Hello family and friends!
I am so happy that I have been able to hear from you all and that you are all doing well. I love being able to hear from each of you and to be able to enjoy all of your cool experiences. It is very amazing how fast time goes while on a mission, I am already approaching my month mark and it feels like I just went into the field yesterday.
This week has been full of many ups and downs. I was sick for three days and ended up having to stay in our apartment. There is a nasty case of the stomach flu going around, and of course I was one of the lucky ones to get it. Good thing I am used to throwing up. :/ Luckily I eventually got over that and was able to go back out to work.
This week we did tons of tracting and didn't really have any success. We did, however, run into a 92 year old Lutherin who let us into her house and talked to us for a really long time. That was interesting and we thought it was cool that she was so kind and polite to us. She also told us to tell our parents thank you for teaching us about Christ and allowing us to have religion in our lives. I only wish that she would accept The Lords restored gospel. Little does she know all that she is missing out on.
Ohio is very, very, very flat and equally humid! You go outside and can see for miles and get wet in an instant. It is very different from home, but I am starting to like it and to enjoy the beauty that it does have. Along with the humidity they have some very crazy storms over here. One night there was lighting and thunder that followed right after. It was so close it shook our apartment building. We have also had tons of rain and some tornado warnings. Oh the joys of flat land! It is also raining today, and with all the clouds I pretended that mountains were hiding behind them, making it feel more like home.
On Sunday Elder Steele and I went out to go visit a less-active member. We ended up getting stopped by a train (there are millions of them over here) and had to wait fifteen minutes for it to go by. We finally got through and pulled up to the house that was more like a trailer. Sadly, no one was home so we ended up going tracting down this very ghetto, scary street. We were about to leave due to the lack of success and my fear of being shanked when we felt prompted to go and try two more houses. When we came upon our last house an old, rather gruff man answered the door. I was getting ready for our usual "no thank you", slam the door in our face routine when he said: "Oh I know who you are, come on in!" Elder Steele and I ended up being able to go inside and visited with him for over an hour and a half! His name is Al, and that he is from Virginia and is 64 years old. He talked about how he was a professor and now is here for some engineering work. He told us about how he highly respects what we are doing and then went on to talk about some of his concerns about a friend dying. We ended up talking about the plan of salvation, left a Book of Mormon, and set a return appointment. The Lord truly does prepare his children for the gospel. And to make things even more cool, he told us that he had just gotten home twenty minutes before we arrived. So if it weren't for the train holding us up we most likely wouldn't have ran into Al. This truly is the Lord's work and He will help us and He does prepare His children to receive the gospel.
This week I had another really cool experience and reminder. While at church yesterday all eight of us missionaries were walking around the building after church had ended. We were walking past the primary room when we heard some little voices talking behind us. The primary kids were all saying things like, "Look! It's the missionaries!" or "Wow, the real missionaries." My favorite was the child that said, "Mommy, come quick! The missionaries are right here! Come see them, quick,come see them!" It hit me that we are examples to all of those around us, and that all of the youth and children of the church are looking up at us. I then realized that we are like superheroes to them, and that we truly are superheroes in our work of bringing people back to Christ. What an amazing and glorious calling we all have. I love being a missionary and a "superhero" and I am sad to think that I only get two years to be one. This time is already starting to fly by. So that is my missionary tip of the week: remember that you are a superhero and that you truly are looked up to and are helping and saving your brothers and sisters and bringing all of them back to Christ.
I love you all and wish you the best wherever you may be. Thanks for all of your prayers and support, they truly are loved and felt!
Elder (Superhero) Brown
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