Christmas In Paraguay

Following is a condensed version of our Christmas Phone Call:

For Christmas Eve "La Buena Noche", Tyler and his companion visited a lot of members. He said they ate a ton of food and it was the first time on his mission he's been full. At every house they visited, the people fed them some sort of food. At one house they had a full meal. At the house of La Familia Arana the Elders said, "We can't eat anymore!" However, Hermana Arana was very disappointed and insisted they eat because she'd been planning this dinner for a month...so they had another dinner. They ate Melanesa (Chicken strips) Asada (barbequed beef), a lot of rice, a lot of noodles, bread, and Mandioka which is similar to mashed potatoes, but bland, stringy, and has no taste. At first he really didn't like it but it has grown on him. He really likes ham and cheese Empanadas.

For Christmas Day, the missionaries had a zone activity where they watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional together, then they went to a hospital to sing to children and give out candy, then they played football together and had a barbeque. For Christmas the President sent them a microwave. They haven't had a microwave until now.

Tyler has been very blessed to be completely healthy so far on his mission. He's had no problems with his stomach or any other issues. The Paraguayan people are very laid back "tranquilo" and friendly. The members love the missionaries and take great care of them. The members wash their clothes and feed them every day. The people are generally very poor. Many people often don't have enough to eat and the missionaries feel bad eating their food, but the members beg them to come eat with them and feel bad if the missionaries don't come. There is very little crime in Paraguay. It is extrememly unusual to hear of someone stealing or breaking the law.

Tyler loves his Mission President. He said President Callan is a very happy guy. He loves the missionaries and wants all of them to succeed and be happy. President is very in tune with the spirit and is often guided to help missionaries at critical times. Tyler also loves his companion, Elder Stokes. They work very hard together and are doing a lot of teaching and getting a lot done. They are planning on focusing more on getting new people to teach. They set high goals and work well together to accomplish them.

Tyler is now able to understand the language very well. He said all of the sudden he could understand what everyone was saying. He has also learned some of the native language "Guarani" which is not even similar to Spanish. The people love it when Americans can speak Guarani and it's easier to get into houses when Missionaries speak the people's language. In some areas of the mission people don't speak Spanish, only Guarani.

Tyler loves his mission. He said he hasn't been home sick. They've been keeping so busy that they don't worry about home. He's now been out six months. 1/4th done!

A House in San Antonio Paraguay

Everything is good here, we got our goal of 40 lessons this week, it wasn´t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. We got to Sunday and only had 3 lessons left to teach before we hit the goal, which was good because my companion was sick so we got out taught our 3 lessons and went back home to let my comp rest. That's the way the work goes haha.

Really besides teaching a fetchin' ton, not much else happened. We are still working with Dina, Gervacio and Fernando, and with Junior's family, and another family that just popped up this week, Zunilda and Dario. They both have ancient attendances at church so if they come this week we can marry them and baptize them. It should be great, but thats really all.

I did have one strange experience yesterday. We were talking with Gervacio and he was raising all sorts of infierno (Spanish for heck) about how the church needs to stop building chapels and start giving the money to the poor because "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter into heaven" (he quoted that scripture like 80 times.) and the 80th time i received inspiration about the actual meaning of that scripture. The whole story popped in my head and the spirit said "that scripture isn't talking specifically about the money, it's talking about the focus of the heart." At the moment I knew what I had to say to Gervacio, I explained to him what the spirit said, I told him that how much we own doesn´t matter, that rich guy couldn't enter into heaven because his heart wasn't right, better yet he couldn´t give up his wealth. He defined himself by what he had. Without that he not only had nothing he was nothing. If we are rich or if we are poor doesn´t matter. what matters is if we are willing to give it all up to follow Christ.

Apparently Christmas Eve, "La Buena Noche" is more important in Paraguay than Christmas Day and we have like 40 million members saying "hey, you want to come hang with us en la buena noche?" So does that work if we do the phone call 4:30 ish Paraguayan time? (12:30 Utah time.) We will be waiting in our house on Saturday the 25th of December of 2010 (how specific I am haha). My companion is going to use the cell phone and I will use the house phone, (the number i gave you.) So there is no chance of interfering on one anothers phone calls. so yeah. I'll do my best to have a ton of Christmas pics to send.

Know I love you and I'm super excited to talk to you guys Saturday.

Love you tons,
Elder Brown

The Paraguay River in San Antonio

Junior's mom has a baptismal date so we are excited for her. Everything is going well here. We are getting ready for the Christmas season the best way missionaries know how. Kicking it in and working that much harder. It should make the time pass more quickly and we will be able to help more people and by so doing miss our families a little bit less. We have a goal to teach 40 lessons this week which really shouldn´t be that hard considering all things (there are 52 proselyting hours in a week). Let's hope we can get the goal.

I'm glad to hear your talk went well in sacrament meeting. I'm glad to hear that you learned and keep learning a lot. As you said Alma has a deep understanding of the Atonement and I know why. He understands it deeply because he needed to use it. We don't gain testimonies nor understanding on principles of the gospel unless we use them, and the more often we use them the more deeply we understand them. This doesn´t necessarily mean we need to mess up big time to understand the Atonement. Repentance doesn't always mean you did something wrong, really it's just a change of heart. For example right now I am repenting of my attitude as a missionary, I have been an obedient missionary so far in my mission, I've kept the rules done my best, but my heart was in a different place. My heart was in that blue chair in our basement playing video games and watching TV. I was doing the right things because it was my duty as a missionary, but I recognize now that my heart wasn´t in it. I wasn´t having charity. In the bible, I think it's Paul that teaches that no matter how much good you do "if ye have not charity it availeth ye nothing". I was doing good things but my heart wasn´t in it, so now I'm repenting and gaining a deeper understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Note I wasn´t doing bad things before and yet I still needed to repent. Really repentance needs to be more an internal thing than an external thing. Repentance is only aligning our will with God's, so in more than a few words that's what I learned this week. So now we both understand a little bit better how Alma knows so much about the atonement. I'm grateful that you got to speak in church and see how Kevin grew from his mission. Right now I need to finish this up quick and go do the letter to president, but know that I love you and look forward to next week and the phone call in 12 days.

