July 21st

Mi amada familiaaaa. sup.

woahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhwoahwohwoahhh sterlings engaged????? thats nutsss haha my family´s gonna be huuuuuuuge when i get home. works for me!

this week was nuts. i think i broke my personal record for doors knocked in a week. we went alll over the place looking for new people. we found almost none haha. 

-last monday we had changes so every companionship just did their own thing. me and castillo went to a members house and ate pachamanca. (oh and i learned that "pacha" like the guy guy in emperors new groove, means "belly" or "gut" in quechua,which is the native language that all the people from the mountains speak) it was a fatty pot full of chicken, choclo (giant weird corn) and a variery of potatoes and mystery plants. ill send some pictures. as we were leaving, we gave the guy a fist bump "CHOCALA!". So being me, we went to do the same to his little old mom. she was wearing a ring and she punches hard. ill send you a picture of how my hand looked after haha. she drew blood. john fillerup would be proud of that fist bump.

-last week we had changes. the only person that changed in the zone was elder holley, but thats just because he finished his mission. so our new zone leaders name is elder larsen from utah. he started out his mission in Corbins zone down in prolima. 

-.last week we were out contacting in the street and we came across a lady walking with her two kids. as we talked she told us how missionaries had visited her when she was fourteen. Elder Fishbeck. i remembered brother fishbeck form hermosa vista ward had told me that he served in peru. if anyone can get in contact with him and have him shoot me an email that´d be awesome. i want to see where he served and who he worked with. also, the other week we weretalking with the branch president in the zone leaders branch and he told us that about thirty years ago he was baptized by elder bohn from arizona. well my buddy nate bohn´s dad served in peru thirty years ago. smallll world!

-the sisters this past week baptized another family of four. they are the daughter, son in law, and grand kids of the couple they baptized last week. barranca is blowing up right now and its awesome. we are struuuuuuuggling to find new  people who stick around longer than the first visit. 

-we do have a family, a single mom and two kids who are getting baptized in a couple weeks. the son, john, is already talking about how he wants to go on a mission. works for me!

-ah. just remembered. so the other day we got back to our room and my companion went to hi suitcases and pulled out a huge blanket to put on his bed. what was on that blanket? BEARS. he told me they called him oso (bear) his whole life. i proceeded to tell him my life story and show him my pictures with my bear t shirts haha

-the other day i got my package. and yes i already at all my mac n cheese. i also ate a peanut butter banana taco. haha its been a solid week for food. today im taking my goldfish and redvines to the beach so i can pretend its summer.

-welp. starting another week. its gonna be a good one. 

paz y bendiciones.

elder brown

"eight. eight baptisms." - The Count

wudduuuppppppppp

this week was another solid week! 

last week on monday we went down to Supe again and played soccer with the zone. theres a machu pichu-looking garden thing with three size foot walls, kinda like giant stairs. elder hackleman looked at it and just decided to throw a front flip off the top level. he did it. i got it on video. he survived. dude`s nuts haha

tuesday was the big wedding day. it was an interesting experience. never witnessed a civil wedding before. the mayor and his assistant came and got Emiliano and Miguiela married. hermana Leyva downloaded some wedding music  onto my usb which we hooked up to the electric piano in the church. i got to play some nice pre wedding music with a nice organ setting on the piano. after the ceremony we threw on none other than "from this moment on" by shania twain. no one understood a thing but you know i was jammin hard. literally every person present took turns dancing with the bride and groom. it was kinda awkward which made it that much more fun. 

on wednesday we had interviews with president archibald. it was amazing. i love the opportunities i get to talk to him. he helped me get more focused in on this "work of salvation" plan from the area that we need to do with our converts and less actives. its some rpetty cool stuff. they have told us how its called the attention of the brethren. we are the highest baptizing area in the world (in which we are the highest baptizing mission) and we are changing up the work so that we have the highest retention. in years past its been "baptize em then move on." so right now we are working to bring back those who have left and hold onto those who weve got. Hastening the work is alott of work. who would`ve thought.

thursday we had a training meeting with president. he taught us about the doctrine of prayer. he told us all to find examples of powerful prayers in the book of mormon and we were then to analyze what aspects of the prayers so powerful. i chose Lehi in the first chapter of the  book of mormon. things we saw in common here all throughout the book of mormon and the other scriptures is that these prayers were always done after long periods of meditation. they were also all done out loud. all of which had powerful manifestations of the spirit as well as other miraculous results. he then went on to tell us the three most powerful prayers of all time. he said "get ready elder brown, this one`s gonna blow your mind. im looking forward to seeing the look on your face." (i am always fascinated by new bits of knowledge or doctrine that i had never even been close to comprehend before). he put 1. 2. and 3. on the board. someone mentioned the atonement. number 1. the prayer and experience that atoned for the sins of all mankind. big prayer. then someone mentioned joseph smith. a prayer so powerful that god himself cam to josephs presence to answer. which led to the restoration of the everlasting gospel of jesus christ. but. he wrote that as number three. ???? ..  he then wrote Eden next to number two. the prayer which brought angels to adam and eve that, for the first time on earth, introduced the gospel of jesus christ. pretty cool stuff. 

friday, i went down to huacho.

saturday. the baptism. it went perfectttt. the tenorio family (ours) and the pimentel family (the sisters´) got baptized together. president made sure to be there to see it. at the end, us missionaries got up and sang "i feel my saviors love" (yo siento su amor). emiliano, and carlos and baudilia pimentel all gavce their testimonies. it was soliddd. the tenorio family are huuuumble people and have worked for a longg time to get all of this completed. good day.

yesterday they were all confirmed. then carlos and emiliano got sustained and received the priesthood later that day. that night they were both in the chapel participating in the branch choir while emilianos daughters were instructed on indexing and made family search accounts. BOOM. 

yesterday afternoon we struggled. EVERYONE was watching the world cup finals (CONGRATS GERMANY!!!!) and it was the emptiest id ever seen the streets. 

haha later that night we wernt to a members house to pick up a guy to accompany us. while we were waiting for him to get ready, we waited in the front room with his son, who had a brain hemmorage a feww years back so he doesnt have it all like he used to. he looked at a picture on the wall and asked "whos that?" pointing to a picture on the wall. i replied "thats jesus" "you see those marks in his hands? he did that for you ruben." he then said "thanks brown" i went to shake his hand goodbye and he held on to my hand, pulled in and kissed it. hahaha thanks ruben. quite the unique experience. 

welp.now we gotta keep on working. theres more families out there waiting for this message and we are the ones to bring it. i love this work and i know this is the one and only true gospel on the earth. families ARE eternal. 

paz y bendiciones

elder brown

please admire my mid-wedding ceremony selfy. kind of impressive.

i tried to get the family to throw up "super chill"s but i think we gotta work on it more.

DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN DUN DUN DUNDUNNNNNNNN

¡¡habla bateria pe causaaaa!!

the dun dun dun dunnns is the wedding march thing on the organ (no sweat jeff, this ones for the people we have getting married here on tuesday). and the spanish is just a typical greeting from my street people. im kinda hood.

so yeah Emiliano and Miguela are getting married on tuesday. FINALLY. we´ve been working with them for a longgg time. they´re really humble people and have been working forever to get heir papers here.welp.  they´re all ready to go. they with their two oldest daughters elida and evelinda will be getting baptized saturday. the hermanas also have four baptisms and the zone leaders have one that day as well. its going to be NUTS. souls #saved. you can tweet that if you want.

ah. mom. i got mason riveras letter the other day. if you can, let him know i say thanks and that i got it.

Welp. on monday we went to Puerto Supe to play soccer at the church with some other elders. one of the elders that came down here with me is now in barranca, elder hackleman. i had the great privilege of leaving american soil sitting next to him. we talked about how nuts this was. before long, he noticed the nervous look on my face, then pulled out a giant bag of his "emergency skittles" and filled up my plastic cup. haha i survived my way down here because of him. so it was a solid day hanging out with him and some other elders in the zone, just getting rocked by the latinos in soccer. i almost had a goal.

on wednesday we went to finish up a service we had started out the week before. we played shovel-rock baseball while we waited for the loads of dirt. I did a jay bell reenactment of the world series winning hit. i hit a rock over a mud wall into a farm about twenty yards away. Be impressed. We also added on to our previously-started lord of the rings remake.

