last week :(

hey fam,

i look forward to seeing you/talking with you wednesday!

love,

hermana Brown

final week

Hola familia!!!

I hope you had a lot of apricot icecream for apricot festival! now its
time to get back into gear of school!!! wahoooooo


yesterday we saw 2 really neat miracles. We went to visit a less
active member who doesnt live in our area and ended up teaching their
friend who was visiting and lives in our area! We taught the
restoration and doing so, I think helped the less active members too
because they were able to testify how they knew this church was true.
It was such a powerful lesson because we asked a lot of inspired
questions.

The second miracle happened when we were tracting in an apartment
complex when two little kids came running up to us saying "We know
someone who could use a message about Christ!" and they ran off to an
apartment and knocked on the door, introducing us. And two middle aged
women came out and we were able to share the message of the
restoration with them. Turns out that they had been going to the
mormon church for 2 summers and wanted a Book of Mormon! the sad part
is we have to hand them over to the english elders because they dont
speak spanish.

God is a God of miracles. tender mercies are all around us, we just
have to look for them! I am so grateful for this time I have had to
serve my Lord with all of my heart, might, mind and strength and I
will always serve Him. I came on my mission to express to my Heavenly
Fathe that I love Him and want to share His word and I am leaving with
even more gratitude towards Him and His gospel.

Gracias por su apollo y amor atreves de mi mision. Les agradezco mucho
y espero con gusto verles pronto!!!!

Love ya!
Hermana Cafecito

Transfer Day for Sister Brown

Transfer Day for Sister Brown

December 7, 2012

happy day!

Hola familia!!!!

This week I picked up my new companion, Hermana Ruesch and she is awesome!!! She's 19 and from Utah and we get along great. This week we've had a lot of appointments cancel but hna. ruesch has been so positive and full of faith. She even went on her first exchange because I had a leadership meeting. 

Right now we're focusing on member referrals (after the broadcast we saw everyone is all pumped up!) We're also beginning to create more lists with people. It's another finding tool that Elder Aiducaitus (one of the 70) suggested that we do. Usually we create lists with the people who have baptismal dates but we have also created lists with less actives. What you do is write down all the people they know and then the person prays about the list and stars the names that stick out to them/ should be invited to their baptism. We've seen lots of success from this tool and now we're using it to invite member's friends to ward activities. 

A scripture that I've been sharing lately to explain the Atonement is Mosiah 24: 14-15. I think that the Atonement is something that we have to feel to be able to understand it. And this scripture really helps us feel what the Atonement does for us. I testify that Christ does 'ease the burdens which are put on our backs even so we cannot feel them'. I have seen this in my mission and I continue to see it in the lives of others. Christ lives and paid the price for each of each individually.

i love you all! have a great week! 

hermana brown

you don't find happiness, you make it!

Hey yall!!

i hope youre having fun this summer! i know mom and dad are on their cruise!! 

We saw a whole bunch of miracles this week!!! we went on exchanges like we always do and my companion Hermana Ruesch found this golden investigator, Dolores, who just moved from houston and is looking to change her life! she even came to church yesterday!

We also talked to this 21 girl in her car who was really stand off ish at first but then all of a sudden said, "wanna hear something cool?" and she burst into tears and said how she had just been praying to God to send her some kind of strength because she really missed her mom and then we came and talked to her. It was a miracle and we tried to set up a time for missionaries to come over but she wouldnt let us ... so we gave her our number and she called us that night!! she invited us to go swimming but we had to politely decline.

We have 3 baptismal dates and things are looking up! love you all muchisimo!!!

love 

hermana Brown

exito!!!!!

Hola familia!

We had such a great week last week! Dolores and her husband Elvis came
to church yesterday. (they are the golden family that Hermana Ruesch
found when we were on exchanges). They have a little baby (see
attached pic) and after church Dolores got a blessing to help her get
over her smoking problem. She tells us all the time how she's felt a
change in her life and even looks at herself different since we
started visiting her. She tells us she feels so peaceful and even that
her relationship with her husband has improved since we've been
coming. And that is what the gospel does to people! :)

Hermana Ruesch and I have been focusing a lot on faith lately and she
shared a really good article with me I want to share with you : "Faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ" by Elder Gene R Cook from the 1982 oct New
Era. In it he outlined a recipe to increase our faith in Jesus Christ:
1. Be believing
            -this is the most basic part
2. Commit yourself
            -we have to be determined and set goals
3. Do your part
            -we have to do everything in our power to accomplish the goal
4. Pray (as if everything depended on the Lord)
5. Expect trials of your faith
            -"The Lord will try you in every attribute possessed by
man and at all stages of development in your life. He will try you
again and again and again until YOU know that you will serve Him at
all costs."
6. Expect the Lord to Act
              -the Lord wants others to learn faith by your example.

