A Humbling Week

Well I apologize because I will probably be disappointing you all when I say that I left my notebook at my apartment. I can remember some of the funny things I wrote but not all of them. I try to look at the humor in things here. Sometimes things get too serious and negative but I always try to be an optimist. I saw a car with a sticker that said: "I never stop praying." And I thought to myself "I hope you do stop praying... You are driving right now." But anyways for the main part of my week my companion and I got into an argument and I am so glad it's over. The only thing I can say is we can never be prideful. I am not here to say who is right and who is wrong. The spirit can not be there at all when we have contention. I remember when I was a little kid my brother Jerry and I were sitting down in a church building for some kind of monument or something in Utah once and he showed me a scripture. It was in 3rd Nephi. All you scripture mastery people should know it. I had a total brain fart and can't remember exactly where it is. But my brother Jerry told me that contention is of the devil. I was about 6 years old when he showed me that and I ran around saying "Contention is of the devil!" when people would argue anywhere. I read that scripture and looked at myself and asked myself what I could do to fix our problem. We did a trade off for a day to let the steam cool. I love my companion and I look forward to learning from him. All I can say is that we must never let our pride get in our way of the spirit. My companion told me a real man is a problem solver. I am glad I am not the person I was back at home. I have my downfalls and he told me them. I am working hard on them now so that I can be a great missionary. My mission president heard about we had a pretty big fight and I feel bad because I feel like I let him down. We don't have time out here for anger so now I have noticed even if I try I can't be mad for more than 2 minutes. Well this has been more of a spiritual post and I will update you with more funny stories next week because I accidentally left my notebook of weekly notes at home. I did get chased by a crazy little lady this week and will keep you posted about that next week.
Love you all!
-Elder Brown

"Hi Kyo"

Well almost immediately after my last email I met this Baptist lady as we went shopping for some fun stuff. She was white as me and I asked if she was a tourist. She has been here for her church for 19 years! I haven't even been here for 19 weeks. I traded tracts with one of her sons and it was pretty cool. But 19 years here in Guyana! It is funny how the old things that have died in America sell here a lot. Hannah Montanah sells so much and so does this cartoon called Ben 10. Backpacks and wallets and t shirts and so much more. Also I think I am in the intermediate stage of a Pepsi addiction. It's so good here! Also I want to get an alligator scripture carrying case. They are like $60 here but can sell for like $500 in the states. You will see them when my memory card gets to my mom. Well this week has been tough! It was a family awareness week and I had to be in Georgetown every day last week! We tried to get a wedding done too but it didn't work out for the old couple because the man had a bad ID card. They might have to wait till August. After this week I want to sleep for 3 days straight. Really stressful and then people asked why we didn't visit them on Sunday and we had to tell them if we weren't in Diamond we were trying to get the wedding to happen. We worked hard! My new companion is a red neck and he is pretty funny. Sometimes I can't hear people including him and he gets upset. Karma from how I was to my parents. Now I am deaf. People here talk pretty quiet though and fast. Also I hear the pineapple here is the best in the world. I do not doubt that at all! It is so good! Also I bought a ton of Breaking Bad here for cheap but I am not too tempted to watch them. I have my landlord whom is hilarious watch them. He loves the show! He laughs while watching it. I have had to push back 3 baptisms now which sucks! Also I realy like this drink called Lucozade. This past week we went to the Georgetown chapel and this drunk vagrant was hanging out with us and he was talking to himself. He was talking about scriptures drunkenly. He took a mini bible and threw it on the ground near me and said we know nothing. He stole a bike one time too. He is a reason why you don't do drugs haha. Also my goal for all boys about to go on a mission is to catch all 151 Pokemon (And read the Book of Mormon) I did both of those and I feel so good for doing them. I feel so accomplished for catching them all. Also my watch broke and I think watches only last for about one transfer. I am glad my companion is a tough guy. Some people try to white man tax us and we tried getting off a bus but they tried charging us like $120 more. He wouldn't let us out. We paid him what we owed and my companion pushed him out of the bus and got us out. The people in the bus cheered but the conductor and driver cursed so much at us. Also with the word of wisdom on tea you have to be specific. I had hot chocolate and they consider that tea. Also I can't get my adorable niece Maddi's voice out of my head. I always hear her say "Hi Kyo Hi Kyo Hi Kyo Hi Kyo!" And man I love Mother's day and Father's day! They have big luncheons after church and it tastes so good! I eat so American back at the apartment though. Burgers and fries every meal. I also found $100 on the ground but that's 50 cents in the U.S. so it was nice but not too much of a win. Our branch has a domino team and cricket team. I want a ping pong team. Well I gotta go because I am out of time and I am going to get some Brusters! It's not booze, It's the best ice cream ever!

