He that shall de-plaque me.... PRESIDENT KERR.

Heyyyyy

awesome to hear the news on the new stake presidency! me and elder mcallister speculated that it would be him a while ago, but we werent too sure on the double northridge line-up and discarded the possibility. but hey, stoked that a mancave dad can receive all of us cavers from the hermosa vista stake. sounds good to me! 

this week was good. we´ve been working harddddddddd. president has establshed this rule about contacting families and its filling our agenda up. some times its really hard to contact them.. they´re far away, the timing is awkward, either the parents or the kids are screaming, or they look like they´ll punch anyone who even looks at them. but we´re getting better at it. the only problem is that the majority of what we have filled out in our agendas falls and burns to the ground. the members dont follow through in coming with us to lessons, the people arent in their houses, etc. but its all good. they´re are some things slowly coming along. and i am learning A TON.we started teaching a lady a few weeks ago. found out this week shes already a member. thanks for the info noelina. shes way cool though and her three boys are stoked to hear more. one of them was sick yesterday so they werent able to come to church. oh, speaking of yesterday, i forgot something very important. my keys. we went to go give a blessing to a guy in our ward. no oil. went to the room to get more. no keeys. went to a member, borrowed his oil, went and agve the blessing. then, later in the day i got a stomach attack and i needed a bathroom. NO KEYS. we got into an appointment, went to the bathroom. NO TOILET PAPER. stuck it out another hour until hermano rojas made it home and I safely made it to the bathroom. nice.

so yeah apart from the sicknesses this week, its been great.

i learned something big in my studies the other day. i was reading in Moses and came across some powerfull verses in chapter 6:32-34. it talks about how god has called us, commanded us to do things. we need to do them. we have tto show faith and open our mouths. THEN he´ll fill our mouths with his words. he then tells us to choose now. serve him or not. (joshua 24:15, matt 6:24). he doesnt have time for us to sit and contemplate if we´re with him or not. "let the dead bury their dead". he then says we are caled to this work and have his spirit with us. as members and as missionaries we have the spirit. and as we put ourselves out there and share what we know, we will do miracles. enoch moved mountains, changed the courses of the rivers, and caused an entire people to be lifted up into heaven. plain old, unpopular, stuttering enoch. sometimes we get scared and freeze up about being obedient, about working hard and really looking to serve God. as ive thought about this, what are we afraid of? doing good? satan puts all sorts of fears and doubts into us to prevent us from doing our jobs as members of his church. we are all vital parts of his kingdom and he needs us to decide NOW. its hard for me, even as a missionary to give ALL my heart to him ALL the time. but im trying, and im slowly getting there. i love it. its a long process but i can feel myself changing. solid.

so today hermano rojas made me an avocado smoothie. it was actually really good. try it, i dare ya. 

theres a member in our ward, the elders quorum president, who has a football. i asked him if we could borrow it today for pday. he told me, elder brown you take care of this ball. its veryyy precious to me (haha he literally has it in a mount on his shelf). i got it from a companion on my mission right before he went to the offices as an assistant. so today. football. american style!

well i love you all, thanks for everythinggggggggg. the prayers, the emails, the pictures. THANK YOU. les quiero!

elder brown

dead rat... BREAKFAST.

Comin at ya live from lima!

Wuzzup. this week was amaaaaaaaaaazing. last week we fasted and starting this week the whole mission every morning at 8 is praying for families. we´ve either taught or received a reference for a family or other new investigators just about every single day. wwe´ve seen how the lord is answering our prayers and is pouring out blessings upon us. of course satanás isnt too happy with that so we´ve seen some other trials along the way, but its worth it! im starting to learn more how to love the work, love teach, and love giving my heart to the lord. alot of times im stubborn and only give him my strength, but if i am to be happy and if miracles are to continue, i need to give over my heart.

so funny story. maybe it was funny for me in the moment but im gonna share it anyways because i think everything is funny. so we were walking down the street the other day and ther was this guy standng over on the side of the street. im not even kidding, as passed him, the dude threw out like eight Jessalyn sneezes. if anyone reads this without knowing what that sounds like, call jessalyn and tell her to go stare at the sun for a few seconds. its awesome haha

I GOT THE PACKAGE! thanks sooo much. its awesome. ive got my desktop sports all set up. i called my zone leaders the other night to inform them i had just made a hole in one on a par five. i was so proud. haha i also received a few christmas cards from  the fillerups, the kerrs, the arnetts, and the browns. thanks everyone! and thanks to grandma and grandpa riggs for the book! be sure to tell brother stirling hi for me!

