"The Hardest Think I've Ever Loved To Do"

  I can't believe that it is actually time to email my last letter home. Its been a crazy 18 and a half months, hasn't it? Time has just flown by! The title of the email is from a song on The Nashville Tribute CD The Work. It seems fitting for the occasion. Coming home really and truly is the hardest thing I've ever loved to do. I am so so so so so so so excited to come home and see everyone and do everything, but I am also terrified beyond reason to be leaving the mission field here in Washington. I am all packed and loaded into the car. All I have left to do is write this email, have some fun with my zone and then drive to Vancouver to the mission home. Everytime I think about it my stomach gets more and more upset. All I can think about is did I do all that I could for the Lord? Is He pleased with my efforts? Of course the answer is yes, but the thoughts are still there. I know that I could have done better at times, but overall, I was obedient and I worked hard. I was tired every night. More tired than I have ever been in my whole life. Every single second of every single day was worth it! I know that I had some hard times: bouts with homesickness, bouts with my companions, frustrations with the people I was teaching, heartbreaks when people told me that they didn't want to see us anymore, or doors just simply being slammed in my face as they cuss me out and tell me I am going to hell and that I don't believe in the "real Jesus." To anyone else that hasn't been a missionary, those things may seem like enough to just come home and not worry about those hard times. I can say with all of my heart that even those hard times were wonderful. I have learned more than I ever thought that I could. There are the best of times to think of as well! Times when your companions become your best friends, when you see someone you have taught get baptized, when you find someone who is seeking for the knowledge of the gospel and they let it change their lives, when you make friends everywhere you go with members and nonmembers alike, times when you are so down and out then the Lord provides you with a miracle, when prayers are answered in ways that are just perfect for the situation, when you get out and work and it doesn't matter what the results were as long as you knew that you did all that you could, and times when you feel the Spirit of the Lord so strong that there is nothing on heaven or earth that could possibly change the way you feel about your testimony. I want to end this email with my testimony.

           I know that my Savior, Jesus Christ, lives. I know that He loves me and because He loves me, He has taken upon Himself all of my sins and my pains. I know that He will never leave me alone. I know that God lives and that He loves me so much that He willingly gave His sinless son to atone for the world. God provided us with His wonderful plan of happiness. I know where I came from and I why I am on this earth and what will happen to me after I die. I am so grateful that I will be with my family for eternity as we all hold fast to the covenants that we have made. I am so grateful, happy and proud to say that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know that the fullness of Christ's gospel can be found within this church. I am grateful for the young farm boy Joseph Smith and his simple question that lead to a spectacular answer that I can not deny to be true. I know that the power of the holy priesthood was restored to the earth. I know that it still is upon the earth today and that all of the keys are held and used by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. It is through the power of the Holy Ghost that I know that these things are true. I have felt the burning answer in my heart more times than I could even hope to remember. I love the scriptures! I can't imagine a day with out reading at least a line from them. My soul hungers for the words found in The Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible. I love eveything that prophets both ancient and modern have said to us. All they are doing is teaching us what God wants us to know for our eternal salvation. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to devote 18 months of my life to the one that gives me life.I have been able to share my knowledge and testimony with people from all over the world, just here in Washington. I am grateful for the love and appreciation that this time has given me towards my family and friends. You all have done so much for me and I am eternally grateful for you. I have been blessed with so many things and I could start a list and never be able to finish it.  To go back to the first and most important item, I know that Jesus Christ is here for me and for everyone. He invites all to come unto Him. He wants to forgive us when we do something wrong. He wants us to come back home. He is willing to do anything for us as long as we are willing to do what He asks. Its really not hard. Its as simple as His doctrine states, we must have faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and endure to the end. He is THE way! He has shown this to us time and time again. We can have happiness forever. I so testify in the name of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I love you all and I will see you tomorrow!

WOW!!!

   I can't even describe what it is like to be a missionary. I don't have the words in my vocabulary to help anyone understand the love and sorrow that you can feel in a single week. This past week was an emotional and spiritual roller coaster! We did so much that I don't have the time to tell you about it. One of the biggest highlights was Shada's baptism on Saturday. The Spirit was so strong and I was so happy for her. Satan was trying so hard to get her to change her mind. He threw curve ball after curve ball it was ridiculous. But I prayed and fasted and I knew that it would happen and it did. Shada, I know you will read this...I know that Heavenly Father is so happy with you that you followed the example of our Savior. Congratulations again my friend, I love you! It was an outstanding baptismal service. I also go to see some of my old friends from Lacamas Creek and Harmony. I loved it!

     We also are teaching a mother and son right now. They are so sweet! The night we got back from the baptism we went and taught them. The Spirit was so strong there as well. We had planned on inviting them to be baptized but we didn't say who would ask them. As we were teaching I kept thinkings to myself, Sister Brox, just be quiet! I didn't say much and as Sister Lierley was teaching she invited "J" to be baptized. Amazing! She said yes and I asked her if she would prepare to be baptized on Aug 31st and she said that it was too soon because she needs to find another job first so that she can come to church every Sunday. It was so cool! As we left and headed home, Sister Lierley was so excited! I was too of course, but she told me that that was the first time she had asked someone if they wanted to be baptized on her mission. She has been out for 4 months and hadn't done it yet. It was a great testimony builder to me to see her grow as a missionary and for me to keep my mouth shut so that she could do it! Wonderful!

     Last night, we had an impromptu lesson with another girl that we are teaching, the Bishop asked her to meet with us. She always seems try to get under our skin with the things that she says. Well last night was no different. She told us about how she liked the sins that she commits and that she doesn't want to change. She asked how many times we had to meet with her and why we wanted to know so much and why we do things the way we do in the church. We asked her what her testimony was and she didn't say anything about Christ. So we asked her what she thinks of Him and she said that there is no way that he can be real. Its all a fantasy story. We talked and testified for a little over an hour and then she got up to leave and I asked if we could say a prayer first and she said no she didn't want to and walked out. The moment she was gone you could feel the Spirit rush back into the room to comfort Sister Lierley and I. We could not believe everything that just happened. But both of us received a very valuable lesson that day about how precious and important our testimonies are of our Savior and Redeemer. I love Him with everything in me. I can not do anything with out Him. HE IS THE WAY!

 I love you all! See you in a week!

It's Going Too Fast!!

I can't believe how fast time is flying! I get out of bed in the
morning and the next thing I know its dinner time and then time to go
home and plan for the next day. I don't even have time to breathe! At
church yesterday everyone was saying things about when I go home in 3
or 4 weeks and I had to correct them and say, "No, its only 2 more
weeks!" I am running out it time and it is tormenting me. I am so
excited to go home and see everyone and be able to relax again, but I
don't want to leave Washington. :( I have so many friends and family
here too! Oh goodness, enough about that. This week was fantastic! We
had p-day in Hood River and played some v-ball. Tuesday we went to
"the 'Couve" for Sister's conference! So AMAZING!!! I got to see my
best friend on the mission, Sister Neumayer! As well as other sisters
whom I love dearly! It was so cool because we got to meet the sisters
that we got when the stakes from Portland joined the mission. They are
outstanding! I am at peace about leaveing because there are so many
great sisters here to take care of our baby the Washington Vancouver
Mission. Wednesday we got to go to girls camp! That was so much fun!
We taught 3 classes on Scripture Study and it went great! We ate lunch
and got some fun stuff! :) Thursday we had district meeting and that
was great! So that made 4 days in a row of driving at least 45 minutes
away from Goldendale! Crazy! But with all of the traveling we were
still able to teach a lot of people and even find a wonderful lady to
teach. She is a big sweetheart and she is totally ready to hear the
gospel and to let it affect her life for the good. I LOVE BEING A
MISSIONARY! I can't wait to see you all again! I love you! I hope you
have a great week! :) Get ready to PARTY!! lol

 Shada and I the morning after exchanges before I drove back to
Goldendale...she wore purple just for me :) and we got a hugging
picture...hahaha! She doesnt like hugs...

