July 24, 2012

Week 5:   T-squared, I love it here,  taught 41 lessons this week to members & 34 to nonmembers in 6 days!

Dearest Family and Friends!

Yes.  I am alive.  And well. And have been in my real mission, really doing missionary work, teaching 41 lessons this week to members and 34 to nonmembers, talking to people from all over the world (the countries I've written down in the last week: France, Australia, China, Japan, Korea, England, Dubai, Finland, Peru, Ghana, Switzerland, Israel, Guyana, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Germany, and Argentina) for just 6 days now.

This mission is amazing.  But insanely busy, too.  We joke that we're the most 'inactive' missionaries, because on Sunday all we go to is Sacrament Meeting because there is no time on Sundays to go to any other meetings.  I love it here.  It is hard, it is hard work, it is insanely busy, but it is incredible.

My comp is Sister C from Australia.  I feel so blessed.  She just returned from outbound (4 months) in Tennessee, and my 12 weeks (two transfers) will be her last two transfers before she goes home.  She is amazing and I love her so much already.  She is quite a bit older than most but very wise, hard working and great.

I live with 6 sister missionaries in my apartment: there's a Tongan sister from California, me from Texas, another American sister, a Brazilian sister, my Australian comp, and a sister from Singapore.  It is quite the cultural experience.  I love it!  We cook our own food for all 3 meals. We are on the Square for lunch and dinner so we have to bring food for that.  There is a small kitchen at the Square which has microwaves and huge fridges but besides that, no.

 I also have urges to play/make music...which I have cured by singing hymns loudly in the shower.  My roommates love it. haha :)

 Well, everyday it's different, and there's a bajillion different (missionary)zones that have different responsibilities. This was a sample schedule we had once this week (& it changes every day)…After comp scripture study, we planned different places on Temple Square where we should walk by to meet people, teach and testify, show around or answer questions.  It's a very careful/prayerful time because we could go anywhere but God knows where His prepared children will be, so that hour we went to the Desk, West Gate and the Jerusalem Map, then we had to 'man' the desk at the Eternal Families desk (answer questions, teach lessons, hunt down sisters for language tours [there's 50 different languages represented in the 160 sisters currently serving here], then we ate lunch, then we texted some of the people we teach, and we picked more places to find people to talk to (Christus Statue, God's Plan, and then the Seagull Monument), then it was hour two of comp study, and then we had a cleaning assignment. Next, we walked from Jerusalem Map, to the Flower Planters, to the Christus Statue, and then we had the Teaching Center where we called up our investigators and taught them lessons/made appointments for other days to teach them again--- just like real, normal other missionaries.  Despite popular belief,  we are not tour guides.  We are missionaries who happen to have a temple, statues, paintings, and the Christus Statue as our teaching resources for teaching lessons!  A bunch of the SLC missionaries bring their investigators here so that they, too, can use the powerful resources here to help teach with.  It's very effective.  Our mission is so busy.  Each transfer, we have a baptismal goal of two people per comp. That goal so often happens.  It's amazing to be here.

So my favorite miracle… (so many have happened in the last 3 days as my comp [Sister C] and I made it our goal that we were going to focus on faith solely; always pray for it, text our investigators scriptures on it, include it in all our teaching on the square, and search scriptures on it...that doesn't mean the miracles just came instantly.)  We worked really, really hard, did the best we could, relied on God to show us who to talk to, and if not just talk to EVERYONE we meet, rely on the Spirit to tell us what to say/teach, and try and commit everyone to learn more, get a copy of the Book of Mormon, or talk to us again and let us teach them etc.  We find that as we move forward and ACT, not waiting, but trusting that the plans we have made and the preparation that we've made will be blessed and if they need to change, Heavenly Father will let us know.  And that as we ACT by sacrificing everything, sacrificing fear/anxiety/”aaah I don't want to talk to them or ask them to be baptized” etc., sacrificing more than necessary. (Following the mission rules is not a sacrifice.  They are an expectation.  We must sacrifice more than just being obedient for miracles to happen.) I TRULY am blessed, and the Spirit truly does testify and I have found myself in amazing situations already where some people are just handed to me, while others I have to study hard for and work hard to get across to, but the miracles happen.  It's amazing.  It's so hard though.  Our faith is tested and tried, people reject us, people aren't interested, people don't talk to us, but ever so often through the many who reject us, there's someone ( RIGHT after having the awful rejection that makes your stomach sink) that comes up to you and asks "So what's the Book of Mormon? And how can I get a copy of it?"  I'm not even kidding.  That happened.  Yesterday .

