(From July 25th)
I love being a missionary! Lots of people tell cool missionary stories and
experiences and if you're like me, you'd be like "cool!" It's super cool, and
you can hear about them and then brush them off. No one, not even me with all my
detail, could ever explain to you how cool it is to be a missionary and to
experience these things. Again, you reading this and reading these stories might
mean nothing to you. It's just something cool that's happened. But as a
missionary, experiencing these things, it is just the coolest thing ever!
Nothing can replace these experiences I am having as a missionary. I get to see
Gods hand on this work and how closely everything is connected and related and
how there are no coincidences. God. Is everywhere. Like I said, I can't even
explain it. But all I know is that I'm just coasting through as a missionary. I
mean I'm working hard and being obedient and everything, but nothing that is out
in from of me or happens to me is because of me! I'm just doing what I'm
supposed to be and then wham! Something falls in front of me,
right into my lap. That wasn't luck. That wasn't a coincidence. God is preparing
people way before they are even though about. Their whole life they are being
led to where they are supposed to be, in the right circumstance, in the right
time. Where they move to, where they happen to be that day, what they're going
through, who they're friends with. It is seriously amazing to see God's work in
action. This work is important to him and he is working full force in every
aspect in everyone's life to align things just right so that people will be
prepared in the right place at the right time. It's utterly amazing.
I could go into the couple experiences that I had
that help me realize this, but it probably would mean nothing to you, and it's
sorta really confusing. A mission is really a "ya had to be there" moment. Yeah
mission stories are cool, but be honest. How many people actually read my huge
email and blog post. It's long. And it's about people and events that you really
honestly don't care about. I understand, because I did that with some of my best
friend's mission blogs and emails as well. I loved them, but I didn't really
care. But just know that I am going through experiences and meeting different
people and doing things that I could only experience, meet, and do on a mission.
Not in Las Vegas, but on a mission. I never understood why people said a mission
was just so great, because all I saw and heard were the cool stories. But the
big thing is the experience. You really, truly, just have to experience this for
yourself. I feel so lucky that I get to experience 16 more months of this
:)
So yeah I hit my 2 month mark! I've found out you
don't count MTC time, so I really will end up serving a mission closer to 19
months. Because on the 4th, I'd have been out on my mission, being set apart as
a missionary, for 3 months. But I've only been in Las Vegas for 2, so I still
have 16 months left, not 15. Crazy :)
Ok fine I'll tell you one cool story :) So, I live in
a casita, so a house in a member's backyard. This member that I live with lives
in a gated community, but it's a guard instead of a little keypad thing. It's
pretty great. Well I just pass by the guard, they recognize my face, and they
let me in. But there's a guard at night that works from 10-6 that we never see,
because we are in by 9:30 and don't get up until 6:30. Well we just went on
exchanges one night and I drove Sister Cox to my little casita home for the
night. We then realized that Sister Cox kept the phone for her area, so Sister
Campos and the other sister didn't have a phone at all! So even though it was
9:30, we had no choice but to put our shoes back on and drive all the way to
they're apartment to give them the phone. So we came back to the gate, and it
was 10:00, so a guard was there that had never seen us before. So all we needed
to do was to drive up to the window and say to the guard "Hi! We're the Sister
Missionaries and we live with the Blacks." After I had done that and the guard
wrote down our info and what type of car we had for some reason, he came out of
his little hut instead of just pressing the button and letting us through. He
then proceeded to talk to us, but he at first looked a little hesitant. His name
is Mario. He told us that he was an inactive member and that he's been pretty
sick and has been searching for someone to let know that he wanted a blessing!
So he asked us if we could get someone to come and give him a blessing, and we
said absolutely! He wouldn't give us his address, but instead he wanted them to
come right there where he worked. We said we would do our best to try and make
it happen. Whoa! Like, we would have never met him if Sister Cox didn't keep the
phone. And because we were missionaries, he knew what church we were from and he
knew he could talk to us about it. I think he's seen our name on the list and
just waited for us to come by one day, because once he found out who we were,
the decision had already been made to talk to us I think :) so we called some
elders and told them the story the next day, and they broke curfew for one day
so they could show up at 10:00 to the little hut in order to give Mario a
blessing :) So cool!
This investigator was a referral and they are the
ones who came to church last week, but we are still working with them. For
instance, the dad believes that he already is a member of the church because he
was baptized in a different church, but he now goes to the Mormon church. So he
really isn't grasping the concept of the restoration, so hopefully we'll teach
him that again for the 3rd time, this week, but in a way that he'll hopefully
grasp the concept.
I was in my first trio this week! There was a
leadership training on Thursday, so all the trainers and anyone who had a title
with leader in the name, went. Which left all us trainees together, and Sister
Bair, Sister Cox and I were all together! We all flew out to Vegas together, so
it was neat to see them again and spend a morning in the field with them and to
see how they've learned and grown. Super fun!
Also, we tracted into this old lady who's turning 90
next month who was super nice and seemed interested. We came back and we talked
to her and she ended up giving us these cute little bags that she had sewn! So
now I have a cute new laundry bag and an adorable purse/bag thing that I don't
know what to do with, but it's super cute. And she was super nice! So hopefully
we can go back and we can talk about the gospel with her :)
K last thing. Vanessa, who I mentioned last week that
let us in because we were persistent, she called us Saturday night! She
proceeded to tell us that she read the Restoration pamphlet that we left her and
that she was super interested and wants to learn more!!!! So awesome!!!
So, I can't week to go into this week and see what
miracles Heavenly Father has in store for me. It's going to be another great
week full of miracles and blessings!
Sister Brown :)
P.S. Read Alma 26. The way Ammon is talking is
basically me right now. I just love God :)
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