Week 46

Hello Family!

Yes I am one year older and wiser too ;) 24...yuck. But I think I have come to peace with it in this way...I have decided I'm going to be 21 for the rest of my life. Yep, problem solved. ;)

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for all the wonderful birthday cards, packages, all of it!!! Wow it was amazing!! I truly felt your love and prayers this week!! I finally got the allergy package this week and I got the package you sent to the flat mum! I'll probably get the other things this Tuesday cause It's zone conference down in Billingham. Which....I'm singing at :S Gaaaa!!! It's moments like this that I really need my mum and my sisters to tell me I'm singing the right thing and that I sound ok!!!! I decided to sing, "Hold on, the light will come" the only real reason why I'm singing it (cause let's be honest, it's kinda a downer) is because the spirit told me to sing it. One thing that I've really been trying to develop is listening to the spirit and not doing what Sister Brown wants to do....we all know that gets me into trouble when I don't listen to the spirit. So I just listened to the spirit and now I'm so nervous. But I trust that God knows better. Someone at zone conference needs that song....ha I hope it helps.

My birthday in England was great!!! Sister Delucchi took good care of me on my birthday that is for sure! I got 2 birthday cakes!!!...and Mum you'll be happy to hear that I had Pringles for tea hahahaha!! But that shrimp stuff sounds DIVINE!! Good for you! My mum is a proper chef! I got all my FAB CLOTHES!!!! AHH! Thank you so much for those. I have been SO SICK of the clothes that I brought with me. I wear the same things everyday pretty much so it was nice to have something new :) I'm wearing one of the dresses at zone conference tomorrow! AND THANK YOU FOR THE FRUIT SNACKS!!!!! Holy guacamole I freaked out when I saw them!!! They don't have fruit snacks like we do back home here, so I was over joyed to see them in that wonderful box!

Man, I have the best family EVER!! Thank you so much for making my birthday so special! I just feel your love all around me that is for sure!! We had a great week this week!! We're finding more people to teach! Which is fab! I just love being a missionary! And Mckay said it exactly right, there is nothing like working your hardest all day long and then crashing on your pillow at night. It's just the best feeling in the world when you accomplish something big, something hard, something worth fighting all day for. I think everyone should have days like that. Where you work so hard, you do something outside of your comfort zone, and then you can say "Yes, look I did it! Look at what I did!!" It's the best feeling ever! I have truly gained a testimony of work since I've been on my mission. I used to think that work was a necessary evil (ok let's be honest I still have moments where I do still think this ;) ) But how are we going to accomplish anything without work? And it's those moments where you've worked so hard and you get done...and it feels SO GOOD! Cause you've worked so hard at it! Now does everything go perfectly when your working at something...it rarely does. Lots of times things get put in our way, things don't go according to plan, and yes...100% of the time, work is hard! But push through it, keep at it, GO FOR THE GOLD (USA! USA! USA!....Rumor has it that USA won the Olympics!! Yes...I'm still trying to convert Michael Phelps...it's difficult because he only wants me...not the gospel. I keep telling him he can have both, but he's got to have his own testimony...not just convert so I can be Mrs. Phellps (bahahaha!!! I wish!!) ) I know that those things that we work the hardest for bring us the most joy. (thank you Mr. Saxton) They really do! I'm so grateful that I get the opportunity to work hard everyday and it truly does bring me the most joy!!!

I love you all to the moon and back!! Cheers til next week!

Love, Sister Brown

Week 45

MY BROTHER IN ENGAGED TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH....AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gash I have another little sister!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D Soooo happy, Soooo excited, SOOO much smiling!!!

Story time:

Once upon a time in September 2011 to siblings went on a double date. The brother chose a beautiful princess and the sister went with the brothers best friend (haha ahhw good times). During the course of the date the older sister heard the spirit say, "You're just gonna have to deal with them getting married while you're gone cause they are meant to be."

