Elder Mitchell Brown eating a Kotta.
 (not sure what it is, Kotta is a city in India. It looks like a sandwich or pita with meat, doubt it is from India) 

May 26, 2014 - Week 36

Dear Mom,

Wow it sounds like it is going to be a very hectic week!! Thank you for telling me all about what will be happening this week. It helps me not miss being there as much. It hasn't really hit me yet that I will be missing the wedding. I guess this is good because I think I would get really homesick. It might hit me later this week as I think what is happening back home. That is cool that Dad took the boys up to the cabin. I am sure they are really enjoying there time together. I hope that they can have some fun, and relax before this busy week, and  hope you can enjoy memorial day, even though you will be busy.  It is so crazy to me to think that it was a whole year ago that I graduated.  It is so weird to think we would have just been getting back from Disneyland. Looking back at things like this time is really flying by. At other times time goes really slow. I am glad that you will be going through the temple with Katrina. I am sure as you said that will be very exciting for Ashley to go through the temple again. 

 We don't get to go to the temple very often. I have gone once since I have been in Secunda. So being here we do still get to drive in, but it only happens every other transfer. Like once every 3 months.

It sounds like you will be doing a whole lot of driving this week.  I am sure that you are so grateful for Ashley helping.  I am sure that you will make it a very memorable time for Randall, Katrina, and both families. I am sure it will be a lot of fun, and I hope you can try and enjoy yourself. 

 I sometimes feel discouraged, but it seems like we are teaching a lot of people. I know I am planting a lot of seeds though. We hand out so many pamphlets each day, and then don't see those people again, so that is very good that we are still spreading the word in that way.  I agree with you that as we strengthen the members they really help us. Our Branch is doing well, but remember I am serving in a small branch right now. The attendance is very low. Especially this past week we only had like 20 people here. Only one of our investigators came to church, so that was a bit disappointing. We do participate a whole lot in our Branch on Sunday. We normally do the sacrament every week, and teach Sunday School. The missionaries also have to teach priesthood every once and a while, and give talks. The branch really depends on us. In our township, the black people are very interested about the gospel. The members that live there are normally pretty good to spread the gospel. Especially one of our members Sister Irene. She is really awesome. She invites people to come to her house so we can teach them. One thing is we don't have many members to work with. I think there are a lot of inactive people. WE need to look through the records, and start visiting the less actives to we can have more help in the work. I think it would be great to be able to set up a Group in Emba. This would really help Emba explode. I think we have enough leaders to have a Group leader there as like the bishop.

I am so glad you go to talk to Remington.  I have been emailing Remi basically every week, and I told him to come visit you. He is such a great kid. I have really enjoyed emailing him throughout my mission. He has been sick for a very long time. He has had sicknesses on and off over basically his whole mission. I am sure he is glad to finally be feeling better. I am so glad you were able to visit with him. I hope he can recover quick so he can make it back out. He is probably a wonderful missionary, because he is a wonderful kid that always kept me straight through High School. 

I am continuing to try to get along with Elder Dye. I am able to handle this and it is really helping me to grow in different ways. I am comfortable around him, I just really like to spend time with the other missionaries instead.  Things are getting  better than it were a few weeks ago.  

That would be really fun to go to the new Mission Presidents farewell. We get our new president sometime next transfer, but I am not sure of the day. I don't see President Omer much. I see him at transfers, and at Zone conferences that happen every other transfer, so not very often. 

 Thank you for the pictures.   I can still look at pictures in dropbox, and I really enjoy looking at them still. I will try to load some on next week.

This week went well for me as far as teaching. I am really enjoying teaching, and oddly I am enjoying tracing, like knocking on people’s gates. We have found some cool families lately, and I hope they will continue to progress. I really enjoy the work, and am so grateful for the gospel. I enjoy my study every morning, and love learning more about the gospel. The more I learn the more my testimony grows, and I know this church is true even more. I am so grateful to be a missionary, even though it is super hard and challenging at times. I am grateful to be here, and I really enjoy sharing the gospel with people. I love to see the difference the gospel makes in people's lives. It is really one of my favorite things about missionary work. 

I will miss you and the family a lot this week. I know I am where I should be though, and things will continue on without me. Just know I am praying for you. I will be there in spirit. I hope you can get everything ready, and that you won't be too stressed out. Remember I love you. 

