How great the importance to make these things known!

Dear Family,

Well I feel bad about complaining about the cold if it's 1 degree in Rigby! It's dropped down to 40 here in Kingman and Sis Martin and I are two little popsicles. I've gotten soft out here. It's the coldest part of the mission but I can handle it ;) Mom, I got both packages on Saturday-- the one with my gray coat and the one with the blue. Thank you for sending those! It's just nice to see something from home, and putting on those old coats feels like a familiar hug. :) 

First off, I need to answer your questions from last week that I forgot to answer! What am I eating? Meat 'n potatoes. I've had it 7 times, to be exact. I'm not complaining, because it's delicious, but it's like Sunday dinner every dinner ;) This ward keeps us well fed! I'm still doing green smoothies in the morning-- or sometimes oatmeal, because I'm cold-- and usually sandwiches or tortillas for lunch-- or soup, because I'm cold. :) 

What am I doing for exercise? ...*sigh*... We're pretty limited out here. I miss running. If it were up to me, I'd run every day, but the cold weather is really hard on Sis Martin, being from Mexico City. So occasionally she bundles up and we run laps around a little gopher-hole-filled field behind our apartment, but I don't want Sis Martin to get sick again like she did a few weeks ago. We can't ride bikes either, because mine is still back in Robindale, and Sis Martin doesn't have a bike at all. Usually I just exercise in the apartment. Do you have any suggestions on what else I can do?? With daylight hours getting shorter and shorter I'm sure feeling the need for more exercise.

You also asked to hear more about my investigators, here's a few key people we're working with right now: 

Carlos, basically the coolest New Yorker ever. He has two little adorable kids and is probably the next bishop. He's got a super strong testimony and is willing to live the Gospel to the fullest-- the only problem is church. We can't seem to find a way for him to get work off. :/ Pray for him!!

Margot, a sweet older lady whose husband was baptized a few months ago. She has the opposite problem of Carlos-- comes to church each Sunday but just doesn't know if baptism is for her yet. She doesn't want to feel pressured. We know she will get there. We are just praying to know how to help her.

Brock is a lot like Margot, if Margot were a 30-something year old elementary school teacher with a hilarious witty sense of humor. He's dating one of our members-- who is also an elementary school teacher, awwww-- and ever so slowly progressing. Same as Margot, doesn't want to feel pressured. 

Nicole and Brittney are Bishop Tinnel's preteen granddaughters, and they have the most vibrant testimonies! Please pray that their parents hearts will be softened. 

Lita is a spunky 8 year old girl who comes from a less active family-- she is an incredible dancer and she's also blind. We're gonna try some different methods of teaching this week to help her really understand and have her own testimony of the Gospel, and hopefully get her family more involved as well. 

We met a few amazing new people this week-- a 16 year old girl named Xonia, who went to Meet the Mormons with a friend and now wants to be baptized!! We sat outside at a park bench in the wind yesterday and had a spirit-filled first lesson where she cried and bore her testimony of the power of prayer. Wow. Heavenly Father has really been preparing her for a long time. Hopefully she'll be baptized on December 7th!

We also met a 8 year old girl named Delaney, whose family are all less active members who want to come back to church. After Sister Martin recited Joseph Smith's first vision, Delaney started to cry, and her mom started to cry, and bore a powerful testimony that she's always known these things are true but that she'd forgotten. They're going to start reading the Book of Mormon as a family, and hopefully we'll be able to help them return to full activity in the church!! 

