Week 8

September 21, 2012

Hey everyone! So let's see-- not a whole lot has been going on this week. We were hosts for new missionaries on Wednesday-- it was fun but kind of sad. We stood at the curb and helped them unpack their cars and then showed them to their room and class and around and stuff. It was pretty awkward with all the crying parents and everything-- we were only supposed to give them like four minutes tops but some were just taking forever.

We appreciate all Mom's wishes to bake us desserts—although, honestly, all the MTC desserts are like the same thing she makes. Almost like those are just the Mormon recipes that I thought only she knew but apparently the MTC knows too, but they just can’t make it quite as well.

So let’s see... nada mucho esta pasando aqui, except we are speaking WAY more Spanish and really getting pretty good. The lessons are just like almost second nature now, up until the fourth lesson because we don’t usually get that far. We had an interesting devotional on Sunday from some high up person about the Book of Mormon musical and ‘the Mormon moment’ and the Church's response to it. He showed a clip of the musical during his talk. It was really kind of a strange experience but a pretty good talk. We have moved on to new investigators-- we are now teaching the hermanas in the district, all of whom are not exceptionally good at Spanish so it’s a little bit difficult. They teach us too in return-- we pretend to be different people-- one of the first days we were teaching them and talking about prophets, one of them asked 'Ustedes tienen una persona como la popa?' or something along those lines. Being elders in the MTC, we had learned from the first week here that 'popa' is the word for poop, not the Pope as she thought, so Elder Clawson responds 'Casi, pero no.' Close, but no. Pretty funny.

We still don't have our travel plans--hopefully we get them today. But I heard from Pres. Humphreys that we will be flying into Concepcion from Santiago, and I think he wrote we arrive the 2nd of October, so we probably leave here the 1st, I would guess. I am going down with Elder Erickson probably, who is serving in Rancagua, and he is the funniest, coolest guy ever so it should be pretty fun. He is a little bit behind in Spanish though, it’s pretty funny, and Chilean Spanish is even harder, so he will probably have a real fun couple of months coming up.

Ciao!
Elder Brown

More Photos!

"This week I vacuumed erasers..." (Week 7)

September 14, 2012

Hey everyone!

We have been having a good time this week, working hard, getting ready to go. It feels like the week has gone by really fast-- we only have two more p-days left before we leave! We are still enjoying classes, the devotionals, study time (except for language study time which gets pretty boring and sleepy), and there are lots of fun little things and spiritual experiences every day to keep us going strong.

So we have started playing soccer a lot more because you get a better workout than half-court basketball-- I scored a goal the other day. It was sweet. It was a chip shot over like three elders right into the top corner of the goal. With my left foot. Gave me some street cred with all the Latino elders we play with. Funny elders.

This Sunday night we watched the Testaments, again, but in Espanol! It was fun. And funny. The voiceover was very dramatic-- when the main guy is talkin’ with the love interest and she asks him why he hasn’t asked her his name, he says "Ya se tu nombre" which means, “I already know your name,” but the guys voice is super suave. In an entertainment starved environment, that phrase has been quoted WAY too much. But we are not really here to be entertained constantly, so its whatever.

Our Spanish is really improving-- I keep typing words in Spanish randomly and have to change them. I’m pretty sure my English has never been worse, though. Other fun things we have been doing: Service on Tuesdays is always fun. This week I vacuumed erasers, under the pretense of cleaning them, but I’m pretty sure the girl in charge just had too many elders and so just sent me to the basement to "clean erasers." It was fun. I sat there with like eight big buckets of erasers and just vacuumed them all. I was sittin’ there, in the basement, vacuum on, all alone, singin’ some Les Mis, Lion King, Phantom, etc, and next thing I know I look up and President Brown is standing right there laughin’ at me. It was also funny because the second week we were here me and Elder Clawson had to mop, and we finished with like forty minutes left, so we just played shuffleboard on the stairs with the dryer stick thing and the rags. Since then we have had some REAL great games, including once when we were aiming for the railing, Elder C nailed it, and then mine pushed his off to clinch the win. Real good stuff. But this time Elder Walton and Howe were mopping and were playing when Pres. Brown walked up. Elder Howe started freaking out because he wasn’t holding anything and they were laughing and playing and everything. But when Pres. Brown walked by he was just like “oh sorry to walk on your wet floor” and kept going, and then when he came back he said what great workers they were. Funny stuff. We have lots of little games like that to keep it fun in here.

