Busy as a Bee

Aug 11, 2011


Hey Family

Sorry for the late email. Elder Horgmo and I have been running all over the place! It feels great to be as busy as we are, however every missionary needs a day to rest. We had ZLC this last monday which was amazing. Then on Tuesday we helped a companionship in Chippewa Falls. We've burned a lot of miles the last 3 days.

Zone Leader Conference was wonderful. It was all about the relationship of the district leaders and zone leaders. We've figured out a big hole in our mission--we haven't been using our district leaders to their fullest potential. It was very helpful and useful training meeting. President Clements is a very smart man and is definitely qualified for the position. He has a style that i love and gets straight to the point. I understand his style more than President Howell's. Zone leader conference is pretty intense. There are so many good missionaries and i look up to a lot of them.

We then went to Chippewa Falls and helped a struggling companionship. We saw so many miracles. It was just a hard knock door day but we saw progress in their area. The Chippewa Falls elders were grateful for the help and encouragement. It has been a special treat to be able to help missionaries. I have a strong testimony of exchanges and strengthening missionaries. The Chippewa Falls elders had hope after our exchange which was cool because they were really down in the tubes before.

Haha funny side note, when i was on the exchange we got in a huge Bible bash. Now i usually don't try to accelerate these conversations but after talking to people all day, and feeling very bold we told her how it is. I felt like the missionaries in the Book of Mormon battling with the unbelievers. I felt the power and authority and we had no fear. It was a stubborn lady that believes the Bible is all we need. We basically told her she's limiting God to the Bible. I'm so grateful for the restored gospel because these people have no idea what true doctrine really is. We have the truth! We spent a good hour in a heated dicussion. I'll try not to do it again, but sometimes you have to defend the faith. =)

We had a cool Zone activity. Right after our district meeting we had a conference call with the whole entire zone in prayer. After the prayer we went out has districts to work in one area - 3 districts 3 areas. It helped with the zone unity and it helped build faith. It has felt great not to work in our area. The Lord has still blessed us despite out efforts in our own area.

The work in Hudson is going great. We've seen a lot of small miracles which has given Elder Horgmo and I hope. About two weeks ago we really lost all of our investigators, but the past week we've picked up 4 new investigators! The Lord will bless his servants if they do the simple things, stay obedient and find. Why is that? Because those are things we can control. Things we can't control,for example, we can't control our investigators coming to church. They have their freedom to choose. The Lord will bless us and make a way though for it to happen.

Hey one cool side note about our latest investigator (Mike). We had a chapel tour with him Monday. Mike was a referral from Sister Crowski in the Virgina ward. The cool thing here is Elder Horgmo served in the Virgina ward for 7 1/2 months. Once sister Crowski knew elder Horgmo would be my companion she knew it was a sign from God and she had to introduce the missionaries to Mike. Cool details that the Lord is obviously over. The church tour went well. He's a super awesome guy that needs the gospel. Sis Crowski came all the way from Virgina (3hours away) to fellowship. Member referrals are always the most promising.

Another Investigator we picked up this last week her name is Amber. She has a two kids and had tons of questions about the after life. We taught her the plan of salvation and how families can be together forever. We tied in the Restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon. I love teaching people who have a real desire to learn truth.

Just last night we had a crazy experience with one of our investigators Roxane. She's been dealing with health challenges and actually she received 3rd degree burns on her legs from lawn chemicals. We talked to her a couple times throughout the day and as the day went on she got more and more sick over the phone. As we showed up, a man next door told us an ambulance came and picked her up 20 minutes before we arrived. Thinking we had come too late to help we thought to visit her in the hospital and give her a blessing. We did, and she was so grateful to see us. Her husband had no idea what was going on due to work, and she really had no support or help. I was able to give her a blessing and it was a powerful experience. President Squire (stake presidency) was with us also.

I love you family! Thanks for the pictures of Julia. I'm keeping her and the family in my prayers. I'll be writting you soon!

Scripture 1 nephi 6: 4-6

Love,

Elder Browning