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

Changed.

Heheheyyyy mi amada familia.

first off. mom i hope you could sleep well last night. no im not dead. yesterday we had mission council. ill explain that later.

sooo yup. we went to the stake center last monday so they could tell the zone about the changes. i went to the bathroom. as i was washing my hands i hear elder welburn screaming WHAT??? NOO!! NO NO NO AHHHHH! he came running intot he bathroom. what??? you´re gone dude! huh?? you are getting changed! oh. haha ill send some pics of his face. it was funny. but yeah i got moved over a whole distance of crossing the street. im now one a zone leader in the Las Palmeras stake where the offices are. my buddy elder larsen, who was my zone leader back in barranca, is here as the assistant, so we are back in action! my comp is elder Ortiz from guatemala. he too was up in barranca with me a while back. he finishes up this change so looks like whoever i get on december 30 will be my last comp. this ward touches Libertadores on one side and 200 Millas on the other side. so looks like a year of my mission will have been spent within a verrryyy short distance

its ok. corbin spent 15 months in the same zone. coolest part of the area is that one of the urbanizations is called "Arizona". we actually found a huge family there. they were baptized and sealed along time ago but have been inaactive for a long time. they just moved here. the youngest is now in his twenties and there are six kids, now adults. had a lesson with them last night. "im from arizona." "so am i"..ahh never gets old.

so. as i said. yesterday we had mission council. its where the zone leaders from all the mission comes here to lima where we have a fatty long meeting with president. started at 9 finished at almost 5. learned a tooooooooooonnnnnnnnn. my buddy elder hackleman is a zl too in ventanilla so we got to see each other yesterday. elder arnett is the zl in los olivos so i gtt o hang out with him too. mesa crew. and elder norton, who went to desert ridge (pr desert vista..?) he hung out with michelle larsen from the ward before his mish. we got a 480 pic ill send. 

speaking of which, something cool hit me yesterday. i was thinking about all the kids from my high school in this mission (elders mcallister, cody, arnett, beckstead. and sister brown.) and remembered how president taugth us that each mission is a group of missionaries that actually worked together in the premortal life. when president archibald was called, it wasnt to a mission, but toa  group of missionaries. which makes me think about the missionaries i knew beforehand. met sister mrown in music theater when i was nine. i did karate with elder cody when i was 6. good friends with mcallister since he moved to arizona. sat next to elder arnett in a class in high school and im pretty sure we did some sport together when we were younger. beckstead, from my seminary class. if only we knew then, in high school, or even whe we were younger, what we´d all be doing together in a couple years, and what that would mean. i can only imagine how stoked theose on the other side of the veil were when we all met for the first time, them knowing who we were and are and going to be. 

so another kid thats in my zone is elder huish. he hung out with matt brinson. went to westwood.we know a ton of the same people. we had a mesa reminiscing sesh at out district meeting the other day. ill sendd a pic of him wearing my back brace like a heavy weight title belt.

so in other news, hermana fuentes, one of the sisters from my branch in barranca, showed me yesterday that i am famous in the South america north west are in the church. nah, not really. theres a picture and a little article of us up in barranca when we baptized the Tenorio Family. dont know how you can look that one up but eh. 

this morning we had an awesome meeting. Elder Bruce C Hafen came here to pick up his granddaughter from the mission so he came and spoke to us this morning. guys a stud! he spoke about why we got ot he temple before the mission and how the promised blessings f covenants come as we obey our part. he also spoke aboutt he atonement and the redeeming, strengthening, and perfecting blessings of the atonement. he taught us about the true nature of man and how the atonement really works. ill share a cool story his wife shared when talking about the strengthing blessins. so theres the story of the little girl who jumped over the rattlesnakes on the path while trekking to utah. the one thats on 17 miracles. so a few weeks later, that same girl, now freezing and starving was still on going across the plains. one of the resucue wagons had got there. the next day as they set out, the kids were set on walking and sticking with the carts. llittle by little other kids slowly fell behind. this little girl was walking until she could barely take another step. then a man in a cart with horses asked her if she would like a ride. she said yes. so he took her hand. instead of pulling her up intot he wagon, he looked to his horses and made a clicking noise. in horse language, that means speed up. the little girl, who was already almost too exhausted to walk, was now forced to run, her hand grasping to the man in the wagon. then, once she was running, she thought she couldnt take another step, he pulled her up, wrapped her in a blanket, then set her in the wagon. this served a great purpose. it got her circulation running and heated up her body. even though she was exhausted. looking back, she sad how that man, by making her run, saved her life. the atonement works like that. we are saved by grace AFTER EVERYTHING WE CAN DO. god expects us to give it everything. then even thhen he wont come in and sweep us off our feet and carry us through. he´ll provide the strength we need to keep going. working with us. holding on to our hand as we run. 

