30 Degree Heatwave!

This week was such a blur, there's no way it's already Pday again! Classes started up at U of M, so the campus has tons of students walking around now- which is awesome, because we've been able to talk to so many more people! One of those people is Vivian. She's from Columbia and getting her PhD in Linguistics (Espana). We saw her walking on campus and invited her to a spaghetti dinner everyone from institute was going to- and she actually showed up! Whats awesome is almost half the ward served Spanish speaking missions, so people were connecting with her and enjoying using their Espanol (even though her English is perfect). We taught her about the Restoration and she was super excited to read El Libro De Mormon :) Last night it was her birthday, so a member took us and her out to dinner and then we had Friday Night Activity with the ward. Everyone adores Vivian, and she adores them right back! 

Laura is still AMAZING. And AWESOME news- her father is coming to her baptism!!! The only day he can make it is February 12th, so Laura is willing to move her date back a week so he can come. She's a little sad she can't do it as soon as she wanted to, but knows this could really build their relationship. Last Saturday we went to the Mall of America with her and Emma, a recent convert. It was SO much fun! They goaded me into riding a roller coaster, which I totally got sick from, but it was so worth it haha! Also, our district went to the temple! It was so nice to be able to feel the Spirit so strongly in the Lord's house. And I saw lots of people from Eau Claire who decided to take a trip there! It was a nice mini-reunion. 

Jeanne and Laura went to the Mission President's Fireside, where converts share their conversion stories. Jeanne said how much she loved it and wished they had it every week! Laura went up to Presdient Forbes and told him she would be speaking next month- his reaction was priceless. Usually you get invited to speak, but she is definitely on fire and wants to share her story! So he set it up and now she's set to speak at the one next month! 

We had exchanges this week and I got to work with Sister Woo, who goes home from her mission to Hong Kong next month! It's crazy how in 18 months you can go from speaking no English to being practically fluent. There's still a little bit that gets lost in translation when she talks, but it always ends up being hilarious, so it all works out :) She joined the church when she was 16 with her mom, and they're the only members in her family. But she hopes her example will guide them to the truth. 

Last night we had SEVEN INVESTIGATORS at our activity!!! The work is ROCKIN at U of M! I love this area so much, there are so many people willing to learn about the true church of Christ. Being a missionary is the best ever, especially right here, right now. Hope everyone has a great week! 

Love, Sister Brett 

*Tender mercy: the past few days have been in the 20s and 30s...aka SUMMER!!

I can't feel my face when I'm with you; but I love it!

This week was literally the best week of my whole mission! Our mission president says "A working missionary is a happy missionary." and it is SO true. Even though the weather has been fiercely cold, we`ve been out talking to people on campus every day. God is blessing us SO richly, because almost every person wev`ve talked to wants to learn more about the gospel! There are so many prepared hearts at the U of M! Our progressing investigator Jeanne watched Meet the Mormons with us and she absolutely loved it. She said she related to all the different stories in different ways, and was grateful it helped lessen the stigma of who "Mormons" are. She`s ready to be baptized and is excited to join the church, she just has to tell her super Lutheran family...please send some prayers her way! Laura is doing SO well...she gets her own paragraph!

If Laura has any flaws, we haven't found them yet! She`s so loving and dedicated to helping others and following Christ. She`s been receiving a LOT of family opposition, and her parents are trying to convince her not to leave the Catholic church. She said she wanted an answer from God if she should keep her baptismal date, or push it back until her family is more approving. So we recruited a recent convert (who`s already super close with Laura) to take us on a road trip to the temple! But we wanted it to be a surprise for Laura, so we brought church clothes for her and told her to put them on so we could go on an adventure...she just went with it and didnt ask any questions! When we pulled up to the temple Laura gasped and said, "Its so beautiful!!!". Since shes not a member yet we sat in the pretty waiting room and talked about what she was thinking. (One of those thoughts was that the temple felt like what she thinks Heaven will be like.) We read some scriptures and knelt down to pray, and Laura offered the most beautiful prayer I`ve ever heard. She started out just by saying, "Heavenly Father, I want to know when you want me to be baptized. Please tell me." She paused and we waited with our eyes closed for a long time, and finally she ended her prayer. She got a pretty strong confirmation that she should stick with being baptized February 4th...so she is! She is SO excited! We actually got permission to go to the Mall of America with her today!!! She wants to make invitations for her baptism, she`s so cute!