Love

Your son

Elder Mitchell Brown. 

May 19, 2014 - Week 35

Dear Mom,

Well this week has gone well. I have done much better this week especially with Elder Dye. We had a good week with teaching, and I think we taught somewhere around 15 lessons. It seemed like a really satisfying week, and I felt like I worked really hard. It is starting to become winter her. It is getting colder in the mornings, and at night. It is really weird because it gets dark at around 5:30, so that really sucks. I know you don't like when it gets dark, and I think it rubbed off on me!!! Being fall/winter there have been a lot of fires. I think I told you this when we Skyped, but there are just huge fields on fire, and no one seems to care. If we did that back home we would be thrown in jail!! it is kind of crazy, and I will try to send more pictures of that. This week I got two packages, and it was awesome. I got the package from Toni, and I really loved it. I really enjoyed the ties you put in there. I have been trying to find skinny ties here, but couldn't, so it was an answer to my prayers or searching. I also got the package you sent, so it came pretty fast! I really enjoyed this package. I thought it would just be a small package with the book and some candy, but I was wrong!! I am so thankful for everything you sent. I loved the recess, and those will take me a while to eat. I also am so grateful for the book, it is really interesting. I love the CTR ring you put in there, and I am have been wearing it since I got the package. I will sent you a picture of me opening the package. Another crazy thing, on Saturday I hit 8 months of being on mission. 

I am glad you enjoyed the pictures that I sent. I will keep trying to send more. We did take another district picture, so I will send that today if I can get it from the other guys because I didn't have my camera. Leohba was not confirmed this week because she had to go back to Zimbabwe for some family stuff, so hopefully she will be back next week. It has now been 3 Sundays since her baptism. 

I have been getting a long really well with Elder Dye, there are just little things that are annoying. I have been trying my best to please him, and I think we are doing better.  I will try to tell you all I know about him. He is the oldest of 6 kids. He has 4 younger brothers, and a baby sister. His sister was born after he left, so he has never met her. His mother has multiple sclerosis, so she is in a wheel chair. He graduated in 2012, so he is a year older than me. He went to Weber for a year, then came on mission in June. He is 2 transfers older than me on mission, so 12 weeks. He is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, I think I said that before. so that is about all I know. 

So Remington ended up going home last week because he is really sick. He has a lot of bad bacteria in his intestines, and his digestive system is pretty messed up. He is home to recover, and see the extent of his sickness, and then he said he will try to go back out. I told him to come and see you, so hopefully he will.  I will keep you updated on him. I have been emailing him every week. I will forward you part of his email. 

It sounds like you are doing a lot of work around the house in preparation for the wedding. I am glad that Calvin and Carson are helping you get the yard all ready. That is really crazy that it is warm already after the big snowstorm last week. Did you get any pictures of the snow? I am glad that Dad finally helped replace the plugs in the kitchen, you have been wanting to do that for a while now. It will be interesting to look at the pictures of the new things you have done. It is weird to think that school is getting out on Friday. I can't believe I was gone basically the whole school year!! 

That is cool that Toni threw a Bridal shower. I am really glad you are getting to know Katrina and her family better. I still think it is really weird because I have not met her still.  Please tell Toni thanks for the package, it was fun. It was fun to have a late birthday –lengthen out the celebration. 

I am glad that Ashley is helping out so much. She is really good at that. That is really cool that she went through the temple and that you will be going through the temple with Katrina. The Manti temple live session is really cool. I don't know if you remember but Marshall and I drove there to go through the live session. 

I am glad that you are still seeing Marshall's family around. That makes me feel good that his dad is staying busy with work, because he has bounced around a lot. I hope his mom is still doing good, I need to email her to see how she is doing. It is Marshall's birthday sometime in June, but not sure when. That would be really nice of you to send him a package for his birthday. 

I am really sorry that you can't use your house boat turn, hopefully you can trade with another family or something so you can still get your two turns in. Calvin has told me about the requirements to swim with Blair. Hopefully he can get the 1:07 in his breaststroke to swim with Blair again. 

Fun to hear about Evan's house and how it is coming along . I hope they can get going fast on the framing and things. That would be really fun to see pictures of them building. I hope that Carol will continue to do well. That is sad to hear about her not doing well. I am sure that will be fun to have them living so close. I really enjoy Evan, maybe because he reminds me a lot of grandpa York. 

