Working hard or hardly working.

Hey y'all!

Well, bad news first... Christi didn't get permission, so she didn't get baptized last week. She is now on date for this week... but we STILL don't have permission. She is working hard with her parents though.. so we'll see. Fingers crossed!

 I got to go to the mall last week. I got a couple new shirts.... it's kind of a highlight. I'll need to go shopping again for some skirts. They are WAY hard to find though. So if you happen to go to a goodwill..... I'm a size 8-10. haha jk

OH! The news everyone is waiting for! My companion and I are both staying in Albuquerque for 6 more weeks together! Hallelujah. I love this area SO much, and I am so glad that I get to stay. (Hopefully long enough to see Christie get baptized!)

Today all of the greenies came in, so I'm going greenie-knocking. Basically we're taking them tracting... yikes. But it'll be fun I think! Those poor missionaries have no idea what they're in for! lol

We taught seminary this week... 5:30. Which means I got up at 4. One of the longest, most tiring days. ever. But it actually wasn't too bad. It's way fun to teach about missionary work, and to see others get excited too.

We're not doing a lot of teaching right now. a lot of appointments fall through, or we don't have anyone to talk to. And during the day most people are at work... so we do a LOT of knocking on doors, that nobody answers. So, that's fun.

I've learned that being a missionary, wearing that nametag, does crazy things. Like, you're specially protected and whatnot. There are places that even cops don't like to go to... that missionaries work in, and are totally safe. (Not where I'm at now. so don't worry). And people feel comfortable telling you things that they wouldn't tell anyone else. Like, things about their past, or things that they are suffering, that they don't tell anyone else. but feel like they can confide in you. You almost learn things as a missionary that you wish you didn't. But at the same time, it's really neat that now you have this responsibility to care for and help those members and individuals that need that specific help and direction. I have had people tell me about experiences in the church, and deep sufferings that they are experiencing, that they wouldn't tell anyone else, ever. Just a 20 year old girl... with a nametag.

Being a representative of Christ is a HUGE responsibility. But it's one of the coolest things EVER.

I got to serve on Saturday! Finally! I got to put on jeans and a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail, and work in the dirt laying bricks for a recent convert. I loved it! And it's getting really warm here... so I totally have a tan-line on my feet from my shoes. (You know those black ones I got from Clark's that I wasn't sure if I wanted them or not? yeah... I wear them every day. they are seriously the best! haha)

Oh! We sang in sacrament on Sunday! My companion really didn't want to... but she did great :) one of the YW played for us, and we sang 'Nearer my God to Thee'. It really was beautiful. She also spoke, it was a homecoming. The whole meeting was on missionary work, so I hope that will jump-start the ward a bit.

I hope My companion can put up with me for 6 more weeks. No joke... I'm having an absolute blast. But I'm sure I'm kind of a mess.

As is likely evidenced in these scatterbrained emails. haha

 

I hope that all is well back home! I miss and love ya'll so much! Keep working hard!

 

Love,

Sister Brown.

 

P.S.- I forgot! There's a guy in my ward... Brother Hutchings. His wife is from GA, so we're basically best friends already. She has 3 boys, and then just had triplets. (did I tell you this already?) Anyways, she's super mom, and I love her. And her husband? yeah, he built the Grayson Post office, put in the glass in all of the baptismal fonts in the SE, and built that wall-fence in front of the Lawrenceville building. He showed me pictures of the church and everything. So cool :)

Life as a missionary is the best!

Hi y'all!!

 

Hope everything is going great this week!! hope spring break was awesome, yadda yadda.  I heard about the bombing at the marathon.... the members here are great about keeping us updated on the news lol.

This week has been another good one! I feel like there isn't a whole lot new that happened. We're still teaching Christie, and she is planning on getting baptized this Friday, the 26th. We are STILL waiting for permission from her mom, but we'll see. She has incredible faith that things are going to work out, and we're counting on that.

I taught the restoration for the first time yesterday! I taught it to Bobbie, and she is incredible. She basically knows that the Book of Mormon is true, she is just learning everything, and is hesitant to do anything without her husband, who won't sit in on the lessons with us. He is very happy as a catholic, but we're hoping that they both will come to FHE in a member's home next week.

 

At Deseret Book last week I was like a little kid in a candy shop. I bought Mormon Messages 1 and 2, and they are SO handy. We use them for dinner messages all the time :) There's one called I am a Child of God. It's a lot of different people singing the song... you should watch it. it's way cute. well anyways, after watching it with a mom and her two little girls, my companion asked the girls how they knew that they were a child of God. Emory, I think she's 6, goes, "well. I'm a child. and he's God." I laughed SO hard. They were seriously a handful (this wasn't the first time that we had a child strip stark naked in front of us before we could do anything about it). But kids are seriously SO funny I can hardly stand it. And the wards here are SO young. I don't think that I've ever been in a sacrament meeting so loud before.

Oh another funny story... my companion broke the zipper on her skirt. And we weren't done working for the night. so we showed up at a members house to see if they could do anything, but the wife wasn't home, so we weren't allowed to come in. While the husband was making phone calls to see where we could go to get a change of clothes or the skirt fixed, or something, I stood on the doorstep laughing. I felt bad, but for some reason the situation was hilarious to me. Anyways, sometimes (actually most of the time) I cry when I laugh. I don't know why, it just happens. So poor Brother Rogers is trying to get a hold of another member that we can go to, and meanwhile is genuinely worried for me because I'm doubled over in laughter, but it looks like I'm sobbing (out of embarrassment?). I'm telling you.. I thought missionaries were kind of weird. But now that I am one... we are such normal people. We still get broken zippers, and scream bloody murder when there's a spider in our apartment (or when the elders come up behind you in the library), and love to splurge on ice cream once in a while. (only difference is that I look forward to wearing jeans a lot more than I did before haha) Life as a missionary is the best, because you are friends with everyone. And those that don't like you.... you just get over it. and you feel the spirit all the time. and you get to teach and share the gospel, and see lives change. and still have fun and be normal.  No joke, it's the greatest.

 

Well, that's about it for now. I promise I'll share more next week. miss y'all, and love you SO much! keep working hard!

 

love,

Sister Brown

P.S. Two hours later Kylie sent this:

Well, surprise! we had to head south to rescue the elders, so i figure I'd email you again and give you a look at my pday today. It's basically been an adventure (but when don't I have an adventure I guess, right? haha)

Well, we woke up at 6:30. as per usual. on Mondays we don't exercise, but rather we clean. so we did that. We got ready from 7-8, personal study from 8-9 and companion study from 9-10. Then because transfers are almost over, we deep cleaned the apartment. (remember that we replaced elders. it was gross.)

We went to email, saw all the elders at the library, it's kind of fun to have little mini district reunions, then we went to subway for a quick lunch, then shopping :) We hit the mall. I think we are the only area with a mall... so that's nice. I'm basically getting bored of my clothes, so i got a couple of shirts... I'm still looking for skirts. that's the hard part. We went to old navy, and JC Penny, and it was basically a blast. The elders needed clothes... and we have a TON of left over suits, and pants, and shirts, and ties... and a lot of random junk left over from elders before us. So we came to the rescue, and brought the bags to the elders. They sifted through the clothes and found what they needed... and then the trouble came. As we were standing and talking for a bit, a lady came and asked us if we could help her jump her car. (we would LOVE to!! ;) ). so I drove over to help her.... but I don't know how to jump a car. In fact, I couldn't even figure out how to open the hood. it was quite embarrassing actually. (I figure, I will just always have my husband with me. or within cell reach. or my dad will come to the rescue. or the other person will know what to do. or if there is no cell service and all else fails, I will pray. But I also now know to pray for help... not that water will turn into gas and then put that into the tank. cause apparently that doesn't work. "God doesn't bless stupid" -Elder Brown).  But thanks to the elders, I now know how to jump a car. including opening the hood of the car, finding the battery, and revving the engine while everyone else talks and waits. We weren't able to get her car started.... but it was nice to help a little. And you learn something new every day i guess!! but that's why we're back at the library, and you get to hear me rant about my adventures. A little bit of a better glimpse into the life of Sister Brown.

 

Basically I'm a mess.

 

Love y'all!!

 

Love,

Sister Brown

Finally

This week has been so good!  Have I mentioned that time is way warped out here?  Seriously, I always feel tired.  And sometimes the days go slow, but without a doubt the weeks go by quickly.  I've already been a missionary for a little over a month!  Can you believe it?!  Crazy stuff 'round here.

Nothing too exciting this week...We have had more appointments this week at least.  So it's been nice to actually have somewhere to have planned to go, rather than trying to fit a lot of people in that you don't know if they'll answer the door or not. haha

We went on exchanges last week.  That's where you and another companionship basically switch companions for 24 hours.  It was interesting...but it was a good learning experience.  I stayed and Sister D came and stayed with me.  It was not terrible, but it was quite the experience I can say that.  haha  Maybe next time I'll get to go somewhere else neat.  : )

Lessons with Christi continue to be fantastic!  That girl amazes me.  Seriously her testimony in SO strong.  She asked her mom for permission to get baptized...and was told no.  (It's a super big step that she even was able to ask her mom though!)  We're still praying and hoping though.  She said that her sister might even be a little interested.  I meet with her again today, and we're leaving the date of the 26th for her to get baptized. It's going to be so awesome!

