Elder Conner Brown

Hershey, PA - Week 8

 

Hello there, and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Holiday weeks are always fun in the mission field, albeit a little interesting since door knocking isn't really an option. For Thanksgiving, President Wright set up a super cool devotional about the Pilgrims and how they focused on gratitude despite all the things they suffered. Later in the day, we went and did a little pie run for our investigators to wish them happy Thanksgiving and show our appreciation for them.

 

Also, this past Wednesday was my 21st birthday! In celebration of being old enough to drink, I went and got some root beer 😆. The real celebration was the long list of appointments we had that day. One was with a super nice family called the F., with whom we had a really nice discussion on faith and how it blesses our lives. We are super excited to continue meeting with them over time. 

 

Another lesson we were super grateful for was a super smooth pass-off lesson for a Spanish family we found. Only a couple people in the family spoke English, so we had the Spanish Elders join us for the lesson and to transition the family over to them. The family had to reschedule for 30 minutes later, but the timing worked perfectly where my companion and I had to leave just as we were getting into the Restoration part. We heard from the Spanish Elders later that night that the lesson went super well and they had a follow-up appointment! I can't wait to hear how they progress.

 

This week in the Bible I was reading in 2 Corinthians when I came across a few verses that I really love, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 17 

 

8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

 

How grateful I am for the hope that comes from knowing that all things will turn together for our good. Paul certainly knew what persecution looked like, and yet he carried on and was not distressed, all because of the hope he had in Christ and the glory prepared for him.

 

Have a great rest of your week!

Sincerely,

Elder Conner Brown

 

Chatting with the family on Thanksgiving

 

Hershey, PA - Week 7

Hello there!

 

This was a super exciting week leading up to A's baptism! It was such a wonderful experience to see him make those special covenants and take these first steps on the covenant path! That was definitely the highlight of the week.

 

We are super excited for this transfer and for all the people we have lined up to teach. 

 

For instance, we have a lesson soon with a super sweet family who we met because of a prompting to knock a specific door. We recently did a Bible study with them about the story of Naaman and why we follow prophets. We invited them to hear a message we have about modern prophets and they seemed super interested! There's a bit of a language barrier, so we'll need to pass them off to other Elders, but still so cool to find and start teaching them!

 

We also met with a friend named R. who lost contact with the missionaries as covid was starting. He is super down with meeting and hearing the lessons and learning more about the Book of Mormon. A super cool guy who really wants to keep his relationship with Christ strong.

 

B. came to church this Sunday! He loved it and we are super excited to be meeting with him again this week. I'm so thankful for all the people the Lord places into our lives!

 

Thanksgiving is coming up soon! We had a discussion recently with a member about the importance of prayer in our lives. Prayer is one of the many ways we show our gratitude to Heavenly Father. The thought and intent we put into our prayers truly reflects how much he means to us.

 

2 Nephi 32:9 - But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.

 

Make sure to offer thanks to our Heavenly Father this week!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Brown the elder

 

 

Hershey, PA - Week 6

Hello there!

 

Transfer news came in! Thank goodness, I'm staying in Hershey with Elder Charles. There are some great people here I would love to keep working with.

 

A., for instance, is getting baptized this Saturday! We're all super excited for him to take this next step on the covenant path. B. is also progressing tremendously and loving the lessons, as well as the Book of Mormon. He's really such a cool guy who wants to be of use to God in his life, so he has awesome stories of how he's been able to help those around him. 

 

The one change that happened this transfer for us is I am no longer the Japanese District Leader. Another capable Elder will be taking care of that from now on.

 

Another fun thing this week was getting to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and then the district leader. While I was out and about with the zone leader, we were just getting ready to head back to the apartment. Of course we decided to do one more door and we prayed beforehand that we would find somebody who needed us. We knocked the door and a young man answered named G.. Elder Ranstrom shared a quick scripture with him. He said he wasn't very religious, but that scripture related exactly to what he was going through. We left him a Book of Mormon, a few other scriptures, and a promise to return and follow up!

