Hey y'all :)

So this is my first post-type thing, and my mother will be posting periodically from here on out. Thanks for checking in and keeping in touch! I'm excited for this adventure, and only pray that I will be humble enough to really experience this to the fullest. If you want to write,

Send letters here:

Sister Bronwen Emma Hale

Washington Everett Mission

PO Box 13390

Mill Creek, WA 98082-1390

United States

Send packages here (Packages? Oh yes! Packages!):

Sister Bronwen Emma Hale

Washington Everett Mission

16124 35th Ave SE

Mill Creek, WA 98012

United States

Or email me here:

bronwen.hale@myldsmail.net

If you're writing/sending stuff while I'm in the MTC, this is the address:

Sister Bronwen Emma Hale
MTC Mailbox # 263
WA-EVR 0604
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

I feel very blessed to be serving, if a little scared. I feel better today than I did yesterday though, which is a great blessing! :) And to close (this first, unofficial-type blog post), I want to share with you the scripture that will be powering me on this first mission of mine:

Mosiah 27:25-26

25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be ^aborn again; yea, ^bborn of God, ^cchanged from their carnal and^dfallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his ^esons and daughters;

 26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in ^anowise inherit the kingdom of God.

This being 'born again' is your spiritual birth, or conversion from being a natural man into being "a saint," with no desire to do evil (Mosiah 3:19). This is the kind of change I hope to cement in myself through serving a mission, but more importantly it is the kind of change I hope to help facilitate amongst the people of Washington State. Being born of God means an entirely new quality of life, looking outward for how you can serve your fellow man, as well as inward to determine which parts of you need to go, and which parts need to be expanded and refined. It is my testimony that though Heavenly Father, in his mercy, has provided many avenues for this kind of change (art, music, service, and that ever present existential angst), that it is through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that we can find the fullest answers to these questions of the soul, turn ourselves most outward and discipline ourselves the most on the inside. I'm not going on a mission to sell anything. I'm not going to make anyone do anything they don't want to do. But I'm going to invite, entice and encourage, with hopefully the constant aid of the spirit, all individuals I can to come unto Christ and be healed. 

Wish me luck, and stay tuned. I love you guys.

Bronwen (soon to be Sister Hale)

PS: Some pics from my call and opening:

And my official missionary-type picture: