letter to ward

Hey guys! Looks like you had a great Christmas! I did too! I loved talking to you guys! We didn't have a lot of lessons this week but we did see a lot of people and give away lots of cookies! That is what I did on Christmas day is bake and decorate cookies! Also one of our investigators, Tim Forsythe got baptized Saturday! (the Guy on the left is Tim and the other guy is his friend who baptized him) It was so good and a lot of fun! Our other investigator, Drew, also cam to Tim's baptism! It was awesome! Saturday was also transfer calls because this Wednesday will be transfers. And the results... Dun dun duuuuuuun..... I will be staying! But Sister Hayden will be leaving me and I will be getting a new companion. He name is Sister Gadi and she is from California. I don't know how I feel. I am excited and nervous and just ready do go to work and work some miracles! 

Anyways,

Here is my message to the Ward....

Claresholm Ward, 

Greetings from St.Louis! I hope you all have had a very Merry Christmas filled with family and Christlike love. I must say that Christmas time is the best time to be a missionary! The message we share with people at this time of year is so good and is completely centered on Jesus Christ! The Spirit of Christmas is just unreal!! Christmas time can get very busy with buying presents, sending out christmas cards and letters, decorating the house inside and out, baking christmas goodies, preparing christmas dinner and on top of all that we have our personal lives to worry about! We've got jobs, church callings, your own personal goals, hobbies and new year resolutions. That is a lot of stuff to worry about so it is no wonder that people can stress about the holidays. With all this stuff we have to worry about it is easy to forget about what christmas is really all about. The first gift of christmas. “The first gift was not wrapped, had no bow, wasn’t purchased online or in a store. The first gift of Christmas was a simple gift, a sacred gift. It wasn’t gold or frankincense or myrrh. It was a gift of love and life and peace and hope given by a Father to all His children. ‘For God so loved the world.’ And so loved you, and every single one of us. He gave His Son. He is the Christ. He is Christmas. He is the Gift...." 

I am sure many of you have seen the He is the Gift video on the home page of lds.org or the home page of Youtube or all over Facebook but I just wanted to share this message with you. And if you have not seen this video please check it out on christmas.mormon.org! 

We have a loving Heavenly Father and He is aware of every single one of us. He knows us each individually. He knows us better than we know ourselves. We are all his children. And our Heavenly Father has given us a gift. "He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) It is the greatest gift he could ever give us. A gift given to you so that even you can return to our home in heaven and live forever in happiness with our Father and our families! How great is that!?

This New year is a new beginning. To start over and set new goals. I encourage you to find ways to discover the gift, to embrace the gift and then to share the gift of Jesus Christ. One of the many things that I have learned on my mission is that people are amazing! I have realized that some of the most spiritual people I have ever met are less actives and non-members. Spend less time judging and reach out to everyone in the ward and outside of the ward and you will learn so much from them. Just love everyone! There are so many good people in this world and so many good things in this life! We are so blessed!! Follow the teachings of the prophet, love others and walk HOW Jesus walked. I promise you that you will find so much joy and so many blessings of finding yourself from serving others. I know I have.  

Okay I am done my lecture :) I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It blesses families and changes lives! I know that there is a God and He listens to us and answers our prayers. I am so grateful for everyone in the Claresholm ward; for my sunday school teachers, priesthood leaders, seminary teachers and the youth of the ward! You have all blessed my life in a special way and have got me to where I am today. I love you all! I miss you and I wish you all a Happy New year! 

Love, 

Sister Brittany Fisher 

Dead Battery

I am so excited to skype! And I think 10 works for me too! And I will also need to know the skype name because I don't remember it haha. 
I am glad that you are enjoying your calling Dad! That is super cool! I am not allowed to call Salt Lake unless the mission president asks me to haha It is in the white hand book. 
But anyways this week was crazy and amazing! our car has been dying a lot and when we woke up it was dead again so we had to call a member to jump it for us and then after spending our whole morning trying to talk to the mission office and at the car shop we finally got a new battery! It's weird because I feel like I was at the car shop a lot before my mission haha. Also we had 3 investigators come to church on Sunday!! How awesome is that! Drew came and Daniel came and Tim who is getting baptized this Saturday came!! We have three progressing investigators!! We moved Drews baptism date to Jan. 24th and he feels a lot better about that! I can't wait to see him tomorrow! things are really looking up because there faith and relationship with God is increasing :) 

Have a Merry Christmas and I will see you Thursday. 

Love Britt 

Glenn Beck

I am loving the pictures that you sent to me. We like Elder Fisher also had a slow week. But we definitely had some miracles! As we go tracting we leave cards at the door if they don't answer the door. Well we got a phone call from this random lady thanking us for leaving a card and said that she ordered a Joy to the World DVD and she is so excited to get it! She was the sweetest lady ever! haha And I think we will be the ones delivering it to her! we also met this one Muslim guy and he was not interested so we asked him if he knew anyone who would like to hear our message and he referred us to a catholic guy that lives a couple houses down. The catholic guy was not really interested but we were talking about the Book of Mormon and asked if he would like a copy and he told us, "You know what? I will take it, only because I love Glenn Beck." Hahaha! I was killing myself when he said that! Way to go Glenn Beck! Helping us out with missionary work! 

But like Elder Fisher, people keep telling us to come back after the Holidays. So we are thinking of making cookies and dropping them off at houses and just serving a lot! And of course constantly trying to find new people to teach! We couldn't meet with drew this week and Mr. Kruger is not replying to us. He answered his phone earlier this week and he just got his tooth pulled. But I haven't heard from him since. We are still expecting Tim to get baptized on the 27th and he is still super excited for that! I am so excited for him! 

