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