Week 35

Hello Family!

Well thing here in Brid are just super duper!! We had quite a miracle this week that I wanted to share with you. Of course as missionaries we are SO prayerful about the places that we go finding. So me and Sis. Hall felt prompted to go knock on St. Annes Road so we did. We knock...and knock....and knock some more....not a whole lot of success. But we knock at this door and it's this little old lady who look surpirsed to see us. She said she was really busy but wanted us to come back a few days later...so we did :) Her name is Ann and she is lovely! We get talking to her about how she's been looking for the right church her whole life but doesn't fully agree with all the Christian churches. She then goes on to say that she has a grandaughter who is just like her and believes in Jesus very strongly and just joined the Mormom church. She goes on to say that she used to go to Christ Church (ugh this AWFUL church that is THE GREAT AND ABOMINABLE CHURCH here in Brid...woof.) And I'm thinking to myself, "Wow...this is all sounding VERY familiar..." and I say, "Ann, is your grandaughter Nanci Smythe?" She then says, "Well yes! Do you know her?" AAAHHH!! :D WE FOUND NANCI'S GRANDMA!!! God sent us to her and she LOVED EVERY BIT of what we told her about the Restoration. We taught probably the best lesson 1 I've ever taught, filled to the rim with Bible and Book of Mormon truth (LOVE the Bible). She loved it! Then she came to church this Sunday and LOVED IT! It was like she was a member. She was filled with wonderful comments and was loved by all! I just know she's gonna get baptized...I just hope I'm here for it!! We also had Ian and Maurice at church and they also loved church! Ian is lookin pretty good for baptism too but he is bound and determinded that he wants to be baptized July 4 becuase it's Independence Day (British people love Independence Day...couldn't tell ya why...) and because it's his birthday ha.

Thing here in Brid are moving along nicely :) We've got a few solid investigators...some not so solid but hey that's the life of a missionary. It's been tough meeting these people cause chances are in a few weeks I'll be leaving Brid :( I just try not to think about it ha

I know I say this all the time but I LOVE MY MISSION!! It is the hardest, best thing ever!!!

I hope this week goes wonderful! Take lots of pictures at the graduation and send them to me!! I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all your love and support!! I love ya to the moon and back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers til next week! :)

Love, Sister Brown

Week 34

Family!

Long time no see ;) NOT!!!

IT WAS SO BEYOND GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are all SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Man I have quite a handsome family ;) But really everyone looks so good and happy!! Can you believe it's already over...Mother's Day is over...I talked with you all...next time I see you it will be Christmas and I'll only have 3 more months left of my beautiful mission...whoa. Mom you're right, skype is amazing!! Maco hopefully you'll be able to skype! It's so fun!!

Mac you leave in 2 months! You have to know how beyond excited I am for you! BEYOND EXCITED!! You will LOVE YOUR MISSION! You'll love the people and you'll love the work. Like I said the key to missionary happiness is WORK. Just work hard, be obediant to all the rules, listen to the spirit and you'll be successful! Nothing will hold you back ;)

Have I told you lately that I love you family? I LOVE YOU!! It was so good to see Matt and Kate too! Oh man I love those two SO MUCH!! They're both getting so BIG! I can't believe it!!! Give them HUGE hugs and kisses from their Aunt Tay-Tay. I just can't get over how fun that was! Did everyone have fun yesterday?? Cause I sure did! Thank you all so much for your wonderful words and constant support! I couldn't do it without you all!!

Mom you are beautiful. Absolutely stunning! I just kept thinking throughout talking to you I thought, "Wow, I've got the prettiest Momma in the whole world!!"

And my sisters!! Man don't even get me started on how AMAZING it was to see and hear your voices! And to get a snipit of Jillies angelic voice. Priceless. Made my day. :)

Daddy, Oh how I love you!! Thank you for your sense of humor, your wonderful words, and example. I love ya so much!!

Joe-Joe!!! Couldn't do this without ya. You paved the way of epic missionary work in our fam. Thank you for being an obediant hard working missionary! I just hope I'm half the missionary you were.

And Danny!! Keep ticklin that ivory!! You've gotten tons better from the last time I heard ya! Keep it up!!

I love each of you so so so much! To the moon and back I do!! I can't wait to spend forever with ya!!

Well...nothing really new to report ha! Just about the same from yesterday :) I hope you all have such a great week!

