Happy AUTUMN

Hello my dear family !
 
It sounds like you all had a great week :) I had a great week but it
went by like insanely too fast. For real ! But it was great and full
of cool miracles and spiritual experiences.
 
This week was great because 1 women's general meeting , which was
AWESOME, and 2 interviews with president Andersen. I just have to say
how grateful I am for modern day revelation because seriously the
women's conference was SO inspired. I loved everything about it. Also
I watched it all in Spanish. And I was able to understand all. I felt
so blessed :) I will have to admit my notes were in perfect Spanglish
though. I think that is my absolute favorite language. Haha I can
definitely say I am fluent in that language 
 
Also we had interviews with president Andersen. He is amazing. And I
am just so grateful he is my mission President. He is so wise and so
cool and knows the scriptures like PERFECTLY. I feel like he has all
the standard workers memorized or something. Seriously such an
inspiring man.
 
We also did exchanges this week, which is always so much fun. I stayed
here in Buena Vista and a sister from stones river, sister Peyton came
up here with me. It was so fun :) but also hard ! It's hard to make
the exchange good when they don't speak any Spanish and you also have
to try and teach everything on your own but also try and translate
things into English so the other sister can know what's going on...
Ahhh its like my brain can't speak to languages at the same time haha
but it's good practice. Hopefully I can be like a professional
translator when I come home or something haha who knows.  (that's
how I feel like my brain felt that day haha ) but overall it was a
great exchange and we had a lot of fun :)
 
Okay and now onto a pretty lengthy but pretty awesome miracle.
 
So last week we got a notification saying we could sync our iPads to
the iOS 9. So Hermana Dansie decided to update her iPad and guess what
happened. Her
iPad didn't update correctly and was stuck on a screen and wouldn't
let her use it. Haha thankfully mine had too many pictures on it so I
didn't have enough room to update. Well so We didn't know what to
do...so we just kind of forgot about it and didn't worry to much. We
found out that we need to hook it up to a computer with the latest
iTunes, but we didn't have a computer. We decided to call some members
and see if they had a computer and could help us out. Nobody had
iTunes on their computer, we thought about Olga Alduenda and decided
to call her. She said that she did have it on her laptop and that we
could come by. We went by and started working the iPad trying to get
it to work. It wasn't working. We decided to call someone who knew how
to get it to work.When we went to look for our phone we couldn't find
it. I had lost the phone.... Oops. Haha We looked everywhere !! The
phone was a goner. The worst part is like this was all taking place
around 4:30 and we told our RS pres we would go help set everything up
for the dinner and broadcast at about 5. And we still needed to remind
a few LA and inv to the activity... We went back to the area we were
tracking moments before and we couldn't find a thing. We decided to go
back to Olga's house and try get the iPad working and then we would go
back and look for the phone. The iPad started to do something, it said
it would take 25 minutes. While it was doing that we went back to look
for our phone. We went house to house that we tracted. Finally we
found it chilling in the grass in the front of someone's yard.  We
found the phone!!! I was so grateful I was just screaming. Seriously.
Haha so then we went back to fix the iPad, but Hermana Alduenda needed
to leave to go to the church for the relief society broadcast thing.
She told us just to bring the computer with us to the church and we
can finish working on it there. We get to the church and get the iPad
working!! Wooooooot!!!
So needless to say we were pretty excited !  Since We had a dinner at
the church before the meeting with the English wards, we split up to
watch the conference in Spanish and English. Then satellite dish
wasn't working. Oh my satan ! Seriously working so hard. Anyway they
had to play the conference through the Internet. At first it wasn't
working in Spanish but thankfully Hna Dansie and I got it working on,
when all of the sudden a sister from the English
ward shows up and says they can't get the conference to work in
English, that it kept freezing or crashing. they figure out that they
needed a computer. We over hard them say they needed another computer,
so then Hermana Olga Alduenda was like, hey I brought one. They got is
all set up and everyone got to watch the conference. So here we see
that though small things great things can come to pass. By having a
broken iPad, and losing our phone, Heavenly Father provided a way for
us to have he laptop at the church so we could watch conference. It
was a cool experience to have and to see the wisdom of Heavenly Father
! I am grateful we were able to be instruments in the lords hands :)
 
