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

GO MISSIONARIES!

Missions are just so awesome and so happy sometimes but I truly love it here and especially loved General conference and felt every talk was for me I learned something from every one of the speakers but overall the most important thing I felt was the love of the lord in my life his love and gratitude to me and that made me feel like I did something good which I know that I have.  This whole past week has been a great spiritual experience for me.  We had Leadership training for two days in Irmo and so we went and listened to all the leaders in our mission I loved President Holm every time he spoke I just cried (I cry a lot nowadays) any time he speaks you just feel the love of our father in heaven and his desire for us to serve more and work harder he really pushed us to do better so that we can become better people.  I got to live a dream and work with my MTC companion I stayed the night with her and got to be her companion for a few hours it was a dream come true. 

The book of Mormon is true and one of the most powerful books in the world.  This past week we had a return appointment with a struggling investigator Judy and when we showed up she just had this different countenance about her she was so happy  and looked like a completely different person and she said I read the book and felt good and felt the power to shoo Satan away and not to bother me I have no doubt about it that it was the book of Mormon that gave her that power to act and overcome Satan he is a real being and he is set to make us doubt but we will not falter  he will not win.  Judy is not on date for the 2nd of November to be baptized so many great things are happening here that I can start to see how the lord has prepared this area it was a little weedy but now the seeds are starting to sprout.  I love you all and thank you for your love and prayers and support I do feel it and hope you have a great week and day and I hope you continue to be blessed by the lord and feel his love.

Love Sister Browning

Hello from Camden!

Hey ya’ll from Camden things are great as usual so this past week we have had like no miles and we cannot walk anywhere here because it is too spread out so let me tell you of our new ward missionary Katie Peebles you know everywhere I serve I always find that one person who I have a special connection to and she is the one in this area she is so sweet a true southern bell and has been so willing to take us to visit and teach with us it has been a true tender mercy. So on Thursday we had a lesson with the Taylor Family and we taught about temples and they loved it and had the greatest desire to go and they all said except the dad that they want to be baptized but they want to do it as a family and the dad is waiting for his church to go capoot so that he will have no need to stay there but hopefully this week in conference he will snap out of it and realize that he does not need to be paid by his church anymore and can be more happier. Pray for them they are so awesome and so close I feel it.  On Saturday we went to find some former investigators and we met Robert Taylor who is flat out creepy he was asking my companion of how he would be able to ask her out and then talked about how the church would feel about them being married with him being black and it was funny afterward and he was with the former we were looking for and the former was telling us to leave because he knew Robert was not good and so he told us to go and talk to his wife. It is funny now annoying then but poor sister Havens held up really well the start of many attempts for her.  We were able to have an awesome lesson with the wife named Judy and she is so sweet and she quit investigating because she was antied but she allowed us to teach her and clear up a lot of misconceptions so she is now going to pray and really read the book of Mormon. We had to go to the hospital this past week twice for a couple of people Katie’s Son was sick and was in the er so we went and got her a Pepsi to feel better and also a returning member had a stroke so we went to see him pretty crazy but they are both doing better and well so that is good power of prayer. Camden is a tough Cookie but I do love it and love tough things never really in the moment but from past experience I always come to love them.  Gen Conference is this weekend and we have great plans to watch it we are teaching a part member family the Coles and Nick is not a member but wants to be and now that he has quit smoking he is now ready and so we are now teaching him the gospel again and to strengthen his testimony great family we are having dinner with them this weekend so we are going to start working with them. I cannot believe it has been six months since the last conference time has just flown but I am excited and it has also been one year since the historic announcement and as I reflect the change it is a beautiful thing. I love you all and thank you for your love and supports and prayers I love you so much and could not ask for better family and friends have a great week and day.

Helamen 12:1