my weekly email

Is that the most creative subject line ever or what?! I know, I'm slacking. 

Anyways HEYYYYYYYY EVERYONE 

Okay so usually I'll think about what I want to put in my mass email throughout the week but I literally have thought of nothing this week so this email will be interesting. I mean stuff has happened of course but I just can't remember it. Bad memory. 

I am currently eating chocolate covered pretzels, so eating healthy is going really well for me. 

Also once upon a time I thought of going vegetarian but then my parents sent me beef jerky in an Easter package and I was like wow nevereverevereverever could I go vegetarian. I love beef jerky. And my parents.

Also shoutout to Sister Peterson (and she goes by Taryn now??? Idk) who I am now in contact with and I found out she now wears pants and hugs men. You go girl. RM life. 

Literally what is this email so far

Anyways MISSIONARY WORK! It's been a great week!!! We've been pretty busy so that's good. We've also been doing a lot of finding through walking and that's actually been nice! We have been talking to a lot of people! 

ALSO we found out that a two minute version of the video is done! Our film guy is also creating a ten minute version too, but unfortunately he is still in high school (yes, he is only 17, in high school, has his own production company, and makes sixty grand a year by working on commercials, plus he is currently being watched by warner bros studios it's fine) and he is taking AP tests right now (so he's also smart ok cool what the heck) so he hasn't gotten back to us on the status of the video. I will keep you all posted though and hopefully I will have a link to send out next week! Ahhh so exciting!!! 

So this week I read a talk called "Jesus: the Perfect Leader" by Spencer w. Kimball (which btw LOOK IT UP ITS AMAZING it's not a conference talk but you all have access to google so I'm sure you can find it) and he talks about how "all the ennobling, perfect, and beautiful qualities of maturity, of strength, and of courage are found in this one person." His life needs to be our pattern of living. I've recently been trying really hard to become more Christlike and this talk gave me tons of new insights on who the Savior really was. I really liked something he said: "Jesus saw sin as wrong but also was able to see sin as springing from deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. This permitted him to condemn the sin without condemning the individual." 

I love love looove that quote because it really gave me a new perspective on the Saviors understanding and love for people. He was willing and ready to look deep enough into the lives of others to see the basic causes for their shortcomings. And that's something that I really want to work on! I think if we all try to understand people a little better and look deeper into why they do the things they do, then maybe we won't be so quick to judge or criticize or ridicule. I invite you each to keep that in mind this week when you feel yourself getting angry or frustrated at something or someone. Remember the savior and remember to LOVE as he did! I know you will be happier and more at peace if you do. 

Okay I hope you all have a great week! Congrats for getting through his crazy email you're all troopers 

LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

OH MY GOODNESS I COMPLETELY forgot to mention that we did a temple tour this weekend for some achievement day girls from Lake Arrowhead!!! It was so fun!!! Here are pictures. Also it was  96 degrees that day and yes I melted. 

Holy Week, Sick Week

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!!!

It was so nice this past week to celebrate our Savior Jesus Christ. I hope you all had the chance to grow closer to him this past week!

Also, I'm still sick. It's been rough. It's kind of frustrating being sick on a mission because I affect so many more people than just myself, and I feel like I'm wasting time even though I know I need to rest. I have a cold (and maybe some sort of viral/bacterial infection??????) and its worse than other colds I've had, because I've been feeling very dizzy and tired and I've had to rest a lot. I just feel bad for Sister Marstella because there's not much she can do while I rest haha. She can't be on her iPad because have to be able to see each other's screens (which isn't possible while I'm sleeping), so she has mostly been cleaning and studying. Luckily she's been very understanding and helpful, so that's good.

Anyways, this week wasn't super eventful because i have mostly been sleeping. But! We actually did have a lot of lessons this week so that was great! Also we went to market night for the last time Thursday to do more filming!

Oh yeah, Thursday was a really good day. In the morning I was mostly resting because I didn't feel well, but then we went to do service for an Easter thing (I know, so descriptive. Sorry I'm sick and I can't think right now haha) and at the end they had all the volunteers (mostly missionaries) do a three legged race! It was amazing! And then
later that night we went to market night for the last time, and had a poster with #PrinceOfPeace on it so people could take a picture with it and post it on social media! Super cool. It was a lot of fun.

Wow, is this the lamest email ever??? So sorry. I have a TON of pictures so that will make up for it.

