Dare I Say, It's as hot as .......

INTERWEBIES!!!!

Hello all! well this week has been a busy one! as they say here ¨Vamos a trabajar como negros para traer blancos¨ yo no voy a explicar. we had a really good week.

yesterday we found out about tranfers. I completey forgot about them, 6 weeks really flew by. well i thought i was going to get transferred but i´m going to stay here in the fresnos ward, however i will be working in fresnos 2. President Walker visisted us in our ward yesterday to tell us that they are going to change the areas, or missionaries of the areas. the sisters are going to wrok in our area and we are going to work in the area of the sisters. My compa is getting transferred, which is really surprising because he has only spent 6 weeeks here, but i guess the lord needs him elsewhere. my new compa is american and from missouri. Elder Hatch! dont know him but im excited to work in a ´new´ area with someone new.

there are some ups and downs from this new change, they are the following

ups

1 im going to live in a private subdivision

2 new area/same ward

downs

1 most of the members live in fresnos 1

2 fresnos 2 is bigger than fresnos 1

well thats about all the crazyness here in mexico. i hope all is well!

the pics!

1: we havent had a fridge fro the past 2 weeks, so this sunday la familia escalona invited us to breakfast. and offered us a ride to church. however we all didnt fit in the cab of the truck so we laid in the back so we didnt wouldnt get stopped by the hawaii 5-0.

2. on our way to eat breakfast sunday morning. its was really clear. these are the mountains of monterrey, this is where the nefites and lamanites lived.

3. the young men and women asked us to give a missionary workshop. my compa was sick so i get the workshop.

4. Me and Hugo wrestling. i don't remeber how this started but i ended up winning.

Shout Out!

Brandon Escalona: Es el Jefe. Gracias por acompañarnos el sabado, ¨Buenas Tardes...este....este....¡le toca Elder Luargas!¨

Ud. es mi más nuevo fan

Tay-Tay: hows the real life treating ya? does it feel wierd not having a compa? whats your real world email address (no sé si quieres que yo envíe a tu dirección de la misión o una otra)

Presidente Jensen: felicidades en tu nuevo llamamiento. vas a ser un bueno presidente de rama. si necesitas ayuda, aquí estoy...bueno pues no pudeo ayudarte mucho, pero tú sabes....

well thats all folks until next week. Cuídense mucho.

Elder Browning

oh i forgot to mention that is hot like 98-100 degrees, and they say its only begun and i have to wait until the canicula (or 40 days of the hottest weather EVER 120-130 degrees) ugh! not excited.

6 months!!!!!

Holy Smokey and the Bandit!

Tomorrow I'm going to have spent 6 months in the mission. We the heck did the time go?! This week I will complete 6 months and Taylor will come home. Its kinda of sad that I only have 18 months left. In May when I get to call home, I will complete 8 months, and 4 months later 1 year! Its absolutely ridiculous how fast time flies here.

Well now guess its time for the juice!

Sunday we had a baptism....BOOYah Regg! and hopefully we'll have a few more in the coming weeks. Its was a great baptismal service! best part of it all......he was a Jehovah's Witness! Double BooYah Regg! (i'll explain shortly)

Friday we passed by a members house to make the program for this baptism. when we arrived they were having seminary (yes i know what your think....'you visited a family @ 5 in the morning to make a baptismal program?'...no, the school system here is a little different and the kinds can go to school in the morning, afternoon or night. we passed by in the late afternoon) so, when we arrived Hna. Escalona didn't want to teach. so she asked us to teach the class. I had about 3 minutes to prepare a 1 seminary class in spanish on chapter 123 in D&C. Talk about about on the fly. all in all the lesson turned out great and we all learned something new.

Bueno, moving right along to the next point of business. Jehovah's Witness....or TJs as they are known here. The 3 biggest churches here are the catholic, christian and Jehovah's Witness. I have grown a love of this gospel but i have grown a bigger love to "preach the truth" or "Planchar (literally means to Iron)" allow me first to lay the ground rules. We never bible bash! only if we are provoked, we "share the truth" with the "non believers". The people who like to bash the most are the TJs. And i have grown fond of dishing the truth. I never thought i would develop this trait but, when in Rome....and in the words of Elder Holland "We never, never, NEVER bible bash.....but if we do we ALWAYS WIN!" I baptized a TJ...enough said

well that's about it. unfortunately i drew the short stick again and got the only computer in this cyber cafe that doesn't have a card reader....so pictures next week.

