The Scabies Virus is Back

"How's it goin'? Oh, it's going alright". We're doing super good here in the Iona South Stake. It's only been about a week since I've been in the area, but everyone here are super friendly and were quick to make me feel involved and loved. Elder Martin is a awesome companion and is a really good listener when it comes to teaching people. We are in a bike area and is not as big as my last area. We live in a member's basement and it's really nice and makes me feel at home. We both have a full sized bed, a jet bathtub and also have our own little kitchen. We get free milk from the members in the area. We also go work out at the gym every morning with other missionaries. We play basketball Monday mornings with a lot of youth. Suffice it to say that we are taken care of. We are truly blessed. Anyways, this week has just been going around and meeting the members and people we are teaching. we cover 9 wards and are actually teaching a lot of lessons which is good and keeps the week busy. I have meet two families that used to live in Rockford and the Naperville areas. It's kind of hard to get to know the people when we are covering 9 wards again but since elder martin has been in the area for 7 months now, its makes it a whole lot easier.

We had a conference with President Hancock this past Saturday. He was there to say good bye to all the north half of mission. All he wanted to to was literally hang out and just get to talk with us. He's actually coming up to Idaho Falls today and we are playing softball with us. This week had been good. I think that is all for this week. Tonight I am going on exchanges with Elder Teokotai in his area! It's going to be so much fun. Thanks for everything y'all do! God is Good! 

Elder Browning

My new address is: 4839 Madison River Road Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401

The Overockers ​

 IF Zone Leaders

 ​Bishop Peterson and his wife

 Paige and Brittany

Selfie with the baby, haha

​How much Powerade my companion drinks in a week, no joke

Free snow-cones

 ​Our backyard

  

The crib

President and Sister Hancock

Iona Bound

So to start off this email, you should probably know that I will be getting transferred to the Iona South Stake after serving a total of 5 1/2 months in the wonderful Idaho Falls Central Stake. I can't believe how fast time goes by especially as a missionary. It's been a tough couple months, but I feel like things are only getting much better. I've come to realize that serving a mission is hard, but in the end, it's all worth it. The experiences you have and the friends you make are only the sweet tender memories you will cherish for lifetime. I am super excited that I am getting transferred. It will be another fresh start and getting another companion, learning new faces and teaching more people. My new companion is Elder Martin. He has been serving in that area and on his mission for 6 months. He is from Houston, Texas and is the most polite person I have ever met. It's going to be a good transfer. Iona will be fun. It's a little farming community and everyone says its a lot like Ririe, so i'm excited to have my farming roots back. Here's what happened this past week;

We played softball on Monday with our zone and the Ammon zone. We also played with our recent covert and her friend that is starting to come back to church. It was tons of fun and our recent convert just got her temple recommend and she is planning on going to the temple sometime after September and wants me to go through with her. We helped out at the temple on Wednesday night and sanded the gates since they are getting ready to paint them. We had a couple interviews with the mission president and he told me that I will be staying in the new mission. He said today in an email that his heart is tender that he has to send half of us to the new mission. The new mission president should be really good too. He is from Oregon. We then spent the rest of the week doing a little service around the area and saying goodbye to all the amazing families in the Central Stake. I think that is all for this week! I will let you know of all the new adventures next week! Thank you for all the prayers this past week. God is Good! Oh yeah, happy fathers day to the number 1 dad! 

Love you all,

Elder Browning

P.S. I will send you my new address next week so you all can send me letters. There are more pictures of the families that I am seeing tonight so they will be on next week.

 

 Helping sand the temple gates.

 The Staley Family.

 Our recent convert, Treycin Marsden.

 The amazing java workers.

 The Hart Family.

 The Hebdons.

Stake President and his family, the Stewarts.

Last round with Melba.

 The Wahe Family.

 The Kisleys.

 The Staffords.

 

The Baby Whisperer

 

A Whole New World

Hey everyone! This past week has been crazy and super stressful. We had an unexpected couple of cold days this week which was a nice break from the heat. So here's the scoop.

We finished painting the house we've been working on. They are taking us to go get snow cones tonight. Since school is out now for the summer, we have been focusing on contacting all of the overage youth in the stake. We have a lesson with one of them tomorrow who we have been trying to get ion contact with for the longest time. Our recent convert, Jason called us the other night and told us that he caught his fiance cheating on him and the house that we all have been working on, he's not going to be living there anymore. He surprisingly has a good attitude about the whole thing. On Saturday we had the privilege of having Elder D. Todd Christofferson from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak to the whole mission. The majority of the meeting was question and answer that the elders and sisters asked. He is super funny and learned a lot of good things from him. Yesterday, Dominic passed the sacrament for the first time and he did an awesome job. He's moving to Alaska for a long time so it was good that he was able to do it. The rest of the night was good. I think that's all for this week, sorry it was short again. I would ask to keep me in your prayers this week especially. Things have been stressful beyond imagine with everything that has been going on. Thanks for all you do! God is Good.

Elder Browning

 

 IPM Selfie

 Look at all those Chickens

 Elder Bushman; the man, the myth, the legend.

 The finished project.

 

 

 Missionaries from the Joliet Stake: Elder Banez - Naperville 3rd Ward, Sister Sanchez - Joliet 2nd Branch, Elder Browning - Joliet 1st Ward, Elder Carter - Bolingbrook Ward.

 Star Valley District.

 Elder Frankie-J.

 Elder Green.

 All the missionaries that came out with each other.

 Hoffwang and Brownpiece.

 The Crew.

 AP Elder Bradfield.

 Elder McPeek and AP Elder Welling

 

 The Shrine.

 These members at dinner made us put these dentist things in our mouth.

 Gigantic strawberry.

 Pictures at the Wahes'.

Service & Pizza

Just to start off by telling you that we did a whopping of 32 1/2 hours of service this week. It's been crazy and real fun for me, but as for my companion, he hated it but we are just only getting started. It also has been super hot this past week and it's supposed to get  even hotter. This week was all about service for people all over the Central Sake. We spent the most of the time in the 31st ward helping a family build a fence. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we were there for 12 hours both days.  We then we went to the soup kitchen on Friday and then helped scrape of siding on someones house on Saturday.  We had pizza almost every single night so i'll be taking a break from it for a little while. I got to go to dinner with Mike Clark and his family and it was so good to see them again. We also had transfer calls this week and we are both still staying in the same are until at least June 21st where we are having a mid-transfer. So as of right now, I will most likely be in the new Idaho Falls Mission, but anything could happen.

Yesterday was hot. I bore my testimony twice in both wards and then we saw Melba again. Hopefully things will get better. This week we have two apostles coming to the mission; Elder D. Todd Christofferson and Elder Quentin L. Cook. We get to go to a conference with Elder Christofferson on Saturday so I'm stoked for that. That's about all for this week. Thanks again for everything. God is Good.

P.S. Please send mail to this address until June 21st. The Mission Office wants the missionaries to get their mail quicker so they are having people who send missionaries mail, to send it directly to them, thanks! the address is:                   2206 St. Clair Rd

                                               Idaho Falls, Idaho 83404

Vi amo tutti

Elder Browning

 

 At the Zoo

 Idaho Falls Zone

 Carne Asada Fries Burrito at Los Albertos.

 One of many projects.

 One of our ward mission leaders sent us this.