Bautismos por los dos lados del velo

29 July 2019

Wow wow wow eventful week! We had a super cool lesson with our friend Teddy and the Spirit was so strong. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! He almost got baptized this past Saturday but he just needs to know a little more about the story of Joseph Smith and some more support from his family. It was so cool because when we asked him if he believes that the Church and Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored through Joseph Smith, he told us that he can't confidently say that right now, but he knows that the answer will be yes. It is amazing to see how the Spirit can testify so strongly to us of truth even before we have a complete knowledge of it!

Saturday was a crazy day. In the morning I went to the Fresno Temple with Hermana Segura and two of her boys. It was all over the place haha. The Bishop forgot to sign Hermana Segura's recommend so we had to try calling him from the Temple and he didn't answer so I was waiting in the waiting room with her then we finally got hold of Bishop so everything turned out fine. But because everything took so long I was almost late for our baptism in the afternoon haha. It was a close call but we made it friends. 

We are teaching a little 8 year old girl who is going to get baptized this Saturday. Sometimes she has a hard time processing and remembering information because, well, she's 8 haha. But we taught her the 10 Commandments using some hand signs so that she could remember easier and she did so good!!!! My favorite is for "thou shalt not commit adultery". In order to simplify it, we just taught her that we have one husband and one husband on only. And "we don't even look at other boys because we just have one husband" so now every time we practice them with her and we do the sign for number 7 she says "marriage" and we say "what about it?" so she responds, "don't look at any other boys". It's precious!! Gotta teach 'em young ;)

Our friend Shakira came to church yesterday!!!!! It was amazing because she gets really nervous around people but she did so good!! She also wants to be baptized this Saturday. She is so sweet and so so prepared. I have so much love for her. 

One thing that has been coming up in my studies a lot lately is how Christ's Atonement works in our lives and how we are saved by Christ. The scriptures teach us that Christ "should not come to redeem [us] in [our] sins, but to redeem [us] from [our] sins". He himself said, "Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin". I think that is so significant because it helps us to realize our personal responsibility to repent and to leave behind our sins. So cool!!! Because of Jesus Christ we can literally change our nature to become more like Him. Sometimes it requires giving up things that we love but that lead us away from God. But with faith and trust in Him, we will come to be someone far better and happier and have "no more desire to do evil". 

Love yall, 

Hermana Brown

un ano

Okay so these past two weeks have been crazy!! Honestly every week is crazy on the mission. But something even more crazy, this week marks exactly one year aka twelve months aka 52 weeks aka 365 days being a missionary but not only a missionary, a representative of Jesus Christ. Here are 12 funny/sweet experiences from the last few weeks that give you a small peek into the kids of experiences I live everyday. 

1. We have a neighbor across the street who says I'm his "queen". (He's a 50 year old black man haha). He got jealous this week because I was talking with another man. 

2. Jessica, a friend we are teaching, is doing so well! She committed to be baptized the 15th of September and we are so happy. She has stopped smoking and drinking so she is living the Word of Wisdom 100%. She is such an amazing example to her family. They surprised me for my birthday and got me a little gift and made me some posters. The Tuitupou family is my favorite!! 

3. A member who hasn't been coming to church for a while recently came back, so of course we went to go visit her and she is the sweetest!! She shows us love through fruit, hichews, milk, eggs, and seltzer water haha. We were doing service for her and my companion (Hermana Connor) was chopping of branches of a tree with a katana haha. I did it like once because I was scared to whack myself. Missionary service encompasses everything. We knock lots of doors and teach lots of lessons, but we also have the oppourtunity to serve in the more temporal things like cleaning a house for example which is what we did this week. The Book of Mormon teaches is that "when [we] are in the service of [our] fellow beings [we] are only in the service of [our] God (Mosiah 2:17). And in the Bible as well when Jesus Christ says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:40). We are so blessed, each one of us, to serve others and be an instrument in God's hand of lifting their spirits. As we do so, we are serving our Heavenly Father!

