Dear Family,
How is everyone doing this week? Thanks for the emails and pictures. Ben, can you make me look that good in pictures? Maybe I could try modeling when I get back if you can. Just kidding. Addie, Matt, Ridley, Grandma, Ken, and Dad all looked Great. Thank you so much for the pictures. Thanks for the updates, and of course the continued prayers in my behalf. Well, Transfers are next week so I will tell you where I go. You may want to send the package by tomorrow if you want to get it to me. I hope it can get to me. I don't know if I will be transferred, but in this mission they try to move you around a bit. So, I will probably be moving. I hope the City, but I am not so sure. It really doesn't matter where I go, but it is sort of exciting to speculate.
Abe, do you remember Brother Cawley? He was the ward mission leader over the howell michigon area you served in. He says he thinks he remembers you. He is super legit. I sure enjoy there family.
I wrote a letter to you this morning mom, so it should be getting to you in a few days. I am so slow at typing that I try to instead write letters. However, I know my emails are what everyone gets, so I will try to make them better. This week was zone conference. I loved Zone Conference. We talked about the Atonement this time, and yes I cried through out it. This could be due to my birth control pills, but I also know the spirit was very strong. President Fenn, gave one of the most powerful lessons ever. I sure appreciate his conversion to the Gospel and to Exact obedience. We write him each week, and he usually always responds with something super encouraging.
At zone conference, i had an unusual experience. We have a new assistant. He is from New Zealand, and a lot of the Elders and Sisters dislike him because he is super blunt/bold. He expects obedience, and calls us out on it when we are not obedient to the handbook. (Benton can probably relate). I seriously don't have issues with the rules, but a lot of people were telling me how awful he was, so I of course prejudged him and yeah. Well, one night, I texted him to ask for permission to call another area. He told me to keep it professional. I responded, I try not to follow your example, so of course it will be. (Don't freak out) I was totally joking, but the spirit has a tendency to get upset at me when i do sarcastic things. He didn't respond with anything, so I made the call and the spirit tore me apart for about a week. When I saw him at Zone Conference, he was extremely nice to me. I was again torn apart by my guilt. So, finally I went up and apologized to the Kid, and I told him how sorry I was for my sarcasm. He basically just started to thank me for apologizing. He told me I was the nicest Sister he has met yet, that all the other sisters hate him and that he really appreciated how nice I was. So basically I turned an assistant into a friend. Who knew I was capable of that? I had to ask for permission to call another area again, and he of course said yes, but this time thanked me again for how gracious I was. WOW. Pretty funny right. So now I am one of the few Sisters who he trusts. I guess that is good? It was an interesting experience for me because you know me and being stubborn on being right. How grateful I am that the Lord blessed me with this experience. I know now not to pre-judge or to always need to be right.
Dad, thanks for the updates. I really bet the technique was amazing. I learned something new about you that I never knew. I had no idea that you get nervous. I am so relieved. I get nervous all the time, so I am super glad that you do too sometimes. Mother, I am sure your sewing is awesome. I am glad that the Chickens are doing well. I show the pictures to everyone. I have thought about using that picture to getting me into a home to teach, but I haven't been able to yet. Maybe I'll try it on a future Greenies 1st day.
Oh....my favorite trackting experience this week was definitely when I saw two fifteen year olds making out on the side of the road. I turned to my companion, smiled and went up and asked them if they wanted this Love to last forever. They said sure, so I shared the plan of salvation with them and went on. hahaha I am crazy I know.
Well, I love you all. No mom, I didn't get a letter from Britton but no worries. The kid who talked to Dad is one of my football players. I love that kid so feel free to give him my address.
Love Sister Braten
Monday, March 25, 2013
Week 17
Dear Family,
Well, another week goes by. I have been out for a few months now, and it is still freezing. Gosh dang it. I love the gospel, but it makes you warm, thus I am certain that cold weather is from the adversary. Definitely certain on that one. haha. However, you will be impressed to know that I can now drive in blizzards, ice rain, sleeting rain and a plethora of other weather conditions. This morning was a bit interesting. I woke up and started reading from the Book of Mormon when I started to hear a super annoying noise. My comp came out of the bathroom and was like what is that noise? I answered I have no idea. Then, she was like will you come out and see what it is with me. Sure. So we went out to the stairwell. I noticed flashing lights and realized it was the fire alarm. I was in my shorts and t-shirt and no shoes. We ran out of the building into Ice Rain. SUPER COLD. We saw the fire truck and the fire man. He came over and said, "Someone pulled the fire alarm." FEW. I was very relieved especially since I could go get my feet warm. That Started my day.
Lacey...She is super awesome. Her son is the same age as I have been out...four months, but Nine month old clothes are too small on him. Elijah is basically the most adorable baby (aside from our babies) on the planet. Lacey dresses him up like an old style Chicago gangster and brings him to church each week. He's pretty dang cute. Unfortunately, I am not able to hold him. It is the second hardest rule for me to follow. All the other rules are basically easy, but man that one blows. I follow it though. There are a lot of rules, but I constantly think of the rules or commandments that God gives to the Nephites, and I realize that all though they did not understand it they did do it. I was thinking about that a lot in 1 nephi 17 when he was not allowed to light fire while they were in the wilderness. You might be thinking, how did they cook food? Well, Heavenly Father promised them that if they kept this commandment he would make the food sweet to them, "that they cook it not." I thought that was fascinating, truly, "when the Lord commands, and man obeys that man will always be right" and to take from another prophet, "the lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish it." I never realized how much I would rely on those words as I do now. I am not perfect at always doing what is right, but I can see myself improving little by little.
Penelope? Mother, did you really name your chicken Penelope? I no longer can name my firstborn Penelope, she will think she was named after Grandma's favorite Chicken. haha. Just kidding. That is an awesome name, what are the other Chicken's names? Are they growing well? I got the photos and proudly displayed them to my companion. I will be showing them to my zone this week. haha. Won't they love that. I also got the letters. I super enjoyed them. I really do love letters. I probably shouldn't love them so much, but I totally do. I try to write several each week on P-day, because I know how much I enjoy them...hopefully, others will enjoy and appreciate them as well.
The gospel does change people. It has definitely Changed me. I can only see slight improvement but hopefully by the end of my time, I am much changed. Tell nick Hello for me! Also, tell Brigham and kris congratulations on the mission call. That is super awesome. The more they prepare now the easier the mission will be. But, let me get one thing extremely straight.... If it is easy for you, you are doing it wrong. Elder Holland said, "if you do not participate in a little of the Garden of Gethsemane on your mission, how can you call yourself a representative of Jesus Christ?" If you are trying to be the best missionary you can be, days will still blow. You will run into trials, you will face adversity, and you will cry. However, your testimony of Jesus Christ grows much more in the furnace of affliction then in any other way. I personally can bear witness to that. It has not been in the few moments of Joy that I have experienced that I have grown, it has been through the countless disappointments that I have grown. Tell them, to be yoked to the savior and he will carry them through. I know that to be true. I go through my own personal struggles every single day, but I know more than ever that this is my Heavenly Fathers work. I know that he is calling for the laborers for the last time. I witness the signs of the times daily, and it is confirmed to me through the spirit that we are in the final hour. So, the song, "whose on the Lord side who, now is the time to show" means more now than it ever has before. Any way, tell them that I will be praying continually for them.
