Storm Season

Heyyy. 

 

This week was really good. We had exchanges and were really blessed with lots of lessons with people. Ryan's baptism is this weekend so we have been busy getting ready for that. he is doing great and just absorbing the info that we give him.

I stayed in Rantoul for exchanges and we found three new investigators! We were walking down the street and found this crazy black guy and his girlfriend. He was so funny and fun to talk to. We had our first lesson with him and we tried to teach the restoration but he talked a lot and had really crazy views of the bible and God. He tried to act like he knew the bible well but he was so off! haha He was messing up the stories and making things up! Anyways. A story for another time. Hopefully we can clear things up for him and get him more open minded.

And then we found a young mother who's first language is Spanish. she was so sweet. we taught her the plan of salvation and the next time we teach her we are going to bring a member with us who speaks Spanish! I am so excited!

We have been working a lot recently with Less active and we had a wonderful surprise on Sunday! A young mother and her two boys who are less active came to church! I was so happy to see them! Hopefully they will come more.

Also! Things that are coming up is this Saturday we will be having a mission conference and Elder Quinton L Cook will talk to the mission and also Elder Ulisses Soares from the Presidency of the quorum of the 70 and Elder Gary E Smithson who is in the presiding Bishopbric! So I am excited to hear from them :)

We are not becoming a I Pad mission though :( Not yet at least....

The Pictures are of Tyren who is one of our investigators little boys. He wanted to be a missionary and wear my tag haha 

and Me and my comp soaking wet from the rain! It is definitely storm season here.

Unfortunately

Heyyy! 

I unfortunately don't have a lot of time today but I am doing great! This week was good and I feel like I am learning lots this week. 

I love you guys! Have a great week! And thank you so much for the spiritual insights from stake conference! 

Love you

Britt

A New Friend

Hello!

This week was pretty good. We were busy and we had lots of tender mercies and funny moments haha.

We had a lesson with and investigator named Betsy. This is and old lady who I mentioned in my last email about the Plan of Salvation lesson. This was the second time that we have seen her. We got talking and I told her that during our church service, members of the church are asked to give talks instead of having a paid preacher. and she says, "Oh like the mormon church." I said with a big smile, "Ya that's us! We are Mormons!" And the look she gave me was priceless haha I just started laughing and was like, "Betsy! We are from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints!! That is the Mormon church!" It was so funny. I think she has a bad memory or something. I love her though.

I also taught someone who had no idea what a mormon was! They are still out there!! Hopefully we can teach them more.

Also an investigator we have we used to just teach her and her family little spiritual thoughts from the bible because she didn't want to take the lessons but last Monday we asked her if she would take the lessons and she said yes! We will teach her the restoration tonight and we want to invite her to baptism and I hope she says yes soooooo baaaaaaad!!! so that was a little miracle.

And then we were in Fisher trying to contact some people labeled as "less active" and we would tract around there houses. It was 8pm, that last awkward hour of the day but some people also like to call it the miracle hour. Anyways we knock on this one house and this lady answers the door she probably in her 30s and she has kind of a serious look on her face and said, "yes?" We did our little sch-peel and said that we shared messages centered on Jesus Christ. I asked her is she was very religious herself, and she said another solid, "Yes." And I was like, "Okay cool can we share our card with you?" Not thinking that she was that interested to hear about what we had to say. and she was like, "Ya hold on one second" She goes upstairs and get her three girls and brings them

down and invites us in to share our message with them. I was thinking whaaat!! okay Sweet!! They were actually a really cool family! And her girls love God! It was crazy. 

Another day we were contacting more less actives because there are soooo many in this Branch. And the lady answers the door and she seems pretty nice we are talking to her a little bit and we try to set up another time to see her and she is like, "I don't plan on coming back so I will just be a waste of your time." And I said, "Well we could just come and be your friend!" And she said, "Well we can all use a friend. You can come back next Saturday." And in my mind I was like whoa I did not think that would work haha! So ya we made a new friend the other day! haha 

Anyways, those were the highlights. I am reminded every day of how much I love being a missionary! And how beautiful the "music" the gospel gives! And I am an instrument in God's hands, sharing the music with anyone who is willing to hear. 

