2015

Hey! Well not too much has happened since we last talked. I LOVED talking on Christmas. But it also made me a little homesick afterward... Oh well that's good I guess! So after we talked we went over to our investigator, Irene's, house and had some pozole and pan dulce. Some of my favorite things! :) we shared a really good Christmas message with them. They are a great family! But they have a hard time actually taking the steps which they need to... I just know that if they will come to church, they will get a confirmation that these things are true and Joseph smith was a true prophet... On the plus side our church is changing times to 1 o'clock next week so I just know we will have a lot more success with our investigators coming to church :) 

We are kind of running out of miles for the rest of the month so we decided we should start walking some more, well on Saturday the day we decided to walk it POURED. like the worst rain storm I

have seen since being here in Tennessee. Haha that was wonderful we found a lot of people and set up return appointments. Oh ALSO we got transfer calls on Saturday. Hermana torres and I are staying here for another transfer, which I feel okay about. We had a huge miracle Sunday. We had set a goal to have 6 investigators at church on Sunday. But Saturday night we were a little worried we would only have four. But guess what? SIX!!!!! And it was a huge miracle. We had the 3 girls, Natalie, Amanda, and Melanie, Sabu, Felipe, and Beto!!! Okay so Beto and Felipe are the miracles. First Felipe's phone hasn't had service all week. And we haven't been able to contact him or even find him! But he came to church. And he actually wore slacks, WHAT? That never happens. So Beto, he is angele's boyfriend and I don't think even too interested in the gospel. We went over on Wednesday and shared a little message with him and angele's and Then I guess on Saturday night he texted sister noble and said he wanted to come to church and if she would wait for him so he doesn't go in alone (angele's has to work some Sunday mornings) well he came!!!! With angeles too!!! But she had to leave after sacrament and he stayed for all 3 hours!!!! WHAT. then we asked him if he wanted to start taking the missionary lessons and he said yes!!!!!! And then later that night he had sent a text to sister noble saying how he was pretty excited. What. Miracle. It was awesome. We taught him last night and it went pretty good! He likes to try and not understand something's we teach him, but he knows it's true.... He just needs to soften his heart. 

This next week should be fun! On Thursday we get to sleep in until 8! Then we have a super p day from 10 am to 8 pm. That should be fun. President is letting us get together with the zone too. He even is approving a list of g or oh rated movies to watch. That should be great :) we have a ton of return appointments too. I'm looking forward to this week and this next transfer. :) 

I am so thankful for technology and the chance we got to FaceTime. It was great seeing you all. I hope you like the Tennessee shirts! They are pretty cool I think ;) hope you guys have a great week and a HAPPY NEW YEAR be safe :) 

Xoxox

Hermana Lizzy brown :)

 

 

Christmas in Dixie....‏

I have wanted to title my Christmas email that since I got my call.... I hope you enjoyed and sang a little bit of the song with it.. Haha I get to see you on Thursday!!!! I am freaking out. Best Christmas ever!! Also I got your package. And I loved the little nativity, so cute, so thank you :) I am honestly shocked that this week is over... How did it happen so fast? I have no idea, but that's okay! This letter might be a little shorter than normal but we get to talk on Thursday! Yahoo. 

Best news ever. So we decided to help Felipe want to read the Book of Mormon more, and so we started giving him questions to find while he reads. It's great. So we had this awesome lesson about faith with him and sister noble and we left him alma 32 to read, well the next day we were close by his place so we thought we would just say hi, well we did and when we asked him if he read (expecting he wouldn't have cuz he never does...) HE READ!!!!!!! He showed us his Book of Mormon and he had high lighted all the answers to his questions. WAHHHH!!! We were freaking out. I might have almost started crying.... Haha it was seriously so great. 

I still haven't been able to go to the temple yet... We go every six months and they went like 2 weeks before I got here... Sad. But we went to Franklin this last week for a couple days and we stopped by the temple and took some pictures. It seriously is just so super tiny. The stake center is next to the temple and is bigger than it... Haha I feel like I could jump and touch angel Moroni. But it's so beautiful!!! 

Well the little girls we have been teaching are doing great too! They came to church again this week :) that's 3 weeks in a row. They are the sweetest girls in the world and I love them to bits and pieces. We taught them the plan of salvation and they really liked it and could understand it. We are hoping to teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ this next week and talk with their dad about being baptized if it's okay with him. They are so sweet, cute, and smart. I love them!! 

Saturday we had our Ward Christmas party and it was so much fun! Santa came and brought toys for all the kids! It was a blast. I love the ward here! On Sunday we also had the Christmas program  in sacrament meeting. The Spanish group sang La Primera Navidad... It wasn't tooo awful but not good haha my ward is great but let's just say not too much music talent... But it was still a nice meeting :) 

This week was great and sorry I'm not writing much but we get to talk in 3 days!!!! Yahoo :) 

I love you so much!!!

Love always,

Hermana Brown :) 

Also! GO UTES!! I started doing the Utah man when I read they won. Hermana Torres thought it was weird.. Oh well. Go Utes!! 

 

These are some of the girls we teach. The cutest. Left to right. Hma Torres, Natalie (9), Zuly (2), Melanie (8), Amanda (7), me :)

Christmas pics with our district... Kinda weird haha

Me and my buddy hma Torres :)

                                                              

We made a mega "Él es la dádiva" (he is the gift) thing on our wall...

 

Funny pics....

