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!