So Hermana Ruesch and I decided to test this out. We decided that we
wanted to find a family of 4 from Hondoras that just moved here. So we
commited ourselves to find them and set out talking to everyone and
following the Spirit. We prayed so specifically and fervently to the
Lord and yep we got trials... and then we expected the Lord to do His
part after everything we could do. And Saturday night we found a
family of 4 from Hondoras who had heard the misionary lessons before!
it was a miracle. I know that our Heavenly Father does answer prayers
if we just have faith in Him.

les quiero mucho!
Hermana brown

the Lord is hastening His work!

Querida familia,


Hola!!! We got transfer calls and I am training for the 5th time and
staying here in the Garland 5th ward. I have 1 transfer left and feel
like there is still a lot of work to be done.

Last night there was a missionary broadcast and they announced that we
can use the Internet during least productive proseliting times to
contact investigators. I think that means we're getting ipads!!!!!
haha i dont know if i'll see ipads in my mission but stu will
probably. The Lord is truly hastening His work and we are in the
middle of the action! i love it.

This last week we found a new great place to contact: a local park
filled with hispanics! As we were just coming in a family was leaving
and we contacted them, asking them for the address and phone number.
And they turned out to be a miracle family because first of all we
almost didnt find them. and second of all they were so receptive to
the gospel. It's a family of 4 who want to get baptized! We're so
excited to teach them more.

This week we also got to drive new cars.... the mision bought 8 new
cars and they asked my comp and i to drive them back to the mission
office! it was so weird to be alone in the car!

I am so grateful for the counsel from the apostles we received at the
broadcast last night. I love being a missionary.

 Hermana Brown

miracles!!

Hello familia!!!!

What a great week we had in the texas heat. I had an exchange in
Plano, where I started my mission. It was really neat to go back and
see some of the members. I never realized how few of hispanics are
there and makes me grateful for the area im serving in. Though there
weren't many hispanics to talk to we still set 2 baptismal dates! It
was such a miracle day and I learned a lot from Hermana Moore.

We also found a part member family last week, golden! His name is
Orlando and has been taught by the missionaries for a while now. He
says that he knows the church is true, but just has a doubt about the
living prophet. And we had such a powerful lesson with them because we
talked about the end goal how we want to go to the temple as a family
to be sealed. And his wife interrupted right after he told his doubt
and gave a really strong testimony of the church and how much she
wants to go to the temple. She told him that Satan is putting doubts
in his mind. Then after we set a baptismal date with him. The spirit
was really strong.

Another miracle we saw was a lady named Naomi. We found her walking
and stopped her but she couldnt remember her apartment number. So she
gave us what she thought was the right apartment number and we tried
going there but it wasn't her. Then as we were walking back to the car
Hermana Munyer said,"lets knock right here" and we knocked and it was
Naomi's daughter! We learned that Naomi is looking for a church and
that her doctor even advised her to get involved in a church. Miracle!

So we dropped Linver and Berenice for a little bit because they
weren't fulfilling commitments :( It's really sad but maybe that's
what they need.

I am so grateful to be a servant of our Heavenly Father. He leads and
guides His work and we can achieve great things with His help.

Have a great week!
love
Hermana Brown

albondigas

Hallo,

What a great week! I went on my third exchange and did WORK! I worked
with a sister who has a lot of time in the mission and we set 4
baptismal dates together and we found a mariachi band! It was quite a
successful day.

two of the baptismal dates we set were with Berenice and Linver who
have been receiving the lessons for a real long time. They want to
wait until august to get married so that all of their family will be
there from Mexico. But Ive had the strongest impressions to ask them
to be baptized next week on the 15th so we planned out this really
great lesson on sacrifice and how it will be a sacrifice for them to
get married without their family, but the blessings will be so much
greater. By waiting to get married, Satan will work even harder and
make their life miserable. We explained the blessings of fulfilling
the commandments and then invited them to take a step of faith to be
baptized on the 15th... and they said yes! so we set up a baptismal
interview on the following thursday.


