Elder Zach Brown- Chile Concepción Mission: February 17, 2014

A very cordial greeting. Raspberry cordial.

It’s been a good week. Missionaries are progressing, members are converting, investigators are feeling the Spirit, new converts are growing in their testimonies, and menos activos are coming back--or slamming the door in our faces (which is sometimes actually not that bad a deal for us, given all the marijuana smoke that wafts out of some of those doors.)

We have been having some rough patches in our sector, but overall the zone is seeing promising signs of growth. And if there is someone in the zone that has to pass through some trying times, who better than the leaders of the zone, right?!

I’ve been thinking a lot about attitude this week. It’s tough sometimes, with all the hard stuff that happens, to stay positive and keep up the excitement, to be happy, to find joy in the journey, etc. This week there has been some sadness in the house but we have had some good long talks, all with the same focus-- "Attitude reflects leadership, captain." If you didn’t catch that quote, please schedule a block of time to go watch Remember the Titans, an all American classic.

Sometimes things don’t work out like we want them to, after we have worked hard and prayed and fasted and tried to see success. But those are sometimes things we can’t control, and in those times we have just got to keep playing the one string we control all the time--our attitude. It’s kind of even a question of integrity--we have to live the same standards all the time, have the same happiness, etc, all the time, no matter the circumstances, or it kind of shows a lack of moral character/integrity/conversion or however you want to put it.

So there are the rambles of Brown for the day. I’m grateful for the things I’m learning through all the people, experiences, and situations here, and grateful for every day the opportunity to learn and apply maybe the same things but more deeply.

Hope everyone is doing splendidly and finding joy in the journey.

Have a great week, Everyone!
Elder Brown