Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Finding like Angels!

What should the Earth mean to us?


Our Home is a gift we must care for and cherish.

The Earth is much more than somewhere we live or something to consume; it is a gift from God to mankind.  We depend on this gift and we have a responsibility to care for it.  This Home provides for us in beauty and bounty when we nurture it.  So, let us all care a little more for God's creations, and realize that the state of our souls and the environment are connected.
 
"The earth in its pristine beauty is an expression of the nature of its Creator."  
- Gordon B. Hinckley

This week was really good. We have gotten T_ baptism all lined up and organized. She is so excited for it which is great! The only concern is that she can't be confirmed until the 9th of November because we have stake conference next week. The ward has a lot of activities between her baptism and then, and we will keep daily contact with her, so it should be fine. 

We used the Mormon message pictures to find like angels this week, quite a lot, and it was pretty effective. People seemed much more willing to speak to us when we used it. 

We plan to make another flip chart, but this one will have pictures that don't necessarily present a specific message, but lead people to see the blessings and importance of the gospel. We hope that it will help us teach to needs in the street and on the door, and also help us get return appointments with those we speak to.

 We used our giant chess idea twice this week, but it wasn't as effective as before, so we are reevaluating and trying to improve it. The first time was on Thursday at 12:00, which is when the man who came up to us said would be a good time, but no one came up to us at all. I won the game against Elder Alambra though, that doesn't happen often.

We haven't seen the 17 year old yet. The second time we played Chess was Saturday at 4:00 and we invited one of our investigators, R__ to come with us to do it. He really enjoyed it. HE was inviting people to come up to us! So we will probably bring him along when we can. He also invited us to an activity with some of his friends as well! It's a Quirkle night! I hope they are ready to lose to Elder Brown! It's a good thing I have had a lot of experience playing with you guys. We are trying to find more ideas, and I am trying to receive revelation on how to help Elder Hafen and Elder Kroch to find new ways of approaching people as well. They haven't done anything different yet. We will see where next week goes! 

The ward here is having a Halloween Trunk and Treat on Halloween night! And they are having a bonfire, fireworks and a wait for iiiiiiiiit..................hog roast! A proper South African hog roast. Two South African members are coming at 12:00 noon to start making it to have it ready for 6:30 pm or so when the activity starts!

I love you all to bits! Thanks for telling me about your week! I attached a few photos.
LOVE YOU!
Elder Brown
A very windy day. Elder Brown with a fresh hair cut.




Elder Alambra taking a rest on the bus.

  




Monday, October 20, 2014

Big Chess!

The obedience is going well, we rid ourselves of all the little things that we thought were ok, and are doing everything we can to keep improving.  This week was a pretty good week. We had zone conference, which was sooooooo good, and we have started to apply as much of it as possible in our work here. One of the things we were taught was how to
teach like angels!! It comes from 1 Nephi 11 where Nephi is taught by the angel of the Lord. Basically we use the pamphlets and show the pictures and ask them what they see, which allows us to immediately know what needs to be taught/what they know already! Elder Alambra and I have used the teaching like angels approach a few times already and have seen miracles and blessings from it! T__ finally has a baptismal date again, and her son will be able to attend! She is so excited to get baptized and I believe she is definitely ready to make that covenant.


We tried two new finding ideas this week. As you know Elder Alambra and I have made a large scale chess set and this week we brought it to a local park and set it up with a sign asking others to challenge us. We began to play. We tried it twice, once Tuesday morning and once Saturday afternoon on Tuesday we had six men who worked at the park come up to us and watched for a while. We began to speak to them and invited one to play in place of Elder Alambra. He destroyed us in about 10 moves! We could see that it definitely softened his heart towards us, and he honked and waved to us later on that day.On Saturday only one person approached us, although the park was much busier. A young 17 year old man approached us. After playing a match with us he asked us who we were, and what we did. We then spoke to him about the gospel. He took a card and said he would speak to his parents. After that, we began to discuss on if it was really effective to do the chess idea, and how we might improve it. I prayed for help and guidance, and on Sunday a man waited for traffic, crossed the main road and came up to us as we waited at the bus stop for a bus. He asked us if we were the ones that did the big chess at the park and we told him we were. He then thanked us, and asked us to do it again during the week at midday as that is one of the busiest times! We have decided to continue to try it out a few more times to see where it goes. We also printed of still pictures from a Mormon message and are using them in the street with the angel teaching approach. We have only just started to do this one, but it seems to work very well so far.
The district is doing well. Elder Kroch is struggling with the language and asked me for help, so hopefully I can help him out. 

