Free Costa Vida!!!

Hey everyone! This past week was crazy for my companion and I. The first half of the week started off in the upper 70s and then by the end it was super cold. It ended up snowing on Friday, which was super weird, but they say this week in supposed to be really nice. Finally spring is in the air. We had a good District Meeting on Tuesday and everyone taught the Restoration of the Gospel. We each had a topic and taught it for 5 minutes.They all seemed to enjoy the meeting so i'm assuming I did a good job.

We had interviews with the mission president on Thursday and that was good. He said that he cant believe how long we've been out and how much he's seen me grow in the past 9 months. It's crazy how fast a mission really goes. We had a lesson with the Staleys later that night and we taught them the commandments. Friday morning we went to help at the soup kitchen and we served and turkey dinner. That night, we correlated with some of the bishops.

Saturday was way crazy. Sometimes members don't think that missionary work is important, so they its hard to work in their ward when they aren't willing to work with us. We had a long day of talking with the ward mission leader in one of the wards about how its his responsibility to find us people to teach. We did get free Costa Vida with a member of the ysa ward. A lady that was there has a daughter serving in Georgia so she paid for our meal! Anyways, yesterday we gave talks in the 31st ward on forgiveness and repentance. After the meeting, everyone said that we did a really good job. I did another baptismal interview for the zone leaders. Our district has the most dates in the zone right now. Well, what a week for us. We have a baptism happening this Saturday for Jason and he is ready. Please keep him in your prayers! Thanks for all you do! God id Good. Until next time.

Los amo a todos,

Elder Browning

 Zone activity last monday with Teokotai!

 Easy like Sunday morning.

A Week of Service

      Hey everyone! I hope you all had a good week. We had about four days where we got up to 75 degrees and was a bonus for us because we didn't have to wear our suits. We did a ton of service this past week which was really good for us because it gains a lot of member trust and get us out of of church clothes. We had one of our baptism dates drop because his mom doesn't think that he is old enough to make the decision for himself yet and she wants him to experience other religions. As she was telling us this, he was crying the entire time because he really wants to do this. We are still able to teach him the lessons though. We did most of our service in Jason's basement. We had to help him sand the walls and clean a little around his house he's moving into. He texted us on Friday and told us that he had six dozen donuts for us. So we went to his house and loaded our bikes up and we were set. On the way home, I saw one of my recent converts, Lynzee Lords from my last area. On Saturday, we helped move wood and rake leaves. I saw a couple other members from my last area having a garage sale. It was fun to see them too.

    We also had zone training this past Thursday. We talked a lot about having confidence and being worthy of having the Holy Ghost in conversion. We went to a Mexican restaurant afterwards and a random guy gave us $85 for our meal! I don't know why he gave us that much, but it was way nice of him to. 

     Yesterday it rained on and off. We had dinner at on of our bishops house and he grilled up some ribs and they were so good. We also went to go visit Melba again and she was very mad at us that we didn't go last week. Next time we are going to bring some UNO cards and play with her. Well, I think that's all the happenings for this week. Thanks for everything and all you do! Until next week!

Te Amo,

Elder Browning

 

 Elder Green trying to capture a lady bug.

 3 of the six dozen donuts.

 ​Found a dead cat on the road.

Miracles beyond Miracles

Well like usual, this week flew by really quick and can't believe that we are already in April. My companion and I had a lot go on this past week and the biggest miracle was that we set 2 baptism dates and we found a new investigator in the YSA (Young Single Adult) ward. The first one we set was with a 11 year old boy named Trayson. We set it for May 7 and he is beyond excited to finally be baptized. His mom texted us two days ago and said that she needs to talk with us about his date. Hopefully she is all for it for him getting baptized. Fingers crossed.

We did a bunch of service this week mostly in Eagle Rock which is about 20 minutes from where we live. There is this lady who needed help moving heavy things into her rental house by by the temple, so she called us to help her. The main reason why she asked us to help her is because she has a nephew that lives in our area and isn't a member, so we went to help him install carpet at the house and BOOM, new investigator. Later that day, we went to go help Jason work on mudding his basement. My companion and I ended up carrying about 40 sheets of drywall from his basement, upstairs and into the garage in his backyard. It was murder, but good exercise though. When  we got home, one of the counselors in the mission presidency said that Jason's legal things were cleared so we called him right after and set a date with him for April 23 and 11 am. He thought this day would never come but the Lord was mindful of his situation and knew that he was finally ready to get baptized.

Conference was really good and even better when you watch it on your mission. My favorite session was probably the Priesthood Session and President Uchtdorf always does an awesome job. We watched them with the zone leaders at their stake center and had some of the sisters in the zone come as well. Well that's about it for this week, Hey, I did find my camera in our apartment so I have some pictures from the last two weeks. Thank you all for the love and prayer you send my way! God is Good!

Te Amo,

Elder Browning

 At the visitors Center.

 The puzzle we finally finished.

 One of the kids in Nursery.

 ​Secret room we found in one of the church closets.

​The sisters brought a dog to watch conference with us at the stake center.

He Is Risen!

We finally finished the Star wars puzzle on Thursday. I really didn't help do much of it but i'll go ahead and take some of the credit, hahah. I bought a puzzle last Monday and the picture is Batman vs. Superman. This one is super easy and we're about 2/4 of the way done.

This week flew by as usual. It was really hard to go find people because a lot were gone on spring break. But we did get to teach a couple lessons. We helped Jason hang drywall in his basement and it was a lot of fun. I did exchanges with Elder Bushman and we watched 'Meet the Mormons' with a less active lady and the whole time she cried because she felt the spirit. We knocked out our Area Book on Friday and Saturday and only had one person say that we could come back. We saw our investigator Trayson again and he said that he is going to read some of the Book of Mormon before we have our next lesson.

