Happy St. Patrick's Day and Day Light Savings!

Well this week has been oh so great. We started off by getting a new car which was very nice.  We have met so many cool people that can only be miracle from Heavenly Father.  the first is Lisa Baker she is a less active and we decided to go and visit her and when we got there she was talking to us through a window trying to tell us to leave but I did not want to leave because I thought she can come and open the door and tell us and second of all it was extremely windy and the house was a great wind block.  Eventually she came to the door and started to talk with us and she told us of all the things that happened and she just felt the spirit and completely changed we were only able to share a quick but powerful thought and leave but she is so sweet and her mom is not a member was very sweet as well and it was very cool to be the instrument at that time for them.  The second person is Anissa we met her while looking for a less active member and she is very special and sweet she had memegitus when she was five and so mentally she struggles but we met her and her very protective brothers and they were so sweet and knew who we were and what we did and asked us to keep visiting her and so we are and she is so funny and kind I love her already and am excited to have met her.  The third and fourth person is Thomas and his daughter Caroline who is 13 they are so awesome we found them looking for a less active and the great part is that they are looking for a church and then we come and they are interested and want to come to church especially Caroline who loves us and is always anxiously waiting for us to come on the day of our appointment Caroline has decided to be baptized on the 30th of Mar she is excited and Thomas will get there he has some issues with Joseph Smith but I feel we can work them out.  We are having another No More Strangers Fireside tomorrow and a lot of our investigators are planning on coming including Thomas and Caroline I know it will only confirm to them that this church is true. 

I have learned a lot about service and the importance that we all need to serve no matter what or who it is because that is what the Savior did all his life it was never about him he never thought about himself he just worked and served so many that needed him and even though he is physically not here we have the responsibility to be his hands.  This is something I am working on it is easy as a missionary to lose focus and get distracted and so I am going to be more focused and enjoy the now of my mission not the past or the future but the now and right now I am so happy and would not want to be anywhere else.  I love y'all and thank you for your love and prayers and I will talk to you next week. Happy St Patrick’s Day

love Sister Browning

Hey Ya'll!

Well Happy spring it sure feels like it here I love the south.  Last Monday we had Elder Nash come to our mission and he focused on the atonement and it sparked a desire to learn more so I did and focused a lot of my study on the atonement of the Savior and it is perfect with Easter coming up.  This past week we have been doing a lot of walking which is nice and healthy but it has been amazing of the miracles that we have seen and the people that we have met. One evening we were wondering on where we should go and we felt inspired to go and see a less active member she is so strong and solid but we have not been able to figure out what is holding her back and so I felt inspired to ask about tithing and she said that is something she struggled with due to lack of funds and low paying job.  We did what we could and said what we could and so hopefully we can better help her have the faith she wants to so badly but she just needs the faith.  I love being a missionary I love being able to represent the Savior and his gospel and to be with so many people who have great faith in Jesus I have learned to love and be patient with all people and their own beliefs I love how this gospel only builds on the faith you already have and never destroys if you believe in Christ that is a great foundation and the Book of Mormon will add so much more faith this gospel and church I have seen it in my life especially the past nine months and I love it  is tough and challenging but so worth it.  I love y'all and thank you for your prayers and love they are felt and appreciated. Have a great week and talk to ya’ll next Monday.

Love, Sister Browning

Happy Presidents Day!

Happy Presidents day everyone I hope it is happy and well.  Things in Grrrr are great! So get this on Saturday we were leaving a less actives house and we were driving and my companion said I think it is snowing and well she is new to South Carolina so I thought she was just seeing things but then I realized she was right and it was snowing I could not believe it. The last time Greer had snow  it has been five years but I had fun in it for a few minutes and took pictures.  My new companion is Sister Canaan she is from the central coast of California and she is great and I am so excited to be with her.  We have a few investigators right now Ashley is struggling right now in finding out if the church is true and she has word of wisdom issues that she is really struggling with right now.  Yesterday we did not have any investigators at church but a less active came Walter Nezbit who has been coming for two weeks now and he is doing so great and coming back to church and wants to change so that is great to see him happy and coming to church. I love being a missionary it is the best thing anyone can do seriously. Just a heads up next Monday Elder Nash is coming to our mission so I will be emailing on Tuesday and not Monday due to the conference. but  I am so glad to be a missionary and so glad to be here enjoy your weeks and be safe and warm.

till next time

Sister Browning

Transfers!

Man oh man what a crazy week full of mixed emotions.  First of all this Wed. is transfers and me and my companion are being split up which is sad because I have loved serving with her and will miss her terribly she only has a short time here before she goes back to Nauvoo which is where her actual mission is and our time together is short very short.  But on the flip side I have been asked to train a brand new missionary who is nineteen twenty or 21 and I am so excited me. It is a big responsibility because time is short and these missionaries are part of the big plan to get things rolling and I have been asked to help get one of them started pretty crazy how Heavenly Father trusts us to carry out his work.  Things are changing and different this next transfer we are losing a week so instead of a 6 week transfer we have a 5 week transfer to help get things in sync.  I am loving this tsunami the wave has been building up and it is about to crash and I feel so great and lucky to see it happen from this point of view.  It sounds like the tsunami from y'alls point of view. They are splitting our area and now we are getting a set of elders in our ward and I am excited because there is so much work to do and I am more than willing to share it.

This week we have worked hard and have seen so many miracles from our desire to work hard and be obedient.  On Wed my companion was really sick but on Tuesday we had a meeting that really motivated us to want to work hard so we prayed we would be able to work that day she was sick and so we went out with faith knowing it would be a great day and boy it was.  We received a phone call from a member sister Brown who told us of a friend who met with missionaries before but did not want to be baptized so she stopped taking the lessons but then as time went on she was never able to find a church that made her feel as good as the church did so she decided that she wants to be baptized into the church because she knows it is true.  We then had a follow up appointment with a lead who told us that she was looking for a good church with good youth for her daughter and she was happy when we taught about the young women's program. I love this area and so happy I am staying for another three months.  I love being a missionary.