Lupe is progressing awesomely and is super excited to come to General
Conference next weekend too. This guy is just so cool and has such a
good sincere heart. We talked a lot about modern day prophets
yesterday and he got pretty excited when we told him that this next
weekend we are going to be able to listen to the prophet and the
apostles :) I love general conference ! It's the best time of the year
:)
 
Anyway that's really about it for the week :) it's starting to be fall
again and I am pretty happy because I love the fall here ! It's sooooo
beautiful :) I am grateful I am a missionary and there is no other
place I would rather be or no other thing I would rather be doing that
the work of the Lord! This truly is the work of salvation! I just want to
end with something I learned from the Women's Session, which is,
happiness comes as we trust God and see our blessings, even in the
middle of our storms. Faith and Hope bring up joy and happiness in
this life, and that we truly all are children of God. And he wants us
to be happy ! When you aren't happy all you gotta do is turn that
frown upside down, and don't let satan get you down ️ (that's my
favorite song to sing to investigators when they are being stubborn or
sad)
 
I love you all so much. I am so blessed to have such an amazing family
!!! Happy general conference week :)
 
XO
Hermana Lizzy Brown

I won a jalapeño eating contest‏

Hello my dear family !
 
I hope all is going well with you back at home. It sounds like it was
a great week and that dad had a busy but very fun birthday !! Good I
am glad :) I hope you enjoyed your day !
 
Wow, well this week was crazy ! And it went by soooooo dang fast it
kind of freaked me out a little bit. Where is the time going ? Okay
but this week was filled with amazing things and I am excited to
report on them :)
 
Okay I want to start off with Monday's BIG miracle. So all our
appointments canceled and so we were tracking and then decided to go
and try a less active family. Well Hermana Dansie is driving and she
just starts driving the opposite way and she says she thinks that we
should go and try to contact a referral we received from one of our
Ward members. So we go and we knock on the door, and that is where we
meet Ausencia. She lets us in her house and we start getting to know
her and she like knows everyone from our branch ! She tells us like 12
years ago she use to meet with missionaries. What?! Crazy. She was so
nice and we set another return appointment with her for later in the
week. Well so flash forward to after Jasieda's baptism on Tuesday we
start telling some of the ward members about Ausencia and asking them
if they know her, and it turns out that she is a MEMBER and they have
been trying to find her and contact her for like the last 10 years and
they haven't been able to find her. Well, now, she is found :)
miracles !
 
I went to my very first MLC and it was so great ! We had some awesome
training and I just have to say how much I adore President and Sister
Andersen. They are seriously amazing ! President focused a lot on a
talk by Elder Holland, The First Great Commandment, and it was
awesome. It really made me think about my loyalty to The Lord, the
gospel, and my investigators. I would suggest that you all read it,
it's awesome :) it was fun to see a lot of mission friends as well at
MLC. Overall that meeting was great, and to end the night with a bang,
Jasieda got baptized !! :) it was a great baptism and she is so
adorable. I am so proud of her. She has really changed since we have
been getting her ready for baptism these last few weeks, and her
desire to learn and share the gospel has grown as well ! Just like
Elder Nelson said, it's time to catch the wave  hehe but really, it
was a great baptism. And even better, it's been so cool to see her
dad, Jose, change by seeing his daughter get baptized. Aida told us
that that night after the baptism he went home and started reading the
Book of Mormon by himself. Which is like a HUGE step for him, because
he usually always just listens, never reads  by himself. How cool ? I
am so happy for this family :)
 
Wednesday we went on an exchange with the sisters in the providence
area, and it was really fun ! I went to providence with sister monson.
She is a new missionary just starting her second transfer in the
field. It was a lot of fun but we did a lot of tracking, which I think
is always fun. And we even rode bikes, as surprising as this may
sound, I actually miss riding my bike ! Crazy, right? Haha it was fun
:) and even better that night for dinner, a member made us cafe rio
salad, blessings ! :)
 
