Temple Square!!

We were able to go to Temple Square with Sharri's family tonight, since Milan and Sarah were headed back home tomorrow.  We all meet at the Hires Big H for dinner and then we headed up to Temple Square to see all the lights.  The boys were all filled up with food and ice cream, so they were a little bit roudy and crazy, but at least they were having fun.  We walked over to the Visitors Center were it was warm and used the bathrooms and then we walked around the grounds looking at all the cool lights on all the trees and bushes.  There were many people there, especially since it was a Monday night, and the lights had just been turned on last Friday after Thanksgiving.  It was a cold evening, only 37 degrees to be exact.  Just a little bit different of what Texas is right now, since that is were Milan and family are.  We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed back to Grandma & Grandpa's house.  We stayed there for another hour and talked and said Goodbye to Milan and family and then we headed home.  It was so fun to spend time with the Evans family for the past two days.  Hopefully we will get to do it again soon!!

Riley and the Pencil mishap

After Riley was at school for an hour this morning, he called his mom at work to tell her that a classmaste had poked him in the eye with a pencil.  He said it was an accident, but he was so upset, that his mom checked him out of school for the rest of the day.  The pencil poked him just above his eye on his eyelid and scraped it up toward his eyebrow.  We washed it out and put some ice on it.  His dad was able to come home and work from home to be with him while he was recovering.  He played the PS3 and watched "The Pink Panther" movie.  Sharri came home and checked on him during lunch and brought him Wendy's for lunch.  He was okay later in the day, but it was very tramatic for him at the time.

Another Thanksgiving Dinner

The Evans family were able to get together tonight for our 2nd Thanksgiving Dinner.  Sharri's brother and family were visiting from Texas for the holiday, so we were altogether.  It was a little bit crazy with all the kids, but it was fun.  The only person missing was Cameron, but we know that he is were he is supposed to be, on his Mission.  All the cousins played games, laughed and had a good time being with each other. One of the highlights was doing PhotoBooth on Brian's mac laptop.  The boys were having so much fun and laughing that it was just fun watching them.  Then Sharri's sister Jenn and brother Doug did some too.  We had some good laughs.  Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for getting us together.  Here are some of the Photobooth pictures.  Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving!!

This is the first year that we will have Thanksgiving without Cameron.  He is serving a LDS Mission in Texas Fort Worth area.  He is currently in Arlington Texas.  He will be having Thanksgiving with his Ward Mission Leader in Arlington.  The rest of us will be having Thanksgiving Dinner at the Brown Family residence at 3 pm today.  Brian's sister and family will be there, since they live there and as usual Grandma Bette is making everything, including food items that are not necessary, but the grandkids love it. We ate an hour later because the turkey wasn't done, so we were all starving by the time we sat down to eat.  A couple of hours later, we taught all the niece's and Brian's sister how to play the card game NERTZ.  It was fun to play and interact with them on a different level.  We arrived home at 9:30 pm.

On the Evans side of the family, we will be getting together on Sunday with all Sharri's siblings, including Milan and Sarah from Texas. Erika, Riley and Sharri had Wed, Thurs and Fri off from school and work, so Brian took the days off too.  We have just been relaxing and enjoying some free time together.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Early email from Elder Brown

