Week 10 - Nebraska City - Freezing Rain!

Hi all! 

This week was slow with Christmas and Christmas Eve and now new years. It's been nice, but nobody's home and there's nobody to find or teach hahaha. 

I experienced freezing rain for the first time this week. We had a 5-hour car fast one day (which just means we walk everywhere instead of driving) and it was the rainiest day of the week. It was pouring rain and really windy all day, the wind here bites. It was 15° (but you can't just look at the temperature when you check the weather here, you have to look at the "feels like" part because it's always drastically different.) So it was 15° but it felt like -3° hand warmers are my new best friend.

We ran into a lot of bible bashers during that car fast, and a lot of angry words towards us hahaha, but we keep going. They just aren't ready. The last house we came to though, they weren't interested but insisted we come in so we could warm up and she made us some tangerine tea. (So good) so that was a huge tender mercy. And maybe they will be interested at a later time, who knows. 

Joei is doing well and we have her set for baptism on the 25th! We're so excited for her and she has such a light around her. Even with all that's going on in her life she is still putting her trust in the lord and keeping her faith.

We haven't been able to see Harley because she is at her dad's in Missouri right now, but she is getting baptized this weekend! And she texts us every other day telling us how excited she is to get baptized.

I know this is the greatest work I could be a part of and I know that President Nelson is a prophet called of God. He is such an amazing and inspired man. 

I love you all so much! Email me and let me know how everything is going in your lives, I may be far away but I still think about and pray for each of you, and I love & miss you all. Have a happy 2019!!! 

-Sister Brown

Nebraska in Winter...

Pants!

Me as a Shepherd

Shopping in Omaha

George & his Bird

Me & Anna

My Sheep

Week 9 - Nebraska City - Merry Christmas!

Hello! Friends! Family! Loved ones! Merry Christmas and I hope all is well. Thank you so much to everyone who sent me letters and packages, I love and appreciate each one of you. 

I thought I was gonna have a white Christmas this year but all the snow melted just in time, so that's cool. At least I had a white Thanksgiving. 

Nothing too crazy or new has happened this week, all the people I am teaching are still progressing and I love them all so much. Sister Tuala and I do have one new person we are teaching. Her name is Ponida, shes from Laos and speaks Lao and very broken English. She is Buddhist but says she believes in God, so we are teaching her and helping her to know who God is and his plan for her. We use Google translate to teach her, and she understands very little English, but the spirit is the real teacher because somehow she is doing really well despite all that, so that's my little miracle for the week.

This Christmas I want to invite you all to remember Christ, the true reason for the season, and focus more on giving than receiving. This doesn't mean go out and buy every one of your friends and family a nice present, but look for and find small but meaningful ways that you can serve those around you. Clean the house for your mom, call your Grandparents or parents and tell them you love them, cook dinner one night, take your little sibling out to get ice cream and spend time with them, listen to them. I know that if you do this you will be able to see and recognize little miracles all around you. 

I love you all, and your Heavenly Father loves you all. Merry Christmas! 

-Sister Brown

Me and Hannah, She always steals my nametag and puts it on herself

The most precious child ever

Brother and Sister Martin

Brett's friends from his Mission...who happen to be home and also happen to be in Madi's current ward and also happened to have a Christmas party where she and Sister Tuala were invited.

This cat reminds me of Clover

Me and Harley

We see these stickers on peoples houses all the time

Week 8 - Nebraska City

Hey all!

I'm alive, despite the cold weather. Its actually been pretty nice this week, the sun is out and its around 40° and we haven't had any snowstorms lately. 

Harley came to church on Sunday and is still so excited to learn about the gospel. She's getting baptized on the 29th and we are trying to see if we can teach her mom now! Shes still my best friend.

Marsha is new. She used to be Apostolic, but then there was an incident with the pastor that she loved at that church and then we found her. She's pretty set in her ways, has her own ideas about God and has been smoking for about 40 years, but was really excited to come to our church and said she really feels the spirit with us! She showed up to church on Sunday wearing a t-shirt that said WWJD and wearing every piece of jewelry with a cross on it that she owns hahaha.

The Perez family is awesome. They were taught by missionaries in Utah a long time ago and actually almost got baptized, but then they moved to a different part of Utah and they told us the new Elders teaching them were really arrogant and the members in that town were awful towards them so they stopped taking lessons and were pretty much turned off to the church completely. They said they were open to having us come back though so now we are teaching them and they are progressing really well. They have a baptism date for January 5th.

Jesse is going to Peru college, which is like the community college around here, he's disabled and has had a rough couple of years. He has a baptism date also for January 5th but he just left town all of a sudden and won't answer our calls or texts so we are hoping he just doesn't have his phone or something. We've been teaching him for a while, and sometimes he progresses and sometimes he just ignores us for a couple weeks at a time.

Joei...still has a baptism date, but everything in her life is against her at the moment. Her husband is basically telling everyone he is divorcing her and leaving her with nothing (no money, no place for her and her kids to live) and shes got a lot of health problems on top of that. She says she feels better when we come to see her and read the Book of Mormon with her, so we just keep doing that and praying for her all the time. She can use all the prayers she can get. 

Right now me and Sister Tuala are making a million cookies and goodies to give to people this week for Christmas! 

I love you all! Email me your address and I'll send you a Christmas card! ♥️ 

--Sister Brown

Shoveling Brother Jenkins whole walkway!

Relief Society Christmas Party

Us with Sister Baier 

Me and Guinea Pig

With Lily & Max

Us with Marsha at Church!

Christmas Party!

Harley came to church! She's our best friend.

Where I study 

Weeks 6 & 7 - Nebraska City

(Madi didn't get a chance to send an official update the last two weeks but asked me to summarize it for you all here.)

They are teaching the same people as before right now, Harley who is 9, but she hasn't seen in a while because she's been sick and Joei is going through a really rough time with lots of crazy things happening in her life so it has been hard and they are not sure what to do except be there for her and pray for her.

On December 1st, the Light the World day of service Madi and her companion were able to serve a a woman in their area by cleaning her whole house for her.

One day, a member was driving them home from an appointment 30 minutes away and the car started smoking really bad. They stopped and checked under the hood and the oil cap had popped off and oil had spilled everywhere. She said, "we almost died." :)

They also spent some time in Lincoln, Nebraska doing exchanges with the other Sister Missionaries. She said, "Lincoln!!! I love Lincoln so so much. It's the cutest little town ever, especially in the snow at Christmas time. Like a little Salt Lake City or Portland." They also went caroling as a district in Lincoln and that was a lot of fun.

She is doing well, but of course very homesick too and loves all the emails and pictures she receives and says to keep them coming!

There are murals all over Nebraska City

Michael & his Daughter. We put up a Christmas tree and decorated it with them. It is his daughters first Christmas Tree!

Cute family we had dinner with in Lincoln

Exchanges in Lincoln with Sister Olson

What I look like every day

Favorite artwork right now...

The district

Capitol building

The district

These tree statues are all over Nebraska City

Lincoln!!!

Caroling with the district

Another mural...Nebraska City is where Morton Salt Co was started

Oil spilled everywhere!!!

After cleaning Sister Lawton's house