Sunday, September 25, 2016

WEEK 46: On Becoming...

Hello everybody! Is week was a lot better than last week! We had a lot of member support, people opened the doors, we found new people to teach and it was just overall a way better week. A lot of miracles too! This week we had zone conference and I took a lot from it! We received a lot of trainings on working with members and asking them for referrals, and also asking for referrals from everyone. Our mission president is really awesome and I feel really strongly that he receives the guidance we need specifically for the Arizona Mesa Mission. 

This picture was posted on the Arizona Mesa Mission: President Townsend 2016-2017 Facebook page.
Zone Conference September 14, 2016
Missionaries from Superstition and Sky River Zones

We had a super awesome miracle this week! So it was about 8:30 pm and it was almost time for us to go back home but we decided to visit one more person we had put in our plans. We knocked on the door and we were looking for a man named Pablo, but a woman opened the door and just said "Pásenles!" (Come in!) So us being a little shocked we accepted the invitation and walked in. She asked us what our names were and we told her we were Hermana's, and she was like "ohhhhhhh your Hermana's." She later explained that she thought we were friends of the friends she was staying with but she did know we were missionaries. As we got to know her we learned that she just moved here from Mexico about three months ago, and she's here looking for work but so far has had no luck. She also explained that she has an uncle who is a member of the church and he set her up to meet with the missionaries! So then she told us she had been meeting with them and trying to read the Book of Mormon but she had a hard time understanding it, but she really liked learning! But the she came here and she said were the first sister missionaries she's ever seen. She told us she wants to keep learning and she's really glad that we found her that night! So we invited her to church and she said she was going to come, but she called us that morning and told us that she had to take care of some kids so she wasn't able to come this Sunday, but next Sunday for sure! But it was such a miracle that we found her that night and that God crossed our paths so she can be in contact with the church again!

From my studies this week...
"Certainly the most successful lives are those that have the most worthwhile experiences. The religion of Christ itself is not so much a set of ideas as it is a set of activities. The purpose of the Church is to help us translate the principles of the gospel of Christ into constructive, meaningful human experience. And everyone should work toward this end by a daily practice of thinking some uplifting thoughts, listening to some fine music, reading some stimulating literature, doing some good deeds, and having some great experiences every day." -Elder Sterling W. Sill (General Conference, April 1971, Great Experiences)

The church is not only here to tell us how to live our lives and give us things that we can or can't do, but it's here to help us gain experience and live and apply the things that we do learn. In the church we are always learning about how we can improve and what we can do better, but if we don't live what we learn how are we supposed to gain the experience that our Heavenly Father wants us too? One of the biggest things I have learned on my mission is that if you want something the only way to achieve it is to just do it. I always find myself seeing things in others that I wish I had, or wishing I could have certain talents or strengths that to others it comes naturally. But one day I realized there is nothing stopping me from having those qualities I desire. At the beginning of my mission I had a hard time opening my mouth and teaching in the lessons, and I had always set a goal to be a powerful teacher. But it took me way too long to know that if I don't teach, I will never become a powerful teacher. Now I am still improving my teaching abilities,  the more I teach the more powerful my testimony is. I continue to apply this principle in all aspects and it has made the biggest difference. This is only possible through the enabling power of the atonement. So I challenge you all to stop worrying about who you are not and start becoming the person you want to be, or more importantly, the person God wants you to be. I am so grateful to be here in the mission to not only bring others unto Christ, but also myself.

Hermana Brown

One more thing I forgot to mention is that Sandra and Noel, the ones I were teaching in Valencia, go baptized on Saturday! I'll send Jose pictures next week because I don't have them right now but it was really special!

This is he same scorpion I saw last week, but Hermana Escobar took a way cooler picture of it!


Really cool cat that we saw! (Photo cred: Hermana Escobar)



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