Hey! Good time!

Hi everyone,

 

It´s been a great week, full of hard work and dedication and stuff.

As far as what I said last week, it continues this week and we have transfers next week. It´s been a great transfer and we´ve been able to work a lot and help a lot of people. This transfer I feel that I´ve changed more than in any other, for the better. Maybe not in the way or function that I would´ve chosen, but I believe, looking back, that it was necessary for my growth. I´ve had a lot of questions going through my mind as certain situations were placed before me. It´s gotten to a certain point that I know that my patience has grown and my character has been shaped. It´s been really, really frustrating - that I can´t lie about - in certain aspects, and mainly the things I can´t really control. It seems like we walk on different wavelengths in the same reality sometimes. A few examples: I like to walk really fast, he does not. I like to plan each lesson for each person, but he seems to have a way pre-planned to baptism. He teaches well, but I feel that he doesn´t really care or pay attention while I teach, while I try my best to pray for him. I could go on, but I don´t need to pick apart his weaknesses or emphasize my strengths to make this email an effective "prestação de contas". In the end, like I mentioned last week, it´s been a mixture of trying to be an example and trying not to be "overbearing". I´ve been doing my best to love him, serve him, try to talk about things he likes and be perfectly obedient, and I´ve been able to do that. The little things that maybe he doesn´t like or won´t accept are his problem, and my advice and example can only go so far if his will isn´t there at the same level, or, as it were, on the same wavelength.

 

"Wavelength" has been an interesting term for me to think about recently. The only thing that we really have in common on our two wavelengths has been the Gospel. That´s what really matters. We can get along with anyone in the whole world if we have at least one thing in common - the Gospel wavelength. I know that as we strengthen our connection and understanding of this "wavelength", we will be blessed in helping others and helping ourselves. Our understanding of our own purpose will increase and we will begin to understand better why we are here, what we are doing, where we will go, why we have problems, etc. We will be happy in a genuine way. I love watching people choose the right and doing the things that will help them to be eternally happy, and at times it frustrates me a lot that not everyone wants this path. We must, however, keep trying. If we don´t, it will fall upon our own heads. 

We´re going to baptize Susi this week and Carol next week! Let´s end this transfer in the water!

 

Love you all - be a Nephi (or Nephietta)

Elder Brown 

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We gonna baptize again!

So sorry everyone…I forgot to send this!

 

Hello all,

 

I´d like to personally congratulate my sister Alison May Brown for being a rockstar, without having seen the play in which was previously participated. She, quote, "rocked people´s socks right off", close quote.

 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JULIE!!!!! 11 years old is so great! Next year is Young Womens!

And no, I didn´t forget that you´re actually 12. Sorry.

 

We had a great week! All the missionaries were able to teach a lot of lessons and we have several people that are preparing for baptism for this week, next week, and the next. We´re baptizing every week!

 

First, we have Lurdes. Elder Melo and I were going crazy on a Sunday to complete the mission standard in lessons the other week, and we saw a lady sitting outside her house with her grandson. We went over and taught her about the BOM. She mentioned that the Elders had already went to her house and that she had already learned a lot with them. We didn´t think much of it, but she promptly accepted a baptismal date for the 3rd of April! OK! We came back afterwards and she had read, prayed and receive a strong answer as to its truth. She continuallt says that she prayed to have another opportunity to receive the missionaries again, and that this is an answer to her prayers. She went to church and LOVED it - blended right in with the Relief Society. The other day (Monday) we taught almost a perfect lesson with her about the Restoration (she had already been taught that lesson beforehand, but we decided to review it again). We brought a member (Margarete Budnar) with us and we were able to listen to her problems and thoughts. The Spirit was tangible in the room, and she got very emocional and started to cry. It was a very tender moment and one that I will not forget - she has been converted and is ready to be baptized this week.

 

The other is João. He was being taught by the Elders in the area next to us (31 de Março) and they found out that he actually lives in our area. Our baptism! He´s a little slow, but a great man and super excited for baptism as well. He has a crazy, kind-of-retarded sister that keeps on repeating that she wants to, um, break the commandments with my companion and I. Yeah, only on the mission.

 

Next week, Otacílio. He´s a member´s dad and gained interest in the church after seeing his son be cured by a priesthood blessing. He´s from the same place as Elder Santana and they have a blast speaking in gírias (slang, local words) from Pernambouco. I can say that my vocabulary is growing daily as we go there (conteranho, daíapoi, pois é vizinho, etc.). He´s a very happy and simple man who doesn´t know how to read, but he´s stopped smoking and drinking coffee, and is really excited!

