REPORT, REPORT!

Howdy howdy everyone. I'll start off this email by thanking mother nature for giving us the warm weather we've been having for us to ride bikes in. It makes it so much easier because a lot more people are out walking around so we can talk to them and because you get a nice tan while you're at it!

This week was good, still trying to find a way to work with my companion, he started to keep a 'progress record' of me, whatever that means, but all is good and hope that thing will get better. We had good district meeting and it was about getting our investigators to see the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. We did a couple practices of inviting them to church. The focus of this week was trying to find new investigators, but haven't found anything yet. Hopefully by the end of this week, we can round up a new couple people. We went to a talent show for one of our ward mission leader's daughters and she sang a couple songs and it was really good. On Saturday, we had a couple lessons and then helped the bishop in the 11th ward paint his bedroom and mow his lawn. That night, we had dinner with a super cool young couple and we were there about whole night talking about his mission stories and playing with his drone helicopter. We are doing service for them tomorrow and Wednesday. Yesterday we gave talks in the 11th ward and it was my best one yet. I had the privilege to ordain one of our recent converts, Dominic a deacon yesterday. We had two dinners yesterday, one with a member of the stake presidency and the other with the stake president and his family. We ended the night by going to the Wahes and having a bonfire and playing soccer with the family. 

Today we are going to the zoo with one of the families in the 26th ward and then we are having dinner again with the stake president and his family. Well, that's about it for this week, I love you all and thanks for all you do! 

Los amo a todos

Elder Browning

 

Sister Erin Timothy. She served in this mission and we saw her at a missionary homecoming yesterday at one of our wards.

Sugar cone s'mores.

And the Lord, God said unto me

This week was very uneventful for us. It raid almost the whole week which meant that we had to stay inside or get rained on and most of out appointments canceled. The fist half of the week was good. Probably the only solid lesson we had was with our investigator, Dave Hamilton. He is a non member and the lady he is dating is a member and also his next door neighbor. He wanted to read the Book of Mormon in an entire week but realized that it takes more time to actually get into. But he is making good progress and set a goal to get baptized in the fall!

We had a 'Mission Tour' with whole Idaho Falls area had Elder Wilford W. Anderson from the Seventy come  to address us. It was a very spiritual meeting and I learned a lot of good things. We had a couple interviews with the Mission President and then it stormed the rest of the night, so we called it a day. Yesterday, we gave talks in the 26th ward on Apostasy and the Restoration. Later that night, we went to see Melba and then spent the rest of the night our ward mission leaders house. 

Sorry for the short email. Things are super stressful and only hope they get better. Thank you for all you do and hope that you have good week!

Los amo a todos!

Elder Browning

 

 Our neighbor gave us free shish ka bobs

 Cake and Milk

 New bike Helmets?

Dinner with the Blacks

Favorite worker at the new Java Express. She challenged me with to get a soda with all of the fruit flavors; challenge complete.

​22 elders and sisters came out with us last July, only 9 of us are left.

Rain Is A Good Thing

Hey everyone. We had a lot of meetings this week which makes everything super tired and stressful. We also spent the last couple days of the week inside because it rained and riding bike sin the rain do not go well with each other. We had a zone training on Thursday and it was mostly about being a happy and successful missionary. We then walked with half of the zone to a Mexican restaurant in the the middle of downtown Idaho Falls. We then had a lesson with a new investigator in the ysa ward and then we we got home, we were told by a couple of other elders that the investigator didn't like the way we taught, and they felt like we were interviewing them, doesn't make any sense, but who care?

I went on exchanges on Saturday with Elder McPeek. It was awesome because he was in the same MTC district as me and now he is my Zone Leader, crazy. We worked super hard and taught a lot of lessons. We did a whole bunch of service that day and was good to help this people in need. Yesterday was fantastic. It rained most of the day so we were inside. We had dessert at our ward mission leaders house with two other elders.

That is all for this week. Sorry this email was so short! Thanks for all you do and all the prayers you send my way! God is Good! 

Los amo a todos

Elder Browning.

 

 Super long, long board

 Idaho Falls Zone

Idaho Falls Mission

So we got big news the other day from our mission president in an email and wrote this:

"A change is coming to this mission. As of July 1,2016 more than half of you will get a new Mission President. Our mission is being divided to create the new Idaho Falls Mission. I will continue to serve as the Pocatello Mission President but that will only consist of missionaries from Firth south and into Star Valley.

The new mission will include Shelly And all stakes north plus The Driggs and Jackson area.

I have to divide this mission equally with inspiration and revelation to create two missions that will keep blessings the lives of people we serve. To me it is a lot like loosing half of my children and having to make that decision knowing that I love each and every one of you. I can't even write this letter today without getting choked up emotionally. 

