From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Subject: Transfer 12, Week 2: Trenton Texas, the tulips around us, you never know, Temple cleaning and the Buyer
 

Wow.

The week I have just had might be one of the best/most memorable weeks on my mission. I'm so grateful I just kept holding/hanging on, even just to be able to have this week!

 Texas

In between teaching calling appointments, I received an inbound call from a lovely lady asking for a Book of Mormon! Turns out she lives in T, TEXAS! She's in her 60s and has a Baptist upbringing but said that the reason why we Mormons have so many people call in must surely be because "of who we are. People can just tell."

If you don't know where T, Texas is, it's really really close to ...where my grandparents are from. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and she told me the reason why she doesn't still have a copy is because she gave it to her son before she moved!!! Pretty neat.

 Tulips all around us

In Relief Society, we really felt like our Relief Society Presidency should give a lesson on Miracles (what are they, how have God's children received them in the past, and how do we recognize more of them).

My amazing comp gave this analogy that I love. She said:

 

"If we go through our missions, only looking for tulips (or baptisms), we'll miss out on all the other flowers all around us. When we aren't grateful for all the other flowers God has given us, it's like our own Father giving us this beautiful bouquet of flowers and us turning to Him and saying- I don't want it. There's no tulips in it. Besides, how boring would an all-tulip bouquet be? God gives us all sorts of miracles around us, we just have to be grateful and recognize all of the flowers in our bouquet- or our mission or our life."

This really impacted a lot of sister missionaries, because one of the biggest points about miracles is that we must recognize them as such, and be grateful for the miracles that we do have, no matter how small or how much to us they may resemble "daises", because otherwise we won't receive more.

Then the sisters shared with us so many miracles throughout the week that they were so grateful for, that they wouldn't have recognized before then.

That's my challenge to y'all----- recognize the little things all along the path because you will be happier and the journey won't seem so long before you find your next "tulip". I was sad for too much of my mission because all I'd ever recognize as a miracle was a "tulip", ( a baptism).... Or something else really big. But that's not the case. Heavenly Father gives us all sorts of miracles every single day!

 

You never know
Right before I was about to take an investigator lesson with the Elders from another mission, we received a phone call. Luckily I answered it. It was another sister in our mission who asked us- "Do you know S?" (dear family and friends--- the person Sister O and I taught and loved so much from January-April on my mission who we had to drop teaching because he was so against the Church suddenly/became really anti.) Of course I said, "yes". Then I asked her the exact same question.

Turns out a blessed recently returned missionary who goes to school with him in SLC referred his phone number (EVEN though he said he wasn't interested to talk with missionaries again) to these sisters at General Conference and they called him. Somehow in their conversation they got him to agree to come to the Square again and be taught. MIRACLE. Wow. I couldn't believe my ears when they told me that. Wow. So this Saturday he came to the Square to be taught and shared with them all of his questions and concerns. The sister who called him has been on her mission almost exactly since April and she is a convert to the Church and really can relate to him and help him recognize answers to his prayers because she had a long road towards converting. WOW. Please pray for him!!!

 

Temple cleaning

On Monday a few of us "older" missionaries got to go and clean the Temple. The last time we did it,  I still had a wonderful experience cleaning the front lobby, but this time the experience was even more special. We got to go up to the Solemn Assembly Room and clean off all of the chairs for a meeting. The spirit in that room was amazing. You just walked in, and wow. We sang very quietly the hymn, The Spirit of God. It was a really neat time.
 

The Buyer

The last story of the week comes from my planner. Before the transfer started, I prayed to know what I should put on my planner so that I could use it for the up coming transfer to help those who I've found. The lesson we had that particular day was with a less active member who really just did not know that God valued him. He felt that God loved everyone else, but that somehow just didn't apply to someone like him who had done so much wrong. That was basically what we corrected him on the entirety of the lesson. Every single lesson in Preach My Gospel that we share with people always starts with this absolutely important fact:  God is our loving Heavenly Father.

If we don't believe that, then prophets don't matter,  Ten Commandments- who cares, God's plan - what is the point?   Instead, we should believe that God knows us and loves us. As I came to this conclusion and was saddened by the man's situation, I looked down at my planner and these are the words that I saw that I had cut out from the Ensign and taped there:

What am I worth?The buyer decides if an item is worth the price.

(There's a picture of Christ in the background paying the price for each one of us, buying us, in Gethsemane.)  It's already been paid, we've already been bought. We are already determined worth the price.

