Nothing Else Matters

Everyone! Listen!

It's all about the gospel. It's all about Christ. Nothing else matters. Nothing! Not your Instagram account, not your tv shows, the internet, not nice clothes and fancy cars, nothiiiiing. One day, that will all be gone. One day, earthquakes and crazy things are going to happen in preparation to the second coming and everyone will be humbled and all we will be able to care about is each other and keeping each other safe and helping one another. I can't even explain to you everything that is going on in my brain right now, but just know, the gospel is all that matters! I'm not saying that when I get home I'm not going to use the internet or wear nice clothes, I'm just saying with an eternal perspective, none of that matters. This life is only the beginning! We can't even begin to grasp what lies ahead, I just know it's a lot more than social media, or how much money we have, or what celebrity is doing what.

Some background on why all that is going through my head right now: Today we went to Yucaipa with Sister Western, an AWESOME member. We love her so much. And as we were driving she was telling us about this book she read called "Visions of Glory" (which let me tell you I plan to read that immediately after my mission), and wow. The things she was telling us about it, it's just crazy! Basically my thoughts on it are in that first paragraph of this email. Ah. I can't even explain it, but this life is only the beginning. We have no idea.

Anyways, yes went to Yucaipa today for our excursion! It was so great. I'm telling you, it's like God knows me or something, because he sent me to a mission where it's the perfect balance of beachy and pacific-northwest-y. It is so BEAUTIFUL here. I mean Fontana is lacking a little there, but Redlands and Yucaipa are just gorgeous. So we went up the mountain in Yucaipa to this tiny town with an apple orchard and all this stuff, it was so great! I'll attach pictures.

This week was kind of a blur for some reason, I'm trying to think of things that happened and my mind is drawing a blank! It's been a great week though. We taught someone named Victoria, and when we explained the first vision to her in Joseph Smiths own words, afterwards she said "when you were saying that, I felt tingles all over my body. I can't describe it, I don't know why that happened." It was the coolest thing! That's why being a missionary is awesome, because you get to witness amazing moments like that. People feeling the spirit for the first time. So cool.

Well, just remember that Christ LIVES. He really, truly lives today. And he is among us! More than we know, I think. He is leading his church! We are so blessed to be a part of Christ's true church. Please please pray for missionary opportunities, because we have a responsibility to share this amazing gospel with everyone! A quote from President Spencer W. Kimball: “We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters.”

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission

Pictures from this week! Most of them are from when we went to the mountains in Yucaipa today.