MAILING ADDRESS

Sister Brieanna MacCall Gould
Nebraska Omaha MIssion
11027 Martha St
Omaha, NE 68144-3107
United States

Monday, February 29, 2016

In the blink of an eye‏

So.. 4 days ago I hit my year mark. Which means I only have 6 months left. Which is CRAAZZY!

I can't even believe how much I have changed and experienced this last year. This time a year ago, I was in the MTC in Mexico, scared out of my mind and so stressed out. Luckily that feeling didn't last too long! The time spent in the CCM will always be remembered and cherished, I hold that time so special. I was stretched, and because of that, I grew. I made life long friends and learned a new language. I learned how to be a missionary! Heaven on earth.

And then I came to Nebraska. Man, was that crazy. I thought I knew how to be a missionary until I started to teach and plan and everything! It was so much more than I thought - but it was so good. As I served in Omaha, I met hundreds of people, each of them changing my life. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more. I did a lot of learning and growing and humbling. It was in Omaha that I truly learned who I was. I am more than just what you can see - I realize now that I have such a deep and abiding connection to my Heavenly Father and that He has given me gifts and talents to help not only me but everyone I meet.

Now in Sioux City, I am becoming the missionary God needs me to be - for right now and for forever.

I served with many different companions, learning from each. From my mama, Hermana Grubbs, I learned that life is meant to be enjoyed. From Hermana Bacy I learned the reality of the Atonement. From my sweet hija, Hermana Miller, I learned that obedience is the only way to happiness. From Hermana Castagnola, I have learned that God's love is real and never-ending. I have learned a great deal of patience from training a new missionary, and I have learned the importance of confidence by serving as an STL. 

I am a different person. Completely. My understanding of the gospel has deepened and my appreciation for my Savior has grown. 

Never will I be the same again. Never again will I be the person I was before my mission - not when I know how much more potential I have.

I love this work. I love my Heavenly Father. I love the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful that I was born into the true church, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So so grateful.

I love you all so much.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould

pictures: Spanish conf! & Happy 1 year :)

Monday, February 22, 2016

Crying tears of joy‏

SO first of all, apparently my email last week didn't get sent??? I'm sorry! It was a really good one too... ;) I'm going to send it to my mom to post later!

Secondly, I just received this email:

Dear Brieanna:
Congratulations! You have been admitted to Brigham Young University to begin Fall 2016.

I AM GOING TO BYU PROVO!!!!!! For real!!!!

Haha wow what a great way to start off my week.

Anyway.

Such a crazy, busy week! And we have another one coming up! I looked at my planner already for this week and we have appointments every single day! We are working better with our members, getting more frequent lessons with our investigators, etc. Little by little we are improving and it's the best.

So one of the families that we have been teaching are doing so great - the only problem is that they will never offer the closing prayer. Kind of a simple thing to ask, but for some reason, they never want to offer the prayer. The reason we are so worried about them praying with us is so we KNOW that they are praying without us. The only way they are truly going to improve their relationship with God and learn for themselves about this church is through real, sincere prayer. So after a frustrating attempt to get them to pray, we left and planned a better lesson the next time.

This last week, we had 15 min left before we had to head home. We decided to go invite the family to church and remind them about reading the Book of Mormon. We both then felt prompted to share our lesson on prayer - just a brief, powerful lesson. So we did! But at the end of the lesson, when it was time to leave, they still refused to pray. So I plead with them - all four of them, the dad, the mom, the little kids. Anyone in that family! After an awkward silence and staring contest (lol), the little girl folded her arms and quietly came over to me to ask for help. I was shocked, and then whispered a simple prayer in her ear. It was perfect. The parents watched as their little 8 year old girl had enough courage to offer the first prayer in their family.

Such a simple yet perfect miracle.

My mission has been made up of simple yet perfect miracles. Every single day. We still don't have anyone set for baptism and we don't have anyone coming to church, but miracles are still happening. God is just preparing these people, and it's so excited to be apart of it and witness His power every single day.

I love you all.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould

ps it was 50 degrees this week & I cried. Also we're planning our VERY FIRST training for Spanish conference! AHH! Pray for us!

Monday, February 8, 2016

The week that changed my whole mission (& life)‏

So I hope you are all prepared for the craziest, most amazing email ever... because this week was somethin' else.

I don't even know where to start!!!!!

About 2 months ago, I had an experience I will never forget. It was kept on the down-low. I'll share it now :) Right before I left for Omaha, I was able to go to the temple. As I was sitting in the celestial room, I couldn't help but feel that President Gardner was going to tell me something. So I was sitting there, waiting for him, but he didn't do anything - just shook everyone's hands! So we left, changed, and waited outside for everyone to finish. I honestly forgot about the impression and then President came up and started talking to all of us missionaries. He started to direct his attention mainly to me, asking me about our ward and our investigators in Omaha. 

