Happy, Happy, Happy!

Hey Y'all hope everyone is having an awesome week! Everything here in Texas is so awesome. 

This week has been so so good. We did lots of service, and we got to the museum of the southwest aka the mansions and helped at their parties. We washed dishes and helped them hand out the food to the guests. It was some high class stuff. We also helped them with a tea. We had to wear white gloves it was fun. I really love helping at the mansions. It is so festive and really gets you into the holiday season. 

I can't believe that Christmas is in a week. Where has the time gone. I love Christmas and being able to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. We had zone conference this past week. It was Christmas themed, and it was so fun. Sister Hales read the story of the inn keepers wife. If you haven't read that before I suggest you do. It is an amazing story and then they gave us a quote by Elder Neal A. Maxwell "Each of us is an INNKEEPER who decides if there is room for JESUS!" I really love that quote. We all have agency and we choose if we have room for our Savior. Hopefully we all choose to let Him into our lives all the time. We also talked about how to find people to teach and to always make sure we are always finding new people to teach. It was an awesome day. 

Also, we talked about our missions baptism goal. Last month our goal was 25 and we had 28 baptisms. That is the highest our mission has ever had. Then they showed all the people who had been baptized and the people who we as a mission pray for everyday. The Lord is definitely blessing the TLM. We were super pumped to find people to teach so we went mall contacting. We had some lady come up to us and ask if she could have our card. She is less active and wants to come back to church. We were so excited to be able to find her. We also contacted another less active in our ward. We had a lesson with him and he said he is really wanting to come back to church. He is so kind and I am so excited to help him start on the path of going to church again. 

I am so beyond blessed and grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and allows me to teach His children. May you all have a blessed week!

-Love Sister Browning 

SNOW!!!

Hey y'all! Hope everyone is doing well this Christmas season. I love Christmas and the opportunity to celebrate our Savior Jesus Christ and His birth. How blessed are we to be able to celebrate such a wonderful blessing to all of our lives. 

I love Midland Texas! It snowed this week and it made me so happy. It didn't stick and it snowed for like 5 minutes. It was a tender mercy of the Lord. He really loves me enough to send snow even for a couple of minutes. 

This past week has been slow here in Midland. It is finals week so it has been hard to meet with people. So we decided to make our friends cookies and write them a little note wishing them luck. One of our recent converts was having a rough day and when he came home to cookies he was so grateful. Never suppress generous thought my friends. We also had the opportunity to go caroling at the Museum of the Southwest with a bunch of missionaries. It was so fun to sing songs about Jesus Christ and His birth. The spirit was so strong as we all sang and I know the people there were able to feel it too. What an awesome time to be a missionary. 

This week for #LightTheWorld it is light your community. I invite you all to do something nice for someone around you whether it is telling someone they look nice or making your neighbor some cookies. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to serve others. Our Savior Jesus Christ served so much and we will never be able to amount the service He gave, but we can give back a little bit. 

Yesterday in Sacrament someone gave a talk on "Behold, We Count Them Happy Which Endure" by Robert D. Hales. This story was shared "In 1968 a marathon runner by the name of John Stephen Akhwari represented Tanzania in an international competition. “A little over an hour after [the winner] had crossed the finish line, John Stephen Akhwari … approached the stadium, the last man to complete the journey. [Though suffering from fatigue, leg cramps, dehydration, and disorientation,] a voice called from within to go on, and so he went on. Afterwards, it was written, ‘Today we have seen a young African runner who symbolizes the finest in human spirit, a performance that gives meaning to the word courage.’ For some, the only reward is a personal one. [There are no medals, only] the knowledge that they finished what they set out to do” (The Last African Runner, Olympiad Series, written, directed, and produced by Bud Greenspan, Cappy Productions, 1976, videocassette). When asked why he would complete a race he could never win, Akhwari replied, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; my country sent me to finish the race.”He knew who he was—an athlete representing the country of Tanzania. He knew his purpose—to finish the race. He knew that he had to endure to the finish, so that he could honorably return home to Tanzania. Our mission in life is much the same. We were not sent by Father in Heaven just to be born. We were sent to endure and return to Him with honor." 

