Halloween Night

What a day we had.  First of all, Erika was having some of her group for the Halloween Dance come over before to eat pizza and play games, which meant that we had to clean the house. We started at 10:00 am and finished around 3 pm.  Both upstairs and down stairs bathrooms, family room, kitchen and living room. There group had 4 couples, so 8 teenagers all at once.  The night before, Erika and Riley decided that they wanted to carve pumpkins.  You would think that they were too old for this, but no, they begged to go buy them and carve them for Halloween night.  So, the picture above is there art work of carving.  Erika also decided that we should decorate the front door and steps for the Trick or Treaters.  So that took us another hour.  It was a girls choice dance, so they girls decided in their group that each one would dress up in a decade.  Erika and her friend, Nate, chose the 80's.  The others, were 20's, 50's, 70's.  They picked up their dates at 6 pm and then had pizza, breadsticks, grapes and veggies with some kool-aid.  It sounded like they were having a great time laughing together.  They went to the dance at 9:30 pm and she was home at Midnight. She said that there were not very many people at the dance, which was surprising.  She was so glad that she decided to ask her friend, Nate Dixon, (who is also in her orchestra class).  His sister dressed him up at Billy Idol.  Not bad.  Erika and i had to go and get leg warmers, scrunchies, shirt and crimp her hair.  I tried to get her to wear more 80's stuff, but she said she was done.  Riley went Trick or Treating with the two Sarah's for a couple of hours.  So, I was locked in my room, while Erika and friends were playing and eating, but was told that I still had to go to the door for the Trick or Treaters, because she was on a date.

Halloween costumes - at school

Riley and I dressed up for school today.  I used some old costume that Brian wore a couple of years ago, Zorro, and had my friend make a cape.  I had everything else.  Everyone at school really like it and started to call me Zorrina.  As usual, Riley has a DUCT TAPE costume.  He has been working on it for a week or so.  He made the Spartan hat first, and then the arm and leg bands, the shield and breastplate.  He is so ingenius.  I don't understand where his brain is and thinking up what to do and make.  He is so creative, but leaves a big mess after his big creations.  I even had to go and buy more black duct tape, because he ran out.  It was a good day for all of us, even though Brian is in Germany.  Brian was happy, because he didn't have to be bugged by all the girls in his office to dress up.

1st Snow for Winter 2010

This is what we woke up to this morning.  We knew it was coming, since the night before it was really coming down with big flakes of snow.  Only a little bit, maybe not even an inch. It didn't even stay long enough to enjoy it.  The ground was too warm and the day was alot warmer, so it all melted.  In Sandy, where our parents live, they received 5" of snow.  We don't mind getting just a little bit, but they always get more in Sandy.

Erika Orchestra Concert

As usual, Erika & Riley's concerts were on the same night at the same time.  Since I have been to many of Erika's concerts, she said it was okay to just go to Riley's.  I asked her Grandparents to come and support her while I was at Riley's concert.  Brian and I were going to split up, but since Brian went to Germany for work for 2 weeks, that was a little hard to do and I can't split myself in half, althought I would have liked to.  Erika has been moved to 1st Violin's 5th Chair.  She is in the front on the side where we can see her, finally!!!  She has always sat behind the director, and we can't see her.  They played 4 songs and Riley and I were able to make it to her concert for the last song.  This will be Erika's last year at PHS in the orchestra.  Hopefully, she will keep doing it at BYU and play in the concerts there.  Great Job Erika!!!

Riley Concert Choir performance

 Riley had his first Concert Choir performance tonight.  He has been practicing at school with the other students in his class.  There are 10 boys and 20 girls.  His friends, Sara & Abbie are also in the choir with him.  They did a great job and it was enjoyable.  They sang 5 different numbers.  Riley and Abbie are the smallest and shortest in the group. but hopefully that will change soon. Great Job Riley!!

