Mmmmm Hey

PEANUT BLART AND JELLY, WHAT WHAT WHATS UP!!!

heyyyyyyy so its been another good week! last week on p day we went to the beach again. we have a sister companionship now and its kinda weird but its still fun!

as for teaching, its been really slow. we only were able to teach a few lessons this week and its been rough. things will get better!

on saturday we had a multi mission meeting with lima north mission. i also saw a ton of friends from our mission, elder schagel (my mtc companion) finally made it down here and so i got to see him, as well as elder Mcallister. we got to hear from elder Tad R Callister and elder C Scott Grow. hahahaa that name gets me every time. it was awesome though, they talked to us about missionary work and the importance of the help of the members.Elder Callister also taught about the restoration and the apostacy (is that how its spelled in english? dont know if its an s or a c) so everyone: HELP THE MISSIONARIES. our time is better spent teaching, not looking for people to teach. the mission president from the North mission said something awesome. "not everyone is looking for the true church, but everyone is looking for happiness." wow. well look what we have here. the gospel. Christ. the Book of Mormon. all of these things bring happiness. joy that actually lasts. Sister Callister taught alot about that too: how important it is to show how happy we are. smiling does alot what you´re sharing the gospel. cool stuff!

So earlier this week i read an article by president Eyring in the Liahona about graitude. it was the first presidency message but i dont know if they have different ones in the ensign. anyways it was about gratitude and it was awesome. he mentions how joseph smith taught that one of the greatest sins we make, and generally arent aware of it, is gratitude. and, that in our prayers, we should devote most of the time to express our gratitude to Heavenly father for all we have. the spirit can help us remember and recognize our blessings and then its our responsibility to show gratitude for those things. 

Weell all i can say is that i know that god lives and he loves us. it bums me out when people dont fully grasp that and cant/choose not to understand why we have this gospel. Christ loves us and his atonement is EVERYTHING. we literally are nothing without it. when the scriptures say without charity we are nothing, yes it means we need to have charity for others, but it also means that without the atonement, the ultimate and greatest act of charity, we literally dont stand a chance. pray to heavenly father, he hears your prayers (D&C 98:1-3) and he WILL answer them.

Big Bear-out,

Elder Brown

                                                

                                           The boys of room 203 in from the MTC, back together!

                                               

                        This is where we taught Jorge. Right there in front of his house on those chairs. Awesome stuff!

                                          Me at the beach on top of a huge sand hill  

whats uppppppppppp

Alright so not too much to share. this week i was sick and was in my bed basically all week. we got out to teach four lessons. woohoo.

something cool that happened though. so on thursday we tried to leave the house (tried is the key word, we had to go back after a few hours because i felt like garbage) and we went up and visited Jorge, the one we baptized last week. we expected him to be sick like i was becasue of the cold from the faunt. or dead. we called his name and he came out and he greeted us with a big smile and had something about him he had never had before. we owe this entirely to his new companionship of the Holy Ghost. and because he had stopped his word of wisdom problems, he says he is feeling good. he is stoked to keep going to church, pay is tithing, and keep on keepin on. the Holy Ghost is awesome!

Ive been reading the book of mormon as well as articles about it. i was thinking this morning and decided that anyone who believes its not true and that Joseph Smith made it up is insane. i started marking my book of mormon every time it taks about Jesus Christ in any way and am finding that my book of mormon is going to have marks on just about every page. this book IS true. Joseph Smith DID translate it with the power of God. this IS the Church of Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ DO live. 

welp. thats about it for this week. hopefully i wont be on my deathbed this coming week and have more stuff to share. the church IS true. 

over and out.

Elder Brown

Training. DONE.

Whats up?????

this week flewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. 

i had churros i think every day this past week but the best part for sure was when i tried chicken liver. at first when i saw it i was like "oh, probably something normal like cow heart" and then i found out after that i tried chicken liver for the first time. try it out!

i cant remember too much from this past week because its gone so fast but yesterday was BOMBBBBBBBB