Dads lesson sounds pretty awesome. It is true. We all have a responsibility to do the saviors work. We all have our responsibility to build up the Kingdom of God. Pretty awesome.
Ok...you asked about my investigators. We have a few, but my area has a lot of wonderful families, thus the adversary works even harder. Which means, I have to work even harder. I told you that I have dropped and gained and dropped and gained investigators the entire time I have been here. However, the ones I am teaching now are super awesome. I so love them. They are hearing his voice and hearkening. I really enjoy all those I teach. It is amazing how the experiences I have had in my life helps me connect and help others overcome there struggles. I find it fascinating that the Lord know so much about each of us that he know exactly what we all need. Most my investigators like the fact that I am "NERD" status, that I haven't just lived the gospel blindly, but that I have questioned, I have studied, and I have come to know for myself that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints is true. Am I converted to the culture? ABSOLUTELY NOT! But, I am converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly, tradition followed blindly is a sign of stupidity. Absolutely true. But, I love the people I am teaching, and I pray daily to teach more.
Saturday, I did service all day long. Service is powerful. It has the power to take an average day and change it to a magnificent one. I served at a food pantry all day. I had to stack foods, and other products. A 13 year old 6"1 boy was helping us out. He told me he was a football player, and that he wanted to be a receiver. I dedicated the rest of my time to throwing the cans of food, boxes of cereal, and bottles of juice to him. I would find them and throw them to him across the room, and he would catch them and place them in a box. He had to do it quick so that he didn't get hit in the face because of my continual throwing. We would also hand him bags of food that he would have to run through shelves and obstacles to get to a certain destination. I kind of felt like Jackie chan in the Karate kid, making him do all these crazy things to help him be better at football. It was pretty awesome. After that, we went to a house where we cleaned for three hours solid. Thank Heavens for all my years of cleaning at Grandmas. I scrubbed the floors, did the dishes, swept, shined the tables and a bunch of other chores. It was way fun, and they so appreciated it.
My health is actually severely improving. After getting off the metformin, I am doing a heck a lot better...however, the Birth control makes me nauseated...GO FIGURE. Everything else is going well. I received a package from Aunt Gail this week. It was awesome. It had a calorie counter and a weigher. I have started recording and counting. However, if beth has a way to copy the Insanity...I would very much use it.
Well, I love you all a lot. Mother, I miss you too! Don't worry, I'll see you next tax season haha. My prayers are still being sent up to heaven in your behalf and as always may the force be with you.
Love, Sister Cissily
Well, another week goes by. I have been out for a few months now, and it is still freezing. Gosh dang it. I love the gospel, but it makes you warm, thus I am certain that cold weather is from the adversary. Definitely certain on that one. haha. However, you will be impressed to know that I can now drive in blizzards, ice rain, sleeting rain and a plethora of other weather conditions. This morning was a bit interesting. I woke up and started reading from the Book of Mormon when I started to hear a super annoying noise. My comp came out of the bathroom and was like what is that noise? I answered I have no idea. Then, she was like will you come out and see what it is with me. Sure. So we went out to the stairwell. I noticed flashing lights and realized it was the fire alarm. I was in my shorts and t-shirt and no shoes. We ran out of the building into Ice Rain. SUPER COLD. We saw the fire truck and the fire man. He came over and said, "Someone pulled the fire alarm." FEW. I was very relieved especially since I could go get my feet warm. That Started my day.
Lacey...She is super awesome. Her son is the same age as I have been out...four months, but Nine month old clothes are too small on him. Elijah is basically the most adorable baby (aside from our babies) on the planet. Lacey dresses him up like an old style Chicago gangster and brings him to church each week. He's pretty dang cute. Unfortunately, I am not able to hold him. It is the second hardest rule for me to follow. All the other rules are basically easy, but man that one blows. I follow it though. There are a lot of rules, but I constantly think of the rules or commandments that God gives to the Nephites, and I realize that all though they did not understand it they did do it. I was thinking about that a lot in 1 nephi 17 when he was not allowed to light fire while they were in the wilderness. You might be thinking, how did they cook food? Well, Heavenly Father promised them that if they kept this commandment he would make the food sweet to them, "that they cook it not." I thought that was fascinating, truly, "when the Lord commands, and man obeys that man will always be right" and to take from another prophet, "the lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish it." I never realized how much I would rely on those words as I do now. I am not perfect at always doing what is right, but I can see myself improving little by little.
Penelope? Mother, did you really name your chicken Penelope? I no longer can name my firstborn Penelope, she will think she was named after Grandma's favorite Chicken. haha. Just kidding. That is an awesome name, what are the other Chicken's names? Are they growing well? I got the photos and proudly displayed them to my companion. I will be showing them to my zone this week. haha. Won't they love that. I also got the letters. I super enjoyed them. I really do love letters. I probably shouldn't love them so much, but I totally do. I try to write several each week on P-day, because I know how much I enjoy them...hopefully, others will enjoy and appreciate them as well.
The gospel does change people. It has definitely Changed me. I can only see slight improvement but hopefully by the end of my time, I am much changed. Tell nick Hello for me! Also, tell Brigham and kris congratulations on the mission call. That is super awesome. The more they prepare now the easier the mission will be. But, let me get one thing extremely straight.... If it is easy for you, you are doing it wrong. Elder Holland said, "if you do not participate in a little of the Garden of Gethsemane on your mission, how can you call yourself a representative of Jesus Christ?" If you are trying to be the best missionary you can be, days will still blow. You will run into trials, you will face adversity, and you will cry. However, your testimony of Jesus Christ grows much more in the furnace of affliction then in any other way. I personally can bear witness to that. It has not been in the few moments of Joy that I have experienced that I have grown, it has been through the countless disappointments that I have grown. Tell them, to be yoked to the savior and he will carry them through. I know that to be true. I go through my own personal struggles every single day, but I know more than ever that this is my Heavenly Fathers work. I know that he is calling for the laborers for the last time. I witness the signs of the times daily, and it is confirmed to me through the spirit that we are in the final hour. So, the song, "whose on the Lord side who, now is the time to show" means more now than it ever has before. Any way, tell them that I will be praying continually for them.
Dads lesson sounds pretty awesome. It is true. We all have a responsibility to do the saviors work. We all have our responsibility to build up the Kingdom of God. Pretty awesome.
Ok...you asked about my investigators. We have a few, but my area has a lot of wonderful families, thus the adversary works even harder. Which means, I have to work even harder. I told you that I have dropped and gained and dropped and gained investigators the entire time I have been here. However, the ones I am teaching now are super awesome. I so love them. They are hearing his voice and hearkening. I really enjoy all those I teach. It is amazing how the experiences I have had in my life helps me connect and help others overcome there struggles. I find it fascinating that the Lord know so much about each of us that he know exactly what we all need. Most my investigators like the fact that I am "NERD" status, that I haven't just lived the gospel blindly, but that I have questioned, I have studied, and I have come to know for myself that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints is true. Am I converted to the culture? ABSOLUTELY NOT! But, I am converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly, tradition followed blindly is a sign of stupidity. Absolutely true. But, I love the people I am teaching, and I pray daily to teach more.
