Praying I don't have lime disease...

Hey family!
 
Sounds like yall had a great week and a very happy 24th of July!  Okay
this week has been crazy!! And I do have transfer information... And
apparently this is going to be like one of president andersens biggest
transfer meetings ever. There are gonna be some big changes made,
which is pretty exciting but kind of stressful. ANYWAY on Saturday we
had just finished our studies and were eating lunch and watching our
favorite missionary reality tv show (the district 2!!) (please don't
judge us..) and our phone rang, and it was president Andersen. And he
asked me if I would be a Sister Training Leader (STL) WHAT?? No
wayyyyyyyyy. I was like "seriously?" I was soooo in shock, I am still
in shock. SO, that means yes I am getting transferred :( boo. I am so
sad to be leaving Hermana Capener. We work so well together and it
will be so sad to be leaving her and leaving my cute little town of
Winchester. 
 
BUT we had a week FULL OF MIRACLES. it was awesome :)
 
First off, the strongest testimony of prayer, ever.
 
So we kind of hit a brick wall when we were tracking the other day, so
we decided to say a prayer and seek heavenly fathers guidance. So we
said a prayer and we asked that 1 someone would give us some water, we
were dying of thirst and heat, and 2 we could find someone to teach.
Well, we started riding our bikes and we came to this little street.
We decided to start knocking doors, and as we parked our bikes this
guy from the other side of the street yells "hey! Can I talk to yall"
so that's when we meet Austin. So he goes on to say "I have seen yall
3 different times today and I just need to know who you are and what
yall are doing riding your bikes around in this heat?" So obviously we
started to teach him and he thought everything we said was really
interesting and cool! And then he just goes "wait hold on, I'm gonna
go get yall some water, I am sure yall are super thirsty" DOUBLE
MIRACLE. HEAVENLY FATHER ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!  well anyway we give
him a card and then that night he went online to LDS.org and ordered a
Book of Mormon. The elders took it to him Friday and he has been
reading it. He also came to church yesterday and stayed for all 3
hours and said that he was going to come next week too. It was sooooo
amazing.
 
Next miracle is Gudalupe! So we have been teaching her for quite
sometime and every time we come over we always would end up talking
about the Book of Mormon and trying to help her truly understand the
importance of the Book of Mormon and what it is exactly, well after
our lesson on Tuesday we decided to leave her the Plan of Salvation
Pamphlet to read for when we would meet with her again on Friday.
Well, we came back on Friday and she says "well I read the pamphlet
and I did the additional study in the back, and I realized that this
book isn't another bible, but it completes the bible and is a
compliment to the bible" FINALLY AFTER 3 LESSONS OF TRYING TO EXPLAIN
THAT SHE GOT IT!!!! Hermana Capener were freaking out. It was so
awesome. And now Guadalupe she knows, and understands that the Book of
Mormon is a true book from God and goes hand and hand with the bible.
Its so amazing to see how truly important it is to get our
investigators to read the Book of Mormon. When we read the Book of
Mormon we are inviting the spirit into our lives, and the spirit is
the best teacher and testifier of truth :)
 
Also after 11 months I got my first tick. I WAS FREAKING OUT. At first
I thought it was a mole but then I realized it had legs and was
sticking halfway out of my leg. Thankfully my loving companion took
one for the team and pulled it out for me, and thankfully we got the
whole tick out. But it was so scary and so stressful! But all is well
:)
 
Wow sorry this email has been pretty crazy but overall this week was a
great last week of the transfer. I am so sad that I will be leaving
Winchester :( I am pretty nervous to become an STL and i totally feel
like not even at all qualified to be one. I just hope and pray I will
be able to do what the Lord needs me to do !
 
Stay tuned next week to find out where I am off too, and who my new
companion is. I love yall so dang much. Thanks for all your prayers,
love, and support you give me :)
 
Xo,
Hermana Brown 

Southern sunset on the lake :)

Our last district meeting, and this elder is "dying" Hna Capener
and I aren't happy or anything...

Please look what I am sitting on.  The only seat open... Yall know how
much I hate standing

MY TICK!!!!! Eeeeeewie.

Week 6 & Big Smo‏

Can you believe that this is the last week of the transfer?? How nuts
is that? I can't believe I have already been here for 6 weeks. It's
been a good six weeks but also has gone by soooo fast. I hope and pray
that Hermana Capener and I can stay for at least another transfer
together here in Winchester. We get transfer info on Saturday...
Crazy!
 
