that's a wrap friends

As you all know, I will be coming home THIS WEEK!!!! Before I get too far into my thoughts from last week I just wanted to invite all of you to come see me speak a little about my mission at church this upcoming Sunday (January 26th). The service will start at 10:30am. I would really really really appreciate seeing you all there so that you can hear a little bit more about my mission experience, but also so that I can see you and hear how YOU are doing!!! 

Wow NINE months I spent here in Los Banos. There were a lot of goodbyes to be said.

This week I have had a lot of time to reflect on my mission and how it has helped me. I have LOVED the opportunity that my mission gave me to see how the gospel can shape other's lives, especially how it has shaped mine! 

A scripture that continues to come to mind as I think about how I feel about my mission is Alma 36:25 "Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors;" My mission has been challenging, but joy that I have experienced has been the biggest blessing of them all!!! Often the results are not immediate. It requires faith, trust and while pixie dust might help, diligence usually does the trick. There are often stressful moments, but it is in those times where I feel my Savior's love most. 

On a lighter, less reflective note, yesterday we went over to the house of one of the Sisters in the ward so that I could say bye to her and her grandkids (pictured below) She gave me a ton of dating advice lol it was the funniest thing ever. She is Tongan, so I received step by step instructions on how to get a Tongan husband when I go back to Utah. She even gave me traditional Tongan clothes to wear when I go to the ysa wards and told me to call her when I meet Tongan boys so that she can tell me if it is a good family to marry into. And she wants me to call her so that we can go to Tonga together! She said, "Don't get married too fast. You call me and we go to Tonga. All the boys will come running. Tongans marry fast. They dont like wait." I could not stop laughing. She told me that at Tongan weddings there is always someone from both sides of the family who says a little speech to represent the bride or groom respectively and she said "My husband will speak to represent. Your parents are there but he will give speech." Haha so sorry mom and dad apparently the Laulea family got me covered. Upside is that in Tongan culture the groom's family pays for everything. 

But then again, all the Latinos want me to marry a Mexican. So basically everyone is trying to get me married off. 

Peace out California it has been quite the adventure. On to the next one!!!

Les quiero mucho!!!! Cuídense y nos vemos pronto!

Hermana Brown

la historia familiar

Since this week was New Years (which makes missionary work a bit slow since everyone and their dog is either on vacation or with family) we took the opportunity to visit a lot of friends who need to work on Family History (Genealogy)!!! For those who have never heard of a Family Tree, it is when you look into your family's history and find out information like who your great great great grandparents were. People that we never would have met or known well. It gives us an opportunity to know a bit more of where we come from!

We helped Jayduse and Lee (the boys who just got baptized) to work on their family tree. Along with Gabriel (who also recently got baptized). Then Thursday night we went to the temple to do baptisms for those family members and other people who have passed away without that opportunity. To give you an example, Jayduse Lee and Lupe's father passed away just over a year ago. So when we went to the temple, Jayduse was able to be baptized and confirmed again but not for himself, rather for his father! Because his father never got baptized while he was alive!!! It was so amazing!!! The kids were so happy. After he got confirmed, he said "Now dad's baptized". It was so cool to see that Jayduse understood such an important simple truth. 

The apostle Peter of the New Testament taught us that the gospel is in fact taught to those who have passed away. In 1 Peter 4:6 he says, "For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

I am grateful to have the knowledge that in order for God to be perfectly just, he must give all of his children the opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ whether it be in this life or the next. What we do with that opportunity is up to us.

And those of us who have accepted the gospel have the responsibility to help them receive saving ordinances that they cannot do for themselves. 

That is why temples are so important!! 

Here's some more information temples: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples?lang=eng

Check it outttttt!!!!!!!

Love yall lots. 

Cuidense! 

Hermana Brown

dos mil veinte

Just to give yall a quick run down of the week we had. This past Monday we were playing basketball and I sprained my ankle. Supppppper sad because now I am on crutches and missionary work on crutches is NOT fun. Please please please pray that I heal quickly not only so that I can work more effectively while I am here, but also so that I can be better by the time I come home (which is approaching so so so fast. G-boro here I come Jan. 22).
Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we had to be in early, so Sister Allen and I decided to create a rap for the Holiday season.
Also on Saturday we tried a new taco place called "Mr. Taco". I totally judged a book by its cover and thought it was going to be super low quality and Americanized. It's actually delicious.

