Elder Caiden Brown New York New York North Mission: Travel Plans?! Whhaatt?!

Hola, mi familia y amigos!!

You’re kidding right?? My stay at the beloved MTC is almost over?? That’s insane! I even get my travel plans for New York today!! It’s crazy that I only have one more week left and then I am going to being teaching actual people!! Scary right?? Haha, jk, I am more stoked than I probably should be. The stay at the MTC has been great and, as you all know, I have loved it so much, but I have so much excitement to go to New York and tell people about the Savior and what He did for us!! STOKED!!!

Answering questions timeeeee! Yes, I am hearing from my friends! The weekly writers are Arthur Ferrell Coombs Jr 1111 and Cory mostly, but everyone else keeps me updated! It’s so much fun to hear from people!! I did get the opportunity to host Elder Ence this week. That was really cool!! I talked a lot with Elder Hale and Elder Keeley this week as well. Umm, I don’t think I will need a carry on. I think I have enough luggage for everything. But with the camera - I don’t know, I think it will work. It is just kind of old. And to be quite honest, I have basically sent you all the pictures I have taken, so I don’t see a need for sending you my memory card at this point. We have six guys that live in the room. All weird, but I love them all to death!

Also, thank you mom for the package with the Whitestrips and stuff! That was awesome! Dad, I do get your Dear Elders and they are seriously the best! Nothing I love more than a good Dear Elder! Also, thank you so much to the Wells for the great package! I hope you know the donuts were gone in like a second! Haha Syd, that’s awesome that you won your first game!! Keep up the great work! And Zach, that is sooooo dope that you landed the back flip!! You will have to send me a video for proof so I know you are not lying! Love you man! Keep up the great work! Andie! You make me laugh so much, I love you!! So listen to this Andie... I was hosting the day Cade came in and I wanted to host him, but some kid snatched him before I could!! I was so mad! But I have talked to him a couple times and I made sure to give him a kiss like you said! ;) Also, thanks aunt Kanani for your letter. I am going to talk more about it later in the letter. Mom and Britt, thanks tons for your package too!! The cookies are bomb. I really LOVE the inspirational quotes you gave me!! They are all over my closet!! Last p-day I also got a package from the Pedersens!! Some amazing cupcakes!! Thank you so much for everything. I love you all so much and appreciate all you do and your thoughts and prayers. It means the world!

Now I’ll talk more about what when on this week!! So we have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday nights here at the MTC. They are seriously the best parts of the week and I look forward to them so much!! Basically, on Sundays a big wig from the MTC speaks to us and on Tuesday we get someone from the Seventy. I loved the Sunday devotional this week! I don’t remember what the guy’s name who spoke was, but a story that he told us really hit me straight on. The short version on this story is there was a young man who got called to serve in a mission somewhere in Germany. After the MTC he arrived to Germany so excited to teach and so spiritually ready to share the gospel with everyone he saw. The problem was he could not speak a lick of the language. He began to get kind of discouraged and in a meeting with the mission president he asked, "Why did I not get called to an English speaking mission where I could be super effective?" Well, as we all might expect, the mission president said "You are called where you are supposed to be." Most people and I think me included, kind of take this saying as kind of a cliché, something that everyone says all the time. But this Elder did not. He took what the mission president said to heart and worked, and worked, and worked, and then he continued to work, then he worked some more. Although he barely knew German, he would not pass a single person on the street without talking to them. His lack in the language did not hurt his enthusiasm to work. And after all this hard work that he had put in he was fluent within 4 months and ended up being the best missionary that mission had ever seen. There are two things that I love so much about this particular elder. The first one is that he continued to work. He was discouraged at times, there were times that he didn’t want to do it, but no matter what he didn’t stop working. Success will NEVER come without work. Besides the spirit, I would say that work is one of the most important things as a missionary. Never stop working. In Uncle Scott’s email to me today he gave me a quote that sums it up perfectly. “If you are poor, work.… If you are happy, work. Idleness gives room for doubts and fears. If disappointments come, keep right on working. If sorrow overwhelms you… work. When faith falters and reason fails, just work. When dreams are shattered and hope seems dead, work. Work as if your life were in peril. It really is. No matter what ails you, work. Work faithfully… Work is the greatest remedy available for both mental and physical afflictions.” There it is... Work! The second thing I loved about this Elder was his enthusiasm... or his desire to work. I am so excited to be here on a mission. Sometimes I sit in class and just have to shake out my excitement to teach a lesson. Man I love it!!!

A couple more things... Sorry, I feel like this letter is days long! There was a day this week I was really struggling... I couldn’t focus in class, my Spanish was awful and I just felt like I was an awful missionary. My lessons went bad and I hadn’t felt the spirit with me for the whole entire day. Frankly I was mad at everyone. But, like I said in my last letter, I felt the love of our Savior and our God, but this time it was through somebody who I am convinced followed a prompting given by the spirit. Later that night, I received the package from the Wells. It really helped brighten my spirits, but the thing that changed my whole outlook on the day and on the mission at that point was a quote that Aunt Kanani gave me in her letter. The quote goes like this, "Don’t be gloomy. Don’t dwell on the unkind things. Stop seeking out the storm and enjoy more fully the sunlight. Even if you are not happy put a smile on your face. Accentuate the positive. Look a little deeper for the good. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life." -- Gordon B Hinckley.

On a day where all I was doing was dwelling on the bad, my Spanish sucks, this is so hard, why am I here. Countless negative thoughts all day. Why? Why be negative? The Spirit doesn’t dwell in a negative or mad person. We can’t do anything without the Spirit, so why?? Ask yourself that question when you’re down or when you are sad and mad. LOVE LIFE!! That is my favorite part of that quote. Love everything you do. And if you don’t love it either stop or learn to love it. Cuz without love it is going to be hard to be good at anything!! Love and work, those are the keys!! Haha, so anyways, thanks Aunt Kanani for the inspiration there. No matter what, we are being watched over.

Okay, last thing I promise.

The Tuesday devotional was sickkkkkk!! Guess who came? Elder Dallin H. Oaks!! An apostle! It was awesome! I was even on the front row. I could see the sweat on his brow! Haha, something that was said that I really loved, but I won’t talk too much about because I am kinda running out of time, but he said “Dwell in Christ”. Think about what that means to you, and then apply it in your life and I can promise you life will be so much easier. Always remember the Savior like the sacrament prayer says. Think of Him in every action and in every word. If the Savior stood beside me would I do the things I do? Love you all so much!! I Pray for you all every day!! The church is true!!!

Much love, Elder Brown