New Transfer

December 10, 2012

Hola familia

So! New companion. His name is Elder Zacharias. He and I actually came out at the same time, but we didn't know each other at the MTC. Crazy huh? We met at the airport when we were leaving the MTC I think. So we're co senior companions. However, I am still the district leader and I'm the designated driver. Don't ask me why, that's just what they decided to do. haha. He has an odd, but it's not annoying. Zacharias and I actually have quite a few similar interests and we've gotten along pretty well so far. It's nice to be with someone else who knows what he's doing for the most part again. He's about Jeren's size; a little taller than me and a little larger but not by much. He's from Orem Utah.

We got a fair amount done this week despite Elder Grill saying goodbyes Monday, Transfers Tuesday, and service all day Saturday. We helped a recent convert move from 11 to 6. She had to be out by 6 o clock. So. We got her stuff out by 6! With Elder Newton being gone, Elder Patch and I had to move the heaviest stuff. Like the washer and drier. and the king sized memory foam mattress. And a giant shelving... thing. Bleh.

We started teaching a man named Gene Ruble this past week. He's about 65 and had been to church a few times with some member friends who asked us to wait to try and teach him until he was ready. On Wednesday sister Barnard called us and said "he wants a Book of Mormon - go get him!" So. We did! He is very positive about everything we've taught him so far and says this is the church he's picked. We set a date for baptism on January 5th. He is eagerly reading the Book of Mormon. He wants to quit smoking and we're going to start helping him with that this week.

We had a couple referrals that we received but didn't go anywhere. One was an older woman named Evelyn. She enjoyed our company but doesn't want to change religions at this point in her life. Before we left she was telling the same stories again. haha. Another was a man named Vern Garvin. He's also older and has been around the church and helped out by the church most of his life. I couldn't decide what to think of him. I think he's slightly insane. One minute he'd seem like a nice old man just telling a story and then he would like stop before finishing the story completely and smiling and say something like "huh? Isn't that something?" And his smile and laugh were super creepy. He wanted a Book of Mormon and said it always does wonders for him when he reads it... but he doesn't want to become a member or change anything. ??? Weird. Some people. He's probably an ex drug addict. He wants us to come back and just talk some more but... I don't think we're going to. Yikes.

We visited Thomas (who got baptized in September) and his family (he got married a few weeks ago to his girl friend) on Thursday. His wife Lindsey's family actually lives in the ward in Apple Valley that Elder Grill got transferred to. So I'm sure that was a tender mercy for Elder Grill. Thomas is doing very well and is excited to start doing missionary work with us

So for the ward christmas party they're putting on a nativity play, and we missionaries are the angels. haha. Anyways, we went over to the house of the woman in charge so that we could see if the robe costume thing fit. She was having some computer trouble too so I helped her with that while we were there. Her arm was really hurting her too so we gave her a blessing. I was asking her about her arm and what led up to it and how the pain felt and to me it seemed like multiple issues, any combination of a torn rotator cuff in her shoulder to some tweaked nerves - hot wire-like pain. We stayed and visited her for a little longer and she asked if I was going to be a doctor and I said that's what I'm planning on right now. She asked what field specifically and I said probably pediatrics. She said that I have a kind and caring face and would make a great doctor because patients would feel comfortable with me. Wow huh? I thought that was a pretty cool complement. Evelyn, the woman we visited, said something similar. Pretty cool.

We visited Barbara on Friday, dedicated her home, and read Luke 2 with her. She felt like there were evil spirits in her home. When I started to offer that prayer my heart started racing really hard and I started feeling pressure and sickness, but I commanded the evil spirits to depart in the name of Christ and when those words came out of my mouth... everything stilled. It was pretty cool and a little scary at the same time. Barbara said "wow. That brought a lot of calm."

Also on Friday there was a baptism. It was for an 8 year old girl from a recently re activated family. She asked me to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, which was surprising, but I enjoyed it.

That was our week. Not bad; we're pretty happy about Gene Ruble. I'll send a couple pic updates here in a minute.

I love you guys!

Elder Browning

Transfers

Hi fam.

Transfers are tomorrow. Elder Grill is leaving. Poor guy. He wanted to stay in his first area through Christmas. I told President that I'd be willing to leave so that he could stay but it didn't work. haha. I'm happy to stay put but I know Elder Grill really likes Barstow. He's an odd goofball but the people here love him. I was worried that I'd be training a new missionary but I guess other people have been called and assigned already this morning and I haven't had a call from the Assistants so I think I'm safe for another transfer or two.

 

We had a busy week. I exchanged with Elder Galt, Patch's greenie, on Monday night. Tuesday morning I wasn't feeling very good and by 9 I wanted to flush my face down the toilet. Nothing was in my stomach so nothing came up. District meeting is not supposed to be canceled unless I'm incapacitated so I muscled through. When I got to the church though, Elder Grill was at the piano and Elder Patch had his head down on the table and had his overcoat on. Apparently he'd been up sick all night. Despite nausea, chills, aches, and an angry rear end, we made it through the meeting. I gave a training on prayer and is actually went really well and we had a great discussion. We switched companions afterwards so that Elder Grill and Elder Galt could still get something accomplished. Patch and I spent a few hours dying in bed at my apartment. ha. We didn't eat anything all day besides some yogurt for dinner. I guess if you can count alka seltzer we had some of that too.

 

Anyways. That was an adventure. I got a blessing for the first time since dad and jeren gave me one before I went into the MTC. I was probably overdue for one. haha. Most of Wednesday and Saturday were spent with the choir. The driving took up as much time as the actual practice and performance. That was the only downside to it. Needless to say, I did a lot of driving this week. Almost 6 hours worth just driving to and from the choir practice and performance. The performance itself went fairly well. Several of the bases crowded around me and followed me during the songs. haha. "Hey what are we doing for this song?" "I don't know. Just listen to Browning." I was able to go to a few extra practices too though so I had that advantage.

 

We met again with Sister Wall. At one point, I don't remember what I said but there was a pause and then she said something like "you sounded like my mother. She used to say that to me." Pretty much every time we visit her there's some moment that touches her. It's been pretty cool. She was at church again yesterday.

 

Speaking of yesterday, I went out to Fort Irwin with Elder Patch. It's a big community for being out in the middle of nowhere. The branch was actually fairly sizable. I counted a good 60 people in attendance. All young families with several kids. Only one boy was old enough to hold the priesthood. I've never been to a sacrament meeting that was so noisey. haha. It was great.

 

Sorry this letter is shorter. Elder Grill is anxious to start packing. ha. His desk looks like someone took a suitcase full of stuff and just dumped everything out on it. So. He's got some work to do. haha

 

Love,

Elder Browning

10 Months

Hey family

 

I'm not sure I have as much to write about this week. It was the slowest week since I've been in Barstow. Hopefully you all had a good thanksgiving. We really didn't do much that day. We had dinner with the Wolcots. All the normal thanksgiving foods were there but it all tasted... off. haha. Funny how that is sometimes.

