Week 58 - Family History & It's Mango Season!

September 19, 206

Familia!!!

Man love your emails! They always make me smile. I'm so glad to hear youre all doing well!

This week my companion and i have had some really cool experiences with Family History. We are in charge of family history for the mission, but with the change in presidents and everything we have no idea what to do or how to do it. We have been praying and had a meeting with the Assistants and the FH leader in the mission last week. Yesterday we decided to plan for family history and had an amazing experience. I am slowly understanding why it is so important...its not just important, its essential! If our family history is done or not! It is THE ONLY WAY we can live with God again. We have to help them and everyone, because we are all part of Gods family. We now have direction to help the mission progress, because without the Temple, what is the point of being baptized?

I invite you all to look into your family history. Every family has a story! Whats yours?

The first picture.....well lets just say im super excited its mango season again!!!

Also we are preparing to have a baptism this week! For S., that I have talked about a little before. Could you pray for him? He is incredible but we all need a little praying

The next  picture is of M....she now has a baptism date and she finally came to church this week! I traded her daughter  a banana to go to primary:) I love little kids!

The next is of two youth that want to get baptized!

Love you all so so much!!!
Keep smiling brightly!!
Hermana Briggs

Week 57 - Tormentura! and the Spirit is the teacher!

September 12, 2016

Familia!!! 

Us near the Amazon River.

This week has been absolutely crazy! I love crazy weeks!

On Monday we tried to go fishing at the Amazon River…well it had just rained and the Banks of the river turned into a big sink hole, so as you tried to walk to the bank, you sank to you knees at least in mud! But we had so much fun and the adventure of it all was probably what I loved most. I'm always down for adventures. We saw suri for the first time too which we are not allowed to eat…so grateful for that rule.

We have 2 new fechas (appointments) this week! They are a son and daughter of a member! They are the cutest kids ever! We have to teach them in the church because their mom doesn't want anything to do with the church. They ask the sweetest questions…A. asked us “Does God really hear me when i pray? And Ay. asked “Can I really recieve my own testimony of the Book of Mormon?” They are so sincere and already want to share the góspel with their friends. The way we found out they wanted to be baptized was funny because Ay. told us in Young Womens when we were talking to them in church that she was going to be baptized the 17 of September! We smiled and told her we would talk to her after about how she could do that…she sadly has to wait till October 9th!:)

Our investigator underneath the broken roof!

There was a super crazy jungle storm on Friday night that took the roofs off of quite a few peoples houses in our ward…one of which had the entire roof taken off! That is where one of our investigators is living with Hna Corina and we went to help them wash clothes that were dirtied in the rain. The people are so amazing here! No one complained about what had happened, they just gave thanks that that was all that happened. They really help me be more grateful for all the little things I have in my life.

Little spiritual experience this week! My companion and I put goals together to follow the spirit always! And this Sunday as a misión we concentrated on following the spirit and realizing what things distract us from the spirit. I had a thought as we passed by a woman to contact her…thought no, but then remembered our commitment to follow the spirit. We went back and she let us in! She has so so many questions and is searching for the truth. I still don't speak Spanish perfect and my thoughts get all mixed up sometimes, (like in english…that hasnt changed) but she told me “You may not speak perfect, but the look in your eyes says you know it's true.” I am so grateful for the spirit! The spirit should be the teacher, not us.

Suri is the name for a large grub that is roasted and eaten,
but often eaten raw by natives!
http://www.peruthisweek.com/blogs-strange-food-with-chef-palmiro-ocampo-suri-107907

I love this work with all my heart! I wish I could sit and tell you all the amazing things that have happened this week, but that will have to do for today. 

Washing clothes dirtied in the rain.

Thank you for all your prayers and love! I can feel them every day!

Keep smiling brightly!

Con amor,

Hermana Briggs

Week 56 - Faith of King Lamoni & War on Heat!

September 5th, 2016

Family!!!! 

Our littlest investigator (or daughter of )!

So this week was nothing short of so many miracles! I cant even begin to count them! The one that shouts out most loud, though, is about a friend of a less active that I will call S. He came to church last week with his friend K., but then went to his farm so we almost forgot about him until K. came to accompany us to a lesson that fell through. She told us S. had come back because he fell in a hole and was super beat up. So we went to teach him Friday night....he reminds me of King Lamoni (Alma 17-19) who accepted everything that Ammon said and prayed with all his heart to know if it was true and was also willing to do anything to come unto Christ. Saturday we went back and he accepted a baptism date and has fulfilled his commitments better than anyone I have ever seen! When we gave him a Book of Mormon, with almost tears in his eyes he said, "You are going to give this to me?" Well, he barely can stand up let alone walk because he is hurt so bad, but he was determined to come to church on Sunday and with some help from the members he came!!!! I have never seen anyone so determined to come into the gospel. So, that was a super amazing highlight to our week! I know that God is blessing us because we are trying to become more converted unto Him. It's in all the little things we do that show God our commitment to follow Him. 2 Nephi 28:30

Us with a less active we love!

