Sept 9, 2015

Adriane's Baptism Day and her mom, Georgia,

Sister Ek and Sister Brown - Adriane's Baptism

Adriane's Baptism

Missionary Leadership Council - Sister Ek and Sister Brown in the middle

At the temple with Connie doing Baptisms for the Dead

Missionary Card from the mission office

Fancy Dinner at The Smith after the temple with Pres and Sister Smith

Sister Brown's list of companions from the mission office

August 26 and Sept 2

Pres and Sis Morgan at home with letters from missionaries

Dinner at Johnson's home with Adriane and her mom, Georgia.  Both in pink

Inspiration and encouragement from Pres Uchtdorf quote

Sis Brown with sweetheart, Adriane, who will be baptized Sept 5

Bishop's wife with box from home on the floor

Ryan and Brandon with Sister Zimmerman at their baptism

Fancy meals from 2 ward members

Handing out Book of Mormons at Fordham University with Sister Millett

Quite the Bronx shopping experience with Sister Ek

Connie, new convert, and Sister Brown doing temple baptisms at the Manhattan New York temple

Sister Brown and Sister Hutchison on a split

Mission Leader Council

Mission Leader Council with Pres and Sister Smith

Zone Conference

Zone Conference with Pres Smith

August 19, 2015

Chinatown with Sister Ek  Aug 2015
 

Facebook Post  Aug 2015

Foot Massages  Aug 2015

Making phone calls when Sister Ek was sick  Aug 2015
 

Pricey thrift store shopping in New Yonkers  Aug 2015



Silly Zone  Aug 2015

Zone  Aug 2015
 

Brooklyn Bridge with Sister Ek   Aug 2015


Okey dokey folks, here I am!
Last pday was really fun, we went to the Anne Frank museum in
Manhattan, a bagel shop called Zucker's (Sister Ek got a salmon bagel
sandwich...I got a bagel with cream cheese), thrift shopping, and the
Brooklyn bridge!!! It was a super fun day!
Theeeennnnnn Sister Ek got hit with a nasty sickness. Sheesh nobody is
supposed to get sick in the summer!!! Being sick is a winter thing.
That's when I've gotten sick on my mission. But nope, but somehow she
caught a virus and she was down for a few days. President Smith came
to give her a blessing!!! He came all the way down to the Bronx with
sister smith to give her a blessing!!! It was so sweet. He also bought
us treats. I don't do well in silence for prolonged periods of time
(who does??) so I made myself useful and called as many people as I
could. I also had my own personal workout party, learned some words in
Spanish, and watched the Joseph smith papers..I have thought of Kevin
twice as I have been writing this email! First when I was remembering
watching sister Ek eat salmon (salmon!! Ew!On a bagel!! Whaaat?) and
also when I was thinking about watching the Joseph smith papers. Those
things are both really Kevin like! Sister Ek got Special K at the
store today and I told her that's Kevin's nickname hahaha any whos so
ya she finally felt better on Monday.
Also!! There's this girl who Sis Johnson and Lunt are teaching now
who's name is Tatiana and she requested a missionary visit online
because she saw Johnson and I on the bus one day!! It was after we had
gone to target and we were headed somewhere on the 9 bus. We are
friends with the 9 bus driver so we were talking to him. So Tatiana
evidently was watching us the whole time and saw the peace that we
had, so she looked up online about the church and requested a
missionary visit! Then she came to church on Sunday!! She's SO sweet!!
Church was really funny!! I want you guys to come to church sometime
in the Bronx! It's somethin else!! But I love it!! In gospel
principles we were taught about the word of wisdom and boy oh boy do
the people in the ward have opinions on it!! One recent convert is SO
anti caffeinated drinks that she thinks it's a disgrace that we bring
coke to ward parties. I was just giggling the whole time and so was
Adriane, so ya know it's all right..as long as the people get the big
picture!! Then in relief society, the lesson was on elderly people.
Hahaha. It was actually pretty insightful, but the comments about the
stereotypes of the elderly were super funny.
Soooo on Monday we had a reeeallllllyyyy amazing member present with
Adriane!!! Sister Francios came. Holy moly sister francios is a HOOT!!
She is a "no nonsense sister" in her own words. She lives the gospel
and loves it!!! She was so bold but equally loving to Adriane. Members
make all the difference!!! Adriane is going to be that amazing member
present some day!!!
On Tuesday it was sister Ek's birthday!! So went to ihop for brunch
with Johnson and Lunt then we WORKED in the scorching heat!!! It was
so good though!! We were able to get a new potential investigator
family and a new investigator through tracting around media
referrals!! Then we taught Melissa!! We watched The Testaments with
her and she loooooovvveed it!! Guys that movie is a classic!! The
acting is superb and I always feel the spirit when I watch it!! She
cried at the end and sister Ek cried too. Wait what?? I am the one who
didn't cry? That's a rarity. We love Melissa!!! She's so sweet, she
got sister Ek a birthday cake with her name on it!!!!
I love you guys!!!! I know that God is watching over all of us!! This
last week, I gained a stronger testimony of the power of prayer! I
prayed one afternoon to feel at peace and then I got up and it was
like a drank a soothing liquid that eased my worries! That's exactly
how it felt. I have heard people say that the spirit feels like
drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate or being wrapped in a snuggly
blanket. It's true!!
Love,
BronxBrown

