Wednesday, February 25, 2015

6 MONTHS‏

Say what?? Can you believe I have been on my mission 6 months this week? CRAZY! I got your valentine package and I loved it! Thank you soooooo much :) seriously, just what I needed! Mom how did you know I needed more hair ties?? Thank you for being so in tune with the spirit. :) sounds like yall had a great week though! Dad I was dying laughing about the lady named Devlin.... That's hilarious. Pile of feces mommy, I am sorry you have had a cold too :( I hope you start feeling better so that you can have a great week up at the basketball tourney! I'm sad I won't be able to hang out with you up there this year... Try not to get tooo annoyed with those Lone Peak people.....

Well this week was crazy!! First off, What is up with this weather?? It was really cold and snowy and rainy and windy this passed week. Thankfully it wasn't as bad here in Clarksville as it was in other places in tennessee.  We only were home bound in our apartments all of Monday, and since that was PDAY that wasn't too bad. The thing is about people in the south, they don't know how to handle weather.... The schools were all closed this passed week. THE WHOLE WEEK.... We got probably 1-2 inches of snow... And so literally everything was like closed all week... You would think that would be great for missionary work, right? Because everyone is home.. Well wrong. All our appointments canceled on us and then no one would let us in... It was a struggle this week. But we did have some way awesome experiences and saw great Miracles.

Well, we have a baptism set for Saturday! I am pretty excited. This boy justin who is 11 will be getting baptized. It's pretty exciting! His mom is a member and his dad isn't. He had to ask his dad for permission and he was pretty scared and Just never did... Well we had a dinner with them on Friday and really encouraged him to ask his dad, we went over yesterday and he had asked his dad and he said yes! We are all pretty excited. We are pretty sure justin is excited as well, but we can't really tell.... He is a very serious person and doesn't show much emotion at all.. But hey he wants to be baptized so I guess that's all the emotions we really need, right? ;)

Okay next is about Brooke!!! SHE IS AMAZING. So last week at church we met this lady who just came with the bishops wife, her name is Brooke. And her husband is in the military and he is deployed right now, and so the elders can't really teach her, so we got her information and planned to go see her on Tuesday. THIS IS PROOF THAT THE GOSPEL CHANGES LIVES! So we go over Tuesday. She is so cute. So her husband is a member but became inactive when he was in high school. They got married and then a few months later he got deployed.. Sad :( well so she is like a southern baptist. So her mother in law has really been reaching out to her lately since her husband has been gone, and sent the missionaries over. So like a month ago some missionaries went and visited her, gave her a Book of Mormon then never came back... Elders..... So, we went and taught her the restoration. She reallllllly likes it and has soooo many questions. Also she had already been reading the Book of Mormon and was in 2 Nephi. Say what! So we went back on Friday and she had written in her notebook like all these questions she had. We went through some and so that was really fun! Just to have questions think about them then use the scriptures right there to answer them! We didn't get through all of them so we went back on Saturday with a member. It was great! We walk in and she is like playing hymns on her phone. We are like "are those hymns?" And she is just like "yeah! They have like a pandora station. I just really want to have a home that really invites the spirit." WHO IS THIS PERSON. we finish answering her questions, and man she had awesome questions. One was "How can I prepare to go to the temple and be sealed with my husband?" Wow it was great. The only problem is her husband has kind of a hard heart.... And he might take a little bit to come back to church but that's not gonna stop Brooke... She told him that if they wanted a successful happy marriage they needed to have the gospel in it. What 21 year old just says that!? She then asked if her father in law could baptize her.... So right now, only knowing her a week, she is halfway through the Book of Mormon, wants to be baptized, and is wanting to prepare to be sealed in the temple. seriously she is amazing. I know that the gospel can change lives. And to truly be happy we need to be living the gospel principles. I am so thankful for the gospel and how it changes me everyday!!

Overall this week was slow, cold, but awesome!! I am so excited for this area! Thank you for all the love you give me, I can really feel the prayers. I love you all, and I hope you have a great fun week!! 

Xoxo
Lizzy :)

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Out here in Clarksville

Hello familia!
 
Well this week has been good but very different. I got transferred!
And now I am here in Clarksville tennessee! It's the northern part of
tennessee, and I am actually like on the border of Kentucky. I think
probably 15-20 minutes away. It's pretty cool here. I also think it's
like the 5th biggest city in tennessee.
 
Okay so on Monday night Sabu wanted to take us to dinner with the
Hales, and he took us to like the nicest restaurant ever. It was like
this New Orleans place, right on the river, and it was really nice,
and by far wayyy to expensive too.. Like this place had a dress code!
But not like a dress code in fraiser, where they cut your tie off, but
like I wouldn't be surprised if they made you put a tie on! Seriously.
We felt bad because it was so expensive... But Sabu insisted that we
get what we want and not to share plates... It was so nice of him! It
was hard to say goodbye to everyone in columbia. It is just like the
best place ever!
 
