Hello!!! How is everyone doing?? I haven't been hearing from
very many people so I hope everything is still going okay everywhere!
:) I can't believe it is already the Holiday season...It is so weird!
haha! I have been thinking about what it would be like to be home this
year for the holidays and I hate to say this but I am more excited to
be here this year then down there in good old Oklahoma. Don't get me
wrong, I would love to be at home spending as much time as possible
with my family and friends, but sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ
during this time of year should be fun to say the least.
I was thinking of some of our Thanksgiving traditions that we
do as a family and I remembered that I will not be there to write in
our Thanksgiving book this year to have it read with all of the other
entries....I remember that it was in this book that I announced to
everyone that I would be serving a mission. Its weird to think that it
has only been a little over year since I decided to serve and I have
been here for 9 and a half months already! Along with the book I will
miss eating Mother's amazing pumpkin pie. People here ask me what I
love to eat at Thanksgiving and I always answer them by saying that my
Mother makes the best pumpkin pie ever and that they can try to
duplicate it, but they won't succeed, BUT I also won't complain
because it will still be pumpkin pie. lol! I am a little nervous about
how much people will be feeding us! People love to feed missionaries
until we are about to explode... I have a hard time saying NO haha!
They tell me to eat more so I cave in and eat more because it tastes
SSSOOO good! haha! I will have to work out a ton after the holidays.
So on a sad note, we had a couple rough things happen to us
this week... Our wonderful miracle family, the S family, broke up with
us. :( It was the hardest most saddening thing that has happened to me
on my entire mission so far. We had a very powerful lesson with Sis. S
and daughter, but they still decided that the church was not the path
that they wanted to be on right now. As devastated as I am about this
because I love them SO much, I am at peace about it. We left
everything on a good terms with them and they said they would continue
to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We made sure that they
understood that we would still be more than happy to come and answer
any of their questions. I know with all my heart that they will join
the true church someday and that they will be sealed for time and
eternity in the temple. I have seen it! I have seen them in white! I
have peace in my heart and mind and I know that everything is in the
Lord's hands. He knows their hearts and he knows how to touch them
individually. I can only hope and pray that they will listen to His
answer while I am still here to see it happen. But if not, I know that
they have very strong seeds planted for future missionaries to come
and harvest later. Please continue to pray for this amazing family!
The other rough thing about this week is, the non-stop gloom
and rain has set in. It is cold and it is rainy and it is wet and it
is GRAY! All the time the sky is totally gray...But on the plus side,
there is green everywhere too. The trees are green, the ground is
green, everything is mossy, and slippery lol...So we are stocked up on
Vitamin D and C and we will make it though....Please write me some
letters, but I am not begging (pictures would me nice too) :)
We had an amazing mission conference this week with Elder
Paul B. Pieper of the 1st Quorom of the 70. He was amazing! We spent
from 9 in the morning till 3 in the afternoon with him. He had
fantastic insights into the scriptures and I wish I could share them
all with you, but I can't. It felt like he was speaking directly to my
soul. I was so grateful for his presence and the love that he brought
to us from the prophet. I am so excited for the new missionaries that
will be coming into the field. There are people here to find! There
are people here that are seeking the truth! There are the ELECT!! Help
your missionaries FIND THE ELECT!
I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be a
missionary! I never realized how far I have come until I see myself in
Sis. Mecham. I am grateful to be serving here in WA! Even if it is all
rainy now. I'm grateful for the members I have been able to get to
know but more importantly the non-members I have been able to meet. I
love more people than I ever thought was possible! I love everyone I
see on the streets! I love being able to talk to EVERYONE! It is my
right as a representative of the Savior to share His light with
everyone around me. I love my job and I love how I get paid...I only
wish I could do more. I strive to do more! I am thankful for the
support I get from home! I wish you could know how grateful I am for
your prayers! I feel them. I am thankful for you, my family and
friends...I could not be out here and doing this if I didn't know you
were there to support me. I am thankful for this gospel. It is THE
ONLY WAY! Jesus Christ is my Savior, Redeemer and Friend. I am
eternally grateful for His sacrifice for ME. He loves me and I love
Him. I love my God, my Heavenly Father, He has given me so much and I
hope that I show Him everyday by the way I live my life and do His
work. I am grateful for the words of the prophets, both ancient and
modern! They are amazing! I am grateful to be alive and healthy and
happy and to live in America! I am thankful for all my many blessings!
I am so happy! I love you all! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tada!!
