Hey Fam! All the pictures I send home and all the descriptions don't do the real thing justice. Africa is incredible! The sights, the sounds, everyting! Walking around in the jungle on a dirt path with slacks and a white shirt make me feel like I'm in a movie or a dream. This place is so much different than anywhere I have ever been. I feel like the missionary from "The Other Side of Heaven" all the time.

Everything here is good. I've started learning one of the dialects called Messena. It's going pretty well and sounds pretty cool. It's getting way hot here but the jungle provides a lot of shade so it's nice.

Anyways I'm out of space, I love you all and I'm so grateful to have you as my family. It is a blessing I never realized until I got here, now I know how amazing my family is. I love you all!

Love, Elder Brown

This week was a little ruff for me in our new area. We are white washing it so we don’t know where anyone lives, who's progressing, or anything. And it is still in the jungle so it’s not an easy area to learn. We just wander around in the jungle following an arrow on the GPS until we find the house. Also it has rained almost none stop every day and night since Tuesday. Our area is full of water!!! Paths are now rivers and the water is often up to our ankles. But the boots we got are doing a great job. Tell Pres. Christensen that the boots are great! As far as appearance goes, the new area looks exactly the same as my old one. But we just don’t know anyone in it. Because it rained no one came to church so we didn't get to mark with anyone who we would normally teach. Oh well, hopefully it gets better.

I'm excited to hear the kids reaction when you guys pull out the package so don’t show it to them until I get on the phone That's good to hear that you guys got the package! ya it kinda got beat up and crushed before I sent it. The lady was being really picky about the box I wanted to send it in because it had writing on the outside. It was a flat rate box and I guess she didn't like it so she made me switch. But then the box was too big so she cut the sides and pushed the middle it so it looked pretty beat up. That would be great if you want to open it on the phone. I hope everything is in tact still.

I wish we had a temple here, I would love to go and pray about investigators and stuff there, but it’s hard to even feel the spirit in this country. Church is always hectic and impossible to feel the spirit! People even have all out arguments which drives the spirit away. Oh well, hopefully one day the church will function here.

Kevin and Jenny came! wow that's way cool that they would do that! That's way cool to hear that they came! They are great! Out of all my friends they are some of the ones I miss the most. That's cool to hear they stopped by there.

Thanks for all the help and spiritual advice you give me, I'm so grateful that your my family. I love you and I cant wait to talk to you in a few days!!!
Love Elder Filho.

Here's the questions for this week:
1. How's the new Comp? Where's he from. Do you have much in common? Tell us stuff...
He's cool, it’s Elder Jensen from Nevada. He's a good guy, ya we have a lot of stuff in common, he's a pretty old missionary, he's only 3 transfers from going home so he has a lot of experience. He's cool though we get along great!
2. Who's in the Manga house now? Where are they all from?
Elder Naylor (my old comp) from Iowa, Elder Sodre from Minas Gerais Brazil and Jensen.
3. Are there lots of Mangos in Manga?
Well Manga is the Portuguese word for mango so yes it lives up to its name. A lot of the trees here are mango trees.
Thanks fam!!! Talk to you in 3 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a story for you guys that I think you will like. So a few weeks ago some of the young women in my old branch (Beira 1) wanted me to bring some pictures from home to see pics of you guys and stuff. So Saturday I brought them, they were going through it and then they got to a picture of Tyler...they went NUTS!!!!They all started fighting over looking at the picture screaming yelling I think I even saw some elbows thrown. They all think he is the hottest guy they have ever seen! They all told me that they wanted to marry him then they started fighting again about who would marry him. So Tyler pretty much has his choice of girls here in Mozambique. They made me take pictures of them to send to Tyler so he could "choose" as they said it. Then I told them that he might come with you guys to pick me up and they went nuts again. They asked if he spoke Portuguese and when I told them no they just said "that’s ok I speak enough English just to say I love you." It was pretty funny. I'll work on that picture and then Tyler can choose which one he wants.

We went to go find inactive members and we found one named Joaquina. Her husband died and she was left to take care of the kids and because of her work schedule she couldn't go to church and after she was able to again it had already been a while so she didn’t come back. But we taught her and got her coming to church again. I talked to the Branch President to get her a calling in the Primary as one of the teachers. So this week she was sustained one of the primary teachers. She did great! She is already working wonders in the primary here. Its great to see things like this happen.

Ok so transfers. I did get transferred. I am going to the other side of the branch so I still stay in the same house and same branch but it’s a new area. Also the 2 missionaries there were transferred so me and another missionary from Maputo Elder Jenson will white wash the area. I'm pretty excited, from what I hear Elder Jenson is a good guy and I'm sure we'll get along great. I'm kinda sad to leave my area because we have 3 people with baptism dates and many more progressing. But at least I'm in the same branch so I can still see them.

Anyways, thanks for the letters and insights. I hope that everyone is doing good back at home and that everyone is happy, healthy, and enjoying the cold weather. I'm very excited to talk to you guys and we can talk for a lot longer this time so buy a lot of time on that phone card! I love you and I'm so grateful to be your son!
Love, Elder Filho

This week was another good one. Everything here seems to be going more smoothly. One thing I've learned here is patience... big time. It’s good for me as I wasn't a very patient person before but now I'm getting a lot better with it. I'm a little frustrated with our branch and the Christmas party that they want to do. They want more than 16000 meticais to do a party which is more than $600. They want like 50 chickens 5 goats 15 liters of oil tons of drinks and a whole lot of other ridiculous things. I saw it this morning and I just laughed. So we are going to take it to the Mission Presidency and President Ross is going to chew them out. People here think the church has more money than it knows what to do with so when they get permission to use church money they go nuts.

Transfers are this week and a lot of stuff is going to happen. I am way excited! There will be 2 new areas opening and 5 new missionaries coming in. Our mission is growing a ton! It’s way cool to see it grow this much. I could stay or leave, go senior or not, it’s cool not knowing what will happen. I'll let you know next week what happens.

Right now I'm working with the primary... IT SUCKS! Well it’s not that bad. Be grateful you have a primary that is functioning. Ours right now is just a day care. The teachers don’t do anything and I'm trying really hard to get them to do even the little things. I'm really working hard to get them to have presidency meeting but I'm not sure how that will go.

Oh ya I forgot to answer moms question about the baptism if it was the first time I had baptized someone, no it isn't I've baptized a few of them. I always like to baptize people. I haven't confirmed anyone yet though. That’s about all I have this week. Thanks for all the news as well, I really like to read it. I can’t wait to talk to you guys here in a few weeks! I love you and I'm so grateful to be your filho! Have a good week!
Love Elder Filho

Questions of the week:
1. Kaylee and I are wondering if you've given out blankets?
Ya I have given out a lot. I've taken a picture of every one too.
2. Do you have a microwave?
ya you could call it a microwave, it sucks but we have one.
3. Do you have machetti armed guards at your house or the church?
Ya we have one at our house, his name is Elder Brown. There is a guy at the church who has a night stick but he's from a security company.
4. How's Big D the Chameleon?
Well Big D, we kinda trade him out. When he dies we get another one so some times we don’t have one other times we do, we do right now though but he's kinda small
5. What movie did you watch for Thanksgiving?
We watched Pursuit of Happiness and the Other Side of Heaven.
Thanks fam! love ya'll!