La primera Navidad‏

Wow this week went flying by. It was so busy!! First couple of things, I got your package with the paper Christmas tree and everything. I love it :) I put it up right then! I will have to get a picture of me by it or something to send home. So thank you! And dad thanks for the book, it will probably make me bawl like a baby but crying is sometimes good, right? Haha so this week was great!!! So we had noche de Hogar with the hales family on Monday with our investigator Franco and when we got there he had brought his friend Sabu. But it was a little tricky Sabu doesn't speak Spanish. So we had our lesson half and half. We would discuss half in English, translate to Spanish and vice versa. It was actually really fun and we learned a lot! And Sabu is so cool!! Like he really wants to know the truth. He was also very excited about reading the Book of Mormon too. Franco couldn't come to church yesterday, but Sabu did and he stayed for all 3 hours and he really liked it. So that was awesome!! 

Well we did exchanges with the STL's again this week.... And I stayed here in Columbia... Me and all my little Spanish. BUT it went great. I was so nervous and I don't think I have ever prayed so hard on my life before. And my prayers were totally answered!! So me and sister carpenter went to our night appointments. We couldn't get in anywhere because the families were leaving or weren't home. We decided to stop by at one of our potential investigators, Jacinta's. And I just have this love for her. She is just this amazing lady and is so close to the spirit. Well we have taught her before, we taught her the restoration about a month or so ago but haven't been able to see her again because she is always working and busy. But we drove past her house and her car was there and all her lights too!! I was kind of nervous but just so happy to see her. We went in and starts talking and recapped the restoration. She had a lot of questions about the apostasy and Jose smith. So it was really good to go over it. Over all it went really good!!! And I could understand all she was saying. Seriously. It's such an amazing blessing and tender mercy from the lord. After we had missionary correlation and then we went to stop by and see Felipe. Well usually he is like "come in come in" and we never can because Olivia isn't there but it was so cool! He just grabbed his jacket, turned a movie on for max and came outside. It was incredible! We talked a lot about the temple and life and the scriptures and baptism. Usually Felipe just kind of messes with me because I can't speak Spanish all too well but he was serious the whole night. It was such a tender mercy! He is such a cool guy. 

On Friday we had zone conference so that was way fun too! Elder Rundlund from the seventy came with his wife. He is way cool!! Overall it was a really good zone conference and I got to see Hermana Levao so that's always fun :) she is a cutie! Let's just say her companion and I are a little different so I think she is struggling a bit. But it's good for her :) 

On Saturday it was sister nobles son, Alex's baptism. It was really and cool. He is such a sweet cute boy! That night was sister nobles daughter quincera! We stopped by for a bit to grab some food, talk to some less actives and find a few new potentials. That was really fun too! Also we went and visited one of our progressing investigator family in spring hill and earlier the mom was telling us that her son just really wanted a Christmas tree but they just didn't know if they good be getting one this year or not. Well there was a tree at our apartment with lights and ornaments and we decided to go and take it to them and decorate with them. It was so much fun and they kids were so cute!! I don't think I have just been filled with so much love and happiness. I'm so grateful for the chance I get to have to be a missionary right now at this time. Let alone a member of this church. I also just love this Christmas time when the whole world can truly focus on the Savior and his birth and life. 

Also miracle!!! We had an amazing lesson with Felipe!! We decided to have it at the church and wow that really brought the spirit. We read 1 Nefi 8 all about the tree of life and everything and it was great. He was just eating it all up :) we even asked him to say the closing prayer and usually we will argue it and Hermana Torres and I will end up saying it after about 10 minutes, and this time he just said it. And it was a real sincere heartfelt prayer. It was so amazing. I can't believe how crazy it's been at home, but busy is always fun I think :) I'm sad to say I missed the Santa party... But it looked like it was fun like always. I am stoked to hear about Murray basketball and the Utes!!! Thanks for all your love and support and like Brandon would say, keep it crunk. Haha

Love always, 

Hermana Brown :)

On Monday night we were visiting Hermana Angeles and she totally caked me for no reason....

Me and Hermana Torres

Sister nobles son, Alex, got baptized on Saturday! Cutie.

Amy and Edy jr by the Christmas tree. SO cute.

 

You scared Marv?????‏

How did this week go by so dang fast??? Oh well that just a good sign I feel like! Sounds like everything at home is going good too :) I was actually saying on Tuesday night to Hermana torres, because we drove past the high school and I said "$10 bucks says my parents are at the high school basketball game right now" and oh how correct I was! :) okay this week was really fun! First off, good news!!!! We got a full time car!!!!!!! Yahoo!! We were struggle the last few weeks and we finally decided to call the AP's and ask for their advice what we should do. We just couldn't get to our people that we needed to see. Well last week the AP's called us and told us we would have the car full time now! Seriously such a blessing. 

Okay this week was really good. On Monday night we had a FHE with our investigator Franco. He is just such a cool guy and is genuinely wanting to find and to know the truth. We had it at the hales house. Their house is SO cool. Mom you would love it. They live out in the country and like their house is just like this way cool cabin and it's like on a farm. They own so many acres of land too. And they 130 chickens and like this huge green house too. Well we had dinner and then had like a way good lesson about the restoration. And brother and sister Hales killed it!!!! Franco loved it. So much fun. 

Also We met this lady Maria who we have been trying to contact and visit. Finally we were able to have a lesson with her! She is great. Way cute lady with 3 really cute boys. We taught her the restoration and she seemed to really like it. Also we invited her to be baptized on the first lesson! What. We have never done that so that was a little scary. But it was good. We just did a soft invite and asked if she came to find these things to be true would she follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. She said yes!! Woot woot. We can't wait to go back and meet with her. 

