Week #37--March 28th

First off, wrecked super hard this week. Like, SUPER hard, lol. But luckily, nothing bad happened except for a really bad bruise here or there. Elder Wedel said that he's never seen a better tuck and roll over the handlebars onto Asphalt going 35 miles per hour, hahaha.

2) Still really pumped to get a motor bike

3)Teaching these people named Dan and Reatha Ruggles. I LOVE THEM. They're my favorite. Dan has a huge woodshop in his back yard and we do wood work with him on P-days and lat nights when we have not appointments. Plus he fed us 3 times this last week. He was raised in Utah and took the lessons when he was 20, and says he'll never convert but that's a lie. And his wife is super sweet and is for sure getting baptized. They don't have any kids (they're in their 60's/70's) so I think they think of Elder Wedel and I as they're sons and they LOVE us so much. I can't wait for you to meet them.

4) Teaching a guy named Matt Freeman. Also super solid. The epitome of searching for the true church. Only problem? He lets archaeological stuff get in the way. HAlf of it's out dated like the whole "No horses in America" garbage. But he's still genuinely searching. He even came to church on sunday! He's super awesome. 

I love this ward SO much. I love this area, this work and my companion, you have no idea. This week produced so many spiritual experiences. Like when we taught the Restoration to the Ruggles, and Elder Wedel said the First Vision, we paused for a long time, and I bore testimony. What a powerful experience. I've felt butterflies on stage from performing, I've felt emotions moved during good movies, I've felt sorrow when I've lost someone or been hurt deeply. I know each of those feelings. I recognize them as what they are, just as I could tell you the difference between cake and a tomato simply by tasting. The spirit is unlike all three. It is a feast that exhausts my physical, emotional and mental capacities. I feel that spirit when I read the Book or Mormon, when I teach and when I testify. THE CHURCH IS TRUE.

Week #36--March 21, 2016

Hello all!

This week certainly was not an easy one, but I've gained a much stronger testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, that's for sure. 

We taught an investigator named Jeremy, he seems super solid. We taught the second lesson and then after the closing prayer he invited us for dinner and he barbecued for us. The dude is a freaking beast with that grill. Then this morning we went over to his house early and went mountain biking. There's a huge stretch of hills and desert at the south end of our area and it was a freaking blast! I only crashed like 3 or 4 times too, haha. 

We also had Stake Conference and got a new stake presidency. Unfortunately our beloved Ward Mission Leader got called as second counselor. I legit cried. Like, don't get me wrong, he's super awesome and will do great but we've just gotten so close to him, so that was hard knowing he'll be so busy in the coming 10 years or so. 

But that meant there were General Authorities! Elder Allen F. Packer and another member of the 70 came, and boy they gave such great talks! 

I think my favorite thing shared at Stake Conference was by the other member of the Seventy, (who's name slips me). He told a story of when the Actor Charlie Chaplin entered into a 'Charlie Chaplin look-a-like' contest. 

He placed third.

That hit me so hard, even though it's a simple analogy. If we look to the world to tell us who we are, they will get it wrong every time. If we rely on the world to give us the knowledge we need of what truth is, it will eventually fail us. We must rely on The Lord and The Spirit for the truth we desire. 

I also want to let you know that I know this church is true. It is not easy to be a member, because it is not easy to live by faith. But that's why we're here. To learn and live by our faith. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I know that President Monson is The Lord's chosen President on the earth today. I KNOW the book of mormon to be the word of god. Without a doubt in my mind. I know he loves me and he loves all of us. I know Christ suffered for our sins and saved us. 

The Church is true!

Week #35--March 14, 2016

Well, this one should be short because you've just heard from me like 3 days ago, but we had some crazy occurrences. 

Mostly, Elder Bednar came to our mission. That was pretty freaking amazing. 

It would be hard to condense all the things he said into one email, so I won't try (although he did prophecy, and that was awesome. There's something cool about an actually Prophet prophesying right in front of you) but I wanted to share one cool insight. 

He told us one time that he was meeting with a group of inactive RM's in a stake somewhere in the US. He walked in and stood at the pulpit and asked how he could help. He opened it up to questions and made it a discussion format (which was how he taught us. SUPER cool). One brother stood up and told Elder Bednar that he had come across this Anti-mormon stuff that had shaken his testimony. Elder Bednar asked him how straight he would like his answer. The young man said he'd like it straight. Elder Bednar said "I've known about all of that stuff since I was 12 years old. Where have you been? Do you think the church has time to argue with all of that nonsense? Don't you think it should have a little more trust in it's return missionaries to study about it and find out for themselves that it's all bologna?" 

