Happy Mom's Day!

¡¡FELIZ DIA DE LA MADRE!!

Wow! OK so where do I even start with this week...its been a wild one.

So last Monday we had fun in a zone activity playing volleyball and my companion was really excited to be able to touch a soccer ball even though we couldn't play with the elders. hna Murdock showed me how to do a rainbow! She impressed the Latino elders with her skills too. 

As soon as we got to 6:30 Monday night we HIT the ground running!! We were both determined to work our heart out this week and that went super super great until about Wednesday afternoon and I don't know what happened exactly but I turned into a ZOMBIE. Like i COULD not function even if I wanted to and it was SO frustrating because we had a SUPER important appointment with our investigator that night who was supposed to get baptized on Saturday. and I had become basically mute! hna Murdock was tired to but we got to the appointment and literally all I could do was just look at her and smile and occasionally offer a few inspired words. but hna Murdock had to basically be in charge of the whole lesson. She didn't like it but I was actually pretty amazed at how well she did. I think it might have been divine intervention that was making me keep my mouth shut so that hna Murdock could be able to have that experience to prepare her for lessons when I won't be there not there to help her. But it was a wonderful lesson and the spirit was very strong, because we were both just 100%relying on the spirit. Afterward we made cheesecakes with the familia Aramayo and the familia Fernandez. Los amamos tanto!! les encantaron los cheesecakes tambien!!!

On Thursday we had an English class and also Natalia Aramayo had her baptismal interview. Turns out she needs a little bit more time. We're okay with that. The English class we had hyped everyone up about a LOT and we thought a lot of people would come. So we made the cheesecakes AND brownie bites. well we had a nice class with our 3 students and ate a LOT of sugar that night. My companion had a lot of fun teaching English. 

On Friday it rained a lot all morning and I had come down with a cold. We had planning all morning which was good but going out in the cold in the evening was hard. 

On Saturday we woke up ready to work at full gear again and we had a successful day. We had some great lessons and taught some great people about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. My companion has been practicing how to invite people how to pray. She's getting really good at teaching now. We got home feeling like we had worked our hardest to the very last minute and we were feeling good until the call from our zone leaders came. Turns out that they are CLOSING OUR AREA :(  that was really hard for hna Murdock. She will be finishing her training with hna Acevedo in La Colorado. They are bringing in elders to Guaracal. It could be that there's just really not any hnas in the mission right now but the elders that are coming seem pretty excited to pick up where were left off and I think they are gonna take good care of the area for us. It is hard though.

Sunday we finished the first six weeks of Hna Murdock's training. She's progressed so much. We had decided to not worry about picking up the familia Aramayo to go to church this week because we wanted to see if they had the strong enough desire to be able to come to church on their own. 

They arrived just before the sacrament!! and they stayed all three hours!! They'll be okay after we leave. The ward was all pretty shocked and sad to find out that we were both leaving. Literally the sacrament meeting hymns were "placentero nos es trabajar" which only exists in Spanish but is what they sing to say goodbye to people also "called to serve" for the rest hymn and "God be with you till we meet again" for the ending hymn. This ward sure knows how to send off a missionary. Honestly I'm so glad I got to end my mission in Guaracal. We loved the people so much this cambio, and we realized on Sunday that they had really really come to love us as well. 

We were busy all day running from one house to the other and we were ready to throw up from all the food people were giving us. masaco, arroz con leche, emanadas. One member felt bad for never being able to teach us how to make cuñape so we went over and she showed us how. I'll make it when I get home its super good. But we were ready to explode that's for sure. We also made our video phone calls for mothers day and had some wonderfully bittersweet goodbyes.

This is God's work and it is a work of Love. Our only job is to love the people. If we can do that, then we've succeeded in our calling as missionaries of the Lord. We did our job. We loved the people, and that's really all that people really need, is to feel loved. I've really striven to do God's will this cambio and we weren't perfect and not all our plans followed through, but we had willing hearts, the spirit, a positive attitude, and a desire to serve, and I feel like that's exactly what He expected of us. Being a missionary, is a special and sacred calling. I love being a missionary. 