4. Speaking of service and cleaning. One day we went to the church building to do studies (aka to use the church wifi haha) and some tables hadnt been put away from an activity. So we went to go put them up and the storage closet was a hot mess. Friends, let's make sure to take care of the house of the Lord. We straight up found a the bone of a chicken leg that had been sitting in the back of the storage closet for who knows how long. 

5. We had a lesson with this man named Kevin. He had gone to church the week prior and he was soooooo excited about it. He went on and on about how it just felt so good and how it just all made sense. We taught him about the Restoration and he just was soaking it in like a sponge. He is already sharing with other people about it too. He said things like, "I just want to tell everyone! I was telling people that I didnt think would even be interested and they said 'oh that's pretty cool I'll have to go one day.' I'm gonna get a big group out here for you to teach." Haha he is awesome! Unfortunately him and his girlfriend are having some problems in their personal life so we havent been able to have another lesson with him but I have faith that soon we will get back in touch with them!

6. My companion is just the best. Haha here is an example of some of the crazy stuff we get into. Written by Sister Connor, "We found a girl who wasn't wearing any clothes and was in a hospital night gown.. We asked if she needed help and she said yes and said, "I just escaped a mental institution because I'm not crazy. Can I get in the back of your car?" We told her we couldn't allow that because it was a business car and she went "I'm serious, do you want the wrist band?" And tried to hand me her hospital band and I was like oh that's okay. "can you call my girlfriend" So we called her girlfriend and her girlfriend said "so she just escaped a 72 hour hold, the cops have already been notified and are looking for her. "Will y'all keep an eye on her?" So basically we done watched this naked lady in a hospital gown walk around in a square? She kept walking from one side of the street to the other and trying to act casual, while we was casually watching her from the car awkwardly. Hermana Brown kept staring at her while she was staring at us and I'm just over here escribinen this here story. The girlfriend got her before the policemans, which is funny because we're pretty sure the girlfriend just went and done returned her to the hospital place. My favorite part of that phone call was "I don't know who y'all are, but God bless" and of course ya gotta tell her exactly who we are "actually we are representatives of Jesus Christ" so yes, God bless. What an eventful 15 minutes."

7. We went to Walmart with one of our friends that we are teaching and we picked out a bunch of Sunday clothes for him to wear! It was so much fun. He didn't want to wear them, but we think he's warming up to them. The tie is still a little too much for him but we'll get there haha. 

8. A skill you learn as a missionary is speaking on the fly. I got asked last minute to speak last Sunday for the Spanish congregation. Then this past weekend we got asked to speak again this week in the Spanish Sacrament meeting. And during English Sacrament meeting we got asked to teach Spanish Sunday School. Those poor Latinos heard my voice so much yesterday haha because I also lead the music (in which no one sings so everyone hears me and the notes are really high haha. I'll let yall put two and two together on that one. I just hope the gift of tongues works for singing as well). But!!! Despite the fact that it is always last minute, you just smile and say yes because we are here to serve in whatever way we can!!

9. Va a la tema de número siete. Es mucho más fácil hablar en español ya que tengo un año en la misión jajaja. Mi español no está perfecto pero sigo aprendiendo cada día y a mi me encanta el idioma!! 

10. I love the Book of Mormon. My love for the Book of Mormon has like quadrupled on my mission. I know with all my heart that it is the word of God. I have found so much peace, comfort, and council through it's words. Right now I'm reading in Alma and I love verse 15 in Chapter 42. It says, "And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also." 

11. Just to give yall a little background on the missionary life scedulde. Everyday we wake up a bit before 6:30am. We exercise for 30min. Get ready for the day and start our daily studies at 8am. One morning we went to the church for morning exercise time and my companion played soccer while I played volleyball! It was so much fun. I hadnt touched a volleyball in so long. Literally all I did was practice passing to myself and hitting and wow it felt good. Another morning we went to the park and swung on swings. 