And CHRISTMAS IS IN 10 DAYS! So I need to know when you can Skype! I am Skyping at a members home in my ward and they said that we could come over at anytime and skype and they are gonna feed us too. I don't know how early Elder Fisher is Skyping. Maybe we could skype at the same time?? My companion wants to skype with her brother at the same time too but her brother is right next door in Iowa. Not in England. But if not that is cool. I just want to see my beautiful parents!! And Justin! And who ever else is coming over to party! 

I got packages from both grandparents and I got a package from you too dad! But I haven't opened anything yet. not even your package brandon so don't tempt me!! Elder fisher I am going to send you a small package and when you open it I want to see a picture with you and your companion in it! haha :) 

Have a fantastic week and have lots of fun with basketball, christmas parties and stuff :)

Love 

Britt

Life is GLORIOUS!! 

http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/articles/watch-glorious-by-david-archuleta-from-meet-the-mormons?lang=eng

And you know I love my Youtubers!! Check out what the Piano Guys did!!

http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/articles/mormon-tabernacle-choir-record-breaking-nativity?lang=eng

Walking the Zoo

Hey guys! 

This week was so good!!!!

After I emailed you last week I went to the St. Louis Zoo with some other sister missionaries and took some pictures for christmas cards we will be making! It was awesome because it was kinda cold that day and so there was literally no one at the zoo! we practically had the whole place to ourselves! I saw some Sea lions and penguins and butter flies but that is pretty much it. a lot of the exhibits were closed. I could have saw some orangutans but they were inside and we didn't know that it was still open until it was too late. The ape exhibit closed at 5. But we had fun taking pictures!! Hopfully I will be able to go to the zoo again and see the orangutans AND they are getting polar bears this coming year! How cool is that?! We got to talk to so zookeepers in the butterfly exhibit and they told us a bunch of stuff about butterflies and the zoo and it was so cool! we also got to share with them about who we are and what we do! So we gave them a He is the Gift card and told them to check out the video at mormon.org. They call it the He is the Gift initiative so the idea it they are trying to get more missionary opportunities with this video for missionaries and members. As missionaries, we track how many referrals, investigators, and baptisms we get each week with the use of this initiative. Like Brandon said this idea is truly brilliant! You NEED to check out the video dad!! It is so good! And then in the december ensign you get your own pass-a-long cards in a extra little booklet so you can share the gift yourself! It really is a easy non-threatening way to share the gospel with others. 

I LOVE how you had a missionary experience with Robin Chisholm. That is so cool! What did she think about meeting with missionaries? How long did they meet with the missionaries for? Has she ever owned a Book of Mormon? Why did they stop? I think that is a great idea to invite them to the cantata! You could even give her a conference ensign or the december ensign! Modern day scripture can be just as powerful as the ancient scripture in testifying truth! Missionary work is so good when members are involve! Keep planting those seeds Dad! Awesome!

Update on Drew: we met with him twice this week. First day we taught him the Word of Wisdom and it surprisingly went very well. He totally agreed with everything and told us that recently this is what he has been trying to base his life off of and improve. He was actually very excited about the word of wisdom. I was confused. But he commited to live it so that is awesome! 

the next lesson that we had with him was on prophets and we watched the restoration video with him. He liked the video. He doesn't deny that this is all true. He likes the idea and the technicalities of the church. I guess the only problem that drew has is that he is a very deep thinker. Into Philosophies and what not. But we need him to understand the spiritual side of the gospel and gain a testimony. Anyone wont last on there own human knowledge and theories. He needs to rely on the Lord. It is that spiritual confirmation that truly converts them. And that is something he needs to find on his own. We could tell him anything. But until he acts and asks God for himself, he wont get that spiritual confirmation. It is hard to understand him sometimes. He confuses me. But I wont give up on him. He is so close. And he didn't come to church again. He slept through his alarm. So like I said he needs to exercise his faith and gain that spiritual confirmation.

Thursday and Friday was the 24hr exchange and it was my turn to stay in my area. And we got to see Mr. Kruger on Thursday! He is doing so good! He is reading his scriptures!! He is asking questions!! He told me that he knows that the Book of Mormon is true!! He just has a hard time understanding the Book of Mormon because he has dyslexia so he said that he read the first chapter like 3 times. But he is trying and learning and that is all that matters! God will bless him I know it! I felt like I could really help him in this lesson it was so good! But there is one problem... He got a new job offer. He is moving to Seattle in 2 weeks back with his family. He is so excited to be back in Seattle with his family for christmas and I am so happy for him but the prideful side of me is a little upset. haha. But he still wants to meet with missionaries so we will have to make sure the missionaries in Seattle know about him and help him move in. I want to stay in contact with him.

On exchanges I also got to go to a members home for dinner. We finished dinner and we were sharing a spiritual thought with them at the table. the daughter that was sitting to the left of me was kinda rocking on her chair and then all of a sudden her chair slipped and she fell forward and hid her head on the table. She started screaming the most horrifying scream I have ever heard and I saw a big gash on her forehead. everyone stood up and tried to move the table. Luckily her Father is a Doctor so she got medical attention right away. It was awkward too because I wasn't sure we should help somehow or how we would continue our spiritual thought. The mother told us we didn't have to stay but I didn't want to just leave! haha It was awful!!! The daughter ended up getting stitches right in her own home! It was crazy! We wanted to help somehow so we helped them tidy up there basement because there were toys EVERYWHERE! haha I don't even know how to explain that situation it was awkward and traumatizing and... well everything is okay now and she was at church on sunday so she is alright. 

But if there is one thing that stood out to me in my experience with exchanges is that the spirit is powerful and that Heavenly Father work through us! His servants! 

In Preach my Gospel PG94 there is a quote by Gordon B. Hinckley and it says:

"Every Morning..., Missionaries should get on their knees and plead with the Lord to loosen their tongues and speak through them to the blessing of those they will be teaching. If they do this, a new light will come to their lives. There will be a greater enthusiasm for the work. They will come to know that in a very real sense they are the servants of the Lord speaking on His behalf. They will find a different response from those they teach. As they do so by the spirit, their investigators will respond under the influence of the same spirit."

