December 21st - Faith & Patience

Good afternoon family!

   
     Thats awesome to hear about Pita. It sounds like he's a changed man. From what you shared with me, he sounds like he has truly been "converted unto the Lord" When you shared about Bishop's talk I remember he gave one like that before and he shared that verse about how the sons "began to grow up unto the Lord" I always remembered that every time I came across that verse. There's some other verses I have marked in my scripture that Bishop shared. He is a great Bishop and I miss the counsel and wisdom he would give to us. Bountiful 6th is a very blessed ward. Please follow the counsel he has shared. It will make a tremendous difference in your life.

Here's a funny story that happened to me. I was on a jeepney and I sat next to and across from 2 men who are attracted to men. He was very nice and open and said some very uncomfortable things: "call me when you get home hehehehe" "are you gonna miss me Elder Brown? A lot? Cause Im gonna miss you a lot!" He also talked to me about his husband/boyfriend or something. He extended his hand to shake mine and we did but he was trying to gently keep me down so I dont leave haha. And he awkwardly and weirdly rubbed it too. I was glad to be up and out of there!

     Speaking of sickness I kind of am right now. The balut tasted just like a hard boiled egg. Its hard when you think about a duck. So this morning at 3 AM there was this float with Christmas lights all over it and had people on it dancing and Santa had his microphone. It was crazy loud! I thought it was apart of my dream. Its true when they say "its more fun in the Philippines!" haha but anyways I laid down and my stomach was killing me. I needed to throw up but I couldnt so three hours later I forced myself and now I feel a lot better. Still a little bit sick though. 

We had Christmas conference this last week and it was a lot of fun. Its where all the Legazpi missionaries meet at the Legazpi stake center for a huge conference and Christmas zone talent show. I met so many polynesians here and there are a lot of people here from Utah. 

     We had one investigator show up to church yesterday. Her name is Lianor. She's a very sweet and unselfish woman. There's a lot of these little stores by homes and stuff in my area and she has one. She always gives us a soda and some skyflakes crackers. She is our only progessing investigator. We lost 2 I believe. We also had 5 less-actives show up too. We teach a lot of less-actives here. It was also testimony meeting so I introduced myself and shared a lot about the Atonement and The Book of Mormon.

Good news. 2 Samoan sisters, Maualuga and Matthes, have a baptism for one of their investigators and need someone to baptize him. So I guess I'll be the one doing it is what my companion told me. He's about 60ish and is a changed man from where he once was.

     Well I finished The Book of Mormon this past week and I've started over again. I've already learned so much more. That just goes to show the power behind The Book of Mormon. Use it everyday of your life and for every situation. With my minor sickness I've found motivation and comfort in the scriptures. I think a lot about the Sons of Mosiah and Alma the Younger and how they suffered so much with PATIENCE in affliction. I've discovered that patience and faith is the secret to being strong in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we have faith we subject ourselves to Heavenly Father's will for us. When we wish to receive blessings or answers it takes patience. When it doesnt come on our time, we can be led into the pride cycle as it occurred so many times in The Book of Mormon. We need FAITH and PATIENCE in everything. Everything takes time and it's on The Lord's time not ours. Which is where our faith needs to be strong and upon the Rock of Our Redeemer.

Listen and read the words to verse 3 in How Firm a Foundation. It runs in my head everyday:

Fear not I am with thee O be not dismayed

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid

I'll strengthen thee, help thee and cause thee to stand

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand

     I love you all so much and cant wait to hear from you all via skype! Let me know what time Alton will be skyping so I can see if I can make it possible for both of us to skype you all at home.

Answer to your question Mom:

Is mission hard?

     It's hard but the Lord makes it bearable. He makes it hard because he wants us to rely on him. From the Book of Mormon thats why a lot of the people were afflicted or destroyed in battle because of their pride. They were always slow to remember God. It's hard at a level that has been tailored made for me is what I truly believe. We are all different and struggle with different things. It's faith and patience. I cant remember who said this but he said the secret to missionary work is WORK when you work you forget everything else. Look it up its a great one.


Eld Lilo from Vavau, me, Eld. Raven (Samoan), Eld Tevaga, Eld Huahane from Vavau, Eld Lesatele (going to BYU and he looks like Tyrone huh?.  There's also an Eld Fua not in the picture, he's related to Alani Fua the BYU player.

 Cousin, Elder Walters from NZ.

 Elder Whitney, friends with the Uasilaa boys.  He attended Northridge High.

 One of our investigators has this big fat pig.

 These children come and Christmas caroling to us all the time, then they wait around for me to give out some candy.  They think I'm Santa Clause haha.