Hello

Hey Guys!

Can you believe it's already almost Mothers Day?! I swear it seemed like it was just a few weeks ago that I was skyping you in Bethel! I can't believe that Sarah and Jord are dipping out on it... that's ok I guess I'm finding out who really loves me. Just kidding :) That's pretty cool that Fat camp teaches you how to cook mom! So the other day my comp was complaining about the food here and how he missed his pigs and dogs so one of our investigators gave us a pork roast... turns out we don't know how to cook it! Shocker right? So if you could maybe send a recipe or something then that would be great! If not I think we're just gonna stick it in the oven and see what happens... haha!

Happy Birthday Meg!!! (Promise I didn't forget!) 

Anyways... Elder Fatani's English is coming along great! He's a stud. I'll make him talk to you when we skype in a couple of weeks and you'll see! He hasn't been swearing in any of our lessons lately so that's good! The only problem we have is that before we go into a lesson I have to make sure that there aren't any mirrors in the room... If there are then he'll just sit there and stare at himself and raise his eyebrows in the mirror. Then i'll try and pass it over to him to teach and he won't know where we're at haha! I kind of have this hunch that a couple of years after I get home I'll go to the store to buy some hanes underwear and he'll be the guy on the cover ;) I love him!

This week we were thrown a little bit of a curve ball. We were having a lesson with Lynn over at our Bishops house and he told us that he was able to get a job working as in engineer for a company up here in the valley which was great! But then he told us that he would be flying down to Seattle the very next day to pick up his things and then drive them up the AL-CAN and would be getting back hopefully Friday (the day before his baptism). Well we were planning on having at least a whole week and a half to teach him the rest of the principles before his baptism but ended up having to have an emergency lesson the very next day before his plane took off. We threw a lot on him but he really is so solid and took it perfectly! We're a little nervous with him getting back the day before his baptism with all of the things that still need to happen and the small window that we have to do it all but I know that the Lord will make it happen. 

Last week we tracted into a new investigator named John on a Friday. He told us to come back the next day to share our message with him so we did. When we came in you could tell something was going on and he wasn't really the same person that we were talking to the day before. Well we taught the lesson anyways and it went really well and he committed to start reading the Book of Mormon. This week when we came back for our follow up lesson he opened the door and started apologizing for how he was last week. Apparently a few hours after we found him that Friday he had a stroke and was taken to the hospital. He had just gotten back from the hospital when we came back the next day and he wanted to hear our message so badly that he still let us come. Pretty cool guy huh? Needless to say he's doing great! -- this week I heard probably the funniest tracting story every so next week I'll have to tell it to ya! :

Hope everything's going great! Have an amazing week!

-Elder Brown

Warm String Cheese

Hello Familia! 

So I don't really have a whole lot of time to write this week but things have been going really great! We were able to put Brother Jones on date for the 3rd of May last Monday so he's really excited for it all. 

This Easter was a little weird being away from home. Just like all holidays it was pretty slow. We went over to a members house where I tried crab for the first time! It was a little weird... I think its pretty overrated because all it tasted like what a warm piece of string cheese! But I looks like you all had a blast with all of the usual Easter festivities! But man by the look of those baskets it looked more like Christmas than Easter! That's really such a cool story about Griffins farewell with President Erying! He's going to be an amazing missionary.

I'm glad Ben got the package and that he likes all of it! 

Well sorry to be such a bore but I promise that I'll make up for it next week! Love you guys!

P.S. here are some pics of the one and only Elder Fatani!

The Book of Mormon

Man with all of the crazy hikes and walks you've all been doing it sounds like you've taken FFF (Forced family fun) to a whole different level! Now you're going to have to call it FFFF! (Forced fit family fun) Haha I can't believe they got you to hike to Ensign Peak! It's not very long but that's pretty steep! Did Bella make it up alright or did you have to carry that old grandma?  Ok! So you know those chocolate chip cookies you made for the Relief Society? In the next package that you send me you should send some in it! I know you sent me the recipe but lets just say... out of the 6 times i've tried they haven't exactly turned out the best... 

I love my new area! The Wasilla Valley is so pretty it's kind of crazy. It's just exactly picturesque Alaska with mountains, lakes, and glaciers all over! Our ward boundaries are really pretty small but all of the members in it are so great! I've realized that that's pretty much the same wherever you go but I love them. I'm just a few miles away from where Dad served and actually last night at dinner I met a couple that one of Dad's companions baptized right after he left his area. I guess that they worked with him while they were building the Willow chapel about 32 years ago so that was pretty cool! It's a pretty weird feeling to be back in a ward again and having more than 30-40 people to show up to church. I really missed it! 

Yesterday was amazing as it was Lynn Jones first time to church. I've been absolutely baffled at the complete transformation that's happened with him in just under two weeks... When we met him he was open to meet with us but he's a really smart guy and a deep thinker with a lot of theologies and philosophies. It has been crazy to see how as he's read the Book of Mormon and has felt the spirit all of those ideas have gone away. Yesterday at church he was crying and at the end said "I'm finally home" Every trial that you have to go through all of the sudden seems so insignificant when you're able to see someone truly come to know of the truth of the gospel! It reminded me of seeing the billboards kind of by grandma and grandpa's house that would say "DON'T READ THE BOOK OF MORMON! THAT'S HOW THEY GET YOU!" Haha now it just makes me laugh because that's exactly right and is so true! If someone will just sincerely read the Book of Mormon then they'll know it's true. It sounds so simple but you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get someone to just read the thing!! Just like with so many things in life, our Heavenly Father is just waiting there to help us! All we have to do it just "act on a particle of faith" and then He jumps in and does the rest!   

