Week #66--October 17th

Well, it's been another good week. Never a boring day in barstow, that's for sure. This week we almost caught in the middle of a bomb threat, drove over a bridge and there were cops everywhere. But there was no bomb, so we're good. 

Also, we were walking in a less safe area and saw a bunch of people gathered around and found out that a hard core rumble was about to go DOWN. So we sped walked the other way. 

Also a nice jewish guy stopped us on the road and asked us to come help at a food bank he owns. He then proceeded to tell us everything he owns, and the dude literally owns half of barstow. 

We taught quite a few lessons this week. We also found 2 new investigators. Both were going through some hard stuff, so we testified of the healing power of the atonement and that peace can be found in the pages of the book of mormon. I hope they read it and can experience it themselves!

Actually, I did a smidge frustrated this week. WAY too many people here are going through hard times, and our answer is almost always the same. Read the Book of Mormon, Pray and turn it over to God! He's promised you healing and peace and comfort on conditions of your repentance and your obedience. If you do that for just 15 minutes each day, everything will change! 

And they don't do it. And then they complain that we're not able to help, and that god never helps them and that they're mad at God....

Trying to have more Christlike love for them and not get so frustrated. Especially because I know for a fact I do the exact same things. Christ offers me healing and I don't accept it through my actions. Ah, life. 

Anyway, we had an awesome lesson in Elder's Quorum about Commitment. I've been plowing through the Ensigns and I read and article about Commitment by Elder Holland and it all seemed to fit together. There's a major difference between being committed and contributing. It's very good to contribute, but we can't see our contributions as valid evidence of our commitment! 

To illustrate this, a pig and a chicken are walking down the street when they see a sign in a store window "Eggs and Bacon desperately needed!" The chicken turned to the pig and said "I'll give the eggs if you give the bacon!"

Haha, this is a humorous way of showing that while the eggs have worth to the chicken, it would have been a much greater sacrifice for the pig than the chicken. 

We watched the John Tanner story this morning as well, which is a story of a very wealthy man who lived at the time of the Early Saints. He joined the church upon reading the book of mormon side by side with the bible, and began to sacrifice EVERYTHING for the church. He owned stores, hotels, and even an Island and sold it all to travel with the saints across the country. He loaned money to the church to pay for the temple and many other things. It's estimated he was owed 50,000 dollars by the church, but before leaving on a mission he forgave all debts. He literally had nothing to his name. At points he was forced to beg for food, but lived and died a happy man who had truly stored up many treasures in Heaven. 

Now God is not asking that we do what John Tanner did, but he is asking that we're committed. Elder Holland tells of a time he was asked if he would give his life for the church. He said "I am giving my life for the church" He knew what the boy meant. He meant Would Elder Holland Die for the church. But Elder Holland said "That's the easy part". God doesn't want people who will die for the church, he just wants us to see this all through to the end. He wants us to finish what we started. We can rest when we are dead, but for now let us all press on in the glorious work of salvation. 

I love you all so much!

Church is true!

Week #65--October 10, 2016

Short one! This week was good. 

Found 4 new investigators. All agreed to be baptized, so lets see if they can keep commitments and follow through!

Barstow is FULL of crazy people. You don't even know, lol. It's kind of sad but also really cool to see such diversity in personalities. 

I got super sick on Thursday. Still no feeling better. Hoping that changes. 

Quick spiritual thought: STAY WITH YOUR COMPANION! I read that in the missionary rules this week and I thought of it's spiritual significance. We all have companions that we need to stay near, even if not physically. Spouses, parents, children. We must be aware of these people and be near them emotionally and we must be on their side! 

The Holy Ghost is another companion that we must stay near, in a much more literal sense. Talk about a companion that can protect you from danger! 

And finally our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Are we standing by them with our actions? 

These companions can act as beacons of hope in our life. Elder Manes once said "You must become the Rock the river cannot wash away." And where will you find most rocks in a river? Near other rocks. Lone rocks can easily be moved and carried away by an increase of speed in the tide, or be human meddling. So stand with your companions that the Lord has blessed you with! Be the kind of companion that people want to stay near! Avoid fault finding in those who the Lord has blessed you with to live around. Find joy in serving your companions, especially your Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. Just as a missionary without his companion feels uncomfortable, scared and alone, so too we will feel as we distance ourselves from those who truly care. 

I love you all! Church is true!

Week #64--October 3, 2016

Today Elder Brown didn't send a mass email, but here is a bit from his letter to me and some pics:

Recap of this week:

Monday: Spent the day in Chino. That was a lot of fun. It was really cool to spend the day with 2 other great missionaries, and we got a long super well and had a good time. 

