Email from Member in Texas

This an email I received tonight from the Sister who's home Elder Brown is staying at in Mansfield.

"Your Elder seems happy and content here. He has a great companion, always singing and happy. I think it is rubbing off on Elder Brown. We enjoy having him here and let him know he is home. Being in a member's home is always a little better because you have people who care about you to come home to each day. Don't worry about him, he is in good hands.
love,
Sister Kathy Feil

Elder Brown Transfer Pictures

 

These are pictures taken by Sister Cyndi Evans, Missionary Mom in Mansfield, Texas.  She goes to all the transfer days and takes pictures of all the missionaries and then posts them on facebook for all of us to see.  We believe that the top picture with the car hood open is his new companion, Elder Walgamott.  Elder Brown looks happy and excited to be in a new area.  Thank goodness our church is worldwide and other members are taking care of our Missionaries.

Another email from Missionary Mom

"This will be great! I love being in contact with the Moms of "my ward missionaries". I get a real kick out of sharing things with moms as they happen - just to keep you "in the loop" somewhat.
So, your son loves Salsa dancing or the hot sauce? LOL!!
Your son's companion is Elder Walgamott. He has been out for over a year and is an excellent missionary. I'll get a picture of the two of them together so that you can put a visual on him.
Here's a little bit about where he'll be serving. He'll actually be serving in Mansfield 1st and 2nd. Mansfield 1st meets from 9-12 and 2nd Ward meets from 1-4. He and his companion are living with Brother and Sister Feil. The missionaries just moved in with the Feil's about 6 months ago. Prior to that, they were living in an apartment, but I guess the church is trying to save money (aren't we all!) and seeing if this will work out. The Feils have a beautiful home in a subdivision called "The Arbors". If you go to google earth, you can actually see the house. Their address is 2512 Woodbridge Trail, Mansfield, Texas 76063. The Elders live two streets over from me.
Brother Wayne Feil is a very popular dentist in Arlington (about 20 minutes away). His wife, Kathy doesn't work outside the home. They are both in their 60's, have children who are grown and gone - but still live close, so they enjoy frequent visits from grandchildren. Brother Feil is the Ward Mission Leader.
Here's a little bit about me. My husband (Michael) and I are Ward Missionaries. He is also the Stake Choir Director and I am also in charge of the Ward Bulletin. I have to say that I was pretty disappointed in my calling since I was just released from YW! Needless to say, to go from such a wonderful, active calling -to working with a piece of paper- has been a bit of a let down! However, when we were called to be Ward Missionaries, my life got a bit busier! I am affectionately called the Missionary Cheerleader in our Ward! Michael is a land surveyor and I (currently) am not working outside the home. We have 3 children: Heather is 22 and a junior at BYU, Sean has been out on his Mission for a year and two weeks (but who's counting!!) and is serving in the Denver Colorado South Mission. My youngest is Ryan - a sophomore in High School. If you're interested, I am on Face Book under the name of Cyndi Evans. There are several on there, but I'm the one in the family shot. Kathy Feil is also on FB. She is the only one in her photo and it was taken when she was in Fiji on vacation! (would be nice)
I wanted to recommend that you get on the MM site for Utah, so that you can help the missionaries where you live. It's a lot of fun to help your local missionaries and helps you feel closer to Your Favorite Missionary (YFM) while he is out. My hope is that I can do whatever I can to help you and your son have a wonderful Mission experience. I have to admit that I do it for selfish reasons since I hope that someone is doing the same thing for Sean in Colorado!
Here's a few more questions: when is his birthday and does he have any food allergies?
I'm looking forward to getting to know you and YFM a whole lot better!"


Cyndi

Email from Missionary Mom in Texas

I joined a group called LDS Missionary Moms.  You are grouped into areas of where your missionary is, then you get post emails from other moms that are serving in those areas.  Today, I received this message from a Mom that lives in Mansfield, Texas.  How cool is that?  Small world we live in. Of course I responded to her and told her that it was my son.

Hi Sharri,

I just saw your posting on the MM site and wanted to ask you about your son. Our Ward Missionary is being transferred out and we are getting an Elder Brown to replace him in Mansfield. Is this your son?

