Time is Flying by!

Wow Monday already so crazy how fast time is flying and not only that but April is almost over.  Yesterday was a missionaries farewell and I just cried it probably looked a little ridiculous but it was so powerful the power a mission can have on a person and it helped me think back on my mission and how much I have grown I see it I understand so much more. Nothing can take what I know no matter what they say or know every day we go out facing people whose purpose is to destroy our faith that we have and we never know who is going to be at the door or the type of person we will meet and we meet all types of people some who try to destroy us and some who ignore us but we do find those who are prepared and ready to accept and hear and that is why we do this is to find that one soul who will open their door and heart and let a type of spirit into their hearts that will make them melt.  I love it sometimes it is hard and discouraging more often than the Joy we experience the disappointment and discouragement and sadness anger stress but the good joy and spirit we feel always outweighs the bad and even then the worst day on my mission is equal to the best day off my mission.  We had a great opportunity to go and do sheparding visits and most of the sisters on that list were new to the ward and were all active but just have not had the opportunity to come to church yet and it was a great day to go and visit and get to know the new sisters in the ward and we look forward to work with them.  Thank you for your time and I pray for all y'all all the time and hope you are all well and happy have a great week and be good and choose the Right.

Love always Sister Browning

Crazy & Weird!

Yeah so this week has been so crazy and weird and definitely not a normal week of missionary work but then again I am sure that there is no normal week in missionary work.  So I will start on Wednesday so on Wed morning I had to go to court to take care of a ticket that I had received a few weeks ago and an awesome member Sister Bolick came with us to be my support and to help me which she did big time and was able to help me out with everything and so I paid my ticket and then after that we had to go and give some other elders a bike rack for their car so they can haul their bikes and we got met them and gave it to them and as they were trying to put it on they could not  it was pretty funny to watch them try to put it on finally we went to the store nearby and bought them a hammer and you know as a missionary we stand out and people already look at us and judge us and so when we asked for a hammer they looked at us and took us to the part where they were and then they asked do you want nails and we said no it is for our friends who are trying to hammer a bike rack on and she just gave us a weird look and walked off we just laughed. It was a unique day.

So then on Saturday we are trying to find this less active and so we find out she moved and so we decide to knock and talk to people in that area and we met Bonnie and we were talking and then she started to quiz us about the bible particularly Adam and Eve and we told her what we knew and she said that is not the truth and then she starts to explain how Adam and Eve were gardeners and that was their only commandment and then she talks about how Cain is the literal son of Satan and that Satan took a form of a man and slept with Eve and he is the literal father of Cain and Abel is the literal son of Adam I about threw a pass along card at her I could not believe what I was hearing and then as soon as we brought up the book of Mormon she ran away and would not hear our side of it but she did say that the bible was so easy to understand that a third grader could understand it and that we did not understand it and so basically she called us stupid but we just looked at her in awed at what she said.  We just walked away laughing at what happened crazy but we love her still.

So after Bonnie we met this really sweet lady who was very hesitant to talk to us but it is amazing to see how the spirit leads us to those who are prepared she really opened up and wants to learn and felt the spirit and recognized it as we testified to her.  We do find those that are not yet ready and need some time but it is ok they make for good experiences.  The lady is Linda and she is a Baptist but knew Mormons in Florida and so she knows we are good but she thought we were Jehovah Witnesses at first and so that is why she was hesitant but it turned out very nice.

So everything is covered with yellow pollen it is pretty awesome but not fun to think that all the stuff that is not on the cars and sidewalks is in my lungs but no effects thankfully and the weather has been beautiful and just sunny and my tan is starting very nicely.

This week we had to hand over all our investigators and yeah it was hard but yet I put my pride away and did it and so we are now going to start filling and working our area it is a lot tougher than I thought it would be but we are enduring and doing our best .  I learned this past week about faith and how Faith is not going in fearless and unafraid but that it is knowing that in the end you will be ok and that is what I am focusing on I know that at the end of the day I will be ok and that the lord will always love me and protect me.  I love y'all and hope you have a great week be safe and happy.

Love Sister Browning

The Sense of Humor Heavenly Father has!

So I have come to realize how funny Heavenly Father is! This week has been so great.

So why is Heavenly Father so funny I will tell you so, this past week I was struggling waking up and being awake in the morning so  I prayed to Heavenly Father and asked him to help me wake up and be alert in the mornings. So the next morning I wake up and go to kneel to pray and kneel right on the corner of my bed and scraped my knee! It hurt but did not do any damage but I was sure awake after that!  Then just this morning while my companion and I were walking we decided to go up to a nearby stop sign and we felt impressed to go and so we did and just as we got to the sign we heard a rustling in the woods nearby and we both got scared and hid thinking something was going to attack us but then a huge possum comes out of the forest like he owns the place! We laughed at how scared we must have looked and how weird people who were driving by must have thought we were.  Pretty Funny I know it is only Heavenly Father and nothing is ever odd he gives us moment to have fun and to laugh and look weird and that is what I love about my mission is all the laughing he has given me.  What is a mission if you can’t have fun and be spiritual?  Conference was great, as I was listening to President Monson the spirit just came to me and I knew he was a prophet and that he was called of God and that what he said is what Heavenly Father wanted.  The sky is very blue today so the gospel must be true and I know it is.  I love y'all and happy spring.

Till Next time Sister Erica Browning