Pres Taylor! Love him!

Morgan at Young Women's Camp

We were blessed to have Sister Brox and Sister Lierly come to our stake girls camp this last week and teach a class on scripture study. They did an excellent job, and taught about 1st Nephi chapter 3. How Nephi and his brothers tried first luck, second their own knowledge and wealth, and finally relied on the Lord. They pointed out how often we do the same thing as children of God. But we can learn to skip the first two steps if we have faith.

It was wonderful- and showed how much you can get out of one chapter!

They were wonderful examples to our young women and we were so grateful to have them there! Thank you for sharing your daughter!

With love, 

Sister Corey

The Dalles, Oregon

New Address!!!!

Please, Please, Please, Please!!!!

Make sure you send all mail to Morgan's new mission address.

WASHINGTON VANCOUVER MISSION
2223 NW 99TH St.
Vancouver, WA 98665

The Perks of Being a Missionary!

So instead of writing a letter today I am just going to make an
expanded list of EVERYTHING that is happening!
1. SHADA IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!! :) I am so excited! We had the
opportunity to go on exchanges this last week and I had the blessing
of heading back to the Vancouver/Camas area. I worked with Sister
Steadman who is an STL and we worked hard. It was a very hot day and
we were walking and not drinking enough water. So I ended up with a
huge headache (borderline migraine w/nausea). Anyway, so we headed to
our last appt of the day to do some service in the garden of this lady
they are teaching. Sister Steadman had told me a little bit about this
lady. She said that she was on date to be baptized and that Sister
Steadmad had given up chocolate and her comp Sister St Laruent had
given up meat to help the lady as she gave up coffee. Through out the
day I had looked through the Steadman's daily planner, and their
phone, and the records of the area. I did all this to help Steadman,
as she asked me for help in various areas of the work. I was looking
though some texts that they had sent to "Renee" who we were going to
see that night, to get the feel of how she talked. I saw Shada's name
but it didn't click. Then I saw some paperwork that had Shada's name
on it and it didn't click. As we were driving to her house (which is
out of the sister's ward boundaries) I didn't have time to think about
where we were because Steadman kept asking me questions. We are
walking up to the door and I keep thinking to myself that this looks
oddly and very very faintly familiar. The woman answers the door and I
was totally expecting to see a lady named "Renee" but NO, its Shada.
My jaw hits the floor and I go after Steadman because she deserves a
beating for tricking me all day long! I didn't really hit her (I've
gotten better about that). I am in total disbelief that they came up
with this big plan for me to see her and her mom while I was in town
for exchanges...Then they tell me that its Shada that is getting
baptized and not this made up person Renee. I about screamed! I wanted
to give Shada the biggest hug, but she is not the kind of person that
likes that, so I asked permission and then gave her a big hug! I
was/am so excited! She is getting baptized on Aug 10th, 10 days before
I go home. I am going to ask/beg President to let me go. Now let me
call your mind back to last year when I was serving in the Lacamas
Creek and Harmony wards for 6 months straight. I was teaching Shada
and her mom Sondra the entire time. Sondra got baptized in December
and I was there for that still. Now its Shada's turn! I am so so so
happy that you have made this decision Shada! You will never ever
regret it! :)
2. Tomorrow is Sister's Training and I am so so so excited for that
too. At interviews last week, Sister Taylor told me that there would
not be anymore zone conferences till after I am gone. But then I guess
that is okay as long as I still get sister's training. I am SO excited
to see all the sisters again. Especially Sister Neumayer, I really
miss that chica! Sister Lierley and I get to lead everyone in reciting
Doctrine and Covenants section 4 and I will also being a departing
testimony. I can not even tell you how excited I am. :)
3. Yesterday, before ward council, the bishop told me that one of the
speaker had just called and told him that they were not going to be
able to make it to Sacrament meeting. So I had the privilege of being
the concluding speaker in Sacrament yesterday. It was pretty awesome
actually. I had a little bit of an idea in my head of what I wanted to
say when I got up to talk. As I started to speak, I was able to start
the way I wanted to and then, the Lord took over. I love the feeling
of my mind being at a loss for words my mouth is still going and
saying everything that I am supposed to be. After Sacrament, probably
half of the people at church came up and said great job, and that was
exactly what they needed to hear. I wish I could remember what I said,
but I know that it was not me that was saying it.
4. Goldendale is on fire...literally! There is a really big
uncontrolled forest fire raging right now. Its is working its way down
the hills so its not quite to where we live yet, but it has caused a
ton of people to have to be evacuated from their homes. They are all
living in tents on the high school lawn and at the fair grounds. Its
so sad! There are firefighters from everywhere here and they are
working hard to put it out. We hear and see a lot of helicopters come
with water to try to help. The smoke is blowing away from us but it
still is pretty amazing to see how much there is. It looks like a lot
of clouds, but there are no real cloud in sight. We are praying for
lots of rain here in Goldendale.
5. We found 5 new investigators last week and we are excited to add
them to the others that we are teaching. We hope and pray that they
will keep the commitments that we have extended to them and that they
will continue to improve the quality of their lives through the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
6. So I realized that I never share scriptures in my letters so here
is one that I loved this week. I am currently reading Acts in the New
Testament and I found a new favorite chapter. Its Acts 5. Mostly the
last half where the apostles are about to be slain and then a pharisee
stands up and says to the people, IF this work be of men then it will
fail, BUT IF it be of God then you are fighting against Him and you
are not going to win. So the people agreed not to kill the apostles.
They beat them instead and let them go and told them to stop
preaching. My favorite part is next, when the apostles are happy that
they were able to go through that in the name of Christ and they
continue to teach the gospel! I love this! I love everything about it.
I probably didn't do it justice so you should go read it for
yourselves.
7. On Wednesday this week we get to go to girls camp for our stake for
a couple hours to teach about "scripture study". I am so glad that I
have served a mission and one of the greatest blessings it has brought
into my life was the importance of studying the scriptures. They are
amazing and I don't like it when I don't get my personal study in the
morning for one reason or another. They are just simply amazing! :)
8. I guess I better get going because I am running out of time and I
still need to write President Taylor. I hope you have a great week and
I love you all!
--
SISTER MORGAN BROX

P.S. Not that I am trunky or anything...but only 3 more weeks! :)

Goldendale pictures

Oh, Goldendale....

Well, lets just say that I never want to live in a small town...haha! Let me tell you a little bit about Goldendale. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone knows everything about everyone else's past, present and future! This place is a giant vaccum! It sucks people in and they can never get free, haha! There are a lot of retired people here and a ton of crazies! The children and youth population is small and the young single adult age hardly exsists! We have a couple "normal" people we are teaching but for the most part they are part of the crazies, but even they need the gospel too, so I am glad that I am here. We cover all of Goldendale and Centerville and Roosevelt and Bickelton, which is all inclusive into the Goldendale ward. Its really fun when we try to drive out to our dinner appts. We often get lost on dirt roads that last for miles with no where to turn around. Its  great fun and very adventuresome. I'm sorry if I've repeated myself on the information I've shared previously about Goldendale. Our tagline as a companionship when something non-normal happens is "Welcome to Goldendale" it is all inclusive to the thoughts we are having at the time. The members here are very welcoming and loving though. We live with the Wagners, in an appt about their garage. Its a nice place. We don't have a working air conditioner so our windows are always open and our fans are always on. Its been getting up into the high 90s lately. We haven't been doing much walking lately but that will change soon, because we are running low on our mileage. I think its really funny to be driving our little Chevy Cruze around on dirt and gravel roads all the time. I'll send a pic of our turning around one time after we got lost. Its great fun. I want to tell you about one of the girls that we are teaching. She is probably the most normal of all of them. We will call her K for the sake of confidentiality. K is 24 and married with 2 adorable little boys. Her husband J is an inactive member and he is actually our Bishop's son. K has lived in Goldendale her whole life and doesn't really plan on leaving anytime. They come to Sacrament meeting every week and then leave. K realizes what good the church did for J growing up so she wants that for their boys too. We have started to teach K the missionary lessons because she has never heard them before and she has a lot of questions about the things that she hears in church. The only thing is, she doesn't want anyone to know that we are teaching her because she doesn't want to get her in laws hopes up for no reason. So we haven't told anyone that we are teaching her especially her father-in-law the bishop. Its so much fun. LOL! We are hoping and praying that she will get an answer the this is the right path for her and then we can surprise the whole family with the fact that she wants to be baptized. :) We'll see how it goes! We had interviews this last week and I absolutely love President and Sister Taylor. I miss the Greer's but I am glad that I had them for so long. They didn't seem to want to talk to me for too long because I will be having my exit interview before we know it. I can't believe how fast time is going! Pres Taylor gave me some good advice and I wrote it all down in my journal. I look forward to getting more from him later. Well I will let you go for now and I will try to send some pictures before my time is up! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Happy Pioneer Day and Happy Birthday to Mother! :)

 

P.S. Thanks for the package on the 4th of July, I'm not sure if I said that yet. And Kristi, thank you for the package as well! I loved the pictures especially!