Cyndi

Elder Brown update

Well, another transfer has come to a close and I have found out where I am going. I am being transferred to Mansfield, Texas which is in the Arlington Stake. I will be just south of my very first area I was assigned to as a missionary. I am somewhat excited because I will get to see Arlington again.
When I talked with the LDS Family Services person, he told me that I was probably the hardest working missionary in this mission right now because I am working so hard to not go home early. That is what he told me. I found that to be true.
Well, enough said about that. No we didn't baptize Seth Tankersley or Michael Curtis. They both chose to move their dates back, which means that I won't be here to see their baptisms. Oh well, I can't force them to be baptized.
By the way, Elder Shreeve is leaving this area as well. We are getting WHITEWASHED AGAIN!Apparently they needed Elder Shreeve in the Mission Office again, so a missionary will be training a brand new missionary, straight out of the MTC, here in Chapel Creek. We are preparing the area for him and his Greene. (Missionary Term for brand new missionary).
I don't currently have my new address, I will e-mail it to you next week. For now, just send all letters to the mission office. I will get them eventually.
Well, other than that, I am currently packing up and getting ready to leave. I am ready to move on to a new area.
Well, that is all for this week's e-mail. Thank You for all your prayers and support. I do hope I can make it 1 more year, but we shall see as time goes on.
Take Care!

-Elder Brown

Erika - PHS Homecoming with Jared

 Erika went on her date for Homecoming today.  She was picked up at 9:00 am and they went with 10 other couples to Hogle Zoo.  Afterwards they went to Rock Canyon Park to have a picnic for lunch.  Of course, she arrived home late, so her hair appointment had to be pushed back a half a hour, so that didn't leave her much time to get ready, but as you can tell from the pictures, she looks gorgeous.  Jared came and picked her up at 6:15 pm and he had to wait a few minutes for Erika to finish getting ready.  They told us that they were going to the Macaroni Grill for dinner and then to the dance at Provo High.  She also mentioned that they might to watch a movie afterwards, but Jared said they wouldn't be home later than 1 a.m.  She was so excited to go and be with Jared.  They had spent alot of time together all summer doing many activities.

Full Moon Lift Ride @ Sundance

 We have wanting to do this for some time, but it has not ever worked out at the full moon days.  Brian and I decided that we were going to go tonight.  We invited our neighbors, The Autrey's to go with us.  We drove up at 9:00 pm and where directed to park in the upper parking lot.  I didn't even know there was an upper parking lot.  It was quite a drive up, so we had to wait for a shuttle bus to take us back down to the lift.  We were surprised at all the people that were up at sundance.  Apparently, this is a pretty popular activity.  We got in line while Brian and Rob went to buy tickets.  The line was a little long, but it moved pretty fast.  The ride is a 45 minute ride up and back on the lift.  It was a bit chilly, but not to bad.  We really one needed jackets and a blanket. Every seat was full and when we were about to get off, the line was wrapped around the area twice.  There had to be at least 500 people waiting.  It was crazy. It was fun and well worth it. Afterwards, we talked about how the kids would like it and maybe doing it next year in June or July when the weather is a bit warmer in the evenings.

Brian and the Kidney Stone

At around 9 am, Brian was feeling some pain in his stomach.  He was in a meeting, so he just tried to ignore it, but it got worse and worse.  He called me at 10:10 from work and said that he was having severe back pain and he was headed to the ER.  His co-worker drove him and I meet him there.  The ER was not busy, so they were able to get him right in and see him.  It took about 30 minutes for them to give him some pain medicine to calm it down.  They took him to CAT scan to see if the stone was in his Kidney's or not.  After that, they didn't see the stone and said since the pain medicine made him relaxed, that it passed through to the bladder.  We were only at the ER for less than 2 hours.  That is a first!!!  They sent us home and we stopped for lunch and then I took him home to sleep.  He still had to strain for the stone, so the picture below is the size of the stone that caused so much pain.

