Changes!

Howdy Y'all! I Hope everyone is doing great! It has been a very crazy week! I have been so very blessed. 

On Monday we went to a members house for dinner and made some other visits for the upcoming baptism at the end of the week. 

Tuesday we had our last district meeting of the transfer. It was amazing! I have loved this district and we all get along so well. We then had a lesson with Wantusi. We were  just finishing up some lessons she needed before her baptism. Somehow we always get distracted and talk about random things. She is a blast and has grown so much since we met her. Then we did stuff for our Friendshipping night and our Family History night. We also went and said goodbye to the Hoopes family. They were a wonderful family in our ward. 

On Wednesday we did Service in the morning and decorated a Christmas tree that was super fun and very extravagant. Then we had another lesson with Wantusi and then Jacob. Jacob is a less active member in our ward and has such a strong testimony. He just got out of the habit of going to church. We talked about temples and turns out he has never been so we set a goal with him to attend the temple by the end of this year. I am so excited for him. 

On Thursday we went to the mayor's prayer breakfast. It was interesting. It was a lot of praying and signing. It makes me grateful for the reverence we have at our church. It was really fun though. Then we went and did service and finished decorating the Christmas tree. We went and saw Wantusi again. Then we went to the Literacy center to help people learn to read it was so much fun. We then had our Friendshipping night. We have members come and we visit less active people who could use some friends to welcome them back to church. It was really successful for the first time. 

On Friday we went and did service at the soup kitchen. We got to see our friend Andrew there which is always a blast. Then we had our last lesson with Wantusi before her baptism on Saturday. 

Then we went home and we got a call from the AP. He told us that our area is being white washed and I was also being transferred. The worst thing about it was I didn't get to know where until Sunday night. We were in shock it wasn't expected, but I am happy to go wherever the Lord needs me to go. At that point we started getting our area ready for the new sisters coming in. It was a crazy rest of the day. 

On Saturday we got up and I started packing. We then got ready for Wantusis and Samaras baptism. Samara is a taught of a recent convert in our ward. She lives in Colorado and came here for her dad to baptize her. The baptism was so wonderful. The spirit was so strong. At that moment everyone in the room knew that what Samara and Wantusi were doing was correct. It was beautiful to witness. We went out to dinner with Wantusi and her family afterward. Then that night was our Family History night. No one showed it was a flop, but you live and you learn. 

On Sunday we had meetings and Jacob came to church it was so exciting. Also Wantusi and Samara got the gift of the Holy Ghost. They Are official members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We went and said our goodbyes to the Gish Family that night. Man do I love that family. They were like our mission parents. We always knew if we needed anything we could ask them and they took good care of us here. While we were at their house we got our call. Sister Hunt is going home and I will be going back to Texas to serve in the Midland YSA. I am super excited Sister Hunt served 9 months of her mission there and says I will love it. My companion is Sister Goodmansen I will also be sending her home. It is bitter sweet leaving this area because of the wonderful people here. I am so very grateful to our Heavenly Father for allowing me to be here and serve him everyday. I love this Gospel and know it is true. I hope y'all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love you all!
- Sister Browning 

Pictures-

1. Gishes and Kyle our investigator 

2. Our finished a Christmas tree

3. The Legacy flag

4. Wantusi, Lucien, Chung 

5. Same tree 

6. Perez Family 

7. My district

Howdy Ya'll!

Hey y'all! It has been a crazy week here in New Mexico. 

On Monday we did regular p-day stuff. Talked to our families, shopped, cleaned, and then went to work. It was a good day. 

Then on Tuesday we went and did service at a thrift shop place. Then we went and had a lesson with Wantusi. Lessons with her are always good. She has such a strong desire to learn more about the Gospel and is truly seeking to find out if it is true. Then Sister Hunt is trying to figure out college stuff so we did that a lot of the day. I planned some of Wantusi' s baptism while she did that. 

On Wednesday we had another lesson with Wantusi and just get her prepared for her baptismal interview on Saturday. We then did more college stuff. Then we ran some errands and went to dinner at McAllisters to get soup. It is starting to get cold here. We had a lesson with a guy but he never showed up. That was a little frustrating, but what can you do. We then had a correlation meeting with our ward mission leader to tell him about the baptism. He has been gone the last few weeks and had no clue what was going on. We filled him in. 