Also 2 kids of a family whose dad is the only member just got permission from their mom to be baptized this week!!! They have been coming to church for 4 years!!!! And they hopefully are going to be baptized at the same time as S. 

We have seen a lot of struggles in our ward lately...one of which is a less active that started coming back to church and then had a stroke and then a week later another one. The pic is us with him. We went and visited him and he just sat and cried as we sang to him. I know the Gospel brings so much comfort to those who need it. 

There is a show here that everyone watches called "Eso es Guerra"..(this is war).a really pointless show about watching people doing dumb things in competition.  But my companion and I took this picture with our fans that we use so we don't die of heat...because this is war against the heat!!! 

A member coming to teach lessons with us.

I just want to leave you with my testimony that I know with all my heart that this church is true. God's work continues, and it will continue more as we keep giving more to our Savior...more of us.

Keep smiling and I plead with you after being in family history...write in your journal...your posterity and you will love you!

Next to the drying Amazon (inlet).

Con amor,

Hermana Briggs

Us with Sis. G. for the day.

Eso es Guerra! (This is war-against heat)

Week 55 - Repentance & Whito!

August 29, 2016

Familia!!!!

It's always so good to see good old friends...that's how i feel it is in the mission tool. When you see old companions or other people you have met before...God lets us have those bonds for a reason and that is what makes life beautiful! 

This week our trio was broken up :( I never thought i would say that i love trios, but our trio was probably just really special. Here's the pic of our last moment together :)

This week the only new sister missionary that came in, Hermana Ch., got to stay with us because we already had 3 beds in our apartment from our trio. She is such a prepared missionary and is so ready for whatever will come ahead of her. She is from Lima and had brought a ton of sweaters which we made her leave in her bag in Iquitos...it's not Kansas(or Lima) anymore :) But the night that she was working with us, literally all of our appointments fell through. We decided to say a prayer and then asked Hermana Ch. where she thought we should go. She pointed in a direction and we started walking. We ran into a member that i scarcely recognized and my companion Hermana C. straight up asked him, "Do you know anyone we could teach?" Well turns out he does!!! And he gave us a reference of someone who rents a room in his house that we are visiting tomorrow! As we contacted after that, i felt it was such a privilege to hear Hermana Ch.'s testimony which was so pure and true. This is us at the airport sending her to Pucallpa!

We also tried another really weird food this week...it's the first one that i really just wanted to throw up after eating it, but the member that gave it to us stared us down while we were eating it so i felt we didn't really have a choice. It's called Whito...it's a fruit that is supposed to be good for when you have a sore throat. Yup that definitely was THE WORST thing i have eaten on my mission so far. 

Also we were teaching a lesson to a less active this week and her son called her from the other room during the lesson...she told him to wait and at the end of the lesson this is where we found him! He was so tired he couldn't even make it to his mom to put him to bed! I laughed as i remembered how many times that happened to my younger brothers and sisters :) 

Another time this week we had appointments fall again, we were with a member and we decided to say a prayer again to know where we should go. We went to another woman whom we had contacted a few days before and she received us even though she was making dinner, which never happens here! Usually if people are busy they tell us that and shut the door. She had tons of questions about the correct age of baptism which we were able to answer with the Book of Mormon. It was so cool to see how she started to validate the Book of Mormon as she saw how it supported the Bible and clarified things we couldn't find there! She wants to continue receiving us, now we just have to find her husband. But one of her daughters friends asked us if there was an end to the world. The woman we were teaching stopped and answered before we could and said "I think the end of the world is when you die, because that's the end of your world" Haha it made me laugh.

I want to invite you all to read Alma 24. I was reading it this morning and i realized it has the step by step way that the Anti-Nephi-Lehis repented. Their repentance was a process, but it started with a desire to change. I have seen that so clear in my life and the lives of the people we teach. If you don't have a desire to change, there is no way possible that it can happen, but i also know that it is always worth it. You begin to feel the love and peace that comes through our savior Jesus Christ. I love him with all my heart and am so grateful i am able to be His representative. I love you all and hope you have another amazing week! Make it amazing wherever you are and never forget to be grateful for all the good and bad...We found a reason to be grateful for the sun! It means we don't have to weigh our bags down with heavy clothes and it makes the world happier!

