December 23 - Week 14

12/23/13

Merry Christmas from Africa!

I am really looking forward to talking to family on Christmas. This week has been an ok one. A bit of a rough week, but it was expected. The week right before Christmas is pretty slow around here. Everyone is gone so there is no one to teach, and the appointments we did have mostly cancelled. We normally only have 2 lessons a day. I am having a good time with my new companion Elder Robins. He is a really great kid, and we have really been getting along. We have really similar personalities so it works out well. He is still quiet in lessons, but that is really normal for new missionaries. It has been great for me because I have had to start teaching everything in lessons. I have been relying a lot on the spirit to speak through me. It has been really awesome to do this.

I am doing great, and am really enjoying the work i am doing. I know that even when there is no one to teach we are out planting seeds for the next missionaries that will serve here. I will hear from you on Wednesday. We have mostly just been walking around and wishing people a merry Christmas. It is very weird doing this because we are sweating as we walk around in about 90-degree weather. It doesn't even seem like Christmas here, but I think it is a good thing. If it seemed like a normal Christmas I would miss home a lot more.

Training has been really fun. It has been fun to take elder Robins to all these new places, and to teach him new things about the culture. It is fun just to see his reactions about different things that I forgot were different about home. He is an awesome kid, and he has a great desire to serve. He is 19 years old. He is from Burley, Idaho; it is a small place like Cedar. He went to one year of College before he came. I really have been enjoying working with him.

Well it was a National Holiday last Monday: Reconciliation Day. Everyone I asked didn't even know what the holiday was. All they knew is it was a Holiday and they could have fun. About Mandela stuff has been everywhere. Everyone is still celebrating his life and things. Whenever we would walk into anyone's home the TV would be on with a program about Mandela. It is getting a bit annoying. Even the people here are getting annoyed by it.

I have been getting a whole bunch of ornaments this past week. My tree is overflowing, and I have been sticking them on the wall around it now. I have gotten them from cousins on the Jones side mostly. I will try to make a list of everyone, and send a picture. Thank you for all the wonderful letters, and notes.

So our Christmas schedule is pretty relaxed. We have a Christmas Devotional in the morning at 11, and then we are eating with all the other missionaries. We then have the rest of the day to do whatever we want. I think it will just be companion and myself, so we have all the time we need. I am planning on us being on around 8 am your time.

I am really enjoying this time of year here. It doesn't seem like Christmas at all here, but it is to the people. It makes it easy to just walk up to people’s doors and say "can we share the Christmas story with you." We then share with them in Luke 2 about Christ’s birth. It has been really nice to spread Christmas cheer and to somewhat feel of the Christmas spirit. I really look forward to hearing from you on Christmas. Today I am going to get myself a present. I am going to finally buy the black shoes I asked about. I love you and I'll hear from you on Wednesday.

Love

Your Son

Elder Mitchell York Brown

Thank You for the Christmas Ornaments and Christmas messages - Hanging on my Tree

December 16 - Week 13

Dear Family
Thank you so much for your word of support as I am starting training. I do still feel like a new missionary, but as I have had to take on responsibility it makes me feel more comfortable here. My new companions name is Elder Robins. He is from Idaho somewhere. He is an awesome kid. (Trainer is the dad, trainee the son or kid) We have had a lot of fun together! One new thing about my area is we got a new bishop. The first councilor that has been running the ward He is now the bishop. I think this will really help our area, and improve the work.

We have been opening Christmas gifts! I opened a few with elder Brasher, but now I am opening them with elder Robins. It is really fun, and fun to read the hints and things. Thank you for all the hard work you put into putting them all together. It is something fun for both of us to do!  Elder Brasher is now in Sunnyside Pretoria. I am not sure if this is a town or a township. But I told him thank you a whole bunch he was a great trainer. 

I have received all three packages you sent, and i don’t think they were missing anything. I really enjoyed all of them. We have watched a few of the movies already, but I think we will save one for Christmas day. It is really weird because it is less than ten days from Christmas, and it doesn't even seem like Christmas time. Without snow it is very different. The people really don’t act like they are in the Christmas spirit either. I think we will try to share some Christmas messages, and hopefully I will feel of the Christmas spirit. 

 My Fabric tree has been up since the first of the month! I got a lot of ornaments this past week. I got yours with you and dad, Calvin, Carson, Shasta, and Lucy last week. I will try to put a picture on drop box of it today with all the ornaments on the tree.  Thanks to everyone that sent a note and/or ornament. 

So we are going to go to our church to call and skype.  The church has internet, and i think it is semi fast, so I hope I will be able to see you on skype Christmas day.  