Love and miss you all

Elder Browning

......knife

well hello my interwebies,

please forgive me for failing to report last week. i will, once again, place the computer at fault.

sadly not a lot has happened in 2 weeks. believe it or not. The language is coming along and I can understand and talk fairly easily, which was helped A TON! i was asked to teach "gospel principles" last week and asked to give a talk at a baptism yesterday. both of these occasions i was asked a few hours prior to the event. if the members trust my Spanish, i can trust my Spanish.

the pics:

1) Tell me whats wrong with this picture

....if you said I'm caring a machete your right. we went to do some service at the house of the members mom. we were going to cut branches off a couple trees. well we passed by another members home to pic up the machete and when we arrived at the house no one was home, so i carried the machete with me all day in the back of my pack.

2) we set up shop in a "Pulga" or giant garage sales....in the street.....yes i said in the street. these pulgas usually stretch for 20-40 blocks and there are a ton of people. we have had a goal as a mission to make 90 contacts every week and he have had some difficulties reaching this goal, so we decided to work together with the sisters and set up a booth about the church. it was crazy fun and crazy exciting. we didn't get a lot of references because we were in the sisters area. but it was still fun and a good experience to talk with everyone. needless to say we surpassed our goal and we were the companionship that contacted the most this past week with 165 contacts. with all these contacts we have found some good people that look potential for baptisms in the future.

well i think that's about it. we'll have a baptism this week....finally... and should have a few more before the end of the month. next week i will complete 6 months in the mission field. 1/4 of my mission will be over. sad news.

well that's all i got interwebies. stay safe in all your endeavors. remember that at times we are given trials to see how we will use our faith in Jesus Christ and God

Love,

Elder Browning

No Update

I apologize. No update this week.

Soy el Padrino! I am the Godfather!

Well i hate to disappoint you all, but this week was very blah in terms of crazy stories.

However i do have a short story, to explain the title of the email.

So this past week we had training for all Zone Leaders and District Leaders. I am not either one of them so i didn't go. but i did stay here and work with another missionary. this is were the Godfather come in. So when you receive a new missionary to train you are called a dad or here in mexico a Papi. well this missionary i work with arrived from salt lake (meaning he is American) the day before this leadership training. so for one day i was a tutor...or a papi! it was quite the experience because i had the opportunity to see how much i have progressed in the language, in my teaching and in understanding in general. Unfortunately, it was for one day, and his real "dad" said i could be his godfather.

at this training our mission president told the Zone Leaders and District Leaders that we would be receiving 10-15 missionaries every week in the month of the March so who knows this could have been a test drive of things to come.

In the proselyting world we had a very successful week. we had meetings with our ward mission leader and bishopric to discuss ways to reactivate less actives and retain recent coverts and how we can utilize the ward in our teachings. if everything works out we should have a few baptisms in the weeks to come. I'll keep you all posted.

until next week! ¡Cuidénse mucho! Que tengan una excelente semena y espero que Dios les bediga!

Elder Browning

Ps we went to the doctor for elder luargas earlier today. the mission doctor´s office is in the other mission. needless to say we did some pirating!

pss pictures next week

I am Back!.....and I'm better than ever!

Hello Interwebies, Family, Friends, and whoever else may be reading-

Please forgive me for abandoning you last week, I will blame the computer and its lack of efficiency. Anyways, thanks to Momma Shoe Duck, I hope you got your fill of excitement for the week. And as the title says, I'm back this week updating you on the craziness taking place here in Monterrey, Mexico. Also, I have been "officially" released from my diet, therefore "I'm better than ever!"

