I Love it Here!!

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing well. 

This past week has been so awesome, and it has flown by so quickly. Busy weeks are the best weeks though. 

We found a new investigator for our area. Her name is Andrea. We found her while tracting, it was late one night so we only had time to knock a couple of doors and hers was one of those doors. We had a lesson with her and she told us about somethings that have happened to her in her life time. She is just not sure if she really believes in God. We will hopefully help her realize that God is there and wants to help her. I am super excited to continue teaching her. 

We also had a lesson with Mark. He is doing good. We invited him to church and he did not show up which we were sad about. He then told us that he needs to take things slow because he is trying to figure out a lot in his life at the moment. We will continue to meet with him once a week. He is so awesome though and I can see how the Gospel can help him in his life tremendously. 

We also have another investigator his name is Jim he is an older guy. He lives here by himself, his wife lives in Arizona. He says that he is LDS at heart, but his wife will not let him be baptized. He did come to church on Sunday and he loved it. Hopefully she will soften her heart and let him be baptized. 

We also had a baptism this past weekend. Her name is Meagan she has been waiting for a year and a half to be baptized. It was so special to be able to witness her take that step. She was so happy and she just glowed. The ward members were so awesome to be there and support her too. I know that she definitely felt loved. 

I am loving being here and being a missionary! I know the church is true. If you have any doubts pray and Heavenly Father will answer you I promise. Love you all!

-Sister Browning   

Pictures-

1. Meagans Baptism

Mosquitos are the Devil!

Hey y'all! 

It has been a good week here in Carlsbad New Mexico. 

We are doing a lot of finding here. Which is a lot of work. We have not had a lot of luck finding people who are ready to hear of the Gospel. The Lord is aware and we will find those who are prepared as we keep working. 

On Tuesday we were supposed to have district meeting but our district leader was sick so it was cancelled. We ended up finding for a while. We tried by a less active who wants to come back to church. He was super awesome and nice. We were not aloud to go in to teach a lesson because there were no other females in his house. That rule makes things hard sometimes. I also had to do online training for 3 hours it was awful. They had the cheesiest videos ever. I am now done with them and never have to watch them again. 

On Wednesday we had our district meeting. It was a really good one and we talked about how to seek and learn by the spirit. Sister Hunt wasn't feeling well so she rested and I read the book Saints. If you have not read that book yet you are missing out. It is so good. I encourage you to all read it. 

On Thursday we went to Faith, Hope, Love and folded clothes. Then we went finding that night and got eaten alive by mosquito's. They are so bad here. I have never been bitten so much in my entire life. We have found that family history is a good way to have people listen to us. Not many people care to hear about the Gospel but a lot are interested in knowing about where they came from. We have had a lot of success using that. 

On Friday we did service at the soup kitchen in the morning. Then it was our planning day so we planned for the next week. Weekly planning takes a lot of effort. We then had a lesson with some recent converts the Perez Family. They are so awesome and their testimonies are so strong. They have been through a lot and come along way. They seem so happy. 

Saturday we started the day off early and went and helped paint at a life house for women and children. That was a lot of fun. We saw one of our investigators there. We also went to a heritage festival to find people we found a couple with family history. That was effective. Then we finished weekly planning and went knocking. Sometimes when people have things come up that are supposed to feed us they give us money. We went to McAllisters it was so good! Then Sunday we actually talked in church. We were asked to talk about how the ward can help in missionary efforts. It went really well and hopefully we can get more help from members. Member missionary work is so important. The members know the people in their towns way better than the missionaries. We really encouraged our members to get out there able to help us find people to teach. We also went to a family dinner with members in our ward. We taught family home evening and there was a nonmember there. We taught the restoration. The spirit was so strong and hopefully we can continue to teach him. 

Thank you everyone for the love and support I receive. I am so grateful to be sharing the Gospel. I am grateful for the things I am learning and will continue to learn. I love you all! 

Hey Ya'll!

Hey y'all! 

It has been a busy week here in Carlsbad. This last week was Carlsbad High School homecoming and on Monday there was a homecoming parade. It was so much fun to watch.

