February 8th - 3 Nephi 13:25-34 Set things in perspective for you

I know that was a great talk given by bishop! I remember when he shared that with us one time. I really liked it. His message couldn't be any better. I'm not surprised at how great of a man he has become. It started when he was young. That says something. I wish we could've had FHE in Tongan haha.

This week was another great week and we have a good number of investigators with baptismal dates. Most of them are new investigators who accepted baptism from the start. The gospel is what they've searching for! Our golden investigator family is still golden and they loved the spirit and peace you could feel at our church as compared to their former church. We taught a new investigator last night who was a referral of our recent convert. She's preparing for March 21st to be baptized. 

I think it's amazing when you see your recent convert already active in the Lord's work. Roel and his wife (the golden ones ha) invited a friend who was interested in our message because Roel was so caught up in reading the pamphlets and The Book of Mormon that it caught her attention. She will be baptized at the end of this month. It's amazing to see your investigators teach others about what the missionaries teach. The person they taught was Charisse. She once asked us how we joined the church and how long or where it began. I immediately thought about Papa joined the church and shared it with her. She thought it was pretty cool.

I feel improvement with the language but nothing too special. I'm definitely glad that it's a struggle. Everyone wants to be on top but no one wants to do what it takes to get to the top. No one wants to enjoy or endure the process of getting there. 

I challenge you all to study 3 Nephi 13:25-34. It will really set things in perspective for you. We've shared this a couple times this week to those whose struggles relate to this. Whatever it is in life you desire, whether for that moment or for the future, this is the answer. It's one of my favorites in all of scripture.

I love the work and everything about the Philippines!

Love,
Elder Brown

BALL IS LIFE (Yes. It's true. I dunked the air)

Service project

This is tatay Bernadino Reton. He's 84 and he's really funny. We always have to remind him about how to pray. He once prayed and said "these 2 guys are walking a lot and are so tired. You should probably give them an airplane or something" except in tagalog haha. Out of nowhere he starts talking about "chicks" and how he wants a 16-18 year old girlfriend! Hahaha and he said I'm an artista like James Brown and he thought we were related. He said im an artista cause "may kasalanan [ako]" I have sin haha. He's really good though. Hard for him to come to church cause he's far, poor and very hard to walk. He wants to be baptized though

Elder Lee-Lo had a bad stomach ache