  

Elder Brown update

Well, I am here writing again. I am so glad Dad made it okay to Germany. I prayed for his safety, and yes I am VERY JEALOUS of dad's new laptop. I want an alienware so bad, but I have to wait 1 more year to get one. Oh well... I am doing the lords work, even though it is very hard, I still do it.
Well, no new reports on missionary work. Arlington is FULL OF ANTI Mormon literature. I hate it. I find someone to teach and the next day they tell us that they prayed about it and God told them that it was a false church and that they would no longer want to contact us. It is so sad when they do that to us, but I just learn to get over it.
I don't have much time to e-mail this week because we are going to President Sagers house for a barbecue for lunch. He invited us up to his house today. Also, this coming Friday, Zone Conference is being held at the Mansfield BLDG. I am so excited. I have never had a zone conference held at the building in which I go to church at. It will be very cool.
I know Halloween is coming up, and I am sure President will ask us not to go out and proselyte after 5 pm, just because of the holiday and how it works. We had to do that last year as well. I am okay with it anyways. I don't want to be standing at someones door trying to share a message about Christ with them at Halloween. That just doesn't go together.
Sorry, no pictures. I have been very lazy on the picture taking. I haven't taken any pictures for quite a while. Oops... Thanks for the pictures you sent me. I will try to get some pictures to you next week!
Thank You for all that you do for me. I love you so much.
Well, that is all for this week! Keep up the good work, and be safe in all that you do!

-Elder Brown

Brian to Germany for 2 weeks

Brian had to go to Germany for 2 weeks for his work.  He left today and will be back on Monday, Nov 8th.  He is extending 3 extra days to go to St. Quentin, France to visit with some families that were in his mission.  We will miss him, but know he is helping to train other employees on a new system for his company.

The Answer for Erika

This is what we found when the knock on the door came at 9 pm.

Erika asking to Halloween Dance

Erika and her friend Heather, decided to ask a couple of boys to the Halloween dance, which is coming up on Saturday, October 30th.  Erika asked her friend in orchestra, Nate, and she asked Heather to ask his friend, Austin.  They got together on Monday night to put the stuff together.  They had a black cauldron for each of them and put spider web decorating string in the bottom on it and then added a bunch of green gummy frogs.  They put the note in the bottom of the frogs, that said "Nate....We will have a "hopping" good time if you go to the halloween dance with me. Erika Brown."  They delivered them on Tuesday evening to there homes.  They asked Heather's little sister to take them to the door and knock and run.  Not long after they did Austin's house, Nate texted Erika telling her that Austin was just asked to the Halloween Dance.  They laughed and knew by the second that she would get a text about it.  And then when they did Nate's house, he texted Erika a hour later and said that he had some candy waiting for him.  They are so excited about the dance coming up.  They were so happy and giggly after it happened and talked with us for a while with us.

Elder Brown update

Well, today is Oct 18, and here I am again writing you. I thank you for all your prayers on my behalf. I am going again out to Dallas today to meet with the LDS Family Services person I hope for the last time for a while. I have been doing better, but still not 100%. I was actually completely out of commission yesterday. I was so sick that I couldn't even move hardly without feeling like throwing up or the room spinning. I started feeling sick on Friday and it just got worse until Sunday I couldn't even go out and work. Sunday we just stayed inside pretty much all day because I couldn't leave to go anywhere. I did make it through dinner though. We ate this French families house named the Donnovan. They are french and gave us french food. It was so cool to eat the bagget again. I loved it. It was nice to eat at their place. The mom said that she got baptized in France in the early 80's. I'm not sure when you went to France on your mission dad, but she said that she remembered a Elder Brown over there, wasn't sure if it was you or not. Just thought I might want you to check.
By the way, I cannot believe that Erika is registering for college. I haven't even registered yet. How is that possible? WOW!
Missionary work this week hasn't been going great. No success, lots of appointments falling through. The work is not going well right now. Plus on top of that, the people here in Mansfield that are not members of the church yell at us and say rude things to us all the time. I find it quite funny, but at the same time I wish they wouldn't do that, but I can't do much about it. People drive by while we are out tracting, and yell at us and say 666, and devils and whatnot. It's crazy.
The weather has been wonderful, except for my sickness, I love it. I still want it to cool down just a tad bit more. the mid 70's would be nice. Right now it is still in the 80's. I would like the 70's, but once again, I can't always get what I want.
Other than that, I love y'all and I hope dad has a good time in France. Please be safe and know that I am keeping you in my prayers that you will return safely.
Thanks for all that you do for me. I always love letters from anyone and everyone. I will try to respond to letters as quickly as possible. Although I don't respond to Grandma Holly's letters because she sends so many I can't keep up. So I have just given up on trying to respond to her letters. Thank Grandma Holly for me for all the letters!  I Love all of you, until next week!