Cheers til next week!

Love, Sister Brown :)

 

Shout out to Kristen Syphus Winkle....oh my GOSH I LOVE YOU!!! Thank you so much for the package!!!! That was beyond sweet and loving and caring and considerate and all wonderful things of you!! Give your achievement day girls a huge hug for me! Thank you for all your love and support! Best babysitter award goes to....YOU! ;)

 

PS Mom, you are more than welcome to send anything to the flat! Just be warned that chances are I'll probably be getting transfered so my last day here will probably be June 6th. (maybe...it's not always a guarentee.) So feel free to send letters, packages, ect to the flat if that would be better for you. Either way works for me :) I love you so much Mom. I hope you had SUCH a wonderful Mothers Day and that you got spoiled wrotten! You doin ok? I can only imagine what you're feeling with 2 missionaries going to be out soon and especially Maco going to Columbia. Don't worry Momma, God protects his missionaries! And Mckay is going to turn into the man that God intends him to be, he'll grow so much!! I know this cause how my mission has changed me, and will continue to change me. I am so grateful for parents who encouraged me to go when it was the last thing in the world i wanted to do. Thank you Mom, Thank you forever for letting me serve a mission. I love you so much!! I'll be huggin you soon enough ;)

Love, your Teedle Tay

 

Week 33

HELLLOOOOOO FAMILY!

Sorry for the late email. You should just check and see when England has their bank holidays...if it's on a Monday, chances are you'll get an email on Tuesday :) Like the next bank holiday is June 4 and it's transfer week so that week you probably won't know where I've been transfered/who my new companion is until June 7.

This week was WONDERFUL!!! Why? BECAUSE WE HAD A BAPTISM...but not just a baptism...5 BAPTISMS!!!!! It was SUCH a wonderful service! The spirit was just SO strong! Danielle (who got baptized just a few weeks earlier) spoke on baptism for her wonderful family and she just cried through the whole thing. She just kept saying, "I'm so grateful my family excepted the truth. That my family can be together forever!" Everyone was in tears! It was just such an amazing thing to be apart of. Once again I am just so grateful to be here!!!!

Ok I will be calling between 9:30-10:00 your time :D I can't believe it, time is just flying! And I'm so glad you got my card Mum!! I was worried that you hadn't gotten it yet! I can't wait to see you all!

Things here in Bridlington are great though! We don't really have that "after baptism lul" We've got a pretty desent teaching pool and most are progressing just nicely! I love being a missionary! Time is just flying by too fast. Me and Sister Hall will probably only have just a few more weeks together. The transfer ends June 6th. I'm still weirded out that it's Mothers Day already!!

Well sorry this email is gonna be short but don't you worry we'll be having a long conversation soon :D

Talk to each of you soon!

Love you to the moon and back!!

Love, Sister Brown

PS. So me and Sister Hall had an epic Cinco De Mayo fiesta where we made mustaches and ate mexican foot for Tea. It was brilliant ha! Here are some goofy pictures of us being creepy Mexicans ;)

Week 32

Hello my beautiful family!

First things first...

Bens a Dad...so weird!! But so happy for him and Jules!! Congrats you too, she's ADORABLE!

I LOVE MEGAN KNELL!!! Ahhh the temple is the best, and she gets to go to the NAUVOO TEMPLE?! jealous ;)

Mal Pal...whoa SOOO AMAZING!!!! You wanna know something amazing....I'm singing that SAME SONG FOR THE BARRASS'S BAPTISM ON FRIDAY!!! Coinsidence...I think NOT!! I love you sister!

You have to know i laughed right out loud when you told me about the wendy's naptkin in the air conditioning of my car!!!! BAHAHA! Ya that thing has been ratteling for YEARS! Of course it was a Wendy's naptkin, of course! ;) Thank you for getting it fixed!!! That's so sweet of you!!

ELM= England Leeds Mission

It sounds like things are starting to wind down at the Brown home ha! Mal and Mac will be graduating soon...I can't believe it. And it will be summer!!!