This is so true!! I have experienced it!! Especially during exchanges. To be honest I was nervous for exchanges. We had 2 lesson with investigators that day and one lesson with a less active and one dinner thought with a member. And I was very responsible for how that day went. I had to inform the STL (Sister Training Leader) that I was with who these people were, what we were teaching them and what she needed to know to help them. I was very much pleading with the Lord that morning to help me. To work through me and also bless those we were teaching. The Lord was with me that whole day! The lesson with Mr. Kruger was great! My tongue was loose and I could answer all the questions he had. I love how at the end of that quote it says, "As they do so by the spirit, their investigators will respond under the influence of the same spirit." And that is what was happening in Mr. Krugers lesson. The spirit is so powerful!! 

The second investigator we saw during exchanges was Tim who has the Baptism date for December 27th. He is the one who is so set and has a testimony and is just waiting to be baptized on the 27th just so his friend can come home from school and baptize him. So before this lesson we asked him what HE wanted to learn more about. He wanted to learn more about the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Just what they are and how they came about. So I had to study a lot for that. But that lesson went great also! This was an experience that really showed me that the spirit brings things to our remembrance. Every question that Tim asked me was something I studied or highlighted in my studies! It was crazy amazing!! We were definitely responding under the same spirit! I have that quote by Gordon B. Hinckley by my bed so I see it every morning. 

I love this work so much! I feel so incredibly happy! It has been hard, I have felt nervous, and frustrated and stressed. BUT I know without a doubt that my heavenly Father loves me and is very aware of me. I love Him. And the Christmas season is just overwhelming me with the spirit! The church is SO true!

I am reading in Alma for my scripture study and chapter 26 is my favorite chapter in the whole wide world!! Because it is exactly how I feel!! Ammon is my Book of Mormon hero! I feel like me and him would get along very well. In this chapter it is Ammon saying how awesome God is and how much God has blessed him while he was sharing the gospel with the Lamanites. Just read the whole thing and that describes perfectly of how I feel right now!.= 

Alma 26:36 is my absolute favorite! I want that on my missionary plack! "my life, my light, my joy and my salvation" This Gospel is who I am and I am so happy :) 

Anyways.

All the Christmas traditions are pretty similar here in Missouri. I haven't heard anything that is too out of the blue.

I really like my ward. What I like about my ward is that a large majority of the ward is doctors or works in the medical field. It is kind of ridiculous actually haha And also, so many people decorate for christmas here! There are christmas lights everywhere!! It is awesome. I love it here.

I love you all and think of you often! 

Love, 

Britt

P.S. I got Grandma and Grandpa Fisher's package yesterday! The AP's (Assistants to the President) are in my district and they go to the mission office often and got the package for me. My district is kind of luck that way. We don't necessarily have to wait for meetings like Brandon does so I should get all packages before Christmas. 

Walking around the zoo :)

Stuffed on Thanksgiving

Hey guys! It is so good to hear from you! Thank you so much for the addresses! It doesn't snow barely at all in Missouri but we sure had a thick coat of ice on our windshield this morning. The weather is weird here. It felt really humid yesterday and then it all froze this morning. which makes icy roads so we are always asked to drive carefully. 

Speaking of weather I am reading the book Our Heritage which is a brief history of the church and I was reading about the Mormon people being driven out and travelling to Illinois and settle in Nauvoo. I am talking about the time when Joseph Smith was in Liberty Jail and he was hearing about the suffering of the people. Some of the people didn't even have shoes and they would leave foot prints of blood on the frozen ground. That was around the beginning of December. It is December right now! Those early members of the church had to experience the weather I am experiencing right now except they had close to nothing! They walked through this area I am serving in! It is pretty cold here! It doesn't get a lot of snow but it sure gets cold! It made me better understand what pioneers really had to go through. 

That is enough Christmas stories that you sent me so thank you!

The Michael Brown Case. All I know about that is the verdict came out like Tuesday of this past week and the verdict was that the officer wasn't indicted. Which caused a lot of rioting and crazy people acting out. I don't really know if things have calmed down yet. I don't watch the news haha. But For this past week, Missionaries in my area and in the areas in and around St.Louis are not allowed to go tracting after dark. We are only allowed to go out after dark if we have an appointment in a members home. It kind of sucks but it keeps us safe. I haven't seen anything crazy yet but I guess that is a good thing haha And this rule is still in affect until the Zone leaders tell us other wise. 

Have you seen the new Christmas video that the church put out called "He is the Gift"?? It is what we are sharing with people this Christmas! Last week we got a email telling us about it and ideas of how we can share the gift. In the December Ensign it comes with a little booklet talking about this "initiative" and gives you the same cards that us missionaries hand out! Check out the video on christmas.mormon.org! AND on December 7th this Christmas video will be taking over Youtube! It will be the only advertisement on the Youtube home page. I think that is so exciting!! haha SO make sure you check it out and share the gift with others! In mom"s email she was talking about how Christmas shouldn't be all about presents and wrapping paper and flashy lights. It's about the love of Jesus Christ. The greatest gift that God could give us. For God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son! Being together as a family and remembering what the season is really all about. It all started with a little baby in a manger! Ahh! I love it! It is so exciting! I love Christmas! I am actually really excited for Christmas this year! I get to hang out with cool members in my ward and share an awesome message with people! People always love to talk about Christmas! Being a missionary at Christmas is actually pretty awesome :) What do you think about the initiative Elder Fisher? Do you have to hand out 10 Cards a day too? 

Yes I love it when you send pictures with your new lens! Keep sending pictures! and Congrats on the deer that you shot this year Justin! 

