Monday, December 29, 2014

Merry Christmas!

Hey!
We are loosing a lot of missionaries in the next few transfers  This transfer we lost 30 missionaries. They are the first group of 18 year old's to come to our mission.  The Las Vegas Zone, which I'm in, and the Bonanza Zone will be combining into one zone this gtransfer because we're loosing so many missionaries.  It will be the Las Vegas Zone.   There will be 3 districts in a zone of 26 missionaries.  The average zone size is around 1-20 missionaries so this will be a pretty large zone.

We had a great baptism a couple of weeks ago.  A dad and his son.  It was probably my favorite one so far.  I am so happy for them.  Now in a year they can go to the temple and be sealed.  Hopefully I will be able to come back to Vegas and go to the temple with them.

My ward mission leader and his family are doing the 12 days of Christmas to us  It's awesome!  Ties, TONs of popcorn, cereal chips, candy, etc.

We had another baptism on Saturday.  It went really well.  I said the opening prayer and ran the program while my companion and the young man were changing.  I was really nervous at first (to be conducting) but it turned out to be really good.

You would think and hope that people would have their hearts and minds towards Christ but most of the time it's not that way.  The work is pretty slow during the holidays because everyone is too busy shopping  and they have other things that are "more important."

You probably have heard of the #sharethegift.  All missionaries pass out cards that advertise it.  You might have seen them.  They are mormon.org card size.  We have a quota of 10 cards a day.  We are doing it the whole month of December.  It is going pretty good.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Elder Michael Brown



All of us "together" on Christmas Day!

Doesn't he look great?!

Monday, September 8, 2014

Sept. 11 = Half-Way Through Mission

Hi!
It's hard to believe that I'm almost "one year old". Time has flown by so fast. I've learned a lot, made a lot of good memories, and I have had a lot of fun. It's just too bad that you only get two years to do this though. I wish it was longer.

I have noticed positive changes from being obedient. One is that I have the Spirit with me more. Especially when I teach. Example: Last week we were teaching an investigator and she started telling us about all the hard things that she is going through. And she was going through a lot of hard stuff. During the closing prayer the Spirit told me to give her a specific promise. After the prayer ended I said, "Tamber, the Spirit has told me to tell you something."  I promised her that she would be blessed above anything that she could possibly comprehend. I promised her that she would be blessed more than she could imagine if she would endure and go through this trial that she is having. I then explained that just how we are given weaknesses to make us strong we are also given trials to make us strong. After I had made that promise she told me, "Thank you. You don't know how much I needed to hear that. That means a lot. Thank you." It was a great moment for me.


Love your favorite Elder,

Elder Brown



Monday, September 1, 2014

September 1st

It's crazy that It's already September! You know what that means? In 10 day on September 11th I'll hit my 1 year mark!!

Sounds Like everything is going great!! That's awesome! I do live with the Bishop. But I live in a caseda which is different. I've been in a caseda before but never lived in one. It's really different. I lived with members in my first area but we lived in the house not a caseda. 

My area is not as ghetto as I was hoping :(. It's not very dangerous. You have to go to the President and letter streets to get to the real ghetto and dangerous part of Vegas. Fremont is also very bad but that's out of mission. It's in the Las Vegas Mission. There are a lot of houses with bars on there windows. I was expecting to see that.

Love,
Elder Michael Brown


Monday, August 25, 2014

Transfer time!

Hey!
So I will be getting transferred today. I will be heading south to the Las Vegas Zone in the West Cliff Ward!! And my new companion will be Elder D. He came out April or May of last year. It is more of a ghetto area which is good because I have wanted to go to the ghetto! For my whole mission so far I've been in areas where people aren't poor. They've been more of rich areas. In my new area it's about half ghetto and half not. I'm really excited!

Nothing really crazy happened this week. But I did take a package of Pop-Its, opened all the pop-its and emptied all the rocks into some toilet paper. I then wrapped the toilet paper up and make a huge Pop-It!!! When I threw it on the ground the noise was really loud. Take the noise of 1 pop-it and times that by 50. Then add the echo that it had and thats how loud it was. It was way cool.

We've had dinner appointments every day the past few weeks. That's really nice.

Most of the times I put my hand out to kids for a low/high five or have them bump fists. But the best is when they come to you and want you to do it to them. And whats better is when they come to you and want to give you a hug. I love that so much.

Love,
Elder Brown

Monday, August 11, 2014

11 months!