THE UPDATE:

So my companion went home this week and I received my new companion. I have a feeling that I'm gong to be his "killer" because he has 4 months left. He has spent his entire mission in "La Frontera" or the Border in Reynosa. He's a little cultured shocked because this is his first time in the city. He's completely different than my last companion and he, and my last companion didn't get along so that put my in an awkward position. Well, so far things are going well. He is a Mexican "Richard" we'll see how things turn out.

Really there isn't a ton to update. Things are still new and I had a half week because of transfers. Hope your all doing well. Miss you all!

THE SHOUT OUTS:

Sophie: Thanks so much for your picture, its hanging up above my desk. I wish I could just tell my investigators "Get Baptized"

Those who shout me out from Joliet 1st Ward: Hey Ward Hey! thanks for your love!

Taylor...erhm...Elder Hardy...BBBBBIIIIIIIRRRRRTTTTTHHHHDDDAAAYYYY! you know how its supposed to sound!

**Making his first guest appearance**

"Just to inform you, here in Argentina on your birthday, they have the tradition of throwing Flour, Eggs, sugar, coco powder...or WHATEVER else they can find, allll over you."

Grandma Josie: Thanks for your letters every week! its fun to know whats going on in Branson, MO

Michelle Gissel: I was very surprised to get your letter thank you!

THE PICS:

Me with Luis (my first baptism), Aleth and Junior (who is a Mexican clone of Hunter...enough said)

Me with THE MAU BURGER! This bad boy weighed in at a whopping 2.26 lbs or 1 kilo, topped with 2 patties, cheese, pineapple, guacamole, bacon, mayo, mustard, ketchup, and onions....If this didn't kill me nothing will! and yes, i ate it all

Until next week - Elder Browning

Boo Yah, Reg!

***Disclaimer****This week Kye did not have time to write a "weekly update". So he told me to "make something up!" What? I know it sounds crazy, but here it goes.....

On Tuesday, January 11, my family sent me a package. The post office said it would take about 10 business days to get here. Well......every week my mom would ask me if I got the package. And sadly I would reply "no". Now you have to remember that all packages, letters, and whatnot get sent to the mission home in Guadalupe and since I do not serve near the mission home I could not check to see if my package had come, or not. **Side-Note** My mom was starting to worry that maybe it was never going to make it. That the customs police had got a hold of it and enjoyed the contents. The only good that would come out of it was that they were reading the scriptures that were in the box and feeling bad about stealing the box and maybe they wanted to repent and in the end the story would have a happy ending. **End Note** The weeks went by (6 weeks to be exact) and I had to go to the mission home because of transfers (my companion is done serving, he is going home and I am getting a new companion, that I hear is not the most popular elder, if you know what I mean) and THERE SHE WAS! My beautiful package! Boo Yah, Reg! Thank goodness I am feeling better and my diet restrictions have been lifted. Let me share what was in this beautiful package from home....Sweedish fish, Skittles, Starburst, Sour Gummy Worms, Sweet Tarts, Pistachios, Ties, and Spanish Scriptures. The treats were delicious!!! By the time I had opened the package and tried to download pictures, which did not work, hence, the lack of a weekly update. The treats were almost gone.

Now many of you are probably wondering what the heck was wrong with me and, I cannot answer that question. When I had left the hospital I had to leave a "sample" for them to test. Maybe Hma. Walker has been contacted regarding my illness, but I have not heard. All I know is that I'm feeling better and back to eating almost everything.

The language is coming, the members all tell me that my Spanish is very well for only being here for 2 months. There are still instances when I cant understand, but i do my best to nod my head, laugh, and smile.

Well that is about it. How'd I do? Pretty good for a mom, huh? Comments are always welcome ***This was all based on actual events!***

Until next week....Hopefully Kye will be telling it in "his own words".

Pardon?!.....It is how cold?!

So I've been told its been pretty cold all over, including here in hot Monterrey. So what was explained to me was that there were 2 cold fronts and they collided with each other and reaked havoc all over Northern America. It snowed here, in MEXICO!!!

not were i am, but about an hour north of my area a little closer to the mountains. From Tuesday till Friday it was an average of 23° to 27° . Its COLD!!! and poor little naive me, thinking that its not cold in Mexico didn't bring any warm clothes. thank goodness for the great people here in the Fresnos Ward. I've been well taken care of.