Thank you so much for the extra prayers for me, I know that they are helping me a lot. I had a pretty good week this week. Thanksgiving went great! The only bad part was that cleaning the turkey took FOR EVER! but it turned out really good. I got a bunch of pictures of it. That’s cool to hear about all the stuff that Tyler and Kaylee are doing. Oh also I got the Christmas package on Thanksgiving Day! I'm so grateful for it! Thank you guys so much for sending it. All the wrapping had a bunch of holes in it so I can pretty much see everything that is wrapped but I'll still wait. Thank you so much for all the stuff you guys send!

I had the opportunity to baptize Joana. Everything went really well and I'm sure that she will be a strong member for life. Elder Naylor confirmed her yesterday. I like to baptize people it’s a cool experience. Zone conference and the interviews went pretty good as well. The best part of Zone Conference was the lunch that the couples made. They made a turkey dinner and it was really good even though we ate it 2 nights in a row.

We are working to try to find the inactive members here. There are a lot of them so it’s going to take a lot of work but I'm sure we can at least make a dent in it. We have 2 returned missionaries in our branch and so they are showing us to houses of members who were active before they left that have been all but forgotten. So we are working with them and trying to bring them back. I'm happy to say that it seems to be working. The people that we have visited a lot of them came to church yesterday.

Today we are having our turkey bowl and I'm way excited to play football. It’s my favorite p-day activity because it reminds me of Sunday family dinners playing football with everyone. I'm excited to get home and to do all that again. I'm so involved in the work that time is going by way fast for me. I'm excited to come home but I can tell already that I'm going to miss this place. Thanks again for everything you do for me. I'm so thankful to be your son. I'll call you here in 24 days!
Love Elder Filho

The Beira Zone. Brady is 2nd from the left, back row.
This week went by alright. I didn't have a great day yesterday though. People think we don’t get mad so they try to "test" us to see if we do get mad. So they yell at us, call us names, use racial comments, run into us anything they can do! So last night some guy clipped me on his bike. I know I need to be an example to people here and try to do as Christ would do but I've just about had it.

But on a happier note we have 2 people in our area with a baptism date. One, Joana will be baptized this Saturday. Also 2 of my old investigators from the Baixa (city) have baptism dates as well. Tininha will be baptized this Saturday so I'm way excited for them. We are also teaching a couple Albano and Jocinta that are doing very well and are getting their marriage papers ready and after that be baptized. (Most people here aren’t legally married) We are trying to find more inactive members and reactivate them. There are a lot of them in Manga. Missionaries here would just find a pool of water and baptize anyone who wanted to take a bath just to get a lot of baptisms. So there are a ton of inactive members here and we need to find them.

I'm excited for Thanksgiving here! On Thanksgiving day I’m killing and cooking the turkey for our district and a member from Brazil, and then on p-day we are playing football and watching a movie. I'm so glad President Packard lets us do stuff like that. I might go crazy! Another thing I was thinking about today was how fast the time is going by! I'm just about ready to hit 10 months on the mission! Time is really going by fast. Thanks for all the advice for cooking the turkey and how to gut the turkey as well. I'll let you know how it turns out! Thanks! I love you and I'm so grateful to be your son!
Thanks! Love Elder Filho

Thanks for the letter, I loved it as usual. I got 2 packages last Monday right after I wrote you guys. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I loved the packages and all the candy was great! It was all melted but still great! The butterfingers came out alright though. The brownie and cookie mixes are the favorite. We had a member from Brazil invite us to eat dinner with him yesterday so he made us pizza which was amazing! I miss food.

We gave 2 more people baptism dates. Joana and Morice. We started teaching Morice a long time ago before I got here and Joana is a reference from him. Joana is great and we gave her a date for the 29th of this month. Morice however had problems with the Law of Chastity so he can’t be baptized until January.

Anyways everything is going good. I've heard that alot of my old investigators in the baixa and progressing and 2 have baptism dates. I'm way excited to see them baptized. We had an investigator who had malaria, he was really bad. We gave him a blessing and I did the sealing. The next day he was almost completely better and even came to church on Sunday. The priesthood is an amazing power and I know that I have seen a miracle.

We watched another session of conference yesterday and something Keith B. McMillon said was something that went along with what we have been talking about for the past few weeks. He said: "A faithful Elder does what the Lord would do if He were there." I just thought that was cool.

The people in Manga are easier in some ways and harder in others. In the city everyone speaks portuguese perfectly, can read, and are all smart. But it's hard to get people to progress. Manga, alot of people don't even speak portuguese and they do not do very well, but they usually progress better. However they are very uneducated and few can read. I would say I liked the city better but Manga is still good.

For Thanksgiving here we are buying a turkey to eat. Its huge! 20 kilo's! but I'm the only one in our house who has any hunting experience so I have to kill it and gut it. I know gutting stuff is pretty much the same for any animal but if there is anything special I need to keep in mind like where to cut it open or whatever let me know. I know it's kinda hard to describe in an email but ya just let me know.

Anyways I hope everything is going good back home and that every one is as happy as I am even though it's not very likely! I'm so involved in the work that time is going by super fast! Thanks again for the packages! I love you and I'm thankful to be your son. Thanks!
Love Elder Filho (son)

Elder Okazaki, Elder Brown, & Elder Wade-Flying!!

Nothing interesting to report with transfers, I stayed with the same comp in the same area. This week we opened up Angola and Nampula, Nampula is another province in Mozambique and of course you know Angola. The church is spreading, we have started building 5 chapels in Beira and in Maputo most of them will be done in about a year. It's way exciting to see the church grow like it is here. Just to see the growth from when I got here to where it is now is amazing.

Just so you know I do go through hard times I just don’t tell you guys about them :-) If it’s a big deal I write about it unless it’s too big of a deal then I don’t but ya I still go through hard times and I ask my self what is God trying to teach me and it really helps a lot thanks mom!

We baptized a kid named Isaias Saturday and everything went great. We have about 5 more people who we are teaching who are getting close to baptism. Everything is going great in our area. We started watching conference this week. But we only have it in Portuguese and it skips a lot so no one can understand it very good. I did like Elder Holland’s talk in the first session about angels though. It was a really good talk. I liked how he talked about how the world can be a scary place some times but that the Lord is with us, and he will fight our battles, and our children’s battles. I pray that the Lord will take care of you guys and take care of your company. I'm glad to hear that my prayers are being answered. Anyways I better go but thanks! I love you and I'm so grateful to be your son. Love Elder Brown
1. Have you figured out why the Lord put you in Manga yet?
Nope, not yet ha ha I'm still looking
2. Are you doing any service projects in your area? Will there be opportunities for service projects? What kind?
Ya we go and work on people’s farms and stuff.
3. What's your p-day like now that you're outside of town? Do you go to Beira and hang with the Zone still?
Ya we go into the city all day and hang out with the zone the only difference is a long chaupa ride.
Thanks!

