Blondes...

Lots of interesting things happening. Might be repeating a few stories, but things are awesome here!

1. My companion has high blood pressure, but it doesn't make that much sense to me because he's not very tall nor are we very high in elevation. ;)

2. Hortencia is an investigator back in Imperial, my first area. She had more problems than I have hair, and if you ask a barber, that is saying something. ;) anyway, starting with childhood abuse and ending with adulthood abuse, she's been suffering in just about everything for a very long time. She had missed many opportunities to grow and change that God was offering her, but finally she got baptized. Her kids are now learning to read and finally, FINALLY, she's left the ruthless sin cycle behind and she's been able to make progress in her life.

3. Blondies:

C* was one of the investigators (12 yrs old) that got baptized a couple weeks ago. She gave us her number and I immediately called it. I was right in front of her and she saw me dial the number and call it. She interrupted our conversation about how I shouldn't copy her, saying, "Sorry, someone's calling me"

"oh, that's good, I'll let you answer it. " I said.

Then, over the phone, She said, "Hello?"

I said, "Hello, good afternoon, how are you today?" (remember I'm right in front of her and she still doesn't realize it's me on the phone too)

"doing well, and how are you?"

"not dead yet, so I cant complain," I responded, and then continued with, "sorry, I received a call from this number yesterday, and was just responding. Who am I talking with?"

"C*" She said,

Then, over the phone, I thoughtfully said, "C*..."

She overheard me in real life and said "Stop copying me!!!"

 and then I said, "well sorry."

That was when she finally realized that she was talking with ME on the phone and that I wasn't copying her but talking with her. :)

pretty good laugh there. :)

 another time, the primary president's named A*. she's about 28 years old and she is SOOO BLONDE. Yesterday we called her and then after hanging up, she called us, and when we answered, she said, "oh, was I calling you?" We got a pretty good laugh there. :)

4. I was reading the other day and came across proverbs 14:10. It's pretty cool. :)

5. Another cool one is marcos (Mark)12:16-17

6. P*'s already coming out with us to teach our investigators and she's doing REALLY WELL!! She's SUPER EXCITED!!!! Holy Cow!! anyway, it's really helped me know that God doesn't really want wisdom, but willingness, and the rest comes by itself. :) the talk Beware of Pride is fantastic!!! I love it! I've realized that pride is the root of all evil. It's the root of every problem. It causes deep depression. It causes anger flashes. it comes in self confidence and self criticism, because both have to do with me. When I get over myself and finally get on to God and His work, things finally get working.

7. TEMPLE!!!!!!! We went to the temple!!!!!! That was soooo coool! I'm gonna go there again! and again! and again! phew. It truly is the house of the lord. It truly is a healing balm. I was reminded, once again, that Adam trusted FULLY that every affliction and trial would be taken care of, BY SOMEONE ELSE, and so he got busy doing the right things he could. He understood that sacrifices was not a part of his life, but that his life was a part of sacrifice. He forgot about the ME and focused on God. Obedience is not a simple list of rules or actions to make a recipe, but a full placement of one's trust in God. The symphony is not part of a Cellist, but the Cellist of a symphony.

8. Anyway, that's enough for today. Fantastic week this week and only better ones to go. :

Thanks for your prayers and your thoughts. Thanks for your interest and your support here, and before the mission. LOVE YALL!

Miracles Abound

Everything's Going really well here! So many good things have been happening.

First "Tag" Picture - Noah's Ark

Each of these gentlemen performed a baptism last week--on the same day. 

K* is a really faithful guy of about 85 years. He's from Utah and living here 1 because His retirement wage goes further and 2 because he's spending some of it to help a couple families out down here. He's had colon cancer and lived, he's had another very dangerous cancer and lived, now he's got hip problems. He said that it's been really hard and really painful, so much so, in fact, that even though his beliefs would never permit it, he said that he's had thoughts of suicide. He almost couldn't walk when we entered the house to give him a blessing he requested, but he said the most worrying aspect wasn't his hip, but his head. We gave him a blessing, and by that evening we saw him out and about almost as if he had brand new hips. He's definitely been a lot happier too. :)

P* has been seeing a TONN of miracles. She was abused her whole childhood in every way you can imagine. Then she was abused by her husband in just as many ways. She ended things with him when he started doing the same with her daughter, Careli. Needless to say, she was mad, she was hurt, and she had lost total trust in men, religion, God, and a bunch of other things. She was thoroughly convinced she could never have a healthy relationship with anyone. She got baptized last week, June 16th. She received healing for her anger towards her family. She received total healing for her abuse. She doesn't have problems with her kidneys anymore. Even more, she's completely trusted her life in God. She gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting (the same meeting where she was confirmed a member of the Church). She used 3 Nephi 9: 13 for the theme. She has seen healing in SOOO many ways. It's crazy to see. I know that God is a God of miracles and He lives to work them. He does his work, sometimes through us, but most of the time, in spite of us. :)

Cucumbers :)

There's this half-handicapped guy named A*. His right side only half works and his left side works fine because when he was a baby he got hit by a truck. He walks 7 kilometers every Sunday from a little ranch cluster called las minitas to church every single sunday. Crazy Right?! Talk about someone who loves the gospel. He says the most profoundest things too. He once said, "Everyone's crazy, the key is knowing how to use it" and then when I told him how wise he must be to say that, he said, "Noone's wise, but God." and then I decided not to go on. :) I LOVE that quote from him. He goes to churh and stays active first for his love for God, but second for his love for his mom, who passed away when he was 9 or so. he lives with his dad, but his dad doesn't take him to church.