Some of Dailen's MTC group at recent tri-Zone Conference
Front Row: Elder Bradshaw?, Elder Herrod, Elder Erickson, Elder Wetsel, Elder ?, Elder Cullen?
Back Row: Sister Jacob, Sister McLaws, Sister Brittain, Sister Draper, Elder Brown, Elder Jackman, Elder Machado?, Elder ? Elder Glasgow, Elder Fisher, Elder Moore?, Elder Wessman?, Elder Wolfgramm?


Elder Alambra at the park playing chess.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Total Obedience!

How can I share my gifts?
http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-videos?v=2219553524001
We all have gifts; it's up to us to find out what they are and share them.
Every person is different and has a contribution to make.  To Kuha'o, music isn't just a talent, but a gift that sets people free, inspires, and uplifts.  God knows what our gifts are because He gave them to us.  If we ask Him, He will let us know what talent we can share to bless others.  As we develop these talents, we will recognize opportunities that God provides us to serve others with those gifts.

"...for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God."
- D&C 46:11

This week was a good week. We had an assignment from the bishopric to plan and write up a document about how we plan to implement the training plan into the ward. They enjoyed the presentation we shared in ward council, and want to implement it effectively into the ward, but they had a lot of questions, thus they asked us to write up our goals and how it will all work. We had to take some time out of proselyting to do so, but it is almost finished and will be emailed to the bishopric before p-day is over. We are very excited by the willingness of the ward, and have great hopes for the future as this starts to kick off!

We watched a lot of general conference with T__ as she missed it on the weekend, which was really good. She seemed to enjoy it a lot.

I don't know if you remember the video, but Elder Alambra and I about 6 weeks ago had the lesson for gospel principles, which was on honesty. While studying in the morning, we decided to rid ourselves of every dishonest act. I actually promised Heavenly Father that I would be honest always, essentially made a covenant with him. That includes white lies, as well as lies in joking or in jokes. We have really seen the blessings from it! Well, this Sunday we again had the gospel principles lesson. We sat down in companionship study yesterday morning and discussed/wondered if we would make as big of a commitment, and what the results might be. We then opened up the gospel principles manual to the chapter and discovered what the topic was. It was...Obedience! We both looked up at each other and just went Augh!!! that's too hard. We were discussing it as we studied and decided that we would rid ourselves from every disobedient act, including all white handbook rules, even the ones that seem small. ( I haven't been really disobedient or anything, I just don't want you to think I am a terrible missionary, but there are a few things) Some of the things that will have to change are sending the video journals to you. Technically the amazon cloud drive website is not authorized by the church, so we called the zone leaders to ask if we could get authorization so that I can continue sending them to you. They said they would have to ask and would get back to us, so if you don't get them this week, there is still a possibility that we can continue, but if not you will know by next week. Also, we had to ask about Prezi (we used it for the presentation we show members, and hope to use it for lessons when we get i-pads) and a google app that we used to convert general conference talks so we can watch them with investigators who don't have internet or mp4 capability. So we have a lot of improvement to do and sacrifices will have to be made, but it will bring blessings.

Missionary work IS fun! It is getting even better now though! The ward is about to catch fire with the new system. As far as the Finding ideas, our biggest problem is the rain! Many of the finding ideas we already have figured out will not work in the rain. The hot chocolate one needs rain though, so we just have to find more winter ones

This apple was given to us it is bigger then my fist.