Friday was our big day this week ! We had a zone meeting and I had to
give a 35 minute training on Retention and working with the ward
council. I was soooooo nervous, but I think it went pretty well and I
hope I got my message across about the importance of working with our
Ward members and our Ward council members. It was a great zone meeting
and I am in a great zone ! I also got to see Hermana Rudolph because
she just came into the zone. It was great seeing her ! I had missed
her ️ then Friday night was our big multicultural activity! It was SO
much fun !! I tried to get a lot of photo but they are all kind of
blurry, but I will send you the ones that turned out semi okay. It was
a great activity. We combined with 2 other branches so that was really
fun as well. And that meant Hermana Torres was there, I was so happy
to see her. Even better, out of our branch we had 7 investigators and
4 non members that came with members to the event ! How cool is that?
It was so fun ! And of course, the food was delicious.
 
This week was very busy, so let's just say I have been sleeping like a
rock every night, which has been good. But I am excited to get back
into the grind of things and have a less crazy week this next week :)
this week I had some really good spiritual insight on the power of
prayer. I am so grateful for prayer in my life and how many blessings
I have been given and how many miracles I have seen through the power
of prayer. I have really come to learn what meaningful prayer is, and
the importance of meaningful, heartfelt prayer. I hope you all can
continue to involve the lord in your daily lives and continue to watch
how you change as you involve the lord and pray unto him always :)
 
Thanks for all your love and support !! I hope yall have a great week
next week :) try not to miss me too much during Salsa Saturday 🏼
 
Les quiero mucho !!
 
XO
Hermana Brown

Sunny and 75 + some crazy rainstorms

Hello my cool family ! Sounds like this last week was pretty great!
Also I am happy to hear the Utes are on another winning streak too bad
for the Aggies  also happy 29th wedding anniversary to the coolest
most awesome parents ever! I am so grateful you two got married. I
love you both and my family :)
 
This week was a great week! It was a little slow at some points but
other times it seemed like there just wasn't enough time to do all the
things we needed or wanted to do. But all in all it was great !
 
Really funny / crazy tracking story. So we were knocking doors in this
apartment complex and we knock this door and we hear this lady yell
"who is it?" We say "the missionaries" and then the fun begins... Haha
she opens the door, and it's like this old grandma and the first
thing she says to us, in a rather harsh tone of voice is "where do you
live?"  And I am just like what? I am not telling this lady where I
live. So we are just like "here in hermitage" and she goes "I know
here in hermitage but where ?!" And I'm like.... Um "just down the
street ?" And she is like "what is it called ?!" And I just am like
"uh the colonnade apts ?" And it was just so weird. But we were able
to talk with her and we tried to share a message but she just talked
the whole time, but it was just so funny, but also a little
terrifying...
 
Oh another cool story ! So we were trying some potential investigators
and we knocked on this duplex and the son answered the door and his
mom comes to the door and is like "oh yes come in. Sit. Sit. " (ps
they are from Vietnam) and they all like leave to the back room, and
we are just like uhhhh where did they go? Haha but then the mom comes
out with the 14 yr old daughter to talk with us because no one else
speaks English really well. Anyway it was so cool and we totally were
able to teach her. Her name is T and like is super open to the gospel.
It was a really cool miracle :)
 
Okay So our investigator Lupe is just so cool. We had a really cool
lesson with him yesterday too ! He has now been coming to church for
almost 7 weeks ! Last week we invited him to be baptized and he said
he would but he felt like he really needed to pray about it. Well
yesterday we were teaching him at our branch presidents house and we
asked him about it.., he said yes he really wants to get baptized !!!
Yahoo ! :) he said he feels like this is what is right for him. He
said the only thing is, he feels like he really needs to talk to his
parents about it, but I know that the Lord has a plan for him and that
he will get baptized! This transfer ! I just know it !
 
