Here is Brittany's e-mail home from today, August 29, 2011.
Hi family!
Thank you for all of your emails and love and support. Can I just say that I LOVE hearing about how me being on a mission is making you all look out for more missionary opportunities. I love how much support you show, and I love hearing all of your insights about how I could be more effective. I can now see that missionaries love having members like you, that are willing and enthusiastic to help out. And I just love your examples, I'm so grateful to just have such a supportive solid family.
So this week was good! Still learning things, still trying to solve problems, all of that. There were some highlights as well. So our numbers this week were superrr low because a ton of our appointments fell thru, we had zone conference, we didn't have any "full field" days, which left us with like 3 hours to proselyte other days. It's tough, because I'm still wanting to see some progress, but our time is so limited! But it's all good, we worked hard this week and really got some things going.
Sis Tejada and I met w/ the branch pres and mish leader about creating a branch mission plan, they don't have one yet. So we're gonna get that going for them, and we found out that they really want us to work on finding people and fellowshipping people in activities...we have a talent show sept 16, kinda like tujunga ward! So yeah, it was really good to meet with them. And mom, I loved your insight about how to work with older men...they gotta think that it was their idea first :) It's true haha!
Also, this sunday I gave a TALK in church! So, I took that as an opportunity to get the ward to trust me more. I was the concluding speaker, spoke for 15 minutes about what we learn from the first vision. Afterwards, I told sister tejada I was like "i hope people got the message how i intended it" and she basically told me that when gringo missionaries speak, it's like the congregation just likes to listen for how their spanish is...it was like a big test for me haha. And it's true, I got lots of compliments on my Spanish, moreso than on the message. So maybe that means that I still gotta work on the spanish so it's no longer a factor :) But nonetheless, it was a good way to open up the door to the branch, they now know who I am, they know that I want to work with them, all that. I spoke on how the first vision shows us that god is always the same, always watching out for us, we can receive answers to our prayers, but sometimes we have to suffer opposition and really strive hard until we get our own "first visions". So yeah! That was good.
As for investigators. Well we had one who came to church, a son of a recent convert named fernando who i hadn't even met yet because appointments always fell thru. Dad, I totally understand what you meant about latinos thinking it's better to say yes and not show up...happens every day, trying to figure out how we can prevent that. So fernando came. Giselle and Alexis were going to come but then woke up too late and had to watch their brother :( But we have some activities this week that we're hoping to get a lot of investigators to.
As for the familia baez, we taught them the plan of salvation this week with a member, and it went well. THEN...a highlight of the week. Sis Tejada had mentioned to them last week that her bday was comign up. So in our lesson on thursday(the day before her bday), the little girl chayla and all her neighborhood friends were liek "we have a surprise for you", and after the lesson, they bust out with a bunch of handmade cards and handmade party hats for sister tejadas birthday! It was the best surprise ever! They had totally remembered and they had worked all week to make her these birthday treats. So all of us put on the birthday hats and celebrated, it definitely made sister tejada's birthday.
Then Friday was her actual birthday, so we celebrated that in various ways. In the breakroom in the VC her old comp and I worked to decorate it, and her old comp (Sis solorzano) had promised her a pinata, so we set that up too. But then the next day, we dropped off the pinata at the familia baez's, because it was one of the little girl's bdays on sunday. So that was fun because we were able to kinda give back and help make her birthday special. So that was definitely a memorable experience.
As you can probably tell, the familia baez is our main focus, the ones with the most potential it seems like. Still havent come to church b/c the mom works, but were working on that. So yesterday we invited them to come to the VC, and they came! Except for the dad and son who were playing soccer. But we showed them a new art exhibit we got (all local artists, called "the art of faith", and its really really great), showed them a short movie, showed them god's plan, all that. It was really really good, the mom has such a strong desire, and she just cries all the time when we teach her hahaha. But they're such a sweet family, and hopefully coming to volleyball w/ the branch this thursday (an activity every week we're gonna try to take advantage of). So yeah...they're doing well, hoping to see them progress.
What else...oh, found out that one of the girls in the VC is Sister Dyer, second cousin to jennie and john and anna jackson. Haha, so that was cool...tell them that if you see tina or someone.