HI!
Today is my 11th month mark!!!!!!! Crazy! I am going to celebrate by having a huge coke float! 
It's been plenty hot here. But it's dry and not humid which I love. The hottest that I have seen so far is 115*!!! If it was 115* with humidity like in Georgia. I would cry. hahaha


We had 3 investigators a church. Ed, Jean, and Andrew. Ed and Jean are progressing really well. We taught them last last week on Monday, last two days ago on Saturday, we'll teach them tonight, and have a lesson lined up for this Wednesday. I'm really excited. Last Saturday we taught part of the Plan of Salvation and tonight we are teaching them the rest. We are also planning on setting them with a date for the end of this month. John Hull has been extremely flaky the past few weeks. He doesn't answer our calls or call back when we leave a message, we text him and he doesn't reply. We also go by his house to talk with him and he doesn't even answer his door. It is extremely frustrating. We are planning on dropping him. But we aren't allowed to drop people without meeting them and telling them that we are dropping them. So I have gotten very frustrated at him because we can't set up a time to meet with him.

Love,
Elder Brown

Monday, July 28, 2014

Last week of July!

Hi!
My week was pretty good. We had a couple lessons. Got a new investigator. And we had 5 investigators come to church!!! Ed and Jean are progressing really well. We taught them last week. They will be out of town till next this Saturday or Sunday so we won't be able to meet with them for a while. Kane is doing good. His real name is Dartazion. Kane is is rapper name. It's hard to meet with him because he flakes out a lot. But he's come to church the past 3 weeks. He hates that church is 3 hours. Dee Dee came as well as Andrew.

The worst part of the week is when we got food poisoning. It was Friday that I got sick.  It was bad. It started around 5:00 am when my stomach hurt really bad. the first time I threw up I didn't get to the toilet in time. Then the rest of my miserable day went from there. That was the second time that I have had food poisoning on my mission. Being sick on your mission is worse than getting sick at home because you can't do any thing besides rest. What I mean is that at home you have people to talk to, if you are feeling good then you can possibly watch tv. But as a missionary you can't do any thing. 


We were on bike for a few days after the sister crashed their car. But now we are back in a car. But instead of our Malibu we have a 2012 Ford Fusion. It's cool. The AC isn't as good which sucks. But at least we have a car.

Love,

Elder Brown

Monday, July 21, 2014

Hello!

Hello!
All is going good here in Las Vegas Nevada. It's getting much hotter the past two weeks. The highest it's gotten is 115* that I know of. That was last Sunday the 13th. We are on bike now. The Sister Missionaries in our zone crashed their car so we had to give our up to them. :( It will be good though. Except the fact that it is now summer. And biking in this weather will be terrible. I hope it's not for too long. Our Zone Leaders said that the repair will take 2-6 weeks. But it will probably take longer than that.


Last Friday we were able to go up to Mt. Charleston and stay the evening with the ward for the ward camp out. I wish we could of stayed the night. It was a lot of fun anyways. I also got a few good pictures of a sunset.

Oh!! A crazy thing happened last week. We were playing morning sports and I got a black eye! It wasn't to bad. But still, a black eye?!? Crazy. I got hit in the face a few times with a soccer ball, then hit in the face by someones arm. I think the arm is what gave me the black eye.

We got two new investigators last week. Their names are Ed and Jean. They are an older couple. They are soooo golden. When we went to contact them for the first time a crazy thing happened. before we could say anything after they opened the door they said, "Come on in we've been waiting for you!" We were so happy. They had a lot of questions. So we did a Q&A lesson the first night. Then we set up a lesson for two days later!! And for that lesson we taught the Restoration. They always have a lot of questions so we were at their place for almost two hours!! They are awesome!

On Wednesday we had dinner with the Rawson's. Brother Rawson collects swords so we were able to hold a few of them. It was awesome. But the best part was that two of them were replicas from Lord Of The Rings!!! I was so happy!

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Brown

Monday, July 14, 2014

Transfer time!

HI!!!
My new companion's name is Elder Beams. He is from Idaho. We came out together. We came out together and I didn't even know until I got my transfer call. It's funny how I barley know anyone that I came out with. Technically I didn't come out with anyone but myself because I came out a few days later because of my surgery. There were probably about 17 give or take a few missionaries that were in my group. I probably know 5-7 of them. Anyways. I am really excited to be get Elder Beams. I've heard that he is a great missionary and is really cool. He will be DL so I'll be DLB again. DL stands for District Leader and DLB stands for District Leaders Buddy.

The past few weeks have been really interesting. With Elder Park getting trunky I've gotten trunky! I've had a great time serving with him it will be hard to see him go.

