Sister Fisher on Temple Square!

(To Jessica's friends:  This is her mom...Sorry, I was behind in posting her blogs and this one was from last month, out of order. :) )

From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Transfer 7, Week 5: Spoke in church, still playing the violin, short on time left

 

 Hello Family and Friends!

 

This week has been crazy. Eeeek!!! :)
 

But good of course. We planned on teaching 14 lessons this week in the Teaching Center plus all our square time and Beehive house responsibilities. We committed 4 of our friends to be baptized!!!! And they said yes! We're so excited for them to have the gift of the Holy Ghost and have their guilt and shame washed away.
 

So.... remember our Musical fireside in March? So apparently it was really good... and a few members of the seventy were there and loved it so much they asked the Missionary Department to ask us to do it again........ this time with about a 9 days notice :) hahaah.
 

But it's gonna be really cool because we're doing the same thing, the same program, but instead, all of the Salt Lake City missionaries are invited and their investigators. Wow. It'll be a really powerful night just because of everyone in the audience. So we're excited for that. I have to fill in all the violin parts though that Sister Zommerovska played in March, because she's outbound now... and she improvised all the parts, so I had to write a new one, but it's been really interesting because it's actually come along really pretty well especially for how stretched we've been.
 

This last Sunday it was cool too because we were invited to speak at a FAMILY WARD!!!! Yay!!! It was SO NICE to be with families, and children, and in a "real" ward situation. It was really neat. Because there's not a lot of time, I'm just going to share as my thought, my short talk:

 

Follow the prophet, don't go astray.

Follow the prophet, he knows the way.

Because our mission contains all sister missionaries, and two senior couples, we all have Sunday church meetings very early in the morning together .  Last Sunday started out just the same as all other Sundays, until the meeting started. For some reason, we heard blasted above the speaker’s voice, an audio recording of a Mormon tabernacle choir rehearsal. At first it was pretty funny, but gradually it become a distraction. We could hardly hear the words of the Sacrament prayers because Mack Wilberg was talking so loud on the speakers, and then the organ would start and all 360 voices of the choir would come in. Just as we were about to dismiss to finish the meeting somewhere else, all the sudden it stopped, and we were left to peace and quiet again, and it was again easy to focus on what the speakers were saying and the purpose of the meeting.

 

As I looked at my topic today, I realized that this experience is exactly like the world we live in. There are so many distractions, so much noise, and so many voices trying to claim our attention. But who to listen to? What will really bring joy? What will lead us home? And what will bless our families and lives? What really brings the love we want?

 

We know that we have a living Prophet today.

The Book of Mormon speaks of a group of people in Omni who brought no prophets, and no words of scripture with them and describes them as “they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them.” (Omni 1:17)

 

We have many investigators who are seeking for this truth today. One of our investigators, a man named Tony from New York, was interested in becoming a pastor because every church he attended (I quote) “misquote the Bible and teach things contrary to the word of God.” And he wanted to go and help people, and himself try and find truth. As we’ve shared with him about Prophets, much of his questions are answered, and concerns resolved.

 

In President Monson’s most recent talk what did he speak on? Obedience. I quote from him: “There is no need for you or for me, in this enlightened age when the fullness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or to travel unmarked roads in search of truth. A loving Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing guide—even obedience. A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God.”

 

We don’t have to figure it out for ourselves, or learn with trial and error. We don’t have the touch the hot stove and be burned so that we learn to not touch again. We can just listen to our Heavenly Father’s Prophets and avoid those dangers and avoid their painful consequences. Sure there is repentance for when we do fall down and scrap ourselves, but isn’t it so much easier and simpler when we just listen and obey?

 

Said President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The happiness …the peace…the progress… and the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.” ……. I testify to you that I know that happiness can only be found as we follow the path that God has charted for us. The minute we begin to wander away from that path, and disregard the commandments, is when we will not find happiness, success or peace that we all want.

 

As we commit our investigators to obey God’s commandments, and as they act in faith and do it, they are happier than they were before. One of our investigators had a difficult time not wanting to give up drinking coffee.  But as he did, and after the first day of a headache, the second day on, he had more energy, could focus better, and slept better than he did before.