We all proceeded to make sure our eyebrows were still there and that they hadn't been burned off, haha. 

He went on to say that the issue this man had was not the anti-material. It was lack of studying the Book of Mormon. He said to us "It's like we're in a dark room, and the Lord gives us a flashlight, we turn it off and complain when we start bumping into the walls!" Then he said something that really stuck with me, in connection with that analogy "If sometime when you're home from your mission, you are really tired one night and you think to yourself 'oh, I'll just read tomorrow', I hope my voice right now comes back and haunts you and says to you 'You Idiot! (yes, he did say idiot) You're turning off the flashlight! DON'T turn off the flashlight!'"

Haha, I hope you can imagine all of his quotes in full rebuke form, because it was really powerful. But what was most incredible about his rebukes is that every single one was done in such a humble, sincere, loving way that is impossible to describe. Whenever someone had concerns or questions, you could tell he had such a valiant love for that person. For all of us really. I'll never forget it. 

But that's my advice to you all! DON'T turn off the flashlight! 

I love you all!

Church is true! 

Week #34--March 10, 2016

.... But watch out....

I'm gonna do it again!

Another great week pals and.... other pals. 

Killing it here in Hesparia

I would fill you in on the last week and a half, but I honestly can't remember back that far. Legit, the days run together so much at this point it's not even fair. Someone had to remind me today that it's March. It's not even like the first or second day, we're like knee-deep into March and I still had not processed said fact. 

Cool experiences this last week: 

I went on exchanges with an Elder from Nigeria. That was pretty freaking legit. Elder Nephi Udeochu-Ogbonna. 

He's a beast. 

Also, we tracted into a lost member who wants to come back and have his 2 daughter's baptized. 

Also, we found 6 new investigators this last week. That means we've officially found more investigators these past 2 weeks than this area has found in the previous 7 months. 

Also, we got to go to the Temple this Morning.

Quick side track on that note, and with a much more serious tone of voice: That was so awesome. If you have not been to the temple, please prepare yourselves. It is so amazing. I missed it so much, having not been there for 6 months, but the spirit was so strong. So many fears were silenced, questions answered, and hopes rekindled in such a short period of time. (Not to mention, we went to Apollo Burger afterwards with our Ward Mission Leader and that was the real highlight of the past week and a half. SO good)

Back to the cool experiences

Actually, I'm kind of out. Not that there weren't like a billion others, but I don't remember like any of them. 

But before I close I want to emphasize something that was shared in Fast and Testimony meeting. The quote was 

"People would rather die than change".

Woah. Deep. But true. Another quote that goes hand in hand was from Elder Ogbonna "Once people find the truth, it changes EVERYTHING". 

One of the scariest things for us to accept is our own potential. I remember while teaching a less-active once he said "When I read my Patriarchal blessing, and saw what God expected of me, I put it away and never read it again". But God knew just how great that man could be. He knows how great each and everyone of us can be. By limiting our potential at all, we question the Power of our maker and question his ability to create. There were no mistakes in the creation process, and what makes that significant is that you were created to succeed. You were created to excel. You were created to rise above the world, and look past that which is worldly to that which trul matters. This success is dependent, however, on our Faith in and use of Our Saviors Atonement. Please don't sell yourself short. Rise up and take advantage of the blessings your Father in Heaven so desperately wants to give to you. 

Well, I could rant on that forever, but I'll stop there. I love you all so much. This work is incredible. 

Church is true!

Week #33--February 29, 2016

Boom! 

I'm pretty pumped, not going to lie. This week was freaking awesome. 

So Elder Wedel? He's an animal. An actual animal with a white shirt and nametag. He's insane. Not just in work ethic, but in Faith. I couldn't write all the lessons I've learned this week in 100 emails, but I'll try and condense the big lessons.

First off, the area we whitewashed into had 1 investigator and no Less-actives or recent converts they were working with. That changed. The ward was kind of bugged, because (as the Bishop said) "This ward hasn't been worked by the Elder's in a few years". That changed this week. 

When we sat down to set goals for the week, we went through the goals. I was going to put down a goal for no one baptized or confirmed (because there was no baptism set up, and that's a process that takes a few weeks of prep) but he demanded that we change that to 1. He told me that it probably wouldn't change our results for the week, but it would change our faith and drive to work. If we're setting the goal for 1 baptized and confirmed each week, our mindset towards the work changes and eventually we'll get there with enough Faith. DANG!

Then in District meeting, while everyone was sharing their goals for New Investigators for the week, everyone in the district said either 3 or 4... Except for us. We said 7 (another step of faith by Elder Wedel) Everyone literally laughed. That kind of bugged my companion, and he told them they needed to have a little more faith in the Lord's ability to bless us and our goals. We didn't reach our goal, but we got pretty darn close with 6. We felt so blessed!