It was sister nobles youngest sons, Anthony, birthday this last week too and she invited us for dinner and cake. We had fish tacos and they were delicious. Who would have come to see the day when I would eat fish tacos?? Haha well it came and it was delicious. The mission is really changing me..... I also had a burrito this last week that had tons of guacamole and I loved it.... Who am I becoming? Haha just kidding but really. It was a fun time! That family is great!!! And so awesome to us missionaries. 

On Friday we went up to Franklin and had a great lesson with this guy Richard, who was actually found by the elders in Franklin and given to us. He is way cool. He is super involved with his church but loves the lord more than anything I think. We are hoping to help him understand priesthood and the restoration of priesthood. 

On Saturday we had a great day too!!!! The best. We went back to the hales but this time we had a lesson with Felipe and Olivia!!! It was great. They brought their kids too. We had a great lesson on families and we read the proclamation to the family together and discussed it. It went great and Olivia was all over it. After they invited us to stay for lunch. It was so cool. Hermana Torres and I got to go and cute the lettuce from the green house and everything! So fun. And then we got to go collect the chicken eggs and feed the chickens too. We forgot to bring our iPads so we didn't get any pictures... :( but we will be back up there in the next few weeks and we will get some more pictures!!! 

We also have been teaching this family, we call them "the 7 girls" because it's a family that has 7 girls ages 17-2! Crazy. But we have really only teaching the dad and 3 of the girls. The mom is never home because she is always working, it's pretty sad.... Those girlies just need a mom. The dad is really cool. But yesterday the 3 girls came to church!! Natalie (10) Melanie (9) and Amanda (7) and they loved it!!!!! Their dad couldn't come but is going to come next week :) we get to have fast Sunday in Spanish and we had 30 people come this last time. It was great!!! :)

Overall things are going great. The weather has been pretty nice and not too cold. I am really starting to love this area more and more. I am so grateful for the chance that I have to be a missionary at this time. Also we are have a member of the 70 come to our zone conference Friday!! Crazy. His name is elder Rundland, I'm not sure if I spelled that right or not... 

Sounds like things are going good back at home. I'm glad Megan's funeral went well and everything. She is such a sweet heart. I'm sorry to hear about no snow yet.... The worst! I'm actually hoping we don't get any snow because if we do I will probably get homesick and we all know we don't want that to happen. Haha. Are you guys having a Santa Claus party too??? Sounds fun. Also exciting about the utes! $10 says you all get your Christmas gift and a trip to Vegas..... Haha that will be fun! Well I love you all so much! Have a great week :) 

Love always, 

Hermana Lizzy Brown :)

December already??????

Mi familia! Hola!! Como estan? Espero todo es bien con usteds! Haha how is my spanish?? Well first off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING and HAPPY FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER!! I can't believe that it's already December... So crazy. Well it sounds like your thanksgiving was good!! I'm going to be honest.... This thanksgiving was definitely different..... But it was okay :) it just is weird to have holidays on your mission... I am so excited for Christmas though :) president said we can skype!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!! I'm so stoked. I will get more info and let you guys know when and how and how to add me and all that jazz. 

Anyway this week was so dang hard. But it was a good week. We struggled a lot and walked a lot more, but we also saw tons of tender mercies from the lord. Always the best!! We decided not to be in contact with Felipe this week and just kind of let things be. We ended up seeing him at one of our members birthday party and it was good!! This member is Hispanic so they invited us and we were able to talk and contact a ton of people!! It was actually great. We got a new Ward mission leader, and he is American but speaks Spanish and is married to a Mexican lady and he was just fellowshipping Felipe the whole time at the party. The best part is that we are having a family home evening at their house tonight with felipe! So let's see how that goes :) 

Besides that we did a ton of contacting and finding and trying to visit some of our potential investigators. On Wednesday we walked so much and so far and when we finally got to the house of a less active we knocked and no one was home. We went and knocked a few more houses and decided to go and try the house again. We knocked and knocked and knocked then it started pouring and storming. We decided just to wait on the dry porch for a little longer and wait for our ride. We decided to knock one more time, and Luis answered!!!! We were able to talk with him about his baptism and everything. Hopefully we can get in and get him back to church. 

Also!!!! We are trying to build up our priesthood in our spanish so we can start a branch sooner if we have so many Spanish priesthood holders. Well we were talking to this guy at Walmart and he told us that his cousin is a member and served his mission in Monterrey Mexico too and he just moved back here but he didn't know where the church was. Well yesterday we got a call from The guy!!! His name is Daniel and he is an RM and everything. It's just what we need!! :) 

Onto thanksgiving. It was different. We got ready and went around and shared little messages about being thankful and gratitude. The thing we were scared of was that every Hispanic we go and visit will want to feed us. And so We went to the Abacs and they forced us to eat... It was really good. We had turkey and rice and beans and tortillas. Haha it was different but really good too!  After we had our dinner appointment at the cooks. It was good as well!   it was so nice of them to feed us and it was really good too!! Then our dinner at margaritas.... Hahaha she canceled on us.... Joy. We ended up going to say happy thanksgiving to our less active Beaty, and they invited us and it was so good!!!! This way good pork, and noodles, and pancho and that was good. It's like a little bit like wassel but different at the same time haha. Overall it was a great thanksgiving. And I have so much to be thankful for in my life :) 

This next week we have a ton of appointments and are even going to try and set a date with this guy named Franco. He has been to church the last 2 weeks and he loves it!!! He even asked one of our members what he needs to do to be baptized. WHAT. Please pray for him. He is just such a cool guy and kind of reminds me of Pedro off of napoleon dynamite. Hahaha he is great!! :) 

