And She Went Forth to Teach...: Week of February 25th, 2013

A picture of the sisters and Karee on her first subway ride. She said it was little scary, but they ride on it everywhere so she's feeling a bit better about it.

Hola,

Wow what a eventful few days!! Has it really only been since Thursday that I last wrote?

Thursday:

We taught new member lessons to Maria and Margarita (16). WE taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ Lesson 3 in Preach My Gospel. We also shared 2 Nephi 31:15-21. Then we did a stop by to the Relief Society president, Hna. Reyes. We are going to be helping her and the presidency in helping the sisters of the ward to know how to visit teach and to understand why it is important. We also told her that we are willing to help visit less actives (which we kinda already do) and help them know that they are loved and missed by the ward. Then we went home and made ourselves dinner (it's nice to sometimes have to do this because we normally get fed sooo much food!)

Friday:

We had district meeting after our studies and then we went to McDonald's for lunch. Hna. Hildenbrand and I always bring our lunch though :) we are staying healthy. Then we went to Martica's house (the one that I extended a baptismal invitation to last week) and we taught her and her daughter Ashley the first lesson about the restoration. Then we went to an investigator's house named Isabel. This was my first time meeting her. We were only going to drop off some CD's that have the Book of Mormon recorded on it because she has a hard time reading. Then we went out to eat with Sister Allen. She took us to a Vietnamese restaurant. It was soo good! I got a soup thing that I attempted to eat with chopsticks...you can probably imagine how well that worked. We also got this honeydew melon smoothie that was delicious! I think that I like this kind of food!

Saturday:

Wonderful day!!! ok so we started as usual with our studies that last from 8- 11 then we have lunch. Then we have another hour of training that I have because I am a new missionary. This is basically helping me understand better how to teach from Preach My Gospel. We had an appointment to meet with Isabel at 2, so we planned a long time for that lesson. We had talked a little with her the night before about how if she asked Heavenly Father sincerely with a specific question that he would give her an answer. So we invited her to pray that night to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church. We then promised her that if she prayed sincerely and then she listened to a random cd, that she would receive her answer and that she would know what she needed to do. Pretty bold, but that is what we can do as missionaries. I can say that I prayed a whole lot that she would actually do what we challenged her to do and that she would be able to recognize the answer that Heavenly Father gave her. I also prayed that I would be able to understand her (something I need to do quite frequently) and that I might be able to say and add to the lesson while we were teaching. We decided that we needed to share 2 Nephi 25:4 which talks about how clarity in understanding.

So we went to her house, and when we walked in she was listening to the Book of Mormon. Then she started to tell us what happened the night before. She had prayed that night to know and felt the same. Like she didn't really receive an answer. Then she went to bed. She woke up at 3 in the morning and was not tired. She flipped through the CD's and found a random one and turned it on. It was Alma 4. As she listened she was thinking about the Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said she felt good, calm and happy, then she started to think about the things that her friends have said about their churches. She said she started to feel confused again. But when chapter 5 started she stopped thinking about that and started listening more. It was talking about baptism. She said that she felt that peace and tranquility once again. As she listened to the verses she knew that baptism what the thing that she needed to do, it was the next step that she needed to take. She accepted the baptismal date of the 10th!! Colten's birthday! Sister Hildenbrand was so excited! Afterwards she was shouting for joy and smiling ear to ear! On our way to the bus stop some man yelled after us "beautiful, infectious SMiles!!!" haha

Later we had dinner with a member... but honestly we were floating on air the rest of the day! We have decided to visit Isabel everyday (even if we have to just call her) so that we keep up with her.

Hermana Hildenbrand and Karee saw a woman on the subway wearing her hair like this and had to go home and try it! love it!

Sunday:

We had ward conference which meant the Spanish group was in with the English. It was very interesting! Sister Hildenbrand and I couldn't stay for the whole time because we had to leave to go to her last area for a baptism. But let's just say that the music sounded very interesting because singing everyone was singing in their language. It sounded like no one knew what the words were. On the way to the baptism we met a man who knew a lot about the Church's welfare and self-reliant program because it "was the first and is the best in the world". He was a neat guy and we ended up getting his contact information for the elders in his area. I also happened to have an English Book of Mormon to share with him which he gladly accepted. The baptism was of a whole family and it was wonderful to witness. I loved the ward there already... hopefully I will get to go to Revere!

We were supposed to have a snow storm starting on Saturday which would have probably canceled the baptism for the 3rd time. But we prayed along with many other missionaries and people, that it wouldnt snow. We were told anywhere from 3 inches to a foot or more. But Saturday it rained and when we woke up on Sunday it was still only snowing. It didn't start to snow until after the baptism ended at 3. That was a miracle and a half of which my companion greatly appreciated. She is going to be leaving in less than 3 weeks and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to attend the baptism. Pretty neat if you ask us

That's it for today.

I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Brown