EL FIN‏

Querida familia y amigos :
 
Well this is it, my last email serving as a full time missionary of
the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I can't even begin to
explain how I feel right now, considering I don't even know myself. I
can't believe that for the last 18 months of my life I have had the
opportunity to represent my savior Jesus Christ and teach those around
me all about restored gospel.
 
Let me just tell y'all how much I love my mission !
I love everything. Everything about it :) I try to think about what I
could share about the things I have learned and I feel like I would
probably be writing them until next week if I tried to do that. As I
have thought a lot about my mission, the experiences I have had, the
people I have met, and my personal conversion to the gospel of Jesus
Christ I can't help but smile and think about a loving, merciful
Father in Heaven who has allowed me, someone so far from perfect, to
labor in his vineyard. To get to know and serve his children, and to
deepen my own understanding of the gospel. I think of my savior Jesus
Christ. I am so grateful for him. Someone who literally gave
everything, his time, his love, his patience, his life, for me, for
everyone. If that's all I could learn on my mission I am happy.
 
I remember my first week walking down some creepy road in Columbia at
8:45pm when Hna Torres asked me what I wanted to learn or be at the
end of my mission. I thought about this question for a little bit and
then answered by sharing a quote from Elder Dallin H Oaks. This has
been the theme of my mission. "A testimony is to know and believe.
Conversion is to do and become." that's what I wanted out of my
mission. I didn't just want a testimony of the gospel, of Jesus
Christ, or of Heavenly Father, I wanted to do and become. I wanted to
become someone who because of their testimony was changed, and not
just for a little while. But who's heart had truly been changed and
would stay changed.
 
The Lord is so merciful and he truly knows exactly what we need in our
lives. Everyday, every minute. The lord has taught me so much and
helped me learn little by little everyday, just enough so that I
could, over time , become truly converted and changed. I am so
grateful. :)
 
I don't want to be all sentimental and everything during my last
email, but I guess that's just how I truly feel about my mission. It
is all just a big sweet tender mercy ! Full of hilarious stories,
awkward moments, sketchy people, crazy bible bashers, spicy food, it's
full of daily miracles, full of service, full of laughter, full of
tears and frustration, full of faith and hope, full of prayer, full of
happiness.
 
Enos 1:26
 "And I saw that I must soon go down to [my home], having been wrought
upon by the power of God that I must preach and prophesy unto this
people, and declare the word according to the truth which is in
Christ. And I have declared it in all my days [for the last 18 months]
and have rejoiced in it above that of the world."
 
Although I am sad it's over, I am so happy ! I am so happy because I
too have rejoiced in this work ! This is the work of salvation. This
is the work of the Lord. What more could we rejoice about ?
 
I am so blessed to have such an amazing family, thank you for all you
have done for me! I love you sooooo much ! I am grateful for goodly
parents who have raised me in the knowledge of the gospel and for
older siblings who have supported me and been the best examples to me.
Call me trunky but I am so excited to see y'all on Wednesday  morning
:)
 
I know that this work is true. I know that God lives, he is our
father, I know that Jesus is the Christ. He is the savior and redeemer
of the world and all mankind. I know the gospel has been restored
through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that when he prayed that
spring morning, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. What
happened in the sacred grove that day changed the world. It changed
everything. And I know it can change lives, because it has changed
mine. I know the Book of Mormon is true !! I am grateful for the
chance to serve in "the Bible Belt" because my love and testimony for
the bible has grown so much as well. I know that this is a gospel of
happiness and joy.
 
I can't wait to see you on Wednesday morning !!
 
Con mucho mucho mucho amor ,
Hermana Elizabeth Brown

FROZEN PIPES AND MIRACLES‏

Hello family !
 
Wow I can't believe that I am starting my last week of my mission this
week. Can you believe it ? The time has flown by sooooooo fast! I am
seriously so grateful for my mission. It's been the best, hardest,
craziest, funniest time of my life and I am very grateful for all that
the Lord has taught me and helped me become while I have been laboring
in this part of his vineyard.
 
This week was a great week and I am excited to fill y'all in on
everything that has been going down here in Tennessee :)
 
the weather has been cold and warm and wet and snowy and icy... My
body can't take these climate changes.... But it's okay. Last night it
was literally raining ice... Not hail, ice... That was interesting 
 
So I think one of the biggest miracles we had this week was.... We
found Margarita Anderson! After you know knocking on almost every
house, getting the cops called on us and screamed at by a bunch of old
people we found her :) she is the sweetest lady I know and my love for
her is already so big ! It was literally such a big miracle that we
found her and she wants to start meeting with us too! We had planned
with Hna Burgos to go and try and find her this week because she said
she remembered a little bit where she lived, but then it started
snowing and Hna Burgos didn't feel comfortable driving in the snow, so
we said its alright and that we would go another day, well as we were
leaving our apartment I said to Hna Reynolds... Should we just go try
one more time to find her ? And so off we went ! And because it was
snowing, she was at home and didn't go into work.. MIRACLE. so that
was pretty awesome 
 
