Last Email from Chile!

Well I would write you guys something big and tell you about all the crazy things that happened this last week because it really has been the hardest week of my whole mission and it makes me excited to be able to rest hahaha no not really I love serving a mission, but I will be seeing you all very soon. I just wanted to say thank you for all the support that you have given me. I Love you all so very much and am very excited to see you all again and be able to serve in the work of the lord with all of you up there in the u.s of a. :) I am sorry mom but I dont think I will be calling you from cali. I think it would be better just to wait till I get there to utah. :) I think it´ll make everything alot better. I miss you all and cant wait to give you all a big hug!! I am expecting to go to temple square even if it is just for a half hour or so. I really just want to see it. :) Today I am saying goodbye to everyone in tomé :) I am happy to be back in  this beautiful town. I love this place and it makes me very happy. Well all is going well. I love you all and I will be seeing you all very soon. Thank you again and this is elder Brown checking out for the last time in email. God be with you til we meet again in the land of the free. :)
Love,
Elder Brown

The Mistake that turned into a miracle!

Well this week was really interesting. I went up to santiago. It was a really good experience because I was able to go to the temple which I was never actually going to get to know or see. But some things happened this last week and I had to go on a 3 and a half hour bus ride with another missionary to santiago. Here are some good miracles. :) So, I get a call on tuesday afternoon by the president and his wife indicating that I need to accompany a missionary up to santiago. Well I was a little surprised that they were sending me first of all because it would have been so much easier to have sent him with his comp, but they called me 1st miracle. Then she(president wife) told me to go and buy my tickets so we didnt have to do it that next day(is what I understood). So we go to the terminal and get the tickets and the bus will be leaving at 9:35. We needed to be up there by 1:00 because we had to be to a doctors appointment by 3:00 and this lady is very hard to get. She has months booked. So it was a miracle that we got an hour with her. Then the next day after too! At 11:00 in the morning. That is why it was so important that we be there on time and not be late because she doesnt have much time and if she cant she just cant. I call the elder and let him know and tell him to get his stuff packed for a few days that night. So the next day we get to the terminal and leave, but the whole time I felt a weird uncomfortable impression to call hna. Humphrey, but I didnt really pay attention much. We are going good and about 35-45 minutes into the trip I feel a good feeling to call her. So I do. I call her and say HEY, we are on the bus and we are going to be getting to santiago in a few hours. There is a short gasp a little pause and then she says ¨elder brown the appointment is not til tomorrow!¨ I was like what!??! You told me today! I know that that is what I heard. I know it with all of the fibers of my being. I said why did you tell me to get the tickets yesterday then and tell me not to be late and call you when we left... I was really confused and she then says, you are going to need to get off that bus right now and go back. See if they can let you off somewhere. Mind you that each of the tickets I bought cost me 10 dollars. I was so upset so I say ok I will go and talk to the driver rigth away. I hang up and go and tell the driver that we had gotten on the wrong bus and if there was any way to get onto another bus without paying more. Just so we could return to talca. He said he would see what he could do. I go back and sit down and as I sit down I get a call from the office telling me he has our rooms ready for that night. I was like what!??!?! I am even more confused now because hermana humphrey told me it wasnt until tomorrow and he said well I just called your comp and he told me you were going up already and I was like yeah, but what did you originally hear and he was like well I thought you were going up today but then hna. humphrey told me tomorrow so I had to change the day on your rooming. That is why I am calling to see when you are going up. I was like I dont know haha I am so confused. I told him I would call him right back. I hang up and instantly get a call from hermana humphrey and she is like ELDER BROWN!! I just got off the phone with the doctor and she had an appointment fall today so you can just keep going up! That was miracle 2. I was like that is great and then she said and she is also able to see him tomorrow in the morning because another one of her appointments fell. She was really surprised how that had happened because it never does.!! So I was pretty amazed by that as well. miracle 3. Well I thank her and hang up and call the office and talk to the senior couple there elder clawson who is doing the rooming and he told me that he talked to the guy and when normally he is super mean and grumpy and doesnt do or change anything the guy seemed super nice that morning and said we could stay there no problem that night. WOW miracle 4. We get off the phone and I call the taxi guy who is going to pick us up and he says hey yeah I can come get you today instead of tomorrow because I just happen to have time. 5. So the trip is great we get up there we get in the taxi and he takes us to temple square where the mtc is(we stayed there).We get there around 1:45 ish and we go and get the room without problems and he is super nice to us and we go up and start taking pictures of the room and on temple ground at 3 we go to the appointment and as we are finishing they tell us that there is a session in the temple in english! ¡¡6!!(will explain later) so we are super excited go say hi to the elders and the hermanas that will be coming to our zone that are still in the mtc then head over there to the temple to do a session. NOW, I just want to let you know something, my temple recommend expired at the end of may.... I hadnt had time to go and get a new one because the president lives so far away but had been asking for one. I am 100% worthy to go in of course, but I didnt have the recommend as proof so I get in there and go and tell the temple president and his assistants. They say hmm.. Well lets call your president. I was like ok!!! So they get on the phone with my president and he says like to sentences and the temple workers look at me and say well that is good enough for us that you president have a good day, hang up the phone and say ¨No problem¨haha they say go ahead and go in the session is about to start. Miracle 7!!!! We get in and right as we enter the room they ask us to get up and go so we can start the session. 8. haha We get done with the session that was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first time in 2 years. I missed it so freaking much I will definitely be making temple assistance a weekly thing when I get home. I could feel the spirit so dang strong. When I first walked onto the grounds of the temple the spirit was just notable. It was completely different!!!!!!!!!!!! SO much stronger I was actually surprised. The whole session I was basically just balling because I felt so good, well I just had water coming out of my eyes and it was just so weird to me haha the first time in a long time that I have cried. It was an amazing thing. It pumped me up for when I got home to get people, MY CONVERTS there!!! So that night the 4th of july we are sitting in our room watching the best fireworks anyone could ever see. They are called the temple lights. I feel asleep, after eating a nice American burger, looking at the temple lights and more specifically captain moroni blowing his trumpet. It was a very beautiful moment. The next morning we get up and go to another session in spanish that was just as beautiful and spiritual(didnt cry this time around). Then we go to the last appointment and the elder leaves super happy and ready to go face the world. We call the taxi driver and get on our way home telling him about the experience we had. He is a member by the way. He hears we had an english session and was like really!?!??! I has been going to the temple for the past 16 years or so and I have never heard of them doing an english session. You two are very lucky!!! It was a true miracle that we were able to be there right when they were having that session because that elder I was with doesnt understand spanish 100% and he really needed a spiritual uplifting. It was a tender mercy from our father in heaven. He blessed us so very much! It is amazing to see how he truly is in control of everything. I know he loves us each and everyone of us individually! He is protecting us and watching out for us all of the time. He knows our needs he knows our desires and he knows how to help and succor us. He will we just need to be wise and follow his spirit. I dont know how we ended up there how we did, but I know that, that is exactly what the lord had planned for us. He made me hear something that wasnt right so that his son could be blessed and receive help. He guided our steps. It is a good testimony because sometimes we feel that we mess up alot, but truly in the end god is in control of everything and is there all of the way with us. If we are doing what is right, even the wrong turns can turn into a journey of blessings. I love my god!

Saying Goodbye to Bulnes

So today I went out and said good bye to all of the loved ones I have in BULNES... It was really sad but at the same time I am so happy because they are all active out there and they are working really hard. I couldnt see all of my converts out there but I got to see some of them at least. :) I am going to miss them so much but I know that they are going to remain faithful in this gospel. I will love them forever!!! I also have a picture with alot of the elders that I came with. I dont know when I am going to see them again so I had to take a picture of them.!! I am going to miss these guys so much. They majority of the elders from my time are leaders!! That means when we leave half of the leaders of the mission leave as well! It is nuts but it will be good for the mission to learn. we are going to rock it up this month. We had a good week!! It was really gratifying. We did a lot of contacts and we had A LOT of tests put in front of us! It was awesome to see the lord work with us and I know that we are going to see the blessing the week coming. :)

What A Day...

