The Gospel Is So True, from Sister Brett

Dearest beautiful family,

I hope all is well! I didn't get any emails this week, and haven't heard a ton, but I hope that just means you're busy!

We've had another great week on Temple Square! I love serving with Sister Sundaram, she is such a sweet and diligent companion and we are so lucky. we have other sisters tell us all the time that they can really tell we love serving together, because we do!

This week I had 3 of the greatest experiences of my mission-possibly even my LIFE. The first was when we met a man named Calvin. The circumstances were incredible as well, because we were sceduled to be in the call center at 8pm, but somehow it got over-booked (which RARELY happens), and so we volunteered to go back out on the Square. As we went out we saw that there were already a ton of sisters in the North so we thought maybe we would go outside to contact, but then 2 men in the middle of the whole crowd caught our attention, so we went over and talked to them. They said they were cowboys from Texas and they were in town for business and just stopped by for a look. Not seeming much interested we let them know that if they had any questions we would love to help. right then one of them piped up and said, "Well, actually, I do have one question...What is different about your religion and other Christian religions?" ooo, I just love that question :) We told him that we had an incredible display downstairs that answered that question perfectly, so we took him downstairs and taught them about the Restoration. He was amazed to hear that we still have a prophet on the earth today, and he was even more amazed at all of the good that he has seen our church do around the world. "You are truly a religion that stays true to what you preach all week through and in all you do" he said. We shared our testimonies of Jesus Christ, and of how His restored gospel and the Book of Mormon can bring a willing heart closer to Him than anything in all eternity. Then, he asked the question that every Temple Square sister yearns to hear--"How do I get one of those books?" YES. Anyhow, the Spirit was incredibly strong as we taught, and he was so excited to hear that missionaries would come and teach him more. The real miracle came however, when he CAME BACK the next night!!! Some sisters told me that a really nice and excited man named Calvin was looking for me in the North Visitor's Center. Haha, we couldn't even believe it--we rarely get to see people we teach more than once. But we found him and he had the BIGGEST smile on his face and light in his eyes of anyone I've ever met. He proceeded to pour out his heart and soul to us about how he had stayed up all night thinking about what we shared with him. He had gone online and studied it more, and he hadn't been able to even focus or eat the whole day because he had so many more questions. So, he decided to cancel his dinner appointment and come back and find us. He had incredible questions about the Plan of Salvation such as "It doesn't make sense that really good Christian people, and sort of okay/bad people will end up in the same place after this life--what can you teach me about this?" He had read a little on the kingdoms of glory and totally believed it. :) he asked so many questions--with the faith that we had the answers he sought, and it KILLED me not to be able to spend forever answering them. The most we could do was answer a few simple questions, bear our testimonies and share with him that the missionaries who will visit him will be able to answer all his questions and more. When I told him that I was so excited for him to learn and promised he would be blessed as he did he looked me directly in the eye and he said, "I am so excited Sister Brett, your love and excitement what you have shared has already changed my life." I swear in that moment I felt like I had known him forever. Sister Zitting told me in her last letter that she is positive that we covenanted with some of these individuals before this life that we would bring them to the knowledge of the gospel. I'm fairly positive Calvin and I hung out a whole lot in the pre-existence. He is my mission miracle.

Then, I USED MY ROMANIAN THIS WEEK! There have been a few random people I have met who are from Romania or served missions there, but this one was incredible. Sister Sundaram and I were on our way around the tabernacle and we were about to pass a woman who looked like she was in a hurry. Rather than just greeting her, I had the distinct impression to step a little into her path and ask where she's visiting us from. "Romania!" she answered and smiled and began to move on until I welcomed her to Temple Square in Romanian. Haha, i wish you could have seen the look on her face! She practically jumped back and then gave me cheek-kiss upon cheek-kiss (which is very common in Romania). Oh my goodness, then she started asking how I knew Romanian and if i had been there and where I lived. I can't believe I even understood, it has been so long since I even thought about that beautiful language. After attempting to answer in Romanglish, she asked if I will ever visit again. I said I would LOVE to, and she said I absolutely have to stay with her when I do. We talked a bit more, and i found out she is just in the US for a week and heading home in a few hours. She expressed how much she loved visiting and how everyone was just "foarte fericit" (very happy). Then God blessed me to be able to share with her in Romanian that I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that there are also missionaries like myself in Romania who would love to come and teach her about why we are so happy as well as the beliefs of our church. AND SHE SAID ABSOLUTELY YES!!! I couldn't believe it. I was floating on a cloud. My experience in Romania shaped so much of my testimony about missionary work. I saw how badly that country and the families in Romania desperately needed the gospel (as they do everywhere in the world), and I prayed many, many times to be sent there on my mission, but God had other plans. If Camelia in the reason I needed to go to Romania and then get sent to Temple Square than it was comepletely worth it, every single second. Maybe that is the only way she would be contacted by the church. God knows so much more than we can even comprehend and He is so aware of every one of His children. The chances that Sister Sundaram and I were the sisters out of 160 to contact Camelia and Calvin this week are so slim, but as I look back I can see how He placed us exactly where we needed to be.

I love this work. God is truly in it and He loves us, each of us so much. As I testified to Calvin I knew that that is what this life is all about and I felt such a love as I never have before. I love you all and pray for you constantly. I hope you can tell how much i love this Gospel and know that it is truly the way to reach the happiness and blessings Heavenly Father has in store for us!

Love you!!

-Sister Brett#3

P.S. Happy 3rd day of the 3rd month tomorrow!!! Today next year I will finish my mission. WOAH.