Stoke the Fire!

January 28, 2013

Hey fam!

Zacharias and I set new goals, some of which are higher than I've ever set before. But, we planned out how we're going to achieve and even pass those goals and continue improving week to week. I'm pretty excited :) hopefully you are too!  I really worked hard yesterday and Saturday and in just those two days found 3 new investigators and contacted as many people as I ever had in one whole week. Did we find a lot of success tracting for like 2 whole hours on Saturday? No. But the Lord blesses us for working and trying our best. My last district meeting I taught with the Spirit (because I learned a lot too). I talked about how tracting and other less successful forms of missionary work are acts of faith. The Lord expects us to get out there and work. We may not be blessed directly while tracting, but because we put in our best efforts the Lord blesses us sometimes in other ways. We had no investigators despite attempts to get and contact referrals. And now that we finally spent a whole day working as hard as we could, 2 of those referrals finally contacted us back and met with us. One has a son that sat in and is also interested. Can I prove that us working caused that to happen? No. Would we be teaching those new individuals if we hadn't worked hard? I honestly doubt it. I could go on, but you get the picture.  Anyways. I'm happy about it :) happy to work even though we don't always directly see success from our work. 

 

Anyways! it's only been like 5 days but that's some of the main changes. One of the referral's name is Joanna. She met with missionaries once a while back and wanted to meet with missionaries again. We left her a restoration dvd as well as a Book of Mormon and have an appointment with her tomorrow. Should be goood :)

The other one's name is Bonnie. Shes from Jordan and is a friend of sister Bond who invited her to take the lessons and Bonnie accepted. We had a lesson with her yesterday at the Bonds and her 11 year old son was there and we have a return appointment with them that's also tomorrow! Hopefully her 14 year old son decides to sit in too. That would be sweet! Tuesday is going to be one busy day!

 

We helped a family move into the ward on Thursday and had dinner at the Bishop's. He made a soup that was just awesome. It had ground beef, carrots, yellow crookneck squash, potatoes, onions, celery, tomatoes, etc. Kinda reminded me of some of the soups you make mom :) most people just had one or 2 bowls... I had 4. Burp. (:

 

Oh! I had one of my first "dog" encounters on Saturday. Ha :) I was following Zacharias up to a house and the gate was open so we walked into the yard and around the corner and there sitting several feet in front of us is a rather scary looking dog that growls and stands up as we round the corner. Zacharias and I did a 180 about-face mid-stride and ran out of the yard. Luckily the dog was dumb enough to run straight towards us at the edge of the fence instead of going around the corner and out the gate. Phew! When we went up to the next house, we saw on the gate that was swung inward a giant "BEWARE OF DOG" sign. Great! Good to know. lol.

We ran into a 94 year old WW2 and Vietnam vet while tracting. He talked with us for a while and accepted a Book of Mormon. he feels like he has lived so long and watched his wife die because he had to pay for the sins he committed in the war. We asked if we could come back and he said "well I don't know if I'll still be alive; I could die anytime!" Haha. We're going to try back and maybe talk to him some more hopefully.

We stopped by Walmart there were some vagabond/travelers there asking for money or help and they had a sign but also had a dog that was trying to eat the sign and one of them was fighting with the dog for the sign. They were laughing though so it was pretty funny. Anyways, Zacharias and I continued walking but at the same moment he and I stopped, turned around, and walked back over to them. We gave them a couple bucks and talked with them for a few minutes. Zacharias did more of the talking because a member walked up to us and started talking to me at the same time. But anyways. That was sorta cool. They recognized us as Mormons and we talked about what we do as missionaries and they thought it was pretty cool and said they might check it out when they return home.

 

I went up to Fort Irwin yesterday again. I think that they think I'm their missionary. haha. I fit right in with the Browning name. They actually asked us to speak last minute Saturday night because one of their speakers wasnt going to make it. I go up there on Sundays sometimes so that we can keep one missionary from each area in barstow to talk to investigators and members at church and what not. Zacharias was going to go until he learned he'd have to give a talk. Haha. Anyways. I enjoy it up there. They were having some rotation when we showed up and literally over 20 Apache helicopters were flying around or were on the ground it was freakin SWEET! I counted 21 but there might have been more.