hey mom and dad I am going to be honest, I am so freaking tired and dont really have much ganas to write. I have had one of the most emotionally draining days of my whole life. I will explain now. We were all playing soccer at the church and as we were playing all of a sudden one of the district leaders all of a sudden fell and busted his ankle. I couldnt believe it!! It was messed up!!! His foot took a full 90 degree angle. It was a very bad fracture. All of the missionaries started to freak out when they saw it. I was like freak shut up you are making him even more scared. I then took him and made sure he stayed down on the ground and told them to elevate his foot. Elder Demann a good and smart missionary who can hold his head was already on the phone as I told him to call an ambulance. Me and another elder gave him a blessing right away and then we put a sweater under his head and we got him some water and we started talking to him right away so he wouldnt go into shock. Got him covered with some clothes and waited for the ambulance. It got there and they put him in and I got in with him and we went to the hospital of talca. We get in and they start off really well. They get him in and get him an x ray right away and then they bring him into the emergency room and we are then there for like an hour waiting. They then kick me out of the room or place where he was and make me go to the waiting room. we got in to the hospital around 12:45 ish.... around 3:45 with out being attended is when I am really upset now. I am like this is ridiculous!!! You need to attend him and you need to tell us right now if this doctor is going to come or not! Then they said we all had to leave the waiting room and go outside. I wasnt happy either about that. I then start callling around so we can get him out of this hell of a hospital and finally get a hold of a place where he could go and they said they would send an ambulance to look for him. Well they never called me back like they told me they were going to so all of a sudden around 4:25 ish I am saying let me in because we had called a member and we were going to personally take him to the hospital. I was not happy but calm at this point and then as I am about to walk in past the guards I see that the other hospital has him on a table brining him out to go to the other clinic. I was so happy!!! We get in the ambulance and we go over there right away! We get there around 4:40 ish. They call the doctor and within 40 or 45 minutes they did the tests and they did examines and they had the doctor consult and had fixed the foot! They did what the other Hospital with 150 ish people did in 1/4 of the time with 1/5 amount of people. For the first time in like 5 hours or 6 hours Elder Cabellero rested and wasnt shaking from pain. He is a strong man mind you, he is 25 from argentina and is just a tank and was just shaking from pain even after the hospital gave him morphine 2 times and other drugs.... It was ridiculous!!!!!! I was not to happy and I was alone all day too. Not happy about that either. So yeah that is why I am writing so late. I am sorry I couldnt write.

 think that that is all I am going to write. I am doing well! :) It was a great week and we are going to have 3 baptisms this week. woot woot. we are working hard and having success. Hope all is well I loveyou all!!! Thanks for everything.


Love,

Elder Brown

Margarita

Margarita is a girl of 18 years of age.
She stopped believing strongly in god a few years ago.
She, after seeing many corrupt and things that she didnt like, o sea, that she felt uncomfortable or not happy with, has stopped going to church for over 10 years.
She has a divided family who is SUPER catholic yet, they do not go to church or even actively live their beliefs.
She doesnt know who god is.
She has a best friend named Daniela.

Daniela is a girl of 18 years of age.
She was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints around 10 years ago.
She has been active with her gospel united family ever since.
She loves the church and has a strong testimony of the book of mormon and the gospel.
She personally knows who god is.
She has a best friend named Margarita.

Once upon a time these two completely different young girls met and became really good friends. 2 years ago one of these great friends started talking to her best friend,
¨best friend I love my heavenly father so much. I know he exists, please believe with me.¨
¨best friend, I feel so good in my church, I love being there because there is where all those I love are, please come to church with me,¨
¨best friend, I have this book that has really helped me, please read this book with me.¨
¨best friend I know two people who I want you to talk with, please come with me.¨
¨best friend, I love you, please read this book with me.¨ 
¨best friend, I love you, please come to church with me.¨

For two long years this young friend daniela tried to give everything to her best friend. For two years Margarita shut her heart time after time. One night March 12th this true friend invited Margarita over to her house to eat dinner. The same night this young girl also invited two young men in white shirts to come over and share a message with her family. These young men brought a very special message. They invited this young girl to sit down and listen to this message. In this night of chance, nerves and excitement, this young girl heard the good news of the restoration. She heard the message of the restored gospel and as she sat there reminiscing on the things that were spoken the spirit of our father in heaven reached in and ever so softly touched this young girls heart and as he touched it, it began to melt a little, it began to soften and for the first time in 10 years, Margarita felt the love of god. She felt the spirit of the lord work in her life; and for the first time in 2 years this young daniela didnt have to say ¨best friend, come to church with me¨, ¨best friend read this book with me.¨
For the next 3-4 weeks margarita willingly learned of the truth and let it change her life. She started to look for god and who he was. She opened a new book of life. She let the splendor of the new crispy pages guide her life and her heart, the navy blue cover of a once foreign book became the refuge that she had everso desperately but secretly sought for, for years. She one day came across a part in this book where the saviour so lovingly calls unto us saying, ¨follow thou me¨. She, in that moment, understood the call Our Savior was extending, ¨Come with me to Gethsemane, Come with me to Calvary¨

One warm Autumn day this young friend finally said to daniela,

¨best friend, I know my heavenly father lives and he truly does love me.¨
¨best friend this book takes me to a place I have never been before, it answers all my questions, I love this book¨
¨best friend, I love this gospel, it fills my heart with joy¨
¨best friend, those two young men invited me to follow Christ... I want to...¨
¨best friend I want to get baptized this week... please... come with me.¨

This story brings a tear to my eye every time I think about it. This girl is a miracle sent from god. She has such a sweet and tender heart and is going to do so well in the gospel. She loves this gospel. She has already read the book of mormon. She has done countless prayers and has had countless hours of pondering to know what god wants her to do. This girl, this daughter of god has made a huge change in her life. She has let god take over. Despite the rejections and protests and threats of disownment from her family she was baptized and confirmed as a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints yesterday. She is a warrior and saint and daughter of Zion.
This is the story of Margarita.

So this week has been so good. I am glad that you have finally adapted to the mission. ;) Took ya 20 months haha I cant believe that I have been out so long. I will be honest I am a little trunky today because a missionary just went home and he was talking about it all freaking week haha It made me think alot about what is going to happen when I get home. I am excited but super nervous. 4 Weeks!? I cant believe it. It feels like last month I talked to you guys. haha It is amazing the mission. I am trying to be a good missionary. I honestly feel that I am in my prime right now!!! We just got some good baptisms yesterday and we are having more in a week or two. We are doing very well and just finding tons of people to teach. I am so happy. I think that I say that every time, but It is just so true, I am SO happy and I know why. I am going to be getting another comp her soon. His name is elder Teske! He is a freaking stud!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to be working with him, the only thing that is weird to me is that he ends at the same time that I do so I dont know how that is going to work. I hope that it does. I am sending you some pictures of what has been going on with me lately haha we went to that beach like I told you and then there are some baptism and that is margarita. The other one is the zone that I am in. They are such good missionaries, half of them leave tomorrow for transfers. I am not to happy, but I know that we will do well!!! :)
That is so good that mia is going to run for office. I remember doing all of that stuff I really liked it haha tell her to run for the ambassador scholarship! How cool would that be if we were in it together?!?!?! I am so glad that everything is going well for you! I am glad anthony is doing so well. I am really excited to talk to him in 4 weeks. I am excited to talk to you all! I miss ya´ll. So the work here is doing well. We have had 8 baptism completed in the last 2 weeks here in talca and we are waiting for the confirmation of 6 this coming week that means.... yup you did the math we will have 14 baptism here!!! WOOO 14 more souls saved or helped. :) I love the work! We are planning on baptizing a family this next coming week. not this week but the next one. I love them so much and they are doing all that they can to follow this gospel. It makes me so happy. So how is grandpa doing?! I miss the smell of his pipe!!! He has a record player right?! Think he would sell it to me!? I have come to find out that I am a fanatic of old things!!! I love them! Everything except old computers. I am not to big of a fan of those, ;) haha But none the less record players etc... Great things!!! :)

So I was thinking...... I know that this is SUPER trunky and not really good to talk about.... but.... What the crap am I gonna do about dating when I get back!? haha I dont know if I want to start dating right away. I dont know who I would date haha I dont know if I just want to focus on my studies or what haha I gots some decisions to be making in about 3 and a half months. booo.... I dont wanna think about that even when I get home. Life is just so much easier out here. I get assigned a comp. I dont have to go out and look for one. That just doesnt sound appealing to me haha. Oh well it is what it is.
How is brother Baily what happened to him?! I love that family so much I respect him and his wife so very much. I am going to be honest dad, we have the coolest ward in the world!!! They are all just spiritual giants. I know that they have the answer for all things. ;) haha I am serious evertime something doesnt seem clear I just have to go to you or them. haha instant answer. :)
The retention in chile sucks.... It really is so bad. They have so many members here but they are really lazy!!!! The majority are at least. Not all!!! There are some members who are just spectacular!!! I have seen the best members here and the worst. There is a big line between them. I havent seen any average members. They either are good or they just go to have a religion here in chile. It is really sad to see that. I know that we teach them well, but they just dont understand or at first they do and then the try to last forever on that temporary knowledge and not learn more. I know that if they would study that they would be SOOOO good here!!!! They are really just lazy.... I have comps from other places that say the same thing. Members from Colombia or Argentina or donde sea that are just like the life style here is to relaxed and lazy... boo.. I love them though.
well dad the work is going really well out here!! I am loving it and I am enduring strong till the end. I cant wait to see you again but we still have near 4 month

My week is the same great things, teaching about the gospel of Christ. And finding those golden nuggets to baptize. :) I love it!!! So that is all I have this week Gots to do numbers solo today because my other zl left me last night. haha LOVE YOU!!!

