Baptisms!

We all were very excited to get a letter finally from Brock last week.
Unfortunately, for us, he was too busy last P-Day to send us a letter.
Silly "go-get-em" Missionary!
You're going to make your mom and sisters go CRAZY!!!
{Dad and Nick have to inform us that he has more important things to worry about right now.... Sheesh.}
Anyway.

We got a good long letter.
This is what he wrote:

"that is good that you are all going good. i am good to.
im sorry you have a brand {Mom got burned on her arm and it looks like she's been branded...} ha. you wont notice it after a while it is just a nother question for people to ask you bout.
i am in matei.

This is Matei {Photo courtesy of Google}

it is on the top side of the island but i stay in somosomo some of the time {Somosomo is a chiefly village in Taveuni, which is the island where the international date line crosses on land in Fiji.}.

it is really good.

We walk alot but we may be havin a truck soon.

Our area got bigger.

 We have two areas to cover now which are  matei and qeleni so it will be really good.

my fijian still sucks, but understandin to me is gettin better.

so that is good.

taveuni is the "Garden island" so it is really cute

{Everyone's immediate response... "DID BROCK JUST SAY CUTE?!?! HA HA HA HA. Seriously love that boy....}.

seeing other white people is really weird now.

i dont see lot of whites and i think i am fijian.

ha so it weird!!
that is totaly cool. i hope she do good. and wish luck to her from me.

{Sidney is dancing her first point recital this week. They were BEST BUDS before he left. She LOVES her brother Brock} 

this week was really good.
On the 11th, so sat, we have 2 batisms.

i baptise brother mohn and my companion momoisea has a baptism also.

we are really happy.

we have 8 people that are moving forward with the lessons.

it is good. we are excited!
brother mohn is 40 and the other girl is 23 that are getting baptised!

its really good!

{I think he's excited about his first baptism.... Just a little. =D}
i happy that mitch is getting his blessing {patriarchal - from Grandpa Brown} that is really good.

that is a road map.

like gps for his life thats really good.

have him read it lots and follow and study it like the scriptures.

it will help him in life.

well looks like you get a ipad!?

how that? good? bad? where is mine? hah just playin ha
sorry i didnt write last week busy sara ga {not quite sure what this means... we'll have to have him clarify} week!
i sent you letter that has alot of letters.

in the letter there is a picture for the family.

and i have a new scripture for the plaque if i can change it but i cant member it i will get next week.

i would like it fijian and english so i will send both to you next week. :D
well i hope you all kow that i love you all very much alot!
LOVE ELDER BROWN THE FIJIAN HAhahah jk"

We absolutely LOVE hearing from this kid, almost as much as he LOVES recieving letters.... =D

As he kind of mentioned we haven't gotten ANY pictures yet.

Their computer there is too slow.

Can't wait to get the one he mentioned!

We still don't know a physical address to send to him, but letters can be sent to the mission home there.

Or if you would like leave a comment here {or email me - splitenergie@gmail.com} and I will forward it on to him.

Until next week!

Al

.:Long Overdue:.

Ok I've been slighty cruel to all who care so much about Elder Brown, just as I do. I hardly make it through the week from email to email without going crazy. So I apologize IMMENSLEY for making you all wait for any sort of update. Here I am though! No worries.... =D Brock is in Fiji now. He's been there a few weeks and he is absolutely loving it. To update you I'm going to start from the beginning of my emails and go up to my most recent:

MTC

Brock got haircut in the MTC. He said it was a level 2 and he thought that was pretty awesome. I don't think he'd had a cut like that since him and Mitch were little (age wise ha ha) boys and my dad buzzed their hair every summer. He goes to class all day long and as much as he hated school he says this isn't so bad. He says an average day goes somewhat like this:

> >> >>>>> 6:30 Wake Up
> >> >>>>> 7:00 be in class personal study.
> >> >>>>> 7:45 breakfast
> >> >>>>> 8:15 class with teacher and learn.
> >> >>>>> 11:00 gym
> >> >>>>> 12:30 lunch
> >> >>>>> 1:15 class
> >> >>>>> 5:30 dinner
> >> >>>>> 6:15 class
> >> >>>>> 9:00 plan for the next day
> >> >>>>> 9:30 be in the residents

He's recieved a new companion as his first one tried beating him up (seriously does he not know who Brock is?? ha ha jk, he was a BIG Tongan. Good thing he didn't succeedd). It was only a few weeks later that he also got sent home for anger issues. Hearing that showed me how much Brock had grown in the few short weeks he'd been there. Brock used to have a "hot temper", if you will, and i'm pretty sure there would have been a good MMA show down if he would have handled things like he used to (right Gus?? =D) His new companion is Elder Chlarson. He's from Utah. Super nice, Brock says, but a little nerdy. His favorite part about the MTC at this point is learning the language. He's become very good friends with the native fijians there (they're going to California) and they help him a lot. They've told him he's almost starting to sound like the natives. He really liked that. When he was set apart he was blessed with the gift of tongues if he worked hard so it's great to see that being fulfilled! His best friend is one of the native Fijians he's met named  Peta Rakuita. He is 6 foot 4 and weighs probably 250. I bet they're a fun little friendship to see! =D Crazy thing is my dad served with his uncle when he was in Fiji. Brock is still concerned with keepin' his rockin' bod, ha ha, so he does arond 200 push ups and sit ups a day.  His food requests crack us all up though. He wants 3 NORMAL Cokes as he put it, a Dr. Pepper, VERY buttered popcorn.  No wonder he has to do so many freaking push ups and sit ups! He left the MTC for Fiji Saturday the 7th of May and got there early Monday.