Hola Familia! Oh gracious, this has been a week! haha! So
to start this letter off with some SUPER exciting news, I want to
thank everyone that has been praying for the "S" family. If you don't
remember who they are then you are missing out and you should go back
and read one of the previous letters. We had a wonderful lesson with
the S family on Wednesday and the Bishop was with us. We talked about
obedience and following the prophet and the word of wisdom. The Bishop
was awesome to have with us because he is a doctor and because one of
the main concerns of the S family is the word of wisdom, he was able
to talk about more of the scientific reasons why we abstain from the
items in the WofW. Anyway, so the Spirit was Amazingly strong, so
thick in the room that you could have cut it with a knife. Well we
followed the promptings of the Spirit and invited the S family to be
baptized and they said "yes" so we will be having a baptism on Dec 1st
for Bro and Sis S and the 10 year old daughter! I am the happiest
missionary ever right now! I can't believe how much of a miracle this
family is! They are the exact type of people that I was praying that I
would find on my mission. I know that it wouldn't have mattered who
the missionaries were in the area when they were prepared to hear the
gospel I am just so grateful to be blessed that it was me! :)
When we left the lesson that night, Sister Mecham and I had
a long talk about how it went and how she felt and how they felt as
the investigators. She told me that she doesn't feel that they are
"hers" and that it makes her happy that they are getting baptized but
that she wishes she could have been here when we started to teach
them, I reassured her that I know exactly how she feels. I was in the
same exact place when I first started in Walla Walla and we had a
baptism. I told her that it doesn't matter who we are, it matters that
we fulfill our purpose! Our purpose is to invite others to come unto
Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel... As long as we
remember that, then we can not go wrong. All we have to do is LOVE
EVERYONE and have the desire to serve them because that is what Christ
would do. After our heart to heart she was excited to make the S
family 'hers' in the future! And I am so excited to come back in a
year to see this beautiful family sealed for time and eternity in the
temple of our God.
Something else exciting that happened this week is that we
had a Specialized Zone Training and Interviews with President Greer!
This was different than zone conference because it was just our zone
and we were making goals for only our zone. It was really really good!
We were taught by the Assistants to the President and our Zone Leaders
as well as President and Sister Greer! The Greer's had just returned
from CA where they had attended a mission president training
conference with Elder Maynes of the Presidency of the 70. They told us
some really cool stats because of the announcement on missionary work.
Forgive me if you have already heard these things. Before theannouncements the average number of missionary applications opened
online was around 700. The weeks following the announcement went to
4500, 4700, then 5400! Can you believe that! I can't tell you what it
was after that but that is definitely something to be excited about! I
can't believe how fast this is all happening! President told us that
they have increased our missionary compliment from 190 missionaries in
the WKM to 250! They are expected to be all in by March or April! So
crazy! Also the number of sisters is doubling! Woohoo! I have told
Sister Mecham to be ready to train right after I am done training her!
I know that she will be, she is just that AWESOME! :)
This week we have Elder Pieper of the 1st quorum of the 70
coming on a mission tour and hopefully he will have even more cool
stuff to tell us about how the Lord is hastening his work and how the
second coming will be here before we know it! I am so excited! Aren't
you!? I will fill you in on what he has to tell us in my letter next
week!
I realized that I didn't tell you anything about Sister
Mecham last week so here you go: She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She
is the 4th of 8 kids. The line up is G, B, B, (Mecham), G, B, B, B.
They range in age of 27 to 12. She is just darling! She always has a
smile on her face unless she is crying which happens quite often lol
but it is only because she is very tender hearted and sweet. She is 21
and has wanted to serve a mission since she was 15. Her 1st name is
Whitney which is funny to me because that was Sister Chatwin's first
name even though they were spelled differently. I tease that I named
her after her Grandma. ;) I am not sure what else to say about her
other than how awesome of a missionary she is. I can't believe how
lucky and blessed I was to get her as my 1st baby!
Anyways, I gotta get going so I hope you all have a great
week and I love you so much! Talk to you later! XOXO
P.S. Funny quote from President Greer...when he saw us at the
specialized training the first thing he said was, "Are you Sisters
still here???" We said in a confused voice, "yes...." He replied, "I
thought you would have been translated by now with all the miracles
that are happening in your area!"
I love President, he is so funny! lol But he is right, there are so
many miracles happening right now, but it has nothing to do with us!
Its is all the Lord because of the prayers of so many! So thank you!