 

Well I better get scootin. Kickin kabootin. Shootin. Rootin tootin. Rasputin!

haha... sorry. Adios!

Love,

Elder Nelson Browning

 

"Everyone will eventually be backed up to the wall of faith and there must make his stand." - Ezra Taft Benson

 

Halfway There!

January 21, 2013

Woooaaahhh we're halfway there WOAH-OH! WE'RE LIVING ON A PRAYER!

...sorry. Pops in my head everytime I think or hear the word "halfway" haha. But seriously! I'm halfway today! That's crazy to think. Our year mark is Friday so we'll be doing... something to celebrate. haha.

 

So! Hi! :) Guess what? We went to the temple today! So today is pday this week. I forgot to let you know last week... haha. Oops.

Anyways. That was pretty fun. Always enjoy going to the temple.

 

Barbara got baptized on saturday! It was pretty cool; there were like 8 missionaries there. She's been taught by missionaries off and on for the past 5 or so years. We were all amazed and super happy at how far she's come. All of us at one time or another thought it would never happen. Elder Patch told me "NOW I know why you're in Barstow" and I was like what the poop are you talking about? and he said it was to get Barbara to baptism. Funny thing is, I didn't really do anything. It was just her time and I was lucky enough to be there for it. Elder Newton baptized her and I confirmed her in Sacrament meeting this past Sunday. Haven't done that before but it was actually pretty cool. One really sad thing though... I didn't get a picture! I'm kind of in charge of the font... no one else does it so I just started doing it (filling it) so that it got done. The service was about to start so I went to turn off the water and by the time I got back they'd finished taking pictures and the service had started. Dumb. I could get you a picture of Elder Newton and Elder Patch with Barbara if you wanted that... haha. But not one with me.

 

There's an older woman in the ward that joined the church last year named Jean. Her granddaughter has been in the hospital since september with some form of cancer. She took a bad turn for the worse and Jean was having a hard time with it so we visited her on Tuesday and prayed with her for Becky (the grand daughter). Apparently a biopsy had been performed on her liver and they couldn't stop the bleeding afterwards. They got the bleeding under control that evening but then she had a stroke on Wednesday. We visited Jean again to help her calm down and so she had someone to talk to and pray with her. Becky passed away Thursday evening though. So we visited Jean again on Friday for about 2 and a half hours. We listened to her talk for a long while and then talked about the Plan of Salvation and answered her questions about life after this. I've definitely enjoyed serving her this past week even if it was only a little. She couldn't afford to be with her granddaughter (who was at Seattle Children's Hospital actually) so that made it even harder. Jean said she was grateful to have us over so much because it felt like she had children at home again.

 

In addition to Vera dropping off the face of the earth, Thomas Bradshaw hasn't been at church since the beginning of December. He got baptized soon after I arrived in Barstow. His family gave him a ton of anti material and he fell back into some old habits so he was avoiding us. We got in contact with his wife and they had us over for dinner last saturday actually. It felt pretty normal to me; we chatted like nothing had changed. We did our best to just show that we loved him and weren't there to condemn or drag him back to church. He wasn't at church on Sunday but it should be easier to stay in contact with him now. We'll get him back. Just you wait.

Vera is working all the time now so that plus school plus all the family she has is why she hasn't been around. I hope those are the only reasons. We stay in contact barely, just a few words back and forth here and there. Not giving up! I really believe she'll come back around too.

 

I got the envelope! Now I has a potato on my keychain :) Thanks for the letter katester! You always impress me with a spiritual maturity beyond your years. And I got the picture from Megan and Josh too! I don't have the room to hang everthing up. Guess I'll have to rotate through pictures huh? haha.

 

Zacharias and I get along pretty well. He's weird but pretty funny. We still haven't had any disputes. First companion to accomplish that :) haha. Either we just get along better or I'm more patient. Probably the first one. haha.

 

Our investigator pool is pretty much empty so we're focusing a lot on finding. Hopefully. Maybe. I love it! Love tracting! HAHAHA *bangs head against wall* lol. sorry. can't you tell it's my favorite thing?? 8-D

 

Anyways. I better make like a tree and... get the heck outta here! Might have to wait until monday to send pictures... Sorry. Get over it! :) Depends if the computer cooperates or not

 

Well. Until Monday.... Tanks! Roll out!

