And it Begins....

Well, we started exchanges this last week. It’s kind of nice being in a trio, because then you have two people in the area, and so you don't have to worry about missing too much. That’s a blessing.

We have found a few more families to teach this week! It’s amazing the people that are coming through! Really.... it's pretty incredible. We feel so blessed!! And this last week, we taught a ton! It feels so good to be out a lot more :) we had 9 lessons with members with us, 5 without, and 2 more with less actives. It’s so nice to be working, and staying pretty busy. 

Halloween is around the corner... and we are asked to go out. So, we will probably be attending a party for an investigator or the apartment complex or something :)

We have been teaching Max and Sandra SUPER slow because they have a really hard time remembering just about anything that we teach them... but this week they actually remembered most of what we taught them! We use a lot of pictures and object lessons, but we're so glad that everything is FINALLY falling together. They have the marriage license, but no date to get married yet. Anyways... hopefully they will get married next week, due to Audrianna's birthday this week :)

I gained a testimony this week of planning, and timing. We plan each night what we are going to do the next day, and write it all out in our planner. I had it explained to me once, that we are kind of telling God where we are going to be. So, if we tell God that we are going to be at a certain place at 3:00, we should be there, and not mix things up during the day unless prompted to do otherwise. So one day, we went to go see a few people. The main people weren't there, so we went to backups. After the backups, we had a little time, and sister j felt like we needed to go and visit another person in the area. They weren't home either.... so we went to the person we were supposed to visit at that time, Jennifer (another investigator). Anyways, we chatted with her for about 5 mins, set an appointment, and then turned around to go somewhere else. We heard from behind us, "are you the Mormon girls?!" Confused, we turned around. There was a lady we didn't know, but had apparently met with sisters earlier that year. SO, we went to talk with her, and asked if we could help with anything. She was helping another neighbor with a yard sale, so we offered to help. The timing was PERFECT for us to go and help them move things and set up. God's timing should be ours, because his is perfect. 

Another cool story... a member was driving one night and was going to grab some dinner, and in her rearview mirror saw a family on the road struggling. She felt prompted to go say hi, so she offered to help them. They were in a really rough spot, so she helped them buy dinner and find a place for the night. Well, she offered for him to learn about the church to help his life. He met with the bishop on Tuesday, and we met with him a couple times. He has a lot of WOW (Word of Wisdom Doctrine and Covenants Section 89) problems, his wife too. so hopefully we can help them turn their lives’ around :) the best part is seeing the hope come into their eyes as they realize what Christ can do for them, and they start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I want so badly to help this family stay together and really change. Another cool thing is that the Bishop actually saw this particular family a few days prior, and had the impression that he would meet them one day. So cool :)

Another adventure: we met a cool black family this week. They’re 'crazy southern Baptists’ as they say. SO fun to talk with, and remind me of home :) haha

Anyways, things are awesome here. Just working hard, and hoping to find lots of souls to bring to Christ. If we look, there are SO many miracles around us all the time. Just look :)

Love y'all so much!

Love,

Sister Brown

Long week, and good times

SO, I'm in a trio now.  We call ourselves the tremendous trio, or the powerhouse trio.  We get work done!  haha.  I was super nervous actually, be we are having a blast!  Probably too much fun, to be honest.  :)  But really, we are all so stoked about being missionaries, we work hard.  Since having Sister J. with us, we have found new people, like, almost doubled our lessons per week, and all sorts of things.  It's basically the best!!

Little about Sister J...she's crazy.  In a good way.  She can eat just about any peper and not even flinch.  She finally gets a little caught up at the habanero, but no big deal, right?  Heavens.  We laugh a lot, and have to work extra hard to stay on task, but I love her to death.

We've gone out to eat like...3 times this week.  there goes my diet!  (jk...it's practically impossible to diet as a missionary.  But still..)

As per usual, planning doesn't get done on Thursdays like it's supposed to.  We just end up doing a lot of bonding and sharing feelings and talking, and eventually getting around to talking about our investigators.  But seriously, good things are happening anyways.  Our district is super awesome, and we're all way good friends.

All the investigators are doing pretty great.  :)  We went to a wedding on Saturday for a RC.  That was a blast!  (And, may have made me a bit trunky...).  Anyways, Max and Sandra FINALLY were able to get a marriage license.  So, we're waiting for them to set a time when their family is in town, and then we will get them married, and baptized soon!! AHH!!!

(Sorry my mind is going at 90 miles an hour.  did I tell you that Christi got baptized?!  SO EXCITED!!)  (love your Christi  :)

Amber and Phil and gang are doing great.  And our other families for the most part.  We still can't find a couple...lol but things are good.  The 3 of us teach like a boss.  : )

We had the Ward Halloween party on Friday, and that was an absolute blast.  : )  Chili cook off, games, and super fun things like that.  We dressed up as candy corn.  : )  Cute right? haha.  We had a few investigators there too.  SUCH a blast.  The thing about a New Mexican Chili cook off...there is Green Chile involved.  So it's HOT, and so good.  But, I made a fool of myself eating a doughnut off a string, and gathered candy.  and I was proud of all the adults that actually dressed up!

Kylie and her companions dressed up as a Candy Corn....Get it?

Miracles for this week!  We were out with a member, and she mentioned about some other member friends that had become really good friends with a lady, Laura.  So...even though this might have been a little creepy, we just went over and introduced ourselves.  She is SO sweet, and is married with 2 kids.  Her member friends always joke that they're going to "dunk her" and get her baptized.  But she talked to us, and said that she kind of wants to learn about it, and asked us for information so we can have lunch and talk.  SO COOL.

