I have sat here staring at this blank computer screen for the last hour and a half-it's not a preparation day, it's just another day He has granted me. I am not sitting here in my modest skirt, my bright cardigan, my ballet flats, or with my missionary badge; This is now a very different scene- pajama pants, my Temple Square sweatshirt, fuzzy socks and tears now land where my black badge once was.
It's hard to know what to write here. I realize now I've been putting it off for so long because it shows recognition that my time serving as Sister Briggs in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission has come to its divine close.
However, here is the miracle of everything brothers and sisters, nothing ever closes. Really, nothing. When we can come to terms with that and recognize that windows can be open in a room even when a door is closed, the more we can turn joyfully to the next step, the next place God needs us, and know that nothing is left behind.
Imagine then at the end of this mortal and temporary life, when we see our Father above again, and we stand before Him, it will be as if our spirits are in a room of windows--when we see Him we will see clearly every lesson learned, every tender mercy sent, every disaster avoided, every prayer treasured, we will see clearly without any smudges, but with the brightest sun- even the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
1 week before I entered the MTC I wrote my first blog entry, "The 'Why' of my Mission," now I want to write the "How".
He Opens Windows.
The "How" of my mission is found in every window the Savior of the world opened for me every passing hour. When I felt too weak to arise at 6:30am -He opened a window and gave me a glimpse into the faces of the miracles we would see that day. 8:00am comes around and it's time to study, when I thought I was hitting a wall and couldn't see past a point, He would open a window and show me that the very point I was stuck on was what the Spirit would testify of the strongest in our lesson later that day. When no one would pick up the phone, He would open a window leading us to a sister needing the very lesson we thought we had prepared for another.
When I slowed down my quick steps for a moment just around the corner from seeing my family again for the first time, when I thought to myself "how can this already be happening," when I felt almost lightheaded from the wave of emotions that were coming over me, my Beloved Savior, opened the largest window of them all and gently whispered, "this is the kind of greeting you'll have when you come home to Me," giving me the courage to turn that corner and run back into the arms of my parents.
When I slowed down my quick steps for a moment just around the corner from seeing my family again for the first time, when I thought to myself "how can this already be happening," when I felt almost lightheaded from the wave of emotions that were coming over me, my Beloved Savior, opened the largest window of them all and gently whispered, "this is the kind of greeting you'll have when you come home to Me," giving me the courage to turn that corner and run back into the arms of my parents.
Now, the how not only of my mission but of my eternity, is found in the windows He opens. The tears I cried as I began writing have turned into tears and laughter as the Lord has opened up another window and led me to a scripture perfectly describing the sacred promises that lie ahead in the infinite tomorrows.
"He (Jesus Christ) beckons to each of us and extends the warm invitation not only to gaze at the beauty seen through the windows He opens, but also to pass through them to the priceless opportunities He provides to bless the lives of others." -President Thomas S. Monson
Brothers and Sisters, when I decided to serve a mission, I had no idea what kind of window I was passing through, but He did. The beauty about the windows opened by the Savior is that we don't just pass through them, their lessons, their teachings, their perspectives, will go through us-leaving us never to be the same again.
My mission changed my life, because really it wasn't my mission at all--it was His. It was my love for Him that carried me every day I was gone. In His perspective, in His window, I wasn't really gone, but I was finally home. I felt heaven every day of my mission. I felt it in each of my companions, I felt it with every investigator, every daughter or son of God we approached or were approached by on the street. I felt it in every Mission Presidency, every senior couple. I felt it in every roommate, in every crevice of Reno and every building of Temple Square.
And so now, I want to be able to help you see through the very window my Savior has opened unto me. He built it piece by piece every moment I was set apart as His representative, of a teacher of His truths, and now that I know of this light I can't go back; He is still building my window and I have the upmost desire to be a window that others can see Him through. I know He lives. He is not a painting, He is not a statue, He is my brother, and someone who I seek joyously to defend and to share. I love Him with all my heart and really do stand in awe of what He has always done for me.
