Elder Brown in Montauban

Elder Brown in Montauban

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Thanks for the BIrthday Wishes - March 20 2012


Oh, wow.  I love seeing those track photos!  What a studly family I have!  Keep sending 'em!
Dad, do you know un frère Deforge?  C'est l'évêque de la paroisse d'Angers.  Notre amie, Lénise, va déménager à Angers en juin, donc on lui a donné l'adresse de l'église puisqu'elle a passé le weekend là-bas.
Mom, you fed almost two hundred ATHLETES?!  Good work!  I bet more than half of them never get to bless their food before eating it!  Also, thank you so much for the birthday package!  I'm excited to give away those easter baskets.  Good photo work too!
Kendra, I sent you a message and a letter.  Je t'aime!
Drew, I like that hurdles picture but it looks COLD!  The vaulting will come.  One thing I missed my senior year was being able to do more than two events.  I wasn't as much of a decathlete as you are!
Steph, looking lovely and strong!  By the way, I got the cinderella reference.  As for "flopping over the bar", that happens because the pole is beating you--if it starts recoiling during your swing, your energy will be wasted "fighting" to get vertical before the pole does.  Thus, you end up "muscling" over the bar at the end rather than adding your swing energy into the pole and then "riding" the recoil. Even if you're take-off is weak and you're left arm collapses (I did that a lot), you can immediately repent by rowing the pole upward as you swing.  In this way you'll stilll be "putting bend in", instead of letting it come out, as you swing.  Good luck, bubba.
Trevor, I'm excited to hear about you're vaulting!  That'd be sweet if you can make varsity this year, but just remember that you'd probably be confined to pole vault alone.  Make sure to work other events while you have time!  Why is Mckay injured?

Alright, let's talk about Agen!  We've been running about twice a week to a track not far from our apartment--I ran a 5:40 mile last week!  Not bad for an out of shape missionary!  Don't ask me to run anything shorter, though; that's where "out of shape" takes on more meaning!
We've had an interesting week.  A lot of unexpected stuff happenned this week.  We found out a bit more about David; I won't go into any details, but keep praying for David. For the moment he's decided to cancel his baptism.
Sorry to start with the bad news.  Xavier is doing well!  Unfortunately we've only taught him once this week (he loved the Plan of Salvation) because he hurt his ankle really bad and couldn't get around.  He's better now, though!  We'll be teaching him tomorrow night. 
Madeleine (Jeanne's sister) is really progressing in her reading!  She loved Lehi's dream, which we read together.  We also taught her the ten commandments, and she is happy to be growing in knowledge!  She fell in the stairway on saturday, which made it impossible for her to come to church.  Jeanne couldn't make it either because her friend's daughter had a sudden appendix emergency...
We found a single muslim woman and her five kids yesterday!  We'll be teaching her and her kids again on wednesday.
Last week we had zone conference and blues (trainees) conference.  While in Toulouse I got to send a few texts to Pierrick with Elder Hemsley's phone!  He's doing great, and he had also written me a postcard! 
I'm out of time once again, but I'd just like to say that I know President Murdock is an inspired man.  He's just so full of light and love, and I'm so grateful for his inspired leadership.  It's such a joy to serve, and it goes by too fast!
I love you all!  Thanks for helping me have an awesome birthday!
-Elder Brown


Monday, March 12, 2012

Quelle Joie!!!!


Bonjour à tous!

