siga adelante

Hey familia!!!


Hermana LeBaron and I have been taking advantage of this Christmas season and singing carols to the people we meet when we're tracting. People are a lot more receptive to the gospel around this season. We also like showing the youtube "The Spirit of Christmas" at our dinner appointments. It's really touching, and reminds us to focus on Christ. If you have a few minutes I highly recommend looking it up.


It was really depressing this week because one of our most golden investigators and her little daughter went into a women's shelter because her husband was abusing her and went to jail. She still came to church yesterday and called us after and told us that she still wanted to get baptized, that she knew it was true. It's really a sad situation because now her "husband" she was living with is in jail. She has so much faith and keeps testifying to us that everything will work out with God's help. She really inspires me because she wants so bad to do what's right.


We also have a fairly new investigator, Nicolas who started coming to church even before we started teaching him (that usually never happens!). He is a really humble guy with one leg- he walks around with crutches wherever he goes. This last lesson we had with him he bore his testamony about the church without knowing he was bearing his testimony. He told us he used to study with the Jehovah Witnesses and go to church with them but now that he's started going to church with us he's really felt a peace and ease at church. He has a lot of friends and support at church and he's planning on getting baptized the end of this month.


I love serving the Lord!
Hermana Brown

i am training!

Querida familia,

 

 

Hola!!!! This transfer just flew by and the tremendo trio is breaking up! Hermana Malekamu and Hermana Bailey are leaving and I am training.

It's gonna be another great transfer! 

 

 

So the Mondragon family went to get their marriage license but didnt have the right identification so now we have to move back Glendy's baptismal date. We're trying to help them stay excited still, because this is just a little stumbling block. It was really awesome because Alexander bore his testimony yesterday in Sacrament meeting and you could just see the change and happiness he has now. This gospel is remarkable.

The Enamorados came to church too! We usually go wake them up in the morning by banging on their door and throwing rocks at the window, but yesterday morning they were already up. They have such a cute family. The only problem is their not married either! 

 

 

Thanks for all your love and prayers!

 

Have a great day! :))

Hermana Brown

Happy thanksgiving!!!

Hola familia!!!


Wow a lot of miracles happened this last week. We were definitely guided by the Spirit and I know that the Lord prepared the people we are teaching. It was meant to be. So last Wednesday night we decided to go visit Yajida (she's 12 and lives with her aunt and uncle who are members) because we hadnt visited her after she said she wasnt getting baptized. Well that visit was heaven sent because she told us that she'd been having dreams every night ever since we stopped visiting her about getting baptized in the church and then having a better life after. It's really common for hispanics to have revelatory dreams apparently. And so we asked her what she was going to do about it and she said she wanted to get baptized the 24th of November! It was a good thing we stopped by. This is a big step for Yajida because her parents and sibblings are not members but I know that the Lord will be there with angels "on her left and on her right". We are always battling against Satan with the many influences around us, but the Lord always wins. And that's why I am on His team. 


Also- Glendy and Alexander (the couple who isn't married, Alex is member, Glendy isn't) are doing so well! They are so willing to help us and their 2 year old daughter is even praying. it's so cute! But the coolest part is that Glendy and Alexander went with us to a lesson with another couple, David and Karen, who also arent married and it was a match made in heaven. Eventhough Glendy isn't even a member she bore testimony of the importance of making goals so they could get baptized and how the gospel had blessed her life. Alexander suggested that they go to take out their marriage licenses together so they can get baptized! and so they're planning on going this weekend. I feel like such a proud parent watching them progress. Alexander has come a long way. In the beginning when we would come over he would hide in the back because he was drinking and knew it was wrong. Now, Alexander has stopped drinking and a lot of his friends have become curious about the church because of it. I know that Alexander's example will bring a lot of people to the gospel. It's incredible. Looking back I can see how the Lord prepared Alexander and Glendy so that they could help David and Karen accept the gospel. 


I know that I am only an instrument in the hand of the Lord. He uses me to bring His children onto Him, in His loving arms, where we can feel of worth and important. We are each important in building God's kingdom and we must use our specific gifts from God to further His work. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!


love hermana Brown

Tremendo Trio!

Hola familia y amigos! como estan?


President gave us a new name for our trio: tremendo trio! This week went by so fast. We've been doing a lot of contacting because a few investigators (jahida and johnathan) decided not to get baptized right now. It's really sad to see people make that choice but that just means that the Lord has someone else prepared for us. Amongst our contacts was this bosnian lady who we could hardly understand and then gave us a group hug and wet kisses, each one of us. Also we contacted a vietnamese guy who gave us quail eggs to eat... they were pretty good. I really love knocking doors because you never know who you're gonna meet!


We're still working with Alexander and Glendy- they came to church again! their wedding is the first of dec and then glendy's getting baptized the following week! we're so excited.


I love you all!
hermana brown

Hermana Brown TDM transfer day 10/23/12

Hermana Brown TDM transfer day 10/23/12

Trio!!!

Hello!

I'm in a trio now! I'm still comps with Hermana Malekamu, but also Hermana Bailey joined us. We all get along so well and have lots of fun. This week was long and crazy and we had a lot of adventures....we even had to go to urgent care for my comp. but we're all good and healthy now :)

So we're still teaching Juan and his kids, but less than normal. His son Jonathan who's 16 doesn't feel ready for baptism but we're still gonna teach him anyway because his sister is ready. 

I am so grateful to teach the gospel because I learn so much. I really can't imagine my life without my mission! Thanks for all your support and prayers!

love,

Hermana Brown

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

Buenas tardes familia! :))

what a crazay week! we have been teaching Juan (his sibblings are members) and his kids and it was going soooooo well. but then his stubborn wife came into town who lives in arkansas and she doesnt support her husband's baptism. she claims that he's already been baptized....we've explained the restoration so now all she needs to do is her part: read. come to church. PRAY! until she does her part, she will keep being stubborn. it's really a complicated situation because Juan is on probation so cant leave texas and lives here with his exwife.... but anyway we're gonna keep working with juan's wife. I really know that the Spirit changes hearts. When we first started teaching Juan he was very stubborn but then he started coming to church and his heart softened. We're hoping the same will happen with his wife.

