Hey Family!!!!

Damien’s baptism was amazing!! He just had his interview  for the priesthood! He has the biggest testimony of keeping the Sabbath Day holy. It’s amazing. He loves the ward so much and he says after he leaves the church he gets in the car and prays and thanks heavenly father for letting come to church. I love that kid so much! 

Gregory dropped us. It was sad:( He said he read the Book of Mormon and prayed and said that this isn’t something he wants to do right now. It was a bummer. So we started from scratch again but we saw lots of miracles this week!

The first one was towards the end of the evening and we felt like we needed to be in a certain part of our area and we didn’t know quite why. We went and visited all the members and less actives in that part of town but none of them were home. We knew we needed to be here for a reason so we decided to knock on some doors. We prayed about what street we needed to knock and we felt like we needed to go to this particular street. We knocked and knocked to no avail. Then we saw a house that caught our attention.  We went to it and sitting outside was Erin. Erin is in her 40s, black and has been looking for a church to go to. We said a prayer with her and she loved it and we invited her to be baptized and she said yes. We were so happy!! We set a time to go see her this week! She is so open and excited to learn about the gospel!! She was our miracle. We were so happy that we followed the Spirit that led us to her.

Our other big miracle that happened this week was yesterday. It had been a long day filled with knocking on many doors. We had knocked in two apartment complexes and no one let us in. It got to the point where we were begging Heavenly Father to let us find somebody who needed the Gospel. We wanted to find a family who were looking for peace. We had an hour and a half left in our day and we decided to go to a different apartment complex. We drove by one and we felt that we needed to go there. We went and found a place to park and started knocking. The first 4 were unsuccessful but we still kept going. On the last door we found George. We told him that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that we were here to share a prayer with him. He accepted and we asked what we could include in the prayer and he said that his dad had died a year ago and that he and his family needed peace. After we prayed, he was in tears. We testified and said that we knew his dad had sent us to him that night. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes right away. He was like yeah so where do we do this baptism?! He said he and his sister have never been baptized! We then asked him how old he was because we thought he might be YSA and he said he was 25 but he was engaged which means he is ours! We were so happy. It was just what we prayed for! We are going to go and see him and his family tomorrow! It was such a blessing. 

On my mission I have gained a strong testimony of specific prayers. Like very specific. When we are specific with the lord and the things we need and we have that vision and faith and trust he will give it to us. The scriptures say knock and it shall be open unto you, ask and ye shall receive. Heavenly Father does listen and answer prayers, it just takes faith and diligence.   I have learned so much about prayer on my mission. It’s amazing. It’s something that I love to do. I can’t wait to go home and just talk to my Heavenly Father and tell him about my day. I have never felt so close to Him. I can honestly say he is my best friend.

Sister Smith is boss and I love her so much! She is so sweet and we get along great!! Today we are going fishing as a district with a member so that will be fun! It’s exciting to change things up a bit lol 

Thanks for that scripture and quote dad!!! I loved it! Super motivational!! :) Thanks for all your love and support!!! :) You guys are the best!! :) Love and miss ya’ll tons!! :)

Briaunna

Family,

I am so happy you guys got to meet the Riggin’s! Aren’t they the best! I just love them so much!!! They are like home away from home which is nice. They take good care of me! Isn’t Teagan so cute!! I knew he would love Kerrgayn! He is just cutest thing ever. I love that kid. Also, depending if I transfer out of this area, I will start sending more things home at the end of July or so. You just collect so much stuff as a missionary! Also next month you should be getting my flight plans so look out for that. Do you want to know my release date? Nah you probably don’t ;))) haha

My new companion is Sister Smith! Yup another Sister Smith hahah. She has been out for 4 months and is from Preston Idaho. She is super sweet and kind. I love her to pieces. She is also very shy and quiet so my goal is to get her out of her shell. She is super powerful though and an awesome missionary!! I do miss Sister King a lot though and it’s weird not having her around because she knew everything about me. It’s weird having to start over but I love Sister Smith and am excited to help her and get to know her better. 

Damien has been super good!! Man I love that kid so much! Speaking of kids! He gets to bring his daughter to church on Sunday! Which is a huge blessing and miracle!!! :) He is working on getting his temple recommend so he can go to the temple. His testimony is so strong and blessings are just pouring out for him! It’s so amazing to see the change in him!! 