The only drawback of the cold is we haven't found much success. no one wants to answer the door to let 2 young adults into their house. to top it all off we had splits this past week and there is a "curse" of splits that all, or most all, appointments fall through. Well they did and we finished our planned day at 7:00pm and my temporary companion has been in the field just as long as i have and it was real easy just to call it quits for the day. And, he asked me if we should. He said "its cold, no one wants to listen to us and he have no more appointments". I suggested that we contact the street we were in and at the end of the street we would call it a day.

Well the lord blessed us in our obedience and in the very last house of the street we found a family of 6 and they welcomed us in "con gusto" (with pleasure) and to top it all off they came to church on Sunday. It was a true blessing, because we've been having a really hard time getting investigators to church and baptized. Hopefully this family will continue to listen and eventually be baptized. They are really great and really sincere in what they are learning.

Final bit of news. so this is my "papi's" (my trainer) last week here. Next week I will have a new companion, but hopefully not a new area. I have grown attached here. I won't get my new companion until next Tuesday but this is my last week with my "dad".

Love and miss you all, stay warm to those in cold places. and until next week....

VAMOS MONTERREY....QUEREMOS LA COPA!!!

Elder Browning

It's been a slow week....

Hello Family, Friends, and Interwebies!!!!

I am happy to say that it has been blue and cloudless skies on my road to recovery. I've appreciated all your love and prayers.

However, I do have some sad news. We are not baptizing! I don't know if its us, or our investigators, but nothing is happening.

However, however, we had zone conference this past week and I would like to share with you some of the thoughts of the Mission President's wife, Sister Walker.

She compared us (us, meaning everyone) and life to a tuning fork. The purpose of a tuning fork is once you strike it, it starts to vibrate and give off a certain note and every person in a choir, in this case, sings until everyone is singing that note. She also noted that, if you have 2 tuning forks of the same key but different pitch they will resonate together because they are they same frequency, however if you have 2 tuning forks of different keys it sounds really awful and it makes your ears bleed.

She continued to say that Our Heavenly Father, The Lord, their Church, and standards have a set "key" or 'note' and it's frequency never changes. It is us, however, that change and we must do all we can in order to be in, and on, the same frequency as the Lord. As it says in Alma 37:42: "Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions". Translation: 'The way is prepared and if we look we will have eternal life.' like i said, the lord's way will never change, but it is us that have to carry the same frequency or note as the lord and our heavenly father in order to receive their infinite blessings.

I hope you all have a wonderful week, know that God is mindful of every single one of you. He knows your pains, trials, and difficulties and he knows your happiness and joy.

Elder Browning

And you can put this on my list!

So a little update from my health status from last week. And this you can put on the list. **note: I will spare a majority of the details because they're pretty nasty**

So Monday night, the pain was not subsiding and some other symptoms occurred, that probably shouldn't have. Anyways, we called Hna. Walker and she told us to go straight to the hospital. so....I spent from Monday night to late Thursday afternoon in the hospital in downtown Monterrey. I still don't know what i have/had. when we left the hospital my "samples" were still being tested. One thing i don't know is that i have ulcers, not fun and very painful.

side story: My grandpa served his mission in the Mexico North Mission. At the time he was serving in Monterrey when he fell ill. Unfortunately, he was sent home because he was so sick. I think somebody (Lucifer) doesn't want Jensen's in Monterrey. Well in the words of Josie(my grandma) "That's just to bad" and "Tough Luck Mister!" because I'm here to stay. (I was a little scared of getting sent home because they couldn't find what was wrong with me)

But I'm happy to say that I'm doing betting the pain has stopped. and I'm back in the field. the only bad thing is that I have been put on a super special/ super strict diet! My diet consist of ONLY these things:

1. Chicken - Boiled with out oil

What?????

2. Veggies - carrots and Potatoes

I don't want to talk about it!

3. Fruits - Apples, Bananas

4. Other - Saltine crackers, and white rice

Doesn't this look sooooo tasty?

