May 28, 2012

Waddup!!! Life is good here too!!! We had a nice week... my last zone conference was on Friday. A lot different than I expected when I gave my "departing" testimony. I remember my first zone conference down in Cape, there were 6 zones there, almost a hundred missionaries, and five missionaries gave their departing testimonies in front of everybody. So, I totally pictured mine being given down in the Ola chapel in Cape Coast, or in the Bantama chapel in Kumasi, in front of like 50 missionaries. But, it was in a little rented building in Sunyani, in front of 8 missionaries, a senior couple, and the mission president. Not exactly how I had imagined it 22 months ago. But, it’s exactly how I would've wanted it. It was a great zone conference, Elder McFarland and I instructed on how to do "Gospel Conversations", or casual contacting while we go along our ways through the day, and about "Going about doing good", serving in simple ways every day. It seems everyone received it pretty well. Then we learned about how to work with members better. Outside of the zone conference we just had a pretty normal week. Did some service in Estates to plant some corn in order for the church to have a little something to have the next few months, and played a football match with the members on Saturday, against the Church of Christ. It was fun... the same here as back home though, sports DOES NOT bring out the best in Mormons!!!!! Haha :) I was exhibit A when it came to that back home!!!! Haha. Oh my gawsh... intramurals woho!!!!! BYU intramural football better get used to the Brown-Brown connection down there on there on the football pitch, I mean field. Taught Princeton again yesterday, moving along slowly, he was busy with finals this week. But we talked a lot about the Book of Mormon yesterday and he was very impressed that it wasn't a commentary on the Bible, but rather a book of scripture comparable to the Bible. I am sure he has read the Introduction and all that, should see him again on Thursday, he lives out in a place kind of far, so we only go there on Thursdays and Sundays. The twins were busy all week selling their refrigerators, but we did get another sweet new investigator in the same area, Albert. He is a radio announcer and is super interested in the church. Researched a lot on the net, and wants to be baptized. So just gotta teach him a lot and see when that can happen!! Maybe before I go!!! Could be too fast though. Big news, Andrew is gonna be a father!!!!! Pretty sweet!!! I told you that Elder Adams got to be at his sealing, now he is going to have a kid!!! Hopefully it’s a boy so he can name him Griffin Garrett!!!! Or something like that haha. It’s just awesome... it’s just so true that if you bring one soul, that’s all that matters. All while I have been on mission, Andrew learned the gospel, was baptized, received the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods, was called to be the Ward Executive Secretary, was sealed in the temple, and now will have his first child, born in the covenant. Wowzers. And honestly it was nothing I did that caused this to happen, Elder Adams and I just got the wheels turning by teaching him what he wanted to know. And to think that Cosmos will have that soon, Barnabas and Felicia.... it’s just too much to think about sometimes. Life is great and the blessings of the gospel and missionary work are real. Ennye easy koraa, but eyie!!! Eyie PAAA!!!!!!! Love you guys so much!!!!! Your support has been invaluable, I just keep mustering the courage every day to realize that yes, even though I have accomplished a lot here, it’s not over and I can't sit back and relax, gotta keep going strong!!!!! Love you all!!!!! -Elder Brown

