Fun Week

Hola! Fun week last week!!

J* was a super active member about a year and a half ago. He had been branch missionary leader, he had worked with the missionaries and had done a BUNCH of stuff. Then something happened and he lost pretty much all wind in his sails. We met him because he was getting an english-speaking job and he wanted practice with his english. We went over to his house and he started talking about the "glory days". You know what I'm talking about. Everyone's seen someone just mentally "stuck" on the "golden age". It happened to me on the mission too. I've looked back on the "glory days" and it's caused a lot of collateral damage. It's cost me a lot. I told him that basically, "Yes, they WERE awesome, but we can't live in the past. Those days will never come back. It will never exist again in the same way, and isn't that a blessing?!" the "Good ol' Days" were great, but they're not here anymore, and there's no way to get em back. It's the MIRACLE of this plan. Through the atonement we can have new and wonderful days. It helps us create new glory days. Just think of how Adam must have felt after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden, without sickness or sadness, and coming into THIS world. But just as for us, it was for him. "they WERE awesome, but it doesn't exist. It will never come back. It will never exist again, and isn't that a blessing?!"

The glory days will never be like the old ones. They'll be better, but if we're always striving for the past ones, then we'll never get anywhere. That was the idea I was trying to get through his head. He has accepted that we return and visit him more. We will have to wait and see how things play out with him.

Not-so-gift-of-tongues experience: we were contacting and I saw a couple of asian ladies outside their house, I said, "Disculpe, Puedo obsequiarles una tarjeta de Jesucristo?" They started talking to me in something. Definietly was NOT Spanish. Definitely was NOT English. then I said it's translation: "Can I give you a card of Jesus Christ?" they gave me the same thoroughly interesting set of sounds as the first time, and with that, I kind of gave up. :) I gave them their cards and went off, thoroughly determined to learn that language one day. :)

Fuzzy but Cool

A Baptism and A Little Salsa!

HOLA BAGOLA! Another week here in San Felipe! I've been noticing a really interesting pattern this past while-ito (little while). Remember Amulek? me neither. ;)

Elder Evans, R** and Elder Brown

Aulek was reactivated by Alma and then what did he do? He preached? Why? I don't know all the reasons, but I certainly know a few.

The teacher learns more than the student.

The teacher is blessed with the opportunity to see mistakes and their consequences BEFORE they live it.

They have a bright remembrance of the "newness" of the gospel, that, frankly, we probably don't.
Even people who have attended church for the first time can bear testimony of small things.

There's nothing more converting than service.

Cake that us Elders made for the Salsa Competition

As R** said, "I started asking myself why God wasn't talking to me that much, then I went to find out who he was talking to." maybe you've already got the baby steps figured out. GOOD JOB. God's not gonna sit there and baby step you the rest of your life. Help Him baby step someone else and REDISCOVER the art of babystepping. Fantastic week again. Things only get better. :)

The San Felipe Branch had a Salsa Competition (food not dance). Elder Evans ended up winning and I took second place. Here's my almost winning recipe (I created it myself).

Elder Brown's Pineapple Salsa
6 tomatillos 2 habaneros 3 serranos 1/4 onion Boil above ingredients for 15 minutes.
Remove from water and blend. Then add: 5 pineapple rings and their juices 1.5 peaches 1 lime 1/2 red pepper and salt to your taste.

Filling Up on the Good

R*** was talking about how he had felt a LOT of promptings in the beginning of his conversion. Then he said that after a couple of weeks they went away a bit. He felt like God had kind of left him alone and he started to wonder why. Then he came on visits with us. He said that God had come to help and heal him. Then when he was better, it was his job to start looking for where God was. He said it was kind of a game. God's not with him anymore, because he's not so sick. Thus, if he wants to be closer to God, he starts to go where He goes: with the sick, the sad, and the smitten. Isn't that an interesting thought?

Next, we had a lesson with someone named Jose Luis. He'd been a drug addict since the age of 10 or 11. We told him that repentance is not the process of removing something bad alone. The most important part of true repentance is filling it with something better. It's like a cup. I can see an empty cup and say that it's a wasted cup. I can tell you that I don't want any air in the cup. Then I'll tell you to take the air out of it. However, for every air molecule that leaves, another one enters. Likewise, there's really no way to defeat sin. We simply can't pull air out of the cup. Neither can we effectively pull/push sin out of our lives.

The secret, then, is that we fill the glass with water. We practice the principles of faith. We start by reading the scriptures, then we pray and attend church. As we continue practicing, we receive the Holy Ghost more in our lives, and then we start sharing it. Like R** said, we start going in search of God and His miracles in the lives of others. As we continually fill our cups, we can finally truly repent of the mistakes we have made or are currently making. We can say that repentance is composed of a series of steps such as recognition, remorse, restitution, reformation, resolution, etc., but I honestly feel that it comes down to this simple principle: we fill our life with smart/good things and simultaneously take necessary measures to do away with the dumb/bad things.

--Elder Brown

The Work is Progressing

This week was rather exciting. We had 4 investigators watch general conference, and 4 less active members watch it too. :) On top of that, R* is inviting his brother and sister in law to come to church. Things keep plugging along.

Resolution with E* the Schizophrenic: We saw him one morning while we were running fo excercise. He called us over and started telling us he was done with us, which we already knew. Then he said, "the Book of Mormon is... gulp... false." I thought it was amazing to see how even a schizophrenic can recognize the truth of something. You could see it in his eyes and his whole reaction that he knew he was lying.

R* is doing really well. :) His sister, E*, is going through a difficult trial. She keeps trying with everything, but it's pretty hard... keep her in your prayers and communication. :)

J* was a less-active youth we visited for the first time. We talked to her and, honestly, it was super different. First off, we could tell when she was lying and when she was hiding things. It was super easy. What we decided to do is call her out on every lie and every attempt to hide the truth. Honestly, she got kind of defensive, and we knew she would. She felt like we already knew her before or like we could read her mind. In the end, after aving been visited by a lot of people a for a long time, she came to churh and read her scriptures by herself. She said that being "called out" helped her realize that things really weren't going too well.

DR V*, one of our investigators, came to general conference as well. We keep seeing progress.

Thanks for all your love and support.

Elder Brown