Keep on keepin' on‏

So this week was a doosy. Like, yesterday, I was sitting in Relief Society, trying my hardest not to fall asleep. It was an exhausting week. But it as also incredible.

First off all, I'd like to say that the General Women's Conference was LITERALLY THE MOST AMAZING HOUR AND A HALF OF MY LIFE. It ended way too fast!

Sister Castagnola and I had invited pretty much every woman in our phone to come, and no one showed up. So we were sitting in the chapel, practically empty except for a few other women from the other wards, and all of my cares and worries just melted away. As we were sitting, listening to the organ music play on the broadcast, I opened up my journal and started writing down different questions I had been pondering. I usually spend the week before conference thinking of questions, but my mind was so preoccupied, I hadn't gotten around to it. My companion kept reminding me to do it, so as I sat for the 2 minutes or so before the conference started, I wrote 8 questions in my journal. Questions about my area, my companion, how I could improve, things about my future, etc. 

As the conference started, I read through my questions again during the opening song. I knew I would receive answers or at least revelation, even if I hadn't spent nearly as much time praying and pondering. But I had tons of faith. 

With the first talk, nearly all of my questions were answered. And not only answered, but like answered PERFECTLY. To a T. I was so overwhelmed, I kept turning to my companion to share my excitement but I couldn't even get the words out due to too many emotions.

For example...

How can I help the other Spanish sisters have more confidence in themselves?

"Think of this opportunity to serve as a chance to learn how to love. You can't help others if you are focused solely on yourself. We are the Lord's hands. Learn to show others the love that God has through your actions. This will make the biggest impact."

What is the most important thing I can teach my future family?

"Teach young children how to love and how to serve; this will help set a pattern for the rest of their lives. Always show by your example how to reach out in love. Your family will follow your righteous example."

How can I be more like my Savior?

"Jesus Christ not only taught - He lived what He taught."

How can I prepare now to be a strong, loving wife and mother?

"We need women who know how to help, how to lift and love, and how to serve. Women who know how to call upon the powers of heaven to raise righteous families. Become a woman who follows the Savior; be a defender of the kingdom."

How can I continue pressing forward when we aren't seeing a ton of success?

"Enduring patiently purifies us and makes us gentler. Continually ask for guidance to help His children; He hears and will respond to your pleas for comfort as you do His service."

...if General Conference is anything like last Friday, I'm gonna be dead, on the floor, filled with so much inspiration. I am so excited.

It could not have been more clear to me - God knows me. He knew my sincere desires and questions of my heart, even if I didn't write them down and go to Him in prayer every night. Though we should be doing that anyway, God knew that I would need to hear everything that was said during that Conference. HE KNOWS MY HEART BETTER THAN I EVEN DO.

So amazed. So grateful. I wish you could've seen me, I was so excited in that practically empty little chapel in Sioux City, Iowa. God had touched my heart, and I can't even deny it.

This week we had a huge blizzard - it was apparently #6 in the history of the WORRRLLDDDDD.... haha jk in Sioux City :) Gotcha.

But yeah, it was so crazy, we got caught in the middle of it. It was an absolute miracle we made it home alive. And I was driving! Double miracle we're safe.

So this last Thursday, the cars were grounded due to the snow. So after companionship study, we put on our coats, big boots, and grabbed our shovels. We spent about an hour and a half just shoveling our walkway and around our car! Well, while we were outside, we heard this guy across the street whistling a familiar song. I turned to Sister Yola and asked, "Is that... We Are All Enlisted?" And she's like, "...yeah!"

After a few moments of awkwardly creeping on this guy across the street to see if we recognized him from the other wards, I decided to just ask him what song he was whistling! I walked over towards the sidewalk and as I'm doing so, my leg goes in up to my hip in snow! I'm stuck! With just one leg! Haha so I just yell to the guy across the street, above the cars driving by, and ask, "What song are you whistling!!!!?" Hahah can you just imagine how weird that looked??

Well turned out, he was raised in the church but left as a teenager. He moved here from New York a few years ago with his girlfriend and two daughters. He said he likes to sing hymns because he feels they give him strength and makes him feel better.

...SO DANG COOL.

The elders will now be visiting him! :)

So many other cool things happened this week - they also do - but this email is already long enough! We are doing so good here in Sioux City. We are seeing miracles. The work is slow, but God is still being merciful. We are working with some really cool, solid people who are truly desiring to know God and His will. 

Like real fast, we started teaching a former investigator Mina - I love her. She already believes in everything, the only thing holding her back is her fear of commitment. But at the end of the lesson, she threw her Book of Mormon on the table and said, "Here we go buddy! Back at it again!" Hahaha I love humans.