Dad, the house looks great!!!! I love the white lights around the windows. It looks great. And mom the tree looks really good too. I need a picture of that camel in the window though!!! I'm glad it was fun to have brandon and haley come up too. They are the best!!! Also mad props to you all for doing that 5k!!! I want pictures. I love you all so much. I am so blessed  to have the best family ever. I missed you guys this thanksgiving but I am more thankful that we are gonna be together forever. Have a great first week of December hopefully some snow will come too to add to the house :) 

Love always, 

Hermana Lizzy Brown :)

Gobble gobble 11/22/2014

Hello family! It sounds like you guys are all doing well!! Also sounds like utah is getting cold... Tennessee is so bipolar... One day it's super cold, the next in the high 60s or 70s.... But luckily I have my handy dandy knee, so I can tell if it's going to get colder or not. Its a little achy right now so let's see how the week unfolds... Haha this week was a good week!!! We taught a total of 30 lessons!! Cool right?! I was pretty excited. I'm still trying to figure out how this week went by so dang fast... I seriously can't believe that this week is thanksgiving!!! It will be fun to have Brandon and Haley home this next week! Don't do anything too fun without me ;) haha and now Brandon can eat all the garlic he wants and I won't be there telling him how gross he smells... Haha But maybe don't sleep in my room... Who knows how long that smell could stay in my room.... Hahaha just kidding :)

This week was really good but also just kind of disappointing.... Satan is the worst! Things went well with Felipe when we had another lesson with sister noble. The spirit was so strong and wow it was great. Then it just goes back to the same old... Felipe just doesn't want to put in the effort... We decided we are just going to give him some space and time to realize what he wants  and needs to do with his life. We got Irene and her kids to come to the Wednesday night activities and it was great. They loved it. We then just had a lesson with them. It went really good and then Irene said the most heartfelt prayer ever. On Thursday we also had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon. We showed the Mormon message of elder Hollands testimony of the Book of Mormon and it is so powerful. You could tell that it really touched Irenes heart. She definitely seemed more interested in reading now. But then Satan got a hold of their hearts and they didn't come to church on Sunday :( Irene kind of has depression and anxiety... And some days are just better than the others... We are still working so hard with them. Please pray for them to come to church!! But we did have a cool miracle. There is another family in the Ward, the Hales family and they are amazing. The mom is Mexican and the dad went to Costa Rica on his mission so he speaks fluent Spanish. Well they have told us about their friend Franco who is interested in the church. He came to the breakfast for dinner dinner at the church and then he came to church yesterday!! It was great. We didn't have much time to talk with him after, but he stayed for all 3 hours! The cool part though, we were walking to some investigators houses yesterday and guess who we see driving? Franco!! He pulled off the side of the road and we ended up talking and teaching him for about and hour!! He said that he has been to a lot of different churches but he just feels something different here.... He is so amazing!!! ALSO another tender mercy!!! We got a referral from the English elders in Thompson station so we went to go visit them and they are amazing!! It's a mom, Angie a dad Eddie and two kids Eddie Jr. (4) and Amy (2) and they love the gospel. They have been seeing English elders for the past 2 years but not much has happened.... And now Angie just loves the gospel and wants to get baptized. The only problem is that they aren't married.... And that is all that is stopping them from getting baptized... So hopefully we will be hearing some wedding bells soon... :)

Also funny story of the week, We were walking in the trailers and we walked up to the yard and walk around the side and there was this Hispanic family, just in the yard gutting a deer. I just stood in shock because I had never seen that happen before, then I just started laughing because what!? The guy just is holding the leg while the other one skins it and just is like "hola buenas noches" then it was weird so we said bye and I thought Hermana Torres was gonna pass out walking back to the car. 

Thanksgiving should be fun this week! We are allowed to got to two dinners. We are going to one with an American family, the cooks so that should be really fun! Then we are going to another at our less active, margaritas house!! It should be fun to have like an American Hispanic thanksgiving. I'm a little sad to be missing thanksgiving this year... But it just sounds like so much fun!! Dinner at aunt cindys and then at grannies on Friday! Is grannie having more missionaries over again?? I wish I has a couple like grannie and grandpa in my district. They are just so dang cute! :) sad to hear about the Utes.... I actually knew about the game before your guys email.... Oops. Haha we went to dinner Saturday night and I just was sitting there and I realized the ute game was on tv..... I only looked for about 1 minute..... There was only 4 minutes left of the game.... It was sad... I was hoping maybe I would see you guys in the stands... Hahaha 

Well this week was good and I look forward to this next week too :) I love you all so much! And happy thanksgiving!!! :) 