We met with the Leguna family this week and we had another amazing
Lesson with them! They are so prepared, both of them! Lupe came with
us to the lesson, his first time not being the one we are teaching,
and he loved it! I was pretty nervous because ya know he is still
learning and has only been baptized a month and you know how sometimes
investigators can say some weird things and such.. But anyway it was a
perfect lesson and a perfect lesson to bring Lupe to !! Dorian had a
few questions about how he could know if Joseph smith really saw
Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and was a true prophet, and Gilda
just wants to know how she can grow her relationship closer to God and
Jesus Christ. We had a great lesson all about the Book of Mormon and
prayer. They asked Lupe how he came to know it was true and he said
"to be honest I haven't been a part of the church very long, but
really all it is, is praying. I prayed and I know that this is
Heavenly Father helping me and showing me that this is the truth" bam
SPIRIT!!! It was awesome. We have another lesson with them this week
and I am excited to watch them keep progressing. The best part was
when we were leaving Lupe looks at us and said "what you guys are
doing is really awesome" HE FELT THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. And I think he
really realized how the gospel can really bless everyone. That was an
awesome night !
 
Oh also, Lupe blessed the sacrament yesterday !!! Annnnnnnnnd he got a
calling. He is progressing SO much. Who would have thought, my first
Sunday here he came , just because presidente Burgos invited him, and
now, my second to last Sunday he is blessing the sacrament. This truly
is the work of the Lord and I am amazed that I get to even be apart of
this work. I love my mission sooooo much 
 
Oh also this week we went to the temple and that was awesome :) I love
the temple! And a couple from Winchester was working there that day so
I got to see them. That was a sweet tender mercy :)
 
I think that's probably about it for this week.... It was a good week
! And now, this week is gonna be even better ! Try not to do anything
toooooo fun without me this next week 
 
I can't thank you enough for all you have done for me while helping me
on my mission. I love you all sooooooo much ! Have a great week !!
 
XOXO
HERMANA BROWN

Hno Alduenda, he is sick and can't leave his bed, so we go and sing to
him every Sunday. He is sooooo sweet.

At the temple with Hna Reynolds

Hna Alduenda she said she didn't want her picture taken but I had to
get one anyway. I love her :)

Temple with Diana, I love this woman !! Next year we are coming back
for her sealing in the temple with her husband, just so y'all can
start making plans now 

walking barefoot‏

Hey Family !!

Happy monday! :) I cant believe that it is already monday ! that is absolutely crazy. The time is just picking up faster and faster..... I cant quite tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing as of right now... i am going to go with a both... haha But i am excited to tell you all about our great week!

So we had some sweet miracles which i am very excited to tell yall about!

FIRST OFF we have a baptismal date!! yahoo! its for a 9 year old boy we are teaching him and his family! The date is set for March 5 and i am sooo excited! I dont know if yall remember me talking much about our investigator Maggy Romo or not... Well back in the spring the missionaries found her and started teaching her, she started progressing and then went from progressing to not progressing and so forth, SO frustrating as a missionary. Literally a roller coaster of emotions with her. But its awesome because we started teaching her and her son Carlos again and now Carlos has a baptismal date! they use to be going to the catholic church and her kids were getting ready for their baptism into the catholic church, but then some things happened and such and now her and her husband both want their kids to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Yahoooo! so sweet! So this is all pretty exciting. Now we just have to get maggy on date and soon her husband which could be hard considering i have never met him before... BUT we will start to teach him soon :)

Next I dont remember if you guys remember me tell you about Gilda Lenguna, she was this total miracle we found back around Thanksgiving and since then we have NEVER been able to meet up with her, BUT this week we had our first lesson with her and her husband, Dorian and it was AWESOME! they are sooo totally prepared. So that is awesome :) and seriously they are just looking for the true church and I am just so excited to start teaching them! 

LUPE GOT THE PRIESTHOOD! Lupe got the priesthood yesterday so that was sweet! He is progressing a ton. and that makes me really happy! He is really growing in the gospel too and he fits in perfectly with our little branch :)

Okay here for the big miracle of the week!