 I went on exchanges with Sis Hutchinson to Lake Havasu on Wednesday, and the whole exchange was a confirmation to me that Heavenly Father knows where we need to be. Sis Hutchinson is amazing, super hilarious and real. She and I are the only newly-transferred sisters in the zone, and she's gone through lots of things on her mission that have taught her wisdom and empathy. Sis Hutchinson gave me advice that was exactly what I needed to hear. She warned me to never ever compare myself to other missionaries and banish negative thoughts as soon as they enter my head. And she told me that whenever I wonder if a struggling area is my fault, that's Satan trying to plant a seed in my head, and all he has to do is get me to water that seed and he can limit my effectiveness as a missionary.  Well, that simply won't do. So I can't listen to him! :) She taught me so much about the power of faith and optimism. Gotta exercise more of it. :)

Rather than having regular church this Sunday, we had the Phoenix temple dedication! It was beautiful and the talks were amazing. If only I had packed a white handkerchief with me on my mission. ;) It was a little weird to tell all the investigators, "no, there's no church this Sunday..." But it opened up the door to talk about temples, which is great! 

Dad, it's funny you mention it- DJ and I were joking on the way to her baptism about the idea of her getting baptized in her mermaid tail! Sunday afternoon, Sabrina, Dianna, DJ, Michael, and Derek all drove down in a minivan to Kingman, stopped in Black Mountain to pick up Sister Luke, and took us with them to DJ's baptism. That was a dream come true. Going back to Robindale, seeing all those people I love so much gathered to support DJ, who's been waiting so long to get baptized-- it felt like we'd all died and gone to heaven! Super cool to see Derek get to baptize DJ, too. The love and unity that the YSAs in Robindale have for each other completely blows me away. I felt so motivated to do all I can to help Boulder Springs and White Cliffs become that same kind of ward. Robindale is truly a family, but it wasn't always that way. BS and WC can do it too! :)

One more story. Sometime during the week, we knocked on the door of a potential, Marsha, who invited us in. She turned out to be a former member who'd left the church 30 years ago. She was genuinely concerned for us and asked us to stop reading the Book of Mormon and the Bible for a month, and "only read history, and see what a difference it makes." She had so much doubt & anger & frustration and I felt so bad for her! All I could think was... Why would I do that? Asking me to stop studying the scriptures would be like asking a person on oxygen to turn off the tank and see if they can breathe easier. Meeting her was a confirmation to me that I do have a deep, grounded testimony that I know for myself that everything I've believed since I was a toddler is true. It was a fulfillment also of all the things they talked about at General Conference last month. She fulfilled Elder Anderson's words that Joseph Smith would be attacked from all sides, but if we had our own testimony of him, "the constant volleying of water balloons from the sidelines may get us wet, but they can never extinguish your fire of faith." And she fulfilled Elder Uchtdorf's words, that if we use the instruments God has given us we'll grow in light and truth but "if we remove ourselves from the light of the Gospel, our own light begins to dim-- until we look back and can't quite understand why we ever believed the Gospel was true."

Dad, what you said in your email reminded me of Marsha-- "Of course there are those who seek to avoid light and truth. You must not let them influence you or make you feel discouraged and afraid." It was frustrating to hear her voice complaints that we knew we had the answers to, knowing that all we could do was testify and walk out the door. But Sis Martin and I have thought about it several times since, as it made a lasting impression on us. Thank you, Marsha, for unknowingly doubling my faith in what I already knew to be true!

Favorite missionary scripture right now: 2 Nephi 2:8. "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah." 

Sending pictures from the baptism and Pday last week. (Excuse my companion, she's basically a model.) ;) 

I love you all! 

Sister Browning

You Know You're a Real Missionary When...

...the last speck of toenail polish from home is gone.

Seriously, that stuff lasts forever!

Dear Family,

You have ELDER HOLLAND coming to your Stake Conference?? Merry Christmas to you, that's so exciting. You'll have to take good notes and tell me all about what he says. How cool that you get to be interviewed by him, Dad, and Mom gets to lead the choir? Go Mom go! That will be a meeting to remember.

It sounds like everyone's doing well. Congrats on the new trampoline Aubree and Ryan, that's a great investment. I hope this one doesn't blow away! ;)

I'm not jealous of your weather... it got up to the 80's this week and I was happy as a clam. Apparently Arizona Novembers are a little bipolar? When it dipped below 50 I thought I was going to die... I've gotten soft! Haha

Well, we got to take a road trip to Vegas on Tuesday to attend an all-day conference with half the mission. Elder Bradley D. Foster of the 2nd quorum of the 70 spoke. (Apparently he is from Rigby? Did not know... embarrassed... but I talked to him and Sister Foster at lunch and they know Darwin and Colene, of course, and the Shippens, of course. Fun!) The entire conference blew my mind. Elder Foster had ideas that completely changed the way I look at missionary work.

