Pictures with Companion and Investigators

Pictures with Sister Master and hiking to waterfalls

Pictures with Investigator - Helping in her food shop

March 30, 2015

Dear Mom,

It has been a pretty good week!! I guess the big thing coming up is transfers tomorrow. I am so glad to hear your week has been nice. It sounds like some fun things have been planned for this spring break weekend. I hope that you have fun, and I am sure i will hear the report about it next week. 

You asked about my running and my sore legs.  My shins have been doing great. Just like you said I have been stretching them really good before and after running, even icing them to keep inflammation down. I have also been taking Ibuprofen. We haven't ran  as much this week, so really they haven't bothered me at all! I will keep you updated on them if they get any worse! 

Im sorry boys not playing water polo and I am sorry if you are missing that this spring.  Thanks - You where good to always transport the boys to all the tournaments.   I think I have told you but water polo is a big thing here among the white's! I had no idea until I came to this area!

My allergies are doing great! It is i guess autumn time here now. I have noticed them every once and a while, but really no problems. I still have Claratin D if I need it! I am sorry yours allergies have been so bad!  It really sounds like it has turned into spring there!! Putting the water into the cabin and the sprinklers, and all the blossoms. I hope that it doesn't snow again and just kill everything! I guess it is nice though for the Easter Weekend. People can get out and do fun things outdoors!

The plans for General conference are just like they have been before. We will watch a recording the following week. Watching it live we would have to be up late at night! But I am looking forward to conference! It is always nice to hear the words of the Apostles and Prophet. I guess something we will be doing this week with the work is an Easter Blitz. Mission wide we will be doing an Easter week of finding. We will be using the video “Because He lives” and the pass along cards that go with it. We will use the leverage of Easter to share more about Christ, and how he lives! Should be fun – wonderful message to share. 

I am glad that you finally got my letter!! It was dated back in January, but know I didn't send it until February. It got left in the car, and it was already sealed, or I would have thrown in another letter. So it didn't take as long as you thought.  I have not gotten any of your letters yet!! I don't know why not, but I am sure they will get here eventually. I am pretty sure the mail strike is over from what I have heard! I am sure I will get your package in a few weeks time before my birthday!! 

I am glad Sister Pienaar emailed you and sent some pictures. Her name is also Jackie, and she is a really good friend to Jackie Chabour our investigator. She has two boys on missions. One just left in January, and he is serving in Salt Lake. She is an awesome lady, and she has been great support to Jackie or investigator. 

We have been pretty busy this week. We are still teaching our normal investigators. Wilahmina and Ester are doing great! They are progressing, and they are ready for baptism. The only bad thing is they are leaving for two weeks for Easter. They won't be back until the 12th of April. They were supposed to be baptized on the 19th, but we won't have time to teach them everything. We have to teach all five lessons before baptism, and we still have to finish parts of lesson four and five! So they will be baptized the 26th instead! WE are just fishing teaching the commandments, and the laws and ordinances. 

Jackie is doing great!! We have taught her everything, so now it is just the smoking. We have started the church ARP(addiction recovery program) with her. She has done it before, but more specifically for alcohol. I think this will be great for her!! We want her to be clean from smoking for about a month before baptism, so her baptism might be in May! She is pretty sad about Elder Peterson leaving. But she will keep moving forward! 

We still have been doing service for Jackie at her tuck shop. I but on some pictures of the tuck shop today! I hope you can look at those! Also other service this week, we helped a member move into there house! He was moving from another ward, so we went and helped unpack all the trucks and trailer. I guess we are still looking for service opportunities. 

WE are teaching a few other people. I guess anther good one is Precilla and her son Orabile. They are pretty good. We had a really good lesson about the Restoration this week! We also introduced the Book of Mormon. I guess something here when we teach the restoration people believe it, but they don't realize that when they believe the restoration that it means there church isn't true. So i guess sometimes we just have to be strait forward and tell them this is the only true church, and you need to come if you believe in the Restoration. So I guess we are now at that point with them. 

One thing hard is the Easter Holiday. A lot of our investigators are leaving!

Elder Peterson will be leaving, and I will stay here in Randburg and get a new companion. I don't know yet who my new companion will be, but I will know tomorrow at our transfer meeting!! I am pretty excited for transfers. Elder Peterson has been a great companion, and i have learned good things with him.  I hope that I get a good companion I can get a long with well. I will let you know about the new companion next week!

