Transfers, Opening Stafford YSA!

Hi Everyone!

This week has been wild!  We got a call from President Smith on Monday to call Elder Carman to train, and call me to open up a new YSA area!  Fast forward to Wednesday (Transfer day) and I find out I am going up to Stafford!  It's been wild.  We cover the entire Stafford zone/stake.

Monday and Tuesday are blurry for me now.  It sufficeth me to say that we worked exceedingly hard.

On Wednesday, Elder Carman and Elder Kuhn went to trainers meeting together, and Elder Ibarra and I tried some contacting (not very successful) before heading up to transfer meeting ourselves. 

My new companion is Elder Weaver, but he was meeting me up there.  We got a brand new 2018 Nissan Rogue!  So I drove up with Elder Bendel and dropped him off and picked up Elder Weaver at the Bragg Road building (Fredericksburg) and drove the rest of the way up.  We live with the Rock Hill Elders in a house!  Pretty exciting, being back around Elder Cox!  We had no idea what to do because we didn't have an area book yet, so we went on Facebook and started friending YSA's in Stafford.

On Thursday, we were able to get the area book, and got some additional direction, so we were able to set our transfer goals and do some weekly planning. We had a sweet companionship study with the Elder Preece and Elder Bolanos, the zone leaders. We did some online proselyting and tried our best to work with what we had. 

On Friday, we coordinated with all of the companionship's in the zone to get a feel for the YSA work in their areas. We grabbed some copies of the Book of Mormon from the Garrisonville sisters and went to go do some finding of the Young Single Adult's. We learned a lot and felt great! We started learning how to be more bold and what to look for when finding YSA's to teach. That being said we did not find any YSA's to teach this week.  

The Accokeek sisters called Friday night and asked if I could do two baptismal interviews on Saturday night.

On Saturday, we had a fulfilling day. We learned a lot which felt really good. We tried to capitalize on every opportunity. We had kind of a long district leader training, but it was good. They did things a little different than usual and got some sweet tips. Upon learning more about the baptismal interviews and the situation of those being interviewed, I decided that the interviews needed to be postponed. We felt great when we went contacting people in the area book and met people from the ward.

Sunday was interesting.  We went to the branch and attended branch council.  The branch is pretty sweet!  But YSA is just so different from family ward!  Once again, we did some online proselyting this afternoon, and some contacting tonight.  We met 2 of the 3 people we are currently teaching, and they are pretty cool.  YSA's are just so different!  We have to be fearless to find them and teach them, so that's what we are working on.  Also, the branch president looks like Mark Hamill.  Its pretty sweet!

Today was a bit crazy, we went to an appointment for Elder Weaver down in Fredericksburg, and that took a ton of time out of our preparation day!  We got stuck in traffic on the way back up.  (Stafford, man).  Also, we came home to discover the kitchen/dining area a mess because elder Loftus bought his weight (no joke) in cookie ingredients, and had made loads of cookies!  Pretty interesting.

Anyway, hope y'all have a great week!  Remember, there's no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone.

Elder Brown

Elder Brown and Elder Weaver

Transfer Calls, Pastors, Exchanges, and Splits!

Hi Everyone,

This week was a bit tougher than some, but by no means a bad week.  We had to drop a couple people, and faced a lot of adversity, but God always provides!  Though it wasn't the week we'd hoped it would be, it was still pretty good.

Monday night was pretty uneventful, we didn't have too many successful conversations while out finding.

We had a fun exchange with the Staunton Elders (Elder Little and Elder Steadman) starting on Tuesday afternoon, and we had been contacting that morning, and it was super hot️!  Over 80 degrees and super humid at 10am!  One might say it was hotter than Africa!  Luckily a storm⛈ was passing nearby this afternoon, which cooled things down a bit.  I was with Elder Little this time, and we taught super well together, and overall had a great time!  We went on splits that evening with a cool kid who is about to serve in my home mission!  We visited one lady who had a large tree fall down in her driveway from the storms that passed through.  That was fun!  We also talked to a pastor who thought we believed in a different Jesus.    

On Wednesday we met another pastor!  His last name was miracle, which I just thought was a perfect name for a pastor, especially a Pentecostal pastor like he was!  I was really surprised and impressed though, he didn't try to bash with us!  He simply wanted to hear what we believe in a respectful exchange of faiths.  He even asked for a copy of the book of Mormon to read!  We also found a new person to teach on that same road just before we talked with him.  We had district council that morning, and had an especially good roleplay!  We also had a great coordination meeting that night, and had more of the auxiliaries involved than usual!