 

I really love the Book of Mormon. It is the keystone of our religion. Sister Susan Easton Black (the lady who knows sooo much about Joseph Smith and is engaged to President Durrant's dad) came and spoke at a conference in our mission. She talked about the consperacies at the time that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. And how there are 101 different names for Christ in the Book of Mormon. She talked about how really the Book of Mormon is a story within a story. It's a record of an ancient people who fail and also about God and His dealings with them. How God is involved in their lives. And our lives are really just stories within a story too- because God is involved with our life too. Many times Ive looked back in my life, especially on my mission, and realized how I was really directed by the hand of God. He is involved in our lives and I know that with Him I can do all things (alma 26:12 :) ). 

 

I am so grateful to be on a mission right now. there is nothing i would rather be doing. 

love yall,

 

Hermana Brown

Called to Serve Our King

Hello!

 

 

Wow I hope everyone enjoyed conference! It was so amazing and very spiritually edifying. I loved all of them but I especially liked Pres Uctdorf's talk about being happy now. a lot of the times as humans we get wrapped up about the finish line and we forget to enjoy the journey. We really have more blessings than we think, we just need to take the time to look for them.

 

 

This week was really great, we finally contacted a referral we received from the english elders. Apparently this man named Alexander who doesnt speak english saw the english elders on their bikes and gave them his name and phone number and left. So the elders gave us his info and we went over there. Turns out that he's a member and his "wife" is not. The only problem is that they're not married and he has a drinking problem that he's really embarrarssed about. But i know that they will come along and will be ready for their baptism by nov. 10.

 

 

Our other baptismal date we have is with Juan. Another cool story. So 6 months ago all of his family got baptized except him and his family. The missionaries who taught them said Juan almost made rude remarks during the lessons and asked far fetched questions. So a few weekends ago we visited their family and Juan was there and he was asking far fetched questions but this time i wouldnt let him. every time he did i told him to listen to the lesson and ask his family those questions later. Juan is very knowledgeable in the bible and finally received his answer that this church is true. tonight we have a fhe with him and his family. im so excited to teach him and his family! I know that the Lord really prepares people.

 

 

I love you all! Gracias por sus oracions,

 

Hermana Brown

general conference!!! :D

Hola Familia!!!

 

 

How is everyone? I'm doing well, Hermana Malekamu and I are tearing it up here in Dallas. Last week we had 3 baptisms, 140 contacts and 23 lessons....it was a busy week! 

 

 

Right now we're focusing on two investigators with baptismal dates, Hermana Aguilar and Mario. Hna Aguilar has had about 5 baptismal dates and knows the church is true. Her only obstacle is her husband, who doesnt want her to be baptized. We had a really good lesson with just her last night and she's decided she is going to go through with the baptism and be an example in her family.

Mario is a heavy smoker and drinker who's daughter is a member. Mario is about 65 but looks about 85 and his daughter is helping him so much. It's amazing to have her in the lessons with us because we can just feel the love that she has for her dad and how she wants him to quit so he can live longer. 

 

 

I can't wait for general conference! Hna Malekamu and I went to the Relief Society session saturday and before it started we kept telling eachother, 'that's the man! there he is! that's who we testify is really a prophet every single day!' and i truly know that President Monson is the true and only prophet on the earth right now. He speaks with God and receives revelation for us! What a blessing. I'm so excited for general conference this weekend! It is truly remarkable how everyone can receive different revelation from listening to the same thing. And so hna Malekamu and i have been encouraging our members to think of questions that they can ask God to be answered during general conference, and then listen to the answers during conference. Will you all do that too? We know you'll receive answers. Specific answers.

 

 

Thank you for all your prayers! I love you! :)
Hermana Brown

 

 

Here is my address:

13100 Pandora Dr. #115

Dallas, TX 75238

Change

Hello,


Wow this week just flew by and I can't believe that it's almost October! This week has been awesome. We have so much support from the ward and that makes all the difference. One investigator we have, Maria, has been having a lot of doubts about her baptismal date the 30th, but because she has member friends who actually call and care about her, she still wants to get baptized. We were really concerned about her because her husband didn't agree with the church but we had had such great members supporting her. It's so amazing how when people commit to be baptized how hard Satan works to convince them otherwise. I know that the fight against Satan is real, but God always wins. And that's why we need to always surrounding ourselves with good things, busing ourselves with good works.


We've also started teaching this 60 year old man, Mario who is a heavy drinker and smoker. His daughter is an active member and loves her dad soooo much. She also goes with us to the lessons and testifies with such power and love for him. She wants him to change for his own good and so that he can live longer to spend more time with his family. Now he just needs to have the desire to change. And that's the hardest part of missionary work. We can't change them or force them to do anything. We just testify of what we know is true and has blessed our lives and then invite. We only can invite.


Always remember that this is a gospel of change. I love the words of the Savior in 3 Nephi when He says that His arms are extended with mercy. He is always there with open arms, beckoning us to come unto Him, just come. The only way that we can truly understand what it means to be happy is in and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.


love ya lots!
Hermana Brown

Don't Delay, It's Getting Late

Hola!


Yesterday was the best and craziest Sunday ever! We had 9 investigators at church, including 2 families and a part member family. It was so amazing to sit next to a full family (with the mom and dad) during Sacrament meeting that we had tracted into and are so excited to learn more. And it was really a tender mercy because the branch president asked me to give my testimony so i did about eternal families, kinda directing it at our investigators. And of course Emmanuel was there too, he's getting baptized on the 22nd. Emmanuel is so awesome and pretty much a member because we asked him to go pick up an investigador and he did! he's also gone out with the elders in our ward.


So the reason why we had such a big turn out at church yesterday was because we had a movie night on Saturday, we watched an outside movie, The Testaments. Everyone who came to the movie came to church too! It was a really powerrful night because we were able to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel and handed out Book of Mormons to everyone who came. The Spirit was really strong. It was a really successful night and weekend.


That night we also got a call from the assistants......and im getting transferred!!! ive only been here in the Garland branch one transfer and I've really grown to love it. I'm going to serve in Casalinda, East Dallas with Hermana Matalunga (sp??) from Tonga. I'm so excited because she was my best friend Lisa Olander's companion in the MTC!


I'm so glad that the Lord trusts me to do His work. He really has great confidence in us and knows of the divine potential that we each have. The gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and always inviting us to change, be a little better. I love the words of Elder Holland, "Dont delay, it's getting late" because we should not wait to change. wickedness never was happiness.

love ya,

hermana brown

Adventures!

Querida familia,


This week was pretty crazy...today was no school so we hung out with the ward and played basketball and volleyball.  we went to downtown Dallas and saw where John F. Kennedy was shot. Friday we had an all day conference with the hermanas. We also had a movie night which was such a success! we set up a projector in the middle of some hispanic apartments and watched The Testaments in Spanish. People pulled out chairs from their apartments because they were so curious. One guy even took notes! So we're going to do it again this weekend.