it was stressfull and crazy but it was the best day of my mission so far. after taking care of some district things in the morning with elder fallas, we got to church and found hermano Jorge sitting there next to elder aldana y elder crozier. right after i gave my discurso, we went out and called elder reyes to come give an interview. after the interview, we went home to pick up our things and then call elder reyes to see if we got the green light for sure. literally right as we were about to walk out the door, elder reyes finally called us back with good news. we booked it to the church and after searching the streets, we found Jorge. we baptized him and confirmed him. after we got back home, we had a lesson with a contact (that i thought wouldnt work out) and it was amazing. an older couple and ther son and his señora. they all agreed to baptism on the terms of finding their answer to the truthfulness of this message, but, we later found out none of them are married. we will get to work on that right away. after this, we went to wait or Jorge where we had previously discussed meeting, to go to a hermanamiento. after waiting for a while we went up tp his house, to either find him their or on his way. we got there and called his name for a few minutes. after a little while, he came out shaking from the cold. we told him we´d go get something to help warm him up. we ran to miguel´s (our first baptism, who reminds Jorge of his grandson) house to ask if his parents could make some tea or ecco for Jorge. we then took miguel with us to pick up jorge. when jorge realized who we had with us, he got a big smile on his face. we all walked together back to miguels house where we talked, drank tea, and ate crackers. it was the most beautiful moment of my mission. enjoying a moment of love and brotherhood with our first two baptisms. this helped me realize what the mission is really about. its not about marking the lessons off the progress sheet. its about helping people as christ would, and me and elder fallas both felt that last night. every moment on our missions literally led up to that moment last night. on top of that, elderc crozier, at the very end of the night, informed me that he had found a scripture that i had been searching for and praying about finding. i copy and pasted that section from my letter to the president so thats why its formatted weird.

so my spanish is still coming along slowly but surely. one day! iwill be withelder fallas for another transfer so we´ll see how much i can learn from him. my message this week: pray hard, work hard, and stick it ou till the very last minute possible. thats literaly how everything works here. we work our butts off, pray that everything will work out, and then just put it all in the Lord´s hands. it always works out. i love this gospel, i love being a missionary. yesterday i felt what happiness can come from being a missionary. it was perfect. love you all, pray always, trust always. the lord will always be there. a quote that im totally going to butcher that i love is "God is more aware of our progress than our comfort". he knows what we can become and he´ll get us there, as long as we do our part. be obedient. you´ll be blessed. that simple.

Elder Brown

                                                        

                                                            Jorge and Elder Brown

 
                                                          Elder Falles, Jorge, Elder Brown

four months this week. huh?

What is upppppppppppp

so this week nothin too crazy happened. today i enjoyed a nice meal of bread and avacado (which i hated before the mission). every day i am learning to love peru even more. at first i STRUGGGLED. there were days when i honestly didnt even want to leave the house. but, my spanish is picking up, i am learning to love life as it is(honking mototaxis, barking dogs, and frequently stepping in dog poop), and through hard work im coming closer to God and better understanding the gospel. a missionary i was working with commented how in a mission, you learn in 2 years what would normally take 20 years to learn. i totally believe that. i am learning how the church works and more importantly, how the gospel works in us to change us.

something cool i noticed this past week: kids playing outside. i´ve seen them all day everyday since ive been here but just realized how cool that really is. they dont have iphones, xboxes, ipads, and computers. they are happy running around outside, playing soccer or throwin a trumpo (a top that you throw with a string and then use it to know down the other trumpos). awesome.

yesterday we met a guy and asked im if he had heard of us. when we mentioned the mormons and he laughed and said oh yeah.. ive heard of you. not very good things. we asked him what. he saidd "he escuchado que sacan ojos".. i heard you take out eyes. that was a definite first. we´ve heard everything from polygamy, to worshipping joseph smith. never taking out peoples eyes haha 

so this next sunday im giving a talk in church. wish me luck! ten minutes of spanish to a peruvian congregation without the help of elder fallas. ahh yeah.

so i got a letter from a friend this week. she bore her testimony on trials and how she prays her thanks every day to her heavenly father. i realized how awesome trials are. last night i was thinking about some of the hardest times in my life and realized i wouldnt trade those times for anything. our trials shape us. i wouldnt be the elder brown that i am today without my trials. yesterday in church, we talked about ether 12:27 for a  little bit. the guy teaching helped us understand what it really means. if we come unto god THEN he will show us our weaknesses. it doesnt say whe you feel week, come unto me and i´ll instantly turn you into super man. come unto me and i will show unto men their weaknesses. that they may be HUMBLE. for my GRACE IS SUFFICIENT. for those that humble THEMSELVES before me. and when they have sufficiently humbled themselves before me, THEN will i make things strong unto them. that was a really butchered paraphrasing of the scripture but i hope you get the point. trials are gifts from god. when we wish to be closer to him, it requires humility. when we realize that our needs can and will be met by doing things his way, then he will give us the strength to them. 

2 cor 12:10

2 nephi 22

d&c 122:7

I love you all, thanks for all the prayers. and to all those who have sent me letters, thank you! letters are like gold! i apologize though that i cant write you all back. love you all, the church is true. i know it.

Elder Brown