Elder Brown’s Missionary Site

Uruguay Montevideo Mission – October 2008 to October 2010

Solymar – Week Two

Feb 9

Posted by john in 4- Area Four - Solymar

Subject: LOVE FROM SOLYMAR!
Date: Monday, February 8, 2010 11:12:38 AM

HOLA FAMILIA!
Sounds like its going great there. So happy to hear of Trevor and i need his address so i can send him a letter. Well sounds like the wards doing good. I just got some Christmas letters from the Rays and the Giles so thank them for me. And wish them a Feliz Navidad tooooo.

ummm Well all is going awesome here. Today we actually had a pretty fun P’day. We have 2 other elders livin in our 2 elder house now so thats fun. They got kicked out of their house for the Bishops grandma but we havin a good time. This mornin we went to the beach at 6 in the morning and studied and watched the sun set…. so romantic with 4 guys… actually it was way fun and i was gonna send photos but my camera just died and for some reason if its plugged in the computer it doesnt charge!! haha. but next week you can get them they are pretty cool. We also just got done playin capture the flag as a zone which was way fun but now im beat.

So we having a bit of success here. Its been goin good. Ines did go to church on Sunday and is stopping smoking. We had to push it back though for the 20th her baptism but she is so cool. She actually was helping our members in Principles of the gospel class find the scriptures… it was so cute haha. i was so proud of her. We did a service of filling holes in her wall with cement with 2 other members on saturday and that went really well. It rained and we still did it which is a miracle! I even got to kiss a sheep… which is a long story but i dont suggest it.

Washington is still a cool guy and loves how he feels with us but he just wont except that Jesus was more than just a man so we had to just leave him with a book of mormon and our testimonies for now and gonna go back in a while.

Mauricio is awesome! he got his answer. He hadnt got his answer ever and last time I just talked to him straight about how it was true or not and we gotta see if its whats good for us. Well he prayed and then realized the peace he had had in his life this past week. He is just amazing and he was all worried cuz he couldnt explain it but awww it was just sooo cool to see it in him. He couldnt go on Sunday because he went to Maldonado to see his Aunt but we still have a date for him on the 6 of March.

Joselyne and Diahna are also doin good but they went out of town for a few weeks so that stinks but we have a baptismal date with them at the end of the month which im hoping goes through. They left to montevideo for a little but we praying for them. Its truely just going awesome and just really loving it here.

My comp is so goofy which i think i say every week but hes just a happy goofy kid so we get along great.

Well thats me for now ill answer questions next week cuz im terrible at that if you have any questions or i forgot any lemme know cuz im bad at them. Oh but i dont know if i got that package… i dont remember gel but i think i got an envelope or maybe not. AHH IM CONFUSED. Sorry. I really dont remember but now i think that i didnt. i just remember the package.

LOVE YOU ALL! SEND LOVES TO EVERYONE.
CON AMOR
Elder Brown.

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Solymar – Week One

Feb 1

Posted by john in 4- Area Four - Solymar

Subject: SOLYMAR!
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 2010

Hola familia! How you all doing!?! So trev is heading out! Wow I’m stoked for him tell him grats for me before he leaves and not to forgot ME :) He’s gonna do awesome; although I’ll miss his letters haha. But tell him good luck. Also say hi to Gabriel for me. That’s awesome that he’s taking the lessons. Keep goin lil buddy!

Wow I can’t believe I’ve been here for a week almost. Its just flown by. It was awesome and I just love the area. Turns out there’s only been 1 baptism here in over a year and he doesn’t go, so should be interesting. As far as I can see, I love it and my comp is good. Wish I had my camera here with me to send a photo but I don’t have it here with me sorry.

We had a really cool week with interesting people. My first day we found a guy, Washington, who’s a Tibet monk or something like that and he’s so cool. He like put on Chinese soothing music while we taught and it was just so chill and he’s just got that like slow respective voice. He is way interested and loves what we’re teaching him. We’re also teaching this guy Mauricio whose the boyfriend of a member and we couldn’t tell if he was taking the lessons for her or really wanted to know… so we prayed and on Sunday found out the girl is moving to Montevideo for a month so that will give us time to find out his intentions. He’s a really sweet kid though. Me and him got along really well and he likes a lot of stuff I like, so it was cool. Then we got a lady named Ines who will get baptized soon, but she’s gots to stop smoking, but shes amazing. We have lessons with her and the spirit is just so strong and it’s like she already knows what we’re gonna teach before we talk and already wants to do it. She wasn’t sure she was ready for baptism so I told her to just pray bout it. The next time she had had a really spiritual experience and said she prayed and it was literally like someone was whispering to her that she needs to do it. Now she’s willing to do whatever it takes and she’ll easily stop smoking cuz she wants to. Just a way sweet lady.

