june 12th, 2011-Last Post-Astoke

Danny will be coming home so soon! We are very exciting to have him back!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has been very busy lately and is trying to get every ounce out of his mission experience. I hope he does not run too fast....
This may be his last post:

Well. I've got a week left.

Yesterday was Stake Conference. It was a very surreal experience. I ran into so many people that I had met over the last two years. Many people whom recognized me but I couldn't remember them. It was interesting to see so many people that I hadn't seen for so long also knowing that I will probably never see them again.

People say that the only thing in life that doesn't change is change. That really has to be the case. If we think about the purpose of life... the purpose of life is not to sit in the same spot and be as comfortable as possible. The purpose of life is to learn and to grow. Once we have done something, once we have experienced for ourselves, the only thing left to do is to do something else.

My mission experience is almost over.

I'm tired. Really, really tired. I come home every night exhausted, I wake up and when I leave the house I am still exhausted.

I am so tired that I can't even close my eyes while I pray or else I will fall asleep. I have fallen asleep while praying out loud with my companion and he has to wake me up.

I am so tired that I have to eat top-ramen spice packets during studies and stand on one leg so that I don't fall asleep.

I still have time to make a difference. I still have time to meet new people and impact them. I do it on a daily basis. God is still preparing people for me to find and teach. I run into them at their house, on the streets, on the subway, etc. I don't feel like my work is worthless. I know that my work will have great worth, even up to the very last day.

I wish I could do more. I wish I had more strength and energy.

I don't wish for more time. I don't have regrets. I know that God has given me this two years and only these two years. He has prepared a work for me and I did it. I feel that what I have done and what I will do in the next week is all that I can do. I really know what it means to serve with all your heart, might, mind and strength.

Literally, it feels like it is all gone. It feels like I have worked until there is nothing left. Not because I have given up, but because I have fulfilled what I had to do. And when I reach the end, I will be done.

I know that God has prepared things for me to do after my mission as well. With the end of every page, a new one opens.


See you soon,


Elder Brown

Apr-5-2011

President Smith visiting with Sister Sri,and presenting her with a copy of the DVD made for the church history department. It was a wonderful interview with her sharing her story of being raised by the Queen, reading the Book of Mormon and joining the church, and translating the Book of Mormon into Thai. The Lord prepared her from the very beginning of her life to be able to do this great work for the Thai people. The mission president knew her 40 years ago when he was a missionary in Thailand, and we feel very humbled now to visit with her and feel her love for the Book of Mormon.

'Keng' a member in thailand that helps the missionaries a lot, had this picture taken of danny and him and then sent it to me on facebook!

mar 23th 2011-

Danny tells us that they have been flying all over Thailand doing a lot of training!! This is a picture from sister Smith in a training meeting at Chiangmai. It has the 2 current assistants and the 2 previous assistants. She has good things to say about all the assistants and enjoys the training meetings that they help run.



According to sister Smith,"These meetings have been wonderful and centered on the Missionary Purpose... (The Doctrine of Christ)" and Revelation through the Holy Ghost. The AP's have spent hours doing role plays with the missionaries teaching them better language skills and teaching skills and learning to follow the spirit of inspiration.

mar 15 2011-Pakkret

Well I was planning on writing a bigger letter today, but time is so precious, and I seem to have less and less of it. I just remembered we are on Summer schedule so instead of having 40 minutes to write, I only have 10 minutes. So oh well.....

This week was full of new experiences. Just when I thought I had experienced everything, it changes- it is always good to see new challenges and have new experiences to face.

Today we had a baptism for a woman named P. The baptism went great, except for the fact that the whole priesthood body had an activity today and none of them could attend. I ended up conducting the baptismal service. I have never conducted a baptismal service before, it was interesting to be on the other side of the stand for the service. The room was really hot, I was nervous, and was wearing my suit coat. Not a very good combination, but it went really well.

Tomorrow will also be a first... the first time I personally baptize someone. A month ago we started teaching an investigator named Kha. We taught her all the way up to the point where she was to be interviewed. That day we found out that she lived one road outside of our area. So we decided it was best to give her to the branch that she belonged to.

The Elders over there took over and interviewed her. She passed and they asked her who she wanted to baptize her, and she picked me. Normally when I teach someone about baptism I ask them the question
"Which member would you like to baptize you Brother A, Brother B, or Brother C?"
That way, they never choose the Elders. I feel that it is important for them to have someone in the ward baptize them, it helps to connect people and keeps them active.


