It makes me Sooo happy when Less actives come to church!

Ya' ta' hey!

This week was a little bit of a struggle but we saw a lot of really great things happen!

Tuesday we saw one of my favorite less actives named Jerry and the lesson went really great! He came to church this week for the first time in ages and it made me soooooo happy! He stayed all 3 hours too!

We also saw Doris (our investigator with Alzymers) and the notebook idea seems to help with her progression. Sister Garner and I both felt prompted to invite her to be baptized and yet again we ignored that prompting! Wow, I can't even believe us right now! We saw her again on Saturday though and we invited her then. It didn't feel right to give her a set date but we did ask her if she would be baptized when she came to know for herself that these things are true and she said yes! The hard part now is to help her to remember that she said yes, and also to help her get that confirmation when she can't remember. 

 

That night some members took us out to dinner at a sushi place called stone fish and there were some really good tempura fried rolls! It was kinda weird because it brought back  A LOT of memories of working at Wasabi! 

Wednesday we saw a less active named Shannon and she is a wonderful lady! She hardly even knows us, but she made us cute little Easter bags with some goodies! 

We helped the stake Relief Society president make decorations for the stake Relief Society activity that weekend. 

That night we were trying less active Young Single Adults....oh yea....did I ever mention that 4th ward also covers the Young Single Adults!!! Its very, very, very small currently, but we are trying to get it built up. There isn't a branch or anything but they still have institute and Family Home Evening and separate Young Single Adults classes on Sunday! ...anyway back to the story....This Young Single Adult lives in 1st ward boundaries and so we went to go try him, but he wasn't home.  On our way back to the truck we met a kid named Sawyer who has tons of Mormon friends. He said "I love my Mormon friends!!!" He's a Sophomore in high school and in band with a youth in our ward and when we offered him a Book of Mormon  he said he's always wanted to read it!!! WHAT!!!! It's not every day that you meet someone who says they want to read the Book of Mormon!!! After talking with him for a while we could just tell that he is so prepared to hear the gospel right now!!! The only sad part about this story (which isn't even sad, because we're all on the same team!) is that we don't get to teach him because he lives in 1st ward boundaries. 

Thursday we did some more family history! We also saw Ken that night (he's a less active) and we talked to him about temples and their importance. Its a goal he's shooting for!

Friday Sister Garner wasn't feeling very good and so we were stuck inside all day. We did our weekly planning as usual (a part of which I had to do on my own because she was feeling so sick...poor girl! ) I was able to catch up on my journal writing though!!!

Saturday we saw Doris (which I already talked about earlier). We also had Dinner with the Chavez family and I LOVE them! They are from Guatemala and it was really fun to see just how much of their Spanish I could actually understand....un pocito (a little), but at least it was some!

Sunday as I mentioned earlier Jerry came to church and so did the Bell family! (they haven't been in over 2 years apparently!) Rhonda and KaCee (some other Less Active's we work with) also came!!!

We had a lesson with Jerry after Church as well and his non-member wife decided to sit in!!! She isn't interested in really learning more/converting but I thought it was pretty incredible that she sat in!!!

I hope y'all have a wonderful week! I love you all!

Hagonee!

love,

Sister Brown

Some pictures from a few weeks ago.

Me, Sister Thompson, Sister Nielson, Sister Ford, Mike
My last lesson in the Young Single Adults in Farmington with Mike.
This was Sister Nielson's, and Fords Last lesson in the Mission field.

Me and Sister Garner on Easter Sunday.
We put scriptures, questions and commentary
in the Easter eggs for the Dinner Message.

Last Day in the mission field for Sister Nielson and Sister Ford.
They bought me and sister Thompson huge breakfast burritos. 

A Quite Humbling week!

Ya' ta' hey!

I love the families here that are so involved with us as missionaries. I feel so at home with a lot of them and it is seriously such a tender mercy!

