Feb 25 Update - Crazy Busy in Downtown Richmond!

Hello Everyone!

I can barely even keep up anymore with sending organized emails, so I'm just gonna go for it in this one.  We can now call our parents, which is real good.  It was kind of a crazy change, and we have now received additional direction that it is for parents only (though they allow other family members living at home to talk as well). 

Our zone won More Fit For The Kingdom (a mission health challenge) so we will be playing UMPA next week!  We had a crazy busy last couple weeks, and we tried super hard this week to get people to church.  We got 5 solid commitments and a few other possibilities, but only 2 showed up.  Still though, 2 is really good!  Jay and Regina both really enjoyed it, and it was super good for them.  We may put Jay on date for baptism this week.  

The good thing is that now we have identified several people who might come to church that we can continue to invite until they show up.

Our zone goal this transfer is to have double digit sacrament attendance every week, which is a pretty good stretch from what they were achieving before, and President Mullins (the stake president, with whom we meet every week) set a challenge for us to get an average of 12 three weeks in a row (a total of 36 over 3 weeks) with a reward of having lunch with him for the whole zone.  We got 35.  So close!  So we will see what we can do in terms of bartering this week.  Even without the lunch though, we are super proud of the zone!  We got 14 this week, which was super good. 

We have also had tons of exchanges.  I went to Waffle House with Elder Loftus, and some random nonmember saw we were soaked from the rain, and paid our bill, telling the waitress not to let us leave until we were rolling out the door.  I ate like 3 giant waffles with a ton of hash browns, it was wonderful.  Also, I tried Hibachi Box for the first time with Elder Weaver, and had it again with Elder Van Leuven, and Hibachi Box is sooooooo good!  We have a lot of good food places here (next to Virginia Commonwealth University).

We have just had a lot of really neat things happening for us, and I love being a missionary!  Also, I totally just scored a really nice suit from a member.  It was the suit he returned home in, and he no longer fits it.  Elder McCallson got his wedding suit!

Have a good week!

Elder Brown

Elder McCallson and I in our new suits

Exchange pictures with My companion Elder McCallson, Elder Loftus, & Elder Van Leuven

Richmond has lots of street art

More street art

Even more street art

Monuments

Funny Church sign

Beautiful Architecture

Spring is here!

Feb 11 Update - Biking in Downtown Richmond!exchange pic with Elder Messerly

Hello everyone!

Sorry I didn't send an email last week, it's been crazy busy down here!  I have transferred from Fredericksburg to Richmond now!  I am here in the Richmond branch with my new companion  Elder McCallson, which is right downtown!  It has been a blast.  We have a car, but it is mostly for meetings, so we bike everywhere, and it's been sweet!  I used to be glad I didn't have a bike area my whole mission, but now that I'm here, I wish I had more!  It carries a certain pleasure and sense of fulfillment.  You really feel like a missionary when you are biking around. 

The branch here is great, and very unique and diverse!  I haven't had this much soul since Petersburg!  There are also 3 sets of elders here, plus a senior couple, and this is the last 4-elder apartment in the mission!  I'm living with Elder Weaver again! (We were companions in Stafford YSA, where we lived not only with 4 elders, but in a house!  We even got to mow the lawn)  Our days here are filled with biking around past loads of YSA (I miss YSA work) and talking to lots of people from very varied backgrounds, black and white, rich and poor, and we run into quite a few ministers.  There is quite literally a church on every street corner here, especially in Church Hill.  I have found that as long as they don't want to contend with us, I can jive pretty well with ministers, or anyone who loves the lord in such a soulful way for that matter.  I forgot how much I enjoy talking to African American southern baptists. 

Our teaching pool is relatively small here, and not a lot of people are willing to commit to things, but despite that, the branch is bringing in a bucket of Recent Converts.  We are working with a lot of them right now, and it seems that the members help out a good bit with referrals.  This is also one of the few areas I have seen where it is normal for people to just walk in off the street. 

The people we are teaching are pretty cool though.  We are teaching one guy named Reese who has faith, but refuses to admit it, and he has been fun to work with so far.  He has a good amount of potential.  I also had my 21st birthday this week, and was treated very well.

Have a good week y'all!

Elder Brown

Exchange picture with Elder Messerly

Baptism in C-Ville

21st birthday 

Tabling on exchanges in Downtown with Elder Newbold

Saying goodbye to the branch with watercolors!

Jan 28 Update

HI Everyone!

It's been another great week here in Fredericksburg, VA!

We really enjoyed teaching Taylor this week, she is progressing well, and really loving what we teach!  It is so nice teaching someone who is so open to it.   We talked to a cool girl named Amber who likes to run, and talked with us a lot last semester.  She is so friendly and warm and would make such a great member of the church (people even thought she was when she first started attending UMW), but she is just really happy with where she is at, and has very little desire to learn more.  We still committed her to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon and pray about it, so we will follow up with that and see what happens. 

We also had a guy named George (someone we started teaching) run away from us on campus this week, so that was fun!  Seriously though, he started booking it across campus when he saw us!  We are still not totally sure what dissuaded him, as he was very very interested in our first lesson. 

I also tried lengua (cow tongue) and cachete (cow cheek) tacos at an authentic hispanic taco place on exchanges, and they were pretty good!  Also, I had absolutely the best lasagna I have ever had, hands down, at a great Italian place called Orofinos with Brother Bowler.  They also had excellent bread and soup, with real authentic Gelato for dessert!  That was a satisfying evening.  The conversation was absolutely hilarious. 

We also started meeting with AJ again from last semester, and he's really enjoying the Book of Mormon, so things are looking up here!  To finish off the week, we went to a baptism in Charlottesville, and had breakfast at the Jenkins, and also saw a great fireside with the branch!  Plus Robert came to church and really enjoyed it.  He said he wants to come every week!  

We got Transfer Calls on Saturday, and unfortunately I couldn't dodge any more bullets.  I am getting transferred on Wednesday.  I'm definitely going to miss this branch and this area, and I have really enjoyed it here serving with Elder Weaver and Elder Larson and Elder White.  God be with you till we meet again, I guess.

Bye!

Elder Brown

Elder White and Elder Brown out to dinner at Orofinos (Best Lasagna ever)

Cheesy picture of us teaching a lesson to some members

Charlottesville baptism,

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel