O N E Y E A R

HELLO!!!

This week I will hit my YEAR MARK of being on a mission!

WHAT

HOW

Actually, one year ago today I gave my farewell talk in sacrament meeting. YUP, TIME FLIES LET ME TELL YOU. I never thought I'd get to this point! This is crazy!

Anyway, it's been another eventful week! Yesterday we moved out of the 29 Palms sisters apt (Sister Angelovich and Sister Hinckley) (they are so fun) and into a house in Yucca Valley with some older members of our ward. This is a temporary living space until we can move into our permanent residence later this week. Lots of moving!

Oh yeah, I'm training!!! My new companion is Sister McNary. She is amazing! She was baptized just three years ago which is sooooo coooool. She is from San Antonio, Texas. It has been the neatest thing to have a recent convert companion, she has so many great insights and perspectives that I have never thought of before. She is a very focused missionary and ready to work hard which is great!

We had MLC this week and it was awesome! Great way to kick off online proselyting aka I'M ON FACEBOOK NOW (ahem feel free to add me if we are not already friends). It was really strange to initially get on there after not being on Facebook for a year. It was somewhat of a harrowing experience, but I made it through and my Facebook is cleaner than it was before! Feel free to share my posts and like and comment, as long as your comments are gospel centered and not a distraction! I will not be using it to communicate with family and friends, so just keep using email if you would like to contact me. I am excited to use Facebook as a new tool to fulfill my purpose as a missionary. I will attach a PDF from the Dixons on suggestions to you all for helping me as I use Facebook on my mission.

Also we have SMART PHONES now! Weird but wonderful! It is a lot easier to maneuver than that tiny blue brick phone we used to have (though I did really like that phone). It is an exciting time to be a missionary. The Lord really is hastening His work.

I've been thinking a lot about social media and technology lately and how these tools were created primarily to move the work of the Lord forward. We have this booklet called "Safeguards for Using Technology" that includes safeguards and guidelines on how we can stay focused on our missionary purpose through the use of technology, and how we can protect ourselves from using social media the way the adversary would want us to use it. The four safeguards are:

1. Be in tune with spiritual promptings
2. Be focused on your missionary purpose
3. Be disciplined
4. Be one

The booklet also gives guidelines on what to do when you are feeling vulnerable or susceptible with technology/social media, and those guidelines are:

1. Be aware and acknowledge
2. Choose to act
3. Learn and improve

The thing is, we will all be tempted to use social media and technology in ways that are not in harmony with the Lords standards. This could include: scrolling for hours on end with no purpose, focusing on a large number of likes rather than focusing on the individual as the savior would, comparing ourselves with others, viewing content that will only bring us further from god, etc etc. We have all been and will be tempted to do this these things! I still am! And that's why I am so grateful for the safeguards. God is given us a way to make our smart phones our servants and not our masters. He has given us the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us and He will not lead us astray. I invite you all to keep these safeguards in mind as you use technology and social media this week, and follow the three guidelines if you are feeling vulnerable or susceptible. God will be there to help you. Let's use these tools for the purpose that they were intended, to hasten the work of salvation! You CAN break bad social media habits with the Savior's help. That's a goal I have set for myself. Let's do this together!

Okay well that's all for now. I appreciate all the love and support I receive from each of you, thank you for all you do. Here's to another great week! Let's GO! LOVE YOU ALLLL!

Sister Carina Brown