Hello from Texas,
I know that I am am e-mailing a day early, but President asked us to e-mail a day early because of the Holiday. This upcoming Saturday is a Baptism. His name is Chris and I will be baptizing him. I am so excited! It will be the first time that I have the opportunity to baptize someone. I am so excited for him as well. It is a great blessing in his and my life to have him accept the gospel and be baptized. I also want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I love you all so much.
Well, if you can believe it or not, I am starting week 5 since I got here to Texas. I will know on the 5th of the December if I am being transfered to a new area or not and I will transfer on the 9th. I will then e-mail y'all the following day with the news of the transfer. Oh, and with the Christmas stuff, I am actually doing well. I don't really need anything. I mean I want everyone to have a chance to send me something if they would like, but remember this, if you send me anything that cannot be thrown away or eaten, then I have to carry it around for the rest of my mission. I would rather that everyone sent me something for Christmas that is eatable, or is very small in size, probably no bigger than 10 inches in size. Due to the fact that I don't want to carry around tons of things.
I have very little money to use and the Church has asked that we refrain from using money from home unless it is an emergency. Purchasing a Bike was okay, because I needed one and didn't have one, but they would like us to only use the money they provide to us to purchase things. I am trying my best to follow all the mission rules, but there are so many to remember and I know it is hard, but I do my best.
As for calling home on Christmas, I will probably only be able to call home for a maximum of 30 minutes on Christmas Day and I will know, when it gets closer to Christmas, when I will get to call home. I am so excited for the upcoming weeks.
With the weather, I am loving it, but at the same time I think it is so weird because IT ISN'T SNOWING?!?! I love it though, it is such wonderful weather, but it will continue to get colder as the months progress.
I am learning a lot out here in the field. I look to hear from y'all next week. I will be writing another e-mail to you next week, the week before the transfer. I love all of you and hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Cameron

Erika @ FEA Conference at Weber State

Erika was nominated by her Child Development teacher to attend the FEA (Future Educators Association) at Weber State College today.  She left at 6:00 am and spent the whole day learning about the FEA clubs and watching some other school compete in different catagories , like scrapbooking.  She arrived home at 3:30 pm.  Provo High School does not have a FEA club yet, so that is why she was asked to go.  The Work Experience Counselor asked her and another student to start up the club at Provo High. She wantes to go into Elementary Education, but she is not sure about starting a club for it.  So, we will keep you posted on what she decides to do.

Erika & Sharri to see "THIS IS IT"

Erika really wanted to see "This is it" movie.  So, her mom and her went to see it tonight, which was not very smart, because the theater was packed with "New Moon" movie goers.  Parking lot full and the inside of the theater was crazy with people lined up everywhere.  Luckily, this movie was not full and we walked right in and got the best seat in the theater.  There were only about 20 people in the movie.  Sharri thought it was really good, but she grew up listening to Michael Jackson music.  Erika got tired and wanted to leave before the ending credits were done.  If you like Michael Jackson music, you will really like this movie.  He is amazing and his music and dancing. 

Elder Brown email

Hello from Texas,
It is so weird to be here in Texas. I am not used to no snow and the no cold. It is warm and nice weather out here. Around 70 degrees. I bought my bike yesterday. It makes me happy. I will let you know how the baptism goes, if it still happens. Yes P-Day does fall on Thanksgiving, but I will still be e-mailing y'all because I will go over to the family history center and use their computers. I received your package in the mail with the Journal Papers. Thank You so much. Thank Grandma Holly for me for sending me some pictures too.
We will be eating Thanksgiving dinner with the Ward Mission Leader. Brother Trowbridge. He is so cool. With the food, I don't have much money to buy anything, so I only have cereal and Sandwiches for Breakfast and Lunch. Then the members feed us well. I've tried so many new foods, I can't decide what food I "really" like anymore.I don't have any more time for e-mailing this week. I Love all of you! Oh, 1 more thing, I don't have much time to do e-mail, so please only send me 1 e-mail per person per week with just a few paragraphs for me to read. I just don't have time to read. If you need to tell me a ton of stuff, please send me a letter. I just don't have much time to read all the stuff y'all are e-mailing me.
Love y'all Tons and Tons. Talk to you on Thanksgiving!!

Love Cam

Finally - A Picture of Cameron

We received this picture and a letter from Cameron's Mission President in the mail today.  We finally have a picture of Cameron with his missionary tag and in the mission field.  We have been bugging him for some pictures, but it just hasn't worked out.  The letter was written on Oct 28, 2009, so where has it been since then.  Here is just a little bit from the letter.

