Brown Family 2025 Faith Leap - Installment #1

2025 Faith Leap - Installment #1

Quotes we are currently living by:

“…it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God…” - Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith pp 6-7

“Miracles come according to your faith in the Lord…The Savior is never closer to you than when you are facing or climbing a mountain with faith…recieve more faith by doing something that requires more faith…” - Russell M Nelson, Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains, April 2021

We are creating this blog in response to so many kind family and friends who have expressed a desire to hear about our current journey. While we wish we could sit down for a cozy visit with each one of you, that isn’t realistic (and we can barely remember what we need to pick up at the grocery store these days - let alone keep track of what we have shared with whom…), so this is our solution. Check back here for updates (hopefully regular!...)

Note: I know that I tend to be verbose. But, as this blog will be helping with my own internal processing, I don’t want to have to abridge too much. So my solution is to divide my posts in to sections: For those who just want the big events, I will have bulleted Highlights (“The Truth”); for those who want all of the nitty-gritty details, I’ll write “The Whole Truth”; which, for those who want something in the middle, I will divide into sections with headings.




THE TRUTH (Highlights)

• God told us to sell our house and orchestrated a crazy fast sale
• Most of our stuff is in storage while we are temporarily living with my Mom in Murray - hoping to help her prepare to sell her house
• Richard was released as Bishop
• God told us to move the family to the Republic of Georgia for 5 months
• This means Richard had to quit his job - and we’ll be living on the funds from our house sale, rather than having it all available for a downpayment on a new home - which is hard
• Carson received his own revelation to stay home - which is HARD
• Sitting in the peace of obedience, we know this is all God’s will and we trust Him. We are doing our very best to adopt Job’s attitude in Job 1:21: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord”

This Installment’s Prayer Requests:

• Help us to see what God wants us to do for Him in Georgia
• Watch over Carson at home - and help him to discover and accomplish his purpose for staying
• An outpouring on Richard to have the Spirit’s direction in writing the musical God has written on his heart
• The good people working to live and share the gospel of Jesus Christ in Georgia

THE WHOLE TRUTH (All Details):

PASSPORTS
What we are affectionately calling our 2025 Faith Leap began in April - when Richard had a strong and clear impression that it was important for us to renew our passports. We did so - all the while, I considered it wishful thinking on Richard’s part. (He loves international travel, while I love staying curled up at home. This is ironic as it is my Patriarchal Blessing that talks all about travel. Yet another testament to what a blessing Richard is to me: he is the force behind the fulfillment of those promises.)

HOME SALE

In early August, Richard worked up the courage to tell me that he felt like God was telling him that he needed to return to the Republic of Georgia (where he served his mission). My response? “That sounds like it will be a really fun trip for you and your former mission companions to enjoy together. You have my blessing to go for a couple of weeks.” (He learned pretty quickly that discussion of any move to Georgia resulted in tears and silence. I was not ready to process that kind of an ask) Which makes it all the more surprising that, two weeks later, when we informed me that God was telling him that we needed to sell our house by the end of fall, I immediately accepted the call.

Neither of us wanted to leave. Richard was serving as Bishop and it was extremely difficult for him to leave that post. Yes, it was a heavy burden, but also a huge blessing. We love our Timpview neighborhood so much! Our children were surrounded by the best youth, and our neighbors looked out for and cared for one another. We had that dream location where children of all ages could be heard playing and laughing together, needs were seen and filled, and a walk on a late summer evening meant impromptu chats on front porches. Our house and yard were a comfortable home and we thanked God for them everyday. We were a quick jaunt from the freeway and our favorite stores. We did not want to leave. But we wanted to obey. So, we leapt into the dark.


God perfectly orchestrated our sale. Our first hurdle was deciding on Real Estate Agents. We know many good people in the industry who we would have loved to work with. We took it to God individually and, when we came together to discuss it, we both knew who to do to: Richard’s dear high school seminary teachers. Their faith, compassion, wisdom, and skill set felt perfectly catered to our needs. Next, looking at the market, we anticipated that we would not be able to sell until Winter. Yet we knew we were supposed to have the home sold in the Fall. Then, before we had a chance to begin any updates prior to listing, we had a handful of interested buyers and, within a week, we were under contract with a couple we know and love - we are so grateful to leave our beloved neighbors with buyers that we know will be a blessing to them! We are so grateful that everyone involved in the sale was eager to be fair and walked away happy with the outcome. By the third week of October, our home was no longer ours, and we were settled in with my generous Mother in Murray - who welcomed all of our chaos into her home with open arms.