this past week, i printed out a few talks. one of them was "Live in thanksgiving daily" by elder joseph b wirthlin. it was solidddddd.if there´s one thing im learning (verrrryyyyyy slowwwly) is how to live in gratitude. if no one wants to listen to us, if my back gives out, if our baptisms fall through, and if i have to eat rice every day till next year, i can still live happily. im still trying to figure out how to fully set that attitude in place. for some reason, we as humans have an inexplicable need to tear ourselves down, as if disappointment isnt enough, we all too often kick ourselves while we´re down, thinking that it will soften the blows life gives us, or that it will strengthen us or prepare us for further disappointments. but, the reality is that such discouragement is the very self-destructive tool that satan uses to weaken and debilitate us. it amazes me to see how everyone always tells me how happy i am or how optimistic i am. i laugh and wonder who they´re confusing me with haha knowing that inside im not very nice to myself. but im learning (time and time and time again until i get it right) that happiness is a choice. gratitude is a choice. accepting failures and disappointments and using them to better (not destroy) oursleves is a choice. its one we can and should make. its one im fighting to make. so your homework this coming week. live in thanksgiving daily, and, come what may, choose to be happe and love life. "men are that they might have joy." god sent us here because he wants us to be happy. he wants us to enjoy life. ive spent toooooooooooooo much time fight and struggling for that "happy life" to come along. but, the key is, ITS HERE. look for it. if we look for the bad, we WILL find it. its everywhere. but dont let it blind you to the good. so. wish me luck in my new search for optimism and gratitude. haha it may take a while. but im getttin there. 

have a solid weeek! ill be sure to send pics next week of the wedding and baptism. CHAO!

elder brown

here´s hackleman. the little dog that tries to eat my leg every time i enter that house. presidente chamorro fixing the crotches of my pants. they all got kinda worn down. and heres my fourth of july feast. fruit loops for breakfast. pancakes for lunch. and pizza and root beer for dinner. word.

´MURICA!!!!!

Happy fourth of julyyyy yeeaaaahhhhh! to celebrate im gettin nuts up in here with some rice! and chicken! and potatoes! yeah! for real though. imma buy some hot dogs or something similar to it and pretend that as im eating it im in the backyard by the pool. probably not. i dont know.

so this week has been greeeat. i got to walk alottt and talk to alot of people and knock lots of doors! haha my companion took the liberty of asking for patience and humility before leaving the house the other day. well. ask and ye shall receive. its been good though. no worries. all part of the experience. 

last week on p day we went up to pativilca to play .. drumroll please..... soccer! it was cool, we were on a real grass field. dont think ive played on one since the mtc. except now im with a bunch of peruvians who kick really hard and the entire time i was reminded of why i swam in high school. flying balls and feet coordination arent my thing. 

this past week the tenorio family, who weve been working with foreverrrr finally got their papers sent in from their home towns so they can get married and then their family can get baptized. POR FIN! we´ve been passing by alot to keep things rolling along and all they need now is a few more papers and we´re good to go! butttt other than them we kinda dont have anything haha. sooo stay updated this week we´re gonna find some more families. 

the other day i had an english class at the church. one guy showed up. i think he was a little bummed out. he asked me how to say the following phrases.. "dont mock me." "dont bother me" "whats your problem". I tried to teach him, and the other few kids that showed up, "i am a child of god" in english. he told me he already knew it and that im a bad teacher. haha well im sorry michael. my teaching skills for english go as far as basic words and Eminem raps. 

the other night we got home to find a Peruvian Dance festival outside our building. i went to bed with my door shaking with the fresh beats thrown down by traditional mountain peruvian dances. 

yesterday we were walking around going to appointments. my comp tripped on a rock as he was walking. i turned around, stomped the rock, picked up another rock and threw it at the first one. nobody trips my companion. i turned around to catch up to my companion just as some lady walks by and asked what are you doing fighting a rock?? i kinda just laughed and walked away, got caught up in the moment haha.

last week we had a nice night of marriage counseling. i think i might go into that for my career. im dang good. anyways. we read some sections of the Family Proclamation an i was like woah. this is quality stuff. so FHE homework for everyone is to read the proclamation as a family and see which of the nine aspects of family and home life are missing or lacking or need improvement. or not. its fine. 

so last night elder castillo was listening to a talk from conference a few years back, and the speaker quoted 2 corinthians 12:8-10. read that. then read 2 chronicles 32:8. MORE HOMEWORK. 

welp. sorry my email is kinda boring again this week. nothin too exciting is happening yet. but soon! very soon! just know that im alive. im well. im learning a TON. and i am so grateful for every minute of this experience. peace. love. word.

elder brown.

ITS A BOY

No. i am not training again.

But i do have the same lifespan as it takes for one to have a baby. mother. you gonna have a baby boy kendall in 9 months.... and jessalyn. eh hem.