Te quiero mucho
Elder Brown

Questions:
1. What do you do on P-days in this new area and companionship?
Not much. We usually dont have much time. Usually deep doctrine discussions and naps.

2. What kinds of food are you eating (besides Pastas)?
um..... rice?

Junior and his Family When Junior Baptized his Sisters

Everything is good here. Things are going well with our investigators, I'm worried about Ediberto, he has his 4th baptismal date Tuesday. I'm worried he won't show. I know now why he let the other fetchas fall. I got inspiration that he is afraid that when he gets baptized the missionaries won't pass by anymore. We've been trying to find him all weekend and he hasn´t been home but we're going to try tomorrow. Let's hope it works. Zunilda (Junior's mom) got back from vacation today so we are going to go talk to her and get her baptized this month. Let's hope all goes well. Next we have Gervacio, Dina and their son Fernando. They are a great family with a ton of doubts. We are trying to work with them but Gervacio works a heckofa lot. So pretty much we teach them when we find them. That's all our progressing investigators, so we will see what we can do with that.

Elder Stokes is a great guy. He really is a fun guy to be with. Yeah it's good to finally be able to understand Spanish. I can fill in sometimes when my comp whose been here for a year doesn't understand something, its pretty cool. I really have been eating. I've been eating a lot. It's just really hot, and the whole walking all day thing doesnt help. You'll just have to pray that I get transferred to the office so I can gain some weight, haha.

Thats all I got for this week but know that I love you and look forward to emails next week.
Love Elder Brown

Questions:

1. I'm so glad you understand Spanish. Are you able to speak it well enough now to say pretty much anything you need to?
Yeah, grammatically not always correct but I do ok.

2. Tell us about Elder Stokes. Do you have similar interests? How long has he been out? Are you getting along well?
He's been out on his mission for a little more than a year, he is a gamer too so we get along great.

3. How's Jr's family? We pray for his mom to accept the gospel.
Problems with that, his dad isn't the greatest guy, he has another ¨wife¨ and a year old baby with her. She has fasted and prayed about what she should do and we are going to find out what she's going to do tonight.

4. How many missionaries serve in your ward area?
4 Elders

Tyler's Companion Elder Richards ~ Adios Elder Richards :(

Alright so I'll start with whats up here in Paraguay, my comp Elder Richards got special changed, now I have Elder Stokes from Syracuse Utah. He is a great Elder and we´ll get lots done. It's kinda funny the way its worked out. I have 3 months in Paraguay and 4 companions. Funny how that works haha. It seems like every special change I need to be involved in. President just really likes to talk with me I guess haha. We are getting a lot done here. Our goal for baptisms this month is 6 people. We really think we can get it. I'm excited to see what we can do here. We hope to get Junior's mom baptized. We have our semi crazy investigator that has a fecha for the 7th so we are hoping to make our own white Christmas. We have a bunch of other investigators who aren't quite as close to being baptized, but we will see what we can do.

We still haven't celebrated Thanksgiving. We are doing that today, and right after... up go the Christmas lights wohoo. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!! I'm glad you guys got to go celebrate with Grandma Brown. We really are lucky with the family we have. I'm glad you guys got to go over to Gma Ts house too. Grandma T was super happy that you guys came. And as far as the diet, you just need to come to Paraguay. I've been here three months and I've lost 10 kilos (about 25 pounds.) I think it's more than that, but yeah.

I'd never thought of the mission that way, when you talked about how missionaries play the role of saviors to the people they teach because they provide a way for them to return to our Father in Heaven. It makes me think of one of Elder Holland's MTC talks. He posed the question, "Why does the mission have to be hard, why can't the investigators line up at our doors and the only real danger is getting hypothermia cause you cant get dry?" He then answered the question saying, "This is what has spoken peace to me, it can't be easy because it wasn´t easy for the Savior, and if it was hard for him, how dare I ask that it be easy." There is more than a little truth in that statement, how can I ask that the work of saving a soul be easy when he suffered so much for that soul. How can I say I will not drink a drop of that bitter cup, it isn´t easy for us because it wasn´t easy for him. Make sure Heather knows that before she goes into the MTC Wednesday, she needs to know that it won't be easy, but she also needs to know that it will be worth it.

You used the word frightful to describe the weather, haha. That's a chuchi word haha. I'm sorry that the weather is bad there. I hope it gets better for you. Well that's really about all I have. Thanks for helping me in all the ways you do, and know that I love you and miss you and look forward to talking to you soon.

Love Elder Brown

Questions:

1. What kind of Christmas decorations do people have there or are they up yet?
Pretty much the same as home, Christmas lights, yep

2. Have you used your boots much? Does it rain much?
I have. It does sometimes. Usually about once a week.

3. How many lessons a week do you usually teach?
Around 30 including menos activos.

4. How is your Spanish coming?
It's going really good now, all a sudden I started understanding everyone really well.

Hey Mommy,
Everything is good here. Really not much has happened since Thursday, but thats the danger we run when theres only 4 days between writing, but yeah, as I said the administrator said the packages will get here igual so I don't think there's a difference bettween the 2 addresses, I'll ask. Yeah really nothing is new, but yeah.