The Salmon runs are going to start in a couples of  months and I found a member that wants to take us out so that should be really fun! But other than that we don't really do a lot of fishing. In Bethel there really wasn't anything that you could do on P-Day since you're out by yourselves in the middle of no where surrounded by frozen tundra. But now there's so much you can do so that's so nice!

Well I hope everything's just fine and dandy!

Love you guys!

-Elder Brown

Wasilla

Hello Everyone!!!

 

This week has been pretty stressful but a lot of fun! Tuesday we had transfer meeting and I found out that I'm going to be training Elder Fatani who's straight from Tonga. He's a really cool and funny guy and we should get along just great! He grew up in a small village of about 100 people and I guess that his neighbor is serving in Vanuatu also? Maybe Kate knows her. When the Tongans go to school they have to learn English so his English is pretty good! We get an extra hour of studies everyday so that I can help him learn it a little bit better haha. So funny story.... All growing up he would watch "American Movie" and so everyone in Tonga would quote things that the actors would say. Well as the week went on I thought that I kept hearing him throw in a bunch of swear words as he was talking in our lessons. He has a pretty thick Tongan accent so it kinda of went over my head as well as those who we were teaching. Well finally I made him repeat something he had said a few times so I could figure it out what he was saying and it turned out I was right! Haha he had no idea what swear words were and would just say them because he had heard it from movies! Needless to say our next language study we went over all of the words in English that we can't say.

 

The Wasilla Ward is so amazing! All of them love to do Missionary work so it's completely different and so much easier than any other area I've ever been in. The very first day we got there our Bishop gave us two referrals that he wanted us to go and see. We went over there and were able to set up a lesson at Bishops house for the following day. Elder Fatani really got thrown in the deep end but he did great. One of the new investigators name is Lynn jones... His story is really pretty cool. About a week ago he was living down in the states and nothing was really going well for him and he knew he needed a change. He decided that he needed to pray. After he did he felt a strong impression that he needed to head north. He kept following the road north until he ended up in Wasilla Alaska. He pulled into a hotel that our Bishop owns and it just so happened that our Bishop was out in the parking lot. Lynn told him his story and he brought him over to the church for employment services and invited him to meet with us. It's crazy the lengths that our Heavenly Father will go to to help lead us to the Gospel. Lynn as well as another investigator Sam came and watched the last session of General Conference at the Bishops house with us. They both loved it and are doing great! I guess that's probably one of the easiest ways for someone to be converted is to listen to the Prophet and his Apostles.

 

Sorry about the phone call the other day... I hope it wasn't too awkward! We were teaching Brother Huntington who is set to be baptized this July and he asked me if my mom would agree with everything I was saying. I told him that you would and that he could even call you and ask you! I didn't think he'd take it that literally...

 

I did get all of the packages that you sent! Just remember that it only takes 5 days for them to get here so you don't need to send them 2 months early haha. But I love them! The sweaters are great! 

 

Hope all is well!

 

-Elder Brown

It's a BOY!

Hello!

 

Man you guys are making me jealous with all of those sweet pictures you've been sending! That's so awesome that you were able to go down to St. George for Spring Break! I miss that place... but it looks like you are all having a blast! Except maybe for the drive down with Mase puking all over the car... I can't imagine that the rest of the car ride was too pleasant. Haha it sounds like Ben's getting a little too strong if he's shutting shower doors and they're shattering! Hopefully you'll get to go to the Pizza Factory and send me up some right?? That's so cool that his AAU team took state! Especially since it was with a bunch of guys from the neighborhood.

 

This week has been a little bit bitter sweet. Transfer calls came this Saturday and turns out they actually haven't forgotten about me, so I'm finally headed out of Bethel and back to civilization! My new area is in Wasilla. In the Wasilla Ward and I'll be training a brand new missionary! I've been dying to get the chance to train someone, so I'm so excited now that I'll be able to! But... all of the incoming missionaries are either HUGE Poly's or else they're BYU linemen sized so this will be interesting... but it'll be a lot of fun. :)  

Even though it's not the prettiest place I've seen, and most people hate it out in Bethel, I came to love it so much!  The people are so amazing and I'm really going to miss all of them! It was really fun serving in a smaller branch because you just get so close with all of the members. The past few days were mostly just spent saying goodbye to everyone and then trying to pack up all of my stuff (It's crazy how many just random things you get from living somewhere for a little bit!) This morning we flew back into Anchorage, and now we just get to cruise around all day, go shopping, etc.. then I'll pick up my new boy tomorrow morning! Well I don't have a ton of time to email but I promise I'll write better next week!

 

Hope everything's going great!

 

Love you guys!!

 

-Elder Brown