I talked to a couple missionaries about how they feel I'm doing leading the choir. I feel a little awkward and goofy, especially when I do more than just wave my arm to keep tempo. But several people said I'm doing a really good job and that I'm funny to watch. haha. At least they get a laugh out of it. We're singing like 6 songs... arrangements of Silent Night, Away in a Manger, What Child is This, O Little Town of Bethlehem; also Called to Serve and the Shepherds Carol. We'll be down the hill in Upland twice this week, once for the final practice on Wednesday and again for the Performance on Saturday. We sing at 7:30 pm and need to be there by 7. Since it's during rush hour, we need to leave by 5 to get there on time. We wont be done before 8:30 so we'll probably not be home until 10 that night. Gross.

 

I feel like I recognize when I am (was) prompted by the spirit more often. During District meeting, I had about 10 extra minutes at the end. I was unsure what to fill that time with and didn't want to try and squeeze in another role play. I decided to talk about how important it is to have the Spirit in all aspects of missionary work and the importance of faith and how everything hinges on obedience. I went on to talk about how oftentimes, even when we're trying to be obedient and do everything we can and have the Spirit with us, we still flounder. I told them simply that God lets us flounder sometimes and then pulls us out. I noticed elder patch taking notes so I talked to him afterwards and he said he liked what I said. However, I felt like I hadn't been very clear using the phrase that God lets us flounder, and I was thinking for a couple days about what I really meant. What I really meant is that God tries our faith, and during that trial, we may feel like we're floundering. We are not, however, on our own. Ever. If we were completely left to ourselves, forget about floundering; we would completely drown. However, when our faith has been sufficiently tried (and obviously we don't know what point that is), God then blesses us well beyond our own capabilities. It is at that point that we see blessings almost literally fall out of the sky. I felt like I should write that in a note to elder patch so I did and he told me the other night that it helped him out. A lot.

Anyways. That was probably my neat experience for the week so I thought I would share. I feel like that concept applies to all aspects of life as well.

 

We did some yard work service for Janeen on Friday. FINALLY. That's the only service I've done this whole transfer. It was nice to put on some jeans and get my hands a little dirty. We pruned a rose bush and some aloe vera plants and pulled out a bunch of grassy weeds around the bushes. Janeen has bad allergies so she can't do it herself. She really was planning on coming to church but got a large old computer monitor dropped on her foot and was going to the hospital saturday night to see if it was broken. It seems like it's just one physical barrier after the other with her. I can see why missionaries have stopped teaching her before; we're almost done with all the lessons and she hasn't been to church once while we've been teaching her. I don't want to be another set of missionaries to give up on her though, so we'll keep working with her.

 

The car we got isn't new. New to us, but definitely not new. It's a 2009 or 2010 Corolla with almost 46000 miles on it. Haha. So. No it doesn't smell like a new car. lol

 

You can probably just wait to send the jacket. The highs for this week are still in the 70s so we should be fine for a while. I've been trying to think for the past half hour what I might want for Christmas... I don't really have any requests. Maybe we'll just skip it this year. haha. Maybe you could skip the next 2 Christmases and my birthday and help me with a laptop for school when I get home? Or something similar? I know that's boring but it makes sense in my boring logical business mind. lol

 

Wow. Fin Fun is skyrocketting. How many sales is that a day? You have to be well over 100 now. Wow. Crazy how it just keeps on continuing to grow.

 

Kylee, a 9 year old that the other missionaries were teaching, got baptized on Saturday. I interviewed her earlier last week. The service was very nice. Since I'm the district leader, I have the keys to the font and so far have been the one to fill the font or every baptism. There are others that could but I always go earlier enough so that it would be full on time. They're a good family and the dad baptized and confirmed her; they just never got around to having her baptized at 8 I guess.

 

So here's an interesting scripture chain I did. You might call it the "Forgotten Rest" scripture chain. I'll let you look up the verses and put the references in order.

Helaman 7:20 and Isaiah 17:10, which reference each other -> Jeremiah 3:21 -> Jeremiah 6:16 -> Matthew 11:28. That's what I feel the name Forgotten Rest is really talking about. There are probably other verses that I have yet to add to the chain, but I will eventually.

 

Anyways. Until next week!

Love,

Elder Browning

300 Days

November 19, 2012

Hello Family!

Once again, it was a busy but not very productive week. haha. Tuesday we had just gotten back from District meeting and the Assistants called. Luckily it was just to tell us that we were going to trade in our car to get another one since it had passed the 50,000 mile mark. So we ended up spending Tuesday detailing our car. Well. Sort of. I did my best to buff out some scratches that previous missionaries had put in and we cleaned out any garbage or what not and vacuumed the inside. So. That ate up the afternoon, but we were still able to see Janeen in the evening. She has a testimony already. She would finish some of our sentences or say what was coming next in the lesson. She knew that faith was the 1st principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and she knew that baptism comes after repentance and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism. She wants to be baptized, her health is just a big issue. She wanted to come to church but ended up in the E.R. and was on doctors orders not to leave her home for a week. She had walking pneumonia. She has been to church several times in the past, just not while Elder Grill and I have been teaching her. Technically she has been to church enough in the past to be baptized, but we and the zone leaders feel like it would be good to get her to church at least once if not twice while we are teaching her before she is baptized. She also needs to completely quit smoking but she has a strong desire to do that too so we're thinking she will make it to the waters this year.

 

Tuesday night I went to bed thinking "ah crap. I'm getting sick." And sure enough, I was pretty under the weather Wednesday through Saturday. Sore throat/head cold thing. It wasnt bad enough to put me out of commission but it was just enough to make life slightly miserable. haha. Also Tuesday evening, we got a call from the woman conducting the whole missionary choir. She was changing the music so we needed to go down the hill yet again. Bleh. It worked out since we needed to swap our vehicle anyways, but then that day was pretty much shot. We met with Vera and talked to her about the Plan of Salvation. I'm not sure if I've mentioned but it seems like all hell is moved against her. Or at least was. She's doing a lot better. But she lost her uncle 2 weeks ago and another friend the week before that. She said the knowledge she has gained in the past few months has made it a lot more bearable.

 

By the way, I gave my jacket to someone that doesn't have a coat. Or didn't and now has mine. I know I have a lot of sweat jackets back home so it wasn't hard to give it up. However, I am now without a jacket if we're doing service. Not a huge deal since I have a sweater I can put on and also because we don't do much service out here, but I wouldn't mind a replacement sometime in the future, especially when it gets colder this winter. Maybe my black Element one if Jeren hasn't claimed it. haha.

