Aztec Ruins!

Monday we went to the Aztec ruins which were super cool! I felt kinda like Indiana Jones! 
We had exchanges this week and I took over the area for a day. This was super nerve-racking/stressful because I'd only been in the area for 4 weeks. It went well though! We saw some cool miracles because I really had to rely on Heavenly Father! 

We had a lesson with Riley a less active and Oh My Goodness, the spirit was so strong! We testified of the importance of the Book of Mormon and I testified of Heavenly Father's love for him and my love for him. I basically told him "you are my brother, and family is so important to me...I am not going to lose you! That's why we come here...to help you be able to live with Heavenly Father again!" I said a bunch of other things too but I don't even remember them because the spirit was just working through me! 

When I was on my exchange, I gained a greater appreciation for Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon! We had been rejected a bunch that morning as we did some knocking, and even got a Book of Mormon back at one point! Later that night we had a couple lessons...one focused on the restoration and the other focused on the Book of Mormon specifically. After those two lessons my heart was full of gratitude for Joseph Smith and all that he went through to help us receive the fullness of the gospel and the Book of Mormon! I was sad and kinda heart-broken for all those people who rejected us and the message without really realizing what it truly is that they were rejecting!

Sunday we received what seems like a really solid Potential investigator! A friend of his brought him to church and apparently he's been looking for the missionaries for a while, so I'm super excited to get to know him and to start teaching him!

I now get to take video Journals since I got permission from president to do so!

love you all!

Sister Brown

Me and Sister Ford

City of Aztec Ruins

Sister Ford

Rely on Heavenly Father for Guidance!

Ya' te' hee!

This week was really good! I honestly can't remember a whole lot, everything just kinda blurs together and before you know it its the next week again!

Monday we had to be in by 6 because of Halloween and we carved pumpkins. I have to say my pumpkin is the happiest pumpkin I have ever carved! The sisters serving in Eastland spent Halloween night with us, because one of them had Mission Leader Conference the next day, so Tuesday Sister Withers spent the day with us while her companion was at Mission Leader Conference. Sister Withers is still in training but she is a great missionary already and so adorable!

I also had an "ahha" moment as we were teaching Daniel this week. It occurred to me that quite possibly one of the reasons we aren't allowed to just call up our family or friends when we need help while on the mission (other than the obvious fact that it could be distracting) is so that we have to rely on Heavenly Father for guidance and help more than we would other-wise. In turn your relationship and trust in him grows a lot stronger than it otherwise would! 

Sorry, I don't have any cheesy jokes or pick-up lines. Daniel was slacking this week in that area!

We've been having a lot of trouble with finding recently but not from a lack of trying! We street contacted at the College grounds a lot, and this week as we were heading off to another appointment, this guy was kinda flirting with us. Sister Ford and I were like...uhhh, what do we do!? I kick myself for not TTI-ing (Teach, Testify, and Invite) him, but he kinda caught us off guard, but still that is no excuse. 

We were finally able to have a lesson with one of our investigators that we've been trying to get with for weeks! That was pretty great. She asks tons of questions too! N__ is still doing stellar, as far as keeping commitments, but in someways it doesn't seem like his testimony or faith is growing at all! He doesn't necessarily have the desire to be baptized for another year because he feels that change can't happen as fast as it sometimes does.

We had a lesson with a less active member and during his lesson, I found myself getting kinda frustrated and discouraged a little. It felt like he didn't care and that we weren't getting anywhere with him, but then to our surprise he came to church for all 3 hours this Sunday!!!

We had a wonderful lesson with Precious this week and on Sunday she got her temple recomend, and is going to the temple this upcoming Saturday!!!! To make the week even better we were knocking doors and found a golden potential! She asked us if she could have a Book of Mormon before we could even offer her one! It's too bad she's not Young Single Adult aged so we'll have to hand her off to the other missionaries!

We saw Malachi (a less-active) this week and it was kinda funny...he called me "the strict one" and Sister Ford the "lenient one" (he said it kinda jokingly, but still kinda meant it) because I am very bold with him, I don't take no for an answer with him, or let any excuses fly, because I see his potential and know that he know's better!

I love you all so very much!

Hagoonee!

Sister Brown

My happy pumpkin!

Sister Ford, Sister Withers, and me.

My missionary pumpkin. It has my badge on it.

Teaming up with the Lord!

Ya tah hee!

Since Halloween is on a preparation day we proselyted for 3 hours this morning and will be having preparation day the rest of the day since we have to be in by 6:00 tonight!

