A White Christmas

Hello everyone! I don't have much time this week because of the holiday season! This email will be short, so I'll tell you the highlights of this week.

So Christmas Eve was good. We went to the Martin's house and I mad dinner for them. They said it was super good. They gave us both Christmas presents and we had a really fun time there. My companion skyped his family that night. 

     On Christmas day, we went to the Call's for breakfast and then afterwards, we played "Telestrations". Mike and Lynda Clark would probably be the best people to play with, haha. We then went to the Cole's and played games while we hung out listening to Christmas music. We did our secret Santa and Sis. Cole's had me and got me some candy, a liter or Mountain Dew and a Kelly Canyon t-shirt. We went to the Young's and played "scum" and I was in the scum seat the whole time. We are going there tonight for FHE and I will get my revenge. They got us BYU-I t-shirts. For the rest of the night, we were over at the Ball's house and I had the opportunity to Skype my family. I talked with my brother Logan who is serving in Brazil. It was such a blessing being able to talk with them. The Ball's and their family got my companion and I some really nice jackets from Nordstroms.

This week is super cold all the way in the negatives!

I think that's all for this week and sorry again that it was so short. I think you should all know that one of our recent converts Sy passed away last week. Please keep his family in your prayers! I love you all and will have more to share with you next week! God is Good!

                    Elder Browning

Subway, A home away from home

HELLO everyone! It seems like forever since the last time I emailed you! I am glad that it is Christmas this week! On Christmas eve from 5-9pm, p-day for us and then on Christmas day its an all day p-day! We are super excited to Skype our families and cant wait to talk to my family.

      Last Monday, we hung out with our zone leaders because they are both getting transferred. We wet to Idaho Falls for the day and did a little shopping at the mall and found a good deal on some khaki pants. We went to Iona and met up with about three zones to play "Gator Ball". It's a combination of soccer and football. It wasn't as fun as everyone made it seem but oh well! We shopped at Walmart and while we got done checking out, some guy dropped $80 in our cart and said "Merry Christmas" and walked away! IT was so nice of him! Later that night, we had a lesson with Ale and the Thanyne elders came down because of transfers. We set a date with Ale for January 16th! Please keep her in your prayers!

     Tuesday, we were with the Thayne elders so we played basketball at the stake center with Tristan Cole's and then we went to Los Alberto's for lunch. We went to the Perry ward Christmas party and we got to wear our onesies! We went to Subway after the party and they gave us all the left over cookies they had!

     Wednesday, was transfers! We woke up at 5:45am without getting any sleep the night before and drove to Rigby to play basketball. It was a waste of time because one of the elders got me sick. We went back to Ririe and then back to Rigby for a quick transfer meeting with all the new missionaries in our zone. We had lunch at Wendy's and then made our way to Subway where we chilled there until dinner. One of the girls there made me drink "jalapeno" juice just for the heck of it. I threw up in the bathroom but they all game me six bucks for it. A member bought us dinner at Subway and then he wanted us to go eat with him and his kids. It was a nice dinner. We went back to Subway for the night and we had a mini guitar session with the workers.

     Thursday, we went to the Seminary class and talked about some of the non member friends they might have. We cleaned our house until dinner. After dinner , we went to the Visitors Center with Jack and he really enjoyed the presentation they they put on. On the way home, Brother Ball got us ice cream at Baskin Robins.

     Friday morning, we went to a morning side with the seminary kids and had a guest speaker named Sal. He is in a church video but now lives in Ririe. He talked about his conversion story and how he changes his life around. One of the youth, Kaylee Brown gave us some old Ririe basketball uniforms (she wanted me to mention her in this email). Later that afternoon, we went back to the seminary class and shared with them a little message about members and missionary work. We went to the Young's wedding reception for one of their daughters. We went to Subway to visit Dally and we shared a scripture with her. At dinner I played football on the Wii with their 7 year old son. He is now my best friend and his name is Cooper. We went back to Subway to help the girls clean for the night.

    Saturday, I was still sick so we didn't do much of anything. We had dinner with our investigator, Jay and he cooked us Salmon. We had our first discussion with him. Later that night we went to the basketball game and everyone was there! It was so packed! Went to Subway so see Dally again.

     Yesterday was an awesome day! Dally came to church and she love it! We went to 2nd ward and three of our investigators came! We taught the 16-17 year old class. After our dinner, we went to the Ririe Christmas Devotional and Dally came and she even brought her best friend who is not even a member! We went to Bishop Peterson's for the night where we played just dance and charades!

     I hope that you enjoy this email and hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas! Let us all remember the reason for this holiday season! I love you all and thank you for all you do for me! Until next time! God is Good!

                                                              Elder Browning

 

 

Well thought of in the Ririe Stake

Well hello everyone! This week was busy as usual. We basically had all the wards except one have their party this past week.

     Last Monday, we were in Rexburg with the Thayne elders and we spent the whole day there. We played basketball at the Rigby stake center with the rest of the zone. We had dinner in 2nd ward with Bishop Peterson and one of our investigators. We are going to start teaching him soon once his house gets a little more settled.

     Tuesday, we had Zone Training in Rigby. Everyone gave good training's and I continue to learn something new each time we have one. We had lunch at Los Albertos with the Thayne elders and then they went home. We just cleaned our house until dinner since we had our monthly inspection the next day. We had dinner in Clark ward with the other Bishop Peterson and they made us sandwiches and they were really good because it was a traditional meal. We first went the Rudy's wards Christmas party and the theme was "Polar Express". Everything was well decorated and a lot of the less actives came, which is really good! We then went to 3rd ward's party and one of our foreign exchange students came! After their party, Fredrika invited us to the Ririe High school basketball game. It was a little awkward being there as a missionary because there was a few people that were judging us, but we had a good time with her and everyone else that was there.