Tuesday: Picked up Elder Prestwich. Learned a lot of valuable lessons at the trainer meeting. I think my favorite quote was from a missionary with just a few months left (who ad only been out about 4 1/2 months when I came out, but that just goes to show how long I've been on a mission, haha) "If you get comfortable with being uncomfortable then the Lord really can work with you. He can help you." I thought that was a great description of missionary work. And this area has made me uncomfortable, haha. 

Then we made the LONG drive back to Barstow. It actually wasn't too bad, but longer than any drive on my mission so far. We got settled in, I taught him about the Daily planner and we actually live in a super nice Town-home! 2 stories, 2 bedroom, 1 bath and a half, washer and dryer... It's the life! So much better than the SHACK I was living in in Santa Fe, haha. 

Wednesday: First day with the new missionary! Decided to bike. Bad idea. I've spent 14 months on bike and I was not prepared for the excruciating misery that is biking through Barstow. We taught a part member family that afternoon and they have lived in Barstow for YEARS. But essentially it's just a bunch of HUGE hills. So we'll avoid biking and stick to driving/walking. It's nice having a car.

Thursday:  We taught a really cool 13 year old recent convert and her less active dad. They live in a small house in the middle of the desert. They were super cool. But that night we got super lost. SUPER lost. We also set a baptismal date with an investigator couple who were being taught. 

Friday: We spent like 6 hours doing weekly planning we made a big list of formers, organized them by area and made plans to contact them and revisit them. Because everyone is so poor here, and because no one works there's a lot of work to do. But the problem is finding people who are willing to actually commit and follow through. I don't remember who we taught exactly. Had dinner with the senior couple in the ward. (Barstow is divided into 3 sections, but only one ward. So 2 sets of Elders and one senior couple) They're very nice, and serve in the same position that Umma and Poppy served in (building and strengthening the church/ward) so that's cool. They are very nice. 

Saturday: MUCH NEEDED CONFERENCE. Like, holy cow. It was so good. I don't know how to begin talking about it, but there were for sure a few cool miracles and prayers answered. We also tried the original Del Taco (fun fact it was started in Barstow) and it was aight. 

Sunday: Between 3 hours of studies (we have to do an extra hour when training) and Conference, we didn't have time for much else. We saw that Part member family that night, and also met these two cool Less-actives. 

Monday: Elder Wedel (who is in the same zone now) insisted that we go on a hike in wrightwood. Left at 5 and got back at 2. Long day. 

His new companion is the Elder 2 to the left of him wearing the sunglasses! 

Week #63--September 26th

Good afternoon pals and gals! I have no time, so please don't get offended if I don't respond to anyone. We're in Rancho (with some homies) and I'll meet my companion tomorrow due to some complications of transfers this week. 

WE GOING TO BARSTOW BABY! WOOHOO!

Transfers were rough today, that's for sure. I can honestly say I have not been anything like this since I got dropped off at the mtc. I've spent half my mission so far in this ward, and it's really left an impact on me. Poor Dan though, he took it harder than me. On Saturday we went to help Yvonne move and he told me in the car (because I had gotten the news the day before that I was leaving) "Well Brown, I got all my crying out last night, so I won't cry anymore about you leaving."

Plot Spoiler: He lied. 

I felt really bad this morning, because we had to pick up some last minute things before I left for Rancho and then Barstow tomorrow, and right before we left his house and he dropped me off for the last time he looked at me all choked up and said "Well, I guess I better go see my boy off". Broke my heart. I'm going to miss that family so much. I can't put into words how much I care about them. I just can't. 

And it's not just Dan. I love this ward so much. Obviously, I didn't connect with EVERY member, but there are so many that I will miss so much. 

BUT! No we're on to bigger and better things. None of the least of which being I am officially in a car! With a crap ton of miles! (Not this month, because we had to drive to the LITERAL opposite side of the mission, because we're in Chino rn, but it's w/e) I'm super pumped to be in Barstow. And we're whitewashing! This is my 3rd whitewash in the mission so far and I love it (that means both me and my companion will be new to the area, not just one of us). 

I just keep replaying in my mind when Nathan Wawro grabbed my mission map over 14 months ago and said "WAIT!! BARSTOW'S IN YOUR MISSION???" And now I am one of the privileged few to serve in the holy lands. 

Well, I'm excited to let you know how the rest of our time goes here in Barstow, but that will have to wait (at least until we get there lol).

Quick spiritual thought: Guilt is only supposed to drive you to repentance. No further. In fact, any further and it becomes destructive. So stop feeling so guilty. "And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance." (Alma 42:29) So don't beat yourself up over mistakes you've made or you are making. Even if those mistakes affect others. It's amazing what miracles God will bless us with when we sincerely repent. Those feeling we hurt? Will eventually be softened. Those words we said? Will eventually be forgotten. The cuts we made, and the bruises we beat will, in the long run, be healed by him who is mighty to save. Trust in God's powers to fix problems that overwhelm you. Now, that doesn't take away our requirement to act, for he needs instruments to perform his tasks, but it should (if the principle is properly studied and understood in individual study) take away so much of the weight that bears us down. 

