Things are alright I guess, my comp is sick so we stayed in house for 3 days this week and our numbers reflect it in a very big way. I realize now the real worth of the time as a missionary.

I almost forgot about Thanksgiving until one of the elders in my district called and asked if we could do Thanksgiving dinner. We are getting super close to the 2nd to last call. It scares me. I don't want to come home, not cause I don't love you or miss you but because I love the mission. Nothing in my life has meant as much to me as this. You know all the stuff I've done, scored a goal in a varsity and a JV game in hockey, been in madrigals, been in a few musicals, been in YASE as a lead, been in Cadence at Snow College. I've been involved in a lot of "big time" stuff, but nothing has or I think will mean as much to me as this last year and a half has meant to me. I don't want it to end. All good things come to an end, but I just don't want it to.

Don't worry about the backpack, I have already arranged to have a new one by Wednesday. Sister Quartino has a really cool bag and said that she would give it to me, so I'll send a picture of my new bag next week. It's a super cool backpack.

I love ya tons and I miss you. Talk to you soon.

Love, Elder Brown

November 21st

We're on the southern border of the country, it's about 7-8 hours in bus to Cuidad de Este which is North East of here. There's a bridge that people come over from Argentina, not in my area but in my district. They have a big black market in Encarnacion so yeah argentinos come to buy stuff.

We spend like 2-3 hours a day walking. My shoes are getting pretty well destroyed. I have to take the low top boots to get them re-soled, 'cause well they are just too far gone. The boots are still ok, but it's only a matter of time on those as well. We walk a lot more in this area than in Villa Elisa. As far as investigators..... they are alright. The only real investigators we have are those that have been coming to church every week for a long time but for one reason or another haven't been able to get baptized. One of them is set for this week. It's a little kid named Geronimo. He is 10 years old but his parents just haven't wanted to give him permission to be baptized but they finally did so in the water he goes! Then we have a family that are waiting on documents so they can get married, but other than that not much.

I love ya tons and I miss you now more than ever, I wish I could just call you and talk it out with you, but it is forbidden, so I guess I just have to talk it out in email, but I love ya and miss you. I will be missing you this Christmas but we will have the phone call. We will probably do skype again. I love ya tons, talk to you soon.

Love Elder Brown

More pictures! The first few are the service we had a few weeks ago. There's one that is everyone that was there, then one with all the missionaries, then my stewardship (district).

With the mantle thing. I received a little inspiration about the mantles. I was praying when out of nowhere I started thinking about what we talked about about the mantle being armor, and then I thought, "The mantle is already perfectly formed. I was just trying to stick my head through the arm hole and my leg through the head hole and just trying to put it on in all sorts of wrong ways." The callings we have, the mantle is already perfectly formed. We just have to put it on the right way. A lot of the time we try to put it on screwy, but that just doesn't work. When I became comp mayor I was trying to act like a comp menor and depend a hundred percent on my companion, but that's not how it has to be. I needed to be the one who was being leaned on, so it was difficult. When I became district leader I didn't have as much difficulty, because I leaned on the Lord and he showed me how to put on the mantle. Really we just need someone to show us how to put on the mantle. It's all ready. We just need to know how to put it on, and the Lord always wants to show us.

Earlier in my mission I was pretty prideful, but I'm learning to overcome that, and really the answer to overcoming pride is charity. If you have charity you won't have problems serving the people or loving them. Pride isn't a problem if you have charity. If we have pride then we can't accept correction and we get super upset with people super easy because they see things differently.

Well I've really got to go because I've been writing you for too long. Too many distractions, but I love ya tons and look forward to talking to you next week.

Love Elder Brown

Everything is going well here we are working a fool. We had 9 people with baptismal dates on Saturday, but none of them came to church so now we have 0. Back to the drawing board, so we will just have to, but 15 with baptismal dates this week and maybe a couple of them will stay, but we will see how it goes.

Yeah it's all good. I did that thing you always told me, "when you go through problems don't ask why me ask what do I need to learn," and apparently our Father in Heaven has big things in store for me in the last bit of my mission. So we will see what I can do. Thanks for your advice. The mission is just filled with challenges, but yeah all is well.

I tried to attach some pictures, I hope it works, but we will see. I'm sorry that this letter ended up kinda short. I felt like I was writing a really long letter because I was taking so much time, but I guess that I didn't write that much, but yeah it looks like its gonna send the three pictures that you need to send to Ex-Elder Fernelius. He's been home for 3 weeks. I love ya tons and I look forward to hearing from you next week. I hope that everything is going well at home even though 2 of your children aren't living there right now. I love ya tons!

Love Elder Brown

October 31st

Yay Bishop Page. He will do great as the new Bishop. He's such a good guy. Tell him I look forward to working under him when I get back, and that he had better have a wicked awesome calling for me when I get back. I dont know what...... young single adult teacher or something. U just want to teach after the mission I love to teach. I don't really want to be district leader, I mean I want to serve everyone and I love everyone in my district, but I don't like titles very much, but I'm happy that I will get to teach in district meeting everyweek. that I do love, but I'll do what he wants me to do. I remember you telling me about Christ-like love in the mtc. That was just last year right? Something like that, but yeah that's what I'm trying to do.