BUT my favorite miracle started last Thursday where I contacted a referral from Temple Square.  Her name is L.  She is a Mom, who lost her husband to a car crash, who's parents died when she was 10, and who's son is currently dying from cancer.  She is Jewish.  She LOVED Temple Square, and we talked on the phone last Thursday all about it, and when I eventually asked her if she wanted to feel the joy and peace she felt on Temple Square all the time she said she'd love it!  But when I asked if she would like missionaries to come and teach her she said no that wouldn't be okay.  I found out that this is because she can't have visitors in her house, because of the germs for her son who has cancer.  But we taught her on the phone anyway.  We taught her about the Atonement of Christ, God's Plan for the family, eternal families, repentance, the Holy Ghost.  She started reading the Book of Mormon and can't put it down.  On Sunday, we prayed with her over the phone.  This was her first prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.  I was able to hear her say the words and the most beautiful prayer as we all knelt together.  She in Washington, and Sister C and I in SLC. There is no joy I have ever felt that compares to the way I felt as I heard her pray, as I've seen her grow and find peace in the last 5 days.  She doesn't blame God anymore.  She prays. She finds joy, and peace despite hard things.  The challenges haven't changed, but she has.  I love L.  I love being a missionary.  I love that the gospel is what helps people find peace and joy.  Adversity and challenges either soften our hearts to turn TO God, or they harden our heart away from God and away from the Comforter. She had been blaming God and hadn't prayed or read scripture, and that did not work.  She was empty and hardened and depressed.  Now that she is praying, and has a knowledge of why, and who she can become and her family, she finds peace, joy, and strength. 

That is what the Gospel does to people.  That is why it is so important.  The Gospel CHANGES people so that they actually become more like Christ and feel that joy.  I love being a missionary.  It is really hard work, it is very tiring, and the enduring all the time, especially when you don't have little miracles, but rejection is hard. But results don't matter.  We bring people closer to Christ, and they have agency to choose whether they want it or not.  That's fine. But what makes me happy is knowing that I did my best, I relied on God, and I tried to follow the Spirit.  Heavenly Father allows them to open their heart or not (when their heart is closed, it's interesting--- I don't get revelation or feel prompted to say X or whatever, but when they're open it comes!  The ideas of what to say COMES, the scripture verses COME!) but I get to be His hands and help.

 I love it.

Love you all so much,

Sister Jessica Fisher

July 13, 2012

Week 3: Boiling water, Flying, Elders going to Boston :(, Temple Square and Elder Holland

 Dearest Family!

 (Because of Visitor Center Training my Pday got moved to Friday- I leave for SLC for my mission (hopefully if I can get over this cold- I'm fine, just sick - pray for me please) on Wednesday Morning.

I AM SO EXCITED for all the good news from home!  I totally believe and have faith that our Shepherd will provide our need and that everything really will and really does work out!

I know that He is taking care of 'my work'  back at home even though I can't be there.  I love y'all tons and am SO excited for all of the miracles that happen. But just like Shadrach, Mechach, and Abednego - As they say that they know and have faith that God has all power to deliver us from our trials and afflictions, "But if not" ... But if He does not, for what ever reason, we still believe, we still have faith, and we still have hope in the plan that He has for us, because that plan is still always better for us than what we plan.  I have a firm testimony of that! (See Daniel 3:17-18)  

 I saw Sister C yesterday and she looks great, excited and I'm thrilled to see her! I never fail to run into Sister B multiple times in the week - which is always a pleasure! I have run into Sister D a few times too!  Sweet reunions!!! I love those mighty women!

