FELIZ NAVIDAD, PROSPERO AÑO Y FELICIDAD!

Holaaaaaa

Christmas is this weeeeeek. still doesnt feel like it. but im stoked to see you all on Thursday. can you have steve stop by?? i gotta see that kid even its for a few seconds. so yeah 1 is good. we got the members lined up to use their computer. 

so this week was yet another blurrr. on wednesday we had our multi zone for christmas. we did a skit of "offices of the west pole" (we are the office zone.... lima west mission... no? ok..). we also did a gingerbread house contest. my district made the mesa temple. we got second place i think. oh for the skit i was Papa Noel (presidente archibald). i had borrowed one of his alabama footbal t shirts and spoke with his american-alabama-argentina accent. then we had a talk from president and missionaries were asked to get up in between songs and share christmas traditions. one kid, elder china, said that in bolivia his family gets a pig, hits it on the head with a hammer, watch it run around, then they eat it. no sure where he was goin with that one. 

the other day we were waiting outside a store for the guy to bring us what we bought. then some guy comes walking by, pointing at me and talking to my comp and the kid we were with "wheres that foreigner from??! looks chilean!" (they hate chile here). i said nope! further north. then he asked "north american?" yup "then pointed at me again and yelled "then youre from the CIA!!" then dipped into an alley. second time ive been accused of being a cia agent. little did he know i had eight snipers in the surrounding buildings watching his every move. 

last night we participated in a stake christmas music performance thing. each ward performed two songs and at the end the missionaries of the stake got up and performed four songs. first time i felt something close to "christmas" this year. once i light my christmas candles on wednesday then it´ll be real life.

so right now we are still working with maicol and manuel. they have dates for the 3 and 10 of january. we found a couple other families that well be working with this week. if they´re actually there.. everything kinda dies the week of christmas so its gonna be fun! 

last night i talked to a swedish guy that lives here in our stake. hes from southern sweden, close to copenhagen denmark. we were talking in spanish, english, and danish (thanks for teaching me how to say butter and whats up mark).

soooooooooooooo yup thats about it for this week. anything else ill get back to you on thursday. cool.

elder brown

Another week. k

heyyyyyy.

so this week... trying to remember whats happened. so on monday we went to the stake and played soccer and ate completos (chilean hot dogs). the best part of the day: we went to buy our food for the week. we walked into the store and BOOM christmas tree for S/. 19.90. came with lights and ornaments. yes i bought it. its next to my bed. its only a few feet tall so i set it up on a table. dont worry im still an expert in setting up christmas. 

i got my package this week as well. THANKS. im eating mike and ikes as i write and i brought everything else (except for my reeses fast breaks (those are sacred)) to share with the district today. 

on tuesday we took over in the district meeting. havent taught one for a couple months so that was fun. 

on thursday we had a craazy cool experience with the spirit telling us where not to go. ill tell ya about it on march 24. set a reminder on your phone for that day so i can tell you about it. mmmmmm cool.

last night we got to go to the christmas devotional at the stake. it was cool, but still not a fan of watching conferences in spanish. so i enjoyed the motab choir while i sweated for an hour and a half. haha sweated the whole time. these buildings down here dont have AC. i remember in the states the buildings being freezingg. 

so to answer your questions..

so yeah my schedule is a little nuts now. we get calls from the offices or the different missionaries at random times and we have to go help them when they need us. and starting this are up, its been nuts. but we are finally starting to get things rolling. we have a guy, Maicol, with a date fro the 3 of january. we hope to get alotttttt more coming in. in our Area of the church, we are doing the "Hastening the Work of Salvation" thing. i thinkive gone over it before. but we have ward council everyy week and are working with extra teaching and progress records to measure the progress. well i get the pleasure of punching in alll the dates each week of all the converts in the stake for things accomplished on their progress sheets. 

my back is holdin up. im alive and can walk. we are good. my feet? also good. yes those were the soles you sent me a few months back but they were from the pack of the ones that were cloth. the other ones are still going strong. no worries. back brace? no. too hot. sometimes i put it on to play sports. but yes i do, when i have time, still give myself ice massages. i just freeze a cup of water in our mini fridge and massage my back with it before i shower. its cold. 

ill try sending more pictures. we are in a different internet place this week so hopefully it will work out this time. 

love you, thanks for everything. loved all your letters in the package! dont worry im saving that sealed one for christmas eve. the rest? couldnt wait. whoops. 

prospero año y felicidad,

elder brown

ya vino diciembre y ya fue el año.

