really starting to change. He has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it, and when we taught him on Saturday, he physically LOOKED different than before. His countenance is beginning to change. I loved that. 

We also had the opportunity to work with a man named Dan and invite him to church. He has also been praying and reading the Book of Mormon, and he came to church yesterday! He loved it, and on the way home, he said, "Man, I am just completely sold on your church!" He has already identified that he knows the Book of Mormon is true... we'll see where it goes! He is a good man.

Things are great out here! I'm going to restrain myself during Thanksgiving so I don't get too huge:) Should be a great day! 

Transfer week is next week. Elder Kay will probably be leaving since we have been together for 3 transfers already. Wouldn't it be nuts if we stayed together for four? We could definitely pull it off. I love this guy. He is reliable and easy to get along with. He has a deep doctrinal understanding and cares deeply about the work. He is great. Who knows! I wonder what the Lord has in store.

I love you all!

Elder Brown

Picture: (From left) Sister Browne, Sister Brown, Sister White, Elder Brown[me] and Elder Brown. Pretty impressive, huh? :)

Halloween Photos

Gospel Restored to Earth!

Family!

First, I just have to let you know, the gospel HAS been restored! I know it with every fiber of my being. The message has power in the lives of those who will seek to understand it, but it starts with a spark of desire, and a willingness to act.

This last week, our investigator from Canton who is in a wheelchair(Jacob), came to church! He was announcing to everyone that he was being baptized on the 29th of November! He wants it badly, and we had a very powerful experience with him in our last meeting.

Let me start from last Sunday. Last Sunday, Elder Kay and I fasted that someone that we were working with, or would work with in the future, would actually begin to read and ponder on the Book of Mormon. It is the center of our message, and we have been pushing with all of our might to help people to actually read it and seek to know if it's message is true. We had reached a point of frustration as we had tried, time and time again to help our investigators progress. In a phone call with a mission leader, he related that "people suddenly become more solid as they read the Book of Mormon on their own." It was a small start to the answer we were looking for.

This week, 3 of the Lord's investigators in our area began to search the Book of Mormon. We went over to Jacob's house on Saturday night to teach him the Word of Wisdom. He has a long way to go, and only 3 weeks to cover that much ground. We focused a lot on the redemptive power that baptism has on us. We testified that because of the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ, he could be clean from his sins and live with God forever. That's why we were teaching him about baptism and inviting him to read the Book of Mormon.

He accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and live the Word of Wisdom and come to church (all of which he is doing or has done). In his closing prayer to the lesson he said, "Lord, I bless you that you have had Elder Kay and Elder Brown come and talk with me. I ask you to help me live the Word of Wisdom by November 15th so I can be baptized on the 29th. I want to be baptized so I can be clean and walk with you in heaven and with the Holy Ghost. Amen."

It was one of the most beautiful moments on my mission, and it was filled with the Spirit. I love being a missionary:)

Love,

Elder Brown

Wheelchair Miracles

Family!

Hello! I really hope that everyone out there who is reading these are appreciating my dumb jokes, because I always try to include at least one or two of them. I try really hard, but I can't physically hear anyone laughing, so we'll just assume I'm funny and keep going:)

This week was another week. Tammy is off the radar. She dropped us because of a family crisis. At least she didn't get antied!:) We stopped by and asked her about everything and she said that she just cannot devote all her time to her ailing son with her constantly having us over. We'll go back there in a few weeks to check up.

But! In other news, we've been working with this SWEET handicapped guy in a little town near Quincy. He is in a wheelchair because of a car accident he got into a few years back. I've got to tell you the story of how we found him because it is miraculous. I'm going to disguise the names for privacy's sake. 

So there is this little town called Canton where a bunch of less active members live. One of those less active members has a bunch of kids who were never baptized, but are all in their 20's. His name is Steven Gardner, and his children on our list were Jade and Joshua Gardner. Both Elder Kay and I had looked over the ward list in the very first months we were together and felt prompted to go and visit Canton, so the next time we were in the area, we scheduled some time to go and visit the less actives in that area. 