Elder Browning

Non-Transfers

January 14, 2013

Hey! So. We have transfers tomorrow. But I'm staying in Barstow! So I'll be here through the end of February at least. Zacharias is staying too. We all thought Patch was leaving but he's staying and Elder Galt is leaving. I warned Elder Patch that he is going to be either District Leader or training again and he denied both. I told him he had better pick one and I guess he never did because he got BOTH! Haha. Poor guy. He's pretty stressed.  Patch has already been in Barstow 6 months and since he's training, he will most likely be here a total of almost 9 months. Crazy.

 

So I've been drawing a blank about what to write about. um. Lets see. Barbara got interviewed yesterday. She's good to go! So we're excited for that this Saturday. Her disabled son figured out how to unlock the door and even the bolt lock that was installed. There's a large window/hole in the door so that Barbara can see if there's an emergency and jump through if she has to. So he's been getting out at night and basically keeping Barbara up all night because if he's out and crawling around, he gets into everything he can reach. I installed a bolt lock above the window in the door on Saturday for her so that he wont be able to get out anymore. She said that night was the first full nights sleep she's had in a while.

 

We've been trying to work hard but all our potentials and referrals just havent been going anywhere. Most we just haven't successfully contacted despite multiple attempts or they're just not interested. We might just do a bunch of tracting and street contacting for a while.

 

Man. This letter is super lame. Sorry. I'll send some pics too. haha. It's been a pretty boring week. What else... I went up to ft Irwin with Patch again yesterday. Oh! Here's one other notable thing we did. I took the district out to Ihop because we didn't have a dinner Wednesday. That was pretty fun. Those pancakes are super rich. The first couple bites are awesome, but the last couple bites are... almost too much. Haha. Especially with the cheesecake and cinnastack pancakes. Super good, but I think I'll go with 2 pancakes and a couple sides instead of a stack of 4 if I ever I go back.

 

On Friday we decided if we were diligent in trying to see people the whole day, we would go hang out with Dave that night as a reward. He's a Samoan semi-active member that's just super chill and pretty cool. He cooked us steaks even though we'd had dinner already. haha.

 

I cant believe Preston is still in the hospital. That's crazy. Hopefully, slowly but surely he'll pull through. And I uh. Never got that 2nd hepatitis shot. Oops. I'll contact the mission nurse and if you'd look up my records that'd be much appreciated :)

 

Yep. We'll continue to go forth and conquer. HOO-rah!

Love,

Elder Nelson Browning

Knowledgeable Nelson/Brainy Browning

January 7, 2013

So you guys liked my last email huh? Well that's good. I was starting to feel like I'm running out of stuff to share. Maybe that's just this week. Days are blending and blurring together and if it wasn't for my journal, I would probably forget half the stuff we did. Actually, I should probably bring my journal along when I email. haha.

 

So I have two stories relating to the subject of my email. There's a family that feeds us fairly often (probably twice a month), the Bonds. The last two times we were over there, we played games after dinner and both times the older daughter (I think she's 11) wouldn't stop ranting about me being smart. None of us know where she got the pretense for that but oh well. Anyways, we were playing "what if" where everyone writes a random question on a slip of paper. Then, the questions are passed around and someone else writes an answer to the question they get. Then they're passed around again and someone reads their questions aloud, but their neighbor reads the answer on their slip of paper. And so on around the circle. It's random and goofy but sometimes fairly funny. Anyways, this girl, mckenzie, wrote "what if elder Browning was normal and everyone else was smart?" And ever since then, it's become an inside joke among us. She started calling me weird too. But! It was always while she and everyone else was laughing. So. It's the "good" kind of weird I guess. haha. The other part of this story is from church yesterday. Elder Patch was teaching the lesson in Gospel Principles and he asked everyone to think of an attribute that they have and recognize and can attribute to being a gift from God. People mentioned things like patience, faith, charity, friendliness, a non judgmental attitude, etc. Then it was my turn and I didn't know what mine would be. I thought that people often came to me with random questions like I was some walking dictionary, so I said I'd been blessed with knowledge. Patch had been really eager looking as he was waiting for my answer and when I gave it he said "Good! Because if you weren't going to say it, I was!" I was sitting next to sister Bond and she was nodding her head all emphatically too. So I said "what if elder Browning was normal and everyone else was smart?" And we all laughed.