oh yeah, so i sent a package home this week. a couple that lives in utah has family in our ward and they came down here for the holidays. they went back up today and are going to send it home for me. yeahhhhhhhhhh.

so yesterday, alllll of our appointments fell. again. we were walking around and i said hey lets goo visit this family. "they said they´ll be working today" "lets go anyways" well they werent there. we started walking and the thought "go the other way" came to my mind a few times. i kept fight ing it. "dont keep going. turn around" fiiiiine. we stopped and went back and knocked the door to another family over there. not home either. i looked down the street and saw a guy walking with his son. "go talk to him" nah. we stood there thinking of  what to do. the guy got closer... "elder laiche, you wana contact this guy?" "eh,, ok". before we could say anything, he greeted us with a big "elders! how are you!" melvin and his son jesus are members. apparently he, his wife, and three kids had just moved here last friday and have been looking for the chapel. every single fallen appointment and step we took led us right there where our paths crossed with melvin. God led us there. we went back to his house with him and met his wife and i drew a map on how to get to the chapel. i am learning the importance of recognizing, listening to, and following promptings.its hard. they´re very quiet and very subtle. its not alwys a heart pounding, ground shaking experience. but it always leads to good things. sometimes i can look back to when i realize i had felt promptings but didnt follow them, and seen how things wouldve been better that way. welp. keep on keepin on.. pr as mark says "KOKO" .

so you get to perform the lamb of god again?? dang it haha last time i had work and mission prep. now  im in a different continent. oh well, ive got th cd. ill just sing along with that... enjoy it! and invite all your friends. make it the ward missionary night. bring EVERYONE, that thing is powerfullll.

well family, i love you all, im so grateful for the prayers and support, i feel them every day, keeping me going. ive passed my ninth month in the mission and i still can believe how every month goes faster., its nuts. love you all.

elder brown

              Pictures:     peter petigrew is dead.. we ate him for breakfast.

heres also a picture of me and the other district leaders and the zone leaders at papa johns elder garner (heather morris´s cousin) and elder mejilla. and the zone leaders elder scroggins and elder feller

2014

What a week.

so here, on new years, kinda like on Christmas, everyone celebrates with loud music, getting drunk and lighting off fireworks. all night long.

FUN CHALLENGE. get a livestrong type bracelt and loop one end over yor thumb, run it over the back of your hand, then loop the other end on your pinkey. then with just that hand, try taking it off. me and elder laiche (as you´ll see in the pictures) did that to help pass time in our room as we waited formidnight. 

HERRONS- i got your christmas card, thanks! its good to see the whole crew is back in action!

so this week was another rough one for the work. worse than christmas week. we did alot of walking and searching members out, and didnt have too many results. literally didnt teach a single investigator this week. but the lessons we did have with members were awesome! there are some amaaaaaazing families here and its a process but im still getting to know and love them all. ive been learning something big. mainly yesterday. we had a few lessons with members where we were going in to kindly burn them. i am someone who speaks boldly, and directly. i dont like waiting too long to get to the bottom of things, but, as i walked into our lessons yesterday, and as we talked through their situations, my whole attitude changed. i am learning to never judge a situation before hand. i can misunderstand people or situations in an instant and change my dimeanor (thats a word right?) towards them in an instant. but, im tryin to change that. be more understanding and open.

 haha its funny that as a nineteen year ld kid, grown adults trust me with their marital situations and are wiilling to take my counsel. welp. ive got alotttt of experience being married and everything do its fine. even though i dont have that experience, i have the ability to share my knowledge of the gospel and the things that the spirit directs me to say, so even when i dont fully understand people because i havent been through what they´re going through, im still able to be an instrument in trhe lords hands.

so on saturday, after a full day of everytrhing falling through. we ended up at a guys house, his name is santos, and hes a member that  has been less active for a long time. before the lesson was over, he had cried, i had almost cried. it was a good lesson. my companion had just been saying before how he feels ike were not doing something right, that theres more. after that lesson, we realized that every disappointment we faced that day led to that lesson. in the end, santons said, when asked when we coulkd come back, "ill tell you tomorrow" (AT CHURCH) he then said you have strengthened me, now im going to strengthen you. ill be there tomorrow. and he came. it was awesome. on top of that, we had three new people show up to church. all friends or relatives of members and this week were going to teach them. yessssssssssss,

welp. thanks for all the prayers, i need them sooooooooooo much. every day. i love you and am so grateful to have parents and family that love and support me so much. other elders arent so lucky. thanks!

elder brown