Transfer news is as follows...all went according to plan and me and Sister Hall are staying together!! :D We're stayin in Brid. So I'll be here for another 6 weeks probably and then I'll get transferred. They usually have the trainers stay with their greenies for 2 transfers and then it's good for the greenie to take over the area so I'll be leaving soon :(

This week was an amazing one! THE BARRASS' PASSED THEIR INTERVIEWS!!! MY 5 MEMBER FAMILY IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON FRIDAY!! And the sweet dears asked me to sing, I just love them so much! Things are just booming here in Bridlington. Since I've been here we've had 8 baptisms! 8 Baptisms in 3 months!!! What a blessing! I am so grateful everyday that God send me here to see all these blessings!

Then sings my soul my Savior God to thee...How great thou art :)

I love this song.

It's been on that has been in my head cause I'll be singing it at the Barrass'. The words are just beautiful and it really is how I feel! "Then sings my soul". This past week I've just felt my soul singing! This are really moving here in Bridlington. Not that things are hard, cause ha missionary work is hard...that's why its called work ;) But this truly is Gods work, I know this because I'm so happy! A loving Heavenly Father would want us to be happy. He created us, he knows what will make us that happiest! And those things are church, daily prayer, daily scripture study, following the commandments, and missionary work! With all of these combined we get HAPPINESS AND JOY!

Then sings my soul!!!

Everyday I am so grateful for my mission. I am especially grateful for Sister Hall! We figured out the other day that we are PB&J, the perfect combination. So she has a sister who is serving in the Philippians! (Big deal) and her sister gets home in just a few weeks and she misses her a lot sometimes and the other day she said to be, "I think I know why you're my trainer." ha and I laughed and said, "Ok, why?" She then said this, "You remind me so much of my Sister, I think God knew that I'd have a really hard time going 3 years without seeing her...so he sent me you." And it really got me thinking about the type of person she is and why we get along so well..and it hit me...Sister Hall is just like my sisters...just like my Momma...just like my family. God has sent me my family.

Pretty cool huh? So PB&J and tearing it up here in Bridlington!! Watch out world...here we come!

I hope each of you know how much I love you! Because I DO! And i get to see ya'all in 2 weeks...so crazy...Joey you were right...this goes by TOO FAST! Come Mothers Day I'll have been out 8 months...whoa.

I know what God lives, that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and that I am here for a reason. I am forever grateful that I'm here because it's changing my life everyday!!!

Here's some love to the moon and back!! <3 <3 <3 (those are little hearts btw)

Week 31

WE FINALLY MOVED!!! Oh happy day we are out of that flat on Wellington Road and we are now on Trinity Road :) Our neighbors are a couple of really sweet old ladies (Hallelujah).

I sent some pictures of how everything looks! Isn't it just so great!! We're just so happy to be there and out of our other place. The first thing Sister Hall said when we got all moved in was "Awhhh...it smells like New Investigators" haha oh how I love her! We are just so excited for the adventures, the revelations, the memories, and miracles to be had in this new Flat! SO EXCITED!

This week we found a great chinese family! (There are LOADS of Chinese people here in England) So with that comes the GIANT language barrier. We're going to do the best we can to teach them...pray that we get the gift of tounges ha!

 

Other than that not a whole lot happened this week. Sadly alot of the time there is the "After baptism lul" Where we do the whole..."Ok...now what?" And that what is finding :) We just go out and do what we do best, find those that God and the angels are preparing for our message. I know they're out there, we just got to find them!!

Sorry this email is so short! I wish there was more I could tell you! I'm doing just great! Things here in England are still so beautiful!! The church is true...the book is blue...and Moroni is always on the ball ;) I know my Redeemer lives and while He lives I'LL SING He lives my prophet, preist, my King!! :)

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

Love, Sister Brown

Week 30

Family!!!

How is everyone!! Things in Brid have calmed down :) We seem to be over the drama...for now ha Since I've been here there seems to be nothing but drama going on...I'm not sure if it's because i got here...or if it's just Brid. From the sounds of it I think it's just Brid ;) But I truly do love it here! The work is moving forward!! Which leads me to...

DANIELLES BAPTISM!!!! :D!!!! Ohhhh happy days days days! (Malory's baby voice) It was a beautiful service! Full of family, friends, and the spirit. We had it early Easter Morning before church because the English don't put ANYTHING over their holidays (Especially their Easter bank holidays ha) So everyone seemed to be away Friday and Saturday so we felt it best to have it Sunday morning so she could be baptized and have the Holy Ghost ASAP

One of the best parts about the baptism was that Danielles Mom and little sister came. Jane (her Mom) LOVED the service and we got a chance to talk to her about it after words and invited her to take the lessons and to be baptized and she said YES! AND she wants all her kids baptized :D!! So we're teaching their WHOLE FAMILY on Thursday!! Woot Woot! Aw....I love being a missionary. It's the best!