Ok VC miracle of the week...so this lady came in with two elders, and they showed her god's plan. God's plan is the movie you walk thru, and a sister starts and ends it w/ a little introduction and a testimony at the end. So i took them thru it, and afterwards the lady was crying and crying, and I told her that I know that those types of families are possible and she as like "ya se, yo la tengo", and she talked about her family. The problem is, I could only understand probably like half of what she was saying, because she was crying and talking softly in spanish. But she was talking about how her son was into drugs and stuff like that. And i just told her that I knew that things could change, and we could find day to day hope thru the gospel of jesus christ, and how what the missionaries were teaching her could bring her the same peace that she felt in the VC. and I kinda posed the question to her "well, what now?" and I told her that she needed to listen to the missionaries, and she needed to go to church to meet other people who were striving to have happy families like her. And I saw the elders a few days later, and they were teaching her again, so I think it went really well. It was a testimony to me of the importance of having sister missionaries, because she felt a lot more comfortable opening up to a sister than to her elders, no offense to them :) But that was really cool.
As for your questions...we bring lunch to the VC if that's when our shift is. If we're here at dinner time, the ward members drop off meals for us. Or if were proselyting during dinner time, we will go to their homes for dinner. so we only eat in member homes prob like 2 or 3 times a week, the rest is dropped off. I haven't really gone out to lunch at all.
Anyways, that's about all the time that I have..things are going well, I'm still being stretched. Hoping my spanish improves. Learnng more about how the Atonement works and is a real thing. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! And I'm so grateful for your support, really I love youuuuuuuuuuuu!
Love,
Hermana Fors
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
First Pictures from Mesa!
Brittany and her companion at the wedding of the couple in their area.
Brittany and her friend from home, Rachel Sandman.
Brittany and an old friend from La Canada, Cami Johansen, who is finishing up her mission in Arizona.
Brittany getting her first referral from a visitor at the Visitor's center.
Brittany and her companion Hermana Tejada outside the mission office.
E-mail from Aug. 23
Here is Brittany's email from this week. Plus, new pictures in the next post!
Hiiii!
Family, it was so good to read your emails and see your pictures and feel your love :) So good to hear from all of you. I think of you often, but I try not to think of you too often :) Haha but I love you all so much, and thank you for all of your support and love.
Ok so this week was good, it wasn't as like crazy miraculous as the first week, but there were still some really good things that happened. I'm starting to see how I would like this area to change, but it's tough because I'm still a greenie and I have to remember that I probably dont know as much as I think I do...But yah. So the issue with the ward is getting the MEMBERS to chip in with missionary work! Dad, you asked why I'm in a branch, and that I don't know...just boundaries I'm guessing, there are more Americans in my area, so there aren't tons of latinos in the boundaries...but there are some spanish wards that are booming. Anyways, so yah...maybe I told you this last week, but there used to be elders in the area, and the members loved them, because they were super goofy and fun. So, they actually were disappointed when sisters came into the rama 3 months ago, and we're trying to turn that around. They very rarely give referrals just because they say they dont know anyone, or everyone they know is mormon, ladida. Anyways, so yeah...Mom, Dad, everyone...I need your wisdom on how to get members involved!! And Also, I'm definitely trying to figure out how to be a blessing, not a burden on the branch pres. Before I didn't think it was possible to be a burden, but now I can see how that might happen. So yeah, we're meeting w/ the branch pres and ward mission leader (dad, now I can tell you do a really good job at your calling :) ) tomorrow to talk with them, and we have some ideas.
Another thing that we're trying to combat is lack of TIME. Because I'm new, we have 2 hours of comp study each day, plus we try to have language study...then we have the vc for like 3-5 hours a day on most days. So that equals like 3 hours of proselyting time. So there are definitely some challenges, and this week I've just been trying to wrap my head around all these challenges, and trying to figure out how I can make things happen without stepping on any toes, and how I can accept that I still don't know everything and I have to take it one day at a time and be patient. So yeah, but it's all good!
So some highlights...well one lesson we had with a recent convert w/ margarita. We decided we were going to teach her about the priesthood, and I kept thinking that was pretty random. But we went into it going to talk about that, and then she starts talking with us and she tells us she's having a rough time because they found a lump in her breast, and she used to have cancer, and this one might be cancerous. So we were like DING! priesthood blessings! So we talked all about them, and then this past sunday we lined up 2 of the men in the rama to give her a priesthood blessing. So that was really cool.
Other highlight was on saturday night, we went to a "boda", of a couple that got sealed! They got baptized a year ago, and were sealed on saturday. So saturday night they had a big party at the chapel, and the wife had on a legit wedding dress and everything. It was sooo happy, and the elder who baptized them was there was just freaking out with pure bliss, and they were so happy. It was cool, because they have like teenage kids, but they were like "starting over" or renewing their marriage, it was really cool. Something to look forward to!
