Parade Crashers

HELLO EVERYONE 

OH MY GOODNESS WHAT A WEEK 

This week went by soooooo fast wowowowowowow

How are you all?? Can you believe Christmas is in two weeks?? 

Btw I love Sis McNary she is so funny and an amazing missionary #MVP 

For our pday today, some members took us on the Marine base in 29 palms and we went bowling and climbed on TANKS! So fun. 

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we had MLC with FOUR people from the missionary dept there! It was AWESOME. And I my MTC comp Sister Gunter was there! I have basically not seen her my whole mission. We learned soooo much and I am so excited to see these things implemented in our mission. We mainly talked about three things:

- effective planning and having a VISION 

- being natural in our finding efforts and not being pushy 

- working with members 

I wish I could just tell you everything we learned but WOW there was so much. One cool thing:

Based on an accurate study the church did, there are 9 million people in the US who would join the church TODAY if they knew where it was or who to talk to about it. They calculated it and that is 2500 people per mission in the United States. Crazy! There are SO many prepared people out there! What attracts people to the church is not the institution, it’s Jesus Christ. When we start representing him and being like him, he will be the center of our lives and more people will be able to recognize that Christ’s Church HAS been restored on the earth. 

Another cool story:

A little while ago, Elder Bednar and Elder Nelson were having a meeting on the Google campus, and no one knew who they were, but when they were walking through, EVERYTHING stopped because of the light that they carried with them. As it says in Alma 32:35, Light is discernible! “because it is light; and whatsoever is light, is good, because it is discernible.” Pretty neat. They related that to us as missionaries and how we need to carry that kind of light with us. 

There were soooo many amazing things that we learned. It was a revelatory three days! 

Also A HILARIOUS THING HAPPENED ON SATURDAY OK LISTEN TO THIS:

So basically we were planning on doing another hot chocolate stand at Walmart like we did last week, but then there were lots of people that said we couldn’t do it. So we called some other stores and nothing was working out, so we decided with the elders that we would just plan for next Saturday when we had more time to plan. THEN our ward mission leader calls us and says “I’m making nine gallons of hot chocolate, so you’re going to need to find a way to give it away tonight” and we were like WHAT THE, NINE GALLONS 

So THEN we remembered that someone had mentioned that there was a PARADE going on in Yucca Valley that night! And we were like WE HAVE TO BE A PART OF IT so we call the elders and they’re like YES LETS DO THIS (btw this was at 4pm and the parade started at 6pm). So it was decided that we would use the elders truck as a float, but they had a dinner appt and didn’t have time to decorate the truck, so we quickly switched cars with them and said we would meet up right before the parade. 

SO we got supplies to decorate the truck and just casually went and lined up at the end of the float line at 5:30pm (we talked to someone who said it was ok for us to be in it) and we were decorating the truck like CRAZY (it ended up looking pretty ghetto haha) and THEN the line started moving at 5:45 and we were like WHOA WE HAVE TO GO, so we started driving and its just us two girls in a truck and we were like WHERE ARE THE ELDERS and then like thirty seconds later, four elders come RUNNING up to the truck and we got it all ready to go and I gave the keys to one of them so they could drive, and then we just jumped into the parade and started handing out free hot chocolate! Oh my goodness the whole situation was SO comical, I loved it. There were a bunch of people chasing our truck so they could have free hot chocolate. So we basically got rid of all the hot chocolate and handed out Light the World cards! It was sooooo FUN!!! Plus the elders met a referral from it that they have been trying to get in contact with! Miracles! 

Wow yes it has been an awesome week, I just love being a missionary and I love my mission so much, ESPECIALLY at Christmastime. Something that has been on my mind lately is making Christ the center of our lives. I put a sticky note on my wall today that said “Remember to put Christ at the center of your life today.” I encourage you all to set a goal and make plans to how you can be more centered on Christ! Make HIM the center of your Christmas! 

Thank you for Lighting the World, I know you all do so many wonderful things each day to be more like the savior. I love you ALL!!!

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

Lighting the world one Walmart at a time ✌

HELLOOOOOOOO EVERYONE 

OH MY GOODNESS IT HAS BEEN AN AMAZING WEEK

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY 

ESPECIALLY AT CHRISTMASTIME

I LOVE LIGHT THE WORLD 

WOWOWOWOWOWOW seriously so many miracles this week 

So many amazing things have happened!!! Where to begin?? I’ll go through the days, and make sure you read ALL of them ESPECIALLY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY OK. MIRACLES HAVE NOT CEASED. 

Wednesday: I went on exchanges with Sister Hinckley again! And that day I actually woke up with a sore throat. I knew a cold was coming on. Exchanges were fun though, I looove Sister Hinckley! Also yes that means that Sister McNary and Sister Vest went on an exchange together. My two trainees went on an exchange! Hopefully they didn’t talk too much smack haha 

Thursday: I was sick with a cold/fever, so we basically stayed in all day. It was rough. I slept a lot, and I think Sister McNary got a little stir crazy so I felt bad. But we enjoy each other’s company a lot so when I was awake we still made the best of it. I loooove Sister McNary she is so funny, also we are so weird together and everything is hilarious. Seriously I just love her so much! 

Friday: THE LIGHT THE WORLD KICK-OFF ACTIVITY WAS ON FRIDAY WOOOOOOO it was sooooo much fun. And TONS of people came! We were surprised! We basically had a short devotional introducing what Light the World is and how to participate, sang some Christmas songs, and them afterwards we mingled and had a red backdrop for pictures. Our investigator Gabby came! And one of our favorite youth, KayleeAnn, brought tons of nonmember friends. It was awesome! We got a big group picture with all the youth in front of the red backdrop and it was soooo fun! Also we got a picture with the Truncale’s (Bishops family) WE LOVE THEM oh my goodness I LOVE love love this ward and all the people in it. This is a great area! 

Saturday: SATURDAY WAS SO FUN AHHHHHH I LOVE LIGHT THE WORLD! ok so for Day 2 of Light the World it is “I was thirsty and ye gave me drink”, so we decided to have a Light the World stand at Walmart where we gave out free hot chocolate and told people about Light the World and gave them calendars and stuff. So a few days before Saturday we called to make sure it was possible, and the manager we talked to said OF COURSE and to just talk to the manager on duty on Saturday. So on Saturday we went and talked to someone in charge who was suuuuper nice and he said we could definitely set up outside. So we had been there for about twenty minutes, and another manager came out and was like “you can’t be here, we don’t have a contract with you, you have to take this down, I’m sorry” type of thing, and we were like whaaaat nooooo and Sister McNary asked if we could speak to another manager since we were getting mixed messages. So the guy said he would go get a co manager and left, and then he miraculously NEVER CAME BACK. It was amazing, so we just stayed out there and everything was great! It was seriously soooo funnnn and soooo inspired that we were there, BECAUSE ANOTHER MIRACLE HAPPENED HERE WE GO ARE YOU READY:

MIRACLE

So! We were doing our free hot chocolate stand and it was going great, and a woman named Evelyn came up to us and we started talking to her. She said she recently moved in with her family (she is married and has two young kids ) and has been looking for a church to go to! So we told her what we do as missionaries and she was like “YES please come by, here’s my address and phone number” and so we set up a time to come back the NEXT DAY (Sunday). Which leads us to ⬇️

SUNDAY: so we go to have a lesson with Evelyn and SHE WAS THERE, YES THE LESSON DID NOT FALL THROUGH so we taught her the Restoration and she kept telling us how god has been leading her to this, and how the Mormons keep popping up in her life and how she loves how nice everyone is, and she kept saying how much light we had as missionaries and that we were glowing and that she wanted that for her and her family. So, we invited her to baptized in January and she said YES!!!  SHE IS AMAZING WOW IT WAS SUCH A MIRACLE, seriously god has been preparing her to receive missionaries for a while and it just all worked out so perfectly. GOD IS SO GOOD. 