Yep. TRUE STORY! Joey and Tiffany I knew you two would end up together from the world GO! You guys are just so good for each other! I'm so happy for you two!! Congratulations! Tiffany welcome to the craziest family of your life ;) I love ya little sis!!

Holy cow my little brother is gettin hitched October 20th. I expect LOTS OF UPDATES and LOTS OF PICTURES!!! Engagement, Wedding, etc. AND I have only one request....I request that mine, Macs, and Tiffs little brother, all our faces great people at the door and say, "We welcome you from England, Columbia, and South Korea! Welcome to the biggest love fest of your life!" Yep that's what I want ;) (Ok maybe not those exact words...but something like unto it ;) ) Man I'm seriously so excited for you two!!!

So some items of business:

Malory, Oh my gash! I just about died of laughter at the title of the subject you sent me! Dad you're disgusting!!! BAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! And yes that one is definitely going in my planner (it's like a missionaries cell phone. It's where I keep all my funny missionary times haha yes I'm still keeping track of the funny moments in my life.)

Trish Ganowsky my LOVE!!! Congratulations you beautiful thing!! You're about to enter the best 18 months of your life!!! It is the best decision you have ever made so far! It will be the hardest, most refiners fireing, best most rewarding time of your life!! Watch out Taiwan here comes Patrisha Ganowsky!!!!!!! Congratulations Girl!!! You are going to be a stellar missionary!! So so happy for you!!

This week I learned a huge lesson that is going to effect the rest of my life and eternity. Communication. You would think that I Sister Brown would have no problems communicating. (Some things don't changed I'm still just as chatty as I was before...maybe even more haha) BUT I learned that there are times where you MUST communicate. I have always had this fear of "I don't want to offend, I don't want to be a burden, I don't want to ask for help, I can do it...if I don't say anything maybe they'll figure out why I'm so annoyed." Wow...that's so passive!! I learned this week of the importance of step 13 of Weekly Planning. (Joey and Raymond know exactly what I'm talking about but for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about go to Preach My Gospel to the Weekly Planning Session and look at step 13) In life we have people who we may not get along with, or there are people that you do get along with but you disagree. Hello we all come from different walks of life and a different way of doing things. So this is when step 13 comes in handy. You communicate. And I did this on Friday and WHOA the difference that communication makes. Never procrastinate communication. I learned that you can tell people who you're honestly feeling and they don't get mad. They don't take offence. They don't hate you for it. When you talk things through in a positive way and pray like you've never prayed before for the words to say...all goes well. It's in those sweet moments of communication where all the problems get fixed. You tell each other how you're feeling and then you work it out. IT'S SO GREAT! This jewel of learning is one I'm going to use everyday for the rest of my life. Don't be afraid to tell people how you feel, who would have thought right?!

And this is why missions are amazing! I'm learning SOOOO much!! Even in the tough moments...you learn so much!!!

Thank you my wonderful family for your love and support!! I couldn't do it without you!!! I love you to the moon and back! Have a wonderful week! Cheers!

Love, Sister Brown :P

Week 44

Hello Everyone!

I live in the land of magic, olympics, and toy story clouds!!!!

Things are crazy in England right now with the Olympics going on!!! It's so funny how people here my American accent and then fill me in on what's going on with the Americans teams haha (I secretly love it cause you know how much I'm obsessed with the Olympics!) From what I hear America is doing well but China is beating us in Gold Metals...China...I laugh at you, you're going down!!

Here in England it's either you LOVE the Olympics or you are just so sick of hearing about it. Theres been a big hype about them for the past year and they're all sick of hearing about it ha. It's so fun to actually be here while it's all going on. All of England (Even us in the North East) is Olympic decorated! There is Olympic stuff everywhere! It's such a small country so I guess it's easy to decorate!