Also, we're teaching a lady named griselda, who's not in our area, but her husband gets jealous of the elders, so we're teaching her. She's totally ready to get baptized, she really wants to but her husband is hesitant. So she's doing really well, she's really unhappy with things in her family, so we're trying to give her hope. But she's so sweet.
The family baez is progressing! The mom and Kytsia are READING the things we give them! Hopefully we can get them to come to church on sunday. The mom is soooo ready, and everyone in the family is so receptive and loving. The only issue witht hem is the same issue with everyone...WORK. Everyone works all the time, they gotta do what they gotta do, and they're just happy to have jobs at all. It's hard to get the family all together, and the mom works on sunday. Mom, dad...how do you work on this in the tujunga ward? I need your wisdom! So yeah, but I have high hopes for them.
What else...the visitors center is going well. I LOVE the director and his wife. Elder white, the director, is so awesome. He gave a talk at one of our prep meetings on friday and talked about faith and about how we need to have the idea of having our calling and election made sure a legitimate goal in our life...might seem super random, but it was really inspiring. Anyways, I love them. Because you don't interact w/ your mish pres as much anymore, I feel like Elder White is totally becoming like that figure in my life here, he's great. So yeah, in the VC i have cool experiences every day. I've been able to talk with nonmembers, tell them more about the church and testify. I've seen families come in for FHE and really leave feeling a lot closer. I'm drawing a blank on specifics, but I love it. There's ahomeless guy that comes into the VC really frequently and wants to get baptized, but he can't because he moves around a lot, and he's really angry about it and confused about the BOM. So I gave him a list of my favorite scriptures to read in the BOM, just little things like that. There was a less active girl that came in who had just been laid off and didn't know what to do, and her and i watched "i'm a mormon"s together for like an hour, and that was really good (including Daisy's :) ) There's just moments like that, and I'm definitely getting better at talking to everyone, at asking for referrals from everyone, all of that.
OH another cool VC experience, I haven't had a lot of opportunities to do stuff in spanish here. So one girl talked to me about how I need to make goals to do spanish work in the vc, and how i need to pray about it and stuff like that. Then right after that, that night, I was able to give 2 tours in spanish! So that was cool.
Also, another highlight...rachel and her boyfriend chauncey came to the vc. So good things!
We also had zone conference yesterday (hence why I emailed you today, some days my pday will be on tuesday, sorry for the delay :) ). But zone conference was good, talked about being CHEERFUL, and being humble and working with members. All things I needed to hear! The mish pres and his wife are definitely inspired.
So the work is good. Everyone always talks about how hard the mission is, and i think it's "hard" for everyone in a different way. For us, we have a car, I eat delicious mexican food every day, I'm in air conditioning. Really, the heat has barely been an issue at all, ya it's hot but I don't mind it one bit. So it's interesting, because I still have hard times, and I think it's just because I really feel like I'm being refined every day. And I'm learning every day, realizing I'm not perfect, realizing really how much I need to rely on the Lord. We need miracles, and I know I can't do them on my own...so I'm learning how to rely on faith.
Anyways, I gotta go...I know that's scattered as usual, but I love you all sooooooo much! Love, Hma Fors
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
First E-mail From Arizona!!
Brittany arrived in Arizona on Tuesday last week and just sent her first e-mail from the field. Sounds like she is having an incredible time.
Hi!
I don't know what more to say other than that I am in Mesa, I am in the Visitor's Center, I am on my mission, I am in my first area, I'M ACTUALLY DOING THIS! And it's great, just wonderful. So much to tell you, and thank you for all your questions :) It was good to hear from all of you.
So..much to tell. Hopefully mom and dad told you all about the experience i had at temple square last weekend, where I got the opportunity to teach a group of about 10 people from Barcelona. Put my fake spanish accent to good use. They just had billions of questions, and so I answered them...and while I don't think any teaching opportunities will result, it was really cool to just answer their questions in a respective way and leave a good impression of teh church.