Pictures

 Morgan hugging Sister Greer.

 Sister Brox and Sister Lierly

 Sister Brox, Sister Hodges and Annie the dog, after getting lost.

 Chickens Anyone???

 

Morgan's favorite stick



Well...Goldendale....is....Interesting.....

Dear Everyone,

     I have come to the realization that I am totally 100% a city girl! haha! I miss Vancouver! I am having a hard time adjusting to Goldendale and remaining focused at the same time. The people here are nice and we have people that we are teaching. I feel separated from everything. We are right between The Dalles Oregon and Yakima Washington. There is a whole lotta nothing around here. Its actually really funny though. We drive around and I think, Really?? People still live like this in America!? Its fascinating and I feel like I am living in an old western movie. There is even a guy that stands on his porch all day long whom the sisters have talked to before. When you ask him what his name is he answers in complete honesty that he is Jesus Christ. He has the beard and everything. Its great!

     Sister Lierley and I are getting along just fine. She had a rough transfer the last 3 weeks and she is still getting to know the area as well. She was trained in Vancouver and misses it too so we are a great pair. The sisters that were here before us were two skinny blondes and now they have two curvy brunettes. I can only imagine what they are thinking. haha! What is the Lord trying to have happen in Goldendale. Oh well, so a little more about Sis Lierley. She is from Talkeetna AK and she is the youngest of 9 kids! She is full of life and energy and is excited to be a missionary. She is a hard worker and she makes me laugh. We had a great bonding experience yesterday, let me tell you about it!

     We were leaving an appointment an headed to dinner and we had gotten out a little late to get there on time at 5...we left the other person's house at 5. We called our dinner appt and apologized for running late and said we'd be there asap. The Hodges said that was ok and gave us a clue as to where they lived. We typed in the address to me gps and we were off on our adventure. Since Goldendale is a huge ward we thought that we were headed in the right direction until the gps had us turn onto a dirt road that we would be on for 3ish miles. We said okay, here we go...We kept on the gps road and called dinner again because we needed help and they had no idea where we were and gave us more directions that didn't help because by this point we were completely lost! haha! We were winding though the countryside by this time and going though the mountains on dirt/gravel one lane roads...we were going to die and no one was going to be able to find us. When we got to the where the gps said that we had arrived at our destination, we were on a bridge with nothing around us. We were lost for an hour and a half and we traveled about 50 miles out of the way. It was ridiculous, but hilarious. When we finally found a highway after looking at a map and finding out our way, we called our dinner again (we had lost reception quite a few times). She told us to keep coming down the road and she would find us. We eventually started to see signs of civilization again and we got excited! haha! I was never so happy to see another vehicle as I was at that time. We found Sister Hodges and she lead us to her house and we started dinner about 6:40 instead of at 5. I told her that if I could cry I would have been bawling! But they were not upset with us and we apologized at least 100 times. They told us not to worry about it and that they were just glad that we didn't get stranded or hurt somewhere.

     All I can tell you is that the Lord loves and protects his missionaries even when they are following a gps into the middle of no where! So that was how sister Lierley and I became close friends. Its because we almost died! I loved screaming in the car, "WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!" It was great fun. I even made a recording and took some pictures so you will have to wait to see those another time.

     I gotta get going now! I love you all and I will see you in 5 weeks! :)

"Golden" Voodoo and "Dale" Fireworks

The title is interesting, isn't it?? So we had a great week this
week! Let me tell you the highlights...We got a surprise visit from the
amazingly beautiful and talented Sister Katrina Roberts. She had so
wonderfully gone to Portland and bought us a lovely pink box with some
Voodoo Donuts. Including the legendary Maple Bacon Bar and some
others. SO GOOD!
     So the 4th of July was awesome! We got to meet President and
Sister Taylor!!!! They are amazing and they are exactly who the
Washington Vancouver Mission needs. They are very different from the
Greer's but that is not a bad thing at all. They are very chill and
ready to work hard. President likes to teach by telling stories and he
does a very good job at it. Sister Taylor is very loving and excited
to do lots of "sister time." They are adventuresome people and like to
do fun things. For example, when we were asking what time we needed to
be in by on the 4th, he asked us what time it got dark, we said about
9:30 and he said well I like fireworks and they only look good in the
dark, so watch fireworks and then get home by 10:30...that is VERY
different from President Greer who said to be in by 6. President
Taylor said that he trusts us till we lose his trust then we better
watch out. haha! I am excited to be able to server under their
leadership for my last 6 weeks.
     So I have talked about the voodoo and the fireworks....now lets
talk about Goldendale. I am being transferred to Goldendale, Oregon. I
will be serving with Sister Lierly. I don't know much about her. She
has been in the mission for about 3 months. She is from Alaska. That
is about all I know so I will fill you in next week. Goldendale is a
small town just south of The Dalles OR. Until the last 6 months or so
it was closed to missionaries and then they sent in sisters to open it
back up. As far as I know it is similar to Walla Walla, from what I
have heard. I am excited to serve in OR and to be leaving this area
again. I love these wards but I haven't made the connection I needed
to with it. I am so sad to be leaving Sister Neumayer. She and I have
become very close friends and we have worked very hard these last 3
weeks. I know that serving with her was an answer to both of our
prayers and the Lord gave us all the time he could. I am happy to not
be training for my last transfer. I would have done it but I know that
I need to learn something from Sister Lierly. Its going to be great!
     I love you all and I can't wait to see you. It is coming up so
soon I can't believe it! I hope you have a great week! Continue to
pray for missionary opportunities and to talk of Christ! He is THE
way!

Sister Brox's New Mission Address

WASHINGTON VANCOUVER MISSION
2223 NW 99TH St.
Vancouver, WA 98665

It's Transfer Time in the WKM!!!

So I won't be saying the "WKM" for much longer because transfer calls
are in and I am staying in Vancouver. Starting at the mission split on
July 1st to Aug 20th I will be a WVM missionary!

I am going to be leaving Salmon Creek Ward though and Sister Hiersche.
She gets to keep the area and train a brand new missionary! I will be
transferred BACK to the Clark YSA ward and the Mountain View ward. I
hope those sound familiar. That was my second area, right after walla
walla. I was there for transfers before, one with Sis Faamau and
another with Sis McGhie. I did lots of exchanges when I got to go back
for the day while I was serving in Lacamas Creek and Harmony. I know
that a lot of this doesn't make sense but I just think its cool to be
going back. Obviously I still have something to accomplish in those
wards. I am super excited because I will be serving with Sister
Neumayer. She was trained by Sister Dilworth. She took over Lacamas
Creek and Harmony when I left there with my first baby Sister Mecham.
Then she went to Clark YSA and Mtn View with Sister Duncan who was
half trained by Sister Mecham and Sister Brown (Sister Brown took over
Clark and Mtn View when I left it the 1st time). Now are you even more
confused??? Haha! No need to worry about all of that. Just know that
it is crazy how everyone is linked! Transfers are on Wednesday and I
HATE saying good bye to people. We have been going around so that I
can take pictures with people and say good bye (see ya later). Sister
Hiersche is excited to train and I know that she will do a great job!