So we had a lesson set to go and visit the Guttierez family but since its a single dad and his sons we always need a member to come with us. Well, we had a member set up and everything and then like right before, things happened and our member couldnt come.. haha typical ;) BUT i just had the feeling that we needed to go and that everything would work out. As we were driving to their house frantically trying to call as many people as we could last minute to come with us. No one answered. it was soooo strange because usually i would have just been super stressed but I was strangely calmed the whole time. Which was kind of freaking me out that i was so freaked out, ya know what i mean? haha hna seemed a little bit just mad, so i was trying to be positive and everything and just saying "its fine everything will work out, no worries, God has a plan its finnnneeee" AND GOD HAD A PLAN!! SO we pull into the apartment complex and head towards their building, we are about to park and i see this lady walking and i am like "is that mari's mom?!" (Mari, our recent convert lives in the same apartment complex but on the other side, and her nonmember mom has been staying with them for the last 4 months or so) and i am like no... then we get closer and it was TOTALLY her! So we hurry and park and we run over and start talking to her. We told her we were going to go and visit some friends real quick and asked if she wanted to come with us and she totally says YES!!! IT WAS A HUGE MIRACLE!! literally i had the biggest smile on my face ever just thinking WOW GOD IS SO MERCIFUL!!! THANK YOU! So although we werent able to get a member present, we were able to go in and teach an awesome lesson all about the book of mormon to the guttierez family and to Rosalba. I feel really grateful God's plan that he has for all of us and that he allows me to see all these incredible experiences everyday. I am so happy and i love being a missionary! 

Funny story. We went to go see a less active family and at the end of the lesson we asked them all if they would come to church on sunday. one of the daughters, trying to make excuses said "i dont have any shoes..." so i took mine off and said "okay here are your shoes, now you have shoes to come to church in" and then we left. I think that they thought i was joking and would come back for the shoes, but nope, we didnt haha it would have worked out perfectly... but then i remembered we had to stop at the store on the way home... so i had to walk into walgreens without shoes on... but hey it was worth it because THEY CAME TO CHURCH :) 

Thats about really all for this week! its been a great week and I am excited for this next week too! we get to go to the temple! yahooooo! :) so that is excting. We have a lot of good things going for us these next few weeks and I am pumped to keep working hard these next two weeks :)

Thanks for all you do for me! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and to have so many prayers given for me, i can feel them so much! The gospel is soooo true! never forget it! have a great week! Love yall sooooo much!

XO

Hermana Brown

Happy Febrero 🚂‏

Yo fam ! Seems like we just talked..... 
How was your week ? It sounds like things are going well at home and I
am happy to hear about that, expect for the cold... It has been like
65-70 the last couple days, I have been loving ! The thought of coming
home to a cold place is kind of horrible sounding... Haha so I will
just enjoy my time in the south as of right now 
 
So this week was great ! It was a little bit different because we
didn't teach as many lessons this week, but it was nonetheless full of
so many awesome miracles !
 
So first off I am very happy because I feel like Hna Reynolds is
adjusting more and more to missionary life, which is a lot less stress
on my part. And I am really happy because she has been a lot more
active in the lessons! It's crazy because she always says she never
has any idea what people are saying but whenever she talks to shares
something she always is teaching about what we are talking about or
addressing the needs of our investigators or less actives. So either
she understands a lot more than she thinks she does, or she is just
super super in tune with the spirit, regardless of what it is, it
makes my part a lot more easier. So yay, progress :)
 
This week we had zone conference and it was awesome! And my last zone
conference of my mission. That's SO weird !! And all the departing
missionaries that go home this transfer, we had to go up and give our
departing testimony. It was so strange because it was my turn... It
doesn't even feel real at all ! And of course I was the first one
called to go up... Seriously I think I just word vomitted all over up
there haha but zone conference was seriously awesome. President
Andersen shared this really cool motivating video to get us excited to
as he said, "turn up the heat. Turn the water into steam" haha I love
him! But it was seriously awesome and it was just what I needed to
hear, and I also think what Hna Reynolds needed as well  also guess
what we had for lunch ? Chik-fil-a . Like best way to end my last zone
conference. I was very happy :)
 
We had an interesting run in with the po po this week, and by po po I
definitely mean the police... Let me explain. Thursday night we were
eating dinner with Hna Burgos and we asked her if she knew anyone we
could go visit. She thought about it for a second and asked if we had
ever heard of Margarita Andersen. She said that about 10 years ago the
missionary were teaching her and she loved the gospel so much , but
then her husband ran into anti Mormon stuff and told her she could
never go back.... Margarita loved the gospel so much she asked Hna
Burgos to do your temple work for her if she died before she could
become a member. WELL apparently on of our members awhile ago saw her
at Walmart and guess what?! Her husband had DIED ! Which, is sad, but
is also a good thing for us but the only bad thing is that no one in
our branch has her number or can remember where she lives... Only the
area... So being the great detective missionaries that we are, we set
off to find margarita.
 