So I left the MTC tuesday morning, early early. There were about 18 of us on the flight to mesa, hma lamb and i were the only sisters. In the SLC airport, missionaries are basically celebrities... everyone's staring at you and asking where you're headed. So we got to the Mesa airport, and the AP's and the Ellsworths were waiting for us. Again, Sisters get top of the line treatment...the Ellsworths (Mission President and wife) carried our bags for us and we got to ride in their own car with them. The Ellsworths are super nice...they're very sweet, down to earth, humble people, but very friendly and wise too. He'll be a great mish president. So we then headed to the VC (Mesa Temple Visitor's Center) and toured around and had a testimony meeting here. The VC is great...it's not as up to date as the LA one, but it has all the resources you could ask for. After the testimony meeting we headed to the mission home and we had a lunch in the chapel there. Then we did paper work and got interviewed by the president. Again...sisters are first class, we had our own room to put all our stuff in and we got to be first in line for food, all that. We met all the senior couples that work in the office, and they're all really sweet.
So for that day, I got put with a companionship just for the day, before I met my trainer at the transfer meeting. I got put w/ Hermana Lopez and Hma Mazariegos, and I'm glad I did, because they were on fire...they have like 5 baptismal dates right now. My first day was overwhelmingly incredible. We had dinner with a less active member, dind' t think much of it, and then her daughter walked in with her 5 kids, who aren't members. Found out they've always wanted to be baptized but the husband is kind of ifffy. We tauight them a little bit and they all started crying, and now when I saw hma lopez and mazariegos yesterday, they told me that they all have baptismal dates, except for the mom...who's still waiting for permission from her husband. But it was pretty incredible. The whole day I was just sitting in the back of the car and I was like "whattt? this is what i'm doing for the next 18 monthssss??" We then went to an area with a bunch of trailer homes and taught a few families there. We read some scriptures with a really cute family of kids, and we visited recent converts. We also visited another lady and her daughter who were hilarious. I was struggling a little bit with Spanish, but I've improved since then. The whole day was great and so much to take in. There's days when I just realize the magnitude of the work that I'm doing, and I'm like "WHAT IN THE WORLD!!!" Hermana Lopez and Hermana Mazariegos were great examples of people who are just good friends with their investigators, they were so much fun.
So the next morning we headed to transfers where I got put with my trainer...drumrolllllll....Hermana Tejada! So, I will tell you about Hermana Tejada. I am so grateful for her. She is a little girl like my height, tiny. She's dominican! And she moved from the DR to New Jersey when she was like 16. Her whole family and her grew up studying as Jehovahs' Witnesses, but they were never actually members. Then the elders knocked on her door 4 years back, the morning after she had prayed to god for direction in her life. She took the discussions from them, and was baptized! She's the only member of her family that's baptized. So, she's great. She's really hard working, really knows her stuff, really obedient, all of that. She's really giving too...she did just tons of stuff for me the first couple days. Luckily, Dominicans are like the easiest Latinos for me to understand, so I understand almost all of what she says to me. So yes, I am so grateful for her. I'm definitely learning how to be teachable, but there's a lot I can learn from her.
So, we found out who we were with and headed to the VC. There I did lots of training. There's so much to learn about the VC, but really all it is is practice, practice, practice. Sometimes I'm like "There's no way I can do this!" but then I realize I'm only 5 days in, and I have 18 months to figure this all out. So I did mostly training there, and I also interviewed with our VC director, who i LOOVE. His name is Elder White, and he was a mission president in orlando. Just a really smart guy, but so down to earth and loving. He is great, and we get to see him virtually every day! So yes. In the VC, we have shifts for each hour. So for however many hours of the day, we will be either at the front greet, back greet, exhibit, telephones, etc. There's a new exhibit opening up today of Local artist paintings of Christ's life. So, the VC is really good. I've had the opportunity to work with both members and nonmembers. There's a big push for missionaries to bring in investigators and for wards to take tours here, so that's been great. Mostly the challenge is just to really form a relationship with the people that you're taking around, and to make it so that their expectations for the VC come to meet with our expectations for their VC experience, if that makes sense.