That's something that has really plagued me a lot, but today getting to talk to President Taylor and through a few weeks of diligent study, I've come to see that guilt is a tactic used WAY to much. So don't feel so guilty. Feel bad enough to change, change, and then move on. :) Let God take care of the rest. 

I love you all so much!

Church is true!

Week #62 and a half--September 22, 2016

Good afternoon! This week and a half for sure had it's ups and downs, but the ups were super awesome to make up for the downs! Overall, so much has happened over the last few days that It'll be hard to summarize it all.

So if things seem choppy and poorly written, bear with me.

First off: DAN GOT BAPTIZED! It's official! After meeting with him for 7 months Dan made it into the waters. If anyone attending DIDN'T feel the spirit, it's their own darn fault! Because it was flipping amazing! A lot of people cried, everyone was touched and it was just a great day.

Elder Wedel and I got to be the witnesses, and standing there at the corners of the font watching Dan step into the waters was so cool. We just looked at each other and flashed really emotional grins of gratitude and love for Dan, and then our smiles widened even more after he the ordinance was done. At the end, Dan shared his testimony, which was the coolest thing. He took up his Book of Mormon and shared some of his favorite scriptures which was super cool as well. He shared 1 Nephi 3:7 and talked about how God won't give us tasks that we can't handle. He shared the scripture that helped him know he needed to get baptized Alma 12:34 "Therefore, whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest."

And then he closed with the last few verses in Moroni 10 (32 and 33) "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot."

He also cried a lot and it was just a really cool experience over all. I love that man so much.
Also, Elder Edward Dube of the seventy came to the mission and we had a big conference. That was super cool. He called me up and had me stand next to him at one point and we re-enacted Moses 1. It was kind of funny because he said: "Alright, we are going to be re enacting the exchange between God and Moses. I will be Moses and that makes you..." To which I responded "Uh-oh" And that was pretty funny. Lots of good points were made.

Then we got to go to the temple, and I love the temple, but this time was really different. Different in a really good way. For the past few months I've really been struggling with a lot of things, lots of feelings of inadequacies, lots of guilt, lots of stress, but for the first time in a long time I felt completely calm. It wasn't the whole 2 hours, and it wasn't very over the top and emotional or what-not, but for a good space of about 5 minutes every worry departed. I felt totally at peace. It was totally silent and I was perfectly content with where I was. I wasn't worried about all the things we had to do after the temple, I wasn't stressed about everything we needed to do that week, I just felt happy. That was such an amazing experience.


It reminds me of a quote that has become my favorite, and a scripture that was shown to me on exchanges.

QUOTE: "The world sees peace as the absence of conflict or pain, but Jesus offers us solace despite our suffering."-David E. Sorenson

SCRIPTURE: Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

Christ offers us peace in this life. He blesses us temporally and spiritually as we need it and as we seek it. The gospel brings a peace and love that nothing else can replicate. Vaughn J Featherstone said "the two things [Satan] can never duplicate are charity (that is, the pure love of Christ), and peace."

So search for that peace that only Christ can give!

I love you all!

Church is true!

Week #61--September 12, 2016

Good morning! Hope you all are having a great week. 

Well, this week was pretty normal. I got to go on exchanges with our district leader Elder Gibbons, and that was super awesome! We got to work super hard. Also we got to do service with Elder Paxton which was a lot of fun. (Quick side note, Elder Paxton and I were in the MTC together. It was Elder Golden, Paxton and I that came to this mission. Elder Golden and I were companions and Elder Paxton and I have now served in the same zone for almost a whole year, so we've gotten super close, and it's fun to see how we both have grown and continue to grow as the mission progresses).

I think this week was proof to me that sometimes the mission is slow. Sometimes in the mission very little (besides discouragement. There's always plenty of that) happens. But as long as we remain humble and teachable we grow!

Dan is still on track to get baptized THIS SATURDAY! If you can't tell, I'm extremely excited. I love that man so much. He is only the greatest ever. I feel so blessed that I got to be a part of this. SO BLESSED. 

We also had a ward activity and had a good turn out, including a less-active named Matt (I will talk about him in a bit) and had a lot of fun! Matt texted afterwards and thanked us for inviting him because he felt very loved and accepted. It was a horseshoe tournament between the high priests and the elders and Dan ended up winning against our Ward Mission Leader in the final round! 