We have done well this week. Peterson really has been a good companion to tolerate me, and we really have bonded in a way. We went to dinner on Saturday night in Sandton City, just as his Last Supper! We went to a place called Wangtie. It was really good, and super fancy!! It is on Mandela square, and you look out on the square from the restaurant!! 

 I guess there are a lot of cool buildings I have seen. I have seen the doughnut shaped, or prigle shaped soccer dome. It is called the FNB stadium. It is actually right by the huge township of Soweto. It is in a pretty sketchy area!! I want to visit it sometime and get pictures inside! I lot of missionaries go there to tour. They actually just had a One Direction Concert there this past weekend! 

I will have to take a look on the dropbox for pictures. Thanks for the pictures, they are always fun. I will look forward to the pictures next week of spring break. I love you and hope you have a great week. I know what I am doing is right and that the church is true.  Grateful for my testimony.  

Love

Your Son

Elder Brown

March 23, 2015

Dear Mom and Dad

It has been a good normal week for me. I am doing great, and all has been well. 

Last Monday was pretty fun. We went to this place to play soccer, but we were inside these big bubbles and just smashing each other over. It was a Zone activity, so we had like 15 missionaries there. It was a lot of fun, even though I thought it would be dumb. It was mostly fun just running in this big bubble and hitting the other players. I know some of the Elders got pictures, so I will try to get some of them to send to you. 

Tuesday was a normal day of teaching and finding. WE taught MK, Wilahmina &Ester, Chi, and Jackie. All of our investigators are coming a long quite well. I still wish we had more, but it is ok, we are trying to find new people. Wilahmina and Ester are still on track to be baptized on the 19th of April. They are really gaining testimonies and loving church. This ward has been great to them, especially in fellowshipping. I have never had any of my wards that have fellowshipped our investigators so much. It really makes it so nice. They feel excepted and wanted, and it makes their testimony grow much faster. 

Chi is a new guy we are teaching. I guess the missionaries have kind of taught him before. He is dating a member, so he has had a lot to do with the church. He came to church last week, and so we made an appointment with him. We tried calling him before, and he didn't answer, so we just went to his place. Apparently he was pretty offended we didn't call before. His girl friend text us and told us not to do it again. We haven't been able to get a hold of him now, and we are a bit scared that he was offended. I guess we don't feel too bad because we tried calling him and we didn't want to upset him by missing the appointment. 

Jackie is still doing well. She is making progress with smoking, but very slow. She only decreases one cigarette like every week or two. But she is amazing, and trying hard.  

Wednesday we did our normal singing with the old folk!! It was fun, especially because we mixed it up and sang some new songs!! 

We then went to the tuck shop to serve Jackie! I will have to get you some good pictures of that! We then went to see the recent convert boy Aimen. We really have the same routine every week. Wednesday night was really fun. We went to eat at an American Families home! The father is a US consulate at the embassy here in Sandton. They are a really fun family! The kids all play musical instruments, and the one boy plays the Cello. They fed us American food!!!!  It was great! We had a chicken stuffing casserole, and some salad with American Salad dressing they had brought in their suitcase last time they traveled! They also had homemade roles! They sent us home with some sweet rolls as well. It was just a fun night to talk with Americans, and to eat good food! 

Thursday was a pretty slow day. We were taught only a few lessons. Thursdays we stay in the flat for a while doing our planning for the week. We did see an old lady though, and that was fun. She lives alone, and her husband actually pasted away a long time ago in a freak glider accident. He is from Germany, so she had a lot of fun German decorations around her apartment. She really enjoyed our company, and just talking to us about life. It is great to uplift the members in the ward, and it is just as important as teaching. WE also saw sister masters that night and she cooked us an amazing lamb curry. It was really good. Curry dishes are very common among the white people here. It must be because there is a big Indian influence here. We also saw Wilahmina and Ester. WE are just finishing teaching them all the lessons, and then we will just wait for there baptismal date. 

Friday we had our normal district meeting! But I Thursday night was fun because we had some other missionaries come and stay at our flat that night. They had a temple trip Friday morning, and they didn't want to wake up at 4 am. It was nice because Elder Kafusee that was in the MTC with me came. We stayed up pretty late just talking and having fun. So I was pretty tired on Friday.

The rest of the day we had some good meetings. We again with Palesa for the second time. We began just talking about god, and the godhead. It is interesting to teach people the godhead here! They don't really understand that they are separate, or that God and Christ have bodies. We then saw a less active family the Meakers. They have been avoiding us, or really busy. WE used to see them a few times a week, but lately we haven't been. 

