Dear Mom
and Dad,
I know it is easy to feel disheartened or discouraged. I too
doubt myself and feel I am floating along un-noticed, just a soul among many
not really being seen and not really doing anything note worthy. I have
felt this in missionary work a lot, wondering if I made a difference or if my
service was noticed. It seems like people don’t appreciate the work
we are doing. I agree it is important to notice others
and as they serve us and show our appreciation. I hope that I am
telling people thank you enough and making them feel recognized. I know it
is not important that we are getting praise, or that our
work is detected. It is not important that others are aware of our good
doings or that we get recognition.
The leadership is lacking a bit here in
our small branch. There aren't many members to feel all the auxiliary
positions. Our branch president, President Soko is pretty good. Our first
councilor moved about a month ago, and he was also the branch mission leader.
He hasn't been replaced yet. The second councilor I guess is now the first
councilor as of yesterday. Our Elders quorum president is less active and only
comes like once a month. We really help do a lot here in the branch as the
missionaries. We had branch council yesterday, and it was just frustrating.
They aren't very good at organizing stuff. We can't really just jump in as
missionaries either. We need more priesthood holders to support the branch. I
guess we have been baptizing a lot of men.
I am doing very well with elder Johnson.
I think we are getting a long very well, and teaching well together as well. We
have a lot of fun together. So I am enjoying him a lot.
I am
glad you enjoyed my story about Meshak, the sick boy. It was a pretty cool experience. I will try
to send more pictures today because I took some random ones.
We saw
Meshak mom last week on Sunday afternoon. We set a time to go back and see them
yesterday, but they weren't there. She didn't seem upset, but very grateful
when we saw her last week. We saw Meshak yesterday and he is still pretty sad.
He is still sick I think. But he enjoys seeing us. He can't hear very well
because something with his sickness. It is pretty hard to communicate with
him.
Thanks
for all the details in your emails. I enjoy hearing about everything that is
going on. I am sorry that school is starting again and you
have to get back into strict schedule. It is crazy to think school is starting
again already!! I hope that dad is able to prepare his talk for stake
conference, and does not stress too much. I am sure he will do just fine. I
hope he can get the presentation done to show at the first.
I'm glad
you are getting some rain. That is great that the sheep pond actually got some
rain as well. Tell Carson I am sorry he got braces, they are no fun. I
guess just make sure you get him a good mouth guard for football. I also hope his thumb will heal.
That
would be sweet if you could sell the boat and get a sweet one for next season.
Also hopefully the ranger will sell. Thanks for the pictures up at Panguitch.
I haven't seen the new bathroom yet, so that was fun to see. Glad you had fun
fishing. Hopefully Calvin had fun
with Tyler. I am glad he is hanging out with him. He is a good kid.
I'm glad
President Dunn let you know all is well. There has been some concerns
about the missionaries transferred from Sierra Leonne and Libera missions, four
native South African Elders serving there have been reassigned to our mission
to complete their assignments here in Johannesburg. President Dunn said, all
served in areas not affected by the outbreak of Ebola and were quarantined as
an extra safeguard. They are all in good health and have been integrated into
our mission.
Well
again it was a pretty dang normal week. We traveled to Springs and had a zone
meeting. I guess that was a change up from the norm. I guess something sad is
Yanni and Heidi told us they didn't want us to come back. It is hard because we
have had such powerful lessons with them. I taught about 14 lessons this week,
so it was a pretty good week that way. Still on P-days we don't really do
anything. There is nothing to do in Secunda. I guess today we will go to he
gym.
A new
rule that has really excited me is we are now allowed to get gym memberships and
work out at the gym. We bought memberships this last week, but only got to go
once. We are planning on going every day, so I am pretty excited about
that.
I guess
this week also we went to the Mnisi's and washes their cars for service. Only
two if the kids are members, so it was good to do this service. I think Fortune
was going to put pictures on Facebook and tag me, so you can look for those.
They fed us after which was very kind of them.
I think
my feelings are generally pretty happy. I normally have a pretty good attitude
about things. I do struggle sometimes to be motivated. The whole gym thing
though has given me more motivation. I do not feel homesick really ever. I
guess at certain times I miss things from home, but then I get over it pretty quick.
I am enjoying what I am doing. I really like teaching and just talking
to people.
That's
too bad that Blake lost his phone. It seems like he is pretty stressed with
life and everything. I hope that he will figure things out even if it means
moving back in. I hope starting school isn't too stressful. That is a bit sad
to hear Alex is signed up for another semester. Last I heard from him he said
he was working on his papers. I hope that he will leave after this semester. I
am so glad I just came out and didn't do school. If I would have started I
would have just wanted to finish because I would be scared of forgetting
everything going on a mission.
I love
you and hope you have a good week. Good luck getting the kids back in school.
Love you and miss you
Love
Elder Brown
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