Baptismal Font at the Manga LDS Chapel

Hey, thanks for all the news and everything that you write each week. I really enjoy getting the news. Everyone always asks me what’s going on because all of their parents are sick of writing it they say. So everyone listens while I just shout stuff out. Everyone cheered when I said that the gas prices went down, then booed when I said Obama was going to win. ha ha I'm glad you guys liked the pictures, I'll try and send more but I don’t know if I will have time. I'm sending 2 gigs of them home with this guy who will mail it to you for me when he gets back to the states. Also I'm sending home some X-mas presents for you guys today. About Gorongosa Park. I've heard the names before and stuff but I don’t know where it is or anything. Just ouvi falar. ha ha I just realized I did that sorry. Whenever I speak English now it’s about 10 percent Portuguese and 5 percent Massena. Everything is going good here, we have transfer meeting this Saturday and rumor has it that I'll be transferred so we'll see. The transfer is already over! I feel like it just started! We are also baptizing Isaias a 16 year old kid who is progressing really well. Anyways I'm kinda short on time this week so it’s kinda short sorry. But thanks for everything, I love you!
Love Elder Brown
1. Did you get your package from Maputo? Which one was it? Did you get more pouch letters?
No not yet, maybe today I'm not sure. I got the sheet music as well thanks.
2. How is the language?
The language is going very well. I'm just working on speaking more correctly now
3. How's your companion? Do you get along OK?
Ya he's good. Elder Naylor is a great guy.
4. Is Inhamizua in your area? Adjoining area? Are there 4 of you in your house/apt?
It’s a different area but its in our district. Ya there are 4 of us in the same house.
5. Who are you sending pictures home with?
A guy who works for Care for Life a charity thing. He's a member and lives in Utah.
6. Sami wanted me to ask if you really shaved with a machete like in the picture.
Of course it’s true! I shave with it daily.


Hey Kaylee, actually I named my chameleon Darrel. Big D for short

MOZAMSPIDER!!!!!!!!

We had our Zone Conference yesterday so p-day was moved to today. Zone Conference was amazing! We had Elder Watson from the 70 come. He was just called to our Area Presidency from being the Secretary to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the 12 for 38 years! 38 years working with the Prophets and Apostles is amazing! He is a super spiritual guy and it was really awesome to hear him speak to us. He talked a lot about inactive members and how we need to leave the 99 and find the one. But here it’s more like leaving the 1 to find the 99 but all the more reason to start finding them.

I also had a pretty cool experience a few days ago. We were teaching a lesson to Isaque that was baptized on Saturday and 2 of his friends wanted to sit with us. So we talked about the restoration. At the end of the lesson, one of them asked: "Does God really exist?" When he asked me that, I thought to myself. "What would Heavenly Father want me to say to him?" I told him that God not only existed, but that he knew him, he knew him as an individual, and that he loved him. It was really cool to say what I thought the Lord would want me to say for him. Then I realized that that's what we as missionaries do every day. We are here teaching these people what they need to hear and what God wants them to understand. It was a great experience for me.

I'll be home before we know it. I'm coming up on 9 months already! It’s crazy how fast time is passing by! I've been thinking a lot about you the last little while. Just how I miss sitting down and talking to you guys. We'll have a lot to talk about when I get home though. I miss you guys, but I don’t want to come home! I'm so involved in the work and I love it! Ya I think about home and my family and friends but the thoughts don’t make me home sick. I can’t get home sick! I don’t know how missionaries get "trunky." I'm loving the work and the mission! I cant wait to get home but right now I'm just loving what I'm doing. You guys are amazing parents and I'm so grateful to be part of your family. I love you guys and I will talk to you next week! Thanks for everything! I love you!
Love Elder Brown

Questions:
1. Have you gotten any packages (dear elder or flat rate box) or pouch letters?
Yes I got a ton of letters yesterday and a package in Maputo (maybe 2) but I won’t get those for a few more days.
2. Did you have baptisms Saturday???
Ya we had 2 Isaque and Ari
3. Have you seen animals???
Really big birds, bats, monkeys, huge bugs nothing too interesting.

The Chapel in Chamba, Sofala North West of Manga

Hi mom, Well I've been in the internet place for more than a half hour and this is the first email I've read. The internet is bad today so sorry if this is short. I miss the temple alot I wish we had one here but oh well, we'll go alot when I get back. I'm glad I missed out on all that snow but I'd almost rather trade,ALMOST. It's getting hot here really, really hot. But the week went by pretty well. We are spending alot of time finding inactive members which is really cool. We've had alot of experiences that you just knew the spirit was involved when we found the inactive member. That's great that Tyler is doing so well with hockey, it's good to hear he's hitting people alot! Ya I did hear about the temple in Rome and also the one in Jackson county or whatever it was. I kinda bought alot of stuff so I spent a little more on stuff to send home to you guys. I got some cool stuff that you will like! I may need a little bit more money next week to send it home cuz I have to bribe the post office with candy to not open it and then the money for actually sending it, but it won't be that much more I don't think. I got some really good deals on that stuff and I'm really glad I did it. Anyways I'll be sending that stuff off next week. 2 flat rate boxes full of stuff! Anyways I better go but thanks mom for everything! I love you and I'll talk to you next week!

Hey dad! This week went by pretty well but the internet is terrible today so this will be a short one. First of all happy birthday this week! I wish I could be there for it! I'm sending you a nice carved hippo tooth in the box for you to put on your desk for your present as well as 2 kilos of ivory! No just kidding about the ivory but the tooth is way cool, I think you'll like it. This week we spent alot of time trying to find inactive members and we have been very successful. We've had alot of really cool experiences in finding them. These are frightening times with the stock market and economy turning bad. One thing I've learned here is that you really have no control over your life. You just kinda go through the motions and hope nothing happens. Anyways I hope you have a good birthday and that everything keeps going well for everyone! Thanks dad love you! Love Elder Brown

MOZAM-RAIN

Hey Tyler, Ya so it’s raining super hard right now, like ridiculously hard!!!!!!!!! Like..... ridiculously......hard..... like standing under the shower hard! Ya the jungle is pretty sweet. Missions rock man, you better go! But anyways the rain stopped. It was fast like someone turned off the shower. That’s how the rain works here it’s way weird it’s like someone turns off and on the shower. There is no small sprinkle that gradually turns into a.... it started again!

Hey Mom & Dad, Wow I didn't even realize that it was my 1/3 day ha ha that's great! I'm loving the new area a lot it’s really cool. It’s hard to find our way around but hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon. We have marked 3 baptisms this week so I'm excited for that, 2 on October 18 and one on the 1st of Nov. I love the new area, my comp is way cool and our branch is growing like crazy. I'll send that stuff home as well they have a lot of wood sculptures and masks and stuff but I hope you guys like them. Apparently packages are making it home a lot better now or something so I'm sure you guys will get it. I don’t think I am registered to vote so don’t worry about sending an absentee ballot. I don’t even think it would get here in time but thanks.

Ya we don’t get conference in Beira, they get it in Maputo but up here the satellite doesn't reach so we have to wait for a few weeks until we get it on DVD. Iron man!!!!!!!!! I wanted to see that so bad!!!! Ask dad if he'll let me watch movies on the way back on the plane! This week I had a pretty cool experience. We had a lesson fall through so we went to an inactive member’s house. Her name is Anga and she's 26. She stopped coming to church after her husband got sick because she had to take care of him. He was in the middle of being taught and he died. She stopped coming to church after that. We got there and we talked about temples and how she needed to get to the temple to have him be baptized and be sealed with him. I also told her that to do that she needs to start coming to church and do the necessary things to get there. She said she wouldn't miss another Sunday and she came this week. This is my favorite part of being a missionary. When stupid little things happen but it turns out to be something great and you look back and know that the spirit was definitely involved.

