LAST CHANGE

yup.

today is the beginning of my final six weeks. its so hard to believe. this past week i requested to the assistants that when elder Norton came down here from huaraz for his final interview (hes one of my close friends here from mesa. never knew him before the mish but we are gonna be tiiight after). he came down and got to come work with us. i asked him what his last change was like and he said it was his fastest one. thats what im hearing from everyone. wish me luck!

so this week was another blur. i got to work with norton that day. that was a huge blessing. other that i cant remember too much what went down. haha.

monday we played volleyball for pday. i lost. im not a land creature. too bad we cant go swim for pday; then i wouldnt feel so awkward when i spaz out when balls get thrown at me crazy fast. i need to play some more sand volleyball with the mancave.

BAH. welp. we just got the changes. looks like im finishing my mish in the promised land of Palmeras. sweeeaty. and mcallister is going to finish in the cold rain. but i mean this change flew. time seriously is melting right now.

we are working against the heat to be able to find new people and teach. my health has been doing awesome. i was praying and still do pray that i can have the health i need to work at least one change with normal health. looks like the lord has heard my prayers. this is the longest ive gone with a solid back, no hip, stomach, or lung pain. DOIN GOOD!

so the venero family and the gozzer family werent able to make it yesterday. the gozzer family is getting baptized for sure, we just gotta give em a few more weeks. the vener family? we`ll see how they go. the mom and the two youngest kids are stoked. (they have the six kids. the youngest five live there.. son, daughter, daughter, son, daughter... sound familiar?) BUT the dad thinks working 28 hours a day is a good idea so its almost impossible to teach them. we arent allowed to teach people if the dad isnt home. so we are working patiently there.

this week we have changes tomorrow, mission council wednesday, then a multizone meeting on thursday. gonna be another busy first week. wish me luck,

thanks everyone for the love and support. i can feel the blessing from the many prayers on my behalf and i thank you for that. its working!

love you

elder brown

febrero. habla.

sawp.

so im still trying to grasp the fact that january is already gone. next week begins my last transfer as a missionary. freakin me out. haha every time a plane flies by my comp points it out for me. 

solid work week. we have a few families we are working with. the venero family, the gozzer family, luis lara, and now the ramirez family. pray they can all make it to their baptism dates!

luckily this week we had a little bit of clooud cover.. could have been pollution but ill take it. didnt get fried haha. but it is crazy humid here. i think im going to dry out when i get back there. 

last week we played quidditch. it was SICK. legit the best pday ive ever had. i was the ravenclaw captain. we had an hermana be the sorting hat and shechose our teams. gryffindor was stacked. bogus. but we still put up a good fight. 

oh, before i forget, thanks to brother griffin for the letter! cant wait to have a nice sunday afternoon chat with him.

on tuesday i woke up and started a revolution. i made pancake mix then the thought came to me. YOU HAVE REESE´S FASTBREAKS ON YOUR DRESSER. BRING ONE. CUT IT UP. PUT IT IN THE PANCAKE BATTER. so thats what i did. and it was goooooooooooooooooood.

oh and this week i was in the shower. tried to adjust the shower head. the whole think broke off the wall. so now i  shower from cold water from a hole in the wall. yes.

so this week i had a solid study in ether. so ive got another homework assignment for you. 

start out in ether 2:25. actually start at the end of 24 where it says "for the winds". i decided it was a good definition or explanation from god to elder brown of "This is why you´ve been through everything you´ve been through. this is the reason for the physical and emotional breakdowns, the trials, the pain, the stress. i need you to be prepared to cross the waters. i need you to be ready for whats ahead and for what i need you to do.

then go finish that chapter and then check out mahonri´s attitude change from chapter two to chapter three. from when he asks god for light, gets that response, then comes back to the mountain later, a very humbled man, with sixteen stones in his hand, with the firm hope that god can simply touch them with his finger and they´ll give light. he comes back with an attitude of "ok. i want to cross those waters. and im ready now to submit to your will to get me there. do what you need to do to have me be ready."

welp. keep on keepin on. only six more letters after this one. WOOAAHH.

elder brown

and a few selfies.

