September 30, 2013

Hey!!

Well that was a better way to start off the email than last week... hopefully the Rangers can pull it off. We did get to go down to the temple on Saturday, and that was awesome! I really like the Frankfurt temple. It's in this little town outside of Frankfurt called Friedrichsdorf, and it actually looks a lot like the Dallas temple, both on the outside and inside. So that was cool. Our new member was there to do baptisms, along  with another Young Adult member and her brother, who just turned 12. So that was a really good day. 

Oktoberfest hasn't started yet, but it's definitely big here. I think it's the biggest down in Bayern, in Nürnberg Zone, but I'm sure we'll still have plenty of celebration here. 

You guys better go to the State Fair and eat a bunch of fried stuff! Haha I miss grungy American junk food so much... All we've got is McDonalds... So sacrifice for me. 

This week was pretty good. Things are pretty slow at the moment, but Elder Anderson and I are just trying to keep going forward and try to make things work. It's been really hard getting appointments to go through, so that's been frustrating, but we're still having a good time, and we're building a good relationship with a lot of the ward, which is good. We've got a lot of people that are right under the surface, so to say, and we just gotta bring them out haha. I think this week will be good though. We're excited. 

I can't think of too much that I need at the moment, I trust your judgement with whatever you feel like sending haha. And yeah I know, but sometimes you just need a break from the Haribo!

But that's about it from my side, hope you all have a great week!!

Tschußßß

Elder Brown

September 23, 2013

Heyyy everybody!

Death, taxes, and BYU football crushing the souls of their loyal fans: the three certainties in life. 

That's all I'll say about that haha... but I'm glad that everything else seemed to go well this week! I still think it's so cool that you guys are working at the temple, I hope that's still the case when I get home, that'd be sweet. Elder Anderson and I are hoping to get down to the temple this Saturday with some people from the ward, but we'll see. 

Oh man.. Mr. Chopsticks. I miss that place. It has been far too long since I've had some good sushi. 

That's cool that you had a missionary work sacrament meeting, we're having one this week hopefully where we will all speak for a short time about our missions and then our ward mission leader (coolest guy ever, professional drummer, knows Eminem and Madonna and Phil Collins and stuff) will speak about member missionary work. So that'll be good. 

Glad to know that it isn't just BYU blowing it, and that the Rangers are also doing their best to let everyone down. Haha, man I miss being a part of the ups and downs of sports season. 

But this week was pretty solid. Elder Hawker (new DL in Wuppertal, super cool dude) and I were able to meet with our recent convert's friend on a split, and that was way good. Taught about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. It went well. Visited an old investigator at the request of his member friend and he might have some interest in starting again, so we'll see where that goes. We had a pretty solid adventure on Saturday. A member of our bishopric gave us a list of names to go by in a city in our area called Wipperfürth. So we did. It took two hours by bus to get to Wipperfürth, and then we walked for an hour to get to the first name. She didn't live there anymore. And we were in the middle of nowhere. Like literally we had no idea. So then we just waited for an hour or so for a bus, took some sweet pics, and then took the bus all the way back. That was our whole day haha. And there's still some names on the list so we might do it again. We'll see. 

But we're excited for this week, we've got a lot of good appointments set up so we think it'll be successful. Things are still going really well with Elder Anderson. His parents are from New Zealand and they've got a condo down there so we're gonna go chill there after the mish. Hope that's cool! :) 

Don't need anything at the moment... Just candy I guess haha. Things are good. 

Love you guys!!

Elder Brown

September 16, 2013

Hey Everybody!!

The week was great here in Solingen! Kind of slow as far as the work goes... tons of cancelled appointments and stuff, so that was kinda frustrating, but Elder Anderson and I have fun anyways. We did get a lot of appointments in with less actives though, so that was good. We're also really trying to do better work with the members, so we've been meeting with them more and talking about missionary work a lot. That's been good.

One of our investigators was sick this week, so we weren't able to meet, but it was still pretty awesome. We were at a dinner appointment with a family in the ward, a really cool younger couple in the ward, and I was telling her about how the week was pretty frustrating because we didn't have much contact with investigators. Then like ten minutes later, our investigator texted me and said that while he was sick he had read the whole Book of Mormon and that he wants to be baptized.... Pretty cool haha. So that made the whole week a lot better. 

Other than that, things are slowly picking up. We're going to start meeting with one of our new member's friends tomorrow, so we're excited about that. Other than that, we've got a good amount of member appointments for the week, so we're excited. 

Yeah this transfer was pretty crazy... there were only about 14 or 15 companionships that stayed the same out of 120ish... so yeah haha. Still haven't been a part of it though.  <The mission had a very large transfer this past week, highlighted in a Church blog – over 150 missionaries at the train station at one time>

Welp, that's about all I got. Things are going well here, I'm loving it. I bought some sweaters and a coat so hopefully I won't freeze to death.