Anyways that's about all I have this week. I hope everyone is doing good, thanks for sending my emails to me! I love you! Thanks!!! Thanks for all the help you give me and support. I'm so grateful to have parents like you guys.
Love Elder Brown

1) Do you know your GPS Coordinates???
I don’t know them but I'll see if I can get them next time, its just north west of the city of Beira.
2) Did you get any pouch letters or packages??
Not for a while but I might get some today, I got the clipper thing about the hockey game that was pretty cool.
3) Are you teaching many people? Are you doing service projects?
Ya we are teaching a lot of people, none yet but I think we will have some soon.
4) Any requests for your X-mas package? I think we need to send it soon.
Just those sound tracks and maybe some candy. I'm not really sure what I want, I forgot what they have in the US ha ha.
Thanks!!!!! Love ya
PS Can you send me sheet music for Apologize by One Republic on the piano? (yes I am learning piano) just send it over email. Thanks!!!

I was transfered a few days ago to a place called Manga, its is about 45 min away from the nearest city out in the middle of the jungle. I really like the area alot. It's way cool and it is really Africa! It's what I thought the mission would be like before I left. I think it is North or North West of the city. My new companion is Elder Naylor from Iowa. The area is amazing! The spiders are HUGE we have to use baseball bats to kill them the shoes aren't big enough! jk but they are big about the size of a frizby, I don't know if I spelled that right but ya they are big!

It's hard to believe my mission is already a third the way over! Wow time is flying by! The jungle is really cool! I love it! It's cool to wake up and go out in the morning and hear all the crazy sounds of animals. I haven't seen any yet but we are going to a place that has a bunch of monkeys today so I will see a ton of stuff I'm sure. The week I got here we baptized someone which was cool. I still dont know all our investigators or members but I'm slowly getting to know them. The chapel is a little rented building that looks like an old warehouse. Our branch has about 100 people and is pretty strong compared to other branches. The jungle is pretty thick and its easy to get lost in but I love it! Alot of crazy random things happen all the time here. For example a few days ago a plane crashed pretty close to our house out of no where. It is starting to get really hot here as we move into the summer and into the rainy season.

Other news is that next transfer starting in November, we will be sending missionaries to Angola which is also apart of our mission but it is on the other side of Africa. Also a few new area's will be opening in cities where missionaries have never been before. Its a way exciting time here.

Thank you guys so much for all the things you are doing. I'll think about what I want for christmas besides Wendy's. I know I'm spoiled and loved and I'm thankful! I love you all and I miss you but I'm safe, healthy and I've never been happier. Thank you for all the Love and support! I love you!
Elder Brown

Questions & Answers:
1) Do you feel OK with how the transition went in Beira. Do you think the new Elder's will do OK and your investigators will be OK?
ya i think they will be fine. I'm not worried about it.

2) We're guessing Manga is about 1 hour away by chaupa. How will this affect your P-day schedule? Where is Manga anyways? N-S-E-W?
It is about 30 min away from the city so it doesn't mess with our schedule too much. it is North of the city I think.

3) What is your transportation now? Are you on bikes?
We have bikes but we dont use them we just walk.
Thanks!!!!!

The Beira Zone May 2008. Brady is the 3rd from the right on the back row.

Hi, I hope you’re not up at 2 am reading this ha ha but yes I did get transfered. I'm going to the Jungle!!! I'm way excited! I'm going to a place called Manga and I'm going to be serving with Elder Naylor. I wish I could describe the area but I don’t go there until Thursday so I'll let you know next week. President said that he thinks we will have the strongest companionship and best area in the mission so I hope I don’t disappoint him. Besides that something else happened that kinda sucks. Elder Nascimento went home last Thursday for a bunch of stuff. So now my area will be white washed. I just hope that the investigators will continue to progress. I will be training one of the new missionaries who will be serving in my area until I leave for Manga. I hope that they keep progressing.

Anyways I wanted to see if you could get some stuff for that package. “The Prophet of the Restoration”. I don’t know if that is out yet it wasn't when I left but we could use that movie. It’s the one that is being shown at the church building thing where they use to have the Testaments. If you haven't seen it yet take Tyler and Kaylee and go see it, it is amazing!

Greed is a powerful tool the devil has. I can see it every day here. The culture here is based on greed until even the members would steal things. The culture here at least I think 100 percent from Satan. I haven't heard of one good tradition or seen anything good come from the culture here. The government is super corrupt and they just wait until the US comes and builds the things that they need. Everyone asks us for money because we are white. They won’t even ask each other they just ask the missionaries. I get super frustrated with people here but especially the members. They know better than that but they still act like it. I don’t know, anyways I'm glad to hear everything is going good at home. Thank you for all the encouragement and advice, I always love opening your emails and reading them. I love you and I couldn't be out here with out you guys! I hope you can sleep now. Thanks again for everything!
Love Elder Brown

Q1) How's the weather? We're guessing it's spring there. Is it getting warmer? How has winter been?
The weather isn't bad, it is spring so its starting to heat up. The rainy season starts here in about a month so it will be very hot and very humid. The winter is nice, its usually the perfect temp to walk around and do whatever without it getting too hot.
Q2) Do you sing at church now? How's the music there? Do the people have good voices? How do they do with the hymns?
ya I sing. The music is alright, some of it is kinda annoying but they listen to a lot of American rap so I have something to remind me of home. NO! The people have TERRIBLE VOICES! It is the worst singing I have ever heard in my life!!!! They do alright with the hymns they just can’t sing at all.
Q3) Have they put missionaries in Angloa yet?
In November they are sending 4 to Angola and 2 to Nampula another city in Mozambique
Q4) How did transfers go. Are any of your MTC buddies coming North? Any interesting transfers?
No everyone stayed so it looks like I won’t see them for at least another 6 months if not then probably not for the rest of the mission. Thanks!!!

It was a holiday here last Monday so everything is closed. This country is super lazy, they have a holiday about every other week where they just close everything and everyone just gets drunk. Oh well, it makes walking on the streets more interesting. We gave a baptism date to a girl named Tininha, she is 23 years old and is already stronger than most of the members. She came to church when she was pretty sick which is something a lot of people in Utah don’t even do. She's great. Her bapism date is October 11th unfortunately I probably won’t be here because transfers are this Saturday and I'll probably leave. We have 2 investigators that are kinda hard cases for us. Anna Jazel and Paula. Anna Jazel was a prostitute and Paula has had 2 abortions. It was kinda weird finding out about that. Anna Jazel is really changing her life. She dresses nice, she reads and prays every night, she comes to all the church activities and does everything we ask her to do. Unfortunately she has to wait along time to be baptized. Also I felt bad about Paula because I was the one that had to tell her that abortion was a very serious sin. She feels super bad and is really depressed. I stressed really hard that she could be forgiven and gave her Alma 36 to read. I know it is part of the repentance process but I feel super bad about it. I feel like it’s my fault she feels bad. Oh well I'll let you know more about her if anything else happens.

With the pictures, I was hoping to send them with a missionary who is leaving here in 2 weeks but he's in Maputo and I don’t have a way to get them to him. His name is Elder Duhadway and I think he's from Logan. I actually taught my first lesson with him in the country. I'll call and get the information from him about his home coming for you if you want. Also no one will leave next transfer so I'm going to have to wait 12 more weeks to send a flash drive home sorry. Third world countries kinda suck huh.