Kelly is doing well.  He is a former member that we love working with.  He is so neat and is working hard to come back to the church.  We also found a new investigator on Sunday!  Her name is Bobbie, and she is so sweet.  Her daughter got baptized awhile ago and is working towards the temple.  Bobbie is hesitant to join because she is Catholic, and her husband doesn't want to sit in on the lessons or anything (yet).  But she already has seen the goodness of the gospel, and has a testimony of The Book of Mormon before even reading it.  Can't wait to be teaching her more!

So sorry that I didn't get an email out yesterday.  They open up the temple twice a year on a Monday just for missionaries!  I got to see a lot of people in my MTC district, and it was so nice to go to the temple.  I loved it!!  And after, we all go to lunch with the members that gave us rides, and Deseret Book is swarmed with missionaries   I felt like a little kid in a candy store!  I was so excited to go shopping for things to put in m apt, and use in my teaching...it's a little ridiculous haha.  (I bought Mormon messages on DVD.  They are perfect for dinner messages, and even lessons sometimes!  So  neat!)  But because of that, we get a little bit of and extra p-day today to finish emailing and shopping and such, so that's nice.

Let's see, the weather is great.  There were a few days where it was super cold.  (Meaning...like 45*)  But now it's back up into the 70's pretty consistently.  It's way nice...except the wind blows all the time!!  That should end in a couple months though.  (Guess I'm wearing straight skirts and my hair up for the next 2 months... : /  )

Heads up, transfers are on the 30th.  Normally I would plan on staying, but I really have no idea.  President asked me in an interview how I would feel if I had to train next transfer.  Really it terrifies me, but I told him that I would be scared, and I feel inadequate, but the Lord won't hand me anything that I can't handle.  Here goes nothing!

Hope all is well!  Thanks for the prayers!!!  Keep working hard, and choose to be happy!  Love y'all!

"Burger Face"

Things Picking Up

Well this week has been a lot better than the last.  My companion and I are getting along well...despite a little  bit of a rocky beginning.  Our numbers are still low...but I think we just have to deal with them being low for a couple more weeks, and things will pick up again   We're doing a lot of getting to know the members and those we teach, that we aren't teaching a lot, just setting appointments for the coming weeks.  It's a little bit of a mess still, but I can almost see the horizon!
This week we did a whole lot of walking around.  I've realized that a lot of people have a misconception about missionary work.  We only go tracting, like knocking on random doors, as an absolute last result.  It works, but there are a lot of better finding options out there.  So, I've only gone knocking probably twice.  But the members are fantastic!!  Very nice and hospitable, and give awesome referrals.  Member work is really where all the work comes from.  : )

As far as interesting things...I've had pizza 5 times in the last week and a half.  Never thought I could get tired of it haha. Oh, have I told y'all about the chili here?  Green chili is kind of the "thing"here.  NM is the only state that has a state question: Red or green  (referring to they type of chili).  I've found green to be more common and more liked, but I think it's kind of the area I'm in.  And if you mix them, it's called Christmas   It's way fun!  But green chili goes on EVERYTHING.  So far I have eaten it in breakfast burritos, pizza  and on a hamburger.  It sounds weird, but it's actually way good.  I'll try and send a jar home sooner or later.

On Thursday we fasted with Christi, and investigator (feel like our only investigator), to help her be able to talk to her mom, and get permission to be baptized.  Her mom hasn't been to keen on the idea.  Anyways, it went well, and we met with Christi on Friday.  Hopefully we'll see some progress with her mom soon, but Christi is doing so well!!  She has some really wonderful questions that we answered, and then we shared a Mormon Message with her on forgiveness (the one where the guy lost his family in a car accident.)  It was way good, and we had an awesome discussion on forgiveness and repentance   The spirit was SOOO strong. and we began to talk about her mom, and baptism.  I ended up committing her to baptism!!  It was the most amazing moment.  She said that she kind of wanted to wait for Mason to leave on his mission first, so she could know it was for her and not him, but she knows, and we can see it.  She said she would get baptized once she got permission...and finally she said that she had actually been thinking about April 26th!!  Funny thing...I hadn't looked at a calendar, and didn't want to say a specific date because I didn't want to rush or scare her, but I had been thinking about that exact day!!  The moment was incredible   Ben, another member friend, said that it felt like we had just won a soccer game.  It was exhausting, and absolutely incredible.  We teach her again on Tuesday, and I can't wait!  She is so awesome!

Another neat experience...that night we had gone through our entire schedule.  It was 8:00 and we had finished our plan all the way through 8:30 and back-ups.  We weren't done working, but we didn't know what to do.  Anyways, we decided to pray.  We sat in silence for a minute, and I felt like I should just put away the GPS and as we just drove, we would be guided to where we needed to go.  Soon, we turned onto a road and I caught the name.  It was one we had been searching for earlier, but the GPS couldn't find!!  We found the house, she answered, and we set a return appointment.  I couldn't believe it.