On Thursday we did service in the morning at Faith, hope, love. Then Sister Hunt was going to teach our district how to do family history. We had Wantusi come in and we made her an account. It was super good. Then we all got on our way to Lubbock for mission tour. It was such a good trip. When we got there we went to dinner at the Twisted root with our district. It is an exotic hamburger place. I was real adventures and got a regular cow hamburger. It was super good and way fun. Then Sister Hunt and I went to Happies to get a smoothie. 

Then on Friday was when Elder Ochoa came and spoke with us. It was so good. I learned a lot from him and the spirit. I could have listened to him all day long. We talked about Faith in God and his timing and how nothing happens by coincidence. Which was super cool because when we left we went to get gas and we passed the gas station and had to turn around and then after we got gas I dropped something in between the seats and couldn't get it out. Then some random guy knocked on our window asking for money so he could start a new church. We talked to him for a bit and he asked what church we were from. And we told him we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. We were able to give him a restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. Had none of those things happened to us we would not have been able to talk to this guy. It was so cool. 

At mission tour I was able to see Sister Stevenson and Sister Kitterman. It was so fun and some other Sisters I am friends with. It was so good to see them. When we got back Friday we were exhausted. We went and visited some people and had a dinner appointment. On Saturday there was a Veterans day parade. So we went contacting there. We are having a family history night on Saturday the 17th. We went to spread the word about that. It is very successful finding tool. No one wants to hear about the Gospel, but their family history books them in. It was also freezing at the parade. We came home and did weekly planning. And then Lovingsbend Elders had a baptism that we went to for a girl named Kaylee. It was so awesome to be there. Then afterwards Wantusi had her baptismal interview. It went really well for her. She is ready to be baptized on the 17th. Then we went around and started asking people to do things for the baptism. 

On Sunday we had a lot of meetings before church. There was a couple of people who came who we didn't think were coming to church so we were super excited about that. After church we had a potluck. Then we went and finished weekly planning. My brain is always fried after weekly planning. We are starting week 6 of the transfer. We get transfer calls next week. It is crazy how fast transfers go. I love being here in Carlsbad and sharing the Gospel. Thanks for all of the love and support I receive. 

-Love Sister Browning

Pictures-

1. Happies

2. Sister Stevenson and I 

Crazy Week!

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing well. It has been a crazy couple of weeks. 

A lot has changed for missionary work that has kind of thrown us for a loop but we will figure it out. We found out that we are no longer knocking on doors for tracking. It is not an effective way to find people. 1 in every thousand doors we knock we get to have a lesson. Those are not very good statistics. We did find out though when people attend a baptism there is an 80% chance that they themselves will be baptized. We have had a few baptisms and have worked really hard to get the people we are working with to them. We have also created a Facebook page called Our Journey to Christ. This is uplifting quotes and videos to share around Facebook. We are also having a family history night for people to come and learn more about it. We are super excited for these things to happen and see how the work grows. 

This last week we went to the temple to do a session and then with some recent converts to do baptisms. It was such an awesome day  I love going to the temple. It is the only place here on earth where satan is not welcome. I love going there and being able to feel so close to my Heavenly Father. 

This last week was also Halloween. Which means that we were on lock down we had to be in by 6. We watched the movie Legacy a missionary chick flick and had pizza and went to bed. The weather also was raining which made me so happy. The weather here is definitely not what I am used to. It is so nice everyday and not cold, so weird. 

We had two district meeting this past week. One was regular and we learned about Christlike love. How can we love others in the ways Christ loves us. It was an awesome topic to be able to discuss and learn more about. It is important as missionaries to love others the way that Christ would love them and express that to them. We are literal representatives of Him and it is the best. Then the next day we filmed ourselves teaching and discussed the things that we did good and what we could have done better. It was a great exercise and a way to learn how we can become better missionaries. I love this Gospel with all of my heart. I am grateful each and everyday for this opportunity I have to share the Gospel with others. Thanks for all of the love and support! I love you all have an awesome week. 

-Sister Browning 

P.s. Cotton fields here are beautiful!