Hello!

Well this week was freaking cool!!!!!! I loved the talks that we got to hear in conference and all of the things that I got to see happen this end of the week. I cant really even start to begin to express my love for the prophets and the apostles of the lord. It is such a blessing to have them in our lives and be able to hear of their constant love for us and their deep desires for us to do good and continue in the path of righteousness. I am inspired to go out and preach the word even more diligently to all of the creatures of the earth!!!! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!! oh my goodness. I have learned so much from this life style. I am so grateful to be able to live like this for eternity! I hope that all of you guys got as much out of conference as I did. I dont think there is a person more grateful for the counsel of the prophets and the lord as I am. I know that is a bold statement, but I make it only to express my love for the lord and the acknowledgement of my own nothingness to god. I know that I am great to him but nothing in comparison. I strive everyday to become the man that he planned me to be in the beginning of time! I have learned so much about the atonement of christ and how to apply it in my life daily! I love the chance that the lord gives us to be able to apply this blessing. Really I cant begin to imagine the things that he felt, even though I have had hard times and everyone else in this whole world have had really hard times, like the apostle of the lord said in conference... ¨you cannot sink deeper into the darkness than the light of christs atonement can reach¨ I dont know if that is how he said it word for word, but that is how I interpreted it. haha and I LOVED IT! I may just be saying things in a very redundant form, but I just love this gospel; that is the main point of this letter and I invite all to come unto it because really it is how we can have a true and happy life. That was the best thing that happened to me this week and the fact that we had these investigators come to the conference. One is 16 and the other is 12 and they are freaking so cool!!! They were going to come with their dad but he had to work so they came alone. When I saw them I near jumped in the sacrament room. Good thing the conference hadnt yet begun. I ran to the back where they were and was like hey!!!!!! I greeted them and was so happy to see them and brought them up to sit with me and the hermanas of my zone and some other members! It was really cool to see how much they enjoyed conference and were left speechless after listening to the prophet. They loved it and something I will always remember is that when the prophet got up to speak maria fernanda(name of th 16 year old) said to her little sister who was talking... SHHHH thats the prophet! I want to listen. AHHHH!!! Can you believe it! :) I was so happy for her! My heart leaped for joy as I saw the faith in these young daughters of god who barely have been hearing the gospel of christ but yet are gaining and have a sincere reverence and respect for the things of god and his church.

So sounds like you are all missing me alot out there. Well you are going to have to keep missing me a little bit longer because I dont think I am going to be coming home on the 9th of july. haha I honestly dont know when I am going to be coming home and I honestly am not going to worry about it any more. haha I am just sick and tired of having to worry about that so if you want to talk to my president to ask him and what not, you are more than welcome to do it. haha I cant. I am losing my focus. I love this zone in talca! We are having so much success and we are having a blast doing it too! After conference yesterday we had 4 baptisms in the zone! It is really cool to be a zone leader because when others have baptisms, you feel a connection to them. It is  not your convert, but you have been with these people in spirit the whole time praying consistently for them every night for at least 3 weeks, interviews, stressing to see if they went to church, if the missionaries have taught everything, etc.... haha It is really the best journey that you can go on mom. I love it so much. I am just so happy mom. I say, life never has been so good. I have a great life. I love this gospel and I love my family, and I love you. :) just so you know.
So I hear that Elder Archeleta(or how ever you spell his name) is going to the Rancagua mission. That is the mission right above us. haha I think he is going to learn alot on his mission.He is going to have to humble himself alot because in the mission he loses all of his fame and status. He is a servant for two years and will have to be very humble so that he can do well on his mission. I dont know how he is but I hope he knows that. haha I am glad that he went though. He will be a good instrument in the lords hands. haha

General conference in the mission is like christmas. haha I think I look forward more to Conference than any other day. I am really sad that I just had my last conference here in chile. I got to see some of it in spanish too! That was a good experience that I will never forget. I usually watch it in english because of the extravagant language of the apostles haha it is really hard to follow them in english 100 % let alone spanish. haha I really did enjoy it though. I feel that the lord was talking directly to our mission. It was cool because we have been having some problems with unity between the companionship´s. I was really excited and relieved to hear the counsel of them, from the lord. haha I really am going to apply what they told me and become better in my personal life. I know that I am going to see so many dang changes when I get back!! I know that everything is going to be so dang different so when it gets closer to homecoming you gots to tell me some of the most dramatic things so I am not flabbergasted when I get home ok!? But not until then :) Thanks hahahaha I dont want to get shot with the holy crap gun just yet. Not saying you have already done it because you havent.

Love Elder Brown

New Responsibilities

So this week was really good. We are still staying about the same with lessons and finding people. We had a baptism. :) I got to get wet!!! I was really happy the kids name is Maximilian. He is a stud and is going to be a great member for this ward. He has a good understanding of the gospel and wants to do what is right. I love him haha We have been working really hard. De verdad,(i dont know how to say that in english anymore) I am SOOOO tired. haha I got to the house last night just dying haha. I wanted to puro go to bed. But, I couldnt I had to take all of the numbers from the zone I didnt get to bed till like 11:45 ish I am really happy for today. The cool thing that happened this week was that I went to a sector to help out some really young missionaries who are struggling a little bit. They are in a little old sector called.... PANAMERICANA!!!! aka my first sector. I got to be there for 2 days capacitating them and helping them find some good people and teach some good lessons. We found TONS of news for them and taught TONS of lessons. It was really cool. I also got to see many people that I love so dearly there. I didnt go around searching for them, but they were just put in my path. I was so happy to see them. I got to see one of my converts when I was out there. It made me so happy. haha We are doing really well as a zone we have about 9 ish baptism by water for the month and we are possibly going to have 3 more this week. So we just gots to gets dem dunked and chrispify them a lil` ;) haha I have the coolest zone ever!! We are still struggling trying to open that other sector. I am literally living now off of 14 bucks for the rest of the month haha. I have spent all of my money doing mini cambios and going to open that sector. YEAH, lots haha. I am not so happy but hey what can you do about it right!? I got to also see the progression that I have made as a missionary. Going back to my other sector with those new missionaries was a really good experience to see what I have learned and what I am doing so much better. My eyes were really opened to see that I am a good elder. I say that trying to be as humble as I can. I know that I have so much more to do and to better, but the lord has taken a very untalented and weak missionary and made him into a leader and a strong help for others. I am really surprised of the progression that the lord has helped me make. I thank him every day for helping me so much. I realize that without his help without him I couldnt have made so many changes in my life and I wouldnt be able to be the missionary I am today. I have so much more to do, I have so much more to achieve, but I can see that the lord truly is helping me every day. :) I hope that doesnt make me sound like a prideful and stuck up person. I dont want it to... haha

Love Elder Brown
(btw - Julian's new responsibility is Zone Leader)

Knife Fight, Dog Bite and Earthquake!