:)
to start this letter off with some SUPER exciting news, I want to
thank everyone that has been praying for the "S" family. If you don't
remember who they are then you are missing out and you should go back
and read one of the previous letters. We had a wonderful lesson with
the S family on Wednesday and the Bishop was with us. We talked about
obedience and following the prophet and the word of wisdom. The Bishop
was awesome to have with us because he is a doctor and because one of
the main concerns of the S family is the word of wisdom, he was able
to talk about more of the scientific reasons why we abstain from the
items in the WofW. Anyway, so the Spirit was Amazingly strong, so
thick in the room that you could have cut it with a knife. Well we
followed the promptings of the Spirit and invited the S family to be
baptized and they said "yes" so we will be having a baptism on Dec 1st
for Bro and Sis S and the 10 year old daughter! I am the happiest
missionary ever right now! I can't believe how much of a miracle this
family is! They are the exact type of people that I was praying that I
would find on my mission. I know that it wouldn't have mattered who
the missionaries were in the area when they were prepared to hear the
gospel I am just so grateful to be blessed that it was me! :)
When we left the lesson that night, Sister Mecham and I had
a long talk about how it went and how she felt and how they felt as
the investigators. She told me that she doesn't feel that they are
"hers" and that it makes her happy that they are getting baptized but
that she wishes she could have been here when we started to teach
them, I reassured her that I know exactly how she feels. I was in the
same exact place when I first started in Walla Walla and we had a
baptism. I told her that it doesn't matter who we are, it matters that
we fulfill our purpose! Our purpose is to invite others to come unto
Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel... As long as we
remember that, then we can not go wrong. All we have to do is LOVE
EVERYONE and have the desire to serve them because that is what Christ
would do. After our heart to heart she was excited to make the S
family 'hers' in the future! And I am so excited to come back in a
year to see this beautiful family sealed for time and eternity in the
temple of our God.
Something else exciting that happened this week is that we
had a Specialized Zone Training and Interviews with President Greer!
This was different than zone conference because it was just our zone
and we were making goals for only our zone. It was really really good!
We were taught by the Assistants to the President and our Zone Leaders
as well as President and Sister Greer! The Greer's had just returned
from CA where they had attended a mission president training
conference with Elder Maynes of the Presidency of the 70. They told us
some really cool stats because of the announcement on missionary work.
Forgive me if you have already heard these things. Before theannouncements the average number of missionary applications opened
online was around 700. The weeks following the announcement went to
4500, 4700, then 5400! Can you believe that! I can't tell you what it
was after that but that is definitely something to be excited about! I
can't believe how fast this is all happening! President told us that
they have increased our missionary compliment from 190 missionaries in
the WKM to 250! They are expected to be all in by March or April! So
crazy! Also the number of sisters is doubling! Woohoo! I have told
Sister Mecham to be ready to train right after I am done training her!
I know that she will be, she is just that AWESOME! :)
This week we have Elder Pieper of the 1st quorum of the 70
coming on a mission tour and hopefully he will have even more cool
stuff to tell us about how the Lord is hastening his work and how the
second coming will be here before we know it! I am so excited! Aren't
you!? I will fill you in on what he has to tell us in my letter next
week!
I realized that I didn't tell you anything about Sister
Mecham last week so here you go: She is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. She
is the 4th of 8 kids. The line up is G, B, B, (Mecham), G, B, B, B.
They range in age of 27 to 12. She is just darling! She always has a
smile on her face unless she is crying which happens quite often lol
but it is only because she is very tender hearted and sweet. She is 21
and has wanted to serve a mission since she was 15. Her 1st name is
Whitney which is funny to me because that was Sister Chatwin's first
name even though they were spelled differently. I tease that I named
her after her Grandma. ;) I am not sure what else to say about her
other than how awesome of a missionary she is. I can't believe how
lucky and blessed I was to get her as my 1st baby!
Anyways, I gotta get going so I hope you all have a great
week and I love you so much! Talk to you later! XOXO
P.S. Funny quote from President Greer...when he saw us at the
specialized training the first thing he said was, "Are you Sisters
still here???" We said in a confused voice, "yes...." He replied, "I
thought you would have been translated by now with all the miracles
that are happening in your area!"
I love President, he is so funny! lol But he is right, there are so
many miracles happening right now, but it has nothing to do with us!
Its is all the Lord because of the prayers of so many! So thank you!
:)
Monday, November 5, 2012
Announcing the Arrival of.......
.....SISTER MECHAM!!!!!! (pronounced "me come") This week was pretty
crazy, BUT---
I am so blessed! I am loving this opportunity I have to train
and be companions with Sister Mecham! She is so awesome! I almost
feel like she has been out in the mission field as long as I have. She
is so smart and very confident. She loves being a missionary and I
have worked her really hard this past week. From the time Sister
Dilworth left me and I went to be with Sister Brown and Sister McGhie
till Wednesday when I got Sister Mecham, our area was left alone, no
lessons taught or people visited, no new investigators found. I was
very sad that even after Sister Mecham joined me and we went back to
our area we still didn't get any lessons or OYMs (open your
mouths/tracting) because we had a lot to get done and little time to
do it in considering it was Halloween. On Thursday we hit the ground
running! We worked HARD the entire rest of the week. We got a lot
accomplished, in my opinion.