A couple bold and loving and awesome quotes from his trainings:

"When missionaries are getting hung up on numbers, they've lost the vision." Oops.

"Too many missionaries are playing missionary. Don't play missionary. BE a missionary!" 

And a couple that hit me hard from Sister Foster's talk:

"I know that at some point, you've knelt down with tears in your eyes and told your Heavenly Father, 'I don't know if I can do this...' You can do this, but you can't do it without your Heavenly Father's help." 

"When you're tired and discouraged, you remember Who called you here." 

I wrote that second one on a piece of paper and hung it above my study desk. Her words have really been helping me this week. As far as the work goes, It was probably one of the hardest weeks I've had on my mission so far. We worked so hard and did our best to implement Elder Foster's ideas about working with the members, but it felt a little bit like we were riding a stationary bike. Almost all of our solid investigators have decided they really want to take their time before deciding to get baptized. They want to keep meeting with us, but it's not really going anywhere... The 8 year old girl we've been teaching, Lita, has stopped answering our questions or speaking in lessons, so now even though she wants to be baptized, we're not sure what to do.

I had my first experience attending 6 hours of church plus meetings on Sunday! I stayed awake through the whole thing! Covering two wards has been an interesting challenge. We really want to work more closely with the members and build their trust in us. The hard part is remembering which members go where. ;) One of our wards is doing much better than the other, so that's the other thing we're trying to figure out how to do-- balance the work and amount of time between both wards.

After planning last night, Sister Martin and I knelt down and had the most heartfelt companionship prayer I think I've ever had. We thanked Heavenly Father for trusting us with both these wards and the people in them and begged his help in accomplishing what we were sent here to do. We were both crying through the whole prayer. I'm so blessed to have her!

Whenever I'm tempted to think that the work is struggling because of me, I remember Who called me here, like Sister Foster said. I have lots of weaknesses, but this is His work, not mine. I'm so grateful to be in an area where I really have to decide, over and over, every day, if I'm going to give it my all. I'm grateful for however long it's going to take to see success. Heavenly Father is mindful of the people in this area, and whether I get to help them with the beginning, middle, or end stages of their progression in the Gospel, I'm just grateful I get to be a part of it.

Fun fact about Kingman: I regularly drive up and down part of Route 66... Like Cars route 66... it's part of my area :) 

Funny story of the week: So I was the designated driver to and from the mission conferenceon Tuesday (that's not the funny part), and on the way back, there was a different sister sitting in the passenger seat than on the way down, because the other companionship of sisters had done an exchange. For some reason I assumed she knew the way to Kingman, even though she's a Lake Havasu sister... When we passed a sign for Needles & Blythe California, I was finally like... "Sister Hutchinson... Do you know how to get to Kingman?" 

Sister Hutchinson slowly shakes her head... Haha so we called someone and they told us just to keep going. We went the looooong way and ended up in Kingman at least half an hour later than we'd planned. Just took the wrong freeway. Oh well. :) Now I can say I've been in all 3 states in the mission in one day. Didn't leave mission boundaries though so that's good! ;)

One other thing... we had a lesson in Gospel Principles (my second gospel principles of the day..) on prayer. Someone shared a story about the power that comes from praying for other people. Whoever is praying for me, thank you for praying for me. It means the world and I can feel the blessings that are coming from your prayers! 

Love you all so much, 

Sister Browning

P.S: Quick update... DJ just called me and informed me that she, Dianna, Zach, and the gang are coming to Kingman to pick me up for her baptism next Sunday. And I don't have a choice. Haha I love her! Hopefully it does work out to where I can go! 

Pictures: Language study with Sis. Martin! I feel like a real life English teacher!

