O Christmas Tree!

December 8th, 2014

We just got back from going through the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.! It was  really cool. I learned a lot about glass-making in ancient Egypt and ceramic inlaying in Korea and China and screen painting in Japan..there was a lot of cool stuff. Definitely worth the freezing cold weather to go see. 

This week, we went searching for a lot of the people we don't know in our teaching pool, and we ended up getting lost...a few times...oh, well! Helps us learn the roads better! :)

Yesterday, we spent the whole day at the church. Almost literally. We did our morning studies in our apartment, went to church, had the baptism after church, ate the dinner they provided, went to a "Messiah Sing Along" in the chapel, and then watched about an hour of the Christmas devotional before it was 9 o'clock and we had to get home. The Messiah was so much fun. The audience got to sing the Chorus parts, and, oh boy! Those high A's are really high! My throat still hurts from singing so high. But it was fun. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

This week is our Mission Christmas conference. I don't really know what to expect, so it's going to be good! 

 Yup, used a paper napkin for a tree skirt!

I didn't die from too much Thanksgiving goodness

1 December 2014

I am happy to report I am still alive! I didn't die from too much Thanksgiving goodness. Turned out we only had 2 dinner appointments on Thanksgiving and then had roasted Starbursts, marshmallows, and s'mores. It was really good. We'll see what Christmas brings! :) They served us turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pecan pie..the things we typically eat on Thanksgiving.

The weather over here is really nice. Not too hot, not too cold. It did snow a TON of Tuesday, but it all melted by the next day. Hna. Christensen and I are hoping for a white Christmas!

On Tuesday as well, we had a Spanish Forum, where all the Spanish missionaries get together to train and discuss things. One thing that got discussed was areas, the area each companionship serves. We talked about it so much that President Riggs said, "We need another Forum to finish discussing this. And soon, because December is going to be BUSY!" We're waiting to see what day he says we'll finish it on.

Also had interviews with President Riggs on Monday. That was good. He talked about a mission is the best place to become spiritually self-reliant. So, that'll be one of my goals throughout the time I have here on the mission.

It struck me again this week that I am not Wonder Woman. Adjusting to a new companion is hard, but it's good because if we didn't get new companions every now and again, we'd stop learning. So we're learning how to work together, communication, stress control, all that good stuff :) Hna. Christensen is so amazing, though. So full of energy. 

We're visiting a lot of people in our teaching pool that I have never met and on Saturday, we got 2 new investigators! We cleared up that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is different than Jehovah's Witnesses and we gave S____ a Book of Mormon. P______ already has one. We're really excited because we're sure they're going to read.

After that, we raced to the chapel in time to give a presentation in a baptism of an 8-year-old. This Saturday, the elders are baptizing a young man and the next Saturday, one of our investigators is getting baptized, too! We're just baptizing all over the place! It's great to see how many people are coming unto Christ.

Happy Thanksgiving!

17 November 2014

Well, we had a crazy week! First, we were corriendo por todos lados
(running everywhere) so Hna. Moleli could say goodbye to everyone,
then transfers, then two baptisms on Saturday, then we found a screw
in our tire on Sunday, so we changed our flat right after correlation,
and now we're emailing while the tire is being repaired.. Whoo! Busy,
busy, busy! But it's good. Busy is good.

Transfers went really smooth. And all of our predictions were wrong.
(This is why I don't like to predict things..I always end up being
wrong!:)) Every single hermana is training. Every single hermana,
except for me, is training a brand-new missionary. I'm training, but
only training for the mission. My companion has already been trained
how to be a missionary, but she just needs to be trained for things
specific for this mission. My new companion is Hna. Christensen and
she is amazing! She served six months in Mexico, then went home to
resolve some health concerns, and then was reassigned here in the
Washington, D.C. South mission, where she will serve for a year and
finish out her mission!

Some new things occurred in our mission, too. Now we have Spanish
assistants to the president, which hasn't happened before. The Spanish
zones have been dissolved, and now we're back to being Spanish
districts in English zones. There are at least 5 trios in the mission,
companionships of 3 missionaries, and that doesn't happen very often.
President Riggs explained that a lot of missionaries are going home
the next transfer, so it doesn't make sense to open a lot of areas for
one transfer and then close them, so we have a lot of trios, instead!
It works, it's just really complicated.

The baptisms went well. I payed piano in both of them. That was fun!
And then I played in primary on Sunday and we taught the lesson in
Relief Society on Elder Christofferson's "Free Forever, to act for
themselves." It was so good. I loved it.

This next week, we have four dinners already planned for Thanksgiving.
There's going to be a few more, too, if we can contact the people.
We're going to be stuffed like turkeys! It'll be so good, and I think
I may die from so much goodness! We'll see. For sure, our skirts may
not fit so well when we're done..:) too much good Hispanic food will
do that to you. :)

November 17th, 2014

Thank you for your prayers, they are gratefully accepted.

We did get some precipitation on Tuesday, I believe. A little bit of sleet, mostly rain. It's raining today, too. A lot. Welcome to winter in Virginia? I guess! :)

Transfers are this week, and we won't get a call until tonight or tomorrow night about who's going where. All the hermanas know we're all training. There's 5 or 6 new hermanas coming in, and 6 hermanas leaving, so there will be 2 companionships of more experienced hermanas and everyone else is training. :) It'll be great! A new experience for everybody!

We went with Y_______ and her family to a new member fireside last night. It was my first one! I liked it a lot. Got to see old companions, members from the other wards I had served in. It was great! I loved it! I don't know why I've never gone to a fireside before! (I seem to be realizing that about a great many things in life.)

So, I'm working on a piano piece called "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" and I'm going to be playing it in transfer meeting with two other Hermanas. One's going to be playing the viola and the other's going to be singing. It's going to be great. I just need to practice. :) a lot. :)

That's all for this week. Just a lot of anticipation for the upcoming, exciting week!

Hermana Moleli and her new scarf

Halloween is a family history holiday

Monday, November 3, 2014

I decided that Halloween is a family history holiday. Because November 1 is the Day of the Dead in Mexico, when people dress up like their ancestors in honor of them. Also, Halloween is a Celtic holiday celebrating the last day when spirits can be out and about before winter sets in. Therefore, Halloween is a family history holiday. :)

For Halloween, we stayed inside all day. First, we had our studies, then lunch, then weekly planning, then we went to a member's house for dinner and movies. We watched Dispicible Me 2 and Frozen. It was a good night.

