This week has been amazing! There were some more growth pains, but the growth was soooo worth it! We also saw some amazing miracles, and to be honest, the whole Stafford Zone is seeing miracles like crazy! The best of which happened on Sunday!
We had institute again on Tuesday, which was good, but we still only had about 5 or 6 people. However, it was a different crowd this time, so maybe we will see more as they all come together.
We had a solid district council on Wednesday morning, and had cookie brownies after! We also got a sweet district picture. We did some online proselyting and some member visits, trying to recruit YSA members in the family wards to come out to the branch. It was a lot of driving, and not many answered, so we need to find a more effective way to do that. We had dinner at IHOP with some super cool members! #breakfastfordinner #ihopisthebest
Thursday was a pretty amazing experience for me! We had an exchange with our zone leaders, who are Spanish, so I got to try pupusas for the first time! I also got to experience the gift of Tongues. Now, before your thoughts move to the crazy weird ideas, some background: I have a natural talent for language, I took 2 years of Spanish in high school, and have already been on several Spanish exchanges. The gift of Tongues, much like any way the Lord works, is conditional upon our preparation, effort, faith, and desire. Information leads to revelation, so the more you already know, the better it will work. At least that's my understanding. So I didnt speak perfect, and I could hardly speak at the beginning of the exchange, but by the end it was really cool! I was able to speak fairly smoothly to native speakers, and I got several compliments! I also learned a lot of principles to apply into my missionary work!
We have firmly made the decision to become wild men! Now, once again, before your thoughts move to the crazy weird ideas, more background: in Moses 6:38, people call Enoch a wild man because of his bold prophesying, and that was the subject of part of our mission conference.
Friday was a busy day with lots of appointments, so we had to move a few things around. So that was cool. We had a really good lesson with Jacob, and read the book of Mormon with him!
Saturday was pretty neat! We went to Alex Vega's baptism in Culpeper (Piedmont Ward) with Chandler, a super cool Returned Missionary who has only been home a few months. After that, we helped out with the day to serve event for a bit, and then had another lesson with James, the practicing Catholic. We read 1 Nephi 13 with him, and he was pretty fine with it, so we might get somewhere with him! We decided to just walk around our neighborhood after dinner, and saw some major miracles! We were able to talk to a Hispanic YSA and refer her parents to the Spanish Elders, and we were able to teach a kid (and his mom) about God! It was really neat. We initially talked to his dad, and then he came out and asked us some legit questions about God! Like how He created the earth! He is very spiritually mature for his age, and we have another appointment with them tonight! It will be a handoff lesson with the Rock Hill Elders (family ward).
As I said in the beginning, the biggest miracle was on Sunday! Paula came to church on her own! This is a girl I have been talking to on Facebook, and she had been taught a lot already and been to church several times, and was good friends with a member. Not only that, but she told us she knows it's true, and wants to join the church and be baptized and read the book of Mormon more! We have a video chat set up this week to set her on date, and get things moving to prepare her for baptism. We are beyond psyched! Missionary work is the best!
Also, most of our preparation day today has been spent helping the Spanish Elders get around, as their car died. So that's fun.
Elder Brown
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| District picture |
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| Bug Season! Giant praying mantises |
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