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

cuy cuy cuy cuy!!

buenas dias todos!!!

as you can tell by the caption, we had cuy (guineau pig) this past week. it was weird. it tasted like chicken but it kinda freaked me out that i was eating the leg of a cuy. they have six toes. you can see in the picture. six.

the most interersting food story happened this morning. so we went to our pensionista as usual where we all ate four pieces of bread, ham, and some juice. then, we went to a less active lady´s "restaurant" in a market. we started off with siete semillas. its a drink made of juiced up seven types of seeds, and a sweet potato sandwich. i was full. she then saw we´d finished so clearly that meant we want more food. she filled our glasses with another drink called kinwa, which is another seed type drink. not bad. then comes the soup. she brought us all huge bowls of what i officially named sopa de dientes y testiculos. teeth and... dog-version-of-rockymontain-oyster soup.. it was interesting. i was already full and nauscious (that was spelled way wrong). the soup actually was some type of broth, weird looking corn that sersiouly looked like teeth, and chunks of mystery meat. with the dogs walking around, we could only guess. i´ll go with elder croziers guess of "foot of some kind of animal". it was awful haha i was just gaggging and slurping. we walked out with sore stomachs and hopped on to a very bumpy bus ride. I LOVE PERU haha

last week for p day we went to the zoo in Lima. i saw a bear- ahhh yeah. it was like dead there. there was like fiftry other people in the whole zoo and the animals were all depressed. oh and i got to see an actual peruvian llama. only took going to the zoo to see emperor cusco. what a day.

on saturday we got to watch the recording of the 100th stake celebration that happened a few weeks ago when elder christopherson came to set up the new stake. his spanish is awesome! it was really cool.

last week one of my good friends went home, so we adopted his companion Elder China, one of the elders from my group that came to the mission back in may. he is half bolivian and half japanese, and his last name is China. what a combo haha but luckily its only till changes on august 13 because we have to work our area as well as his now and his area literally is on the other side of a mountain.

so as for an overall update, my spanish has been picking up alot lately. its super hard to learn because my companion speaks english and i can barely understand his spanish. but im gettin there! no se preocupe. and, ive noticed im beginning to lose weight. its either from walking all day every day and only eating natural home made food (75% of which is rice, which literally is like filling my stomach with packing peanuts, just to be full for a few minutes), or its because i got a tape worm. if so, im taking elder mcallisters advice and naming it. any suggestions. haha nah mom dont worry, im healthy! the only problem is im not growing. and if i am, i dont notice because im literally taller than everyone here, except for a few white missionaries.

So my message for the week: Love and help others. as i mentioned, one of my good friends had to head home this past week. he was excited and felt really good and we were excited for him because as missionaries and teachers of the atonement and repentance, we understand what repentance really means. we were super bummed as we talked about peoples attitudes about situations like this. "oh man,, did you hear he came home??" "did you hear what he did?? all i can even think to say to people with that attitude (without swearing) is are you kidding me?? rejoice for him! be happy for him! our friend said in his own words, "i am happy. what im doing now is literally making everything christ did for me worth it. before, it wasnt worth it." WOAH. THAT HIT ME HARD. the atonement is such a beautiful thing, and all too often, people, especially as members of the church, have a terrible attitude about it. when people are using the greatest gift anyone has ever given, be happy! because it makes christs death worth it. repentance is all too often associated with what comes before it. the sin. to this i repeat the words of the Savior, "he that is without sin, let us cast the first stone." i pray that everyone, myself included, can come together as members of the church and as children of God, in loving and helping one another, and LOVING one another. thats a huge thing im learning here. love. there are things people here do that drive me INSANE. but slowly im learning to just understand people, love them for who they are, and thats it. love em. sorry if that message didnt have meaning or even make sense but its what ive been feeling. haha i love you all and thanks for the love you´ve shown me throughout my life. i wouldnt be here without it. until next time!

Elder Brown

                                                                "Da Bears"

                                                       

                                   

                                           This is Cuy. A Guinea pig. This is their Delicacy in Lima.

 

                                                                    They have 6 toes....

wasssss ssaaaaaaaaaa (It's what his little niece Hayden always says now)

hey everyone! so yesterday i celebrated surviving two months in Peru. its soo weird to think ive been gone for over three months and in south america for two. time is flying. so this past week was absolutely freezing. on tuesday morning we could see our breath in our apartment. awesome.