We stayed home because Hna. Moleli was sick, but it was good because we both needed a day to get back into the swing of missionary things.

And, the best thing that happened this week is two of our investigators are getting baptized! K---- is getting baptized November 22nd and M----- is thinking about either November 29th or sometime in December. We are super excited and ask for your prayers for them.

A mission is a good place to turn 21

I made an orange jello cake with the frosting and sprinkles on top and I bought rice icecream, crushed up the cookies, and had cookies and cream icecream. It was everything I wanted and more, cause we watched Johnny Lingo, too. Also played volleyball (nothing like getting the ball in your face to tell you "Happy 21st!" :) I'm fine. Nothing's broken. :) Overall, I had a good birthday. A mission is a good place to turn 21.

This week was good! Yesterday, Elder Kopishke of the Seventy came to visit us. It was a really good half-mission conference. He didn't so much as preach at us as much as he just helped us answer our questions. He took us into the scriptures and helped us find our own answers, kind of how to find and follow revelation when studying. It was really cool! He began by saying, "I don't have an agenda for this meeting. I haven't prepared a talk. I think I know my scriptures, and we're just going to have a meeting full of the Spirit!" He then had us write down some questions we had and then he told us, "You have just written your own agenda for this meeting. As we talk, when you feel you should go look up a scripture, look it up. As your question gets answered, you may have more questions, which is fine! As you get those questions and you feel you should look up another scripture, go look it up! and in this manner, you will have your own meeting." It was a really good conference. In the morning, it was one long bitter sip of humble juice, and then in the afternoon, it was more of a soothing balm, but it was great! I'm using what I learned about receiving revelation for my personal studies, and I'm learning so much!

After the meeting, Elder Kopishke met with a few of us and had an interview with him. I got to be one of the lucky ones to meet with him and it was great! He quoted his favorite scripture in German for me (his native language is German). I really enjoyed it. President Riggs told me before I went in why he (President Riggs) was doing it. He said, "November is going to be hard for the hermanas. So I asked for these interviews so that they would have more motivation." I thought it was really kind of him.

High point of the week: On Wednesday, we had six lessons on Facebook! I taught two and Hna. Moleli taught four! In two hours, we met our weekly goal for other lessons (lessons taught without a member present). It was awesome! 

Birthday cake with 21 candles.

(picture sideways)

Hermana Moleli and Hermana Brown eating birthday cake and Oreo ice cream.

Hispanic Cultural Night

Monday, October 14th, 2014

We had a Hispanic cultural night on Friday and ate food from the different countries and watched the different dances and singing from the different countries! It was so much fun!

Peru had the most rice. Bolivia the most meat. El Salvador had the drinks, and I didn't visit the rest of the countries (Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico). The missionaries set up a table with a slide show of the different temples in each country and copies of the Book of Mormon in all the different native languages. In all, there are 15: Aymara, Cakchiquel, Catalan, Guarani, Kekchi, Latan, Mam, Maya, Portuguese, Quechua (Bolivia), Quechua (Peru),Quiche (Guatamala), Quiche (Ecuador), Spanish, and Tzotzil. We also set out an English one and one in Samoan (because hna. Moleli is Samoan).

Then, on Sunday, we had 12 less actives and recent converts at church because of all the fellowshipping that had taken place Friday night and everyone invited everyone to church. It was great!

Yesterday, we went to MVOC (Missionary Vehicle Operation Course). We already went to this course, but we went again because I'm driving. :) I had passed it as the navigator, but I needed to pass it again as the driver. I passed and Hna. Moleli passed, too. It was a lot of fun. And the ABS still works. :)

Our investigators are doing well.

Monday, October 20th, 2014

Hola! 

Being 21 is going to be exciting! 

As a way to celebrate, Hna. Moleli and I went to D.C. To the national museum of natural history. I've been once before, but Hna. Moleli hasn't, so we went and walked through the whole thing. We just looked at everything, we didn't read signs. My favorite part this time was the gemstones. They were really beautiful. 

This week, we shared 3 Nephi 12:13-16 with our members. We then asked them to write a list of people they know who aren't in the church and to pray for them and find some way to introduce them to the gospel. It doesn't even have to be through the missionaries. They could give them pass-along cards, introduce them to gospel videos, or give them the pamphlets that the missionaries use. The missionaries are here to help, but the members are the ones who have the friends who need/are ready to hear the gospel. 

We have an investigator, M, who's been going to church ever since she was young because her mom is a member. They didn't come to church for two Sundays, what with one thing and another, and when they did attend the next Sunday, Michelle told her mom, "I feel so good, I feel relieved that I came to church today." There is power in coming to church, coming together as a church. If you want to feel that power, that difference, you should come to church!

Hermana Brown near the fountain of the Museum of Natural History n Washington DC

Conference was amazing!

Conference was amazing! I loved the Spanish speakers. I could follow along with the Spanish very well. And the Portuguese one I could understand a little bit, but I'm still grateful for the English audio they had. :) I could understand the the Portuguese because, as Hna. Stanford put it "It's like French and Spanish got together and had a baby." Portuguese is really similar to Spanish.

Today in Hna. Moleli's birthday! So we celebrated by having Funfetti cake with Christmas frosting! (I made a gluten-free one--just a box of gluten-free yellow cake mix and rainbow sprinkles. I didn't have frosting, though). We decided it was a holiday cake, so we sang to Hna. Moleli (to the tune of "We Wish you a Merry Christmas": "we wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday, we wish you a happy birthday and a happy Halloween!" She laughed. It was good. Tonight, though, we've got two dinners to go to! (Happy birthday in Hispanic language). We're excited.

The car of the other hermanas in our district broke down on Saturday. They got into a car accident and cracked the rim of the wheel. There's no injuries, they're fine. We've been spending the day with them, so they got to eat Funfetti cake, too! and we're going to the first dinner with them, and then the member we're eating with is going to help them out with their appointments. It's gonna be good.

Teaching on Facebook

We did get to see the session for women of general conference, Hna. Moleli and I. It was awesome! President Utchdorf gave a really good talk about how God loves us no matter what our makeup or hair looks or what our social status is on Facebook or Instigram or Twitter. It was powerful testimony to me that Heavenly Father cares about us so much. I loved the song of the Korean girls singing "I love to See the Temple." They were so cute!

This last week, our zone had a goal of getting 75 lessons with a member present. It boiled down to 6 per companionship. It was kind of amusing, because before district meeting, Hna. Moleli and I were going for 3 member present lessons for the week. So when they announced that we were going to do 6 per companionship, we looked at each other and said, "ok, we'll double our weekly goal. No problem!" We were really nervous about it, but we worked hard and we got 5 as a companionship. As a zone, we had 74. One less than our goal but we did so good this last week! 

Hna. Argueta has been transferred to Old Town. One of the Hermanas there was sent home so she could recuperate from Lyme's Disease, and Hna. Argueta was sent to fill her place, so now it's just me and Hna. Moleli again, just like in the CCM! We're having so much fun together! She helps me laugh everyday and I help her with her Spanish-it works and we love it!  

We had our sisters conference this last Friday and it was all about health and nutrition! Sister Riggs gave us permission to buy a small crockpot for our apartments if they don't have one already. Crockpot meals are perfect for a busy schedule like missionaries'! We learned a lot of workout moves, too. We were sore the next day, but we've now got the moves! 

Teaching lessons on Facebook is really interesting. It definitely not the same as teaching lessons face-to-face, but they're going good. Invited a few people to go to church where they live, so I got to look up where the chapels were in their areas-I had no idea there were so many! Crazy!-it was a lot of fun, though, and it was good for me. 

Being a missionary's great. I love it. 

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate them! 

Love you!

Hermana Moleli and Hermana Brown

Keep On Pushing Back the Dark!

This week was intense. We did service for a couple of members (Washed their dishes...There were bugs..."just don't look" Was our motto that night.:)) Hna.Argueta did my hair and makeup twice this week. I looked in the mirror and said, "I am a woman...When did that happen?" :) Painted my nails, too. The mission is turning me feminine. I don't know if you guys will recognize me when I get home...:)

 

 

I had an interesting experiment of "If I had only one duffle bag to take everything I wanted, what would I take?" This is the tale of that experiment: We got an eviction paper Monday, saying, "Pay your rent by Friday or be evicted." Well, we took that paper to the mission office and they said that they had sent the check and they'd look into it. We didn't hear anything else about it, but Hna. Argueta and I were worried, so Thursday, we went to the apartment office and told them the situation, that the mission office had called the apartment office, but had to leave a message. They said "ok, we'll call them back." Didn't hear anything more about it after that, but Hna. Moleli and I each packed a bag, anyway...Long story short...we weren't evicted. We still have our apartment, thanks to the mission office and those who support us financially. :) That's the tale of the experiment.

 

Yesterday, we had driving training, so our preparation day got switched to today. But! driving training was a lot of fun. Hna. Moleli was driving and we tested our Anti-lock Braking System..:D...I thought we were going to die, we were going so fast at 40 mph in a church parking lot!!! But we didn't die. The ABS still works. They had us test it so we could feel it and know what it felt like so when we Samoan stomp on the brakes, we wouldn't panic. We also did a braking box, which was were we went 40 MPH and then Samoan stomped the brake so the ABS kicked in and then steer the car into the left box or the right box. That was good. We didn't hit any cones. Hna. Moleli is a good Californian driver. I also got to test my directing skills with the serpentine backing. We did it forwards and backwards. I did really well going forwards, but not backwards, but the instructors helped me with it, so now I'm good.

 

Last night, we went on a finding fest! The goal of the whole mission was to get 200 new investigators in 3 hours, so everyone reserved last night for just finding. Just talking to people about the gospel, then saying, "Hey, we'd like to come over to your house and teach you more. When can we come by?" Our tripanionship found two new investigators!!! We were so happy! In our zone, we found at least 20. As a mission....I don't know, they're going to tell us tomorrow in district meeting. But! We listened to awesome songs that made us SO EXCITED to go finding!!!!!!!!!! The title of this email is a line from one of those songs. Yep. Life's good.

 

Weather's turning colder. All the leaves are falling. :) It's so pretty!

 

Hna. Moleli and I are going to hit our 6 month mark this Friday! We ain't greenies no more! I'm so happy I get to celebrate it with her. I hope we'll be together for our year mark, too.

Keep on pushing back the dark!

Three Investigators at Church

We weren't able to go inside the F.B.I. Building. The security guard we talked to said there was a visitor's entrance, but we didn't find it, so we didn't go in. But I was still happy to be next to it!

 

This week went well. We got three investigators at church and didn't know how to handle them all! (It's a good problem to have). We managed, though, and all is well! 

This last Wednesday, we spent 5 hours weeding and mulching a garden in front of an elementary school with the sister-training leaders, a pair of the Elders, and three people from the school. It was a lot of fun. One of the people from the school was the Elder's investigator, so we were giving her service. It was good. She took a picture of all of us together and she said she was going to send a photo and a letter to our mission president saying how good we were. It's really nice of her. 

Saturday, we went to the family history center and learned a bit more about how to use it. We went because Marisabel, one of our investigators, is starting her family history and we were helping her with that. She's an investigator who is only kept from baptism because her parents don't believe she's old enough to make her own decisions. She's turning 14 this month. her parents say she's not going to be baptized until she's 18, but she comes to church every week, she's starting seminary this week with school (school starts this week? When did that happen?), she's starting her family history. Marisabel is really good. She's golden. 

Since the library is closed, we're sitting outside a cafe, using the wi-if to email. Another blessing of technology.

 

FBI building-looks just like Sue Thomas FBEye!

This week we were really busy. We taught a lot of lessons. We even exceeded some of our weekly goals in some areas! It's just a sign that we need to step up our game so we can keep doing better and better! :)

 

Hna. Stanford has a bit of embarrassment because she's Canadian, but she doesn't know French. She says she should because both French and English are the official languages in Canada. So, this week, for fun, we started watching "The Testments" in French! It is VERY similar to Spanish, so it was a lot of fun listening to it and saying "Oh, 'yo soy' in French sounds a lot like 'yo soy' in Spanish and it means the same thing--'I am'!"

 

Finally went to Washington D.C. today! We wanted to go to the national Spy museum, but each ticket was $21.65! Can't afford that on a missionary budget, so we went instead to see the F.B.I. building! It looks just like it does in Sue Thomas F.B.Eye! I've attached a couple of pictures of the flags and the front of the building. It was a dream come true! I loved it! We had a bit more time, so we also went to the Museum of Natural History (which was free). It was HUGE!!! There are all kinds of exhibits in there, from dinosaurs and evolution of species (Hna. Stanford loved those) to Bollywood and animal bones (which were really cool). We didn't even cover a third of what was in there. It was so cool. I didn't take any pictures, though...should have. :) Here is also a picture of me doing my "Totem Pole Smile" next to an actual totem pole, courtousy of Hna. Stanford. :)

 

 

That's the fun stuff we can do on Preparation Day. Now it's back to work!

 

As for communication on Facebook, you can like my stuff, share it (please do). All comments you make on my posts need to be missionary-related, so no "You look so cute!" comments. :) The rule for messaging is that it has to furthur the missionary work, so, for example, my companion helped bring her less-active brother back into the church and she communicated to her mom about it. So I can communicate with you if you need help with understanding the gospel, etc. Things like that.

 

Have a good week.  Love ya'all.  Hna Brown

Impressions

Tomorrow is zone conference and we have to clean the car today. :) Inside and out. 

 

We had a really good beginning of the week. We began, Monday night, with something in every one of our key indicators except one. When you begin a week like that, you know it's going to be good. We also had exchanges, which were good. I learned a lot. Then we had a miracle happen!

 

We were trying to find a member who I'm going to call Alicia. Alicia has a very strict schedule, we could only go visit her between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, according to one of her friends. We were working on our area book when Hna. Stanford had the impression, "We need to go find Alicia. Right now." And as we were preparing to go, I had the impression, "We need to talk to the first Hispanic we see."

 

We go to her apartment community and as we're going up the walk to her building, we pass a Hispanic woman who I got a tiny prompting to talk to her...And I didn't. Neither did Hna. Stanford. So we continue to the apartment and we knock. No one answers, and it comes to me that we just passed Alicia on the walk. I communicate this to my companion, and we run back the way we came, but she's gone. No hay nadie (There's nobody). Then I finally tell Hna. Stanford that I had the impression to talk to the first Hispanic we see, and we didn't. Slightly frustrated, we drive home and we decide together to never ignore another prompting like that.

 

That night, we're planning, and I get the impression (and communicate it to my companion) that 2 o'clock the next day, en punto (on the dot) we HAVE to be at Alicia's apartment. So, next day. 2 o'clock, en punto, we knock Alicia's apartment. And she's there! She let us in and we had a nice little chat. She says, "Yesterday, you passed by me. Aren't you supposed to talk to everybody?"  Yeah....call to repentence...

 

Other cool highlights of the week: We got a drunk man to pray and we have an Athiest who's going to listen to the lessons. We're so excited!

 

Life is good and it goes on in the Washington D.C. South mission! Love you all and have a good week!

Work and Play

Our president is pushing us to knock big houses. This one was just
like the house-mansions we saw in Rhode Island. It was big. And there
was a big iron gate around it. Hna. Stanford and I looked at the
house, looked at each other and said, "well, we are brave when we
knock big houses." So we said a prayer, got out of the car, and went
to open the gate. But it didn't open, there was no way through the
gate, and everything was dark inside the house....but it's ok, because, according to

Preach My Gospel: "Your success as a missionary is measured primarily

by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people,"

 it is not measured by baptisms or how many lessons we teach.

 



 

Play: We went to a Nationals baseball game! (I've attached a picture). We were allowed to go because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints helped with a week of service event and this was our thank-you for it. Hma. Stanford and I rode the metro, and I still have "Metro moments" when I get dizzy. The Nationals won, 11-0, against the Phillies, in case anyone wanted to know. But, the good part is on the way home.

 

Work: Our mission president asked everyone in the mission to make it a productive evening by placing a Book of Mormon with someone who said they'd read it. We call this a "Book of Mormon blitz." So, the car we were in on the way home was like a twinky; There were elders (in their white shirts) standing in the center aisle of the car, teaching the people (with their red, National fan shirts) sitting in the seats on the edges of the car. Hna. Stanford talked to a lady we were sitting next to and she gave her a Book of Mormon (thanks to the nice English elders. We only had a Spanish one!).

 

As for me, I thought to myself, "How in the world are we going to place our Spanish Libro de Mormon?" because I really wanted to. Well, in comes a Hispanic man who sits across from us. One of the English elders tries to talk to him, but the language barrier gets in the way, and the conversation quickly dies. I can see the curiosity in the man's eyes of this twinky of a car and our black nametags and I knew I could speak his language and I could give him a Libro de Mormon if I just went over and talked to him......I didn't. It took 4 stops for me to work up my courage enough to go over and talk to him and at the moment I was ready to go over and say, "Hola! Como esta," he got off the metro....Dang it! I was so...humiliated, to say the least. 

 

I give this as a bad example of how to do missionary work. The best thing to do is to just do it. Just abrir su boca y hablar. Just open your mouth and speak. I learned that this weekend. The hard way.

 

Hna. Stanford and I made it home safe at 12:30 at night.

 

Also, we had a confrence where President Riggs had us rip one of our shirts to pledge our consecration to the missionary work, just like Captain Moroni did with the people in his country. It was a very powerful experience.

 

The work goes on (intermingled with play) and life is good.

 

 

Junior Companion

Our investigators are doing great! They're still coming to church and Leslie is planning her wedding (which is going to be sometime this month). Good times!

