Sent from a man traveling in Peru

I just received this picture and message from a man who is traveling and saw these handsome missionaries. Warms my heart to know that people are so kind to take time out f their life to brighten a Mother far far away from her son.

No me conocen.
You do not know me.
Vivo en Upland, California.
I  live in Upland, California.
Servi la mision mia aqui en el Peru hace 45 anos.
I served my mission here in Peru 45 years ago.
Ahora soy turista.
Now  I am a tourist.
!No puedo expresar el gozo que senti Al encontrar a sus hijos trabajando en la ciudad hoy!
I cannot tell you the joy that I felt when I found your  sons working in the
City  today!
Deben ser orguliousos de ellos!
You  should be very proud of them!
Gracias por hacer el sacrificio de mandarles tan lejos de su casa  en la
obra  del Senior.
Thank  you for making the sacrifice of sending them so far from home in the
 work of the Lord.
El trabajo que hacen es bueno!
They are doing a good work!
 Gracias!
Jim Thomas - El Viejito

1st Full Week in 200 Millas

Mi amada familia, que tallllllll??

welp its  been  a   great week here. kinda.. yeah it was pretty good.

so as i mentioned before i have elder robert arnett in my zone , sittin next to him right now actually. its awesome to have  him here with me. 

I HATE THIS KEY BOARD IM GOING TO THROW IT AGAINST THE WALL.

So the week started off well with the work. we had a couple members walk around with us and give us some instant-contact references, and the first few days were completely full. but, it was a slow decline of work until finally yesterday literally everything fell. we had nothing. and i dont know the area and elder ali didnt know what to do so we just went to our pensionista´s at like seven and then went straight hom  eto talk to hermano Rojas. on sundays we end at 8 so we only got home a little early, and knocking doors is literally a waste of time, especially at night so we called it  good and decided to have a nice church discussion with the man who brought seminary to peru and was the first peruvian missionary. 

the good thing is that it cant really get worse than having nothing, so i have high hopes for this  week!

on saturday we woke up at like 5 to go help out with a stake service project. here, a stake service project is comprised of all the missionaries working, and the stake presidency in their suits to direct it. things work a little different down here, ha but its cool. we loaded a ton of stuff the stake had collected into a truck which was taken over to Faucet, right next to the airport. there was a huge fire here the other week and there a tons of people that literally have nothing.  Mark, you{d have a ton of business if you were down here haha. halfway there the truck broke down because it weighed  too much. so we had to send a few rescue pick up trucks to take off some of the load. once the beds were filled we had to get them over to the fire. one of the Callao police guys had me lay down on top of the load of boxes of water to hold them down and make sure nothing fell out. i can only imagine how this looked... a gringo in a bright yellow church service shirt, sprawled out doing the star fish over boxes of water, holding on for dear life with one arm and a foot hooked around the corner of one of the boxes, cruising down the freeway in Lima Perú. it was a little sketchy but it was fun!

when we finished up, i took off the service shirt. one of the hermanas commented on my shirt... i just happened to be wearing my smokey the bear t shirt. real appropriate for the situation. i hadnt even thought about it. ha its  agood thing none of the people here knew who smokey was. WHOOOPS. 

there´s pictures  and interviews on noticiasmormonas.org (i think) if you wanna check it out.

yesterday i gave a talk in church. i was asked to speak for five minutes on the book of mormon. it went really well. i love when the spirit speaks through me and amps up my spanish alot. its cool to listen to myself as i speak in a fluidity and speed that i normally dont have. the Lord really has blessed me in my spanish. i get comments all the time and all i can say is that its God. i hav ent worked hard or really done anything on my part. just blessed.

oh and this morning i finished jesus the christ this morning! that book is intense! there were plenty of times where i would have to reread a part or re pray to keep going.

well it sounds like everythings goin good! jeff, get better! maci, stop getting old! everyone, keep on keepin on!

les quiero mucho!

elder brown                          

                                            Elder Arnett and Elder Brown from Mesa AZ

Changesssssssssss

What is upppppp???

we had changes on saturday and i finally got changed. they took both elder fallas and i out of the area. elder fallas went to the offices as personal secretary and they sent me in towards the city in the zone "El Olivar". my area is called Doscientas Millas (two hundred miles) and my companion is Elder Ali. this guy is awesome! he´s 25 and the only member in his family, from Puno Peru. Elder Arnett is in my zone again! solid. my area is completely flat except for a huge hill in the middle of it but its just dirt, no houses. so hopefully my back and leg heal up nicely.

at changes President taught us alot. one of the things he taught was the importance of the Book of Mormon. he said if we´re mormons, then it makes no sense if we arent reading and testifying of the book of mormon. when people are converted, its never because of something the missionaries say. its not from som,ething they read in the bible. its from the book of mormon. its the most powerful tool we have. its real and it works!

i went to get checked at the doctor last week and got x rays and stuff. he says the tendons are swollen in my leg up by my hip. he gave my an anti inflammatory and a muscle relaxant. yayy pills. haha so for a few days alst week  just laid in my bed all week to rest my back and my leg. fun stuff. i can actually walk now so im improving!

it was tough saying goodbye to my area, especially because i had to stay in doors for most of my last week. and alot of the people i had taught werent home when we went to say goodbye haha good timing on our parts i guess. the day before changes we had to change pensions so our last meal couldnt be with hermana Magela. bummer.

as parting gifts from my old area, one of the members there gave me one of his ties. one of my investigators, Charly, a guy thats so big i literally dont think he´ll be able to fit in the faunt (ocean baptism!!) gave me a pirated copy of "Lion King. numbers 1-5".. last time i checked theres only two versions and 3 if you count the one of timon and pumba. welcome to peru!

so we live with a guy named Wilfred Rojas. believe it or not he was the very  first peruvian  missionary. and he looks like Cnl. Sanders. this guy is awesome!

and yes we got cell phones now. we´re rollin with some high class Nokia phones. if we had any form of iphone or tablet we´d get robbed in two seconds! and no we dont have facebook either. we like to do missionary work the old fashioned way.. talking to people in person. ha maybe one day.

oh and my area is right by the air port so i see planes lannding ALL. DAY. its killing me. 

church was good yesterday, they had me go up and present myself to the ward and this week im giving a 5 minute talk in sacrament meeting on The Book of mormon.

we{ve only had a couple lessons since ive been here. the coolest one was yesterday with a gu named Julio Torres.´this guys tight, hes 61 and hes a hard core karate guy. hes a less active guy thats been living in venezuela for a while and just moved back down here. his wife and kids are still over there so hes here alone. we talked to him about the priesthood and the book of mormon.

so jeff AND mark are getting surgery?? BUMMER. good luck with that! looks like our family´s health is malfunctioning. and yes mom im still reading jesus the christ, im almost done, only a couple more hundred pages.. which really is almost to the end. yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

i{ll try to send pictures this week. my card is being dumb again. its got some crazy viruses so if im able to im literally going to send all of my pictures home so mark can put them into a file before my card erases them.

well i love you lal and im soo grateful for your support and prayers. the church is true! live it and love it.

elder brown

                                                   I'm not awkward around girls, am I??

                                                  Elder Brown and Elder McCallister

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