I noticed that he was thinking and had something on his mind. He then started talking about the other missionaries that speak Spanish and asked me what I thought about having Spanish STLs - Sister Training Leaders. We have never had Spanish ones in our mission but I've thought it would be GREAT! We talked about all the goodness it would be to have Spanish sister leaders in the mission. He then looked at me and said, "You know, Sister Gould, you would be one of them." I about lost it. I stood there, just staring at him, with my mouth wide open.

The two months that followed were crazy - plans kept changing, I had to keep the whole thing on the down-low, I got transferred, etc etc etc. President had initially wanted the STL's to be in Omaha. But this last week, we got the call (finally)... 

I AM NOW A SPANISH SISTER TRAINING LEADER AND I CAN'T EVEN HANDLE IT. 

I am staying here in Sioux City, and Sister Castagnola is my companion, the other STL! I am beyond excited, grateful, pumped...!!!!!! Ahhh!!!!! I am so grateful I get to be with my bud Castagnola, she is a gem of a human. We are going to blow Sioux City up! When she first found out last week that she was going to be an STL, she screamed - in the library, might I add - and said, "WE'RE GONNA BE LEGENDS!"

Hahah ok ok, chill.

But honestly, this is so amazing, it's hard for me to even describe it. I am so incredibly humbled for this opportunity. These next 6 months will be the best ever.

We will be doing exchanges with the other Spanish sisters, doing trainings at meetings, helping plan Spanish conference, working one-on-one with President to improve the work... so many amazing opportunities to grow and change and be so much better. I am just on cloud 9.

We now are working so close with the other sisters. They both called us yesterday, almost in tears, as they excitedly told us about all of the AMAZING miracles they saw that week. I was crying, Sister Castagnola was laughing, it was awesome.

Amazing things are happening with the Spanish sisters here in this mission. Doors are opening, hearts are softening, it's overwhelming.

Remember Esmerelda? I found her my 3rd week in the mission back in Omaha. We baptized her husband, Jose, back in September. She and I became best friends - we sobbed together when I got transferred. But guess what?

SHE IS GETTING BAPTIZED. She is actually, really getting baptized!!!!!! This has been my mission goal since the day I found her and now it's happening! When the Omaha Sisters called us last night to tell us, I just curled up into a ball and laughed/cried for several minutes... haha I am just so excited! Do you know what this means!? I get to come back in a year when they BOTH go to the temple and get sealed as a family!!!!!! Oh my heart is full!

God is so incredible - I have always known it but never has it been so apparent before. This week was so amazing. We got 10 referrals from members, 15 returning members at church, 2 new investigators, and lessons with investigators we haven't seen in forever.

Miracles have ceased? HA!

This week changed my mission. This mission is changing my life.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould

Monday, February 1, 2016

Guess WHAT‏

So I am currently sitting in a library in... OMAHA! OHhhhh YeeeeaaaH!! Haha it feels good to be back. I love this place. We are dropping off Sister Bacy at the mission office today! She'll be heading back to good ol' California! She's great. We'll sure miss her :) Her family is going to love having her home though!

Wow what a week. I am absolutely exhausted. I can't even begin to describe all that we did this week.  So I'm just gonna tell you about the coolest miracle ever.

So last Friday, Sister Castagnola and I were planning for our week. Missionaries plan for about 3 hours every Friday for the next week - it's great. I really do love planning. That's how things get done! So we've been trying to figure out how we can better work with the members here because our branch is seriously struggling. We decided that we wanted to try and do a set FHE (Family Home Evening) every month with 4 different families, where we would either bring an investigator or we would invite the family to bring someone. We planned out the 4 families, set goals for them, decided when we would contact them, etc. It was good! I was pumped! I love when we have really good plans.

Well with how the week was going, I wasn't sure if we could execute the plans like we wanted to. I admit, my faith was low. I figured we'd just hit the ground running the next week. But God knows when His plans need to be accomplished! 

One night we decided to go try visiting Monica, one of the members we had actually thought about asking to do the FHEs. So we were sitting with her, initially trying to get a referral from her, but as the conversation started going, I realized the scripture we had prepared and the questions we had just weren't right. It wouldn't address her needs the way God wanted. So I actually stopped my companions and said, "Can we share this scripture instead?" It was a scripture about the Atonement and our Savior from the Book of Mormon. As we shared our testimonies of the power of the Atonement, it was amazing what took place. 

Out of NOWHERE she asked us, "Hey, I was thinking, could we do an FHE at my house sometime? Like maybe once a week. And you guys can bring whoever you want! And we can make dessert or something!"

..I literally sat for like a good 20 seconds with my jaw flappin' open. And then, after we made plans with her, we mentioned one our investigators we were planning on visiting that week and Monica was like, "Can I come!?" WHAT YES OF COURSE PLEASE.

It was amazing. Planning is real. Setting goals is so important. God will make sure everything works out if you do your part.

I love you ALLLLLLL!!!!!!!

ps transfers are this week... tune in next Monday for some CRAAAZZZY NEWS ;) aaaand pictures. Because for some reason this computer wont let me upload them from my camera.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould


PEACE OUT////the only picture that will upload.