June 15, 2009

dear familythis week went well. its a lot different being zone leader. when theres a problem we are the ones who have to fix it haha, we cant just pass the problem on to someone. no one came to church on sunday. its been a long time since i havent had someone in church so it made me a little mad. but i have only been in the area for 2 days. i have another companion from Logan Utah. hes a pretty cool kid, he loves fishing. like 90 percent of his pictures our of him and him fishing. so i am sure this transfer for a p day we are going to go fishing. he has a fishing pole and everything. his name is Elder Marshall. he has about 20 months in the mission and hes kind of getting tired of it. but last night we had a good night and worked our butts off. hes willing to work and everything but i got to be the one to push him haha. and yes i bought new shoes. they are so expensive here. i tried to get a deal but the guy wouldnt budge haha. but these shoes should at least last 8 months, so i think i will be good. we are in a branch here and only about 25 go to church. we put some good goals so we will have to see how it happens. the branch has a lot of potential so we could definately double the number of people assisting. so i am pretty excited to be in a branch that depends so much on the missionaries. we are everything to them haha. i am going to have to drop a cane on elder jardine for not giving you guys that package!! haha. i will e mail him. and no i cant imagine taking the act. i think i have forgotten all of my math skills haha. but i think from all the spanish my memory has gotten a lot better with learning. cuz now whenever i hear a word i usually memorize it if i just say the word once. so its pretty cool. and no we dont speak at the baptisms, the members do. my last day in arguello the family that got baptized got mad at me because a member showed them pictures of there baptism and the missionaries baptized them. so fabiana, the mom of the family cejas she got mad at me and said... so it looks like all the converts were baptized by the missionaries but brown wouldnt baptize us.... she was mad because i told her that we will have a member baptize her instead of me. because usually if the members baptize the converts stay active. but she dropped a little cane on me haha. and the bishop arranges everything and no we didnt have refreshments because it was fast sunday. and i think the cordoba temple will be done in about 2 to 3 years. we are in charge of 14 missionaries. and no we dont have a washing machine. we have to wash by hand. but i love everyone so much, pray for me this transfer. my comp is a zone leader and everything but he is getting really tired of the mission. so make sure you pray for me and him. hes a good missionary but he just needs to get excited. love everyone so much chau!!!!!!!!!!!!Elder Brown es lo mejor

June 10, 2009

Well this week was great!! the familia cejas got baptized!! it was 3 of them. so it was an amazing experience. all of there family went to the baptism and we got everyones direction so now we will baptize there family haha. but unfortunatley i already got transfered. this was definately my favorite area and i am said i only got one transfer here. but i am going to an area called cruz del eje. i am going to be a zone leader there. so it will be a little bit more responsibility. i am pretty excited though. it will be a good experience. but the baptism was saturday and the family was so excited to get baptized. after the baptism the guy came up to me and i said thanks for everything, and he told me no thank you for this incredible experience. it really was a chosen family, they accepted everything we taught them without doubting. last night we put a goal with them to go to the temple in buenos aires in one year they all accepted and are really excited to go. so we will see if they will go. i told them i was leaving and they all got sad. but i told them i would return before i leave argentina. then she said, oh great, and she started making plans of what to do for when i come in 8 months. she will be making pasta frola, its a kind of desert thats amazing!!! in a lesson we were joking around saying that i love pasta frola and now everytime we go there she has it all ready for us to get fat haha. but it was a great week and we saw a lot of miracles. and i didnt send the package yet because i lost some of the memory cards but i found them today so it will be sent soon. and i will send my broken camara too. and today i will be buying shoes and they are pretty expensive here so i am going to take out like 200 pesos. love everyone so much, and i think people are starting to notice that in 8 months i am home haha. because more people are writing me telling me they are excited for when i get home haha. but love you have a good day. and 8 months is still a lot of time left. so dont get trunky!! chau!