Really, I am super grateful for the relationship we have. I really don't know what I would be like with out the help you've always given to me. I'm such a mama´s boy, haha. Just like the strippling warriors, haha, but en verdad que si. I miss home now more than ever. The Christmas time just kinda does that I guess. I bought some Christmas lights and strung them around my room. My room in Paraguay is more decorated than our house, haha. Isn't that funny the way that works out. I'm super excited for Christmas, and to get my Christmas packages. What sheet music did you put in? Where is the buckle store? I have never heard of that place in my life.

That's great about Heathers farewell. When does she go into the MTC? You know the funny thing, she enters 5 months after me but she will get home before me. Not by much but still. She will be a great
missionary. It's great she is going.

I'm grateful for you. I miss you tons and look forward to talking to you. Hopefully I have more to say next week but know I love you.

Love
Elder Brown

Questions:
1. When you lead the singing in your branch do you sing the melody and do you sing loud?
I do my best, and I have to sing the melody because no one knows how to sing.

2. How many people come to church in your ward on Sundays?
This week we had 57 people.

3. How did Junior become interested in the church?
He found out about mutual which is basically football every week, and then he started coming to church and got a testimony.

4. Is your area poor people or are there wealthy areas in the city?
I'm not really sure. The people seem pretty well off for the most part, but the houses are still smaller than in the states.

The Streets of San Antonio
Hey Dad, Everything is going well here. I'm still in San Antonio, and I'm still with Elder Richards for one more change. I'm glad I get to stay here because we have the familia Arana to spend Christmas with. They are super great. They are my Paraguayan family. They are recentish converts. They are almost at the year mark which technically means recent converts. You're classified as a recent convert until the year mark, but they are such a great family. They are always so happy to see us.

This week we made quite a bit of progress with a few of our investigators. Junior, our recent convert's, mom is starting to get a
testimony, and his brother is starting to open up to us. Dina, Hermana Arana´s sister, is really showing a lot of interest. One of our old investigators who we had to drop because her work didn't let her go to church quit so we are starting up with her again. So lots is going really well now.

Dad I wanted to thank you for all that you did for me. I was listening to conference talks from October 2008. Elder Holland's talk "The Ministry of Angels" about angels around us got me thinking, and when he shared the story I started to cry as I realized how much you've done for me and how much you would be willing to do. Really you are an angel in my life, I'm grateful for you and I would like to have a much stronger relationship with you when I get back. I love you dad.

Love Elder Brown

Hey Mom,

I miss snow mama. I miss it a lot, and I miss Christmas lights too. Can you send a picture of snow, or maybe our house covered with snow. (I'd say our house with Christmas lights but surely we don't have lights. haha;) Does that box have sheet music in it as well? Because I need songs to sing. I won't be sending a Christmas package this year because I don't know what to send.... but next Christmas, when I get the country, language and all that figured out, there will be a ginormous package with Christmas´s birthdays and everything. It will be the Super Package Of Paraguay. (SPOP) and I´ll put that on the outside so that you know that SPOP has arrived.

As you read in Dad's letter everything is the same here, no changes. Yahoo. I'm super excited to spend Christmas with my Paraguayan Madre y Padre. They are such a great family. I've been thinking about the whole come pick your child up thing and I'm pretty sure at the end of my mission I will just want to come home, but we will see how it is when we get closer to the end.

I'm sure by this time you've already read Dad's letter, and you've probably read the Holland talk I alluded to, if not you should it's a great talk, but I want to let you know how much I'm grateful for you. You have always been there for me. You've been my best friend for all of my life. You've always been the one I talked to and you've helped me through so much. You've been the biggest angel in my life and I'm so grateful for you and love you so much.

Love Elder Brown

p.s. Is there sheet music in my package? I need music.
p.p.s. sorry I can't send pictures. my computer really doesn't have usb.

QUESTIONS:
1. I got your credit card bills this week and saw McDonald's and Burger King on them. How was it?
Yeah sorry ´bout that, I saw Burger King and really wanted it. It's not nearly as good as the states, but a burger is a burger, same with McD´s I'm glad I did it and if i go to Asuncion I'll do it again ;)
2. Are there restaurants/stores in your area or do you have to go to a bigger city to shop and go to McDonald's & BK?
We have to go to ñemby which is about 15 minutes away.
3. Are there paved roads in this area? 1 main paved road and then dirt? Any addresses or street signs?
We have 1 paved road and then empedrau i think its called, rocks with dirt mixed in, and a few dirt roads.
4. Do you know what you will be doing for Thanksgiving? Will there by any dinners or celebrations? I know Thanksgiving is an American Holiday so I wondered if you would be doing anything. Thanksgiving here is next Thursday.
I honestly have no idea what we will do for Thanksgiving.

Downtown SanAntonio (from the internet)
Everything is good here, Saturday Junior baptized his two little sisters, I confirmed one of them as well. They are a great family.
So, a ward choir. I don't think is going to work in Paraguay. All of the people are tone deaf. Bishop wants me to lead every Sunday so that we can at least try to sound good, and I don't think we have enough time to be doing a ward choir. I'll see if I can find a ward that could work but I don't know. That's all I gots to say bout that. haha. My area is great. Transfers are next week. so we will see what happens. I hope I can stay here and Elder Richards does too, but I have no control over that. But everything is good. I want you to know that I miss you guys and love you all.
Love, Elder Brown

Questions:
1. Do you want us to send any toys for you to give to kids for Christmas or candy for them or anything? Do you do service projects for Christmas there?
I don't think so, but you're welcome to send candy for the kids and American potato chips for my comp and I if you think theyll make it.
2. When are transfers? Are they coming soon?
Transfers are next week, the 17th, so p-day will be Thursday the 18th.
3. Is the church building in the boundaries of your area? or how far is it away from your house?
Yes it is, it's like 2 blocks away from my house it's pretty close.
4. Do the people in your area have jobs? What do most of them do for work?
I think so, I'm not really sure. I know Anibal mi Paraguayan padre works repairing cars at his house, but other than that I have no idea.
5. What do you (as missionaries) do at church on Sundays?
We teach the gospel principals class.

