How is everyone?? Mom, I got the package you sent :) I'm so excited to start using my blender for breakfasts again! I love getting those funny quotes of the week, those really make my day. Keep writing those down! And yes, sometimes I think Dad is my real life hero too. :) Dad, it sounds like you really did have an EXTREMELY high adventure! I'm glad everyone came out of it ok! Congratulations on the new Fin Fun office as well! And yes, Sister Browning is starting to sound pretty normal now. Although I did start to introduce myself as Megan to someone here on my second day. Hahaha oops :)
Well. May I just say that I am in love with this mission! This past week has confirmed to me just how much Heavenly Father knows and loves ME personally. When I met Sister Luke on Wednesday, I knew she was going to be my trainer before it was even announced. Even though nearly a dozen sisters introduced themselves to me, hers was the only name I remembered. And when I looked at her it was like I saw Sarah Wood in her face! It was as if God was telling me, "This sister is going to become one of your best friends." She is one of the kindest, sweetest, most Christlike people I have ever met. She has really been helping me to adjust to mission life and we are having so much fun together!
What makes the whole thing even cooler is that Sister Luke and I know the same people. Her best friends from high school, Kalli and Jessie, were in my student ward at BYU! I hung out with Kalli a ton over the summer and Jessie was in choir with me. Sister Luke and I figured out that we have been to the same sacrament meeting, the same night games party, the same luau party, and Sister Luke has even been inside my apartment. She knows Tanan, Zach, Kyle, Jason, Jen, Melanie, and so many of my other college friends. And somehow, we were never introduced!! What the heck?? I just think that's the craziest thing ever! :)
You guys, the work is on fire here in Las Vegas. And so is the weather, har har har. Yes Mom, I am serving in the Robindale YSA ward that covers Las Vegas and a little bit of Henderson. It is HOT but that is the smallest price to pay for how much the Lord is blessing us! I wish I could do a mind meld and show you all the amazing people that I've met, but since I can't and time is limited, I'll just tell you about a few special people:
First, Zach. He is a golden investigator who was a pass-off from the other YSA ward to us, because he was going to church with a friend. Short, adopted, intellectual, chivalrous, talkative Indian guy.Every time we teach him, I feel like I am learning more from him than he is learning from me! Let me just tell you the analogy he came up with during our Plan of Salvation lesson. When we were explaining the kingdoms of glory, he goes, "What's interesting to me is that the telestial kingdom is represented by stars. Stars are individual, separated, and isolated. Then, you only ever see half of the moon, so in the terrestrial kingdom you are incomplete. It's in the Celestial kingdom, like the sun, where you experience wholeness and completeness." WHAT IN THE WORLD?! This guy is awesome! He comes to literally every activity, reads way farther in the Book of Mormon than we ask him to, and receives the strongest answers to his prayers. He is all set for baptism on July 12th!
Second, Josh. Josh is SO COOL. He is standing right at the gate of baptism. He wants to be baptized sooo bad, and we are just waiting for permission from the 1st Presidency. I am so sad that I was not here to begin teaching him, because it would have been amazing to see all the ways that he has changed. When we visited with him on Friday, he was telling us all about how much peace and happiness he feels, how much his life is now together and blessed because of the Gospel. He said he's so happy that he wishes that he could just serve everybody he meets, including little old ladies walking down the street, but he knows they would be terrified, so he just cant! haha. And he said he feels every blessing that he possibly could from the Gospel "without kerplunk" (he was talking about baptism, ha ha ha.) There is no more amazing thing to me than to see someone with tattoos down their arms and hands and the Spirit lighting their eyes, because it's evidence to me that no matter their circumstances, everyone has the potential to become like their Savior.