"Dear Brother & Sister Brown,

We are pleased to welcome your son to the Texas Fort Worth Mission.  It was wonderful to hsare some time in the Mission Home with your missionary.  Be assured all is well and a great experience will be enjoyed during this time of service.  We hope this photograph will symbolize for you our desire to work as a team with this fine missionary in accomplishing the purposes for which he was called.  Please note that his release date is currently scheduled around 11 Oct 2011.  You will receive more information about this as that date approaches.

We encourage you to write your son often expressing love and support for this great work.  Missionaries feel the prayerful strength of their loved ones.  As missionaries choose to be spiritually prepared, obedient in all things, and faithful to their covenants, they can fully reside all the great blessings the Lord has in store for them.

We ask that you not phone or accept phone calls from your missionary without first speaking with the Mission President.  This time honored mission rule allows the missionary to experience personal growth and independence.

May the Lord bless you and your family as you share your son with those he is called to serve."

Sincerely,

Wright & Janett Thurston

FHE - A Christmas Carol Movie

For family home evening tonight, we went as a family to see the new movie "A Christmas Carol."  We decided to pay the extra money and see it in 3D, so we had to wear the glasses the whole movie.  It was really cool in 3D, as Riley says.  Speaking of Riley, he has never seen this movie before.  He thought that the ghost of christmas future was really scary.  It was a good movie for Family Home Evening, and the best part is that is wasn't even crowded in the theater.  This was a good way to start out the Christmas Holidays.  Thanks to Erika for the great idea.  If you need to see a movie, we suggest this one, but maybe not for little kids under 12 years old.  Some of the scenes were kind of scary even for us adults.

Elder Brown's email

Hello from Arlington Texas,
GUESS WHAT?? I SAW THE NEW COWBOYS STADIUM!! It is gigantic! I didn't get to go inside, but I did get to drive by it and see the big screen inside, it is so big. The roof opens and the sides open, it is so big, I can't believe it.  Well, I am doing well here in Texas, the weather is wonderful, we are around 75 degrees. We have some investigators that are possibly going to get baptized. It is so exciting, my first baptism. Well, I don't have a ton of time this week to write an e-mail, so I will type as much as I can in the time that I have. We are in an apartment complex. The apartment is kinda big for what I was imaginaing, but that is okay, the bigger the better, not that the houses in Texas are small, everything is bigger in Texas! We cover the Arlington 2nd Ward. We are in the Arlington Texas Stake. There are 8 Wards in the Stake. Well, another week gone by and looking forward to the next one. Hope you all like the snow, because there isn't any of that down here. It is nice and sunny. Well, I will talk to you all next week. Have a wonderful week.
I Love You!

Elder Cameron Brown

Erika YW in Excellance

Our ward had the YW in Excellance program this evening.  Erika had a display of the value project she is working on, Virtue.  She has already received her YW Medallion, and then they added virtue.  She has to read the Book of Mormon and that is why she displayed it and the virtue value book.  She also played her violin for everyone.  She played the piece that she played at Cameron's farewell sacrament meeting, "I know that my redeemer lives."  All the YW had a display and talked about one of their value projects.  It was a great evening for all the parents and the YW and leaders.

Sharri's mishap

While walking to church today, Sharri tripped and fell on the sidewalk on her hands and slide on to her cheek bone.  Pretty nasty scrap on her face.  Erika and Riley were with her as well as the neighbors.  She was embarrased, but it also hurt and was really sore.  She came home and put some ice on ice with some Neosporin and just rested and relaxed most of the day.  She decided to go to Erika's YW in Excellance program to support her, but also brought attention to herself with all the adults, asking his Brian was hitting me.  Of course, you know Brian, he wouldn't hurt a fly.  He is very compassionate and wanted to do whatever he could to help.  So, she made a birthday wish last Thursday, to not go to work, and now she got it today, Monday.  Her boss and lead secretary told me not to come in, so she stayed home and got caught up with some chores and other things that have been waiting for her attention.  The picture above it the day 2 after sleeping all night and it swelling up and getting black and blue.  Is this what happens when you get old?  You start tripping and falling for no reason.  Good thing she didn't break anything else, like her wrist or ankle.  Now it has to heal and she has to explain to everyone what happened.

