Thanksgiving/Transfers

Nov 25, 2010


Hey Family,

Ok so sorry family for emailing late, obviously the mission moved our p-day to Thanksgiving. We just got done having our Thanksgiving dinner at the Maudens, there is so much food here! This means we have a lifetime supply of food! Eden Prairie is amazing because i don't have to buy groceries, ever!

So i gave it away-- transfers happened Tuesday. And...i'm still in Eden Prairie. Elder Petersen left me and went to Bloomington. Elder Watkins is my new companion and he's legit! We were in the same district in Rochester so it was cool to know my companion before hand. He's only been out for 3 months but we get along great! I'm really looking forward to the transfer. We've been on exchanges together in our Rochester days and we make a good team. :) He's way smart, he actually went to BYU Hawaii. He's a surfer from California so he doesn't know what to do with all this snow. He knows how to work and he's not overbearing like a lot of missionaries.

Today has been way busy and fun. At 8 o'clock this morning we were part of the ward turkey bowl. It was 7 degrees i think? Yeah i couldn't breath. Gaining weight might have helped with that as well. =) After we went on tour to people we wanted to catch home. We knew everyone would be home so we stopped by with DVDs as a gift and a personal card. It was cool to make a difference and we visited a couple people who were alone for Thanksgiving. We actually caught a former investigator home and got a return appointment! YES! We're building our teaching pool slowly but surely. Then we had dinner with the Maudens and the Myers (also members). The Maudens know how to cook so it was a privilege to attend and spend Thanksgiving with them. They were a less active family until we came around. Sister Mauden is single with two kids, Lora is 23 and Jeff is 18, and we're still trying to get Jeff to church. They are so great! Now i find myself emailing you guys this very moment.

Now the good stuff, the work. We taught the Egberts on Monday. We focused on faith and how faith means acting upon something. We read the scripture story about nephi building a boat and how action led to true faith. Our biggest problem with them is church attendance. I hope they'll apply this story (1 nephi 17). We've also been meeting with members. We'll start teaching member lessons on a daily basis. It feels like a brand new ward at times, but we have some amazing strong mature families.

We had a miracle yesterday. Elder Watkins and I prayed on where we should tract. We felt the road Redwing dr was where we were suppose to be at 3-4 o'clock. It started to snow and the roads turned into snow! We had a choice to either park our car in a parking lot and call it a day or fight the elements. We decided to go on and to continue to work. We knocked every door, but not a lot of success until our very last door. The couple let us in and told us they were trying to get a hold of the mormon missionaries. So Jay -the husband- his best friend is a member of the church. They are really close and his mormon friend's mother past away last week. This sparked an interest and they want us to come over for dinner next week! It just shows that if we do our best and truly give it our all, the Lord will provide.

Well family I'm really looking forward to this transfer. The last transfer was another growning experience, but this transfer should be another growing experience as well. My scripture for the week is 1 Cor 2: 9-11.

Love you all,

Elder Browning