Then on Tuesday we had a lesson with a lady that went really well. She is not a member and her husband is less active. We talked about Lehi's dream and holding to the Iron Rod and partaking of the Tree of Life. She understood that the Iron Rod is the pathway we need to take in order to partake of the goodness of this Gospel. It was a very spiritual lesson. 

We also had a lesson with a guy who is overcoming addictions and he is trying to find his way back to God. He is church shopping and he says he will come to our church next week. He has some amazing potential. 

One thing that I have been trying to do this week is look at others the way our Heavenly Father see's them. When I talk to people I have so much love for them. I love trying to imagine how they would look in white. Getting ready to make covenants with our Heavenly Father. It really makes me want to do everything I possibly can to help them partake of this wonderful Gospel. I love sharing the Gospel with others. Since we are new in the area we have a lot of finding to do. A couple of experiences with that are...... One lady told me I did not look Mormon. My companion does but I do not. Another lady told us we were going to hell if we keep on believing what we do. She also said we have been trained very well. Things like that make me laugh. We all have the right to believe what we want that is why we are given agency. Heavenly Father does not want to force Himself in our lives we have to be the ones to let him in. 

This week on bike day it was pouring rain and there were puddles everywhere, so we walked everywhere. Since we took the elders car when we moved in here they take the car on Thursdays because we do not use it that day. We would have probably changed bike day but since they had the car that was not an option. I am grateful though that we have a car every other day of the week. A highlight of the week! I found Idaho street! 

I am grateful to be here and to be a missionary of the Lord's church. We had stake conference this past weekend in Roswell and yes there were aliens everywhere. The missionaries had the opportunity to sing with the primary kids the song I Will Be What I Believe. The armies of Helaman is part of that song and we got to sing that part. Never in my entire life has that song been more personal to me. "We are as the armies of Helaman we have been taught in our youth and we will be the Lord's missionaries to bring the world his truth" I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I get to be a missionary for the Lord's church. There is no where else I would rather be then here bringing the world His truth. I love you all so much thanks for all of the love and support!

-Love Sister Browning

Pictures-

1.Idaho Street

2. Homecoming Parade

3. Rainy Bike day

4. Getting Frozen Yogurt for Sister Hunt's 15 month mark

5. Aliens in Roswell

I'm Not in Texas Anymore!

Hey y'all! I hope it is still acceptable to use the word y'all even though I am now in New Mexico. 

This week has been a crazy one. We started out by packing pretty much all day on Monday and getting ready to leave. I was super sad to leave all of the amazing people that are in Amarillo. 

Tuesday was transfer day. I was able to see my old MTC companion Sister Stevenson. I was so happy to see her. I also had to say goodbye to Sister Kitterman. She was such an amazing companion and trainer. I then left for Lubbock then to Hobbs where I met my new companion Sister Hunt. She is from Nevada and is super awesome. After we left Hobbs we drove to Carlsbad. Carlsbad is amazing there is a river here and it is the most amazing thing. We do not see things like that in Texas. There is also a hill here! which may not seem like anything to you, but when you are in Texas where everything is flat it is beautiful. 

We spent a lot of the week getting to know the area. We also spent a lot of time weeding through people and finding those who actually want to be taught. We have met some amazing people and everyone is so kind here. I never want to leave this area. We also have a baptismal date set for September 22nd. We are super excited about it. We have not met the person being baptized yet though. 

I love being here and being able to serve the Lord. I know this is where he needs me to be. I have faith in His plan for me and those that I get to serve. I never have to fear where I am going because I know that my Heavenly Father knows exactly where I need to be. I am so grateful to have a Father in Heaven who is so aware of me and my needs. I love this Gospel with all of my heart and I am grateful for this opportunity to share it with everyone. I hope you all have an amazing week. I also hope you all know how aware our Heavenly Father is of you. He knows you perfectly and wants the best for each and everyone of His children. I love you all!

-Sister Browning 

1. Sister Stevenson

2. Sister Kitterman

3.Pecos River

4. Welcome to New Mexico

5. Beautiful Carlsbad