February 29th - The "strange" woman

Man hearing all this talk about nana almost done with her associates and alton going to oklahoma and work and real estate and school just makes me wanna stay on the mission forever. This really is just the best time of my life. As time winds down it makes me wish that missions were a little longer. Even though its hard its the best! That's sad to hear that rachel is on medical release but I know that she knows that God has a plan for her.

Last week one of our most progressing investigators felt the spirit so strongly in one of our lessons and while at church. Last monday we watched the short restoration movie and he said that when it showed the first vision he felt something moving through his body and he shivered a little bit. It made him feel good inside he said. We asked him if he believes that the BOM is true and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and he said he does. He's really been searching for the truth and really wants to find it. On sunday he prayed while the sacrament was being passed around asking for a sign. He said when he got the water he felt a strong feeling inside his chest. As if his prayer was answered! He was so happy while telling this experience. In his prayers he still asks for guidance to know where the truth is.

We should be having a baptism this week but we moved it to the first saturday of next transfer which is next saturday. We moved it cause the branch president and some leaders are concerned about her mentally. Some of her neighbors apparently asked one of the members why we go and teach "that crazy woman". So we've been told to observe her to see if she's okay. So hopefully she's fine. We kind of feel strange about her too.

That's about it from me this week. Know that I love you all and that I love being a missionary!!!!

Love,

Elder Brown

February 15th - Savior's first message - Baptism

Hello!

I hope you all had a good valentines day out in utah and yeah they do celebrate it out here. It's cool to here that there's a member in Sister Alapa's area coming to the best mission in all the land! haha. Also shout out to Alton for doing business with the money and the women hahaha!

Anyways this week was awesome. Not only did we have great success in helping our investigators come unto Christ we also had a marvelous and unforgettable experience and shaking the president of the quorum of the 12 apostles hand, President Russell M. Nelson, his wife, and the Philippines area president and his wife President and Sister Ardern. It was a sight to see a man that's aging away but he is still able to travel around the world. I get carsick just going from my area to Legazpi which is about an hour and half away.

President Nelson had a great message for us and involved a few of the missionaries. I love how he immediately shared 3 Nephi 11 and emphasized to us the Savior's first message to the Nephites was about baptism, His doctrine, and having no disputations. He invited 2 elders to go up and one would read verses 10-41 and the other would tally the amount of times the word or reference was made to 3 words: baptism, doctrine, disputations. The left benches would stand up for baptism, the middle (my group) for doctrine, and the right benches for no disputations or contentions. Lets just say there was a lot of standing done. It really put it in perspective and it reminded me of something I discovered in my personal study last December.

Sometimes or a lot times missionaries are afraid to invite to baptism in the first lesson. We are to always invite in the first lesson to baptism. I find it interesting that that was the Savior's first message to the Nephites. Peter invites thousands to baptism on the day of Pentecost. Baptism was practiced among Moses and the children of Israel. Adam was baptized by the spirit. Baptism was practiced from the days of Adam all the way up to the Savior in America and all the way down to us in these latter-days. This is the most important path that an investigator will ever take and they need to know why we are there as missionaries. Baptism! This was done by the Savior himself and taught by Him in His first lesson. So of course that must mean that it is our missionary responsibility to do the same.

There are so many other great things that President Nelson shared with us but time does not permit me to share all of what I had learned from him and all the other leaders that spoke to us. He shared a lot of inspiring personal experiences from his life and applied it to us. I love how he shared scriptures from D&C that we were hid from the world for this time, that among the noble and great ones were the rulers of the church of God. Now of course we might be thinking about the general authority but President Nelson shared that the mothers and the fathers are the rulers of the church of God because they are the ones who put the plans of the leaders into action. They are raising those who are great in the sight of God. We all knew and we all felt that he truly is a prophet, seer, revelator, and president of the quorum of the 12 in these latter-days. I learned that he is a man that loves to teach from the scriptures, experience, and testifying by the spirit.

I know that the spirit bore witness to me and everyone present that God does communicate to man in these latter-days.

Love,

Elder Brown

February 7th - I'm on the best team!

Hello!

Man thats awesome that Peyton finally got his second super bowl! Thats great news..and Wow grandma is gonna be off on her mission that's awesome. How long is her mission?? And I hope nana gets into SOAR cause that program was one of the best week's of my life. I am grateful that dad made me fill out that application when I had zero interest in it. If it wasn't for the apollo burger I don't think it would have been done. On a sad note I can't believe what happened to Vake that's so sad! But Vake is the man so I know he handle whatever comes at him. Hearing about all the polys going to BYU is good stuff but it definitely makes my chances a lot smaller. Despite that it's still worth a shot.

But I know that I'm on the best team of them all. The Lord's team. Our work has been awesome this past week. Everyday has been exhausting and requires a lot of effort to keep pushing forward to the end. We have two investigators that have a great chance of being baptized this transfer and we found out what their concern is. One is earnestly seeking for the truth and he wants a sign. We shared about the fruits of the spirit and the power of asking our Heavenly Father. He finally came to church yesterday so that was great. The other one on the other hand, the one I told you about that left her family, has a small word of wisdom problem with alcohol and maybe tea and coffee. The potential we have as a companionship and in this area is very great, we know that our exact obedience will bring miracles here. One of the biggest obstacles here to baptism is the terrible sin of fornication with a live-in partner. We have 3 investigators who could be baptized this transfer but the wedding plans are not till spring time. It's sad to see how common it is here. Nevertheless we must keep moving forward.

This work is a lot of fun that is filled with a lot of blessings. I love being on the Lord's team and invite everyone to join. It's a lot better here.

Love,

Elder Brown

PS: Do I really have 7 months left mom?? Lets just put a 1 in front of that. :)

 Love my new area

February 1st - A golden investigator

Man I am enjoying my new area very much. We have had a lot of success this week despite the lack of work that used to exist in this area. People that were not open and receptive to them last transfer have done the exact opposite. My companion was pretty surprised. The branch here too is solid. They have a strong desire to help out in the work of salvation. We had a baptism on saturday. One of a 9 year old boy convert, and 2 eight year old girls.

Last night we found a super golden investigator. She will 99.9% be baptized on the 27th of the this month. She's 38 years old and left her family and everything to be taught and accept the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There are also things that caused her to move but was not ready to share with us. She was taught before and wanted to accept it but couldn't. She is ready and is giving everything she has to God. She told us last night that she finished The Book of Mormon in less than a year and prayed yesterday morning to know which church to go to. She went into one church and felt that it was not the one. She came to our church and my companion and I were the first ones to meet her there. She then felt that that was one because she has had encountered missionaries before and felt that they are God's sign to her.

I don't want to get too excited because of let downs before but I am happy that we have found her, or actually that she found us! As a side note I found out that Elder Ivins and his family knows Uncle Paul haha. Small world.

Love,

Elder Brown