Saturday, I did service all day long. Service is powerful. It has the power to take an average day and change it to a magnificent one. I served at a food pantry all day. I had to stack foods, and other products. A 13 year old 6"1 boy was helping us out. He told me he was a football player, and that he wanted to be a receiver. I dedicated the rest of my time to throwing the cans of food, boxes of cereal, and bottles of juice to him. I would find them and throw them to him across the room, and he would catch them and place them in a box. He had to do it quick so that he didn't get hit in the face because of my continual throwing. We would also hand him bags of food that he would have to run through shelves and obstacles to get to a certain destination. I kind of felt like Jackie chan in the Karate kid, making him do all these crazy things to help him be better at football. It was pretty awesome. After that, we went to a house where we cleaned for three hours solid. Thank Heavens for all my years of cleaning at Grandmas. I scrubbed the floors, did the dishes, swept, shined the tables and a bunch of other chores. It was way fun, and they so appreciated it.
My health is actually severely improving. After getting off the metformin, I am doing a heck a lot better...however, the Birth control makes me nauseated...GO FIGURE. Everything else is going well. I received a package from Aunt Gail this week. It was awesome. It had a calorie counter and a weigher. I have started recording and counting. However, if beth has a way to copy the Insanity...I would very much use it.
Well, I love you all a lot. Mother, I miss you too! Don't worry, I'll see you next tax season haha. My prayers are still being sent up to heaven in your behalf and as always may the force be with you.
Love, Sister Cissily
Week 16.. Chicago dog :)
Well My dear Family,
How are you all doing? I honestly received one letter this week from you mom. So, I am hopeful to receive them this week. I had basically the weirdest week of my life. I thought things before the mission were weird but geeze this week proved that wrong haha. I did go to the doctor, I am now on birth control. He was pretty worried that if I continued the way I was going that I would have ovarian or uterus cancer. Studies show that the more issues you have the more likely you will get cancer. Thus, he started me on a different birth control that should work nicely. I have a blood test tomorrow. I will probably pass out. Just kidding. He took me off metformin because he told me my passing out is because I am hypoglycemic....perfect. LOL! I never realized what a mess I was. haha. Any way, he will check the blood work and get back with me. We will have an appt. in like 2 or 3 months. unless, something is iffy with my blood work.
I was praying about what was going on and this thought came to me... you are not working out as hard as you use to in order to relieve stress. It is true. My comp hates working out. So, I try to workout on my own, but my dvd's are not cutting it because of the lower amount of cardio. I was wondering, mom do you remember that lady telling you about insanity? How her son used it on his mission and did lots better? I don't know how great that dvd is or not, but I hear it works you out super hard. Don't know if there is any way you could get that for me. If not, don't worry about it. I do have someone coming to visit you in about two weeks so please be home. It is a young family who is in my ward. Bro and Sister Pocock. They are super nice and will be bringing you something from me. I am sure you will love them. She is basically the nicest person. Well, One of the nicest persons. Anything you want from Chi town? I have some things for you but any particular requests? Deep dish is not that great so I wont be sending that. haha
Jules asked if I have had a Chicago Dog.......NO! haha I was going to but opted for a hamburger instead, I was super low energy and needed some B-Vitamins....the hamburger worked.
I am sorry about no letters. I did send one today and will try to write better. I had a crazy week and p-day was spent at the temple. We had a zone activity which was a lot of fun. We went to a Chinese restaurant (cheap of course since we are missionaries). This chica brought tea and tea cups in. A sister in our mission said very rudely we don't need those. We don't drink tea. The Lady was super embarrassed, so my zone leader, elder hunsaker asked for Marshmellows with his tea. I may have died of laughter. He and Elder Gonzalez are solid zone leaders. So obedient, but also very encouraging. I appreciate them a lot. My comp and I, unfortunately deal with the Zone Leaders and District Leaders a lot because we may have the craziest area in the mission. First off Corinne, and then we had an investigator go psycho on us. LEGIT PSYCHO, to the point where we had to destroy all contact. It was crazy. Any way, so they get to talk to us a lot.
Saturday, we went to a Less Actives home and helped her pack. She is so awesome. She came to all of Church on Sunday. Super happy about that. We then went and set up an appointment with one of our investigators who is from egypt. He is basically awesome. I am super excited to teach him. Pray for the softening of his heart so that the spirit may penetrate. After that, we had lunch and had been invited to another investigators home at two o-clock. We took another set of missionaries with us, because we both felt prompted to and President gave us permission. We essentially contented with the adversary for two hours. I kept trying to leave because of the feeling I had, but the others wanted to stay. However, I was the one who was bearing testimony, and having to confound them with scripture. All of them afterwards thanked me, but man was I drained. However, I was grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing me the opportunity to share my solemn Testimony. I did not argue with them, but I did testify strongly of what I know to be true. We do what is known as teachifying, we end up testifying, edifying and teaching at the same time. I kept praying through out the lesson, and my body started shake as I spoke the truth to them. It was pretty amazing. I felt the spirit encompass me, but I also saw that it was not penetrating them because light was completely gone from them. They chose Darkness rather than Light. I honestly did not argue, but just bore my testimony the whole time.
I went home exhausted. Some more things happened, but I'll tell you about them probably after my mission haha. or maybe on mother's day. Umm....I had a pretty strong study in the bible, the book of mormon and the doctrine and covenants as well as the pearl of great price. I am learning how little I know. Thank Uncle Kevin for the Dictionary. I ended up using that to quiet some peoples fears. Pretty awesome. It is amazing when people say that God does not change his mind, I say true. He just doesn't reveal everything at once. Think of Isaac and Abraham. Did the Lord Change his mind? Nope he just hadn't revealed everything yet.
Any way, I know more than ever before that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is True. I know it. I do not hope it, I know. I know that truly it is the most important thing in the entire world. I know the book of Mormon to be the word of God. I know came forth as Joseph smith said it did. I know that those who truly want to know will know it is true, but God is loving and does not give truths to swine. In other words he does not cast his pearls before swine. You must honestly desire more than ever before to know it is true and then pray about it to know if it is true, and then act on whatever prompting you get.
Mom, I am sorry to hear about your chicken. I was super sad to read that too. Don't worry it is not silly to be sad. I am often sad, but not discouraged. haha. I hope that everything is going well. I hope that you all are finding happiness in each and every day. I pray for all of your success and happiness. I know God is watching over you, and I know that he loves you all very much. Even more than me, which is nuts cause I love you all a whole lot.
Love Sister Cissily Braten
How are you all doing? I honestly received one letter this week from you mom. So, I am hopeful to receive them this week. I had basically the weirdest week of my life. I thought things before the mission were weird but geeze this week proved that wrong haha. I did go to the doctor, I am now on birth control. He was pretty worried that if I continued the way I was going that I would have ovarian or uterus cancer. Studies show that the more issues you have the more likely you will get cancer. Thus, he started me on a different birth control that should work nicely. I have a blood test tomorrow. I will probably pass out. Just kidding. He took me off metformin because he told me my passing out is because I am hypoglycemic....perfect. LOL! I never realized what a mess I was. haha. Any way, he will check the blood work and get back with me. We will have an appt. in like 2 or 3 months. unless, something is iffy with my blood work.