So this week has been good, but not very productive. We had transfers on Tuesday, so we didn't get to the area tell very late, and it had been raining all day. The people we had scheduled to meet were in dirt areas, so we couldn’t drive to them, and we ended up cancelling. The rest of the week we have also had a bunch of Cancellations. Around this time of year everyone is going home with family for the holidays,  and so there is like no one home. The most lessons we had this week was 3. So it was a bit disappointing because we normally have like 6 or 7 a day. It was a good week though with elder robins, and we are having fun together. All around the mission the work slows down in December, but this is normal.
 It will be wonderful to have a new bishop! This will be great because we will be able to push forward with the work and get help from the ward. I don’t really have anything too exciting to tell you, so sorry. Our area is still struggling, and its been a long time since we had a baptism. A lot of our solid investigators have become flaky, so we have been trying to find new investigators this past week. 
One thing that is very good is i have not been feeling homesick, or missing home this week. I think taking on the responsibility of being the trainer, and the one in charge, I have gotten over my homesickness. This has made it a really good week.

Thank you for all the updated about things.  Love you, and miss you.

Love

Elder Mitchell Brown

December 9, 2013 - Week 12

The big news this week in South Africa was the passing of Nelson Mandela. The Death of Mandela has not been to crazy. 

We haven’t really done anything to special for his death. We got a text from the president to make sure we were careful, and watched for people rioting. He has been everywhere in the new here. Every home we go into has on the news, and he is on every single program.

The weather has been good here this past week. We have had a lot of cloudy weather, and it has kept it nice and cool here. I am really grateful for the nice weather. It has rained a bit, but not a ton.  I wish we had snow here, but I am glad it isn’t cold. It is weird for people to be talking about Christmas because there is no snow. It doesn't even seem like Christmas time. Not having a white Christmas will be weird.

Thank you for the Christmas presents. We have been trying to open a present every night. I am grateful just to have a tree and presents, so don’t worry about it being made of fabric.  It means a lot to open a present every night. You but a lot of effort into finding all those scriptures for each one.  I will send a picture of the tree next week.

It doesn’t seem like Christmas. We see a few houses with decorations, but not many. In the malls there are decorations all around, so it brings the Christmas spirit a little bit.

So big news about the new companion. I am going to be a trainer. I get to train a new missionary that is just coming out of the MTC. I have a training meeting later today, and then I meet him in the morning. I am pretty nervous about training. I hope I can be a good example. I feel like I still don’t know what I am doing as a missionary, but I guess if president was inspired then I need to train. I will let you know next week who my son is. In mission terms you call your trainer your father, and your trainee your son.

Thank you so much for the packages. I got 2 of them this week from you. The Mexican food, and the DVDs. I ate some Mexican food, and it was really good! I miss Costa Vida a whole bunch, so it was good to have some Mexican food.

I am missing you during this holiday season, but I know I am where I need to be. I hope everyone is doing well. I love you and I am hoping you can continue to stay positive.

Love Elder Mitchell Brown

Mitchell Thanksgiving Meal - Hawaiian Hamburger

This little boy is a members son. He is so crazy. He always is running around the neighborhood, and he is always dirty. When we drive up in our car he always opens our door, and he climbed up on my lap. 

December 1, 2013 - Week 11

Dear Family and Friends 

All is well here. My week has gone much better than last week. We still are struggling with lessons cancelling, but even the lessons I do teach are helping to uplift me every day. This is what keeps me going is feeling the spirit speaking through me during lessons. I am pretty exhausted every day, but it is a miracle  I keep pushing forward no matter what. 

We went out to eat with one of our good members brother Thato on Thanksgiving. Other than that we just had a normal day.  I was very thankful for all i have. I love this time of thanksgiving. I have found as i pray when i pray for more i am thankful for it helps a lot. The weather hasnt been to bad lately. It is really cool all the lightining we get here. Joberg is the lightning capital of the world. It reminds me of the lightning storms we had before i left. 

I have gotten better at teaching the lessons.  when I first got out I would just sit during lessons, and bare testimony of the things Elder Brasher had said.  Now I am leading lessons and sometimes doing most of the talking.  this has made the work lots more fun.  The days go by much faster.  When I start speaking my mouth is just filled with words.  On some lessons I can just keep rambling on about one topic. I know I am being helped. 

Our area is going well.  We have several investigators we are meeting with.  In our area of Hospital View there are many different situations of living.  The people are very interesting.  There are some nice homes, one room homes, and then tin shacks.  We are meeting people in all sorts of situations.  I see the humble situations people are living in and it is very humbling.  They have no idea of the things they are missing out on.  They are still very happy with what they have.  There are townships and squatter camps.  The township has electricity and the squatter camp doesn't.  

The activity in our ward is really down.  We have working hard to get some members back to church.  Our ward is still struggling but definitely improving.  We do have some really good member families.  We probably get fed around 3 to 4 times a week.  

Thank you for everything you have done for me. Thank you for the support as I am on my mission.  I miss you but know I am doing the right thing.  

Love 

Elder Mitchell Brown