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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Subject: Re: Happy Birthday Alyssa
Date: Monday, December 7, 2009 6:25:58 AM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSSA!
sorry i forgot… You know your birthday is the same day as Nellys (a convert here) and she got mad cuz we were in another area all day doing service and didnt go by till yesterday to say happy birthday! I hope your not mad Well mom im sorry to burst the bubble but i doubt i will be able to send you the nativity set. I tried but its just not gonna be doable this christmas. Maybe ill go to Montevideo during the next year and have one to bring home sorrryyyyyy.

So it was a great week. Yes we got the 140 contacts! And we met some really cool people doing them. Carlos that i talked about before we are visiting today again. He can only meet on Mondays but last week it went really well. He just has soooo many questions! They are really good charlas though. We had a service also on Saturday out in Varela and we did yard work. I never seen so many old tools…. was like a lawn mower from like the 1920´s and i cut through the jungle of a backyard with a rusted old machete haha. was way fun though.

Well was a good week just working hard but not much new on anyone just keepin on. I think i told you about Martita who had me play the piano at her house… well we visited her house and she sends greetings back haha ill send ya that if i can get it up.

So its gettin close to the Holidays and like dad said this is the best thing i could ask for is to be out here teaching the gospel. Its been truely amazing and i love going around and just sharing a christmas hymn with like everyone here. I love the spirit of Christmas here even though its a little different. Im looking forward to blowing up a doll Judas again this year. But really its the best thing i could ask for is just be out here teaching about the Savior and his life and his gospel. I cant explain how much Ive come to understand about his love while Ive been out here and his hand in everything. We really should recognize him in everything… its like in 2 Nefi 25:26 “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, and write of Christ…“ because really he is everything for us. But I love you all and love it here.

Que Pasen Bien!
Con amor,
Elder Brown.

Subject: THANKSGIVING
Date: Monday, November 30, 2009 11:24:49 AM

HOLA FAMILIA
Well great to hear from yall and see the pic of the baby. Sounds like Thanksgiving went good. Went awesome here. I wish i had the photos on me to send but i forgot them. So crazy stuff… theres this Elder Brown that served here like 20 years ago that everyone talks about. Its like always the first thing i hear here in 33 is about this amazing Elder Brown that was here thats like a legend. So he came down for a wedding and actually was at Thanksgiving dinner with us at Freddys. Hes a cool guy and looks aloooottt like dad. Everyone says Im alot like him but id say he looks like dad. But yah we had a way fun time and he is just really chill guy. The dinner was AWESOME! we used alot from all our Christmas packages we received to have a HUGE feast. It really went well and it was the first time in Guay that ive seen people eat longer than 20 mins. People usually just eat fast and alot and then just talk, but this time we actually ate for like an hour. Stunk cuz we had to leave early cuz i had to do a Baptismal Interview but it was a really cool experience.

So the work went really well this week. We had interviews and President really dropped cane on everyone for not doing contacts which we should get better on. He wants my comp and I to do 140 contacts a week which is a tonnn here till he leaves and left us a promise that wed see miracles. He said we cant force anyone to open a door, go to church, or get baptized… the only thing we can control is the amount of people we talk to. We were doing pretty good to but definately could do better. Well this week we did it and definately saw the blessings. We found 3 amazing families in 1 night that are amazing. One of them reminds me of Richard and Monica from back in Melo. They are just really funny and are all about just havin fun. The other two were really amazing. one is this family from Paraguay that lives in a little store. A lesson had just fell through and we were going back to plan for the week and found this guy just sittin outside. I figured he was just chillin waitin for the store to open or something so we went to go talk to him real quick and he had us come in and found out it was his store. We had a really cool lesson with him and all and goin back today.

So Sunday was rough…. Was elections again and nobody was at church… there was like 40 people total between the 2 branches. So Pepe Mujica is gonna be the new president here…. Hes a communist apparently so should be fun.

Well thats about all thats up here. Love ya all. Alexa dont forget im your favorite uncle even though i wasnt there for Thanksgiving

CON AMOR
Elder Brown.