I was praying about what was going on and this thought came to me... you are not working out as hard as you use to in order to relieve stress. It is true. My comp hates working out. So, I try to workout on my own, but my dvd's are not cutting it because of the lower amount of cardio. I was wondering, mom do you remember that lady telling you about insanity? How her son used it on his mission and did lots better? I don't know how great that dvd is or not, but I hear it works you out super hard. Don't know if there is any way you could get that for me. If not, don't worry about it. I do have someone coming to visit you in about two weeks so please be home. It is a young family who is in my ward. Bro and Sister Pocock. They are super nice and will be bringing you something from me. I am sure you will love them. She is basically the nicest person. Well, One of the nicest persons. Anything you want from Chi town? I have some things for you but any particular requests? Deep dish is not that great so I wont be sending that. haha
Jules asked if I have had a Chicago Dog.......NO! haha I was going to but opted for a hamburger instead, I was super low energy and needed some B-Vitamins....the hamburger worked.
I am sorry about no letters. I did send one today and will try to write better. I had a crazy week and p-day was spent at the temple. We had a zone activity which was a lot of fun. We went to a Chinese restaurant (cheap of course since we are missionaries). This chica brought tea and tea cups in. A sister in our mission said very rudely we don't need those. We don't drink tea. The Lady was super embarrassed, so my zone leader, elder hunsaker asked for Marshmellows with his tea. I may have died of laughter. He and Elder Gonzalez are solid zone leaders. So obedient, but also very encouraging. I appreciate them a lot. My comp and I, unfortunately deal with the Zone Leaders and District Leaders a lot because we may have the craziest area in the mission. First off Corinne, and then we had an investigator go psycho on us. LEGIT PSYCHO, to the point where we had to destroy all contact. It was crazy. Any way, so they get to talk to us a lot.
Saturday, we went to a Less Actives home and helped her pack. She is so awesome. She came to all of Church on Sunday. Super happy about that. We then went and set up an appointment with one of our investigators who is from egypt. He is basically awesome. I am super excited to teach him. Pray for the softening of his heart so that the spirit may penetrate. After that, we had lunch and had been invited to another investigators home at two o-clock. We took another set of missionaries with us, because we both felt prompted to and President gave us permission. We essentially contented with the adversary for two hours. I kept trying to leave because of the feeling I had, but the others wanted to stay. However, I was the one who was bearing testimony, and having to confound them with scripture. All of them afterwards thanked me, but man was I drained. However, I was grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing me the opportunity to share my solemn Testimony. I did not argue with them, but I did testify strongly of what I know to be true. We do what is known as teachifying, we end up testifying, edifying and teaching at the same time. I kept praying through out the lesson, and my body started shake as I spoke the truth to them. It was pretty amazing. I felt the spirit encompass me, but I also saw that it was not penetrating them because light was completely gone from them. They chose Darkness rather than Light. I honestly did not argue, but just bore my testimony the whole time.
I went home exhausted. Some more things happened, but I'll tell you about them probably after my mission haha. or maybe on mother's day. Umm....I had a pretty strong study in the bible, the book of mormon and the doctrine and covenants as well as the pearl of great price. I am learning how little I know. Thank Uncle Kevin for the Dictionary. I ended up using that to quiet some peoples fears. Pretty awesome. It is amazing when people say that God does not change his mind, I say true. He just doesn't reveal everything at once. Think of Isaac and Abraham. Did the Lord Change his mind? Nope he just hadn't revealed everything yet.
Any way, I know more than ever before that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is True. I know it. I do not hope it, I know. I know that truly it is the most important thing in the entire world. I know the book of Mormon to be the word of God. I know came forth as Joseph smith said it did. I know that those who truly want to know will know it is true, but God is loving and does not give truths to swine. In other words he does not cast his pearls before swine. You must honestly desire more than ever before to know it is true and then pray about it to know if it is true, and then act on whatever prompting you get.
Mom, I am sorry to hear about your chicken. I was super sad to read that too. Don't worry it is not silly to be sad. I am often sad, but not discouraged. haha. I hope that everything is going well. I hope that you all are finding happiness in each and every day. I pray for all of your success and happiness. I know God is watching over you, and I know that he loves you all very much. Even more than me, which is nuts cause I love you all a whole lot.
Love Sister Cissily Braten
Week 15...Gandelf...
Dear Family,
I am sorry this is late. We spent a P-day at the temple. We were suppose to email when we get back, but haha we did not. We had a storm so bad that we were ordered home. We are just now being allowed to email. Thank you all for your emails. Ha Jules of course you can email me. Any one in my family can email me. Ken can email me instead of write. It is fine with me. You just have to realize I will write letters back. We are limited in our amount of time on the internet which is no surprise. Mother I am so glad you felt impressed to bear your testimony. That truly is the difference of being a missionary and the rest of your life...being able to bear your testimony to every person you meet.
Jules Dezy is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I so think she is adorable. I basically show her picture everywhere. LOL. Am, I think you are spot on with Ridley. Everyone develops in there own time. If any one knows that, I do. I have experienced that first hand.Thank you though for your question answers. I so love hearing about everyone's life. Please never think you are boring me or distracting me. I am not ready to come home yet, but I definitely love hearing how everyone is and what else is going on. Truthfully, Jules expression of being in the sun made me super happy. I totally smell the pool Chlorine and hot burned skin...good times!
Mom, you asked a few questions so I will address them. # 1 What do we promise people for their faithfulness....well go to preach my gospel and read the faith section in lesson 3. Also, go to Helaman 5:12, also multiple times we are promised if we are faithful in keeping our commandments we will prosper in the Land. However, I feel to share something a little more deep, something I have been pondering on a lot. In Mark 9, the Lord is explaining the importance of Faith. The man with the child that is sick says, addressing Jesus, "but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us?" Jesus Answering him said, "If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth." The man replies with tears in his eyes, " Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief." After that Jesus told the dumb spirit to leave this boy. So, What is promised us? Truthfully all things. However, there is always the two way part it is not only trusting God but that God can trust us. We can only receive according to our obedience or in other words our faith that was moved to action. Also, in moroni 7:33 If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do all things. I hope these answers help.
#2 Why is the temple so important? Well, yesterday sitting in the temple I started to think about the comfort we receive when we are at the temple, the covenants we make, and the blessings that are promised upon obedience to those covenants. Honestly, the temple is the opening of heaven here on earth. It is a place where we are bearing our testimonies in a sense by performing work for the dead. We are doing missionary work for those on the other side. We are promised help from those that we have helped on the other side. I promised a man that if he would exercise faith and come to church he would find a day Job. Well, the man did not come, but the wife went and did thirty names at the temple. He came to Church for the first time in years. I know that he came because of the promise made to him and the family that was helping him get there on the other side. The temple is amazing gain a testimony of it and the mission will be a heck of lot easier. Not easy, but easier.
As far as the doctor, I haven't been yet. I am going tomorrow. Please pray. The receptionest might possibly be related to Hitler. However, I hear the doctor is Legit. As far as the investigators go, well they all just dropped us. Haha. Anti-mormon literature is pretty awesome stuff. NOT! Do not worry, I am fine. I am disappointed in their choices, but I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only True church on the earth. Despite the mistakes that every single person on the earth and in the church has made, the church is true. I know it and I will not deny that. I like the vs in Isaiah well 3 nephi 22:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in Judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Our investigator sent us a lot of text telling us about how evil and racist we were and that we were calling her evil. It was quite interesting to feel the spirit of love for this girl, and see the spirit surround us but be completely gone from her. Was it an eye opener or what? I am sure my brothers can relate a great deal to this and brother in laws of course. Everyone has told me that I have had the weirdest experiences of any sister missionary they had ever heard of. Some of the elders even have mentioned that. But what can I say, I am a Braten. We do things the difficult way. haha.