So there's that story. haha. I don't think I'm all that smart. Somewhat yeah. More like smart alec. ha.

 

Anways! I have good news about Barbara. She's getting baptized! The 12th snuck up on me and all the sudden she's ready to be baptized but I'm behind on matters like letting the bishop and ward mission leader know and with setting up an interview for her with a member of the mission presidency. So she's ready but we're pushing it back to next week. I feel so bad about it. No one really knew what was going on or where she was at or what needed to happen except me and because of that she has to wait another week to be baptized. She was so happy and excited to have quit smoking after 40 years. She just sticks a fake one in her mouth when she's stressed; it doesn't even have nicotene in it. When I talked to her about moving the baptism she kept asking me what she had done wrong. So that was pretty hard. Yeah she could be baptized this Saturday, but it's not "convenient." The ward leaders like things a certain way and I didn't give them the heads up they wanted. They want to bring it up in ward counsel and stuff first. Whatever. They can take it on their conscience if anything else goes wrong.

 

It's interesting that you brought up fasting mom. I fasted twice in the past week. I fasted on Wednesday because I just felt like there were too many things that couldn't wait until Sunday. The Shelley Brownings along with 3 families in the barstow ward. One family was all really sick on Tuesday and asked if I would fast for them. I haven't seen Vera since Elder Grill left despite all my attempts to contact her. Another recent convert is struggling with a bad eating disorder and talked to us about it on Tuesday as well. So I started my fast right after dinner Tuesday night. It's been getting a little easier for me to fast lately. It's still hard but as long as I have a reason that reminds me that it's worth it, I manage through it.

 

Mom last week you mentioned sending stuff home. Most of the stuff that I can think of that I would send home would be like my cd cases with some of the original cds, the ornaments, and maybe that manger scene. I'm not really sure what to do with either of the two suits I came out with. The navy one isn't bad enough that you cant wear it. It just looks a little old and worn and won't last all that much longer. It's not at the throw away point but I don't want to pawn it off on someone else. The gray one is worn on the inside from wearing it so much but it looks fine on the outside. If the sleeves were longer or if the shoulders were broader I could get away with wearing it still. Anyways. I just don't know if I have room for 5 suits in my luggage. haha.

Another thing... There's another Elder Browning in the mission. He's a greenie from back east somewhere. I don't know if we're distantly related or not. Anyways. All mail needs to have my first name on it or it might get sent to the wrong missionary. You're good about that but some people might not think about it so if anyone asks about writing me make sure you mention that.

 

Third thing, I know I asked this once before, but I really would like a copy of that paper I wrote about judging others. Maybe jeren could help. I can give an approximate folder sequence which would go something like this after you plugged in the black drive:

J&N or Jeren and nelson (don't remember the drive folder name) -> there might be a "Nelson" Folder -> Documents -> Schoolwork -> Freshman (college) -> a folder named "religion," "Book of Mormon," or something similar.

You should be able to find it from there. All names of folders are my best guesses so there might be one I missed or it's called something similar. Hopefully that's enough to find it. Pretty please? :)

 

I love you guys! I'll try and keep my letters interesting by sharing a funny experience from each week.

Love,

Elder Nelson Browning

1 Year Down, 1 to Go

December 31, 2012

And it came to pass the I, Elder Browning, proceeded to give an account of my dealings with the Barstowites.

 

This week was fairly busy actually. The Wolcotts, the family who let us skype at their house, basically adopted us for the day. After I skyped and went out to the main room They said "dinner is almost ready! Just a few more minutes." So. We had dinner with them! Afterwards we played games like Pit and Rumikub. So it was a pretty good day after all.

I got your package by the way mom. On Friday I got a "Final Notice" in the mail saying if I didn't come pick up my package at the post office then they would return it to the sender. Usually if they try to deliver a package and no one answers, they'll leave a call slip that sticks into the room through the door frame. But I never saw that. So I go inspect the door (the front door which we never use) more carefully and sure enough, there it is, a package slip from over a week before hand, munched in the door. Dumb huh? It'd been at the post office all along! So that was stupid. But at least I got it haha. That poor little tree... it was so squished and bent I dont think it can be completely resurrected. haha.