So this weeks gonna be weird. I'll see y'all on Saturday. 

I testify that God loves us and that it is truly a Joy to share His gospel. 

I am a representative of Jesus Christ, and a member or His Church. I testify that He lives, he is our Savior, and that repentance brings up true and lasting happiness and peace. 

Love you guys. have a great week, see y'all on the other side,

Love and Luck from Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Hermana Brown

Down to the Wire

Hey everyone!! First of all thank you for all your prayers! Because I know we have been very blessed this week! Thank you!!

Multi-Zone Conference

So this last conference was great because it was a lot about the new ministering program and I think its something we really needed because being a high baptizing mission its easy to get caught up in the numbers but with the idea of ministering to the people and the members we can really see a lot more success and have a more fulfilling experience with investigators and that's really what we should be doing. It was a good conference and I learned a lot. I also felt very blessed because hna Rodriguez assigned me and hna Murdock to organize the special musical number with hna Gardner and hna Allen. So that was perfect because me and hna Gardner are dying together and hna Murdock and hna Allen are in training and it was great to be able to do music again with hna Gardner. We had both thought of the same song to sing too we chose "Peace in Christ" and it all came together really well even though we only had a couple of days to practice. But it was perfect. I'm glad I got to sing in my last conference. Also I'm glad I got to hear the Last testimonies of hna Gardner and hna Hartline who are from my ccm group. The spirit was very strong and I can see how far we've all come from a year and a half ago. Its incredible. I cried as I gave my last testimony in the conference. But I felt like I said all I wanted to say. 

here's the short version of what I said-

"I know that all that we as missionaries teach and all that we represent, is true. I love being a missionary, and I love the Lord."

Marcia y Natalia

We taught about Fasting this week with our wonderful familia Aramayo!! They are progressing so well!! We invited them to participate in a Fast with us this last Thursday and it was really cool to be able to do that with them. I'd never fasted with an investigator before so it was very special to learn that they both had successfully completed the 24 hour fast. They have so much faith I love them!! I feel like they are really growing in their faith so much. I'm so happy for them.

Ministering

This week i feel like me and hna Murdock have been able to put into practice the new ministering concept. As missionaries we always don't seem to have a lot of time to do all the things. But we made brownie balls for some of our ward leaders this week and delivered them just to be able to say thanks and show them that they are loved, and we feel that it has really made a difference in the ward. I feel good because I feel like even though I'm not prefect, at least the things that we do do are meaningful things. So I hope that everyone can work on their ministering skills. Make sure to always do good things out of LOVE. Love the people. Do things that have meaning. Even if they're small. By small things great things come to pass. But those small things have to matter.

Hna Murdock

hna Murdock is doing great!! She keeps surprising me with how well she's progressing! She's a very brave person and she has so many wonderful ideas. I know she is blessing this ward so much and I'm glad to know that I'll be leaving Guaracal in great hands. Her Spanish is very good and she's learning more every day. She's a brave person and a strong missionary and I love her very  much! I feel very blessed to be her trainer.

Love from the Ward

So yesterday we were pleasantly surprised! After church one of the members who is a great friend invited us over to her house to "help her move some things" we said yes, suspiciously sounding as it was and we were surpised with a lovely sign that said " love from the missionaries shows us the love of the Savior" or something like that and lots of treats and balloons. We felt very loved and I wanted to cry. I love this ward and I'm glad that they feel loved. 

I've also learned that every ward is different and you cant work the same on one ward as you did in the other. I think the way to this wards heart is: Food. ha ha 

Well this weeks gonna be great! and we are gonna be VERY busy! i hope y'all will do the same!!

love y'all!

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Hermana Brown

In the Hands of the Lord

Helloooooo so I think I'm going to just stop responding to people when they ask me how much time I have left. I'm just going to smile and keep working. 