May 21, 2012

Oh boyyyyyyyyy. Alright well it was another week! Glad to hear from you guys again as usual, and I am happy that all has been well since the phone call! The week was good once again. Still just moving forward, trying to find new people to teach, and trying to strengthen the recent converts (which is... everyone in Sunyani :) We had some good teaching experiences this week though. First guy I will tell you about is Princeton (that’s a sweet name btw). The Fiapre elders sent us a text on Wednesday referring this guy to us, they had contacted him in Fiapre. They said he was really interested and wanted to meet with us. So we give him a call and meet him on Thursday. Turns out he is a Nigerian here studying Theology at the Catholic University. Anyway we had a good first meeting just introducing our message and getting to know him. He has been here for a few months, and plans to be in Sunyani for a few years. He had heard about the church from a friend in Nigeria, and researched a little on the net. He was pretty happy that the missionaries in Fiapre contacted him. So anyway, at our second meeting yesterday, he had read the Restoration pamphlet through twice and had questions about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the Restoration of the Priesthood. We spent over an hour talking about everything in lesson 1. He thought it was pretty cool, and said that he will go home and pray to know if these things are true, without us even committing him to do that. He's definitely got great potential. We continued to teach the Atta twins, they are moving along nicely. Very smart guys and really intrigued by our message. Anyway, what else happened this week.... went on splits with Elder Morrison in Estates. Another stud missionary in sunyani. I have been so impressed with all these guys here. All of them are such hard workers and are so ready to do the work. Elder Morrison is still relatively young on mission, just about 6 months. He spent his first 6 months in Cape Coast in a place called Kissi. He is from Accra (even though his name is Morrison) and is just a super humble dude. We had a great day and taught like 9 lessons or something... haven't had that in a while. He and Elder Otagba are going to be quite the team in Estates. Hopefully Elder Otagba stays there this transfer. While on splits there we went to teach a recent convert named Shirley. She used to play for the B/A stars, the pro soccer team up here. It was sweet because I realized that I had been there on splits the very first time the missionaries taught her, over 6 months ago. So it was cool to remember that I had a part in teaching her and now she is a recent convert, and a super strong one at that. We had a special meeting yesterday after church, a senior couple came up to give a presentation on Family History - Elder and Sister Houssian from Florida I think. People from all four branches came to learn about Family History, it was pretty cool because they are going on a temple trip next week, so they got even more preparation for it. It’s cool to see all of the members in Sunyani gathered together. Because sometimes we seem small, but then they come together and we are actually pretty big!!!! Elder Houssian has a cool background - his father is Muslim, his mother Jewish. Don't know how he joined the church exactly. Wellp....... Other than that, life is moving on. It hit me big time on Wednesday that my time here is short. Honestly every person we met asked me how much longer I will be here, from Benjamin, to the Mills, to so many other investigators and members.... I wanted to keep it quiet, but it kind of slipped to a few and now everybody knows. It's weird. But all is well!!!!!!!! I am happy the way I am finishing, even though we probably won't have any baptisms before I go. I know I have been doing what I can, and things will happen in the Lord's timing. Love you guys, thanks for everything. -Elder Brown

May 14, 2012

We had a great talk with Elder Brown during our phone call on Mother’s Day. He sounded great. He continues to have great success in his work and continues to work hard during his last weeks in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission. He says hello to everyone and thanks all for their support, letters and packages.

May 7, 2012

The weeks are just flying by and it is crazy to be where I am at. But great things are happening each and every day and life is great. Honestly, I am so happy every day... even though things aren't perfect and physically I am just toasted, walking around each day I am so happy... it’s sweet to be able to look back and see the things that have happened on my mission and not have any regrets. Makes me happy for every little thing I did over the course of these couple of years that played into that - every prayer, study sesh, companionship study, ironing my shirt, shining my shoes, not listening to music or watching movies or whatever... life is good. Thanks for helping me make those good decisions every day!!! One of the sweetest parts of the week was teaching a new guy. A few weeks ago, we had contacted a different guy. He was pretty cool, a university graduate. We talked a little bit and eventually asked if he went to any church, and he said that he didn't see the point in going to church anymore. We explained to him that we have a message that gives a fresh view on Christianity and religion that we would like to share with him. He wasn't that all that interested, but said we could come back later when we had time. We went back the next week to see him, and instead found his twin brother. He was the same - a graduate of KNUST in Kumasi (where I stayed for a few months last year before going to Kwamo) and fed up with religion. But he was willing to listen to us because he read about us on Wikipedia the night before. Read about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and our belief in Eternal Marriage. It was pretty tight. The next day we gave the entire message of the Restoration in about 30 minutes, and he loved it. Went back on Saturday, he had read over 10 pages in the Book of Mormon, and said he prayed for the first time in 3 years and that it felt good. We taught a lesson that went into depth with the Book of Mormon - he was taking notes and eating it all up. And then... the next day he came to church. And said he was "touched" by the service. Pretty awesome. He is ready to go, hopefully can teach everything over the next few weeks and have everything ready to go for him. Pretty stoked to teach him more!!!!! We had our first Sunyani district conference yesterday. President Shulz came and organized the district. Elder Thayne is the President and Bro. Mintah, who was the Penkwase president, will be his counselor. We had almost 200 people at the conference - all of the missionaries combined had 34 investigators there. Pretty legit. Everyone loved it, and it’s going to do so much with having the district here now. Well a lot else happened this week, but that’s all the time I got right now!! I got some packages this week - the pics of Dad on his mission are CRAZY!!! Haha honestly it is so weird to see him. The one of him reading GQ is pretty funny - don't think that was in the missionary approved library!!!! Haha. It’s good to see that missionaries are always immature, even if they are your Dad 30 years ago :) Well anyway, life is great and I am doing my best to finish the best I can. I love you guys and thanks for everything!!!! You are da best!!!!! -Elder Brown