Saturday we did some service for sister Masters. WE helped her hang some orange curtains in preparation for Autumn. She is a fun lady. We also saw a great lady named Precilla. She is a Nurse, and works crazy shifts, so we don't get to see her often. We had a really powerful lesson about the Restoration, and Joseph Smith. Her son made the comment "this is so nice, and cool to know this!" He is 15 years old I think. So it is nice to just have good rewarding lessons, even if we aren't teaching a ton! 

Sunday was an early morning with PEC meeting at 7 am. It is nice to be able to work with the PEC in our ward. The leadership in this ward is so great, and so different than my other area's. They are so organized, and get things done, and they want to help us with our work. 

We made some no bake cookies to thank sister masters for all she does for us. We also wrote her a little thank you note. This was good, and she really appreciated it. 

WE are supposed to go to the Botanical Gardens today with Sister Masters, and it will be a lot of fun I think. It is a beautiful area, and there are some cool waterfalls and things! I will get a bunch of pictures. 

Transfers are soon, in one week. They are the 31st of March. I am pretty sure that Elder Peterson will be leaving. We are still getting a long well.  I just wish we could get a long and not have to talk about or feelings and emotions. I sometimes feel like I a on Dr. Phil.  So I guess the transfer will be nice. I do always get nervous for transfers though. I think me and Elder Peterson will try to do some fun stuff together this last week. 

For the most part we are on schedule for baptisms. We have Wilahmina and Ester Scheduled for April 19th. Jackie we did move to the end of April because we want her to be off of her smoking for about 3 weeks. I hope she can make it for her date that is the 26th of April. 

Well thank you for your email, it is great to hear all the details from home. I am trying to keep working hard and doing the right things. I don't want to have any regrets when I get home. I do think about that a lot. Sometimes it is hard to stay motivated.  I think I am just kind of getting burned out though from doing the same think everyday! I will keep working hard though. Thank you for your support and love. 

Love 

Your Son

Elder Brown

March 15, 15

Dear Mom,

Well It is great to hear from you. That is great to hear Jackie has emailed you. Thank you for forwarding her email to me. She is such a great lady!! She has gone through so many struggles in her life, and she is doing great. Jackie did mention that she emailed you, and that you had responded. She didn't tell me what you had said or anything, but it seemed like she really appreciated your response. Thank you for what you said and encouraging her. 

I have felt good this week. It was another slow week, but we did some good things to set up for this next week. Elder Peterson is doing great. He actually saw the doctor for the last time 2 weeks ago. He really has been great, and it hasn't been too hard dealing with his depression. I guess at times for me it is pretty hard, especially when he just shuts down and doesn't want to talk. This normally happens when he gets upset at something, or annoyed with me. We have gotten really good at communicating though, and so it doesn't stay awkward for too long. I guess it really has taught me a lot. 

I am happy because this week we have taught some really good quality lessons. I don't really care about getting quantity, but if we are teaching lessons that are leading people somewhere I feel good. We have been busy this week with meetings and service,  which is great. Elder Peterson has actually been really positive, and sometimes I feel like the negative one, but I think I am doing good. I guess like I said though some days when he is upset it is mentally taxing on me. 

Yeah we have really been finding some ways to stay busy. In Zone Conference we really talked about that a lot, and how service is a great thing to keep our time occupied. We have made a goal though this week to go out and do some tracking! 

I am glad that you and dad got to go on a little get away to Vegas. I am sure that was something he really enjoyed for his birthday! I am also glad you got the chance to stop in at the temple. We normally go to the temple every other transfer. So I went back in January, so that was last transfer. WE didn't have a temple trip this transfer, so I will go next transfer. Our transfer is in 2 weeks, I think Elder Peterson will be leaving. 

It has been a good week. Monday we didn't go to Botanical Gardens with Sister Masters, but we are going to go with her next Monday. So we just kind of chilled that day. 

Tuesday was a good teaching day. We had about six lessons. We taught 4 investigators. This man named MK that is an old black guy that can't read English, but he speaks great. He has invited us a few times to come to his church, so he is a bit backwards on the missionary work haha!! We then saw Willamina and Ester. They are doing great. They are still coming to church, and I think that they will make it for there baptism in April. We taught a new guy named Hanock. His sister is a member in Durban, but he is from Mallowee. He comes here for business every week, and stays with his brother. He has a very complicated life. But he is really interested in the gospel. He is Baptist, but only because he wanted a church to join. We ended Tuesday night by teaching Jackie. She has such a strong testimony. We also got to serve her twice this week. 