Erika drove to Salem

Erika decided that she was going to go to Salem to spend some time with her friend, Katie, that moved to Salem last year.  She has been to Katie's house before, but has never drove herself there.  She did the adult thing and made all the arrangements, and then printed out a map on mapquest to make sure that she didn't get lost and with the exact streets and the exact way to go.  She called and let us know that she made it safely.  She realized after she got to Katie's house, that she was out of gas.  So she had to gas up her car all by herself.  She did call a couple of times to verify that she had to go inside to pay for the gas first, because she doesn't have a Visa Debit card yet, so only had cash with her.  This was a great experience for her, for two reasons, to be able to drive herself where so wanted to go without a GPS or another person and to put gas in her car without mom paying for it and showing her how to do it.  She has two adult things under her belf now, only 307 more.  Figure that out Erika!!

Riley - The Gentleman

As Sharri was coming home from work, almost to pull into the the driveway, she saw Riley and his two friends, Sarah and Sara, walking home from the bus stop from school.  He was carrying Sara's violin and Sarah's saxophone while they were all walking together to our houses.  As they came closer, Sharri asked why he was carrying both violin and saxophone.  Sarah and Sara answered, because he asked us if he could carry them and we let him.  Surprised, but was happy that he already knows what a gentleman should do.  Of course, he has great examples from his Grandfathers, to his own father, to his brother, that do this often. We are so proud of him.  He is becoming quite the Young Man.

Sharri's Birthday

Well, today is Sharri's birthday and she turns 43 yeras old.  Where does the time go.  She was just 16 years old yesterday.  It was a good day.  The first thing that Brian asked her was want she wanted to do for her birthday. She replied, to not go to work, but she did anyways.  All her co-workers sang to her.  Rozan sent her a gift basket full of cookies,  Cassie gave her a purple scarf, Shauna gave her a special treat, and Jamie gave her taffy and a cupcake from her party (Jamie shares the same birthday as Sharri)  Jackie sang the birthday song to her.  Here are the lyrics that she sang. Oh, Happy Birthday..Ugh, Happy Birthday..Ugh, Pain and sorrow in the air, Death around us everywhere But.... Happy Birthday..Ugh, Happy Birthday..Ugh.  One year closer to the grave, Think of all the food we'll save But.... , Happy Birthday..Ugh, Happy Birthday..Ugh.  After work the family went out to Los Hermonos for dinner for her birthday and then went shopping at FYE.  Wasn't a real eventful day, but it was okay.  Thanks to all the friends and family who posted Happy Birthday on her facebook wall.  What great family and friends we have.

