What do you want to be as you grow up?

With Companion Sister Opeda

June 12, 2013 was the day I entered the mission field here at Temple Square in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission.  The last year has been filled with so many questions from guests from around the world.  At first, with Sister Lin, most of them were in Mandarin, so I reverted most of the questions back to her :) Some of the most common questions we hear each day--

• "Wow, how many pipes are in that organ?" (11, 623 in the tabernacle organ)
• "Are you allowed to get married?" (yes! We believe that families can be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity.  The family is the most important unit is society and is one of the powerful ways how God shows His love!)
• "Where does the Prophet live?" (Somewhere here in Salt Lake, however he is always out traveling God's children throughout the world as a witness of our living Savior, Jesus Christ.)
• "What do you do in the temple"? (We make higher promises with our Father in Heaven. We testify that through making covenants that He has required us and blessed us with the opportunity to make, we can come closer to Him, receive blessings and return to live with Him again as families.)
• "How long did it take to build the temple?" (40 years, from 1853 to 1893)

Yet, mixed in between these questions on the surface from the hundreds of people we see and meet each day, there are questions and comments each day that illuminate the truthfulness of the gospel--

• Just yesterday a woman said, "Never in all my life, have I seen so many young women so happy.  You all are doing something right here."
• "Why are all the Mormons I meet such driven people?"
• "How can we bring the light each of you have to touch all the world?"
• "We never want to leave Temple Square. Why does it feel so good and so comforting to be here?"

• 

  Making smoothies with Sister Opeda!

With each person, the Spirit directs us how we can respond to help them to know that everything we share, everything we have, is something that was already paid for by their Savior and made possible through their Father in Heaven's great plan for each of His children.

I think of the questions that God as our Father might have asked us before we came to this earth--

• What do you want most when you go to earth?
• What do you want to learn?
• How can I help you to never forget me and your Savior even when you're away? You need to know I'm still always here.
• How can I help you and always let you know my love is there?

With Father's Day coming up, I think of the questions my own amazing Father has asked me throughout my life.  In one specific instance in kindergarten, I came home just crying and looked for the nearest and best place to be comforted--my Dad's lap.  I remember crawling up, sitting there and him looking at me with a smile and yet with such concern.

"What's wrong Kels?" he said.

"Tomorrow is career day at school and I don't know what I want to be when I grow up," I responded as I cried.

"You can be anything," he said with a smile.

My eyes got bright and big, as they still do, "Anything?!"

Laughing now and holding me closely he said, "Yes, of course, anything."

As I got older and went through different things throughout my life, my Dad and I have been able to talk and see that it's not really what we want to be when we grow up, butas we grow up. I really know and have come to see through the thousands of people I have been able to meet and talk with during my time as a full-time missionary called to serve in both the Temple Square and Reno, Nevada missions, that the gospel of Jesus Christ will give us the steps to take as we grow up. The Atonement of our Savior is infinite, we cannot put limits on it by our time or expectations, but it is there to create growth where our desires are pure and our faith is in Him.

Learning in Sister Malavasi's District Meeting! So blessed to see Sister Gearheat all the time too! yay!After another wonderful security training with President Harmon!

I am so grateful to know that my Father in Heaven's love for me is reflected through His Only Begotten Son, His called Prophets and Apostles, through His trust in me as one of His representatives, and with Father's Day coming up--through the love that my own Father here has for me.  I am so grateful for my Dad, Vaughan Briggs, and the lessons he has taught me through my life.  That he isn't just there for when I grow up, but as I grow up.  His love has taught me so very much about the reality of my Father in Heaven's love.

To both of them I wish the ultimate Father's Day.  A day where they know they are loved by their children, when they know we respect, honor and cherish them, and when they know that never, ever could we or will we be able to do without them.

Happy Father's Day, Dad and to all the Dads out there!

Love Always,

Sister Briggs

SHOUTOUTS: Sean Burton, Cami Jensen, Grandma Jeanie, Mom & Dad, Robert Donakey, Brother & Sister Donakey, Ken & Tawny (congratulations! Happy father's day to you, Ken!), Sara, Mary, Becca, Barry

Surprises & Picnic Benches

Where ever you are, I hope you are happy.  I hope you know you are loved.  I hope you know that your Father in Heaven sincerely cares and desires for you to never settle for anything less than what you were sent here to become worthy to achieve--eternal life in His presence.  Do not be discouraged.

I love the line in the well-known hymn, How Firm a Foundation which says, "Fear not I am with thee, oh be not dismayed."  When I hear this line I picture numerous looks I gave my big brother and parents year after year on Christmas morning.  My brother Bryan who I love dearly would always look at me anxiously sitting at the bottom of the stairs, rocking back and forth, anxiously waiting to run up to open presents with the family, and give me a look of, "Really Kels?" haha to that I could only think in my head, "why are you so suprised? this is what I do every Christmas, year after year!" There are things that are just a part of who we are, and our Heavenly Father is the very same.  Do not be surprised to find that your Heavenly Father is always there.  Do not be suprirsed that your Heavenly Father is there more than you sometimes feel.  Do not be suprised that His love for you is perfect and infinite.