So I will tell you a little bit about our area. Our area is mesa grande, hma tejada and i live in the basement of an older couple who is super nice. We oversee the mesa grande branch, which consists of probably like 8 families and some others. The work in mesa grande has been pretty slow, but I have a feeling that will change. They currently don't have any investigators with baptismal dates, and they never have a problem finding someone to teach, rather its finding someone to commit. BUT already we have seen changes. So there's not a whole lot of time to proselyte, because of the VC, but we fill it up with appointments, just hoping that they don't drop them. So we have visited some recent converts, one named Marta who's really funny but she just needs to have a positive attitude about life's challenges, so we try to help her. We were going to meet with her son Fernando and commit him to baptism, but he didn't show...bummerrr. But we're also teaching a lot of teenage girls. One is Pamela, who's really shy but she always really understands what we're teaching her...we're trying to get her to commit and to teach her mom. We're also teaching 12 yr old Gisele and her sister Alexis (17)...we teach them in English. They are super outgoing and sweet, and they came to church yesterday with us! The only issue is they dont understand spanish super well, but they understood the english YW (Young Women) class...but there's only one other YW in the branch right now. But they're planning on coming to 1 or 2 activiteis this week which will be good. The branch is all soo sweet, and what's great about it is that it has a really solid PRIESTHOOD foundation...the men there are really great. We're also teaching Hortencia and her kids...her sons have been coming to church for a long time, and the sisters have committed them to baptism, but they're waiting for their parents before they get baptized. So yes, those are the main people.
NOW...for the miracle story of the week. So the sisters tracted out this 13 yr old girl named Kytsia before i got here. So kytsia told them to come back. Hma Tejada and I went by there, but Kytsia wasn't there, but we talked to the dad and brother and they told us to come and teach them yesterday. Theyre a family with 5 kids, and they just moved from mexico 1 month ago. So yesterday, Hma Tejada and I went over tehre after church to teach them the first lesson. Big deal! So we started teaching everyone except the oldest daughter and the mom, who was at work. We were teaching them and they were super receptive, and there was definitely a great spirit there. So then sister tejada recites the first vision, and literally midsentence the mom busts in the door carrying a bunch of pizzas. I was like...oh man, there goes this, she's gonna be so lost and we're not going to be able to finish teaching. But, we continued on, and the mom picked it right up...she didn't even need any of the background story. Within minutes, the mom was crying as we were finishing up teaching. We said a prayer with the family afterwards, and the dad said it, and it was such a sincere, great prayer. After the prayer, I open my eyes and Kytsia is crying and the mom is crying. Kytsia had just been quietly nodding the whole time, but she totally felt it. So they're both crying, and then the youngest daughter stands up and goes over and hugs both her mom and her dad. And they just talked about how they had never said a prayer all together as a family and how great it was. IT WAS INCREDIBLEEEEE! Definitely one of those moments I talked about when I'm like...whaaaaaaat just happened? And I realize just how real this work is. Really cool. So we're going to teach them again on Thursday, and I'm so excited. They are so receptive and such a great family, so sweet.
So yes..miracle. So I'm so grateful that I'm here in Mesa, where there's so much work to be done. And I'm so grateful for the VC...it really is challenging to try to teach a lesson so quickly. I had to give the first lesson to some nonmembers last night right before the center closed in like 5 minutes...it was madness. But it's so great. I meet a lot of awesome people from all over...people from India, China, Korea, everywhere. And yes, I saw the Nef's hahaha that was hilarious, and Rachel Sandman and her BF are coming this wednesday which i'm obviously really excited for. The work is good, thanks for all your support! I must be off now, love you allllll!
Love,
Hermana Fors
Hi!
I don't know what more to say other than that I am in Mesa, I am in the Visitor's Center, I am on my mission, I am in my first area, I'M ACTUALLY DOING THIS! And it's great, just wonderful. So much to tell you, and thank you for all your questions :) It was good to hear from all of you.
So..much to tell. Hopefully mom and dad told you all about the experience i had at temple square last weekend, where I got the opportunity to teach a group of about 10 people from Barcelona. Put my fake spanish accent to good use. They just had billions of questions, and so I answered them...and while I don't think any teaching opportunities will result, it was really cool to just answer their questions in a respective way and leave a good impression of teh church.
So I left the MTC tuesday morning, early early. There were about 18 of us on the flight to mesa, hma lamb and i were the only sisters. In the SLC airport, missionaries are basically celebrities... everyone's staring at you and asking where you're headed. So we got to the Mesa airport, and the AP's and the Ellsworths were waiting for us. Again, Sisters get top of the line treatment...the Ellsworths (Mission President and wife) carried our bags for us and we got to ride in their own car with them. The Ellsworths are super nice...they're very sweet, down to earth, humble people, but very friendly and wise too. He'll be a great mish president. So we then headed to the VC (Mesa Temple Visitor's Center) and toured around and had a testimony meeting here. The VC is great...it's not as up to date as the LA one, but it has all the resources you could ask for. After the testimony meeting we headed to the mission home and we had a lunch in the chapel there. Then we did paper work and got interviewed by the president. Again...sisters are first class, we had our own room to put all our stuff in and we got to be first in line for food, all that. We met all the senior couples that work in the office, and they're all really sweet.
