No cost was ever too great for Him

Driving home at the end of a beautiful day of missionary work :)

I'm not quite sure where to begin this week.  This has been an amazing and inspiring week with attending our Zone Conference and even participating in a mini mission with a local youth from the stake. We have been blessed by our Heavenly Father to have so many of His children led to us who are prepared to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have seen people change through learning of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, yet often this is a change they likely don't see in themselves. 

We were able to feel the hugs of abused women and children who felt they were finding hope in their lives.  We were able to see tears coming out of the eyes of a less active women who is learning the reality of the Atonement.  An inactive member of the church approached us and asked how he could prepare to enter the temple to do work for his family.  We felt the spirit of a recent convert as we met with him after his recent return from visiting the temple for the first time. We were able to sit with one of our investigator families and hear how they have already made purchases to start their food storage, and to hear how their son DJ is thinking about serving a mission.  Brothers and Sisters, this gospel is true and it truly is the great and marvelous work brought forth by our Heavenly Father which is so continually mentioned throughout the scriptures.

Amazing Libby from the stake...I hope and pray she will serve a mission, she was amazing!

I know that this is truly the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on the earth again today because of the way it truly breaks through any barriers and protects and inspires souls from every culture and every social circumstance.  This gospel is not just for me, it is not just for the people we see who our downtrodden or for those who have faith, it is for all.  It is a gospel of change because it is centered on Jesus Christ, and He brought the greatest change to this world that man will ever ever know.

"For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens." (Moroni 7:28)

What is the cause of the children of men?  Ask yourself now...what is your cause today?  Is it to be a better parent or spouse?  To be a better student?  To be able to run errands and get things done to make it a productive day? Every cause that we inherintly have as children of God, is advocated by our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The Atonement of Jesus Christ is not just to be forgiven of our sins, it is to be better.  For every cause we have each day, we can have hope and have joy knowing that Christ advocates this for us as it is in His will.

I have learned through very special experiences that our Heavenly Father and Savior's will is always better than our own.  It will always be for our benefit, it will always be for our growth and it will always be for that which reaches the very goals and desires we each hold deep down.  Sometimes we may feel it is difficult, sometimes we may feel too much is expected of us, but to truly find happiness in this life and in the lift to come, to truly be like Christ, we must learn from His example...No cost was ever too great for Him.  There was no burden He wasn't willing to bear, no trial He wasn't willing to withstand, no fear He wasn't willing to conquer, no pain He wasn't willing to endure and to what end?  To what purpose?  For what cause?  For us.

In Matthew 16:21-23, we learn that our Savior took great offence to His Apostle asking Him to not endure the sufferings and pain of the Atonement.  As the Savior tells His Apostle of the great pain He would endure, that He would lay down His life and then take it up again, His Apostle Peter almost responds as if to say, "Don't to it Lord, it is too hard.  Speak not of such things!"  To this the Savior responded, "Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

With amazing Sister Coy...I will miss her when I return to Temple Square!

Brothers and Sisters, do we realize where this offence comes from?  Do we realize why it pained Him so much to hear one of His followers ask Him not to suffer so greatly?  Because He knew we needed it.  Nothing broke His heart so much as to not be able to give us a way to return to our Heavenly Father. He took such great offence because we are worth every drop to Him.  We are worth every pain and heartache to Him.  As we come to understand this concept, as we come to truly see ourselves through the eyes of our Savior, we will see that no cost is ever, EVER too great to pay to follow Him either. 

I testify to each one of you that Jesus is the Christ.  I say this not as a faith, or as a hope but as a sure and concrete knowledge that has come to me through being His full time representative as a missionary for His church on the earth again today.  Come to know your Savior Jesus Christ.  Have the desire to pay the smallest token of what He has done for us.  I promise that as you come closer to your Savior, you will automatically be brought closer to The Book of Mormon, to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because it is truly His.  I invite you all to read or listen to Tad R. Callister's devotional titled, "What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?" and feel the gravity and weight of just every blessing Christ paid for with His life, for you, and for me.

Sincerely,

Sister Briggs

SHOUTOUTS: Gabe, Grandmother, Grandfather and Grandma Jeanie, Mom, Dad, The Donakey family and Tawny too!!!, Robert Donakey, Ariel Ibarra, Nikky Lin, Chance Robertson

If God has to wait, so must we.

