Hi everyone! There will be two emails today because I am behind on them:) -Madi Adele
Hello from Louisiana! I am having another wonderful week of missionary work.
My
new companion Sister Matson is awesome!!!! She is from a town called
Forest, Illinois! Yay the midwest! About 2 hours south of Chicago. I was
so excited to talk with her about cornfields and Nauvoo, and the beauty
and lovely people of the midwest!
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Sister Matson actually got her mission call to Victoria, Brazil.
But she got a re-assignment to the United States while she is waiting
for her Visa to come through. She has already been here 7 months, but I
admire her faith that the Lord will send her to Brazil when he needs her
there, and right now, he needs her in Louisiana! She has been serving
in Monroe, Louisiana (duck dynasty land) and we are so happy to have her
here with us in Shreveport! She loves animals as much as I do, and
wants to be a vet when she gets home from her mission! :)
I would like to tell you an Indian Legend!!!
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
“One is Evil – It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed,
arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride,
superiority, and ego.
“The other is Good – It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility,
kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and
faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
I read a
great talk in the ensign from last month (february 2014) about how the
Savior teaches us to keep Satan at bay. If you don't have an Ensign (a
magazine the Church puts out) and you would like to read the talk I am
referring to - you can find it below!
As much as I know Satan wants us.... I also
know that the LORD wants us!!!!! He wants us to come unto him. To feel
his love. He wants to bless us!
I saw so many
miracles this week! It is always so difficult for me to just write down a
few that touched me in a very special way. It's such a blessing and
testimony builder for me to be in the Lord's Vineyard at this time, and
it's a miracle that he uses me - a weak human being - as an instrument
in his hands to bring his children back to him.
One of the biggest miracles that I saw this week had to do with our Investigator Brittany.
She told us that she wants to get baptized! But she wants to change some things before she gets to that point.
One thing she wants to change are some of her addictions. She knows that she needs to quit smoking!
As
missionaries - we have a stop smoking workshop that we teach. It is
100% successful if you follow all the steps! Sister Matson has seen it
take people from chain smokers - to smoke free happy people in 7 days.
It's amazing. The program is based all around FAITH.
So on Saturday night, we taught Brittany the workshop in Sister
Knudsen's beautiful home. (Sister Knudsen is the one that picks her up
for church every week, and now they are really good friends.)
Brittany is truly so ready to change her life and I saw her do one of the most amazing things I have ever done.
As
part of the workshop - Brittany needed to throw away all her cigarettes
and anything associated with them. (lighter, chew tobacco, etc.)
I watched in awe as I saw her holding them one last time... looking
longingly at them, touching and smelling them, and holding back tears.
They had become a part of her.
But she then took them into her
hands, and crushed them. She broke them in half and with each cigarette
in the trash, I saw her gaining a piece of her life back. She was ready
to be back in control!
Satan carefully... so carefully... leads us away from having control over our lives. He WANTS OUR SOULS!
We
have to remember that we have righteous spirits inside our bodies, that
we can put off the natural man. We can come unto Christ, lay our
imperfect selves at his feet, and he will hold us in his arms and tell
us that he knows how we feel.
He is our Shepherd. We are his sheep. He makes us into so much better than the world tells us we can be.
I see this world today in turmoil! Satan is everywhere. We have to keep him at bay! There is safety in the spirit. In the spirit of the Christ.
I admire the courage and bravery that Brittany
showed me that night. That we are in control. That we don't have to give
in to the temptations of Satan and the world. The spirit was so strong
as we told her of God's love for her, and our love for her.
Here is a picture of us after church. Brittany, Me, Sister Knudsen, and her daughter.
It's
crazy how much you can love people you hardly know. But that to me is a
testimony that this is the Lord's work. And I am only feeling a piece
of the Love he has for them.
Let us remember who we are... and let us feed our spirits each day!
Have you talked to your Heavenly Father today? He wants to hear from you. :)
Love, Sister Brown
One of my best friends - Megan!
