Como
están todos! Siempre me encanta leer sus correos! Siempre me hacen feliz! Muchísimas
gracias! (How's everybody! I always love reading your emails! They always make me
happy! Many thanks!)
I really hate saying this every week but this week WAS THE BEST ONE EVER! Haha, I'm so happy to be here on my mission! It's legit the coolest thing ever. It amazes me the things that you can learn in a week. I think I learn more in a week about life than I did in a whole year back home. That's one of the reasons that the mission is so cool.
Well, a little bit of sad news this week. Caesar was not baptized. That was devastating for me. Saturday night we went over to just fill out his baptismal record and get some last minute things set before the baptism on Sunday, and he said that he just felt like he shouldn't do it anymore, and that he didn't really want to meet with us anymore either. To say the absolute least, we were crushed! He was changing so much as a person and we were so excited to see him make this sacred covenant, but sometimes that is how missionary work is. We were super sad, a little angry, and really confused. As we sat in his little room, we bore the strongest testimonies we have ever born in our lives, we said the most powerful prayers we had ever said and the Spirit was the strongest we ever had felt...and he denied it. I was having a hard time with that. There were literally hundreds of prayers and dozens of fasts done on his behalf and so I thought to myself "WHAT THE HECK?” I thought that the promise in Matthew 7 was that when we ask we shall receive, and it didn't really feel like any of the prayers were getting answered. I learned probably the biggest lesson in my life that night as I kneeled in prayer, frustrated. The Spirit taught me something; it was something that I have known my whole life, but I have never understood it up until that moment... We pray not to change the plan of God, but to put ourselves in line with his will. I guess it wasn't Caesar’s time right now and I have come to accept that. It's been tough thinking that we aren’t going to be able to teach Caesar anymore, but God’s plan is perfect.
So, Sunday morning we got up and started to get ready and the phone rings, and guess who it is? Good ole Gulpertino! He said “Hey, what time are you guys going to pick me up for church - I want to go!" It was awesome to have him come to church and make so many awesome friends that are going to help him overcome his addictions. Like I said before, he used to drink like 12 beers a day and now he has gone down to one or two a week! It's been literally life changing seeing this man change. Everyone really does have a godly potential!
The other day we were knocking doors and we knocked into this man and he just wasn't interested at all and so we asked him if he knew anybody who was going through a hard time and that needed a message of Jesus Christ. Well, in a joking manner he gave us the address of one of his friends that lived a couple doors down, so we went to go check him out. Kind of the same story... Not really interested. So we asked him the same question. He told us the people that lived upstairs. We knocked and a humble little family opens up. Turns out they were going through some hard times and really did need some help. God led us to someone ready through a couple of people who weren't quite ready yet. Little miracles are the ones I love! Haha!
Love you guys! It's crazy that I have been out a year already... I don't want to talk about it so let's not mention it! Haha, but my time has been insanely amazing! Thanks for all the support and love!
I really hate saying this every week but this week WAS THE BEST ONE EVER! Haha, I'm so happy to be here on my mission! It's legit the coolest thing ever. It amazes me the things that you can learn in a week. I think I learn more in a week about life than I did in a whole year back home. That's one of the reasons that the mission is so cool.
Well, a little bit of sad news this week. Caesar was not baptized. That was devastating for me. Saturday night we went over to just fill out his baptismal record and get some last minute things set before the baptism on Sunday, and he said that he just felt like he shouldn't do it anymore, and that he didn't really want to meet with us anymore either. To say the absolute least, we were crushed! He was changing so much as a person and we were so excited to see him make this sacred covenant, but sometimes that is how missionary work is. We were super sad, a little angry, and really confused. As we sat in his little room, we bore the strongest testimonies we have ever born in our lives, we said the most powerful prayers we had ever said and the Spirit was the strongest we ever had felt...and he denied it. I was having a hard time with that. There were literally hundreds of prayers and dozens of fasts done on his behalf and so I thought to myself "WHAT THE HECK?” I thought that the promise in Matthew 7 was that when we ask we shall receive, and it didn't really feel like any of the prayers were getting answered. I learned probably the biggest lesson in my life that night as I kneeled in prayer, frustrated. The Spirit taught me something; it was something that I have known my whole life, but I have never understood it up until that moment... We pray not to change the plan of God, but to put ourselves in line with his will. I guess it wasn't Caesar’s time right now and I have come to accept that. It's been tough thinking that we aren’t going to be able to teach Caesar anymore, but God’s plan is perfect.
So, Sunday morning we got up and started to get ready and the phone rings, and guess who it is? Good ole Gulpertino! He said “Hey, what time are you guys going to pick me up for church - I want to go!" It was awesome to have him come to church and make so many awesome friends that are going to help him overcome his addictions. Like I said before, he used to drink like 12 beers a day and now he has gone down to one or two a week! It's been literally life changing seeing this man change. Everyone really does have a godly potential!
The other day we were knocking doors and we knocked into this man and he just wasn't interested at all and so we asked him if he knew anybody who was going through a hard time and that needed a message of Jesus Christ. Well, in a joking manner he gave us the address of one of his friends that lived a couple doors down, so we went to go check him out. Kind of the same story... Not really interested. So we asked him the same question. He told us the people that lived upstairs. We knocked and a humble little family opens up. Turns out they were going through some hard times and really did need some help. God led us to someone ready through a couple of people who weren't quite ready yet. Little miracles are the ones I love! Haha!
Love you guys! It's crazy that I have been out a year already... I don't want to talk about it so let's not mention it! Haha, but my time has been insanely amazing! Thanks for all the support and love!
Elder Brown
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| He says people tell him he looks like his pa with those glasses on. |
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| The rest of these pictures came from the mission blog on Zone conference day. This is a former companion, Elder Frei. |
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| That's him way in the back |
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| Over there on the left... |
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| The zone with President Smth |
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