Elder Brown email update

Hello from Texas,

Thank you for all your e-mails and thoughts. I really like hearing from all of you. My companion is so much fun. He is always so happy and willing and ready to do the work. Yes he is Tongan. I already get a car, but we are encouraged to get a bike. I will probably be buying one soon. We only get about $135 a month for spending money.  Sounds like you all had a good Halloween. Elder Moli and I spent Halloween at a house who's less-active and we helped out with his $3,000 haunted house he set up. It was so cool because we weren't even trying to find someone to teach and this lady walked up to me and wanted us to come over and teach them. It was so cool. It's amazing how the lord works. In the past week I think I've experienced everything there is to experience that would be bad. We had a lady who tried to tell us that we were wrong. We also had a guy swear at us. It's been crazy, but the work must move forward. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. No, I didn't get any mail yet, President said it might take about 3 weeks for them to get all the mail rerouted to Texas to get to me. I will wait and see how long it really takes. I could tell you where I live, but it would be pointless. All mail is required to go through the 1331 airport address because then if I get transfered, the mail goes with me. If you send it to where I live now, and I get transfered, it will never get to me. On P-day's I go to the local Arlington Public Library and e-mail you. I get about 30 minutes to send an e-mail every p-day and i'm only allowed to send 1 e-mail out. I can send many letters out, but only 1 e-mail and that's to mom. Yes p-day goes from 10:30 am to 6:00 pm. We then usually teach afterwards. I can print pictures out and mail them to you next week, but I am not allowed to e-mail them I found out. I have not seen the Cowboy's Stadium. I don't even know where it is, we live on the outskirts of Arlington. We eat dinner with a member every night. The members here are way cool. They are willing to help anyway they can. Brother Trowbridge is our ward mission leader. He is so cool. I have not seen any attractions here. I only proselyte. I have to be up at 6:25 every morning. Lights out at 10:30. Back in apartment at 9 pm every night. I wish I could have been at the MTC to hear Elder Perry, that would have been so cool! Well, I love all of you and look forward to next week's e-mails and letters. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Cameron Brown

P.S. If you send me a letter in the mail, you MUST!! have To: "Elder Cameron Brown", otherwise it will not get to me. Keep up the good work and talk to y'all next week.

Riley - Principals Award

Riley tryouts for Jr. Jazz Basketball

Riley was able to tryout for the Jr. Jazz Basketball team with the Provo Recreation.  He had to go to Dixon Middle School and do some layups and shoot some baskets.  There were only 7 boys that tried out, so they all made it on the team.  Of course, Riley is the shortest one on the team.  What's up with that?  His dad and brother are over 6 feet tall, and he is the shortest.  Maybe he will get his growth later on, like his dad did.  Riley loves all kinds of sports and wants to play them all.  He is a great student and received the first 4.0 for our family last term at Dixon Middle School.  We hope he can keep it up and prove us all wrong.  He starts playing games on Dec 5 and has practices weekly.  Great job Riley!!

ZUMBA!!

Sharri went to a class with one of her co-workers, called Zumba.  It is taught on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 6 - 7 pm and the Provo Recreation Center.  Sharri's co-worker has been doing it for a week, and really loves it.  Zumba is an aerobic Latin rhythm dancing with easy-to-follow moves with fast and slow rhythm.  There were about 10 ladies and 1 guy.  It was alot of fun, but needed to slow it down for the first time.  The first 5 mintues was intense and crazy, but soon was able to get into the groove of it.  There are other classes taught around Utah Valley, but for now two nights a week is enough to start out with.  It you want to see what it is all about, click on the website below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf0q6qtThF4

Halloween!!

Halloween night was great this year.  Riley dressed up as Batman and went Trick or Treating with Sara & Sarah.  They are old enough now that no adults needed to go with them, which was very nice.  We sent their cell phones with them, just in case.  Erika went to a party at the McGriff's house that Heather was putting on.  She was also invited by a friend, Keith, to another party, but she didn't know the persons house, so she chose to just go to Heather's.  Also, her friends, Rachel and Peggy came too.  Brian and Sharri decided to go out to dinner with our neighbors, Rob & Janet.  We went to Goodwood BBQ.  It was so dead at the restaurant, which made it nice for us.  Our waiter dressed up as a waiter from Carrabba's.  We did not dress up today, only on Friday at our work places.  Riley, Sara and Sarah were exchange treats when we came back from eating out.  We just left a bowl of treats outside our doors and left a note that said to take only one.  It was nice not to have to go to the door fifty million times during the night.  If we were to plan it again, we would leave the candy on the front doorstep again.