There aren't any problems with my companion, we get along great and don’t have any issues. President Packard said that we were pulling the best numbers that the Beira has seen. Our area is the hardest area in the mission but he said that we are performing a miracle in our area so he's super happy with us. Thanks again for all the news and stuff its really nice to hear about these kinds of things because no one here has any idea. Anyways next week I'll let you guys know if I get transferred and to where. There is a spot opening in the jungle again so we'll see, keep your fingers crossed! I love you and I'm so grateful for everything you do for me. Love you! Elder Brown

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Q1) 2 weeks ago you were going to tell us all the reasons why things were so frustrating, stressful and hard in your mission. What has been happening? What can we pray for specifically to help you?
A) Well the members here are very frustrating and cause a lot of problems.
Q2)Do you see any wild animals in the city? (besides the Chaupa drivers)
A)No just dogs and chickens every once in a while a monkey but hardly ever.
Q3) How do you weigh yourself so that you know you've gained 30 pounds?
A) They have a scale at a pharmacy outside of the super market.
Q4)Do you hear any tribal languages or other languages? Have you learned any new words in other languages?
A) Ya we hear it all the time Massena, I'm learning a little bit but I'm concentrating more on the Portuguese.
Q5)Do you have many health problems with members in your ward or people you teach, aids, kids dying, etc.?
A) One little girl just died of a brain tumor but its not to bad, people get malaria here like people get the flu at home but they get over it pretty fast.
Thanks mom!

This week was pretty good, we had some really strange things happen. One we sat down with one of our investigators and she said she wanted to confess something to us. She is 25 and has 3 kids with no husband. She sent her kids off and she just came right out and said. "I am a prostitute..." Kinda strange, it was a first for me. She was really sad and said that she wanted to change her life. She already had changed her phone number and is looking for another way to make money but it was just kinda weird and unexpected. We talked to her about repentance and we are getting it taken care of but wow it was weird. We also were teaching a family about the 10 commandments and they had a lot of questions. Then when we finished they started asking about the traditions of their country if they were good or bad (there are a ton on traditions including things like praying to ancestors and other weird things.) we were there for an hour and a half and I answered all of their questions because my comp didn't really know. He was baptized when he was 18 so he doesn't have a ton of experience in the church. When we left my head was pulsing with all the talking and everything. It was kinda ruff but I answered their questions the best I could.

Its good to hear you guys had fun in Seattle. That was a way cool experience thank you for sharing it with me. It's amazing to just look at the little miracles that happen in our lives, there are probably so many that happen without us even noticing.

This week I wanted to write to you and dad about one of the members here. His name is Raul, he is a great guy, he is 23 and a great member. He is trying to serve a mission but is having some problems. Our branch president thinks that he likes his daughter so he doesn't like him and there is a whole other list of difficulties that he is having. But when I first got here and I saw him I knew that one reason I had been called to this area was to help him serve a mission. So I am doing everything I can to help him. He is different than any other Mozambican I have ever met. He is a really good guy. He has a girl friend who is from Brazil who lives in Provo, he wants to go to the US after he serves a mission. This guy is like my brother, I would do anything for him and he would do anything for me. I just thought I would share that with you guys I'm not really sure why.

This week we gave a baptism date to Tininha, she is a super strong investigator but her father doesn't like the idea of her getting baptized. She is 23 but she probably won’t be baptized until October so I won’t be here. It kinda makes me sad that I won’t be here to see her get baptized. but oh well there will be others.

Oh with pictures, I think I'm just going to put them on a flash drive and send them home with a missionary who is going home to mail to you guys. I have a lot of one little girl who's family we are teaching. I gave her a slinky and she hasn't stopped playing with it since. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of her with the slinky. Giving out those toys is hard because I just get swarmed by kids and they all grab what they can and run off so I don’t have very many pictures of kids with them. Ungrateful little ***** as Big Jim would say. But I'll try.

I got on a chaupa a few days ago and I was smashed between 3 fat chicks in the back of the chaupa. I thought "oh man this chaupa is going to suck." But then Bob Marley came in the chaupa. He had long hair a binni, a thing of weed in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other and as soon as he got in he looked at me and said "WHAZZ UP!!!" I wanted to through my hands up in the air and just yell "YES!!!!! THE CHAUPA IS GONNA ROCK!!!" Oh man I've never had a better chaupa ride in my life. He was from Mozambique but he spoke perfect English. I asked him where he learned and he said from watching movies. He talked just like an American saying things like Chillin and Smokin and dude. He even didn’t put the "g" on the end of the words with "ing". He was hallarious! Other than that not a whole lot else happened this week. . Anyways I better go, thanks mom, sorry our p-day moved to Tuesday because yesterday was a holiday. Thanks for all the support that you guys give to me. I don’t think I could do it with out you guys. I love you and I'm grateful to be your son.
Love you! Elder Brown

This week will be kinda short because something is wrong with the bank or something so we don't have money this week. They can't put money in our bank accounts to get money out until Wednesday, problem is I don't have money at all so I'm sorry to keep doing this but I need to get more money out. I won't take alot just what I need, I feel way bad about it. All this means I only have like 30 min to do email. I'm super frustrated with all this stuff that is happening, I'll write more about it next week just alot of stupid things happen in this mission that just make life hard and stressful. Anyways I got that Dear Elder package! Good Ghandi that is so good! If it's cheap send more! That stuff is invaluable here! (We sent 8 Mrs. Fields Cookies and Beef Jerky) Anyways I think I better go if I want to email President Packard. Thanks for everything! Sorry for the short email and the money thing I still feel bad but if I don't take money out I will starve! sorry again. Elder Brown

First off some bad news, I was robbed, again, I don’t know how but someone took half my money for this week so I'm going to have to take money out again. I'm putting my money in the safe from now on. But apparently this is happening with a lot of missionaries. Usually we take our money out for the month, but this is happening a lot so President Packard said we have to take it out weekly so we always have our money with us. Sorry I feel bad using so much of your money when you already paid for everything.
This week we had a pretty good turn out at church, we had 10 investigators which is about average for us now. But we didn't have Franca one of our most progressing investigators come. I'm not sure if we will baptize anyone before I get transferred. Franca will if he comes to church so we'll see. My companion messed up his leg and has to walk with crutches. He was playing around with one of the branch missionaries, they were kicking each other, not hard or anything but I guess he got hit just right to mess up his ankle. But he said it's been hurting him every time after we play soccer for a while now so I think it was a progressing thing.

Anyways I think that’s about all the novidades, (new stuff more or less). Thanks for everything all the support you guys give me. I don’t know if I could do this without it.
Love Elder Brown

Here's the questions for the week:
1. I forgot to ask How was the wedding you had at the church? Do they do different things than a wedding at home. We saw a video the Spendloves had of a wedding procession down the street with singing and chanting and weird LULULULULU calling. Do you see that there? Did they do that at the wedding?

The wedding was good, we had another one Saturday, they do the lu lu calling a lot, its really annoying. We make them wait and do it outside of the church. Then they all pile in a few trucks (usually small pick up trucks with about 30 people in the bed) and drive up and down the city honking their horns.

2. It's cool you gave a talk at church. What did you talk about? Did you have any problem expressing yourself in Portuguese? Do you get to give talks very often?

