Wednesday, March 27, 2013

March 26, 2013

Hallo Familie!!!

Good to hear from all of you!! I definitely didn't have a shortage of emails... But I don't have much time to email (just 30 minutes) so I'll probably spend most of my time on this. But I really want to hear from everybody, and DearElder.com is awesome! I can get a hard copy of the email and I have tons of time to write letters back. And send addresses please I want to write people!

But the MTC is great! It's definitely a challenge, and the first couple days were probably the hardest couple days of my life. But it gets way better and I'm having a great time. Pretty much my entire day as far as class is concerned is completely in German. We've taught a few lessons to an "investigator" in German already, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. The first week has flown by, and they're only going to get faster. I'll be in Deutschland before I know it. But my companion is tight. His name is Elder Renn. My district is awesome, and there's a lot of us going to Germany. I've seen all sorts of people since being here, a lot of BYU people, but I've also seen Christi Fredrickson and Brandon Ritchie.
It's definitely been a challenge to adjust to the lifestyle and routine of a missionary, but I'm getting used to it and starting to really enjoy it. I've met some great people and my teachers are tight. I know I'm in the right place, and I feel like I'm being productive for the first time in a really long time haha. Sunday was awesome. We had a devotional with the head of the Missionary Department that was really good, and then we watched a talk Elder Bednar gave at the MTC a couple years ago where he impersonated the Cookie Monster, so that was cool. The work is going great!

But like I said, I have pretty limited email time, so I can't write much. Please write me letters though!!! Snail mail, Dear Elder, whatever. I have WAY more time to write and I'd love to have a hard copy of your letters. I love you guys! Auf Wiedersehen!

Elder Brown
Elder Brown and his companion Elder Renn

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

First Letter!

Received letter in mail 3-25-2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well, it’s the end of my first day, and President Nally (the MTC Pres) suggested that we write a letter to our parents informing them that we survived. And I did. Haha, but for real, the first day was definitely quite the day. I don’t think I’ve ever done more things in a day in my life. But it’s been sweet. I’ve already learned a lot. My companion’s name is Elder Renn. He’s from Colorado Springs. The other companionship in our room is Elder Fredrickson and Elder Parkinson. I think the six weeks will go well. We also have four sisters in our district who are all really cool and all going to Berlin. Our teachers are super tight. No English was spoken today besides a tiny bit at the end. And they said those were probably the last English words we’d hear them say. Pretty daunting haha. But again it’s been tight. Pretty awesome being around all these people doing something bigger than themselves. But anyways, just wanted to let you guys know I haven’t run away yet. Ich liebe dich!

Auf Wiedersehen, Elder Brown

Friday, March 22, 2013

Hayden Goes Into The MTC

 Dinner with friends the night before:


With his host, about to enter the MTC:

See you in two years, Elder Brown!