The back of the planner is a picture of the universe with this quote "Compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God."

I know that this is true.
There's really nothing left to say today.
Thank you for your prayers,
Love,

Sister Fisher

 

From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Subject: Transfer 12, Week 1: Viola, God loves His Sons and His Daughters, and a New Companion

 Dearest family and friends!

You're probably wondering what the first part of the title today is:   I have been preparing a musical number for the last transfer for a Temple Square Mission Musical Fireside with Sister C from Taiwan who also plays violin, and it was going so great. The piece we've been preparing is the Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia "Impossible" Duet for violin and viola, and so I just arranged it for 2 violins (my music theory teachers should be proud once again that I still remember all of that).  BUT, then the Lord called Sister C Outbound to a mission that is waiting for her this transfer this week, so I thought we no longer would play it, but the duet is still on the program. So I've been praying that we'd find someone else to play it with me.  Then comes Sister M.  Sister M from Taiwan, who is a VIOLA PLAYER and has ALREADY played the duet before!!! WOW. So no arrangement needed necessary! We're playing the original!!!! That is NOT a coincidence AT ALL! And then the next question-- where to find a viola for her to use? Well the new senior missionary couple who is serving in the office just happens to own a viola and will let her borrow it all transfer! WOW. The hand of the Lord in our lives   - He cares about what we care about.

The quote from my 4th comp, Sister D, comes to mind:

"What matters to you, matters to Him, because YOU matter to Him!"

Amazing. I'm still dumbfounded that all the details have worked out.

From that, comes the lesson that God loves His Sons and His Daughters.

Somehow, I'm writing Transfer 12 at the top of my emails now, and therefore I'm asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting for all the sister missionaries (all the "departing" sisters always speak before they leave.)

My topic is particularly challenging but I've really prayed about it, and there was just so much said about it from this last Conference.

So voila! I've had a few requests for it so here it is:
-----------------------------------------------

My topic today is:

"Through the infinite fairness and love of God, all men and women were given equal partnership, gifts, blessings and potential through priesthood ordinances and spiritual gifts."

I have really prayed to know what we need to hear about this topic.

I feel inspired to focus on  the partnership of men and women, and that only by working together in unity, we will accomplish God’s Plan for His children.

Carole M. Stephens said this last week in General Conference:

“As surely as we know that God’s love is  “alike”   for His sons and His daughters, We also know that He did not create men and women exactly the same…Sacred responsibilities are given to each gender.  As men and women, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters of God, we move forward together. This is our opportunity, our responsibility, and our blessing. This is our destiny—to prepare the kingdom of God for the return of the Savior.”

I will focus on three major points today. . . .

·         First, we must know what we must accomplish together.

·         Second, we must know what our unique roles are, and focus more on what we must accomplish together and less on our differences

·         And third, we must respect both men and women, and see all our brothers and sisters as who they can become, and help them become that.

Sister Stephens said:

"There exists today a great need for men and women to cultivate respect for each other as sons and daughters of God …

We all need each other. Sons of God need daughters of God, and daughters of God need sons of God."

We are here to move forward God’s plan, and God’s work TOGETHER.

Elder Christofferson in his recent Conference talk, warns us that one way the Adversary prevents this is: 

“By blurring feminine and masculine differences, we lose the distinct, complementary gifts of women and men that together produce a greater whole.”

When men and women become the same, we lose our effectiveness and our divine roles and spiritual gifts God has given us to fulfill His great Plan of Happiness.

 

2. So what is our divine role that the Adversary is trying to prevent us from playing to destroy the plan?

 There are unique roles that we as women can only fulfill. It was established that way from the very beginning. If we don’t fulfill those roles, no one else can.

 It’s not that men or women aren’t smart enough, or aren’t capable enough to do so, or won’t receive blessings to help fulfill other roles, but it is because God needed both genders to help in His great plan.

God delegated different roles of that plan so that the work would be effectively done and that His children could come back to Him again. Life is hard enough. To be able to be truly happy, successful and find fulfillment, we must put first in our lives the roles God needs us to perform. If we don’t, the plan will be frustrated.

Elder Christofferson said in the same General Conference talk:

“Most sacred is a woman’s role in the creation of life. We know that our physical bodies have a divine origin and that we must experience both a physical birth and a spiritual rebirth to reach the highest realms in God’s celestial kingdom. Thus, women play an integral part (sometimes at the risk of their own lives) in God’s work and glory “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

We see this effect all around us. Elder Dallin Oaks in his General Conference talk gave these shocking statistics:· “The United States now has the lowest birthrate in its history,2 and in many European Union nations and other developed countries, birthrates are below the level necessary to maintain their populations.