June 1, 2009

Well family sorry for the short letter last week but i had so many things to do. but anyway this week was a great week. i dont know if i told you about the family cejas. but they are great, they had their interview on saturday for baptism and they all passed with flying colors. so this saturday we will be getting a baptism, there are 4 people in the family but 3 of them are getting baptized becuase the other kid is like 2. all of them were way excited, and so are me and my companion. they are a way humble family and i sware they just do whatever we say its amazing. they really are a special and a chosen family. you always hear that there are people being prepared to recieve the gospel, but when you come across with those people that were being prepared its just amazing. they havent had one doubt about anything, they all have testimonies of the book of mormon. its really amazing, they are even sharing the gospel already, we are teaching there neice now. so they will be a great family to work with. and they always make us food every time we go buy. they will be great members. so me and my companion are really excited. it will be his first baptism too, so that will be an amazing experience for him. but the week went really well, nothing to special happened. being a leader isnt always the best haha. theres one missionary thats kind of a rebel, and when i try to help them he just gets mad. but oh well what you going to do. i had to drop the cane a bit yesterday haha. but my comps doing great, the assistants told us that its probable that we are going to be separated and i dont want that at all. my companion is great, hes a lot different from all the other latins that i have been with. hes actually willing to learn haha. but yesterday we had 6 investigators in church, so it was fun to see that. sunday is basically game day for missionarys haha, if our investigators go to church we won, and if they dont, we lose and satan wins haha. well thats the way i look at it haha, it helps me do well in the week. i love my area so much, i definately am not looking forward to leaving, the members and the area is just amazing here. the people are way humble here. in one lesson we watched a little short movie of when joseph smith prayed to see which was the true church. we watched it with the family cejas and there neice, but the neice was just crying in the movie, and she said it relates to her so much because she is so confused. she doesnt belong to any religion, so will have to help her find the truth. but anyway, today we are going to centro, so i am going to buy some new shoes and a companionship tie. me and my companion buy the same ties haha. but anyway i hope everyone has a good week, and mom and dad, keep giving me updates on the ward and on good old alta highschool. i love everyone so much, and i hope that this letter was a little bit longer then last weeks haha love everyone so much. oh and mom, with that kid that is having stuggles deciding to go on a mission, i dont think i will have time to write a letter but just tell him that deciding to go on a mission was the biggest decision i have ever made, but it is also the best decision. there hasnt been one day in the mission where i havent smiled. because i am always happy here. i know he will regret it if he doesnt go on a mission, and i know if he does go he will not regret it. but i love everyone chou!!!

May 25, 2009

hi family, i dont have very much time to write. but this week was great. our golden family went to the church so it was pretty cool, but a lot of our other investigators werent able to go. but we still had a great day. the family is getting baptized june 6th. and they have a lot of relatives that are mormon. so a lot of their family is going to come for the baptism. so its pretty cool. its a family of 3, and its honestly a chosen family. they were definately prepared. the mom has so many questions, and she asked us about the poligamy thing, and we explained it that back in the day there was multiple wifes but now no. but juan, the husband, said oh, well if this is a church where multiple wifes are allowed, where do i sign. haha, so it was pretty funny. they are so open to everything. then with another investigator we kind of had to drop the cane a bit. she has a huge testimony that the church is true, but she cant really stop smoking and drinking. so we had to throw down some cane and told her if she doesnt smoke and drink for 3 weeks then she can get baptized. so she is way excited. then we have another investigator that went to the church in bolivia and went for a year. he went to the church and everything but when he got there he saw us in our suit and he was in his jeans, so he told my companion he was going to go change and come back and he wasnt able to come. the church is different with the standards of dressing. a lot of people dont have the nice clothes, so a lot of times, its not weird to see a member going to church in jeans. we say that we get dressed in nice clothes because sunday is not a normal day its a special day for us. but we say if they dont have the clothes its just important that they are there, because God knows the sacrifice that they are doing. and yes that was me my comp and the assistants that went golfing with president. we just hit range balls and i still got my slice going haha. it was really fun, but hard at first. but at the end i started getting it down, so we will have to practice a bit. but sorry i cant write a bigger letter. my comp is bugging me cuz he wants to go play sports. but i love everyone so much, and the time is flying. i got a letter from cody and cassie today. codys doing well hes serving in a college area so he says theirs a lot of pretty girls there. and cassie brown wants to hang out after the mission. flirt to convert haha. just kidding. love everyone and have a good day. thanks for all the prayers. me and my comp are working our butts off and seeing the results. chou!!! love you