Well so apparently where she lives is on the side of a busy road, no
where to really park your car. We drove down a few peoples driveways
and knocked on their doors, but no luck. So we decided to drive down
the street a little more, park our car in a neighborhood and then just
walked down the road knocking on doors. We didn't have much time so we
knocked the first door and no one answered, then we got to the second
door and met a really nice lady, but she had no idea who she was... We
had to get to dinner so still determined to find her we started to
walk back to the car. As we were walking this undercover cop car drive
onto our side of the road with their lights on and pulls into the
grass. This lady just dressed in like normal clothes jumps out of her
car and says "stop, under cover police!" I'm like what the heck is
happening right now ? She goes "we got a call that you guys are going
door to door soliciting and this is a none soliciting area" and I'm
like, in my sweet, not at all irritated voice said "we are actually
just looking for our friend, Margarita" and she says "well they said
you parked your car in that neighborhood and they watched you pull
pamphlets out of your trunk" feeling pretty creeped out that people
were watching us closely I said "only because we want to give one to
our friend" she then goes "well you need to leave" and so then you
know again being my sweet angel like self said " do you know Margarita
Andersen lives?" Haha she kind of gave us the stink eye and got in her
car and drove away. Guess she didn't know who she was either... But we
are still determined to find her, as Joseph Smith said, no unhallowed
can stop this work!!
 
ALSO. YESTERDAY WAS A MIRACLE DAY AT CHURCH
2 of our investigators, Heriberto and Eric came to church !!! It was
awesome, they couldn't stay for the rest of the meetings, BUT THEY
STILL CAME !!! I was literally so happy ! And we also had a ton of
less actives come too. It was seriously a miracle !
 
I am happy that mom and e were able to meet presidente Burgos and
Heber and Lupe. That's so funny, they are great people ! Hopefully Hna
Danise and Heber were good translators 
 
I think that's really all about it for this week ! It was a really fun
week and we are starting to see the fire catch again with our
investigators and our members, which is a blessing! I hope y'all have
a great week and try not to freeze ! Thanks for all y'all do for me. I
love y'all soooooo much !
 
XO
Hermana Brown

Mapache en la basura‏

Helllllllllo !
 
Happy Monday ! I hope y'all had a great week and doing good ! And the
good news is that thankfully January is almost over because I am so
done with January, ya know how you can just get the January blues, so
that is good 
 
This week was pretty good for me.... It was long and hard and I truly
felt like Mosiah 23:21 Was the theme of the week....  "Nevertheless
the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their
patience and their faith" literally the story of our life this last
week. Like seriously !! We had so many set lessons this week with
members ready and willing to come with us and then they would cancel
as we were standing on their porch or like 5 minutes before the
lesson... It was a little hard not to complain, but I feel like I have
learned a lot on my mission about having the faith and trusting in the
promises of the lord that all will work out AND because God is
merciful our week ended like in the following verse, Mosiah 23:22
"Nevertheless whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be
lifted up at the last day." So I am pretty grateful, overall it was a
hard week, but a good one and I know as we keep putting our faith in
the lord we will continue to see tons of miracles this next week too.
 
Something cool this week : we had a worldwide missionary broadcast
which all the missionaries in the world watched and it was AWESOME !
It was titled "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" it was so sweet.
We watched awesome trainings from Elder Neil L Andersen, Elder David A
Bednar, Elder W. Christopher Liddel, Sister Bonnie L Oscarson, Elder L
Whitney Clayton, Elder Brent H Neilson, and Elder Dallin H Oaks. It
was literally what you would call incredible. Ans I am so grateful I
am able to be a full time missionary right now. Seriously. The spirit
touched my heart so strongly as these leaders of the church bore their
testimonies of missionaries work, I know this is where I need to be,
right now in my life. And I am so grateful I am here :) and it was
just what I needed so I can end this last month running !
 
We also went on exchanges this week which was really and very much
needed because TRAINING IS HARD. Seriously it's some tough stuff...
But I am loving it and I am learning a lot, so that is good. I think
training is mostly hard because all my comps I have had before have
always been older than me in the mission and we both knew what we were
doing... So I am not use to teaching someone all the rules, and to be
hard, that is a little hard for me to do. But it's okay, things are
getting better and Hna Reynolds is adjusting little by little. Anyway,
we went on exchanges and Sister Woods came her with me. It was strange
not being the STL on the exchange but also kind of nice. We had an
awesome day together ! We also found a new investigator, Pilar !! She
is so cool and so cute ! She was asking all about the church and how
it would benefit her family. I am so excited to see what the lord has
in store for not only us, but Pilar and her family :)
 
Friday we got up and to our surprise it was snowing... Buckets !! Like
so much snow. And everything was just white white white !! And so
instead of switching back from our exchange we ended up being on
exchanges all Friday as well and we had to stay inside... It was
seriously soooooo tiring . Friday we also had to do our weekly
planning, so that is always fun, doing weekly planning without your
actual companion... Haha but sister woods is awesome so it was fun to
stay on exchanges and she just left from serving in Clarksville so we
were catching up on all the people there too so that was nice :)
 
And since there was still snow on the ground yesterday , we even had
church canceled.... Southern people and snow just don't get along too
well... Haha but it's okay because we were able to have a GREAT DAY
yesterday and it totally made up for all the hard and crappy other
days we had this week, so I am very content and happy :)
 