Wednesday started again with our singing! It is fun to see the joy we bring to the old folks!! We then taught a less active member, and just talked about her life and stuff. She has been struggling to get a job, but she has had a few interviews the last few weeks. 

WE then went and served Jackie at her Tuck Shop.

(A tuck shop is a small, food-selling retailer.  I think tuck is slang for food.  The tuck shop is at a school, it is frequently the only place (other than the school canteen) where monetary transactions can be made. the tuck shop is mainly staffed by volunteers from the community, which may include students, parents and, missionaries ) It is always fun to spend time with her. She is so much fun, and we just laugh a lot. We help pack food for kids to take home, like kids that don't have very much food at home. We also help get stuff for people, and cook little sandwiches. We also help her clean her shop. 

After Jackie we taught a recent convert boy named Aimen. His mom is a member, so that is nice. We are just reviewing the missionary lessons. We just taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The night was topped off my making dounuts with Sister Masters. She really loves our company, and it is so fun to be with her. 

Thursday we were in our Zone Conference all day! WE had to be there at 7:30, and we didn't leave until 3:30. We did learn some great stuff though!! We talked a lot about Service and how it can help our work. Sister Dunn wants us to get involved in the communities even, by doing service. I guess our first priority it to teach, but then other than that we can find through service. I guess it was just a good meeting, but really long to be sitting and in a suit. We also got some good lessons in that night with Willamina, and a less active lady. 

Friday was really slow. We had our district meeting that morning/afternoon. WE got finished at about 3. WE then just went around and visited people. WE also ended the night by going and having dinner with Jackie and Nathan.

Saturday morning we went to serve Jackie again at her concession stand place. They have cricket games at the school on Saturday, so she is really busy. It was fun to help her out again. She is really coming with her smoking. She is now down to 5 cigarettes a day!! We will keep working with her for that. WE had to move her baptism date to April so she can be off smoking for a while!

Sunday was pretty normal. We had a great church service. Sacrament meeting went great. We had four investigators there. There were some great talks as well. President and Sister Dunn came and joined our ward. You are always a bit nerves when the mission president walks in, but I really love the Dunn's. 

Well that was the week, I am sad to hear about that accident of those couples from Richfield. I read the article you sent me, and it is really sad. I got a bit nervous when I started to read that it was going to be someone I knew, but it wasn't! 

I am so grateful for the gospel, and I hope that I can keep growing and learning. I have seen how important trials are in our lives. They are no fun, but they are how we become better, or worse I guess as you said. I hope that I can keep facing the trials I am faced with. I know that anything is possible with the Lord and his gospel. I thank you for your constant support. I hope I am not painting too much of pretty  picture. I am doing good, but some days really are hard, and I don't have any motivation. I hope that I can stay motivated! Well I love you

Love

Your Son

Zone conference

Found Mitchell at the zone conference 

Mitchell's Zone - Zone Conference March 11, 15

Mitchell at Hard Rock Cafe Johannesburg- March 2015

Wonderful Letter from Investigator in Johannesburg - March 11, 15

To the Brown Family. Hello!!! My name is Jackie Chabour. I am a single mom and I am investigating the Church of Jesus Christ. My son is a member, through the grace of God. I am just writing to you to thank you for the most amazing job that you have done raising your son, Elder Brown. Elder Brown is and has been the missionary in our ward (area) for the last few months. First and foremost, I need you to know that Elder Brown is good. He is so loved. He is being fed and he is just soooooo soooooo soooooo soooooo loved by everyone in the community. I think that my son Nathan and I love him more than anyone else.......simply because he has been the most powerful and most beautiful missionary that I / we have ever come into contact with. He is so "normal". He is so "down to earth". His ability to invite the Spirit into our presence is 'taken for granted' (not meant in an expectant way). We love him as if he were a part of our own family.....and we just want to give you the thanks. Please do not worry at all about him. He is larger, more beautiful and more powerful than what you could ever imagine. He is the most exceptional Missionary. With our gratitude to you and your family for the child you have raised. Jackie and Nathan Chabour

Pictures from March 1-8,2015

Hanging out with Sister Maters

Headed to the Mall

Looking over the City - Rain clouds

Elder Brown

Elder Peterson

Made Chicken pot pie

Self