If you didn't catch what I said before, I said what my coming home
date will be...It will be August 20th. I know that a lot of people
have been asking me that...but I didn't know until this last Saturday
at 10pm!  Anyway, I am so excited to be finishing my mission here on
the west side! I would have hated to have gone back to the other side
of the state when I have spent practically my entire mission here. I
am grateful that I was able to spend 23 weeks total on the east side
but I feel more at home over here. More of where I am supposed to be
and more belonging. I know that sounds weird but I am glad the Lord
understands and that He inspired President Greer to keep me here.

Speaking of Pres Greer...We had our last specialized training with him
and Sister Greer on Tuesday this last week. It was so sad :( When it
was over we all got to hug both Sister and Pres Greer. I didn't even
try to shake his hand like normal. I threw my arms around him with no
hesitation. But it wasn't a long enough hug, I guess that is a good
thing. I just hugged Sister Greer an extra amount of time.

My new mission President will be President and Sister Taylor and I am
excited to meet them soon! I hope to love them just as much as I do
THE Greer's but the Taylor's have mighty big places to fill. ;)

Anyways, I love you all and I hope you have a great week. I can't wait
to see you all again in just 2 very short months!

I Am Having Problems...

...with computers these days! For some reason for the last two weeks
my emails decide to send before I am even done typing the
subject/title! Sorry about that! Hopefully this one will go better.
Last week I ran out of time to send a new one so I am sorry that all
you got was "I don"...that must have been pretty funny! Anyways,
things here are going GREAT! I am loving serving with Sister Neumayer!
We have become very close very fast. We have similar work ethics and
we want to finish our missions strong. I don't remember how much I
have told you about her so here is a little bit more in case you
wanted to know. She is from Orange County, CA (Tustin). She is an
amazing singer. She loves opera and we will often listen to it in the
car but its not in English so she has to translate it for me. She is
going to BYU Provo majoring in music performance and minoring in
German. She hopes to make her career mostly in German Opera. She is
amazing! For example, yesterday in Sacrament meeting for the Clark YSA
ward, the first speaker was Karinna Redline. Karinna was baptized a
few weeks before I got to the Clark ward last year. Karinna was giving
her farewell talk before she heads off to her mission in the
Philippines. She is going to be a fantastic. Anyways, she gave a 20
min talk on the Atonement and then the ward choir sang "Come Thou
Fount". After that happened, Bishop Stewart got up and he was the
closing speaker. The Spirit was already almost overwhelming and he
proceeded to talk about how much God loves us and how He wants to
forgive us when we do something wrong. It was dead silent the entire
time he was speaking and everyone was so in tune with the spirit. He
closed and since its the week of the 4th of July we sang America the
Beautiful. As we were singing I was thinking about the words and
listening to Sister Neumayer sing (as I sang quietly next to her). All
of a sudden I am overcome and I start to cry. Tears flowing and I have
to blow my nose and it was embarrassing. I handed her the hymn book
for the last verse and tried to compose myself. All I could think
about was how grateful I am to be in America. How grateful I am to
have the freedom of religion. How grateful I am that because of my
religion and my faith in God I was able to serve a mission. How
grateful I am for a loving God that blesses us and answers our
prayers, like mine to serve with Sister Neumayer. How grateful I am
for our talents, abilities, and personalities. I am so happy! I love
being a missionary and I am terrified to come home in 7 weeks. It is
so close! I don't know what I am going to do when I get home yet. I
want to see everyone and yet I will miss being in Washington. I will
miss these people! I will miss working 16 hour days where I am
completely exhausted in every way: mentally, physically, emotionally,
and spiritually! I will miss this time I have to totally focus on
improving my relationship with Heavenly Father and my Savior. Simply
put, this really has been the best 17 months of my life so far!
     I realize now that I got way off topic of telling you about
Sister Neumayer. We both go home Aug 20th. She came out to the mission
6 weeks/1 transfer after me. She makes me laugh so hard and the ward
can tell that we really love each other and love working together. We
are working hard! We had a few of our investigators decide that they
didn't want to keep meeting with the missionaries and that makes me so
sad. Sister Neumayer has only been here for 4 weeks before I got here
and she didn't have the chance to meet everyone that we are teaching
so they are not sure if they want these 2 girls coming over. This
makes me sad because if they really were prepared to hear the gospel
then it shouldn't matter which missionaries teach it to them. oh
well...we are on the look out for people who are seeking truth.
      So crazy thing about the past week/today. I am now and will end
my mission being officially a WASHINGTON VANCOUVER MISSIONARY! I am so
so so excited! I am so happy that I got to serve in 2 missions. And
even though President and Sister Greer are gone, which makes me VERY
sad, I am excited to meet and get to know President and Sister Taylor.
I have not met them yet but I will get to on Thursday. We are having a
specialized training with them and I can't wait! Another thing is,
today is my 17 month mark. Can you believe that I have been a
missionary for 17 whole months! I can't! It has gone by so fast and
even days that feel like they are going to go by slow, end up going by
fast. For example, we did exchanges on Saturday. I got to stay in the
area to work with Sister Penrod and Sister Neumayer got to go to
Sister Blanchard in the Van North Stake. (They don't have a car and
its a walking area and Sister Neumayer got a really bad sunburn)
Anyway, I thought that that day was going to go by really slow because
we only had 2 set appointments. One at 11 and dinner. :) We taught the
lesson at 11 which went amazing! Then we tried a ton of people and no
one was home or let us in until 4:30 (an hour before dinner) so we
visited with the less active sister then went to dinner with an
investigator family. We ended up doing service and teaching a short
lesson after dinner so by the time we got done there it was time to go
back to the church to trade back companions. It was such a fast day! I
couldn't believe it! That happens every single time now. Time is
moving so fast!
     Well I am running out of time now and I need to email President
Taylor. I hope to hear from you. Please do not think that just because
I am almost coming home that it means that you don't have to write me.
It should be the total opposite! And I would really really love to see
what Kyla looks like, and have some details like how big was she,
etc...you know the usual. All I know is the first and last name and a
date. I feel SO not included...
     So I love you all and I miss you!
~Sister Brox

I'm Dead Tired

Why am I dead tired, you might ask??? Well I am about to give you
several reasons. The first being we just got back from a really really
long hike. We hiked at a place called Wahkeena Falls. It is on the
opposite side of Multnomah Falls (which I have hiked before). We hiked
up to the top of Wahkeena and then over to the top of Mutlnomah and
back down that side. My legs/body were not liking this hike, but I am
proud of myself for making it the entire way. I took lots of amazing
pictures and I decided that I am DONE hiking. I don't like it. The
scenery is beautiful but hiking with a bunch of elders is not my idea
of a fun p-day. So hopefully I will be able to send a couple of
pictures in another email.

The second reason I am dead tired is because we had an amazing week.
It all came to an amazing finale yesterday (Sunday). Here is how our
day went...We had ward council at 7am so we went to bed Saturday night
exhausted and I of course forgot to set the alarm for earlier than the
usual 6:30. I roll over in bed around 5:58am and instantly I think
"WARD COUNCIL" I throw myself out of bed and on to my knees and thank
Heavenly Father for waking me up. Then I jump in the shower and I am
ready within 45 min with a lunch packed and everything so we are off
to our meeting on time. That alone was a miracle. Then we are sitting
in our meeting in the high council room and I look down and start to
giggle because I had put my skirt on inside out...I tell Sister
Hiersche and she said that she had already noticed but didn't tell me.
Rude! haha! We go to the bathroom and I switch it no big deal. Then we
start greeting people as they come into church and wait for our
investigators to show up. We had 4 that told us they would be there
and 3 actually did! 2 of them sat but us and that was so AWESOME! The
4th texted us and told us that he was getting an award at another
church and so he couldn't make it, but he felt really bad he couldn't
be there. Anyway, church was outstanding!

