June 13th - 5 investigators

Good evening fam,

Despite her difficult trial she has been blessed with the best around her. I love seeing all the support she has been receiving at this time. 

This week was also hectic for us but not like yours. We have been busy with MLC, prepping for zone training, half-day mission, and baptismal interviews. Even with little time to work we did a lot of good. At MLC one of the things I liked that President shared was that the mission directions are not new rules or plans but they are Preach My Gospel based and that it is important to try before we doubt. To try the mission directions before saying that it will not help or be effective.

On sunday we had 5 investigators attend church. These 5 are most likely going to be baptized in the very near future. One of them told us that he wasn't going to be able to attend church yesterday because he was going to go meet his in-laws and help his wife with gathering necessary stuff in order to get married. But that morning he said that he felt heavy inside and that he needed to go to church. He came and said that something was lifted. Just like one of our other golden investigators. Before I came here he attended church the week before for the first time. My companion said that in the lessons now he is completely different from the first time in a good way. The investigator said its because when he walked into church and sat in sacrament meeting he felt so good inside and received his answer. This man has now given up computer gaming and wasting time and has dedicated himself to God. He has also given up coffee. 

On Sunday night we had a great lesson and one that concerned us because we knew that our investigator has a word of wisdom problem. He smokes a pack a day, drinks coffee, and drinks alcohol sometimes but not too much. We knew this was gonna be a challenge for him and we felt that he would be fine because he reads The Book of Mormon everyday and shares what he learns with his friends at work.  He knows its true. During the lesson he was getting a little teary eyed. At the end he committed to do his best to live the word of wisdom. His wife also. We offered to give him a priesthood blessing because he had a question about the Melchizedek priesthood last lesson. We explained it and we gave him a blessing. At the conclusion of the blessing he wiped the tears from his eyes and said that as he sat and listened with our hands upon his head, something had entered into him and he just felt good inside and kinda chilly. He didn't know how to explain it but he knew that God was speaking to him and we bore testimony to that experience of his.

I know that the priesthood is real and is power that God has delegated to man on earth to act in his name. I am grateful for the blessings, power, and authority of the priesthood found in this restored church. In the spirit of Father's Day this coming Sunday I am grateful for a father, grandfathers, and uncles, who have been good examples of what a priesthood holder should be and do. 

Love,

Elder Brown

June 6th - Great investigators

Hello!

That's sad to hear about the news for nana. I pray and work that things will go well for her.

My first week here has been a good one. We have great investigators who are prepping for baptism on nana's birthday June 25 so I hope we get it so that can be my gift to you nana haha. We had a great lesson last night to a old couple who have been progressing. The husband is excited and knows our church is true so he's getting ready for the 25th but his wife isn't because she's part of another religion. We had planned to teach about the spirit world but our following up led another direction. She expressed her concern and how she's confused between mormons and born again. She doesn't know which one too choose still. So through the guidance of the spirit my companion and I helped her a lot. She admits to the fact that she likes the feeling she has when learning about our gospel but doesn't want to leave born again because of the sponsorship they have for her grandson. If she leaves the sponsorship will probably leave too. We have been thinking of how we can push and encourage her to accept the gospel and last night was perfect because she was saying what we wanted to say. She knows that there is a reason that missionaries are teaching them again after 12 years. She said it herself that God is calling her to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We then testified again of our purpose here on earth and that today is the day to prepare to meet God and not tomorrow. She once mentioned that after 5 years when the sponsorship was doen she would join our church haha. Overall the spirit took over in the lesson and it was definitely there and we testified of his presence there. We can only continue to hope and pray that a miracle might be performed in our half. 

Man I love being a missionary. There's simply no words to describe it. If I do, it's cliche. Tomorrow we have MLC. A leaders meeting with President.

Love,

Elder Brown

May 31st - Transfer/Zone Leader

Hello sa inyong lahat!

Thank you for all the updates from home. Time has definitely been flying.

Well this past week I was transferred and my trainee will be training! Im glad that I will finally have a grandson :) I've been transferred back to my former zone in Bulan in the Irosin area as a zone leader with Elder Egbert from North Logan, Utah. 