ITS SO HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

hey, how are you, im sweaty.

haha so the heat kicked it up a few degrees this week. my companion is a pale human so he gets roasted. today we are playing Quidditch as a zone(this is what happens when kendall brown is zone leader) so we´re probably all going to be fried. RAVENCLAW.

so it was a good week. we worked harddddd lookin for new people. and of the people we contacted this week. which was a tooooooooonnnnnnnnnnn. none were there at their appointments haha. but one family that was a referral form some members is a family of seven. we set dates with them for the 7 of march. and set for another family of four for the 28 of february. familia venero and familia gozzer. YEAHHHHHHHHHH. satan sent someone to rob gozzer families truck sunday night so they coundlt come to church the next day. but we´ll get them there this week.

the other day we were walking and some kid came up to us and asked, are you mormons? yes. thats us. he took us over to his older sister across the park who was on a walk with her kids. she seemed relievfed to have found us. she said she had been searching for a long time. her husband is a less active member and they are living together. she wanted to know find the missionaries and have them come visit her family. we went and taught them about chastity, marriage, temples, etc. they are moving this week to callao so we wont be returning, but i know god allowed us to be the answer to her prayers that day in helping her family.

YES i got my package. we went to the offices to pick up some papers and just before we left the doorbell rang. it was brother and sister baldwin dropping off the packages. did she send you the picture? so yeah i am loooving the food. i had banana pancakes this morning. today il buy syrup. 

this past week i have had the great blessing of running into multiple people from 200 Millas here in my area. last tuesday we were walking and i heard ELDER!" Looked over and saw a 15 yr old kid from my old area just walkin down the street. then two days later i got out of a moto taki and saw another girl from the same ward walking with her husband, who is the son of th bishop from that ward who got home from his mission the day i left the area. then yesterday we cfontacted a family in a park. i told the grandpa of the family i recognized him from somewhere and he said he was the grandpa of a family back in 200 millas that i had taught. his daughter was less active and his son in law and grandson got baptized right after i left. the people he was with are the siblings of the mom of that family we taught. small world! good to see them before i bite the dust.

this morning i was studying in 2 nephi 26. there was a pass along card on my desk of christ leavin the tomb and i sat there and thought for a longgg time. your homework is go look up verses 24-28, 33. then meditate about who christ is, what his mission was, and what he has done for YOU. i wont tell all the details of my experience, but it was a good one.

i left my camera in the room so i dont have pics this week. SORRY. next week.

have a good week. love you!

and another birthday shout out to jessalyn

elder brown

Maicol Tambiennnnnnnnnnnn

hey.

another semana loca. 

so first off, mark i gottta tell you about a nice little breakfast i made the other day that i thought you`d enjoy. i made a sunny side up egg, then put ham and cheese on it, then a fried banana. all in a sandwich. give it a try.

so on saturday morning we had maicol`s baptism. it was solid. he gave a good testimony on how he was ready to start a new life and be a new person. baptism is some good stuff! 

on sunday i felt a very similar feeling in sacrament meeting. i felt a strong spirit i havent felt in a verryy long time. i knew my sins were forgiven and that im doing what i need to be doing. i fall short every single day but thanks to the atonement, its ok.

last week, on wednesday i think...? i borrowed some clippers from a lady in my ward. went home, locked myself in the bathroom, and buzzed my head. felt soo good. i havent buzzed it since byu with the help of corbin in the byu bathroom haha. but yeah. reminds me of newport beach summers when i was like 5. 

yesterday in sacrament meeting i realized how verry very exactly the same all teenage girls are. there was someone from the young women`s that went to efy so they had her get up and share her testimony. still had her wrist band on. she was fighting back tears as she talked about her friends from her group, her roomates, her counselors, etc. i almost started laughing. haha it was a solid testimony it was just funny to see how its literally the exact same everywhere. kinda reminds me of the week after girls camp.. "i didnt want to go but im so glad i went..." "i love my best friend soo much" "im so grateful for sister so n so, she changed my life forever!" ahh. . good stuff.

so its back to another week of workkkk. its getting dang hot now. february here is nasty. ill be coming back skinny, black, and sounding like a latino. kinda like jeff. but more peruvian.

so thats about it for this week. have a good week! ill only be sending eight more letters home. woof. were`d the time go. dont get trunky mom.

elder brown

Manuel`s a Mormon.

heheheyyy.

sooooooooooo where to begin.