No this was the first one I gave, it depends on the branch how often missionaries speak. yes I have a few problems but I can usually work my way around words that I don’t know. I talked about the importance of young men serving missions and having families sealed in the temple. I never realized how great of a blessing a temple is until I got here.

3. In a class I went to they said missionaries are interviewed by the mission president at every transfer meeting. Do you talk to your mission president very often? What is he like? How often does he come to the Northern zone?

Ya we get interviewed once a transfer. Not a ton but quite a bit compared to other missions. He's a way nice guy, he's hard on the rules he needs to be but he knows when they need to be a little more flexible. (for example you can't have 16 missionaries pile in a pickup truck and have seat belts for everyone) he's a way cool guy. He comes up once a transfer for a few days is all but it depends.

It’s cool to hear about all the fun stuff you guys are doing. Ya I'm not really bummed about not getting transferred I kinda wanted to stay anyways so it was good. I give candy and toys out when we are in a house or when there is only one kid I just have to be careful. wow that's crazy that school is already starting again! and Tyler is a senior! That's nuts! Kaylee will be in high school when I get back! She'll probably have a boyfriend and everything! It’s cool that they are excited for school to start as well. My English is getting pretty messed up, it’s mixed with Portuguese and I say wrong words all the time. I talk in English all the time with other Americans but they all speak it bad too so my English is getting pretty bad ha ha I think I'm going to have problems when I get back for a while. Thanks for all the news, I got a bunch of letters yesterday and it was nice to hear about all the family news and the history behind the Grand Hotel. Just so you know the end of it wasn't true about the gangsters and chiefs and all that. Missionaries teach there all the time and we have like 5 members who live there. I gave a talk in church yesterday and we had 15 investigators come to church so it was a really good week for us. We see a lot of the Olympics, there is a restaurant that shows them all the time so we see a few games. China looks amazing! It’s so beautiful there! That's one place I want to go before I die. Mozambique is excited to have their runner win another gold. If you remember last Olympics a runner from Mozambique won the women’s something I don’t remember what but they are super proud of her. But everything here is good, our area is doing good as well. Anyways I better go, thanks for all the news it’s great to have. Love ya!Elder Brown
Answers to the questions of the week:
1. It's cool to know you're able to hang with Elder Smoot. I thought he was in the jungle somewhere. Did he get transferred there? Do you hang with all the missionaries in the zone on P-day? What do you usually do on p-day?ya the whole zone except Marromeo because its like 4 hours away. The rest is like 20 min away so we all have an activity. Usually soccer or football or basketball or something. No he's still in the same area. 2. You've gained 30lbs??!!!?!!! Wow! How are you working out and building so much muscle? Did the exercise bands I sent you before you left work?We have some makeshift weights that I lift, ya they work great! 3. What's happening with the student, the man from Zimbabwe and the family that the Dad was trying to convert all his friends & family. Any baptisms getting close?The student stopped progressing so we dropped him, the Zimbabwe guy’s wife who has been a member for a long time but inactive told us she doesn't think the church is true and if she doesn't want to go he won’t either so we dropped him, but the dad is doing good. We will probably baptize him soon.

I didn't get transferred, in fact our whole district stayed as is. Next transfer one from each companionship will leave, so I'm pretty much for sure going next transfer, and there will be another spot in the jungle opening up again. Things were going great this week until Sunday. Our area fell apart yesterday. We only had 2 investigators come to church when last week we had 15. Also the people who we are trying to get to stop drinking all of them drank. Chupa! Oh well, other than that everything is going great, I'm glad to be with Elder Nascimento another transfer to better my Portuguese. I just realized how cool it is that I'm here with Elder Smoot. He's sitting next to me right now and we just talk about high school and people who we knew its way cool to be here with someone from the same Stake. Anyways I better go but everything is going great and I'm sure our area will pick up again. Thanks mom! Here's the answers to the questions for the week: 1 Have you been giving candy or blankets to the kids or are you saving them for a poorer area?I'm saving them, I gave out candy once the next day the kids tried to mug me looking for candy and they didn't believe me when I said I didn't have any, and then all the kids started reaching into my pockets looking for it so ya learned my lesson. 2. Are you dreaming in Portuguese?Ya it depends on who I'm talking to in my dream, if it’s another missionary it’s in English, if its a Mozambican in Portuguese. 3. Are you OK on your Malaria medicine? Does it still make you dream wild dreams? Is your health good? Just don't drink the water. You're too skinny to host a parasite! At least I think you're still skinny. Are you? Yup everything is good, I don’t have wild dreams anymore so I'm kinda disappointed but everything is good. Anyways just so you know about the skinny thing... well when I left I was skinny... I weighed 160 and now I weigh 190... and I have a six pack so its not fat... anyways esto bazando (i'm bouncing) have fun!

This week at church we had 268 people and we set a record for investigators at church for our area. We are also giving a baptism date to one of the families that we are teaching this week. Everything is going great! I might get transferred this next week so I will let everyone know what happens next week. There are a lot of changes happening in the mission right now and its way exciting! I think we might have 2 new area's open in Tete (inland on the Zambezi River) and Nampula (the 3rd largest city in Mozambique which is further North). It’s way exciting. So I could just go to a new area completely! That would be so cool! Also Angola is about to open up too so it’s way exciting right now. Ya if I get transferred to the jungle I will still have internet, but it is really slow. I don’t know if I will go to Angola because it might be hard for Americans to get visa's here but we'll see. There are a lot of things changing in the mission right now its way exciting! The teaching is going good, we have a lot of people to teach now so we keep busy. We had a pretty exciting week. We had our first wedding in the chapel yesterday, it was pretty cool. I did get the package and to my surprise they didn't take anything! I got all the CD's footballs pants blanket toys everything! It was great I was surprised how big it was ha ha wow! Thanks so much! I started giving toys and stuff to kids but I haven't had a chance to take any pictures yet because we are always in a hurry but I'll make sure I get some. Thanks for all the CD's! They are great! Anyways I better get going. Have a great week!

Everything is great, we had zone conference this week and we had a 24 of July party. We watched that Ratitui or whatever. It’s cool that Pres lets us watch a movie like that on special occasions. But it was really good. After the movie I felt like I was back home just watching a movie with a bunch of friends. Then I got outside and realized I was back in Africa. It was good though. That’s cool about Tyler singing in church too. I'm sure he's freakin huge now. You've all probably changed so much. But it’s good, I don’t want to be able to recognize anyone when I get back. The Branch is good. We had 255 people at church this week which is amazing. President commented about it and so they are going to divide the branch and probably build another chapel in the our area. The church is growing so fast! We are building 3 or 4 chapels right now and the old ones are only 1 or 2 years old. I had my interview with President Packard, and he pretty much told me I was getting transferred. He said "you’re in a good district right now, I wish I could just keep you there but I don’t think I'm going to be able to do that." So I'm pretty much getting transferred. It’s good and bad, because we have alot of really good people who are getting really close to being baptized that I won’t be there when they get baptized so it kinda sucks. But at the same time, there are 2 spots opening up in Marromeu which is the place clear out there with animals and meat that's really cheap. (They have steak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I miss steak so much!!!!) So I'm hoping that I go there it would be sweet. I would spend a whole quarter of my mission there if it happened but I would love it! Man I just sit and think about all the crazy stuff that happens here and just laugh. I'm not kidding when I say something wild happens every day. It’s going to be strange going back home to quiet. I'll get bored ha ha. But ya everything is good, the language is going great and I'm happy!