 

We've been teaching a woman named Barbara. I mentioned that last week right? Well the Westside missionaries always struggled to get through to her and I can definitely see why. She always loops conversations back to her terrible past and why in the world her family and husband completely disown and want nothing to do with her when she's given them all she has both physically and emotionally. Elder Grill has gotten more stressed out with each visit and just about dropped her when we visited yesterday. It is hard to teach her when she starts to get "emotional" as she calls it. "It's just an Italian thing," she says. Haha. We're not going to give up on her though. Elder Grill and I are going to kind of switch roles. He likes to take the lead in talking at lessons but in this case we're going to switch a little.

 

Anyways. That's been an adventure. The music that was changed for the choir was a lot more difficult. It went from being mostly just hymn arrangments to like Sally Deford stuff. It's not difficult music, but difficult for most "sing the melody" missionaries. I was worried that the missionaries would not be able to learn this new music in 3 practices. Actually, I was fairly possitive about that fact. Elder Grill and I voiced that opinion and got rebuked for lacking in faith. Ha. Elder Grill said he felt like Levi Savage. Anyways, she called us a day or two later and said she couldn't stop thinking about what we'd said and had decided to cut out 2 of the hardest of the new pieces. So. I didn't said I told you so, but I wanted to. haha. Anyways. The Saturday practice went alright. The missionaries were starting to get their parts down by the end (I just belt out the bass part so that they can hear me haha) so I think by the end of next practice they'll have all the notes down for sure.

 

We met with Sister Wall again. We talked about the gospel of Christ with her. It was another touching lesson. Towards the end, there was a pause where she was kind of staring off into space. When she looked back over at us, she said "you're here, right now, to teach me. Me, Jeri Wall." It was pretty cool.

 

So I read Isaiah this week. Quite a bit of good stuff in there. I'll probably take some more time to go through it more in depth later. I came across a passage that made me think of Brooke Porter. 57:1-2. Don't remember what it says off the top of my head, but I wrote it down so that I would remember.

 

Well that was purdy much our week. I don't know if I emphasized how thankful I am for the presents you sent, but I truly am! I love Paul Cardall so flippin much. I have his Hymns collection as well. Our district always listens to the cd you sent me whenever we have to drive down the hill together. It's super great :)

 

I love you guys! The church is true!

Love,

Elder Browning

 

p.s. oh so the subject of my email.... Elder Grill keeps a tally for how many days he's been on a mission. He is about to hit 200 so I was curious how many I've been out. Sure enough, it's been 300 days. or was yesterday. Or will be tomorrow. I don't know. Close enough. haha

Mr. Burrows Would Be Proud

Hey fam

We had a fairly busy week, but it didn't feel very productive. Lots of just "stuff" that we had to do. Tuesday we had a zone meeting that took up a chunk of the day. Wednesday we were down the hill for that choir practice. With the 3 hours of driving I had to do that day (drove 180 miles), we didn't get back in time to do anything besides dinner. I dont think i could stand to live in California because of the drivers here. ugh. haha. They aren't dangerous drivers for the most part, just... stupid.

Anyways. Thursday and Friday we visited people in the hospital. Lots of old folk in the ward. We've given I think 3 blessings this week. Friday we visited a less active woman named Jeri. This is the 2nd time we've met with her and both times we've had very touching lessons. She's gone through a lot in her life. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration. She was at church yesterday for the first time since I've been in Barstow so that was good :)

Saturday we had the desert choir rehearsal. We were thinking that Elder Grill would just lead and some other missionary would be able to play piano but... there really wasn't anyone else that could play. So. I conducted. haha. I actually felt natural taking charge. Elder Grill had a hard time sight reading the vocal parts so I actually kicked him off the piano once and played myself. It was written weird; not all the parts they would sing were written in. Like there would be a half note but they would sing 3 words during that half note so I played that same half note in correspondence with when they were supposed to sing each word. If that makes sense. So it all worked out okay. It'll be interesting when I try to implement various nit-picky things in later rehearsals like blend, tone, breath support, and dynamics. Maybe just dynamics. haha. Mr Burrows would be proud. I think. haha. I dunno if I like it enough to do it for a living, but it's not a bad skill to have.

 

My back is fine by the way. I think I just tweaked some muscle. It was fine by Tuesday evening. I played basketball again on Saturday... haa... I like basketball :) and I'm back in my work out routine. I did 177 pushups this morning. Yipes. 76, then 69, then 32. Woot!

Misty ended up moving out to Lancaster and is going to church there. So we're really happy about that. Most of our investigators are lukewarm at best so we really need to do a push for finding. Oh here's something kind of funny. So in church yesterday we were in class talking about the gathering of Israel and the instructor gave everyone (besides us) a sticky note and basically told everyone to give us a referral. It was great! We got 5 names! 3 are members and 1 is on the other missionaries side, but it was still pretty funny. One of the westside's investigators moved out to Dagget, so she's in our area now. Her name is Barbara. We visited her yesterday and are starting to teach her. She has one of the roughest life stories I've ever heard. She wonders why so many bad things happen to her even though she has tried to do what's right. Both of her husbands have left her, and she's left with 2 kids, one who is severely handicapped, so she can't work full time since she has to take care of her son full time. We tried to explain both the concept that every person has their agency and also that the Lord allows suffering and trials so that he can exercise judgment, but I'm not sure she accepts that fully. We're going to try and explain the atonement and forgiveness when we see her on Thursday. We're also hoping the branch president can meet with her as well.

 

I found a scripture when I read the book of Job that I liked a LOT. It's Job 13:5 I think. It says "Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace, and it should be your wisdom." So. Basically, it says "if you would shut up and think before you speak, it would be wise." HA. I laughed aloud when I read it. I should write it down where I'll see it so that I remember it before I say something stupid. haha

 

I can't believe both Josh Jenkins and Josh Browning almost have their calls. That'd be so cool if someone came here :) we'd have an absolute blast!

It's been cold the last few days. 50s as the high and 30s for the lows. Feels like home, since it's so windy it's basically 20 with the windchill.

Well. That's what's been going on. Yup. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Browning

I'm No Longer a Teenager O.o

November 5, 2012

Hey fam! You guys are such goofs. Those videos were pretty hilarious! I've saved them to my jump drive :)

You should be happy to know that I waited until today to open my presents! I even took a few pictures this morning as proof. Thank you so much! You guys are awesome :) You're going to make me fat with all those hostess cake goodies though. haha. I'll probably stick 4 or 5 candles in a cupcake and pull out 4 or 5 of them so that I don't have to eat a lot of them at once. I'm sure elder Grill will be happy to help too. haha.

 

Last week was half blah and half super busy. Lot's of running around stuff. We were teaching a lesson with Vera on Friday at the church when a guy comes in and tells us that he has someone that wants to get baptized and wants to know if we can meet with them Saturday. So of course we set up a time to have a lesson. The woman's name is Misty. She has a young baby (doesn't look older than a month) and she wants to turn her life around and start off right with this child. She has an older daughter that she is hoping will turn around but she's not sure. The lesson went alright and she agreed to read and pray about the book of mormon and said she would be baptized in December. She didn't come to church yesterday though. We have another appointment with her tomorrow so we'll call her tonight.

