President & Sister Hill at Cismigiu Park

He's Arrived! Letter from President & Sister Hill

Dear Brother and Sister Brown,

President Hill and I were thrilled to meet Elder Brown as he arrived in the Bucuresti airport with his MTC group. He seemed very happy finally to be in the mission field after his weeks in the MTC. He was surprisingly awake after his long flights. President Hill had an enjoyable interview with him, where he learned more about this young man, and I got to spend some time with him too. We were both pleased with the ease with which he fit in. Thank you very much for sending him to us.

After some time doing preliminaries for his visa, we all had dinner at the mission home with his MTC group, after which, he was whisked away to spend the night with the Elders.

The next morning, in the cold and snow, we met at Cismigiu Park where, in 1990, Elder Russell M. Nelson dedicated the land of Romania for teaching the gospel. Together, we snapped a picture of the group. I'm attaching the picture for you to see, along with the picture of Elder Brown with President Hill and me.

Then, all the incoming missionaries continued their visa processing, after which they worked hard to stay awake through our orientation meeting and then met their first companions. Elder Brown is now with his initial companion, Elder Barclay, in the capital city, Bucharest. Elder Barclay is a fun, energetic missionary who will give him an excellent start. 

Thanks again for sending us such a wonderful young missionary. We could tell he will be a very good, faithful, hard-working missionary.

With much appreciation,

Sister Hill

Romania/Moldova Mission

The District - Hosting in the Rain!

Rubix Solved in Six Minutes!

Final Correspondence from the MTC!

Family and friends - Salut!

Here are my travel plans since everyone wants to know! 

Monday the 25^th - SLC to JFK 8:30 A.M.  We leave from Provo at about 4:30-5:00 AM.  Everyone is welcome to say hi but WARNING - I might be moving quickly and not have too much time to visit.  I would love to see all you guys but I just don’t want you to be disappointed with five minutes if that is the case.   If you want to, please come! 

We then travel from New York to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Bucharest!  We arrive at 1:05 PM on the 26^th – I’M STOKED!!!!!!

This week was fun! I don’t think I told you guys but last week I hosted senior (old fogies) missionaries and it was fun!  They have 10x better accommodations, like a nice hotel.   Just a few hours ago we hosted the new missionaries.  It was way fun and I greeted three or four Elders.  They were all freaked out but none of them cried like I did!   It started raining like crazy and we were all soaking wet!  It was fun!  I also got a haircut today which is only exciting if you are in the MTC.  Funny, the little things excite me – haha!

Thank you everyone for my birthday gifts!   I’ve already received a ton and it’s not even the 21st yet!  You guys are the best and I love everyone!  I love the pictures that were sent as well.  They are my favorite part for sure!

We went to the Temple for the last time today.  Two more years until I fall asleep in another session - haha! We ate at the Temple cafeteria which was the highlight of the day!  How pathetic is that?  Also, just for fun, we sang in the choir . . . I of course can’t sing. 

Everyone here is getting pretty sick of each other but we try to hide it.   I’m liking Bonner, he’s alright most the time.

Love you guys so much! 

P-Day?

The Home Stretch!

Salut - People of the outside world!   Thank you everyone for sending me letters and emails this last week! I love reading everything and hearing about the outside!

As I mentioned, we had L. Tom Perry as a speaker. He was pretty sweet and had some good stuff to say. His focus was on being safe and with your companion at all times. He mentioned that he still spends time with one of his mission companions and that he loves those relationships.   

Even with mom sending me boxes of junk food each week, I have yet to gain or lose a single pound - still hanging around 155!   I never workout..... I only play volleyball and I’m getting pretty good!  It’s a sad day when you look forward to volleyball and getting your Preach My Gospel book laminated. 

Being the District Leader is seriously the lamest job on earth.  You have so little responsibility but everyone acts like it’s a big deal.  I would say the best part is being able to hand out mail but when I do it wrong people freak-out.  Nobody is as laid back as at home!  Regardless, I still love it here and am having fun all the time.

I see Luke Gibbs every once in a while and Walker Holloway too, for those of you who know him. They both went to school with me.  Brittany Barrett was the girl that went through the temple the same day as me and I’ve seen her once or twice. Everyone in the zone was freaking out because I talked to a CUTE Sister! 

Romanian is still hard.... I struggle with it every day and it’s weird that sometimes I will speak without a problem and other times I can’t get out a simple sentence. It’s hard to remember everything they teach you because it is all so quick. We learn two three concepts a week and it’s impossible to keep up.  We have sweet teachers though which makes it better. 

Mom - I love the pumpkin rolls so much!  They remind me of home and I never share with anyone. Seriously, they are the best! Thanks for the package!   I’m the most spoiled kid here.  I seriously can’t keep up with all the snacks though. I love you to death and hope you have the best birthday ever! I will be thinking of you and there should be a surprise for you - XOXO

Love you all so much! 

 

Elder Keegan Brown

Anziano Robb - Mason Smith's Friend

Party with the Italians!

Halloween Party - Italian(s) Style

Happy Halloween!

Three Weeks Down!

Salut everybody!

Week three went by extremely fast!  I’m really improving on the language, but it’s the simple stuff I can’t figure out, like how to conjugate and slippery subjunctive . . . what the heck is that?

The worst/best part of my week actually happened last night.  We have a switch of leadership positions halfway through our MTC experience and they made the changes last night.  I was assigned District Leader over the Romanians!  Which really isn’t a big deal. You don’t have to do much; it’s just a title. I get to authorize splits within the district when it comes to Elders and that’s four of us – Haha!  I also get to handout the mail during the week which should be fun!

We have Devotionals on Sundays and Tuesdays every week with some speaker that none of us know of. We always hope that we will get someone from the 12 but it never happens. During last night’s devotional though they told us that L. Tom Perry would be coming next Tuesday and the whole place went nuts. You could tell it’s like the Super Bowl for some of these kids.

It’s funny when people from other countries haven’t seen snow they FREAK out. I saw a grown man that was 6’5” jump up and down like he was 4 years old on Christmas morning!

The MTC is much better than I thought but much harder too.  We fly to Romania way early Monday, November 25^th and travel as a district.