Love Elder Brown

The Grand Hotel in Beira, Mozambique now and in the 1960's.
Once the largest and nicest hotel in
Southern Africa. During the Independence war in the 70's it was taken over by Mozambican forces, served as a military headquarters and POW prison. Now is home to 3,000 people. There is no electricity or running water. All the interior has been strippped. Trees are growing out of the building. The swimming pool is used to wash clothes in. Click on the pictures for a better view. For more pictures and history of this hotel visit www.gutentagverlag.com/2007/02/08/grande-hotel-beira-mozambique (click on the pictures in this article too)

First thing something kinda crappy happened, we let people clean our house. We also had some branch missionaries painting their house and using some stuff in our house that same day. The next day all my money for the rest of the month was gone. I like the people a lot but you just can’t trust them with anything. They take anything they can get. It’s very sad. So I have no money this month. I'm going to the ATM and use my card from home to get some money out for this week. I will take out 1500 Meticis which is I think 50 bucks. But the bank will charge for taking it out so I'm not sure how much it will be.

Other than that everything is good. I think we will baptize a family this transfer! Which is amazing for our zone! They come to church every week and he's given us a ton of contacts, he always wants us to teach his friends and family. I think we will give them a baptism date this week. They are great and I think we found our new Elders Quorum president. We also have another lady who is doing really good as well who will probably be baptized next transfer. Everything is going great and my language skills have gotten so much better as well. That's way cool you got to talk to Elder Spendlove, he's a way cool guy and way funny. (He lives in St. George and came home from Mozambique last month). I'm sure you got the idea from Elder Spendlove but everyday here is an adventure. I love it! Every day I wake up and wonder what crazy thing will happen. It's going to be different going back to quiet Hometown USA. Ya don’t worry about that stuff, nothing has happened since I have been here. That’s a way cool story about Mom’s hole in one ha ha I'm sure Grandpa T had a big smile on his face. Thanks for all the news again, it’s nice to hear what is going on we are very cut off from the world here. Most people here have never even left the city in their whole lives. Thanks for everything!
Here’s the answers to the questions:

1. Elder Spendlove said that only about 20% of the people in Beira have jobs and many people don't have enough to eat. Have you found that to be true in your area? No that 20 percent lives in my area. I'm in the city city so just apartments and things like that. So everyone has a job. It’s hard to work during the day because everyone is working.

2. Elder Spendlove said the fish you described eating a few weeks ago was probably Barracuda. He said it's very good but very expensive! He talked about a food the people eat a lot that is dried corn mashed to a powder then made into a paste, cooked, rolled up and dipped in some kind of sauce. Have you eaten that? How was it? Ya I ate it... and it tastes exactly like you would think. They have normal food here and then they have a few crazy things.

This week was a really good week. We found over 20 new investigators most of which are families! That's unbelievable in our area! We are also teaching a lady who was one of the first people baptized in the country in 1995. She's inactive and was thinking about joining the church her husband was going to but we got there just in time. We talked to her for a while and she wanted to be taught again. She still knows it’s true and so she had us teach her husband. Her husband is from Zimbabwe so I had to teach him in English. My companion is from Brazil and doesn't speak English so I taught him. It was way hard teaching in English but at the same time it was so much nicer. I never felt the spirit so strong in my life. I love teaching in English. I was able to say everything I wanted to say especially in my testimony. I really think that this family will be baptized in the near future. I never felt the spirit as strong as I did with him. Elder Nascimento said the same thing and he couldn't even understand what I was saying. It was a really good lesson. We have a family that we found last week who are progressing really good as well. They are reading and praying every night and they came to church this week. If they come next week we will probably give them a baptism date. Most of our other investigators and new so not progressing yet but we'll see. We really did have a really good week. I killed a rat the size of a house cat! It was pretty sweet. I'm starting small and working up to the bigger animals. I've seen more fights, drunks and crazies this week than in my life. I LOVE IT HERE!!! Every day is an adventure! Anyways I better go, thanks! Love Elder Brown

PASSION FRUIT

I had kind of a ruff week this week. Almost all of our lessons fell through this week so we only had 4. We had about 7 lessons scheduled every day but when we went to their houses they weren’t home. But oh well this week is going good already, yesterday we found 3 families which is really good. We are teaching one of the first members in the country who is inactive now but I think we can reactivate her. Everything else is going good, the language is going great I don’t have any problems communicating with my companion. The only problem with him is that he has no patience, and he has problems giving people respect. He kinda likes to yell at people, he's like one of those bad customers who gets angry about any little thing really fast, so its kinda frustrating becuase we are missionaries and we need to act better than that. I talked with him about it and the next day he did it again. Oh well anyways other than that everything is great! He's from SanPaulo Brazil, he really doesn't speak hardly any English, but we communicate great, we dont have any problems. People say that I speak better Portuguese than they did at the end of their 5th transfer and I'm just going into my 3rd so the language is going great. Since my comp isn't in the Branch Presidency I have time ha ha lots of time to do missionary work. Less time to study but I like doing missionary work better than sudying. The grocery stores here look like a normal store back home but they have guys with shotguns at the door and they are smaller. They don’t have a steady supply of anything so you never know what they are going to have. Usually they have all the basic stuff but you never know. Everything is great! Thanks mom! Thanks dad! I love you!Love Elder Brown

Hey, every week flies by for me its crazy, two weeks ago feels like yesterday to me. But ya the baptism went well, couldn't get her under the first time but got it the second time. The water was just above my knees so it was pretty low. We also gave the Priesthood to a lot of people this week which was great as well. I'll get a new companion on Thursday, Elder Nascimento from Brazil. I'm way excited to be serving with him, and he's not in the branch presidency so we will be able to focus more on missionary work now. Also this will improve my language a lot having a native speaker. He doesn't speak any English so it will force me to speak only Portuguese. Ya we hear a lot about Zimbabwe, that's been going on for a long time so we have a lot of people from there who just ran for safety. Also South Africa went on a killing spree not to long ago and killed anyone who wasn't a native (mainly blacks) so they killed a lot of people from Mozambique.

My area is mainly apartments but there are a few houses and huts in my area. Other missionaries have mostly houses or mostly huts, depends on the area. The apartments are usually 3 rooms, bedroom living room/kitchen. All cement floor no carpet, wood or tile usually. No one has a stove or anything so they have these makeshift stove things that they cook outside their apartment in the hall way with coals. All the hallways run along the outside of buildings.

The Branch is good, these last two weeks haven’t been so good we've only had 3 but everyone else is doing good. For the first time we are going to open the over flow next week so it’s growing really well.

So I found out that people here are scared to death of chameleons. They believe that if a chameleon bites you, the wound won’t stop bleeding until you bleed to death. So one day I wasn't in a particularly good mood and a group of about 10 kids started yelling some racist stuff at us. So I walked up to them and put a scared look on my face. Pointed in the middle of the group of them and yelled "CHAMILIAO!!!!" Oh my goodness it was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life! They all started screaming and running around with their arms above their heads. One kid just fell down on his butt and started bawling! I was rolling on the ground I was laughing so hard! Needless to say we don’t see much of those little kids anymore.