welp. i believe thats it for this week.

hope everythings fun up there with thanksgiving! ill be knocknin down pavo next year.

paz y bendiciones,

elder brown

oh, and last week, my last night in libertadores, we are pancakes with bishop and his family. his wife was our pension there

1 change down.

sup.

so today i finish up my first change here in trebol. i literally feel like i havent started my time here yet. time doesnt exist anymore. kinda like when we would play on the swings in the back yard when we were kids. spin it up verryyy slowly. then once its wound up you take your feet off hte ground and spin so fast that you can barely keep your head and feet with you. kinda feels like that haha. (shout out to nance circle!).

cool.

so we had a rather interesting experience on saturday. we went to a market in our area with the bishop and we set up a table with pamphlets to talk to people and get known. so as soon as we set up the table. we hear "evangelicos!" we look acrossed the street to see a very drunk cross dressing she-man coming towards us. it ended with him trying to kiss my comp and the bishop. saying alot of verrry bad words at us, then grabbing our book of mormons from the table and throwing them on the ground as he walked away to go harrass the little ladies at a ceviche stand. we felt gross alll day. it was literally spiritually damaging. but its something to laugh about now haha. 

on a good note i tried out a new plate this week. look it up. its called escaveche. dangggg good. its some yellow pepper exclusive to peru (the same stuff they use to make my beloved Tarì sauce) with onions, sweet potato, chicken, and rice. ask sister baldwin about it. it makers life good.

yesterday in church we finally got the peña family there. well hte mom had to work. but the rest came. the daughter sang in hte primary program. her first day in church. so did molly, trhe other little girl who`s getting baptized soon so she can be with the rest of her family. last night we ran into the peña family on the streets. we were leaving and we hear "HERMANO BROWN!" we turned back and saw his two little kids runing towards us with a bag. they handed it to us. we opened it to find three mini papa johns boxed. we got a few slices of pizza, some cheesy bread,and a cinammon roll pizza. i love my job. pays good. 

we had a solid lesson with them the oher day. the dad asked about "the two churches" in first nephi. well, i tod him what it meant. then, to avoid any defensiveness, we got straight to explaining prayer and the holy ghost. we had him pray right there. he got an answer. we right the checks, the spirit signs them. every time.  the same worked with some crazy old couple we are working with. they couldnt get to chruch though because he can only get around driving because of some dizziness disorder he has while hes standing. well the missionnaries showed up so the car broke. go figure. so that`ll get fixed this week.

yesterday we had a lesson in gospel principles about the law of chastity. theres a quote in there from "for the strength of youth". it got me thinking about my understanding of that booklet and what i wished the youth could understand (because its something i didnt. not necessarily about that specific commandment, but about commandments in general.) kids so often say "the church is true". alright well then lets make that connection. the church is true. the church of JESUS CHRIST. who is in perfect unity with the father. in all things. so this is HIS church. so it means he directs it. so god directs it. so that little church logo on the back of things like the "for the strength of youth" pamphlet means that the things written in there are verry important. so you believe the articles of faith. well the fifth article of faith says that men must be called of god by prophecy and revelation. and doctrine and covenants 1:38 says that wheat god has spoken, he has spoken, and he excusesd not himself. and by his own voice or the voice of his servants it is the SAME. so when the prophets tell su to do things. gods telling us to do things. when they say things like "you should" "we suggest" or "it would be best", they are not just suggestions. god didnt give the ten suggestions to moses. directions from god are called commandments. so when got, through his prophets, tells the youth of the church to not date til you´re 16, date in groups, dont do or say ANYTHING that arouses intimate feelings, to dress modestly, be honest in your schoolwork, dont dance like an animal, etc. they are commandments. too many people get comfortable in an "all mormon" seting and think that lowering your standards is ok because we`re all lowering them together. not a good idea. i sound like president ostler on a standards night haha but i am understanding now what i wish i would have ten years ago. momma. teach those young women to be strong. respect themselves and to not tolerate it if the young men dont want to respenct them. they are children of god. in other words, they are going to be like him someday. start now. 

