Sister Brittany Fors: February 20, 2012

Hi Family,

Well, things are going well. I just feel really blessed with all the things that are going on right now. The ward is awesome, I love being in a big ward with lots of members that are willing to help out. So many of them are just really firmly rooted in the gospel, but still super willing to help and really humble. Sister Vause is great. We're able to be super open with eachother and she's just been really loving and accepting of whatevs. We have some great prospects for investigators and whatnot. I think there's still a lot of improvement I'd like to see in our investigator pool, but we have some definitely promising ones. And the good thing is, that in this ward I feel like I'm not in it all on my own...I can put my trust in the members, etc to take care of them as well. So good!

So my mish pres letter has the details of what all is going on. But I will tell you about Cesar's baptism! Such a good day. It was so much less hectic than my first baptism hahaha. So, Cesar had made it very clear that he didn't want like ANYONE at his baptism. It seemed that it was goign to be an invite-only sort of thing, meaning, if Cesar talked to you and thought you were cool, then he'd say you could come and he'd tell you to give a talk or something. Hahaha. So, he had "invited" like 7 people, most of which were missionaries. Anyways, so, we did not respect his wishes and ended up inviting more people haha. But it was SO good! He wasn't nervous or upset at all, and his mom was really grateful. We probably had like 30+ people there who came out to support. So, I gave a talk on baptism. And I was thinking about how I could make it so Cesar would actually pay attention (he's like borderline ADHD, no exaggeration), and I decided that the only way I could make him pay attention is if I were to talk about spiderman. So I decided to talk about how him being baptized would make him like a superhero. He had the uniform (the white clothes), he was going to undergo a transformation, he was going to get a new name (taking on the name of Jesus Christ), and he was going to get a new sidekick (The Holy Ghost). But I said, like we learn in Spiderman, "With great power, comes great responsibility" hahahaha. So I talked about the covenant that he was making, and how if he kept that covenant, he would always win in the end, just like superheroes do. When I first started the talk, Cesar busts out "WHAT?!" and keeps looking at the elder that's baptizing him and goes "what is she talkign about?!" hahahhaha I felt so embarrassed. But it turned out okay, and at the end the counselor that gave him the welcome to the ward talked about how he was joining a big family of superheroes. So it turned out really cool. Anyways, so Cesar had chosen the elder who interviewed him to baptize him (even though he had just met him, classic Cesar...). So his name is Elder Moala and he's from New Zealand and they're best buddies. So he baptized him, and it was so cool. Cesar looked super happy the second he left the water. And it was cool because Cesar was super like antsy and "inquieto" during my talk, and then after he got baptized, during Sister Vause's talk, he was totally well behaved and calm. It was really cool. After the baptism we had refreshments and all, and the ward just really welcomed him and his family. So GOOD STUFF! On Sunday we were at the VC during church, but they let us sneak away for the confirmation, and we walked into the chapel just as he was walking up to the stand. Elder Santos, one of the elders in the ward with us, confirmed him. The other elder in the ward, Elder Samuels, sang "I'm trying to be like Jesus" at the baptism. It all went super well, and I'll attach pics. (Take note of the "before" and "after" faces of Cesar in the pics :) )

I have also seen a lot of really cool miracles in the VC as of late. We have this prep meetings every few weeks, and I signed up for the "Miracle moment" at the next one. and every time I do that, I see lots of miracles. So, I think I've mentioned that we're starting to do a lot more "follow up" in the VC. Basically we're going to have our own investigators either over the phone or over the internet, and we're going to work with them either before they meet with local missionaries, or as they are doing so. So, I was kinda hesitant about the program, didn't know how it would work. But, I signed up for the miracle moment, and since then I've gotten two new "investigators" that I'm going to start teaching over the phone! Ok, so the first one was when I called a member referral for this 14 year old girl. All I knew was that her dad had passed away a few years ago, that she had come to church once and got weirded out, and that she was Christian. I called her up, got in a great conversation with her, she was SUPER mature and had great questions, and I ended up teaching her the entire first lesson over the phone. First time I had ever done that, and it just fell into place. I recited the first vision and all. She just kept talkign about how it made sense that there would be prophets today, and how it made sense that we would have a book of scripture that takes place in the Americas. I get her onto mormon.org, so her and I are looking at the different sites as we're talking ont he phone together. I show her the site that talks about FAQ about coming to a church service, which answered her questions about the weird things we do at church. And basically it was so awesome. And then she tells me, she says like "It s really crazy, because I have actually been feeling like I just wasn't getting direction from God at all, and like I just wasn't getting answers to my prayers. Then this morning I kind of thought it was the last straw, and I felt like, after today, if I don't start getting some more guidance, I need to change something...and then you called!" Craziness, the Lord works in mysterious ways. And so it's sweet because she lives with her grandparents, and they don't feel super ready to have missionaries come over yet, but I'm going to teach her over the phone. So I have a "return appointment" this week, adn as we were ending the conversation she was downloading the Book of Mormon app so she could read it before our next convo. LOVE technology and missionary work combined! And I feel so lucky that I get to start doing this kind of missionary work, it's awesome.

The other new investigator I got was a guy that called into mormon.org. He had been looking on mormon.org, and had some really good questions. His name is Tariq, he used to be in the army, and he lives in Ohio. I answered tons of questions about the Book of Mormon, prophets, word of wisdom, etc. He was going to church yesterday, adn then I'm going to call him this week to follow up, answer questions, adn transition him to local missionaries hopefully. So cool!

Yesterday was a really good day. Preface: Last pday, I wrote a quick letter to Elder and Sister White. So I was in the VC yesterday, and a phone call comes into the desk, and it was Elder White! And he was calling for me! And he called and said that they loved my letter, and he took it as a sign that he should call me up and see how everythign was going. Haha I love Elder White, he just does things like that...full of love! So yes, I got to talk to him for a few minutes yesterday, and they're doing really well. I Love that all the leaders of my mission will still be a part of my life afterwards. Last night we also had a mission president fireside that was so good. I just felt the Spirit so strongly the entire time, realizing all the blessings that come from missionary work. The whole chapel was just full of love.

Oh, also, on Valentines Day, we had a mission-wide party, and we watched 17 Miracles. And then Sister Vause and I used Al's cookie mix, etc and delivered cookies and goodie bags to investigators and members. Went well! That night there was a couples-only activity that our ward put on, a dinner-dance. Sister Vause and I went to go help out, because no one wants to talk to missionaries on Valentines Day, and we quickly realized they didn't really want to talk to us either. We felt super awkward, because every time we tried to get someone a drink or something, the machisimo men would take over and say it was their responsibility that night hahaha. So we left after like 15 minutes, it was pretty entertaining.

Anyways, I'll cut this short because I want to send some pics. It was a good week, I feel really blessed. I know hard times are ahead, a mission is a rollercoaster, but I can savor the great times for now. I'm so grateful for the Spirit and for miracles! And I'm so grateful that you're all doing so well, it sounds like everything is going wonderfully. So much to be grateful for! Love, Sister Fors