Grandma asked me about daily repentance, she asked the right person because I really do have to do that every day. haha. Daily repentance is simply this, yielding our hearts to God, putting off the natural man and becoming a saint. I honestly have to each day realign my will with Heavenly Fathers. I remember being so frustrated with the things that were happening, and then I realized the Law of Gratitude. I started thanking heavenly father for even the bad things that were happening, and immediately my perspective changed. Why? Because I was putting my will in alignment with our Heavenly Fathers. I know that sounds kind of Crazy to be grateful terrible things, but I really am. I am grateful for the terrible things that have happened, for the illnesses I endure, for the rudeness of others, because I know that my Heavenly Father is making me more fit for his kingdom. Our reactions to these trials of adversity make us who we are, and really repentance really means change. Changing who we were to become who god wants us to be. When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest in that moment God endows us with power. How grateful I am to my savior Jesus Christ that I can daily repent. That I can change, and that i can "become a saint"
Next weeks email will be longer. Sorry. But I want you all to know how much I love and care about each one of you. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves each one of us. I know that he has a specific plan for us and that as we follow his begotten son Jesus Christ, we will be able to have true happiness in this life and the life to come. I know that the book of Mormon is true and that it teaches the truth of the Gospel. I know that all who read it and apply it's teachings truly can be closer to God than they ever could have imagined. My prayers are continually sent heavenward for each one of you. All my love.
Sister Cissily Braten
P.S I used Gandalf in a teaching analogy this week. It went over pretty well. The guy is a Lord of the Rings, Star trek and Star Wars freak. A man of my own kind. FINALLY
I am sorry this is late. We spent a P-day at the temple. We were suppose to email when we get back, but haha we did not. We had a storm so bad that we were ordered home. We are just now being allowed to email. Thank you all for your emails. Ha Jules of course you can email me. Any one in my family can email me. Ken can email me instead of write. It is fine with me. You just have to realize I will write letters back. We are limited in our amount of time on the internet which is no surprise. Mother I am so glad you felt impressed to bear your testimony. That truly is the difference of being a missionary and the rest of your life...being able to bear your testimony to every person you meet.
Jules Dezy is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I so think she is adorable. I basically show her picture everywhere. LOL. Am, I think you are spot on with Ridley. Everyone develops in there own time. If any one knows that, I do. I have experienced that first hand.Thank you though for your question answers. I so love hearing about everyone's life. Please never think you are boring me or distracting me. I am not ready to come home yet, but I definitely love hearing how everyone is and what else is going on. Truthfully, Jules expression of being in the sun made me super happy. I totally smell the pool Chlorine and hot burned skin...good times!
Mom, you asked a few questions so I will address them. # 1 What do we promise people for their faithfulness....well go to preach my gospel and read the faith section in lesson 3. Also, go to Helaman 5:12, also multiple times we are promised if we are faithful in keeping our commandments we will prosper in the Land. However, I feel to share something a little more deep, something I have been pondering on a lot. In Mark 9, the Lord is explaining the importance of Faith. The man with the child that is sick says, addressing Jesus, "but if thou canst do anything, have compassion on us?" Jesus Answering him said, "If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth." The man replies with tears in his eyes, " Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief." After that Jesus told the dumb spirit to leave this boy. So, What is promised us? Truthfully all things. However, there is always the two way part it is not only trusting God but that God can trust us. We can only receive according to our obedience or in other words our faith that was moved to action. Also, in moroni 7:33 If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do all things. I hope these answers help.
#2 Why is the temple so important? Well, yesterday sitting in the temple I started to think about the comfort we receive when we are at the temple, the covenants we make, and the blessings that are promised upon obedience to those covenants. Honestly, the temple is the opening of heaven here on earth. It is a place where we are bearing our testimonies in a sense by performing work for the dead. We are doing missionary work for those on the other side. We are promised help from those that we have helped on the other side. I promised a man that if he would exercise faith and come to church he would find a day Job. Well, the man did not come, but the wife went and did thirty names at the temple. He came to Church for the first time in years. I know that he came because of the promise made to him and the family that was helping him get there on the other side. The temple is amazing gain a testimony of it and the mission will be a heck of lot easier. Not easy, but easier.
As far as the doctor, I haven't been yet. I am going tomorrow. Please pray. The receptionest might possibly be related to Hitler. However, I hear the doctor is Legit. As far as the investigators go, well they all just dropped us. Haha. Anti-mormon literature is pretty awesome stuff. NOT! Do not worry, I am fine. I am disappointed in their choices, but I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only True church on the earth. Despite the mistakes that every single person on the earth and in the church has made, the church is true. I know it and I will not deny that. I like the vs in Isaiah well 3 nephi 22:17 "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in Judgement thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. Our investigator sent us a lot of text telling us about how evil and racist we were and that we were calling her evil. It was quite interesting to feel the spirit of love for this girl, and see the spirit surround us but be completely gone from her. Was it an eye opener or what? I am sure my brothers can relate a great deal to this and brother in laws of course. Everyone has told me that I have had the weirdest experiences of any sister missionary they had ever heard of. Some of the elders even have mentioned that. But what can I say, I am a Braten. We do things the difficult way. haha.
Grandma asked me about daily repentance, she asked the right person because I really do have to do that every day. haha. Daily repentance is simply this, yielding our hearts to God, putting off the natural man and becoming a saint. I honestly have to each day realign my will with Heavenly Fathers. I remember being so frustrated with the things that were happening, and then I realized the Law of Gratitude. I started thanking heavenly father for even the bad things that were happening, and immediately my perspective changed. Why? Because I was putting my will in alignment with our Heavenly Fathers. I know that sounds kind of Crazy to be grateful terrible things, but I really am. I am grateful for the terrible things that have happened, for the illnesses I endure, for the rudeness of others, because I know that my Heavenly Father is making me more fit for his kingdom. Our reactions to these trials of adversity make us who we are, and really repentance really means change. Changing who we were to become who god wants us to be. When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest in that moment God endows us with power. How grateful I am to my savior Jesus Christ that I can daily repent. That I can change, and that i can "become a saint"
Next weeks email will be longer. Sorry. But I want you all to know how much I love and care about each one of you. I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves each one of us. I know that he has a specific plan for us and that as we follow his begotten son Jesus Christ, we will be able to have true happiness in this life and the life to come. I know that the book of Mormon is true and that it teaches the truth of the Gospel. I know that all who read it and apply it's teachings truly can be closer to God than they ever could have imagined. My prayers are continually sent heavenward for each one of you. All my love.