So this week was really interesting haha. I will go in order of what happened. Just so all of you know, this al happened in the same day. haha Yeah it wasnt the best day in the world, but it is really funny looking back on it now. haha So we where out in this little poblacion called progreso and we were just doing contacts and all of that jazz and we just had no success so we started making our way back into town and to get there we had to go through this little campo passage thing and as we are going we come up on this lady walking out to progreso with her bread for dinner and as we come up on her we say hi just like we do to all of the people and as we say it and pass her she says I know who you are, I was like really!? COOL! How do you know us? Did you share with missio..... You are assaulter´s! she says... I look at her and say huh?! She starts saying you are assaulter´s and she pulls out a knife and is like what you want to assault me?! Try it I will kill you. She then starts coming at us and I was like whoa lady we are just missionaries. I pull out a tarjeta and show it to her and say we are just here to talk to people about jesus christ and god. We dont want problems. She looks at the card and makes a scared face and screams a little and says you are assaulter´s I am going to call the cops on you. She takes one more step towards us with her knife and then as we stand our ground about 5 feet from her she looks around and says I am going to call the cops and starts basically yelling assaltors and starts walking away. Well we immediately turn and start walking away not wanting any problems with her and she as we are leaving starts yelling at us calling us assaltors and that she is calling the cops and that we need to practice the word of god. hahahahahaha It was not so funny in the process, but it is pretty funny now thinking about it. haha She was CRAZY!!!!! Well that is not the end of the story we get away from that lady and we are now walking to the church it is dusk and we walk past this house that is fairly big, the have money... Well as we do this dog that is 3 times the size of tango jumps out at us and just starts barking his head off and trys to attack haws. I turn to give it a good kick in the mouth because haws wasnt in any position to protect himself and as I turn the dog takes a jump back before I send a kick and somehow elder haws is now 10 feet in front of me haha He moved really fast from that dog. We keep walking wondering the whole time what the heck did we do wrong. haha This has been one of the weirdest days of our mission. We get to the church because they were doing a goodbye party for me and as we are there we are having fun and just eating and enjoying life now night time when in the church the lights just go off. Pitch black. Well we are like what the heck is going on. We went out and saw that outside all of the other houses had lights except for us and for the people next door. We walk in again to the church elder haws and I and when we walk into where everyone was all of a sudden we hear a big rumbling sound. It starts to get a little louder and then the walls start to shake and the ground starts to move a little and for about 15 seconds we felt the ground move and the walls shake. Well to say the least the members, kids are now freaking out. haha When it ends they start crying and I was like no its ok dont worry it is over now and we are ok it is a strong building and I immediately grab the open computer of a member and put on church music to calm down people while trying to get some jokes out and all of that. Well as we leave, elder haws and I because of the time, we start to talk and say how weird the day was. haha It had been so crazy and the weirdest things had happened. How cool is the mission. I dont think that you could have a day like that in any other place. ;) Welcome to the mission Chile Concepción!

As for transfers you asked at a perfect time. I am in the office of the mission and I will be going to Talca where I started. The same zone not the same sector. :) I will be going to do some good work up there and will be around one  of my old comps from tomé elder Demann. I am so stoked to live in the same house as him. I am excited to go and just end my mission hard and have just tons of success. I am ready and energized to get working again as a zone leader. I am stilled just so humbled at this opportunity that I have. :) I hope I do well.

Love Elder Brown

Bulnes

So this week was really good. We had a total of 6 baptisms in my district! Yes we ALL got wet and help some people receive salvation. Well actually in total we had 8 but 2 didnt get confirmed so we are still waiting for those. :) I am so proud of the district we are doing so well! I had the chance to go on some mini- cambios with some elders to do some interviews. I had an  interview with a kid named Nicolas. He is 14 and a son of a member who got baptized a long time ago but never got confirmed. Well as we were talking he told me he wasnt willing or ready to get baptized on saturday. I asked him why and what would impede him and all that jazz and he told me he just had prayed and received an answer that told him not to get baptized, he was determined even before the interview not to get baptized saturday. I was like hmmmm.... I thought about that and did a little prayer in my heart before opening my mouth again and when I did I could feel the spirit start talking. I told him that god would never tell him that. I felt a strong impression that he needed to get baptized that week. I have never felt such a strong impression in my life. It was as if 100 pounds of pressure were all around me. A warmth and peace and love and leading just overcame me, the spirit worked through me giving me words that I never would have thought about saying. The spirit lead me to touch his heart and when it did I looked at him and told him he was just scared and he said yes and we started talking about other people in the book of mormon who were young but had to do many difficult things, I told him about moroni and nephi and alma and everyone. I was then lead to have him read in alma 7 : 15 It says come and fear not through away all fear and sin..... He after reading stayed there not talking at all and then looked up with tears filling his eyes and said, I understand now. I understand now. I looked him in the eyes and said will you follow the example of jesus christ and be baptized this saturday and he instantly said yes, I will!!! :) Oh que gozo!!!

Hey, yeah I am district leader. I dont know why haha but I have really enjoyed it. We have seen many blessing in our district like I said in the letter above. It is really cool seeing the change in other missionaries and all that. I really love serving them. I will be leaving bulnes next week is what my president told me. I dont really know where I am going to go, but I am really nervous. I am going to be ending in my next sector. I only have 4 and a half months left now. Because I will probably be coming home the 9th of july.
(Woo Hoo..... says Julian's Mom)

Love Elder Brown

Week of Craziness!!

So this week was pretty cool! We had tons of success. We did a mini cambio this week with quillon and just had a blast finding people and teaching we went to visit a lady who was going to get baptized and she told us she had been lying for the past month but just felt to bad to tell us, but she didnt have any desires to get baptized. She passed the interview and all. I feel bad for the elders there, but that same day we committed someone else to baptism and he accepted and he is progressing and I feel will get baptized. Today we went to a place called ¨salta itata¨.  It is a beautiful place where they have a waterfall and it is just gorgeous. It was a 2 and a half hour bus ride to get there and another 2 and a half to get back. It was so worth it though. I got right on the edge of the waterfall. I looked down to the end of it and got some BOMB pictures. I love taking pictures. I also got to see all of the missionaries that came with me in my district. I loved seeing them. It was E´ Page, E´ Hutchins E´ Raley and me. I missed those guys so much. We went to this place as 2 zones. So in my district we are having a really hard time the only people that are having people in church are 2 sectors out of 4 and 3 out of the 4 have less than 20 lessons which is very low for our mission. You should be averaging easily 20-25 lessons a week. I dont know what is going on but we are trying to get some good people and have some success. I hope we see it soon. We are going to be having a baptism here in our sector really soon. :) Her name is Gladys and she is amazing. Very humble, but extremely sincere and has a desire to follow Christ. I love it. We had an activity this week that was really cool. What we did is we had everyone start out in a room filled with light, we said welcome to the pre-earth life. Here you know everything that is going to happen. We explained a few things we sang a song and we then had them get up and follow us to another room (with spiritual music playing) where it was almost 100 % pitch black! We lead them in and helped them sit down. We had some flashlights and showed them the way, well in this dark room we started to say welcome to the world. It is beautiful right?! Well since it is get up and walk around and change seats. Well they did and crashed into each other because you couldn't see a thing and we helped everyone once again take a seat and we started saying how hard it is in the world that is dark and where we dont know everything. We then went on to say that is why god sent his servants the prophets. We turned on a flashlight. These prophets have lead the way since to beginning of time. Then we pointed the flashlights on the pictures that we had placed on the walls. We said they taught great things, but people rejected them and killed them(flashlight off). We showed them the meaning of apostasy and then even when it happened with Christ when he came as a bigger light(lantern). But even he was rejected. Well then what we did was explain the restoration and when we did it we explained that Joseph smith when he was given the authority gave it to someone else (passing the flashlight to a member) and them to another(passing the flashlight to a different member) and them to another and so on and that god has made it so we could never ever loose this light again. So in a nut shell we talked about the Restoration. It was a great lesson!! :)


The presidency in the branch is still in the process of being changed. We are waiting for the stake president to come down and call him no mas. I am a little picared that he hasnt came yet. We have been waiting for 3 weeks now. Oh well it will come when it comes. So the branch here is still struggling but we are doing better. I am really a little stressed about many things right now, but I am trusting alot in the lord and he is really helping me. I just need to be better. I know that I am at the point of hitting a new level, I just need to trust more in the lord be more humble and love more. I know that as I do that I will have alot of success and I will become a better missionary. I am really trying I know I can be better and really change alot of lives. I am going to do all I can to make that happen. 

