So this week was better than last week. We had a couple days when we didn't have very many lessons but we had some really good days too.

Anyway this week we taught a less active member and his non-member girlfriend who is not yet his wife but we´re going to marry to baptize her (E & L). E’s brother leaves on a mission tomorrow and his whole family are inactive but him. Anyways we taught and they’re all really cool and have testimonies of the gospel and everything they just don’t go to church. The brothers and sisters said they wanted to come back to church because they all have kids now and want to be good examples. Later in the week we taught his parents. HIS DAD IS AWESOME. He bore his testimony and it was like WOAH but he’s not going to church! Man I hate when people are inactivate for stupid reasons...well his brothers and sister came to church but his parents didn't  All of the members were really happy to see them so I think they will be coming back this week too :)

We also taught a girl named A. She was really awesome too. She said she would read and pray and do whatever God told her was right so..We challenged her to baptism and she said yes if she gets an answer she’ll get baptized. She couldn't come to church this week though because she had a soccer tournament out of town.

We took A & M on the church tour and they really liked it and said they would go to church this week but they didn’t go because Aldo had to take his sister back to Escuintla. We went to visit them yesterday and they said THIS WEEK NO EXCUSES they will come to church :) They are really awesome and we are hoping to baptize them this month.

We taught some members how to teach the restoration and then the wife took us to teach a friend of hers and after the husband took us to teach his friend W! That was cool to get the members involved. Well W’s dad is a preacher but he said look God’s will is God’s will so if he says I have to change then I’m going to change :) That was great! We’re going to keep visiting him of course.

We taught M this week (a recent convert’s husband). He said he was going to a different church now. Man I really don’t know how to get to this guy! His 8 year old son is always praying for him to change and tells him how he knows the church is true and everything! If his own adorable son can’t get to him I don’t know what we can teach that will be super powerful to help him understand!

This Tuesday we had the sisters meeting which was really good. We talked about a lot of stuff to help us be better missionaries and betters wives and mothers in the future which was good. 

Mom you asked about P-days..Here there isn't much to do. We buy our groceries and sleep which is the best! But I will start taking more pictures sorry.

 I´m doing good but I´m writing the long email right now so then you will know about my week. It´s starting to get cold here...but not cold for me..or you. My health is really good not having any problems right now :) 

Love you momma have a good week be good :) LOVE YOU MORE THAN EVERYTHING :)

"Can't help those who don't help themselves!"

A lot of our investigators aren’t progressing like we thought they would. M was doing really good this week. We got to visit him 3 times and understand his real problem which was that he’s having a hard time forgiving himself for stupid things he did in his past. He even came to church yesterday! Then we taught him last night and he drank yesterday...AFTER 3 WEEKS OF NOT DRINKING. I was really sad. 

We also taught a kid named L. He came to church last week and after we taught him he was like yeah for sure I’ll pray I want to know if it’s true. And then we challenged him to be baptized and he flat out said no. Well that’s no good. He said even if it’s the true church he doesn't want to change everything that his family has taught him. 

We also taught JJ who basically said that he’s young and he still had a lot to experience and he knows that it´s not right and that he´s not keeping commandments but he’s "curious" and isn’t ready to change yet. He said "I’m going to get baptized..Just not yet because I still have a lot that I want to do." 

As you can see, the main theme of this email basically is that we can’t help the people who aren’t ready to be helped. If someone doesn’t want to change yet it’s their decision. It’s just really hard because in the mission you really start to care for people and they don’t understand the importance of what we are teaching.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE:
We taught A&M. They are amazing but they came up with another excuse to not come to church! So...we figured out yesterday when we were teaching them that they are nervous to go so we are going to have a tour with them this week. They are a family that we want to baptize in November!

We also found a woman and her kids who were AMAZING but they moved...to the south mission. We’re going to call them and get the address there to send to the missionaries there and they can have a pilas family to baptize.

We taught M yesterday too. Like I said last week he has a calling in young mens already. Well...he gave his first lesson in church yesterday! We are so happy to see how fast he is progressing. Hna Garcia and I commented last night that it was such a blessing that we were able to be a part of the lives of this family! He is the best convert in the world because he was seriously prepared and he´s going to be strong in the gospel forever :)

I’m doing good thank you :)  I think I’m getting bit by spiders though...yeah I got the pictures thank you!! Did they name the baby Finley? Crazy that Brooke and Madison both had babies! How great for them...tell Coach Lamb hi from me and everyone else at the coaches.

My personal photo birthday card!

LOVE YOU & HAVE A GOOD WEEK!!

Amazing Zone Conference!

This week has been good. I feel like we have a lot of pretty positive people right now. We are teaching the mom, brother, and husband of a recent convert S. The mom isn´t that receptive but is really sweet and really likes us so we never have trouble teaching them. Her brother always has really good questions and seriously understands everything which is great. The only problem with him is that he works Saturday night grave shifts and so coming to church is a problem but he is really positive and always participates in the lessons. The husband of the recent convert, M, is starting to open up to us more. We had a tour of the church and we could tell he felt the spirit but he still doesn´t want to change. We also had a family night with the whole family that went really well and everyone liked it and enjoyed themselves.