I cant eat anything with sugar, salt, oil, grease, fiber or anything else with flavor. I would be totally fine if it was for a couple days a week max....but i have this diet for 1 MONTH..hopefully to clean out my system.

I am really thankful for the sisters and families here that have helped with this new "problem" I have. they try so hard to make it taste good or different with out breaking the rules.

love you all miss you much.Know that Our Heavenly Father knows and loves you individually.

We'll see what this next week has in store.

Elder Browning

PUT IT ON THE LIST!

so yes we have another thing to put on the wonderful list of missionary life. for those of you just joining in..... this is where we are at with my list.

1. I've been vomited on

2. I've been punched in the eye

3. I've spent 4 days taking care of my sick companion

and now....

4. Yesterday I got a injection in my butt

Now to clarify/explain some things. Not really sure exactly when it happened but late last week (wed/thurs) I wasn't feeling the greatest. Nothing looked appetizing and I was going in and out of hot/cold flashes. It wasn't until yesterday that I threw in the towel. To start I woke up with a migraine, a fever, and an unbearable pain in stomach. But I trucked on. I took a couple ibuprofen and went to church. (I didn't want to miss it because it was stake conference and we were having a general authority). Well later at dinner was when i called it quits. I couldn't eat, I was sweating up a storm but i was freezing cold, and the migraine continued to control the better half of my brain (coincidentally the half of my brain that knows my Spanish). So needless to say the day wasn't going very well. i had my companion call Hermana Walker the Mission Presidents wife (shes the medic of the mission) and told us to go to the doctor.

so this is what we did. and let me tell you what....Doctors here are day and night difference than the ones in USA. The doctors office was in the bottom floor of a house. and the doctor asked me my symptoms and i couldn't answer 1. because he mumbled and 2. the MIGRAINE! So i would look at my Mexico-native non English speaking companion, and the only thing he could do was speak slower and more clearly which didn't help. so there was a game of charades instituted, and the doctor prescribed me some drugs and we called Hermana Walker and she said it was OK to take them. well, one of these medications was a shot for the pain in my stomach. but when you buy the shot you only buy the liquid you have to buy the syringe separate. so i bought it, and when the lady gave i to me a was shocked at the size and thickness. It was about 3-4 inches and the thickness of a toothpick. when i went back to the doctor to receive my shot my companion smiled and said "Tenga Divertido" meaning have fun! Well me being naive in this new world, known as Mexico i thought that because the pain was in my stomach i would get the shot in the stomach, which made sense from the size of the needle. well....I was wrong....dead wrong! remembering me the doctor continued our game of charades and said 'pompis'. well i still don't know many words in Spanish other than church vocab but i knew the meaning of pompis. awkward! and painful!

Well this morning i woke up in more pain then yesterday, so we called hermana walker again and she said she was going to call the area doctor. well she told us that i shouldn't be talking the pills the doctor prescribed and i had to get other ones. so long story short. my shot WAS FOR NOTHING! other than the experience.

Also as another side note my visit with the doctor, "prescription" medication and shot cost me 150 pesos or roughly $12. take about shady.....

good news....I'm still alive

bad news...I'm still in a ton of pain. when i eat i hurts more, when i stand it hurts, when i sit it hurts, when i lay down it hurts. there is no escaping this pain I'm in. hopefully the new drugs will help.

Elder Browning

Me and my companion on New Year's Eve

Something Smells Fishy!!!!!