Oh little update Lupe is doing great. We taught him about the
priesthood yesterday and he is preparing to get it in two weeks, so
that should we sweet ! Presidente Burgos, his sone Heber, and Lupe are
all going to salt lake this next week so that should be pretty sweet !
They are going to go to temple square and everything so I am pretty
excited for Lupe to get to see the temple and all that jazz, so that
should be sweet. I am going to give them our address if they have time
to stop by and say hello :) I don't know because they have a wedding
and then are going to be coming back, it's just a short little trip,
but maybe they will stop by 
 
Well I think that's really all about it for this week. This next week
will be a great week and I am hoping for no more snow too... I am on
limited time and I don't want to be stuck inside anymore.. I love
y'all so much. Thanks for the support you have given me throughout my
mission. I know the lord is hearing your prayers and I feel so
blessed. I am praying for you all as well :) have a great week!!
 
XO
Hna Brown
 
Ps... SWAG

Old pic, but back when we had MLC with Elder Zwick

Frozen fountain outside our apartment complexes my head is kind of
in the way...

Literally why people in Tennessee should not drive their cars in the snow

Let's get coconutty‏

Hello family !!
 
Happy Monday ! For the first time in a long time I am just soooo
thankful that it is Monday haha usually the weeks go by so fast that I
can't believe it's Monday again. This week was a little bit of the
opposite. It seemed to be a little bit on the longer side. But that's
okay, because it was still a great week :)
 
So to start off Hna Dansie went home, that was pretty sad. I will miss
her! She has become one of my best friends, kind of inevitable after
being with each other for more than 6 months 24/7. It's kind of weird
because the first couple of days it felt like we were just on an
exchange, but then we never exchanged back haha but it's okay because
my new comp is Hna Reynolds ! She is super cute, from Alpine Ut and
fresh out of high school. And she is so ready to do the work! And even
better, her Spanish is really good!! So that has been a blessing in my
part ! I really like training but it is stressful, especially in how
big our area is, kind of hard taking it over on my part, but it's
still fun and I am happy :) I think Hna Reynolds is a little sad when
she realized how many hours of study you have to do in the morning as
well as an extra hour of training, but I think she is getting used to
it :) also I like training this last transfer because like wow !! I
have realized and seen HOW much I have truly grown since I came out on
my mission. It's so awesome. I am so grateful for the Lord! And for
his willingness to mold me into the person he needs me to be. I am
just very grateful 
 
Well in for this week, after one week, Lupe is still active ! That's a
blessing ! And he is progressing and he just says how happy he is in
his life, and you can truly see it too! He totally has a different
light about him :) We had a cool stake conference that was broadcasted
from Salt Lake to the North America Southeast area yesterday and it
was really cool. Elder L Whitney Clayton, Sister Linda R Reeves, Elder
Robert A Rasband, and Elder Robert D Hales all spoke to us, and it was
awesome :) we had a couple less actives and recent converts and
investigators come and it was so sweet ! They all loved it. My
favorites were from Elder Rasband and Elder Hales. They both talked
about holy places. Elder rasband talked about the temple and elder
hales about how to make our homes a holy place . Thank you mom and dad
for making our home a holy place :)
 
MIRACLE this week.
So it was 8:30 and we decided to go and try to visit a few other
potential investigators. And the thought to go visit Glenda came to
mind. I'm not sure if I have really talked to much about Glenda or not
but she has kind of a crazy story. About 20 years ago she met the
missionaries in Honduras and really loved the gospel but never got
baptized. She moved here and she came in contact with the missionaries
here ! She loved the gospel and the Book of Mormon so much she named
her son she was pregnant with at the time Nefi. But then.....
Something happened and she didn't end up getting baptized and stopped
meeting with the missionaries completely. WELL so the missionaries
found her awhile back when knocking doors but she was very very closed
off and reserved. We had occasionally tried to go visit her every now
and then but she would rarely ever let us in or anything. So we went
and saw her. WELL. She like let's us right in, tells us to sit down,
gives us these big hugs and is just chatting with us like we are long
time best friends. What ??? I was sooo confused but at the same time
soooo happy ! We asked if we could share a message with her and she
said of course. So we talked about the Book of Mormon and she loved
it. The spirit was seriously so strong ! We invited her to read and
pray about the Book of Mormon and she said would. It was soooo
awesome. What you would truly call a spirit inspired lesson. :)
 
We are focusing a lot on a less active family in our branch, really
trying to get them to come back and be active again in the church. The
Lopez family. I love this family. They are so awesome ! Hno Lopez is
such a good guy too and has such a strong testimony. I know that they
will soon be back active at church, but keep them in your prayers
please :)
 
Overall this week was good, we did a lot of finding and teaching so I
am pleased! It's freezing today, 15 outside, but it feels like 1....
Vale la pena ! I am glad that all is going well back at home! I hope
y'all have a fantastic week ! Thanks for all yours prayers and the
support you give me, I am so thankful ! I love y'all soooo much !
 