We are sent here to have faith, joy, and trials. Life is super hard but we are not here to fail or just go half way, we are here to make it until the end. We are not on our own either we have a Heavenly Father who is leading and guiding us every step of the way. So whenever life gets hard just remember to keep pushing through it will all get better. I love you all so much and hope you have an awesome week. Don't forget to go out and Light the World! 

-Love Sister Browning 

1. Snow!!! 

2. Awesome Christmas lights! 

I'm a Texan...Again!

Hey y'all! I am back to being a Texan again! I am settling into Midland just fine. I love it here already so much! The ward is so fun. It is way different being in a YSA, and being with people my own age. 

On Monday we went to the mall and Target because that is a thing here. I am so excited about that. We then had a lesson with a less active member we taught the restoration. It was so good. The spirit was strong and I love being able to testify of Joseph Smith and the first vision. It is one of my most favorite things to teach about. Then we had dinner with a couple of kids from the branch. 

On Tuesday we had district meeting and then we went on exchanges. I was with Sister Kovacks. We went and got a cookie to celebrate my 5 month mark. Then we went and did work in their area. We did service at the Nativity. People bring in their Nativities from all over the world and they put them on display. There was also Napoleons prayer book it was a cool thing to be part of. Then we went and did family history at the senior couple's house. Which is so much fun. I love learning about my family. Then we went and visited some people and did studies. 

On Wednesday we finished exchanges and I got my companion back. I love being with other sisters but it is nice to get your own back. We did a lot of trying by people and phone contacting. 

On Thursday we went and decorated a Christmas tree for the church at the museum of the southwest. The mansions is a beautiful place. We were there for a lot of the afternoon doing that. Then we got ready to go to big springs for institute. It is about an hour away. We learned about the creation, the fall, and the atonement. I loved it and Elder Andersen a senior missionary made rolls. They are the best rolls I have ever eaten. 

Friday it was weekly planning day. Nothing too crazy happened. We planned all day long. Then we had dinner. 

On Saturday we went and did service because Light the world is starting. At the Museum. We helped clean dishes and put things away from a party that they had. Plug- It is the Christmas season what are y'all doing to Light The World? For more information about it go to LightTheWorld.org. what an amazing opportunity to serve other like Jesus Christ served. Then we went and did my plan with Sister Goodmansen. She pretty much has to plan life for after the mission. Then we went and had a lesson with Christian a recent convert. He is so awesome and super solid. Then we went and helped at the nativity we were able to watch one of the rooms. The bible collection room it was so fun. Also that morning inhad an idea to invite Kyle a guy that I was teaching in Carlsbad to the Nativity. He works in the oil field in Midland. He came!! I was so excited to see him. What a blessed day. Then we went and had dinner at the Thackers house. Where we had some good fried chicken. Then we went. Back to the nativity because we had to watch another room.

On Sunday it was fast Sunday. I love Sundays, I love being able to take the sacrament and fill my spiritual bucket. We invited a guy to church but he accidentily went to the wrong church building. So next week, but at least he went. We then had to rush out of church to go and sing at the Nativity with other missionaries in our zone. Then we rushed back to the church for break the fast. Then to a families house to watch the Christmas devotional. It was so amazing. I encourage y'all watch it if you have not already. 

I am grateful for this Gospel and for this Christmas season to remember our Savior Jesus Christ and who He was. I love y'all so much. Thanks for all of the love and support. 

- Love Sister Browning 

Pictures-

1. Dinner at Chick-fil-a 

2. Exchanges with sister Kovacs

3. Light the world tree

4. Kyle

5. Our "snow" because that doesn't exist in Midland!