Week 14: April 11

Hello family!

How art thou? this week has flown by and it was a pretty good week haha. It went by really fast I will start with your questions:

1. When is John’s baptism date? John’s baptism is on may 7th at least that is the goal that we set for him so it should be really good. he is progressing a lot.

2. Any additional thoughts from conference? Any additional thoughts umm I loved Elder Holland's talk at the end of conference about never giving up and to rise when you fall and to know that heavenly father loves us so much but also how much they love us it was a really good talk. I loved the talk about the priesthood/ and also the talk about forgiveness, I thought it was super powerful especially if you read the scriptures that go along with it. I loved all of conference haha. It was an amazing conference.

3. Best experience this week? The best experience this week would probably be on Tuesday because we went to the Chinese buffet of course us missionaries go there cause its a buffet and its so freaking good! and cheap but anyways a person came up tome and said how grateful she was for us and said she is really sorry for the missionaries that were in the bombing at the airport and that she loves us and this girls wasn't even a member it was really cool to see that. But also right after that someone guy came up to the table and paid for our lunch for us which was so nice of him and I am grateful for that person. I didn't even get to say thank you cause he ran out. But after 2 of our investigators dropped us which was really sad and it made me mad haha. Cause they didn't even give us another chance. But obviously they weren't ready to hear the gospel yet. But after that all of our lessons canceled which was really sad. So then we just went contacting in 90 degree heat and a ton of random people were stopping in there car and saying that we were awesome. And they were grateful for what we were doing. So that was really weird cause that never happens haha.

4. Any new investigators? So since our to investigators shanea and Jeffery dropped us. We have been praying to find new investigators and we found one on Saturday! His name is courtise and when he opened the door we thought we were going to die cause he looked like he was going to kill us but it turned out that he was really nice haha and he wants to learn more! And we also found this other girl but I don't remember her name but she has 2 kids and there are really cool.

5. Craziest food you ate this week? Best food? The craziest food.. umm nothing crazy this week but we last night we ate Mexican food. Its called something haha you would probably know mom haha. But is was really good and I love spicy food now haha. I am becoming immune to it. There was this amazing salsa to it was homemade it was de best!

So elder Kimber left our apartment the Spanish elder and we got a new one his name is elder Angulo he is from Ecuador he was living in Columbia. He is the funniest guy ever haha. I got a handmade tie from his mom. I will send pictures of it haha. Its pretty awesome haha. But yeah we did service at the food bank and at plowshares this week was served people food and we went to this native woman’s house and she was a hoarder which was so gross! There was rat poop everywhere all over the carpets it was nasty hopefully I don't have any diseases now, But after she gave me a hug which was really awkward cause people aren't  supposed hug us missionaries. But yeah. Sorry I am hurrying through this cause we don't have a p-day today cause we are going to the Oakland temple on Saturday and I guess that counts as our p-day. But yeah this week was super cool a lot of good experiences.

We walked dogs on Saturday which was really fun and got tackled by a ton of puppies. We got this workout app and its the best. I am making some gains! ;) We taught a lot of less active members this week it was sweet we taught one his name is Gerardo and he took us up to where he does his workouts and we shot a bow with him super cool. Just let me know if you have any more questions! I get to Skype home May 8th!! So I am pretty excited. I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Brown

brown.devin@myldsmail.net

Elder Devin Brown

875 South Oak Street #8

Ukiah, CA 95482

Week 13: April 4

Hola family! 

This week has been pretty good it went by pretty fast haha. On Monday we had pday that was pretty fun we played some hardcore basketball and then we played soccer. After pday we went to the Spanish elders investigators for dinner and we had pozole a Mexican dish you would probably know what that is mom, it was so good. I also tried pata (pigs foot) which has a very weird taste that you can't really describe haha. Then for desert we had this amazing cake thing called chocoflan. It was amazing. Before the mission I didn't like Mexican food, but going to have to Change cause 80%' of what we eat is Mexican meals. It's driving me insane.!!

