100 day Challenge!

Hi Everyone!  Today was zone p day and I didn't really feel like emailing much, so this weeks email might be a bit short.  We have gotten in contact with a few more people and are continuing to teach the Maynards. Flo is doing well.  The Spanish missionaries are coming out for a lesson with her in person Wednesday, and we will introduce them to the rest of the family.  It should be pretty sweet! 

We had exchanges with Burkeville Wednesday, which was awesome!  I went over there, and we found a new investigator!  They also have an old investigator from my last area over there, so that's pretty sweet!  We had dinner with our branch mission leader Friday, and man, they know how to cook!  It was an excellent meal, and they even sent us home with some snacks! 

Since the DC temple is closing for two years for renovations starting early next year, we all get the opportunity to go to the temple in January!  In preparation for that, we have been issued a challenge from President Smith to memorize The Living Christ and read The Infinite Atonement in the 100 days between now and then!  It will be a great time of spiritual growth and will really strengthen my testimony of the savior. I hope you all have a wonderful week, I know I will!

Elder Brown

Interviews and visiting Yogaville!

Hi Everyone! 
This week was pretty interesting!  We had member dinners nearly every night this week, which was nice.  The branch is super great out here, but our numbers are dwindling. 

Finding has been a bit tough this week, although we have gotten in touch with many of the less actives in the area.  

We had interviews Wednesday, which was great!  I always love interviews with President, they are always uplifting and inspiring, and help me to refocus my efforts and resolve problems. 

We had a crazy experience coming home Friday night.  We were coming home, and the car in front of us hit a dog!  We saw the whole thing happen!  We stopped and tried to help in any way we could.  The poor girl was in shock and in tears.  The dog dragged itself away with its front legs, and we lost track of it in the woods near the road.  We were able to give her, Brother Autens number (he's a vet) and her parents showed up a little later and were super grateful for us stopping and trying to help.  I am not sure what the end result of the whole situation was, but I am just glad that we were able to give them a good impression of missionaries, and help in whatever way we could. 

Then on Saturday, we had lunch with a less active member up in Yogaville.  That place sure is interesting.  He introduced us to a few people and showed us around a bit.  It is some kind of interfaith community that encourages tolerance and respect.  It had a bit of a hippy vibe, but everyone there was very nice. 

We had a branch potluck after church Sunday, those are always great! 

Today, we made salsa! :)  And we had a lady approach us at Food Lion today who wanted to meet with missionaries again!  #miracle So, overall, we had a very interesting week, I just hope we will have more success with finding next week.  

I love you all!

Elder Brown

A great week of finding!

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all are doing well, I know I am!  We had a really good week this week.  It all started off with some service.  We did a lot of wood splitting with a member on Tuesday and really built a lot of trust with them.  I also know that those who will use the wood are very appreciative.  

We had a miracle on Tuesday night.  We were teaching a less active members son, who wants to be baptized.  We decided to Skype in the Spanish missionaries to translate for his mom, so that she could understand.  It was truly inspired!  Her English isn't too good, and before now she didn't express a lot of interest in learning more, but we came to find that it was simply because she didn't understand it very well.  When she was able to understand it from the Spanish missionaries, she agreed with what was taught, and not only that, but she also committed to learning more and to be baptized when she comes to know of the truth for herself!  It was amazing!  I am so grateful for the technology that made that possible. 

We were also able to find 3 new investigators at an apartment complex.  We were also able to coordinate our efforts with the members at branch council on Wednesday.  We took some time to clean out and organize the area book this week, which really helped us to know who to focus our efforts on.  We also reassessed our goals and made solid plans to improve a few things during weekly planning, so it has been awesome.

I hope you are all doing well!

Elder Brown

Exchange pictures

Some of my favorite snippets from conference!

Another Beautiful Sundet!

Our air conditioner froze up!

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true!

Hi Everyone!  
This week was pretty good.  It's amazing how important having good studies is to enjoying the work!  I definitely saw a big difference between last week (when my studies had gotten a bit lax) and this week.  I had the spirit with me so much more this week, and it made all the difference!  

We had a lot of success this week with finding!  The zone leaders blitzed our area on Tuesday, which helped a lot.  We have been working with a less active member who has been trying to return to full activity, and we have started to teach his 9 year old son, who wants to be baptized.  He is on date for November 25, And he couldn't be more excited!  He would get baptized sooner, but there are a few factors that pushed it back.  I can't go into much detail about it, but nevertheless, we are so excited!  We might start teaching his wife too.  She is Hispanic, and doesn't express too much interest, but she has been reading the book of Mormon and has been watching some videos from lds.org.  We will be skyping in the Spanish missionaries to teach her while we teach her son.  Technology is such an amazing tool.  

We also found a few other people who expressed some interest, and we will visit them again this week.  We also met another less active member and her husband (who is not a member).  They are really nice and invited us back to teach them Sunday evenings!  Unfortunately they were not there yesterday, though.  But I have faith they will progress!  We also did some service this week, and chopped a ton of wood!  We felled a giant tree, and have been chopping that up for firewood for people.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but it was pretty epic.

Finally, we had General Conference this weekend, and it was SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!  I learned a lot from it, and I hope all of you did too!  I know that these men truly are called of God and that the messages they presented were inspired by God.  I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true.  I have felt an undeniable witness of it from God through careful study and earnest prayer.  I know that this is the same church that Jesus Christ organized while he was on the earth, and that He restored His priesthood authority through the prophet Joseph Smith and that God continues to call prophets today.  I also know that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets on the American continent, and contains the fullness of the Gospel.  It was translated by the prophet Joseph Smith through the power of God and has the power to change lives and bring us closer to God than any other book through careful study of the doctrines contained therein.

To those who may be reading this and have questions, please feel free to message me on Facebook or visit Mormon.org.  My Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/jaren.brown.37  I can promise you that the Book of Mormon will change your life, and that it can bring you more joy than you have ever experienced.

I love all of you, and wish you the best!

Elder Brown 

 Exchanges!

Exchanges!

My new companion Elder Weir and I on Preparation Day.

General Conference!

Beautiful Sunset!

Zone Preparation Day!

Zone Preparation Day!