Halloween at IHS & DTI

As Secretaries at Independence, we decided to all be the same thing this year for Halloween.  Julie bought us all the big binkies and we dress in PJ's with our hair in ponytails and blankets and teddy bears.  It was fun to all be dressed alike.  Julie had on this cute one piece jumpsuit with feet in them, just like we put our kids in when they were little.  It was nice to be able to wear our PJ's and slippers all day.  Thanks Julie and Rozan for the great idea.  Brian's work always dress up in his department.  The gals are always bugging him about what he is going to wear for his costume.  It is always a last minute decision with him, so as we were going through some older costumes, we found Cameron's pioneer trek shirt and hat.  The girls in his department were sure what he was dressed like, but they all thought he was Indiana Jones.  We didn't even thing of that, but whatever works, we think he looked like a pioneer or cowboy.  Here is a picture of his QA team dressed up.  Cortney as the bumble bee, Diana, Brad, Debbie, Michelle and Brian.

PHS Orchestras Fall Concert

We were able to go and see Erika play in the Provo High Orchestra for their Fall Concert.  First, the Concert orchestra played 3 songs, and then the Philharmonic Orchestra played 3 songs.  They played Simple Symphony IV. Frolicsome Finale, Selections from "Les Miserables", and Ghosts of Brandenburg.  The Philharmonic orchestra is a bit small this year.  Apparently, there were many students who graduated last year.  It still sounded great.  Below is a link to the video of  "Les Miserables" selection.  Great Job Erika!

Elder Brown first email from Texas

This week has been great. I am in Texas and and my companion is Elder Moli. He is from West Valley City, Utah. We are both in Arlington Texas and are serving. When I got here I got to meet the mission president and have lunch and a testimony meeting with all 18 of us. Then we all slept in the AP apartments room for that night. The next morning I was assigned Elder Moli as my companion. We went out tracting right as soon as we got to the Apartment. It was great, we found a couple of new investigators on my First Day! I am so happy to be here and I am not used to no mountains yet. I am so disoriented I couldn't tell you which way is North or South, but Elder Moli knows. We have a car and we travel to our appointments in it. We only get to 1,150 miles every month, so we have to watch out and be careful of how far we travel and such. Thursday is my P-Day. I am having a great time here, it is so different, but I am slowly getting used to it.  It is tough, but I am striving to be better every day. Hope all is going well at home. I am sad to see BYU lose, but it is for the conference so we can get BCS recognition. I am only allowed to write letters and write 1 e-mail each Thursday. I cannot do it any other time. You can send me e-mails and letters whenever, but I can only respond on P-Day, which is Thursday. Hope all is going well with cleaning out my room and transforming it to a room for Riley. I will be writing next week. Until then, have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Cameron Brown

Tonight, our ward mutual put on a Halloween Carnival for the Primary children.  They had 6 different booths that the children to rotate around and do.  Erika's class (Laurel's) did the fishing pond, the Mia Maids did face painting and the Beehives did the cake walk.  The Young Men also had booths.  The priests did the donut bobbing, the teachers did the bean bag toss and Riley and the deacons did pumpkin painting.  It was from 6:00 to 7:30 pm.  Erika & Riley had alot of fun helping the children in the many different booths.  All the children were dressed up in costumes, but Erika and Riley chose not to dress up.  Maybe they will on Halloween.

Elder Brown to Fort Worth, Texas

Elder Brown called this morning at 7:00 am and said he was at the airport waiting to fly out to Fort Worth, Texas.  He was so excited and ready to serve for the next 2 years.  He has had a great experience in the MTC for the past 3 weeks and has learned alot.  He did say that he wished he would have studied Preach My Gospel more before he left.  He also said that there were 19 missionaries flying to Dallas/Fort Worth today with him.  Not all of them going to Fort Worth, some of them were going to the Dallas Mission.  He had to wake up at 3 am to get ready and be at the bus at the MTC at 5 am to be transported to the SL Internation Airport.  He arrived in Fort Worth, Texas at 11:15 Utah time, but 12:15 Texas time.  We all were able to talk to him for a few minutes and get some information from him and to hear his voice.  He told us that he was happy and glad that he was going.  He will probably be staying at the Mission President home tonight and get his new assignment tomorrow.  He promised to email us soon when he knew where he would be.  This was also a hard day for Sharri.  That motherly instinct to protect her child came over her and it was hard for her to keep her emotions in check most of the day.  Just thinking about her son going on an airplane all by himself without her to protect and watch over him.  She knows that he is not a little boy anymore, but she is still his mother.  We pray for him daily and he knows that we love him tons and tons.  WE LOVE YOU CAMERON!! (Elder Brown)

