Ya se fue mi hijo..

Wuddupppp.

Sooo Elder laiche was dropped of at the offices yesterday and flew off this morning to start his service in Mexico. i am going to be working with a kid in the ward named Lehi that is getting ready for his mission. his calling is to the Mexico City Southeast mission. Lehi will be with me till next week when we have changes. looks like imma be in my area for another transfer! 

what is with everyonehavin babies??? goodness. i didnt even know kyndall was pregnant till i saw the family picture from christmas or thanksgiving, and i though brian´s baby wasnt coming till like later this year. i haave noooooo sense of time anymore.

so sounds like the dedication for the gilbert temple was sweet. bummer i couldnt be there with my uke eh?? haha im glad we got some rain up there though. ahhh. rain. 2015. its starting to get a little cloudy in the fternoons. in a few months im going to miss the heat, because when the sun goes away, it wont come back for about four months. and it just mists all day. haha yeahhhhh humidity.

no momma dont worry, im not getting eaten alive. i mean i get a few bites every once in a while but its not like elder mcallister. he says he´s getting feasted upon. my health is doin good no worries! this is like the longest ive gone the whole mish without being injured or sick. we doin good.

so on saturday night we had another baptism. a kid named maycon. hes turing 18 this month and he lives with his sister an brother in law. this kid is awesome! he had a date for the 15 but we decided that there wasnt any point in waiting two more weeks. we taught him the commandments and got him interviewed on friday and he was in the water on saturday. him, noelina, elver, and luis all got confirmed yesterday. things are going well here! weéw are lining up baptisms for almost every week of this month and hooooooooopefully they all make it to the water. wea are teaching this girl Jarumi and her baptism is this saturday. we kinda have a feeling that shes not too into it but we´ll see how it goes. shes here visiting her dad and her mom back at home is less active. we´re hoping that this will help the mom get back into the church too.

so big news in 200 Millas. we changed pensionistas this past week. the other one just wasnt... mm she´s a great lady. haha but yeah this new one is awesome. 

oh yeah, along with everything else yesterday, remember Pedro Saavedra who we helped get back into the church and baptized his girlfriend? bueno, yesterday he got the melkizedek priesthood!and now his less active brother is slowly showng more interest again in the church. its awesoooooooooome. 

so yeah everythings going well. we´ve got some awesome families we are working with here and we´re hoping to see quite a few more baptisms this month. its cool to see how there are those who are realllly prepared and accept the gospel right away. im convinced that there are many people in the preexistance who werent really intot he plan, but just saw their friends wanting to go to earth, or just did wahat the majority was doing. here, they dont accept themessage. others, who were excitive and attentive to accept the plan, and here on earth, when its presented to them, somethng awakens in them and allows them to remember the plan and accept it (again). 

thanks to everyone for lthe love and prayers. i love yu all and am grateful for all of you. to thos who have all had kids recently- congrats! to those who havent in a while (ehhemm dessajyn and jrew) gimme some more nephews. haha nah. love you!

elder brown

#Burnt

Hola mi amada famillia!

so josh and chelsea are havin a baby eh?? nuts! welp. i guess jessalyn and drew have to give me twin nephews now. no? ok.

presidents day huh?  NO SCHOOL OR WORK YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LIVE IT UP MACI!!!! very nice. i expect to hear about barbeques at the herrons and swimming. oh wait, its only hot down here. welp. better luck in a few moths! the heat starts to die away in like a week or two but it wont be cold again for a few months. winter starts in june. mmm wet cold. my favorite. sike.

HAPPY TENTH ANNIVERSARY THIS FRIDAY MOM AND MARK. DOUBLE DIGITS. what started with turtle neck sweaters and leather jackets has turned into an eternal marriage. well done! 

so in peru things are goin good! its HOTTT. im just glad im not in brazil. i hear its nastyy over there. at least its nice at night time because we´re right on the beach. Corbin is on the beach too but he´s a little north of me. the difference is his area is pure sand. dude´s roasting. whenever he emails or calls me i make star wars jokes about Tattouine and sand men. i dont think he catches the references so its not really funny but eh, oh well.

the other day we did a service in the other area in our ward, elder schagel´s area. they have only sand and dirt too. we swept and repainted a soccer court and we all left fried. sunblock would´ve been good. the next day we went to a baptism and one of the sisters from the states had a few bottles of peppermint essencial oils. all of us we´re putting it on our burns. it felt nice. the redness is kinda gone now. as you know ive dealt with some baddddd burns from our san clemente trips. my skin is still on my face haha.

