Well This is It!

So because I leave on Tuesday and not on Thursday I am currently at the mission home in my pjs in the living room sitting here at 10:40 emailing ya’ll.  President wanted us to email tonight since we would have no time tomorrow but man so I have a math question for ya'll.

What is 5 pairs of worn down shoes+4 areas+ 5 companions + 1000 of Baptists + 400 churches=?

Answer 1 awesome mission.  I cannot believe it is here and that my mission is ending it truly goes by so quickly words can never describe how I feel right now no one can understand except heavenly father and Christ the savior I love my mission and love the person I became I am a better changed person. I am so grateful more than anything for my mission and would not have wanted anything else but I love you all and will see you soon this is Sister Browning signing off from the SCCM best time of my life

Guess Who Came To Town?!?

The answer is not Santa Clause the answer is Elder Bednar he came to our mission twice in one year and I was at both what an experience so many questions were answered all by the spirit and put me at ease.  I cannot explain what I learned or what he said it is impossible but hopefully soon I will be able to show you.  This month has truly been a November to remember.  After 10 years Nick Cole was finally baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday the joy on his and his families faces were priceless so many people came to support him even people from Alabama came for his baptism.  He is really funny he kept calling me and sister Havens his posse because we organized everything but he was so happy and did not thank us but that is a compliment to me because I did not convert him the spirit and the faith and prayers of his family I just came to dinner and let him decide what he wanted to do. On Friday we went to the temple again to see a less active I taught go through the temple she was so beautiful in white and it made me cry to see her in white she has touched my life.  She told me that she was starting to go back to church but then one night decided that she was going to stop and never go back but then she got a knock at the door by these two soaking wet sister Missionaries sister Eames and Sister Browning This ward no longer needs me and that is also a compliment and here is how I figured this out.  On Saturday Robert who was baptized last Saturday fell and was in the hospital and when I found out the person who was telling me said sister Browning you are no longer responsible for him we are and the ward is handling it so don’t worry I just wanted to cry not because I was sad but because I was so happy and relieved and feel ok that they no longer need me here.  My companion Sister Havens is stepping up and taking control of this area and making it her area.  I feel ok with leaving it still hurts but I know it will be ok and the spirit has helped me to gain understanding and peace and comfort I know it is not going to be easy but I know that because I am on Christ’s side everything will be ok. I know it will be I love you all have a great week and be safe and remember who you are.

Love Sister Browning

Hey Ya'll

Dearest Family and friends I hope this email finds ya’ll well and happy.  This week has been great we have been very successful and ended it with Roberts Baptism he was so happy and excited and his wife too she looked so happy and healthy. We have been busy with helping him and Nick Cole for his baptism this Saturday He is very excited you can see the light in his eyes when he talks about it or someone comes to him and his family is so happy they have waited so long for this day.  I found out a member that I help to reactivate is going to the temple to take out her endowments this Friday and I get to go and be there so another of going to the temple I am so excited and happy to be able to be there with her and Sister Eames will be there too I saw her on Thursday and before we left I told her I would see her at the temple and she said I will see you dressed in white I thought it was funny because it was true.  Word slipped out that I am leaving soon and so the ward members come up to me and keep talking about it and all this stuff and things I need to see which is distracting and hard but I am well I love my mission and love being a missionary and would not want to be anywhere else right now I cannot believe how fast it all goes and how different I am now from the beginning of my mission I am eternally grateful for my mission and never want this feeling to leave I love all ya’ll and hope your day and week is great and successful be good and choose the right. Till next week

Love Sister Browning

One of the Best Weeks!

So this week has been great it starts with Friday we had a zone meeting and there we were told that we could go to the temple and so I did not wait a day to go and got the chance to go today and so we took our pday today so that is why the late email but the temple was so great and refreshing of my purpose and the savior and his role in preparing a way for us to make back to him.  Robert Hammond is getting baptized this Saturday and is so ready the only issue is his truck is broken so please pray that his truck gets fixed and he can have his truck back he is so sweet and sincere he does not remember a lot and struggles learning the material but whenever people doubt him I tell them to ask him why he wants to be baptized and this is his answer because he feels at home and wants to come closer to the savior and to change his life and he knows this is the way he needs to do it and that is a sufficient answer to be baptized he is humble and has that desire so he is getting baptized on Saturday. Then another Miracle happened Sunday so we have a part member family the wife and two kids are very active and Nick the husband was so close so we dropped by on Sunday and had dinner and he finally agreed for the 16th of November to be baptized after 12 years of waiting this family is finally getting their dream and on their way to an eternal family and it is so much fun because no one knows but us and the family and the bishop so Nick wants to tell a certain family before anyone else knows so keep it a secret but he is so ready and excited and his interview is tonight and he will pass.  I tell you what life could not be any better I have been so high on the spirit that it has caused me to not sleep at nights so I don’t sleep much but hey I can nap later because right not I am preaching and love it and would not be anywhere else. So today at the temple I saw so many people from my previous areas and was able to see them all and to hug them and thank them and got caught up on lots of people I knew and it made my day things right now are so perfect just perfect and I know that because I did my very best to work hard the lord is blessing us and this area and ward Last Sunday was one of the best testimony meeting ever that I have been too we had many less actives bear their testimony it was all about families being eternal the spirit was so strong and thick I was crying it was beyond this work the feeling that was there.  My mission is the best I am very heartbroken that I have to leave but I would not change a single second I love you all and hope you have a great day and week and I will talk to you on Monday hopefully don’t know but probably Till next time Love sister Erica Browning

Freezing Cold!!!