We have been talking a lot about receiving personal revelation this week-- how when we really get into the scriptures and apply them you can get a lot of different personal insights. We have been working on how we can help those we meet do that, too. There are some real good stories in the LdM and Bible that if you read while comparing to others, or with a different perspective, can really be more meaningful. Like when the Brother of Jared asked how he could give light to the barges, the Lord let him try it out. He worked to make some stones, and then the Lord helped him out by touching them. If we work hard and give our best effort to figure things out, the Lord will touch and light up our efforts as well. So there ya go.

Elder Brown

First Photos from the MTC

Elder Brown and his MTC District

Their food supply...

Week 6

September 7, 2012

Hey everyone!

This week went a lot better than last week-- it really flew by. We have been working hard to stay focused on the work and to do all the things that we should be doing. I really just can't wait to get out on the mission and actually apply all the stuff we have been doing here. We have been talking a lot about the sanctification process, and how as missionaries and representatives of Jesucristo, necesitamos ser mas como el en todas las cosas que hacemos. My new favorite hymn is “How Firm a Foundation,” especially the fifth verse. Actually, all the verses. But the fifth talks about the dross melting away, and over the past week and a half I really feel like maybe that's what I've been feeling. I think my views of the gospel, the world, God, and myself have all really changed as I've started to really lean on Christ, His Atonement, and the plan of happiness in everything we do here.

Really starting to get used to this whole elder thing. It’s weird because we don’t really feel like real missionaries yet, but we have a lot of experiences each day where we learn a lot, and at least for me I feel like I just want to go share with everyone, teaching, talking, all of it. But we can't here... well we can, and we do, I guess... we go around to different classrooms and do 'door contacts' or other elders walking around-- the best is when you go to a brand new district and do a contact in Spanish and they think you're super intelligent.

All in all, I’m doing really well. I sort of complain about all the time to study and the repetition but personal study time is starting to become my favorite time, as I find more comfort in the scriptures, more blessings, and more promises. Each day here where we are becoming more converted to Christ is a day well spent.

I don't really have any super funny experiences from this week-- Elder Howe has been perfecting his disappearing salt shaker trick at dinnertimes; it’s pretty funny when he does it to other districts. He got Elder Tengberg really good the other day. We have been teaching Hermana Soliz and Daniel, and Daniel just committed to be baptized. It was awesome-- he just told us that he had read what we asked him to, prayed, and really felt something, and had kept reading. He said it had helped him with his whole week, so right then and there we went for it and he was excited. We taught him the commandments last time, but we only have 15 minutes with him each time so it’s tough to really get it all in. So we didn't quite finish. But our Spanish is definitely getting better. At least at Gospel things.

One more thing-- we have a dispute about what the fourth, fifth, and sixth derivatives of time are called. I claim that first is velocity, then acceleration, then jerk, and then snap, crackle, and pop. But no one believes me. Could we get a little proof of that?

Lots of love,
Elder Brown

MTC Rap

MTC Rap 

By Zach & the other Elders of his District 

(as mailed to Allie, 8/25/12)

(no title) -it's pretty indie like that. 

Just kickin' it here in the MTC,  

Ain't nobody here as spiritual as me, 

On that side we got the speedsters, Brown & Clawson 

On this side it's the big dogs, Howe & Walton. 

We live the life, we're missionaries, 

Except when Clawson tells us stories that are super scaries. 

District A, we report to district leader Brown, 

We're the baddest 4* elders you've ever seen around. 

We're the best in the zone, 

We're bad to the bone, 

We can't use a phone, 

But we're at the top all alone.  

We reppin 8A til we die 

In our nametags we look fly. 

We are the best, we know you hear it 

Try to ignore us, and you'll get shocked by the Spirit! 

eehhhhhh, in the MTC (x4)* 

*now 7 

*I had direct orders from Elder Walton to write eehhhhhh w/ 2 e's and 6 h's. 

