Merry Christmas to meee

Whats upppppppppppppppppp

So yes this week was sickkkkkkkkk! friday was a miracle. we were supposed to recieve a call from sister baldwin to be able to go eat with her and get my package. but. we got called into the offices. I prayed real hard that shed call before we left so that we could tell her what was goin down and figure something else out. she didnt call. so we went to the offices. right when we walked in the door, the Assistants told us we´d be picking up our new companion (his name is Elder Billalba from Salta, Argentina). well him and his two old companions showed up and as they were getting their things out of the car, another car rolled up. the assistants went out to get some packages from the car, the door was open and i heard a lady mention "elder Brown". i walked outside and found sister Baldwin. she was dropping other packages off right when we happened to be there. she took another delivery over to the offices of another mission and then met us at McDonalds. i ate a big mac. it was good. MURICA!!! and yes my christmas stuff got down here! i started to read the testimonies but decided it was better that i at least save them till thanksgiving along with my present. i put it all in my luggage under my bed so i wouldnt be tempted.

oh and shout out to grandma Connie for stayin strong with the frequent DearElders! thanks grandma!

haha WAIT WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT fonz and alyssa bird are geting married??? noooooooo thats awesome! i mean you know what they say, mission farewells just bring everyone together! 

dang thats a bummer about jeff. i have a similar problem... haha i havent really been able to walk for the past couple days... we´re going into the clinic today so no worries! hopefully its not anything serious. at first it was my groin, which always happens, but yesterday the pain moved to the front of my leg like on my hip. theres no swelling or discoloration and i used some cream stuff from elder billalba that is supposed to heat up if your muscles are messed up. i didnt feel anything. the medical elder in the office thinks its my nerve. we´ll see haha

welll it was aweome getting to talk to sister baldwin. and i was surprised too mom. im realzing how much i really do understand of the language. some days its a little harder but im comin along just fine.

so yesterday in elders quorum we had a sickkk lesson. it was about "Creo".. i believe. he encourraged us to believe in ourselves. really think about who we are, what we are capable of, and who we are capable of becoming. he said to write a list. draw a line down the middle and on one side write strengths, talents, and abilties, the other side your defects or weaknesses, then work to realize your potential and overcome the weakness.

love you all thanks for everythingggggggggggggg. really though. and uncle doug, i appreciated the letter and the old mission picture like you wouldnt believe. haha it is now hanging above my desk. 

bueno, les quiero!

elder brown

                           Kendall and Sis. Baldwin. She took Kendall to lunch and took a bag full of goodies from us to  him for Christmas. You gotta send things when your  friend is heading to Peru, even if it is a wee bit early. And Yes there are things he cannot open until Thanksgiving. Feliz Navidad!!

                                Kendall and Elder Fallas at lunch with Sister Baldwin. She is the best!

That's our Kendall! Always happy!

                  These shoes and sweater are from a guy we are teaching. he is freaking tall.

                           Well normal for me i guess. but he gave me some Nike Jordans and a sweater ha it was so                                awesome.

                                                   Me and Elder Macdonald

                                                 

                                             Heres some Chifa (latino chinese food)

Kendall has always loved the candles I burn and his favorite is this one I burn from November through December. So here he is in dreamland,  "smelling his life away!"

Wuzzuupppppppppp

Heyyyyyyyyyyyy people,

hey yeah my backs been good this week. maybe because weve spent five days in our house haha weve been a little sick. me with a nice cold and elder fallas occupying the bathroom. nice combo eh? thats companionship unity, we get sick at the same time. i read a tonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn of Jesus the Christ, the scriptures, listened to talks, wrote a song, worked on a poem. fun stuff!

this week we had interviews with president archibald and it was awesooooooooome. that guy is so powerful. i always leave talking with him feeling inspired and fired up to get everyone in that freezing baptismal font. we´ll see how things pick back up this week. its frustrating sometimes to see how hard work turns into nothing. hah looking back i think of all the times where i should have been working smart rather than hard. thats one of the things President talked to me about. putting my heart into it and working smartly. its not about memorizing the scriptures front to back, and not even about having the testimony of Elder Holland. There are plentyyyyyy of people who are ready to accept th gospel when its presented to them. those are the sheep. but often times we get so caught up in wasting time trying to turn goats into sheep that we miss out on the ones who are waiting to be guided back into the pasture. 

well i love you all, thanks for the prayers and support! hopefully this coming week will be a little more exciting!