I do like it here but I am missing columbia a ton! My new companion,
Hermana LaPine is really awesome she is so funny. We are having a good
time so far! But man white washing is tough.... We have like zero
people in our area book.... It's awful. We feel like we are opening
this area or something. Haha but we are super excited. There are tons
of missionaries here too! There are like 5 Clarksville wards and they
all have a set of missionaries plus there is a YSA group too and there
are missionaries too. So I think overall like 6 sets of missionaries
here in Clarksville. It's pretty fun.
 
My apartment is like SO nice compared to the one in columbia aaaaaand
it's smoke free!!! Yahoo!!!! Seriously. It's amazing how much better I
have been feeling since leaving that awful smoke chamber. But we did
have to do some mega deep cleaning here. Since elders use to live
here... Man just awful. But it's a ton better now too! So that's good
:)
 
So since we are basically starting from scratch here we have just been
doing a ton of finding and visiting members/less actives. There was a
Spanish branch here and about 4 months ago it got dissolved... Sad. So
we are just trying to get and visit all those who use to be in it.
It's been hard but good to not be with Hermana Torres. That sounds
bad, but I don't mean it badly. I miss her sooooo much, but it's been
good because I have really had to be working on my Spanish. And I
surprisingly know a lot more than I thought. Hermana LaPine has only
been out for about 8 months so we both are still workin on the
Spanish, but we are able to contact and teach lessons so that's just
great too :) I am so excited for this area!! And for how much I think
I will grow. It will be good!
 
Sunday was a really good day! Like we had a full day of church. Since
the Spanish branch broke up they just assigned the Spanish members to
their Ward they live in, so we have to go to 3 church meetings...
Yahoo!! Haha it's good but man it's also just a long day. Also we got
asked to teach a primary class like 5 minutes before it started so
that was interesting too. But it's fun to get to know so many people.
Annmnnnnd tons of members feed us. We usually have a dinner every
single night this week. Yahoo. Clarksville is like totally opposite
from Columbia from like everything, both good and bad.
 
Clarksville also is referred to as the army town. There is s base,
fort Camble here in Clarksville and almost all the families in the
wards here are army families. It's cool but also sad because like
these cute young mothers are just here by themselves without their
husband, a lot are deployed, I just feel bad for them. But they are so
strong and just so cool! We had a dinner with a sister, sister dearden
and she is like 27 and her husband is in like ranger school and so she
is just home alone all the time, it's so sad because she is sooooo
cute! She is like my hero and I want to be her... So creepy but true.
She served her mission is Phoenix, Spanish speaking so she is going to
come out with us a ton I'm excited. She is awesome!
 
Well over all this last week has been a good one! I am excited to see
what is in store for us in the next 5 weeks! Also sad news.... I had
gone my whole mission without seeing any snow... And this morning we
woke up to snow.... I mean I love the snow.... But not as a
missionary... It's too cold! And so funny story we were driving to the
church to email and we got stuck... So then we got our phone out to
call the district leaders to tell them and ask what we should do,
well.... We had like 2 missed called from them and they told us not to
leave our apartment... Tooo late. Hahaha but then some cool people
came and helped us. Dont worry we have some pics.
 
Haha I am really happy and excited to be here and to serve here!!! :)
it's going to definitely be an adventure :) sounds like yall had a
great week!! Im so happy that the UTES are killing it! That's what's
up! Overall things are great. Besides being locked in the apartment
all day, things are good :)
 
Love you all so much! Have a good week :)
 
Xoxo
Lizzy :)


 

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

I cho cho chooooose you‏

Wow so today is just already a crazy day. Well so I'm getting
transferred! I am going to Clarksville Spanish. I am pretty excited!
But also very nervous! My new companion is going to be Hermana LaPine.
I haven't met her but everyone says she is great! I'm mostly nervous
because we are white washing elders out of the area. I'm excited! I
mean both my areas I have white washed in, so that's basically all I
know! I'm pretty stressed out right now trying to pack and everything.
I mean we have never moved before so I have no idea how stressful it
is to pack everything. I am so sad to be leaving columbia. I'm excited
though because the work is picking up, fast! And Hermana torres is
training a new missionary and so I'm excited for them! When president
called on Saturday with transfer calls I just cried and cried. It was
pretty embarrassing... But I am just so sad. To leave my cute girls
and Narsico and Hermana torres! We are like the dream team...
Seriously. So sad. But it will be good! Narsico is getting baptized on
the 22nd so I will come back for that ! :)
 