Update on Drew: We finally set a baptism date with him!! He will be getting baptized on December 28th and we will now be seeing him twice a week! Ahh! We just have to keep his motivation up and strengthen his testimony! I know we can get him ready by then!

Also we have a new investigator! His last name is Kruger!! How awesome is that!? So in my Emails I will call him Mr. Kruger. (As in Mr. Krugers Christmas haha) Mr. Kruger is a Former investigator who is a single man dude who is I am guessing in his early 30s. We knocked on his door last week and set up an appointment with him. He told us he was going to have a lot of hard questions for us. haha We accepted the challenge. Then this week we taught him the restoration and answered all his questions. His questions were nothing we haven't heard before. He says he has trouble trusting people so believing that someone is a prophet is hard for him. We shared with him a scripture in Matthew 7 teach us how we know who is a false prophet and by their fruits ye shall know them. We told him that the Book of Mormon is the fruits of Joseph Smith labors. And if he reads it and asks God with real intent if it is true, he will know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. I then asked him, "When you know for yourself that the church is true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority?" And Mr. Kruger said yes!! haha That was the first REAL person I asked to be baptized! It was cool. I should have set a date with him but I forgot. But we will see how his next lesson goes.

We had American Thanksgiving this week so I ate a lot. We were not allowed to proselyte on Thanksgiving so we went to a members home for a breakfast buffet and then hung out with some other sister missionaries and then went to another members home and ate dinner and played games. It was fun! We also had an appointment Thanksgiving evening with one of our investigators that is getting baptized on December 27th. The day before Drew! He had his date set before I got here. So ya! It was a great week :)  

You know what is weird? We were talking with this one guy on the street outside of his house and he was telling us how we don't know our temples very well. He told us that on the top of every temple there is a seagull on a gold ball. We were trying to be polite as we were correcting him that he was confusing a seagull with the angel Moroni haha Are there seagulls on any of the temples?? I don't know but he did not think that angel Moroni was on the temple. He was very positive that it was a seagull. Too bad we didn't have a picture to show him.  

People are weird but I love them all! that is what makes a mission fun is all the crazy, amazing people we get to meet! 

I will try and tell you more about the people I meet in more of my emails haha 

Love you all and pray for you every day!

Love,

Sister Fisher

Haha this is what is in my apartment on the wall :) 

Thanksgiving with the ST. Louis Hills sisters

Happy American Thanksgiving

I have a wish for Santa... SEND ME SOME MAILING ADDRESSES!!! I am talking to Brandon too!!  I asked mom once and you once and I have got nothing. Please send grandparents and Kaitlyn and Brandon's address por favor. Sorry for my impatience. I love you. Also Email me some Christmas stories. me and my companion want to  do that Christmas count down story book. You know what I am talking about? 

My week was alright. God is really testing my patience. We had a lot of cancelled appointments and with Thanksgiving being on the 27th no one is going to want to see us. But I am excited and motivated! We found a former investigator yesterday and set up an appointment with him and also found two potential investigators that we will see this week. I am really excited to get to know them better! Pray that they don't cancel on us.

Update on Drew... He hasn't set a date yet... we are still working with him haha He is praying to decide on which date. We are so close with him. Things are looking good :) I promise. He will probably be baptized near the end of December or the beginning of January. God testing my patience again but it's good! God loves that guy so much and I do too! 

Every morning me and my companion recite a bunch of stuff. But one of the things we recite is this:

Faith is the Power

Obedience is the Price

Love is the Motive

The Spirit is the Key

And Christ is the Reason!

I LOVE that so much because it is so true! But I want to just focus on love being the motive. These past few weeks I can really feel love being my motivation. Love for the message, love for my companion, love for others and a love for God. Charity in missionary work is SO important. I have definitely seen a difference in my attitude and just a way that I look at the work because of the pure love of Christ that I feel! I am just so happy!! People can tell when you really love a message rather than just reciting the message. And love really does motivate you! Things are doing so good here! I am loving my mission and I feel like I am improving a little more each day!! The church is so true!

Keep sending me love! Happy Anniversary! Happy American Thanksgiving! 

I love you! 

Sister Fisher  

Getting Cold

Our car didn't start this morning. It is starting to get really cold and snow and what not. It was really slushy snow too. Humidity, cold air and wind is a nasty mix. 

So I don't have a lot of time to email. This week was great. I felt like I taught the restoration a lot this week! We did a lot of tracting and we could potentially have some new investigators! Maybe even young families!! Cross your fingers! haha 

Up date on Drew... we have not set a date with him yet. He is afraid to fully commit. He wants to be baptized, he really likes what we teach but, He says he doesn't like the idea of a church that tells him who to be. He has some Word of Wisdom problems. So really he just doesn't know if he can give up drugs and his friends. But the other day we got a text from him saying that he is prepared to set a date. I don't know, maybe he got an answer?? We will see how the next lessonon tuesday goes.

I also got to make jewelry this week! A recent convert taught us so now I have a new pearl necklace! It was fun :) ​ 

Well I made it through my first transfer and I am still living! Six more weeks and I will no longer be a greenie!! haha (I get trained for two transfers) 

I love you and wish the best for all of you! 

Sister Fisher :) 

I got to make a blanket with my district. we each made a few squares and then crocheted them all together and gave it to the mission president's wife! I am pretty proud of it!! haha
what do ya think?? haha Have a great week!

The Grand Jury

 I am so glad that you are putting up movie quotes around the new movie room! Take lots of pictures! And Yes I got the drivers abstract and I printed it off and mailed it to the mission home so thank you! 

It is funny that you should say that me and my companion look like sisters. The missionaries in this mission seem to always say that our mission president likes to put missionaries together that look alike. I feel like me and my companion think a lot alike too. She is great :) 

I really like the quote from Brigham Young that you sent me on how Heavenly Father qualifies us for the work. And my cool spiritual experience kinda goes along with that! 