So it was way cool on Sunday Pres. DaSilva just showed up at church. I was so confused, but yah he came and I was shocked when I saw him show up! I was like uhhh what’d I do. But he came and got to know Mauricio and gave a talk so that was way cool to hear from him. I was stoked. Like when church started we were asking some people if they could help us with some charlas, but everyone was busy. After he talked on the importance of members and how much they help the work, everyone we talked to was able to help and our lunch schedule filled up…. Its amazing how that works. I wish he could talk every month….

Well Alexa… Turning the Big 5! That’s cool. FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS! TE DESEO LO
MEJOR Y QUE RECIBAS TODO DE TUS SUEÑOS…. :) yah you gonna have to translate that some time. BUT LOVE YA! BESOS Y ABRAZOS!

Well, I gotta go, but I love you all a ton and its all good here…….

CON AMOR.
ELDER BROWN

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Treinta y Tres – Week Twenty Four

Feb 1

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: Changes
Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 1:12:44 AM

HOLA FAMILIA!
So yah you guys were right and today is changes. Imma be going to Solimar on the coast in Montevideo with Elder Fry. No idea where he from I just talked to him for a few mins but hes still in his first area so pretty new. He seems like a goofy kid so im pretty excited. Apparently its like right on the beach where we live so thats cool. My boy Elder Jacobsen is going to be with another Elder Brown haha. The other Elder Brown is taking my place up there in 33. My comp is stoked though and man imma miss him a ton. Hes a cool kid.

So was an amazing week this week. Pres Dutra called me to give a talk on Saturday Night at like 11 for church the next day. I messed with him and was telling him oh man what grate notice before hand but i was stoked to give it for my last week there in Yerbal. It was on Scripture Study so its interesting that you talked about that in your email Mom. I learned a ton preparing it… during our other branch in the morning… well turns out right before sacrament in Olimar they asked me to give a talk on Mission Work after Sacrament. So dont complain cuz it can always get worse :)

Friday we had a cool activity of sports and food and me and Elder Jacobsen changed the words to a Backstreet Boy song and sang it about Mission Work to animate the branch. It was sooooo fun. Elder Jacobsen played the guitar and i sang and it was quite the thing haha. Then we played some Volleyball and it was just a blast.

Well it was a cool week but soooo hard to say goodbye. It was hardest to say chau to Freddy and Estella. Gonna miss them a ton. Then Nelly and Tatiana…. that was really tough too. They came at 2 in the morning to see me off and i got there late so they only got to see me for like 2 mins… i felt sooo bad haha. Luckily i had already said bye to them but they came sooo early and i got there late. It was an awesome area and imma miss it a ton but Solimar will be wesome.

Well gotta go. Love you all a ton. And Alexa dont miss me too much.
Con Amor.
Elder Brown

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Treinta y Tres – Week Twenty Three

Jan 20

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: Amor de Guay
Date: Monday, January 18, 2010 3:13:44

Hola Familia.
Well thats hard to hear of Brother Baldwin. He was an amazing guy. Gonna miss him a ton.

Well work has been flying here. We had a really good week teaching and just was really a successful week. Carmen has changed a ton and is actually happy. Its amazing what the gospel does for people. She was litterally misserable to a point of just not wanting to go on and now shes happy and just floating around. Stinks though cuz shes taking off to Chuy which is a city on the edge of Brazil to work for a couple of weeks. Shes really excited to work. Sandokan is another story he dropped from 6 packs to 3 packs a day haha. Alot dropped but still alot to go…. he didnt show up for our last appointment and didnt show up at work so some how well run into him again. It always happens haha. He was doing great though. Its hard cuz we have no way to contact him cuz he lives in the booneys and has no phone.

