Wings to Soar!

Up at 2:00 a.m. - I've never done that before!  Frontrunner from Provo to Salt Lake City, then Trax from Salt Lake to the airport - with a LOT of missionaries plus their luggage.  Thirteen on my flight with me heading to San Jose, California and were we tired.

San Jose!!!

I can't believe I'm here!!! I feel like I'm dreaming!  I was grateful to be able to call my parents before the flight, which was the shortest flight of my life!  I fell asleep on the way to California and woke up when we touched down.  I love the mission president and his wife, they are so cute! They were kind enough to let us take a long nap and relax for the rest of that day. We had dinner and for dessert: ICE CREAM!!!
President Mella asked his wife if he could try some of the new ice cream but she had already eaten it. He told me she loves three things:  Heavenly Father, Chocolate, and then her husband.
I LOVE my trainers! They are so kind and funny!
Sister Pockrus is so helpful and patient! She told me she saw herself in me when she first started her training days. She has six weeks left in her mission, but she's not sure if she wants to leave yet. She loves being a missionary!
Sister Uelese is awesome and hilarious! She is Samoan, and she and her family live in Hawaii.
A few days ago, we were playing a game called Gator Ball at the church gym with other missionaries.  One of the rules is when you're holding the ball and someone on the opposite team claps next to you, you have to drop the ball.  Sister Uelese didn't know this rule, so when she was running with the ball an Elder started clapping next to her.
Instead of dropping the ball, she just looked at him confused, shook her head, and said: "Sorry bro, I gotta do this!" She threw the ball at the goal. (The chair)
Whenever doubt fills our minds, and Satan tries to discourage you, and distract you from the work, just shake your head and say:
"Sorry bro, I gotta do this!"
"Sorry bro, I gotta serve the Lord!"
"Sorry bro, I gotta help people!"
(Or spit in his eyes, that works for me too)

So for my first assignment, I have been teamed up with these two wonderful sisters and assigned to the YSA ward in Santa Theresa and I love it!  Everything is going great and I'm just adjusting to the mission.

Here I am with Sister Pockrus and Sister Uelese.

We went to a couple of houses last night. We had trouble finding one of them, and we almost gave up. But then I got this urge to try again.  We pulled up to a house and it was the one we were looking for.  However, the referral we were given wasn't living in the house at all.  But the woman who answered was very sweet.  She was from India. We introduced ourselves and told her about our purpose.  She told us she wasn't interested, and she had her own church.  Sister Pockrus told her we don't MAKE people believe in our church, we just teach more about it and invite others to find out the truth themselves.  We left her with a card in case she did want to know more.  We invited her to call us if she had any questions.

Even though this woman didn't want to hear our message, she didn't insult us or shoot us down. She took a card.  That might be the first step for her, who knows?  I realized God might be preparing her to learn about the Gospel.  Slowly, and surely.  I went home that night, satisfied, happy, and exhausted.

Always - Sister Brown!