 

There's a guy named William that wants to take the lessons. He's a jehovah's witness (yikes). However, he's never been strong in that religion and only calls himself one because his wife was and made him go. So it's actually fairly promising. Our appointment fell through with him as well though but we'll set up another time to meet this week.

At church yesterday a non member came with his girl friend and he's pretty interested. He's trying to move to Barstow and wants the lessons when he gets here. Hopefully he moves into our side and not the other missionary's side. haha

 

Saturday night we were playing basketball at the church and I messed up my back pretty bad. I'm not sure how. I was doing really well and probably got careless. Mid play I suddenly had pain in my back and thought "that's weird." I got jostled a little at that point since I'd stopped moving and it got worse and I had a hard time breathing so I waddled/staggered off the court. I tweaked my back like 7 months ago and I'm wondering if I did the same thing only worse this time. It's a manageable level of pain, but not forever. I made it through church and then went home and laid down. We went back out at 3 and I came home after dinner and laid down again. So. That's been an adventure. I can't work out now either! Dumb. I'll probably go to a chiropractor today or tomorrow.

 

Sister Godwin called us last night and they're trying to organize some missionary choir. For convenience, they wanted those in the desert to meet and practice together separately from those down the hill. So, they need an additional pianist and conductor for the group up the hill. Elder Grill is the only one that can probably play the piano part, which leaves me to conduct the choir. ha. We're starting that this week. Life just got busier!

Anyways. That's what's been going on in my life. Sounds like you're all pretty busy too! Thank you all once again for the birthday wishes :) next year, my birthday falls on transfers. ha. My 2nd to last transfer. Not exactly looking forward to that. Oh well. Time might start speeding up soon. Lots of "around the corner" dates: Thanksgiving, Christmas, my year mark, etc.

Well. I'm a peace out now and go lay down. ha.

I love you!

Elder Browning

p.s. happy birthday dad!

Sneaky Grandparents

October 31, 2012

Hello family!

Guess who I ran into at the temple? Grandma and grandpa again! I was actually in the men's changing area when I ran into grandpa! We sat together during the session. How cool is that? He sat nearby me when I first got my endowment and it was fun to be with him again. Grandma said she was going to call you so if she hasn't already done so, expect a call from her. She gave me two hugs; one for you mom and one for her. haha. We're thinking we maybe shouldn't meet up every time I go to the temple anymore, but it has sure been a blessing to see them twice now.

 

Well it's been fairly slow recently. Most of the work we did was with recent converts; we have quite a few. Vera has a sibling and a friend that she is going to talk to about possibly taking the lessons.

 

We had a couple odd/weird/interesting things happen recently. One is... well. Backing up, Elder Grill is making an effort to work out every morning and a half-hearted effort to loose weight. Usually, he gets in the shower (we have 2) shortly after I shut my water off. On I think Wednesday it was, I didn't hear his shower turn on and when I was getting dressed I didn't hear him working out in the other room. So I walk into the other room and he's sprawled on the couch. haha. He rolled off the couch and pulled himself towards the bathroom doing kind of an army crawl walrus walk thing. I told him he's going to get a rug burn but he said he was fine. Turns out, he totally wrecked the top of his foot. Most of the skin was gone. So I've been doing my best to keep it wrapped and help it heal. It's the size of a gauze pad. It's getting a lot better but it was pretty painful for several days. It'll probably leave a permanent scar.

 

So. That's one story. haha. We were at a thrift store recently when this woman in a Snow White costume comes up to us and says "hey do you guys give prayers of healing... you know... blessings?" And I responded affirmatively and she said "I could use a blessing before you guys leave." So. Elder Grill was pretty uncomfortable because he didn't know what to do but I had us walk out to the parking lot and gave her a brief blessing there. She's apparently LDS and reads the book of Mormon and stuff but. It was way odd. I guess I mean she was way odd. Apparently she's trying to get to Hollywood. haha. You never know who or what you'll run into.

 

We spoke in Newberry Springs on Sunday. Only Elder Grill and I were speaking and he took about 15 minutes so that left me with plenty of time. I took about 25 minutes, expounding on several of the Articles of Faith and how we can all use them as a tool to call upon in missionary work. The branch members are all odd, some good some bad, but you can tell they all have a strong testimony of the gospel.

 

The maintenance guy for our apartment complex has been talking to us a little recently. He goes to his own Christian church, but he was curious about various aspects of our life as missionaries, like meals, what we do for fun, if we get paid as missionaries, etc. The conversation about payment turned into talking about how members help us out with dinners and he asked if he could bring us dinner some time. So he brought the 4 of us pizza last night, him and another guy from his church that pitched in. He was curious about how some of our beliefs differed from other Christians. He asked a question about the Godhead; I don't remember how he worded it but it was worded pretty confusingly. It was funny; all the 3 other missionaries slowly turned towards me with the same expression when he asked it. haha. He was basically asking about if other Christians believed that God the father came down as Christ. I told him yes many Christians do believe that, but then explained our belief and shared a couple scriptures where you see all 3 separate beings manifested at once. Then he had a look that was like "now I'm not sure which to believe." He said "well. Either way. I believe in Jesus as my savior and so do you guys and so do other Christians, and that's what really matters." We gave him a book of Mormon and he said he'd read it. There's possibly some potential there; you never know.

 

We're teaching a woman named Janeen. She met with the missionaries before and was pretty close to being baptized but got sick and was in and out of the hospital for a while and started smoking again. We've picked her back up and she wants to be baptized still but the same hurdle of smoking will have to be crossed.

 

About the package you sent... I got it almost a week ago. The zls brought it all the way to Barstow and were like "wait. We brought this all the way here and you're not going to open it?" So I finally gave in to peer pressure. BUT! I stopped there; the packages are all wrapped still! It's been hard waiting so long but not impossible. haha. Um. The garments you sent definitely aren't mine. The one pair I left behind had only been worn a few times. If they've disappeared, oh well I guess. :)

 

One question; should I send a card for Jeren to gma and gpa's house or just send it home? Let me know on Monday when I email again.

 

I love you guys! Thank you for all your continual support and encouragement. I need all the help I can get ...and then some. ha.

Love,

Elder Browning

Baptism!

October 23, 2012

Hi family!

We have an appointment that I have to leave for sooner than I'd like so I'll hurry.

It was a rough week through Friday. Most of our appointments fell through and several people we've been teaching dropped us. One guy out in Newberry Springs calls himself a dry Mormon because he's been to church a lot and has been researching Mormonism for years but hasn't joined. He wants to but his family is super opposed so he told us to hold off for now. I'm hoping his family (especially his daughter) will soften their hearts sometime soon.