Yesterday, we gave talks in the 11th ward about the Easter Season and His resurrection. My companion only talked for about 5 minutes and there was about 20 minutes left of the meeting so the bishopric gave their testimonies to fill in the remanding time. We had ham for dinner it was was alright, wasn't the same as it is a home. We did go to the hospital again to visit Melba Yost. She fell at her house and shattered her hip. She is the most positive 86 year old lady I've met. All she kept telling us is that she wanted a new body because she doesn't think she'll ever get to go home and stay in the hospital for now on. Next Sunday we are going to play 'uno' with her. Well I think that's about if for this week. It's really gloomy outside today and we are supposed to get snow this week.

I wish I had pictures for you this week but one of the elders in our apartment stole my camera. It was probably my companion. I love you all and thanks for all you do!

 Te Amo

Elder Browning

 

Cops and Robbers

So remember last week when I said that we finished that marvel puzzle in like 4 days? Yeah, Elder Green got a Star wars one and it sucks. It has little pictures in each puzzle piece and they are so hard to find where they go. Its our turn today to pick out the puzzle and I'm aiming at a 1,000 piece 'Frozen' puzzle.

This week was good and went by super fast. We had a zone conference on Tuesday and the spirit was felt super strong. We had a couple that got called to be mission presidents in the Denver Colorado South Mission. It turns out that is where Maddie Sanofsky is serving. We played basketball Wednesday night with the Boulevard ward and everyone kept saying I was 'Stephen Curry". I guess I was that good. We helped Jason with the house he is working on and he gave us 3 boxes of donuts. His mom works at a donut place and she gives him all the ones that don't sell. Speaking of Jason, he got his letter to the judge and so we have to wait a little longer to see if he can finally get baptized. Please keep him in your prayers! On Saturday, we had dinner with a super cool family. After dinner, we went to their family room and saw two cops outside walking the streets. There ended up being a '22 Stainless Steel Semi-Automatic Rifle' in someones front yard. It was probably stolen and someone got scared and dropped in the yard.

Yesterday was in the high 60's and it was super nice riding our bikes. Church was good but ended up falling asleep in the second ward we went too. We went to go visit a couple people in the hospital with out ward mission leader. We had dinner with a blind couple and it ended up being really good. When I sat down I kept hearing fart noises and thought it was the dog but then dad kept doing it and the kids started laughing and then he was cracking up. They were a super cool couple and had a killer meal. 

Everything is going good here in the IF Central Stake. We are hoping to set two more baptism dates this week. These people are ready to make this next step in their life and just need to rely on the Lord's help in doing so. I think that's all for this week! As we celebrate this Easter on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us all remember that he is risen and that he still lives today! I love you all! Thanks for all you do! God is Good! 

Te Amo,

Elder Browning

 Idaho Falls Zone

 ​This was the Rifle that they found on Saturday.

Reed's Dairy.

 ​Tie game real strong. Yes, those are pink whales.

Those Crazy Christians

Hello everyone. This week dragged for my companion and I. We found a new investigator and he is 12 years old and really wants to start taking the lessons. We are going to try and set some up for this week. This past Tuesday, we moved out of our apartment and moved in with the zone leaders. it's good and bad because the apartment is super small and I literally now sleep on the couch. Its also good because we are closer to the wards we are working in, so we can get more work done. We had a couple lessons at the visitors center and showed them videos on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also went to institute with one of recent converts and the teacher that teaches that class, is really good and super funny. Riding bikes is still going, but makes it hard when it gets super windy. We spoke in church yesterday and I spoke on "the importance of following the prophet" and "listening to general conference". It actually went really well. Last night, we stopped by the bishops of one of the wards, and we got a lot of referrals, which is super nice because we don't have any right now so its good to start seeing who we can go visit.

We have zone conference this Tuesday and it's a little different this time because the mission president is visiting every zone and not all together this time, so it should be interesting. We are hoping that the warmer weather makes it easier for us to contact more people. We are playing "savage ball" today for our zone activity [Shout-out to Seth Malley]. I hope that you all have a good week and as we are getting closer to the Easter holiday, remember that 'HE IS RISEN AND HE LIVES'! I love you all and remember that God is Good.

 

 

 ​Playing "Headbandz" at a YSA activity.

 ​We finished this 1,000 piece puzzle in like 4 days.

 

The Miracle Worker

    Hey everybody! This week was super good! We found 2 potential investigators that want to get baptized so hopefully we can set something up this week and start teaching them. We had transfer calls this past Saturday and Elder Hoffman and I are still staying together.
    They are splitting the Central Stake missionary wise because if the amount of missionaries that are coming in. They are taking two of our wards and giving it to the sisters while they are also working at Visitors Center. I am still going to be District Leader and get the sisters that are in our stake.
     The sad thing is that we have to move out of our apartment do the sisters can live there. That means no more Rupert. We actually found out his real name and it's "Smooches". But he will always be a Rupert in our hearts.
    We set a baptismal date on Friday with a 12 year old kid for April 16th. He is super excited. On Saturday, while we were biking to the Family History Center, I ran into my older brother Zach and his girlfriend. It was really nice to see him.
    It rained all day yesterday so we spent the day cleaning our apartment because we are moving Tuesday.

   I think that is all for this week! Please keep our investigators in your prayers! Christ lives and loves each and every one of you! God is Good!

 

  Te amo! 

   Elder Browning

 Chilling with Rupert in our Apartment

 

 Rupert is sad we are leaving

 Breakfast with the Visitor Center couple, the Reeds.

 ​Half of a zone selfie.