Love Elder Brown

Well here we are in bulnes another week and a bunch more adventures. So this week we had some really good success. We found this lady named paola who is a-freaking-mazing!!! So accepted a fecha right away and she just loved the things we shared. She is going to be getting baptized here in a few weeks. Elder Haws and I are working really hard trying to do what we can to find people and have success. We are doing really well and having fun too! We had a few road bumps this week with having to do interviews and also going to other sectors alot, but I still feel we had a lot of success. He is so good at being a counselor. He is still learning, but he is learning fast and is a stud at it. I dont think I need to even train him on how to be a counselor. haha He already knows. Alot happened, but I am going to share the story of Paola. So, we were walking home from a cita at night and we are just kinda looking for people to talk to and as we are passing the supermarket Bigger, we see this lady and we smile and say hi and keep walking, not really feeling anything special. Actually I dont even remember seeing her, but I do know that I said hi because she told me I did haha. I am a space brain. But anyways, we end up doing contacts in the apartment blocks were we live and we are doing them with rejection after rejection when finally I remember that in the other blocks across the street there is a menos activo and we could go and visit her. So we go over and start doing some contacts and we get rejected again and again haha (its not to bad dont worry) all of a sudden I see elder haws look up and say hi to a girl. She is smoking out on her porch and haws just starts talking and I then get in the conversation and we start talking a little more and I ask if we can share something and she says well come up here so you are not having to look up to talk to me haha. We go up and we just have a very spiritual lesson about the restoration and she understood it perfectly. She accepted to be baptized but not a fecha, but she felt the spirit so strong she started to cry and she told us some things that had happened in her life to help her believe in god and she, after, was like I dont know why I just told you to that, I havent even told my parents that, but I just feel good right now and I have confidence with you two and I just felt I should tell you two. Well we left and were basically dancing as we went back to our house. We were so happy!!! Well a few days pass and during comp study I get the sudden prompting to call paola and so I do. Well when I call her to confirm that we are going to be coming over she seemed really happy to talk to us. She was like yes!! I will be waiting for you two! Well when we went over there the next day, Saturday, she told us that the day before we called her she had gotten in a big fight with her ex and she missed her family that lived way far away and she almost never sees and she was just alone and having a hard hard time and just felt like she couldnt do anything right. Well in work she was feeling like that and when she started to cry in work and almost break down she received a call. Well this call was from us! haha She said when she received the call she suddenly felt good again and the things that were happening passed from her! She said she completely forgot about the problems and had a great day at work. It was really good seeing the hand of the lord in her life. Her and her son are receiving many blessings and it is amazing to see.!! :)

 I love serving a mission.  My comp rocks!!!! I love him so much. I feel alot more comfortable with him and I know that we are going to have a lot more success. He is a good missionary and we fall well together and we understand what we need to do. We are both working in our callings to help others and I know that we are going to see some miracles here soon. His name is elder haws if I havent told you! I will send you a picture next week.  

Love Elder Brown

Last of White

So this week was really tough. It was the last week of elder white
here in bulnes. Yup that is right you heard me, elder white is leaving
bulnes!! I cant believe that they are breaking up cafe and blanco! I
dont know where that revelation came from haha no no I am just kidding
it will be really good for him. I know that he is going to grow so
much more and just keep becoming the missionary god wants him to be. I
love this elder so much. I am going to miss him, but elder Haws, who
was with me or in my house in tomé will be coming here and we are
going to be tearing it up. He is going to be the new branch counselor
so I will be training him on the things a little bit and showing him
how to do the stuff of the church. He is such a good missionary I am
going to just be repeating things he already knows though. haha I am
so excited for him to get here. I know that this is exactly what this
ward needs. A little bit of elder Haws. :) Elder white is going to a
place called Parral. It is a baptizing sector! Here we are doing
better. We had just got to the point to where we finally found a way
to get good counselors. Ivan is going to be counselor and then
we(yesterday) changed the presidency of the young womens and the
primary and the teachers. This one is actually done by revelation too!
I am really excited to see how it works. I am glad Haws is going to be
coming into a sector with a little more organization. haha This week
was elder white birthday. On thursday I planned a little birthday
party with all of his favorite people. We got him a cake little
presents and just made him feel like a king for a day. He is such a
good guy, the whole day he was just like hey lets just work dont worry
about my birthday, just work. I was like bull! We are not forgetting
your birthday, so I told EVERYONE about it. haha I sang happy birthday
to him like 20 times haha  it was really good for him. I think it
helped him realize how much the members really do love him. He is such
a good missionary! How can I be like elder White. haha our names still
crack me up. haha OH!!! In his birthday with his cake a tradition here
is that you have to do a... shoot how do you say this in english... I
think it is like a little bite. I dont know I just know what they
expect is that you take a bite from the cake without hands just face
down into the cake. Well when he did it carlos(ward mission leader)
pushed his face down into the cake and it got ALL over him!! haha I
laughed so hard I have some pictures that I will send to you. We
passed it really well though. I loved it. Good week to end on.

Interestante

Well today I am going to tell you about the most interesting part of
my week. I first off want to make it known that what I am going to say
is not in any way ment to offend or persecute or poke at anyone in
anyway what so ever.
Well this last week we were doing some contacts and we came across a
man named, Victor Lagos. Well victor was working on his house so we
casually went up to him and just said hi. I was like can we help you
with anything?! He looks at me and with a scrowl says no. I was like
ok, well we are missionaries.....etc... Well they rejected our invite
to listen and I was like well can we pass by another day!? This is
when the guy got a little upset and was like look I have my own
religion it is the metodista-pentacostal(I dont know what it is in
english). I was like cool. He said(trying to get a point across) that
his church had its meetings at 7:30 on sunday and we should go.
Thinking that we were going to say no he kinda smirked and was about
to turn around when I looked at him and said, ¨ok!¨ I then verified
the time and wrote it down in my agenda. I looked at him and invited
him to our meeting as well and said we would be passing by. That is
how the story starts.
SUNDAY, so this marvelous day comes around and we go to church and
have almost no investigators go, even when we went in taxi to go and
get them, but that is another story. We start working and we find some
people and then the time of about 7:30 comes around and we are in
front of this huge evangelico church. The guy(more like bouncer) looks
at us and says do you need something. I was like hi! I am elder brown
we were invited here tonight can we come in!? I swear the look on this
mans face will always be in my mind it was priceless. I tell him that
our friend Victor Lagos invited us, he looks at me and says umm...
wait here. He goes in looking for victor and cant find him but comes
out and says well he is not here... but... uh... Well can we come in!?
I ask. haha He says yeah sure... We go in the den of the lions. hahaha
as we go in it was like a movie when someone famous walks into the
room all of the people go quiet and look at them. Well that is a
little of what happened with us. They all turned around and just
stared at us. haha I couldnt help but laugh... I just smiled and went
and sat by some members and just waited. I was there with a big smile
though. As the other members started to file in we waited like 10, 15
minutes. It was interesting, the only person that came to salud us was
an apostate member. I found 2 less active members in their church. It
was really nice we are probably going to go by and visit them now! :)
The meeting started and the people just started singing or more like
screaming and shouting and saying gloria a dios para siempre. haha
They stood up sang then sat down and then stood up and sat down then
stood up again  and sang and sat down again then they kneeled to pray
then they stood up and sang againg then sat down then one more time on
the knees then the stood up and went in front of everyone to pay the
pastor so that he could live better then they sang again. I think I
missed a few songs somewhere in there. Also, I think I lost about five
pounds during the meeting it was good excercise. I learned alot. ok
not really because for the 50 minutes ish that we were there they sang
like 6 songs 5 minutes each and did other things. I didnt hear one
thing about god. They didnt teach at all. I was really dissapointed I
wanted to hear what they taught, but I guess they dont. We finally got
up and just left because we had to go and visit other people. Then
after leaving we ran into the wife of victor coming back from shopping
going to her house. hahaha He didnt show up... :( Next time though!!!
not...

My apartment is really humble. haha No its actually nice. I like it.
Not to big not to small. REALLY HOT THOUGH!!!! We get home some nights
and I feel like it is hotter in the house than outside and we just
start sweating. It is hard to sleep sometimes too!! haha I love
chile!!!! I just sweat and preach the word of god. :) I will be taking
pictures of it this week. haha Dont worry I have all of the necesary
things to live. I promise.

 I love being able to help people here. It is one
of my favorite things to do. I wanna be able to preach the gospel with
the power of god for the rest of my life. I would need to be an
apostol though haha I dont think its going to happen.

Until next week -
Love Elder Brown

WOW!!!!

Well hello there,
This week was really good. We worked really hard and we had a lot of success because of it! :) WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! Woot woot! Her name is Maria Orellana and she is the funniest 70 year old lady that I know haha. We met her through some recent converts to the church. She is the mom of Ivan, a convert of about 3 months at the most. Our first encounter was pretty funny. We were over at the house of Ivan for a family home evening and we met here there and actually saluted me with kiss before I could really tell her about it and she got so embarrassed that she had to meet with us again to apologize and we shared something with her that she later said filled the vacant hole that she never knew she had in her heart. It was a very fun thing teaching her because she literally was in love with us for a long time and would always tell us. It kinda got to the point to where we almost were going to stop going over and teaching her. We finally got up the courage to tell her that she couldnt talk to us like that any more because we are representatives of jesus christ and she was a little upset but after that she completed ALL of her commitments and started praying and going to church and doing everything with such desires it was amazing to see the change. She is so happy right now!! I am really glad that she was able to get baptized this week. 3 of us had to get into the water to help her get baptized because of her bad legs. We had to do it twice because Ivan couldnt get her arm down. The second time I pretty much grabbed her from coming back up and just kept pushing her down into the water. haha I kinda felt bad but I made sure every single part of her got under that water haha. The baptism was really the highlight of the week. :)
I also got the opportunity to go over to carlos`s house and help him cement the ground so what we did was grabbed a bowl and made cement right there and patched the holes up that he had on the ground. haha I was really excited about that. I also CAUGHT A DUCK!!!!!!!! I was in the campo and with a little help from carlos I got to hold a duck that we had caught. WOOOT! Hope you liked my week chau!!