Yeah that sounds like a great and dandy story and everything but
thursday rolled around and they didnt show up for the interview. So we
decided to go over to their house and they told us that they just felt
way pressured and that they were going to get married and baptized
august 3. :(( I was really sad but I know that I did everything I
could to help them progress sooner. People have their free agency and
we can't base our own happiness on what other people choose.

Here's a quote to ponder:
"The good works that really matter require the help of heaven. And the
help of heaven requires working past the point of fatigue so far that
only the meek and lowly will keep going long enough. The Lord doesn't
put us through this test just to give us a grade; he does it because
the process will change us. " President Henry B. Eyring

I love you! have a great week!:)
Hermana Brown

Saludos!

Holar como estar?!


This week was soo great! I went on an exchange with one of my
companions that I trained, Hermana McDonald and she's changed so much.
It was really neat to work with her another day and talk about
everything we've learned. We decided to try to get 15 lessons in one
day because it's a goal that we've always had. And well we planned it
all out and how we'd have 10 minute lessons, just go-go-go. Sadly, not
everyone was home that we'd planned out and we had 8 lessons and 50
contacts! Though we didnt reach our goal, i was still really pleased
with how much we got done. It's amazing how when we set goals we can
get so much more done.


Then the next day was leadership training so my companion, Hermana
Munyer (this is her second transfer here) and another newbie got
together and worked in our area while i was at the meeting. And it was
so neat to hear about the success they had even though they are both
so new. They taught a lesson to Berencie,one of our most progressing
investigators. They committed her to read everyday and they said it
went really well. i felt like a proud mama!



We also had a baptism on Saturday. I dont know why, but baptisms are
always stressful. Theres always someone who doesnt show up or
something that always seems to go wrong. Well this time we got there
real early to fill up the font but it wasnt filling up... it kept
draining eventhough the plug was in. We ended up putting a plastic bag
under the plug and that seemed to do the trick. Then after the baptism
it wouldnt unplug so Hermana Munyer had to wade into the baptismal
font to fish out the plastic bag. hahaha it was an experience we'll
never forget!



Lately I've been studying in Luke 17 and here the apostles ask Christ
to increase their faith. I've thought about this a lot, "How do we
increase our faith? How do we help others increase their faith?" Elder
Callister of the 70 says that the answer is in doing more than what is
required of us. How are we doing more than what is required of us?


I love the gospel. It helps us stretch above and beyond our natural
capacities and grow into the potential that God has for us.


love
Hermana gorda

cupcakes!

Hola familia!!!

Hermana Munyer and I are in Garland 5 east and are loving it!!! there are so many more hispanics here than oakcliff. Also, the Hales are in our ward... Sister Hale went to highschool with our cousin Ralph Zobell. they are so helpful and love helping the missionaries. We are serving in a hispanic ward and have 7 pending baptismal dates. This area is very diverse with really nice parts and mansions and also poverty with lots of apartments. We have a car and bikes but like riding our bikes more because we can talk with more people. Last week we stopped to talk with a women that we found out had just moved here from Hondoras and was a member looking for the church! I know that God puts people in our path that we need to talk to. 

Wednesday night was really fun because we had a tornado warning (the zone leaders usually send us a text to head home when that happens) and so it was all stormy and rainy and we saw the english sisters on their bikes fighting against the wind, trying to get home! so we were able to throw their bikes on the back and give them a ride home. 

 

We had a really fun/ spiritual lesson on Saturday with some of our investigators. The mom Ingred is less active and has two boys 11 and 13 who aren't members and are really hyper active. So, we decided to teach them the plan of salvation making cupcakes. God made our bodies (we mixed the ingredients together) and then we went to the earth (the oven) where we progressed and became like God. Then we were going to frost them and judge them into the celestial, terrestrial, or telestial kingdom but we didnt have time. We got talking about baptism while the cupcakes were baking and invited the boys to be baptized on june 1. and thats when they settled down a little and the mom was bold with them and told them that this is a serious thing and they're going to have to go to church for the rest of their lives and they agreed that it was something that they wanted to do. So i decided to take advantage of this spiritual moment and asked the older boy Diego to pray and ask God if it was correct for him to get baptized. and so we all kneeled together and he offered one of the most sweetest sincerest prayers ive ever heard. his mom started to cry and told us after that she felt a burning feeling all throughout her body and didnt feel sick anymore (she had food poisoning). It was truly a miracle.