     Wednesday, we had our monthly inspection. We went over to Sy's house to start his new member lessons. He's not doing so well but still has a good spirit. We had to go to the old seminary building and tell the kids there why we came on a mission during this Christmas season. We headed off to Swan valley and went to dinner with a part member family. After dinner, we drove back to Ririe to teach our fourth lesson with Jack. We are going to go with him the the Idaho Falls Visitors Center with him this coming Thursday!

     Thursday, we went to go see Sy again and taught him the second new member lesson. We stayed in the house all day. Later that night, we went to the Clark ward's Christmas party and the theme was "Hawaiian". They made my companion and I do the 'Hula Dance' in front of every one and everybody kept cheering us on!

     Friday, was another slow day for us. We had transfer call that day and my companion and I are both staying in Ririe for at least another month! We went to 2nd ward's Christmas party. We shows the new Christmas video to the ward.

     Saturday, we went to lunch at the Darrington's and then we went to the Priesthood Session of the Ririe Stake Conference. Elder David S. Baxter from the quorum of the seventy was there and we got to sit up on the stand and he kept calling on us every five minutes! Our stake president invited my companion and I to eat dinner with his councilors, Elder Baxer and his wife. We then had the adult session of conference and that was really good.

     Sunday morning, we went over to the Cole's and made pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. We then went to stake conference and Jack came with the Balls. Tristan Cole's, was ordained an elder after conference and he asked my companion and I if we could stand in his circle. It was such a spiritual experience for us and his whole family. We went to the Darrington's again and this time they had two foreign exchange students form Brazil and we talked with them about the Book of Mormon with them. One of them wants to learn more. We went the Cole's for the rest of the night and we got to talk via Skype with Carly's fiance. I gave Lexi a priesthood blessing and her brother anointed the oil for his first time. It was again a very spiritual experience for us and their family.

    I hope you enjoy this email. I bought a 'Selfie Stick' last Monday so all my photos are basically from the selfie stick! Remember the reason for this holiday season! God is Good! Until next time!

                                  Elder Browning

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Dang it, Bobby!!!

     Good tidings everyone! This week was yet again super busy. We spent half of the week in Thane, WY and had Zone Conference, and teaching some of our progressing investigators! I hope that you enjoy this one!     
      So like I said in my last email we were in Afton, WY again and we hung out as a district. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch, played a couple games of bowling and then the Afton sisters made us dinner! We had to do some baptismal interviews for some of the investigators they had. We played basketball with one of the kids that got baptized Saturday. We went back to the house in Thane and played blackjack, scum, and coup. We basically pulled an all-niter because our mission said that we could drink caffeine now so Elder Schaerr and Elder Teokotai drank two red bulls right before bed so they got no sleep and were up all night.

     Tuesday, we went to  a place called Hubbs (hamburger place) and got lunch there. Somebody paid for our meal! #blessed. Then we played basketball at the stake center and then Elder Vogt and I, went on exchanges in Thane. We went to teach a little girl who is getting baptized this coming Saturday. We went to Tootsies for dinner which has Italian cuisine. Then again, someone payed for our meal. #blessed. The people are so good here in the lovely state of Idaho.

     Wednesday, I went on exchanges again with Elder Vogt and this time we went to Palisades and tried to see some people but, nada. We had dinner at our old ward mission leaders house, Brother Titus. We went on visits with Brother Jacobson and passed out their Christmas party invitations for Tuesday and hopefully some of them can come.

     Thursday was Zone Conference and it was super good! The mission president and his wife both gave good training and as well as our AP's. So basically what the main thing the mission president told us was that he wanted us to follow the "White Bible" (missionary handbook) and be a Preach My Gospel missionary. After lunch we had a talent show and was alright.  Some missionaries had some good and funny acts. We went home and went to the 1st Ward's Christmas Party. A lot of less actives showed up and enjoyed the program. We went to Bishop Brown's home and went over his ward directory with him.

     Friday, we found a new investigator name James K. He has had a really rough past and has been wanting to meet with the missionaries for the longest time. We helped him literally destroy his house because he got "jipped" from the people that sold it to them. After destroying everything, we went to visit Dally at Subway and they gave us both free cookies and some chocolate milk. We gave her the new pass along card of the new Christmas video and told her to check it out. We had dinner with the Gunderson's and then had our second lesson with Allie. She was really receptive this time and loves the lesson we are teaching her.

     Saturday, a member took us out to Big Judds for lunch. We went to one of less actives house and played a couple games of "21" and then two-on-two and my companion and I lost both games. We'll beat them next time. We went on Visits with Caleb Orchard to teach another new investigator but she was not home. After our dinner, we went to the Lord's house and helped them set up their Christmas decorations around the house and they made us watch the "National Finals Rodeo". Sister Lords is a barrel racer so she wanted us to watch it with her.

     Yesterday, we went to the usual wards and then went back to the Lord's to set up some decorations outside their house. We watched the Christmas devotional at the High Councilman over missionary work and then had our second lesson with one of our other investigators, Tallon! It was a busy week!

    Today we are with the Thane elders again because we have zone training on Tuesday and so they are spending the day with us. I love you all and can't thank you enough for all you do for me! I hope that you enjoyed this email and I have a lot of pics from this week so enjoy them too! God is Good! 

                                               Elder Browning

 Current Progress on the Star Valley Temple

 Go watch this video!!

 Free cookies and milk at Subway.  Dally is in the dark blue shirt

Meet the Gundersons

Hello this is James and Kim Gundersen from Ririe, Idaho. We had the pleasure of having dinner with your wonderful sons. We thought you would enjoy some pictures. Enjoy!  Merry Christmas from our family!
The Gundersen's

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