·  •In America, the percentage of young adults ages 18 to 29 who are married fell from 59 percent in 1960 to 20 percent by 2010.4 The median age for first marriage is now at its highest level in history: 26 for women and almost 29 for men.

·  •In many countries and cultures (1) the traditional family of a married mother and father and children is coming to be the exception rather than the rule, (2) the pursuit of a career instead of marriage and the bearing of children is an increasing choice of many young women, and (3) the role and perceived necessity of fathers is diminishing.”

 

There are a few ways the Adversary has tried to distract, change, and destroy our role in God’s plan. Elder Christofferson names them:

“1. The devaluation of marriage and of motherhood and homemaking as a career.

2. Sexual immorality and of revealing dress reinforcing the lie that a woman’s sexuality is what defines her worth.

3. A third area of concern comes from those who, in the name of equality, want to erase all differences between the masculine and the feminine. Often this takes the form of pushing women to adopt more masculine traits—be more aggressive, tough, and confrontational.”

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

Think of just about every movie or modern book you’ve read before you came on your mission. Every single woman fits one of those lies Satan is trying to tell.

The Former Young Women General President Margaret Nadauld taught:

“The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.”

What is preventing each one of us, the 200 women in the room, from using our divine gifts to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man?

What are you putting before marriage and family and building God’s kingdom after your mission?

(Me --Share personal story in the music school.)

3. Lastly, we must see those around us, our brothers and sisters as who they can become.

(Me share Story: the reason why my Dad married my mom was because “she believed in me that I could become all that I wanted to be.”)

I really know that the reason my Dad became who he was is because my mother believed in him and helped him fulfill his role in God’s plan.

As women of Temple Square, even here on our mission, but even afterwards, we have to fulfill our purpose in God’s plan. And we must inspire those sons of God, and other daughters of God around us to fulfill theirs as well. It is the only way that God’s Plan can go forward.

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

My new companion is a Kiwi! Her name is M, not Peewee.
Our new apartment is crazy nice, I sleep so well now, it's worth the price!

Our main assignment is on the Square, we're going to work really hard and show all how much we care!

I'm going to endure well to the end, share my testimony how Christ is my friend.
I love this work but now I'm done, being a missionary is the best- it's much, much fun!

I love this work and feel so blessed to be a part of it!

Love you all,

Sister Fisher

P.S.---- Dad, thanks for your letter this week. It had exactly what I needed to read in it!

 From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, October 14, 2013
Subject: Transfer 11, Week 6: Kiwi's, Sunshine in my soul, A Baptism, 100 Pushups and a Violin Dream come true

G'day, G'day family and friends!

"What a bizarre title!"   I know you're thinking, " Kiwis? In October?" Well transfers happened and my new comp is a Kiwi!!! She's not green.... she's just from New Zealand! (New Zealand-ers are called Kiwis). 
Her name is Sister M and she'll be in her fourth transfer.

Haha. My new p-day will be Wednesday--- so write me! :)

I'm still serving also in Relief Society, which I love, and no longer in Guest Services.

Sister S and I went to a BAPTISM!!!!!!! So exciting! First one we got to attend in a long time.  The funniest thing happened though, we came super early like we are supposed to, and the elders told us that their musical number cancelled on them last minute. Another baptism was happening (a nice problem to have-right?) and one of the elders was playing the violin for it, and actually he happened to be an elder I took an investigator lesson with last August 2012, at the beginning of both his and my mission, and he played the violin at that baptism which was my first baptism on my mission (way back with Sister C)!

So I said hi and he remembered me and we talked real fast, and then I asked if I could borrow it or he could come play for the baptism in 30 minutes.  But he just gave the violin to me and I just went in the hymn book and found a hymn and made up an arrangement (my theory teachers should be proud at this point) and BAM! Performed it at a baptism. :) I realized then and there that I had finally accomplished a dream of mine- to play violin/a musical number at one of my investigator's baptisms. Wow. That was cool.

The baptism was so fantastic. The young man's face after he was baptized was so neat. He just smiled so big and was just so full of light.