Also, Jasieda gets baptized, TOMORROW ! I love this little girl so
dang much. Tomorrow is her 8th birthday and all she wanted was to get
baptized on her birthday. How sweet, right?! She has been counting
down the days till her baptism :) yesterday she had her baptismal
interview and man she is just so ready. We were filling out her
baptismal record last night and were having her dad sign it since she
is a minor, and he asked her "are you sure you want me to sign this so
you can get baptized?" (Jokingly of course ) and she goes "um
yes!!!" And he says "I'm not sure...." Then she replies "if you don't
I will do it for you. I am getting baptized " ahhh it was so cute :)
she is such an example to her family ! It will be a great day when her
mom and dad get married and baptized as well :) the gospel is soooooo
good !!! :)
 
This next week is going to be so crazy but so much fun as well. We
have so many things going on, it's ridiculous, but will at the same
time be so fun. Oh and thank you SO much for sending me that dress. We
have out big cultural fair on Friday and I am so excited to wear my
dress estilo mexicano ! It will be a blast. All the missionaries are
going to sing "Called to Serve" so that will be cool too :)
 
I hope yall have a great week :) and a early HAPPY BIRTHDAY s/o to the
best dad ever as well ! I hope you have a great day :) thanks for all
you do for me. I am blessed to have such a great family ! And I am so
grateful to be a missionary. Some days it's just so hard and all I
want to do is sleep or cry. Or both , BUT it's so rewarding! It truly
is amazing to be an instrument for the Lord.
 
Love yall !
 
XO
Hermana Brown
 
Thunderstorms during the day always lead to a beautiful sunset !

Transfer #2 in Buena Vista !‏

Hello my dear family!

Happy Labor Day!! I hope yall have a fun relaxing day :)

This week has been really fun and wow it went by waaaayyyyy to fast. that's for sure! But it was really fun! First off, we got our transfer information on Saturday! looks like I will be staying in Hermitage for another transfer. Yahoo! That makes me pretty excited! We are seeing a lot of great things happening here, and I am pretty excited to see how this next transfer goes. I got a feeling its gonna be a good one!

First I want to tell yall about Mira and Robert Nunez. So on Tuesday we decided we would try and contact a bunch of potentials in our area book. We went to 'the bonnas' like this neighborhood where every street is named bonna something, so for example there is bonnacorft, bonnasprings, bonnahill. you get the picture, anyway we were in the bonnas and we decided to try a lady named, Mira. and she let us in right away! She is so cute and so nice. Missionaries had visited with like one or two other times, but never really shared a message with her. She said she is a little hesitate learning about other religions because she just doesn't want to get confused or anything. We just sat and listened. It was a really cool experience and the spirit definitely was there! we talked a lot about the holy ghost. Well, we asked if we could come by again and share a message with her and her husband, she quickly said yes and we set another appointment for Thursday. Well Thursday came around and we went to our appointment and it was great! her husband Robert was there and you guys, they are seriously the nicest people ever! we had a great lesson about Jesus Christ and who he is to each of us. It was really cool because Robert was like "Its pretty crazy that you girls just keep showing up at our house, to be it feels like God is trying to say something" It was great! we have another appointment to go see them next week :) we are pretty excited.

The next person I want to tell yall about is Lupe! Okay so this guy is so cool! He has been coming to church for the past 6 weeks now, and he really loves it. yesterday after church we went over to presidente burgos' house to teach him the plan of salvation! it was great. He said he has always had questions about where we came from, and where we are going after this life. It was awesome :) we invited him to be baptized on October 10th, and he said he would pray about it. yahoo! we have been so blessed to teach him, and watch him progress little by little over the last 6 weeks. I just know he will get baptized this transfer :) he is awesome!