Highlights of the week: 

Laura cooked us and the elders a total four-course meal 

We got ice cream in -20 degree weather 

Sister Winters and I matched dos times 

The YSA from the Hmong branch came down to surprise me!

Sister Winters: "It`s so cold outside, I can`t feel my face."

Me: "I think The Weeknd wrote a song about that..."

*walking around with her Book of Mormon showing everyone at FHE* Laura: "Look! You see where it says the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith on September 21st? That`s my birthday! It`s a sign!"

Sorry it`s kinda rushed, we`re headed to the Mall of America! Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL week! -Sister Brett

Started from the bottom; now we are here!

This has been the best week ever! I've finally been transferred over to the YSA, and it's AMAZING! My companion Sister Winters is amazing. She's already graduated from BYU in Biophysics and is a super genius...and a Disney princess. And the area is PHENOMENAL. Most of the members are very very recent converts to the church. Last night we had a super fun Friday night activity that we have every week, and our investigator Laura came. We had a lesson with her beforehand and she committed to be baptized February 4th! She's already jumped in with both feet to the church- she's incredible. The fellowshipping here is awesome...for once the peer-pressure is on the POSITIVE side! I'm so excited for this transfer!! Also, P-days are on Saturday here, heads up! 

Since I just got here a couple days ago I don't have a whole lot to write about! The other progressing investigator I've met is Jeanne. She's an OB nurse and super cute! We didn't bring it up in the lesson, but she was actually the one who said she felt like she needed to be baptized. What even!!! So next time we meet with her we're going to set a date!  Her friend from church invited her to come to the activities and her interest in the gospel peaked from there. So always bring your friends to church with you!!! At Missionary Leadership Council we found out that soon all missions will be implementing a new daily schedule. The new schedule allows for more productive time proselyting and less free time, AND it also allows for more SLEEP! #hallelujah I'm super excited about the changes (and kinda pumped to be a guinea pig and test out the new schedule). 

Spiritual thought: Have you ever wondered what your purpose was? Like, where you're staring at the ceiling and thinking, "Why am I even here?" For starters, we are literal children of God, who sent us to this earth to learn and grow and progress to someday become like Him. Life brings a lot of challenges to help us overcome trials and learn how to make decisions (preferably righteous ones). But since we ALL make mistakes and none of us are even close to being perfect, Heavenly Father provided us with a Savior, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins and pains and wrong-doings. Our goal in life is to prepare now to return to the presence of God. Because He loves us, we'll be placed into a degree of glory depending on our acceptance of the Savior and receiving sacred ordinances that He's asked us to partake in. One of those things is baptism by proper priesthood authority, which has been restored to the earth today. To learn more about Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for us, go to mormon.org! :)

Love, Sister Brett

Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab(Happy New Year in Hmong language)

Happy New Year! This week has been a total flashback of the start of my mission...Tuesday night I got a call saying instead of staying in my area for a week, I was going to work in a trio in North Minneapolis aka my very first area!! And one of the sisters serving there is Sister Heiner, one of my MTC companions! So it's a double flashback! It's been so fun to be back where I started, but I feel like a completely different missionary since I actually know what I'm doing now! Well, for the most part haha. The work is still going strong here- the ghetto is flourishing with the gospel! Probably because it's too cold to deal drugs until about May. 

I'm sad to not be in Eau Claire...I miss the 'gators and the ward to death already! But I'm SO excited to be with Sister Winters next week and meet all the sisters in the zone. And I'm SUPER excited to start going on exchanges with them and getting to see how they work in their areas! STL life! YSA life! 

Shout out to the amazing people back in LA who sent the cutest Christmas package- minus the mini bottle of vodka (water? #hopefully) and a Cosmo magazine. I'll just donate them to a less-active or something ;) 

Since this isn't really my area right now, I don't have much missionary work to talk about since the investigators aren't mine! (They're the Lord's anyway!). But we taught a restoration lesson in a homeless shelter to the sister's investigator which was super sketch but actually really cool! The gospel is for EVERYONE! I'm so thrilled for 2017...I can't believe in just 4 months my missionary service will come to an end! But until it does, best believe we'll be finding every soul we're meant to teach!!!

Love, Sister Brett