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| With Sister Palmer, our choir director for one of the numbers! |
This was a week with a lot of early
morning meetings getting prepared for our Missionary Fireside last night. We
sang songs to the public in the Assembly Hall for about 1 hour and a half and it
was such a beautiful thing to be a part of. I got emotional so many times as I
looked at the Sisters surrounding me, these amazing, talented, gifted daughters
of God who have sacrificed everything to come and serve here. I feel so blessed
and so humbled to be serving with all of them.
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| Missionary Fireside Concert Program
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With all of the early morning meetings
and extra rehearsals, it would have been very easy to become distracted or even
tired, but I was determined to not let that happen, and I know Heavenly Father
was too. Early on in the week I read a scripture that became my theme for the
week.
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| With our beautiful sisters from Brasil and Thailand after the performance in the Assembly Hall!
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Helaman 10:4 says, "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things
which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness
declared the word which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast
not feared them and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and
to keep my commandments."
I was determined that I would be like
Nephi, that I would serve my Heavenly Father and Savior with unwearyingness as
it says in this scripture and I had one of the most beautiful weeks of my entire
mission.
On Friday there was a tour texted out for
4 people at the Eternal Families desk in the South Visitor's Center. Sister
Taylor and I had planned to do Companionship Study at that time, but I felt like
we needed to take it and Sister Taylor did too (love her!) When we got to the
South Visitor's Center to meet our new friends, we quickly learned that we had
two couples who were complete opposites from one another. Kent and Melissa were
from Arkansas and were extremely opposed to anything we had to say and even in a
mocking way for most of the tour. Paul and Liz were a couple from London,
England who were both students and professors of Anthropology and were
compassionate people with such a fascination for religion in general.
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| We were friends before our mission! We love you Aubrey and Jordan! |
We spoke with these two couples for about
45 minutes in the Assembly Hall as question after question were thrown at us.
We were so grateful to have the spirit with us during that time as many of the
questions from Kent and Melissa were ones that seemed to be coming from an angle
to discourage our faith and our beliefs. Sister Taylor and I were led by the
spirit and were able to answer them in a kind and loving way. It was so powerful
to have Liz and Paul there because when we would teach certain doctrines that
Kent and Melissa were upset about, Liz and Paul would often make comments such
as, "Well that makes sense if you think about it," or "what a lovely belief to
have, I would cherish that in my life." Throughout the tour we saw Kent and
Melissa's hearts soften so much. It seemed at the beginning they would hardly
make eye contact with us, but at the end, Kent went so far as to say, "You were
all lovely people, thank you for your time." That may seem little, but it was
huge to us, and I know it is because we were able to have the spirit of God with
us. I know that the spirit touches peoples hearts, and so does kindness.
In Helaman 16:2 it says, "But as many as
there were who did not believe in the words of Samuel (Sister Briggs &
Sister Taylor) were angry with him; and they cast stones at him upon the wall,
and also many shot arrows at him as he stood upon the wall; but the Spirit of
the Lord was with him, insomuch that they could not hit him with their stones
neither with their arrows."
Then it continues in verse 3, "Now when
they saw that they could not hit him, there were many more who did believe on
his words..."
I want each and everyone of you to know
that no act of kindness will ever go unnoticed. No smile, no hug, no words of
encouragement, no testimony, no invitation will ever be a waste of time. Do not
be discouraged in the works of good you are doing, brothers and sisters. Your
patience, love, humility, diligence can soften hearts of people around the
world- the Spirit of God is universal in that way. God uses the small and
simple things to bring about the great.
If God wanted me to push over a mountain
to show people He lived, He could do that- and yet He doesn't. Why? Because if
we really pay attention, we can see that God is pushing over mountains through
us every single day in the way we respond to the spirit. Do you see that when
you let the light of Christ in you shine through, God and you are working as a
team to push the mountain of your natural man aside? Is this making sense?
Please say yes:) What I mean to say is that one of the biggest and hardest
battles in life is pushing aside our natural man to let our divine nature shine
through. And this in itself is God pushing aside a mountain; He lives, and He
shows us this everyday, and I know that Kent and Melissa were as the people in
Helaman, that because their arrows and stones (their harsh words) could not hit
us, their hearts became more open and they came to see that we're really not as
different as they once thought. Liz and Paul that day left with their own copy
of The Book of Mormon and said that the whole experience helped them to regain
their faith.
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| With Sister Ince and Sister Taylor in the Teaching Center! (The Sisters make phone calls and do online chats with people from all over the world) |
I am so grateful that God has allowed me to be a part of this work. I know
that He is pushing aside the mountains in our life every single day for the
benefit of not just us, but His children all around the world. Will you all
make an effort to be kind to someone this week, especially those whom it may be
difficult to be kind to? Remember, they are children of God and I promise your
small act will be just what they need.
Love always,
Sister Briggs
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| Okay Casey---you can only imagine I screamed when I got this :) straight from Brasil too! |
SHOUTOUTS: Mom, Dad, Bryan, Casey, Sister Britt Lam, Wes Christensen, HAPPY
BIRTHDAY LAUREN RAWE (on 11-11-13), Robert Donakey, Mary, Becca, Sara, Brother
and Sister Donakey (Thank You again SO SO very much for coming out for our fireside
last night and thank you for the cookies too, you are all so wonderful!) and
Grandma Jeanie
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| CTR power! With dinosaurs too! Rawr! |
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