Jamie and Tony are kind of up in the air, we are going to have to do a drop talk with them this week which is really sad :( But we know that the lord will bless us with someone who is truly ready for the gospel :) 

This week we had a big miracle. On Saturday we got a referral from the YSA sisters. It was a man named Gregory. We called him and asked him if was coming to church and he said yes. But when church started, we didn’t see him. We were bummed but right before the sacrament started he came in!! After we talked about church and invited him to be baptized on the 27th he said yes! Later that night we went and saw him and taught the restoration and gave him a BOM. He loved it and understood it really well. He was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and find out if it is true. He said that he had been to lots of churches but ours was different and he liked it. He said he felt at home. In his prayer after the lesson he said "Thank you God for sending me these to lovely ladies to help me and please bless me that my heart will be changed as I read and I will be able to know if this church is true" It melted my heart. I love when gators pray! That’s one thing I will miss most! Because some of these people haven’t prayed in years and when they do for the first time it’s so humble and sincere and like a little child. So pure. I love it so much. They just talk to Heavenly Father like he is their friend. It’s amazing. 

We are just working on finding people this week to add to our teaching pool. We are working with members a lot more and trying to get referrals from them.  Sister Smith had some really good ideas so we are excited to help our members! It is going to be an amazing week! 

I read a talk by Elder Bednar this week about tender mercies and a part that I really liked is:

“The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness and obedience enable us to receive these important gifts and, frequently, the Lord’s timing helps us to recognize them.

We should not underestimate or overlook the power of the Lord’s tender mercies. The simpleness, the sweetness, and the constancy of the tender mercies of the Lord will do much to fortify and protect us in the troubled times in which we do now and will yet live. When words cannot provide the solace we need or express the joy we feel, when it is simply futile to attempt to explain that which is unexplainable, when logic and reason cannot yield adequate understanding about the injustices and inequities of life, when mortal experience and evaluation are insufficient to produce a desired outcome, and when it seems that perhaps we are so totally alone, truly we are blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord and made mighty even unto the power of deliverance” (see 1 Ne. 1:20).

Sometimes we can overlook the tender mercies the Lord gives us or underestimate his power to give them but he loves us so much and wants to help and uplift us. As we take the time to slow downs and count our blessings we will be able to see the many miracles God has given us each day. It is then we will realize in times of trouble that we are not alone, but that he is right beside us every step of the way! :) 

I love you all so much!!!! I hope you have a good week!! Glad you like the t-shirts hope they fit!! :)))

Briaunna

Family!! 

The cheesecakes look so good! I bet they were a hit! I have been missing dads cheesecakes a lot. Yesterday we were at a meal apt and they brought cheesecake from Walmart and it wasn’t the same ha-ha dads is just too hard to beat.

           So this week was amazing! Damien got baptized!! It was a bumpy ride to get there but he made it through. This past week when we went to go see him and help him prepare for his interview for baptism, we went over the interview questions and found out he hadn’t been keeping the law of Chasity. So we retaught it to him and we thought he had to be living the law of Chasity for a week so we had to change his baptismal date for the 13th. He was sad about that but said he was going to work really hard to make sure he could be baptized. That night we were telling our zone leaders about it and how his interview was going to have to wait, but they said that he didn’t have to be living it for a week that he just had to commit to never do it again and that he can still be baptized on the 6th. So we called him and told him and he said he still wanted to do the 13th. We were bummed but we felt that he still needed to have his baptismal interview the next day so we went ahead with the initial plan.