Everything here is going great and I'm way excited to start my third transfer already!! Wow its flying by!
But ya I don’t have a lot of time I have to go buy food for the week so I better go but everything is good, I'm safe, healthy and everything is great! Have a great week!

Women gathering sticks (Click on the pictures for a better view)

Wow this week has flown by for me, it feels like yesterday I was here emailing, but ya things here were much better this week. We spent a lot of time knocking on doors but no one let us in for like 3 apartment buildings so that kinda sucked but oh well. We will have a baptism this transfer on the last day of the transfer however. She is a great lady who just needed to figure out a house situation. Her name is Luisa, she's in her 30's I think and she's great. She said in her baptism interview that she wants me to baptize her so I'm way excited about that.

Here's the questions. I put the answers under the questions:
1. How is the Language is coming?
I have my good days and my bad days but over all it’s going pretty well. I can understand every word from some people and almost nothing from other people just depends on the person. But in Beira everyone talks really fast and everyone mumbles so it’s really hard to hear them as it is. But I can communicate well.

2. How's the food? Have you tried anything unusual? Do you ever eat with members?
The food isn't bad, I miss fast food and milk but it’s not bad. We eat occasionally with one member family and they cooked this fish last time... you know how much I like fish... and it was the ugliest looking fish I had ever seen! It was about the length from my elbow down to the tips of my fingers and almost just as wide and about 6 inches thick... but it was so good!!! I loved it which is way weird but it really was way good.

3. Have you seen any unusual customs?
Nothing too bad, whenever you eat anything in their houses they bring out a cup of water and a bucket and pour it on your hands while you wash them that's kinda weird but not too bad. And when you knock on a door you yell "excuse me" into the window after you knock. Everyone has a cage type thing made of rebar around their doors so there is about a 4 by 4 foot area between the door and the cage. Usually people will just talk to you through the cage but if there is a young girl who lives there they have her answer the door because they hear a young man’s voice. She comes out, opens the gate and will get right up within inches of you sometimes just to talk. The personal bubble thing doesn't exist here.
I think that’s about all that happened this week. I love you! Thanks for everything!
Love Elder Brown

(click on the picture, there's a lot of interesting things to see!)
Hey Mom, Hey Dad, Happy Father's Day! I hope you had a good one! That's cool that everyone is so busy this week. Our investigators are doing pretty good. Only one of the families came to church. The other family and the college student didn't but they are good. The family that comes to church their names are Guilda is the mom, Artur is the dad and I don’t know the kids names they are way young. The other family the dad's name is Luis and his kids I don’t remember right now. The college students name is Chandi.

The technology here is about 10 years behind. They just got cell phones not too long ago ha ha. It’s like living in the 70s here. It’s going to be a whole new world when I get back. It’s weird to think about home now. Clean streets, no drunks, no beggars, WHITE PEOPLE!!!! Every time I see a white person it’s really weird. It’s going to be strange coming home. The transfer meeting is coming up, its crazy I've been here 2 out of the 16 transfers already! It’s flying by. I will probably get a new companion.

We had a pretty ruff day at church yesterday, let’s just say if the missionaries weren't here the church would fall apart quickly. Everything started off normal in sacrament meeting. Then our Branch President got up to speak. He started to get a little excited, he started raising his voice a little bit. This lead into yelling, which lead into pounding the pulpit a little, which lead into pounding the pulpit harder and harder, which lead into a little bit of waving of the arms and moving around, which lead into some audience participation, which lead into him having the audience repeat "I will come to church activities" starting soft, then louder, then yelling it back whenever he pointed to them. All to the dramatic climax of yelling, "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!!!" which lead to an applause from the congregation. All the missionaries stood up and shut it down pretty quick but man it was bad. I just felt sick afterward. I thought I was back in San Fran visiting that crazy Methodist church all over again. In other news I was approached by a drunk guy who wanted me to kiss him. So I punched him and we kept walking... No just kidding I almost did though, seriously thought about it but decided that it wouldn't be worth an interview with the president. Other than those things everything is great! Anyways I better go but thanks dad for everything and happy fathers day again! Thanks Mom! I love you! Love Elder Brown

Everything here is great! We just found a bunch of really good people this week and they are doing great. 2 families which is HUGE for us and one guy who's a college student. They are all doing really great, they all know the Book Of Mormon is true. The college student asked how he could tell other people that he found the true church of Christ. I've never heard a better question from an investigator. A lot of our old investigators are starting to progress. We have a family that is coming to church now which is a big deal for us. Also we are teaching a guy who lives with his kids who is divorced. He wanted to know the second time we sat with him when he could be baptized which is great! One of the families the father asked how long it would be until he could get baptized! We also have a guy who just needs to get married and he'll be ready and he's doing his marriage papers this week! It’s going really good. Things are going great and our branch keeps getting stronger and stronger its very exciting!

I’ve been studying the D &C a lot. I really like that a lot. It talks a lot about missionaries and the Lord makes a lot of promises to missionaries in there. My health is good everything is great!
Here's a hour to hour day of my life but its not as cool as you think its going to be:
900- wake up
ha ha just kidding
630-wake up
700-eat/get ready/ shower/ study/ exercise (depends on if someone is in the bathroom)
900 - proselyte
1200-cook and eat lunch
200- proselyte
900- come home, eat
1030- go to bed
Sometimes Elder Okazaki has meetings or something for the Branch so we are at the church a lot but that is pretty much my day.

We went golfing a few weeks ago. The golf game was ok. I lost all my balls on the first hole so it wasn't very long. The grass was like green wire about 6 inches long, because the lawnmower is 4 guys with machetes walking around swinging at the ground.

Steal the flag was good. It wasn't exactly in the jungle but it was still cool. There are some pigs that kinda wander around there. We killed 2 pigs and cooked them and ate them. Anyways I better get going but thanks for everything!

Everything here is good, I've almost hit 4 months which is crazy, it has flown by. and I hit my graduation from High School a year ago. I feel kinda old now ha ha. This week has been busy. We had mission tour which was where the President and our area autority seventy, Elder Palmery came and we had a meeting. I was asked to speak on the importance of the morning schedule. Things went really well and it was a great meeting. Also this week, we decided it was time to clean out our teaching pool. We have a lot of investigators that we are teaching but they don't come to church. We went and visited them this week, taught them a last discussion and told them that we couldn't teach them if they don't come to church. None of our "last lesson investigators" showed so we dropped like 10 people so we have a lot of time to knock doors. But knocking doors in our area is kinda hard cuz no one wants to listen but they feel obligated to let you in so we teach a lot of "worthless lessons" is what I call them, cuz they don’t really want to hear it, but who knows maybe one day they will come to church. We plant a lot of seeds here instead of baptize. So hopefully one day they will pick up that Book of Mormon Elder Brown and Elder Okazaki gave them 5 years ago and be converted. We had a family come to church last Sunday that we were really excited about. It's hard to get entire families to teach. We went and visited them this week. but that family didn't come to church but we do have another investigator that is progressing really well and he came. Today we are going to play capture the flag in the jungle I'm way excited! It should be way cool. We are going to eat some pigs too my comp hit his year mark with 10 other guys so we are having a party thing. Anyways not a whole lot else to talk about this week but thanks for your prayers. I'll see if I can’t get more to talk about next week sorry ha ha. Love you!
Love Elder Brown