I might have to get a monkey

We had a great week in the Weddington area. We had two great lessons with Hap where the Spirit was strong and another great lesson with Carlie, a new investigator, who has a desire to quit smoking and bring her life in order with the Gospel. She also has a monkey. :) It was pretty cute and I might have to get one myself. :D But not for a while.

 

Elder Thomas is the best. He works hard and inspires me to do more than before. He's an outdoors kinda guy; enjoys rock climbing, fishing, lacrosse and anything with two wheels and a motor.  He's been out about three months and is doing great as a missionary!

 

Love,

Elder Brown
 

Hindsight

It actually was a pretty funny prank. but only in hindsight. :D

 

I have been transferred to the Weddington NC ward. It's actually just south of Carmel, which is now Providence and Pineville 1st, since they split the ward. So I got to see some of the old faces in the Providence ward, since they meet in our building.

 

My new address is:

 

7925 Vinings Oak Lane # 937

Matthews, NC 28105

 

Don't really have any stories from this week. Bummer. Maybe next time.

 

Love

Elder Joshua Brown

Pranking the missionaries

So, I got a phone call last night [Jan 15th] about 9:40 or so from an Elder Brown in the office staff. We chatted for a few minutes about geneology and then he said, "I have an assignment from President Thomas. We had an elder get hurt and he'll be out of commission for a little while. You'll be going to take his companion and open Stuart, Virginia to proselyting." Oh boy. So I pack and get everything ready, stress out, go to bed. I was thinking it sounded a bit like a member from the ward, but it was pretty a thick southern accent and I didn't worry about it. I get up this morning at 5:30 so I can be ready for the pickup at 6:30. Shower, finish packing, finish off my boiled peanuts (sounds gross? they're AMAZING) and Elder Brown calls again, saying he'll be a little bit late. Well, go figure. So I call the Lakefield Elders that live across the parking lot, and we all go down to the gatehouse to wait for him. Well, about five minutes before Elder Brown's supposed to get here, a member from the ward, Brother Skipper, who's notorious for pranking the missionaries, pulls up and quotes a scripture about 'prove all things'. That's right. He got me. And it was kinda funny, too. Then I found out that he got Elder York and both the Lakefield Elders in on it.  It was kinda funny but I'm going to miss those hours of sleep that it cost me. We're all feeling it.

 

I am being transferred to a new area, though. All I know about this area is that it's a car share area in the NCCM and that my new companion will have been out only 3 months.

 

Elder Josh Brown

Exchanges

When we go on exchange, we spend roughly 24 hours together and offer each other suggestions afterward on how we can improve our missionary skills.  They're fun. I'm going on exchange to Lakefield tonight. :D

 

Transfer calls are this saturday; if I leave, it'll be on next wednesday (the 18th).

 

Not much has happened since I wrote last. I bore my testimony in Spanish over the pulpit yesterday. Beda, an investigator we've been working with for quite some time, finally came to church and had a very good experience. huzzah!

 

Please tell everybody hi for me!

Love, Elder Brown

 

Feliz Ano!

Feliz Ano para tu!

 

Welcome to 2012!

 

I've really enjoyed speaking Spanish for the little time I've had. I hope to be able to maintain it  over the years and perhaps even learn more. 

 

I was really glad to see Brenda baptised. Her story was almost incredible. She'd given up literaly everything to find God.  And at last she did. 

 

I did a bold and daring thing this Monday. I made my own bread. It was good, too. a few things to work on still- like letting it rise a bit longer, not making 4 giant loves, and maybe buying a bread pan- but it was tasty, and I think i'll even do it again.

 

I went on three exchanges in the last two days and it's good to finally be back in my own apartment. I'm still pretty tired though. I feel like i could curl up in a sock drawer and sleep for days.

 

I've just discovered the coolest thing ever. if you sign in to LDS.org with an LDS account, you have your very own online study notebook. It's super cool. You should try it out, if you haven't already.

 

Love,

Elder Josh Brown

Dec 29, 2011 We taught a lot this week

This week just sort of disappeared. I don't know what happened. We have taught a lot this week. Brenda, from Lakefield, is getting baptised this week and we're going to go see it.  Got interviewed by President Thomas this week; he says I'll probably be going back to English after this transfer. Don't want to, but when President says...

 

I'm feeling a lot better. I think it may be partly allergies. we'll see, though.

Love,

Elder Joshua Brown

Dec 18th, 2011 Feliz Navidad!

This was probably the most surreal week of my mission. Just a lot of wierd stuff happened. For example, my Companion's mom sent me a stocking... which, during the journey to us, had had two oranges molded onto it (and by molded, I mean that mold had grown out of the oranges and into the fibers of the stocking). 

 

Both Elder York and I have been a bit under the weather. We got new phones as a mission that wouldn't activate (we did finally get that fixed). We spent a large portion of the week inside for various reasons. Just a few examples. But it ended well: the Ortiz girls and Jose were all baptised and confirmed. Halleluja!

 

The Spanish Missionaries are still part of the North Carolina Charlotte Mission. Our area boundaries are the Stake's boundaries, and we are full-car, which means we don't have to share with another companionship(s). But we still have to get out and bike some.

 

Love,

Elder Brown