August 22nd - Last transfer/new companion - Elder Montemayor

That sounds awesome all of the stuff that Alton has been doing. It's just a different form of missionary work and it's the best work ever. I love meeting new people and talking with them or in other words OYM-ing (Open Your Mouth). For that reason I've been thinking about doing that but I don't know too much about that kinda stuff. But it would be cool to learn.

Man I can't believe that it's finally here. My last transfer in the mission. I will be having a new companion for my last transfer, Elder Montemayor. He will be coming out of the office finally after serving for a while as finance. We have a new couple that will fill in. Elder Egbert will be transferring to Guinobatan. One of my former areas.

Something bittersweet that happened this week was when on exchanges we tracted a golden family. They were set on coming to church and baptism. But then 2 days later they text us and tell us that they don't wanna listen anymore because there's too many religions at their house (only 2; born again and catholic) and they get confused when we come over. It's weird cause she knows a lot about the Mormon church and said that she likes our church out of all the churches out there. Our reason for this rejection is that her daughter (born again) told her mom not to listen to us. Her daughter wasn't very friendly the first and second time we went by. All she could tell us was that she's born again and her family is too and that they have no time for us. But lets go to the brighter side.

Another awesome miracle occured this week. We have been trying to teach the siblings of one of our recent converts but they always deny or don't talk to us, or just leave the house. So we kept bugging them anyways. Then finally his youngest sister, 15 years old, finally gave in (when we thought she wouldn't) and listened to us. She was pretty quiet and shy in that lesson. She accepted a baptismal date for the 17th of September and agreed to come to church and pray about our message. So the next day was Sunday and our other recent convert, who is also one of her good friends picks her up as we invited her to do so. She hesitated cause she's shy and it was gonna be her first time. Finally she gets the courage to do so and she comes to church. And also the farewell branch activity for the elders that were transferred. I wish you guys could have seen the change in this young woman cause it was unbelievable! To be short in words, she was not who she was when we invited her all the time and tried to talk to her. She was super happy and acting like she was my best friend or something haha. No exaggeration added. We have decided to call it the "Aguilando Effect" because just like her older brother, she changed after attending church.

This work is awesome and I can't wait to see you guys. But at the same time I'm not. This last transfer will be the best one! 

Love,

Elder Brown

August 15th - More investigators coming to church

It still hasn't hit me yet mom so just hang in there haha. Right now is week six so it's getting pretty real right now because next week will the be the start of my last transfer. 

Sounds like nana has been super busy. That's awesome how she's going around giving talks. I'm pretty jealous actually haha.

But anyways in other news last week was another good one and ended with good sunday. We had investigators come to church and getting ready for September baptisms. I'm trying my best not to get too excited cause the fall hurts when get them up too high. We were confident in getting at least 12 to come to church but only half of them showed up. It kills when people don't keep their word. I'll probably be getting a new companion next transfer and it should be a great time of harvesting. Our plan is to ask for referrals a lot more. Especially from our recent converts and strong members in our area. 

One of the best things that happened this week is that a lot of less-actives are coming back. We have been doing a lot of teaching through not teaching a lesson. Meaning some good ol' contact with the people. A lot of them came to church last week so were excited for these members to become active again. 

As the last transfer of my mission approaches I feel energized and wanting to use all the time that I have left wisely. I love this work!

Love,

August 8th - Mosaic Law

Hello!

Thank you again for all the updates from home. I always enjoy reading about you guys and seeing your pics. But then again I hate it cause I'm almost done and the mission is the best thing ever :)

We had an awesome past week that started with MLC. We had the mosaic law done away with and now are living the higher law. The whole mission is pumped! One of the things I liked that President said was that we need to have "consecrated obedience". He's a great speaker and very inspiring. We also had 2 of our investigators get baptized and confirmed and did some baptismal interviews. Our 2 baptisms were so excited and happy that night as they bore powerful and touching testimonies of their conversion. One of our recent converts is an awesome missionary. When approached by missionaries of another christian religion he was able to answer their questions and share about the restoration of the gospel and of the Priesthood. It was awesome as he was telling it. This week was also kinda hard because of investigators telling us that they would for sure be coming to church but nothing happened. 

We also had a wonderful miracle occur as we unexpectedly received a phone call from our AP telling us about contention among one companionship in our zone. We went in there and you knew something had gone wrong. You could feel it. One of the elder's was packed and just waiting to get out. Long story short a miracle of the atonement was witnessed as we labored and followed the spirit in helping these 2 elders. It took about three hours but with the help of the holy ghost, the spirit of love and unity was restored. It is probably one of the greatest miracles I've seen in my mission. We went in and had no idea how to help these elders but we trusted in the spirit and then went and did as the Lord would do had he been there. We left feeling accomplished and with gratitude in our hearts that the Lord attended us that day.

I truly know that the Lord is a God of mirales and delegates his power and authority to men on earth to act in His holy name. I know that the atonement is very real and is available to all.

Love,

Elder Brown

August 1st - progressing investigators

Hello Fam,

To answer your question mom it hasn't hit me yet that I'm almost home. When September comes that's when I'll know that it's getting real. 

But this week 2 of our investigators had baptismal interviews and they did awesome. This week they'll be baptized and we are expecting a few more for the month of August. It was kinda disappointing this week because we had many tell us that they were gonna come to church and they sounded sure about it but they didn't show. Few of them were new investigators. In the end we had 4 attend. Overall this was a great week and we are looking forward to helping our investigators follow through on their commitment. 

One of the mini miracles that we witnessed this week was seeing one of our progressing investigators giving up his smoking, and drinking of alcohol and coffee. Most of the time when we came in contact with him before we taught the Word of Wisdom he was drunk or smoking. Now he's slowly been getting rid of it. He was doing good he went 5 days straight but then he drank 2 shots. It's sad but at the same time we're still proud of him because it was only 2 when before it would've been a whole bottle. He's an awesome guy because of his sincere desire to follow Christ. 

I know this work is true and I love being a missionary. We are looking forward to the Celestial Law being given to us tomorrow at our MLC with President.

Love,

Elder Brown

Chili ice-cream