Our amazing investigator Monica (on the left)...she's Dj's mom! And Sister Shipp..an amazing and loving member in our ward, she's the best!

This week we met so many people who become suprised to find their Heavenly Father cares more for them than they realized.  It is humbling to be an instrument in God's hands, to feel and see the urgency He has for us to be in certain places at certain times, for His very specific children.  Rob and Ally were two such of His children this week.

Earlier this week on a beautiful day, we had decided to walk from lesson to lesson so as to meet as many people as we possibly could.  As we approached our next lesson and realized we had a few extra minutes to spare.  We took a seat at a picnic table and decided to use the time to make phone calls to remind investigators of various things.  Sister Clegg and Sister Pickerell were working away on the phone when I felt this pull to turn around, to stand and to wave.  Not knowing what was to come of this I obeyed, stood up, turned around and waved.  I am happy to say I know my Heavenly Father and although I was surprised by the prompting, I was in no means surprised by the outcome :)

I Love the Reno Temple.

As I waved, a guy happily waved back.  His name was Rob.  Rob had on all black, was covered with tatoos from head to foot, had gages in his ears...and as I came up to shake his hand and introduce myself, his sunglasses came off and the light of Christ beamed from his eyes.  As we got to talking, I came to find that Rob used to be heavily involved in various forms of drugs, but gave it all up when his Dad passed away two years ago from cancer.  It was during that time he learned that nothing worldy could ever surpass heavenly help.  I shared with him the plan of salvation, the sure knowledge and conviction I have that he will see his dad again and saw hope reach him deeper than he before experienced. 

Sister Nakayama and I return to our home in Temple Square next week...it's flown by so quickly!

He took a deep breath and explained that he had been driving around and felt this sudden need to pull over at the park and to get out with his dog.

"I'm now seeing why God wanted me to get out here," he said. "I know why I'm here."  He laughed to himself and tears started to stream from his eyes. I could see the surprise in his eyes that God could lead him so directly to where he needed to be.

With amazing Michele at an enrichment activity, so happy she came :)

Rob is now meeting with missionaries in his area, is excited about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and says he feels God's love more powerfully than he ever has before in all his life. What a tender mercy it was to be a part of such a surprise in his eyes, and a moment of relief in our Heavenly Father's eyes.  I can only imagine the relief our Father in Heaven felt to see two of His children obey, for both Rob and I learned something from each other that day.   And it all started at a picnic bench.

I have thought about that experience often this week and have witnessed just how far this world has come from truly knowing and understanding the meaning of the true nature of God.  He does everything He can for us each day.  He knows the questions we have, He knows that which we seek, and He sends miracles our way each day to help us rest assured that He is there. 

With today being preparation day, we decided to take a walk around the University of Nevada Reno campus.  As we walked, a girl sat at a picnic bench getting ready for her next class.  What we both thought would be a moment of friendship, turned into a moment of divine discovery.  As we talked we felt that we had both known each other before.  There was so much we had in common, and as our relationship of pure charity for one another built, so did the spirit. 

Sister Nakayama and I return to our home in Temple Square next week...it's flown by so quickly!

I shared with her my spiritual experience in deciding to serve a mission and the powerful answer I received from The Book of Mormon that I needed to serve a mission.  She was amazed and looked at me with such awe and such surprise that any question could be taken to God.  When I asked her if she had any questions, she poured out her heart to be of things that have been on her mind and have been weighing her down.  I testified to her as an instrument in God's hands, that if she diligently prayed with her question and took it to The Book of Mormon, she would receive her answer.  Ally smiled with a look of relief and said, "I knew I was supposed to talk to you today.  I believe you.  I have never been interested in the Mormons, but I feel something here that I haven't felt before. I know that what you're sharing is true and am so excited to receive my answer." And it all started at a picnic bench.

Just after meeting Ally...sitting on the bench again on UNR campus :)

Brothers and Sisters, we do not have to be extraordinary to share the gospel.  These are God's children and He will provide a way.  Do not be dismayed that He is willing to do this for each of us, and do not be dismayed that He loves you enough to allow you to be a part of it.  As we serve our Father in Heaven, as we remember His greatness and our roles as His children.  As we stand steadfast in the faith which we hold dear, it is impossible to not find meaningful happiness in each and every day.

"And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice and be filled with the love of God and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true." (Mosiah 4:12).

Have a wonderful week everyone! Do not be surprised by the way God blesses you and those around you this week, you are more important to Him than any of us will ever comprehend :)

 I KNOW with all my heart and soul, whether I speak as Sister Briggs or Kelsey Briggs...this book is true and is from God.  Read it and take it to heart and you will find amazing happiness!

Sincerely,

Sister Briggs

SHOUTOUTS: Bryan & Casey, Mom and Dad, Julia, Sister Lin, Robert Donakey, Donakey Family, Grandma Jeanie, Grandmother...thank you!!! :)