 

When I first went to college I was in the music school and there was just no way I thought that I could achieve the grades I wanted, or keep up with my class unless I did homework and practiced on Sunday. I finished my callings and checked the boxes, and quickly came right back home to continue studying and practicing. The result of this was I began to burn out of my passion for music, began to get the beginning symptoms of tendonitis, and was constantly tired and frustrated.

 

Was I keeping the Sabbath day holy? No I was not. Was I on the path Heavenly Father laid down for me? No. I was not. Instead of trusting in God’s promises and in the blessings, I trusted in my own arm, my own talent and work ethic. I wasn’t happy, but I couldn’t see how it could be done another way. Until… I got called to be in the Relief Society Presidency. No longer could I check boxes. I knew I needed to accept, but I couldn’t fit it in. Something had to give. So I trusted in the promise that we find in Mosiah 2:41  ...“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.”

 

And I remembered the statement found in D&C 82:10 “I, the Lord, am ^abound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no ^bpromise.”

 

So I trusted. I did not do any homework or practicing on Sunday, and I trusted those promises I found in the scriptures and I relied on the Lord.  And just like Nephi I knew that “the Lord giveth no ^bcommandments unto the children of men, save he shall ^cprepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1 Nephi 3:7)

 

I was blessed spiritually by an increase in faith as I saw miracles and watched the Lord’s hands literally be on my right hand and on my left.  There is one of the miracles that I would like to share with you today. I was in the last semester of my music theory core, and I was in the most complex music theory class I was required to take. It was very difficult… and I wasn’t very good at it. I still remember the final exam for that class. The final exam had 13 questions on it and it was a large portion of our grade. And of course… it was timed. I read through the exam and saw that the last question was a concept- that I had failed on a test because I just could not understand it. I had studied everything else and skipped over this particular technique because I didn’t think it’d be put on the exam. But there it was. Question 13 in its horror. I spent the first 90 minutes on the first 12 questions and then just started at question 13 with no idea what to do.

 

 SO I said a prayer. I reviewed with Heavenly Father that I had put my trust and faith in Him throughout the year and that I was grateful for all the blessings that He had given me for my obedience and diligence in a demanding calling. And then I prayed that He would help me with this concept.

 

I said amen and I picked up my pencil. Ideas started flooding through my mind, and I started to write things down and play with those ideas until I realized that they were instructing me how to accurately fill out the square. Much like God showing Nephi how to build a boat, Heavenly Father was instructing me how to answer question 13, since He was the one who had inspired the original composer with the idea. I did some checks and found that it worked.  A week later I picked up my test and I saw a not terrifically high score on the top, but I passed, and it actually raised my grade. I flipped through the test, and I saw two or three red circles throughout, but nothing on question 13. I had filled it out perfectly. God had taught me how to complete the difficult steps in a complex concept.

 

Obedience brings blessings. I testify that I know that these things are true. I played the best that I ever had any year, and found more joy and peace despite a busy, busy year. And somehow, I had time for it all and still had the energy for it. My faith increased significantly and I can stand in front of you and say that with God, nothing is impossible. Little did I know at the time that this experience would increase my faith, and my testimony of obedience would prepare me to accept the call to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  I have a testimony that obedience is the only intelligent way to live. It is the only way that we can become all that God sees us to be.  Obedience is the only way to happiness.

 

How can you be more obedient today and follow the Prophet to find the path God has already laid in front of you? Those thoughts that come into your mind right now are the changes you need to make today. Don’t wait to obey.  Start now to live in such a way that God can bless you more.  

 

Follow the Prophet, don’t go astray. Follow the Prophet, he knows the way. I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 

I know that these things are true my friends. They are! Happiness is a simple choice away. Just CTR-it! Choose the right. That's where happiness lies.  

 

I feel like I should say this again too: "The time you spend worrying about yourself, you'll be miserable. The time you spend thinking about others, you'll be happy." This is totally true too.

 

Love,  Sister Fisher