Bueno también hoy quería compartir un chiquitito parte de mi testimonio. Esta semana pasada mi testimonio se fortaleció mucho porque se bautizaron dos de nuestros amigos y fue una experiencia tan hermosa. Después de que se bautizaron, subieron en frente para dar sus testimonios. El Espíritu era tan fuerte y de nuevo recibí la confirmación que Dios en verdad vive, que Él nos ama y que nos ha proveído una manera para regresar y vivir con Él y con nuestras familias después de la muerte. Que tan agradecida estoy yo por las escrituras. Son las guías que nos ayudan en el camino para saber y entender el evangelio de Jesucristo. Sé que el Libro de Mormón es la palabra de Dios y testifica de Cristo igual como la Biblia! Lo sé con todo mi corazón porque el Espiritu Santo me lo ha testificado. Este año nuevo tenemos una gran oportunidad de estudiarlo cada semana usando el manual "ven, sígueme". Te invito a que lo hagas semanalmente para que seas guiados por Dios cada día de tu vida.
Si quieres aprender "Qué es el Libro de Mormón?" o "Como puedo usar la manual 'ven, sigueme' eficazmente?", me puedes mandar un mensaje o puedes buscar en el sitio de web de la iglesia "churchofjesuschrist.org".
Les quiero mucho. Cuídense y feliz año nuevo!
Hermana Brown

¡Feliz Navidad!

This week was full of fun adventures.

At Zone Conference this week I gave my departing testimony. Aka it is not a joke that I am going home soon. 

This week we went to the temple with Vinnie! We called up some other YSA (Young Single Adults... It's the program our church has for college aged young adults) and we all took a little temple trip. Such a cool experience. Vinnie had found a family name to take which made it even more special. #familysearch 

Yesterday was our Special Christmas Service. While we didn't have a ton of friends come, one miracle was that Gabriel (the cute little 13-year-old that was baptized last Saturday) got to pass the sacrament for the first time!!! He was so nervous but he did so great and it was so sweet to see him in his new white shirt and tie!

We had an amazing lesson with the Canady family. Danielle is so cute she wanted to know what her next step would be since she is already baptized. So we talked about temples and how to help her prepare to go!! We watch the Rome Italy Temple tour (10/10 recommend. Link below). After the video, and answering some additional questions about temples, Randy asked "So how does someone know if they are ready to be baptized?" WOW RANDY QUESTION OF THE YEAR!!!! We explained to him that if he asks God, He will answer that question for him through the Holy Ghost. So Randy will be praying to know if he is ready to be baptized. We know the answer is yes because the Spirit has told us, but we want him to receive that answer for himself. 

Jayduse and Lee were in San Jose this week sooooo about Wednesday we had a lesson over video chat (wow super blessed with technology) and it was so fun. They did so good and were so so focused!!! Till we had said the closing prayer and were saying bye. That is when the picture below happened. hahahahaha I love them!!! When they finally got back yesterday, we stopped by and had another lesson in person. We talked about obedience and some of the commandments and they are so precious. I either don't want them to go back to New Zealand or I want to go back with them because a. they are ADORABLE and b. they are really really good kids they just need good influences in their lives!

I am grateful for all the blessings that my Heavenly Father has given me. But most of all I am grateful that he gave his His Only Begotten Son (John 3:16-17), Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins, and pave the path for us to return and live with Them again one day. 

Les quiero. Feliz Navidad!!!

Cuidense mucho, 

Hermana Brown

and that is how our red dot became a light blue dot

Wow what an eventful past few weeks!!!!

This past weekend alone we went to the temple with a recent convert and we had two baptisms!! It was so fun. 

Gabriel, 13, got baptized and it was so amazing to see the joy he had. He carried around his baptismal program in his little backpack and was showing it to people at church the next day. 

Vinnie wow. He was so so happy. His dad came also, who is not a member, and even his dad remarked at how good he felt and how much he could feel the Spirit. It was so so cool. Also. Super cool so the first Sunday Vinnie came to church we found out the one of the couples in the ward were Vinnie's teachers in High School! Brother Betham was his Football coach! So it was really amazing because he got to baptize Vinnie! The Bethams were so so happy. 

We started doing family history with both of them so that they will have names to take to the temple! I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK.