So for that day, I got put with a companionship just for the day, before I met my trainer at the transfer meeting. I got put w/ Hermana Lopez and Hma Mazariegos, and I'm glad I did, because they were on fire...they have like 5 baptismal dates right now. My first day was overwhelmingly incredible. We had dinner with a less active member, dind' t think much of it, and then her daughter walked in with her 5 kids, who aren't members. Found out they've always wanted to be baptized but the husband is kind of ifffy. We tauight them a little bit and they all started crying, and now when I saw hma lopez and mazariegos yesterday, they told me that they all have baptismal dates, except for the mom...who's still waiting for permission from her husband. But it was pretty incredible. The whole day I was just sitting in the back of the car and I was like "whattt? this is what i'm doing for the next 18 monthssss??" We then went to an area with a bunch of trailer homes and taught a few families there. We read some scriptures with a really cute family of kids, and we visited recent converts. We also visited another lady and her daughter who were hilarious. I was struggling a little bit with Spanish, but I've improved since then. The whole day was great and so much to take in. There's days when I just realize the magnitude of the work that I'm doing, and I'm like "WHAT IN THE WORLD!!!" Hermana Lopez and Hermana Mazariegos were great examples of people who are just good friends with their investigators, they were so much fun.
So the next morning we headed to transfers where I got put with my trainer...drumrolllllll....Hermana Tejada! So, I will tell you about Hermana Tejada. I am so grateful for her. She is a little girl like my height, tiny. She's dominican! And she moved from the DR to New Jersey when she was like 16. Her whole family and her grew up studying as Jehovahs' Witnesses, but they were never actually members. Then the elders knocked on her door 4 years back, the morning after she had prayed to god for direction in her life. She took the discussions from them, and was baptized! She's the only member of her family that's baptized. So, she's great. She's really hard working, really knows her stuff, really obedient, all of that. She's really giving too...she did just tons of stuff for me the first couple days. Luckily, Dominicans are like the easiest Latinos for me to understand, so I understand almost all of what she says to me. So yes, I am so grateful for her. I'm definitely learning how to be teachable, but there's a lot I can learn from her.
So, we found out who we were with and headed to the VC. There I did lots of training. There's so much to learn about the VC, but really all it is is practice, practice, practice. Sometimes I'm like "There's no way I can do this!" but then I realize I'm only 5 days in, and I have 18 months to figure this all out. So I did mostly training there, and I also interviewed with our VC director, who i LOOVE. His name is Elder White, and he was a mission president in orlando. Just a really smart guy, but so down to earth and loving. He is great, and we get to see him virtually every day! So yes. In the VC, we have shifts for each hour. So for however many hours of the day, we will be either at the front greet, back greet, exhibit, telephones, etc. There's a new exhibit opening up today of Local artist paintings of Christ's life. So, the VC is really good. I've had the opportunity to work with both members and nonmembers. There's a big push for missionaries to bring in investigators and for wards to take tours here, so that's been great. Mostly the challenge is just to really form a relationship with the people that you're taking around, and to make it so that their expectations for the VC come to meet with our expectations for their VC experience, if that makes sense.
So I will tell you a little bit about our area. Our area is mesa grande, hma tejada and i live in the basement of an older couple who is super nice. We oversee the mesa grande branch, which consists of probably like 8 families and some others. The work in mesa grande has been pretty slow, but I have a feeling that will change. They currently don't have any investigators with baptismal dates, and they never have a problem finding someone to teach, rather its finding someone to commit. BUT already we have seen changes. So there's not a whole lot of time to proselyte, because of the VC, but we fill it up with appointments, just hoping that they don't drop them. So we have visited some recent converts, one named Marta who's really funny but she just needs to have a positive attitude about life's challenges, so we try to help her. We were going to meet with her son Fernando and commit him to baptism, but he didn't show...bummerrr. But we're also teaching a lot of teenage girls. One is Pamela, who's really shy but she always really understands what we're teaching her...we're trying to get her to commit and to teach her mom. We're also teaching 12 yr old Gisele and her sister Alexis (17)...we teach them in English. They are super outgoing and sweet, and they came to church yesterday with us! The only issue is they dont understand spanish super well, but they understood the english YW (Young Women) class...but there's only one other YW in the branch right now. But they're planning on coming to 1 or 2 activiteis this week which will be good. The branch is all soo sweet, and what's great about it is that it has a really solid PRIESTHOOD foundation...the men there are really great. We're also teaching Hortencia and her kids...her sons have been coming to church for a long time, and the sisters have committed them to baptism, but they're waiting for their parents before they get baptized. So yes, those are the main people.
