Elder Caiden Brown New York New York North Mission: New beginnings and sad stories.

Buenas tardes mi familia y amigos!

Well, this week has most certainly had its ups and downs, but it has definitely been one of the weeks that I have grown the most on my mission! It's been sad, but also super exciting, and so, I am excited to tell y’all how it went on Saturday! Haha, so Elder Hinckley is officially gone! That was a hard good bye! This past week we got super fat due to all the goodbye food we ate, so that helped us deal with the sadness! Haha, he is going to be a great returned missionary! There are a lot of memories with that guy! And you guys will NEVER guess who my new companion is...... Elder Frei!!! Again! Haha, we are soooo excited! I literally could not be happier, and so things should be good. He got here yesterday and so it has been fun reminiscing on all the amazing times we had in the Bronx, and we can't wait to make some even better ones here! Woot Woot for amazing companions!!!

So, some sad news... Roxana canceled on her baptism last Sunday. It was devastating. So, Friday we had gone over just to go over the baptismal questions and make sure she was ready and she was super stoked. Then Saturday we were supposed to do the interview and stuff before the activity we were having! We get there and are waiting for her to show up and we get a text saying that she wasn't going to be able to make it. Her dad said that if she went that he would leave back to Peru! So she didn't come. We were soooo sad. I'm not sure if I have ever been sadder than that. But, a really spiritual experience followed... feeling down in the dumps, Elder Hinckley and I did the only thing there was to do... pray! We went to a little closet room where there weren’t any people (the church was packed because of a huge activity) and we knelt down in prayer! We felt the strongest spirit, more than I have ever felt. We felt comforted and we knew and felt in that moment that God knows what He is doing. And he really does! So, it was sad but hopefully in the near future here she can step into the waters of baptism. Please keep her in your prayers as well as her parents!

Just kind of a personal miracle here… so, the other day I was on a split in the English program and there was nothing planned... and when I say nothing I am serious, haha. So we went out and started finding! Time went by with a lot of hard work and nothing really happening and I got a little discouraged... like come on! Give us something here! We decided we were going to take the ward list and start looking up people that had not been visited in a while and we knock into this man named Alexander. We say we are missionaries from the church, blah blah blah, you know the spiel, and he said yeah I know, come in. We walked into his home and he began to explain how he was a returned missionary and all this stuff about his life. We share a message, end with a prayer and as we are about to leave we ask him if there is any advice he can give us about the mission/missionary work. He said something very simple but very wise that impacted me a lot. I have had this problem/question that I have been pondering for months, praying, fasting and doing everything I could to get an answer and it finally came through a humble returned missionary telling what he wished he would have done on his mission. It was an experience I will never forget and something that has and will change my life. God sends His answers in ways that we can never even imagine, and His answers are always life changing. Please never think or believe that prayers aren't heard or answered!!!! Because they are!

So, the activity we had on Saturday was super fun! It was with 2 wards and so it was huge. Una fiesta de los países! (Festival of the countries) So everyone brought food from their countries, did dances and stuff like that, and it was legendary! The missionaries did a hot dog eating contest... and I did not win, haha, but it was fun! Spanish parties are the best kind of parties!

Thanks for everything! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Brown