Hermana Brown -- Arizona Mesa Mission: WEEK 61: Dude, Where's my car?

We had a super busy week! It was filled with service, lessons, meetings, and the temple but it was all really good! On Friday the familia Velez went through the temple and got sealed! We were invited so we got to attend and it was really special. They were really happy and there was definitely a strong spirit there in the temple. And in this branch they are very into decorating for everything, so guess who got recruited to help again! Us! Like when we decorated for that homecoming, this time we helped with the reception. Hermana Sanchez is the one that does it and she immediately asked us. She is really good at it but a little intense about it all. We invited all the missionaries to come help so we could get it done soon, and she kept asking me for help and my opinion, and I was like "uhhhhhh." I mean, you all know how opinionated I am...... but it all turned our really well and we got some good pictures from it.

We met with Adela this week and she is just SO AMAZING. She has so much real intent and I think she teaches us more than we teach her, just brought her example. We asked her to be baptized on January 28 and she got so excited and said she would do everything she needed to to prepare and be ready for that date!

Yesterday we met this guy from Germany who is an exchange student here and is in 11th grade. It was such a miracle we found him that night because he doesn't live in the area and he's never talked to missionaries before. We stated our purpose and stuff and he said he is grateful for what we do and hat he couldn't be doing what we're doing. I kind of realized that it is hard what we do everyday, but it's SO FUN! So I was glad he told us that. He asked us what our purpose is here on earth and so we basically taught a mini plan of salvation, and he was like "woah that's cool" so he agreed to have missionaries come over! Unfortunately we won't get to teach him but hopefully we'll be able to keep contact and see how it all goes!

So I think I forgot to mention last week that it's transfers this week and I'm going to stay in Escondido! Unfortunately Sister Howard is leaving to go to Valencia. My new companion is going to be Hermana Gonzalez from Chile! And one more thing, we have been called to be a Sister Training Leaders (STL) together! Our first time for both of us so it should be interesting. Pretty much just means we go on exchanges with all the Spanish sisters and we go to mission leadership council every month. It's going to be a great learning experience!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I can't believe I spent all of 2016 in Arizona, but it's pretty cool! Recently read a talk called "Reflections on a Consecrated Life" from the October 2012 General Conference and it talks a lot about how we can live celestial lives here on earth. I've decided to set my New Years resolutions based off of the principles it talks about in that talk and I encourage you all to do so as well. On Sunday in church they talked about setting goals. It Preach My Gospel it also talks a lot about setting goals. Goals definitely help us grow, and if we don't set them we will never know if we're improving. So I would encourage you all to set good meaningful goals this year to help you grow and love more like Christ. Love you all and best of luck in this new year!

Hermana Brown