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

"I dunno. It shouldn't be below -15 out there."

Family!

District picture after P day

Hello from a very cold Californian! Out here in good ol' Kirksville, I have witnessed a new natural phenomenon unseen previously by my mortal eyes. You see, the other night, it got so windy and snowy, that snow was flying everywhere and creating these crazy piles all over the place, with ridges along the top. Elder Ontiveros looked out the window on Sunday morning and said, "Hm. That's weird. It looks like there is a white shark fin sticking up out of the ground." I went over to see what he was talking about...I thought this only happened in the desert, but not so! I've now officially witnessed a SNOW DUNE!:) Just like the sand dunes in the sandy deserts, we have snow dunes in Missouri. This place is something else.

The temp gauge in the car this morning(not counting windchill.)

It got so cold last night and this morning that the Assistants sent out a text telling us that we should not go outside for more than 2 minutes total today. If we must attend an appointment, we are not allowed to walk, and we have to get a ride. Estimates were as bad as -40 degrees with windchill, but I didn't believe it. Elder Ontiveros and I were talking this morning, and he asked, "How cold do you think it really is?" With my incredible amount of knowledge about inclimate weather, I said words I thought I would never say. "I dunno. It shouldn't be below -15 out there."

Ridiculous. -15. Ridiculous. 

Never fear! I have cold weather gear. Between your financial help and Wal Mart, I'm warm enough in layers. Thanks for your concern though!

But! A cool story. I have this special love for the Chinese investigators and the Chinese people we have been blessed to teach. There is a young Chinese Truman Student we have started teaching who goes by the name of J*mes (When I asked him why, he said, "It's for J*mes Bond. He's so cool!"). We have been teaching him with another member and he came to church this Sunday, despite the ridiculous weather. I love these Chinese people! We knocked on his door, had a ten minute conversation with him and told him that he could know about if God is real if he prayed. We then asked, "Will you pray for us now?" And he said, "Now? Well, if God will answer me, sure I will pray!" He invited us in and knelt with us to pray. He is so cool! I don't know what it is. They develop faith so quickly. They are so willing to WORK for their faith. They grasp the concept that faith without works is dead, and we never even explain it! I love this guy already.

Elder Ontiveros and I are getting busier by the day. It's been ridiculous to see how blessed we have been to find all of these wonderful new brothers and sisters of ours here in Kirksville. I love these people! We are definitely still whitewashing, but we have been immensely blessed!

By the way, I keep realizing just how amazing Dad is day by day. I was studying how fathers have influenced their sons in the scriptures. I cross referenced 1 Nephi 1:1 and 2:16, Enos 1:1,3-4, and Alma 36:17-18. That is how I feel about Dad! I know that his influence is one that I will cherish forever. Dad, you are my hero. Brothers and sisters and family, follow his example. He's doing a fantastic job.

I love you all!

Elder Brown

  

P.S. I didn't have any pictures super missionary work related. I need to ask my investigators if we can take pictures with them more often... but here they are!

The elders in their cold gear

One of those weeks where I can't think of what to title my email.

Hiowa!

Family, it was so great to hear from you this week! I love Christmas, but I missed you people quite a bit. Luckily, we saw a million and a half Christmas miracles this week, so it was made up for! I'll spin you a wonderful story of post Christmas cheer.

Elder Brown opening Christmas presents

The sisters in our district have a part member family that they have been working with for quite some time now. The mother was a member, but the father has been taking missionary discussions for the better part of a year. After 7 and a half months of consistent teaching by the sisters, Br**n was finally baptized on Saturday. Elder Ontiveros and I attended the baptism and it was a wonderful service, BUT! That is not even the crazy miracle.

His district as seen through Elder Brown's eyes
(He's the tiny one on Elder O's Shoulder)

The very same night, we were walking back to our apartment for the end of our night, and we received a text from the sisters saying, "Elder Brown, we need a baptismal interview tomorrow." Nothing else! No who, no when, no why, and then they wouldn't even tell us anything more until like ten o clock that night when they finally told us that another part member family they had been working with (the daughter was the non member and had been actively attending church for 18 months) had decided finally that it was time for her to get baptized. They set her baptismal date for the following day, and she was baptized yesterday, only 17 hours after she decided to get baptized! Not only that, but you have to understand how cool this is. Our Zone leaders live an hour and a half from Kirksville, and they couldn't have done the baptismal interview in time. Elder Ontiveros and I serve in the same ward as the sisters, and I try to meet everyone that stands in my path at church. We have tracted into two different member families and contacted three on the street. WE HAVE MET LIKE EVERYONE! Now, if I had had any sort of communication with the girl to have caused me to be biased toward her getting baptized, someone else would have had to interview her, but I HAD NEVER TALKED TO HER! I was able to do the interview. It was awesome.