Tuesday, we had our district meeting. all i remember there.

Wednesday we had changes with some elders in our zone. i stayed in the area with a bolivian named elder lazo. hes a cool kid. just started the mission a couple months ago with elder Welburn. that night we had the baptismal interviews for maicol and manuel
 Thursday, weekly planning, getting everything lined up for this week and stuff.

fridayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy what happened ... i dont remember. business as usual..Saturdayy. BAPTISM DAY. so that morning after  quick clinic visit we went to macdonalds. they still had their breakfast menu. I ATE HOTCAKES AND AN EGG SANDWICH AND IT WAS SOOO GOOOOOD. then we went to the church and had to figure out how to work the faunt. it had dirty water, green stuff, and was full of bugs. so after a while we figured out how to open the drain outside and turn on the pump to take it all out so we could clean it. then we filled it. then we finally got home. i pretty much just rested all day because my lungs werent too happy (mother, dont worry. im alive. i have inhalers. im good.) and yeah that night we had the baptism. maicol wasnt able to get baptized because there was some stuff we had to teach him stil and because of scheduling conflicts we could only meet once last week. so he`lll be in the water this week. but manuel is a boss. he rented a suit for his baptism. i got to baptize him; i havent been in the faunt since september. way too long. after we got changed again he got up to give his testimony. he said how he felt like he had been waiting for this for over forty years, that he had lived  a hard, sad life, but now he felt like a new man and could leave all that behind him.

"welcome to the jungle" is playing in this internet place right now. not my fault. but its good. 

yesterday we got to participate in manuel`s confirmation. he`s officially a member of the christ`s true church and is going to be an awesome member here.

thanks for the pictures! tate is Huge. its gonna be rough wrestling with him now. ill have gunnar be on my team, and that top golf place looks sweet.

so to answer your questions

1. favorite day of the week-  Saturday. pancakes. eternal saving ordinance.

2. favorite scripture right now. alma 7:11-12.

3. funniest thing to happen this last week....hmmm probably our call with one of the district leaders last night when we got the numbers for the week. he kept changing his voice on us from talking like a woman to a deep manly voice and it was hillarious. haha but my life in generally good though.l. ive been sick for a month and im trying to just keep on keepin on. the mission is crazy hard but im just happy. even when im stressed or tired things are just good. i thought yesterday what its gonna be like to have to go to school and work and do all that and i realized how, as rough as it is, how easy i have it. my job here is to be obedient, study the gospel, then help people live it. thats it. 

welp. love you all. thanks for everything. oh and mom i looked for nativity scenes during christmas time and they were alll over the streets. BUT. they looked like ghetto stereotypical 1970`s catholic nativity scenes. i want a classy peru style one. my last week we go to the "inca market" with president. ill look for one there. if not theres a dude that sells em on a bridge by the airport haha. 

laterrr. 

elder brown

wait change that Funniest experience. i remembered a funnier one.

yesterday we were in sacrament and i turned around and saw a lady with a carton of milk and her son holding a huge cup with  straw attatched to it. it reminded me of singles ward two when the lady poured cereal and milk for her kids in sacrament. yeah. i witnessed it in real life.

alo  buenas!

sup. so its 2015 now. still have a hard time writing that in my journal and in our records and stuff. new year. new beginning. gonna be even crazier than the rest. bring it on.