So I have survived these past few days of bitter humidity coldness and I am just so grateful to be alive…ok so I am a little dramatic but it was unreal of how cold it was never do I remember it getting so cold so fast on my mission. This past week has been awesome and great here is the low down:

Monday: Katie Peebles took us on a historic tour of Camden saw a lot of cemeteries and old revolutionary houses, it was very cool. Chris and Judy dropped us by ignoring us so that was a downer but it is ok everything always has a way of working itself out!

Tuesday we had a sisters’ conference! There are 102 sisters in our mission it filled the whole chapel but it was very spiritual and much needed.

Wednesday I was in Columbia on an exchange and wanted Moes for lunch and Sister Barbara Clow came and this was a great surprise that I did not expect I loved seeing her.

Thursday we had a lesson with Mary Hammond whose husband is getting baptized on the 9th of this month although he was working it was fun to read the book of Mormon with Mary.

Saturday we had a lesson with Robert and a member Cookie Adams who is so sweet and a really cool lady I love her name.

Sunday Robert came to church and brought his step son and his wife who we never thought would ever come to church again but they did and loved it Elder Homer actually taught the wife Trisha Helton it was great to see them.

So here is a miracle so you may plant a lot of seeds on your mission and never know what happens to them but every once in a while you know and find out where they are at. Well on Sunday I did.  1 year ago it was cold and raining and I was so young as was my companion and we did not know what to do and so we prayed and after the prayer I looked up and saw a light and I said lets go knock that house so we did and met Kim Singultary and Waddell they were not married and had one baby and one on the way but we taught and got a return appointment and we went back and no one was there and we lost contact until 1 week before I left Florence she called us and said she wanted to meet with us and so we went and she talked of her troubles and we said if you come to church we will help you well she never did and we did not know what to do so we left it to the lord. A couple months later I found out Waddell had been arrested for abuse and so now Kim was living alone and she was learning.  A couple weeks ago missionaries from Florence came to me and asked me her story and I told them what I knew and they said well she is getting baptized and she was this past weekend.  Missionary is not a singular thing it takes many missionaries the spirit the ward to bring someone in to the gospel and so we all have a responsibility  if one part is lacking than that person may get baptized but without the ward they will not stay I know that is true every part is crucial in missionary work these are his children and they are great in his sight there is no one not worth teaching.  I love it I love the challenge that it is the hard work and the pain I really do and am grateful for all the pain and growth he has given me and I am grateful to be an instrument in his hands it is his work his power and his will it has never been about me always about him and his children.  I love you all land hope you have a great week and day and keep safe and warm and I will do the same here hopefully. Till next week!

Love Sister Browning

Wherever You Grow Take Root and Grow!

Hey ya’ll so wow what a week it is definitely cooling off last night was the coldest 65 degrees it was chilly and I thought I don’t want to go home.  Life here is great we had a very successful week.  Robert Hammond came to church again and loved it and this time he brought his wife Mary.  Mary has many health problems and struggles going anywhere but she came we had a lesson with them both about repentance and Robert flat out said he wanted to be baptized and so he is now on date for Nov 9th we are so excited and so is everyone.  On Saturday we were invited to go to a child’s baptism in the ward and it was the neatest thing ever it was so cool and the spirit was so strong and it was just cool to have that perspective of a child’s baptism and how excited she was to make the covenant.  sister Havens was asked to give the holy ghost talk and after the baptism Bishop Luthy asked if I could speak in Sacrament meeting and so I did and spoke on Faith and as I sat up on the stand Mary and Robert came in and I was so happy and excited I was trying to tell my companion that they were here and she thought I was telling her I love her and so she was smiling and telling me she loved me too it was funny.  I do love her but that was not what I was telling her.  Chris and Judy have fallen off the face of the Earth and we have lost contact with them but hopefully we can find them and talk with them.  On Sunday we had a great relief Society lesson it was so great and awesome the teacher Sister Penrod had a great quote Wherever you are take root and Grow and she gave us all little plants so it is so better than a pet but it is a really cool little plant and I was so excited to have it.  This past week I studied of Christ and how he invited his disciples to follow him and to take up their crosses and forget the world and serve him and feed his sheep.  How grateful I am that he called me to serve I know he was the one that asked me to serve no one else told me that I should serve a mission but he invited me and has greatly blessed me funny how when you try to give him something and he blesses you ten times more amazing and truly beautiful.  I love being a missionary I love the south and love serving with all these people I love them all even those who don’t feel the same about us but you can go nowhere else and talk to complete strangers of Christ and they will talk with you and discuss their love for Christ.  There is nothing better. I love you all and hope you have a great week and day, be safe and true. 

Till next week love Sister Browning

I Love My Mission!!

So I am not going to lie this past transfer started rough coming into this area with nothing we felt like we were trying to barely walk but would always fall but we always relied on God and never stopped and now we are running, he has blessed us so much here this past week especially members they are doing great and coming with us and teaching. We resurrected the BRP in the ward and they love it and we have some great things here and I am so glad to be here for my last transfer.  Time is just going by too quickly I find myself not wanting to waste a second of it so it has pushed me to be the best and it is hard but so worth it.  We found a part member family the Hammonds who we taught and then on Sunday the nonmember husband Robert came and loved church you could see it.  I love this ward and love these people so much I never thought I would fall in love with this area like I have I promised myself after leaving Hopkins that I was just going to work and not fall in love but when you work it is impossible to not fall in love with the work and the people involved but I am happy and would rather have these people in my life than to not have known them at all.  I just cannot get over the love I have for these people I love them all even those who do not like us I love them and want to help them I know that I cannot do everything for them but I know the lord will do his part.  I love being a missionary it is the best thing ever and I would not have want be anywhere else right now, but life is great and I just want time to for once stand still or slow down because it is quickly passing but so many awesome things have happened and my mission is a work of art and it a beautiful picture to me.  I love you all and hope you have a great week and day and Happy Columbus Day.

Love Sister Browning