There was one talk given by one of the elders, who gave a story that really made me think. He was sitting in Youth Conference/EFY (Especially For Youth) in Australia, and he and about 20 people were all surrounded in a circle. The teacher held out a lot of chocolate and all of the teenagers were really excited to have some of it. The teacher then called on a large, strong rugby player young man in the circle to come to the center. The teacher told the conditions for everyone to have the chocolate that they wanted. "How many of you want chocolate?" All the hands went up in the air. "For each of you that want chocolate, this young man has to do 10 push ups." The young man looked confident but still half of the hands went down from the circle. 10 hands remained. Each person looked at their friend and thought- he can handle it. Besides I'll give him some of mine when he's finished. The teacher said, "Okay, do 100 push ups." The young man did the first 10. The first person got chocolate. Easy. No worries. He did 10 more. More chocolate given away. And 10 more. After the first 30, sweat started to form and his face started to tense. He was in pain. Several of the friends put their hands down. But the teacher said something interesting, "Whether you take the chocolate or not, it doesn't matter. The price is still 100 pushups." The friends in the circle watched as their brave friend, who was in a lot of pain slowly finished the pushups with tears coming from his eyes. Some of the friends in the circle asked if they could help him do the pushups, or if he could do the pushups from his knees for it to be easier. But the teacher said again, "It doesn't matter. The price is still 100 pushups."

At the end of the parable, the teacher got up and said: "Christ paid much more than 100 pushups for each one of us. But just like the chocolate, whether we accept His gift or not, He still had to pay our part for us."

 For me it was a shocking imagery of truth. It reminds me of D&C 19: 15-19:

"15. Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.

 16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

 17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

 18 Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

 19 Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men."

We either take Christ's gift, or we don't. But it's already been paid for. We can choose to pay justice ourselves all over again and suffer what Christ did, or we can learn from it, move on and move forward with love and gratitude for what Christ did for us so we don't have to, and simply repent.

We gave a tour today with two men. It was kind of an overcast day, cold and cloudy. The two men were high school friends, now 10 or 15 years later. One of them was a returned missionary and the other was his non-member friend who had always respected and admired him from afar. And they were at Temple Square. They were on their way from Los Angeles to see another of their friends in Idaho and made a stop there. The non-member friend had just agreed to hear the missionary lessons. At the end of the tour, we testified of Jesus Christ. As I was giving one of the most powerful testimonies on my mission to this man about how the gospel changes us because of the Atonement of Christ, through the window the clouds parted and the sun crept through, breaking through, bringing such bright sunshine on my face and on us as I testified. The Christus Statue was lit up with this sunlight that moment, too. It really was magical.

 I love this gospel so much. I know that Jesus Christ paid that price for me. He paid the "100 pushups" already. He didn't cheat it or give up or push it on someone else to do. He "paid it in absolute full" so that I could return to live with Him as a part of God's family again. He did the same thing for you too. It's something that I can hardly imagine, and yet it's something that I know.

Love,

Sister Fisher

 

From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013
Subject: Transfer 11, Week 5: General Conference, Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith, 10 Brazilians, 3 new investigators, and 57 children of God later

 Dearest Friends and Family,

First I want to testify that this is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. He is the head of it. This is His work. This is His gospel. He hears all of our prayers, concerns, doubts, confusion and questions.

If you were able to listen to the General Conference talks last weekend given by His chosen Prophets, Seers, and Revelators, you would not deny that they addressed the issues that we are concerned about right now. Each General Conference is different. That's why we have it every 6 months, because our loving Heavenly Father cares so much that He wants us to be uplifted by receiving answers to our questions and concerns.

Many of you wonderful friends and family of mine prepared me this week with talks and quotes and scriptures to uplift me before Conference, specifically for any negative people that we would encounter. I am so happy to say that I did not meet a single one of them. A blessing. We had an absolutely marvelous and miraculous General Conference experience with the amazing members we met on the Square those 48 hours. . . .

 

As a woman in the church, as a Sister Missionary at Temple Square I just want to share my testimony:  I know that this is a divine work. I know that we do not and will not understand completely everything in this life. But I do know that our Heavenly Father loves us all so very much, He understands and knows us better than we know ourselves. I know that each child of God has infinite worth in His eyes. I know that no blessing will ever be denied any one of us, no necessary experience for our growth and progression and development will not be given, as long as we support our leaders, be obedient, live faithfully, keep the commandments and trust our Heavenly Father. As the Title Page of the Book of Mormon says,

"And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ."

