Elder Brown update

Well, I am here again on the 5th straight week of NO rain. IT SUCKS! I really don't like it at all, but I am still here in Denton. My new companion is Elder Reaveley and he is from Hawaii. He looks Hawaiian as well. He is an awesome missionary and him and I are loving it here in Denton 2nd Ward. He lived in Hawaii for half of his life and then moved to Salt Lake City for the other half, but he still considers himself from Hawaii, since he likes that place a lot.

 

We had a slow week in teaching investigators. ALL of our investigators moved their appointments this week to later on and we didn't get to teach anyone. Oh well...we move forward. We have been doing lots of Less-Active and Part-Member work here and it seems to be yielding some success although not very much, but some.

 

Anyways, well we have Zone Conference coming up here in a couple of weeks and it should be fun. Our mission president has asked us to read all the 4 gospels and 3 Ne 11 thru 30 before then and write down some things, I can't remember right now. I have it written down in the apartment.

 

Well, I do want y'all to know how much I love you. I want to Thank you for everything you have done for me. You have been there for me in tough times and have given me letters of support and encouragement. It has been a blessing to have you do what you have done for me. I thank you so much and I want y'all to know that I love you a lot. You don't even realize how much I love you. I know I have put you through a lot of pain and worrying about me, but I want you to know that I am doing alright and I am trying my best to serve my mission and finish. It is going to be the hardest 2 months of my life, but I know with your help, I can do it. I thank you again for all you have done for me. Thanks for putting up with my comments and my negativeness and lack of caring for a long time. I know I need to do better.

 

Anyways, I do believe that is all for this week. I did receive a e-mail from Andrew and he told me that he is horrible at writing letters, so I guess I understand why he isn't writing me. He said he has lots of letters to write, just doesn't have the time right now to write them.

 

I hope all is going well up there in Provo Utah. It sounds like there has been lots of rain and the snow is melting and so there could be flooding, just keep me posted on what is going on.

That is all I have

 

-Elder Brown

 

Erika's last Young Women class

Erika decided that since she was released from Young Women Laurel President, that she needed to move on to the single's ward.  She decided that she wanted to give all the Young Women and leaders a gift of goodbye.  She worked on it all week and was so happy to have them ready and done to give to them.  She had to buy all the cans, open them from the bottom and take out the diced pears, decorate the outside and top and bottom and put bubble gum and jolly ranchers inside and seal it back up with the little saying she found to put on the front.  It was quite the project and she had to do 20 of them, but it was worth it in the end.  Below is a picture of it.

Belcher Family Reunion in Heber

All of us went to the Belcher Family reunion in Heber.  We were able to see alot of aunt and uncles as well as many of my cousins.  Riley and my cousin's boy, Dallin, found out that they have alot in common and hung out together for a couple of hours.  One of my cousins, decided to make a dam in the small creek with a tarp.  So, guess where Riley was most of time after that.  Yep, in the water, Sand, etc.  He does like to play in the water and get all dirty.  He need to work at a swimming pool or lake so he can get it all in and get paid to do it too.  He is so funny, but we love him for it.

Swimming @ Park City

 While we were staying in Park City, Riley did alot of swimming at the Marriott Mountain Side Resort.  He swam everyday while we were there, and sometime twice a day.  On Friday, we went over to Jordanelle Lake to hook up with Doug and his family, who were out boating for the day, but we could never get a hold of him on his cell phone, so Riley just played at the beach for an hour.  He just can't stand to not be in the water all the time.  We stayed in Park City from Wed night to Saturday morning and spent alot of time with Milan and family as well as Grandma Holly and Grandpa Gary.  Thanks for the fun!!!

Sharri & Riley to Park City

 We decided to head to Park City to spend time with Grandma & Grandpa and Milan and his family.  They both were using their timeshare week at the same time.  Riley and I decided to go and ride the Alpine Slide & Coaster with Milan, Ethan and Carson.  We had a great time together.  It was a nice day, not too hot or too cold, but enough to get some sun.

New Cousin and Niece - Paislee

Jennifer & TJ had another baby today.  Her name is Paislee Ann.  She was 7lbs and 21".  Jenn went in at 6 am and had her by 1:30 pm.  We went and visited the family and Erika and Riley were able to hold her for a while as well as Brian and I.  She is so little.  This make 8 cousins for Cam, Erika and Riley on the Evans side.