hey, glad to hear jess and drew are in their new place. keep on keepin on. snowing in provo, slightly cold in mesa, and hot in san martin de porres. 

oh yeah, and i literally have fifty pounds of stuff i leave in my suit cases "just in case". so ill be emptying it all out when i finish up. and on one of the farewell days president takes the group going home to the inca market to buy a bunch of cool stufff. ill let ya know when the time comes to have you fill my account a little more. but it should be fine. 100 bucks is almot 300 soles. but we`ll worry aboutt that in 2015 haha its already hard enough with how fast times goin.

over and out. love you all,

elder brown

19 meses. bah.

heheheyyyy.

so first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MACI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hope you had a solid day. next year im takin you on your first date. if anyone gets to ya first, its not gonna be good. congrats on bein birthed mace.

so this week was fun. highlight of the week. I GOT TO PLAY A UKULELE FOR A FEW DAYS. some lady has one in our ward because some american left it with their family as a souvinere and so i got to use it for a ward talent show this week. it was dang fun. it has beenn foreeeeeeeverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. i gotta get practicing. grandma is going to show me up when we jam together in a few months. i kept trying to pull out songs i used to play and i have forgotten the grand majority. my fingers remember the cords but i cant remember cord progresssions and how to put it to diffferent songs. so for the show i played one of the only ones i could remember, "im yours" from jason mraz. it helps that no one knows english. i tried sending a video but it was too big to send in an email. whoops. 

we are busy doing some searching for new people. i feel like this entire past months was a never ending chain of meetings and going around town. so our studies have suffered, which means organized time in the area has been sketchy. but this week we are getting things on track. 

yesterday we got a few new people to teach. some wayyyyyy old people (the owners of our old house). fernando and amelia. he cant walk anymore so he either uses a walker or drives around in his volkswagen bug. and another guy who´sa widower with his two kids. 

we got janet and axel,, the peña family, and molly still, but we´re trying to work scheduling conflicts out with them. rough stuff. but it will be good. they´ll all be in the water soon!

right now im reading Doctrine and Covenants. iv never read through it all the way before and so i set it so i can read one section a day for the reast of my mission. no, its not a countdown. just kinda haha-

right now its startin to get hotttttttttt. but the real heat comes here in like february. i am praying that i can go to huaraz to finish up. pray for me to go there !!!

so last week president sent out an email witha talk from elder bednar. he spoke on the spiritual gift of being quick to observe. he gave an interesting exmple of how a kid was dating some girl after his mission. president hinckley came out with the one earring thing. she wasnt "quick to observe" to kkeep that commandment. he was quick to observe that she wasnt quick to observe and decided to move on. now, dont worry im not think about marriage so easy there. just some times haha. no but it was a cool example of how many times the brethren tell us things we should be doing. when they say it. we do it. even the little things. many people think they can pick and choose which commandments to follow and that they can be rated on a scale of zero to important. it wasnt a problem of wearing earrings. it was the fact that she wasnt willing to follow the prophet even in the little things. mormon was entrusted from a verryyy young age with the plateds because ammoron could see that he was of a serious nature and quick to observe. (not just to notice things, but to do them). then it gives the example of 1 nephi, chapters 11-14. when nephi is being taught by the spirit. the spirit, many times, says "look!" then nephi looks and beholds the things the spirit was trying to teach.  so thats my invitation to you. be quick to observe. follow the brethren. ALWAYS. we cant afford to decide when or when not they are speaking out of inspiration or assume for even a second that they arent being constantly quided by god.  