Then we made 3 different appts while we were at church for later that day.
We jumped in the car
and ate a quick lunch and went to our 1st appt. At that appt we put
our 9 year old investigator on date for baptism. Then we headed to a
house that we had tracted into a couple days before that told us to
come back today and had a 30 min discussion on the drive way and they
said we could come back sometime. We then went tracting for about 45
min and talked to some really nice people. Then we went to an appt
with a less active that hasn't come to church in years. He has 4 kids
and a wife that are baptizable. They would be such a blessing to this
ward! We were only able to visit with him but the elder's quorum
president was with us and we chatted as the non-member wife made
dinner and listened in on our conversation. It was great! He also said
we could come back sometime.

Then we booked it to dinner and drank 5
glasses of water each, haha! We then went to an appt with Marisa, a
recent convert, that we are teaching the new member lessons to. We met
at the Piepgrass' home with Sister Piepgrass. I love both of those
women so much! It was an awesome lesson on the work of wisdom. Then we
high tailed it out of there to an appt with our investigator that
didn't make it to church. We watch President Monson's talk on
obedience given last general conference. He loved it. He said that he
really liked Pres Monson. He will be getting baptized soon (fingers
crossed), and he is excited about that, but he has some really huge
decisions to make first and we think watching that video helped. We
got home about 9:45 and did what we needed to before we passed out!
haha! Is anyone else tired just reading that???

 I would love to say
that that is a normal day for us but seriously, that was so amazing!
Two weeks ago, I was not the best missionary I could be, but this last
week I stepped it up and we saw so many miracles! I love being a
missionary! This week will be a blast as well! I can already tell! :)
I will let you go for now so that I can get some pictures sent. I love
you all and I miss you and I am so excited that both Ezra and Kyla are
here and I CAN NOT WAIT to see them! :) I should know about transfers
next week. Be praying that I stay on the West Side! ;)

16 Months

CAN YOU BELIEVE ITS BEEN 16 MONTHS??? I sure can't! It seems so
unreal. I am sorry that I don't have much to say today. I am so
excited to be an Aunt again! I can't wait to meet them in the near
future! I hope you have a wonderful week. I am continually praying for
everyone. I love you all so much! Things are going great here. We are
still teaching Jay and he is on fire its so amazing! We are teaching
others too of course and they are awesome as well just not moving as
fast as he is. tootles!

Temple p-day and tornado update, please.

Hey! I hope everyone is doing okay. I love you all and I am praying
for you! I haven't heard if anyone I know was affected so an update
would be appriciated. Thanks!

I am sorry that this email is going to be super short. We are emailing
a day late because we were able to go to the temple today in Portland.
It was amazing! I even got to see a couple friends from a different
zone. We had a great week this last week. We even had 3 investigators
at church on Sunday. I love being a missionary! Have a wonderful week.
I hope to hear from you! :) Love always!

I feel like I just saw you yesterday...

Oh wait...I did just see you yesterday! haha! It was wonderful to be
able to skype home and see everyone doing well. Hopefully the storms
didn't do too much damage. I was really happy when Maren said that she
felt the Holy Ghost tell her that everything was going to be okay.

Everyone looks so great! It was funny to hear the differences in how
everyone talks back home. (I didn't mean to only pick on Kristi's, it
was just the most pronounced of them all.) I can't wait to see all the
pictures that you are going to send to me! ;) I was wondering who all
was going to go out to CA for the Luckinbill baby blessing and how
they were planning on getting there? I don't want to miss either of
the blessings if I can help it, that's for sure! I know that I didn't
show much excitement over skype but it is still so weird to see
everyone then it takes me a while to adjust and then just when I do
its time to get off and get going again. I hope no ones feelings got
hurt because I didn't get to talk to them more. I just can't believe
how big the kids are getting. That was the most shocking to me. It
makes me so excited to see them and everyone else in person again.

 It is so strange to think about coming home. I will be so sad to leave
the mission and so happy to see everyone at the same time.
Anyways, enough about that, I am excited to be working with Sister
Hiersche again this transfer. She and I get along pretty well and we
are getting this area up and running. The Elders are great but there
is just something about us sisters that gets us into peoples hearts a
little bit faster I think. This will be the shortest transfer so far
with it only being 4 weeks. The next transfer will happen on June 14
and that should be the last one before the mission split. President
wants to make sure that everyone is exactly where the Lord wants and
needs them to be. I do not envy President in anyway in the decisions
he has to make.

I am not really sure what else to talk about. The member we are living
with has been out of town for the past week and right before she left
she told us that her washer was broken so we had to go to someone
else's house to do it today, which we are grateful for but it is still
annoying because it is not any where close to being done. She comes
home tomorrow so hopefully we will have a working washer by next week.
I hope you all have a wonderful week. I would LOVE to hear and see
pictures from EVERYONE (this includes all of you my so called friends
that read my blog and are still neglectful of me) ;) Yes, YOU!  haha!
Love ya!

Hello! So I am not really sure what to talk about. haha! It feels like
my life is much the same as it is every week. Some interesting things
that happened this week would be:
1. We met this really awesome guy last week and had our first lesson
with him on Tuesday. His name is Jay and he is totally seeking truth.
He has tons of questions and we are so excited to be able to teach him
more. He reminds me a lot of Jen. (We were teaching her back in Kenn
Park). He is a deep thinker and wants his questions answered and we
just so happen to have the answers to his questions. We are planning
on teaching him on Tuesday at our ward mission leader's home. Speaking
of a ward mission leader that leads me to point number...
2. We got a new ward mission leader at church yesterday. He and his
wife (who is in the stake RS presidency) are awesome! They are both
RMs from Korea (different missions and times). They have twin boys (6)
and a little girl (4). Super cute! They are really excited for this
new calling and are willing to do what ever it takes to get everything
going in the ward to do more missionary work. I love it!
3. Transfers are coming up next week! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT??? This one
has flown by! I have loved working with Sister Hiersche. I don't think
we will be staying together though. I am not sure what to predict
about this next transfer. We will only have 2 new English speaking
sisters coming out so there is a big possibility for me to not train
again. The thought of that makes me sad. I know that training is super
hard but I loved it. I would love to have done it 3 times. I would
like to think that I would do it right on the third go around...haha!
Anyways, so when I skype home on Sunday I should know what is going to
be happening.
4. We had zone conference on Friday. This was my second to last one.
:( I only have one more. Super sad! It was totally amazing though.
President and Sister Greer had gone to the mission president seminar a
week or so before and that was presided over by ELDER HOLLAND! Can you
imagine that. They had days...literally days...with him teaching them.
So cool! And he knew them by name too! Anyways, so Pres and Sis Greer
taught us some of the things that they leaned from him. The biggest
thing and the topic we focused on the most was of course the Savior.
Everything we talked about and every question that was asked always
made its way back to the answer being Jesus Christ. He is THE way! We
can't do it with out HIM!
5. I am so grateful to have this opportunity to be a missionary. I
love this work and I love Washington and I love these people and I
love the LORD! I know that I only have 3 months left and that thought,
simply put, terrifies me! I often wonder if I have done enough and if
God has accepted the sacrifices that I have made. I miss home and the
things that I can do there, but I can tell you this now, I will miss
the mission so much more than I have ever missed being home. Even
though we get yelled at and people are degrading towards us, I still
love them! I love everyone! I feel so sad when they don't want what it
is that we have to offer them. They are turning down the opportunity to
have a closer, stronger and more meaningful relationship with our
loving Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I want to shout my
testimony from the rooftops, but that wouldn't do any good for some
people. They still don't want to hear it. It makes me so sad and yet
so grateful at the same time to know that they will get another
chance. There is always another chance. Its just sad to seem the time
going by and the blessings going by with out being used as they
should. The Gospel is such a wonderful thing! :)
6. I love you all and I miss you! Have a fantastic week!

