Saturday, December 22, 2012

Transfer 4, Week 4: The Church is True, The Book is Blue, There's a Work to Do!

 Dear Familia!

So.... this week! Sister C and I sorta got the flu which has been rampant around the mission but miraculously we feel pretty much recovered. 

We have seen even more of the success of our mission zone's motto: "Call and ye shall find, drop and ye shall receive, invite and it shall be opened unto them." 

We've met even more people who we will begin teaching! Here have been  some of the chats we've taken in guest services (our current assignment).

I like the 'Nefi' one. (Nephi) :)

 It's been a privilege to serve here and to be able to share the Gospel with so many people in such a variety of ways. 

Now that it's the Christmas season, our hearts and minds are naturally turned to gift giving and gift receiving. The truth is, as I've told Sister C many times lately, I don't want anything. I have everything that I need. I'm the happiest I've ever been. The secret? I haven't thought about myself in a really long time. I know that the Lord will provide a way for us and will watch over us and take care of us. For example, this morning, the entire zone went to IHOP for breakfast and showed some of the international sisters "the international house of pancakes". We had two separate people who offered/tried to pay for our meal. There were at least 20 of us there. All of us just were swept with an immense wave of gratitude. There was nothing left for me to do but bow my head and pray and just give thanks. I just feel so blessed. So extremely blessed. 

 I guess my true Christmas list would be this:

-All of our friends that we're teaching all of the sudden not be busy so that we can teach them.

-All of them accept the gospel and be willing to change and be baptized.

-All of them attend church.

-All of the members in their church wards be kind and loving and welcoming towards them.

-The local missionaries of all of these people reach them and maintain contact with them.

-All of the sisters in my mission who have not received gifts will receive gifts (my mission presidency has this covered by the way... but sadly there are many).

-My companion and I return to 100% full health.

-The weather to be 20 degrees warmer at all times. :)

-10:30PM to 6:30AM to feel like 10 hours of sleep every day. ;)

-20 letters from all my friends who I haven't heard from (just kidding everyone... but seriously haha).

And honestly, all my other dreams and wishes have come true. I am in the best mission in the world. I asked the Lord to put me to work and He has. I have the greatest companion ever and we are reallllllly learning how to do the work better. I absolutely love the Book of Mormon. I love saying good morning to one of the homeless ladies that is always by the square when we walk there. I love my mission Presidency. I love Sister Gillette. I have the best Zone Leaders and District Leader in the world. I ate at a family's home this week for dinner- which was a big deal, and a great experience and a delight to be there. And the Gospel is true. It is the solution to every single problem we face in life. I know that to be true. I love it. I love teaching and testifying of it. 

Here's my thought to everyone today. As I grow closer to reaching our mission's goal of finishing the Book of Mormon before Christmas (I'm 12 pages away - woot!)

These scriptures (from The Book of Mormon) and doctrine have really impressed me and left a dent in my mind for pondering:

2 Nephi 2:25 "...and men are, that they might have joy."

 

Alma 34:34   "...same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world."

Mormon 9:14  "And then cometh the ^ajudgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is ^bfilthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still."

 The first scripture doesn't just tell us to have joy, but it says that our purpose here is to have joy. We are commanded to allow ourselves to be happy. Happiness is a choice. That might be the greatest lesson I've learned on my mission.  The next verse in Alma talks to us about how we will be the same person that we are right now here on earth, in the next life too. Basically saying, if we don't learn to be happy now, we will always find an excuse to not be happy, or not be satisfied or be content and just happy with life with our situation, with our circumstance. Everything does not have to be perfect or perfectly fit in our plan for ourselves or our expectations for us to find joy. We have been given so much. A new car, a nice dress, more earrings, a better score on a test, winning the basketball game, going out to eat, being asked to the dance all of those things at the end of the day will not 'make' us happy. We are still the ones that choose to find happiness. We don't have to wait for our 'golden ticket' like President Uchtdorf says, or when all the ducks line up in a row for us to finally find joy. With how our life is right now, with the strengths and the weaknesses we have, with the blessings and the struggles that we have, we can find happiness where ever we turn, because we have been given so much. 

 

The last scripture, the verse in Mormon is perhaps the scariest of all. He that is happy right now, shall be happy still, and he that is unhappy (or hasn't figured out how to find joy in the journey) shall be unhappy still. 