NOW...for the miracle story of the week. So the sisters tracted out this 13 yr old girl named Kytsia before i got here. So kytsia told them to come back. Hma Tejada and I went by there, but Kytsia wasn't there, but we talked to the dad and brother and they told us to come and teach them yesterday. Theyre a family with 5 kids, and they just moved from mexico 1 month ago. So yesterday, Hma Tejada and I went over tehre after church to teach them the first lesson. Big deal! So we started teaching everyone except the oldest daughter and the mom, who was at work. We were teaching them and they were super receptive, and there was definitely a great spirit there. So then sister tejada recites the first vision, and literally midsentence the mom busts in the door carrying a bunch of pizzas. I was like...oh man, there goes this, she's gonna be so lost and we're not going to be able to finish teaching. But, we continued on, and the mom picked it right up...she didn't even need any of the background story. Within minutes, the mom was crying as we were finishing up teaching. We said a prayer with the family afterwards, and the dad said it, and it was such a sincere, great prayer. After the prayer, I open my eyes and Kytsia is crying and the mom is crying. Kytsia had just been quietly nodding the whole time, but she totally felt it. So they're both crying, and then the youngest daughter stands up and goes over and hugs both her mom and her dad. And they just talked about how they had never said a prayer all together as a family and how great it was. IT WAS INCREDIBLEEEEE! Definitely one of those moments I talked about when I'm like...whaaaaaaat just happened? And I realize just how real this work is. Really cool. So we're going to teach them again on Thursday, and I'm so excited. They are so receptive and such a great family, so sweet.
So yes..miracle. So I'm so grateful that I'm here in Mesa, where there's so much work to be done. And I'm so grateful for the VC...it really is challenging to try to teach a lesson so quickly. I had to give the first lesson to some nonmembers last night right before the center closed in like 5 minutes...it was madness. But it's so great. I meet a lot of awesome people from all over...people from India, China, Korea, everywhere. And yes, I saw the Nef's hahaha that was hilarious, and Rachel Sandman and her BF are coming this wednesday which i'm obviously really excited for. The work is good, thanks for all your support! I must be off now, love you allllll!
Love,
Hermana Fors
Saturday, August 6, 2011
First Mission Pictures from Brittany!
Hermana Lamb, Hermana Fors, Hermana Alvarez and Hermana Taylor
Hermana Fors
Brittany opening a package of melting chocolate from mom :)
Brittany super excited to open and receive her letters from everyone!
Elder Gonzalez, Elder Powell, Elder Gomez, Hermana Alvarez,
Hermana Taylor, Hermana Fors and Hermana Lamb
Aren't they cute companions? :)"My Heart is Full"
Here is Brittany's email from Friday, August 5, titled "My Heart is Full." She leaves for Mesa on Tuesday, so any letters and packages you would like to send should go to her Arizona address starting now:
Sister Brittany Fors
Arizona Mesa Mission
6265 N. 82nd St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
Sister Brittany Fors
Arizona Mesa Mission
6265 N. 82nd St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
Hi Family!
Well, a crazy whirlwind week full of ups and downs...what else would you expect coming from me? Haha :) So this title has been something that was running through my mind like 24/7 at the beginning of this week...I'll explain why in a bit.
So sorry to make you wait an extra day, as visitor's center training has started, we had pday a day late. But I leave this Tuesday morning! Woooo! I'm so excited, and I'm pretty nervous too. But I think it'll be great. Tomorrow I go to temple square to get my visitor's center experience, and I'm really excited.
So, a blow-by-blow in true Fors family fashion...
Friday we had in-field training, which was a day full of everything we need to know other than teaching. So we learned everything about finding, planning, goal setting, working with members, all in just one day. It was incredible, I learned so much in just that one day. It was really helpful, and made me realize just how hard missionary work is going to be...a little overwhelming, but it'll be good. Mom and dad, the missionaries from "The District" were some of our teachers, hahaha...celebrities! So it was great, they had like iPads and everything, the church is stepping. it. up.