We also started teaching some kids from New Zealand. Jayduse, Lupe, and Lee. Lupe was baptized a few years ago but we are helping Jayduse and Lee prepare to be baptized on the 27th of this month! It is going to be so great. When we taught them about the Restoration, and about Joseph Smith, we challenged them to all memorize a scripture from the lesson. Jayduse picked Joseph Smith History 1:10, Lupe had Amos 3:7, Lee had James 1:5, and we gave Lovely and Jessica no choice they had to memorize the First Vision haha. In return we told them that we would memorize Moroni 10:5 in Maori (the other language they speak). They took the challenge and went above and beyond!! It was so cool. One of them had the verse memorized before we had even left and they all had them memorized by the next day. 

Those kids are so amazing. We love them so so much!! 

I hope yall are enjoying the holiday season and continue finding ways to LIGHT THE WORLD!!!!! It's the best time of the year. 

Les quiero!!! Cuidense.

Hermana Brown

p.s. I cannot even express how much I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. And to be a representative of Christ. Wow. There is nothing better. Find out more at churchofjesuschrist.org or comeuntochrist.org

If you have any questions please send them to me! I love questions. I might even have a few for you in return!

Moroni 10:5

"Ma te mana hoki o te Wairua Tapu e mohio ai koutou ki te pono o nga mea katoa"

"And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things"

Here are some pictures from the baptisms and the temple trip!! The cute little girl is Maddy. We are teaching her and her family. They came to the ward Christmas party on Saturday and she wrote out her Christmas list for Santa. A puppy and a laptop. Haha her parents are going to have a fun time explaining why Santa isn't going to be able to deliver this year. 

ilumina al mundo

Buenos dias mis queridos amigos. 

We are thriving here in Los Banos!!!! Honestly I have been incredibly tired this week because there has just been so much to do!!! We have had less than 15 minute dinners every day this week because we just have to cram as much as possible into every day!! But wow, let me tell you, it has been well worth it. I know I've used this phrase before but it is just too true not to say again. "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!!!!" Yesterday we had 12 friends come to church. We're talking t w e l v e people that we are teaching came to church!!!! The WHOLE Torres family and a whole other cute family we are teaching and wow wow wow blessings are just being poured upon Los Banos. 

Other than that we are starting to share LIGHT THE WORLD. And I am SO EXCITED. Yall have GOT to sign up. Basically you'll just get a text (or email) reminder every day during December of one way you can serve someone else!!!! What better way to celebrate Christ's birth, than to serve as he did!!! 

Do it do it do it!!! lighttheworld.org 

Les quiero mucho. Espero que tengan una semana maravillosa. 

Cuidense. 

Hermana Brown

Oh yea, also Zayden got baptized this past Saturday. So fun!!

And we got to go to the temple TWICE THIS WEEK! (Hina got to go for the first time which was so fun. She loved it. And Sister Connor was there as well) 

el Libro de Mormon

I think I start every email with "this week was crazy" but it is because it is TRUE everytime!!!!!! 

Yesterday Jose Chiquillo was baptized!! Sister Allen and I almost had a heart attack because we had texted him just to say "oh see you soon!" and two hours before when he was supposed to be baptized he texted us telling us it was not a good day because he was busy. Haha nice try buddy. Long story short we ended up sitting on his front porch waiting for him to call us back after we knocked and he hadn't answered the door or the phone. Hahah he finally opened the door (turns out he was showering when we knocked), and we helped him get over his fears, helped him to see just how important baptism is, and assured him that he was in fact super ready. It was so cool because he wanted the least amount of people possible to be there aka Sister Allen and I got to be witnesses for the baptism!! It was a really stressful but worth every second of panic hahaha. 

Also this week we started teaching Vinnie. He is SO COOL!!! We finally had a sit down lesson with him. He had read the chapter we gave him, Mosiah 2, and he gave us an in depth summary of the whole thing. It was awesome! We talked a lot about obedience and ended up teaching the 10 commandments. HE EVEN CAME TO CHURCH!! Ahhh I am so excited. He has such a desire to learn more and to grow closer to God. Good things coming for that kid.

I have suuuuccchhhhh a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I know, through the Holy Ghost, that it truly is the word of God. It is what helped Jose Chiquillo make the decision to be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. And it is what is helping Vinnie (along with the Bible of course) grow closer to God and know what he needs to do to find true JOY in this life. Please please please, if yall have any questions or curiosity to know more about literally anything you have heard about the church or about God, email me. I live for answering those kinds of questions!!!!!! Or you could always ask the missionaries around you, they live for that stuff as well ;)

Have a great week!

Les quiero! Cuidense.

Hermana Brown