Xo
Hna Brown

 Last pic with Hna Dansie and Aida at transfer meeting :)

SO HAPPY. This is Angie. She is one of the investigators Hna Torres
and I taught in my first area in Columbia and in October she got
baptized ! I saw her at transfers and I was almost in tears. I love
this woman 

My daughter, Hna Reynolds :) she is literally a mix of I think all
my comps, I love it !

Stress case - the last 6 weeks‏

Hello family !
 
Sorry I am writing so early today, it's gonna be a crazy busy day. We
got up extra early so we could get our studies done earlier so we
could have more time to get all that we have to do, done. This week
was a crazy week and I am excited to tell y'all about it :)
 
First off, I am very happy to hear that everything went great with mom
and her surgery! That makes me very happy :) I am grateful for the
power of the priesthood and fasting and prayer. I hope my cute mom
keeps feeling better! I know you are being taken care of by a great
husband  and Ward and family and friends :)
 
So as for this week it was nuts. But to hit all the good news first.
Lupe got baptized on Saturday !!!! Yahoooooooooo ! It was awesome :)
let me just tell you, opposition in all things is a real thing. For
the investigator and the missionaries haha. Lupe was hit pretty hard
with some opposition the DAY BEFORE HIS BAPTISM. I don't think I have
ever prayed or fasted so much in my whole life as I did this last
week. We had our last lesson with him on Friday and when he got there
he was just acting so strange. Anyway after talking for a while we
finally got him to open up about what was happening. He said he had
talked to his mom about his baptism and how she was just so sad
because she felt like she failed at raising her son. He said he just
feels like his parents are so disappointed in him. But he said he knew
this was what he needed to do, and it's the right thing. What a champ
!!! I know that the lord is so pleased with the faith Lupe has! I know
he has great things and blessings in store for him 
 
Although it was stressful up unto the point of the baptism, everything
worked out great :) I am so excited for him. And yesterday he was
confirmed and received the Holy Ghost, and that was awesome. The
spirit was so strong, and he even surprised everyone by making a grand
entrance by coming to a church in a suit ! We told him to be a little
early , because he always is making it a little late to church, anyway
so it's like 12:58 and we are freaking out because he isn't there yet.
So we are not trying to panic or anything and then he just like walks
in, in this like nice suit, everyone was like "woah" haha he has never
even wore a white shirt or slacks to church before, so that was cool.
Anyway, it was good and I honestly can see a different light in him !
That was the best part of this whole week 
 
Now onto the transfer information.... For my last transfer of my
mission I will be staying here in Buena Vista !!!!!!!!!!! And I am
training a new missionary ! What. I was so shocked. But I am so
excited ! We had interviews on Wednesday with president and the first
thing he said was that he wanted to talk to me about transfers. He
asked me to train a new missionary and then he told me I would be
staying in Buena vista !!! I started screaming I was so happy I
thought I was going to cry ! That was awesome. I am kind of freaked
out to train a new missionary, because I never have, but it will fun I
think :) and it will be an awesome way to end my last transfer ! God
is good 
 
It's pretty crazy that Hna Dansie is leaving, tomorrow! It's been
awesome serving with her and we have been able to see so many miracles
and have some awesome experiences together. She is awesome. I will
tell her to come visit y'all and everything so y'all can go to her
homecoming too. It will be strange having a new comp after being with
the same one for the last 6 months, but I am excited for this next
transfer!
 
I am grateful for this opportunity I have to be a full time missionary
! There is nothing better to compare it to. I am excited to see how
these next 6 weeks go and I am excited to work as hard as I can to
finish strong and to fight the good fight.
 
I love y'all and I hope y'all have a grrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeat week ! I am
grateful for your prayers and I can feel them, especially on those
extra hard days. Be safe and I hope y'all don't freeze ! ️ Love you
sooooo much !
 
XO
Hna Brown

Dia de los 3 reyes ! Rosca de reyes, soooo good!

There are 3 little toy baby Jesus's baked into it, and who ever gets
it has to make tamales for everyone on February 2 haha Hna Dansie got
it.

Lupe's baptism ! Kind of a blurry pic but that's okay.

Prefecture my papusa making skills 

I want you to want me...... the song I sing to all our investigators‏

Hello family !