elder brown

                                         here´s me and elder fallas eating breakfast on the bus this morning

 ha and heres a picture of my bag of q tips. still goin strong no worries. haha

( This picture made me laugh because when I packed these for Kendall before his mission he about died laughing that I would send this many Q-tips. So that's why his comment above. haha)

6 Months!

Welp. i hit six months. i still feel like i literally just got here... NICE.

haha  to celebrate, i blasted "Feliz Navidad" and danced around our apartment like a psycopath. i got a lot of weird looks from elder fallas.i called elder Crozier and held the phone to the speakers so he could join in on the party. NICE.

well i burned my six month tie this week! on my actual sixmonth day, i tried burning it and it didnt work out because it was windy and we only had a few matches, even though i destroyed the tie with hand sanitizer and spray sunblock. the  next day i bought a couple boxes of matches. i took it up on the roof and destroyed that thing. elder muñoz (i was doing a work visit that day so elder fallas was with elder gallardo over in their area) brought up the portable dvd player and played songs from Star Wars, Dragonball Z, Men in Black, and thriller by Michael Jackson. It was quite the experience haha.

we had a few baptisms on saturday! Roselli and Lisbeth Olivos. they´re sisters and are 11 and 15, respectively. i got to baptize Roselli. DUNKED. it was so good, now we just gotta work with the rest of the family. they´ve got a bunch of people living in their house.

on saturday after the baptism we had a stake missionary talent show. it was awesoooooooooooome. i sang a jack johnson song and played guitar. we did a few skits and other people did some songs. it was dang fun.

oh so one of the pictures im sending is my dinner last night. on one plate it Lomo Saltado (what we ate in the peruvian restaurant). hermana Magela usually makes it for us to close our fast. the other thing is some food from another lady in our ward. it is from the jungles and it is kinda like a tamale except it is rice instead of corn. literally a filibertos burrito sized ball of rice with a little chicken in the middle. nice!

welp, i dont really have any profound scriptural insights this week. all i gotta say is that i love you all. i cant believe ive been gone from my family for over six months. sometimes it kills me but i know ill be back home one day, and ill never get to live this mission again. keep praying for the missionaries and dont be afraid of doing your own missionary work. i cant describe how important members are. missionaries are just here as "on the go" help. we´re here to help the members do what they should be doing.. building and strengthing their own wards. keep it up! les quiero!

elder brown

"Fourth Missionary"

holaaaaaaa familiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

so yes i hit six months this week. un. freaking real. haha if i remember, im gonna burn a tie this week!

so this week we had an awesoooooooooome zone conference. our zone is killing it right now so President and Hermana Archibald brought papa johns and he taught us about the creation and the fall like ive never learned or heard of before. it was intense. Zona Puente Piedra for the win!

Conference was nutttttsssssssssssssssssssss. yes all the gringos got to watch al the sessions in english. we had a special tv set up in another room. i agree with President Monson when i say this was the absolute best conference ive ever heard. maybe because this was the first time i sat there in a chair and took notes to literally every single talk. THE CHURCH IS TRUE. its amazing to see how they are all inspired to speak on somewhat related topics that all tie in together. this time it was families, women, and enduring to the end. exaxctly what we need in the world!

Our baptism this wek didnt work out. but we´re going to baptize her next saturday... with her two kids now. and two other sisters. the work is starting pick up here in Zapallal!

today we went to the offices so elder fallas could get his eyes checked. afterwards we went to macdonalds and i got a swirled cone and it was soooooo good. ´MURICA!

oh and last week i got to see elder Mcallister again when we got our money.

So this past week i read a few things that really impacted me. first (which is homework for all of you) is Joshua 1.

second, is a talk Elder Herron sent me, "the Fourth Missionary". mind. blown. i learned of the importance of giving our will to God. of literally saying "i surrender. i give up. all of it. my heart, my will. its yours. your way is infinitely better than mine." ive offered a few similar prayers this past week as i am now seeking to more fully surender my will completely to His. its a humbling thing to just say such a prayer, and to actually mean it. Its so easy to be the "third missionary". to do everything we´re asked, but just that. we only work with our might and strength. its only when we also put in our hearts and minds that great things can happen. i encourage you all to become "fourth missionaries". offer your will to him. he can do alot more with it.

These two friends are so lucky to see each other as much as they do!

Even a McDonald's Swirl Ice Cream can make a missionary happy

Zone Conference