So Tuesday we had zone meeting which was really good. Zone leaders taught us. Then we had to leave early because w had an appointment with our investigator John. The lesson went well we talked to him about how he is progressing really well and we asked him to be ready for a baptismal date. He agreed!! So we have another baptism date! Yeah!

On Wednesday we went to the food bank in the morning and then Isaac our mission ward leader took us out for sushi which was so good!! There are some sweet sushi places out here. Then we went and did some contacting out on the streets and then Isaac needed help so we went and helped him with his truck. After we went and had dinner with the oedings it was good. We had enchilada casserole. Yeah 😑 oh and I am just putting what I remember what we did this week I can hardly remember what we do in the day when night comes.

On Thursday we did service at plowshares doing dishes and feeding homeless people. There everywhere. There is so many homeless people it's not okay. After that we went and taught out investigator Jeffery and Shanea. We read from the Book of Mormon with them and asked if they would pray about it they both agreed. We them went and saw a lot of less actives and we went finding through out the day.

Friday we weekly planned all day haha. Took a break in the middle then after weekly planning we went to the rorobaughs house ( members house) and we did some service we had to build this huge green house without instructions cause the instructions couldn't be read cause of water damage haha. So that was fun, had to use my brain finally 😉 we then ate dinner and cause it was April fools it was a meatloaf cake!! It looked like a actual cake they did a good job haha. And we had jello for our drinks which was interesting trying to suck up in a straw haha.

Saturday was really good conference was amazing!! I forgot my notes but from all the talks. My favorite was by Elder  Nelson in the priesthood session it was so amazing, he explained how much power the priesthood really has and that we need to make sure that we are Worthy to hold it. We are doing so much stuff in the world that prevents us from having the full power of the priesthood, and that we need to do our best to want to hold as much as possible. I loved the talk yesterday on refugees that was interesting. I feel like this conference was focused on families and the priesthood, but also having humility and to never ever give up. When we fall we rise back up because that's what the atonement is for we of course will fall we are all human we will be smashed down because we are not perfect but because of Jesus Christ we can be though the atonement. I loved the last talk yesterday afternoon Jeffery Hollands. That was so powerful! It was the best way to end it I think. I loved all the other talks. I wish I brand. My notes :( cause I have like a page on all of them haha.

How was conference for you guys?? Transfers are tomorrow!! I am staying in Ukiah still! And my companion is still elder Warnick. So that's cool. I love you guys! 

Love,

Elder Brown

brown.devin@myldsmail.net

Elder Devin Brown

875 South Oak Street #8

Ukiah, CA 95482

Week 12: March 28

Hey guys!!

How is everyone?? I hope you are all good!! 

1. Did you have Easter with members? What did you do to celebrate? 

So, I had a pretty good Easter yesterday it would have been better with you guys but it was still fun we actually went to church and we had 1 investigators come and 2 less active. The investigator is named John. We is progressing little by little. But we asked a lot of questions in gospel principles which was awesome. We then went to a awesome less active families house for lunch it was huge and very good. Homemade fried chicken. Her name is Jennifer and her son is Bryan and her daughter is Macey, they are disabled and the funniest people ever. It was really good. Then after we went another dinner at the Henries which was huge haha. My stomach almost exploded haha. It was really good though. 

2. How are you feeling? Recovered from the tacos (what was in those?!?)? 

I am 100% back to normal. But I am pretty sure I broke my pinky haha. Playing basketball. Smart me :) 

3. How are your investigators? Jeffrey and Shanea? Eileen and Crystal (+ Autumn and August)? Still on for baptism June 27? Charlie? Back on the radar? Markie? Cassandra and Adrian? Wow! Lots of investigators last week.

Investigators are good we thought Jeffery and Shanea on Tuesday we taught the first lesson the plan of salvation and it went really well it was really cool. They loved it and understood it all for the most part. They are a little confused on the priesthood authority. But I think over time it they will understand it. We met with crystals brother this week she couldn't meet with us, but her brother agreed that we would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, he is really cool. Charlie is doing okay, he is in Florida for a week we haven't seen him that much and we are worried about him. 