Cool stuff from this week:

Magela( our pensionista) and Luis (her esposa) got married on saturday! this is a HUGE deal. now me and elder fallas need to bust our butts to get luis baptized before this next change. then we can come back in a year for their sealing! (did i spell that right?) my english grammar and spelling are slowly dying. elder crozier and elder aldana also had a couple theyve been teacjing get married. good stuff!

last week we all met with president archibald and had interviews. it was the coolest interview ive ever had. essentially he taught me how to get baptisms every week. if you want to baptize every week. you can. "why does a bird fly? becasue it thinks it can." he made it all sound soooooo easy. teach them. then baptize them. i wish i had such confidence. the gospel reaally is so simple. he explained how brigham young went to europe and baptized thousands. he also mentioned how President Young, along with all the other early missionaries had wayyyyy less gospel knowledge than we have as missionaries today. he then read to me Alma 26:22 which says basically live the gospel and you´ll bring thousands of souls to God. "is the book true?" "yeah.." "well then put up or shut up" haha this guy is awesome. this week ive felt a fire and a desire to go find people and bring them to the waters that ive never experienced.

so my message this week is simple. with God, anything is possible. this was our lesson in elders quorum yesterday and i realized that as a missionary, without the help of God, this work is literally impossible. we are imperfect people trying to do a perfect work. i love the quote "if you dont think you can do something, you cant. But with God, you can"

love you all, keep praying fopr the missionaries, especially for those learning languages!!!! its freaking hard haha but i love every day.

Elder Brown

                                                Kendall said it has been freezing

     

                                            The wedding of Migela and Luis. Hooray!

 

                                                     The wedding cake and celebration
                               

                                         This is what we all miss... Kendall is always having fun!
                                         

                                                         
                           

                                                                   Peruvian celebrations
                                               

                                                   Migela and Luis Wedding

                                      Kendall and a Peruvian boy. Not sure if this is Migela and Luis son

                       
                                         Kendall's drawing of our home. Maybe he's a little homesick

Te Bautizo Con el Martillo de Thor!

Whats uppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

so basically the only awesome things this week were the baptism and confirmation of Miguel Ángel Sánchez Navarro. This kid is freakin awesome! Elder fallas baptized him and i was his camera man. The service was awesome. there was a guy from the ward baptizing his daughter too so there were a ton of people. As part of the program, we wanted to have a special musical number. So... Elder Brown, you´ll do it right? ah... k. i sang "Cuando me bautice". the spanish version of i like to look for rainbows. without piano. haha ahh yeah. i had one of the guys attending take pictures so i could show you but he ended up taking a video. so i´ll let you see it in about 20 months... oh and i wore Grandpa Flittons tie. awesome day.

The next day we confirmed him at church. we were freaking out because he hadnt shown up when church started. he showed up! Miguelito is a mormoncito.

the other day we had a service thing on a farm. we pulled potatoe plants out of the ground for two hours. theres still dirt under my nails and stained on my hands. mom, i dont know why you enjoy pulling weeds so much but you would have loved it: pulling weeds and potatoe plants till your hands are raw.

so my message today is 2 Nephi 2:27. i Studied that verse this morning and wrote a whole page on it in my study journal. so basically this past week ive been struggling with staying in the moment: letting go of the past, not worrying about the future, and just being happy right now. the scripture says "All things are given [us] which are expedient unto [us]". the scripture is about choice. choosing liberty and eternal life or death and captivity. God has given us the ability to choose. All things are given us by choice. action, reaction. decision, consequence. but i had always thought that this scripture was written solely out of an eternal perspective. make good decisions now and recieve freedom and joy in the life to come. in alma it says that"by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". BUT. i took Nephi´s advice in 1 ne 19:23 and applied the scripture to my life. right here and right now. so here´s my point. as my mom always says, "happiness is a choice". so if we can choose our eternal happiness based on the actions we make right now, can we also choose happiness right now, based on nothing other than the divine gift god has given us: choice? yes. Let go of the past, stop fearing the future, and choose to live right now. Choose to let go of fear. choose to accept Jesus Christ. choose to smile. even if you cant manage real happiness even if you try, follow the quote often used in theater, "fake it till you make it". we have the power to choose happiness. it literally is a gift of god. choosing liberty, freedom, joy, etc. its up to us. all too often, myself included, we think that happiness is a result of external circumstance. NO. as president Uchtdorf says: "STOP IT". choose freedom now "through the great mediator of all men". 

Another scripture i found this morning that i lked is Doctrine and Covenants 45:3-5. cool.

one last thing. im not sure who all reads this or if anyone´s even made it to the end of this email without getting bored but if any of you have served missions and/or know someonw who has, i have a question for you: in your missions, how did you have success? i dont mean how did you get a ton of numbers, i mean what did you do to work effectively and efficiently as a missionary? we are struggling with efficiency in our area and its a killer. any advice would be great! email me as soon as possible.

The Gospel. Learn it, live it, love it. word.

Elder Brown

               Elder Brown and 10 year old Miguel. If you look close Miguel has on the Spanish CTR ring Kendall gave to him. I sent Kendall with some kids CTR rings in Spanish and he has really enjoyed giving them to the kids. 

                                         Giving Miguel a "bump" for his good choice to be baptized

   

                                            Elder Brown and Elder Fallas and Miguel

                                           

                                           Some kids They are teaching. Andy and Enrique

 

                                               Kendall always has fun in life

                                         

                                           The four missionaries together

 

                                            This is some kind of Dance Festival

                                                  Kendall and the city lights of Peru