So we found a girl and her Grandma which was a fun experience. We started out just talking to this old lady (the grandma) not thinking it would go anywhere cuz i understood like half of what she was saying and my comps face was just blank but she was just chillin outside so we figured wed share somethin with her and she invited us to sit with her. It was interesting cuz i felt like an oro again and my comp was just totally lost… then a young girl came out and while the grandma was talking to my comp i started talkin to the girl and was just like… i dont understand whats goin on and turns out she was speaking portuguese. Then i looked at my comp and he just looked terrified trying to talk to this old lady… it was soooo funny. We had a good time and had a really good lesson and the girl had actually already read before about half the Book of Mormon and then the missionaries stopped going by…. so we gonna see where it goes. Just showed me that anyone could be a good experience cuz i really didnt expect any thing out of this old lady that made no sense but it turned out awesome.

Well that was my week. Glad you had a good anniversary and a FELIZ ANIVERSARIO very late.

Well Love you all y que todos sus sueños sean buenos :)
CON AMOR.
Elder Brown

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Treinta y Tres – Week Twenty Two

Jan 12

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: HOLA!
Date: Monday, January 11, 2010 6:14:58 AM

Hey Everyone!
Well sorry its been awhile since i really got to write. Sounds like all is going good back home! I just got the package from the Young Womens. Thanks a ton it was awesome i seriously loved the little Hand Tree thing and Tie. Eveyones been eatin all my food from the box though :) it was way cool though thanks a ton. So whats new here? Well we been workin a ton and my comp is keepin me inline haha. Hes way cool and doing good but really timid so its hard to help him talk to people. Hes way chill though and we seein crazy stuff here. So we found the sister of a recent convert the other day. It was weird cuz well my comp coming from the mtc just wants to ask everyone for references so hes gotten me excited about them. The other day at church was talkin to this recent convert Freddy (not the same one that always feeds us) and it just came up about his sister and he was like thats weird you’d bring her up you should go visit her. So we did and apparently she had been praying that someone would come to help her. She lives in front of Freddy and is the older sister, apparently she just passed something really rough and doesnt have work and hadnt eaten in about 3 days, but she doesnt want to bother Freddy and his family so she was praying something would happen. So it was just amazing how we found her and she was so thankful and i know shell find work but yah that was a way cool experience to talk to her and be apparently an answer to her prayers. Its just amazing how God works through others. We also put a baptismal date on Saturday with a guy, Sandokan, who is trying to stop smoking for the end of this month. The guy is amazing but lives in campaña so its hard to get ahold of him. He didnt go to church on Sunday which bummed us we figured it was cuz it rained all day hard.Hes supposed to go to the morning ward that we work in here but after the afternoon ward he ran up to us in the street and apparently some big stuff in his family happpened that made him late and he felt terrible bout it. He asked if he could go right then but it was like 6 at night. Hes a good guy though with a weird name….

So something a little funny that happened… we have this crazy investigator who comes to church and sits with her helmet on haha. But yah so we went to visit her cuz i mean everyone needs the gospel and we were teaching the restauration and my comp went to teach the First vision and shared James 1:5 with her and asked her what she thought it meant… well she said that it meant like if you have like mental problems or lack like a part of your brain you can ask God and hell give you it back… well my comp didnt understand and was like exactly and thats exactly what Joseph Smith had and wenton with that… oh it was sooo funny i just started busting up! But yah its going great here. We about to go play Volleyball again like last week but this time i was smart and wrote first :)

So to answer your questions no im not DL anymore just training and i still love it and know you still love me. sorry im terrible at writing everyone and home but hope you enjoy a little the emails. So im kinda curious if youve heard anything about everyone out on missions like… Havent heard anything really bout Ryan A, or Robert or Jordan. Hows all them doing?

Well I love you all soooo much and Alexa dont worry i havent forgotten you
either! Portate bien! :) Abrazos.

CON Amor.
Elder Brown

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Treinta y Tres – Week Twenty One

Jan 5

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: Re: Happy Year New
Date: Monday, January 4, 2010 12:13:47 PM

well im sorry but i cant respond to all your questions right now we ran out of time today just went sooo fast p-day. we went and played volleyball with some kids in the sand and rain today and they were like these amazing 30 yr olds that are way cool. fun day sorry i cant write much and i still owe you photos. i did get a box with a tree of hands thats all i saw so far. but love you all and its goin good here.
Con Amor.
Elder Brown.

