Blessing of obedience

Elder Cox really seems to be understanding missionary work. He is a good hard worker. We had a really good experience this Wednesday. On Tuesday we had such a great day! We saw tons of people and were able to teach really well. Thursday we got distracted and I tried to make sure we got out teaching on time but we ended up getting out late. We had tons of appointments fall through and then we just had a nice chat about being obedient. When I was his age as a missionary I would probably have been giving attitude to my trainer but we just had a good talk about it and decided to work on that. The next day was another great day! We could definitely see the blessings from obedience. Elder Cox is awesome! We were running home a little late one night and missed the last van of the night and some really nice Muslim guy who doesn't even seem Muslim gave us a ride. It got Elder Cox a little more used to the culture so it was cool. It's good to see how many good people are in the world. He was really open minded too and wants to meet with us sometime. We also met some strange people this week as usual. I actually met my first Voodooist on my mission. I wonder why it took me this long to see one. He was kinda weird and asked us "You people say Jesus walked on water and call it the Priesthood but when I do it you call it black magic." I asked him if he could walk on water and he said he can't really do anything like that. The other Elders moved out of what is now our apartment and it feels so nice! Not as many messes to clean and we get to actually sleep on beds. The other Elders accidentally locked the bedroom door with the lights and ac on. We went to our land lady and she gave us tons of keys. Like 40 keys and I got it open on the 2nd key. I felt so good about that. Also we met some white people at KFC and they were from England and the guy served his mission here about 7 years ago. It's almost too bad they didn't pay for our meal. That's what people do right? I say that as a joke. I almost wanted to take them teaching but they were enjoying themselves on all the islands. He said he isn't going to visit Guyana but I kinda want to. That place is an adventure. Well anyways we had a great week. The weeks feel longer since Elder Cox is new but it is so fun knowing the Caribbean while he is trying to figure it all out. I hope I get to come here when I am married and be a Caribbean and let my wife figure it out. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Kyle Joseph

Pokemon + New Comp + Funeral = Long full Week

It feels like this week just kinda took forever! Monday we went to Castries and hiked Pigeon Point. It was a really cool view. I will try to attach some pictures. I got some of those cheap Pokemon cards they have up in Castries. Everyone has a race to getting a Pikachu and I finally got mine! I was so excited! Elder Reyes opened that pack for me and I got a Mewtwo in it too. Us Elders just are kids still. All the missionaries get excited over that stuff. Tuesday we had a combined District meeting about working with the members. That can be a bit hard out here. We only have a few members work with us and everyone is always so busy or does not want to work with us. Wednesday we were back in Vieux Fort where we live and the day before right when we got home we heavy duty cleaned so that the new guy Elder Cox who is my companion will feel comfortable. Wednesday we got him almost late at night so we went to Chinese food with the Zone Leaders. Thursday we did weekly planning and he actually really enjoyed my Curry Thursday! No diarrhea or anything! I guess I am not a bad cook. He is a cool guy because I left my razor in Castries and he gave me this nice razor that he said he is not going to use. It has a vibrate power thing that is supposed to make the shave really good and I feel so smooth now. He also filled me up on Walking Dead! Sounds like that show is going good! On Thursday we went to a funeral of a nonmember who was the father of a member. He was really old so they expected it but the pastor went up and talked about demons and a bunch of crazy stuff. He said he isn't sure if the dead man is going to hell or not. It was pretty sad but yesterday our member bore her testimony about how he is in the Spirit World. It was really nice. Friday was supposed to be a big huge storm and it rained hard that morning for a few minutes but then they said be in by 3pm. I went out and the only wet I felt was my sweat! It was so hot the past few days! We came back home because in our area they had an Emancipation Day parade in town with a bunch of naked people parading down the street with Rasta. It was basically a black pride parade. Saturday we started our fast and we are fasting for this part member family that I love! They said the only thing holding them back (Mom and Dad that is) is being married. We fasted for them and are going to be working hard to get them baptized. We have set a goal for them for September 6. Sunday not many people were around. It was strange and I over ate after fasting so I had a belly pain. I gave some Pokemon cards to some kids that love us teaching them. I am not going to bribe them to get baptized don't worry haha. Also I had the strangest craving the other day. When I get home I want peach cobbler home made in the back yard with vanilla ice cream. That tickles my taste buds even typing that. Well that's about all!