Bishop called and said that a lady had called looking for some financial assistance, and info about the church.  She is one of the coolest black ladies I have ever met.  She already has a darn awesome testimony, and an open mind.  I think I learned more from her in our first visit than we taught her haha.  (She refers to the Holy Ghost ans her "gentleman."  I love it.  :)

THEN, we have a cute young couple that lives in our complex.  We had become friends, and they were kind of investigators, but we didn't teach them a whole lot.  We tried to go back once, and they weren't home.  Well, we were out with a member, and even though we had another list of people we could see, their name came to my heart and mind.  I just thought that we needed to go and see Samantha and Jeremy.   So we did.  Well, we got there, and no answer.  Bummer.  BUT, as we knocked a second time and were just waiting, up come Samantha up the steps to the apt!  She said that they had moved, but there was  alight on in her apartment, but she knew that she hadn't left any on, so she randomly just came to check if someone had broken in.  No one had, but that light being on meant that we ran into her at JUST the perfect time.  She took us to the new apartment, and we were able to meet her other roommate, Kate.  We laugh, and talked, and taught a short lesson, and we are going back tonight.  In Sister Chatwin's words, "If that was any more perfect timing, we would have met her in the font!"  hahaha

God works in mysterious ways my friends.  : )

Love y'all!  I hope you have a fantastic week!!  Work hard, and know that God is near when you reach for Him.  : )

Love,
Sister Brown

ps-random story...There was a kid at dinner that was telling a story about his brother.  He goes, "You know my dad's son?  Well he...."  and finished the story.  It was SO funny.  He looks a little like and reminds me a LOT of Ethan.  He kicked my butt in a game of Sorry.  Cute kiddo.  : )

missionary work at it's finest

Isn’t it funny how time works? The temple was only a week ago... and it feels like an eternity away. But then at the same time, I’m amazed at how fast time flies.

TRANSFERS: I’m not moving!! Staying right here in Zion, or as some like to call it, the Canyon Heights Ward. (Seriously, my first day the bishop welcomed me to Zion haha) anyways, Sister Chatwin and I are both staying, and we got a third companion! Sister Johnson that we came out with is our new third companion :) it's going to be super crazy, but an absolute adventure. You know... nothing new :)

Anyways, this week has been more of the same. Teaching who we can... doing our best to improve. Busy busy busy. Sisters, members, investigators, companion being sick, mission stress, etc. Just another week in the life of Sister Brown I guess. We spent some time at the hospital for sister Chatwin to get blood work done... We thought she might have a thyroid problem, but that's a negative. Not sure what's making her so tired all the time. And she's getting over a cold.

If you could send out some extra prayers for Amber and Phil and their family it would be appreciated. I won't go into detail, but I know that they could use it. Thanks y'all :)

Lots of planning this week... when we have time. It’s been a while since we have found new people, but overall the lessons we are teaching are going well. We’ll be going to a wedding for a RC this weekend. And if everything goes well we will be attending a wedding for max and Sandra too! That will be super fun :)

Cool story: we got a letter saying that our car needed to go in for a check on a recall. So we made an appointment, and dropped it off Wednesday morning. We ran into the guy that contracts to sell the cars to the mission, so we got to help drive I brand new Chevy Cruise. That was fun :) AND, last week was balloon fiesta. So. Cool. I’m totally going to come back one day and go to the field. BUT, it's way awesome to watch all the balloons in the sky. Anyways, we came back, and our car still wasn't ready. So, we hung out at burger king to study. While there, we talked to people, naturally. We talked to one crazy lady. Super fun, and ended up being in our area, so we'll hopefully see her again soon! Then later, I waited while sister Chatwin went to the bathroom. A man who had been sitting there approached me, and talked to me about Romney, and Mormon's, and his experience when he went to Utah to take a picture of the eclipse and ended up staying at a lds home. HE was really impressed...we ended up getting his information, and sent missionaries over, and left him with a card. God truly leads those that are prepared :)

Another story.... our apartment is kind of getting infested with cockroaches. It’s super gross. Hopefully they're going to spray today. Again. But a few nights ago, we came home, and I screamed cause I found like, 3-4 BIG ones, and a handful of little ones all over our kitchen. So. Nasty. We’re bleaching everything, and we spent a couple hours cleaning everything out and vacuuming up all the dead bugs. *shudder*. It’s an adventure for sure!

Love y'all so much. Hope that your week is fantastic :)

Love,

Sister Brown

So I got to go to the temple...

And now I don't have any time to talk to anyone  So Anyways, this really will be short and sweet.
This week was fabulous.  SO busy.  Sometimes I feel like it's hard to find time to even do missionary work, because we're doing so many other things.  We had exchanges from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday.  Our last for the transfer!  Finally!  I stayed in the area with Sister Rosa...and we ended up spending the majority of the day in the ER with a member that really needed someone with her last minute.  It was the craziest, and most blessed day of my life.  We ended up with LDS doctors, and everything I think is getting better.
We had MLC on Thursday (one of the BEST meetings I have ever attended.  It's just the leadership of the mission, and I really love it.  : )  And then we had zone training of Friday, and conference on Saturday and Sunday.  Monday we went to the Temple as missionaries, and it was the best day of my life.  The session was so spiritual, and we spent 2 hours that afternoon helping to clean the temple.  Then our group of 8 missionaries that helped clean went to chick-fil-a.  I could not have been a happier Sister Missionary.  : )

And a midst all of that adventure, we did teach a few lessons.  : )  Though our WML has been out of town for what feel like forever, so that's been crazy.

And transfers are next week.  I'm pretty sure I'm staying put.  I'm praying so at least.  But, I guess ya never know.

Anyways, love y'all a ton!  Have an awesome week!

Love,
Sister Brown