And a family photo at the mission conference. I got to see Sister Luke again (<3 <3 <3BFF<3 <3 <3) The middle sister is Sis Arnold, who trained Sis Luke, Sis Martin, and Sis Herman (the one on the end.) Then Sis Luke trained, me, and now Sis Martin and I are companions!

Sister Browning Learns Spanish, Sort of

Happy Monday from the windy and remote city of Kingman AZ! :)

Megan thinks Kingman is beautiful!  

Whoooo I don't even know where to begin. I feel like I've started a brand new mission. And I have no idea what I'm doing! :) Last Monday I said my goodbyes at FHE and Tuesday I got on a bus and now I'm here... It's like the Wizard of Oz in reverse... I was in the Emerald City, I got swept up in a tornado and landed in Kansas!

This area is pretty cool. Apparently the district leader covers a ward where he and his companion backpack 10 miles down into the Havasupi nation and live in a church building for a week. And one time the sisters went to the Grand Canyon for Pday. Just a little taste of what it's like out here. :) Serving in Kingman is definitely a privilege. Not everyone gets to leave the valley and see this part of the mission, so I feel really grateful!

This work is SO different than what I was doing before. I've gone from working with singles to working with families, from one covering ward to covering two, from the busy city of Las Vegas to the slower-paced... whatever Kingman is. I should feel overwhelmed, but I feel strangely hopeful. We had a rough week but I can't deny that I feel like amazing things are going to happen this transfer.

My companion Sister Martin (Mar-teen, not Mart-in) is an absolute angel. She's from Mexico City and started learning English when we were together in the MTC! So there's a little bit of a language barrier, but honestly, she's doing amazing. She's one of the sweetest, most humble, loving, focused missionaries I've served around. She got sick on Saturday when the temperature dropped suddenly (Kingman knows it's November) so I've been trying to take care of her. Meanwhile she's been teaching me a little bit of Spanish! I can now say "Tu eres mi mejor companera" and "somos las misioneras de la iglesia de Jesus Cristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias" and a couple other things. Whenever an appointment falls through or someone flakes on us, we jokingly say "Salvacion!! Comprendes?!" Hopefully my Spanish is a little less wimpy by the end of our time together. :)

One of my favorite, and also one of the most frustrating, things about this area is working with the Elderly. Sis Smith would always tease me because, in Robindale, whenever I saw an old man walking down the street alone, it made me soooo sad. Like... where's his wife?? What's his story?? Does he have the Gospel?? So now I get to teach them, which is awesome! We're teaching a sweet old man named Ronald who had a stroke recently, but in his earlier days he was a Motown singer. He's got all of these pictures of himself on his walls, gussied up in a tux, posing with people like Aretha Franklin. Apparently he's been taught by sisters fooorrrreeeever, but yesterday, he finally came to church for the first time!! It was stake conference, actually, but Elder Christofferson and Elder Uchtdorf were speaking over a broadcast, so... even better. ;) We also taught a 93 year old lady named Helen who, in her closing prayer, asked God to let her leave this earth already... that sort of thing breaks my heart. I love older people sooo much.

Happy Birthday to Dad, Nelson, and Jeren this coming week!! Do something fun and exciting for me! You have birthday cards coming in the mail! but they might be a little belated :P

We got to volunteer at a community 5k run on Saturday morning-- we were windy and cold but it was worth it!

I've been learning a ton lately about the Atonement. I read in Matthew this morning the account of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and it was a little overwhelming. I love my Savior. He did that for me! The more I learn about Christ the more it motivates me to share the gospel for the right reasons-- not because I'm supposed to, or out of fear of failure, or desire for recognition, but because I have been given a precious gift and the whole world needs it. Whether you're 5 or 95, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way to lasting happiness.

I love you all so much! 

Sister Browning

"I'm Going on an Adventure!"