Fiji

Saturday the 7th as he was at LAX we got to talk to Brock. It is defintely on the top ten list of best days of my life. He sounded amazing. I can't believe how much more mature and changed he sounded just in the short two months he's been gone. It was an awesome 2 hour talk. Monday my mom got a very SHORT quick email. It said simply this:

"hey mother i am emailng you to let you know that i am here in fiji and i am sittin in my short sleave shirt and sulu haha :D i am healthy and having fun :d so was every one kinda crying last night haha cause i could feel the sorrow throug the phone haha :D love you all

ELDER SPEED ANGEL"

We, unfortuanately for my crazy self and mom, didn't get another letter until this Monday, which is his P-day. His first area is Taveuni  Matei. We haven't got any pictures yet because he said their computer is super slow. The picture above is from googgle. Brock says it is called the Garden Island. Lucky kid, right?? Up to the email we got he had taught about 20 lessons and gotten to know a lot of people. His companion is Elder Momoisea another Tongan, but Brock says he is very chill and relaxed, unlike his first. He was very excited to meet a Brother Yee, who told Brock that my dad baptized him. He says it is VERY hard trying to actually communicate with the language, rather than just learning words but he's doing his best. He lives in a flat that only gets electricty from 6pm to 9:30pm. His bed is a camping mat (good thing we camped all those years growing up, right?!). His food menu he said is as follows:

> breakfast is usually hot coco with crackers
> lunch is noodles or hot cooco haha
> dinner is alot differenet haha but way good.
Ha ha sounds like he's going to get soooo skinny, or never want Hot Chocolate again ha ha! One of the members has a weight bench that he lets them use, so Brock is in heaven all around it sounds like. He is the only "white boy" at church and everyone thinks that is pretty funny.

So far this is all we've heard from him. If you know Brock well enough you know he's definitely a man of MANY words..... NOT. So needless to say we don't get very much from him. I think we'll be lucky if we get a single picture! As much fun as he's having i KNOW he wants letters from everyone. In almost every letter he writes my mom he asks her to PLEASE have people write him. So... if you get a chance type him a little letter here and I'll send it on to him, or send him a letter of your own!

We sure love our Elder Brown and are SO grateful for the sacrifice and obedience he's shown. Stay tuned and I'll hopefully keep you updated weekly!

Love Al.

.:Second Letter!:.

As you can see The Browns are still quite giddy about our letters from Brock. I'm not sure that will change but maybe!

Today's letter made almost everyone cry. Sid sure misses her big brother. Brock gave some awesome advice to all the siblings and seemed very concerned that everyone be taken care of.

He started out with "Bula Vakacaua tiko" (Hello, How are you). They started learning the language and he is very excited about it. He says it's "pretty awesome"!

He recieved his first calling to be Sr. Companion. His companion recieved the calling to be Zone Leader and he is very nervous about it. He says they've been going going going and not getting to their rooms until 9:30 at night. He had to get a new alarm clock because his was too small and didn't wake him or Elder P up, ha ha. Luckily they still made it on time to their meetings!

He can't believe how long they study each day. He says it's nuts, but really fun. Coming from Brock that is so cute because Brock was never much of a studier. His companion, Elder P, fell asleep in class ha ha. We all thought that would be Brock!

Brock is not much of a writer so we're all ecstatic to get almost a full page from him!

Can't wait for the next one! Stay tuned for more updates.

.:First Letter!:.

We got our frist letter from Brock on Friday the 4th. SOOOOO excited! He was very cute and opened with how grateful he was to Mom and Dad for supporting him and teaching him what was right. His first companion is a Tongan Elder named Toomoelupe Tuai Pakileata, or in Brocks words "aka Elder P.". He says he's really cool. Right now they have a room just to themselves. The first day they both quickly took off their "retard/newbie" sticker because people were "creeping them out". Ha ha. He's been super excited and happy to see a lot of friends from home and elsewhere and he was ecstatic to find out the had.... {drumroll please} BLUE POWERADE! He closed with telling us his P day is Thursdays and his tenative date to leave the MTC is May 5th. Fiji here he comes!!!

.:Here We Go!:.

It's official! We "launched" {as President Anderson put it} Brock to the MTC yesterday at 12:45 after breakfast with the family at ihop and pictures at the temple. Stay tuned for pictures and more detailed account!

.:Launching Brock:.

Sams decorations

Breakfast at Ihop

Pictures at the temple

Brocks really good wrestling friend taking him in

See you in 2 years Brother Bear!

We LOVE you lots!

Called To Serve

Story told taken from Alex's (Brock big sister) Blog:



I got a very exciting text this morning simply stating "Mission call is here." Most people seem to always get theirs Wednesdays or thursdays so we were very shocked to get it Brocks this morning! We thought we were going to have to wait until next week, the day we are actually leaving for Hawaii {YES, I am very excited for this much needed vacation}!

Here are the pictures as we were all waiting to open it. Dad was out of town teaching so we had to wait until he could call.

And he's going to........

{watch video to find out}

SUVA, FIJI!!!!

For those of you that don't know this is where my dad and grandparents served. We are SUPER excited for him to go and serve the people there! He will do such an awesome job!

We love you Elder Brown

♥ Dad, Mom, Nick, Al, Nixon, Sam, Mitch, Sidney ♥