I hope you all have a friend! Or at least a friend in Jesus! Get yo praise on! 

Have a great week! 

Sister Fisher

Pictures::::

Me and my Comp

What Illinois looks like 

Spring cleaning

Sister Limb is our Housing coordinator and she sent out a message to all the missionaries about spring cleaning and she changed the words to D&C 4:3. I thought mom would find this funny. It says, 

"For behold, the apartment is dirty all ready to clean and lo he that thrusteth his vacuum and mop with his might the same cleaneth up the place that it stinketh not, but bringeth gladness to his soul!" #Springcleaning

haha I love this mission. Our leaders are awesome! :)

Also The black boxes I was also talking about last week, well we got them and they are actually called Tiwi boxes (A lot less intimidating then black boxes haha) But they talk to you if you are speeding, driving aggressively, or if you are not wearing a seat belt. You log in with a card and then whenever you drive carelessly it informs the mission office.They are pretty cool and I think it is a good idea to help the missionaries in this mission to drive more carefully and will save the church a lot of money. 

Looks like you guys are having a blast! Ya my last Companion from Vegas has told me of some interesting things that are on the strip. I am sure you had quite the show. 

I had a pretty good week. Feeling a little stressed though. Just with expectations as a missionary and prioritizing things and deciding what to do with people. Faith wants to hold off getting baptized. She is doubting about Joseph Smith and modern prophets. The prophet didn't speak at the sessions she went to so that was kinda disappointing. I feel worried for Pres. Monson. He only spoke once at conference which I thought was kind of weird. I hope he is not sick. Everyone is looking really old in the quorum of the 12. It is sad.

But I really enjoyed conference. Like Elder Fisher said, it was a very comforting conference. Especially for a missionary. My favorite talk was by Michael T. Ringwood from the quorum of the 70. I like how he talked about his Book of Mormon hero, Shiblon. And being truly good and without guile. Saturday sessions was just really good. 

We picked up a 2 new investigators this week. One is the 9 year old boy I was talking about. His mom is a less active and his day is a some what recent convert. He will be really fun to teach and we hope to get him baptized on May 2nd. Hopefully with us teaching there some we can get him more active. 

Also we picked up an old lady who was scarred from her passed religious experiences. She doesn't understand faith and she likes things proven to her. It will probably take some time with her. But our first lesson we had with her we taught the plan of salvation. It was a sad but kind of cool and spiritual lesson. She had lost her son and her mother around the same time. With tears in her eyes she told us that she just believes that her son is a bunch of bones in the ground. As we explained the plan of salvation to her, it felt so good to testify to her that she would see her son again, ressurected with a perfect body. She seemed comforted by Gods plan and told us it made sense. I don't know if it meant anything to her but It made me think of how grateful I am for the understanding that I have for Gods plan. I don't have tears of sorrow in believing that I will just be a bunch of bones in the ground but I have tears of joy in knowing that I will live again with my family forever in happiness. It is so sad and frustrating when people don't except our messages. I always think, "If only they knew!!! If only they knew how much happiness and peace this could give them." 

Anyways stay safe! Have fun! Lots of Love!

Sister Fisher

MY FEET DON'T LIKE ME

Another week in Rantoul and it was pretty good! I got a new companion and she is pretty rad. She is your typical Utah girl. She definitely has a Utah accent too. We got home from exchanging companions and when we got home I got a call from President Morgan. Ooops... I guess you guys didn't think it was that funny of a story.(The story from last week about the police checking them twice to see if they were ok and telling them to be carefull. Had mom worried) President Morgan was real cool about it though. He said he is glad I have got good parents who care about me. I know it was inspired of president Morgan to keep Sisters in Rantoul. I sustain him 100%.. He is so good. My companion last transfer (Sister Sims) kept telling me that we were going to get white washed with Elders because in her interview with the president she said that he told her that there might not be sisters in Rantoul anymore. I didn't think we were going to get white washed though. The spirit was telling me that my work was not done in Rantoul yet. And I was right! HA So I know that President Morgan was following the spirit when he kept me here. President Morgan told me to tell you that Rantoul isn't that bad haha! And I don't just serve in Rantoul. We cover other little towns that are safe. And the members are great. I am well taken care of.