10 points to whoever names that movie. Jeren ;)

Dear Family,

Aren't you so grateful for temples?? It's amazing the personal revelation and clarity of mind we can have there. Just goes to show that all important decisions gotta be made off of the Spirit and not by our own wisdom, 'cause logic will fail you sometimes. Thank goodness that we can take our questions to the temple. Your experience with Grandma and Grandpa in the temple was super cool :)

Laurie mentioned I'm getting transferred... I'm going to Kingman Arizona! O.o We show up to the mission office on saturdays to get our "transfer doctrines," these printouts with our new area and new companion and assignment... when I read mine I was initially like, "Is this someone's else's??" Haha :P I felt pretty confident that I was staying in Robindale for another transfer but Heavenly Father has a better plan! Saying goodbye is really, really difficult. That's the wonderful and terrible thing about a mission-- you get the opportunity to love so many people so deeply in such a short amount of time. And then you get to move and do it again. And again. I cried... and then I prayed.. and then I realized that I have the choice to complain the whole way to Kingman, or 1st Nephi 3:7 it. Nephi said "I'll go. I'll do it," and Laman and Lemuel murmured until they lost precious blessings, but either way, they went! I'm going to the promised land. And I'm very very excited to see what it's like. :) Because I have no idea!

My new companion will be Sister Martin, which I'm SUPER happy about, because she was in the MTC with me. Not my district, because she was learning English, but she came out in the field with me. She's adorable and we'll get along great. Meanwhile, Sister Smith is staying in Robindale and training a new missionary!! Lucky girl that gets Robindale as her first area. Who gets to be that spoiled? ;)

It was a great last week in Robindale, that's for sure. Too many amazing stories to write down. We got to do more reactivation work than we have in the past-- we found a girl named Inger, a guy named Brad, and a guy named Sean who haven't been to church in a while and we've been working with them. Reactivation work is so exciting; I really feel like I get to help the Good Shepherd find his lost sheep!! These young adults have made covenants with their Heavenly Father through baptism and we get to be there to help them get the anchor of the Gospel back in their lives. Super cool.

Zach, Derek, Stefanie, Akeem, and Sabrina are all doing so well-- which is the biggest blessing. The fact that they're all growing and progressing in the gospel is all I could ever ask for. We got to meet with all of them for new member lessons this week, and honestly, I think I learn more from them and their strong spirits than they ever learn from me! It's a privilege to be able to sit in on those lessons with the ward missionaries!

Seeing as this is my last email from Robindale here is a list of a few things about Robindale that I love:

• The amazing, helpful, inspiring members that become your best friends
• Being so close to the mission office-- we teach there sometimes and always poke our heads in and say hi to the office staff. They've become our best friends too :)
• Bishop Tuke, one of the greatest bishops of all time
• The Elvis impersonator that lives in our apartment complex... I'll miss him
• Las Vegas Blvd. The APs send us so many referrals that we're there a ton, and we meet the most colorful people! From Santa Claus to a man in a skirt to the sweet old lady from Nigeria with no teeth... Las Vegas Blvd has it all.
• Sister Smith!! The theme for the past few days has been "Sister Smith... who's gonna sing in silly voices with me now??" "Sister Browning... who's gonna quote Disney movies with me now??" She's a great girl and incredible missionary. I'm glad I got to serve with her if just for a brief time.

When I get transferred out of Kingman I'll send a list of things I love about Kingman too :)

Well I get to go to dinner with Laurie & Kevin & Rebecca tonight, which is about as exciting as it gets!! And then Tuesday morning I'll be heading out. I'm praying really hard that I'll be able to find rides back to Vegas for all the baptisms coming up-- especially DJ and Alexis. It's about an hour and a half-2 hour drive, I'm hearing.

1 Ne 17:13: "And I will be your light in the wilderness, and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments... and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

Lots of Love,

Sister Browning

Pictures: A potential investigator named Samson left a note on his door explaining why he wasn't at our appointment... this is a big deal. No one's ever done that before! YSAs have this funny habit of just... disappearing, and ceasing to exist when you show up. The note made us so happy we asked our member to take pictures of it. Haha!