I will try to send Levi a quick email before he heads out on Wednesday to MTC.  You will have to let me know more about what is happening with them moving down to Cedar and things also. 

We haven't had too much progress with forming a group in Emba yet. I will let you know what happens there, and if we have any progress. I think it would be great for that to happen because we have so many people in Emba to teach, and none have money for transport to church. I told you a couple things at the first of email. But I have really been enjoying the Henry Lunt book. It is really interesting. I read a couple pages every night, and it is really cool to see how they did things in the old days of the church. Henry was such a great example with all his leadership. It seems like they called him to do everything in the settlement. I have learned a lot from his example, and I am so grateful for my ancestors. 

I miss you a lot too. I do think about home a lot, and sometimes it is hard. I am so glad that I have been out now for "8 months" and that i am past the time of stressing like those leaving soon like Levi. I am so glad I am where I am. I really love the work I am doing, even though it is very hard. I have learned so much, and grown closer to my Heavenly father and Savior. I know I am being watched over, so I hope that gives you comfort hearing it from me. Hope you have a good week.

Love

Your son

Elder Mitchell Brown

May 12 , 2014 - Week 34

Dear Mom,

It was a very fun day, especially to speak with you. It is crazy that it has already been 5 months since I last spoke with you. The time really does fly by. It was great to talk to you, and it think it really helped me. I didn't feel too homesick while I was talking to you, but after was bit hard, but I am ok.  I know that I am being watched over, and that the Lord is protecting and helping me. I have seen this a lot. I am staying pretty positive, but there are some really hard days. I really do get discouraged some days, and just want to be done, but I keep going and it gets better. It was so great to see everyone, and to know everyone is doing great. Everyone looked great, and it was just great to see and hear everyone. 

Elder Dye my new companion and I are doing better.  It is hard to adjust and change. I will keep trying to please him, and I hope things will get better. I might have to stay with him for another transfer.

I am glad that Levi did well in his farewell. I am sure he will be a great missionary. I will email him before he heads out. I am sure that will be very hard for Robert's family to leave. The kids especially have lived there all of there lives. I hope that they can adjust quickly. I am glad it was a good mothers day program, and I hope you felt like a good mother because I am pretty sure you are the best mom in the world!!!

It sounds like it was a very crazy and eventful weekend. That is so exciting that Ashley received her endowments. 

I am sure that is very exciting for Grandma to have 3 grandchildren receive there endowments in one week. 

I am so grateful for the plan of salvation, and it is so grate to help people see that we can be with our families forever. It is definitely building my testimony, and it helps me a lot to get through the hard times just reflecting on the plan of salvation. 

That is really crazy to hear about all the snow that came. I can't believe that much snow came this late in the year, but i guess that is cedar weather. I hope that it didn't do too much damage to power lines and trees and things! You will have to send some pictures of the snow that came down. 

Well It has been a good week for me. We taught some good lessons. We have two really solid investigators that will be baptized next month, I told you yesterday that it would be the end of this month. There name are Kalvin and Lindo. They both have ties to the church through family, so that has helped them a lot. Kalvin is 14, and Lindo is 18. I am teaching very well with Elder Dye, which is good.  We have been teaching quit a bit, and we have adjusted to each others teaching very quickly. It has been great to teach lessons. I think we had about 13 lessons this week, which is a bit low, so we will try for better this next week. 

That is weird to thing that Randall's wedding is coming up so quick. I am sure it is exciting, yet stressful. I also hope that you will be able to get things prepared, and that you will have everything ready to your satisfaction.  

I am so grateful for you and for the rest of the family. You really do help me to keep a good attitude and move forward. I hope that everyone stays healthy and well.  I love you a bunch, and again it was so fun to see you and the family yesterday. I know what I am doing is the right thing.

Elder Brown

Pictures sent May 11, 14 - Leohba Baptism

Leohba baptized on April 27, 14 

Mitchell companion Elder Cazier and Leohba

Elder Mitchell Brown, Elder Buchanan, Elder Barton, and Elder Cazier
Mitchell's Zone - 4 elders in Secunda 

Secunda, South Africa - the coal refinery smoke stacks 

Just hanging out at the church on P-day
Sending out emails

Elder Mitchell Brown taking it easy on P-day.