We went tracting on Thursday (even though I was trying to think
of "better" things to do with the hour of time we had). We went to an
area/neighborhood that Sister Dilworth and I were already tracting in
and went to a new street. I gave Sister Mecham a few pointers, we said
a prayer and were off to knock on doors. I talked at the first door
and they were not interested. We got to the second door and it was her
turn, an eight year old little girl answered the door and we asked to
talk to her mom, she went to get her and when she came to the door I
could feel that this would be good. Sister Mecham introduced us and
did a great OYM. Laura, the woman at the door, was actually
interested! We ended up teaching almost the entire 1st lesson on the
door step. We got a return appt to come and teach more on
Sunday(yesterday)! We were so excited! We kept working hard and
finished the rest of the week.
Sunday came and we got all prepared to teach The Restoration
to Laura and her family. We knocked on the door and her 5 year old son
, who we also met on Thursday, came and looked out the window and was
really excited and started to shout, "They're here! They're here!" It
was so cute! Laura comes and lets us in. We get to know her and do the
how to begin teaching items to let her know our purpose as
missionaries, which just so happened to fit right in to the lesson and
we got started with a prayer. Laura is such a neat lady, she has lots
of LDS friends and a previous boss was LDS. She committed to read and
pray about The Book of Mormon, but we were not done yet! Sister Mecham
still had to invite someone to be baptized before the day was over, so
we taught some more and the whole time the kids are being loud and
needy. Laura left the table to talk to them and was trying to get them
to play upstairs. While she was gone I gave Sister Mecham some silent
encouragement to ask "the question". When Laura sat back down and it
was quiet, Sister Mecham began to testify and the spirit once again
filled the room. Sister Mecham invited Laura to be baptized. It came
out a little shaky at first but the Spirit was strong and I am sure
Laura felt it. Laura responded and said that she "wasn't so sure about
any of it yet." Sister Mecham waited a moment or two and responded
with and inspired question, "what would be holding you back?" Laura
said that she didn't know enough and that she wanted to know more. We
assured her that that was perfectly alright and that we would love to
come and teach her more. We gave her Moroni chapter 10 to read and
pray about and we made a return appt for 2 weeks later at her request.
We said a closing prayer and left.
I know that Sister Mecham and I were supposed to find Laura. It would
have been great if Sister Dilworth and I found that family, but Sister
Mecham needed to have this experience! It is so wonderful how the Lord
works!
Other than that, Sister Mecham is hitting it off great with all
the ward members. She fits in wonderfully and everyone loves her! She
is just so easy to love! She is missing her family a lot but I know
that that is normal and I did/do too! We just have to push through and
work hard! I miss all my former companions as well! Its so great to
know that I will have them as friends forever now! I know that the
Lord knows who we are supposed to work with and that and that is why
Sister Mecham was sent to me! These next 11 weeks together are going
to be amazing and WE ARE GOING TO SEE MIRACLES!!!!! :) I am SO HAPPY
and SO TIRED!!!! haha
I love you all and I miss you and I can't believe that I have
less than 9 months left! That is so weird! It is going by so fast and
yet not all at the same time! Have a Happy November! I will be
catching up on letter writing soon, I promise! :)
crazy, BUT---
I am so blessed! I am loving this opportunity I have to train
and be companions with Sister Mecham! She is so awesome! I almost
feel like she has been out in the mission field as long as I have. She
is so smart and very confident. She loves being a missionary and I
have worked her really hard this past week. From the time Sister
Dilworth left me and I went to be with Sister Brown and Sister McGhie
till Wednesday when I got Sister Mecham, our area was left alone, no
lessons taught or people visited, no new investigators found. I was
very sad that even after Sister Mecham joined me and we went back to
our area we still didn't get any lessons or OYMs (open your
mouths/tracting) because we had a lot to get done and little time to
do it in considering it was Halloween. On Thursday we hit the ground
running! We worked HARD the entire rest of the week. We got a lot
accomplished, in my opinion.
We went tracting on Thursday (even though I was trying to think
of "better" things to do with the hour of time we had). We went to an
area/neighborhood that Sister Dilworth and I were already tracting in
and went to a new street. I gave Sister Mecham a few pointers, we said
a prayer and were off to knock on doors. I talked at the first door
and they were not interested. We got to the second door and it was her
turn, an eight year old little girl answered the door and we asked to
talk to her mom, she went to get her and when she came to the door I
could feel that this would be good. Sister Mecham introduced us and
did a great OYM. Laura, the woman at the door, was actually
interested! We ended up teaching almost the entire 1st lesson on the
door step. We got a return appt to come and teach more on
Sunday(yesterday)! We were so excited! We kept working hard and
finished the rest of the week.
