Why I Am Here

Hello my wonderful family!!!

How are you all?? How was this week?! I hope it was amazing! I hope you all laughed and sang and smiled and maybe even cried a bit (but definitely not too much crying!). And most, I hope you made some else laugh and sing and smile (but not cry haha).

Wow I just love you all so much!

Okay so highlight of the week - Pak B was baptized this Sunday!! As in yesterday, that is! It was so great, all throughout Church the members were SO accepting and welcoming to him! Our Elder's Quorum President had him stand up and introduced him and he was mentioned and welcomed in the Sacrament talks and also it was a great Baptismal service after. He asked me to baptize him, which was a great honor! He's elderly, but he's still strong so there weren't any problems. Anyway he is so great and he is so funny. He made us all laugh during Gospel Principles. Anyways, it was just a really great experience!

But the rest of our week was just crazy - sadly we had a lot to do that took a lot of time from our actual missionarry work.

So this is kind of a short summary of our week:

Monday: P-day, didn't do that much just kind of relaxed and then had a good appointment that night.

Tuesday: We went to Bekasi to interview one of the Bekasi Elders' Investigators for Baptism. She was really prepared and had a strong testimony. Great experience!

Wednesday: We went to be interviewed by President in preparation for PLD (or Zone Conference with President). In West Java, we combine both the Jakarta Zone (Jakarta, Bekasi, Medan) and the Batagor(Bandung, Tangerang, Bogor) Zone. IT was way fun because I also had to get my Kitas ( a part of the visa) so my entire MTC group came in and we went together to get our Kitas renewed. It was SO fun to see all of them. Wow, they are all so amazing! Such incredible missionaries and people! It was just wonderful to see them all - it took us back to the great times together in the MTC. So after that we also had interviews and we had to order all the food for PLD, so that took a lot of time which was frustrating, but it was important as well!

Thursday: we went on splits with the District leader and his companion. I got to go with Elder Tracy ( who is an amazing person and great friend ). We went and interviewed Pak B, because we literally could not find a workable time with our District Leader Elder Gasio. So that was great and then we had to go back and pick up another missionary because they had come from Bandung for interviews and we didn't want them just wandering around Jakarta themselves. I was with Elder Sukarlis, which was WAY fun, since I haven't seen him much since Magelang days.

Friday: PLD. This was great - we learned a lot about how to teach like the Savior! It was great. Elder Johnson and I did a role play and it was great because President was able to give us specific council about how to improve our teaching. We learned a ton and it is always such a blessing to be with all the amazing missionaries in our mission.

Saturday: President asked us to speak at the Stake Ward Mission Leader and Bishopric meeting - a little nerve-wracking haha but great. And then we got roped into translating for the general priesthood session - which was great, but again a lot of time. We filled up the baptismal font while this was happening. Later that night, about 10:00, Elder Johnson turned to me and said "Elder, we forgot too turn off the water." My heart just dropped. SO we had to make the call of shame to the Assistants, jump in a taxi go turn it off and get home. Got to bed a bit late haha. But thankfully a wise man had designed the baptismal font to self drain and nothing was flooded!

Sunday: great day with Church and Brother B's baptism!

It was a sweet experience to see Pak B be baptized and to hear his testimony and see how he has changed. It just reminds me of why I am here doing this. I am here to bring others unto Christ the Savior of the world. I have been thinking about Mosia 2:41 and about the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God. I just know that God loves us. We ARE His work and His glory. Everything He does is truly for us. And He has given us the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all the commandments to bless US. not for himself, but for US! Isn't that amazing?

I know that as we follow His path, that is what will bring us the MOST happiness in life.

I love you all SO SO much!! Have a fantastic week!! and don't forget to share smiles with everyone you meet :)

Love Elder Brown

Splits with whip cream and syrup

We had a pretty crazy week.

Monday was biasa aja(just normal). Elder Johnson likes to just rest and take it easy on p-days, so we just emailed, cleaned and slept/wrote some letters. So hopefully you all will be getting some soon (sorry I'm pretty bad at that haha). 