Like Elder Fisher I also had exchanges this week and it was my turn to stay in my area with the STL (Sister Training Leader).  

We had a lesson planned with one of our progressing investigators and his name is Drew. Drew is a deep thinker. We asked him to be baptized before but he wants to think it out and know for sure that this church is true. Which is awesome! So I was a really nervous for this lesson. My STL (Sister Huppi) doesn't know this guy so I had to take control of the lesson.I didn't want to mess up because this guy is so close to baptism. He really gets along with the Webbs who are members in our ward so we have the lessons at there home. 

Fast Sunday was this last Sunday so I fasted and prayed that this lesson (which was on tuesday) would go well and that I wouldn't make a complete fool of myself. I wanted to share something that would be of worth to him. I did everything I could to study and prepare for the lesson with the time I had. 

Tuesday came along and we had the lesson. We text Drew everyday to remind him to read his scriptures and so we were asking him how that was going and he said not good. He tries to consume so much information at one time and he is getting frustrated with his studies. He also tries to take notes while studying which is awesome but he says he has a hard time knowing what to right down. We told him that he is completely normal and that things take time. Understanding the Gospel and understanding the scriptures take time. We talked about the Sabbath day and the importance of attending church and keeping that day holy. He told us he thinks that keeping a day holy is pretty much impossible. With the friends he has and the world that we live in it is impossible. He takes too much on himself. We told him,"Drew, The Lord will be patient with you, you need to be patient with yourself." People make mistakes but that is why we go to church is to renew our convents and just do our best to become better. 

Later in the lesson Sister Huppi told him about the story of the father who brought his son who was over come by demons and was having sezures to the Savior and asked Jesus Christ if he would save him. The Savior asked the Father if he believed if He could heal him. And the father replied, "Lord I believe, Help thou mine unbelief." The spirit was so strong! Drew was even tearing up! Ahh! And then Sister Huppi asked him if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and he said yes!! We are going to set a date the next time we see him! (Tuesday) This guy is seriously so awesome! He even stayed after the lesson to do some family history with the Webbs! And he came to church again on Sunday! 

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father because I know that he hears and answers prayers! He knew I was nervous for that lesson but I felt his love through the whole thing! When we got out of that lesson I started crying because I was so happy and grateful! Sister Huppi is so amazing! I learned so much from her that day!

Like you said, Satan tries to make you believe that you can't do it. That you are not smart enough or not qualified enough. He tries to make you doubt and have that unbelief. He makes you fear. But if we have faith and exercise that faith by being obedient and living our religion, the Lord will bless us. I can testify to that. I have a quote on my wall by Quinton L Cook and it says, "We should live life by faith not by fear." Miracles happen when we exercise our faith and believe! How much power is given to us when we just believe! God loves us so much! The church is so true!

 

Elder Fisher, I don't know if you have tried this but, in the beginning of the planner book it gives finding ideas and one of them is to ask everyone for referrals. Try asking investigators or people on the street for referrals. Ask them if they know anyone who just moved in. Or who just had a loved one pass away. Or ask if they know anyone who just had a baby. Or who is struggling and is in need of a spiritual message. People who are not members of the church have a lot more friends who are not members than members do. haha Also Elder, what is your mailing address? and how long do you think you will be in your area? I got your post card!! That made me happy :) 

Dad could you also give me the Grandparents mailing address?? Please and thank you! 

Also Family, I don't know if you are aware of this but this is what the mission president sent all the missionaries in the mission. 

Dear Missionaries,

In the coming days or weeks the Grand Jury is expected to announce it's verdict in the shooting case of Micheal Brown that incited all the riots in St. Louis two months ago. This has the potential to become a very volatile situation that could get way out of hand and become very dangerous. If it does, DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR ANY PROTESTS OR DEMONSTRATIONS, stay far away and do not get involved in any way. Don't go close to take pictures or see what is going on. For your own safety just stay away. If you feel any danger stay in your apartment and call me. The ward members will be a big help if need be. I am sending this notice to the whole mission in the event some of you who are not currently in St. Louis are transfered here next week. Hopefully things stay calm and orderly but there are those who will want to make an issue out of what ever decision comes.

Keep your self safe,

President Morgan

We were going to go to down town St. Louis today and got to Paint Louis (There is a wall you can paint/Graffiti on!) and maybe the Arch but for now I think we will stay clear of the main city and stay in the suburb of St. Louis. I am sure there is no need for you guys to worry but I thought I would make you aware. One thing I do know is the Lord watches over his missionaries. 

I love you very much! And I pray for you all daily! 

Love Sister Fisher

Pumpkin Carving

NOOOOOO! You must put movie quotes up please!!! Mother! Please! It would be so cool! (Britt's response to Alysa's suggestion that we don't put movie quotes on the walls in the new movie room)

     My week was pretty good! We have also been doing a lot of finding and tracting and that resulted in a new investigator! Her name is Samantha and she is super cool. She lives by herself and is trying to get a job. And while we were talking to her in her home, someone called and asked to set up an interview with her which is super awesome! I hope she gets the job! She seems really interested in our church and even said that she would get baptized! We didn't even have to ask her, she brought it up herself! She couldn't come to church this Sunday because she was visiting her grandma but hopefully she will come next Sunday! Next Sunday is the Primary Presentation so we are trying to get ALL our investigators to come to that! Also we contacted a potential named Rob. He is younger and has a little family and seems pretty promising so we are going to shoot him a text this week to meet up with him. Also we just had an investigator get baptized this Sunday! It was super cool! It was the guy I told you about who stopped drinking and smoking! He was very excited about his baptism and I think he is awesome :) 

Seriously The Lord is preparing people everywhere to hear his gospel! Don't give up Brandon! They will come! Have faith, be obedient and God will put someone in your path! These are the Latter-Days! Where the gospel will flood the earth! That goes for people at home too! Have your heart and mind prepared to share the gospel and God will trust you with one of  his precious children. I want to hear about your missionary experiences at home! 

