Riley volleyball tournament

Riley played in his last volleyball game tournament today.  They started at 9 am and ended at 1 pm.  They played 4 games and got 2nd place in the bracket.  They had to lose twice.  The other team that they lost to, was tall and had really good serves.  There was another young women from our ward on the other team, Meredith.  It was an exciting day for him and us.  His coach, Kim, told him that she is going to have a summer camp and she was going to call him and invite him to come.  Riley has become a very good volleyball player, despite his shortness.  Good job Riley!!

SNOW - again!! Utah weather is Bipolar

 More snow again this morning.  Provo had about 3", but our parents in Sandy said that they had 8" of snow.  Seriously, it is May and we are having more snow storms.  This does not help our flooding in the Provo River.  It has been so cold the last couple of days.  We hope to see warmer weather soon.

Email from Texas Fort Worth Mission

Dear parents of missionaries in the Texas Fort Worth Mission,

I know you are excited to be able to visit with you missionary on Mother’s Day on the phone. The Missionary Handbook states:

            “You may telephone your parents on Christmas and one other time

during the year (usually Mother’s Day), according to the guidelines from

your mission president. Take care that these calls do not pull your thoughts

away from your service…Keep them short (preferably no longer than 30

to 40 minutes). Other than these calls, do not telephone family members

or friends unless you have permission from your mission president.”

I would like to emphasize who the missionaries are to phone—parents. Sometimes everyone (brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends etc.) want to talk on the phone as well. Parents of course want to visit last and often they will only have a few minutes left. After some rationalizing and justifying, the missionary standard of 30 to 40 minutes is exceeded which causes the missionary to be disobedient.  Please help your missionary be obedient. Receiving the Lord’s help in this work is so very important. As the scriptures say “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:21)

I would also ask that you erase and not write down their phone number after they call. You may be tempted just to keep the number for some reason or another. I assure you it will not be necessary and in fact may be detrimental to the success of the missionary. I am aware that some parents have kept this phone number and later phoned or texted their missionary with some news they just felt was needed immediately. I assure you that this is a major distraction to missionary work and indeed does much more harm than good. If there is an urgent need to get information to your missionary, please contact your stake president and he will contact me. I will do likewise if there is urgent information we need to get to parents.

I know it is sometimes difficult to understand but missionaries are under the direction of their mission president. We will take good care of them. We know we cannot eliminate challenges but we can teach and love them—and we do. We will do all we can to see they are successful. Please know of our love and appreciation for the sacrifice you make to keep your missionary on a mission. Helping them be obedient will be a great blessing for all.

Joseph M. Sagers

Texas Fort Worth Mission President

A bike ride to the feed the horses

Erika, Riley and I have been riding our bikes everyday down to the Utah lake and back.  We happen to come across a few horses, that came right up to the fence to get long grass, that they couldn't get to.  We then decided to take some carrots the next time we went on a bike ride.  Erika and Riley loved feeding them.

Elder Brown update

Well, I am officially staying in the Denton 2nd Ward, but I now have a new twist on things. President Sagers has asked me to be a District Leader over 3 sets of missionaries. I am just in awe that he would trust me enough to let me even be a District Leader. This means that I have to make more phone calls and more exchanges and getting to go to leadership meetings and giving trainings to them. I just have a hefty job in front of me, but President Sagers said that I have people to help me out, so I know that I can do it with the lords help. Things are definitely getting tougher for me, but I think the Lord is just putting me through a test to see if I can handle it. It will be great. Also, Elder Anthony and I will be companions for another transfer.

 

Well, a couple of other things that have happened, around here we have had the Tornado sirens going off the past couple of days. We even had a Tornado touch down not too far from our Apartment. It is so crazy the weather here in Texas. About two days ago, I was getting out of dinner and I looked and I could tell the line of Thunderstorms coming in. We talked with our dinner for a minute and they said that the weather forecasters said that Tornadoes were in the forecast, so they told us to go straight home and wait it out because it is very dangerous to be in a car during a Tornado. We did, and let me tell you, I was scared out of my mind. I just starting praying that we would be protected. Well, I made it through, but there was TONS of lightning. The clouds turned Dark and Green. They say when the clouds look green, it usually means there is a Tornado nearby. It was a interesting experience. Someone also told me that there have been double the amount of Tornadoes this year than last year.

 

We had 2 investigators at church 2 weeks ago and they said they loved it. One of our investigators is really trying to change his life around and things are looking better for him. It makes me so happy when people change their lives over to Christ. It just makes them much Happier people.

 

Well, that is all, have a safe and wonderful and happy week!  Love ya so much and thanks again for all you do for me.

 

-Elder Brown

 

 

Erika @ PHS Prom

Here are the pictures from the day of Prom for Erika.  She went with her friend in her calculus class, Ryan Nielsen.  He came and picked her up at 9:30 am and all the group of guys made them all homemade breakfast at Ryan's house.  Then they went up the Provo Trail split up in two groups and played cops and robbers. She said it was alot of fun, trying to get to the location without getting caught.  The guys made them lunch and they played some games.  She returned home at 3 pm and she had a hair updo appointment at 4 pm.  Ryan then returned to pick her up at 7 pm all dressed up to go to dinner and dance.  They went to UCHI Japanese steak house for dinner, which she wasn't really excited about, but the entertainment was worth it.  They went to the dance and the Provo Library and the promenade was at 9:30 pm.  Brian and I went at 9:20 and waited and waited and waited until 10:30 pm, but no Erika & Ryan.  We apparently missed them, which I was not very happy about, but oh well.  After the dance they went to Ryan's house and had ice cream and she was home at 12:30 am.  She looked so beautiful, and she was so happy.  We can't believe that this is her last year of high school and she will be graduating in a month.  WE LOVE YOU ERIKA!!!