I love this gospel. I love it. I know it is true. I know we don't have all the answers, but we must trust our leaders. We must trust our Heavenly Father. We must show compassion for those around us whose faith is being tried, who are tired, who are impatient with their limited understanding in this life, who do not understand fully their purpose and importance in the Plan. We must love them. We must acknowledge their concerns, and we must place our arms around their shoulders and if we don't know all the answers, we simply say, "I'm not sure. But I do know that your Father loves you and knows you, and knows what is best for you and that all things will be okay."

As Elder Holland has said for a year, and as President Uchtdorf addressed us on Saturday--- you should forever doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.

We set a high goal this General Conference for member referrals, so that we can work very hard the next 7 weeks teaching and spreading the Gospel. The Lord was so kind to us. We worked hard, harder than I've worked in a Conference before, but the miracles from the Lord were totally unrelated to our work. I am so grateful for those blessings. We got (with just me and Sister S) 57 referrals, 3 new investigators and  a few little miracles too!! (And I got to see and be uplifted by some of you whom I love so dearly!!!)

At the end of Conference, at about 5pm on Sunday afternoon, we were teaching this man who was in town for business and was shocked and amazed by how many members there were faithfully going to General Conference and were excited to hear a living Prophet today.  We kept teaching him. He told us he wants to be baptized into such a church. As we were doing so, a random lady saw Sister S's flag on her tag, and said "Brasileira!" and shuffled through her purse and pulled out what seemed to me was a grocery list, but on further investigation, it was a list of names and phone numbers of people she loved and knew in Brazil.....It was the answer to our prayer. We had prayed specifically all Conference weekend for Portuguese-speakers for Sister S to teach. What a miracle!

In Guest Services, when we covered there on Saturday, a man called in with questions and wanting his girlfriend to learn more. We will call her this week.

 

The work is moving forward. Nothing except our agency will stop the Lord's work from going forward.

Love you all,

Sister Fisher

From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, September 30, 2013
Subject: Transfer 11, Week 4: Pears from an Apple tree, By the voice of the Lord, Brazilian Miracles- 10 questions, Enrichment, and In the Strength of the Lord

 Hello family and friends!

The title of my email today is pretty mysterious and scattered- just like my week!

First, my roommate - Sister R  shared an experience that I just had never thought of with me this week. Her investigator is a faithful member, pays his tithing, attends all his meetings etc. The only problem? He's not actually a member yet. Why? Because he keeps saying he hasn't gotten an answer if this church is true from God. She finally asked him, "Well how did you know to marry your wife?"  He replied ,"Well, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I loved her, she's great and she makes me better."   "Okay. And how did you know to study your major in school?" He replied, "Well, it just seemed like the right thing to do- or the only fit for me. The only logical thing to do. It made sense."  She said, "Okay. So basically the way God has always shown you what to do in your life has been pretty much the same way- it seems like the right thing to do, the only fit, and what makes sense. So do you believe that when God has always shown you answers to your prayers one way, that He's going to all the sudden answer you in another way, when all along the way He's shown you has worked? Are you expecting a pear from an apple tree?"

I loved that!!! Think back, all of y'all.... How has God always answered you in times of need, in times of great anxiety and pressure.... For things really important. Has it been a pattern? So when you are seeking an answer for the current thing in your life that is causing you much anxiety--- are you expecting "a pear from an apple tree"? Are you expecting the Lord to show you or answer you in a completely different way than He has already done? He knows you the best, and knows what way to help you that you will respond the best to!

In my scripture study this week, I was reading in Enos in the Book of Mormon, and came across these verses, where he said:

4. And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

 5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

While studying these verses, I concluded that God spoke to Enos and said those words because Enos was a prophet. Because he was special. I felt that that's not how God could communicate to me usually. I might hear a voice, but probably not, like the prophets do...or like Enos did.

But after I read what Enos says later:

"And while I was thus struggling in the spirit, behold, the voice of the Lord came into my mind again, saying..."

So question: Was God really talking through an actual voice? Or was it through thoughts of the Holy Spirit, through impressions, through feelings and emotions?

YES is the answer. "The voice of the Lord came into my mind again" AKA- how he had heard the Lord's voice previously.

I realized that most often God speaks to even his apostles and prophets the same way He speaks to you and me. Therefore--- PAY ATTENTION to the thoughts that you have. WRITE THEM DOWN! Ask God specific questions. You will get answers! Write them down. They are scripture received for YOU, from Him! Write them down. That is exactly how Enos received his answer from God! 

Brazilian miracles:

 Our Zone Leaders have us on this crazy and super amazing training program that their Mission President in their Outbound 12 weeks they had in another mission made them do. It's crazy, but it works:  Here it is -- All the amazing miracles I've shared the last 4 weeks, yep..... is because we sacrificed for the miracles. We prayed for the miracles. We asked for them. We studied miracles and faith and diligence and work for them. I almost wish I had studied this program my entire mission. But anyway.... One of the 23 things we have to do every single day is extend powerful commitments to all and promise specific blessings and pray to find and teach families. Another of those commitments is that we have to respond to giving every single tour request. Therefore, if we don't have a legitimate reason, then we have to drop whatever you're doing and give the tour anyway.

Miracle 1: We dropped what we were doing and gave an English tour in the middle of study time. We walked up the stairs and the sisters at the desk introduced us instead to a lovely couple from Brazil who had just walked in and requested a Portuguese tour (my comp speaks Portuguese fluently). It was amazing. Wow. They cried through God's Plan and wanted the Gospel for their children and grandchildren. They wanted a Book of Mormon. They wanted missionaries to teach them, and wanted us to keep in touch with them. Because of our 23 commitments each day, we promised specific blessings and prayed to find families- oddly enough!!!....we found a whole family TREE! They said they want this in their lives. 

Miracle 2: We were very busy that day, but we dropped what we were doing and took another Portuguese tour. When we walked to the West Gate where the visitor was waiting, we saw one man who had been standing in the cold waiting for 20 minutes for us to come. He had prepared a list of 10 questions that he had for us. He does business with the LDS and frequently comes to Salt Lake City.  He speaks fluent Portuguese and English, and yet he waited for us to come for 20 minutes, even though he could've had an English tour right away. I really know that God had prepared us to take him around. Every concern we had planned for in the last two weeks, were pretty much his questions.....Like, " Why do bad things happen to good people? How do I receive answers to my prayers? What is the difference between the LDS and the Catholic faith? How do I balance logic and faith? How do I balance my spiritual and education/professional lives? What does Christ expect of me?" etc. etc. He gave us his business card and told us that he would love to keep in touch with us within the first 5 minutes, without us asking. That has never happened in my whole mission--- someone else giving me their information before I ask. Turns out he's staying with an LDS family right now for a few weeks and they gave him a Book of Mormon three days before- and he's already in 2 Nephi! We gave him a Portuguese copy. The tour lasted for 2 hours. We played Elder Holland's last conference talk--- wow. It answered so many of his questions and concerns. SUPER MIRACLE.

We also had our Relief Society Enrichment which was a huge success. We were very blessed. We talked about the different aspects of stress-- physical, emotional, social, mental, spiritual. As a missionary, you are stretched in all of those ways simultaneously which is probably why growth happens in every area of your life for a solid 18 or 24 months. It was everything those sisters said they needed to hear.

Here are 21 generic ways to diminish stress. 

1. Pray fervently and often, alone and with your companion.
2. Recognize the hand of the Lord in all things (good & the bad)
3. Identify and memorize comforting scriptures
4. Focus on the needs of those you are serving
5. Sing
6. Remember what you’ve learned
7. Serve from your strengths
8. Befriend your companion
9. Examine your expectations- are they realistic? Is that what the Lord expects?
10. Exercise
11. Don’t try and control the things you cannot
12. Remember the importance of rest and relaxation
13. Take a short break
14. Be kind to yourself
15. Refocus on gratitude
16. Take one step at a time
17. Help someone else
18. Talk back to negative thinking
19. Focus on what needs to be decided right now
20. Remind yourself of what you do well
21. Ask “What am I supposed to learn from this?”

On from the temporal/physical devotional today to the spiritual one---
This week had been a bit hard for me. Not sure completely why, it was just hard. I was praying to know what to do because things just weren't helping. I even got sick Friday and Saturday, and being a sick missionary is just one of the hardest things that can happen--- you want to work but your body won't let you.

In our mission's study of the Book of Mormon, I came across these verses: (Mosiah 10:10-11)

"And it came to pass that we did go up in the strength of the Lord to battle...Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength."

The spirit whispered through these verses exactly what I needed, deep into my heart---- "Sister Fisher...Are you going to finish your mission in the strength of the Lord? Or are you going to depend on your own strength, on your own talents or skills or health or energy? Or are you going to learn the lesson you keep needing to be reminded of--- to rely on my grace. My enabling power. My grace is sufficient for all men?"

