The 4th

Me and my companion with President and Sister Poulsen!

So special to be with Sister Taylor again so much!

What a busy and oh so wonderful week! We were busy with trainings, meetings, more trainings and meetings, and so many opportunities to learn and to grow.  I've really come to have such a great love for the sisters we serve with here.  I think the assignment as an assistant to the president as a missionary, is really an assignment to gather and cultivate love. Every meeting we've planned, every training we've prepared has been hand picked by the Lord, and in most honesty, most of what we shared, I cannot remember.  With the business of missionary life, our tongues have been loosed and our mouth's filled.  How grateful I am for the Spirit for that very reason.

Can you imagine how different this world would be if we all spoke the words put into our hearts by a loving Father who understands the needs of the people we speak with?  I think of how often my parents, family members and friends have done that throughout my life. Could you imagine how different work, school and social events would be?  To not just hear words, but to feel the strongest love that has ever been expressed in all the history of mankind. Not only is this something we desire to be able to influence those for good around us, but it's something that Christ Himself asked our Father for when He came and prayed for the people in Ancient America.

love Sister Ellis from Singapore!

"And now Father, I pray unto thee for them, and also for all those who shall believe on their words that they may believe in me, that I may be in them as thou, Father, art in me, that we may be one." (The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 19:23).

Love Sister Dimatera from the Philippines!

Thank you to each and everyone of you, for expecting the best from me and for helping me to grow. Being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about love, and each of you have had a huge influence in teaching me just what love is.

I'm grateful to know that there is never a ceiling we can hit when we grow in character...we can always grow.  That's something that gives me hope.  I think it's so easy to be afraid of faith, to be afraid of taking a step out into something that looks like it requires so much of us, but that means there is more to give.

Think about another 4th, the 4th of July. Here is a day that is celebrated in the United States of America because of the courage and character of those before us. They weren't just fighting for a free land, they were fighting for the will of heaven to shine through in a land caught in turmoil.  They raised a title of liberty, as people had done anciently before as well.

 yay for past companions and eternal friends :)

"And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it-- In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children-- and he fasted it upon the end of a pole." (Alma 46:12).

With our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, we can celebrate being the 4th.  We can be one with them as they are with each other.  We can be one in purpose, we can be the 4th to share divine love with all the world.

I hope this is how we see the 4th and each time we look at the flag. Our whole mission was able to see it in such a different light this year.  We needed this land of freedom to be able to ask questions, to wonder about our Father in Heaven and to find this great plan that He has for each of us.

I love you all! Be the 4th each day, and just watch the smiles come from everyone around you.  What a blessing to be able to let people feel a little closer to heaven :)

Sincerely,
Sister Briggs
SHOUTOUTS: Jessica Helm, Mom & Dad, Bryan & Casey, Robert Edgie Donakey, The Donakey family, Sister Pickerell :)