An incredible friend of mine always ends his letters to me with, "Keep on keepin' on..." I feel like God kept saying that to me this week. He kept giving me reassurances along the way, encouraging me to not give up quite yet.

God loves us. He wants us to continue on, to keep on keepin' on, because He knows what lies ahead.

I love you all.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould

pictures: I redecorated my wall! (because we moved!) Also my companion and her dust pan. And Penny & Journy!

Oh how lovely was the morning‏

Ok ok ok what if I serve a mission forever?.... I love my mission so much! I am so overwhelmed by my mission - I have loved every day so far and it is a huge blessing that I am still here, serving these amazing people. So many miracles happened this week, and I'm just so filled with love. I don't want this to ever end!

Let me tell you about two huge miracles this week.

Rebecca - SO a few months ago, like back in early January, we got a referral from the Church headquarters, which is HUGE. It was the first one I have gotten my whole mission! So obviously I was pumped. We got her phone number and address and went to go contact her that day. Well, she wasn't home. So we tried calling, stopping by, etc. but we could never get a hold of her. We met her neighbor - super cute young mom - and even started teaching her neighbor across the street. I just came to the conclusion that it was one of those moments where the referral actually led us to the people around it! So on exchanges last week, Sister Castagnola and Sister Reynolds decided to go try Rebecca one last time. As they were walking up to the door, actually, Sister Castagnola was like, "Yeah, we've tried this lady... she never answers..." Annnddddd tttheennnnnn! *drum roll* SHE ANSWERS.

Haha

So turns out, she was visiting Utah with her boyfriend during Christmas and she referred herself! She took a tour of the visitors center and got two copies of the Book of Mormon, one in english and one in spanish. So sweet. By the end of the lesson, she had accepted a baptismal date for April 9th! She also has a daughter, Blanca, who is 9 years old! We're gonna baptize them both!

Such a huge, huge miracle. I couldn't even believe it. I still can't! But I have so much faith right now, we are praying for these two in practically every single prayer. It's my first baptismal set in like 2 months. So amazing

Danida - So last week, we decided to do some tracting in a familiar neighborhood. We knocked a door where a potential investigator lived, Danida. She had never let us in, but she was always so friendly. SO we decided to try one last time. Well, she let us in! As we stood in her living room, we started to testify of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which opened up conversation with her about her beliefs. She told us that when she was younger, her grandma used to sit her and all of her cousins down and tell them about Jesus visiting the people in the central americas. 

I was like, "Wait.. hold up. Are you serious?"

Hahah ok not really, but I thought it in my head.

Yeah! She has known her whooollleee life that Christ appeared to the people in the Americas! How perfect is that! So we instantly testified of the Book of Mormon and told her that her grandmother was right! It was so cool to see her face. She was so excited.

We have a church tour with her tonight! I am so pumped!

God is preparing people alllllllll the time. I love it. I love this message, the message of the Restoration. We shared it last night with a family after dinner, and I couldn't hold back the tears as I quoted word-for-word the First Vision.

I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.  When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—“This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”

Amazing.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould

typical happenings of a missionary in the NOM

Hallelujah‏

Did you know that church came out with a new Easter video yesterday? GO CHECK IT OUT BECAUSE IT ROCKS A WHOLE LOT. And it's all about families... and you know how I feel about families... :)

So this week was incredible. Seriously so good. I don't know how our weeks keep getting better and better, but I love it. Time is also flying by so fast. I found out this week that due to BYU Provo starting earlier, I'll be heading home from my mission a little earlier. Official date is July 28th. I spent lots of time thinking and praying and crying (lol)... but I'm just trusting in God right now. I hate the fact that I am leaving early, but we'll just see what God's plan is for me. I trust Him :)

This last Tuesday, we had a special meeting in Omaha for JUST the sisters! AH-MAY-ZING. Lol. Seriously, it was so inspired, we all were in tears and some point or another. President Gardner's love for the sisters in our mission is undeniable. It is incredible humbling. He stood up there and just cried as he said, "I'm going to take my mission president hat off right now and speak to you as your dad. If you have any thoughts that are negative, that are rude, that are anything other than uplifting about yourself, stop it. Just stop it. You are all daughters of God, you are all so love, and you are all so special." *sniffle sniffle* So amazing.

We also had the chance to go on exchanges with the Worthington sisters again! I was with Hermana Marshall - she is SO COOL. We clicked instantly, like perfect companionship all day. We saw so many miracles.