Everything is great here. We baptized Junior and we are going to baptize his sisters Saturday, so that should be good. He is 17 he is a great kid, and will be a great addition to the ward. My companion baptized him and I confirmed him a member. It was a great opportunity. The language is coming just not as quickly as I would like, but yeah it's all good, and dont worry about your letters being long. I miss talking to you too and this is the closest we can get to talking so that's what we´ll go with.

We have progressing investigators that will turn to baptisms but other than that it's just work as usual, but I'm sooo happy to be here. I love the people here so much, I want so badly to help them. but I know that it's their choice to accept the gospel.

Thats really all I have for this week. but know that I love you and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Love,
Elder Brown

p.s. Tell Tracy thanks for the letter and tell her I'm sorry for not writing back, I'm super busy.

p.p.s. Bambino is Italian, and I don't know what it means.

p.p.p.s. Love you tons.

Questions:
1. What is typical Paraguay as you mentioned in your letter?
Really it just means roads that are dirt with rocks mixed in not sure how to say it, small houses, tranquilo people, they just sit around and drink tededei all day.

2. How is your Spanish? Are you able to understand the people well yet? Are there other languages spoken in this area?
It's coming. I'm still working on it. I understand people pretty well... when they use consonants. Here it's just Spanish.

3. What is your church like in this area? A rented building or church built? How far from your apartment/area? How do the people get to church, walk, bus, car, motorcycle?
It's a big church. at least big for Paraguay. My apartment is in my area. It's weird to be outside your area. People usually walk or take a bus.

4. Did you have an interview with Pres. Callan while you were in Asuncion?
I had my interview Friday, and it was really great. It's amazing, I've talked with President for maybe an hour total but I can tell the love he has for me and he knows so much about my personality. its amazing to see the gifts of the spirit he has.

5. Since you're on the river are you eating fish?
I haven't yet but occasionally on p-day we apparently go fishing.

6. Do you have everything you need? Are you clothes OK? Do we need to send anything with your Christmas package? What do you want in your package?
i have everything I need, my clothes are good, I need to get the hems repaired on a few pairs of pants but thats ok. Really I would like chips... American chips. but really thats all.

I love my new area and my new comp, really things are just great. We have a baptism tomorrow. The kid is awesome and he will help the ward a lot. His name is Junior and he's probably 17, he is a great kid. He will also be baptizing his 2 sisters on the 6th of November. All that's left is to get the mom to accept the gospel. I'm not sure where the Dad is. But yeah things should go well. We have 5 investigators with baptismal dates before the end of the change along with 2 more who could be baptized before changes.

The weather here is not even reminiscent of Spring. It's really not that hot temperature wise, but the humidity makes it soo hot, but I love Paraguay and I love the people and I'm happy to be here, even if I do miss winter and snow, I still love it here.

This area is great, It's a good place, typical Paraguay really. My house is awesome, we have a huge balcony that we chill and exercise on. We take collectivos (busses) or walk anywhere we go. We live with Elder Taylor from Bountiful and Elder Padilla a downs syndrome kid from El Salvador.

I love my district here, they are such great guys, we have a lot of fun together. I hope this district stays together for a long time. I'm grateful to be here and grateful for the opportunities we've had so far and the opportunities we will have shortly.

In this area I have a Paraguayan Mama, yep, and a Paraguayan papa too, we eat dinner with them pretty much every night, they're great, and we have someone else who washes our clothes. We eat with members in this area pretty much every day.

I love being a missionary, when I promise righteous things under the influence of the spirit it comes to pass. I love being a missionary.

The temple was very interesting. I didn't understand much, it was hard yeah, but it was still great. The spirit was the same, even if I couldnt understand, and after we did baptisms which was great. This truly is a marvelous work. I was thinking about it, and how many names are going through temple work, we have how many temples doing ordinance work for how many names a day. I alone did the baptisms of 40ish people, plus confirmations. It's an amazing thing. I really realize the importance of genealogy now. I love the temple! It's such an amazing place.

So I'm pretty close to out of time, but I just wanted to let you know how much I love you and that I pray for everyone daily, but now I have to go. I still need to write President, but know I love you and look forward to about 2 months from now when we can talk por medio del telephono. (some things are just easier to say in Spanish.) I'm kinda worried I'm going to come back speaking hardcore Spanglish (yikes!))) Love you.

Love, Elder Brown.

Washing clothes in a tire in San Antonio (from Elder Curtis' website)

Everything is good here in San Antonio, thats right I got changed again. That's why I'm writing today (Tuesday) and not yesterday (Monday). President just called and said hey, pack up you're coming to Asunçion. So I did and here I am and I'm glad I did. My new companion is Elder Richards from Elk Ridge Utah, near Payson. He's a great guy. He's super positive and we get along great and I'm excited for the time we will get to spend together. Next week p-day will be Tuesday again. We are going to the temple, so that becomes our p day.

I'm glad you had fun in St. George. I'm kinda missing it now just cause of the fun we had. I miss going on trips too. Getting there was half the fun with us. Man I miss long car rides and singin songs with me hermanita.

So I know you want to know stuff about my new area but the fact of the matter is I don't know anything yet. I just got here and just got out of our district meeting and came to do email. So I don't have any information or photos but I'll get some and send them, and I don't think Brady's picture came through. I couldn't open it at least. So try again next week please.