Besides that, we had a pretty sweet day on Saturday! Vera's baptism was awesome! We met with her on Thursday to finish figuring out all the specifics like songs and speakers and what not and we were talking about who would baptize her, suggesting various members she had gotten to know in the ward when she said to me "well... could you baptize me?" I'd thought about the possibility that she might ask me but I wasn't expecting it. But I definitely said yes! So that was definitely a tender mercy from the Lord that I am very grateful for. She really is awesome. We might get an extra trip to the temple since she and a few other recent converts want to take some names and do baptisms. The Spirit was very strong at the service on Saturday. It was the 4th service I've been to as a missionary but I've never felt it that strongly. About half of the people in attendance were in tears. None of her family came but her dad is more respectful towards her about the church. I don't know if I told you this. I think I may have. She was planning on taking her life just before she found us. Of course I wouldn't have known otherwise, but in hindsight, the bigger picture almost breaks my heart. This truly is the Lord's work. Things happen on His timing. There can be no other explanation. She texted us Saturday night and said "today has been the best day of my life :)." What a wonderful experience.

Well that was the big highlight of the week obviously. haha. Transfer calls came Sunday morning and Grill and I are staying together another transfer. Patch and Newton, my district mates, are both going to be training new missionaries. Newton is getting transferred. I'll continue to be the district leader. According to President Godwin's trend, I will be training next transfer. It's pretty much already decided. haha.

I started the Bible 3 weeks ago and I'm on track to finish it by Christmas. I'm close to 2 Samuel. There are parts that are pretty dry (like Leviticus) but it's fairly interesting. There's a few aspects that I really like and I'm starting to like it more and more as I read it every day.

So we had an odd experience on Saturday. We had spent some time at the library basically researching the issues in our ballots (like I said, we'd already been given permission. haha) and when we were leaving some guys runs up to us and says "hey are you guys on your missions?" We talked to him for a minute and it turns out he was fairly interesting in Mormons and wanted to know more so we gave him our number and he said he'd call us later. So later comes and he calls and asks for me and basically tells me to convert him with my best sales pitch. Over the phone. I'm kinda like uhh... can we meet up sometime? Haha. I'm not a salesman. I'm a young goofy man that has a special truth that I'm trying to share with whoever will listen. So we set up a time to meet but he had a sudden financial emergency and now has to leave Barstow. Hopefully he will find the church wherever he ends up.

So I got the packages. It's still 2 weeks until my birthday so I just opened them haha. The battery fixed the problem... at first. But the same problem came back the next time I turned on the camera. So I knew at that point that it wasn't the battery. I monkeyed around with it for a while and found a short in the circuitry that I was able to jimmy so that now it's working again. So it wasn't the battery. The old battery still works but I guess I'll hold on to the newer one for when the old one does give out. And thank you so much for the protein! I be getting pumped up now. haha. So a while ago I said I had gotten up to 60 push ups or something but they weren't good push ups. I wasn't extending my elbow all the way. So I decided to extend my elbow all the way and I only did like 33. haha. This was back in June I think. So I've been working from that point and just hit 68. I have a goal to reach 100 by the end of my mission and I think I might actually reach it. We'll have to see

I've been talking to Elder Bagley back in Wrightwood. He's training a new missionary that is a big pain. My life is easy compared to his. One of the members even called me and was like can you come back? We miss you and this new missionary is rude and Bagley is struggling. There's not much I can do about the situation besides listen and try to empathize. He's probably going to call and talk to me again tonight.

Anyways. I'm trekin along! Us 4 missionaries sang in church on Sunday. We sang the army of helaman so that was pretty cool. Mom, I felt the same way about all 5 amendments/propositions as you to be honest. It just reafirms how I felt. The benefits just don't do enough to outweigh the negative affects and aspects of those propositions.

One last thing, P day is Wednesday next week because we'll be going to the 8:15 session of the temple! Hopefully. We have to find a ride but we're like 80 miles away so it will be tough. I might be able to get permission to drive the 4 of us myself if we can't find a ride though.

The church is true. This work is the Lord's. I've found that a mission is a 2 year test/trial of faith. That's really all it is. I know I'll be blessed in the end as long as I continue to faithfully do my part.

Love,

Elder Browning

C Scott Grew... Just a Little

October 16, 2012

Hey fam!

The week was in some ways slower but at the same time it wasn't. We found a few new investigators, but I don't know how promising they are. We started teaching 2 different couple out in the Newberry Springs area. Lee and Tina Frey and Bill and Pat Smith. I was on an exchange with Elder Smith (the one that was serving in Phelan and is now a zone leader) so I haven't met Bill and Pat. I guess they've been researching churches, especially ours, for years. We have dinner and a lesson with them this week though so I'll get a better idea then. Tina and lee are pretty open to learn but probably won't change. We'll see. They're pretty po-dunk. haha. Missin some... teef... "gators are so angry cuz they got all them teef and no toofbrush!" Hopefully Jeren knows what I'm quoting. HA.

Vera is getting baptized this saturday! We're super excited. I'll try and get pics from Grill's camera. We talked about the priesthood and she understood it pretty well. I'm not sure who is going to perform her baptism and confirmation. I have a feeling I might end up doing one of the two so that'll be pretty SWEET.

The other missionaries had two baptisms Saturday, a woman and her 9 year old son. I got to interview them and it was actually a pretty spiritual experience. Thomas, who was baptized a few weeks ago, got ordained a priest yesterday by Elder Grill.

Speaking of Elder Grill, he was up sick all Saturday night. I didn't think he would be up for church but I gave him a blessing with another elder from the ward and he didn't throw up again after that.

Well we saw Scott Grow! ha. ...sorry that's a lame joke. Anyways, we had a good meeting with C Scott Grow. He talked a lot about goal setting and some new ideas that we're going to implement. He also talked about less active work. President Monson read a scripture to the general authorities in Ezekiel that talks about the shepherds that are only feeding themselves and not the flock. So Elder Grow brought that scripture to us and the stake presidents. A lot of missionaries don't like less active work but I don't mind it. I guess there are more disobedient missionaries in the valley. Apparently Elder Grow was a little more "in their face" at their meeting (he had one for the desert and one for the valley) and is going to be doing follow up in a month. Oh well. Hopefully it's what they needed to hear.

You're sending me birthday presents early?? Oh goodness. I have to choose whether or not to open them? Great. At least that means I'll be for sure getting more mail. The only mail I've received since the first of September was your letter and package mom. I also just got a letter from Crystal on Saturday. Hopefully that trend is broken! haha

Some other ideas of things you could send from home... I think I left a pair of garments at home. I have to say, I'm never buying drilux crew neck garments again. The neck shrinks and it's almost like a turtleneck. The cotton ones are fine and the drilux round neck is good. Also, my neck is a tad bit wider and my shirts are tight at the neck. If you feel like sending me a long sleeve 16" neck that would be awesome. Oh! It's cold in the mornings and I wouldn't mind a headband when I go jogging. Is my "NB" headband still around?