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From a Uruguayan Elder now serving in Dallas, Texas

Jan 4

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: Hello!!
Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 9:59:56 AM

Hello!!, Thank you for the box!! i lvoed it, i though that i was getting nothing for christmas, and its really helpful i was about to buy some of the things that i recived, i want you to know that u have a awesome Son and its an awesome servant of the Lord, his work has blessed many people lifes, including mine, the wokr in Uruguay its kinda hard the members are kinda lazy, but i know that the Lord will help him to get done the work that needs to be done!! sorry but my english is not perfect, so i may have a lot of mistakes while im writing, but i hope u understand my message, thank you for everything and thank you for the love that you share, i look forth to see Elder Tommy Brown again, thank you and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Luis Cabrera

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Treinta y Tres – Week Twenty

Dec 29

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: FELIZ AÑO NUEVO
Date: Monday, December 28, 2009 9:55:49 AM

HOLA FAM!
well thats bad that you didnt get the package… i guess im sorry im not Elder Smith and didnt send it in the mail… Well sorry it didnt get there but hope you thanked Elder Juddy for tryin. It was just some stuff made by an investigator from Paraguay whos really good at like sewing and stuff. Ill try to find some other stuff to send you but i doubt they will have nativities now i found the like last one here which was the one i sent haha. By the way… Elder Judd didnt train Elder Smith… But yah its goin good here.

Today was pretty fun and youll never guess who i saw. So we went to the church to play volleyball this morning and it just happened Richard was there… as in Richard and Monica from Melo whos daughters i baptized. It was CRAZY to see him. I couldnt believe he was there… he came to fix an elevator in the church and like it was just so awesome to see him. So thats pretty much the only new thing.

We did have a cool experience yesterday. Noone we teachin went to church but we were in the street walkin home from lunch and some lady said hi to us… so we went over to talk to her and invited her to church… well she went and liked it but is a little out there. it was cool though that she went. never know who will go i guess haha. But thats here for now.

OH and i didnt mean your pics were to big to see… i wanted to send a video to you guys and some pics but its too big so i dont know how to send them. the Video is like 70 MB or somethin haha but awesome. and id love to send photos but i just realized i dont have my camera here. But all is good here. My comp is doin awesome and just its way fun trainin him. Last night we watched Legacy and ate french toast and i just thought about home :) Every time i eat french toast it puts me in a daze haha. but yah tell everyone hi and it was great to talk to yall and trevor. I LOVED IT!
LOVE YALL

Con Amor.
Elder Brown

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Treinta y Tres – Week Nineteen

Dec 23

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: Re: Last chance before Christmas
Date: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 7:59:34 AM

hey mom and dad. so i get a little second to email whats up for christmas…. um we got 4 elders that will be at our house on christmas and my time will be at 3:30 here if you want to call me. i dont know what time that is there. all you gotta do is call XXXXXXXXXX or XXXXXXXXXXXXX. im not exactly sure which one it is. if you dont call me ill call you at 330 and see whats up. but yah. thanks for all. love yall and ill talk to yall in a few days. oh and lemme know if you guys got the stuff from Elder Judd that i sent home. he should be home by the 23rd to get it. he said hed get it to you guys but i dont know whats up with it all. love yah.

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Treinta y Tres – Week Eighteen

Dec 16

Posted by john in 3- Area Three - Treinta y Tres

Subject: HEY CHANGES!
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2009 8:09:35 AM

hey sorry i love you all but i got like noooo time so ill tell you anything you want on the Christmas Call. We did have changes today though and well im training in the same place i was. Im way stoked and my oro is awesome. Elder Jacobsen from Washington. Hes a cool kid and im stoked to stay in 33. i dont have any time cuz gotta get on a bus but ill be calling on christmas morning between like 9-12. not sure exactly on the time and when my comp is gonna call.

LOVE YOU ALL THOUGH AND WILL TALK TO YOU SOON! oh and Elder Rondina finished his mission today. He was awesome. umm also i sent some stuff back for you guys and can fight over the gifts cuz i didnt write who they were for. Elder Judd from Vegas has them i dont know where he lives but he has our adress and he gets home the 23 of december so hopefully you guys get the stuff. its from a paraguayan investigator.

well i love you all again and chau!
CON AMOR.
Elder Brown.

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