Family!

Don't you just love conference? I sure do. This will likely be more of an extended testimony than anything, but I want you to know just how much I love the prophet and apostles.

I was studying Preach My Gospel this morning (see Elder M Russell Ballard's talk:)) and I came across a "Question to ask after you teach" in Chapter 3 right after Lesson 1. It stated, "If there were a prophet on the earth today, what would you ask him?"

Whoo. Talk about a loaded question. So many thoughts crossed my mind. So many questions flew through my brain at that moment! I still have so many questions about life after death, life before life, and if I'm actually doing what I'm supposed to be doing in this life that I still don't quite get. I would love to sit down with President Monson and just ask him a million and 5 questions. I'll tell you why.

President Jensen, our mission president, had encouraged us to come to conference with questions in our mind pertaining to missionary work, our investigators, our personal life and goals, etc etc. I brought a few to conference in hopes that I would understand the answers. Right at the beginning of conference, President Monson gave an address. It was two days ago, and I've already forgotten what he said, but I distinctly remember the feelings that I got as he talked. It was a tingly, good feeling that ran down my spine, and my insides were calmed. The typical ball of anxiety that is simply a part of me melted away for a moment, and I was able to listen closely as the spirit of the Lord testified to me that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I know this is true!

There is a quote in Preach My Gospel from President James E. Faust that mentions that when the Spirit testifies of something true, it is given to a man so deeply that no earthly power or authority can possibly take it from him. That's how I feel about the spiritual truths I've learned since being out here on a mission. I know truth from the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. If I were determined enough, for I've seen people do this, I could deny those truths and eventually convince myself that they were no more than figments of my imagination, but I would always know that those spiritual impressions happened.

Look at any less active or former member of the church. Look at any non member of the church. Almost every single person on this earth has spent a moment with their Father in Heaven, and they can remember the feelings vividly. They can pinpoint that moment. Those things can't go away. They won't go away.

What a blessing from our Father in Heaven.

I love each one of you. Thank you for your help and strength which you've given me. I hope we will all look again at the conference talks and apply what they have to give us!

Love,

Elder Brown

Zoning Out

So this week was pretty darn awesome. We had a lot lot lot of miracles right in a row. There is a little family that had been taught by missionaries a few times in the past, and we picked them back up back in early December. The lady, A***, is so neat! She has been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and she just came to church for the first time yesterday. One of the reasons I love their little family so much is that she has a 12 year old boy with Down Syndrome that I keep teaching to do cool handshakes with me. Now every time I see him, he shakes my hand and then pretends like my arm is a rifle. He grabs it with his other hand and makes an exploding noise. I've never enjoyed being shot so much in my life! haha

Now, completely unrelated, we knocked on the door of a couple of college kids right before finals week, and they talked with us for like 5 or 6 minutes. It was weird, cause I was practically street preaching because there were so many of them. Probably 7 people were sitting on the couches just listening to us talk and throw truth at them. Anyway, the girl who lived in the apartment said we could come back. We stopped by on Saturday night and knocked again, and we were able to teach her the whole plan of salvation. I've never felt the Spirit confirm my own words back to me when I was speaking than during that lesson. The Plan of Salvation is so real and true. It makes so much sense! I love it. I didn't have to talk about mom or anything, but I was able to finally, finally tell somebody just how much the plan means to me and why it is so amazing. She listened pretty intently too. When we were about to leave I said, "Well, sorry we took up so much of your night!" And she replied, "No, I actually really needed it. I was super stressed and frustrated before you came, but you guys helped me to calm down."

Those types of comments are what missionaries live for.

I also spoke this Sunday. I've realized a trait about myself on the mission that I never knew about before. I really like to talk for extended periods of time. Elder Ontiveros says that "Elder Brown can fill the air." Now I have finally realized it. I talk way too much.

I love you all! Thank you for the letters and your love!

Elder Brown

Back to the River

Family,

Just a heads up. The Mississippi is still as nasty as it used to be. BUT DAVENPORT, IA IS A BIG CITY!:D

Welcome to Davenport, IA, 100,000 people live here on the banks of the catfish hangout of the Mississippi River. And guess what! It has SUBURBS! After I got called to Iowa, I didn't think I would hear the word suburb until I got home, but I am in a town the size of the Home Land! Good old high rise apartment buildings never looked so grand.