August 12, 2015

9 year old Imani's Baptism on her birthday July 2015

Transfer Day as a Sister Training Leader Aug 2015

 This week was kinda nuts!!! It was really good though.
I love being with Sister Ek! She's so fun and optimistic and she's
TALL!! We are around the same height! Wowzers!! My last 3 companions
have been around 5 feet tall!! Dunford, Smith, and Johnson. She's
really great! We don't have any roommates which is kinda different. I
like having roommates rather than living alone. Sister Johnson is
doing really awesome!! I am so proud of that amazing sister!! She's
training after only 2 cycles!! Makes a mother proud☺️Her companion's
name is Sister Lunt. She's from Arizona, and she knows my Mtc
companion Sister Larson! She's a really good sister, she has just been
really sick since arriving to New York.
It's been harder than I thought leaving my old area and coming to this
part of the Bronx. I really miss seeing the people sister Johnson and
I used to see together and now she's seeing them with sister Lunt.
Lucky sister Lunt!! It's weird cuz I still see them at church when
they come, but I don't teach them anymore. It's bittersweet. But
Heavenly Father wants me to be on the other side of the Bronx for my
last cycle! Imani's baptism was sooooooo good!! She was so happy!! So
was Marylee!! The support from the Ward was amazing and it ran really
smooth!! Elder Holtom baptized her. Sister Johnson sang a duet "When I
am baptized". We did this cool thing where we switched off singing the
lines and joined in with each other on the chorus. It turned out
well:) Imani was confirmed on Sunday by Elder Schmidt. She was
beaming!! She is such a special girl. She has such a mature spirit. I
asked her what she was thinking about right after she was baptized and
she smiled and said "God". She loves her Heavenly Father so much! She
said the most sincere closing prayer after her baptism. One of the
things she said was "thank you for me getting baptized on my birthday"
She turned 9 on her baptism day!
We had a lot of sister training leader duties to do this week. We went
to mission leadership conference with president smith, planned zone
meeting, interviewed 3 sets of sisters, taught zone meeting, interview
with the APs..it's been really cool!! I mostly like getting to know
the sisters more!! They're all super cute and hard working
missionaries!! In our interview we asked them if they had gangster
names and most of them said no, so yesterday I thought of gangster
names for them:) that's how EkElBeFresh and Bronx Brown roll!:) I call
Sister Johnson "son of a John" but I don't know if that's really
gangsterish. My fave one is Sister Cozette Cookson's: Co Co Fierce
haha. Anyways they're awesome sisters!! They're really excited about
the zone goal which is to testify 10 times a day!!
We taught Sister Petty yesterday and she's doing so good!! She was in
such a good mood, she even gave us donuts and juice! She was able to
ponder about a lot of things while she was in The hospital. She
recognizes that it was a blessing in disguise. She was able to get
away from the crazy Bronx for awhile and think with a clear mind. And
her and sister spivey are such good friends!!! It's so good when
members of the ward reach out to investigators and recent converts!!
Oh btw how's the newly baptized couple doing in the ward?
We have this amazing investigator named Adrian who is so golden! She
was tracked into, given a pamphlet, then she looked up the church
address and came to church on her own!! She's been to church around 5
times already. The thing that is holding her back from being baptized
is that she has a boyfriend (I think it's important to note that his