¡Espero que todos pasaron un buen año nuevo¡

So again not a ton happened this week. We have finally gotten back on track with teaching now that the holidays are over. Transfers came and went and me and my companion are still here. which means, my companion, Elder Heredia, will "die" in Fresnos 1. After this transfer he goes home and i will get a new companion (most likely, i´m going to say yes because they usually don't like the whole solo missionary thing)

Anyways, we had another baptism this week which is great because the goal of the mission is to baptize every week. Its been pretty difficult because we don't want just a number so its hard to plan a baptism every week. but other than that we've been hard at work. we were visiting with one of our investigating families this past week and we asked how their reading of the Book of Mormon was going. everyone said they had not read it except the youngest daughter, she is 10. when we asked her what she learned she said that the passage talked about Jesus. which she was right, my companion started to follow up but she cut in to finish what he was saying. she shared with us that her teacher told here that all books are the same but she said that she knew that the Book of Mormon was different, it talked about Jesus and his teaching and she knew that it could change her life as well as her family´s and she knew that this book would bring them closer together. this all came from a 10 year old girl who read 1 chapter in the Book of Mormon. now i know why we need to become as children as we come closer to the lord.

so i do have a few funny stories this past week.

1. Tuesday we went to our comida appointment as we do everyday. The family we were eating with is a little bit wealthier than the rest and comidas with this family are usually 3-4 courses. our first course was a soup. it looked like a soup that I've had before so i started eating/drinking it. but there was one thing different about this soup, it smelled fishy yet as i "surveyed the scene"(BSA/life guarding term...sorry i thought it was funny....) i could detect no fish. so i continued to enjoy my soup. as we finished the meal we were talking with the sister and she began to ask us what types of foods we like and dislike. I told her that i did not like fish and anything from the sea. she then asked me if i enjoyed the soup i said a i did and she then told me it had fish in it. i suddenly turned green then she explained to my companion that it was tiburon (or shark). needless to say i turned a little greener. i am happy to say that i did not throw up or complain. i simply said thank you and am going to be very cautious as to what i eat in the future.

2. NEVER did i think that i would have to use my boy scout skills the way i did and with the materials i used. So today, yesterday or some other day (not really sure) our fridge broke. the door doesn't shut and our food is not staying cold. so this morning i started to construct an ´invention´ as my companion says. I made a rope out of grocery bags and a hanger. it looks like a makeshift grappling hook. but as of now its doing the job.

miss and love you all,

¡Cuidense!

Elder Browning

Huh? It's 2011!

Ok so sing/think to yourself the "Charlie Brown Christmas" Song. Why? You might ask...well we spent Año Neuvo.....alone. When we went to church yesterday, everyone asked us who we spent the night with and when we told them no one they were surprised, all answering "We assumed that someone else invited you" but its ok we had a pleasant night. we played soccer with a tennis ball and our next door neighbors brought us some food. beans, tamales and 'pastel de carne' which directly translate to Meat Cake or ...Meat Loaf...es igual!

the only problem was, in the US most parties stop or start to dwindle at like 12 or 1 in the morning. here that's when they start. needless to say we didn't get a ton of sleep that night. when we went for our morning run there were still people parting and listening to music and drinking......at 6:30 IN THE MORNING! talk about PAR-TAY!

so really not a ton happened this week, it was really hard to teach because of the holidays. but we did have a baptism this week. His name is Raul and he is a friend of a member, he's been going to church for about 2 months but hasn't been taught the lessons. so it was fairly easy on our part. He's 22 and a very cool guy. he's super swole but he's super super quite and nice.

so sorry that this letter isn't the longest but......i hope that PICTURES will compensate for the loss of words.

1) My first Baptism (Elder Heredia, Leticia, Luis, and I)

2) (This is mostly for people that have worked at camp)with Them Two Big Black Shiny Guns!

3) La Campechana!

4)When I got punched in the eye at the MTC

Oooo Wee Oooo.....I look like Buddy Holly...I JINXED MYSELF....& El Camion!

..first i hope everyone had an excellent holiday and enjoyed the wonderful season of Christmas

secondly, I have jinxed myself....How you may ask?

1) it has gotten super cold here and not Mexico cold, but more like Chicago cold. it warms up in the day but at night it is frigid

2) so when i talked with my family on Christmas i was asked many times if i have eaten anything crazy and the truth is i haven't....but...i spoke to soon...later that night we had menudo with translates to engish as the lining of the cows stomach...luckily for me the sister said if i didn't like it i didn't have to finish it. but as they say when in Rome....well i took 2 bites and i was down for the count

WHAT!