Sunday came and we got all prepared to teach The Restoration
to Laura and her family. We knocked on the door and her 5 year old son
, who we also met on Thursday, came and looked out the window and was
really excited and started to shout, "They're here! They're here!" It
was so cute! Laura comes and lets us in. We get to know her and do the
how to begin teaching items to let her know our purpose as
missionaries, which just so happened to fit right in to the lesson and
we got started with a prayer. Laura is such a neat lady, she has lots
of LDS friends and a previous boss was LDS. She committed to read and
pray about The Book of Mormon, but we were not done yet! Sister Mecham
still had to invite someone to be baptized before the day was over, so
we taught some more and the whole time the kids are being loud and
needy. Laura left the table to talk to them and was trying to get them
to play upstairs. While she was gone I gave Sister Mecham some silent
encouragement to ask "the question". When Laura sat back down and it
was quiet, Sister Mecham began to testify and the spirit once again
filled the room. Sister Mecham invited Laura to be baptized. It came
out a little shaky at first but the Spirit was strong and I am sure
Laura felt it. Laura responded and said that she "wasn't so sure about
any of it yet." Sister Mecham waited a moment or two and responded
with and inspired question, "what would be holding you back?" Laura
said that she didn't know enough and that she wanted to know more. We
assured her that that was perfectly alright and that we would love to
come and teach her more. We gave her Moroni chapter 10 to read and
pray about and we made a return appt for 2 weeks later at her request.
We said a closing prayer and left.
I know that Sister Mecham and I were supposed to find Laura. It would
have been great if Sister Dilworth and I found that family, but Sister
Mecham needed to have this experience! It is so wonderful how the Lord
works!
Other than that, Sister Mecham is hitting it off great with all
the ward members. She fits in wonderfully and everyone loves her! She
is just so easy to love! She is missing her family a lot but I know
that that is normal and I did/do too! We just have to push through and
work hard! I miss all my former companions as well! Its so great to
know that I will have them as friends forever now! I know that the
Lord knows who we are supposed to work with and that and that is why
Sister Mecham was sent to me! These next 11 weeks together are going
to be amazing and WE ARE GOING TO SEE MIRACLES!!!!! :) I am SO HAPPY
and SO TIRED!!!! haha
I love you all and I miss you and I can't believe that I have
less than 9 months left! That is so weird! It is going by so fast and
yet not all at the same time! Have a Happy November! I will be
catching up on letter writing soon, I promise! :)
Congratulations!!!
Hello Family! (and everyone else) :)
I have some very exciting news!!! I have been on my mission for 9
months this Thursday. Can you believe it??? I always thought that I
would never make it to this point because it seemed so far away, and
now it is actually here! I also have another announcement, I am
expecting a baby and she will arrive tomorrow on Halloween! She will
be premature by a day to my 9 month mark. haha! I got the "training
phone call" from President Greer on Sunday night. I knew it was
coming but it wasn't real until I got the voicemail when Pres said ,
"Sister Brox, will you call me back as soon as you can please." I
called and he said that there were so many new missionaries coming in
so he and the Lord needed me to train a new missionary and that I
should get used to training because I will probably be doing it the
remainder of my mission. I said if the Lord wants me to train then I
will be happy to try my best!
I am so NERVOUS!!!! I don't want to mess her up! haha! I am
terrified because I only get her for 3 months and she has to be ready
to train another sister after that, oh my goodness! lol BUT I am also
very excited and happy that the Lord and Pres Greer have the faith and
confidence in me that I will be able to do it. I know that I can do
anything I need to as long as I use the strength that the Lord gives
me.
On another note, Sister Dilworth left me yesterday. :( major
sadness! But she is on her way home and she is excited to see her
family again and she was/is an amazing missionary so she has the
entire rest of her life to look forward to. I am just going to miss
her bunches! I am hanging out with the other sisters in the 'Couve
until transfers tomorrow so that I am not alone. lol. An interesting
note though is that after Sister McGhie goes home next transfer in
December, I will only have one previous companion in the mission field
and she will be the greeny I get tomorrow! So Weird! Everyone is
leaving me haha!
We did exchanges twice this last week. I went to work with the
Hermanas and the other Sisters in the area, two days in a row! It was
quite unusual to be away from home two nights in a row! I know that
the Lord sends us to the places we need to be at the exact right time.
I will fill you in more on this story some other time but first I need
to talk about something else.