New Years!!

So this week was really fun having the new years and all of that I really enjoyed it we could be out until 10:50 and then we had to be in our house at 11:00 si o si!!!! We got home a little before 11:00 so dont worry! :) What is it that we did you may ask!? Well we went to our mission leaders house and we had a big asado!(bbq) It was good we had fresh lamb and pig! :) They killed it that same morning. We got there and carlos was like well hello thanks for coming now lets go and cook the food. I was like what!? I thought it was going to be ready... NOPE! haha so we spent the whole night cooking some good lamb and pig on a homemade grill!! It was really cool! We made the fire and stuff right there and we cooked until about 10:30 and then we had to eat super fast and then we RAN home. Passing all of the drunks on the side of the roads already partied out for the night. Crossing the train tracks to get over to our apartment complex to run up the stairs and see that we got home with 2 minutes to spare. :) Obedience! Woot woot. So yeah this week was interesting. Yesterday there was a HUGE fire about 45 minutes from bulnes. The sucker was so big that we could feel the heat when the wind was blowing. It was SO freaking hot. I just wanted to die haha It was interesting because when we looked south towards Quillon and Concepcion all we could see was this big black cloud of smoke and ash. I was so happy that the wind was blowing south or it could have been really bad for the missionaries out in quillon but luckily nothing happened to any of us and the finally after fighting all day and a little through the night got it under control. The firemen from 4 or 5 cities had to go out and take care of it. It was nuts. I almost died of heat! haha I will send pictures of it next week.
 I am a little bummed out that there was no snow at all. I miss the snow. I miss the cold but only when I am not a missionary and I can play with it.haha So can you believe that from this month on I have 7 months left in my mission because like you said I am going to have to come home a little early. I am really scared. I think that at the end of Jan we are going to probably start talking about my classes I dont really know when I have to or can sign up to take classes. I cant believe that I already have to think about that. I am not ready to come home but at the same time I am because I miss all of you guys so much. I hope you are doing well.

So we are going to be having this lady named Maria Orellana get baptized this week. She is like 70 years old and in love with me and she is just a ball of life she is so funny. She cant really walk though. She is in a wheelchair because her legs are really bad and so we(4) priesthood holders are going to have to get in the waters of baptism with her together. Haha It is going to be really interesting we are going to have to put in hardly any water because she is a kinda big lady and her son is too and the 3 other people. wow. I am excited to see how that is going to go.

My new years resolution is to accomplish my missionary goals and have a good successful end of my mission and then before the year ends be dating someone. ;) hahaha That is going to be so freaking weird!!!!! I can even imagine what its like to just talk to one of those things they call women casually. haha It just kinda weirds me out thinking about it.  When jake gets home tell hime I love him and I will see him soon when I finish baptizing down here. ;) NO! just kidding haha tell him I am proud of him and I will see him soon.

I really liked that analogy that you gave me. It really is so true that as members we are the surgeons for the other people. I think it all depends on what we do though that depends on how good of doctors we are. For example, a guy that is reading his scriptures every day and is doing his prayers and his visits and serving and this and that and all the goods, is going to be alot more prepared to be a surgeon for someone that a guy who is just living the commandments to complete them. It all depends on our actions. I know that I want to be ready to be able to help someone. That is what we have to do out here. If we are not prepared we are not going to get the chance to help a child of god. We always need to be preparing ourselves. All comes through desires and personal and family studies. :)

New years here was pretty fun. We just worked haha yesterday NO ONE WAS HOME!!! haha I couldnt believe it. I was going crazy because we did contacts all day and talked to 3 people. None of our investigators were home and luckily we found 3 Less active members that we went by and visited. I like visiting them. I feel like we really help them too. I love seeing the change that we make in the lives of others. I am really nervous to get home and not be able to see that as easy and I know that I will feel useless. I dont like that thought.
I like serving out here in bulnes I have learned alot about the church and how we need to do the things of the lord. I love how it all works by revelation. It is the real main difference from our church and the rest. We work 100 % on revelation. I love it!!!

Oh guess what I went out to the campo this week and cut down some needle trees. Like the spiky ones that they put on christ´s head. Yeah I cut down like 30 of those trees this Thursday. It was really tiring. I liked it though. I realized I really like working with my hands and doing labor like that. It is really fun. I feel accomplished when I do something like that. Like yard work. I think I am going to like doing it when I get back. :)

Love Elder Brown

A Message from Julian Brown's Mom

2012 is finally here and I just wanted to take a moment and tell everyone who has been following this blog - thank you for your many prayers and your support over the last year and a half.  I am sure that Julian has been protected many times because of your supplications to our Heavenly Father.  The next 7 and 1/2 months are going to be fun.  We are in the home stretch now and soon Elder Brown will once again be home with us and personally I can't wait!!

As Julian's mom, it has been a special experience for me to post his letters and some of the personal experiences he shares with just his dad and I with you.  We have received more blessings than I could possibly list and my testimony has grown deep and firm.  I know that God lives and loves us, he is mindful of your lives just as he is of mine.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God and if read with a sincere heart and firm desire to know of it's truthfulness, the Lord does reveal the truthfulness of it to each of us personally.  I have received this witness and it has changed my life. 

Thank you again for being part of this special experience with our family.  May the Lord bless you and your family in 2012.  And now let the countdown begin!!!!!

Cyndi Brown (Elder Brown's mom and #1 Fan!)

La Primaria & Bulnes - Two weeks of posts!

Week of 12-11

So this week was really interesting. I was really happy with it. I had the opportunity to preside over all of the church meetings this week. I was left alone up on the stand. haha The branch president couldn't come and his first counselor decided to go up to Santiago. I was surprised to find that out this Saturday. I looked at my comp and was like, ¨how am I going to lead the church meetings this week?! I don't know what to do. I am just Elder Brown¨ So Saturday I make sure that everything is going good and that all is ready for the church, also going by our investigators to make sure that they are going to go to church the next day. So the next day comes and I get up and my comp and I start to get ready for the day and we are out the door by 8:55 to get to the church to make sure everything is all set up and ready to go(because generally we have to set up chairs). We get there and I start looking for the things to do the schedule. I couldn't find them anywhere. Finally I get some keys(that luckily Miguel our first counselor left, because the branch pres still hasn't given me my own set) and I open the closet with the computer and that stuff and start looking for the schedule thingy and finally I have to print one off the computer and I start filling it up. Well it is about 9:50 and there are 3 members in church. I am at this point really worried and sad. Shoot, my first time taking lead and no one comes haha I go up to my spot and calmly sit down and start praying my heart out. Please lord, help them get here fast. haha I sit there and pass the longest 7 minutes of my life. Then just like in a AYSO soccer game the members come pouring in as if the just all got out of a huge mini van. It was the greatest assistance that we had but a good 37 members came and we had 3 investigators from those 37. :) It was really cool to see them all get there and we start the meeting and I start giving the announcements and we start singing and praying and sacrament and all of that jazz with the spirit in great abundance. We get to the best part, the testimonies. As I stood up there, in front of my fellow Chilean brothers and sisters a godly love swept over my heart and I near started to cry as I expressed the love I have for them and for my father in heaven. I let them know of the surety that I have now developed that this is the church of Jesus Christ and that he didn't just die for us but that he lives for us everyday. He fights for and with us every step that we take on the path to return to live with our omnipotent and omniscient, eternally loving heavenly father. I closed my humble testimony inviting them to do the same, share their love and testimony for our father in heaven and for his son. The meeting was amazing. The testimonies that were given brought the spirit so strongly. Between us, 37 people, we feasted on the spirit and felt the love of our heavenly father and the love that we all shared for one another. It was a very beautiful experience that I will never forget. Thanks to the members the rest of the meetings went well and the spirit accompanied us the entire time.

(In response to his dad's email about who teaches in the young men's)...Brother Waddups is so dang smart. I just want to get home and spend a good 2 hours talking to him about everything that he knows. You are very fortunate to have such good leaders in the church. They are really strong and very spiritual. I know that it is now necessary to have good dedicated men in leadership positions or they will just hurt the members and the church and the community that corresponds the that church. It is amazing the effect that we have on the world and the people around us. Even if we dont think we have such an effect we really do!!