Our AC ran out last week. it's been terrible!!!!

Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Brown

Monday, June 23, 2014

Mid Transfer

Hey!
Things are still going great. Our teaching pool has grown a little. We got two new investigators last week. Peter and Andrew. Some of our other investigators are not progressing anymore and are becoming a little flaky. Elder Park is not too trunky. He hates it as all missionaries would, when members ask him how much longer he has left. They know that he goes home soon so he gets asked that question a lot.
A few extra things:
  1.  Last week for dinner we went to a members home and we had Marco's Pizza for dinner. I didn't know that Marco's Pizza was a nation wide thing.
  2. Sorry I haven't written to you guys lately so it sounds selfish of me asking this. But the next time you send a letter or a package can you please have the kids write a letter or at least a picture. I LOVE the pictures that they draw.  
  3. I have started back up with writing in my journal. I started back up on June 4th and have not missed a day so far. It can be really hard some times.
Talk to you next week! 

Love,
Elder Brown



Mid June

How Dee!
Time does seen to go by really fast!  I'm not exercising in the mornings but we do walk a lot during the day. Last week we walked 25 miles give or take a couple. It's really good.

My week was good. Except for yesterday. Kristin (the first person that I taught on my mission) was supposed to get baptized. To make a long terrible story short the baptism is being postponed at least a month because of some complications with her parents. But besides that it was good. Elder Park and I are getting along great together. we had a dull week this week on stats but that always happens sometimes. We did have some one with a date for last Saturday but her mom won't sign the baptismal form. She was all cool and fine with her getting baptized but a couple days before her mom decided not to sign the form.

Things in my new ward are going pretty good. Last week we didn't teach much. We did a lot of contacting though. I would have to say that my favorite lesson to teach is the Plan of Salvation just because I enjoy talking about that stuff. During comp study we role play and we decide who will teach what during that time. The way missionaries are suppose to teach usually is one person teaches a point and then your companion teaches the next and so forth.

Love,
Elder Brown


Memorial Day

Hello,
The teaching is going good. I'm sad that we are just now starting to teach them because I might get transferred and I won't get to see how they progress. You are so right about the developing talents. I am much more open to talking to people now. It's really great. Yes I did give a talk on Sunday. It went well. I gave it on testimonies. We were back up speakers because the bishopric had no one to speak. We got a call during our specialized zone meeting on Friday by the 2nd councilor asking if we would talk in sacrament. It's my second time giving a talk on my mission.

We had exchanges with the traveling elders on Friday. That's was fun. We found about 3 potentials. Oh! something that I forgot to tell you on Mothers Day is that I bought a Rubix Cube and can now solve it. I also us it for some spiritual thoughts. So it wasn't a complete waste of money. hahaha Also today is my half birthday!! I am 19 1/2. Time flies so by fast. I have also been out 8 1/2 months. 3 1/2 more months and I will be half way done with my mission.  This is the last week of the transfer. I think that I will be transferring because I have been here for three transfers. Since the end of January. 

It was a good thing that I developed the skill of sleeping in my clothes because when I take my lunch nap I can sleep easily and not have to change. hahaha

We had Zone Conference on the 14th. Zone conference takes up pretty much the whole day. It is from 8:00 to 4:00. The last time that we went to the temple was on May 7th and we get to go once a quarter. So it will be a little while till we get to go again.


Love,

Elder Brown


Monday, June 9, 2014

Another week

Hey Mom!!
I am getting transferred today!! I will be going to Highland Hills in the Los Pados ward. I'll also be in a car. My companion will be Elder Park. This is his last transfer so I will be killing him. I've never killed some one before so we will see how it goes. hahaha My new area borders my current area. That's what happened last time when I came to my second area, all I did was hop the road and I was in my new area. I am excited to be in a new area though. I was in Tule Springs for 4 months three transfers.

So last week was one of the worst weeks stat wise that I have had on my mission. All doughnuts (all zeros). We had our lesson cancel on us which was very disappointing.  

My new area is great and I love my new companion. Elder Park is awesome.  I like being in a car. It's a hard transition because I'm used to bike and always moving to being in a car and sitting. I fall asleep sometimes when we're driving.
 
We have about 11 investigators that we are teaching. IT IS AWESOME!!!!!!! (Caps intentional). Two weeks ago which was my last week in Tule we had strait doughnuts. Last week ore stats were the best that I've had on my whole mission. They were: 0 0 1 2 2 5 1 1 2 4 3 I'm so happy!!
 
