This quote sums up my feelings for the last transfer pretty well!
Today marks the first day of my last transfer..... my last 6 weeks as a full time missionary!
But I love this quote; there are no true endings. If there is something that I have learned from my mission, it is how to be a member! How to be a disciple of Christ! And I can carry that with me- with or without a nametag.
This week was full of wonderful missionary work, as usual :) I am just so glad for every moment I get to be here!
I would looooove to share just a few highlights with ya’ll. :)
We had an awesome Relief Society event this week where all the sisters of the church came together and we filled out a card where we listed 2 service projects we were willing to help someone with. The two things that I listed were:
1. clean toilets
2. wash dogs
Sister Nelson ended up with my card and we had a blast washing her dog, Bonco!
Their son, Jake has autism and I love this family. We played a fun game with him for our lesson and they fed us dinner. Then before I changed out of my grubbies, I jumped on the tramp with Jake for a few minutes! HE LOVED it.
We were able to get in contact with some of our investigators again this week. Remember Tiara? The 12 year old with the best questions ever?
Wel,l we saw her again! We stopped by and she was playing outside. We asked if her mom was home and if we could teach them a lesson and she said her mom was sleeping but that we could teach HER the lesson! So we sat on her porch steps and talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
She loved the lesson and when it was over she said she had 2 questions.
Here they are, REMEMBER they are coming from a 12 year old!!!!
1. If Jesus Christ had his disciples and his apostles, why couldn't he send one of them to die on the cross for him? Why did Jesus have to do it?
------> We talked about how Jesus was chosen before we came here. He was chosen in the pre-mortal life to be the Savior. He volunteered to do it because He loved us THAT much!
2. In the Beatitudes it says "Blessed are ye that are persecuted for my names sake." Why do we have to be persecuted???
------> That question blew my mind! Sister Nash and I just talked with her about how just like with Adam and Eve, they had to know the bad to know the good.
I seriously can't believe the amazing questions she has! I love teaching her!
We went up to Virgina City, which is a ghetto area in Vancleave! We love going up there because there are lots of people that are willing to listen. This is where we got the cops called on us the other day.....
But something funny that happened was that we found this Catholic man who was SO nice. He just got divorced but his wife was a member of our church. So we talked to him for a while and I noticed through the door that he had a guitar and drums in his living room. I asked if he was a musician and he said YES! So i told him that I am too! And he said he wanted to play Sister Nash and I a song!
We agreed, and then he serenaded us with an original love song he wrote about a girl he saw running on the beach...... it was pretty awkward and I was trying to not make eye contact! haha! Oh man..... but we ended up leaving him with a Book of Mormon and I will let you know about the next encounter that we have!
Something Sister Nash and I are really looking forward to in a few days is our "Meet the Mormons" event! I talked up this movie a lot in some past blogs but we rented the movie from our mission office and are going to be showing it at the church to our members andanyone they want to invite! We have been inviting a lot of people and I’m excited to see who shows up!
Part of the fireside that we taught to the youth last week was that we commited them to bring a friend to the movie night we were going to set up, so hopefully we can get some more people to teach from doing this event. We are so excited!!!!
I got to hold some puppies this week! One is a pit bull puppy who is SOOOO cute! And we met the tiniest chihuahua ever! Like the size of my foot! And it's full grown! People in the south love their pits and their Chihuahuas.
I also got to hold some baby chicks at a members house; The house we went fishing at a few months back. IT IS springtime and there is baby everything. I love it. There are also lots of bees and pollen in the air floating around. I don't love that! The mosquitoes are coming out.... I am reminded of how "sweet" a missionary I am! :)
There was also an awesome moment when we saw a turtle in the middle of the road and I pulled the car over and Sister Nash and I took him to safety! I don't like to see run over turtles!!!l
And sometimes I can't help it, but while we are tracting I love to catch frogs!
Another highlight of this week was Shateque's birthday! I love that for the rest of my life I will always have a black southern family to call my own! We had a crawfish boil and her friends smashed cupcakes in her face! Shateque is such a good missionary and she also had us share a message with her friends! It went great and they said they want to come to the movie night on Wednesday so we hope to see them there! I felt the spirit so strong when I told them about Joseph Smith's experience and I really do know that he is a prophet of God because of the spirit that burns within the room whenever we share about his experience!
We got to go visiting teaching with a member this week and wewent to see a girl our age named Danielle who was baptized into the church, but after divorces and hard times she lost her way. The message was about how Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of patience. The sister we went with did an amazing job with the lesson, but I could tell Danielle just felt like she was getting "preached at and the spirit whispered to me that I needed to change the direction and to help her participate instead of just sitting there.
So I asked if I could say something and I talked about how although Jesus Christ is patient with us, I sometimes have a hard time being patient with myself. I asked Danielle how she does that and if she could give me some advice??
It was the right question and Danielle perked up and started talking! It was just one of those moments when I could feel the spirit working within me and knew what to say.
As the sun sets on my mission, I reflect on everything I have learned.
But with the sunset comes the sunrise. And missionary work doesn't just end when you go home! It is the cycle, and life goes on. And the sun will keep rising and I will still be able to declare that
"I know my Savior lives!"
What a wonderful message I get to share every day, and WILL get to share for the rest of my life! I love ya’ll!
Love, Sister Brown
xoxo
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