With my amazing Zone Leaders Sister George, North Carolina, and Sister Ince, Canada,
who will be going home in just 1 week!

This really was such a powerful week, and I know I must say that every week, but that doesn't make it any less true :) Each week as a missionary, each week being a representative of Jesus Christ, brings me so much joy, so much happiness and so many blessings and miracles that I don't even have room or time to comprehend them all.

All of the lights are continuing to be hung here at Temple Square and you can really start to feel the Holiday spirit coming into play.  I'm not getting as many funny looks from people when I just give my huge smile to everyone who passes by and say, "hello!"  It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, not just in the decorations, but in the eyes and hearts of the people--even John and Margaret.


The East 2 Zone of  Temple Square mission walking through downtown Salt Lake City
(The Sisters often travel in groups for safety purposes especially at night)

Friday night, all of us Sister missionaries were lucky enough to be invited to the dress rehearsal of "Savior of the World," a production put on every year about the birth, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  (If you have never seen it, PLEASE try to make time to see it.  It is at the little theater on the side of the Conference Center and it is so powerful and so beautifully done.) Sister Taylor and I were leaving the Teaching Center on Temple Square to go home for a quick dinner before heading over to the play.  As we walked out the door, a young boy, about 16 or so from Idaho, stopped us and said, "Sisters! I just found this wonderful couple crossing the street.  I told them I would be more than happy to show them around.  I have taken them to the Conference Center, the Tabernacle and have shared with them our basic beliefs.  I have to run off to drive home, but can you take it from here? They are so wonderful."

This adorable senior couple looked at us with the biggest smiles on their faces.

"Hi, we're John and Margaret, we're from Georgia," they said with their hands extended to shake ours. 

John had on such a funny beanie with strings hanging down the side, and his wife Margaret had the kindest smile and the biggest heart. They told us that they actually had to get going because it was getting late, which worked well because we had to get going home.  We told them that if they would be at Temple Square again, to ask for Sister Taylor and Sister Briggs, we would be happy to take them around!



Right after we had met John and Margaret, waiting for "The Savior of the World" play to start!

The next morning, Sister Taylor and I were sitting at our dining room table doing our Companionship study when our phone rang. It was the Sisters calling us from Temple Square, telling us that a cute senior couple had come into the North Visitor Center, requesting us to take them on a tour...it was John and Margaret.

We had such an amazing experience with them.  They are such a powerful couple full of so much love for everyone they meet, and also for God.  When we met them, Margaret gave us each a huge hug and they said they both just felt they needed to be here at Temple Square today.  The whole time we spoke with them I could feel the spirit so strongly.  We walked from the temple model in the North Visitor's Center, to the Assembly Hall, and then finished at the beautiful Christus statue.  They bore such deep and moving testimonies of Jesus Christ and kept repeating how they felt God had led them to us that day. Sister Taylor and I bore our testimonies there at the feet of this statue of Christ, and as I went to invite them to learn more, to read The Book of Mormon, I couldn't...I literally was restrained by the spirit as it sometimes talks about in the scriptures. 

I felt so stumped.  In every interaction I have I always invite people to act...whether it be to pray, to read The Book of Mormon, to attend church, no matter how big or small, I always extend an invitation as guided by the spirit, and here I stood after one of the most powerful tours and lessons of my whole mission and I felt restrained.  I couldn't understand why and I have to admit I even felt a little sad, I felt that I had let my Savior down as His representative just letting them walk away without inviting them to come even closer to their Redeemer whom they already loved so much.

Sister Taylor and I had such a long tour with them that we were running a bit behind to get to our next assignment at the Beehive house, so we stopped somewhere to grab lunch and headed over.  We thought we would be late, but we were still the first sisters to get there.  Because we had food, the sisters generously offered to switch positions with us in the line of rotation for tours.  When it was finally our turn to take the tour, we looked out the window, and there we saw them walking up the path...John and Margaret, our cute, wonderful, loving couple from Georgia, that I had previously failed to invite, and I had never been happier. 

It was such a miracle that we had taken time to grab lunch, and that we had switched places with other sisters, or we would have missed them all together, we would have already been on a tour.  I know God's hand was in that, I also know God's hand was in our entire meeting and experience with them.

We had such a fun and spiritual experience with them walking throughout the Beehive House.  At the end of the tour, I felt prompted to share with them Alma 26:12, one of me and my big brother's favorite scriptures.

"Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboast of my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

When we read that, Margaret and John seemed so touched by the words and by the spirit that accompanied them.

John looked at us and asked, "Now which is your primary book.  The Bible or this Book of Mormon?"

Sister Taylor responded, "Both, they support and compliment each other.  We use both books to bring us closer to Jesus Christ."

We went on to ask if they had ever read The Book of Mormon, and John went on to tell us that his Dad had met with Mormon missionaries about 40 years ago and he remembers seeing him open up and flip through The Book of Mormon but he had never really read it himself.

"I would certainly be interested in reading one now though."

What I want to share with you all, is that God has His timing in everything.  I know that the spirit had restrained me from inviting earlier, because that experience was more about softening their hearts, establishing a relationship with them and drawing them unto Christ.  Imagine what would have happened if we had gone against the spirit and invited them earlier anyway?  I do not know, but I know that God's ways are always better than our ways.

In 3 Nephi 20:30 it says, "And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fullness of my gospel shall be preached unto them;"

If God had to wait to bring forth the most miraculous blessing of all time, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the fullness of His gospel on earth, then so must we. Imagine how patiently God was waiting for the day in which He would restore and re-establish His church among His children-the most amazing, glorious and biggest miracle of all.  I may not always know how long I will be waiting for these miracles, these tender mercies and blessings as God knew how long He would wait to restore His church, but I do know that God asks us to do that which we are capable of doing, and sometimes that means waiting.

John and Margaret left the Beehive House that day with their own copy of The Book of Mormon and a sincere desire to learn more about the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We will be staying in touch with them and sharing more as they read :)

That is my invitation to you all this week.  I want to invite you all to pray for the direction of the spirit and to have the sincere desire to really do as you are instructed to do by it's impressions.  I promise as you do so your faith will grow not only in God, but in His timing, and sometimes, that means waiting.

I love you all!

Sincerely,
Sister Briggs


Ice skating night for Zone Activity last week! so much fun!



More ice skating fun!

SHOUTOUTS: Mom & Dad, Bryan & Casey, Robert Donakey and the Donakey family, Sister Britt Lam, Sister Dimatera (is your family okay in the Philippines?) and John Bascom (so good to see you this week, it's been so long!)

 

Tyler, one of Sister Taylor's really good friends, sent her a package this week...my gift..bubble wrap! So much fun! haha ohhhh goodness

"Your guide should be the scriptures, not Wikipedia!" -Elder Dallin H. Oaks




After the Music & the Spoken Word  This Temple Square 1/2 hour broadcast is on BYU TV most every
Sunday Morning and features the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. 

Hello everyone! What an amazing week it was! I hope each and every one of you saw God's hand in your life this week.  If you are reading this and shaking your head thinking you didn't, look again, I promise you it's there :) You may have even been an instrument in God's hand this week in helping with His work, I mean it! Something I've really learned this week is that the Kingdom of God is built up by small and simple things.  It's those answers we get to our prayers, the verses that we read in the scriptures, the smiles that we share, the uplifting words we give and the testimonies we bear that bring people closer to Christ.



I got to announce for the first time this last week after "Music & the Spoken Word".  I announced in English as Sister John signed everything.  It was such a cool experience!

I am so grateful to be serving here at Temple Square, where we are able to hear from so many Apostles of our Savior Jesus Christ in such a personal way.  This past week Elder Dallin H. Oaks and his beautiful and adorable wife Kristin (that is what she asked us to call her) came and spoke to us! Ah! It makes me want to dance just thinking about it- it was amazing!  The spirit we could all feel when they entered the room was so thick.  The happiness they exuded was so real, and their testimonies of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ were a reality.  Elder Oaks said so many powerful things that stuck with me and all of the Sisters there.  He talked about always doing the little things to keep in tune with our Heavenly Father and told us to focus on the fundamentals of the gospel, that we can wait for the details.  One of his most quoted things however from our meeting with him was, "Your guide should be the scriptures, not Wikipedia!" haha Elder Oaks said this to his adorable wife as she kept quoting Wikipedia as her source for all of the statistics of Temple Square. Remember that :)



All the Announcing sisters after we had a tour with a wonderful couple from Holland. 

As I continued to read the scriptures this week, I felt so much more in tune with my Heavenly Father. I experienced such a powerful miracle this week that is now very near and dear to my heart.  I want you to know that God cares about you and He cares about who you have the potential to become.  He cares about your hopes, your dreams, the things you like most in life, He is aware of it all.