 

So! Here's a fun story that I forgot to share when we were skyping. Usually when we go get the mail we would just... go get it. Like just one of us. However, it isn't like right outside the door so technically we should probably go together because it's out of sight from the apartment. Anyways. I was about half way to the mailbox when a truck drove past me and I noticed the guy looked at me and he had a black hooded jacket on, a black bandanna over his face, gloves, and black glasses on. Yikes! Pretty sketchy right? It gets better. I then heard the car stop and back up towards me. I was trying not to freak out because I had no idea what this guy was going to do. I kept walking forward with purpose even as I saw the truck pull up parallel with me in my peripheral vision. I then heard the guy yell "hey! Hey you!" And I'm just like oh crap. I'm going to die today. haha. Anyways. I hesitantly stop and look over at him and say "yeah? What's up?" The guy then asks "are you a missionary?" and I answer affirmatively and he then asks "do you have a Book of Mormon?" And I'm like... what? I told him I didn't have one but that I had a card I could give him so that he could call for one. I was so jumpy and he was so scary looking I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible so I didn't feel like telling him to wait while I went back to the apartment to get one. But he was super stoked that I could give him a card. So I gave him one and he was like "thank you sir!" and drove off. I thought at any moment he was going to pull out a gun or something. Or yank me into the truck and drive off. It's one thing for someone to have a scary face or tatoos or whatever. But he was the total "masked bandit." even had black leather gloves on. Hopefully he gets a copy and reads it and changes and doesn't want it just to make smokes since the thin paper is apparently ideal for that.

So that was pretty scary for sure. My instinct was telling me to get out of there but I felt no spiritual prompting to run, which in hind sight makes sense. Missionaries are protected!

 

Elder Patch exchanged with me on Thursday. We had dinner with the Heywood family who are working with a family on my side of Barstow that they hope will take the lessons soon. Brother Heywood is pretty big into music and recording and he showed me all his stuff. We ended up talking for quite a while about recording and music and stuff. He has an electric set and he asked if I wanted to play and of course I was like heck yes! I was just sort of messing around and getting the feel of things and started a normal beat and then he pulled out his guitar and started playing along. After a minute or two I paused and said "you wanna try something faster?" and he said "yes please!" so then we started up something a little quicker and almost made up a whole song right there on the spot. But we stopped there since it wasn't pday. haha. So that was super fun. He wants me to come back on a pday when I have more time because he doesn't get an opportunity to play guitar along with a drummer very often. Reminds me of good ol days with tanna man.

 

On Friday we did service for a lot of the day. A family in the ward was moving so we loaded up their moving truck. Luckily there was more than just the missionaries there otherwise it would have taken the entire day instead of just most of the day.

 

We spent a lot of Saturday driving. A few kids from a family Zacharias taught were getting baptized so we went to the baptism. We drove from Barstow to Lucerne Valley and met up with two other missionaries there, and the 4 of us drove up through Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead to Running Springs where the baptism was. By the time we left it had started snowing and it was a bit of an adventure before we got back on the main roads. haha. Unless it's Megan's driving, I'm not a big back seat driver (love you Megs!). But, when there's snow and the driver doesn't really know what he's doing... I'll help out. haha. Things like "slow down more before this corner" or "shift down gears more to help slow the car down without sliding." We made it down without any mishaps though. I'm not a great snowy driver but people seem to appreciate my advice. At least missionaries that I've given suggestions to do. haha.

 

We went out to the branch for church yesterday and I was reminded why I wasn't a big fan of Newberry. The people just all have skewed ideas. Most of the combined lesson was about how the church is becoming liberal and people complaining about how they're using more technology. I used the Thumper rule so i just kept my mouth shut. haha. If you sustain the church leaders as prophets seers and revelators, then the decisions they make are not the decisions of man, but the decisions of God. So. Get over it! That's how I felt at least. haha.

 

That was our week for the most part. Oh did I tell you I've been cutting hair for the past couple months? Yup. I think we're ready to go pro! haha. Most missionaries don't care to have anything more fancy than a fade which is pretty easy to do. Elder Patch really liked the last hair cut I gave him and now he won't go anywhere else. haha. So. That's a fun fact.