 

Also next week: Lourenço. He´s dating a member of the church (Dola) who was recently divorced. He´s a great guy and he, though he´s rather "whipped" with Dola and does whatever she says, he´s been able to receive an answer as to the truthfulness of the BOM. Yesterday we watched a movie called "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" (which is basically a pirated version of the exclusive, only-in-the-CTM movie. Funny stuff.) and he cried. Crying is great.

 

We´ve also got Rodrigo and Juliana. Their daughter was recently confirmed (last Sunday) and they are super excited. They went to the SRE (a church service group to help find jobs - I don´t know the name in English) and they´ll stop pirating DVDs soon so they can be baptized too.

 

This has been a week/month of much labor! We´re excited to baptize every week and it´s been very rewarding, if not a little crazy.

Love you all, hope you all know that I know that as we listen to the Prophet´s voice our questions will be answered and our testimonies will be strengthened.

He lives.

 

Elder Brown

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A big turning point in my life

Hello everyone!

 

I had an extremely interesting experience on Monday, one that changed my mission:
For a long time, my comp. and I had been having a little nagging, childish thing going on. There weren´t even reasons for it, looking back - just differences of opinion, perfectionism and pride. It got to a point where I was stuck in between two things: trying to be a good example and love my companion, and second, for whatever reason, try to just grin and bear it until the transfer while "humbly" letting the things that my comp. didn´t like that I was doing just roll over my shoulder. I´m not sure if this is understandable but I´m just going to keep going. Anyway, we´re baptizing a LOT (which has been surprising to me, and I want to get used to this feeling) and that´s been amazing and the ward´s excited, we´re teaching a lot, and yet still I wasn´t really happy. This is so ironic because a while ago I read a talk called "The Fourth Missionary" that was another turning point in my mission. It says that if we give EVERYTHING to the Lord, without our own desires or intentions, then we will be happy. I started to wonder: "why am I not happy? Am I not doing everything? We´re teaching a lot, even doing all our contacts, trying to be good examples, and why do I feel this way", etc. I believe it basically boils down to, yet again, selfishness and pride. The old favorites. So on Monday we were walking down the street and for whatever reason I thought my comp. was mad at me, and I asked him in an irritated tone what I had done wrong. We didn´t argue, but it was a tense conversation and he showed significant feelings of "oh, not this again. Make it stop." Again, I played the "try to be humble and take his comments" card, thinking that this might help. We started planning and I wasn´t able to follow the SPirit. We finally were able to plan and I took a shower, did the Area Book, etc. I started to think, am I really the source of the problem?  I discovered that, well, yes, I was helping a lot. I read 2 Nephi 4 in english and felt the Spirit punch me in the face as I read "Awake, my soul! No longer stoop in sin!" and "wilt thou make me shake at the appearance of sin?". I was able to sleep, then I read a little from notes and journal entries from the CTM. I resolved that I was trying so hard to be a "good missionary" that I was becoming a robot and starting to lose focus as to who I really was, am and will be. I discovered that I used to be funny, a good speaker, etc. Where did this all go?
To make one more long story from a missionary short, I´m all right now. I´ve understood the problems that were causing me to stop, smile and smell the flowers every now and again, and I feel better with my companion, with the area, with myself, etc. I think it was another turning point for me.

 

We baptized two men on Sunday! Lourenço and Otacílio! Otacílio smoked homemade cigarretes since he was 7 years old (he´s 67) and he threw them in my bag and stopped. It was awesome.

 

We´re short on time, but sufficeth me to say that we´re going to baptize not this week (probably) but next week - Carol!

 

Love you all. I know the Church is true. I love the Savior and I know He understands me. I´m sick of feeling bad about myself, and I know I don´t have to. Let´s confidently and humbly bear our solemn testimony to ALL that will listen, and help them be happy with our Father after this life! Woo!

 

Elder Brown

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tired, but excited!!!

Hi everyone!

It´s been a great week, especially with the wonderful General Conference that we had on Saturday and Sunday. Several cool things happened during conference:

- we were still able to work a lot and achieve a lot of our goals in our own area!

- we brought almost ALL of our good investigators to the conference!