Wow so this last week has been soooooo much fun but it has also been
deathly hot..... We had a few heat warnings this last week, so that
was crazy. It was too hot to even ride our bikes.. It was just
terrible, but we survived and hopefully after this week the
temperatures will lower a little bit :)
 
This week was a week full of miracles. We have this really cool new
investigator, Jose and he is just really awesome. He has some really
great questions, and something I just love about him is that all of
his questions are really really genuine and he truly wants to know and
understand. We were teaching him about Joseph Smith, and he asked if
he had done any miracles like Moses or noe, we told him yes, and then
we started teaching about the Book of Mormon. He looked at us and
said, "wow that is a miracle" it was so cool! He is a genuine seeker
of truth. I have high hopes form Jose :)
 
Next we had the coooooolest miracle EVER on Wednesday. We found a
paper in the apartment with an address that said 407 shepherd street,
so we really felt impressed to go and try to contact whoever lived
there. Well we were driving the whole street and there wasn't s 407,
but we stopped in front of a house with the address 704, so we parked
and decided to try it. That's when we met Annie! She is the nicest
lady ever. We started talking about the restoration and and about the
apostasy. she was really surprised because she had never heard any of
this before. She then invited inside and we taught her about Joseph
Smith. as we share the message of the first vision the spirit was so
strong! She said that this was something she had been looking for. She
mentioned that she had been having some hard trials over the last
couple of months and she kind of started to give up on God. She said
just s little bit ago she started to pray again. We decided to share
with her how exactly we ended up at her house. We were all in tears. I
know the spirit testified to her that Heavenly Father knows her and
that he is so aware of her and her needs. I am SO grateful that we
were able to be in tuned with the spirit to bring the message of peace
and happiness to someone who was in need. I love being a
missionary!!!! I can't wait to go and see her again on Wednesday ! :)
 
Sad news, we had to temporarily drop Hugo and Laura... They just
weren't keeping commitments and as missionaries we can't keep teaching
people who aren't going to act. Ah it was terrible. I seriously feel
like we went through like s breakup with them or something haha it was
so hard. I seriously thought I was going to cry... I love them and
it's so hard to watch the people you love not do what you know will be
best for them. But all in all it ended really well. They understood
why we need to take s break, (give them some time to spiritually bake)
and they even invited us for dinner after the lesson, so it all ended
well, and I pray that soon they will be back and ready to fully accept
the gospel.
 
Today was a fun morning! We got up and a senior couple took us fishing
this morning :) it was so much fun! But also really really hot. I
caught a lot of rocks and pieces of wood, but my comp caught a fish !
So that was a fun experience. We are pretty tired from that this
morning so we plan just relaxing the rest of the day. We are also
going on exchanges tonight too so that should be fun! This transfer
has been a ton of fun but also a ton of work. I am pretty bummed we
weren't able to get a baptism with transfer but I know next one we
will ! :)
 
Sounds like yall had a great week and j am still in a little shock
about mom going bunji jumping. I need some pictures of that ! And the
gorge sounded fun too. Aunt les sent me a cute video of Millie, and
she told me she had quite a scene at flaming gorge haha Well, I hope
you all keep on having a good week and all will be well. I love being
a missionary and I feel so blessed to be here at this time :) thanks
for all you do!!! I love you!!
 
Xo
Hermana Brown :)

I fried an egg on the sidewalk aka ITS BURNING HOT HERE‏

Hi my cute family!!!
 
Well the good news is that I haven't melted yet... So that's good.
This last week was SO HOT!!!! The actual temperature was only about
96-97 degrees, but add in all the humidity and it feels about 110-115
so that's just awful, am I right? Add riding a bike, it brings for
quite an experience, that's for sure! Haha but all is well and this
last week was awesome, so it all is worth it!! :)
 
So probably the best news is... LIZ GOT BAPTIZED!!!! ️️ so she
was originally planning on being baptized on Saturday (July 11th) and
I was in the process of trying to find a ride to go to the baptism in
Clarksville, but wasn't having any luck. Well on Tuesday We were
having interviews with President and Sister Andersen, and I was
talking to President Andersen about liz and he said that he had
actually had her baptismal interview the night before and that she was
getting baptized Tuesday night. I almost started crying. I was so
happy. It was just the best to hear :) so that night I was able to
skype into her baptism. It was beautiful and such s great service as
well. I have been on like cloud 9 thinking about it all week :) I hope
one day yall will be able to meet her, she is awesome :) and be such
an amazing addition to the church 
 
Wednesday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Erlinda. She
is so cute, but also very very catholic. We had taught her the
restoration a little bit ago but we weren't able to see for a little
while. Well we went back and saw her and went over the restoration. We
showed the clip of the first vision, and the spirit was very strong.
We asked her how she felt while watching it and she said she felt
really peaceful and happy. We explained that's the spirit. We then
invited her to be baptized. She quickly said no, because she had
already been baptized in the Catholic Church. We explained the
importance of the authority of the priesthood power. We really
testified of the need for a restoration of the church of Jesus Christ.
She thought about it and then said "so it's like I need to be
restored" she then agreed to pray if these things were true and about
baptism!! I am so excited to go and see her again this week.
 