We are teaching A and M still and they are amazing! We just have to get them to church! They always read and pray and we taught the word of wisdom and they said they would stop drinking tea and coffee. They are really great but some problem always comes up so they can´t come to church..stinking satan.

We knocked on a random door one day and the lady was really nice and said hermanas come in! Her name is G and it turns out she is an inactive member. She was praying for help and then we knocked on the door :) that was an awesome experience! She didn´t come to church on Sunday though.

We taught M last night. He opened up to us a ton. We´ve been having problems getting to teach him because he has a new job now but we are going to teach him tonight too. He has changed a lot and hasn´t been drinking at all! He just needs to wake up on Sundays and come to church!

This week we also went and taught a less active member whose son left on his mission today. She is awesome and knows it´s all true and has a testimony but just isn´t coming to church! UGH that is the hardest part for me; when someone has a testimony of the gospel and just doesn´t do their part. It was even her son´s last Sunday here and she didn´t come. I just don´t understand it sometimes.

Well we had to drop Os. He wasn´t listening to us for the message of the gospel. Just to have friends. He told us that he didn´t want to stop drinking coffee and that he didn´t read his Book of Mormon because he had other books to read. Then during a lesson he asked if I would ever come back and marry someone from Guatemala...yeah that was the end of that.

Yesterday as you know we had our zone conference and it was AMAZING. I have no doubt that I have the best mission president in the whole world. We have new goals.....THEY ARE CRAZY HUGE but we´re going to do it because we have the best mission president. haha we have to contact 35 people every day, have 27 lessons every week, and 12 new investigators. In November we have to baptize 50 families and in January our goal is to baptize 150 people. This morning in my personal study I read in the bible part of a scripture that says fear not for the battle is not yours but Gods. It’s amazing how much we can do when we have God on our side and I am so grateful to be a part of this gospel. There is nothing better than being an instrument in the hands of the Lord. 

Jessica said its starting to get cold there...here too but not really haha. Have you guys gotten new carpet yet (that´s my subtle way of asking if Lady is still alive)

(When she found out that we had to put down our dog, Lady)   awww it´s ok I´ll see her in heaven...if she repented for biting lots of people haha

 Also can you send me family updates of everyone soon? Has Brooke had her baby?

So how many are there in your District?  6; 4 elders and us

How many are in your Zone? like 20

When are they going to make you a trainer? we don´t have any new sisters entering basically so he doesn´t have a need for trainers or senior companions right now but yesterday he told me that I am in the group of hermanas that he wants to subir for lack of a better word..He just can´t right now because we don´t have enough hermanas 

How do you feel about your Spanish? muy bien gracias..hay algunas cosas que necesito mejorar pero he dado cuenta que mi español es mejor que muchas de las hermanas aqui.

Next week will be crazy too because we are have a meeting for the sisters so we will either write on Monday at 12 or Wednesday at 11 or 12 I think. Or maybe Tuesday..  I have no idea! Sorry :(

LOVE YOU MOMMA!! HAVE· A GREAT DAY AND WEEK!

Last week Dengue Fever...this week a cold!

SORRY!! we had a zone meeting so that´s why we´re late today! but...next week we're going to be on late again too because we have a zone conference.

We are going to baptize 23 this month in our Zone and get a prize if we do :) a super super pday. I didn´t have a relapse but I do have a cold :( but I guess I´m supposed to be grateful for my trials or something like that. 

First of all I want to start with conference. We got to watch both sessions both days like we always will. We also went to the relief society session the week before. I meant to bring my camera to send my cumplemeses picture but I left it so I will send it next week. Thank you for the skirts and the other stuff you sent momma :) I also got another unexpected package from grandma..PEANUT BARS!! haha they were a month old but I ate them anyway :) also I dedicate all of L. Tom Perry´s talk to you guys. It made me really baggy how he was talking about his family when he was in the war but it made me think of how awesome my family is and that I can´t wait to take advantage of having an amazing family when I get home! I´m not letting you out of my sight! hahaha well at least for the first couple of days :) also happy birthday month momma! I forgot to say it last week.

Answers to your questions:

What do you think about the changes in missionary ages? I´m legitimately MAD! haha the revelation came two years too late. Remember how I like cried because I wanted to go at 19? but that doesn't matter now haha but..I really did want to go at 19 so yes I would´ve felt ready

Have any of your Latina companions been younger than you? no I have been the youngest girl in the mission.

So is the Hna Garcia that you are still companions with the one that runs with you? No but I have a jump rope so I´m just gonna do that..a lot. Ana from volleyball told me that 5 minutes of good jump rope is the same as 2 miles of running

 So where you are now is just pretty much city lookin? Yeah I´m just in the city. I don´t know where those pictures are taken. They´re all of the assistants and secretaries though

Now for this week...

