Sister Brianne Watson: Baptism, Blessings, Blisters, and Beauty

So many different things to talk about..wow. I suppose we can start with the FIVE skunks we had in our backyard the other night hahaha it was so disgusting! They were going through our garbages and we didn't know what to do so Sister Crook decided to start throwing things at them from our back door and eventually 4 of them ran off but there was one that wouldn't leave no matter what we did. Finally sister crook got a cup of water and threw it at the dumb skunk and it finally left. I'm surprised she didn't get sprayed!!

Another funny story: we had dinner at the Alexander's this last week and they are the cutest old couple in the entire world. I just love them so much :) but anyway so we were eating spaghetti with them and I was sitting by brother Alexander who is practically deaf and pretty much blind..but I was just peacefully eating my food when all of a sudden he looks at me and yells, "ARE YOU STEALING MY MEATBALLS?!" And it caught me so off guard and I didn't know what to do and everyone started busting up laughing because of how terrified I looked and oh man..that story really doesn't sound very funny when I write it out but I promise it was absolutely hilarious!

I also found out that I like mangos..I really think I'm addicted to them. AND I LIKE GUACAMOLE. I know mom..calm down..but yes. I supposedly like guacamole. We went and visited a less active who's from Colombia and we helped her make guacamole and mango salsa for company she was having that night. While cooking, she made me try straight avocado (which was horrifying since I didn't have a choice) BUT I liked it. Hmm. And she ended up giving me an entire mango to take home because I loved it so much!

Oh man..so in the beginning of the week we walked four miles to a recent convert's home in the dumping rain. I didn't have an umbrella and I had a light cotton jacket which soaked through within seconds. I've never been so wet in the rain in my entire life! It was like I just jumped into a pool. But when we were walking home, a man pulled over and offered us a ride but since it was just him in the car, we had to tell him no thanks. As soon as I told him no, I immediately tripped and fell into a puddle... it was the most embarrassing thing ever! "Oh, no thanks!" *FALLS* whew it was just awesome.

Oh yes! I had my first zone interview with my mission president! It was SOO good and it felt great to finally get one on one time with him for the first time since arriving here. He's such a sweet man and he was so willing to help me out in whatever way he could. I've particularly been struggling with homesickness and some other things that I didn't mention to him that's been bothering me so I decided to ask him for a Priesthood blessing. He was more than willing to do that and even though I only told him about the homesickness, he mentioned all the other things I've been struggling with and reassured me that everything was going to be okay, etc. Ever since then, I've been doing so much better! :)

I also had my first experience with exchanges this week...hmm. For those who don't know, that's when you and your companion get split up and you swap with another set of sisters in your area for 24 hours. We swapped with our sister training leaders and the sister I was with has been out for about 16 months. AND I stayed here in Bath while sister crook went to their area which meant I was in charge of the plans and leading out on lessons. Horrifying. 1) She was incredibly experienced. 2) She was my sister training leader. 3) I've only been here in the field for a month. needless to say, I was a wreck of nerves for these exchanges. I would pray and pray for the help to stay busy and to get to our appointments and to be calm and it worked! Time flew by, we stayed busier than I thought (even though one of our major service appointments fell through), and I learned that I can in fact be in charge without too much of a problem. #blessed

My...feet...hurt. We walk everywhere since we are low on miles and geez, it's rough. We walked four miles again yesterday and my blisters that I got a few days earlier were all open and hurting so bad that eventually I had to take my shoes off altogether. I had to walk 4 miles barefoot to teach someone. If that's not real missionary work, I don't know what is! I ended up treating myself to the Dr. Pepper my mom sent me in the MTC that I was saving for when I deserved it most.

WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM YESTERDAY! :) oh my goodness, it was amazing. It was for sweet 11 year old Caryssa. I hadn't been to a baptism in so long..I forgot how great it feels. I don't remember the last time I felt the spirit so strong. I literally started crying because it hit me so hard that THAT is why I came out here. It is my job 24 hours a day to bring people into the waters of baptism and see them in white with so much faith and so much joy in their faces. I am SO lucky!
Oh and shout out to my ward mission leader Brother Smith for dropping by 75 pieces of Lindt chocolates to sister crook and I the other night at like 10:15 :D I had just gotten out of the shower and he called us and asked if he could give us a surprise and there ya go! 75 pieces of the best chocolate in the world.

I'm gonna get a little deep here for a second but I feel like I have to say this. Those who know me really well know how self conscious I am and how negative I am when it comes to my appearance. I compare myself to other people and I point out all the negatives in myself. Lately, it's been pretty bad and I've been struggling with it while I've been out here. But I decided to pray about it and ask Heavenly Father to help me love myself more and find more self worth so I can have more confidence when talking to people. Over this past week, I've been so blessed. My companion, the sister I went on exchanges with, and random people on the street would just compliment me. And they weren't always even about my physical appearance! They would tell me things like, "you are such an amazing missionary." "I never would think you're brand new." "You're very hardworking and a great leader." "You posses a lot of faith which is essential for missionary work." "You're so good at listening to the spirit and following your promptings." "You have such a strong testimony and you're so bold with it."

Last night during our dinner our we watched an LDS face2face thing with Lindsey Stirling and guess what it talked all about? Self confidence and self worth. Hmm.

Then, we go to our recent converts house for a lesson last night and we had planned to answer her questions about the resurrection that she had the previous week. Wait - pause. We walked there and the entire time we walked, Sister Crook kept complimenting me on absolutely everything. She knew I struggled with self confidence so she decided to talk me through it and help me understand that beauty isn't just on the outside. Keep in mind, she had no idea that I've been really having a hard time or that I've been praying about it. She told me so many things that I didn't even notice about myself which was so awesome and I'm so grateful for her.

Anyway, we finally get to Gena's house and somehow we ended up talking about self worth and the beauty from within (no clue how it came up) and how that matters so much more than our physical appearance. I suddenly for some reason started talking about my poor self esteem and the role its played in my life. It makes me so sad to think of all the times I'd beat myself up about it. Beauty is SO much more than our flaws or imperfections. I am so much more than my cleft lip or any imperfect part of my body. God created me like this because he thought it was perfect for ME specifically.
Moral of the story: LOVE YOURSELF. It makes you SO much happier once you realize there is more to you on the inside than anything on the outside. Oh, and missions change you. I feel like a completely different person than I was two months ago! I've learned SO much about myself that I wouldn't have learned at home.

I LOVE YOU ALL :) Enjoy the pictures!

HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK