Big Change in Minnesota! Transfers!

Feb 14, 2011


Hey Family,

Alright Big change here in Minnesota! Even the weather is changing for us! We've been wearing just our suit coats in the 38 degree weather! It literally feels like Summer! It's so warm I love it! The week was a slow week until the weekend. I'm afraid we've lost some ground on our teaching pool, but we're not a numbers team.We focus on those who are receptive and keep commitments which is a lesson i have learned while serving in Eden Prairie. We had two investigators to church, one was a surprise. Tammy is her name and we've been struggling to contact her, but she came to church out of no where! Jimmy (which has a date set) enjoyed church as well. He's really letting the gospel sink in, its a beautiful thing to see.

Ok so i didn't let you know last week, but transfers are here! Elder Smedley and I received a phone call from the assistants to the president during our dinner appointment with the Brown family. (Bro Brown grew up in Shelley ID) They are a great young family, we enjoy spending time with them. However i talked to the assistants and they told us to drive to the mission home in Bloomington asap (President Howell wanted to meet with Elder Smedley). Speculation hit hard and we knew a change was about to occur. We hurried and ate and the Brown family were kind enough to let us sit, eat and leave. The 20 minute drive was a little stressful and as you can imagine we were trying to play it out in our head, mission gossip/rumor! (By the way, this kind of emergency stuff doesn't happen a lot.)

As we arrived, President Howell then interviewed Elder Smedley. Elder Smedley has been called to serve in the Karen language mission! Crazy stuff! 1-4 missionaries get called to speak that language. The Lord definitely played a role in this. Elder Smedley is a super missionary already and he'll be phenomenal at this Karen stuff and i guess he'll spend most of his time in Saint Paul.

Right after Elder Smedley's interview president called me in. He told me I'll be training again this transfer! This time will be different though. The church is coming out with a new approach to train missionaries, a new system if you will. The Minneapolis Minnesota Mission happens to be the pilot mission for these new trainings. That's right, our mission! Basically they have created a system/ step by step book for new missionaries which we'll apply in our 2 hour comp study (instead of 1 hour). The Church will be looking close at us and they'll also have a person to evaluate my companion and I that will come straight from Salt Lake. Now i don't know a whole lot of details but i do know we'll be getting a DVD player to watch video clips. Haha. I'll let you guys know more at my training this Wednesday. I'll be without a companion for a day. They're changing it up where the new missionaries sleep over at the mission home.

I'm sad to leave Elder Smedley. We've had such a good time together that i can't even put it into words. We have both lifted and helped each other this transfer. I'll be forever grateful to the Lord and this tender mercy. I still have not had a companion more than 1 transfer. What's wrong with me?! Haha I'll be here for sure though for 12 more weeks with the new training system.

Well family, i hope its as hot in Idaho as it is here. Change is wonderful! Spring is coming! This church receives revelation from God. I know this, and have practiced and studied to witness it. The gospel improves my life each and every day as i mature more and more. Being in tune with the spirit brings more joy! I like to look at the worldly joy as "fools gold". It looks pretty and can seem exciting, but when it comes down to it, your limited with fools gold. Real gold can get you places! Let us go forth and dig deep to find the real gold in this life!

Love,

Elder Browning