Missionary Work: What is your excuse?

Worked hard this week

Oh boy was this week good! It started off alright and then it just got great! So this monkey I have had in pictures was offered to me for free! Missionaries are not allowed to have pets as obvious as that is so I was going to let our landlord have it because he lives right behind us. The man offered him for free when he was really drunk and high and dressed really sloppy. We went back a few days later to go get the monkey and the guy was as sober as anyone else. He was dressed nicely and was even holding a baby. He said he called his son and his son said he would cry if he gave away the monkey. This week we also taught this lady who said "Hallelujah Jesus" after every little thing we said. We asked her to pray and she blessed everything on the earth. She literally prayed for the whole earth. This week we served hard too! I was sore for about 3 days because of building this house. Some of the guys building the house got paid because they were working for the people in my branch building the home. They smoked a couple of joints while working and I was shocked. They said it was legal to do it and I asked the people in my branch and they didn't even care they smoked pot while working. My big question goes out to all you Breaking Bad fans: So the show started back up on Saturday! Please do not spoil it for me or I will be super sad! But how was it? Don't tell me anything about what happens because that is what I will find out in about 19 months. Is it everything we expected? It is killing me! So I had a little bit of an insane week too. My bike had not had brakes for a few weeks and then we installed them. That night on the way to one appointment (Let me emphasize ONE APPOINTMENT) and if I did not have my breaks I would have been hit by 4 different cars! People here cannot drive at all! All of them were from a driver being stupid. One car was parked and then suddenly moved towards me then stopped when I hit my brakes. This week we also beat the standard of excellence! We plan on doing it for the whole transfer and this transfer just started. We are going to do it! This week we also had to drop 2 people because they would not progress at all. One of them was kinda sad but we hope it motivates them to keep their promises. We can only invite them to do these things when we visit them. Also there are so many trucks here that are huge and have names on the wind shield. One was named "Reality". Imagine getting hit by that! We made a joke about it. "What killed that guy?" "He got hit by Reality. It hit him hard." This week we also had 3 young boys (One of which I baptised) that came out to teach with us. These guys can teach! We taught one of our investigators about the Law of Chastity and they testified really good! He said he needed that lesson and after the prayer there were tears streaming down his face. They taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ with us to another less active lady and we each took one point of it and it went good! My challenge to everyone at home is to do missionary work this week! I don't care if it's just a little chat while at a restaurant or if you go out and teach with the missionaries (You should teach with them though because missionaries are the best!). Go out and share the gospel this week! A motto I thought of was: "Missionary work: What is your excuse?" Love you all and see you next week!

-Elder Brown

future missionaries

Trust unwavering in Christ

My first double

Funny guy

You aint gonna bite me this time

This week had been a bit of a bummer but we had some really funny moments that made it good! It rained every day this week but it was nice so we could get cooled off. I smiled while drenched in rain. As missionaries we like to be tough and not use umbrellas. People carry them for 2 reasons though. To keep the sun away and to keep the rain away. So my highlight of the week right here. We were doing a little bit of contacting and we met this really drunk guy under his house. He calls himself Teddy Bear. This guy was drunk and only in underwear. He had 2 poorly drawn tattoos on his chest and one said "Teddy" the other was a handgun. I asked him what the handgun was for. "I SHOT A MAN AND BURNED HIS HOUSE DOWN!" He made the week amazing! Almost everywhere we go we see Indian soap operas on tv. They look so weird! Also I still like my dog at home in America but dogs here are annoying! If they aren't dead they bark while you try to talk to someone. Also since I have been out for 4 months I found this guy who tried to rip us off pretty funny. We took a bus to Georgetown and he gave us $200 less than he should have in change. We told him he gave wrong change. Ladies behind us yelled at him. I got a little mad with him but didn't really do anything other than when we got out told him to try and be honest next time. They sometimes will try to give you a "White Man Tax". Also if you live in the West Indies you are likely to get called to the West Indies on your mission but this mini missionary who has been in our district got called to Atlanta, Georgia! I don't know if that's close to Macon but that's where my brother served. A cool lady in my branch and I were talking and she said something cool "Trust unwavering in Christ brings true happiness. Not parties." Too many people here are broke because they spend all their money on rum and then they beg you for money. That's what makes the quote true. Also I somehow lost the keys this week and we were on a trade off so I climbed to the top of our fence to jump it. It is about 5 feet high and I twisted my leg up there and fell. Thud! I felt a little better after a few days but my leg was bothering me for a few days. I recently baptized a lady named Yolanda and her kids so you can pray for her. Brother London and his girlfriend need to get married which will be hard and also Eugiene and Patricia need to be married too. I love mangoes here! There are all kinds. If you guys are still picking me up from my mission I have lots of food and fruit and vegetables for you to try. I want to bring back some seeds too so I can grow plants. Not much new but I will see you all next week! (I also have to add that Kyle said he hasn't gotten monkey powers or anything from that bite last week)