 This is the question I'd like to ask all of y'all today.... Are you going to try and endure to the end of life on your own strength? Or are you going to rely on the Lord? Guess who won that battle? The Nephites. Because the Lord's strength will always be greater than our own arm, our own abilities, our own skills, our own vision, our own capacity and our own energy and strength.

Don't wait until the end of your life "mission" to the learn that lesson.

Love you all tremendously. If you haven't written down your questions for General Conference - DO IT NOW!

Love,

Sister Jessica Fisher

 

 

From: Jessica Fisher [mailto:jessica.fisher@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2013
Subject: Transfer 11, Week 3: Beehive House Miracle, Color-Coded, Miracles with Israeli's/Indians/Japanese, and a story from Russia

 Family and Friends!

Color-Coded? Maybe you've heard of "the Color Code" personality test/philosophy. Everyone who knew me in college knows that I was obsessed with the "Code", and my roommates and I would analyze everyone with the Color Code according to our interests and motives. That was just for fun, but this time we learned more about it to effect our missionary work and relationships- It was awesome. Well we had the man who thought it all up come and visit our mission and bring new insights into our companionships! It was amazing. And hilarious. He identified accurately and precisely the strengths and the weaknesses of each color. And we all had a good laugh about it. My companion right now growing up was pretty solidly Red (26), White (14) and Blue (10). I'm Blue (25) and White (22). All the sudden it makes sense why sometimes we just don't see things the same! For example, in a really good tour we were analyzing what went well and I told Sister S, "Start thinking of experiences that you've had in your life that really impacted you and your testimony that you can share with the guests so then you can bridge to teaching doctrines and pioneer history".  And I remember that she just kind of looked at me confused and said, "I can't think of any experiences".  And I remember I was just dumbfounded because I thought it was so obvious and that I've had so many of those experiences in my life. Well "Reds" are all about getting from point A to point B  - energy/effectiveness/efficiency etc, and use facts and data and reasoning.  "Blues" are about how you feel and expound on things, and we talk a lot, and we use feeling words and imagery and not so much facts. EUREKA! Now I understand why we teach differently. It's not that my way is more effective, it's just different. We both have different strengths and weaknesses. The Color Code helped us a lot learn to balance and view the world a little different. It was an amazing experience. (Maybe by all of my emails it's apparent that I'm a "Blue" by how much I describe and how long they are....haha)

As for the Beehive House Miracle. . .  I'm not in the Beehive House this transfer so I thought it was so interesting that when we were on our way to the grocery store walking quickly during our dinner break to go grab a few things, this couple from England taps us on the shoulder and the man says, "My wife has a few questions, can you help us please?" (OF COURSE WE CAN!!! I've never had someone come up to me like that and ask if I can share the Gospel with them quite like this that happened today!) They asked questions about the missionaries, like why we go, how do we know where we go, do we get to choose where we go? And what do we do, etc. They explained that they are now in the end stages of their lives and are just "searching for answers".   We got to bear our testimonies that this Gospel had changed our lives so much, had blessed our families and helped us through hard times such that we wanted to share it with as many people as we could. I then felt prompted to just bluntly ask, "Have you ever met missionaries before?" And they said- "No."  "Would you like to?"  They looked at each other and said, "Sure!". So as the unprepared missionaries that we were on our way to the grocery store, all we had was a receipt to write on (no referral card or anything!) and we jotted down their phone number, address, email address etc. and said good bye, and that we were excited to call them in a few weeks to share more with them. We walked into the Beehive House to see which sisters took them around and told those sisters what happened! It was a neat experience.

The biggest miracle of all was this motorcoach that we took to host. We were taking just 5 people around Temple Square in 40 minutes. We planned to take them to the Handcart Monument, then the Assembly Hall (the church), then the Temple rock for a look at the Temple, and finally end at the Tabernacle. We planned to teach "Who is God?" It was amazing. These people were so prepared. It consisted of one young woman in her 20s from Japan, a couple from India, another couple and their 3 year old son from India/California. They were all delightful! I love them so much! (and not all motor coaches are quite that delightful all the time.) We took them to the Handcart to describe the pioneers, and they just flooded us with questions. Then we walked into the church and described how services are held and how the Bishop is a voluntary man from the congregation who assigns us topics to speak on each Sunday. I shared that the week before my grandfather unexpectedly passed away, I was asked to speak in church the last Sunday I was in Texas (before I flew back to school) on "Enduring through hard times."  I told them how that was totally inspired for what would happen the following weekend. The Spirit was so strong. We walked to the front of the Temple and testified that we knew that families would be together again and that I'd see my grandfather again and how my grandparents knew that they'd be together again in heaven as a husband and wife because of the Temple. (And thanks to some extra help on the other side from Papa.) The Spirit was so strong. We walked in the Tabernacle and almost on cue, they asked about the Book of Mormon and we got to share about it. I testified that it was written to help us overcome the challenges of our day and help our families! We shared this scripture: "Condemn me not because of mine ^aimperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." in Mormon 9, and how Mormon saw our day and compiled the stories we would need to know and have in our day to get through this time period and not be destroyed like the Nephites were of old.