 Dad, I built a freaking bridge!!!! Like literally built one! We did it as service for some members. We went out to the CAMPO!! Or, country I think is how you call it. I got tree trunks and carried them over and threw them over a river, crossed it to lift them up and went back and forth all day carrying and lifting. It was so cool. After we got the main trunks on we got some planks of wood and nailed them to the trunks and then did some other things. It is just like the gospel. You have to do everything in a structured manner or the bridge ends up being crooked. If one thing is wrong the whole bridge is obsolete. It makes tons of other parts compensate for that little mistake or thing that is wrong, and eventually the whole bridge will have to pay the price; or a big part of it. But when you make it firm taking time to finely tune every part, your bridge become strong and nothing can break it. The gospel we believe in is this bridge, god has carefully re-built his bridge and now we are here to maintain it and keep it strong. If we do not do our part we could hurt a big part of our bridge. I know that that doesn't make much sense. I am sorry I have a good analogy written down that I will write you next week. :)

Week of 12.04.12 -

So this week was really cool. We had and activity for the primary. I(because I am the counselor) had to help them plan it all. It was really good! We did a good job. The kids loved it and we just had a blast the whole time. So what we did is we started out with a little spiritual message given by the little kids and then after that they all did a little walk down this little runway that carlos sandra and we did. It was really cool! It all looked beautiful and as you can see even we got dressed up and got into it! I had the opportunity to be the comedian and do the introductions and jokes for all the kids as they walked down. It was really funny because some of them really got into it and started dancing and doing really funny things I felt like bill cosby on kids say the darnest things. It was a blast and the members loved seeing their kids like that and we got a great reference from it too!! We worked really hard this week. We didnt have anything really great happen. I actually cant remember this week to well. It passed so dang fast. So we had stake conference here this last yesterday haha and it was interesting because I had to be in chillan and hour away at 8:30 in the morning for a meeting with all the counselors and leaders of the branches and wards. It was cool because my mission leader and I went and elder white stayed with our new convert ivan and when I got to the meeting of course it was us to and our pres. The other counselors didnt show up. They actually went to the church and at the last second before all the members left at 10:00 decided he didnt want to go so he did. It was sad, we had near nobody at the conference, from our branch. But we got 2 investigators. The only thing that was kinda crappy is that one of our investigator named Ruth is VERY shy and doesnt like big crowds at all and carlos our mission leader takes her into the church and puts her in the middle of everyone!!! She ends up getting up and walking out saying she is going to the bathroom and just disappears. I was super sad because she is so cool! But at the end of the conference I walk out and I see her walking down the hall and I ask her what happened and she said she went in the back of the gym and was just watching alone. I was like oh... ok.. .Well she goes and gets on the bus and I take carla(investigator) and I take her to talk with our president of the mission and they (he and his wife) just are SO nice and just start talking to her and telling her not to let anything get in the way of her and her baptism. AKA GET MARRIED! They promised her so many blessing saying if you get married you will not lack anything. Get baptized. SO cool. Then getting on the bus I get on and look towards the back and see Ruth sitting alone. I was like come on members!!! Why are you not sitting by her. Well I go back and take a seat right by her. I sit down and smile at her and just say hi. As we start to leave I have a feeling to get out my scriptures and show her the photos that I have in them. So I do it. I pull them out and start showing her my family and my friends and explain a little about them. I start talking to her and asking a little about her. I find out a few things really interesting and important about her. We had a good talk for an hour almost without any breaks. It was weird for the first time in 16 months I talked with someone one on one. It was interesting but it was really good for her I think. We talked about the gospel and why its important for me. What she likes about it. Her likes and dislikes her dreams and what she wants to be and mine also. It was really cool. She is now alot more open with us. I cant wait to see her progress alot now.!!

The Gypsy's and the Dark Arts

Ok, this weeks story has something to do with the dark arts. So this week as we come out of one of the store just getting done buying some food to eat, we have 2 ladies call us. Me, thinking that they just wanted to ask us something about America said ok... what. Well they asked us a ridiculous question that you could obviously tell was just to get us over to them or stop walking. They then said, thank you for your help my name is this and that and you are very fortunate to have run into me because I can read palms... (really?! ) So she says to me, while the other one is talking to my comp who barely could understand his lady because they were speaking Spanish, but had a Portuguese accent, give me your palm. I give it to her. She looks at it and starts to mumble in herself... not a good sign. Then she looks at me and says it is very good that you ran into me. She said, you are a very good person but you have some people who dont like you. You have created some enemies here and they now want to harm you.(Excuse me?!) She goes on to say it is ok I am not going to charge you anything, but I can promise you the protection you seek. All you need to do is put a bill, what ever amount you think would help protect you, in your palm and I can help it be a guardian or guard for you. I, at this point am just looking in awe at this person. I say, I am a missionary from the church of Jesus Christ can we come by some day and share a message that will help and protect you!? She looks at me a little confused and says look, I dont think you realize how serious this is, just put a bill here, do you want protection or not. She was saying all of this while her kid was screaming and yelling and just going crazy. Also when she started to talk to me I immediately felt the spirit leave so I was like umm.......... uh oh. Now, me a little sick of trying to get ripped off, and hearing the futile calls from my comp look at this Young lady with two screaming kids and say to her, look, I am a missionary from the church of god. I have been called by a prophet of god and set apart to act in the name of Jesus Christ I appreciate your concern, but I think that I am protected. I dont need you to help me but thank you and if you want we can take down your address and pass by some time. Well she didnt really like that and as I finished I turned to my comp and whispered dont give them anything, because he didnt understand and they were really forceful. Well before she lets me say anything else she starts asking tons of questions to distract me so her little friend can get stuff out of my comp. I start to briefly answer while trying to tell elder white not to do anything. My attempt kinda failed and finally elder white turns and says elder brown, HELP. He had had enough he didnt understand exactly and the lady was trying to get more out of him. I look at them and say thanks but we are ok. Have a good day. Oh and before I said that, my lady starts asking for money for her kid. NOPE. sorry. I start to grab e` white and we walk away as they start yelling other stuff at us. I think they tried to curse us. haha WEIRD!!!! So that was my run in with a few gypsies.

Well this week was interesting. We had TONS of crazy experiences happen. I will tell you one that is not so gross or bad. So there is this guy here called the ¨negro-quatico¨ HE IS CRAZY!!! he is this guy who pretty much runs around all day drunk or high. He, when he is high, tends to yell nonsense at us. haha The last time he told me that he didnt have any completos(hotdog here) for me. haha it was funny. Well this week we are walking home and are a little late. We are talking about the lesson we had just had and then out of freaking no where we hear this negro start to scream! He is right in front of us. He starts to come at us, fists balled. I was like well I am not in the mood to get in a fight with a drunk crazy guy so we cross the street right away and he just stands of the corner looking at us with his crazy eyes. I got the crap freaked out of me! I was like I almost died. The other people all around just broke up laughing, because they too know that he is crazy, but harmless. haha It was just a really intense moment that you just had to live to understand.

Stop reading now if you don't want to be grossed out......

No I mean it.... stop reading......ok, you were warned!!!

 (This part was sent to his dad, but thought we would share so you could get the whole picture of what Julian is going through)  So wanna know something kinda gross and weird. I was walking down the street the other day and all of a sudden I see this guy walking towards me with his head downand then he goes over to the wall and pulls his pants down andstarts to poop. I was like what the heck!!! There are kids around and families. The people didnt even say anything. They all just walked past like it was nothing. haha I couldnt believe it.

 I am glad that all of you guys had a good time and ate tons of good food. I too had a good thanksgiving we did a family home evening with Ivan and his family and we ate some good food and cake and YUMMY!!!! I loved it. Actually that is the same night the a negro-quatic attack happened. haha
So this year I am not sure if we are going to be able to use skype.I will let you know. I think that the new converts we have here have a computer with a camera though so it will work out either way I am sure.I will probably get that package in like a week or 2 I dont think it will get here right away. But we will see. haha Well mom I love you!
I would actually like to ask a favor. If you could send the christmas pageant play that we do as a family. You can just photocopy it and send it throug email. We wanna do something like that here. :) I hope that you have a great week and that all your dreams come true.