Love always, 

Hermana Lizzy Brown

Ps have a nice glass of swag juice for me too

One Transfer Down

Hello family! It sounds like things have been good and busy back at home! Happy first snow fall to you guys!! We have just had glorious rain here in Tennessee. And when it rains it pours. It pretty fun... I'm kind of starting to get a bit of a cold so I'm just grateful we have the car this week :) this last week was so good!!!! We didn't have the car and it was probably our best teaching and finding week! We were pretty excited. We actually did exchanges with the sister training leaders in Franklin this last week and I was super stressed that I was gonna have to stay in columbia and attempt to speak Spanish by myself. But thankfully I went to Franklin so that was fun!!! But I did have to speak some Spanish. Since we have some investigators there sister Dixon wanted me to go and follow up with them... HAHA it wasn't too bad.... I did have to default back into English a couple of times. It was actually a really good experience to have. It made me realize how I need to just be that much more confident in my Spanish. It's getting there. Little by little. We had like a wayyyyy good lesson with Felipe this last week too. Sister noble came and kinds just told him what's up. It was awesome. Sister noble is the bomb member missionary!!! Felipe said he was going to start reading her Book of Mormon for real this time and start praying. So that was really good!!! :) we have this new investigator, Felix who is probably like 65 or so and he is really cool! But just such a crazy Hispanic. Sometimes he just says how he wants to learn more and know God better and then he goes off about something random like about midgets and satan.. It's rather strange... so we taught him Saturday and we asked him not to drink alcoholnSaturday or Sunday and to come to church.... And on Sunday morning guess who was at church? Felix!! And his friend. It was great!!! And the Spanish members were totally just fellow shipping him like crazy. It was so great!! We were so happy and he told us he didn't drink for those two days :) hopefully we can start seeing more success with him!! 

Our Ward had like a breakfast for dinner, Ward dinner on Saturday and it was great!! We had 8 nonmember Hispanics come and 7 less actives come!!!! Plus our Hispanic members too. It was great!! We were so so happy. Our Ward is starting to get more comfortable with them and with us too!! And on Sunday our less active margarita and her kids came to church!! And stayed for all 3 hours too!! It was awesome. We had a lesson with her after and she said that she really loved the sacrament. She felt so much peace and happiness. Yay!! I love her she is so amazing! 

So something kind of funny that happened this week was we were teaching and this little boy brings out his pet chicken. And it's just running around the trailer. Hahahaha I felt like dad would have died. It was so funny. I got some pics with it to show you! Also it was transfers and I am obviously staying here in Columbia so that will be fun!! :) I can't believe thanksgivings next week!! How crazy. And then soon enough it will be Christmas. 

This week was so busy but so good and this next week is going to be even busier I feel!! So that is just even better :) I love being a missionary. Everyday I am just happy to be here to be with these people. I couldn't imagine doing anything else!!! I have really been able to draw closer to my father in heaven and truly trust and rely on him and my savior Jesus Christ. I just love this gospel so much!! And I just am so honored that I get to wear Christ's name over my heart everyday day :) 

Also very glad to hear that's the Utes are still doing good!! I can't believe that basketball is already starting up!!! That kind of makes me sad. Just because you know how much I love basketball too... Oh well! You will just have to keep me updated on it all!! Thanks for all your love and support!! Love you all so much!! 

Love always,

 Hermana Lizzy Brown :)

 

Trying to take artsy pics while walking and walking and walking some more

Chicken in trailer

Chicken selfies

My district before transfers

montzy at the breakfast for dinner

 

I'll have some of the yeller‏

It sounds like y'all have had a crazy fun filled week! I'm glad you had a good rest of the week in Arizona! I hope you got some videos or at least a photo or two of you guys sliding down the slide or something! Hahaha that sounds like a blast! 

Well the weeks with the car go by wayyyyyy to fast!!! But it's okay because this week was a great week!! But first off, so sad news... Felipe won't be getting baptized on Saturday :( boo. This week we had been talking about it and getting him excited and answering his questions. But something just felt off. On Friday we had the trainer trainee meeting where we got with all the other trainers and trainees, I got to see Hermana Levao, I was so happy!! :) anyway the meeting went great!! But after, Hermana Torres and I were talking and we both felt like he just wasn't ready. But we didn't want to tell him that... But we went into our lesson and he told us he was thinking about that, just not ready.

This last Sunday was also our primary program. It was SO cute!! We have a ton of kids in our ward. I love it.  our bishopbric is amazing!!! Seriously. Just the best. So we are thankful for that. This week was a pretty good week though!!! I feel like where did the week go? But that's pretty good I guess! 

This morning I actually had a really good scripture study! I was reading in 3 Nephi 9 and it is right after Christ's death and right after the 3 days of darkness and they hear Christ talking. I love love love verses 13-14

13 O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unt

I was listening to a conference talk by Elder Allen Packer and he quoted Elder Oaks and he said "A testimony is to know and to feel. Conversion is to do and to become."  And I really just love that. And that's what Christ is inviting us to do. To be converted unto him by using his atonement. 

The frustration with Spanish is definitely still here but I'm just trying to take it paso a paso. So in lessons I try as hard as I can to pay attention and to speak but sometimes I just can't then she has me explain something in Spanish that I have never even taught anyone before and I don't know how. That happened last night and I was actually just mad. And I might have started crying in the closing prayer cause I was so mad. It's just so frustrating. But I am trying to take the frustration and use it to my advantage. My writing and reading in spanish has gotten better so that is a plus! I'm just trying to make the most of it. :) 

I'm glad you got my letter and that all is well at home :) I'm sorry it's starting to get colder. It's back and forth here. One day it's freezing, the next day it's super warm... So we never know what we'll get! Sad the Utes lost :( do they play this next week? I hope hope hope they do good!! Thanks for all your love and support and especially your prayers. I love you all so much! :) 

Love always, 

Hermana Lizzy Brown :)

 

November

Can you believe that it's November already!? What the heck! This is crazy. And I'll tell you, it's starting to get pretty cold here... Uh oh I might be in trouble. The actual temperature isn't too cold but the winds are what are killer. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's so weird to have holidays on the mission. Seriously. But it was a good Halloween, how was your guys? Although I had no scones I did get fed pozole, so you know I was the happiest girl ever. We went to the wad party and it was fun. They had a chili cook off and a trunk or treat! One of our less actives came with their families and some investigators too :) our Ward is nice but no parkview Ward. 

