I finally got your package!! Thank you for the shells and the camera! I did get my camera fixed, though, so now I have a plethora of cameras. :) Would you like me to send the camera back or hold onto it?
I'm not even going to recognize the house in 10 months. How exciting!!
So, by the end of this week, I will have been in Kingman for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, and Valentine's Day! If I stay another transfer, I may hit Easter, too! That'd be all the major holidays except for July 4th. Pretty cool. :)
Well this was kind of a weird week because we had Zone Conference and Zone Training, both in Lake Havasu, which is an hour's drive from Kingman. It felt like we were gone from our area a lot. I learned a ton, though, and both meetings were much needed.
As of today, Bobby has moved to Tucson to seek help for his addiction problems. We'll miss him but we're proud of him! He's out of the mission but he has already hooked up with the ward and missionaries down there and he should be good to go. He told us before he left that he fully intends to get baptized once he's gotten cleaned up. It was a privilege teaching him but it's time for someone else to be his missionary.
Andy and Anna are still doing great. They are my absolute favorite! Andy told us that he has been feeling his testimony grow little by little. Our member fellowshippers, the Walkers, are going to pick up a white shirt and tie for him from the DI. He said that even though he's never been a church-goer, he could feel that something was missing on Sunday because he didn't go to church and he knew that's where he should be. Awwww. :) Anna is hanging back a little bit but we are being encouraging with her, and so is Andy. They want the whole family to be on board with learning about the gospel. Hopefully we'll get to start teaching their 10 and 18 year old sons too! That would be ideal!! Andy and Anna accepted a baptism date of March 24th. Kind of far away, but probably best for their situation. That's a Tuesday, random... but when we were praying about them that date came to mind, so we figured it was the Spirit. Anna said that's the day her dad passed away. Huh. They accepted the dates! The why behind March 24th remains to be seen. Heavenly Father must know something we don't!
We had a really cool experience with Doug where he finally admitted that he knows the church is true! YEAH! :) But he is hesitant about baptism because 'he wants to do it right." We read D&C 20:37 with him, the qualifications for baptism and asked him to listen for the word "perfect." It never says you have to be perfect to be baptized, just that you need to have the desire to follow Christ fully. That seemed to really make him think. The next day he missed his appointment and then he wasn't at church... Hopefully we get in contact with him soon!
One more cool story. On Thursday, we were doing some inspired knocking (like tracting, but... more inspired) and knocked on the door of a woman named Carol. "Missionaries! Come on in!" She proceeds to pull out a huge stack of LDS books and set them on her coffee table; "This is everything I've read about Mormonism!" Included in the stack was the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, Teachings from prophets A-Z, etc etc. She had actually been in the middle of A Marvelous Work and a Wonder when we knocked on the door. Cue jaw-droppage.
Carol is an English teacher, so naturally she's fascinated with world religions. And she has a daughter who's a convert so she decided to really do her research. She told us, "tell me everything that missionaries say. I've always wondered what missionaries say." So we got to teach her the first lesson. :) She wouldn't let us keep teaching her because she 'will never join and doesn't want to disappoint us,' so that was a little disheartening. However. As we were driving away, Sister Hame and I both felt strongly that her story is not over. We were talking about how cool it will be to get to the other side and see people we knew as missionaries who accepted the Gospel without us ever knowing. How many people have I met whose stories aren't over yet? The Spirit was so strong at that moment and witnessed to us that we are only seeing a small sliver, right now, of the joy and success and pay-off that will come because we chose to serve. I'm sure looking forward to that perfect day :)
So, for the past 2 months now, we have been listening to the same CD in the car on repeat. We have not gotten sick of it once. It is called Redeemer by Nashville Tribute, an LDS country-ish group. The whole thing is about Jesus Christ's life and mission. It's entertaining AND paints a beautiful picture of the Savior and helps me think about Him as we drive around. I would exhort you to find a copy of this CD immediately so that you, too, can partake in this great joy.
Although, I apologize for song #3, that one's just weird. :)
My favorite Sister Hame quote of the week, after someone shared with us the latest depressing current events: "Sometimes I think I'm so much of a patriot that George Washington possesses my body and goes 'NOT IN MY COUNTRY!' " A true Missourian, ladies and gentleman.
Love you all! Mom, BE SAFE when you're out running and please carry pepper spray! Dogs are scary!
Lots of love,
Sister Browning
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