blessed

HELLO EVERYONE 

It has been a great week! I looooove this area and I loooove Sister Losee, I am praying she does not get transferred next week!  We will see. We honestly have the ideal companionship, she is so non-contentious and it is so refreshing. I love herrrrrrr. 

We have a Book of Mormon class every Wednesday night so that is fun! Marius (German exchange student investigator) always comes and other random members do too. We teach the class and read from a chapter in the BOM every week. 

OH YEAH ok I keep forgetting to mention Sister Griffin, she is a recent convert and she is awesome. She always feeds us dinner when we don’t have a dinner appt, and she feeds us lunch sometimes too. We just love her so much. She always gives us sweets too (I don’t eat them though don’t worry) (only sometimes if I really want to). She is in her 60s and her husband is a non-member and he is great too. Last Monday she took us to Red Robin and I got a SUPER messy burger, so she took a picture of me because I was making a huge mess. It is QUALITY. Anyway, I just had to mention her because she is amazing. 

Right now we have eight sisters in our apt! We are all hanging out and emailing and eating popcorn that I made. Let the good times roll. #pday 

OH, MIRACLE yesterday! We got a referral a few days ago for a girl named Bella (early 20s), so the other day we went to contact her but we only met her mom. Who was super nice by the way. But yesterday we went to go contact her and she was there! She let us in and was very kind. We asked if she had a minute for us to share a message and she said she did! We taught the Restoration and she really liked it. At the end we invited her to pray, and in her prayer she said, “let me add to my faith, if that is at all possible.” It was so sweet! Definitely a miracle! 

A scripture that has been on my mind lately is a scripture that is constantly shared by apostles and prophets and church leaders. It is D&C 84:88, and it says:

 “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

As I read this scripture I was pondering on why our church leaders always share it. And I think it is because they truly understand and see the meaning of it. This scripture is not some metaphorical idea. It is TRUTH. When we serve the Lord, he goes with us. Not just in our minds, but he is literally there with us. And so are his angels. They are all around us, I know it! God has not left us here alone. He has promised that when we follow him, he will help us, and he will bear us up. I know that life can be really difficult, but god is always with us. He wants to help you, all you have to do is turn to him. I invite you all to keep this scripture in mind this week as you go through difficult things and continue to endure to the end. He is there. He loves you. And he WILL bear you up. 

Ok I hope you all have a wonderful week, stay tuned to see what happens with transfers next week! LOVE YOU ALL! 

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

Red Robin with Sister Griffin

We went to the zoo today

HELLOOOOO 

How’s it going everyone 

Another week gone and past. Can you believe it? Seriously time goes by so fast. I think I say that a lot but it’s true. 

Yes we went to the ZOO today! It was so fun! We got lots of pictures. Probably the closest thing to Disneyland that I’ll get on my mission so it was great. We went with four other sisters and it was a lot of fun! #pants 

I realized that I am not super detailed in my mass emails?? Like some people do a day by day play by play thing, but I just write about all this random stuff. I mean do you remember that time I wrote about dreaming about Justin Bieber? Like what was that about? So I’m going to try to be a little more detailed. With the important things. Just a little.

First of all, we have a lot of awesome service opportunities in this zone which is great! We do service at this place called Coachella Valley Rescue Mission (CVRM) (yes Coachella is in my Zone) where we help with making/serving food to the homeless which is cool. We also serve at this church called St. Margaret’s which is pretty fun! Everyone is very respectful of us and loves to have us there. 

FUNNY STORY: 

So we were serving at the CVRM the other day, and this guy named Wayne always comes and talks to us and he is SO FUNNY. He is an african American preacher of sorts (he always gives us these mini sermons and it is so great), and the other day we walk in and he goes “my sisters in Christ, what’s up?” It was great. Later, we were putting cookies on trays and he comes up to us and starts talking about his past, and how he used to be in prison but now he is different. His exact words were: 

“I used to be a womanizer, like come ‘ere girl lemme holla atchu. But not anymore. Now, I love JESUS.”  Oh my goodness seriously it was sooooo funnyyyyyyyy he is hilarious. We so appreciate his faith. He later proceeded to show us his tattoos of the “trinity” and “WWJD.” 

We started teaching a 17 year old guy named Marius this week! He is a German exchange student living with a member family, the Petersons. So he already has built-in fellowshippers! So perfect. We had a good first lesson where we taught the Restoration and he had a lot of great questions and understood most everything we taught. We are excited for him! Members are the key! 

Something that has been on my mind lately is the scripture D&C 88:40, where it says “light cleaveth unto light.” I feel that on my mission I have received a lot of light, and the more light I receive the more light I want, therefore, the more light I seek. The light is that I have been realizing lately how omniscient and omnipotent God is, and how much we really need to trust in Him. How could we NOT trust in an all-loving and all-knowing being? When we come to the knowledge of the majesty of our Heavenly Father, it becomes so much easier to trust in Him. I invite you all to look around you this week and recognize Gods creations. Recognize that there is so much more than just this earth and just this life, and in turn, put your trust in God a little more this week! I know that God loves us soooo much, and his goal is our eternal happiness. Trust in Him. He absolutely knows what he is doing. 

Okay well I hope you all have a great week. Thank you for your heartfelt emails and for all the love and support you give! Keep being disciples of Christ and keep reading the Book of Mormon every day. Love you all SO much! 

Sister Carina Brown

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

miracles at old navy & baptism!