Haha okay so this week was crazy and went by so fast. But that's good. It was really warm the first couple of days of the week and we rode our bikes... Joy. Haha it's getting better. We had a crazy experience with Irene and her oldest daughter Betsy on Tuesday. We went into going to teach about the plan of salvation and all of a sudden Irene says she really wants Betsy to get baptized and how she wants to too. WHAT??? Hahaha crazy. So I mostly talked to Betsy in English and Hermana Torres was talking to Irene in Spanish. Betsy is so confused and has so many questions. She said she really loved how we teach and that it all just makes sense! It's crazy. Hoping to set s baptismal date next week with her :) and on Wednesday we had our English classes! We had 5 people come. It was great but English is actually really hard! I had a hard time teaching it. But everyone said they liked it so that is good! And we hope next week we will have more people come too! We also had interviews with president and that was really good. He made me feel a lot better about how I am feeling as a newbie missionary. He is such an amazing president and I am so glad to have him as my mission president. He truly has the strongest testimony and cares about all the missionaries. Also we have been visiting a less active family a ton, well the parents are members (less actives) and none of their kids have been baptized though. Their oldest daughter invited us to her band concert on Thursday night and we went. I love this family so much. The mom is margarita, the dad I actually don't know his name, but he is never home when we go over cause he works a lot... But he is kinda interesting... Then their oldest daughter Ariel is 11, Robert is 9, Erik is 8, Ilene is 6, and Gordo is 2! They are so dang cute. I will send a picture. 

FELIPE SET A BAPTISM DATE FOR NOV 15!!!! Yayayayayayayaya! The happiest girl in the world. We challenged him on Wednesday and he accepted but it was kinda like a soft acceptance. Then on Saturday we had a lesson with him and before we even started he said, remember the 15th. And we finally got him to pray with us too. It was a great lesson and really overall great week! It's been hard with him because he doesn't really express his feelings all that  well so sometimes we don't really know what he is thinking. But we have been starting to ask him more questions so that he can teach us. 

ALSO! I was sooooo surprised what I found on our door step on Thursday night. How nice of the rasbands and Marcie!! I felt bad because we never got in contact with her but she left another note on the door Saturday night too. She is so cute. Tell her I say thank you and I'm sorry I missed her, it was a crazy week and weekend. It was so nice to get that and just feel all that love and support. 

Like i said, the weather has gotten pretty chilly but it's also been so dang pretty too. I will send you pictures of all the fall weather we have been having!! I love it. Since there are tress everywhere, that means, leaves everywhere!! 

The Spanish have their own sacrament meeting on fast and testimony meeting, so I bore my testimony! In Spanish of course. I think it went pretty well. It wasn't totally awful I don't think but man our Spanish members need some help. About 2/3 is made up the Abac family, and they are great and usually come every week, man they are different. Haha one of the little girls was walking around drinking a coke and eating chips.... It was hard because 1 I can't drink coke on the mission and 2 it was fast Sunday haha temptation at its finest. We are hoping to work with them so that they can feel the spirit more while at church. 

We also had a kind of interesting experience last night. We were knocking doors and this lady answered and at first she seemed really nice but something was off. She invited us in and Hermana torres and I both just kind of had a weird feeling about her but not s bad get out feeling. We kinda might think she is a witch. She really liked our message and the restoration of the gospel, but then she would go on tangents and just quote random bible scriptures and told us how she is a seer? And has like a crazy mind and stuff... It was interesting. We probably won't go see her again... Just refer her to the English sister.

This week I have really been focusing on the atonement and how I can better understand the atonement and apply it to my life so I can help those I teach to better understand it. I have been finding some really good talks to help me better understand it. Elder Nelson gave a really good talk about the Atonement and why it's so important. He talks about how the creation, the fall, and the atonement all loop together. My favorite part of his talk was this part "The Creation required the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be accomplished. Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the supreme purpose of the Creation. To phrase that statement in its negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted. The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was restored to make possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to parents, families to progenitors, worlds without end." I just love that. I love the temple and I am so grateful I am able to be sealed to my family forever! And wow I just love it. 

Last week was a really good week! I am excited about this next week. We have a pretty full week ahead of us so that's good! And we have the car. Even better :) thats crazy there weren't too many kids at grandmas Halloween party! But it's good cause we are doing what's right, right!? Sounds like Jake and Hayden are doing well too :) I'm sad that Halloween was so lonely :( but those scones just looked so good and so did the sugar cookies! Haha I saw them in a corner of the picture. I'm so sad the Utes lost :( but it sounds like you have had a good little trip and get away to Arizona! I swear now that my parents are empty nesters all they want to do is go on trips.... Haha I'm glad you guys are having fun! 

I love you so so so much! I hope you guys have a great, fun, safe week! I love you :) 

Love always, 

Lizzy 

 Brown street! And parkway kinda funny :)