Okay and another awesome miracle happened this week! So every morning
Hermana Capener and i have been diligently running, well on Friday we
woke up and we both just felt really tired and crappy so we decided to
just walk. Well, best idea ever. We walk down by the docks and while
we are walking this Hispanic guy just pulls up his truck and parks it,
and just sits there looking at the water. Well we decided to go talk
to him, and that's when we meet Pedro. Super super nice guy, but the
coolest part was that he said "yeah I don't have to be to work for
another hour or so, but I just have a lot of things on my mind and I
thought i could come down here and try to figure it out" WHAT! Chance
that the day he had a lot on his mind, he went to find his answers he
found the missionaries? I think not! I know with all my heart that
this is the Lord's work. He has a plan for everyone we meet. I am so
grateful to be a mission and help people every single day. I am so
grateful for the Lord's timing :)
 
Also a couple of other funny things happened. We ran into this huge
confederate flag rally going on at Walmart the other day, it was so
crazy and so funny. And we went to a Spanish church of God of prophecy
this week and it was CRAZY. Seriously. But, a good experience. The
people were all very very nice and welcoming but it was crazy. Like
people were crawling on the floor. It freaked me out. Haha oh the
south.
 
I think that's about it for this week :) sounds like mike had a great
mission! I am glad he is home and doing well :) also thanks for going
to visit my cute friend Madi :) I hope you all have a fun week! I love
you all tons tons tons!! ️
 
XOXO
Hermana Brown ️️

Bible crossing

Confederate flag rally lol

Pork rinds... Chícharones 

These southern folk‏

Hey family!
 
Happy Fourth of July!!! It sounds like yall had a great week and
weekend :) glad to hear the party at uncle Gordy's was fun like usual
:) I am also glad you guys survived the heat out there as well. I
wanted to say thank you so much for my package!! I loved it. It was
seriously the best :) thanks for the nice notes, contacts, vitamins,
and cute cute cute skirt and shirt! I love it! Thanks for being the
best.
 
Well this week was great! We saw a ton of great miracles and also a TON
of fireworks. First off, apparently from what i have heard from the
small town talk around here, is that they are trying to get rid of the
confederate flag? Well I don't think I have seen so many confederate
flags in my whole life then as many as I did this last week. They have
like these huge ones hooked to their cars and everything, they are
very passionate people haha also every type of fire works is legal
here. And people LOVE fire works here. They have been shooting them
off this entire week. It's crazy! The town had a big firework show on
Friday night and our neighbors invited us over for a bbq. They are
super nice and the food was delicious. I couldn't help but laugh as I
watched these two 7 year old girls shoot bottle rockets a each other
and a two yr old shoot of a Roman candle... So crazy. They had a fun
firework show on the lake that night too :) it was good but doesn't
compare to some of the firework shows in Utah. On the actual 4th of
July our branch had a party at one of the members houses and it was
really fun! They were having a huge firework show, but we had to be in
by 8 and so we actually missed it... But it was a great time to eat
and be with branch members. I can tell you one thing, these people
down here sure do know how to have a great bbq. I had some of the BEST
baked beans ever! It was fun :)
 
As for this week it was great. We were pretty busy trying to get
everything for the Branch's 40 day fast that actually started today!
The whole branch is on board for this fast and we are so excited to
show our faith and love for the Lord! It's going to be an awesome next
40 days!! We also found a ton of new people to teach as well. It's
going great. I love this area. I have been feeling a little down
wondering how we are suppose to have Spanish people come to church
when no one in our branch even speaks Spanish, but then I was reminded
again that I don't know everything and that the lord has a bigger plan
for us and my purpose here in this area.
 
Wednesday after district meeting we decided to go and contact a former
investigator, who didn't live too far from the church. The elders had
the car for the day and so we took our bikes. About 2 minutes into our
riding it started POURING RAIN. Like monsoon status. Well we get to
the street where our former inv. was supposed to live and nope. Her
trailer was not there... So we start to turn around and there is this
old man sitting in his garage and he waves us over. We decided to sit
in his garage until the rain stopped. He was so nice and cute. He got
us some towels so we could dry off and everything, it was great  we
ended up talking to him for about an hour. He had so many funny
stories and it was just so fun to talk with him and hear all about his
life.
 