Well thats just about all I've got. I will have more next week when I actually have seen my area. The rest of the change should be great I'm super excited. But know that I love you and miss you and look forward to hearing from you next week on Tuesday.
Love Elder Brown

Como Estas. Everything is going good here. My new companion is Elder McCutchan, he's a great guy, Obligado is great too. It's pretty modern compared to Caa Guazú. I'm glad to be here. Things are good here. We have a baptism scheduled for Wednesday but I'm not sure if it will happen. I hope so but we will see. About my new area, I really don't know what to describe. It's a city... I'll send pictures sometime soon.
My companion is from Utah, he's a great guy. We get along well. I'm in a house. It's just Elder McCutchan and I. Our branch meetings here are in Spanish. It's much better. The members are good. They feed us too. We eat a lot of Mandioki or something like that. i really dont know what to call the foods we eat but todo Bien
I have a Paraguayan mama now, Hermana Presentation. She is great. she feeds us everyday jokes with us and washes our clothes. She's slightly crazy.... kinda like my real mama ;) haha. Anywho know that I love you, and I miss sitting and chatting with you, I look forward to being able to talk to you again. I love you!
Love Elder Brown

Everything is good here. I got to baptize one of our investigators last week before I got transferred. His name is Sinecio, he is an indian and about 5 feet tall. as you see in the pictures I towered over him. It was great. We went by the day after his baptism to talk to him and he told us his wife asked "what happened? your so much happier now" it is amazing to see how quickly the spirit works to change someone's life for the better. He will be a great addition to the branch in Caa Guazu, but as I said I've been transferred, so I won't get to see the good he does. But my new area is great. It's called Obligado, it's way down in the South part of Paraguay, and its a great place. My new companion is a great guy, we will be able to do a lot of good I think. I'm excited to see how things go. Know that I love you and look forward to your email every week.
Love,
Elder BrownFarewell to CaaGuazu (Click on the picture for an amazing view)

(From Google Earth in the area from the map we received)
Everything seems to be looking up. Good news. It's conference next week. We have 2 solid investigators with a baptismal date. One of them was supposed to be baptized next week but with conference I don't think its going to happen, and the other is for the 17th, so he's a ways away, which is good cause he has word of wisdom issues we need to work out, so we´ll take care of him in good time. But the other is an amazing investigator. He is already through first Nephi in reading and is reading conference talks and is excited for conference next week. I'm excited for him. He is progressing very well. He will be a great member of our Branch, and I'm excited to see what he will be able to accomplish. Other than that its just been a normal week.

That's really all I've got to share for this week. Sorry I'm not able to send pictures. The cyber with the good computers is occupied again and this one is to cotton pickin slow to send anything, but I'll do my best to send them next week. But know that I love you and look forward to your emails every week and am excited to hear what all is going on at home.

Love, Elder Brown

1.Tell us about the trip to Asuncion last week. Did you ride the bus? Do you do anything fun there?
We woke up at 3 to hop on a bus and drive to Asuncion to sign two papers and came back.

2. What do you usually do on P-day. Are there fun things to do where you're at?
Usually just hang out. we do email and shop and then chill. there is nothing fun to do.

3. We got a letter, a map, and pics from your mission pres. this week. There were 2 stars on the map. We looked at those on google earth. Are those apartments? Which one is yours? what street do you live on?
We don't really have street names in my area, so i have no idea where your talking about. but we live in a house not an apartment building.

This Just In....

Greenies and their Trainers
(Tyler is on the back row, just right of center)

The New Elders with President and Sister Callan

(Tyler is in front of the picture on the wall. Click to enlarge)
I'm hoping I get to send these pictures. the computer today is as slow as cold tar but lets hope for the best. This week was... a week. It's all good, but none of our investigators are progressing. None of our baptisms held, but thats okay. Satan has a strong hold on this people. We just need to fight harder to break it. We teach a lot of lessons, close to 40 a week, but most of them are useless. The people are never there for the second appointment. It's sad to see satan's hold on these people. Every Saturday and Sunday most people just go get drunk. It's sad, we are working hard but not seeing the success we would like. I think it's just a testing period from God, we will just have to fight through it and do our best.

I lost most of my p-day this week because we had to go to Asuncion (a 4 hour drive) to sign papers and then come back (another 4 hour drive) so I have an hour left of my p day and we still need to get groceries, but know that I love you and I miss you and look forward to hearing from you every week.

Love, Elder Brown

Questions for this week:

1. Do you have a blanket for your bed? All I see is your sheets?
I have a blanket, but seeing as we are now entering summer it's kind of excessive to use them.

2. How do you feel about the language at this point?
The language is coming, I'm starting to understand more and more which is a good thing.

3.. How are the members? Do they treat you well?
Yeah the members are great.

4. Do you have any responsibilities in your ward/branch?
Not really. everything is pretty well covered. we usually run around during the first two blocks trying to gather our investigators.

5.. Do you know any Guarani words yet? or are you just learning Spanish?
I know a few. I know ya poo which means to lie, dai kwaii, which means I don't know, and a couple of greetings but thats it. I figure I'll get Spanish first.

Sorry the computer didn't cooperate for pictures, hopefully next week.

As promised I included a few pictures of where I live. I don't actually live in my area. I live in central about 15 minutes walking away from my area, but its good. Funny thing is I do carry my camera around in my backpack. I just don't think to take pictures. I will try harder next week.

Everything is good here. We spoke in church Sunday which was not fun because I'm not that good at talking in English let alone Spanish, but it was alright. It was a pretty good week. A problem we see alot here is that everyone is so deeply entrenched in their religion that they refuse to change. We asked a couple that if God told them their religion was wrong would they be baptized, and the guy said we have always been catholic and we will never change. It's really sad to think that people are so deeply entrenched that they wouldnt even change if God told them to. It's really too bad.

