We are the Lord's hands today

Lately we have been trying to find ways to serve people and I think this week has had plenty of good opportunities. We went by to visit our friend Lincoln who is paralyzed and has been paralyzed for about 7 years. The bottom of his feet are still really bad looking and has to have his bandage changed about every day. He has a friend who does it for him and cleans the wounds. His friend had not come over yet and although I hate medical stuff I put some gloves on and cleaned the wound for him and changed the bandage. It really touched him. It was amazing to see. He told us afterwards that he knew we would go around and teach good things but now he knows that we actually DO good things. It was an amazing experience. It almost brought tears to all of our eyes but I don't like crying so I didn't cry. I talked about the story that President Utchdorf told some years back about the bombed city with the statute of Christ and they fixed the statue but they couldn't repair the hands. We are the Lord's hands today. Lincoln wants to be baptized is the vibe we are getting from him and I think it would be neat to do that. I know some day maybe when the branch is stronger or even sooner that he will be baptized. We also had a nice opportunity to serve a member by trimming her yard with cutlasses or as us Americans call them "Machete". We cut down trees but I have been having some medical conditions lately that have been making me tired pretty fast but it was nice to help. The Mission President flew in to St. Lucia today and is going to be helping fix the problems that are going on here. Yesterday was really creepy at church. At the end of Sacrament meeting we heard some screaming and we thought it was some dogs fighting at first. As the meeting ended we looked outside and saw a bunch of people looking into the water from the bridge. People were coming from everywhere looking to see this dead body in the water. From the stories we heard this old man went missing about 4 am and it sounds like it was a suicide. He was an older man who's wife had died a little while back and they believe he killed himself from depression. We saw some members who "Couldn't make it to church" but could make it to see a dead body. It was creepy to see the dead body when they finally got it out. His arms were sticking up. It was a big distraction for church but we kept going. Ambrose came to church and looks like he is right on the path to baptism for September 27th. I look forward to having a baptism this month in such a tough area. Well not much left to say but I love you all. Have a nice week!

Love,
Elder Kyle Joseph Brown

Kyle the Kerioki King

Well not much to talk about this week. We had a nice trade off and it was good to go up to Castries with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Contreras who I knew at the beginning of my mission and it was nice meeting up with him again. It was good to do that so I could blow off a little steam. Work has been tough lately. People curse at us just for walking by them. That literally happened as we came here to email. I am just not getting the friendliest welcomes. The mission president comes here next week to check out the area. It is going to be neat. I think he will go teaching with us which should be fun. I have never gotten to teach with him so I look forward to that. We had a fun kereoki activity where we got to bond with the branch. I think I still hold the title as "Kyle the Kerioki King". I sang pretty much everything. I sang some Katy Perry and James Blunt. Of course I sang Bob Marley. I got to sing my favorite one "Could You Be Loved". We even got the one Elder (Elder Fauchier) to sing! He would not do it for the longest time and then he sang some Imagine Dragons songs. I saw a Steelers football team big plane the other day too. I wonder if the team vacationed here. Well things are going tough and I am just going to keep working and see where it all goes from there. Sometimes it's like walking in the dark. Never know what to expect from here. Everyone here is getting sick so we gave like 7 blessings this week. One kid fell in a gutter and got cut to the bone in his leg. One of the sisters got Chicken Gonya and people are just getting sick all over. I hope I don't get sick soon. Not much more to say so I will email you all next week.

There's always some sunshine after the rain

I will be lying if I said this week hasn't been tough. It's been really hot and lots of people avoiding us or not wanting to go teaching with us. We have had to take some water breaks a few times this week. Saturdays and Sundays can be the hardest. Everyone just wants to party those days. Not many people are keeping commitments and people want to be baptized or so they say and they aren't willing to do anything to change. Things can be really tough. A lot of members aren't really giving me a chance because they like the old missionaries better but I am still loving them. Top it all off my dog Libby died. Sometimes you feel like Job in the Old Testament. Things fall apart and there isn't much that you can do about it. Just gotta hold onto the faith and know things are going to get better. A scripture that has really helped me that just came to mind is 1 Nephi 20:10 "For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Sometimes we have to go through hard things so that God can mold us to be what he wants us to be. Many of the greatest prophets went through much hardship like Abraham or even Joseph Smith. I know my situation is not as bad as them but sometimes it can be hard to catch a break. The thing you gotta remember is not to give up. Do not give up. Heavenly Father will bless you so much more if you just keep going. Well lets get on with some good news. One of my MTC companions emailed me and told me that one of the investigators I loved so much back in my first area just got baptized! I am sad I couldn't be there but I am so proud of him changing his life and coming unto Christ. We have been invited to flood the mission with the Book of Mormon and start really to just contact with it. I have seen some blessings as I have done that. It is really neat. Some crazy people want it but there have been some people who have been told bad things about the church and they were curious. We have set up appointments and hope to have a good talk with them. Elder Cox and I had a great application of his training in this week. We learned about teaching people not lessons. We met a pretty cool guy this week named Deli and instead of jumping in and telling him all about the Restoration we were able to discern his needs. He really wants to repent and we taught him about that. He is really excited to meet with us again this week. We are hoping for a better week and just gotta keep smiling. We teach people how to be happy and not just have fun which is temporary such as drinking and smoking. The Gospel is an everlasting joy. In a few weeks we will be seeing Elder Claudio D. Zivic of the Seventy in Barbados. It's going to be broadcast through the mission and us and a few islands actually get to be there. I can't wait to see him next month! Well I love you all and can't wait to hear from everyone next week. I gotta be honest this is like the only picture I took this week. I caught a chick from it's mom. Chickens are funny.

Love,
Elder Kyle Joseph Brown

Chickens are weird

Pre-mission, hanging out with Libby

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