"This just makes sense!"

The beginning of this week was pretty good. Whenever I stop by my buddy Ras Chippy we find someone who needs the gospel so we always stop by him when we see him. He promised me he would come to church on Sunday but he didn't which was kinda a bummer. Recently we had a service project as missionaries where we unloaded a huge truck of donated items and clothes and school kits. We gave them to schools and Ras Chippy said his daughter got a school kit and said the Latter Day Saints gave it to her. He told her "I know those two guys!" He gave me his number because he trusts us so much. We taught a man about the Restoration with Chippy the other day and he just shook my hand and said "This just makes sense!" That is what I love! The Gospel makes sense and we can pray to find out it is true! A quote I came up with and I want to use often is "The beauty of the gospel is taking it and making it simple enough for a child to understand." And it is possible! I also taught another group of Rastas but they seem different from the rest of the Rastas. These ones smoked a ton of pot in front of me and were super stoned when I tried telling them about the Restoration. They asked the most random questions to me. "Where is the Garden of Eden? Where did Adam and Eve live?" I told them I was not sure but when I meet God I will ask him. They said I just didn't want to say it was in Africa. I left them with the tract because one of them just walked around saying random things because he was pretty high. Also a fun fact about my buddy Ras Chippy: He has been growing his dreads since 1992! I wasn't even born then! My companion also came up with a quote we always use now. We saw someone with a cool looking scar but we didn't want to be awkward and ask them about it. Later my companion said (Not to them) "Do you want to give me a brief history of what happened to your arm?" Not much new so I will see you all next week.

-Elder Brown

Doubles (I hear they're even better in Trinidad)

Me and my new comp Elder Augustine

Magic Tricks

Not much new this week. I think it is funny that I understand the people here really well now but they can sometimes have a hard time understanding me. Oh how the tables have turned. Sometimes I get phone calls from random people asking for the last Elder in the area since he left unexpectedly. These people asked who they were talking to on the phone. "This is Elder Brown. What can I help you with?" They could not understand me too well. "Aubrey Brown?" "No this is ELDER BROWN. What can I do to help you?" They called about 5 times and just hung up each time because they got confused. Something I find funny is that all the Caribbeans love anime here. Our new branch mission leader invited us over to come watch this really cool Yu-Gi-Oh! movie. We had to decline but my companion will probably watch it in a few weeks. So almost every day I ride my bike past these kids who chase us down the street asking for magic tricks. I did the one where you pull your thumb off but they always say "NO! YOU DIDN'T REALLY PULL IT OFF!" They all try to imitate it but are unable to do so. I did a trick with my tie that most Elders probably know where you blow on it and it shrivels up. One kid yelled "Take your head off and put it on backwards!" I am concerned by that kid's imagination. I would be freaked out to see that. If anyone knows how to do that please let me know. Not much is new this week. Just still trying to get to know the area. I am trying to get my mini missionary companion to learn the lessons. We are having a lot of fun out here!

Not much left to say so I will talk to you all next week!

-Elder Brown

Rasta Week!

"Jah Love" = God's Love

I have been getting to know my area a bit better now. Unfortunately the computers in my area won't upload pictures. (Let's hope I can get some on soon) My neighborhood is pretty nice but Albouystown which is right above me is supposed to be ghetto and I have been a few times. They tell me don't go past 7 pm. I went during daylight hours and all I ever hear is "White Boy! White Boy! White Boy!" I did ride past some guys who tried to be tough and said something among the lines of "F word white boy I will kill you!" I try to avoid that area as often as I can. I have been told I will be here a while so I am trying to build it up strong here. It's nice to have a fresh new start but it is hard remembering everyone's name. That is probably the hardest thing in a mission. Why can't everyone be like us and wear name tags? A lot of times I have been stopped by really drunk guys who have long beards and they just want to talk or get a tract so I always leave them with a Word of Wisdom tract. I also got to go to a funeral this week. My new branch president's father in law passed away. Missionaries joked with me and said I was bad luck. I got to go to the funeral and it was pretty good. They have a big funeral building that has a few funerals going on all at once. The funeral I was at was really peaceful and everyone seemed to know that the plan of salvation is true. Next door people were drunk and taking pictures of the dead person and playing loud music. It was sad because we had to close the windows to try and make it quieter. This week has also been what I should call "Rasta Week". I have been talking to a couple of Rastas and they are funny. I met a man named Ras Chippy and he cooks pretty good! They are all vegetarian and will smoke pot right in front of you. In a picture I hope that gets sent I am with a Rasta doing a hand sign with him that means "Jah Love". Jah is who they think God is. Even on the way coming here I got in a bus and the driver asked me "Was Jesus a Rasta man?" I told him I haven't seen him in person yet so I will let him know. He told me that Jesus and God are Rasta men. So I have made a goal for my mission. I will baptize one Rasta before I come home. I know I can do it! Also I tried to make a tradition with my companion where each Sunday night we make brownies and have the crappy ice cream they have here and watch a church movie for a week well done. Our oven doesn't heat up enough so we put it in the oven for a while and it seemed cooked but it tasted like eggs and made me feel gross. That's all I have for this week but hopefully I can get pictures up!

-Elder Brown

This is the name of my Home ward!

Tough but great week

Well this week was not what I expected. I don't think I got to announce it last week but Eugiene and Patricia are finally getting married! It will happen on September 11th (Kinda a strange day I know) But it is amazing because they have waited a year to get baptized. I did a trade off with the Zone Leaders and Wednesday morning I got an interesting phone call from the Zone Leader. An Elder in Garden Park area (Really close to Georgetown) got emergency transferred and is in Trinidad now. I am in his area now and he wasn't in my district so I have never been here until now. I am blanking the area. The area book has not been updated so there is even more of a challenge now. I am trying to get to know the area but it will come in time. We had a mission wide fast yesterday. We had the branch members all around the mission fast to know someone they could share the Book of Mormon with. I bore my testimony telling the members that they are the true missionaries. Sadly I had only 2 hours notice that I was leaving the area I am in so I only got to say goodbye to my branch president and his family. My new apartment was way dirty from the last missionaries but they left some cool books. I have been reading The Pearl of Great Price study manual lately and it has some neat deep doctrine in it. And the washing machine here is the best! That sounds weird but it washes clothes really good! I saw this Bob Marley drink for sale here and the price for it was really funny. The drink costs $420 Guyana dollars ($2.10 US). 420 for a Bob Marley drink? Coincidence? Some drunk guy came up to me and one of the Zone Leaders yesterday and he was really drunk in this restaurant. He said the F word every other word and he called us "White Devils" This lady told us to pray for him. It has been tough here in this new area. I have a mini missionary who is from my last branch so it has been really awesome! I have had some hard times too like when we went contacting. We invited some people to church and had a prayer with them. I said to them that I hope to see them at church. The little girl said "You know we aren't coming right?" All I told that little girl was that we can only invite them to church. "The ball is in your field." This transfer will be tough but I am praying a lot and using the members to help me. I am at a really slow internet cafe so I hope I get a better one next week so I can send pictures. Well I am going to the zoo. See you all next week!

-Elder Brown