A WONDERFUL WEEK!!

September 23, 2013                  

                                                 Me and the Best Companion EVER!!!!

FAMILY!!!! How is everyone?!

I am doing wonderful, and the work is really picking up!

16 de Septiembre (Monday)

Elena sent me a really cute e-mail that I really enjoyed! Later today, I bought some croissants and yes.. they are now gone!! They are so good! After doing a little grocery shopping, we came back home and wrote some letters! I hope you got that letter I sent! I also got the one from both you and dad! Thank you so much! I loved it! (: After practicing a little piano, we went to this cute Indian store. I bought the coolest pants that are quite popular here! I love them so much, and Hermana Johnson bought a really cute white dress! We started out with our appointments. We went to visit Cristiani, but she wasn´t home - so we went to visit a wonderful woman in our ward Merchi. She is so strong, and such a sweet lady. Every Monday night we have FHE with Galicia and Gabriel. Tonight was really funny, we played a game like charades. You act out a person, place and a thing. Then one person comes in at a time and you act it out for them, then they have to act it out to the next person and so on. We had a lot of fun!!!! Then, Galicia fed us empanadas (: I was a very happy girl!

17th (Tuesday)

Every Tuesday we have district meeting - today we learned about being a successful missionary, and it´s not all about the numbers! Afterwards, we ate at Dominos! We had buffet style and I´m a little embarrassed to tell you how many pieces I had. But I´ll tell you, 9! I was not feeling the greatest after, but it was definitely worth it! We had to get our money´s worth right?!  After the 4th pizza, Elder Harman says, ´´Hermana Brown, you want another?´´ yeah, I just couldn´t say no! After lunch we had to run to get our bus to Sevilla. We were doing inter-cambios. The Sister Training Leaders do an exchange with each of the companionships in the zone. I was with Hermana Hodson! She taught me a lot, and helped me understand how easy it is to contact in the street! I have just got to get over my fear of messing up my Spanish! 2 men came up to me in the park and asked about English classes... so we got two futures, so that was nice! We also taught a man in a bar - he liked to practice his English so I was excited to talk to him! I am so grateful for Hermana Johnson and her obedience. I´ve learned some great habits from her that are so important as a missionary!

18th (Wednesday)

So today I´m still in Dos Hermanas with Hermana Hodson. This morning for exercise, we did a zumba work-out thing! It was pretty fun! When we left the piso, I was quite cold! It is the first time I´ve felt chilly since being here. After leaving Dos Hermanas and going on another 1 ½ hour bus ride back to Huelva, Hermana Johnson and I went to visit Matthew and Joy. We talked to their son, Samuel, and taught him lesson one. He´s 9 and isn´t baptized yet. I invited him to be baptized, and he accepted!!! (: Matthew was being weird though, something was definitely up with him - but we couldn´t really figure it out.

19th (Thursday)

We ate with members twice today! Once with la Familia de Pilar and once with la familia de Obispo (Bishop). The first family has two young kids, Marta and Gonzalo. They were both showing us their toys and showing off! I loved it, they are so adorable! They fed us pasta and it was so good! When we were getting ready to leave, I was standing in the doorway and Marta came and gave me a hug! (: ahh I didn´t want to let her go! After eating, we went to visit Matthew and Joy - Matthew left during the lesson, but after we taught Samuel, Joy opened up to us and told us things were not great. We want to help her so much, but being a missionary we have restrictions so it´s kind of a bummer. She is so sweet, and told us she looks at us as family! I love knowing that people trust us because that is what we´re here for! After our lesson, we went to the Bishop´s house for dinner. It was a suprise birthday party for him! The familia de Pilar that we were eating with earlier was there! Marta sat by me on the couch and just held on to my arm for like 10 minutes! It made me miss all my amazing and cute nieces and nephews, but I LOVED feeling the love from her! She also said (in Spanish) ´´you´re bigger than me, TALK´´ I guess I should take her advice and talk a little bit more! (:

20th (Friday)