ANYWAYS, 

ITS BEEN A normal week. workin hard and trudgin long to find and teach new people.right now we are teaching a lot of people. each week we get a whole new batch and sadly only like one or two stay with us till the next week. everyone is crazy open and loving but sadly that means that they have a hard time buckling down and doing something. like taking two minutes to read and ask god if its true. last week we prayed in the lesson to know if the book of mormon was true and the spirit was crazy strong. then we asked him afterwards how he felt and he was just like eh, im not really sure how my answer is supposed to come. well how do you feel? eh, normal. AH. dude come on haha. its rough. in my studies im trying to get down the basics. memorize references and get more familiar with the basic doctrine that we so often teach but arent too familiar with where or how it is really said in the scriptures. during church yesterday i did a pretty deep study in alma 13. go check out that chapter. its nuts. it goes into the priesthood, ordinances, ordinations, and the order of the priesthood. pre existent preparations and setting aparts. swing that over to d and c 107. good stuff. 

breaking news in the peru lima west mission. MY TRAINER IS GETTING SWITCHED TO ECUADOR. something is messed up with the papers of some of the central americans so ten missionaries are getting moved to missions in colombia and ecuador to finish out their missions. bummer. elder fallas spent nine months in his first area. another eight in the offices. and now he´s bouncin to ecuador. the cool thing is hes going to the mission where one of my swim buddies Robrt Upchurch is going. 

so this week ive experienced some spiritual and mental breakthroughs. not breakdowns dont worry. i just mean to say that i am now able to understand things i was struggling with before and know why i was struggling with them. but lie ive said before, im grateful for everyday out here. my tim is going fast. even though i feel like ive been at 14 months for n eternity. another month is almost up and before i know it there wont be any left. im trying to make the most of what i got left and keep the fire burning while i can. 

on a side note they´ve played the same miley cyrus song like five times in this place and im slightly over it. 

so yeah things are stil about the same. stil a district leader. still in barranca. still trying to figure out how ive survived this long eating so much rice. and still lovin it. the good, the bad, and the ugly. thanks for all the updates, the prayers, and the support. sorry there arent pictures this week. last week we went and flew a giant kite on the beach but i was busy sprinting up and down the sand to keep it in the air. im not on that level to take running kite selfies. 

chaooooo,

elder brown

buenosssssssss,

well first off im extreeeeeemely jealous about the lake trip. even though im not exactly an expert, wakeboarding and chillin on the boat is my favorite thing to do. ever. haha my zone leader is a hard core wakeboarder and he freaked out when he saw the water and board on my screen. he dies in like four weeks so he´ll be out on the wake in no time. 

this week was a blur. ups, downs and all arounds and without even realizing it, im already  back here in this internet place. the time is flyyyyyyyyyyying.the weeks are melting. after this week we´ll already be halfway intot he transfer. freakin me out. 

so last week we had a zone meeting. we focused alot on being misioneros buscadores. in other words, missionaries that are constantly looking for new people to teach. the hermanas gave the training on it, saying there were NO LIMITS for contacting someone. in a car, in a house, whatever situation. well my dear loved ones, i found a limit. later that day we went to a house where we had an appointment and were knocking the door and waiting outside. we looked back and saw a grown man squatted down in an open dirt lot pooping in clear daylight. he stood up, fastened his belt. and walked away like nothing happened. eh, no big deal, right next to an open park where kids were playing with their dogs. its normal.yup

but aside from that, we did some work this week. we found a ton of new people. sadly, only one investigator made it to church. the niece of a counselor in the branch presidency. we set a date for the 5 of july. we´ll see how well we hold onto that, and if we can recover the rest of the people that didnt make it to church.

last night we went over to the branch presidents house. they had done a temple trip to lima the other day and my companion wanted to go thank them for delivering a package to his parents (the joys of living a few hours away from where you serve). we went over and sister Jara, his wife, offered a little bit of food. no no im fine im going to eat dinner right now. here, just to try. ok.- so she puts a fatty bowl filled with everything fouind at Sea world. clams, muscles, shrimp, fish, snail things. and a side plate of rice. oof. before the mission i strugggled to eat fish. that fish, bones and all, was probably my favorite part haha. i chewed through what i could. the sisters showed up. hermana leyva disapproves of sea food more than i do. before they know it they had a plate in front of them as well. as we were all working our way through the bowl of stuff, the branch president busts through the door walking a sheep on a rope. hermana jones almost fainted as it passed by her. hahaha he told us it was a girl and its name was alejandra. alejandra the sheep, welcome to our dinner. would you like to join? goodness. i love my life haha

so yeah the work is still movin along. slowly but surely. this work requires patience. looooooooooooots of patience. appointments fall, people dont do what they say theyre gonna do and sometimnes you just gotta take a deep breath, be grateful you arent in eastern europe, laugh, and keep on walking. welp, thats about it for this week! hope everyones doin good and bearing the heat. the weathers slowlyy getting cooler here.  haha i saw the pictures of the lake and thought "oh it must have been cold out there". for some reason i thought we were in march. then i realized its june. woops. where did the time go haha. 