Till next week,
-Elder Brown

Screamo people & music

Well I didn't receive much emails from any but mom but I am still a pretty cool kid (I hope). I would love to get emails from friends and family. My mom asked if leading the area means I am the senior companion. My reply is yes and no. My companion Elder Glazier goes home in a month and he has never served in Guyana so I know the area best but he is a district leader. So about a week ago I saw a kid on this bus sitting in front of me. He as most kids just stared at me because I am a white guy. I made some funny faces and let him play with my name tag and planner. I think about it now and I glad he didn't throw them out the window. I gave him a Plan of Salvation track and he gave it to his mom. It's good to do missionary work in even the smallest ways. I love the kids here and how they just stare at me because they are curious. Anyways something that always gets me smiling is when I think of things that happened years ago. I remember when Elder Jace Hancock and I watched this hilarious movie called Balls of Fury and it's about ping pong. Best part of the movie! "I'm going to save the Panda!........... Panda's dead." Sorry none of you will probably laugh but I can see Elder Jace Hancock laughing his head off while reading this. Anyways I have been praying a lot because I don't know 100% my areas. I have been just pouring my heart out and fortunately my new companion understands and told me not to beat myself up too much. I told him that I really want a map for our area and he basically told me too bad. I have to memorize the places but I know the Lord will bless me in this. Lots of rain today by the way. I prayed and I realize that it's not my zone, but it is the Lord's zone. He is in charge and I pray that I can serve him the best I can. I showed my companion pictures of family and he saw one with Paul and Skye and Chance and he said "Your brother must have served a good mission! He has a nice wife!" If you haven't noticed my posts go into random tangents but it's because I blot things down on paper so I don't forget to write anything. About a week ago however we were sitting on a bus in a line waiting to get out of town but the buses have to wait. This lady was yelling at the top of her lungs! Just 3 of us in the bus. I couldn't tell what she was saying but I think she was upset with her son or something on the phone. I didn't want to cause a scene so I didn't say what I was thinking. "You are in public. Aren't you embarrassed?" I told that to my last companion and he said she was mad so she wouldn't care. I got some pictures developed so I will finally send my SD card home mom. It's funny showing them the pictures you want developed because us white guys take such dorky pictures. I felt embarrassed a little but though "Oh well." I remembered a story with my last companion as well where we tried to meet with this girl named Tovah. A guy picked up the phone and kept screaming "DON'T CALL TOVAH NO MORE!" each time we even said something. Also mom knows I like hard rock music that screams and I think we have the equivalent of it here. On the buses they play music and there will be a guy who in the song just screams something and I can't understand because of the dialect. So music is kinda like what I liked at home in that sense. We as missionaries get asked how many kids we have back at home pretty often. People also see my tag and say "Elder Brown? You don't look that brown." (Negros consider themselves brown instead of black) I always tell them if I had a dollar for each time I heard that I would be a Guyanese billionaire. Also I believe I failed to say but only 20 missionaries are allowed in Guyana at a time so I feel kinda crazy about that. That's why I cover a lot of areas. We this transfer got a new missionary and had to say goodbye to some awesome missionaries in our district. I have been out 6 weeks longer than this Elder and I saw the plane and tried to do the trainer joke on him even though he is not my companion. "Know how far away that plane is?" You let them say how far they think it is and you tell them about 2 years away. When I asked him how far it is other Elders interrupted and said not much further than you Elder Brown. We had a pretty good laugh about that. Anyways I wanted to say that it takes a long time for me to get letters but oh boy do I cherish them. If you get the time go ahead and write me and I will try to write back. They can take 10 to 20 days if not more to get to me but I love them! By the way big shout out to my little sister and her graduation announcement I got! She is adorable! Watch out boys! Also my nephew Charlie sent me a drawing of him and me and I am going to hold onto that forever! Thank you so much Charlie! I also saw an awesome picture of him feeding a bottle to baby Kate! Almost out of time so I gotta be quick. I need to remember names better, and we had tons of less actives come to church yesterday! Also some people don't know smoking is bad.