I know that this work is incredible   Prayer works, and when you are obeying exactly the spirit truly can be with you always to guide you.

Conference was amazing!! I really enjoyed the talks by President Monson, Sister Dalton, and the one about the tomatoes.  I hope y'all enjoyed it!  It goes a lot faster as a missionary for some reason.  I can't wait to get the Ensign and look back through all my notes.  : )

Anyways, have a fantastic week y'all!! I love you so much, and miss you tons!! You're the best, and keep working hard!

Love,
Sister Brown

P.S. if anyone is ever at a lack of something to send, pictures would be awesome!  I would love to have some candid pictures of friends and family to show the other member and missionaries how cool y'all are, and just for me to enjoy!  Kay thanks.  : )

Missionary WORK

Let me just begin by saying that when they call it missionary WORK, they mean it. The MTC was stressful because every minute of your day is scheduled, and you're sitting all day, yadda yadda. but seriously, it is hard stuff out here. Exact obedience is stressed big time. And for sure I want to obey everything, but it's incredible the amount of rules. The rigor that it takes to make it through a day is incredible.

Anyways, this week was HECTIC and overwhelming. Good nonetheless, but..... you'll see.

P-day last week was super fun. Tuesday we had special zone training. a lot of role plays.... that was fairly boring. But I liked getting to see everyone. and getting mail. (If you have sent me mail, you're my HERO. seriously, I can't tell you how much better a little mail, from anyone, makes my life). we met with a guy named josh, someone that my companion had taught before. that was super neat to listen to them talk. I liked hearing them talk about his experiences. one day i'm going to have my own 'josh'. !! :)

We had a few lessons, and did a lot of planning. Wed and Thursday were fairly boring. I mean, we did a lot of planning. Wed we had a RS party we went to and that was fun. And Thursday  we actually did a lot of just sitting we went to 'burger-face' with the elders, and that was actually a lot of fun. (put chili on your burger. don't question, just do). My companion had a migraine, and, as you will see in a moment, life was stressful beyond belief. so, we just sat a home a lot. i know that's bad, and it won't happen again, and we got really behind, but it's okay. i think things are getting better now.

Well, the big shock is that I have a new companion! My first companion was needed at home and is now back in Ohio. That was a huge stress this week as I was there as she struggled with the decision, and leaders were involved, etc. Finally, the choice was made, and she flew out on Friday  My new companion is super cool. Way organized, very spiritual. We get a long well. (She stresses me out a little bit with how organized and strict she is.... but I think i'd prefer that quality over a lot of others!). And the best part?... she's only been in the field for 8 weeks. So, she's not even totally done with her training, and now she's training me. I didn't learn nearly as much as i had thought i had in the last couple weeks, because turns out, we weren't really dong that much. And our area book wasn't kept up very well, so it feels like we're a couple of greenies opening a new area. it's. a. mess.

BUT, good news, we are surrounded by a lot of good people. Everyone is very supportive, the wards are awesome. And as much as I would hate to see one of the wards go, i'm hoping that next transfer (April 30), that they will split our area and we can cover just one ward. that would be really awesome. There are supposed to be a TON of new missionaries coming in again. So exciting!!

Kay well, despite the stressful new development, things are looking up. I love the packages and notes I have received. I can feel the prayers from y'all, and I appreciate them so much. They are needed, and I am so grateful for them. Especially during these next couple weeks.

We are teaching a girl named Christi. She is 17 and super awesome. Her mom won't let her get baptized right now, so we're just teaching her and hoping for the best.

OH! I also had my first baptism on Saturday! His name is Steven Gallegos. He is way cool, and I am SO proud of him. I didn't teach him at all... i met him for the first time on Tuesday  but I get to follow up with him now that he's a member. Such a cool guy, from such a rough past. I can't wait to ge to know him better. It was also neat, because now I know what the end goal is. I can't wait until I can teach someone and see them all the way until their baptism. Elder Brown from my district was there... he taught Steven, and then was able to speak at his baptism, and confirm him on Sunday. It was way neat.

Well, I hope that everything is going great for y'all!! I hope you had a great Easter and that you enjoy conference this weekend. It's going to be super awesome :)

Love from New Mexico,

Sister Brown

P.S OH! and look for me between sessions of conference!! I was filmed in the MTC... by KSL i believe. I don't know how much you'll see.... i'm in a yellow dress with curly hair. My teacher, sister frost, was spotlighted.... so it won't be a very long segment. and you might not even see my face... but i'm there. haha

kay thanks :)