 

Something exciting happened this week: Saturday, correlation started at 9 in the morning and we had a guest speaker (which we usually don't have), so correlation ended at about 11:30. There was a baptism at noon of one of the 8-year-olds in the ward which they asked me to play piano for, so I did. The service got done at 2. We had an appointment to go to at 2, but when we called her, she didn't answer her phone, so we ate something before we headed over (Hispanics incorporate food in every occasion. It's great!). We got to the place, and it's a lock-out apartment, meaning we need a key in order to get into the apartment complex. We didn't have a key....so we waited for a few minutes and some people came along who did have a key! Turned out it was the husband of the lady who we had an appointment with. He said they weren't interested and kindly shut the door on us. We said, "Well, we're here in this lock-out apartment. We gotta do something with this miraculous opportunity!" We knew there was an old investigator, Ana, in this apartment complex we were in, so we knocked a few doors, trying to find her, and we found her! We were also able to enter and teach her for a little bit while her boys were sleeping. So, that was a cool miracle.

 

Also, on Friday, there was a woman who, thinking we were solictitors, told us we should take off our nametags, and after we left her, we talked to each other and said, "What? Take off our tags?!? This is our lifeblood; our calling; our mantle! We can't take them off!" It was one of those moments that was scary, funny, and interesting all rolled into one little chunk.

 

Transfers were this last week, but I'm staying with Hna. Stanford in Bella Vista. Yay! I like Hna. Stanford. She's fun. Bella Vista's a good place to be, too. We have only a few investigators, but they're strong, and the members are so amazing!

 

I finished my 12 week training program! I am now officially a junior companion!

 

That's all the exciting news I have this week!

 

Hermana Brown

Ihaveafacebookpage

The weather is great here. I don't really feel the humidity unless there's a storm brewing or I've walked around a lot. Then I feel it! :) That's one of the lovely things about Virginia. Also....the mosqitos are fun. :) Let's just say, "What do they eat when they can't get hermana?!" :) It's fine!

 

I continue to improve on my skills as a missionary, including rapidly writing a talk to give it in sacrament meeting two hours later. In Spanish. That was fun. The ward council called us and said, "Hey, we need someone to talk in sacrament meeting. Can you do it, Hna. Brown?" "Sure!" I said, quite astonished at what just happened. The interesting thing was, that morning, just before the call, I was pouring out my soul in prayer because I was down--I didn't want to do anything, I was sad and frustrated and I didn't know why, which made me more down and frustrated--and I prayed, "I need help. Please help me to do better, to feel better" etc,etc. Then the call came, I got to work, and felt better! With the help of my companion's editing skills, I did better in my talk too than I would have if she hadn't. So, prayers are answered! Just not always in the way we want them to be.

 

I don't want to say this next part, but I should, so I'm gong to say it really fast-----Ihaveafacebookpage!..............If you didn't get it, go back and read it again. :) If you did, you need to know some rules: I can be friends with you, but I can't follow you while I'm a missionary. I'll post stuff Tues-Fri, if I can think of anything, and I only have one post..so far! :) That will change. Feel free to share my stuff and comment on it. I'm under "Hermana Naomi Brown." Born in Rexburg, ID, living in McLean, VA. 

 

We had a goal this week, as a district, to teach 60 lessons, 15 lessons per companionship, and we made the goal! So, with the permission of our mission president, we're having a barbeque today! That's where we're off to next! Just remember I love you all.

Transfer to McLean, VA

We got a message from one of the assistants to the president on Tuesday saying "Hey, this is Elder Day. Please call me when you have a minute." We all look at each other in excitement and panic. We found this message on our phone after we got out of a dinner appointment, and there was a fierce storm--Driving wind, booming thunder, and pouring rain. Hma. Woodbury's behind the wheel, Hma. Wilcox's in the back, and they're panicking about the storm and also about the transfer: "It's me, guys, I'm getting transferred." "No, I'm being transferred." "They can't split this up! It just got good!"

 

I'm just amused about the whole situation--as amused as I can be with adrenaline in my blood and while keeping my eyes glued to the road so I can help Hma. Woodbury drive. We call him back, and I barely hear my name over the blowing of the wind, the booming of the thunder, the pounding of the rain, and the rolling of the car, even though the call is on speaker-phone. Hma. Wilcox says, "What?" We still ourselves, and we hear clearly, though softly: "Hma. Brown is being transferred." 

 

Immediately, I felt that it was good, that it was what needed to happen, and I was perfectly fine with it. My companions stared at me in shock and it was so funny that I laughed. The car was suddenly filled with confusion. "Why are you laughing?" Hma. Woodbury asked me while Hma. Wilcox was talking to Elder Day and the other assistant to the president, trying to not have the trio split up. After that had settled--we're still driving in the driving wind and pouring rain, hydroplaning at some points--Questions bounce around. "You're being transferred!?!" "Why is it you?" "Why are you OK with this?" "Can we now say that this is not OK?"

 

I replied, with my eyes glued on the road, "No. It's OK. It's gonna be OK."  

 

"What about this situation is OK!?!" Hma. Woodbury shouted. The car hydroplaned, and she said, "Guys, what if we crash and die?" 

 

"We're not," I said. "It's going to be OK. We're gonna make it."

 

"Why are you not panicked about being transferred?" Hma. Wilcox yelled at me.

 

"Because I'm too busy trying to keep us alive right now!" I yelled back.

 

We made it to our next appointment frazzled, but in one piece, and the storm calmed down shortly after we got into it. I packed my bags that night and got up the next morning at 4 to transfer at 6....Yup. That is the exciting story of emergency transfer calls.

 

Now I'm with Hma. Standford. Her companion, Hma. Felt, had to go home early because of medical issues, so that's why we had to have the emergency transfer. Here is a picture of her. She is Canadian, one of three in the entire mission, and the only Canadian hermana in the entire mission. So, I'm pretty special. She loves gummy candy (like me) and music with a beat. She was a trucker before she came on her mission, and she has helped me appreciate them a lot more. Now I don't think trucking is a boring job! :)

 

 

 

The end of the week has been filled with finding people to teach. The work has really slowed because Hma. Felt couldn't do much while she was sick, so we've been picking it back up. I'm in a Spanish ward now, which is HUGE compared to the tiny Spanish group I was in. Yesterday I gave the closing prayer in sacrament meeting and played the piano in Primary--twice! I played for the Spanish primary and then for the English primary in the ward after us. So, my talents are still being used. 