 
Lots have happened this week.  It is hard to believe that I am on my fourth week of my mission already.  It feels like a marathon with naps in between, but yet I am so happy, it's not even funny! 

On Sunday night, I said the closing prayer in the MTC devotional, which was terrifying, but the Lord blessed me and I literally could feel Him providing words into my mouth.  What a neat experience.

After Sunday night's devotional, there was a rebroadcasted MTC Devotional by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland which was INCREDIBLE.  It was amazing. It was entitled, "Missions Are Forever".  He said "There may be one day in the last 40 years of my life that I haven't thought of my mission, I just don't remember when it was."  He began to tell a story about a boy who was coaxed by the Lord to come to the edge of a cliff.  "Come to the edge ",He said." "No, I'll fall!" "Come to the edge", He said.  "No, I'll fall" - was the response" "Come to the edge", the Lord said, which the boy did finally, and God pushed him off the edge... and he flew".

I think that illustrates alot of what the mission is like and about.  We master our fears, insecurities, pride, differences, natural man and things like that, put our trust, open our mouths, be obedient, and then HE allows us to fly.

Another thing Elder Holland said was "Man's extremities, is God's opportunities".   He wants our WHOLE heart, everything, and once we give it all, He can make miracles with us.  If we push as hard as we can, He will make us fly!

We can boil water for hours at 220 degrees (I think...,  I'm no physics major) but it doesn't change.  It's just hot water. It takes the extra few degrees to actually boil into a gas.  We have to give it the last few degrees or else it does not even matter.  A muscle has to go into MUSCLE  FAILURE, before it can become stronger than it once was before.

I believe that is how it is with our life.  We've got to completely overcome our natural desires, insecurities, etc.  We've got to open our mouth the first time, AND the second third and fourth. We've got to roll out of bed on time in the morning, and turn the lights off at night on time on a mission.  If we do that, we will actually change - - God will actually change our desires, our hearts, and change us into beings more like Him, beings that have everlasting joy and peace, not just getting frusterated because we've been working hard at 220 degrees for years and seeing no results.  Let it happen, and Let God take over and allow us to fly!  Face our fears and allow God to make more out of us than we could EVER before at 220 degrees.

 The other thing he said that really caught me was that Salvation was never cheap, so why do we just think that baptisms and finding and teaching should be?  Christ suffered and bled, and cried, and even DIED so that we might all live and have Salvation.  As a missionary, I am bringing others closer to Christ, so how dare I ever think that Salvation should be easy, that people should just accept all over the place and that I shouldn't have to sacrifice?  For something so wonderful, there has to be a sacrifice.  My time, patience, pride, physical fatigue  ... something has to be sacrificed.  We have to carry some sort of cross, because something so spectacular shouldn't come without a price!  This is GOD'S WORK.  So we must do it His way.  If there was a better way, He would have thought of it. Salvation is not a cheap experience. If it wasn't easy for Christ, why should it be easy or painless for us?  It's hard, but because it is hard, it is so worth it.  Nothing that is worth it was easy. That's why a mission is so hard, but so beyond wonderful, and fun, and joyful!