Damien before baptism

The next day the zone leaders came to interview him. It was a long interview, about an hour but when he came out we asked him, “so how did it go?” He said "well let’s just say on Saturday I will be under water." We were sooo happy. The elder who interviewed him, Elder Hymas said that it was a really powerful interview and that the spirit was really strong. He said they talked about how he was ready and how we aren’t going to be perfect or know everything before we get baptized and as we make that step, the blessings will follow. He then shared some scriptures with him and asked to pray to know if he should be baptized on the 6th or the 13^th. After the prayer he was in tears and said he knew he needed to be baptized on the 6^th. We were so excited and happy for him but the challenges didn't stop there. That was on Thursday. On Friday we went to go see him and get him pumped up for baptism and teach him about missionary work. He was so excited to get baptized. So Saturday was baptism day. It was a crazy day for us because we had lots of appointments and things like that. Finally we make it to the church at 7 to start filling the font and getting things ready because his baptism was at 8. At 7:30 we texted him and asked him if he was on his way and if he was excited and he texted us back and said "I don’t know. I am having second thoughts." We texted back and asked "What do you mean?!" and he said he felt rushed. After he said that we tried calling him but he wouldn’t answer. So with 20 min till his baptism and people arriving we rush over to his house and talk to him. He said he didn’t feel ready and so we asked him, "Do you know where those thoughts are coming from?" "They are from Satan" We told him that Satan didn’t want him to get baptized and he was going to try everything to stop him. We told him all of the blessings God has given him like getting Sundays off at work, finally, so he can be baptized and confirmed the next day. He then started to realize that he was ready and that this is something Heavenly Father wanted to do. So he grabbed his stuff and we escorted him to his baptism. 

            So we get to the church and he gets ready. He was still a little nervous and tense all through the talks and everything. But the best part was when he got into the water and was baptized. The smile on his face was priceless. It was worth more than anything in the world. He was smiling from ear to ear. The spirit was so strong. After his baptism, he changed and came back smiling and laughing just like at the temple. He was just so happy! After the welcome to the ward and all that, we went up to congratulate him and he was in tears. He said he made the first step and he was so happy and he said that he knew God was happy. It was amazing. His baptism was so powerful. 

            The next day was Sunday and he was confirmed. That was just as powerful if not more as the baptism. His blessing was beautiful and promised a temple marriage. He was in tears after. That whole Sunday he was just so happy and loved church. He is learning so much and so fast. We love him to death! He is amazing. The cool part is while we were teaching him, he was telling his mom who is in Jamaica, what he has been learning. He told her about his baptism and she said that she wants to be baptized. So we are getting missionaries in Jamaica to get in contact with her. He loves sharing the gospel with his family and friends! He doesn’t have custody of his daughter yet but he will. He is super close :)

            Jamie and Tony is a different story. Last Sunday we went and saw them. We gave Jesse a priesthood blessing and it was great and powerful. Well the next day they all got super sick. They were sick up until Wednesday. On Thursday we finally got to see them for like 10 min. They have been trying to catch up with a bunch of stuff so they didn’t have a whole lot of time but it was good and we invited them to the baptism and said they would go and that they were set for church. Well they couldn’t make it to the baptism which was a bummer and on Sunday when we went to go round them up for church, they didn’t answer at all. We tried calling and texting them, to no avail. After church we went over to see them to ask them what happened. When we pulled up they were just getting in the car to go somewhere and when they saw us they didn’t look to happy and they were really standoffish and weird. They just said for us to come and see them this Wednesday. We will see how that goes. We were really sad because they are amazing but we think they have just forgotten why they started investigating the church. We have been praying for them super hard because we don’t want to have to drop them. We will see how it goes on Wednesday! 

             This week we went to go see sister Boga our less active and she gave us a big pep talk. One thing she said was be the kind of tree that has strong roots. She was talking about how important it is to have those strong roots. We need to be strong in the gospel and in our testimonies because that’s the first thing Satan attacks is the roots. She said we don’t pull weeds because we are afraid of the weeds effecting the top of the plant, we pull the weeds to protect the roots. We need to have those strong roots so when the devil sends forth his mighty winds we will be able to with stand it. 

She also told us before we started visiting her that she was thinking about taking her name out of the church. She had been thinking about it a lot but since we started visiting her, she says she doesn’t think about it anymore. She says she thinks a lot about going back to church she said that she never lets anyone really into her house. But she always lets us in because we bring the spirit in her home and she says that we have made such a huge difference in her life. It was amazing! She is the best! :) 

Sister King and I were like Sister's!

            Okay, MRI results. The doctor told me I for sure don’t have what dad has, but that my SI joints aren’t healthy. There has been changes to them because my SI joints are degrading and that’s where my pain in coming from. She also thinks that it might have something to do with muscular stuff so yup! There isn’t much they can do. So everything is at a standstill until I go home. Just something I am going to have to deal with.

Gonna miss Sister King!

            Oh, and transfers! So I am staying and Sister King is transferring :( But I am excited to see who my new comp will be!! It will be an exciting week!! :) 

            I love you all lots!! Have a good week!