heyhowsitgoinwhatsuppppp.

so its been a dang busy week. as i told you last tuesday, we had meetings those first two days of the week. then a district meeting on thursday. then we had to go get money on friday (which we asre in charge of),  then correlation in the afternoon. then saturday we did weekly planning and spent the afternoon in another companionship´s area, talking witht he owner about their room, prices, damages done, contracts, all the happy stuff. then we had to go check out the new room they were going to go to, which got rented out while we were in the process of the other room stuff.  then english class at night (haha which nobody even came to), then sunday which is the most relaxed day of a missionaries week (sike). we had ward council, then the block of meetings, then in the afternoon we had a meeting with the stake president. and here we are again writing emails. yeaahhhh. haha fun stuff.

so on thursday i did what i could for thanksgiving. i sent some pictures (hopefully they work, this computer is older than i am). the previous elders had some mcormick brown gravy mix and a bag of potatoes. so i tried making that. haha the little hot plate we have wouldnt boil the water, so after waiting an hour, i dumped out the water and just smashed them as hard as i could with a ladle and a fork. i also bought a slice of apple pie from a bakery. it was a joke. but on the upside my selfie game was on fire. 

Glad to hear jeff and kalie could come down. jeff´s locks are gettin gnarly. im a fan. keep it up sir. 

welp. thats about it for this week. limas starting to get hotter. im crazy busy. still dont really know whats goin on. already in the third week of this change. nuts. hopefully this week gets more exciting! and mom, keep the selfies coming. they are solid. maci might be winning though.

gracias por todo! 

elder brown

ey, i hope that nativity scene got set up verryy carefully. ill be there to take over next year 

Its still hot.

Hey.

Its still hot. but we actually have had some nicer tempertures these past few days. KEEP PRAYING FOR IT. i know im from arizona but i haaate being hot if i dont have AC or a pool. on the upside ill have like a few weeks of almost nice weather before summer hits again for me in a few months. one year of summer. this is gonna be fun.

so i got to see elder mcallister this morning. he is in a town like 8 hrs north from here. his zone leaders told him that he was going to the temple with his comp for being the companionship of the month. well, after an eight hour drive, he got here and the assistants told him he wasnt going to the temple. woops. but im lucky to be in the office´s zone so i could talk to him for a little bit. 

stevies getting home already?? dang. time flies. i expect some nice selfies this coming week.

this week has been another busy one. we have been having choir practices. our zone is participating in the stake christmas program this sunday night. missionary choir. singing isnt exactly a strong suit of latin americans. its fun haha. but time consuming. next week we will be singing outside the city council building because there is a huge park in front and a ton of people pass by. well be going around contacting people with the "he is the gift" (el es la dádiva) cards. 

we have two people with baptism dates right now. one, this twenty something yr old kid maicol, and an older guy named manuel. hes getting baptized on the tenth of january and maicol on the third. we are fighting to find new people right now. theres a mentality here in the zone that we cant baptize. not exactly filled with humble people in shacks like back in Zapallal, but you just gotta know how and where to find them. the hardest part for me is just opening my mouth. once its open i can talk it up like its nothing but the initial "hola buenas que tal" getting them to stop is hard for me. dont like getting in peoples way i guess but i mean exaltation is a good cause..

korihor eh? i know what you mean. alot of people think they have figured it out and have finally "outsmarted religion" or something by thinking they need signs or "proof" to show that god exists. or more than that, that he is more than some superior being who doesnt intervene in our lives. BUT that he does in fact govern EVERYTHING. want proof? here´s proof. humble yourself, get on your knees and ask god if he´s there and if he loves you. wait a few seconds. he´ll tell you, and thats the end of it. it was cool this past week as we taught a guy who in previous years didnt believe in god. but little by little he realized how absurd it is to think that everything just "happened". something exploded now everything in the entire universe has an order and place. show me proof that he DOESNT exist. 

So one o'clock works for me! i just hope skyppe works this year. if not, eh. twelve weeks after christmas. haha no worries momma. itll work. and remember i only get thirty minutes, so make it count! president has made a stronggg emphasis that these calls are for the ones that gave us life, fed us, changed our diapers, and all that. Moms. but in situations with parents in different homes we can give a quick call to dads too, but its gotta be quick. so ill try to get ten minutes or so in with dad. i have his info on my skype i believe so ( i think he gets this email to right?) dad. be ready around 1 30 ish. 

alright welp. thanks for everything. love you all. 

elder brown.

                                         Kendall is in the Liahona Church Magazine for December 2014