We arrived and got out of the car, walking toward the first Less Active on the list. There was nobody home, so we trekked toward the next one, about a 5 minute walk away. All the while, I just kept having the Gardner family pop into my head, and I thought, "We for sure need to visit there before we leave today." The next less active on the list was at a fake address. There was an empty lot there, but no house! So we moved on. 

All along the way, we had been prompted to knock on one or two doors, but nothing serious had happened, so we continued to search for doors we felt prompted to approach. I saw one out of the corner of my eye with a drum set in the window. I can kinda play the drums, so I was excited to talk to whoever lived there. We knocked on the door, and I could hear someone inside, but no one came to the door. We knocked again, but whoever it was was taking a long time, if they were even coming at all. Just as we were walking away, a young man in a wheelchair opened the door. As we began talking, he introduced himself as Joshua Gardner. Both Elder Kay an I almost fell off the porch because we recognized the name. He was at a COMPLETELY different address than the one on the list(one that we later discovered wasn't even correct). 

We have now been teaching him for 4 weeks, and he has felt the spirit a lot! He has a lot of issues to overcome, but his grandma is an active member in Trenton, MO, so hopefully that will help out a lot!

I love you all, and I'm grateful for your prayers!

20 October 2014

Family!

This week was GREAT! We had a really neat week. Nearly every lesson we had set up went through. I'm pretty sure we had only 2 cancellations the entire week. When we weren't driving, we were teaching, and the great thing was, the members were all over it too! This ward is so willing to interact with us and our investigators. I really love the members.

Two main experiences that I had this week with members:

1. We have been teaching Tammy for a while now, and she is really our only solid investigator. She is a member of another church, but she likes us a lot, and she has a lot of good questions. She has been reading the Book of Mormon a bit, and she hasn't really been understanding the purpose behind it, so we have been focusing mainly on that, but early this week, she told us that one of her problems was that when we had talked about the Plan of Salvation, she had a TON of questions about it, and she never felt like she received any answers. Well, Sister Stillwell, her main fellowshipper, and really someone that has become her friend, talked to her with so much love and care and described how she had come to know of it's truthfulness. When we came back later in the week, Tammy had re read the pamphlet but still felt uneasy about the questions she had, so we looked up some scriptures with her and coached her through them. There was a sweet spirit as we read about how we lived with Father in Heaven before this life. I felt my own testimony confirmed on this point. At the end, Tammy said, "Well, turns out we DID live before this. Now I just have to ask my Pastor why he hasn't been talking about this all along!" 

  Sister Stillwell responded, "Well, he's not a prophet, so he probably won't know!" She is so funny and great. Tammy got a kick out of that.:)

2. We had Stake Conference in Nauvoo, and I got to see a ton of members from Kirksville, Fort Madison, and Quincy all together. I am and continue to be very grateful that I've served in the same stake for 10 months now. It was such a neat reunion to see these wonderful people that I love so much! I got to see Sister Speir, who was Rhonda's fellowshipper and neighbor back in Fort Madison, Brother Mogenhan, who fed us all the time, and is now PRESIDENT Mogenhan(Branch President), and Karen, who was the lady baptized just after I left Fort Madison who we had helped to quit smoking. She is doing great! She has been a member almost a year and has been called as Assistant Librarian. She talked my ear off, just like the good ol' days!:)

I just love the members. You learn so much from them out here.

I know that this is the work of the Lord. Just look at the active members of the church all around you. That is a fruit of the Gospel. They live powerful lives and contribute so much. I feel like you can't leave their presence without feeling a little bit more resolved to live like Christ. That's what being a part of His church is really like. I love it:)

I love you all! 

Elder Brown

Pics: Me fighting "Zombie Joey" after the YSA Family Home Evening. They dressed up as zombies and delivered candy as a finding tool. Kinda unique.