12. I see God's hand in my life daily, but sometimes it is just so obvious you cant help but be amazed. I may have already said this story in part but it just gets better as time goes on! One morning we went to the Church in the morning to do our daily studies. As we pulled in this woman pulled up behind us. We were kind of confused because it was really early in the day and a weekday so it's not typical for other people to be there. But we got out and started talking with her. She is this sweet Hispanic lady from Guatemala. She told us how she needs to do some service hours and as she was driving she saw us pulling into the church and thought well maybe these church people will have something haha. We said of course and explained how we could use help cleaning the church building weekly. We started talking with her more about her life and explained which church we are from and turns out she is a member!!! She moved here only a few years ago and didnt even realize it was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!! Since that day she has come to help us clean but also she has been coming to church on Sunday! She is such a great example of what Elder Uchtdorf said in his most recent talk in General Conference "come and see, come and help, and come and stay"!! And she brought her husband and grandson neither of which are members, but they love it! Seriously what are the odds. I know and can testify that God places us in the right place in the right times. Sometimes so that we can answer someone else's prayer and sometimes so that we can have our prayer answered through someone else! 

I love yall so much. Thanks for all your support. 

Cuidense! Y que pasen una semana maravillosa! 

New companion, same old Los Banos

Wow there has been a lot going on these past few weeks. My new companion is Sister Connor. She grew up in get this... Japan! Haha it's so funny we are so similar in so many ways. But she's great. We have been working really hard to bring more people to the gospel and we are seeing the fruits of it!!

We are teaching a man and his father and it is so amazing to see how simply the Spirit testifies of truth. The dad went to Church yesterday and after we had a lesson with them and he was expressing how much he liked the service. After we taught him the Restoration we talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how it is through those soft quite promptings and feelings that we know truth. He shared with us that he knows, after going and experiencing it, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true Church of Christ! People can discuss and argue for hours about what the truth is but I know that the only sure witness is from the Holy Ghost. 

Nuestro Padre Celestial no quiere que andemos en la oscuridad. ¡Él nos revele su voluntad y camino por medio de las escrituras, los profetas, y los impresiones del Espíritu Santo!

This week I experienced my first real earthquake! It was crazy I was sitting down in a chair and all of a sudden I felt myself and the chair swaying a little. I thought I was passing out haha but then I looked around and everything else was shaking as well. No worries we're all safe, but from what I hear it was a pretty severe more South. 

I love yall.

Hermana Brown

el Reino de Dios está creciendo

This week was monumental. 

Erick and Junior got baptized and their older brother, Cesar, baptized them!!! It was such a sweet experience to be apart of. Cesar baptized Erick first and you could tell how nervous he was because he had never baptized anyone before. Then he baptized Junior and you could just hear the confidence in his voice. It was precious. At the end, Junior played "Faith" on the Violin for the closing song and he did so good! I played interlude music at the baptism on the piano hahaha. No one can tell me God isn't real, because I could not have pulled that one off on my own haha. My companion and one of the other Sister Missionaries that was there, we all know like one song each so we took turns playing the same songs over and over. It was pretty hilarious. 

Many other amazing things happened this week but the baptism was the highlight of it all. Stay tuned. Many miracles to come. 

During one of my personal studies this week I ran into this quote, "The greatest decision I ever made in my life was to give up something I dearly loved to the God I loved even more. He has never forgotten me for it." 

I love you all dearly and that has been without a doubt the biggest sacrifices of coming on a mission. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. And Heavenly Fathers loves us all so much, I have found that the least I can do is sacrifice my wants for His needs. I can't imagine being anywhere else at this time in my life. He has blessed me beyond my comprehension for being an instrument in His hands. 

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's true Church on the Earth. I know the promise in the scriptures "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" (Matt. 7:7) is true to all those who go to God in prayer with "a sincere heart, with real intent" (Moroni 10:4). Don't just take my word for it, try it. 

If anyone has any questions about God, our purpose in this life, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, learning/teaching the gospel in Spanish, what I do everyday as a missionary, how hot it is here in California, how much water I drink everyday so that I don't get dehydrated because it is so hot here, or anything else that comes to mind, email me! No tengan verguenza!! (Don't be shy/embarrassed!). 