 A trial I was struggling with this week was trying to feel the Spirit.  That sounds weird doesn't it?  I'm at the MTC!  I've sent emails home describing amazing experiences all the time... feeling the Spirit? That's an odd problem. That's what I thought, too.  It was bugging me so I went to talk to my branch president about it.  He had an inspiring thing to say about it:    God does not give us inspiring spirtual experiences all of the time. It doesn't mean that what we're doing isn't right anymore, or that what you're saying isn't true, or that you are not worthy, or that you can't feel the Spirit.  God gives us spiritual experiences because we *need* them, not for *maintenance*.  What that means is that every time I bear my testimony, just because my heart isn't pricked everytime I hear something or whatever, it is because I already know that.  I already know that it is true, I do not need a confirmation of it!  I do not need a spiritual pat on the back every day every single time I might question or doubt.  I already know that because I have already had the experience.  If we had the spirit confirm every single time and every single moment of the day, we would be walking on knowledge, not by faith.  We have to have faith that what we have felt before is true, and that what we are doing is right. Besides, it's like your body adjusting to the temperature of water.  Once you adapt, you can't feel anymore whether the water is warm or cold.  it's the same with the Spirit. We get so used to it that we may not even notice it.

Now that being said, I will tell one last story.  On Wednesday, we went to SLC Temple Square for the Visitor Center experience.  I was really nervous because we were busing down from the MTC TO MY MISSION, where I will be for 16 months or so of my life.  I was anxious, scared that it wouldn't add up to all my expectations and that I'd be let down.  I got off of the bus and walked into the Square.  The minute I saw the SLC Temple in it's glory, I started crying.  This is a big deal for me.  I haven't cried since my first day at the MTC.  I didn't cry when my Elders left for Boston this past week, even though I miss them TERRRIBLY!!!! (We all got so close, it's not even funny.  I LOVE them so much!  Who knew I could love a bunch of 19 year old boys so intensely?)  It just all felt right.  We then went into the north visitor's center and up to the Christus Statue.  If I wasn't crying already, I was crying even harder.  It felt right. I was at peace.  I was excited to be there and excited to get started.  It's way different because I am a missionary now. I've been there quite a few times, but NOW as a missionary, it's way different. I see people and I no longer think, "That's a nice shirt, or their hair is nice" ,or whatever, I think, "I WANNA GO TALK TO THEM!!! Find out about their life and how I can show them how to be happier!!!" 

It's interesting seeing the change.  I love it. I love it. I love it!

 ***THANK YOU to my BYU Ward who sent such a fun poster with signatures and messages from everyone there. I love y'all so much and you will always have a special place in my heart, because that was where I began to be prepared to serve a mission.  Missions are the BEST!

Also thank you to all of you who sent me letters this week despite having crazy busy schedules! Love  you!

 The church is true.  This is the place where we can find peace and joy, not as the world giveth, but lasting joy, joy that comforts us to the core and brings us peace, even when there is a storm on the outside.

I love being a missionary.  I love it so much!

I love y'all too.  Please pray for the Sisters and myself who leave on Wednesday for our mission, and to all of my district's elders who left for Boston this week.

 Love,

Sister Fisher

WEEK 2:   HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!, Albuquerque, Wisdom in the Lord, Stuck in an elevator, and burn that DROSS!!!

 Hello Family and Friends!!!

 1. I LOVE THE MTC!  It's still so great as it is week 2!

 2.  Happy Birthday Dad!!! (I waited until Pday to write you/mail your card to you, and well.. today is PDay so that's why it will be late- LOVE YOU bunches though!)

 3. Albuquerque, New Mexico.  For those of you who do not know, that is the place I've joked around for months saying that I did not want to go, etc. Well.. I have been severely humbled because the new District that came in to our zone is going to none else than Albuquerque, New Mexico.  That's when it occured to me. Who am I to say that God loves his children in Salt Lake City more than in Albuquerque?  That's absured.  So I'm now even willing to go there and I'll even smile about it.  That's progress huh!