I'm already starting to melt. and summer hasn't even started. I'm not excited for that. (Editor's note: Paraguay is in the Southern Hemisphere so it is spring there). but thats all i want and need.

As far as who we are teaching we have some problems. We have one investigator with a fetcha (date) for next week, one investigator who isn't doing his reading and is having trouble believing Joseph Smith was a prophet (probably cause he´s not reading) and another two who we were supposed to have married last Saturday and baptized yesterday who have just had problem after problem and we are working with. Other than that we just teach a lot of lessons, but thats okay. The worst it could be is a good encounter with members.

So that's pretty much all here, but know that I love you and miss you. I'll take more pictures this week. I love you.

Love Elder Brown

Questions & Answers:
1. Describe what your area looks like. Are there lots of trees, dirt roads/paved roads, are there wild animals around? Is there lots of open area or is it densely populated?
Well, it's all dirt roads, we have a few trees, a lot of dogs but nothing else. It's pretty densely populated for the most part.

2. Do you tract most of the day? When you go to a house do you knock on the door or call out?
We don't actually tract at all, but when we go to a house we clap. In fact we haven't tracted yet.

3. Are there restaurants? Stores? markets? road side stands? any type of businesses in your area?
There are a few restaurants, markets and lots of roadside stands in central but none in my area. and there are a lot of motorcycle stores. (in central.)

4. What is your church like? Is it a rented warehouse, open building, church built chapel?
It's a church built chapel, but the meeting is all in Guaranii so I can't really tell you what's going on.

Tyler from "I Hope they call me on a Mission" days

Everything is great here. Unfortunately only one of our investigators was able to keep her baptism date for next week, but that's okay, we will just have to reschedule the others and remind them of the importance of coming to church. Everything should be great.

I wasn´t able to take pictures, we have too much going on and we are always in a hurry, but I´ll take pictures of our house tonight and send those next week. But yeah, things are great here. Our area doesn´t really have any farms. It's all houses that I've seen but they are all little shacks shoved close together. But it's a great place and the people are generally happy.

Sorry not much time this week. We had zone meeting. Cuts down p day from 11 til 6 to 4 till 6 and we still have to shop. But I will write more next week I promise. But know that I love you and I miss you and look forward to hearing from you every Monday.

Love you
Elder Brown

Questions of the week:
1. Do you eat with members? How often? What do you eat? Is it good?
Yes, every day but Sunday and Monday, and as far as good it depends on the meal but generally yes.

2. Dad wants to know if you're singing?
Well, not really. I want to but all I´ve got to work with is hymns, I will sing random songs occasionaly however.

3. What is your house like? Air conditioning? Hot water? Washing machine? Bugs?
Well it's a house, it has a roof ; ) we do have air conditioning and heating (it's been surprisingly cold lately) but we don´t use either. We´re supposed to have hot water but it's not working now, a member washes our clothes, and lots of bugs.

4. Do you walk everywhere? Do you ride busses? Chaupas?
we walk everywhere, but when we go to zone meeting we ride the bus, but thats only for large distances.

5. How's the language coming? Does your companion speak Guarani?
It's coming, not nearly as fast as I'd like it to but it's coming. No he doesnt. He only has 6 months in Paraguay.

Hey Everyone,

Things are great here. The work is moving along really well. We have 4 investigators with baptismal dates, and 2 others who are almost to that point. So things are going well. My area is great. It's very humbling circumstances. Our ward mission leader (who is comparatively wealthy) lives in a small 6-ish room house with 5 people, and there are a lot of people who don't even have that much. It is really humbling. But fortunately, the people are super humble and teachable ;) It's a great place to start. I'm really glad that I have been placed in this area. I know that it is where I am supposed to be right now and that this is where I can help the most people. I'm already growing to love the people. They are almost always happy despite the circumstances in which they live.

Everything is good. Area is good, people are good, missionaries are good. Todo es bien. About my area. I think it's West of the main part of Caa Guazú. Red dirt streets, little shacks that kind of stuff. It's great! The people are humble and the members are all happy and fun loving, everything is great.

Church was an interesting experience, it's all in Guaranii (the native language). and of course I don't speak Guaranii. I don't even speak Spanish yet;) so I just read scriptures the whole time. It's great. I love the area. Well I don´t have much time left, but know that I love you all, and miss you all, and that I have a testimony of this gospel, that it is true and that Jesus is the Christ, and He is the only name under Heaven given whereby a man may be saved.

Love Elder Brown

MTC Photos

Hey everyone,

For a while I was worried that my trainer would be a native but it turns out that my comp isn´t a native after all. He is from American Fork or somewhere around there. His name is Elder Clyde. My first area is Caa Guazu. We went out and proselyting last night. (We are quite a ways from Asuncion) We didn't get in till 4 ish. We taught somewhere around 5 lessons, none of which were scheduled. The people are great. I can´t understand them because of the accent. but I can understand what my comp says just fine. It should be a great area to work. Pretty much everyone drives motorcycles or mopeds. I've seen like 10 cars here. and I have seen a couple of horse drawn carts. It's a different world here. It's so strange, but I'll get used to it. As far as our house, it's just my comp and I. but we have another couple of Elders in our complex but I've only seen them once since I've been here. My district leader stopped by with his comp this morning to say hi and welcome me to Caa Guazu. I'm excited that I get to work here. The people are great and I'm sure I'll grow to love them. I´m going to send a picture of me and my companion. I´ll take some more pictures this week and send them next time.

