WASHINGTON VANCOUVER MISSION
2223 NW 99TH St.
Vancouver, WA 98665
Monday, July 1, 2013
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!
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
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
Sunday, June 16, 2013
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! ;)
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! ;)
Sunday, June 9, 2013
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!
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!
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!
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