 

I love my mission and wouldnt trade it for the world.

 

Hermana Brown

transfers

Hello familia y amigos!

 

 

well Hermana Munyer and i are leaving this area we just opened and we're headed to Garland, Tx.

here's my address:

5555 Spring Valley Rd.#1067

Dallas, TX 75254

 

 

love ya

Hermana Brown

Elder Christofferson

Greetings familia y amigos,

 

 

This last week was awesome!!! We had 2 training meetings, one for the leadership council (I am the new Sister Training leader) and also Elder Christofferson came to our mission to talk to us. It was really good and he talked about the doctrine of Christ and did a question/answer session. One elder asked how we can work with all of our heart, might, mind and strength, but not run faster than we are able.  He answered about how we should all be our own kind of diligent, not comparing ourselves to others. So basically just doing our best, always trying to be better we can find that balance for ourselves individually.  I took some really good notes.

 

 

On Tuesday we had an appointment with the family Rosales (they have a baptismal date for the 2nd of junio) at a recent convert's house and afterward they gave us a ride home. Hermano Rosales asked us so many questions about the requirements for baptism and how he has such a desire to change. He even asked if the bishop could come with us in our next appointment together! We're really excited to teach them and we really think now is their time to get baptized. They have been taught by missionaries off and on for the past 4 years. 

 

 

I am so grateful to be serving a mission right now. There is nothing I would rather be doing and I know the field is truly white already to harvest. Enough planting seeds, lets harvest! It is such a privilege to help in the Lord's work. I love the gospel and I love the joy that it brings.

 

 

have a great week! happy mothers day!

love

hermana Brown

dallas temple :)

Hello! :D

 

 

This week we went to the temple! We took a part member family we're teaching with us and had a walk around tour and then a lesson in the back room of the temple. The president of the temple talked to us and we were able to bear our testimonies on the importance of making covenants, with baptism being the first covenant we make. It was a really neat experience and we could really feel the Spirit there :) We really hope it made an impact on the dad, Carl so that they'll want to get married and then baptized. Carl is American and doesnt speak much Spanish and his girlfriend Corina is Mexican and doesnt speak much English. She and her two boys are members already. They're such a cute family.. ill send pics we took with them at the temple later

 

 

Our other golden family, the Rosales, have 5 kids and have heard the discussions before. They're also not married. The mom, Romey, has such a strong testimony of God and trusts so much in Him. She reads the Book of Mormon about everyday and wants to teach her children. We are really excited to teach this family! 

 

 

Last night we went tracting and found this 21 year old girl walking her dog- she was pretty scary looking with her tatoos and belly shirt and piercings and boots but we talked to her anyway and we really hit it off pretty good... i know it wasnt by chance that we met her and im sure she wouldnt have invited us back if we were elders. she said she had nothing to do because her bf was out of town so we gave her a bom! I know that God puts people in our path for a reason. Then after talking to her we contacted a group of Mexicans having a bbq and had some fajitas with them... mmm! 

 

 

A lot of missionaries really dread knocking doors and contacting people but i really love it. I love getting to know new people and learning their stories. I love sharing this gospel with everyone I meet and know that it is true. Our Heavenly Father loves us so much and I love being an instrument in His hands to share His love with the people I meet.

 

 

Les quiero! brazos y besos,

Hermana Brown

da hood

Hola familia!!!!

 

como estan?! sheesh we've seen so many miracles here in da hood. I love this area and absolutely love all of the people we are teaching. We havent knocked doors much since we've been here because we've been busy with contacting all of the referrals we've received. I know that this area was closed for a reason because now it is bursting with people waiting to hear the gospel. Plus the ward members are so supportive and there's about 8 ward missionaries here! it's truly amazing how much work we can do if you work as a team, with the ward. 

