Transfers and more!

January 16, 2012

Hey Family,

This week has been great! We're teaching a lot of people! The big news for this week is transfers! I'll be staying in the Twin Ports ward! Elder Messenger is getting the boot and will be heading to Shoreview (St Paul). I am pleased to announce that my new companion will be an Idahoan. Elder Olavason is his name! I actually was his Zone Leader when i was in Rochester. He's a very hard worker and he's been out for about 6months. President is expecting big things to happen with us two Idahoans being together. I'm a really big fan of Elder Olavason and i know his good work ethic and testimony. I'm really excited for this transfer-- i know it will be a good one.

Missy Evan and Kortney are doing ok. They did not come to church this last week- they slept in. This 9 o'clock schedule is brutal on our investigators. Right now we're in a dry patch with 0 investigators to church in the last 2 weeks. This is really dumb because we've been averaging 4-5 each week before the dry spell. Satan really works hard to stop the work! We were able to teach them right after church. Brother Grew came with us and we taught about keeping the Sabbath day holy. =) They understood it really well and know they have to do a better job.

I'm really loving the people i serve. There just is a deep love and concern for those who you associate with. Even though the ward is terribly small, the members embrace us, and we embrace them. Except for one man that was hard to love. One of our less actives invited us over while surprising us with one of her hardcore Baptist friends. He destroyed the lesson by bashing and attacking our beliefs that we were trying to teach her son. It was terrible and he attacked everything. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and asking him to read 2 Nephi 33 which talks about Nephi's final testimony of Christ. How can people deny that the Book of Mormon is the word of God? Read the book with a sincere heart and God will give you a witness. All i could say was, " I have received a spiritual witness, and this witness hasn't come from man, but from God". I felt the authority of our calling as we testified of the restored gospel.

I gave a Sacrament talk this last week. They asked me last second on Thursday night. I prepared a 10minute talk on the Sabbath .My main point was that as we live the Sabbath day we renew ourselves and rest. It had a big Atonement influence and sacrament focus. I shared a personal experience about my working career before the mission-Piano Gallery. As a piano mover i had many different obstacles. Every delivery was a different challenge. The only way we were able to accomplish our deliveries and not break our backs was a piano dolly. It took the load and weight of the piano so we didn't have to struggle and carry the hard load. I used this to relate to the sacrament. We all have weight and struggles in this life that we can't carry alone. God has provided a resource- the sacrament to be that piano dolly and take our heavy load from us. We all have to move a piano in life, let us use what God has given us – the sacrament.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary! I'm excited for this new transfer! I think i only have 4 transfers left! Yikes! Time goes way too fast! I'm grateful for the gospel and i know this church is true.

Love,

Elder Browning