Well I love you all and can't wait to hear how you all are doing!

Love,
Elder Brown

I feel your prayers

Wow I got a ton of emails and updates today! I also wrote a ton of things I forgot to email so I have a lot to say. But first off I want to say I am glad to see I have a new niece named Kate! I love all these emails I got and if it keeps up this way (Let's hope so!) please don't be offended if I don't email you back for a week or two because I only have one hour on the computer each time. So here are some updates! I always forget and feel so guilty but I need to publicly thank my wonderful sister in law Jessica for this amazing journal I have. I write every day so thank you Jessica! I have also felt a lot of hard times on my mission but I can undoubtedly feel the love and prayers from my ward and family both close and extended and great friends too. I can feel how proud all of you are of me. Our land lord lives behind us and man is he funny! Paul read what he says in the "Richard Parker" voice but not as heavy into it. He refers to me as Dr. Pepper because I love drinking it and drink it with him sometimes. He never heard of it till I got him one. He is hilarious! We caught some kittens that live around our house and I said "Catching cats are fun!" He always says that in his indian voice to me. I think about Jaydon and Gavin and Nikki and Shawn a lot too! (Amazing nephews and sister and brother in law) I have told some pretty funny Jaydon and Gavin stories! Also you would not believe how many times I use my Plan of Happiness book that is for kids. Everyone loves it! Also before I forget I am getting a new companion. A white guy from New Mexico! Elder Glaicier will be here in a few days but I never met him so I am excited. I will be leading Diamond Guyana so it's scary and fun. Please pray for me in that. I realize how much I miss seminary and institute too. If you are taking seminary and reading get to know the scripture masteries! They are the best! I am glad to see Jakelle got an honorary diploma. Mesa, Arizona makes me proud! I also found out the Jim Jones Kool Aid thing was here in Guyana so I won't drink Kool Aid from just anyone. Also I hear some people eat cow brains. I will pass on that. I had an amazing spiritual prompting to go and teach this amazing family who are part active in church and part inactive. The wife teaches the second class in church and she is awesome! I felt a prompting to go and show them the Plan of Salvation kid's book for a family night and she went on to tell me how her sister got into a really bad car accident that morning. I gave a really good blessing. I love the Sweatnam family so much. I will miss them so much when I leave Diamond. Her older son who is probably my age talked about old school Nintendo games for like 2 hours last night! They are making us pizza tonight and it sounds so good! Sad news though would be that one of our baptism dates is moved to November because she won't be 18 till then and her mom forbids it till she is 18. A few weeks ago I got handed a bag of sugar cane and one kid asked if he could have one. I let him then tons of kids ran and took litterally half the bag! I only needed one cane but man they were like drug addicts to the sugar cane! So I think about the Walking Dead and Breaking Bad out here a lot more than I should (You should all know not to spoil the last 8 episodes for me when they get aired) but I was thinking about how AMC makes the best shows. I think they need to make a Book Of Mormon show. I honestly think they would do amazing on it. I can imagine Ammon cutting off the arms already! Also what happened to Amanda Bynes? DUI? I heard about her but not sure what happened. These girls who didn't know they were baptized in our church said that Ke$ha died. Almost out of time so I gotta be quick. Also to all my mission buddies I imagine us as the Sons of Mosiah. I was reading about it and how we are all around the world. It's so cool! I don't want to sound trunky but when I get home I want In N Out Burger with a large Dr. Pepper!
Out of time but till next week! I love you all and I will pray for all of you as you all pray for me.