KELSEY SIGHTING:  Sister Briggs with Hometown Family Friend, Cindy Johnson.
Kelsey was so happy to see one of her favorite YW leaders from Bend.  Cindy was dropping off her son at the MTC for his mission and they took time out to go on the Beehive House tour with Kelsey.  Said she was happy and doing great!

The Announcing Sisters. 
 

This past Friday, Sister Taylor and I were walking over to the teaching center to make some phone calls and to do some weekly planning.  As we were walking past the flagpole just West of the Salt Lake temple, I saw a young man sitting next to the flower beds, hunched over with his head in his hands. It was important for Sister Taylor and I to get to the teaching center, but as I saw Him I just felt pulled to him and felt the spirit so strongly to go and speak with him.  I am so grateful that I have the amazing companion that I do, that we were able to support each other during this change of plans and do what it is that the spirit directed us to do.

We ended up speaking with this young man for about an hour--his name is Cade.  We came to find that Cade is a 19 year old guy with a big heart, really, I have never felt such a strong love of God and a strong love for others as I did with Cade that night.  Cade got emotional as he related to us all of the difficulties that he has had this past year of his life.  He shared with us that he loves the Lord, he loves this gospel more than anything, yet he was struggling to feel the spirit or to feel the guidance of God in his life.  As I looked at Cade, my heart felt broken to see such a strong son of God feeling so lost.  I could feel of God's love for him and I need him to feel it too.

I stood there for a moment trying to think of what to say that would click with him, that would bring him closer to his Savior at that moment.  The thought came into my mind..."talk to him about cars." Alrighty, I don't know too much about cars and I really was at a loss of words as to what to say, and I didn't know how that would help him to feel of God's love.  However, I know that as a missionary, I am a representative of Jesus Christ.  This is not my time to say what I want to say, but rather to act as the Savior and trust in God.  I began with, "So, I want you to pretend that you have a car, and you just absolutely love this car..." Cade just looked up at me, his eyes locked on mine and I felt Heavenly Father lock His voice with mine. 

I went on, "I want you to pretend that you have a car, and you just absolutely love this car.  If something bad were to happen to it and you had to take it somewhere to have it worked on, you would probably be hunched over, watching every step that took place to get your car back to working order. You would be there for every moment."

There was a pause to me for what seemed like an eternity.  I had no idea where those words were coming from, but I knew it was what God wanted me to say.  Cade just looked at me and said, "I love cars, I am a total car junkie.  I especially  love my car, and it just got wrecked really, really badly, I know exactly what you're talking about!"

You can only imagine my surprise, I had to control the look on my face to make it seem I knew what I was talking about or knew what I would say next, but then it just came, "Since you really care about your car, your watching over it as it's worked on.  God cares about you so so very much and is watching over you extremely carefully that if anything were to happen that would go against His will, He can intervene. You may not feel Him there, but He is just as you are with your car, and even more so."  He went on to say that that made such a huge difference to him, that he had never thought about it in that way, but it was because he could relate to it, he felt so much peace and comfort.


Brothers and Sisters, this may have been a little thing, but to me, it was a testimony that God really, truly and sincerely does care.  He knows us perfectly and He needs us as instruments in His hands to help others to see this sometimes.  God knew what Cade was going through.  I didn't know he liked cars, I didn't know he had just been in a terrible wreck, but our Father in Heaven did.  It is through those small and simple things, that God can reach out to His children and show them just how involved He is in the every detail of our lives.




We really do love it!

We love serving in the Home of Brigham Young.
(The Beehive House)

This is my commitment to you all...use the scriptures as the source in your life.  I know it can bring you answers to everything you are searching for, and on top of that, it can comfort you and so many others.  I promise you will feel of God's love for you and for His children, and that is one of the greatest things to be aware of--that God loves you, and that He lives.

Love always,

Sister Briggs!


Having fun with Sister Taylor and Sister Liao from Taiwan
(In the Beehive House)

SHOUTOUTS: thank you Mom and Dad for the amazing package and letters, Shane Myers (congrats on the engagement! So excited to receive your announcement!), Hannah Taylor, Jason Mosley (I promise I'll write you back soon! thank you home teacher!), Sister Kim Blauer and Dennis Elton