Karee claims she is looking more and more like her mom.(note from mom: I used to have very big glasses like these when she was a baby)

I am sorry I guess I didn't take pictures this week. Enjoy this lovely one of me, to prove that I am becoming a little more like my mom each day!

To all the mothers, grandmothers and women all around the world, Happy Mother's day! http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?cid=HP000058A&lang=eng#to-every-mother 

I got to talk to my family! It was so fun! I loved hearing about all the exciting things that they are doing. They are all so talented and excelling in so much! 

Monday- we went to a park and enjoyed the wonderful weather. We played some ultimate frisbee and a little soccer. Later Sister Smith and I made some dinner to take to a family. The mom has been swamped with school, work and upcoming finals, not to mention that she is a mother. She is such a wonderful woman and I have really grown to love her a lot. She is also preparing to go to the temple to be sealed to her husband within the next month; we are excited not only for her as she prepares but also because she has agreed to help us teach about the importance of the temple. We are planning to go with her and Eridania to the temple grounds this coming week after she finished with the last of her finals.

Tuesday- We attempted to do a service project with the english sisters for a less active who we met while on splits last weekend. But it turns out that they had already finished spreading the mulch over the weekend. We were already dressed in our work clothes so we gave Eridania a call. We went to her house cleaned it. She was so happy and grateful. Her health conditions don't allow her to clean as often as she would like. Usually she pays someone to come and clean but she was happy to have some sisters come and help her out. Later we had an appointment with a less active and talked about the atonement. She just lost a grandson in Feburary which was really hard on her.  She is from Peru and agreed to make us some Peruvian food (tomorrow!) We also stopped by a past investigators house because she was in the area. While we were waiting for her to open the door for us I heard the clip on my backpack strap crack, but didn't think much of it.... just remember that. Rebecca is a 92 year old from Bolivia, but she is FULL of energy! She talks really fast and is always super excited. After a short visit with Rebecca (shorter than we expected because she already had some visiters there) we decided to make our way further down Washington to another less active's house. While we were waiting at a bus stop that clip on my strap snapped! Nice! There was a little confusion with the bus and we ended up going further than we wanted so we had to walk as much as we would have if we hadn't taken the bus. (fail). While we were waiting for this sister to open her door my other strap snapped... Whoops! (maybe I need a new backpack?) I tied both straps and now I have a super ghetto backpack, probably not very professional. We went to the Romero's for a delicious dinner, where I found out that Sister Romero is EXPECTING! I am super excited for that family! They are such a cute little family and now they are going to have another little one!

Wednesday - We had a lesson with Osvaldo about the Restoration. We watched the Restoration video with his little niece in Portuguese. Interesting how that is with a different language. 

Then we went to Eridania's where we talked about something.... I guess i didn't write that down. I believe we talked about the plan of salvation. There is someone in her life who has just been diagnosed with cancer so it was just a subject that came up.

Thursday- We didn't do much weekly planning like we are supposed to. We went and sang to Rebecca and talked a little about latter-day prophets. Then we went to a member's house and talked about her conversion story and the importance of the sacrament. Then we went to Copley square but we were too late to have a full lesson with Wilmer. He got a new job and so it will be harder to meet with him. But he did do the reading we had given him and he said that he would watch the Restoration video that we gave him. Then we went to the church to teach the english class. It was different! We had no idea what to expect or how to teach it. We ended up just pointing to random things and quizing on what they were over and over. 

Friday- We had district meeting and then we met up with our sister trainer and her companion for a split. It wasn't a full 24 hours because they had to be somewhere else the next day. With sister Callier, I went to a random person's house who was on the ward list. She welcomed us in (sister Callier doesn't speak spanish so it was all me) and I found that she isn't actually a member...not sure how that ends up working out but somehow it does. We have a return appointment for this week. 

Then we went to the Chapel to set up for a baby shower. There we met the mother-to-be's brother who is less-active. He was really open to what he thought about the Church and why he hadn't been going. He has a really strong testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and he said he just has to work a few things out before he will feel comfortable coming back to church. But he told us that he would come on sunday... and he did!

After the babyshower festivities, we stopped by two members homes. One a less active from Argentina (different accent) and the other was the Relief Society president. We got an appointment to stop by the less active's house and she agreed that she would share more about her culture. The RS president was happy to see us. She talked and talked. She too is going to school and taking finals right now. It just seems to be a stressful time for everyone.

Saturday- The missionaries all met up at the church (us and the elders) along with other members from our group to clean the chapel. Hna. Smith and I got all the windows and doors. After the group leader, Hno. Gomez took the missionaries to Burgar King for lunch. 

We had a member present lesson with Osvaldo, which was really great because the member spoke Portuguese. It was really intimidating because Osvaldo decided to invite his family members to come sit in on the lesson about the plan of salvation. They were happy to hear and will probably start to listen to the lessons more. 

We then went to Eridania's house. She was happy to see us. I feel like she has been a lot happier lately. She says it is because she has been reading the Book of Mormon. I believe her! She shared her missionary experience that she had had the other day. (She is already doing missionary work and she isn't even a member!) A friend had told her that the mormons worshop Joseph Smith, she stuck up for us and explained that he is just a prophet and that we don't worship him. We shared the chapter in 2 Nephi about the prophecy of Joseph Smith and showed her how to use the footnotes. She was so excited and said she now has a lot to study because she knows how to. 

Sunday- We made cookies to take to a few mothers in the ward. Church was pretty good, but after church was better. I got to call my family! Actually skype. That hour could not have been any faster! I wish I could have been able to see them, but I am sure they really appreciated being able to see me.

I love you all! 

Hna. Brown

Ps. I heard that Mr. Wilber, a teacher at my high school, was actually running in the Boston Marathon. I wish I could have seen him, but I am so glad that he is doing ok and that he was not harmed. 

PSS please keep Sister Berkhiemer and her family in your prayers. She is in my ward back home and has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.