so my back is good. i am alive. haha you gotta be a real bro to ice massage your comps back for him. elder welburn is a good guy. really helpin me out with that one. it reminds me of when i had tendonitis on my acheles in football in seventh grade and i had to get those fun ice massages. now i get it on my back. yessss. 

haha keep on keepin on. send me some pics of jess and drews new place and of the new mr. and mrs. herron.!

paz y bendiciones.

elder brown.

novemburrrr. sike. its HOT.

heheheyyyy.

so this week was an interesting one.

last monday we got together with the zone. Soccer. my back doesnt really let me play sports anymore so i played a game of Clue on the side with some other missionaries. i havent played it since we lived over by hermosa vista. probably never play it again. i dont think ive ever wanted a game to end sooner. i can take monopoly all day long. Clue is useless. dont buy it for your children. they´ll be happier haha

tuesday we had a district meeting. elder caal, my district leader, had me teach about the importance of getting investigators to church. i started with moroni 8:25. related it to our purpose as missionaries, the gospel of jesus christ, and where we all fit in with the people and how going to church and obeying the sabbath day helps them in their process to cumplir( .... fulfill?) the gospel. so yeah that was fun stuff. 

then on thursday we had a multi zone meeting with president. he trained us on how to teach lesson 6. we have a new lesson focused entirely on fasting, tithing, and offerings. we went through isaiah 58. cooll stuff. PAY YOUR OFFERINGS. 

later that day we went out with sister archibald. we hopped in her car and she drove us over to the new room we were going to move into. she mobs hard on the peruvian streets haha i was very surprised. so yeah this morning we moved into a new place. we can actually walk in it without waiting for the other one to stand on the other side of the room. its a beautiful thing. 

we had an interesting halloween. we did nothing. and there were like all of five kids trick or treating. and zero pumpkins. when kids go trick or tresting they just walk up and say "halloween!". when we got home at night we were planning for the next day and we heard outside "elderes! halloween! elderes! halloween!" we looked out and saw the bishop with his kids. so we went down and gave them a couple candies. hahaha the wave is starting to catch. i hope to see ful nlock parties here real soon. 

earlier that day we went to a members house to get to know them, he talked to us about area 51 and about how the scriptures support the fact that there are aliens. he asked, why do you think that there have been so many advancements in technology in the last century?? i told him that the restoration might have something to do with it. he didnt catch it haha. dude was kinda a nut. we are goin back today fro FHE. pray for me.

saturday morning we had interviews with president. we sat doown. "what can i do for you elder brown?" and then we talked for about an hour. dude´s a bosssss. he helped me alot. then at the end he was like anything else? oh, yeah i need a new reccomend (yeah. two years have gone by since yesterday since i got my call and almost two yearssince i went to the temple for the first time) and he just asked are you worth to have one? i said yep. he said alright cool i got a list of people ill get you yours soon too. that was easy. 

alright welp, my district is finishing up so i gotta roll. thanks for everythinggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg keep the missionaries in your prayers. this stuff gets rough. 

hasta luegoooooo

elder brown

HAHAHAHAHAlloween.

Suppppp.

Soooo halloween eh? my bishop here was baffled when i told him we celebrate halloween as members, i guess they dont get that its not a satanic holiday. the concept of "trick or treat" hasnt quite made it down here. the 31 is like the anniversary for peruvian music or some garbage like that. i hope to see some gnarley dance fests here! 

i saw ephraims rescue last week. good movie.

oh and that was awesome to hear that story from braxton. he was one of my buddies from high school. i had a class with him like my last semester of senior year. i remember messaging him on fb after high school and he told me he was a member now. i was very surprised. he said aroound junior year he was kinda investigating the church but didnt know where to go to or who to ask about it. he eventually got the missionaries. i almost didnt believe him haha then i saw an insagram picture of his baptism. then from time to time i messaged him reminding him to get out on a mission. so i guess he made it! i was actually thinkin about him a while ago, wondering if he ever made it out. turns out he did! but as for sharing a book of mormon with him, i dont remember that. i could have told him to read it or told him in the class why i knew that or something (one time a mormon v. everyone else argument arose and i think i was the only one there. so i had to kinda stand my ground, as in a few other school situations.) so i couldve said something there? not sure. but the point is. proud of him!