Have a great week everybody! 

Tschußß!

Elder Brown

Elder Brown and his new companion, Elder Anderson

September 9, 2013

Hey everybody!!

First off WASSUP BYU!! That's so sick. Man, I bet that game was awesome. I do miss me some BYU sports haha. Man... that's awesome. They better do the same to Utah. My best buds out here, Elder Divver and Elder Blackley, are both Utes so there will be a lot riding on that one.

Elder Anderson is the man. We're having a ton of fun together and we're excited for the transfer. He's from South Jordan and came here from down in Nürnberg Zone. He's a stud. The other elders are here, and they're cool too. They live way far away from us though. Like a 30 minute bus ride. 

Everything is going good here. Like I said, Elder Anderson and I are getting along super well and things are looking good. We have one investigator who is super cool and has a ton of potential. Other than that, we're just working with all of the less actives and members that we always have. I love the ward here, they're so awesome. 

And, a little bit of cool news, one of the Young Single Adults here got her mission call this week. She's going to Winnipeg Canada English speaking. So she's really excited about that.

But that's about it as of right now.

Love you guys, hope everything is going well!!

Tschußßß

Elder Brown

September 2, 2013

Hey everybody! 

Things are still going great... And I guess I'll get to the big news first, about transfers. I will be in.... Solingen! Haha I'm staying here once more, but I'm senior companion now so that's kinda exciting I guess haha. My new comp is Elder Anderson, and he just got done being trained. I've heard way good things about him and he sounds way cool. Elder Collins is going down to Nürnberg Zone. I'm excited though. 

Things are still going pretty well here... Pretty chill. I think things will pick up here soon though. We're also getting two new elders here in Solingen, so that'll be fun. I'm looking forward to this cycle. 

I'm hoping that me and Elder Anderson will get down to Friedrichsdorf this transfer to the temple, I think we're going to be able to. That would be sweet.  

That's too bad about BYU... maybe they'll shake it off next week. Probably not though haha. 

I hope everything is going well with you guys, and that you guys are having fun. I'm having a great time and I'm excited to stay in Solingen. 

Peace!

Elder Brown

August 26, 2013

Hey!!

It's been pretty nice here for the last week or so. It rained pretty hard yesterday though. I think Summer is well on its way out. 

But yep, transfer calls will be this week, it's so weird. It seems that every cycle goes by faster. I've already been in Solingen for four months! Pretty crazy. It'll be a crazy couple of days. This zone is pretty tight…. I've loved my time in Düsseldorf Zone. We'll see what happens. 

That's crazy that the second school year since I've graduated is starting... I'm so old! Haha, I've only got three months left as a teenager, what the heck??

But not much too new to report from here. This week was kind of just a settle down from the work and excitement of the baptism week. Just kinda had to formulate what's next for Solingen. It was a good week though. Met a lot of new people though. Met some less actives that we hadn't met with before, as well as getting some new referrals, so that was cool. Things are definitely looking up for Solingen I think. 

Our ward mission leader came back from his temple mission, which was nice. He's a boss. He's got a great vision for the missionary work here and really wants to make it happen. 

But not really anything else. The package was awesome, we've made some delicious tacos a couple times this week. A little taste of home haha. It's nice to have something like that every now and then. German food is great, but still. Yesterday we had a pretty massive dinner appointment. Had a ton of salad and bread and stuff, and then two schnitzels and potatoes and yeah... I was very full haha. Gotta start doing morgen sport. Haha.

But that's about it, hope everything is still going well with everybody. Love you guys!

Elder Brown

August 19, 2013

Hey everybody!!

I did indeed perform the baptism... it was so awesome. The whole experience of just teaching, and preparing, and the baptism was just sweet. She is so cool, and she's going to be a way solid addition to the Solingen ward. But yeah, that was the highlight of last week for sure. The program was way good, a lot of missionaries came with investigators so that was really cool. A member gave a talk on baptism and then Elder Ockey gave a talk about the Holy Ghost. Then there were a lot of refreshments... which is always good. The ward was really excited and has done a really good job of welcoming. Elder Collins and I, and the bishop confirmed her on Sunday, and now she's a member, so tight! Definitely will be an experience I look back on the rest of my mission. 

I got my visa and I look pretty dang fresh. Rocking the combover and what not. I'll have to send you guys a pic...) And dang, you'll have to keep your eye out for Elder Hall if you're ever around the YSA ward again, that guy is too fresh.

But in other news this week.... not much. I went on a split with Elder Brown in Krefeld.... so that was fun haha. The people definitely enjoyed themselves some same name humor. And then the rest of the week was basically spent visiting some of our usual people and getting ready for the baptism. It was a good week. 

…until next week! Love you guys,

Elder Brown