OH YEAH TRANSFERS

Soooooooo I'm staying in the Smiley Ward! As expected. Buuuuut more fun news: I'm going to be a Sister Training Leader! Woo! Crazy. Really crazy. Haha this transfer will definitely produce a lot of growth for me, I can feel it! Sister Marstella and I will be STLs together, and I will be sending her home at the end of this transfer! Good things to come!

So last week we had Elder Echohawk from the seventy come to speak to us at stake Conference! It was cool because he told us a story about President Nelson, who made a goal to read ALL OF THE STANDARD WORKS IN THIRTY DAYS. THIRTY. DAYS. THE STANDARD WORKS. That means Old Testament, New Testament, The Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. And he did it!!! Is that crazy or what?! He is an apostle! Do you know how busy he is??? So basically none of us have any excuse ever when it comes to making time for the scriptures. I might challenge some of you to reading the BOM in a certain amount of days (cough cough, parents), so stay tuned.

Since it was Easter this week I thought I would include my testimony of the LIVING Christ. Listen, he really lives. He is a reality. Something dead would not be able to heal, strengthen, comfort, and uplift us. He is the living son of the living God, the Savior of the World, and I know he will come again, and soon. I invite each of you to evaluate your testimony of the Savior this week and do whatever you feel is necessary to come closer to Him. He IS the Prince of Peace, and he DOES live!

Hey have an AMAZING week everyone, I LOVE YOU ALLLLLL ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Sister Carina Brown
California Redlands Mission
Discover.mormon.org

Six months of missioning

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Ok literally transfers are next week. NEXT WEEK. Did that fly by or WHAT?! This transfer has gone by so fast it's insane. I'm like 99% positive that I'm staying here in Smiley with Sister Marstella, so I'm not too anxious this time haha.

Also, shoutout to my bff Blair who's BIRTHDAY is this Wednesday April 12th, which also happens to be my 6 month mark in the mission!!! Okay, crazy. I still feel like a new missionary haha. And it's weird to think that there's only two more of those 6 months and that's it!!! Ah! It's going by too fast, it's scaring me. I'm so glad I still have a whole year left of being on a mission! Such a delightful time of life! Woo!

It has been a great week!!! I also just realized that I almost never talk about the people we are teaching. Oops. Here are a couple people who are on the path to baptism:

Laura Vite: she is AWESOME. She's married to a less active member named Tonga and they have four (?) kids. They are both low key Tongan, and they are the coolest. We are teaching both Laura and Tonga because she wants him to get worthy to baptize her! So cute! Laura is on date to get baptized on May 13th. So stoked for that!

Stacy Halloway: she is also AWESOME. She is in her 50s but she has a lot of health problems so she is currently in an assisted living center. She knows it's all true and wants to get baptized, we just have to wait for her to regain her strength before that can happen! She is so sweet.

On Wednesday Sister Murray and I went on an exchange, and we went to a part member family in the ward named the Biberstons (elderly couple) (husband is a member, wife is not) (except apparently she knows it's all true) (she'll get baptized eventually, it will just take time), and Sister Murray mentioned that she majored in Vocal Performance before her mission, and I mentioned that I like singing too. Brother Biberstons eyes lit up and he was all, "I have a karaoke machine! You have to see it!" So he showed us his karaoke machine and we sang "how great thou art" and "amazing grace"! It was cool! I'll send a video. We also showed them the new Ask of God video and they loved it!

Ohhh on Saturday we did some more filming in downtown Redlands for the peace project! Once again, it was so fun! The mountain view Sisters came with us this time and we all talked to a bunch of people and interviewed quite a few people on camera about peace! It was amazing! I'll send pictures. We are going to market night again this week so that will be a blast.

Also, I'm sick. Again. I have a cold. It's fine though.

We had stake Conference this past weekend, and the Book of Mormon was emphasized so much! It got me so motivated to read the BOM in all my spare time: during breakfast, at lunch, at night before bed. I've decided to read it through this time through the eyes and perspective of Joseph Smith: so reading it as if I am discovering this new record of sacred scripture for the first time. There is SO much power in the Book of Mormon. I have seen a HUGE difference in the lives of our investigators who are consistently reading it and those who aren't. It truly testifies of Christ, and when we read Christ's words, we invite Christ's power into our lives: the power to bring peace, to heal, to strengthen. I invite you all to make reading the Book of Mormon a PRIORITY every day, and consider personally if you need to change the quantity or quality of how you read it. You WILL notice a difference in your life, I can promise you that as a representative of Jesus Christ!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful week and a happy Easter aaaand oh my goodness I just realized Easter is this week and I haven't mentioned that in this email until now cool. Anyways, happy Easter everyone! Have fun celebrating the Savior and the fact that he LIVES!