 

 

Right now we're teaching a part member family and we've set a baptismal date with the dad, Karl. he has so much love for his family and wants to do what's right for them. the only problem is that they're not married (like everyone else around here). We're also teaching Maria Garcia who does want to get baptized but just is not willing to stop working on Sundays to be able to come to church. It's so frustrating because we knows she knows it's true and it will help her sooo much to just put God first in her life.

 

 

I am so grateful to be a missionary right now, threre is not a better time than now. It is truly a privilege to preach Christ's gospel amongst God's children as Christ would do. I know that my redeemer lives and loves me.

 

 

have a great week!

Hermana cafe

are y'all nuns?

Hey yall!!!!! :D

Hermana McDonald and I love contacting people because they always say the same thing:

"Are yall nuns or something?"

 - no we're missionaries!

"Are yall blood sisters?" 

- haha no!

(to Hermana mcdonald)"Is your dad Ronald McDonald?"

-hahaha that's so funny!

(to me) "And you must be Hermana Jack in the Box"!

And we just chuckle because it's the same every time. We have a lot of fun together :) this weekend we told Hna McDonald to eat 'tripa' (it's cow intestine) and we told her it was chicken. mmmmmm

This last weekend was our baptism! Guadalupe and her novio got married in the church on Friday and then she was baptized with her son on Saturday. They were literally glowing. And afterward they both gave beautiful testimonies about how they knew this church was true. 

Then yesterday we were guided to a family in an apartment complex i had never knocked at the 6 months ive been in this area. We found some new people to teach because we had decided to drop a family that wasnt progressing. It definitely takes a lot of faith to stop visiting them (drop them) and confide in the Lord that there are others waiting to hear the gospel. 

The other day we had a training on how we can help the members do missionary work. It's as easy as a question to the cashier, the person taking your ticket at the movie theater. just cut straight to the chase and ask:

"Would you be willing to hear a brief presentation about my church (or Jesus Christ)?" And then if not, you just move on. but if yes,,, you can get their address and phone number and give it to the missionaries!!! it's such a simple, easy way to do missionary work. will you all try it one time this week?? ;)

I know that this is the work of the Lord. He loves each of us so individually and cares about even the smallest of things in our lives. I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Have a great week!

love

Hermana Brown

i am a texas citizen

Hola! :D

Hermana McDonald and I are so excited for the baptism of Guadalupe and Johan in two weeks. we've had a bunch of support and Johan has really shown in interest by doing his part in preparing. He's only 11 but he already told us that he wants to be the first missionary in his family! Plus he watched the restauracion video on his own and said he cried. haha he's so cute and i love their family! His older sister, Gisi, 16, is coming to church but has chosen not to get baptized with her family. She said she just wants to take it slow and find out for herself. So this thursday we're going to the dallas temple with them as a family and hopefully Gisi will be able to feel of the Spirit there. I'm so excited to come back for their sealing there in a year.

I know that the Lord guides us to where we need to be and we never meet people by coincidence. Hermana McDonald and I were knocking doors the other day and found this gold mine family, the Villalobos. It was really surprising because some member kids we knew opened the door immediately when we knocked and we found out that a member in the ward was really good friends with the Villalobos and they were watching the member kids. There were about 10 people there and it was really cute because the member kids helped us teach the first lesson. It was a neat experience and after they gave us homemade beanies to keep us warm. 

Sometimes I think as members we take advantage of the many blessings we have. We have the right to have the Holy Ghost with us at all times, to direct us, lead us, comfort us. It's like a fish in the water; the fish doesn't realize he's swimming in water until he leaves the water. We likewise have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion and don't realize how much He influences us and helps us until we stray off the path and disobey. 

I love the words of the prophets and am looking forward to general conference in a few weeks. I know that we can receive personal revelation from conference and i invite you to write down a few questions you could bring to conference. i know that you will receive answers, personally and directly for you. 

I love this gospel and am so grateful to be a member of the true church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints. With it brings a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of blessings.

I love you all! 

Hermana Brown

Alma 26:27

it is what you make it.

Hello friends and family!!!

Guess what?! Guadalupe's son, johan told us on Sunday that he wants to get baptized too. originally he was going to wait until his dad could get the priesthood so he could baptize him, but now he wants to get baptized with his mom. we are so excited for them. Guadalupe is getting married the day before her baptizm. 

we are knocking a lot and we had a really cool experience happen to us. we found this family that said to come back when more of his family was home and so we said we'd come back in 20 mins. we continued knocking and found this anti mormon who was practically yelling at us in Spanish and so we left her with a prayer and we still felt pretty crummy and didnt want to go back to that house where we said we'd go back. but we went back and it turned out to be a golden family! The Hernandez family are so humble and i just feel so much love from them. We know that Satan did not want us to go back to that house! 