We had one crazy experience on Thursday night. So on the first night I
was here in Winchester I was looking through the branch roster and saw
came across a lady named Martha Alverez Perez, and i just knew that she
had to be Hispanic. Well we have tried to visit her about 2 times
since we have been here, but both times she didn't answer. Well on
Thursday we were out with our relief society president and all our
lessons had canceled, so we decided to go and try Martha because no
one knew who she was or had met her before. So we drive out to her
house and as we are walking up to the door we see this man come out of
the garage so we ask him if Martha lived here. He was being like so
weird. He was all like "I don't have a wife" "I don't know who that
is" like super weird!!! But the whole time I was just like thinking
the whole time just to knock on the door. Well our poor rs pres
doesn't know anything is happening because she doesn't speak any
Spanish and this guy was just being so rude. So finally I am just like
"well can I just knock on your door?" And he is like "whatever" so I
knock and guess who is there? MARTHA :) she answers the door and she
was like "I am so sorry my husband is such a jerk!!!" It was kind of
weird. But we were able to talk with her. She joined the church when
she lived back in Mexico when she was about 11. She actually went to
Benimedito, the school in Mexico, which is now the CCM. How cool? She
probably hasn't been to church since she was 17, and now she is
probably 56-57. Crazy! She is so cute!! And she came to church
yesterday too :) I love her so much and I am so excited to watch her
come back into the church :)
 
Well I better close for now, I am so happy to be here in winchester
and I look forward to all the work that is about to happen here :) I
hope yall have a great week!! Thanks for all the support you send me,
it really does mean so much to me. I love being a missionary :) have
fun with the cute girl from Japan :) I love yall so so much!
 
Xoxo
Hermana Brown

I got a serious case of bike butt‏

Hello my cutie family :)
 
Sounds like things are going great at home but also maybe a little
crazy as well. I was shocked to see that yall had been to the cabin,
AGAIN! That's so much fun :) maybe yall should just move up there for
the summer? Haha sounds like girls camp was a fun time as well! That
river rafting sounds like it would be a ton of fun!
 
Wow well this we has been really good but also so crazy and a little
stressful (40 day English fast...) it was pretty hard the first couple
of days, but it's getting better and easier. But we have seen like so
many miracles this week, and I know that it has come from doing the
fast! Seriously, it's been awesome!
 
Tuesday we had zone conference, it was so good and so much fun. Expect
for when the zone leaders called us Monday night and asked if we would
do a musical number for the conference Tuesday morning. They literally
called us at 10:15... And like all of you know, I am not at one bit
musically talented. Long story short we went to do the musical number
and it was so awful!!!!! It was a good learning experience for the
zone leaders not to ask people do last minute musical numbers,
especially people like me!
 
Thursday we had an awesome relief society activity at the rs
presidents house. She lives out in the country a little bit and has
tons of land and a really awesome swimming pool. We invited our
investigator Laura to come, and she brought 2 other friends with her
as well! It was awesome. Everyone had a great time swimming and
talking (except for us... ) it was awesome to see how the branch is
starting to break the language barrier little by little! But also
that's the hard part. We have nooooo members who speak Spanish. Only
one. And he is inactive and works every Sunday... That's probably what
makes this area so tough.. But I know that there are Spanish
missionaries here for a reason and that as we work hard we will come
to find out why as well :)
 
Also I wanna hurry and tell yall about our two awesome new
investigators Gudalupe and Miguel! They are so awesome. So we were
going through all our former investigators and we came across
Guadalupe. So apparently the elders had found her and she was super
awesome and golden, but then her husband got mad and told the elders
to leave. Well then another set of elders tried to see her and the
same thing happened to them. Well when we saw her name we just really
felt like we needed to go and see her, so we did and she let us right
in. She is so nice and cute. We had a good lesson with her and she
invited us to come back. So last night we went back and saw her and
her husband was there and he sat in for the lesson. And he was soooooo
nice! It was awesome to see how the spirit really changed him through
out the lesson. The spirit was so strong and it was so awesome to help
both of them come to recognize what the spirit is and how it works. At
the end of the lesson Miguel was just saying how he always told the
elders to leave but now he is saying we can always come back. It was
awesome :)
 
This week was a great week and I am really looking forward to this
next week too :) HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!  I am pretty excited
because there is a huge firework show on Friday night at the lake,
basically our back yard, so it will be fun to watch :) I hope yall
have a great rest of the week and a happy fourth. Thanks for all the
love you send me! And support :) I love yall so so sooooo much!
 
Xoxo
Hermana Brown
 
Ps If mom and dad go down the slide at uncle Gordy's on Friday I
expect some videos!