 4. I had a very humbling experience this weekend (which is what I have been praying for) My Branch President asked me last Thursday night if I would play violin in Sacrament Meeting for Sunday, so there wasn't much time to prepare anything, but luckily I followed promptings (that'd I've had for weeks) to go and audition for a special MTC musical number, but then I missed the audition times and so I just kept it in my folder, so a "Poor Wayfarying Man of Grief" was sitting in there ever since then.  So long story short,  President Hemmert asked me to get one together, the same night that a new district came in and zone leaders were called from there.  One of them plays piano.  So I asked him (the second day of his MTC experience) to figure out some time to practice the music so we could perform a few days later.  He practiced and he prepped it well. We got together and were rehearsing it, (I borrowed an MTC violin instrument) and the entire time I seriously was in Music Major mode. I was thinking of all the stuff that was wrong with me and how I played, and I seriously was oblivious to the Spirit that it brought as we rehearsed.  Random people kept coming into our room to hear us play.  This fine elder then made a suggestion, asking if he could say a prayer.  I was like, "well sure if you want to", not thinking too much about it.  He offered this beautiul prayer asking for us to remember why we are doing this music, and how it's not about us, but about the Spirit, and how this piece was remembering the many missionaries before us going out into the field to establish the Church first. 

Talk about humbling for me.  It was a call to repentence for me.  The Lord is aware of us individually, our thoughts, our weaknesses everything, and this elder was inspired enough to point out those flaws to me and make me realize once again, that this work is NOT ABOUT ME. It is about everyone else.  The musical number went very well on Sunday and the Spirit was there really strong.

Lesson B of this story is that we all need to follow promptings.  I was really hesitant to ask this poor elder to find time in his 16 hours planned out/day schedule to practice but I am glad I did.  He told me how it was an answer to his silent prayers.  He LOVES the piano and said that he quit practicing it two weeks before he went into the MTC to make the transition a little bit easier, since he knew he could not practice as much or play much at all on his misison.  He then said that being handed that music that he was required to practice made the transition into the MTC and the mission so much easier and felt really blessed to have had that experience.  Follow promptings.  We bless others when we do.

 5. Now after this experience, I was sitting in class and we were talking about spiritual gifts, how we work for them, ask for them, pray for them, and it is not that we 'earn them' or 'deserve them' because of our work and effort, it is because God rewards our sacrifice because He loves us and wants to bless us, so it is by His grace and mercy that we actually obtain spiritual gifts..... and talents.  We learned that EVERY SINGLE good thing comes from God.  Not just is 'of' God, COMES FROM God.  So the dagger stabbed me in the heart as I told lots of people the day before that, "No I don't have a gift in music (or thinking that a 'gift' from God just meant somethihng like a freebie or something God just kind of hands away), I have just worked my tail off for years- that's why I am good at the violin."

That's when I was called to repentence again.  NO, Sister Fisher, you have desired the talent and gift, worked your tail off for it, God blessed your sacrifice and what you put into it, and GAVE you, because he loves you, what you wanted, sought for, and worked for.  And why do we get given gifts and talents? To bless others.  God blesses us, so we can bless others.  That's how it works.

So then in my scripture study, I was reading how 'strong in stature' Nephi was in 1 Nephi 4: 31.  Applying this new knowledge, I learned that this was a gift from God.  In this scrupture, it talks about how Nephi was strong in stature but was also given great strength from the Lord in the time of need to hold Laban's servant down.  Nephi was blessed with this talent or ability to be large in stature SO that he could fulfill his purpose that God had for him.  He had to be able to be strong enough to not get killed all of the time from his brother's beatings, since he was a young person, and then he had to be able to even look like Laban in stature to fill out his clothes, & be able to slay him with his gigantic sword, etc.  He was given his abilities for a purpose- to fulfill God's work, and to help others. All of our gifts God gives us.  NOthing is something we just earn or deserve.  Everything comes from HIM!!

 6. Wisdom in the Lord---  Nephi 5:21-22.  It talks about how it was 'wisdom in the Lord' that Nephi and his brothers got the plates AFTER they left Jerusalem the first time.  They had to go back.. They didn't know what they really needed to but that the Lord felt it was important.  They didn't know how much benefit it would be to their posterity or them but jsut that God felt it was important.  So they went. And they did!  And they learned things they probably wouldn't have if they did it in the most efficient, timely or effective way (they tried 3 TIMES and failed the first two!!! Not efficient at all...) but it was WISDOM in the Lord.  That's all that matters.  And that's all that matters in our lives.  We need to trust God that He knows what He is doing and that the reason why things turn out is BECAUSE it is wisdom in His plan for us.  We don't need to know anything more than that.