 

We have one person on date (having a baptismal date)! Lesly R. is going to be baptized September 6. Maybe sooner. We also have two people waiting to go on date, but Marisabel is fighting to get permission from her mom to be baptized--she asks every Wednesday, the "peak of the week"--and Brenda is waiting for some paperwork to be done, and then they can make a date! 

 

Today the big goal is clean the apartment! We have cleaning checks on Friday, so we're going to work toward that. 

 

Had a sister's only meeting on Friday and we were told to be nice to our companions, to not compare or criticize, common spiritual sense that everyone should know. 

 

Had a scary experience yesterday evening. We went to an apartment plaza and there were Hispanics EVERYWHERE! It was like an anthill! And most of them were men! My companion doesn't like men. Anyway, we park and the person we're trying to find is in the middle of the plaza--about two blocks away. We hid the GPS and the mount and determined not to take out our I-pads. We said a prayer of protection, and then walked, looking straight and going fast. We didn't find our person, but we did find a nice El Salvadoranian and we weren't mugged or kidnapped or anything. It was terrifying! But we made it!

 

The ups and downs of missionary life continue. Join us next week for the next segment of Missionary Life in the D.C. South.

 

Love ya'll!

Hma. Brown

Hermana Brown

Compañera: Hermana Stanford

Current Address: Hermana Naomi E. Brown

7400 Colshire Dr. apt #3

McLean, VA 22102

Next possible transfer: 24 Julio

7 July 2014

This week has been...really interesting. Canada Day was last Tuesday, and I only know that because one of the hermanas in our mission is Canadian, so she was pretty excited about that. 

We had interviews with President Riggs on Wednesday. It was really good.

 

We got to see fireworks on Friday for Independence Day. Our curfew, for that day, was 10:30 instead of 9, so that was exciting. We went with Sister Gisseman and ate fruit while we waited for them to start. My favorite fireworks were the smiley-face fireworks. That was really cool. I tried to get a picture, but it didn't turn out very good. Fireworks were done at 10, we didn't get home until 11 because traffic was so packed. That was fun.

 

For studies, we usually jump around in Preach My Gospel, depending on who and what we're teaching.

Love you!

Hermana Brown

 

 

Coordinated outfits

 

Me and my companions. You can see a nice bit of our apartment, too. Yes, we do have a giant mirror in our living room and it was fun using it to take the picture. :) This was for district meeting; we coordinated our outfits. It was fun. Hermana Wilcox is on the right, Hermana Woodbury on the left.

The incredible American flag cake. A sister in our ward had us over for dinner and cake and that was the cake she made. Full of gluten, naturally, so I couldn't eat it. But I heard it was good. :)

Tripanionship

Speaking of companions, we have another one! Hermana Woodbury joined us, and we are now a trio! Or, as we fondly call it, a tripanionship. Hma. Woodbury joined us on Wednesday (emergency transfer) and she'll be with us at least for the rest of the transfer, until July 24.She is from Carson, Nevada and her mom is Thai. She learned her Spanish in Spain, in Madrid and Alcala de Hernares, and she makes awesome rice. She also plays the guitar, so I borrow it sometimes to fiddle with it........how does that work? :)

Yes, we are fasting out our natural man for 40 days. A few of the things I'm fasting out are my fear of man, thinking about video games and movies, and worldly songs. Things I'm doing to conquer these things are speaking when I'm terrified or have no clue what to say, refocusing on what I'm doing in the moment, and singing a hymn in my head when worldly songs come into my head. I'm still eating, though. Don't worry! :)

We had stake conference over here in Virginia yesterday. The topic was on the hastening of the work of salvation and all of its different aspects: Missionary work, temple work, family history work, and reactivation. So often, we think of the hastening as just missionary work, and this is not the case. As Spencer W. Kimball said, "I hope to see us dissolve the artificial boundary line we place between missionary work and temple and genealogical work, because it is the same great redemptive work!" (Preach My Gospel, 164). I learned a lot about how I can be more involved with this work when I come home. Mostly, I'm really excited to start working on Familysearch and Ancestry.com with you and also Find a Grave. It's a site that you volunteer to take pictures of graves that are in your area if someone asks you to find it. It's cool. I'd like to do it. 

As for now, life is good. We put a couple on date--We're gonna have ourselves a baptism! Marcia and Santos Hernandez. They are from El Salvador and have two boys who don't like speaking Spanish. It's a good family. We'll make saints out of them, yet. 

 

Love, Hermana Brown

Big, hairy, audacious goal

23 June 2014

We had exchanges this week and I got to lead out the area! It was a nerve-wracking experience, but it was also good because it helped me more fully realize that I CAN speak Spanish better than I thought I could, I CAN take charge, I CAN do a lot of things that I didn't think I could! It's so exciting!

So, we got comida demasiada yesterday. (We got a lot of food). There was a youth conference this last week and a member had bought cases of food for it using the ward budget. After the conference, there was still a TON of food left over, so she gave it all away to 4 sets of missionaries, us included. We were the last ones to get there, so she gave us all the rest of it, and our little Toyota Corolla was very packed in the backseat and the trunk. We took what we wanted and could fit in our fridge, and divided the rest between the English elders who live in our apartment plaza and a recent convert, less-active sister who needed food. We gave half of it to her--all the cheese, some applesauce, a lot of chips, hot dogs, hot dog buns--and what was cool was that, when we got to her house and unloaded it for her, she showed us what she had had before we came over--4 packages of meat in the freezer and some random things in her fridge. She had had nothing until we brought over that food for her. Someone knew, and let us know, and now we all rejoice together. :) We also took a box over to Manuel de la Cruz. You'll find out more about him soon. 

 

More about food. Yesterday, Hermana Wilcox and I started a 40 day fast to fast out the natural man within us. We fasted for 24 hours and made a list of things that poke at our spirit, or things that get in the way of us being spiritually strong. Now, for the next 39 days, we ask for help from the Lord in the morning to overcome these temptations, and in the evening, we account to Him how well we did in our endeavors. If we succeeded, we give Him thanks. If we failed, we ask for forgiveness and recommit ourselves to do better. I'm excited for this. I will be death-crawling by the end of it, but it's going to be good. 