Vivace: A Celebration of Utah Valley's Young Musicians

Erika & her friend Katie (and Mom's too), went to the Covey Art Center in Provo, to see a free concert of the top Young Musicians winners from Utah Valley with a variety of instruments.  It was amazing to see all of them perform.  The first performers were a group of Violins & 1 cello playing Cercerto in B minor.  The ages of these kids were from 11 to 6 years old.  They were so cute and really good.  Wonder how long they have been playing, especially the one that was 6 years old.  Then there was a quartet that played two pianos, a Cellist that played, another quartet playing two pianos, a soprano singer that sang in Italian, another quartet playing two pianos, a Double Bass player and a single pianist.  It lasted an hour and a half and was well worth it and the best part is that it was FREE.  Erika & Katie both need a concert report for their school Orchestra, so this gave them a opportunity to get it and had some entertainment too.

Riley - Restaurant Brochure for English

A tribute to Ozzie (Brian Noble)

Today, we received word that Ozzie (Brian Noble) passed away today.  He lived with Sharri's parents when he was 14 years old.  At the time, the church had the Indian Placement Program, and Sharri's parents had already taken in Ozzie's sister, Kelly for 7 years.  Since Kelly had such great success, her mother decided to send Ozzie to have the same opportunities that Kelly had.  He was great to have around.  He always made us laugh and did silly stuff, like dressed up on Halloween as a Cheerleader.  He did not do very well in school in Utah, so he left Utah and went to live back in Zuni, New Mexico, where his mother lived.  We have not kept in contact with him for quite some time.  We knew that he had 3 kids and was not married, and that he had been drinking lot.  His liver failed because of all the drinking and took his life today.  He was 36 years old.  We are sad, but also happy that he doesn't have to suffer any more and that he can be happy without wordly things.  We give our condolenses to Kelly and all her family in New Mexico.  We love you OZZIE!!  (picture to the left taken in 1989)

2nd e-mail from Elder Brown

"The swine flu is going around here at the MTC. We are not allowed to touch anyone. If we get sick we have to be in a room by ourselves with nothing to do but study until we are feeling better. I am not sick however and am doing just fine.  Sunday's are actually my favorite day here at the MTC because we wake up and eat breakfast and then we do about 2 hours of studing whatever we want. Then we have Priesthood Meeting for about 1 hr. Then we have a District Meeting for about 1 hour, where a missionary from our district teaches us. It is so cool. Then we have Sacrament Meeting. It is weird how they do sacrament meeting. We do it as a zone and the zone leader gets to pick who passes and blesses the sacrament. Then 2 of us missionaries are randomly picked to give a 5 minute talk on a subject they give us the sunday before. I haven't been picked yet, but I just know that I will be picked. I do get a small Prep day on monday before I leave. I leave for the airport next tuesday at 5 am in the morning. I will arrive in Texas around 12.  The mail that you have been sending me is great. I am just overwhelmed with stuff to do. I barely have time to get 8 hours of sleep every night. There is just so much to do and I just don't have time for anything else.  I continually pray for you and the whole family.  I am now regretting that I didn't study Preach My Gospel more before I got here. Thanks for all the letters and thinking and praying for me. If you send a letter to the MTC after I leave, they will mail it to me for the first week after I have left, then after that it will just be thrown away, they will not forward it to me in Texas. I want to take lots of pictures, but unfortunately they have requested that we take few pictures while we are on campus. They don't want us to look like we are just doing nothing all day long. I have taken a few pictures at the Temple with all of our district."

Love,
Elder Brown