I am so grateful to be one of The Lords messengers!

Hi Everyone!

This week we were authorized to add Facebook to our list of tools in the work of salvation!  We are now online!  We have been trying to contact a lot of people who were previously taught, with little success.  Now that we have Facebook, it should be much easier to keep in contact with those we meet and follow up on commitments!  We spent some time cleaning up our old accounts, and are now fully engaged in online proselyting.  It has been a bit tough to use this tool recently though, as this is a new area, and we still have not successfully green in contact with many people, but I am confident that as we continue striving to find people to teach using all of our resources, the Lord will bless us with success.  

The branch here is really great!  They love missionary work, and have already started to reach out to their friends on our behalf.  Though there are not many people out here, their spirit is strong!  We have been meeting with a less active member who is wanting to come back, and we will start teaching his family this week!  We also have the Zone Leaders coming down for a finding blitz on Tuesday, so things should go well.  I am looking forward to the miracles that are bound to happen here, and I am so excited for general conference this next week!  I know that the Lord is hastening his work and loves all of His children!  I am so grateful to be one of His messengers, and I love seeing what the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can do for everyone!  I love you all, and wish you the very best!

Elder Brown

I can see mountains!

New Area and New Companion, Reopening Buckingham!

Hi Everyone!

This week was very interesting! We had transfers and I got transferred!  We ended our time in the Appomattox A area with a bang.  We had a lot of great lessons, and made sure to organize everything for the new elders when they came in.  Then we had transfer meeting on Wednesday, and it was announced that Elder Weir and I will be reopening Buckingham!  This area has been closed for over a year and a half, so all of the teaching records are pretty old.  

We met the Branch President our first night in the area, and discussed some things with him.  President Knight is awesome!  He is a rancher, and has a really good heart.  He was very excited to have missionaries again.  We met our Branch Mission Leader, Brother Krebs, the next day, and discussed the area over lunch at Pinos, a nice Italian restaurant.  We also met some other members before Sunday, and we already have some referrals from the members!  The people here are awesome, and very excited to work with missionaries again!  

We will likely be doing a lot of dropping and phone tracting as we try to contact all the old investigators, but here we go!  This area is pretty large geographically, and very rural, so everyone lives pretty far apart, but it has tons of potential! We are on the western edge of our mission, and we can see the Blue Ridge mountains in West Virginia.  It is so nice to see mountains again! Keep up the good work wherever you are, and enjoy it!

Elder Brown

New area, Buckingham

Elder Weir, My new companion 

A fancy clay pigeon thrower at President Knight's house
 (the young men were shooting shotguns at his house when we met him)

So nice to see Mountains again!

 Delicious Italian food from Pinos

Moving on with a powerful testimony!

Hi all,

This week was amazing, but also a bit tough.  We had an amazing week with constant teaching appointments, and saw lots of miracles with that, especially since many of the appointments either came through last minute or were with people we hadnt seen in a while, which was such a blessing.  

I have been called elsewhere in the Lord's Vineyard.  I will be transferring out of this area.  I love the people here so much, it will be so hard to leave!  I know that the Lord needs me elsewhere though, and I trust that the people here are in good hands.  This ward is great, and they will be sure to carry on the work we started.  Elder Larson and I worked really hard here and I am proud of what we accomplished. I trust that the Lord knows what is best for the people here, the people in my next area, and me.  So I am preparing to leave. 

I know that Jesus Christ and God restored His gospel in its fullness through Joseph Smith, who was the first prophet in these latter days, and that through the power of God, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon.  I have read it and prayed about it and tested it for myself and found without a doubt that it is unequivocally true.  I have tested Moroni's promise for myself, and I have come closer to Christ through it than any other book.  I have felt of God's immense and overwhelming love for me and for others, and I have seen the power of Christ's atonement change many lives, including my own.  I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the same everywhere, and that the Lord has a plan for me, and everyone.  That plan is for us to be happy through obedience to his commandments and following the example of His son Jesus Christ. 

I am sad to leave, but so excited to see others change their lives through Christ and find true joy in finding their purpose in life. I hope you are all enjoying life, and keep moving forward!

Elder Brown

Went to City Point!

Hi Everyone,

Consistency is the key to everything in life.  If we can consistently improve and consistently try our best, we will do great at whatever it is.

This week was really good.  We have definitely seen a lot of progression in the work here, and we have really focused on finding more.  We had zone preparation day today at City Point (a historic place from the civil war).  It was very interesting.  We have had a lot of good lessons with people and we are always finding more people.  We even taught the tour guide at City Point!  And it wasn't just us trying. He seemed legitimately interested.  It was great! 

I have been a little sick lately with some congestion and a cough, nothing too serious.  I am recovering though.  We are starting to get a lot more rain, and it is starting to get cooler. Also, we are going to get Facebook in our mission!  The next few months will be quite an adventure as we learn to share the gospel effectively online!

Elder Brown 

Elder Brown, and Elder Lars

Zone Preparation dat at City Point

Map of City Point