 

As a district, we've set a big, hairy, audacious goal. We want to talk to 420 people in a week. Three companionships in the district, each companionship talks 20 people a day, for 7 days. 420 people in a week. When we reach this goal, our mission president is going to throw us a barbeque. We're still working on it, but it is the goal, the hairy, audacious goal, but we're going to make it. It'll be good.

 

We got a couch! We didn't have a couch in our apartment until this last Friday. The elders moved it in for us, along with the ward mission leader, Brother Snow. The elders tested it for us to see if it was study-worthy and failed the test. It's a very comfortable couch. :)

I gave my first talk in Spanish yesterday! Hermana Wilcox said she understood it, so that was cool. I know I messed up in my past tense, but that's OK. I'm still learning. 

 

I'm heading out! But know that I love you!

Love,

Hermana Brown

Hermana Brown

Compañera: Hermana Wilcox

Current Address: Hermana Naomi E. Brown

94 Heritage Way NE apt #306

Leesburg, VA 20176-3363

Next possible transfer: 24 Julio

Dinner at Gisseman's

Hermana Wilcox and Hermana Brown

Dinner at Gisseman's

22 June 2014

THREE phone calls in Spanish!

16 June 2014

Hermana Wilcox keeps telling me she's never seen so many cats on her mission until I became her companion...hm..:) The bad news is, now when I pet cats, my hands burn. Maybe I have allergies, but I sure hope not!

Guess what, guess what, guess what! I made THREE phone calls in total Spanish! I'm feeling so good about that. I had to practice them before I made them, but I did it! I'm getting better!

 

The temple was beautiful. There was a poem in there that started "Walk this floor as if it was made of gold and the walls were of jewels."

 

We had a lot of rain this week. So much that it flooded some streets here. Then we had a few good days of sun that dried everything up. 

 

Now that I have an SD card reader, let me show you some photos of my mission!

 

 

I went on exchanges last transfer with the sister district leaders. This is one of them-Hermana Weening. We're going on exchanges again with them this week. On Thursday.

 

 

The other one is what I would like to entitle "The evolution of a missionary." :)

This was a picture on the wall at the CCM. I thought it was a good one. :)

 

Lots of love and hugs for everyone all around!

Washington DC Temple

Hermana Wilcox and Hermana Brown at the Washington DC Temple

Friday June 13, 2014

 

 

 



 

Sister Gisseman and Hermana Brown at the Washington DC Temple

Friday June 13, 2014

Fear Not

Hola!

 

I made tortillas and pupusas this week! They're really easy. Pupusas are torillas with filling and tortillas are pupusas without filling. :) You make torilla dough from a torilla mix (it's gluten-free), and for pupusas, after you flatten the tortilla, put a bit of meat or cheese or vegetables on it, fold the dough over it, and flatten it again. Coat in oil and cook on a griddle. Ta-da. You have made pupusas.

I have not realized the importance of sticky notes until I came out on my mission. They really do work. They're useful for remembering what to study, our lesson plans for investigators, all sorts of fun things. 

I've been creating a kind of "Fear Not" calendar, where I copy down variations of "fear not" from the scriptures and plaster them on the wall. They say there's 365 verses in the Bible alone that have a variation on "fear not," one for every day of the year. If the Lord says it that many times, you have to believe it. But can you imagine if we found all the "fear nots" the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price?...:) Wow. One for...who knows! I've been writing them down as I read the scriptures. So far I've got about 15, all from Genesis, Exodus, Matthew, and Mark. Haven't done any of the others, yet. But I should. That would be cool. 

 

Anyway, that's all for this week. Love you!

Herman~a Brown

Hee hee!

Adopted sister

Hermana Wilcox and Hermana Brown

1 June 2014

Hermana Brown with the Deweys and Hermana Wilcox

 

Hermana Brown with the Deweys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hermana Brown with the Deweys and Hermana Wilcox



This week was good.

 

This week was good. On Saturday, we attended a baptism in the morning and the night before, the sisters who asked us to come also asked us to do a "song and dance" with the Plan of Salvation in it (lesson 2 from Preach My Gospel) in Spanish because the parents of the man who's being baptized are Spanish. We said we would go and translate for them, but we thought they were kidding about teaching the plan of Salvation. We go to the baptism, and meet the Spanish people, and we look in the program, and there we are! We're supposed to teach the Plan of Salvation! In Spanish! And we're not prepared! :) So, we made a really quick lesson plan and got up there and taught the plan of Salvation in Spanish. It was great. Probably not as good as it could have been, but it was still good. 

We had a second baptism scheduled for Saturday too, one of the old investigators that Hermana Wilcox had taught, and one of our investigators was going to take us and two of her relatives to it, but the man who was being baptized cancelled last minute because he had work that day. We were very upset. 

So, ya know, ups and downs of missionary work, what do ya do? :) Just keep smiling and go forward, because we know "This is eternal life. This is the salvation of the children of God. Eternity hangs in the balance...It is the most important path [anyone] will ever walk. But if he or she doesn't know that, at least you do! So take control of this situation. Teach with power and authority, and then be devastated if the first steps toward commandment-keeping and covenant-keeping have not successfully begun." (Elder Holland, as quoted in Preach My Gospel pg. 8)

Yes, I am learning. A lot. I realized the reason why I'm not happy is that I'm being tossed about by every wind of doctrine. I have a testimony of the truthfulness of this gospel and the church that houses it, but it's not as strong as it needs to be. And so, I'm not teaching like I need to be doing, I'm being taught, which is not my calling. To solve this problem, I need to study more, to believe more, to seek learning by study and also by faith. It's not enough to just to believe, or just to know. I have to know and believe the knowledge that I have is true, and then I have to stand firm against whatever the world throws at me. That's what I've learned this week.

I gotta go! but I love you very much!

By Small and Simple Things

May 26, 2014

The great thing about having I-pads is we can email on Monday holidays! Just find a spot of wi-if and off ya go! 

 

So, something I thought of this morning when I was showering was that our mission president has a vision of getting 756 baptisms this year for the whole mission. That sounds like a lot, but what it boils down to is 1 baptism per unit (ward or branch) per month. That's the English program's part. In the Spanish program, the one I'm in, his vision is 1 baptism per companionship per unit per month. It's a big testimony to me that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" and it emphasizes personal responsibility, because in order to help my companionship do that, I need to be prepared. "The Lord will put prepared people in the  paths of His prepared servants." That's what Elder Ballard told us and I believe it. 