Today was a pretty good day! After not having much success throughout the week, Heavenly Father definitely placed people in our path. We went to stop by Cristiani´s and her friend Fabiola was there. We taught a little bit about the restoration and she accepted a Book of Mormon and prayed for us. She seems promising, and hopefully she will be receptive to us! After, we stopped by Lexi´s store to see if she was around! SHE WAS!! We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and the truth of it. She has a VERY strong testimony of the Bible and doesn´t really think that she should mix it with another book. After listening to a few stories of hers, Hermana Johnson opened up to Alma 32 and talked about faith being like a seed. We invited her to read and then SEEK to know that the book is true. The spirit was so strong, and I loved hearing Hermana Johnson talk about things that were going through my mind as well. We ate with la Familia Nunez and it was really good. Noche de Hogar (FHE) with the ward was really good tonight! We played a game like signs - and then played ´´do you love your neighbor´´ it was a fun night!

21st (Saturday)

We didn´t play sports today, we had a lot to do. The Mission leader was going to have us over for lunch, but ended up just making us a Spanish Tortilla... it´s the greatest thing ever!

22nd (Sunday)

We had to go to Sevilla again today for Stake Conference. It was fun to see all the missionaries in our stake! They are so great! (:

So things are so good here! I love being a missionary (: I do only have a few days of being a teen-ager! 20 is too old for me! I think I´m going to skip this birthday! (; Yeah to answer a few of your questions : Guapa is good, and it just means pretty or handsome.. I just think it´s funny when you pass people in the street and they say ´´........guapa´´ and I think you asked what a cita was.. it´s just an appointment. There are not many kids in the ward, but I just love Primary so much! It´s such a blessing to be there with the kids! I practice the piano whenever there is time, but I pretty much just wing it! I´m definitely improving though!

I love you so much! I hope things are going great with all of you! (: Thanks for your prayers and love!

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Brown

WISHING I HAD LISTENED TO MOM ABOUT PRACTICING THE PIANO MORE!

September 16, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!

How is everyone at home? Things are pretty great here in Spain. It rained for the first time this week and that felt so good! It cooled things down a little bit! Did you get those pictures I sent last week? My card isn´t filled up yet, so I will wait until it is I guess before I send it.

September 9th (Monday)

It was a pretty FAIL P-day today! It was a holiday in Spain (like usual) so everything was closed. On a side note... I also do not like medio dia (siesta) ughh everything and I mean EVERYTHING closes from about 2 P.M. to 5 or 5:30. It´s a little frustrating, especially on P-day when we want to get things done! But all is good!

September 10th (Tuesday)

Today wasn´t very successful. We were a little bummed with being denied all day, so we got churros and hot chocolate. It made things a lot better! I´ll try to send a picture!

11th (Wednesday)

I got called ´´guapa´´ today in the street. It was a shock for me! I said, ´´hola´´ and smiled to this old man, and the mumbled something in spanish that I couldn´t understand and then smiled and said ´´guapa´´... I wasn´t used to that at all, but since then I´ve been called it 5 or 6 times by random men on the street. Today was also our first REAL lesson! It was to a couple named Matthew and Joy. They are from Nigeria and were baptized about 3-5 years ago. They have 3 of the cutest kids. So our lesson was in English, and I could not think! It was scary!!! But I am definitely getting better every day!

12th (Thursday)

