You Know You're In Mexicali When...

HOOOLA! Not too much to share, unfortunately, as we spent the majority of the time in Mexicali. However, I learned some pretty cool things there, for example, 

You know you're in Mexicali when...

The "not so gentleman" you're contacting spits at you, but it evaporates before it can hit you. you open a bottle that fifteen minutes ago had ice in it and find steam. You have a tan line through your shirt, marking where your tie goes. :)

What else?

We met this lady named M* the other day. She's pretty cool. She had talked with President S* and told him that she was interested in hearing from us. Prs. S* talks to EVERYONE about the church. If he sees me contacting, then he takes some of my cards and contacts EVERYONE around me. He feels no shame. Then again, not sure why one would feel embarrassed about talking about the STINKING COOLEST MOVEMENT in the history of the world! Adam was mormon before it was cool to be mormon. Actually, he was probably one of the most mormon mormons that any mormon had ever seen mormon. Anyway, you get the point.

Tijuana Temple Trip May 2016

Back to M*, she has been smoking since she was 10 or 12. Her mom never had a stable relationship. Her family is full of problems, more problems than a math textbook. She said she hadn't ever really felt happy in her life. She's taking care of a schizophrenic sister and drug addict nephews. The list goes on, and on. Anyway, she almost doesn't put down her cigarettes. She almost smokes two at a time, honestly. Well, she did. After the first lesson, she told us that she didn't even want to smoke a cigarette for 6 HOURS after. Crazy Right!! She is evidence of the prophecy in Amos 8:11-12. She was running to and fro in search of the Gospel of peace and joy, and she knew not where to find it. Now, however, she's finding more and more peace as she reads the scriptures and prays every day and as she goes to church every week.

Honestly, I believe that's it. Loving the work here. Learning a bunch. Seeing things happen and changes take place.

I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He came to this earth to show us a perfect example. He suffered pain, offense, and attacks in every manner, from almost every person. He had more problems in His life than any other person that has ever walked the earth. Despite all these, he could have lived a king, a God, even, but he chose to do something greater. He took upon him OUR transgressions, addictions, pains, embarrassments, and problems. He chose to DIE, that with His death, he might bring us, all of us, out of every problem, sadness, and disappointment, or even addiction, we may have. He lived, he suffered, and He died, but that's not quite so important, because HE LIVES, and LOVES us.

It's Never Too Late to Follow Christ

Sweet week once again! Just getting to the fun stories! anyway, I can honestly say that when we are asked to talk to EVERYONE about God, it means EVERYONE. (mosiah 18, 8-10). We don´t need another impression on top of that... anyway. here goes.

¨D*¨
We contacted a drug addict minutes before the injection. we gave a picture of Christ and then, with both the savior and the drug in his hand, we invited him to drop and step on the drugs. We came and invited him right in the last moment. WE´ve been given the gift of the Holy Ghost and covenants to protect us from evil forces. Every time, when faced with a choice like that, we´ll hit a speed bump, the Holy Ghost, yeling out, WAIT!!! THINK OF CHRIST. Which voice will we follow? It´s never EVER too late to start following Christ.

Romeo and Juliet
Hna N*, the member who finally decided to forgive the baby for what the adultering parents did, ran into another family feud this week. The argument or the evidences don´t really matter, but suffice it to say that the son-in-law was throwing out some pretty good threats. Don´t ever let a problem to be solved look more important than a person to be loved. I get the feeling thats a quote. Why is it that we let the smallest family problems erupt in the biggest, most damaging forest fires? Like in James 5 I believe, it says ¨how great a forest burneth a simple spark.¨ or something like that.

Family Home Evening
Invite your frineds to your family home evenings. What parent wouldn't want their children giving little spiritual thoughts or the family all together learning about Heavenly Father and each other? Seriously! It´s marveous!!

Malcolm the Parrot

Malcolm the parrot. He speaks english, not spanish. odd, right? Especially since he´s in a Mexican less- actives home. Turns out, he legitimately smokes and drinks coffee... ok... pretty good though. :) He accepted the baptismal invitation and we had a pretty good laugh with our DL´s. :)

3 nephi 13:22
I came across this scritpure and I thought it was pretty cool. I thought about the importance of setting goals. where are your goals? Do you have them? Would you say your goals are single?