Have fun translating! sorry!

entonces este semana sentí que fuimos guiados mucho por la mano del Señor. el lunes tuvimos un buen dia planificada. ibamos a tener un noche de hogar en la casa de un miembro con uno de nuestros PFs y todo estaba preparada para eso. pero llegó 6:30 de la tarde y TODOS nuestros citas nos cancelaron. y los miembros estaban esperando que llegamos con investigadores a su casa en una hora!! entonces empezé a llamar a TODOS, invitando todos nuestros investigadores a la noche de hogar. ninguno contestaron. mientras que estaba llamando, caminamos hacia la casa de un investigador que siempre esta en casa que tal vez pudimos llevar al noche de hogar. estaba preocupada pero oré y seguí el espiritu. en camino, pensamos a tocar la puerta de una otra investigadora que solo habiamos tenido un leccion recien. pero tocabamos su puerta y la invitamos al noche de hogar. y dijo que si!! nospermitió a pasar mientras que ella se listaba y llegó su esposo de su trabajo. pudimos conocer a el y lo invitamos tambien. a final TODO su familia fueron con nosotras a la casa de estes miembros que nos estaban esperando con todo ya preparaday fue un noche que hablemos de la familia. fue hermoso y lo que fue más asombroso de todo fue que fuimos perfectamente puntuales,como Dios tuvo todo ya planificada para este noche, y por seguir lo que el espiritu me dijo, tuvimos un noche más exitoso que lo que nostostras mismas pudriamos preparar. Dios conoce sus hijos, y sabe sus necesidades. este es SU obra y solo somos sus herrimienta. si permitimos que el nos guie, tendremos mucho más exito. lo más importante es para seguir el espiritu. 
este mismo tipo de experiencia pasó con nuestro actrividad del barrio que tuvimos este sabado. tuvimos una NOche de Postres. cada familia tienian que venier y tenian que traer un postre para compartir. y fue un GRAN EXITO!! personas treaeron postres y amigos y sus familiares y fue MUY divertido y tuvimos refrencias y sentimos que tenemos mucho más confianza de los miembros ahora. y nos estan ayudando mucho más en la obra misional. todo es posible cuando tenemos caridad, y cuando ayudamos a otras personas a tener caridad tambien! este es un obra de amor!

12 semana esta yendo bien. hna Murdock esta progresando bien y tengo muchos ideas a como puedo audarla aun más. estamos estudiando el idioma en la calle, y estoy tratando a darla más oportunidades a hablar y participar.

terminé el libro de mormón este semana. sé que es verdadero. con todo mi alma y corazon. es un libro poderoso. y es lo mejor misionero. estoy agradacida ser miembro de la iglesia de Jesucristo.

And now--the Google Translate Version:

Then this week I felt that we were guided a lot by the hand of the Lord. On Monday we had a good planned day. We were going to have a family home evening at a member's house with one of our PFs and everything was ready for that. but it arrived 6:30 in the afternoon and ALL our appointments canceled us. and the members were waiting for us to arrive with researchers at their home in an hour !! then I started calling ALL, inviting all our researchers to family home evening. none answered. While I was calling, we walked to the house of an investigator who is always at home that maybe we could take to family home evening. I was worried but I prayed and followed the spirit. On the way, we thought to knock on the door of another researcher that we had just had a lesson. but we knocked on her door and invited her to the home evening. and said yes! She allowed us to go through while she was listing and her husband arrived from his job. We could meet him and we invite him too. At the end, ALL his family went with us to the house of these members who were waiting for us with everything ready and it was a night that we talked about the family. It was beautiful and what was most amazing of all was that we were perfectly punctual, as God had everything planned for tonight, and to follow what the spirit told me, we had a more successful night than what we ourselves could prepare. God knows his children, and knows their needs. This is HIS work and we are only his tool. if we allow him to guide us, we will have much more success. The most important thing is to follow the spirit.

This same kind of experience happened with our neighborhood activity that we had this Saturday. We had a dessert night. Each family had to come and they had to bring a dessert to share. and it was a GREAT SUCCESS !! People tried desserts and friends and their relatives and it was VERY fun and we had feedback and we feel that we have much more confidence from the members now. and they are helping us much more in the missionary work. Everything is possible when we have charity, and when we help other people to have charity too! This is a work of love!

