Crazy Stuff

Well it's my first Carnival on my mission and probably my last. I was in Guyana last year and they don't have it there so this may be my only one. I thought it would be really crazy but it hasn't changed much. Usually you stay locked in for 2 days but yesterday we went out with the Sisters in their area. Today we won't go teaching but it's P-Day anyways so we only have 1 lesson anyways. We have stayed away from downtown where all the half naked or fully naked and drunk people are. Chicken Gonya is spreading here like crazy. We have given quite a few Priesthood blessings. Chicken Gonya makes all your joints stiff and you feel pain. People recover fast after a blessing too and it makes for a good way to build faith. I was in a van this last week and some teenager was sitting next to me and spilled his cup all over his lap. Some got on me and then leaked over to my butt. It was clear so I asked him if it was water. He lied pretty good and just said yeah. I got to the church only to smell like rum. Gotta love that carnival week. We had an investigator come to church and it was nice. Overall a lot of people chose carnival over anything. We went and visited a less active with the Senior Couple and she always lets her kids run around the yard naked. One tried to give me a hug. Talk about awkward. The senior couple is so funny about it all though. They played baseball with a bottle cap. Also my friends who are good with photoshop can you do me a favor? I tell people Chris Brown is my cousin and it's really funny. I need a picture of him and I photo shopped so I can show it off. I had some dolphin curry and it was good. I've got to get out of town before the carnival people get crazy again. Have a great week!

Long But Fun Week

It feels like we had such a long week but I can't say it hasn't been fun. Elder Reyes has been teaching me the basics of how to play the piano. I understand generally how to play it now but I am no pro. I remember last week my mom emailed me and asked if I eat anything different and I realize so much that I never eat anything strange. I talked about it with Elder Reyes and that night we went to a part member family for FHE and at the end they fed us pig foot. I did not see that coming. There was barely any meat and you are supposed to eat the skin and fat. I dug for meat and enjoyed the sauce with it. How about that for exotic? I forgot to mention that 2 weeks ago we had a baptism right when I got here. We baptized a young teenager from a member family named Keeran. He is a funny kid who loves joking around with the missionaries. We had a nice lunch with all the missionaries in the branch. There is me and my companion another set of Elders who we live with and a set of Sister missionaries. We had Mexican food that we made and one of the Sisters is from Guyana so she called the burrito roti. I did a trade off and rode a bike for the first time in 9 months. It was so hard doing that but we went down a slight slope at the end of the day and our bikes go about 30 miles an hour. It is such a nice feeling but we don't have helmets so one pot hole would hurt pretty bad. Fortunately we rode safe and some stupid dog tried to chase us and just by hearing my tire screech make the dog run off all scared. It's hard to enjoy the 4th of July when you are not in America but we had a big missionary meeting with all the missionaries in Castries (Other side of the island) and talked about missionary work for a Zone Meeting. We sang patriotic songs for Hymns and then there is a store there that sells Pokemon cards for really really cheap. A few missionaries there buy Pokemon cards a lot so I ended up buying a few packs and it costs less than a dollar so I am making sure not to be like a child. Talk about the cigarettes of our childhood. "Mom I need another pack!" So Elder Watson and I celebrated an American holiday with Japanese cartoon cards. Sounds about as American as it gets. We also received some bittersweet news. The Sisters in our branch are getting moved out because many Sisters are going home this ending transfer and they need Sisters in other places. It's sad because Sister missionaries are the best. It is not so sad now because we will get their apartment. A washer and a drier! It will be cool not having to hang up clothes anymore. Sisters get the best treatment here in the Caribbean. We may or may not get their car too because we need to cover more area. I also got my address here too.

PO Box 923
Gable Woods South Mall
Vieux Fort, St. Lucia

Overall a great week of fun! We got a new Sister to come replace the Sisters here but the mission president just decided to pull them all out. She was here for a few days so it must have been like a vacation for her.

Last little quote I really liked that I heard:

"Sow a thought, Reap an act; Sow an act, Reap a habit; Sow a habit, Reap a character; Sow a character, Reap an eternal destiny." -President David O McKay

Keeran Baptism

Lunch included burrito roti

Bucket of Crabs

Pokemon Cards!