Sister Cissily Braten
P.S I used Gandalf in a teaching analogy this week. It went over pretty well. The guy is a Lord of the Rings, Star trek and Star Wars freak. A man of my own kind. FINALLY
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
"Solidly Awesome" Week 14
Hello Family,
Wow...this has been eventful week as it sounds like yours has. I may possibly be finally getting into the routine of being a missionary. I realize that I am even thinking a lot more like missionaries do. How weird is that? Here is the other thing, remember how I use to hate stories that missionaries told. I would totally be like...get over your mission you crazies. Yeah.......well the Lord has a way of changing people. Haha I love listening to crazy experiences from missionaries. I ask R.M.s in my wards to share stories with me. I seriously cannot get enough of them. Is that ridiculous or what. So. Brothers and brother in laws will you please send me your craziest missionary stories...I will send you one of mine. Which is probably the weirdest thing that has happened to me in my entire life. Seriously...super crazy, but I will not divulge it until I hear some of yours.
This week has been pretty awesome. We have seen a multitude of blessings. Last night we got a referral and we decided to stop by immediately. Well, we knocked on the door and she invited us right in. She is basically awesome. We are going to meet with her again tomorrow so I am pretty stoked. We also were able to make dinner for a family this week. They are so solidly awesome. We took them Idaho Tacos....no one here calls them that....and brownies. They loved them. We will be visiting them again this week. It's kind of funny sometimes I am out doing things, and I think I would never have had the guts to do this before my mission. How funny huh? I got several letters this week. I so enjoy letters. Britton is dead on. Letters from anyone is awesome. I seriously eat them up. I got some from aunt Gail and ann and grandma and the webbs and the wades. If you see them, thank them for me. I really do just love letters. I spent an hour and half this morning writing letters to people. In most missions you have Zone activities....we however do not. To many elder sister relationships forming. So, I have a lot more time on prep day than other missions to write. Thus, I told you I would write back to people and this morning I sent out 9 letters. Honestly, it is like a tension reliever for me to write letters to people.
Mother Dear, our X navy Seal is in the Hospital. When I visited him the other night, he told me to tell you happy birthday. He was born the same year as you so, i think that is why he said to say it. haha. He is solidly awesome. He was telling us all about being a navy seal. Not to many details because that is against the code of being a seal. He loves the show burn notice ( amity, ken and ben) will appreciate that. He has surgery today, so yesterday we fasted for him. He called to thank us the other morning for being so loving to him. Honestly, you can't help but be loving to him. He is probably the most converted man I have ever met. We keep praying that his family will want to Join too. I love them to death as well.
Ok...the whole business of the mission splitting. I will find out in a couple months which one I will be in. The mission president in the Chicago Illinois mission will be Paul Woodbury, President Fenn is the president over the Chicago Illinois west mission. I really do not have a feeling of either places that I am going. I honestly don't care either. I will have been out 8 months when it happens and will almost be half way done so it truly won't matter to me. I do like change of pace of things, but whatever the Lord intends for me I will do. I have basically given up my own desires because I know that the Lord knows best. Umm...what else can I tell you about my mission....oh i know...I have been studying a lot in my scriptures. Something I have noticed about miracles is that they come according to our faith and our gratitude.If you look at the saviors example, he gave thanks before he did anything. Think of the times when he fed the 4,000 he gave thanks and blessed the bread and fishes. Remember when he raised lazerus from the dead he said, " Father, I am thankful this day that I am able to do this" than he cried out to Lazerus to come forth. The blessings we receive in this life will be multiplied as we give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the Beautiful things he has given us. I remember a few weeks ago being especially sad. I had been trackting and trackting and every door had been slammed in my face. I remember kneeling down and the only thing that would come out of my bed was thanks to my Heavenly Father for the wonderful things he had blessed me with. I cried for a long time in gratitude for the many things he had blessed me with. Well....we got a lot of people to start listening. We bore our testimonies more boldly, we shared from our hearts and we saw many miracles. Not every door was slammed, not every potential dropped us. How grateful I was to receive those tender mercies from the Lord. I know it was him because I had done nothing different but give thanks.
You asked about how to make a lesson more catchy...something I try to do is think about the person I am teaching. I think about there individual needs and try to apply the lesson particularly to them. I think about feelings I have had when I heard the message I am sharing and I try to be ready to help them understand those feelings. Visuals usually always help. Simplifying the lesson does as well. You asked why it was so important to be worthy to enter the temple and to prepare to serve a mission, well....Number one God will hold you accountable for the people who you might have been able to teach if you had been living the life you were supposed to be as a missionary. In the temple, you are making more covenants that are binding. As a missionary, those covenants keep you protected. I often hear the spirit whisper covenants I have made in the temple. Those promptings influence decisions I make. Each day, you are making two choices to draw closer to God or to Go away from him. By being obedient you are drawing closer to him, by being disobedient you are going away from him. If I want to be able to be worthy to be instrument in the Lord's hands, I have to do my part. I have to be living in a way that he can trust me with impressions and promptings in order to bless other people's lives. The Lord will hide people from you if you are not worthy to teach them, but he will also hold you responsible for not teaching them because you weren't worthy. Ultimately, the reason I try to be always worthy to enter the temple and to be a good missionary comes from Jacob 3:2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm forever....D&C 121:45 let thy bowels also be full of Charity towards all men, and to the household of Faith, and let virtue garnish the thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God....." There is no better feeling than being able to feast upon the Lord's love and be confident in doing his work. Honestly, I have to go through daily repentance in order to put my life more in line with my Heavenly Fathers. I know though as I do that that I am worthy to do his work, I can feel of his love, and I can speak the words which he puts into my mouth. I often feel very alone out here, but as I try to be more worthy of the spirit I am able to feel his very very loving arms encircle me about (2 nephi 1:15). I see the person I am becoming as I make my life more worthy to serve him, and Alma 5:14 and 19 definitely apply. Truthfully being worthy to be in God's presence is the most important thing that anyone can do.
I hope that helps. Sorry, I really am a terrible writer. I wish I could just call and tell you it, but that won't be for a while. Well, I love you Family. I really do. I hope you all know that. I hope that you know that I pray for you daily. I hope that the best things are happening to you. I pray that the strength of the Lord is being felt in your life. I know it is being felt daily in mine. I know that this is his work. I am grateful to be his servant.
Love, Sister Braten.
Wow...this has been eventful week as it sounds like yours has. I may possibly be finally getting into the routine of being a missionary. I realize that I am even thinking a lot more like missionaries do. How weird is that? Here is the other thing, remember how I use to hate stories that missionaries told. I would totally be like...get over your mission you crazies. Yeah.......well the Lord has a way of changing people. Haha I love listening to crazy experiences from missionaries. I ask R.M.s in my wards to share stories with me. I seriously cannot get enough of them. Is that ridiculous or what. So. Brothers and brother in laws will you please send me your craziest missionary stories...I will send you one of mine. Which is probably the weirdest thing that has happened to me in my entire life. Seriously...super crazy, but I will not divulge it until I hear some of yours.
This week has been pretty awesome. We have seen a multitude of blessings. Last night we got a referral and we decided to stop by immediately. Well, we knocked on the door and she invited us right in. She is basically awesome. We are going to meet with her again tomorrow so I am pretty stoked. We also were able to make dinner for a family this week. They are so solidly awesome. We took them Idaho Tacos....no one here calls them that....and brownies. They loved them. We will be visiting them again this week. It's kind of funny sometimes I am out doing things, and I think I would never have had the guts to do this before my mission. How funny huh? I got several letters this week. I so enjoy letters. Britton is dead on. Letters from anyone is awesome. I seriously eat them up. I got some from aunt Gail and ann and grandma and the webbs and the wades. If you see them, thank them for me. I really do just love letters. I spent an hour and half this morning writing letters to people. In most missions you have Zone activities....we however do not. To many elder sister relationships forming. So, I have a lot more time on prep day than other missions to write. Thus, I told you I would write back to people and this morning I sent out 9 letters. Honestly, it is like a tension reliever for me to write letters to people.