Who said Missionaries couldn't dress up!
 #SnowWhite #MinnieMouse

Wednesday we had zone conference which of course is always soooooo good! We saw our recent convert, Daniel that night and guess what...he didn't say a pick-up line this time! Darn! He did have a cheesy joke though: 

"I had some crab legs in the kitchen earlier and I thought about sharing, but instead I decided to be shellfish!" haha!

I do still have a pick-up line for you this week though (its one that Daniel said before I got here, but Sister Ford told me about it). Its...

"Hey Kammie, I think you should talk to President Frost about your Word of wisdom problem....cuz your smoking!" haha! 

Thursday was another very busy day full of appointments! Days like that are the best! Oh and Friday our ward mission leader got engaged! #onlyinYSA! So we will probably be getting a new one with-in the next few months.



Friday there was a pumpkin carving activity but we only got to be there for a little bit before we had to head off to an appointment, but one of our newer investigators, Nate showed up to it!

Saturday at 2:00 in the morning we got a text from Nate saying "Read Nephi!"....He has been a new investigator for about a week or two and he is already all the way through Nephi!...of course he said he was re-reading it because he didn't comprehend a lot of it! haha!

Saturday at 8:00 in the morning Precious was baptized! It was such a good baptism! Then the next day when she received the Holy Ghost the spirit was so strong! She fits into the branch so well!

What a Precious baptism!
Sister Brown, Precious, Sister Ford

Nate came to church on Sunday too for the first time! And Christopher (you know the atheist one) actually considered the idea of possibly going to church when we saw him on Saturday night but he didn't show up on Sunday. Even just the fact that he considered the idea is a miracle because apparently the first time that Sister Ford and her other companion mentioned the idea he just laughed and said, "not a chance!" His heart has been softening a lot and I am determined to have him converted before I leave this place! (of course that's up to the lord as well...but we make a pretty good team him and I)

I love you all

Have a great week and a happy Halloween!

Hagoonee

Sister Brown

               Some of the pumpkins from the carving activity

 Party in the car wash!

 Mon. for Family Home Evening they played human hungry hippos.

Our dryer stopped working
While in St. Michael's with sister Cardon, ans sister Ledford)

 Elder Larson's last p-day!
 (Taken while in Saint Michael's with Sister Ledford and Sister Cardon)

Sick with the stomach flu!

This week honestly is kinda a blurr! It went by so fast! I have been having a blast though! Monday we went to Family Home Evening with the Young Single Adults. Our new investigator, Nate, came! Precious, who is getting baptized this upcoming Saturday (the 29th) came too and she loved it! We got to participate in the FHE activity of going on a scavenger hunt because we went with our investigators who came! They encourage us to participate in many of the activities so that we can get to know members better and also so that the investigators and members can get to know us too!

I don't remember a whole lot from Tues. or Wed....we did see a recent convert (Daniel) who's pick-up line this week was: "Sydney Manning! Hmmmm, why does that sound so familiar!, hmmmm...oh yea! my patriarchal blessing, that's were I've heard that name before!" (Sydney is a member who came to the lesson with us) haha! He cracks me up!

Thursday Morning I woke up early throwing up and not feeling well at all! We had a training that we had to give in Zone Training, so we went to that even though I was still feeling pretty iffy! After we went back home, I slept all day long! I had a fever and come to find out, I had some kind of flu bug...I feel so much better now!

Saturday we did some street contacting and met a really good potential (HE'S YSA!!!!!)

Sunday we went to mission prep and church, and did a little sacrament meeting at the old folks home as usual. 

This week was pretty good over all other than feeling sick to my stomach on Thursday! It's been really incredible though to see Heavenly Father's hand in every little thing!

Let me tell you a little bit about Sister Ford since I didn't mention a whole lot about her last week...She's from Kaysville Utah and is the Oldest in her family. She has two younger brothers and has been out for 13 months. She is an incredible missionary who sincerely listens to those we teach and teaches by the spirit very well! 

I love you all! 

love,

Sister Brown

De best Cereal ever!...limited box....was the last one....I had to buy it!

Me, Kammie (only the greatest member ever!) and Sister Ford!

Loven the YSA in Farmington!

Ya at' eeh!

Up here in Farmington it feels like summer all over again (back in St. Michael's and Gallup it was starting to actually get a little cold.

I love serving in the Young Single Adult (YSA)! It's a little weird, because it takes me back to when I was in YSA in Montana, but it's good! I love teaching people that are around my same age, because I feel like I can be more personable and relate with them better!