That's everything I can think of. You don't have to send any of it if you already have in mind what you're sending. But if you wanted a few more ideas, there you go :)

When are Jeren's wedding pictures coming? Oh speaking of Jeren, one of the families here has a son named Jaren. We had dinner with them last night and it was SO WEIRD to hear Jeren's name said aloud. "Jaren will you pass the water?" etc etc. I did a double take every time his name was said haha. They served couscous and chicken cordon bleu. Mmm

Until next week, this has been Elder Browning, reporting live from Barstow.

Love,

Elder Browning

A Momentous Conference

October 8, 2012

Hey guys

What an announcement about the minimum age of missionaries huh? I could have left in June over a year ago and be about at the 18th month mark right now If the new rule had been in effect when I graduated. That's way cool for the the young women though. Now SO many more sisters can serve. I wonder if many of the girls I graduated with will head out right away. It will definitely cause a LOT more girls to seriously think about it. I bet the number of sister missionaries with multiply 4 fold over the next few years.

 

Well this week was just okay. Kinda blah. The other missionaries had a baptism fall through the day it was supposed to happen. The guy hadn't been able to keep the word of wisdom and we had to call a bunch of people and tell them the baptism was cancelled. That was a bummer. I also tweaked my neck somehow and it bothered me for several days. The mission nurse said I probably just slept on it wrong but it wasn't that kind of tweak. I first noticed it when I reached for something at dinner and lifted that bowl (potatoes I think) and it pinched in the back of my neck. It's gotten better but I'm still being careful. I also ate something that didn't agree with me. I don't throw up easily. So it just bothered me all of Wednesday. Darn spicy chili. haha.

We've had a few investigators drop us and haven't really been able to get a hold of all the others besides Vera. We'll keep trying though.

 

Vera is doing awesome. We've taught her all the missionary lessons and reviewed the interview questions for baptism and she passed with flying colors. She's going to wait until the 20th because weekends work best and the 13th is her brother's birthday. I love talking to her about the Bible because she has a great knowledge and understanding and her understanding has deepened a lot since she's started reading the Book of Mormon. She's super excited. She watched conference with us at the church yesterday and got up twice to go get tissues.

 

I really enjoyed conference. I have never taken as many notes as I did this time. I had a hard time with Uchtdorf's talk. He emphasized the importance of family and how we should regularly spend meaningful time with our families. It's been hard to have almost no family or friends as a part of my life for the last almost 9 months. Ah well. what do you do. They talked a lot about service and coming unto/back to christ. I hope some non members in barstow tuned in for Elder Nelson's talk.

 

Elder Grill hopped on the organ after the 2nd session yesterday and I got on the piano. It was kinda fun to play and improvise on a few songs together.

I had kind of a funny thing happen the other day. Well. It reminded me of a different similar funny occurrence. We were visiting an older woman and the whole time I was just bored out of my mind. I don't remember what she and elder grill were talking about. School and teaching people and stuff I think. Anyways. I was trying to just stay alert and I saw a black widow running on the ground towards her. I jumped out of my chair in between the two of them and slammed my foot on the spider. It was just kind of funny because it totally interrupted everything. I don't know. haha. Back in garrison creek ward one time I was ushering and I heard a slight commotion behind me and turned around and saw sister Tagart looking frantic. I then looked back forward and saw a giant spider running across the aisle and lept up and slammed my foot down on it in the middle of sacrament meeting. Lindsey halversen was out in the foyer and started laughing pretty hard. Sister Tagart wrote me a thank you card about it a few days later. haha

 

A few random q's. Did aubree and ryan get my goofy and slightly terrible pictures? Also... this is really random. How is the Nielsen family back in Washington? Besides Laura who is probably at school somewhere. I can't recall the last time I heard anything about them. I know they visited us like 2 years ago or something but it's been a while. They randomly crossed my mind several days ago and I thought I'd ask.

 

We have a mission tour with C Scott Grow this week. That'll be cool. Or he will throw down and we'll all be brought to a knowledge of our guilt. haha. The temple is closed this month, so we're supposed to go sometime in probably early November.

 

If a new battery works for the carmera that's cool. You can send me more StUfF for my birthday that way :) haha. The battery was holding a charge fine up until this point but it's definitely possible. I would think it would have needed to be charged more and more frequently and then have died but it is almost 4 years old now. haha. We'll see. Its a Nikon Coolpix S610.

I guess then the only things I'd specifically ask for would be what I've mentioned before. Protein and music. haha. I know I'm just oh so helpful.

 

Sorry if this email is LAme. haha. I'll try and make next weeks more exciting.

Peace!

Elder Browning

The First of Octember

October 1, 2012

Hey family!

We had a bit of a slower week, but a lot of that was due to the fact that we were preparing our lesson for Sunday. The whole time we were preparing our 5th Sunday lesson I kept thinking about the size of the Wrightwood ward and not the size of the Barstow ward. Barstow used to be two wards and is now just one big ward. So for our lesson we wound up using the projector and almost filling the stake center sized chapel. I was fairly nervous mostly because elder grill knew what he wanted to say but I had done more of the technological prep stuff. Video clips, quotes, an interactive study section, etc. But it worked out pretty well in the end. I'm good at winging stuff and we both had plenty to say. We taught the ward about missionary work and how they can be better missionaries. One young mother talked to us afterwards and tearfully expressed how she's going through a trial that has to do with missionary work and that we were inspired to say some of the things we said. So that was pretty awesome.

 

I was on an exchange on Wednesday with Elder Patch. He's pretty cool. We taught like 5 lessons that day and it was awesome. At our last appointment, we were teaching a woman named Andrea the Plan of Salvation and her boyfriend Ray showed up. We had just talked about Adam and Eve and he had some questions about that. I don't remember specifically what he asked but Elder Patch and I answered him and he didn't seem satisfied. He rephrased his question and we rephrased our answers but... still didn't work. I felt prompted to go to the scriptures and I read a few verses in Moses. When I looked up, Ray has this incredulous look on his face and said "wow... that makes so much sense. I need to read this. I gotta... I gotta read this book." He then randomly brought up the idea of becoming like Gods and I went to the Bible (2 Cor 7 I think) where it says we will be joint heirs with Christ. He thought that was way cool too and that it supported what he believed. He committed to be baptized and we gave him a blessing too since he had thrown out his back. He was tearful after the blessing and it was just an awesome experience. It's so cool and I am so grateful when the Spirit is present and influences me as a missionary.

 

I think I'm going to sandwich the bad news in my email. So. Bad news: my camera (Jeren's camera) is dying! I think it has a short in the circuitry. When I turn it on, it turns itself off within like 3 seconds. No lense error or anything, it just shuts down. If I hold down the power button when I turn it on I can use it normally to navigate or take pictures still but as soon as I let go of that button it turns itself off again. So it works, but it doesn't. I'll keep using it when I really need/want to take pictures but it's going to be quite a hassle. I might try and take it apart to see if I can fix it. Who knows. But I guess you can cancel pretty much all my birthday requests or move them to Christmas and send me a new camera instead. Or vice versa. haha. I guess I'll just add to that general "want" list and you can use your discretion :) I wouldn't mind some protein mix. My district mates are muscle heads and I might start P90x soon.

 

Vera is continually progressing. She's so awesome! She continually eats up everything we teach her. She spends most of her free time studying the scriptures. Like she'll even spend 3 or 4 hours in a day if she doesn't have too much homework. Crazy. Besides one or two more lessons she's ready to be baptized. She often talks about how other churches didn't understand her and didn't seem to understand some scriptures in the way that they're written and how everything we've been teaching her just makes so much sense. She loved the Plan of Salvation. She talked about how she had been thirsty for more, that something was missing in the scriptures and in her church. It's so COOL to see her light up more and more each time we visit with her. Did I already tell you she wants to serve a mission? Crazy! :)

 

So with things like who gets the last cookie or something like that, I'll sometimes jokingly say "I'll fight you for it," especially with my companion. I don't say it often but Elder Grill has decided to adopt it as his defensive phrase after he does something dorky. haha. He says something like "okay I'm going to stop now since I value my life." It makes me laugh because we really haven't gotten mad at each other much or anything. A few nights ago he said something similar and I said "you don't even know that I could beat you up" and he said "yes I do. You're bigger than me." And I looked at him and back at me and back at him and raised an eyebrow at him and he said, patting his stomach, "well. I'm bigger this way, but you have more muscle than me!" And I looked back at me and back at him and said "Grill, you weigh 50 pounds more than me." And he's like "so?!" So I was like alright lets go arm wrestle. And I uh... almost threw him out of his chair. haha. Poor guy. We did a stick pull too since he said he was a LOT better at that and he barely beat me after like a solid 6 or 7 seconds. We're going to do best 2 out of 3 though.

 

Umm what else. I got Paul Cardall's "New Life" cd. It's freaking AWESOME. I've grown to love beautiful, modern, classical-style music; strings, piano, maybe slight percussion and guitar... It's so good! I might make a copy and send the original home so that you can enjoy it too.

 

Anyways. That's what's up. It's October now but the highs are 100 for the next 3 days. Bah. Oh well. Only 1 or 2 more weeks of heat and then it'll just be warm and you can all be jealous when you get snow on Halloween :) haha.

Love, Peace... and preferably not war,

Elder Browning

8 Months

September 24, 2012

Hola Familia!

Well we had a pretty good week here in sticky barstow! We had a baptism yesterday that went well. I got to take part in the confirmation. His name is Thomas. He's already signed up to go on splits with us. He's super pumped. He comes to other lessons with us sometimes as well. President and Sister Godwin showed up so that was pretty cool.

We set a baptismal date with Vera! She's awesome. She asks questions that are almost impossible to answer without going into deep doctrine. Questions relating to predestination and fore-ordination, salvation, questions about like the Joseph Smith papers and his translation of the Bible, etc. She takes notes during lessons, church, and as she reads the Book of Mormon. Whenever she asks a question (oftentimes it's over text since we don't get to meet with her every day), Elder Grill always hands the phone to me. haha. It's weird I've gone from someone to often ask questions to now being someone that other missionaries regularly come to with questions. Most of the time I have to ask the zone leaders but. Whatever. haha.

Oh! The Assistants called. They said my district led the mission in teaching member present lessons last week. Not just barely, but by a lot. Elder Maisey (who used to be my zone leader) laughed when I asked him by how much and he said "um. By at least one, I'll tell you that much." So that was pretty cool. We taught 20 member present lessons between the two companionships which is... a ton. haha. I wish I could take credit for half of them, but it's really the other two missionaries in my district. They're on fire. They have 8 investigators with baptismal dates right now, so I'm going to be conducting a lot of interviews in the upcoming weeks hopefully.

A package huh? It's almost my birthday so you could probably just wait a couple weeks (like 5 weeks I think? Wow I'm almost 20...) and send one then. There isn't really anything I need but I'm always happy with whatever you choose to send :) ties? music? Paul Cardall and jon Schmidt? :D haha. Actually, I do have a request for my birthday. I would love to have Settlers of catan. We don't do zone activities on mondays as much because our miles got cut and we have more free time. We played monopoly and I won in like 2 hours. haha

So. Elder Grill. haha. He's still weird, but we're getting along a little better. It's funny that you mention charity. I took the Christlike attributes test again (I take it about once a transfer) and I've been doing really well and improved in almost every area a point or two except for in charity. Charity actually went down... haha. My number in charity has always been fairly high but still, obviously I need to work on it more. Anyways. He's a good teacher, but he likes to talk a lot. We're getting smoother though. Oh here's something else to show you kind of what he's like. So I had just started my studies and it was like 8:05 and he walks up behind me and just stands there. I look back at him finally and huff "whaat?" And he goes "good morning." And then goes and sits at his desk. It's not like super annoying or anything just... really odd. haha. He has a strong testimony and is out for the right reasons though.

Barstow is hot! And it's starting to get dark and scary at like 7 now. Temps are still in the upper 90s, hitting 100 sometimes. We're living in our own apartment. The kitchen is small and the shower head is wayy to short I have to squat to wash my hair but other than that it's nice. We have a car since we cover all the way out to Nevada - yermo, dagget, newberry springs and baker. Don't worry I'll end up on a bike eventually. haha

Dad it sounds like you're way busy. I wish I was around to help you out a little. I didnt ever do a lot but I'm sure it made a small dent. Saved you at least an hour or two. haha. It sounds like sooner or later you're going to have to eventually let one of your businesses go :/ hopefully it becomes more obvious which is the better choice soon.

Wait. What? 4 peeps getting married? Wow. Megan you better tell nakale she owes me an announcement!

One last thing. In church yesterday, one of the speakers was telling a story about a time when he was in a crowd and got separated from his daughter. He said he gave a silent prayer and the crowd parted at the right time so he could see his daughter about 50 feet away. It reminded me of when we went to Disneyland and after that Mickey's lights show thing with the boat and stuff how we got separated from Aubree. I remember we realized that and I think I made eye contact with you mom and then bolted back into the crowd. I said a silent prayer asking for my steps to be guided to where Aubree was. I got back to where we'd been, kept going, went up a few steps, and there she was. That was a tender moment for me and I'd kind of forgotten about it until the guy in church shared his experience. It's a testimony builder to me that God is watching out for us, knows us, and listens to our prayers.

Alrighty. Well. I'm outta here! haha

Love,

Elder Browning

The Armpit

Hey family!