Let us remember that we came to serve our God wherever He wants us and go forward with faith and love of God and do our very best. Sister Hancock and I express our deepest love to you all and will miss serving with many of you. Thank you all. From the bottom of my heart thank you for who you are and what you mean to us."

Crazy right?! Who knows where I will end up. The next transfers are June 8th and that will let us all know where what mission we go to. If I end up going to the newly created mission, I will end up serving in two missions, ha hah. Anyways, this week was good, we found two new investigators in the YSA ward and we are meeting with on of them tomorrow afternoon. We taught a couple of our progressing investigators in the 26th ward and one of them is really close on a baptism date. He told us that he is going to read the entire Book of Mormon is a week and he did. He just needs to read and pray about it and also baptism. We did have a another baptism on Saturday and it was a very good program, a little crazy, but good. We had two confirmations yesterday and so my companion and I had to split because they were in different wards. Also got to Skype not only my awesome mother, but the whole family. It was a little weird having them all there and not being them. This next week should be good, we have zone training and meeting with a lot of people! God is Good. Thanks for everything!

Los amo a todos,

Browning Anciano

 Idaho Falls Central District

 Treycin's Baptism

Happy Mother's Day

Elder Hotwheels

Remember when I said in my last email that my new companion that Elder Wheelhouse was crazy, well yeah, he's definitely something else. So I knew that he loved the color orange and when he started unpacking his things, everything was orange; his towel, all of his ties but two are orange, his water bottle, he even has a orange morph suit that he sometimes wears to bed. Love the kid to death, but he makes me look normal, ha-hah. His personality is was different than mine and so its going to take some time to get used to.

Not really much happened this week with transfers and everything. We spent the majority of the first half of the week saying goodbye to some of the families that Elder Hoffman was really close with. Transfers were on Wednesday and we had to be at the transfer site early because we were with the zone leaders. It was good seeing all the missionaries during transfers and ones that I haven't seen in the 9 months I've been out. We went shopping that day and taught a couple lessons here and there. The one really big thing that happened this week was that we had another baptism on Saturday for Dominic. He wasn't able to get confirmed yesterday because we had Stake Conference so next week, he will get it done. Like I said, yesterday we had Stake Conference and the theme was "Small and Simple Things". A lot of good talks were spoken and I learned good things from them. We spent the rest of the night at one of our ward misson leader's house visiting and eating dessert.

That is all for this week! We have a baptism this coming Saturday as well and we are hoping for the best! I cannot wait for the opportunity I have to talk to my wonderful mother this Sunday! Thanks for all you do for me and my brother! God is Good!

Los amo a todos,

Elder Browning       hunter.browning@myldsmail.net

 

 Elder Wheelhouse

 Bobby is back

 Attempt to make a Portillo's Chocolate Cake Shake

 The Wahes

 AP Welling

 Star Valley District reunited at the transfer site.

​Dominic's Baptism.

 The Kisleys.

 

 ​Elder Green with a purple tie.

Transfer week

Hey everyone! This week was really eventful for us. It was Elder Hoffman's last week in the area so we went out with a bang. Jason got baptized on Saturday and he finally knew that this was the true church. He said that he actually felt something this time and is ready to continue to learn and progress in the church.

So you remember Dominic and how he was supposed to get baptized this last Saturday? So long story short, his dad said yes on him getting baptized so we set the date for the 30th of April and he is all ready to go! Also we set a date with another kid named Treycin for May 7th and his mom is super excited for him. So if you haven't noticed we are hoping to have 3 baptisms in a row the next couple weeks. If you could keep them in your prayers that everything will go smoothly, thanks! We had a good district meeting this week and it was teaching the Plan of Salvation. We had a play date with the bishop in the 11th ward's kids and they love us. The mom told us that we are celebrities yo them. I'll take it! 

We also moved apartments for the third time since I've been here. We finally have a place to ourselves we actually have beds to sleep on instead of couches, hahah. The place is super nice and we are just one hop of the fence away from on of our ward mission leaders houses. Transfer calls came Saturday and like I said earlier, Elder Hoffman is getting transferred to Pocatello and I will stay in the area and be joined by Elder Wheelhouse, he's super crazy! Elder Green, our zone leader is going down to Chubbuk to be a zl there. He was awesome. We saw Melba last night and finished the puzzle shes been working on. She is really sad that Hoffman is leaving but is glad that I am staying. That is all for this week! I hope you enjoy the warmer weather. Until next time. God is Good!

Los amo a todos

Elder Browning

Can't beat Idaho Sunsets

 Biggest Faygos

 Jason's Baptism. I swear, he was ecstatic.

 ​The Ziels were the best family in the Central Stake. Unfortunately, they are moving out of the boundaries

Hanging with Melba.

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.