-Elder Brown

Ice Cream, Archuletta & Powdered Milk

Hey everyone! It's been a pretty short week since my last email so not too much is new. I had an interesting moment though. I felt "Prompted" to go get ice cream and my companion knew I was joking but I found some people from my branch that have been less active for longer than I have been on my mission. They told us that they really needed to see us and want to come back to church. Lesson we can all learn? Ice cream never steers you wrong. Ice cream is always going to lead to good unless you eat it too much. When we went there they had Monsters University on but no volume so we all took a little peek and guessed what was going on. One of the missionaries with us goes home in two weeks so he will see it soon. I am excited to see it! No spoilers for me. Anyways there is this bridge called second bridge that we cross every now and again. I asked one lady if it was the second bridge and she replied "Every Day!" That's a good thing because if it wasn't on some days I would get confused. My companion laughed at that joke I made about it. Also I held another monkey the other day and it bit me! It wasn't that hard so I am okay but the monkey liked me I think. There are so many animals here! This new guy we have been teaching is awesome! He came to church and said "I heard this church is true. From what I see it is true." He was led there from a guy we know who will be defending him in court because he is accused of having his dog eat 9 of a guy's goats. This guy doesn't own a dog so he will win and the man who is defending him in court is a main guy in our branch head (Kinda like the stake president). He felt prompted to support him and court and invited him to church. He just has to get married and then we can baptize him! Also I have been drinking some powdered milk. It's not nearly as good as the real stuff! I am going to drink a whole gallon of 2% in 20 months. Which by the way I am at my 4 month mark! I am not counting down the days but it is crazy I have been out that long! I like how everyone but missionaries hate Monday. P Day is the best! We get to clean and sleep! Also we are allowed to listen to David Archuletta and I have to admit he is pretty good at singing! He has great church music too!
Well I don't have much left to say but no one really emailed me so I don't have too many people to reply to. Give me an email and I will email you back next week! kyleb@myldsmail.net

Elder Brown, King of Animals

Every Single Step

Arizona Elders (Brown, Parisot, Hale, ?)

Love my companions smile, can you see it?

Sorry for updating so late! I have not forgotten anyone. On Monday we had Zone Conference and Tuesday we had P Day. We had a long day with going to this activity that my zone planned for P Day and then we forgot the keys there had to go meet up with some Elders and I had to carry a pot that we brought chicken with the whole day. We caught a bus straight to the Internet lab because we were so tired from all the stuff we had to do. We walk up to the Internet cafe, "Black Out" The kid tells me. I hit myself in the head repeatedly with the pot I had to carry all day. I did not want to have the day end like this with my last few free hours left. We called the electric company and they said they would have it on later but they took FOREVER! We ran out of waiting time so we visited some members. Before that we met a girl who also was waiting for the internet. We got to share the gospel with her so it wasn't a total loss. It reminds me of a quote from a movie I really liked called 127 Hours. As many know it is about the man who got his arm stuck in a boulder and had to cut it off to be freed. He says "Every step I have taken in my life has led me to this moment." I know our Heavenly Father has a path set out for us. Every single step, Every single move we make can determine our eternal welfare. Every step leads us to somewhere if it is good or bad is up to our choices. This last week we had a huge service day where we cut down a coconut tree and a few other things. We are going to eat the coconut tree heart which is really good! Something I had been studying today and that always speaks to me is faith. Faith makes us act. You cannot have faith if you do not act upon that faith. When Peter asked to walk on water he did so by faith. He had faith and applied that faith by acting upon it and leaving the boat. At Zone Conference President Mehr talked about how everyone needs a responsibility and I feel that that is a way we can use our faith. I am about out of things to talk about but random I say this. R Kelly is coming to Guyana for a concert! We drive past the place a few times a week so it would be so funny if we drove by when he was on stage. I gotta go but I love you all and will update you more next week.

-Elder Brown

P.S. The heat almost doesn't even bother me. Want to hear the secret? It's LOVE. I honestly love the people here. They feed me well too and I still lose weight!
Here is me & my companion on the bus - He's got the best smile (can you see it?)