LOOOVE the missionary work. I know this work is true. God loves us SSSOOOO much!! Anyway, gtg. LOVE YALL!!! BYE!!

Missionary Work -- I Love It!

Monday. That's pretty funny. It seems like just last week it was monday. ;) Loving my time down here in San Felipe. It's hot. Not sure if we're swimming or riding a bike. Not sure if I'm being baptized by water with the humidity, or by fire, with the heat. Anyway...

The branch says I laugh more with my eyes than
just about anything else. They dedicated this
picture to me.

O* (the dad in the picture last week) went to church again. We learned last week that he got married to G* 4 years ago. Se already had 3 children: F* (14), M* (8), and V* (4). Needless to say, it was a really hard transition for the kids. Still, four years later, they have a hard time accepting his authority. O* is a VERY good father. G* is a VERY good mother. M* and V* went to church with them this Sunday. They're starting to read the scriptures as a family and it's super exciting seeing it all play out. G* prayed for her fist time last week. This week she taught her kids to do it. They've been reading and have been seeing changes. It's super galooper exciting.

Yes that's a wild pig running the streets of San Felipe.
Stinking HILARIOUS! I LOVE IT!!!

C*and C* are two new investigators. They've been reading and progressing as well. We met them when we went out with N* (the member from last week). She invited C* to listen, and she accepted. THAT EASY. N* has actually taken charge of what we teach and how we help C*. She set her own appointment with C*o to read the Book of Mormon. N* has taken full responsibility of this family's conversion. I forgot to take a pic, but I'll probably get to it some day.

We've been teaching Preach my Gospel classes here in San Felipe. The members are SOOO Awesome. 13 of the members came to the class yesterday and it's been super fun.

Love the work here. I know that this church is true and has the restored and everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love everything that it teaches. I love the power and direction of God that I see in my life. God wants to help us sooo much. We just need to trust Him with it.

I've grown to Love Ether 12:4 as an explanation of faith. We believe in God and that brings us hope in a better world. Do you believe in a better day? A more productive way to spend your time? Do you believe in a happier family? do you believe YOU can have it? What does that belief do? it strengthens our resolve to do good, making an ANCHOR to our souls. We'll be seeking, naturally for a better life, day, class, or family, and in that search, we'll do better and better things, or in other words, ABOUND in good works, and when we're so focused on doing good and glorifying God, the next natural step is repentance, in which we free more time and energy to continue doing more and more good in the world, thus glorifying God more and more.

How Mexicans wash their cars (and just about everything else).
#WaterandBroom

I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Christ can and will redeem us and heal us in every trial and difficulty. I wish I could express what I feel for this work and for Christ, but, oh well. You'll just have do figure it out too.

Read your scriptures, say your prayers, go to church. Do it heartily, as TO THE LORD, and not unto men. then Love it because you can.

Love Yall!! Bye!

Another Great Week in San Felipe

Hooooollllaaaaa! Hoy es un buen dia por ser feliz!! Pretty good week this week. Actually, it was Awesome!! There were a bunch of encouraging things. for example:

1. The church attendance went from 52 last week to 79 yesterday. the interesting thing is that there were hardly any visitors, and so about 25 more members came to church than usual. Then we went and taught the Gospel Principles class. I felt a stronger Spirit there in that class than just about any other class I've been to. there were two RM's (returned missionaries) from arizona that came in with us and one said it was the best class he'd ever been to as well. SOOO exciting!! Then we went to the 3rd hour and the EQ (Elder's Quorum) is finally getting set up in Home teaching. They're doing it #Freals.

Elder Brown and Elder Diaz during exchanges

At 7 we held a PMG (Preach My Gospel) class with the members and quite a few came. THEY REALLY WANT TO HELP HERE! We helped them teach about prophets and prepare to present a message and leave a commitment.