So funny story on Tuesday at our meeting we were getting ready to leave and I had to use the bathroom so I found the restroom and went in while my companion waited out side it did not take me long to find out that I was in the boys bathroom thankfully no one was in there and it was just my companion  out in the hall way so only she knew but I just walked out and went to the right bathroom sister p just laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed some more that she could not talk to anyone I had a good laugh too and was grateful no one else.

That is my week great things are happening and it is a great time I am so happy and did I mention I love being a missionary it is the best thing I ever could have done I feel so much closer to my heavenly father and savior and have a greater love for my family and friends and I know that we will all be together. thank you all for your love and support  it is greatly appreciated and all of your prayers are felt I will not email next Monday because of the holiday but I will email.

I love you all

Till next week love Sister Erica Browning

p.s. pictures are just random from the zoo and day of the ice storm when we  were on lock down

Hey ya'll

Man what a crazy week sorry about last week and not emailing but what happened was our mission is doing a big lift and last Monday was our areas turn to be lifted up and so we spent the day preparing for it.  It was awesome and really helpful.  To end the big lift we had a no more stranger’s fireside with our president and investigators and we had one less active come Walter Nesbit who needed the message and is working on coming back to church.  it was pretty sweet.   KK had to unexpectantly move to Florence but she still loves the gospel and wants to be baptized and she is still working towards that.  On Friday we were on lock down all day due to an ice storm which was interesting I was so amazed at how ice could be built up that fast and people laugh when I tell them of how impressed I was and they say that this storm was nothing compared to what it could have been.  It was a good day we relaxed and watched movies and cleaned our apartment. It was so cold that day that it was unbearable to go outside and be out more than a few minutes before you felt like you were going to turned into a popsicle.  On Sunday Walter Nesbit came to church and stayed for only sacrament meeting but it is a start.  I love you all and thank you for your love and support and I hope you have a great week

Love Sister Browning

Hello From Greer!

Hello from beautiful Grrr South Carolina this past week just flew by I do not know where it went.  So this week we have been spending a lot of time with KK who is getting baptized on the 26th she is so excited and her two little boys zander (2) and Christopher (1) are a handful but they are so cute and fun and love going to church too.  We have been really focusing on getting her involved with the members and the ward.  She came to church yesterday and we saw her later and visited and after she said the sweetest prayer.  She has been looking for a church and has never found one that could answer all the questions she had until she read the book of Mormon and it all clicked and made sense to her that  Christ would come to the America's and teach them the gospel as he did in Jerusalem. After that everything fell into place she has no word of wisdom issues because she never wanted to be that type of example to her kids. At church so many ward members had nonmembers come that we got super overwhelmed but it was a great experience to talk to and meet so many people and we were grateful for the members and their trust in us to introduce us to their friends and family it was super comforting. KK is a big focus for us and just helping her and making sure she has everything she needs and is ready for the 26th but I know it is her time to be baptized and that is what the Lord wants for her right now.

So Pretty cool experience we had a mission wide sisters conference in Columbia on Wed and I got to see all of my old companions and Sister Garlick who is still in Florence came up to me and told me a girl we met was getting baptized and I was so shocked and this is why.  So one hot day in Florence we had a rough day nothing was working out like it should have and it was almost time to go in but I said lets do one more door so we did and we met Rosland who was not friendly in fact she yelled at us an told us of where she thought we were going and on and on and on.  We managed to leave and get home but it hurt really bad.  On the next Monday Preparation day I got an email and in the email I read a quote from the previous general conference in the priesthood session from President Monson he said that the way Heavenly Father sees his children is how we should see them too and so I felt bad because my impression of Rosland was not good but I decided to forgive her and love her as heavenly fathers daughter even if she hates me and the gospel.  At the sisters Conference this past wed I Found out that she got baptized and that she had a change of heart somewhere and now she is happy.  I learned to never give up and always see people as they really are not a number or just a normal person but a child of God.  I love y'all and hope you have a great week and day keep warm. 

New Year Goals!

Happy New Year happy 2013 it is a great year and I am so happy to be here and on a mission.  So our President really specified to set goals for the year and so I set goals for my mission because I will be on my mission for most of the year so but I am still working on them.  This week was awesome as always.  So remember the story of Cheryl who we helped move out of her apartment well on Saturday we were walking feeling really down because nothing was working out so we thought but we met a girl that we met when we helped Cheryl move out her name is Kalayla she is so sweet and when we taught about the book of Mormon she knew it was true and it made sense to her that Jesus would visit other people beside the people in Jerusalem.  And on Sunday yesterday she came with her two boys and it was the perfect Sunday because it was all about families and Kalayla loved it and is coming back. She is so solid and sweet! I am excited for her to learn and grow more.  So this week we have a sisters conference which is super fun since we don’t get together very often and I will be able to see all of my friends and catch up with them and their areas.  The weather has been OK pretty chilly but I still love it. Being a missionary is the best thing ever I learned so much one goal I set for this transfer is to read all the talks in the Oct general conference from 2008 and there is one talk that I loved about the Lord’s arms of mercy and what mercy means and how it applies to the sacrament. It changed my life and how I look at the sacrament I learned that the lord loves us and his arms are always extended waiting for us to come to him. The ward here loves us and always serving us so at times I feel bad because of how spoiled I am here.  I hope and challenge everyone to set goals to improve yourself.  I love y'all and thanks for the love and support! Till next time

Love Sister Browning