Strength & Confidence

Heya fam

So. Wrightwood. Haha. My new comp's name is Elder Bagley. He's a hard worker. I think we've done more work in the several days we've been together than all of last transfer combined. haha. Not really, but we've been working hard. We have some return appointment this week with some former investigators that were taught a few years ago. We're hoping they end up really amounting to something. We met with the Bishop and went over the ward list and compiled a lot of names of less active families and families neither us nor he knew. So we've got like 16 or so families to try this week. Lots of lost members in Wrightwood I guess. haha.

I finally made pancakes from your pancake mix. They were bomb :) especially with my caramel bombsauce! haha. I made caramel syrup and it actually turned out pretty well. Not as good as Jana's, but I liked it. I made enough for my companion and for the member we live with and they were both impressed. I don't know if I told you this, but before Wadsworth left, he said "I've enjoyed every thing you've ever cooked, elder browning." So. Maybe I do have some skill in cooking. haha.

I'm finding out more and more that I'm a lot like dad. I'm starting to wear large size shirts. I hate not being the driver whenever we drive somewhere. My 32 inch waist jeans are tight, meaning I'll probably buy 33x32 or 33x34 after my mission. I weigh about 165 pounds. I open up and become a bit of a goofball and source of humor in comfortable situations. haha. Weird huh? Just something I was thinking about.

I've had a few instances lately where either someone says something about my physical strength or it's just made apparent. We were helping an older woman clear some weeds the other day, half of which was sagebrush. She wanted the area cleared so that her husband could sit outside in the shade there (the area was under a very big tree). Her husband had a stroke several years ago and is stuck in bed or in a wheel chair. She was hoping that we could yank up the weeds and take the roots with them so that they wouldn't grow back again. Elder Bagley couldn't, so he told me good luck and worked on the smaller weeds and on raking the area. So, I worked on the larger plants and got most of them out of the ground with their root in tow. haha. We were filling an old garbage can that she had wanted to throw away afterwards with our weeds and such but when we went to throw it into the dumpster, we realized the thing weighed like 300 pounds. We tried to lift it up together but the balance wasn't working and such, so I had Bagley just steer it and keep it steady while I got underneath it and threw it up and into the dumpster. Twas... fun. haha.

Another odd experience happened last night actually. We were just talking to Jeff in our room (the member we live with) when we heard some footsteps and saw a shadow go by outside our window. We spent the next while cautiously looking around. Jeff used to do MMA fighting. We didn't find anyone, but our adrenaline took a while to die down so we didn't get to bed until midnight. Anyways. While that was going on I was talking with Jeff about his fighting days and stuff and we sparred just a little bit for fun to kinda shake out the willies. haha. He told me something kind of cool. At least I think so. haha. He said "There are a lot of good fighters out there that are built like you. Long and lean, but able to take some and dish it out too. Plus, you have the heart for it." I'm never going to get into fighting, but it was still cool to hear from him.

Anyways. I do like the cardboard cutout idea. haha. Think of things you might like me to record that you could play back. I told Jeren that maybe you could even have several responses. Like a Q&A thing. (This is an idea we've had to display a life-size poster of Nelson at Jeren's wedding reception.)

As far as dear elder goes, I really enjoyed getting that mass letter. If you could add mitchell willmore's and james rose's letters, that'd be awesome. Tanner emails me the email he sends home every week, so you don't need to include his.

I like that scripture. I'd forgotten it. I'll go mark it later today.

Well. That's my update for today! :) Pray for me and my companion and the people of Wrightwood that their hearts may be softened and prepared to hear the word of God.

Love ya!

Elder Browning