My Experience
By Elder Caiden Brown
(A letter to me in 20 years)
Dear Caiden
Brown,
Your time as a
full-time missionary is about to come to a close. And for that reason, I
wanted to write you a letter that you can read in the future that will remind
you of your experience as a full-time servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never
forget, Caiden, the ways your life has been touched by the gospel of Jesus
Christ, service, and the pure love of Christ from the people that surround you,
especially the wonderful souls that you were able to teach in The Bronx,
Newburgh and New Rochelle. Never forget where you found YOUR Jesus Christ.
You came out to the
mission field not knowing much. You had no idea how to speak Spanish and you
weren't too familiar with the gospel as taught in the scriptures, but you had
the desire to work, learn and serve. That desire carried you through your
2-year long journey. It definitely wasn't easy at the beginning. You struggled
a lot with learning Spanish and that was really frustrating for you, but you
had a great trainer (Elder Hinckley) who expected a lot out of you and brought
the best out of all you did. Although it was tough, you fell in love with the
people the moment you met them. Remember Rigoberto? He will always have a
special place in your heart. He changed your life forever. Even though you
couldn't communicate with him, there was just something there that brought you
so close together. After a long 6 months of working with him you walked into
the waters of baptism with him. One year after that you saw him walk into the
celestial room in the temple. Never forget how much you loved the people.
You weren't really
prepared for your first transfer when it arrived. It was heart breaking to
leave the place that became so close to you. And you definitely weren't ready
for the surprise that was waiting for you in the city of Newburgh. You didn't
know what hard was until you served there. Amongst all the mean words, snotty
rejections, long hot days and the true desire you and your companion had to be
obedient and work hard, you found YOUR Jesus Christ. Remember May 22, 2016? As
you were studying the words of both ancient and modern-day prophets everything clicked
in your brain and in your heart - the gospel was real, Jesus Christ truly was
your Savior, the plan of salvation was a divine plan made by a loving and real Father
in Heaven, repentance was real. The Spirit had never touched you so strong
before in your life, and you will never to be the same after that day. After
leaving that personal study, you knew Jesus Christ. And you knew what he
had done for you. Never forget, Caiden, May 22. The work was still hard after
that. You learned what earnest and heartfelt pleading with the Lord was and the
comforting power of the Holy Ghost through sacred fasts. You learned how to
work hard and be obedient. Never forget the lessons learned in that place
called Newburgh.
Remember all of your
companions? You definitely got lucky with them! The influence they had on you
was life changing and they all became so close to you. I hope they are still
your friends. If not… contact them! They helped you reach your potential and
show love towards the people you taught. Remember the Gutierrez family? They
were a family with not much at all. They had just arrived from Honduras and
were living in an attic with 7 people. It was hard for you and Elder Frei to
watch that. You guys did all you could to help them out, by gathering the ward
together and uniting in finding them a place to stay until we found them a new
apartment, helping them with clothes and food, finding work for those that were
capable and providing an amazing, humble Christmas. That Christmas was one that
I hope you never forget. You began to understand really what life was all
about, and how to find yourself and your purpose while amongst a world so
caught up in things that don't matter. Elder Frei, along with so many other
influences, taught you how to serve and taught you what life really is all about.
Never forget Matthew 25:40.
It was a tender mercy
for you to be able to return back to the place you love (The Bronx) to finish
your time as a full-time servant of the Lord. You and Elder Munoz went into
your last three transfers with a fire that could not be extinguished. You both
came into the area not knowing anyone, and so you started from ground zero. You
both worked as hard and as smart as you could and you learned so many lessons
from each other. Remember Francisco? After about 3 weeks of doing all you guys
could to meet everybody and to help the work of the Lord grow in the area you
were in, a miracle happened. At an Easter party, the ward was putting together
a man walked in the door and his name was Francisco. He had a friend in the
Dominican Republic who was a strong member of the church and he wanted to come
and figure out a little bit more about who we were. You began teaching him and
a month later Francisco walked into the waters of baptism. Never forget that
the Lord provides when you do our part!
It's hard to put into
words the experience you had serving the Lord’s mission. The Caiden Brown that
came home from New York was most certainly different from the one that left
Orem Utah to the big city. I just want you to remember, Caiden, how close you
came to the Savior throughout this journey. He became your best friend, someone
you knew was watching out for you and someone you knew you could count on. When
times got hard you received strength through direct communication with your
Heavenly Father. You learned to develop your life on the teachings of the
scriptures and to study them with “real intent”. You learned the importance of
the sacrament, a time where you were able to receive revelation from a loving
Heavenly Father. Those short 10 minutes when the sacrament was being
administered became the most sacred part of your week. Remember when you had a
lot of questions and doubts about what you were doing? Your purpose, was it
even worth it? You took those questions and doubts to the sacrament truly
believing that God would provide an answer. And he did. Right as the sacrament
hymn began to be sung the Spirit touched your heart and answered all the
questions and threw away all the doubts. Never forget the basics of the gospel.
Well, as you can tell,
the time you spent in New York was sacred to you. And I pray that you never
forget it. Caiden, never forget the Lord’s mission.
Love,
Elder Caiden Shay
Brown
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| This is the picture of all the missionaries going home next week at their final temple trip. This came from the mission blog. |
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