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
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