12 weeks is going well. Sr. Murdock is making good progress and I have many ideas on how I can augment her even more. We are studying the language in the street, and I am trying to give it more opportunities to speak and participate.

I finished the Mormon book this week. I know it's true. with all my heart and soul It is a powerful book. and it is the best missionary. I am grateful to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ.

I know that The Book of Mormon is True. I am proud to be a member of the Lords church. this week the lyrics of this song came to my mind and I will share them with you as my testimony for this week.

I belong to the church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints.

I know who I am.

I know God´s plan.

I´ll follow Him in faith.

I Love the Lord. I know He lives. We can always find Peace in Christ.

I love being the Lords missionary and I know that this is His work.

Love and luck from Bolivia,

Hermana Brown

pics

-yo y hna Murdock

-the taborotchi trees are blooming. its beuatiful

Training Baptism and Testimony

Hey guys!! Not much time but I'll go over the important things: Training, a Baptism, and the worst question ever "how much time do you have?"

Training

So hna Murdock is really progressing a lot and so am I!! Honestly, it's difficult to be a trainer, because you have to kind of pull the weight of two missionaries but when you have a great junior companion it makes a lot easier!! Hna Murdock is studying hard and helps me in all the things that she can, and that helps me a whole lot when I'm worrying about all the things that need to be done. She helps me stay on track and remember important things and truly it is miraculous to watch he gift of tongues work in her! The people love her and are more open to listen to us when she starts to speak, because they recognize the huge effort that she's making means that what shes saying is something really important. At the same time, this week I realized how much my testimony really has grown. I now feel comfortable to testify of the gospel sincerely and with power and authority. And it makes a big difference in lessons! One investigator told us "I  believe its true because of the way you talk about it." That was cool!

Baptism

One of my investigators that moved recently to another area got baptised!! I'm so happy that I could participate in her teaching!! Her name is Alejandra Mancila: there's a picture below! The gospel truly changes lives and people!

"how much time...?"

every time someone asks me that question it kills me inside. But it is pretty funny to see their reactions when I tell them "3 weeks".

Testimony

I know the church is true. I know Christ Lives. I know that God loves us and that we are His children. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. I know that the fullness of the Gospel has been restored. I love to be a missionary.

How can you strengthen your testimony this week?

love y'all!

hermana Brown

17 Months!!! WHAT???

Hey guys!! So I just completed 17 months in the mission WHAT?? I feel weird. but its been a great week honestly.

Hna Maman about to go home! 

Hna Murdock

Mi hija is doing fantastic!! Its really hard to learn a language but she's working super hard. I'm super proud of her. She's a great support and inspiration to me. Its amazing to realize how quickly the gift of tongues works. She doesn't realize it because she feels like she needs to know things instantly but honestly I can see how she's learning everything at such an incredibly fast rate, that she is truly a miracle unfolding before my eyes. and then I see myself, and how fluent I speak now and all of the gospel things I've learning and how far I've come and it makes me realize how truly miraculous  missionaries are. Training isn't easy, but its wonderful. I love my companion.

References

So this week we received and contacted some great references. We found a family who "want to have a testimony and be happy" like the members that they know and also another investigator that wants to understand why there are so many churches and was fascinated with the message of the Restoration. I feel like God is truly guiding us to the places we need to be and he is guiding our words to say the things we need to say. 

Send your references to the missionaries!!!

Let you Light so Shine

So in Mathew 5 and in 3 nephi , Christ tells us that we each have a light that we need to shine with the world. This week I've really felt full of light. I've realized that I have talents and unique experiences and a testimony to share that can help other people be happy and I want to share it!! I also loved seeing our member in church yesterday because I could see that every person has a beautiful light that they can share with the world. I want to help people find their own light and shine it. President Thomas S. Monson says "if you want to help other shine, you must first glow yourself." I'm trying to Light the World. and I know that everyone of you guys also have a wonderful light that you can share. I invite you to share it!! Help the world be a brighter place. Focus on the good, rejoice in the success of others. We all are a part of the body of Christ. so please take care of each other and really get involved in this new "ministering" program. Because I know it is truly inspired of God. I'm excited for all the progress we are going to see this year!

