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

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