3) so we have been so lucky to have sisters in the ward who do our laundry, we just ask if we can do our laundry at their house and they end up saying, "elders just come back at (this time) and i´ll have your laundry done". Well today we couldn't get a hold of anyone so.....we did it by hand this morning. i wish this computer worked because i have pictures, but it doesn't, so pictures will have to come next week, ojala! (hopefully!)
so now now let me tell you a little bit about "El Camion" which direct translate to english as "flying-death-trap-on-wheels-that-you-pay-10 pesos for-and hold on your for your life-and hopefully you arrive at your destination in one piece" or also known as the "bus". I thought that and have expressed the crazy taxi drivers but i can assure you that the bus drivers are a billgillionmillion times worse.
so here in Mexico and, from what i hear, most Latin America countries Buenanoche (Christmas Eve) is way bigger than Christmas. It was fun and different. we went to the Tapia familia and they surprised us with little gifts. TIES.....my favorite!

I also had my first baptism this week. I really wish you could see the pictures because it want you all to see Luis. Hes a monster. 6 foot, 225-250 pounds and he is TWELVE!!! it was very funny as i baptized him.

well that's all i got. the language is coming a little bit at a time the members are still patient with me and love to use their english with me.

OH YEAH! totally forgot. I look like buddy holly. So while at my stay at the MTC and here in Mexico I've realized that i cant see. soo...i got me some specs. and yes they are thick rimmed buddy holly glasses, why.....well those that know me know that i wouldn't settle for anything else.

Stay warm to those that live in cold places, for those that live in hot places laugh at those that are cold.
Happy holidays and I´l talk to you in 2011!

Love Elder Browning

And they say its gets cold here.....

So the first thing that President Walker said when we got into Mexico was, "I hope you like the cold because we are in the cold season." He was being completely serious when he said it. Well he doesn't know (well he does because he has my papers) that I'm from Chicago.

For instance, today as we were going to Comida (its the big dinner meal here at 2)I saw a man with a heavy coat on, and a kid with a ski mask on. Let me inform you, my dear friends,its 30-35Cº which is about 86-95Fº. THESE PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHAT COLD IS! But i am a little scared to see what hot is.

So lets see this week...1st off these are some new things I have realized about the people of Mexico

1. the salsa is 2 flavors hot and super hot
2. the people talk at 2 levels quiet and quieter
3. the people play their music at 2 levels loudest and loudestestestest
4. the people have 2 teams Los Rayados and Los Tigres (kind of like the White Sox and Cubs rivalry, except the Rayados win a lot, including this year) needless to say I'm a Rayados and my companion says now i am officially Mexican for buying and being a Rayado
5. i found that the way Mexicans express jokes or sarcasm is by sticking our their tongue after they say something.(its hard to explain but if you ever have been around true Mexicans you know what i mean)

I also have been building a list of the most common expressions/words here in Mexico
1. andale - right on, cool, filler word
2. a poco - really?
3. ahorrita - normally this means right, right now but here in Mexico it means in 2 hours.

So now for the goods. This past week we had splits, yes my companion hates me (no he doesn't he just...trust me...?), anyways, we did splits and the only reason i agreed was because my temporary companion spoke English. Moving on, while tracting we met this man named Frenendo. He was very friendly and listened to what we had to say but there's a catch...he was really knowledgeable in the Bible and anything we had to say he backed it up with the bible. More or less it turned into a bit of a bible bash. I felt prompted to bear my testimony and promise the blessings of reading the Book of Mormon. As i did so, the tension stopped and there was a calming feeling. He accepted to read the Book of Mormon and the restoration pamphlet and accepted another visit.
As we left my companion said to me, "What happened back there? I was like this guy knows what he is talking about and has some guts being so bold and promising blessing like that."
I don't remember everything that happened or what i said but i do know in that moment i became a mouthpiece and instrument for the Lord. **side note: my Spanish still isn't the greatest and my companion said it was fluent and perfect**
Also later that night we went to visit an inactive part-member family we've been trying to find for the past 2 weeks. Again i really didn't know what was being said or what was going on but i felt prompted to share a certain scripture with the family. After the appointment my companion was like...