I know the Christ is our Savior! I know that He Lives!! I know that the greatest joy in life comes from sharing the Gospel with others!

I love being a missionary!!!

Love from Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Hermana Brown

Cambios and Conferences

SO. Wasn't THAT the most crazy general conference you've ever seen??? And if you haven't seen it yet, watch it! here's the link:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SU-1-4-2018_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

Cambios

So first of all, my companion hna Rayme is leaving and I stay here in Guarcal, and I'm going to TRAIN!!!!

I'm super excited! But also pretty nervous. I want to help this new missionary to have the best mission ever. For that I need to be the best missionary that I can be. Exactly obedient, and working hard and having lots of patience!!! But I know that this cambio has a lot of miracles waiting for us. My <3, soul, mind and strength are in the work of the Lord! and it truly is a marvelous work!!

Right now I'm with hna Ius, until my new new companion arrives on Wednesday so I don't know who she is yet. Don't know if shell be Gringa or Latina. 

But I'm excited to share my love for the work with her anyways.

Conference

So lots of incredible announcements and lots of wonderful, inspired talks from our wonderful church leaders. But I'd like to share with you guys the wonderful experience I had Saturday morning when we had the opportunity to sustain president Nelson as prophet, seer, and revelator. Here's what "sustain" means if you don't know: 

https://www.lds.org/church/news/raising-our-hands-to-sustain-is-also-a-promise-to-do-our-part?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_SA-31-3-2018_dPFD_fCNWS_xLIDyL2-3_

But I'd like to testify that I know with all of my hart and soul that President Nelson is A true prophet called of God. I know because the spirit filled my heart with such love and such joy while they proposed his sustainment to the members of the relief society and to the members of the church. In both opportunities I felt 100% sure that by raising my hand to sustain the Prophet, that I was indeed doing the right thing. I know that this is the Lords church. and I feel incredibly grateful that I can be apart of it. I feel even more incredibly grateful that I can be apart of building this, the Lords kingdom and spreading the Restored Gospel.

I know it is true, and truth does not need to be proved. It just is. 

Thank you for all your prayers, I hope you all can continue studying the conference talks this week in more depth.

I'm a Mormon, I know it, I live it, I love it.

Bolivia,Santa Cruz

Hermana Brown

Baptism!

Hey guys! hope everythings going great!! this week has been awesome!

Israel

So this week everything came together nicely for a beautiful baptism for a young man named Israel. He is a great young man that understands the doctrine well and sincerely wants to follow Christ. I'm grateful that we've been able to have the opportunity to teach him. The best thing is that he also has a lot of support from his friends in the young men's group. Honestly our young men's group impresses me a lot. They encourage one another to do good thing like go to church and bear their testimonies (which they all did yesterday in testimony meeting) and they pass by for every young man on Sunday mornings to pick them up and walk to church. so we know that Israel is going to be just fine with these outstanding young men. 

there's some pics attached of his baptism.

Obedience

So this week I've been trying to be EXACTLY obedient. and lately in the mission our president has been talking alt about how we are a body, when a part of your body hurts you focus on that part and heal it because it affects all the other parts of the body, then if you just have a little tooth ache it causes pain affects the body as a whole. So I've been focusing on my person as a whole and focusing on the parts of me that are weaker than others and I've been focusing on healing or strengthening those parts so that as a whole I'm a better person. It's important to not ignore your weaknesses, but to accept them and then work on strengthening them through using Christ's atonement. 

This week I invite all of you to strive to be like Christ and to do as He would do. Remember that though Him we all will live again and that is the most beautiful message that anyone could receive. 

https://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_FR-15-3-2018_dMIS_fCNWS_xLIDyL1-A_  

watch the video!!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! and don't forget to watch conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love from Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Hermana Brown