15 Months and Counting

Hello E'reybody!
I hope you had a great week because we definitely did! It was a gift
from Heavenly Father all wrapped up with a pretty bow on it just for
us. The pretty bow was added yesterday when we had one investigator
come to church and another come to a baptism. Linda came to church and
she has told us repeatedly that she is not a fan of organized
religion. When we teach Linda our Relief Society President is always
with us and at our lesson last Friday Sister Krout invited Linda to
come to all three hours of church with her and Linda said that she
would love that! We had talked about attending church every week with
her but it didn't happen until it came from the member. Linda really
seemed to enjoy the services and liked to hear everyone's testimonies.
She participated in the classes and seemed very comfortable. It was
wonderful. Well we knew that there was a baptism going on that evening
so we invited her to that and she said no thank you. We tried a little
harder and she still said no. We had planned the night before on going
to the baptism and we were sad that she had said no.

So after church was all over and we had made it back home to do a
short comp study we started to text and call all of our investigators
and potentials. Not a single one of them responded except for JO! I
told you about Jo in my last letter. She is amazing! We have been able
to visit with her a couple more times and she so was ready and willing
to come to the baptismal service. So we went to her house when it was
time and lead her to the building where the baptism was. It was a
perfect baptism for her to see. She was confused as to why there was
only one person being baptized so we were able to explain why that is
so special. The Spirit was strong and I know that she felt it. I
believe that Jo is seeking for the truth. Even though she is wanting
to find a Freewill Baptist church, I know that she will be so much
happier when she can come to church and listen and learn about the
whole Doctrine of Christ. And so she can know that she has family
here.

:) I am super excited for zone conference on Friday! I LOVE zone
conferences! We always learn amazing things and have tons of
take-aways which means tons of personal revelation! I hope you all
have a fantastic week! I will Skype, on the 19th, from here at 3 if
that is alright so it will be 5:00 your time! :) I don't know from
where yet so please email me by next week the name I should look up so
that I can find you when its time. LOVE YOU!

Weekly Email

How are you doing? Specialized training and interviews this week were
wonderful. It was great to talk about getting our investigators to
church. As much as I have always tried to get people there it has
always been difficult for them. Here is a short story:

It was about 7:30 and we were out trying to contact some of the
potential investigators that the elders had left for us and we went to
meet a man named Michael. We had a little background about him stating
that his son was very sick and that he knew were are where we are for
a reason. So we knocked on the door and did a normal tracting
approach. You know how it goes, "Hi how are you?" "Good" "What kind of
dog is that? Etc.." haha! Well after we got all the people and animal
introductions out of the way we go to talking with this lady named Jo.
She is super nice and she moved here to Vancouver from South Carolina
about 4 months ago. We talked to her for about an hour on her door
step and ended with a prayer and and invitation to her to come to
Stake Conference. She called us the next day and said that she was
sorry but not able to make it to the adult session that night because
her of her health. She said that she would like to come on Sunday
still but it depended on how she feels. Well she ended up not coming
on Sunday either. She called us and apologized and asked if there was
another evening service and that she could go. We had to tell her that
there wasn't but we offered to come over this week to tell her more
about the church. She said that we were always welcome to come over.

I am so excited to start teaching Jo. She is such a sweet lady and
asks a lot of amazing questions. I am always amazing for some reason
at how these seekers of truth are placed in our path. This man the
potential investigator from the elders, Michael, is Jo's boyfriend and
he is never at home because he is at the hospital with his 20 year old
son who is on the heart transplant list for his second heart
transplant. They have strong faith and believe that everything happens
for a reason. She talked about how she hates living with him when they
aren't married but she hates to keep bringing up marriage as her
future step-son is in the hospital. I hope that as she learns the
gospel she well see the happiness it can bring into their lives.

I love being a missionary. It amazes me how many people treat us like
counselors. I love knowing that they are comfortable enough and see
enough of Christ in me that they can confide in us.

I hope you have a great week! I love you!
~Sister Brox

Pictures!

 Morgan and Sister Hierche

 My life savers during allergy season....nose spray and chocolate.

 Picnic with Sherry and Melba before I left Kenn Park.

 Playing in the curtains on the stage on P day

Sister McCullough who we lived with in Kenn Park

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

Hello Family and Friends! So I want to start by saying how much I
love Vancouver! I am loving this new ward. It is a big ward land wise
but an average size ward people wise. Our first week here was great.
We had quite a few lessons and we got to meet some really awesome
people. Its amazing what being on the East side of the mission then
coming back to the West side does to someone. I was cautious to talk
to most of the people on the street because in Kennewick we got yelled
at but luckily I have Sis. Hiersche with me and together we had the
courage to go with me, and we were able to talk to some really nice
people. I have to get back into my Vancouver frame of mind, where
people for some reason are generally nicer here. No offense to anyone
from the Tri-Cities. :)

     Sister Hiersche and I have hit it off well together. Like I said
before, she is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is super sweet. She is
the oldest in her family and she has 2 younger sisters. She has had a
few adventures and many trials in her life. She is so strong and she
amazes me. She is a great missionary. I am excited to be working with
her. My only fear is that I will over-power her and she won't be able
to jump in to teach and testify where she wants/needs to. Being quiet
in lessons and other situations has been my problem in the past and it
is something that I continue to work on. She has been out for 6 months
and she is a hard worker. She is crafty, likes to sew, is friendly,
and talkative in one on one settings.  She is deathly allergic to
treenuts and mushrooms, so because of this she has shown me how to use
her epipen in case of emergency. Lets hope she never needs it!  We
often joke about how this transfer is a blessing from Heavenly Father
so that we can both have a calm transfer before the next storm. She
has been doubled in to every area she has ever served in and this is
her 3rd area. Her skill in this has helped me remain calm and kept me
from stressing out too much. She tells me all the time that I am going
to train again because every single one of her companions has trained
after she has been their companion. I wouldn't mind that considering I
only have 2 transfers left after this one and I would like to spend
them here in Salmon Creek.

     The ward here is fantastic. We are living with Sister Morris, a
widow woman in the ward. She is the mother of our bishop (who is being
released on this coming Sunday). We live in a really big house in a
really big room upstairs. Seriously, this house is like a museum. She
has lived in SEVERAL different countries and her deceased husband was
a former mission president in Thailand. She has pictures and shadow
boxes of stuff everywhere! And next to each of them is a note
describing what it is and why it is important. Just like in a real
museum. haha! Its awesome! Our RS Pres is super excited to have us as
well. We were asked to bear our testimonies in church on Sunday and
during mine I mentioned that "I never thought that such a dreary place
would steal my heart" and everyone laughed. :)

     I am really missing Kennewick Park though. I never though I would
love people this fast. It is so annoying! haha! I can't wait to come
up to be able to visit everyone again! I am the 3rd longest serving
sister in the mission. The two that have been out longer than me are
Spanish speaking sisters. It is so crazy! It feels like I don't know
any of the new sisters. I am so excited but so nervous to be the
"oldest sister" in the mission. I don't like it because then everyone
will be looking to me for information and I don't think that I know
enough for that. I love being way over her in the Couve because I feel
like I am not being spied on all the time. I can do the Lord's work in
peace. haha! Anyways, I am running out of time as usual. I love you
all and I miss you. I hope you have a great week! Please write
me...its April in Vancouver. which means RAIN and Darkness (even
though its pretty today).

Love, SISTER MORGAN BROX

Transfers Are In!