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA - The Decision

After giving us a couple of weeks to find our new rhythm, God brought up Georgia again. And this time it was with urgency. Richard began looking at tickets for him to go on a visit in December and, in the meantime, God worked on softening my heart. Richard knew that his trip wasn’t supposed to be quick. He also knew that the whole family needed to go. I told him and God that I couldn’t pack for an indefinite amount of time. Gratefully, as we only intend to be in Murray temporarily, we packed most of our belongings into storage. But are we leaving all of that behind? Or figuring out how to take it with us? Finally, after wrestling with the idea for a couple of weeks, we both felt that the sacrifice of 5-6 months was an acceptable offering. Once again, our kids took the news surprisingly well. Though there is more to that story:

As part of the prompting to move, Richard and I both felt it was important to let our big boys seek revelation for themselves about whether or not it was God’s will they join us in Georgia. We knew that Bryson would not want to come (next semester is his Shakespeare class play and anyone who has experienced Shakespeare with our Commonwealth knows what a huge sacrifice it is for him to give that up. It is not just a play. It is a life-changing, friendship-solidifying, confidence-building, growth-beyond-your-imagination experience that is difficult to replicate.) We knew that Carson would want to come - but we needed him to be willing to consider staying home with Bryson. I will not record either of their revelatory experiences here - those are personal to them. I will just say that it was a difficult and beautiful experience for their parents to witness their wrestle, faith, and willingness to accept God’s will. Though it is not what they would choose, Bryson has his witness that he needs to come, and Carson has his witness that he needs to stay until spring. He is going to join us for our last month in Georgia, and my Mom has accepted the invitation to join him. This Momma heart is so grateful my son won’t be flying internationally alone. I am not ready for that. And, while we are at it, shout out to all of our parents who have always been 100% supportive when we have made these crazy leaps of faith. It seems to be our lot in life to be asked to do the nonsensical, and their response has always been an expression of confidence. We can’t express how much that means to us!

CONFIDENCE IN REVELATION

Many have asked how we know that God was speaking to us, so I’ll comment a little on that here - because this is the place where it is natural for us to share testimony. And that is, afterall, the only reason we are turning our entire life upside down.

We have noticed that the way we receive revelation for our family fits perfectly within our roles as outlined in the Family Proclamation. Each time God has asked us to do things like walk away from our income, move, etc - that revelation has always come to Richard (our Protector and Provider) first. When that happens, my confirmation of that revelation comes as peace. For things that deal largely with the nurturing of the children - such as their education, it is usually me who receives direction first. I love how God honors our Divine Natures as He guides our family.

First and foremost, we know that it is God because of persistent thoughts - especially waking up with them over and over in the early morning hours and then seeking understanding of those thoughts through prayer and scripture study. I appreciate so much that our Father in Heaven knows that we have to overcome distraction and doubt as we build our confidence in hearing Him, so He mercifully repeats himself - and sends other messengers to deliver the same messages - until we recognize it as revelation. I love the 2 or 3 Witness principle (and appreciate that He has often willingly sent a lot more than that when I have been particularly deaf). I have learned that, when I prayerfully invite instruction prior to attending church, the temple, or studying the scriptures and there seems to be a theme in the words and music I encounter, that is an easy way to know that God is trying to get my attention.

In this case of softening my heart to moving across the world, the theme that I saw everywhere was preparation patterns: David had the perfect trust in God to help him slay Goliath because He had helped him first slay a bear and a lion; the early Saints had the necessary experience and faith, in their poverty, to build a Temple that would outlast the millennium because they built two preparatory Temples first (that they had to walk away from); the Brother of Jared's people crossed multiple waters before being asked to cross the great deep; we watched the movie “Harriet” for one of Bryson’s classes and it struck me that, with every repeat trip Harriet Tubman made, despite those around her believing it was only a matter of time before her luck ran out, Harriet’s response was that of greater and greater trust in God: because He helped her successfully bring a group safely to freedom before, He would certainly help her do it again, and then again, until the war was won and all slaves were freed. Over and over again, God was showing me examples of times where, when he asked a great thing of someone, He had given them preparatory experiences that gave them a pattern to follow and built their trust and faith in Him, and He is doing the same for us.

OUR PREPARATION

At least part of our preparation for this current venture began in December 2013 when Richard came home from work one day to inform me that he felt God was telling him to quit his job. At the time, we lived in his Grandfather's basement apartment. The details of the following year are perhaps something I will share in another post someday. Suffice it to say that, in hindsite, we see what a tremendous blessing it was to have Richard home while he cared for me in my extreme pregnancy sickness and cared for his Grandpa, while our faith muscles were daily stretched and strengthened as we sought direction writing a musical. 6 months later, all in one week, I felt better, Grandpa returned to our Heavenly home, we completed the musical, and Richard received a phone call offering him a full time job. Fast forward to now: God has written another musical on Richard's heart. He has made slow progress on it over the past few years, but has been struggling recently to figure out how to make time to work on it while feeling more and more prompted that he needs to get it done. And now, just as before, he has been prompted to quit his job. Just as before, we are free of mortgage payments. Just as before, we seem to be having our faith daily stretched and strengthened.