 

A couple quotes before I close:

"Being blessed with hope, let us, as disciples, reach out to all who, for whatever reason, have ‘moved away from the hope of the gospel’ (Col. 1:23). Let us reach to lift hands which hang hopelessly down." - Neil A. Maxwell

 

"Hope is the anchor of our souls. …Hope is trust in God’s promises, faith that if we act now, the desired blessings will be fulfilled in the future." - James E. Faust

 

From the faith that we have in Christ, we have an unfailing source of hope that all things will work together for our good. Let us take every opportunity we can to share that hope with those around us who need it. 

 

Have a wonderful rest of your week!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Conner Brown

 

Hershey, PA - Week 5

Hello there!

 

A lot of fun stuff happened this week, so I'll share some highlights. 

 

First of all, we had some awesome meetings with an investigator named B. He actually has been reading the Book of Mormon for months now and we just started teaching him. He has a solid testimony and told us he wants to be baptized! We're meeting with as much as we can to help him do just that! 

 

I dunno if I mentioned last week, but one day we received a random text out of the blue from somebody who picked up one of our pass-along cards. We called him and he said he found it on the ground, a picture of Jesus Christ. He'd been carrying it in his wallet for days now because he liked it and he just now realized there was a number on the back, lol. Anyway we had a Bible study just this past week. He's a super cool guy named J. who was interested in hearing different perspectives on the Bible. We had a wonderful study about how we shed our light as Christ wants us to. 

 

Another funny little miracle, we got a spam risk call on Wednesday, which we felt like calling back just in case. A woman from the Phillipines answered, who was trying to call someone who wasn't us. But, Elder Charles asked if she wanted to hear a message about Christ and she said sure! So we gave a quick message on the spot and we're hoping to teach her a bit more, and pass her off to the right missionaries. You have to take every finding opportunity possible!!

 

Fall is coming into town! Things are getting nice and cold and the leaves are changing. I'm sure everybody enjoyed the recent Fall Back just as much as we did.

 

I'll share a bit of what we did in our Bible study with Jack. We read this verse, and his friend who was also there asked us what it meant:

 

Matthew 5:13 "¶ Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."

 

We had a little basket of fries in front of us, so I picked up a french fry and said, "We love salt, right? It tastes good, it preserves things. Back west, we have a restaurant called In-and-Out that has terrible fries with no salt/flavor whatsoever. If the salt has lost it's flavor, there's no purpose for it except to throw it out. In the same way, if we don't do good and help others and bring light into the world, we won't be fulfilling our purpose."

 

I challenge you all to step back this week and determine what the quality of your salt is. Are you fulfilling the purpose Christ wants you to fill?

 

Until next week, let your light shine as bright as I know it can! Love you all!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Conner Brown

 

This photo is from a couple weeks ago when Elder Gene R. Cook, of the Quorum of the Twelves Apostles visited the Pittsburgh Mission.  Can you spot Conner?

 

Here's a close-up.  Can you find him now?

Hershey, PA - Week 4

Hello there!

 

This week had a few downs, but plenty of ups!

 

Elder Livingstone sadly had to go back to Canada because of his sickness last week. But, he was an absolute trooper the whole way and the Lord's got great plans for him. He's already getting better and sending us pics from back home.

 

Elder Charles and I have been holding up the fort so far in Hershey. We had a great lineup of lessons with people we recently found. For H., we taught some of the Plan of Salvation, and taught her just how much Christ can help us through his atonement.

 

We had a Bible study with a lady named V. who really wants to draw closer to Jesus Christ. We had a lesson plan set up to teach the commandments and how they draw us to him, but as the lesson drew closer, we felt prompted to scratch the plan and switch to a lesson on Prayer. As we started the meeting, we asked if she had any questions. She asked us to teach her more about prayer! I love how the spirit works and how important it is to listen to those gentle promptings, especially the first time.

 

Elder Charles and I switched nametags for Halloween. Gotta go dress up as somebody! We also prepped some candy with pass along cards for tricker-treaters, but sadly there were none of them in the area. Fun plan, though.

 

 

 

Here's a Halloween/fear themed scripture for you:

 

2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

 

When the spirit of fear is haunting you, you can always pray for the Holy Ghost to bring you comfort and peace, regardless of the circumstances. 

 

Hope you have a fantastic rest of your week!

 

Sincerely,

Elder Brown the elder