June 30, 2014

Yo!!

Nurnberg was cool, got to ride on an ICE (the nice, fast long-distance trains) for the first time in a long time so that was cool. But we didn't see a whole ton of the city, just walked from Bahnhof to the church and back. But Zone Conference was good. President Schwartz is from the Nurnberg area so his whole family was there as well, which was cool. But it was pretty sad as well. He gave a relatively short talk/farewell address thing, but not before cementing his legacy and showing us the highlights of the USA-Ghana game on the projector haha. It was sweet. But sadly we did not get to go to the zoo.... it rained and they cancelled it. But it got rescheduled so there is still a chance.

Schade that the Rangers aren't doing too well. They're just waiting for me to get back.

But yeah, that's about it for this week, things are going really well here. Gera is great, Elder Wright is great, usw. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Brown

June 23, 2014

Hey!

Things are good here. We had transfers on Thursday, and the new missionaries here in Gera are awesome. We all get along really well, and I'm excited for the next few weeks here. I don't know if I said it in my last email but my new companion's name is Elder Wright and he's a way cool dude. He's from San Jose and we're pretty similar personalities so it's gonna be fun.

The soccer tournament was really fun. We took 5th out of 6 places, so not too shabby haha. I scored a few times. But yeah, no serious injuries. It was put on by Streetwork, an organization here in Gera that helps out homeless people. So a lot of the workers played, and some of them weren't very experienced at soccer. One of those girls was playing goalie and got drilled in the face by a kid who was... very experienced at soccer haha. So that was probably the worst that happened. She got over it though. And then went right back in haha.

We watched the Germany-Portugal game in a public viewing in Gera with a potential investigator of ours. It was sick! And President gave the whole mish permission to watch the USA - Germany game this week, so we're doing the same again. Gonna be awesome!

But yeah... 15 months. Pretty crazy. The 3 months since my year mark have gone by way fast.  Life is good here. The week is looking good. Get to go to Nürnberg tomorrow, and might get to push some old people around a zoo on Wednesday. Haha. Love you guys!

Elder Brown

June 17, 2014

Hey!!

I moved into the other Gera apartment when we went down to one companionship here. But don't worry, I've still gotten everything - the other apartment is like 5 minutes away. But yeah, I'm staying here in Gera and I'll be getting a new companion, Elder Wright. I know him a little bit and he's way cool. I'm excited. But yeah, having the last transfer call with President Schwartz was way weird and sad. But we're having Zone Conference with him next week so it's not quite done yet. 

But the festival thing was way good. We had some crafts and stuff for kids and that was where we saw the most action, but that was still good because it was just exposure for the church, which is pretty important here, seeing as we have 20 members and are jammed up above a baumarkt haha. It was fun. We did give out a few Books of Mormons though. And on Saturday, the daunting "die Mormonen" team will be taking part in the soccer tournament which is the final event of the festival, so that will be fun haha. 

But Happy Father's Day, Dad! I had no idea.... sorry. But yeah it was last month here. Haha, but I did get a Snickers bar at church so that was nice. 

Things are going well here… nice weather, Germany destroyed Portugal last night, and yeah... it’s all good. Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Brown

June 12, 2014

Hey!

First off, I am sorry Mom that this email is coming on Thursday. I can only imagine the heartache that this has caused. Haha, we've just had a super busy week and haven't even had P-day yet, and probably won't have it at all. We just came over to the Seelos's for dinner and jumped on their computers for a little bit. 

But yeah, like I said, pretty busy week. Monday was Pfingst Montag, so the mission moved P-day to Tuesday, so on Monday we just did a bunch of visits to some former investigators. Not a whole lot of results, but it was nice to get out and hit the streets ... But it's also been pretty freaking hot lately, so that was fun. Then on Tuesday, which should have been P-day, we helped with a move for the whole day basically and then had our Gemeinde Abend. On Wednesday, we went to Jena for a joint district meeting with the Erfurt district, so that was way fun. Elder Hawker (aka Keaton, my EFY roommate from back in the day) and I are back together in the same zone again, so that's pretty sweet. We took a picture on top of the tallest building in Thuringen last week (29 stories!!! lol) so I'll send you guys that on Tuesday hopefully - no Monday P-day again, sorry! But then today we helped with the same move again, literally all day haha. So.... we're pretty tired. 

But things are going really well. On Saturday and Monday we have a huge opportunity at a festival called "Wir alle sind die Welt" (We are all the world) where we're going to present ourselves and the church as a part of world culture with roots in America, so that will be fun. It's a big thing with people representing their countries from all over the world, so it will be cool. We're going to get a lot of help from other missionaries in the zone so we're excited. 

Sounds like things are good with you guys! And side note, the other elder from Gera and I are comps now since there is only one companionship in Gera now, and fun fact, he was my MTC companion as well, Elder Renn. Pretty interesting to be with each other over a year later. But we've got transfers again on Saturday so we'll see what happens. 

Haha but yeah, that's about it from my side. All is well. Hope you guys have a great week, und viel Spaß beim Fußballgucken!

Elder Brown

Due to the “editors” travels these past few weeks, communication with Elder Brown has been a little spotty the last few weeks. We were able to Skype with him on Mothers  Day from his new area, Gera, and that was awesome. He looks great.  Gera is in an area that was part of the old East Germany and some research tells us that it is in one of the most unreligious areas of the world! He is serving in a very small branch, so is experiencing some new challenges.  He asks us to say hi to everyone and thanks for all the support.