Fearless Warrior

Well hello again! I am now in week 4 of this transfer..........what. I can happily say that life is GREAT and I am so completely in love with this area! Everything about it makes me so happy and it was seriously made just for me. Heavenly Father truly loves His missionaries. :) I swear I say those things every week but it's so true and it proves itself every day. Plus the weather is perfect and we've been
studying/planning outside so I can sneak in a little tan..my mom would be so proud ;)

I was FINALLY able to go to church yesterday in this area since the past two weeks have been general and stake conferences..I cannot even explain to you how much I've missed going to normal church and taking the sacrament! There is such a significant difference between taking and not taking the sacrament. It was the most amazing feeling that I can't even describe when the sacramental prayers were being said...I can't explain it but taking the sacrament yesterday changed my way of viewing that opportunity we get each week :) it was also great to be able to meet the entire ward and finally put faces to names. Of course, the members didn't disappoint. They are so welcoming and
loving and excited to have me here! Gosh, I don't know how I'm ever going to eventually leave this area. 

We went over to one of the member's houses this past week to help her rearrange some furniture since she's physically unable at the time and man...this lady is just a hoot :) she's SO funny and I can't stop laughing the entire time I'm there. She gave us both nicknames and Sister Castleton's nickname is "little dove" since she's so quiet all the time. Mine is "fearless warrior" because apparently I'm more bold and confident. Haha okay Sister Makalou, whatever you say! We are going over to her house again tonight in Gloucester to help her move more furniture so I'm sure it'll be exciting as always :) 

Last Monday for district P-Day we went and did Candlepin Bowling which is like normal bowling but the balls and pins are smaller. It was so fun to get out in public with other missionaries and just lay back and have some fun together in our normal casual clothes! Fun fact: today is Patriot's Day which is just a New England holiday! No school and the library is closed and everything. Because of that we have to do our emails at a members house and they are all just so proud of this holiday! Also, it's the 3 year anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing and they're having another marathon today with lots and lots and lots of surveillance and protection. It's crazy that I'm
just about 30 minutes from Boston!

Oh yeah, and guess what? Elder Rasband from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles is coming to our mission next month for a mission conference!!!!! We are so excited to have a general authority come speak to us. It'll be so great :) 

This past Wednesday we had Zone Interviews where we were able to have one on one meetings with President Stoker for the LAST TIME. This was his last round of interviews since he's leaving in July! He is such an incredible mission president and we have been so blessed to have him guide this mission. He gave me such great advice and he's a wonderful listener and he's so humble and I'm truly going to miss him and Sister Stoker when they leave😥 

We had another lesson with our 3 investigators the other night and we taught them the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was very apparent as they happily and excitedly listened to our lesson. They understood everything we taught and they accepted it and it was amazing to see the hope in their faces. I extended a baptismal date to the 3 of them but they told us that they will be baptized eventually, they just wanted to learn more about it before they fully committed. They want to make sure their hearts are completely open...I'll take that answer! Nothing can describe the joy that comes from sharing such pure and simple truths with people that have lived their lives without them. The joy and happiness they feel radiate from them and it makes everything I do out here so worth it!

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Watselton

Here we are in week THREE in the area of Zion...also known as Georgetown :) This week has been so great and so productive! I miss being able to say that..productive..we are teaching people and meeting with members and having meal appointments and watching our investigators progress. There is truly nothing greater!

We had a bomb lesson with our investigator Idania this past week. She is a sister of one of the members in the ward, Brother Coa. When we went over to her house, she had invited her mother and her sister as well! Her mom spoke mostly Spanish so she had a difficult time understanding us but apparently the member we brought with us spoke Spanish! That was such a miracle...because of that, the member was able to translate and communicate to Idania's mom in Spanish. The lesson we had with them was AMAZING. We talked about the Book of Mormon and parts of the Restoration and the spirit was just so strong. 

Idania's sister started crying during the lesson and Idania said she felt the chills. Her mom asked if she could attend church the following Sunday with the member we brought with us...her sister excitedly accepted a Book of Mormon, and Idania was spiritually fed. That was one of the best lessons I've had out here so far! It brought me so much joy to see their excitement about the gospel and to see the light of Christ radiate from them. Her mom told me that when I testified of the gospel and the Book of Mormon, she saw a light around me and she felt the chills so THAT was cool :) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Brother Coa was so pumped that his family was accepting our message and progressing. And guess who came to stake conference yesterday? Idania, her kids, and her mom!!! They loved it!

We were able to do quite a bit of service this week, especially in Gloucester. We went over to a lady named Treasure's house to help her clean her apartment and rearrange her things since she is too sick to move. She has many medical problems and she's elderly so it was nice to be of service to her. We also served at the Second Glance thrift store, helped one of the members pack up her house, helped another member pack up his house, and made several muffins/cookies for members as a thank-you for feeding us. There is no greater joy than the joy that comes from serving another person!

