Story from El Paso

Hi!

This week was good!! It's really neat to see the trust build with the ward. We have to build some damaged relationships.... I guess I'm good at that. I've had to do it to some degree in every area I've been in. Replace missionaries that the ward didn't love or trust all that much. So, it's nice when your WML comes to you and says, "I just want to let you know that you're doing things right.... I've gotten good reports from the ward members." Or the members approach you instead of waiting for you to approach them and say, "Hi! I'm sister so-and-so! I've heard a lot about you! Where are you from? :)"  .....it feels really good :)
Also this week we are racing the ZL's for OYM's (street contacts). So that's fun.

I sang in church on Sunday. Sister Smith played, and I convinced one of the ZL's to sing with me.... he didn't think he could sing. It's amazing what a little faith and some practice can do! ;) haha

We met a crazy lady this week.... I think she's schitzo. She told me to go get a boyfriend and have sex, god won't care. But she also told us that she told us that she talks to angels and all sorts of stuff... it was crazy.

A member made me scones, sort of like you do, mom... because I was craving them. And we found a Krispy Kreme :) It was a good week!

Story from when I was in El Paso:

We went over for blessings one Sunday, to the WML's home, and got the pep talk of a lifetime. It was so good :) Anyways, he had us write our full names, and then our start and end date with a dash in between right under. He asked us what was the most important part..... we both pointed to different parts of our names. But he explained that it was the DASH. The time between the start and end date. We have to make every second count, and let the dash grow nice and deep. Appreciate everything, and make the dash count. After that they would always ask us how our dashes were going :)  My dash is going really great :)

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sis. Brown

Happy 4th!

Hey there!
Happy 4th!  I don't know that I wished you one earlier.

I love being back in ABQ!  And I think I told you that most of our area is actually a village called Corrales.  It's awesome.  : )  It's so cool because this ward really feels like home.  There are a LOT of things that need some help.  And it's taking  a lot of work to get things going.  But it's really nice here.  The ward is super cool.  : )

Some adventures:
1.  Monsoon season has begun!  We spent some time the other night playing in the rain.  It was the bests.  : )
2.  We are meeting with this man, Gilbert.  He talks like no one I have ever seen talk.  Ever.  Serious, he scarcely breathes, I think  And it's impossible to really talk over him or anything...well, we took our WML the other day and Gilbert still talked incessantly, but he was a lot better.  I guess because he's a male Mexican, he won't be very receptive to meeting with females.  Aye.
3.  A ton o missionaries got our hair cut at the church last week by a lady in our ward.  She brought her friend from school...who is not a member.  So a couple days ago we dropped by to visit her!  She is o awesome, and we are teaching her again next week!...that is, if the Spanish elders don't take her.  That's annoying...they called and joked about us poaching.  It was so funny.  : )
4.  The 4th of July was pretty good.  We didn't really do anything spectacular.  We had to go to meetings that morning.  Those were good.  And then we met with a LA, and also with an investigator.  No barbecues or anything.  But when we got home we sat on the steps and watched some of the fireworks show that was happening at balloon fiesta park in ABQ.
5.  A lesson I learned this week...don't ever pray for humbling experiences for your investigators.  That was a suggestion made to me a while ago, so that they would be more receptive.  Well, we did that...and we had one in the hospital with pneumonia, and the another whose niece committed suicide.  it was sort of a rough week.

Hey, you know how you say that if there are cookies or something that if you just don't take the first bite, then it's easier to not have any, but if you take one bite it's so much harder to resist any more?  You should look up the talk, "Avoid  it" by Lynn G. Robins,under BYU speeches.

I hope that was more detailed for you this week.  I really miss you!

Love,
Sister Brown

Happy July

Hi!

It's been good here. I'm really excited to be back in ABQ.  It was super nice to see a lot of familiar faces at the baptism on Saturday. it felt kind of like going home a little. Sister Carter didn't know that I was going to be spending the night with her, so it was a really good surprise. It was SO good to see her :) And I should be able to see Christi, I just need to let her know that I'm here :)  It's really nice here in Cibola. I serve in ABQ, and a cute little village called Corrales.  It's DARLING. I love it a lot. I got to name our relief societies baby alpaca. His name is Harrison. We volunteer every Wednesday at the Corrales library, and it is seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen. also, it's cool cause everyone here seems so familiar in a way. Like, I know them, or they remind me of someone. I feel like I have a good work to do here.

Sorry things probably seem really scattered in this email... I feel like my thoughts are everywhere.

I love you so much. 

love,
sister brown

Transfer Time!

Mother!!

Well for transfer news, I'm moving!! and, I'm going North! I'm sad to leave the area, but more excited to be going north again! where exactly though, I'm not sure. normally I would go to transfers tomorrow.... but I guess they need a few of us to go up early so that there are enough seats to go up I guess... or something. So I'm going up this afternoon with all the departing missionaries, in the 'trunky truck'. It's a little sad because I had to try and cram in all my goodbye's yesterday, instead of also having tonight. But it's okay. Bishop had me bear my testimony yesterday in sacrament meeting which was really neat, and then everyone knew I was leaving, so I got a lot of really sweet hugs. I got some sweet cards from a lot of people, and some gifts too. A lei from the awesome Tongan family that helped us put on the luau, and some sage to burn.... it was a good day. The Brown family here that I love so much said that as long as I can get myself to EP, they will provide everything else. They're going to start the adoption papers soon ;) haha

Also a bonus of going up a day early... I get to go to the actual transfer meeting, and see a lot of missionaries I miss so much. AND, I get to stay the night with Sister Carter in my last area tonight!!!!!!!! I can't wait!!!! :) :)

How are all the missionary mom's and their missionaries doing? The sisters in our mission are good. There are a lot, but I know that a LOT go home. There was a time, when I was an STL, that in a matter of like, 3 months I witnessed 6 sisters go home. And since then many more. It's really hard to watch, and I know that we still have a lot going home. But overall I think we average about 90 sisters in the mission, of a total of about 250. So not too shabby.