It´s so strange to actually be here, it's one of those days you think will never come. but I'm here in Paraguay, where no one speaks English. but I know it's where I'm supposed to be, and I know that I have the right companion. I know that this is where I will learn the most and do the most good. I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve, and I look forward to the good I will be able to do in these two years. I'm grateful for all that this church gives me, and I know God will be here to help me along. I have a testimony of this Church and all that it is. I know that the missionary program is inspired. that every call is perfect for the missionary, and every companion you get is the one you need. I love this church and I look forward to being able to talk with you all again.

Love Elder Brown

After 29 hours of traveling, placing a Book of Mormon in Chicago, and teaching the first discussion in Spanish to a man on the way to Miami and giving him a Spanish Book of Mormon, Elder Brown has safely arrived in Paraguay. We received this email from him:

Hey Mom,

Everything is good here. They drive here like they do in Mozambique, but I'm still alive. I'm thinking I'm going to get a native trainer. I was talking with the President, there are 18 new people (4 are native Spanish speakers) so out of the 18 trainers 5 are native Spanish speakers. I asked him if my trainer would be a native speaker and he said I'll find out tommorrow. By the way he said it, I'm thinking a native. But thats ok. Jump start my language. It will be difficult but that's ok. I'll get to email again Thursday to tell you more, but the normal p-day is Monday. Well I got to get back into the meetings, but know that I love you and look forward to emailing you again Thursday.

Love,
Elder Brown

Off to Paraguay!

Hey Everyone,

Everything is great here. I leave Monday, at 4 in the morning. Which means I either don't sleep the night before or I wake up at three in order to make sure everything is alright and then have time to go to the travel desk and take care of the last minute things. so... I think I just won't sleep;) but as I said everything is great. I'm excited to finally get into the field and finally meet the people I will serve. I don't have much time this week. (last minute packing and such) but know that I love you all. I know that the Church is true and I'm glad I get this opportunity to serve.

Love,
Elder Brown (formerly known as Tyler;)

Hey everyone!
I don't have much time left on my email. 7 minutes to be exact. But I get my travel plans some time today and I head out the 23rd (10 days from now) but things are good. I'm excited to finnaly get in the field. So things are going to get a lot better and more exciting.
That's just about all I have time for but know I love you all and look forward to any letters I can get in the next ten days.
Love you all. Got to send this before time runs out. Hope to hear from all of you soon

I received the following letter yesterday:
Hola Madre,
So, as far as your question, Visas won't be a problem, we go in on tourist visas, so no worries. It's weird to think I'll be in a foreign country in 11 days, where no one speaks english, but I'm excited. Mom, I just want you to know that I love you. I know I wasn't always the best son and I feel bad for every tear you shed because of me. I miss sitting and talking with you. I miss being able to tell you I love you every day. Being here makes me realize how luck I was to have you there, always willing to sit and talk with me, always willing to listen, and always supporting me in whatever I did. I'm realizing now how much you sacrificed driving 2 hours down to Ephraim to hear me sing 1 song, followed by the 2 hour drive back, how much could have you done with that 5 hours, and this happened on more than one occasion. I just want to let you know how much I appreciate those sacrifices. I promise you, I am going to do the best I can every day, to make you proud of me. I've wasted so much time, and all the gifts God gave me, but no more. I know from words to actions is a great distance but I will do it. I promise I'll make you proud. I know I'm not perfect, but I'll do my best to be. I look forward to your letters, know that I love you, and every night I pray for you, and each family member, by name, and ask God to keep you safe and to help you feel my love, and then for anything I know you need or want and I know that God will answer my prayers and I hope you do feel my love. I miss you and look forward to talking to you in 11-ish days. I love you.

Love Elder Brown.

Elder Brown & Elder Okazaki (Brady's trainer in Mozambique who now teaches at the MTC)

All is well here. My district speaks in Spanish pretty much all day. It's actually alot of fun. We all get along just fine. I think we are all getting a little stir crazy here. Things that used to appear incredibly boring have become incredibly fun. But I guess that's a good thing. Who doesnt want to be easily entertained;) yeah so we have fun. We head out for Paraguay on the 24th of this month. So t-minus 2 1/2 weeks. I'm super excited to get down there and meet the people I will be teaching. But yeah, to be perfectly honest not much is new but it's all still fun. We got back from the temple probably an hour ago it was great. But thats just about it. However, I want all of you to know that I know that missionary work is an inspired principle. and that I am where I am supposed to be (no matter how much I miss all of you;) I know that this is where the Lord wants me to be and I'm ecstatic to be able to carry the gospel that has given us all so much joy to those who don't have that joy in their lives. And last but not least know that I love each of you, and look forward to getting letters from you. Nothing is better than the having the district leader walk in and set 4 or 5 letters on your desk (not that this has happened recently) . It's great. but as I said I love you all and look forward to hearing from you.

With love,
Elder Brown (formerly known as Tyler;)

Hey Everyone,
Everything is great here. I'm learning a lot, we taught in Spanish for the first time this week. It went well. Funny thing. Remember how I use to be pretty fluent in French. Well I can't speak it worth beans now. I try and say something in French and it comes out Spanish. I know this because I met some French speaking elders, I could understand everything they said but speaking back was impossible. Good news is I'm getting close to being fluent in Spanish.

My district is great we all get along really well and have a lot of clean latter day saint fun. My companion is a studd. He is almost always smiling and cracking jokes. We have a lot of fun together. Class is great. My teachers are both fun people, but we are still able to get a lot done despite the amount of fun we inevitably have.

Time really has started moving fast. Surprisingly I only have 3 weeks from Tuesday till I'm off to a third world country where adventure is no doubt in store. I look forward to finally being able to use the knowledge I've gained here to benefit someone else. I'm also excited to finally meet the people I will serve for 22 months.