I testify of the living Prophet, seers and revelators who have been divinely called and given authority to build and spread abroad the kingdom of God on earth. I testify that Christ opened the very windows to heaven once more with the calling of the young boy, Joseph Smith, to be a prophet of God again in these latter-days. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, he did in reality translate The Book of Mormon because he was asked to by our Father in Heaven. I know that through reading The Book of Mormon and praying, we each can have Him communicate to us the truthfulness of this book, and in turn the truth about who we are as divine beings and not just passer-bys in this world. I have experienced myself and witnessed numberless people experience it the past 18 months. God hears and answers prayers, and that means yours too.
Know that I will always be a missionary, none of this is over, I have just now received another mission call to serve in another portion of His vineyard. Where ever He wants me to go, I will go. He walks me to where He needs me, He opens windows to show who we all are. We, my brothers and sisters, may not be perfect, but we are all He wants. That in itself is the window of heaven that He has implanted forever in my heart. I love you, I am here for you, lets all help each other make it back home :)
"He (Jesus Christ) beckons to each of us and extends the warm invitation not only to gaze at the beauty seen through the windows He opens, but also to pass through them to the priceless opportunities He provides to bless the lives of others." -President Thomas S. Monson
Brothers and Sisters, when I decided to serve a mission, I had no idea what kind of window I was passing through, but He did. The beauty about the windows opened by the Savior is that we don't just pass through them, their lessons, their teachings, their perspectives, will go through us-leaving us never to be the same again.
My mission changed my life, because really it wasn't my mission at all--it was His. It was my love for Him that carried me every day I was gone. In His perspective, in His window, I wasn't really gone, but I was finally home. I felt heaven every day of my mission. I felt it in each of my companions, I felt it with every investigator, every daughter or son of God we approached or were approached by on the street. I felt it in every Mission Presidency, every senior couple. I felt it in every roommate, in every crevice of Reno and every building of Temple Square.
(pictures from my last days with some of those very people)
And so now, I want to be able to help you see through the very window my Savior has opened unto me. He built it piece by piece every moment I was set apart as His representative, of a teacher of His truths, and now that I know of this light I can't go back; He is still building my window and I have the upmost desire to be a window that others can see Him through. I know He lives. He is not a painting, He is not a statue, He is my brother, and someone who I seek joyously to defend and to share. I love Him with all my heart and really do stand in awe of what He has always done for me.
I testify of the living Prophet, seers and revelators who have been divinely called and given authority to build and spread abroad the kingdom of God on earth. I testify that Christ opened the very windows to heaven once more with the calling of the young boy, Joseph Smith, to be a prophet of God again in these latter-days. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, he did in reality translate The Book of Mormon because he was asked to by our Father in Heaven. I know that through reading The Book of Mormon and praying, we each can have Him communicate to us the truthfulness of this book, and in turn the truth about who we are as divine beings and not just passer-bys in this world. I have experienced myself and witnessed numberless people experience it the past 18 months. God hears and answers prayers, and that means yours too.
Know that I will always be a missionary, none of this is over, I have just now received another mission call to serve in another portion of His vineyard. Where ever He wants me to go, I will go. He walks me to where He needs me, He opens windows to show who we all are. We, my brothers and sisters, may not be perfect, but we are all He wants. That in itself is the window of heaven that He has implanted forever in my heart. I love you, I am here for you, lets all help each other make it back home :)
With all my heart forever,
Sister Kelsey Jean Briggs
[Alma 26:16]
Hello Kelsey! My name is Courtney - I recently got called to the temple square mission and I report this Wednesday! The other day I found your blog online and I just wanted to let you know (in a non creepy way haha) that I loved it. I've been struggling with getting that call and feeling like I'm going to a fake mission since it's a visitors center, but after reading your blog I could really feel the spirit and for the first time Im starting to feel excited and proud about my mission call. Thank you for writing your blog:) P.S. I sent this message to you on FB too, but I wasn't sure you'd see it haha.
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