oh, yesterday we spoke again in church. i talked about the baptismal covenant, the importance of the sacrament, and the ridiculousness of showing up late to the most important meeting of the church. it took being a missionary for me to realize how important it is to be earrllyyyy to meetings. rushing in the back door right before they say the prayer, sitting down and expecting a good experience of renewing your covenants doesnt work. texting or being on your phone during the meeting. doesnt work. "if ye love me, keep my commandments." we love god, and because of that we keep his commandments, and honor and respect and show gratitude for the opportunity we have each week of promising once again that we are going to follow him by keeping his commandments. THEN come the blessings. 

laterrrrrrrr love you

elder brown

heres a picture of my ranks as chess champ of Limoncillo. and a selfy with my pensionista in the background. and my collection of Oreo transformers stickers.

buhbuhbuhbuhbuhbaptized.

querido seres queridos, personas desconocidas, y los demas.

HOLA.

this week was a good one!

soooo we had changes last week. elder wheatley, sister agle, and elder paredes (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!) GOT TRANSFERED. but to replace elder wheatley and sister agle, we got elder Holley and sister jones. elder holley is from SLC and actually served the first part of his mission in the citrus heights stake as he waited for his visa. ht has ridden by mountain view in 120 degree weather and told me how he bailed on a frustrating day and ate at the dairy queen on mcdowell. solid. sister jones was with me my first two changes in el olivar. her sister is married to matt gulbrandsens older brother. even more mesa connections. 

thursday and friday was all sorts of fun as we ran around making sure the interviews got donwe for Ines, Arlet, and Gabriela. then on saturday we took a trip up to Paramonga to pick up ssome baptismal clothes. (look up from here to paramonga. fields. green. not sand and buildings. FIRST TIME IVE SEEN THAT. on saturday the relief society had their weekly sewing activity at three in the afternoon, where they were also cooking papa rellena (fried stuffed potatoes), which we ate after the baptism. it was perfect t have everyone already there to be present at the baptism. andddd finally it started. everything went awesome. after the baptism zome of the relief society ladies got up and did a nice rendition of I Am a Child of God. A for Effort. Ines and Arlet gave their testimonies after and they were awesome. we had other investigators their and its just what they needed to get the ball rollin.

were workin with three main groups who cant get baptized yet because they arent married yet. usually we drop em when they arent married but they come to church about every week and are working towards getting married. we hope to see them all wedded and in the water this month. the mom of one of the younger families surprisingly showed up to the baptism and afterwards approached my comp and told him how she wants her son and daughter in law to follow this path and how she is going to be pushing them to keep up with everything to be able to do so. word.

after the interviews the other day, we were walking down the street with one of the presidents counselors, he asked us "how are you?" we replied "eh, we´re good" "well could you be better?" "mmmm probably" "WELL DO IT!" It was a biggg reminder for me. BE HAPPY. CHOOSE to be happy. theres no point in going about life unhappy just because. trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement. cool stuff.

so the other day i was thinking about faith and trust in god and then i started thinking about hayden in the pool learning to swim. and i thought of this.. when we are learning to swim, our parents take us into the water and have us hold onto the side. we go in, usually thrilled to be in the water. all untill our parents say alright kick off the wall! our immediate thought was probably "my dad is going to kill me". i could picture then, drew standing two feet behind hayden with his arms extended, his hands literally two inches from her. all shes gotta do is let go and he´ll catch her. now he could easily gab her and just drag her through the water and call it good. but what would she learn. how could she learn. in life we often face things where we think its all going fine and dandy just when god says alright i need you to learn something. so he takes us to the edge and says let go. TRUST ME, i need you to let go so i can catch you. im right here. you´re my child. i love you. but i need you to learn and grow. if you dont let go, you´ll never learn to swim. its like Peter. he called to jesus to allow him to come our ro him. come on out. he saw the son of god walking towards him, who had told him to come out. obviously he wouldnt let him fall. but what happens. peter notices where hes at. hes standing on water. theres wind and waves. he becomes afraid and doubts and begins to sink. Christ at this point was little a few feet from him. close enough to catch him immediately as he began to fall. Trusting in something we cant se is a scary thing. but its how we learn. and well. IM LEARNIN ALOT haha.

thanks for the love, prayers, support. glad to hear marcus is keeping his dancing going, romney fam is back to health, and maci is gettin her girls camp game on.

love 

elder brown

heres some pics of my room. note that our food is hung up because of the mice. oh yeah. i killed another one with a broom. kinda broke alot of stuff in my suit case on the process. why? it was in my suitcase. thats why.