Here's a scripture that we've been sharing lately: ( put in your name for 'Helaman') 3 And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their ^atrust in God shall be supported in their ^btrials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be ^clifted up at the last day.

I know that if we put our trust in God and have faith that He will guide us, everything will work out. 

There is no greater happiness that comes from serving our Lord!

if you are ever feeling down or discouraged just analyze what youve been doing and serve someone. it's amazing what comes of it. 

thank you for all of your prayers!

love

hermana brown :)

ps pics are me and my new comp Hermana McDonald!!!!!! shes AWESOME!!!!!! :)))

can drunk people feel the spirit?

Hello friends and family!!!

como estan? My companion Hermana McDonald is awesome! she came already trained and it feels like she is training me! She teaches so clearly and shares personal experiences.
We're still teaching Guadalupe... she finally has a marriage date for march 22 and then will be baptized the next day! She was the one who came up to us and told us she was ready to be baptized. She said ever since she's started coming to church she's seen a difference in her teenage daughter's life. Guadalupe knows it's true and cant wait to get baptized.


Lately we've been trying to contact 20 people everyday because one of the apostles told us if we contacted 10 people each, every day we would double our baptisms.... so yesterday i told Hermana McDonald that id follow her for the next contact. and she led us to a group of drunk guys bbq ing and she did so well! they gave us fajita tacos (mmmm) and then we sang "i know my redeemer lives" i dont know if drunk people can feel the spirit but atleast they have our card to remember us. We meet a lot of interesting people, i love it.


We're also started a new service program in this mission called JustServe where we are supposed to do 10 hours of service hours- whether it be cleaning the street, or singing in the nursing home... and hna mcDonald and i are putting our talents to use! im tutoring math and my comp will teach guitar (in spanish! eek) we're so excited and know that people will come unto Christ with this service project.


I am so grateful for the plan of Salvation because I know why I am here and where I am going. I know what i need to do in this life. Jesus Christ is the center of God's plan for us and through Him we can overcome any addiction. I am so grateful for my Savior and I know that He lives.


love
Hermana Brown

transfer calls!!

Hello familia!! como estan??!

guess what? im training again! hna lebaron is going to another area and im picking up a new greenie. i was so surprised because i just got done with the training program with hna lebaron! but im excited, i know im supposed to be here for a reason. 

 

This week was really great because we had 2 great conferences. Elder Aiducautis from the 70 came to talk to us about networking. it's a good finding idea with our investigators who have a baptismal date. you just write down everyone they know and then they say a prayer and then whoever comes to their mind you invite them to their baptism. we'll try it some time and letcha know how it goes ;)

also we had a neat stake conference broadcasted from Utah to all of the stakes in OK and TX (mitch/nikki prolly saw it too!)

 

i really liked the talk from Elder Richard G. Scott about the worth of women and couples need to respect eachother. after watching that anyone living in sin with their espovia would want to get married. too bad more of our investigators didnt go to church that day.

We also knocked into a family this week who have heard the missionaries before and have a lot of potential. I love missionary work and helping people coming unto Christ. 

todo esta bien! thanks for all your love and support! happy presidents day.

love

hermana Brown

cruise ship

Helloooo!!!

I love serving in the Casa Linda ward here in Dallas. I've been here 4 transfers... hopefully i stay another! Our ward is so big they have to open the overflow area! There are 6 missionaries in our ward, with an older couple, the Goldings, who focus just on the inactives. It's so amazing how missionary work is such a ward effort. The ward im in now is really good at involving our investigators, and I think for that we've been so successful. Even the people we've dropped, the members are still asking us about. 

One investigator that we were teaching, Juan, a single old janitor we met playing racketball we had dropped for a while came to church yesterday. we had dropped him because he was just going to every church he was invited to, to look for a woman. and so we mentioned that in our coordination meeting and Elder Golding, the senior couple missionary said he'd go visit him. Well he went with another elderly gentleman and apparently hit it off pretty good because Juan came back to church! Missionary work is such a group effort... one couple of missionaries can't do everything. 