so mark literally laughed himself into bronchitis huh? sounds like brian regan has a good show. when i went with steve, mike, jeff, and holly, some drunk guy in the back quoted Brian, screaming, either while, or before, He got to say his lines. haha good times. 

so this week has been all sorts of nuts.

after the clinic today, i went to mcdonalds. 

tuesday. CHANGES. so i am now with Elder Apablaza. he is from antofogasta chile, where brandon skinner served and where ryan couch is currently serving. he is aconvert of two years and has 9 months in the mission. hes the wwhite guy at the desk in the pictures. has a slightly different style of things, which has been rough to get used to, but he`s an aweasome missionary. he has grown up fast in the gospel. 

wednesday we had mission council. another solid day with president. we went over just about every aspect of missionary work and how we can improve and what problems we are seeing. we learned a ton and the best part was that sister archibald made fetuccini alfredo and cinammon rolls. 

then on thursday we had a multizone conference. a couple of my old zones were there so i got to see some old friends. elder welburn, elder schagel, elder arnett, elder cody. 

friday we had to make sure all the zone got there moneyand fill out all hte financial garbage. not a fan of that stuff. dont think finance would be a good career for me. i think imma just call drew next time to take care of it for me. 

friday night we finally got to start working in the area again. that was fun.

saturday we did our weekly planning for a few hours. trying to make up for all the lost time- being sick, meetings, holidays (no one exists on christmas or new years), etc. 

so this saturday we have two baptisms. maicol and manuel. solid dudes. manuel is ever-excited to pay tithing and fast offerings. he got rid of all of his tea and has made a complete change in what he consumes to take better care of his body. i think he`s in like mosiah by now. solid guy. ill send some pics on monday.

sad news.. so remember up in barranca we baptized a mom and her daugher, amalia and katia. amalia had a son, jon. he was the first to listen to us and the first to want to get baptized. in fact, we couldve baptized him sooner, but to keep his mom and sister on board, we waited to get them all together. then came the baptism day, amalia and katia almost didnt make it because they got scared last minute but made it into the water anyways and had a great experience. jon never made it to the service because he was working till late and if we pushed it back another week, we wouldve lost katia and amalia. so he left town after that to work and i only saw him a few times before i left barranca. my last morning there i had a lesson with him, reviewed alma 34:34 and reset a date for baptism. he came by to say goodbye that night before i left. never ended up getting baptized. i just got an email from my old comp, elder rodriguez, saying that he passed away recently from falling off a cliff, im guessing while working up in the mountains. pray for him, amalia, and katia please! thanks.

welp. its another week. hope to have a good report on monday. im working as hard as i can, the best way i know how. not sure how good it really is but its what i can do. thanks for the love and prayers. this is the best thing of my life. im grateful for every trial and hardship because its made me who i am today. 

elder brown.

jueves ya estamos 2015

sawp.

quite eventful week. everything from clinic trips, to skype talks. fun stuff!

right now im ridin solo. my comp is with the rest from his group who are goin home today. so im here with elder portillo. he  was the comp of elder ali, my old comp from 200 millas. hes finishing his mish too so portillo is with me till tomorrow at changes where ill get my new comp.

so yeah this week we didnt do much because my body wasnt working too well for me but its getting better so no worries!

yesterday we were leaving the offices and i heard "elder brown!" i looked over to see a van driving by. it was brother and sister quesñay. the parents of the kid that was my comp for a week in 200 millas when elder laiche went to mexico. they got out and we got to talk for a little bit. they were droping off an elder from that ward at the offices to get his final interview with president and then they took me and elder ortiz back to our area. 

ah, so my address. i live at manzana J lote 5, Brisas de Santa Rosa, San Martin de Porres. the main roads are Canta Callao and Carlos Izaguirre. its literally on the other side of the intersection from 200 millas and Libertadores. ill have spent half of my mission connected to this intersecttion. my hood. 

welp, sorry for a boring email this week, next week i´ll have alot more to tell with my new comp, mission council, all that. 

love you thanks for everything! happy new yearrrrr

elder brown