We've started jogging from house to house while tracting (which we've done hours of) just to get more houses knocked. We plan to tract every single street in our area. (That's a lot of streets and a lot of houses by the way)

And there were so many miracles along the way! I've learned the power of Faith and how it leads to blessings. WE had to get to the bottom of the area in a short period of time to make our pre-scheduled dinner appointment, but we had no phone and no bikes yet. So what did he suggest we do? Prayed for a ride. And then we started walking. And what happens? The Ward mission leader drives by us picks us up, and gives us a tour of the area and drops us off at dinner. 

We were far from home and really thirsty? We stopped and prayed for someone to offer us water. (we hadn't seen anyone all day because it was so hot) and not 3 minutes later we met a member who offered us water. Boom. There's more, but I don't have much time to talk. 

The Ward Mission Leader is incredible. INCREDIBLE. He takes us out all the time, schedules appointments for us, the whole bit.

The whole ward is obsessed with missionary work, and feed us every night. It's honestly such a great ward. SUCH A GREAT WARD AND AREA AND COMPANION I AM IN LOVE.

It's so awesome. 

We've also met plenty of crazies, because we're in the High Desert still. Holy cow, people here are sure obsessed with politics. One guy ( a less active) sat us down and was very mean and told us we were close minded for not believing that God was an alien and that most of the worlds phenomenons were caused by aliens. Then he started yelling and cussing at Elder Wedel for testifying of the book of mormon, haha. We told our Ward Mission Leader about him and his response was "Oh, you saw Brian? That guy's coo coo for coacoa puffs" We had a pretty good laugh about that. 

Gah, this is a novel. But in closing, I'll tell a story of a guy we met. We hit it off well with him, talking about his cars (he has a gorgeous restored mustang that took him 11 years to build.. Worth quite a bit). After a while we told him that God's done a bit of restoring himself! But not with cars. After chatting a bit, he told us the only two mormons he's ever known converted after he'd known them for a long time. After that they never talked to him again. He tried. He said he wrote letters and emails and left messages on their phones, but got nothing back. He said he liked us, and wouldn't mind listening but he didn't want to join a church where he wasn't allowed to love those who weren't of his faith. Ouch.

Luckily Elder Wedel saved it with his Farm boy charm, and told him that while the church is perfect, the people aren't. We have an appointment with him tomorrow and everything but AAAGH. It broke my heart.

Always remember that you represent something greater than yourselves. You represent someONE greater than yourselves. Love everyone. Always. No questions asked. Not in a fake way. Love them and everything about them. Get to know them. Talk to them. Serve them. Please. Some people are easy to love, and some aren't easy. Sometimes we aren't easy to love but the Savior ALWAYS loves us. There are no off-days with his love, unless we are the one's who turn from him.

And I love you all. You're all such great people with incredible potential for good in this world. So no matter what the situation you're in, love and know you're loved. 

Church is true!

Week 32--February 22, 2016

Well, I have been transferred unfortunately. I think it was probably for the better, considering the fact that Elder Golden and I were so close, I think it was starting to interfere with the work. 

I think the best way to sum up our entire companionship is this quote that he wrote in my signing journal. "Elder Brown, I am currently asking you to do the dishes... And your response was to take your pants off and start playing the piano. I think that sums up our entire 2 transfers together" Haha, while that might be a little crude, it's a little scary how accurate that is. 

It honestly has flown by so fast! I cannot believe that I have been in Parkview ward since October of last year! It feels like literally yesterday! But, I'm sure I'll see those members around and I'll for sure be keeping in touch with Elder Golden. 

But onto Transfer news! I'm in the Santa Fe ward in Hesparia (so not far from Victorville at all. They're neighboring cities) And my new companion is...... Elder Wedel! 

Elder Wedel and I have become really good friends at past events devotionals and so we were pumped when we found out! Let me try and describe him for you: Red head, from Idaho, thick accent, still has greenie fire (Has been out less time than me) and a complete bundle of laughs. But he's pretty well known through out the mission for taking Lucerne Valley (A pretty dead area out in the middle of nowhere) and getting a ton of work started by buying a chainsaw and chopping wood for people. He got a ton of less-actives to church, got a ton of investigators. The guys wakes up an extra 30 minutes to an hour early just to work out and study. How beast is that? 

Also we whitewashed into an area that's super dead. (Whitewash-we're both brand new to the area) and the phone is broken, so we don't have contact with anyone in the ward yet. Get pumped. 

We're excited to baptize all of Santa Fe, so we'll let you know how many times we have to fill that font, haha. 