 

A song that my companion shared with me this week is "beautiful for me" by Mercy River. I really like it. It talks about how beautiful we as women are on the inside and that Heavenly Father sees us that way. I recommend listening to it. 

 

Well, I gotta go, but I love y'all very much and I'll talk to you next week!

 

Tornado and court summons

19 May 2014

 

Aloha! Hola!...Hi!

 

This week...has been really interesting! Where do I begin...

 

There was a tornado that touched down in Ashburn, near where I and my companion live. That night had been raining buckets and the next morning, we saw, on our phone, an emergency warning for a tornado from 3:40 to 4:00 a.m. We had slept right through it, we were still in Leesburg, we still had everything, so life's good!

 

Next, we got summons to court...They were hanging in a bag on our doorknob one evening when we got home, and we took them in, took out the papers from the bag, and read them. They were a garnishment summons, for $107,460, for one Cesar Perez who used lived in our apartment before we did....Did I give you a heart attack? :) We were scared, called our zone leaders: "What do we do?" They told us to call the mission president (who's a lawyer), so we did, and he told us to call the sheriff and tell him we had nothing to do with it, we have no idea who this guy is, we are innocent. So we did and she (the sheriff is a she) said, "OK, you can throw the summons away." Yup, that was worth writing home. :)

 

Also, yesterday we had a conference with Elder Ballard! He told us, in essence, to keep doing what we were doing. During that conference, though, I was impressed to share this with ya'll, so I am: Our mission president noticed that members have a hard time getting their non-member friends to meet with the missionaries. He discovered the missing link. When you're talking to people not of our faith and they bring up a gospel subject, like temples or priesthood or cualquier cosa (whatever), tell them a little bit to get them interested, and then say "It's interesting that you bring that up because in about a week, the missionaries are coming over to teach about that (temples, priesthood, cualquier cosa). It would mean a lot to me if you would come join us." When they say yes, go home, phone the missionaries and say, "Hi, I'm so-and-so, and I just set up an appointment for you next week (date and time, evenings or in the middle of the week work best). The person is so-and-so, and you're going to be teaching about (temples, priesthood, cualquier cosa)." You can say it nicer, if you like, but that's the gist of what needs to be said. 

 

We have two new investigators, Dilia and Rosa Paz. We've been teaching them every night for the last half of the week, and they don't want to get baptized right now. Dilia says she wants to wait for 3 years and Rosa wants to go to church first and know for herself that it's true. The rest of our investigators aren't really progressing. The biggest problem is that Hispanics usually work or sleep on Sundays, so they don't really want to come to church at 9 in the morning. Yup. Life's great. 

 

Gotta get, but I love you all!

Pictures!

This is my trainer, Hermana Wilcox the day we met-May 1st!

 

 

 

This is our group that came in when I came to the mission on April 31.

Here we are at the mission president's home. Hermana Moleli is standing right in front of me. President and Sister Riggs are on the left in the front. Sister Riggs broke her foot on a tree root one day while she was running, hence the cast. She has to keep it up for 6 weeks and then they'll x-ray it again before she can put weight on it. Please pray for her!

 

 

 

Happiness is talking to my mama on Mother's Day. :)

 

Yes, we do teach the "after baptism" lessons, too. We wouldn't, but we have no ward missionaries for our little Spanish group, so we get to do that, too. After baptism, we teach all the missionary lessons to them again and the member lessons.

 

Oh! and there is something delicious I encountered out here. When I first put it on my plate, I thought they were rings of red beet, so I took one to be polite ('cause I don't like beets), but when I cut a piece off and ate it, I thought, "They taste just like spiced apples." And they were! They were red spiced apple rings and they are absolutely delicious. The member who introduced us to them said she buys them off of Amazon, so I encourage you to go find and try them. :) They're very yummy!

 

Love, Hermana Brown

We have a TON of...people we are teaching!

Mirella Jr. is pretty much ready to be baptized. She just needs a little...something, a little push to get her there. Mirella Sr. needs a little more work. The baptisms were great because Mirella Jr.'s less active brother, Jose, was there at the baptism and he told us he was able to get every Sunday off from work, except Mother's Day (cause that's their busiest day), he's coming back to church, and he wants to baptize his sister when she's ready, but he has to get the Melquizedek priesthood first. So, yep. Starting out the mission with a golden contact. That's great.

 

We have a TON of other people we're teaching. Just to name a few: Alejandra, Victor, Vicky and her daughter Jacklyn, Juana and Juana (we have two different Juanas, they're not related, as far as I know), Yolanda, Miguel and Bryan. Those are all our progressing investigators. Much of the Spanish group (It's not quite a branch, yet. We're working toward that) here is less-active, so we go out to try and find the lost sheep and bring them back into the fold. Yup. Good stuff. I don't know all the names of the members in our group yet. 

 

We're also the sister missionaries for the English ward that our Spanish group is in because they don't have Sister missionaries. So, it's a big job in a little area. Both Spanish and English. We did teach one lesson in English over Skype. That was interesting. It was a guy named Matt. He is Hermana Wilcox's friend from back home in Layton Utah. So, yup. Those are, more or less, considerably less than more than more or less, the people we're teaching. You look in the area book, though, with all the potential investigators and the investigators we're to be teaching right now, and there's a LOT. 

President Riggs wants us to type up all the information from the book area book into our area books on our ipads and it takes quite a bit of time. So we do it when we have a spare moment. Our mornings are jam-packed with studies right now (1 hour personal, 1 hour companion, 1 hour training, and 1 hour language), and evenings are what we call "Prime proselyting time" because everybody's home. And, yeah. Life is good. Busy, but that's why it's good. 

Haven't seen any roaches here yet, but it is bedbug season, so we are taking precautions to protect ourselves. 

Hermana Brown

Compañera: Hermana Wilcox

Current Address: Hermana Naomi E. Brown

94 Heritage Way apt #306

Leesburg, VA 20176-3363

Next possible transfer: 12 Junio