Sister Madeline Brown: Week 36 & 37 - Papillion & Mormon Trail Center

6/25 We ate with Chloe and she made us this lemon chicken noodle dish that was to die for. Sooo good. And we had English connect. We met this lady named Lucy who had the coolest huaraches. She told me where to get them here, so I went today and snagged a pair for myself.

6/26 We were at the trail center basically all day. It was a blast as always. I got to meet this really sweet family from Florida that came through, and I made friends with the oldest girl. She just graduated High School and she is going to Utah State in the fall and said she was debating on a mission. I got to bear my testimony about missionary work to her, and she told me that now she knows she wants to serve. So that was really cool. She just emailed me too!!! We are going to keep in touch.

6/29 We had trail center training early in the morning so we got to hear from President Johnson and we learned all about the symbolism of the Nauvoo and the Salt Lake temples! Then there was a huge group from Alpine and Highland UT that came in.

6/30 AMANDA CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! She finally came. It was so awesome to have her there, I love her so much and I know she felt the spirit. The talks that day were perfect for her situation too. Everything just went so well.

7/2 We had district council all about how America was prophesied in the book of Mormon and how the way was prepared for the restoration. Also the third verse in My Country Tis of Thee talks about templed hills, so that's pretty cool.

7/3 We were at the trail center again and it was super slow, so we took a couple of tours and then helped decorate for the bbq we all had on the 4th.

7/4 All day Pday except I forgot to send a weekly email. Oops. But NOBODY does the 4th of July like the Midwest. Let me tell you, we did not get a lick of sleep that night there were so many fireworks and lightning and fireflies it could have been daytime.

7/6 We car fasted, which means we went walking without a car for about 5 hours, and it was HOT. We met this super, super sweet lady named Latoria while we were walking, and she was so touched to see us. She had been praying about where she should go to church, and then we showed up! So we are going to go see her and be her friend pretty soon.

We also had a lesson with the cutest girl, Bianca. She is so ready and wants to be baptized on the 20th!!!! She reads the Book of Mormon every day and we love her so much.

So the other day, I was reading about planting good seeds in your heart. I was trying to diagram what I was thinking, and I couldn't come up with anything other than the normal tree diagram everyone does. Then I thought about the scene in Bugs Life when Flick is trying to explain something to Dot, and he keeps telling her to pretend that a rock, is a seed. Dot knows that rocks don't grow into trees, so she retorts back "but its a rock..." sometimes Satan tries to trick us into planting rocks, like money or popularity, in our hearts, telling us they will grow into trees. We need to be smart enough to sort out the rocks from the seeds. Good seeds, like the gospel, the scriptures, or the Atonement of Jesus Christ, will grow and flourish and bring lasting joy into your life. They will help you to grow and progress and become the best version of yourself. Rocks that you plant, will just sit and weigh you down....slow your progression. I invite you all to look at the things that you are planting and find out if they are rocks, or seeds. Then make the necessary changes that you need to dig the rocks out and put in some seeds. I know that as you do, you will find the real joy that only comes through Jesus Christ, and you will understand the divine potential that you have.

I love you all!!! Send me an email, or a letter (My address below :) I miss you!!!!

3215 State St.

Omaha, NE

68112

Helping Sister Ramos clean

Here is a little picture I drew of Flick. So the other day, I was reading about planting good seeds in your heart. I was trying to diagram what I was thinking, and I couldn't come up with anything other than the normal tree diagram everyone does. Then I thought about the scene in Bugs Life when Flick is trying to explain something to Dot, and he keeps telling her to pretend that a rock, is a seed. Dot knows that rocks don't grow into trees, so she retorts back "but its a rock..." sometimes Satan tries to trick us into planting rocks, like money or popularity, in our hearts, telling us they will grow into trees. We need to be smart enough to sort out the rocks from the seeds. Good seeds, like the gospel, the scriptures, or the Atonement of Jesus Christ, will grow and flourish and bring lasting joy into your life. They will help you to grow and progress and become the best version of yourself. Rocks that you plant, will just sit and weigh you down....slow your progression. I invite you all to look at the things that you are planting and find out if they are rocks, or seeds. Then make the necessary changes that you need to dig the rocks out and put in some seeds. I know that as you do, you will find the real joy that only comes through Jesus Christ, and you will understand the divine potential that you have.

Another picture from the 4th of July

Taking Jesus on a church tour

We played a Plan of Salvation board game with Izavella's family, it was so much fun!

I just love these shoes...

You use one dice and start at pre earth life, then stop at the earth, then you have to roll an even number to be born. Then you can move on and you stop at faith, repentance, baptism etc. (Later we put random red spaces you stop on and do the same thing to make it more of a teaching experience) and you teach them about what they are on. Then they cant move on from that space till they answer a question about the topic. (If they don't know the answer you just teach it again) then when you get to death, if you roll an even number you go to spirit paradise, and an odd number sends you to spirit prison. Once you are in the spirit world you don't get to move on until everyone is in the spirit world, but you can answer any question asked of anyone and steal their points. Then when everyone is in the spirit world, you take turns rolling until someone rolls a 5, then Jesus Christ comes to earth for the second coming and everyone is resurrected and judged. The person with the most points from answering questions wins and goes to the celestial kingdom, and the second place person goes to the terrestrial kingdom, third to telestial, fourth (optional) goes to outer darkness, and you teach them what it is when they go there.