Riley last volleyball game

Riley played his last volleyball game for the season.  His team only lost two games.  He has a championship tournament coming up next Saturday, so they will play the teams again.  He has become quite a good volleyball player.  He really enjoys the sport and his team mates and coach.  Now he just needs to grow a little bit more in height, to be able to spike it and serve higher.  We are so proud of him.

Easter Party at Evans

We had our traditional family Easter Egg hunt and BBQ at the Evans family.  The grandkids are getting older, so the number of different groups to hunt for eggs are down to 3.  Brandon & Erika are getting too old to hunt for eggs, so they hid them instead. Taylor, Addie, Kaden, Riley and Easton were the ones that enjoyed the Easter Egg hunt and finding them. They each found a couple of dozen eggs. As usual, we had hamburgers and hotdogs for BBQ.

Elder Brown update

Hello again, another week has gone by. Well, here I am writing you and guess what I was just realizing. Mother's Day is coming up on the 8th of May. WOW that is so weird to think that 5 months have already gone by since I last talked to you. By the way, I was just looking at the pictures of mom, and I definitely don't think I will recognize her when I come home. I don't think I will recognize Colton either. He is just as tall as me! That is crazy!
Things are warming up around here. Today we are in the low 90's. AHHHHHH I do not like the heat sam I am. I do not like it at all! Get it away! Seriously, it is way too hot already. Yup, going to die. Just kill me now... jk.
Well...as in missionary work news...not much. We found a new investigator and we had a investigator get anti'ed by their family. Ugh...once again, Satan at work. Man he knows what he is doing. It just gets frustrating. Oh, and there is a girl in our ward that invited her friend to learn more about the church and he even came to church and love it. He wants to take the missionary lessons and so we will be going over to teach him. He is a way cool investigator. We also had a investigator named Donald come to church for the first time as well and he loved it. The work is picking up! I love it, cause I don't like being out the heat. It is just so miserable.

Anyways, yes I did receive your 2 packages. Thank you so much. I really needed those white shirts and I was definitely not expecting the Red Cream Soda. I drank it in 2 days. WOW it was so amazing to have that again. I loved it. Thank you! I also wanted to Thank everyone over the past 2 weeks for all your presents and things that you have sent to me. I loved it and I especially appreciate it. It made me so happy to get some mail. I love y'all!

Transfer day is on the 27th of April. So this Saturday we find out if we are being transferred or not. Wow, time seems to fly sometimes. 
Anyways, I love y'all so much and have a wonderful week
Love ya,

 

-Elder Brown

Visit from Atkinson's

Our good friends, the Atkinson's, came to visit us today.  We haven't seen them for 6 months, so it was time to catch up. We are always amazed at how tall Cole is when they come.  He is 6 weeks younger than Riley and a whole foot taller.  Riley is the same height as Jackson, who is 4 years younger than him.  The picture below is amazing.  Hopefully, some day, Riley will catch up and grow in height.

Buffalo & Zebra & Donkey oh my!!!

While we were in Park City for spring break, we went over to my Aunt Raette & Uncle Dave's house in Silver Summit.  They invited us to come and feed their Buffalo(Miss Billy), Zebra(Ace), Donkey(Chip) and 2 Goats (Salt & Pepper)  We took the Autrey family with us.  The kids were a little nervous, so just Brian and I went in the pen with my uncle.  The Zebra, Donkey and Goats were really friendly, but not the Buffalo, she was a little cranky.  She wouldn't let us feed her, so we just left her be.  It was really cold as well, so we didn't stay long, but how many times do you get to see a Buffalo, Zebra and Donkey is the same pen, especially in Utah.

Swimming at Park City

 The kids decided to go swimming today in our hotels pool.  It was an indoor/outdoor pool and it was heated, so the kids where able to play for a long time, inside and outside.  It even was snowing during some of the time.  They ended up swimming for a total for 3 hours.  They had a great time, but where so tired when they were done.

Spring Break - Park City

 We decided to go to Park City for a couple of days during our spring break from school.  We stayed at the Marriott Summit Watch hotel, as well as our neighbors, The Autrey's.  We arrived at 4 pm and then went dinner with the Autrey's to Main Street Pizza and Noodle restuarant.  The town was bare, not a soul in sight, which was nice, but it sure was cold, compared to Provo.  We had pizza, garlic knots, salads and pasta.  It was all so good, and we were stuffed.  Brian and I decided to stop at my aunt's shop on Main Street, called Southwest Indian Trading, but she wasn't there.  Then we went across the street to "The Family Tree Center" and talk to the sister missionaries about what they are do there.  It was a really great conversation with them and the Family Search that they show people when they walk in.  We went back to our room and played card games with the Autrey's until midnight.  We are all becoming great "Ripple" masters.