Marissa In Mississippi: Keep calm

Well THIS is how i'm feeling at the moment :)

I've been extra lovin on the Book of Mormon lately. I am also trying to finish the new testament before I go home and I'm reading in John.... I really like John.

There is something magical about it!

I have a lot of great experiences about the Book of Mormon this week!

Firstly, We have been asking members to write their testimonies in copies of the Book of Mormon that we pass out! It has been going great and I love to see how the members get really excited about doing it and sharing their testimonies. Also, when we give someone a book, they already have a built in friend! And as great as missionaries are.... we are kinda weird. So it is fun for them to see that NORMAL people read the Book of Mormon too!!!! :)

We met a guy tracting a few weeks ago named Ralph. He let us visit with him for a little while and he ended up telling us that he faintly remembers getting baptized a member of our church when he was about 11 years old.

So we searched the church records and we can't find him anywhere.... we are going to send a request to church headquarters and see if they can find him, but for now we are teaching him the lessons again! It has been so long ago that he doesn't really remember anything and he has been a lost sheep for quite some time.

We gave him a Book of Mormon when we first met him and when Marie Ganschow,(one of our favorite members that drives us around a lot) Sister Nash and I went back yesterday to see him he told us that he had been reading. I picked up his copy to see what we had assigned him to read and he had taken notes... and been marking... and had questions for us! He even wrote in the front cover our names and the day we had given it to him!

It made my heart happy to see how much he had treasured it! Also it made my heart happy to see my name written on his calender :)

When we left, he gave us some lemonheads and I ate one right away, and then he made me put them in a ziplock baggie because he said he didn't want them to 'spoil'.... haha I didn't know candy could 'spoil' but he was so kind to even get candy for us in the first place :)

Another favorite moment from the week happened on Friday. We had tracted into a family a week ago that scheduled a return appointment with us. So on friday we went to teach them and the dad was gone. The mom told us to come back in an hour. So we did. But then the mom was gone.

All the neighborhood kids were running around their house... probably ages 8-18... and instead of just leaving I asked if they wanted to hear a message about Jesus Christ! They said sure, so we all squatted down on the driveway and Sister Nash and I taught them about the Restoration.

I had a demonstration that we do with some cups, and we showed them pictures too.

The best part was that they were actually LISTENING. Like.. INTENTLY!

They had a million questions and we told them about the book of mormon and they all wanted one. We didn't have enough! We only had one with us at that time! So we gave the 18 year old the book and a few others downloaded it on their phones!

I have learned a valuable lesson on my mission that you never know who the Lord is preparing for you. And that sometimes you just have to be flexible and take advantage of the opportunities that Heavenly Father makes for you.

We could have easily said "bye chillins!" but instead.... We felt they needed to know the messages we are sharing with everyone!

And we are going back to see them today! I can't wait!

We went to a cool museum on P-day. There was a whole room dedicated to hurricanes! It still blows my mind that hurricane katrina DESTROYED everything down here!

Oh and before I go..... I almost forgot to mention that we had a baptism! Gabe Harris was baptized by his Dad Bobby this weekend :)

How awesome for me to have a baptism before I go home!

Gabe is one of a kind and has sure not been the easiest student... but he always makes Sister Nash and I think and it has been a long time coming for him to get baptized! It has been so fun to see the Harris family make changes in their life! It's so hard to put into words the way you see people progress. How do you measure or describe the growth of a testimony? The change in hearts that only you and God may notice? It's hard to say... but I love all the changes I am privileged to witness people make every day.

OH also, Sister Nash and I showed up about an hour before the baptism so that we could fill up the font with water. It was perfect! perfect temperature... perfect amount.

We go through the program... there are prayers and talks and I do a musical number... and then it is time for the baptism to be performed! We open up the doors to the font.. .and IT IS HALFWAY EMPTY. OHHHHH man..... I must not have fully plugged the drain in when we were filling it up! So we had to have a 20 minute intermission for it to get refilled. We just put on a church video.. luckily we had the TV and everything already set up, so it wasn't too big a deal, but I just couldn't believe I did that!

Well of course there was so much more that happened this week...including me getting my plane ticket to go home.... and I have some other scriptures I will post, but for now that will have to do. I want to get out and go back to work while I still can!

Thank you for all you do for me, thank you for the prayers, the letters, and everything else! I love yall and hope you enjoy the rest of the pictures....

Have a great week!

<3 SISTER BROWN

Extra pictures............

Ocean Springs Rocks!