so this week was danggggg fast and it was dangggggggggggggg good.

first off. the meeting.

we had a sick meeting with president for the news and trainers. i learned a ton and got suuuuuuuper stoked to go out and work like a savage. we learned about enoc and how people ssaid a "wild man has come among us". so thats how i want to finish my mission. i want people to know that elder brown was here. #beastmode.

so we´re teaching a family called the Peña family. they were the first family we ever contacted in this area. they are married and have two little kids. 8 and 10. on thursdaywe had a lesson with them. at first we went by and they werent there and my comp was devastated. me, eh, just another group that doesnt want anything. then we were walking around to finish up the night and we saw them at the end of the road. so we chased em down and went with them back to their house. i was already somewhat hesitant thinking ah they didnt read, they dont want it, we´re going to have to leave them, etc.. but much to our surprise, they had read and prayed. they still werent sure on the answer part of the deal but it will come. so the next day we were walking down the street and we saw gabriela and fabricio, the kids, walking down the street with a lady. they got closer then the lady said to them "hey lets go say hi to the elderes." ...???? uh, do you know the missionaries? then, responding in english, said she had served her mission in temple square. she just happened to be the kids´ teacher.then yesterday we went by a members house to follow up on a family they had said they wanted to invite over for FHE. so we asked about them, the said the moms name and where rthey lived and we were like. oh. thats the peña family! this guy is the old bishop and his kids are stoked about sharing the gospel with their friends. so we´ve seen from many angles how the lord is definitely preparing this family. 

yesterday in church we had a couple come up to us saying they had a reference for us. so last night we went with them to meet them. its a single mom named Janet and her 14 yr old boy named Axel. another pair of verrrry prepared people. we didnt have a book of mormon with us so we were just going to do a basic "get to know you" visit using John 3:16. as we were there talking me and elder welburn felt impressed to invite them to baptism right then and there. eh, next time. then it came again. the spirit was strongg in that lesson. so i figured, the spirit it telling me to do this. so god is telling me to do this, so 1 nephi 3:7. so its going to work and they´re going to accept even though we havent really taught anything. so we did it. they accepted. wooooooooooooooh! they´re awesome. before the lesson axel told us how he was a musician and his dream is to go to the states and study at juliard. so i made him promise that after the lesson he had to play us something. so after, he brought out his guitat and threw down some guns n roses, green day, kansas, etc. it was awesome. he had me sing along with him while he played a green day song haha. 

andddddd we got a reference for a little girl in our area named molly who lives with her aunts and uncles and isnt baptized yet. shes ten. luckily we had the bishop with us and we found out the aunt and uncles attend toa  different ward in the stake next to us. so he was there for a nice little "welcome to the ward!". alot of people here think we are llike other churches and you can just kida be a part of whatever ward you want. so we are gonna fix that up and get that girl baptized with the rest of her family. 

oh, i think serpost of is off strike so i´ll let you know if i get the package this week.

so that about suums up my week. 

ohhhhh and i saw elder mcallister and kitchens again this week. 

elder kitchens taught me a trick this week. as missionaries, satan doesnt like us. at all. and he gets in our heads with all sorts of thoughts. negative, angry, depressing, and other stuff. so he taught me a good way to beat him. write out scriptures and carry them with you. any time a thought you dont want comes in, ppull out the scripture and start memorizing. it allows you to memorize lots of scriptures out here. and after not too long, will see that he´s helping you memorize scriptures, and he´ll leave you alone. so ive been starting to write out scriptures on post-it notes so i can pull it out while im walking around and memorize scriptures. its working nicely. since thursday i got dyc 5:34-35 and alma 5.14. i wrote out 2 ne 2:11 this morning and we´ll see how many others i get down this week. just an idea for somethin to do if you ever have free time. MEMORIZE SCRIPTURES. exciting right.... but i mean i only have like five months to be able to do this.

welp. love you all. the gospel is true. when you feel overwhelmed by how imperfect you are, remember this: stop trying to save yourself with the SAVIOR as a plan b. he´s the only one who can get us to perfection. no matter how hard we try. let him take the reigns. do what you can. and give it allllll to him. im learning that and well, it works! love you all.

elder brown