All is well!

love ya,
Hermana Brown

The Most Beautiful Sight in Texas

Hello! :D

What a week! Hermana Kimball and I reached all of our goals, including a baptism on Saturday. Albert entered the waters of baptism and it was really neat because his dad got to baptize him (he's a recent convert). Definitely the most beautiful sight in Texas is filling up the baptismal font because someone is going to get baptized :)

We're still teaching Emmanuel and he is so golden. He asked us what he needs to do to be accepted in the church! He was really a miracle that we found him because we were going to visit an old investigator but we found him instead.

I am so grateful for this time to serve. I love you all!

Hermana Brown

gorditias

Hola familia y amigos!


Wow another great week has gone by and time just seems to be picking up pace. I can't believe it's already time for school to start up again!

this week we got to do a really fun service project. We helped a hispanic family make mexican food for a fundraiser and so i learned how to make gorditas, tacos sudor, horchata, and salsa. The fundraiser was for another family in our ward who's dad got deported and needed bail money. I was in charge of the gorditas (they're like thick corn flour tortillas) and we had a huge turnout and it was a big success. ill have to make you gorditas some day cause they're way easy.


i had a neat experience this week teaching at an investigator's house when his friend, Mr. Garcia, came over in the middle of our lesson of the Plan of Salvation. He obviously wasn't understanding it because he was asking far fetched questions so I was prompted to start teaching him the Restauration while Hermana Kimball continued teaching the Plan of Salvation. Half way through I was kind of frustrated because he just wasn't listening and still asking far fetched questions. But then I was prompted to just testify and be patient. And i don't know really how it happened but he softened up and changed, and I changed too- my blood pressure went down and I was able to testify of the truth. And then he asked the golden question: "but how can i know for myself this is true?" and it was really a big change because before he was asking where we were getting all of this information.


I am so grateful for the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I know that if we listen to our promptings we will receive more and that we can make a difference in others' lives if we just follow them. I am so grateful to be serving full time. Like Ammon in the Book of Mormon, I know that I am nothing without our Heavenly Father and 'with His strength, I can do all things' (Alma 26:12).


love
hermana cafe

Eating Dinner with Jesus

Harrrooooooo! :)


My first week in Garland was awesome. I love it. The area is not that big (but we still have a car hehe) and the area is poorer. also, the members are so helpful. 14 of the lessons we taught last week had a member present! Oh yeah, and we have 9 baptismal dates! I kept thinking to myself, where are these people coming from? A lot of the members are converts and think very highly of the missionaries. One member told me last week that eating dinner with the missionaries was like eating dinner with Jesus. It made me think of how King Lamoni in Alma 18 thought Ammon was the Great Spirit... Missions are really cool because they really make the scriptures come alive- as missionaries we really can relate to the stories in the Book of Mormon.


This past week I met some great people who are ready to hear the gospel. One man, Roberto was so ready he wanted to get baptized the very next day! Sadly, he had to go to the hospital and might not come out because he has cancer and might die. We also visited a less active family because we were prompted to go and it turned out to be a really neat experience. The dad told us they've been having lots of problems in their family and then he kept asking us who sent us. Who sent us? Well, Heavenly Father did. And it's so neat to think that God sends us to visit His children. That's a great responsibility and privilege to be literally on His errand.


I know that God lives and loves each of His children individually. He wants us to have success and happiness in this life and He helps His children through other people. Tender mercies are all around us!


Love
Hermana Brown



oh yeah and could you add this address to the email you send out? thanks

Hermana Carolyn Brown
1813 W. Walnut Apt. E
Garland, TX 75042

Surprise Call

Hola familia, friends, and Delilah,

 

 

I'm glad to hear everyone enjoyed the apricot festival! Sounds like it was a success. This Saturday I received a call to be transferred! I really wasn't expecting it because I've only been in Plano 4 months and my trainer was here for 9....but I'm excited for the change. My companion will be Hermana Kimball (yep she's related to pres. kimball) and I'll be in Garland, a small city east of Dallas. It will be weird not to live with members and a dog...

 

 

This transfer has gone by so fast and I can hardly believe that I've been out 6 months. I guess you could say that I finally can understand everything that's going on and the swing of things. I've really learned what the real world is like and it's a lot different than the bubble in Provo. Just the other day we ran into a lady who burst into tears because her 13 year old son does drugs and ran away. It was really a tender mercy that we met her because Hermana Benson and i were both prompted to walk a certain way and we ran into her. We were able to share the plan of salvation and our simple testimonies of the comfort that this gospel brings.

 

 

Right now I'm reading "Our Search For Happiness" by Elder Ballard. I higly recommend it. I'm learning a lot about free agency and how it is really a gift and an important part of this plan. And I think it's so true- when we choose to do something it has a lot more significance than when someone forces us to do it. I love this gospel and I love sharing it.

 

 

Muah,

Hermana Brown

Why do we serve?

Hello!

 

 

This past Wednesday we had a zone conference and interviews with President Durrant and it was so powerful. President Durrant always knows exactly what to tell us to get us fired up. Part of the time we discussed what our motivation for serving is. Why do we serve? Why do you serve? it makes us feel good, we receive joy, it's what we're supposed to do..... but really the reason why we should serve is for the pure love of Christ. He gave His life for us, selflessly and lovingly and we took upon His name at baptism. That means that we covenanted with God to act like Him. And so I have a little assignment for yall to read "Why do we Serve?" by Elder Oaks. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1984/10/why-do-we-serve?lang=eng&query=%22why+we+serve%22+(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22) I liked how he mentioned service referring to our acts as well as our thoughts. 

 

 

I love to serve. And it's not always easy. When it is 400 degrees and we're knocking doors I like to think about Jesus Christ and what He did for us. I like to think of Him literally standing right next to me and think about what He would do. I have the best calling in the world to be a representative of Jesus Christ! 

 

 

Being a missionary makes me think of that painting by Greg Olsen where there's a boy on a park bench who looks sad and Jesus Christ is sitting right next to him. This last week I saw a lady sitting by herself, smoking, and so while Hermana Benson was talking to someone else I went over to sit next to her. And she just looked so exhausted and depressed, like something was really weighing on her mind. And as we started talking I learned that she was divorced, worked 8 hours a night in a restaurant, and her 4 kids don't even call her mom anymore. And I was able to share my testimony that our Heavenly Father truly loves her and teach her the Restoration. And now she wants to come back to church and make changes in her life. It was really a powerful experience.