Second, Josh. Josh is SO COOL. He is standing right at the gate of baptism. He wants to be baptized sooo bad, and we are just waiting for permission from the 1st Presidency. I am so sad that I was not here to begin teaching him, because it would have been amazing to see all the ways that he has changed. When we visited with him on Friday, he was telling us all about how much peace and happiness he feels, how much his life is now together and blessed because of the Gospel. He said he's so happy that he wishes that he could just serve everybody he meets, including little old ladies walking down the street, but he knows they would be terrified, so he just cant! haha. And he said he feels every blessing that he possibly could from the Gospel "without kerplunk" (he was talking about baptism, ha ha ha.) There is no more amazing thing to me than to see someone with tattoos down their arms and hands and the Spirit lighting their eyes, because it's evidence to me that no matter their circumstances, everyone has the potential to become like their Savior.
Third. Radu! Radu is so sweet. Teaching him the restoration was my first appointment on Wednesday. He is from Moldova and speaks with a Russian accent; we think he has some memory loss problems because of an accident that he had. But he is so eager to learn, really knows right from wrong and recognizes truth, and wants to be baptized. He's awesome!
Fourth. Danny. I have GOT to tell you about Danny. We contacted into him on Thursday when he was outside on the phone. We taught him the first lesson last night and WOWWWWZ. It was so solid! This guy has been prepared. He told us that he was raised Christian, knows God has been leading his paths, and is looking for the whole truth. I just thought to myself... "Do we got a show for you!" (veggie tales reference.) And this is the really cool part: He has lived in Riverside AND San Bernardino and now somehow finds himself in Vegas! (Hi Jeren and Nelson!) Could this be the magic person God has been sending us Brownings after?? I guess we'll see!
The members in the Robindale YSA ward are absolutely amazing. They are so helpful, giving, and fun. People are so eager and willing to come out with us to lessons, to buy us or make us dinner, and to befriend our investigators. The relief society president, Amber, goes running with us in the mornings on a trail by our apartment. Her and her boyfriend Michael, a convert in our ward of one month, come with us on splits and give our investigators rides to church. An adorable girl named Carly who just got back from teaching English in Ukraine (Hi Lauren) comes with us and bears testimony like she's been teaching the gospel her whole life. And Donquel, who was baptized on Sunday, is from Compton and comes with us as well and has decided to use his God-given rapping talents to rap about the Gospel. Haha. I am humbled by the goodness of these 18-30 year old young adults!
Those aren't all the people we're teaching or all the amazing people I've met, but I could be here alllllll day telling stories if I let myself. We literally talk to everyone. Everyone. I never thought I'd find myself running across parking lots in 110 degree weather to stop people getting into their cars to tell them about Jesus Christ. But I absolutely love it!
Church on Sunday was an interesting experience! We had 3 investigators at church-- Zach, Josh, and Radu! I kind of started to understand what it's like to be a mom at church, trying to make sure everyone's doing okay and poor Radu keeps getting lost when we're singing hymns and trying to look up scriptures in the hymnbook and crossing himself after the prayer, AND meanwhile THE original creeper is sitting on the other side of the chapel staring at Sister Luke because he thinks he's in love with her and the police force bishopric is eyeing him like hawks and I'm wishing I was a 250 lb Samoan sister and could shield her from the creeper with my mass... The works of God continue! haha
I have truly been sent to the best mission in the world! I feel so blessed to have shown up just in time to reap an amazing harvest. I know that none of the success we are seeing right now is because of anything that I'm doing. Heavenly Father is literally putting people right in our paths that are searching for the happiness that comes through the Gospel. My heart is so full of gratitude. As the world gets closer to the Second Coming, we need to do all we can to bring our brothers and sisters with us and get them on the path! There are so many people who want the truth and don't know it or don't know where to find it. It's our job to find them! I know Heavenly Father has been guiding us and protecting us and will continue to do so as long as we do our part.
Sorry this is a novel, I hope you can find the time to read it :) Your prayers in my behalf are definitely being answered. I love you all so much!
Sister Browning
P.S: Mom, I left my camera charger plugged into the wall at the MTC so my camera's dead and I can't take any pictures. :( Can you look into ordering me a charger from Amazon? My camera is a canon powershot SD1200 IS and the battery says "Fits CANON NB-6L 3.7V 1200mAh"... if that helps. Thanks so much!
Aaahhhh!!! I love this soo much! :)
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