"Fear activates satan like faith activates God"

The mission in general is full of many "Highs" and "Lows." This week we experienced a few of those large differences within a matter of days. I don't typically talk about the "lows," but I will mention one this week because it provides a valuable lesson I felt like would be good to share. There must be opposition in all things, otherwise we wouldn't know joy from sorrow.

When It's so hot you use your skirt as oven mitts...
I mean driving mitts.

To get the less desirable experience out of the way...I'll start with that. To be brief, we called one of our less active members to check up on her. She told us her sister (whom we had visited twice in the hospital) had passed away the day before. We helped her with a few of the funeral arrangements (getting the bishop of her sister's ward notified to talk), and offered love and support. During the funeral, there was another member of the church speaking. While his intentions were good, the delivery of certain points of his talk were not given with love and deeply offended some of the immediately family members. Sitting through this part of the funeral was difficult for Sister Anderson and I because we dearly loved this family regardless of their struggles. To draw others to the church, all we do and say must be with love. When we put ourselves in their shoes, we will speak and act a touch differently. I love the speaker and was grateful for his efforts which were well intended. As missionaries, it made our job a little bit more difficult, seeing that some of the family members are now turned away from the church. The lesson derived is to put ourselves in the shoes of others and serve with love. :) I know I will try harder each day to do so.

No worries, Sister Anderson and I are still loving Douglas! Wednesday proved to hold a miracle lesson this week. We met a young woman named Erin. She was SO prepared for the gospel. When we talked to her about Joseph Smith's experience, she said, "Well, I don't understand..why would anyone be upset that he received revelation straight from God and Jesus Christ. Now we can see what They would teach us about the scriptures." Sister Anderson and I both replied, "Right? I don't know! :D " She had heard negative things about the church from others, but when the Holy Ghost touched her heart, she knew it was true. The Lord is in this work! He is preparing His children. I feel absolutely blessed to be a part of His mission.

This week we were praying from some service opportunities because we've not done much in the past. Well, we ended up with almost too many opportunities..if that's possible. We marked labels at the food bank (met a man who's friends with a family in the ward), decorated a school with the other teachers for the open house later that afternoon, helped make 1300 pork chop plates for our youth's fundraiser, and we are moving a family this afternoon! Whew.

An amazing quilt one of our
investigators made a while back.

Something neat from our PEC meeting this Sunday: We were talking about a young part member family [Jay and Mallory] we were working with (the father of the young husband [Jay] was in the room and we were discussing how to get them involved and help their [Jay and Mallory] progression). The father mentioned how it was really great that we were meeting with them because a number of years ago, the wife [Mallory] had gotten offended by the missionaries and lost all interest. Around this time, another one of the members of the council yelled, "OH! There was something I needed to tell you sisters. Jennifer ____. Don't stop seeing her!" We had previously gone over and met with this woman whose husband is a less active member. She has met with many missionaries in the past but never really progressed or showed interest. Well, we had a touching experience with her when she actually told us she knew she needed to be baptized and started crying. Since then, however, we hadn't been able to successfully set up a time for a lesson. We had gotten discouraged and given her a bit of a rest. This council member told us about his conversations with her and he said that she had felt something different that she never has when talking with missionaries before. He said, "Don't stop seeing her. Make sure to visit her." The Lord has been working on her for years, and this sweet friend could see that she was finally prepared to let this message into her life. We will definitely do all we can to be there for her to provide guidance.

I know this work is miraculous. I know the Lord leads His army. I know we are children of a LOVING Heavenly Father. I know there is nothing, even the bad days :), that will stop this work from moving forward. The restoration is here. It is here, and it is here now. Take part in it!

Love y'all! Thank you for being incredible examples to me.

-Sister Brown