 

At the end of the day, if we follow the Prophet, read our scriptures, pray, attend church, pay our tithing and do our best, the Lord will bless us and we will find happiness, contentment, and joy. As long as we follow the Lord, He will bring us closer to Heavenly Father, and the closer we are to Heavenly Father, the happier we will be. The further away from Him, the sadder we will be. That is the basics of the law. It is what it is. Other people might make choices that effect us and that might be difficult for us or create unknowns or provide mountains that we might have to climb because of their actions, but let us "not say to God how big my mountain is, but say to my mountain how big my God is." All things will work out for our good. We know that the Atonement will make all things right in the end. 

 

 I love this final scripture in the Book of Mormon (if you would like a free copy of The Book of Mormon, just ask for one online on Mormon.org) :

 

Mosiah 2:41:

And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and ^ahappy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are ^bblessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out ^cfaithful to the end they are received into ^dheaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

 

This gospel is true. Heavenly Father has not only a Plan of Salvation, but a Plan of Happiness. It is a perfect Plan. Let's have faith in it with every step we take!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upwards and Onwards!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Love,

Sister Fisher

 

 

Saturday, December 08, 2012
Transfer 4, Week 2? or 3? Something?

 Dearest Familia and Friends!

Wow. Time is flying. 

Not going to lie, we are exhausted from the Christmas season already, but that's what Pday is for!!! :)

It's been neat being able to talk to SO MANY people and run into some of you. I love the work so much. It's hard sometimes, disappointing when people don't want what you want for them, but I love being here and loving others and hopefully sharing a little bit of the love and vision Heavenly Father has for each one of them. Sister C and I have really learned how to enjoy every minute of it. I'm the happiest I have ever been in my life. 

 It's also been a huge blessing being able to perform with the Missionary Choir on my violin, and share my testimony through music especially in incredible locations like the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Tomorrow we'll perform for church, which will be neat too. This coming Monday will be our "General Authorities Mission Tour" I'm not sure exactly what that is, but apparently Elder Evans, the head of the Missionary Department is this year's general authority. So that should be cool too.

 I don't know how many stories there are to share this week. However, we've had some very interesting chats ...

(Here's one:)

Caller:  "I'm doing awesome!  you are a mormon right?
Us:  Yes we are, are you?
Caller:  No. I am living here in far rockaway and I saw your church here with the yellow vests helping out and so I was looking you guys up on the computer and found this website "

-----------------

 

And some really awesome inspirational images with quotes from Apostles. (see below)

As for the week, we've adopted this phrase in our zone: "call and ye shall find, drop and ye shall receive, invite and it shall be opened unto them." We've really tried to be diligent in this, this week and it has been pretty amazing! We hate dropping people, but at the end of the day, we may drop them, but the Lord never will. I love to hang onto people and think, well what if in a month they'll want the gospel, or I think maybe if I just call one more time they'll change their mind. No. We don't have to beg people. It's their choice. It's okay. We invite people to come closer to Christ, that's what we do. So as we exercised faith to drop people the Lord really did give us new people to call and teach! It's been pretty cool to see. We had too many people to work with before, and that's why He wouldn't give us more. We hit an epiphany, "The only people that you can help, are those that want to change." Amen. That's the truth. Sometimes people don't want what you want for them, even though you know it will bless their life. Heavenly Father still respects their agency, or their choice. We should too. We have to trust in His plan for them and that as we allow them to choose, we drop them and focus on others, and sort through to find those that really want to change, and we found some!

The other thing we've really worked on is inviting. We've been inviting people to be baptized. If they really want to change, they will want to be baptized because it will help them change and help them find Christ and become closer to Him! So.... we even did in on Mormon Chat. One person actually accepted! And another didn't.... but it was still good because we were able to see how sincere they were, if they really wanted to change or if they were just asking questions. See the chat above with the baptismal commitment.

Anyways!
I love the work. A lot of it is just that - work. But I love serving the Lord and doing whatever it is that He wants me to do. We're finding joy in chatting, placing and answering calls in Guest Services 6 hours a day, and saying hi to millions of people on the Square at night for the lights, taking pictures for people, loving my companion and laughing at myself, playing violin for crowds, proclaiming the Gospel, teaching and blessing people's lives, giving chocolate to homeless people, and wearing the Lord Jesus Christ's name on my badge over my heart.  Finding joy in the journey really is a choice. And it is the right choice! :)

 Merry Christmas,

Sister Fisher

 

Saturday, December 01, 2012
Transfer 4, Week 2?
 

Family and Friends,

 

This week as been really interesting. It was the first week of mass chaos on Temple Square- Christmas lights. We were in guest services when we had about 400 calls come in from people asking about the Christmas lights last Friday and it was just insane! So many people have come and it has been really neat meeting them and having performances from musical groups all the time every hour from 5pm-on. We're on the Square some nights late and it's exhausting. But good. I've been able to play my violin about 3 performances this week with the Temple Missionaries Choir and each time it's just great. Really neat to be able to use music as a testimony too. I love it. It's been so rewarding. I know that the Lord is really blessing me because I know that I'm not practicing like at all, and my ability should be diminished, but it's not.

