General Conference Week

Hi family!

 

Boy wasn't that a good conference? They focused on families a lot. I really enjoyed it. At the priesthood session at the church building, they couldn't get the picture to work; they couldn't find the chords that they usually used. I pulled out one of the tv sets from the library, hooked a couple things up, and got it working. Haha. Gotta use my skills at least once a week right? :)

One of the seventy said something interesting yesterday afternoon. He said that it's important to do more than just email, that hard copy letters have more meaning - they are something that one can enjoy and refer back to and read again. Hmmm... I liked that comment ;) haha.

Thank you so much for the package!...'s. since there were two. :) the shirts are perfect and the cookbook is great :) it was funny though when I pulled out the shoes... they're Jeren's old shoes! Haha I'd totally forgotten we even still had those. They fit and are sturdy though, so I'm definitely not complaining :). Also, thank you so much for the cds. Our cd player broke this morning, but we had a few days to enjoy them first. I'm hoping to pick up some cds by Brandon Flowers and Mercy Me (lds artists that sing Christ-centered music) as well as The Garden. Love that cd. It's the best! it's fantastic! :)

So I gave a blessing for the first time this last week. I'd been in the circle or annointed several times, but never done an actual blessing. Mariah and Cody's son had been crying nonstop all day and they asked for us to give him a blessing. It was interesting... in the blessing I ended up saying "we bless you that the fear that you're feeling will leave, and that you will feel comforted." None of us thought he was afraid, but apparently that's what it was! He was smiling his big beaming smile afterwards; it was great. Don't worry mom, I wrote it in my journal haha. I'll send a picture of him in a minute. Unfortunately we helped their family move on Saturday. Cody got laid off of work a month or two ago and found a job in San Diego, so they moved down there the other day. They're also taking our only progressing investigator! Mariah's good friend Amber has been interested in the church, and we've been teaching her and she's been to church like 3 times now. She's still waiting to find out for herself about baptism for sure... but she does want to be baptized. She's moving down to San Diego with Mariah and Cody (who are now married. hooray!) which I'm sure will be very positive for her, since they're her strongest friends in the church. Amber is staying up here for another week or two or three though, and said she wants Elder Wadsworth to baptize her once she's ready, so we'll see where that goes. She watched the afternoon session of conference with us yesterday and enjoyed it.

Speaking of afternoon session and watching it together, we watched it at the Jorgensons; the family who were friends with Grandma and Grandpa Snow. Sister Jorgenson gave me a very meaningful compliment. She said that the more she's gotten to know me, the more she can see Grandma Snow in me. What a great compliment :) I should put that in my journal too... haha.

We had another neat experience Saturday night. After the priesthood session, elder Wadsworth and I felt impressed to visit the Wilson family. They're a less active family that haven't been to church in several years. They're a great family; inviting, funny, with a strong marriage. They ended up really opening up to us, especially sister Wilson. She talked about how it's been hard for her to go to church since she's had so many bad experiences with unkind, uncaring, unchristlike members. But she said she grew up in the church and it's how she's gained her knowledge that the church is true, and she wants her kids to have what she has. We asked if we could help their family start saying family prayer and reading the Book of Mormon together, and they said sure! We're visiting them tomorrow night. Elder Wadsworth has been trying to help them and get them to open up since last August. It's interesting that the Lord's time is really not our time, and that sometimes he makes missionaries (and... everyone. haha) wait a long time and be faithful and diligent, even with seemingly no success, before progress shows. We're hoping to see them at church in a week or two.

Are you excited for easter?? What are your plans? I get to... focus on the savior. but I always do that. So. Might be like any other day. haha :) It's a good time to really reflect on Him and his atonement and resurrection, and just what that really means for each of us personally.

Thanks again for everything. For the pictures, for the packages, for your prayers and your emails. It's helping me hang in there :) haha.

I love you guys!

Elder Browning