 
This week was a crazy great week! We are seeing tons of miracles. It
kind of makes me sad to be leaving because so much good stuff is just
about to happen here... Oh well that's okay :) on Wednesday we were
doing our finding and we were in this neighborhood and all the kids
had just gotten out of school. Hermana Torres was on the phone
translating for one of our less actives and so I was just looking and
thinking where we could go. Then I saw a little Hispanic boy walking
down the rode home from school. I may or may not have stalked him a
little... After Hermana Torres got off the phone I told her we should
try the house the little boy went to. So we did. That's when we met
Jessie! She is this way cute Hispanic lady and get this, she was
taught by the last set of sisters who were here like 7 years ago! It
was so cool! We are going to see her today. I'm pretty excited. I
guess my stalking skills are paying off here in the mission.
 
Also yesterday was like the BEST miracle ever!! We had 9 INVESTIGATORS
AT CHURCH!!! What?! And two less actives! Narsico was able to come to
church and so he is so on track for his baptism! Yahoo keep him in
your prayers. Then we had the 3 girls. And they just are so adorable
and cute. They love church. Sabu came and he should be ready for
baptism on the 22nd too! Franco another one of our investigators came
too! He actually picks up one of our less actives for church every
Sunday too. He is awesome. But then here is are miracle. A couple of
weeks ago this lady called us asking about English classes we told her
we were going to start them up again soon. We then told her how we are
missionaries and told her about the message and asked if we could come
see her again. She said yes and asked the the address for the church.
We have been trying to go and see her but never have been able to get
a hold of her! And she and her son and daughter just came to church
yesterday!!! and after she was like "so how can I get you to come
visit me!" What? That never happens. And this guy we met at Walmart
just came to church too! It was seriously the best day at church ever.
I am so grateful that all our hard work is starting to work and we are
able to see so many miracles.
 
Man I am just so sad to leave the people here. They are amazing.
Columbia will forever have a huge spot in my heart forever! But I am
excited to start in my new area too! And to not have to smell like a
smoker anymore too ;)
 
I am so sad to hear about Kristi soffe's mom. They will be in my
prayers for sure. 
 
But it Sounds like everything is going good at home!
And also mom I am glad you are starting to work some more too. It's
good for you haha it well keep you busy until E gets home. So crazy
she comes home so soon. Wahhhhh. Well I hope you guys have a fun safe
week! I love you sooooo much!!!
AND HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!! I love you ALLL
Xoxoxo
Lizzy :)
 
Hma torres and I with our libros

The Pennington and odom family (right after I found out I was
leaving...a little tears eyed )

My homie Narsico

My Girls


Burger I had a a place called pucketts. Brandon will like this.
Cheeseburger with pulled pork and baked beans. Yum


Me and Hermana margarita. I loooooove her!

One of my favorite families ! Margarita and her niƱos
 

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Crazy dogs and ozone toxins and MIRACLES‏

Mi Familia! Hola!

well it sounds like your week was fun! Those swag drinks looked pretty good if you ask me! Mommy, the ocean looked beautiful! im glad you had fun with grandma and grandpa too! they are just the best and so cute! I hope you keep having fun in Vegas too! but go home to my dad soon! Dad sounds like you had a fun week but a little bit lonely, i don't blame you! i don't like being home alone... 

okay well this week was crazy!! and so much happened! im excited to tell you all about it :)

well so first off our apartment stinks! just like a smoker, its bad. so we had been telling our bishop about it and he told us he had something that would take away the smell! its called an ozone machine and what you do is you just plug it in, turn it on, and leave the apartment for like 6 hours then it will turn off by itself and you just have to wait an hour from when it was off to occupy the space again. so what happens is that this machine puts out ozone or something and it basically sucks ups all the bad smell. well so we did it and we came back at 9 and the smell was pretty strong. and so then we got nervous because we thought we were going to get like ozone toxins inside us and die so we kind of panicked and we called president asking him what we should do... haha he said that would should be fine and not too worry about it... well the good news is, we woke up in the morning and we didn't die! haha i guess the side affects from the machine aren't anything serious just like respiratory irritation and mucus membrane build up? But now, our apartment doesn't even smell that bad anymore! so we are so happy :)

next story happened on saturday... so we decided to walk to some of our appointments and as we were walking we had to text one of our members who was going to pick us up. so we were walking down the road and this road isn't a super busy road but there are always a couple of cars on it. well so we stopped and i hear this dog barking and i don't think much of it until i hear hermana torres start screaming and yelling crazy words in spanish, i turn around and this dog is just bolting towards us! it wasn't a huge dog, but it was a little rat either and it was showing teeth like it was going to bite us. so i turn around trying to protect myself and start swinging my bag at the dog because i don't want to run away and have it start chasing us. well at this point we are like it in the road and all these cars are just honking at us, but this dog just keeps barking and trying to get us! then another dog comes out! i am freaking out just like screaming "no! no stop!!!" then finally the owner calls for it and they go back inside.... it was the worst! then this other car pulls over and gets out to make sure we are okay, but yes, that is the story of our crazy dog encounter... haha dogs are the worst... and everyone in Tennessee has one and they are never on leashes either.... the worst!