name is Brickhouse) and she either has to marry him, obey the law of
chastity,oooor break up with him.
Yesterday was a super wonderful day!!! There were so many unplanned
miracles!! We were walking into this building to look up a less active
and we stopped to talk to this guy who was hauling in a big
rectangular wooden box. We asked him what it was and he explained in
detail exactly what it was..I just gathered that it was a safe to keep
valuables in but it also charges cell phones. So anyways we talked for
a little bit, then he asked what we were doing and we told him we were
visiting someone in his building. So then he took the elevator, and we
took the stairs because his awkward box was taking up the whole
elevator. So we get up to the top floor and there he was taking his
box out of the elevator!! We said to each other "wouldn't it be funny
if he lives in the same apt?" Haha we went down the other side of the
hall but realized the apt we were looking for was on the other side of
the hall where the dude was. His name is Adivignon, but I will just
say Adi for short. So come to find out finally, that Adi lives in the
apt we were looking up!! His mom is a member, as well as his sisters
but he isn't!! Soooo then we started talking to him again after
giggling about the coincidental situation. We were all sweating so
hardcore haha, it was mad hot that day and we climbed up six flights
of stairs and he carrying his box caused him to become drenched in
sweat. So it was just all super funny until he started getting a tad
flirty then we threw the "we'll the send the guy missionaries over to
teach you" line. But we are going to come back to see his mom:) it was
seriously so happenstance!
I am pumped about the zone goal to testify 10 times every day!! I have
always loved talking to people on public transportation haha on sister
johnson's first day when we were getting on he bus I said to her "Kay
you get on that side of the bus and I will be on this side and we are
going to talk to people" hehe so on the train the other day, I asked
this lady next to me how her Sunday was and then I asked her what she
normally does on Sunday's and she said "go to church!" Perf!! So then
we got talking about the gospel!! Unbeknownst to me, there were return
missionaries on that train who were visiting New York. They started
talking to sister Ek and she said it made them so happy to see a
missionary at work!
I know that this is The Lord's work!!! It's true!! I am incredibly
grateful for the chance that I have had to serve a mission and I am
totally not done yet!! I know God knows and loved me and He
has so much more work for me to do in the next few weeks.
I love you all!

August 5, 2015

Our feet have a nice tan!

Wicked!!!
Wicked was so amazing!!! I loved it so much!! I thought it applied to life and the gospel so well!! Good will always overpower the bad!! That day was one of the most fun pdays I have had here!!! We went to Sephora first and glammed ourselves up!! Sephora is like a wonderland to me!! I love it there!!! They have testers of all the makeup and perfume and it's just wonderful!! Then we got lunch at this Indian place called Indikitch. I was a bit skeptical at first because I didn't think I liked Indian food but I really, really liked it!! I got these lentil tortilla/taco things. We went to the play and I looooooved it!!! It was so funny and so uplifting!!! That's part of the reason why I chose
Wicked instead of Les Mis, because I wanted to see an uplifting play instead of a dreary and depressing one. We were all so happy after!! Our seats were so perfect!! Right in the middle on the lower level. 

A really nice apt building we did a look up in in Riverdale.

