Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Reactivation and Washing Machine

Hello!

News: This week is transfers, but Elder Lacson is staying with me! So there ya have it. We're doing work.

More news: My brother took my mom out on a date this week for me. Love you mom (:

The mission: Success. This week I found a family that has been falling away for the last 3 months. They encountered a problem, found a reason to stop coming to church, and took the chance. I want to yell it from the rooftops that the Chance is never worth it. The Church is just true. Anyways we went back to them a few times this week, and got 8/10 of them to church! And the mom is stoked on reading the Book of Mormon again. They're the Leyva family. Love them. One of their 8 kids works with us a few times a week. 

We have a marriage soon!!! Nanay Flor (who has been washing my clothes) is about ready for marriage and baptism! It's kinda exciting to marry a couple who are both over 50. Gong Gong asked how much it will cost.. so you all know it will cost about $18. Poverty here is absolutely nutso. But we've got some awesome members who are going to cover the cost of the wedding. Stoked. That'll be a few weeks away so I'll get some better coverage then.

I wash my whites: by hand! It's simple. But I am missing the washing machine right now. How did you guys live before the age of washing machines?

I love you all, especially my mom!

Elder Brown

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Scraping Coconuts and Receiving 1,000 e-mails from Mom in 1 Week

Hello family!!! I love y'alls so much!

This week has been a week. Go figure. My momma wrote me about 1000 emails and I read them all. Thanks mom (:

We should have the Star Wars finished later tonight.. so you'll have to wait patiently for my starring role in the Filipino remake of the film.

We have been working hard this week.. Florencha made it to church. She's that cute little old lady with the two front teeth. She is already asking for a baptism date, and we are so happy to be working with her. Some other missionaries showed up at her door and we took a very sweet moment to explain our relationship with our Father. It's kinda crazy how the world has twisted a relationship that should be so simple... We are children of God, He offered His Only Begotten Son as a supreme sacrifice, and the Holy Ghost testifies of that truth. I love this Gospel. I love preaching it every day.

We have an incredible new investigator.. Brother Pimentel. His family (besides the eldest son) was baptized a few months ago, but he didn't feel like the time was right and declined baptism. He's just sort of a normal guy, slow to accept the Gospel but firm in what he believes. We had talked to him before, but all we really got was that he was waiting for the right time... Anyways we all know that today is the right time. So one day we walked past his house and decided to stop for an ice-candy (basically a home-made OtterPop). I saw him scraping the meat out of coconuts and saw an opportunity to serve. I admit it was very sneaky, but before he knew it he was resting, I was carving the coconuts, and he was feeling the Spirit. The next week, we held a family home evening at his house and he gave concluding remarks. He said something like, ". . .and I'm thankful that you are all members of the true Church of Jesus Christ. And I know I've been procrastinating this for a long time, but I feel like the season is right for me to be baptized." WOAH! He said that in front of like 30 people.. family, friends, and branch members. Anyways he's just like the golden investigator right now. I'm so stoked to get to work with him.

Life is good. I got your T-Shirt, thanks Gong Gong! Sometimes I forget that it's July and the middle of summer for you guys. I was wondering why you were all in Utah.. but I guess that makes more sense now. Love you!!

Elder Brown