This week has been a rather rough one, with many challenges and trials. It has been hard to remain positive through all of our rejections and struggles, but I must maintain faith, and continue to walk in and follow the spirit and path of the Lord. We are not alone in this work. The Lord is always near and is always ready to reach out and to help all of us. It is so amazing the amount of love He has for all of us.
Ohio has a big problem with bed bugs and everywhere you go you have to be careful where you sit. Sadly, Elder Steele just wasn't careful enough. We all woke up Wednesday morning to the sound of Elder Steele freaking out, running out of the bathroom, and tearing apart his bed. He had bed bug bites all down his side and in his bed. Lame! We had to call Sister Vellinga, who told us we had to stay inside all day so we could clean, so clean we did. We had to wash EVERYTHING in industrial washers and driers to kill the bugs. We also had to move all of the furniture, clean the walls, and spray exterminator stuff all over our apartment. Luckily, after all of our work the bugs are gone and fortunately the rest of us were never bitten. Thank goodness!
This week we had Zone Conference, which was very fun and uplifting. We were taught by President Vellinga all day and ate some really amazing that the Relief Society made. I love being taught and receiving encouragement to continue to press forward. I learned that we need to walk in diligence, happiness, hope, and in faith.
Throughout the week Elder Steele and I have been teaching less active members about prayer, and about the love Heavenly Fathers has for them. I was also able to teach about prayer in our Gospel Principles class in church yesterday, which I really enjoyed. I was wondering why we were teaching about prayer so much, and why we were prompted to always do that when it hit me: My prayers need to be filled with gratitude. Ever since that realization I have strived to do that because the blessings the Lord gives us are countless. I started to count my blessings and wrote them all down. Before going to bed I managed to count 125 blessings! Our Lord truly is amazing!
This week actually did have many great things about it as well that I want to share. One of the members in our ward is the manager at a country club called Maumey Bay. Because he loves the missionaries, he has extended all club member privileges to us. Last week we went golfing on their amazing golf course off of the bay of Lake Erie. That was so much fun, and I actually did rather well. I really enjoyed playing and had a fantastic time. We might go back again today, so who knows what we will do in that amazing resort!
Our ward had a ward party this week and we had so much fun at that. Our investigator, Balinda, came and she had a fantastic time. She is doing really well and is loving the gospel so much. The missionaries were then able to play a game of ultimate frisbee against the young men. We had a fantastic time and were really able to bond with the ward much more. We have such a great ward here, and I love all of them so much. I am really going to miss them all when we have to leave. We also got a new investigator this week named Joseph. He is an amazing guy, and was so excited when we told him about the Book of Mormon! We will see how our lessons with him go.
My missionary message this week is one of great significance to me. While driving home one night this week we saw a glorious sunset. It was shining brightly in the sky, creating many colors and streaks. While looking at this I began to cry and to be filled with peace. I remembered something that one of my seminary teachers said, "Sunsets are God's way of saying goodnight to His children". When I saw that sunset I heard a voice come to mind saying, "My son, I love you, I am proud of you, I miss you, and I want you to be happy. Goodnight my son. Remember me, and remember my glorious Son". Remember the Lord's love for you. He cares for us all and I know this is true!
I love you all so very much!
Elder Brown
P.S. Thank you all for the fun letters and postcards! I loved them all, and I look forward to being able to continue to hear from you all.
Cleaning out the bugs!
God's way of saying goodnight.
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