Lastly, I want to tell you about Carmen. She is a recent convert of about 8 months or so, and the mom of Aida (one of our progressing investigators) and I just adore this lady. She is 71 and has a life full of crazy stories. But its been really cool to see her grow in the gospel. we were over visiting her on Saturday afternoon and she just bore her testimony of the church and of the book of Mormon. she loves it so much and she knows its so true. I am grateful I have the opportunity to serve with this sweet lady. To me, its just another testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ really can and does change peoples lives. But you also have to be pretty careful, she can get pretty feisty sometimes ;)

I feel bad like this email is short and not full of too much detail. But it has been a great week. we are slowly, but surely, finding more and more people to teach. So that's always good :)

I am glad to hear that all is well at home :) also I was stoked to hear that the UTES won! That's awesome :) anyway, I love you family!! I am so grateful for all of your examples to me :) I hope you have a great week!! love yall so much!

XO

Hermana Brown :)

Last week of the transfer! LOCO‏

Hello family!!

Sounds like all is going well back at home, that makes me happy! I am sure it was sad to see Brandon and Haley leave, but pretty exciting for them to start their new adventure in Washington!

This week was great! but I am mostly shocked that it is already Monday. Also can you believe that its the last week of the transfer too? I am shocked I have already been in Hermitage for almost 6 weeks now. CRAZY. Time is just going by way too fast. I honestly can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing... but it is what it is!

This week was filled with a lot of teaching, exchanges, service, and a BODA (wedding :) ) This last week we decided to do all of the rest of our exchanges with the sisters so that the last week of the transfer we don't have to worry about doing any of them. That was great but also was a lot of work. For the first exchange I stayed here in Hermitage and Sister Carbine, a new missionary who only has about 1 month in the mission, came up here with me! it was a lot of fun. One thing that i learned on that exchange is the importance of the spirit and how the spirit truly does help us and guide us to know what to say and when to say it. It was cool because Sister Carbine doesn't know any Spanish, but as she just bore her testimony in English you could really feel the spirit so strongly. It just gave me more confidence that the spirit will testify to our investigators that the gospel is true :)

We also went on another exchange with Sister Trussell this week. I love Sister Trussell! We served in Clarksville at the same time as each other and we had a lot of fun :) her companion went home half way through the transfer to start school and so she went to be in a trio with another set of sisters in the zone for the rest of the transfer. We had already done an exchange with those sisters, so sister trussell just came up to hermitage for the day and we were in a trio! it also was a lot of fun. Sister Trussell is just hilarious.

This week we did a ton of service for our investigator Aida. Her daughter Jassy is turning 8 in a couple of weeks and Aida is planning her big 8th birthday party and she has so many things to do, so we offered to come and help her :) it has been fun. Aida is so awesome. i just love her! Her whole family is amazing. Its so cool to talk with people and see how Heavenly Father truly is preparing all of his children to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. its just a testimony to me that this work is TRUE! that Heavenly Father truly is in charge. I am so grateful to be a missionary and i get the chance to meet so many truly amazing people!

 Also there was a wedding this week! We got invited so we thought we would take our dinner hour and go to the wedding. It was so much fun!! Hispanic weddings are hilarious and seriously so fun!! :) We even had 4 investigators come to the wedding as well. I guess it wasn't an official church event, but it got them to come to the church and talk with more members, so that was great :)

Another cool story, we got a referral from church head quarters last week requesting a bible. So we went over to take the bible and we met this guy named Carlos. He was so cool! The crazy thing was that the person whos name it was under for the bible didn't live there and Carlos had no idea who the guy was.  it was totally strange but the awesome thing was that carlos was excited about the bible and we were able to set up a return appointment to teach him and his family :) God is good and works in total mysterious ways! :)

I really wish i had more to report on. But i don't.. haha we have been struggling with getting those golden investigators. We have so many people to teach, but not that many people who actually want to learn... but its okay because I know that we will find them and that the spirit can touch anyones heart! I just feel so grateful to be in this branch and this area. I truly feel so much love from these amazing people.

Next week we will find out my destiny with transfers! I am pretty sure I will stay here in hermitage with hna dansie, but who knows! You never know. I hope yall have a great week!! Thanks for all your love and support, i know i couldn't be doing this without yall support and prayers.

XO

Hermana Brown :)