4. How is contacting inactives going? Still keeping you pretty busy?

Working all day finding less actives and contacting weird people. Haha. Busy all day. The end of transfers is this week so I will find out if I am leaving Saturday night I hope I stay another transfer. Is area is growing so much, finding a lot of people to teach.

5. Are you the driver or Elder Warnick? Or do you switch off? 

Right now I am the driver but elder Warnick and I switch off sometimes. 

6. Has it stopped raining? 

It has stopped raining it's been really nice got a little tan. :) except I am not excited for summer it gets 110 degrees with 70% humidity death! 

This week was really good. Elder Warnick had a hard time though with each other but we worked through it cause we are awesome! Are are also teaching a satanist he is really cool guy he is a members son so we are going to go bowling with him and see him a lot haha. But yeah!! I love you guys. :) 

Love,
Elder Brown

brown.devin@myldsmail.net

Elder Devin Brown

875 South Oak Street #8
Ukiah, CA 95482

Week 11: March 21

Hey family! 

What's up!!? How is life back home? How is everyone? I am doing pretty good. My Infection is pretty much gone I have a couple more pills to take but am almost 100% better. I couldn't really walk for a week. I also got sick Friday night from these tacos that we had which was nasty. But I am doing good right now haha. Almost back to normal. 

Other than being sick we taught 12 lessons this week and it's increasing really fast so I am excited. We are teaching this old couple named Jeffery and Shanea. Jeffery is really interested and he already believes in the godhead. How Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are separate beings but one in person. Super cool! We are teaching also a small family the mom is inactive but the daughter isn't a member. So we have been teaching all of them there names are Eileen which is the mom and crystal the daughter and we are also teaching Chris her brother and crystals daughters autumn and August. Guess what!? We asked them if they wanted to be baptized and they said yes! So we have 2 baptisms set. For the 27th of June. Which is awesome! We are teaching Charlie and well he is doing okay. He kinda went off the radar for 2 weeks. He finally showed up and church today we were able to talk with him about general conference and get him ready for it. 

Varsity's baptism was on Friday it was really good I talked on the Holy Ghost and it went really well I hope haha. She had to be dunked twice, which was okay haha. We also found 2 new investigators her name is Markie she is really cool she grew up in LA downtown she is super ghetto I love it haha. She is funny. We barely have been teaching her he just started she loves to pray and I think she is ready. We also found a new investigator name Cassandra and Adrian her son there are super cool. She loves family and we taught her that we can be together forever with our families she loved it, her and her son said they will come to church next week for Easter! 

It's already Easter ! It's weird. Time is so weird over here, we wake up and I feel like I am going to bed right after. It's crazy how time flies when your working your hardest. We are teaching a lot of less actives trying to bring them back. And finding people of course. Lots of people up in the mountains haha, which is awesome !! My favorite person in the ward? Is probably Isaac he is our ward mission leader and he is awesome!! He loves the missionaries and he is just a really good guy. He buys us dinner a lot. Which is awesome. We need to eat.  

I am pretty excited for Easter. We will watch general conference at the stake center and try to invite a lot of people. So I have a challenge for you guys. I want you to prepare for general conference and and pray for a question that you need answered. A question deep inside that you either really want answered or that you want off your shoulders. But I want you to pray about it and also to read it " it works wonderfully" by president Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Any other questions for me?? I love you guys, and I hope that everything is well at home. 

How are things going with your companion? 

Elder Warnick and I are doing pretty good, we butt heads sometimes but we are doing good over all. :) 

How big is the area you usually cover? Do you drive quite a few miles in a day/week? Do you share your car with anyone? 

We cover a pretty big area, sometimes we drive a half hour to get to a house. So a lot of driving. We have our own car. Which is nice haha. We could drive between 20 miles to 100 a day it really depends haha. 

Do the Spanish elders also have a car? Is anyone on bikes in your mission? Who is the designated driver? 

Yes the Spanish elders have a car also I don't know if anyone is on bikes. They probably will use them in the summer. We both drive so that's pretty cool haha. 

With love, 

Elder Brown 

Week 10: March 14

Elder Brown could use a few extra prayers this week. On top of a difficult week, he spent the day today in the ER. He had an ultrasound, a shot in the rear end, and lots of testing. It looks like an infection and he has medication for a week to clear it up. Thank you for your love and support!