 7. So one more really neat thing happened. At the devotional (which was all about Joseph Smith) on Sunday, after the aweswome, powerful spiritual monologue of Jospeh Smith's secretary that someone did (resembling one who was there at the martydom) we all sang Praise To The Man.  All 2000 missionaries.  Halfway through the first verse, a few Elders couldn't help themselves.  They had to stand up.  There's no way to show the respect and awe that we all felt.  As they stood, many more did, and despite a security gaurd freaking out about 2000 people standing up, by the end of the verse ...ALL 2000 MISSIONARIES were standing showing their own respect, singing at the top of their lungs with all that they could muster.  It was a really really cool experience. 

 8. One last cool thing happened.  We were in the TRC, teaching a lady named B.  I love her so much!!!  She had no real clue to the nature of who God was and was very confused and hesitant to accept the view of God as our Heavenly Father during the first lesson.  The second lesson, the Spirit was so strong, and we showed her scriptures even in the Bible to the true nature of God and she began to see!  As I showed her the reason why Moses wasn't burned as he saw God was becuase he was transfigured, and right as I looked up a verse about it in Matthew about how Christ's apostles were transfigured to be able to behold his glory, I turned to my companion (we did not plan this at all. It was totally on a whim) she just looked at me and said that she had already had the scripture looked up.  That was not planned at all. It really answered Barbara's questions and her brain was accepting the idea and even loving it!  After the lesson, my companion, Sister M, told me that she had NEVER HEARD of the Mount of Transifiguration, but that she had a thought to go find it in the bible dictionary and it led her to Matthew.  We had both been in tune with the Spirit and listened to the same revelation and had recieved the same prompting.  It was really neat!

 9.  So.... my elders and I and my mission companion got stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes yesterday.  It was.... kind of funny.  Let's be honest.  They are 19 year old boys.  Need I say any more?  So they found that in some elevators you can JUMP in them and be fine, but in this particular one, if it feels itself going faster than usual, it will just freeze.  An electrician came and finally got us out, but it was.... pretty interesting. All I can do now is laugh.  And laugh really hard. Ohhhh the MTC :)

 10.  Lastly, in the 5th verse of How Firm a Foundation, there's a line talking about dross, or the extra impurities of gold that gets burned out through the refiner's fire. It's been our district's spiritual motto:  "BURN THAT DROSS!!!"  Whenever we dont want to work, and feel lazy, or tired or distracted, someone says "Just keep burning that dross!!!"  Burn the natural man out of ourselves.  And it's hard while we're doing it.  It's uncomfortable... because it's CHANGE!! But we just keep going and burning that dross!!!

I LOVE y'all soooo much.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU,THANK YOU to all of those who have supported my sister in particular in the last few weeks.  You are an answer to prayers.

I am so happy here. I know this is where I need to be, doing what I want to be doing! Missionary work is the best.  It is true.  I know it.  I believe it. 

Go forward and BURN THAT DROSS, all of y'all!!!

 Love,

Sister Fisher

WEEK 1: MTC is the happiest place on earth, things look a little more red and yellow, and 10 apostles

HELLO FAMILY!!!! 

As you may have guessed, my P Day is Wednesday after all so it has been 7 absolutely INCREDIBLE days of my life since then.  I can't believe that it has only been that long.  I feel like it's been at least double that.  Our district is incredible.  There are 4 sister missionaries, me and my comp, Sister M, are going to Temple Square, and Sister D and Sister M (she is the B's neighbor btw- she was ECSTATIC to find out that I was *the* sister fisher she was supposed to look for) are going to the California Mormon Battalion Mission.  We have 6 awesome Elders that are all going to the Boston Massachusettes Mission in two weeks from now (shout out to Brigham). 

