The Miracle of Daylight Savings Time

Family!

   Have I ever told you how incredible daylight savings time is? Well. Let me clue you in:

   For those of you tuning in who may not have been on a mission or know much about them, you follow a very strict schedule! We go to bed at 10 30pm on the dot, and we wake up at 6 30am on the dot. 8 hours. No more, no less. Now, be assured, I understand that is a lot more sleep than most of us get on any given day, but there is something interesting about missionary work. The constant interaction and spiritual aspect of the work causes a lot of physical tiredness at the end of the day. Also, when you are sick, you still don't alter your schedule or change your plans so you can sleep in. Such became my problem this last week.

   On Halloween morning (by the way, I got the package... I think I gained another 20 pounds:)) I woke up with a sore throat, the sure sign of an oncoming cold and fever. I'm used to just busting through colds by napping at certain points throughout the day, but that's not really an option out here, so 8 hours would have to do for now.

   But here's where the miracle comes in. Saturday night, it hit me hard, and the last 3 hours of work was much harder than usual with a pounding headache and a stuffy nose, not to mention aches and pains all over, and I was unsure if I was going to be able to get over this cold if I didn't have more sleep. I truly wanted to work hard all day, and I did, but the cold had pretty much laid me out. I wondered if I really COULD work the whole next day. Could I call in sick... to God? I just started to pray my guts out for a miracle healing or an ability to push through the next day and be able to rise from bed.

   Was I miraculously healed?! No.

   Did I experience incredible, Herculean strength the next day? Not at all.

   Did the Lord provide an extra hour of sleep in the form of Daylight Savings Time? Thankfully, YES. He literally stopped time for an hour just so Elder Brown could get the sleep he desperately needed!:)

   D&C 123: 17- "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."

   I think all too often we expect a bolt of lightening from the sky to fix all of our problems when all we do is throw up feeble, half formed prayers. This is not the way that our Heavenly Father works. He expects us to "Pray like it all depends on God, then work like it all depends on YOU." When we work for our sustenance, we show God our faith that He is going to fill in the gaps that we, as His frail children, will undoubtedly make. He simply expects our faith first, and the miracles will always follow. Believe it!

   I love to see the pictures of Halloween with Brooklyn, Gwen, and Caleb. If those kids were any cuter, they wouldn't be related to me, that's for certain!:)

   Our Halloween was pretty relaxed. We just ate a ton of candy and stayed inside in the evening time(we weren't allowed to be out after 6pm.)

  

I love you all! Keep the faith. I pray for you always!

Elder Brown

PS: It was really rainy this week, and as a result, My pants got a little wet while we were walking around to our different appointments... Luckily, I have an umbrella! Those things are miracles!

Also, check out those fall colors!