 

 

Here are some more questions for you to ponder during the week: Why do you love Heavenly Father? Why do you love Jesus Christ? Why do you love the Holy Ghost?

 

 

I love Heavenly Father because He gives us experiences that teach us in a very personal way and He loves us very much. I love Jesus Christ because He understands perfectly every feeling, thought, inadequacy we have. And He gives me strength every single day. I love the Holy Ghost because He helps us know what to do. We truly can receive revelation through Him.

 

 

I am so grateful for this knowledge of the nature of the Godhead and for their role in our lives. God lives and has restored the gospel for us that we might have joy.

 

 

love,

Hermana Brown

Howdy! :)

Howdy!!!

How was your trip to the mountains? nice and cool? thanks so much for
the package, mom!


this week was full of miracles. There truly are tender mercies every
day if we just are paying attention to them. We decided to drop a few
investigators because they weren't progressing and in turn found a
family of 6! And we already set a baptismal date with the parents,
Iiana and Flourencio. The only problem is that they're not married and
smoke but I know that with the Lord they can overcome it. Sometimes I
wish people could just see the fruits of this gospel and how it really
can bless them before they take any steps but that's not how it works.
We have to exercise our faith and then after the trial of our faith
comes the blessings.


We also had an investigator come to church yesterday that we haven't
even taught. We just invited him and he came! Wow it'sso important to
listen to our promptings we receive.


Oh yeah and something funny happened: We went knocking doors and
coincidentally found this couple who speak English and Spanish who are
less active (but not in our branch). They attend a ward that is about
half hour away and so we decided to share a message with them. Well in
the middle of our lesson, we heard a knock on the door and it was the
english elders! So when the husband answered the door he said, "Oh we
already got some!" and it was slightly embarrassing but I've learned
that "no hay pena en la mision" haha



thanks so much for your love and support!

hermana brown :)

happy 4th!

 

 Monday, July 2, 2012 9:28 AM

 

Hello!!!! :D

 

 

Happy 4th of July! We're going to go park hopping on the 4th of July to hopefully find some new families to teach. We have this awesome idea to bring chalk and draw out the plan of salvation on the sidewalk and hopefully it will attract attention of the kids! I really love teaching kids and it's really amazing how much they do understand of the gospel. i think i will use the Preach My Gospel manual as my family home evening manual once i have kids haha.

 

 

Hermana Benson and I are working hard in getting to know every member who lives in our area....there's about 50. It's really fun trying to find where they live, because on the way we meet new investigators! (And we discover new hispanic areas!) We've found that most hispanics live right next to the freeway and it's easy to pick out which houses are hispanic.

 

 

Guess what? the Osuna family came to church yesterday! (just a little background on the family Osuna: we've taught them 2x and had to get permission to teach them cause they don't live in our area) And it was hilarious because Maria stayed after Principles of the Gospel and Relief Society to talk with the teacher and her husband couldn't get her to leave! I just love it when investigators participate and have questions. The only problem is their progress is very slow because we can only teach them once a week. 

 

 

I love missionary work! Thanks for all your support and prayers!

 

 

love,

Hermana Brown

querida familia

Querida familia,

 

 

Como estan?? Wow i wanna see the garage, i almost don't believe it! what else is on your summer goals list? We love goals as missionaries! haha every thursday we set apart 3 hours to plan and make goals. I know that they are really what helps stretch us and we can really accomplish anything we set our minds to. 

 

 

This past week was so awesome! We found some really good investigadores and set a baptismal date! We also did service and went to a fiesta....haha one of our investigators had a big party and so we contacted a lot of people there. Its sad because the wife is really young and has MS and is in a wheel chair. But she and her husband are both way positive. We also had a specialized training...in Spanish! I actually liked it better than our trainings in English because I'm used to teaching in Spanish. 

 

 

So Hermana Christensen is leaving me tomorrow...she's going back home to Blanding, Utah! Wow I've learned sooo much from her. Something I've learned is that enduring to the end should be done on an everyday basis. Especially as missionaries, enduring to the end is trying for 5 more minutes, knocking one more door. And I know this is true- the sweetest reward does come in the final part. And so, when it is tough and we're trying to endure, we should pray for strength to continue. I know that this strength is real.

 

 

love,

Hermana Brown

hola familia

Hola! 

 

 

I hope your trip to New Mexico went well! What did you do there? And it sounds like your garden is really blossoming! The lady we live with has a garden and lets us eat out of it. Swish chard, kale, lettuce....it's great. We like making green smoothies in the morning. 

 

 

This last week my companion Hermana Christensen was sick :( and slept two whole days! I was still able to go out and teach but it was hard to find people to go with me because I also had to find someone to stay with Hna Christensen. But it was a really neat experience because I realized I can understand more Spanish than I thought! The two girls who went with me to the appointments don't speak Spanish, so I interpretted for them (or tried to!).

 

 

We still don't have any baptismal dates but we are close. We have two investigators praying about a baptismal date and hopefully two others later today... And the golden family, the Garcias, we had been working with dropped us! They started seeing a psycologist and the 'Padre' of the catholic church so didn't have time for us :( But, things are looking up and I know we will see some baptisms soon.

 

 

This past week I read Elder Hallstrom's talk 'Converted to the Gospel' and I loved it because that is the goal of missionaries. We want our investigators to be converted to the gospel and not us or the church. If you haven't read this talk, i highly recommend it! I know that the general conference talks are truly inspired messages from God and we should study them to learn how we can become a little better. I know that God loves us each individually and He looks out for us.

 

 

love,

Hermana Brown

Dallas Temple! :)

Howdy y'all!!

 

 

Wow so Stu's graduated, and summer has begun! wahooooo! you're going to NM and scout camp this week right? thanks so much for the church programs! sounds like Owen is ready to go. 

 

 

This past week we went to the Dallas temple and it was absolutely wonderful. We only get to go to the temple 2x per year so it was such a nice treat. The Dallas temple is not that big but it was sure beautiful. The temple is such a great place to pray and ponder and that is why we need to go often. I love the temple.

 

 

I also know that prayer is real. There are blessings that Heavenly Father wants to give us and He will open these doors of blessings if we but ask, specifically. We have been praying to find a family to teach and we do find families...but they're always for the elders because they don't live in our area! And so we started praying to find a family for us to teach and we did! :)

 

 

love ya,

Hermana Brown

Stuart is Graduating!

Haroe!