Sis. Dilworth left with a bang a huge bang! We had our stake
youth fireside Sunday night. Mother was confused about the origin of
this fireside so here it is and here are the results. During the
beginning of our 2nd transfer together, Sista D and I had the
inspiration to plan a youth fireside because the youth here and
apparently all over the world are on fire with the Gospel and
missionary work. We wanted to make it a tri-ward (our 2 and another)
fireside with the wards that meet in our building. We presented this
plan to our ward mission leaders and they said ok, lets present it to
the bishops, the bishops set a date and we went with it. It turned out
to be a bad day, so we tried again. We had building scheduling
conflicts and general and stake conference conflicts and choir
practice conflicts and other youth activities and school stuff and
everything that could go wrong was going wrong. We were talking to a
recent convert that has 2 teenagers that we are teaching and she said
that we HAD to make it work and we HAD to make it work on the stake
level because the youth NEED it! So we changed the location and date
again and started going through the chain of command till we were
talking to a member of the Stake Presidency.He talked to the Stake
President and we got the approval to go ahead. We asked all the
missionaries in the stake to participate and got speaker and youth
from every ward to participate. We got a member from the high council
to conduct and the member of the stake presidency to preside and we
even had President and Sister Hartley the 2nd counselor to Pres Greer
to come. It was all working out and we had the funds to buy the
refreshments (so don't worry I will be reimbursed for that). We had
such a hard time getting it advertised because of general and stake
conferences and lack of communication from fellow missionaries.We didn't
expect much more than 50 youth. We started Sunday night and were a
little panicked because we werent' sure how it was going to go. We
ended up having 214 youth there! The chapel was FULL! It was absolutely
amazing it was an hour and a half and we had only planned on it being
an hour but it was better than we ever expected it to be!
I know that the Lord wanted this fireside to happen. I know that
He made it work. I know that the Spirit was there. I know that He is
in control and that if we do what He tells us to and try our very
hardest to make it work that He will pick up the slack if we can't do
it. I love my Savior and I am so grateful to be a member of His church
and have the blessing to share His restored gospel with the rest of my
brothers and sisters.
I appreciate all the prayers that are sent my way, I couldn't do
this without them. Thank you for praying for the people and the
families that I/we are teaching. I know that it is helping. Please
keep them coming! I love you all and I miss you all! I will be back
home before we all know it! :) Have a wonderful week! Talk to you in
November! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!
I have some very exciting news!!! I have been on my mission for 9
months this Thursday. Can you believe it??? I always thought that I
would never make it to this point because it seemed so far away, and
now it is actually here! I also have another announcement, I am
expecting a baby and she will arrive tomorrow on Halloween! She will
be premature by a day to my 9 month mark. haha! I got the "training
phone call" from President Greer on Sunday night. I knew it was
coming but it wasn't real until I got the voicemail when Pres said ,
"Sister Brox, will you call me back as soon as you can please." I
called and he said that there were so many new missionaries coming in
so he and the Lord needed me to train a new missionary and that I
should get used to training because I will probably be doing it the
remainder of my mission. I said if the Lord wants me to train then I
will be happy to try my best!
I am so NERVOUS!!!! I don't want to mess her up! haha! I am
terrified because I only get her for 3 months and she has to be ready
to train another sister after that, oh my goodness! lol BUT I am also
very excited and happy that the Lord and Pres Greer have the faith and
confidence in me that I will be able to do it. I know that I can do
anything I need to as long as I use the strength that the Lord gives
me.
On another note, Sister Dilworth left me yesterday. :( major
sadness! But she is on her way home and she is excited to see her
family again and she was/is an amazing missionary so she has the
entire rest of her life to look forward to. I am just going to miss
her bunches! I am hanging out with the other sisters in the 'Couve
until transfers tomorrow so that I am not alone. lol. An interesting
note though is that after Sister McGhie goes home next transfer in
December, I will only have one previous companion in the mission field
and she will be the greeny I get tomorrow! So Weird! Everyone is
leaving me haha!
We did exchanges twice this last week. I went to work with the
Hermanas and the other Sisters in the area, two days in a row! It was
quite unusual to be away from home two nights in a row! I know that
the Lord sends us to the places we need to be at the exact right time.
I will fill you in more on this story some other time but first I need
to talk about something else.