This week has been quite humbling! Our poor district is falling apart! Sister Garner's Grandma passed away and one of the elders in our district is in the hospital! We went to see him yesterday in the hospital and he looked like he was in so much pain! I couldn't help but cry! I wished I could just take the pain away from him! I hate standing there helpless, not being able to do anything! Both of these trials within our district has made me appreciate and love the gospel so much more! I am so glad that we know that we can be a family forever regardless of what happens and that even when we experience physical and/or emotional pain we have hope that it won't last forever because of Jesus Christ! 

Other than  all of that craziness! this week has been good! We've kept really busy! We had a lesson with Joel and Austin. They both claim to be agnostic, but are willing to listen and learn! Austin seems to be a lot more open to it and so we are excited see where it goes!

We also saw Shay and Sienna (some recent converts...I think Shay is 11 and Sienna is 9) They are both soooooo solid and stinkin adorable too!

Katy and Mark were some of our new investigators this week! They just moved from Texas and are making a lot of good changes in their lives and said they are looking for a church! We had a great first lesson with them this week and Mark asked tons of questions!

Doris still forgets everything but we got her a notebook to write down her feelings and thoughts and things that she learned so hopefully that will help.

We had dinner with a less-active family with the last name of Bell and I love them to death! They are sooooo funny! We have no idea why they are not active! They have some pretty solid testimonies as far as we can tell and they are a great family. The ward would really benefit from their family being re-activated!

We did some service for the Lambsons, doing yard work and such (making burn piles and pulling weeds).

Yesterday we had Easter Dinner with the Honakers (Not sure of the spelling) and they seem to be a very kind family!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Hagoonee!

Sister Brown

Me and Sister Garner doing service.
Making burn piles and pulling weeds.

Helping at the Home and Garden Show!

Ya' ta' hey!

This week has been a lot better than last week was! I'm a lot more adjusted and feel so much love for and from the ward here!

We started off the week with exchanges. I got to go back to Farmington for the day on Tuesday with Sister Wanberg! She is a really great missionary and I had a lot of fun with her. 

Wednesday we were able to sing at the community connections (an old folks home for those with mental and physical disabilities) we get to sing fun songs like the Hokey-Poky and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree! 

We met with Jerry (a less active). He is the sweetest man and I have confidence that he'll get active again! We were also able to get a new investigator named Austin! He is agnostic, but is open to learning so we are excited to keep meeting with him!

Thursday after district meeting we were able to do some family history and I have really grown to love it on my mission. Its hard to just be able to do it for an hour!

We had dinner with a wonderful family named the Barnhursts and on our way back to the truck we had the opportunity to talk to this young lady named Katy. Her and her husband and 2 kids just moved from Texas and are actually looking for a church to go to!!! We didn't have the opportunity to share much of a message with them because they didn't have much time, but we left them with a Book of Mormon, A plan of salvation pamphlet and a pass-along card with our phone number on it. We feel that they have a lot of potential and are excited to try them again this week! #talktoeveryone!

Friday, we found out that one of our fellow sister missionaries had to go to the hospital! She had a cyst the size of a grapefruit....She went into surgery immediately! The doctors say that if she hadn't gone in that day that she would have been dead the next! Talk about a miracle! Unfortunately she's going to have to go home to recover for about 3 weeks! But she'll be back! 

There was a big event here in Cortez called The Home and Garden Show. There were people with booths selling things. It is kinda like a flea market. All the missionaries in Cortez took turns serving at it. Basically we walked around and asked anyone if they needed help. We met some guys who were selling these electronic message simulators and were giving people free trial runs of them. These men were pretty flirty, but we gave them a Book of Mormon and invited them to church. Apparently one of them asked the other sisters for a Book of Mormon after we left, because he didn't get one and wanted one!

Saturday we visited the sister in the hospital as a district! Sister Garner and I bought her a really cute shirt at one of the booths at the home and Garden show, just to show our love for her! That night we had a lesson with a recent convert named Tanner! I love him already! He's just soooo good! 

Sunday I was able to officially meet the ward (since last week was General Conference). I love the ward already!

Also Nichelle (an investigator), her kids and her boyfriend Brandyn made it to church yesterday!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Hagoonee!

Love,

Sister Brown

I Met some incredible families!

Ya' ta' hey!

This week has been a pretty big adjustment to be honest! It is so different from being in the Young Single Adults and it's been a little hard to leave everyone that I love. I have met some pretty incredible families here that I already absolutely love! The Jorgenson's are one and I just feel at home when we're with them. We watched two of the sessions of General conference with them. We watched another session with the Cook's who are the ones that threw me a little party for my Birthday my first day here in Cortez. 

Monday Night and most of Tuesday (when I was still in Farmington) I got to work with Sister Ford again! She went home on Wednesday! It was great to see her again and to catch up on everything! Tuesday I had the honors of being able to teach Cassie as well as Mike one last time! I can't remember if I told you or not, but Cassie is Engaged! The wedding is on July 15th! Mike is doing so much better and I continue to pray for him every night!

Tuesday night I got my new Companion Sister Garner and she is wonderful! I love her already!

Wednesday Was basically my first day here in Cortez and as you know from the video and picture the Cooks bought me and Ice-cream cake and fed us dinner! 

We are teaching this lady named Dorris who has Alzheimer's, so the lessons are pretty interesting with her. She always starts out by saying she's never going to join, but then by the end of the lesson her heart has been softened and she says she might be ready for baptism. It's like the movie 50 first dates....except its 50 first lessons. We're thinking we'll get her a notebook that she can write her thoughts and feelings in after the lessons and as she studies the Book of Mormon. We hope that it will help. She's the sweetest lady and its almost more of a service visit, it wouldn't feel right to drop her, so we keep coming over. 

We got a family of 3 new investigators yesterday by using the Easter initiative #PrinceofPeace....Which if you haven't seen yet, you need to watch it! It's sooooooo good!!! 

General Conference was INCREDIBLE!!!! Every talk was soooooooo good! I learned so much and I certainly have a lot to work on until the next general conference! I loved Elder Holland's talk and Elder Rasbands was a really good one for me to hear...haha a little bit of a rebuke but, very much needed!

Colorado is a lot more like Montana then any other part of the mission. It has Mountains and green grass!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Brown

My 21st birthday at the home of the Cook's in Colorado.

Me and Sister Garner my new companion

Moving to Cortez, Colorado!

Ya' ta' hey!

My week was incredible!!!!! We had such a strong spirit in every lesson we taught this week (which I attribute to both the branch's 40 day fast and our own individual ones). I am sooo sad to leave the Young Single Adult branch, but Heavenly Father needs me in Cortez, Colorado right now. I have grown to love these people sooo much that I truly feel as if I'm leaving a part of me here! I pray each and every day that Heavenly Father will watch over them and help them to continue to grow as I leave. I just hope that the sisters who are joining Sister Thompson grow to love these people as much as I have.

Monday, we had a really good lesson with Cassie and a great lesson with Maria (a less-active). The spirit was very strong in both lessons! We also did some Frisbee golf with Kammie and a new investigator named Rose who decided that she wants to come to Young Single Adults now. She was working with the sisters in Kirtland.

 

Tuesday, we had a great lesson with Mike! He's been doing a lot better with his smoking addiction and I will continue to pray for him to be able to overcome it as I leave to Cortez.

Wednesday we saw Jeff and Thomeson for lessons. Jeff is slowly making his way back up again. His heart still needs some softening, but he came to church for 2 hours yesterday! Thomeson's lesson wasn't planned, but it was pretty cool because we were just about to leave as he pulled up so we got out of the car and got to have a lesson with him. He's 21 and we asked him if he's thought about serving a mission and he said that he thinks he could do it. We told him to pray and think about it. I'm hoping that he goes, but if not I still love him anyway, and hope that he continues to grow in the gospel.

Thursday we finally saw Joe! We haven't been able to see him for a month. He is so prepared though! We had the privileged of teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit prompted me to invite him to be baptized and he said yes! We don't have a set date on it, because he's leaving for the marines at the beginning of May and we don't want him to get baptized and then fall away or not be able to be strengthened because he's leaving. We do feel that we should keep teaching him, to give him at least a little bit of a foundation. I have confidence that he'll get baptized someday! We have another lesson with him today actually after I'm done emailing with y'all!

We also had an incredible lesson with Craig (a less-active). He'd been struggling throughout the week and hadn't read his scriptures at all. We decided that before we jumped into the lesson we would read with him. He didn't know where he was at so I picked a random chapter for us to read. I had literally no idea what chapter to read with him, but I remembered that I had really liked Alma 38. I couldn't remember what it was about though, or why I liked it. We decided on that chapter and after we were done reading he was in tears. He said that the entire chapter is exactly what he needed to hear. We continued to talk about the Atonement and how it can bless his life as he turns to Christ for help. The spirit was sooo strong and I felt so blessed to be able to take part in the Lords work in Craig's life.

Friday we had another lesson with Cassie, which went pretty well. We got to do some service with a less active and have a lesson with him after.

Saturday we did some service out in Shiprock and also later on with the stake Relief Society. The Women's broadcast was sooo good later that night. One thing that stood out to me, was that every single talk given by the sisters mentioned that our lives need to be centered on Christ. We got the news that night as well that I would be heading off to Cortez with my new companion, Sister Garner on Tuesday evening.

 

Sunday, was a very emotional day as I bore my testimony and said good-byes to those that I've grown to love sooo much! We had a very, very spirit filled lesson with Mike that night and we (sister Thompson and I) were both in tears! Sister Thompson isn't a crier, even when she's feeling the spirit so if that doesn't tell you about the magnitude of the spirit within that lesson than I don't know what would! 

I have never felt such a strong love for people who aren't my immediate family, but I feel it for these people. I truly feel as if I am leaving my home! 

I love you all soooooo much and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Brown

Folf

Craig, Sister Thompson, me

Ralph, the Lizard. We found him while doing service.

Biggest Tumble weed ever!!!!

                      Me and Betsey!

                         The Young Single Adult branch!

                      All the people that I love sooo much!

                           Me & Thomeson

Thomeson

                                         Jeff and Me

Me & Mike

Never forget the love that the Lord has for you! Trust him and he will make more out of you than you can out of yourself!

Ya' ta' hey!

Tuesday was a doughnut day! We were able to see Nichole (a less-active) and afterwards Betsey (a member who came to the lesson with us) gave us a box of doughnut holes. We did some service later on that day and the people gave us a doughnut after. Then later on that evening we get a text from the elders asking us if we want a dozen donuts! We told them that it was a lot and they proceeded to give us 2 dozen donuts!!! We only each ate one and then gave a bunch of them to the Young Single Adults.

Wednesday we were able to finally see Craig and set up an appointment with him. He proceeded to tell childhood stories though and we got to know him a little bit better! He cracks me up! We were able to have dinner with Emmery and Antonio that night. Antonio is doing pretty well! he got the priesthood a few weeks back!  I think he's struggling a little though, so I've been keeping him in my prayers!

Thursday I gave a training on moving from sacrifice to consecration and I like to think that it went pretty well! We saw Chelsie that night for a lesson.  We just ended up reading the scriptures with her because she hadn't done it all week! :/

Friday we saw Precious finally! Poor thing, she was feeling soooooo sick! We also taught seminary on Friday!

Saturday was full of service, none of which was planned, but that's the best kind! We helped Kammie and her family get their dead pine-tree into their truck so that they could get ride of it. They fed us lunch of green chilli and pepperoni pizza! yum! I am going to miss green chilli when I leave this place! :( They also gave me some Huckleberry Jam! It's from Kalispell Montana!!! I love little tender mercies like that! What a small world!

Later on that day, we also did some yard work for and with a less active named Jeff and his gran'dad. We were also able to have a lesson with them after! It was really good because we haven't seen Jeff in over a month!