We put on a carnival this Saturday for children living in shelters to come and trick or treat and play games inside the church building. A big bus picked up them and their families and brought them to us. Sister Smith and I manned the bean bag toss game, and also had a photo-opp with Mary Poppins and Bert (Nan and Steven, the cutest couple to ever grace the Robindale ward.)

And us with Alexis at dinner before the fireside last night :)

Last P-day fun with Sister Smith

"I Cannot Say the Smallest Part Which I Feel"

Alma 26:16 :)

Hi Family!

Thanks so much for sorting through so many pockets of random Megan-things to put together that package! I don't even know where any of my stuff is at home, so... I can only imagine how long that's taken! I really appreciate it :)

Mom, I'm printing out your email and re-reading it whenever I have an "off day." I love you! :) And yes, green smoothies are my bread-and-butter. (That's kinda punny...) I usually do almond milk, spinach, kale, bananas, frozen mango and strawberry, chia seeds, sometimes peanut butter. If I can get my hands on all that stuff that you use, I want to give that a try!

Well this week, our teaching pool exploded. It was the most exciting thing ever. Do you remember how last week I said I had a feeling that the next week was going to be full of miracles?? Oh boy it happened! Sister Smith and I set a higher goal for finding new investigators than we ever have before. I know Heavenly Father blessed us because we commited ourselves to that goal! Prepared, amazing people just seemed to come out of the woodwork.

 We're teaching this amazing girl named Alexis who's preparing to be baptized on November 8th! She's had a hard life, but you could never tell just from looking at her. She's risen above all the hard things in her past and found a testimony of Jesus Christ on her own. A friend from college gave her a Book of Mormon and she read through chapter 8 before we even met her. Wow! She had the sweetest experience when she prayed about the Book of Mormon... she prayed before bed, and woke up at 4:30 AM with the book in her arms like a teddy bear. We promised her that Heavenly Father wanted her to know that her testimony of that book could be her best friend, and bring her more comfort and peace than any other book. She's become good friends with Michael, and Sabrina, and their recent convert experiences are helping her a ton. That's one of the amazing things about Robindale--  in the same week that we meet them, our investigators are already hanging out with the ward members and being included in the group, without us asking them to, without us being there.

One other fun story from Alexis: She graduated college recently as a fashion design major, so she dresses really smart. At institute on Wednesday she excitedly told us "I bought my first modest dress for church! It even has sleeves! I searched forever and finally found one I liked!" Of course we hadn't asked her to, but the fact that she took the initiative to do that warms my heart. She's so ready to follow her Savior and do whatever He asks. :)

If I wrote down every experience and tender mercy and miracle from this past week, it'd go on for miles. I didn't know I had enough room in my heart to love so many people so much! I  wish I could bottle up that feeling and send it home so you could know exactly what it's like. I'm so, so grateful. Ammon says it best... "Who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." A recently returned missionary spoke in church yesterday and said "I know I went on my mission to find my friends." That is exactly how I feel, especially serving with young single adults. I know I knew these people before this life. I can just imagine us making some kind of pact that whichever one of us had the gospel would share it with the other. And since I have been so blessed to be raised in a home where I always knew who I was and who God is and what His plan is for us, I get to be the one to share that with my friends! Because if the roles were reversed, I know they'd do it for me.

Speaking of love. I LOVE Sister Smith! She's such an amazing missionary! I've been noticing lately that the Spirit is really working in our companionship. On multiple occasions every day, we will have the same prompting of where to go, or what direction to take a lesson, or who to call or visit.. we even say the same things in the same tone of voice at the same time. And even though it happens every day, we'll just turn to each other, like *gaaassp...* the Spirit!!Anyway, Sister Smith is amazing. She is so good at loving everyone, right away, no matter what they're like on the outside. If she were a Disney princess, she'd be Esmerelda from Hunchback of Notre Dam. She's got this strong, independent, don't-need-no-man personality coupled with an incredible "God Help the Outcasts" charity and love for those around her. I love serving with her and I'm praying for another transfer together!