I had the wonderful opportunity in Sacrament Meeting to really reflect on the amazing Easter we had. And I was just filled with the spirit of gratitude. I've been thinking about this time last year...that I'm SO grateful that the spirit knocked me over the head in the temple that day a year ago (Can you believe it's been a year since i put my papers in....ya...it's been a YEAR!) So grateful that I was called here. So grateful for the experiences, the people, the knowledge, and testimony I'm gaining...for the person God is shaping me into. Don't get me wrong, missions are tough and A LOT of hard work. But there is no place and no school, job, dating, no experiences in this whole that world would give me what I'm given each day here on my mission.

I am especially grateful for my Saviour. Just like you said Mom and Dad to us every year at Easter. I especially remember one year that Dad gave us each an Easter Egg and most were filled with candy and toys...but one (I think it was Joey's ha) was empty. I remember Joey being all mad that his was empty, but the lesson you taught us I has always stuck with me. Dad I think it was you giving the lesson. I remember you saying something like this, "Joey, you're egg is the most important. You are the luckiest out of all of us to get the one that was empty. Because each egg represents the tomb of the Saviour. And the miracle is...the reason we can live with God again someday as and eternal family...is because the tomb was empty. Always remember and be grateful that the tomb was empty."

That has always stuck with me, "The tomb was empty". I am eternally grateful that the tomb was empty that our Saviour and Redeemer lives. I know he lives and i love being able to tell everyone the Good News of our gospel, that he lives and has restored the fullness of his gospel through a living prophet. Mom I'm so grateful for Joseph Smith too. What courage he had! He gave up EVERYTHING for what he knew.

I love each and everyone of you SOOOO much!! More than i could even describe...the best way I've found to tell you is I love ya to the moon and back!! And I do!! I hope you all have such an amazing week. Thank you so much for your support and love and especially prayers!! Tell Merrick (Elder Taylor) Good luck from me!! Tell him I said the best thing he can do is follow the spirit and be a BOLD missionary!! He's going to be amazing!

PS Anita your Bday card is in the mail!!!! I love you!!!

Til next week! (Which i think is also i bank holiday so it might be another Tuesday letter..)

Cheers!

Love, Sister Brown

Week 29

Hello Everyone!

 

Welp things here in Birdlington are BUSY which is so great! :) Sister Hall is here and she is so wonderful!! She is 21 from CANADA and has the prettiest smile! She's quiet ha and reserved (ha so I guess there is a reason she's with me because i have NEVER been either of those things) but the spirit is SO strong with her! She is going to be an EPIC missionary!!

From what I've been told the best thing trainers can do for new missionaries is just get them to do everything as soon as possible ha which makes sense in a way. I mean how are we going to learn unless we actually ACT. (James 2:17-26) You said it perfectly right though, yes i may be training her but in a way she's training ME!! I'm learning so much about myself and about how I need to be better for her! I can already tell we're going to get along great!! She is SUCH a sweetheart, hardworking, so caring, and willing to learn. Like I said, she's going to be amazing!!

This week has been....drama filled. Someday (March 2013 probably ;) ) remind me to tell you all about what went down this week. Keyword: Nanci's Fiance....enough said.

This week I learned so much about how God gives us whatever we need he'll never lead us into the dark without a flashlight. Sometimes we do have to take a walk in the dark (Faith) but his light will always guide us where we need to go...the tricky part is choosing to follow the light or let our pride get the best of us and say, "I don't need help, I can find my way on my own." Time and time again I come to realize that Jesus Christ really is my Saviour. None of us can "save" ourselves. We need help haha and for me I need a lot of it ;) But that is when our testimony is strengthened if we let him help us. Those are the moments where the miracles happen.

I know that God lives, that Jesus Christ is my Saviour, my friend, my Redeemer. Through him I can be with my WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, AND SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHTTTEEEOOUUUUSSSS (with voice from the turtles from Finding Nemo) family. I love you all so so so much! I'm so grateful for each of you! Thank you for all you do! I love you all to the moon and back! Til next week Cheers!

Love, Sister Brown