We helped some less actives move some stuff on Thursday, and had a nice conversation with them.  Their house is going through a total remodel right now!  Then this evening was super cool!  We went out with a member from Charlottesville to see the Dominguezes, and it went great!  They just had their baby and need a lot of support right now, so we arranged for the relief society to provide some meals, and coordinated with the bishopric for them to do a baby blessing next week!  We also had another lesson with KC.

Friday was the toughest day this week.  We had to stop teaching a few people because they just weren't ready to keep some of the commitments.  One of them was the family of 3 that we were so excited for.  We also had to cancel our member split, and didn't have much luck contacting people.

Saturday was pretty sweet!  We went on splits with a super cool member, brother Prince!  We had a good visit with a less active, and we were able to contact a couple others.  We also had breakfast with the Tettos, and they made delicious cinnamon rolls!  We got transfer calls on Saturday night, and I'm leaving on Wednesday.   I would have loved to stay, as this is a great ward, but I wasn't too surprised, as I've been here for 6 months now.

Sunday was full of little miracles!  Unfortunately we did not have anyone at church, but I feel we really did try our best this week.  We just faced a lot of adversity, and had a lot of things fall through.  We got a new bishop this Sunday!  Bishop Shepherd will do a great job.  (He also has the perfect last name for a bishop, overseeing a fold of Christ's sheep.)  Like I said at the beginning, God provides!  We got to Sunday Morning, and had only found 1 new person to teach, and the spirit brought to our remembrance someone we had taught, and we were able to set a return appointment with them!  We also visited someone Elder Carman had found on exchanges, and he let us right in!  So overall, we were able to meet our finding goals.  We had dinner with Sister Johnson, and it was super good!  She made great barbecue ribs, mashed taters, corn on the cob, baked beans, and yummy rolls!  We also had a lesson with an excommunicated member.  It breaks my heart to see him where he is, especially since he wants so badly to come back.  However, the spirit impressed upon us exactly what he needs, which was comforting.

This morning sent me a crazy curve ball!  President Smith called!  We thought we were in the clear, but he called Elder Carman as a trainer, and told me I'm going to open up a Young Single Adult area!  I guess that's what my mission has been and will continue to be.  Every area I've been in except when I was trained, I have either opened or fixed (getting things moving after a slump).  I've got a pretty good idea of where it will be, but I will wait for confirmation, and tell y'all next week!

Hope y'all have a great one!

Elder Brown

District picture!

Hablo Poquito Espanol, Working With Some Solid Folks!

Hi Everyone!

This week was pretty sweet!  We kicked it off to a great start, and found 2 new people to teach on Monday night, we are seeing them again tonight.  We were also able to set appointments with some of the flakier people we are teaching.

We had district council on Tuesday, which went well, Elder Martin gave a fire training on the importance of church attendance.  We then went on my first Spanish Exchange in almost a year!  I loved it, I totally wish I could speak Spanish.  I have about 70% comprehension, but can only communicate basic ideas.  It was actually kind of frustrating (apparently I have now experienced what most Spanish missionaries experience the first 6 months of their mission).  We helped Luz (by far the most solid person they are teaching) move and got to talk to her a bit.  She is great!  Super funny too.

Wednesday was pretty neat, we tracted an area a member had told us to go to, and found a pretty cool guy named David!  He hasn't been to church in a while, and was pretty down to read the book of Mormon.  He works a lot, so we couldn't set a return appointment, but we got contact information!

Then we had a legit exchange with the Zone Leader's on Thursday, and had some pretty cool stuff happen.  We visited Tasha, a super pregnant lady we found a couple weeks ago, and talked to her for like half an hour!  She is so elect!  Ridiculously prepared.  Never really had a church, grew up a little religious, never been baptised, loved the idea of daily contact, super interested in going to church, and has an 8 year old son who she also wants to be "saved"!  Then we got to teach exaltation to someone before going to a goodbye ward dinner for the bishop, who is leaving soon.  They had bojangles!  We also followed a prompting and were able to get in contact with a less active, who has two unbaptised teenagers!

I got super tired on Friday afternoon, but we got cookout with the Zone Leader's!