Quelle semaine!  We had such an awesome week!  The happiest thing for me was to get the news of Pierrick's baptism!  He was baptized two days ago, and I would have given anything to be there!  Elder Larson called me Saturday evening to give me a little run-down on the service; Pierrick's parents came, and stayed after to talk with the young adults and Bishop Depuydt.  Elder Larson said it was one of the most touching baptismal services he'd ever attended!
Getting that call just made my week.  I'm so proud of Pierrick!  I hope to be able to introduce you to him.
We're getting an exchange student?  Right on!  I hope his English isn't to good; that way he'll be forced to speak french with me, all day!
Thanks for all of you news!  I love reading it!
Dad, Je suis en train de relire le petit bouquin que tu m'as écrit! Merci encore maintes et maintes fois, car en lisant je ressens l'amour que tu as pour le peuple, l'oeuvre, et moi!  Merci de ton exemple; t'es le meilleur papa qu'on puisse avoir!
Mom, I love you!  Thanks for everything! We need a primary really badly...
Kendra, merci pour tout le travail que tu fais pour moi!  Vas-y, je te fais confiance.  Inscris-moi dans tous les cours qui te semblent bons, et puis on verra ce que ça donne., Je t'aime, et JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE!!!
Drew, try to do technique training before running the workout, if you can.  It's best to work on technique when your fresh.  Keep it up, bro--I'm proud of you!  P.S. no, you didn't write too much.
Steph, what a gangsta you is.  You should be locked up!
Trev, vault high, mon petit frère!  I'm excited to hear about the season!

ALright, I only have a few minutes left, but I'll just tell you that our ami David is going to be baptized on the 24th!  He's been taught a lot in the past but never managed to get over his cigarette addiction.  He's finally done it, and now he's preparing for baptism!  Pray for him!  ALso, we have a new ami named Xavier--it's weird to think that he's younger than Drew, because he turned 18 in february!  He is from an atheist family, but he's accepted to be baptized on the 31st provided that he receives the answer to his prayers! 
David, Yolande, Xavier, Madeleine, Madina, Lénise, and her kids all came to church yesterday!  Jeanne didn't make it because she didn't want to leave her mom to deal with all of the kids.  Next week we'll put together a primary so she won't have an excuse to not bring them!
The Lord is helping our area so much!  We don't deserve it, but we are deeply grateful for the enormous blessings that He's pouring out on Agen!  It is such a privilege to participate in this marvelous work, and it truly is a wonder!
I love you all!  Have a splendid week!
à bientôt!
-Elder Brown

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Comme Il fait beau!!! - March 6, 2012



 Alright, time for some english, for the benefit of the general population!  We had another seven days full of blessings this week! Our amis are doing great! 
Unfortunately, Jeanne was feeling really bad on Sunday morning and so she didn't make it to church. However, Madeleine and Madina (Jeanne's sister and cousin) both came!
Christophe Mariette came again, and Quentin too!  Church went pretty well, with just a few unusual hang-ups...
Christophe is really progressing quite well!  He wants to be baptized on March 24th!   We'll see how that's gonna work out...
We had a really great second appointment with Michaël and Maria, and la famille Zambo! They didn't make it to church because they were tired from moving the day before.
We have an awesome new amie named Marlène!  We were supposed to see her this evening but she just called to cancel because of a schedule change.
On saturday (with permission from President Murdock), I watched a rugby game for the first time in my life!  Lisiate, one of our rugby-playing amis, gave us free tickets!
We only stayed for the first half (forty minutes, but the clock never stops).  It was pretty cool but really confusing!
Yesterday we had another unforeseen dinner; we arrived at Jeanne's house to teach them, and her mom said "D'accord, vous allez faire la lecture ensemble, mais d'abord à table!"
She had prepared a delicious meal of steak and fries, just for us and frère Zambo (the rest of the family had already eaten)!  I almost couldn't bring myself to eat.  Firstly, we had just eaten lunch two hours before.
Secondly, and more importantly, Jeanne works all week, sixteen hours a day, to provide for her kids.  We insisted on her letting us come over next Sunday to help her out with cleaning before the appointment.
We'll see if we can sneak over and do it on Saturday so she can have a restful sabbath day.  Their entire family already loves us!
today I made an apple cake for Jeanne's birthday on March 8th!  Oh by the way, mom; I don't know if there's anything specific you could send for Jeanne's kids, but who knows?
I'd sure they'd love anything you can think of (maybe even some primary stuff...).
Alright, I gotta go!  I am loving the time the Lord has given me to serve here in Agen!  We're here for a reason, and I know the Lord is helping us in our work.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is TRUE, and it is restored in it's fulness!  Tell somebody about it, and have a great week!
Je vous aime!
-Elder Brown