So yes the week has been amazing. And I am just so pumped for Light the World. So my invitation to all of you this week is to BE KIND. That’s what Light the World is all about, being like Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, the important thing is how we treat other people. Pleeease just go out of your way to do nice things for people, participate in Light the World, turn outwards. It really will bring you soooo much joy! Follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

If you made it through this whole email, well done I am so proud of you. By the way, today we have a zone activity (sand volleyball woooo) and we are also going shopping in Palm Desert (out of the Zone) with a member, so I will be doing the rest of my email time later in the day. So you can expect to receive pictures and responses from me this afternoon! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! #LightTheWorld 

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

“Let your soul delight in fatness”

HELLO EVERYONE 

How were your thanksgivings?? We only ended up having two dinners, so I got really full, but not like “can’t move” full so it’s all good. The food was delicious and the members were soooo nice and sent us home with leftovers, it was so nice. I hope you were all able to “let your soul delight in fatness” as it says in 2 Nephi 9:51. 

Also, I found a scripture this week that explains why we gain weight on our missions! It is Proverbs 28:25 and it says:

“He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife: but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.”

So basically we put our trust in a God so much on our missions that we are “made fat”. Mystery solved! Case closed. I love the scriptures. 

Also fun fact: yesterday my mom sent me a picture of our dog Buster and he was wearing the cutest little coat thing and he was so cute and I low-key started crying I’m not kidding 

I miss my dog ok 

Anyway, it has been a really great week! I really can’t remember what happened though. Thanksgiving was definitely the highlight! I gained ten pounds yayyyyy. Also we have started showing people the Light the World video for this year! WOOO LIGHT THE WORLD IS HAPPENING AGAIN GET PUMPED. We are having a kick-off event this Friday (December 1st) to kick off the 25 Days of lighting the world. It’s going to be soooo fun. Stay tuned! 

Speaking of Light the World, I am inviting you all right now to PARTICIPATE in the 25 ways in 25 Days! It starts this Friday, so start thinking about what you can do for each day in December! I know it will make your Christmas so much more meaningful and joyful, and you will make a difference in so many peoples lives. Go to Mormon.org for details. I AM SO EXCITED WOW CHRISTMAS IS THE BEST TIME TO BE A [MEMBER] MISSIONARY HERE WE GO 

GET READY WORLD HERE COME THE MORMONS 

it’s going to be “lit” if you will 

Anyway 

Oh btw we recently started teaching a woman who used to be the wife of a drug dealer! Good times. Not going to go into detail there. 

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon (what else is new) (what can I say, I’m a missionary), and how it NEEDS to be the keystone of our testimonies or everything else will crumble. It is the keystone of our religion, and if it is not the keystone of our testimonies then everything else will fall apart! Which is why we need to be reading it every single day. And it really is because it testifies of Jesus Christ! We NEED Christ, and we feel of his love and learn of his healing power from the scriptures. I love the example of Nephi, whose soul delights in the scriptures. He said, “For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them... my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.” (2 Nephi 4:15-16) 

I love how he says that his soul delights in the things of the Lord. Ask yourself this: does your soul delight in the things of the Lord? If not, I invite you to make the necessary changes in order to make that happen. I know I definitely need to work on that! Delighting in the The things of the Lord begins with praying and reading the scriptures. I just LOVE the Book of Mormon, and I know with all my heart that it comes from God and if testifies of Jesus Christ. Let’s do something fun, everyone go read a verse from the Book of Mormon right now! Go! 

Wasn’t that nice? Let your soul delight in the scriptures! And in fatness, as was mentioned in the beginning of this email. 

Alright I gotta go, but I love you all. Thank you for all your emails and pictures. Enjoy lighting the world this week! LOVE YOU! 

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

Thanksgiving pics 

The emojis are for my sister Gracie ❤️ love you bam bam

A member gave us a bunch of clothes so we tried them all on