DJ microonda --> (microwave--cuz he gets hot in a hurry) 

As Allie summed this up so nicely, “It looks like they need a place to release all their pent-up humility.”

-Mindy

Week... I dunno (Week 4)

August 24, 2012--From the MTC 

Hey fam and everyone! 

So let's see... this week has been going pretty well. Starting to lose track of time in here, we kinda just go to class, study, do gym time, eat, sleep, and repeat. P-day is always super nice to go to the temple, eat some temple breakfast, write all our letters, and usually get a nice nap in there at some point.  

I liked Mom's letter about sleeping in and stuff. How difficult it must be to have to get up at 6:30 every day!!.... Oh wait.... Ha ha. Just kidding. It is getting easier, though; we have ways of keeping ourselves awake now. The best is just pulling the good ol' wall sit. You find a lot of ways in here to keep things lively. The big thing this week with this one district was timing their bathroom breaks-- the record right now is 26.8 seconds for going, washing w/ soap, drying, and zipping all up. Highly impressive.  

It was good to hear that the YW retreat went well; I was wondering how that would go. After studying the LdM (Book of Mormon) a lot more lately than I ever have before, I find it really crazy that, so soon after Christ came, these people became so terrible. All the secret combinations and stuff going on remind me of Duke frats. And when the families aren't helping by raising kids right, that doesn't help either. I got lucky that I have a Mom that doesn't take smack from nobody.  

I went into the health clinic on Tuesday to check my leg, its fine by the way, mostly. We are working hard, running a lot faster now, doing a lot of crunches, pull-ups, pushups, and everything. I won our district pushup 'non-competition' (because we don't compete at the MTC) with 84 pushups in one go, I believe. The doctor at the clinic said that my leg looks like it’s totally healing but it feels weird around it, like its numb. He said I probably cut a nerve or something and that it'll take months to grow back if it ever does. Thank goodness for resurrected bodies. It’s not bad though; I don’t really notice it. I liked your comment about optimism-- we were sitting around at dinner on Wednesday talking about our Thursday schedule, in which we have six hours of class in a row, and people were getting down on it. It made Thursday go by a lot more slowly. 

In answer to Candace’s question, we don't really get bored of classes here because we are (usually) learning new things-- we love our teacher, Hno. Tonson (Thompson), and he keeps things entertaining and really gospel related. But sometimes we have some terrible subs and then it stinks. We have two investigators right now, Daniel and Patricio. We are teaching Pat about the plan of salvation tonight, and following up on our baptism commitment from the first lesson. Daniel is harder-- he has more questions that we are starting to be able to answer better, but Elder Clawson is still kind of struggling with the language. We would both appreciate your prayers. We need that “ol don de lenguas.” 

So let's see... What else happened this week... We played some real good soccer, some real good basketball. My free throw shots are on fire these days, because if you miss you don’t get to play. I am getting really good at the pull-up shot from the free throw line, except when Elder Walton is guarding me. They call me The Mouthwash, because I always be swishin’. Just kidding. They don’t call me that. They call me Elder. 

I heard it was Thomas F's birthday! What a kid! I hope that he is doing well with his lil FAClets, and I hope that first week at Duke goes well next week. I've been missing it just a little, but not really because I’m way less stressed being here, most of the time. And it was Sam's birthday—17, I believe? Hopefully he is doing well, too. Haven't heard from him or Ben, but I'll write Ben today and send you the letter to send to him.  

We are doing real well here in the MTC! We got some air fresheners for the room.  We have been working hard, staying focused. Elder Andersen came and gave a great talk on Tuesday about Thomas S. Monson but I had a stomach ache so it was rough. But I really liked what he had to say about spiritual promptings. Elder Clawson and I have been working hard to receive personal revelation as we study more and to be more converted to Christ. But it’s important to remember that we have to act on the revelation and promptings we receive.  Elder Andersen shared a story about how President Monson had ignored a prompting and a guy had died before he got there, so be sure you follow the promptings that come from the Spirit. The Spirit is the real teacher, not us. 

Love you guys! Hope all is well!  

Elder Brown