Mother Dear, our X navy Seal is in the Hospital. When I visited him the other night, he told me to tell you happy birthday. He was born the same year as you so, i think that is why he said to say it. haha. He is solidly awesome. He was telling us all about being a navy seal. Not to many details because that is against the code of being a seal. He loves the show burn notice ( amity, ken and ben) will appreciate that. He has surgery today, so yesterday we fasted for him. He called to thank us the other morning for being so loving to him. Honestly, you can't help but be loving to him. He is probably the most converted man I have ever met. We keep praying that his family will want to Join too. I love them to death as well.
Ok...the whole business of the mission splitting. I will find out in a couple months which one I will be in. The mission president in the Chicago Illinois mission will be Paul Woodbury, President Fenn is the president over the Chicago Illinois west mission. I really do not have a feeling of either places that I am going. I honestly don't care either. I will have been out 8 months when it happens and will almost be half way done so it truly won't matter to me. I do like change of pace of things, but whatever the Lord intends for me I will do. I have basically given up my own desires because I know that the Lord knows best. Umm...what else can I tell you about my mission....oh i know...I have been studying a lot in my scriptures. Something I have noticed about miracles is that they come according to our faith and our gratitude.If you look at the saviors example, he gave thanks before he did anything. Think of the times when he fed the 4,000 he gave thanks and blessed the bread and fishes. Remember when he raised lazerus from the dead he said, " Father, I am thankful this day that I am able to do this" than he cried out to Lazerus to come forth. The blessings we receive in this life will be multiplied as we give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the Beautiful things he has given us. I remember a few weeks ago being especially sad. I had been trackting and trackting and every door had been slammed in my face. I remember kneeling down and the only thing that would come out of my bed was thanks to my Heavenly Father for the wonderful things he had blessed me with. I cried for a long time in gratitude for the many things he had blessed me with. Well....we got a lot of people to start listening. We bore our testimonies more boldly, we shared from our hearts and we saw many miracles. Not every door was slammed, not every potential dropped us. How grateful I was to receive those tender mercies from the Lord. I know it was him because I had done nothing different but give thanks.
You asked about how to make a lesson more catchy...something I try to do is think about the person I am teaching. I think about there individual needs and try to apply the lesson particularly to them. I think about feelings I have had when I heard the message I am sharing and I try to be ready to help them understand those feelings. Visuals usually always help. Simplifying the lesson does as well. You asked why it was so important to be worthy to enter the temple and to prepare to serve a mission, well....Number one God will hold you accountable for the people who you might have been able to teach if you had been living the life you were supposed to be as a missionary. In the temple, you are making more covenants that are binding. As a missionary, those covenants keep you protected. I often hear the spirit whisper covenants I have made in the temple. Those promptings influence decisions I make. Each day, you are making two choices to draw closer to God or to Go away from him. By being obedient you are drawing closer to him, by being disobedient you are going away from him. If I want to be able to be worthy to be instrument in the Lord's hands, I have to do my part. I have to be living in a way that he can trust me with impressions and promptings in order to bless other people's lives. The Lord will hide people from you if you are not worthy to teach them, but he will also hold you responsible for not teaching them because you weren't worthy. Ultimately, the reason I try to be always worthy to enter the temple and to be a good missionary comes from Jacob 3:2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm forever....D&C 121:45 let thy bowels also be full of Charity towards all men, and to the household of Faith, and let virtue garnish the thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God....." There is no better feeling than being able to feast upon the Lord's love and be confident in doing his work. Honestly, I have to go through daily repentance in order to put my life more in line with my Heavenly Fathers. I know though as I do that that I am worthy to do his work, I can feel of his love, and I can speak the words which he puts into my mouth. I often feel very alone out here, but as I try to be more worthy of the spirit I am able to feel his very very loving arms encircle me about (2 nephi 1:15). I see the person I am becoming as I make my life more worthy to serve him, and Alma 5:14 and 19 definitely apply. Truthfully being worthy to be in God's presence is the most important thing that anyone can do.
I hope that helps. Sorry, I really am a terrible writer. I wish I could just call and tell you it, but that won't be for a while. Well, I love you Family. I really do. I hope you all know that. I hope that you know that I pray for you daily. I hope that the best things are happening to you. I pray that the strength of the Lord is being felt in your life. I know it is being felt daily in mine. I know that this is his work. I am grateful to be his servant.
Love, Sister Braten.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
week 13 "Ne hao Familia"
Hello My dear Family,
How is everyone this week? I am glad to hear everyone is getting over sickness and health issues. I know I have been greatly blessed to not be doing to bad. I do still pass out, but I am mostly on the mend. I have increased my exercise time from half hour to an hour a day and that seems to be making the big difference. Thank heavens. I did have a bad one last week. Sister McCluskey was in the Shower and she yelled for me to get her a towel, so I got up from studying my scriptures went to the room and yes fell over. haha. I did read that it is a side effect of one of the medications I am taking. GREAT! haha however, Increasing the exercise has greatly reduced the amount of times it happens. Praise the Lord.
Mother, that is a pretty cool quote you shared. I really like that. Funny thing is those are things I have been thinking about all week long. Conversion truly is a lifetime process. This is why we are truly all converts. I remember an investigator asking me if I wasn't a Mormon, would I become one? I said yes. He asked Why? Well, I have learned for myself that this is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I know that through the power of the Holy Ghost. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that because I have studied it, I have pondered about it, and I have prayed to know if it was true. I have received a witness of the truth of it through the power of the Holy Ghost. I remember waking up one morning, and the thought that came to me was the Book of Mormon is true or Joseph smith is a liar. I know Joseph did not Lie, thus, the book of Mormon is true. Amazing how that works.
The work is still slow. But, I read this in Galations 6:9 and let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. I know that to be true. As a missionary, the Lord does not change your environment, no he changes you. I feel like I am continually being changed by the grace of God. I feel very grateful for this. Today, as I was studying the book of Mormon this thought came to me from 2 nephi 26:24 - Nephi is foreseeing the day when the Lord will come again. He is prophesying of what he sees and why the Lord does what he does. "He (the Lord) doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation." As I read this I cross referenced it to mosiah 24: 9-16, 1 nephi 11:17, 2 nephi 2:24 and a few others but those ones in particular. Heavenly Father loves all of us so much. I am continually learning of his mercy and love. It definitely has changed my outlook on the people I serve, and the mission itself. Ty Nelson told me that a mission is the training ground for the Gods. I truly believe that. You learn quickly how the Lord sees you and how he feels about you and how you need to feel about others. Obviously, some people don't need to come on a mission to know that, but I guess I did.