Seems like we just talked 🙃 

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! It sounded like y'all had a good new year and I am so happy :) I had a great one as well. we had to come in early at 6 but we watched the best two years, had a bottle of Martinelli , and ate cinnamon roles. My kind of new year celebration. Friday was super fun! we had an all day super pday ! It was so strange not doing any missionary work... We went to eat at a members house and after an hour I was feeling anxious like we needed to leave and then I realized we actually could stay longer... It was still weird. Also we went to the church and played basketball and soccer with some members and investigators, it was so much fun ! Also I sent mom this video, but I learned how to rope ! I will send it again so y'all can see my wicked skills

So as for this week it was good ! It was SUCH a strange week though. It's the best time of the year to teach everyone about the gospel because it's Christmas and then everyone is setting goals to improve for the next year but at the same time it's sooooo hard to find people who want listen. But it will be good this next week to get back into the normal mission life too :) 

I went on an exchange this week and I went to Murfreesboro and was with a cute sister, Sister Orchard and we had A HUGE MIRACLE !!! So we had a lesson at 7:30 and our lesson at 6:30 fell through so we decided since we were going to meet at the church for the lesson at 7:30 we should just try potentials that live close to the church. So we decided to go see this guy Jeff. We pull up to the house, pray, and knock on the door. Then we just hear loud loud barking inside and I'm tell you guys, my fear of dogs has skyrocketed while being on my mission because EVERYONE has huge dogs and none of them are ever tied up or anything. Then the door opens and like the biggest pit bull ever is right there and in my head I am like oh no.... It's gonna attack and go right for my neck and I am gonna die.... I turned as stiff as a board haha turns out that was a nice pit bull... Who knew those existed, am I right ? Anyway the lady says "hey come in come in" and we are like okay, why not. So then that's when we met Amanda and she is soooo nice ! And she was saying how she use to meet with the missionaries and how she had gone to church a couple times and she really liked it and everything. So we are thinking like hey they must have really been teaching this Jeff guy and his family, sweet ! So then she is talking about her husband and we were like , not wanting to be creeps and already knowing her husbands name, asked what his name was and she is like , his name is Matt. WHAT ? Who are these people?! So come to find out, they had been living in another part of town and had been meeting with the missionaries there and really loved it, but then they put elders in and it was just hard for her because she felt a little uncomfortable.. Then about 4 months ago they moved into the house they are in now , and no one had had record of them or where they moved to. But since God is a God of miracles and is full of mercy he lead us exactly to them ! It was awesome one of those moments when you truly know that was the spirit guiding you exactly where you needed to be. 

Now onto Lupe ! So last week we invited him to be baptized for the 9th. It was kind of a semi solid semi soft date, not 100% sure thing. Through out the week we tried to call and talk with him and follow up and stuff but we weren't able to meet with him last week... THANK YOU MOM FOR PRAYING FOR HIM, because this is what happened next:.....

Saturday we had a baptism for a little boy named Jazer. I love this kid. His mom and him were just coming back to church when I got here and his mom asked us since they had been less active for so much of jazzers life (since he was like 2-7) if we would teach him since he would be turning 8 in December. So every week we would teach the smartest, sweetest, cutest 7 year old and I just have felt so blessed to watch him grow anyway so he got baptized on Saturday !! And it was awesome and Lupe came as well! We were freaking out because it was starting and he still wasn't there ..... Hna Dansie gave the talk on baptism and I just told her to keep talking until he got there haha thankfully he walked in right before she ended. That's the first miracle. Then Jazer got baptized and it was awesome the room was just filled with peace and happiness. Since it wasn't a convert baptism he was able to receive the Holy Ghost right after. Through out my mission I have had many times where I am felt the spirit super super strong, but I think this was the strongest. When the words were said, receive the Holy Ghost, the spirit filled the Room. It was incredible. It wasn't just something you could feel in your heart, your could feel it in your whole body. I'm not really sure how else to explain it. 

After the baptism we had a lesson with Lupe in the chapel, the best place to have lessons, and we asked him how he felt about the baptism.  He said he really liked it but he really liked the part when Jazer got the Holy Ghost, he said "I could just feel something, a type of energy just running through my body" we said told him that was the Holy Ghost telling him that these things are true and correct and right. We asked about how he felt about being baptized he seemed a little un sure and he said he still had some doubts. We talked a little more about the spirit and then talked about prophets. We showed him a video clip of some of the apostles and president monson testifying of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong. After the video he looked at us and said with the most confidence ever , "I am getting baptized on Saturday" ....... !!!!!!!!!!! It's those moments when you know that the work you are doing isn't your work, you aren't the teacher, but it's the Lord's work and the spirit is the true teacher. 

I don't know how else to express myself. I am SO happy !!!!! And so excited !!! My heart is filled with gratitude for the chance that I have been able to have to have so many of these amazing, life changing experiences. The gospel is true!! And this work is true :) 

I am sorry i always have such long emails, but you guys know me, I gotta tell you everything I am thinking Saturday are transfer calls.... And my companion goes home in a week from tomorrow.... It will be strange getting a new comp after 6 months... And Starting my last transfer... But it will be an adventure and I am excited to keep working hard and doing the Lord's work :)  

I hope you all have a good week, good luck mommy on your surgery, I know you will do great !! I will keep fasting and praying for you and as for the rest of you, take care of my mommy!! 