The highlight of last week was on Thursday the 8th when I got stuck on the bench press with 135lbs on my chest. I was stuck there for about 3-5 minutes calling for Elder Park to come help. He was in the shower so he couldn't hear me. It was funny afterwards though.
 
Love,
Elder Michael Brown


Monday, May 19, 2014

It's Monday!

Howdy!
I'm doing pretty good.  We don't get a lot of the same food each week.  The only thing that I have been served that I don't like is chicken.   If there is anything that I don't like, I eat it anyways.  We are having clam chowder tonight.  I'm so excited.  I'm still doing terrible on my journal writing but better on waking up.  M favorite person this week would have to be MaKayla.  MaKayla is a funny little girls in the ward.  On Sunday the Primary sang "I Am A Child of God" and she was smiling and waving pretty much the whole time.  It was really funny.

We got two new investigators last week.  Teresa and Gaby Lara.  Teresa is Gaby's mother.  The tough thing with them is that they both work on Sunday.  Be we will get over that.

I love and miss you all a lot.

Love,
Elder Brown

Monday, May 12, 2014

After Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day again.

It was so fun to see you and talk to you.
The work here is slow, like I told you.  But hopefully it will start to pick up.

I looked at the forecast for this week on my missionary portal.  Thursday will be a high of 92* and Friday will have a high of 97*.  It's definitely warming up.  I'm just really glad that I won't have the humidity.  I forgot about swim team.  One of my Zone Leaders swam 2 years on his HS swim team.  I did have some stuff that I forgot to tell you guys but I forgot them again.  If I remember I will write them down and tell you next week.

I love and miss you a lot.

Love,

Elder Brown


Monday, May 5, 2014

Happy Monday!

Hey there!
I forgot to tell you guys!  Brother Brad Wilcox came to our mission and spoke to us!!!! I got to shake his hand and have a picture with him. It was soooooo cool.

We are usually out of our apartment earlier to get to the computers by 8:00 so ccan be the first ones at the computers.  Then we go back and do our studies.  but today we decided to do our studies first.  The waking up is still a challenge but going to bed is pretty good.

Because my new comp, Elder T. speaks Tongan, I am learning a few Tongan words.  I've leaned hello, what's up/how's it going, and good..  It's pretty fun.

Making and talking phone calls are pretty mucha breeze now.  (*mom's note--using the phone before was nearly paralyzing for Elder Brown.  Missions are a wonderful thing!)


So, you ask how my mission has changed me...One thing that I have learned from my mission is that you HAVE to trust in the Lord.  You can't do things by yourself.  It is in a lot of missionaries.  At the beginning of their mission they think that they know everything and that they can do it on their own.  I have also learned about pride and how you have to give all your pride to God and submit to His will and not your own.  Everything that you do is because of who/  It's because of God.  your Father in Heaven.  The Supreme being of the universe.  You would be a fool not to give Him and the One who atoned for your sins all the credit and glory. My mission has changed me a lot and will continue to do so.  There is a talk by Tad R. Callister about being a consecrated missionary.  In the talk he tells a story of when he was a mission president.  The story goes something along the lines of this..Eler allister was talking to a missionary who was struggling with some obedience problems.  At the end of their talk the mikssionary says this.  "Yo are not asking me to change my behavior.  You are asking me to change my nature."  That is so true.  Behavior reflets your actions.  Nature reflects your attitide.

Love,

Elder Michael Brown


Monday, April 21, 2014

Transfer Week!

Hey!
Today is transfers!  I will be staying in my area.  My new companion is Elder T.  He is from Hawaii but is Tongan.  He has also been out for about a year.

  1. My biggest challenge this week was trying to pronounce my new companions name.
  2. My biggest success has been when I finally was able to pronounce my new companions name
  3. My favorite person was my new companion because he is a Polly.
  4. My goal for the upcoming week is to make sure I continually pronounce my companions name correctly because it would be rude to mess up his name. 
Okay, the real answers are this:
  1. My biggest challenge this week was trying to pronounce my new companions name.
  2. I don't really know what my biggest success was. 
  3. My favorite person was the family who gave us Easter baskets. They had gift cards, candy, socks, and a tie. It's the same family that you have gotten pictures from and is on Missionary Mommas.
  4. My goal for the upcoming week is to find some people to teach because we haven't had any lately. You can get discouraged and disappointed when you don't have anyone to teach.
Polly does mean Polynesian.  And, just FYI---most of the bike crashes aren't self inflicted.  I got a nice bike that I will take care of.