The rest of the week was filled with other investigator lessons, member lessons, and contacting less actives. Oh yeah, and stake conference! It was so great to sit and be with the saints and listen to the inspired words of the stake president and others that were chosen to speak. All of their messages were so uplifting and the spirit was so strong! I also got to see other missionaries that I've served with/around so that was cool too :) President and Sister Stoker were there as well and they were asked to speak about missionary work...go figure...but everything they said was so powerful and so true. Preparing for a mission is so important whether it's physically, spiritually, emotionally, or financially which are the 4 points President Stoker went over. 

Being a missionary is so demanding and so challenging, but I would never change any of this for the world. I have loved meeting so many amazing people, serving in the most beautiful areas, and experiencing so many spiritual experiences. My testimony grows more each and every day as I strive to become the missionary I was sent here to be. I've probably said all of that 1,403,903 times, but it still rings true! 

I think that's all I have for today. I love you all!!!
Until next week!

me and Sister Wright! She was my roommate in the MTC and I love her guts :) 

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G-TOWN💯

Have I ever been this blessed in my entire life? Probably not. Let me just tell you about this new area...I live in Ipswich (ipp-switch) which is just the cutest little city 20 minutes away from Georgetown. The surrounding cities we cover are Newbury, Newburyport😍, Gloucester (Glah-ster), Rowley, Haverhill (Hayv-rull), and probably a couple more that I can't think of at the moment. They are all WONDERFUL and so cute and so perfect.

Newburyport and Gloucester would have to be my favorites though considering that's where the ocean is and the houses are huge and there are tons of yachts and bridges and shops :) this area is so amazing I can't even explain it to you. Heavenly Father had blessed me so much by sending me here, it's like I don't even deserve this. If there was a dream area just for Brianne Watson, it would be this one. It's everything I love rolled up into one place!

My companion is Sister Castleton and she's been out for about 3 months. She is the most shy companion I've had yet and has a very difficult time talking to people and teaching lessons. She depends on me a LOT of the time to carry out a lesson with someone or an invitation for somebody to learn. Maybe it's a good thing, because I'm certainly getting some good practice in! She's a sweetheart though and she has a great determination to work hard which is a blessing.

Then there's the driving...oh my. If any of you have ever tried driving in Massachusetts, you would understand. It's INSANE! The intersections are just so beyond ridiculous and everybody is an angry driver so if you make one wrong move, you get a nice loud honk and some naughty words. It's great.. We pray extra hard for safety every time we leave the apartment because half the time I don't even know where I'm supposed to drive because the road setup is so bizarre.

In the week that I've been here so far, I've seen so much success. First awesome missionary experience happened on Thursday when we went to the VIP car shop to get our car registered. The guy that helped us started asking us questions concerning our beliefs and after some explaining and testifying, I handed out a Book of Mormon. It was so sick. It's so important to "teach people, not lessons" because the first question he asked us was: What makes you different than other religions? I gave Sister Castleton the floor and she tried explaining that we are able to receive personal revelation. He told us that he had no idea what any of that meant, so I asked him what HE knows about Jesus Christ. He told me that was exactly the question he was looking for. We were then able to build up from there as we explained to him what we believe. It's so important to teach them according to their needs...but that can only happen if we are listening to the spirit. Missionary work is so cool. What the heck.😄

We went street contacting the other night at a beach...no big deal ;) but we (mostly me) were able to invite many people to learn. We passed 2 ladies with their 5-6 year old kids dancing to hip-hop/rap music outside of their car. Of course, since I love that kind of music, I walked right up to them and started jamming with the kids to break the ice. It worked! One of the ladies started talking to us and asking us who we were and what we were doing. The longer we talked, the more she stared at me and it honestly was starting to make me uncomfortable but eventually she just came out and said, "wow...you just LOOK like a good person. You look like a woman of God. There is so much light around you." That made my whole day! We were then able to get her phone number and we planned a time to go visit her since she wants her son to grow up in a good church. :) yay!!

Can we just take a second and talk about GENERAL CONFERENCE? I loved it. I loved loved loved loved loved it. Sitting there for hours at a time being blown away by the spirit and the overwhelming feeling of love from the Lord and hearing from the leaders of the church and AHH I never wanted it to end. A talk that stood out to me was President Uchtdorf's talk about how there is hope for everyone. Nobody is in too much doubt or trouble to be helped and saved by the Savior. Nobody is too broken to be made whole. We are so blessed :)

Sister Castleton & me

HEAVEN

Driving to transfers :)

#LDSConf

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