Love Elder Brown

The Miracle of Claudia

Well hello everyone,

so I have a very special experience to tell you all this week. So it was Wednesday and elder white and I were walking down the street and just talking and all of the sudden we hear the familiar voice of an investigator and we turn to see her running towards us but on the other side of the street. Just running up the street. She says HEY! we say, Hey! How are you!? She, smiling says I am great. Oh and wanna know something.... I can get baptized. -- background story-- so this lady started sharing with missionaries over 3 years ago and her daugther was baptized within a month. They just loved the gospel so much! I have been here near 3 months now and I have seen her 5 times at least in a dress at church NOT A MEMBER. She couldnt get baptized because she was co-living with some guy and she just felt to bad to kick him out because he would come home drunk and didnt have much money. She is just one of those people who just cant be nice by nature. So she has been trying for 3 years to find a way to get him out. When I first got here she said in her prayer that she hoped that we could achieve the thing that all of the missionaries have been trying to achieve. Well 2 and 1/2 months later of sharing and supporting and kinda insisting to get this guy out she finally told us this day that he was going out of town for like 6 months or less something like that and that he would be getting a good sum of money. So when she saw this opportunity she said take your stuff with you and don't come back. She has stopped everything with this guy for over a month or something like that. -- back to the main story-- so when she said that to us I knew exactly what she was talking and I couldn't help but jump super high in the air screaming, ¨are you serious!?¨ and then start running with her to wherever she was going. I run her down with elder white and we start talking to her and asking what was all happening and she gave us the run down and all of that jazz and as she was telling me that stuff I just couldn't help but think of when she was going to get baptized. I told her that we would be coming over Friday to talk to her and she what we could do to get her baptized as soon as possible. I called my district leader and then the next day talked to my pres and they told me to get her baptized that same Saturday and confirmed that Sunday. So we got to work. We put together a bomb baptismal service and went to all of the members who knew and loved her and called everyone else and their sister to invite them. The baptism was amazing! That is one of the pictures I put up. It is the miracle of Claudia. The dry Mormon who finally went swimming. haha She was so happy the whole time that she started to cry during her service and after her baptism. I love this lady so freaking much. We just completed her family. Now she is a member with her daughter and they are just going to be so much happy from here on out. :)

 This sector is really the hardest sector I have been in. Not as in the sense of the work, but dealing with the members. I feel that they just do not support us at all. It is really sad because we are doing everything we can to help and love and serve them and then they just smack us in the face when we try to follow the rules. For example, we had branch counsel this last Saturday and as the counselor I need to be there. So we got there and started the meeting after the baptism. We started off fine and started talking about the people who needed help and what we could do then, like always, they started ranting about random things that had nothing to do with the less active members or converts, but had to do with the organizations and the responsibilities of them. I was like look brothers and sisters, these are really good concerns and we would love to address them, but this meeting is not meant for that. Maybe we can hold another meeting with just us and find out what we can do to resolve this problem. Well one of the sisters was ok with that. The president of the relief society. But what happened was that the pres of the young women and the finances guy and secretary started just bashing on me haha. Saying this is exactly what this meeting is for. I was really shocked about what they were saying because it was not like I was trying to tell them that those things didn't matter, but that maybe we could do it another time. They just got really mad. I was just like hey I am just following what it says in the manual. The pres. after said elder brown is right and we should do that, but the members are just so used to doing things wrong that they insisted on resolving that problem right there. Boom, there goes the spirit. It was really sad. I am trying to be a good missionary and help the people, but I feel that every time I don't do the things how they want, but how god has set it, they get mad! Even some of the new converts who are in the presidency have recognized the things they are saying and how they are treating me. They actually said something about it to me last night. haha I love the people here so much but I just cant find a way to get to them. I will be holding some interviews here soon with them to see what is going on and what I can do to better the relationship that we have.

I totally forgot that it was thanksgiving week. haha It is not a holiday here so I just didn't even think about it. But here are somethings that I am thankful for. 1. The Gospel. I am so thankful for the chance that I have gotten to be on a mission. It has changed who I am 100%. I now have such a love for the gospel and for my savior Jesus Christ that it is beyond words. I have started to begin to understand the meaning of the atonement in my life. I am so grateful for what he did for me. I really do LOVE the gospel and LOVE learning about it. I actually want to go and study it in some of my classes when I get back. It is just so interesting for me. 2. My Family. I realize now how important the family is! I never really understood that before. I know that it is the focal point for god. It is what he wants, Eternal Families. Heaven would not be heaven without you guys. I really love you so much and all of the family we have. 3. My Father in Heaven. I know that this one kinda falls under the gospel but it means something different to me. Before the mission I didn't know who my father in heaven was. Now, he is as real to me as any other person. I have felt him hold me when I was sad, lift me up when I was weak, Laugh with me when I am happy, and smile at me when I follow what he asks. I know my father in heaven. He loves me. He is with me. He has called me to represent him and his son for 2 years. I am so grateful for my father in heaven and all of the many blessings that he has given me. I know that I am nothing(like ammon) as to my own strength, BUT in god I am powerful. In God, I am everything, to God, I am everything. I am his son.... and I love him dearly.
Those are the things that I am grateful for.

Love Elder Brown

What A Week!

Well hello there world. I just wanted to send a quick word to all of you out there. So this week was really cool because on thursday I met and shook the hand of an apostle of the lord. It was so COOL!!! So this is the story. I found out monday night that we were not going to be having our district class the following day because we needed to go to chillan(center of my zone) on wednesday to meet up and go to the conference that would follow the next day Thursday. Yeah... weird?! I know. So I was like ok cool whatever pj party in the church. We worked those two days and had some good success and then around 8:00 we head off to chillan with our stuff to spend the night in the chapel. So we get there and we start changing( assuming it was ok because as of this moment it was half of our zone and to my understanding no one else was coming over) when elder Diaz looks back and see´s us changing in front of them and goes, whoa elders what are you doing?! Me thinking I did something wrong was like ugh crap what did I do!? The elder Diaz says just hurry because at any time the Hermanas(sisters) could show up and we dont want them seeing you in your ¨unders¨. As he says those words my heart kinda sinks and I ask.... Why would the Hermana´s be coming over!? We are staying the night. He then goes on to say how the president of the mission authorized and commanded that all of the elders and hermana´s be IN THE CHAPEL at a certain time and all STAY the night there. I was really baffled at why he would be doing that. So we hurry and get changed and then a few minutes later the hermana´s show up. We start talking all of us and just pass it really well together and then play some games, UNO! :) oh yeah! Then 11:45 o´clock comes around and I was like yeah elders and sisters, It has been great and all, but we need to be up at 4:00 tomorrow so go to bed. As I say that I look around and wonder... where are the hermana´s going to sleep!? All of the elders already had their spots picked out on the benches, so I was like ok, we are going to be sleeping on extremes of the room tonight. haha we are not even going to be close. We start making beds for them and then some other elders found another room that was perfect for them so we moved them over there. Well to speed up the whole story a little bit It is about 12:15 and I am in bed. I am just laying there on the harder than concrete benches trying to forget everything and go to bed. I laid there for a good 30 minutes or more. It was ridiculous, then I hear someone come in and feel someone looking over me. I open my eyes to see Elder Raley!!! (mtc roommate) I havent seen this guy for more than a year. I was like oh my heck! I got up and gave him a big hug!! I then call elder Page and Elder Hutchins over(we all roomed together in the mtc) We had a big roommate hug haha It was fun. Well to make things short me and elder Raley talked until about 2:00 and then I laid there for another 30 minutes trying to get to bed and when I couldnt I went out and started talking for a little longer. Well 3:00 o´clock comes around and I go in and grab my stuff just sick of not being able to sleep and start getting ready. I finish getting ready and about 3:20 the bus pulls up. Elder Raley says, I think that the bus is here. We go out side and we ask what he is doing and he says I am here to pick up the missionaries. Yeah he is an Hour early!!!! Haha so we go and wake up all of the other missionaries and they get ready in like 10-15 minutes Hermana´s included and we get on the bus and head off to concepcion. We get to concepcion at about 5:30 ish. sleeping hardly at all. We then at 6:00 have a good little bit to sleep so we all take a power nap and at 7:00 we go inside the stake center in concepcion and eat a little breakfast awaiting the arrive of the apostle. At about 8:00 we are in a room reading scriptures waiting and at about 8:30 we all stand up as the representative of the lord walks in. We all then after go up and shake his hand. It was interesting because as EVERY elder or hermana passed, he made direct eye contact and says elder/hermana.... so and so.... it is nice to meet you where are you from!? He was really nice. Oh it was Elder Cook!! So cool.! :) His talk after was so powerful. He talked about how we are called to build up the branches of the lord. I felt like a better missionary after his talk. I have kinda felt like not the most successful missionary because I havent baptised TONS of people, but he helped me realize that the lord has called us to build his church and that is not just through baptism. It is through many other ways. I loved his talk and I just wanted more of it. Well I think that, that is it for the day I hope that all of you guys have a great week this week. See ya.
Love Elder Brown