Elder Brown update

Well, all I can say is, IT IS WAY TOO HOT! We haven't had rain for such a long time and we have been in the Triple digits for the past 4 weeks. It is way too hot for me. That is crazy that y'all have had lots of Mosquito's and stuff. I still like to be inside, so I wouldn't mind it too much.
Well, Transfers happened. We got them this morning. I am staying here in Denton 2nd Ward and will be serving with Elder Reaveley. He is Hawaiian and I guess he likes Denton a lot. We should do fine. Elder Anthony is going to White Wash (meaning, him and his companion are transferring in together) into Azle with Elder Smith. He is very excited. I am very excited to be staying. At this point, I think I will be finishing off my mission in Denton 2nd Ward. I just know it. I am very excited though. I have also been released as a District Leader. Now I am just Senior Companion again.
Well, I received my "Trunkie Phone Call" on Friday. Sister Jensen, our office Senior Couple called me and said "Elder Brown, I am calling you to schedule your flight home in October." Then she proceeded to verify that I still lived in Provo and at the same address and that the Bishop and Stake President are still the same. I said yes. I should be getting my flight plans home within the next few weeks and they will mail it to you as well. It is crazy to think that l am coming home soon. I am so excited beyond belief.
Well, an update in missionary work. We had the English Sister's call us and said they had a referral for us. They said they had a older lady that was interested in the Gospel. They were going to bring her to church. She came! She loved it. We are going to be teaching her this week. It is amazing. We also this past week taught Glen and Andreanna Barker. Glen is a very probing person. He is wanting right now to find the loop holes in the gospel. He hasn't found any yet, so he is really searching. We committed him to read and pray about it. He and Andreanna are going to do it. Andreanna is in it for the learning experience, but I think she will eventually come to know it's true first before Glen does. It was a good lesson.
Well I know this weeks e-mail has been long, but I needed to tell you everything. I hope all goes well.
I love you!

-Elder Brown

Elder Brown update

Well, this past week hasn't been the best of weeks. All our appointments punched and we had to go outside a LOT and it just made me homesick real quick, in fact, I even broke down again on Saturday cause it is just way too hot and we are outside a lot. It is not fun, but I am trying to make the best of it, even though I really don't like it.

 

I am so glad that mom had an amazing girls camp. I loved the pictures and it looks like y'all had a lot of fun. Sorry that your camera died. I was actually just looking at mine, and I just realized the other day that mine is outdated now too. You can get 14 MP cameras for pretty cheap now. Crazy huh? You can never have the latest and greatest stuff, cause it is always outdated.

 

Yeah, the baptism was awesome, although I am getting a little to big for those pants, but then again, I probably need to lose some weight, not un-tighten the pants. That is my opinion. Yes, it is miserable, 100+ for the past forever and there is no relief in sight. I pray every night that Heavenly Father will send rain, and he hasn't yet. I guess I need more faith to have him bless us with rain.

 

The 4th of July was fun, we did some silly string and poppers and we were able to spend the evening with some members. Their name is the Gosney's and they are the Young Single Adult Reps in the ward. They are awesome.

 

Well, a little update on the missionary work, although not too much happened this past week. We were able to teach Charles and Donald this past week. They are doing great! We were able to teach the Boydstens and Scott Boydsten was very interested in what we had to say. He said that it was something he had never heard before. Robyn, I think, already knows it's true because she nodded her head in a yes motion while we were sharing the Restoration of Christ's true church. It was awesome.

 

Transfer day is July 20th. We most likely will not know if we are being transferred until after next P-Day. So you won't be able to find out until July 25th whether or not I have been transferred and who my new companion is. Sorry, but that is what President Sagers wants. Oh, and I had a great interview. He just asked me what I wanted to accomplish before I went home and I just said that I want to teach as many people as possible, even if they don't get baptized. I hope that I can accomplish that.

 

Well, I do believe that is all for this week. Sorry, it is kind of short, but there isn't really much else to say. Hope you enjoy the Utah weather.

 

Till next P-Day, hope I can make it,

 

-Elder Brown

Girls Camp - July 5 - 9, 2011

 Sister Brown & Sister Doran - watching the young women at Waterfront in the Canoe's

 ALL of us at our Ward Presentation singing "Daughter of a King"

 The first day, right before we went to Stake Flag, showing off our purple "Integrity" colors.

 One of our crafts, making Tiara's out of beads and wire, attached to headbands.

 The front of one of our cabins - castle with draw bridge and the crowns on the door with the names of who was in that cabin.  We had two cabins, and they were exactly the same.

 Our Ward Theme, based on the stake theme, Happily Ever After.