Me in leaves

Cute twinkle lights and town square

Halloween balloons

Me and Ilene

MONTH 2‏

HAPPY TWO MONTHS TO ME. So I have realized that in all my other emails it s been about my week and I will keep doing that, but I kinda wanna tell yall about Tennessee!! Okay so there are trees everywhere! And like hills too. And Saturdays are my favorite because everyone is just walking around places in their Tennessee orange t shirts. It's so cute! It's kinda funny though because it's kinda like byu and Utah but Tennessee and Alabama hahaha I always tell people i know one of the quarterbacks... Hahaha anyway, as you know the south is called the Bible Belt, and it's so beyond true!!! First, there are SO many churches. And it's just crazy. Like the same religion, but 12 different churches, with different names and it just a lot. To me that doesn't make much sense....but whatever haha it's actually pretty amazing to watch people's faces when we tell them that our church is all over the world. It's also awesome because then we can ask them if they have ever wondered why there are so many churches, a great way to go into the restoration! So far we have only had one time where someone kinda wanted to bible bash a bit... (Some preacher) but we stayed cool and just let him talk. But occasionally I had to slip In a couple verses to help him understand. It was so interesting. He was trying to tell us that in the bible it says we should not add or take away from the word of God, trying to tell us that the Book of Mormon contradicts the bible, but he is reading this verse out of some modern bible that doesn't even use the correct words as the bible. And I just was thinking... Man you are doing exactly what the bible says you shouldn't do!  The people are pretty nice here. But some people can be pretty rude too... But it's all good! I'm lucky and Hispanics are all really really nice to us. To be honest I haven't had like super good southern food yet.... Mostly cuz we eat with Hispanics... But that also means REALLY good authentic food too... Not complaining :) 

This week was good, we had some way good lessons with Felipe! On Monday we had the most amazing lesson. We have really gotten past that awkward stage and finally we are getting better acquainted with him. And we joke around which is good but then we have like these amazing lessons! He felt the spirit so strongly. It was awesome. He was almost in tears. It was great! We talked about baptism again but not so much pressure on him. He says he wants a family like mine and Hermana Torres. He wants happiness. He says it's hard because he needs to show his faith, then he said, well maybe that is by baptism. I was smiling so hard it probably scared him but whatever. It was great. He is so awesome! But please please pray for him. He needs it! I'm afraid he is starting to go into a depression and we really don't want that at all. He is amazing. I can really start seeing people as Christ's sees them since being out on the mission. It's incredible. 

Another really cool thing happened to us on Tuesday night too! We decided to stop at the laundry mat before heading in for the night, we had about 20 mins left and we met this lady Rhonda. She was amazing. And I mean we didn't talk much about the gospel but we just chatted about life and everything. And she really was just awesome. We all connected so fast. And I just love her. She told us she loves learning about God and listening about other churches because after her mom passed away it's really helps her. Well I just bore my testimony about how our message will help her feel peace in her life and that she will be able to find happiness at those times. And she was just so cute and smiled and said "wow y'all are gonna make me cry" and we just told her we loved her and we barely know her and we hugged and she said she would call us... So I sure hope so! Then we are walking to the car and this lady comes like running to us and says "are you guys missionaries? Mormon missionaries?" And we go "yeah we are!" And goes "can I have s Book of Mormon? And a pamphlet if you have one?" I was in awe. So I guess this lady, Deborah, had the missionaries teach her and her mom like 20 years ago, but nothing really happened cuz her mom died and she moved her and she just kinda forgot about it all. Then she said the last few months she had been praying so hard to God for help and strength. And when she saw us she remembered the other missionaries that taught her mom. She said has been looking for us and wants to come to church. It was CRAZY. I about cried right there. I have been praying so hard to find someone who is looking for us. Ahhh she said she was gonna go home and read the Book of Mormon tonight. Wow. The lord is so amazing and I just am happy I get to experience all these miracles. 

Okay I just have one story that is probably my grossest story so far with bugs n all... But so idk if yall remember telling you about Tina but Tina just has a lot of problems and we always go and I visit her or try to once a week. Well we went yesterday and ohhhhh her trailer is full of bugs. Big ones, small ones, all kinds. It's so so so gross... No le Gusta. Like I didn't want to have a grossed out face the whole time but I probably did. But it was bad. Just all on the walls, floors, tables. Everywhere. It was awful. I just have a feeling dad would have maybe had a panic/freak out. We got out of the lesson and just looked at each other and wanted to cry cuz we thought we got bug infested. Seriously. Ew. 

This week was good and I am praying next week is too! :) I love you so much, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. Have a good week and happy Halloween :) I will send pics next week from, our Ward Halloween party/ mine and Hermana Torres' Halloween party cuz we have to be in early that night. Love you all so much! 

Love always, 

Hermana Brown :)

We broke down and got mcdonalds breakfast today... I love those cinnamon melts

Cool bikes

Me, Anegles, Hermana Torres, and Anegles daughter Joselyn

The Piggly Wiggly

Tennessee Sweat Shirt

 

Tornados, trailer parks, and David Archuleta‏

This week has been an okay week but gone by fast! But also slow.... The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days... SO true. Well Monday was a good day, we just cleaned our nasty apartment and went to the store, which was a scene because we bought a little too many groceries for our baskets on our bikes haha but we made it work. Then, we were getting all ready to go out and teach Felipe and weather goes crazy. Serious. Then we get a text saying there is a tornado warning and to not go out until. 6:30 or told otherwise. So then about 6:15 we get a Text saying to not go out until 7... And then our zone leaders said we needed to be inside by 8:30 because the storm was gonna get worse, right when we got in at 8:30, things got crazy outside! It's amazing how brave I have gotten from coming out on my mission Tuesday was better but not by a ton, it's been hard getting around without a car, we trade with the elders every other week, and some of our members and investigators live so far away... Our closest member to us is the Abac family and it takes us about 40 mins just to walk to their house... Luckily we have been able to find rides. It's hard cause we want to ride our bikes, but when it's rainy and all sorts of windy we would rather just walk, it's a lot easier, and I mean I don't have rain pants like E does... Haha just kidding. BUT we challenged Felipe to get baptized on November 1st! He is so awesome. But also so frustrating to us as missionaries. He knows why baptism is important and how he needs it to change his life, he says he will prepare to be baptized that day but he can't commit.... It's so frustrating! I think he has a hard time reading the Book of Mormon and praying. We are going to focus more on that next lesson. We had dinner at the Abacs again and it was good! Just different. I am happy I have been taking those probiotics because seriously some of the stuff they give to us to eat is kind of a littler interesting. 