LOVE YOU ALLLLLLL

Sister Carina Brown
California Redlands Mission

The district! 

Unhealthy weekly planning snacks.

I told you I've gained weight 

So cuuuute 

Film crew! 

Sick

Peace, Love, and #LDSCONF

Okay wow HI.
It has been another AMAZING week!!! Wowowowowowow seriously being a missionary is the best. It really is. I am loving it. Also I am getting close to hitting my six month mark and it's scaring me. I'm like AH I only get one more year of this??? I just know it's going to go by fast. I mean it already is!

This week has been fuuuunnnnn!!! I went on an exchange with Sister Murray on Tuesday and with Sister Nielsen on Friday. They are the Mountain View Ward sisters and they are awesome! And both so funny. Plus they live really close to us which is nice. We see them a lot and it makes me feel like I have roommates! It is so fun.

Also on Wednesday we were having car problems so we spent a lot of the day at Pep Boys and Tom Bell Chevrolet. It was a weird day haha, but still great and we still saw miracles.

Also on THURSDAY we put our film project into action! We brought our film guy (which btw Kailee, his camera is a Black Magic Ursa Mini 4.6k. It was BEAUTIFUL. We looked so professional), a member (Sister Bowman, who helped us cultivate this idea), and Makenna Adling who was there to take behind the scenes footage haha.
Basically we set up the camera and ourselves on a busy street corner just outside of Market Night (recap: market night is something that Redlands puts on every Thursday. It's like a farmers market/festival thing with little vendors and food and it is just so cool), and we literally talked to ANYTHING that moved. Haha but seriously though, we
stopped everyone and were like, "we're making a video about what Peace means to people in the community and we would LOVE to hear your thoughts" or something like that. A lot of people said no, which was expected, but a lot of people said YES and were willing to be interviewed! And of course we had them sign waivers which we luckily were able to get a hold of this week. I did most of the interviewing and it was just so much fun to talk to everyone and talk about peace! Talking to people is so great! Ahhhh it's hard to explain but it was SO MUCH FUN. I seriously had a blast! And it was just a huge success! We are probably going to do that again this week. I will send videos! So fun. One of the highlights of my mission so far! I LOVED it!!!

Also CONFERENCE.
Oh my goodness.
Can we please
Just take a moment
To talk about how AMAZING General Conference was?!?!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHJKSLDINSOOAMSINDISMSLOXNDMSKKSOAMSOAMSKOSM

Literally WOW. Wowowowowowowowow. Talk about a spiritual FEAST. It really was incredible. If I talked about everything that I liked, we would all be here for a very long time. I did really like how Elder Rasband talked about acting on the FIRST prompting. That was something I really needed to hear. And how Elder Palmer talked about taking time to behold people and to really love them. That's also something I want to work on. I almost feel overwhelmed because I wish I could just read every single talk all at once because they were all so good.

If you didn't get the chance to watch it, PLEASE take the time to do so, and if you did, go back and look at your notes and pick ONE thing this week that you want to change based on what you learned in Conference. President Dixon told us once that you have 72 hours to apply training. If you apply it within 72 hours then it will become a
part of who you are, but if you don't, then it was just another conference and the knowledge is basically lost. The time is ticking! We have 72 hours (48 now???)!!! Ready, set, APPLY! I know you will become who God wants you to become as you take the time and effort to apply what you learn!

Also I have been feeling so at peace lately, more than ever before in my life, and it's amazing. And it's all because of the Savior, the Prince of Peace! Because he LIVES! Also, go watch the new Easter video if you haven't yet!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK OF STUDYING AND APPLYING CONFERENCE TALKS I LOVE YOU ALLLLLLL 🌞✌️❤️

Sister Carina Brown
California Redlands Mission
Discover.mormon.org

We went bowling with the Mtn view sisters and the hermanas last week
and it was so fun!

selfie while we were waiting at tom bell
Chevrolet.

a random hike and walked through a really cold river