Love you all!
Hermana Briggs

Week 54 - Sharing the Gospel Makes us Happy!

Us near the Amazon River!

August 22, 2016

Familia!!!!

Cleaning the graves at the cemetery.

This week was super duper great! It's so crazy 'cause my "mom" (first companion in the mission) is going home today!!! I can't believe all that time has past! 

So, I tried to do a good deed this week by buying a piece of watermelon for one of our less active members who wasn't doing so good...well, it turns out she got food poisoning from it and I made her sick for 2 days! But good thing is she still loves us :) I felt SO bad! 

We did service in the cemetery this week cleaning the graves, and from this picture I'm sure you can tell that they do it a little bit different here. But it was super cool to talk to people about the gospel as we cleaned! 

One of our cute less actives we are teaching.

We had practiced with a family this week about sharing the gospel, and the next day we were at the church for a meeting and their little girl ran up to us and said "I shared the gospel with my friend! When she said we didn't believe in God, I told her the 1st article of faith!" My heart just about fell apart to see how happy she was to share the gospel! 

This week we passed by a house and I felt the impression to stop so we did. I tripped over my words as i tried to relate crocheting into the gospel, but obviously she felt something and let us in. After the opening prayer she told us she had been passing though a lot and we were an answer to her prayer. Turns out her daughter is less active and we have started to teach them both and befriend them with their LDS neighbors! God works in mysterious but glorious ways!

My comps in our apartment.

But I've learned a lot this week about the story of Ammon and how he did everything he did with the spirit and the power of God. He went around doing little deeds of good and that's the reason the king changed! Alma16-18!

I love you all so so much! Keep smiling and always trust in Christ. He will never lead you astray!

Love,

Doing Family History

Hermana Briggs

Week 53 - Quistacocha & Grateful for the Spirit

August 15, 2016

Halo todos queridos!

SO this week was amazing like other weeks! Filled with so many blessings! 

This last monday we went to Quistacocha...about a 30 minute drive out of where we live by bus. Its a zoo, but junglized! It was super cool to see the only trained pink dolphin in the world! All of the others had died in training cause they couldn't handle it:( But we made sand castles there and saw so many monkeys I think I'm going to go monkey!

We had a cool experience as we went to do service one morning and it fell through. We tried to visit other people and they weren't home, so we prayed to know where to go and we got the impression to visit a less active that I had just got off the phone with. We went over there and found out her 16 year-old son was home who we have been trying to teach for literally 4 changes! He didn't want to come out, but then precisely in the moment, his best friend walked by who we have previously taught! He came in, woke his friend up and dragged him out. He didn't look too happy to see us, but we taught them about the 2000 stripling warriors in Alma 56-57. They both got excited, and our less actives friend told us he had prayed to know if the church was true but he hadn't gotten an answer, but he wanted one so bad! SO, we committed the investigator friend to pick up the less active to go to church....and guess what... it worked!!! And they both loved their experience in the church and are committed to come next week! I'm so grateful for the promptings of the spirit. I am so less than perfect at following them, but that is something I'm striving to improve.

I'm also learning how to enjoy contacting more as going up and talking to me has never been one of the first things I love to do...well when you have a message that will change their lives, it's a little bit easier. I know that this church is true. I watched this week as a SUPER catholic woman told us she feels like the Book of Mormon is true but doesn't know how to just drop the catholic church. I know the Lord will help her and helps every single one of us in whatever we need.

Our previous ward mission leader called us this week and asked if we would like some tarycayo eggs....what are those you would ask? I asked the same thing....apparently turtle eggs! And they smelled awful but didn't taste too bad! My companion would tell you differently after almost throwing up :)

We read Alma 26:12, which reads  12 Sí, yo sé que nada soy; en cuanto a mi fuerza, soy débil; por tanto, no me jactaré de mí mismo, sino que me gloriaré en mi Dios, porque con su fuerza puedo hacer todas las cosas; sí, he aquí que hemos obrado muchos grandes milagros en esta tierra, por los cuales alabaremos su nombre para siempre jamás.

(sorry its in spanish) 

 (12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.)

I know that this is true and if we put our trust in God that he will work literal miracles among us. 

Love you all to the moon and back!

Con amor,

Hermana Briggs