OUR PERSPECTIVE

If we are being honest, nothing about this is easy. And we have shed a lot of tears. We mourned leaving our home - and giving up home ownership. We mourn tapping into what we had planned would be our downpayment on a new home in a difficult housing market. Richard loved his job and the people he has worked with. We love our Commonwealth and Salt Lake friends. We love being near family. We appreciate more than ever before the the comfort of familiarity and common language. When we focus the ever-increasing sacrifices we are being asked to make, this move feels heavy and we long for God to start balancing the scales as, at the moment, the sacrifices seem greater than the blessings.

But, when we focus on our desire to do His will, and remember that all the things we had were gifts from Him in the first place, and that He can restore them all, if and when it is His will to do so, we stand amazed at the peace we feel in the the choices we are making. When I describe to others what we have done, I am astonished by the crazy coming out of my mouth. But through it all, I have never felt any anxiety or questioned "What are we doing?! Is this really right?!" Somehow, I just know. It is right. I am at complete peace. I trust that the greater the sacrifice, the greater the opportunity to grow in faith. And I know that the greater the miracle, the greater the faith required. So I am grateful that God is gifting us the opportunities to grow in our faith.

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA - The Purpose

Clearly we do not know all of the reasons why God is calling us to Georgia. We may never know all of the reasons. But, as we watch for them, we see more and more purpose. As alluded to already, we see this as an opporunity for Richard to consecrate time to writing the Musical he's been called to write. And we look forward to the concentrated quality time as a family that we are being gifted. As far as why we need to go to Georgia? That has yet to be seen. But we do know a few things that may end up being part of our "Why". Some things we are not yet at liberty to talk about. (Stay tuned...?). What we can share is that we have spoken with the Mission President of the the Armenia/Georgia Mission and he is ready to put us to work. He was able to share some details of the 4 Branches in the country.

We had anticipated living in the Capital City, Tblisi. This March marks the 20th Anniversary of Georgia recognizing The Church and it being dedicated to proselyting. It was when Richard was moved from his mission in Russia. As there were only 4 missionaries in those first years, all of their work was done in Tblisi - which means that is where all of his contacts are. We assumed God wanted us to go back to reconnect with dear friends. President told us that the Tblisi Branches are doing well, with youth and primary programs, and lots of English speakers. He assured us we would have a group of instant friends. But, as he described the new branch in Batumi, we both felt the Spirit confirm to us that this is where God wants us to be.

BATUMI

The Batumi Branch is very small, mostly Georgian or Russian speaking. They have few children - most of which do not attend regularly because of the distance to the church. President shared that his experience has been that, once there is one family with children in an area, it begins to blossom. It makes a huge difference in the work when missionaries can invite families to come to church knowing there will be other children there to welcome them. So our focus will be to create friendships beyond language barriers. It will be hard. But we are sure it will be wonderful.

Batumi is on the Black Sea - just above Turkey. The weather there is slightly warmer than here in the winter. They usually get one snow storm a year - where it snows about a foot. Their Temple is Kiev but, due to the unrest, members currently go to Rome. If we are willing to fly with nothing more than a carry-on, we can fly to Rome from Batumi for about $100. So, if any members take a trip to the Temple while we are there, we may be able to join them.

We have booked an AirBnB in a little village called Chakvi about 20 minutes outside of Batumi. Our AirBnB is on a little inlet with a few other buildings - a hotel that we supposedly have full access to the amenities of (bowling, arcade, swimming, etc). And, on the other end, is the dilapidated summer home of the Romanov (Anastasia) family. So we are hoping that will be an area we will get to spend quite a bit of time exploring. It has a courtyard with gardens, paths, and hammocks, and beyond the courtyard is opens to the beach and sea.

This location that will be or home for a time, is such a tender mercy. Not only was this Narnia-esque dreamland what helped our children's attitude about the trip shift from mourning to excitement, but it is also miraculously more affordable than we expected. We visited Georgia 4 years ago (another Preparation). At that time, most things cost about 1/3 of what they cost in the US. But disruptions to supply chains and the influx of refugees due to conflict in the region have caused the cost of living to sky rocket. We could no longer afford an AirBnB in Tiblisi for our extended stay, so we were looking at renting an apartment. But, because Batumi's economy is largely summer tourism, our off-season visit allows us to stay in a fully-stocked, spacious AirBnB for significantly less than the Tblisi apartments we were looking at. And, one of the best parts: The home is 3 stories and houses 12 guests - so, if you've read this far, come visit us!