A few pictures

He wants to bring this companion home, but mom's not thrilled about that. The other missionaries will be coming back to Mesa (Elder Kevin Hancock - at MTC, and Elder Hale - son of Diane Hale there in the West Indies too)

a little bit of a strange experience

This weeks report. Just teaching these awesome people that have baptismal dates. Elder Giddings and I found this pretty cool guy named Leon and he invited us into his house with his mother and sisters. One of the girls thought she knew a lot but we taught them a lot, in a respectful manner and it was amazing to see how much they learned. A few of them cared at first about what we had to say but by the end they ALL were really intensely listening. I can tell they want to progress. Yesterday however was a little disheartening. We went and talked to a person of a religion that I won't name, due to my respect for all religions, and he threw some anti Mormon stuff at us but Elder Giddings and I held onto what I believe. He went on to tell us science proves the Bible true and nothing proves Mormonism true. We did raise a lot of good points to him but it was sad to see that his faith only relies on science as a back up. I am proud to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and know that it is true. I know that it has doctrines in it that will help us to return to our Heavenly Father. I know that what I feel now for the church is true and what I have felt so many times in the past is undeniable and that the gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and that we have a prophet here today to lead and guide us. I love finding people who want to know the truth and don't take the Book of Mormon to try and disprove it. I can tell with how many baptismal dates that we have it can't be just me who knows the church is true. I love seeing the change in people's lives. I currently have 7 baptismal dates and I am so excited to see how excited they are. A girl named Nandy has a baptismal date but her mom wants her to wait till 18 to be baptized, so it is a bummer but she is 18 in November so if anything that's how long we have to wait. She has a great testimony in the church and it is amazing to see! Next we have Eugene and Patricia. They have been living together for a long time but are unmarried. Guyana has the common law that considers them married but they need to be married to be baptized and they have been going to church for like over a year. Eugene is blind and his wife is close to being blind and is pretty shy. We are trying to set up the wedding and they are so excited! I see them at church every week! Then we have Yulanda and her kids who make up the rest of the baptismal dates. Her kids know so much about the church and are hilarious! I have to be honest at their age I probably didn't know what they know about our church. They are such a fun family to be around. One week we asked them questions and one of the kid's reply was "Doctrine and Covenants!" each time. Our lesson had nothing to do with that so it was a pretty good laugh. Also I had a little bit of a strange experience this past week. I do not mean this in a crude way at all just something I have noticed. We gave a blessing to an old lady who was bedridden and not a member nor was anyone in the family. One of her daughters was laying on the bed and had a son who was about 4 years old. All on the same bed as the bed ridden grandmother. They had a tv on and I looked at if for about a minute or so and looked back. Apparently I did not hear that the kid whom was 4 years old or seemed about that age wanted milk. I look back and . . . . . yah. Elder Giddings thought nothing of it because he is from this culture. I saw it and immediately looked around the room so she didn't think I stared at her. Elder Giddings laughed so much and said it won't be my only time that happens. I hear that in Guyana (Respect to it's name and country) women don't cover up when feeding. I am glad to see people in the states go into another room or use a blanket because it was not awkward for her or my companion but oh boy was it awkward for me. This place reminds me of Resident Evil 5 (not that it's evil, just that it's jungle - I don't think he's seen any zombies yet either) Anyways the work out here for bringing others unto Christ is going great!

Until next week,
-Elder Brown

Things get better

Well it's been another week and things get better. I try avoid saying "I love Guyana!" Because something tough usually happens the next day. I had a long day the other day as I had fallen into a trench and got wet up to past my knees and the wind blew against us that morning while riding bikes making us feel really slow. I sometimes forget stuff to write certain things and then realize I have to write them the next week. My companion is a pretty cool guy (Even though he likes Twilight. Or so I say he does.) He says Nikki Manaj is hotter than Katy Perry. Also I got to hold a monkey! Most people know I generally don't like country music but I just might have found some music that is even more annoying. Indian party music. We hear it a lot because they blast it out from the houses and clubs. I thought that was as bad as it gets but no. Too often I hear Nickelback play. Even here in Guyana they are plagued with Nickelback. One Elder in my district likes them. I make Nicholas Cage jokes too. I feel a lot more comfortable at church now and feel like I bond with the members and look forward to church. I miss my iPhone a ton though. Elder Giddings and I miss our good phones and I realize how convinent it would be to have it and be allowed to get on Facebook because I could just instantly share experiences. I gotta be honest I miss some video games and imagine myself playing them sometimes such as Zelda Majora's Mask. Which also reminds me, one of the two days I was in Trinidad I met this really cool guy named Brother Young who was about 20 years old. Now you probably ask how he came to the gospel. He was playing an online video game (He likes games) and some girl from Texas shared the gospel with him. Moral of the story: Video games are good!
Well I am about out of time so write you all next week!