Jan 21 Update - Exchanges Every Day, Shred or be Shredded!

Wow, what a week!  We were out finding a lot this week, and it paid off!  We are now teaching a few more people, one of whom comes from an Islamic background, which is new for me.  She is really cool, and we will have to see where it goes. 

We had Culpeper here on Tuesday, Culpeper Spanish from Tuesday night to Wednesday, the AP's here Wednesday to Thursday, and chancellor Friday to Saturday.  Amidst all that, we were grinding the campus all day every day, and talked to a lot of cool people!  We also got a lot of cold shoulders and people ignoring us or being rude, so that was fun!

We also had interviews this week, and my interview was great!  President Smith is the man, the myth, the legend.  Elder White made some bomb Tres Leches (Cake) for our district council.

We had a miracle on Sunday!  Ammon (a member missionary) invited a random lady to church at Wal-Mart, and she actually came!  Not only that, but she committed to come every week, and wants to be baptized and is excited to read the book of Mormon.  I say unto you, has the day of miracles ceased?

Anyway, y'all have a great week!

Elder Brown

Sweet lesson exchange picture with a quote that was not intended to mean scattered Israel, but it totally does! 

A little rascal who got a hold of my tablet.

Jan 14 Update - A cold week, things are picking up!

Hi Everyone!

This week the weather took a bit of a dive, with every day in the 30s, and ending the week with about 6 inches of snow!  Home sweet home for me, though I didn't spend all day out in it back in Montana.  It was definitely chilly, but we had a great time out in it!  We found a couple new people to teach this week, and we have been getting creative and using Whitepages!  We have also given and received a few referrals to and from other missionaries, which is nice.  The circle of life continues.  "Naaah, savenya!"  (btw, the lion king song translated into English is simply "Wow, there's a lion! Look, it's a lion!  Let's go see the Lion!" Etc, it's pretty great)  Also, UMW starts back up this week, and we have back to back exchanges almost every day, so it should be a PAAARTAAAY!  We have also been working with the members a lot more, trying to get more of the slow dimes instead of the fast nickels.  Y'all have a blast this week!

Elder Brown

Chancellor's district council

Elder White with a meat bazooka

King Elder White  (a picture of a Polaroid picture)

Jan 7 Update - 🎶Out in the desert they wander....🎶

This was a decent week, but also another tough one for the teaching pool.  We have had a lot of good days and a lot of cool contacts and little miracles, but it's been difficult to get things to stick.  We have one more week before campus opens up, and I am super ready!  I'm sure this will be a great week, and if not, next week will be jam-packed, so it's all good!  

It was decently cold this week, but we had a great time!  We had a blast on exchanges with the Fall Hill Spanish Elders.  I was with Elder Young, and we got Super Rico (a Peruvian chicken place) for lunch and made pupusas for dinner!  Now I feel like a true Hispanic.  

We also had some funny contacts.  We had a black baptist lady that the Fredericksburg sisters are teaching, approach us, and she was hilarious!  It felt good to support other missionaries by helping their people.  We also knocked into a super great Hispanic guy at about 7:30 who had some clarification questions, but once he understood it, he was on board!  His mom on the other hand, was not.  Keep in mind, I have developed passable Spanish, but I am by no means anywhere close to fluent.  She goes off with a bunch of concerns (many of which were repeated) about Joseph Smith not being in the bible and reading only the bible, and the importance of staying centered on Jesus Christ, and talks at us for over a half hour, and I am understanding none of it.  Elder Young has only been out for 3 months, so his understanding isn't great either, and so we just can't really get anywhere with her.  But we were still able to testify of our message, and her son was totally down with it, so Elder Young will go back to teach him when Elder Knight (who has been out about 9 months and has decent Spanish) can help with the abuelita's concerns. 

We also had a lot of really neat visits with some less active members, and one of them has a parrot named bandit!  You don't see that every day.  We also had an exchange with the Chancellor Elders, and Elder Johnson is a fantastic missionary!  He was really fun to work with, and we had some funny contacts too.  We talked to a jolly old chap named Malcolm who was super proud of all the pins on his hat.  He was walking with a great Jehovah's Witness named Anita, so we couldn't teach much, but they knocked into him later this week, and he let them in!  So that was pretty neat.  

We also talked to about the nicest ex-member of the church I have ever met.  She is not interested in coming back, and has some weird beliefs now, but doesn't have much against the church and invited us to stop by anytime we are in the neighborhood for some water or another conversation.  Then on Sunday, we had a munch and mingle (it's da best!) and it was basically the Chippenham crew, as there were a few members from Chippenham up here on winter break, so that was fun.  Anyway, it's been a blast!  
Y'all have a great week!

Elder Brown

        Cool member visiting from Chippenham named Kasi

Me with bandit the parrot

Dec 31 Update - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry about the last couple weeks, I promise I wrote up the email both times, but the drafts didn't save either time.  It's a long story, and it was pretty frustrating.  Anyway, Elder Larson got a good sendoff from the branch, and Elder White got a good welcome!  That's right, we are companions again!  Colors round 2!  

We had a great Christmas conference and we got to play UMPA again!  That felt so good, the hype was real!  It was a very satisfying conference.  Christmas and the call home was excellent, and we were treated very well by the members here.  

We had a great time at Mission Leader Conference and got the news that the mission will extend down to Virginia beach in July, it's too bad I won't be here to see it happen.  Then we got to spend a couple days out in Culpeper.  It's a pretty unique place, and it was a comical and eventful couple of exchanges.  Sorry I didn't write much this week, especially after missing the last couple weeks, but the 18 month hump is real.

Bye!

Elder Brown

New companion Elder White and Elder Brown (colors round 2)

Brother Bowler's Christmas tree

                                                                             Exchanges!