CTR: Choose the Ride

Well I am still trying to get to know St. Lucia. I have spent about a week here now. We spent half a week in St. Vincent and got back here late Wednesday so it felt so nice getting back to work on Thursday. I can only imagine how it will feel getting home. I am going to have to teach with the missionaries everyday but take 2 days off or so just to wean off of being a missionary. I will have to go to the RMTC. It was kinda nice though because we had P-Day pretty much from Sunday to Thursday. It felt like a vacation kinda but no swimming just seeing old friends. The branch here is going alright. Lots of contention but if you love them I sure it lightens the load. I always crack a joke with people and it really lightens the mood. Elder Reyes made a really funny joke this week. All the vans in the Caribbean no matter what country you go to have names. We want to get a van and make it super cool. It will be called CTR: Choose This Ride. We will blast MoTab and Conference Talks. It's a long ride from the airport to our area. We have an international airport near us though which flies to England and the States and places like that. It can get loud sometimes. Also I saw something really cool here for sale. There is an energy drink called Rockstar in the states that a lot of people like. I am not really a fan but they made a Guava flavored Rockstar here. Guava is a Caribbean fruit so I was pretty impressed by that. I have been teaching a lot more than investigators lately though. I taught mission prep class and then gave a talk on repentance in Sacrament Meeting. A big part of my talk was about forgiving others. We need to forgive others or we cannot be forgiven. (D&C 64:9-11) This is something a lot of the Caribbean and the church in general does not realize. We had Zone Conference this last week though and it was really nice. A big thing we talked about was spreading the Book of Mormon all around. I have been trying to use that more. We are so blessed to have another Testament even today! We also just moved out of our apartment and are living with the other Elders who aren't that far from us. It is really cool. It feels like The Best Two Years but kinda mixed up. The District Leader is going home and someone who came out with me is training someone from the Caribbean. Good week though. Here is a picture of Elder Watson and I drinking sodas with my St. Vincent buddy Grandfather Black.

Love you all!

Vincy Cloin & Kenlin (keeping my hands to myself) Vincy Unique in picture above

Elder Watson & my old friend Grandfather Black

Hatch tag AP Hatch

Subway, mission president paid for everyone

Sister Goddard, who came out with me, going home soon

Provo in St. Lucia

Sister Sherba

Gone to St. Lucia! Kinda?

Well I made it safe to St. Lucia and here I am back in St. Vincent. I flew in Wednesday but we have Zone Conference in St. Vincent so I basically got to show all the St. Lucia missionaries around my favorite city Kingstown. They really like it and we are going to have a fun few days here. Internet cafes are packed with people so it has been tough but I managed to be able to get to the church computer before anyone else. I have another Elder waiting for me and we have some fun activities planned for this P-Day. We are going to play some football in about an hour so I want to be kinda brief so we can just go and have some fun. St. Lucia is alright. It is tough leaving somewhere you have been at for so long and have just loved. It gets harder to leave areas then it gets to leave home. You make new families out here and just love them so much. St. Lucia is going to be an adventure. I share a branch with a set of Elders and a set of Sisters and I just have an amazing feeling about the area. I can just feel the spirit testify to me so strong that this area is good. People seem to accept us for the most part and let us teach them. It's a decently strong Catholic island but many people just kinda go there. There is a lot of drama in the branch and I have seen this in branches I have served in before. The secret is just to love them. Don't listen to rumors. If someone talks bad about someone just stop them there and let them know you love all the members of the branch. I look forward to serving the people there and showing them how much love I really do have for them. I am far from the tourist area and my area actually looks a bit like Arizona. There are cows and horses everywhere and some dead plants but we are not far from the ocean. I gotta pick it up quick because my companion Elder Reyes is at the end of his mission. He goes home in 5 weeks back to Australia. He is awesome and is the middle one in this picture. The other one is my buddy Elder Watson serving far on the other side of the island. He just wanted to be in the picture too because Elder Reyes trained him. Well they speak Patwa in St. Lucia which is broken French. It's really hard but I will try to learn it. Also funny joke of the week. I compared the Restoration to Pimp my Ride. Fix the original church back up. Well I gotta go love you all!

I don't have my new address yet.

Just like Arizona

Party Van in St. Vincent

My new companion, Elder Reyes (and Elder Watson, who he trained)

Goodbye St. Vincent

Well this week has been tough because I have been feeling so anxious for transfer calls. After 5 transfers (7 and a half months) I am leaving this island. I feel like I had just gotten here the other day. So many memories on this island. I am surprised I didn't cry. I am heading off to St. Lucia and will be serving where Elder Bingham came from. I have a strange theory going on though. I spent 5 transfers in Guyana, 5 in St. Vincent and now probably 5 in St. Lucia. After that I will have 2 transfers left. This week was nice because I got to go do a trade off in Caliqua for a baptismal interview and the work out there is going great! During a lesson though I felt a sting and pinch on my leg because we were out in the dark teaching and I shake my pants and all and this big about 4 inch centipede walks away. It stung the whole night. I called the mission doctor that night and everything is fine. The question of the night that night was: If I have to get my leg amputated should I get a peg leg or a robo leg? We have a baptism hopefully coming up here in Campden Park because these kids in this part member family know and just love the Gospel. One of the little girls who is about 3 said she wants to be a party girl. The kids told her that church girls are pretty and party girls are not. It was funny enough to make my weekly update. Also I got Clark's graduation and mission announcement. It scared me because Uncle Curt and Aunt Allison never put their names on the return address and just put the address. I thought I was getting a wedding announcement from a girl. Well I got to be a witness for the baptism of Tristan this week and those other Elders are really tall. As you can see in the picture I basically went swimming. I literally did a stroke in the water and one Elder got a picture of it. I am going to have to have him email that to me. I just love the look I have in this picture I imagine me saying: "How's the water? Oh it's great." I am looking forward to St. Lucia because I come back on Friday and Saturday for Zone Conference here in St. Vincent. Also I have already got a few friends in St. Lucia who are missionaries so this should be fun.
Not much left to say so have a nice week!