Matt, (a less active that we've been meeting with) has recently sworn off church. Someone offended him during his re-activation experience and he said he was done. We had one of the most frustrating meetings on my mission. He kept talking about how he needs to get this 'state of the art treadmill' and lose a bunch of weight. Then he's going to get a face surgery that he needs to take 20 years off of his face. Then he's going to have to marry a young lady and after all that he'll be good enough to come to church. We tactfully evaded those comments and asked him if he's still been in touch with some members of the ward (including President Kirby in the Stake Presidency) and how they've been doing. He commented about how it seemed they were just always happy! They had good jobs, happy families, they were good people etc. And he wished he could have that. 

At that moment I shared what has become my favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon:  "for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence. Now this is according to his word."

I love that scripture because of how simple it is. Keep his commandments and you're happy. Things work out in the long run. You get what you need. You can survive any trials. If you don't keep his commandments God doesn't have to keep the promises tied to those commandments, and you're on your own to succeed and progress. And even if you succeed by worldly standards you will always feel empty. "There is never enough in this world of that which does not satisfy."

I hope I can remember this when I'm off my mission! I hope all who have experienced these blessings can hold to the knowledge that God keeps his promises! I hope all who want to experience that which I have experienced, and that which many of you have experienced and that which millions around the world have experienced, WILL experience it by following the simple steps of faith we learn from the prophets ( both ancient and modern) and come to Christ with full purpose of heart! Nothing else bring permanent lasting happiness. 

I love you all and encourage you to pursue Christ. He will make all the difference in your life IF YOU LET HIM. For those who feel unworthy of his love and of his blessings, remember President Uchdtorf's talk from this last General Conference. The sheep is worthy of rescue from the Shepherd, not because he is worthy of it, but because the Shepherd's love for his Sheep. For his lamb. For you. He loves you. And because he loves you he wants you to be happy. He wants you to find "peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come" even though you may "know not where to find it" 

So come to him

I love you all

Church is true!

Week #60--September 6, 2016

First off, Happy Birthday to Sam and congratulations on getting the Priesthood!

Second off, some bad news. Our investigator Jonathan, who was supposed to get baptized this Saturday dropped us the night before his interview. He apparently talked to his girlfriend and decided it wasn't best to join the church. That bummed me out. I mean, he was SO happy! The first time we met him, he was just miserable. Absolutely miserable. He never smiled, he was always mopey and tired and nothing was working out for him. But then this last weekend when we met with him he was all smiles! It's slowly grown to that point, him getting happier and happier, things working out more and more, etc. But alas, the vicious cycle we see in the Book of Mormon caught hold. And who can blame him? It happens to all of us! We make mistakes and turn from God->Life get's harder->We turn to God for help->We get blessed->We are happy and think we don't need God anymore->aaaaand, repeat.

So hopefully we will be able to talk to him and help him see this and he will decide to get baptized some time down the road. 

AND THIRDLY: Dan has fully committed himself to baptism! It is 100% official! September 17th the many prayers for him and his family from missionaries, members here and you guys will be answered and he will enter the Waters of Baptism! 

We first met them in March and it's so cool to look back and see the progression from when we first started just spending time on P-days with them doing wood working and being told that they're not interested to this day! And in a year they'll be able to go to the temple together and be sealed. I am so grateful for our Father for he truly is the one behind all of this. I think a few months ago I would have wanted some of the credit, but genuinely I see now that this was a gift of God's Grace! 

He told us that Tuesday Morning he decided to get his answer and so he said a little prayer and opened up the Book of Mormon. He read us the scripture he opened to... And reading it I thought: "This has literally nothing to do with baptism. This doesn't fit at all." And he said: "And reading that, it just fit! And I knew I had to get baptized." Thank heavens it's the Spirit that truly teaches and not us. The spirit revealed something to him and touched his heart and now he'll be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! What a joy!

FUNNY STORY/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT:

We tracted into a guy who is a Buddhist. A devout Buddhist at that, and on top of that he is/was a religion professor and told us he knew a lot about our religion and could sit down and explain all of our beliefs to us with a Book of Mormon in hand. Elder Jensen then asked "well what has your experience been with the church?" And the man replied "Amazing. And you know what I tell my colleagues when they try and talk bad about the Mormon's? I say the Mormons have some weird beliefs, that's for sure. But the Mormon Church is the greatest organization in the world for families."

We were both a bit surprised, and Elder Jensen said "Yeah, we believe that too!"

To which the man said "Oh no, it's a FACT." 

And ultimately that is the truth! Every reason I'm on a mission is for my current and future family. All programs in the church are designed to strengthen the family! And I add my testimony to that of the Buddhist! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the greatest organization in THE WORLD for families, and that's a FACT!

Love you all! Church is true!!