 I found some very deep principles, that completely resolve all issues with why Christ drank wine, and we don't, but it is too much for most people, especially those who aren't members. The easiest way to approach a non-member who asks that question is probably to explain that the word of wisdom actually permits wine in the sacramental ordinance, but that we use water today because it was revealed to Joseph Smith that enemies of the church were poisoning the wine they would have bought. The Lord gave them two options at this point. 
1) Make your own wine
2) Use something in replacement
I don't know why, but they chose the second. Some benefits however are: it is much easier, it resolved confusion about the word of wisdom in the future (the change from wine to water happened before the word of wisdom), and it is cheaper. The Lord authorized the use of any substance in the use of the sacrament as long as the saints were able to keep the spirit of the sacrament (hence the reason why we don't use chocolate, as much meaning could be lost because we are distracted by it tasting wonderful)
However, they may still argue that Christ didn't just use wine in the sacrament. This is hard to resolve, simply because it takes a bit of explaining. Although Jesus drank wine, John the baptist did not. He didn't because he was called to prepare the way for Christ. He was what is referred to in the old testament as a Nazerite. The Nazerites gave up a lot of things for a period of time to serve the Lord (a bit like Missionaries today) Among those things was wine. (At the end of their service period, the ritual to be released included the shaving of their head and a drinking of a little wine, after that they could then do all the things that they had given up for that period of time. It really is similar to a mission now days! By the way, Sampson was a Nazerite, the only difference was that he was meant to do it all his life, but he fell when his hair was cut) 
John the baptist was a called to be a nazerite before birth, and was to be one his whole life. Thus his entire life was devoted to preparing the way for the coming of the savior. And one thing he gave up, was wine. 
Similarly, in these latter-days, a core belief of our religion is that we are called to prepare the way for the coming of the savior...The 2nd time. Therefore, in a similar way, we are not to partake of wine, and also give up many other things...for our whole lives. 

As for the currency in England, coins are 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2 and then the have notes(bills) of £5, £10, and £20, they also have a £50 note, but they are pretty rare, I have only seen one so far. (p stands for pence which is the same as cents in the states)  

I love you all, and hope you enjoy another great week! Sorry, no videos today, but who knows. 

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Success with the Remote Control Cars

How can I be courageous in my decisions?

Recognize that God will bless you for your righteous choices.

All of us will have experiences and circumstances in which we will need to demonstrate righteous courage, in plain view of those we associate with.  Always remember that the Lord will empower you to choose the right.  He will reward you for your courage and righteous behavior with happiness and joy.

"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord."
- Psalms 31:24

This week was a bit rough for us. I am feeling much better, but we had a bit of a what we call "flat fever," from being ill, for the first part of the week, and didn't work as hard as we should have, but we both have the motivation we need to get back into the spirit of the work and out of the bad habits that are trying to sneak there way in. General conference was wonderful, inspiring, motivating and gave me much to ponder and apply. I liked Elder Utchdworf's first talk in the Saturday Morning session! That one was really good! All of the talks were quite good as usual. General-conference link

I hope that this next week will be much better than this last one, and I am determined to work hard to get the success we need. Although this last week was a bit rough, we did have some good highlights. Saturday at around noon, we met Jean and her granddaughter, Amie, as well as one of her nonmember grandsons, A__, at a small high street/shops area close to her home. We finally used remote controlled cars! The two young kids drove the cars around the high street (out of the way of pedestrians) to get attention, and we allowed some children who came up to us with their parents to give them a go. It definitely attracted a lot of attention, and many people seemed intrigued by the questions we had on the signs. The activity only lasted about 30 min, as the batteries died at that point, but we were able to build a great relationship with A__, as well as meet a few young families that had come up to us. We are going to have the "ask me" signs on us next time to see if we can get more people to come up to us so that we can find this way. It was great to break out of the usual way of finding and see the curiosity of others increase a bit. 


This is a picture of our Remote control finding activity 

We are thinking of more ways, such as Chess, and a few of the members here have taken up the challenge to come up with ideas, so I look forward to telling you about a few more!


Elder Alambra asleep on boxes he was cutting chess pieces out of.



Elder Piseth has some sort of disease (president said it might be shingles), and the doctors told him to stay in, so they took a bit of time in the flat this week, but they still had some good appointments and quite a bit of success. Elder Piseth is moving, and a new Elder from Cambodia is replacing him! Everyone else is the same.

I liked Elder Utchdworf's first talk in the Saturday Morning session! That one was really good! All of the talks were quite good as usual.

I am glad you all survived this week, and had a great time being instructed by prophets of the Most High! I love you all, and hope you have a great week. Videos are up, pictures attached! Enjoy!
Love, 
Elder Brown