Shauna

Hey family! 

How are you guys doing ? How is the weather over there? Is it getting warmer? Cause it's been raining non stop for the past 2 weeks everything is soaked and cold haha. It's super annoying.

My comp is good he is super awesome. Last night he thanked me for working so hard and adjusting from a crazy lazy comp to a hard working missionary. He is coolio. We get along pretty well.

Our investigators are good. We are teaching a couple new families and we are finding tons of less actives last week we saw about 120 of them. Crazy!.

The transfer is longer this transfer its 7 weeks. So it will be over the beginning if April. And Varsity’s baptism is still on for next Friday. So that's awesome.

Yesterday was really cool. I had to say the prayer in sacrament and pass the sacrament and then last night there was a  priesthood meeting up in Lakeport about an hour away. It was about how to treat our wife/ future wife. It was good and super funny.

Today is pie day ? Haha that's cool.

This week has really tried my faith haha. It was a hard week but it was good too. I need to call the doctor today. But this week was really good the days are slow and the weeks fly by haha. I am making friends for life out here so that's pretty awesome!!

That's so awesome that Taylor’s going  back out (Mom Insert: Devin’s friend Taylor has been home from his mission for several months and was just cleared to go out again next week)! Finally. I am happy for him.

We are teaching this less active member she is super crazy! Her name is Kylee and she loves to vent to us. She is a mess. That's all I can say haha.

On the way Lakeport we almost hit a turkey! This turkey was the biggest turkey I have ever seen. It was funny haha.

There is a short holiday video that came out for the church. Go to lds.org or YouTube or Mormon.org. It's called #hallelujah it's pretty good. 

How are the kids doing? I am going to try to write them this week. Anyways. I love you guys. Go see superman vs, batman and tell me how it is!!! :) if it's out haha. 

Love,

Elder Brown

brown.devin@myldsmail.net

Elder Devin Brown

875 South Oak Street #8

Ukiah, CA 95482

Pics:

The first pic is with my companion, Elder Warnick. The second was a service that we did we had to cut down the tree cause it fell over in a storm and fell between a tree. So we decided to make a teeter tauter out of it very awesome!!! It was legendary! I will send more pics. Best service ever. We got to milk goats and play with baby goats. This is up in kelseyville. That's elder young on the top, ( the so smart one) ;)

Week 9: March 7

Dear family!

How is life back home? How are the kids? I miss them so much. Life in Ukiah is really good. We are working our butts off haha. This whole week has been crazy. Really good week though. We have seen a ton of miracles, on Tuesday though we went on exchanges and I went down to Cloverdale with Elder Perry he is really cool. Got to go work down there. I love Cloverdale it's a small nice town its a small valley like 30 min from Ukiah down south. We did service for these none members and that sucked we had to move some really heavy stuff down 2 flights of stairs. It was good though haha. We went and had dinner at the persons house a members house down there. They were really awesome family. This week was really cool.. We have been finding less active families we have like over 300 less actives. Tons of families haha. So it's perfect. Tons of part member families. 

We don't see Rachel anymore cause she want keeping her commitments which was really sad. Yes varsity is still getting baptized. March 18th so that will be awesome. I didn't get the vitamins yet but I will look for them. I am good right now haha. Cow stomach is nasty !! Would not recommend it. Singing at the funeral was good haha. It went surprisingly well. Haha people liked it. The best spiritual experience was probably last night we were looking for people to visit ran it to some grumpy people and everyone else didn't answer the door so we said a prayer and we looked on the list of less actives and we both picked a name. The name was Jennifer Huddle. And it was a jackpot! She was really awesome she adopts disabled kids and she used to live in AF Utah. So that's a small world so that was super cool. Charlie is the same. Just needs time time we think. Oh yeah we found another family the mom is named crystal she has 2 kids. Was really awesome family so that's exciting. Awesome week.

Had a interview with president this week told him about my depression and it was a good interview, love president wright. Ukiah is awesome I am going to miss it, it's amazing. It's so pretty up here.