Aloha! So I know that everyone is dying to hear about what is
happening for the upcoming transfer...We got the transfer call last
night and to be honest I was a little surprised that we hadn't gotten a
call from President asking one or both of us to train. We have 14 new
sisters and 11 new elders coming in tomorrow. :) Anyway, without the
training call I thought President was just too busy to do it, but we
listened and neither one of us is training a new sister. Sis McMurtrey
will be staying here in Kennewick Park Ward and a sister from her MTC
group will be coming to serve with her. She is so excited, she almost
started to cry. I am excited for her and I think that they will great
here. This is such an awesome ward and fantastic things are happening!
As for me, my new companions name is Sister Heirsche (I think that's
how you spell it). She came out 6 months ago with Sister Mecham and
Sister Ireland both of whom I dearly love. So it should be fun getting
to know her and working together. I have never served around her so I
don't know much at all. She is petite and blonde and she is from Baton
Rouge Louisanna. Now the question is where will I be serving, right? I
am so excited I almost wet myself, haha!  I am going back to
VANCOUVER! I must need to accomplish something there because I keep
going there. Its Spring so it should be nice and wet and dreary. I
will be in the Salmon Creek Ward in the Van West Stake. It has been
covered by Elders previously so we are being "doubled in" or both of
us are brand new to the ward. She has been doubled in before and so
have I, so this shouldn't be too difficult (fingers crossed). I love
being the first sisters to serve in the wards because everyone loves
us so much and is so happy we are there and we get a brand new clean
start at everything because we are new in the area! Love it! I only
have 3 transfers left so we will see what happens after this transfer.
I'd love to train one more time, just to see if I do it right this
time! haha! I am grateful for the break of training though. One time
straight to the next is pretty exhausting.

So lets change the subject now, wasn't General Conference amazing!? I
loved it so much. I love this church and how inspired the leaders are.
They teach me so much and I love it because as my knowledge increases
I become a better teacher myself. I just realized how much I repeat
the same words over and over again. Please forgive me for being
redundant. I just get so excited and use the first words that come to
my finger tips. Anyways, we watched both of the Saturday sessions at
the Kenn East stake center with a whole bunch of other missionaries.
Normally we would have watched it at our stake center (Kenn Stake) but
the building is being recarpeted so we couldn't watch it there. Also
because it was being recarpeted we couldn't have Tammy's baptism there
either. So we were having it at the Kenn East stake center where we
were watching conference. All of this was such a hassle, but well
worth it of course. We watched the Sunday morning session at a
different building and they fed us lunch like we always do back home.
It was nice. Then for the afternoon session we went and watched it at
a member's home (the Madison's) with our amazing investigator Jen! It
was so perfect! I love being a missionary and being able to see others
come to the knowledge of the truth. Its amazing! Jen really liked
conference and is planning on going back to the Madison's a couple
more times to watch the sessions that she missed. So exciting. I am
going to miss Jen so much! but I know that we will be great friends
after the mission. :)

So on to Tammy's baptism! It went so great! She was so happy! There
were a lot more people there than we though there would be which is
nothing to complain about. Sister Greer was there and sat next to us
on the front row which was fun! A lot of Tammy's family was coming
into town for her baptism so we got special permission from, President
Greer, President Meyer (stake pres), and Bishop Matheson. It was so
awesome that we were able to have her confirmed at the same time so
that she didn't have to wait till the 14th to receive the Holy Ghost.
I am running out of time and I want to make sure I get a couple
pictures sent...so I love you all and I hope you are having a great
week! I can't wait to see you all again. August will be here before we
know it. I am so sad and so happy at the same time about that
statement. :/ Anyways, keep up the good work, share the light of
Christ with everyone you meet and then get them to "Ask the
Missionaries, They can help you!" :) Bye!

Happy April Fools Day!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. I know that we
did. I love this gospel and my Savior so much! I love that He was
resurrected and that we have the opportunity to remember and celebrate
that blessed event. Yesterday at church we had two investigators
there. One was Tammy who is being baptized this Saturday and we are
all super excited!!!! :)

One was a guy who's wife and in-laws are less active members and his
brother was recently baptized as well. We taught, Bro. A, the first
lesson last week and we are going and teaching the second lesson
tonight. I am super excited to be teaching him. He is really seeking
the gospel. At our first lesson we were talking about the priesthood
and they talked about how his brother the recentish convert was able
to give Sis. A a blessing during her pregnancy. It was a really
spiritual time during the lesson and felt prompted to ask him if he
would like to do that for his wife someday and he said yes, he would
love that. We talked about how that would be possible after he was
baptized and received the priesthood himself. We then talked about how
he had thought about being baptized before but he didn't want to rush
into it. We told him that we would continue to teach him and that as
he acted upon the things that he learned that he would be ready to
make promises with Heavenly Father through baptism. It was such an
awesome lesson and Bro. and Sis. A and baby A were all at church on
Sunday which made Sis. McMurtrey and I a little giddy when they walked
into the chapel and sat a few rows in front of us. :)

After church we did what we always do and went and tried to find
people to teach and we attempted to visit a couple people/families. We
ended up going to try a certain less active couple in the ward. We
knocked and rang the doorbell and no one answered so we decided to
tract their street. A few people answered their doors but they weren't
interested in hearing an Easter message about Jesus because they have
their own religion (makes me wonder sometimes what people even think
about on Easter). Anyway, by the time we got back to our car which was
parked right in front of the less actives house, their garage door was
open but no one was in the car so we knocked on the door again and go
to visit with Bro. B for about 45 min on his doorstep. We had an
awesome time getting to know him and offering to teach him the
missionary lessons as he expressed his desire of "getting back into
church". We will go back again and help him regain/strengthen his
testimony and hopefully as we bring the Spirit into his home, his wife
will feel forgiveness in her heart and have the desire to return to
church as well. It was so cool to know that Heavenly Father inspired
us to go and see them even though they weren't home, and then to knock
on the doors around them for just the right amount of time until they
got home so we could visit. I love being a missionary and seeing all
the small miracles that are produced by an act of faith a simple
obedience.

We went on exchanges this week as well with Sisters Ireland and Funk.
They are so awesome. I went and served with Sis Funk in their wards
and Sis Ireland came here and worked with Sis McMurtrey. I loved being
able to be with Sis Funk. She is a brand new missionary, came out 5
weeks ago, and she is 19! We worked hard and long that day. The area
they have is big a spaced out and they don't have many investigators
(like 2) and they have very few less actives that like them to come
over. It makes me sad! We were talking about their wards and they
don't have wards that are supportive of missionary work. There were
sisters that served there in the past that totally ruined the members
trust. I can't blame the wards for being careful but they are acting
blind to the work that the sisters are trying to do now. They are not
helpful at all, even the bishop ignores them. All I can say is every
member of the church needs to get to know the missionaries serving in
their ward. Pray for their success everyday and do it by name! We need
that! We feel the power that comes from that! Even if you don't like
them after you get to know them, still pray for them! They are
sacrificing a lot to be there and you can't judge them.

It makes me so grateful for the wards that I have served in, in the
past, as well as now in Kennewick Park. I love this ward so much! We
may not have as many investigators as I want and we may not be able to
get into every less active home in the ward. But the ward LOVES us! We
were even asked to teach yesterday in the combine 3rd hour meeting. It
was all the adults and the youth. We talked about the Atonement and
how it affects missionary work. Its amazing! We get referrals often,
they aren't too productive, but we get them. We have a full report
every week. We have a baptism coming up and they see our investigators
at church. Our Bishop is amazing and everyone loves him. He is so
supportive of us and what we are doing. And he is funny! I love our
Relief Society President too! She is always asking us if there is
anything we need or how she can help us. She likes to meet with us to
give us more people to go and contact and tells us how we can help
her. Its great!

Anyway, today is my 14 month mark! Can you believe it??? Its crazy! I
am running out of time! Only 4.5 months left and only 3 transfers!
Transfers are next week! Can you believe that!! I can't! I'll let you
know what is happening next week!

Love you all! Have a great week!
~Sister Brox

Shocking TP Day

So I will explain the reasoning behind the unusual title of the email.
First, I will start with the TP Day. It stands for Temple Preparation
Day (aka today). I am emailing today instead of yesterday because it
was finally time to go to the temple again. It was absolutely amazing
as usual. I love the way I feel when I am in the temple and I am so
excited for the day when I can be sealed for time and eternity to my
future husband in the House of the Lord. But aside from that topic
since it won't happen till 12-13-14; Lets move on for now to the
"shocking" part of the email title.