-Elder Brown

Late email from Elder Brown

Sorry for the late e-mail. Yesterday we had a General Authority come down and "Tour" the mission. His name was Lowell Snow. He came down on the mission hard for not teaching by the spirit.  He basically told us that we were not baptizing thousands because we were not teaching by the spirit. He told us that we need to work on that one. It was intense, but it was cool to meet a General Authority. I don't have any pictures because we were not allowed to take any. They will be mailing a picture to us later.
Well, missionary work has been going well. We have a few potential investigators, although none are progressing very fast. We are working on it. I love the new ward's. They are cool.
Elder Walgamott is from Boise Idaho, but his family now lives in Utah.
The Feil's are awesome! They are so cool. Sister Feil told me if I ever needed a card to send home she would get me one. She also mended my torn pants that I never got around to fixing. They are way cool.
Well, unfortunately I don't have too much time to e-mail, but I would like to apologize for not letting you know that P-Day was moved to Tuesday because of the General Authority coming into the mission. Sorry, I will do better next time.
Thanks for all that you do for me. Till next time!

-Elder Brown

Email from Sister Evans in Mansfield

Sharri,
Just wanted to let you, and all of the other Fort Worth Missionary Moms, know that today will be P-Day. I spoke to your favorite Missionary and told him that he better make this email an extra special one because you had to wait another day! LOL!! Anyway, YFM (your favorite missionary) has hit the ground running and is doing a great job!

By the way, he bore his Testimony yesterday and it was very sweet. He is doing well!

Cyndi Evans
Mansfield, Texas

Decorating co-workers classroom

Alice (one of my co-workers) and I decided that we needed to decorate Jane's classroom for her birthday, which was tomorrow.  She always comes early and stays really late.  She left early today, so Alice and I went to Roberts and bought 40 balloons to decorate her classroom.  It was quite a challenge to get them out the Roberts door and then in my van and then in the school door, but we did without popping any balloons.  We tied them to all the desks and in the front.  We crate papered her chair, computer and both sides.  Erika came with us and helped as well.  She wrote on the dry erase board "Happy Birthday Jane!"  It looked so cute.  We were there about an hour and we were so happy with our little mess and decorating.  We couldn't wait to see Jane's reaction the next morning.  As we both arrived at school, Jane was a little late, due to getting hit by a car on her motorcycle.  We told the other office staff what we had done and we all walked down to her classroom to show them.  We opened the door and "Surprise" it was all gone.  Every little bit of it, no trace of anything, not even the crate paper or ribbon or stickers.  We figured that Jane must have come back after we finished the night before and cleaned it all up, but she would never admit to it, and told us her birthday was in April.  It was all in fun, but I guess she didn't want to advertise it, but she is one that can dish it out to all of us, helping decorate others offices on their birthday.  Alice took her class down to sing to Jane, but she still said that her birthday was in April.  Why would she lie about her birthday at the district office and our school records?  She didn't, but I guess she didn't want anyone else to see the decorating and the mess we made for that day.  So, a warning to the next one, watch out for the next decorating party.