Today we went to get some post-its for studying. There is a little Chino (chinese store with random stuff in it) right next to our piso. We were there and a man from Holland, named Bjorn, started to talk to us. He was in his 20s and is going to University here. We told him about sports on Saturdays and he gave us his number so we could contact him. Later that day, the Elders told us that we would be teaching a Spanish class. I called Bjorn and started telling him about it, and he said he had already heard and he is coming. He also asked if he could bring a friend! I was very excited and said YES OF COURSE!!!!!! We had lunch with Rosa Marie and Antonio and they fed us some yummy food, except I did not feel good afterwards. When it was time to go back out tracting, I told Hermana Johnson we should still go. I started to feel better, and then we played basketball with an investigator. Then we went to the Spanish class and Bjorn was there with his friend! It was great to see him. I hope he continues to come and we can start talking to him about the gospel. Tonight we went to Maria Angel´s house (member) and ate dinner. For our lesson, we played a game like Telestrations. You know how much I love that game?? Well... in Spanish you can probably guess how well that went! Haha I was a nice laugh for everyone in the family! I had no idea what the phrases said, and when I looked at the pictures, I had no idea how to say them in Spanish. So I made them up! It was great, and everyone had a good laugh at my expense! (: The lesson that went along with that was that the bible was written by so many different people and words are translated very differently throughout time, but the Book of Mormon was translated by the power of God through a Prophet! It was a really good lesson and I think everyone had a good laugh!

13th (Friday)

Friday the 13th!!! It wasn´t too bad though! We passed by Lexie´s store (she is one of our investigators) and she wasn´t there, but two men from Nigeria were. Their names are Osa and Kingsley. We began talking to them, then Kingsley left. We talked with Osa for quite a while... but when I say talked, I don´t really mean a lesson! HE wanted to tell us a bunch of his ideas he had about the world. He talked about Aliens and UFOs and many different crazy things. One phrase that Hermana Johnson said, (that she thought she would never have to say) was ´´Yeah, Jesus Christ isn´t an alien´´ He was pretty set on the ideas of the world. Hopefully we can get in touch with him again, and actually TEACH him this time! Later today we went to Mariella´s home. She is a member with a non-member husband. She laughed a lot at how I don´t understand Spanish. I started to feel really unqualified (don´t know if that is the right word) to be teaching the Gospel, but then I remember what I was taught in the MTC, and that was to never get offended! I shook it off and listened some more to what she was saying!

14th (Saturday)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETT!!! I need your e-mail to send you a letter, but I don´t think I have it! Personal Study was great today! I opened up my scriptures, and then decided to read my Patriarchal blessing. I was immediately filled with the spirit and it was exactly what I needed! Later today we visited Isabel. She is a less-active and was very kind to us. She is originally from Peru, so her Spanish accent is much easier to understand for me! I was able to contribute so much more, and that made me so happy! (: We visited Matthew and Joy again, and they were having quite a hard time. But we invited them to church and they said they will come.

15th (Sunday)

As we were doing our personal study this morning, I had a feeling to study a certain passage in both the Book of Mormon, and the Bible. I ignored it because it had nothing to do with what I was going to be teaching. When we had our comp study, Hermana Johnson brought up both of those passages. They actually did fit in perfectly to what we were planning to teach. I need to pay attention to those spiritual promptings when they are given to me! So in church, Hermana Johnson and I were sitting in Relief Society for just a few minutes, when a woman came and asked us to go out into the hall. She brought us into the primary room so I could play the piano! So NOW... I am the pianist for primary as well, and that makes me SO SO HAPPY!!!!! I love being in there with the kids and I actually learn on my Spanish level in there so that is nice too!! I had been practicing the 3 hymns I was planning to play in sacrament all week. When I got there, Rosa Marie, the chorister, gave me three different hymns. It went fine, but I asked if she could let me know in advance so I could practice!! After church, a woman in the primary presidency came and asked me if I could play for the program in November! I think it´s so funny that you told me I would probably be playing in church! I honestly didn´t think I would, but I´m glad I´m getting better for sure! After church we were also talking with a family and the elders, and we brought up that we had been visiting Isabel. All of them say ´´MILAGRO´´ we were a little confused. Then the elders said that they have been trying to see her for months and she just didn´t want to see them. It felt really good to know that we are making progress and helping people! (:

I love you all so much! I´m so grateful for you and for the support and prayers from you!

Yo tengo un testimonio del Evangelio de Jesucristo. Yo se que Jesucristo es mí Salvador y mí Redentor. Se que Él es el Hijo de Dios y nosotros tambíen. Se que Dios nos ama. Yo se que José Smith fue un profeta y él restauró el Libro de Mormón. En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amén.