Ok, so that is enough of me. How is Jules and Benton? Ben and Abe? I hear from Amity and Beth, so I feel like I know how they are doing. Thank you so much for your letters. I enjoy them. They bring a smile to my face. I hope that my emails and letters do the same for you. I know that like Nephi I am weak in writing, but as Moroni said the Lord giveth men weaknesses that they may be humble, but If I bring my weakness to Him, he will make it strong. Maybe by the end of my mission I will be a better writer. Don't hold your breath haha. Grandma sent me a lovely note. I sure enjoyed it. I got a letter from Tyler Olson, he is doing great. He will be home may 3, 2013. Wow that went fast. He says his dad got married and moved, but that he will let me know on his homecoming. So, Mother I know you are so busy, but would you mind going for me? I'd sure appreciate it.
Funny of the week was this, Sister McCluskey and I trackted into a lady who told us she had a one night stand with wayne newton. She than pulled out a note that he had sent her with flowers. She keeps that note securely in her wallet. I seriously love this lady. Sister McCluskey and I could not stop laughing. I also have developed the nasty habit of slurring my words. The other day I was trying to say rehab but for some reason it came out something not the best.
Transfer calls are this Saturday. I do not think I will be transferred but you never know. I hope I won't be. I love Naperville 2 and 3. They are seriously so awesome. I am buying bike though for 40$ because a sister is leaving. Do not worry I will not bike in the dark. That is against the rules. Mother, I am excited to hear all the stories about your chicken coop. Please watch the egg and I before you get them. HAPPY VALENTINES. We have zone conference that day, so I will definitely go to dinner with the money you put in there. You are so kind Mother. I really appreciate it.
Lots of Love.
Sister Braten
Week 12!
Hello Family,
Well another cold week has passed by in which I froze again. haha. I can't believe how much cold is not my friend. Thanks dad for the update on weather. I am glad to know it is never as cold as Buffalo. I think I can handle that. Luckily the Lord is very merciful and is making my body adjust. I may also try to go outside with less clothing on so that I will adjust...thus far it is working. I am not sick. I usually get some allergies in the morning, but last week we deep cleaned our apartment so it is not as bad. Thank you for your continued prayers, I sure can feel them. As a missionary, you learn quickly how powerful prayer can be when done correctly. It changes lives. Prayer changes me. My desires truly change as I pray for the hand of the Lord in my life. I can honestly say that my prayers are much more meaningful than they used to be. I feel help me throughout the day. Yesterday was a powerful experience for me. Church is such a time to grow and be nurtured by the word of God. In Moroni 6:4-6 it talks about that a lot. I know it is true. I know the spirit that comes as you humbly submit your will to Heavenly Fathers and fill your heart with gratitude for the tender mercies he gives you. Truly, when I do that, the spirit cleanses me. I am so appreciative of Church.
Mother, you asked about p-day. On p-day you shop, you clean your apartment, you do laundry, you exercise, study, and write letters. Today we are going to Golden Corral as a zone and afterwards we are going to a two hour question answer with President Fenn. As much as I enjoy these, I have no questions for him. My questions are normally answered through prayer, scripture study, and pondering. I enjoy Gospel discussions, but so often in these people ask questions that truly do not need to be answered. They are mostly speculation with no real doctrinal background. President Fenn, usually doesn't answer those ones, but still the questions are not really important as missionaries. Truthfully, deep doctrine is not necessary for salvation, and I am on a mission to save. However, I will enjoy listening to any spiritual lessons president Fenn decides to teach us. I heard last time he talked about the second coming, and I hope he says somewhat on that today. The second coming is pretty amazing, and I would like to learn more about it.
Also, you asked what it is like to be a missionary. Well, each morning you arise at 6 or 6:30 and exercise. You then either study or get ready (you switch off with your companion as needed), in your study you try to focus on Preach my Gospel the Book of mormon and the ensign. I honestly love my hour of personal study. I learn so many things from the book of Mormon. I am reading two copies of the book of mormon right now. One copy is studying the atonement and the commandments, the other is an in depth study of the chapters on how to be a better missionary. I also study the Lesson's in preach my gospel. I role play how to teach them in the shower or at night when I can not sleep. I have had many spiritual experiences with this. I have found that I am better prepared to teach that day if I have done this. We then have companion ship study. We read from the white handbook, sing and pray. We then share with each other the things we have learned. I think I will keep this as a practice for if and when I get married. I have learned so much more from what I have studied then ever before in my life. It is awesome. We then plan and prepare for the rest of the day. We set out for appointments, trackting, findind referrals or service. I serve at the pantry. Every week we unload food and stock it. I do the pastries section. I am the Master of this section. In fact, I have been so blessed from my retail experience on shelving that I am the one called to do the pastries. I stack and organize them. Each week they keep telling me that they aren't challenging me enough. However, I feel challenged. We usually have dinner appointments after that. I enjoy dinner appointments. We are able to help ward members and get to know them better. It makes missionary work a lot easier if you get to know the members....ps do not tell benton that. Then, we do training for an hour, we update the area book, daily plan and get ready for bed. Most nights I write in my journal, read the scriptures and pray. Some nights I dance to some disney music from Mulan in order to relieve stress and other nights I color in my Garfield coloring book (a method to relieve stress). It is quite awesome. My companions mostly just laugh at my quirks, but oh well. So does that answer a few questions? I hope it does? If you have any others please ask.
As far as investigators, we are somewhat struggling. I am somewhat discouraged by this, but the Lord keeps telling me to keep moving forward. I remember the many blessings dad gave me to keep moving forward and to allow course correction; I honestly have learned so much about not quitting or giving up. I think of Nephi(8 years in the wilderness) or ammon 14 years as a missionary. I realize as I change my heart and allow the Lord to mold me I am able to do his work better. I think this first part of my mission has truly been to humble me. Although I am far from good at it, I am learning how to humble myself before the Lord and accept his timing. I have learned that from dealing daily with others who have different ideas than I, and I have learned that through continual changes the Lord is making in me. I am so sorry for the person I was, and I hope I never go back to being that way. How grateful I am for your patience with me, and your continual love despite my many many issues.
All right, well now that you know a little more about what I do, I shall ask about everyone else. How is Jules Benton and Dezy? I haven't heard from ya'll in a long time. I hope all is well. Amity and Fam has a dog? What? That is absolutely awesome. I hope daisy is a lot like old yeller? Where did you get this pup? Abe has five room mates? That is cool. I hope they are all awesome and chill. Guys with drama are worse than girls with drama. Who are they? What is Ben up too? What kind of Camera does he use? I have some people I am working with who wanted to know. Grandma Stott is Legit. I shared with some members how she has a hand gun. She may be signing autographs for people in naperville. I think that is so inspired that she is in Young Women's. She will help those girls more than any one could. She will teach them the finer points of being a woman. I am so grateful for Mom and Grandma for teaching those things to me. They sure help on a mission. Dad I am so sorry you and mom share all things. That is not always the best as you are expressing. Mom thank your for the package. Packages and letters are honestly a ray of sunshine on the very cloudy days in Chicago. Did you get my letter? I always wonder about that. What is abe's address? I would love to write him. How is Beth doing? I always pray for her. She is basically the female version of a stud. Mom what is willie's address. I would love to write to her. If anyone in the ward would like a letter once a month, let me know. I have learned that the Lord inspires you to write letters to people. I have also learned that spending even P-day in the service of others is more important than worrying about self. I love you all a lot. I am sending your february challenge this week.
Love, Sister Braten
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