The Wedding, The WEEKND, & the Waters Of Baptism

HELLO EVERYONE WOW WHAT A WEEK IT HAS BEEN ANOTHER GREAT WEEK IN THE MISSION FIELD WOW I LOOOOOVE MY MISSION

DONOVAN GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED YESTERDAY!!!
🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁

So yes it was amazing! But before we get to that, the rest of the week was awesome. Actually, Sister Tomisin had a pretty bad migraine all week so she had to get some extra sleep every day, but it was still a full and busy week.

We basically saw Donovan and Destiny every day so that we could teach them the lessons in preparation for his baptism. We always teach them at the Vanbuskirks who are in the other ward, but D&D live in our ward boundaries which is why we are the missionaries teaching them. By the way I LOVE THE VANBUSKIRKS, especially Sis Vanbuskirk, she is like a mom away from home and it was so fun to spend so much time with her this week. We helped her a lot with the wedding prep! PS the Vanbuskirks house is MASSIVE and so beautiful.

THE WEDDING:
The Wedding for Donovan and Destiny was Saturday and it was absolutely beautiful! And it was so sweet, they are he cutest. It was at the Vanbuskirks house and everything turned out so well. We helped with food prep and were able to talk to Donovan and Destiny’s families so that was really good. It was a really wonderful day! Pictures to follow.

THE WEEKND:
So Coachella Fest was this weekend (EVERYONE is in town, traffic was crazy), and the Vanbuskirks neighbors (the Thatchers) have a reeeeally nice house that they rent out for Coachella. Sis Vanbuskirk told us that music was BUMPIN until like 4am the night before the wedding, so the Thatchers ended up coming over to talk about it (they were still in town, just not at their house because they make TONS of money renting it out). Well come to find out, THE WEEKND IS STAYING AT THEIR HOUSE. For those of you who don’t know, The Weeknd is a popular musical artist. So basically we were RIGHT NEXT DOOR to The Weeknd. Pretty exciting.

BUT WAIT THERES MORE

We couldn’t just let The Weeknd slip out of our hands. Its not every day that The Weeknd is in your area on your mission. So. I kid you not WE TRIED TO TRACT THE HOUSE. We drove by a few times to make sure it was the right house, and it was (there were red solo cups all over the grass - classic) (btw Sis Vanbuskirk lovingly gave us their GATE CODE). So we drive up and we couldn’t park on the street because their were “no parking” signs everywhere, so Sister Tomisin gets out and tries to type in the gate code but then A CAR CAME OUT AT THE SAME TIME and he drove away slowly (he definitely looked like a bodyguard), and then this foreign man came to greet Sister Tomisin and she played it off like “oh, were missionaries” etc etc and the foreign man pretended to have no idea what she was talking about. So eventually we had to leave. So that story may have been anti climactic but we can now say that we TRACTED THE WEEKNDS (rental) HOUSE. Good times.🤘

THE WATERS OF BAPTISM:
The baptism went soooooo well. The spirit was so strong and it really was an amazing service, especially for putting it together in a week. After the whole service ended, Donovan said, “I didn’t want it to end!” He loved it so much and was so happy. The Vanbuskirks did so much to help too and everything just turned out so well. I am just so happy for Donovan! What a huge miracle. They are moving to northern Cali TODAY so we are working on getting in contact with the missionaries where they are moving to. I just love Donovan and Destiny ❤️

Lately I have been doing a little something called MyPlan (a program that you do the last transfer of your mission) and it has been talking a lot about remembering. It shared some quotes from the talk “O Remember Remember” by Pres Eyring (I invite you to read it) and he talks about how the ACT of remembering helps us to notice the blessings in our lives, that we wouldn’t notice if we didn’t try to remember in the first place. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and reflecting on how far the Lord has brought me throughout my mission. And I know he will continue to lead me throughout my life. Though the end is near, this is actually the beginning! My aunt Ruth just told me, “now you have the chance to enjoy what you’ve learned on your mission for the rest of your life.” And I love that! God is teaching us every day, and we can enjoy the knowledge he has given us and be confident that he will continue to help us learn. In MyPlan it asked me two questions:
- what spiritual truths has the Lord taught you?
- what christlike attributes has the Lord helped you to develop?
I invite you each to ponder on these questions, and to write down the answers this week. You may reflect on the past month, year, two years, or five years of your life, but just try and remember how far the Lord has brought you! I know that Gods hand is in each of our lives every single day, and when we take the time to notice those small blessings, our lives will be more beautiful and sweet. God is SO aware of you!

Okay I gotta GO but we have a great week ahead of us, we are going to the TEMPLE on Thursday! Yayayayayayayayyyyyy I can’t wait. It’s going to be another great week in the mission field! I love you all so much!
❤️❤️❤️

Sister Carina Brown
California Redlands Mission
Discover.mormon.org