Les quiero mucho. Espero que tengan una semana bendita!! 

(I love y'all a lot. I hope you have a blessed week!!)

Hermana Brown 

Los Banos

Hi friends!!!

I got transferred from Lindsay to Los Banos (literally I'm in the Baths). Actually it's called that because there are a bunch of lakes or something around. 

It is a little bigger than little 'ol Lindsay, but I know I am going to love it. 

The ward here is super diverse! It is my first time serving in a ward that is not puro Español! The service is in English and there Latinos and lots of Tongans!!!! The Spanish side of the area has been struggling because there needs to be translation (and yours truly has had the privilege of translating the meeting from English to Spanish haha. Fun stuff.) and the headsets are not that great so many Spanish people have not been coming. But this upcoming Sunday, we will start having a Spanish Group! So the Spanish members will have their own Sacrament Meeting. I am thrilled!!!! And not just because that means I won't have to translate anymore ;). 

One of the members who uses the translators, Benjamin, is my favorite!!! He's this sweet little old Mexican man who is so patient. Every time I looked back he would just smile and give me a little thumbs up. 

We found this new family who is my favorite ever (I say a lot of people are my favorite because I just love them all!!). We have slowly started teaching the whole family because ever time we go over we have a lesson with a new person haha. And they are all so prepared. One of the sons is so sweet. He said he doesn't know why but he feels so comfortable with us and he feels so comfortable sharing all his thoughts with us. But we know, it's because he feels the Spirit! He also wants peace with him always and I know that it is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we can find that peace! Not just when we are at church, but in every moment! 

The icing on the cake was our lesson yesterday with Jessica. She is the wife of a member. A lot of people just assumed she was a member because she has been coming to church so much. But she hasn't been baptized yet!!! She wants to be baptized, and I am so excited to keep teaching her, she already has such a strong testimony of the gospel and wants to be sealed to her husband in the temple. Needless to say, shes amazing. 

I'm so grateful for all the miracles I've seen this week!!! 

Love yall and thanks for being the best!! 

Cuídense.

Ya me voy (I am leaving)

Queridos amigos.
Sentí que era tiempo de escribir otra vez en español por mis amigos que lo entienden así mejor. Los quiero. Ya me puedo comunicar con ustedes poco más fácil ;)
He estado muy bien. Esta última semana, vi tantos milagros. Como siempre, no? Pero esta semana, vi que tan importante es el conocimiento del evangelio en nuestras vidas. No puedo imaginar dónde estaría sin la guía y dirrecion del Espíritu Santo. Tampoco sin las palabras inspiradas del Libro de Mormón.
Aunque tuve una semana buena, estoy un poco triste. Se me cambian esta semana a otro lugar. Voy a extrañar este área y barrio bastante. En unos pocos meses crecí unas relaciones muy especiales. Y deseo pasar más tiempo con ellos. Pero como dice Jesucristo sobre la voluntad de Nuesto Padre Celestial "pero no se haga mi voluntad, sino la tuya." Ya que esto es la obra de Dios, haré lo que Él me pida.
Nunca voy a olvidar las salidas semanales a Strathmore, andando en bikas por muchas millas y sudando todo el camino jajaja. Tampoco nuestros amigos que los he visto crecer en conocimiento de Jesucristo. La lista sigue.
Sé que este evangelio verdadero bendice a las vidas de cada uno de nosotros.
Sé que esta caridad, el amor puro de Cristo es algo especial. La oportunidad de servir una misión por mi Salvador es una oportunidad de ver los hijos de Dios como nuestro Padre Celestial nos ve.
Estoy agradecida por todo lo que tengo en mi vida.
Gracuas por su apoyo. Los quiero mucho. Se cuiden y que pasen buena semana.
Hermana Brown

Fotos:
Muchas despedidas. Bien triste.