This week was pretty decent. We met a lot of interesting and positive people. First of all A still has the desire to get baptized so we´re going to talk to him about that. He has just been having problems with his family and everything but he knows it´s true so that´s really good. 

We also met a lady named Y. She is really receptive. We were teaching one day the restoration and I was saying the first vision and it was all quiet and spiritual and then I coughed and scared her baby and she started crying! So there went the spirit. I think the gripe (cold) is from satan. haha but everything else is going well with her.

We taught I. SHE IS AWESOME! She always reads her assignments and already said she would obey the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. We are just having a problem getting her to come to church. And for some reason she is afraid to pray...

We also taught J J. He has attended once church but says he still hasn´t received his answer that it´s true. He´s in exams right now so it´s been hard to teach him but last night we went 

to his house and his grandma was sick so we had a member nearby give her a blessing which went really well.

We are also teaching a really great family! WE had been teaching the wife before but on Sunday we met the husband. He was reading the Book of Mormon that we gave to his wife and we taught the restoration and they are SUPER PILAS! They understand and believe everything and said they would pray :)

One night when we were walking this guy was like hey what church are you from? and so we started talking to him...He´s pretty creepy but he was really interested in the church so we told him about conference and he came...to BOTH SUNDAY SESSIONS! We´re going to baptize him. We still haven´t been able to teach him yet though. 

Speaking of conference we had 9 investigators that went! That was awesome! 

I love you momma and I hope you have a wonderful week. 

So we have late church and afterwards we drove up the mountains to see the fall leaves which are beautiful! There is very sporadic cell coverage up there. So we're at the summit-10,000ft and a message comes through, so I listen to it.  It’s Pres Brough calling. He says he'll call back in an hour." Don't worry, Carolyn is fine." Yeah right. I told my husband to get down from this mountain NOW!  Of course we are on a windy road and there is a big trailer with already 10 cars behind it when we catch up to them... 
Well as soon as I got good cell coverage I called him back.  He said "Hello sister Brown!" Then proceeded to tell me that Carolyn has the first know case of Dengue Fever for a city mission.  It is caused by a mosquito bite.  They didn't know what was wrong with her for the first few days. She was tired and in a lot of pain.  Test came back negative but then they did them again and this time it said it was Dengue.  Now that they know what it is they sent her home to rest until Tuesday. She should be better by then. 

 To find out more information about Dengue Fever click here 
It was kind of nice to get to talk to the president.  He told us what a great missionary she is and said the best thing about her is how much she truly loves the people.  That made me happy.  So, needless to say, we were anxiously awaiting her email today… here it is!

Hi...I´m ok now still just my body is tired and now I have a rash for a couple days that itches like crazy so that sucks. This was the hardest week of my mission for sure. I was seriously seconds away from calling home on Sunday morning. I have never missed you guys so much or been so baggy here in the mission! Probably not what you want to hear,  but it´s true. Being sick on the mission is the worst ever. I guess you want to know what happened then...well basically Wednesday morning at like 1 am I woke up with cold chills and a fever. Like I was shivering so bad I was shaking the bed haha so I was just thinking it was a flu or something the whole time. Then I saw Hna Montgomery (she’s the missionary nurse) later that day because we had to all meet as sisters to switch back from intercambios and I took my temperature and it was at 102.7 and so she wanted them to do blood tests. Dr. Drake was positive that it wasn´t dengue...Anyway I had to go again on Friday to get my blood drawn and then on Sunday I flipped out, wanted to call home just a bunch of junk haha and then Hna. Montgomery called and said she was on her way with Hna. Brough to take me to the hospital. Then the Dr. there said it was dengue and that I just had to rest and wait it out. Basically Wednesday til yesterday I was in the house sleeping or in the capital getting blood work done. This week sucked really bad. Oh and I had to go get blood work done yesterday too to make sure I was getting better. Now my whole body is just itchy so that sucks too. 5 days in the house with fever is what dengue looks like for me and I hope I never get it again! That’s about all my week. As for your questions, only one of my companions was with me at all times because the other two had to go out and work. I went running on Wednesday when I just thought it was the flu but then Friday I was dead and I couldn´t do anything so I didn´t go that day. I lost like 5 pounds. Yeah I take the garlic pills but only sometimes when I remember so I´ll be better about it now haha  I´ve been bit by a dog and got dengue...I think my mission is about complete. Anyway I miss you

For transfers this week, it´s just going to be Hna Garcia from El Salvador and me starting tomorrow.

Can you send me family updates again?  (So family, write her!!!)

For Christmas maybe a long sleeve SUU shirt or sweatshirt for me if it´s not too bulky.

love you momma have a good week. You´re the best! Can you send me some temple pictures? LOVE YOU! how´s Mit Romney doing? What's the news on the temple in Star Valley? anyway...LOVE YOU!

(She wrote Brian that there had been another sister missionary who said she had Dengue Fever, but she never told the Mission Office.)