Sunday Sister Thompson and I gave a talk on Charity (and how it applies in missionary work) Our talks went really well!

Robert our investigator told us that he needed a new Book of Mormon because he gave his away to someone with our and his number! Wow! He should already be baptized. We also saw Mike briefly yesterday and he is trying really hard to quit smoking. We encouraged him and helped him understand that he can do it with the Lords help!

I love the branch here soooo much! I never thought I could have such a deep love for a people I barely know! I really hope to stay another transfer, but if not, I know that its because the Lord needs me elsewhere.

Never forget the love that the Lord has for you! Trust him and he will make more out of you than you can out of yourself!

Hagoonee!

Love,

Sister Brown

We got dough nut holes from Betsey! A member of the branch!

Me and Sister Thompson

              Javier (a member) gave us some pretty cool hats!

Service for and with Kammie! Getting rid of dead Pine Trees

Service with, an for Jeff and his grand-dad

Beautiful Sun set!

Gospel of Jesus Christ Treasure map
 (the elders asked us to make one for them)

Kammie and her family gave me Huckleberry Jam from
Kalispell, Montana

Zone Conference!

Ya' ta' hey!

It is spring over here...in fact I already got a little bit of a watch tan and a little bit of a sunburn too! 

This week went by soooooo fast and I feel like they just keep getting faster!

 

Monday we saw both Thomeson and Antonio for  a lesson. Antonio got the Aaronic priesthood a couple Sundays back. 

Tuesday we saw Maria De Los Santos (a Hispanic less active) She said she'd like to get back into coming to church! 

Wednesday we had Zone conference! It was really good! Then we were able to have a really good lesson with a less active named Van. He really opened up to us too! He said that he hasn't opened up to anyone (including other missionaries) that much for a very long time. He said he just felt like he could really trust us. He felt like we really cared about him and weren't trying to hide anything.

Thursday we had interviews with President Adams which went really well! We also had dinner with Craig a less active and he's been juggling between deciding to serve a mission or go to the military. He said he just feels good about both after he's been praying about it. Well we had a really spirit-filled lesson where he realized that he knows he needs to serve a mission, but he just isn't sure if he's ready to and so he feels very conflicted. His life-long friend Aaron (who is a member of the branch and just got home from his own mission about a week ago) was really good for him in that lesson! 

Thursday night we sticky-note attacked the Gardner's (Bro.Gardner is one of the counselors in the branch presidency) with little notes of appreciation and scriptures and what-not! 

Friday night we had a little missionary fireside about the Plan of Salvation. It was a musical performance and our zone sang the song"Come unto Christ." Well before the performance we decided to invite everyone we could to it by going through every single contact in our phone (even ones that we didn't know....probably people that other missionaries knew or had met) One of the people that we didn't know, texted back and the way he talked to us made us think that he was a member except it turns out that he isn't! He didn't realize that we were missionaries either apparently! Haha, but he asked "what was Joseph Smith's deal anyway?" and so we asked him if we could meet up sometime and help him understand it.  He said sure! #contacteveryone!

Saturday we tried a lot of people, to no avail, until we were finally able to see Anna (a less active) and do some service and a lesson with her! That night we also sticky-note attacked the other branch presidency members! 

Cassie made it to the temple this weekend, with a family name, and she really liked it! She also said that she felt closer to her deceased ancestor when she was baptized for her, even more than the other names that she was baptized for! I am so proud of her! She is doing sooooo well! Oh and Also she found another job! She's been looking for one for a while! :)

Sunday was soooooo good! We had some really good talks given in sacrament meeting. After church we had a lesson with Robert and he told us that he knows the church is true and he wants to be baptized on April 26th! Wooooohoooo! We also had a really good lesson with Thomeson on the Atonement!

I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week!

Hagoonee!

Love,

Sister Brown

Me with Mission presidents wife and Sister Thompson

Zone Conference

Zone Conference singing "Come Unto Christ"

Sister Thompson and I

Zone Conference

Zone Conference