Week 21 - Hermosa Semana

January 9th, 2018

Familia y amigos!!

Quick random quote for your week I found: "the greatness of man is in the way, he meets the eternal everyday." -some apostle that I can't quite remember. (Quentin L. Cook, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, quoting Edmund Vance Cooke)

Our zone activity today- we played soccer, capture the flag with water balloons, and ate lots of ice cream! (which is the part featured)

This week was just the best! We worked on a lot of things this week and are finding lots of solutions to what we can do better for our area! One thing that I personally have been pretty frustrated with is contacting. We have so many people in our area and have so many people we could visit that I used to think why contact and have lots of new investigators if we don't even have time to visit them all? But this question was answered in district meeting last Monday when our district leader talked about how God is always preparing people to hear the gospel, and we need to be willing to open our mouths invite them to hear it, because how else are they going to hear about the true gospel that can bless their lives more than anything else? We always need to be searching and talking with people to find those who have been prepared. 

Yair has a baptismal date! And he also went to church Sunday for the first time! He is 12 years old and really timid but his older brother who is a member is really helping him adjust and want to go and keep learning. I have also seen a lot of progress with Roller, his older brother who was menos activos. He asked him if he has thought about a mission and he say yes he wants to go! So we are studying Preach My Gospel with him to help him start preparing. We have also seen a lot of progress with our other menos activo who we are working with, Alexander, who is really starting to want to have the spirit and apply the gospel in his life. AH the change is amazing! He also is thinking about a mission!!

We went to the temple today! AH man I love the temple so much. there is so much peace unlike anywhere else!

Something I learned this in my studies is about Christlike attributes and how to develop them. In Preach My Gospel there are 9, or maybe 10. But what I found after reading Ether 12:28 is that developing just three attributes will help us reach all of the rest of them: Faith, hope, and charity. And then I added developing all of these in the attitude of humility. It says in this verse that having these three traits leads us to ALL righteousness. So, developing more faith will lead us to be more obedient, and diligent in doing what God has asked us to do. To have more hope requires us to learn of God's plan and trust in it- more knowledge. Want more charity? We have to have more patience with others, study the Christlike life of Christ and have noble thoughts always of others--virtue! Really they all connect from faith, hope, and charity! And then trying to develop this with the right reason in mind, doing it because we love God and Christ and want to become more like Him.

I have learned a lot this week and have much to improve on, but I am grateful for the Atonement of Christ that allows us to keep trying over and over again. 

Hope you have a great week and always remember why you are here and what your purpose is. If you don't know, kneel down and ask your Father in heaven and he will let you know(:

LOVE YOU!

Hermana Briggs

Week 20 - Milagros!

January 2, 2018

Family y amigos! 

New Year's Eve, eating our super rico (delicious) Haitian food!

This week was super crazy! We always have something to be doing, which is really good. Hermana Vasquez and I get along really well, and she has a super strong testimony and knows exactly what to say in the right time, which means she is in tune with the spirit. I have opened up a lot, and learned to trust my Español and recognize and follow the promptings of the spirit.

We have had quite a few miracles this week (okay there are always miracles but these were especially grand!). One of them is that Yair (12 years old)  is preparing to be baptized! He is a very intelligent kid and remembers everything we talk about in great detail. But also wants to pray to know if it is true. When he receives his answer his older brother who is a member will be able to baptize him. 

Another miracle is that an investigator for  a few months who has almost dropped us several times, is finally receptive to truly pray to know if the Book of Mormon and this church is true. His wife was very Catholic and he didn't believe in religion, but both their hearts have been softened and they wants to know if this is true. I think the thing he is most scared about is having to change, but he already has so much already. I love seeing the difference the gospel makes in people's lives!

Another miracle is that two of our menos activos we are visiting (one 17 and one 19) are now thinking about serving missions! We are helping Roller study Preach my Gospel and Alexander is learning to be more sensitive to the spirit. 

Miracle number 4: Luis (one of our investigators for 3 months) broke both his arms and can't work! This seems terrible, right? BUT NO. He can't work so he is at home all day long! What does this mean for us missionaries? We can pass by every single day if we want and he has lots of time to ready the Libro de Mormon! It's a great blessing in disguise and we have seen a lot of progress with Luis because of it!

Last miracle (of this email, not of our week), a man approached us and told us he had some questions. He continued to ask about who Joseph Smith is to us, if we worship him, or God, and who Jehovah is, and a few more questions which we were able to answer pretty easily. But normally when people ask us questions like this it's because they want to argue with us or try to prove us wrong in some way, but this man was genuinely sincere. After he told us he respects us a lot because there's a lot of other teenagers doing bad things and it's rare to find them doing good things, and he wishes his sons could find God and be like us etc and started to tell us a lot about his life. This man was searching for goodness and went out of his way to get his questions answered. And he will! We are visiting him this Thursday to answer all of his questions and help him find more joy and goodness through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are so many miracles and I'm so grateful for this full year that I get to be a missionary. I have learned so much already and know that when we sincerely approach God and ask for His help, for His guidance to change and become the person He wants us to be, He will always give us direction and the experiences we need to learn and be a better version of ourselves. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father! And I hope each of you can feel His deep love for you.

Love you all! Never forget to do the simple things, they make all the difference.

Hermana Briggs

1 Nefi 17:3 

 3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness.