I. SURVIVED.

this week was... fun. i´ll get more into why a little later.

first off. whats up everyone! how´s America? clean? lucky. ha no its not thattt dirty here.. but theres a reason the mission supplies us with hand sanitizer.

Oh and before i forget, just a cool story from a few weeks ago. we were at a members house talking with him and his wife and they´re kinda old. he was bearing his testimony to us and talking to us about when they first got baptized. he then said something that stood out to me.. "Eramos bien pobres, pero eramos bien felizes". which means we were really poor, BUT, we were really happy. All we need is the Gospel to be happy. everyone. move into a hut and take only your scriptures, a spear, and toilet paper. kidding. just remember whats important yeah?

Last week we had changes. Elder Paredes left our zone to go be a zone leader, Elder Fallas is now district leader, and elder Crozier is now training a new missionary named elder Aldana from Chile.

The Training Meeting last night- Yeah Elder Chris Ludlow gave the opening prayer! i also saw another one of my friends from school (Elder Mark Soelberg) and a few sisters from my Zone in the MTC. The meeting was cool but i was bummed that the only parts in english were the music numbers.

So cool story for the week. i´ll try to make sure it actually makes sense. so we were on a work visit (one of the zone leaders switches with one of us) and i was with the new Zone Leader, Elder Salazar (yes i made harry potter jokes all day.). We went to go talk to this lady we had been teaching to see how she was because she´s been sick. turned out she wasnt home, but her husband was. we talked to him for a while and asked him what he thought about what we were teaching his wife and about the church in general. he thought it was cool and it turns out one of his work friends is a bishop and went on a mission. So this guy (Hugo) told us we could come teach him. this is HUGE. he and his wife can help each other out now to make it to baptism. thats not the cool part of the story. so after this, we went a street over to this lady named Santa to see how things are going. Her son had been sick for a few weeks and if i understood right he has the exact same stuff ive always had with my lungs. she was talking about him using a nebulizer machine too. so we offered to give little 8 year old Jesus a blessing. BUT we couldnt go inside her home without another adult guy with us. so we left to find someone and we look across the hill to the other street at Hugo´s house.. we went over and told him the situation and so he happily joined us. we went over and gave Jesus a blessing and this awesome nonmember Hugo got to watch it. Afterwards we were just standing there talking in a hushed voive and asking the kids how they felt. the spirit was definitely there and i was so stoked Hugo got to experience that.

So now the fun part of my week.

On Thursday i had bad chills all day. i thought it was just the cold but my entire body felt like garbage. that night i thought i was going to die. i barely got any sleep and literally experienced one of the longest nights of my life. My stomach and.. other bowels? felt like death all day but luckily i didnt throw up because id rather get mawled by a diseased Peruvian dog than throw up. the next two days i was in bed resting and trying to stay alive. And Yes. i am alive. 

Lesson for the week:

2 Nephi 4:15-35. im not going to give my thoughts on it because its pretty self explanatory but it is awesome and i have used it ocuntless times in my life.

well sorry this email wasn that great this week, i spent about half of my week in bed , i´ll do better next time haha. i Love you all and thank you for the examples you´ve been. It literally means everything out here.

Elder Brown

                                                   Elder Brown's Casa

                          

Elder Brown's Ironman Suit

                                  Elder Paredes and Elder Brown. Elder Parades is from Mesa Az!

Elder Brown and his companion, Elder Fallas

                                                   Kendall's daily schedule


                                          

Una otra semana bakaan!

What is up everyone!!!

still cant believe how fast time goes, ive already been here four weeks! crazy.

So to start off, my Bear Grylls story of the weelk:

1.So yesterday we were waiting at a house to pick up a kid for church. there was a huge rooster siting outside the house. (last week we had seen these people watching a cock fight. yeah there were kids there too.) so i thought, hmm lets see what this does when it gets mad. i started making noises at it and then i put my foot really close to his face. it spread out its feathers and started charging me and i ran for my freaking life. Forget a guard dog. im getting a freaking rooster. it was awesome.

2. we were walking up this hill and saw this little puppy. finding little puppies that arent gross and actually like you literally never happens. so i squatted down and tried petting it. a few seconds later i heard some barking in the distance. i looked up and saw a veryyyyyy angry dog running at me. i ticked off the momma bear and she was NOT happy. i stood up as quick as possible and got ready to kick it in the face/ find a rock to fight it off with. luckily it didnt actually try eating me. we left promptly.

this past week, we taught Pikachu the plan of salvation. we had to practice during comp study so elder fallas walks into the other room and comes back with a stuffed pikachu. i´ll send pictures, it was hillarious. elder paredes hid under the desk and spoke for him. i dont know why we didnt just practice with elder paredes but hey. we get bored.

Story from a few weeks ago: so i was having a really crappy time adjusting and i was just not enjoying life. at all. Elder Paredes took me into the other room and had a "splits comp study". he shared a bunch of scriptures about how the lord knows us and gives us specific weaknesses to be humble and to rely on the lord to make us strong. he shared a talk with me that you all need to look up called "unleashing the dormant spirit" by f. enzio busche.

speaking of elder paredes, he just got made zone leader and is moving to another area. and elder fallas is now district leader and elder crozier will be training.

so there´s this girl we´ve been teaching named Ariatna. she is basically a member, she even taught her class in church yesterday. but, her parents wont allow her to be baptized. We were waiting by the highway for a few other investigators when we looked up and saw ariatna followed by both of her parents. it was an absolute miracle. Her and Andy and Enrique (two other awesome kids we are teaching) are all wanting soooo bad to be baptized but their parents wont allow them. yet. we´ll keeep workin with them. its funny how the kids are the examples here. Mom, i gave them some of those ctr rings, i´ll have to get a picture this week with them.

Best food of peru: churros. they arent like crappy churros you get in the states. they´re home made and theyre filled with this stuff called manjar, which is the same thing as dulce de leche. they are BOMB. i´ll try to get a picture this week of us with the churro guy. he sells them out of a wood box attatched to a modified bike. 

oh yeah! so this last week, the newbies had to go fill out out immigration papers in lima. i got to spend the whole day with Elder McAllister, Richards, Hackleman, and hermana Brown, Winters, and Bills (the other people that came down with me.) it was sooooooooo awesome to spend the day with them. i think elder mcallister needed it as much as i did. good stuff.

So my lesson for all of you this week is again a simple one that i feel we dont really understand: "como os he amado, amad a otros" or, as i have loved you, love one another. a few days ago i was studying Christlike attributes. i came accross the scripture John 13:34-35. Christ gave a new commandment: to love others even as he had. i put down my scriptures and laid on my bed and just stared at the cieling. that hit me hard. i started to ponder what that really meant. so thats you assignment. read that scripture and think about what that really means. Love others even as Christ loved us. even as he DOES love us. and then try to apply it to your life.

Welp, i love you all, thanks for everything you do and for your examples. i hope all the fathers had a good Dia de Padre and that you were able to especially remember your Father in Heaven, and try to make every day a Father´s day for him. ask god what you can do for him today. listen, write it down, and go do it. Love you all,

Elder Kendall Brown

                                                Elder McAllister and Elder Brown

                                        Peruvian Food usually consists of rice,chicken, and potatoes

                                          This was their "pretend" investigator.

                                                     
                                                     Practicing the lessons with... Picachu

 
                                       
                        When Maci saw this picture she said, "Awww Kendall!!" Because this is so him.

                                            His area is along the West coast of Peru

Whats upp everyone!!!!

So its been another wonderfull week in peru!

Last week we had a Multi Zone meeting with President and sister Dorius. it was awesome. the funnest part though was that on the way there we took the wrong bus and ended up somewhere in the Lima Central mission. i kept my eyes open for elder brimhall but couldnt  find him. we found a taxi and made it to the offices. it was awesome though they gave advice about the mission and how even though the mission is the hardest thing youll ever do, it is worth it. 

this literally is the hardest thing ive ever done. i face challenges and struggles every day and honestly there are times when i just wish i was back home chillin in my hammock and strummin my uke, BUT. there are people here who need to be saved. it is the single most frustrating/saddest thing to deal with out here: seeing people, especially the little kids we are teaching, who are leearning and progressing and then some doubt comes up or (in the case of the kids) the parents wont let them be baptized. we just want to scream at them and say YOU FREAKING NEED THIS FOR YOUR ETERNAL SALVATION! ahhhhh it drives us insane. Go read Mosiah 28:3. its exactly how i feel. i love these people and i want them to be happy. forever.sometimes theyre just not ready. The Lord knows though, and i know that eventually he´ll provide a way.

