Can you spell M-I-R-A-C-L-E?

I don't have a lot of time to email today! Transfers were great- Sister Winters and I are staying together, and so are the elders, but we got another set of elders! So now there's six missionaries running around campus...we're taking over U of M! We also have 3 new baptismal date-sets!! Literally every single day we've seen miracle after miracle...Heavenly Father has prepared so many people to hear the gospel! 

We taught Jeanne about the Word of Wisdom and she loved it! She's a nurse, so she understands the health benefits, but she also loves her coffee to get through overnight shifts and her glass of wine at the end of the day haha...but she said she would give it all up! Her biggest concern was what her family would say, but she told them she was getting baptized and they were fine! They were a little sad it wasn't the Lutheran church, but as long as she's happy and improving her life, they're all for it. 

Vivian is doing so well! It turns out one of the students in her program is a member of the church, so they've been talking a lot about the gospel together. He's married and has been telling her how much the Church has blessed his family- she really loves how family-centered we are. She agreed to be baptized next month! We watched Meet the Mormons with her and a few of our other investigtors and she cried- some of the stories were really relatable to her and gave her a lot of strength. She's the best!

Laura has officially been a member for a whole week! She is SO amazing. And going on a hecka lot of dates. She's embraced the gospel so incredibly, the ward is so lucky to have her! Hope everyone has a great week, Happy Valentine's Day! 

Quote of the week: "Oh my gosh, I'm the worst. I'm like the white guy who told Rosa Parks to go to the back of the bus." -Sister Winters 

Love, Sister Brett

Dunked!!!

Today was AMAZING!!! Laura was baptized!!! Everything went smoothly and was relatively stress-free haha. Except for the fact that the hot water wasn't working in the font, so after we filled it up we boiled three giant cauldrons of water and poured it in before she got in...at least she`ll have a funny baptism story to tell! Tomorrow at church she will receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and be confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I am so grateful that the priesthood authority of God, which was lost centuries ago through apostasy, was restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Now we can baptize and confer the Holy Ghost through God's authority and into His Son`s true and living church! Three of our investigators came to the baptism and said they were excited for theirs!

This week was such a spiritual high! During accounting our district leader asked us what we were struggling with this week, and we couldn't find a single thing that we were stressing out about. We keep finding great investigators, theyve all been showing up to church and activities, and a majority of them have asked US to be baptized (not the other way around for the first time!). We keep waiting around for something bad to happen, because there's no way things could be consistently going this well! Transfer announcements are coming up Monday, so hopefully nothing crazy happens and Sister Winters and I stay together! 

We had zone conference on Friday and it was SO great! There were three zones with us, so I got to see some of my companions! *Shoutout to Sister Peterson (who I was with over a year ago now! #throwback), Sister Xiong, and Sister Wilcox!* Somebody said something that I really loved, and it was, "Its through obedience that we gain knowledge." It made me think of John 7:17 where Jesus says (talking about Heavenly Father), "If any do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Basically, if we want answers, we have to do what God has asked of us. Its by experience that we gain the testimony that those commandments bring us true joy and happiness. We`ll never know if we dont try! So prove it for yourself- follow the teachings of Jesus Christ and see if your life changes for the better- its the only way we can know of the truth! 

Last PDay we went to the zoo and ran into the Eau Claire missionaries and some of the members from the Hmong branch! It was fun seeing them again! Then we went to a U of M basketball game. This area is the best!

The Church is True; the Book is Blue!!!!

I could swear Saturday was 3 days ago, but I guess it's already PDay again! #nocomplaints. This week was PACKED- it was awesome! Heavenly Father has been blessing us with SO many prepared hearts. From the start of the week we've gotten referral after referral, new investigator after new investigator! It's insane! We spend a good part of our day contacting people and walking around campus talking to students. There's such a melting pot of nationalities here, so our teaching pool is pretty culturally diverse! A teaching missionary is a happy missionary, which explains why Sister Winters and I are on Cloud 9. If you'd told me I'd ever teach the Restoration to a group of people on a public transit bus, I would think I'd have gone crazy. But I've come to feel such a deep personal love for the gospel that I'm more concerned for people's eternal welfare than I am about looking stupid (good thing, cuz missionaries look stupid a lot of the time, haha!). 

LAURA`S BAPTISM IS NEXT SATURDAY! I am SO excited!!! She's been inviting everyone and telling every person she meets that she's joining the church. She decided this week that if her dad really cared about coming, he would come on the day she felt ready to be baptized, so instead of pushing it back, she's sticking with her original date. Family opposition is so hard, but she's overcoming it like a champ. All things are possible through Christ, who strengthens us! We taught Jeanne about tithing and the importance of helping build up the Kingdom of God on the earth. When we started the lesson she had some concerns about it, but by the end after the Spirit had touched her, she saw what a blessing paying tithing was and committed to be a full-tithe payer after she's baptized! She told us she feels ready and wants to make that step now- she just has to tell her family. I'm so excited for her! 

A new investigator we're teaching now is SUCH a crazy miracle. He's been taught by the missionaries for 2 years, but a couple months ago he told them he wasn't ready to join the church because he was afraid of the persecution he would get, so he stopped meeting with them and told them not to contact him, that he would get in touch when he was ready. So we had no clue who this guy was, but his name and info popped up under "New Referral" in our Area Book (which was a totally fluke because he's not a referral OR new, so his name shouldn't have been there). So we reach out and contact him, having no idea about his history with past lessons, and he said he wanted to meet as soon as possible! So in walks the sweetest kid with this bow tie and loafers and dressed all fancy, and we have this amazing lesson with him and he tells us all about his past and why he hasn't joined the church, even though he believes it's true. He said the past 2 years he just hadn't connected with any of the elders or sisters, but he felt like Sister Winters and I were the ones to help him finally commit to be baptized despite his fears about what his friends or family will say. There's another hurdle in his desire to be baptized that involves changing something for the rest of his life. He knows it's not right, but he's afraid those tendencies won't go away, even after he's baptized. When he opened up the Spirit just filled the room- all three of us were crying. He has SO much faith and knows things will work out, either in this life or the next. He's AMAZING! 

Being in a YSA ward can only mean one thing....DRAMAAAAA. Which is all fun and games until it involves both of your investigators- who both are dating the SAME GUY IN THE WARD. Which can only end one way- badly. So we're low key stressing about how that whole situation is going to turn out. We're in the process of trying to play matchmaker and find someone else for both of them...it's a struggle. But the Lord will work it all out! 

This week was also exchanges! Sister Ching came to my area and we worked here! She's from Los Angeles, so we spent 90% of the time reminiscing haha. I love getting to spend time with different sisters throughout the transfer- being an STL is the best! 

Funny story: So we go out contacting and give away all our Book of Mormons, and then we meet this AMAZING single mom who we feel really strongly needs a BoM. But we didnt have any to give her, except for the personal copy I use that I've been writing notes in and marking for a good chunk of my mission. It was probably against better judgment, but I gave her my copy hoping I'd get it back eventually! But we set up a return appointment with her and she said she'd been reading the highlighted parts and they really touched her. So hopefully there will be more to report on next week! 

*Quotes of the week*

Random guy on campus: "Can I just say something? Mormons are the hottest of all Christians."

*after teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ*

Brother Woodward: "And you know what happens after we endure to the end?"

Laura: "The Millenium?"

Love you all! -Sister Brett

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