Love,
Elder Brown

Cute Puppy

Sister Grant

Paradise!

Ocean baptism

Brother Southerland

Jean

Luverne

Nice Swim

Brother Adams

No Dr. Kyle here (Congrats Dr. Ceej)

Well this week started off alright and then about half way through people started avoiding us. That's how it has been getting now days but it's all about learning diligence. This week I had an amazing District Meeting. The Sister missionaries got to join us this time so it felt really cool. Women bring in a lot of light into the gospel. Sister missionaries are great! I taught about prophets and just how blessed we are to have a prophet even today. Although we can receive personal revelation it is really good to be able to receive revelation for the whole world. I often teach people that prophets are kinda like the middle man in our relationship with God. We can't see God or hear him right now and prophets are up on the wall talking to God and then telling us what he says. It is a simple diagram that I draw to show that. Then I without trying to be too sacrilegious said that I am going to play God so I hid behind the chalk board and no one could see me and then I would call Elders one by one to come meet me and I hid scriptures around the room and told them where they could find them. I taught the Gospel (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End). I really liked Enduring to the End because I shared D&C 14:7. It's really nice to have a modern prophet to teach us that. That next day I did a trade off with an Elder and went into his area and I must repent but I got into a good Bible bash. This guy kept telling us that prophets are not good at all and that God has no secrets. I told him simply to read Amos 3:7. I proved him wrong there and after a few minutes we left because he would not shut up and let us teach his brother. I really impressed the missionary I was with. That adrenaline you get when bashing is the closest thing to a roller coaster ride you can get. Some guy walked past us this week too and said we are the richest church in the world because we own Marriot Hotels. He didn't give me any time to explain that a member owns the hotels. He drove past us in his car a few minutes later and yelled "Richest church ever!" I replied "This explains why we are walking and you drive a car." Some people just don't even bother to learn our purpose. Something else we have noticed lately is that people really contradict themselves. Many people tell us that baptism can't save you but then they tell you that they are already saved. Really? I am not saved till the day I die. Please explain to me who that is that you are already saved. They don't give me any time to explain that baptism is the gateway to Heaven. God will force no man to Heaven. Later this week we went and saw our investigator Lavurne at the hospital because she got surgery on her Gall Blatter. I got freaked out. I think I hate medical stuff. I got all light headed and my legs were giving out and some people were singing in their beds and some people didn't have legs. We were there for only a few minutes and I almost threw up so I had to go get some fresh air outside. I hate medical stuff! Lately we have been getting tons of mangoes. I have been getting kinda sick of them to be honest. We get them for free just from everyone. Also an Elder in my District has been sick the past few days and we got to give him a Priesthood blessing. It was really nice to do. Elder Bingham gave the blessing and then a few minutes later Elder Pierson who we blessed barfed a few times. He got taken to the hospital during church. We didn't go see him plus I don't want to go to the hospital again. Also I feel bad because I have been forgetting tons of birthdays but I saved them on my calendar now so Happy Birthday Charlie! I can't believe how fast time flies by!

That's about all for this week.

The Phillips

Riding a homemade go cart

No sleep week

This week was planned to be a great one but instead we didn't get too much sleep. We had service all week this week. We woke up at 5 am and would have to get in town to sweep the streets in town. I would make the joke often that we are the thing that is sweeping the nation. This week had gotten a bit stressful because of lack of sleep. We would get back to the apartment and take showers and I would sleep while Elder Bingham showers and he would sleep while I shower. It can be kinda tough missing an hour and a half of sleep and instead of sleeping you work kinda hard. We did it Tuesday through Saturday. We have not had any time this week to get studies in so I felt like I didn't have the spirit with me as strong. I really wish I had more time to study the gospel. We had a fun time chatting with missionaries while working and then we would go to a place called Food Basket. One of my investigators works there so I brought her a ton of business with my eating and the rest of the missionaries. Lacking sleep can give you a bit of a short temper but I would hold it in. We were planning on having a baptism next week but that isn't going to work out. Things will all be done in the Lord's timing though. Lavurne and Felix are still doing really good! We are going to be praying about a specific date for them to be baptised. They are just really good friends with each other and come to church together. I need to get a picture with them. This next week I will get a picture and send it. Other than that I am going to be using P Day to rest a bit. I need to finish my lesson for District Meeting tomorrow too. I got in a bus this week and was in the front row and Elder Bingham called the bus for a bus stop where we usually and I just stared out the wind shield. He had to tell me to get out. I never thought sleeping in till 6:30 was such a luxury. We didn't get as many lessons done as we had planned this week but it's all about learning patience.
Love you all!
-Elder Brown

Street Sweeping Service