Sis. Dilworth left with a bang a huge bang! We had our stake
youth fireside Sunday night. Mother was confused about the origin of
this fireside so here it is and here are the results. During the
beginning of our 2nd transfer together, Sista D and I had the
inspiration to plan a youth fireside because the youth here and
apparently all over the world are on fire with the Gospel and
missionary work. We wanted to make it a tri-ward (our 2 and another)
fireside with the wards that meet in our building. We presented this
plan to our ward mission leaders and they said ok, lets present it to
the bishops, the bishops set a date and we went with it. It turned out
to be a bad day, so we tried again. We had building scheduling
conflicts and general and stake conference conflicts and choir
practice conflicts and other youth activities and school stuff and
everything that could go wrong was going wrong. We were talking to a
recent convert that has 2 teenagers that we are teaching and she said
that we HAD to make it work and we HAD to make it work on the stake
level because the youth NEED it! So we changed the location and date
again and started going through the chain of command till we were
talking to a member of the Stake Presidency.He talked to the Stake
President and we got the approval to go ahead. We asked all the
missionaries in the stake to participate and got speaker and youth
from every ward to participate. We got a member from the high council
to conduct and the member of the stake presidency to preside and we
even had President and Sister Hartley the 2nd counselor to Pres Greer
to come. It was all working out and we had the funds to buy the
refreshments (so don't worry I will be reimbursed for that). We had
such a hard time getting it advertised because of general and stake
conferences and lack of communication from fellow missionaries.We didn't
expect much more than 50 youth. We started Sunday night and were a
little panicked because we werent' sure how it was going to go. We
ended up having 214 youth there! The chapel was FULL! It was absolutely
amazing it was an hour and a half and we had only planned on it being
an hour but it was better than we ever expected it to be!
I know that the Lord wanted this fireside to happen. I know that
He made it work. I know that the Spirit was there. I know that He is
in control and that if we do what He tells us to and try our very
hardest to make it work that He will pick up the slack if we can't do
it. I love my Savior and I am so grateful to be a member of His church
and have the blessing to share His restored gospel with the rest of my
brothers and sisters.
I appreciate all the prayers that are sent my way, I couldn't do
this without them. Thank you for praying for the people and the
families that I/we are teaching. I know that it is helping. Please
keep them coming! I love you all and I miss you all! I will be back
home before we all know it! :) Have a wonderful week! Talk to you in
November! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
So this is a picture of Samantha Roberts...She is part of the coolest
family ever! They are fully active in the church and everything, but
Sam just turned 8 and they wanted her to have the missionary lessons
before she was baptized. So we taught her the lessons and went to her
baptism on this past Saturday. Isn't she just gorgeous! The Roberts
family is so awesome and totally hilarious! They are always willing to
do anything for us. Sister Roberts is even a ward missionary. They
have three girls, Kaylee, Sam, and Clara...Clara just makes my heart
melt everytime I see her! I even had a dream about playing catch with
her...so funny! Anyway, I will send a picture of us and the whole
family next week hopefully! :)
family ever! They are fully active in the church and everything, but
Sam just turned 8 and they wanted her to have the missionary lessons
before she was baptized. So we taught her the lessons and went to her
baptism on this past Saturday. Isn't she just gorgeous! The Roberts
family is so awesome and totally hilarious! They are always willing to
do anything for us. Sister Roberts is even a ward missionary. They
have three girls, Kaylee, Sam, and Clara...Clara just makes my heart
melt everytime I see her! I even had a dream about playing catch with
her...so funny! Anyway, I will send a picture of us and the whole
family next week hopefully! :)
No more sticky notes!
I want to thank everyone that has sent me sticky notes lately! I
have more sticky notes than I will need for the rest of my mission and
maybe even the rest of my life. lol So THANK YOU! But please don't
send me anymore or I won't have enough room to pack my clothes in my
suitcase the next time I get transferred. haha, OK maybe I exaggerate a
little, but seriously... I'm sure you get the point! :)
Mother, Thank you for the Halloween package! Sister Dilworth and
I loved all the treats, costumes, and misc. items (especially the
boogers)! The skirts fit perfectly and we love them! We have both worn
them at least twice since we got them. :) Also, thank you for the list
of remaining pre-mission items in my box at home. Something to
consider is using the scrapbook paper for the letters that you send to
me. As well as sending the paperclips that are already in there in the
next package, those will last me the rest of the mission. Thank you
for the information that you sent and answering my questions. I am not
planning on any big purchases soon or later for that matter...I am
just still OCD about money and I want to make sure that I am not over
spending on anything that I do buy. I was able to buy a new pair of
shoes that I could NOT resist. They are dark purple peep toe heels.
Obviously I will not be wearing them to do missionary work but for
special occasions it will be nice to have heels again. My shoes are
looking more and more like missionary shoes, if you know what I mean.
haha! I am excited that they have last half my mission already and I
plan on making then last quite a while longer.
I have been thinking about what to say for my memories about
Memaw and Papaw and I will write those down and send them so that it
won't take too much of my email time.