Now, I do have to apologize. Monday was our P-day, but it was President's day, so the Library was locked down. Now usually, Tuesday would be a GREAT day to email! Except that we had this big old stressful meeting on Tuesday with President called Mission Leadership Council, where we talk about what the mission needs to know and how green Elder Brown still feels and we spend a full day out of our area! But, I'm not complaining.

I've never been this busy in my mission. Between new meetings and getting to know my new area, I feel like I haven't even been a missionary for the past week. But let me tell you about my new companion.

Elder Brown and Elder Roybal

Elder Ben Roybal is my new companion. He has already been here in Davenport for the past 3 months. He is such a good missionary, and he has been out for 18 months. Now, I've gotta tell you the back story on this guy. He was in my original zone back in Fort Madison, and Elder Adamson and him were really good friends. They are both SUPER funny, so being around them was a blast. He also trained one of the people who was in the MTC with me, so that is a cool connection as well. I'll include a picture of him. He is so loving to the other missionaries. I want to learn from him how to care for the missionaries. He is a humble, loving, laid back Elder, and I love the guy!

Elder Ontiveros is still back in Kirksville. He's a stud like usual.

There really isn't much more to add. We are just preparing for a big old Zone Training Meeting today for like 3 hours, and then we will FINALLY get to go knock on some doors! Whoohoo!

One of his favorite families in Kirksville:)

I don't think I've ever been this excited to go finding in my life, but I'm just so stressed when we are out of our area this much.

Sorry this is so scatterbrained, but a quick experience.

Yesterday after MLC, I went up to President Jensen and thanked him for giving me Elder Roybal as a companion. It helped to relieve so much stress. He mentioned that he had prayed really hard to know where to put me, and he said, "I felt really strongly that you needed to be in Davenport, and then I felt that you and Elder Roybal would be good companions. I had no idea that you knew him before!" President Jensen is so stinking close to the Spirit. That man receives clear revelation from the Lord. He is teaching me so much about how to follow the Spirit.

Keep on reading, praying, and going to church! To those of you that don't do that yet, Give it a shot! It works every time:)

Love you all!

Elder Brown

Fast Sunday!

Family!

"Hey, Elder Ontiveros."

"Yeah?"

"Why do they call it fast sunday if it always goes by so slow?"

"Funny." (Just a conversational gem between me and Elder O this week :) )

How are you family?!

I love you guys and I am so grateful for your emails and letters! It is such a joy for me to receive your communications and to feel of your love each week! Dad, I am especially grateful for the Memoirs of Mom that you have been sending recently. Each one highlights such a true characteristic of Mom. It's interesting to get inside of each person's head and hear of the things that stood out to them about Mom's personality and features! Some things that I never considered now are standing out to me and I admire them so much more.

As for the weather out here, we just received a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY for this week. It's supposed to snow a boatload and a half tomorrow, and we very well might be trapped again. We have been stuck inside probably 5 times this winter already, and everyone is saying this is one of the coldest winters we've seen in a long time! Last night on our way home, it dropped down to negative 4 outside.

That's disgustingly cold.

But though the days are cold, our hearts are warm with the light of the gospel! It's cheesy, but it's true! We had a fantastic sacrament meeting yesterday, and my fast was based around a desire for the spirit to be powerfully manifest at our church meeting. Heavenly Father sent in the big guns for this one.

1: On Tuesday, Elder O and I went to the temple with the other Elders, and we had a chance to stop by a little LDS bookstore. I found some SWEET missionary action figures ("with proselyting action!" Says Elder Ontiveros) that I bought on a whim and brought home.

2: President Jensen calls on Friday and tells us that he will be at church on Sunday along with Elder Reall, the presiding area authority seventy in the area. Elder Reall bore a POWERFUL testimony on the importance of family and the reality of the resurrection during testimony meeting.

3: We stopped by Ch**s's house to wake her up during the Sunday morning round up and, on an impression, I gave the missionary action figures to her two boys. It kept them entertained throughout sacrament so Ch**s could listen. After the meeting, she comes up to Elder O and I and says, "So, when am I getting baptized again?"

4: Our previously excommunicated investigator came to church! IT WAS AWESOME! That was a stinkin miracle.

I love this work!

Now another tidbit. After sacrament, I was able to snag Elder Reall for a minute or two to talk. I told him about Mom's passing. His wife passed in June, just like Mom, and I wanted to seek some much needed counsel from him. He told me something I want to share. He said to me, "Sustain your father in every action. Let him know how much you love him, and let him know you approve of his happiness. Tell him constantly that you love and appreciate him, and tell your sisters to do the same. They will have the hardest time accepting the loss."