Well I'm fresh outta time but that's just a little bit of my wonderful week. Please pray for President Snow as he finalizes plans for transfers. I know that whatever happens next transfer is what Heavenly Father needs to happen :)

I love you all! Sending a belated picture from Meet the Mormons last week. :)

 Lots of Love, Sister B

P.S: Mom or Dad, do you have Brother Hillam's email address? I'd love to write him a lil thank you note. :)

Project: Occupy the Movie Theaters

Dear Family,

The little white house is GONE? That's nuts... The house is going to look so different in 14 months! Will I even recognize it? ;)

Well this week, we went to the casino!! Haha but really. A member rented out an entire theater at Sunset Station for the missionaries and their investigators, so we took a nice little day trip!  Let me try and explain what it looked like...

Driving into the parking lot, we see President & Sister Snow:

"How do we get in without going through the casino, President?"

President looks around, holds out his hands, shrugs and smiles :)

So however many hundreds of missionaries and investigators there were took a little jaunt through the slot machines and congregated by the popcorn. It was quite a sight. :) 

We brought Sabrina and DJ and they both loved it. I'm pretty sure they both cried. I ran into Sister Luke who was there with two of her investigators-- according to her companion, the work is exploding now that Sister Luke's there! Who's surprised? No one's surprised. :) Sister Luke has a way of loving an area into a beautiful cacophony of success.

Apparently Meet the Mormons was #1 in Michigan's box office this weekend, and #10 in the country. If you haven't seen the movie yet, please go see it! And more importantly, please invite all your nonmember friends! It's the perfect way for people to understand what we're about without feeling like our beliefs are being shoved at them. Regardless of their religious background, they'll be able to appreciate it as an inspiring movie all around. Our prophet and apostles are so inspired. They know the far-reaching effects this movie is going to have!  

It's been a great missionary tool for Sabrina, especially, who works at a movie theater and has been able to tell people the day it came out, "Yeah, I'm basically becoming a Mormon tomorrow!" Go Sabrina! :)

Speaking of Sabrina, her baptism was wonderful. Her friend Giovanny who was baptized in a family ward a few weeks ago baptized her. I'm attaching photos now so that I don't run out of time... there we go... done. :) She had lots of support from our wonderful ward members! She's going to be well taken care of here in Robindale. :)

I'm also sending pictures from the temple tour we did with Sabrina. One of our members, Meriah, has become instant best friends with Sabrina. She came to the temple with us and took pictures with her nice camera. I just wish we had one with her in it! The temple tour was really significant for Sabrina because her mom passed away when she was 2, and she's been raised by her grandparents. Hearing that she could be baptized for her mom made her cry. "I'm more excited to be baptized for my mom than I am to be baptized for me!" We can't wait to be there with her when that happens. :)

Do you remember Bas, the boy with the cape and sword that we started teaching? Man I'm learning so much from him. For example, how kind and accepting this ward is. The singles in this ward have taken him under their wing, and as a result he's really progressing! I'm learning from their examples how to have a more Christlike love for him. I think this ward may be the first place in his life where he's felt loved, safe, and comfortable to be himself. The more he learns the principles of the Gospel, the more hie's able to let go of the defense mechanisms he has in place. On Saturday, during our lesson on the Plan of Salvation, he even took off his black cloak... This is huge. He came to Sabrina's baptism, and even brought a cake. He's a sweetheart!  

Well so many wonderful things happened I can't even remember them all. Uhhh.... That'll have to do. Thank goodness I'm keeping a journal. :) And I have an amazing feeling about this week! We have started receiving promising referrals from members and other missionaries by the bucketloads. This upcoming week is going to be FULL of miracles! I can't wait to tell you all about it next Monday!

I can't believe it's been 4 months already. I love this work! It's overwhelming and tiring and more rewarding than anything else I've ever done! It's given me a deeper appreciation for the Gospel and my family. I thank my Heavenly Father for you all every day. Thanks for being in my life and supporting me!

