December 30, 2013

Hey!!

Well... I don't know what to start with now, but it was sweet to talk last week! It seriously was so awesome. And yes, I was able to see Amanda and Brian and Olivia on the iPhone. You guys were just on top of your technology game, I was impressed! Haha.

But Christmas was great, thanks for everything! But all I know about Elder Langford's comp is that his name is Elder Young and he plays the euphonium... and he knows about Brother Bowman, which I guess is kind of a natural thing for someone who plays the euphonium. But yeah, that's all I know.

But just want to say thank you to everyone for everything you've done for me in the past year, whether it was a letter or a package or an email or a prayer or anything. It all means so much to me. This year has definitely been an interesting one. I will probably look back on 2013 as a year where I learned more than ever before. It was really hard, even before March 20th, and I had a lot of opportunity to learn from challenges. I've gained a lot in regards to my testimony of Jesus Christ and his Gospel, and I'm so grateful for that. The examples of, and relationships with, my friends and family have always been a huge part of my life, and that hasn't changed even as I've been on the other side of the world. Thank you for that, and for the support you give me. 2014 will be just as challenging I'm sure, but I'm grateful for the opportunity and for the countless things I'm sure I'll learn.

Have a great New Year's everyone, and I hope 2014 has great things in store for all of you!

Tschüß!

Elder Brown

December 23, 2013

Hello and Merry Christmas!

Crazy that it's time to say that again. 2013 went by very fast. That's really wierd. But that's sweet that Griff is back, I'm sure you guys are having a great time.

But that's awesome that Guyer won again. I'm sure it's a fun time in Denton right now. Sounds like BYU is living up to expectations haha.

I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures, I thought that would be a nice Christmas present. The internet cafe we use here in Oberhausen is.... nice, so it isn't the easiest thing in the world to accomplish. But alas, I pulled it off. 

That would be sweet if Sister Weiland was teaching Sunday School again... at least for the kids in that class. She was the best Sunday School teacher ever. Tell the Weilands hi for me next time you see them. I miss playing ball up at the church with them a lot. 

But things are going well here. I like this area a lot, and it reminds me a lot of Solingen. But as is the case for most in the winter time, we've been trying to meet with the members a lot and not freeze to death, so that's been fun. There are some really cool members here, so it's fun. We also helped with move on Saturday, and I actually always enjoy that, so that was fun. But this week is looking really good, we feel like we're gonna have a lot of fun for Christmas. So don't worry about me!

But things are going well, hope you guys have a great Christmas! I love you guys and am so thankful for everything you do and for the opportunity I have to be in such an awesome family! Until Wednesday!

Elder Brown

< We got to Skype with Elder Brown on Christmas and he looks and sounds great. He says Hi to everyone!>

December 16, 2013

<Short email today, but…hey… we got some pictures!>

Hey everybody!

Sounds like you all had a good week! Things were good here, anxious for Christmas though. Sounds like the Christmas party was good.... Brother Barnett's fajitas.... oh man. It's kinda ridiculous how much I miss Mexican food. But our tacos are alright.

But the week was good, not super eventful. We had Zone Conference, so that was good. We went to the Düsseldorf Christmas market afterwards and sang, so that was cool. But we had ward council on Wednesday and they want us (the elders) to sing at the Christmas service on Christmas Eve... they want us to sing an American Christmas song... but basically all the German ones are just translations of English ones haha. Except Silent Night. That song is like sacred here. So we'll see what we can do there. It'll be interesting for sure. 

That's sweet that Guyer's going back to state, hopefully they can pull it off. I'm hoping someday I'll make it to a Bundesliga game here. I've been up in Dortmund country most of my mission, but there's Bayern fans everywhere. And a lot of people here are FC Schalke fans here as well. Just in case you want to honor me in any holiday FIFA playing ;)

But not much to report on, and we'll talk next week, so I'm gonna try and get some pics on here. 

December 9, 2013

Hey everybody!

That's crazy about the weather... It was pretty funny this week actually. It was kind of cold and windy and we had a lunch appointment with some members. At the end of the appointment, she asked us if we'd heard about the storm that was coming that afternoon. We hadn't, and she told us that a storm was supposed to be coming that was gonna be huge, and that they'd never had a storm warning like this in a long time of living here. So we're all like dang... but then nothing that day really happens. But then late that night, Zone Training for the next day in Dortmund gets cancelled, because of the storm. So we just assume it's coming later than expected. And then the next day it snows for like 2 minutes and then the rest of the day is really nice... by German December standards. So we were just like... well, our plans got ruined for nothing haha. So that was a fun day. But it's actually been fairly nice here recently. It's pretty cold, but that's about it. And it rains every now and then, nothing too bad.

That's sweet that Olivia's bday is this week! Tell her Happy Birthday from me!

My birthday was good. We did indeed make tacos, and they were delicious. I did get the Fuzzy's seasoning, so that was in one of the packages I've already gotten haha. But that was a wonderful addition to the bday tacos. I bought myself a new sweater and some gloves... So thanks!

My area is an existing area that got an extra set of elders - aka me and Elder Langford, who was already here just split it with is old companion. 

But other than that, things are good. Trying to keep everything going in the winter... visiting a lot of members, which is always fun. But things are rolling along. I hope you guys have a good week!

Elder Brown

December 2, 2013

Hey everybody!

Yeah, I'm pretty excited for my birthday on Wednesday, we're making tacos! Haha it'll be great. 

The transfer went well, and I did indeed spend Thanksgiving on a train/at a train station. We got to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof at about 11 and I got to Oberhausen (the city right next to Mülheim where we actually live) at about 5. So that was fun. My new companion is way cool. He's from Provo and his name is Elder Langford. We like a ton of the same music, and his favorite band is Brand New... so we talk about that a lot. He was at a bunch of the same concerts as me last year which was kinda funny. But yeah, things are going well there. He's also super tall so I look tiny all the time. 

Oberhausen/Mülheim is pretty sweet. In case you didn't learn it in your research, it has the biggest mall in Europe, and 2 others that are up there as well... so that'll always be a nice P-day fall back plan. The ward is way cool, about the same size as Solingen, so nothing too new there. Way cool people though. I'm excited. I've met with a few of them and all the appointments have been fun. We've got the Christmas party this week too so that'll be fun.

Sounds like you all had a good Thanksgiving week - I did indeed have a Thanksgiving dinner/lunch in Darmstadt that the senior couple there made. It was wonderful. 

My new ward, Mülheim ward, is actually in Dortmund Zone/Stake so that's a little something new. It's right on the border of Düsseldorf Zone though and we have Zone Conference in Düsseldorf next week so that'll be fun. It is very much like Solingen in appearance/people/weather though, so that's good to be back to something I'm accustomed to.

But other than that, just getting settled in here right now. Looks like we've got some good things happening here and I'm excited to get going.

Have a great week everybody!! Love you all, 

Elder Brown