So this pastt week me and elder fallas taught an english class. we taught a group of people down at the church building. they learned how to pray in english. and to count to 20. booyah. 

Last PDay we spent at this huge market. i bought some sick futbol pants and a Zamponia (kinda like the flute thing that peter pan plays). its so sick, im already playin hymns on it. i am musically deprived here. mainly because i dont have my uke. we have a guitar in our room but its just not the same.. ha but when we go to the church for district meetings i play the piano. Everyone in south america sings... really good. we sing the songs acapella in sacrament and it sounds like cats dying in a fire. i love it.

So baby Bothwell in december eh?? thats awesome! tell em congrats! and Kelly martinez is going on a mission! thats freakin sweet! you´ll have to let me know where she goes!

so my spiritual advice is simple. pray and read. real original elder brown. no really though. i am just now learning what praying really is. what it really means to ask what God wants you to do that day. I am recognizing more and more how far away my mind was from spiritual things all throughout my life. Everyones homework:pray like never before. ask Heavenly Father what he would have you learn and do that day. go to the scriptures and search. FEAST on the words of Christ. We are God´s Children. Not just creations of some superior being. We have a father who has provided means for us to talk to him and for him to talk to us. I love you all, the church is true. I am so confused why people dont believe this church is true. Does anyone seriously think id move thousands of miles away, barely talk to my family, live by strict mission rules, learn a new language, and walk everyday till my legs almost dont work anymore, if i didnt KNOW this was true? the gospel isnt just a set of good ideas to live by, the book of mormon isnt just a good read. this is Gods kingdom. His church. This is all for Him. He Lives. He Loves us all. 

Elder Brown

Wadduuuuup!

holaaaaaaaa! que tal todo???

so yes i survived another week in peru. im slowly gettin used to it all but its still freakin weird here. when i get back to the states i am going to give any and every dog i see a big hug and say thank you for not trying to kill me. these dogs make rylie and mandy look like angels.

 haha so we were sitting in someones house the other day and i was looking around and just thought to myself "wow this is a nice house".. then i reallized that if i had seen this house like even three weeks ago i´d just be thinking how ghetto it is. but honestly? anyone who has concrete walls, some form of couch, and an actual roof is living the high life. even though in that very house, i went to the bathroom and literally had to throw a bucket of water at the toilet to flush it. what an experience. i have only been in peru for like two weeks but i appreciate freaking everythinggg i had before the mission. everything. never take a clean home for granted.

thanks for that quote mom, thats awesome. ive been thinking alot about that lately: fearing god over man. its a concept everyone is so blinded to. we get so caught up in social what-ifs that we forget about celestial and eternal certainties.

so yeah i freakin love the guys in my room. elder fallas is bomb, and the other compañerismo elders crosier and paredes are tight. 

so last week we had to go into puente piedra to get our money. after we got it, we went to a big store and got a bunch of food. i got a loaf of bread, two things of peanut butter, honey, a pack of golden oreos, and three packs of glacitas which are peruvian cookies from heaven. once we all got loaded up on garbage, we realized we had to get our water. we went from puente piedra back to ventanilla each carrying four 7 liter jugs of water. the walking was horrible and the bus was an adventure. we did survive. barely. haha my traps are still sore.

k so the weather here is bipolar. we wake up and cant even get out of bed because its so cold. i usually sleep with sweats and a t shirt. and my sheets. and my blanket. and this blanket made of wool and lama. then, in the afternoons its freaking hot and we are sweating to death. then all the sudden it drops back down to antarctica. i lost one of my sweaters when i was getting off a bus last week but i still have my other one and my wind breaker so we´re good. oh and it definitely doesnt rain here. like ever. it occasionally "mists" but thats about it. some days are overcast but yeah i wont see actual rain here. some people dont have roofs on parts of their houses because they really  just arent necessary.

so today we´re goin to some big market and im gonna buy a jersey or two. so stoked!

oh and so i showed lamb of god to the other elders and they freakin loved it. that stuff is amazing. JEFF-if there´s any bomb uplifting music you think i´d like. send it on down here. sweet. welp! thats about everything.

homework assingment for everyone: read proverbs 3:5-6 and really think about it. i know its one that everyone knows but there´s so much to get out of those few sentences that can help us focus on that things that really matter. les amo mucho y muchas gracias por todos las oraciones. les necesito cada dia. el mision is bien bakaan!!! sean misioneros todos!

Les amo,

Elder Kendall Brown