Elder Tanner Brown: The importance of Example!

Sorry no song/hymn this week. Nothing really came to mind when thinking about this week.

On Monday we taught another interested person and he has always wondered what we believe in and why. He had a friend who became very troubled in his youth and eventually was put into foster care. The family he got put into was part of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. They helped him turn his life around and now he his doing way better than he would have if he didn't have the gospel. The person we are teaching always respected us latter day saints because of his experience watching his good friend change and become better through the gospel. He was very friendly to us and wants us back to teach him more. It's so important for us to try to teach those around us the gospel, because not only will it help that person, but it can also inspire their friends to come unto the gospel.

Wednesday we were down in Bloomington for New Missionary Training, and that lasted from 10:00 to 5:00. It took us about 3 hours there and 2 hours back so it was an all day thing. The reason it took less time back is because I am staying with one of the zone leaders in their area for exchanges! I was pretty tired when I got there, but we had a zone leader stake meeting. It was kinda weird, but good to see more of what the leadership in missionary work looks like. It is basically the same thing you normally do, except now you have spreadsheets and more meetings to go to! Sounds like a blast right!

Thursday was my full day in St. Cloud. We had another meeting over Skype in the morning but by the afternoon, we were ready to do some work. I really like when I can get out and do some work. I'm glad I was able to go on exchanges so I could better appreciate how much time I get to do hands on missionary work. We went around the campus asking a few questions, and then we would answer them. We found a couple people who may be interested, but either way I won't be teaching them again since it was not in my area.

We traveled back down on Friday and then we traveled some more to exchange with another set of elders. It's interesting seeing how others teach, in comparison to us. We had a trio for the day and it seemed kinda weird tracting that way. Having three people on your doorstep seems a little intimidating. We found another potentially interested person. Oh also, on Friday we taught this Lakota Native American, and he was super interested in Christianity as a whole because there are some Lakota beliefs that fit right into themes of Christ. He was very intrigued when we told him of Christ visit to the Americas, and wanted us to mark down that section in The Book of Mormon.

On Sunday we traveled down to St. Cloud again, because our zone leaders told us it was zone preperation day. Apparently that is next week, but we don't mind. Our ZL's are super cool. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

-Elder Brown