So for my spiritual thought, Elder Golden and I came up with a bit of a parable that has caused me to ponder. It's a little simple and has flaws, but bear with me. It's about this awesome miracle medicine that's released that heals all leg pain. All sorts of people buy it and rave about the success they find! In just a few days, any and all pain they had is gone! Taken away! 

One day, an old woman walks in and buys a bottle that should last her about a week. She returns the next week, complaining that the bottle didn't help her leg pain at all, so she buys another. Week after week, the old lady buys more and more bottles and continually complains that it doesn't work. After a few years of this pattern, she passes away. When people went to clear out her house, they found a huge pile of unopened bottles of this miracle medicine. She hadn't used a single one.

Now this may seem silly to us. When you buy a bottle, you take the medicine! The relief is not found in obtaining the medicine, but in partaking of the medicine. No one would go weekly to buy medicine only to not take it!

But how often do we go to church without applying it to our week? How often do we read our scriptures without applying what we learn? How often do we pray and not take of the answer? Aren't these activities just as fruitless as purchasing medicine only to leave it unopened? 

Before we jump to the conclusion that the gospel isn't working for us, we must ask ourselves if WE'RE working for the gospel. Are we taking those steps and truly partaking of that medicine every week? Or are we letting our church attendance, study habits, and prayers sit in a pile, unused? In Pres. Uchtdorf's talk: "It works wonderfully!" He said

 "Brothers and sisters, dear friends, I pray that we will focus on “the simplicity that is in Christ” and allow His grace to lift and carry us during our journey from where we are now to our glorious destiny in our Father’s presence.

"As we do so and someone asks us, “How is being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working for you?” we will be able to say with pride, in all humility, and with great joy, “It works wonderfully! Thank you for asking! Would you like to know more?”

I know this to be true! I can testify that it's working for me. :) 

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Church is true!

Week 31--February 15, 2016

Hello! Happy Valentines Day! I hope all was good and you all remembered the Lord's Law of Chastity on such an... eventful holiday.

Sorry, that was probably inappropriate, but Chastity jokes are PRIME. And actually, fun Rancho Cucamonga chastity fact. Last year an investigator was found and baptized because two Elders thought it would be funny to go door to door sharing a message of Chastity. 

Also, today marks my 7 month mark! In someways it goes fast, and in others it is a long time, but I'm happy to be serving and love this work a lot!

This week went well! 

Fun story: We were visiting a Recent-Convert (who was baptized in another ward even though they live in our boundaries because sometimes missionaries break rules to make other missionaries mad) who lived out in the middle of the desert. It was late at night and super dark, and this crazy lad jumps out of nowhere and starts asking for us to give us a ride and stuff. We politely said no, (we were with a member, that's why we were in a car) and she wasn't happy and said some colorful things, but we drove off. Then there were all these shady characters moving around from house to house, the whole air smelled a lot like Marijuana (not uncommon) and the house we were stopping at looked super run down and sketchy. As we started knocking on the door, we heard (from the neighboring yard) someone shouting "Who's there? What do you want?" We couldn't see him, because he was hidden behind this bush thing and it was really dark, so Brother Laursen and Elder Golden started to move towards the car to leave. me, being not incredibly intelligent, moved towards the man and started saying "Hello!". 

As I got nearer, I realized this man was on the phone in one hand and pointing a gun at me in the other! I thought for sure I was going to die! Plot Spoiler: He didn't shoot, turned out he was an inactive member that no missionaries had been able to contact since Elder Wilcox in 2008 and he invited us back after a good chat. So a very happy ending to a super adventure packed story! How cool is that? 

We also tracted into a young man named Clayton who started investigating. He thought we were the police at first, and got really nervous. But we were able to teach him and he's super excited to investigate! 

This looks like it'll probably be my last week with Elder Golden, which definitely makes us both sad, and it'll most likely be my last week in this ward which makes ME really sad, but I guess that's just how it goes!

The Church really is true guys. I can't express that enough. If the gospel doesn't seem to be working for you, then you're missing a step. It sounds blunt and forward, but at it's true! It really is such a big deal. Don't take any part of it lightly. If it's not working for you, then you need to change something because this is literally Eternity we're talking about. I don't want any of you to miss out on the happiness this gospel brings, because it is such a wonderful joy. And it's so simple! Read the book or mormon, pray, go to church and partake of the sacrament worthily and apply what you learn from those 3 sources! Easy as that. I love you all so much, and it breaks my heart to see people turn away this light. It's like turning down tickets to Disneyland! Who does that? (Still 100% missing Disneyland. That place makes me an A+ trunky mess, haha)

Well I miss you and love you all!

Church is true!