 

That's sad to hear about Preston. The totally stinks! What an un merry christmas! I'll keep him in my prayers. I sure hope Sam and Nathan don't get married before I'm home! And Brooks too! I don't want to miss everyone's wedding. Atkin would probably be next in line though.

 

And behold I, Elder Browning, do make an end of writing my dealings with the Barstowites. At least until next week ;)

Love,

Elder Browning

Don We Now Our Gay Suit and Slacks :)

December 17, 2012

This week was like the exact opposite of last week. haha. It felt busy but when we added up our numbers yesterday they were terrible. It was more of a "run around" week. You know. Headless chickens type thing. haha. I've found that there seems to be one or sometimes 2 good weeks each month. We had several cancellations this week too.

Gene Ruble canceled our appointment and didn't come to church. I felt like we should let him be for now. I talked to Sister Barnard yesterday and she said that's probably a good idea. We dumped a lot on his plate. He wants to learn and eventually be baptized, but I guess he smokes 2 packs a day and drinks like 3 pots of coffee. So it'll take some time. She said to keep doing what we're doing, talking to him about once a week for now to see how he's doing and maybe meet with him just briefly once a week. She said he might not get baptized right away, but that he'll get there.

 

We had our ward Christmas party on Friday and they recruited the missionaries to be the angels. We had a few practices for that and it came together really well. At least. So I'm told. haha. The last song of the program was "the shepherd's song" from the forgotten carols. At the end of the song where theres the chorus in the background, we (the angels and the other shepherds) all came forward from backstage and joined in. So. I thought it was pretty cool. At least for a ward production.

 

As far as skyping and stuff... I am planning on it! I don't know what time though... I seriously haven't a clue. haha. Probably some time in the late morning or early afternoon. Mothers day was easier because we had to plan in between church and other appointments but I have zero on the schedule for Christmas day. I might send you an email on Monday saying what time. Also, I checked with my leaders and I can call Jeren separately. So. If I could get a phone number for him... that'd be nice :) or if he has skype I could skype separately with him for a little bit either before or after I skype with the rest of the fam.

As long as the mail gets to the office by Thursday, I'll get it in time for Christmas. The USPS is no longer forwarding any packages for missionaries and is only grudgingly still forwarding letters. So, the Zone Leaders pick up packages for their zones on Thursdays. We have our mission Christmas devotional this week on Friday so anything that the zone leaders miss should be brought to that meeting.

 

So. A guy in Zacharias's last area got sealed on Saturday. He got permission to go, and so did the missionary he was with previously who is now Bagley's companion. So, President Godwin and us switch for the day and I went to Wrightwood for that day. Ha! It was kind of like coming home. I only visited a couple families though. The Yoakums, Zorads, Sextons, and of course, the Smiths. So that was super fun. It was weird though. Sister Smith kind of became mine and Elder Bagley's mom figure. I guess me leaving was hard on both of us though. Their son Alex is on a mission and apparently I remind them a lot of him. We were there for 3 hours but it felt like 15 minutes. It was definitely cool to be back in Wrightwood for a day though.

 

We also did some service on Friday. We helped a younger Samoan couple in the ward move. He served a mission a few years ago in Missouri but his wife isn't a member. The other two missionaries have been teaching her and she's getting baptized this Saturday. So we'll be squeezing in one more Barstow baptism before the year is out :) They bought us pizza afterwards. And. I ate my own pizza. Oops. I guess I was hungry. haha. I've actually dropped like the little extra fat I had gained. So I'm about 160 even.

 

Anyways, that was our week. ...do I always end my emails like this? Hm. Lame. I need some more oRiGinALitY :)

like...

loveyoulongtime-bye! :)

Elder Browning

 

p.s. Oh! Speaking of burning a tie... Jeren, did you get the tie fever? Some missionaries have over 100 ties. One of my zone leaders goes home this transfer and has one tie rack just for wembly polyester ties. One of the APs that went home a few months ago enough for every day of the year. It's nuts. I don't know if thrift stores would sell any of their ties if it wasn't for missionaries. Haha