 

 

What, WHAT?! Stuart is graduating??? oh mylanta! wow. whats he gonna do next? 

 

 

So this past week we've had a lot of flaky investigators... they say they're going to be there but aren't! that's something ive learned about the hispanic culture: theyre too nice to say no! So we've been trying to have them write down themself when the appointment is and ask them if they're going to be there when they say they're going to be there. 

 

 

Last Friday we had Zone Conference for about 6 hours and it was awesome! I definitely received revelation to what i need to be focusing on more. Something President Durrant challenged us to do is to read Moses 1 and learn more about the work of God, of Joseph Smith, and what the work of Moses is. I really like this chapter because we really can apply it to our lives. What are we doing to invite Satan to leave? 

 

 

We need to be constantly busying ourselves in good works because if we are doing this, Satan wont even have a chance to enter our minds. You invite him to depart by the way you live. This makes me think of the picture of Christ knocking on the door, we have to invite Him in. 

 

 

Hey have you been studying the general conference talks? do you have a favorite? i would love to hear about it! right now im studying the talk by president uctorf, "the merciful obtain mercy".

 

 

I love you and pray for you! 

 

muah,

Hermana Brown

Pictures!

 

Harrooo!!! :D

 

 

It was sooo nice to talk with you for Mother's Day! i hope you had a great day! :) During Sacrament meeting we performed our song, "Love is Spoken Here" with the youth. We've been practicing with them for a few weeks now and it turned out pretty good, there were 2 on the violin, and someone played the cello, clarinet, flute, and piano. It was like a mini band! Yesterday we had 4 investigators at church, 3 of which have known for a while but still don't have a baptismal date! It's because they're having marital problems and so we haven't been able to teach a full lesson in a while. 

 

 

So this week I had a lot of cool experiences and I always record 'the tender mercy of the day' after every journal entry. And one that sticks out is when we visited a less active member and she had been having problems and she kept asking us how we knew to come visit her! She wanted to know who sent us and how we knew she needed to be visited. And really, no one sent us besides God! We just receive promptings and don't question them. 

 

 

We have about 80-90 active members in our branch and tons of in-actives (and tons of future members! :) ). And it's really cool because they're from all over.... so when we go to the members houses to eat dinner we get a different cultural dish every night! columbian food one night, peruvian, mexican....but my favorite is definitely el salvadorean pupusas! 

 

 

We can receive promptings from the Holy Ghost all the time if we are reading our scriptures everyday and praying and obeying the commandments. I know that we can truly receive strength from reading the Book of Mormon and it can answer any question or concern we have. It is truly evidence of the Restoration and of God's love for us!

 

 

Love

Hermana Brown

 

pic 1 baptism of Luis!

pic 2 knocking doors

 (this one is of our own house)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

women's conference!

Hola!

Mom I heard you're at women's conference right now and Dad's on a trip
so Stu has the house to himself! You'll have to share a few points you
liked about some of the talks at women's conference!

                                                      also- if anyone
has good analogies/object lessons about the gospel, feel free to send
them my way! For example we like to use the example about how the Book
of Mormon is like another window in a room. The Bible is like a window
and is a good source of light for the room, but adding another window
in the room adds more light. Analogies like these help us explain the
gospel more.

                                          Another object lesson we
like to use is with dominoes. Each domino represents a principle in
the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the
Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). And this is a cycle we complete
over and over throughout our lives because taking the Sacrament is
like a mini baptism every week to be forgiven of our sins and continue
to have the Holy Ghost in our life. But if we remove one principle or
domino from each set of five dominoes the cycle won't work.

I know this gospel is true and a man can 'become closer to God by
reading the Book of Mormon than any other book'. This is the same
church that Jesus Christ established when He was on the earth.

Love,
Hermana Brown

First Baptism

Hello familia!!!!

 

I hope you all are doing well and are getting ready for summer break! it will be here before you know it! what are your plans for summer? have any fun trips planned? apricot festival right? Mom you're almost done with you long term sub job?

 

 

This last Saturday we had a baptism! It was an eventful day! So when we got to the chapel to make the preparations the font was overflowing! We had asked someone to turn on the water earlier because we heard it took 2 hours to fill.....guess not! and we didnt have the key to turn off the water so we ran to the kitchen to get buckets to move the water into the drain while we were waiting for the elders to come turn it off. besides that it, everything worked out! haha a memory to remember.

 

 

So here's an entry from my journal (Friday April 20, 2012) about a member we've been teaching who is less active:

 

"We had a lesson with Romeyo (he hasn't been coming to church) and he told us that he wants to go to the Catholic church now because he had a spiritual time there. And whoa we really had to rely on the Spirit during that lesson and I didn't know what to say... but the Spirit did. Wow now isn't that a testimony that this church is true? How could 2 young girls testify with such power with out the Lord's help? I was prompted to ask if he asked the Lord's permission to change churches...."

 

 

So basically he's torn between churches and confused. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and I know that we can be instruments in the Lord's hands if we just listen to our promptings. The Holy Ghost will bring to our rememberance what we have studied and so we need to study the scriptures every day! 

 

 

Oh and I have an assignment for all of you!! ;) read this article by Elder Bednar when you get a moment: "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality" 

 

It's about the enabling power of the Atonement. very powerful.

 

Well I love you all!!

 

Have a great day :)

 

Hermana Brown

 

ps. Dad- my companion's dad served in the Spokane Washington mission in 1981...do you know him? his name is Douglas Christensen, from Cedar City, but lives in Blanding utah now. Hermana and I were just talking about how you might know eachother!

 

Apostacy

Hola familia!!! :)

 

Wow I'm so glad the open house turned out nicely and you had lots of help! And you were able to save the cake! haha that's something you won't ever forget! lol you will have to send me pics! How long were Grandma and Aunt Dot there? 

 

I love this work. And I have the best trainer ever! Hermana Christensen is really patient and loving. We have a baptism this Saturday! His name is Luis and he is a referral from a member (member referrals are the best!!!). And teaching him has made me so grateful for my experiences in the mtc because we had a fake investigator in the mtc with his same exact concerns. 

 

Something that I've learned as I've been applying the gospel to my own life is about apostacies. Throughout time there has always been apostacies, but God calls prophets once again to restore the complete truth. In our lives we can have mini apostacies too when we turn away from the gospel and God. Or maybe we're not reading our scriptures and praying every day. These times in our life are kind of like mini apostacies. But because God loves us, He sends people in our lives and gives us experiences to get us back on the path of happiness. And the great part is we have the Atonement to get back on the path. 