Elder Brown update

Sorry this e-mail is so late. We drove out to Dallas again today and didn't get back till late. We also had our teeth cleaned this morning by a recent convert. It is so nice to have him offer free teeth cleanings.
Anyways, I don't have much time, but I want to let you know that I am doing somewhat better. I am EXTREMELY excited for the upcoming transfer. Although I don't like my companion very much, I am very much looking forward to next transfer. I hope I get a better companion. My current one and I are just not getting along, I can't wait to move to a new area and have a new companion.
I am very excited for the weather to cool down, believe me. I pray for cooler weather every day! I am tired of the heat. I have decided I will not live in Texas permanently. I don't like the heat very much.
Well, other than that we have 2 baptisms coming up. One for a part-member family. His name is Seth Tankersley and he is 9. His dad will be baptizing him next Sunday evening. We hope anyways. We also have another baptism for Michael Curtis. He is getting ready, I'm not 100% sure he will get baptized while I am here, but he will soon. We are supposedly going to be baptizing him next Tuesday the 28th of September, but I'm not sure that it will work out. Whatever happens, happens.
Well, that is all for this week. I will write a longer one next week.

-Elder Brown

Fire at West Mountains

This was a fire that was started at Camp Williams with a machine gun.  On our way home from Sandy, we were able to get a good look at the mountain and the fire that all across it.  It was an amazing site to see.  We tried to get a good picture of it while we were driving home on the freeway at the point of the mountain, but this is as good as we could get.

Erika's answer to Homecoming

8 Blue balloons with little papers in 4 of them.  She wrote a poem on 4 different word strips and put them in the balloons that didn't have "Pop Me" on them.  Then at 9:30 pm, we picked up her friend, Peggy, and went to his house.  Erika and Peggy ran the balloons to his front doorstep and left them there with a huge rock on them, in case they might fly away.  Erika texted Jared and said "Did you get something "Porchy?" He didn't respond back until midnight that night.  The poem that Erika wrote says: "Many roses are red, these balloons are blue, I would love to go to homecoming, especially with you!"

Elder Brown update (now on Mondays)

Hello again, even though I just e-mailed you last Thursday. It is going to be getting some used to having P-Day's on Monday's now. I know how you feel. I actually don't like the change much because when it was on Thursday, it cut our week up a little bit. It was nice. Now it is going to be different. I hope I survive the first week of the change.
Well, my companion and I drove out to Dallas about 2 hours ago and I talked to a LDS Family Services person who said that he has dealt with a lot of missionaries before. We talked for about 30-40 minutes and then he told me that he thinks I have anxiety/depression disorder or something like that and told me that I may need some drugs to help me. I will likely be seeing a doctor soon about that and possibly starting some medication to help me with that. He told me to just give it a try and see if it helps any. If it does, great, if not, then we will try something else. I have been going through depression my whole mission, I just haven't told you about it because I didn't want you to think that I am a bad person and I don't want to do the Lords work. I am grateful for all that I've learned from being a missionary and I hope that this medication helps. He also told me that I've been dealing with depression for a long time, It just hasn't come out of me until I became a missionary. Now it is coming out because I am very outside my comfort zone. It isn't easy to go out in the 100 degree temperatures and knock on doors. Its not easy to tell people what you know will bless their lives because of what it has done to your life. Believe me when I say it is a lot more difficult to teach people here in Texas who are so set in their beliefs and ways. It is not easy to be a missionary, but I am grateful for all your support and help.
Well, other than that, I am so happy that Erika had a great B-Day party. I can't believe that she is now 18 too. I can't believe that I'm 20. I don't want to be 20 yet. Oh well...
Anyways, that is all for this week. Hopefully y'all will have a awesome and good week this upcoming week. Talk to you next Monday!

-Elder Brown

Erika's 18th Birthday

Well, today is Erika's 18th birthday.  We can't believe that she is that old, she was just 2 years old the other day.  How time flies.  She has grown into a beautiful Young Women and is so smart and a great violinist.  I took her shopping in the morning for a couple of hours.  Then she went with some friends to the movie, Despicable Me, and then to IN-N-OUT for lunch/dinner.  In the evening, she was asked to play her violin piece with a couple of other ward members during Stake Conference Adult Session.  What a way to remember her 18th birthday, playing the violin.  The music was so neat and spiritually moving.  She is such a great player.  We then went home and picked up Riley and the McGriff family went with us to celebrate her birthday and playing the violin to Cold Stone Ice Cream.  We had a great time together.  When we came home, her friend, Jared, texted her and asked her what she got on her birthday. She told him all the things and then he asked her if she got any "porchy" gifts.  She was a little bit confused, but then opened the front door, and there was a pink daisy flower with a note on it.  She was so excited.  The note said Happy Birthday and also he asked her to the Homecoming Dance.  Wow, What a great day she had.  And we are going to celebrate more with her Grandma Bette on Monday at the Cheesecake factory.