   Anyways the weather it pretty nice here. It hasn't snowed yet. They say they don't get snow here until the end of November/beginning of December. But it is slowly getting colder. The leaves are changing color and there are a lot of trees here so leaves are everywhere! It is a good service project though. But today the sun is shining, a little bit windy but it is beautiful out!

     My ward is the Webster Groves ward and we meet at 9am. There are a lot of young families in our ward and a lot of really good people! Also they are all really willing to fellowship new investigators! That really helps with missionary work! When the investigator has a friend,an assignment, and a testimony, that is what keeps them strong in the gospel. There are a lot of St. Louis Cardinal fans around here. There are also some family's from Alberta! There is the Broadheads from Cardston and the Wrights. I haven't been at there house for dinner yet but they said that they would have us over and talk about Canada and what not. I have heard of the name Broadhead before. I think there was some girl in my YSA ward that had the name of Broadhead. And do you think I am related to the Wrights? haha 

   Our Mission Ward leader is pretty cool. He is pretty young and he works for the St. Louis Rams Football team. He might be like one of the assistants to the coach. I am not exactly sure what he is. But we give an update text to him every night of what we did during the day. He is always very aware of who our investigators are and who we are seeing. Almost every Sunday we have a mission coordination meeting with him and discuss about the people we see and there needs and what we can do to give the investigators fellow-shippers. He helps gives ideas and organizes things and takes turns teaching the gospel principles class.

    My companion is pretty sweet. Sister Hayden is very loving and works very hard. She has been struggling a little bit this week though. She is really hard on herself and her stressing out is stressing me out a little bit. But I am trying to stay positive and up lift her and tell her that she is an awesome trainer! She has only been out for 6 months and is already training! So I believe God has a lot of trust and faith in her. And so do I :) I just hope I am not a burden on her. I am trying really hard to get better so I can help her as much as possible. 

   Halloween was great! I got your Halloween card last Monday too after I wrote you so thank you and I love and miss all of you! We had to have our cars parked at our apartments at 5pm. Then we could do what ever we want really. We could go anywhere in our area as long as we had a member drive us. But we were not aloud to dress up and we were not aloud to go tracting of course haha. 

Me and my companion stayed at our apartment and carved pumpkins! We carved pumpkins, ate pizza and listened to Mo tab :) It was a good night! One thing that I thought was interesting was in St. Louis the kids apparently tell a joke before the people at the door give them candy. Sister Hayden's pumpkin is the Washington temple and mine is a scary face :) 

All is well over here in St Louis :) I love you and pray for you every day. And I would love to hear from Justin! 

And stay warm! "...When all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." Helaman 5:12 haha ;) 

​Tim's Baptism!! (He is the guy in the middle) And then all the Sister missionaries that helped him in his conversion process and then The guy in the purple tie is a member from the ward who baptized Tim! 

Nearer My God To Thee

The basement looks fantastic! I am so excited for you to start putting up the movie quotes. And I second what Brandon said! Kill something so you can send me jerky! I din't get a Halloween card... But I got something in the mail from Tanis! It was a big piece of paper with someones body traced on it with their arms stretched out. On their shirt it said, "Do Hugs not drugs." It was weird so I hung it up on the wall in my room. Thank you Fort Macleod Young Women! Thank you for sharing what you learned at priesthood meeting. That is so true! The Holy Ghost is definitely the teacher! We are just instruments in this marvelous work! And that is a reminder I need every day! 

I had a good week this week. After I emailed you guys I went bowling with the other sisters in my zone. a couple of them had birthdays so we were celebrating with them! And then after that we had a cottage meeting. I never heard of one before but I like the idea. A member in a ward hosts family home evening at their home and then missionaries invite recent converts, less actives and investigators to it. It was fun. 

Another highlight this week is we got to visit a member in our ward who is suffering from cancer. She is a really nice lady and was having a really hard day when we saw her so I am glad we got to visit. Me and my companion decided to sing her the hymn "Nearer my God to thee". It was so beautiful and the spirit was so powerful! She was so grateful and so was her husband. That really opened my eyes to what it truly means to serve. To do work in behalf of the Lord and be his angels. She told us that we couldn't have come on a better day. It was truly the Lord working through us, inspiring us to meet her. It was so cool! 

I got to crochet again this week with a less active. She taught us how to make scarfs this time so know you will be a peace to know that I will stay warm this winter haha. Our district decided to crochet a blanket together and give it to the mission home so that is what we will be doing during lunch after our district meetings!

Also one of our investigators ,Tim, just had his baptismal interview last saturday so he will be getting baptized next sunday!! (Nov. 2) We are so excited for him! Today is day 12 for not smoking! and we are so proud of him! It's so cool how the gospel changes peoples lives! It really does bless people! Another investigator named Drew came to church for the first time last sunday! He really enjoyed it! He is really getting a long with one of the members in the ward. member are a huge help in missionary work when they help fellowship! 

I also saw President Morgan and his wife this sunday! He is my mission president. It was a pleasant surprise to see them! They are honestly like celebrities to me. For some reason I find it weird that they know so much about me. But they are fantastic and very loving. I am well looked after I can promise you that. 

Well I also learned something this week, believe it or not. I have known this before but It really came clear to me this week. I learned the importance of exercising your faith. I read this talk that was given by Tad R. Callister and he gave it in the MTC in 2008. But it was about becoming a consecrated missionary. Putting every thing on the sacrificial alter (Like fears, home, romance, pride, everything..) and giving everything you have to serving a mission. A section that really stuck out to me in that talk was putting our fears on the sacrificial alter. It can be scary and awkward to talk to people especially about religion and I have let many opportunities to share the gospel pass by because I was afraid to open my mouth. But then I read this...