Love,
Elder Brown

Monday, April 14, 2014

Mid April

Hi!
Fun story.  On Saturday I got a hole in my back tire.  Later that day I got three holes in my back tire and two in my front.  It was a long day.  my comp also got two flats that day.  And the day before my comp got three holes.  It was an interesting two days.

On the sunday of General Conference, my comp and I were sitting at a bench in a neighborhood park. Some people accross the field were having lunch.  A lady from the group comes over and asks us if we would like to come over and have some food.  So we did.  Lets just say that it was an interesting visit.  Of course they new wo we are.  So one of the ladies flat out said the they were not going to talkk gospel at all.  We said that was fine.  Then she says that she is gay.  I was taken aback from that because I have never met a lesbian before.  Usually they hate missionaries beause of the churchs stance on ga marriage.  But they were extremly polite.  they know what we as missionaries do and they said that it is very admirable.  They also know how hot it can get so they offered us water.  it was pretty cool to have someone who is not a member be so kind to us.  They were more kind to us than most members.  You may think that's crazy but it's true.

Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Michael Brown


Monday, April 7, 2014

Hey there!

Hey,
Last week was pretty eventful.  Elder L. and I had to go to the church around 7:00 or 8:00 to do some work in the library.  When we got to the church to our surprise we found multiple police cars, and ambulance, and the SWAT team in the parking lot.  No worries.  They were just prepping for a raid.  Also, on Friday and ambulance passed us on their way to an emergency and the driver waved to us.  I thought that was pretty cool.  Also last week I had some "Michael" moments.  I crashed on my bike again.  I am fine.

Las Vegas is starting to warm up.  I'm not excited for the upcoming summer.  110*+ will not be fun.  Especially if I am going to be on bike.

So, as you know, it is tradition to go out for ice cream after Priesthood session of General Conference.  Well...my comp and I with a couple other elders went to Yogurt Land to keep the tradition going.  It was a lot of fun.  Yogurt Land is a frozen yogurt place where missionaries get half off because it is owned by a member of the church.  Awesome!!!

Love,

Elder Brown


Monday, March 31, 2014

A lot of stuff

Hi again,
(Elder Brown has been doing some family history research and sending us names.  I asked him about it.)

I do the family history when I am on the computer. A couple of weeks ago Elder L. needed to do something on the computer. I didn't want to sit for two hours and do nothing so I did some stuff then. I also do it during emailing and mormon.org time. I am not exactly sure how you do it. But I have heard that you take it to the temple and they print it out the ordinance card for you. It is pretty exciting.

One thing that I can tell you is that a mission a the hardest thing that I have ever done. Change happens a lot on a mission and change can be pretty hard some times, but it will turn out to be better in the end.

Missionaries do get to give hi fives and fist bumps to kids. Also, we can give kids hugs. To a certain extent of coarse. So I'm pretty glad that I do get to get some what of a kid fix.

I have quite a lot of stuff to tell/ask you today.


  1. So last week we where ridding home and a lady flagged us down. She needed to catch a bus and didn't have all the money to do so. She asked if we had any money that she could have. Elder L. gave some and I gave the last two dollars in my wallet to give her just enough. It was a great experience for me. I actually was planning to repay another elder with that money who spotted me one day for lunch. It reminded me of King Benjamin's address. Read Mosiah 4:16-26 and you'll see what I mean.
  2. You told me in a letter a few months ago that you have some arthritis in your hand. I was talking to a member in the ward at dinner one night and she brought up that she was haveing some trouble in her hand. This is her remedy: 2 Tble. of Tart Cherry Juice daily. Make sure it is from concentrate!!! She takes it in the morning. You can dilute the taste in something like orange juice if you like. That's what she does.
  3. I heard a couple weeks a go that there was a shooting in the Kroger parking lot. Yikes! Sounds scary. I've been forgetting to ask you about that. (Everything was fine....No idea how he heard about this random news.)
  4. I've also heard about the missing plane. YIKES!!!! Even more scary!!! I've heard that it is a terrorist act. Is that true?  (Missionaries live pretty sheltered lives, but they still get some tidbits of the "outside world.")
I have been living off cold cereal, instant oatmeal, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And occasional dinner appointments.

I had some "Michael moment" last week they are on line if you want to see them. They consist of another bike crash and something else. Please don't you and mom freak out. I'm fine.

Today in PS (personal study) I read Alma 36 and 37. I read about the 2000 stripling warriors. It's amazing how they trusted in the Lord and they were protected. The war chapters are the best!