But when this missionary asked, she picked me. One rule, when someone picks you, it is rude to say no. So I guess I will have the opportunity to baptize on my mission after all. I am honored to do it, but am always glad when a member has the chance.

That is it for today. We need to get out and work.
I am sending some photos,


enjoy,
Love,

Elder D.E.B.

mon feb 21-2011-leadership training bangkok

these postings came from pres. smith's Wife's website; Elder Brown is traveling a lot with the President, they are keeping very busy!

"Leadership Training for the Bangkok zones
This week we had 3 days of leadership training in the Bangkok area zones. The training went very well. President Smith and his assistants (Yea Elder Brown!)did an awesome job. This coming week we will be doing the training in Roi Et for the Isaan zone leaders. Our missionaries are awesome and we love them all"......

...."This past week has been incredibly busy. The highlight was the Leadership Training in Roi Et for the Isaan leaders and trainers. I have attached a picture of the group in Roi Et after the meeting, and one of the Roi Et missionaries at dinner with us. We are in Chiangmai for zone conference next WEEK"......


Roi Et Province

FROM Elder Brown:
....It is crazy busy here!!!! Yes, my old companion, Eider C. left for home, (I will miss him) and my new companion-and the newly called AP, is Elder Mc. I knew him in my group at the MTC before we ever came to Thailand. and I am excited to work with him! We are traveling a ton and teaching the zones as well as still teaching the gospel whenever and wherever we can.

...Oh yeah. We still do missionary work every day. We still baptize like crazy. Elder C and I had 5 baptisms two weeks ago, 1 baptism last week, and 2 baptisms this week. Elder Mc and I are looking to find 6 baptisms in March. We are really busy, but not too busy that we can't baptize. It is not easy to find people in Thailand that are ready to hear and commit to Christ, but we have been so blessed ......

later,
Elder Brown

Feb 2011-travel

Last week I went and exchanged in Mahasarakham with Elder T. Pretty interesting exchange because that is my greenie area and also one of the missionaries that I trained. We traveled over to Mahasarakham and got to the house. We sat down and started to talk. We did some roleplays. There was just a lot of training that had to be done. We ended up not leaving the house the whole evening. I felt that we spent our time really well though. Sometimes training opportunities take place outside on the streets, but sometimes more valuable opportunities are in talking, practicing, and training. For dinner we ate at a restaurant that I really liked. Also saw two members Sister Nog and Brother Yong. It was interesting to be able to communicate with them. When I was in Mahasarakham as a greenie, I couldn't really understand them very well.

I've had a couple more exchanges the last few weeks...

Yesterday I was in Kohn Kaen. I exchanged with my old companion, Elder R. He has 13 days left in his mission. It was a good exchange. We talked a lot about the mission, the zone, his companion, and life. I gave him some good ideas of how to propose to his girlfriend. We also taught a really sweet lesson to a woman named Toy. She is the Aunt of these two people we baptized while I was there. One of the best lessons I've ever taught. We were really unified and the Spirit was really strong. We taught about having faith in Jesus Christ and conforming our lives to His teachings. She is really caught up in Buddhism. Basically every aspect of her life is heavily rooted in Buddhism: school, family, work, etc.. I've got a lot of hope for her.
Have a good week.

Peace,
Elder Brown

feb 4 2011-zone conference

Hello. Wow it's February.

Things are going by so fast, it feels like a whirlwind. It's really hard to even write emails anymore because so many things happen. Even if I wrote a daily email, it would be hard for me to keep up.

I guess one interesting update is last week I went to my first Buddhist temple. Yeah, I know. Pretty pathetic that I have been in one of the most dominant Buddhist countries for the last year and a half and have never been inside a temple. On preparation days I am always doing stuff such as helping people get baptized or other such silly things. On feb 2 we had the Pakkret zone conference, after zone conferences the mission has zone activities, so we ended up going to a temple. It was interesting. After lunch at the church we drove the office vehicles to the Grand Palace and then took the ferry over the river to the “Temple of the Dawn” or Wat Phra Aran. It was awesome, but the stairs were unbelievably steep.
Haha. It might have been cooler, but President Smith was there and he didn't want us climbing up the high staircase. Not sure what is at the top, maybe it is cool.

Zone conferences are only once a quarter nowadays. The conference was pretty good. I was really tired, I wish I could've got more out of it.

Sorry,
I am out of time,
got to go,

Love
Elder Brown