 

I know that reading our scriptures and praying everyday is what will help us avoid these mini apostacies in our lives. When we put God first, everything works out. And as a missionary, when people tell us about trials they are going through, we always ask if they are reading and praying. I know that the Book of Mormon was written for our day and restores those plain and precious truths taken from the Bible. 

 

I love you! Thanks for your prayers :)

 

Hermana Brown

tornado warning

Hello family!

 

I hope that the wedding went well and everyone had a good time in Oregon! Thanks for the update, Mitch! It sounded like everything went as planned and it was a happy day :) Are you ready for the reception in Scottsdale on Saturday? Are you doing pies like you did for Mitch's reception? 

 

Thanks for the message from Ralph Zobell, Mom! Sister Hale was the lady I stayed with my first night- she said something about my cousin but I didn't really know what she was talking about. 

 

Yesterday was my first time in the Spanish branch in Plano, where I'm serving. I love these hispanic people! they're hilarious. There is almost no one there in the beginning of the meeting because everyone arrives tardy. And so the missionaries play the piano, lead the music, teach the lessons, say the prayers... haha its great. And then after the meeting it was way hectic because everyone was coming up to me and giving me kisses on the cheek and candy for Easter. We had 4 investigators at church- one of which we had just invited on the street to come and he did! 

 

So this last week Hermana Christensen were driving to one of our appointments in stormy weather when all of a sudden we hear this announcement from outside, 'Tornado Warning'. and the sirens were going off and flashing lights....it was awesome! we had to spend the day inside that day where it was safer. And wowzers Texas has some good ground shaking thunder storms! We didn't have any tornados in our area, I think they were right in Dallas.

 

This week I've been studying faith, hope and charity. Simply put, faith is the action. Hope is the attitude. Charity is the motivation. And a lot of the times, especially as missionaries, we don't see the result when we act on the promptings we receive. And maybe we won't ever see the fruits of our promptings. But we still need to have hope and I know that it is this hope that helps us overcome discouragement. I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and He wants us to be happy. This is a life of progression. We are either improving or degressing and we need to be the ones to make the decision as to which one. 

 

Thanks for your prayers! I love you!

Hermana Brown :)

Texas! :))))

Hello familia!

 

I made it to Texas! it is soooo great to finally be here. i love it. this is where i'm supposed to be. On the first night they fed us Blue Bell icecream 2x...it is definitely icecream of the Texans! :) President Durrant and his wife picked us up from the airport and he is a lot taller in person. no wonder why he why he played ball- he's like 6'7! Then the next day we met our trainers and went right to work. My companion is Hermana Christensen and she is such a great teacher. She really knows how to teach with the Spirit and teach the gospel. It's been kind of hard understanding the lessons this first week but I definitely know that I am improving a lot. The gift of tongues is real and I pray for it every day. It was really cool because I was prompted to ask someone to be baptized on our second day eventhough I really didn't know how much the missionaries had been teaching her. She was really unsure so we'll have to ask her again.

My favorite area to proselyte in is this trailer park full of hispanics. Though they live in these very small, run down homes (with dwarf doors haha) they are so very loving and receptive to our message. It surprises me how quickly they invite us in and want to hear our message. They have so very little but are so giving.

Right now we are teaching two progressing families in this trailer park who went to general conference with us. They are so loving and anxious to learn more. It is truly amazing how much the gospel can bless our families. It was so cool that general conference was a lot about families and I definitely received answers to my prayers about how I can help our investigators. I hope y'all enjoyed conference, we should all review our notes from conference frequently and remember the promptings we received during conference.

I think the worst part of being a Spanish missionary is finding a golden English investigator and having to turn them over to the English missionaries! Just this last week we've turned over 2 people. But I am definitely grateful to be a Spanish missionary because I've had to think about my word choice more carefully and explain things more clearly and slowly. It's been a great blessing.

Hermana Christensen and I are living with a member and her granddaughter so you should send letters to her home instead of the mission home. (and do you think you could send me something soon, i need verification that i live there, thx!) The address is:

Hermana Carolyn Brown

3928 Mesa Dr.

Plano, TX 75074

 

 

Life in the real world is a lot different than in the MTC. We're constantly talking to everyone we meet and spreading this great message. The gospel is true and I know that Heavenly Father wants us to spread it because it truly brings us happiness. One idea that we like to share with members on how to spread the gospel is simply through a thank you note and a Finding faith in Christ dvd or book of Mormon. I think we all know someone in our life how we can thank by writing them a quick note and giving them a little appreciation gift like a dvd or book of Mormon. That's just a simple and easy was we can share the gospel.

 

 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Sorry i missed talking to you on the phone, that day was way crazy. But i look forward to hearing from you in a month for mother's day! and sheesh the next time i talk to the fam on the phone, i'll have another brother! wahoooo im so excited for janelle and ben!!! you have to let me know how everything goes. im so excited for them!

I love all of you lots and you are all in my prayers! :D

 

Muah,

Hermana Brown

Your Missionary is Here

Just wanted to let you know that your missionary is here safe and sound, has been fed (and is about to be fed again--   we don't want any hungry missionaries in the Texas Dallas Mission!!!), and is about to go out with a companionship to dive right into real missionary work.

 

 

The preparation day for our mission is Monday of each week. You can e-mail your missionary on preparation day and he/she can e-mail you unless it is a holiday and their place to send e-mails is closed. E-mails are only for the immediate family. 

 

 

You will receive a letter and pictures later in the week, but we just wanted to assure you that he/she is here and doing well. If we an help you in any way while your missionary is here in Texas, feel free to give us a call at 972-239-5621.

 

 

Sister Penniston

Texas Dallas Mission

Texas Bound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello!

 

 

Whoa we've been here 60 days and we're goin to TEXAS on Monday! Yesterday was in-field orientation where they talked about the meetings we'll go to in the real world and how to work with members. The cool part was that we learned how to teach memebers how to talk to their friends about the gospel. Simply by telling our friends to check out mormon.org is sharing the gospel. And everyone can benefit from the blessings of the gospel. When we're teaching investigators, I like thinking of what blessings of the gospel they need in their life at this time and then focusing on those. And I think we can do that with our friends too. We will know what to teach them when we have thought about what they need.

 

 

This last Tuesday Elder and Sister Oaks came to speak to us about teaching with the Spirit and having the Holy Ghost constantly in our life. As we take the Sacrament every week we renew our covenant to always remember Christ. By always remembering Christ we can always have the Holy Ghost with us as our constant companion. I know that this is a very precious gift and we are so blessed to have it as memebers. 