Love,

Elder Brown



Monday, February 24, 2014

Time is flying

Hi!
So you ask for adventures? I don't really have any adventure stories. The only adventures that I can think of right now is my bike accidents. Spiritual experiences and things while reading the scriptures...I don't really remember any because I don't write them down. :( I really hate myself for not doing that and not writing in my journal. But I am in Alma chapter 30 something or 40 something.


I'll try to start writing. There are just a lot of things around the apartment that are distracting. haha for some reason I have become so accident prone since coming on my mission. The stake is renting some houses for missionaries because some apartment contracts are almost up. They also want some missionaries such as my companion and I to try to find a member to house us. Some missionaries are going to live in the rented homes and some in with members. It's kind of complicated.


Happy Birthday Mom and Drew!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Guess what?! I get to burn a tie next month! Did I tell you that? The reason is that on your 6 month mark an Elder burns a tie, your year mark you burn a shirt, if you do anything on your 18 month mark I don't know what it is. Maybe a pair of slacks. And on you 2 year mark you burn a suit. I'm excited. Time is just flying by.



Monday, February 10, 2014

New Bike

Hi,
The bike is good, I didn't have to buy a bike because a member bought one for me! My butt is really sore from riding. Probably because I am not used to riding a bike. The one I have is pretty good. I'll get a pictures and send it to you next week. I didn't think about taking one.  So here's the story about my bike. The days may be wrong but that doesn't really matter. So, I was using an old elders bike that was in terrible condition. One brake didn't work and then on Thursday the other one completely busted and the seet cushion ripped. So a member that we had lunch with on Wednesday offed to fix it. We gave it to him and I used one of the ZLs bike. He called us on Friday to tell us that the bike was fixed. We biked to his house to find a brand new bike in the drive way! I thanked him so much.
I was diagnosed with bronchitis, but it is doing much better.  And, yes, I crashed my bike.  The story behind it is that our phone was ringing an Elder L. stoped to see who it was and I was going to fast and I wasn't able to stop in time. And I tried to swerve but I couldn't and we crashed. My front brakes are messed up and my front tire is slightly bent. I will have to take it to the shop. I'll try to be more carefull.

Love,

Elder Brown

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

News for the week

Hi!
Last week was a great week! We got two new investigators. Now we have 3. That doesn't seem like a lot. But for what we have have for the past 6-8 weeks that is a lot.  We don't go tracting very much. Not at all actually. Tracting pretty much equals a waste of time/no success. As you know I am in the West Mission. But the East Mission has completely done away with tracting.  Missionaries are very dependant on members!! It's been said that "Members find. Missionaries teach". That does mean that we are not supposed to try to find though.
I was doing a thing that at In N' Out. I was going to start with a #1 (a 2x2 with a fry and a drink) Then each time I would go I would add a patty. So I did that all the way up to a 4x4. I had to stop there because they wouldn't add anymore than that. :(

So my few goals are to wake up on time, study every day. Be early to meetings.
I did get transferred. I got transferred to Tule Springs. It is just right across the freeway from my last area. I am on bike and live 4 miles out of my area. Because I live so far out, I live closer to my old area than my new one.  I have been on exchanges where I had to ride a bike. It is also flat here which will help. It will help with exercise a lot.

I love you!

Elder Brown

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Hello to you

Hey!
Christmas was a lot of fun.  The family who I Skyped at, gave us some presents.  We went to a couple of families and chatted for a little bit and then went to some Elders place and opened the rest of our presents. The New Year is going good.  I made a resolution to be even more obedient.  I'm feeling good.  Of course there are the times that I get disappointed and discouraged as all missionaries do.  But otherwise I'm doing good.

Weather:  It doesn't get too cold here.  (But of course you know that already).  In the mornings and in the evenings it gets into the low to mid 50's.  But during the day it's usually in the 60s.  It was probably early Dec., late Nov. that it was the coldest that it was going to get.  That was because of the wind chill.  It was really windy.  It is much better being here than being in GA.  As you know...I hate the cold!!!

I am not losing weight at all.  Only gaining it.  I am almost 200 lbs.  Riding in a car and not riding on a bike would do that to someone.

We are only teaching one person right now.  Her name is B.   I don't know if I told you about her or not.   She is the mom of someone in our ward.  We have taught her the first two lessons and a few commandments.  She has a goal to stop smoking by the end of the month.  I told you about D.  He is moving so we won't be able to teach him anymore.  We are working with some less actives though.

Love,
Elder Brown