Sunset in Secunda South Africa - May 2014

May 5, 2014 - week 33

Dear Mom and Dad,

 It has been an interesting week.  I think that I am secure and able to handle the things that are happening. Thank you for the good story.

Transfers went good. We drove to Roodeport on Monday because Elder Barton had a trainers meeting, and Elder Buchanan had his final interview. We then stayed at the mission home because it wasn't worth driving back, then turning around in the morning. Elder Cazier did leave Secunda. My new companion's name is Elder Dye. He is from Idaho Falls, Idaho. This is now my third companion from Idaho. It is hard to adjust to new but we have been getting along well.  Speaking of pictures I am not sure if I got one with Cazier, but I will find one. I will also get one with Elder Dye and send them both later.

Elder Buchanan left, because he was going home. His parents actually picked him up at transfers, and that was really cool to see. I videoed him walking to meet them. So Elder Barton is still here, and he is training a new missionary. His new companion's name is Elder Willombe or something like that. He is from Zambia. I will send the old district picture with Cazier Buchanan and Barton, and then I will get the new district picture this Friday. 

Just like you said a township is an informal settlement , outside of a formal town, that is reserved for non whites.

It is very interesting to learn more about the townships. Emba is huge though, but that is surprising the population is listed as 91,000. I will most likely be able to tell you more next week. 

That sounds like a great plan for skyping. I think we will be here at the church all day most likely.  Excited to hear from you.

Dad is a very good man. I wish I could have been there to hear him speak. Of course Calvin didn't get up, but I can't blame him, most morning here I don't get up on time. Calvin mentioned something about going to the sand dunes last week, so I am glad you took him. It sounds like it was a great time. I will look at the dropbox pictures. 

 Leohba the sister I baptized last week is from Zimbabwe. Her sister is a member, Sister Irene. They both live in Emba, and they are great. Sister Irene is the one who initiated us teaching here. From our first lesson she was on date to be baptized. We got through the lessons very quickly, and she learned very fast. She is a great lady, and I enjoyed teaching her. She did request that I baptize her, and It was great. It was a bit hard because the font wasn't all the way full, so I had to baptize her 3 times!!! I think this scared her a bit, but it was still a very spiritual experience for her. She had to go back to Zimbabwe for a couple weeks, so she will receive the Holy Ghost in 2 weeks. 

It is mostly hard for people to attend church because of money. It cost money for them to catch a taxi into the church, and most people don't have money. The people here are crazy! They get up before dad does!!! They normally wake up at around 4 or 5 in the morning, and that is most of the people I have talked to. We are working right now to form a group of members in Emba, and then I think the work would take off there. 

I am so grateful for the gospel, and especially grateful for you and dad raising me in the gospel. I don't think I would be able to accept missionaries. Sometimes it is frustrating to know we have the truth, and people don't want to hear it. As I have studies more about the gospel my testimony has grown so much. I know this is the one true gospel on the earth. Watching conference last week reaffirmed that to me. Speaking of conference I saw Kyle in the choir a few times, and it was really cool. Mostly on the Sunday sessions. 

I am glad you are getting the wedding invitations sent out. Good luck in all the wedding preparations.  Hope Randall is doing ok and sorry to hear his back is bothering him.

Packages are very fun to receive, but I know they are very expensive. I do have to pay a lot here sometimes. Normally like R30, so like 3 dollars. One I had to pay R230, so like 23 dollars is the most I have spent. It is probably better for me to just buy thinks if I need them. i will start thinking of things now for the Christmas package so it is worthwhile. 

I told dad last week, but not sure I told you. I met Glenda's sister at the Jo-burg temple. Her and her husband are temple workers there. She was very nice to me. I don't remember there names, but she told me that Glenda wasn't doing well especially with her husband passing. I am so glad for our knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. It makes things much easier. I hope the funeral was good, and I hope her kids are all doing well. 

I am doing well. Some days I do wish It was just over, but other days I really enjoy the work I am doing.   I love you and I am so thankful for all of your love and support. I am glad that everyone is healthy and happy on that end of the world. I worry a lot about you and the family, but I know you are being watched over. I look forward to speaking with you next week. 

Love

Elder Mitchell Brown