May 18, 2009

dear family!!!i am sorry to say we didnt have a week of miracles but we had a day of miracles haha!!! but first the day started out with disctrict meeting. and we have it once a week, and i have to talk to the district about the investigators and about how we can improve and all that. but it went way well. we have some elders in the district that have been struggling and dont have any investigators. but it went way well, and after those elders that have been struggling were saying, finally we have a good district leader, i actually learned something in district meeting. haha, so now whenever i call them they are willing to do whatever i say haha, so it was pretty cool. then when we were on our way home we got on the colectivo (bus) and me and my comp decided we wanted to preach to the whole bus. so we asked the bus driver if we could share a message about christ to the bus. he said yes, and we started sharing the book of mormon to everyone. and we were holding it up and showing everyone it was way fun. there were some people that just thought we were idiots while we were preaching, then there were others that were listening and you could tell they had the light of christ in there eyes. so then after we got done preaching, we sat down next to the people and told them we want to give away the book of mormon, so we would like to pass by another day. so we wrote down all the peoples names that were interested and we should be going by soon. it was a way fun experience, and so now we put the goal to do it every time we go to district meeting. then we got back, at lunch, and got back out working, we found a family, and we taught them in their house for a little bit, and found out the mom is a member. the dad was kind of against the church so we will see what happens. then we saw a lady leaving her house and we ran over there and talked with her and taught her and her family about the book of mormon. they let us in, and we taught more and gave away the book of mormon, and while we were teaching, everyone was hanging on the edge of their seats listening to what we had to say, it was so cool to say that. so we gave the book of mormon to them. then it was like 8 o clock. me and my companion had a feeling to go down a street, so we started walking and we passed by one of our investigators house, right when we walked in front of the house, she came out crying telling us that her kid is way sick, he hit his head, and that all she needs is peace right now and for us to talk to them. she told us that she had been praying and praying for us to come. and she was about to go to her neighbors house to have them call us, when she looked out the window and there we were. so we gave the son a blessing and shared some scriptures to comfort them. so it was a pretty cool day for us, and i will always remember it in my mission. i have seen so many miracles in my mission, and i have them all written down in my journal. when i get home, we might have to read it so that you know what i was doing every day for 2 years haha. for the first 6 months of my mission i wrote every day, but i got a little lazy, so now its like every 2 or 3 days. but it will still be a way good memorie. but anyway today for pday, we are going golfing with the assistants haha. so i guess because we live with them, we get some benifits. haha. but me and elder davis are still way good friends. he ends his mission in 3 months. but he always asks me if we are going to hang out after the mission. so i guess hes thinking about the home haha. but hes an amazing missionary. they only have like 3 hours a day to work, and they always kick our butts with investigators in church, haha. we had 5 investigators in the church yesterday, but they beat us and they had 9. its just amazing that they only have 3 hours to work every day, and sometimes less, and they accomplish what they do. í am learning a lot from them. i love everyone and thanks for everything. hope you like my day of miracles hahachou!! love yaElder

