First things first--Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have lots of fun and festive plans in place to celebrate the holiday tomorrow. Thanksgiving at the Briggs house has always been one of my favorite family traditions- we call it the Briggs slumber party. One of my favorite things about our Thanksgiving slumber party is being able to look around and see countless blessings from my Heavenly Father. There really is so much to be grateful for, and I pray that we live with thanksgiving ever in our hearts, and not just with the holidays :)
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Three Generations of missionaries...This is Sister Lin's last transfer, and she is a zone leader!
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Our AP's and Temple Square Coordinators getting us ready for Christmas time!
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Sometimes it takes training our eyes to see these blessings. They are not always big like our families, a new job that we've been searching for, or even a trip to go see a good friend that all comes together perfectly...often times, they are blessings that are scattered throughout every detail of our lives. This week, we got to help Mike be able to see that.
Mike is our investigator in New York. He is 23 years old and just graduated in Engineering. He struggles to have faith and that has been our priority with him, as it is by faith that all things come to be :) When we last spoke with him, we committed him to pray every day...and he did! We asked if he saw a difference in his life and he took a moment to respond.
He then broke the silence, "Wow..I mean, wow, I guess I hadn't thought of it that way...wow, it really worked!"
As you can imagine, Sister Taylor and I just wanted to jump for joy, but we weren't quite sure what he was talking about.. we just were happy to hear he had been praying! Mike went on to tell us that he has been having a really difficult time finding a job since he graduated. He told us about the amazing experience he has, that he has done countless internships and had really good reviews by past employers, yet nothing was coming through for him. He said that he had been praying every night for specific things just like we had told him to, and that he had been praying every night that he would have a break on the job front. He said one night he prayed and then he couldn't sleep. He was just laying there in bed where all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, he got this warm feeling and felt like he should post his resume on a website. He thought it was an odd idea, but got right out of bed, posted his resume on this website and went back to bed. When he woke up he had a bunch of different businesses and companies that wanted to interview him.
As he told us this story, Sister Taylor and I couldn't help but smile.
"At first I thought it was just a weird epiphany, or a coincidence, but now that you've pointed it out...I think that was God," Mike said.
We both testified to him that it was God that had helped him. That God knows the things that matter most to us, He knows the desires of our hearts, and when we pray to Him, it opens up the way for Him to guide us and bless us the way that He so desires to.
We committed Mike to look for all the blessings in his life every single day and to choose to believe that everything is from God. We said that by noticing these divine signatures, these tender mercies every day in his life, he would come to know God better.
"And the reason why he (God) ceaseth to do miracles among the children of men, is because that they dwindle in unbelief, and depart from the right way, and know not the God in whom they should trust." (Mormon 9:20)
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Last District "eating" :) miss them all already!
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This is the great dilemma of the world. So many dwindle in unbelief, they ask for a sign when it is in the little things all right in front of them, they ask why they haven't seen miracles. Really, God knew so many of His children would feel this way, so He gives us these little diving signatures everyday. Through noticing these, our faith grows, we dwindle less in unbelief and trust in God more fully.
The Prophet, Thomas S. Monson said, "To live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven." As we live with thankful hearts for the tender mercies we have, we begin to see more of the miracles and the hand of the Lord more fully in our lives. We then touch heaven and realize it isn't so far away :)
As we had committed Mike to choose to believe everything was God, we chose to do the same, and it has opened my eyes to so many tender mercies and blessings every single day. That night, Sister Taylor and I experienced a miracle with a man named Shane as we were about to start a movie for him to watch in the North Visitors Center. He told us he had gone through a divorce and was looking for change. He had asked us how The Book of Mormon could change anything in his life and we were able to testify that The Book of Mormon being true changes everything. If testifies of Christ, and if Christ lives as the Son of God, that means that the Atonement is real. We were able to say what he needed to hear, and we had felt prompted to be there in the North Visitors Center, at the very time that he arrived.
When we left the theater, I looked to Sister Taylor and said, "That was God."
She then smiled at me and responded, "Everything is." :)
I know that every good thing comes from God, EVERY THING. I want to invite you all to live with gratitude in your hearts, to choose to believe and to touch heaven. I wish for nothing but the best for you now, and always, and this is the best gift I could ever think to receive--to be able to have the eyes and the heart to see God's love, and to be able to be surrounded by heaven.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone :) There is SO much I am grateful for--including you.
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| Received such a fun Christmas package from home! I decided to wear it all at once and look like a Christmas elf :) |
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Thank you Grandmother and Papa Jim for the package!
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Gobble Gobble (that means I love you in Turkey language),
Sister Briggs :)
SHOUTOUTS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sara Donakey, Briana Layton and MaCall Ovard!!! I hope you all had wonderful days! Grandma Jeanie and Grandfather, Papa Jim and Grandmother ( I love the wonderful gift box you sent me, so delicious!), Mom and Dad, Bryan and Casey, The Donakey family, Sister Bone, Courtlan Wilcox and Lauren Harris!
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| I got my hair cut! Ah! |
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