Happy Easter

Hey fam! Happy Easter :)

I got the package! Got it in the mail just a little bit ago. So I'll finish going through it later, but I read the easter card at least. The song was funny :) thank you so much for being willing to send me packages so often. How often did you send stuff for Jeren? Maybe he was just more prepared and less "needy" than I am. haha. I do appreciate it though :)

I really liked Elder Oak's talk too. It was my favorite from that morning session.

We're baptizing Amber this Saturday! She is still going to move to San Diego (Escondido actually) with Mariah and Cody (Mariah and Cody already moved) but is getting baptized here first. So that's way exciting! It will be Wrightwood's first baptism since November. She's progressed really well. It's been way cool to see her testimony grow. She came to us last Tuesday and said "so... I had 3 different dreams about baptism." She prayed about it after she woke up in the middle of the night the 3rd night she dreamt about it. Way cool :)

We continue to do service. We've helped some families in Phelan move and spent a nice afternoon this last week walking through the town picking up trash (we'd asked the chamber of commerce if there was service we could do for the town).
I've had some pretty cool experiences playing basketball. Not like... missionary experiences... but like, unexpected compliments. We play Wednesday nights at the church and a lot of non-members come. The first game my team lost but I scored 6 of our 10 points. We only play to 11 so we can rotate more teams in because a lot of people come. But I sat on the edge of the stage afterwards and there was a high priest from our ward that just looked at me, nodding his head and smiling. He said "You're quite a baller Browning. So you played in high school?" It's disappointing to have to tell people that I never did.  We played a game called gatorball or smashball today, which is like rugby mixed with soccer. We play in the gym and the goals are two folding chairs, one at each end of the room. The object of the game is to either throw the ball or kick it and hit the chair. You can only hold the ball if someone else kicks it up to you, and if someone from the other team tags you, you have to drop it. It's way fun!  Now I'm way tired though. haha

Hey I did have a question. I got Suzanne's letter with Nathan's address... but is it pouch mail? What does that mean then, and what steps/rules do I need to know and follow about writing him?

Another heads up: next week, my zone is going to the temple so P-Day with be WEDnesday. Thus, I won't email until Wednesday next week (the 18th). Just didn't want you fretting when you don't hear from me next Monday :)

I love you guys! I really do :) I'll send baptism pictures next week!

Love,

Elder Browning

General Conference Week

Hi family!

 

Boy wasn't that a good conference? They focused on families a lot. I really enjoyed it. At the priesthood session at the church building, they couldn't get the picture to work; they couldn't find the chords that they usually used. I pulled out one of the tv sets from the library, hooked a couple things up, and got it working. Haha. Gotta use my skills at least once a week right? :)

One of the seventy said something interesting yesterday afternoon. He said that it's important to do more than just email, that hard copy letters have more meaning - they are something that one can enjoy and refer back to and read again. Hmmm... I liked that comment ;) haha.

Thank you so much for the package!...'s. since there were two. :) the shirts are perfect and the cookbook is great :) it was funny though when I pulled out the shoes... they're Jeren's old shoes! Haha I'd totally forgotten we even still had those. They fit and are sturdy though, so I'm definitely not complaining :). Also, thank you so much for the cds. Our cd player broke this morning, but we had a few days to enjoy them first. I'm hoping to pick up some cds by Brandon Flowers and Mercy Me (lds artists that sing Christ-centered music) as well as The Garden. Love that cd. It's the best! it's fantastic! :)

So I gave a blessing for the first time this last week. I'd been in the circle or annointed several times, but never done an actual blessing. Mariah and Cody's son had been crying nonstop all day and they asked for us to give him a blessing. It was interesting... in the blessing I ended up saying "we bless you that the fear that you're feeling will leave, and that you will feel comforted." None of us thought he was afraid, but apparently that's what it was! He was smiling his big beaming smile afterwards; it was great. Don't worry mom, I wrote it in my journal haha. I'll send a picture of him in a minute. Unfortunately we helped their family move on Saturday. Cody got laid off of work a month or two ago and found a job in San Diego, so they moved down there the other day. They're also taking our only progressing investigator! Mariah's good friend Amber has been interested in the church, and we've been teaching her and she's been to church like 3 times now. She's still waiting to find out for herself about baptism for sure... but she does want to be baptized. She's moving down to San Diego with Mariah and Cody (who are now married. hooray!) which I'm sure will be very positive for her, since they're her strongest friends in the church. Amber is staying up here for another week or two or three though, and said she wants Elder Wadsworth to baptize her once she's ready, so we'll see where that goes. She watched the afternoon session of conference with us yesterday and enjoyed it.

Speaking of afternoon session and watching it together, we watched it at the Jorgensons; the family who were friends with Grandma and Grandpa Snow. Sister Jorgenson gave me a very meaningful compliment. She said that the more she's gotten to know me, the more she can see Grandma Snow in me. What a great compliment :) I should put that in my journal too... haha.

We had another neat experience Saturday night. After the priesthood session, elder Wadsworth and I felt impressed to visit the Wilson family. They're a less active family that haven't been to church in several years. They're a great family; inviting, funny, with a strong marriage. They ended up really opening up to us, especially sister Wilson. She talked about how it's been hard for her to go to church since she's had so many bad experiences with unkind, uncaring, unchristlike members. But she said she grew up in the church and it's how she's gained her knowledge that the church is true, and she wants her kids to have what she has. We asked if we could help their family start saying family prayer and reading the Book of Mormon together, and they said sure! We're visiting them tomorrow night. Elder Wadsworth has been trying to help them and get them to open up since last August. It's interesting that the Lord's time is really not our time, and that sometimes he makes missionaries (and... everyone. haha) wait a long time and be faithful and diligent, even with seemingly no success, before progress shows. We're hoping to see them at church in a week or two.

Are you excited for easter?? What are your plans? I get to... focus on the savior. but I always do that. So. Might be like any other day. haha :) It's a good time to really reflect on Him and his atonement and resurrection, and just what that really means for each of us personally.

Thanks again for everything. For the pictures, for the packages, for your prayers and your emails. It's helping me hang in there :) haha.

I love you guys!

Elder Browning