I testify of that statement! I know all of you people are amazing, but tell Dad how much he means to you, and sustain his righteous actions!

I love you all, and you are constantly in my prayers.

Elder Brown

High Blood Pressure

Family,

I don't think I've ever been so stressed in my life!

But I think I say that quite a bit, so no need to be alarmed.

Ever since last week I have been rather concerned about the lady that passed out in church, and we weren't able to get in contact with her allllllllllll week! It was ridiculous. I am pretty sure I have a bald patch from all the stress and all the hair that fell out as a result of it. Luckily, we got to teach her again yesterday, which eased my mind a bit, but not nearly as much as I would have hoped for! You see, we were figuring out all of her marriage plans once again and solidifying them and everything, and all of a sudden, her mom comes out and starts saying that God would be angry at us for making her daughter get married. 

Preaching to every creature

Needless to say, I prayed for charity during that entire lesson. We ended up leaving the woman with a commitment to research the monetary issues of the wedding and figure out exactly what would be lost if they got married and so forth.

The miraculous part of the ordeal was right after that. We went to dinner with some members, and as I sat there I continued to feel tense and uneasy, but the longer we were there, the more peaceful I felt. I realized that it was simply the Spirit within the home of the members that was truly able to calm me down.

This area has been quite the experience for Elder Brown. I feel like I've thrown myself at this place and given it all I have, and boy has it pushed back. I have learned quite a bit about charity and humility. I think I'm starting to understand why I was placed here. I am a really prideful person! My real question is... Which one of you was supposed to tell me about this before my mission and forgot to?! You could have saved me some stress, whoever you are.

I truly am grateful for the pressures and trials of every area and situation I've been put in. It has been a truly unique experience to be on a mission. You deal with different issues than you would have ever thought possible. The Lord tests you in ways you simply don't understand, and you have to learn to be ok with that.

I'm learning. Slowly, but I'm learning.

I love you all so much. Remember that the Spirit is strong within a member's home. Keep that place as a sanctuary. Invite your friends there! Next to the temple, it's the most sacred place in the world.

Keep reading the scriptures! Don't forget to pray. Go to church. "In this there is safety and peace!" I testify that God is our Father. Jesus is the Son of God. Joseph Smith is His revelator in this day and age. If you don't know that yet, you've got to ask. Please do. Don't put it off.

Elder Brown

Hair cut

MLK Day

HELLLOOOOOO FAMILY!

Sorry about not getting to email yesterday... It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so everything was closed. It's actually kind of a miracle that I got to email today! We have interviews with President Jensen in an hour and a half, and after that we have to drive back to Kirksville, so it's been difficult to find time. It's just been a stinkin miracle. Thank you for being patient:)

So story time. Every week I am in Kirksville my life seems to get weirder and weirder. This week I planned a wedding, cleaned up dog poop to get someone to church, and one of our investigators passed out in church and had to be taken out of sacrament in a wheelchair.

You know the only part that's weirder than that?

All three of those experiences were with ONE investigator in less than 24 hours.

I'm really not sure how to describe all that happened, but essentially the lady I talked about last week has a lot of health problems, and I struggle to know how many of them are made up cause she is nervous around large crowds, and so I push her pretty hard to do things. Getting them to church last week was a great example of that. That was a miracle! But the problem is that when it actually IS a health problem, she passes out in church...

So here is the story in a nutshell. On Saturday night we went over to her house to share a message. She is living with her boyfriend and she wants to get baptized, but if they get married, their social security check that they receive from the government gets decreased, and they were worried that they wouldn't have enough money to get by. Elder Ontiveros and I prayed really hard to know how to help them reach the waters of the covenant of baptism, and the answer that the Lord provided was that He wanted us to dig deeper. That wasn't really the problem.

So we went in on Saturday night and read Mosiah 18 with her, talking about the covenant of baptism and what blessings are associated with it. When we got to the line, "What have you against being baptized", we asked, "What blessings do you want from baptism?"

She went on to list all these blessings that she wanted so badly, but she couldn't have them because of the marriage situation. The Spirit in the room was powerful as she expressed her desire to get baptized. Inspiration came to share a personal experience, and we promised her that if she would have faith enough to get married, the Lord would take care of the money.