Making Strides Walk for my Mom

 Erika & I walked in the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk today at Liberty Park. We were part of the Weight Watchers team.  We had to leave at 7:15 to get there in time for registration at 8:00 am.  The walk started at 9:00 am.  It was a 5 mile walk starting from the middle of Liberty Park down 700 East then turning west and then walking back on 600 East to Liberty Park and around back to where we started.  They had alot of stuff to give away and lots of food as well.  There was pink everywhere, from hair wigs, to boa's, to bra's worn on the outside of the shirt, to spray painted hair, faces, etc.  We finished at around 11:00 am, but we only went half way around, because of my co-worker, Alice, who just had gallbladder surgery a week and a half ago. We didn't care, it was fun.  We were able to put a sticker on our shirts in Honor of Walking for someone, and we chose my mom (or Erika's Grandma).  She had breast cancer 8 years ago, and survived, so this walk was for you mom.  I am hoping next year to get more of the family involved to do the walk.  There were many families with their pets, kids in strollers and wagons, and lots of men as well, over 6,000 people.  It was great, and I am so glad that my co-workers talked me into doing it. So, mark your calendars next year family, for the next Making Strides walk in October.

Letter from Family in Fort Worth

We received a card in the mail today from a family in Fort Worth where Elder Brown was serving.  It is so nice to hear what an example and impact Elder Brown is and doing as a missionary.  Here is what it said.

"Brother & Sister Brown,
            My husband and I wanted to express to you our thanks for your son.  He has brought a warm and calming spirit into our home at each & every visit.  My husband was baptized this April and we have the missionaries over for dinner often.  Even when the day has worn us down, the spirit that is brought into our home by a missionary visit revives us and we forget our cares - laugh a little and are reminded of what is truly important in life.  Your son is especially talented with his example to the younger members of our ward.  We often see him entertaining the young ones (we do not have children of our own).  I wanted to share one funny thing he made up 'on the fly' last night - in handing him a root beer (that in and of itself is a little joke, so we were talking about that), then he said, "What would Jesus drink?" We had a laugh over that one - ask him for the longer version!  Thank you for sending your son on a mission - and blessings to him as he moves to a new area today.  Let his siblings & cousins know what a great example he has set for them.  Blessings to your family! 
Sundie & Greg Elis - Chapel Creek Ward - Fort Worth Texas."

Elder Brown update

Well, I figured since I talked to Sister Evans and she already told me that you were already on LDSMissionaryMoms.com, I was like "yeah, that is definitely something that my mom would do." I'm glad that she sent you those pictures. I am trying to find joy in the work. I really do hope I can survive 1 more year. It is going to be the hardest year of my life I'm going to tell you that now.

Yes, I live with a family called the Feil's. The address is:
2512 Woodbridge TRL
Mansfield, TX 76063
Let me tell you. It is VERY different to live with members. The members are so nice and it is nice to have someone to talk to other than my companion. By the way, my new companion is Elder Walgamott. He is a lot like Elder Proctor, although I told him that and he denounced it. He is going home in 4 1/2 months. He is a old missionary.
Well, I headed out to Dallas again today to talk to the LDS Family Services counselor. I hope that we have a good conversation.
The weather is FINALLY nice! It was a high of 71 yesterday. I LOVED IT! It is going to be warming up again though, into the mid 80's. NOOO! Stay cool! Ugh.
Yes, we watched the 4 sessions at the Feil's home and the Priesthood session at the stake center. I saw members from Arlington 2nd Ward there and I went up and greeted them. They were surprised to see me here, but happy as well. I was excited to get to see them again.
Yes, I am still in a car. Don't need a bike yet. Yeah, I can only imagine what the person who stole my bike is doing with it. Obviously he needed it more than me.
Well, that is all for this week.  Thanks for all your support and help!

-Elder Brown

New school pictures

 Here they are.  New school pictures for 2010-2011 school year.  Erika already had hers done in June for her senior pictures, so it is just Riley & I.  Riley is in the 8th grade this year.(13 years old)  I am on my 8th year with Provo School District.

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.