so this past week i got a call from my pops elder fallas, infoming me that elder laiche´s visa is ready. he´s been on a temporary mission while he waited on his visa. welp. the offices are gonna pick it up tomorrow and he could leave at any time. NO. MY SON. we went to the center of lima (which is wayyy cool. (callao- no pasa nada) to do his picture for his visa. as we were driving we saw the stadium for peru´s national team. we also saw a chicken restaurant that said "KENDALL" on it. all the shops here have the title of what it is (bodega, farmacia, panaderia, etc.) and then a random name (stacy, miguel, stefani). this one just happened to be mine! cool stuff.

we had a solid week this week! we´re setting up baptisms for this week and for march. we had a FHE with a new family last night and when we left elder laiche said "ellos son escogidos". they are chosen. they are awesome. are hard work is finally starting to show results! apparently my district has more baptismal dates than the rest of the zone and me and elder laiche are leading the way! when we prayed together last night, elder laiche reminded me why we really have all this success as he thanked god for placing every one in our paths and allowing us to teach these people and have given us the ability to work. its verrrryyyy true. just on our own efforts, its better that we dont even go out on missions. we literally cant do anything without god´s hand in the work. every person we teach and every day we get to work is a gift. its by his hand i can walk all day, speak a different language, and do it for two whole years. like it says in alma, in his strength i can do all things. and, without his strength, i cant do anything. we all are completely dependent on him in this work. he needs our hearts, might, minds, and strength,, and even when our everything isnt much, he fills in the gaps and does the rest. ive been working more on really studying deep. asking questions, thinking. finding little details in the scriptures and pondering them. the other day, i read a verse in genesis about the ark and i wrote half a page in my journal of questions. its awesome. and i started to study PMG from ground one. literally. i started by studying the front cover. i went and bought post it notes to write notes and questions all over the place. im goin BIG. i hope this lasts long haha i always start new studying techniques and can never get set in one. with planning meetings, work visits, and services, it gets a little hard to keep up. the joys of being a district leader eh? its cool though. im learning a ton and its cool to see how the missionaries and their areas are progressing.

welp- i love you all, have fun celebrating the presidents. party hard. but not too hard. squeeza hayden´s face for me. LES QUIERO!

Elder brown

MONTH 10

Mi linda familia!!

whats up. this week has flownnnnnnnn. this past month, the clock decided to tick faster. every week is flying now. im at ten months now. what the heck. i speak well, im livin in peru, but i still feel like i just started. only two months and im at my year mark. not to mention some of my friends will be home in six months. haha jeff was right, im gonna wake up the day after i get home and think it was all just some crazy dream. welp, gotta go hard while i can i guess!

i got my package this week THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK YOU. its awesome. ah. america. im gonna make the cookies tomorrow morning for my district.  speaking of my district. we´re starting to kick it up. we only have one baptism in the district this far, but for the rest of the month we have eleven dates..? fechas sounds better. my companion is a machine. last week in a zone meeting, the zone leaders wantewd to demonstrate the difference between strength and diligence. they had elder laiche go in front of everyone to do 100 push ups. he did it. first time in his life. haha so if we are diligent (constantly working to improve every day) we´ll get stronger (busting out 100 push ups in a shirt and tie like its nothing). thats my boy!!

 anyways, im excited to see that finally our hard work is paying off. some days we still have a few hours to go and i gotta take a break to stretch out my legs and breathe for a little bit. but its good. things are alot funnier when im tired. and then when i get reallly tired they just get frustrating. eh, its all good. 

haha ahhhhh i want to be there to see hayden. she sounds like shes a funny little girl. if shes gonna throw her food, at least have fun with it and make her a target to throw at. or just throw it back at her. haha ahhh the time our corner. jessalyn´s puttin the hammer down. i remember the time out corner in our old house. corner window by the kitchen table. classic.

ahhhh let me know how her restaurant is! inka empire eh? sounds solid! hey, cow heart is really good! chicken liver too. ill take ya there after and show ya what i ate!

oh yeah, so we dont eat dinner at our pensionistas anymore. so this past week i have become a chicken nugget, egg, and cheese taco master. gettin creative haha. last week i bought a massive chocolate cake from Tottus to eat for breakfast.. i finished it last week. it was dang good. yes mom. im staying healthy. our pensionista gives us fruit with our lunch.

os the other day i went to get my hair cut. the usual lady was busy so we went down the street. she cut my hair. but in an effort to keep my "look", she left a ton of long hair so that my hair could stay kinda how it looked. um pardon? i paid six soles, cut ALL my hair. so sunday morning, i got dressed. looked in the mirror. "this is ridiculous". got my scissors. and attempted to do what ive seen momma do for 18 years. dang im good. haha 

the other day we did "Open Doors" at the church. we stood outside with pamphlets and book of mormons to try getting people inside to show them the church. we were inside talking to people and some dude (the same guy we taught on elder laiche´s first day that showed us a bible that says the mountain of the lord in isaiah is machu pichu) came by with his garbage cart and stole all of our book of mormons. we ran out, invited him inside, then made him give our books back. haha oh victor.

welp, thanks for the love and prayers. i love you all and im glad everyones safe and doing well. thanks! 

over and out,

elder  brown   

oh yeah. we got another rat...