- we BAPTIZED in the "intermission" (right word?) on Sunday!!!! It was awesome! The best thing ever - watch the Prophets and Apostles talk and take notes/learn, then help someone perform their first ordenance with the Lord! How cool is that?!!?! João and Lurdes were baptized. I have rarely seen people more ready to be baptized than them, and it´s been no real secret as to what we´ve done to help them be that way. It´s just Preach My Gospel! It´s all there! We´re planning better and more specifically about each person, and this has brought a greater sense of progression to our teaching and to their understanding. They understand the compromises that they make and sincerely make them (reading the BOM, going to church, etc.). We´re teaching completely without fear and apprehension, and they were so happy to be baptized. I had the privelege of baptizing them both (even though we basically exhorted them to pick on of the many members that we had brought to their homes/introduced them to to baptize them, but to no avail...you do what you can) and it was an amazing experience. Lourdes was trembling with excitement and came out of the water with a very shocked expression. I wasn´t sure if that was because of the temperature of the water (pretty darn cold) or because of the Spirit. I´m pretty sure it was both. João gave me a big hug after he was baptized, and said he felt really good. He always prays for us that we will have more people to baptized, and I know that those prayers will help us!

This week, we´re going to baptize two more men!!! Let´s go, new stake! We´re working to create a third stake in Ponta Grossa and baptizing men is going to help. Otacílio and Lourenço are soooo ready to be baptized that it´s, well, really cool! We´re also preparing 5 to 6 others for baptism this month, but we know that we can find more with the Spirit!

Love you all. I know that He lives and that the Book of Mormon is true. This is His work.

Elder Brown

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

We gonna baptize again!

Hello all,

 

I´d like to personally congratulate my sister Alison May Brown for being a rockstar, without having seen the play in which was previously participated. She, quote, "rocked people´s socks right off", close quote.

 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JULIE!!!!! 11 years old is so great! Next year is Young Womens!

And no, I didn´t forget that you´re actually 12. Sorry.

 

We had a great week! All the missionaries were able to teach a lot of lessons and we have several people that are preparing for baptism for this week, next week, and the next. We´re baptizing every week!

 

First, we have Lurdes. Elder Melo and I were going crazy on a Sunday to complete the mission standard in lessons the other week, and we saw a lady sitting outside her house with her grandson. We went over and taught her about the BOM. She mentioned that the Elders had already went to her house and that she had already learned a lot with them. We didn´t think much of it, but she promptly accepted a baptismal date for the 3rd of April! OK! We came back afterwards and she had read, prayed and receive a strong answer as to its truth. She continually says that she prayed to have another opportunity to receive the missionaries again, and that this is an answer to her prayers. She went to church and LOVED it - blended right in with the Relief Society. The other day (Monday) we taught almost a perfect lesson with her about the Restoration (she had already been taught that lesson beforehand, but we decided to review it again). We brought a member (Margarete Budnar) with us and we were able to listen to her problems and thoughts. The Spirit was tangible in the room, and she got very emocional and started to cry. It was a very tender moment and one that I will not forget - she has been converted and is ready to be baptized this week.

 

The other is João. He was being taught by the Elders in the area next to us (31 de Março) and they found out that he actually lives in our area. Our baptism! He´s a little slow, but a great man and super excited for baptism as well.

 

Next week, Otacílio. He´s a member´s dad and gained interest in the church after seeing his son be cured by a priesthood blessing. He´s from the same place as Elder Santana and they have a blast speaking in gírias (slang, local words) from Pernambouco. I can say that my vocabulary is growing daily as we go there (conteranho, daíapoi, pois é vizinho, etc.). He´s a very happy and simple man who doesn´t know how to read, but he´s stopped smoking and drinking coffee, and is really excited!

 

Also next week: Lourenço. He´s dating a member of the church (Dola) who was recently divorced. He´s a great guy and he´s been able to receive an answer as to the truthfulness of the BOM. Yesterday we watched a movie called "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration".

 

We´ve also got Rodrigo and Juliana. Their daughter was recently confirmed (last Sunday) and they are super excited. They went to the SRE (a church service group to help find jobs - I don´t know the name in English) and they´ll stop pirating DVDs soon so they can be baptized too.

 

This has been a week/month of much labor! We´re excited to baptize every week and it´s been very rewarding, if not a little crazy.

Love you all, hope you all know that I know that as we listen to the Prophet´s voice our questions will be answered and our testimonies will be strengthened.

He lives.

 

Elder Brown

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.