Today we had an EPIC PDAY!! A couple that we see quite often decided to take me and Sister Delucchi all over Northumberland! We went to Berwick-Upon-Tweed (yes that's it's name), The GIANT Bamburgh Castle, and....drum roll please....THE SCOTLAND BORDER!!!!!!!!!! Yes my friends...I Sister Taylor Jean Brown have accomplished being in 2 places at once :) I was in England and Scotland today at the same time :D!! How great is that?!?! Don't worry I documented the whole thing! Basically what I'm telling you is I live in everyones fairytale. Yep...be jealous ;) We saw A LOT of really old stuff today, a TON of history! I would say that the majoritiy of the stuff was older than the home land (USA...ya England is old...). We had so so so much fun! At least I did!

This week in my missionary land of Hogwarts was a good week. Things are getting better. We're finding people and teaching them the best thing they could ever learn in their WHOLE eternity, and that is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I love how Mckay in his email said, "I encourage you all to be obsessed with Jesus" :) Ha I loved that, it's so true! Through him and only him EVERYTHING is possible. I mean the list could go ON AND ON AND ON of what things are made possible because of our Saviour. I am forever grateful for the things he's made possible for me. Here on my mission my wildest "spiritual" ha and temporal dreams are coming true and that's because of my Savior. I'm turning into this person that God needs me to be and I never thought I would!! It's the best!! And i just so happen to be living in England, during the Olympics, right next door to Hogwarts and Scotland...what a dream come true.

I love my life. I love my Savior. I love you ALL SO MUCH!!!! I am SO EXCITED TO SPEND ETERNITY WITH YA'LL!!! I know with all my heart that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Gods kingom once again restored to it's fullest! Have a wonderful week my family! Cheers til next week!

Love you to the moon and back!

Love, Sister Brown

Week 43

Hiya Family!

:( Polly is dead. Did someone say "Polly's a dog!" for me before she left this world?! Oh man, something inside me told me that she died this week. She just kept popping in my head. :( I'm not gonna lie I'm a little sad, but I'm glad she's not suffering anymore. It's gonna be weird coming home someday and her not being there....

RIP Polly P. Puppers

You always had a song to sing

And you always pooped in my closet...

You will always be a dog...

May you and (Grants dog...for the life of me I can't remember his name!!) be friends forever in heaven

God be with you til we meet again

Well in better news things here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are just brilliant. You should know....I made the quidditch team!!! It was tough, but me and my Nimbus 2012 made it onto the team. What a dream come true ;)

Well Mum you're right...it's my birthday in a couple of weeks and yes...i am NOT looking forward to it. Yuck, Mom I'm getting old! Can we just skip this one this year, just pretend like it's not my birthday...please? Please? Ugh.

I don't need a thing! I've got my wand, my Nimbus 2012, my wonderful family, I get to share the restored gospel with everyone! What else could a missionary need? ins I really am good though :) I'm just going to pretend like it's any other day. I plan on staying 23 for the rest of my life!

This week was about the same as last week. Just keep trying to find the prepared :) I know they're there somewhere...we just gotta find them! The amazing thing about missions is that when you go out you expect to be changing lives. (And yes you do!) But I never expected to be learning so much about myself and learning all these life lessons. It's true when they say that 2 years of your mission adds up to 40 years of life experience. It's SO true!! As a missionary you are thrown into SO MANY different situations. Different members, investigators, problems, companions (good and bad), homes, lifestyles, everything! These moments are going to shape the rest of my life and eternity. I am so grateful everyday for my mission. I'm also grateful for the hard times I've had, for the refiners fire. It's in those precious moments of heat and pressure where God mold us from coal to diamonds. Yes, the heat and pressure are sure uncomfortable at times and sometimes it's more than you can bare. But, if we keep enduring, keep trying, be believing, God will mold us into the person he has always seen in us. Someone that is better than we ever could have imagined being. Ha I've still got a lot of heat and pressure to go. I've got so many weaknesses but I know that through God I can be my best :) Ahh isn't the gospel great! Thats one part that I love about the things we believe is that we can always be better. Each day is a brand new day and we can make each day better than the one before.

 

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and CONSTANT support. I could not do it without you that is for sure!! I love you all to the moon and back! Cheers from Hogwarts!

Love, Sister Brown