Him "Did you know what was going on?"
Me "No"
Him "Are you sure?"
Me " Yea why?"
Him "You shared a scripture that dealt with his (the father,and nonmember) problem exactly and answered his question to the T"

I write this week to say that the gift of tongues is real. That Heavenly Father lives and knows ALL his children by name, he knows their needs and who and what can help. Jesus Christ lives, he came to this world to fulfill a plan created long before anyone of us came here. To take upon himself the sins of the world, of you, me and anyone else willing to submit to his will and give him a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

I would like to leave you all a scripture found in 2 Ne 22:2. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation"
Read it and think how individually we can make the Lord our strength and song. When we will trust in him, everything and anything is possible. Remember the true reason of this wonderful season, the birth of our beloved older brother.

Love you all, thank you for the prayers and have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Elder Browning

PS pics next week! ¡Estén Animados!

¡Ay de mí! and OMG

first off let me say that i´m in mexico and i´m loving it!

So monday we left the mtc, we were supposed to arrive in mexico at 2:30pm but because of the fog in SLC we missed our connection in dallas and had a 6 hour lay over. we finally arrived in monterrey at 10:45 pm and after interviews (we did them the night we got there because President Walker was going to the ´frontera´ (the border)we didnt get to bed until about 12:30am and then it all began. the next morning we were up at 6:30am and rock and rolling. we spent the better half of the day at immigration getting our ´green cards´ so that was monday day morning.

later i met my trainer and we headed out to our areas. My companion´s name is Elder Heredia, es de Chiuaua. He speaks NO english and speaks SUPER SUPER FAST (our slogan has been "con tiempo" - with time) he has 2 months left in the mission but president has assured me that he is a hard worker. So pres. walker assigned us to open up an area called Fresnos 1, it is pretty big. it was one area, but now its 2 and and when we got here tuesday night we had nothing. not lights, no water and no gas. so the first few days all we had were our 2 head lamps and cold showers. We`ve been super busy trying to open up this area.

But there is some good news, We have 2 baptisms for 26 of december. Hna. Leticia and su hijo Luis. There are great and super patient with me and my broken spanish. Well that goes for everyone. Everyone in our ward is super patient and feel sorry for me and in comfort they talk to me in their very broken english. its usually worse then my spanish but its nice of them. So this past sunday at church i understood nothing. and it was hard to pay attention when i didnt understad anything but i had to to set an example for our investigators.

so there are a few things to get use to here in the "chosen land" as Josie would say
1. people use tortillas as an additional utensil - they roll it up and use it more a less like another spoon or fork
2. people talk way fast and it all sounds like 1 word
3. people talk really quiet - i can never hear them
4. everyone plays music super loud - its like a competition as to who can be the loudest
5. there is no carpet here in Mexico. all the house are made of concrete and tile. muy extrano (very strange)
6. no one knows how to drive - everyone says chicagoians drive bad but i can guarantee that they have never been to mexico. they disregard traffic signals, there are NO lanes and really no speed limit. for example sunday we missed our bus and had to take a taxi. usually it takes about 15-20 mins in a taxi, no exaggeration it took 5 mins. the cab had a broken speedometer and broke every traffic rule i knew. luckily we arrived in one piece.
7. everyone is SUPER nice down here, always saying hello, and what not. Its really weird because the standard of living hre is really poor but the people are completely content with what they have and are more than willing to share.

thats about it. i love you all, thank you for all your prayers. since i´m in mexico now i have a new address(es)

(mission home - for packages, letters, whatnot)
Elder Kye Browning
Mexico Monterrey East Mission
Cerralvo #134
Col. Libertad
67130 Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon

(Pouch Mail)
Elder Kye Browning
Mexico Monterrey East Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130
(Caution - There are some restrictions for pouch mail, if you want to send anything copy and paste this link and check it out how to send me a letter through pouch mail: http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/51446/Pouch-service-has-new-regulations.html

and there is always dear elder, which is always fine to. again, i love and miss you all, ¡POR FIN ESTOY EN MEXICO! (Finally I am in Mexico!)

Elder Browning