I would love to have some current pictures of everyone and
everything. For example: School pictures; Professional pictures (if
they have been taken); random funnies; the new kitchen; etc. :) Thanks
Mother, you also asked if it was hard for us to find the
Portland Temple when we went a couple weeks ago. The answer is no, it
was not difficult to get there, it was more difficult to get back!
haha! We do not drive ourselves to the temple because it is in
Portland which is out of our mission. So we have to find a ride. We
asked one of our most favorite people, Sister Lowe, to take us. She
printed off directions to the temple from mapquest and we got to the
temple just fine...We had a hard time for some reason reversing the
directions to get back but I knew pretty much how to get back because
I have served all over Vancouver now. So we got home just fine but in
a semi-round-about way.
I am excited to be able to come back and tour the mission and be
able to know where I am going (for the most part). There are so many
people that I want to visit again and that I want you (mother and
daddy) to meet!
One more quick thing before I run out of time...Is there anyway
that you can send me a ballot so that I can vote??? If there is
something that I have to do just let me know and I can ask Pres. Greer
for permission but if you can find all that out and send me something
that would be great! I would love to be able to vote and be an active
citizen even though I am a missionary.
We had Zone Conference and Stake Conference this week so it was
a wonderfully Spiritual week as well. We both had migraines after Zone
Conference so that was not very pleasant but we learned a lot and had
a great time regardless. We won "the cleanest car" award...which makes
2 times in a row for me with 2 different cars and companions. Sister
McGhie and I won last ZC. :) haha! I love clean cars!
You should look up voodoo doughnuts online...they are amazing.
The Roberts gave us an entire box of them! YUMM!!!
I gotta go! Miss you! I love you all! Have a great week! :) HUGS AND KISSES
have more sticky notes than I will need for the rest of my mission and
maybe even the rest of my life. lol So THANK YOU! But please don't
send me anymore or I won't have enough room to pack my clothes in my
suitcase the next time I get transferred. haha, OK maybe I exaggerate a
little, but seriously... I'm sure you get the point! :)
Mother, Thank you for the Halloween package! Sister Dilworth and
I loved all the treats, costumes, and misc. items (especially the
boogers)! The skirts fit perfectly and we love them! We have both worn
them at least twice since we got them. :) Also, thank you for the list
of remaining pre-mission items in my box at home. Something to
consider is using the scrapbook paper for the letters that you send to
me. As well as sending the paperclips that are already in there in the
next package, those will last me the rest of the mission. Thank you
for the information that you sent and answering my questions. I am not
planning on any big purchases soon or later for that matter...I am
just still OCD about money and I want to make sure that I am not over
spending on anything that I do buy. I was able to buy a new pair of
shoes that I could NOT resist. They are dark purple peep toe heels.
Obviously I will not be wearing them to do missionary work but for
special occasions it will be nice to have heels again. My shoes are
looking more and more like missionary shoes, if you know what I mean.
haha! I am excited that they have last half my mission already and I
plan on making then last quite a while longer.
I have been thinking about what to say for my memories about
Memaw and Papaw and I will write those down and send them so that it
won't take too much of my email time.
I would love to have some current pictures of everyone and
everything. For example: School pictures; Professional pictures (if
they have been taken); random funnies; the new kitchen; etc. :) Thanks
Mother, you also asked if it was hard for us to find the
Portland Temple when we went a couple weeks ago. The answer is no, it
was not difficult to get there, it was more difficult to get back!
haha! We do not drive ourselves to the temple because it is in
Portland which is out of our mission. So we have to find a ride. We
asked one of our most favorite people, Sister Lowe, to take us. She
printed off directions to the temple from mapquest and we got to the
temple just fine...We had a hard time for some reason reversing the
directions to get back but I knew pretty much how to get back because
I have served all over Vancouver now. So we got home just fine but in
a semi-round-about way.
I am excited to be able to come back and tour the mission and be
able to know where I am going (for the most part). There are so many
people that I want to visit again and that I want you (mother and
daddy) to meet!
One more quick thing before I run out of time...Is there anyway
that you can send me a ballot so that I can vote??? If there is
something that I have to do just let me know and I can ask Pres. Greer
for permission but if you can find all that out and send me something
that would be great! I would love to be able to vote and be an active
citizen even though I am a missionary.
We had Zone Conference and Stake Conference this week so it was
a wonderfully Spiritual week as well. We both had migraines after Zone
Conference so that was not very pleasant but we learned a lot and had
a great time regardless. We won "the cleanest car" award...which makes
2 times in a row for me with 2 different cars and companions. Sister
McGhie and I won last ZC. :) haha! I love clean cars!
You should look up voodoo doughnuts online...they are amazing.
The Roberts gave us an entire box of them! YUMM!!!
I gotta go! Miss you! I love you all! Have a great week! :) HUGS AND KISSES
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