Finding is a lot more difficult though, because instead of looking for just anyone who will listen, we are even more limited to looking for a specific age group to teach (18-30 and single)! That's not to say that we don't speak to everyone, but we have to hand over a lot of the people that we find to the other missionaries since they aren't YSA. 

Our area is huge! We cover 3 zones (but on the upside, we never really have to get permission to leave our area for any reason, since all of Farmington is our area). I've met some incredible people! We have a less active who has a very different way of thinking and expressing himself, but just that first visit that I've had with him, I can't help but like the kid! We also have an investigator who claims to be an atheist. I haven't had a lesson with him yet, but I did get to meet him to set up an apt. for later. I like him already and I've made it a personal goal to get him converted before I leave this place!

Sunday was kinda interesting...it being YSA and all, they had a munch and mingle after church and they had all the brothers serve the sisters the food, and they wanted everyone to sit, boy-girl-boy-girl. Sister Ford and I decide to serve ourselves and all the brothers were like, "sisters! are you serving yourselves!?" haha...we were like...uhhh, yea! We also did not sit boy-girl-boy-girl! It's so funny to be the missionaries in the YSA ward, I never even thought about how the missionaries might feel back home when I was in YSA! 

Oh yea and also my first night there, we went and saw a recent covert named Daniel (he is super solid) and we had a member with us (her name is Kammie...she's met him before) and I introduced myself to Daniel, then Kammie jokingly said "hi, I'm Kammie" to Daniel and he said "hi...I'm handsome!" back...hahahahahha I just about died laughing.

Ayoo aninshni (not sure how to spell it) (I love you) 

Hagonee! 

Love,

Sister Brown

Sister Ford my new companion

Transferred to the Farmington YSA ward!

Ya at' eeh! (I finally know how to actually spell it! lol)
Everyone here speaks English...in fact some of them don't know Navajo...its a dying language which is so sad! I am learning a few words for fun!

In "our commission" (something we recite every morning along with our purpose) states:

"My authority is above that of kings of the Earth!..." 

I had a really cool insight in studies this week (It's not necessarily doctrine though) but I was reading in Mosiah chapter 15 I think and I was jumping back and forth from other scriptures because of where the footnotes led me and one of the scriptures said "he bore the sins of many..." and I was like...well he suffered for everyone so why does it say many? I then thought about what the word "bare" means and what I came up with was (to suffer with joy). Christ suffered for everyone; however, knowing the sins that some people would not repent of made it difficult or even impossible for him to suffer it with joy, because he knew that it was "pointless" suffering. When he suffered for the sins of those who do repent, he was able to have joy during his suffering knowing that it was worth it!

Anyway, I am being transferred to the Farmington YSA ward with Sister Ford! I look forward to it and it is going to be a blast; however, I will miss St. Mikes more than I thought I would! It's incredible how much love you can have for people just within 2 weeks! I love the Natives! A lot of them are in the humblest of circumstances! 

This past week has been a week of miracles! As you know we set a challenge for ourselves of placing 100 Book of Mormons this week! We actually only got to 60 but I have truly seen the Lord's hand in this work! He placed so many people in our path that I don't know if we would have met, if we hadn't taken the challenge!

One incredible experience I had this week was when we were tracting and we met a man named Roland and his brother Jay. Roland is in such a humble state right now and expressed to us that he had been thinking about ending his life! I testified of Heavenly Father's love for him and as I did so, I had this overwhelming love for him. I have never loved someone so quickly in my life! I have been praying for him every night since then! I have cried on his behalf! He is soooo ready for this gospel and I know that it will change his life! I wish I could tell you more, but I simply don't have the time!

Love you all!

Hagonee

Sister Brown

Here are a few pictures from last week

Sister Brown, Sister Cardon,and Sister Ledford

Teaching Hello kitty, Sister Ledford and Me

Prego Sisters Haha!

Tarantula

Plastic Cow! And General Conference!

Yah-tah-hey!

This week started off with us traveling to Farmington so that Sister Cardon and Sister Ledford could go to Mission Leader Conference since they are both Sister Training Leaders. While they were at that, I got to work with Sister Stinekie (not sure if that's how you spell it or not) and Sister Southam! I tell you what, Sister Stinekie is so funny and a great missionary too! She is still in training but if I didn't know it, then I never would have guessed! The Day was fantastic we had a lot of lessons and even got a new investigator for the Farmington 7th Ward! We also came across this drunk guy and at first he was like "woah, are you going to jump me!?" haha, I couldn't help but laugh! 