February- Yo

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

so ya had a trip up to provo eh?? sounds like a fun day! hah and no ive never been to cubby´s in my life. i lived on in n out and babe-choc-frosts from wendy´s at provo. Bruce eh?? i mean its no Grace but i mean if he "rides like butter[ (...??) then its gotta be a good car..and that art exhibit sounds dope! now your next assigment is for you two to actually go to denmark and find any people he taught that are still alive.. or their kids. haha.

so yes my stomach was better this week. and my back? well. im hopin jeff learns back stuff in med school. nah no worries im good! i just stretch and use my ice pack when i need it. i feel bad if im ever elders quorum president. i wont be able to help anyone move...aside from the sicknesses i am still slowly getting skinnier still. my companion makes skinny jokes and some guy in my ward grabbed my pants at my waste because they´re a little loose and made some joke or comment or something haha. eh. oh well. ill gain it all back my first week of barro´s and filiberto´s.

 i am actually drinking water now. i might as well go buy a camel pack so i can replace the water im constantly losing. we sweat alllllllll day. luckily the nights are still pretty nice. we wake u in the mornings and its like Cali. overcast. and then the sun says "just kidding.. good luck gringo!!! BOOM. i get home at night and i look like  dang lobster. hahaha remember when i came back from the beach looking like a leper because i got burnt so bad? well im not quite there yet. but the extreme farmers tan is going to confuse my body. half is burnt and half is sun deprived. im lookin reallll good. 

sooooooo no package yet. im hopin itll be here tomorrow.  no worries mama. itll get to me! and yes we use the football set. sometimes we dont really feel like starting comp study so to warm up i go to my bed and shoot the ball back and forth till i beat him haha. elder scroggins my zone leader kinda spilled all the sand from my golf thing. dont worry it came with a big bag. i still cant beat my par 5  hole in one.

so this past week, we had changes and interviews. i looooooooove talking with president. i leave soo stoked to work every time. so elder garner went up to huaraz. look it up online. im hoping to die there as a trainer. thats mah dream. but anyways to replace him, i got the one and only ELDER BRYSON FORD SCHAGEL he is working with me in the ward haha this kids nuts. love him. he was with elder cole cody for a while so im pretty sure he´s gonna spend alot of time with us in mesa, 

haha ahhhhhhhh hayden. i miss that chunker. keep sending pictures por favor.

speaking of maci.. breaststroke eh?? i mean its not what us browns do but if you wanna step outside the 50 free train and dominate im fine with that. haha nah keep it up mace! your 50 breast is gonna beat my 25 free by the time i get back. im sure sterling can give you a few pointers,he swam breaststroke. just be sure to start all your races like lightning mcqueen.. "speed... i am speed...".

the work is good. we are finding a few solid families! the other night we brought a family to the chapel and taught them about faith, repentance, chastity, and marriage. we had them pray right there in the lesson about a specific date for getting married and we all knelt down. they both prayed and when they finished, their eyes were filled with tears. god ALWAYS answers prayers. president told me that if the spirit lets me down, that i write him and he´ll print it out and peg it to his wall. 

something to try that we did Mark. its called "finding the lost sheep", to help with the sisters in the wars. we printed off a ton of little sheep, cut them out and passed them out in sacrament meeting. the members put their names, numbers, and addresses, and then put a name number and address of a friend, family member, or neighbor. BOOM. referrals.

ha the other day people gave us coffee. we drink ecco here which is like it so i had no idea. but we had one of the assistants with us and he, in english looks at me and says "coffee" no. elder laiche was pounding it. i stomped on his foot. we asked them what it was and then explained we couldnt drink it. we taught them the word of wisdom (in our first actual lesson with them, which isnt normal) and they committed right there to live the word of wisdom. so sick. 

haha well its been a great week love you all. stay safe. wait groundhogs day passed right?? what did phil say?? 

love you!

elder brown. 

oh yeah we make our own dinner now. thats me flippin quesadillas.

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