Then a change of plans happened and we walked quickly to end the tour at the Christus Statue. As we were walking there, another couple asked to join our tour and we of course said, "Sure!". We got to the Christus Statue and the Spirit there touched everyone, even though none of them believed in Christ originally. We testified of Christ and invited them to allow us to call them when they returned home, and to have the missionaries come visit them and share more with them about these things including a prophet today. They asked about the Book of Mormon and we gave each person a copy because they wanted to read it. The couple who joined asked more questions and we told them we could talk with them more at the end. We received the information from everyone on that motorcoach. It was a miracle. After we dropped them off at their bus, we turned around and started to talk to the other couple who had joined the tour on their own at the end...... and we then found out they were from Israel, JERUSALEM. OH BOY! (We're not allowed to teach doctrine/preach to people from countries like Israel who don't have religious freedom... we're only allowed to answer questions... But they had heard us giving the group tour to the other people at the Christus Statue -- before we knew who they were --  and then they had many questions.) It was really cool to see how the Lord sometimes plants people in our path even though we kept the rules and were legal about everything, but He still allowed them an opportunity to hear this glad message.

 Last story of all. The moral of it is this: The Lord knows better than we do. It's our job to just do what He asks, when He asks.

One sister who came back from her 12 week Outbound had a returned mission president and his wife tell her this story:

They received a mission call from the 12 apostles.  They had requested to go on a mission within the United States, but the mission call said that they were called to be a Mission President in {another country}. She said, "We did not want to go there, because we had specifically asked to be called to the United States, so we returned the call back to the Brethren. We received the exact same mission call in the mail again with a voice message afterwards saying, 'It is your choice whether to accept your mission call or not. However, it is not our choice where you ought to serve. There is no other place except that country where the Lord wants you to be. Ponder over these things and reply when you are ready.' So that's what they did. A few months later they accepted their mission call and a few months after that, they were on a plane to that country. Within the first month, they were asked to speak at a prison there in that country. Neither of them spoke the language, but an interpreter would be there with them. The Mission President's wife had to use the restroom before the meeting started, and on her way back from the restroom, she lost her way and forgot where in the prison she was supposed to be for the meeting. She opened what appeared to be a familiar looking door to the hallway that she needed,  but after walking forward for a while, it turned out to be the resting chambers of many of the inmates. They started yelling at her in their language, but she understood nothing they said. Noticing that this woman wasn't responding, one of the inmates went up to her to try and explain that she was not in the right room. He tapped her on the shoulder and tried to explain in English. When the woman turned around, she saw the face of her son! She hadn't seen him for 10 years, and had never heard from him, and did not know if he was dead or alive, and had prayed every day for 10 years to know and to be at peace. The Lord had led this man and woman to a far off country on their mission, to answer their prayers,  and it was their job to just trust Him.

I know that Heavenly Father loves us. He knows us. He knows our situations. He knows our challenges. He knows our personalities! (I believe that He is all of the strengths of each "Color"!)

It is just our job to develop our weaknesses into those strengths, rely on His Son's grace and strength, forgive ourselves for not being perfect, forgive those around us too, and lift all of those around us and trust in God.
(PS.  Only 11 days before General Conference! Do you have your list of questions that you're seeking revelation for ready? If not, think it out and write it down! That is how revelation is received.... BY ASKING QUESTIONS!)

Love,
Sister Fisher

P.S.S. We also had in Relief Society the head PR lady of the Church to come speak about professionalism and representing the Lord and how to answer hard questions for General Conference. It was awesome!  (P.S.S.S-if you didn't see it above---- 11 days before General Conference! Do you have your list of questions that you're seeking revelation for ready? If not- think it out and write it down! That is how revelation is received. ..BY ASKING QUESTIONS!)