Rainy Road Trip

Sister Crosby and I witnessed a miracle this morning and it strengthened my testimony that Heavenly Father is so aware of his children and that he works miracles in our lives through our faith. We have been trying to return to visit a friend we met for two or three weeks now. Well, this morning was going to be the day. I just knew it! So we walked up all the stairs and knocked on the door. We waited and waited. We knocked one more time and waited. Nothing. At the bottom of the stairs, slightly dejected, we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to guide us to where he needed us and we planned to head out down another street. Then we felt like we should knock on the neighbor's door. We'd already knocked there before, but we decided to do it anyway. Back up the stairs we went! Twenty second pause at the top of the staircase so we could catch our breath, then we knocked. Waited. Nothing. 2nd knock. Nothing. Why did we feel like we should go back up the stairs? Down the stairs and out of the building, then we thought that we should leave a note. So we sat down on the porch and began to write. And thirty seconds later a car drove up with our friend in it.  We were FINALLY able to set up a time to meet! Heavenly Father is so aware and he WANTS to guide us. Sometimes we don't fully understand his guidance. I didn't understand why we should knock on the neighbor's door. Especially when no one answered. But because we followed those promptings, we were in the right place at the right time. I believe that our faith in Jesus Christ has power and allows God to lead us to be his hands. 

Getting ourselves to Nova Gorica on Saturday was quite the challenge! It really shouldn't have been too difficult - it's just a two hour drive from Celje, but it was hard because we share a car. The Porters left the country two weeks ago, and the Monsons are moving up here from Ljubljana. But they're not moving up here yet, because they still have things to be doing down there. So...no car in Celje for a while haha. We were planning to take the train to Ljubljana Saturday morning and then grab the car and go onward, BUT the train schedule terribly tricky and we didn't read it correctly. SO the Monsons drove up Saturday morning, then we all drove back to Ljubljana together. Then Sister Crosby and I took the car on to Nova Gorica through the crayziest rain I have driven through in quite a while. I have experienced insane rain since coming here, but never while I was behind the wheel of a car! Only when I was walking through town, still half an hour from home typically :) But we made it there and Andrejka was so kind.  We got to share and answer questions, and she showed us all around Gorica, new and old.

Last week we were out contacting through the center of Celje. It was cold, rainy, and dark and there was basically no one outside, so everytime we saw a person we made a beeline straight for them, but to no avail. We'd been praying that day for opportunities to serve in small ways, but I didn't feel like I'd found very many. Maybe my eyes were closed all day or something. Anyway, We started beelining for a woman who was walking away from us about forty feet ahead. Just as we came within ten feet, she crossed the road. Škoda! But when we took our focus off of her, we realized that there was another woman about thirty feet ahead with no umbrella. We started after her, rounded the corner, and once we were within yelling distance, I decided to yell and ask if she needed an umbrella. She kind of turned her head, saw us, and kept going. I thought "great. She knows we're the missionaries and doesn't want to talk." But then I thought "what the heck, let's just chase her." So we did. And then we asked if she needed an umbrella. Turns out she's from Spain, didn't understand Slovene, didn't know we were missionaries, and really loved the idea of an umbrella! Heavenly Father will give us opportunities to serve if ask!I'm not going to talk about the people who told me I've "found the wrong Jesus." That's a story for another time :)I testify that Jesus Christ lives and loves us! I'm so grateful for a loving Father in heaven who knows us and cares for us. Turn to him every day, in rain and in sunshine!

Love Steph 

Short and Sweet

We had our primary program yesterday and though we only have two primary children and one young woman, it was wonderful and the spirit was so strong! Our theme was "I choose the right!" And I was inspired to do a better job of choosing the right in the coming days. 


We're leaving in two minutes, but I love you so so much!

Sestra Stephanie Brown

Facing your Fears - Start with Love

This week we were visiting a member of our branch. After we left her house, we decided to tract some of the nearby blocks. At the top floor of one of these, a young mom answered the door. She told us that she doesn't really believe in God, but that we were welcome to come back another day. So we went back! When we walked into her home, I was a little bit overwhelmed by how much love she obviously had for her family. The entire little home was centered around her children and her love was so evident. 