Okay and now here is the miracle! so my ward is having a special convert baptism on the 22nd of February and so we are all trying to have one of our investigators to be baptized then, so we have just been praying so hard to know who could be ready for baptism this date.. well last week i told  you all about Narsico. the 14 year we met who is just plain awesome! well we had another really really great lesson with him last night! and we got him to commit to baptism on the 22!!!!! MIRACLES so we started the lesson out just answering some questions he had. then we invited him to prepare for baptism and he said he would like to, but he just doesn't feel like he is worthy cause he sins and stuff, so we talked about the atonement. the spirit was so strong. he said that about a month ago he had prayed to God to help him go back to church and to have someone help him out with going. then 2 weeks later we knocked on his door, he was so surprised. We told him our we felt inspired to go to his door. We then asked him to prepare for baptism and he said he would! YAY!!! Please please please pray for him. He hasn't been to church once yet, and he needs to come the next 3 weeks in a row in order to be baptized on the 22nd so if you all could please pray for him? he is amazing!

I truly just have such a strong testimony of this work. I truly know that the Lord's hand is in this work. I just have such a strong testimony of following the promptings of the spirit. I just am so thankful that i get to be out here serving the lord and building up his kingdom here in middle Tennessee!

I hope y'all have a great week! love you tons!

xoxo
Hermana Lizzy Brown :)

1/26/2015

Well this week went by super fast! Strange to have a PDAY on Tuesday
the week goes by that much faster but this week was great none the
less :)
 
It got really warm the first couple of days like in the high 50s low
60s it was great! Wednesday probably the best day of the week so far!
We had district meeting and the zone leaders and the Aps came. They
are really cool and funny and it made our district meeting a little
bit more fun than usual so that's good :) after Hermana Torres and I
went to go and contact a referral we got from one of our less active
members. It's actually weird. Our less actives always give us
referrals and all our active members never do.... Haha but any we went
and contacted Remedious and she is so cool!!! We taught her the first
lesson and really talked a ton about the Book of Mormon. At the end of
the lesson she asked us about baptism. Say what?! We were just about
to talk more about baptism and ask her to be baptized when she had to
leave for work... Lame but that's okay because she is so awesome! :)
after our lesson with her we decided to go do some finding in this
neighborhood. Well we were finding and knocking and no one was
answering and I thought of this house that is on the corner of the
street close by to us. I told Hermana Torres and she said I was
thinking the same thing. We have never knocked this door and we
weren't even sure if they were Hispanic of not. Well we knocked it and
that's when we met Narsico! He is 14 years old and awesome!!! He
totally just understands the gospel so clearly and perfectly. He was
even asking way good questions. Seriously the best miracle ever!! I am
just so thankful that Hermana Torres and I were able to listen to the
promptings of the spirit and act on those promptings. I know that
Heavenly Father is truly preparing so many people for us to teach who
are ready to accept the gospel! Missionary work is awesome :)
 
The Columbia English sisters had a baptism on Saturday and we got out
3 little girls to come! And they loved it!!!! :) they kept saying how
excited they are to be baptized.... They make me so happy. I love
these girls with all my heart. They came to church on Sunday and wrote
Hermana Torres and I little notes. I almost started crying haha they
just make me so happy and they truly know so much and are taking all
of the things we teach them into their lives. They have come so far :)
 
E sounds like she is doing good! However I am a little concerned that
her toes are purple in that picture!!!! I can't believe she comes home
so soon :) crazy.  e is such a great
missionary. I wish we could be together. We would kick butt as
companions! Literally and non literally haha just kidding :)
 
Mom have so much fun on your trip! I'm sorry that you aren't staying
at the nice hotel with the robes... You can bet I use my robe
everyday. I love that thing :) haha dad have fun but don't get too
crazy with mom gone Winking face  also mad props to Brit for having to be on
lock down with the missionaries last week! That's crazy. But I'm glad
all in all everything worked out :)
 
Tonight I am going up to Franklin for exchanges so that will be fun! I
have a love hate relationship with exchanges. They are fun but you
also just want to be with your own people! Well anyway, I hope you
have a great week! I love you so much family :) thanks for all your
prayers, love, and support.
 
Te quiero mucho!!!!
 
Xoxo
Hermana Brown :)
Cats on cats while tracting

My district

 Selfies with cutie ailyn

My cute girls!!!!!!! Heavy black heart