Saturday was a day of class and whatnot. We volunteered at the TRC as investigators. As an advanced district, they normally need us when they're short investigators. So we actually didn't get to teach investigators at all last week, which was kind of a bummer, but it's good to volunteer too.
Sunday was an incredible day. I really felt like I learned so much, and not just by study, but by faith. We watched music and the spoken word, had a great fireside, and watched a training video w/ elder holland about teaching with the spirit. I just took notes and notes and notes all day. I learned so much.
Sunday to Tuesday were some of the happiest days on my mission thus far. Hence the title "My Heart is Full". I just felt so happy and joyful all the time. I felt like I felt the Spirit all of the time, just because I'm surrounded by so much truth. Literally, there were nights when I couldn't fall asleep at night because I couldn't stop thinking about how happy I was. It was great. I just feel like I've really learned what it means to learn by the Spirit, I feel like I understand how much this Gospel and Church has blessed my life, and I just think about how much more joyful I'll be when I go and share this happiness with others for the next 18 months. It's such a great feeling.
So on Monday night we had a final testimony meeting as a district, as half of us left Tuesday morning, half left Wednesday, and Hma Lamb and I are still here for VC training. I cried, but I mostly just felt so happy. I don't think I've expressed to you guys enough how much i Love my district. Especially the elders, they were probably the ones in my distric that I got along the best with, and they were just like brothers to me. Every one of my district has an incredible story. One guy had an offer to play pro b-ball in Europe, then two of his best friends died, and it made him start thinking about a mission. Now, he's going to be an INCREDIBLE missionary. That's just one of many, many stories...they're incredible people. Anyways, so we had our final testimony meeting, and it was so happy.
Then Tuesday was just half of us left, me, Hma Lamb, and 2 elders. WE did a really cool activity where we searched in the book of mormon for answers to "questions of the soul". I loved it, the Book of Mormon has answers for everything. We also watched Elder Holland's famous talk, "The Miracle of the Mission"...which was SO good. I love that he tells us that sometimes "the good people" have to suffer too, and he feels like it's because that is just one more way we can follow Christ as his disciples. So good. So we then had a devotional which was so good. Then we had a district devo review, but it was just 5 of us :( That was the hardest night, the 2 elders that I had to say goodbye to then were my favorites, if i'm allowed to say that.
So wednesday we woke up and it was just hma lamb and I, starting VC training. That was a rough day...I surprisingly missed my district a LOT. And it's just scary, because I know that I will grow to love people on my mission even more than I can imagine, and it's scary to think that there's a loooot more really hard goodbyes to come. But I guess that's all part of the plan. Anyways, so in VC training, it's me, Hma Lamb, and 2 girls going to the Laie VC. We were all feeling pretty abandoned, and one of the girls doesn't speak hardly any english and was having a really really hard time. So all in all it was a strange day...everyone was having a hard time, I found out a friend was getting sent home for health resons, all these things. It was quite a contrast from a few days earlier. BUT I LOVEEE the visitors center training. I can't imagine being called anywhere else now. I love that its both members and nonmembers, and that its just having discussions with people, and invitiing them to continue that religious discussion after they leave the center. So we do a lot of roleplaying and practicing. We do things like asking questions, getting to know people, doing referrals, working and teachign with pictures, all of that. One of my favorite activities we've done has been these scriptures that our teacher gave us: D&C 19:20-24, 3 Nephi 17:1-10, John 4:1-30, Alma 18:20-23, 2 Nephi 26:33. Read those and see how they relate to what we do at visitor's centers! I loved it...VC in the scriptures!
So Thursday (yesterday), we continued doing class and stuff. I tried to help out a lot the girl who doesn't speak English, she was having a really hard time with the language barrier. We also did a practice tour in the TRC, which was good...Hma Lamb and I are trying to kind of re-find our niche in the context of short tours.
So these past couple days have consisted of lots of learning. I'm definitely having to learn patience, humility, trust of the Lord and of my companion, everything. The MTC is life lessons on fast forward. But one thing I've learned is that it just all comes back to the Spirit. The Spirit of God is a real, real thing...and that's ultimately what helps me feel better here when there are challenging times. There are SO MANY things that I learn each day that I would love to share with you, but I think I just hope that you guys will all go out and learn for yourselves. There are answers to every problem....not just a missionary's problems. So that is my thought of the week. Thank you so much for all of your letters and packages and dear elder's and everything. You never know how much it can make a bad day go better :)Love you all! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in MESAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
Love,
Hermana Fors
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