Miracle Marathon‏

Hello Everyone!! I am sorry I haven't been able to update you in a while! Have been very busy.

I am seeing so many miracles lately! It is incredible! Every day there are little miracles and I wish I could share them all with you, but for now we will have to stick with the super big ones.

1. The miracle of Brittany

In each of the areas we keep a book of teaching records called the Area Book, so that when the missionaries get transferred in and out, there is a record of what they have been taught and whom they have contacted.

We have been needing some more people to teach so we decided to go through the former investigators (people that were learning about the church but for some reason or other stopped) section and see if there was anyone we could try again. We prayed and picked 3 contacts out that we felt very strongly that we needed to try.
We tried the first one, but they had moved and the phone number was old. It had been a couple years. No dice.

We tried the second one... a girl named Brittany who the sisters used to teach here in Brownlee a year ago. She had come to church a couple times and was really progressing but all the sudden she stopped. The area book for her said - "Fiance asked missionaries not to visit" - so it probably had something to do with that.
We tried her house but she had moved... the house was for rent and nobody lived there, so we decided to try and call her later and see if the phone number worked.
The next day the relief society president in our ward calls us and asks if we are teaching a girl named Brittany????
we say...." no..... but we are trying to find her! why do you ask?"
Apparently Brittany had called a member in our ward (Sister Knudsen) that she became friends with when she came to church a year ago, and told Sister Knudsen that she wants God back in her life and needs help!!!!
Wow, Lord! It must be this girls time!!!!

So we got her phone number from Sister Knudsen in our ward and called her (the phone number we had for her must have been old so thank goodness she got prompted to find us!) and went and met her.

She ends up telling us that she just got out of jail a week ago and it was a very humbling experience. While she was there she read the whole bible. But she feels like there are things missing. She asks us, "Did you bring your Book of Mormon?"
Oh... why yes... we did!

We were able to answer many of her questions and bring her hope through the Book of Mormon. It was truly amazing.

She is so excited to read and she came to church on Sunday! But she is going to need some help overcoming some of her addictions. She wants to go the the addiction recovery class at our church in Shreveport and is just ready to get control over her life!
I can see she is HUNGRY for the gospel.

Follow the promptings and always update your area book.. that is what i learned this week! you never know the miracles it will provide for others!

*So that happened a couple weeks ago, and since then, Brittany told us she was moving. We were really bummed because she was going out of our area, and we would have to send the missionaries to where she moved to down in Keithville and we wouldn't get to teach her anymore!*

So Yesterday I turned 4 months old and that was pretty exciting. I remember when i just first came out!!!! Time is just flying.

Well yesterday I was pretty humbled. We went into the church building not expecting much... But the Lord showed us up!

We brought a less active member to church with us - his name is Stephen. He was baptized when he was 8 (his mom was LDS) but then shortly afterward, his parents got divorced and he lived with his dad. He doesn't really remember anything about the church.

He came with us to Stake conference a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it. He is really shy and doesn't say a whole lot, but I love the countenance change we have seen in him. He genuinely seems happier since we found him and have been teaching him!

We have a testimony of sitting up close with the people we bring to church, but unfortunately we were late because we had to show his ride (Richard Arndt, a recent convert) where he lived.

So we got there at 11:29 and I went and sat in the frontish with Elder and Sister Simpson (the senior couple that takes looks over us) and Sister D and Sister Holbrook went and sat in the back. It really makes a difference in the spirit you are able to feel depending on where you sit, at least for me!!!!

So church is going great. Evan.... (another recent convert in the Brownlee ward) (the baptist preacher I talked about while ago) blessed the sacrament (where we partake of the Bread and Water in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice) and I was just so happy and proud of him. Then all the sudden I look in front of me and see one of our investigators we invited to church sitting with a member of our ward. WHAT!? He came last week but the member said that he disagreed with some of the doctrine and probably wouldn't come back. They have been friends for a long time and we met him while doing a service project for this member. But there he was! He even drove himself!!!!!! Wow. I guess he changed his mind! :)

Then a few minutes later the door opens and in walks Brittany!!!

Now this was a big miracle because last week she moved to Keithville (out of our area) so we were planning on sending the missionaries down there to her and hadn't really had a lot of contact in a couple days. But I guess Sister Knudsen called Brittany Sunday morning and convinced her to come to church if she drove down to Keithville to get her. (45 mins away?) Keep in mind Sister Knudsen has just very recently recovered from surgery!!!

Turns out the situation she moved into in Keithville was not good and Brittany moved into a homeless shelter in Shreveport last night and the ward is helping her figure out how to get her life back in order. She came back!!!!

SO there I am sitting just totally in awe and thankful for all the miracles the Lord allows me to be a part of each day. 

Really the Lord could do this all by himself .... just look at what he did that day!!!! But he allows us weak things of the earth to become a little better by allowing us to take part in his work and his glory.

I am so thankful to be a missionary!

Stay tuned for episode 2 of Miracle Marathon next week. We will be discussing the miracle my dad likes to call "The Miracle of Dental Work"

Well i am almost out of time, but here are some other things that have happened lately!!!!

Icicles on the mailbox 

Happy Holbrook Day (Sister Holbrook's year mark! We decorated and had an awesome breakfast.

My parents sent me Chocolate covered strawberries in the mail!!!

Got to see some of my best friends! Eden and Markie

We have been doing a lot of service projects! Leaf raking... and Sister D and I built a fence around a garden for someone!!!

And.... I lost my shoe in the Swamp.

Tried to take a jumping photo and it flew in!!!! It was so sad. Good thing I had my tennies in the car because we had been doing a service project!!!!!

Well until next time... I am signing off!!! Love you all!!!

Love, Sister Brown