First Snow! So Much Change!

Nov 15, 2010


Hey family,

So last Saturday Minnesota was drenched with 12 inches of snow! I knew it was only a matter of time before mother nature hit Minnesota upside the face. Elder Petersen was really excited about the snow( he's from Las Vegas) so this is new for him. We were excited to face the elements with our gear. Our Mazda 3 got stuck in the heavy wet snow in the parking lot. Our adventure didn't get far. We had two appointments fall through because of the weather, and one was with our newest investigator Kim.

We walked to the nearest neighborhood and tracted. We had a couple good discussions with people, and a few promising return appointments. The Lord's work continues vs all odds in the Minnesota weather! It really was chaos though. People were sliding all over the roads and a semi truck was hit by a train right by our apartment making it so we couldn't cross the tracts. The snow is melting now but now i know what a Minnesota snow fall is all about. Oh and my Ecco snow dress shoes are amazing! Elder Petersen is so jealous! My coat is extremely warm and my gloves couldn't be better. Thank you again for the support.

The boundary change has really slowed us down. Our teaching pool shifted with the boundary change, so it was a really slow week. We only taught 10 lessons, yikes. We practically lost all of our less actives and half of our investigators. For the next couple of weeks we'll be rebuilding the teaching pool. Mary (our investigator with a date), was transferred over to the Bloomington ward. She was not happy with the change because she was finally developing strong relationships so she'll be coming to the Eden Prairie ward until she feels comfortable. We're going to have dinner at President Howells house this week. We want to introduce Mary to the Bloomington bishop at the dinner.

Our Ward is huge now! It doubled in size and now feels like the Wakonia ward (our neighboring ward). We filled up the entire chapel. It was really overwhelming! I just got use to the original families in the Eden Prairie ward, now i have to learn names again. There are lots of mature families with youth and lots of leadership. It feels like an Idaho ward! The transition will be a bit rocky at the beginning, but i hope it will turn out for the better. We'll be getting to know members this week. Man there has been so much change for me! There's no such thing as a comfort zone here in Eden Prairie. The best word i can describe the situation with is --awkward.

The Egbert family didn't come to church, which was a huge disappointment. We helped paint their house and really thought that was the ice breaker. We'll be meeting with them again today for dinner and a lesson. That's how this week has gone. It's just one of those weeks.

Alright since i'm all about the Book of Mormon and Bible relationships, I have a scripture for you guys in both books. 1 Cor 1:27-28 and Alma 37 :6-7. I've been doing this lately, and it has strengthened my testimony of both books.

I love you all and keep warm! I'll be thinking of you guys as the holidays roll around.

Elder Browning