There's this crazy phenomenon that occurs every single night now. We blast the AC in a house that's been baking in over an over hundred degree sun all day long, and the air actually gets pretty cold. I start feeling comfortable and then at 10:30, after an hour and a half of AC, I lay down my on my bed and am hot. The air surround me is cold, but the bed is blazing hot!! It's like coming out of the fire and into the frying pan! Weirdest thing ever, right? like a cooking egg.

Conversation between Elder Brown and his Mom in response to his last statement about being like a cooking egg...

Mom: Maybe you should take a cold shower when you get home for the day and then enjoy the cool air. Your body is probably just releasing all the hottness from the day. :) Crazy though...

Elder Brown: the cold water is really, really hot. :)

Mom: Hot because it is cold or hot because it is hot?

Elder Brown: hot because its hot. the grond is baked and so are the pipes.

Mom: That makes sense...let it run for a minute first before getting in... :)

Elder Brown: no. it doesnt get cold. we already tried.

**Side note: Elder Brown hasn't had a "hot shower since October 27, 2015. In fact, he has tried doing pushups and working out in the morning before a shower, just to get his body temperature up before getting in a freezing cold shower. Now that it is 99 degrees outside with about 30% humidity...he ONLY gets a hot shower!!! We sure love the experiences he is having on his mission. :)

Another Great Week

Back yet again with another great week behind us. :) Almost got 9 months already. Wow. What else? Well we were teaching someone named D* and she was reading and praying and almost left work early to go to church. She got all sentimental with our sacrifices and all that and thanked us very sincerely. I explained that we are glad to do it. It's like we prepare the food and all they have to do is eat, or keep the little commitments we leave. She then told us she was really grateful for how we had helped her feel, because before, she had been suicidal. We thought, WOW she's really progressed! Then she decided to put brakes on the whole show. She told us she has a catholic BF in the Dominican Republic who would never accept anyone from any other religion. She said she wasn't willing to go to church or get baptzed. Just like that. Oh well. :/

What else? Last week we contacted someone named M*. She's 23 and was married to her brother's dad. Makes me think of the song "I'm my own grandpa". :)

Anyway I say she was married to him because the week before we met her he had died... That's fun to hear.  :( Obviously, we zipped right to Matthew 19: 5 and 6 and told her that when God unites two people, niether man nor death can separate them. Then, when we asked her how she could be united by the power of God, we suggested baptism, church attendance, prayer, scripture reading, you know, the basics of the new and everlasting covenant. :)

Well, there goes. :) Thanks for your prayers, your support, your help, your love, and, well, being you! :)

—Elder Brown

There's Only One Solution to the Heat...

All`s well here in San Felipe. I still don´t look like a fried lobster. I believe it´s already over a hundred here and it`s really not that bad. When you learn to distract yourself with the work, things start getting much better. That`s really what I think faith and repentance are. Faith is doing the good things and repentance is forgetting to do the bad things because you`re so focused on doing the good things. It´s a fun process. =)

Fried Lobster?

P* is a single mother of 4 children. She`s been abused most of her life but is very sweet, humble, gentle, and HAPPY!! She`s 28 years old and has kidney problems. She works way too much. Her family (who abused her) now wants to rob her of her kids. Wonder Why? not sure I want to know. Anyway, she`s really been catching onto everything we`ve shared with her. We taught her the plan of salvation and then she spent 30 minutes explaining to us how her trials had helped her in her life. Then she explained the importance of agency in our lives and the importance of god´s foreknowledge in our lives. She said that right as she was divorcing her husband for unfaithfulness and child abuse she was in 20 days of cotractions with her youngest. She said that before the baby was born she thought the baby would be a burden, but then said that because the baby (the cute one named annie with glasses) was born and NEVER cried in her infancy, the baby provided her with the energy and the happiness that kept her going. Anyway she was basically drugged to sleep this weekend and wasn´t going to go to church this week, but GOOD THING SHE CAME!! If she hadn´t come, her family would have found her and her children in her home, and she would have been asleep. Her parents would have snuck in and robbed them to sinaloa (that´s like taking them to Oklahoma from Utah, but also the drug and mafia center of Mexico). She wouldn´t have realized until they were halfway there and wouldn´t have been able to do anything about it. Talk about crazy!

Sunrise...It sure is beautiful here!

I picked a flower for you :)

D* is another investigator. She´s pretty awesome too. She thanked us for what we were sacrificing to be here and to help her feel better, and then she started crying. I did too. =P I told her that she was very important to us and then we explained to her that God gives us commandments and blessings and then waits for us to eat them. How many times do we tell him that he doesn´t cook well. And what do we tell our children? We tell them that they can´t know it till they eat it, and till they eat it as we say in Spanish ``de buena gana`` or in good faith, basically.

My companion, Elder C* is AWESOME! He´s working really hard and even though he gets tired in this pounding, blazing, fiery heat, he keeps going. (they told me that fire and brimstone would come after I died, LIES!!!!! It only gets worse, too) We`ve probably sweat a horse and a half (alliteration) but there´s only really one solution to this heat. We have to get wet... BAPTISMS!!!