But yeah I'm excited to be district leader, to try and help these missionaries. But I don't like titles at all. I just want to teach that's all, but I'll do what the boss commands. Thanks for the suggestion on studying leaders in the scriptures, and I will look for the way that Christ leads and try and follow his example. We´ll see how I do I guess. Sorry if I sound a little scatter brained, but this computer monitor is making my eyes wig-out. I don't remember those old school not led computer monitors being so weird looking, but I guess it's been a while since I used one. But anywho I sent a flash drive home with all the pictures from San Antonio to Villa Elisa. I sent it with an elder that's leaving this transfer.

Really I don't have much time, but I did have one question. Who is in the bishopric? I know Bishop Page but who are his counselors? That's all I got, but I got to go write president. But I love ya tons and I always look forward to your emails. I love ya tons and look forward to talking to you soon.

Love, Elder Brown

October 24th

El Colectivo (The Bus....6hrs to my new home)

So I got changed down to Encarnacion (a 6 hour bus ride) to be a district leader with a missionary that just got out of training, Elder Porter. It's hard having new missionaries as comps but it's alright. Here in Encarnacion branch 5 we have a huge area that takes forever to walk across, so the elders that were here before me have just said "ok so Monday we´ll work here Tuesday here Wednesday here......etc," however, the direction from the area presidency is "daily contact with every investigator." So they haven't really been seeing very much success lately. I'll be changing that here quick. We'll be doing lots of walking.

I miss Elder Kartchner and our little apartment, which is weird cause this apartment is much bigger but whatever, and I do miss the members, but it's alright I'll get used to this area soon enough. Yeah I really don't worry about changes anymore, because well...... it doesn't matter. "I´ll go where the Lord wants me to go and I´ll be what He wants me to be."

Yeah I miss singing for the fam. as much as you miss hearing it, but all good things are eternal, so I'll be there singing again before you know it. After all in 8ish months I'll be back, so 2/3rds of the way done right. Unfortunately I don't get opportunities to sing in church. The church here doesn't usually have special numbers here and in zone conference they usually just put together a choir 10 minutes before. I'll see if I can't just get a chance this conference.

About teaching, it's interesting how it works. When someone really feels strongly about what they are teaching it makes those that are learning have greater interest. They taught me that in the mtc. So if you want others to have interest in the gospel, you have to love the gospel. It's really cool how it works like that. Really we have to love what we teach or they don't feel like it's something important, that's part of why I loved college. Because a lot of the professors teach that subject because they love it, so I feel that love and I grow to love that subject too. There was a quote in one of the talks from Elder Holland (one of the talks on my i pod) where he was talking about Botany (the plant stuff (i don't know how you spell it)) he said some thing like this "teach me that in mitosis there's something something something (i didn't really understand it cause i don't know botany) teach me all this so I can pass the test and never have to know about botany" then everyone started to laugh and he said "that's only the first verse...... teach me to marvel that all the text books of man cannot describe what happens in a single blade of grass. (more stuff about botany like unto this) teach me to love botany and nothing will ever quench the thirst for knowledge you have placed in me." I love that. Many times knowledge we look for just so we don't have to learn it anymore. But here in the mission I have learned to love knowledge, and I can never quench the thirst that has been placed within me. I want to strike it rich young so I can spend the rest of my life studying in college and learning everything there is to learn.

Well, that's all I got for this week. I got to go write president, but I look forward to hearing from you next week. I love hearing from you. Thanks for always supporting me and always helping me to be better. I'm always saying to the members "mi papa siempre me enseño....." or "mi mama siempre me enseño...." (my dad always taught me, my mom always taught me) really you taught me well and always gave me applications of the principles of the gospel in my life, and it now isn't just helping me but it's helping the members as well. Thank you for all you do for me I love ya tons

Love Elder Brown

October 17th

Elder Kartchner

Everything went well this week. Our average number of lessons has dropped to 30 but we will get it back up. Everything is going super well, and changes are Wednesday. No idea what it will bring but we will see. We are working on the new investigators. For some reason we have trouble finding the investigators we have and the new investigators are coming slowly but we are working on it. We will see more baptisms before the end of the year here. It's great to see the fire that Marcos has. It's the fire that comes with true conversion. When we are really converted we see the worth of the gospel in our lives and we have an insatiable desire to take that to the others that are near us. It make me happy to see that in Marcos. It tells me that i am doing my job.

It is a little weird. I normally am looking to changes with a mix of fear and anxiety but for some reason I don't have that anymore. I think it is that I am coming to trust more in God. I have the faith that what happens in the changes will be His will and all I want to do is what He wants me to do. It's funny what happens when you come to trust God.

I love ya tons and thanks for writing as always. I look forward always to your emails and hearing from you and all that's going on back home. Happy birthday Papi and I'll talk to you next week.

Love Elder Brown