See ya later!

Elder Cox, my new companion

"I Feel Light & Peace"

Well I have to say this week was long but I enjoyed it all. It was Elder Reyes's last week so he had been so trunky but we still went out and worked. We cleaned our old apartment some more and found some missionaries who cut the Bible into 3 pieces. Old Testament. New Testament and the Appendix. We are reconstructing it into 2 separate books. As some of you know 2 years ago my nephew Dylan passed away and I thought it was really going to hit hard. I have been so busy lately that I haven't thought too much about it but something neat happened this week. A member gave birth and we got to go see her baby at this hospital that they changed into a hospital from a stadium for sports. It was really neat. I have been thinking about teaching opportunities and how a question we often use is: Do you know anyone who has experienced a death or a birth recently? It's sad to see someone go and I had to face that 2 years ago and it had taken a long time to feel actually alright about that. Today I feel much better. I have talked about it with the mission president and my companion. Isn't it wonderful that we know someone who is already guaranteed Celestial glory? I look up to my Nephew Dylan and say he is a big motivation to even know about the Gospel. He has given me courage to go out and teach that I will see him again some day. I don't feel the bitter sorrow anymore. I feel light and peace. Sometimes it takes some time to recover and feel peace. I can't believe that 52 weeks ago I sent an email similar to this. As I look back then I see how much I have grown. It's sad to not see my nephew in any pictures. No new pictures I see from family look complete. I am so glad for the Plan of Salvation!
Well this week had been pretty funny. I bought some sunflower seeds and Caribbeans have no idea what it is usually and they just love the seeds. We taught some kids and if they would answer a question right then they get a seed. I have never seen kids want to say a prayer more in their life than that day for a seed. These seeds have brain control powers I think. Well big news today is that in a few days I get my new companion fresh from the states! I am training and District Leader! I am so excited and can't wait for this! I can't complain about this week at all. Thanks for all the love and support you all send!

Love,
Elder Kyle Joseph Brown

Beach time vs Carnival time

Well last week we had to be really careful because Carnival was going on down here in Vieux Fort so we laid low for most of the day and just relaxed for the most part. We got to go to the beach and have some fun as a District. No one was there but us 4 Elders and the Sisters. Today is a holiday and believe it or not they consider Carnival as a national holiday. Basically everyone gets drunk and half naked and just runs down the street. The big party is in Castries far from us but they are closing down all the places around us. I am just emailing at the church and hopefully we can pick up groceries after this. Some little girl came up to us this last week and asked if we are from New York (Kinda expected that) and we told her no. She thought New York was just on the other side of the island. It's funny to hear people ask where we are from because it's not like they can just guess it. I often tell them Africa but then they answer they think it's America. People are really funny here because they ask questions they already know the answer to. It's been a long and tough week. Not many people want to spend time with us because they want to go party. We had a fun time with some Rastas yesterday though as we tried to share a message. They start going all "Deep" with us. "Have you ever prayed as the sun rises?" We joked around with them and said we don't know when the sun rises and they said to set the alarm clock for 4:30 am and try it out. Lot's of people are just out of their minds out here. I got a pretty small area so it's easy to get burned out. Just hoping someone comes this next week who isn't all partied out and is all the way there in their head. It's taking some patience and prayers but like my Rasta buddy Bob Marley said "Every little thing is gonna be alright."

Beach Fun

I caught a dog brushing his teeth. . .  he is ashamed

Missing Scouts?

My new friend

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