HELLOOOOOOOO 

It has been another wonderful week! I love this area! Also today we went to Old Navy and I got two lovely dresses that were FIVE DOLLARS each! Miracle! Hence the first half of the subject line. There is a sister in our mission who calls small miracles “smiracles”, so I would say that finding two $5 dresses at old navy is a smiracle. 

Brother (Norman) Ricketson got baptized on Saturday! It was so great! That day was NON STOP. We had lessons all day and then the baptism was in the evening and then we had another lesson afterwards. I looove non stop days like that! They are so fun! I love teaching people the gospel and helping them to experience a change a heart through the Holy Ghost. 

Whoa this email is super short, I don’t really have much else to say................

Ok i thought of a funny story:

I lied, I didn’t even think of one. I thought that maybe if I typed out that I had a funny story then one would come to mind, but nothing came to mind. Sister Losee and I did laugh at a lot of random things this week though! We have fun! 

OH I thought of one:

The other day we talked to a super drunk guy named George (he introduced himself like five times to us) and he was saying how great it was that we were spreading gods word and he said “I feel, like, a numb sensation right now. Do you feel that?” And we were like uhhhhhhh we’re going to go nowwww.... it was pretty funny. 

Yesterday during sacrament meeting we were singing the hymn “How Great Thou Art” and I had a sweet experience as we sang the words “my burdens gladly bearing”. I felt the spirit witness to me that those words were true. I truly felt my Saviors love at that moment, and knew that He really did bear my burdens GLADLY. It brought tears to my eyes as I thought about how he not only bore MY burdens gladly, but he bore the burdens of everyone in the world, gladly. He did it because he has so much love for all of us individually. I know that Jesus Christ has carried and will continue to carry all of YOUR burdens, everything you have ever gone through and are going through. He knows you personally. He loves you. And he invites you to come unto Him and has promised that if you do, he will lift your burdens and help you to feel joy and gladness no matter what. I love my Savior! 

I hope you all have a great week. Stay close to the Lord and He will stay close to you. Also read the Book of Mormon every day. I love you ALL! And so does HE! Remember: don’t think about how inexperienced you are, but think about how experienced HE is. 

Sister Carina Brown 

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

Forgot to mention we had ZONE CONFERENCE on Tuesday and it was amazing! Moral of the story: President Dixon basically started the church in Pakistan. I will tell you the whole story when I get home!

Sister Losee as a child and she is adorable

Sisters day today 

I am finally a spanish missionary!

HEYYYYYY HELLOOOOOOO 

It’s been another great week, I love this area, I love Sister Losee (wow yeah really though I loooooove Sister Losee she is an amazing person and so kind, it is so refreshing and relieving to be around her, she is so christlike and wonderful, it is a privilege to be her companion) and I love my mission!

Sorry for not responding to some of you who emailed me, we were bad on time management today so our email time is cut a little short unfortunately but! I love you all! And I read and greatly appreciate every email I receive, so thank you! 

Okay so that subject line was total clickbait. I am not officially a spanish missionary, BUT I did FINALLY go on exchanges to spanish land (that’s what we call the spanish areas, idk why)! It was so fun! My dream! I went with Hermana Caldwell, and her spanish is awesome. She was helping me out all day. She told me that if I read the Book of Mormon in Spanish every day, and speak Spanish more, then I WILL learn it! I’m telling you, Book of Mormon = POWER. So now I have a goal to read from the Book of Mormon in Spanish (out loud) every day. It’s going well so far! 

It was so neat because the Spanish I learned when I was younger was totally coming back to my memory, and I was able to understand a lot of what the people were saying, and speak it too! Hermana Caldwell says my Spanish is better than I think. She is so encouraging and helpful. We had a spanish Book of Mormon class that night, and we all took turns reading verses. When it got to my turn, the dialogue went something like this: 

Me: “no hablo mucho espanol, so... como se dice... pass?” 

Everyone in the class: “necesitas practicar” (or something) 

Me: “no no, hablo solo un poquito espanol”

Everyone: “read!” “You can do it!” “Yes read!” (All that was in espanol) 

Me: “okay okay solo uno versiculo” *reads one verse* “ok no mas”

Everyone: *oohs and ahhs* “otro mas! Otro mas!” 

Me: “ahhh ok” *reads again* 

It was good! My Spanish isn’t as bad as I thought! Everyone was soooo nice (oh my goodness seriously I love Hispanic people they are sooo nice and inviting non judgmental). Also there was an older woman from Guatemala there so we got to talk for a while! It was so great. I love spanish land. 

We are needing to do a lot of finding lately, so we made a solid finding plan this week! I am very excited about it. Also Brother Ricketson is getting baptized this Saturday! Yay! We will be busy preparing for that. Also zone conference is tomorrow! Yayyy I will get to see Sisters McNary, Hinckley, and Vest 

I was so sad to hear about the passing of our beloved prophet, Thomas S Monson. He was such an exemplary man and he will be greatly missed! I definitely cried when I heard the news. One of my favorite quotes from him is “never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.” There are people out there right now, even the people sitting right next to you, that need love! There is just no time to be unkind. Remember that quote this week as you interact with people, especially the people closest to you. Also remember that often times “the people that are hardest to love need love the most.” Love one another, as Jesus loves you! 

I hope you all have a fun week, send me pictures, read your scriptures, and love each other! LOVE YOU ALL! 

Sister Carina Brown 

California Redlands Mission 

Discover.mormon.org

P day 

Cards at night 

It’s alive I promise 

Exchanges and a member randomly bought us dinner