 

 

So I'll call home some time Monday early morning... if you're not home I'll just leave a message because I'm not sure exactly what time we can call. I'm so glad plans are coming along for the wedding! i know that it will be a lovely day.

 

 

I love you!

Hermana Brown

 

 

ps. after trying out they chose us to sing "Consider the Lilies" as the special musical number for our departing devotional tomorrow, good thing it's a quartet

Travel Plans

Hello!!!

Yesterday we got our travel plans to leave on March 26th, a little more than week away! im stoked! and i think i get to call you that day but ill let you know. Thanks so much for the church program! it was so good to get mitch's message on it too! sounds like you all had a great time together.

this next week the hermanas and i in our district are going to audition to sing at a fireside, singing "consider the lilies." it will be a quartet- they all have beautiful voices to cover mine haha. the other hermanas are going to tucson az so we're going to miss them.

We had another great fireside this last sunday- Elder Cardon of the 70. He and his wife talked about the divinity we have as children of God. As in Moses 1:6 we are like Jesus Christ and He has a mission for us to do. Sometimes I think we lose sight of that and forget the divinity we have in us. We need to remember that we are truly sons and daughters of God and He wants us to be happy.

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve. Thank you for your prayers! I love you! :)

love

Hermana Brown

Alex Boye

hola,

thanks so much mommatot for your testimony of the Atonement. I really liked your metaphor of the dirty microwave and with each swipe can be made clean. And that's why this gospel is so amazing!!! repentance is such a great blessing, and something we need to be working at everyday. no one is perfect and that is why we need Jesus Christ. I know that He is always waiting with open arms and wants us to come unto Him and be happy.

This last Sunday Alex Boye was our fireside speaker. He started with 'our Savior's love' and he sang it with such compassions and love for the Savior. he also shared his conversion story- if you havent heard it you should look it up (youtube 'alex boye im a mormon') its really quite inspiring and funny. His main point was that we become what we think about the most. he speaks with such conviction and compassion he sounds like a baptist preacher!

i think my favorite part was when he talked about how he was at a hotel one time and went down for breakfast. when he came back up to the room he noticed his room wasnt made but the maids had done the rooms surrounding his. so when he asked them what the problem was the maids told him that his 'do not disturb' sign was up. and then he likened this to us, sometimes we walk around with a 'do not disturb' sign so Heavenly Father cant come and clean up what's inside. instead we need to flip the sign around that says 'cleaning service needed'.
then he finished with 'how great thou art' while walking around the auditorium.

ive been learning more about personal revelation and helping others recognize their own personal revelation. this week we talked about how that the mormon culture is that we must know it's a spiritual impression in the moment. that we'll receive a spiritual impression and think 'oh this is a spiritual impression, i should act on this'. nope. most of our impressions will come because we're doing what we're supposed to and we'll do something and have no idea why we're doing it, just doing it because it's the right thing to do. Pres. Packer gave a Byu-idaho talk called "20-mark note" and if you have time i highly recommend listening to it.

I have a testimony of this gospel. It not only blesses individuals but families as well and I know that our family has been blessed because we were raised in a home where the Spirit could come.

i love you and pray for you!

muah,

hermana brown

ps. mommatot i heard tha you and gma drove to idaho to meet ben? how did that go? how are wedding plans? when is mitch coming to az to get his teethers cleaned? dad how was your trip?

On Sun, Mar 4, 2012 at 11:10 PM, susan brown <susanzbrown@yahoo.com> wrote:

Harrroo, Hermana Brown,

Today while I was cleaning out the microwave, I started to think of a metaphor. The microwave was plastered with something that had exploded all over on the inside. It was hard to tell what real color the inside was due to the massive bits of food spread on all the walls. It really wasn't hard to clean up, it just took time. Then I noticed that every wipe of the dishcloth, made a big difference.

That is when I got thinking of Jesus Christ and how he has paid the price for my sins and the entire world's sins. No matter how big and ugly our sins are the atonement wipes us all clean. Just like the microwave oven walls were a big mess, with my constant and repetitive movements, in time became clean again. When I finished cleaning it, no one would have know that there was a food explosion in there.

Jesus Christ is constant, loving, forgiving and understanding; all we have to do is be repetitive in our repentance process. He does the rest in making us clean.

I have a testimony that Jesus Christ is my Savior, and that he died for me. He is our older brother and loves us and wants us to be happy. His plan is the plan of happiness. This earth life is a time for trials and to make mistakes. We may stumble and fall, but with our Savior, all will be made clean again.

We love you. We pray for you. We are proud of you.

xoxoxo

Momma Tot

22 Days in the Classroom

Hello!

thanks so much for the slip and eyedrops, it's perfect! and thanks for the letter updating everything and sharing your insights you gained from stake conference. too bad i can't join you for part of women's conference! i love it too! :) maybe you can get another pic with vocal point! lol who will you room with if bronwyn doesnt go?

This past week was a powerful devotional by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland!!! it was AMAZING. he sure knows how to speak directly to us. i took 5 pages of notes! Here are some things i wrote down:

-We don't have a symbol in the church but if we did have to have one it would be the image of 2missionaries. i thought that was way cool and kind of puts pressure on us as missionaries!

-He told us about Preach My Gospel and how it was created to convert the missionary and then we're supposed figure out how to convert the investigator . We should constantly remind ourselves that we are God's investigator, somewhere in the middle of the lessons.

-And then he talked about something i had never thought of before... the first chapter of the book of mormon is similar to Joseph Smith's story. So if we can get an investigator to read the first chapter, they are on their way to a testimony of the restoration.

I know that the Book of Mormon is written for our day and is comparable to the bible. It is a book of revelation about revelation and it teaches us that the heavens are open and we can receive revelation through it. Wow, we are so blessed to have it. We need to read and re-read it because of this.

Thank you for your letters and prayers. I love serving. And I love this gospel.

Have a great day! :)

love

hermana brown

ps if you have time, you should read Richard G. Scott's talk "To Acquire Spiritual Guidance" from Oct. 2009 conference. He talks about revelation and how once we get revelation we need to 1. thank the Lord for it and then 2. ask if there is anymore. I had never really thought about the second part but I know that the Lord has personal revelation for us if we ask.

pss. one of our elders figured out that by the end of our time at the mtc we will have spent 22 days straight in the classroom. no wonder why its so nice to go outside.

