Everything is great, we had zone conference this week and we had a 24 of July party. We watched that Ratitui or whatever. It’s cool that Pres lets us watch a movie like that on special occasions. But it was really good. After the movie I felt like I was back home just watching a movie with a bunch of friends. Then I got outside and realized I was back in Africa. It was good though. That’s cool about Tyler singing in church too. I'm sure he's freakin huge now. You've all probably changed so much. But it’s good, I don’t want to be able to recognize anyone when I get back. The Branch is good. We had 255 people at church this week which is amazing. President commented about it and so they are going to divide the branch and probably build another chapel in the our area. The church is growing so fast! We are building 3 or 4 chapels right now and the old ones are only 1 or 2 years old. I had my interview with President Packard, and he pretty much told me I was getting transferred. He said "you’re in a good district right now, I wish I could just keep you there but I don’t think I'm going to be able to do that." So I'm pretty much getting transferred. It’s good and bad, because we have alot of really good people who are getting really close to being baptized that I won’t be there when they get baptized so it kinda sucks. But at the same time, there are 2 spots opening up in Marromeu which is the place clear out there with animals and meat that's really cheap. (They have steak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss steak so much!!!!) So I'm hoping that I go there it would be sweet. I would spend a whole quarter of my mission there if it happened but I would love it! Man I just sit and think about all the crazy stuff that happens here and just laugh. I'm not kidding when I say something wild happens every day. It’s going to be strange going back home to quiet. I'll get bored ha ha. But ya everything is good, the language is going great and I'm happy!

Love Elder Brown

The Grand Hotel in Beira, Mozambique now and in the 1960's.
Once the largest and nicest hotel in
Southern Africa. During the Independence war in the 70's it was taken over by Mozambican forces, served as a military headquarters and POW prison. Now is home to 3,000 people. There is no electricity or running water. All the interior has been strippped. Trees are growing out of the building. The swimming pool is used to wash clothes in. Click on the pictures for a better view. For more pictures and history of this hotel visit www.gutentagverlag.com/2007/02/08/grande-hotel-beira-mozambique (click on the pictures in this article too)

First thing something kinda crappy happened, we let people clean our house. We also had some branch missionaries painting their house and using some stuff in our house that same day. The next day all my money for the rest of the month was gone. I like the people a lot but you just can’t trust them with anything. They take anything they can get. It’s very sad. So I have no money this month. I'm going to the ATM and use my card from home to get some money out for this week. I will take out 1500 Meticis which is I think 50 bucks. But the bank will charge for taking it out so I'm not sure how much it will be.

Other than that everything is good. I think we will baptize a family this transfer! Which is amazing for our zone! They come to church every week and he's given us a ton of contacts, he always wants us to teach his friends and family. I think we will give them a baptism date this week. They are great and I think we found our new Elders Quorum president. We also have another lady who is doing really good as well who will probably be baptized next transfer. Everything is going great and my language skills have gotten so much better as well. That's way cool you got to talk to Elder Spendlove, he's a way cool guy and way funny. (He lives in St. George and came home from Mozambique last month). I'm sure you got the idea from Elder Spendlove but everyday here is an adventure. I love it! Every day I wake up and wonder what crazy thing will happen. It's going to be different going back to quiet Hometown USA. Ya don’t worry about that stuff, nothing has happened since I have been here. That’s a way cool story about Mom’s hole in one ha ha I'm sure Grandpa T had a big smile on his face. Thanks for all the news again, it’s nice to hear what is going on we are very cut off from the world here. Most people here have never even left the city in their whole lives. Thanks for everything!
Here’s the answers to the questions:

1. Elder Spendlove said that only about 20% of the people in Beira have jobs and many people don't have enough to eat. Have you found that to be true in your area? No that 20 percent lives in my area. I'm in the city city so just apartments and things like that. So everyone has a job. It’s hard to work during the day because everyone is working.

2. Elder Spendlove said the fish you described eating a few weeks ago was probably Barracuda. He said it's very good but very expensive! He talked about a food the people eat a lot that is dried corn mashed to a powder then made into a paste, cooked, rolled up and dipped in some kind of sauce. Have you eaten that? How was it? Ya I ate it... and it tastes exactly like you would think. They have normal food here and then they have a few crazy things.

This week was a really good week. We found over 20 new investigators most of which are families! That's unbelievable in our area! We are also teaching a lady who was one of the first people baptized in the country in 1995. She's inactive and was thinking about joining the church her husband was going to but we got there just in time. We talked to her for a while and she wanted to be taught again. She still knows it’s true and so she had us teach her husband. Her husband is from Zimbabwe so I had to teach him in English. My companion is from Brazil and doesn't speak English so I taught him. It was way hard teaching in English but at the same time it was so much nicer. I never felt the spirit so strong in my life. I love teaching in English. I was able to say everything I wanted to say especially in my testimony. I really think that this family will be baptized in the near future. I never felt the spirit as strong as I did with him. Elder Nascimento said the same thing and he couldn't even understand what I was saying. It was a really good lesson. We have a family that we found last week who are progressing really good as well. They are reading and praying every night and they came to church this week. If they come next week we will probably give them a baptism date. Most of our other investigators and new so not progressing yet but we'll see. We really did have a really good week. I killed a rat the size of a house cat! It was pretty sweet. I'm starting small and working up to the bigger animals. I've seen more fights, drunks and crazies this week than in my life. I LOVE IT HERE!!! Every day is an adventure! Anyways I better go, thanks! Love Elder Brown

PASSION FRUIT

I had kind of a ruff week this week. Almost all of our lessons fell through this week so we only had 4. We had about 7 lessons scheduled every day but when we went to their houses they weren’t home. But oh well this week is going good already, yesterday we found 3 families which is really good. We are teaching one of the first members in the country who is inactive now but I think we can reactivate her. Everything else is going good, the language is going great I don’t have any problems communicating with my companion. The only problem with him is that he has no patience, and he has problems giving people respect. He kinda likes to yell at people, he's like one of those bad customers who gets angry about any little thing really fast, so its kinda frustrating becuase we are missionaries and we need to act better than that. I talked with him about it and the next day he did it again. Oh well anyways other than that everything is great! He's from SanPaulo Brazil, he really doesn't speak hardly any English, but we communicate great, we dont have any problems. People say that I speak better Portuguese than they did at the end of their 5th transfer and I'm just going into my 3rd so the language is going great. Since my comp isn't in the Branch Presidency I have time ha ha lots of time to do missionary work. Less time to study but I like doing missionary work better than sudying. The grocery stores here look like a normal store back home but they have guys with shotguns at the door and they are smaller. They don’t have a steady supply of anything so you never know what they are going to have. Usually they have all the basic stuff but you never know. Everything is great! Thanks mom! Thanks dad! I love you!Love Elder Brown