 I.LOVE.THE.MTC.

 It was terrifying and really horrifying to walk away into the truly unknown last Wednesday but I AM SO GLAD I DID.  I am grateful for the Elders who just walked me right along to seriously, the happiest day of my life.  The spirit was so strong it was almost smothering with joy, happiness and just excitement.  Everywhere I went there was "Sister!!! Welcome to the MTC!!"  I walked into my classroom met my AMAZING Companion from North Carolina, and saw on the board:

“THE MTC:  The happiest place on earth.”

And it is.  I have never been happier in my entire life.  Everyone glows. It is incredible.  I love it  here.  People just start singing hymns and everyone just starts singing along too.  We sing Called To Serve or other hymns in the shower and people just start singing along too!!!  It's so cool. I love it.

There are 4 of us in our bedroom, and it's just great!  I love my sisters SO MUCH!!!  (and my little elders too!! We've all been together now 16 hours a day for the last 7 days.  That's a long time.  We're all super tight and our district is really special so says our Branch President)

There are only 4 sisters in my zone, so I was made the Coordinating Sister (basically a ZL for the girls) and that has been really neat going through the newly released Leadership Program at the MTC. 

I feel like the Lord has put me in situations for the last year that have prepared me to make this transition into a missionary much easier so that I would be able to do more to help those that haven't had such an easy transition.  I have seen so many miracles since I have been here. 

EVERY SINGLE one of my prayers have been answered since I have been here (if it relates to missionary work).  I have never felt so close to the Spirit or felt inspiration seriously just melt through me and speak through me.  So many times I have opened my mouth and something would come out totally different that what I had intended to say, things that have taught me! My prayer to be more humble and to bless other's lives more: BAM Elder Bednar's talk happened which answered my prayer that from that morning,  My prayer to  be less worreid about myself and how to do it, and BAM Elder Bednar's talk quoted "Your mission: It's not about you", my prayer to have energy one morning when I was really tired, and BAM after I told the Lord I was obedient and went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 6:30 and shortly later I had the most concentration and energy in my life!  My prayers worried for the people I left at home, including a twin sister who I love so much and care so much about, was answered by a comment the same day from an elder in my district: "We are here in the field taking care of the Lord's work,  He is there at home taking care of ours."  I 100% agree and know and believe this!

 My prayer on how I could lift the elders more around me, and BAM the answer came isntantly to shake all of their hands, look them in the eye and tell them that they're great and I appreciate them.  It worked.  It always does when we follow the Spirit.  I love that feeling.  I want to have that feeling the rest of my life.

 My teachers are incredible too!  I love it.  I love this work so much.

 On Sunday night we had an incredible devotional by some people in the administration of the MTC who talked about revelation. One of my favorite quotes from the fireside was "often times revelation comes in forms of thoughts so familiar and common place and rational and easy to accept that we think it is our own thoughts, it is only when things we would never have come up with get said that we recognize the Spirit.  He in actuality is there speaking to us, all of the time." 

Then after that, we had a rebroadcasted MTC devotional from Elder Bednar which was INCREDIBLE!!!  It was all about the natural man and coming and becoming like Christ who would in situations turn outward, when we, subjected to the natural man would turn inward.  It was another answer to my constant prayers on how to be less selfish and more aware of others and always thinking about them instead of me, and when he said "This mission is not about you!" it stabbed me into my heart because that is the exact thing I wrote at the top of my notebook on the first day, and has continued to be my prayer to be less concerned about myself ever since.

Next, Tuesday night we had a devotional on Mission President's week where there were 10 APOSTLES!!!!!!!!!! It was SO COOL TO SEE and be in  the room with them! Elder Perry spoke and it was a good talk that there will be more info to come from.