We visited a guy on Saturday we had talked to previously, and the book of Mormon we had given him was still sitting outside (it's been raining a lot this week) and he told us it wasn't a good day, so we took it back.  I don't normally like to do that, but it was clear he wasn't doing anything with it, and I would much rather give it to someone who will read it than let it get soaked in the rain.

We fasted this Sunday for our mission baptismal goal, as well as some missionaries who had health problems, so that was cool.  We tried so hard to get people to church this week, but no one showed up!  We are almost guaranteed to have 6 people at church next week though!  We also contacted Mary (from like 3 months ago) again, and she wants to start meeting again!Anyway, overall it was a great week!  

We get transfer calls this Saturday, so next week might be a bit crazy! Have a good one!

Elder Brown

Creepy statue we saw tracting

Welcome to Waynesboro

Rainy Miracles, Spiritual Kayaking, & Getting "Stuck" While Moving!

Hi Everyone!

Sometimes when things seem to be going well, we tend to slow down a little, and get into a routine.  However, it can be surprising how quickly that routine can turn into a rut.  I learned this week in interviews that life is like kayaking, if we stop paddling and allow the currents to push us along, we lose much of our ability to steer.  I am so grateful for President Smith, and his ability to receive revelation to guide me and everyone else under his stewardship.  

Interviews were on Tuesday, and I received some much needed guidance and correction.  I now feel much better about my work, see more miracles, and have greater faith in the guidance of the spirit.  We also had an exchange with the Staunton Elders.  I had the opportunity to work with Elder Steadman, who is a wonderful missionary!  He can be a bit shy, but when he does speak up, it is powerful!  I commend him for his commitment to his calling, as talking to strangers all day can be quite difficult even for those who are very comfortable talking with others.  We saw some cool exchange miracles, and began teaching a very interested lady in the pouring rain!  Out here in Virginia, when it rains it pours!  And it comes and goes very suddenly.  We got a bit drenched at times, but I found it to be weirdly fun and exciting!

The member we are meeting with is doing well.  His largest concerns are still there, but he is learning to trust God more, and we have seen his faith really grow a lot!  He doesn't feel like he has changed much, but he is definitely changing!  We had a great district council on Wednesday, and a good lesson with an older lady we are teaching.  She doesn't want to come to church because it would involve leaving her daughter's church, and she doesn't want to create a rift in the family (a very valid concern), but she read 13 chapters in the book of Mormon this week!  She has become so much happier since meeting with us.

We visited some less actives and gave some blessings on Thursday on splits with a member, and that was also our big planning day.

Friday was interesting, Brother Reams (the father of one of my favorite members in the Buckingham Branch) moved into our ward, and we briefly helped him get started.  We unloaded the first truck very quickly, and then while trying to maneuver the second truck up his driveway, the back end (it had a flat hitch) dragged on the asphalt, got embedded, and the truck got stuck!  So we had to unload a tilted truck from the road, that was fun!  This one had all the heavy furniture, including a washer and dryer, and a piano!  We moved the washer and dryer up to the second floor too.  It was very eventful.  They had to call a tow truck to drag them out of the asphalt, ripping up more on the way out.  We also had dinner with three of my favorite older sisters in the Ward at cracker barrel, and saw some sweet miracles from persistence!  We stayed out knocking doors until 9, and we found someone new to teach at the last door!  He seems pretty solid.  

On Saturday, we had some of the best Vegan food I've ever had!  We had dinner with some older members who have gone vegan for about a year now.  They cooked us the best Vegan stir fry I've ever had!  I guess not all vegan food is gross, who knew?!  We also had some success contacting some Less Active members who live out by them.

Sunday was pretty much the best day, as always!  Taking the sacrament was very meaningful, and both of the talks were super good!  Sydney came to church again, and we almost had someone come just from messaging them on Facebook!  She's planning to come next week.  We also saw some major miracles!  We had a good lesson with KC this afternoon, and after helping a member give his son a blessing, we had about half an hour to find left, and we still hadn't met our goals yet.  We knocked two doors and found 3 new people to teach!  Let the Holy Spirit Guide, I guess!  I was pretty much on cloud 9!

Anyway, hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Brown

 I like the cat flag we found while tracting.

Funny doormat we found while tracting.

Only in the bible belt do you find a display like this in stores.