I love my nieces & nephews more than anything

This past week has been a pretty good one. For those of you who know my family pretty well it has been one year since my amazing nephew Dylan has passed away. It has been a tough year for me and my family but I feel we have all grown. I have grown so much from this sad experience and I feel it has molded me into the person I am today. I have to be honest I am not sure what I thought about going on a mission. I figured I probably would go on one, but just to do it. After my nephew had passed away I wasn't sure if I could go on a mission. I love my nieces and nephews more than anything and I would give up anything I was doing just play with them. I know that I have to be a good example to them though. That is one of many reasons I am on a mission. Some scriptures that comfort me in times that make me sad would have to be in John 11. The famous scripture verse that many remember for being the shortest verse in the bible, Verse 35 "Jesus Wept". Jesus knew he would see his friend Lazarus soon after he saw him. Christ wept because he saw how sad his friends were. In John 11:35 Jesus states that he is the resurrection and that if we believe in him we will not die. Alma 40:11 gives me some of the most comfort I can feel. When our spirits leave our bodies the spirit goes straight to the God who gave us life. Alma 34:32 Tells us however that this life is a time to prepare to meet God. I am trying my hardest to live a life that will make my God proud. I know that I will see my nephew again and it will be amazing.

For this past week I have had a pretty good time. Some little girl saw me and saw how pink I was and called me "pink face". This past week I have gotten a bit sick too so that sucked. I thought it was a worm then the flu and then I found out I have been really dehydrated. DRINK WATER EVERYONE! My companion kicked two dogs that were small but wanted to eat him it seemed. Dogs at home love me but they hate missionaries. I did hold a cute dog this past week though. And I got the world's most comfortable hammock! I love reading my scriptures in it! I heard the youth's theme and a song they have this year and it sounds so good! EFY and all those youth programs have such good songs! I have to be honest I feel that I haven't had too many awesome stories about being guided by the spirit to someone who needs the gospel but this week I felt prompted to go down this path in a village to a house I had never seen. These people seemed like they really wanted the gospel and it felt amazing sharing it! I am glad I was able to just receive a prompting like that. Also this lady Sister Simmons said I could play video games with her son (She is a member) but I said we can't because of rules. She made a quote I will never forget "Christ went to the wedding!"
Well not much left to say but I gotta go! This computer was super slow so it took forever to send this stuff.
Till Next Week!
-Elder Brown

I took this picture myself!

I swallowed a bug!

Well I hope everyone at home is doing good. This week has been pretty slow but some good stuff is going on! So everyone in Mesa knows Elder Hale and that he has been serving in Trinidad. Well he is coming to Guyana! He is in a different zone though but I will get to see him every now and then. Sadly the person he is replacing was a really cool guy so it is bittersweet. I met this creepy girl this week who I told I live in Arizona. She told me to take her with me back home. She said it creepily too. I was scared for a little bit. I am making the best with what I got though. My bike is not that good but I grin and keep riding. Some Indian people took out a camera to get a picture of me so I took my hands off the handle bar and gave a big smile with two thumbs up! Some people would be mad about that but I just grin it out and make the best out of all of it. I unfortunately accidentally swallowed a bug while riding my bike so I can only say I got a little protein from that. We have been getting black outs too often now which is a bummer because our fans won't work when that happens. I got a new watch too! Thanks mom! It reminds me of Thomas from the Ringer when I say I got a new watch. My land lord loves the Zelda cd too! He likes speaking Spanish so he says "Muchas Gracias Seniorita" to my mom. We (Elder Richardson and I) work out to the cd. We have no shame and he loves the music too. He is just like me! This week we got rained on. Rain is a light way of saying that. We got POURED ON! My planner looks funny now and my hmyn book has water marks. We tried running from the rain but realized we are soaked so we might as well walk. Also (Mom please tag Tiffani Wright on facebook for this) Tiffani did you go to the She and Him concert? Did you meet Zoey Deshanel? Please update me by emailing me at kyleb@myldsmail.net
Also Thank goodness for P-Day! I am so tired! I drank some unfiltered water yesterday. I felt so sick. Everyone in America better love water. Also my land lord gave us a ride to show us some of his friends to teach and he started singing one of my favorite songs! What's love got to do with it? I told him Tina Turner is my favorite!
Don't have much to say left but I have been hearing about people getting mission calls back at home.
Congrats!