Ice cream street
And here is the second update/email. -Madi Adele
Heeeeeelllloooooooo!!!!!!!!!
Oh wow it has been an amazing week! I saw so many miracles!!!!
Firstly...
Brittany Jones quit smoking as I said last week - and she hasn't smoked
since!!!! It has been amazing to watch her faith grow!!! As we were
teaching her the other day, she just stopped us in the middle of the
lesson and told us how much she wants to get baptized. It made me so
happy for her.
I turned 5 months old yesterday and that was pretty
exciting. I can't believe I have already been on my mission for 5
months!!! It just blows my mind how fast the time is flying!!!!
We met a 21 year old mom Tori, and Alexis her 11
year old sister who lives with her a couple weeks ago. We have met with
them a couple times and they are aMaZiNg!!!!!
Tori LOVES to
read and has been really interested in the Book of Mormon. Alexis has a
lot of questions about Jesus and about his gospel and it has been so fun
to teach them.
Yesterday they came to church with us and they
absolutely loved it. Over the weekend, the youth in our ward had gone to
the Dallas temple to do baptisms for the dead. If you are confused on
what that means... check out these two websites that tell more about
what the temple is - and what it is used for!!!!
But during Sacrament meeting (the first hour of
church) I sat by Alexis and told her about what the temple is and what
we do there. During the meeting they had 20 minutes for the Youth to
come bear their testimonies about how much they loved going to the
temple together.
Alexis LOVED it. She watched those kids her age get
up and talk about how much they love Jesus, and how much they love going
to the temple to get baptized for people that didn't get the chance to
here on earth. I gave her a picture of the Salt Lake City temple to look
at as they spoke and talked about their experiences.
She is such a sweet and shy little girl! But she kept looking down
at the picture I gave her - like it was her hearts desire to be there!
After the meeting I noticed she very carefully tucked it into the pocket
of her purse...
It touched my heart!
We are going to go
back and see them tomorrow.... I can't wait to hear what they thought
about church! I know they felt the spirit, as they watched 22 youth bear
their testimony to our congregation about how much they love the house
of the Lord, and how much they love their families, and their savior
Jesus Christ. Tori was moved to tears later on in the meeting when we
talked about the talk "You Never Walk Alone" and I know that she felt
the spirit testifying to her that the Lord has not Forsaken her.... that
he loves her so much.
If you would like to watch or read this talk I will put it below.
So this weekend I got to go to MINDEN, LOUISIANA.
There
are Sister Training Leaders in our mission, and they go around and help
out all the rest of the sister missionaries so that we can be better!
The current Sister Training Leaders here in the Shreveport area are
Sister Rocha and Sister Giddins. I got to go with Sister Rocha to
Mindin, and Sister Giddins took my place in Brownlee! So it's basically a
swap.
I had a great time in Minden. Some of the Highlights?
We
went to teach Mimi and Papaw. Mimi got baptized in November and now
Papaw is learning from the missionaries! He is a truck driver and gave
us a tour of his semi. I got to sit in a semi truck and Sister Rocha
honked the really loud horn! It was hilarious!
I also had an amazing
experience visiting some very special friends - Doug and Za'cariah. They
are both in the Minden Rehab center and the missionaries are their very
special friends. I got to feed Doug cheetoz and we talked about how
much he loves God and loves the missionaries.
We read the scriptures together and I had such a fun time getting to know them.
Here is a picture of me and my new friend Doug!
I
LOVED being in Minden, but I sure missed my area! I am glad to be back!
I am so lucky I get to serve in such a great ward. They love us
missionaries so much! Especially the kids :)
When I get home and have a family of my own, I can't wait to feed
the missionaries dinner!!! One of my favorite families in the ward here
is the McCabe family! They are the family that I had my famous Jalepeno
experience with!!!! Haha! They will never let me forget it!
Well folks I am about out of time! But I hope you are all doing wonderfully. May the Lord bless you in all that you do!
With Love, Sister Brown