Selasa(Tuesday) was pretty great. We spent the night at the Assistants house on Monday and went on splits with them on Tuesday. I got to go with my good friend Elder Grundvig, who is a STELLAR missinary. It was a ton of fun. At one point, we had an appointment at the church but we awkwardly realized that we didn't have keys to the church right before our appointment, so we had to find somewhere to sit down to teach. We saw this cafe and we went in but we thought we have to buy something. it was all SUPER expensive, so we got the cheapest thing, not really knowing what it was haha. never the best idea. Luckily it wasn't beer or Champagne like Steph experienced but it was this one tiny thing that cost twenty times what we usually paid for it uggh haha. But it was a good appointment. We also got to teach a referral that I had given to them, so that was cool. Anyways just an all around great day, awesome to work with Elder Grundvig. 

Then that night, we made... WAFFLES!! Because the assistants have a waffle iron, but they have never used it! We were all stoked, we bought syrup and REAL whipped cream. Sadly we are all terrible at making waffles, so it was kind of a disaster. But hey, you put whipped cream and syrup on anything, it's pretty delicious!

Wednesday and Thursday were just normal.

On Friday, we brought our Bekasi District Leader Elder Forston (who is my beloved friend from the MTC) and his new companion, fresh from the states Elder Earl up to split with them. It was awesome!! I got to go with Elder Earl - he is a way cool kid from Utah. Super positive and just a great missionary. We had an awesome and quite unique day haha We had four different appointments at the church and also taught English Class. So we were just at the church pretty much the entire, which is a good thing because we were teaching the entire day, but it was definitely weird to be at the church that long. it was great though - we found a new investigator and taught some other investigators that are progressing. We also saw some miracles as we tried to use our 10 and 30 minute breaks to go outside and contact people! 

Then after that day, we went back to Bekasi and do splits on Saturday with another companionship in Bekasi! That was way fun - I got to go with Elder Gomez, an Elder from the Philippines. That was way fun. He's still pretty new, but a great missionary. He was trained by my boy Elder Hansen, so of course he is way fantastic. So anyways a lot of fun! We had a good time and we felt the Spirit leading us.

But the thing is on Sunday- I was WAY tired. I was just dead. Elder Johnson and I were walking around contacting that evening and I felt like I almost fainted (then again it was also Fast Sunday haha)! But we had a great Sunday! four simpatisan came! Brother B should be getting baptized next week, so that is pretty exciting! 

We had a pretty crazy experience and we kind of have a feeling that we've been getting phone calls from an Angel haha. we don't know if anything will come from it, but there was just too many coincidences, so we will follow up on that for sure haha. just kind of a cool experience.

Whether or not that was from the Spirit guiding us or not, I do know that the work we are doing is truly the work of God. I know that He leads this work. I know that Jesus Christ is truly our Savior and He loves each and every one of us. And because He loves us, He called Joseph Smith to be a prophet so that the true and living Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in its fullness. I know that Christ leads this Church and I know He leads this work. I'm so grateful for the chance I have to be part of it! It is incredible.

I love you all and I hope you all have an amazing week.

Elder Brown

I love my Savior Jesus Christ

Hey Mommy!

It's been a bit rough this week with finding those other three, we have one who made a baptismal commitment but didn't make it to church so we were kind of bummed about that. But hopefully there is sincere desire and commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

Elder Boenari lives in Bekasi which is really just a section of Jakarta. His English is good, but my Indonesian has also become much better since those days haha!

A lot of really good things happened this week. MLC was this week - that was a great meeting that I hope will inspire us all to work harder, have greater faith and rely more on the Lord! We also went on a split with the Jakarta District Leader this last week. I went with ELDER Daniel Gasio. He is AWESOME! I loved the time we spent together! It was a great day!! We also had some good lessons! We got to teach a pastor which was pretty fun - we'll see him again next week!

PB came to church again, so we were glad about that! We think he will be ready to be baptized in a couple of weeks.

So everything is going great, sorry I can't really think of anything else.

I am really working on my ability to follow the Spirit and rely on the Lord. It's hard!! I think a large part of it is just why am I here and really what is motivating me to be here. Also the love I have for the Lord and for the people here!

Anyway, I love you all so much!! I miss you!

I know that we are truly God's children - each of us and that He loves us and I want to share that with everyone. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and I know that He also loves all you as well!!

Have an amazing week!!

Elder Brown

Ate some awesome food!

Got a package from Stephanie!