 Another craft that we did during the week.  Thank goodness for assistant leaders who helped with these.

 All 14 girls at the Stake Flag one evening, wearing all the purple beanies that my mom made.  They loved them and wore them everywhere.

 We made these goblets for the night the bishopric came.  We had a royal feast, and only used our hands for utensils.

Our Secret Sister Ward gave us this with some mints.  We were all surprised to have such a great service.  We gave them back a bag of starburst for the wonderful service they did for us.

We had a great week, with little bit of sprinkles of rain each day.  It was warm and at night it was too warm, so we had to open the windows to cool it down.  We had 14 girls and 5 leaders, for a total of 19 of us, the most we have taken to camp in the last 5 years.  The first night, one of the first year young women got me up to tell me that she needed to use the bathroom.  It was about 3 am in the morning, which I had hardly slept anyways, so I got up with her and she had the worst case of diarrhea.  I felt so bad for her, because it was everywhere on her Pajamas, and it was dark and in the middle of the night.  I had to wake up another leader to go and get our Stake Nurse, because she still was having stomach pains.  We were up with her until the sun came up, and decided that we should just get ready for the day.  Sister Doran took all the young women on a 5 mile hike up on the top of the glacier.  They were gone for 3 hours, but it was worth it.  We had a knighting ceremony at the beginning of camp on the first day, where we gave all the girls a word from the 13th article of Faith to have for the week and research and use.  That was alot of fun for them.  We also had "Queen for the hour" each day, were each girl wore the princesses crown and a banner that said "Daughter of a King."  Then all of us said something nice about them.  All the girls were able to have this spotlight done, and the girls loved it.  We had two cabins, which has been different in the past, because we only had 13 or less of all of us, but with 19, we knew that we couldn't fit in one cabin.  We used our scout trailer as the food/mess hall for all the coolers, etc.  Sister Jensen was in charge of the food, and did an awesome job.  She was so sweet and a wonderful person to get to know, even though they have been in the ward as long as we have.  Each evening we had a bedtime story and the girls loved it, to get quiet for the evening and to use as for some good thoughts and dreams for the night.  Thanks to Sister Leslie and Sister Hill from the Young Women leadership, for their help in getting all the camp stuff done and to help us at camp the whole week.  We ended with the Bishopric coming and on Friday night to have Testimony Meeting.  It was great to hear all the girls talk about how they had a great time and the spiritual experiences they have had.  We came home today at 9 am.  It is an hour and an half drive from Provo to Camp MIA Shalom in Fairview Canyon.  Just enough to get to the mountains, but not that far to go and come home.

Elder Brown update

Hey Dad, I don't think I have e-mailed you in a while. It sounds good that y'all were able to get mom off to Girls camp. I hope they have a good time. I am so happy y'all had a good 4th of July. We were able to spend some time with the members in the area. It was nice to be around them. Well... BREAKING NEWS! We had a baptism on Sunday and I had the privilege of Baptizing him. We baptized Donald. He is 60 years old and will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday. I have attached pictures for y'all to see. Also I have attached some photos of Elder Anthony after our 4th of July party last night.

 

Also, our Mission President interviews are this Thursday and we will be receiving our own portable DVD players. It is crazy how the mission is going right now. We will be able to watch movies such as The District and all the church produced movies for companionship study and whatnot. It is crazy! I hope the mission doesn't abuse the privilege, cause I would love to have one. I am going to be 100% obedient with it, cause it is a privilege that can be taken away.

 

Well, other than that, we had an awesome lesson with Bro. Burns (our Elders Quorum President) with a 2 investigators named Glen & Andreanna. They are Catholic, don't go to church and are very interested in the Book of Mormon. We have another appointment with them this Friday and they have agreed to feed us dinner. It will be nice.

 

Yes I did receive the package you sent. Thank you so much. I received it on Friday. It is pretty quick for some reason or another.

 

One last thing. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Hope you have a wonderful Birthday tomorrow. I can't wait to be able to celebrate it with you next year. Have a wonderful time and thanks for all you do for me.

 

Love,

 

Elder Brown

Riley & cousins

Riley was able to hang out with his cousins today.  Milan and family came to Utah to visit and Carson, Kaden and Riley are the best buddies.  The only thing that is a little bit strange, is that Riley is the oldest of the 3 boys at age 14 yrs, Kaden is 12 ys and Carson is 11yrs, but Riley is the shortest of the 3.  We hope that he gets taller soon, especially since he will be starting High School in August.