The Miracle of Claudia

Well hello everyone,

so I have a very special experience to tell you all this week. So it was Wednesday and elder white and I were walking down the street and just talking and all of the sudden we hear the familiar voice of an investigator and we turn to see her running towards us but on the other side of the street. Just running up the street. She says HEY! we say, Hey! How are you!? She, smiling says I am great. Oh and wanna know something.... I can get baptized. -- background story-- so this lady started sharing with missionaries over 3 years ago and her daugther was baptized within a month. They just loved the gospel so much! I have been here near 3 months now and I have seen her 5 times at least in a dress at church NOT A MEMBER. She couldnt get baptized because she was co-living with some guy and she just felt to bad to kick him out because he would come home drunk and didnt have much money. She is just one of those people who just cant be nice by nature. So she has been trying for 3 years to find a way to get him out. When I first got here she said in her prayer that she hoped that we could achieve the thing that all of the missionaries have been trying to achieve. Well 2 and 1/2 months later of sharing and supporting and kinda insisting to get this guy out she finally told us this day that he was going out of town for like 6 months or less something like that and that he would be getting a good sum of money. So when she saw this opportunity she said take your stuff with you and don't come back. She has stopped everything with this guy for over a month or something like that. -- back to the main story-- so when she said that to us I knew exactly what she was talking and I couldn't help but jump super high in the air screaming, ¨are you serious!?¨ and then start running with her to wherever she was going. I run her down with elder white and we start talking to her and asking what was all happening and she gave us the run down and all of that jazz and as she was telling me that stuff I just couldn't help but think of when she was going to get baptized. I told her that we would be coming over Friday to talk to her and she what we could do to get her baptized as soon as possible. I called my district leader and then the next day talked to my pres and they told me to get her baptized that same Saturday and confirmed that Sunday. So we got to work. We put together a bomb baptismal service and went to all of the members who knew and loved her and called everyone else and their sister to invite them. The baptism was amazing! That is one of the pictures I put up. It is the miracle of Claudia. The dry Mormon who finally went swimming. haha She was so happy the whole time that she started to cry during her service and after her baptism. I love this lady so freaking much. We just completed her family. Now she is a member with her daughter and they are just going to be so much happy from here on out. :)

 This sector is really the hardest sector I have been in. Not as in the sense of the work, but dealing with the members. I feel that they just do not support us at all. It is really sad because we are doing everything we can to help and love and serve them and then they just smack us in the face when we try to follow the rules. For example, we had branch counsel this last Saturday and as the counselor I need to be there. So we got there and started the meeting after the baptism. We started off fine and started talking about the people who needed help and what we could do then, like always, they started ranting about random things that had nothing to do with the less active members or converts, but had to do with the organizations and the responsibilities of them. I was like look brothers and sisters, these are really good concerns and we would love to address them, but this meeting is not meant for that. Maybe we can hold another meeting with just us and find out what we can do to resolve this problem. Well one of the sisters was ok with that. The president of the relief society. But what happened was that the pres of the young women and the finances guy and secretary started just bashing on me haha. Saying this is exactly what this meeting is for. I was really shocked about what they were saying because it was not like I was trying to tell them that those things didn't matter, but that maybe we could do it another time. They just got really mad. I was just like hey I am just following what it says in the manual. The pres. after said elder brown is right and we should do that, but the members are just so used to doing things wrong that they insisted on resolving that problem right there. Boom, there goes the spirit. It was really sad. I am trying to be a good missionary and help the people, but I feel that every time I don't do the things how they want, but how god has set it, they get mad! Even some of the new converts who are in the presidency have recognized the things they are saying and how they are treating me. They actually said something about it to me last night. haha I love the people here so much but I just cant find a way to get to them. I will be holding some interviews here soon with them to see what is going on and what I can do to better the relationship that we have.

I totally forgot that it was thanksgiving week. haha It is not a holiday here so I just didn't even think about it. But here are somethings that I am thankful for. 1. The Gospel. I am so thankful for the chance that I have gotten to be on a mission. It has changed who I am 100%. I now have such a love for the gospel and for my savior Jesus Christ that it is beyond words. I have started to begin to understand the meaning of the atonement in my life. I am so grateful for what he did for me. I really do LOVE the gospel and LOVE learning about it. I actually want to go and study it in some of my classes when I get back. It is just so interesting for me. 2. My Family. I realize now how important the family is! I never really understood that before. I know that it is the focal point for god. It is what he wants, Eternal Families. Heaven would not be heaven without you guys. I really love you so much and all of the family we have. 3. My Father in Heaven. I know that this one kinda falls under the gospel but it means something different to me. Before the mission I didn't know who my father in heaven was. Now, he is as real to me as any other person. I have felt him hold me when I was sad, lift me up when I was weak, Laugh with me when I am happy, and smile at me when I follow what he asks. I know my father in heaven. He loves me. He is with me. He has called me to represent him and his son for 2 years. I am so grateful for my father in heaven and all of the many blessings that he has given me. I know that I am nothing(like ammon) as to my own strength, BUT in god I am powerful. In God, I am everything, to God, I am everything. I am his son.... and I love him dearly.
Those are the things that I am grateful for.

Love Elder Brown