Wednesday was a pretty good day too! We have a recent convert named Monica who has somewhat turned less active which is sad to see! She does however have a very strong testimony of this gospel. She is currently having a hard time forgiving herself for some mistakes. She came to 3 of the 4 sessions of General Conference though! (speaking of which it was soooo good!) Also she has the cutest little boy! He says some of the sweetest most sincere prayers I have ever heard! (He prayed for rain and the next day was rainy all day!!!...wow, the faith of a child!) 

We also were able to see another recent convert named Arlene who cracks me up! We were talking about her birthday that is coming up and she was like: "yea, I'm getting dunk, but I'm getting drunk by the Holy Ghost instead!" haha, she is so funny!

We were able to have a lesson with this boy named James (although he often goes by chipmunk). It's a little sad because he doesn't seem too interested anymore. He says he still wants to get baptized but when we ask him why he just shrugs. I know one day he'll be baptized, its just a matter of when he's really, truly ready. It is kinda sad to see, because his brother wants it so badly for him, He himself has such a testimony of this gospel and knows the joy that comes from it!

Thursday we had a district meeting as usual. It was rainy all day (as I mentioned previously) which was fine because I love the rain! Although being on the reservation everything turns to mud, so I had to break out my boots. It was kind of a slow day but we were able to see a Member who needed us to take care of her cat and garden this weekend while she went to Salt Lake for Conference. She gave us an onion from her garden. When we went to check up on the cat and garden we saw a tarantula! ee-yah!(gross/yikes/no good!) It was so big! I was going to get a picture but it went under the porch before I could.

We found a new investigator, his name is Armando. Currently he seems more interested in those that are sharing the message then the message itself, but hopefully as he actually reads and comes to church and whatnot he will become interested in the message too!  Friday we saw him for the second time, his little sister (she's 8) came out and joined us and so his little sister is now a new investigator as well! It's amazing to see the closeness that kids have to Heavenly Father and the spirit.  They are so pure and innocent! She wanted us to come have a lesson with them the very next day! We had a time set up with them but Armando was gone at work, so it didn't happen. We dropped by on Sunday evening and taught him the Plan of Salvation (Camaria, his sister, was in Gallup so we didn't get to teach her.) He said he felt kinda guilty for not coming to church today and Sister Cardon said something to the effect of: "that's ok, that guilt will help you be motivated to act and come next week!" haha! Also during that lesson Sister Ledford said something like: "At judgment Jesus Christ will be your advocate...so in your words, he's like your homie..." haha, I just about died laughing!

Thursday we also were able to see a less active who is the sweetest lady ever! We call her our Shima-sani which means grandma in Navajo. She came to the Saturday sessions of conference which was good. She didn't come to Sundays but at least she saw half of it!

I found this plastic cow randomly in one of the closets in our trailer and I decided to stick it on Sister Ledford's study desk. The next morning as she came into studies she died laughing and was like "where did the cow come from!" I couldn't contain my laughter! It then became a joke within our companionship to randomly hide the cow.  It was found on Sister Ledford's pillow, in Sister Cardon's bag etc. and we decided on Saturday night to stick it on the Elder's truck. They didn't say anything about it, but the next morning we found it on our truck instead! haha, we put it back on their truck Sunday night, So we'll see where it ends up!

General Conference was sooooo Good! I loved Elder Uchtdorf's about not taking the gospel for granted! It was a little bit of a wake up call to me. I realized that there are a lot of things in this gospel and in missionary work that I sometimes just take for granted or get casual about. I also loved Sister McConkie's all about prayer! I love how she mentioned that we use all of the godhead as we pray by the spirit/Holy Ghost. I loved how Juan A Uceda said something to the affect of: He(Heavenly Father) pays attention to your voice...are you listening to his?! I Also loved Elder Bednar's too! Do you truly know Christ or do you just know about him? Every single talk was so good I could go on and on, but it seemed to me that the main ideas were to become very firmly rooted in your testimony, conversion, and the doctrine of Christ and to not become casual in this gospel! Also use the atonement in your life and repent, and be sincere in your prayers! I have so many things that I got out of conference that I will be working on. General Conference is seriously just the best! It's like a spiritual high! I love it!

This week we have a goal of handing out 100 Book of Mormons, each one with a testimony written in it, so in our spare time we've been writing testimonies like crazy in tons of Book of Mormons! I'm excited to "gear down and power up!" and get going on our self-made challenge!

I love you all soooooo much! Stay and become even more strongly rooted in the gospel!

Hagoonee!

Love,

Sister Brown