Well. Looks like you already know. I am indeed in great ol Barstow! The armpit of California. HA. It's pretty ghetto but there's plenty of work to do. Hot sweaty work. haha. Luckily It has cooled down about 10-15 degrees in the past few weeks so it's about 100 degrees instead of 115.

Since I've arrived the work has suddenly sky rocketed. We haven't really changed anything but it's like investigators are suddenly falling out of the sky. We went to Yermo and there was a member family who's wife wanted a blessing. Turns out that they had not been in contact with the church for a while and the younger two boys aren't members but want to be. Also, a girl showed up at church saying she wants to be a member. I guess missionaries had talked to her once before but her mom had said no but she's 18 now and super positive; she's already reading the Book of Mormon. We also got a street contact with a girl named Tressel (sp?) and when we went back to teach her she had a friend there and they both listened to our lesson and said they felt "really good chills." So we're really excited about all these people that we have to teach. It's pretty sweet.

The Yoakums ran into gma and gpa huh? That's cool :) the Yoakums are pretty hilarious.

I was thinking today that I'll never get used to hot weather. Maybe by the end of next summer but I doubt it. I'm just not a fan of being all sweaty. haha. Oh well.

So being a district leader isn't bad so far. I haven't had to conduct a district meeting yet though. Our district is very young. My companion has been out 3 months and the other missionaries have each been out 4 and a half months. They're some of the hardest working missionaries I've ever seen though and they're doing amazingly well.

My new companion's name is Elder Grill. He's... weird. Like. A lot. But he's a hard worker and he can teach so I'm happy with that for sure. He calls himself a musician a lot. Like a lot lot. He plays piano and sings.

Oh hey! I didn't tell you this week but we were helping a family move up in Wrightwood and they had a bunch of stuff that they were just getting rid of. They told us to help ourselves to anything there and I saw a keyboard stand. I wasn't expecting anything to come of it but I bluntly said "that looks like a keyboard stand." She got all excited and said "there's a keyboard too! Do you want it? Do you play piano? Take it! :)" I was just like... wha...? So. I got a keyboard! And I've held on to it. haha. Grill is pretty happy about that.

I heard something pretty cool yesterday that I wanted to share with you. We were talking about the Spirit and I heard a way sweet analogy. If you have a glass of water and you dump the water out, what's filling the glass? Many would say, "nothing," but really there is air filling that space; there is always something filling the space. And the same goes with ourselves and our hearts. If we lose the Spirit of God and have not His spirit in our heart, what is filling it? Nothing? No. If it is not fillied by the Spirit of God than it is filled by the spirit of the devil. So. Think about that :)

It's weird having been the junior companion for so long and now being looked up to by multiple other missionaries as a guide for answers, teaching, conduct, and just plain leadership. Elder Grill always goes telling people that "I'm the district leader" and I want to quickly put a stop to that. haha.

Well I'm running out of time. We've had a tight schedule today. Laundry is more time consuming since we have to go to members' houses to do it.

The church is true! The work is true! I've always said that God could just plop people to teach into our laps if He felt so inclined. Now look! I told you it was possible ;) haha

Love,

Elder Browning

Guess Who Grandma & Grandpa Browning Met?

Sept 12, 2012

This was written to us ABOUT Nelson, but not written by Nelson:

Hi everybody,

We just returned from a trip to the Clarks' Nutrition Center-- where we buy the cottage cheese and flax oil that Dad uses.  Anyway, we were shopping along, minding our business when, flash, bam, kalamazam, a couple said "Look, there's the missionaries"

 

Of course, she had to mean me..as Elder Browning was still dawdling behind checking out labels.

 

So we began talking and guess where they were from...Wrightwood.  So we had a talk about one of their all time favorite missionaries, Elder Browning.

 

I have to tell you that they said "He is a great missionary",  taught a class in Sunday School and "He is a great teacher."  Their names are Jay and Pat Yokum.  And they love Nelson.  "He's quite a guy."  Green as grass when he came, but he has seasoned well.

 

Just in case you don't know yet, he has been transferred, but they did not know where.  They were sure going to miss him.

 

It's always nice to get a report from someone who really knows these missionaries and they seem to know him well.  Said Monday he came over to get pictures and gave them a CD.  They just love him.

 

Just thought you would like a report. We'll be anxious to hear where he is.  He's been there 7 months.

Love Elder & Sister Browning

Goodbye Wrightwood!

September 10, 2012 (Nelson was not able to email over Labor Day)

Hey Family!

Boy that was sure a lot of reading! So Jeren and Lauren living at grandma and grandpa's house? It wasn't clearly stated in your email but it's definitely implied. I wasn't sure where they were going to stay. That's pretty cool; there are so many great memories at that house.

Well. So. Yup! Transfer calls came Saturday and I'm leaving Wrightwood! I won't know where I'm going until tomorrow morning. Actually, if they called tonight and told me to go to the desert transfer meeting instead of the one down the hill, I'd be either in Big Bear or Barstow. Otherwise it's anyone's guess as to where I end up. Additionally, the assistants called elder Bagley and he will be training a new missionary! He's stressed about it but he will do a good job. I was just glad they didn't ask to talk to me next! Or so I thought... They called back an hour later and asked to talk to me and called me to be a district leader! Ahh!  I dunno if I'm ready but apparently the Lord thinks I am! haha. Yikes. That means I'll be the senior companion too. Great! Hopefully I don't get too stressed. haha.

A lot of the week was spent running errands. We went to Hesperia the dentist Wednesday to pick up that bite guard thing and Bishop (doc) Wheeler didn't like how it fit so they said they would make another one and to come back Friday. So we came back Friday and that one somehow had warped a little, so we stayed in Hesperia while they made a third one and that one works well. So that pretty much killed the whole day Friday.

Wednesday evening we had dinner with Gary and Brittany. They said they've started to pray about when to get married and to me it seems like they're praying more for the courage and comfort to choose to get married right away rather than wait for all their family's convenience. We're (or at least Bagley and his greenie) going to start a fast with them in a week to help them receive an answer. They have desires to choose the right, but sometimes we all need a little extra help and encouragement since God's way often differs from the normalities and comforts of the world.

I'm glad you enjoyed the cd I sent! It's definitely not the best stuff in the world and far from professional, but I think it shows that I've improved at least a little. haha.

We visited the Smith family again last night and taught them about the importance of scripture study. Before we left they expressed how glad they were that they had gotten to know me and said some very touching words to me. I almost got emotional but. You know me. Guess I'm a little stiff. haha. We snuck over to their house last night and decorated their car with balloons and streamers. We made a huge thank you card with a bunch of pictures of insides jokes and what not and left it on the windshield. It was a fun project and we're stopping by briefly this afternoon to get pictures with them so we'll see what they thought about it. haha

Well that was pretty much my week. The Brook family want to see me before I leave so we'll go over there tonight. I'll try and send a few pictures before I run out of time.

I love you all! I'll let you know where I end up next week.

Love,

Elder Browning