"It's not just the money..." she said after a pause. It was interesting to listen as she expounded on some of her fears. I won't share them here, because they are really personal, but her boyfriend told her how he was there for the long run. We told her all about how much the Lord blesses those who keep the commandments, and set a date of marriage on February 8th. 

She wrote it in her planner. In PEN. Boom Shakalaka.

Then she had a dizzy spell in church the next day and passed out. Way to go Elder Brown.

Well, that's all I've got for you this week!

I love you all!

Elder Brown

Miracles!

Family,

Boy, have I got a story for you this week! We had an incredible Sunday morning which led to an incredible Sunday afternoon. I have to give a little background on things so you can be clued in to what I am talking about.

About three weeks ago, Elder Ontiveros and I knocked on a door which looked rather decrepit and worn down. After what sounded like 7 or 8 dogs barking at the door, we heard a loud bang and somebody screamed, "SHUT UP!" The dogs stopped barking for a few seconds, and a gruff voice said, "Come in!" So, we opened the door, and the dogs began to bark once more. Lo and behold, 7 or 8 dogs came running at us and started to jump up and lick us. We looked around for the person who had spoken, and eventually we saw an old man laying under a pile of blankets on the other end of the room. My initial thoughts were not extremely positive or excited about how this man could progress, but we taught him, and we have continued to teach him. He is a Vietnam Veteran who can now hardly move because of an early exposure of his body to "Agent Orange".

Well, this man named J** now has a baptismal date of February 15th, and he has been reading the Book of Mormon. When we first talked with him, I was sure that he was never going to progress, but as we have taught him all about repentance, and as he has changed, I have seen a bit of light start to creep into his eyes which were so dull the first time we met him. As we have struggled with the idea of him coming to church, he has put forth a lot of effort and desire, but as of Saturday night, we were still unsure of how he was going to get there. He can hardly walk with assistance, but he has a wheelchair. So, we put our faith in the Lord to help us perform the miracle of getting his son to church.

Now comes the OTHER part of the miracle. There is another lady and her daughter that we have been teaching for about 5 weeks now, and they have been progressing, but they were sick for church twice and church was canceled because of snow another time. So, this week, we had a strong desire to get them there to help them to begin to progress.

So, Sunday morning rolls around. We arrived at the home of the woman and her daughter at 10 am to wake them up for church. One of the people in the house (a lot of people live there) opened the door and said, "Hey, I'm not sure if they are going to church today. They had a pretty late night."

"Can we talk to her?" I asked.

"Sure," the person gestured toward the back room where I could see the woman's feet hanging off of the bed.

"Hey, Sh**la," I said. She grunted. "Hey! We don't have our car today, and we really need your help getting to church. Since you guys are going, can you give us a ride?"

"Guys, I have a really bad head ache. I don't think I'm going today." She mumbled.

"Hey no worries!" I responded, "Church doesn't start for another hour and a half. You have plenty of time, and your headache could go away by then!"

After much fanagling, she said she would go if I could wake up her daughter. So, Elder O and I went into the front room where the 11 year old daughter was snoozing on the couch. We woke her up by telling bad jokes until she was so annoyed that she got off the couch just to get us to stop! Once she was up, we said we would be back in a half hour to get our ride, and we needed to go get our other investigator up for church.

So, back over to J**'s house we went, excited about the miracle we had witnessed. We arrived at J**'s, were serenaded by a chorus of yappy dogs, and eventually got in to talk to J**. He wasn't looking very good, and he told us that he had been having dreams about the war all night. We read him some scriptures out of the Book of Mormon and his countenance relaxed. We asked, "J**, we have a ride all set for you. Can you still come to church?"

He didn't respond, he just started to get dressed.

So, back over to Sh**la's! We get in the car and start to drive to J**'s to help him and his wheelchair into the car. As we got to the house though, Sh**la said, "Is this J**'s house? Is J** coming to church?"

"Yeah," Said Elder Ontiveros, "Do you know J**?"

"Of course I know J**!" Shouted Sh**la excitedly, "My cousin lives in the back of his house! He should ride with us!"

So, we loaded J** into the car with us. It was a sheer miracle, and all three of them, J** in his wheelchair and all, stayed for all three hours of church. If that's not a miracle, I don't know what is!

It was amazing. I love missions! Ether 12:12 has been my motivator this week.

I love you guys!

Elder Brown