Erika's birthday

This is what Erika found the morning of Friday, Sept 10th, the day before her birthday.  Her friends, Rachel and Peggy decided to write on her car windows, so that everyone at school could see it.  She was a little bit surprised, but knew exactly who had done it.  She still hasn't washed it off her car yet.

Elder Brown update

Hello from Texas. First of all I want to say that we had no flooding around here in my area, but a lot of other areas got hit hard. We had so much rain I was concerned that it was going to flood, but it stopped around here after a while and it never flooded. I am so happy though that it did rain, it cooled it down quite a bit. It feels a lot better now. Although, it will probably warm up again. UGH!
Well, I know that y'all are very concerned for me. I know in the past few weeks that things haven't been going great, but I am not doing any better this week than last week. My Mission President and I had a discussion and he and I decided that it would be best if I went and saw a doctor at LDS Family Services to try to resolve anything that is making me depressed and stressed and unhappy. I haven't gone yet, but my appointment is for this coming Monday the 13th. I will be driving out to Dallas to see him and hopefully he can help me with my challenges and any other problems. I'm hoping he can, because at the rate this is going I might be home in a month or maybe even less. There is just a lot of things that I'm just having a hard time dealing with. I hope that this doctor can help me out.
The next Transfer day is September the 29th. I WILL BE GETTING TRANSFERRED on that day. President Sagers told me in my interview with him that I have been here in this area long enough, it is time for me to go to a different area. So, I know that the 28th is my last day here in this area.
We have always had planning day on Monday, which we plan out the week on that morning and P-Day has been on Thursday to try to cut up the week a little bit. Now that is all being changed. P-Day is on Monday's starting next week and Planning Day is on Thursday's. Since Planning Day is no longer at the beginning of the week, we have to plan out 10 days rather than 7 which will make it more difficult in my opinion, but that is what the lord wants. So starting next week, you need to e-mail me on Mondays. That is my new P-Day.
Well, that is my weekly report. I will be e-mailing home on Monday the 13th of September! Have a good few days until Monday.

-Elder Brown

Riley & the SLC Temple

Our Neighbor, Nancy was giving a lesson today about temples, and she found this temple that needed to be put together for her lesson.  She knew that Riley loves to put things together with tape and glue, so she asked him to do it.  He had it done in less than two days.  It had alot of cut outs and small pieces to put together, but he enjoys this kind of stuff. She was able to have for her lesson today for her lesson. It is a pretty cool puzzle put together, that I tried to find other ones on the internet like it, but had no luck. 

Riley sleeping

I enjoy taking pictures of my kids when they are sleeping. I think it is so sweet and cute when they are sleeping.  They look so peaceful and happy when they are sleeping.  I was hoping that Riley would wake up after the flash went off, because he was late for getting ready for church, but he didn't budge.  Oh well, better luck next time.

Elder Brown update

Well, it has finally cooled down some. I am so happy. It rained really hard this morning. I even think a lightning bolt hit our apartment complex. It was so loud. The floors and walls and roof shook. It was scary, but I survived. I laid in bed for about 30 minutes to a hour just thinking am I going to die? The weather is finally cooperating and cooling the temperatures down a bit to help me out. I have been praying every night for a change in the weather because I am tired of this humidity and heat. It has worn me out and I think my prayers are finally being answered.
Well, I know I said what I said last week. I have been trying to get along with my companion, but it is very difficult. We are both not on the same page. I am trying to work on it. I think a combination of not getting along with my companion and the heat is getting to me. Hopefully it will get better in the coming weeks.
Yes, I did get your package you sent. Thank you so much. I always love Jerky. I have also gotten a liking for Pistachios recently. I don't know why.
Guess what? President Sagers is changing our planning day to Thursday and our P-Day to Monday. The next week is my last week on the current schedule. So the 9th of September is my last Thursday P-Day. Then the following Monday the 13th of September is my First Monday P-Day. So you are going to need to start e-mailing me on Mondays. I think it will be better for the mission if it is changed to Monday P-Day and Thursday Planning Day. It will be great and fun.
I hope that y'all have a good week, I need to get running because I am going to meet with my mission president in about 45 minutes to discuss this issue. Take Care and know that I love y'all!
-Elder Brown