Sister Mayberry is a little nervous to stay in the area. I feel bad because of all the hype and attention of me leaving yesterday. But the ward loves her, even if she doesn't see it, and I know that things will go really well for her here. Just pray that her new companion is as cool as me haha jk jk ;)

It's still hot here. This week was a little cooler... the mornings were in the 80's, and the average in the high 90's. A lot better than the last couple weeks averaging above 100 daily. But, monsoon season is starting. It doesn't really rain much, but I can feel some humidity setting in.

We found a new investigator this week. I think I'm really drawn to like, the only black people in EP haha. Her name is Annabell, and she is so cute. We helped her bring in some furniture, and they are teaching her the Plan Of Salvation tonight. I'm sad that I'll miss it.

I think that's the biggest news! I love it here, but I am so excited to go see where I will die! ;) haha

love you so much!!

Love,

Sister Brown

It's Tuesday...again

Hi!

Adventures...really not much this week.  Our dinner calendar is a little fuller, so that's nice.  We tried to roast marshmallows...but the guys we were gong to have a lesson with dropped us and no-showed.  And we didn't have a grill or anything...so just look at the pictures for our makeshift smores.  haha  ; )  We went to heuco tanks last week.  Look for pictures of those too.  It was a lot of fun.  : )  I can't really thing of anything else.  It was really slow.  This week should be better.  We came up with a point system for how we will get points when we contact people.  The one with the most points has to buy the other something at the end of the week.  i ow her elephant earrings, or she owes me a scarf.  But the most important part is that we are going to get better at talking to people, an we plan on finding a lot of new investigators.  We'll see.

Love you so much!!!

Love,
Sister Brown  : )

Fun Times!

Hello!
There is not much rain here now.  Like, none.  But there will be a lot more come July and August--monsoon season.  And with those storms, sometimes there is lightning, but not usually any thunder.  I miss me some good storms.  : )

Church is good!  We are working on getting referrals, so we are visiting more of the members and getting to know them a little better, then sharing a message and asking for people to teach.  This ward is so quirky.  I really do love them so darn much!  Brother Brown has a special place in my heart, and said that I have to go see him before I leave.  And I am likely getting transferred in a couple weeks because I've been here for awhile...so I'm eager to see what he has to say.  haha  It's probably a pep-talk about my life : )  lol

Sis. Mayberry and I sometimes get bored, and we have a lot of fun.  Mexican food...seriously, it's so good.  The candy and stuff takes a little while to get used to, cause you need to like chile.  But if you like chile, and spicy foods, everything is good.  Mole, mango, tamales, enchiladas, LOTS of beans and rice, more enchiladas, burritos (anything rolled in a tortilla), chicharrones, valentina (a hot sauce), tacos, horchata, haha...seriously, it's all good.  Lately we have taken to just frying tortillas, and rolling whatever we canf ind in them, and adding valentina.  Bam.  Dinner.  haha  : )  I will show yo of my ways in a few months.  : )  haha

The stress is up and down...it helps a lot to be such good friends with m companion, that's for sure.  But being a missionary in general stresses me out more now than it did at the beginning of my mission...idk.  I love it though, so I should be alright.  I will be super sad to leave this area, but I'm kind of looking forward to change.  Change is such a beautiful thing.  : )   Mom, I know that contradicts, like, all of your beliefs lol, but really.  Change is SO good.

I hope you have a fabulous week!!  I love you!!!

Love,
Sister Brown  : )

It's June...already

HI!

Things are good here.... we are seriously lacking people to teach still. So last week we didn't really teach that many lessons... Tina is really close to baptism.. As soon as she breaks up with her boyfriend. 

We had an activity on Saturday at bishops! We invited investigators for a social.... no one really came except one LA. We had brisket burritos, and had a small water balloon fight. It was a lot of fun. bishop is really super cool. He's laid back, and lets us come over for anything we need :)

We had a bet with Adrian a couple months ago, that if he would keep the word of wisdom for 2 weeks, we would wash his bike. He kept it for a month, and then just went all crazy on us. But, we still owed him a bike wash, so we did that on Friday. it was a lot of fun. 

We also helped out with a stake achievement day activity. We helped serve lunch, and I also sang I Am A Child of God after the short testimony meeting at the end. It was fun :)

We had zone conference yesterday, and it was really good. In a breakout session, Sister Miller talked to the sisters about leaving things better than you find them. It reminds me of how dad would always treat our camping spots. Leave no trace. But, we have to apply it to people and places. Inspiration I received, is that we need to remember to smile and have a good time, and to work hard. Look for the good in others, and TELL them. I like to think of leaving a little trail, where people will know where I have been, because they know how they feel when they are around me, and it helps them to feel better and happier. 

I feel a little sluggish lately, so that's something that I'm working on. Another sister in the ward talked about fake it till you make it. It's hard... but if you look and act happy, you will soon feel happier. Did I tell you about my other studies? You sent me that talk from Elder Bednar about the enabling power of the Atonement. he talks about praying to change our strength, rather than praying to change our situations. We are given specific trials and situations, for specific reasons. So heavenly father isn't going to just take them away from us, but we can ask for specific blessings and support, and that He will give to us.  He wants us to succeed, but he knows best what will help us to do so in the eternal perspective. 

Thank you so much for all you do!

Love,

Sis. Brown