"The reason it is so important to open mouths is that every time we do so we exercise faith, and every time we exercise faith we invite the spirit and miracles into our lives. Consecrated missionaries open their mouth with everyone."

I love that so much because it is so true! We can pray for faith and say we have faith, but unless we exercise that faith miracles happen! The spirit works through us! Miracles happen after the trial of our faith! And that is not just for missionary work! That is for everything in our lives! He will strengthen testimonies and let us know if the church is true if we exercise our faith and pray to him or study our scriptures. He will help us over come trials if we exercise our faith and rely on the enabling power of the atonement. We can do anything! Faith is so powerful! Powerful enough to move mountains! If we put our trust in God, He will not forsake us. I can testify of that!

Family, have a fantastic week and never forget that God loves ya! :) 

Love,

Sister Fisher

My new investigator haha ;)

Apples

Oh my goodness dad... your emails kill me. I am suppose to be quiet in the library but I can't help but laugh out loud when I read your "news letters." Happy Birthday Justin and Baxter! I have been thinking about you guys! And congratulations Justin on your race! Sounds like a blast! I will train every morning with you because I have to work out in the mornings anyways! I know you will do great! 

 I will be in this same area until after Christmas. I left a green paper on the fridge that gives details about what you should do when you mail things so read that and decide for yourself. :) 

No we don't have I-pads yet but we might get them in the near future. If we do eventually get them then I would have to pay for it with my own money and then after my mission I would get to keep it! Which is kinda awesome. 

I don't get to watch the news so I haven't heard about any tornadoes... The weather has been really nice recently. The leaves are changing color and the temperature is perfect! Some missionaries think it is getting cold but I think it is beautiful out! It was raining a lot the first couple of days I was here and it was weird because the rain was like a mist. but other than that, it has been very nice in the St. Louis area.

I have had quite the week and I am definitely learning more and more every day! On tuesday had exchanges so I got to spend 24hrs with my Sister Training Leader and she is from Toronto Canada! She doesn't have a drivers license so I had to drive everywhere. which was interesting. Lets just say I am very grateful for GPSs. But I got to meet some of her investigators and they are some amazing people! I met a guy with an eye patch! He was very nice. And old. He liked fishing though so he really liked my name and told me, "I'm just going to call you fish." I hope I get to see him more. 

On Thursday we had Zone Leader Training which was awesome. I got to officially meet everyone in my zone. We got to learn and do more role playing. Even out of the MTC we do more and more role playing! I am learning to love it though. It really does help. I really learned the importance of studying at this meeting. We listened to a part of a talk from Elder Jeffery R. Holland. He talked about how you wouldn't want an unpracticed heart surgin to do heart surgery on you. It is the same with missionary work. You wouldn't want an unpracticed missionary preaching the word. I know the Spirit is the teacher and brings things to our remembrance, but if you haven't studied then the spirit has nothing to draw from your mind. Another thing that he said is, "Tell me how obedient  you are and I will tell you how the rest of your mission will go." Or something like that. And that is SO true! Our obedience determines the out come of our mission. And even life! Decisions determine our destiny (Thomas S. Monson) So it is important to make good decisions. And you said it from the beginning dad and I am so grateful! Me and my companion made a goal for our time together to be 100% obedient! And it has brought so many blessings! To get up at 6:30 and work out every morning, to have personal and companion study, to stay out of our apartment until 9:00 at night and to have lights out at 10:30. It might be easy to say that we are tired and want to sleep in or go home early, but putting everything I got into this mission really bring blessings! Another rule that our mission president gave us is to only listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir through out the week and then on P-days we can listen to any of the music on lds.org and that is it. That is all I get to listen to for 18 months. (So feel free to send me Mo Tab music for christmas gifts haha) But still by just listening to Mo Tab it really helps me focus on why I am out here and to focus on Jesus Christ. It helps me have the spirit with me always. Not all missions have that rule but I am glad that our mission president is a little more strict. It makes me want to work harder. 

We also got a new investigator this week. He was a referral from these other missionaries. When we first met this guy he seemed almost perfect. He was well studies of our church and searched for missionaries to teach him so he could learn more and eventually become a member. He told us that he feels well in tuned with the spirit and he felt like the mormon church was the way to go. He has been to Nauvoo and Salt Lake City and he has talked with many members and missionaries. He even told us that he knows the church is true. I almost thought that this was too good to be true. I even thought, "This can't be that easy. Does God really put someone this prepared and this ready into missionaries paths to receive the gospel?" We even invited him to church the next day and he said he would come. And he did come! After we met with him the first time he gave us apples and I told my companion, "I almost feel like these apples are poisoned because of how easy that was." Maybe I shouldn't have doubted God...  

Well. Things have changed. Yesterday we went over to teach him the first lesson. God is our loving Heavenly Father. He was good with that. Gospel Blesses Families. He was good with that too. Then we got to God calls prophets in every dispensation. This is where things turned into a debate. And that is how he saw it. He saw that we were the sales people trying to sell him this product. And it was almost like he invited us over just so he could see if we could "win him over". And it got to the point where he was coaching us how to be good salesmen because he worked in the sales business in the past. This guy is so weird! Luckily we had a member over with us too to help us. He just did not understand priesthood authority and that a prophet called of God is the only one who can act in his name and under his authority. He doesn't believe that that authority was ever lost because of people like Martin Luther, Good people who preached of God and brought people closer to Christ and His doctrine. Yes they were good people and followers of Christ and yes many other denominations have a lot of truth to them but one thing that they don't have is that priesthood authority. Someone who can act in his name and authority. Someone who holds that power of God. We have the fullness of the gospel on the earth today. We did our very best to explain that to him but he just kept rambling and trying to talk over us. It exhausting. This guy is really smart. And is well studied in many books and religions. He likes to use big words too. But he is not humble what so ever. It makes me think of the scripture 2 Nephi 9: 28-29. When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God... I hope that we can soften his heart with the spirit. We will see how it goes. But I am still not going to eat that apple. 