Yesterday at church in the third hour we did a missionary work shop thing with the ward!! It was awesome! We gave everyone mission calls and name tags and then they went to their different missions (rooms). Then the relief society president, elders quorum president and us missionaries gave trainings on different things and switched rooms every ten minutes. This also gave us the opportunity to introduce the "Because he lives" initiative with the branch! It went really well and hopefully got the branch more excited about missionary work!

We also got a call from a mother in our branch telling us that we need to start teaching her 9 year old son and get him baptized. We were not apposed to that ;) We have a dinner appointment with them Friday.

We also met with our investigator named Faith. She is 13. But she seems way more mature then I am. We had a hard time meeting with her last transfer. But a couple Sundays ago she told us that she was ready to be baptized. She wanted a better understanding of Joseph Smith before she got baptized so she read the Joseph Smith History on her own and now she says she is ready. We had a lesson with her after church yesterday. I am a firm believer in Baptism calendars so we finally made one with her and we have our lessons set and everything is planned out for her to get Baptized on April 12th. I am so excited!

Also I don't think I have walked this much in my entire life. My feet don't like me because I am usually lazy and sit in a car and sit in peoples houses and eat food all day. We have been walking and saving miles because tomorrow we have a 2 hour drive to Springfield for a zone conference. I guess I didn't realize how nice it is to have a car. We have to get our cars there because all the cars in our mission are getting these box thingys put in them so if we are speeding or if we slam on the brakes to often then it informs the mission office. Or something like that. I can't remember if I told you but at the beginning of my mission these two Elders got in a really bad car accident. One of the Elders came back out but the other is still home. The mission President just wants us to drive more carefully.

Anyways, That's what's up in the St. Louis Mission!! Good luck to you Elder Fisher! That guy sounds like the golden gator!! 

Sister Fisher 

Cool Skies

Hello guys!

This week was pretty great! Transfers is this week and Sister Sims is leaving me and I am staying in Rantoul for another six weeks. Von got baptized on Saturday and confirmed Sunday!! It was awesome! She has been meeting with the missionaries for such a long time! And has always said that she wants to get baptized but she just needed to come to church one more time. Then one day me and Sister Sims had sort of a "come to Jesus" lesson with her and set a baptism calendar with her and then after that she completely turned around and got baptized a few weeks later! She also really wanted the Holy Ghost in her life and was soooo excited to get that. I was really excited for her. 

The retro picture is at Calaway Park??

I have not got sister Clark's letter yet because it is at the mission office. Hopefully my companion or zone leaders will pick up the mail at transfer meeting but if not then I will get it at zone conference which is on March 31st. I will do what I can when I get it.

Oh my gosh. I wish I could spend an hour a day on facebook. There are no Facebook missionaries in my mission. And I have not heard of my mission getting ipads yet... I have heard that my mission is not obedient enough... that is why we don't have district or zone pdays and we are a motab only mission.. 

The other day we were walking to an investigators house that lives about a five minute walk away from us and a cop drives up to us and was like, "Hey... do you know where you are?" we told him, "Ya we are missionaries for our church." and then he was like, "Oh Latter day Saints?" and we were like, "Ya!" and then he was like, "Okay... Just be careful okay?" and then another cop car came around the corner and stopped us and was like, "You guys okay?" and then we pretty much had the same convo as the last cop and then he was like, "Where is your car?" and we were like, "just around the corner at our apartment" and again we were told, "Okay just be careful".... So we live in a sketch area. I guess that wasn't really funny and I probably scared you but I lock my doors at night and we don't go tracting at night. Anywayyyyys

LOVE YOU! 