Venir a Cristo

Harrrooo!!!

hey mommatot i haven't heard from you in 2 weeks! are you way busy? did you get my letter home? after i sent it i realized that i used 44 stamp so i don't know if it got to you or not.

we're exactly half way through the mtc tomorrow. 30 days down 30 to go. One of our 'investigators' (who is our teacher) dropped us unexpectedly. He taught us a good lesson about how his roots weren't in Christ, Joseph Smith, or the Book of Mormon. our teacher, Hno. Williams, taught us that as missionaries if our roots are in numbers, baptism, and rules, then we won't stand the next wind storm. He also related the parable in matthew 13:18 about the sower and how we will continue to throw seeds over rocks and thorns. but what we don't realized is that right next to them is a huge patch of good soil. don't get discouraged, vale la pena.

I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and I know that it is so important to read from it everyday. we can receive personal revelation from it once we begin a serious study of the book. this week we learned the importance of reading the Book of Mormon with our investigators. i know that it is the cornerstone of our religion.

so hows the wedding plans coming? is school way busy? thanks for the valentines day card! the old people on the front were hilarious! :)

love ya,

Hermana cafe

Cookie Monster

Hola mi familia!!! como estan?

This is my 4th week at the mtc...almost half way! Pdays are my favorite because we get to escape and walk to the temple. it's so nice to go outside! i do get to work out every day but there's nothing like going outside. in the mornings they have special yoga/kick boxing/pilates classes for the sisters at 6am and then we have gym time for like 50 mins. ive already set 3 records on the record board cause there aren't many sisters up there.

this week my favorite talk was a rebroadcasted one from Elder Bednar's Christmas devotional at teh Mtc. It was about the character of Christ and how "There would have been no atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ." (Maxwell) He went to explain one characteristic of Christ, selflessness. He said that the natural man is like cookie monster because cookie monster wants cookies NOW! and we, as natural men, want things NOW and need to be more patient. He went on to explain specific times throughout the scriptures when Christ turned out when we would have turned in, selfishly. This week i'm going to look for more characteristics of Christ, more specifically humility, during my personal study this week. Could you study it too and send me your insights? thatd be awesome!!

This week in class we talked about our own testimonies. When was the last time you prayed to know Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father? It is so important to renew our testimonies. I love this gospel and know it is true.

i love you!

Hermana Brown

Harroo!!

Thanks for the update with everything! I bet it is pretty dificult planning a wedding long distant! can u send me a pic of the silk flower arrangements?? that's so exciting!

This week's devotional was Bishop and Sister Edgely of the presiding bishopric. It's so cool hearing from general authorities so often! Bishop Edgely taught us to be bold with our messages we bring. "You come with knowledge. You come with power. You need not be intimidated." I think that is so true; we need not be intimidated to share the gospel because it is true and it is powerful. And the only way someone can come to know of it's truthfulness is doing their part and praying with sincerity and true intent. This week we're working with an "investigator" who doesn't believe in God and he doesn't read the Book of Mormon with sincerity and true intent so that is why he doesn't feel of its truthfullness yet.

I love teaching and helping others come unto Christ. I know that D&C 50:22 is true; as we teach and help convert, both are edified. I know that living the principles of the gospel brings us happiness and peace of conscience.

I love you all! Thanks for supporting me in this great calling! :)

love from,

Hermana Brown

A Dull Pencil is better than a Sharp Mind

Hello fam!

"A dull pencil is better than a sharp mind" is a quote from Elder Bednar. This week we learned about the importance of personal study and how it is truly sacred time to gain a stronger relationship with Christ and learn more about Him. I have a testimony of studying with a journal because revelations in our mind will come and go but we'll remember them if we write them down. And also I learned that we can get so much more out of our personal study when we have a question in mind. Like, "Why does God let us suffer?" or "How can we feel God's love through the Atonement?" The scriptures are truly treasures in our lives and we can learn so much from them.

I love this time that I have here at the MTC because I'm learning so much- not just spiritually but how to be effective with my time and how to plan and how to focus. Last Sunday Elder Nelson and Elder Holland came to speak to us and it was such a neat experience. This is the 50th year of the MTC so they spoke about the history of the MTC and dedicated the new buildings here. It was so cool because we got to hear an apostle talk to God during the dedicatory prayer.

This week we learned that our "investigator" we've been teaching is actually our teacher! It was quite hilarious to find that out because now he is teaching us! It's not been easy trying to teach in another language but every time that I feel inadequate or frustrated, I just remember what President Hinkley's father told him- "forget yourself and go to work." I know that this is truly a marvelous work and a wonder and I am so glad to have this opportunity to serve.

My companion is Hermana Wall and she's from Woodscross Utah- she knows ASL so she's teaching me asl and I'm teaching her Spanish lol.

How is subbing going Mom? What trip is next Dad? And hows baby David? hows wedding planning? Did stu get into BYU-I?

who's getting this email? are you posting it to the blog?

Te amo! Chao!

Hermana Brown

The Orange Juice is Great

Hola mi familia!

Wow it's so great to finally be here at the MTC! I love it. Today is our 4th day in the MTC but i feel like we've already been here like 9 years. We have 4 sisters and 5 elders in our district...the elders feel like my little brothers! It's really great because most of us are going to Dallas. The Mtc is a lot like EFY, no wonder why i love it so much! I take notes like crazy and am improving a lot in my Spanish. I did another interview to see if I could move to the intermediate class but they said I'm still in between intermediate and beginning so it'd be best to stay in the beginning Spanish class. I like to think of it as a teaching opportunity. My companiion is hermana wall and she is awesome. I don't know how i lucked out with such a great companion!

This week I learned about the joy of redemption and how it is literally the purpose of my purpose as a missionary. I am so excited to help bring happiness to people by teaching about the Atonement. Yesterday Hna Wall and I got to teach our first investigator in Spanish. I thought it went really well. I know that the power of the Holy Ghost is real and that we can have access to it's constant companionship if we want it.

And I don't see anything wrong with the oj here...i actually like it haha. I am so grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ and I absolutely love it.

Thanks for all your support and encouragement!

Love, Hermana Brown

ps. un chiste para ti: cual es la diferencia entre una pera y un novio de misionera? uno es pera y el otro no espera...jajajaja. este chiste es muy popular aqui!

Addresses!

Sister Carolyn Brown
MTC Mailbox # 233
TX-DAL 0326
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Sister Carolyn Brown
Texas Dallas Mission
13747 Montfort Dr. Ste. 120
Dallas, TX 75240-4479