Lots of Love,

Sister B

Like Super Bowl Sunday for Missionaries

Dear Best Family Ever,

So you might put in an outbuilding and you're thinking about a POOL? Haha whaaattttt?? That's awesome. I told Sister Smith and she goes, "you must have eaten so much food at home, now that you're gone your family can pay for nice things!" I laughed so hard... Blessings from children serving missions. ;) Just kidding. It's crazy to see pictures of the demolition. I hope everyone in the extended family can get a little piece of the log house to keep if they want it. Can't wait to see the finished product!

I'm also really excited about all the missionary work going on in our family. You truly understand and apply how to bring people into the fold through genuine friendship! That's something I love about the ward I'm in... These singles are so good at taking investigators and less actives under their wing. No one looks at them and says, "Hello, I'd like to make you my personal service project." They make them their friends!  

Mmk, CONFERENCE. Can I draw little hearts all around that word?? I love it! It's like Christmas! Four hours (6 including the women's) of straight revelation. I think I took a half-dozen pages of notes. My favorite talk was Elder Holland's... He answered a couple of my questions very clearly. I loved it when he got personal and said, "I don't know why circumstances of birth vary... and I may not be my brother's keeper, but I am my brother's brother... and because I have been given much, I too must give." No conference talk has ever made me cry before. The past 4 months have given me a greater understanding of the deep need this fallen world has for Christlike love and service. It was just really motivating for me.

And yes, I LOVED Elder Bednar's talk, too! Funny enough... Our investigator, Steven, who is super Catholic, was there to watch that one session of Conference. Of all the sessions he could have come to, that was the most important, because of that talk. I think it helped him get a better feel four our Church and why we're so eager for him to know if it's true.

Sister Smith and I had a really really great week. Heavenly Father has been so good to us. Conference and my studies have made me very aware of my personal weaknesses, but that has just helped me feel motivated to continually try to do better. I'm just grateful that He is working through us for the benefit of His children even though we have no idea what we're doing! ;)

I've been going through the new testament and marking it by color for each of the Christlike Attributes in Preach My Gospel. Faith = pink, hope = orange, charity & love = red, and so on. It's incredible to see how the Savior's life and teachings literally pinpoint all of those attributes. It's helping me come to understand my Savior better and what exactly I'm trying to emulate. There's something in almost every verse! My New Testament looks like a rainbow! :)

Answering your questions, mom: Stefanie is doing really well. I forgot to give her your email address but I'll do that this week :) She was sick this past week and had her first experience receiving a blessing of healing. We called a few Elders to give her a blessing and I guess she could feel the pain leave her immediately after. Power of the priesthood is real!

Derek is also doing great. We meet with him and the ward missionaries once a week to do his new member lessons. Cool experience from this week's Plan of Salvation lesson... The Spirit was so strong as we looked at the plan laid out on the floor and realized how blessed we are to have that knowledge. The tide of conversation turned naturally to missionary work and our responsibility to share the plan with others. I invited everyone there to think about that one person whose name comes to mind every time we talk about missionary work, and reach out and act on that prompting. And I thought of Gladys Fernandez from high school. :) Mom or Katherine, could you get on my facebook and get her email address for me?

DJ is still going strong. She is struggling financially and emotionally, and sometimes I wish I could just solve her problems! But I know that even if I could, that would deprive her of some necessary faith-building lessons she is learning right now. In her lessons this week we talked about how this pre-baptism time is the perfect time for her to set the patterns of faith and obedience that she will want to have for the rest of her life. She will probably be baptized sometime in November.

Sabrina is doing amazing as well. Every time someone brings up her baptism, she just glows. Her testimony astounds me! She has been diving into the scriptures, marking it up about baptism and obedience. She came to every session of Conference, and said "I wish there was more!" What an example. "If all men had been, and were, and ever would be like unto Sabrina, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever..." Like... Seriously.

We got to do a session in the Las Vegas temple on Wednesday with Amber, and Mom, I thought of you :) Have a wonderful week everybody! The Gospel is the way to lasting happiness!

Lots of Love,

Sister B