These past two weeks we've been visiting a lot of less actives... it's really interesting because all of them know exactly what they need to do. (and some of them were just waiting for an invitation back to church). Going to church is really a habit that is easy to get out of. And then our scripture reading and praying falls short... and then we just feel down and wonder why? Hna LeBaron and I love sharing this quote with less actives:

"When our commitment is diminished for any reason, part of the solution is repentance" - Quentin L. Cook ("Can you feel so now" oct '12 general conf)

It's so true. When we feel down or feel overwhelmed with life we need to take a step back and repent. maybe we havent been reading or praying like we should. the little things like going to church, reading our scriptures, and praying, make all the difference. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the best solution, it uplifts us and gives us hope. We are so blessed to be members of the true church of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we take advantage of the grand blessing and privilege it is to always have the Spirit with us. We should live so close to the Spirit so that we can recognize when it leaves.

I love you all! have a great week!

love 

Hermana Cafe

ps watch the mormon message "your potential your privileges"!!!! it's about the cruise ship metaphor. love it.

hopscotch

Hola familia y amigos!!!

This week went by so fast and there are only 2 more weeks in this transfer! The weather has been really nice and yesterday we did a fun lesson with chalk. We visited a family who recently got baptized and we decided to go outside for the lesson. We explained the gospel of Jesus Christ with hopscotch! We put a picture of Jesus a few feet away and then drew the squares to get there. faith, repentance, baptism/gift of the holy ghost (as two squares). and then they have to have more faith and more repentance, take the sacrament.... the kids loved it! 

 

I love teaching the gospel and sharing my testimony of it. 

love ya lots!

 

Hermana Brown

ps sry for the short email...we're going to go check out downtown dallas today! :)

one year mark!

Hello family and friends!!!

Thanks for all of your emails and cards! This last Friday i hit my 1 year mark so Hna Lebaron and i went to the temple. Then the next day we brought our investigators there and walked around it, explaining the importance of families and being with them forever. It was a really neat experience to go there with our investigators, because that's really our goal for them: that they make it to the temple. 

This week we had a really cool experience. So there's this lady named Guadalupe who isn't a member, but her husband is. And she's been coming to church for a while now. Her in laws are all members, but she and her kids aren't members. And every once in a while we ask her if we can stop by and share a message with her and her family. but she always would say the same thing: that she is not ready and doesnt want anyone to visit her or pressure her. so we kind of just left her on her own...until yesterday. she came up to us and said, "Estan listas?" (ready?) and she told us that she was ready to be baptized. that was a really neat miracle because we had been praying for a miracle. 

i know that miracles do happen. if they didn't then God would cease being God. And that is why we need to have faith and expect miracles. Miracles are such an intregal part of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and they are truly manifestations of the divine power of God. The greatest of all miracles is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He lives, I know that my Redeemer lives. 

have a great week!

hermana Brown

lavanderia

Hello familia!

?Como estan? i hope everyone is doing well.

 

This last week we saw a really cool miracle with a lady named Teadora. It was 8:58 and we were supposed to be in our house by 9 but we still had 2 mins....so we decided to stop at the lavanderia. and we met someone really awesome! We met Teadora and we'd actually had met her before but we didnt show up at the appointment. So we met up with her the next day and she was so excited to see us. At the end of the lesson she gave such a sweet prayer saying that she had felt so special and happy during the lesson. We were able to testify of the truthfulness of the message and her to recognize the truthfulness as well. It was such a testimony builder about obeying with exactness. if we had just went home 2 mins early, we wouldnt have met Teadora again. 

 

That's so cool that Trisha and DaLynn are home!! tell them to write me!

 

love ya lots

Hermana Brown

bautismo!

Hola familia! como estan?


Last Saturday was Nicolas' baptism! It was a stressful but beautiful day. The guy who baptized him had problems with his leg and Nicolas only has one leg so we were worried that it would be hard to do the baptism. Luckily he was only baptized twice. He had so many friends there to support him. Then after the baptism Nicolas gave his testimony of how grateful he was to be in the gospel.


Then yesterday we had 6 investigators at church. bien loco. Hna Lebaron and I are staying together another transfer! we are so excited.

thats all for now! love ya lots!

Hermana Brown