Oh I wanted to tell you a little bit about Saturday. Every Saturday we play sports with potential investigators or friends of the members. We usually play fútbol and we did this Saturday, but after, we played basketball. These three girls in probably mid-twenties came and played. They invited us to play and I was the last pick for the team. I got put on the team with the three girls. For the first little while, no one would pass me the ball. I was getting a little frustrated. .. haha you know me! So I took the ball and drove in and made a lay-up. The girls were all a little shocked, and believe it or not - they started to pass me the ball! It was really funny, and hopefully they´ll decide to come again next Saturday!

OPENING A NEW AREA

Hola From SPAIN!!!

Thank you so much for the packages and letters that were sent to the mission home! I received them and I was so happy!! Now I have my real address so PLEASE PLEASE send them here! I´ll get them much faster! It is

Sister Sara Brown

Calle Isaac Peral

15, 5ºC

21002 Huelva

ESPAÑA

Okay! So..

29th last P-day I had we went to the temple for the last time! It was great, I remembered everything. It was a great session! And... another prayer was answered! It´s the coolest thing when that happens! For P-day we went to SOL or center of Madrid. My companion left me and went with other sisters and so we got in trouble, but yeah it was fun being with Abby and her companion and the teacher! We ate McDONALDS!! whoo whoo!! That night was the devotional by Elder Neil Anderson.

30th

It was our last real day in the CCM ): Our teachers told us goodbye and we hugged and had lots of tears!!! We were Hermana Notario, and Hermana Moncho´s last group so they were quite sad!!

31st

My last day in the park, we were with our normal companions. Hermana Morris and I were not having much success. We saw a guy from Ireland that I met the week before. We talked to him and I told him I brought him a Book of Mormon in English just for him. He wouldn´t take it  ): but yeah... overall the day wasn´t very successful, BUT right as we were getting ready to sing by the fountain guess who I saw... ALLISON!!! My friend from NZ! I hugged her and told her how happy I was to see her! She was so happy to see us too! OH btw.. what Mission is Hunter in??  I need to know so I can tell him about her!

1st

I´ll be an old woman in a month from today! Crazy!! Today I read John 15:18 it was so great! It talked about how amazing our Savior is! It was fast sunday, so TESTIMONY meeting! I bore my testimony of course! It was a great day! I also received a blessing from Elder Cluff in my district. He did such an amazing job! He really thought about what to say and the spìrit was so strong! For devo today we watched the Joseph Smith movie!! WATCH IT!! It´s so great! (:  I don´t know why I have never seen it before!

2nd

My last day with my amazing district! It was so sad to leave them! ): Elder Cluff cracks me up! He is such a funny elder, all of my elders in my district feel like my brothers. They are so sweet and care about us so much! We had DOMINOES pizza tonight for our last meal! It was so yummy! We took lots of goodbye pictures and then had another testimony meeting with the entire MTC. As the time was about over, a girl stood up to bear her testimony. She got up to the microphone and said ´´I´m so sorry, I just really felt prompted to come up here and bear my testimony to you´´ she went on to say, ´´I would not be surprised if Jesus Christ walked through those doors right now because the spirit is so strong´´ as soon as she said that, the door to the chapel opened. Everyone gasped and turned their heads.. Standing in the doorway was, a short, chubby, Spañard man! hahaha everyone was laughing and it was a good way to end the MTC stay. I thought to myself, Heavenly Father has such a good sense of humor! (: After the testimony meeting we said goodbye to everyone, I only cried when Hermana Notario hugged me! She is seriously the coolest!

3rd

Our elders in our district came and said goodbye to us by our buses. We rode a fast train down to Málaga, and met president Deere and his wife and Brother and Sister Castillo. (His second counselor) I love them already! They are so sweet and love us so much! We had pizza again and I started talking to the two native Spanish speakers that came from the MTC.. I never really talked to them in the MTC. I LOVE THEM!! They are the cutest and funniest girls ever... and they LOVE to make fun of my BROKEN Spanish!