The lesson that I learned this week is that we need to give our all over to the lord and serve with all our heart.. And that's where true happiness comes from. You guys should watch the video " The hope of gods light" it's one of my favorite videos! Also " treasure in heaven", John tanner story. You probably already seen it but it's so amazing what he did. It's like 20 minutes. If you watch it just think of the power in the part when his leg is healed. Really think about it. It's awesome. Well I get to call home in May! May 8th I believe for Mother's Day! I love you guys!!

With love, Elder Brown 

Week 8: February 29

Dear family, 

My week was really long haha. Long and long and longer and hard. That sums it up. But good.. In some parts haha. 

1. Tell us more about Elder Warnick. Grandpa Brown knows Elder’s Warnick’s Grandpa (maybe Great Grandpa) really well—he was a dairy farmer. Small world! 

Elder Warnick is cool he likes to do out door stuff and he likes to hike and Loves to camp likes soccer and any sport. Cool guy. Kinda stubborn but cool. Dang that's crazy! I guess there is a reason I came to this mission I know a lot of missionaries before coming out here. Haha.

2.  You’re still in the same area? How’s the new apartment? How is it sharing with the Spanish elders?

In Ukiah and I like the new apartment it's bigger. Older but better. I love the Spanish elders. There my bros. 

3.  How is your finding going?

Our finding is going pretty well we find all day everyday. And then do lessons at night. 

4.  How are Rachel and Charlie doing? Are any of Rachel’s family members? How do her parents feel about her learning the gospel?

Rachel is not doing good. She hasn't come to church yet. But we are still trying. We haven't met her parents yet. Charlie is doing really good. I think he just needs time. He wants to learn more about the gospel before getting baptized so we just have to work with him. And be patient.

5. What was your best experience/most spiritual experience this week?

The best experience? / spiritual? Hmm probably when we found a less active this week. We went to knock on this potential investigators door and know one answered. So we waited a little then we both turned around and said we need to knock on the other door across the hall. As we did and we found Sophie a inactive member and a single mom. So that was really cool. 

6.  What was the craziest thing that happened this week?

The caziest thing ? Umm we ate cow stomach soup! Nasty! I will send some pics. 

This week was super busy and crazy we wake up and do our regular schedule of course then we go finding pretty much  all day. So there are 120 people coming to church every week and guess how many members are in the ward? 500. That means almost 400 inactive. That's insane. So we are super busy going through lists of the ward and visiting in actives and finding more people. 

I am singing at a funeral haha. This Saturday. We have practice on Wednesday. We have lessons set up in the evenings. With Sarah Gilbert and Sophie. And Dani. And a bunch more that I can't remember off the top of my head. 

Yeah we ate cow stomach soup. I almost puked. But I ate it all!! I think that's 2 points on the man card ;) 

Varsity is getting baptized on March 18th and she has asked us to speak at her baptism. 

Oh yeah last week elder Hamula of the seventy came and spoke really awesome. I was the first one to shake his hand! Yeah!! He taught about home teaching. And he mentioned like 3 times that the second coming is very soon. He also talked about obedience. One of the things I learned this week about service. Here is a scripture I wanted to share. Mathew 16:25 "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." What I got out of this is when we save and help other people and serve gods children we are healing the soul. We truly find ourselves when we serve others.  Cause when we are In the service of others we are serving our Heavenly Father. And when we are we find our true potential. For family night tonight you should watch a video called " Lift" and read through that scripture after. If you want haha. You can watch it on mormonchannel.org. It's awesome. 

Yeah this week was super busy. We had a bible bash that got a little heated. So we just left haha. We had a gangster come and say hi to us haha. He was super funny. We went to the beach last Monday. Super fun. Played ultimate frisbee.. Love the beach. One of the things I have come to appreciate.. Is all of gods creations. It's so pretty out here, and I love just to think about how it was made and just how thankful I am that we have all of it. 

I have had a lot of ups and downs. Some depression. But I am doing good. Haha. I hope all is well at home. Tell the kids I love them. Have a good week. :) 

With love, Elder Brown