Thank you for sending me a package, you guys are the best! I haven't got it yet, but hopefully I will get it soon. I got a b-day present from the member family I was with for district p-day last Monday. As soon as they heard it was my birthday, they went up and made me a gift with a card and everything. I was shocked! Here is a picture of all the stuff they gave me.
My area is pretty large, one of the biggest in our zone. Most people I meet have a British accent, and most are white, but there are some people from Spain, and we are teaching a family that speaks Spanish and very little English. I met a few people from Zimbabwe and other places in Africa as well.We walk and use buses a lot! The zone leaders drive us around a lot, because they work in the same ward as us. But they have to find a flat in another area, because of complications, but still see them often. We have district meetings every Wednesday, but when it comes to meeting with other missionaries, we just do accounting by phone. We have district P-day sometimes as well. On p-day we e-mail usually, and we play sports and such. We actually don't need to shop at all today, because we didn't use most of the stuff we bought because my companion has been quite sick for a while. We played a game last p-day. It is weird, some kind of Italian game little kids play. We also played stick-pull, Classic Joseph Smith game!
I met a sister Brown at the MTC. We took a picture together, and also one with the other colors in the MTC. She said she went to Kalispell a lot to go shopping.
I am teaching a young man named Josh he is progressing quite well. I will send a picture of him to you next week, I don't have one with him yet. I am teaching the Spanish family, and you saw the food they made for us! We had a challenge given to us from the Zone leaders, to have at least two new investigators by the end of the week. Our personal goal was actually three, but my companion hasn't been feeling well, and on two days this week we had to stay in the flat to let him rest. We still got 1 teach done on both of those days, but it was rough. Anyway, I didn't think we could get 2 new investigators, and this was Saturday at noon. I started my fast after lunch, and I fasted for my companion, that he might have the strength to go out and work, and that we might be able to get new investigators soon. Sunday evening we taught a family, who we had been trying to get with for a long time. We finally were able to catch them at home. They were very receptive, and the father and mother both are excited to read the Book of Mormon, and they are earnestly seeking for truth and understanding. The father has a lot of good questions, but a few of them go really deep, so we have to be careful. He has told us that he has talked with a ton of religious people, and discussed things, and tried to learn, but we are the first to be totally honest with him, and we are the first to have answered any of his questions with an answer that he feels is true. The lord works in mysterious ways, and he truly does prepare people for his gospel. Teaching by the spirit is key, and studying, listening and discerning are more important than anything else I can do.
My feet hate me, and they hurt at the end of the day, from walking, but they are doing much better. I have used GSE, and it doesn't seem to be helping, but I found some foot powder in the flat, and it seems to be helping. I think a combination of the two is eventually going to do the trick. My nice shoes are not so nice anymore, They got worn out in the MTC a little, but I still get comments on Sundays when I wear them, that they are really nice shoes. My other ones, the more sturdy walking shoes are excellent, my feet feel much better in them, and they still look great.
They don't have labor day, or memorial day, or a lot of things. I have gotten a lot of strange looks when I mention any of them. Walmart is called ASDA, and AXE is LYNX. Lays, the chips, are Walkers, and they are called crisps. There is so much weird stuff here!
The weeks are not long for me they go by so fast it is ridiculous! I feel like two hours ago was last Monday! not really, but it is going by faster than any time in my life ever has so far!
Mondays and I have a love hate relationship. I can't wait to email, but it is overwhelming! with all the letters I have to write. I also love to play sports and stuff, but I get too excited to teach people sometimes, that I almost wish it wasn't p-day! Weird right?!
My companion is the district leader, and the zone leaders used to live in the same flat as us, but they had to move because the land lord only wanted two people living in one flat. They still are around us quite a bit, because they are assigned to work in the same ward as us. Anyway, before we ever leave to go work we always say a prayer. In order to choose who says the prayer, we basically do rock paper scissors, but instead we either do a dragonballZ version, or a Lord Of The Rings version. Every time we do it I think of Karissa and her geekyness.
Recycling is huge here! Don't get caught putting plastic into the rubbish bin! Traffic here is ridiculous, and I am in a "small" city.The keyboards here are weird too, the @ key is swapped with the " key. There are more differences, but there just small inconveniences for me. I literally hop on and off of buses. We hold out our hand, and the bus stops. We get on, and show our bus pass, sit down, press a button to stop at a bus stop, and get off! The bus starts moving, before you have a chance to sit down, and if it is full enough, there are people standing up. they drive on the wrong side of the road, they spell things wrong (colour, Labour, Centre, etc.), signs are weird, road lines are weird, and people drive like maniacs. If a sign says drive slow in this area, people go 40 mph. There are traffic lights at every crosswalk, and intersections are totally different also. Have fun , and I love you all. I will try to take more pictures, but we don't have a whole lot of time to do so.
With Love,
Elder Brown
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