Now, Elder Barton and Elder Dumais told me they have a sixteen year old in their ward who is another part member family, and he wa

nts to get baptized so badly. They are going to baptize him tomorrow if all goes well. I'm in shock. This is craziness.

I love you all! Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

By the way, Dad, It's really pretty sad not to be able to play the guitar. I feel like I won't be able to play anything when I get back. We met this one guy recently that has like 8 guitars and we are beginning to teach him, so hopefully it will be a good avenue to work through. Nobody has asked me to sing or play or anything. Not super surprising.

I love you all!

Elder Brown

PS.

Elder O and Elder B

Go, Tell it On a Mountain!

Family,

All this week, a song has been going through my head that I heard sometime before my mission. The song's main chorus is,

"Go tell it on a mountain,

Over the hills and everywhere,

Go tell it on a mountain,

That Jesus Christ is born."

Nothing made me happier than hearing that you set up an appointment with the sister missionaries to meet this young lady after the test examination. It was such a joy to me to hear that you were telling it on a mountain! Our one and only hope of eternal happiness, Jesus Christ, has come! We don't have to wait for the Atonement to occur any longer. We can simply take the message to all the world that "Jesus Christ is born"! And "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bringeth good tidings..."(Mosiah 15:18). Dad, I wish I could be more like you! I hope you have received my letter.

This week was hard and good at the same time... if that is possible. The mission is jam packed with mixed emotions. We were dropped by our chinese investigator I was so excited about, as a result of his parents disapproval. They are funding his trip and college experience out from China, so he couldn't go against their will... It was likely one of the hardest nights of my mission. I was so sad.

But a miracle came out of nowhere as well! We knocked on this one lady's door (and she didn't seem too stoked, but accepting nonetheless) and after a few missed appointments, we asked if we could set up their Christmas tree with them. It worked! It was really fun and we set up an appointment to teach. The next night, we taught them the Restoration, and she cried through the whole thing practically. At the end, I asked her, "Sh*ila, what has the feeling been that has made you cry as we've been here?"

"Joy, peace, happiness. It's just a different atmosphere in the home. I haven't felt this in a long time. It's usually just chaos here."

We went back the next day and taught the plan of salvation, which she really enjoyed. After that we had a church tour, and she was going to come to church the next day, but Satan was at work, and there was a HUGE Ice storm! CHURCH WAS CANCELED! I have never before told an investigator NOT to come to church. It was a strange and hopefully one time event... haha

Well, Merry Christmas! Talk to you all in 2 days! I'm so excited to open up this massive stack of Christmas gifts! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Love,

Elder Brown

Faith to Move Minivans!

Family!

Merry Christmas everyone! I love you all and I am so excited to talk to you in 10 days! I have so many cool miracles to report this week and not enough time to report them all. It's interesting to have only an hour to tell you about everything that has happened in a full week. That's a lot of hours to condense into one! But, I will do my best. I have narrowed it down to one huge miracles.

So it has been snowing quite a bit out here, and it's been a bit icy as of late. We had a lesson set up not to far from our apartment, and an older brother in the ward was going to bring us. He swung by and picked us up just a couple minutes early for us to be able to arrive on time at the lesson. We arrived on the street just on time, and looked around for a place to park. There was so much snow piled up all around we couldn't tell where a good place to park was! We finally decided to pull into the lady's driveway and park there for a time, but as we started to pull in, we misjudged our trajectory and went straight into a ditch which had been filled with snow... We were stuck! Elder Ontiveros used all of our manly strength to push the car from every angle we knew how, but we were stuck utterly. We had only an hour to talk with this lady and by the time all of this had occurred, it was already fifteen minutes past the time we were supposed to be there. I said a fervent prayer quickly in my mind asking God to move the van out of the ditch, and in less than a minute, 4 hillbillies pulled up in a big chevy and yelled out, "hey! Ya'll need some help?"

They quickly hooked up a chain to the back of the van and pulled it out in like 3 minutes. Right as they were getting back in the car, I asked Cl*nton (the chief hillbilly) where they were going. "Down to Wabash Street! We're taking these dogs back to grandma's place."

"Where is Wabash?" I asked.

"I think it's over that direction," He pointed west, "But I couldn't tell ya. All of the street signs are covered with snow, so we just turned down this way. I have no clue where we are."

God sent us hillbillies to move our minivan. He said he'd move mountains. I have just learned to stop asking how.

I'm out of time! I love you all!

Elder Brown.