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
Sister Braten, You have grown so much in such a short time in the grand scheme of things that I love and look forward to reading your posts. I think about you every time I pass the Temple or even a church and it makes me smile. I enjoyed your comments about being grateful for adversity, for the terrible things, but it's the terrible things that help us see/find the good things that come from every trial. We may not see it at the time but when we ponder and reflect on them we can often find the intended lesson(s) that were meant to be learned. I am so proud of the missionary you've become as I'm sure your family is too! I pray for you daily and hope for the best for you and your companions and also for your health to improve so you can continue to do the work of our Heavenly Father. I love and miss you can can't wait to read your next post. Dawnie
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