Elder Jaren Brown: Oct 29 Update - Choir, Senior Stroll, Teaching Scattered Israel, exchanges!

Hi Everyone!

This week was really good! We had all sorts of sweet stuff happening, with tons of miracles!

To start, Monday night had some sweet miracles! There was a political debate between two congressional candidates at UMW! We felt a bit out of place, as campus suddenly got very political, but we still made some sweet contacts. One of which was a girl named Ashley, who absolutely loved Mosiah 2:41, which we shared with her, so much that she wrote it down! We also blitzed some nearby apartments with the Stafford Elders, and met 2 really cool girls named Leslie and Anna! Leslie's friend Megan also took a selfie with us to send to her member friend in VA Beach.

We had our choir recording on Tuesday, and sang Angels We Have Heard On High, which will be played on a local radio station, 95.9, during the month of December! We also sang a couple other songs for a mission Christmas CD. We also exchanged with the Fall Hill Elders, Elder Knight and Elder Lemmon, which was a good time.

We had a service opportunity on Wednesday morning in which we pushed some senior citizens from a local nursing home on wheelchairs through the canal trails in downtown(ish) Fredericksburg. It was a wonderful experience! They really enjoyed it, and many of them were super funny! We ran into Anna again that night, and met her friend Jordan as well! We also met another wonderfully prepared girl named Ellie! UMW is full of Scattered Israel!

On Thursday, we had a really good lesson with a guy named Will, who I found last week on exchanges, and also saw Alex again! He's not doing too well, and his father isn't the biggest fan of us, but we just try to help him get through the stress he is experiencing, and he will definitely accept it at some point. It's just a tough time right now. We also talked with President Jenkins that night, and he is just way too wise. I'm definitely going to keep in touch with him after the mission.

We had another lesson with Ashley on Friday, and also exchanged with the Fredericksburg Elders. I had the privilege of going with Elder Li, and we managed to get a return appointment with a Chinese family! We also had lunch with the Jenkins, and breakfast the next day! Elder Li made us some spicy ramen for lunch, which kind of wrecked us. It was straight up painful to eat. We also had a bomb lesson with Valerie that night after exchanges! It was on the plan of salvation, and she understands it way better now! It was really neat to see the understanding of the genius and love of God's plan dawn on her. She also fed us Bon Chon Chicken for dinner, which was bomb!

We fasted on Sunday for additional direction on how to best get the branch more involved, and also for guidance on how to better lead the zone. We met yet another girl last night named Nicole, who we definitely believe to be scattered Israel! We are so excited to see the hand of our omniscient and loving God pouring out his blessings on our area!

We had a lesson with Ellie this morning with Lydia there, and she loved the plan of salvation! She is just so open to it, and she's coming to church! Also, Lydia got a parking ticket, so we felt kinda bad.....anyway, that's all for this week folks!

"God is good, every day!" - Walter

Elder Brown