We had 5 appointments set up. One fell through, but another random one happened! So, based on that, it was a pretty solid day. We were driving to Morningside to get some lunch before our first appointment and we got a call from this girl named Abby. She was baptized about a year ago! She loves the sister missionaries :) Seriously, sometimes TOO nice to us.. haha but anyway! We had an appointment set with her on Friday for lunch, but on Thursday (during exchanges), she called us and was like, "We still good for lunch??" I replied, "Um... YEAH." Haha I love random changes in the schedule :)

Turns out it was perfect. Of course. As we were planning a little message in the car before we got to the restaurant, we felt prompted to talk about temples. Abby is preparing to serve a mission soon, so we thought it would be good! Turns out, her grandpa had passed away that same morning and the message of the temple touched her heart so deeply, she couldn't hold back the tears. It was incredible. God is so perfect - He just orchestrates our lives so we can bless others and they can bless us.

We had several other amazing lessons but the last one was with Jasmin. Also a recent convert! She hasn't been coming to church so we planned to teach about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. We testified so strongly, we left her house not really remembering what we said. The spirit was evident. At one point, Jasmin put her hand to her chest and said, "I feel it. I feel really warm. It's uncomfortable, but good!" It was so cool to see her change throughout the lesson - she started off by saying that she had doubts about the church, but by the end of the lesson, she was bearing testimony to US, saying that she wanted to serve a mission and prepare now.

God changes hearts. God changes lives.

I love this life. I love it so much. I told my companion through tears (man, I cry a lot.. lol), I don't care if I come crawling through the airport on my hands and knees to see my family, I am running this last leg of my mission with so much force and so much energy. No time for rest! ONLY TIME FOR WORK.

Haha ok I love you all so much.

xoxo 

Hermana Brie Gould

ps. We found a place to go hiking last Monday - and Elder Peters let me borrow his camera. You knoooww what that meansss.. :)

Eternal families & temples‏

Did you know that families can be together forever? Relationships that you cherish here can last after death. You can see the ones you love so deeply even after they have left this earth. Only through our the plan our loving Heavenly Father prepared for us from the foundation of the world can we truly experience all of the joy that He and our Savior Jesus Christ does. It's possible - with the power of the priesthood, all those things that were sealed on earth will be sealed in heaven.

Amazing, right?

This week we were focused all on families - it made me smile because I LOVE MY FAMILY SO MUCH. If anyone knows me, they know that I practically only ever rave about my family. Deal with it.

On Tuesday, I had the ABSOLUTE PLEASURE of finallllly experiencing what happens in MLC - Missionary Leadership Council. It happens once a month and all of the leadership in the mission gathers together to council with one another, with President Gardner at the head. It was amazing - my mind was actually blown. So much inspiration, so much guidance. It was awesome.

So the main theme of the training, and now what the whole mission is focusing on.... families. Eternal families. We were committed to go out and find families instead of individuals. So inspired. Mainly because the Hispanic culture puts so much emphasis on families so this new twist will touch the hearts of so many that we teach.

With all of that fresh in mind, we headed back to Sioux City from Omaha to get started on finding some families. We had plans to try and contact a church headquarters referral, Rebecca. When she wasn't home, we decided to work the area. We looked at the houses and prayerfully decided to knock two. The first one, no response. But the second... MIRACLE. The cutest little pregnant lady opened the door and let us right in after we told her what our message was. Her name was Fernanda! Cutest human. She's so quirky and lovable, ah I love her! She has a daughter who's 2 years old and will be having a son in June. We shared "Because He Lives" and set up a return appointment with her for the next day. Super solid. She told us all about her love for God and how she's been trying to find the truth for her children.

The next day, we came back with a member - Manuela. It was perfect. We taught the message of the Restoration, focusing on families and the sealing power. Manuela bore such powerful testimony and my companion shared the the First Vision of Joseph Smith so perfectly, the Spirit was definitely there. Fernanda was attentive the whole lesson, and she was loving it, especially the part about the Great Apostacy. She understood it and said that it made perfect sense. At the end, we asked her how she felt during the lesson. She sat for a little bit, thinking, and awkwardly laughed saying, "Pues.. no se.." We waited a little longer and then she said, "Amor. Amor hacia mi Padre Celestial y mi familia." Love. Love towards my Heavenly Father and my family.

Perfect answer. So so perfect. My heart was so full of love during that lesson.

So excited to see her progress with her family!

So many other amazing miracles this week but overall, I just want to share my testimony that I know that families are incredibly important. It's through our families that we are able to experience joy. I can't wait for mine - my husband, my children - and I can't wait to share everything that I am learning with them. God loves His children; He loves us.

xoxo

Hermana Brie Gould

pictures: MLC and Esmerelda & Jose :)