See you all next week!
-Elder Brown

Clap Roti

Well this week has been pretty chill. Not much new but I am starting a new transfer with my new companion Elder Richardson. He is a really nice humble person. I am looking forward to teaching and learning with him. Also I am done being trained so I am kinda a big deal now (I use Ron Burgandy's voice there) So I am not getting too off focus but I heard that Sleeping With Sirens came out with a new cd that I can't listen to. Grrrr. Also big heads up! I GOT EVERYONE'S LETTERS!!!!! Thanks Jessica, Dominique, Nick Hawkes, Mom & Dad and Elder Crockett. Some are old so don't think I have been ignoring you. I am writing you guys back right now! Also I thought about the Book of Alma a bit this last week. The church needs to work with the guys who make the Assassin's Creed games and make one of the games in that era. Also I remembered that my mission president's wife was in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! She is a really nice lady too. New love out here in Pinetart. Some of the best pastries around. I am going to eat like 5 on Thursday. Also I remember a funny story. So an investigator we have is blind and has been trying to get married for about a year now so he can be baptized. Anyways he was at a luncheon and he wanted pepper sauce. Someone served him pepper sauce. Being blind I see that as the definition of faith. This week I have focused a lot on 1st Nephi chapter 18. Everyone should read it and see how they can apply it. It is about how Nephi sailed in the ship. I shared it with a family who has a lot of contention and they loved it. I feel bad because in verses 17 and 18 I feel that I had done that to my parents sometimes but they know I love them! Also I made clap roti! My favorite meal out here! Making it is fun but painful! I sent a picture of me making it but basically you take this hot dough and fling it in the air and clap it. We made tons so my hands hurt so bad! In that picture I am yelling at the dough because it hurt me. I clapped the crap out of it (Not literally)
Well I go to Suriname tomorrow for just a day so I can renew my visa. I am going with tons of other missionaries and it's going to be fun! We are riding the ferry over there. Tomorrow should be a fun day! Not much time left so love you all!
-Elder Brown

 

 

Drenched in sweat & having the biggest smile

Well not too much is new. The transfer is about to end and I got my new companion early but still have my old one because he is about to go home. My new companion is Elder Richardson. He is from St. Lucia and has been out about 9 months. He served in another part of Guyana before so he is a bit used to it. He is really awesome and I look forward to serving with him. So I weighed myself and I have lost somewhere between 20 and 30 pounds! I think I am going to give up soda for a transfer and see how much more weight I lose. I have just been really happy for some reason and we talked to this lady who we have taught before and she is usually at her bread stand selling bread. I saw her and I had been just smiling all day. She asked why I was smiling so much and I just said I am so happy to be here. That's something that makes people interested in the gospel. Walking around drenched in sweat and having the biggest smile around. People love it! Also a few weeks ago I tried a little piece of chicken feet. It was actually pretty good! They don't let any part of an animal go to waste out here. So a while ago we had been told by our mission president to get 10 inactive families and work with them to bring them back to church. We visited this family last night and they said they went back to the Muslim religion. Elder Richardson and I did all we could do. We shared testimonies about what is true. We have a prophet today who leads and guides the earth. Not just our church. We asked the family if we could do anything for them and they asked if we could get the daughter a laptop for her college work. It felt a bit strange so we told them we will see what we can do. My Land Lord is hilarious! I share tons of stories with him and he said this quote today "When I go to church the organ and choir make me feel like an eagle surfing." He told me to tell my little sister she is "Exceptionally beautiful and peculiar." I don't have much left to say but I would love to hear from friends and family. I love you all and will write you all next week.
With Love,
Elder Brown

Captain America in Guyana?

Love must be sincere

Got tons of emails this week and I loved it from all of you! Don't hesitate to email me those who read this. I love to see how everyone is doing and I will reply so have no worries. So my family loves Le Mes and I read a talk that mentioned it and now I wish I had seen the new one. I usually don't care about it but now it sounds kinda good. (Mainly because we can't watch movies.) Also I have found my love out here. Roti with spicy chicken curry! People in my branch make it so good! I could honestly eat it every day. I also served a lady on a bus by just simply holding something for her. She was so greatful and saw that I am truly a servant from God. It is an amazing feeling when you get to do that. Also this crazy little lady stared to jump walk towards me kinda like a leap in Georgetown (Tons of crazy people there) and I thought she might have wanted to hear about the gospel. She just wanted money and we aren't allowed to give money out to people here. I said I was sorry that I couldn't and she followed me around for a few minutes yelling the F word and many other things and then the companion I was with because we did splits told her to leave. He is usually quiet so it was funny to see. Something I remembered from last week when I had that big argument was something this girl I was really good friends with in High School told me. "Love must be sincere." I try to live by that every day now. My companion told me you come out on a mission for a reason and you stay for another reason. I think I found one of them this past week with these 4 awesome people we baptized this last week. The spirit was so strong! First time I ever baptized anyone. My companion has 2 weeks left out here! They call that "Killing" someone when you serve them and then they go home. I feel funny saying that. I killed my trainer. Also there is a rumor that missionaries can use Facebook! Here in the West Indies we probably won't get to but I still have fingers crossed that we will get to at some point. But until then I can only hear about everyone's life if they tell me about it. I have a funny theory about movies here. So you can get movies super cheap because they are just burnt onto discs here. I have seen tons of straight to dvd horror movies for sale out here and I have a theory about those movies. So you can see the newest Batman movie or whatever you want for less than a dollar and I bet everyone has already seen it. So what is the point in talking about those movies? People probably buy those weird horror movies because they are so bored. People probably say that "Attack of the Two Headed Shark" is good and so is "Cowboys vs Zombies". People here ask me if home is cold. Apparently Arizona is super hot right now! This guy named Brother Beharry tried telling us jokes yesterday and they were funny but odd. "What do you do if you eat poluri and it's sour? Keep eating it because you don't need sour sauce now." Probably the funniest one he said. Well I am out of stories so until next week!

-Elder Brown