4th

Okay.. this day felt like Christmas DAY waiting to see who our trainers were.  It was SO EXCITING!! My companion’s name is Hermana Johnson! She is from Sandy, Utah and is the youngest of 9 kids. We both share something in common, and that is how much we LOVE our nieces and nephews. Her family is opposite of ours. They have lots of little Grandsons and very few granddaughters. But we get along SO great! I really like her and she is very obedient and diligent! and very VERY good as Spanish! So do you want the good news or bad news!! This seems to be the theme of our first week in Huelva. In our Piso (apartment) we have; NO electricity, NO water, No fridge it was quite an adventure, BUT we are super close to the chapel. This city is the place where Christopher Columbus sailed from. So that is pretty legit! Oh and we are OPENING the area! We are the first sisters to be here in 10 years! The ward really, really loves us! The only other missionaries here are two elders, Elder Harman from Mesa Arizona (he knows Lorelei) and Elder Núñez from Chile (He knows Garrett Gundestrup) So my first night here we had a dinner cita! We ate at Juan José´s house. He fed us quite well!! I´ll write more about it, but I was super full, then he brought out this yogurt. It had (as much as I hate this word, there is no other way to describe this) CHUNKS in it. It was so disgusting, but I ate the whole thing! My companion told me that President told her she was getting a great companion! That made me feel really good! (:

5th

We had ANOTHER eating cita today. With Antonio and Rosa Marie! The food was delicious, it was this bean soup and these fried things that tasted like chinese something. But we shared the message, and  I think it went quite well. I had to go back to Málaga today so I can do residency tomorrow. Luckily ABBY was at the mission home! So we got to have a real goodbye this time!

6th

Residency, oh... and Abby and I talked to this girl from Maryland on the bus. She was traveling around the world and she has already been gone for 10 months! Crazy huh?! She was very nice her name was Holly, but we didn´t really get into religion too much!

7th

So guess who the new ward pianist is!! Yep.. me (: AND they are going to start baseball classes here, so my companion said it was perfect that I was called here! haha

8th

We introduced ourselves and bore our testimony in sacrament today. We also had a lesson with Antonio and Rosa Marie, Rosa Marie told me she saw me in the Madrid temple. She also said that she knew I would get called to Huelva! Crazy huh?!  After our lesson with them, we had an eating cita with Cristal she fed us Pasta with hot dogs in it! It was pretty good... after we left her house we headed home so we could get the studying done that we needed to, BUT we ended up getting really lost! It was kinda funny, we were talking about getting lost in a scary neighborhood and my comp says, ´´don´t worry Hermana Brown, I´ll beat you up!´´ whoops!! haha it was a fun ´´p-day eve´´

Questions she answered that I asked:

So why did some of of you spend two nights at the Mission President's home instead of one? I only spent one, but some had to stay to do residency

How do you pronounce Huelva (in English pronunciation)? WELL VA or BA

Do we mail letters to you directly or to the Mission Home like we did for Brett? No my address is CALLE ISAAC PERAL

                                                                                                                                            15, 5ºC 21002 Huelva, España

Did you get the packages-one from us and two from Robyn? Yes!! Thank you so much!! You can send everything to that address now!!

Will you go someplace to email at the same time each Monday?  We might be earlier than this on other Monday´s... today was kinda weird!

What did you do/or will you do today? We didn´t do much! We cleaned and I practiced the piano, and wrote letters and ... got ice cream!

Tell me about your companion. She seriously is the best! I love her (: we get along so great!

Are there other Hermana's in your area? We´re the only ones... the ward members are SO GREAT here... they are so helpful in giving references and they threw a small party for us and they are just very involved in missionary work! It´s great! and I love being the only Hermanas..

How do you get around? Walk... LOTS! UP and down hills

What's the weather like? It´s pretty hot... not like Málaga though.. much better! (:

I love you lots!!! I´m going to try to send pictures! (: hopefully it works! I love you!

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Sara Brown