Hello my wonderful family!!! Oh how i love you!
lets start by answering a few questions!
Boxing Day: Yes it is the day after Christmas...and i'm still not quite
sure why the celebrate it... ha I think it's because it's when they clean up all
the boxes and packages from Christmas...that's just a guess, i really have no
clue!
Talking on Christmas
:)!!: So you have some choices either we can talk early morning Christmas
(around 6am-9am your time) or it can be around 11-1pm your time...which would be
better. Either way it is probably going to be around the time church is. (curse
you 7 hour time difference) And yes in both places i could call they have access
to skype! So if you would like to skype i'm pretty sure we could!! :) Which
would be so fun! I'll have about an hour! I would need to know your skype
account and you would have to make me one...i think. So if you could do that and
just let me know that would be WONDERFUL!
Transfer calls are the
26th. So i won't know whether i'm staying of going when
we talk on Christmas. So it's the weird Pday thing. So the 26th you won't get
anything from me but our Pday is on the Tuesday (27th) and then on the Wednesday
is the transfer meeting and i'll know for sure who will be my companion and
where i'll be :)
THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGES!!!! I got them on Tuesday!!! Thank you family
and Grandma and Grandpa Taylor!! I haven't opened them yet cause we're saving it
for Christmas but thank you so so much! You are so good to this Sister
missionary! I love you all!
(Random thing: Raymond or someone smart (ok you're all smart...but we all
know who the master tutor is in the family ;) ) Could you email me the formula
to convert Fahrenheit
(total wrong spelling ha) to Celsius (sp???) and Celsius to Fahrenheit. I know its like 5/9 +
32 or something like that...but they use Celsius here and I'd really like to know how cold
it really is haha :) Thanks
This week FLEW!!! I can't believe it's Monday again and we've only got 2
weeks left of this transfer...CRAZY! Things here in Stanley are just great!!
It's amazing to me A) How this is truly Gods work. B) How people use (or not
use) their agency. C) story about the most amazing family I've had the pleasure
to meet while here in Stanley.
A) This is Gods work. No doubt about that. Why? Because he uses someone as imperfect, flawed,
goofy, can't take anything seriously, Sister Brown. There is NO WAY I could be
involved in these "coincidences" but it just being
me. God is in control!
Story Time:
Once upon a time about 3 weeks after leaving the MTC here in Stanley I came
across a man while street contacting. His name was Tom and he had recently lost
his wife. She died just 2 years ago and he was still grieving her loss. Very
bitter towards God and all that jazz. I prayed "Heavenly Father, this man NEEDS
THIS GOSPEL!" I tried to schedule some time where we could see him but he was
going on holiday for 3 weeks in Germany. I thought to myself "wow...that stinks.
I'm never going to see this man again". Wednesday night (Dec. 7) We were
knocking an area that we felt inspired to go to. Sister Freeman was on the phone
with someone so i just went to the next door. So i knocked and waited (like
usual) and this older gentlemen opened the door. I thought to myself, "Self...he
looks familiar...like really familiar" but as you RM may know...we see A LOT OF
PEOPLE it's hard to remember who you've seen and who you haven't seen. So i did
a normal approach and we both looked at each other and did the whole "I remember
you!" Family...it was TOM!!!! We knocked in to Tom...he had JUST gotten back
from holiday that Monday. I tell you that this is Gods work. He knows his
children and he knows where they are. All we have to do is be living worthy of
the spirit and then following the promptings we do get.
B) Oh agency...its a tricky thing. When used right it's SUCH A BLESSING!!
We learn, we grow, we are able to do so much good. But when we use our agency in
line with Satan or give way to what he wants..well it makes missionary work
tough. Needless to say we had that HUGE miracle with Tom-but he's an old man set
in his ways. Not interested in progressing. So. Lame.
C) BUT on a lighter note. One of the
joys of being a missionary is being able to meet so many people and to learn and
grow from their example. Mom you will be so happy to hear this part of the
letter because it is about the Robsons. I don't know if I've written about them yet but
i've been meaning to. They are my "Mission Family" OH HOW I LOVE THE ROBSONS!!!
They are TRULY inspiring! Their conversion to the gospel is a
story that i'll have to save for later because who they are today is amazing! I
wish i had more time to go into greater detail about them (oooo maybe i can for
Christmas!!) but the short
story is that there is Debbi and Gordon (Sister and Bro. Robson) and their 3
kids Garreth, Dean, and Shalina. I few years back Gordon was diagnosed with
cancer in his leg and over years of ke-therapy and different surgeries to try to
save his leg eventually it had to be amputated. He is a walking miracle. He may
only have one leg but that doesn't hold him back one bit! He is a spiritual
giant and helps us in every
way that he can with out work. Debbi is truly our "Mission Mom".
She (and the rest of the family) take SUCH good care of us. For example: They
bought us groceries a few
weeks back, they have us for Tea (dinner) as much as they can, and they always
make sure we have everything we need. Whether it be soup for when we're
sick, or helping us with our investigators. And their daughter Shalina, OH HOW I
LOVE HER! She takes such good care of us too! Like buying us new shoes because
the ones we have are hammered because of all the walking we do. I am SO GRATEFUL for them and all they do
for us. They inspire me to press on when things are hard, to love everyone no
matter what, and to be an eternal missionary. I wish there was a way that i
could repay all that they have done from
me and all that their example has taught me. (if anyone has any ideas how i
could do that...that would be great :) )
I have learned so much while being here in Stanley. I really would hate to
leave! I love being a missionary! Even though it has been the hardest thing i've
ever had to do, it's been the most rewarding.
I love you all so so so much!! Good luck with finals, Mal and your
audition, and everything going on!!
I love you to the moon and back!
Love, Sister Brown