May 11, 2009

that was great talking to everyone. everyone sounded so good. i am glad everything went well with the calls this time. my comp had a good time talking to his family, he was focusing on the future a little too much after that. but he cried haha, it was his first time calling his family. but we had a cool little experience last night, my comp was complaining, and he wanted to go to the pension because all he could think about was his family, but i kepts saying we got to endure to the end, we got to work the whole night until its time to go back to the pension, so he said all right, and i said look, theres a nice little house. its our next baptism. he knocked the door, the people let us in, and we taught a family of 7. they have a lot of intrest and live right by the church, so it will be way easy getting them to church. then after he told me, ok i am sorry!! i learned my lesson!! we have to endure to the end in everything. so it was pretty funny. but yesterday i am not going to lie, i was pretty trunky too haha. but i will ask around to see if i want you to come look for me... hahah... but as of right now i think i would rather just come home. and mom of course i am happy. every day i am always happy because the work makes me happy. even though its hard work, i love it. it will be a sad day when i have to stop wearing my name tag. but i still got quite a bit of time left. and yeah why dont you send those shoes. i am sure they will fit. and my shirt size is 16 and a half. i need them pretty bad!! i was looking at my shirts and all of them are yellow except where my nametag and my tie is haha. so it was pretty funny. and of course i am never going to lose my personality!! i love laughing and laughing with other people. especially with my investigators, it makes them feel more comfortable. and dont worry dad i know numbers arent important. i give it my all and see what happens. but i love you all and have a good day, next week are going golfing and today we are doing something lame i guess. we are going to go bumper carring or something. but we will be golfing at that course with 9 holes. but love youElder BrownMeganit was so great to hear your voice, even though it was for a little bit of time, i am glad you have your priceless sense of humor. but what ya going to do haha. keep going strong fa a is almost home!! what a Stud!! and the next time we talk will be at Christmas!! wahoo!!! have a good day. ps for christmas i want to talk to fa a. tell the big brown bear that i say hi, and that i say kill a couple of people for me... just kidding dont say thatlove youNikkithis time i am going to say more then just You Stink!! haha, but it was good talking to you and Lance yesterday. dont tell Lance, i dont want him to know i have feelings, feelings are signs of weakness haha just kidding. but he is a way good example for the whole family and for me. i am glad that you married him. and plus i can be competitive with him. but you have always been an example for me. i think you have always taken the right desicions and thats amazing. but thanks for everythingKelseyhey runt. dont get married you first semester at SUU like Nikki did. haha just kidding, but make sure you enjoy the summer and work hard for college. cuz at college, its ALL PLAY!! haha just kidding, i had a lot of fun but i also had to study a lot. i think i might have played a little more then i studied, but thats because i thought i had to because i was going on a mission. i didnt think i would ever have any fun on the mission. but just work hard at college and make a lot of friends. you need support down there. make sure you go to all the church activities, thats where you will make your true friends. love you and have a good daySUU 2011. P.s. elder davis told me he wants me to go to BYU with him, but dont worry i am sticking strong!! sssssuuuUUUUUU forever!! haha

May 4, 2009

Dear Familyi dont have much time to write. every time you get more responsibility, it takes up more time. But yes Nikki i am District Leader. But thats not even saying anything. It means that if the District does bad one week, i get chewed out. but i am way lucky because i have a way good district. but sunday i will call, so be ready and be awake haha. i am way excited, i will only have one more phone call after this one. its actually pretty sad, the mission goes by so fast. i need to take advantage of it, soon it will be over and i will be sad. one of the missionaries ended his mission and his family came here to pick him up so i was able to meet them. all of the members were talking to his family like they new spanish. so i had to come up and translate, because their son was talking to some members. but it was so weird for me, because they greeted us with a handshake and when they left they just said bye without even shaking our hands. because here, with the men we always greet them with a hug and say goodbye with hug. and with the women we shake hands at the beginning and the end. so i was just wondering if thats how everyone is in Utah? i kind of forgot. i know we dont hug, but it just seems weird now. but i still dont know if you are planning on picking me up or if i go home alone. i am in favor for the both, but we will have to discuss it on sunday. oh on the call i hate to say this but we only have like 45 minutes to an hour, so it wont be like the other calls. but thats what the president of the mission wants from us. so we got to obey. but i am doing really good. i am just way greatful i am here in the mission and that everyone got me on the right path. this is definately the best experience i have had. my companion is great, he has a lot of desires to work, he just doesnt do it the best way, so i got to show him haha. he has 4 months in the mission. he studied english before the mission. he knows a lot of words, but he doesnt know that grammar that well haha. so i am helping him with that. i have a lot of stories for you so we will have to talk really fast on sunday to get the stories in. and Dad i am glad you are going to try to be more of a man haha. hopefully you dont cry. haha just kidding. i wouldnt care if you did. but i will just call you guys. so dont worry about anything. just be right next to the phone and i will get it figured out. i think that would be the best way. so be waiting for the phone. But i love everyone so much. Megan, 15 weeks is nothing!!! keep going strong!! love youNikki, You smell!!! just kidding, keep showing that baby pictures of me!Kelsey, run your next race like your last one!! nor regrets!! love everyong so much, have a good day love youElder BrownTalk to you on Sunday woohooooo!!!!