I love this Gospel and I love this work.  I love missionary work.  Nothing has made me this happy before in my entire life.  I love blessing others lives and to bring them to know what will make them happy here on earth and in life to come!!

I love it so much!!! I love y'all so much!!! I pray for you always!  I know that I am blessed and I feel your prayers!

 Love,

Sister Fisher

Answers to your questions:

-I dont' get DearElder.com pictures

-I love it if you'd just send me stuff via dearElder.com or mail because I have more time to read it than if you email my ldsaccount

-I've seen HERMANA B three times (SHE LOOKS SOOOOOO GOOD!!! And so happy!), Elder T 3 times (He's GLOWING), Hermana M 3 times, and Hermana H eats everyday at the same time that I do too so I see her A TON!!!  I've even ran into Elder C twice as well! (Tell Sister C he looks GREAT!)

Let the Adventures begin!

I get set apart tonight to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I remember when I first saw my name of  'Sister Fisher' at the top of the missionary papers screen.  I had this  giddy sensation climb through my entire body and I've had missionary black tag envy of everyone around me ever since then. I officially become Sister Fisher for the next 18 months of my life.  I feel so blessed to be able to do this.  I am so grateful for a supportive, strong and faithful family who so lovingly supports me in this decision.  I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who has blessed me so much already in the comfort, inner peace, and strength to combat the fear and doubt that the adversary has plagued me with.  This is His work and I feel so blessed to be one of His hands representing Him in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission.

I love this gospel.  I love my Savior.  I love this work. (And I know that I will be filled with even more love in the up coming next months)

I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.  I am just 30 pages away from finishing it another time all the way through again and without fail it's teachings touch my soul and I have a confirmation of its validity.  I have prayed and have had a witness from the Spirit of its truth. I have faith in the Lord's plan for me.  I know that to develop faith we must act without prior knowledge, expecting the Lord to guide us as he did with the Children of Israel, Lehi’s family, the Jaredites and many others. I know that families can be together forever. I know that temple work and missionary work will bring us more joy than any other work on this earth besides raising our families.  I know that God answers prayers. He answered mine, He answered Joseph Smith’s, and he will answer yours. I know that He loves us perfectly and cares about the details in our lives.

He cared about mine, He cared about my family, and He comforted a mother who was concerned for her daughter. He also comforted a daughter, who was surprised and frustrated when she opened her mission call that it was to a serve at the Utah Salt Lake Center Temple Square Mission, which was only 40 minutes away from where she has been living for the past 3 years, instead of the middle of Europe or Asia. But within 60 seconds of opening her call, He comforted her and empowered her with a love for it, and He has sustained me ever since that day in February. Within those 60 seconds, I became passionate about it, and I didn't have a desire to serve anywhere else than Temple Square now. I know that is where I need to be. And I am grateful to be there.

I know that the Lord can make more out of our lives than we can with our own plan. I know that this is His work. I know that it will only go forward, that the devil will not win even though he will try to slow the work down by making us fear and doubt. I know that we can fight him with our faith overriding his fear.

The scripture that I chose on my plaque is D&C 84:88.  I believe and have faith and trust in what God promises his missionaries: 

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

As I tell my friends,  I'm just going on an Adventure with God by my side- what more could I want? Why should I fear? Let the Adventures begin!

I will LEAVE!!! FINALLY!!!!!

It's been a 6 month process! A long long time to tell everyone that I'm going, and yet still not gone!  But it is slowly happening!

I found missionary shoes, I bought skirts that were long enough and colorful, I packed like crazy, I got shots, read Preach My Gospel, studied my scriptures, went to class and tried to focus on school. (haha)

I was lucky enough to have so many other wonderful friends around me in the same position waiting to go before they served. I had a wonderful ward that supported me and kept me working hard. I had fantastic roommates who loved me and were so patient and heard me complain, and I had fantastic family to back me up too.

In a few days I will LEAVE!!!! FINALLY!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)