October 21, 2013

Hello mom and dad :) .

First I wanted to thank you for the things you've sent me in the mail.  It is so good to hear from you!  Also, thank you dad for the letter about your mission, I'm glad you were able to do that for me, and I really enjoyed reading it.  Thanks for the picture!  It's good to see your smiling faces :) .  Tell Jaalah she had better be in the next one, I want to see her smiling face, too.

I'd like to share another miracle that happened this week (seriously, they happen every day, but I only have time to send the best of them).  Yesterday we found a Slovak family that had just recently moved in a week ago.  Elder Sindylek and I were walking down the street, and some kids across the street started calling us over to come and teach them.  We of course went over to them (we'd have been really dumb not to have), and they welcomed us into their home.  Their dad was there, named Gejza, and we began talking with him and his children.  He told us that the rest of his family arrives this Thursday (his wife and some other kids) .  As we spoke with them and began sharing with them who we are and what we do, they got increasingly focused and interested, to put it lightly.  Even the children were so tuned in.  Everything we shared with them they just soaked up and accepted.  I've never seen or heard of a family so prepared for the gospel.  We shared with them some scriptures from the Book of Mormon, which they absolutely loved.  Elder Sindylek knows the scriptures super well, and had the most applicable verses for these people.  The girl who was holding it (her dad has bad eyesight, so she was reading the verses for him) was cradling it in her arms, and when we gave them their own, she acted like we'd given her a bar of pure gold.  I watched her a bit while Elder Sindylek was talking, and she was flipping to random verses and reading them under her breath with the biggest smile on her face.  Then, when we gave them the baptismal challenge, they all individually, immediately, and emphatically accepted.  This was such a shock to me because the father had previously mentioned that he had been baptized in another church.  They didn't even care though, and asked us if they could be baptized like the next day.  We were like, "We need to teach you a little more first..." and then we made a baptismal calender with them and set a date for them to work towards.  At the end, we explained how to pray from the heart rather than using a memorized prayer, which I thought they might not be open to changing, but they wholeheartedly accepted it, and wanted to try.  It was so amazing.  They want us to come every day, but we have other people we need to teach, too, so we can't really do that.  But we will certainly be going by often--they are an amazing family, and I can't wait to see them grow and progress!  This is exactly what is meant by people whose hearts have been prepared to receive the gospel that will lead them back to our Heavenly Father.  I am so blessed to be a part of this--it is such a privilege.

Love you all lots, I hope you have a fantastic week!  I'm excited for your letters, I will love reading them.  Until next week, with much love,

Elder Brown