In our short discussion, we learned that her babica had recently passed away and that she'd sometimes wondered where grandma is now. We learned that her kids are the center of her life and mean everything to her. 

God's plan for this woman and for her grandma and her children is a plan that began before mortal life here on earth and will last much longer than the end of our mortal lives. It's a plan which developed out of the pure love of God for his children. I know that her grandma still lives just like I know that my grandpa still lives! And because of Jesus Christ we will all live again.

I learned a couple of things this week. First, it's all about love. Second, sometimes the very best thing to do is just face your fear head on. Third, Jesus Christ will heal us.

Let's start with love. Shout out to my good friend Spencer, who told me this at the very beginning of my mission. And also to everyone everywhere who has learned anything from Jesus Christ. He did everything he did out of love - love for God, and love for the people around him. Sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed by the numerous rules, guidelines, suggestions, goals, reports, etc. that are part of a missionary's life. Often times I feel like I'm really not measuring up because I can't even REMEMBER all those things, let alone apply them all in my daily life. But I've realized that if everything I do is motivated by my love for my Father in Heaven and for my companion and for my mission president and for my family and for the people here in Celje, then I'm doing okay. And I just keep on striving for improvement in all those areas, but first and foremost is love. Because I wear the name of Jesus Christ on my tametag, and to represent him means to radiate love. Not very good at it, but working on it.

 

Facing your fears. Face it head on and charge at it or it will just follow you all your life. Just face it now and Heavenly Father will strengthen you through it and bless you for it, no matter how long it takes!

There are two things I really love about the following scripture:

9 And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.

The first is that our Savior will heal, comfort, strengthen, bless, and give peace to each of us one by one. The second is that those who were afflicted were "brought forth unto him." I want to bring people unto Christ to experience the miracle of his healing and to know the miracle of his life, atonement, and resurrection! 

Miracles and Bobsleds

This week we saw some neat miracles as we were trying to find people to teach! 

 Sister Crosby and I stopped two women on the street, and began talking with them. One was super interested in knowing if we had received answers to our prayers before, so that was neat. Doesn't happen often! 

Sister Crosby began telling them about the first vision and as she was going I started to think something sounded funny and then she kind of eyed me while she was talking and I realized that she had completely skipped the first half. haha. So we laughed ourselves sore over that later :) I think the spirit knew what she was trying to say and still came and testified! Kind of funny though! 

We were headed out into town to deliver a copy of general conference to a woman we had met previously. We had a short discussion with her, but she had an obisk(visitor), so we couldn't talk for very long. Just got to share our testimonies that there is a living prophet on the Earth today! 

When we finished tracting that block, we still had about twenty minutes until we needed to start heading home. We didn't necessarily want to start an entire new block because we wouldn't be able to finish it, so we debated about tracting the houses on the street, contacting, or finding a new block. We stood on the side of this little street and prayed. We asked Heavenly Father for help and guidance that we could spend the next half hour doing what needed us to do and speaking with the people he needed us to speak with. Still unsure what to do, we started walking. And then a family turned the corner, so we thought "Great! A family! That's surely what Heavenly Father needs us to do right now." So we approached them and began to talk, only to be told that they really weren't interested at all. Škoda. 

So we knocked on the door of a house across the street, again to find that the people home weren't really interested. So we started walking again. As we crossed the train tracks on our way towards center, we saw a young man on the other side of the street. Being the bold missionaries we are trying to become, we crossed the street and intercepted this man. And we learned that this was exactly where Heavenly Father needed us to be at that point. We shared our testimonies of God's plan for us and his desire for us to come to know him through prayer. 

Heavenly Father will guide and direct us as we try to be his hands here on earth! 

I liked Trevvy Trev's email this week! It is never too late to be the person you want to be. It is never to late to choose to turn toward your Heavenly Father and let him help you to become who you want to become! 

Sestra Stephanie Brown

And we were at a branch activity with those helmets! It was bobsleds and a ropes course.