Google translated:
Dear friends,

I felt it was time to write again in Spanish for my friends who understand it better. I love. I can communicate with you a little easier;)

I have been very good. This last week, I saw so many miracles. As always, right? But this week, I saw how important the knowledge of the gospel is in our lives. I can not imagine where I would be without the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. Nor without the inspired words of the Book of Mormon.

Although I had a good week, I'm a little sad. They change me this week to another place. I will miss this area and neighborhood quite a lot. In a few months I grew very special relationships. And I want to spend more time with them. But as Jesus Christ says about the will of Our Heavenly Father "but not my will be done, but yours." Since this is the work of God, I will do what He asks of me.

I will never forget the weekly trips to Strathmore, riding on bikes for many miles and sweating all the way hahaha. Nor the friends who I have seen grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. The list goes on

I know that this true gospel blesses the lives of each one of us.

I know that this charity, the pure love of Christ is something special. The opportunity to serve a mission for my Savior is an opportunity to see the children of God as our Heavenly Father sees us.

I'm grateful for everything I have in my life.

Thank you for your support. I love you so much. Be careful and have a good week.

Sister Brown



Photos:

Many goodbyes. Very sad.

Japomexicana

One of my favorite memories from this week was talking about Family History with the cutest little family from Mexico. We met the dad about two weeks ago. He was really nice. When we talked with him the first time, we shared a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with him and asked if we could come back another day to talk with his whole family about how they can live together as a family forever. He said yes! So when we went back yesterday he answered the door and began to tell us how his wife goes to the Catholic Church and that she said she isn't planning on changing but maybe later on they would come visit our church. Nice try buddy, you dont even know what we have to offer!!! We started talked about how important family is and how our church has a huge Family History program. At this point his wife had walked up. I was bracing myself to get yelled at about how their family is Catholic and they appreciate what we are doing and know there is one God but that they don't want to hear what we have to say. Instead she just sat there listening to me explain how it is such a blessing to learn about our ancestors. She was finishing my sentences! And she agreed that through knowing all those stories we know where we came from. To explain a little more, I showed them my family tree on the "Family Tree" app and showed them the picture of my mom that I put in. They asked if she is Mexican haha I explained that she's not, but that she is Japanese. So I showed them pictures from the app of my great grandparents. It was so funny because they said they thought I was Mexican, but from Jalisco where there are a lot more fair skinned Mexicans. 

We kept chatting and they finally invited us in! (Boy this California heat is killer sometimes. And it's not even the heat of the summer.) The wife started downloading the app and I tried to do this thing where you can search for an ancestor to see if they are in the database. We didn't find him, but they said they are from a small small town outside of Michoacan, without technology, so that is proabbly why he wouldn't be there. They were really excited to share with us about their pueblito (little town) and we were able to connect with them in the sweetest way. 

One of the things they were telling us about us how there are a bunch of Japanese people in Mexico!! And I was really confused, and didn't really belive it. But they said that there are a bunch of fábricas (places where they make clothes) and the Japanese people are the bosses there. The dad keep saying to me "escríbelo para que vayas" hahaha he wanted me to write down the names of the cities in the state of Guanajuato where all the Japanese people are so that I could go. 

I loved that experience so much no only because the family is hilarious and super sweet. But because I was able to feel God's love for this family as I heard them talk about how precious their family is to them. 

I know that we are all sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father who has put us into families to give us a place where we can learn together, laugh together, and cry together. 

The more I feel God's love for His children the more I desire for them to have all the blessings that come from following Jesus Christ and His gospel! 

Les quiero. Cuídense. 

Fotos

1. Mexican ice cream bars are my absolute favorite. You can never go wrong with coconut and chocolate. Starting to glisten on a daily basis from the heat. 

2. Zone Conference! 

3. I made tortillas. On my own. 

4. Us four Sisters Missionaries that live together!

5. Just a cute little flower I saw the other day.

6. Sister Vollmer and I tearing up the kitchen with our preparation day tradition of cookie making. 

7. Wow. What a world we live in. So amazing.