My last week in Camalig was a good one but a sad one. Especially for our most recent convert. She cried when she got home :( I'll definitely miss Camalig. But on the bright side the apartment we live in is the best I've lived in in my whole mission. It's great. This actually might be my dying place as I have 3 transfers left.

I'll miss one of our new investigators we tracted who didn't like us at first and told us we can't come in cause his wife wasn't home and because he's born again. Before we left, my companion introduced himself and told him that he's from Cebu. The man we tracted then lit up got super excited and told us that he's also from Cebu. He was so excited he let us in, he introduced us to his wife, who was at home all along, kids, grandkids, asked us to share a message, and gave us some snacks and water :) 

Anyways in my new area we feel that this will be a great transfer with baptisms coming up soon so we're excited to do the work!

Love,

Elder Brown

May 23rd - The one we were looking for

Congrats to Brooke for becoming a seminary graduate. I promise that everything you learned will help you on your mission. I have come to know that for myself while I have been serving here. I am glad that I never had the desire to skip seminary or never felt that it was "uncool" to be active in seminary. It has helped me a lot as a missionary.

To answer your question mom I refer you to D&C 82:10: "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." Amen.

This past week was an awesome one because we had another baptism. Its always nice to have a baptism but it feels even better when you feel that the candidate will remain an active and faithful member of the church and will bless her family and friends. She's definitely special because we originally found her in the area book when we first got here opening the area. There was also a little map drawn on there and one of the previous missionaries wrote that she is a golden investigator. Now us being smart missionaries of course went out to find her. We failed and that was about it. Later that week we just decided that we would go tracting in her area again but not with much thought of finding her. So we get to the first home in a skinny alley and there was a woman there just sitting and staring at us almost in shock/disbelief. I thought she was thinking of an excuse to tell us why she can't listen to our message but we introduced ourselves and immediately she asked if we knew the missionaries that taught her before. We were surprised but we didn't know that she was the one we were looking for till we got home and found that she matched the description and the map. We didn't know immediately because she gave us her nickname. She told us that she was surprised that we showed up and that no one came with us to show us where she lives. The Holy Ghost is a man's best friend.

Long story short her prayer has been answered. She prayed a long time ago to know how and if her sins would be forgiven if she got baptized again. For a long time she said nothing happened and that she didn't feel anything special when being taught by the other missionaries. She was born catholic, became muslim a couple years ago but returned to catholic. I feel as if the Lord has prepared us for her and her for us because she said that it was different when we taught her and that she could open up and be herself around us. In short she said that she could feel the spirit. She said she loves the feeling of being baptized and having the spirit with her. She has definitely been a blessing in our life.

In other news we attended Iglesia Ni Cristo's broadcast (similar to our General Conference) and to be honest and short in what I learned, I couldn't be more sure that the Lord's true church and servants are only found here in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We also taught a daughter of a member last night and she's not a member but of another faith. I can't tell you all that happened but lets just say that nothing can stop the work from progressing. This work will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent.  There is no evidence that the Book of Mormon is false and no evidence that Joseph Smith was not called of God and given divine authority and revelations from the Almighty. The bible, book of mormon, D&C, and the pearl of great price are nothing compared to a living prophet and last but not least, this is the Lord's true and only church. I also know that God hears and answers our prayers.

Have faith and be patient in the Lord in all things.

Love,

Elder Brown

May 15th - She prayed for a sign

Congrats to nana and alton for their success in life. It's good to hear that God has blessed them tremendously. And also papa. It's also good to hear about all the singing going on. It's too bad I can't sing like my companion and my relatives :(

Anyways this past week was the baptism of our investigator who will make an excellent member in this church and in this gospel. My companion and I feel she'll be a pioneer for her future family and her parents and siblings. She shared a cool experience at her baptism in her testimony. She said that after the first lesson she prayed and asked God for a sign. She asked for rain as her sign that she would be forgiven of her sins and also if on May 14 (our scheduled baptismal date for her) it rained, she would know that this is the direction for her. She later explained that it rained that day we taught her. But not only then, also on the morning of her baptism! It rained early Saturday morning till around 11 and her baptism at 2 pm was clear. It has definitely been a blessing to be teaching her and her mom. She'll make a great missionary one year from now. God definitely answers prayers. I remember Saturday night we prayed to have at least one of other investigators to come to church. The person we were praying for didn't show up so we were pretty down. But then 30 minutes later during the meeting she shows up with her baby! We were definitely surprised but learned that God will help his children act in faith and attend church. 