Have a great week!

the pictures are of Von's baptism and a large air plane by the air museum! 

We get some pretty cool skies over here as well. And everything is flat. I can't wait until the corn starts growing. This is me jumping in front of a died cornfield.
All is well in Illinois! Hope you have a great week! :)

Banana/sprite

The weather is beautiful now in Rantoul Illinois!! Everybody is out BBQing and playing outside and the birds are making lots of noise! It's fantastic! 

I had a great week. We picked up a new investigator named Beverly. She is a Black lady who fosters a bunch of kids. She is really nice. She thought we were nuns. A common mistake it seems like a lot of people make. But we had a lesson with her and at the end before we left she said, "You guys pree coo! We gon' have fun!" haha I love it! 

We also found another girl who lives with her boy friend. I thought she was 16 when I first saw her. She is so tiny but she seems pretty cool so we picked her up as an investigator. 

We had two investigators come to church this Sunday! One was Von who plans to get baptized this weekend!! I am so excited for her! Von's daughter is a recent convert. Von's family and her boyfriend came to church! They really liked it. 

Also my companion is weird. She tried to do the gallon challenge this week because a member in our Branch (Brother Peterson) convinced her to do it. It did not end well. She was so sick and she was trying to make herself puke. Me and Brother Peterson did the Banana and sprite challenge but it didn't work. We felt fine after. It was funny. 

I also made a skirt this week! In our branch, one of the members mother (who is not a member) taught us how to make a skirt! She has no interest in getting baptized (We have already asked) but she loves us! I don't know her name though. Everyone calls her Ma. But she is so much fun! I love her! 

Also I went to one of our investigators Tumor, Cyst party! haha she found out that she got a tumor on one kidney and a cyst on the other so she invited us to go to Olive Garden with her. When we were done eating we went to the bathroom and Julia was in the bathroom stall and Julia then shouts out, "Thank you guys for coming to my Tumor Cyst Party!!" haha everyone in that bathroom had a confused look on there face it was funny. Julia has such a strong faith in Jesus Christ and a love for God. She always says that she is a conqueror. And she is the one who always says, "Get yo praise on!" She doesn't believe in organized religion though. She is non denominational. 

 Is Brady Broderson taking the discussions? I remember you guys telling me that he was going to church a lot. 

Anyways, I can definitely see us being blessed. Missionary work is awesome and I know that God will continually bless you as you continue to invite friends and be good examples. A scripture I really like in the Book of Mormon about missionary work is about the sons of Mosiah. They decided that instead of taking the place of there Father as king, they wanted to give there life to God and preach the gospel to the Lamanites. As we know the Lamanites were not an easy people to preach the gospel to. But in Alma 17 the Lord comforted them. In verse 11 the Lord said to the sons of mosiah, "Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long suffering and afflictions, that ya may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls." This is the Lords work and as you continue to be a good example to  your friends, the Lord will use you as an instrument in his hands. He already has!! It is as simple as that. 

And in verse 13 it says that the sons of mosiah departed, "trusting in the Lord... for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken" I LOVE THAT! Missionary work is so great! So trust in the Lord! Have faith! Have confidence in God! He will make us instruments in His hands!

I was thinking about that recently. At home, it was so easy to do what was right. To just believe because that is what I was taught. To just go with the flow of things. But now that I am on my mission and I have had to put my trust in the Lord. I have so many weaknesses. But now that I have relied on my faith because at times that was all I had, I have seen the Lord work through me. I have been an instrument in Gods hands. It is so cool and makes me so happy! It is more clear.  

Even seeing Bandon have success! That is so cool! I think it is fair to say that the Lord is blessing us all because of the work we are all doing! I can definitely see the blessings! 

Anyways I hope you all have a great week! and notice God's tender mercies because they are everywhere! 

Love and miss you! I pray for you guys and Brandon daily!

Sister Fisher

P.S. got any ideas for fun object lesson for dinner thoughts?? :)

Pictures.... This is Julia

                 And my skirt!