We took around a really great investigator lesson with sisters from the SLC South mission. It was 3 boys (age 16, 18, & 20). They are the victims of a cruel world, abusive family experiences and just really rough life. They're trying to find joy. One said "Well, I don't know if I deserve to be loved by God." That broke my heart. They've been told too many times that they're worthless and shown that they aren't loved, that they begin to believe it. We testified of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and began to show them His plan for them. It was neat. When we headed up to show them the Christus statue, after a while, one said, "I just want to stay in here forever."

At the end, we gave them tickets to see Savior of the World musical - but it was cool because we only thought we had one ticket left, and then there were 3. I'm going to believe that that was a miracle. We told them that we thought that they were special and that's why we wanted them to see the performance. All three of these boys looked at us straight in the eye with the expression "You think I'm special?" and the Spirit just wooshed in and I told them "I know that you are a son of Heavenly Father, that He loves you and that each one of you have unlimited potential and that He has a plan for you and your life so that you can learn and develop to be all that He sees you to become." It was a neat and crazy experience. Each committed to a baptismal date for December 22- the best Christmas gift they'll ever have. 

 As for my message this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the war chapters I’ve been reading in the Book of Mormon and the lessons we can learn from them.

 In Alma 49:5-9, it talks about how the Nephites had to prepare for the invasion of the Lamanites, and how their preparations are what kept them safe and DEFENDED. It reminds me of Satan. We’re at the point in time that he’s had a lot of practice and just like the Lamanites, has learned and become more crafty and clever of how to enter our homes and our hearts.

Like the Nephites in the Book of Mormon, we must become even more guarded and protect ourselves, homes and children. The things that were okay or on the line 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago, aren’t any more. Those are the very things that Satan uses when we are particularly susceptible.

 “5 Now at this time the chief ^acaptains of the Lamanites were astonished exceedingly, because of the wisdom of the Nephites in preparing their places of security.

 6 Now the leaders of the Lamanites had supposed, because of the greatness of their numbers, yea, they supposed that they should be privileged to come upon them as they had hitherto done; yea, and they had also prepared themselves with shields, and with^abreastplates; and they had also prepared themselves with garments of skins, yea, very thick garments to cover their nakedness.
 7 And being thus prepared they supposed that they should easily overpower and ^asubject their brethren to the yoke of bondage, or slay and massacre them according to their pleasure.
 8 But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they were^aprepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni.
 9 And it came to pass that the Lamanites, or the Amalickiahites, were exceedingly astonished at their manner of preparation for war.”

 The next lesson learned is that we must FORTIFY our homes and hearts. We must be prepared with the ammunition to defend ourselves when Satan still sneaks past our guard and line of defense. Those things are church attendance, praying daily and sincerely, and reading the scriptures ourselves and as a family.

When those waves of doubt, inconvenience, pride, contention and impatience come into our homes and hearts, these are the things that will strengthen ourselves and the Spirit to enable us to overcome. Being well protected is not enough.

  18 Now behold, the Lamanites could not get into their forts of security by any other way save by the entrance, because of the highness of the bank which had been thrown up, and the depth of the ditch which had been dug round about, save it were by the entrance.

 19 And thus were the Nephites prepared to destroy all such as should attempt to climb up to enter the fort by any other way, by casting over stones and arrows at them.
 20 Thus they were prepared, yea, a body of their strongest men, with their swords and their slings, to smite down all who should attempt to come into their place of security by the place of^aentrance; and thus were they prepared to defend themselves against the Lamanites.

Satan is too practiced that He can now enter almost any place and situation. We have to fortify ourselves constantly- everyday, everyday, everyday.

We can’t stop.

Alma 50:1

1 And now it came to pass that Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites; for he caused that his armies should commence in the commencement of the twentieth year of the reign of the judges, that they should commence in digging up ^aheaps of earth round about all the cities, throughout all the land which was possessed by the Nephites.

 Ask yourselves- "Where has Satan already entered my fort of my heart or home and how can I fight him out of there? And then ask how can I better protect myself and home and not let any wall become weak?" His forces are stronger than they were 10 years ago. Our weak wall that we’ve neglected that withheld things 10 years ago, won’t hold now.

And lastly, ask yourself, "How can I fortify myself and my family better to defend ourselves when Satan does enter?"

Carry on, carry on, CARRY ON!!!!

Love,

Sister Fisher