I love y'all so much. Thank you so much for your prayers, as you can see, they are really helping ! Have a great week :) 

️XO

Hermana Brown

On exchanges 

Jazer's baptism

Last week at the grand ole Opry hanging out with Brad and
dolly and Martina

16 months‏

Familia ! 

Wow how great was it skyping on Friday ? It was awesome !! :) seriously it was the best thing ever. I had an amazing Christmas and I am so grateful I was able to have two Christmases on my mission :) mission Christmases are seriously the best. I hope y'all have a good rest of your week. We had a great rest of the week as well. It's been like 75 degrees so you know I'm not complaining at all

As for this week, it was busy but also super slow I don't know how to explain it. It went by so super fast but also slow... If that makes sense haha Monday and Wednesday we had the night to go caroling to all our investigators with members and I was sooooo excited ! But then it was pouring rain Monday night and Wednesday night we had to go in because there were tornado warnings and all the sirens and such were going off.... If you could just imagine how I was ..... My companion says "Hna are you okay ? You seemed stress" I just replied "I just really hate storms...." Hahaha still working on that, but to defend myself the storms here are soooo much crazier than those back at home  

Tuesday was a good day, we actually went and sang to this lady for her 100th birthday !!! It was so funny. She couldn't hear us and we were like screaming and still nothing.... Haha but it was so sweet :) she lives with her daughter and when I say it reminded me just like that spongebob espisode where the old lady still lives with her mom, it was literally like that but in real life form. I loved it ️ then we did a lot of finding. Which was good because lately I have felt like we have been so busy that I haven't been able to get a good amount of finding in, which I love so it was great :) we were at this one apartment complex and I just wasn't feeling it so we decided to leave and go to another one down the street, it felt like we should be there. Then NO ONE talked to us... We tried to contact one old investigator there but when we went he wasn't home and one of his roommates was just leaving and didn't seem like he had much time to talk. We gave him a card and were on our way. I was a little sad that no one would talk to us.. I just couldn't understand why because we really felt like that's where we needed to be... But I have been trying to trust more in the lord and his timing and try not to lean to my own understandings... 

But then the coolest thing happened Wednesday night !! So we had to go in at 7 and so we started planning and such and then we got this text message from a number in Mexico saying "hi this is jose's friend and I wanted to know what is Mormon?" WHAT ?? We were freaking out but like we had no idea who it was, so we are jus trying to figure out what Jose and then we came to find out it was the room mate from the other day when we were finding. Miracles ! So we told him about the Book of Mormon and he was super interested. So, pray for Manual ! He is a miracle ! 

Now the last miracle of all is with Lupe !!!!! So on Saturday we were planning and the feeling to text Lupe just kept coming but we are like we don't know what to say..... But we felt like we really needed to meet with him but it's hard because we didn't know where or anything because he lives far away and yeah we just didn't know what to do. Then the idea came to call Byron and ask him if we can meet with Lupe at his house, so we called Byron and he said yes! So then we called Lupe and he said he could meet with us at that time too ! It was a miracle. The only thing was, we didn't know what exactly we needed to teach him about, because we usually always end up talking about baptism but we don't want to smother him with baptism but we felt like we needed to.... We had such a strong desire to invite him to be baptized the 9th of January... So our game plan was this, somehow invite him for the 9th but to not make him feel overwhelmed or pushed. THE SPIRIT IS SOOOOO AWESOME !!!!! So we go in there and we just start talking and we read the conversion story of Hna Dansie's abuelo because it's like the same as Lupe's haha and then Hna Dansie just goes "Lupe I go home in 2 weeks and I think mine and Hna Browns biggest desire is to see you baptized while we are both together and here." It was awesome Lupe just started opening up and saying how this whole week he has just been thinking about baptism and everything and how we wants to but he is really afraid his family in Mexico is going to like reject him and stuff..... But it's sweet to see how to spirit works because by the end of the lesson Lupe looked at a calendar (we didn't say anything about a specific date) and he says "I am really thinking about the 9th of January , that is just caught my attention" The spirit is real !!! Follow the impressions you receive and you will truly see the hand of the lord. I love this work and this gospel !!!! I AM SO EXCITED FOR LUPE !

Also HAPPY 2016!! I am so happy and blessed that I got to serve the whole year of 2015 as a missionary. It's been the best year of my life. I reflected on the goals I set this last year and I am proud to admit I was able to complete them, including NO COKE FOR A YEAR !!! Miracles are real. I never thought I would make it but really haha I am excited for what 2016 will bring. 

I think that's about it. Today we are goin to Opryland in Nashville so that should be pretty fun, I am excited :) I love y'all so much. Thanks for all the support and prayers and love you have given me. Have a great week !!! I love y'all !!! 

XO 

Hermana Brown

HAPPY 100TH GRACE

Christmas with the sisters in the district

Christmas morning presents as you can tell I still love mornings...