We are still excited because this week we'll be having one more baptism for this transfer. Another woman that will be great example and member in the church. We're gonna increase our teaching pool this week. That has been one of our weaknesses. We've set a goal in faith to get 20 new investigators this week. 

Keep on doing what you're doing fam and know that I love and miss you. I can't believe that I'm actually down to counting on one hand haha. Don't worry Im not trunky. 

Love,

Elder Brown

May 1st - Mud really looks like a rainbow

Man it has definitely been a miraculous week for the family. I have learned that miracles do happen when you give everything you got for the Lord.

This past week was a good week and ended with a small miracle. We have been doing a lot of good work and receiving a lot of help from members in our work. This week will be the baptismal interview of 2 of our investigators. We're excited that we'll be having a baptism in our area. It's also cool because one of them is a girl and 19 years old and has a strong desire to serve a mission. The other has a strong desire to talk with he boyfriend and help him understand our message so they can get married in the temple. She also wants her siblings to listen too but they don't have as much as a desire as she does. There are only a few things in life as sweet and as beautiful as seeing investigators exercising faith in Christ and progressing towards baptism and exaltation. The small miracle that occurred was on Sunday our investigator that's a born and raised baptist attended our church! She hasn't accepted our baptismal invite because she's baptist and doesn't see why were different even after the restoration. It's awesome that she attended our church because the baptist church is literally right next to the Mormon church and starts and finishes at the same time as ours. She really enjoyed it and is well known by the members here.

We also visited the 7th day adventist compound and visited with their Elder/leader and their relatives there. Boy are they good at self-interpretation. They know how to explain that mud really looks like a rainbow but in terms of scripture. We also taught another one of their members and she's not very versed in the bible. She's only 18 but she asked questions that required the heart-piercing truth. She seemed cool about it though. Our members present were pretty bold and quite overbearing but I think she handled it well. 

Elder Nepote's finally going home and my time is going down. I still enjoy and love my time here and I hope all continues to go well for you all.

Love,

Elder Brown

April 24th - Looking for the former investigator

Well it's good to hear that Nana is alive and not dead. That tumor thing looked gross. What a miracle!

 I'm emailing today because yesterday we had a brown-out/no electricity from 6 AM to 10 PM yesterday. 

On sunday we had 3 investigators come to church. One of them came for the first time and we'll be following up on her more later tonight. She has a great potential to be baptized. The other girl that came should be baptized for sure on the 14th. There was also a long time inactive old man that came to church. He used to be a counselor in the bishopric here. Our lessons with him are always a question and answer session about how many spirits did God create, why satan exists, why are there 3 degrees of glory, what life is like in the highest kingdom, what it looks like, why Thomas S Monson a true prophet cause the Lord said to beware of false prophets, and just questions like that. He still wears his garments though so he's still a believer.

This past week we were looking for a former investigator. We asked a member that knew them where they lived and so we followed the direction. We actually asked the member about this family 2 or 3 weeks ago but we never went to look for him. So this past week we decided we were for sure about it. So we follow the directions and we find a guy with the same last name but with a different first name. Turns out he really was a former investigator but not the one we were looking for. We tracted his home before but his wife was the only one there. The night before we found him, he and his wife got into an argument and so he drank to get his mind off of things. He then told us that that same night he prayed to God asking for a sign and something or someone to change his life. Next thing you know we are right there at his home. It would've been picture perfect but he still isn't sure about baptism, unmarried with 10 kids, and doesn't show much of a desire to change.

Later that afternoon we actually found the former investigators we were first looking for and they are a great little family. They are truth seekers and want to prepare for baptism. Church attendance is the only problem due to work. 

Other than that we're still excited for this transfer because we feel a baptism coming up soon. Hopefully more than one. 

Love,

Elder Brown