One thing I would like to ask you guys is if you could send me good talks on Priesthood Authority. It is a common thing people get caught up on and I think if I had a better knowledge of it I could explain it better to people. Give the spirit something to draw on.

But oh my goodness guys! The church is SO true! I know it! And nothing that anyone could say could change that! God loves all his children, including you and me! And he blesses us everyday! We just have to open our hearts and minds to notice those everyday tender mercies! I am growing everyday from this missionary experience and I am loving every minute of it! Have a wonderful week and I will hear from you next Monday! 

Love,

Sister Fisher

​Hey!

Sorry I didn't write you yesterday. A lot has happened this week! I left the MTC on October 7th and arrived in St. Louis about1:00pm. Our Mission president and his wife and his assistent were there to pick us up and it was kinda weird to see them in real life! It was like seeing celebrities because I have seen there picture so much and read so much about them. Anyways, they first took us to the St. Louis Temple which was beautiful and we took some pictures! You should be getting a picture and a letter from the mission president sometime soon. Then we went to the Mission Home and that home was so beautiful! Very simple but so nice! We got to stay the night at the mission home and we had a testimony meeting in the living room and each had an interview with the president. I love our Mission President and his wife! They are so loving and his wife is seriously perfect. Like I don't think she has one single flaw. But she is so nice. I loved staying in there home. 

On wednesday we had our transfer meeting and I got a new companion! her name is Sister Hayden and she is from Washington state. She is great :) 

So my first area in the St. Louis mission is..... Webster Groves! I am in the St. Louis South zone so I am in St. Louis! 

Webster Groves is the name of my ward. I am in a family ward. And guess what! There is a guy named George Bailey in my ward! Haha I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that! I am gonna miss watching It's a Wonderful Life with you guys but at least I will get to chill with George Bailey!! Anyways I will probably be in this area until after Christmas. We have been pretty busy with lots of appointments so I haven't gone tracking that much but I kinda enjoy tracking. We have quite a few investigators and two with baptismal dates. One of our investigators has a smoking addiction so we are helping him over come that and we gave him a quit smoking packet. It's just kinda cool because I worked with people with addictions before my mission and I get to continue to help them during my mission. He came to church last sunday so I got to sit with him. Hopefully he will be ready for his baptismal date on November 1st. And Our other investigator bore his testimony at church!! That was awesome!

On Thursday I got to crochet with a less active member so Auntie Deanna will be pleased to know that I am taking up that skill now because we meet with her every other week. It's actually not that hard! Our District is going to make a district blanket and put it in the mission home :) 

Last saturday I also got to help an old lady in our ward move. my shoulders are still a little sore from that. 

I didn't get to write you yesterday because we had a Mission conference!! Every missionary in the mission came to St. Louis and we got to listen to our Mission president and a member of the Quorum of the 70! His name was Elder Satati. He is from Kenya Africa. One of the Questions that Elder Satati asked us is, When you think of your hero... What scripture do you think of? So I want you all to answer that question for me :) I think of Moroni 7:45.

Also at our mission conference we had the opportunity to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. And it was so good! I really really encourage all of you to watch it! It's funny, spiritual, and inspirational! It really shows a nice diversity of different mormon families in the world. I loved it so much!  

That is so awesome to hear about Thanksgiving! Because I was at the Mission conference I met up with most of the Canadians in the mission and we all ate at the same table for lunch and had our own Thanksgiving dinner as we ate our turkey sandwiches haha. It was funny. 

I hope your toe gets better. If I was there I would kiss it better for you :) And I hope Auntie Dawn heals up too. 

You will have to send me some cool shots that you take with your new camera gear! I am glad to hear you guys are having fun!

Also A few things I need to ask from you.

1. I need you to send the mission office my Driving records ASAP! Please please!

2. What is Kaitlyn's Email? 

3. Give Referrals to the poor missionaries in Claresholm. It sucks not having appointments. haha 

Love ya Lots and pray for you guys everyday! 

Sister Fisher

Grandparents!! 

I love you and miss you very much! I am having a wonderful time so far and have been so blessed with spiritual experiences!

Conference really was amazing! And it was cool to watch it in the MTC with 2000 other missionaries in a big Gym! The spirit was incredible! 

But I am now in the Mission field! I left the MTC October 7th at 4:30 in the morning and I took a bus, train and airplane to get here! Bu I am here and safe. 

My first area is in the St. Louis south Zone and I am in the Webster Groves ward.

I am learning so much and growing a little at a time :) 

Yesterday we had a Mission Conference! Every missionary in the mission came to St. Louis and we got to listen to our Mission president and a member of the Quorum of the 70! His name was Elder Satati. He is from Kenya Africa. One of the Questions that Elder Satati asked us is, When you think of your hero... What scripture do you think of? So I want you all to answer that question for me :) I think of Moroni 7:45.

Also at our mission conference we had the opportunity to watch the movie Meet the Mormons. And it was so good! I really really encourage all of you to watch it! I think it should be playing at the Movie Mill right now... It's funny, spiritual, and inspirational! It really shows a nice diversity of different mormon families in the world and what mormons believe in. I loved it so much! 

I hope all is well! 

Love

Sister Fisher

My view for General Conference!

​Me and the Mission President and ​his wife at the St. Louis Temple.

​The group that traveled to Missouri together and The Mission President

​My First companion and trainer... Sister Hayden!!