Wednesday was a better day! But we decided to bike... Oh man. Columbia just have like tons of little hills and it hurts. I should have been better prepared... But it was good for me! Oh but we had a terrible experience. We were knocking doors and on the last house we knock and the door is open and we can hear him and like 3 mins later this guy comes all wrapped up in some blanket. And we start talking to him and he goes "I would love to listen to your message, but let me hurry and go and put some clothes on..... We go "okay..." He walks inside and Hermana Torres and I just look at each other like what the heck.... But he was a nice guy and listened to our message and we talked for awhile! Then we headed back home because one of the ward members was bringing us dinner. Her name is sister Brady and wow she is the sweetest nicest southern lady you will ever meet! After we left for our appointment with Felipe. But we had to walk... And it was a lot farther on foot. But when we were about halfway there we got a text from him saying he just got back from his doctors appointment and he was so tired. I don't know if I mentioned this before, he fell at work a couple months ago and the doctors thought he would be paralyzed and he is now walking. Truly a miracle. And it's crazy, but this accident has really humbled him and helped him realize what he wants in his life. Anyway he canceled and that sucked because we still had an hour in a half before another member picked us up for our other lesson. So we just went finding. We had another lesson with a lady named Irene and she is awesome but is a talker! Unfortunately sister noble and Hermana Torres had to listen to her talk about the same thing for 1 hour, because the little girl just wanted to talk with me, in English. Even better but I taught her the restoration and I tried my best to help a 7 year old understand! 

Thursday was a great day! Like I said earlier, our area is huge and we cover a couple towns. Well we went to Franklin for a day and it's SO cute! I love it there. Franklin is actually really wealthy and where a ton of famous people live. It felt like straight out a movie scene. We went tracting there up in a trailer park and it was like heaven haha I think there were maybe 2 white families in the whole park, the rest = Hispanics. And it was like a nice trailer park too! Haha nice compared to the ghetto ones in Columbia. Then we decided to walk back to down town and wait for our ride. It is so cute. And I guess some LDS people own this frozen yogurt shop so we stopped by and they gave free frozen yogurt. My fav! We came back and met with Felipe. He is great, but it's just so hard. His life is hard right now. He doesn't do much and his kinda ex girlfriend/ not ex girlfriend won't let him see his son ever and he can't work and he is home alone all day. Can't walk all that well and is only 26... It's just hard. We read the book of Mormon  together and he loved it. We read in Enos and all about Enos' prayer and everything. It was awesome. We are still trying to do our best with that baptism date! 

Friday was a looooooong day! Since I have training and language study we are in the apartment for 2 extra hours... So that means until 12... Then we have lunch and on Friday we do daily planning which usually takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to do... But after weekly planning we went to go and have soupas at Hermana Angeles house. It was so fun. We taught her for awhile and talked about going to the temple. She is amazing. Hermana Torres and I have decided to give free English classes once a week! We went and made flyers and passed them around. As we were walking a guy in our Ward pulled up and invited us to dinner with his family. We walked over to the restaurant and it was so good. Really yummy southern food!the family was so nice. After we saw this girl we had talked to for a bit, Molly. She is so cute. And I feel like she really wants change in her life. 

Saturday was a good day! Hermana Anegles' sister, Olivia (who is Felipe's woman... Sorta...) was moving into a new apartment so in the morning we went and helped move. It was fun!! Hispanics are so awesome. I love them! After just went out teaching, and finding, and finding and teaching. It went great. We went to go meet with Felipe and when we got there their was no one but his brothers home so we couldn't go inside and his other brother and some friends were having a normal Saturday night... Drinking in the front. We left him with a quick message and an article about why the Book of Mormon is so important. We continued looking, walking, finding, and teaching the whole night. Spanish, I love it, but it has become a frustration for me. I just want to connect with my investigators and build that relationship....

Today was awesome!! We had a special mission meeting tonight and guess who was our guest speaker? DAVID ARCHULETA. it was really cool! All the sisters were kinda freaking out but it was just awesome. This week I have been stressing and been frustrated with Spanish and he just was a tender mercy to me, the things he said. One of my favorite things he said was, "Take a step. It's scary on the stormy waters. All you need to do is take a step and trust in the savior. Do you trust the savior? He will give you the strength to do the miracles that are out of your comfort zone." I need to just do the best I can with Spanish and trust that I can do the best I can because right now speaking in Spanish is definitely out of my comfort zone but I need to trust that the Savior will be there for me and help me get my message across the way. I also saw Elise!!!!! It was so fun! She was the first person I saw when we walked in the church! She is so dang cute. And I was so happy to see her! 

Overall this week was frustrating and really great at the same time! I am so happy to be here. And it just is such a tender mercy to be here and know that I have my support from my family. I love you all so much. Maybe even too much... Hahaha thanks for being the best, and of course, GO UTES! 

Xoxo

Hermana Brown 

Ps DAAAANK (do you guys miss me yet? Swag)

Country side of Tennessee

Downtown Nashville

Downtown Nashville and sunset

The activity day girls sent these to me, SO CUTE

Cats on a car

ME AND ELISE (I look kinda scary and gross cuz I was so tired.. But so happy and energized at the same time haha)

BIG leaf I found