As I've mentioned before the spirit here is amazing, and thanks to the time I've spent here, I have learned how important prayer is. It's our communication with God. I know we hear that all the time but when you think about it, it really is a sobering thought. God wants to hear from me and each of you and prayer is how we do that. Before my mission I would say my prayers, but I never actually prayed. I've begun to see now why that's important. God wants to bless each of us but first we have to ask. If I could ask you all to do one thing, it would be to pray, not just say your prayers, but pour your heart out to God. We have so much to be grateful for in this life. Never miss an opportunity to be grateful to God.

Now I'll step off my soap box just long enough to say, I love each of you, and I know that God loves each of you. I miss you all, and look forward to seeing you again 23ish months from now when I step off the plane. (You all had better be there ;) I look forward to your mail, and would like to let you know again that I love you.

Sincerely,
Elder Tyler Brown

Oh How We Miss Him!

Hey Everyone!

Everything's good here. Every day's still the same and I'm beginning to understand what Brady, AKA former Elder Brown was talking about when he said you start to lose it in here. It's the same thing every day. But, it is a necessary (for lack of a better word) evil of the mission. Got to learn the language some time.

I love getting letters from all of you, and it pushes me a little further away from the cliff of insanity when I get one. As you can imagine we get no, and I mean no news in here. Only the gospel exists within these walls, but its good.

Honestly I'm never sure what to put into this weekly letter (as every day is the same) there's not much exciting stuff to draw off of;) I'm excited to get out into the field and have something worth saying to put into this weekly letter, but for now, bear with me. If you find the weekly letter bores you wait a month. August 24th I go to the field. That's when things will start to become more exciting.

As I've rambled as much as is possible about the mind numbing monotony that is the mtc I'll close with my testimony.

Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador y redentor, y soloménte mediante su expiación es possible por nosotros regressar a vive con dios. Amo mi familia y mediante la evangelio de Jesucristo es possible por mi vivir con mi familia despues este vida.

Time's almost out. But know that I love you all and look forward to hearing from you and seeing you all again in wow 23 months. Time flies when every days the same;) As I said I look forward to hearing from you. And that's all for now
ttfn (ta ta for now)
Love,
Elder T. Brown

Hey Everyone,

Things are good here. Funny story, we met a lady from Paraguay today, their accent is super wierd. She said soy de Paraguay (I'm from Paraguay) and it took us like 4 times to finally understand what she was saying. They like don't pronounce consonants. (Spanish is sending my spelling for a loop) Things are so much easier to spell in Spanish. There are no silent letters. But any way she then said something about Guarani, so we asked her to speak it for us she said nakumbye or something like that which means hey how are you doing. Now I'm more excited than ever to get to Paraguay. Other than that things are pretty much the same. Wake up at 6:30 gym breakfast class lunch class dinner and more class and finally bed. Not much time for fun stuff, but things are great.

So as I close I just want to say once more how greatful I am to have this wonderful opportunity to serve a mission. I know that I'm meant to be here. And I wouldn't be any other place. I want all of you to know how much I love you and miss you. And I look forward to coming off the plane and seeing you all again. I love you all and wish you luck or as they say in Spanish buenos suerte.

Love,
Elder Tyler Brown

Hey everyone!

Things are good here. same My usual day i wake up at 6:30 get dressed go to gym come back shower change to church clothes, go get breakfast, go to class for a while have lunch more class, dinner and more class, and then go back to my room write letters and my journal and go to bed. I'm singing in church on Sunday so we will see how that goes.

The MTC is a great place other than the fore mentioned schedule and the quality of the food. Yes there is more to life than those two things;) The Spirit here is amazing, there is almost never a time when you aren't with the spirit. (I would say there's never a time but in order to avoid an unnecessary law suit I said almost;) It's a great place.

Spanish is a lot easier to learn than I thought it would be. I guess it's in part because of my history in languages. I can keep up a conversation relatively easily. My comp is great, he is a fun guy and is fun to hang out with luckily.

Well. clock's ticking down on me, so I'll just wrap up by saying, I miss all my family members and friends, but I know that what I'm doing here will help not only myself but all of those who are in my life. I know that this gospel is true and that is why I'm here, to take the wonderful thing that God has given me and share it to improve the lives of the people in Paraguay. I look forward to getting into the field and being able to share God's message. I love you all and wish you all luck in all you do. I'm praying for you all. Love you all!

Elder Tyler David Brown

It's great to hear from you and I'll be able to write more in the field but here in the MTC the computers kick you off at exactly 30 minutes. I'm not sure how long I'll be able to make this letter. The computer is counting down on 5 minutes for me. So in case I don't get to say it, know that I love you. Just try and write through dear elder so that if I can't get to all my emails I can write letters. I'm not sure if it has set in yet that I will be gone for 2 years. I've got a lot of mail to get to but know that I love you and look forward to hearing from you next week.
Love you.

Q&A
1. Where is your companion from?
My companion Elder McGee is from Missouri.

2. Where are your roommates from?
It's interesting how it worked out it's just me and Elder McGee in my room. One of the guys didn't show up and the other one moved up to a higher level Spanish.

3. How's the Spanish coming?
Spanish is actually going really well. The trc on Thursday was a get to know someone in Spanish thing. It was great.

4. How was Sunday? How is your branch? How is church at the MTC?
Sunday was good. We actually didn't have church with my branch. Some of the general authorities were here so all the missionaries had church together.

The mtc is like trying to drink from a firehose. I feel bad for the Elders who don't have a background in language. They work on 1 grammar principle a day and that's all we get.

Love you, Mom