Marissa In Mississippi: The message is always the same

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Spring has sprung! The seasons keep on changing, my weight fluctuates between curvy and chubby, one day it rains, the next is bright sunshine. Every day is so different and so beautiful!

But something that is always constant in our lives is the Savior! He is there rain or shine. The message is ALWAYS the same.

God loves you, and he wants you to return home to him.

Isn't the gospel great?

I hope everyone had a happy easter. Sister Nash surprised me by hiding eggs in our apartment while I was sleeping and then I went on an easter egg hunt in the morning! Ah, I love her!

There is always so much good to write about.....

HIGHLIGHTS:

We go to see Miss Thelma quite often because she can't get out of her house very often since she has been having strokes. Tuesday was her birthday and I came up with a brilliant plan! We went visiting teaching to Shunta that morning and Sister Shumaker picked us up! We borrowed Shunta's cute new puppy that i took pics with a few weeks back... and we went and knocked on miss thelma's door and starting singing happy birthday! Miss Thema loves puppies and she was so happy. It was awesome. :)

April Fools Pranks

1. Our Zone Leaders Elder Whitney and Elder Creager telling us that in the month of April we can't go to the beach at all, including driving on the highway along it!

We were kinda confused because we drive along that highway all the time!

They told us there were just a lot of parties and events happening on the coast and wanted us to avoid any harmful situations......

APRIL FOOLS....

2. McKenzie leaving a note on our car that said someone had "smashed into it" and she came and grabbed us saying "sisters sisters, someone hit your car and left a note!!!! she was laughing so hard!

I got a little out of my comfort zone this week. We went to lunch @ 5 guys burgers and fries and I decided to go talk to a lady that was sitting at another table! Turns out she said she had a Book of Mormon and that she had met with missionaries before!

Another one was we were driving in the car and had a few minutes to spare before our next appointment. A little thought came to me.... "stop at wendys."

I was like...... "No spirit, i'm not hungry...." but then i realized the spirit wanted me to stop there and TALK to someone... not eat haha.

Okay.... so we pull into wendys and i'm wondering who in the world am i supposed to talk to!

There was a guy sitting in a truck right next to us, so we said a prayer and the spirit confirmed that we needed to talk to him!

So we did, and this guy we talked to knows the missionaries in Gulfport and he took it as a sign from us talking to him and giving him an Easter card! It was so cool and I learned that I DO hear the spirit and I CAN get promptings. It's whether or not I choose to follow them!

Sister Nash helped me conquer one of my fears of tracting apartment complexes this week! And it was really hot so we got ice cream!

Something that stood out to me this week-

I think the Lord really is preparing people everywhere for us and to listen to our message. But they still have their agency to choose to accept it or not. And that our message is always the same, about the love the Savior has for us, how much he has given us in this day and time to stay close to him.... everyone has different times they are ready to hear the message, and our job as missionaries is to find those who are ready right now!

Teaching the Olivers was a highlight! I gave them a picture of Jesus and they have it proudly displayed on their wall in their living room!!!!

We also watched a session of conference with them and they LOVED it.

Here is a picture of us with Josh Oliver on Easter!

Sister Nash and I also wore matching Easter Bows!

I loved going into conference with some quesitons. They were all answered.

My question about finding peace when I return home was answered by our Prophet who said:

My brothers and sisters, in our lives we will have temptations; we will have trials and challenges. As we go to the temple, as we remember the covenants we make there, we will be better able to overcome those temptations and to bear our trials. In the temple we can find peace.

Then I also loved there was a whole talk that was a music analogy called "The Music of the Gospel" by Elder Andersen

Sometimes in our homes, we successfully teach the dance steps but are not as successful in helping our family members to hear the music. … It is hard to dance without music. Dancing without music is awkward and unfulfilling—even embarrassing. Have you ever tried it?

The challenge for all of us who seek to teach the gospel is to expand the curriculum beyond just the dance steps. Our children’s happiness depends on their ability to hear and love the beautiful music of the gospel.

And last but not least I loved a talk that mentioned how you don't need titles or positions to be an amazing member of the church or missionary!

Some of the greatest acts of service and helping people are known by God alone.

It was called "Truly Good and Without Guile" by Elder Ringwood

So the last thing I wanted to mention was mine and sister nash's easter miracle!

We had an appointment with a potential investigator last night named Morgan but she wasn't there. It was 7:30 and we had a couple back up plans but none of them really felt right....

We still had some easter cards that we wanted to give away before easter was over. So we just started walking around the apartment complex that we were in and were going to start knocking on peoples doors to give them the easter cards.

WELL before we even knock on one door, a lady comes walking up the stairs from taking her garbage out and we talked to her for a few minutes. Her husband comes out making sure she didn't get lost haha, and he asks if we wanted to come inside.

Chris told us all about how he loves to do service. He helps repair houses destroyed by hurricane katrina. He asks if we would be willing to help and we gladly said yes, and asked if we could share an easter message with them.

We watched the video "Because He Lives" with them that i've been talking about and it was SO powerful to watch it with these strangers we just met, it brought us all together! They ended up asking us a lot of questions and offered to feed us dinner sometime.

I KNOW we were led to them and it was my easter miracles! We both got in the car and just kept saying "what just happened??!" to each other because it was such a miracle.

I hope yall had a wonderful Easter and I love the reason for the season. I know that the message is always the same, whether you hear it from missionaries, or from our Prophet, or the apostles on the earth today...

THAT GOD LOVES US.

And I love to share this message with others all day long! I love yall!

Love, Sister Brown