January 27, 2014

Hey everybody!

Chariots of Fire is a great song haha... I've listened to it many times out here…. That's sweet that Brother Wawro was called as the Stake YM Pres, and that Brother Barnett is the ward Pres now. The YM are in good hands for sure.

This past week was pretty good, it went by super fast, which is usually a good sign. But we had a great lesson with our American investigator on Wednesday, and we have FHE with a family tonight that lives not far from him, so hopefully we'll see him there. And then we helped with a move on Saturday, which was nice. I actually really enjoy helping people move... it's kinda weird. I don't know if I ever told you, but one time when I was helping someone move in in Langen, I was carrying some big piece of a bed or something downstairs into the cellar, and just slipped and ate it so hard on my butt. That hurt really bad... and was a little embarrassing. But I survived. Anyways, just remembered that.

That's sweet that you guys got a brand new missionary, and that he reminds you guys of me... because if your judgment isn't impaired, Denton 2nd Ward is in great hands. Haha but I hope he had a good experience at the house, because if he felt at all similar as I felt my first day in the mission field, it was the weirdest day of his life. But I'm sure you guys were great at remedying that.

That's unfortunate that BYU doesn't look like they'll be joining the field this year... can't believe that's coming up so fast. Maybe they'll go on a run through the tourney. Who knows.

But that's about all that's going on in my life right now. Hope you all have a great week!

Tschüß!

Elder Brown

January 20, 2014

Hey everyone!

My day has been good so far... despite not being able to find the internet cafe for a little bit haha. We changed because the last one was terrible... and there was always a bunch of foreign dudes trying to buy cars... very loudly. But this one's way nice, we just didn't remember where it was at first. So there's a little look into our lives haha.

Some weeks definitely feel longer than others, but they have been going by pretty fast since I've gotten to Oberhausen. We have a lot of fun so even long weeks aren't too bad. But even with the long ones, time goes by incredibly fast. 10 months today... way crazy.

Sounds like ward conferences went well, and that there's some good stuff happening in the Denton Stake as far as missionary work is concerned. That's good to hear.

But as far as your question about the German hymnbook, it is very different than the English one. It has a lot of the same ones, a lot of different ones, and all the numbers are different. There are some pretty sweet German hymns haha. But don't worry, I've got my own little one so you'll see it one day. It's got my name on it and everything.

The weather has still been pretty nice... I don't know if we're gonna be getting any snow any time soon. It's kinda weird because I only heard how awful winter was over the summer and fall... and it hasn't been bad at all. We haven't seen the end of it though.

This week was way good though. We had a great lesson with our American investigator, as well as the member's son we are teaching. He should be baptized next month, so hopefully all goes well with that.

That's great that everything went well with Grandma. She sent an email to Keegan and me today and she sounds like she's doing well.

But all is going well here, I hope you guys have a great week! I'm gonna go get my bowl on!!

Tschüß

Elder Brown

January 13, 2014

Hey everyone!

I had a good week this week. Glad to hear I had the most exciting New Year's of anyone... that's kinda sad haha. But I'm sure you guys had fun in your own way.

But yeah the new transfer has started off well. Elder Langford and I are the same as ever... and Elder Smith's new companion is really cool, so we've been having fun for the past few days since he's been here. We're gonna try and have a Taco Night with the ward in a month or so...

Glad to hear that the week went well, even if it was kinda quiet. Quiet weeks are kinda nice sometimes. This week was pretty sweet here. We've got some good stuff happening here. We're starting to teach a 13-year old who's the son of a member and comes to church every Sunday, just isn't baptized. Coolest kid ever though. And then an American investigator came to church for the first time yesterday, and we've got an appointment with him, so things are going good. This week looks like it'll pretty good.

The white shirts would actually be kinda nice. I haven't worn an American white shirt in a really long time (there is a rather large difference) but I do need some more, so you can send em this way.

Things are going well here though. Thanks for everything you do, and I hope you guys have a great week!!

Elder Brown

January 6, 2014

Hey everybody!

Well... let me just start off by giving Germany some props. Germany goes hard on Sylvester (New Year's) haha. Elder Langford and I did indeed ring in the New Year at midnight because it literally would have been impossible to sleep through it. Literally everyone was setting off fireworks. We could lean out our window, and see people lining the streets for as far as we could see. It was pretty sweet. And that went on until about 1, so we got to sleep around then. The streets the next morning looked... and smelled... like a war zone haha. So that was fun. 

But the winter definitely hasn't been bad so far. I'm sure it's not far away though. Snow will be around pretty soon I'm sure. Not really sure if I'm looking forward to that, although I kinda like snow. It'll lend some variety to the scenery haha. But it's been pretty mild so far. It gets kinda cold with the wind sometimes but that's about it. 

But it's weird now that all the holidays are over. Life is just back to its old boring self haha... jk things are always exciting, but it does kind of have a "well.... what do we do now?" feel to it. We're excited though. Oh, and on that note, we did have something exciting happen... transfer calls! I'm going..... nowhere! I made it through a whole transfer without getting moved again, it's pretty nice. Elder Langford and I will be staying together, which I'm really excited about. We get along really well. But one of the other elders here in Oberhausen got transferred… to Solingen! Haha I was pretty pumped for him. I talk about it all the time too so hopefully I didn't get his hopes too high. I really did love that place though and it was cool to see someone I knew go there. But the new elder coming is younger than Elder Langford... so now it's me, Elder Smith (from my MTC group,) Elder Langford, and Elder Blackhurst, who's younger than all of us. 4 elders and me and Elder Smith haven't even hit 10 months yet haha. So that'll be fun. 

But we did have to be in on New Year's at 6 o'clock, I think that's like a worldwide thing... could be wrong though. Elder Langford and I bought a Christmas tree for the apartment... we haven't taken it down yet... it'll probably be up for a long time. It's a real one though so it might start to symbolize the distance of Christmas more than its presence over time haha. 

But things are going well here, we're excited for a new transfer and a new year. We've got some sweet members here who want to help get things going so I think some good stuff is ahead. Crazy that I hit my 10 and 11 month marks this transfer as well... this first year has gone by very very fast. But we're having fun... trying to keep it under control though, don't worry. Haha. 

Hope you all have a great week!! I'll try to do some cool things this week and maybe have some new pics for you next week or something. No promises though! :) 

Tschüß!

Elder Brown