April 15, 2013

Hello, Everyone!

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that wedding plans are going along just swimmingly. That’s very neat that Elder Choi could come to all of your birthday party and everything. It’s pretty cool that a Seventy was recently in our house. Power. Authority. It’s amazing that these inspired men go out of their way to be human and make kind gestures like that. We can really learn a lot from that.

So a great trip to New York, Maggie is going to live in the most made fun of city in the USA, Candace is being a teenager, and Rachel is bugging Candace. Just another week in the life of the Brown family on estrogen. That’s what we call the Brown family with the sad lack of man they have going on in that house. Dad would count as more, but seeing how he is father of the bride and all, and basically just the same as Steve Martin at this point, obviously there is a sad lack of testosterone. Kind of like the Zona Penco here in Chile.

Lots of news. First of all, I hear my sister is getting married in like a week or two. Not sure what that’s all about. Not sure what’s up with all these marriages going on. My good friend Alice also told me that a certain Latina friend [Sara Avila] is also getting married. Not sure what is going on down there in Provo, seems like everyone is just rushing these things. And, from what I hear, the whole North Korea thing was way overblown by the Chileans, and the world isn’t going to be blown up, so really, let’s just take a breath and cut out all this marriage garbage. Na, just kidding. The prophet said marriage should be the highest priority of young adults after missions, so I must grudgingly accept that these are, in the end, righteous decisions.

It has been a very busy and fun week here. We have been cutting down our investigators a bit, finishing teaching those that really have no desire to progress and are exercising their agency poorly. Sad but it has to be done. We were really blessed to find the young family of Romina and Francisco, who Elder Saenz said they had passed by and they had been pretty unprepared, but when we went by this week, they asked us to come in and asked when was church and when we invited her to baptism she readily accepted. That was kind of a miracle. Also, Sebastian, our miracle man and home-run hitter, is in the process of setting a marriage date, which is stressful for us, since that needs to happen before baptism. We are going to go lay down the law with his pareja this evening. Hopefully it goes well. That would be cool to couple my sister’s wedding with the wedding of an investigator or two. So start praying for that to happen. So all week we have been working on that and on finding new people to teach. Still struggling to find new people-- but excited for another week at it!

Let’s see--that has basically been what’s been going on here. There was a fire here. That was cool. There were also some drug killings (don’t freak out, Mom). Real great stuff going on. Just a sign that people need the gospel!

So we are busy with all that. Doing the work. Trying to help the hermanas keep it up and work hard, trying to do that ourselves, and praying for a less harsh winter than all the Chileans say it is going to be. I figure I need to live up this winter to complain about the weather because, come next summer, my complaints about heat will hold no water since Als will be in Africa at that point. Actually, at that point, probably none of my complaints will hold any water. Probably I should just not complain.

Have a great week everyone! Here is a fun NdH--2 Ne 5. “And they lived in a manner of happiness.” Find the five things they did to live with that happiness. It’s a classic we use. Great for families--and that’s what it’s all about!

Love you all! Happy Spring and Finals!
Elder Brown