We will always feel the spirit most powerfully when we're doing something, so as a home teacher, visiting teacher, friend, or anything, we NEED to invite our brothers and sisters to act in some measurable, decisive manner. and we NEED to follow up on it.

2. Speaking of the RM's, they came from Arizona and are staying a couple days down here. They came down early specifically to go on splits with us. Hno (Hermano) Philip served in Chile and Hno (Hermano) Samuel served in Uruguay and they just got back a year and a half ago. They were pretty cool. :)

3. Hna G* (Sister G): She's a member who's had the normal Mexican woman's life, but she's been overcoming it in an abnormal way. She had one or two kids with one husband. He abused her. Then she had the rest of her four kids with a second. He had schizophrenia. He stabbed someone (for deception in his work) and was put in jail. She stuck with him the two years of the prison sentence and then he dumped her and told her she was cheating on him the last one or two months of it.

She was obviously devastated both reputationally and emotionally. She told me she was Never Marrying Again. Ever. We talked to her about the importance of an eternal marriage and its necesity for her eternal increase. She continued on with the "no." She started talking about marriage as if it were a degradation to her potential and capacity. I told her about a family friend who had suffered many problems in her marriages and she downright talked down at her (You're honestly one of my heroes with your ability to perservere in hope and cheerfulness).

After that, we talked about how pride sometimes doesn't allow us to give our pains and suffering to God. We bore our testimonies, and left.

The next Friday she told me she had prayed about it and that God had revealed to her that she really did need a husband to enjoy eternal joy. That was one of the coolest things. WE got to see how the word of God humbled someone and totally changed her perspective. that was really cool.

I learned that a true friend, like Nephi, sticks to God's commandments in risk of losing the friendship. She is now much more happy about things and is changing for the better.

4. Hna N* (Sister N*): actually, Sister G*''s sister. She's had a life very similar. This time, though, her husband was already baptized when he cheated on her. He was in a coma for 22 days and Sister N* found out when she was taking care of her husband and the little girly friend walked in to save her sweety. that's a fun surprise. :-\

Anyway, since that happened in March, needless to say, their marriage has been on the edge. The husband, F*, has been working REALLY REALLY hard to get things right. He's been healing REALLY REALLY miraculously and his faith is very strong now. Anyway, for one of the steps towards reinitiation to church blessings he's got to take responsibility for the baby that appeared. Sister N* was TOTALLY against it to the point where she brought the topic up and started yelling at US about it when we didn't have anything to do with the requirements. She said that she would rather divorce him than have him take responsibility for the baby.

We talked to her about pride as well. We told her that she could continue on thinking that there was an enemy in her life or she could just trust God. Pride, as President Benson said, is a sense of enmity. We said that she needed to just trust God with things and let them work out. She told us that after weeks of fuming about the requirement, she was then willing to acknowledge the baby and let her husband take responsibility for him.

I really admire her faith and her humility. Remember, Faith, hope, charity or anything else will ALL FALL if there's not a solid base of humility to base it on. and PRIDE IS NOT THINKING YOU"RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE. Pride is comparing, competing, or putting others, situations, or anything else AGAINST you. How many times does that happen in our head, every day?

Elder Brown and Elder Campuzano during a discussion

5. G* and O*  are two really awesome investigators. They've read and been keeping commitments. They came to church and were able to CONTRIBUTE in the AWESOME Gospel Principles class. They have a baptismal date August 6th and have been progressing really well.

Friday we taught them how to pray. They had never done it before. I hope you guys never lose your sense of wonder with the power of prayer. God, the most powerful being in the universe, is on the edge of his seat waiting to hear every word, wipe away every tear, and always, ALWAYS sends a big warm hug. Now, imagine yourself praying for the first time in your entire life. How would that experience be? for G*, it was amazing. She prayed and the spirit came like a wave.

I know that God always listens to and answers prayers. he LOVES to hear them, from EVERYONE.

Another great week went by and I'm still here in San Felipe with Elder Campuzano. Still swimming in the glorious humidity and, yep. The church is true. Read your scriptures. Say your prayers. Go to church. Eat tasty food and enjoy life because that's what you've got. :)

With Love,
Elder Brown