Well I graduated from the MTC! my last few days there were extremely crazy! On Saturday my companion wasn't feeling well so we had to spend our morning in the Emergency room:/ She's fine now though! Then my ID that was guaranteed by Saturday didn't arrive so I didn't know if I'd be able to leave when I was supposed to go to Mississippi. Fortunately on Sunday Heavenly Father blessed me with a miracle and the package came! Thanks again for sending it Mom:)
Monday we had to be at the travel office by 3:30 am so that we would be sure to make our flight at 7:10 am in Salt Lake. Yeah we didn't get much sleep that night! We arrived at the Airport, checked in, went through security, and then went to our gate and sat down. Our travel group had myself and my companion, 4 Jackson elders and one Brazil elder waiting on his visa traveling to Jackson with us. The Elders said they would watch our stuff while we called our moms. we chatted and went back to our bags where we were informed by some not so happy elders that our flight had been delayed until noon. Good thing we got up so early right?! ha that's not even the best part, we now would be missing our flight from Georgia to Mississippi because of our delayed flight. but that all got situated. Lots of members came and spoke to us so we had a pretty good time at our 7 hour stay at the airport:) we made it to Georgia and then finally made it to Jackson where we were welcomed by President and Sister McDonough and about 8 other (much more experienced) missionaries. We got our luggage and were off to the mission home where we were able to have a great night sleep and could SLEEP IN! but I still woke up at 6:30.
Tuesday we woke up to a snow "storm" that wasn't really a storm at all just beautiful snow falling softly on the ground which is very uncommon for Mississippi . We had orientation and then a lunch with some missionaries from the area. TIME TO MEET MY TRAINER! Sister Schulthies is the sweetest! Because of the "storm" transfer day was moved to Thursday so I was in a trio for the first two days with Sister Anderson as well. We went tracting. It was FREEZING! a few people invited us into their homes but only one let us talk to him about Christ. It was such a great experience! most of the peopke thought we were crazy cause it was too cold to be outside haha. we also met with Kris. She is a really sweet lady who is a potential investigator and we will be teaching her tomorrow I believe. The people here Really Truly love Jesus and they are always sure to let us know they are Christian:)
On Wednesday we had District meeting which was great! I have such a great district. then we went to lunch and I tried GRITS! they are actually pretty good! We tracted again and met some really nice people.one girl let us in and started talking to us she then told us she was 12! we couldn't believe it she seemed so much older! after we went to a man named Allen's house. His neighbor pulled up as we were approaching the door and yelled "I almost told them not to bother you cause you already go to my church!" he just smiled and then said he might like to visit our church sometime. I really hope he does. He has a young family and is looking for something more. Later we went to Joann's house and talked to her. She is a less active member. She is looking to make some changes in her life and we told her that she should council with our heavenly father about those changes. He knows the bigger picture and can help her make the right choices. We invited her to come to Book of Mormon class with us and she accepted! When she was there she said that 3 angels had come and brought her and that she was there for a reason. she was so sweet.
Today is our P-day! yay. We took sister Anderson to her new area then went back home for companionship study. We prepared to meet with Miss June. the missionaries tracted into her before and she saw their light. She is just the sweetest. We met her for lunch at a sandwich shop (and yes I ate a sandwich for all of you who are wondering... 2nd one this week!) anyway she bought us lunch and we talked to her about agency:) I just love miss June! Next time we meet with her we are going to invite her to come with us to church I know that she will just love it so much! After lunch with her we ran some errands then tried tracting again. We had some really neat experiences today. We went to Genies home. she seemed opened to what we had to say but said she's too busy to meet with us right now. Then we tracted into Gary! HE opened the door and was so excited when he saw our name tag. He ran and got his friend who he was working with and told his friend "these are Mormons! they are like Romney! They are such great people there is just something about them everyone should be more like them!" He is Methodist and from South Africa. He said we could talk to him but he wanted to stay Methodist. we couldn't go in because we need a female with us but we think we will go back next week with a member. We left him with a pamphlet about the restoration and our number. IT GETS BETTER! We then came across Jim. He was really skeptical when we first started talking to him but he was willing to let us in and he listened to the first lesson. He was really interested and we know he could feel the spirit. He is Baptist and he wants to come closer to Christ. he said he would read and pray about the Book Of Mormon and that we could come next week to teach him again! It was so exciting and the spirit was felt. When truth is spoken the spirit can teach!
Well that's my week so far! I absolutely love it here. The people are just so warm and polite. I'll have my P-days on Monday from now on it just got changed this week because of the "storm" and transfers. oh also on transfer week P-day will be on Tuesdays. Please send me pictures! I want to have pictures of my family and friends to hang on my wall! My address is 831 Rice road Apt 115 Ridgeland MS 39157. If anyone wants to send me anything I can receive mail here! I should be there for at least 12 weeks since I'm being trained. of course you can also use the address posted on Facebook which I can get mail at for the next 18 months but it just might be a little slower. I love you all and I'm so grateful to be serving as an instrument in His hands. I love this gospel so much. Hope all is well! Much love from Mississippi!
Love always,
Sister Brown!