Yesterday was a fun/interesting day. Let's start at the beginning.
During our study time in the morning one of our appointments for the
day texts and asks us if we could push back our appt time from 12:30pm
to later in the evening. We offered 5:30 and she agreed. We finished
studying then went to District Meeting. It was great! We played a form
of Jeopardy to test our missionary knowledge...I was not so good at
the beginning but ended up in second place (stinking elders) ;) After
that we went to District lunch and then we went home and changed
clothes because another one of our appts for the day texted us during
our meeting and said that she wasn't going to be able to meet because
she was doing yard work but knew that we would want to help because we
would be able to wear pants. We said that we would absolutely come and
help. We got there and ended up helping for 2 hours. I got an ugly
scratch on my ankle to prove to me that I should wear jeans instead of
basketball shorts, haha!

After that we went to a normal member visit where we teach The
Doctrine of Christ, show a short movie (The Robles Family) and then
ask for referrals. Well, when we got there the husband and the wife
were there who we were expecting to be there but the husbands brother
and sister were both there too. As we were doing introductions, the
husband says after everyone is silent that they are all less active.
It kind of threw us off guard because we had met this couple at
church. We ended up being there quite a bit longer than expected as we
tried to help the whole family with the brother and sister not even
being in our ward. It ended well and then we ran to dinner and then
off to the 5:30 appt.

This is where it gets shocking if you are not already shocked enough.
We go into Sherry's house and she has a couch right by her front door
that she it needing to get put into  a bedroom down the hallway. We
offer to do it because she is a very very sick lady and we knew that
if we didn't do it then she would try to do it by herself which would
be even worse. We take the bedroom door off its hinges and then
proceed to push, shove, lift, pull and tug this couch into the room.
We finally get it in and then Sherry says, she is too hot and that she
is going to have a seizure. Unfortunately, this is not and uncommon
feeling for Sherry. Sis. McMurtrey and I have know idea what to do so
we ask her what she needs. She took a pill, drank some water, we sat
outside to cool off with a cold wet cloth on her head and face. She
says that she is going to be okay and foolishly we believed her. We
went back inside and she sat down on the couch we just moved while we
attempted to put the door back on the hinges. Next thing you know I
turn around and look at her and she is in the middle of a seizure! I
tell Sis. McMurtrey and luckily and amazingly Sherry is still alert
enough to tell us what to do to help her. We got her oxygen machine
and I was trying to plug it into a super messed up outlet in the wall.
As I do so I get electrocuted. Well Sherry needs her machine, so I
tried again and I get shocked again. Then she says to try another one
on the other side of the room. Duh, Sister Brox! We get that all going
and get her a shot that gave herself in the stomach and the whole time
I am freaking out in the inside and just praying for her to please
just be okay. Finally, after about 20 minutes she is talking to us
pretty normally and telling us how sorry she is and how glad she was
that is wasn't that bad of a seizure. We told her to stop apologizing
and to just relax. Relaxing is not something that Sherry is good at.
haha! We were able to read an Ensign article with her so that she
would have to stay sitting down for a while. Then we put the door on
its hinges and I once again tried to plug something into the stupid
outlet and I get zapped for the third time and I quit! We got her
house put together enough so that she could rest for the remainder of
the evening and we headed to our next appointment.

I thought the craziness was over but once again I was wrong. We got to
our family home evening appt and we go in thinking that everyone was
home but it turned out to be just the two teenage daughters because
the mom had gone for a run. We were standing in the kitchen getting
ready to make cookies and half waiting for mom to get there already.
When one of the girls decided to sit on the counter. No big deal,
right? Wrong! She is facing away from the edge and has crossed her
legs in front of her and next thing you know she is falling backwards
off of the counter onto the tile kitchen floor. I about had a
heart attack! Thankfully and miraculously she was ok, and we could all
laugh about it. The rest of the night went over well. And then I could
not sleep well last night because my allergies are KILLING ME!!!!! I
guess it got so bad because of all the yard work we did yesterday.
ugh!

Well, I hope you liked all the excitement! I gotta get going so that I
can email President before I run out of time! I love you all, I hope
you have an amazing week! Happy Easter! Happy Birthday Sara!

I can't believe I forgot to tell you....

.....We had Sister's conference this week! It was sooo good, as usual! It was on Friday and I have been looking forward to it since last sister's training in September. I am sure you can all remember me talking about that. Anyway, I was most excited to see Sister Mecham. She has been serving here in the Tri-Cities since this last transfer (Feb 28th) but I haven't been able to see her because she is in West Richland and I am here in the center of Kennewick two totally different zones. Anyway, I had been looking forward to seeing that cute thing all week, and Sister McMurtrey had been looking forward to seeing all of her MTC friends. We got to the stake center and dropped our stuff off in the Relief Society room and gave hugs to the following, Sisters: Greer (in charge of everything), Cockerham (in charge of phones and such), Bodmer (in charge of mail and such), and Stapelton (in charge of ?? but she is the 1st counselors wife). Then we went into the gym where everyone was eating breakfast already. I hugged someone ( I don't remember who) then searched for Sister Mecham. I went and gave her a hug from behind as she sat at the table. She jumped up real fast and said that she was going to cry. haha! Surprise Surprise, but she didn't...Anyways, we all sat down and ate breakfast and talked forever but not long enough. It was so good to see her and to hear about how much she is loving the Tri-Cities. It makes me happy that she is happy and that she is progressing in becoming the missionary she wants to be. She has always been amazing and I am excited to hear about all that success she has. It is so weird that I only have her and Sister McMurtrey as companions in the mission. I don't like it! I miss people so much after they go home. :*( I was talking about all this to Sis. McMurtrey and how much I look forward to hearing about her and how much good she is going to do here in the mission and she doesn't believe me.

I think we all feel that way as new missionaries. We never think we are very good until we get away from our trainers, then we begin to realize that we actually do know what we are doing (for the most part). I know I felt that way when I left Sister Chatwin. She was always talking about how I came "pre-trained" and I never believed her. Now that I have trained twice, I can see it in these two wonderful daughters of God. They did come pre-trained. All I had to do was show them the way and then they are off and doing it and making miracles happen though their faith. It is amazing to see the "Hastening of the Work" that is happening right now. There are more people who are being prepared to hear the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because we have more people to find we need more workers, aka missionaries! And because of modern revelation, we are getting those much needed workers out in the field faster and sooner than ever before. We need those workers to be pre-trained! The people that they come in contact with need them to be pre-trained! How grateful I am for the programs in the church that get us trained to do this work. We start young and progress through primary, youth programs, seminary, institute, relief society (and priesthood meetings). We have to start young because Satan is tricky and He starts with the young ones. I am so thankful for you Mother and Daddy! Thank you for raising me right and for teaching and showing me THE way. I am thankful that I am prepared and trained to do what I do now. If I wasn't ready then this would be a lot more difficult than it already is, but not impossible. Nothing is impossible with the Lord on our side!

With all that being said, right after sister's conference and picture taking in front of the temple, we had our investigator's Tammy's baptismal interview with President Stapelton. We were running late and I am sure she was flustered about it and it was scheduled pretty last minute. I am thankful for it all coming together though. We watched the kids with Sister Stapelton in the gym while she was being interviewed. I had a scary feeling because I was worried that she might not be ready to be baptized. When they came back in the gym and said that she was all ready to go. I was so relieved. The date has been set (April 6th) the building is reserved and this amazing daughter of God it ready! It is so wonderful to be a missionary and to be able to see our Heavenly Father's children as they prepare to make covenants with Him. I know that she is ready for this next part of her life. To start over with a clean slate and the opportunity to raise her kids the way she wants to. They will be able to serve missions and bring souls, just like their mother, unto Christ. I will keep you posted on her progress as we continue to teach this wonderful family.

We continue to knock on doors and search for more people who are ready. The ward it trying to help and that is wonderful! This week was a great one! I love weeks like this last week! I hope you had a great St. Patrick's day! I know I did! Yesterday was one of the best Sundays I have had in the mission so far. I was spiritually fed all day! It was awesome! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much! I can't wait to see you and give you hugs! :)