Kingsbridge zone! I am going to be companions with Sister Ek(she's the
one in the orange dress sitting next to me) we will be sister training
leaders. I will still be in the same Ward and district as Sister
Johnson!! Woot!! I am just moving apts...again!! This is my third time
moving into the sister training leader apt
Brother and Sister Zimmerman, new Senior Couple

Sooooooo yes Sis Johnson is training!! And I am moving apts and
companions!! This week was very bittersweet....I am so excited Sis
Johnson is training but I am gonna miss her so much!!!! These last two
cycles were wonderful with her!! But I am excited to be a sister
training leader with Sister Ek! And yes I will be there for Imani's
baptism on Saturday!!!
This week Sister Petty was in the hospital with pneumonia!! She is out
now and doing well! The whole time she was in the hospital, I felt at
peace about it because I know that Heavenly Father was allowing her to
learn and see things more clearly. It's hard to explain but I felt
like it was supposed to happen. She received a priesthood blessing and
that was really cool/weeiiiiiirrrdest experience of my life!!!! Elder
Holtom (our district leader) gave her the blessing and after he said
Amen, she stood up and started spazzing out and making squeeling
sounds. It looked like she was doing an African tribal dance. I
thought she was upset or something but turns out she was just feeling
the spirit really strongly she said. I have never seen anything like
it!! We were really thankful that she felt the power of the
priesthood!! But then we were totally shocked at the same time and
didn't know how to react! We hugged her and she calmed down, but she
was still super jittery. But anyways she's doing a lot better, she has
had a turn around since being in the hospital. Ward members visited
her, we visited her, she got a blessing, she has been reading the Book
of Mormon...all amazing things that have been building her testimony!!
Thanks for all your prayers!! Imani is doing awesome, she's ready to
be baptized on Saturday!!!
We had a really good lesson with Meozjah
this week!! We brought a youth from the Ward named Stephanie and it
was amazing!! They totally hit it off!!
This week I read the talk "The Music of the gospel" and it got me
thinking about how mom and Kevin helped us feel the music of the
gospel at home. I was thinking about how our home was able to have The
Spirit. I thought about how we did gospel like things as a family but
I don't remember mom or Kevin telling me or Heidi and Kimmie to make
sure to read the scriptures or pray on our own. At least for me, I did
it because I wanted to and I wanted to follow mom and Kevin's example.
So my thought was, that through example, the desire to do those
gospely things was natural to me. You guys didn't force us or pester
us to pray every single morning and night, or to make sure to read at
least a chapter in the Book of Mormon every day..but that's good you
didn't because a good example and showing love is the most effective
way to teach kids how to live the gospel!! That's my 20 year old,
childless, missionary opinion at least.
I know God is real!!! I am so grateful for His love!!! I know He wants
all His children to be happy and successful!!!! I love you all!! See
ya next month!!:)
BronxBrown

July 29, 2015

Hey Ward! Sister Johnson and I are still loving the work in The Bronx! I have been here for 6 months now...hmm I could have another area before I head home! This last week we had a really amazing lesson with a media referral! Her name is Victoria Addo and she is from Ghana. People from Ghana are the BEST! They're always so kind and considerate. We met with her on Friday and invited her to church, and her and her daughter (Sedina) came to church!! She got along really well with a recent convert named Connie who is also from Ghana:) Our new mission president is amazing!!! We had interviews with him this last week and he was so helpful!! I sat down and he said "this is your interview, what do you want to talk about?" He listened so intently to what I had to say and answered all my questions! Then that night, he texted me saying he was thinking about a recent convert I was speaking about and he offered more words of encouragement! What a thoughtful thing to do. A little 9 year old girl we have been teaching for a few months is getting baptized on August 8th!! Her mom is a member but has only been to church once in the last decade or so..we are hoping that she can receive the desire to return back to church!! I want to thank whoever puts this Ward newsletter together! I have always enjoyed reading them each month! At home as well as in the mission field! My mom has been sending them to me! Thank you to everyone else in the Ward who fulfills their callings so well. You all make a difference. This morning I was reading in 3 Nephi 18 about the sacrament. It was really enlightening!! Taking the sacrament is an imperative part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ! I look forward to seeing ya'll at church in September!

Selfie with President Smith

Selfie with President Smith

Sisters pday in Manhattan! This is at Stardust Cafe!!

Walking around all day in humid 90 degree weather faces

We bought a roll for 50 cents and split it for our dinner

Love, Sister Brown